BP9_Link to My Comment on Jen's Blog

Link to comment on Jen's Blog.

Credits: Image courtesy of Glogster.com.

BP8_Instapaper

I have thousands of bookmarks. Some I've carefully exported and preserved, safe in archived folders, backed up on multiple hard drives, and seldom, if ever, accessed as the years drift by. Most of the others, as you can see to the left, are gathering virtual dust in nested folders in my browser's bookmark bar.

Oh sure, I've tried Delicious and Diigo, both with some success but neither was as fun, simple, and effortless as I'd hoped. My bookmarking addiction probably falls under the category of hoarding and though I've yet to find the perfect long-term solution, I've recently discovered the best one-two punch for knocking out the short-term bookmark blues.

I've detailed Evernote here and here but Instapaper is the perfect cure for the must-read later but how will I remember blues. Well, the seemingly perfect cure.

I could write about this but let's face it, a video is worth a thousand (or more) words. Here's Instapaper in action:



Note: The idea voiced in the video (to add Instapaper to my morning bookmarks) was news to me. The words slipped out and a part of me got to experience the jaw-drop of witnessing a brilliantly simple and obvious idea surfacing, seemingly of its own accord. I offer the following screenshot as a peek into what I'll see when opening that first set of bookmarks in tabs tomorrow morning.

Had I not chosen to make that video, I might have never discovered such an obviously useful method of reviewing the prior day's bookmarks. Like I said, brilliant! (In a totally subconscious sort of way.)

Once again, another golden idea gleaned from my journey through the EMDT program at FSO.

Thanks!

A higher-quality version of the video may be found here.

PE3_iMovie

I wondered what would happen if I tried the same process as in the prior post without removing the Ken Burns effect. No better way to find out than by trying.

The results, while not satisfying, do indicate that this process might lead to expressive ways to animate artwork. I consider this a successful failure.



Credits: Artwork courtesy of former Mac Lab student Steven Moyer. Stock image via Stock.XCHNG.

PE2_iMovie

I've recorded way too many video tutorials demonstrating how to animate Photoshop composites using Flash. Though the steps are simple and straight forward, Flash is not the easiest program to learn and not all students succeeded in creating elegant animations.

While pondering what in the world I could do to experiment in iMovie, sudden inspiration! Would it work? As you can see below, the process was a success. Like the original method, the steps are simple and straight forward. Unlike Flash, iMovie does not require nested symbols and multiple timelines.

I think this strategy might help more students succeed in animating their composites. The experiment succeeds.



Tutorial: A brief, incomplete preview of the required steps to produce this may be found here. More detailed instructions to follow.

Credits: Artwork courtesy of former Mac Lab student Steven Moyer. Stock image via Stock.XCHNG.

PE1_iMovie

The last time I used iMovie was in 2003. There wasn't much in the Lynda.com videos about working in odd aspect ratios so I thought I'd give a series of still images a try. The embedded video is 550 x 550 pixels.

It looks like I have a lot to learn about this process but, with the exception of a few images, this short video did turn out crisper and cleaner than I expected. No idea why some images looked so much better than others.



Credits: Images courtesy of Mac Lab students.

BP7_OMM_Evernote 2.0 Beta 1

I've recorded this video so many times I'm about to go crazy. From the original two plus minutes I've finally got the recording down to 1:03. I'll take it and move on.

Note: I could nail it by cutting the and they all lived happily ever after but I'm a sucker for happy endings.

For all the time Evernote has been saving me, this video has taken it all back. :P



Higher quality version of the video may be found here.

Credits: Image courtesy of Oleg Volk.

BP6_Link to My Comment on Matt's Blog

Link to comment on Matt's's Blog.

Comment on Michael's blog.

Credits: Image courtesy of Google.