Here is an audio sample. I just quickly recorded it on my phone. So quality isn't as good as usual. Also her narration of the traffic status needs work.  I also just noticed she is getting day and month backwards.  I need to fix that in the parsing code.

I have been playing around making a Jarvis like home notifaction script.  One piece of that for fun is to read me the current Brandon Sanderson book project status report.  I made the below applescript to parse the information off his Web site and read it aloud to me. After all men don't read (a Stormlight Archive reference so go get the book).  I am a huge fan of his Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series.  Oh yeah... He is also finishing the Wheel of Time too. ;-)

Warning that the below script could break at any time.  It has to parse out bits of html code.  Who knows how much that changes each time updates his status.  I won't know till the next update.  You can see those bits in the AppleScript's text item delimeters lines in the script.

*UPDATE 9-18-2011* I updated the script below to help avoid breaking when Brandon updates his progress area.  It relies way less on the html code matching.

on run {}

try

set theSource to (do shell script "curl " & quoted form of ("http://www.brandonsanderson.com/"))

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"<h3>Current Projects</h3>"}

set theText to text item 2 of theSource

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"<h3>Search</h3>"}

set theText to text item 1 of theText

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"<div style=\"float:left;  width:100%;\">"}

set tempProject1 to text item 2 of theText

set tempProject2 to text item 3 of theText

set tempProject3 to text item 4 of theText

set percentStartProj1 to offset of "%" in tempProject1

set percentProj1 to text (percentStartProj1 - 3) thru (percentStartProj1) of tempProject1

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"  <br/>"}

set projectProgress1 to text item 1 of tempProject1 & percentProj1

set percentStartProj2 to offset of "%" in tempProject2

set percentProj2 to text (percentStartProj2 - 3) thru (percentStartProj2) of tempProject2

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"  <br/>"}

set projectProgress2 to text item 1 of tempProject2 & percentProj2

set percentStartProj3 to offset of "%" in tempProject3

set percentProj3 to text (percentStartProj3 - 3) thru (percentStartProj3) of tempProject3

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"  <br/>"}

set projectProgress3 to text item 1 of tempProject3 & percentProj3

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {""}

say "Brandon Sanderson Project Status Report"

say projectProgress1

say projectProgress2

say projectProgress3

on error

say "Unable to obtain Brandon Sanderson project status information."

return

end try

end run

 

I had made a video on removing hum in Soundtrack Pro a long time back. Last night I found I had never shared a version I made where I replicated the process in GarageBand for my author friend, Jake Bible.  So I tossed the video into FCPX to put a title and introduction on it then sent it on up to YouTube.

I tossed together a video tutorial on using multiple macs to do distributed processing with Compressor 4.

I found that Compressor 4 cannot talk to qmaster nodes on older macs running Compressor 3.5.  And in the case of my 1st generation mac mini it won't install Compressor 4 from the app store.  BUT I did find I could drag Compressor 4 to my mac mini manually and run it as a services only C4 qmaster node.  Thus I still get to use it for extra processing power in my Compressor 4 cluster.

I have been in the IT and information security industries for my entire professional career. As recent as seven years ago I had a multiple computers lab in my house. they even had removable hard drives so I could swap out operating system versions to keep my skills current. I had various pieces of network gear to go with it. At one point I had cable and dsl Internet connections so I could test VPN tunnels and emulate complex setups.
I have worked extensively with Microsoft, Cisco and many other products and technologies over the years.
So why, if I have the skills would I end up where I am now? The only two Microsoft based products in my house are my xbox360 and my wife's eeepc netbook. Everything else is Apple. Even my network hardware.
The simple answer is I just want it to work. A few years ago I got my my first white iPod. It was the current model at the time. The video iPod with a hard drive inside. The experience with that device at the time that podcasting was starting began my path out of the desert of user experience. The iPod just did exactly what I needed it to do. That took me into my first iMac. Now I used macs a few times in college. But I never owned one.
I had a HP designed media center that I used with my xbox360 for a media extender. But that plus it's replacement when he first one died was the last full pc I owned for myself. Even the second one died.
I had the knowledge and the skills to maintain cheaper windows gear. But my time and frustration levels became more valuable to me. I had enough of fighting my technology at work. At home I wanted things to just work.
Look at the current generation of apple products. With a firmware update I gained AirPlay/Home Sharing to and from my devices. I have audio zones in my house based on airport express units connected to speakers. I have a second generation apple tv hooked to the large tv in my man room. I can stream audio or video from my iPhone to my tv without missing a beat. I have done with this podcast streaming apps like the twit player. It is simply amazing compared to what it was like on my commodore 64 when I was a kid. Here I am watching Leo Laporte live from his studio on my iPad, I walk upstairs push a power button and AirPlay button and it's suddenly on my tv. How is that not amazing? I am watching a guy clear across the country LIVE on a device that feels like a legal pad and I touch something and it's on my tv like magic.
If I am listening to an audio book in my car, I can redirect the audio to the speakers in my kitchen while I clean dishes and keep listening to my book. I don't lose my place and listen when, how and where I want to.
Honestly this is why the "competition" for Apple cannot catch up. They are too busy worrying about what Apple is doing rather than looking at how I want to use my media and devices. That should be the target: "What is the experience the consumer/users wants? And can we make a polished stable solution?" If they can answer those two questions they might show up for the game.

