If you do presentations from your iPhone or your iPad you know how challenging it can be show both your Mac and your iDevice at the same time. This becomes even a bigger problem when you’re trying to record the presentation. Recently I reviewed the BlackMagic Intensity Extreme Thunderbolt hardware solution and while it provides the ultimate in speed and quality, it’s not the most convenient to use during a live presentation. Sure you can connect your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 (and presumably the “New iPad”) directly to your projector, but recording what’s going on on the display is a problem.
Reflection works GREAT!
This App solves a couple of problems for me as I’m showing more and more iOS Apps during live presentations. The way it works is you install the App on your Mac and simply launch it. Once you launch it it will broadcast itself via your WiFi network as a legitimate AirPlay video/audio device. Go to the AirPlay button on your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 in the task bar and mirror your display. Now you have a live display of your iPhone/iPad on your Mac complete with a graphic frame (nice touch). The App even supports rotating the device. Here’s a demo:
The Bottom Line
While Reflection won’t win the contest for most frames per second, it beats any webcam-pointed-at-the-screen solution I’ve seen and short of the BlackMagic gear, it’s hands down the best way of presenting or recording what’s going on on your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 via your Mac. Of course since it’s mirroring what’s on your screen you don’t get the actually gestures (your hand/fingers) in the recording/presentation. Hopefully, we’ll see more Apps implement a “presentation mode” like Adobe’s Photoshop Touch.
You can get the Reflection App for $14.99 here as well as a free trial.
One more thing..
They also make an App called AirParrot. AirParrot allows you to mirror your Mac to an AirPlay device like your Apple TV. This is one of the features I’m looking forward to in Mountain Lion and now I don’t have to wait for it.
TextExpander has been around for years. I knew about it but never really took the time to check it out. Recently I got the iOS App – TextExpander Touch. Like my love for 1Password, I started using TextExpander on my iPhone and then figured it would be great to also have it on my Mac. Recently TextExpander for Mac was on sale and I couldn’t pass up that deal.
What is TextExpander?
TextExpander allows you to create shortcuts that expand out to the full text that you type on a regular basis. For example, let’s take “MacGroup-Detroit, Inc.” I type that all the time in email, web forms, word processing apps and graphic design apps. With TextExpander I setup a shortcut called “mgd” and now whenever I type “mgd”, it expands to “MacGroup-Detroit, Inc.” It’s not just for simple one liners either. TextExpander can expand a typed shortcut to full paragraphs of formatted text as well. This is great for instant access to your price lists, directions to your location and just about anything else you can think of.
Besides being able to expand basic text, formatted text, text with images and current date/time, TextExpander also has a cool “Fill In” feature. This is where you can create a snippet of text that when it expands it will have fields for you to key in the relevant info for that particular text. I didn’t realize how much I would use this feature until I setup one. Now I’m using it all the time.
Syncs with Dropbox
Like I said, I started with TextExpander Touch and I had already started creating some snippets on my iPhone and iPad. Of course when I got the Mac version I wanted to use those same snippets. The good news here is that TextExpander for Mac and TextExpander Touch all sync with Dropbox. If you create or edit a snippet in one place you’ll have it on all your other devices too.
How does it work with iOS Devices?
While TextExpander is pretty universal with your Apps on your Mac, it’s limited to the Apps that support it on iOS. Here’s a complete list of supported iOS Apps that work with TextExpander Touch. While the built-in iOS Mail App and Message App don’t support TextExpander Touch, you can create new email messages and SMS messages directly within the TextExpander Touch App so that you can take advantage of your snippets
iOS 5 promisses to bring similar functionality to the OS itself. This will be handy as it will be supported in the built-in apps, but like most built-in features it won’t be as robust ast TextExpander Touch. It will be great to have both!
