- Product Name: TiPaint
Professional Touch-up Kit - Company: TiPaint.com
- URL: http://www.tipaint.com
- Category: Hardware repair
- Price:
$19.95 - Requirements: Any Titanium
PowerBook (i.e., all G4 models prior to
the Aluminium PowerBooks) - Rating: 2 bounces
-
Lack-Luster
- Product Name: iKlear
iPod Cleaning Kit - Company: Meridrew Enterprises
- URL: http://www.iklear.com
- Category: Hardware repair
- Price: $19.95
- Requirements: Any iPod,
iBook, or PowerBook, also any desktop Mac
with an LCD screen - Rating: 3 bounces – Lustworthy
There is no question that iPods, iBooks, and PowerBooks are among the most beautiful machines that Apple has produced, but why do they have to scratch so easily? The Titanium series of G4 PowerBooks were painted using some sort of metallic enamel that doesn’t stick to the underlying metal and plastic at all well, and practically every example I have seen, including my own, has had some paint abraded from the corners simply by being transported in a laptop case. Much more annoying is the lack of clearance between the keyboard and screen. Take a look at any of this generation of PowerBook and you’ll see grease and dirt that lifts off the keys and onto the screen. In the most severe cases, the keyboard even scratches the screen, permanently damaging it and leaving behind unsightly blemishes as grease and dirt seeps into these scratches. Many PowerBook owners use leather or fabric inserts to prevent the keyboard from touching the screen, despite the fact the PowerBook manual specifically advises against this (in the 1 GHz G4 PowerBook Manual, this statement is on page 94 if you want to see for yourself).
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MyMac Labs reviews two very different hard drives
SmartDisk FireFly 20 GB
SmartDisk Corp.
http://www.smartdisk.com
US $ 179.99
Wiebe ToughTech 800
Wiebe Tech
http://www.Wiebetech.com
US $ 119.00 (case only)
US $ 309.95 (250 GB)
Kia or Escalade?
Mini Cooper or Dodge Ram dual-wheel V12 pickup truck?
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Mac OS X Help Line, Panther Edition
Ted Landau
Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com
ISBN 0321193873
US $39.99
MacFixit web site founder and author Ted Landau’s newest book, Mac OS X Help Line, Panther Edition, has joined the ranks of David Weeks’ favorite OS X books. Until now, I’ve recommended David Pogue’s OS X The Missing Manual for beginners and intermediate Mac users. The nod for best advanced/expert level book has gone to Mac OS X Unleashed, penned by John and William Ray.
I’ve got to add Mac OS X Help Line (Help Line for short) to the canon of best OS X books. The Ray brothers’ Unleashed is geared more toward the Unix-oriented sysadmin/expert user. In contrast, Landau’s Help Line is written for the sophisticated OS X end user; someone who doesn’t need the plumb the Uniy depths of OS X, yet needs detailed information on complex topics.
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Its true. You can find a lot of them out here in Southern California.
Out here, where we are in the Mojave Desert, there are numerous small towns and villages among the mesas and foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. All of them congratulate themselves for their fortunate position, in the middle of the most beautiful land there is, and for being part of an economy that is far less expensive than down South in LALA land, or indeed, all the rest of California.
Older folks, and folks that can’t afford to live elsewhere, make the most of the inexpensive living conditions out here. Some even buy homes, which are priced way below the rest of the market in Southern California.
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The Day the G5 Died – Keys Out Of Order
There are some mornings when just the simple act of getting out of bed foretells a bad day. It was Thursday morning, and surprisingly, my fifteen-month old daughter actually slept the entire night, so I actually got something close to eight hours of sleep. When I was younger, say in my teens or twenties, I could go days without sleep. Not anymore, I need as much as I can get. My youngest daughter, however, feels differently.
Waking up that morning, I cracked my knee on a drawer I had left open the night before on the dresser. It didn’t hurt too badly, but it is a hell of a thing to do in the first five seconds of wakefulness. Wake up, turn off annoying alarm, swing legs off nice, warm, comfy bed, stand up, and CRACK. Sigh. It’s going to be one of those days.
Actually, it only got worse.
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NetBarrier X3 v.10.3.4
Company: Intego
Price: $59.95 US
http://www.intego.com/home.asp
In June of this year, cable access finally reached my area. Not that it hadn’t been available before, just that all the constant problems, outages and the upgrade to fiber had finally been taken care of. With the process completed, and after checking around with others in the area, the determination was finally made to switch from a 56k modem to cable broadband.
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Tunemedia’s Tuneup Loops for GarageBand Pack One
Company: TuneMedia
Price: $34.99
www.tuneuploops.com
I love GarageBand. It’s is one of the best and most fun products to spring from the minds at Apple in a long time. Just one little problem with it: (Well, actually there are more than one but this isn’t a review of GB) not enough loops. Apple gives us over 1000 loops to play with! Yes that is true. Those loops are spread across many different instruments and keys. Also, once you have made a few songs, it becomes harder and harder to come up with something original and fresh without reusing many of the same loops.
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Morton Subotnick’s Hearing Music — Tutorial CD
Company: Viva Media
Price: $30
http://www.viva-media.com
Software works with OS X, OS 9, OS 8, and all flavors of Windows. Continue reading »
If music makes you smarter, this clever music education CD will make you brilliant. Four sets of tutorials each have four levels of ascending difficulty and fifteen exercises per level. Installation is a breeze, and within a few clicks you and/or your student musicians will be exploring your first Hearing Music category. This program is suitable for individuals or groups of all ages and varying musical abilities.
Disc Shredder DS360
Company: Primera Technology
Price: $129.95
http://www.primera.com
Need a little crunchy roughage to enhance your breakfast cereal? Or some sparkling tinsel for holiday decorations?
Could you use a nifty office accessory that guarantees a “Whazzat?” from each visitor? Or something for your kids and grandkids to play with that teaches them about product safety, media security, and environmentalism?
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MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384