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it's now or NEVER! there is only one place to develop film left and December it's over a year ago less 1% off Kodak film business came from Kodachrome but it's been "being turned off" for the better part of 20 years! what is so special about Kodachrome (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26fsc%3D-1%26ih%3D6%5F0%5F0%5F1%5F1%5F0%5F0%5F0%5F0%5F1.6%5F181%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dkodachrome%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957)(https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=ur2&o=1) it's the only film of it's type developing is an additive process most BW film removes particle from the negative archival stable blue has a 10% loss after 185 years. think "steam punk" it looks different from anything else I've seen you can look at a slide and KNOW that it's Kodachrome because of the additive development process you can see it looks like textures part of it's beauty is that it's slow film you have to project it it's a bitch to make a print from very forgiving film it has a range of 8 stops meaning you can botch the exposure and still get a good looking image what about OLD film? it has a room temperature shelf life of 8 months most photographers froze their stock old film as long as it was store properly will work today reports of stock from 1991 reported to look great the song mama don't take my Kodachrome away simon and garfunkle this came out when I was kid I was 8. that was 1973 guess it has been uneconomical that LONG! personal I stopped shooting with it because it was expensive to buy and develop E6 was something you could do in your own dark room! it was slow I was kid, I was impatient. took weeks to get rolls back what's next? digital! there are still some very pretty film alternatives list goes here where to get your last rolls NO WAITING! DO IT TODAY! eBay your local camera shop check your bag. old film is stable. don't pay too much though. links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome) http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/ (http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/) http://1000words.kodak.com/post/?id=2388083 (http://1000words.kodak.com/post/?id=2388083) http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/catalog/kodachrome64ProfessionalFilmPKR.jhtml (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/catalog/kodachrome64ProfessionalFilmPKR.jhtml) every package over the years (http://www.thechiefway.com/kodachrome/kodachrome.html) http://www.kodachromeproject.com/ (http://www.kodachromeproject.com/) K-Lab processor (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/klabs/index.shtml) [ad#720 bottom banner]

a tourist asks the musician "How do you get to Carnege Hall (http://www.carnegiehall.org/SiteCode/Intro.aspx)?" he plays a few more bars, pauses and says, "Practice man, practice." we get asked about doing production and what it takes to get good at doing it. but it's not just about production. you can apply everything that we talk about to programming, science, flying or cooking. the what really doesn't matter because it all has the same root problem. which is, the problem that I have seen with students and people wanting to make something is that there is a lot of talk about making but making never happens. this is a concept called "rocking later (http://www.johnpla.net/105/rocking-later/)." the extremely important to take away here is to get the need for gear out of the equation of making your success. a RED camera won't automatically make your movie better. recording with a Sound Devices 722 won't make the script better or enhance the actors performance. just like a MacBook Pro won't make you a professional. technology is not a substitute for doing. at every single writer workshop that I've attended one person asks the same question which is, "how do you get good at writing?" the answer is always the same: "write. write every day. write when you don't feel like it. write until you can just write." that's how you get good at writing. but the same thing can be applied to anything you want to get good at doing. one Phd scientist has said that it takes 10,000 hours (http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/11/science/peak-performance-why-records-fall.html?pagewanted=all) to achieve the level where you are an expert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)). this makes the joke where a musician misunderstands a tourist even more funny. the tourist asks, "How do you get to Carnege Hall?" the violinist plays a few more bars, pauses and says, "Practice man, practice…" this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?pagewanted=all) from the New York Times tells a story that I've noticed but didn't know how to say. that is watching a TV show somehow equates to an "I've done that" experience in your brain. and this can be worse then rocking later. the lesson I learned Ms Childs as a kid is that cooking isn't hard. but you do have to practice. "you have to have the courage to flip the eggs," she said. so while it looks easy, there's a moment when your minds eye sees egg flying all over the stove making a mess. and that's exactly what happens. I wanted to learn to flip omelets and to get over the fear of the flip. I got four dozen eggs and started flipping. at first this seemed incredibly wasteful because I was ruining lots of eggs and making a mess. but by the 8th or 9th toss I had gained confidence. by the time I was out of eggs the flip was perfected. the cost of learning a lifetime skill was five bucks. there is nothing wrong with letting the unscene satisfaction from reading MAKE Magazine, Popular Electronics, Wooden Boat or watching Monster Garage, Jacques-Yves Cousteau or anyone else who is "doing things" in front of the camera. just don't get trapped into letting watch or read becoming the substitute for doing. this is a  problem that I have seen with students and people wanting to make something. there is a lot of talk about making but making never happens because the brain can't tell the difference between the show and your own actions. the act of watching steals your ambition to make. not getting trapped by Rocking Later is just one part of the "make mantra". the mind set that can be broken down into a list. in the spirit of the lifezero 10 list. here's 11. * no "rocking later". * RTFM. * practice. * mind your levels. * use what you have. no pining. * always learning. * test it before you commit to it. aka sound check. * pretend that you can't fix it in post. * if it's broken fix it or replace it. * you can't polish a turd. * don't tweak what works.

