How I Make My Videos

I don't know about you, but when I am watching a video, tv show, or movie, I wonder how that made it. So, this week in light of the Christmas season and the fact that I will be taking a week off, I have put up a longer than usual two part video on how I make my videos. I walk you through all the programs that I use to capture, prepare, edit, and convert all of videos. I hope this video will not only satisfy your curiosity, but give you some ideas on who you could do this on your own. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I will get to them as soon as possible. Other than that, I wish you and your family a happy holiday season, and a great new year. I will have lots of content up after Christmas of new things I got etc. Until then, enjoy. **Remember: as always watch in HD for the best experience.**

Part 1

Part 2

Monitoring Your Mac's Heart Rate

Have you ever been working on your Mac and then it just all of the sudden slows way down? Well this probably means that you are running out of RAM. But, how would you know this? Well, you use some type of monitoring tool such as Apple's built in System Monitor. But this requires you to have a whole window open, and therefore it is not very convenient. There is an alternative though. iStat menus. This allows you to monitor your computer from the menu bar. (that is the one with the clock in it) This means that you can just look in your menu bar to see things like: fan speed, cpu usage, temperatures, and hard drive status. So, watch the video below to find out how to set this up.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Pimp Out Safari Using Glims

I use Safari as my main web browser, with Firefox as a backup. Now I have nothing ageist Firefox at all, as a matter of fact I have it on my mac as a backup and for uploading youtube videos (the uploader crashes Safari). But, one thing I do wish Safari had is add-ons. Now, in this tutorial, I am going to be showing you how you can somewhat achieve this. I am going to be showing you who to use a program called Glims. Now, Glims is not going to give you add-ons like Firefox ha, but it will atlas offer you some customizability to Safari. It allows you to tweak just about everything from tab management, to search engines. So, yes I would recommend Glims to every Safari user, and before I bore you any more by typing on and on, watch the video below and see for yourself what Glims can do for you.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Renaming Multiple Files at Once in OS X

I know we have all been there, you have a folder full of files and you need to add something after the name of each of them. This is a task that most people choose to do the hard way, by renaming each file individually. However if you want a program to rename all of the files for you, then you might have invested in some software that can do that kind of stuff. What I bet you didn't know though, is that you can do this for free on any installation of OS X. The application you will be using is called Automator. Now, as well as being very useful in many ways that people have no clue of, Automator also possesses the capability to rename things in a batch fashion. In the video below, I show you how to build a simple 2 step workflow that will have you batch renaming files in less than five minutes. So without further ado, enjoy.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

USing the Equalizer in iTunes

If you know a little bit about music, sound, or acoustics, then you probably know what an equalizer is. It is a device that allows you to adjust the different frequencies of sound. In this video, I show you how to get to, and how to use the equalizer in iTunes. So, whether you just want to make your songs sound better, or you want to make it sound a certain way just for fun, this video will show you how to do it.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Translating Things for Free

Problem: you are surfing the internet and you come across a site that has the information you need, but it is in a language that you can't read.

Solution: Google Translator

In the video below I show you how you can take advantage of the free Google Translator, and its abilities to translate… well just about everything. You can translate text, or even enter the URL to an entire website and it will translate it all for free. Enjoy.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

How to Download Youtube Videos

Have you ever wanted to download youtube videos to watch on your computer or ipod? Well it is a simple process that can easily be done a ton of different ways. However, for this video I am going to show you two and tell you about one.
The first tool I would like to mention is KeepVid. KeepVid is a very simple website that allows you to paste in a link to a youtube video and it will give you a link to download in either .mp4 or .flv format.
The next two that I am going to tell you about are MPEG StreamClip and a Firefox Addon. These are both things that you install on your computer to download videos, but they offer more functionality. So to find out more information about them watch the video below.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

View Fonts Installed on Your Mac

If you are like me then sometimes it is hard to fins a font that you like. Well, did you know that there is a built in application on your Mac that can help you with this? Font Book is the name. and viewing fonts is the game. Font Book will easily allow you to see all the fonts that you have installed on your computer. It will also allow you to print out a catalog of all the fonts on your computer if you would like. So, without further ado watch the video below to find out who to use this nifty little app.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Use Screen Saver as Background in OS X

If you have not heard a windows vista machine is able to run a screen saver as the desktop background. Well up until now that has been one small thing that the PC enthusiasts were able to get me on. But now I have screen saver. Screen Saver is a nifty little dashboard widget that will allow you to run an OS X screen saver as your desktop background. Watch the video embedded below to find out who to get and use this neat little pice of freeware.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Cleaning Out Mac With Onyx

As you might know your mac will slow down over time. It does not matter what you do with your mac as long as it is on it will slow down over time. Now don't get scared because it is nothing drastic like windows when you would have to reinstall the OS and you won't have to reinstall OS X either. The thing that happens is overtime files left over from unused programs and caches that never got cleaned pile up on your hard drive. This not only takes up valuable space, but it slows down your overall productivity as well. Now, there are a host of programs to do these tasks as well as you can do it on your on manually. However I am going to be showing you Onyx in this video. Onyx is a free program for doing various things to your mac like maintenance and changing secret settings. You can download Onyx Here. Without further ado, please watch the video below in order to find out how to use this program. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Quicktip #18- Announce Time OS X

