Final Cut Studio Coming Tomorrow
It’s official. As of tomorrow at (insert whatever time UPS decides to make my day here), I will own Final Cut Studio. The road as been long, beginning all the way back last year with my “Dream Computer Setup” post. But the time has finally come. I have several projects in the works that I will be using Final Cut Studio for, so anticipate seeing some new stuff very soon.
Apple’s Next iPhone Leak – A Publicity Stunt?
(Click photo to go to Gizmodo.com)
For the past two days the tech world has been completely rocked by the apparent leak of Apple’s next generation iPhone, a story brought forward by Gizmodo.com. In case you aren’t aware of the saga up to this point, allow me to fill you in.
A few weeks ago, Apple Software Engineer Gray Powell apparently left his 4′th generation iPhone in a bar in California while celebrating his birthday. A fellow bar-goer found the phone disguised as an iPhone 3GS and, after a good (sobering?) night’s sleep, attempted to contact the phone’s owner, but it had been remotely bricked by Apple. While tinkering around with the iPhone, he discovered it’s 3GS disguise and removed it, revealing a phone like he had never seen – actually, only very few people in the world had. His attempts at contacting Apple were all for naught as they thought it was just a scam, and a few weeks later he sold the phone for five grand to the tech gurus over at Gizmodo. The gurus opened the phone up and soon realized that they did indeed have a genuine Apple product in their hands. The word is that they have been in talks with Apple and have sent the phone back, but they most certainly did not remain quiet; breaking this huge story sometime yesterday morning.
That’s the “official” word that is being reported at the moment, but am I the only one who finds this a bit hard to swallow? All of the news coming from Gizmodo is extremely convincing, and I really do want to believe them, but something just seems fishy here. A phone found in a bar in California winds up in the hands of one of the largest tech news sites on the net? Doesn’t that red flag anyone else? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, it is extremely possible that the person who found this phone was a Gizmodo reader (or knew someone who was) and took a shot in the dark by contacting them, that very well could have happened… but really, what are the odds? Gizmodo surely receives tons of fake or inaccurate information every single day, but they pay five grand to this guy for a phone that somehow leaked out of a company that is famous for its secrecy? I just don’t buy it.
Let’s think about this. Apple has received a lot of flack from iPhone haters and fans alike that they have been behind the curve in many of their phone’s features (SMS, MultiTasking, etc.), and, apparently, this new phone has many other features that have also already been done with phones such as the Droid. How was Apple supposed to come forward at a press conference and say, “Hey, look! We’ve got this phone that now has those features that our competitor already released!”. It doesn’t sound like a great sales pitch to me. If they tried to pass the device off as revolutionary someone would call their BS, and they know that. How, then, can they grab the tech world by the nuts with their new phone? A publicity stunt.
How spy-flick is this? The secretive Apple corporation has a security breach, losing an advanced technological prototype. Looks like a mission for Jobs, Steve Jobs.
Ian Flemming references aside, the whole scenario does look like an awfully good marketing strategy. Publicity stunts are nothing new, just ask Janet Jackson or the dude from Bruno (and his ass buddy, Eminem). Apple are masters of hype and marketing. They know how to take the money right out of a consumer’s pocket with a TV commercial or press conference, and now they very well could have orchestrated one of the damndest marketing ploys ever attempted. Is there a boat load of information that suggests that this was a genuine leak? Yes, there most certainly is, but I am the type of guy who questions things, and this story just throws up some huge red flags.
As hard to swallow as I find it, I think that the best bet anyone can make is that this event was legit. Gizmodo is not a company that would help strum up a publicity storm like this, they are journalists, after all. However, I think we should all at least consider the fact that Apple may have pulled off a marketing stunt that can only be described as Biblical.
Catholicism and Bullets: The Boondock Saints I & II REVIEW
I have always been an avid lover of film from the time was a kid up until today as I look to studying the art and making it my career. Even as much as I love watching movies, I seem to have been stuck in a hole, completely unaware of some truly amazing films that have come out not only recently, but in the past ten years. Luckily, thanks to the recommendations of my friends and family, I was persuaded to purchase a copy of a cult classic, The Boondock Saints.
