Terry White's Tech Blog

February 5, 2013February 3, 2013

PlugBug World Can Charge your MacBook Pro and Your Mobile Devices Too

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As a frequent traveler I’m always looking for ways to charge my multiple devices with fewer chargers or taking up less outlets in a hotel room. I saw an ad for PlugBug and decided to order one and see if I liked it or not. The idea behind PlugBug is that it replaces the standard plug of your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air Adapter with one that has a USB (2.1 Amp) port built-in. This way you can charge both your laptop AND any USB power device at the same time. The concept is simple and it takes all of 2 seconds to install. I opted for the PlugBug World, which comes with all the necessary adapters to plug into various outlets around the globe. It works as advertised and although it’s “short” on the 85w MacBook Pro adapter, it doesn’t hender its use.

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How could it be better?

The 1st thing that I wasn’t crazy about was that it replaces the “extended cord” on the MacBook Pro adapter. I know that you can simply plug the adapter into the wall with or without a PlugBug, but I prefer using the optional extended cord that comes with the MacBooks so that I don’t take up so much space on a power strip and I get a longer cord.

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That’s a personal thing with me, but the product works as advertised. Although I CAN use the extended cord, it’s clear by the way it sticks up over the PlugBug that they didn’t design it to be used this way. While we’re at it, I’d also like to see TWO USB ports instead of just one. It would make it much more useful to me if I could use one plug to charge my MacBook, iPhone and iPad at the same time. So make it a little taller to accomodate the extended cord AND a second USB port and I’d “love” it.

You can get a PlugBug here or PlugBug World here.

February 4, 2013February 3, 2013

How To Get Started with Adobe Illustrator CS6 – 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do

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In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows you how to Get Started with Adobe Illustrator CS6 – 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do.

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App below. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

January 31, 2013January 30, 2013

Join me on the Adobe Create NOW Tour in February!

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Last year I toured many countries around the world showing Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Cloud. However, many of my brothers and sisters here in the U.S. asked “When are you going to do some local events?” Well your wish has come true. I’m about to kick off the Adobe Create Now Tour with my colleagues Jason Levine, Rufus Deuchler and Paul Trani. While we won’t always be together on these stops we will be hitting several U.S. cities in the next couple of months. Here’s where I will be and when:

02/07/13 San Francisco, California at Adobe – San Francisco Office REGISTER HERE
02/12/13 Washington DC, DC at U.S. Navy Memorial Auditorium REGISTER HERE
02/25/13 Hollywood, California at Barnsdall Gallery Theater REGISTER HERE
02/27/13 New York, NY at NYIT Auditorium on Broadway REGISTER HERE

Always check the sidebar of my site as I’m always adding more events as they are booked ->

Or you can keep up with my events by heading over to my Facebook page.

January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

How To Get Started with Adobe Muse – 10 Things Beginners want To Know How To Do

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In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows how to Get Started Designing Websites with Adobe Muse – The 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do. See a complete workflow from start to finish.

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January 28, 2013January 25, 2013

Two New Wacom Bamboo Styluses for Touch Screens

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In 2007 when the iPhone was introduced, I remember many of my colleagues and pundits saying things like “I just wish it had a stylus”. Of course Steve Jobs back then made fun of phones that required a stylus. Fast forward six years later and you definitely see people using most cellphones with their finger and NOT with styluses. Although I do use my finger with my iPhone and iPad there are times where a stylus is just better. The ones that come to mind are signing my signature and drawing/handwriting notes. My signature and handwriting are bad enough. I don’t need them to look any worse because I’m using my finger. I’ve been a fan of Wacom products for many years and felt that their Bamboo Stylus Solo was definitely one of the best! They’ve now added a couple more choices to the product line up.

The Bamboo Duo Stylus + Pen and the Bamboo Pocket Expandable Stylus

My favorite now is the New Bamboo Duo Stylus. Here you get two devices in one. You get a great stylus for your touch screens on one end and on the other end you get a regular ballpoint pen. GREAT! Fantastic and certainly the one that’s now always in my pocket. It also comes in different colors.

