iMovie for Final Cut Pro editors

I've been editing for over 30 years. I started on a Steinbeck, editing 16mm mag stripe positive film for a local news service. I graduated to the Editec system on an Ampex Quad videotape machine, onto CMX in a one inch suite and finally onto Final Cut Pro.
It's great to now be able to do High Definition editing on my laptop - compared to the room full of tape gear that was needed in the old days.
This week I have taken the plunge and delved into iMovie. I had to buy the book to help - but I think I have a handle on it. I've written a Word document that compares FCP to iMovie to help fellow editors get to grips with a program that obviously wasn't written by an editor.
If it helps - let me know. Plus feel free to add to it. It's here. (Click to download)

Video 101 Podcast One

This is the first in a series of Podcasts from my Video 101 Seminar presented at the CMA in May, 2011.

Working under the Rain Cloud

A new web based application that's pretty cool

I've been using a new web based application called Rain Cloud for the past few days and its solved a whole stack of problems in how I manage my e-mail, calendar and contacts.

Here's how I used to work.
I have had a POP3 e-mail account with Bigpond for ages and its the account I've mainly used for my business. I use a Mac laptop and an iPhone 3.0.
On the Mac I used Entourage for e-mail, with a whole stack of rules to sort incoming e-mails. I also have another six or so POP3 e-mail accounts for various links I have with other businesses. I set each of these up in Entourage as separate accounts. When I did a Send/Receive, Entourage collected the e-mails from the various accounts and sorted them into the folders. On my iPhone I set up the Bigpond account as a POP3.
In order to sync my calendar and contacts between my Mac and iPhone, I signed up for a Mobile Me account.

Problems:
1. POP3 on an iPhone is awful. Takes forever to send and of course no synching between my Mac and iPhone mail folders. Mobile Me could have solved that, but you need to use an @me.com e-mail address, which is not that cool for business.
2. I also own a number of domains which relate to my business name but as their e-mail services are just POP3 accounts, I had never really used them for my e-mail.

The Rain Cloud solution
The Rain Cloud, developed by Digerati Solutions, leverages Apple's Microsoft Exchange functionality and provides a better and more flexible service than even Apple's own Mobile Me.
Rain Cloud run a Microsoft Exchange server in their data centre and each user has their own account and secure mail folders. For a small business owner like me, this is ideal as there is no way I would ever install or run my own Exchange server. This way I can take advantage of the Exchange technology without the cost.

How does it work?
Firstly, I delegated the MX mail record for one of my business domains to the Rain Cloud server. I used the DNS functionality attached to my web content management system - dead easy to do. Once that was done the Rain Cloud guys built my profile, creating my username and password.
Then, using Apple's Microsoft Exchange integration, built into the Mac OSX operating system, I created an Exchange account on Apple Mail, iCal, Address Book and Entourage. (We had to download the latest update for Entourage and install their web server version - but very simple)
On my iPhone, I added a Microsoft Exchange account, turned off my POP3 and MobileMe accounts and away I went. The beauty of the Rain Cloud is that all my mail folders, calendars and address books are synchronised across all programs and devices. If I add an iPad one day, I'll just add the Exchange server to its configuration.

I did have to make a decision to set-up a new business e-mail address, but owning the relevant domains made that an obvious thing to do. (Bigpond POP3 accounts don't have this option)
I have gone into the Webmail function of each of my POP3 addresses and forwarded them to the new business e-mail address. Using Exchange rules I then sort these into the appropriate Exchange folders which appear on all my devices and programs.

I can also access all the above via Outlook Web Access from any web connected computer from anywhere in the world.

Pluses

1. All my e-mail folders, contacts and calendar items appear in sync on all my devices and programs and updating the data in one spot replicates instantly across all the others.
2. I can now send e-mails from my iPhone and have them sent instantly, plus have these sent items appear on my laptop.
3. I can use Exchange's out-of-office and other functions across my devices
4. All my e-mails from all my various accounts appear in the one place, without multiple log-ons to each site.
5. The RainCloud guys back-up their server every day, so if I do lose everything, they can rescue me.
   

Negatives

1. I miss the coloured calendar items from iCal. They still work, but not in the Rain Cloud calendar. Limitation of Exchange Calendar.
2. Notes doesn't seem to work across Exchange in Entourage
   

Cost
This is quite reasonable - talk to the team at Digerati Solutions.

Mary McKillop and all that press ...

If you live in Australia and especially Sydney, you will have noticed a huge amount of press interest in the Canonisation of Sister Mary McKillop. Australian TV newsreaders and current affairs reporters are all over the story with live crosses to the Vatican and Rome to report on the event.
Never has such coverage been given to what is essentially a religious event.
Got me thinking as to why … and here are a few thoughts.

1. The life of Mary McKillop (read about it here) was truly remarkable. She endured rejection and excommunication from her church and then founded her own religious order.
2. There are 5,126,884 Catholics in Australia (2006 Census), who all watch television and read newspapers, so it makes economic sense to cover a story that is of interest to over 5 million people.
3. The Catholic Church do spectacle and ceremony really well so the event works for television networks and it will play here on a Sunday evening, just right for prime-time viewing, AND
   
4. Media outlets are keen to promote Christian faith as they understand its importance to life and eternity …
   

STOP PRESS. Sorry, that last one slipped in .. wishful thinking on my part!

1. It's safe. None of this Jesus stuff and asking Him into your life that evangelical protestant Christians are always on about. This is history and pageantry which doesn't ask us to consider where we stand on the subject.

Some secular columnists have raised questions like, "what about all those other people who prayed to Mark McKillop and who weren't healed? How is that Mary is supposed to have healed the two women whose cures led to her being Canonised but no one else?"

Ever since Christ walked the earth, people have asked him for healing. Asking 'via' someone who has lived a life of commitment to the poor and marginalised, as Mary McKillop did, is a particularly Catholic tradition. Why or how that makes the request more (or less) likely to be heard is something that I don't understand and neither it seems, does the Bible.

But, raising these sorts of issues in the public space means that all Christians can get involved in the debate about faith, healing and what good does the Church do anyway.

Bible vs Mobile phone

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our mobile phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to our kids as a gift?
What if we used it when we travelled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go ... hmm ... where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing;
Unlike our mobile, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus has already paid the account.

Toy Television - Why can't newspapers do better with their on line videos?

Everyone knows that the line between newspapers and television is blurring - especially when it comes to the delivery of news.
The Sydney Morning Herald web site has a video segment on most of their stories. Sometimes its a lift from a TV station's news service, sometimes it's something they've shot themselves. Invariably the stuff they shoot themselves is pretty poorly done. Take this example. In the first still frame, three of their IT guys discuss the pluses and minuses of the iPhone 4.0. Good idea and what they say makes sense. (Click here)
Sadly the way it was shot does not. Intercut with this clean, three shot (which is obviously chroma keyed) are cutaways (singles and two shots) without the chroma key - just the green cyc. You can see this in the second still frame. What were they thinking?
This is amateur television at its worst. Any experienced TV director or producer would have fixed this or not let it out on the 'Net. The problem is of course, they're print journalists and sadly the medium of television is still a mystery to them.

Gloria Jeans Coffees - another bouquet

In a follow up to my story of a few days ago, I went into my local Gloria Jeans Coffees store yesterday to be presented with one of their coffee grounds storage jars by John, the owner. It has a vacuum pump on top to help keep the coffee fresh and as you can see, its a handy size and compliments my expresso machine.
Thanks John - I can see why your store won the best new franchise last year. Great customer service.