August 2008 Archives

If you've been holding off that purchase  of a shiny new Apple Mac computer because you rely on Pro Tools LE for your production, then you'll be happy to know that Digidesign has finally caught up and released Pro Tools 7.4.2 for Mac OS Leopard 10.5.3 & 10.5.4.  We've found it to be a stable release on the latest series of Mac computers.  As always read the compatibility page thoroughly before taking the plunge.  If you are running an previous release of Mac Leopard, or have been using Apple's automatic updates (NOT recommended for Pro Tools users), then be sure to download the GIGANTIC Mac OS 10.5.4 Combo Update as it is the best way to ensure that Pro Tools will run properly. 

After you've downloaded and installed Pro Tools 7.4.2, you may receive this message in an email:
Thanks for downloading Pro Tools® 7.4.2 software. If you're currently using the software, we wanted you to be aware of a Pro Tools 7.4.2 preview release dialog we forgot to remove prior to releasing the final version of Pro Tools 7.4.2. Starting around July 18th, you may see this dialog pop up, incorrectly stating that you are running a pre-release version of Pro Tools. We know you're not -- sorry about that.

If you do then read see this page for a patch to fix this problem. 

Now more than ever, using a cell phone while driving has created a whole new level of distractions.  Not only are we making calls, but we are texting, checking the traffic on Google maps, and reading email.  OK, maybe by WE I mean ME.  But if this sounds familiar to you, you might want to check out Jott.  Jott does a lot of stuff, so I won't get into too much detail here.  I'll just tell you the cool stuff I've tried and know works well. 

• Return an email
  
• Send a reminder to yourself
• Enter a task into your calendar
• Reply to a text 

OK, so what's the big deal?  You do all of that with your VOICE. 
Jott listens to your message, transcribes it into text for you, and posts it to your calendar, sends it as an email, or any number of things.  And... it's FREE.

There are a few ways to use Jott from your cell phone.  You can install their application into your phone, which then integrates the Jott function into your messaging application and calendar.  Or you can just make a speed dialer entry to call Jott's 800 number and create entries this way.  The latter is my preferred method for Jotting while driving.  On my Blackberry I set the letter "J" as a speed dialer for Jott, and away I go. 

It has some issues translating your voice if you are driving in a particularly noisey car or standing on a busy intersection.  I've find I need to slow down a little to reduce the road noise in my Subaru, but those with a more sleek and modern car shouldn't have a problem.  Forget trying to use it with the top down on the freeway!   

Now if you get a Jott from me, you'll know what the heck this Jott thing is all about. 
Give it a try!

OK, I gotta admit, I was feeling really behind the times posting ONLY an email newsletter once a month.  I am hearing more and more that newsletters are getting very passe, and that they are often filtered as Junk mail or deleted before read.  So when I found out that my webhost, Pair Networks, provides a blogging tool called Moveable Type, I decided to give it a shot. 

Now, whenever something really important, or just plain COOL, pops up on my radar, I will post it here for you to read.  This  also provides a means to keep my pearls of wisdom organized and archived to make it easy to refer to past posts and search for information.  But if I am no longer posting all of this great stuff in a comprehensive monthly newsletter, how will you know about it?  That's where RSS comes in!  Just look for this logo:

Want to give it a try?  Please read on...

I will now steal some text from whatisrss.com:

What is RSS?

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed? RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators