Edirol R-09 Portable 24-bit MP3/WAV Stereo Handheld Recorder
Company: Edirol / Roland Corporation
Price: $400 US (modest discounts are available online)
http://www.rolandus.com

The Edirol R-09 portable recorder from Roland Corporation is almost perfect, and well worth its $400 price tag. Features and audio quality are impressive, with a little room for improvement discussed below.

R-09 has few competitors in this product category. During the next few years, MyMac.com predicts it will set the standard against which other portable recorders are judged, until a unit comes along with improved interface, better port access, and a lower price. Until then, if you are serious about audio-on-the-go, take a look and listen to R-09.

Roland is a full-service pro audio business. When you visit R-09′s website you can obtain or learn about useful support documents, software downloads, and dedicated accessories. Watch the demo videos and take the interactive tour! Web content on the product’s general information, features, and specification is too extensive to reprint. Here are a few essential attributes: great audio quality, full control over WAV or MP3 format/file size, lightweight and inconspicuous, enormous SD card capacity, thrifty AA battery usage, and versatile in/out ports.

R-09 doesn’t impress upon initial glance and squeeze. Its looks are a little retro, or slightly Art Deco, but mostly utilitarian. You mutter to yourself, "Four hundred bucks for that?" and your skeptical self challenges R-09 to deliver the goods. Never fear, friends. You’ll soon be won over.

Its dimensions are roughly those of the original "deck of cards" largish iPods, but having much less weight. Don’t drop it, or set it where a child, pet, or idiot can disturb or damage it. You can wave goodbye to the bits of your 24-bit WAV/MP3 recorder in less time than you can say "RUMPLEDSHIRTSLEEVES."

Insert AA batteries and SD card, depress the almost-invisible POWER button on R-09′s left side, press twice the red REC button lower front center, and begin recording: voice, music, traffic, nature, neighbors, professors, younameit! R-09′s built-in top-corner stereo microphone delivers brilliant clarity and volume when the audio source is nearby or loud, but you’ll need a high-quality external microphone to record distant or quiet sound.

Under most circumstances, within one to six feet, native audio input is amazing. As you double the distance from the built-in mic, input falloff is gradual, but not fatal. Quality remains good throughout the distance factor, so that an experienced sound editor can perform miracles just as a Photoshop expert can turn a questionable image into a viable one.

Several musical examples in WAV format arrive on the included 64MB SD storage card. Listen to them, then delete them, and keep this card for emergencies. Buy a high-capacity multi-GB card or two, and you’ll lose them before you ever fill them. I typically record at MP3/192kbps, with roughly one MB used per minute, and my recordings are stellar.

Front, back, top, left, and right surfaces of R-09 contain its many controls, for: power, input level, DC in, optical/headphone out, volume +/-, hold off/on, external mic, line in, auto gain control off/on, external mic type mono/stereo, low cut off/on, mic gain low/high, peak, finder/menu, reverb, repeat a<->b, play/pause, skip right/left, record, stop, and LED display. A sliding trap door on the bottom provides access to 2-AA battery compartment, SD card slot, and mini-USB port. Cables are provided for AC power usage and USB data transfer. No case is included.

Important: R-09′s spring-snap bottom port access door is difficult to open or shut, and appears to be fragile. After 1,001 openings/closings, will it still be intact? Spending so much time with iPods leaves me thinking that Roland used a "design by committee" approach to many of this recorder’s features. I can learn to live with its quirks, but the bottom port door does not inspire confidence.

The small LED display has tiny indicators for current recording and time stamp data, with additional options available by pressing the Finder/Menu button. Apple’s interface design squad was not consulted about LED presentation. At first, you think it’s barely adequate, but gradually you learn to live with it, especially when you don’t want a glaring, bright display to show the world you’re recording a live event, perhaps on the sly. All controls and buttons on our evaluation unit are black on black or silver or silver, making then difficult to see in a dark location, but rather unobtrusive. You’ll need to memorize the where and what for R-09′s most common buttons, and cover the display with electrical tape for top-secret recording situations. Red or white models are also available, but probably won’t be huge sellers.

Transfer your R-09 audio files to computer easily using the included cable or an external SD card reader. The SD card’s disk icon appears on your Mac desktop almost instantly. Place the MP3 or WAV files wherever you can easily locate them. I am using Fission by Rogue Amoeba Software to edit my tracks. It’s great software.

Beginning with Leopard Night last October 26, I recorded many different near and far audio tracks with R-09′s built-in mic, and included the most interesting ones at or near the ends of MyMac.com Podcasts 151, 155, 156, 158, and 159. Hearing is believing: in a car, at a concert, in a crowded retail store, at a holiday party jam session, and several more improbable locations. I did dozens of test recordings, and results were consistent: built-in mic works GREAT when in proximity to an audio source, and less great when at a distance.

MyMac.com used R-09 as our primary location podcast segment recorder at San Francisco’s Macworld, in January, 2008. Please listen to our Macworld Expo podcasts. They are very good, especially numbers 166 and 167. You’ll be impressed with the audio quality of this exceptional portable recorder.

MyMac.com Rating:

Interface and controls: 3 out of 5
Recording quality: 5 out of 5

Overall: strong 4 out of 5

Ladybug
Company:
Vestalife
$110.00 Silver, Red
$125.00 Element Skateboards Limited Edition Designs
(Prices designated MSRP on www.vesta-life.com)
Prices at stores may vary and could be well below MSRP.

