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Back to the future
Hi, I'm Marc Perton, and I'm Engadget's new Executive Editor. Those of you who've followed this site for a while may dimly remember me; I was with Engadget in its early days, and somehow managed to write a couple of thousand posts from 2004 through 2006 (my fave: Engadget 1985, a group post I worked on with some other folks you may have heard of). Back then, Engadget was a scrappy startup that produced some great work with very limited resources. I still remember my first trip to CES with the Engadget team; we shared rooms in a hotel miles from the show, and relied on a rented van (and our feet) to get to the venue. The whole team probably slept a collective six hours all week.
Wikipedia rolls out VisualEditor, lets you edit without the cumbersome markup
Making simple edits to a post on Wikipedia hasn't traditionally been an impossible undertaking, but Wiki markup (the syntax used to add and adjust formatting) wasn't nearly as intuitive as it could have been. And editors dropped like flies as a result of confusing tags and a generally frustrating workflow. Now, in an attempt to simplify the editing process dramatically, the site's management team is adding a brand new What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) tool called VisualEditor. Making corrections is now as simple as hitting "Edit" and typing in your changes -- intuitive buttons for text formatting, list creation and adding headings enable you to make pages look nice and consistent without a lot of work. Assuming you're using a recent version of Chrome, Safari or Firefox, manual page overhauls should take minutes, rather than hours.
Live from Expand: Ask The Editors (video)
You've already had the chance to hear from our parade of speakers, but now's the time to ask us some questions! So, what do you want to know? March 17, 2013 8:00 PM EDT For a full list of Expand sessions, be sure to check out our event hub.
Pssst, hey buddy: Want to win a free pair of Expand tickets?
Last week, two lucky Tweeters each won a pair of tickets to Engadget Expand this March 16-17 in San Francisco by telling us which speaker they're most looking forward to seeing at the conference. Now we're giving away some more free tickets -- and this time, it's personal! We want to know which Engadget editor you're most looking forward to meeting. Shoot us a tweet to @EngadgetExpand, naming which of our elite cadre of technophiliac scribes you'd most want to meet face to face (and feel free to include his or her Twitter handle so they know you're stalking them a fan!). To be eligible to enter, you must be 18 years of age and a U.S. resident (and please peruse the full rules). Let your favorites flow from now until 4pm EST (one entry per person, please!). We'll choose two fortunate winners to each receive a pair of free tickets to Expand, and will notify them via Twitter. Plus, make sure to follow @EngadgetExpand -- we'll be running more ticket giveaways (and other surprises) at least once a week until the show. Good luck! UPDATE: Our two lucky ticket pair winners are: Ian Rosenfield of South San Francisco, CA (@orkchop) Stephen Colbert of Naperville, IL (@smcolbert)
Final Cut Pro X future features: multichannel audio, RED camera support
Apple has done some chatting with video editor Larry Jordan at the National Association of Broadcasters' big meeting this week in Las Vegas, and the company revealed some of the new features coming to a future version of Final Cut Pro X later on this year. First and foremost, Jordan was told that Final Cut Pro X is what Apple is working on -- these are new features for FCP X, there is no Final Cut Pro 8 on the horizon. In other words, for editors looking to use Final Cut Pro, this what you're getting. That might be the bad news, if you were really hoping for a new version. But here's the good news: By the end of the year, FCPX will support multichannel audio editing, dual viewers (so users could see two clips playing at the same time, perhaps to compare various sources), plug-in support for the MXF file format, and native support for files from RED cameras. Currently, editors have to convert files from the RED camera to Quicktime to use them, but that won't be the case. Jordan didn't get to see any of these features in action, unfortunately, and Apple declined to say exactly when they'd be coming (though from his writeup, it sounds like they have even more on tap for the software update). They did also chat with him about bringing Final Cut Pro X to the Mac App Store, and Apple says that being on digital distribution should bring all of the benefits therein, including faster updates and of course a more secure platform. So it looks like Final Cut Pro X is getting some strong support from Cupertino -- possibly not the support that professional video editors might want, but at least a few things that should make most workflows with it a bit easier. [via AppleInsider]
Who should I follow? Engadget editors on Twitter
Twitter's a rad place to hang and scope out the latest debt ceiling debate or find out what's up with Tiger's ongoing caddy search, but sometimes you just need another place to totally nerd out, you know? A safe haven for rampant geekery -- that's what we strive to make our personal Twitter stream -- and we're here to help you with that. It's been awhile since we've updated this here list, so we figured... there's no time like the present. Have a gander below at the Engadget editors toiling hard behind the scenes, and feel free to add 'em if you so desire. Engadget @engadget Engadget Mobile @engadgetmobile Engadget HD @engadgethd Engadget Spanish @es_engadget Engadget Germany @de_engadget Engadget Japan @engadgetjp Engadget Chinese @engadgetchinese Editors Tim Stevens @Tim_Stevens Darren Murph @darrenmurph Donald Melanson @donmelanson Christopher Trout @Mr_Trout Richard Lai @richardlai Sean Cooper @sean_cooper Kevin Wong @KevinMWong Ben Drawbaugh @bjdraw Brian Heater @bheater Zach Honig @ZachHonig Michael Gorman @Numeson Joe Pollicino @akaTRENT Sean Buckley @seannicus Joseph Volpe @jrvolpe Terrence O'Brien @terrenceobrien Amar Toor @amartoo Sharif Sakr @shotsheriff Myriam Joire @tnkgrl Zachary Lutz @zacharylutz Brad Molen @phonewisdom Richard Lawler @rjcc Dana Wollman @danawollman Jesse Hicks @jhicks23 Dante Cesa @dantecesa Billy Steele @wmsteele Daniel Cooper @danielwcooper Lydia Leavitt @lydialeavitt Jon Turi (Intern / all-around know-it-all) @jonturi Ross Rubin (Senior columnist) @rossrubin Joshua Fruhlinger (Editorial Director) @fruhlinger And of course, don't forget, you can always befriend us on Facebook. We like that, too.
