Ok it was true that in my younger years, I was very hateful towards the Mac and Apple. It was a long time ago and Apple changed it’s way and has now become my platform of choice. It all started in Grade School, my school used old Macs, still running OS 9 and using a Power PC processor. In addition to all that, they also used Mac Manager to allow students to log-in, but control what they had access to. The worst part was that it was totally slow, applications took forever to launch and a lot of the software was very outdated. For example, until High School, the primary Word Processor they had us using was Apple Works and the browser was Netscape Communicator 4. Needless to say this added to the slowness issue and made it very unpleasant. The PowerPC platform was much weaker than the Intel which came with most Windows machines at the time and Mac OS 9 was extremly outdated making the more Modern-looking Windows XP look to be the better platform.This hatred towards the Mac continued throughout all of  Middle School.

Then, in High School, we switched over to Windows XP and they were just as slow and had just as many if not more than the Macs and continued to have problems. Apple had also upgraded their operating system to OSX and made the system much better and more evolved than Windows. Then in 2006,  Apple moved to Intel Processors in their machines using a much more powerful platform and making their computers a lot faster. It was around that time I began to follow Apple and consider changing my mind about Apple. I realized that with a Mac, you get a much more reliable system, with few if any errors, and Macs take much less work to setup and manage. Plus, I began tv become more interested in video production and podcasting both things that Macs can do amazingly while Windows machines do poorly with it.   Apple also makes computers that aren’t just the average beige box, the computers standout becuase they don’t just use plastic, and they always put a big glowing Apple on  the computer. Then after seeing the power of Final Cut Studio compared to other Windows editors I knew that the Mac was the computer for me. Now having a Mac for almost a year, I have had much fewer problems than my old PC and am very happy for switching to the Mac. Yes, they are more money but, if you want a computer that you just turn on and it works, the Mac is the computer for you.

The Following is an Essay I wrote for College Composition Class and thought would make a great Blog post!

Technology has had a huge impact on me and has completely altered the course of my career path.  The three most influential devices are: the personal computer, the Video camcorder and the iPod Touch. One of these devices caused me to become interested in Technology and shaped much of my childhood, another developed an interest in a field that I am now pursuing as a major and after college as a career, and the final device keeps me organized, connected and entertained wherever I go. These devices have shaped my life and have developed my plans for adulthood.

The device that has changed my life the most is of course the personal computer. I began using a computer when I was three years old running Windows 3.1 and at the time the computer was so slow that I did not learn how to do much. Then around the age of ten, my family bought a new Gateway desktop computer that ran Windows ME, which although the operating system was not good either, I began spending much more time on the computer and taught myself how to surf the internet, troubleshoot problems, use Microsoft Office, and many more skills. These new skills helped me meet some close friends in school and these friendships caused me to become more interested in technology and learn more from my friends. I also learned from technology club in Middle School called “Tech Time” where I met other people interested in computers and developed more computer skills. I also began to be known as an expert in computers and had classmates, neighbors, and even teachers asking for assistance solving their problems and still do to this day. Then, while I was a sophomore in high school, I created a TV show with two close friends about technology that aired on the local access channel in my hometown as well as on the Internet as a video podcast, called Tecker 911. I originally wanted to be a computer programmer majoring in Computer Science in college, but I discovered I am not very good at programming. I knew I wanted to remain working on something technical which began my interest in website design, and eventually I created my Blog all about technology and some other topics. I decided to use my blog to share the knowledge that I have gained over the years about computers and share it with the world, so that they can fully utilize their computers as well as make the knowledge freely available so that anyone with an Internet connection can learn more about technology.

This is where the next big piece of technology came into my life, the video camcorder. My first experience that I had using them hands-on was in Tech Time in Middle School. While in that group, I produced several videos from pre-production through post-production and I also made several short movies at that time as well. This was my first introduction into video production until I joined the school TV studio and created my own TV show. Tecker 911 was a show that focused on technology topics that were relevant to new computer users and we produced 100 episodes. After producing Tecker 911, I decided that I would major in video production in college and pursue it as a career because the major changes with camcorders made me realize how much I love video production. If there were no computers and camcorders, my college major and future could have been totally different.