You can get TextExpander for Mac for $34.99 here from the 
You can get TextExpander Touch for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for $4.99 here from the 
Computers are very complex beasts and there are a lot of constantly moving parts. I'm not speaking so much about mechanical parts as I am things constantly changing on your computer. Whenever something goes wrong the first thing that usually comes to mind is "it was working yesterday!" To the best of your knowledge you haven't done anything different. Yet the thing you're trying to do today doesn't work like it did yesterday. Believe it or not, it happens all the time. The most common reason for these unexplained problems is that something did in fact change. Perhaps it was a system update. Perhaps the last time you used an application and closed it, something happened to the preference file that the application uses. It could be that your Mac has been on for days/weeks at a time and some application has used up all of your available RAM because it has a memory leak. Or maybe you've plugged a device into your computer that wasn't there the last time the "thing" worked fine. There are countless reasons for something to all of a sudden stop working the way it used to work. There are also dozens if not hundreds of things you can try to troubleshoot the problem. I've put together a quick list of 5 to start with before you pick up the phone to call tech support:
- Reboot – Many times a problem can be cured simply by rebooting your computer or logging out and logging back in. This forces all the applications to quit (even the ones running in the background that you don't know about), it clears the RAM and gives you a fresh start. Even a reboot may not do it. In those cases try a full shut down and then boot up again.
- Delete the Preferences – If it's an Application that is all of a sudden misbehaving, it may have a damaged preference. You can first try moving the preference file for that particular application to the desktop and then try launching the App again. Most applications will build NEW preference files when they don't see an existing one.
- Unplug all peripherals – try unplugging any extra devices you have attached to your computer that aren't absolutely necessary to run the computer. USB devices, hard drives, hubs, etc. Then try the operation again. One day I noticed that my computer had slowed down to the point that it was simply unusable. I rebooted and it was still lagging. Finally I unplugged an external Firewire hard drive (that I wasn't even using) and everything returned to normal speed.
- If you're getting an error message or something that is repeatable Google is your friend. Try a simple Google search with the exact message. 9 times out of 10 someone else is having the exact same problem and those searches often lead to a discussion thread where a solution has been achieved.
- Try logging in as a different user. This is also preference related. Your applications create preferences for each user. If you create a separate "Test" account in Mac OS X, you can then log in as that user and have a fresh set of preferences for all of your applications. If the software works under this Test user account then you'll know that something under your regular user account has become damaged/corrupted and you'll need to dig deeper into the preferences.
You can always call for support. However, in many cases the above tips will help you narrow down the problem before you pick up the phone. Also in many cases whoever you're going to call is going to have you do these things anyway. So save yourself a little time and get them done ahead of time.
It is not uncommon these days for people to have two or more Macs. The most common scenario is a desktop Mac and a portable Mac. Perhaps it's a Mac at work and a Mac at home. Up until recently my situation was a little different. I've had several Macs over the years and have usually had two or more Macs in my home, but in my case the Macs were used for specific purposes. My "main" Mac is a MacBook Pro and has been since the MacBook Pro was introduced. I have a Mac Mini that is my OS X Server. I have a dedicated iMac as an iTunes/media server. I have a Mac Pro that is my video editing Mac. In the past I used my "main" Mac as "my computer" and the others were used for doing certain projects or jobs. So I never really had email setup on my Mac Pro. Nor did I use the iMac for word processing or spreadsheet work, etc. I also really didn't use it to surf the web. It (the Mac Pro) was for Video editing of large projects.
The tale of Two MacBooks
While I love the power and speed of my MacBook Pro, I've always been envious of the MacBook Air. It offered the promise of a really lightweight computer that I could use for just about everything except the heavy lifting of my day job, which is demoing high in Adobe Creative Suite products. The MacBook Air traditionally just didn't have enough memory, storage, CPU power, graphics power, etc. to be my "main" computer. Yet there are certainly times I could use this computer for day to day web, email, iTunes, blogging, and just about anything else short of a full blown Creative Suite 5 demo. Sure, the MacBook Air can run the Creative Suite 5 Apps, but it's the lack of RAM (4GB Max) that makes it challenging to have multiple large applications open at once. Also the Core 2 Duo processor is a litle under powered for this task on a regular basis. While I would love to use my iPad 2 for this "second computer", it's just not there yet in terms of the Apps I would need and if I add a physical keyboard for typing long docs/blog posts (like this one), then I might as well have an Air. Yep, I just sat there admiring the MacBook Air from a distance. Well that was up until recently.