In this quick tip I show you how to make your mac talk to you. Most people don't know this because it is a bit hidden, but you can make your mac announce the time to you. You can set it to announce it on the hour, every 30 minutes, or every 15 minutes. You can also select the specific voice that you want it to use. As you probably could expect the voices don't sound realistic, but it is still a good way to keep track of your time.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Quick Tip #17-Web Clips

This is quick tip #17. In this video I walk you through how to capture a section of a web page and display it in dashboard. This is really useful for capturing the latest posts section of a website so you can see what is going on there at a moments glance.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #7

In this episode of Southern Fried Geeks, there was a whole lot going on. In episode 7, we discussed the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. Yes, we know it's old news, but we haven't shot the show in so long! There was lots to talk about, such as Bing and Yahoo mail, which we both had mixed opinions about. Later, I(kung fu gamer) brought my waterproof camera onto the set to do a little dissection, which didn't go as planned as you'll see in the video. I sort of combined the dissection and destroying, but it was still good. Finally, the last thing we discussed was the Did You Know? video which was very informative. Overall, it was a good episode of Southern Fried Geeks and we'll hope you come back for more!

P.S.
We have gotten a new set!!!! We just got rid of the whole table/chair/tv thing, and just transitioned to a new, more relaxed set with fancy chairs.

Koss Earbud Review

Last week I put up an unboxing video for the Koss headphones and now it is time for the review. Keep in mind that I have had these for much longer that 1 week. Thanks to video backlogging on my part most of my content is over a month old. Anyway, I personally think that videos are better for reviews so I am just going to tell you that I am very pleased with these headphones and they have a great sound for the price. To really find out what I think about them watch the video below.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Koss Earbuds Unboxing

After using my Apple iPod headphones for over a year they finally got to the point where I had to get some new ones. At first I just though I would just buy some more Apple ones as they seemed to fit me well; I may be the only one but… Anyway I decided to try and find some other ones so I went into the local Walmart (I know not the best tech store) and looked for some earbuds. I found these Koss ones and decided to give them a try. So far I have been really happy with them and you can check by for the review video that will be out later this week. Feel free to leave any comments or questions about anything you like. Also if you prefer you can always contact me using the "contact me" page on this blog.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Well the time has come and the newest version of OS X is here. Snow Leopard has arrived and has brought many improvements under the hood. I installed Snow Leopard last night and so far the only thing that I have had problems with is Final Cut Express. That is a BIG problem for me and I suspect it has to do with the new Quick Time X architecture, but I am not sure. Other than that though I am really impressed. There are not as many new features as people would like to see, but the OS is faster and seems to be no as clunky. I was happy to get back 7 GB of HD though.

There are a few thins that you should know before you upgrade though. iStat Menus, Cyberduck, Final Cut Express, and Quick Time X youtube uploads have not worked for me. But that is to be expected as this is the first few days of the OS and there are bound to be problems that have been unforeseen. However most of these problems are minor and don't effect most people there are currently alphas and betas of these applications that are working fine in Snow Leopard.

Don't let this stop you from upgrading though. You might want to wait a week or so for the kinks to be worked out, but there are no real problems. Overall the OS is a nicer, faster, and smoother version of Leopard. Things that people have been asking for are now here. (IE date in menu bar) And thing are just more refined and thought out. The videos below show the install and setup process of Snow Leopard and I will have a review video out next week.

Part 1

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Part 2

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Quicktip #16- Terminal Counting

Have you ever wondered what came after a trillion? Well the answer lies in terminal. Terminal can talk. Thats right terminal can talk and better yet count. The video below will show you how to make terminal count for you. Also if you know what SSH is then you can log into your unsuspecting friends computer and have it talk to him/her. You really can have a lot of fun with that one. So with out further delay, enjoy.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks News Flash 8/23/09

In this short little video we outline what is going to be happening with Southern Fried Geeks over the course of the next month or so. We are going to be taking the month of August off and will try to be back the first full week in September. See you then!

Here is a link to the original post at Southern Fried Geeks Website

Android Emulator

By now I am sure that you have heard of the new devices that are being powered by Google's Android mobile OS. If you are on the fence about deciding whether you would like the phone r if you are just a geek and are wanting to see what all the rage is about then I have the perfect tip for you. However, before we get started I would like to let you know that this will require some advanced things in the command line since there is no GUI to operate this.
First off you need to go to The Android Developer Site and download the latest SDK for your platform. Then unzip the file to a convenient place and watch the video below to get started in setting up your android virtual device. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments area.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #6

This episode of Southern Fried Geeks was a rather interesting one considering that one main part of the episode didn't go as planned at all. However it was still funny and the rest of the episode is good. In the video below you are going to see an attempted jail break of an iPod Touch, the inside of a digital thermometer, and a quick look at Android OS. So what are you dong still reading this? Watch the video below and feel free to leave comments.

Making a Linux Server

In the video below I am going to show you how to make a web server on an old linux box. The only prerequisite is that you know a little about CLI interfaces and you can learn new things quickly. In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make a linux web server using Arch Linux and XAMPP. Please note that XAMPP is not meant for commercial use and may not be as secure as you would like. However if you follow the steps in order to secure the server you should be fairly safe. So watch the videos below and don't hesitate to leave comments and contact me.

