Product: Moho 5.4
Company: Lost Marble
Price: $99
www.lostmarble.com
(PowerPC and Intel compatible)
When people think 2-D animation program on a computer, they probably think Flash. From this point forward, when I think 2-D animation program on a computer, I’m going to think Moho, by Lost Marble. Moho is a 2-D vector animation program with some really cool features, and a really nice price. There are too many features to talk about in this review, so I’m just going to touch on some.
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We’ve had nearly two months of rain! I went out to look at my strawberry bed and while the plants are covered in delicious strawberries, there are little rivers running between the rows. I don’t think I have ever had to wear mud boots to pick strawberries before. It was raining so hard earlier this week that the Mad River left its banks at the bend in the river that I can see out of my office window. I watched as our neighbor’s hay field filled with water and noticed a fawn scurrying back and forth looking for a way out of the rapidly expanding river. We tried to figure out a way to save the fawn, but there was a rushing river in our way. The fawn finally found a strip of land that led to dry ground and took off into the woods.
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Neil Ticktin of MacTech Magazine joins Tim and Chad to chat about MacTech, the Intel transition, and much more. Along with the latest in Apple and Macintosh news, Robert Hazelrigg returns with a Speedy review of the iSkin iPod protector, and Nemo has a new NoSnooze Review of two CS2 books.
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Another summer week has flown by and we have seen hot temperatures, high humidity, and much rain over the past few days. Our pond behind the warehouse filled up again when the river overflowed its banks for the third or fourth time this year. The weather certainly has been swinging between the extremes around the world which reinforces theories about global warming and its affect on our atmosphere.
The Discovery Channel is launching a special on July 16 at 9:00 pm EST focusing on global warming. Tom Brokaw hosts a show looking for clues worldwide and presenting the facts surrounding the current theories on the status of this important topic. As global warming is brought to the forefront in the worldwide forum, political leaders can begin to take meaningful action to stabilize the situation for future generations.
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handle-it
Company: Case-Mate
Price: $49.99
http://www.case-mate.net
You MacBook Pro and PowerBook owners need to get a grip.
On your laptop, that is.
I’ve owned various and sundry incarnations of Apple laptops, starting with the PowerBook 100, and the only times I’ve had near-drop experiences has been while carrying them around. I’ve never had slippery fingers when taking the computer out of the carrying bag. But I’ve had several exciting experiences while toting my mobile Mac from room to room.
I’ve been using a review copy of Case-mate’s handle-it (why do both the company name and the product name use hyphens?) for a week, and love it.
handle-it is a convenient carrying handle that attaches to the hinge end of your MacBook Pro or PowerBook with four screws. Case-mate includes the proper screwdriver. Simply remove the four screws from the bottom case, hold the handle in place, and screw in the four screws from Case-mate. If this is too complicated for you, then you probably can’t run a can opener.
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FireWire and USB DriveDocks (Fourth Generation) for SATA, IDE, and notebook drives
Company: WiebeTech
Price: $75 – 230 (see below for details)
http://www.wiebetech.com
Only ten percent of MyMac.com readers will ever need to use a DriveDock to mount a bare hard drive, but you know who you are, and I hope you’re paying attention. WiebeTech DriveDocks allow you to connect any computer to an exposed drive, one that typically is outside of a case, enclosure, or other computer.
Why would some otherwise normal person want to do such a ridiculous thing? Techies and power users frequently need to retrieve data from hard disks that were in a previously-active computer. Geeks know that bare drives are not expensive, and they can get a huge bang for their buck when function is more important than form.
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WARNING: The following article could be caused by internet connection deprival, that the author was forced to experienced lately, or it could be caused by the fact that the author has to check 9 email accounts daily. The author does not claim he can see the future, and that he is merely guessing.
I have recently been offline for over five days!
To a technosexual (chic geek) like myself, that is a very long time offline. I managed to survive by checking my essential 4 email accounts through my Treo 650, in case I got any urgent emails I had to reply to. I usually check 9 different email accounts daily on my computer if you’re wondering. But the main reason why I was offline for so long was because I was taking a small step towards a faster internet connection. I have installed a new wireless DSL line, and now I am surfing the web at higher speeds.
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If there is a worst part of getting a new computer (except for the price) it is setting it up to your liking. You have to install your applications, get your documents on the computer, transfer music and photos, change all of the settings, etc. If your old computer is a working Mac with a firewire port, Apple takes the frustration out of this process and makes it really easy with the Migration Assistant. All you need is the old computer, the new computer, and a firewire cable.
