MyMac.com PodCast Tiger Day with Bob LeVitus
Download the MP3 PodCast HERE.
This is a special, hour-long PodCast featuring Tim and Chad talking with Bob LeVitus. Topics include Bob’s new Tiger book, Bob’s take on Apple banning his publishers books at the Apple store, and much more.
Contest galore! Bob gives away copies of his new book, Mac OS X 10.4 for Dummies! We also give away ONE AlchemyTV DVR / TV Tuner thanks to our friends at Miglia! Be the first to answer the questions posed by Bob Dr. Mac LeVitus, and send your answers in to contest@mymac.com.
This weeks PodCast is sponsored by SmallDog.com, with special thanks to Miglia and DoctorMacDirect.com.
Please send any feedback, regular or MP3 audio files, to mymacpodcast@gmail.com
The Macintosh iLife ’05
By Jim Heid
Peachpit Press
http://www.peachpit.com
345 pages and companion DVD
ISBN 0-321-33537-6
US$ 34.99
CA$ 48.99
The short version of this review is “If you want a great book that splendidly covers all the iLife ’05 applications, don’t ask questions, just buy this book.”
If you want the long version, read on.
Just over a year ago, I reviewed the previous version of Jim Heid’s The Macintosh iLife, and gave it high marks.
The new edition, which covers the recent updates to Apple’s iLife suite (iPhoto, iMovieHD, iDVD, Garageband, and iTunes/iPod) is even better than its predecessor, if that’s possible.
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Solio Solar Powered iPod Battery Charger
Company: Better Energy Systems
http://www.solio.com
$90 US
Once every year or two, MyMac.com encounters a new category of product that is more than an innovative trendsetter at a Macworld Expo. Solio is such a device, and we send the company and its innovative CEO/developer our best wishes for success.
The following review is not objective. I believe wholeheartedly in what Better Energy Systems sets out to accomplish. If this initial release of Solio is an indicator, we may be witnessing the first act of an exciting performance.
But please first read David Weeks’ interview with Christopher Hornor, Solio’s inventor. Then spend a few minutes at the company’s informative web site. In the process you’ll become acquainted with how seriously Christopher considers solar energy to be, and how he is doing more than a little to develop and foster it.
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Introduction, by Barbara “Mrs. Nemo”
Every summer we drive to California in our VW New Beetle. John and I stuff in our clothes and cooler, maps and hiking boots with no room to spare, except for his computer and music tapes and CDs and a boom box to play them on.
The boom box is an important summer accessory because it lulls us to sleep each night. I hear five minutes or less of Mozart and I am out cold. (Or is it the fog, or perhaps the great food and too much wine?) But I resent the space that ugly boombox takes up in our tiny car.
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Tired of watching Star Wars 1 & 2 and anxiously awaiting SW 3? Need a fix of SW? Try “STAR WARS REVELATIONS”
Check out http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/revelations_movie.html
Three years in the making by a totally unknown group of writers, actors and extras.. FANS to be precise, and $20,000 on maxed out credit cards. While it’s not George Lucas’s final cut running 2 hours of so, this 250 MB download of approximately 20 minutes worth of film, has it’s good points. Available as a Bit Torrent or http download, it’s enjoyable to see someone take a premise, work it out, put it all together and place it online for others to download and enjoy.
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Chrome Ranchero Messenger Backpack
Company: Chrome
Price: $120 plus optional accessories
http://www.chromebags.com/ranchero.php
This established messenger bag manufacturer has been making top-quality products for a dozen years, and now Chrome is expanding its catalog to include custom computer cases and sleeves. I requested the loudest color backpack available, and here is a photo of me wearing it.
That’s it! I have had ENOUGH! My Epson multi-function printer-scanner-copier has ink that dries up *way* too often, in spite of its low per print cost when using third-party cartridges (same thing happens with “official” ink too). HP print heads are more reliable, but *much* more expensive. David Weeks says his Brother is a total bother. What about Canon? Have you had any experience with their lower-priced units?
