Neat RadTech Gear

RadTech sent a nice care package to us here at MyMac.com, showing off some of their latest wares. Rather than review each separately, I wanted to go into each briefly.
Check out RadTech online at http://www.radtech.us

OmniCleanz
Price: $6.95 – $14.95

I have at least five flat-panel or laptop screens I use, and like anything else, they get dirty. Especially the G4 PowerBook screen. I had been using some generic screen cleaner I picked up at Target, although I was not really pleased with it. Didn’t seem to do a good job. I didn’t know why, really, but it just did not seem to clean as well as I thought it would.

The first time I used the OmniCleanz, I knew I was correct. This did a really nice job, and my laptop monitor looks great after every use. I have the 4 oz bottle, the tube case, and a soft cloth that works great. There is no chemical smell that I can detect, which is something I am usually very sensitive to. The stuff I purchased at Target had a slight alcohol smell to it, and often left little streaky lines. Not so with the OmniCleanz.

Good price, good product. Worked well on my iPod, too!

MyMac.com Rating: 5 out of 5

Notebook ScreensavRz
Price: $14.95 – $19.95

All this is, is a soft cloth that you lay on your PowerBook / MacBook Pro’s keyboard when you close the lid to protect the screen from key marks that some models suffer from. (Never had the problem myself.) It is also used to clean and polish the screen. In fact, it seems no different than the small cloth that came with the above OnmiCleanz product, albeit larger.

It works, but it is not very intuitive to use. I kept forgetting it was on the keys when I would open the PowerBook, and it would slide off and onto the floor. There is no way to secure it on the machine.

For the price, it seems a little much for what this is. If, however, you do suffer from keyboard marks on your screen, RadTech advertises that this product will remove those scruff marks. As I don’t have the problem, I could not test this claim. It does come in four colors, including Titanium (grey), Aqua, Black, and Shagwire (looks like the pelt of a Jaguar.) There are also different sizes to fit different laptops.

MyMac.com rating: 3 out of 5

Acclaro
Price: $19.95

You know what I hate? iPod covers and cases that hide how cool looking my iPod is. I have a few different models, but for this review, I am talking about my black 60GB iPod (5th generation) with video. It looks cool, and I want to see it. So when I saw the Acclaro, a transparent acrylic iPod case, I was looking forward to checking it out. It quickly became my default iPod case, and not just because it allows me to see the iPod. Read on.

The acrylic is 1.5 – 2.0MM thick, so it does not add much in the way of bulk to the slimness of the iPod. It does have an opening for the scroll wheel, headphones, hold switch, and the dock connector as well. It completely covers the screen, my main area of concern with my iPod. I don’t care (as much) if the black front or the metal back of my iPod gets a few scratches as I am the screen. What’s the point of watching a video on it if there is a big scratch on the screen?

A hinge on the bottom (top for the iPod nano version) allows the cover to snap down in place, and two latches secure the two halves together. The latches work very easily, although I don’t have to test that much, as I don’t plan on taking my iPod out of the Acclaro often. The clear acrylic allows the iPods crisp color screen to shine through.

The hinge allows you to connect the included nylon lanyard, so that you can wear your iPod like a necklace I suppose. While the lanyard looks durable enough, it is held together by a small plastic clasp, and I simply don’t trust my $399 iPod to a tiny plastic clasp. It does snap together very securely, but as I don’t have the need to have my iPod strapped around my neck, I removed it first things. There is also an included belt-clip that screws onto the back of the unit. It is plastic as well, but seems of durable quality and with a strong spring. I would trust using it.

The lanyard aside, I really like this case. As I said, it is now my default iPod case. There is also an iPod nano version, which I did not test, but I would imagine it is of the same quality as its larger brother.

MyMac.com rating: 4 out of 5
UPDATE
After using the Acclaro more often after I originally wrote the above, I noticed a glaring flaw that I hadn’t before. When I charge my iPod, I take it out of the case and place it in an iPod dock connected to the computer. However, if I leave the iPod in the Acclaro case, and plug in the dock connector plug, it is impossible to remove the cable afterwards without taking the iPod completely out of the case first. The problem is that the bottom hinges butt right up against the side of the dock connector release buttons, making it impossible to disconnect. I don’t know I missed this obvious design flaw for weeks, but thankfully I did notice before this review sees print. I don’t know how RadTech could work around this problem in a future redesign, other than putting the hinges themselves on the side, which would add considerably to the bulk of the unit. My original rating was a 5 out of 5, but I had to mark it down a full point for the obvious flaw. I still like the Acclaro very much.

RetractCable – iPod Dock Connector
Price: $9.95

This is a simple USB to iPod dock connector cable that retracts. It works well, and locks to the desired length. To retrace, simply give a little tug. Not much else to say, really. It works, looks nice, and I think it is a very decent price. Extends to 76cm.

MyMac.com rating: 5 out of 5

Ever go to a website and think you’ll need to return there one day? Instead of writing the website down someplace, bookmark it! By bookmarking a website in your browser, you are essentially writing it down in your browser for future use. In this installment of Macspiration I’ll discuss how to make a bookmark and how to organize them.

For this article, as the title implies, I am going to discuss bookmarking in Safari. Much of what I am talking about can be applied to other browsers, but with a few differences.

Okay, so you want to bookmark MyMac.com (or any site) so you don’t have to type it into Safari every time you visit the site. First, go to MyMac.com (or whatever site you want). Choose “Add Bookmark” from the “Bookmarks” menu.

This will present a drop down window asking you to enter a name for the bookmark (probably the website’s name), and where you want to place it.

The site’s name will be entered for you, but this is your chance to shorten or change it. You can place the bookmark in the “Bookmarks Menu,” in the “Bookmarks Bar,” or into a folder in the “Bookmarks Menu.”

If you choose “Bookmarks Menu,” the site will be listed in the menu labeled “Bookmarks” which you visited to add the bookmark. Choosing “Bookmarks Bar” will add the website to the bar located underneath the text field for typing in addresses. This is a good location to store frequently visited websites. The amount of sites you can list here will depend on the length of the site names. I will discuss the folder option later in this article.

Once you choose your location, click add. A link to the site will be added in the location you chose. Now whenever you want to visit that site, go to the link you just made and click it once. Your web browser will be directed to that site.

After a while, your “Bookmarks” menu can get pretty full, and long. To help with this, you can organize your bookmarks into folders.

First, go to the “Bookmarks” menu, and choose “Show All Bookmarks.”

This will give you an editable list of your bookmarks. Here you can edit a bookmark’s name or address by clicking the text and moving the mouse down to create a text field. You can also delete a bookmark from here. To delete a bookmark, select it, and press delete on your keyboard. In addition to all of that, this is where you make the folders I mentioned above.

Folders are a great way to organize your bookmarks into categories (sports, shopping, mac, etc.). To make a folder, choose “Add Bookmark Folder” from the “Bookmarks” menu.

A new folder will appear in the list, ready for you to type in a name. Type the name, press enter, and your folder is ready. To delete a folder, follow the same steps I mentioned for deleting a bookmark.

To place sites into the folder, click on a site and hold the mouse button down, drag the site to the folder, and when folder is surrounded by a black box, release the mouse. The site is now in the folder. Make as many folders as you like.

To access a bookmark from a folder, go the “Bookmarks” menu and navigate down to the folder you want. A submenu of the sites in that folder will appear. Click the site you want to visit.

You can even add folders to the Bookmarks Bar. Just follow the same steps as above, but make sure your have the Bookmarks Bar selected on the left frame.

When you finish organizing your bookmarks (which by the way is what some browsers call this window) you can start browsing again by selecting a site from the list in the current window, or you can type a different address into the address bar.

Bookmarks are a great time saver. Make as many bookmarks as you need, and as many folders as you need, there are no limits (if there are I haven’t reached one).

Have a question about bookmarks, or another Mac issue you are having? Email me, I’d be happy to help.

I just finished recording the latest episode of Small Dog Electronics Dog Food for Thought Pawcast. We are now hosting the podcast on our own servers, so to subscribe to the feed, use this URL (in iTunes, choose Subscribe to Podcast under the Advanced menu and paste in the link below):

http://blog.smalldog.com/podcast-rss

These podcasts are pretty fun. Today I interviewed Mark Engelhardt (our web developer) and Morgan Aldridge (our IT guy). We talked about the upcoming announcements from Apple and the latest in news from the security front. Rick Estes from QuickerTek is visiting us today and I’ll be recording a segment with him for use in a future broadcast. Once we have done a few more of these pawcasts, we will probably start adding some visual material, too. Just to see if anyone is paying attention, we put some great bargains and special Pawcast coupons in this week’s edition.

This is a garage sale issue, so I’ll try to be brief. It is a great garage sale for the tinkerer because we have a great selection of parts and parts units included. These are all strictly “as-is” products and have absolutely no warranty or exchange privilege. However, we priced them that way, so there are some good buys included. All of our normal garage-sale policies and rules apply to this garage sale, as outlined below.

We’ve been all abuzz around here speculating about what Apple might announce. Apple has sent out invitations for one of their “special events” on Tuesday, February 28, for “some fun new products from Apple.” Of course, this has put everyone into anticipation mode (around here that includes drooling). Kibbles & Bytes is not a rumor newsletter so we don’t try to make predictions or pass on “super- secret” information (even if we had any of that stuff), but that doesn’t stop us from dreaming about tablet Macs, Mac media centers, new video iPods, 56-inch iMacs, and the latest in wireless technology. There are few other companies that elicit this much interest in new product introductions! We’ll be tuned in on Tuesday and should have some information on the new gear in time for Tech Tails on Tuesday, then we’ll recap in more detail next week in Kibbles & Bytes.

One thing about bulldogs is that for such solid-looking creatures, they sure can be sensitive. Hammerhead develops hot spots from time to time and will scratch them until they bleed. Holly has been helping me watch out for Hammer with some natural cures. He seems better today, but she suggested that I ask the Kibbles crew whether you have any experience with alleviating hot spots. Since he can’t reach around with his head and scratch his butt, Hammerhead has also learned how to scratch himself by turning around in a circle on the rug. Whenever we see him doing that, one of us will call him over and be his official butt scratcher. That will usually satisfy him for a few minutes, then he’ll fall asleep and snore so loudly that every one in the room starts to get sleepy.

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Apple Hits a Billion Songs

Apple hit the 1 billion song mark at the iTunes Music Store. (I talked a bit about this on the podcast.) This is an important milestone for Apple. It reflects both the success of the iTunes Music Store and the comprehensiveness of Apple’s music solution. Every time a new company announces that they have a new “iPod-killer” we laugh, because they just don’t get it. It is not the iPod, it is not iTunes, and it is not the iTunes Music store. No, it is the combination of all of these products that makes Apple have the most comprehensive music solution on the planet. Congratulations to Apple on 1 billion songs!

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Final Cut Studio and Intel Anticipation Ed @ smalldog.com

I switched to Macintosh computers back in 1999 to take advantage of iMovie 1 and Final Cut Pro 2. Then as now, Apple offered the best and most integrated solution for editing video. I started out on an iMac DV with a 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, a 13-inch screen, and G3 500 MHz processor. I actually did run FCP 2 on it. I didn’t know better back then.

I eventually switched to a dual G4 Power Mac with a large flat-panel display. Of course, this greatly exceeded the iMac’s capabilities. Now I am back to editing on an iMac – an iMac G5, that is. With a very fast G5 processor, 2 GB RAM, and an excellent 20-inch screen, it’s an ideal system for editing SD video. It’s faster than the dual 1 GHz Power Mac it replaced. The iMac G5 runs the latest version of Final Cut Studio, including Final Cut Pro 5, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, and Soundtrack Pro – applications I run several times a week. I use a semibroken MiniDV camera to connect the iMac to a television, where I can preview video playing on Final Cut’s timeline. The iMac is the perfect machine for me – fast, reliable, and integrated.

It seems the Intel iMac will be even better for editing video. Not only is the processor faster than ever, but for the first time the iMac has the option of a 256 MB video card and features a DVI-out port that natively supports video spanning. That means you can connect a second monitor to the iMac and run two separate images at a time on both monitors. You could do that with the older iMacs, but quality was limited to an analog VGA connection and you had to download a hack to get the video card to support dual displays. Now video spanning to a second monitor is native, digital, and very high quality. The Intel iMac is capable of being a no-compromise, full- time editing machine.

The only hitch is that Final Cut Studio is completely incompatible with the Intel Macs. You can’t even install the software, as it was designed to take advantage of specific technologies only available on the PowerPC. When the Intel-based Macs were unveiled at Macworld, Apple announced that an update for Final Cut Studio would eventually be released. That date has now been confirmed as March 31. If you have a current version of Studio, it will only cost $49 to get the Universal version of the software. If you have Final Cut Pro 5, the upgrade is only $99. There’s even an upgrade path for the software going back to Final Cut Pro 1! Read about this here:

http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/

If you buy Final Cut Studio today, you’ll get the PowerPC version. You can then upgrade to the Universal version on March 31. This means you’ll have versions for G4 and G5 machines, as well as Intel-based Macs! We’ve put Final Cut Studio on sale to take advantage of this window of opportunity. For $100 less than list price, you can own Final Cut Studio (Final Cut Pro, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro 4).

Apple Final Cut Studio for $1199!

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag34650/mymac/

Have fun editing!

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Getting Multiples of the Same Small Dog Newsletter? By Holly Buttura (Holly @ smalldog.com)

Lately I’ve been getting a fair number of emails from Small Dog newsletter subscribers saying they are getting two or even three of the same newsletters at a time!

Typically I would delete the email address from the database and then re-subscribe it, since that used to do the trick. However, given the increasing number of subscribers who are getting multiples, I decided to speak with our web developers.

What the developers have told me is that they need to have those duplicated emails sent to them. Furthermore, they need to receive the email with a “long header.”

To get the email to appear with the long header, go to the toolbar in your email program:

1) Go to View Menu 2) Scroll to Message 3) Choose Long Headers 4) Once you see the long header, forward the email(s) to:

listmaster @ smalldog.com

I have posted this article on Small Dog’s Blog with a photo of the long header. Check it out:

http://blog.smalldog.com/article/27/getting-multiples-of-the-same-sde- newsletter

I will continue to delete and re-subscribe individuals who email about this problem problem, but please do forward the emails with the long headers to listmaster@smalldog.com so they can be passed on to the web developers for close examination.

When we discover the reason for these duplications, I will write another article and blog. Until then, we appreciate your patience while we sort out why some newsletter subscribers are getting duplicates or triplicates of the Small Dog newsletters.

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Specials!

Here are a few specials to get you through to the Garage Sale! Specials are valid through March 2 or while on-hand supplies last. Be sure to use the wag URL to get this special pricing.

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Apple Reconditioned Xserve G5/2GHzDP 1gb/80Gb/CD/2xGigE/Unlimited – $2169

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16461/mymac

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Incredible Graphics System

Apple Reconditioned Power Mac G5/2.5GHzDP 512/160/SD/Rad9600XT with additional 2GB RAM and LaCie 321 21.3in LCD Display – $3589

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16480/mymac

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iPod photo 30gb (2005) with CARTune FM Transmitter and Charger and Valusoft Tune Transfer for iPod – $299

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag50038/mymac

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AppleCare on Sale!

AppleCare Protection Plan – iPod – $47.50

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag15728/mymac/

AppleCare Protection Plan – iMac – $139

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag13495/mymac/

AppleCare Protection Plan – iBook – $199

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag15309/mymac/

AppleCare Protection Plan – Power Mac – $199

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag14397/mymac/

AppleCare Protection Plan – PowerBook – $269

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag13931/mymac/

AppleCare Protection Plan – Mac mini – $125

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16184/mymac/

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Free shipping* on LaCie 250gb Extreme Triple Interface FireWire 800/400/USB – $215

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16481/mymac

*Free shipping is via UPS three-day to lower 48 states only.

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PLEASE READ:

Garage-sale items are strictly first come, first served. Garage sales are announced in Kibbles & Bytes, which is released Friday evening. (If you want email notification of the start of the Garage Sale, be sure to register for Kibbles & Bytes.) Web-entered orders are required for garage-sale items. It has been our experience that many of the most desirable garage-sale items are sold out by the end of the weekend.

Don’t forget to use our $3 off shipping coupon when placing web orders. Enter coupon code “bone00000001″ in the coupon field of all web orders.

To order from the garage sale: http://www.smalldog.com/garage.php

GARAGE SALE ITEMS ARE NOT RETURNABLE!

Our normal return policy is suspended for garage-sale items. Sales are as-is (except for any applicable manufacturer’s warranty) and final. Please allow one to two weeks for delivery of garage-sale items. Garage-sale items may appear to be in stock, but an earlier order may take precedence. If you are not the successful purchaser of an item, we will send you an email to let you know.

http://www.smalldog.com/garage.php

Lot Num Description Qty Price ———-+——————————————+—+—— Lot 48513 15G 3rd generation ipod, both windows and 1 $200.00 Mac compatible-

NO WARRANTY( back arrow button occasional stops working, but does not affect use of ipod, ipod still used every day by Small Dog’s own Emily Kenyon ) Many extras email me to find out

Lot 29458 Complete Beekeeping equipment – Hive . . . 1 $299.00 bodies, supers, frames, foundation, bee suits, smokers, extractors and many many many extras. Everything you will need to keep bees, except for the bees. You must pick this up in Vermont and you WILL need a truck!