Part 1

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Part 2

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Part 3

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BeFunky Photo Effect Site

If you are looking for a way to add some really cool effects to your pictures then this is the website for you. The website is Here and the video below will walk you through the process of uploading your pictures and adding effects to them. So enjoy, and don't be scared to leave comments and questions.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #5

This episode of Southern Fried Geeks is jam packed with loads of destruction and mayhem. We shoot a watermelon with a paintball gun, and destroy a keyboard with a hammer. So what are you doing still reading this? Watch the video below.



If you would like to see the full version of this post then go to the Southern Fried Geeks Website at Southernfriedgeeks.com

Mac Graphing Calculator

A while back I was given a math assignment that required us to use a graphing calculator on the computer. Now being that my school is narrow minded and only provided a program that would do this on a Windows machine I was left out to fend for my self. Anyway as I was searching for a graphing calculator that was free to install on my mac I was delighted to find that there was one built in. That's right there is a graphing calculator build into your Mac. It is in the utilities folder not the applications folder which is why it is a bit harder to find. Anyway without rambling on to far the video below will show you how to use it. Enjoy and don't be scared to leave comments and questions.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #4

In this episode of Southern Fried Geeks you are going to see the inside of an RC helicopter controller, Kung Fu Gamer is going to hammer fist a tooth brush, and we discuss Google Chrome OS and what it means to the rest of the market. So without further ado, enjoy.


You can find more information about Southern Fried Geeks at the official web site Southernfriedgeeks.com

Quick Tip #15- Custom Google Page

Quick Tip #15 is here and I am going to be showing you how you can use a service called You Hoogle. This service allows you to make a Google search page that has you name of what ever else you want it to say on it. If you have any questions feel free to contact me or leave them in the comments section.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Quick Tip #14- User Account Settings

In this quick tip I walk you through the various account settings that are available to you in OS X and I show you what they do. I hope this will help anybody out there who is new to the OS X platform and I hope this will help you get familiar with the settings that are available to you. After all that is who these quick tips are designed for is the new people that need a little bit of showing around. Enjoy and if you have any other questions feel free to leave them in the comments section or on the Contact Me page.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

LG Dare Review

A review is something that is best done with a video not words so without further ado, enjoy. Also if you have any other questions about the phone just leave them in the comments section.

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #3

You can see the full post and more Southern Fried Geeks content at our website: Southernfriedgeeks.com

Quick Tip #13- Veiw Hidden Files in OS X

If you are familiar with Windows you know that you can show hidden files by changing the folder options to show them. However in OS X you have to run a terminal command. There is a way that you can leverage the wonderful power of Automator to make this an easier operation. Watch the video below to see how. Also if you have any other questions leave them in the comments section or in the contact me page. Enjoy!
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Play More Formats in Quick Time

If you are familiar with Quick Time player then you should know that it doesn't really support very many video formats. Basically all that it covers out of the box is .mp4 .mov, and all the similar formats. If you are a person that tends to download and produce a lot of video then there is one tool that you absolutely should have. It is Perian Downloadable Here and it is the "Swiss Army Knife for Quick Time. Below is a video that is going to show you how to download, install, and configure the plugin. So without further delay, enjoy and feel free to comment.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Southern Fried Geeks Episode #2

In this episode we talk about a lady who was fined 1.9 million dollars for downloading illegal music from bit torrent,iPhone 3.0 OS, Pixar granting a girl's dying wish and lots more. The trailer is below and the link to the full episode is here: Click Here

iPhone 3.0 Installation

Well the time has finally come and iPhone OS 3.0 is here. This is just a quick video of me installing the new OS and then a very quick run through at the end. Check back early next week to see a video demonstrating all of the features. Until then enjoy and let me know what you think about the new OS and what is the biggest feature that you think should be there, but is not.

Quick Tip #12- Installing Programs in OS X

There are two main types of installation files for Mac OS X. .dmg and .pkg are the two most common and sometimes you can have a .pkg in a .dmg. This sounds confusing but it really is not. In this video I show you how to handle both of them and walk you through the process of installing programs on OS X. Enjoy and feel free to ask questions.

Main Menu

Have you ever wanted to get down and dirty with your mac. Do something like clearing the caches, restarting finder, or even run maintenance tasks? if you have then you should know that normally this is a hard thing to do. You would have to find the caches on your own, quit finder through terminal, and look for the commands to run for the maintenance tasks. There is a solution to all of this junk. Main Menu is an application that runs in the menu bard and allows you to access all kinds of system maintenance tasks.

If you didn't already know your Mac will get clogged up and become slower over time and it is a good thing to run some of these maintenance tasks to help keep it acting new. Watch the video below to find out more, and don't be afraid to ask questions as that is what I am here for.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

How to Install Drupal in MAMP

A few months ago I created a tutorial on how to install Wordpress using MAMP on Mac OS X. This is the same type if thing except it is just for Drupal rather than Wordpress. Now if you didn't know this Wordpress is designed for blogging more than anything else and Drupal is designed to make a whole website with all of the bells and whistles. You can get more information on Drupal at: Drupal's Web Site. And you can get more info about MAMP at MAMP's Web Site.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

OS X Planet

If you are like me setting a desktop background is really not something that you spend much time on. However it is nice to have something cool or maybe even something better than just a picture. There are a few things out there that will allow you to have something other than just a still photo as your background. One of those programs is OS X Planet. You can download it Here.
This is an application that allows you to have a live image of the Earth as your desktop background. In this video I show you how to set it up and use it. Enjoy and feel free to comment.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Test Post

