Hot Text – Web Writing That Works
Jonathan and Lisa Price
New Riders
ISBN 9-7357-1151-8
US $40.00 CA $62.99 UK £30.99
492 pages not including index
Dear professional web authors: please read this book! And you, who aspire to write professionally for the web, whether or not you write professionally for other venues, get this book and consume it!
I admit that I was a little surprised when the book arrived to see how hefty it was. Since the title seemed to indicate a rather narrow scope compared to many other web-authoring texts covering the whole range of web content from graphics to interactive code generation, I somehow expected this book to be a light weight work of ‘dos and don’ts’ with regard to writing content for the web.
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Quicken TurboTax Deluxe 2001 (formerly MacInTax)
OS 9/Classic Environment
Company: Intuit
Price: $49.95
http://www.intuit.com
Our opinion of this excellent tax preparation application is straight and to the point. If you are not using TurboTax (or its primary competitor) to complete and file your income taxes, why not? The process is easy and affordable. At this late date, you can stop reading immediately and get going with TurboTax to do your returns, friends.
Every previous year, just after I finished using TurboTax (formerly MacInTax), I received a corrected 1099 or similar statement, so this time I decided to wait as long as possible before filing and reviewing the software. You can follow along with me, to help understand what to expect while preparing your returns.
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Imation FlashGO! Memory Card Reader
(OS X Compatible)
Company: Imation
Price: $69.95
http://www.imation.com
This is going to be a short review, as the Imation FlashGO! card reader does exactly what is designed to do, no more, no less.
The FlashGO! is a small USB device that will read from and write to removable memory cards. It can accommodate SmartMedia, CompactFlash Type I and II, Sony Memory Sticks, MultiMedia Cards, Secure Digital Devices, and IBM Microdrives. That covers the waterfront, as far as removable memory cards are concerned.
Why is the FlashGO! useful? If you want to transfer a file between computers that are too big to be easily emailed, or the machines cannot easily be networked or interconnected, your options have been limited to carrying a separate hard drive with you. That means hassling with SCSI cables (and the attendant driver issues), or using a FireWire drive. Don’t forget power cords!
That’s a lot of bother to move a 10MB file from one computer to another. The Imation FlashGO! is a small, USB bus-powered device that you can carry in your pocket. Simply fit the memory card of your choice into the FlashGO! and then insert the unit into the USB plug on your computer. The FlashGO! will automatically mount on your desktop, and you can copy to your heart’s delight.
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Macintosh… The Naked Truth
Scott Kelby
New Rider Press
ISBN 0735712840
US $19.99
240 pages
I have never written a book review before, and I enter the project with some trepidation. Will I make a mortal enemy of the author? Will this hurt my career as an engineer? And most importantly: Will I have to force myself to read the book? My last worry was unfounded; I liked Scott Kelby’s Macintosh…The Naked Truth.
Macintosh…The Naked Truth runs a bit high at 19.99 for 219 pages but it’s a fairly enlightening and quick read. By easy reading I don’t mean the tome is some monosyllabic Dr. Suess rip-off, Scott Kelby uses fine prose and a vocabulary that is not “dumbed down” Yet, as one reads the book, one has the feeling that it was written at a frenetic pace. This is overtly noted in the book and carries through to the final product. The reader is left with the impression that the author believes that any thought the flashes through his noggin as he writes is pretty much worth our time, as Mac aficionados, to read. Surprisingly, the majority of the thoughts that Scott Kelby has are pretty darn interesting. In short, the book isn’t so much about computers, though there is plenty of computer info, it’s about being a Mac owner, a Mac enthusiast and the daily travails and pleasantries of Mac life.
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Java 2 for the World Wide Web
Visual Quickstart Guide
Dori Smith
PeachPit Press
Price: $21.99
SBN: 0-201-74864-9
Imagine your site has nifty content but lacks a bit in the interactivity department. Further suppose that your goals are beyond the abilities of HTML or JavaScript. In short, you have decided to add some Java 2 to your website. The question might occur to you: “Hey, where can I learn some beginning to intermediate level Java 2 programming in a pleasing visual manner?” Dori Smith aims to answer this question with Java 2 for the World Wide Web Visual Quickstart Guide. (Authors note: In reading this book you might be left with the impression that Java 2 can only be used for the World Wide Web. In reality Java 2 is so nifty that it is disabled in the latest offerings by Microsoft and is used to help power the new linux based PDA made by Sharp. So there’s more to Java 2 than cool interactive web pages.)
