Today Apple announced iBooks 2 for iPad featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamicn and interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users beautiful fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos and videos. Included is a new iBooks 2 App for iPad, iPhone and iPod to view and interact with the new textbooks and also an iBooks 2 authoring tool for Mac. I think this is the future of textbooks for students.So what do you think about the new iBooks? You can watch the video at Apple iBooks.

Autodesk a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, announced AutoCAD for Mac. AutoCAD for Mac was discontinued in 1992 and due to the comeback of the Mac, Autodesk could not hold off any longer. You can pre-order starting September 1 and AutoCAD for Mac will be available beginning this fall. AutoCAD brings robust 3D free-form design tools and powerful drafting capabilities to your Mac. It takes full advantage of the Mac OS X platform, with an intuitive, graphical user interface that makes it easy to bring your ideas to life, and because it’s AutoCAD, you’re working natively in DWG™ format, so you can easily share files with clients, suppliers, and partners around the world, regardless of the platform. See the AutoCAD launch video on YouTube below.

System Requirements

• Apple Mac Pro 4,1 or later; MacBook Pro 5,1 or later (MacBook Pro 6,1 or later recommended); iMac 8,1 or later (iMac 11,1 or later recommended); Mac mini 3,1 or later (Mac mini 4,1 or later recommended); MacBook Air 2,1 or later; MacBook 5,1 or later (MacBook 7,1 or later recommended)
• Mac OS X v10.6.4 or later; Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later
• 64-bit Intel processor
• 2 GB of RAM (4 GB recommended)
• 1 GB free disk space for installation
• All graphics cards on supported hardware
• 1,024 x 768 display with true color (1,600 x 1,200 with true color recommended)
• U.S., U.K., or France keyboard
• Apple Mouse, Apple Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, MacBook Pro trackpad, or Microsoft-compliant mouse
• Mac OS X-compliant printer

Last week Apple released Safari 5.01 which now has Safari Extensions. You can customize Safari with features created by third-party developers, find extensions in the Safari Extensions Gallery which are accessible from the Safari menu and extensions.apple.com. You can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. You can also find extensions directly from developers websites. So have you upgraded to Safari 5 and have you added extensions? Let us know what extensions are cool? Here is the official release from Apple.

This update also contains improvements to stability, accessibility and security, including the following:

• More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
• More accurate timing for CSS animations
• Better stability when using the Safari Reader keyboard shortcut
• Better stability when scrolling through MobileMe Mail
• Fixes display of multipage articles from www.rollingstone.com in Safari Reader
• Fixes an issue that prevented Google Wave and other websites using JavaScript encryption libraries from working correctly on 32-bit systems
• Fixes an issue that prevented Safari from launching on Leopard systems with network home directories
• Fixes an issue that could cause borders on YouTube thumbnails to disappear when hovering over the thumbnail image
• Fixes an issue that could cause Flash content to overlap with other content on www.facebook.com, www.crateandbarrel.com, and other sites when using Flash 10.1
• Fixes an issue that prevented boarding passes from www.aa.com from printing correctly
• Fixes an issue that could cause DNS prefetching requests to overburden certain routers
• Fixes an issue that could cause VoiceOver to misidentify elements of webpages

For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

If you want to play AVI files in your QuickTime Player you can download and install the Perian plug-in. Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats. It adds support for formats not supported by Flip4Mac.

Perian enables QuickTime application support for the following media:

• File formats: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW
• Video types: MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, Sorenson H.263, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Snow, NuppelVideo, Techsmith Screen Capture, DosBox Capture
• Audio types: Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer I & II Audio, True Audio, DTS Coherent Acoustics, Nellymoser ASAO
• AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
• Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT

I really recommend installing Perian. With this plug-in you will be able to play most file formats in your QuickTime Player. I typically open the unsupported file in QuickTime and then save the file into a .mov file. By saving your files into .mov files, they can be imported into your iTunes library by simply dragging the .mov file into iTunes. Are you having problems playing video files?

There are a couple of choices for playing Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media Video (WMV) formats on your Mac. You can download the no longer unsupported Windows Media Player 9 from Microsoft at their Mac site Mactopia or you can download the Flip4Mac WMV plug-in for Quicktime. I recommend the latter. After installing Flip4Mac WMV you can play Windows Media files in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content on the Internet using Safari. You will also be able to change the Flip4Mac preferences in the System Preferences window.