Play Windows Media Files on Mac

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If you have a Mac then you probably know that there is not a version of Windows Media Player out there for it. Sure you can go and download the older ones and that may get the job done, but they don't work well with the new codecs. Don't be worried though there is a program out there and it is called Flip4Mac. Just Google it and you will be able to find it. It is a program that Microsoft makes which allows Quicktime Player to be able to handle WMV (and others) file formats. If you do not have this installed on your mac already then you need to and this video will show you how. If you have ever run across a web page and gotten an error along them lines of MMIE missing then this is most likely why. INstalling Flip4Mac will not fix all of the problems, but it will fix a good portion of them. Also stay tuned for another video soon that shows you how to get your Mac to play some of the open source and less common Codecs.

Convert Video For Free on Your Mac

If you have a Mac and you edit videos you know that your selection of programs for video converting is small. There are plenty out there and most of them do a great job, but very few of them are free. Most people would settle for Quicktime Pro which is a pro version of Apple's quicktime that allows you to do basic edits and conversions to videos. Quicktime Pro is what I use and I am happy with it, but that was before I found this free application that does basically the same thing. The application I am speaking of is MPEG Stream Clip.

This is a free application that will do conversions from just about any format to just about any other format. It is free and you can download it here Download. Once you get it ready on installed just feel free to watch the video below as it will show you how to use the program and give you a basic run through.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]

Quick Tip #11- Hidden Files OS X

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HP Pocket Photo Frame Unboxing

This is a photo frame from HP that is really small and made to be carried in a purse or pocket. In this video I am unboxing it and giving a quick overview of the product.

[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here or click watch in HD in the player here and make it full screen.]



By the way I am sorry for not having much of a post this week, but I am really busy with the end of the school year and such. Not to worry though I am going to be producing a lot of content this summer.

Quick Tip #10- Add Holidays in iCal

This is a video that I made in which I show you how to add US holidays into Apple's iCal by subscribing to a internet feed.
[NOTE: In order to get this in Full 1080p HD so you can see the screen you are going to have to click this link then click to watch in HD. Click Here]

How will Technology Effect Education

For this week I didn't have a video due to technical difficulties with youtube so I thought I would post a research paper that I made for my 8th grade english class. This paper is about how the education system is way behind the modern day technology. Feel free to leave comments.

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How Technology Will Effect Education
Computers are advancing at a blinding speed; this will change the way that education is handled in ways that can not yet be imagined. Education in its current state is way behind its time. Changes need to be made to the way that schools around the world are teaching this so called net-generation. The Net-Gen learns differently than the older industrial age children did. The Net-Gen requires a more one-on-one form of education rather than the big class lectures. The net-generation is going to call for an education system that has been customized rather than one that is designed to fit a whole generation of kids.
When it comes to the advancing of technology, education is way behind. The new generation of students is going to require that teachers change the way that content is presented. “Instead of focusing on the teacher, the education system should focus on the student. Instead of lecturing, teachers should interact with students[…]encouraging them to collaborate” (Tapscott 5). One way to help students collaborate is through a new 21st century technology called wikis; wikis are a great education tool. If you set up a class wiki for a subject then students are allowed to communicate and learn while using social skills (Tapscott 5). All of this technology will allow students to discus and share what they have learned. Wikis also have potential to become a great source for student self help. This new form of collaborative technology will also enforce a new way of education. Rather than having the old form of education where there was one lesson given to a whole class, teachers should give custom lessons to specific people that are designed to help with the exact needs of that student (Tapscott 5).
There are many different things that are going to have to be done in order to make the change correctly. Mainly schools are going to have to help teachers change the way that they teach and how they test. Also schools are going to be required to get creative and make up ideas of how best to bring technology into the education system. The fact is that education is behind. The net-gen has grown up living in the 21st century, but the schools are still teaching like they did one-hundred years ago (Tapscott 122). The old method of education was learning as much as you can then use the knowledge as you need it later in life. This was fine for a slow placed world, but now we need to adapt to the fast moving world and how fast jobs are changing (Tapscott 122).
This is all great but where does an educator start to make change? What will be required? Due to the amount of high school and college drop-outs teachers should shift away from the old ways and begin to interact one-on-one with the students tending to their very unique needs (Tapscott 122). Teachers should help guide students students on their own to discover rather than getting up and giving a lecture (Tapscott 147). What this means is that teachers should be helping the students to find out things for their own rather than to just tell them the answer. One way that a teacher could do this is with hands-on activities. Schools should let students do hands-on activities and discover what they need to know for themselves. This method of learning is more fun and allows for better and easier remembrance (Tapscott 134).
When we do bring technology into the educational system there will be many advantages. It will open new doors to the way the people communicate and learn. It will allow people to gather information in more productive ways. For example, if a student needed help with a school subject then all you have to do is join a private video chat with the instructor or with a classmate (Darling 24). The Educations system could even take this technology one step further and use it as an alternative to a classic class room environment. Imagine if instead of going to school a student could just join a video conference with your teacher and the rest of the class (Darling 24). Schools could save a lot of money by not holding classes in an actual building. Schools could have students and teachers join a virtual video conference and hold class in a virtual room. This would not only allow schools to save money, it would mean that students could attend from all around the world. Students would not have to be on the actual campus to attend class. This could be a major advancement in technology and it would have many advantages. Video chatting may just be the school of the future.
The hardest and most challenging obstacle that will present itself when changes are being made to the education system is helping the teachers to change the way that they teach. The thing, is that educators may think that old fashioned lectures are still important, but the kids do not (Tapscott 126). Do not worry though if teachers try to change they will find that for the most part it is well worth its work and helps make more productive classes. This is what one teacher had to say about her class. “When I put computers is my math class and moved the curriculum to a virtual environment class was more fun, scores were up and I know more about the kids” (Tapscott 144). The teachers will also be able to use the technology to easily monitor how the students are doing (Tapscott 144). This will allow them to tend to the particular needs of each student. The hardest thing for teachers to do is realize that things have changed, “The teachers are no longer the foundation of knowledge, the internet is” (Tapscott 126). Teachers are going to have to be open minded when it comes to changing and realize that all of this is for the better good in the end. To go along with the open minded statement teachers are also going to have to accept the fact that they do not know how to use this new technology as well as some of the kids do. This can be the cause for many arguments, unless it is not handled in the correct way. This is what one teacher said about her experience with computers in her class where she let the students teach the teachers about the computers; “The students were impressed to see that teachers did what they told students not to do. They gossiped etc. This is a good lesson for students to learn and helps with student-teacher bonding” (Tapscott 145).
This is a good way for teachers to learn what the students think about the use of technology as well.
One problem if you do not change is that there will be students not interested in the curriculum. No problem right? They will just have to deal with it. The problem with the motive is that students are not going to put work into something that they are not interested in. This is one of the reasons that there are increasing drop-out rates all over the world. Students are not being as interested by the curriculum that is being taught. They then begin to wonder how it is going to help them in life and drop-out of school when they come to the false conclusion that it is not. One third of all Americans never make it all the way to the end of high school, and it is getting worse (Tapscott 123). (See figure 1.) Also, most drop-outs reported that they thought their classes were just not interesting or were boring (Tapscott 126). Just to further expose the problem with the education system read this quote given by the Gates Foundation. “The sad truth, according to a 2006 report by the Gates Foundation, is that most of the students could have made it” (Tapscott 126). There are so many kids that are not reaching their full potential due to lack of interest and education costs (Tapscott 123). We can fix some of the drop-out problems by simply changing the format from industrial education to a new one (Tapscott 122). The fact of the matter is that we are allowing too many students to simply drop-out of school just because the education to this point has been too stubborn to change the ways that it presents material to the students.
In order to tend to the needs of the net-gen teachers first have to understand how the net-gen learns. A lot has changed when it comes to how students learn, and how they do their work. Net-Gen kids are not contempt with sitting quietly and listening to a lecture (Tapscott 126). Net-generation students learn by doing things. If there is a new computer program that they need to learn how to use they would rather open it and fiddle around than look through a huge manual on how to use it (Oblinger 4.2). Most net-gen students would benefit more from having collaborative projects rather than having exams (Tapscott 131). The pattern seems to be that net-gen students are more into hand on and collaborative learning and teachers should tend to this. “Students are individuals who have individual ways of learning and absorbing information” (Tapscott 139). Teachers should really try and help the net-gen students with their specific needs. It is more work for teachers, but it is what the net-gen is going to require. Teachers should listen to the net-gen for the way forward. After all it is them that will be running the future not the teachers (Tapscott 127). In educating the net-gen teachers are going to be under a lot more pressure than they are currently. The net-generation is poised to become the most educated ever, and we need to prepare (Tapscott 123). Teachers need to try and help the net-gen students learn for themselves rather than teaching them topics from a book because “It’s not what you know that counts anymore; it’s what you can learn” (Tapscott 127).
One thing that needs to happen as schools begin to educate and tend to the needs of the net-gen they are going to have to try harder to include computers into the everyday activities. Some children are more motivated to do work when it involves a computer rather than pencil and paper (Tapscott 143). The net-gen would much rather use e-mail, message boards, and credit cards instead of U.S. mail, posters, and cash or checks. This means that older generations are going to have to adapt to the needs of the net-gen, or get out of the way (Oblinger 5.12). There are many good things that will come out of entering computers into the education system. “Schools are like businesses in many ways and can use computers fir many of the same tasks” (Hintz 69). Computers can be used to type forms and order sheets. They can also allow the ability to take online tests (Hints 69). Also computers won’t replace your teacher, but they still can help you learn (Hintz 73).
When adding computers to schools there are bound to be problems as well. One problem when includeing computers into the class room is that the students often know more about computers than teachers. This can cause frustration on both sides. The way to fix this though is to let the kids teach the teachers how to use computers (Tapscott 145). One tech-savvy teacher said, “I believe that computers can’t live up to their full potential as an education toll if they are deployed through the old fashioned education system that relied on teachers to deliver content” (Tapscott 143). Once the students and the teachers get over the fact that they do not know how to use the computers as well as they think, other problems are bound to crop up. Teachers usually encourage students not to work with others and to be quiet, In many cases children are rewarded for this (Hardin). A student named Chris set up a Facebook group to get help on his project. The professor didn’t like this and Chris was threatened to be expelled. What is wrong with using the internet to connect with other people to get help (Tapscott 137)? This is just an example of some of the rules that are going to have to be revised in order to make the transition to a technology based education system go smoothly. One other problem is that there is always going to be a group of people that oppose the use of technology. They do this mainly because they don’t understand. Rather than sitting there blaming computers and the internet for making the old ways of educating useless, you need to adapt to the new needs of the net-gen students (Tapscott 126).
Technology is advancing at a extremely fast speed. It is leaving education behind and this is something that we need to stop. The older generations are going to have to adapt to the new age technology and not hold people back. It is now up to the older generations to adapt and teacher the younger generations the skills they will need to advance; after all it will be them running the civilizations of the future. There are many things that are wrong with the education system currently and they need to be fixed as soon as possible. The following information is facts taken from a college class. Hopefully these will encourage people to change the education system.
¥ The average college class size is 115.
¥ Eighteen percent of my teachers actually know my name.
¥ I complete 49% of the reading assigned to me.
¥ I buy $100 text books I will never open.
¥ I will read 8 books this year, 2300 webpages and 1281 Facebook profiles.
¥ I will write 42 pages for class this semester and 500 pages of e-mails.
¥ When I graduate, I probably will have a job that doesn’t exist today.
(Tapscott 121)
Works Cited
Darling, David. Computers of the Future. Parsippany: Dillon, 1996.
Hardin, Joseph, John, Ziebarth. Digital Technology and its Impact on Education. 200. University
of Illinois at Urban-Champaign. 13 Feb. 2009 .
Hintz, Sandy, Martin Hintz. Computers in Our World Today and Tomorrow. New York: Watts, 1983.
Tapscott, Don. Grown up Digital: How the Next Generation is Changing the World. New
York: Mc Graw-Hill, 2009.
Oblinger, Diana, James Oblinger. Educating the Net-Generation. 2005. Educause. 21
Feb 2009

