Download the show here, via iTunes, or listen above
Chad returns after a long absence to chat with Guy, Tim, and Robert about which Mac gifts you would give and like to get. If you have a Mac user on your holiday gift list, give this show a listen. Also, John Nemo shares some music recorded on his Edirol R-09. And finally, David Cohen looks at what Leopard brings to the table in a Windows world.

As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.



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Imaingo speakers
EA Games
VMware Fusion
MyBook External HD

Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3
by Scott Kelby
Peachpit Press
ISBN 978-0-321-50192-9, 239 pages
US$49.99, CN $56.99, UK £29.99

Since last Summer I have increased my use of Photoshop CS2 and now CS3 on nearly a weekly basis. Much of the reason is because of the work I do as a wedding photographer, and the other reason because of my goal to take my Photoshop skills to an advanced level. In the last few years, I’ve taken a class on Photoshop basics and I have fumbled around with its buttons and tools until I’ve gotten selected photos to look better than the original version. My current skills are largely based on what I’ve learned from reading and using Scott Kelby’s numerous books and some useful Photoshop tutorial websites. But while I aced the Intro to Photoshop class and can easily follow almost any good tutorial, I have yet to develop a strong workflow in Photoshop whereby I can look at a photo and know step-by-step how to make it better.

So in this regard, Scott Kelby’s 7-Point for Adobe Photoshop CS3 couldn’t come a better time. While I do most of my photo processing work in Apple’s Aperture 1.5, an image processing and management program, I still think Photoshop CS3 enhances photos in ways that Aperture or Adobe Lightroom alone can’t do, and I think Kelby would agree. Kelby’s 7-point system is all about building a solid workflow for processing and enhancing digital photos using Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw. Though he’s written equally excellent books on Adobe Lightroom (a digital management and processing program similar to Aperture 1.5), he guides readers back to the grandaddy of image editing and enhancement, Adobe Photoshop.

The objective of the book is to address how most people learn any skill: through constant practice and repetition. Good teachers know that if they want their students to learn and take ownership of certain skills, they (teachers) must identify those skills and then scaffold lessons and activities in a way that makes the tools and process of using those skills understandable. Good teachers know that students can’t learn challenging skills simply by rote learning or one-time introductions. Students need to practice selected skills regularly and under different circumstances until they can take ownership of them.

Kelby uses this exact approach in his latest book. For Photoshop users like myself who have little or no problem reading and following the directions of a good Photoshop tutorial, all Kelby’s past best selling books are good for that. But how do you get beyond the tutorials? How do you take a photo and first ask, What needs to be improved? and second, What tools and strategies can I use to make the photo better?
Well, working in Photoshop on a regular basis and using tutorials can be very helpful for improving photos. But in order to master Photoshop, you have to develop a workflow—a way of processing photos using particular tools and strategies.

Now, I have admit, I’m writing this review with sort of a bias. I’m pretty much a virtual student of Scott Kelby and many of his cohorts including Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, and several instructors and writers for the Photoshop Users magazine. I have read and reviewed books on the subject of Photoshop use; I have attended two Photoshop Users Power seminars, recently joined NAAP (the National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and I download the almost weekly podcast, Photoshoptv, hosted by Kelby, Kloskowski, and Cross. In addition, I never miss an episode of Photoshop CS3 Killer Tips put together by Kloskowski.

So it’s difficult to not to like Kelby’s latest book. I’m three-fourths through the lessons, and I can honestly say that the first time as a Photoshop user, I’m learning a workflow to use the program. I know that sounds like radio or t.v. ad for the book, but there’s no other way of putting it.
With that said, if you’re a beginner with Photoshop, you probably will be frustrated with this book. But if you’re a serious or professional photographer, with intermediate knowledge of Photoshop, who wants to become an advance user of the program, then this book is for you.

Laid out in Kelby’s familiar and unique style of instructions, this book contains 21 lessons, each about 10-15 pages long, that teach you to use the 7-point system. The system involves making use of curves adjustment, shadow/highlight adjustments, painting with light, channel adjustments, layer blend modes and layer masks, and, finally, various sharpening techniques. Many of these tools will sound familiar to those who have used Photoshop on a regular basis and have followed some or several of Kelby’s tutorials in his previous best-selling books, especially his The Photoshop Channels Book.

First off, Kelby formats his lessons using his unique short concise step-by-instructions for processing the tutorial photos. Kelby seems to anticipate what readers need to know in order to learn what he is teaching. He doesn’t bury his instructions in several pages of long winded explanations. Each page is illustrated with excellent photos (nearly all taken by Kelby himself and available for download) and screen shots for each major step in the how-to process. Most of the images Kelby uses in this book are outdoor scenic photos. Oddly, there is not a lesson for photos taken in difficult mix lighting, such as an indoor portrait taken in a mix of ambient outdoor window light, room fluorescent light, with an external flash.

The challenge of this system is to know what tools and strategies to use. That’s why each lesson repeats one or more tools and skills that Kelby covers in the previous lesson. Kelby’s first lesson introduces you to an overview of the 7-point system, and then next 20 lessons add on and repeat new tools and skills. So as you work through to the middle of the book, you start anticipating what might need to be done next in the process.

As with his other books, the layout of this one provides lots of space to make notes, draw connections, and jot down questions. Kelby provides a "cheat sheet" of the 7-point system at the end of the book, so that when you come back and try to use the system on your own photos, you can review the cheat sheet to re-familiarize yourself with the system and tools.

This system, however, is not a set of Photoshop actions that you can just run on any image to make it come out better. And there are no sure fire set of tools that you apply to each and every photo you bring into the program. You have to make creative decisions about the kinds of corrections, changes, and enhancements you want to make to a particular image.

How I Worked Through the Program
As I’m work through the lessons, instead of just following the step-by-instructions, I try to figure out, for instance, the function of layer masks, or the purpose of the Lab mode and when to use it. I try to see exactly what effect certain tools has on image. With programs like Adobe Lightroom or Apple’s Aperture, it’s a little easier to develop a workflow process because the programs have more clearly revealed features and processes. That’s not so with Photoshop. You have to know where to find particular tools in order to use and apply them. Many Photoshop users, for example, shy away from using Curves and Levels adjustment features because these tools are not necessarily intuitive features in the program. But Kelby provides some very simple ways to use these tools in his 7-point system.

Next, using a tip I learned from Dave Cross, I suggest developing a set of 7-point system actions for working the lessons and beyond. Kelby presents three actions for sharpening photos, but Cross presented in one of his seminars the concept of One-click actions. These actions are based on Photoshop tools that you use repeatedly, but by turning them into actions could save you time in the process. For example I’ve built actions for flattening files, using the Lab color process, making a Snapshot history, putting an image back into RGB mode, and creating a Kelby style vignette. I put the actions panel in Button mode and just make the necessary clicks as I work through the lessons.

I also suggest that you don’t get impatient with the program. Though Kelby’s instructions are very clear, Photoshop, as any user knows, can have you pulling your hair out at times. You may have the opacity button set at 50% and not realize that’s why a certain layer mask is not working like you want. Or you may seek to make an accurate alignment with a selection tool, but the Auto-Select button is clicked, preventing you from doing so. You will also need to learn and use keyboard shortcuts because with this system you’ll be using many of the same menu items over and over.

You might also try reading and underlining the key instructions for a lesson before you sit in front of your computer and actually do it. Likewise, after you do a lesson, review it and your notes. Jot questions for concepts you still haven’t grasped. The goal is to get to mastery of the process, not just follow a set of instructions, for every photo is different and you’ll have to make personal creative choices about what needs to be done. Kelby does a pretty good job of explaining why he chose certain tools and strategies. He does this without breaking way from his step-by-step process; however, I do think a glossary of definitions about the tools he uses in the system would be helpful for further understanding tools and concepts. Many of the lessons simply read like a paint-by-numbers numbers approach.

I also suggest that it is better to start learning the system when you actually have time to work through the lessons from beginning to end. If you’re a beginning or intermediate Photoshop user, you will need to work through each lesson, not skipping one of them.

Another good approach to working through this book is to apply the system to your own images after you’ve completed one or two lessons. If you don’t do this, then the book and system will have fail you because you’re not taking ownership of the process. When I did this on one of my own photos, it actually helped me learn one of the concepts better because I didn’t have Kelby over my shoulder telling me exactly what to do, but I did have a few 7-point system concepts I learned to make some decisions about what to do.

Finally, I think some useful extensions could be developed as a result of this book. First off, it would make a great textbook for any beginning and intermediate Photoshop photography course. It would also be great if Kebly would set up some sort of a 7-System web site or workshop where participants are challenged to use the system on a photo that needs processing and then upload their results. The web site could also include a forum where readers could ask questions and exchange ideas and examples about how they’re using the system in their own work.

All in all, the 7-point system will no doubt help take many Photoshop users like myself to an advance level.

