EyePod Video

I recently acquired an iPod Video 30Gb, and having been an owner of several iPods I can safely say that this is the best one yet. Of course, the headline feature is being able to play videos - something which certainly makes my commute to work less painful. I also have an Elgato EyeTV - which I highly recommend. The new 2.0 software includes 1-click export to iPod, which suddenly opens up opportunities for mobile TV viewing.

With EyeTV 2.0 I'm able to schedule a program to record, click 'export to iPod', and leave it to do all the heavy work of converting the video overnight. However when I arise in the morning, there are a couple of problems that also arise ! :

1. My mornings are pretty hectic affairs - and copying several gigs of recorded TV down over the USB 2.0 to the iPod takes, well, too long.

2. My train journey is about 30 minutes - generally not long enough to watch an entire TV show. If I want to break off and listen to some music as I walk to work, then when I return to the video I have to hunt and seek for where I left off. That's a pain.

To illustrate, let's envisage a scenario: there's a show on late tonight that I want to record on my EyeTV, and watch on the way in to work on the train. It's a 60 minute show, and so I want to be able to break off from watching it, and pick up where I left off when I return. The show has got to be loaded on the iPod ready to rock by 7:00 in the morning, and I don't have the time to do anything except set the schedule and drop the iPod in the dock.

Can it be done ? With Applescript and Automator - yes !

Ok - first of all, I obviously need to set up my recording in EyeTV. That's simple, and the only thing to remember to do is check the "export to iPod" checkbox. EyeTV will automatically downconvert the video to the appropriate format, and save it into a playlist in iTunes called "EyeTV" (logical huh ?).

Now, Christopher Breen has some great tips on how to use smart playlists to ensure only the latest videos get copied to your iPod and anything you've watched gets deleted. He also mentions turning on bookmarking, although there's a better way of doing it than clicking manually through all your tracks. Remember, I want the iPod to be loaded up ready to go in the morning, but turning on bookmarking has to be done in iTunes, before you update the iPod.

Let's define a smart playlist that only picks up unplayed EyeTV recordings:

This will only choose video files that are in the EyeTV playlist and have not yet been played. Of course, we could get as sophisticated as we like here, if we wanted more complexity. For instance, you could also add a condition that checked the comments field - this would allow you to mark some items as "always keep" on the iPod - although you could of course synchronise a second playlist of "permanent keepers"

We need to make sure iTunes is going to synch our playlist, so in the preferences under the video tab, select the new playlist as one of those that will be updated.

Next, we need to make sure that the video in this playlist is marked as been bookmarkable, and that the whole lot gets dumped to the iPod before I wake up. Automator (with a smattering of Applescript), and iCal will help us do this. We need to define an Automator action that looks like this:

This will select all the tracks in our smart playlist, and pass them to an Applescript action which sets the bookmarkability. It then runs the Automator action to update the iPod. The Applescript section reads thus:

    on run {input, parameters}
        repeat with song in input
            tell application "iTunes"
                set bookmarkable of song to true
            end tell
        end repeat
        return input
    end run

Lastly, we just need to choose "Save as Plug-in.." from the File menu in Automator, and save it as an iCal alarm plug-in. iCal will open, and create an entry that will run this action. I normally move all such "system" actions to a separate calendar of their own. The last thing to do is to move this iCal event to an appropriate time - say 6:00 am, and set it to repeat every weekday.

Now I have automatic, bookmarkable TV content downloaded to my iPod whilst I sleep ! All I need is something decent on TV to record !

I hope this helps you if you want to set up a similar system. Good look, and leave me some feedback to let me know how you get on !

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Writer's Block Live

Mike Evangelist, a former director of product marketing at Apple, is in the process of writing a book. What makes it unusual is the fact that he's roughing it out for all the world to see on his blog, Writer's Block Live.

It offers some fascinating insights to the company and the man behind it all, Steve Jobs. It's well worth a bookmarking, so why not head over there now.

Why I ordered a MacBook Pro

If you haven't heard about the MacBookPro by now, let me be the first to ask "How was it under that rock for the last week ?"

