In the upgrade "Read Me" (which, BTW, I did read) there are installation notes for Mac users that say to install only on a "clean" version of Leopard. This was a bit much for my little head. Did it mean clean as in "wipe and reformat" clean or clean as in "upgrade" clean? Michael Phillips, Solutions Manager, Content Production at Avid clarified this for me saying Mac users can uninstall Composer 2.8 from Tiger, upgrade to Leopard with no need to wipe and reformat the drive and install 3.0. My issue stemmed from immediately installing 2.8 on Leopard when I first bought it. Why you ask? Because, I didn't read the "read me" file. (Ugh!) Confirmation once again that it pays to RTFM (read the fabulous manual). After walking me through uninstalling and then deleting some remnants of the previous version, I re-installed, rebooted, and voila, problem solved.
This is where it got fun. Media Composer 3.0 booted fast and clean. While doing so, it notified me that it needed to update my Mojo SDI firmware and proceeded to do so without a hitch. (I have been told that some users have had issues upgrading their original Mojo boxes, so check Avid's knowledge base for the latest information). The software loaded, (cue angelic music from the beginning of "Simpson's" episode) and immediately I could tell something was different. You might say, how can you just tell something like that? Well let me tell you, after 16 years of editing on this software, when something is different, you CAN feel it. Adrenaline on Mac didn't feel robust to me. In fact if felt kind of frail and my experiences with it confirmed this. I crashed more often than Meridian, it was not as responsive and after cutting a feature in HD on Final Cut Pro, it was a drag to have to go back to using Tiger.
Kernel Panic....Argh!
That's right, the grey screen of death. I'm thinking, what a drag. Why do I always do this to myself?
I call Avid support and explain my situation. It's here I have a chance to see some of Avid's "new thinking" in action. Now get this, the person on the other end of the line actually empathizes with me! I'm stunned. In the old days I would have had to pledge my first born, or purchased a very expensive yearly support contract. Avid now offers what I believe is a fair price for per-incident support but better than that, on this call they were kind enough to comp me a 24 hour support ticket! I thanked them profusely and proceeded to contact TS. After a short wait I got someone on the line. The voice had a thick accent, but at least I could understand him. He seemed pretty stumped when I first describe the problem, but after a short discussion we figure out that it was... (trying to look innocent) something I did. How surprising.
Many of us who have been cutting on the Mac version of Avid's Media Composer have felt a bit neglected over the last few years, and to a certain extent, rightfully so. We sat and watched as Avid got the wind knocked out of it by Apple's introduction of Final Cut Pro. Apple's lower prices and integration with newer versions of the Mac OS came as a great step forward in the democratization of media and Apple ran a full court press on Avid's dominance of the digital editing tools market. Avid struggled to find their way as the price of editing tools dropped, and the company that created and dominated modern digital editing found themselves having toplay catch-up.
Today I write about the first manifestation of Avid's "New Thinking," Media Composer 3.0. With a new team of top executives, lower prices and an emphasis on customer satisfaction, Avid is not only talking the talk, they are walking the walk. Media Composer version 3.0 delivers on the company's promise to do business in a new way, and with the exception of a few minor hiccups (self-imposed as I quickly learned) my transition from 2.8 to 3.0 was not only painless, it was downright fun.
I start putting 3.0 through it's paces and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it is ROCKING. No latency, no glitchiness, (my word, Colbert) picture quality is noticeably and substantially better and the playhead is slicing through multi-layer, real-time effects and title comps like "butta".
Ever the digital editing daredevil, I decided to do the upgrade right in the middle of locking a feature film. (Actual stunt editor. NOT recommended for sane users) The footage, which was originally captured to an Avid Unity on Adrenaline, had subsequently been transferred to a 1TB G-RAID and had been knocking around town on several different systems for almost a year. I backed up all my project data in the event of catastrophe. (I'm crazy, not stupid) I installed the upgrade, restarted the computer and....
