I’m a Mac Fanboy . . . er . . . girl.
No apologies and no surprises here at MyMac.com, but other places it comes as a shock to lots of people how adamant I can be about our favorite platform..
What amazes me is that not more subscribe to the “Truth of Mac.” But I feel our day is coming. I believe that helping that day come will be three assists on the Mac side and one from Microsoft and a fifth from the media.
Storm One: Disaffection with Microsoft will hit a new high. Continue reading »
Microsoft will help us more than many people expect when Leopard comes out and shows up Vista for the Frankenstinian hodge-podge it is. Further disaffection will happen when people find out how Vista phones home and requires “Genuine Microsoft” registration. Once the glorious shout of “It’s Alive!” dies down, people will notice that the staples are showing and the bolt in the neck is an undocumented feature. “Trusted Computing” alone will drive the hackers into a feeding frenzy.
This Macspiration continues the topic from last week. Today I’ll cover two more System Preferences you can use to customize your computer.
KEEP YOUR COMPUTER UP TO DATE Continue reading »
The Software Update System Preference is where you would go to check for any Apple released updates for your computer. Once there, click “Check Now” and the computer will check and see if there are any updates you need to download. (You do need an internet connection, and a high speed one is suggested).
MacBook for Dummies
by Mark L. Chambers
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com
ISBN 0-470-04859-X, 366 pages
US $21.99, CN $25.99, UK £14.99
My guess is that there are still a few folks out there, stragglers?, who are just now purchasing their first computers. Since you made it a MacBook, congratulations on picking one of the finest machines you can get for your hard earned dollar, euro, yen, or whatever. In the case of switchers, like me, extra congratulations are in order for finally waking up to the ease and fun of using the best processing system in the world. In either case, MacBook for Dummies should be all you need to become fluent in the use of your new MacBook.
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The studio guys announce a new Apple Store podcast, as well as some of the give-a-ways that we will have there. Robert reviews the MyVu system for the iPod, while John interviews Don McAllister of ScreenCastOnline. A fun show!
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Every once in a while you may notice that a song you know is in your iTunes library may have “disappeared”. It’s rare, but I’ve seen it both with unusually large iTunes libraries and when my Mac locked up last week while it was downloading songs from the iTunes Store. All 22 I purchased downloaded, but the lockup (I had to restart) kept 3 of them from being listed in my iTunes library. Or perhaps you downloaded some new MP3s off of an unsigned band’s web site and would like to add them to your iTunes library. Either way, here’s how you can re-link missing song files or add a new ones. For this to work best, “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” should be on (it is by default) in the General tab of the Advanced section of the iTunes preferences.
iPod Earphone Comparison Review
At Macworld Expo 2007 San Francisco recently, I was given in-ear headphones (or earphones, or earbuds) to evaluate by two different companies, two sets per company. In ascending order of price, they are:
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ezGear ezEars SX50
Price: $20
(available in black or white)
SpamSweep
Bains Software
http://www.bainsware.com/spamsweep/
Price: $25
For most people spam has become a fact of life when it come to email, and there are many tools out there to help fight spam. SpamSweep is one of these tools, and it does a pretty good job and it is very easy to use.
SpamSweep is a program that sits on your hard drive and runs in the background. You can choose to have it run on startup, or you can run it yourself when you want. Once running, it scans your incoming mail server on a periodic basis and deletes emails that it thinks are spam. Then when you run your email client only the “good” emails are downloaded and you never see the spam (my favorite part of the program).
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In Macspiration #53 I discussed some ways to customize your computer using some of the System preferences. This week I will continue that list of tips.
First, to access the list of System Preferences go to the Apple menu and click. From here move down and click “System Preferences.”
Let’s begin.
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iTalk Pro
Company: Griffin Technology
Price: $50
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italkpro/
If I could prepare this review in the same amount of time it took me to figure out how to operate Griffin’s new iTalk Pro iPod microphone, you would already be finished reading. Here’s how to use the microphone:
• Remove cute little black gizmo from its package, pry off plastic cover for iTalk Pro’s iPod generic 30-pin connector, insert iTalk Pro into your latest-model (5th generation) iPod with video or (2nd generation) iPod nano, wait a couple of seconds, press iTalk button in the center of iTalk Pro, and start speaking.
