Kindle Wireless Reading Device
Company: Amazon
Price: $399.00
Amazon.com
Kindle?
No, I wasn’t looking for one of these. Ebook (eBook? ebook?) readers have always been seriously lacking in both design and function, as well as services. Kindle seems to be different, however. Perhaps you should take a look too, because Steve Jobs may have been mistaken when he said that nobody reads anymore.
If you are looking for an iPhone or a media player, this is not the thing for you. You will be disappointed with Kindle if that is what you are expecting.
The Book of Wireless, 2nd Edition
A Painless Guide to Wi-Fi and Broadband Wireless
by John Ross
Nostarch Press
http://nostarch.com
January 2008, 336 pp.
ISBN-10: 1-59327-169-7
US $29.95
According to the back cover, John Ross’ The Book of Wireless, 2nd Edition is targeted at readers who want a broad overview of the whys, wherefores, and hows of wireless networking. That’s a big order to fill in 336 pages, including table of contents and index.
Here’s a brief list of topics Ross covers in The Book of Wireless (BoW2 from hereon):
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iMuffs MB210b
Company: Wi-Gear
Price: $180
http://www.imuffs.com
I admit it. I ignored this company and its monthly “Retire the wire” advertisements, for as long as they have appeared in the print Macintosh magazines. I thought Bluetooth (BT) wireless headphone technology was not ready for prime time, based on prior evaluations of Koss and Etymotic Research products. In spite of high ratings for both of the above, I don’t use them as my regular headphones, due to their limitations, and in spite of their strengths.
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Last week, we interviewed Lee Givens from America Online. He was so much fun to talk to, Lee returns as a co-host this week with Tim, Owen, and David to chat about older Macs, AppleTV, headphones, iTunes passing Best Buy in music sales, the future of broadband, and much more. John Nemo returns with Part Two of his AppleCare Switcher interview. A good resolution? Listen to find out.
As always, we welcome your feedback! Email us at mymacpodcast@gmail.com or call our messaging number at 1-801-938-5559 so we can play you on the show.
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Skullcandy FMJ iPhone earbuds/microphone
Skullcandy, Inc
Price: $79.95
http://www.skullcandy.com
Skullcandy; now there’s a naming success. Skullcandy’s a little company that markets a wide selection of headphones, earbuds, and accessories. I’ve never had any trouble remembering this firm’s name! Skullcandy’s target audience is the skater/hiphop crowd, but don’t let that (or their too-cool-for-school website design) drive you away, even if you lean more to the fuddy-duddy side of the spectrum.
Skullcandy sent the Weeks Division of MyMac Labs review sample of their iPhone FMJ earbuds/microphone. FMJ stand for “Full Metal Jacket.” I wonder if the marketing people have seen the 1987 Stanley Kubrick film titled with this expression.
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PRIMA SELECT Premium Leather iPhone Flip Case
Company: Prima, Inc.
Price: $42.95
http://www.primacases.com
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs get plenty of iPhone cases to review. Some are better than others. Unfortunately, Prima’s Premium Leather Flip case does not fall into the “better than others” category.
While our review case was nicely made of leather, with several slots for credit cards or licenses, Prime seems to have not understood what makes a useful iPhone case.
Here are a few problems I discovered in the first five minutes of using the case:
1) The case itself is well made, using good quality leather.
2) The flip case has a snap to keep the cover closed. A snap is a better choice than a magnet, according to Prima, as iPhones and magnet don’t get along too well together. That’s nice, but the snap is on the -back- of the case, so it’s awkward to unsnap. Moreover, the snap needed an excessive amount of pressure to snap shut. The manufacturer says the snap should loosen up with time. I did not use the case enough to verify this.
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Did you know you can send files to a person through iChat? In fact the process is quicker than typing an email and clicking send. This is assuming you have an active chat with the person you are sending the file to.
