Rough Cuts Ltd Blog

So last year after buying a fantastic MacBook Air M1 I got a free trial of Apple Music. I let it run it course and during the trial I played around with Lossless, (as well as Dolby Atmos) and was blown away by the difference in quality over my MP3 collection (not Atmos, that sounded rubbish). I've defended MP3 for many years, mostly for the convenience, but this new Lossless, highlighted a new modern way of enjoying music, convenience & having outstanding sound quality too. Just before Christmas, I got another trial and this sold it, I needed this in my life, but infuriatingly most of my streaming music was on Spotify, so, I did a back to back. I dug around and I found out some stuff.  After the Apple Music trial, I found a great deal via PayPal for a three month trial with Spotify, this would allow me to unlock the full HD music Spotify don't let their free customers enjoy, but, it was no use. On the first night it just felt, somehow flat, a little investigation informed m

Google have given their popular Backup and Sync Software an overhaul and it's much more than just a facelift. Once installed I found the transfer from Backup and Sync to the new app pretty stress free. The odd 'login' bug, (after I'd already logged in), but otherwise the installation process is fairly painless, it even uninstalls backup and sync when you're finished. However, it doesn't remove the contents of your OLD Google Drive folder, and the way the new program works is significantly different. We'll come back to this later.  The old Backup and Sync created a duplicate folder on your device, simply called Google Drive. Everything you synchronised with Drive was available no matter what you were doing, if you were connected to the internet or not. What was Sync'd was available. Of course if those files were Google Sheets, or Docs, you'd need an internet connection to open them in Chrome (or Safari).  Your other docs, such as PDFs Word, powerpoint

After treating myself to a new MacBook M1 Air earlier this month (For Minecraft Education sessions) I got a trial of Apple News, Apple Arcade and also Apple Music; 6 months in fact, so til the end of November. I know how these things work though and yes, they want me to make it part of my life so I feel like it's a huge loss in November and as a Music lover, I'm keen to explore the service and being a tech-head, I'm especially keen to play with the new Dolby Atmos music or Spatial Audio as Apple are calling it.  There's only a limited amount of content available in Atmos at the moment, but unless you've had a bucket on your head for the past 100 years, some of the albums you'll likely be familiar with. Like Sgt Pepper for example. To listen to the difference I used my Beats Studio headphones and some V-Moda crossfades, both great headphones although they're getting on a bit now.  Sgt Pepper was a tremendously produced album to start off with, so it's a g

I've been spending a lot of time looking at some of the worlds available in Minecraft Education Edition. There's a buzz around a number of them and I've downloaded them to play them through so I'll know before students, what to expect. I want to keep notes, but I also thought these notes might be useful for others.  Adventures in English - Cambridge Assesment  https://education.minecraft.net/lessons/adventures-in-english Very simple play through, but quite long. Play starts outside a Library which is supposed to be closed, this world is unique in as much as the characters not only have dialogue boxes, but they actually talk. There are a number of logical challenges in the game, mostly simple spelling but young players might get stuck near the beginning as letters that need to be found in the library are scattered around, but the last one is hidden in a chest, this took me a long time to find. Perhaps a class might find it quicker and once the location is known other wil

I often reflect back on my childhood and how the devices and technology we're using now, would literally blow my mind. When I was around 14 got my first 'PC'. Although it wasn't a PC, it was an Amstrad CPC 464. Without getting hung up on the staggering difference in storage size, processor speed and operating systems from this and more modern PCs, it used normal cassette tapes to load programs. Albeit from it's in built tape recorder; a cutting edge innovation of it's time. Two curly cords connected the Monitor to the 'Computer' which was built into the keyboard, which again, was staggeringly innovative for the mid eighties. I remember I had a cartridge which plugged into the back of the keyboard with vents in to keep it cool, this had a lead going to a device that reminded me of a berol note writer pen, without a nib. Inside was a small sensor which knew which part of the screen it was looking at. Completely inaccurate, this ' light pen ' manage

If you're not on a budget, buy a Mac and don't worry about the specs.  Mac computers are the user friendly alternatives to PC's. They're quicker to learn, more intuitive, and less prone to failure. People may disagree, but I've been using them for over 10 years and they're my go-to solution for everything.  If you are on a budget, let's keep this simple, if you've found a website that sells laptops, it's likely got some filters on it, here's what I'd set my filters to, if I was looking for the best value for money I could find. For each category, the filter I'd set is in bold. In order of importance.  Select the Laptop/Windows option.  Windows PC's do everything a Chromebook can, and more. Chromebooks used to be significantly cheaper, now that seems less like that's the case. Be on the lookout for Windows S though, it only allows apps to be installed from Microsoft marketplace.  Number one priority Buy a machine with an SSD (sol