Whether you’re an artist, designer, photographer or just someone looking to unleash their creative side, check out our new Wacom Cintiq 13HD desktop pen-display.  I’ve had the chance to play around with this and can say that it is quite different from more traditional digital drawing tablets. What makes this interactive tablet so unique is that the 13” HD display also works as a dual monitor, allowing you to draw, edit, or create as if you were working with an artist’s canvas. Pair that with the ultra-responsive pressure sensitive pen tool, and you get the feel of working with traditional artist’s media combined with the convenience and power of being in a digital environment.

The Cintiq 13HD is now available for use in the Digital Media Lab. Stop by the Tech Help Desk for more info.

Click here for instructions on how to connect the Cintiq to the computers in the Digital Media Lab. 

Just landed…..  in the Digital Media Lab, arguably one of the easiest ways to create iOS and Mac OS applications…. Xcode!

Apple’s Xcode is your gateway into the Apple app development world. Learning Xcode will give you the ability to build apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS. Although we find ourselves saying, “there’s an app for that” quite a bit these days, there isn’t an app for everything! If you have an idea that will fill in the gap of “missing apps”, check out Xcode.

Xcode is installed on station #3 in the Digital Media Lab

Click here for a list of training videos on Lynda.com available to you for use inside the library.

Here’s some more info from Apple’s website:

Xcode IDE

Assistant Editor

The Assistant button splits the editor in two, creating a secondary pane that automatically displays files that are most helpful to you based on the code you are actively editing. It can show the header counterpart, the superclass, callers, callees, or other helpful files.

Source Editor

Write code using a professional editor with advanced code completion, code folding, syntax highlighting, and message bubbles that display warning, errors, and other context-sensitive information inline with your code.

Interface Builder

Built-In Design and test your user interface without writing a line of code, prototyping in minutes, then graphically connect your interface to the source within the Xcode editor.

iOS Simulator

With the iOS SDK, Xcode can build, install, run, and debug Cocoa Touch applications in a Mac-based iOS Simulator for a rocket-fast development workflow.

Integrated Build System

Handles the most complex builds, scaling to maximize the power of multi-core Macs, and will automatically sign, provision, and install iPad and iPhone apps onto a device.

Compilers

The powerful open-source LLVM compiler for C, C++, and Objective-C is built into Xcode and available from Terminal. With it, your code compiles quickly, and is optimized by Apple to produce blazing-fast apps specifically tuned for the CPUs in iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Graphical Debugger

Debug your app directly within the Xcode editor. Hover over any variable to drill into its contents, use Quick Look to see the data it contains, or right-click to add the variable to the watch list.

Static Analysis

Find bugs in your code before the application is even run by letting Xcode’s built-in static analyzer try out thousands of possible code paths in a few seconds, reporting potential bugs that could have remained hidden or nearly impossible to replicate. Learn more

Continuous Integration

Xcode Server, a feature of OS X Server, controls server-side ‘bots’ that continuously build, analyze, test, and even archive your Xcode projects. The Xcode IDE configures these bots, analyzes nightly build and test results, and can track down which check-in broke the build.

XCTest Framework

XCTest APIs make it easy to build unit tests that exercise your application functionality, capable of running on Mac, iPad, iPhone, or the iOS Simulator.

Asset Catalog

The asset catalog editor in Xcode manages your app’s images, grouping together various resolutions of the same asset. When building, Xcode compiles the asset catalog into the most efficient bundle for final distribution.

Open Quickly

Simply press Cmd-Shift-O to instantly open any file within your workspace using the primary editor, or hold the Option key when selecting a file to open it in the Assistant editor. Open Quickly is an essential tool in any keyboard-driven workflow.

OpenGL Frame Capture

Press a single button to capture a complete representation of the current OpenGL frame from an iOS device. Xcode displays the shader information, and can visually construct how the frame was assembled within the Xcode debugger.

Snapshots

Before performing a big, risky operation on your project simply make a Snapshot (or let Xcode do it automatically for you) to save your good state, confidently knowing you can easily restore it later.

Refactoring

Restructure your Objective-C application in a single operation, changing object hierarchies or names for all occurrences within your code and user interface designs.

Complete Documentation

Search for anything within Xcode and the documentation viewer will find it, either on your Mac or on the Apple Developer website.

Version Editor

Xcode’s Version editor displays a running timeline of commits, helps you determine blame, and graphically goes back in time to compare source files, with full support for Subversion and Git source control (SCM) systems.

Live Issues

Just like a word processor highlights spelling errors, Live Issues highlights common coding mistakes, without the need to click ‘build’ first.

Fix-it

Beyond just reporting errors, Xcode is intelligent enough to fix the problem for you. When you make a coding mistake, Xcode will immediately alert you, and a single keyboard shortcut will instantly “fix-it” for you, so you won’t miss a beat while coding.