MyMac.com rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Crumpler’s “The Cashmere Blazer” Messenger Bag
Company: Crumpler
Price: $180 plus optional accessories
http://www.crumplerbags.com/Cart/index.php?catId=5

Well, I am at it again, looking for that ultimate in a laptop messenger bag, and this time I turn to Crumpler’s “The Cashmere Blazer.” This is the showpiece of Crumpler’s bags, and I must say, this bag is amazing and beautiful. I was again looking for a messenger bag with a more “professional” look, one I could easily carry into the office and not get kidded about bright orange florescent colors blinding everyone as I rode in the elevator or walked down the hall (not that there is anything wrong with that!) The black version of this bag, which has been so popular that I had to wait almost 6 months to try one, is a beautiful piece of engineering. With black front, back and bottom and sides of dark green, this bag will work well in a professional environment as well as a casual setting. By the way, if black is not your thing, relax, this bag is available in two tone red, blue, beige, and brown as well.

The first thing I noticed about the Cashmere Blazer was just how big this bag really is. This size might not be for everyone, but if you need to carry a LOT of stuff, this will do it. (If you carry less or have a smaller computer, consider The Horseman, a smaller version of this bag.) At 17.5” by 17.5” by 8”, this is one BIG bag. It actually has a capacity (volume) of 20 liters! The laptop pocket inside is 15.7” x12.6” x 1.6”, which will easily hold a 17” MacBook Pro or Powerbook, or a smaller computer and a few accessories IN the well-padded pocket. The rest of the bag will hold a boatload of other things with room to spare. Unfortunately, it was also very easy to fill up this bag, making it to heavy to comfortably carry too.

To get the rest of the technical specs out of the way, it is water resistant, made of 1000D Nylon shell and 420D Ripstop Nylon lining. It has fully padded main and laptop compartment, and has plenty of pockets and compartments. In my water tests, everything inside stayed completely dry. On the downside, ALL pockets and compartments are inside, an oversight in my opinion, as missing are my always desired outside pockets for glasses, water bottle, or a cell phone. This bag will require you to open it to get at your stuff, not so easy when riding a bike. A large flap closes over the front all the way to the bottom and secures with both Velcro pads and two snap clips. There is a large mesh, zippered pocket on the inside of this front flap, but adding too much stuff here made the flap hard to manage.

Inside the bag, there is the previously mentioned laptop sleeve along the back, and it does not remove. A large Velcro flap holds your computer securely in this pouch. In front of that is the first of three large pockets running full length and height of the bag. A full height and width divider creates the second full sized pocket in front of the previous one, meaning that unlike some bags, you do not have just one large cavernous pocket into which everything falls and disappears. On the front side of this last divider are three various sized pockets with Velcro closing flaps. On the front facing side of this front main pocket are two smaller pockets with Velcro pads (no flap) that close them at the top. All these pockets and dividers make sorting and finding stuff in this bag easy, until it gets very full. In addition, unlike so many other black bags, the inside pockets are actually a mild shade of yellow, making it much easier to see things inside the pockets, even the largest ones.

But wait, there is more! I did say three large pockets, didn’t I? Hidden between the front main pocket and the front of the bag is yet another full sized pocket with a zippered top. I say hidden because this one is hard to see at first glance, as the main pocket’s top edge tends to hide the zipper. Opening this zipper reveals the third full sized pocket, with two more Velcro closing pockets, 3 pen holders, and another smaller zippered pocket along the back wall, again all lined in yellow. Basically, if you cannot find a way to organize all your stuff in this bag, you should just give up now, as I have not see a better solution in a messenger bag as most are just one big, dark, black hole.

Unlike Timbuk2, a shoulder strap pad is included, so there is no extra padding to buy to make the strap comfortable. It has a long, wide, adjustable strap with a Quick Flick™ buckle. This looks a lot like a seatbelt buckle on an airplane. You lift up the flap and slide it to tighten or release the strap, and press it back down to lock it. Unlike the buckle on Chrome’s bag (http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=1980) , there is no large button in the front beckoning someone to walk up and press it (which several people did to my Chrome bag, causing the bag to fall off my shoulder!) This bag is easy to use over either shoulder as a messenger bag, or easily carried as a shoulder bag. The strap also has a “third leg” stability strap that slides along the main strap and connects to a buckle on the back left of the bag. But I was never quite sure why I wanted to use this, or how it helps. Missing from this bag is a handle at the top for picking up and carrying by hand for short distances. Maybe the bag’s large size and thus the greater possible weight made a handle difficult to add without concern of it tearing off? Still, in day-to-day use, I found that feature missing.

Given this size of this bag, the addition of pads on the back much like bbp does would have been a welcome addition as well. Because of the bag’s carrying capacity, it becomes very heavy as you load it up. It seems if there is room inside, I kept putting stuff into it, and it kept getting heavier. With it riding on the back, the extra weight digs into the back more than usual, and extra padding would have helped greatly here.

As I said above, there are NO pockets anywhere on the outside of the bag. Maybe I am unusual in this desire, but so far only bbp and Timbuk2 have gotten this correct in my view. As I ride or walk with the bag, I do not want to have to take it off and open it to find my glasses, a water bottle, or my cell phone. Crumpler does sell a phone pouch (The “Thirsty Al mobile phone holder”) that attaches to the outside of this bag or strap, but that is a partial, additional cost solution at best, and only helps for one thing, the phone. In fact, there actually is no real good place in this bag to properly hold a water bottle, which forced me to toss it inside, and later that day, much of my stuff was wet from the bottle sweating inside. I do not understand this really; don’t messengers ride bikes? Don’t they need to get at their water easily?

I also did not find a key holder or strap in this bag, a badly needed feature given those keys, like other smaller objects, will disappear into the bottom of a bag of this size, making them difficult at best to find when you need them

Using the bag was straightforward with no complex straps and buckles to reconfigure as I found on bbp and Chrome bags. The over the shoulder strap with buckle was simple to use. On the front flap are the two common plastic buckles, which, when the flap is closed, are secured by two straps with a matching buckle; not really needed here because the flap stays closed firmly with Velcro anyway.

All the small issues aside, this now rates second among all the messenger bags I have tried to date. Granted, it is WAY too big for my needs now that I carry a 12” Powerbook (Apple, please, a 12” MacBook Pro), so I am curious to try the smaller Horseman bag as something more manageable for my needs now. If they would add a few outside pockets along the edges, this would be the ultimate messenger bag for me. A solid 4.5 out of 5 for me.

If you haven’t noticed yet, each of Apple’s main creative suite applications including iMovie, iDVD, Address Book, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and now, Mail’s Stationery feature, includes a photo browser whereby you can access photos stored and managed in your iPhoto and Aperture libraries. This means that if you’re sending an email, creating a DVD slide show, editing a video movie, creating a postcard or newsletter letter layout in Pages, or putting together a spreadsheet in which you need photos or images, you can now access your images directly from the program you’re working in.

You no longer have to open up iPhoto or Apple’s more professional photo editor and management tool, Aperture 1.5 in order to access your photos and images. This media browser makes for a significant time saver, especially for photographers.
But suppose you want to access your iPhoto or Aperture photos while working in applications that don’t feature this nifty browser? Well, again, Apple’s Automator, comes to the rescue. Using Automator, you can easily create a photo browser that you can access anywhere in the Finder.

Here are the steps:
1. Open up Automator

2. If you’re Automator 2.0 (which comes with Leopard) you will be prompted starting point for a new workflow. Choose Custom.

3. In left column of Automators browser, choose Photos under Library. Next, in the middle column, select Ask for Photos, which is the fifth workflow down in the list.

4. Drag that workflow into the main window of Automator. Notice also the description of the workflow under the first two columns.

5. Where it says, Prompt, type something “Get My Photos” or whatever you like.

6. Now go to File>Save As. There are two ways you might to access and run this workflow. Save it as a Finder if would like Control or right click your mouse and choose Get My Photos from the context menu. You could save it in Script Menu where it can be access and ran from your Scripts menu that you set up in your menu bar. You also save the workflow as an Application by clicking on File>Save As. You will probably want to save the workflow in your Applications’ folder, and then drag it to your Dock for easy access.

7. Now simply click on the saved workflow and the action will run, bringing up a browser of your managed photos in iPhoto and Aperture, if you have one or both of them installed. When you click and drag one of the photos from the browser, you get the full resolution size to use and resize as you wish.

Rick Sammon’s Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD
by Rick Sammon, Directed by David Leveen
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com/compbooks
ISBN: 9780470180754
DVD
US: $19.99, CAN: $23.99

Rick Sammon is clearly a talented photographer, as evidenced by a liberal sprinkling of his work throughout this Photo Workshop DVD. He also is an energetic and talented communicator and teacher, qualities that most photographers, regardless of their picture making talent, often lack.