Flip4Mac is an excellent plug-in to Apple’s Quicktime so that you can play Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MPEG-4 format audio and video files through Quicktime, as well as certain AVI files. If you running Snow Leopard, QuickTime X was installed on your Mac. Unfortunately, QuickTime X does not support any 3rd party plug-ins. Apple has made provision for this by supplying QuickTime 7 on the Snow Leopard DVD. You will need to install QuickTime 7.

To install the QuickTime 7 from the Snow Leopard install DVD:

• Insert your Snow Leopard Install DVD.
• Open the Optional Installs folder and double-click "Optional Installs.mpkg".
• Select the QuickTime 7 option and click Continue.
• QuickTime 7 will be installed in your Applications/Utilities folder.
• QuickTime X which is installed in your Applications folder will be left as is.

I typically open .wmv files and then save the file into a .mov file. By saving your files into .mov files, they can be imported into your iTunes library by simply dragging the .mov file into iTunes. So do you still have any WMV files?

Yesterday, I posted "Kindle for iPad". Amazon has now released Kindle for Mac. You heard it! Amazon has made available a Kindle App for Mac. The Kindle App is already available as an iPhone App and to be released Kindle App for iPad. I think Amazon is admitting their Kindle device is going to die a slow death and it's time for Amazon to concentrate on selling eBooks and not eBook readers or tablets.

With the Kindle App for Mac you can now read Kindle Books on your Mac. No Kindle device is required and you can access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle device with you. The Kindle for Mac application automatically synchronizes your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync. You can create bookmarks and view the annotations you created on other Kindle devices. System requirements for the Kindle for Mac application include a 500MHz Intel processor or faster. At least 512MB of RAM. A screen resolution of 800x600 or greater. Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 100MB of available disk space. So are you going to download the Kindle for Mac application or wait for Apple's iBook application?

If you have not signed up for Apple's free web based service for sharing documents, called iWorks.com Beta, you should give it a try. It is great to share Apple's iWork office suite documents and it provides collaboration when working on documents such as reports, presentations and spreadsheets. But what are the features of this service that is still in Beta and that not much people have heard or seen.

Mac and PC Friendly
Because iWork.com is web based, the projects you publish to it can be viewed by anyone using a current browser. You don’t need to know whether your colleagues use a Mac or a PC. You can publish your work and invite others to view it without ever leaving Pages, Numbers, or Keynote by clicking the iWork.com button in the toolbar, and your document, spreadsheet, or presentation is uploaded instantly. iWork.com sends a unique URL to each viewer you invite.

Web Based Documents
Part of what makes sharing your work using iWork.com so good is that viewers see your document, spreadsheet, or presentation just as you designed it, complete with layout, fonts, colors, graphics, and photos. It's an intuitive interface makes everything easy to navigate and print.

Comment on Documents
With notes and comments, iWork.com lets everyone make comments. Viewers can leave comments on specific text in a Pages document, on any cell in a Numbers sheet, and on a Keynote slide or they can leave feedback about the entire document, spreadsheet, or presentation with notes that appear in a discussion thread. Notes are time stamped and color coded, so you know exactly who said what and when. iWork.com keeps you up to date on feedback by sending email notifications every time a new note is added. You can adjust your settings to control how frequently you want to receive notifications.

iWork, MS Office and PDF
Sharing your Pages document, Numbers spreadsheet, or Keynote presentation on iWork.com means you can share these documents in different formats. During the publishing process, iWork uploads not only a web version, but also versions in iWork, Microsoft Office, and PDF formats. If you enable downloading, your viewers can download and print the format appropriate for them.

Document Management
You can access and manage the iWork files you share from anywhere by signing in at www.iwork.com. Quickly identify your shared documents with a thumbnail preview and organize them by date, name, size, or new comments received. You can view or download specific documents with a single click. When you finish sharing, you can remove your documents just as easily.

Secure Documents
You can share your important documents, spreadsheets, and presentations securely. iWork.com features automatic 128-bit SSL encryption, safeguarding communication between you and other viewers. You can also password-protect the documents you share, so anyone who receives your document’s URL will be asked for a password in order to view the document on iWork.com. That way, you can share, download, and comment with confidence.