Lot 55954 Business consulting – Hapy and Don will . 1 $599.00 offer 2 hours (each) of small business consulting for your business. Proceeds to benefit Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

Lot 74156 Complete Darkroom including Beseler . . . 1 $250.00 Enlarger w/2 lens, color tanks, trays, expired chemicals, some paper, paper safe, safe lights, bottles, tongs — very very retro — must pick up in Vermont

Lot 43950 5 pounds of plastic dogs! . . . . . . . . 1 $29.00

Lot 42675 Be a star! We will have a 1/2 hour . . . 1 $200.00 interview with you on the Small Dog Electronics Dog Food for Thought Pawcast. All proceeds to benefit the Vermont Food Bank

Lot 57125 Be a star! Your picture will be . . . . . 1 $250.00 prominently displayed on the Small Dog Electronics home page for 24 hours. All proceeds to benefit Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

Lot 11609 An afternoon of sailing (Benicia, CA) on . 1 $99.00 Mark Engelhardt’s 35 Foot Sailboat. Proceeds to SDE charity of your choice

Lot c140 iBook G3 12″ 900MHz. Has battery. Could be 1 $250.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c139 Apple Pro Speakers. Untested. . . . . . . 30 $12.00

Lot c138 Apple Pro Keyboards (new style). Could be 5 $10.00 missing keys. Untested.

Lot c137 Apple Pro keyboards (old style). Keys . . 20 $5.00 could be missing. Untested.

Lot c136 iMac G3 keyboards. MIght be missing keys. 4 $5.00 Untested.

Lot c135 Main video board for iMac 350 MHz, iMac . 1 $59.00 400 MHz DV or iMac 400 MHz DV (Special Edition).

Lot c134 iBook G3 800MHz logic board. Has optical . 6 $89.00 drive. Untested.

Lot c133 iBook G3 700MHz logic board. Has optical . 3 $79.00 drive. Untested.

Lot c132 iBook G3 900MHz logic board. Has optical . 6 $99.00 drive. Untested.

Lot c131 PowerMac G5 logic board. Untested. . . . . 1 $200.00

Lot c130 PowerMac G5 1.8GHz DP, no video card, no . 1 $450.00 hard drive, no optical drive. Untested.

Lot c129 PowerMac G5 2.0GHz DP, 512MBs RAM, 160GB . 1 $700.00 hard drive, ATI Radeon 9600. Untested.

Lot c128 PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet Logic board. 1 $200.00 Untested.

Lot c127 iMac G4 20″ 1.25GHz, 80GB HDD. Comes with 1 $400.00 power cable. No mouse/keyboard. Untested.

Lot c126 U-Brackets for G4 towers. . . . . . . . . 2 $5.00

Lot c125 5″ Master/Slave IDE cables. . . . . . . . 3 $3.00

Lot c124 Pioneer DVD-RW drive. Good condition. . . 1 $100.00

Lot c123 HL-DT-ST DVD-RW drive. Good condition. . . 1 $100.00

Lot c122 Matshita CR-589 CD-ROM drive. Good . . . . 1 $20.00 condition.

Lot c121 eMac bottom case. Includes logic board, . 1 $200.00 RAM, hard drive, optical drive. Untested.

Lot c120 PowerBook G4 500MHz logic boards. . . . . 9 $65.00 Untested.

Lot c119 iMac G3 bottom case, has logic board and . 1 $20.00 RAM. Untested.

Lot c118 iMac G3″ Snow 600MHz, firewire. Untested. 1 $89.00

Lot c117 Apple 17″ Studio Cinema Display. Untested. 8 $99.00 Could be missing foot.

Lot c116 Apple 15″ Studio Cinema Display. Untested. 7 $79.00 Could be missing foot.

Lot c115 DVI , VGA and SVIDEO video card. Untested. 1 $19.00

Lot c114 ADC and DVI video card. Untested. . . . . 2 $29.00

Lot c113 VGA video card. Untested. . . . . . . . . 2 $19.00

Lot c112 ATi RAge Pro 128 video card. Untested. . . 1 $39.00

Lot c111 Bottom case for 15″ PowerBook G4 Aluminum. 1 $49.00 Untested.

Lot c1010 Internal zip drives. Untested. . . . . . . 2 $10.00

Lot c109 Optical drives for G4 cube or G3 iMac. . . 3 $50.00 Untested.

Lot c108 IDE DVD burner. Untested. . . . . . . . . 1 $20.00

Lot c107 PowerBook Wallstreet. Untested . . . . . . 1 $100.00

Lot c106 Top case for 17″ PowerBook Aluminum. . . . 1 $189.00 Keyboard is included. Untested.

Lot c105 The Macintosh Bible. 4th edition. . . . . 1 $5.00

Lot c104 Cube G4 logic board. Untested. . . . . . . 1 $50.00

Lot c103 Set of 5 hard drive jumpers. Untested. . . 1 $1.00

Lot c102 15″ PowerBook Aluminum top case. Untested. 1 $59.00

Lot c101 15″ iMac G4 neck. Untested. . . . . . . . 2 $79.00

Lot c100 eMac bezels. Speakers are still attached. 2 $49.00 Untested.

Lot c099 Apple Airport Extreme. ONLY base station . 1 $49.00 is included. NO manuals, cables, documents. Untested.

Lot c098 iBook G3 14″ keyboard. Could be missing . 7 $29.00 keys.

Lot c097 iBook G3 12″ keyboard. Could be missing . 40 $10.00 keys.

Lot c096 Keyboard for TiBook 550MHz/667MHz VGA. . . 6 $10.00 Could be missing keys.

Lot c095 Keyboard for TiBook 400MHz/500MHz. Could . 4 $10.00 be missing keys.

Lot c094 iMac G4 17″ 1GHz. could be missing RAM, . 2 $259.00 hard drive, case can be scratched.

Lot c093 iMac G4 15″ 1GHz. could be missing RAM, . 3 $189.00 hard drive, case can be scratched.

Lot c092 iMac G4 17″ 800MHz. could be missing RAM, 2 $229.00 hard drive, case can be scratched.

Lot c091 iMac G4 15″ 800MHz. could be missing RAM, 6 $175.00 hard drive, case can be scratched.

Lot c090 XServe G4 1.33GHz DP. Could be missing . . 3 $579.00 hard drives, RAM, case scratches.

Lot c089 XServe G4 1GHz DP. Could be missing hard . 3 $599.00 drives, RAM, case scratches.

Lot c088 XServe G4 1.33GHz. Could be missing hard . 1 $439.00 drives, RAM, case scratches.

Lot c087 PowerMac G4 1.25GHz DP, Mirror Door, maybe 6 $359.00 missing hard drive, ram, video card, power cable. UNIT ONLY.

Lot c086 PowerMac G4 1GHz DP, Mirror Door, maybe . 3 $259.00 missing hard drive, ram, video card, power cable. UNIT ONLY.

Lot c085 PowerMac G4 1.25GHz, Mirror Door, maybe . 1 $249.00 missing hard drive, ram, video card, power cable. UNIT ONLY.

Lot c061 G4 Ti Book 1ghz. This unit may have case . 6 $229.00 cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c084 PowerMac G4 1GHz, Mirror Door, maybe . . . 1 $249.00 missing hard drive, ram, video card, power cable. UNIT ONLY.

Lot c074 G4 Ti Book 1ghz with a broken lcd/hinge. . 1 $225.00 This unit may have case cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot 2384 iBook G3 12″ 700MHz. BAD LCD. Has . . . . 1 $92.50 battery. Could be missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c073 G4 Ti Book 867mhz. This unit may have case 2 $299.00 cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c083 iBook G3 12″ 700MHz. Has battery. Could be 21 $140.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c082 iBook G3 12″ 500MHz. Has battery. Could be 1 $120.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c072 G4 Ti Book 867mhz with a broken lcd/hinge. 1 $199.00 This unit may have case cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c081 iBook G3 12″ 600MHz. Has battery. Could be 2 $130.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c071 G4 Ti Book 800mhz. This unit may have case 1 $239.00 cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c080 iBook G3 14″. BAD LCD. Has battery. Could 7 $99.00 be missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c079 iBook G3 14″. Has battery. Could be . . . 15 $135.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c070 G4 Ti Book DVI 667mhz. This unit may have 3 $275.00 case cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c078 iBook G3 14″ 800MHz. BAD LCD. Has battery. 4 $99.00 Could be missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c069 G4 Ti Book 550mhz . This unit may have . . 1 $189.00 case cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c077 iBook G3 14″ 800MHz. Has battery. Could be 16 $179.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c076 iBook G3 12″ 800MHz. BAD LCD. Has battery. 6 $99.00 Could be missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c067 G4 Ti Book 400mhz. This unit may have case 3 $167.00 cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c068 G4 Ti Book 500mhz. This unit may have case 3 $189.00 cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c066 G4 Ti Book 500mhz with a broken lcd/hinge. 1 $139.00 This unit may have case cracks and or missing batteries, keyboard keys. Unit is sold as-is and is broken.

Lot c075 iBook G3 12″ 800MHz. Has battery. Could be 30 $139.00 missing keys, RAM, have scratched/dented case.

Lot c064 PowerBook G4 AL, 867MHz. May be missing . 7 $399.00 RAM, battery, keys, keyboard, cracked or bent case and scratches.

Lot c063 PowerBook G4 AL, 1GHz. May be missing RAM, 2 $399.00 battery, keys, keyboard, cracked or bent case and scratches.

Lot c062 867MHz PowerBook G4 Aluminum. Broken LCD. 1 $299.00

Lot c060 TiBook front case bezel latch. . . . . . . 5 $19.00

Lot c059 Combo drive for a PowerBook G4. . . . . . 1 $29.00

Lot c058 Asante 10Mb switch. 8-port. Has 2 10/100 . 2 $25.00 uplink switches.

Lot c057 Asante 10/100 Ethernet switch. 2-port. . . 1 $10.00

Lot c056 HP Photosmart 435 Digital camera. . . . . 1 $19.00

Lot c055 HP Premium printer paper. 200 sheets. . . 2 $12.00

Lot c054 Apple s-video cable to RCA. . . . . . . . 5 $9.00

Lot c053 Long DB-25 to Centronics printer cable . . 1 $5.00

Lot c052 2 in 1 portable charger for mobile phone . 1 $5.00 and PDA.

Lot c051 Bi-Directional Parallel cable, A-B cable. 1 $2.00

Lot c050 Epson Ink Pro 5000, magenta/light magenta 1 $10.00

Lot c049 StarTek Mac SE Mac/SE 30 Dual Fan Vent Kit 2 $12.00

Lot c048 Apple XServe key . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 $5.00

Lot c047 Apple VGA to DVI adapter. . . . . . . . . 30 $9.00

Lot c046 Mini-VGA to VGA adapter. . . . . . . . . . 50 $9.00

Lot c045 15′ VGA extension cable. . . . . . . . . . 1 $19.00

Lot c042 Apple Airport Extreme base station stands 2 $5.00

Lot c041 XServe RAID controller card protectors . . 10 $5.00

Lot c040 Apple USB extension cables. . . . . . . . 10 $9.00

Lot c039 Temperature sensor for media bay . . . . . 1 $9.00

Lot c038 PowerMac G5 case. No door, air baffle and 1 $25.00 some dents.

Lot c037 Dummy Apple drive modules for XServe G4 . 20 $5.00 and XServe RAID.

Lot c036 iBook G3 12″ LCD panel. Condition C. . . . 1 $109.00

Lot c035 iBook G3 12″ LCD panel. Condition B. . . . 4 $149.00

Lot c034 iBook G3 12″ LCD panel. Condition A. . . . 6 $199.00

Lot c033 Apple XServe RAID Controller card with . . 1 $449.00 512MBs.

Lot c032 250GB Apple Drive Module for XServe G4 or 3 $259.00 XServe RAID.

Lot c031 180GB Apple Drive module for XServe G4 or 1 $149.00 XServe RAID.

Lot c030 Airport Antenna for PowerMac G5 . . . . . 7 $19.00

Lot c029 Top case for 12″ iBook G3. . . . . . . . . 2 $64.95

Lot c028 2x IDE Super Drive. No faceplace. . . . . 3 $79.00

Lot c027 256 PC-133 SO DIMM RAM. . . . . . . . . . 18 $19.00

Lot c026 Spanish keyboard for 15″ Aluminum . . . . 1 $50.00 PowerBook.

Lot c025 15″ Imac G4 flat panel display. B . . . . 4 $149.00 condition.

Lot c024 15″ iMac G4 flat panel display. A . . . . 1 $199.00 condition.

Lot c023 Power Supply for flat panel iMac G4. 15″ . 6 $69.95 iMacs.

Lot c022 PowerMac G4 Mirror Door lower (main) fan. 1 $20.00 7 blades (old style).

Lot c021 G3 Wallstreet 56k modem . . . . . . . . . 2 $9.95

Lot c020 56k modem for iMac 2001. . . . . . . . . . 10 $24.94

Lot c019 G4 Titanium Mercury or iBook G3 500MHz 56k 50 $9.95 modem.

Lot c018 PowerBook g4 TiBook Onyx or DVI model 56k 30 $9.95 modems

Lot c017 Apple OEM 1x SuperDrive for TiBook G4 DVI. 4 $79.00

Lot c016 PowerMac G4 Mirror Door lower (main) fan. 2 $29.00 5 blades (new style).

Lot c015 5GB iPod LCD display . . . . . . . . . . . 5 $10.00

Lot c014 15′ 6 pin to 4 pin firewire cable . . . . 6 $20.00

Lot c013 TiBook G4 400/500MHz LCD panel. NOTE: LCD 7 $369.00 assembly will not work with 550/667MHz Gigabit or the 867MHz/1 gig D(DVI) TiBooks.

Lot c012 Airport Express power cable extender . . . 10 $9.00

Lot c011 30GB 2.5″ hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . 2 $49.00

Lot c010 10GB 2.5″ hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . 3 $29.00

Lot c009 20GB 2.5″ hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . 6 $39.00

Lot c008 G4 TiBook 8x combo drive, Apple OEM drive. 9 $99.00

Lot c007 ATi Rage 128 for G4 cube, AGP. . . . . . . 1 $49.00

Lot c006 NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX AGP. . . . . . . . . . 1 $79.00

Lot c005 NIVIDIA GeForce 4 Titanium AGP. . . . . . 2 $99.00

Lot c004 PowerMac G4 Mirror Door Modem filter . . . 5 $9.00 boards.

Lot c003 TiBook G4 screen. Hinges only. . . . . . . 1 $29.00

Lot c002 iMac G4 15″ flat panel display. No dead . 2 $149.00 pixels, no scratches. A condition.

Lot c001 G4 TiBook DVI inverter board. . . . . . . 10 $29.00

Lot 25305 Book: Dreamweaver 4 Magic. Published by . 1 $8.00 New Riders. Good condition, with CD. (Attn. ES)

Lot A370 Cyclone Music Key, USB/MP3 device, 64MB, . 1 $19.00 includes earbuds, USB extension and landyard, new

Lot A366 Adobe Premiere 6.5, Classroom in a Book, . 3 $10.00 Official training workbook – book

Lot A364 Speed ! Understanding Home Networks, . . . 6 $2.00 Michael Wolf – book

Lot A362 Macromedia FlashMX Actionscripting, . . . 1 $10.00 Advanced training, Derek Franklin – book

Lot A358 Using Mac OS X, Special Edition, Brad . . 1 $10.00 Miser – book

Lot A339 A mixed box of Apple floppy software with 1 $10.00 Office 95 disks. A hidden treasure for someone hanging onto the past .

Lot A337 Apple Geoport telecom adapter for older . 1 $1.00 Power Macintosh Apple part number 661-1703.

Lot A338 Photoshop 6 for Macintosh and windoze, . 1 $5.00 Visual Quickstart Guide, Elaine Weinmann – book

Lot A328 Final Cut Pro 2 for Mac’s, Visual . . . . 1 $5.00 Quickstart Guide, Lisa Brenneis – book

Lot A326 America 24/7, The first volume of the . . 234 $9.95 America 24/7 series is a gorgeously printed 304-page large-format book featuring the very best work from top professional and amateur photographers across the United States. new 50% off MSRP

Lot A329 LucasArts Afterlife A classic Macintosh 19 $1.00 Game. read the review here…. www.videogamereview.com/PRD_81523_3764crx.aspx

Lot d1111 Don & Grace’s old cast iron porcelain. . 1 $49.00 covered kitchen sink… WOW now you have seen everything =)

Lot A327 ASANTE Friendly Media Adaptor 10BaseT/Thin 59 $1.00 FN10T/TN, Still new in box !!!!!

Lot A322 QuickTime for Mac and windows, Visual . . 1 $5.00 Quickstart Guide, Judith Stern – book

Lot dd5764 Canon PowerShot G3 Digital Camera – Used . 1 $299.00 by the Small Dog Marketing Department for the last few years. Originally sold for $799. Includes the original packaging, manuals, etc. 32MB Compact Flash card.

Lot A317 Hard Drive 27 GB IDE 3.5-inch 7200rpm . . 1 $9.00 works great in a G3 B&W.