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD seems to be aimed at first-time DSLR owners, and Rick certainly has far more than a few things to teach them. Much of the material is pretty universal, but the DVD is specifically aimed at owners of Canon’s Rebel XTi. As this is a best-selling entry-level camera at the moment, I suppose that it doesn’t limit the market for this instructional DVD too much, though owners of other DSLRs would benefit from most of the same material. This is definitely an upbeat video with a lot of good information for a beginning photographer.

Despite Rick Sammon’s talent and upbeat presentation, I found the format of the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD to be somewhat annoying. The story line is Rick teaching an underling how to use her new Canon Rebel XTi. They travel to interesting locations such as Universal Studios in Orlando, Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum in New York City, and The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. Fair enough, and seems to fulfill the promise of the instruction being like a one-on-one workshop. However, I found the format of the tutorial as a whole to be somewhat tedious.

Unfortunately, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD is chopped into many short lessons followed by a slow-moving review of each tiny lesson in slideshow format. Most annoyingly, there seems to be no easy way to skip the pedantic review sections and often they seem longer than the more interesting lessons that they are a review of. For example, a brief lesson on how to hold a camera seems explicit enough without the need for a Keynote followup.

If you have EVER used iPhoto, you are probably overly familiar with Acoustic Sunrise, selection #1 of the sample music for iPhoto slideshows. Now imagine having to hear it over-and-over as accompaniment to the many inescapable, short, and often redundant review sections. Drives you batty, and the only excuse I can see for it is avoidance of having to pay royalties for less shopworn music. I would have preferred even rank amateur attempts at using loops in Garageband to create background music.

Furthermore, you can’t just kick back and enjoy the DVD, as you must constantly click a button to get to choose another lesson (AFTER listening to the fingernails-on-blackboard soundtrack of the review section). It would be far easier to turn a page if this were a book, and I would think that many who purchase an instructional DVD are expecting a more fluid experience and aren’t expecting this degree of required semi-active involvement. I suppose that this is what remotes are made for, though I was watching it on a computer that, due to age and equipment limitations, was sans Front Row so I had no choice but to stay alert and use a mouse. Maybe I’m just getting old and cranky.

Many of the short lessons seemed to cover simple things in detail while more complex operations seemed to be glossed over. For example, the lesson on Workflow went rather swiftly from Turn on camera, Take Pictures, Remove memory card, then on to Make a 13 X 19 in. glossy print (with extra credit hint: be sure to use Canon paper in a Canon printer). Though it wasn’t mentioned, I noticed that Sammon uses Macs for processing his photos, reinforcing my suspicion that he’s a pretty smart guy, so maybe there just were time limitations that didn’t permit a little more detail to be given in the video.

I have the feeling that Rick doesn’t always practice what he preaches in the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD. I spotted ISO 800 being used in bright outdoor locations. Likely explanation: it looks like more fun to be waving a camera around than tethering it to a tripod, image quality be damned. In this sequence the "student" was using a big bazooka zoom lens and I have a feeling that a tripod would have been of benefit. I suppose a tripod would be a real killjoy and I don’t remember seeing one in use throughout the tutorial except for the lesson on sunrises and sunsets. OK, enough, I’m getting picky!

For beginning photographers, there is plenty of good information in this tutorial if they persevere, and many excellent photos taken by Sammon to serve as inspiration. However, they might have to pick up a few additional skills that were glossed over in the video to achieve the same kind of results.

In addition to the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD, Wiley also publishes excellent tutorial BOOKS that might serve the interests of beginning photographers better unless they just insist on getting instruction from their TV screen and are handy with a remote control.

MyMac.com Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Download the show here, or via iTunes. You can also listen with the player above.
Guy Serle, Tim Robertson, Bill Palmer, and Chris Seibold turn a Skype call into this weeks podcast. Topics include: does Steve Jobs think the iTouch is an iPhone training devise? Does Mr. Jobs hate the iPod Classic? Does Microsoft innovate? Is MP3 dead? Plus, John Nemo begins his evaluation of the Edirol R-09 portable audio recorder with two interviews.

As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.



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There are times when you know Apple does something right when, at first, you really don’t see the point. Case in point, Photo Booth.

When Apple first demonstrated Photo Booth, I really didn’t see the point. Sure, it looked like a cute little application that took advantage of the built-in iSight camera on Macs with a built-on camera, such as the Macbook, Macbook Pro, and the iMac. But what was really the point in it?

Sometimes, not having a real point is, in fact, the whole point. As a father of three girls, with a boy on the way, I now see what a new iMac and Photo Booth can do. For the last half-hour, all three of the kids (ages 13, 12, and 4) have spent a delightful time sitting in front of the iMac, making themselves look crazy. They have all been laughing heartily the entire time, taking turns making up the funniest pictures. Here are some examples:

As you can see, the kids had a blast. And as for Photo Booth, I get it!

With the release of Leopard comes the integration of a workspaces program into the operating system. With this feature being bundled with Leopard it will have many people asking the question, “What do I need this for?” a question I asked myself before I began using a pre-Leopard workspaces program called Desktop Manager. I fell in love with it to the point where I had to get the Google Desktop on my PC just so I could take advantage of Workspaces.

The benefit is especially powerful on a Macbook, where the screen resolution has a maximum limit of 1280 x 800. This resolution proves to be a powerful disadvantage when compared to the normal resolution on my desktop of 1600 x 1200. I was limited on the Macbook and it drove me insane. Desktop Manager solved that problem, and now Spaces will solve the problem for the millions who have and will upgrade their systems to Leopard.

I want to start off by saying that Spaces is vastly more powerful than Desktop Manager because of the way it is integration with the Operating System. The main improvement being that you can map a program to a certain space. For example when I got ready to write this I was in Space 1, where I keep Firefox, Apple Mail, Adium, and Twitterific. I hit the Pages icon in the top and the program opened itself in Space 4.

In order to map programs to spaces all you need to do is enter system preferences and go into the Spaces menu. Hitting the plus under the “Applications Assignments” menu gives you the option to open any application on your Mac in the space of your choice.

A Word processor doesn’t take up too much screen space, but the real power of mapping applications to a specific workspace comes when using Applications that use the whole screen by default. The first two applications I mapped to specific spaces were GarageBand and Photoshop. These are applications where I want to be separated from distraction when I’m working, and both Applications are designed to fill the whole screen. By setting these applications in their own space I can, for example, be recording a podcast with GarageBand in space 3 and quickly switch back to Space 1 to check a bit of information on the Internet without having to minimize GarageBand. This not only saves time but also allows you to move between completely different tasks seamlessly. In fact, if I needed to get back to GarageBand in space 3 quickly and didn’t wanna use the keyboard shortcuts just by clicking on GarageBand in the Dock brings to into the space where the application is sitting. This is another huge advantage over workspace programs that were designed for Tiger.

There is room for improvement, as with anything, the one thing I miss from Desktop Manager is the ability to give your spaces custom names. But those small features are things that Apple, or third party developers, could easily add as Leopard becomes more mature. As it stands now, I couldn’t live without spaces and recommend it to anyone using Leopard. Just try it for a day and I guarantee that you won’t be able to live without it.

You can find more of Scott’s at personal blog; The Wonderful World of the Gundampilotspaz , as well as Time Travel is Awesome a Blog and Podcast that covers Video Games; Anime; and Science Fiction, and My Tubes are Clogged a fun tumblelog that I update regularly.

Zeppelin iPod Speaker
Company: Bowers & Wilkins
Price: $600
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/

* * * * *

Bowers & Wilkins’ premium Zeppelin iPod speaker is many things: the biggest, heaviest, most expensive, most beautiful, unusually-shaped iPod accessory to date, with the best bass, most magnificent overall audio clarity, plus most peculiar iPod dock, and weirdest remote control of all. You can read its specifications here, and for now you can only test drive or purchase Zeppelin at an Apple retail or online store in the United States. Additional purchase locations will be available in 2008.

Setup is almost effortless, except for lifting the *very* heavy unit out of its stylish packing container. Plug in power cable, set iPod (3rd generation or later, with 30-pin dock connector) onto front-mounted dock handle, and blast off. Neighbors will easily be able to enjoy (or curse) your booming bass, momentous midrange, and terrific treble. Friends and colleagues will be stopped in their tracks upon encountering a stunning Zeppelin, and will then be blown away by its remarkable audio output, perfectly balanced for music and the spoken word.

Two unique accessories and no extra cables are included. A supplementary rubber foot shifts sound projection from upward to frontward (see Greg Williams’ remarks below). A small puck remote allows Zeppelin to change iPod tracks, volume, or audio source. Purchasers must bring their own cables and adapters, but Bowers & Wilkins places rear ports on Zeppelin to increase its versatility (again, see below).

I played two different iPods (3G and Classic) plus my Macintosh G5 tower through Zeppelin during our extensive, round-the-clock evaluation period. The sound steadily improved, and my enjoyment of all types of music or talk also was gradually enhanced. This is typical with high-end speaker units.