So are you taking advantage of iWork.com and what is your experience with it?

Apple's iWork.com Beta, web based service, has now made it easy to share your document with large groups, websites, and social networks by creating a public link. Anyone with the public link can see your document in a clean, high resolution view without comments or document notes. It's easy to create a public link for a document you've shared on iWork.com.

Just open your document and select Public in the Document Info pane. Click Show Public URL and copy the link so you can paste it in an email or post it on a website. iWork.com displays the number of views your publicly shared documents receive so you can easily track how often they are viewed. If you decide to remove public access to your document, you can just turn off the public link in the Document Info pane. But what is iWorks.com Beta and are you currently using this free service?

What is iWork.com?
iWork.com is a web-based service from Apple that lets you securely share your iWork ’09 documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with anyone, whether they use a Mac or PC. Documents shared on iWork.com can be viewed in a modern web browser and invited viewers can add comments and document notes.

How do I share documents on iWork.com?
iWork.com can be used to share documents created in iWork '09 by using an Apple ID and a working Internet connection. Once you have finished creating your spreadsheet, document, or presentation, just click the iWork.com button in the toolbar or choose Share > Share via iWork.com to get started. Then, sign in to iWork.com using your existing Apple ID (iTunes or MobileMe ID) or sign up for a new one here. You will be asked to invite viewers to your document via email and select options for sharing your document. iWork.com then sends each of your invited viewers an email invitation with a link to your document.

How do I publish a document on iWork.com for public viewing?
You can publish a document you shared on iWork.com for public viewing by creating a public URL (web address) for the document and posting the URL on a website. Viewers can’t add comments or notes to a publicly published iWork.com document. To create a public URL for a document: Open an iWork.com document. Select Public in the Document Info pane. Click Show Public URL and copy the URL so you can paste it into an email or website. If you decide to remove public access to a document, open the iWork.com document and deselect Public in the Document Info pane.

So are you taking advantage of iWork.com and what is your experience with it?

The Oscars should have a category for the Best Supporting Technology. Hands down the presenters would be saying, "and the Oscar goes to Apple". The reason being many films have iMacs in the background, use Mac Servers and when it comes to film editing, Final Cut Studio is the de facto standard. In fact CNET is reporting that 9 out of 10 of this year's nominees in the "Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" categories used Final Cut Studio to make their films. Final Cut Studio includes Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5 and DVD Studio Pro 4, essentially giving filmmakers all of the tools they need to make a movie.

Final Cut Studio according to film editors can do everything that the million dollar systems can do. It's used by film editors and is also available to home users. Many of the independent films use Final Cut Pro as it's affordable. Some of the features include broad format support, comprehensive editing tools, seamless collaboration between clients and colleagues, large number of effects and transitions, open extensible architecture and digital cinema workflows.

What do you think should Apple and Final Cut Studio get an Oscar? Watch Final Cut Studio in-action.

Apple released Aperture 3, its photo editing and management software for expert and professional users. If you finding iPhoto '09 too restrictive and your library becoming too large then Aperture 3 is the way to go. So what's new in Aperture 3? It now has Faces and Places, Brushes for precision retouching, dozens of adjustment presets and true full-screen browsing and editing. I am definitely considering moving from iPhoto '09 to Aperture 3 but will download the 30-day trial version to give it a whiz. Here is the official release from Apple:

CUPERTINO, California—February 9, 2010—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the innovative Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto® ’09, Aperture 3 makes it even easier and faster to organize large photo libraries. Aperture 3 introduces new tools to refine your photos including Brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of your photo, and Adjustment Presets for applying professional photo effects with just one click. Stunning new slideshows let you share your work by weaving together photos, audio, text and HD video.

“Millions of people love using iPhoto to organize, edit and share their digital photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Aperture 3 is designed for both professionals who edit and manage massive libraries of photos and iPhoto users who want to take their photos further with easy-to-use tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets.”

“Aperture 3 gets it right,” said National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. “The image editing tools are exactly what I have been asking for, they’re so easy to use and give me a level of control that I never even thought possible.”

“I chose Aperture because it was the most powerful archiving application around, but it’s now an unbelievable imaging tool as well,” said Bill Frakes, Sports Illustrated staff photographer. “I am beyond impressed with the massive changes made in Aperture 3.”