Lot A310 MareWare Nylon iPod mini case with belt . 1 $5.00 clip, Tampa Bay Pewter with a Red stripe, new

Lot A307 Blower Assembly for G4 Xserve RAID.- . . 3 $11.00 untested

Lot A297 Apple 15-inch G4 iMac Display w/ Bezel. . 2 $149.00 Apple part# 661-2582 No scratches or dead pixels in A condition. Tested by SDE production.

Lot 34036 Plastic Moon Chairs. Plastic chairs that . 2 $9.00 are molded like a cup. (Think of an upside down cup with one side “mooned” out.) Originally purchased them for the retail showroom, kids section. You may not want to ship these. They’re big.

Lot D1107 Ride with the Spawn of the Devil! Small . 2 $100.00 Dog’s Don & Grace Mayer will take you on a Fall Foliage motorcycle tour of Vermont. This one-day tour includes lunch.Ride your own bike or hop on the back of one of ours.

Proceeds Benefit Planned Parenthood

Lot H2002 2-Hour Highland Games Exhibition and . . . 1 $150.00 training session with our own Hapy ‘Mac’ Mayer. Hapy (in kilt) will demonstrate the various events in the Scottish games and show you proper form.

All Proceeds to Zero Population Growth.

Lot A296 HP Inkjet print cartridge, model 41, . . . 1 $3.00 tri-color, expired

Lot A293 Kensington Extended Platform and Wrist . . 1 $5.00 Pillow

Lot A291 Electronic In-Wall Interval Timer . . . . 1 $34.95

Lot D1104 Large Rehoboam Italian wine bottle (empty) 1 $100.00 with wooden box signed by all Small Dog Employees. Contents emptied at Small Dog party. Proceeds to be donated to Katrina/Rita Hurricane relief for pet rescue.

Lot A277 Gravis Xterminator Dual-Control Joystick . 1 $9.00 and Game Pad (No software)

Lot A275 FriendlyNet FH208 Hub (Expansion Unit): . 2 $5.00 Eight 10/100Mbps NWay auto-negotiating ports (RJ-45) (For use with base unit for expansion or as a stand-alone.) Save $10 from our reg. price http://www.smalldog.com/product/12653625

Lot A267 Fan and housing for Xserve RAID, Xserve 14 $19.00 RAID (SFP Late 2004), Xserve RAID (SFP) -untested

Lot A265 Power Supply that will work in Xserve . . 8 $59.00 RAID, Xserve RAID (SFP Late 2004), Xserve RAID (SFP) Apple part number is 661-2734 –Untested

Lot A282 HP premium paper, 200 sheets, matte, 28lb 2 $5.00 bond

Lot A263 Controller Module for G4 Xserve RAID. New 6 $159.00 from Apple these sell close to $1000. I searched the web and got this “Your search – Controller Module Apple RAID G4 – did not match any products in Froogle”- – untested

Lot A278 Original Mac LC Keyboard, ADB, in like new 1 $5.00 condition – needs cable

Lot A261 G4 Xserve RAID rack installation kit. This 10 $19.00 OEM kit from Apple will help get that server off the floor and into a rack where it belongs.

Lot A268 Metal Gear CD Stand – media storage . . . 3 $2.00 spindle, new

Lot A259 15-inch iMac G4 travel case. This metal . 2 $25.00 case has foam padding design to hold your CPU free from shipping harm. Also a great place to lock up your computer when you leave your teenage son home alone.

Lot A266 Internal H.D. power extension cable, 4 pin 3 $2.00 Molex connecter

Lot A255 Apple OEM Wallstreet keyboard with all . . 2 $4.00 keys- untested

Lot A253 Gold -colored PowerBook 17-inch G4 . . . . 1 $1,499.00 1.33/512/ 80 / SD/AP / BT/56k w/ backlit keyboard. That’s right it is professionally painted gold and looks sharp. Rumor has it that it was owned by a Mr. William Gates in CA. Way to go Bill!! 90 day warranty

Lot A264 2005 Dog Picture Book/Desk Planner . . . . 19 $1.00

Lot A262 Targus Deluxe Universal Laptop Case, never 2 $5.00 used

Lot A260 3ft SCSI cable, DB25M to DB25M . . . . . . 1 $3.00

Lot A258 3ft SCSI cable, DB25M to DB25M . . . . . . 2 $3.00

Lot A249 3Ware Escalade 8006-2LP Serial ATA RAID . 1 $39.00 Controller

Lot A250 Apple Mini-DVI to VGA out Adapter, good . 5 $10.00 condition

Lot A242 Apple Newton Messagepad 130, good . . . . 1 $20.00 condition – no accessories or software

Lot A234 25ft ADB Keyboard cable, black, used . . . 1 $5.00

Lot A232 Apple S-Video to RCA out adapter, . . . . 7 $4.00 translucent, like new

Lot A230 Apple Mini-DVI to standard DVI out . . . . 4 $12.00 adapter, like new

Lot A228 Apple S-Video to RCA out Adapter, white, . 8 $5.00 like new

Lot A231 64MB PC-100 SO DIMM for laptops . These . 8 $1.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A219 128MB PC2100 SO DIMM for laptops. These . 3 $9.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A215 256MB PC2700 SO DIMM for laptops. These . 1 $20.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A213 512MB PC-133 SO DIMM for laptops. These . 5 $35.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A211 256MB PC-133 SO DIMM for laptops. These . 18 $15.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A209 128MB PC-133 So DIMM for laptops. These . 36 $9.00 are Apple pulls for the most part – untested.

Lot A207 256 PC-100 SO DIMMs for laptops. These are 11 $9.00 Apple DIMMS for the most part pulled but never tested.

Lot A212 Epson Ink for Stylus 880, T020201, 4 pack, 7 $5.00 expired

Lot A210 Umax manual insert floppy drives . . . . . 21 $1.00

Lot A204 Keyboard for PowerBook G4 550/667 MHz . . 5 $49.00

Lot A202 Keyboard for Powerbook G4 400/500 MHz . . 1 $49.00

Lot A195 iMac Slot load PAV boards- We are 50% . . 3 $10.00 sure that these work. They do not have a switch so they are for the LG display’s.

Lot A192 MacAcademy CD-Rom training series, . . . . 1 $6.00 FileMaker Pro 5, Vol. 4-6

Lot A190 MacAcademy CD-Rom training series, . . . . 2 $2.00 FileMaker Pro 5.5 New Features, Vol. 1

Lot A191 Orginal Apple Graphite AirPort Base . . . 7 $20.00 Station . untested units but worse case scenario, you can take take the WaveLan wireless card from the Base Station and make a Wallstreet wireless on OS 9.

Lot A178 MacAcademy CD-Rom training series, . . . . 1 $2.00 Entourage 2001

Lot A176 MacAcademy CD-Rom training series, Word . 1 $10.00 2001, Vol. 1-6

Lot A174 Voxmate 2 in 1 portable charger, model . . 1 $5.00 pwr-pnm for mobile phone and PDA

Lot A172 Epson ink for Pro 5000, Magenta, S020143 – 1 $2.00 expired

Lot A170 Quicken 2000 Deluxe – old software . . . . 46 $1.00

Lot A181 2 for $1 2-32mb PC100 SO-DIMMs makes a . 25 $1.00 nice upgrade for a computer with no memory =)

Lot A166 Spiderman – game, old software . . . . . . 2 $1.00

Lot A179 New 64MB PC100 SO DIMMs in bags. A . . . 66 $2.00 inexpensive way to update an older laptop

Lot A164 Canon Banner Paper, 8.5″x 11″, 50 sheets . 1 $2.00 continous

Lot A162 Mareware sports belt – good for a shoulder 3 $2.00 strap, strap an iPod to your dog, tow strap for a tricycle – has velcro end tab

Lot A175 12″ G4 AL Powerbook with a Broken LCD. . 1 $299.00 1GHZ/256mb/40/SuperDrive. We saw the broken LCD and that was that. Unknown unit powers up, thats about all we know.

Lot A173 3rd Gen. iPod front case bezel. This white 1 $10.00 bezel includes the 4 buttons and the scroll wheel.

Lot A156 Canon high resolution paper, 8.5″ x 11″, . 11 $5.00 100 per box

Lot A154 Canon Transparency paper, 8.5″ x 11″, 50 . 3 $5.00 per box

Lot A169 Apple DVI – VGA Adaptor works with AL . . 18 $10.00 Powerbooks and the DVI port of most video cards. Most in sealed packages.

Lot A165 Apple VGA Display Adapter- still sealed in 55 $10.00 package. Apple sells them for $19 each. Right now we have them on sale 1 for $10 or 5 for $50 !!!!

Lot A150 Diablo – game, old software . . . . . . . 2 $1.00

Lot A144 Hearts Deluxe – game, old software . . . . 1 $1.00

Lot A163 G5 tower external AirPort antenna – Used . 6 $9.00

Lot A159 CAPTURE the PowerMac 7200 business or . . 1 $72.00 create your own eBay business. 1 Lot of 15 used PowerMacs 7200′s for $72 plus shipping. This is probably a great deal for local customers.

Lot A155 Apple 922-4717 inverter for G4 iMac . . . 2 $5.00 15-inch 700-800mhz. If you are on-line and are using a flashlight to see your display because it is really dark this is the part that you might need. That is, of course,if you have the above mentioned computer.

Lot A151 iMac G4 internal speaker. These little . . 5 $2.00 babies are tested and work . I had a friend hitch 10 together and install them into his car for a surround sound system. They are not just for your iMac anymore !!!

Lot A149 Internal cooling fan for the G4 iMac . . . 4 $7.00 15-inch . These have been tested and work great.

Lot A147 iMac G4 800MHz logic board with modem and 1 $49.00 256MB PC133 DIMM – untested

Lot A145 Display clamshell for 12-inch G3 Dual USB 1 $39.00 iBook. Display works, has a red tint to it and comes with 3 fortune cookie fortunes on back . Includes reed switch , inverter, LCD and AirPort antenna. p.s. all good fortunes !!

Lot A143 2 SCSI Cables- DB 25M – DB 25M these . 1 $2.00 are older cables that are still new !!!

Lot A135 Ugly keyboard sale !!! These are the OLD . 26 $3.00 style Apple USB Pro keyboards that may or may not work, could be missing keys, and might be yellow. Than again, it could be a great deal !!!! $3 each

Lot A131 G3 iBook clamshell display ‘s units. This 1 $29.00 includes the hinges, AirPort antenna, Video cable, inverter. LCD and display bezels.- untested

Lot A142 Spades Deluxe – game, old software . . . . 2 $1.00

Lot A140 Spy Fox, Operation Ozone – game, old . . . 3 $1.00 software

Lot A138 Sin Gold – game, old software . . . . . . 5 $1.00

Lot A136 Traitors Gate – game, old software . . . . 3 $1.00

Lot A134 Who wants to be a Millionaire, 2nd edition 4 $3.00 – game, old software

Lot A130 Survivor – game, old software . . . . . . 4 $1.00

Lot A128 Corel Photo-Paint , old software . . . . . 4 $5.00

Lot A124 iPuppet Colins Classic Cards – game, old . 3 $1.00 software

Lot A122 MasterClips 1,000,001, – old software . . 3 $15.00

Lot A121 Inverter/ reed switch cable for G4 iBook . 1 $9.00 12-inch in new condition

Lot A114 Emergency Room, Code Red – game, old . . . 1 $1.00 software

Lot A112 Emergency Room 3, You are the Doctor – . . 1 $1.00 game, old software

Lot A110 Emergency Room, Disaster Strikes – game, . 4 $1.00 old software

Lot A104 Slots II, game, old software . . . . . . . 3 $3.00

Lot A107 922-5817 Board, ATA Controller for . . 2 $30.00 Xserve, Xserve (Cluster Node), Xserve (Slot Load)

Lot A103 Board, drive Interconnect for G4 Xserve , 1 $29.00 slot load Xserve

Lot A096 Internal ultra wide SCSI cable – three . . 3 $3.00 connector

Lot A094 Inetrnal front carrier HD bracket for . . 1 $1.00 beige G3 tower

Lot A095 Xserve G4 dual riser card-Used . . . . . . 1 $19.00

Lot A080 2ft Ultra SCSI cable, HD68M to HD50M . . . 1 $10.00

Lot A093 G4 Xserve processor fan-Used . . . . . . . 2 $9.00

Lot A078 HP usb to parallel adapter for DJ 670/690 1 $5.00

Lot A076 Moody Dog-Mood Collar for your dog . . . . 40 $5.00

Lot A091 Atto Express PCI UL3S Single Channel . . . 2 $99.00 Ultra-160MB 66MHz SCSI Host Adapter – MAC/Win

Lot A070 Apple 12 volt AC adapter for “Graphite” . 28 $5.00 AirPort base station

Lot A068 Belkin A-B data transfer switch ( DB-9 to 1 $5.00 DB-9 Serial )

Lot A089 Xserve power supply for 1GB and 1.33GB . . 1 $49.00 machines-used untested

Lot A066 Coby audio cassette head cleaning kit with 8 $1.75 fliud

Lot A062 Apple 12 volt A/C adapter for “Snow” . . . 9 $7.00 AirPort base station

Lot A087 Speaker Assembly for eMac 700/ 800mhz . . 2 $7.00 -used untested

Lot A083 2- Apple 12-inch G3 iBook USB main . . . 22 $19.00 batteries, used and untested. 2 for $19

Lot A060 ADB Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 $8.00

Lot A058 Apple internal 3.5-inch manual insert . . 2 $1.00 floppy drive – new

Lot A075 2- 14-inch iBook G3 batteries used and . . 4 $19.00 untested. 2 for $19

Lot A056 Datatek 15ft 6-4 pin FireWire cable . . . 5 $5.00

Lot A073 2 -PowerBook G4 Ti-Book Batteries used and 6 $19.00 untested. 2 for $19

Lot A052 3ft ADB Keyboard Cable . . . . . . . . . . 12 $1.00

Lot A050 Startech Mac SE, Mac SE/30 Dual Fan Vent . 2 $4.00 Kit

Lot A069 3 for $1. Apple 6′ Modem phone cords – . 60 $1.00 Can be used as a belt, too!!!!

Lot A048 Rhinotek Black Ink for Epson 2000P – . . . 1 $5.00 #T015201, one lot of three

Lot A046 Kensington CD scratch repair kit for all . 1 $3.00 CD formats

Lot A059 PowerBook G3 Wallstreet internal modems – 3 $9.00 untested

Lot A053 Apple iMac G4 20-inch LCD w/ Bezel . . . . 1 $69.00 untested with slight screen scuff

Lot A040 Asante USB to Parallel, universal serial . 2 $2.00 adapter

Lot A038 Belkin 15ft ethernet cable – New . . . . . 2 $5.00

Lot A034 Internal 4x SCSI CD-ROM mechanism . . . . 2 $5.00

Lot A039 G3 iBook 12-inch internal 56k modem . . . 4 $9.00

Lot A032 PowerMac 7500 Power Supply – used . . . . 1 $16.00

Lot A035 New Apple power supply board for . . . . 1 $39.00 tray-load iMac Rev 1. Apple part number 661-2081

Lot A030 Empty AirPort base station shells – movie 25 $3.00 prop/piggy bank/ ??? Fill them with sand and create a curling rink eh ?

Lot A033 New Apple analog/ video board for . . . 1 $39.00 tray-load iMac Rev 1. Apple part number 661-2080

Lot A024 Macintosh PowerBook 5300 Series with no AC 1 $45.00 adaptor- untested

Lot A019 Internal Zip 100MB drive 3.5-inch . . . . 1 $19.00 -untested

Lot A016 12 Zip disks, 100MB, USED (Originally . . 1 $12.00 formatted for a PC, but were re-formatted for Mac)

Lot A014 White G3 iBook 12-inch CDRW/DVD (combo) . 1 $59.00 drive w/bezel. Tested by Small Dog tech staff.

Lot A013 Apple internal 3.5-inch DVR-104 SuperDrive 1 $79.00

Lot A011 DC-in Board for G3 White 12″ iBook . . . . 2 $19.00

Lot A010 Titanium (G4) screen release button. Fits 14 $29.00 400/500/550/667/800/867 MHz and 1GHz

Lot A009 Case of 3.5″ floppy drives – 88 of ‘em. . 2 $30.00 Brand new for older PowerMac machines

Lot A008 Empty Xserve drive carrier without . . . . 16 $10.00 controller board or cables

Lot A007 Empty PowerMac G5 case . . . . . . . . . . 4 $99.00

Lot A005 Xserve RAID power supply (this is a single 5 $59.00 power supply, RAID chassis can hold two power supplies)

Lot A004 Xserve RAID chassis – just the box. No . 20 $179.00 drives, no power supply, no controllers.

+—————————————————————+

One more week until I head to warmer climates. I am helping the Vermont Nurse Practitioners’ Association do some strategic planning this weekend, acting as a facilitator, and spending some time on Sunday making sure I have enough swimming trunks! Still no snow here in the Green Mountains with brown fields as far as I can see outside my window looking down the Mad River. (Update: It is snowing!) I even saw a motorcycle yesterday as I was driving to Burlington for a meeting. I glanced at the thermometer and saw it was 31 degrees F, so I’ll bet that guy either had a heated suit or a wicked case of spring fever!

Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes. We appreciate your business and support. Have a great weekend!

