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Before We start I’d like to say RIP Tim Verpoorten he was a massive influence on me when I started podcasting and it is with great sadness that I learnt of his death this weekend. I’d like to dedicate this show to him. No Guy this week, but two very special guests. James Turner from Woodpad.co.uk and Jeff Gamet from the MacObserver, hence the title of the show. Although I could have still called it the G-Men as at least two of us are Gingers
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Guy’s App Pick: Guy forgot to include one and Gaz told him off for it.
Gaz’s App Pick: Rawhide for iPhoto
Jeff’s pick: Lego Batman DC Superheros
Jame’s Pick: Security Spy
People’s Pick: Tom Schmidt suggests the iOS app Priorities
Mac Kung Fu, Second Edition – Over 400 Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks for Apple OS X
Author: Keir Thomas
Publisher: The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Price: US $39 (print) | US $26 (ebook)
424 pages
ISBN: 978-1-93778-507-9
Mac Kung Fu is a collection of hundreds of little things that can make a big difference in the way your Mac works. I’m always surprised when someone stumbles across features that I’ve known for years but are new to them. Mac Kung Fu is full of that kind of stuff. While you may be aware of some of these tips, I doubt many besides the author will know all of these.
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Google Glass is the discussion this week, as well as Tim and David disagreeing on the state of evil. Wait, what?
Mac Hacks - Tips & Tools for Unlocking the Power of OS X
Author: Chris Seibold
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Price: US $24.99 (print) | US $19.99 (ebook)
330 pages
ISBN: 978-1-449-32558-9
The cover of Mac Hacks features a Swiss Army knife, which is very fitting given the breadth of topics this book addresses. The hacks covered in this book range from Quick Hacks for Mountain Lion to Give Your Polycarbonate Mac a Dye Job. But whether you consider yourself a “hacker” or not, this book contains some great information that many Mac users will find useful. Topics like Create a Great Backup and Create a Bootable Flash Drive should be of interest to many Mac owners.
For quite some time various Apple watchers have been talking about an AppleTV as an actual television set. Oh so very high end with all the gizmos and gadgets and whirly-like features that Sony, Samsung, and so many others have been trying to cram into their TV sets with varying amounts of success. It would have 3-D! And 4K resolution! And connect to the internet to update your FaceBooks and Twitters (for your grandparents, their AOL mail), and Farmville statuses! It would connect to Skype and your front door camera you have out there to see the UPS guy delivering whatever stuff you ordered from the Amazons! WOW! The future looks BRIGHT!
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Platforma Messenger Bag for iPad
Strotter
Price: $170
Strotter’s unusual Platforma Messenger Bag for iPad is basically a high quality carrying case that can be converted to a sort of desktop that dangles from your neck and enables you to use your tablet without holding it in your hands. If you’re actually a messenger running around town on a bike or motorcycle, you might use the added functionality of the desktop, but I suspect most people will simply enjoy the Platforma because of its high grade leather, it’s quality hardware, its small but useful dimensions, and its attractive appearance.
iCookbook
Company: Publications International, Ltd.
Version: 3.1
Price: $4.99
Requires: iPhone 3GS and above, iPod touch 3rd generation and above, iPad, iOS 4.3 or later.
In March 2013 I reviewed the CrockPot Recipes App and was very pleased with the variety of recipes. The developers of the CrockPot Recipes App have another fabulous cooking app that contains recipes for crock pot, oven, and grill, simply named iCookbook.
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If software doesn’t come in a box, is it still your software? Trick question because it was NEVER your software to begin with. Microsoft and Adobe are keen to remind you of that with a monthly fee for their most sought after programs like Office and Creative Suite. On the lighter side, the GMen get an iTunes review in Morse Code, neither can mange to say Esoterism Tesseract,and apparently it’s too much for Google to do a search.
Links:
Guy’s App Pick: Cute Cut Pro by YU BO $5.99
Gaz’s App Pick: HDR Artist Pro £6.99
People’s Pick: Troy Muller recommends Spectacle by Spectacle FREE!
DualRole Hub
Manufacturer: Kanex
MSRP: $69.00 (Internet price: $46.00)
Kanex DualRole Hub
Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. We lost FireWire connectivity, we’re gradually losing built-in optical drives, and on the latest MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs, we lost the Ethernet port. Never fear, Kanex comes to our rescue with their new DualRole Hub.