Aperture 3 allows you to organize large photo libraries with even more flexibility using Projects and the new Faces and Places. Faces uses face detection and recognition to find and organize your photos by the people in them. You can view faces across your entire photo library or view just the faces that appear in selected projects. In a new view that speeds up the organization process, Aperture 3 displays faces that have been detected but haven’t yet been named. Places lets you explore your photos based on where they were taken, and like in iPhoto, Places automatically reverse geocodes GPS data into user-friendly locations. In Aperture 3, you can assign locations by dragging-and-dropping photos onto a map or by using location information from GPS enabled cameras, tracking devices or your iPhone® photos.

The new Brushes feature allows you to add professional touches to your photos by simply painting effects onto the image. Aperture 3 includes 15 Quick Brushes that perform the most popular tasks like Dodge, Burn, Polarize and Blur, without the complexity of layers or masks. Brushes can automatically detect edges in your images to let you apply or remove effects exactly where you want them. Aperture 3 includes dozens of Adjustment Presets that apply a specific style or look to the entire image with just a click. You can create your own custom presets or explore the techniques of other photographers by importing theirs.

Aperture 3 makes it easy to share your work with stunning slideshows that weave together photos, audio, text and HD video. You can select one of six Apple designed themes or choose your own transitions, background, borders and titles, and even add your own soundtrack. You can export your slideshows directly to iTunes® to take with you on your iPhone or iPod touch®. You can also share photographs as beautiful prints, create custom-designed hardcover books and publish to online photo sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr, right from Aperture 3.

Pricing and Availability
Aperture 3 is available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) and existing Aperture users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $99 (US). A downloadable 30-day trial version is available at www.apple.com/aperture/trial. Aperture 3 runs as a 64-bit application on Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® on Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Full system requirements, online tutorials and more information on Aperture 3 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

If you have DVDs that you want to copy to your iTunes Media Folder, so you can watch the DVD within iTunes, you can use an application called HandBrake together with the VLC Media Player. The process for this is provided in a previous post.

HandBrake converts a DVD to a video file, it does not rip a DVD byte by byte. If you need to rip your DVD byte by byte to first create a decrypted version to feed HandBrake you need to use an application that can remove CSS encryption or other DVD copy protection schemes created by studios. Please note that decrypting a DVD you do not own is illegal and typically applications that rip DVDs are for backup use or to watch within iTunes.

There are a number of DVD rippers for Mac including MacTheRipper, RipIt, Fairmount and Mac DVDRipper Pro.This review focuses on the free application MacTheRipper which is a a DVD ripper (extractor). It removes CSS encryption, Macrovision protection, sets the disc's region to '0' for region-free and is capable of removing RCE region checking. It can also copy ARccOS copy-protected DVDs,to backup your legally-purchased DVDs onto your hard drive. You will encounter DVDs that MacTheRipper cannot decrypt so using one of the other DVD ripper applications will do the trick. Each of these applications will encounter some DVDs that it cannot rip to your hard drive.All of them rip DVDs to a number of files in VOB file format. This is unlike Handrake which rips to a single video file. However, once the DVD is decrypted you can use the folder containing the VOB files as an input to Handrake to create a single video file. MacTheRipper is very simple to use. I copied a DVD last night using MacTheRipper and these are the basic steps you need to follow:

Download and Install MacTheRipper

• Go to any of the MacTheRipper download pages and download the MacTheRipper application for your Mac. There are a few sites, including MacUpdate and VersionTracker, that you can download MacTheRipper version 2.6.6. Version 3.0 is available but most forums have indicated it to be unstable.
• Install MacTheRipper by copying the MacTheRipper.app file to your Applications folder.
• MacTheRipper has not been converted to run on Intel-based Macs so when you first run the application you will be prompted to install Rosetta if it has not been installed on your Mac.
• By default new Macs running Snow Leopard no longer have Rosetta installed as a default.

Set the Source to Your DVD

• First, insert your DVD into your Mac. The default DVD Player will be launched. Simply quit out of the DVD Player application.
• Launch the MacTheRipper application.
• MacTheRipper will automatically find your DVD and display the name of your DVD by default or when the 'Disc' tab is selected.

