I have posted about several time code tools in the past that can be helpful to video pros. I have just come across this one.

Pomfort’s FrameCalculator $25 US (19 euros) available for Mac OS X, can add and subtract time code, as well as multiply and divide for drop and non drop frame rates.
Continue reading Timecode Tool Plus Other Helpful Features…

As the competing high-definition DVD technology war is raging on, two companies are moving to the middle ground announcing products at CES designed to handle both formats. The launch of two rival DVD formats has left the electronics an movie industry facing a battle similar to the 1980s Betamax versus VHS debate leaving consumers guessing and sales and adoption rates low. With no clear winner in the foreseeable future between Blu-ray and HD-DVD camps at least these two companies are trying to mediate for sales sake.
Continue reading Warner And LG Help In High-def DVD Formats War?…

A Mac Tablet at MacWorld? Definitely! Whatever Steve Jobs might or might not say it seems OWC (Other World Computing) and Axiotron will announce the ModBook, a Mac-based tablet computer at MacWorld Expo.

OWC who are well known to the Mac community for Macintosh CPU upgrades, RAM, iPod solutions and Firewire hard drives have partnered with Axiotron to bring us a Mac tablet computer. The ModBook, as they are calling it will be unveiled with hands-on demos in their booth (S2218) on January 9 at the MacWorld Expo.
Continue reading Mac Tablet To Be Introduced At MacWorld…

After more than a three year absence Adobe will announce on Thursday that it release a Mac version of Premiere, the software maker’s video editoring software. The new Mac version will only run on Intel-based Macs and will be part of a larger Adobe Production Studio suite that will include Adobe Encore DVD and Adobe Soundbooth. Times have changed, the growth of the Mac platform and Apple’s decision to switch to Intel processors. When Adobe dropped Mac support for Premiere in July 2003, they cited Apple’s increased efforts in the digital-video market, with Apple’s Final Cut editing application. Adobe continued to develop After Effects, its motion-graphics application for Mac video pros, however.
Continue reading Adobe Premiere Returns To The Mac…

Amazon seems to already have stand-in pages that may hint at some of what is coming from the MacWorld Keynote of Jan 9. There are pages set up for iWork 07 and iLife 07. There is also page for Apple .Mac 2007 Online Service. Sorry no iPhone from Apple listed. There’s an iPhone page, but not from Apple iPhone.

Update: As of Thursday evening January 4th, Amazon, amusingly, has renamed the four Apple software listings to: Apple MacWorld 2007 Announcement #1, Apple MacWorld 2007 Announcement #2, Apple MacWorld 2007 Announcement #3, and Apple MacWorld 2007 Announcement #4. My last check on Friday January 5th, they were removed. Fun people over at Amazon!

Ecamm Network’s CardRaider $19.95 US (free demo available), using a familiar Mac OS X interface makes it simple to detect and unerase lost pictures. Instant electronic order fulfillment means that your photos will be recovered within the next five minutes, so says the developer.

Just one click and watch your photos come back like magic. Find the ones you’re looking for and quickly recover to your computer, or send directly to iPhoto.

Features:

• One-click scan and recover.
• See thumbnails and preview before recovering.
• Find JPEG and Canon Raw image files.
• Send recovered images to iPhoto.
• Works on damaged or reformatted cards.
• Try before you buy. Download the demo.

Continue reading CardRaider Recovers Lost Digital Photos For Mac Users…

Continue reading OS X Tip #144: Pinging With Macs…

ScopeBox reaches version 1.0 today. I posted about ScopeBox awhile ago on how it replaces a cart full of tools like a Preview Monitor, Waveform, Vectorscope, Audio Meters, Direct Disk Recorder and goes even further, adding Luminance Histogram, RGB Histograms, and RGB Parade. I remember being disappointed when I saw Serious Magic’s DV Rack and was told no Mac version. SoapBox goes beyond Serious Magic’s DV Rack, according to Frank Jonen from his hands on review with the product.