2.4Ghz Laser Mouse Works on Glass Surfaces
Genius
Price: $31.15 on Amazon
The Genius Traveler 9010LS Laser Mouse is a comfortable wireless mouse (not Bluetooth) that feels good in the hand and provides some features that make it worth checking out. The mouse comes with a wireless receiver that you’ll plug into a USB port. The receiver didn’t work in the USB port on my Mac Pro but as soon as I plugged it into my USB hub the mouse promptly sprung to life. No setup required.
Boom – Volume Booster for OSX
Company: Global Delight
Price: $6.99
One of the delights of being a Mac fan is the availability of small, lightweight applications that provide specific, useful functionality to improve your computing experience. With Apple’s traditional strengths in the area of music and video, many of these apps look to improve your media consumption experience, and Boom falls squarely into this market.
ArtRage 4
Developer: Ambient Design
Price: $49.90
ArtRage 4
ArtRage is a Macintosh painting and drawing application that allows you to apply paint or ink to virtual paper or canvas as naturally as you would to their real counterparts. Oil paints leave textural strokes, watercolors actually spread, marker ink bleeds into the paper, pallet knives smear, pastels are genuinely chalky.
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Tim and David discuss Software subscriptions, more on 4K televisions, the upgrade cycle in technology, and much more.
EasyPen Slim Pen Graphics Tablet
Model: F610E
Manufacturer: Genius
MSRP: $119.99 (Internet pricing: $95.00)
EasyPen Slim Pen Tablet
Graphics tablets tend to be fairly big, heavy, and expensive but the new EasyPen Slim Pen Tablet from Genius is thin, light, and reasonably priced. Wacom tablets have held a virtual monopoly in this category for years with very little real competition. Genius is becoming a challenger in this field and their new Slim Pen Tablet is a contender.
tesseract Mobile Device Station
Esoterism
Price: $79.00
The tesseract Mobile Device Station consists of two heavy duty aluminum cubes with slots that enable this combo product to be used to provide a stand for the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iPad.
As computer accessories go, the tesseract is basically a high tech museum piece that sits on your desk and lets people know you have a refined but geekish sense of style.
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Tim talks about the ethics of paying for reviews and the new 4K Super HD televisions on the market today.
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All still quiet of the Mac front as we await WWDC or well, almost anything. Guy strolls down memory lane to a podcast he and Gaz did some 150 shows ago with Actor Stephen Tobolowsky. there’s GoPros, an appearance on the Nosillacast Podcast, and other kinds of techy stuff before we get into the second part of the show which is all about…stuff. Even with all this, they even keep it under an hour! And who said the age of miracles had passed?
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Guy’s App Pick: Acorn 4 is out from Flying Meat Software $29.99 from the Mac App Store.
Gaz’s App Pick: Lego Star Wars Yoda Chronicles. Whats’ not like 
Currently Free!
Take Control of Your Passwords
Author: Joe Kissell
Publisher: TidBITS Publishing Inc.
Price: US $10
88 pages
ISBN-10: 978-1-61542-418-4
In my years as an engineer working in the defense industry, I had to regularly deal with many levels of security and comply with a multitude of security requirements. Today, I am prudent and reasonably confident and comfortable with my everyday personal computer security. Recently I added a password manager application to my personal computer and mobile devices but suspected I may not be using this application to its fullest capability.
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Captain Picard Mimobot — Boldly Goes Where No Flash Drive Has Gone Before!
Company: Mimoco
Capacity: 8 GB-64 GB
Compatible with: USB 2.0
Requires: OSX 10.83
Price: $24.95-66.99
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? A Jean-Luc Picard USB stick?! How can you go wrong?
And you really can’t. The Captain Picard MIMOBOT 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive available for this review is a wonderful little flash drive that you can use to store and move data files just like any other USB stick.
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Apparently is doomed (DOOMED I TELLS YA!) because while they had nearly 44 billion in sales, a profit of 9.5 billion, and margins of over 37%, it was less billions made in the same quarter last year. So other companies make little to no profit (but have enormous growth potential) Apple is expected to shatter sales, profit, and margins each and every quarter or the stock gets hammered. Yep, that makes sense.
Links:
Eric Diaz’s iPhone dominos
A “different” view on Mars
Guy’s App Pick: 88 Logos by Macware inc $1.99
Gaz’s App Pick: Wolfram Alfa App
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