State of the art: Apple Final Cut is dead. Viva the final cut.

He did use the present tense? Sorry. Final cut has been the industry leader. Did it cost $ 1,000. But now that it's all over.

Tuesday, Apple pulled a typical move by Apple: he killed off the two Final Cut 7 years at the height of its popularity.

Instead, Apple now offers something called Final Cut Pro X (pronounced "10"). But don't be fooled by the name. Is a new program, written from scratch. Apple says that a fresh start was needed to accommodate huge changes in the technological landscape.

Veteran Apple may, at this point, be feeling some creepy d?j? vu. Have you seen this movie before. Apple iMovie, not kill too, in 2008 and replace it with a completely new version, less capable that lacked many important features? It took three years before new updates iMovie finally passed its predecessor in features and consistency.

Some professional editor are already insisting that Apple has done exactly the same error with Final Cut X; underlined several flaws with the program after an earlier version of this article was published online on Wednesday. They say the new program lacks high-end features like the ability to edit multiple camera angles, for export to tape, to burn something more rudimentary DVD and work with EDL, XML files and OMF (used to exchange projects with other programs). You can use a second monitor to your computer, but you need new drivers of TV output for connecting a video monitor. You cannot change the settings of your exported QuickTime movies without the compressor to $ 50.

Apple admits that version x is a foundational piece ". It says that it will restore some of these features in time, and that other companies are quickly filling other holes.

For nonprofessionals, meanwhile, Final Cut is already tempted — especially because the price is $ 300, not $ 1,000. Is the first program of Apple which is only available for download by Mac App Store online, not on DVD. All programs previously called Final Cut Studio have been rolled into Final Cut except Motion and compressor, which are sold separately. Final Cut Express and DVD Studio Pro are gone.)

The new Final Cut has been radically redesigned. Actually, it looks and works much like iMovie, all dark grey, with "skimming"; you run the cursor over a clip without pressing the mouse button to play it.

Once you're past the shock of the new layout, the first thing you'll notice is that Apple has left most of the biggest annoyances of the old Final Cut cutting-room floor.

First — and this is huge — no more waiting to "make". You no longer sit there, dead in the water, while the software calculates the changes, block the program, meanwhile, whenever you add an effect or insert a piece of video that is in a different format. Final Cut X renders in the background, so you can keep right on changing. You can, however, organize your files, or delete clips during rendering.

Secondly, in the old Final Cut, was all too easy to drag and drop audio and video clip of sync accidentally; Little indicators " -1" or "+ 10", which shows how many frames out of you were a chronic headaches. But in the new final cut, "sync is sacred," as Apple puts it. Primary audio and Video are always in sync, and you can also block other clips together so that all move as one.

In fact, a clever feature called Compound clip allows you to collapse a stack of audio and video clips into a single sequence, resulting from the merger on the timeline. You can edit, move, and apply effects as if it were a single unit and then UN-Union that whenever you like. Clip compound make it simple to manage with a complicated composition without going quietly mad.

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Apple Amps up productivity with Final Cut Pro X

Professional video editing, get out your wallets. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) released a new version of Final Cut Pro, on Tuesday.

Final Cut Pro X reinvents video editing, according to Apple. Magnetic Timeline allows users to edit flexible lost canvas. Content of Auto-Categorizes content analysis on import based on the type of shot, media and people. Background rendering functionality allows the user to work without interruption. The new version is built on a modern 64-bit architecture and is available from Mac App Store for US $ 299.

The new Timeline feature is a remote magnetic approach to editing video, allowing users to drag and drop clips into the order you want. Clip connections allows users to connect as footage items, titles, and sound effects to move them all as one unit. Auditions for new functionality enables users to Exchange and compare collections of clips between takes.

Auto-Scan media content analysis on import and tag with useful information. Final Cut Pro X uses this information to organize your clips in collections, Smart. Users can add custom tags and a search by type of media, people and amount of zoom.

