Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, November 29, 2020, and this is show number 812.
CCATP #662 – Rod Simmons on Screencasting Tips and Tricks
This week Rod Simmons of the SMR Podcast https://smrpodcast.com joins me to talk about our tips and tricks for doing effective screen casting. We started by going through some more strategic ideas on how to get your message across with a screencast, and then we dug into some of the techniques and tools we use to edit our screencasts. Below is an outline of our talking points and some links to the various tools we discussed.
Be sure to look for Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite in your podcatcher of choice, or you can find it at podfeet.com.
Blog Posts
Plug in More Devices with the Accell Cutie Surge Protector
Update on Folge
My friend Pat Dengler bought Folge after I told her about it, and she ran into a problem where the app didn’t ask for permission to record the screen. If the app doesn’t ask for permission, there’s no way for the user to manually add it to the allowed list. I encouraged her to write to Oleksii because he is so very responsive. He and I had just been emailing when she wrote to me, so I knew it was a good time for him in Germany. She wrote to him and immediately got this response:
Thank you for letting me know about this. I have just yesterday refactored some code around this specific permission request and it appears that I do not ask for permissions properly. I will send you an updated version of the app in about 90 minutes. Would it be possible for you to test it for me?
She said yes and explained her background as a Certified Apple Consultant. 33 minutes later he wrote this back to her:
Since Allison featured me in her blog and podcast I have met so many nice new people 🙂 Wow, getting feedback from someone like you with your experience would be just great. I have just fixed the issue, please try this new 1.4.2 version
(If you wonder what was wrong: i released 1.4.1 yesterday with fixes around security for Big Sur, and it looks like I deleted the line of code that was asking for capturing permission, which actually adds app to that list)
As it turns out, Oleksii was super lucky to have someone like Pat find the problem because he would have had headaches all day from sad users if she hadn’t written. But I give him tons of credit for being so incredibly responsive to her and thereby reaping the benefits.
If you have any ideas for improvement for Folge, please let Oleksii know by emailing him at [email protected].
In my conversations with Oleksii, I asked him two critical questions. What does the name “Folge” mean? And what’s the story behind the logo for Folge? It’s a yellow and black car with a “Follow Me” sign on top of it.
Oleksii explained that Folge when used in context means an episode, sequence or series of things in order. A perfect name for an app designed to help you convey a series of steps to be followed, right? As for the yellow and black checkered follow-me car, in Europe these are cars which guide aircraft after landing into their bays. I had never heard of such a thing! Not only did we get an intriguing app that may fill the hole in our hearts left by Clarify but I learned something new.
After I posted my article about Folge, Oleksii did something lovely, he sent me a PayPal donation. I asked our Slack community for advice (podfeet.com/slack) because I was really torn on whether to accept the money. If I accepted the money, would I continue to keep a critical eye on the product as it develops, or would I maybe be a bit more lenient as a result. I think I could be objective but it just felt funny.
In the end I returned the donation, explained to Oleksii why and said if he really felt like helping, then maybe he could give away a copy of Folge to a NosillaCastaway. He did better than that, he gave us two copies and I posted in our Facebook and Slack communities that the first person in each that said, “pick me!” Would get the free software. Dave Ginsburg in Facebook and Mark Pouley in Slack were the happy recipients. Oleksii is a very cool guy who loves feedback and loves our excitement for Folge and I thank him for the support.
Keep All Your Apps Up to Date with MacUpdater – Joe LaGreca
Support the Show
Last week I mentioned that one of the ways you can help support the podcasts is through a one-time donation via PayPal. And this week Jose Garcia and Thomas Sparrow both took me up on that idea! For the next quarter, every time you listen to the NosillaCast, I want you to notice that the audio levels are great – no matter who is talking in the show, you can hear everyone without turning the volume up and down constantly while listening. And from show to show, notice the consistently high volume of the shows. It’s because of Jose and Thomas’s donations that I was able to pay for 3 months of Auphonic Leveler which does the loudness and leveling magic. So thank you from me and more importantly from the audience for your kind donations to help make the show better.
HomePod mini for Multi-Geek Families
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/paypal, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/slack! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show like samsa8 did for the first time this week, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.