Drag and Drop
The first method is as easy as dragging and dropping the file to the current chat window. The person you are sending the file to will be asked if they want to accept the file. Assuming the person says yes, the file will be transferred to them through the chat. You can also drag and drop the file to the person’s name in your Buddy List. When the “+” icon appears drop the file and off it goes.
If both involved computers have Leopard you can also drag and drop files through the screen sharing feature of iChat. I’ll save screen sharing for another day.
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There are two types of technology companies:
• Some of them develop and expand markets with innovation, and most of them copy and borrow from the best in the business. WiebeTech is one of the former.
• Some of them offer excellent customer service and support via multiple methods of communication, and most of them make users jump through hoops with little confidence of successful resolution. WiebeTech is one of the former.
• Some of them consider Macintoshers to be primary customers, and strive to satisfy our demands and challenges; most of them are happy with our business, but don’t consider us to be upper-echelon customers. WiebeTech is one of the former.
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VectorDesigner
Company: TweakerSoft
Price: $69.95
www.tweakersoft.com
Adobe Illustrator is the standard for vector drawing programs. However, it is a bit pricey, and is more program than most people need. In the past two years several less expensive, but capable, vector drawing programs have entered the market. VectorDesigner is one of these programs.
When you first open VectorDesigner you notice the simple, unintimidating, interface. You have a few tools at the top and the Inspector on the side. Inspectors seem to be the “in thing” for software these days.
Download the MP3 here, via iTunes, or listen above
AOL is BACK. Lee Givens, Macintosh product manager at America Online, joins us this week for a chat. Beyond AOL, Lee is also a Macintosh user and collector. One of our favorite interviews to date! John Nemo chats with new Mac switcher Susan Ohlson-Elo in the middle segment, then Guy, David, Tim, and Owen finish off the whole thing with a quick look at MyMac’s latest postings.
As always, we welcome your feedback! Email us at mymacpodcast@gmail.com or call our messaging number at 1-801-938-5559 so we can play you on the show.
Subscribe in iTunes
Links from the show:
America Online
AOL Mac Beta Client
Mac@AOL Blog
Susan Ohlson-Elo
Are we having fun yet? You’ve made a Master Page, set up your Welcome page, played around with graphics and page sizes, all without knowing a single bit of HTML. Now, we’re going to get into what sets iWeb apart from most other web page creation software. Sure if you know CSS, PHP, HTML, and other buzz words I just pulled out of my head, you can make a site that dances and weaves across a web browser like some bad 60’s hippy movie. Unfortunately you probably don’t know about those things (don’t feel bad, neither do I), but you want your site to look like you spent a lot more time on it than you did.
EyeTV 3
Company: Elgato
$79.95 new users, $39.95 upgrade
www.elgato.com
For those that aren’t familiar with EyeTV it is software that turns your Mac into a DVR with the proper hardware (I use a Miglia MicroTV). At Macworld EyeTV 3 was released, with a bunch of new features. Are the new features worth the price to upgrade? That depends on you. Read on to find out more.
The most obvious change in the new version of EyeTV is the look. It has more of an iTunes/OSX feel and a lot of eye candy. Part of this interface change is the ability to view your recordings in a Coverflow look. A nice touch.
Fluid Mask 3
Company: Vertus
Price: $239
http://www.vertustech.com
The age of digital photography has transformed the way we take pictures. Using fabulous software such as iPhoto, it is a simple matter for any user to store, catalogue and keyword their photos on their Macintosh, and these photos can cropped and corrected for exposure and colour in seconds – adjustments that used to be only available to those dedicated individuals who had access to a darkroom of their own.
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Doozla
Company: Plasq
$24.95
http://plasq.com/doozla/
There was a time when Kid Pix was the only good option for a kid’s paint program. Well, times are changing. In the past year I have had the chance to review several new options to the market, and 2008 brings another worthy choice. Doozla by Plasq (the makers of Comic Life and Skitch) is a fantastic new paint program for children.
When you open Doozla you are presented with one of four options: “Coloring In,” “Drawing,” “Draw on a Background,” and “Webcam Drawing.”