Final Cut Pro X is completely rebuilt from the ground and will take advantage of Mac hardware. The program uses its multi-threaded and GPU processing for fast rendering and playback in real time. The pipeline of ColorSync color managed color consistency guarantees from input to output.

Final Cut Pro X includes tools for audio editing and color correction and is compatible with two apps. Movement 5 for 4 Professional animations and compressor for encoding multimedia advanced are available at the Mac App Store for $ 49.99.

Apple did not respond to the request of MacNewsWorld for comments from the time of printing.

New features in Final Cut Pro X are designed to simplify the process of editing and increase productivity.

"I believe that this new version looks very exciting," Ryan Sciarrotta, production assistant of Syncronos Design, told MacNewsWorld. "I believe that the addition of better background rendering. This will allow people to continue working on a project while Final Cut works behind the scenes to render out what you need. In the past, long waiting times for rendering would completely stop your work on the program. "

Magnetic characteristics Timeline offers users an easier way to switch the location of the clip and see how it would play in different orders. Other programs have used, and now is part of the arsenal Final Cut.

"The ability to connect the various clips together in a compound or keep them grouped clips together is something that I am happy to see in this new version," said Sciarrotta. "It was something I'd seen in other programs that I liked in Final Cut for a long time, and now it's finally here-and it looks even easier and better to use than I could imagine."

Apple is implementing what was learned from other products that is designed, then this is a step in the future. The new interface may take some getting used to for those comfortable with previous versions.

"The time line has a completely different look, as well as the entire interface," said Sciarrotta. "It seems that Apple is trying to make Final Cut more user-friendly by adopting some of the features already found in similar Apple products, like iPhoto and iMovie. Since this is a new interface, some veterans of the old system could have some problems, but I think the new content be enough to get people to switch. "

Apple has tried to make it easier to use with the addition of improved organizational tools Final Cut. Magnetic Timeline makes it easier for users to organize content.

"One of the advantages of the new version is the ease of consultation," said Sciarrotta. "For one, the time necessary to compare the shots has been streamlined. It seems easier to use. The exchange between brings out the best shots for a scene was not difficult in the past, but could take some time. Now it looks like can be done in seconds.

"Their new line of time also allows you to search best clips, allowing clip tag with keywords. This is also a feature like that found in other Apple products, now finally implemented in a product that makes sense for, "he added.

One thing that may be cause for concern is the characteristic of self-analysis, noted Sciarrotta.

"This feature will automatically sort and categorize your shots," he explained. "While they play well, I hope there will be a way to disable this, because in my work I have to be very specific about how to categorize my means of communication."

Overall, Sciarrotta scores very positively the new version.

"This version just seems faster in every way. In the new version X, Final Cut will make a lot of work for you so you can keep moving and keep your creative juices flowing, "he said.

Users who have a recent version of Final Cut Pro can be resistant to drop $ 300 for a new one. Apple is trying to attract these customers by offering new tools and a platform completely rebuilt to 64 bit that takes full advantage of Mac hardware.

"If a user already has the earlier version, they may not be interested in buying a new version," Roger Kay, founder and principle of Endpoint Technologies, told MacNewsWorld. "You can do an update. How to justify yet another spending for the same product? "

Could definitely be worth the price to some professional, though. People who use Final Cut every day for their work could benefit from these new tools.

"Whenever Apple introduces a new product, it is always ' the best '. It may be true, "said Kay.

"When they sell it, is the best, then emerges with a new one that is now the ' best '. Just people expect their applications to be automatically updated. Not necessarily want a completely new product. However, if you're a professional video editing, and what to do-and Final Cut Pro for professionals-you may need to spring for it. "

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The Understudy take the Apple scene

On an 18-hour flight from California to Singapore a few years ago, Timothy d. Cook, chief operating officer of Apple, has had little time for small talk with a colleague. Glued to his place of business, Mr. Cook had the nose to spreadsheets, preparing for an in-depth review of Apple's Asian operations.

Timothy d. Cook, leading Apple in the absence of Steven p., is widely regarded as the most likely replace it permanently. Apple has benefited from the complementary expertise of Timothy d. Cook, chief operating officer and jobs Steven P..