I started justifying a MacBook Air purchase for my "personal" use. I figured that it would be great for travel when I'm just going to a meeting. It would be great around the house when I don't need the most power, but need more than what an iPad can do. It would just be great to have one. See, I just justified it to myself. That wasn't hard at all. I want one! 
The other problem and probably the thing that has kept me from doing this sooner was not wanting to have to manage files between TWO "main" computers. I didn't want to be frustrated by not having the file I needed because it was on the computer I didn't have with me. This is when I started looking at today's solutions to this problem and I realized that this is very doable now with what's out there today! Here's how I solved this problem and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be:
Email, Calendars, Web Bookmarks, Contacts, Widgets, System Prefs, Dock icons
Of course I want access to all of my most commonly used data on either computer at any time. Luckily all of my email accounts are IMAP based (as opposed to POP3 based) and therefore email isn't an issue between my computers or mobile devices because it's in the cloud (on a server). If I read, delete or file mail on one computer it is marked read, filed or deleted off all computers/devices. For calendars, Dashboard Widgets, System Prefs, Transmit FTP favorites, System Prefs and contacts I use MobileMe to sync them between devices. It also handles Safari bookmarks, but I use Google's Chrome as my default browser. As luck would have it, Chrome supports syncing of bookmarks wirelessly and automatically between computers too. I also manage my RSS feeds with Google and therefore I can view them on any device and as I read them they are marked read on all devices.
iTunes
Music was sort of an issue since iTunes doesn't offer true "syncing" between computers. Luckily I was able to solve this with SuperSync and sync the playlists I wanted from my iMac iTunes server to both MacBooks. The only thing that I don't have in both places is iOS Apps. You have to sync them to one computer at a time and I use my MacBook Pro for this. Since iOS devices can update their Apps on the devices themselves as needed, this hasn't been a problem.
Applications
I knew that Applications wouldn't be a real issue as I would just install the ones I needed on the MacBook Air. Since most software companies allow you two installs per licence, this hasn't been a problem. It's also cool that Apps downloaded/purchased from the Mac App Store can easily be installed on both Macs directly from the Mac App Store app. Also since I don't really do a lot of App installing it was really a one time thing and I haven't looked back.
Documents & Photos
Now it's time to take a look at the biggest problem of having two or more Macs and that is "Dude, where are my documents?" Each Mac and each user account on each Mac has it's own Documents folder. Mac OS X doesn't offer a great way of syncing these folders natively. If you have a MobileMe account you can accomplish this by putting your documents on your iDisk and syncing your iDisk to your desktop. However, I've found the iDisk to be too slow for this kind of daily use. Especially if you work on large documents. My solution here is Dropbox.com. Dropbox.com gives you a FREE 2GBs of space in their cloud. When you install Dropbox on your Macs, PCs or mobile devices, you will have access to the same Dropbox folder on all of your devices. While I appreciate the 2GBs of FREE space, I went with their paid option of 100GBs. I added up close to 50GBs of documents that I would want on both MacBooks and while there is a 50GB option, I didn't want to constantly be hitting the ceiling. With 100GBs of space I have room to play. Also Dropbox does syncing over your LAN, which makes it MUCH FASTER to keep multiple "Document (Dropbox)" folders in sync. I was easily able to move documents, Lightroom catalogs and websites that I author into my Dropbox folder for access on either computer. While I don't really use iPhoto, I put my iPhoto library in my Dropbox Pictures folder and it works GREAT between the two MacBooks.
Speaking of devices, it seems that more 3rd party iOS Apps work with Dropbox these days than iDisk too. The Free Dropbox.com App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is here on the
Lastly, what about Passwords?
While you can sync your Mac OX Keychain between Macs with MobileMe, that doesn't help you with iOS devices. My favorite solution is 1Password for not only maintaining my site passwords, but also account/financial information, software serial numbers and more. The best part is that it syncs your encrypted data file with Dropbox so that you have access to it on all your Macs as well as 1Password for iOS.