Due to Zeppelin’s remarkable quality, style, and price, MyMac.com conducted two separate interviews. The first was a live audio conversation with designer Morten Warren, which is part of MyMac.com Podcast #154. The second begins below, in a written Q & A with a company representative.

Other web sites and print publications have reviewed or will soon be reviewing Zeppelin. Read these raves, save your pennies, make space in your living room, and prepare your audio soul for a lifetime of iPod or auxiliary audio that will rock your socks off or lure you with lullabies. Listen to and read our exclusive interviews, then soar over to your nearest Apple store to hear it for yourself, with an iPod or audio device of your choice.

MyMac.com has reviewed many very good and several not so great iPod speakers. This one stands alone. If cost is a concern, Zeppelin is probably not soon going to be zooming around your house or office. When price is not a factor, but style and sound quality are, your $600 will be well spent on Zeppelin.

MyMac.com rating: 4.5 out of 5

* * * * *

Greg Williams, Director of Business Development, New Media, for Bowers & Wilkins, answers our technical questions about the mighty Zeppelin:

Q. Which iPods are optimized to fit safely into Zeppelin’s "gearshift" or "handle" dock bracket?

A. Any iPod or iPhone with a 30 pin dock connector; 3G, 4G, 5G, Classic, Touch, Nano and the Mini. The 3G iPods with 30 pin dock connectors will dock and play on the Zeppelin, but will not charge, due to a different charging methodology applied back in those days. Apple has adhered to their standard since the 4G iPods and will continue in the foreseeable future.

Q. What happens if a person picks up Zeppelin by its "handle" dock bracket?

A. It depends. We made the arm as strong as possible without compromising the design and made it of stainless steel. It has the potential of breaking off when too much pressure is applied, so we strongly suggest that owners not use the arm as a handle.

Q. How much of Zeppelin’s unusual shape is for sonic response, and how much for style/design?

A. We generally start with function and develop a design around it. With loudspeakers, it is important to minimize baffle area and have just the right amount of internal volume to allow the drive units to perform at their peak. Cabinets need to be rigid and not flex, so, like an egg vs. a cube, if all things are equal, the round design is stronger than the flat sided one.

For stereo separation, which also adds to height and depth in a performance, tweeters and midrange drive units need to be separated as much as possible for distinct left and right imaging to occur. Finally, subwoofers need some volume behind them to make deep bass.

If you put all that together, the shape of Zeppelin is ideal for optimal performance. From a design perspective, the shape is distinctive and the materials used are unique. Our industrial designer, Morten Warren of <http://www.native.com/> Native Design Ltd., has been designing our loudspeakers for years. He understands the balance between form and function and the effect of every compromise on the acoustic performance. 

Q. Why and how to use the standard base support versus the extra rubber base?

A. The standard base will work for the majority of the applications where you would want good overall performance in many listening positions. If you were to place the Zeppelin in a position that is near head height, it may “aim” the sound over your head. If you use the accessory rubber bass to cant the Zeppelin forward, you may find that it improves stereo separation and treble clarity.

Q. Was your goal full spectrum audio clarity with enhanced bass response? I need to REDUCE BASS on my iPod for optimal listening.

A. The goal for the Zeppelin was to have a flat, accurate frequency response. Every listener has preferences. Some like more bass, others not so much. When Zeppelin is placed in different positions in the room, the sound will be different. That’s why we included a bass control.

Q. Explain how treble and bass settings work on supported iPods.

A. Zeppelin has built in tone controls for bass. Treble is not affected by boundaries; walls, floors, ceilings and etc., in the same way that bass is. When you move a speaker from out in the middle of a room to a position next to a wall, it has the effect of reinforcing or boosting the bass to almost twice the output. If you leave the speaker next to the wall and move it into a corner, the bass almost doubles again. So we have added controls under the speakers menu to allow the user to optimize bass output, depending on placement at home. Good sound is somewhat subjective and people hear sounds differently, so we suggest that the user set the control where they feel that it sounds best.

If you’d like to support a little science in your setting selection, the Zeppelin’s default “0” setting is optimized for placement on a small table in the middle of a room, away from boundaries. If the Zeppelin is on a small table next to a wall, then “–1” is probably the right setting. Move the Zeppelin into a corner or on a bookshelf and “-2” is probably most accurate. “+1” and “-3” are for those situations where the user wants a little more or a little less bass. 

Q. What’s the ideal room position relative to walls and corners, with Zeppelin’s two rear holes?

A. The two holes are called ports. If they are at least a couple of inches from boundaries, their efficiency is uncompromised. I know it sounds unscientific, but the ideal position is where it sounds best. On all of our loudspeakers, after we’ve gone through finite element analysis of drive units and cabinets with lasers and other measurement and testing devices, and applied as much physics at the design as possible, our acoustic engineers spend days moving loudspeakers around in the listening room and fine tuning their designs with their ears.

Q. How does DSP (Digital Signal Processing) work? What’s the Nautilus speaker?

A. DSP shapes the digital signal. In our case, we use DSP to optimize the sound for the volume output, somewhat like a loudness control on a stereo receiver, except that it is dynamic. We also use DSP to keep the drive units from overdriving, causing distortion.

Nautilus is our iconic flagship loudspeaker system, a description of which can be found on our website: http://www.bowers-wilkins.com.

Q. How will Zeppelin’s USB software updates be delivered and installed?

We haven’t released any software updates yet, but they will be downloaded from our website and installed by a thumb drive or other USB storage device.

Q. How well do S-Video and RCA jacks perform for total home theatre audio? What’s TOSlink?

“S-video” is a video connection, which does not carry any audio signal. RCA jacks are the standard for home audio. Some high end components offer balanced XLR connectors, which can reject noises picked up over very long cable runs, but RCA remains the standard and offers the same performance under normal conditions. TOSlink is an optical digital audio connection.

Q. Is there a wireless module or adapter available for complete wireless audio transmission?

A. Bowers & Wilkins does not offer a wireless adaptor, but many are available. One of the best solutions, especially if you are listening to music through iTunes, is Apple’s AirPort Express, which offers optical digital audio output in a very small package.

Q. Why is the included manual printed in unreadable 4 point type? Nearly every buyer will be old enough to need a microscope to read the text.

A. I believe that the manual is written in a larger type than 4 point, but we keep the cost as low as possible and use less energy and natural resources if we keep the manual to a manageable size. If you would like an easier to read document, access the manual on our website and enlarge it to a size that is agreeable to you.

Q. What is the B&W Society of Sound?

A. B&W’s Society of Sound is a community of music lovers and music creators. It includes listeners like you and me, engineers, artists, designers, musicians, songwriters and interested music industry people. The Society of Sound’s goal is to bring people together through music.

* * * * *

Thanks, Bowers & Wilkins, for joining with Apple to create Zeppelin. Long may it fly.
Available now in U.S. at select Apple retail stores and from Apple’s online store

The MyMac.com secret spy team has uncovered these topsecret plans. They are no longer SECRET plans!

Digital Photography: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks, 3rd Edition
by Rob Sheppard
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com
ISBN: 0470147660
221 pages, paper, full color
US: $19.99, CAN: $23.99, UK: £13.99

Like other excellent titles in Wiley’s Visual series, Rob Sheppard’s book on digital photography is well organized and makes extremely good use of photos to illustrate techniques described in the text. In some ways, the title of the book may do it a disservice: don’t think that you will only get 100 tips; there are tips and tricks lodged within the 100 labeled tips. Also, the book provides sound advice for taking better photos, be they digital or not.

In this book I saw great explanations of fundamental photographic information such as WHAT METERS REALLY DO (Tip 22) — and why it really is important to understand. In the past I’ve often drawn blank stares when I’ve tried to explain this topic, and Sheppard (with the help of some great photos) does it simply and succinctly in a way that most people would be able to grasp. In similar manner, more advanced topics are handled such that photographers are encouraged to stretch their abilities to new levels.

Readers who like to flip open a book in random places will really enjoy Digital Photography: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks, 3rd Edition, as it is definitely not necessary to read through methodically starting at page one. You can just crack open the book, pick a tip, any tip, and give it a try the next time you are out with a camera or sitting at a computer with some photo files to play with.

As is customary in Wiley’s Visual series, each tip is assigned a Difficulty Level so the readers has some ideas of what they are getting into. The book covers a broad range of topics beyond the fundamentals of taking good photos. While not getting too deep into the fine points, space is devoted to basic digital editing for taking advantage of photo-improvement techniques that were unavailable when darkrooms were full of nasty chemicals. That said, this isn’t a book of advanced photo-editing techniques using Photoshop CS3, but it does a dandy job of demonstrating some of the amazing improvements that can be made using Photoshop Elements.

Sheppard gets bonus points for not assuming that everyone uses a PC; key combinations are given for Macs as well as PCs. Just because Mac users are substantially smarter than a typical shoulder roast and can usually translate instructions given for PCs, it is nice that we are not taken for granted as happens in many books on digital editing.

