As I am making these screencasts I am learning more about the power that is in this application. There will be more Screencasts to come to show you what can be done.

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In this podcast I am talking to two people from Telestream, the company that make ScreenFlow. ScreenFlow is a super product that I use often to make screencasts. Barbara deHart and Christine Porter tell me all about ScreenFlow and also mention other products from Telestream.

I was able to give them direct a feature I would like to see in the ScreenFlow, they are keen to improve ScreenFlow and you never know my suggestion about being able to specify the placement of a clip within the screen might make it into ScreenFlow. It pretty good that they have snapping lines that let you snap a clip to the centres and to the edges but sometimes you might want a clip be at an exact position and for that you need some boxes where you can enter some numbers in the same way you can enter a number to specify the zoom level for example.

I also use VideoCue from Telestream and other people have requested some of the features in that to be merged into ScreenFlow, I agree with that for sure.

I know there are other screen capture applications out there and I have paid for a couple of them but in the end I had to get ScreenFlow because of what it can do with the editing. It really is handy to be able to do all you need to do in the one application, from capturing the whole of the screen to uploading it to YouTube.

See the Screencast I made about using ScreenFlow. I show some of the basics like adding extra media and using transitions in between clips. I will be producing more screencasts as soon as my cold/flu symptoms abate a little.

ScreenFlow

the best ScreenCapture Application

I use ScreenFlow and I am an affiliate for the application. I paid for the application initially but I was pleased to get on the Beta program to get version 2 upgrade without having to pay for the upgrade. I have tried other screen capture apps such as iShowU and SnapzPro, both of which I also paid for. It was the fault of Don McAllister that I lashed out more cash to get ScreenFlow when I already had to screen capture applications. When I met him at Podcamp Barcelona he gave me the recommendation. I tried it and decided that buying it was a no brainer for what I wanted to do. So you can trust me when I say that if you have not tried it yet then I would say give it a try. Once you have made a couple of Screencasts with it you will want to have it past the trial period too.

Here is screencast in which I show you the basics of ScreenFlow. How to put in video actions and callouts and set them up to work and look right. I will do some more screencasts featuring ScreenFlow soon. Why not hit the Leave a comment button below and say what you think yourself. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So over the next while I will be making a pile of screencast to test out the new things in the software. There are transitions going to be available, and I am looking forward to trying those out for sure.

Here is a list of other new features

Here’s a brief summary of some new things you will be able to do in version 2.0:

Click on the picture to listen to the podcast

Stargatejohn as he is known on Twitter is a fully fledged Mac certified technician and his business is called Stargate Computers. He specialises in getting Macs and PC’s talking together on corporate networks.

John has a site for Quick Tips and you can get it here. Find out more about your Mac and learn the insiders ins and outs of Mac usage.

John is an amateur photographer and I suggested a photography site I reckon is useful to all photographers. Strobist by David Hobby. I totally recommend it for learning about how to use external flashes / strobes with your camera.Whatever you do with your digital camera do not use the built in flash except for dire emergencies. In those cases use something to filter the light and better still use card or paper or a proper tool to bounce the flash so it is not coming direct from your camera.

Of course Don Mac Allister’s Screencasonline is mentioned. Best place to go to get videos to learn how to get the best from your Mac.

Remote Control for your PC/Mac
Rapidweaver Site

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Paul also known as iSherbet which is a hark back to childish memories of the sherbet fountain sweet you could get in days of old.

Maybe it is still possible to buy a sherbet fountain and I can treat myself when I am in Dublin next week. Paul is a karaoke type of DJ and encourages people to sing while drunk. At least he can put on the headphones and not be inflicted with the auditory pain of the pub singer. Honestly though, he says he enjoys doing it. Paul has a huge collection of songs which he manages on the Mac and uses an application called Kjams. Which is nothing to do with Jim Jams, or so I am told. Paul is even able to allow the karaoke singers use the iPhone to log in and chose the song they want to sing and get in a proper queue for belting out their tune, amazing I say.

Paul spent the whole of the interview talking on his iPhone, which was all right seeing as he was using the new Skype iPhone application to be interviewed and I have to say I was surprised that the audio was as good as it turned out to be. better than I have had with from some people with the Mac and a microphone.

He listens to loads of Geeky podcasts to be able to do some time travel on his way to work. Makes a commute shorter when you can be distracted by a podcast and some games like Touch Physics on the iPhone.

Last Friday there was a meeting of the Mac 20 Questions in the GoToMeeting and a great time was had by all. For me I was testing the system and was able to show a few things with the sharing of my screen. Quite impressive really. We will have the next meeting in the Mac20Q town hall on Friday the 17th of April. be there or be square. First 15 people in the room.

