Mia Reading The Bugaboo Bugs
Company: Kutoka Interactive
Price: $25
http://www.kutoka.com
My four-year-old daughter was very excited the day The Bugaboo Bugs arrived in the mail for review. She loves games, but little did she know this was an educational title. While the product is rated for 5-9 years of age, I had hopes this would help my four-year-old as well. It did, but more on that later.
The game needs to install onto your hard drive, and this was a very SLOW process. Firing up the game for the first time, with my daughter waiting to play, she was very disappointed to have to wait almost ten minutes while the program installed itself. I can’t remember the last time any program took that long to install. Even Microsoft Office 08 and Adobe Creative Suite 3 took far less time. It was ridiculous. Every few minutes, she would ask “Is it ready yet, Dad?” only to be told “Not yet, kiddo. Soon.” That got old quickly.
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Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon (Version 1.5)
By Sharon Zardetto and Andy Baird
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com
ISBN 1-933671-30-0, 206 pages, PDF
$15.00 US
When I first received the Mac OS X Lexicon, I thought, “What could this book possibly tell a Mac user of 20+ years that he didn’t already know?” The answer: Plenty! “Ogg Vorbis,” “yottabyte,” “Breadcrumbs,” and “Flog,” ¬– what are they talking about?
As it turns out, The Mac OS X Lexicon is a very interesting book. It’s actually much more than a book, because the PDF nature of this tome makes it interactive in ways printed books just are not. I’m not sure this is a book you’d just sit and read, but you could easily do that if you wanted to. Once I started thumbing (or scrolling) through the pages, it was tough to put it down.
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Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard
By Joe Kissell
83 pages
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-easy-backup.html
$10.00 downloadable ebook PDF
$19.99 printed
Joe Kissell has been a mainstay of the TidBITS writing staff for years. He’s authored excellent books on various Tiger and Leopard topics. One of my Kissell favorites is Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, 2nd Edition.
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/backup-macosx.html
In this ebook, he runs through all the intricacies of backing up your OS X installation.
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Futura Laptop Desk and Laptop Computer Stand
Company: LapWorks
Price: $30
http://www.laptopdesk.net/
My car is being serviced. I turn off the television in the waiting room and pull out my PowerBook from my backpack. I open a folded Futura Laptop Desk, set it upon my bony thighs, and place the PowerBook on it, shifting my rear end for an approximation of comfort in the waiting room chairs.
Ten textured raised leatherette no-slip grippers provide friction resistance to keep the PowerBook in place atop the Futura. Its uncushioned undercarriage is neither comfortable nor uncomfortable on my legs, at least during the initial evaluation period. I wonder how long until I’ll wish there is some padding on Futura’s bottom region (not to be confused with not wanting any more padding on my aging undercarriage). But padding would add weight and size to this ultra-slim portable desk and stand.
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Sam Levin calls in with a special iPhone SDK report from Apple, and we interview Corey Johnson from Mariner Software. John Nemo returns with a Book Bytes Live interview with Deke McClelland, plus, Lee, David, Guy, and Tim talk iPhone SDK info and much more. Our longest show to date, which will not be the norm.
Interview with QUINCY CARROLL, CEO of iPlayMusic, discussing Beginner Guitar Lessons and Play Music Together tutorials.
MyMac: Can you please confirm these two guitar instruction installers MUST be fully placed on my hard drive, as opposed to running from the DVD? One of them is over 7GB!
QC: Yes, you must fully install the DVDs in order for the programs to work. The large install size is due to a few reasons:
1. We maintained highest possible resolution on the videos (30 frames per second) so that you don’t see encoding artifacts in the videos, which is particularly problematic with close ups on guitar strings. When the image breaks up as you’re looking at the strings, it can be a frustrating experience for users.
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Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Support Essentials, Second Edition
A Guide to Supporting and Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.5
by Kevin M. White
Peachpit Press
http://peachpit.com/
January 2008, 592 pp.