Maybe after taking some great photos and then doing some digital editing to bring out their strong points and minimize any flaws, readers will want to explore some of the many ways that they can make use of their images. Sheppard doesn’t let them down here either, as several Tips and Tricks are devoted to various ways of sharing photos on the web, DVDs, and in print.

If this book isn’t worth the price of ten cups of java, I don’t know what is. It adroitly covers many of the issues involved with the taking, improving, and use of digital photos and does so in ways that are accessible to readers of varied skill levels. It is hard to give a comprehensive review of such a wide ranging book, but I’m quite certain that many people will part with about twenty bucks if they visit a bookstore and flip through the pages. And most of these people will shortly find themselves understanding something that was fuzzy in the past, or trying new ways of taking photos, or getting a little bolder with their digital editing, or trying new ways of sharing their photos. If so, buying and working through Digital Photography: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks, 3rd Edition will have been money well spent.

MyMac.com Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Adobe Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks
by Lynette Kent
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com
ISBN: 0470144769
244 pages, paper, full color
US: $19.99, CAN: $23.99, UK: £13.99

Photoshop CS3 can be a little daunting to many people new to digital image editing and photo manipulation. This book may be the answer for someone who doesn’t know where to start. It will also serve well for many more experienced users who are looking to expand on their editing repertoire or want to learn how to make use of new features introduced with this version of Photoshop.

Lynette Kent’s book seems like a companion book to Rob Sheppard’s title on Digital Photography, reviewed above, for users who want to push their image editing skills to new levels. Adobe Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks shares the “Read Less—Learn More” strengths of Wiley’s Visual series. The book is heavily and appropriately illustrated and gives step-by step instructions for achieving the desired changes in an image.

Like other books in the Visual series, each tip is assigned a Difficulty Level in the form of a bar graph for quick reference. Also, like others in the series, the book is uniformly formatted such that each tip occupies a two-page spread.

Topics in Kent’s book range from customizing a personal workspace to using many of the popular Photoshop plug-ins. Readers with interests ranging from basic photo editing to “painting” a digital watercolor will find useful tips in Adobe Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks.

Topics such as monitor calibration and the fundamentals of using a pressure-sensitive tablet and pen are covered. With 100 tips and tricks to choose from it is likely that readers will find several tips to enhance their skills and improve their images. I know that one or two new skills are worth the price of admission, and most readers will find far more than a handful of new skills lurking here.

MyMac.com Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Download the show here, subscribe in iTunes, or listen above
David, Guy, and Tim pour over the multitude of updates from Apple this week, including Mac OS X 10.5.1, iPhoto, Bento, Final Cut Express 4, and much more. John Nemo has a conversation with Morten Warren from Native Design, Ltd. Robert chimes in on Leopard. And David Cohen chats up Entourage in Fenestration.

As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.



Subscribe to us in iTunes.

Links from the show
Bento
Native Design Ltd.
B&W Zeppelin
WhatSize from ID-Design, Inc.
AppZapper

Finally getting to it
In parts 1 through 4 of this article we discussed iWeb and its interface and finally we are ready to start talking about making web pages! What you want your web site to communicate to your audience is entirely up to you but remember that if they can’t figure out how to navigate your site and read your content, you’ve failed to make a good web site. You’re welcome of course to have obscure pictures that fade in and out for your navigation (and yes that is technically possible in iWeb), but unless having the audience hate you is the look and feel you’re going for, standard internal and external links will probably do nicely.

Because most of the functionality I’ll be talking about in this part of the article is done through the “Inspector” window, when I talk about which part of the Inspector to go to, you’ll see something like this: Inspector/Page/Layout. The first part (in this case the Inspector) is the window, the second (Page) is the icon to choose within the window, and the third (Layout) is whatever other button within the icon choice is required. I’ll be doing much the same once we start talking about other floating menus (like the “Color” and “Media” windows).

Before you even begin to put pixel on screen, think about what you’re doing. What do you want the page to look like? With iWeb 08 (or 06), changing your mind later on some design element can create some serious re-working and on occasion may be impossible for a few of the page templates. So give it some serious thought. One great place for design ideas is to visit pages that you enjoy and consider what it is about the site (beyond the content) that makes you revisit it. Ask friends for ideas and look for elements from unlikely places. Make your site look different and interesting without sacrificing those bits that will make it easy to move around in.

Master Pages
One feature that iWeb does not have in either the 06 or 08 version is “Master Pages”. What exactly is a Master Page? A Master Page is a selection of common graphic and text elements that you want to appear on every page in your site. Done properly, it is a huge time saver in putting your site together. It is NOT done properly in iWeb. Oh sure you can have the common elements that Apple has created for each of their templates and they look good, but having your OWN Master Page is not supported. You can fake it though with iWeb though and while it takes a little more work that it should, you can get some pretty nice results. How is it done?

Start by hitting the “Plus” symbol on the bottom left of the main iWeb screen or by going to the “File” menu and selecting “New Page”. For MacParrot.com (and almost every other site I make with iWeb), I used the “White” blank page, but you’re welcome to use whatever one you want. I found that the White blank made it easier to place my custom elements and not have to delete a bunch of stuff I didn’t want. If the page isn’t as wide as you want it to be, here’s how to change it (and do some other stuff too) before you add content.

Size Matters
iWeb’s default page size is 700 pixels wide. You can easily adjust this in the Inspector to any size you wish. Keep in mind that any pages you add will have to be changed (if you want them to be the same size) as well since all new pages default to this size. Also change the name of your pages in the Inspector if you wish and the iWeb created Navigation link (more on this later) will reflect this change. How do you do this?

To make your page a different size than the default, go to your Inspector box and select the “Page” icon and then the “Layout” (Inspector/Page/Layout) button. This will have lots of information about the current page you are viewing, some of which we’ll talk about later, but for now let’s just change the width. You’ll see a “Page Width” box with the number “700px” in it. Select or highlight this number and put in whatever number you would like. Don’t fret about the “px” part, iWeb is smart enough to know you mean pixels and not inches or feet (that’s a good thing). There’s also a “Page Height” box, but don’t worry about it unless you absolutely have to. iWeb will grow your page length automatically beyond the default “480px” if the content requires it. If you don’t have enough to fill the provided 480 pixels, then feel free to shorten it if you wish.

To change the Page’s name, go to Inspector/Page/Page. There will be a generic name there associated with whatever type of page you selected. Select or highlight the name and replace it with one of your choosing. If you’re using iWeb from iLife 06, iWeb will put in some really funky name for the actual page when selected by your web browser (I have no idea what was going through iWeb’s designer when they did this, but it probably wasn’t a legal substance), but the name will show up as whatever you chose in the navigation menu. Don’t worry about any spaces between words either, both versions of iWeb will put in the data required to allow the name to make sense to a internet browser when selected. In this case, this page won’t actually be viewed on your site. This is your Master Page and while it WILL be downloaded when you upload your site to either dotmac or to the domain of your choice with an FTP (File Transfer Protocol program), unless you actually link to it with your iWeb’s or your own custom navigation menu, most people will never see it.

We’ve changed the page width and given our page a name. Next, we’ll make a menu for navigating your site.

Site Navigation
Your first decision is what you want your navigation links to look like. Navigation links are what get you from page to page on your site and for the sake of people trying to view your content beyond your first page, please make it as identical as possible on every page. iWeb’s default navigation system is all pages (blogs, podcasts, photo pages, and the like) across the top of your site in most templates on every page. This works great and you can chose whether or not you want a page to be linked there in each page’s Inspection box. Actually calling it a default is a bit misleading. This is the ONLY way iWeb will display your links to other pages on your site automatically. Want a vertical navigation bar in the white template? You are SOL unless you make it yourself and again you’ll have to make it for each and every page.

We’ll begin by talking about iWeb’s oh so boring (to me anyway) standard navigation menus. Every single template within iWeb has a navigation menu. This menu in almost every case is situated at the top of each page and runs across the length of it. If you run out of room, iWeb grabs a little more real estate beneath the top layer and starts a new one.

To include a page in iWeb’s standard menus, go to the page you wish to add and then go to Inspector/Page/Page. On the bottom of the window there are two selections, “Include page in navigation menu” and “Display navigation menu”. Hitting the check box for “Include page in navigation menu”, will put the page into iWeb’s navigation menu. No real surprise there, but you won’t SEE the menu until you also select the check box labeled, “Display navigation menu”. AH! There it is. Looks the same in almost every template and it’s about as exciting as unbuttered toast. So, uncheck both boxes and make them go away. Let’s make our own. I’m including the way to do it in iWeb 1 (from iLife 06) for those who haven’t upgraded.

