Crayon Physics Deluxe
Company: Hudson Entertainment
$4.99
iTunes store link

There are more and more apps in the iTunes App Store that fall into the category of physics games. These are games where you draw shapes and lines on the screen to get a ball to a star, or something similar. There are also more and more games with the hand drawn crayon look. Crayon Physics Deluxe is fits both of the categories.

I have played a couple of these physics games, and like the others I played CPD is very addicting.

The goal of the game is (as I mentioned above) to get the ball across the screen, and across obstacles/challenges, and to the star to end the level. You do this by drawing line to direct the ball, or shapes that drop and cause the ball to move, or a combination of these.

Sound easy? It is at first. I breezed through the first 12 levels the first time I played the game and then got stuck at level thirteen out of a total of fifty levels.

CPD is a lot of fun, and time consuming. I have become a fan of these physics games and I REALLY like the hand drawn style (maybe it is the artist in me).

I previously mentioned that I have tried several of these physic style games before. CPD has two things that sets it apart from the others. First, you can actually tap the ball to get it moving. This might be minor, but it definitely adds to the gameplay and the way you solve a level. Second, it has a level editor. WHen you finish with the first fifty levels, you can make your own.

If you like these physic games, and are looking for a fun game you might want to check this one out. Unfortunately, there is no lite version to try it out, but take my word for it- it is fun.

MyMac.com rating 4.5 out of 5

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A WORTHY ADVERSARY?

On the surface, the Pre seems to have everything a modern smart phone should have. I have to give credit to the, mostly Apple trained and inspired, design team at Palm. The Pre seems to have been thoughtfully planned and executed to provide a nice combination of hardware and software to give the user coming from the Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and the many other generic phone operating systems, a much improved mobile operating environment. In fact, the Pre integrates some of the Apple-sdk multi-touch features into the their WebOS operating system (Are you listening Mr. D. Rosenberg?).

Compared to the above mentioned mobile operating systems, the Pre is quite an evolution from the, slightly better than DOS mobile experiences which seemed to have crossed the ocean blue in 1492. Color me impressed with the seemingly fine effort from Palm. I say seemingly because, very few have been allowed to actually review the unit in an untethered unsupervised environment. So we will have to see if Palm will be able to deliver the promise of the hype.

IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY

So imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. Yeah, that is cute and all, however, the REAL thing is still KING! (that has a nice ring, no pun) The problem with imitation is that it rarely measures up to the original. How many times have we heard a "tribute"  band sing one of our favorite songs only to become enraged over the destruction of that which we hold sacred? Generally, the imitation starts to lose its appeal when one begins the inevitable comparisons. The folks over at Precentral.com, found an internal AT&T document comparing the Pre and the iPhone 3G:

While it is certain that the final production units will be different then the pre-production units, Palm and Sprint have announced most of the feature set. With the exception of a few minor feature tweaks, the feature set for the first generation should be finished. Therefore, the above comparison should be accurate.

There is of course another problem with imitation. Sans the permission from the original or its creator, it can land one in court or even jail. It is a moot point to debate whether or not any of the Pre’s UI gestures violate the many Apple patents. However, once the Pre has shipped, it would seem likely that at least one Pre will find its way to Cupertino for "evaluation." Apple has already gone on record regarding the fact that they will defend their patents vigorously. This is something Palm and any potential purchaser of a Pre should think about very carefully.

IT’S THE ECOSYSTEM…

Let’s set aside the hardware and UI, of the Pre and the iPhone for a moment. Even more important than both of these features, is the ecosystem that surrounds the iPhone and may or may not surround the Pre.

Apple has imagineered (forgive me Walt) their products to harmoniously work within an ecosystem of hardware, software, and a thriving development environment. Whether one purchases a Mac, iPhone, or any other Apple product, their is much more in the box than meets the tearful eyes as one, with video cameras rolling, removes their new Apple product from its ever shrinking packaging. Two features included with every Apple product will be sufficient to settle the argument regarding the choice whether to purchase the still unreleased Pre or the ever maturing iPhone, The iTunes Store and The App Store.

Palm, if you match our hardware, will we not pout? If you still our UI, will we not bleed? If you try and match our ecosystem, will you not choke?

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Head First Web Design: A Brain-Friendly Guide
Ethan Watrall & Jeff Siarto
O’Reilly Media
ISBN 978-0-596-52030-4, 495 pages
US $49.99, CN $49.99

"Uh-oh," I thought, as I opened the package, "this is a very large book." But a quick flip through revealed that there were plenty of illustrations, examples and exercises, and lots of white space. Not so much text to read at all.