I gotta tell you right now I was sure I wasn’t going to like this. Too small. Gimmicky. Looks like all plastic. Bass woofer in the rear??? Ha! I wasn’t impressed, yet, with the fact that this product won the CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award in November.

I went to Vestalife’s press conference at the Macworld show. Wayne Ludlum, Cofounder and CBO of Vestalife, spoke for a few minutes about the quality and the R&D that went into the product, the new Ladybug 2.1 speaker dock for iPod. I thought, "we’ll see."

Then Myk Lum, Cofounder and CCO spoke about how the idea came about and how carefully they chose each component to make the best Ladybug they could make. Yeah, mm hmm.

So I got the speech, and I got the product. But they never played the unit at the press conference. Odd, I thought. I couldn’t wait to get home to test it out. Let’s see what these guys came up with.

Man, was I surprised! Right out of the box, I plugged it in, stuck my iPod in the dock, the lights went on and the iPod came to life. Bill Doggett’s "Honky Tonk" was playing, loud and clear.

Let’s get something straight right off the bat. Ladybug from Vestalife has NO plastic parts. It’s all metal. It has a new soft-touch finish which actually does feel really cool, and the sub-woofer in the back really does put out bass you can feel, if even just a little bit. It does NOT sound chintzy, as so many other players on the market this size do. Ladybug has a quality feel throughout.

Five LED lights on the top visually tell you where the volume is. There are no EQ controls, so volume up, volume down. EQ wouldn’t be horrible if it was there but you can bet the Ladybug with EQ would be much pricier. EQ really isn’t necessary. It sounds great without it.

The winged speakers have enough highs and mids to project the sound in a clear wave. Add the 3" rear sub-woofer and you’ve got the equivalent of a small stereo. It doesn’t get super loud, but at full volume it’s loud enough and it never broke up on the any of the old rock tunes I played on my iPod. On one song the bass (upright) broke up a bit because it was recorded so strongly to begin with. That’s the only glitch I could find.

I think this Ladybug has a future. The products designed by Vestalife (Ladybug, and Butterfly which will be reviewed shortly by MyMac) are marketed to the tween, teen, and Generation X consumer markets. I can see every kid with one of these things in his/her room. I can even see moms with one in the kitchen. And dads with one in the workshop.

The Ladybug runs on AC power, chord supplied, or 4 AA batteries with battery saving auto shut-off. A patch chord is supplied with which you can hook up other non-iPod players to the Auxiliary in jack, and an AV (Audio/Video) outlet so you can hook it up to your TV and see your photos, AV chord not supplied. It also has a USB connector for synchronizing with your computer. It includes dock connectors for iPod mini, iPod nano (1st or 2nd generation) and iPod with color display. The amplifier is all digital technology. Wow! That’s cool. And all for about a C note. Oh, did I mention the multi-function remote control (works great) and the carrying tote bag? And I almost forgot the selection of colors and designs available, with Vestalife adding more designs as we speak.

Folks, in the sea of peripherals available these days, this is a little gem among common stones. It’s not expensive. It does what it says it’s supposed to do (refreshing), it’s made very well, it’s got plenty of flexibility, and it’s cute as a…Ladybug. Get one before they’re all gone.

MyMac rating: 4.5 out of 5

Ped3
Company: Thought Out…
Price: $39.95
http://thoughtout.biz/PED3

I had meant to do a video review of the Ped3 iPhone rotating stand, but with a new baby and loud older kids, plus the holidays and Macworld expo, it seems it was not meant to be. But this product is too cool that I have to at least get a written review posted for it!

First, full disclosure. I know the guy who runs Thought Out, the company behind the Ped3. I have chatted with him often, and I have always wanted him to succeed. That being said, when it comes to reviewing a product, I put all that aside. I cannot let anything to stand in the way of honesty in my review, or any review at MyMac.com for that matter.

So, with that said, what is my opinion of the Ped3? In a word, it is an amazing stand. Sure, it is only a stand, but this is a stand for the iPhone, my favorite handheld devise ever. i don’t want to put it flat on a tabletop while charging it up. I also want to show it off, and the Ped3 does a fantastic job of doing just that.

The Ped3 rotates 360 degrees, so that you can view the iPhone either vertically or horizontally. It also tilts slightly up or down for better angling the screen. It has rubber grips that really hold the iPhone tight, but without needing a pry-bar to remove it from the stand. The rubber grips also protects the iPhone from scratching.

The base itself is solid metal, although it is coated in something that gives it that nice, glossy shine. The back of the Ped3 is split to allow the USB cable to connect to the iPhone. Also, the grips are positioned as such to allow easy access to all the iPhone’s controls and USB port.

The only negative is that the grips are not movable at all, meaning if you have an iPhone case that you simply leave the iPhone in 24/7, you are forced to take the iPhone out of the case to put it in the Ped3. Allowing a little play in the grips would solve this, but of course would also leave the iPhone too loose in the stand if you did not adjust the grips each time. I don’t see an ideal solution on this point.

All in all, I really like the Ped3. It is now my default iPhone stand when it is not in a case. It does a great job of showing off the iPhone, while allowing (and most importantly) holding it in place snugly and safely.

MyMac.com rating: 4.5 out of 5

Nemo and Owen at the HP booth checking out the Photosmart A26 Photo printer. Watch below in YouTube quality, or click here for the 17MB HD quality in QuickTime. Photographer is Jim Dicker.

