QuickTime News: December 21, 2001

Let’s face it: some of us aren’t fond of software manuals. In our eagerness to get to work, we either skip reading them and miss out on product features. Or we procrastinate until we can find enough time to read them.

That’s why Atomic Learning Series is such a blast. They provide web-based QuickTime tutorials of the most popular Apple software titles, allowing manually challenged individuals like ourselves to get up and running a lot faster.

In fact, some tutorials—including Mac OS X and iMovie 2—are offered free of charge. Access to their library of fee-based tutorials, meanwhile, costs a modest $49 per year.

Considering the forbidding terrain our military forces face in Afghanistan, ever wonder how combat vehicles perform under the toughest conditions? Motor Trend did. So they recently put the latest militarized trucks and Light Armored Vehicles from GM Defense through their paces.

Watch as Motor Trend Online runs an eight-wheeled, turret-equipped LAVIII through slalom, brake, and suspension tests. And after this, they go on to conquer a mud mountain, and ford a Chevy through a chest-deep water hazard. Aren’t you glad you drive on paved roads?

Stop to Smell the Flowers
After a four year renovation, the U.S. Botanic Gardens has reopened, with more than 4,000 exotic plants on display. Take a look around this natural beauty, situated at the foot of our Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Badges?
American wild west tourist shows are nothing unusual. But who’d expect to find one in Spain’s Canary Islands? Mosey on over and tour the quaint “western” town of Sioux City on Gran Canaria.

After his unfaithful wife is killed in a car crash, an ungainly, out-of-work newspaperman named Quoyle moves with his daughter and aunt to Killick-Claw, a tiny fishing village in Newfoundland, and the site of his family’s ancestral home.

Enjoying little success in life before his relocation, Quoyle finds an admiring audience for his “Shipping News” column in the local newspaper, “The Gammy Bird.” Gradually, his life begins to change—especially after he meets the widow Wavey.

Based on the best-selling Pulitzer-prize winning novel by E. Annie Proulx, “The Shipping News” stars Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore and Judi Dench. It opens in 250 U.S. markets on Christmas Day, and in the rest of the country on January 11, 2002.

Do you understand the basics of QuickTime, but not the ins and outs of using it for content authoring? Try using the CD-ROM-based tutorial, “Learning QuickTime 5 Pro” by Sean Blumenthal for the web’s indispensable graphic design resource, Lynda.com.

Developed for beginning to advanced QuickTime users, it covers controlling media playback within QuickTime, multi-track editing, creating chapter points for your media, localizing your media or adding special tracks for impaired audiences, creating QuickTime VR panoramas, publishing QuickTime media to the web, and much more.

Visit the site to learn more details on “Learning QuickTime 5 Pro” and get an idea of Blumenthal’s teaching methods by watching several clips in streaming QuickTime.

Compression. The big squeeze. It’s one of the key processes in delivering gorgeous streaming content in as small a package as possible. And we can tell you how to do it.

Apple’s Doug Werner, a master at compression, has thrilled millions of moviegoers with high-quality QuickTime film trailers, and he will be coming to QuickTime Live to tell us how he uses the latest tools from Sorenson—Video 3 and Squeeze—to deliver great looking video at a fraction of its enormous DV file size.

And Werner is just one of the many exciting presenters at the upcoming QuickTime Live Conference (February 11-14, 2002) in Beverly Hills. Find out who else is presenting and what new skills you can pick up at QuickTime Live.

Thanks for reading this issue of QuickTime News—our last issue of QuickTime News of the year.

We’ll send your next issue on January 11. Until then, we wish you all the happiest of holidays and a safe new year.

Want a classical Christmas? Tune in to a live radio feed of the world’s finest classical music, 24 hours a day, from North Carolina’s listener-supported station, WCPE.

From December 17-25, enjoy carols and seasonal selections, with plenty of brass and baroque selections. WCPE will feature a world of opera stars on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day will feature such Christmas favorites as Handel’s Messiah, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and more.

Or attend a special service of Nine Lessons and Carols recorded at Christ Church in Oxford, England, in 1999. Available until Saturday, December 29, the webcast features music from the likes of Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughn Williams performed by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir.¹

Considered to be a guitarist’s guitarist, the nimble-fingered Joe Satriani is currently hosting his Winter 2001 webcast, presented exclusively in QuickTime. Satriani talks about the making of his “Live In San Francisco” video, offers footage from the concert (including backstage scenes), and takes us on a tour of his impressive recording studio.

The hit (and hip) remake of the ‘60s film “Ocean’s 11” may take place in present-day Las Vegas, but it draws inspiration from the past in one important way: its music. Check out tracks from lounge-style vintage artists including Arthur Lyman, Perry Como and Percy Faith, as well as contemporary artists Quincy Jones and more.

Mandy Moore is the latest in a line of pop queens about to move from the concert stage to the silver screen. Her new film, “A Walk To Remember,” hits theaters on January 25. And not only is Moore the star, she also warbles on the soundtrack. From December 24-30, listen to “Cry,” Moore’s newest single, presented by Epic’s New Music Mondays.

GMN.com offers a series of jazz concerts on their JazzPlus channel, including two webcasts from the Women in Jazz Festival (featuring Jane Ira Bloom and the legendary Marian McPartland), Kevin Mahogany at Birdland, Curtis Stigers, and more.¹

Famous for its collections by classic recording artists, Rhino Records presents two terrific listening parties to celebrate new releases:

For 24 hours starting midnight December 21, catch “The Very Best of Deee-Lite,” with 20 infectious retro pop and dance tracks from the ambassadors of 1990s New York underground club culture.¹

And Santa’s packing a swingin’ gift straight outta Yulesville starting midnight, December 24. “Swinging Christmas” offers 18 jump-jivin’ favorites by big-band superstars including Louis Prima, Esquivel, Mel Torme, Manhattan Transfer, and more. Enjoy the “Swinging Christmas” listening party through January 2, 2002.¹

¹Free registration required on this non-Apple site.

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Event dates are subject to change. Some products, programs, or promotions are not available outside the U.S. Visit your local Apple site or call your local authorized Apple reseller for more information. Prices are estimated retail prices and are listed in U.S. dollars. Product specifications are subject to change.