This past weekend I had the great pleasure of watching both The Boondock Saints, and the sequel, All Saints Day. Both films were reviewed quite poorly by critics, but have had a faithful cult following that adores these great films. I don’t like cults, but where can I sign up for this one?
Writer/Director Troy Duffy’s Boondock Saints series follows Connor and Murphy McManus (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus), Irish Catholic fraternal twins living in Boston. After a bar fight with the Russian Mafia, the twins become local heros (called ‘The Saints’ by some) for their courageous efforts. This starts the brothers on a trail of righteous vigilanteism as they seek to rid society of bad men. The first film introduces you to these characters as they are investigated by FBI Agent Smecker (Willem Dafoe), who is easily one of the most brilliant and interest characters I have ever seen in a film. Dafoe perfectly portrays this highly eccentric, yet genius investigator who is trying to bring an end to The Saint’s reign of faithful killing. The second film (released just last year) picks up the story eight years later as The Saint’s make their return to Boston from Ireland, their place of hiding after the events of the first film. It is rare for a sequel to be able to deliver the same punch and power of the first in the series, but All Saints Day does just that, and even set’s the stage for a third film.
While both movies are definitely flawed (what film isn’t?), they feature a story and presentation that is very different from anything you have ever seen. Everything from thrilling gunplay and action, to hilarious comedy bits, and cinematically genius sequences that warp and blend time in a very Tarantino-equse manner. From the very beginning these films grab you by the neck and never let go. Even now, several days after watching these movies, I am still thinking about the brilliant plot points, hilarious one-liners, and gut wrenching fights. If you have never seen either of these great films, they need to be immediately queued in your Netflix account (Walmart sometimes sells the original film on Blu-Ray at a wonderfully cheap price of $10).
While many will see this blog post and think, “Man, this kid is behind.” I know I am not the only one. There are surely many others who have not yet had the chance to take a ride with The Saint’s in these fantastic films. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Skepticism That Rhymes – Storm by Tim Minchin
Below I have linked a brilliant beat poem that perfectly explains my outlook on life in terms of the supernatural and spiritual. This video is in my Tim Minchin YouTube Playlist, but I wanted to share it in this blog post as well to make sure that you guys give it a look. If you’re religious and/or closed minded, this might not be the best thing for you to click on this evening. Porn might be a better use of your time. [/irony]
(click photo)
The Apple iPad – Magical or a Piece of Garbage?
Well, it’s almost been a week since Apple released the proclaimed “magical” new device, the iPad. Honestly, I hadn’t learned very much about this gadget before it was released. I’m a big Apple fan and a tech nerd, but don’t see too much point in getting into the hype that surrounds the release of such a device, especially a version one. Even so, I did read quite a number of opinions from various sides of the fence both before and on release day. Apple calls the device “magical” and “revolutionary”, while others flat out called it a “piece of garbage”. With such wildly swinging views being presented, I decided to take a look at the reviews that have come forth in this past week and try to piece together an honest, unbiased, yet admittedly not first-hand point of view.
Let’s toss out Apple’s claims of magic and revolution. These are clearly marketing techniques and if you fell into their hype and believed them, there isn’t much help for you. However, there have been and awful lot people saying that the iPad is a “game changer”. While this may hold some truth, it is very genre specific. As far as technology as a whole goes, the iPad really changes nothing. It is a scaled up port of something that was extremely revolutionary, namely Apple’s mobile OS platform. The functionality that began in the iPod Touch and iPhone has become a force that has swept the tech industry and changed the face of mobile technology and computing. The iPad just pushes this platform into a different area.
That said, there is a genre that I believe the iPad greatly affects: the tablet computer. As technology advances people are always looking for smaller, more mobile devices to consume their media and perform basic computing tasks. While smart phones are definitely leading this front, tablets are a growing force. Bringing the Apple mobile OS to a tablet most certainly adds to this force and definitely sets a bar. How high is that bar set? I can’t really say. The built-in iPod functionality is a massive selling point (I mean, who doesn’t have an iPod?), and the integration of the fantastic Apple iWork suite (more on this later) is something that cannot be ignored. However, the iPad lacking a camera is a monumental oversight that cannot be overlooked or understated. I think that Apple irrevocably dated themselves by not including a camera of any sort; not even a rear-facing one.