The two landed at 6 a.m., took the time to shower and drove in a meeting with local leaders of Apple. Twelve hours later and well over dinner, local leaders were ready to call it quits.

"Were absolutely exhausted," said Michael Janes, Apple Executive who accompanied Mr. Cook. "It was Tim. He was ready to move to the next slide and the next slide after that. He is absolutely relentless. "

This determination may be indispensable in the coming months, because Mr. Cook can be tested like never before. He has been accused of running day-to-day operations at Apple, while his boss, Steven p. Jobs, CEO of the company's visionary, medical leave.

Mr. Cook has done it twice before, concisely, and with success. Even if you don't improve the health of Mr. Jobs, Mr. Cook could be at work for a long time. And while Apple's succession plans are closely guarded, Mr. Cook is widely believed to be the most likely candidate to replace definitively Mr. Jobs.

In Silicon Valley, Mr. Jobs is also known for determination. Yet on many levels, he and Mr. Cook are opposites. While Mr. Jobs is volatile and prone to outbursts, Mr. Cook, who was raised in a small town in Alabama, is polite and soft spoken. He is often described as a "Southern gentleman". While Mr. Jobs obsesses over every detail of Apple products, Mr. Cook obsesses over the minutiae less glamorous than Apple's operations.

Their complementary skills helped Apple pull out the most notable turning point in American companies and made most valuable technology company in the world. When Mr. Cook is on his own, he must compensate for the absence of Mr. Jobs — and its inventive, charisma and uncanny ability to predict the future of technology and anticipate the desires of consumers.

"He is going to look at the other to provide the creative void left by Steve," said a. m. Sacconaghi Jr., an analyst with Sanford Bernstein & Company.

Mr. Cook and Apple has refused to comment on this article. From his early days at Apple in 1998, Mr. Cook, who is known as intensely private, has worked in the shadow of Mr. Jobs and other prominent leaders. Although his work — making sure that Apple would produce, assemble and ship his products in the world and ensure profitable — was he not considered sexy, quickly remove inefficiencies from Apple's supply chain.

"My favorite scenes were suppliers of Assembly," said a former Apple Executive who had traveled with Mr. Cook frequently and asked to remain anonymous, because he doesn't want to upset their relationship. "He is Mr. spreadsheet. If things weren't right, he would torture the suppliers and the improvement of the application. At the same time, he had a good relationship with them. "

Apple has been largely concentrated on making the PC and then smaller. The operations were a mess.

Apple was still running their factories in California, Ireland and Singapore. As companies more efficient and profitable as Dell had moved to a model of just in time production, Apple held still 90 days of inventory.

Mr. Cook Apple's closed factories and outsourced manufacturing all to a network far-flung suppliers in Asia. Inventories decreased to 60 days, then 30 days, then the template just-in-time. Mr. Cook lived practically in airplanes, traveling the world to meet with vendors and browbeat them in fulfilling your requests.

Analysts and investors say efforts of Mr. Cook on the production order has made the difference in transforming fate Apple. And are still critical to the success of the company.

Take the iPad. It took fancy of Mr. Jobs and the expertise of its engineers and designers to create it. But the operational capacities of Mr. Cook of parlay a Apple authorized fresh produce into a business that has already led to 9.6 billion, as the company built and shipped IPAD nearly 15 million worldwide in just nine months to meet the seemingly insatiable appetite customers.

Steve Lohr contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 25, 2011

An article on Monday on Timothy d. Cook, who is running Apple during medical leave, Steven p. Jobs, misstated in some copies, the year that Mr. Cook took a job at Compaq, computer maker. He went to work for Compaq in 1997, 1981.

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The environment (LMS Rte3) and human rights, Apple just blowing smoke?

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By Chris Maxcer
MacNewsWorld
Part of the ECT News Network
01/25/11 5:00 AM PT

Apparently, Mike Daisey's monologue play, "The Agony & The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," is hilarious and covers the genius of Apple's CEO, but it also paints a dark picture of Apple's overseas manufacturing efforts. The message is that the products we all love are made under inhumane conditions. And that, perhaps, brings up some interesting ideas of what is humane and inhumane.