The year is 1997 and Steve Jobs has returned to Apple and the confusing Mac product line is in the process of being streamlined to a few simple options. Apple required a replacement for the Performa series; their consumer targeted computer line. In May of 1998 Apple announces the first in their new line of Consumer targeted Computers, and the iMac is born.

The iMac is what many consider the rebirth of Apple. The colorful all-in-one PC was a huge hit in the market and breathed new life into the company. The tan boxes Apple had been sporting for twenty years were gone and a new design element was introduced in the product line. There was one thing lacking from the iMac that most users believed was important, and I’m sure it caused many possible customers to turn away from Apple at the time. The iMac did not have a Floppy Drive.

Although with our current standards of looking of technology, the tiny plastic cases around a thin magnetic disk that made up a Floppy Disk seems like something out of the distant past. At the time, however, they were the most common ways of moving small amounts of data from one computer to another. The best selling add-on for the iMac was the USB floppy drive for years after the computers first introduction. But as time went on CDs became re-writable, USB flash drives came into common use, and broadband increased to the point where files could be sent though the Internet or Local Network instead of being hand delivered on floppy disk. People hardly noticed the lack of the feature and were probably glad for it. Looking back Apple seemed ahead of their time by eliminating the standard from their computers. Ten years later they’ve done it again.

Macworld 2008 brought the release of Apple’s new ultra-portable laptop, the Macbook Air. The Macbook Air fits in between the Macbook and Macbook Pro in Apple’s notebook product line, offers a full Macbook style keyboard, 13 inch LED back-lit screen, and the power of Intel’s Core 2 Duo. What it lacks is the Apple SuperDrive. The main reason Apple probably couldn’t fit the SuperDrive into the notebook is its amazing (thin) size. The computer barely has room for a USB port on the side of the machine, and majority of the bulk comes from the Battery which takes on a large flattened design.

The lack of a SuperDrive on the Macbook Air has turned many people I’ve talked to about the computer off from ever buying one. But in reality the lack of an optical drive is smaller to Apple’s steps to phase out the Floppy Disk in 1998, and fits in with their business plan. The first fact that needs to be made clear is that the Macbook Air is not supposed to be your main computer. It is powerful, but nowhere near as powerful enough to satisfy the average consumer’s needs in an $1800 laptop. So there is no need to be ripping music into MP3s or converting DVDs for use on your iPhone or iPod, there just isn’t enough power. Most software you want to have with you on your Macbook Air can either be downloaded right from the Internet, or you can use the wireless functionality that enables you to use a Mac or PC CD/DVD drive over a network with your Macbook Air. In fact, the last time that I used the SuperDrive on my Macbook was to install Leopard; so I know that I’m not going to miss it.

The one point that most people have made that makes sense is the fact you cannot play DVDs on the Macbook Air. So if you are planning a long trip, there is no chance for you to play your movies. Well, almost no chance. There is also handbreak or other DVD converting software that will get around the protection on the disk and make a digital copy. This is probably ideal if you plan on traveling a lot with your computer anyway, since it’s a bit of a pain to be dragging around a bunch of discs just in case you might want to watch one of them. But this also fits into Apple’s business plan since iTunes gives you the ability to rent a few movies before your trip, eliminating the need to convert your movies or drag your DVD library around the world.

I’m sure the USB add-on SuperDrive will sell like the iMac USB Floppy Drive. But how long before we start seeing all laptops begin to get rid of their optical drives? I doubt it will happen anytime soon for desktops, there are just too many uses a high-powered machine has for an optical drive. But for low powered laptops I believe in the next few years we should start to see optical drives phased out in favor of a more portable, wireless solution as seen in the Macbook Air.

Stationery Pack (for Mail)
Company:
equinux
Price: $29.95
www.equinux.com

Mac OSX Leopard introduced email templates to Mail. There are templates for sending photos, sending notes on stationary, and more. If the standard Leopard templates are not enough for your emailing thirst equinux’s Stationary Pack is for you. For $29.95 you get an additional 111 templates for your email. Yes, I said 111 times!

The templates in Stationary Pack fall into six categories: Business, Congratulations, Feelings, Invitation, Leisure, Sports (bonus points for the soccer template), and Vacation. The categories are divided into subcategories to help you find what you want. Some of these subcategories include Cats, Comic, Entertainment, and Food. The templates range from photo templates to templates that are stationary for sending notes outside the standard text email.

Installation is easy. You run the Stationary Pack software and you can install all 111 templates, or pick and choose what you want to install. Once installed, the new templates appear alongside the standard templates in Mail. Once in Mail they work just as easily as the standard templates. Drag and drop photos or just type over the default text.

The templates could not be any easier to install and use.

So if you are hooked on using Mail stationary and want more check out Stationary Pack by equinux. There is a downloadable demo to try it out before you buy. The price of $29.95 might seem a little pricey for email templates. I think a $19.95 price would be ideal. However, for those who love email stationary will not be disappointed.

MyMac.com rating: 4.5 our of 5

Download the show here, via iTunes, or listen above
New weekly cohost David Cohen makes his regular debut, and Sam Levin helps us kick off the show with his Cool Mac Picks from the Macworld Expo.



Subscribe to us in iTunes.