In order to make your own Navigation menu in iWeb 1, create a text box by hitting the “Text Box” icon on the bottom of the main window. A small empty box will appear somewhere near the center of your page. Double-click inside the new text box and a blinking cursor will appear. Now add the names of the main pages for each section (Welcome, blogs, podcasts, photos, and what not) in whatever order and whatever font and size you choose. Don’t make them linkable yet! The reason why is that once they are hyperlinks to other pages, trying to copy and paste them to other additional pages can make iWeb 1 do strange things and most likely whatever editing you did to the text itself will disappear. This is where a little foresight comes in.

After making the Text Box and entering in the name of the other pages you want to link to along with whatever other text/font changes, select the entire box. Move the box to exactly where you want it to be once the page is completed. If the cursor is blinking inside your text box, click out of the box to deselect it and then single-click it again until you see the box itself highlighted. Go to the “Edit” Menu and select “Copy” (or . Go to each page you have created, go to the “Edit” menu and select “Paste”. This will put a duplicate of your eventual Navigation box in the exact same place on each page. After that, use the Inspector box to create internal links (more details later) to each page. You’ll have to repeat this procedure on every page you placed a Navigation box. The links themselves do not allow for much customization. They are typically blue, turn red when the mouse pointer is over them, and then are a light gray after being selected. There are some tricks you can do to change this, but honestly it’s more trouble than it’s worth. If you want to make your own menus, please upgrade to iLife 08. You won’t be sorry.

In iWeb 2 however, the process is much easier. Just make your text box as before and arrange your text however you want it. Go ahead and make your hyperlinks in the first box you’ve made. In iWeb 02, you can now cut and paste your links box into multiple pages and all your formatting will remain. Using the Inspector/Link/Format, you can also specify what color you want the link to be as is, when your mouse hovers over it, and what it will be after you click it. So get it just the way you want it, put it exactly where you want it to be and then cut and paste it to every page on your site. Viola! You now have a custom made navigation bar that will make your iWeb stand out from the others. If there are other elements that you want to have on each page, don’t do the copy and paste thing just yet. First you have to finish your Master Page and by a remarkable coincidence is part of the next section.

Creative Destruction
You’ve sized the page the way you want it and created a custom navigation section. Now it’s time to start arranging things to your liking. First, make sure there are no other elements of iWeb where you plan on putting these graphics and text boxes. Most likely, your bits and pieces will cover them up, and trying to get at them after can be a pain. So on your blank page either delete them or move them out of the way. As I said before, if you’re going to make your own navigation bar (see the previous section), go to Inspector/Page/Page and deselect both “Include page in navigation menu” and “Display navigation menu”.

Next, place whatever graphic and text elements you want on the page in the exact location you want them to be. Remember if you want to change it later, you’ll have to revisit every page created and redo it. So, once the graphic and text elements you’ve created are in place, your good friends “Copy and Paste” in the “Edit” menu will have to be visited. To select the elements you want repeated you have three options. You can go to the “Edit” menu and choose “Select all”. You can also drag your mouse across the screen until all the elements are captured, or you can hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard and manually select each element.

Copy them, go to the next page (or create a new one) in your site, and paste. To see the Master Page I created for Macparrot.com, click this link. Almost every item you see was created with either Photoshop, iPhoto, or creatively acquired (OK ripped off) from the internet. I hate to be a nag but just remember that if you want to make changes later, the process will have to be repeated for each page you’ve made so far. It’s best to do your basic design for the site first, and add your content later.

The good news is once you have made a page in each section of your website, you most likely won’t have to repeat the procedure as most times you can simply “Duplicate” (also in the Edit menu) a page when you need a new one with similar content and all the graphic elements will be duplicated as well. Simply delete the repeated content (or select all the text in each text box) and put the new stuff in. If you accidentally cover one graphic with another, or you need one part of it to be front of another graphic and they’re backwards in order, don’t fret. The Forward and Backward buttons on the bottom of your iWeb window will make a graphic element or text box go forwards or backwards in order on your page. If you want it to be all the way up front or all the way to the back do the same thing, you’ll need to go to the “Arrange” selection in iWeb’s menubar and select either “Bring to Front” or “Send to Back”. If you make a mistake and the graphic is covered with no way to select it, you can still get to it, but you’ll have to move the other elements covering it out of the way. BEFORE you do this, go to the Inspector/Metrics window and in the “Position” section, you can note the exact position in pixels horizontally and vertically that the graphic was located in. Just write those numbers down, move the graphic to get what’s behind it, and when you’ve made the changes necessary, re-enter those numbers with the moved graphic selected, and iWeb will put it right back from where you moved it to.

The upside to this is that you can make similar themes on each page, maybe just slightly changed in color or size to make them stand out. The downside is that when your guests browse your site, they’ll have to re-download every element of that page even if it’s repeated on a previous one. This is one reason why iWeb sites have a tendency to balloon up in size as compared to other website makers and why it takes longer to download iWeb sites.

Congratulations! You now have the skills required to create as many Master Pages in iWeb that you’ll ever need! In the next section, we’ll make your “Welcome Page” and go over using some of iWeb’s built-in page creation templates (but tweaked to your own style).

Octava 4×1 HDMI Switch with 4×1 Optical Audio
Company: Octava Inc.
Price: $274 ($294 with multiple cable options). Shipping included.
http://www.octavainc.com

I had a problem (I’m sure my brother, Guy Serle, would put that statement into the present tense…). I started putting together a home theater system with a 1.67 GHz Core Duo Mac mini at its heart. That’s when I discovered I was short some inputs.

My A/V receiver, an Onkyo TX SR-803 receiver, no longer in production, has a number of inputs, including two HDMI (high definition multimedia interface), but as I was doing some upgrades to my home theater, I found I needed at least one more. My HDTV, a Panasonic PT-50DL54 50 inch DLP rear projection (also no longer in production), only had one HDMI input, so there was no help there.

The goal was to connect my Scientific Atlanta HD cable box, my upconverting Panasonic DVD Recorder/VCR combo device, and my Mac mini to my home theater, using their digital outputs. The DVD and cable boxes had HDMI, and the Mac mini had a DVI (digital video interconnect). Because the Mac mini’s DVI connector does not provide audio connections, I needed to make use of the optical audio (TOSLINK) connections available in each device.

I did some serious Google searching and came up with several devices, but after much study, I decided on the Octava 4×1 HDMI Switch with 4×1 Optical Audio device.

Octava 4×1 HDMI Switch with 4×1 Optical AudioFront View

Octava 4×1 HDMI Switch with 4×1 Optical AudioRear View

This device is an electronic HDMI/Toslink switch box, compatible with the latest update to the HDMI standard (1.3), which supports 48-bit color and up to 6.75 gigabits per second data transfer rate, making it fully 1080P-compatible by a wide margin. It also offers a proprietary HDMI signal enhancement called Clear EYE that permits longer runs of HDMI cables without signal degradation in more complicated home theater systems. What does this mean? Clear EYE and ISI reduction enhances and "repairs" the digital signal so that it is as clear at the HDTV as it is at the source.

The Octava 4 x 1 switch also includes Smart SCAN technology that automatically switches from source to source as they are powered on. In other words, if you are watching content from your cable box, and you turn on your DVD player, the Octava 4 x 1 switch senses this and automatically switches to that input. It also comes with a remote control that lets you manually switch between inputs. That remote control information is in the Logitech Harmony remote control device database, so if you have one of those neat remote controls, you can easily integrate the Octava 4 x 1 switch into your Harmony remote control automatic programs.

Construction quality is top-notch, if a bit…well…industrial in look. It’s powered by a ubiquitous wall-wart that at least remains cool to the touch.

Price for this admittedly specialty device is $274 for the box and one Toslink cable, and shipping is free. For just $20 more, you can add one of several cable options:

* 4 6-foot HDMI cables
* 4 HDMI to DVI cables
* 2 HDMI cables plus 2 HDMI to DVI cables
* 3 HDMI cables plus 1 HDMI to DVI cable
* 1 HDMI cable plus 3 HDMI to DVI cables

As you can see from the admittedly amateurish graphic below, I was able to handle all the switching of digital A/V sources from one device. The only issues both centered around the Mac mini… As I said above, I needed a special DVI to HDMI cable, which I got with the third option above (3 HDMI cables and one HDMI to DVI cable) for the bargain price of only 20 bucks. If you’ve shopped for these cables at a "big box" store, you’ll understand what a bargain this was. Usually, the "big box" stores try to soak you for $100 or more per cable. Don’t get ripped off! The other special cable I needed was for the Mac mini’s optical digital output. I found the special Toslink to mini Toslink cable adapter at a local computer flea market, but you should be able to find one for around $20.00 from Amazon, or RAM Electronics. The mini Toslink connector plugs into the 3.5 mm audio out jack on the mini (which also puts out standard analog audio if you use a regular 3.5 mm audio plug), and conducts the digital audio information optically to your optical audio input of the Octava 4 x 1 switch and from there, on to your audio receiver’s optical audio input (the one with the rubber flap).