Monday, June 6, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Vulnerability Protection and Mac Systems
Another important vulnerability protection for Mac systems is avoiding websites that aren't appropriate for work. While there are few viruses that can infect a Mac, many of them exist on these sites, waiting to infect your machine. Educating your employees about what sites are appropriate is critical. Viruses can lurk anywhere, but visiting sites that aren't necessary for business increases your risk of coming across spyware or viruses that may infect your machines.
Although you may have a Mac system, it is still possible to be running Intel-based Windows on it. Windows is Windows, no matter what computer you are running it on, and it is susceptible to Windows-specific viruses and attacks. You can't let your guard down on vulnerability protection just because you have a Mac system. If you are running Windows on your Mac, be sure to investigate anti-virus programs and security protocols that work on both systems. If you need a little assistance choosing your best defense, consider working with an IT consultant. They know the market and the products available and can secure your system in no time.
Even though vulnerability protection for Mac systems is less extensive than it would be for Windows, you still need to protect your business or personal information. The risks may be low, but they still exist, and you can't take chances with your customers and data. By installing comprehensive anti-virus programs and using safe computing skills, you can keep your system clean and your business running smoothly.
While highly touted as being less susceptible to attacks, Mac systems and their users still need to consider vulnerability protection needs. There are viruses and attackers that can get into your system, and the damage they cause can be severe. Knowing the vulnerabilities, accounting for them, and reassessing them regularly are key steps to keeping your network safe. You may be safer with a Mac, but you are still not immune to attack.
The Truth about Macs and Safety
While it is true that Windows systems suffer more viral attacks and may not be as secure as Macs, it's important to understand that this is because Windows is used more widely, not because Macs are actually built to be safer. Most viruses and attackers specifically seek out Windows weaknesses to exploit, so it is the sheer number of viruses targeting Windows instead of Macs that offers the protection, not the system itself. As Macs become more and more popular, vulnerability for Mac systems will become critical, as the weaknesses in these systems will be increasingly exploited.
Vulnerability Protection for Macs
Installing an anti-virus program for your Mac system is a good start. There are less than 200 known viruses that target Macs, but these programs are a minimal investment and are easy to install. The chance of a viral attack may be small, but if you're a target, it's worth the time. Installing and updating an anti-virus program on your network can significantly increase vulnerability protection on your Mac system. Using the program to scan incoming email and attachments is always a smart move.
Daniel Gottilla provides information about selecting a vulnerability scanner or understanding vulnerability method of attack, if you have questions please visit our website.
Although you may have a Mac system, it is still possible to be running Intel-based Windows on it. Windows is Windows, no matter what computer you are running it on, and it is susceptible to Windows-specific viruses and attacks. You can't let your guard down on vulnerability protection just because you have a Mac system. If you are running Windows on your Mac, be sure to investigate anti-virus programs and security protocols that work on both systems. If you need a little assistance choosing your best defense, consider working with an IT consultant. They know the market and the products available and can secure your system in no time.
Even though vulnerability protection for Mac systems is less extensive than it would be for Windows, you still need to protect your business or personal information. The risks may be low, but they still exist, and you can't take chances with your customers and data. By installing comprehensive anti-virus programs and using safe computing skills, you can keep your system clean and your business running smoothly.
While highly touted as being less susceptible to attacks, Mac systems and their users still need to consider vulnerability protection needs. There are viruses and attackers that can get into your system, and the damage they cause can be severe. Knowing the vulnerabilities, accounting for them, and reassessing them regularly are key steps to keeping your network safe. You may be safer with a Mac, but you are still not immune to attack.
The Truth about Macs and Safety
While it is true that Windows systems suffer more viral attacks and may not be as secure as Macs, it's important to understand that this is because Windows is used more widely, not because Macs are actually built to be safer. Most viruses and attackers specifically seek out Windows weaknesses to exploit, so it is the sheer number of viruses targeting Windows instead of Macs that offers the protection, not the system itself. As Macs become more and more popular, vulnerability for Mac systems will become critical, as the weaknesses in these systems will be increasingly exploited.