Links from the show:
Prosoft Engineering
Sam’s Picks
Chestnut Hill Sound George
Cambridge SoundWorks i765
Gizmobies Pocketable iPod Protection
Logitech Squeezebox Duet
Keyspan TuneView for iPod
Presentation Remote Pro
Plasq’s Skitch & ComicLife

Automator For Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
by Ben Waldie
Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com
ISBN: 978-0-321-53935-9
US $29.999 CN $32.99 UK £21.99

I’ve written in the past two years at least three separate how-to articles (here here and here about Apple’s automation creation program, Automator. Since the program was introduced with Tiger, I’ve always looked for ways it can help me automate certain mundane tasks on my computer. Each morning, for example, I can come to my computer with five of my most frequented Web site feeds opened and ready for me to peruse. Thanks to an Automator workflow initiated by a daily iCal launch, I don’t have to individually pull up those same Web sites each day in order to view them. Automator and iCal do the work for me. I have about eight other workflows like this that I use on a consistent basis.

Though I wish I were a skilled programmer, I couldn’t create a bit of computer or software code to save my life. That’s why Automator is a perfect program for those of us who would like to script actions on our computer but don’t have the skills to do so. Automator is based on the type of select and drop features that you find in all of Apple’s programs. However, I would not go so far as to say that Automator is an intuitive program for basic computer users. While my wife can put together a family newsletter using one of the Apple’s Pages’s template, she would be at a loss using Automator.

But for intermediate and power users of the the OS X system, Automator is very accessible. And finally, there’s a introductory book about using the program that I’ve been wanting to see published for a while now. Not sure why it has taken Peachpit so long to publish a book about Automator, but it’s great that it has.

Automator For Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is part of Peachpit’s Visual Quickstart Guide series. Books in this series provide you a nice straightforward introduction to software programs with plenty of examples, illustrations, tips, and recommendations for getting the most out of the programs that a book in the series covers. The author of this book, Ben Waldie, is president of Automated Workflows (www.automatedworkflows.com) which is one of four or five Automator sites that feature tutorials and sample workflows about Automator. He has "developed professional automated solutions for clients such as Adobe, Apple, CNN, and Microsoft." He has authored numerous articles about Automator and AppleScripting and has been a frequent presenter at Macworld Conference and Expo and other events.

Automator For Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard covers all the basics plus a little more. If you have never cracked open Automator, it would probably be a good idea to simply follow one of my tutorials. Have no fear, testing out and playing around with the program will not break or crash your computer. You might discover just how useful Automator and other similar programs can be in saving your time and stress. I won’t say that every workflow you create won’t have a glitch here and there, but as you keep refining the workflow, you will over time get some things done faster at your computer.

With latest version of Automator in Leopard, Apple includes what it calls a starting points screen to help you get going. However, if you never worked in Automator, I really don’t see how the start up screen will help you. You first have to know what you want to do and what actions Automator can provide to help you do it. So it’s best to select custom workflow in the start up screen and poke around and see what Automator has to offer.

Waldie’s book is mostly a manual run down of the program. He breaks down each all the features and basic process for completing workflows. If you’re a beginner in this program, the book might very well be useful. If you’re an intermediate or advance user of Automator, I can’t see Waldie’s book being that useful to you. There are many articles and video tutorials on the Internet that will get you acquainted with Automator, so it’s a bit of stretch to say that this book is necessary to learn how to get up and running with Automator.

Fortunately, Waldie’s book covers the latest version of Automator, including how to use the much wanted Variable, Loop, Recording features. These features provide users more customization and greater control over workflows. He explains how to set up several workflows (including one that emails birthday birthday greetings, and another one that adds spotlight comments to photos) but sometimes it’s not clear why a user would go to the trouble to create a few of the workflows he illustrates in the book. I say this because many of the actions that come installed with Automator are features used in the iLife programs themselves. For example, it would be pointless to create a workflow that simply opens up an application. That can be done manually or when you log in to your computer. However, it might be useful to have an application workflow that opens up two or three applications at the same time when you know you’ll be using them together. You can also create another workflow that will close those same three applications at the same time. It sounds simple, but if you’re doing something like this a lot, it can be definite time saver.

Waldie includes a list great sources and examples about using Automator with AppleScript and UNIX Commands. Being able to tie together the more advance actions of AppleScript with Automator enables you to create even better workflows. A recent example of this is a AppleScript command and Automator workflow that puts your Mac to sleep by sending an email to it. You can find out to easily do this by visiting Murphymac.com.

Automating and scripting programs may not be everyone’s idea of having fun, but if you’re using a computer on a regular basis and you’re not finding ways to automate your tasks, then you’re probably frustrated that your computer has more control over your time than you do. Check out Automator and learn how it can save you some time.

John Nemo and photographer Jim Dicker visited the Kensington booth during the Macworld Expo. Check out the video of the LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit in glorious HD video format.

Wacom Intuos3 Tablet
Company:
Wacom
$229.00-$749.95
www.wacom.com

Recently I reviewed, and loved, the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. For those that want a more professional tablet, the Intuos is the model you want. I’ve been using the Graphire line of tablets for years and never new what I was missing until I tried the Intuos tablet.

The Intuos is available in several different sizes and models. There are three different Special Edition models which are available in three sizes starting at 6×8, followed by 6×11, and finally the 9×12. The Special Edition models come with a second pen, more pen nibs, and it has a nice looking black casing. I tried the standard model which ranges in sizes starting at 4×6 and going up to 12×19.