there is a crazy amount of bandwidth and processors that are mostly idle making web hosting a commodity. but even though you can get a web host for a year for less than $10 you might be getting exactly what you paid for. that is, a service that's worth about ten bucks. servers require somebody paying attention to them to stay running. you need to keep up with updates and patches otherwise your site won't be reliable. but even if the technology is up to date there may be so many sites running on the same server that none of them perform very well. all it takes is one badly configured blog to mess up the works for everyone. somebody wrote in before we recorded this asking, "don't you guys also like free services?" sometimes. there are lots of ways to get on the web. and some of these services are free. just about every single service has a free version. google, flickr, yahoo, wordpress, blogger and dropbox to name a few have tools that will get you and your company talking for no charge. but at what cost? advertising might get inserted into your content that you don't benefit from. or your data may be mined for information. you might not get access to stats or have limited stats. statistics is vital for your ego. you really want to know what things are popular. it helps you focus your efforts. and it's nice to know where your views or listeners are coming from. the problem with free is that you are subject to the whims of the free service. if you get DMCA'd they will act for the complainer on your behalf. when you control your own domain it's your choice on how to deal with your problem. free means that you are subject to advertising. this could dilute or confuse your brand. and the finally the service might not be that fast. that said, free stuff does have the benefit of being EASY to set up. you don't have to do anything other that pick a user name and a password. no nothing to update except for your words or pictures. but you really, really, really need to read the Terms of Service. sometimes the data you put there isn't yours after you put it there! your blog might not be sellable and who owns the movie rights? you might hit a wall and then have to move stuff and migration might not be easy every. the simplest services are are things like Mobile Me (formally dotMac). it's simple to make a site, post pictures, share files and update a blog. but sometimes it can be a very dead end if you care about bandwidth, stats, spaz email addresses (aka aliases) or an email address forwards things like united@ or fedex@ to your main email address. you can't run a specific server app that needs PHP or Ruby. other deal breakers might be the cost of storage or that it's aimed for personal use. besides that other software seems more cool these days. so the simple and the free are okay but you have to know that its not hard at all to have a real domain for not much money a month. and you don't need to be "all that IT!" to do the care and feeding of your own site. it's not that tough because there are tons of tutorials on everything. you will learn to search better because your new hobby will demand it. or course there are books on the subject. the Dummies book is just about as good as any of them. domains are cheap. 10 bucks is about what they go for. you can find a domain for cheaper but once again, be sure to read the TOS to know who really owns the name. we aren't fans of goDaddy. not because it's a bad service but because of the insane amount of marketing they do with every page load. as a domain administrator doing work it's just noise. or use our check list. here's the steps get a domain choose a server provider (http://knowtech.tv/choose-a-hosting-company-check-list/) point the DNS to your server wait for a few hours as DNS isn't always instant varies by domain type .tv takes a day while .com can update in like 12 seconds set up (don't worry this is all GUI based!) web server