Don, Dawn, Holly, and Ed

Roxio Toast 7
Company: Roxio
Price: $99
http://www.Roxio.com

We here at MyMac.com have been reviewing Roxio Toast for years. The problem, then, is how do you review a new version that, for all intents and purposes, does not add many new real features to the software, looks the same as it did a full version ago, and is just as easy to use as it ever was? Well, perhaps it’s a bit easier for me, as I did not write either of the reviews for version 5 or 6. (That would be Owen Rubin and David Weeks.) Nonetheless, let’s give a look a Toast 7 for the uninitiated among you.

For Mac users wondering why they would need to purchase a $99 program to burn CD’s and DVD’s when they get those functions with a free program (iTunes for CD’s, as well as data burning within the finder) or as part of a larger software package (iLife, more specifically iDVD for DVD creation) the answer is simple: where iTunes and iDVD falls short in their simplicity, Toast gives users much more control and options. This is not always a good thing; most Mac users enjoy the simplicity in the OS and iLife. But more serious or hardcore users will find, many times, that they need more options.

Toast can be used to create data back-ups, create and burn audio CD’s and video DVD’s, create other media discs (DivX, Super Video CDs, Video CD’s, DVD’s from Video-TS files) and much more. Toast plays nicely with the Mac OS, including giving the user access to iTunes libraries and playlists, the user movie library, and iPhoto, including all the photo albums therein. We will get more into the media features of Toast later in the review.

The newest feature I was most looking forward to is Data Spanning. This alone, in my opinion, is the sole reason to purchase Roxio Toast 7. Archiving large files, such as the video projects I work on, is now very simple with Data Spanning. For instance, I recently worked on remastering an old wedding video for a client, converting a VHS tape to DVD, as well as creating a “highlight” DVD in the process. The finished iMovie file was 25.98GB in size. While I could simply create a copy of the finished DVD’s, I also wanted to keep on hand the iMovie archive of the project, in case the client came back later wanting to do something different with the footage. But how to archive almost 26GB of data? Sure, external FireWire drives would work, but I don’t want to take up valuable hard disk space for a file I may never need again. Much more convenient to simply archive it to data CDs or DVDs. But the file is too large to fit onto either of those media.

Data Spanning solves this easily. I simply drag the file in question to the open Toast window, and the program will tell me how many discs I need, depending upon what media I will be using. In this instance, Toast informs me that I will need 6 blank DVDs, or 38 blank CD’s, to archive the project. A ten pack of blank DVD’s will only set me back five bucks, which is much cheaper than taking up storage space on an external hard drive. Data Spanning, however, only works with Mac discs, not Mac and PC, so keep that in mind.

Toast has the ability to copy home brewed DVD’s with ease. While the program will not allow you to copy copy-protected discs, such as movies you rent, you can copy those you made in iDVD. This came in handy for me a short time ago, as I had lost all my iAtariMac MacMOD files. Just gone. My only option was to grab the low quality files from the Internet. But thanks to Chad Perry, who had MacMOD on DVD, I simply copied his DVD.

As I said, Toast is unable to make copies of any DVD with Macrovision encryption, meaning commercial movie DVDs. So what’s a person to do if they want to copy their own DVDs? For me, I used MacTheRipper, a free program, to copy an entire DVD to my hard drive, stripping out the encryption at the same time. Then I used Toast to burn a regular DVD from that file, and viola! – an instant copy of my movie. While you could also do the same thing with rented DVDs, that would be stealing, and we don’t condone that here at MyMac.com, of course.

The interface of Toast 7 is the same as the previous version, which is a good thing. If something is not broken, there’s no need to fix it. Toast uses a tabbed interface, which includes Data (data backups, copying data, etc.), Audio (to create music CD’s, with many more options than you get from iTunes), Video (see above), and Copy (self explanatory). Each tab will bring up different options with a slide-out left preference pane, so that you can adjust or tweak different options as needed. For instance, the Data pane will show different types of disc you can burn, such as a Mac-only disc or a Mac and PC disc. The preference pane also links to the iLife media on your Mac, giving you quick and easy drag and drop access to your files.

You can author your own DVD menus using Toast 7, although I haven’t spent much time doing so. It seems fairly straightforward, but after a cursory playing with this feature, I simply found iDVD much easier and intuitive to use.

With Toast 7, you can download DivX video files, drag them into Toast, and create DVDs playable on your home entertainments DVD player. As Roxio touts on their website, this lets you watch videos where you really want to; on your coach, watching the television, not on your computer monitor.

All in all, I am very impressed with this new version of Roxio Toast. It has become my disc burning solution of choice. Well worth the money for those needing to create easy backups, archiving, and much more.

MyMac.com Rating: 5 out of 5

Fixed MP3 Links!

Featuring an interview with former CEO of Apple Computer, Dr. Gil Amelio. We talk about his time at Apple, what he is doing today, and much, much more. This is one of the most in-depths interviews in a long time with Dr. Amelio, and we hope you enjoy it. We also talk about Software for Starving Students, some recent Mac news, and reader feedback.

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There was a time, in 1997, when Apple was near death.

And so, some wonderful people, who turned out to be great writers started a rescue operation. Just perhaps, if the community of Apple’s few remaining customers could be inspired to hang on and be given a reason to Think Different, then maybe the fire could be kindled long enough for Steve Jobs to save the company.

This community of brilliant writers on the Macintosh Web rallied around a reborn company. Often we explained. Sometimes we pleaded. We always worked feverishly to articulate that which made Apple worth saving.

Of course, that alone wasn’t enough. It took a lot of hard work by thousands of Apple employees, a dedicated Executive Team, and some brilliant strategy to nurse the vision back to life and return Apple to big sales and good profits.

It was August of 2000 when I left that community of authors to join the Apple mother ship. At that time, Apple was not yet out of the woods. The stock was in the toilet. Mac OS X had not yet shipped. But, as an observer of the company, I saw promise, and I saw a personal dream coming true.

Because Apple does not look kindly upon its employees writing about Apple, I said my farewells and got to work. “Sailing Beyond the Sunset” “Look to the Rainbow“

Now, after five years, Apple and I have parted ways. And things are very different, both with Apple and the Internet. The Apple vision is clearly understood, and Apple no longer needs writers to prod the embers of a dying fire.

Nowadays, while things are better for Apple, in some ways, things are much worse in the computer industry as a whole. We are showered with technology. Our time and our sensibilities are pummeled by every company that can throw together a gadget and a Website. The Internet, designed by scientists with implicit trust, has failed to keep pace with the mischief of international thieves. The Internet is a growing cloud of raised voices. Sometimes our computers betray us, and we are very, very far from the noblest vision of personal robots proposed by Isaac Asimov.

When I was a teenager, reading all the science fiction I could get my hands on, there was a prevailing belief by the authors that our values as humans would guide us through the new technologies of the future. Today, there are only a few companies driven by that vision.

Yes, there is much more to write about.

I am very pleased to be back amongst a group of writers that I very much respect. In joyfully rejoining the family, my goal is not to persuade you to believe what I believe, rather it is to share with you what I’ve learned. I’ll talk about science, computing, values, and our best hopes for where the digital life is taking us. I intend to be analytical and low key. I’m seeking reflection and inspiration. I hope you are as well.

After a five-year mission, it’s as if I’m sailing home in quiet waters with logbook in hand. I’ll be reflecting on what has gone before and anticipating what is to come.

How can one ask for more?

In my Macspiration article from October 3, “Emailing Photos Using iPhoto,” I discuss how to email photo attachments using iPhoto’s email feature. In this case iPhoto creates the email for you, with the photo attached. What if you need to email an image not in iPhoto, or another file like a text document? Sure, you can add the image to iPhoto and email from there, but you can’t add the text document to your iPhoto library. In this Macspiration, I’ll tell you how to do that.

Before we start: I am going to discuss emailing an attachment in Apple’s Mail program. There are many other email program options out there. While they are not identical, most of what I describe below will be very similar. I am also assuming the reader knows how to write an email. Now, let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do when you want to email a file is open your email program and start a new email. Address the email, add a subject if you like, and type any message you want to tell the recipient.

Now to add the attachment. If you can open a file in a program, you can add an attachment. First click the paper clip icon at the top of your email window labeled “Attach.” This will open a window, similar to the window you see when you open a file. The difference here is that you are not opening a file, you are attaching one. Navigate to the file you want to attach, highlight the file, and click attach. The file is now attached to your email. You could also double click the file to attach it. To attach additional files, repeat the process.

For the more advanced user, you can even drag and drop a file into a blank email and it will be attached. No need to use the “Attach” button.

The file is now attached to your email. Click “Send.” The email, with the file, is off.

Did you notice the little check box in the attach window marked “Send Windows friendly attachments?” If you are sending an email to a person with a Windows machine, it is a good idea to check this box. With the box unchecked, your Windows friend will probably receive two files. One will be the right one. The other file will have “_” in front of the name and be unusable. Checking this box will avoid that problem.

You can set this to always happen by going to “Attachments” in the Edit menu, from the main Mail window. Here you can select “Always Send Windows Friendly Attachments.” I always send attachments this way at work, because there are times when I don’t know if I am sending to a Mac or Windows machine. I have never had any issues sending to a Mac with this option checked. However, according to Apple, a Mac user could receive a file that is missing date or it might be totally unusable.

That’s it. Emailing attachments is pretty easy. You can now send files throughout the world via email.

The Olympics are on but the big winner this week was a bull terrier named Rufus who walked off with top dog honors on Tuesday at the Westminster Kennel Club’s show at Madison Square Garden. Here’s a picture of the big winner:

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/_photos/2006/02/14/2006-02-14-rufus- inside.jpg

I was flipping channels the other night and the Purina Incredible Dog contest caught my attention. They had amazingly athletic dogs doing acrobats for discs but my favorite event was the Jack Russell hurdle race. I was laughing hysterically and woke up Grace with my laughing. When she lifted her head to check out what I was laughing at, she also broke up. I sure do love dogs!

The weather here in the Green Mountains continues to be odd. Yesterday it was in the 50s and that warm weather is continuing this morning with rain. I can look out my window down the Mad River valley and see only bare ground and a swollen river. A big change is coming, though, as a cold front is pushing our way. The forecast is for the rain to freeze and then the winds to pick up (there is a high wind warning) and temperatures plummet tonight to -15 F. The trees and wildlife are a bit confused. I’ve seen a lot more deer grazing lower over the past week. Even Mothra, my cat, wants to go outside now. Spring fever in February? No way! The harsh reality of winter is an arctic cold front away.

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Barkings Returns to Small Dog!
About two years ago we redesigned our web site and away went the very popular Barkings. Barkings was updated daily with Small Dog news, Apple news, and odd tidbits of information. Though this was interesting to read and drew people to our site, it was difficult to maintain and, because of our site design, caused some problems if the article was more than a few paragraphs. It required working with HTML, so not everyone was interested in contributing.

Barkings existed long before there was such a thing as a web log, but that’s exactly what it was (except that there was very little room to write anything). All we knew was that when it was gone, we missed it. Then along came the blog phenomenon and we finally had a way to bring back Barkings. It took us a little longer than we had anticipated, but we finally have Barkings back.

You can read Barkings on our blog page here and post comments to some articles. We aren’t turning on all comments right away so we can see what happens with comment spam, the latest in the spammer’s arsenal.

http://blog.smalldog.com

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MacBook Pro Speed Bump!
Even before Apple shipped the first MacBook Pro, they decided to upgrade the latest laptop in the Mac line. Apple announced this week that they are providing a speed bump to the MacBook Pro. All current orders will be automatically switched to the new models. It was a bit of a pain because Apple also changed the model numbers and UPC codes, but we are all set for the first delivery.

The 1.67GHz Intel Dual Core chip has been replaced with the 1.83GHz Dual Core on the MacBook Pro’s entry-level Mac and the top of the line now sports a 2.0GHz Dual Core instead of the 1.83GHz. I guess we can’t call it the top of the line anymore because Apple also is offering the fastest chip Intel makes in the Dual Core line: a 2.16GHz Dual Core as a configure-to-order option at an additional cost of $300.

We’ve been told to expect our initial shipments of MacBook Pro units within the next week, so it looks like Steve Jobs will meet his promised February shipment dates on this new addition to the Mac line.

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Oompa Loompa Trojans?
The blogs were abuzz with news of what some called the first "virus" for Mac OS X, which masks itself as the latest pictures of the next version of Mac OS X, Leopard. If you download the file "lastestpics.tgz" and enter your password to uncompress and run it, it would attempt to send the file to everyone in your iChat buddy list.

Contrary to some reports, this is not a virus. It requires user action to download, decompress, and launch the program. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would ever download a file with the ".tgz" extension. That screams WATCH OUT! You cannot be infected with this malicious software unless you intentionally download the file (or get it via email or iChat direct transfer). Then you would have to double-click on the generic icon to decompress it and then double-click on the resulting file. Depending on how you have your system preferences set up, you would probably have to enter your admin password,too.

You can’t "catch" this virus — you have to go through all those steps. Always remember that it is important to understand what you are downloading. Be cautious about running applications if you are unsure of their origins. It is easy to make a file that would erase your hard drive if you answer "yes" when Mac OS X asks you if you want to erase your hard drive.

Symantec, which has a vested interest in discovering security issues so they can sell you some software, has classified this Oompa Loompa Trojan as a category 1 threat (on at 5-point scale with 5 being the most serious threat).

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Playing Around with iWeb
iLife ’06 is an upgrade well worth the price of admission. Apple has upgraded all of the applications in iLife. We have talked about the new features. I had some time to play with the latest addition to iLife, iWeb. This piece of software gives you the tools to be on the net with your own web site, blog, and/or podcast faster than any software I have seen. I decided to remake my personal website with iWeb and it was so easy and intuitive that anyone should be able to do it.

iWeb is yet another great reason to have a .Mac account because the resulting websites can be easily hosted on .Mac. Take a look at my new website at:

http://web.mac.com/donmayer/iWeb/Site/

I’m going to be adding to my blog and photo sections from time to time and especially when I am in Hawaii next month. I plan on uploading my underwater photos soon after I surface.

I was playing around with iWeb at the office and wanted to continue to work on my project at home on my PowerBook. The first new feature I’d like to see from Apple is the ability to modify and add to your web site from multiple machines. There is a workaround that made it possible, but it involved a trip down to the office and the use of my iPod shuffle.

The database that contains your iWeb website is contain in the iWeb folder in the Application Support folder inside the Library folder. It is a file called "Domain". I drove down to the office and checked in on the store, but the guys seemed to have that under control. Then I booted up my office G5, plugged in my iPod shuffle, and moved "Domain" over to the shuffle. Once I had driven back through the mud to my house, I simply moved the file over to the Library on the PowerBook and was able to work on the site on my PowerBook.

Another feature we’d like to see in iWeb is a "comments" feature for the blog so that it can be interactive. That’s an important feature that makes blogs fun.

To get started with iWeb, all you have to do is tell it that you want to create a new site. You are then presented with a bunch of interesting templates or themes for your web site. These range from plain white to nightlife to formal. I selected Freestyle. You then are presented with six choices of templates to get started: Welcome, About Me, Photos, Movie, Blog, and Podcast.

When you select one of these, you are presented with a complete template with spaces for pictures and text that you can easily place. To change the text, select the "Lorem ipsum…" and replace it with the text you want to use. If you want to use a picture, you can use the media browser and grab a picture from your iPhoto library and drag it over to the template. You can create links and add pictures. When you are satisfied with your page, select "Publish to .Mac" and the file is uploaded to your iDisk and you can announce your new web site to the world.

What is remarkable about this combination of iLife, iWeb, and .Mac is that Apple has once again taken what was a mysterious skill of web developers and brought it to everyone. With its intuitive and powerful interface, iWeb is a remarkable piece of software. If you haven’t upgraded to iLife ’06 yet, you should do it now! To make it even easier, Small Dog Electronics is offering free shipping on iLife ’06 and iLife ’06 Family Pack this week for Kibbles & Bytes readers.

iLife 06 with free shipping* – $79

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16473/mymac

iLife 06 Family Pack with free shipping* – $99

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16474/mymac

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Final Cut Studio and Intel Anticipation Ed @ smalldog.com
I switched to Macintosh computers back in 1999 to take advantage of iMovie 1 and Final Cut Pro 2. Then, as now, Apple offered the best and most integrated solution for editing video. I started out on an iMac DV with a 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of RAM, a 13-inch screen, and a G3 500 MHz processor. I actually ran FCP 2 on it. I didn’t know better back then.

I eventually switched to a dual G4 Power Mac with a large flat-panel display. Of course, this greatly exceeded the iMac’s capabilities. Now I am back to editing on an iMac — an iMac G5, that is. With a very fast G5 processor, 2 GB RAM, and an excellent 20-inch screen, it’s an ideal system for editing SD video. It’s faster than the dual 1 GHz Power Mac it replaced. The iMac G5 runs the latest version of Final Cut Studio, including Final Cut Pro 5, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, and Soundtrack Pro — applications I run several times a week. I use a semi-broken MiniDV camera to connect the iMac to a television, where I can preview video playing on Final Cut’s timeline. The iMac is the perfect machine for me — fast, reliable, and integrated.

It seems the Intel iMac will be even better for editing video. Not only is the processor faster than ever, but for the first time the iMac has the option of a 256 MB video card and features a DVI-out port that natively supports video spanning. That means you can connect a second monitor to the iMac and run two separate images at a time on both monitors. You could do that with the older iMacs, but quality was limited to an analog VGA connection and you had to download a hack to get the video card to support dual displays. Now video spanning to a second monitor is native, digital, and very high quality. The Intel iMac is capable of being a no-compromise, full- time editing machine.