How's it working?
I've had the MacBook Air 13" for a couple of months now and it's GREAT to have my choice of either Mac to take depending on what I'm doing. I've taken it on the road a couple of times now for trips that were just meetings and it's been a dream to travel with and work on those small airline tray tables. What really makes this setup a total success is the combination of MobileMe and Dropbox.com. I would NEVER want to give up either one.
Maybe iPad 4 will be the answer to my "2nd main computer", but for now I'm a happy 2 MaBook, iPad 2 and iPhone 4 user with all my data in sync and accessible between all my devices.
Each Friday Calvin does a great job here giving us tips on backing up and while I feel that I have a good backup workflow, I recently started checking out cloud based backup solutions. I really didn't have much interest in cloud based solutions before simply because internet bandwidth just isn't fast enough to make backing up to the cloud a viable solution for most people. However, I decided to give it a try for my OFFSITE backup. In other words I still don't feel that a cloud based backup service is fast enough for my regular/daily backups, but I do feel that it's a good option for an offsite (in case all hell breaks loose) copy.
Today
Today I backup my server to an external hard drive. I have two backup external hard drives in fact. However, one of them is always offsite at the bank in a safe deposit box. This way if disaster strikes at home (fire, flood, theft, alien attack, etc.) I can still go to the bank, pick up my drive and restore everything to a new computer/drive. It's the offsite copy that I began to wonder if it could be stored in the cloud.
The advantage
In theory once the initial cloud backup is complete my offsite backup would be more current than the one I have now in the bank. I would like to rotate my offsite backups weekly, but in reality I don't get to the bank every week. Backing up to the cloud would be a continuous process and therefore my offsite backup would always be as current as my local backup within a few megabytes/hours.
How long does it take to backup over the internet?
Backing up gigabytes of data over the internet can take months! That's right! I said months, not weeks, not days, but months. Even if you have a super fast upload speed via your ISP (most people dont'), you probably don't want your backup sucking up all the bandwidth from your daily use of the internet. Also ISP's are starting to get cranked when people abuse their bandwidth allotment. For example, Comcast has a 250GB per month bandwidth cap. Once you exceed that they could throttle your speed down or even charge you more. With this being the case you don't want your backup to the cloud using up all of your bandwidth for the initial backup. With this in mind you need to be able to configure your cloud based backup service bandwidth to use as much or as little bandwidth as you want.
Is there another way?
I went with CrashPlan.com for my cloud backup solution. They have an unlimited storage plan at a reasonable price. They also offer something that the other providers don't offer and that is the option of having them send you a hard drive to do your initial backup! The idea is you get the drive, follow the instructions and backup your whole drive. Then you return the drive to them. They copy/clone the drive to their enterprise class servers and you then begin backing up from that point in time. This is the way to go especially for people with limited bandwidth. There is a cost to do this! You are effectively "buying" the drive. However, it's the fastest way to get all of your data backed up online.
Access your files anywhere
Not only does having your files backed up to the cloud give you an offsite backup in case of disaster, but it also lets you access them from anywhere on the internet you happen to be. Just log into your CrashPlan.com account and download anything from your backup drive.
How long does it take to restore?
Your download speed is much faster than your upload speed in most cases. So restoring should go a lot faster, but it could still take days depending on how much data you have to restore. For example, it takes over 24 hours to clone my 1.5 TB of data locally from drive to drive over Firewire 800. So imagine how long it would take to download 1.5 TB over the internet?
No worries – They can send you a drive! Just like they can send you a drive to backup to, they can also send you a drive to restore from if you need it.
The Bottom Line
Any backup is better than no backup! While I don't yet recommend a cloud backup to be your only backup, it's certainly worth investigating as your second/offsite backup. I went with an unlimited family plan so that I could backup both my main server drive and the iMac that has all of my music, movies, TV shows, etc. I have a sizable investment in music and time (ripping my CDs/Movie DVDs) that I want backed up offsite. CrashPlan is running in the back ground backing them both up as we speak.
