Author: Daniel Brusilovsky

VP, Technology at Golden State Warriors.

Editing Episodes 97-100

If you check the Apple Universe Web site, you can see that the released episodes top off at show number 96. I am working on editing Apple Universe episodes 97 through 100 this weekend, and should have them released by next week.

Please understand that editing episode number 100, recorded live from the Zeum, might take a while, since the live event was more than one hour and 30 minutes long. It was the longest running episode of Apple Universe so far, and we hope to host similar events again in the future.

~Daniel Brusilovsky

Winner of iShowU Contest!

As many of you know, Apple Universe has been holding a contest for a free copy of shinywhitebox’s iShowU. To enter the contest, you send in an email with a video or link to a video saying why you want or need a copy of iShowU, the greatest screen capture software for Mac OS.

With the contest having reached its end, I am very pleased to announce that Jonathan Davies, of England, is the winner of the contest!

The reason Jonathan won is because in the U.K, it is much more difficult to get software at US prices. Jonathan is a great blogger, and I hope iShowU helps him with his video needs!

Apple Universe would like to thank everyone who sent in their videos for the contest, but I’d also like to mention that there still is one more chance to win a FREE copy iShowU! Details are to be announced soon.

Happy Macworld!

Macworld 2008: Day 1

Macworld 2008 has started, and it couldn’t start better off for me! This following blog post will be no ordinary blog post, I will by time, tell the readers my journey to Macworld 2008: Day 1.

5:00 AM- Wake up. At around 5:15 I eat breakfast, and get all my stuff ready for the days journey to Macworld 2008.
5:30 AM- Leave house to BART Station.
6:00 AM- Arrive at BART Station and board train to San Francisco!
6:50 AM- I arrive in San Francisco, and walk to Moscone Center West.
7:10 AM- Get my Super Pass, and go inside of Moscone West.
7:20-8:45 AM- Wait in line until they let us in the keynote room. At this time, I meet new friends, and talk about the Apple Universe podcast recording that night, and stream some live video on Qik.
9:00-10:30 AM- Steve Jobs Keynote! I get my seat, and take LOTS of pictures, and videos. A blog post coming up about the announcements from the keynote.
10:45 AM- THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY!!

At this time I want to talk about what happened after the keynote was over. I had no where to go, since I was waiting for a friend, and I decide to walk to the stage. What I didn’t know, was that the press were taking a lot of pictures. I didn’t know what they were taking pictures, and knowing that I was small enough, I went through some people to find Steve Jobs in front of me! YES! STEVE JOBS WAS IN FRONT ON ME!! Steve needed to go, so he turned around and turned in my direction. I talk to Steve and SHAKE HIS HAND! I SHOKE STVEVE JOBS HAND!!!!

Steve is a really idol to me, it was a great experience to shake Steve Jobs hand. After that, I meet with some Apple Executives like Jonathan Ive, and some iPhone person, that I don’t remember his name 🙂

Going back to the actual story:

11:00 AM- Meet with iPhoneAlley Founder, and Editor-in-Chief, Michael Johnston. We talk about the keynote, and talk, like us all 🙂
12:00-1:00 PM- I go out to lunch with a really good friend of mine, Eric Willis. Eric is now in San Francisco, and I have him a pass to Macworld 2008. We went out to lunch, and had a good time talking nothing other then Apple!
1:00-1:30 PM- Go to Eric’s office, and relax for a little bit before going back to Macworld 2008.
1:50 PM- Meet with Robert and Patrick Scoble in Moscone Center.
2:00- 4:00 PM- Walk around the expo floor with the Scoble’s and Mike Cohen of MacMegasite.
4:15- 5:45 PM- Set-up for my Apple Universe Episode #100 event at Zeum!
6:00- 8:00 PM- Apple Universe #100 with Robert Scoble, Dave Sifry, Shooby, iJustine and Cali Lewis! There will be a blog post about this event coming up.
8:30 PM- Leave the Zeum, and go home after a very long day.

This was basically my day at Macworld 2008. I am still in disbelief that I shook Steve Jobs hand! Apple Universe #100 was great, and I hope my parents let me go back to Macworld later this week, and if not, I had a great time at Macworld 2008!

Apple Universe #100 should be out soon.