• Press iTalk button again when you are finished recording.
• There is no step three. Where did I hear that previously?
A dated iPod voice memo is created in WAV format, that can be copied to your computer via the USB cable provided with your iPod. This file is very large, approximately 10MB per minute. Its name will be something like “20070119 094404.wav.” The WAV file can play on your iPod or computer, and iTunes can convert it to much smaller compressed MP3 or AAC formats. Let me know if you need help with that conversion method.
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Tim, Chad, and Guy welcomes Bill Palmer from iProng.com to discuss Macworld Expo, the iPhone, and the next generation of the iPod. David joins in with a new Fenestration. Nemo interviews author Tony Bove. And Robert reviews Invisible Shield and the Pod Safe.
This is the 500th issue of Kibbles & Bytes! Who would have guessed that we would have hit this milestone when way back in 1996, Mark Engelhardt suggested to me that we start a weekly newsletter! Here’s the entire text from the very first issue of Kibbles & Bytes:
“Dear Friends,
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Unless you have joined some scientific experiment, and been frozen for the past two and a half years, you might have heard about the iPhone, and I am not talking about Cisco’s iPhone I am talking about Apple’s iPhone.
What surprised me the most about the Apple iPhone’s announcement is how hard the news hit us here in Saudi Arabia. It created an enormous buzz, a shock. People were going to corporate meetings and talking about the iPhone instead of business. The iPhone showed its beautiful face on the front-page of almost every leading newspaper in Saudi Arabia. It eclipsed all the bloodshed news we have been used to reading the last half century.
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Otterbox Rugged Cases
Company: Otterbox
Case Tested: Treo 1920 Rugged Case
Price $129.95
http://www.otterbox.com/
Do you take your iPod to places it should not really go? Have you dropped it in the dirt, got it wet, seen it covered in dust, sand or dirt, or do you constantly drop the thing and hope each time it will not break? Are you one of the millions who drop your electronics into the toilet each year? (Yes, it is true!) If you say yes to any of these things, then I have a product for you. For lack of a better definition, I will call it the Hummer SUV meets the iPod case, and when you see and use these, I think you will agree.
Otterbox has made a great number of rugged cases for a great number of different uses for a long time. Their goal is to protect your equipment, your iPods, your gear, and yes, even your cigars, from the harsh elements. Given that this is an Apple related site, it would seem obvious to look at their iPod rugged cases. Unfortunately, one small problem for me is that I do not own an iPod, so it would be a bit difficult for me to test one. But fortunately for me, they do make one for my Treo 650, so that is what I am testing to get an idea of just how they perform.
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It is that time of year again when many MyMac.com readers received new iPods for gifts. Last year I wrote Macspiration 18 and covered ways to troubleshoot your iPod. The iTunes/iPod world has changed a little in a year, so hear is Macspiration 68 updated for today’s iPods and iTunes.
#1. Reset the ipod. Resetting the iPod will solve most of your problems, especially freezing. If you have any iPod model, except the shuffle, resetting the iPod is a matter of holding two buttons. Push and hold the MENU button while pressing the SELECT button (the round button in the middle of the click wheel) until the Apple logo appears on the iPod screen. This usually takes about ten seconds. Once the Apple logo appears, release the buttons, and the iPod will reboot.
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We take a look at the GeeThree, Digital Juice, and i-Fanatic
We look at NEC and HP today
In this video, we look at three companies: iFrogz, Rhino Skin, and Swing Seat.
Owen Rubin, Bakari Chavanu, Guy Serle, and John Nemorovski join MyMac Publisher Tim Robertson for a twenty-minute chat about the happening at Macworld Expo.
This podcast is sponsored by SmallDog.com, and Inno-Tech.com
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MyMac.com visits with MacMod.com at the Macworld Expo showroom floor. Check out some of the coolest Modded Macs in the world.
Guy and Tim look at the ModBook, one of the most highly anticipated product to launch at Macworld Expo this week.
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MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384