15 Minutes of Fame: Sci-fi and fantasy copyeditor Deanna Hoak
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Deanna Hoak and I have bonded over the Viscous Hammer. Yes, I realize that some of you will find it somewhat predictably amusing that WoW Insider's resident copyeditor should be geeking out over interviewing sci-fi/fantasy copyeditor and WoW player Deanna Hoak -- but there's more to this editor than a mere passion for punctuation. Hoak brings a virtually unique set of experience and sensitivities to the fantastical demands of the novels she edits. In the world of science fiction and fantasy, Hoak edits the big dogs: China Miéville, Michael Moorcock, Catherynne M. Valente, Alan Dean Foster, Cherie Priest, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, R.A. Salvatore ... In fact, Hoak's the only copyeditor ever nominated for a World Fantasy Award for her work. So yeah, someone who appreciates all the wrongness of WoW's awkwardly named Viscous Hammer (and who knows how to spice up an email exchange with some pretty hot photos of China Miéville at a recent con -- but that's another story) ... To top it all off, along with her two children (her husband's the lone holdout of the family), Hoak's an avid WoW player. Join us after the break for a conversation on World of Warcraft from a SF/F insider's point of view, her recommended reading list for fellow WoW players, and more.
Review: APB (Day 3: Choose your illusion)
Review Diary Day 1: Welcome to San Paro Day 2: Enforcers, get enforcin' Day 3: Choose your illusion Day 4: Cards on the table This is part three of our four-part APB review. Today: Customization and clans in the game's Social District. Yesterday, I examined APB's core gameplay, and while I found it lacking, I hoped it could at least in part be made up for by the incredibly detailed customization system. With a series of in-game editors and marketplaces, you can personalize every aspect of your character, from what you wear and carry, to custom-designed vehicles and even hand-crafted signature killing tunes. I spent about one-quarter of my game time hanging out in APB's Social District (a non-combat, free-to-play section of the game), trying to create some new clothing, shop the game's marketplace, and build some colorful wheels. Unfortunately, while APB's editors allow for a lot of creativity, Realtime Worlds hasn't implemented many ways to reward it.
TUAW Exclusive: Pixelmator in-depth screencast
Back in May we scored a short intro screencast of Pixelmator, an upcoming image editor that looks to give Photoshop a run for its money. Incorporating open source software and some of the great image tools that Apple provides to developers in Mac OS X, Pixelmator looks like it could very well bridge that massive gap between powerful editors like Photoshop that operate in their own realm and all the handy toys in your Mac, like the iPhoto media browser and iSight camera.Unfortunately, Pixelmator got delayed a bit (hey, it's software, it happens), and according to the development blog, a private beta is scheduled to begin August 16th. Since we all have to wait a bit longer to see more of Pixelmator, we figured it was about time to score another exclusive video of Pixelmator in action - and score we have! Embedded in this post is a three minute Pixelmator demo screencast that covers a lot more features in action than we've ever seen before. Selection tools, a unique gradient tool, text, transformation, adding layers and moving images from one document to another, the photo browser that allows access to your iPhoto library, snapping a pic from iSight, color correction and some wild, wild filters and effects - all in this video that even WWDC attendees didn't see! If you've been waiting to see some more meat of what Pixelmator will be capable of, you owe it to yourself to press play above.Needless to say, I'm pretty darn excited for Pixelmator, especially since it'll only cost $59 once released, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy for review as soon as the team is ready.
Graphic Converter 6 released
Graphic Converter from Lemkesoft is an arguably under-appreciated photo editor and basic organizer for Mac OS X. Provided free on some (maybe all?) Macs that Apple ships, it is a quietly powerful app for performing a good number of photo editing and basic retouching, and it even includes a basic photo organizer á la iPhoto, Lightroom or Aperture. For even more features, Lemkesoft just released a new v6 of Graphic Converter, bringing a long list of new and updated features, including: a save for web option basic layer support 'go to photo position' in Google Earth rulers for measuring various aspects of images support for Microsoft's new free-to-use HD Photo image format that rivals JPG compatibility with the Leopard beta and a ton more My download is still working its way to 100%, so check out the new features for yourself or download a demo. If you were a customer of this month's MacHeist / MacUpdate promo in which you scored a license for Graphic Converter 5.x, you'll be happy to know you should be receiving an email (if you haven't already) with your new license for v6. Otherwise, Graphic Converter costs just 29.95 Euros / 34.95 USD.
