Nosce te ipsum

Doing a little editing tonight in Final Cut Pro 4 HD and had a little revelation. I remember the first time I was exposed to Final Cut Pro. With not more than two months of iMovie video editing experience under my belt, I was convinced that I had pushed iMovie as far as it could go and needed something more professional. At the time (2002), Final Cut Express had not been released so it was either FCP or Avid which was completely out of my price range (and if I was honest about it - far beyond my own needs or skills).

I vividly remember the first time I actually opened up Final Cut Pro and tried to get a feel for the app - it was severly intimidating for a novice. We're talking the difference between Microsoft Paint and AutoCAD! To this day, I still couldn't use AutoCAD to save my life but I've actually gotten pretty good at Final Cut Pro. I'm sitting here tonight doing what would have seemed impossible when I first started but we tend to take those little (or big) victories for granted or at least I know that I sure do.

As a side note, props go out to Paul and Company over at Griffin Technology for the fantastic PowerMate that is completley useful in day to day operations (Mac OR PC) but is down right essential for doing work in FCP. Griffin is one of those companies that just continually cranks out hit after hit, their products are always innovative and of very high quality, yet they don't break the bank.

If you'll excuse me know, I've got a few ripple edits to make and Your Mac Life is getting ready to start, time to fire up the IRC and Quicktime video streams!

Glenn Fleishman released a piece yesterday over on MacDevCenter called How to Record a Podcast that seemed to cover the bases for doing your own Podcast on the Mac.

Having just come out of a huge development cycle at work, I was able to take a little time over the weekend to get reacquanted with a few of my outside interests. I don't watch a lot of TV but there is one show on this geeks radar that is an absolute must see - Fox's 24. Although I've never seen it on TV, it's so good that I felt compelled to buy the first two seasons as a DVD box set and a friend just let me borrow season 3 and although I'm only as far as the 3rd hour, it's just as gripping and addictive as the first two seasons. He was kind enough to also include the first few hours of season 4 which has just begun.

It was good enough that I considered not waiting until the end of the season and instead just watching it weekly but the chances of me actually being around when it's on are slim to none and not having a Tivo - I thought I was out of luck. Fortunately, I just so happen to be a new owner of an Elegato Systems EyeTV 200 which should fit the bill nicely on the new home system consisting of a dual 2.5 G5 with the 30" Cinema display.

This new EyeTV looks like a sweet little system for my needs - much better than their initial USB version that I had some time ago. Looking forward to learning more about it, especially the analog-to-digitall conversion capabilities it has which will be a great help with my big conversion project that's waiting for me.

What if? An alternative history of tech

Just before we were about to enter high school, my brother and I told one of my father's friends about our plans to join the wrestling team. "Golf or ski instead," he recommended. "You'll do those things the rest of your life."

The entire history of the tech industry, in fact, could have been vastly altered if the outcome of certain events or trends had changed. Below are a few examples of what might have been, had things been different. It's not exhaustive, and not definitive...