The final piece of technology that has had a major impact on my life is one of my newest, which is my iPod Touch. I know it is mainly just a music player, but I use it like a pocket computer that allows me to do work and keep organized no matter where I am. Although I had two pocket computer devices prior to the iPod touch, one a Windows Mobile Pocket PC, the other an open source Linux mobile device, neither are as simple or intuitive as the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch not only serves as a music and video player but also has games, applications and the ability to surf the Internet. It also allows me to synchronize my Email, contacts and calendar from Google to my iPod, so I can stay organized everywhere and keep in contact with people whenever I need to.  Applications also add additional features making it both an entertainment device and an organizer all in one!

Technology is probably one of the biggest influences on my life today and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The computer was the biggest factor making me chooses to further learn about technology and create media for others that teach them how to use it like my TV show, Tecker 911 and my blog. The camcorder helped me discover my passion for video production and made me discover what I wanted to major in for college and what I want to do for the rest of my life. The iPod touch keeps me organized and helps me stay in touch with people wherever I go and has proven to really help me. Technology has defined the majority of my life and has shaped my decisions and plans for my future.

When I first started using Mozy last October, I truly enjoyed the service and having a backup service where you just “Set it and Forget it” . However about 4 months ago, I have begun to experience issues backing up my data and  have not been able to back-up my data ever since. I contacted Mozy support however, they were unable to help me and told me to do the same thing everytime: uninstall, reboot and re-install. I also realized that Mozy for the Mac, although it is a paid service for unlimited data for $5 per month per computer, the Mac version is still in BETA! I do not want to pay $5 per month for a beta program.

After four months of much wasted time and trying in vain to make Mozy work, I decided that it was time for me to begin to search for a replacement. The first alternative that I looked at was the very popular Carbonite. It provided the unlimited storage that I want however, it did not let me backup data off external hard drives, which for me is necessary because I keep all my video editing files and other very important data on external hard drives and I need to keep that data safe. After some more searching, I found Backblaze. Backblaze, like Mozy, has unlimited storage for $5 per month per computer and allows me to backup my external hard drives.

Don’t get me wrong, when Mozy worked, I loved using it and liked having peace of mind knowing that my data was safe. however, I don’t want to continue wasting time trying to fix a beta product that definitely has its share of bugs. I still like what Mozy is doing and if they repair their issues, I woulod consider going back to them. However, I am very happy with Backblaze and hope it does not have all the problems Mozy has.

Long gone are the days where hard drives cost a fortune and only large companies with hundred-thousand dollar servers could afford terabyte hard drives. Now, you can get terabyte hard drive for well under $100 and terabyte notebook hard drives, although still very expensive, are beginning to reach the market. With storage becoming so affordable there is no reason to delete data and all the more reason to digitize as much as you can because it makes the data easier to access! I know that computers are still considered to be a “new” technology however, as long as you backup, preferably off-site with a good service like Backblaze or Carbonite they even if a tragedy occurs like your hard drive crashes or your computer gets stolen, your data is still safe!

If you are a content creator such as a photographer or video producer, then you may want to make a large storage device that can hold several terabytes. Long ago, the only way was to build a large Network attached storage device or NAS which could be very expensive to build and took a lot of management. Now a company called Data Robotics make a device called the Drobo, which simplifies having RAID and protects data by striping it across multiple hard drives making sure your data is safe. With devices like Drobo, you can keep all your digital data safe by keeping it backed up. I have saved data for most of the time I have been using a computer and no have very old data that I can look back on and can easily find because it is all on my hard drive all because digital storage has become so much cheaper. Hopefully cloud storage will become this way as well!

I moved into college about three weeks ago and being a technology enthusiast, there were certain things that I knew that I would need while at college. Now that I have been in college for some time, I thought that it would be a good idea to share what I think gadget lovers will need to get through college:

Laptop computer:
Unless you absolutely need a desktop, I recommend going with a laptop because you can pick up your computer and take it to class or the library. Desktops don’t offer that flexibility and when living in a dorm room a space is very limited and laptops are great space savers.