Vulnerability Protection for Macs
Installing an anti-virus program for your Mac system is a good start. There are less than 200 known viruses that target Macs, but these programs are a minimal investment and are easy to install. The chance of a viral attack may be small, but if you're a target, it's worth the time. Installing and updating an anti-virus program on your network can significantly increase vulnerability protection on your Mac system. Using the program to scan incoming email and attachments is always a smart move.
Daniel Gottilla provides information about selecting a vulnerability scanner or understanding vulnerability method of attack, if you have questions please visit our website.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Data Loss During Upgradation to Mac OS
However, with some of the applications, this is not as smooth as it is said. While trying to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, sometimes, you can only get an option of 'Erase and Install'. Even, the installation process gets interrupted with an error message and the hard drive becomes inaccessible thereafter. The situation can only be handled with any Mac recovery utility, as the drive carries your valuable data in it and you can't afford experimenting, which may even damage your data.
Resolution:
The problem can be resolved by fixing the errors related to the hard disk. For this, you can use the tool Disk Utility, which is meant to verify and repair the storage device. Insert the Macintosh system installation disc and run Disk Utility from there to fix the errors in the hard disk.
However, at times, Disk Utility also fails and throws error messages such as: "Incorrect number of Extended Attributes (it should be 0 instead of [some numbers])"
If the Disk utility fails, the only way left is to Erase and make a fresh installation. In that case, you have to restore the lost data from the previously taken backup. In case, backup is not available, you can recover your data only through any Mac recovery software. These Mac recovery utilities are powerful enough to recover your data under any instance of data loss and along side, are easy to use.
Stellar Phoenix Macintosh Data recovery is a highly appreciated Mac recovery software which is capable of recovering any lost, deleted or formatted Mac data from almost all data loss situations. The software supports a number of different file types and works well with Mac OS X 10.3.9, 10.4, 10.6 and 10.5.
The error message in the above situation can be as below:
"You can not install Mac OS X 10.5 on this volume with out changing your installation settings."
Such a problem can be the outcome of a variety of reasons. One of the prime observation says that if you have used the tool 'TechTool Pro' in order to create an eDrive on the destination volume, then the problem as above usually happens with Mac OS X 10.5. Apart from this, the check process of the Leopard through the hard disk can cause such a problem. Mac OS X 10.5 makes a complete scan of the hard drive before it lists the drives & volumes in the destination window and if it fails, problem like the above surfaces.
Allen Sood is a technical writer having vast experience on working with Mac OS X, doing research on Mac data recovery also likes reading Apple News & Journals, Macrumors,Tuaw updates, And he is currently working for Drive tool Box for mac.
In digital world, every other day, you can come around some new inventions and hence, upgradation of the older versions of the applications to newer ones is quite common. In order to upgrade your old application to a new one, you needn't have to do much. You just have to follow certain steps systematically and the rest will be done automatically by the application itself.
Resolution:
The problem can be resolved by fixing the errors related to the hard disk. For this, you can use the tool Disk Utility, which is meant to verify and repair the storage device. Insert the Macintosh system installation disc and run Disk Utility from there to fix the errors in the hard disk.
However, at times, Disk Utility also fails and throws error messages such as: "Incorrect number of Extended Attributes (it should be 0 instead of [some numbers])"
If the Disk utility fails, the only way left is to Erase and make a fresh installation. In that case, you have to restore the lost data from the previously taken backup. In case, backup is not available, you can recover your data only through any Mac recovery software. These Mac recovery utilities are powerful enough to recover your data under any instance of data loss and along side, are easy to use.
Stellar Phoenix Macintosh Data recovery is a highly appreciated Mac recovery software which is capable of recovering any lost, deleted or formatted Mac data from almost all data loss situations. The software supports a number of different file types and works well with Mac OS X 10.3.9, 10.4, 10.6 and 10.5.