we got a message which came from google voice that read: (http://knowtech.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/googlebot_translate.png) what the hell is an America Pro? it certainly isn't anything running in DC (or AC)! meaning the robo knows something we don't or it completely lost the translation. fortunately the robot captured the voice allowing everyone to understand the question. as the caller stated, there are hundreds of "essential" lists of software that you should run on your Mac. but before I get to the list I want to suggest that you just use the Mac like it came out of the box. don't add this or that and the other thing until you know what it does by default. it turns out that you can do lots with a Mac without adding a single application, do-dad, hack, or enhancer. below is the list of stuff that we have to have on a Mac otherwise it feels like we're missing an arm. keep in mind that this isn't really a list of everyone's essential. while Craig and Kenji like password managers John doesn't. Kenji uses TextMate while John prefers Text Wrangler. so have a listen to the audio and follow the links below as they are in the order of the show. turn on spaces then install hyperspace (http://thecocoabots.com/hyperspaces/) to make it even better. move the dock from the bottom to the right or left. of you like the screen bottom get rid of the shiny dock using this command: defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock some people like Craig have a hard time with the Finder either because it's clunky, it's weird or it's missing functionality. pathfinder (http://www.cocoatech.com/) is an alternative that overcomes many of Finder shortcomings. if you squint you can see that the three programs that make up iWork '09 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014X2UAK?ie=UTF8&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0014X2UAK)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0014X2UAK) are actually the same program just retooled to do specific tasks. which the trio does very well. if you have a hate affair with Power Point than Keynote will be your new best friend. Numbers will roll very nice looking things that won't much resemble spreadsheets at all even though it's the way it works. and Pages does layout for ink on paper documents. find out what app is phoning home with little snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html) who's hogging the CPU? istatmenu (http://bjango.com/apps/istatmenus/) will tell you. get backed with cronosync, super duper, backblaze, and dropbox (http://knowtech.tv/your-hard-drive-is-going-to-fail/) Wacom Tablet (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dwacom%2520tablet%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957)(https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=ur2&o=1) Shuttle Pro 2 Black (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032XQP1K?ie=UTF8&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0032XQP1K)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0032XQP1K) text mate (http://macromates.com/) text wrangler (http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/) css edit (http://macrabbit.com/cssedit/) cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/) or transmit (http://panic.com/transmit/) type and creator utility for Snow Leopard. there are two: LaunchCodes (http://pagehand.com/launchcodes/) and Magic Launch (http://michelf.com/software/magic-launch/) flux (http://www.theescapers.com/) looks like something we will have to talk about in the future. (http://knowtech.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/automator-rename-300x149.png)a batch renaming tool is better handy to have around. these can help organize your pictures, help you with animations, hard code dates or times to file names and other things you might need to rename.

(http://knowtech.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/if.png)we often hear "designers" making fun of the classic typefaces. fonts (as they are mostly known as now) such as Comic Sans, Tekton, University Roman, Frankfurter, Souvenir, Bank Gothic and even good old Helvetica are the things we've grown to loath. thing is a just having your way with a font does not you a designer. it's so much more than just a pretty face. how you use type is what makes your presentation, report, brochure and even your website stand out. the "computer" is not a designer all by itself it has grown into a tool that is very good at type. but as good as it can be it's normally setup to mimic a typewriter very, very well. and this the first thing you have to get over. when I taught at the Academy of Art I had to make rules about fonts. I had to forbid use of certain typefaces. it was intended to make projects look better. to force the idea that you should think about type in your movie. fonts by name displayed in their face. Chicago and Geneva where on the list. these were System fonts and had no business being used in production art. the exception to this was if you were using the typeface in the context of how it would really be used. thus if you designed around the pixel blocks of Chicago it could look really good. but I also banned a lot of common fonts that you'd find in everyday use like Courier and Times. I even banned Helvetica. again the thought was to force somebody to make it look better and make them consider something else besides the safe. in the podcast I told a story about how my friend Brad had paid a designer friend of his to teach him to use three fonts. and how it paid off. everything Brad did look like it was designed. not because he was a designer but because he followed the rules that his designer had set up for him. the problem was that it looked like Brad. you could tell that he made it as it always looked that way. my friend Paul does stuff that looks like Paul. which is no coincidence because Paul incidentally met Brad who told Paul the theory of three fonts and Paul adopted it from Brad. and it didn't matter if it was print, video or motion graphics both made things distinct and identifiable to them. the push back from the art students was they didn't like my rules. that they wanted to be lazy and not have to manage fonts. they didn't want to have to install fonts each time they use a different lab machine. I might have changed my rules to allow Helvetica at some point just because I couldn't take the whining. but that came with rules like kerning, tracking, size and weight. and surprise, they didn't like that either. why? the multi-media track didn't have a class on typography and they we're allowed to take the classes offered to the designers. it was a generally refusal to learn type because it wasn't offered. it was really odd. nothing says "I don't care at all about typography than using normal quotation marks." those two "marks" next to the Return key (that's the Enter key for most of you) are a left over from the days of typewriters. the "proper" quote marks can can be made for you automatically or by typing Option-“ and Shift-Option-” on your Mac (you'll need to look it up on the other platforms kids). any doing that every single time is just a pain. so if the quotes make you lose your mind turn on Smart Quotes in your favorite werp. there are a whole bunch of other practical rules for "doing type". all of this is covered in a book called Mac is not a Typewriter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201782634?ie=UTF8&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0201782634)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0201782634) written by the non-comedian Robin Williams. the book is old, but then so is type. get a copy if you don't have this already. after you learn what there is to learn pass it on to the next type nerd to be.