Surge Strips- and plenty of them:
The other thing that is very limited in dorm rooms are outlets. Most rooms only have a handful of outlets for a  two people to share. I have at least four surge strips in use in my dorm room and they are full for the most part. Surge strips don’t only allow you to plug many extra devices to one outlet, but also protects your electronics for electric surges that could damage your electronics.

Wireless Router/Access Point (If permited):

Wireless Internet although not always as reliable as wired internet however, it is very convinent if you have mulitple computers because you can connect them all to the internet and not have the clutter that comes with wired internet. However, because of interference, some schools do not allow wireless and some only permit Wireless access points.

Switch:

If wireless is not permitted or if you just want a more reliable internet connection, then a switch may be the piece of hardware for you!  A switch takes one eithernet port and speads the connection to several devices. A 5 port switch is only $12!

Eithernet Cable:

If wired internet is your method of choice or is mandated by your school eithernet cables are a must have!

Digital Camera:

College is a bsy time but it is also a fun time and you will want to remember the fun you had so a digital camera is a must so you can take pleanty of pictures.

Thumb Drive:

Documents will need to be moved around shown to classmates, and professors. Thumb drives are inexpensive and are a greatway to carry data with you.

Microsoft Office:

All students will need to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint at some time in their academic career. Mirosoft Office is the defacto Office suite and they have great prices for students. Onenote, which is included in Student edition, is the greatest notetaking spplication and has greatly helped me take notes. Onenote does a great job simulating a notebook with sections, pages, sub pages all in a computer application. Since I started using Onenote, I have not taken written notes since because Onenote is so simple!

Computer lock:

Make sure you get a lock for your computer  no matter if it is a laptop or desktop it is best that you have your computer chained to a desk!

Safe:

For those gadget that are too small to get a lock to chain to something permanent, a safe would be a good idea so that you can chain it to something permanent and put small electronics you want to keep safe in it. Some schools, including mine rent safes for students so you don’t bring them back and forth to school!

External Hard drive:

If you have a lot of data you may need an external hard drive just to store all the data. Or you could just use it to backup all your data incase the unthikible hapens.

I hope this list helps all you gadget lovers out there prepare for college and be prepared! College is great and technology makes it even better!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am going to put together a full Media center solution that will be 100% cable free and will let you access all your web content online on your big TV and be without cable. I will jsut get into it

TV:

LG – 47″ Class / 1080p / 240Hz / LCD-LED HDTV: $1,800

If you need to save some money then you could find a cheaper TV instead of this one. This is a very nice TV and I really like the 4 HDMI inputs!

Computer:

Base Mac Mini: $600

You could, if you want to save money you could buy a used or old Mac Mini or any other computer although, this solution is designed for a Mac. You could also use your old computer as a Media center like I do on my desk and save money here!

Software:

Firefox: FREE

VLC Media Player: FREE

Flash Player: FREE

Miro Podcatcher:FREE

iTunes: FREE

Game Console: (Optional)

Nintento Wii: $250

I mentioned in a previous post about why I love the Wii and it is a great machine to add some more entertainment to the media center! this is not necessary.

Accessories:

Display Adapter: Mini Display to VGA: $30

VGA to HDMI Cable: $10

Total: $2,690 (Plus applicable taxes and fees)

For less than $2,700 you can have a full media center with everything you need. The great part of this system is that you don’t need to subscribe to cable or aything and you can just buy the content you want and other free web content like video podcasts as you need it! This is much betteer than having to pay a small fortune monthly for extra content you don’t want or care about. As I said you could modify this to make it more expensive or less to meet your needs but, this a good all around system that you can use. In fact, I left a sound system out of my solution but, if you want to you can add this. I hope to use a similar plan in my future home!

You know the old saying “There is nothing good on TV”, well it is sadly is true anymore. When I was on vacation last week and had no Internet and just cable TV it was really hard to find something to watch. Watching TV has become so difficult especially for people who have become accustomed to watching video and TV shows on the Internet.

The first problem is that unless you have digital cable or Verizon Fios you have to blindly flip through channels trying to find a show you are interested in. Even if you find a station you are interested it may be on a commercial break and you don’t know what is on until it comes back from break. I know I am being picky but, it is a major nuisance and I am grateful that it has become possible to watch TV on the Internet with few commercial interruptions.