The error message in the above situation can be as below:
"You can not install Mac OS X 10.5 on this volume with out changing your installation settings."
Such a problem can be the outcome of a variety of reasons. One of the prime observation says that if you have used the tool 'TechTool Pro' in order to create an eDrive on the destination volume, then the problem as above usually happens with Mac OS X 10.5. Apart from this, the check process of the Leopard through the hard disk can cause such a problem. Mac OS X 10.5 makes a complete scan of the hard drive before it lists the drives & volumes in the destination window and if it fails, problem like the above surfaces.
Allen Sood is a technical writer having vast experience on working with Mac OS X, doing research on Mac data recovery also likes reading Apple News & Journals, Macrumors,Tuaw updates, And he is currently working for Drive tool Box for mac.
In digital world, every other day, you can come around some new inventions and hence, upgradation of the older versions of the applications to newer ones is quite common. In order to upgrade your old application to a new one, you needn't have to do much. You just have to follow certain steps systematically and the rest will be done automatically by the application itself.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Gig Line Your Business Direction With What a Mac Can Do
If you have never been in the military, a gig line is used to describe how you are dressed. A gig line is lining up your shirt, belt, tie, and pants "lines" so that you look professional and sharp. In your personal world it is preparing yourself and lining up your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional self to handle the rigors of the business world. In the business world, you line you line up your resources, money, time, and personnel effort selling a product/service to a customer and making a profit. So, let's see if your Mac gig line can be done.
Operations
* Billing and Accounting - billing is about sending out invoices to be paid and accounting is about tracking all of your business expenses and income for tax purposes. Get an accounting package such as Quicken rather than doing things by hand or using a spreadsheet such as Numbers/Excel since it makes things much easier to recalculate and "slice and dice" the data to determine taxes and information for paing bills.
* Business Tasks - such as mailing for invoices or newsletters, etc. These will vary according to the type of business you are in.
If you're starting a business, let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to answer them for you.
If you have any other ideas, visit MacGetIT.com for more ideas to how to use a Mac in a business.
I have been using Macs since the Mac 512ke days and currently use a MacBook Pro to run my Mac Consulting business and my wife runs her Real Estate business using a Mac. I have helped thousands of small businesses getting them set up using a Mac and helping them get the most out of the use of their Mac.
Over 95% of the businesses that I have consulted with can switch from using a PC to using a Mac for their business with very little issues involved. The other 5% need to run Windows because they have a few applications where there are no Mac equivalent types of software, such as an anthropological, forensic, or other niche industry solution that there is little to no Mac solution.
Marketing using iWork and iLife '09
* Garageband - allows you to create your own music, but more importantly, create your own podcast or audio file to be incorporated into iMovie.
* iMovie - allows you to create movies of how to build a storage shed, an interview of a local celebrity that endorses your product, or even a product/service testimonial of your business.
* iPhoto - putting your digital pictures into iPhoto gives you control over product pictures using keywords, putting together a monthly newsletter using seasonal pictures and keeping track of them, and even doing minor editing of them in iPhoto.
* iWed - creating a web or blog site describing your company
* iDVD - creating a full blown DVD of all of the above files to hand out to customers.
* Pages - to write your marketing copy, create Request For Proposals (RFP), or create flyers or brochures to give to potential customers.
* Numbers - create catalogs or quotes for customers.
* Keynote - create a presentation to give to customers or have them download them off of your web site.
So, how is a business run using a Mac? Well, there are a few things that need to set the stage to use the Mac.
1. Type of business determines the solution. Your business determines what hardware and software solutions that you intend to use. A dentist will use different software than a graphic artist or a writer, however, there are some similarities to all of them.
2. Switchers can do it. If you are switching from a PC there is a way to finding the answer to switching. Write down all of the Windows applications that you use, define what they are (such as word processor, photo editor, etc) and then find the Mac version of that type of software that you use. If there are no Mac solutions that you like, you can run Windows under Apple's Boot Camp or virtualization software Parallels or Fusion.