The only hitch is that Final Cut Studio is completely incompatible with the Intel Macs. You can’t even install the software because it was designed to take advantage of specific technologies only available on the PowerPC. When the Intel-based Macs were unveiled at Macworld, Apple announced that an update for Final Cut Studio would eventually be released. That date has now been confirmed as March 31. If you have a current version of Studio, it will only cost $49 to get the Universal version of the software. If you have Final Cut Pro 5, the upgrade is only $99. There’s even an upgrade path for the software going back to Final Cut Pro 1! Read about this here:

http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/

If you buy Final Cut Studio today, you’ll get the PowerPC version. You can then upgrade to the Universal version on March 31. This means you’ll have versions for G4 and G5 machines as well as Intel-based Macs! We’ve put Final Cut Studio on sale to take advantage of this window of opportunity. For $100 less than list price, you can own Final Cut Studio (Final Cut Pro, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro 4). See the special here:

Apple Final Cut Studio for $1199!

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag34650/mymac/

Have fun editing!

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AppleCare Now Global and Mike Hogan’s New Toy
Mike Hogan is Small Dog’s Apple rep and every now and then he comes up with a gem for us. Mike sent me an email this morning with some news about the change to Apple’s warranty policies and AppleCare Protection Plan. I opened the mail and there was only a sound file. The sound file was Mike’s voice explaining the new features (no comment about the early morning intrusion of Hogan’s yapper). It saved me the time of reading one of his messages, which we seldom read anyway. Seriously though, Mike also pointed out that a shareware program called Audacity was pretty cool. So I downloaded it and the MP3 translator (LAME MP3 Encoder) and sent him a reply that was just a small sound file.

Audacity is a free cross-platform sound editor that can be downloaded at:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

The news that Mike was sending to me was that Apple has changed their warranty and AppleCare Protection policies to provide coverage for most Apple products if you find yourself with a problem outside the USA. In the past, only some products were covered (primarily laptops) under the Global warranty. Now all products with the exception of the iMac are covered under the Global warranty.

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Garage Sale Coming Next Week!

We are going to be holding our latest Small Dog Electronics Garage Sale next week. This one is going to be a little different because we are going to be offering a bunch of iBooks, PowerBooks, and other Macs in "as-is" condition. You can be guaranteed that these Macs have something wrong with them, but they are good as fix-me-ups or as a source for parts. We are pricing them low to move them out. We will also have our usual assortment of products for the Garage Sale.

These sales are strictly first-come, first served, so look for Kibbles & Bytes to come out sometime around 7:00PM Eastern next Friday if you want to be first.

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Mark Jones Checks out Circus Ponies Notebook MarkJ @ smalldog.com
Yesterday as I walked to the refrigerator in our office to grab a soda, Holly, who was with Hapy and Carey going over new products, asked me if I’d write a review of Notebook by Circus Ponies. She knew that I’m one of the few people here who use Notebook regularly and I’m always saying how much I like it. So here goes!

Originally I used Notebook 2.0 just as a basic note-taking application, and then as a phone log. The interface is designed just like (obviously) a notebook. It’s easily customizable to suit individual taste, as a spiral, pad, or perfect notebook. You can set up the pages as text (in no particular format), outlines, or just plain lists. The more I worked with it, the more uses I found for it.

I communicate with a number of Small Dog’s vendors and customers and, of course, all of Small Dog’s employees. Notebook allows me to attach files (Excel, Word, photos, graphs, audio notes, etc.) in their original format and relate them to conversations or projects right on the page with my notes. Web links, photos, and Address Book cards on the pages are great timesaving features. Aside from the drag-and-drop method of adding images, Notebook also allows direct loading from digital cameras and scanners. If you forget where you’ve put a file, it has a great Super-Find feature, similar to Tiger’s Spotlight, which allows you to find files by text, keywords, or date created, among a few others.

Tis software has innumerable uses. It’s simple to use, easy to customize, and loaded with features that make organizing large projects stress free and even fun.

Notebook 2.0 sells for $43! Order this week, and we’ll ship for free to the 48 contiguous U.S. states!

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16475/mymac

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Start Soapbox

Baseball Has Been Very Very Good to Me

The relatively unnoticed announcement from the International Olympic Committee that baseball and softball would not be allowed as an Olympic sport in the 2012 Olympics is an outrage. Baseball and softball are team sports that are played all over the world. Softball and baseball are the first sports to be cut from the games since polo was cut in 1936. Cuba, Australia, Guatemala, Brazil, Spain, Canada, South Africa, and Taiwan all spoke up in favor of allowing the sports to continue on the Olympic level after their now-final appearance at the 2008 games in Beijing.

Baseball was a demonstration sport at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and 1988 Seoul Games and became a medal sport in 1992 at Barcelona, where Cuba won the gold. The Cubans beat Japan in the 1996 final at Atlanta- Fulton County Stadium, where the 32 games had an average attendance of 28,749.

While the sting for U.S. professional baseball is not very severe, the close association of women’s softball with the men’s game probably doomed that sport as well. The concern seemed to be that U.S. professional baseball players would not be participating in the games because they would occur during the middle of the major league baseball season. While not too many baseball players dream of an Olympic gold medal, for women softball players Olympic gold was the pinnacle of the sport.

Major league baseball is getting more and more international in its scope and one day the World Series may become a true world series with international competition. The Olympics could have been an important step in this direction, but MLB will probably work toward international competition without the IOCC.

The impact on the women is more severe. Croatian softball player Jelena Cusak said the decision will cut off crucial funding for youth softball programs around the world. "These kids won’t have the Olympic dream anymore," she said. "They won’t understand this decision. We can’t explain it to them. They don’t know the politics."

Baseball is played all over the world and there are certainly more baseball and softball fans than there are fans of other included sports such as archery, fencing, handball, and curling!

Shame on the IOCC. Baseball and softball belong in the Olympics!

What do you think about the IOCC decision to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympics? Share your opinion at the Small Dog Soapbox:

http://www.smalldog.com/PHPbb/viewforum.php?f=1

End Soapbox

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New Products

Rain Design iWoofer Speaker System – $129 iWoofer. The fresh and radical iPod speaker system. iWoofer is designed to make a striking impression for the eye as well as the ear, with unique combination of features like downfiring subwoofer and the smallest ipod speaker with radio. iWoofer distinctive sci-fi yet friendly looks matches your fun loving lifestyle and let you share with all to enjoy.

White: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39682/mymac
Black: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39683/mymac (no picture available for black version)

iWoofer for Nano/Shuffle – $129 White: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39684/mymac
Black: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39685/mymac (no picture available for black version)

Rain Design iLevel Adjustable Laptop Stand – $79 Because you don’t sit at your desk in a fixed position, we designed the iLevel stand to be dynamic. Drag iLevel’s slider to adjust the screen height to your new eye level whenever you shift position. Rotate iLevel’s built-in turntable whenever you want to share ideas with others. Designed to match the Apple MacBook and PowerBook, iLevel is made of steel with silver paint finish, so you can work comfortably in a stylish and solid desktop setting.

12" PowerBook/MacBook Pro – http://www.smalldog.com/product/39680/mymac
14" PowerBook/MacBook Pro – http://www.smalldog.com/product/39681/ mymac

Mobility iGo iTip A61 for iPod – $15 Unique itipTM Technology enables any itips compatible power adapter to power/charge thousands of mobile electronic (ME) devices using interchangeable tips. These tips automatically configure to ensure each device gets the precise amount of power.

http://www.smalldog.com/product/39669/mymac

iSkin eVo3 Blush – $29.99 The amazing eVo3 raises the bar by being the first silicone protector to feature an ultra-clear, scratch resistant screen and face protector for the iPod with video. As with all iSkin products, the eVo3 is precision molded to provide the ultimate fit with a high quality finish. It’s designed to provide maximum protection without added bulk and to enhance the look of the iPod. The iSkin eVo3 is crafted from durable, high-grade silicones.

30GB 5G iPod Video – http://www.smalldog.com/product/39690/mymac
60GB 5G iPod Video – http://www.smalldog.com/product/39693/mymac

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Specials!

Here are the specials this week, valid through February 23rd or while on-hand supplies last. Be sure to use the wag URL to get this special pricing.

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iPod nano Protection on Sale!

MobileJuice ScreenShield 3-Pack for the iPod nano – $5

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16463/mymac

MobileJuice nanoGear PowerGuard, ScreenShield, and WheelFilm Bundle – $5

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16464/mymac

MobileJuice PowerGuard 2-Pack – $5

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16462/mymac

MobileJuice SkinArt Silicone Case (available in six colors) – $7

To order: Frost White http://www.smalldog.com/wag16465/mymac/
To order: Solid Black http://www.smalldog.com/wag16467/mymac/
To order: Transparent White http://www.smalldog.com/wag16466/mymac/
To order: Turquoise Blue http://www.smalldog.com/wag16468/mymac/
To order: Light Pink http://www.smalldog.com/wag16469/mymac/
To order: Lime Green http://www.smalldog.com/wag16471/mymac/

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Used Apple iPod 20gb Clickwheel (A Condition) with Small Dog Electronics Groove Cube (w/ AC Adapter) and CARTunes – $209

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag50037/mymac

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Power Mac G5/2.5GHzDP 512/160/SD/Rad9600XT with Adobe Creative Suite CS 2 Standard (full version) – $2899

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16472/mymac

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This week only!

Free Small Dog iPod Ear Buds (Retractable) with any iPod purchase. Just enter coupon code ReelBuds when placing online orders.

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Micro Accessories 65 Watt AC Adapter for PowerBook or iBook – $39

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/product/36139/mymac

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Protect your keyboard with a hint of pink!

iSkin ProTouch XT Apple Keyboard Protector (Blush Pink) – $25

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How soon do you pack for a trip? My wife, Grace, and I are total opposites. We are two weeks away from leaving for our trip to Hawaii, but I looked in the spare bedroom the other day and Grace was already gathering suitcases and clothing. I’m the sort that waits until the last minute and grabs whatever I think I might need and tosses it into a bag. It’s a good thing the airlines limit our luggage!

Despite my concerns about the IOCC, I’ll be spending some time watching the Winter Olympics this weekend and, of course, the NBA All Star game.

Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes. Have a great weekend!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

Don, Dawn, Holly, and Ed

Like what you have read here? What to get KIBBLES & BYTES weekly email newsletter from Small Dog Electronics emailed to you every week? It’s simple! Just visit http://www.smalldog.com/subscribe.html today to have them delivered to you every week.

About every few years, John C. Dvorak seems to have some acid flashback from his youth, and writes some article about the future that demonstrates not being in touch with the present or reality. The latest demonstration (at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1927885,00.asp ) was that Apple would give up Mac OS X and go to Windows. Huh? What are you talking about John? When you hear hooves do you think “horses” or “a herd of purple unicorns”. John opted for the latter.

John talks about Apple recently “Freaking out” over rumor sites leaking products before they are ready as proof of some grand conspiracy to go to Windows. Talk about losing it, and forgetting that Apple has been “freaking out” over security leaks for over a decade, or more if you count Steve’s first reign at Apple. Steve and Apple don’t like leaks because it steals their thunder from “The Big Demo”; it is part of the antidote to his RDF (Reality Distortion Field). This has absolutely NOTHING to do with going to Windows or black helicopters, it is just about marketing and corporate culture.

Then Dvorak talks about how 5 years ago, Bill Gates, and more recently Roz Ho, got on stage and made commitments to the Mac market. This is an obviously hint of some grand conspiracy. Or it is about a profitable segment of Microsoft’s business and trying to stay out of more trouble over monopolistic anti-trust practices. Talk about making threads out of nothing. I was waiting to hear stuff about how “Bill Gates” and “Steve Jobs” have the same number of letters in their name, as does “Microsoft” and “Macintosh”, so obviously they are secretly the same person/thing! Whew. When I hear people talking like that, I start looking around for people in white coats.

Adobe is a large, big, slow moving, bureaucratic company that hasn’t yet rewritten all their apps to take advantage of a new architecture; when Apple’s pro-level machines aren’t even released yet, and probably won’t be until the end of the year. Is it a conspiracy, as John thinks… or common sense mixed with corporate politics? Personally, I’d opt for the latter. Someone should teach John about Occam’s razor; the simplest explanation is probably the most likely or don’t make things more complex than they really are.

John said bigger companies than Apple have dropped their proprietary OS’s. Yes, they have. And then he fails to ask the intelligent questions; what happened to them? Where are they now? Apple is smart enough to look back, and notice that companies that did that are generally gone; out of the PC market altogether. Taking his OS/2 model, how is IBM doing in the PC space? Oh, yeah, they sold off that business entirely. It isn’t about sentimentality but business. OS/2 never added much value or had Applications. Apple and the Mac is much stronger than OS/2 ever was; has more customers, a larger software market, and major competitive advantages over Windows; security, ease of use, quality, graphics, and so on. IBM dropping OS/2 was a symptom of their incompetence and lack of focus in the PC market-space, that eventually spelled their doom (in that segment). Should Apple really race to follow in those grand footsteps?

Macs always had less hardware compatibility, mainly because a lot of low-end companies don’t write drivers for Macs. Yet, despite that, the Mac users always have had a rich choice of products that do run, and a thriving market. Mac as an industry is successful already. Apple going to Intel makes it easier to write those drivers (for some), and will increase marketshare, which means more economic motivation to do so. I don’t see how this spells doom for Apple or the Mac as John does. Of course there are going to be companies that choose not to support all the Mac and all the customers in mixed environments who have both types of machines. A pox on their houses; hardly reason for Apple to give up their largest competitive advantages; tight hardware-software integration, real security, User Interface advantages, and so on.

John sort of sees things through his colored glasses or bloodshot eye’s. IBM’s OS/2 was always late to the party and had few real customer advantages over Windows, IBM realized they had repeatedly failed to keep up and market the platform, so gave up and it went away. Thus he ignores the real competitive advantages and larger market-share and momentum for the Mac, and assumes they must follow the same path. John fails to notice that Linux hasn’t gotten desktop adoption, not because of a lack of peripheral support, but because of the fundamentals of the OS itself; it offers little to nothing compelling for users (on the desktop), and huge costs in compatibility — so has stayed in the realm of servers and geeks. But again, that has little to nothing to do with the Mac. The Mac has more hardware compatibility already, and they just made it easier. The Mac already has more compelling user Applications on the desktop, and real advantages over Windows in ease of use, and so on. So the points are moot if you’re paying attention. He wasn’t.

Finally, John jabs at all the users of Macs as fanatics. Why can’t they give up this whole freedom and independence thing, and just goose-step to the fascist followers rhythms? Or, they could just find value in things like higher security, easier to use, easier to install, better graphics, technologies that work without the IT complexities that Windows has, and so on. Don’t get me wrong; Macs do have plenty of quirks and problems of their own, as well. But the point is that if you’re like Dvorak and you ignore all the competitive advantages and differences, well then it makes no sense that your aren’t using Windows — and you’ll write silly articles like the one I’m rebutting. But if you ignore the laws of physics, then it makes no sense that we aren’t all flapping our arms and flying to get place to place. In my world, physics and common sense and competitive advantages should still be considered; and Mac users shouldn’t all become PC users because Dvorak thinks it would be cool.

John tied all these totally uncoupled things into a grand conspiracy theory. It reminds me of watching a Michael Moore film or a watching a Cheech & Chong movie where they’re sitting around stoned or tripping, making these detached with reality leaps into what makes the universe tick. Sure dudes; I’m going to record it, and when you come down, you’ll realize how totally silly you sound.

There’s one minor seed of truth in all this; Apple may be decoupling the hardware from the software a bit. By going to Intel, Apple may be preparing to separate the two, or at least giving themselves more options in the future. In theory, Apple could start selling OS X for PC’s, and we will soon be able to run Windows on Macs. This could sort of free both up; OS X could run on more hardware, and Macs could run more software. But even this much more modest split than what John was pontificating on, has serious risks and issues, and is likely YEARS away. Apple’s biggest competitive advantage is the tight coupling between hardware and software; and giving that away isn’t a slam-dunk win. More likely Apple just sees their business as making slightly better PC’s than most, by knowing what to throw out — thus by using more PC hardware suppliers, they can decrease their costs, increase their compatibility and options, and sell more machines, and increase their own health. This is not a herd of purple unicorns, just Apple cross breeding the best traits from a plow horse with a thoroughbred.

Razer Pro | Solutions Ultra-Fine Pixel Precision Mouse v1.6

Price: $60 US

Razer Pro | Solutions Pro Pad Dual-sided Mousing Surfaces

Price: $30 US

http://www.razerpro.com

One of the best things about wandering the Macworld Expo showroom floor from booth to booth between media PR appointments is coming across unexpected treasures among all the splash and crash of promotional excess. Such is the case with this "humble" mouse and pad introduced by Razer Pro Solutions. "Oh yeah, Nemo," you’re thinking, "just what the world really needs is another stinking mouse, you nitwit. And a mouse pad?! Gimme a break, you bonehead."

I take my mousing very seriously, and I audition as many different types and brands of mice as I can. Apple’s generic white mice, both one-button traditional and new $49 Mighty Mouse, are my standards for comparison, because I keep coming back to them for their consistency and reliability.