I admit I’m a sucker for snappy book titles. How could anyone resist "Head First Web Design: a brain-friendly guide"? Would it live up to its title?

Let me state up front that this is a really useful book. Not madly inspirational, but definitely useful.

A while ago, in another book review, I mentioned contents pages which go on forever. This book’s Table of Contents occupies 13 pages! But it’s different. First there is the TOC (Summary) … just the bare basics. Then you get the TOC (the real thing). This latter expanded TOC is great. Each chapter begins with an explanatory paragraph followed by the list of subheadings. It works as an excellent overview of the whole book.

At this point, I must make a confession. I am not in the intended target audience for this book. In the Introduction I came to a section describing who the book is for. The following excerpt may help you decide if this book is for you:

If you can answer "yes" to all of these:
(My answers are in brackets)

1. Are you comfortable with XHTML & CSS but don’t have any experience with web design? (NO)

2. Do you consider yourself a web developer (working in a fun environment like PHP, Ruby on Rails, .NET) (NO)

3. Do you need to understand web design for a course, your line of work, or you simply want to impress people at parties with your vast knowledge of The Golden Ratio and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines? (ER … I DON’T THINK SO)

this book is for you.

If you can answer "yes" to any of these:

1. Are you someone who doesn’t have any experience with HTML/XHTML & CSS. (YES)

2. Are you an accomplished web or graphic designer looking for a reference book. (NO/YES)

3. Are you someone who likes to build webpages with tools like Frontpage and Dreamweaver, so you don’t ever have to look at code? (I’D LIKE TO BE)

this book is not for you.

The truth is I am a graphic designer who is sometimes asked for advice about website design. I have designed only one website myself, which is not yet live. I have made no attempt to build a website, though some day I hope to produce one for myself, provided I have a techie on hand to fix any problems.

So, am I qualified to review this book? Hell yes. The book is about web design after all and I’m certainly able to judge whether sound design principles are being applied.

So here goes …

The Introduction focuses quite a bit on explaining why the authors’ approach is, indeed, brain-friendly. There’s some interesting information on how to "trick your brain into thinking that your life depends on knowing web design" so that it will remember what you learn in the book. Based on my knowledge of learning techniques (which I absorbed during my teaching years) I think it probably works.

My original intention was to read the book right through and do all, or most, of the exercises. but the authors’ number one piece of learning advice is to slow down. So in the interests of having the review done in less than a year I decided to do only a selection of the exercises. These exercises would be truly useful if you can resist the urge to cheat (the authors’ solutions are given on the following page, but I didn’t tell you that, did I!)

Each chapter uses a hypothetical website to take you through the process of developing the design. Emphasis is placed on user-centered design – meeting the needs of the client (something that graphic design professionals sometimes forget in their haste to produce glamorous designs).

You are advised to draw up a blueprint first, and to create a storyboard on paper before sitting at the computer, and certainly before doing any coding. I agree this should be done before the coding, but personally I can’t see any reason why the blueprint and storyboard can’t be done just as effectively on the computer. A graphic designer can produce classy sketches, but others might have nothing but messy scribbles to show the client, who might then be afraid the end result might be similar.

All the necessary elements are covered in the book: pre-production (very important); site organization; layout and design principles; use of color; navigation; writing for the web; accessibility; and more. There’s a useful chapter at the end on the business of web design. I especially liked the Appendix-Leftovers: The Top Ten things (we didn’t cover).

Head First Web Design is a book I intend to study more carefully, both for my own purposes and to give advice to clients.

The featured web designs may not be spectacular, but that’s appropriate for a book for non-designers, where a sound, functional, attractive-enough design is more relevant.

The style of the book is simple, down-to-earth, intelligent and witty. The exercises have substance. Anyone putting the recommendations into practice should end up with a nice-looking website that works.

Conclusion

Yes, definitely a brain-friendly guide.

MyMac.com rating: 4 out of 5

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Company: Uniea
Product: U-Cover Keyboard Protector
http://www.uniea.com/macbookpro_n/u-cover.html
Price: $14.95

Company: Moshi
Product: clearguard
http://www.moshimonde.com/clearguard.htm
Price: $25.00

Keeping your computer working well means keeping dust, dirt, and spills outside your computer. The easiest way for this to enter most computers these days is through the keyboard. And forget about liquids spilled into your machine, you might as well buy a new one. If you do spill something on a keyboard, and it happens all the time, Apple will not repair it under ANY warranty. A quick Google search for “Spills Mac” shows that prices can range from $700 to well over $1400 if you spill liquid into your Mac. So what can you do? How about prevent the spill from getting inside your Mac in the first place by adding a keyboard guard. Not only will they protect the keys from dirt, grime, and ware, but also protect against liquids splashed onto your machine as well. And here are two products that are very similar that solve that problem on new MacBook and MacBook Pro computers.