If you've been reading the flurry of forum postings, blog entries and general e-pinions that have hit the web in the days since Steve took the stage and announced the first Intel Mac laptop, a full six months ahead of schedule, you be aware that its caused something of a controversy.

Let me address some of these, point by point, and explain why I ordered a MacBook Pro for myself.

1) The Name

'MacBook Pro' - well, it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, especially not one use to saying 'Powerbook' for fifteen years. But then again, is it really that bad ? From reading some of the reaction to it over the last week you'd have though they'd call it "ThinkPad" or something equally disturbing.

For a start, is "Powerbook" really any better ? I mean, I certainly doesn't scream "Mac" to me, and the "Power" part is erring on the verbal equivalent of go-faster stripes. At least "MacBook" lets you know it's a Mac, and that's a damned fine thing - not that anyone would be in any doubt with a great big glowing Apple on the lid.

Can you imagine the furore that would occur these days if the Apple logo was the wrong way up ? (yes, that's how they used to be)

2) Firewire 800, or lack thereof

Firewire 800 ? Never used it. I have a nice shiny (unused) Firewire 800 port on the back of my G5 and nary a thing to plug into it. And, honestly, after the hassles I've had with Firewire 400 I'm not likely to be going out of my way to buy anything to keep it happy.

Firewire - with which I've used mostly disks and cameras - has never lived up to the promise for me. Too often disks on a daisy chain unmount when another device on that chain is removed, never to return until after a reboot.

No, I wont be missing Firewire 800

3) modem, again in the sense of it being missing

Modems ? Didn't they, like, die out with the dinosaurs or something ? OK, I'm being facetious, but I honestly can't remember the last time I used dialup, and I know for a fact that I definitely don't have a dialup account that I could use, even if I had the hardware.

If I need to get on the net when I'm out of the ever expanding reach of broadband, I use my bluetooth mobile. Even that's a damned sight faster than a modem.

4) dual layer dvd - yet again, it's negative presence

Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever had the desire to burn a disk on my laptop in more years of use than I care to remember. In fact, I'd quite like to have an option to remove the optical drive entirely. The fact that the "Powerbook" has dropped from a dual layer burner to a single layer burner is of no concern to me. Next !

5) iSight - this time, about it's inclusion

Ok - some places I've worked have had a ban on mobile phone cameras. Not that anybody took the slightest bit of notice. I just don't see the comparison to having a built in video-conferencing tool. It's not like you're going to creep around the premises cradling your MacBook Pro like a ninja secretary, snapping top secret pre-production prototypes of the latest McGuffin in it's grainy, fixed-focus iSight.

If some companies really ban the use of laptops with built in cameras, then it really is proof of the idiotic blindness of the corporate world, unable to see the potential benefits of free, multiparty, wireless video-conferencing.

6) The design. Or lack thereof.

Rule #1 of product design - you don't fix what ain't broken !

The Powerbook chassis is just plain gorgeous, as well as functional - especially when compared to the clunky, twinked out efforts that WinTel uses have to put up with. I love the design, especially that stunning drop-hinge. My old Powerbook still get admiring glances and comments even after all these years. I am so glad the MacBook Pro looks just like a Powerbook !


Sometimes, reading too many blog and forum posts from over-opinionated and under-informed geeks can be the most depressing experience. Apple have clearly busted a gut here - just a couple of months ago the very idea of being able to buy an Intel Mac in January was inconceivable. And yet what was sensational yesterday, becomes mundane today, thanks to the incredible instant-gratification culture of the internet. Here we are, January 2006, and you can buy an Intel Mac ferchrissakes ! Quit the bitching because Apple forgot to include a toasted sandwich maker in the specs, or didn't redesign the case.

So, like I said - I ordered one. No matter how contrived the performance statistics on Apple's web site, it's a sure bet that it's going to eat my three year old 867MHz 12" G4 Powerbook for breakfast, and probably eye up my Dual 1.8GHz G5 when it gets peckish by mid-morning.

I'll keep you posted !

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Macworld Mania !

For a non Apple affection-ado, the build up to a Macworld expo must be hard to comprehend. After all, it's just a trade show, one for a computer manufacturer at that. So why the fuss ?

