Dorchester — Jun 14th 2011
The main theme of the meeting was online book production, and during the meeting, samples of each printer's product were handed round for inspection.
Maggie started with a talk on Blurb Books
She had found Blurb books more suitable for the product which she was trying to create than the iPhoto offering, it allowed greater flexibility, in particular with the insertion of text. She demonstrated how a book is created. Folio comprises text and photos, from different sources. There is a very large selection of layouts, and books can have up to 144 pages. She had some problems with lack of contrast in B&W photos, although it was suggested that photos could be adjusted to compensate for this. The book produced was a high quality hardback.
Mark had used a PhotoBox free offer.
All the compilation was done online, as opposed to Blurb. There was a useful live online help chat facility. Somewhat clunkier than Blurb. The book was composed in a bit of a hurry, and some unexpected cast marks on some of the photos were found on the hard copy, of which the cause was unknown. The book, as produced, was a spiral bound softback, and there was room for doubt as to the durability of the product.
Gordon used iPhoto to produce a variety of books of different formats.
He discussed the iPhoto approach to book production. As one might expect from Apple, the books, both hard and softback, were of excellent quality and the presentation packaging was superb, making them excellent gifts.
Tom then spoke on iMovie 11, and on how it had been updated from the previous version.
One development is that it can now be purchased from the App Store at a very reasonable price, without the need to purchase the other iLife apps. iMovie 11 has some new features, and Tom concentrated on the ability to add and edit sound tracks to a movie, in particular, the ability to vary sound levels directly rather that using the Inspector, and add e.g. a spoken commentary.
Euan then spoke on the new version of OSX, Lion, which is expected in July.
This has been widely publicised both at the WWDC and on the Apple website. Euan concentrated on the features that have migrated across from the iPad, and iPhone, which allow much more control using gestures and a tracker pad. Gordon then mentioned Glims, a free download, which gives a preview of the search facility in Lion.
Gordon then spoke briefly on iCloud and the demise of MobileMe.
The main message was that it could be premature to say what is going to happen at this stage, as announcements are expected in September. Could anticipate synchronisation across a wide range of devices - expect a great broadening of the scope in this area, with hardware being launched in good time for Christmas!
SR
Comments
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Lionel Ogden said…
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