I picked up a Griffin Powermate last week on a whim. It is a usb connected solidly built alluminum control knob. You can press and turn it to trigger events. It also has a blue LED light for giving status feedback. It can work on Mac and Windows.

It comes with a number of default actions for controlling applications like iTunes, Safari etc. You can add your own and even trigger scripts with it. Griffin provides some apple script samples with the software for the powermate. These can do things like place the led into a triple flash alert mode.

I took the supplied scripts and saved them in a Scripts subfolder on my mac. Then I setup a new Control group for podcasting. You can only choose one active set per powermate at a time. Yes you can connect multiple powermates if you really want. I then found and added the applescripts for controlling skype that I found over at Mystic Coders. Next I put together triggers to toggle muting both an active skype call and the input audio level for my Mac. This way if I am on Skype with someone and they are recording I can mute for coughs, interuptions etc. I have the action also zero out then restore the input audio level as well. That solves muting my mic if I am the one doing the recording. ##Setting up the Triggers

For the Trigger: Mic-Mute: Under Advanced I check to match light state for "Default" This only runs the below actions if the light is in the default state. This keeps it from running twice once we change the light state while muted.
* Action: InputVolume-0: AppleScript: set volume input volume 0
* Action: Skype-MuteON: AppleScript: run the skype mute script from Mystic Coders
* Action: PM-LightPulse: AppleScript: run the Griffin provded script: AlertX3.scpt

For the Trigger: Mic-UnMute: Under Advanced I check to match light state for "Alert x3" This only runs the below actions if the light is in the alert state as defined in the Griffin script. This keeps it from running twice once we change the light state while unmuted.
* Action: InputVolume-72: AppleScript: set volume input volume 72
* Action: Skype-MuteOFF: AppleScript: run the skype unmute script from Mystic Coders
* Action: Clear Light State

That does it. Now when I go to record a podcast I flip my active control set for my powermate to my Podcast set. Press the knob to mute and again to unmute. It flashes while muted to ensure I know I am muted to save me from talking for several minutes without getting it recorded.

I was making a shared calendar specifically for Macworld with Victor Cajiao. It will be a busy conference so it will help if we can put all known events in one spot. Then we want to be able to modify it on the fly from anywhere and have both of us see it while we are there.

This calendar is a second one beyond my normal one in my google calendar account. My normal calendar default having added my google account in both my iPhone and iPad syncs fine. The problem is the additional calendar was not showing up. I even had my google account added as an MS Exchange server account.

Here is the trick. After you are sure your device is syncing as an ms exchange account go to http://m.google.com/ on your device. Sign into your google or google apps account. Once signed in go to http://m.google.com/sync/ now you can see all the devices syncing to your account. Touch on the desired device to modify the sync settings. Now you can see the list of all your calendars in your account. By default just your main one is selected. Add your other calendars. Last step. Go into the account settings for your google account under mail on your idevice. Turn off calendar sync. Let it remove your calendar data. Ten turn it back on. Give it a minute or two to resync. Now your multiple calendars should show up.

I keep up on the trends in media production.  What I find really amazing is how things like the iPhone4 and iPad are making seriously professional grade work possible for anyone.  Even the true professionals.  I cannot imagine what it would have cost to make the "Nancy Lee" video for Vintage Trouble five to ten years ago just due to the equipment.  This was shot on an iPhone4 for the raw footage.  Then one of the iPhones was stolen and recovered due to Find my iPhone.   You can read that story on their blog post.

Maybe you do not like Zombie and Horror, as I do.  Something evident in previous posts.