Razer Pro Solutions (shortened to Razer for convenience) draws from extensive experience in the gaming arena to offer an innovative, affordable new mouse and pad (sold separately) that instantly changed the way I mouse. My Apple mice have been collecting dust and mouse droppings in the corner of my office ever since Razer’s products cut their way onto my computer desk.


Let’s get the Pro Pad out of the way first. Its "non-slip, anti-reflective, abrasion resistant hard coat" surface is like very fine sandpaper, or slightly tactile formica, and it works with "all optical-mechanical and optical" mice. Small non-slip gripping feet are at each of its four corners to keep Pro Pad from shifting position during use. Identical mousing surfaces cover both sides of the ultra light aluminum base, which is shaped sort of like the middle section of the capital letter V.

The physical size and form of Pro Pad are large enough to keep your hand within its territory, which is good, because the aluminum edges at the perimeter could use a bit more rounding and beveling. Its peculiar shape may require some repositioning of the junk on your computer desk, but that’s a small inconvenience.

There is no way to accelerate Pro Pad’s aging characteristics, so you’ll have to check back with me in a few years to see how it holds up over time. Razer reminds MyMac.com: "while 99% of all other mousing surfaces are plastic, the Pro Pad is heavy gauge anodized aluminum." During our evaluation period I’m using it with increasing comfort and convenience. Graphics professionals and gamers who require the most reliable, responsive mousing surface should consider switching from that old legal pad or ordinary desk surface to Pro Pad.

MyMac.com rates it at 4 out of 5, and considers Pro Pad to be good value for its accuracy and precision, at $30 US.

Razer’s Pro Mouse v1.6 has many unusual attributes, including:

• extremely lightweight

• very long and flexible USB cable
• oversized contoured mouse buttons and 24-position scroll wheel

• attractive glowing blue scroll wheel and translucent upper side panels
• symmetrical ambidextrous either-hand design

• printed user’s manual, dedicated web site and FAQ, plus downloadable cross-platform driver software

And, best of all, supersonic speed and tracking accuracy. This mouse is soooooooo faaaaaaaaasssssssssst I needed to set my mouse tracking speed in the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel to position two out of ten (prior to installing Razer’s software), just one above Slow. If you like your mousing to proceed like a turtle walking through thick mud, stick with your existing mouse, but if your need for speed exceeds your current breed, heed my plead and get a good lead on Pro Mouse v1.6. Or, as Razer explains, "As you get used to the Pro v1.6, your speed and acuity will improve, and you can heighten the sensitivity as you progress."

Tech specs include 1600 dpi (that’s a lot!), 16-Bit ultra-wide data path, and up to 40 inches per second screen-equivalent motion response, plus up to 19 sensitivity settings. Graphics and engineering professionals and students are Razer’s primary target users, in addition to gamers.

Everything on Pro v1.6 is adjustable and programmable, once Razer’s driver is installed, including "on-the-fly sensitivity" for mousing needs in different applications, and individual configuration for each of the seven buttons: left and right and scroll on the top, plus two each left and right sides, centrally located and unobtrusive when not being used. Each button "clicker" is light but firm in feel and sound, for positive verification.

Razer tells MyMac.com that the software CD included in the package has been updated to: http://www.razerpro.com/drivers/v16/razerpro-mac-163.zip, so make sure you’re always using the latest Razer software with your Pro Mouse v1.6. I just downloaded this driver. Its package is 453k in size and the full installation consumes 1.2MB of disk space, placing "Razer PRO v1.6.3" icon at the bottom of your System Preferences window. Give yourself a few days to experiment with the multitude of possible configurations and adjustments.

Does MyMac.com recommend Razer’s v1.6 Pro Mouse? Yes, indeed. The more I use it the more I appreciate its design, styling, engineering, and flexibility. Well worth the $60 US price tag, and with no criticisms to get in the way of our highest 5 out of 5 rating.

Razer exhibited both a new multimedia keyboard and set of in-ear headphones at Macworld SF 2006, and MyMac.com will be reviewing them as soon as they are in production. Also, we encourage the company to develop Bluetooth and possibly USB versions of their Pro Mouse, to compete in the competitive marketplace for wireless input devices.

"Nemo’s 365 Q&A v.2006 [1-31]"

A professional computer tutor has to answer a huge range of questions. Here are the first 31, for all of January, in a series that will span the entire year of 2006.

Q#1: How do I see the photos on a Flickr.com album when its slide show won’t run?

A#1: Click through the individual pictures via the Next and Previous photo links (they are very small on the page).

Q#2: How do I open a photo attachment download from Windows email, with a long name and generic grey icon?

A#2: Add .jpg to the end of the name (you may need to remove the final four characters) and then double click to open it.

Q#3: When using Carbon Copy Cloner, how do I know what’s going to be duplicated and what’s going to be newly copied, when cloning to add to an existing CCC archive?

A#3: You can erase the previous volume or partition using Disk Utility, and Carbon Copy Cloner sends your data to an empty volume.

Q#4: Why do the classical symphony tracks on my new iPod not display all the correct info for composer and movement?

A#4: iTunes grabs tracks from a user database that is not consistent.

Q#5: When booking an airline ticket online, what to do when I’m unable even to register on log in to United Airlines’ site?

A#5: Pick up the phone and call the airline instead. Ask the agent to refund the $10 booking fee. Hint: Life is short. Invoke Nemo’s 10-minute rule for online frustration, and use the telephone as often as necessary, when possible.


Q#6: Why does my new Panasonic video camera use both a Mini-DV-cassette and an SD card chip?

A#6: Cassette is for movies and SD is for still photos, because your camera does both.

Q#7: What was the best web site and writer for Macworld SF predictions?

A#7: Chuck Toporek from O’Reilly Media, and all his articles and blogs are posted at http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/45

Q#8: When I drag a photo from iPhoto to the Photoshop Dock symbol, am I opening the JPG in Photoshop as a copy of the untouched original, still in iPhoto?

A#8: Yes.

Q#9: Will a freshly burned audio CD play from the built-in burner?

A#9: Yes. Open the song list and double click. That usually works.

Q#10: What’s the best way to send AOL email with photos?

A#10: Reduce the size of each JPG, then drag the JPG(s) into the body of your AOL email message. If this doesn’t work, you’ll need to attach them to the message.

Q#11: When I go back and forth between full Photoshop and Elements, are all the commands and tools identical?

A#11: No. They are slightly different, but most of them are there some place if you look around and are patient.

Q#12: When I take an old inkjet cartridge to Cartridge World, do they refill it on the spot?

A#12: No. They exchange it for a previously refilled one and take your old one for cleaning and refilling for another customer.

Q#13: What’s the best Photoshop image resolution for printing?

A#13: Resolution at 150 for plain paper or card stock, and at 240 for photo paper.

Q#14: How come I can’t find a company by typing its URL into Safari?

A#14: Make sure you’re correct by instead doing a Google search for the company and product.

Q#15: What to do when Safari doesn’t work, for some reason?

A#15: First try Firefox browser, then Internet Explorer, and one of them should work fine.

Q#16: Why can’t I open this attachment called .wpd?

A#16: It’s a Word Perfect document from Windows, so ask the sender to copy and paste the text into an ordinary email message, and it will read fine in your email.

Q#17: Anything I need to do after updating my OS or installing new applications?

A#17: Run Disk Utility, and Repair Permissions on your hard drive.

Q#18: How do I add incoming email addresses to my Mail Address Book?

A#18: Click on Add Sender to Address Book, after first highlighting or opening the message containing the sender’s address.

Q#19: How do I change the Internet Explorer browser font size in Windows XP, because it’s too large?

A#19: Choose View / Text Size / Smallest.

Q#20: How do I change the Real Player AudioHijack recorded MP3 file names to make them more indicative of the recorded content?

A#20: Click once on the temporary name, then type in any name you want.

Q#21: What to do when I can’t register Apple Care online?

8
A#21: In the United States, call 1-800-275-2273 and follow the prompts, with all serial numbers and Apple Care info handy for your product(s). There are comparable phone numbers for nearly every other country also.

Q#22: How to change billing info in AOL, when I get a different credit card?

A#22: Keyword: billing, plus your individual secret word, and follow the links.

Q#23: Can I take the dual-layer iLife ’06 DVD installer, and copy it onto two single-layer DVDs to have a backup installer?

A#23: No! You need the original DVD, or an exact copy of it on a dual-layer disk.

Q#24: Can I run an Apple 30" display from my G4 iBook?

A#24: No. You need a special G5 tower, or possibly the new MacBook Pro.

Q#25: How much RAM on my original G3 iMac do I need to run Adobe Photoshop Elements v.2?

A#25: Add 256 MB in the in the second slot and you should be okay.

Q#26: Why do my Excel cells sometimes show weird dates or fractions instead of ordinary numbers?

A#26: Choose Format / Cells to reset them to General / Numbers, or to Currency.

Q#27: How can I tell which photos are in which folders, scattered around my Desktop?

A#27: Use Photoshop’s File Browser or Bridge for graphical display of folders’ contents.

Q#28: What to do when my HP printer stalls?

A#28: Turn it off. Choose Apple’s Printer Setup Utility and click / Delete the file you are wanting to print. Turn on the printer and try again.

Q#29: Why does iPhoto ’06 launch slowly on new Intel iMacs at the Apple stores?

A#29: Low memory. It will open faster after additional RAM is added to a computer.

Q#30: How do I whiten teeth in a photo?

A#30: Select the teeth using the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop or Elements, then use Levels or Brightness and Contrast to make them whiter. Hint: You may want to have a Photoshop expert help you out.

Q#31: Why doesn’t my HP scanner work properly to send OCR to an application?

A#31: You need to pay and upgrade to ReadIRIS Pro v.11, or buy a new scanner with this software installed.

Your expanded and corrected answers are welcome below, in our Article discussion area (free registration is required).

Interviewed this week is Krishna M. Sadasivam of PC Weenies fame. Also, what would you like to hear in our podcasts? Tim and Chad talk about changing up the focus of the weekly podcast, and ask for your opinions.

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MP300 Portable Multimedia 2.1 Speaker
Company: Edifier
Price: $80 MSRP in USA
http://www.edifier.ca

"What’s that playing on the stereo, John," asked Barbara, my hard-to-please spouse, from the kitchen. I was in the living room.

"How does it sound? I replied.

"Fine, why?" asked Barbara.

"Here, take a look," I said.

"You mean your music isn’t coming from the big stereo over there" she said, walking into the living room.

"No, it’s from this compact high-tech speaker system that just arrived from Canada via UPS," I said.

"Wait a minute, John. Those speakers are really small, good-looking, and loud. Are you sure they are making that great sound?" she asked.

"Positive," I replied. "What do you want to hear while you’re preparing dinner?"

"Anything you choose," she said, "because the music sounds better than how you normally have it either from that big stereo or those goofy iPod speakers you’re always playing around with."

__________

This review should end right now, with that punch line. But you deserve a little more information.

Edifier speakers are developed and engineered in Canada, and manufactured in China. This company makes the top-selling speakers in China, and plans to become well known throughout the world. You can learn about them and their complete lineup of products, and see photos of MP300 here.

MyMac.com is pleased to be first to review Edifier’s MP300 Multimedia Speaker system. It’s a satellites + subwoofer (or 2.1) combo unit that works with practically every computer, legacy iPod, boombox, and other music player in the world via a standard two-way 3.5mm stereo or earphone connection. Complete specs are at this URL.

MP300 arrives in a stylish, attractive, zippered case, with sleek silver microfiber exterior that has "Edifier" embedded into its center. Case interior is well padded with four foam cutouts that contain MP300′s components: subwoofer, satellite speakers, power module, and audio connection cable. I don’t know how many dollars or yen this splendid case costs to produce, but it is very snazzy and impressive, demonstrating to users and friends that Edifier is a classy company. One question: why not have a handle on the carrying case?

Once unpacked from its well-wrapped enclosure, MP300 can be set up and working in a minute or two, attached to your computer, iPod, or other player. Set the output volume on your source to its normal sweet spot, press both buttons on top of MP300′s right satellite speaker to switch on the unit, then press the right "louder" or left "quieter"button until audio volume is where you prefer. Adjust your equalizer setting to account for MP300′s potent bass response, and then enjoy your listening experience without any monkey business.

This multimedia speaker 2.1 system is semi-audiophile, meaning it sounds great for serious music listening but not world-class, which is quite a claim for an $80 list product. Gamers will appreciate MP300′s rich bass response and lack of distortion at peak volume levels.

The satellite units look like pip-squeak versions of the Apple speakers that were included with the G4 "lampshade" iMac. Audio quality from those Apple speakers was "pretty good, but not great," to paraphrase most listeners, as opposed to "really good, Nemo!" which is what your response will be to Edifier’s MP300. New technologies allow smaller components to give better sound than you would ever expect them to have, Bose notwithstanding.

Detour: I have never been a fan of Bose’s overpriced audio products, including their small cube speakers. For the money, Edifier provides much better value and sound to my well-tuned ears. Your experience and attitude may be different, but I needed to get that off my chest.

MP300′s AC power module is well constructed, and its cable end fits snugly into the base of the subwoofer. This sleek, hefty cylindrical marvel has conical audio output at either end. It is a true subwoofer, not a power brick + low frequency speaker masquerading as one. All power is electrical, with no battery capability for truly portable audio.

Suggestions: In v.2 of MP300, Edifier should consider a rechargeable AA battery option, an iPod connector/charger, Bluetooth capability, plus slightly longer and more flexible cables for the powered model. Existing cables are not quite long enough for usage in some situations.

Muting and volume on/off/louder/softer are all accomplished from MP300′s two tiny buttons on top of one satellite speaker, which works fine. Speaker wires tuck into a groove inset into each round satellite speaker stand, giving these diminutive spheres much better positional stability than the aforementioned Apple speakers have. One subtle small blue triangle on the subwoofer’s front base indicates basic power functions.

With MacAlly’s IceTune and a large-component home audio system for comparisons, MP300 out sings the former and holds its own with the latter, especially when price and size are paramount. Using Bobby McFerrin’s incredible vocals to test each unit demonstrates Edifier’s attention to balanced frequency response:

• spacious, natural, full tonal range, without distortion at high volume
• sensitivity to different equalizer settings for preferred listening experience
• plenty loud at top volume, to fill an apartment or small house and annoy the neighbors, when desired.

I confirmed my initial response by listening to jazz, classical, pop, rock, and musicals during the ongoing evaluation period. This was a very enjoyable experience for my family plus visitors and music students, who all agree with my high regard for MP300′s good looks and performance.

Edifier provides a detailed printed User’s Manual in English and French, complete with troubleshooting guide and hints "to optimize the sound quality from your system."

This product will be available in USA and Mexico soon, sold by Radio Shack. In Canada, it is available directly from Edifier.

CONCLUSION
MP300 is a fine multimedia speaker that deserves our almost-highest rating of 4.5 out of 5. We hope to have the opportunity to evaluate more products from a company that takes seriously their quality of design and performance. An "iPod white" model will be available in the United States and a "hockey puck black" version will be sold in Canada, according to company spokesman. Details are posted on the Edifier web site.

ArtRage 2
Company: Ambient Design LTD.
Price: Free or $20 for the full version
http://www.ambientdesign.com

Back in my article “Macspiration – The Download Drawer – 2,” I suggested a free natural paint program called ArtRage by Ambient Design LTD. In January, ArtRage 2 was released as a free program along with a $20 version.

ArtRage 2 comes packed with features, too numerous to mention here. Some of these features are disabled in the free version. A comparison chart of the features in the free and pay versions can be found at www.ambientdesign.com/artragecompare.html.

As a natural paint program, ArtRage is fantastic. The markers look and act like markers, the paint looks and acts like paint (you even have to reload your brush), the chalk looks and acts like chalk, etc. When you paint a color over another color, the paints blend together and the brush continues with that new blend.

SIMPLE TO USE/RESPONSIVE
ArtRage 2 comes with a fantastic manual, and there is a free downloadable quick start guide available from the Ambient Design Website. For those who don’t like manuals, ArtRage 2 is easy to figure out, and you could be creating artwork right away without reading anything.

The first thing you notice when you start painting in ArtRage is how responsive the program is. The program does what you want it to do, when you want it to. There is no delay between the time you draw something on the screen and when it shows up on the screen. Even with my 533mhz G4 tower, it worked great.

SO MANY FEATURES
As I mentioned above, ArtRage 2 is packed with features, especially for a program that is $20 (or free). I am going to highlight a few of my favorites.

1. METALLICS: The full version of ArtRage 2 allows you to use any tool with metallic colors. At first I thought this was a cool extra for kids, until I started using it. WOW! This feature is fantastic! I have struggled in paint programs and drawing programs for years to get the perfect metallic look. This takes all of the work out, and does it for you.

2. TRACING: You can load any image into ArtRage 2 for tracing. By default, while you are tracing, ArtRage 2 selects your color based on the image underneath. I traced the images below from a photograph. Not once did I pick a color from the color picker.

3. REFERENCE IMAGES: The pay version allows you to load repositionable reference images on top of the canvas. Not just one image, but multiple images.

4. DISAPPEARING PALETTES: Ever work in a program and have to stop to move a palette out of the way? In ArtRage 2, when you get close to a palette, it temporarily collapses, so you don’t have to stop working. Brilliant!!!

