October 17, 2023

Trimming audio with Easy Record and Trim

One of the hurdles I’ve faced when working with audio is handling a 12 hour audio file. Not only is it a gig in size, it’s more than I can listen to in a single sitting, even if that sitting lasted a week. It would be great if I could simply grab the first hour. That’s a good amount of time for study, to help me fall asleep, or to use a timer while getting chores done. What I don’t want to do is wait for the file to load, select the part I want, then wait for it to reprocess. I simply want to create a file from the first hour. With Easy Record and Trim I can do that just that in about 5 seconds. Easy Record and Trim uses a Lossless Cut feature, similar to Video Cut Crop and Join, to quickly make a new file of the length you specify. I’ve started using this for the […]

October 15, 2023

Converting audio and video with Permute

The number of converter apps out there is almost overwhelming, perhaps even maddening if you just want to get the job done. Permute is the other part of the Downie combination that converts files between formats and extracts audio. Permute reads and writes to multiple formats, but by default there are presets for MP4, MP3, AAC and settings for specific mobile devices. If you need more, go into Preferences and define a new Preset. My uses include extracting audio from a video file, converting .mov to .mp4, and the occasional conversion to MP3. For my needs it’s a three step process, drag the video files onto Permute, select MP3 as the format, click Convert. After a time, I have the full audio track as a separate file. Permute can also trim, crop if you’re trying to make something specific. I’ve never had need to go this route, but I have used the Stitch Together feature, which is available through the […]

October 13, 2023

When will AI advertise itself right out of existence?

It’s been less than a year and the AI tools are pretty impressive. We’ve gone from nothing to research assistants to digital artists. And in that same amount of time, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have eroded and ruined the experience. People are already concerned over AI bias and presenting information with a certain slant, but the new problem is the advertising it’s vomiting out. AI isn’t about collecting and disseminating information, it’s a new technology vehicle to serve up ads-ads disguised as information. It’s not about presenting information to help answer a question, or make connections people didn’t see before, it’s about selling products based on your queries. Every question and research topic will flood us with yet more ads. We’re already suspicious of the information AI presents. Were did that answer come from? What is the source? Where is the reference material? Who is the real author? Soon it will be, who paid to show me this answer that […]

October 12, 2023

The sad demise of Download Shuttle

Since we’re talking about download tools for personal use, Download Shuttle is another casualty of the continued lack of updates from Fiplab, which is a shame, because it was pretty sweet app. It was a lightweight and easy to use app to download audio and video to your local machine. It was basically a browser that scanned links on a page looking for content files. It was great for YouTube, but like Downie, you could use it against any site and have a lot of success. There is no “extraction” feature, it was a downloader, but it worked well against all sorts of sites. It was fast, powerful, and easy to use. I bought it as a companion app to Downie, or maybe it was the other way around. But, with the lack of updates, Download Shuttle isn’t what it used to be. And that’s an unfortunate story for Fiplab, because they have some great tools like Download Shuttle, Mini […]

October 11, 2023

Moving past the MacBook

Even though the Mac lineup is pretty impressive, and the M2 is a pretty bad ass piece of silicon, everything seems to revolve around the MacBook. Simply put, there are too many MacBook models. It’s not just MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, it’s all the screen sizes and features that quickly blur and overlap. There’s a new MacBook product announcement every time I turn around, which doesn’t feel necessary or productive. Apple is going to create that same sinking feeling people have when they drive a car off the lot, it just depreciated. Buy a new MacBook and it won’t even be 9 months before new tech comes knocking and makes you question your decision. That always happens as the latest and greatest is merely a point in time, but it seems MacBooks change with the seasons. It feels like this dependence on the MacBook is degrading the rest of the offerings. The iMac was a great entry-level machine, but […]

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