Now, I can go back and forth between my cable box, my upconverting DVD player, and my Mac mini, and still have a spare input for one of the new high definition disk players or a high def video game.

For me, the $294.00 investment was well worth it. It was cheaper than a new receiver (contemporary home theater-class receivers from Onkyo and Denon, for example, have 4 HDMI inputs, but start at around $1,700!), and does the job for which it was designed silently and reliably. Can’t ask for more than that!

Note that there are other switches out there that just switch HDMI signals for a lot less money, but if you need the addition of optical audio switching, this, for me, is the best one out there. I’m taking .5 off the rating only because it isn’t exactly the most stylish device out there, which might cause some resistance from the aesthetics committee.

Octava 4×1 switch photos and logo by Octava Inc. Block diagrams by Larry Grinnell.

MyMac.com rating 4.5 out of 5

Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages
Dave Taylor
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 076453484X
Price: Variable (out of print, but available via Amazon.com)
Page Count: 440

Once upon a time, I had a whole shelf-full of HTML how-to books. You know the kind, HTML for Imbeciles, I Hate to Code HTML, The Super Easy Way To Write HTML Pages for the Complete Illiterate, etc. Several years ago, I was able to put them all in the recycling bin and switch to a single resource book, Dave Taylor’s Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages. My copy was published in 1998, so it’s almost ten years old, but it is still an incredibly valuable reference book when all you need to do is do some basic no-frills HTML coding. CSS? Not here. XHTML? Nope. References to high-end HTML design tools? Not a chance. Those tools weren’t around when this book was published. People were still using Adobe’s much (deservedly) maligned PageMill in 1998. Talk about a program that completely refused to do your bidding!

What is in this book, aside from the delightfully obsolete CD chock full of 1998-vintage web applications, are page after page of really easy to read and understand examples that build on each previous example. This is the book that really brought understanding to me about HTML tables, which are generally a major pain in the posterior region to code. Did I say code? Yup! Almost all of the HTML work that I do is hand-coded. I like the control it gives me, and I don’t have to fight a web page design tool that wants to code a page "its way". Mind you, I do make use of such software when necessary. Tools such as FrontPage 2003 on my hated office Dell machine, and Macromedia/Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive on my various Macs are used when I need something more than just a few lines of code. I also have to admit that today’s web design tools are really, really good, and make it easy to create pages that look like what you want them to look like. That said, if I’m doing a simple blog or a product review on MyMac.com, I just think it’s easier to code the darned thing myself.

Taylor’s book gave me the confidence, many years ago, to throw off the shackles of the lousy (at the time) web editors and showed me the way to do it myself.

Not only does this book go into the basics, but also gives excellent detail on HTML tagging, with most of the important modifiers needed for text formatting, as well as special-case features, and they all still work on today’s browsers (except maybe the old Netscape "blink" tag).

The book is still available on Amazon.com through their used bookseller program for as little as 67 cents (plus a few bucks shipping). There is no single HTML coding reference guide I can recommend as highly as I recommend this one. Yes it’s old, but it’s still got its chops even after all these years. Further good news is that virtually every piece of code in this book applies to XHTML and more modern web technologies. Remember, this was written when we were still using Netscape 3 and Internet Explorer 3 or 4 (yes, I have gray hair–you would too if you had to use PageMill!). If you need to quickly learn a little bit of HTML, or a lot, you should start with this book. It’s just that good. It still sits on my desk at work, and I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t open it to look up some arcane chunk of HTML code that I need for one of my office web projects.

Dave Taylor published a newer version of this book, Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS a few years ago, but I have not read it, so I can’t say for certain what improvements this newer edition might have.

Even nine years after publication, I still give this book my highest rating, though due to its age and really obsolete enclosed CD, I’ve dropped the rating slightly.

MyMac.com rating 4 out of 5.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
Company: Electronic Arts
Price: $49.95
http://www.commandandconquer.com/

This feels like deja vu. Back in 1997, I remember editing and publishing a review of Command & Conquer for the Macintosh from Shay Fulton. He gave it high marks. In fact, shortly after his review, easily within a year, I purchased the game myself, as well as the follow-up games in the series. But it has been, literally, six years since I last played a game in this series.

Back then, the game was made by Westwood Studios, who was acquired by video game maker powerhouse EA back in 1998. So at the last Macworld Expo, when Steve Jobs talked about games coming back to the Macintosh with EA leading the way, I was very interested in playing Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. Would it be like revisiting an old friend? Have my days playing all three of the new consoles (Wii, PS3, and XBox 360) spoiled me from playing computer games? Will the Beatles every show up in iTunes?

The answers: Yes.  Kinda. Not as of this writing. But this review is about C&C 3, so let’s stick with that for now.

Billed as the last game of the series,(let’s hope not!) Tiberium Wars finds the Brotherhood of Nod (Nod) facing off against the Global Defense Initiative. While there are actual actors and brilliant video to go along with the game to further the game play, for me just something to get past so I could get back to playing.

The single player campaign (which I have yet to complete all the way) is very challenging. There have been times when I thought I was doing well, only to have the enemy forces swoop in and take me out. A quick return to the main menu to restart the level was usually enough for me to win. And like any good Real Time Strategy game, (RTS) the term Strategy really means something here. While the game gives you training wheels to start you off, those quickly come off to reveal a multi-layered and engaging game that will keep you, the player, in front of your computer for hours and days to come.

Rather than follow the story line, players can opt for either quick battles against the computer, or online play with real life opponents. I found playing the computer challenging to a point, but the AI tends to get stuck in one or two strategies, unwilling or unable to modify its plan of attack after repeated failures. Still, it’s challenging enough to keep my interest for a rocking good hour. The online play, however, is way over my skill level. I tend not to put up much of a challenge for more experienced online players. Some people live to play this game, and while I enjoy it, I also want to play The Orange Box on the XBox 360 and check out RockBand when it comes out. So online play is not for me.

One of the drawbacks to the game from a Macintosh perspective; it only runs on an Intel Macintosh with at least 4.5GB of free hard drive space, a DVD player, and 1GB of RAM. Another is the loading time; it takes almost a full minute from when you launch the game until the game fires up. (I tested the game on a 2.8GHz Intel iMac) Once running, it is very smooth.

The graphics are great. I have had hundreds of soldiers, tanks, planes and more, all fighting it out at the same time on screen, with zero slowdown in play.

If you enjoy RTS games, and have fond memories of the original Command & Conquer games, you will really enjoy the latest version. If you have never tried a game like Command & Conquer, give yourself a treat and drop fifty bucks to give it a shot.

Gaming is back with a thunderclap on the Macintosh, and EA is bringing out the biggest hits. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars may be the first game I have played in this new generation of Macintosh gaming, but it won’t be the last.

MyMac.com rating: 4.5 out of 5

PowerTune iPod All-in-One Battery Pack / Speaker / Protective Case / Stand
for 5G (Video) or New Classic iPod
Company: MacAlly
Price: $50
http://www.macally.com

MacAlly’s versatile new PowerTune is the best $50 U.S. iPod accessory ever. As a case, its rigid plastic is snug and secure, with full access to iPod dial and headphone port, but not on/off/hold switch. The speakers are tiny with midrange emphasis, but with enough presence to keep you entertained or informed by whatever is playing on the iPod under most listening conditions. Charging is efficient and almost effortless, with enhanced built-in battery capacity for your iPod. As a stand, PowerTune is stable, with sensible positioning.

Speakers and charging indicator light are on lower front of PowerTune. Volume control, mini-USB port, and off/charge/play switch are lower rear. A clear front plate with circular hole hinges at the bottom and snaps shut at the top, onto the black rear business-end of the case. An iPod slips into a 30-pin dock connector that is just above the speaker section. MacAlly provides a self-adhesive foam shim to fill the gap between PowerTune’s black inner back and an iPod’s silver backside. Fit is snug, without much wiggle room.

There is not a lot more to know. You can play or charge an iPod with or without the assistance of a computer, or external speakers or headphones. PowerTune fits into most front pants pockets, or nearly all tote bags or purses. Indicator LEDs notify you when charging is complete. Syncing or recharging PowerTune via the included USB cable is straightforward.

Audio playback via headphones is easy as pie, as is operating an iPod’s click wheel controls. Playback from the built-in pair of 500mW speakers will leave you wanting more robust audio delivery, but will certainly satisfy most buyers who know value when they see and hear it. Rotating PowerTune’s clear front plate forward and underneath allows you to set it down on a table or desk with both screen and wheel exposed.

PowerTune’s full set of features plus four photos are located at its web site. Wear and tear will blemish the clear screen protection area, so be aware of where and how you handle and carry it. I worry the plastic top snap will erode, and suggest that MacAlly redesign that aspect.

I am not going to test how much extra power PowerTune’s 1050mAh Li-ion battery provides, because there are too many variables to that equation, but its built-in battery can only boost and not diminish and iPod’s battery capacity. "Approximately doubles" is MacAlly’s claim.