Last week, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in China put Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) at the bottom of a 29-company list ranking corporate responses to pollution and safety concerns at their factories, and my first reaction was, "What? The bottom? Really?" I thought Apple was the new darling of Greenpeace. I thought Apple was working to remove toxic chemicals and processes from its products.

With most every new press release, Apple points out how its products are greener than previous products. With the MacBook Air announced in October of last year, Apple again boasted that it makes the industry's greenest notebooks and the MacBook Air is the latest Mac notebook to achieve EPEAT Gold status and meet Energy Star 5.0 requirements. Plus, each unibody enclosure is made of recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free, and are constructed of recyclable materials.

Sure, the amount of aluminum that could be retained and recycled from a MacBook Air is small compared to the number of aluminum cans that get overlooked and tossed in the landfill by many consumers, but Apple seems to be trying to head in the right direction.

The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in China, along with three dozen Chinese environmental groups, ranked companies on how they dealt with pollution concerns and occupational health hazards at factories. Somehow, Apple managed to come out on the bottom. I find that hard to believe -- but then again, am I just figuratively putting my fingers in my ears, closing my eyes and shouting "la la la la la," at the top of my lungs?

Apparently the main author of the report noted that Apple seemed "totally complacent and unresponsive," and that is something I do believe. Apple is unresponsive to most everyone! Even if a reporter can get through a PR representative in a timely fashion, the response is rarely responsive. It's usually quiet and muted and has barely any new information. But lots of technology companies are like this. Sure, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) aren't, but they tend to produce for businesses, and businesses want answers. Different game entirely than the consumers Apple is playing with.

I can only imagine how irritated the environmental groups may have been with Apple's lack of response. Could it be a little backlash? Maybe. Or maybe it really means that Apple sucks overseas where most Americans can't see anything.

And yet, Apple seems to have responded with a fairly transparent effort of disclosure over its environmental commitment and efforts. The company created an entire set of Web pages that tell the story behind Apple's environmental footprint. It's packed with numbers and percentages and pretty green graphics, covering manufacturing, transportation, recycling, and even the metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions that are created from the everyday use of Apple products by consumers (4,456,000 metric tons). Is that big? I don't know. But then Apple shows us a big green bar that represents the amount of emissions that a 60-watt incandescent light bulb emits (I'm sitting under four such bulbs right now) and then contrasts that with a really little green bar for a MacBook (which I'm typing on right now).

Apple talks about it green batteries and recycling programs and new smaller packaging for its products. Any long-time Apple fan has seen this, of course. Apple products now come in tiny spartan boxes, which have singlehandedly devastated the elaborate unboxing photos of new Apple products that super lucky geeks posted online after receiving one of the first shipments of Apple's love.

If Apple is making its products more environmentally friendly, is a ranking of 29 even possible? I don't know! But what about the environmental footprints of its contractors? The companies that sign contracts to actually produce Apple products... are they to blame, dumping toxic waste and exposing workers to nasty chemicals in an effort to keep Apple happy? Most certainly. But Apple has an answer for that, too.

Apple created a public set of Web pages and reports for Supplier Responsibility at Apple. On the site, Apple says, "Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility wherever our products are made. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes. Apple's program is based on our comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct, which outlines our expectations for the companies we do business with. We evaluate compliance through a rigorous auditing program and work proactively with our suppliers to drive change."

Apple even released a 2010 Progress Report, and it's packed with progress -- and what appears to a be a frank representation of some of the challenges.

For instance, most every manufacturer contracts out with other companies to get the supplies of components they need. Apple can't do everything by itself. Period. So Apple has to pay other companies to get the job done for them. It's part of the nature of business, and it seems like it's a 1-to-1 relationship, but it's not. It gets really crazy, fast, especially when it comes to finding labor. Apple reports, "Some of our suppliers work with third-party labor agencies to source workers from other countries. These agencies, in turn, may work through multiple subagencies: in the hiring country, the workers' home country, and, in some cases, all the way back in the worker's home village." And through all of this, the workers can be levied recruitment fees all along the way, which drives down their monetary compensation.