Besides pricing, design, and more sizes, there are several differences between the Intuos3 line and the Bamboo Fun line. The tablet has 1024 levels of sensitivity, and the larger amount of levels definitely adds to the natural feel of drawing. Instead of just have the standard plastic pen nib, the Intuos comes with several different nibs to change the feel of the pen. The tablet also has more programmable buttons, and touch strips which can be used for scrolling, zooming and more. The included mouse and pen are also more advanced than that of the Bamboo Fun.

Like the Bamboo Fun the tablets come with a slew of software. Photoshop Elements 4, Painter Essentials 3, and more.

Unlike the Bamboo Fun, the Intuos tablet needs more power than what a USB port on your computer will provide. You’ll need a native port from your computer, or a port on a powered hub.

As I mentioned earlier, drawing on the Intuos tablet is fantastic. I have never drawn with a tablet that is so responsive and natural feeling. If the Bamboo Fun is “fun,” the Intuos tablet is “funner” (yes, I know that is not a word). Drawing on the Intuos has been the closest computer drawing I have done that feels like drawing on paper.

If you are an artist who wants more out of a tablet than the Bamboo Fun, and it fits into your budget, I highly recommend an Intuos3 tablet in any of the models that are available. You will not be disappointed.

MyMac.com rating: 5 out of 5

Dual 1.4 GHz G4 AGP processor upgrade
Company: FastMac
Price: $419.95
Fastmac.com

Why upgrade an older computer? Especially one that’s over 4-5 years old? Why not just get a new Mac and keep up with the Jones? I’ll tell you why. Macs are expensive. Especially if you’re talking about replacing one older tower with another. The price for a new Mac Pro without any bells and whistles is $2200. That’s bare minimum and adding anything like hard drives (which you’ll need new ones of as all new towers are using SATA instead of ATA) memory, wireless (yes the Mac Pro does not come with an Airport 802.11x card), etc, is going to drive the price up even more. You can certainly go cheaper than that. You can get an iMac or a Mac Mini for less, but if you’re used to the expansion option you have with a tower, remember that you’ll be forced to go to all external devices (which take up more room AND cost more as well) with either one of those choices. If you have options for upgrading your processor, and the cost does not exceed around 25% of the cost for a new machine, it can be more than worth it to extend the life of your current computer for a few years.

If you’re computer is REALLY old, say before the advent of the G3, then it just won’t be worth putting any real money into it. Bite the bullet, get either an Intel Mac or at least a G4 PPC Mac (and then upgrade it!) and join the ranks of the OS X family. On to the review.

First off, I owe Mike Lowdermilk of FastMac an apology for how long it took me to write this review. I met with him and expressed an interest in getting a dual 1.4 GHz G4 processor upgrade kit from FastMac LAST Macworld and we played telephone/email tag for a few months and it finally showed up in April just in time for a medical crisis to hit the family. After that one thing leads to another and here we are in December with no review written yet, Certain members of the MyMac family (cough…Nemo…cough) started to remind me that the 2008 Macworld was coming up and any promised unfinished reviews needed to be completed.

So there I was, a relatively new 2.16 GHz Core2Duo iMac sitting in front of me all shiny and bright, and now I had to brush the cobwebs off a 933MHz G4. I wasn’t looking forward to the amount of time I was going to have to spend researching and testing and in the beginning, I was correct. It was dreadfully dull. Trying to get benchmarks off a 5-6 year old computer when a much faster computer is right in front of you is difficult. However I learned something along the way and I’ll get to it eventually. But let’s talk about the Processor upgrade from FastMac and the computer it went into.

As I said, the computer that I used for this review is a standard Apple QuickSilver G4 tower with a 933 MHz G4 processor. Here are the basic specs:

Processor: PowerPC G4 @ 933 MHz (7455)
L1 Cache: 32k
L2 Cache: 256k
L3 Cache: 2048k (2 Mb)
Bus frequency: 133 MHz
Memory: 768 Mb of Ram
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce MX with 64 Mb of dedicated Ram

This machine was the bee’s knees (as my grandmother used to say) back in the day but is laughably slow now. It is capable of running 10.5 Leopard so since I had two identical 250 Gb hard drives in it, it seemed to perfect way to start out the test. So I wiped both drives, installed 10.4 Tiger on one and 10.5 Leopard on the other. Put fresh installs of iLife 08 and iWork 08 on each as well along with a licensed copy of the latest version of QuickTime Pro. I also went out and got fresh copies of XBench (version 1.3) and Maxon’s CineBench and put the old workhorse through its paces. Unsurprisingly, the 933 didn’t fare so well against the Intel iMac or the baseline 2.0 GHz G5 that Xbench uses.

The G4 is outmatched by the dual G5 benchmarks and woefully slow compared to the Intel iMac. One thing I found interesting was the User Interface test results between the Tiger and Leopard releases of OS X. Most of the results are plus or minus 10% or so, well within the margin of error, but the UI result is significantly lower in 10.5 than it is in 10.4 for the G4.

The Maxon Cinebench results were much the same. I don’t have the results from a 2 core G5, but I do have them from an Intel Core2Duo iMac and used that for a basis of comparison. One thing the Maxon test does is test both processors separately and in a pair for rendering images. Naturally the 933 G4 being a single processor unit didn’t do that part of the test. The 933 G4 was hopelessly outclassed but the much newer Intel Mac and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. I also ran a number of applications to test the speed of the existing processor and would do the same for the new one once installed.