CrashPlan also has the unique ability to allow you to backup to a friends computer at no cost.
One more thing…
Dolly Drive – I just got back from Macworld Expo and one of the companies there has figured out a way to offer cloud backups via Mac OS X's Time Machine. It's an interesting concept. You would set Time Machine to backup to your Dolly Drive account and be able to use the Time Machine features, restore, etc. if you ever needed them. It will be interesting to see how this works and they will have to come out with the ability to send you a drive to do your initial backup to just like CrashPlan.
Backup offsite today, so that you don't need these guys tomorrow!
Last week Apple took the wraps off the the NEW Mac App Store. The Mac App store aims to bring the ease of finding and installing Apps that users on iDevices have enjoyed, to the Mac desktop. First off the Mac App Store is a part of the Mac OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard update. Once you do your 10.6.6 update the Mac App Store will be on your Dock next to the Finder icon. You launch it like any other application. From there you can browse both free and paid Apps. You can read reviews, see featured and recommended Apps and see screen shots of the Apps. You can also see the system requirements of an App you're interested in. If you decide you want one of the Apps you can click to download it right then and there. This is probably one of the best App installation experiences that the Mac has had. I still run into new/Novice Mac users that don't really feel comfortable downloading and installing software. This is probably because depending on the application the procedure could be different. In the past some Apps you download open up and you have to then drag the Application into the Applications folder to install it. Others have an actual installer that you double click on. After that you're still left with a disc image that's open and mounted and newbies just have no clue as to what they should do next. Unmount it? Trash it? Save it? etc. That all goes away with Apps downloaded from the Mac App Store. The installation process is seamless and happens in the background. You download the App, it installs, places itself on the Dock ready to run and then cleans up after itself. This all happens automatically.
Future application updates
Just like on iDevices, you'll now be able to get all your 3rd party updates in one spot (for Mac App Store downloaded Apps) and those updates will be installed as seamlessly as the original install. Unfortunately these updates will only occur for Apps that you've downloaded via the new Mac App Store. For example, I already have several of the Apps that are in the Mac App Store such as Delicious Library 2, Mac Garage Sale, etc. As far as the Mac App Store is concerned it doesn't know they exist on my system. In some cases with Apple Apps it will will know that they are there. For example, for Keynote '09 it says "Installed". It knows I already have it and I figure that's because it's an Apple app.
A potential shift in the cost of software
One phenomenon that has happened in the mobile space is that consumers don't expect to pay a lot for a mobile App no matter what it does. An iPad App that costs $9.99 is considered to be "expensive". However, a $9.99 App that does the same thing for your Mac would be considered a bargain. Apple is clearly attempting to drive down the cost of software via the Mac App Store by taking the lead on its own Apps and they have lowered the price on all of them. They've also allowed people, for the first time, to buy single Apps that were previously only available via a bundle. Apps like iPhoto and Pages are now available individually. I'm really looking forward to the update to iWork '11. I primarily use Keynote. Now I will be able to go back to buying just Keynote without having to buy Pages and Numbers. This also means instant gratification. The software can be made available to me on day one without having to wait for a box to be shipped to my house.
Buy once and install on many
When I buy an App for my iPhone. I can install it on ALL of my iDevices without buying it again. That's a fundamental shift from desktop software which typically allows for one or two installs per license. Now if you buy an App from the Mac App Store you can legally install it on all of your Macs that are authorized to your Apple ID/iTunes account. Just upgrade to 10.6.6 and download the App again from your Purchases tab, on your other Mac at no additional cost. While this is a positive to consumers, it's definitely a negative to developers and I'm sure will limit the number of some of the higher end Apps from appearing on the Mac App Store.
