Apps for your new Mac

New Mac users will find OS X a capable performer by default, but there are a few gaps that are best filled by third-party apps. AppleInsider has rounded up some of the most useful additions to any Mac user's arsenal.

For this roundup, we focused on true utilities: small, often single-purpose apps that plug small holes in the Mac experience. While we usually recommend that new Mac owners work with their computers for a while before diving into the Mac App Store, the apps on this list should find a home on nearly every Mac.

Growl

Notifications

Before Apple introduced Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion, apps communicated new information to users with Growl. For various reasons, Apple's version has not yet cornered the market — many popular apps like instant messager Adium and streaming music player Spotify still rely on Growl for notifications.

Growl has some advantages over Notification Center for users as well: notifications can be skinned and resized, for instance, and their contents can be synthesized as speech by OS X's built-in voice synthesis engine. For those who want notifications from the apps that still use Growl but prefer to keep things organized, Growl can now act as a proxy, sending updates to Notification Center.

Formerly a free download, Growl is now available in the Mac App Store as a 6.8-megabyte download.

The Unarchiver

Extract compressed files

OS X ships with a built-in compressed file extraction utility aptly named Archive Utility, and while it works well, it has some limitations. Archive Utility's list of supported file formats is slim, and it has been known to suffer performance issues on large zip files or with files created in non-Roman languages.

Enter its equally-aptly-named alternative, The Unarchiver. The Unarchiver is a speedy drop-in replacement for Archive Utility that adds support for nearly 100 older or less popular compressed file formats like 7-Zip and RAR as well as disk image archives like ISO, BIN, and Microsoft's MSI.

The Unarchiver is a free, 5.3-megabyte download from the Mac App Store.

....Read the whole list here.

Check out more tips, tricks, and helpful apps HERE!

Apple - Mac Pro

"A sneak peek at the future of the pro desktop."

When we began work on the next Mac Pro, we considered every element that defines a pro computer — graphics, storage, expansion, processing power, and memory. And we challenged ourselves to find the best, most forward-looking way possible to engineer each one of them. When we put it all together, the result was something entirely new. Something radically different from anything before it. Something that provides an extremely powerful argument against the status quo. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s next for the pro computer.

Even if you aren't interested in the Mac Pro, it's worth visiting the website (and scroll down) to experience the creative and amazing sneak peek they've put together!

Click Here to read more!

Apple - Mac OS X

Mavericks - (releasing this fall)

"Craig Federighi, head of OS X development for Apple, unveiled OS X 10.9 Mountain Lion at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2013 keynote. He highlighted three key features found in the forthcoming operating system update: new tabs in Finder, the ability to tag individual files, and enhanced support for multiple displays."
- [source: AppleInsider]

Click Here to read more!

Apple - iOS 7

iOS 7 (releasing this fall)

iOS 7 started with a desire to take an experience people love and make it better. To make it even simpler, more useful, and more enjoyable — but still feel instantly familiar. The design of iOS 7 is beautiful because it’s all of those things. And it’s the start of a new chapter for iOS.

Click Here to learn more

Apple - New Updates

Apple has announced it's next lineup of updates for Mac OS, iOS and more! Despite all the negative speculation regarding the tech giant's ability to stay ahead of the pack, Apple appears to still have a bit of "the sweet sauce" that keeps users coming back.

Here is a new ad they created about the mission of Apple.

Click Here to watch the full keynote from Apple CEO, Tim Cook.

Click Here to read about the annoucements on Engadget!

Screenplays on the iPad mini

Article by: Stu Maschwitz

"John August responds to the question of whether the iPad mini is good for reading screenplays:

It is. It’s really good.

I agree completely. Even without a retina display, the mini is a thoroughly pleasant device for reading. And dictating script notes via Siri feels enough like living in the future that I barely miss my flying car.

John’s feelings about the inexpensive but unpretty GoodReader app match mine, and my recommendation hasn’t changed since I wrote about reading screenplays on the iPad Maxi: Spend a few extra bucks and get PDF Expert. It syncs with Dropbox, exports annotations as text files, and won’t hurt your eyes. My only complaint is an old one: with no ability to offset page numbering (to account for page 1 of the PDF corresponding to the unnumbered title page of a screenplay), your exported annotations will be off by one page.