ISBN-10: 0-321-48981-0
US $54.99
First off, a friendly warning: Should you pick up this book and simply start reading it from Chapter 1, expecting yet another friendly “how-to” guide to OS X Leopard (along the lines of the “Missing Manual” series) you will most likely be sorely disappointed. As the “official curriculum of Apple’s Mac OS X Support Essentials v10.5 training course,” this book is intended specifically to prepare the reader for the examination(s) he or she must pass in order to become an Apple Certified Support Professional.
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HP Photosmart A826 Snapshot Photo Printer
Company: Hewlet Packard
Price: $199.99
http://www.hp.com
Are there times when you just want a photo printed from your digital camera. You would like to forget about going to your computer, booting it up, copying the photo off the camera, setting up the printer for photos, and then printing it on a full page printer. Of course, you will make multiple tires to get it right too, because something always gets screwed up. Well, HP has a better answer for you, the HP Photosmart A826 Snapshot Photo Printer, and this funny looking little printer is designed for doing just that, printing on the fly.
JBL Reference 510 Headphones
Harman Multimedia
Price: $149.95
www.DrBott.com
Back in 2003, I reviewed the Sennheiser PXC 250 noise-canceling headphones. They were some of the most comfortable headphones I had used in years, and four years later, I still use them more than any other headphones I own. They have become the headphones that I compare all other over-the-ear headphones to. That being said, I was really excited to check out the JBL Reference 510′s, a very similar pair of headphones.
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eMedia My Guitar
Company: eMedia Music
Price: $30
http://emediamusic.com/myguitar.html
Jim Hilbert and I sat down with this terrific new introductory instructional CD for children and ALL beginners, and we didn’t leave our seats until we completed every tutorial. Gary the Guitar, eMedia Music’s animated master of ceremonies, kept us in focus. Guitarist Kevin Garry, Ph.D, provided detailed split screen video lessons. An animated fretboard helped us learn where to place our fingers during live audio playback.
Numerous bonus features add excellent value to this product. Read about them by clicking on the FEATURES tab here. Song samples are in need of a serious update, but we’ll address that below. Keep reading.
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LEvertigo Prune Laptop Messenger Bag
Company: Be.ez
Price: $69.99
http://www.be-ez.com
Apple’s laptops are stylish and durable – both the plastic MacBooks and aluminum MacBook Pros will shrug off plenty off abuse in daily life. But even the hardiest machine needs to be carried around, and as an Apple supporter it is nice to have stylish accessories to match the beauty of Apple’s designs.
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Music Band-It Retractable Stereo Earphone
GRANDMAX mobile solutions
Price: $29.95 w/ band $19.95 retractable earphones (no band)
www.grandmax.com
While at the Mac show earlier this year I came into contact with Grandmax Mobile Solutions in a booth in the North Hall. They were touting a couple of products, one of which interested me right away.
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It‘s been a very tough winter here in New Hampshire.
Yesteday we had another 6” snowfall, and that puts the total snowfall for this winter at 101” recorded in Peterborough NH where I live.
The official records are kept in Concord, NH where they have 108.9″ recorded for this year.
That is the sixth highest snowfall total ever. But the next five records are pretty close with the all time record of 122″ recorded during the 1873-1874 WInter.
It looks like we are going for the record.
The biggest problem at the moment is where to put it?? Every snowfall now brings the problem of where to throw the new snow. There isn’t any room and the piles are gigantic. You should see store parking lots! Further north, the snow is even deeper and some roofs are collapsing under the weight of the snow.
The second problem will be melting. There is a lot of water tied up in that snow pack, which is now at 24” here in Peterborough, but up to 40″ elsewhere. If there is a sudden, fast snow melt, flooding will quickly become an issue.
You‘d be surprised at how many hours my kids and I have worked at snow removal this winter. There has been little time for anything else.
Spring can’t come soon enough for us.
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