Final Cut Express 4

Apple released Final Cut Express 4. According to Apple's press release, new features are:

• low price of $199
• support for the latest AVCHD cameras
• allows mixing of standard and high definition content on a single timeline
• includes the ability to import iMovie ‘08 projects
• gives users access to hundreds of sophisticated FxPlug cinematic effects and filters

Sounds very nice. Because video cameras are being popular again, it's good to have a full line up; iMovie (part of iLife) for beginners, Final Cut Express for mid-level or pro-sumer and Final Cut for professionals.

Apple also announced a database called "Bento". Is Apple going to include this in iWorks? That would be great, but Apple owns FileMaker which is a database software company, so probably it will stay as their product. Bento actually reminds me of a file format Apple suggested long time ago; back in the System 7 days, I think. It was a concept of a multi-media file format in which a single file can contain various data like text, graphics, sounds, videos, etc. I am not sure where that went though. Anyways, the Bento database is to bring calendars, contacts, etc. on Mac OS X to one interface. You can download a pre-release trial.

Lastly, for all these stuff, I am planning to write reviews. Yes, I am soon going to get a Mac again! So stay tuned!

Parallels Offering $20 Apple Gift Card with Purchase

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac

Parallels is a software that will let you run Windows on your Mac. Different from Apple's Boot Camp, it runs within Mac OS. I.e., Windows application will run side-by-side with your Mac application!

I was planning to test out Parallels as soon as I get a Mac. Unfortunate for me, but fortunate for you Mac owners. Parallels is offering a $20 Apple gift card with a purchase of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac. Go and get it and make use of this limited time offer. And be sure to let me know how it goes. Hopefully I will join the crowd by the end of this year...

Hot News From Apple - Leopard and more...

Some hot news from Apple. Things we've all been waiting for...

1. Mac OS X Leopard gets a release date
   October 26, 6pm! Go and get it you Apple freaks! I'm going to try to wait until Apple releases a new MacBook. If I can wait...
2. iTunes Plus is now 99 cents a track
   The DRM-free iTunes Plus track is now 99 cents from previous $1.29. Are people going to complain about this as well?
3. Third party apps on the iPhone (includes iPod Touch)
   Finally Apple is going to release a SDK for third party application development on the iPhone. Steve says it will be available in February. Let's see what the hacking community does by then, and if that is going to impact Apple's release of the SDK. Also, wonder what the security strategy is and when Apple will give out more details...
   

Update Curse with Mozilla Firefox

As a network engineer, I pretty much try to stick with good practices especially with things related to computer security; even at home. One important thing is run applications under limited user rights. Very common practice in the UNIX world; in the Windows world, maybe not. Probably that is why Windows has a lot of virus. Anyways, I use my Windows XP under a limited user for safety sake. Yes, I do encounter inconveniences and problems.

One really annoying issue is:

"One or more files could not be updated. Please make sure all other applications are closed and that you have permission to modify files, and then restart Firefox to try again."

This is produced by Mozilla Firefox related to it's automatic update. In this case, I think it's Firefox to blame rather than Microsoft. But it does show that in the Windows environment, it's still not common to run applications under limited rights. Firefox can't really say much about security, can it?

Whatever, but we still have to fix this problem ourselves. It's stupid, but if it's going to save some time and decrease my frustration, let's do it. Here are links to some information I found.

• Joshua Flanagan – Firefox error resolved: One or more files could not be updated
• mozillaZine — Updates reported when running newest version

What I did was just deleted the update folder in my limited user account. Worked fine and I am happy now. But I still have to see if this is a permanent fix or if I have to do it for every coming update.

Google Adds Presentation to Docs (and IBM wants the buzz too...)

Google finally added a presentation tool for their Google Docs application.

I tried it out slightly. It's like a simple GUI type HTML editor; like what they have with Google Pages. As of now, I did not see any slide transitioning effects, but it will allow you to save it as a HTML/image file collection to play it on your browser offline. (Worked with IE and Firefox.)

For a basic presentation, I think it would work fine. Plus with the online collaboration tools Goolge Docs has, it may be good for people who work remotely with others.