I recorded the audio from last week using WireTap Studio and it worked for me so this week I will try to have some question set up and record it with a view to making it a podcast.

Next Monday I will be in Dublin and have arranged to meet with the Mac Craic lads if they can get a evening pass from the boss. Looks like we will meet up in the  Aussie Bar in Parnell street. If there are people there I will perjhaps do some impromtu recording. Why not?

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Matt Hillyer from Iowa, which is somewhere in the middle of America. He is a busy fella working and studying too. He has a MacBook Pro and is a video podcaster. Although he had a Mac many years ago he is really a recent switcher, with a bit of Mac history.

He has a 24 inch screen connected to his MackBookPro. He has to use Microsoft office running in Parallels for the work side of things, but uses Pages and iWork for his studying. He able to convert pages documents to office compatible versions.

He has a whole pile of Apple products and has recently bought a turn by turn GPS application for his iPhone. He bought the Western USA maps  which was a 900 mb download.

He has a 5Mb download internet connection and I tell him how lucky he is compared to my lowly 2Mb download speed. I have just got started with WiMax which is a long distance radio connection. As I am only 0.6 miles from the antenna so it is not too bad.

Matthew has been trying out the Safari 4 beta that many of us have been trying out. Did you know that it is possible to use a terminal command to put the tabs where ther were in Safari 3. I have Safari 4 but still prefer to use Firefox. I like being able to easily set the new site to open up in a new tab rather than a new window.

The choice for a microphone is a Blue Snowball USB and chose it so that no mixer was required. He tells me that the snowball is quite big but does a good job for him. With his podcasting he got an App from Boinx TV and it is a Tricaster thing so he can feed in video and produce a TV show live with it.

I mention Photoshop TV on the podcast. The guys on that have a small TV studio for producing their show, It is a great place to learn more about how to use Photoshop. Don McAllister get a mention because Matthew is so impressed with Screencasts Online.

Backups are important and that’s why I always ask people about their backup strategy. Chronosync gets a mention here along with Mozy and Time Machine.

Podcasts Matthew recommends. ScreencastsOnline of course and the podcasts that are Typically Victor.

The SteathMac Podcast. Matthew has been running the podcast since last September which is a video type of podcast showing things he does with the computer.

He recommends Geek Brief TV by Cali Lewis. Podfeet from Allison Sheridan. Surfbits.com and a few other web sites in the Podcast. Have a listen

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Rob uses PDF Pen if he gets PDF document that needs to do work on and send back to other people. We talk about Crayon Physics, an iPhone game.

We talk about Garageband as a tool for making podcasts and mention Ubercaster, which people like Stu Helm swear by. I did look at Ubercaster once but decided I was happy using Garage band and AmadeusPro for making my podcasts.

Favourite software is Coda from Panic Software for making web sites and is not terrible expensive. As far as buying things off iTunes is concerned well we got talking about Spotify.

iPhonography an iPhone photography site and Evernote on the iPhone – Your external brain. Did you know you can scan things into Evernote and have it do the OCR on it to make it searchable. Rob tells me about how he uses Spaces with certain spaces for certain tasks.

Growl gets a mention

Podcasts and podcast RSS reader

• Bart Busschots
• Boagworld Podcast
• Galactic Strings
• MacFormat
• Macworld UK News
• The MacCast
• The NosillaCast Podcast
• Typical Mac User Podcast
• For Mac Eyes Only
• Apple Quick Tips
• Geek brief TV
• Podcast for freelancers
• Mac Craic
• Stealth Mac Podcast
• Picture batcher – Easy Batch Photo – Yellowmug Software
• Destroy Twitter
• RSS Player
• Carpool – Llewtube

Rob's desktop set up

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Really pleased to get Don on the show. So many interviewees are recommending him and his Screencasts online and also I met him in the flesh as it were last September at Podcamp Barcelona. Don did a session at the Podcamp and I certainly found it interesting as he talked about the monetisation of his Podcast and how he was able to give up the day job. Now he has a job in which he works harder, probably but when you are doing something you want to do it is often not like work at all.

Don produces Screencasts showing how to use many of the Mac Applications and does a great job of it too. Steps by step guides to using an application in real world situations.

Don gets out and about as part of his Screencastsonline with MacMania tours, he is going to China later this year. He also gets to Macworld events in places like San Francisco. Obviously he is doing well with the service that he provides so that he can afford his Apple hardware and gadget addiction. As a member you get a brand new tutorial every week and extra member only shows. If you want to try it out then you can have a look at the free shows he makes available to the non members. Its a try before you buy thing, which is always good. The membership details you can find about about here. While you are on the Screencasts online site have a look at the free screencasts too. I was just watching one about how to geo tag your photos for iLife09. Excellent stuff !

Don has nearly 200 screencasts available and the good thing is that when you pay your six month membership you get access to all of the back issues too. That makes the deal to be great value.

Here is a list of the equipment that Don uses

Computer Equipment
ScreenCapture, Editing and Encoding – Apple MacPro (2 x 2.8 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 10GB RAM)
Sonnet Tempo SATA E4P Card
Shuttle Pro 2

Storage
Internal – 4 x 500GB (2 x RAID 1 Partitions)
External – 2 x Fusion D500P with Multiplier Support (each with 5 x 750GB in RAID 0 config)
Various Firewire external drives

Audio Equipment
Heil PR-30 Microphone
dbx-266XL – Limiter/Compressor

Mackie Onyx 1220 Mixer
Edirol UA-1ex USB Interface

Software
Capture and Assembly Edit – Vara ScreenFlow
Final Edit – Final Cut Studio
Titling and Effects – Motion 3
Encoding – Compressor

As you can see Don has some good kit there. Maybe I will be able to get a MacPro one of the days with a pile of memory and hard disk thrown inside. You can find out about his work flow for making the screencasts on the blog he runs My Own Reality

Don is on a few other podcasts as a guest, including Mac Break Weekly with Leo Laporte and Andy Inatko. Mac Round table

Don also mentioned Mercury Mover, iBank. Logitech MX Revolution Mouse, Drobo, Jungle Disk, Plex, Boxee, The Automated home Podcast and Delicious Monster Podcast

Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Wayne, otherwise known as Legion11. You can follow him by that name on Twitter. We had a good chat based on the Mac twenty questions. A family man and it was great to hear how his young son has taken to using the Mac like a duck takes to water. Wayne  is in the process of getting the rest of the family switched over to the Mac too.

Wayne has an ongoing project at the moment to learn about AppleScript, which is interesting because I think that AppleScript is an under used resource on the Mac, so I wish Wayne luck with that. I think that is going to be a well thumbed book you have there Wayne. Truely, a Geek in Training. We mentioned Bart Bushotts and his information he has made available about using Terminal while talking about geekyness.

Again my interviewee waxed lyrical about ScreencastsOnline so I have put that in as the sponsor for the show on this podcast. I think that much of the Mac community has already signed in blood to be a user of Don’s Screencastsonline but if you haven’t done that yet then please use the link in this post to check out ScreencastsOnline.

Wayne is still on his first Mac, a MacBook Pro he bought April 2007 which came with OSX Tiger, he changed to OSX Leopard as soon as it became available and he is planning to get a portable Mac when funds allow. Wayne and his son like movie making with iStopMotion from Boinx Software. They will spend a half a day to make a very short movie, so Wallace and Grommit watch out.

We talk about word processing software, including iWork, Open Office and Bean. Bean is interesting, as it is free and good. Wayne’s daughter is using Bean for her school work and is happy with what it does and how it works.

There is some chat about backing up, virus problems with Windows and some just general Windows bashing, just for fun you understand.

Today I am talking with Mark Dalton and I get some well thought out responses to the Mac 20 Questions. We had a great little chat about what it means to be a Mac User. One of Mark’s recommendations was for ScreencastsOnline from Don McAllister. You can get more details about Don’s screencasts here, a brilliant learning source for new and experienced users alike. Click the picture to the left or view the podcast at the bottom of the post.

Here is a little background about Mark from his web site. He has a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air, he is an iPhone user too.

I am employed by COLT Telecommunications as a Senior Manager within the Business Process & Systems function where I am responsible for a number of ITIL processes including, Incident, Problem, License, Change, and Configuration Management, as well as the outsourced European Desktop support contract for the 4500+ COLT users situated in the 13 COLT countries. Read more about COLT.

During my time with COLT Telecommunications I have held a number of externally and internally facing technical positions, and more recently spent 13 months in Gurgaon, India managing COLT’s 2nd level support team of 50+ engineers who provide 24×7 support to COLT’s critical systems. Prior to joining COLT Telecommunications I worked for Ask Jeeves, the Compaq Computer Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation also in a variety of technical roles.

Mark gave us some recommendations for software to use. Omnifocus, a Getting Things Done application. Myself I use Things as I mentioned in the podcast. Both of those apps are available for both the Mac and for the iPhone and will surely help the most disorganised person to get their life all tickitty boo and all sorted out.

We talk about Dropbox which is a great place to store you files online. Evernote for a note book that keeps your notes in the cloud so they are available where ever you are. I use Evernote too, in fact I had Evernote open during the interview because that was where I had my questions stored

PDF Pen

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Podcasts recommended

Leo Laporte and the Twit network

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