The Bottom Line
The Mac App Store is a plus for Mac users and a definite plus for smaller Developers. It allows for small developers to reach a broader market by being in front of every new Mac user from here on out. I also will look forward to the simplified updating of my software from here on out. What I'm not sure of though is how many "new" Apps I'll be buying this way? Quite frankly I have all the software on my Mac that I need. I don't often go looking for NEW Mac software. That's quite the opposite on my iDevices where I'm clamoring for new Apps every week. So far I've downloaded two new Apps from the Mac App Store. I downloaded the Free New Twitter App and the New Chopper 2 for Mac (I was already enjoying the game on the iPad). After I got those two I really wasn't very interested in anything else I saw. Time will tell for me. For NEW Mac users, you'll love it! The Mac App Store started out with 1,000 Free and Paid Apps and saw over 1 million downloads in the 1st 24 hours.
I'm a busy guy and while I have several RSS feeds that I check everyday, there is one site that serves up ALL of the news I care about when it comes to Apple and industry related news. That site is macsurfer.com. This is the one page I can go to and see all of the headlines each day on topics that interest me and stories I would have otherwise missed.
If you're even remotely interested in anything Apple related or want to know what's going on in the industry at any given time this is the site you need to go to!
my FaceTime chat with my friend and Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak (this was Mac to Mac)
One of the things Apple introduced in their "Back to the Mac" event last week was a public beta of FaceTime for the Mac. I'm very pleased to see this happen as many of were scratching our heads as to why this wasn't introduced as a feature of iChat. I'm actually glad that Apple chose to make it a stand alone App. Why? The reason is I've had very hit and miss luck (mostly miss) with connecting with people over iChat over the years. To the point that I completely gave up on it. Whereas FaceTime almost always works for me. Actually FaceTime was one of the reasons I upgraded my immediate family to iPhone 4s. I'm on the road for work all the time and I have a kid away in school, so FaceTime was a great solution for keeping in touch without having to sit in front of a computer. With that said, there are some that will NEVER buy an iPhone or even an iPod touch. Now we can FaceTime with those folks from iPhone to Mac, Mac to Mac, Mac to iPod touch, etc. This makes FaceTime even more useful than it was before.
How does it make calls if it's not a phone?
FaceTime on the Mac, like the 4th gen iPod touch doesn't have a phone number associated with it. Therefore it relies on your registered email address. When you setup FaceTime on the Mac for the first time you log in with your Apple ID and then you can set it to use any email address(es) you want. By default if anyone tries to FaceTime you with that email address your Mac will "ring" and you can choose to accept the call or decline it. FaceTime still monitors for incoming calls even if the app isn't running. You can of course disable this feature.
How well does it work?
In my first test I was setting it up and I actually accidentally clicked on my daughter's name and it started to place the call. I quickly disconnected as it was a mistake and I wasn't trying to call her in that moment. However, she called me right back and we were FaceTiming. (yes that's a word now). She just tapped the call back feature on her iPhone without even thinking about it and since that call originated from my MacBook Pro at first, it (she) dialed me back to that location. The video and voice were very clear and of course the call was FREE!
Although you can setup a Favorites list you still have to scroll up and down your contacts or start to type a name. I would really like to see a standard Search box at the top of the window in the next version. Will there be a Windows version? Your guess is as good as mine. However, if you think about it Apple never released their own iChat client. iChat uses AOL and therefore a Windows user can just use that. They may do the same for FaceTime (as they have published the protocols used) and let someone else do the Windows client. Again, just guessing.
Like most "betas" this product is still under development and therefore there could be bugs in using it and we could see more features come along the way. My assumption is that Apple will roll the final version into Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the summer of 2011.
Snow Leopard (yes it requires Snow Leopard) users can download the FaceTime Beta here.
