Data Rescue 3

Recently, I had a catastrophic hard drive failure on one of my archive drives. Almost 750 gigabytes of data was inaccessible since the hard drive failed to mount. I tried the built-in OSX disk utility, but it didn't recognize any problems. Then I tried "Disk Warrior" and it wasn't able to do a rebuild because of a mounting problem. Finally, as a last resort I tried Data Rescue 3, and miraculously it was able to find all the files on the hard drive.

After a rather lengthy process of recovering the missing files to another hard drive, and then copying them back to the original freshly reformatted drive, I am back to were I was before the failure.

If your hard drive crashes, remain calm, and try Data Rescue 3.

It saved my bacon:)

Pros: Finds and Recovers your Missing Files.

Cons: A Little Expensive (But Worth It).

List Price: $99.00

Top Ten Cheap Mac Apps

Here is my Top Ten List of cheap or free mac apps. Listed in no particular order, since they are all equally great.

Voltaic HD $39.99 - AVCHD converter for those pesky MTS and M2TS files.

WhatSize $12.99 - Find out what files are hogging your hard-drive space.

Transmit $34.00 - Super fast FTP client with simple interface.

Transmission Free! - BitTorrent client for all your software pirating needs.

Monolingual Free! - Strip away unnecessary language packs and free up some hard-drive space.

Nicecast $40.00 - Turn your mac into a internet streaming radio station.

AppZaper $12.95 - The fastest and coolest way to uninstall an app.

Handbrake Free! - You've got DVD's, and you want to convert them for your mobile device.

MPEG Streamclip Free! - The video encoder that is faster than Apple's Compressor.

Super Duper Free! - Make a cloned backup of your hard-drive, protect yourself.

You're welcome America.

Lightworks Public Beta

Lightworks, the old dinosaur of video editing, has made it's first step to relevancy with it's public beta of it's updated software. Long forgotten, but not yet dead, Lightworks was used to edit hundreds of Hollywood movies. It recently fell out of favor, having been replaced by Avid and Final Cut Pro. Hopefully this new version will spark some new interest in this old industry favorite.

Currently it is available only on the PC. Things will get really interesting in late 2011, when it will also support Linux and OSX.

Click here to download Lightworks Public Beta.

Open source is good:)

Apple Airport Update Breaks Wifi

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I got the pop up reminder from Apple that let me know that I should update my Airport software. After updating, my Airport connection became very sporadic and would lose it's connection every two minutes or so. The culprit? That frickin' Airport updater. After reverting back to my last known good install thanks to Super Duper, everything is working now as it should.

The strange thing is that the version that was working just fine was 6.3, the one that broke my Apple was 5.4.1. Why does the newer, supposedly better version have a lower version number? Did Apple drop the ball on this one. or am I caught up in some parallel universe where newer versions of software have a lower number?

The same thing happened to a friend of mine who now lives in Zurich. Everything was fine with her wifi until she did the updater. She even went to the Apple store and they didn't have a clue.

Come on Apple, give me a break.

Tape Deck - Old School Audio Recording

I am gearing up for the recording of the first Pixelphile Podcast. The big question is what software to use for the recording. Logic, Garage Band, Audacity? While they are all great pieces of kit, I decided to keep it old school and record it on a cassette tape. Well, not really a cassette tape in the traditional sense, but it's funky digital cousin.

TapeDeck brings back the analog love of the portable cassette recorder without all the noise and hum. By utilizing the tape deck metaphor, SuperMegaUltraGroovy have created a visually retro piece of software with all the features of a digital recorder. With it's idiot proof interface, there is never any danger of erasing or overwriting an audio file. Every time you click on the record button a new tape is created that you can label, annotate, and color code for further reference. It keeps all your recordings in the tape box that is collapsible and hides inside the recorder. The interface is familiar and fun to use, complete with all the analog sound effects that a tape recorder provides.

It's no slouch in regards to audio formats. It can export your audio file in pretty much any style you desire, including the ever popular AIFF, MP3, and MPEG-4 audio formats. Super cool extra features such as Email Tape, Copy Tape to iTunes, and Send to YouTube make TapeDeck a must have for your mac software library.

TapeDeck requires a Macintosh with Mac OS X version 10.5 or later.

Pros: Old School Analog Interface.

Cons: Chronological Listing Only.

List Price: $25.00

Vixy Online Flash Converter

One of the questions I receive most often is, "How can I save flash videos from Youtube and covert them to Quicktime?" There are many ways to do it, some requiring special software and a Ph.D. from MIT. For the rest of us without a MENSA membership, there is the free online flash video converter, Vixy.

It's as simple as copying the URL of the video that you want to download, pasting it's address into Vixy, picking what format you want to convert it to (AVI, MOV, MP4, 3GP, MP3) and hitting the start button. Once Vixy resolves the video address, it will convert the flash video from Youtube to the downloadable format that you picked. Then all you have to do is download it to your desktop.

Piece of proverbial pixel pie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HhMX9qTXqA

"I got myself a brand new Oakland scarf right here."

Pros: Easy, Fast, Convenient.

Cons: Server Often Overloaded.

Price: FREE!

Blackle - The Black Google

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen."

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

To quote Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap, "It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black."

Pros: None More Black.

Cons: It's Not The White Album.

Price: FREE!