Continue reading SoapBox Reaches Version 1.0…

Continue reading OS X Tip #143: Shortcut to Having an Application Start At Login…

Continue reading OS X Tip #142: Finding and Using Special Characters…

Color Schemer Studio $49.99 (OS X or Windows) is a professional color matching application for anyone from hobbyists to advanced professionals. This is especially helpful if you are color challenged like me. Color Schemer allows you to pick a great color scheme with a dynamic visual color wheel, instantly. Great tool for web designers.

Aurora is a free (donationware) Alarm Clock for your Mac that lets you wake up to your favorite iTunes playlist or any TV or radio channel from EyeTV. Other features include a Sleep Timer, Apple Remote support and the ability to wake your Mac from sleep or from a powered-off state. Aurora is available in English, German, French, Italian and Japanese.

distantDVD $15 US (trial version available) allows you browse and play “ripped” DVD’s (in VIDEO_TS format), AVI’s and MPEG’s, either across a network or locally. All via distantDVD full screen home theater front end that can show the Movies cover-art. You can choose to launch your movies in either VLC or the Apple DVD player.

Your ripped DVD folders (VIDEO_TS), or digital video files, can be on any computer, using any operating system, on your home network. If you can mount the drive you can use distantDVD to play that film! Ripping the DVD’s can be done on Macs using MacTheRipper or another application. This maybe just the application you have been looking for allowing you to enjoy watching DVDs from your Mac without ever leaving your couch.

Continue reading Browse & Play Networked DVDs On Your Mac!…

Star Trek’s voyages have always taken the crew to places where no man has gone before. Now the original 1960′s series has gone to iTunes. Apple’s has a continuing mission also, to rule the downloadable universe for TV shows! Season One of the original Star Trek series has just been “beamed” down to the iTunes Store. Pricing is the usual $1.99 per episode or $56.99 for the entire first season will allow you to easily load of your iPod with the show that would make any sci-fi fan smile.

Continue reading OS X Tip #141: Remove Duplicate Entries In Finder’s Contextual Menu…

Panergy has shipped docXConverter, $20 US, a Mac OS X only application that enables Mac users to open and save files in Microsoft’s new Word 2007 .docx file format. The .docx format is now the default format for the new Windows version of Office 2007. Microsoft has not yet announced a promised compatibility solution for Macs users.
Continue reading Panergy Ships .docx Converter for Word 2007…

“The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007.” Nice charge up to the big MacWorld Expo. Cool.

MacDailyNews reports one of its readers Larry Fransson shot this on December 29, 2006 at a Costco store in Tukwila, WA (a suburb south of Seattle). I guess even in Seattle, near Microsoft-land the Costco employees have no idea what a Zune is? The Zune is shaping up to be a disaster for Microsoft this holiday season and has been buried by the iPod like Denver in December 2006! Thanks Larry for sharing the “thousand words” this picture tells!

I usually dislike writing about predictions of any kind. I rarely write about rumors and over-hyped non-shipping products that may just become latest vapor-ware. Sure I read the rumor sites like many others. But I usually like to write about actual shipping products and “real” technologies instead of some of the “wild” rumors I hear or read about. I have been around a long time and have seen so many products that were promised go up in smoke or not live up to the hype.

Some of my readers ask me why I do not write about the latest so-called “next” new product from companies such as Apple. My answer is the ReelSmart is not “that” sort of site. I would rather be more like Popular Science, PC Magazine or MacWorld magazine, then the Globe or the Star found in your local supermarket. I strive to make the site helpful to users of actual products. If I can help someone use their computer better, use the Internet smarter, save them time and money, or pick a new gadget they might enjoy or enhance their life, this makes me happy. Never has been my goal to guess at what companies will do or not do, I leave this up to the many analysis that revel in this. When they are wrong, and boy are they wrong sometimes, I like to call them “Anal-Lists.”

So in the spirit of fun, I am going to make my predictions (in some cases wishes) for what has become one of Apple’s most anticipated “Steve-note” in years. It is amazing to me that as Apple’s success has grown, so has the anticipation for the “next” great thing or as Jobs might say “one more thing.” Jobs is scheduled for a two hour Keynote this year!
Continue reading MacWorld Predictions…

Let’s hope for a great 2007 for all. I thought you may like this video to inspire you for the new year. Thanks to all my readers for taking the time out of their busy day to check out my blog. I hope it was worth your time.