5. EXPORTING/IMPORTING: ArtRage 2 exports and imports jpg, bmp, png, or PHOTOSHOP files. Yes, Photoshop. If you are using the pay version, you can import and export layers in this format.

I did encounter one issue here. When exporting files, I had to add the extension (.bmp, .jpg, .psd, etc.) to the file name for Photoshop to open the file. Preview was able to open files without the extension. I have been told that this should be fixed in an upcoming patch (the patch might be available by the time this is posted).

6. GRAPHIC TABLET SUPPORT: ArtRage 2 works great with a mouse, but it also supports many popular drawing tablets, and their pressure sensitive features. I used it with my Wacom Graphire 4, and it worked great. My only complaint is that the automatic eraser feature on the pen did not work for me. I was told by Ambient that the eraser feature does work on Intuos tablets, and they are looking into the Graphire 4 issue. The image below was painted with a mouse instead of a pen tablet.

7. UNLIMITED UNDOS: At least it seems this way. In my tests, I was able to go back one hundred steps in a picture.

These are just some of the great features in ArtRage 2. I highly recommend the full version. At $20, it is a steal! Unfortunately, there is no trial period for the full version features. You’ll have to make that call based on using the free version, and the information on the Ambient Design website. Hopefully, my review will help too.

Pros:
A true natural media paint program (Corel Painter beware!)
Loaded with features at an affordable price, and the free version is great too.
Simple to use, and very responsive – great for all ages
Supports most drawing tablets, but works great with a mouse

Cons:
A cropping tool would be nice in future versions
The measurements for your canvas are in pixels. I prefer the option of inches.
Free version does not have a trial period for the pay features
Have to add extensions to exported Photoshop files (although this is suppose to be fixed in an upcoming patch)

The pros of this program definitely outweigh the cons.
MyMac.com Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tim and Chad review the Pyp-Bomb in this iPod-ready Video Review. You can download the file HERE. Or check out our iTunes Music Store Podcast listing HERE.

Travel Monster! I’m not talking about Godzilla wreaking havoc on Tokyo and moving on to Osaka, but people that spend a lot of time out and about and want the best overall experience from their road gear. So many decisions to make about what to keep and what to leave behind. Because of the nature of portable computing, there are certain sacrifices that have to be made, but for those of us fortunate enough (or smart enough) to have chosen the Mac platform, those choices don’t have to be nearly as painful as they’re sometimes made out to be.

The nature of my former job required that I travel.. A lot. It didn’t actually entail that I use a laptop or computer programs while in route, or at my hotel, but I did enjoy carrying my Mac computer everywhere with me. What do I do with it while on the road? Depends on where I am and how long I’ll be gone. If I’m going to be gone for more than a few days, I might need to use GarageBand to record the “Dashboard Minute” for the MyMac.com podcast. If it’s family related travel, I’ll need to download pictures from a digital camera or DV camcorder. More about what you might want to do with all this gear in another article.

The nice thing about Macs and the biggest reason I have chosen to use them instead of a PC is their versatility. Apple includes all the software I need for the activities mentioned when you purchase a new Mac. The programs I use on a regular basis include the iLife suite (iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto, and GarageBand), QuickTime Pro, various Dashboard Widgets (the subject of an upcoming Dashboard Minute), DVD Player, Roxio Toast, PhotoShop Elements, VLC Media Player, and of course some simple games. A future segment will go into what I use these and other software programs for while traveling.


First things first. When traveling with tech gear, you need something to put it all in. Some people like hard-shell briefcases that have some versatility for accessories. That’s all well and good if you’re traveling light, but I carry a lot of stuff and need something with more slots and pockets. Something that will fit in standard Airline overhead bins or under the seat. I also like having my hands free and a regular briefcase style case wasn’t going to do. I decided I needed a strong and sturdy backpack with lots of zippered compartments. The one I chose was the Wenger Swiss Army Synergy Notebook Computer Backpack. Multiple compartments with space for darn near anything you might want to put into a backpack. Be advised that if you’re the kinda guy (like me) that likes to carry everything, this backpack will get quite heavy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as carrying all your stuff would be heavy no matter what backpack or case you might have chosen. You can carry this case on your back of course, but it also comes with a strong double-stitched handle (two handles actually), along with sturdy, padded straps. It also has a small zippered compartment on the top for an iPod or other MP3 player with a handy rubberized access sleeve for your headphones. A nice touch. Every compartment has additional sleeves or zippered areas for additional accessories. It most likely wouldn’t protect your laptop if you dropped it off a building, but if you do that regularly, you have other problems to deal with first.

Also bear in mind that if you’re traveling by air, you’ll need to go through one or more airport security checkpoints. Whatever case you decide on needs to have two characteristics to get you through without having to meet the dreaded rubber glove. One, you need to be able to remove the computer quickly and easily. Almost every airport I have gone through lately requires you to remove your computer from its case, and place it in a plastic bin before going into an X-ray machine. Two, what material the case is made from must not be impervious to the aforementioned X-Ray machine. Unless of course you enjoy pulling everything out of it for a visual inspection and earning the glares and almost inaudible curses from your fellow travelers. Those trendy and sharp looking metal briefcases, while certainly making a fashion statement, will most likely slow you down while going through the lines. Lastly, if you are traveling by air and have a lot of gear, leave yourself a lot of time to get to the gate. Airport Security personnel really don’t care and have little sympathy for you if they need to manually inspect your carry-on items and you’re running late. That’s your fault, not theirs.


The point is, choose a container for your traveling gear wisely, Take your time and pick the one that fits what you like to do best. You’ll probably end up spending a lot of time with whichever one you choose, so don’t go and spend a lot of money on something you won’t use later. The Wenger backpack is less than $70 in most places. Chances are you can spend a lot more if you want to.

Believe it or not, this is not intended as a review of the backpack. This is the one I decided was the best for me. Your mileage may vary. Next time I’ll discuss power options and storage solutions. Happy trails.

Last week I discussed how to use Preview to do some minor image editing. This week I’m going to discuss a few more things you can do in Preview that you may not know about.

1. CHANGE THE FILE FORMAT

Have a file that is a jpeg and need a tiff or a bmp or another file type? Use Preview. Preview can read and convert a number of different file types. No need for a heavy-duty program like Photoshop here.

To convert the file into a different format, start by opening the file in Preview. Then choose "Save As" from the "File" menu. You will be presented with the typical save window. Where it says "Format" there is a pull-down menu with all the different file types preview can convert your image too. Some types will have different options. For example, you can select the quality of the image if you are saving as a jpeg. Higher quality translates to a better image with a larger file size, and visa versa. Choose the type you need and click save. The conversion is complete.

2. SCAN AN IMAGE DIRECTLY INTO PREVIEW

If you have a scanner connected to your computer, you can scan an image directly into Preview. To do this choose "Import Image" from the "File" menu with your scanner turned on and ready to go. A scanning display will open, and a Preview of your scan will load. You would then proceed to select and scan your image. This article is not about scanning, so if you have a scanner I am going to assume you know how to proceed.

Once the image is scanned it will open in a Preview window, and you can use all of the features of Preview. Just make sure you save the image when you are done editing.

3. TAKE A SCREEN SHOT

If you need a picture of your Desktop, a window on your Desktop, or a portion of your Desktop, Preview will let you do this. This is a little tricky and not the best way for taking screen shots, but I’m going to discuss it anyway for those that want to try.

In the "File" menu there is a choice labeled "Grab." "Grab" has a sub-menu of three items: "Selection," "Window," and "Timed Screen." All three results in an image being saved to your desktop called "Snapshot" with a number attached to the name. They also result in the image being opened in a new Preview window.

Choosing "Selection" turns your pointer into a cross hair, and you need to draw a box around the portion of the screen you want to take a shot of. Drawing the box works just like you would draw a box for cropping. Once you are done creating the box, a snapshot is taken of that selected portion.

Choosing "Window" will allow you to take a photo of any window visible on the screen. Even if a corner of a window is visible, you can grab that window. When you choose "Window" your pointer will become a camera. As you move the camera over a window it will turn blue. When you have the window you want, click, and the picture is taken. The file will appear on your desktop, and a Preview window will open. The problem here is you must rearrange all of your windows before clicking "Window" so that the one you need is visible.

Choosing "Timed Screen" will put a timer on your screen. You have about 12 seconds to layout your screen for the picture. When time runs out, a picture of whatever is visible on your screen will be taken. Again, a file is created on your desktop and the Preview window opens.

Like I said, this is not the best method for taking screen shots. You basically are limited to what you can make visible on your screen while in Preview. There are much better ways for taking screen shots. (See Bakari’s article "15 Tips – Screen Capture.")

4. VIEW YOUR IMAGES IN A SLIDESHOW Did you just open a folder of images into Preview? Don’t want to click through one by one in the Drawer to see them all? Make a slideshow.

Choose "Slideshow" from the "View" menu and all of the images in the drawer will be turned into an iPhoto style slideshow. Just move your mouse so the controls come up, and click the "x" to return to Preview.

There you go, four tricks to get the most out of Preview. Believe it or not there is even more to Preview, but I’ll save that for another time.

Have a question about this article or another Mac problem? Email me. I’d love to help.

June 1999. SCSI, ADB, and more were on their way out, so what was a person to do with all that out-modeled gear? Derek K Miller writes about making a clean break from his old gear. Read it here.

Dear Friends,

We just wrapped up the latest version of the Small Dog Electronics Dog Food for Thought Pawcast and I think we are finally getting the hang of this podcasting thing. Ed and Tony have been working hard to make sure we have the right gear and that the sound quality is good. You will still hear a bunch of scuffling and snuffling and perhaps a bark or two since there are dogs everywhere around here, even in our podcast studio.

We let our employees bring their dogs to work and we might at any time have as many as 15 dogs running the show around here. The dogs are such an important part of our corporate culture that you will find dog water bowls and beds in every nook and corner. Every employee has a stash of dog treats so the dogs make their way from desk to desk for a treat and a pet and dog and employee benefit.

Rob Berkey called me down to help out in the store yesterday during one of the "waves" of customers. There were a bunch of children in the store with their parents. Hammerhead as usual followed me down the spiral staircase and he broke out in the silliest grin with his butt wagging as he saw the kids. He loves children. The kids and Hammer kept each other entertained while I sold the parents a new iMac with the Intel processor.

We have the iMacs with Intel set up right next to the G5 iMacs. Unless the customer has some specific software that does not perform well under Rosetta, it is a no-brainer to sell the Intel iMac. I love restarting both iMacs simultaneously then loading up Safari and surfing to the Small Dog site. The Intel iMac is easily a couple times faster in boot up and launch.

We are heading into President’s Day with a real snow deficit. The weather has remained warm and dry and I know that the ski areas and all of the businesses that are dependent on the snow are hoping for a big dump to salvage the season.

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Apple Introduces 1GB iPod nanos!

In a move that was expected yet caught everyone by surprise, Apple announced the 1GB iPod nano in white or black for $149. At the same time, they lowered the price on the iPod Shuffles by $30. We are selling the large batch of 512k Shuffle returns for $47.50 now. (Hint: If you listen to our podcast this week, there is a coupon that reduces that price even more!)

We should have some 1GB iPod nanos in stock within the next week. If you would like to place an order, call toll free at 800-511-Macs or order using one of these links:

1GB iPod nano black – $149

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39638/mymac

1GB iPod nano white – $149

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39637/mymac

Purchase any iPod nano from Small Dog Electronics or PodJungle.com and get a free Mobilejuice SkinArt protective skin! Just enter coupon code NanoSkinArtWhite if you want a white skin or NanoSkinArtBlack if you want a black skin.

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Podcast Details Ed @ smalldog.com

We’re keeping up with the Dogfood for Thought Pawcast. We’ve received some great and useful feedback, which we appreciate.

The easiest way to listen to the Pawcast is to subscribe to it through iTunes. To do this, launch iTunes, go to the Advanced menu, and select Subscribe to Podcast.

Paste the following URL into the dialog box and then click subscribe:

http://www.ourmedia.org/mediarss/user/66320

You can also listen to the Pawcast though your web browser. Just go to:

http://www.ourmedia.org/node/160599

Enjoy, and please email comments and suggestions to podcast @ smalldog.com!

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Fetching iTunes Album Art

I like that iTunes and my iPod can display the album art for the song that is currently playing. The problem for me was that much of my music comes from the hundreds of CDs that I have ripped into MP3s. I was looking for a way to get the album art and found a great little AppleScript called (appropriately) Fetch Art. It works well and even found the artwork for some of my more obscure music such as Flash and the Pan. It uses album art from Amazon.com and the ID3 tags in your MP3 files to determine the appropriate CD cover to download. If your ID3 tags are incorrect or incomplete, you may not get any art for that song and occasionally will actually get the wrong art if it was unable to correctly find the album on Amazon.

You can download this shareware gem at:

http://members.cox.net/afriesen/fetchart/download/fetchart_1.2.0.dmg.zip

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Why the Mac Is More Secure Than Windows – Security by Design, Part 2

Last week we talked about some of the basic security features built into Mac OS X. Apple’s success may be driven by the music business these days, but perhaps even more important than the supposed "halo effect" in terms of building Apple’s Mac business is the inherent security advantages of the Mac and Mac OS X. It is the most common discussion we have on the phone or in the showroom with customers who are coming to us for their first Mac purchase. Fed up with the constant Windows battle against viruses, spyware, and adware, many people are looking for a better alternative.

The Mac is that alternative. I wish I could paint the pictures of customer’s faces when I tell them that they do not need virus software and that there are no viruses for Mac OS X. It has gotten so bad that Microsoft is about to start selling their Windows OneCare subscription for $50 a year just to keep Windows systems current with all their inoculations and security updates. Apple has security updates from time to time but they are free and Apple makes it easy by automatically allowing you to download them and install them with the Software Update System Preference.

Secure Network Communications

Communicating on a network or the internet (work) is a security challenge. Mac OS X integrates powerful security standards into Safari and OS X Mail, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and support for Digital Certificates. In addition, Mail supports a choice of local and network-based authentication methods.

Mac OS X includes SSL versions 2 and 3, which are the most common transport mechanisms, and also includes TLS or Transport Layer Security, which is the next-generation security standard for the Internet. As usual, Apple is one step ahead! Safari and other Internet applications automatically start these transport layer mechanisms to provide a secure, encrypted channel between two systems to protect it from prying eyes. Safari and Mail go one step further and support 40- and 128-bit SSL encryption.

Keeping Your Surfing to Yourself

With Safari, as with many browsers, the pages you visit are stored in cache so that it is faster to visit them next time. With the optional Private Browsing feature, the history and cached information are not saved. This provides a way to keep your surfing habits private and not recoverable at a later date. You can also use the "Clear History" function at any time to wipe your trail.

Certificates: We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges

The use of Digital Certificates allows your Mac to support secure communication. It’s like your passport. These certificates allow Authentication (prove you are who you say you are, electronically, of course), Data Integrity (prevents changes or alterations), Encryption, and Nonrepudiation (digital certificates enable the recipient to verify the identity of the signer in connection with a particular message — sort of like your electronic "witness").

The certificate is made up of a public and private key as well as information about you and the Certificate Authority (CA) that issued the certificate. To send encrypted messages to your mother, your keychain must contain a digital certificate for Mom; this allows Mac OS X to use the Mum’s public key for encryption. When she gets the encrypted message, the key is used to decode the message. It’s like having your own built-in secret decoder ring! Every time you send digitally signed email, your certificate and your public key are included with the message, allowing recipients to send you coded messages in return.

Okay, so how do you get one of those stinking badges? Before you can start sending out digitally signed messages, you must obtain a digital certificate that identifies you and copy it to your keychain. Fortunately, Keychain includes Certificate Assistant — nice of Apple to take care of this for us! Certificate Assistant is an easy-to-use utility that helps you request, issue, and manage certificates. It contains all the tools necessary to create, manage, and issue certificates for yourself, a small group of friends, or a small office. Certificate Assistant includes many features of a commercial Certificate Authority without the cost. The certificates created by the Certificate Assistant can be used to send encrypted email, log in to protected websites, or participate in secure, encrypted iChat sessions.

For secure web transactions, Safari uses X.509 digital certificates to validate users and hosts, as well as to encrypt the communication on the net. An example is online banking. Your bank issues you a certificate from Certificate Authority. This allows your browser to check the validity of the certificate and set up secure sessions with SSL encryption to verify the site’s identity and encrypt your communications with the bank’s website. For quick access to these certificates you can add them to your Keychain. Whenever you receive a certificate on the web or in email, you can import it into Keychain to use at another time.

Personal Firewall: Make Your Mac Invisible

By monitoring incoming network traffic, Mac OS X can act as a firewall to protect your home network from unauthorized access. The integrated firewall is based upon IPFW, a FreeBSD technology that protects the most mission-critical UNIX computers on the internet. Personal firewall settings are managed in the Sharing System Preference, with simple checkboxes to enable and disable monitoring of services. In addition, the personal firewall can be customized for communications such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or other services. Stealth mode, when checked, hides your Mac on the internet by dropping unsolicited communications packets, making it appear that no Mac is present. The firewall also supports logging, which is useful in tracking down unwanted activity. You pay for this stuff on Windows, but on the Mac it is part of the basic operating system. It is no wonder we refer to Mac OS X as the most advanced and secure operating system on the planet!