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A short time ago I received an e-mail joke message. The title was “Are you Italian?” I am as fanatical about my heritage as I am about the computer I use. Usually, these joke items are rife with misinformation. Since I believe I have the appropriate knowledge and background on the subject, I have taken it upon myself to correct errors, clear up misconceptions and add commentary as I see fit. Please feel free to substitute American for Canadian where appropriate – except, of course, in cultural / sovereignty matters.
Subject: You are Italian!
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Drive 10 1.0.4 for Mac OS X
Company: Micromat, Inc.
Price: $99.95
http://www.micromat.com
The Macintosh community is in a state of limbo, and while many of us are upgrading to Mac OS X, many programs still do not run natively in Apple’s next-generation operating system. This state of limbo is no more evident than with the current state of disk repair utilities. Many of my favorites such as DiskWarrior and Norton Utilities still require you to boot into Mac OS 9 to repair disks. Thankfully, Micromat has come through with the first truly Mac OS X native disk repair utility, and it is great. Drive 10 is polished, easy to use, and is everything a Mac OS X program should be. Though, I would expect nothing less from a company as dedicated to the Macintosh platform such as Micromat.
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The Little Digital Video Book
Michael Rubin
Peachpit Press
ISBN 0-201-75848-2
US $19.99 CA $29.95 UK £14.99
178 pages
As a long time personal computer user and software junkie, I have a bookshelf full of computer software “how-to” books. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve only read a handful from cover to cover. Most wind up being additional resources to the manual, or “missing manual” and I use them like I do a good encyclopedia, skipping around to the parts I really want to understand.
There’s a better than even chance that you’re reading this review and smiling to yourself, having acquired your own library of computer software how-to books, also only partially read.
This book won’t fit in with those. In fact, go to your book shelf where you keep those novels you couldn’t put down once you started reading them, and make a place about 1/2″ wide and a little over 9″ tall to be the home for The Little Digital Video Book once you’ve bought it and read it through twice. That’s right, it’s even better the second time through! I promise.
The author, Michael Rubin, is eminently qualified to write about digital video. He’s the expert’s expert. He was with George Lucas in “the beginning.” His film and video text, Nonlinear, now in its fourth edition, is considered the hallmark text on the whole idea of nonlinear film editing. I have not read that book. It was not written to me. I am not a digital video geek.
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iMovie 2 For Macintosh, Visual Quickstart Guide
Jeff Carlson
Peachpit Press
ISBN 0-201-78788-1
US $19.99 CA $29.95 UK £14.99
182 pages not including Index
iMovie is Apple Computer’s solution to nonlinear video editing for the rest of us. It’s currently at version 2 and runs natively on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. If you have purchased a computer from Apple in the past 2 years, you probably have this software. It’s part of the included software package on nearly every Mac sold.
It runs only on a Mac, and it is the overwhelming favorite among reviewers and users alike, causing some to actually switch platforms from the world of Windows just to experience the ease of use and power available in this incredible piece of software. It comes with no manual.
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It happens to me every year at about this time, and this year, Anno-Domini
XXII, is no exception. I felt it creeping up on me, oh, about mid-February I guess, and now, it is almost March, which is truly the most hateful month of the year, weather-wise, in the Boston area.
March consists of screaming wind, which makes you think you have somehow been mysteriously transported to Venus. But then you remember the science books all tell us that Venus is blasted hot, not cold. Continue reading »
One of my greatest loves, bicycle riding, becomes very labored in March, because no matter which direction I aim myself in, it’s always against the wind. (Explain this, all you Doctor know-it-alls) Things are relatively slow at my place of biz, and everything just seems dead.
Slick Transitions & Effects Vol. I and II
OS X Compatible
Company: GeeThree.com
Pricing: $29.95 (Each volume, $49.95 Bundle)
http://www.geethree.com
Ah, iMovie. As many of you know, iMovie was the very first application to fit in the “Digital Lifestyle” suite of applications and hardware from Apple. With iMovie, you could import digital video, edit, cut, and change the video somewhat, and export back out of the computer. Now at version 2, iMovie has become many Mac users favorite program, proving that the Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, may have been right. Editing digital video on your computer is the next big thing, such as document creation (desktop publishing) was in the 1980′s. If so, Apple is far ahead of the competition. And iMovie, at least for home computer users, is by far the easiest and most intuitive video editing software yet made. But as good as iMovie is, there is room for improvements.