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The next one is cool, just not my 1st choice. The Bamboo Pocket Stylus is actually retractable. Push it together or pull it to expand and you get a full sized stylus. It also has a cap that’d designed to plug-in to the headphone jack on your port as a way to carry it. I definitely couldn’t see doing this on my iPhone, but I could potentially see doing this with an iPad. I’d actually rather see a case that has a slot for a stylus. While it doesn’t come in different colors it does ship with silver, blue and red rings that you use to add a spice of color.

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The Bottom Line

There is no requirement to use a stylus with your smartphone or tablet. However, if you frustrated at times with the performance of your finger then you should probably invest in one. The Wacom Bamboo Styluses have a great feel to them both in hand on on screen.

You can get the Bamboo Duo Stylus + Pen here and the Bamboo Pocket Expandable Stylus here.

January 22, 2013January 22, 2013

How To Maintain Your Formatting When You Export Your ePUB from InDesign CS6

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In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows you how to maintain more of your formatting when exporting your InDesign CS6 book to ePUB format.

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

January 21, 2013January 21, 2013

Over 25 Million Downloads and Thousands of Subscribers

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I think it was this past Friday that I noticed my YouTube channel surpassed the 40 thousand subscriber mark and over 11 million views. Woohoo!

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However, that’s when I decided to take a look at my Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast stats and I was both thrilled and blown away to see that it has surpassed the 25 million download mark! I’m happy to know that so many of you find my content of value and continue to watch/download my videos. Thanks for your continued support!

top10podcasts

Still in the top 10 of the Software How-To podcasts on iTunes.

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. Most episodes have a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

January 18, 2013April 20, 2018

I use Screenflow

I get this question at least 2-3 times a week: “Hey Terry, I really like your video/tutorials what software do you use to record them?” The answer is Screenflow by Telestream. I’ve been using this software to record my Adobe Creative Cloud TV Podcast for a couple of years now and from time to time I even use it to record product demos. After the intro, which was created with Adobe After Effects the first thing that usually catches people’s eye is the image of me in the corner while the computer display is large and angled off to the side. This is a native feature of Screenflow and was one of the reasons I settled on it a couple of years ago. Over the years Telestream has continued to bolster the feature set making it pretty much a total solution for not only recording, but editing and distributing screen recordings. While Adobe Premiere Pro CC is my video editor of choice, I find that I can do the simple edits I need to do for my episodes right in Screenflow.

You can get Screenflow here.

I record my screen in 720p HD (Update: I’m now doing 1080p) and the resulting export from Screenflow looks really good. From there I use the Adobe Media Encoder to go out to the other formats and sizes I need. However, I typically upload the Screenflow exported movie right to YouTube for my YouTube Channel so that my viewers there can enjoy the content in HD.

Screenflow 4 adds even more…

screenflow-chromakey — The image of me in the corner shot on green screen with the Muse artwork applied to the background in post.

The latest version of Screenflow even adds 64bit support as well as Chromakey effects so that I can shoot myself on green screen and then superimpose whatever imagery I want behind me. I’m stilling working out the lighting aspects of this in my office that I record from, but the results have been good all things considered. They also including nested clips, closed captioning and several other editing features to make it even easier to edit your final product right in Screenflow.

How do you show your iPad or iPhone or both on your computer screen?

I use a great software product called Reflector. It uses AirPlay and as long as the devices are on the same WiFi network they will show up to Reflector running on your Mac or PC.

Also in Mac OS X 10.10 Mavericks you can show your iPad or iPhone on your Mac screen natively. Here’s how:

What equipment do I use?

Update: Note that Screenflow now allows you to connect your iPad or iPhone directly to your USB port using your Lightning sync/charge cable and it will record directly from the device as a separate video track.

Since I’m typically doing these recordings alone I need everything to just work! I’m using a Logitech C920 HD webcam on a tripod to record the image of me and

Originally I was using a Rode Podcaster mic. Recently I switched to an Apogee Mic 96 as my main mic. As far as lighting goes I use a Westcott Spiderlight TD6 continuous light to light me. I also have their uLite green screen kit.

Currently Screenflow is a Mac only product. If you’re looking for a solution on the Windows side (or another choice for Mac), then I’d also suggest you take a look at the new Adobe Captivate.

January 14, 2013January 14, 2013

How To Create a Dynamic Sliding Menu for Your Mobile Website in Adobe Muse

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In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows you how to create a dynamic sliding menu for your mobile website in Adobe Muse.