these are Jordan's RAW notes. we'll see if we can get a regular article out of all of this as a follow up. from the E3 trade show floor3D Games - What's not to love? Plenty.    Sony moving toward a full lineup of 3D games        Killzone 3

HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript is a promise that the industry is embracing right now with the idea that these "standards" will help deliver content in a better way. by better way it should be said, "without Flash." or something like that. because of that mindset H3J would be a better name. pronounced "hedge". mostly because the world is hedging a bet about how wonderful it's going to be compared to Flash. H3J goes beyond markup. and it's more than layout, pretty fonts, and slick animation. those features are all part of making a better user experience. a more workable "application" can drive business, readership and loyalty. it's a lot of features that we've seen before in technology like SVG, Shockwave and VRML. what comes around comes around. here's a summary of all the H3J features in a handy "power point like" slide show that was in fact made with the very technology. one of the powerful things about "web" compared to "application" is that there is nothing to install by the user end. they somehow find the page and start using it after making an account then logging in with the password "password". it's been a while since we've heard the cries of "I don't like plug-ins". mostly because developers have stopped making them. instead "web applications" have gravitated toward what the stock browser can do with add-ons that can come from permitted code running in Javascript. do I have to use Javascript? ugh. hurt me you say! for a developer the early days of developing using Javascript was heinous. it wasn't easy ways to debug the code you were writing. sure you could leave yourself bread crumbs or push results to a gather script on a server. but it wasn't much fun. but these are not an excuse any longer. in fact, it's such a an old outdated cry that it usually it comes from somebody who hasn't touched any of today's modern tools have all of these functions. so get over it already. we will cover tools in-depth in future conversations. there was a discussion about how open or not open H3J really was in the blogosphere. it was interesting backlash about the Apple HTML5 demo because it was specifically targeted to demo using Safari. while others found ways around this requirement to find that other browsers faired okay when running the pages. but this will always be a problem just like it's been with supporting IE, FF and Safari for years. so H3J is about video, audio and other content that is open right? and killing Flash? so before you torch up to march against you have to ask what's not to love about Flash? just because it doesn't run on that thing doesn't mean it's crap. Flash still has a place. there's possibly more games available that run in Flash compared to any other player. and lots of advertising demands the programability of Flash for reporting stats and behavior. so just like how Windows XP won't die Flash has a long, long life left. the discussion of video and audio being close/open is a whole talk. in fact we did that for Video Compression (http://knowtech.tv/video-compression/). but it boils down to one thing: if content producers are extorted money because they used a specific CODEC they will re-encode their content into a different format post haste. because ultimately the person watching the video doesn't care what format it's delivered in any more than they care what studio is distributing a movie or show. H3J extends what has been missing from HTML and offers features that will go beyond "a really cool demo." H3J has lots to offer. we think there is lots to like here in a way that make sense. here's a list of all the functions that you might enjoy coding someday. don't try to learn it all at once! @font-face Canvas Canvas Text HTML5 Audio HTML5 Video rgba() hsla() border-image: border-radius: box-shadow: Multiple backgrounds opacity: CSS Animations CSS Columns CSS Gradients CSS Reflections CSS 2D Transforms CSS 3D Transforms