Also, IBM released Lotus Symphony, another free office suite. This is an installed based application same to OpenOffice.org and actually supports their primary and open "Open Document Format (ODF)". Let's see how much buzz they get.

Now we have big organizations with their free office suite applications trying to go against Microsoft's expensive Office software. This situation is becoming a very interesting show...

Using Gizmo on Other SIP Clients

This is a memo on the basic information you'll need to use a Gizmo account on other SIP clients.

Type: Use proxy
Username: <sip_number>
Password: <password>
Domain: proxy01.sipphone.com
Address: sip:<sip_number>@proxy01.sipphone.com
Proxy: proxy01.sipphone.com:5060
STUN: stun01.sipphone.com:3478

And here are some free or open source SIP clients that works with Gizmo.

• SJphone: Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Windows CE. Seems like a great alternative to Gizmo's app. It ran on my Windows Mobile 2003 SE Wi-Fi enabled PDA. I think I can use my PDA as a cordless phone. Really!
• X-Lite: Runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Tested on Windows and ran fine.
• Ekiga: For Linux and Windows. Haven't tested this one, but reportedly works with Gizmo accounts.
• And probably more...
  

So, I've been preaching that Gizmo is good with GrandCentral, but if you don't like the Gizmo client, just use one of the above SIP clients. Should work fine. FYI, this is not a hack or that sort of thing. SIP is just a common protocol unlike Skype.

"One more thing..."

Yes, I am fake Steve Jobs. Forget about Forbes whoever...

So, one more thing.
Apple has started a program called "iLife '08 Hardware Up-To-Date". You get to "update your hardware" to iLife '08. In other words, if you buy a Mac and it doesn't come with iLife '08, they let you buy it for $9.95.

Don't be confused. There are no upgrade path for people who have purchased the iLife software package. You just have to by the new iLife. Also, this "hardware update" program only applies to people purchasing Macs after August 7th, when iLife '08 was released. So if you happen to by an older model still sold at the stores that doesn't come with iLife '08, you are entitled for this update program.

Got it? Just click on the title and go see it yourself...

I Start New Life (at Apple...)

Goodness. Suddenly Apple breaks silence. Because of the iPhone and Apple's strategy on how they have been releasing their products, people were not sure what and when to expect certain things to come out. (Well, most people guessed that a new iMac was coming...) Just click on the title above and you'll see the new life. I mean the new iLife...

Not only iLife, there is a whole lot Apple announced. Just go to their website and see. I have to take a look myself too before I can say more.

• Apple Unveils New iMac
  Just go take a look at it... (Starting at $1,199 for 20-inch model)
  
• Apple Introduces iLife ’08
  Start a whole new life at $79. You have a PC? Too bad, you're stuck...
• Apple Enhances .Mac
  Online storage is now 10GB. Finally it's somewhat reasonable...
• Apple Introduces iWork ’08
  "Mama, I can count Numbers! 1, 2, 3... 79 dollars!"

BTW, I totally misunderstood the date for this announcement event. I was listening to a podcast that was dated last week and when it mentioned about the special Apple event, I thought it was next Tuesday. Whatever. No big deal. At least I noticed it before Wednesday dawn. And I'm not trying to report this before anyone else in the world...

Activating the iPhone (without AT&T. Too easy...)

As a lazy person, I had to do more research for a simple way of activating the iPhone without AT&T. No, I didn’t want to fuss with any codes. This is what I found: Unlock iPhone by PQ DVD
They even got the old version of iTunes that you’ll need for this trick.

But even more lazy! I found out that one of my PCs had exactly 7.3.0.54 of iTunes. Yay!

Ready!

1. Launch the iPhone Unlock Toolkit. You'll see this if successful:
2. Launch iTunes.
3. Connect iPhone.

Done!

The iPhone will display: "Incorrect SIM - Please connect to iTunes to reactivate iPhone." Just ignore it... You will continue on iTunes: Set Up Your iPhone. Do whatever you like and click Done.

Of course, the iPhone we purchased did not have the just relesed firmware update. Let's do an update next.