Play iPod on Portable DVD Player

On my way to Orlando studios I needed a way to entertain myself. I used my iPod, but why settle for the small screen when you can use a much larger one? In this video I show you how I got my iPod to connect to my portable DVD player. The whole thing casts about $70 (not counting iPod and DVD player). So, without further adieu enjoy.

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Quick Tip #9- How to Transfer MAMP Site to a Web Server

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Quick Tip #8- Fade Out Audio in Final Cut

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Microsft Ad #2 Comments

Microsoft has yet again added a new candidate to their vault of ads. This new ad which is still based on the PCs are cheaper argument is once again proving to raise awareness on the inter webs. What is funny though is that isn't this what an ad is supposed to do? Aren't we giving Microsoft exactly what they want by causing all of this commotion over one ad? The answer is yes, but what they heck I am not going to stop, I am addicted to this stuff. Here is what I think about the new ad. PS: This one is not as extreme as the last video.
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MS AD Rant Response (Part 2)

As you might know I posted a video a few days ago about what I though about the new Microsoft AD. I know that this made quite a bit of you mad and today i am going to give you my real (as un-biast as I can get it) opinion on the Mac vs PC debates. Keep in mind that I am a Mac lover so some of my points are leaned towards the Mac side, but hey Windows 7 is looking good Microsoft just don't ruin it before now and August. So without further adieu here is the video.

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New Microsoft AD Rant

Microsoft has yet again started a new ad campaign trying to get people to buy PCs rather than Macs. The new ads show a young lady that would like to get a laptop with a 17" screen for under $1000.00. She first tries the Apple Store (Funny how she goes there first) and then comes out empty handed saying that the only sub 1000 dollar computer they had was a 13". She then goes on to another stores and buys a HP laptop. In the following keynote I show you what I think and give a realistic cost of ownership comparison between the baseline MacBook Pro and a HP of the same caliper.

Click to play

I know this will make a lot of your mad so please post a comment and let me know what you think.

Quick Tip #7- Printer Set Up

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Bring Back Old Tabs in Safari 4

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Quick Tip #6- Status Bar in Safari 4 Beta

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How do I Make my Podcasts?

For anyone who has wondered how I edit my podcasts, well this is how. At least this is how I used to. I am now using Final Cut Express and there will be a video on that out at some point. Enjoy and don't be scared to comment.

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Quick Tip #5 Setting up iChat

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iPod Shuffle (Early 2009)

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Quick Tip #4 Adding Accounts in Mail

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New Macs (Early 2009)

Well Apple has come through again and released a new set of their desktop computers. Some upgrades are not really that great though. Apple has updated their Mac Mini, Mac Pro, and iMac systems. All of these systems have seen upgrades in the Graphics, RAM, Hard Drive, and CPU departments. Watch the video to find out more. Comment and let me know what you think about the update to the new Macs.

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Desk Tour

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I figures that since every other geek out there has video his or her set up, that I would video mine. So here it is enjoy.

Quick Tip #3 Tuning in GarageBand

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Xo Laptops

My Mom is a school teacher and her school recently distributed XO laptops to all of the students. AN XO laptop is a laptop that is very cheap to make and is designed to be given out as a cheap and function computer to kids all over the world. My Mom was able to get a hold of one of these and brought it home. I decided to check it out and here is what I think.
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Thank you and please comment. What are your thoughts on the Xo laptops.