Carbon Copy Cloner
Company: Bombich Software
Price: Free (donations suggested); always free to educational institutions
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper
Company: Shirt Pocket Software
Price: $27.95 for all features; free trial mode allows basic backup
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
We’ve all been admonished time and time again about the importance of backing up our data. Problem is, even if you do finally seize the initiative to finally begin a regular backup regimen, there’s a bewildering array of backup solutions out there, making it difficult to choose the one that’s best for you. For the severely cash-strapped among us, the choices become a bit simpler; you’ll be pleased to know there are at least two options from which you can choose that are not only extremely affordable, but can be relied upon to save your bacon when disaster strikes.
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Mac OS X Beyond the Manual
by Scott Meyers and Mike Lee
Publisher: Apress
Price: US $34.99
598 pages
With every significant update of Apple’s operating system there’s going to be a slew of manuals to help new and experienced computer users learn about a system’s new features, plus any tips and hacks that make for better and faster computing.
In the past, I’ve always kept a copy of David Pogue’s Mac OS X: The Missing Manual on my computer bookshelf because I can always count on Pogue to address almost any issue I’m having with my computer or a piece of Apple software. Pogue seems to anticipate and address many of the questions that beginning and intermediate users of OS X have for getting into and through the program. His writing is entertaining, well illustrated, and current.
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The science:
Ice Storms occur when warmer air rides over colder air at the surface. For this particular storm we had an Arctic dome of very cold air over the region. Air that cold is dense, and heavy, so approaching weather systems have a hard time pushing this colder air away, so the warmer air rises and flows over the cold dome. As precipitation in the form of rain begins to fall high overhead, it falls through the cold column at the surface. Since the entire column of air is not cold, there isn’t sufficient time for the droplet to turn to snow or sleet. Instead, the droplet becomes super cooled. This super cooled droplet immediately freezes when it comes in contact with anything. A tree, a car, your mailbox, the road, your coat.
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Direct download the show here, via iTunes, or our Podcast RSS FEED
Sam Levin returns for a new Cool Mac Picks. David Cohen reports on a new MacHeist controversy with Yazsoft. And Tim asks why Apple does not use serial numbers for the Mac OS.
As always, we welcome your feedback! Email us at mymacpodcast@gmail.com or call our messaging number at 1-801-938-5559 so we can play you on the show.
Subscribe in iTunes
Links from the show:
TuneWear cases for iPhone and iPod touch
Chestnut Hill Sound George
Case-Mate iPhone Signature Leather cases
Vaja Cases
Louis Vuitton iPhone Alligator Case
Rickshaw Bagworks Laptop Messenger Bags
iH24D Deluxe Table AM/FM iPod Speaker
Company: iHome
Price: $49.99
DrBott.com
There is a place for high-end quality audio. There is also a place for inexpensive audio. Somewhere in the middle there is a sweet spot for most iPod music lovers, and the iHome iH24D Deluxe speaker fits right there.
Looking at pictures online at DrBott.com, I knew the iHome iH24D was a small unit, but just how small was not apparently clear until I set it up with an iPod connected to it. This is a very small, but surprisingly robust, speaker. It looks like an older Boston Acoustic shelf speaker I owned back in the early 1990′s, but turned on its side.
The look of the iHome iH24D is the most appealing aspect. While not great audio quality, for the price and what it is, it is more than adequate for a small room, or sitting on an office shelf. The woodgrain compliments the black front grill and control knobs well. This is one iPod speaker that does not look cheap or inexpensive.
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The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers
By Scott Kelby
New Riders
http://www.newriders.com
ISBN-10: 0-321-50191-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-50191-2
472 pages, paperback
US: $49.99, CAN: $61.99
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers may have the longest book title I’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing. This book was written by Scott Kelby who is the Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine, and President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Scott is an award-winning author of over forty books on Photoshop and digital photography.
I am neither a photographer, nor am I anywhere near proficient in Photoshop CS3. Mr. Kelby says anyone can use his book to “learn how the Pros do it.”
Let’s see….
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