Dream Set-Up

The following question has been presented to me numerous times: If I were to have one million dollars, how would I spend it, and where? Obviously, it must be spent on gear from a company I love; namely, Apple. You may think it’s difficult to spend a million dollars on Apple stuff, but you can get pretty far with Apple products (since Apple doesn’t license OS X to anybody, they can jack up the prices, and make tons of $$$). For purposes of this article, I’ll be outlining four systems, the first of which is the Mac Pro with Apple’s basic configuration:

  • Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
  • 32GB (8 x 4GB) 800MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC memory
  • Apple Mac Pro RAID Card
  • Four (4) x 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA II (3Gb/s) hard disk drives
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 graphics card, 1.5 GB video RAM (Stereo 3D, two dual-link DVI ports)
  • Two (2) x Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display
  • Two (2) x Apple 16x SuperDrive
  • Apple AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
  • Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
  • Apple wireless Mighty Mouse and Wireless Keyboard
  • Apple Mac OS X
  • iWork ’08, Final Cut Express, Aperture 1.5, Logic Express preinstalled
  • AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

This computer would be used for anything and everything that I do, from podcasting, to blogging, to video editing, to schoolwork. Obviously, it can handle all of those tasks, most even simultaneously, thanks to its massive processing power and memory.

To add even more spending to my imaginary budget, I will want a laptop, for podcasting and editing on the go. Again, for purposes of this article, I would have both the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models, with mostly identical specs:

  • 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
  • 4GB (2 x 2GB) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM –
  • 200GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA Drive
  • Apple 8x SuperDrive
  • 15-inch (or 17-inch) glossy widescreen display
  • an additional Apple 20-inch Cinema Display
  • iWork ’08 preinstalled
  • Accessory Kit
  • AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro

Most of you know that I love to stream live video with a great UStream.tv service. To more easily run my video camera, I added a smaller machine, a Mac Mini, dedicated to streaming. This computer includes:

  • 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
  • 2GB (2 x 1GB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 120GB Serial ATA drive
  • Apple 8x SuperDrive
  • Apple Wireless Keyboard & wireless Mighty Mouse
  • Apple 23-inch Cinema HD Display
  • AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac mini
  • Accessory kit

(Editor’s note: In reality, if one were to buy a Mac mini just for streaming, it would be more practical to stash the computer in a corner or closet and use VNC to control it from a main computer.)

Another idea to go with the extra computer is to have a separate internet connection for the Mac mini, in order to alleviate my existing connection of the high-bandwidth load from video streams.

A 24-inch iMac, used as a family computer, will finish off the computers. This machine is also maxed out:

  • 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor
  • 4GB (2 x 2GB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 750GB Serial ATA Drive
  • Apple 8x SuperDrive
  • 24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
  • ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
  • AirPort Extreme
  • Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
  • iWork ’08 preinstalled
  • Apple wireless Mighty Mouse and wireless keyboard
  • AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac
  • Accessory kit

As you can tell, such a large number of computers, mostly maxed out models, costs a ton of money. But wait, the [proposed] spending doesn’t stop there. Since I’m a podcaster, I’ll need a heavy-duty mixer, like Mackie’s beautiful and versatile Onyx 1620. Some basic features:

  • 16 channels
  • Eight ONYX microphone preamps, with individually switched phantom power available for each mic channel
  • 4-band Perkins EQ on each channel strip
  • Four Aux sends per channel (with pre- / post- fader switches)
  • Four stereo line-level inputs
  • Talkback section (able to use an internal or external mic)
  • Multi-country “Planet-Earth” power supply
  • 24-bit / 96Khz FireWire computer interface option (sends all 16 channels into the computer, plus the main stereo mix and an output stream)

(Editor’s note: The Mackie Onyx 1620 has been popularized by Leo Laporte as a podcaster’s ideal mixer, thanks to the FireWire option card).

A couple of accessories go with the mixer, like a Heil PR-40 microphone, and a pair of AKG K 240 Studio headphones.

It’s quite apparent that very few people have the kind of money for such a massive collection of Apple computers, which is why this post is only addressing a theoretical question. Perhaps I’ll make it far enough in my future career (I’m only a student now!) to actually be able to afford all of this stuff, even though by then I still probably won’t need most of it. Here’s to the future of the Apple Universe studio!

Steve Jobs Keynote

If you had the chance to go to someone’s keynote, who’s would it be? My answer: Steve Jobs.

Every Apple fan boy is a Steve Jobs fan, and I am no exception.  Steve Jobs has presented so many wonderful keynotes, and my dream is to attend one of those presentations. My dreams have been answered!

I am very proud to say that I will be attending the Steve Jobs Keynote, on January 15 at 9:00 AM! I want to thank a really cool web site, iPhone Alley, for helping both myself Apple Universe by getting me access to the keynote!

Press Release: Apple Introduces New Mac Pro

Apple on January 8th, 2008 introduced the new Mac Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The new Mac Pro can support up to 32 GB. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.