Quick Help

Displays shortened API documentation while your are programming, including comments that you write for your own code. A brief overview is presented during code completion, with more links and references available within the Utility area.

By now I’m sure you’ve probably heard about Vine, but  just in case you haven’t, it’s a new video sharing app from social media giant Twitter. Launched in January, Vine is an iOS app that allows users to record short looping videos (with audio!) and share them with friends and family via the Vine app, Twitter, and Facebook. Although Vine is currently available only to iOS users on iPhone and iPad, an Android version of the app is promised to be on the way soon.

In the five months since its launch, users have flocked to the service and are using it in a variety of creative ways from quick how-to videos, to  short video resumes, cool stop motion films and even short comedy sketches. There are a ton of people using Vine in so many different ways and it’s great to see just what some people can compress into six seconds!

If you’re on Vine already, check out our profile by searching for Skokie Public Library. You’ll be treated to some awesome videos like this one below of the adorable ducklings that briefly took up residence in our courtyard! And don’t forget that we offer mini tripods specifically for use with your smartphone that you can take advantage of when you’re trying to create the ultimate Vine!

Make way! vine.co/v/b9xDPwVL56F

— Skokie PublicLibrary (@skokielibrary) May 24, 2013

The G7 Pro by iShot Mount is now available for check out at the Tech Help Desk on the 2nd floor of the library. Simply insert your device, adjust corner to corner, lock it in with the knobs on the rear, and attach to your tripod head. Done! If you don’t have a tripod, we have several available for check out as well.

Creating videos only to export them to an unsupported format can be frustrating. The video plays perfectly under Mac OS but sharing it with someone who has Windows can become a headache. Or, created it in Windows and sharing it with a Mac OS user with the same result.

Now before you go and start installing a bunch of video players or “The Master Fix”, also known as the video player that can play just about anything, you might want to try Adobe Media Encoder CS6.

You can drag and drop lots of different file formats in and export many to many formats as well.

Here’s a list of file formats supported for import and for export.

Adobe Media Encoder CS6 is available on stations 1, 3, and 4 in the Digital Media Lab. Make sure to check it out next time you stop by.

Be sure to check out the Up and Running with Adobe Media Encoder tutorials on Lynda.com while you’re in the library as well.

Toby, Erika, and Mick discuss what they have learned since last podcast, new awesome items available to use in the Library, and what how the Library can help when it comes to the news from Adobe.

NPR writes an article about tutors teaching Seniors “New High-Tech Tricks” but that is nothing new to the Skokie Public Library. We teach a number of classes that go beyond the basic Mouse, Internet, and Email one-on-one classes. In fact our popular Internet classes have grown to include  Skype and Facebook.  We have also added Word classes and many patrons are signing up for them.

Currently, we have six staff instructors and nine volunteer instructors. Each teacher has a number of different class types that they can teach. We  offer morning, afternoon and evening classes as well as classes on some Saturdays and Sundays.

Very exciting for Macintosh users are the classes  in the Digital Media Lab. These range from Photoshop Elements  to Introduction to Podcasting. There are also one-on-one classes offered in subjects like Mac Basics, iMovie or Garageband.

Once a patron has “graduated” from the one-on-one classes there are a variety of group classes that the library offers. Some of the classes held in the Spring quarter included Pintrest for Beginners and Hello iPad. More classes will be held in the Summer quarter.

Whatever your interest, the Skokie Public Library is eager to teach you new technology!

Have you ever needed to do a recording of the screen on your Mac? Its super easy to do with QuickTime Player.

Step 1. Open a recording session. From the QuickTime Player File menu, select New Screen Recording.

Step 2. Click the red dot in the middle of the Screen Recording window.

Step 3. You can click to begin recording, or click-and-drag to make a selection of just what part of the screen you wish to record. For this article, we’ll select a smaller screen area.

Step 4. It will take a couple moments for the recording to begin. When you see the recording timer start counting, it’s safe to proceed with the actions you are capturing.

Step 5. When you’re done with your screen capture, press the stop button in the Recording controller interface, pictured below.

Step 6. You will be prompted to keep your recording, or discard it.

Your movie can be found in your Movies folder.

We have added a Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset for use in the Digital Media Lab.  This headset would prove useful for screencasting with Screenflow on Digital Media Lab computers 1 and 2, performing voice over work in iMovie, or recording vocals for a song with Garageband.

Check this headset out at the Tech. Help Desk on the 2nd floor of the Library.

iBooks Author is an application that helps you create books for the iPad.  You can make textbooks, cookbooks, picture books, and more.  You can also add interactivity with photo galleries, movies or Keynote presentations.

Some of the features of iBooks Author include:

• Apple-designed templates
• Beautiful text and layouts
• Multi-touch widgets
• Export for iBookstore or iTunes U

iBooks Author is now available on the computers in the Digital Media Lab.  We even have a few self-guided tutorials available through the Lynda.com Online Learning Library when you come in to use iBooks Author in the DML.