Safari 4

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Well the good ol' secretive Apple has released a new version of Safari. Safari 4 Public Beta. There are many changes in the product. There are some that are great and some that are kinda pointless.

The first thing that I want to go over is the Top Sites feature. If you have ever used Google Chrome then you will be familiar with this. This essentially a home page that is quick loading and shows you a visual array of your top visited sites. This will be a great replacement to all of you out there who have Google set as your home page. I had about:blank for my home page before, but know I will keep it at this considering that Top Sites is just as fast.

Also in the same Top Sites page there is a place to have access to all of your history. you can open up a nice overflow view and search through it visually or by typing the name of the site. This is a huge improvement over just having the menu drop down for your history.

The big "A" has also improved the engine on which the browser loads its pages with. Safari now is officially the fastest web browser that you can get your hands on. Pages load so fat in fact that Apple has decided to remove the page load status from the URL field. I have found that the new Safari 4 really does load pages a lot faster than Safari 3.

Apple has made some interface changes as well. To start off with, the most obvious thing and most annoying is the new tab management. I didn't really like it at first, but I guess I can get used to it. The tabs are now at the very top of the window. (See the video above for more information.) Also they have made Safari look like a native Windows app; that is if you are running Windows. This is a great improvement because I know of quite a few people that wouldn't use Safari because they said it just looked ugly along with the rest of their applications.

Be sure to watch the video for what I think about the new browser from Apple. Overall I am pretty impressed. Please comment and let me know what you think.

Quick Tip #2 Audio Fade in iMovie

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Google Earth 5.0

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There is a new version of Google Earth out if you haven't heard that already. Google Earth 5.0. There are a few new things that have been added in the new version and there are some old bugs that have been fixed. Ironically there are now new bugs that will have to be fixed in the future.

The first and probably the coolest feature of Google Earth5.0 is the Ocean View. The essentially allows you to access articles on the ocean and get an under water view of things. This is long over due since in the post the ocean was just blue uncharted land.

The next thing is historical imagery. If you zoom in on a spot and turn on the historical imagery layer than you will be presented with a date slider. This allows you to change the month a year of the picture that you are looking at. This is kinda cool if you want to see what your house looked like 20 years ago.

The last thing that I wont to go over is the new feature to record what you are seeing. Google calls this tour recording. Its almost like a screen cast of Google Earth. It allows you to show some one around a town with some commentary. This is all great, but the format is Google Earth's own. This means that you can't as of this point export your tours to a MPEG-4 file or anything else for that mater. Considering how open Google usually is I would suspect that some kind of export feature is on its way.

So that is Google Earth 5.0. They have added a lot of cool new features and I would suggest upgrading; after all it is free. Please comment and let me know what you think about what Google has done with Google EArth 5.0.

Quicktip #1- Dock

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz3NVoyGbcU

This is the first of what will hopefully be a series that I will continue. I am going to be doing quick tips. One every other day or so and they will be showing people some lesser known things that you can do in OS X that will save you time. I hope you like it and please comment.

iMovie '09 Demo

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This is the iMovie '09 demo. iMovie '09 is included in the iLife 2009 suit which is available at Apple's Website. The new version if iMovie has a lot of new features to offer and is a real improvement over iMovie '08. The thing was with iMovie '08 that they had removed so many basic features that most movie makers will use. They have fixed this problem in iMovie '09. That means if it was the features that were holding you back from upgrading then you should get this. However if you are still using iMovie HD ('06) because you like the timeline view than you are out of luck. (They have removed the iMovie HD download from the site by the way.) I think if you gave the new interface a chance then you would like it once you got used to it. If you are still longing for the timeline view then stay with iMovie HD, gripe some more to the big "A" or get something else. OS now lets get to the new features,as there are quite a few.

They have added a new advanced editing mode in iMovie '09 that turns on more advanced features that novice people would not know about. Included in this "advanced" feature they have given us an advanced editor. It really is hard to get used to at first, but as usual you find that it is really intuitive once you get to know your way around. You just have to play with it a little bit.

The next thing that Apple has added are the per-built themes. These make it really easy to edit a video. All you have to do is select a theme and iMovie will automatically mach up sound, transitions, titles, and more. This is a quick and easy way to impress people with a few simple steps.

One really neat thing that is now available to us is the travel maps. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones then you know what I am talking about. Remember that plane on the globe that shows up whenever he goes to a place? This is what travel maps is.

There is also now a video stabilization tool that will transform your video from making people sick to stunning your family members with the technology available at your hands with you Mac.

As usual there are also some other things that are like the icing on the cake. Apple has added a ton more titles and transitions along with a new full screen mode.

Overall I am impressed with iMovie '09. What do you think? Is ti enough to get you to upgrade? Let me know.

iWeb '09 Demo

[Insert Video Here]
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In this Video I demoed the new version of Apple's iWeb program, which is a great and easy way to create a website. They have not really added any new features, but they have improved old ones.

The first thing that I would like to note is that there are now considerably more themes. There is bound to be a theme in there that you will like. Keep in mind that all of theses themes are really nice looking. Apple has done a great job with looks.
Next Apple has improved the way that you add objects to your site. They have added a really easy to use bar on the right that ties into iLife to let you access the rest of your media.

Also included in the Media side bar is widget functionality. Apple had added a few of their won that would be useful for a everyday site. If you like to be a little more custom though then just add a custom HTML widget that will allow you to add in what ever you like.