When you first boot the new computer you will go through the set-up process. At some point you will be presented with the following screen. This gives you with the opportunity to transfer data from the old Mac to the new one:
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I was meeting with Artie yesterday and we commented on the fact that it was the longest day of the year – the summer solstice. Actually, what we said was, “I guess we’ve broken the back of summer.” Winter is always right around the corner here in the north country, but we have some more fun yet to go this summer, including the new bocce season now that the NHL and NBA playoffs are done.
CoverScout
Company: equinux
Price: $19.95 ($15.95 until July 1, 2006)
www.equinox.com
It is always nice when a piece of software does exactly what the developer says it is going to do. CoverScout is one of those pieces of software, and it is very easy to use.
Basically, CoverScout is an iTunes utility that will seek out and apply cover art for you music tracks. Yes, purchases from the iTunes music store have cover art on them, but what about songs that you import into iTunes from other sources (i.e.. CDs). These imported tracks will not have cover art. You can seek out the artwork yourself, and cut and past each one, or you can use a utility like CoverScout.
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SR225 Headphones
Company: Grado Labs
Price: $200 approximately
http://www.gradolabs.com/
What’s in the box? Not much, when you open a carton containing your new Grado Labs SR225 Prestige Series untraditional over-ear headphones. You get a set of lightweight headphones attached to a thick cable, and, if necessary, an adapter plug to allow you to listen to your iPod or portable music player, because Grado phones are manufactured with a 1/4″ stereo plug, not the newer 1/8″ style. Or, as our Grado PR contact says, “The 225 does not come with an adapter for portable electronics.”
Where is the elegant leather carrying case and 40-page instruction manual? Or the modular ear cups in enough sizes and colors to satisfy the largest linebacker or the tiniest toddler? No accessories? Who does Grado think they are kidding for two hundred bucks?
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Tim and Chad talks to new media architect Al Luckow. From riding a Segway, Fire Knife Dancing, and designing Woz.org website, Al is a very talented man and a fun person to talk with. Also in this episode, The Dashboard Minute, Speedy Review, and NoSnooze.
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EyeCandy
Company: sidicom
Price: See Below
http://www.ilearnfast.com
When Apple released the latest version of iMovie 6, the real big news was Themes. Similar to the themes found in iDVD, iMovie Themes were designed to work within your movie, rather than as menu items on a DVD. While the stock themes supplied by Apple with iMovie 6 are great, I knew it would only be a matter of time before an intrepid software developer would jump in with third-party themes. I was right, and Sidicom was one of the first.
EyeCandy Animated Themes for iMovie 6 are professionally done themes that work very well within iMovie 6. They are each sold separately, and prices vary. Let’s look at the EyeCandy Themes I used for this review.
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Lexmark P4350
Company; Lexmark
Price: $129.99
www.lexmark.com
Buying a color printer is usually one of the first things a new computer owner will do. It is a natural add-on for any computer user. A computer without a printer is like a television without a remote. And if you are looking to buy your first printer, or replace your existing color printer with something a little more modern, the Lexmark P4350 may be right up your alley, providing you don’t need Intel Mac print drivers.
The P4350 is an All-In-One (AIO) printer, meaning it not only prints color, but it is also a scanner and a memory card reader for digital cameras. It can also fax, but needs the computers modem to do so. I did not test the faxing capabilities for this review.
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This week signals a new era for the Small Dog Electronics Service and Tech support staff. If you read last week’s newsletter, then you know that Troy Kingsbury has left our ranks to pursue a life as a convenience store owner. We have no doubt he will be successful in his endeavors, as Troy’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious. His teary departure last week showed us how much he loved his co-workers and the challenge of fixing people’s computers. Life has taken him in another direction, and we wish Troy and his family all the best.
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Do you want programs like Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop, or Office, but their prices don’t fit into your budget? If so, the programs listed below are all FREE open source alternatives to these programs (and others).
NeoOffice- the Office alternative
www.neooffice.org
There are several open source Office alternatives out there, but NeoOffice is my favorite.
The core of NeoOffice is the word processor. Besides opening Word files and other text files, NeoOffice can open WordPerfect files (Windows and Mac formats!). It also saves into all of these formats. NeoOffice is a lifesaver at my school, where we are slowly converting to Macs and a lot of older files were done in WordPerfect. With NeoOffice we can open all of these old files. Continue reading »
Besides the word processor, NeoOffice also has a presentation program, a spreadsheet, drawing tools, and more.
Version 2.0 was just released, and an Intel version is due out next month. It runs a little slow, especially on older machines.
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384