iTube!
/ cTube!
I
can’t get C-SPAN through my town’s Comcast basic
Basic cable plan. Used to be able to! I don’t know
why— it’s one of those strange mysteries of town
licensing, I guess.
 |
| Senator Charles Schumer gives us a Social
Security "crisis" reality check on C-SPAN, courtesy of
iTube! internet TV software. Not as clear as Comcast,
but the message comes through. |
C-SPAN
stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network and
was invented by the cable industry 25 years ago to
help satisfy the FCC’s mandate for both local and
national public affairs programming. C-SPAN’s
channels are your window on U.S. national public
affairs. You can see how Congress works day to day. We
can watch Senator Robert Byrd, an orator in the
classic tradition, or watch Book TV’s authors of
American history, or watch CEO Brian Lamb interview
the likes of Michael Moore—an avid C-SPAN fan.
The
news is: today I can watch C-SPAN, because there’s
iTube!, a pretty cool and inexpensive internet TV
tuner with 1500
channel listings, including all C-SPAN channels, along
with hundreds
of other broadband internet offerings from around the
world—even BBC Scotland, ABC (Australia), NASA, the
UN Channel, and channels in other languages!
The
iTube! Search window reveals there are even canned
comic clips and other more salacious stuff—such
content can be disabled for family-friendly viewing.
You can easily store your favorite channels for
instant access. Many programs are of varied quality.
Broadband TV today is often stuttery and imperfect,
but it’s free, it’s a growth industry, and
utilities like iTube!/cTube! are poised to deliver it.
It has hooks into QuickTime, Real and Windows media
formats—you can even filter out those you don’t
support to make your selections relevant. It really
feels like iTunes for internet video.
My
only beefs with iTube! are quibbles; the image is easy
stretched out of true when you try to enlarge it to a
custom size, and
in its current form you must “submit” to the
developers any
new channels you want to tune in, so they can be
hard-wired into their own database of programming and
then they offer the new listing in iTube. That seems
clunky and a bit Big Brotherly, but it could also be
viewed as a great convenience. Generally, thumbs up
for iTube! and its Windows equivalent, cTube!
Someday
soon you might be watching your own movie on one of
these.
ITube!/cTube!
by East
Bay Technologies
www.eastbaytech.com
iTube!
V. 1.3 for Macintosh, $24.00
cTube!
V. 3.8 for Windows, $24.00
UltraPointer
You
may not have an issue with a small hard-to-find mouse
pointer if your computer display is not high
resolution and you only use one. I use two
high-resolution Apple flats, constantly, for video
editing and graphics, and needs lots of screen real
estate, and I often lose the pointer almost
immediately after moving it.
 |
| Where's my mouse?? UltraPointer answers
the question for Mac OSX users. Note mouse pointer in
Ring mode. I turn Pulsation off because it may steal CPU
cycles from video digitizing or playback. |
Windows XP ships with a built in utility, Cursor
Finder, that allows you to easily find the mouse
pointer when pressing the CTRL key. To enable this
feature :
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Double-Click on Mouse.
3. Select the Pointer Options Tab.
4. Put a check in the "Show location of
pointer when I press the CTRL key" field.
5. Click Apply.
6. Close the Mouse Properties window.
From now on, when you press the CTRL key, your
cursor position will be revealed.
For
Mac OSX users: UltraPointer to the rescue! After
loading this inexpensive utility, you can make your
mouse pointer pulse like a beacon when at rest, or
when you move it, to locate it instantly, and you can
set the shape of the beacon (big dot, ring, crosshair,
vertical or
horizontal bar) to suit you best, depending on your
settings. I am so happy I found this.
UltraPointer
by BrawerSoft, Inc.
www.brawersoft.com
V.
1.0.6 for
MacOSX only, $9.99
(PayPal accepted)
QuicKeys
X3
QuicKeys,
the grand-daddy of shortcuts, is back, at version 3
for Mac OSX, with Windows equivalents, and it is
shining and quick with new features.
 |
| QuicKeys X3 edit window for total
control over shortcut creation and triggering method.
This is a simple "Type My Name" email signoff, which I
made in seconds. Each shortcut makes your productivity
increase. |
Are
you not yet automating one or fifty tedious tasks on
your computer? QuicKeys can trigger everything from
email sign-offs and launching of applications all from
favorite hot keys,
to scripting entire sequences of shortcuts
which can test for certain variables (time of day or
date, existing window, and other system conditions)
and watch it go off on your automated routines.
It
now offers a polished interface and new features I
find irresistible. Two examples: first, support for
specific devices- this allows you to program macros
just for your mouse, but suppress them
for a trackpad or other USB control surface.
Second, SubScopes—an easy way to specify the
behavior of the same hot key in different parts of the
same application. So, if you’re in a special
Photoshop filter interface requiring the same key
command you normally use in the main program with a
different result, it will sense when to change
shortcuts for the same key command!
Making
shortcuts (QK talk for macros) has always been pretty
easy, but it just gets easier in X3. It’s a
powerhouse tool. I love it, you will too. Try the
30-day free trial.
QuicKeys
by Startly Technologies
www.quickeys.com
X3
for MacOSX
2.5
for Windows
5.0
for Mac Classic
$99.95,
upgrade pricing for current users.
SketchUp
Film and Stage Components Library
@Last
Software has released a very neat CD (and free
download) of a new batch of film and stage components.
The disk also includes architectural and interior
design elements no set designer, stagecrafter or
director of photography should be without.
 |
One of many detailed production
equipment models in the Film and Stage Components
library, free to SketchUp users. Moving parts can be
"exploded" for detailed manipulation, then re-locked. You
could raise or tilt the camera, pan it, etc., to design shots and
plan logistics. |
These
are 3D renderings of common film production equipment,
from apple boxes to hand dollies to HMI lights,
vehicles, even people standing, seated, or car
accident victims. Many components in the library are
amazingly articulated. For instance, you can adjust
the tilt of an HMI 1K at your scene, and relock the
position to the stand.
These
all work in SketchUp 4.0 for Mac or Windows, fast
becoming a popular previz and presentation tool in the
media business. It is a unique, patented, fun program
for quickly drawing three dimensional scenes you can
actually orbit, views you can animate to simulate
camera movements, through accurate production aspect
ratios. Takes some time to master the toolset, but the
SketchUp website is chock full of QuickTime tutorials
which are crystal clear and make the program fun to
learn.
SketchUp
4.0 by @Last
Software, Inc
www.sketchup.com
$475.00
single user; upgrade pricing available.
Free
8-hour fully functioning Test Drive.
Loren
Miller is an author, tech editor, video editor and
Refugee Utilities guy, KeyGuide™ guy. You can visit
his web site at www.neotrondesign.com