Well, for a start, this isn't any old computer manufacturer we're talking about. It's Apple - the company that consistently redefines the meaning of 'cool'; the company that goes into insane levels of detail in it's products - ever notice the way the cables are neatly coiled in a new iPod pack ? But more than that, it's about one man - Steve Jobs, and specifically, his Keynote speech.

Unlike many other companies, Apple rarely releases a product without making a song and dance about it, and even those few are more often than not just minor bumps to current products. Instead, Apple maximises the impact of new products by having them personally introduced by the CEO himself - and the Macworld Keynote is the premier such occasion.

To get some idea of the level of preparation that goes into the Keynote, take a look at Mike Evangelist's recent Guardian article.

About a minute into the demo, Steve stopped me, saying impatiently, "you gotta get this together or we're going to have to pull this demo from the keynote."

Unlike any other corporate presentation I've ever been witness too, Steve (and his team) somehow manages to make the two or so hours of the Macworld Keynote an entertaining experience. So much so that I know come tuesday evening (UK time), I'll be watching the webcast .

(Or not, as the case may be - it seems as though the keynote won't be broadcast live. However, there are doubtless going to be up-to-the-second feeds on the Mac news web. Check out places like MacCentral, or try using iChat to connect to a group chat room called something appropriate - 'Macworld' would be a good one to try.)

So, what can we expect ? Well, the usual Keynote is a heady mix of recap, product introductions and a liberal dash of the infamous Reality Distortion Field - and the now expected 'One More Thing'. Steve is a great showman, and likes to keep his biggest hit right until the end. This is part o the joy of watching the Keynote - that no matter how wowed, or otherwise, you are by what Steve is demoing right now you know for certain that there's still One More Thing that's going to top it.

And within minutes of the Keynote having been delivered, the Apple web site will be updated with the details of the latest products, all with enticing links to the Apple online store.

This year, I'm certainly hoping that one of the things introduced is an Intel Centrino based Powerbook, available to buy straight away. I have a 3 year old powerbook that's recently been pressed back into active service, and I need something with more horsepower. But that's a topic for another post...

Another Mac site ?

That's probably what you're asking yourself right about now. Heck, it's what I'm asking myself ! So, what's this all about then ? And who am I ?

Well, after using Macs for - um - longer than I care to admit (hint: it's not far off the 'Macsimum' of 20 years), I've become known amongst my friends as something of a Mac expert and evangelist. I don't claim to know all there is to know about Macs - but I have built up a lot of knowledge that doesn't have an outlet. So why not share it with you guys ?

I work as a web developer*, mostly using Perl but trying to land a Ruby on Rails gig, and try to use Macs wherever possible in my professional life. More often than not, this means supplying my own Powerbook and hitching it up the the client's network without saying too much to their IT department. But I'm not just a road warrior - I have a Dual G5 back at home which gets plenty of use too.

I suppose what makes me kind of unusual is that I'm a techie (yep, I have a bona fide IT degree) that's been into Macs since the start. There's a growing crowd of linux users who've recently discovered the Mac, but not many programmers who were using the Mac back in system 7 days ! I've got to admit that the concept of Mac OS X - combining the Mac user interface with Unix's back end power - is something that I always thought would be a winner.

So, that's me - I think I'm pretty well qualified to offer up tips, hints and opinions on my favourite fruit flavoured computer brand.

Why now ? Well, it's the start of a new year, that's for sure. Also, in literally just a day or two His Steveness is highly likely to announce the availability of the first Intel based Macs. This is a sea change in the landscape of the Mac world - I have little doubt that this will have a huge impact on the way Macs are perceived amongst the other 90-odd percent of the computer using populace. Intel Macs will bring a hug amount of attention on to Apple's computers, and there's never been a better time to start blogging the Mac-o-sphere.

Who are you ? Well, you could be a rank novice in all things Mac, or a pro designer, or maybe a web developer like me. Whoever you are, I hope to keep you informed and interested, and if I don't do one or the other I'm relying on you to put me straight !

All that remains for me to say is :

Welcome to Macintosh


.* yes, I know it's hard to believe that I'm using a standard Blogger template - or that I'm using Blogger at all. I'll get round to addressing that just as soon as I can.

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