Next up was installing FastMac’s dual 1.4 GHz upgrade processor. I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as the actual installation went. I had read of other upgrades that involved re-using the heat sync from your original processor or applying thermal grease on top and some of the difficulties or damage that people had done in applying either too much or not enough. FastMac’s upgrade was a breeze by comparison. The AGP upgrades include a fan (or in the case of the dual 1.4 GHz model, two fans) to cool the processor instead of the heat sync and I was originally concerned that it would make the computer excessively noisy. Absolutely nothing to worry about, as the two fans are so quiet that even with the case open, I couldn’t hear them. Of course the fans installed in the QuickSilver G4 towers are pretty noisy to begin with, so it’s possible that it just drowned out any noise from the processor fan.

I first shut down the tower, removed the AC plug from the back and all other external cables. After letting it cool down for about a hour, I removed the 933 G4 and set it off to the side and slid into place the FastMac upgrade. The specifications on the FastMac upgrade is as follows:

Processor: PowerPC G4 X 2 @ 1.4 GHz (7455)
L1 Cache: 32k
L2 Cache: 256k
L3 Cache: 2048k (2 Mb)

An odd thing about this upgrade that first puzzled and alarmed me. When you do the “About this Mac” is the Apple menu, it reports that you have two 0 GHz G4 processors. Apparently since Apple never used this exact processor in any of their machines (the closest would be the 1.467 Dualies), OS X is not quite sure what to make of them. It runs great, just looks odd. Back to the installation.

I installed the processor and restarted the Mac. Nothing. No bong, no fans running, nothing. I started re-reading the literature that came with the machine and looked at the switch settings on the processor itself. Because this upgrade can be used with many different machines, you have to make sure that the processor speed switches match up with the proper bus frequency (in my case 133 MHz) and I had not done so prior to installation, DOH! I set it to the proper speed and again started up the Mac. AH, now that was the sound I was looking for.

I re-ran the Xbench and CineBench tests that I had run before and here are the results:

As you can see, the 933 G4 did very poorly against either the benchmark dual G5 or the Intel iMac. The FastMac Dual G4 however scored rather impressively considering that this is a much older design and that the bus speed for the QuickSilver is much less than either the G5 or the Intel iMac. The biggest surprise for me was how poorly the Intel Mac did with the Disk Test as compared to either PPC machines.

Here are the results of the Maxon Cinebench tests with the 933 MHz and 1.4 GHz G4 processors and for comparison sake, my 2.16 GHz Intel iMac.

It’s fairly obvious that even with the dual G4 upgrade, a 5 year old computer isn’t going to keep up with a new one. Keep in mind however that the playing field is hardly fair and the Dual G4 still has some pretty impressive numbers compared to the single G4 it replaced. Nearly twice as fast in the OpenGL and single processor tests and almost three times as fast when the second processor is taken into account.

Last up was a series of applications I had chosen to test how fast the Dual G4 was against the Single. Everyone seems to love to use Photoshop for these kinds of things, but I’m not that great at using it so I chose to use the kinds of applications that most people would have in a Mac in their average homes. The tests consisted of importing a CD into iTunes (Pink Floyd’s Animals) as a 256k AAC file, then burning it back to a CD (RIAA, please note all four CDs were then destroyed), converting a 5:41 MPEG-4 movie into a standard QuickTime file, and lastly, compressing a 10:30 movie to the web with iMovie 06 (iMovie 08 would not install on a 933 MHz G4 machine).

Where the upgrade made the most difference was in handling video. Conversion times dropped in half. Performance would have also benefited I’m sure with an improved video card, but then you’re starting to get into the upgrade or trade in scenario.

Some things a processor upgrade can’t change, like disk burning, but in these tests the FastMac Dual G4 upgrade showed that it made a significant difference in everyday tasks that an average Mac user would use. It isn’t going to keep pace with an Intel Mac, but most Mac users don’t need that kind of power. If you want to save a lot of money, and make the most of what you already have invested, check out the G4 processor upgrades at FastMac.

I give the FastMac AGP dual 1.4 GHz processor upgrade a 4.5 out of 5. I almost (almost that is) wish I had gone this route when I bought my iMac and saved up for a MacBook Pro instead.

MYOB AccountEdge – Accounting Software for Macintosh
Company: MYOB
www.myob-us.com
Price: $299.00

I have been a regular user of AccountEdge since September of 1999, having switched when intuit could not guarantee a Y2K patch for QuickBooks Pro. Since MYOB has a new version of the software, I thought this would be a good time to take a look at what other accounting programs for Macintosh were being offered. I was surprised to see three other robust programs available. Reading the specs though I could see they were designed for smaller businesses such as sole proprietorships, or specific types of businesses (i.e., retail), or individuals. The two big players on the market for small to medium businesses are still QuickBooks Pro and MYOB AccountEdge (or Peachtree, if you are running an Intel Mac.) I know that MYOB maintains a commitment to continue to develop for the Macintosh platform. This is not necessarily so for Intuit and definitely not for Peachtree. And, Intuit recently had some major issues with user data being lost. http://db.tidbits.com/article/9378.