Speaking of commercials that is the second problem that I have is that commercial breaks go on for so long it seems as though there is an equal amount of time spent on commercials as the actual show. I much prefer the 15-second breaks that are used in online television or the option to watch a two-minute commercial in the beginning and watch the rest of the video commercial-free. But, these long two-and-a-half minute breaks are to long to keep the viewers interested in the show.

The final problem I have with cable TV is that there are times when there is nothing of interest on TV and if there is nothing else to do and this is the only source of entertainment then you could be out of luck. I know there are other forms of entertainment but, I think that for me, TV is usually my last resort and if nothing is on TV then I am bored.

The solution as I alluded to earlier is to watch content online and just cut the cable all together. The one problem is that archive or off-the-air shows are not all available online which is a shame because they are produced and all and if they are put online, they will produce revenue for the company without too much extra work! I will post my home-theater plan that will be fully cable-free and will rely mostly on the Internet.  I hope to inspire you all to use my plan and realize that cable TV has seen it’s hay-day come and pass and to see that the internet is the source of all future entertainment.

I figured that since I was going to be majoring in video production in college, that it would be a good idea to get a video camera. I had already looked around with Michael Plasmeier for a new camera for Tecker 911 and decided on the Canon Vixia HF100, so it was a no brainer after using it for one shoot, that it was the camera for me. It is extremly well designed and has a lot of semi-pro features for the inspiring videographer.

It has a microphone in jack for people producing more professional video, headphones out to monitor audio levels, as well as audio monitors on the LCD screen. It uses SD cards and AVCHD formatting which works amazingly well with Final Cut! SD cards are very inexpensive and you can get a 32 GB card for like $30 which can record hours of video! Speaking of video it is very high-quality and only has problems when you are shooting in low-lighting! It has many pre-set white balances to get the best video quality and even a manual White Balances for the pros! One of the other really cool features is that you can take still pictures while you are recording video which can be very useful. Battery life is pretty good and it is always best torun the camera off wall power when availible. The camera also comes with a remote control so the camera operator doesn’t have to stand directly behind the camera for the whole shoot and, as we found out at Tecker 911, if you have multiples of this camera, one remote can control them all!

I only have two complaints, one is low light quality and the other is lack of zoom, I would love some more zoom control.

However, all-in-all this camera is awesome and I cannot wait to make more awesome videos with this. Canon really makes great equipmement and I hope they keep it up!

As i said in my previous article, I am doing a notebook version of my Ultimate Editing solution for those who don’t want to spend on the Mac Pro or just want to have the flexibility of taking their editing machine where ever they go!

Computer: 2.8 GHZ 15 Inch Macbook Pro

$2,599

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x2GB
• 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
• None
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Grand Total: $5,936 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

With this version of the solution, you pay about $1,000 less although the processor is half the speed but, this is a great way to edit but, have a lot more flexibility to travel with your edit suite and to edit as you travel with or without the full components of the suite! Once again you can leave out or add additonal parts if you want the mac is a very powerful platform and would be a great way to edit on the go!

Apple has recently released the newest version of Final Cut Studio, and has made me think that you can put together an awesome video editing suite for much less than you would for a broadcast television network and all digital! Here is the solution that I have put together for video editing!

Computer: Quad Core Mac Pro

$2,599

• One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 3GB (3x1GB)
• None
• 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• None
• None
• None
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• None
• None
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Seagate 1.5 TB 7,200 RPM Hard drive $120
• Kingston 6 GB of RAM $130
• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Grand Total: $6,186 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

Instead of having a $100,000 broadcast edit suite you can have this awesome suite for les than $10,000 and has everything you need to edit video and archive with the external firewire hard drive. Although many production comapnies such as Revision3 use Macbook Pros instead of big tower computers to edit and I will be writing another blog post with a notebok version of this solution, however many of the key compenents will be similar. I also plan on writing a budget version and a full production suite version that has everthing you need for your own video production down the line. Also, this solution can be modified by reducing extra monitors, hard drives and RAM or expanded by adding more monitors, hard drives and RAM so you can make it fit your custom needs more. But, over all, this is the custom set that is built specifical for video editors!