Open Source UNIX-Based Security

Apple built Mac OS X with open source software such as FreeBSD, Apache, and Kerberos among many others. These have had decades of public scrutiny by developers and security experts around the world. Strong security is a benefit of open source because anyone can freely inspect the source code, identify theoretical vulnerabilities, and take steps to protect the software. Apple and Apple’s engineers are active in this community by routinely releasing updates to Mac OS X that are subject to independent developers’ review and then Apple incorporates changes from that community. The strength of open source commitment contrasts sharply with a closed, single-vendor (like some guys over in Seattle) approach that has a long, well-documented history of exploited vulnerabilities.

This is the approach that gives Apple such a lead in security. It is a commitment to excellence and a commitment to making an operating system that frees you to use the technology rather than spend your productive or leisure time protecting your technology from those who would exploit it. As I researched Apple’s commitment to "Security by Design," I learned that the commitment was much more than a casual approach to security but rather it was part of the heart and soul of Mac OS X. There are a lot of features of Mac OS X that are amazing, from Spotlight to Dashboard, but the security features, most of which are invisible to you, are the reason that more and more people are moving to the Mac.

Apple makes our job as computer salespeople easy with the strong feature set and the stark contrast with the headaches of that other operating system with its spyware, viruses, trojan horses, and other security holes. For that operating system, security is an afterthought; for Mac OS X, it is built in by design.

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Checking out the iMac Intel Dawn @ smalldog.com

We finally received our demo iMac Intel units in our retail showroom, so I got a chance to sit down and use one. We’ve set up the 20-inch iMac G5 next to the 20-inch iMac Intel to get a feel for how the two compare.

The first step was hitting the power switch. The iMac Intel goes from power off to up and running much faster than the iMac G5. I found a web site that has a video of the two starting up. It says that the Intel version beats the G5 version by a minute:

http://www.youtube.com/w/iMac-G5-vs-iMac-Intel-Boot?v=zmaAZwkhYeQ

The two computers did not have extra software or a huge amount of pictures or music installed, so the testing was more of a preliminary feel, launching what apps were there and checking out as much as I could.

For Universal Binary applications, the iMac Intel is fast. There was no discernible difference between it and the Power Mac on my desk. Things like launching Safari and using the iLife ’06 applications didn’t feel any different on the $1500 iMac than they did on the $3000 Power Mac. This is where the promise of Intel lies. Smaller and less expensive computers will have lots of processing power. Just imagine the performance to be reached with the higher-end computers. The switch to the new processor could be a quantum leap for performance, especially now that a company that is so forward thinking begins thinking about how to put performance to work.

Next I launched the few older applications that were installed on the Mac, mostly Microsoft Office. The iMac Intel slowed in comparison to my Power Mac, performing more like the iMac G5. It was hard to really stress either computer since I didn’t have a huge amount of data. I should bring one of my massive spreadsheets down to see what happens then.

If you intend to use the iMac Intel as its target market does — largely consumer and small business users who surf, send email, and use Office products and iLife applications — you will be really pleased with the new iMac.

When it comes to the more processor-intense software, such as Photoshop running under Rosetta, there is a substantial slowdown on the iMac Intel compared to the Power Mac and a noticeable change between the two iMacs. By noticeable, I mean that I can feel a difference between the two but it is in no way unbearable. I could indeed use Photoshop running on an iMac Intel. If you are using an older Power Mac with slower processor speeds, you would probably be quite happy making the switch to the iMac Intel.

My initial impressions were similar to initial benchmark tests. Links for several are below. What excites me about this move isn’t the current performance but the promise of future performance. Once more software is native on the Intel processor, things will really start to take off!

http://www.macworld.com/2006/01/features/imaclabtest1/index.php
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/imac-coreduo.ars
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/01/18/new-core-duo-imac-first-impressions/
http://www.personaltechpipeline.com/177102516?cid=rssfeed_pl_ptp

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AppleCare in Action Ed @ smalldog.com

AppleCare. Like any form of insurance, it’s one of those things you want to own, but don’t want to use. As Apple says, the "AppleCare Protection Plan extends your computer’s 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty to up to three years of world-class support — and provides you with long-term peace of mind." Until recently, I’d never had a serious problem with any of my Apple computers and never had to use my AppleCare coverage. However, when my G5 1.8 GHz iMac started making a loud buzzing noise, it was time to call Apple’s tech support line.

I retrieved the iMac’s serial number (which is required for AppleCare support) and dialed 1-800-275-2273. After the first ring, I was directed into an automated system. I generally dislike automated telephone systems because they’re often cumbersome and slow, but this system was fast and easy to use. The robotic voice was quite friendly, and after entering some information about the iMac I was directed to a human being.

I didn’t catch his name, but he had a slight Indian accent and I presume he was based in India. Some people strongly dislike talking to tech support based outside of the U.S., but as long as the tech knows what he or she is doing, it doesn’t bother me. In fact, in my experience, many foreign technicians are friendlier and more eager to help than their U.S.-based peers.

The AppleCare rep asked me several questions about the exact location of the strange sound, recent software updates I may have run, whether or not the machine became louder the longer it was on, etc. I was impressed that he seemed familiar with the computer, but he was not able to definitively diagnose the problem. He put me on hold for about two minutes while he contacted another technician.

The new guy sounded very American and, like the first tech, was quite friendly. He asked a few more questions, then decided that I probably had a defective processor fan. At this point, he gave me some options. Apple could send me a pre-paid shipping package so I could send the iMac to a service station for warranty repair. Or he could issue a service number and I could bring the machine to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Now, I work for Small Dog Electronics, which is Apple Authorized Service Provider, so the solution was obvious. However, in many circumstances, shipping the machine back to Apple would make sense. Mail-in repairs take anywhere from three to ten business days to process, with most repairs only taking three days.

The New York Times recently ran an article about the value, or lack of value, of extended warranties. The article indicated that these warranties are worthwhile for laptop computers, which are subject to abuse and are very expensive to fix. In my iMac’s case, the AppleCare has already paid for itself. I use the machine on a semi-professional level, and while I can get by on my laptop, it would be difficult to be without the iMac. AppleCare considerably cuts down on that concern.

As an Apple Specialist, Small Dog Electronics is able to sell AppleCare, which is usually priced to be competitive with other resellers, including Apple. You can see our AppleCare plans here:

http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/Older+Macintosh/applecare/wag106/wag10006/mymac

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Take Control Ebooks Available Through Small Dog Electronics By Holly @ Smalldog.com

Have you ever gotten a new piece of software and the instruction manual that came with it left you feeling like it barely covered what the software does? Have you ever wanted to buy an instruction book but weren’t sure the Table of Contents and the back cover gave you enough detail to determine if it was what you were looking for, especially for the price? Well look no further. The answer is simple: Take Control eBooks.

Written by the husband-and-wife team Adam and Tonya Engst, Take Control Ebooks have been providing readers with high-quality, timely, real-world, and cost-effective documentation on Mac OS X and Macintosh applications and hardware since 2003. "Our approach to ebooks shines in situations like this," said Take Control publisher Adam C. Engst. "Whereas most print books about Tiger didn’t hit the shelves for weeks or even months after its release, we had four titles available at the exact moment Tiger shipped. Our policy of providing free updates to our ebooks means that customers can download updated versions as we learn more about various applications in real-world usage and as problems come up."

If you’re wondering if these books differ from others or if they really cover the material you need to know, all of the ebooks have FREE PDF samples available to download! These samples aren’t just a page or two — often they’re 15 pages or more! That’s a lot of free information you can put to use immediately. According to the Take Control website, "PDF-format ebooks use carefully designed layout and typography for easy onscreen reading and printing, and they include bookmarks, clickable links, and a Check for Updates button that lets you check for and download free updates. We offer free samples of all our ebooks and a money-back guarantee."

When you combine the ability to sample a portion of the complete ebook with its amazingly affordable price — most are $5, several are $10, and a few are $15 — you really can’t go wrong. All of the Take Control ebooks also include a coupon worth $5 off any order at Small Dog Electronics!

Here’s an excerpt of the ebook Take Control of .Mac:

"To steal a phrase from Steve Jobs, ‘Oh, one more thing…’

"We’ve released a slew of great ebooks over the last few months, but we have one more for you this year – the 182-page "Take Control of .Mac," which provides comprehensive documentation of Apple’s .Mac service, from the inimitable perspective of Joe Kissell, who spent many an hour testing, tweaking, and troubleshooting in .Mac in order to provide readers with lots of real-world advice and step-by-step directions.

"In this 182-page ebook, Joe helps readers get set up and provides a general orientation to .Mac. He then delves into the major .Mac services: Mail, iDisk, .Mac Sync, Backup, HomePage, and Groups. Readers will learn the best ways to read email via the .Mac Web interface or in an email program, how to share files with others via an iDisk, and the ins and outs of synchronizing data between multiple Macs. Joe also provides real-world advice about techniques for protecting important data with Backup; creating a full-fledged Web site with photos and movies shared from within iPhoto and iMovie; and using .Mac Groups to establish private online areas for sharing messages, photos, calendars, and files with family, friends, or colleagues. Joe even shows how you can buy a .Mac membership or renewal for less than the usual $100-per-year price, and gives an overview of other services that offer different features or more disk space."

Take Control of .Mac: http://www.smalldog.com/tcebooks/control_dotmac.html

To see the full line of topics available in the Take Control Ebooks Series, visit this page on Small Dog’s website:

http://www.smalldog.com/takecontrol.html

Please note that when you click the red button that says "Buy from Take Control," you will leave Small Dog’s website and be immediately taken to the Shopping Cart at Take Control with the ebook you’ve chosen in the cart.

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New Products

Nikon Coolpix Cameras

The latest additions to Nikon’s COOLPIX lineup establish a whole new category of advanced performance and photographic fun. The P1 and the P2, with 8.0 and 5.1 effective megapixels of ultra-sharp resolution, along with Nikon’s advanced in-camera image processing, ensures vivid pictures and incredible detail. When you are finished shooting you can quickly and easily transfer your images from the camera to your computer with PictureProject Software. Select either a camera direct-to-wireless computer (Ad Hoc) or through a WLAN router (IEEE802.11b/g) to transfer. The camera and computer synch together so only new images are transferred, no duplications. You can even transfer movies made on your P1/P2 camera.

Coolpix P2 5.1 MegaPixel 3.5x Zoom – $362: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39649/mymac
Coolpix P1 8.0 MegaPixel 3.5x Zoom – $499: http://www.smalldog.com/product/39650/mymac

Nikon Coolpix L1 6.2 MegaPixel 5x Zoom – $305 Nikon’s Coolpix L1 combines 6.2 effective megapixels and a generous 5x optical Zoom-Nikkor lens (38-190mm zoom in 35mm equivalent) for stunning 14 x 19-inch prints. The incredible, bright 2.5-inch LCD makes for easy composition and image playback. The L1 incorporates Nikon’s Exclusive Feature System, including Face-Priority Autofocus for great portraits, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix to automatically fix red-eye, D-Lighting to lighten overly dark images, and 15 Scene Modes to automatically set the camera for great pictures in standard situations, like portraits and panoramas. On-Screen Help eliminates the guesswork by providing explanations for main menu functions. Easy to use and feature-packed, the Coolpix L1 is a camera that suits any lifestyle.

http://www.smalldog.com/product/39651/mymac

Nikon Coolpix S4 6.0 MegaPixel 3x Zoom - $362 Nikon’s Coolpix S4 combines 6.0 effective megapixels and an amazing 10x optical Zoom-Nikkor lens for stunning 14 x 19-inch prints. The versatile swivel design fits in a pocket! An incredible, bright 2.5 inch LCD makes for easy image composition and playback. Nikon’s Exclusive Feature System includes Face-Priority Autofocus for great portraits, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix to automatically fix red-eye, and D-Lighting to lighten overly dark images, and 16 Scene Modes to set the camera for great pictures in situations like panoramas. New On-Screen Help eliminates the guesswork by providing explanations for all main menu functions. The Coolpix S4 gets you closer to the action!

http://www.smalldog.com/product/39648/mymac

Phase One Capture One LE – $76 Capture One LE RAW workflow software is the affordable way to get into professional RAW shooting. Why should you start shooting RAW: Two reasons: Image quality and workflow. With Capture One LE you will quickly see the benefits of working with RAW files. If you wish to you have the opportunity to upgrade to Capture One PRO to obtain more workflow tools. Phase One’s RAW workflow is renowned for its excellent image quality and efficient workflow tools. Which is why many professional photographers have chosen Capture One.

http://www.smalldog.com/product/39570/mymac

Phase One Capture One Pro – $415 Capture One PRO is a RAW Workflow software designed for the professional digital photographer. The main reason why Capture One PRO is the perfect choice for high volume photography is that it is designed to handle many images at a time. On top of this, Phase One’s RAW workflow is renowned for its excellent image quality. Capture One PRO has unlimited batch capability, multiple output files from each conversion, advanced color editor to create color profiles to suite your own color demands, IPTC/EXIF (meta data) support and much more. Capture One PRO has with its many professional users clearly set standards for RAW conversion software.

http://www.smalldog.com/product/39571/mymac

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Specials!

Here are the specials for this week, valid through February 16th. Be sure to use the wag URL to get this special pricing.

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While Supplies Last!

LaCie 80gb FireWire mini HD — perfect for adding extra storage to your Mac mini or for any other Mac!

LaCie Mini HD 80gb 7200RPM FireWire – $105

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16432/mymac

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iPod Nano accessory bundle – $52 with free shipping!

Includes: Small Dog iPod nano Leather ClickCase – Ebony Small Dog CAR Tune FM transmitter and iPod Charger Mobilejuice iPod nano ScreenShield with Wheel film

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag50034/mymac

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iPod 5G Video accessory bundle – $60.50 with free shipping

Includes: Small Dog iPod 5G 30G/60G Ebony Leather ClickCase Small Dog CAR Tune FM transmitter and iPod Charger MobileJuice iPod ScreenShield – 5G iPod

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag50035/mymac

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Factory-Refurbished PowerBook 17-inch G4/1.33GHz 512/80/SuperDrive with additional 1gb of RAM and 17-inch Mac Case Sleeve in Black – $1625!

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16433/mymac

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Need OS X Tiger and iLife 2006?

Get both along with a EZQUest Monsoon 160gb drive for $315!

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16434/mymac

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Small Dog Groove Cube (n) and iPod shuffle (u) – $79

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag50033/mymac

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PowerBook 15-inch G4/1.5GHz 512/80/combo/AP/BT w/Ogio Jackpack – $1399

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/wag16374/mymac

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Free Shipping on Used iPods!

Choose any of the used iPods, nanos, shuffles, or minis and get free shipping by entering coupon code UsediPod when placing online orders.

Apple iPod MP3 Player, 30gb (2003) B Condition . . . . u 1 209.00 iPod photo 30gb (2005) A condition . . . . . . . . . . u 3 209.00 iPod 20gb (color display) A Condition . . . . . . . . . u 16 239.00 iPod 20gb (color display) B Condition . . . . . . . . . u 4 239.00 Apple iPod MP3 Player, 40gb (2003) A Condition . . . . u 1 259.00 Apple iPod MP3 Player, 30gb (2003) B Condition . . . . u 1 209.00 Apple iPod MP3 Player, 20gb Used B condition . . . . . u 1 179.00 Apple iPod 40gb Clickwheel – A condition . . . . . . . u 1 249.00 Apple iPod 20gb Clickwheel A Condition . . . . . . . . u 18 199.00

iPod nano +——-+ iPod nano 2gb White B condition . . . . . . . . . . . . u 6 169.00 iPod nano 2gb White A condition . . . . . . . . . . . . u 4 179.00 iPod nano 4gb Black A Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . u 3 235.00

iPod Mini +——-+ iPod mini 6gb Silver (2005) A condition . . . . . . . . u 12 235.00 iPod mini 4gb Blue (2005) A Condition . . . . . . . . . u 7 179.00 iPod mini 4gb Silver (2005) A Condition . . . . . . . . u 1 179.00 iPod mini 4gb Pink (2005) A Condition . . . . . . . . . u 3 179.00

iPod Shuffle +———-+ iPod shuffle 512mb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . u 147 47.50

To order: http://www.smalldog.com/used/wag291/mymac

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We had our Aquarian dinner on Tuesday. Hapy, Jessica, and I all have birthdays in February and my mom took us all out for Japanese food in Burlington on Tuesday. Grace gave me a couple handfuls of hippo finger puppets that she had made for me and some great tickets to see the Boston Celtics this Sunday. So it’s a road trip on Sunday! Knowing my luck, there will be a big snowstorm, but I’ve driven in a blizzard to Boston for a game before and I’ll do it again!

I’m leaving in a couple of weeks for my usual winter getaway. This year I am heading off to Hawaii. I just bought an Ikelite underwater strobe to go with my Olympus C-8080 so that I can take some pictures while we scuba dive. I was answering sales calls the other day and after talking to a customer for a bit and helping him choose a hard drive, I asked for his email address and it turns out that he works for Ikelite. After I finished his order he gave me some great tips on taking better pictures. I’m looking forward to taking one of the night dives with the Mantas! I’ll be posting my pictures on my web site and will give the URL here in Kibbles from Hawaii.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes and for supporting Small Dog Electronics by purchasing from us. We will never lose track of the fact that it is you, our loyal customers, who pay our salaries and allow us to work here in the Green Mountains with our friends and our dogs. Have a great weekend!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

Don, Dawn, Ed, and Holly