Macbook | Glenn Ward

Record / Screen Capture what you do on your XBox or PS3 as video footage

Ok, I’ve been doing a bit of usability testing recently and thought I’d push the boundaries of what I can record and offer as video output. In theory anything with a video out I can record, so there was no problem with most mobile phone devices so I thought i’d rig up and record my gaming.

Here’s the xBox and ps3 setup. I used an Apple MacBook Pro to record the video with a Formac Studio analogue to digital converter. It meant that I could take a digital signal to the computer and still run the xBox into the TV and keep playing a game.

Couple of things about the ps3, sometimes, on some tv’s you’ll have trouble with the analogue inputs so you have to go into the playstation menu while you are in your usual setup and then select analogue and restart. Not going to talk you through the setup it’s pretty self explainitory although here it is

And here is some sample footage.

Apple MacBook trackpad fingertip shortcut strokes

I was amazed how many people with MacBooks did not make full use of the mouse pad fingertip shortcuts so here’s a few to get you started.

Firstly, quite obviously the entire pad is a button.

Two finger scrolling, by placing two fingers on the pad a stroking up and down you can scroll pages with ease.

Holding ctrl and placing two fingers on the trackpad allows you to zoom in on the macs screen.

Zoom in, similarly to the iPhone you can zoom in by placing your fingers together and pinching open.

Zoom out, pinching closed zooms out.

Rotate, place your thumb and index finger on the trackpad and rotate the two together. This is especially useful in programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

Four fingers up for expose, place all four fingers on the pad and then throw then up, this will throw all your windows away from the desktop and allow you to choose your next program.

Four fingers down for expose, place all fingers on the trackpad and drag them towards you, this will place all of your windows on your desktop for you to select your next navigation.

Four fingers left / right, reveals all your open programs, using one finger your can scroll through and select similarly to tabbing through programs in Windows.

Three fingers scroll to navigate, scroll through folders of images etc

For more detail click Apple > System Preferences > Trackpad

Obvious improvements from Mac OSX Leopard 10.5 to Snow Leopard 10.6

I bought the upgrade to Mac OSX Mainly for the performance upgrades, demands on the computer and hard disk space. Here are the obvious changes (not always upgrades) I noticed so far.

iTunes
When I updated iTunes I noticed that the iTunes welcome screen opened at program start up. No obvious change to the program and everything was as it was.

Mail
I opened Mail and it reconfigured, again everything was as I left it, I’m guessing it’s the improvements to Microsoft Exchange Server that was the main change there.

QuickTime
I must say I almost had a almost had a heart attack when I opened the new Quicktime player, it’s gone all consumer with share instead of export and limited functionality much like when Apple wound the clock back on iMovie. Fortunately I managed to find the legacy player still on the machine Applications > Utilities > Quicktime 7 player with all he old functionality… Few!!

I didn’t check the free Hard Drive space when I did the upgrade but apparently you will get 7 gigs of disc space back. I have noticed speed improvements but the MacBook was pretty quick to begin with although I have not noticed the fan kick in for a while which probably indicates a reduced demand on the hardware.

Oh and the Desktop has changed. Granted this post hasn’t been as in depth as I first envisaged so ask me any questions and I shall test it out for you!

Media Streaming, MacBook Pro, PS3, Xbox 360, MediaLink, iTunes Part 1

I grew tired of having loads of tech, loads of tunes, loads of software but still limited by not being in the right place or not having a lead long enough, so I set about improving my technical life. I started with my music, I have a 2.1 surround sound system plugged into my TV with an iPhone dock in it yet I hardly ever dock the iPhone and only have access to 8 gigs of music…

MacBook Pro (iTunes) to PS3
I downoaded Media Link and installed it on the Mac. Once installed go to your system preferences, register your software then under the iTunes tab make sure you are sharing your library. Use your settings here to share anything else you wish to make available. Go onto your PS3 and scroll left to the music icon, scroll down to search for media servers. Your Null River Media Link icon should appear in the menu system. Scroll down to your music and browse the folders as you would your playlist, providing the music is in a exognisable format for your ps3 you should hear tunage.

MacBook Pro to Xbox 360
I then set about doing the same for the xbox and soon gave up, Mac, Microsoft! Bad combination

iPhone to MacBook Pro (iTunes)
Apple have made a nifty little app that doesn’t ship with the iPhone software. It’s a handy little WiFi remote control available on the app store it gives you full access to you iTunes library as long as you are withing range and you HD is not asleep. Very easy to set up and most importantly FREE.

iPhone to Macbook Pro (full operating system)

Given the nature of my job a high proportion of my time is spent video editing which means I struggle to work from home or on location like many others. As an experiment I decided to play with remote desktop. I have worked for a company in the past that tapped into the company server using remote access and in turn could remote desktop to any one of the PCs as long as it was on. Security is extremely high on the company network so I began testing to see if I could log onto my laptop at home from my iPhone. I began by setting up a logmein.com account and installing the relevant software locally on the MacBook. Logmein also a produce a tidy little app called logmein ignition which provides a seamless iPhone interface to operate Mac OSX. Before I invested the £17.99 I tested the theory by merely using safari on the phone (didn’t work) I also wanted to know what kind of speeds we would be looking at. When I attempted through a Firefox browser logmein required the installation of further software and an active x control in Internet explorer. The connection from work to home on the first test went well. As you can imagine there is no delay on programs loading at the remote end but the refresh speed locally was slow. I am presuming the wireless connection a distance away from the router does not help. I am slightly reluctant to test the logmein ignition app on the iPhone as I don’t think it will be able to handle the tasks I need to perform over wifi but especially over the 3G network ( I wonder if an iPhone 3G S would help)

MobileMe
The subscription has put me off the MobileMe software. I really don’t know whether it would improve my efficiency that much that I can justify paying the recurring price tag. But, I am rubbish with dates and having a work calender and a home calender does not help. Often the email I need for some information on a particular task will be on my laptop at home.

Part 2 coming when I am considerably richer and invest in a home entertainment system.