VisualHub Replacement? I'm Thinking Yes

I am a big fan of VisualHub, the excellent Techspansion application whose development was stopped about a year ago. I have the latest version of VisualHub and it still works fine, but one of these days, that's not going to be the case, and I have been hoping something new would come along to take its place. I've just been demoing VideoVangelist from Whimsically Plucky Software, and I think I have found my new VisualHub, which happens to be on sale at MacZot TODAY for only $5.00. Yeah, no kidding, $5.00. It's only $10.00 at full price! What is this guy thinking!?

With VideoVangelist you simply drag and drop video or audio files to the main window, choose the format you want and click start. There are a few basic settings you can tweak if you want to, some more advanced ones that you may NOT want to. You can convert files for iPod, iPhone/iPod touch, AppleTV, AVI, DV, WMV, XBOX 360, PSP, MPEG and Flash (swf and flv). You can also convert any video or audio file to MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC or Ogg/Vorbis. This comes in handy when you have, for example, a DVD of Robin Williams' Broadway show and you want to listen to it in your car while you're driving. Or how about a Woodstock concert DVD? Convert it for iTunes and get yourself back to the ga-a-a-ar-den.

You can also add URLs and RSS feeds to VideoVangelist and convert those files to the format you need to make them compatible with your iPod. I subscribe to several podcasts that work fine in iTunes, but can't be synced with my iPod. VideoVangelist will take care of that for you. You can even export your iTunes Podcast play list to an OPML file that makes it a piece of cake to import into VideoVangelist. Say, for example, there is a series of training videos on YouTube that you want. Enter the URLs into VideoVangelist and convert them. You can even stitch the files together so that you have one file with all the videos.



The website also says "Generate Flash embed code for easy pasting into HTML documents and iWeb Widgets," but I haven't figured that out yet. There is an in-depth user manual and some really excellent tutorial videos available on the website. You really should watch them to see all the features — or just to get a few laughs. Check out the developer's Rick Roll birthday video to his wife, which doesn’t have anything to do with VideoVangelist, of course, but it's pretty funny.

As for us using VideoVangelist, I was first impressed in one of the videos how the developer seemed to be going from this action to that action, canceling this and starting that over and over without the app hanging up. Even with my beloved VisualHub, I got into the habit of quitting and restarting between projects because it would hang, and canceling didn't always work. I tried a few things with VideoVangelist, and sure enough, I could cancel and move on to another action quickly and easily. It eventually did hang on me one time and I had to quit and restart, but other than that, it's working great and most conversion times have been comparable to my results with VisualHub.

I have read comments on the less-than-sexy GUI, but I was thinking how much I like having most of the options staring me in the face instead of having to search through a lot of tabs and menus. No, it's not the most glamourous interface, but it's kind of similar to VisualHub, and my focus is on how it works.

I have also read some negative comments about the download size of the disk image, which is about 100MB. About 70MB of that is the codec library itself (Popcorn 3 downloads at about 94MB). If you want to convert audio/visual files, you're gonna need that codec library. I had to install them with VisualHub also, and they are easier to keep updated in VideoVangelist by simply going to the Help menu and selecting "Install Codec Libraries." That will download the latest library package and you just double click to install.

Also, the codec library that comes on the disk image might be out of date, because it may have been updated after the latest release of VideoVangelist. That is why the developer added the option to Install Codec Libraries in the Help. You can download and update them whenever you feel like it.

Bottom line: I most assuredly see VideoVangelist replacing my VisualHub, with its additional conversion settings, cool URL and RSS features, and a developer who seems to pay attention to details. Plus, the price is crazy low! I paid about $22 for VisualHub three or four years ago and thought THAT was a steal! For $10 (and $5 today at MacZot), I highly recommend this app.

Hey, USPS! I want my stuff!

I ordered some software recently, and it was shipped through the United States Post Office from Phoenix on July 8. On July 11, the package arrived here in my home city, Memphis—three days, that's good. Unfortunately, it didn't actually arrive IN my mailbox. Nope, it was processed through the Sort Facility in Memphis and sent to Denver, where it was processed again on July 12 and sent back to Phoenix. On July 13, Phoenix processed it through their Sort Facility (again), and it was sent to Scottsdale (first time for Scottsdale), who then processed it on July 14 and sent it on to Bell, California (another first). I can hardly wait to find out where it is today, July 16, which I will know tomorrow when the USPS updates their tracking information. Gosh, maybe it's gone all the way to Alaska by now! This is so much fun. I just wish it was my Flat Stanley.
The other day, I watched my mail carrier pull into my neighbor's driveway to deliver a box that wouldn't fit in her mailbox. He never got out of the mail truck; just threw the box towards her front step. Gave it a big heave, he did, but it didn't quite get there. It was close enough, though. Heck of an arm on that mail carrier.