Video compression is an art as much as it is a science (and a lot of math). the rules change with each CODEC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec). this means the tweaks and setting that worked for Cinepak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinepak) did not ...

Push Eject needs a new MacBook Pro (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003G2ZJTG?ie=UTF8&tag=knowtech-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003G2ZJTG)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=knowtech-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003G2ZJTG) because his o...

the amount of mythology that surrounds Phantom Power is staggering. mostly the problem is that people don't have to understand anything about electronics making lots of the information the stuff of magic. there are claims that say it's bad to mix mics, that having Phantom Power on will hurt a mic that doesn't need power and that you can "hear" the 48v. this subject is confusing enough and should not be glossed over with a blanket statement... don't do that. Phantom Power is a DC voltage used to power a capacitive plate that sits behind a diaphragm. when the mic is spoken into the plate discharges making small electrical changes which become an audio signal. this is different the passive signal generated by a diaphragm moving a magnet inside of a coil. the spec for Phantom Power is that it's 48v DC at 10 milliamps. this is the maximum amount of power an mic needs to work. if the power is off the mic will not work. while 48v is the defined spec less voltage can be used. a balanced Microphone cable uses a "differential" signal to ensure that there is no "noise" introduced to the line over the distance of the cable. any noise that is picked up is automatically canceled out when the audio is recombined. pins 2 and 3 carry the audio signals. pin 1 is ground. Phantom Power put power on pins 2 and 3. if a mic is dynamic there is no connection to ground (pin 1) required to complete a circuit. if you measure voltage on pin 2 to pin 3 there will be +0v or nothing. measuring between pin 1 and pin 2 or pin 1 and pin 3 will reveal 48V DC. what kind of mics need Phantom Power? Dynamics do not need power. they generate their own signal power. mics like the Shure SM58, the Heil PR40 and the Electro Voice RE20 are dynamic mics. condensers require Phantom Power. mics like the Perception 01, the Neuman M and the raft of cheap chinese mics all require power. there are other mics that also require power. like ribbon mics. but these have different power requirements and are beyond this discussion. (http://knowtech.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sm58_schematic.png) so here are the myths and questions that come up. will phantom power hurt my dynamic mic? No. all modern mics follow a design that simply ignores power if it is present. if you look a the schematic for a dynamic mic you can see that even though power is present on pin 2 and 3 of the mic because neither line is connected to ground there is not a complete circuit. so a bad cable can ruin my mic if Phantom Power is turned on? yes or maybe or no. YMMV. depends on the mic. if you are in the habit of making your own cables and don't do a very good job of making them you could easily damage your mic. you should ALWAYS test your cables with a multimeter or a cable tester to make sure it's good. if you are setting up and tearing down on a regular basis always test your cables before you connect your mics. how do I know if I need Phantom Power? if your mic isn't working at all that's a good sign it needs power. if the mic is big and heavy and the box that it came is says "condenser" on it somewhere then it needs power. you should always check the specs before you plug your mic. what about a mic that has a battery? some mics contain their own power. lav mics (Lavaliere), wireless mics, and shotgun are all types of mics that may have a different source of power. there is no need to use Phantom Power with this type of mic. in face the presence of Phantom Power might ruin this mic. I have a vintage mic. what happens to my mic if it's not compatible. too bad, so sad. seriously. if you have something very old chances are you need to care and feed it. don't just plug it into your board without knowing exactly what it needs. lots of these old mics required a pre-amplifire in order to work. and just because it has a 1/4" jack doesn't automatically mean you can just plug it into your modern board. can I hear if Phantom Power is on? no. you cannot hear DC voltage.