Lastly, there is now a better way to upload your websites. Rather than uploading the whole site agin iWeb '09 looks for the files that have been changed and only uploads the files that have been changed, which makes for faster uploads. Also you can upload you site to your custom domain by simply using the FTP uploader.

So there is not much new in iWeb '09 and it is defiantly not a very motivating upgrade, however some of the other items may convince you to upgrade. As far as I am concerned iWeb '09 is simply icing on the cake. Please Comment

GarageBand '09 Demo

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This post is the next in the series of iLife '09 demo posts. This is the GarageBand 2009 post. Apple has made a few improvements in the music editing software, but will it be enough to persuade an upgrade? Lets find out.

They have added a new feature that allows you to basically have a virtual amp on your guitar. I have no clue how good this works because i don't have a guitar, but it will probably work well. This is a very simple thing that allows you to add basic effects and customize the sound of you guitar if you happen to be recording it.

The last thing that I would like to mention is the new lessons. This is really the most compelling feature that they have put into GarageBand '09. This essentially allows you to learn how to play either the guitar of the keyboard. There are (from what I can see) a wide variety of lessons that are $4.99 in the lesson store. GarageBand includes a few starter lessons to let you see if that is something that you would like to spend money on. This is overall the highlight of GarageBand '09 and it will be interesting to see if they will add more instruments later on.

So what do you think about GarageBand '09? I have not been able to test out most if the features and see how they work, so it would be nice to hear back from somebody to let me know how it is.

iPhoto '09 Demo

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If you didn't already know there is a new version of iLife out. Inside of the suit is the new iPhoto '09. iPhoto '09 is packed with new features.

The main thing that I would like to take note of is the Faces future. This is built in face recognition functionality that allows you to name people in your photos. iPhoto will then take the information that you have given it and use it to automatically identify photos in the future.

The next thing to take note of is places. Places will really shine if you have a camera the embeds geo tagging information into your photos when you take them. This will allow iPhoto to map out exactly where you were when this photo was taken. Don't fret though if you don't have a geo tagging camera, as you can still manually add meta date to your photos. The results won't be quite as exact as with a geo tagging camera, but it will still prove useful. Once you are done telling iPhoto the locations for your pictures it will then give you a nice map view of the pictures and where they were taken.

Some other things to note are the new slide show themes (which are really cool),advanced editing features ,direct uploading to facebook, and direct uploading to flickr.

All of the things that I have listed above are included in the video above this post. iPhoto '09 is a really slick photo managing program and will really help you keep your multitudes of photos stay organized without you even having to do much work. Please comment and let me know what your thoughts on the new version of iPhoto. Will you be upgrading?

Before I get started I would like to say that I am impressed with the new iLife suite and I love what they have done with iMovie. (This movie was edited with iMovie '09) Below is the video of me unboxing the iLife '09 software suite.

Stay tuned for More. I will be doing a demo of all the new programs. Also I will be showing you the basics of some of the programs. Stay tuned to this blog or my Twitter @ Click Here to know when I have put up a new video; as I will be posting videos randomly throughout the week because of all of the content that is new. Lastly, I am thinking about doing a Tip of the week for all the different applications included in the iLife '09 suite. Comment and other than that, have a great time and what would you mix instant water with?

iWork '09 Round-Up

Over the past few days I have been writing a doing videos on the latest line a office software from Apple, iWork '09. This post is just strictly about wether you should upgrade or not. That is a very debatable thing. First off let me say that if you don't at least have iWork '08 then I would suggest that you upgrade. Also if you use iWork on a regular basis then I would suggest that you get the new iWork '09.

The first application in our round-up is Pages. This is the word processing application that is in iWork. The new version of Pages includes many new features. Full Screen, this is something that has been needed for a while and they have finally given it to us. WHat this allows you to do is block out everything on your computer except the things that are relating to Pages. Dynamic outlining, this is a very complex feature that lets you organize and categorize the data in your document. They have added integration with Math Type and End Note. Also they have added more templates and better ways to share your documents. You can go here and read the full post on Pages '09: Pages '09 Demo Post

Next up in the Round-Up is Numbers '09. Apple has also added some new features in Numbers '09 that will allow you to make spread sheets better, simpler, and faster. The main thing that they have added in Numbers '09 is the multitude of formulas that you have access to. They have given you a new inspector of sorts that will allow you to view the formulas available to you by category. There is also a new way to organize your spread sheets. You can do things by category which is really nice for keeping them looking good and organized. Numbers '09 has also experienced updates to charts, the template chooser, and the sharing. You can read more about Numbers '09 here: Numbers '09 Demo Post.

The last and most compelling updates are to Keynote '09. Key note has seen some new transitions. Apple has given us a new and cool way to transition objects from one slide to another called Magic Move. They have also added some new text transitions that will give your slide show that little extra bam. On top of all of this Keynote know has some new and nice looking templates and chat textures, an iPhone remote application, and of course the new sharing features. you can read more about Keynote '09 here: Keynote '09 Demo Post.

So what is the verdict? Should you upgrade?

• Pages '09: No


• Numbers '09: Yes


• Keynote '09: YES!

So yes you should upgrade. If anything the new things that you can do just to make you job easier are well worth the $79 that it costs to upgrade. Please Comment and let me know what you think about pages.