I hope I never have to rely on the United States Post Office to ship a kidney or a Faberge Egg.

Thank goodness for Fedex.

My Favorite Clipboard Manager—So Far

Smoking Apples (I love smokingapples.com) recently did a round-up on clipboard managers. Lots of good information, but they didn't mention my favorite clipboard app, SavvyClipboard by BlitzClick Software, which can compete with and work circles around some of the apps mentioned in the Smoking Apples article.

While some of these apps have really nice interfaces and are pretty to look at (dangling preposition), they just don't do everything I want or are too obtrusive. I don't want to feel like I'm working hard to use the clipboard. I want it to just be there, with me using mostly key commands to copy and paste. I have downloaded and tried out more clipboard apps then I can count, and the one that works best for me and does just about everything I want is Savvy Clipboard.

SavvyClipboard has one scrollable window with previews of all your clips, up to 100 [buzzz ... I'm wrong about this. Turns out you can enter any number of clips to save. I just saw the presets, and you can select one of those OR you can enter your own number.], which has been plenty for my use, and which can be set lower in preferences. The window can be as narrow as 214px or as wide as you want to stretch it. I usually leave it at the smallest, because it's enough to see the image previews and the first part of the text to know what I've copied.

To paste your items, you can drag them out, or you can click on an item and paste, or use the control key plus a number for the first 9 items and paste. Depending on how you copied an image, it will either drag out in it's original format or PDF. You can also right-click and save items in these formats: TIFF, JPG, PNG, BMP, RTD, RTFD, TXT.

As you copy, each new item goes on top and everything else moves down, unless you have locked an item by clicking in the lower left corner of the preview (a padlock appears). Locked items stay where they are, or you can reorder your items by dragging them up and down. I like to keep my locked items at the top. When I'm done with a locked item, I unlock it and it gradually moves on down the list.

You can paste your text items as plain text or rich text. You can set a default in preferences and then right-click to change it on a per-item basis. You can also right-click and edit your text items, even check spelling and grammar.

Unfortunately, editing items is the one area where SavvyClipboard falls short for me. It does not strip junk/carrots/forced returns text copied from emails. On the other hand, I haven't found any other clipboard apps that do that either, not without going through several extra steps, so I use SmartWrap for that.
Also, it would be nice if we could open every clipboard item, and not by right-clicking, but with a double-click [faster for me], for a default action. For example, double-clicking a copied URL would open it in a browser, email addresses would open a blank email, images would open in a predefined image editor, text items would open in a predefined text editor. If you want to do something different than the predefined action, THEN right-click or control click and make a selection. The developers have said they are actually working on adding this feature. One down, one to go.
I have read some complaints about the look of SavvyClipboard. I suppose it could be more polished, maybe some black and grey, some glassy looking stuff. I don't know, I'm mostly concerned with how it works, not how it looks, and with some of the clipboard apps hovering at around $30, SavvyClipboard is a steal at $12. You can even occasionally find it at MacZot for around $8.

I Won't Miss You, Danny Gokey. Bye!

It’s been a long time coming, but he’s finally gone! I’ve gotta admit, though, that I was a little surprised. I’m thinking the Allison fans may have pulled together, not so much to vote for Kris Allen, but to NOT vote for Danny Gokey. Whatever, it works for me.
The judges tell the contestants to let their personalities shine through, but maybe that was a mistake for Danny Gokey. I soon tired of his personality and his seeming arrogance, and also of his late wife and his large, deeply religious family who always made joyful music together (gag). I grew tired of his boring song choices, his glasses, his jewelry, his singing, his screaming ... and finally, the way he was still there when Allison was not— Allison, who could sing circles around Danny; Allison, whose CDs I would buy. I guess it just snowballed until I didn’t like a single damn thing about him. Ironic, really, because after Hollywood week, he was one of the ones I liked best.