With all of that in mind, let’s address the claims that I personally heard from people saying that the iPad is “a piece of garbage”. Get your head out of your ass. Thank you.
The iPad is undoubtably lacking in areas, I don’t think that anyone argues that fact. Every first generation piece of technology is flawed. However, the iPad is built on one of the most hardened, tested, and solid mobile OS platforms out there today. Don’t even get me started on the Windows mobile platform… my god.
Calling the iPad a piece of garbage is nothing but an attempt at standing out and standing against the monopolizing hype-machine that is Apple. While I’m sure calling out major companies while hitting a blunt beside your VW bus is great fun, “Down with the corporations, man!”, it doesn’t require the blind ignorance of calling such a device a piece of garbage. Grow up. Thanks again.
I see you sitting there wondering to yourself, “Well then, Cliff, why aren’t you getting an iPad?”. Well, aside from not having $500 to blow, I am also not a part of the market that the iPad suits right now. That considered with the fact that this is the first generation of said device (and therefor *should* be the most flawed) and I think you can quite clearly see why, while I do believe in the iPad, I will not be getting one any time soon.
But then, what is the market that you believe the iPad currently is made for? I’m glad you asked.
The iPad is the perfect device for someone who spends a large amount of their time traveling and needs a device to consume their media and keep themselves entertained while on the go. While, yes, an iPod Touch could do many of the same things, the small screen causes eye strain and frustration. Reading a webpage on an iPhone or iPod Touch is certainly doable, but it is far from comfortable. You constantly have to move the screen to adjust and enlarge your text to a size that is readable without a microscope. And just forget reading a book or any long document on such a device. I’ve tried it. It sucks out loud (why on earth is Apple bringing iBook to OS 4.0???). The size of the iPad makes these and other tasks (watching TV shows, movies, and perhaps even Slingbox media) much more pleasant, especially over a prolonged period of time.
Another great use I see for the iPad is for the salesman. With the port of iWork to the device it brings the power of extremely mobile Keynote presentations, spreadsheets, and documents. Imagine being a salesman and having your entire sales pitch, complete with a full presentation and video, on a device that slips into even the smallest of briefcases. Combine that with the Square payment processing service and you have a truly powerful sales tool. This is a use that I can actually see myself purchasing an iPad for in the future (not a first gen, mind you).
The bottom line is simple: the iPad is a device that has an enormous amount of promise for what it will be able to do and the tools it will provide, but it is currently in the jumping off phase. Every piece of great technology has to start somewhere, and I believe that is where the iPad is. It needs a pretty decent amount of improvement seeing as it is missing many features including a camera, and some of it’s key parts aren’t quite operating at 100% just yet (there have been fairly major issues reported with iWork on the device). But I believe that, like the iPhone, these kinks will be worked out in future iterations and we will truly have a fantastic piece of technology on our hands. Are there really any concrete reasons I can see for the average consumer purchasing one right now? No. For the traveller, and once the kinks in iWork are worked out, definitely for the entrepreneur or salesman, I can see some justification for buying the device. But for everyone else: WAIT. Wait for some of the iPad’s full potential to be fulfilled over the next year.
So is the iPad magical? No. Is it a piece of garbage? No. The iPad is a piece of technology that is in what I consider to be the birthing stages of its true functionality. There isn’t much else that can be said or done except to sit back and watch what it will or will not become.
A Dash of Comedy for Your Day: Tim Minchin YouTube Playlist
Recently I have become somewhat obsessed with the Australian masochist Mozart that is Tim Minchin. Hailing originally from Perth, Western Australia, Minchin is a diabolically brilliant comedian, musician, and rock star nerd. His songs, poems, and stand up comedy bring not only a heaping amount of laugh-out-loud moments, but an absolutely stunning amount of wit and discourse on topics ranging from religion (Minchin is clearly a large skeptic, like myself), to the grammatical incorrectness of the term “Stock Broker”.