Then there's labor and human rights, health and safety, and even ethical concerns that Apple is trying to police with its own suppliers and contractors in foreign countries. Apple says it audited 102 facilities in 2009, and reports on a number of elements.

Here's another example from the 2010 report: "Apple found 49 facilities where workers were not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), such as earplugs, safety glasses, and dust masks. In some instances, the facility had not provided the appropriate safety equipment, while in others, the workers neglected to use the provided equipment or were using it improperly. We directed facilities to provide the required PPE, to educate both workers and supervisors on the risks of not wearing such equipment, and to hold supervisors accountable for ensuring that workers wear the equipment."

I don't find this surprising at all. I know a guy who lost his thumb in a mill in the United States, and guys who broke bones and were lucky to be alive after getting caught in manufacturing equipment -- all here in the United States. Heck, when I was working my way through college, I was framing townhomes where I would walk on top of a 2x4 wall three stories up, without a hardhat or safety harness while catching and nailing trusses brought over to me by a crane. One slip and I would have either plummeted 8 feet to a plywood floor... or 30 feet onto concrete, dirt, or construction debris. If I had to mess with a safety harness, it's possible that I would have fallen just trying to keep track of it, which still might not have eliminated the chance at a broken arm or neck.

Then there's Mike Daisey's monologue play, "The Agony & The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," which got a sort of rave review by Leander Kahney on Cult of Mac, who said that all Apple fanboys should see the one-man show. The show is in California now, but will hit Seattle and Washington, D.C., later this year. Apparently, the show is hilarious and covers the genius of Apple's CEO, but it also paints a dark picture of Apple's overseas manufacturing efforts. The message, Kahney reports, is that the products we all love are made under inhumane conditions.

And that, perhaps, brings up some interesting ideas of what is humane and inhumane. On Daisey's blog, he reports that he actually went to China to get some firsthand knowledge of the conditions endured by workers who produce Apple products. He writes, "This story of technology and its pleasures is told against the landscape of southern China, where I witnessed firsthand the true human cost of creating all of our marvelous tools. This behind-the-scenes journey into the heart of the forges where iPods, iPhones, laptops, and all our technology spills forth illuminates a place where workers throw themselves to their deaths from high-rises in modern-day workhouses, where workers die on the production line of overwork, where they sleep in cement cells with dozens of women and men crammed in rooms like labor camps -- a landscape of our own making."

I'm not sure what to make of this. I would love to attend a show -- maybe when it comes to Seattle or if Daisey manages to produce a video of it. On the one hand, I've personally had several near-death and near-mangled experiences over the course of my working lifetime until I found my way into jobs where the most serious health risk is carpal tunnel pain and legs that fall asleep due to poorly padded office chairs.

I'm lucky. I know it. And the thing is, even while I was not slipping off a wall, and even while I was not getting crushed or decapitated by giant steel culverts -- long story -- I felt lucky then, too. I had a job. I was getting paid. I knew the basic risks. I wonder if most of the workers overseas, working for Apple's contractors, feel lucky, too. This is the question that haven't really seen answered, and it's the one, I think, that's most telling. It's not how many 15-year-old kids managed to get jobs in violation of rules or law or even how someone got a crushed hand trying to do their job. I hope they don't go to work hating life. And I hope we get to a point where jobs aren't risky, where employers take care of people as people, and a point where everything isn't built by robots.

The fact is, I didn't go to China myself. And I'm not trying to sell a widely successful monologue play where hilarity is currency and dark drama heightens the experience. I'm not a large corporation trying to woo public opinion, either. The fact is, I have far too little information available to form a real opinion, despite the fact that many of us seem hardwired to either create one or let someone else mold it for us. But then again, sometimes progress is only made by those who scream and yell -- never mind the baffling shades of grey.

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