All of which is the opposite for Adam. With each passing week, I am more and more impressed by that guy— Adam, whose CDs I would also buy. He can do no wrong, in my opinion. Kris is also very good, and I like him — especially his kind of sexy bar band rock version of “Come Together”— but it’s sort of like baby blue vs. fire engine red, and fire engine red is almost always my first choice.

I am making an effort to wean myself off American Idol. We don't watch the elimination show anymore. We record everything, so we are usually watching Tuesday's show on Wednesday, and when it's over, we just go to Wikipedia and see who bought it.

We can also fast forward through the judges’ comments [“Dude! You can sing!” “Dude! You can REALLY sing!” “You can really sing, dude!”]. With four judges wasting singing time with inane comments, it’s tough to take. I used to think Paula was awful— well, no, Paula IS awful— but I didn’t know there was someone worse waiting in the wings. Note to Kara: Stop. Talking. Just. Stop. Talking.

I’m thinking that since the judges’ gushing favorite is gone, maybe we won’t have to listen to Randy, Kara, Paula and Simon next week. Maybe they won’t even be there! Is that too much to hope for?

MacHeist 3 Bundle — Kicking My Own @$$ Again

Note to self: Do not—I repeat: DO NOT!—buy any more applications in January, February, or March!

There, now all I have to do is FOLLOW MY OWN INSTRUCTIONS. The MacHeist 3 bundle includes 2 applications that I just bought in the last month— 3, if you count EventBox that was included for free yesterday just for going to the site, and which I bought 2 days ago! Sure, one of them (The Hit List) isn’t unlocked yet, but I’m pretty sure it will be. How can you NOT buy this bundle for $39? And, if you did the missions, you get an additional $8 discount. I bought all these apps for $31. It’s like stealing— but legally!

I’m still torqued about the two apps, though: The Hit List ($50) and Little-Snapper ($39), especially since I’ve been mildly displeased with LittleSnapper and have thought a couple of times that I wish I hadn’t paid $34 for it (I had a $5 discount). I think Realmac is lucky that “they got there first” and snagged a lot of buyers. More apps are coming out now that are similar to LittleSnapper, e.g., Webbla (which was part of the MacHeist 3 loot), so that will, hopefully, motivate Realmac to update more quickly, especially now, when the app is new and there are lots of little things that need to be fixed.

The Hit List, I bought less than a week ago (kick, kick, kick). Don’t get me wrong, I love this app, but I wrongly assumed it wouldn’t be in the bundle because it is still in beta. It’s version 9.3.3, and when it goes to Version 1, the price is going up by $20. So, I “saved” myself $20 and bought it last week. Oy!

I know I shouldn’t complain, though, because this is a great bundle. Even if all I got was Kinemac, I would be thrilled. I was tempted to buy it before when it was on MacZot and MU Promo, but at half-price, it’s still a chunk of change. For $31? $31 ... $31... I have to keep saying that to myself because it’s so unbelievable. Acorn is very cool, Picturesque has always interested me. I don’t even know what I will do if BoinxTV is unlocked. Probably annoy my family with new “projects.”

Long live MacHeist ... and MacZot and MacUpdate Promo and all their bundles ... and any other bundles! I love them all!

Google Video So Much Better than iChat

For years now, I have had an iSight on my computer but haven’t known anyone with whom I could use iChat. About a year and a half ago, I bought my daughter an iMac, and now we can have video chats with each other on iChat and it works great. Really fun, yes, but considering she’s sitting right next to me in the same room, a little unnecessary.

I then met a guy on a list I’m on and we tried to use iChat, him from Pennsylvania and me from Tennessee. It was okay, but the picture broke up a lot and looked scrambled, but we still had sound. Pretty disappointing. He said he communicated with his brothers on iChat, and they had varying levels of picture quality also.

More recently, I started work for a guy in New Mexico who also has a Mac, and we tried to communicate with iChat. It worked for maybe 3 minutes, before the scrambling started, then froze completely, not even any sound. We tried several times and finally gave up.

My sister-in-law in Oregon finally got a Mac, and we were pretty excited about communicating with iChat, letting Grandma see the kids and all— same old scrambling/freezing garbage. When my daughter iChats with her friends here locally, she also has the same scrambling/freezing problems. We are all working with either cable or DSL connections, but none of it works well, if at all. Why? I don’t know.