If you’d like to watch the hilarious insanity that is Tim Minchin, I have put together a YouTube playlist that includes several of his songs, some of his stand-up, and even a great interview. Simply click the picture below to take a look. (videos are quite explicit, discretion is advised)
My Dream Computer Setup – The Dream is Now a Reality
Yesterday at approximately 9:45 am, my dream computer arrived. To say I was (and am) excited may be the biggest understatement in the history of understating things. I now realize that that last sentence makes very little sense… Welcome to CliffBumgarder.com…
Aaaanyway, the beast is here. I spent pretty much the entire day getting it setup and reloading all of my software and files onto it. This was a breeze thank to OS X’s great archiving functionality. Opening Final Cut Express was, alone, worth all of the time and money I spent to get this new machine. Just… WOW.
But things are rarely perfect, though this is close. I didn’t realize that this machine doesn’t have a Firewire 400 port on it (d’oh!…©Copyright Homer Simpson, 1989-2089). So I now have to order an adapter so that I may use my (explicitly expensive) camcorder with this computer. It’s aaallways something… But I can’t complain. This machine is simply made of awesome.
The matter now changes to selling my old 21″ Intel iMac, which seems like it will be more difficult than you’d think. I’ve got an ad on Craigslist and an ad on Facebook, so I hope it sells quickly.
Thank you all for following me on this computer journey. It has truly just begun, so stay tuned.
Cliff Bumgardner “Flush Cut” in Reel Magic Magazine Issue #16
Check out my never-before-published effect “Flush Cut” in this issue of Reel Magic Magazine.
Flush Cut is a simple, flourishy tabled card production that has been praised by magicians such as Chase Goforth and Dean Dill. You can only learn the ins and outs of this astonishing and easy-to-do production from Reel Magic Magazine!
New Media: The Power of the Comment
Hey guys,
So over the past few weeks I have noticed a pretty nice bump in traffic to the site. If you’re reading this right now let me say HELLO and welcome to CliffBumgardner.com, the place where the drippings from my brain land. However, with this increase of potential readers I have not noticed an increase in comments on the posts. I don’t blame you guys for this, I blame the media. And no, I’m not a hippy… give me a moment to explain.
“Media” as we’ve known it for most of our lives is somewhat confined to news networks, magazines, papers, and assorted television stations. These “media moguls” distribute their form of knowledge (which is often questionable at best) with the convenient aspect of having virtually no IMMEDIATE feedback from their readers or viewers. Sure, you can email a TV channel or write a paper about something that they put out, but it will usually be days before that feedback ever reaches the people behind the media… if it ever does at all. Don’t like something that was said? They might respond to your letter, but no other consumer of their media is likely to hear your complaint. Enjoy a particular feature very much? Great! But you’ll get grouped into the others that enjoyed it and become nothing but a statistic for a ratings chart.
That may be how the classic media does it, but here on my site we believe in NEW MEDIA. New media outlets (such as this blog, YouTube, Facebook, and even Twitter) not only provide instant feedback from you, the consumer, but it provides PERSONAL feedback and response. I don’t like the fact that right now all I know about my new readers are the stats in my analytics. If you @reply me on Twitter, or talk to me on Facebook, or, best of all, comment here on the blog or on YouTube, that gives us instant and personal connection. If you don’t like something I wrote, we can talk about why. If you loved something I put out, I can personally thank you! New media is all about personal connection that crosses all borders. The internet allows what I write and what I do to reach people thousands of miles away from myself and even allows me to form a friendship with them. That’s why I write blogs here and that’s the very reason I want to start writing several blogs daily. But I will not do that if all I know of you guys are the statistics I see in my dashboard. I want to use new media to the fullest and connect with all of you. My readers, and perhaps even my friends.
Thanks for reading, and remember that the comment buttons are just above and below this post!
Hope to talk to you soon,
-Cliff