Set the Destination Folder

• Next you will need to specify a destination folder from File | Save To. I usually specify my movies folder on my Mac, that is /Users/YourUsername/Movies/.
• You do not need to specify a file name for the ripped video file like in HandBrake. MacTheRipper creates a folder of VOB formated files which can be played on the Apple default DVD Player if you wish.
• A VOB file (Video Object) is a container format in DVD-Video media. VOB can contain video, audio, subtitle and menu contents multiplexed together into a stream form. VOB is based on the MPEG program stream format.

Select Output Values

• MacTheRipper automtically creates a set of default output values for the output settings.
• Under the 'Mode' tab, keep the default Full Disc Extraction.
• There is no need to disable the DVD UOPs as it restricts users from accessing Title, Menu, FastForward, etc. and forces you to watch FBI warnings, studio promos, etc.
• Leave the De-Macrovision value checked. It prevents viewing DVD via TV-Out on video cards or copying DVDs to a VCR via a standalone DVD player. You will always want to remove Macrovision.
• New Region defaults to ALL and unless you want to restrict it to your region, there is no reason to change this setting.
• If the DVD has Regional Coding Enhancement(RCE) it will be detected and shown in the MacTheRipper's window beside the DISC RCE as -DETECTED-. It will show -CLEAR- if the RCE protection is absent from the DVD.
• The RCE Region drop down menu will be set to the DVDs Region.
• RCE is a layer of protection some studios have placed on select DVDs to prevent them from being played on region-free or multi-region DVD players. RCE is a part of the DVD specifications which divides the world into 8 regions:
• Region 1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories.
• Region 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt).
• Region 3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong).
• Region 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean.
• Region 5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
• Region 6: China.
• Region 7: Reserved.
• Region 8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.).

Start Ripping Your DVD

• After choosing your source, destination and output, the only thing left to do is start the ripping process.
• Select the 'GO' button at the bottom of the MacTheRiper Window.
• The duration of the ripping is shown in the window. Once complete MacTheRipper will notify you.

Convert Output to File Using HandBrake

• Now that you have ripped your encrypted DVD to a folder you can convert this folder into a video file using HandBrake.
• Use the folder created by MacTheRipper that contains the VOB files as the Source for HandBrake. 
• Follow the instructions in my previous post titled 'Ripping DVDs Using HandBrake' to create the video file and import the file into iTunes.

I hope this outline of how to rip your DVDs using MacTheRipper is easy enough for you to follow. Enjoy Watching your DVDs in iTunes or on your iPhone and Apple TV.

If you have DVDs that you want to copy to your iTunes Media Folder, so you can watch the DVD within iTunes, you can use an application called HandBrake which is a free download. HandBrake now requires you to also have the VLC Media Player installed and it is also a free download.

The HandBrake application is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows. It can take any DVD-like source, a VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD and outputs to the file formats MP4 and MKV. HandBrake converts your DVD to a video file, it does not rip your DVD byte by byte. It also does not crack or decrypt the latest DVD copy protection schemes created by studios. If you need to rip your DVD byte by byte to first create a decrypted version to feed HandBrake I recommend using MacTheRipper.

The VLC Media Player is a portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac ...) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs and various streaming protocols. HandBrake uses VLC for reading a DVD and then creates a copy to a file. I copied a DVD last night using HandBrake and these are the basic steps you need to follow:

Download and Install HandBrake

• Go to the HandBrake downloads page and download the HandBrake version for your Mac.
• If you have an Intel Core 2 Duo / Core i5 or i7, you should download the 64-bit Intel release as this version will speed up the ripping process
• If you have the older Core Duo or Core Solo processors, you should download the 32-bit Intel release.
• Install the HandBrake Application by copying the HandBrake.app file to your Applications folder.

Download and Install the VLC Media Player

• Go to the VLC downloads media page and download the VLC version for your Mac
• If you have Intel-based Mac download the 32-bit Intel version of VLC. There is not currently a 64-bit version.
• If you have a PowerPC-Based Mac download the Power-PC version of VLC.
• There is also a Universal Binary Version of VLC which contains both the Intel and PowerPC versions of VLC but it's double the size. If you know what processor is in your Mac why waste the space on your hard drive.
• Install the VLC Media Player by copying the VLC.app file to your Applications folder. Ensure it's copied to the Applications folder as Handbrake looks for VLC in this folder.