The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

  • two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses
  • 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB
  • ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
  • 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
  • 16x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots
  • Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
  • the Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse

My personal opinion on this new Mac Pro is that it’s unbelievable. When you think about Apple, you see that they really do push everything outside the box, and the keep on making things better and better. I have been playing around with the configurations, and I fully maxed out the Apple Mac Pro. Here is the configuration that I made from the new Mac Pro:

  • Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core) processors
  • 32GB (8 x 4GB)
  • Mac Pro RAID Card
  • 4 TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB (Stereo 3D, two dual-link DVI)
  • 2 Apple Cinema HD Display (30″ flat panel)
  • Two 16x SuperDrives
  • AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
  • Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
  • Apple USB Modem
  • Apple wireless Mighty Mouse/Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
  • iWork ’08 preinstalled
  • Final Cut Express preinstalled
  • Logic Express preinstalled
  • AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) – Auto-enroll

This is the most maxed out computer I have ever configured! I hope to go to the Apple Store and play with the new Mac Pros!

Tell me what think in the comments below, or drop a line at appleuniversepodcast@gmail.com

NOTE: You can find more information on the new Mac Pro at Apple’s Web site. For the information provided in this post, please visit the Apple Press Release Page.

Starting a Podcast

I have been podcasting since April of 2007, and I wanted to share my version of how to start a podcast. For purposes of this article, let’s say you’d like to start a pretty basic podcast. To start off, you’ll need access to a few items and services.

  1. You own Web site or podcast hosting
  2. A headset, or headphones and a microphone
  3. Topics of discussion

For beginners, a cheap headset will do, and you can one get for as little as about $10.00 USD (like the Cyber Acoustics Stereo Headset/Microphone). This was my second mic, and my first headset. If you want much better quality (and spend more money), you can buy podcasting kits that include a pro-grade microphone, a mixer, and some type of computer audio interface.

For recording software, you can’t go wrong with free (as in speech) Audacity. Audacity is an open-source audio recording/editing program. I used Audacity for numerous episodes of Apple Universe, and occasionally I’ll find a use for the program. (Editor’s note: For much more advanced recording and mixing than Audacity handles, try Kristal Audio Engine, a free program similar in functionality to Adobe Audition.)

Once you record and edit your podcast’s episodes, you need to get them out to the world. For publishing your podcast, you can use web space you currently have access to, or take advantage of one of the numerous free podcasting services. I started out with, and still use, MypodCast.com, a free podcast host. Their service provides you give you a home page, hosting for unlimited episodes, and an RSS feed for listeners to subscribe to. The only catch (which isn’t even so bad) is that MyPodcast will insert or append a short ad spot (somewhere around 30 seconds) at the beginning or end of each episode you publish.

Perhaps the most critical element of your podcast is the topic you discuss. With my podcast, I started out thinking I would talk about Apple news, which I still am. However, now Apple Universe is covering Apple rumors and events, and many people have been interviewed on my podcast. I stayed with one topic, but expanded the idea. If you have a topic, there is no limit on how wide you can extend it.

Podcasting is quite possibly the hottest media of today, and I hope this article convinces you to join the revolution.Head out and pick up your first microphone, and sign up on MyPodcast.com and start podcasting! There is no limit to where podcasting can take you.

Live CES 2008 Updates

With CES (Consumer Electronics Show) starting soon, those of us who can’t make it there want to know how to stay updated. Chris Pirillo is on the case, with a good list of blogs and live streams which will be covering this year’s event. Read on:

January is a magical time if you’re a geek. It brings with it many sacred holidays, such as CES and MacWorld. But what if you can’t make the journey to mecca? Be it financial reasons, or maybe you just couldn’t book a hotel. Thankfully in this web-based world we live in, it’s easy to enjoy the whole event right from your comfy chair.

I’ve compiled a list of sites who will have live coverage of CES 2008.

  • Gadgetell – They have a standalone CES coveragepage being filled with news as we speak, as well as a live Twitter feed where the whole team will be twittering news and updates throughout the week, not to mention live blogging major press events. [RSS – Twitter]
  • Engadget – Good ol’ Engadget will also be covering CES live this year. They have a dedicated CES page and will likely be live blogging events. [RSS]
  • CNET – CNET will be covering the event in the form of text and video, so you can see and hear what’s important and feel like you’re there. [RSS]
  • Scoble / Podtech – Robert travelled down to CES on a bus this year with a bunch of other bloggers and will be covering the event live over video through the Mogulus service.
  • Gizmodo – Gizmodo will also be blogging major CES updates and possibly live blogging press events. [RSS]
  • Futureshop – Futureshop, the canadian tech store, will be posting videos of the CES keynotes, press conferences and booth tours throughout the week.
  • SlashGear – SlashGear has a dedicated section devoted to nothing other than CES news and updates for the week. [RSS]
  • Digital Trends – Digital Trends will be covering all important CES updates and releases. [RSS]
  • Laptop Mag – Laptop Mag will be on scene at CES and be covering more than just laptop news. [RSS]
  • BluefoxTV – Fellow UStreamer bluefox is planning on streaming the events of CES Live over UStream.

I’ll be keeping my eyes open for CES coveragefrom these sources. If you know of any good sources that I missed, drop a line in the comments below and I’ll get them in the list. Happy CES!