It’s not my intention to review MYOB AccountEdge by using QuickBooks Pro as their foil. The truth is that there are very few Accounting programs that are supported on a Macintosh. And even though I always give kudos to MYOB for their support of the Macintosh platform, there are always features that can be improved upon. Most notably for me was the length of time it took MYOB to be up and running for the OS 10.5 Panther release. At this point in time, MYOB has the following statement on the website:

AccountEdge and AccountEdge Network Edition 2008 are certified compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Make sure you are on the latest version by opening the Help menu from the top menu bar and choosing Check for Product Updates from the Help menu. Following is a list of known issues.
Payroll forms – In order to run any payroll forms – including W-2s – at the end of the year, you will need to download an updated Payroll Forms Viewer. This update can be accessed by opening AccountEdge, navigating to the Help menu, and then selecting Check For Updates.
Upgrading files – When opening a file from a previous version, you may receive an “Upgrade Assistant is unable to process the company file” error message. You must first upgrade the file using the Upgrade Assistant found in your MYOB AccountEdge 2008 applications directory.

New Features in MYOB AccountEdge 2008

Backup to .mac. is by far one the best new feature for my money. This offsite backup capability for .mac account holders is useful for businesses that do not have any other offsite backup in place. When the backup command is selected, there is an option to back up to disk, or to .mac. The user also has the option to back up only the company file which saves on storage space. I have to say that I am having problems with this new feature, and had hoped to have it solved before posting this review. My workaround right now is to back my company file up to disc, then open .mac and upload the file from there. My past experience with this company on issues like this is that they are eventually taken care of. It could be that there is a conflict on my end as well. I’ve yet to sign up for a support plan, but will be doing so.

iCal integration is a great tool for people who use iCal on a regular basis. One advantage I can see to this is if the user has a customer that is historically late with payments. Publishing the invoice to iCal will bring up a reminder to contact the customer when the invoice is due. Other reminders such as bill payments and recording recurring transactions can also be sent to iCal just by selecting the checkbox in the open window.

New Payroll features include better sick leave and vacation tracking, and auto calculating the same. This is a great feature both the payroll clerk and employee will benefit from.

Statements have been updates to be more customizable. This is a great new feature, as in prior versions the statements could be confusing to some customers who did not pay their entire invoice in full.

The Command Center has a new look. It’s OK, not really necessary but nice to see. Also added to the command center is a feature called Task Drawer. It is a slide out window controlled by a button on the bottom right edge of the Command Center. The Task Drawer holds a list of the most common functions the user can customize to his or her specific tasks.

The W-2 and W-3 function in AccountEdge 2008 is greatly improved from earlier versions of the software. Using Forms Viewer, the user can now print plain paper copies of these forms, eliminating the need to purchase costly pre-printed forms from third party vendors.

There are other new features in AccountEdge 2008 that can improve productivity once the user becomes familiar with them. Command +N now bring up new, accounts, jobs, invoices, depending on the window the user is working in. Previously this command would only bring up a new window. If you are using direct deposit for payroll, you can now email pay-stubs to the employees, saving on printing.

MYOB offers it’s Accounting 101 tutorial for people who are just starting out, or need a refresher course in Accounting. I would recommend that anyone who is considering this software be somewhat familiar with standard accounting practices, however.

New customers can take advantage of an online training webinar. For a fee, MYOB offers Full Service Payroll, Credit Card Processing, Direct Deposit, eFiling, and Vendor Payment services. I’ve not tried any of these, but I can see how they would make sense for a small business that doesn’t want to spend a lot of time taking care of these types of tasks.

If you are running Leopard (OS 10.5) make sure all your software updates have been downloaded and installed., including 10.5.1. Also helpful is the latest version of stuffit expander 12.0.1 Once MYOB AccountEdge is installed, choose check for updates from your MYOB products under the help menu, download and install. Ancillary programs such as Forms Viewer need to be updated the same way, by looking under the help menu. Make sure the most current tax tables are loaded by choosing that feature once the program is fully installed and updated.

I hear a lot of complaining about paid support plans, and read about problems with them on the message boards. I’d like to speak up in defense of paid support plans. In one sense it is no different from purchasing AppleCare for hardware products. It’s there if you need it, and hopefully you don’t. Also, the company has to have staff on hand for those who do need help with the software. I imagine there are a percentage of users who know little about accounting and use the support plans for reasons other than software glitches. That said, when comparing cost of ownership including the support plan over a three year period, between QuickBooks and MYOB, MYOB offers the best value for money.

There is a user discussion board accessible through the MYOB site. I have found it useful to read through some of the discussions. One thread recently reported that networked machines on Leopard using file-connect have noticed an improvement is speed. Speed has been an issue since the introduction of the Networked version of AccountEdge, so I’m glad to see that has been improved upon.

A trial version of this software is available for 30 days, and support is free for the first 30 days.

MYOB offers a free Accountant’s Version of the software to qualified users.

MYOB AccountEdge and AccountEdge Network Edition 2008 version 8 System Requirements

Minimum requirements for full installation:
◦ Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later
◦ PowerMac G3 or later with at least 128 MB RAM
◦ 100MB of available Hard Disk space for program installation. 245MB for full installation
◦ Average of 35 MB additional HD space for each company file maintained with MYOB AccountEdge
◦ 1024×768 screen resolution running thousands of colors

Help System, Payroll Updates and Business Services:
◦ Internet access required for payroll updates and forms, as well as Internet-based Business Services
◦ Safari or Firefox
◦ QuickTime 5.0 or higher

Networking Requirements:
◦ AccountEdge Network Edition recommended for multi-user networking
◦ G5 processor or better with at least 1 GB RAM
◦ 100BaseT or faster Ethernet network

Microsoft Office connection requires:
◦ Microsoft Word® X and 2004
◦ Microsoft Excel® X and 2004

Intel-Based Mac Compatibility:
◦ AccountEdge v7 and above will run natively on both Intel-based and PowerPC Macs.
1. Mac OS X 10.4 or later is required for syncing with Mac Address Book. 2. (UNIX File System) formatted hard drives are not supported

MyMac rating on this product is 4.5 out of 5.