Small price to pay for a hundred screenplays in your pocket."

Source Article: Here

New iPad from Apple

It is finally here, the ipad with the new hi-res display...and much more!

You can read all about it here - or watch the video of the event here.

For a comparison of "What has changed" check out this article.

Final Cut Pro X Coming in June!

My first reaction is WOW!! They've really put some thought into streamlining an editors job. While I am impressed I do have more questions that I hope will be answered in the coming days.

In the meantime you can watch most of the presentation via the videos below or just skim back through the live blog from the event.

Info right now is that Final Cut Pro X will be available through the Mac App Store for $299 in June.

Useful Apps for the iPad

Well folks, iPad is now available for purchase, starting today! To read all about the new improvements to the iPad Click Here.

I have been compiling a list of useful "work related apps" for the iPad even though I personally don't have an iPad...yet ;) hopefully someday!

 

iMovie - $4.99

"iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips. Browse and play projects in the stunning Marquee view. Make a movie in minutes by adding video, photos, music, and sound effects. Then give it the Hollywood treatment by adding a theme, titles, and transitions. And you can share your movie with the world – right from iMovie." - App Link

Movie★Slate (Clapperboard & Shot Log) - $19.99

"This professional production tool is the easy way to log footage and take notes as you shoot— saving you valuable time later when capturing and editing footage. At a fraction of a bulky digital clapperboard’s cost, you’ll be saving money too." - App Link

doddlePRO - $9.99

"With doddlePRO, resources that touch the production world from Producers, Directors, Photographers, Grips, Gaffers, Sound, Talent, Hotels, Restaurant, Catering and Transportation, etc. will be at your fingertips, using all the greatest communication tools the iPhone can offer." - App Link

ProPrompter - $9.99

"Scrolling is smooth and can be adjusted on-the-fly. An iPhone/iPodTouch that has the ProPrompter app installed, can remotely control the other device's scroll pace via a wireless Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. Perfect for podcasts, field reporting, corporate videos, commercials, steadicams, jib shots, music videos and speeches." - App Link

Celtx - $9.99

"Celtx Script is the mobile scriptwriting app that syncs directly with Celtx desktop software and Celtx Studios. Now its easy to write or edit your film, AV, theater, comic book and audio play scripts from any place at any time." - App Link

Playhead -$2.99

"Playhead allows you to: play/pause, rewind, fast forward, go directly to the beginning/end of the timeline, navigate frame by frame, set in/out points, create, name, and color-label subclips, switch between the viewer and the timeline, and add markers. - IN ORDER TO USE PLAYHEAD YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THE PLAYHEAD AGENT (COMPATIBLE WITH MAC OS 10.5+) TO RUN ON YOUR MAC, WHICH IS AVAILABLE HERE." - App Link

I found this simple looking app to be rather interesting from what this video had to say about it - Video Link

vWave-Lite - FREE

"Control Apple's Final Cut Studio Color from your iPad. vWave-Lite allows you to control the colour differential and masters in the Primary In, Secondaries and Primary Out rooms of Color. These are controlled from three virtual trackerballs and work just like the real ones on our physical panels." - App Link

iPads in Filmmaking

The Times also recently ran a profile of the iPad's growing popularity in Hollywood, noting that it's "the must-carry accessory on sound stages this season, visible behind the scenes of television and film shoots and in business meetings."

For example, Bob Orci, one of the writers working on the sequel to last year's blockbuster "Star Trek," kicked off a recent meeting with his co-writer and three producers by whipping out his iPad to show off movie stills, potential scene locations, and a photo of a prospective actress that he had edited on the tablet to sport a Vulcan ear.

“When you’re carrying a little TV around, you bring the power of imagery to places that you don’t normally have it,” Orci said.

The report also notes that Apple products have turned up about 2,438 times on television programs through this September, amounting to a wealth of free advertising for the Cupertino-based company, including recent iPad stints on “Modern Family,” “Fast Money," and “Fox & Friends.

At the same time, the Apple tablet is being put to work backstage, where actors and actresses using specially designed apps, like Rehearsal, are using it to help them learn their lines ahead of each shoot.
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