What I do know is that when Google’s video chat came out, I installed it right away and told my sister-in-law to do the same. We now use it for all our video chats and have had no scrambling or freezing problems whatsoever. It works flawlessly. What is Google doing right that Apple is doing wrong?

Academy Awards - New Format Very Stylish

It took me two days to finish up the Academy Awards show, which I recorded, because I can’t stay up that late [wimp]. I absolutely loved the new format, the new stage, the closer-in audience. It was like going to a nightclub, more personal, intimate. I also liked how it was all very light and friendly and there were no political jokes.

Hugh Jackman did a good job, and I really like him, but I have to say that when someone does everything— sing, dance, act— there is usually one area that is a little weaker than the others, and I believe that would be his singing. He's fine, but it's a good thing that acting is his day job.

I can still get bugs in my eyes thinking about the five stars coming out to present the major awards. I was seriously choked up when they did the first one because it was just so beautiful and personal, and I feel like it made it so much more special to everyone nominated, but especially to the ones who didn't win, because it’s normally just: read the names, announce the winner. But, with these famous people talking (mostly) directly to the nominees, it was really, really lovely. And, when Shirley MacClaine talked to Anne Hathaway? Whoa! That was almost better than getting the award! And, she told her she had a great voice— she did, surprised me, too— and to keep singing? How cool was that! Anne Hathaway was probably thinking, "Academy award? Huh? What award?"

I also loved how they did the screenwriting thing, where they showed the scene in the script, the actual words/typing and reading it, and then had the completed movie scene running in the background, so we could see how the scene was written and then how it's carried out. Somebody has tons of imagination.

I got choked up again when Queen Latifah was singing I'll Be Seeing You. I love that song, anyway, but when they showed the people who died this past year with clips from their movies, which was really good for the names that were not as familiar to the general public, yeah, serious bugs in my eyes.

Even the usual bandleader, Bill Conti, was missing. Man, there must have been some PO’d good ol' boys in Hollywood this year. I’ll bet the same group of people have been doing it for YEARS, and they finally got some new guys, probably Mac users, to come in and brainstorm, and it was out with the old and inwith the new.

Even the fashions seemed classier this year. I don’t recall seeing anyone who looked atrocious, and there is usually at least one. I noticed there were a lot of single strap dresses this year, not so many strapless as in previous years. Maybe they get tired of tugging them up all the time, or maybe they don’t want to have to worry about someone stepping on their trains and yanking the whole thing down.

Well, I could just go on and on and on ... I hope they continue with this new format. I don't think they need to feel like they have to "top" it every year, just do the same thing. Hugh Jackman can host it each year, as far as I'm concerned. He was the the all around entertainer and host, a class act.

Deana Carter Christmas CD - Excellent!

Here it is, January 1, and I am faced with putting my Christmas CDs away for another year, I am thinking of keeping a few out that are just so good that I will actually miss them and want to play them in July, or maybe even March.

I am always on the look-out for new, different, interesting Christmas music, which is hard to do when I already have maybe 100 Christmas CDs and there are probably less than 100 standard Christmas songs. I prefer the usual songs with a lot of variations, but nothing too “out there.” Having said that, though, SheDaisy has a Christmas album called Brand New Year that is a little out there, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s tough to beat Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag (listen here) for an all-out boogying Christmas song.

This year, my newest favorite Christmas CD is Deana Carter’s Father Christmas. It’s not a new CD, actually released in 2001, but I just discovered it and it has received a LOT of playtime in my iTunes. I first heard a couple of the songs through Pandora and I tried to download the album from iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 music, but I could only get it on an actual CD.

The entire album is Deana Carter singing by herself, accompanied only by her dad, Earl Carter, a Nashville session guitarist who has worked with a lot of big names. It’s just beautiful, so understated and also a little quirky at times. There is one part in Winter Wonderland where Earl changes the beat on her and Deana says, “Da-ad!” in that way that kids when they are being teased, and she finished the song without missing a beat. And, man, do I wish there was someone at my house who could play guitar like Earl Carter, even HALF as good! His opening of Silent Night makes me almost want to cry.

I took the CD to a local coffee house the other night where we were meeting friends for some holiday cheer. They played the CD for us over their music system, and it sounded fabulous! A lot of people asked about the artist and title of the CD. I can’t believe it’s taken me seven years to come across it.

While I’m thinking of it, The Gypsy Hombres have an excellent Christmas CD called Django Bells. Especially good versions of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.