A new Mac owner recently asked me to recommend some Mac apps. so here we go!

VisualHub is the application we use to compress GeekBrief.TV into four of the five versions we release. It’s a lightweight video conversion utility that’s easy to learn and fun to use. The developer writes his sense of humor into error messages and even the price. It costs $23.32. Getting reliable results during video compression usually takes a lot of trial and error. VisualHub makes it simple and fast.

HandBrake is an application that backs up DVDs so they can be played on iPods, PS3s and my favorite, Apple TV. It’s free and really easy to use. It doesn’t work with every DVD, though, and I’m not sure why. My first thought is copy protection, but it seems too random for that to be the issue.

Drive-in from Flip4Mac goes about DVD backups in a completely different way. Instead of ripping a disc and compressing the file, it creates a disk image that includes the DVD menu and special features. It also enforces one of the ethical issues that arises around backing up DVDs. You cannot give a copy away. It’s tied to your Drive-in account. The application is still in public beta and is free until the beta ends.

Coda is a beautifully elegant HTML editor for Macs. I’ve been working with HTML for 14 years and Coda is just another reason why life is better when you work on on Mac. It also has a copy of The Web Programmer’s Desk Reference built right in to the application.

Cyberduck is an open-source, shareware FTP application for Mac. It’s easy to use and reminds me of my old, old favorite, WinFTP.

IShowU is the screen capture application I use to grab flash video from the Web. It can be configured to output at a variety of quality levels and the capture area can be adjusted to any size you need. 

Screenflow from Vara Software is one of the best applications I’ve ever used. It’s the best application for producing instructional screencasts. You can attach a camera and a mic and record yourself as you walk a student through the process of doing anything on a Mac. The thing that really sets it apart from other screencasting applications is what you can do in post production. You can blur the backgrounds, dim the backgrounds, highlight actions with sound and visual call-outs and you can pan and zoom.

What Mac apps can you not live without? Leave a comment!

So, I have an idea and I want to see if anyone is game. Here goes…

Researching and writing The Brief usually takes us half a day or more. Shooting takes about 30 minutes and post production (editing, graphics, compression and uploading) takes about three hours. Check the Twitter transcripts. It’s pretty well documented.

This week, we’re slammed because we have an unscheduled trip to New York on Thursday and Cali has a speaking gig on Wednesday.

What’s the likelihood some friends of the brief would like to submit some stories to wiki {at} geekbrief {dot} com? We’re talking completely written stories with an attached product graphic or screenshot and links to sources so we know we’re not plagiarizing.

It seems like a fun experiment. If you’re interested in playing along, write a story about a gadget, Web application, game or piece of software. Length should be about five sentences long (keep the brief in Geek Brief). Include graphics or screenshots and links to your sources. Send it via email to wiki {at} geekbrief {dot} com.

You’ll be putting words in Cali’s mouth, so gold stars go to writers who are funny and still wholesome. Cali will edit you just like she edits me, but you’ll get the credit on the show and links in the shownotes on GeekBrief.TV.

One time, I worked at a non-profit organization where I had the opportunity to write a speech for Laura Bush. Hearing your words come out of someone else’s mouth is magical.

Ultimately, this experiment could lead to writing work for a future Geek Brief Gadget Blog…I’m just saying!

Max Murphy is a teen podcaster who produces a show called Mac News Weekly. He’s a HUGE friend of GeekBrief.TV. 

At the end of Max’s latest episode, the audio on the credits is a lot louder than his audio on the show. I used to do that all the time on Geek Brief. Levelator is an easy way to keep that from happening. I’m posting this for Max, but other folks might find it useful too.

Final Cut Pro is my favorite application because I learn something new almost every day. The app. does something, though, I’m not sure how to manage. It writes files to my scratch disk and then leaves them there.

Once every two weeks or so, I go into my Final Cut Pro Documents folder and delete, delete, delete. It ads up to over 100GB every two weeks.

• When I delete something from FCP, why do the files associated with it stick around?
• Is there a setting I should change in preferences?
• Will I ever learn all I need to learn about FCP (rhetorical)?

Doing what we do, producing GeekBrief.TV, is often exhilarating, but isn’t constant, so it reminds me of an old gospel song that says, “I thank God for the Mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys. I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through. Cause if I had never had a problem, I wouldn’t know God could solve them. I wouldn’t know what faith in God could do.” It’s about how low points in life give us perspective to appreciate the high points.

High points are when everything is clicking, production is flowing smoothly and feedback is strong. Low points are usually when opportunities and responsibilities are too fast and furious. Riding the top of the wave is an adrenaline rush, but each individual wave falls apart and it feels like we’re under the force of the water trying to get back to homeostasis.

I wouldn’t trade what we do for any other job because it’s the ultimate blend of independence and responsibility. There are times that it is fun and times when we’re scared to death. Other times… we just wish for a few days in a row of smooth sailing.

This week we got a peek at what flash video will look like on the PodShow network. It’s beautiful.

Adam Curry says they’re waiting for greater user adoption of the latest version of flash before PodShow does the upgrade. The conversion process is expensive, so the wait makes sense.

I think it would be really cool if PodShow created a client side conversion app so users could bear the burden and PodShow could save cash.

I’m not a flash fan, but Web users are, so for me to embrace it, I’m looking for quality that few people are delivering today. PodShow will be providing exactly the quality that producers are looking for. I can’t wait!  

We’ve been doing GeekBrief.TV for over two years and Brief #319 is the most difficult episode we’ve ever produced. It wasn’t hard to write. It wasn’t hard to shoot and producing the video was just like any other day.

The hard part is that we refer to a video we produced that will appear on BigTrip.TV and auctions that will appear on eBay. The copy in the auction refers to multiple videos that have to be encoded and uploaded.

In effect, this one episode involves the production, compression and distribution of six different videos and content published on six different Web sites. The actual work isn’t hard…it’s the timing. It’s like cooking a big meal for multiple people when you’re not used to doing that. Getting everything ready in the right order is a challenge and challenges make our job so much fun!