Adobe Photoshop Express Beta

Adobe recently announced it's beta version of Adobe Photoshop Express. This FREE flash based application has a look and feel very similar to it's bigger and more expensive brother, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. For basic photo editing chores such as; exposure correction, red eye removal, image cropping, and simple touch ups, this software might be all you will ever need. For more advanced editing that requires layers, masking, and other professional tools, you will still need to plunk down some greenbacks for the industry standard Photoshop CS3.

Cool features like it's slide show function, that resembles Apple's "cover flow", makes watching the content of your photo albums much more enjoyable. It can be viewed in either standard 2D or in pseudo 3D.

The main thing missing from Photoshop Express is it's inability to resize the pixel resolution and consequently reduce the file size of your photos that you wish to email. This would make sending your friends and family a copy of your latest pix much easier than having them download a large 1 or 2MB file.

Picassa, a FREE little iPhoto like application has been around for quite awhile and has a loyal user base, appears to be the only competition against Adobe's latest creation.

Pros: Elegant Interface, Photo Cataloging, 3D Slide Show.

Cons: No Image Resizing.

Price: FREE!

Rasterbator

Okay, when was the last time that you rasterbated? What? You swear you never ever have? Well isn't it about time that you started? Homokassu.org has a pixlelicious piece of software called the Rasterbator that will help you turn any photo or graphic into a Roy Lichtenstein inspired work of art.

This ingenious piece of software turns any image into a series of halftone dots that when viewed from afar appear to be a continuous tone. You choose how large you want the final image to be, if you want it to be in color or b&w, and then just sit back as the software transforms your image into a PDF document that you can easily print on your latest ink jet or laser printer. Gather up all your prints, arrange them on your wall, and you have instant pop art!

So forget all about what your Mom use to tell you about going blind, and start Rasterbating!

Pros: Simple Interface, Excellent Results.

Cons: Doctor, I See Spots Before My Eyes.

List Price: FREE!

Drop.io Private Exchange

Let's say you have some files that you would like to share with your friends or colleagues but they are simply too large or too personal to attach to a basic email, what is a pixelphile to do? Thankfully the geniuses over at drop.io have come up with a quick and easy web based solution.

Step 1: Name your drop (the master name of the file or files that you are going to share). This will give you a unique url for this file.

Example: drop.io/pixelphile

Step 2: Upload your files from your computer. Up to 100MB.

Step 3: Choose a password if you want the file protected. Pick how long you want the file to be available. Set if the recipients can view only, view & add, or view, add & delete.

Step 4: Drop it. Your file has now been uploaded and is ready for whoever you want to download it.

It's just that easy. Give it a try and start creating your own drops today!

Pros: Quick & Easy Private File Sharing.

Cons: 100 MB File Limit.

List Price: FREE!

You Torrent Comparison Search Engine

I know that PixelPhile readers are law abiding citizens and would never consider using a bit torrent site to find free software, games, tv shows, and mp3's. Wink wink. But if for some reason you needed to, like say for a book report, the big question is which torrent site should you use? Now you can search all the popular sites easily with the real-time torrent comparison search engine YouTorrent. You can find your illegal...I mean for educational purposes only torrents much quicker and easier.

Pros: Searches Most Popular Torrent Sites.

Cons: Big Brother Is Still Watching You.

Price: FREE!

GOM Media Player

Let's be honest, Windows Media Player sucks. Say goodbye to Bill Gates and his cronies with the new GOMPLAYER. It will pretty much play any video format that you can throw at it. It will even play broken AVI files via it's patented technology. Other amazing utilities such as built-in screen capture with multi burst capability and advanced slowmotion/fastmotion with pitch voice adjustment make this media player a no brainer.

Bye bye Windows Media Player you will not be missed.

Pros: Various format playback, multi burst screen capture, built-in codec finder.

Cons: No Mac Version.

List Price: FREE!

Final Cut Pro 6 Visual QuickPro Guide

So, you finally went out and bought Final Cut Pro 6, but you are still not quite sure how to take advantage of all it's advanced features. You could try reading the 2033 page user's manual which comes with Final Cut Pro. That's about 737 pages more than Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Our you could get yourself a copy of Final Cut Pro 6 Visual QuickPro Guide from Lisa Brenneis. This is much more digestible at just 720 pages.

You will find this a great resource to keep at your fingertips for quick and easy answers to your editing questions. I have been recommending her books to my students for years and have been very happy with the results.

Pros: Clear and Concise, Reasonable Priced.

Cons: No Tutorial Files.

List Price: $34.99

Click here to buy from Pixelphile's Amazon Stop & Shop.

NTSC to PAL Conversion

I have a lot of European students who want to convert their legacy PAL footage over to NTSC, or vice versa, from NTSC over to PAL. One of the easiest and most economical ways I have found is to use one of the excellent plugins from Graeme Nattress. Standards Conversion, is a sweet little Final Cut Pro plugin that will allow you to convert both the frame size and frame rate from one format to another. You can burn the converted Quicktime files to a data DVD, or use them in your favorite DVD authoring program. I recently used this plugin on footage that had to be shipped to Australia where it was going to be edited in PAL.

Pros: Good Scaling and Frame Rate Conversion.

Cons: Conversion Process Takes Several Steps for Each File.

List Price: $100.00