Set the Source to Your DVD

• First, insert your DVD into your Mac. The default DVD Player will be launched. Simply quit out of the DVD Player application.
• Launch the HandBrake application.
• HandBrake will automatically prompt you to point it to the DVD you would like to rip.
• Select your DVD from the DEVICES menu and select the 'Open' button.
• HandBrake will then scan through the titles on the DVD. This may take a few minutes.
• The Title field will default to the longest title e.g. 24 - 0130m24s. Usually, the longest title is the movie on the DVD whereas the shorter titles are the extras.
• If you not sure which of the titles to rip you can click on the 'Picture Settings' icon at the top of the HandBrake window and then click on Preview to view a short preview of the title.
• If several of the longest titles are of the same length, HandBrake usually defaults to the first and I have found you can select any of them as they will all rip the main movie.
• Handbrake will also default the Angle and Chapters fields and provide you with a duration for the rip.

Set the Destination Folder and File Name

• Next you will need to specify a destination folder for the ripped file. I usually specify my movies folder on my Mac, that is /Users/YourUsername/Movies/. You can use the 'Browse' button.
• You also need to specify the file name of the ripped file. This is in the format FileName.m4v.

Start Ripping Your DVD

• After choosing your source, destination and preset, the only thing left to do is start the ripping process.
• Select the 'Start' button at the top of the HandBrake Window.
• The ETA for completion of the ripping is shown in the Encoding information at the bottom of the screen. Once complete HandBrake will notify you.

Import the Output File to iTunes

• When the DVD is finished being ripped the output movie file can be found in the destination folder.
• To import the movie file into iTunes, you can drag the file into iTunes, double-click on the file or within iTunes select File | Add to Library.
• The movie will be automatically imported into iTunes into your iTunes Media Folder.
• The movie will appear under Library Movies in iTunes.
• To play the movie double-click the movie image or select play.
• Now that your DVD is imported into iTunes, you can sync it to your iPhone or iPod.

I hope this outline of how to rip your DVDs using HandBrake is easy enough for you to follow. Enjoy Watching your DVDs in iTunes or on your iPhone and Apple TV.

In a previous post I mentioned that I had decided to upgrade to Bento 3. For those who have not heard of Bento, it is a Japanese compartment dish, to organize food. You normally order a Bento Box at a Japanese restaurant which contains sushi in one compartment, salad in another and say teriyaki in a third compartment. This is organization for you and the same goes for Bento the application, it organizes your data for you. Bento the application is a personal database that you can either use and create forms to enter your data into the database. You can also directly enter the data into the database using a spreadsheet like format.

A few weeks ago I downloaded the free Bento 3 Holiday Pack from the Filemaker website. There are new holiday themes and holiday templates to organize your gift list or holiday party list. I have been using the new templates to organize our Christmas Card list. I imported the names and addresses from my Address Book and I have a check box so I know if I have sent the Christmas Card or not. I should have written this post earlier in the month but hopefully you can get organized for next year if you choose to take advantage of the free download. Otherwise have a great Christmas Eve!

I am still a Mac purist and prefer not to install Windows on my Mac. I have not found the need to and I have switched to Mac versions of applications. It becomes too easy to use Windows applications when you have Windows installed instead of finding the Mac alternative. Having said that as an IT Professional I still need to work with Microsoft, Oracle and PeopleSoft applications and my clients have them running on Windows. So I choose to remote desktop into a PC instead of having Windows installed on my Mac.

There are a couple of ways to access a PC from your Mac. You can use RealVNC or other freeware VNC alternatives. You can also use Remote Desktop downloadable from the Microsoft Mac site called Mactopia. Remote Desktop lets you connect from your Mac to a Windows PC. You can even connect to multiple PCs at the same time. After you have connected it's like working on the PC except you working on your Mac. There are two version downloadable from Mactopia. Version 1.0.1 is Universal and runs on both Intel and PowerPC based Macs. Just released in August 11, 2009 is version 2.0.1 which requires OSX 10.4 (Tiger) and later but that requires an Intel based Mac. Also to connect to Windows XP, the Professional version is required and to connect to Vista the Business version and up is required.