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Thanks to the advent of Gnutella, Napster, and all kinds of other related technology, one computing trend is steadily rising to the top of the batch of ever-growing computer trends, and that trend is software piracy. Companies (i.e. Microsoft) have enacted many different very ineffective and rather inconveniencing ways of software protection to stop software piracy. These many things are including, but of course not limiting to XP’s Activation Codes, and all kinds of Network Scanning, and ways of limiting software to being installed on only one machine, or only by one user. Of course, thanks to serial and activation code crackers, and LimeWire’s amazing piracy ability, these things have been very ineffective at stopping their target, software piracy. However, they seem to never be able to target the what’s really causing their incomparable amounts of piracy and other related software stealing: High Prices.
I don’t think any form of Microsoft Budget Forecast would ever be able to justify the need to charge over four hundred dollars for their premier software suite! If most people can get a nicely equipped used iMac or other used Macintosh for $350US on E-Bay, which usually includes at least some licensed software for free, why pay so damn much just to have an application that does a lot of stuff you’ll never really need?
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I remember Gina. Loving her was so easy! I could be anything around her, she was so accepting of me, and of anything I wanted to do. It was so free and easy loving her! She and I were such a team, and she gave me my best dreams!
But that was long ago. I married Martha, of course.
It was a sound decision to do so. All my family and friends thought I would do well to marry her. I could have gainful employment because of her. I would have a secure life.
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“TiPack WhyBuy: Hands-On Reviews of Two Premium Backpacks Custom Designed for Apple’s Titanium G4 PowerBook”
Walking the hilly streets of San Francisco and the endless corridors of its Moscone Center during last January’s Macworld Conference gave Nemo a pain in the back. He was carrying Weeks’ Titanium G4 PowerBook and its power supply in a humble consumer day pack, along with endless press releases, pads of paper, cameras, snacks, and bottles of water. This pack felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. The distance walked felt like a hundred miles each day. Never again! Nemo vowed to obtain a MUCH better pack for future expos.
Nemo has been a backpacker for over 40 years. He was intrigued by an advance invitation to visit the Brenthaven booth. The thought of a premium padded PowerBook case made his shoulders straighten and back muscles flex in enthusiastic anticipation. After admiring Brenthaven’s product line during the expo, Nemo made arrangements to have an evaluation pack sent for review.
By coincidence, MyMac.com received an email invitation from Willow Design to review a competing backpack, which arrived at Nemo’s home office two days after the Brenthaven. What follows is our report on these two deluxe TiBook packs.
But first, consider the advantages of a custom backpack over a typical computer carrying case:
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In the last month, a number of posts to a few mailing lists I belong to have focused on the lack of Apple in supplying the new iMac to its intended buyers. And a lot of the people posting these messages seem to think this is causing Apple lost sales. One poster even went so far as to suggest a potential customer might have gone to a retailer store to buy one of the new iMacs, only to walk away with a new Dell because the iMac was not available. (Let’s forget that you can’t buy Dell retail.)
Is this happening? There are two trains of thought here, both valid. I will wait to give you my opinion, and the reasons behind it.
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A woman alone. An old house. A dark musty cellar. These three juicy clichés are enough to whet the appetite of any horror freak. But women are different today. Are they not strong, assertive and in control of their destiny? Think again.
The Bogeyman Cometh
I mentally berated myself. How could I have been so stupid to rashly buy this house? Apparently, I had lost all reason. I must have been seduced by the surrounding area or the perceived romanticism of the setting. There was no charm to the house. It was isolated from both neighbours and town. It was, also,not particularly attractive. Its saving grace and the quality that most appealed to me was that it was over a century old. That and the wide plank, pine flooring. The house certainly would require a lot of hard work. It was a small two story and it even had a rudimentary basement. It was certainly large enough for the few pieces of furniture I had accumulated. So why did I have this nagging fear that I had made the wrong decision? I had treated everyone who tried to dissuade me with disdain, from Mother (How can you live anywhere but New York City?), to my best friend Eve (The odds of getting laid are better in the city than in the country. Think about it.) Even when the real estate agent looked at me, his face was full of pity. I could imagine him thinking,”this poor broad needs a man about the house.”
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There are many things we as a community of Mac users seem to not be able to agree about, i.e. 9 or X? Microsoft or AppleWorks? And let’s not even get started on the “browser wars” we have all been so much a part of, however there seems to be on thing that we can all get a consensus on. We all believe that the market share of the MacOS based operating systems is just too small and that we should all do whatever we can to dominate and overcome the Giant from Redmond, but is that really what we need? I think not.
When you think of all of the many “75 advantages” of owning a Mac, one thinks of many, such as ease of use and ultra-stability, especially with the profound use of Unix-based Mac OS X now. However, there are many other advantages out there other than the few mentioned before that aren’t dependant at all on our software or programmers, rather all of the advantages are in fact based on our small tightly-knit group of users! We as a Macintosh User Community strive mainly on our small size!
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MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384