I used graduation gift money to purchase a G5 iMac. Within minutes of plugging in this computer, my creative life absolutely exploded (in a good way). I haven't looked back since.
Nowadays, the hardest thing for me to do is to not proselytize every single person I see. If you would not like to hear about Macs, I understand, that's fine. I would urge you to NOT read below the red line.
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Hey! Welcome to the section where I rave about how awesome my new iMac is.
Below is a short list of ways in which my mac has made my life easier, more efficient and way more fun. I'm sorry if a lot of them seem unclear -- it's taking me a while to go through all of them and explain them in more detail.
Feel free to contact me if you want to hear more about anything you see below. I would be more than happy to explain.
Ways in which my life improved once I purchased an iMac:
-Creativity. I have used it to create everything you see on abitofnonsense.com. I didn't have to purchase any software.
-Videos and Pictures. I have made high-quality videos and pictures with the iSight camera that is built into the front of my computer. More samples coming soon.
-More desk space. I have no idea how they possibly crammed all the mechanics of a monitor this awesome into an inch-and-a-half. But I'm happy about it.
-More foot space. Oh yeah -- somehow, they also found a way to get the entire fucking computer in there. I don't like to swear in public, but this is an exception. I never had to schlep or find a spot to plop down my computer's "PCU" or "Tower," because there is none.
Software
-Photobooth: take awesome, funny and cool pictures with the built-in camera
-iMovie: super-easy movie-making program, awesome effects, transitions, titles, etc.
-GarageBand: totally intuitive music-making program.
-iTunes: versatile and intelligent jukebox
-WorldBook: encyclopedia/dictionary/more that came free on the computer
-iPhoto: stores all of my pictures and lets me do a lot with them
-iDVD: lets me create and burn DVDs, like the one I made for my college comedy group
-oh, which reminds me -- I have a CD-RW/DVD-RW super-drive.
Features
-FrontRow and Remote: lets me browse, watch and control all of my music, videos and pictures from across the room.
-MightyMouse: a pretty sick mouse, with a bunch of programmable buttons, and a really fun, tiny scrolly-ball guy.
-Drag between programs: good gosh, this is the handiest thing EVER. i can just drag and drop songs, videos, images, text, etc. directly from one program into another
-Spotlight - instantly searches through all of my files, and is actually good at it
-I can search for files/folders when uploading or opening a file, instead of manually browsing through everything like a chump.
-I can search for files/folders and folders when downloading or saving file, instead of manually browsing through everything like a goon.
-I can change a file name while that file is open, without my computer crashing.
-To quote my friend John, "things just work." I can view foreign characters and PDFs and all kinds of media files online, without having to download all sorts of garbage.
-I can take a picture of my screen with one button, and it will be saved as an editable image
-post-its
-expose
-3 USBs and 2 firewires
-built-in wireless, bluetooth, infra-red compatibility
-no spyware...no adware...no viruses, all clean stuff
-more. way more.
12/20/05
I bought a Mac and I'm obsessed with it.
Categories: efficiency, mac
11/15/05
We won 2nd place in Geico's video contest!
Back in November, I and my roommate Faber entered Geico's Golden Gecko video contest. The challenge was to create a 15-second trailer for a fake movie that has something to do with Geico or a gecko.
Thanks largely to all of your votes and support, our entry, Medulla Oblongecko, won 2nd prize out of all the comedies! The prize was a sweet LCD TV, which we sold on Craig's List for a fat wad of Jacksons.
You can see our entry and the other winning entries here. Ours is the one right in the middle - 2nd place comedy.
Thank you again for your help; I look forward to soliciting much more of your time with my ridiculous quests for fame, fortune and glory...
Update: The contest website has closed down, so I'll work on getting a copy of our video back up here soon.
Categories: contests, creative forest, faber, videos