My goal is decent print/scan/copy quality (not exhibition) with reliability, consistency, and availablity of budget inks. Your suggestions or flames are welcome below, on any topic remotely resembling my query. Thanks.
[Nemo]
This is our promised non-Mac PodCast. It is rated PR-13 or higher, so keep that in mind. No Mac speak at all, just three guys talking up the Pope, Michael Jackson, Hurbie, Star Wars, and more.
Send any comments to MyMacPodCast@gmail.com
Download the show in MP3 audio file here.
This week, Chad and Tim return to the home of Tad Scheeler, where we last recorded a show there back in January.
Sponsored this week by Small Dog Electronics. Visit Small Dog for your chance to win a Mac mini! Click here for details.
This week, we give away five MORE of the Newer Technology RoadTrip! FM transmitter, thanks to MacSales.com.
Send in your contest entries to contest@mymac.com. Please send any comments to MyMacPodCast@gmail.com
This week, we talk about the Adobe purchase of Macromedia, and what it could mean for the computer users of the world.
Yes, we have a BRAND NEW Not Mac News with Chris Seibold.
Chad has a dead G4. Can Tim bring the dead back to life? Find out this week by listening to the show.
Inside .Mac Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership
by Chuck Toporek
O’Reilly Media
ISBN 0-596-00501-6, 360 pages
$19.95 US, $28.95 CN
Here we have one of the best-researched and most well written books ever reviewed by MyMac.com’s Book Bytes. Author Chuck Toporek immersed himself in this topic so we readers and subscribers can take advantage of his endless energy and expertise. If I attempted to create a book such as this one, working every waking moment for over six months, I could not approach the breadth and depth of coverage Chuck provides. By now you probably realize that Book Bytes considers Inside .Mac – Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership to be is as good as it gets. Congratulations and thanks to Chuck and O’Reilly Media.
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In two-weeks time, a large segment of you will be running Tiger, OS X 10.4. While there are a ton of cool new features in it, please keep in mind that there is a very good chance that Tiger will break some of the software on your machine. It simply goes with the territory. Tiger is Mac OS X, yes, but it is not Mac OS X 10.3. By that, I mean most new software released over the last year has been compatible with Panther, but very few of those programs have been tested with Tiger. So when you upgrade to Mac OS X 10.4, and you suddenly find out your favorite game, utility, or other program no longer runs correctly, don’t panic. Chances are, if the program developer is worth his salt, he/she/they will be updating that program quickly.
I spend a lot of time with computers. I use them for work and for play; I watch my DVDs on my PowerBook and use iTunes to play virtually all of the music I listen to. When I go to a bookshop, the computing section is one of the first I like to check out, and anytime I visit a big city, I make a point of visiting any Apple dealers I’ve not been to yet. I write books about computers and I frequently contribute to Apple-centric web sites such as this one. I do have other interests of course, but computers easily make it into my top three, and over the years my love of Macs has profoundly influenced my professional life, and to no small degree has allowed me to define and develop my skills and experience.
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Adobe and Macromedia will be come one
Sad news, I think, for those who like choice. Adobe Systems has agreed to purchase Macromedia for $3.4 Billion in a stock-swap deal. Long competitors, it has largely been Macromedia who has pushed Adobe to create better software over the last decade. This was one of the reasons Adobe purchased GoLive! a few years ago, to compete with Macromedia in the online publishing business.
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MyMac.com was quick to recognize the innovative potential of WiebeTech’s entry into the portable storage product marketplace. CEO James Wiebe continues to expand his catalog with monthly releases that range from heavy iron aimed at IT and server clients, through specialized forensic units, to home or office drives and docks of all current capacities.
Utilitarian design did not win WiebeTech any style awards during the company’s first two years in business. As the product lineup becomes mature, James and his energetic team are putting more thought and expense into exterior materials and appearances, and not just into guts and low-end enclosures.