Timeline 2.0
Company: BeeDocuments
Price: $40
http://www.beedocuments.com

Creating an illustrated timeline on your computer, or even by hand, can be a very time consuming process. Timeline, by Bee Documents is a program that aims to simplify this process and save you a lot of time. Timeline 2.0 is Leopard (10.5) only, and it takes advantage of Quick Look and spotlight.

If you use iWorks, opening Timeline will look very familiar. When you open the program you are presented with a quick-start window where you can choose a color theme from your timeline and a source. There are eight color schemes to choose from, or you can create your own.

You source is where you want items for your timeline chosen from. This is where the time saving factor comes into play. Your source can be a range of dates in iCal, a selection of photos from iPhoto, past songs played in iTunes, items from birthdays your Address Book, items from System Profiler, and it will even retrieve images from Skitch ( a great screen capture utility currently in beta by Plasq). You can also make a timeline from scratch.

Once you set your parameters for your timeline, the program instantly creates a timeline for you. Choosing iTunes as your source will produce a timeline within a date range that shows when you played what albums when. Album art can also be displayed in the timeline.

An iPhoto timeline will create a timeline of photos in order they were taken. Click a little arrow button on the timeline will give a large preview of it. You can also add notes to each item in your timeline.

Timelines can be exported as pdf, png, tiff, and eps files.

Other features include the ability to email a timeline, iPhoto integration, embedding links into the timeline, doing a full screen presentation right in the program, and more.

You might be asking “What about video?” I had the same question. You can add links to videos on the web or your hard drive, but you cannot directly put playable video into a timeline. The developer seemed receptive to this idea, and hopefully this is a possible feature in a future release of Timeline.

Overall, Timeline 2.0 is an easy to use, and fast solution for making Timelines. My only complaint is the lack of video support in the program itself. For presentations, student work, and more it is definitely worth trying out. A free downloadable is available from the website. The website is also a great place to check out more sample timelines.

At $40 it is well worth the price if it is a program you see yourself using.

MyMac.com rating 4.5 out of 5.

Bamboo Fun
Company: Wacom
$99 for small and $199 for medium
www.wacom.com

When I think drawing tablets, I think Wacom. I have been using the Graphire series of tablets for many years. This past fall Wacom replaced the Graphire tablet line with the Bamboo Fun line of tablets. (The Graphire BT, or Bluetooth, is still made). Before trying the Bamboo Fun tablet I expected the same user experience in a different package. I was wrong.

The Bamboo Fun has improved on the Graphire tablet line, and made it better. It is available in black, silver, white and blue. The 512 levels of pressure sensitivity allow for a drawing experience with the tablet is more natural and smooth. The pressure sensitivity is much better allowing for a better drawing experience. The drawing area itself is proportional to a widescreen format. I have also noticed the Bamboo Fun is a lot light then the Graphire tablets.

In addition to the drawing experience the tablet has four programable buttons, and a touch ring. The touch ring is really cool- or should I say fun? The touch resembles an iPod click wheel, and scrolling your finger around the wheel zooms in and out of an image in Photoshop, Painter, or whatever program you are working in There are also two buttons on the ring for scrolling up and down a page.

The tablet comes with a detachable usb cable, the pen (with 3 replacement tips) and a pen stand, and a mouse that works on the tablet. I’ve never been a fan of the mice that work with the tablets. They don’t have the same feel as a standard mouse.

In addition to the hardware, the tablet comes bundled with great software which bought individually would cost more than the small tablet, and come close to the price of the larger model. You get Photoshop Elements (v4 on the Mac), Painter Essentials 3, and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 GE.

My only complaint about the new Bamboo Fun is a minor one. There is no overlay for the tablet drawing area. In the past the Graphire tablets have come with a protective overlay or in the case of the Graphire4, a plastic shield. This allowed you to trace a drawing and not worry about getting the material on the pen tip.

Aside from the above issue, I really love the Bamboo Fun. It is a great drawing tablet for the student, or professional on a budget. I highly recommend the Bamboo Fun.

MyMac.com rating: 5 out of 5

In the market for a higher end/professional tablet? Stay tuned to MyMac.com for my review of the Intuos 3 tablet.

Download the show here, listen above, or in iTunes
MyMac ends our week of Macworld Expo podcasting coverage with a bang. Booth visits, a get together with the remaining staff members, and we are still meeting new people at the end of the show. Hope you enjoy our last episode from Macworld Expo 08.

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Links from the show:
Prosoft Engineering

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Download the show here, listen above, or subscribe in iTunes.
Our longest podcast of the week is one of our best yet. Tim and Nemo look at the days event, and talk about some of the booths and events of the day. Nemo interviews New York Times technology writer David Pogue, while Tim does an on the spot interview with Sinbad. (yes, we know the audio is bad for the Sinbad interview, but what the heck.) More Apple Quiz from the Prosoft Engineering, and Guy and Nemo pay some Booth visits.

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Links from the show:
Prosoft Engineering

Owen Rubin got some hands-on time with the new MacBook Air. (No audio in this video). Check it out!

What to do on the first day of the Macworld Expo in a hotel room? Grab a video camera and pay a surprise visit to your fellow writers!