3.Type of solution depends on capability. If you are a writer you'll need specific tools to be able to write for multiple customers and vendors. If you are a graphic artist you'll need other tools.
So what software solutions are there for a startup business or an entrepreneur that nearly all of them could use?
Sales
* Business documents - using Apple's iWork is a great start in using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to handle your startup business documents.
* Contact Management - keeping track of all of the vendors and customers whether you have 100, 1000, or millions of contacts the various Mac solutions an handle it. Apple's Address Book is a start to begin tracking this information, but the more you track the more you'll need a larger application.
* To Do List- we all have tasks to do to get done. Apple's iCal can handle simple To Do lists, but other solutions are available to handle more difficult tasks.
* Calendar- making sure you schedule your time and priorities means that you keep your calendar free of non critical stuff and schedule only those things that are most important, such as family and friend time. Again, Apple's iCal can handle a Solo Entrepreneur's calendar of events, but you may need a better solution of the numbers get too big or it gets to complicated.
* Sales/POS (Point Of Sale) - keeping track of your sales and the accounting of your income is extremely important to know whether you are successful or not. See below for a suggestion.
Operations
* Billing and Accounting - billing is about sending out invoices to be paid and accounting is about tracking all of your business expenses and income for tax purposes. Get an accounting package such as Quicken rather than doing things by hand or using a spreadsheet such as Numbers/Excel since it makes things much easier to recalculate and "slice and dice" the data to determine taxes and information for paing bills.
* Business Tasks - such as mailing for invoices or newsletters, etc. These will vary according to the type of business you are in.
If you're starting a business, let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to answer them for you.
If you have any other ideas, visit MacGetIT.com for more ideas to how to use a Mac in a business.
I have been using Macs since the Mac 512ke days and currently use a MacBook Pro to run my Mac Consulting business and my wife runs her Real Estate business using a Mac. I have helped thousands of small businesses getting them set up using a Mac and helping them get the most out of the use of their Mac.
Over 95% of the businesses that I have consulted with can switch from using a PC to using a Mac for their business with very little issues involved. The other 5% need to run Windows because they have a few applications where there are no Mac equivalent types of software, such as an anthropological, forensic, or other niche industry solution that there is little to no Mac solution.
Marketing using iWork and iLife '09
* Garageband - allows you to create your own music, but more importantly, create your own podcast or audio file to be incorporated into iMovie.
* iMovie - allows you to create movies of how to build a storage shed, an interview of a local celebrity that endorses your product, or even a product/service testimonial of your business.
* iPhoto - putting your digital pictures into iPhoto gives you control over product pictures using keywords, putting together a monthly newsletter using seasonal pictures and keeping track of them, and even doing minor editing of them in iPhoto.
* iWed - creating a web or blog site describing your company
* iDVD - creating a full blown DVD of all of the above files to hand out to customers.
* Pages - to write your marketing copy, create Request For Proposals (RFP), or create flyers or brochures to give to potential customers.
* Numbers - create catalogs or quotes for customers.
* Keynote - create a presentation to give to customers or have them download them off of your web site.
So, how is a business run using a Mac? Well, there are a few things that need to set the stage to use the Mac.
1. Type of business determines the solution. Your business determines what hardware and software solutions that you intend to use. A dentist will use different software than a graphic artist or a writer, however, there are some similarities to all of them.
2. Switchers can do it. If you are switching from a PC there is a way to finding the answer to switching. Write down all of the Windows applications that you use, define what they are (such as word processor, photo editor, etc) and then find the Mac version of that type of software that you use. If there are no Mac solutions that you like, you can run Windows under Apple's Boot Camp or virtualization software Parallels or Fusion.
3.Type of solution depends on capability. If you are a writer you'll need specific tools to be able to write for multiple customers and vendors. If you are a graphic artist you'll need other tools.