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MyMac.com PodCast for 4-14-05
Download the April 14 2005 MP3 show HERE
File size 16.25MB 32 minutes in length
This PodCast is sponsored by Small Dog Electronics
Updated Contest information. Be sure to send any and all contest entries to contest@mymac.com
Chad and Tim talk a lot about Tiger on this weeks show. Plus, a brand new Not Mac News by Chris Seibold
Be sure to check out The Roadhouse Blues PodCast here for your chance to win a Newer Technology RoadTrip! FM transmitter, thanks to MacSales.com.
We would love to hear from you. Please send feedback via email to mymacpodcast@gmail.com in either plain text or MP3 feedback!
Scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements: The Creative Cropping Cookbook
by Lynette Kent
Sybex Press
ISBN 0-7821-4377-6,
175 pages plus three endpaper pages of laminated tear-apart tutorial cards
Price: $29.99 US, $41.95 CN, £19.99 UK
There’s a lot to like in the early chapters of this friendly, inviting reference and tutorial book. How often do we see introductory text dealing with principles of design and color theory, with a presentation that doesn’t require a wall of post-graduate diplomas to comprehend?
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A Decade of MyMac.com Part 3 – 1997 – 1998
If you haven’t read any of the other articles in this series, you can find them here and here. For those who don’t want to go back and read them, let me first say that MyMac.com originally started as simply My Mac Magazine, before hardly anyone had a website, and few actually had access to the internet. But MyMac.com and My Mac Magazine are one and the same, so if you see reference one way or the other throughout this retrospective, know that they are the same creature.
This time around, we look at our third year of both My Mac Magazine and MyMac.com.
Our twenty-fifth issue came out in May, 1997, sporting one of my favorite covers of all time. (That’s it to the right) Created by Alan Dingman, it was a conductor with a Macintosh monitor face. The words came from the internal designation Apple was giving their operating systems at the time, Tempo, Allegro, and Sonata. Today, they use Panther and Tiger, big cats, but back in the day it was all about music. Come to think of it, what with the popularity of iTMS and the iPod, one would think that the old naming scheme would actually work better today, no?
The reason for the fill-in cover from Alan was that our regular cover artist, Mike Gorman, was busy getting married. That means, of course, that Mike is coming up on his eight-year anniversary. Hope he remembers!
In that May 1997 issue, we reported an interesting fact: 64% of all web sites at the time were created using a Macintosh. Not sure what the percentage is today, but I would hazard a guess that it is probably in the single digits.
Chrome Metropolis Messenger Bag
Company: Chrome
Price: $120 plus optional accessories
http://www.chromebags.com/metropolis.php
The never-ending search for the perfect 17” portable laptop bag continues with the Chrome Metropolis Messenger Bag. Unlike John’s desire to have a crazy color bag (see his Chrome review), I wanted something a bit more “professional” so I could carry it to work. As such, I requested either the black on black or the khaki on black bag; what arrived was a VERY large bag that looks more yellow then khaki, but in a design that is so cool, I had to try it out almost immediately.
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Nemo asks, and Guy answers, this time with personal insights into getting the best audio quality from your iPod and iTunes music collection — in the car, in the house, and wherever else your songs may reside.
Here is the third installment in our irregular, irreverent, idiosyncratic series of “Help me, Guy!” collaborations between John “Nemo” Nemerovski and Guy “Problem Solving Guy” Serle.
Make sure you check out the previous two postings, linked from Guy’s MyMac.com archive, at: http://www.mymac.com/userinfo.php?id=Guy%20Serle
Nemo: Which audio format do you use on your new iPod, Guy?
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Download the April 7th 2005 MP3 show HERE
This PodCast is sponsored by Small Dog Electronics, click here for your chance to win a Mac mini. Check them out for all your Mac needs.
Updated contest information. For your chance to win an Newer Technology RoadTrip! FM transmitter from MacSales.com, be sure to listen to this show, as well as the April 3 show.
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384