Customize the iDVD background Apple Logo – macosxhints.com

May 16, 2008 2 Comments

macosxhints.com – Customize the iDVD background Apple Logo
As you may know, iDVD includes (by default) the Apple logo watermark on your DVD. You can disable this in the General section of iDVD’s preferences. In my case, however, I wanted the watermark, but I didn’t want it to be the Apple logo. Here’s how to change it (you’ll need the Developer Tools installed to do this):

1. Quit iDVD if it’s running, then make a backup of the iDVD.app program.
2. Control-click on iDVD.app in the Finder, and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu.
3. Navigate into Contents/Resources.
4. Edit the file watermark.tif to your satisfaction, retaining the pretty translucency.
5. Open Watermark.qtz by double-clicking on the file; it should open in Quartz Composer.
6. Click on the patch that says Watermark.
7. Click on Patch Inspector in the Toolbar, then choose Settings.
8. Import the watermark.tif file you just edited.
9. Save the file and restart iDVD.

I had to restart iDVD several times, but eventually, the Apple logo was replaced with with my own translucent background logo.

Filed under Hack

iMovie ’08 Library Compressor | iNik

May 13, 2008 Leave a comment

iMovie ’08 Library Compressor | iNik
This is a simple program to reduce the size of your iMovie 08 library.

I love iMovie ‘08. I know, I know, it has less whizzy features than iMovie ‘06 does, but darn it, it’s so darn fast and easy to build videos. I can create a whole hour-long movie in about ten minutes! (Not a very good one, of course — but none of my movies are very good.)

Part of why it’s fast is that it keeps all my clips on hand, ready and willing to be part of my latest (crappy) movie. Unfortunately, all those barely-compressed DV clips take up A LOT of space. (About 10 GB/hour of video!) This application will compress all the DV files in your iMovie library to save huge amounts of disk space! Using Apple’s H.264 compression technology, you can shave 70% off your library space with minimal loss of quality.

Filed under How-to

Mac mini dual monitors using DualHead2Go – voice.firefallpro.com

May 8, 2008 Leave a comment

Lessons Learned: Mac mini dual monitors using DualHead2Go
When we first set up the office here in NYC, we made an early decision to go with Apple products for development. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Apple, indeed I am a recent inductee into the Apple Fan Club. However, I have noticed a few… insufficiencies with the platform, many of which have little to do with the company itself. For example, the lack of a good time management system (apologies to iBiz).

Aside from my minor grievances on the software grounds, I have been a pretty happy customer. Except for one thing. The total lack of upgradability in the Mac Mini.

Now, I’m not retarded. I understand that the target market for the mini is not expected to have a 300GB drive, or 4GB of ram in the system. Hell, they’re not expected to do one damn thing to it. I understand all this, but it still frustrates me that not only is it difficult to perform many of these upgrades, some of them are downright impossible.

Or are they?

Filed under How-to

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