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Google Wallet reaches the web, reminds most of us that it exists
Unless you happen to be using the right phone on the right carrier, you might not know that Google Wallet is even a reality: the close association with NFC-based mobile payments on one network has largely kept it out of the public eye. Many more are about to see Wallet in action now that Google has quietly introduced it to the web. No, you won't tap your phone against your computer screen; the web version is mostly targeted at microtransactions and gives readers more than a few ways to buy without getting burned, such as long and blurred-out previews, a narrow price range between 25 to 99 cents and an Instant Refund option that gives no-questions-asked credit within half an hour. Only Oxford University Press as well as Pearson's DK and Peachpit publishing wings are known to be testing Wallet at this stage, but Google is already soliciting new partners for the e-commerce service before the customary blog post is active -- a sign that Mountain View is eager to get Wallet on the web rolling a little faster than its slow-moving mobile counterpart.
TUAW Bookshelf: Final Cut Pro 7 Quick-Reference Guide
When it comes to software reference books, there are three major varieties -- the detailed soup-to-nuts books that try to tell you everything and weigh about ten pounds, the "dummies" type that are usually so full of obvious information that they're relatively useless, and the small quick reference manuals that assume that you have some familiarity with your software and just focus on the things that you really need to know. Brendan Boykin's Final Cut Pro 7 Quick Reference Guide (US$29.99 for the printed text, $16.79 for the ebook version), part of the Peachpit Press Apple Pro Training Series, is one of the latter types. It's a small book when it comes to physical size; you can easily tuck it into a laptop bag with your MacBook Pro when you're heading out for location shooting and editing. The 212-page text is divided into sections roughly following the three-part Final Cut Pro workflow of ingest, edit, and output. Boykin, owner of Creek Mountain Media and an Apple Certified Master Trainer, definitely knows Final Cut Pro. Brendan not only teaches Pro Certification classes, but also works with Final Cut Pro and other Final Cut Studio applications to build digital video solutions for clients. The Quick-Reference Guide starts with an overview of Final Cut Pro's user interface. While this may seem like overkill for a text that is directed towards working professionals, this reviewer found the section useful as a memory jogger for such things as what the various colors in the render status bar mean, or what some of the many icons in the Tool Palette are used for.
AppleScript 1-2-3 now available from Peachpit Press
Mac users rejoice! Santa brought just what you wanted, a new book about AppleScript by the two of the top wizards of the Mac automation world.Apple's Product Manager for Automation, Sol Soghoian, and Bill Cheeseman, who is a noted developer in his own right, have announced the publication of AppleScript 1-2-3 by Peachpit Press. This book guides AppleScript newbies through an easy and enjoyable process of understanding how to use the Mac's automation language. Soghoian and Cheeseman based the book on ideas and scripts that have been used at hands-on seminars taught at Macworld Expo. While the book can take someone with no prior knowledge of programming or AppleScript and turn them into a confident Mac automator, experienced scripters will find a lot to like about AppleScript 1-2-3 as well. The authors have made a copy of the first chapter available on the Apple AppleScript website. During Macworld Expo, the Peachpit website will feature a "tip of the day" from the book. The book will be available at the Peachpit booth as well (#812).The book is available for pre-order now (US$44.99) through Peachpit, and will start appearing in bookstores in January. There's also an Adobe Reader version of the text that is available now (US$35.99) for download.
Graham Nash is not just a stoned California hippie
What the heck is one of my favorite guitar-playing, harmony-singing, songwriting hippies, Graham Nash, doing at Macworld? Most of you probably associate Graham with the folk-rock band, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young). But Graham wasn't at the Peachpit booth this week talking about music... he was talking about photography (his own, which is excellent, and others), as well as fine art digital imaging and printmaking. Graham, along with R. Mac Holbert (CSN's former road manager), conceived and founded Nash Editions in 1990 in order to develop methods of outputting Nash's digitally manipulated black and white photographs. Starting in the late eighties with a $125,000 IRIS 3047 Graphics Printer, which they heavily modified (warranty be damned!) in order to accommodate a wider range of papers, through their work today with Epson 9800, 7800 and 4800 printers, Nash Editions is now recognized as the premier fine art digital print studio in the country, if not the world. Both Graham and Holbert were on hand after they spoke to sign copies of their new book, Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing. As a bit of a reformed hippie myself, I was just happy not to have to wade through clouds of pot smoke to get close to Nash here, as I have had to in some other venues.