So what software solutions are there for a startup business or an entrepreneur that nearly all of them could use?
Sales
* Business documents - using Apple's iWork is a great start in using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to handle your startup business documents.
* Contact Management - keeping track of all of the vendors and customers whether you have 100, 1000, or millions of contacts the various Mac solutions an handle it. Apple's Address Book is a start to begin tracking this information, but the more you track the more you'll need a larger application.
* To Do List- we all have tasks to do to get done. Apple's iCal can handle simple To Do lists, but other solutions are available to handle more difficult tasks.
* Calendar- making sure you schedule your time and priorities means that you keep your calendar free of non critical stuff and schedule only those things that are most important, such as family and friend time. Again, Apple's iCal can handle a Solo Entrepreneur's calendar of events, but you may need a better solution of the numbers get too big or it gets to complicated.
* Sales/POS (Point Of Sale) - keeping track of your sales and the accounting of your income is extremely important to know whether you are successful or not. See below for a suggestion.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Mac Users Can Delete Duplicate Songs Easily
The problem is that going about this manually can be very difficult and time-consuming. Think about it; you would have to listen to each track, check the bitrates, see when you downloaded the file, and more, all to figure out which song you want to keep and which you want to delete or back-up. Luckily, there is lightweight software that does all of this work for you and it's just for Mac users.
Is your iMac or Macbook running slowly? Taking a long time to boot up? Are you staring at the 'spinning beachball' for too long? A big problem with Mac computers is that once they get clogged with duplicate files, they begin to perform a lot more slowly than they used to. If you download audio files or if your tunes library is packed with songs, then there's a good chance that you could use a clean-up. You simply need a way to find out which songs are duplicates, which version is the better version, and delete the audio files that you don't need.
Steve Gilbert is an Apple supporter/Mac enthusiast. He has experience with PCs as well, but prefers Macs due to their simplicity and reliability. He has lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 10 years, and enjoys skatings, snowboarding, and the occasional HBO series. He's a big fan of getting rid of clutter and duplicate files, which overheat and prematurely end the lives of otherwise healthy Mac computers.
The software that I recommend is simple to use. You click a few buttons using the Wizard function, and within seconds you have searched out duplicate songs, files, programs, photos, e-mails, and more. The software compares bitrates, download date, author, length, and many more options. It becomes simple to back-up the songs you want for later, or to delete the songs that are just wasting space.
Life is too short to spend collective hours staring at loading screens and spinning beach balls. By using the software that I recommend, you can speed up your Mac to the way it was when you first bought it. If you need to delete duplicate songs, take a look at the software that I recommend.
Is your iMac or Macbook running slowly? Taking a long time to boot up? Are you staring at the 'spinning beachball' for too long? A big problem with Mac computers is that once they get clogged with duplicate files, they begin to perform a lot more slowly than they used to. If you download audio files or if your tunes library is packed with songs, then there's a good chance that you could use a clean-up. You simply need a way to find out which songs are duplicates, which version is the better version, and delete the audio files that you don't need.
Steve Gilbert is an Apple supporter/Mac enthusiast. He has experience with PCs as well, but prefers Macs due to their simplicity and reliability. He has lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 10 years, and enjoys skatings, snowboarding, and the occasional HBO series. He's a big fan of getting rid of clutter and duplicate files, which overheat and prematurely end the lives of otherwise healthy Mac computers.
The software that I recommend is simple to use. You click a few buttons using the Wizard function, and within seconds you have searched out duplicate songs, files, programs, photos, e-mails, and more. The software compares bitrates, download date, author, length, and many more options. It becomes simple to back-up the songs you want for later, or to delete the songs that are just wasting space.
Life is too short to spend collective hours staring at loading screens and spinning beach balls. By using the software that I recommend, you can speed up your Mac to the way it was when you first bought it. If you need to delete duplicate songs, take a look at the software that I recommend.
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