I've been using screen recorders for years. These applications allow you to record what you're doing on your Mac directly (or after rendering) to a QuickTime movie. Five years ago If I were to ask all my friends that do presentations on the Mac which screen recorder do you use? Most likely the answer would have been 100% – Snapz Pro X by Ambrosia Software. However, while Snapz is still the number one choice for a superb screen shot utility, I find very few pros using it to record their screens for tutorials and training videos anymore. The reason for this shift is that the landscape has changed and quite frankly Ambrosia just hasn't kept up.
iShowU Pro HD
The first App to completely lure me away from Snapz Pro was iShowU. It had one game changing feature and that was once you hit "stop recording", your movie was done! Instantly! With Snapz Pro X, after you hit the stop button/keyboard shortcut you have to wait while it renders out your movie and unfortunately it would take as long to render the movie as you took to record it. So a 10 minute recording would take 10 minutes to render. Now while that may not sound like the end of the world, imagine recording a 1 hour presentation and then having to wait an hour while it rendered before you could turn off or sleep your computer or do anything else on your computer. There was no way (and still isn't) to say, "do it later." If you didn't wait, you'd lose the recording. iShowU on the other hand would produce your movie file the minute you pressed stop. There it was, ready to use. No waiting! This took the community by storm and all the people I know that use these kinds of apps on a regular basis switched overnight to iShowU. Since that time iShowU has gotten a bigger brother, iShowU Pro HD and of course the HD meaning that it can capture High Definition videos. I still prefer the original iShowU interface over the new Pro version, but the new Pro version has a better crash recovery feature. Also the Pro version allows you to capture both your screen and webcam/iSight video at the same time. All-in-all I go to iShowU when I want to record a movie/tutorial and have to have the file immediately for sharing or posting.
iShowU starts at $20 and goes up to $59.95 for the Pro HD version here.
ScreenFlow
I've also been a ScreenFlow user for some time now too. ScreenFlow takes a slightly different approach in that you can record your screen and webcam video simultaneously and then once you're done with the recording you can actually edit your video right inside of the ScreenFlow app. They even record the webcam video on a separate track so that you can fade it in and out as needed. With iShowU HD Pro, your iSight video becomes part of the main video and there's no way to separate it out later. Screen Flow's editing environment allows you to do titling, add graphics, add other recordings as well as do things like zoom in on the screen, have a large cursor and add other call outs. All of this can be added AFTER the movie has been recorded. While I usually put the finishing touches on my video tutorials in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, I could certainly see someone using ScreenFlow for all of their basic editing needs of their recorded tutorials.
You can get ScreenFlow here for $99.00 (there is a free trial)
The Bottom Line – Which one do I use?
After all that was the point of this right? To recommend one. Honestly I use all of the above and before you say "argggh", let me explain first and then I will then recommend ONE. I still use Snapz Pro X simply because it's the most full featured screen shot utility (for capturing dialog boxes, menus, etc.) I've seen. I use iShowU and iShowU Pro HD when I need it NOW! There's no time to render or it doesn't require editing. I use ScreenFlow when I want that polished look and I can wait for a final render of the edited movie. So if you said, you have to give up one all but one of the screen recorders. Then I would have to say that it would be ScreenFlow. You can record your movie, stop and output later. So it solves that having to clear the room problem after a presentation. Because you can edit right in the App and the iSight camera comes in a separate track, it wins in terms of flexibility. It's also the most expensive of the bunch, but you do in this case get what you pay for.
When Apple introduced the iPod in 2001 it was clear that the iPod was destined to be a mobile extension of your music library. As time went on Apple continued to add multimedia capabilities to it including TV shows, movies and more. For the most part it still makes sense that you would use a computer to manage your media library and only sync the content you want onto your iPod. I guess it also still makes sense that you would do the same for an iPhone. However, do we really need a computer to use an iPad?
The woman who tried to buy an iPad
By now most of you have heard the story about the woman who is disabled and on a fixed income, who saved up her money to buy an iPad as her "first computer", only to be turned down because she wanted to pay with cash. I'm not here to get into that debate right now about how paranoid Apple is about someone potentially buying several iPads just to sell re-sale them. So they restrict your method of payment and quantities as a deterrent. Nope, i'm not here to talk about that at all. The one thing that I haven't seen anyone mention is what if she was allowed to buy it? Then what? She gets home with the iPad she saved up for month after month only to take it out of the box and not be able to use it. That's right. When you take an iPad out of the box and turn it on you can't do ANYTHING until you connect it to a modern day computer running iTunes to set it up. The question in 2010 is Why?
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