The company does not include any written or website instructions for PowerTune, which is a mistake I’ve mentioned to MacAlly. You can expect to have additional information available by early 2008.

MyMac.com is fond of MacAlly’s ingenious PowerTune, and we give it a high recommendation. With many more positive features than flaws or omissions, we rate it a strong 4 out of 5.

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
By Jason Beaird
Publisher: SitePoint Pty. Ltd.
ISBN: 0-9758419-6-3
Price: $39.95 (PDF only, $29.95; hard copy + PDF, $49.90)
Page count: 180
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/design1/

Here’s a clue for you: designer Jason Beaird’s The Principles of Beautiful Web Design showed up in my mailbox shortly after publication this past April, and the first thing I did was drop everything and read it from cover to cover. For the record, I build Web sites myself and have a number of art and design classes to my credit. Jason Beaird paid a lot more attention to his teachers, and it shows.

At the time his book arrived, I’d just finished a crash self-taught "course" in CSS and was anxious to jump into a new project. Never again would I use a table-based layout, but by then my head was so full of new coding conventions that there wasn’t any room for art. What Jason’s book did was re-open my eyes to the underlying principles of design that explain the way our senses contribute to conveying and comprehending information. After just a few pages, I was back inside that special creative space I remember from painting class, ready to taste the thrill of spreading that first brush-load of color across the canvas.

Answering the question of "who should read this book," the author writes:

"If you are squeamish about choosing colors, feel uninspired by a blank browser window, or get lost trying to choose the right font, this book is for you. In it, I take a methodical approach to presenting traditional graphic design theory as it applies to today’s web site development industry. While the content is directed toward programmers and developers, it provides a design primer that will benefit readers at any level."

Chapter headings are Layout and Composition, Color, Texture, Typography, and Imagery. After a good initial grounding in each of these areas, Jason applies the principles he’s just discussed to relevant stages in the construction of a client’s Web site (“Florida Country Tile”), and readers can follow the development of this site throughout the book. For me, the best thing about this underlying theme is the insight it provides into the author’s thought processes as he approaches a particular design problem. You might not always agree with his solutions, but his reasoning may open your eyes to strategies that haven’t occurred to you.

One note of caution: this is NOT a CSS how-to book! While Jason does provide examples of code and URLs to a number of very helpful sites, he doesn’t fill in every blank. In a discussion of various ways to create rounded corners, for example, he first offers his thoughts on a designer’s reasons for choosing rounded corners and then directs the reader to specific examples and the online resources required to create them. I appreciated this approach because pages of geek-babble would be difficult to read and end up turning me off. In fact, keeping in mind my own project — a new Web site for a local realtor — I considered everything Jason had to say about the aesthetics of rounded corners and decided I didn’t need them. I also visited the sites he recommended for round corner CSS solutions and added several of them to my bookmarks. Keep in mind, however, that this book deals mostly with principles of Web design, as promised by the title, and is intended to inspire your imagination. For all the little nuts and bolts, you’re going to have to do a little digging on your own.

In a reviewer’s world where everything must be measured against perfection, that counts against a flawless score. So too do a few of the one-line personal anecdotes that dot the narrative. The ones I mean seem oddly-chosen, even inappropriate, and I wonder that his editors left them in. For example, I don’t need to know that a former professor of his with a heavy accent used to mispronounce the Rule of Thirds a certain way I leave to adolescent speculation. It doesn’t have a thing to do with building Web sites and doesn’t bring me any closer to absorbing grid theory, which I still resist.

But those are quibbles. As I said in the beginning, when this book arrived on my doorstep, I dropped everything and read it from cover to cover. In fact, I want to read it again. At its core, this book is a mini-course in traditional design theory that any number of Web designers who skipped that part of their education could certainly use. I took a whole year’s worth of basic design at a respectable college, and Jason’s own version is better than that. Also, applying deeper principles of aesthetics to Web page construction just feels good. It puts the designer on a firmer, broader, more human foundation. Besides that, it’s just plain fun — nothing so specific as “using purple and yellow together makes goats throw up,” but it does give your imagination a boost after learning just why certain combinations (to name just one single dynamic) make you feel the way they do. After reading this book, you may feel like revisiting your own sites and giving them a whole new look, and I guarantee that you’ll approach the next job in a different way.

Finally, this book has an excellent Web site at SitePoint Books, which is why I’ve omitted page scans here. I’m awarding this book a MyMac.com rating of 4 out of 5, and I really am already in the process of reading it again.

Painter Essentials 4
Company: Corel
Price: $99.00 ($69.00 upgrade)
www.corel.com

Painter Essentials is to Painter what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop. It is what I would call the “slimmed” down version of Painter, but still fully usable. Just like Painter, Essentials is a natural media painting program that allows the user to paint and draw on the computer with tools he/she might use in “real life.” Also, like Painter X (which I reviewed earlier this year), Painter Essentials 4 is packed with great new features. For a list of all the new features in Painter Essentials 4 visit here.

Probably the two most important features for many Mac users will be: 1. Is it a universal binary? 2. Is it Leopard compatible? The answer to both of these questions is yes. It is a universal binary, and the system requirements in the reviewer’s guide I received state it is compatible with 10.5 “with the latest updates.” I don’t know if my version had the latest updates (non were available on Corel’s website), but I installed it on a machine running Leopard and it worked without any problems that I saw.

While I’m on the topic of system requirements, the program requires 10.4 or later, a 700mhz G4 processor or faster, and 256mn of RAM. You can use a mouse or tablet pen for drawing in the program. I suggest the drawing pen. The software is also Windows compatible, but we won’t get into that here.

Besides the two features I mentioned above, the first thing past users of Essentials will notice is the redesigned workspace. The new workspace is a huge improvement over the older versions. It is much easier to understand and use. It is also less intimidating, which is what a program like Essentials should be.

All of your tools are accessible on the tool bar. Instead of a Brush pallette, the brushes and media are available through a drawer that appears when you choose the Brush Tool. One of the best new features is that your brush choices are recorded down the side of the toolbar. This way you don’t have to remember that exact brush you used five brushes ago. Painter Essentials keeps track of it for you.

Speaking of brushes- Essentials 4 is packed with a bunch of new brushes. This is one feature that I always found lacking in Painter Essentials, and Essentials 4 adds a lot to change that. The “RealBristle” brushes from Painter X are now part of Essentials. In addition to those brushes you have new charcoal brushes, a Sargent brush, pen tools/brushes, and the Sumi brush. All of these are welcome additions.

Not only are there more brushes, but there are more paper textures also. Paper textures help enhance your artwork by having the tool pick up the texture of the paper or canvas you are working on. The more options the better.

All of these brushes and textures come together to give you a more realistic painting experience on the computer. My only complaint is that there are times when the tools don’t interact with each other as one would expect. For example, using yellow oil pastel over red oil pastel did not blend the two together. I would expect the yellow to pick up a little red as it overlaps. This was the case with several of the tools. However, going over the colors with the blending tool helped give me the look I was going for. It would just be nice to get the blending effect while using the tool, instead of having to use the blender.

Below is a painting I started using as variety of brushes and media. With the help of the layers feature I did a sketch on one layer and the painting on another. Blending brushes were used to blend the lights and darks together.

These are just some of the new features added to Essentials 4 making it a fantastic upgrade. However, the feature that is going to sell tons of Painter Essential 4 boxes, in my opinion, is the new Photo Painting System. The Photo Painting System allows you to take a photograph and turn it into a painting. You can choose your brush and paint the photograph yourself, or you can let Essentials paint the photograph for you.

With a few clicks in the “Auto-Painting” window you can have Essentials turn your photograph into an oil painting, or a watercolor, or a charcoal drawing. It couldn’t be any easier, and it is just plain cool. I have never seen a better system for painting a photograph, and the results are fantastic. Seeing is believing, so check out the samples below of one of my photos.

Original:

Here is a time lapsed video of Essentials turning the photo into a painting. Depending on the options you choose, this process can take a long time. The original time on this video was about three minutes.

Here is the photo painted in another style and media.

You don’t have to wait for Essentials to go through the entire process of turning the photo into a painting. If you are happy with the results after 2 minutes (for example) you can click stop, and go from there. The longer you let the process run, the more details you get.

There are also tools to bring back parts of the original photograph. This is great for bringing some details back that the painting process eliminated.

Overall, I think Painter Essentials 4 is a great program and a great upgrade. It comes with a fantastic tutorial book to teach you about all of these new features. Don’t like to read? Watch the included video tutorials.

For those who have used Painter Essentials in the past, this is definitely worth the price of upgrading. For those interested in using Painter, but can’t afford the Painter price, Essentials 4 is a more affordable starting point. Although, I would have liked to have seen a lower price, maybe $89 instead of $99. You can determine if the price is right for you by trying the fully functional downloadable demo found here.

MyMac.com rating 4.5 out of 5