While the keyboards on these new machines are much more sturdy than older Apple computers, they are just as susceptible to spills, dirt, and ware. After only a few weeks of using my new MacBook, I could already see some ware on the keys, looking like shiny spots on the black keys. That is when I discovered more than a half dozen companies that sold keyboard protectors. After looking though all of them, I settled on a couple of products designed specifically to protect the keyboard of my new MacBook. The first of these was the Uniea U-Cover keyboard protector, and at only $14.95, it is a bargain. The second was a product by Moshi for $25, a bit more expensive, but still cheaper than a new keyboard. Both are a bargain when compared to the price of any repairs or a replacement keyboard.

Both these product are very similar to each other and do the exact same thing: they protect your computer’s keyboard. The Uniea product is made of high-grade silicon, while the Moshi product is made of engineering-grade thermoplastic urethane. Both should fit all unibody Macbook and MacBook Pros, as well as the Air, and possibly even the older MacBook 13”, basically the computers with the “square” keys. Uniea’s U-cover is available in three colors, white, pink ad blue, and are slightly opaque, almost milky in color, and easily visible when in place over the keyboard. Moshi’s clearguard comes in only one "color", and that is clear, and is in fact almost glass clear as it seems to almost disappear when put in place. Both fit snugly over the keys of the computer, forming themselves around the keys like a glove, and both have a small “lip” around the edge of the keyboard that fits snugly against the keyboard indentation.

The keyboard is now not only protected from wear of use, but from dirt, dust, and even spills. And just to prove that final point, I did accidently spill some juice near my computer one day while working and some of it splashed onto my keyboard. Normally, some of it might have made its way into the machine, and left sticky residue everywhere, and maybe even damaged my computer. But with a keyboard guard in place, I simply took off the guard, rinsed it clean, dried it and then replaced it. There was no damage to my computer from liquids entering, and no sticky residue left on my keys to gum them up.

As a comparison, here are three shots of my MacBook. First, you can see it with no guard in place. The second picture shows the Uneia guard, and the third picture the Moshi guard.

As for use, I tried both of these for well over 45 days each. While they both changed the feeling of the keyboard in general, typing was a bit more difficult with the Uniea in place than it was with the Moshi. But after a short time, the strange feeling seemed to go away, and typing with the guards in place was not a problem at all. Yes, there is a small difference in feeling still, but not so much to be annoying.

Bottom line here, they both will protect your keyboard and computer just fine. If you want some color and wish to save a few dollars, the Uniea should work just fine. It will probably last longer in use of the two because of the extra thickness. But in my opinion, the transparent clear, much thinner Moshi is worth the extra $10. It is significantly thinner, it is much less noticeable, I liked the glass clear color, and it affected the feel of the keys much less overall.

Pros: Both keep keyboards clean, reduce ware, and protect from spills
Cons: Both change the feel of the keyboard when typing.

MyMac ratings:
Uniea U-Cover: 4 out of 5
Moshi clearguard: 4.5 out of 5

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Download the show here, or via iTunes
Grant Dahlke from Newer Technology and OWC joins us this week to talk about all things OWC and some personal computing history. Then Guy Serle, David Cohen, and Tim Robertson take a look at Apple retail, and buying Macs online at sites like eBay.

Check out the new NewerTech Voyager at OWC!

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RailModeller, 3.1.4
Company: MacRailSoft
Price: $39 / 29 Euro
http://www.railmodeller.com

One of the great things about computers is that there is software to help people get the most of practically every conceivable hobby, even those not obviously connected with technology or the internet. You’ll find such software written most often by people active within a particular hobby, looking to create a tool to make some part of their hobby that bit easier or more successful. From golf to gardening, it seems that there’s a freeware or shareware program on the web for just about everyone.

On a whim, I decided to spend some of the long winter evenings building a small model railroad for the N-scale engines I’d had kicking about in the attic for a while. While looking around the various model railroading websites I came across a program called RailModeller, a Macintosh application that helps the user design model railroads and slot car racetracks.

Without such tools, designing railroads or racetracks is a fiddly business. You can either buy a bunch of track pieces and see what you can build with them, or else you rely on your drawing skills to design something accurately on a piece of paper. If your technical drafting skills aren’t that sharp, you can often end up with bits of track that don’t quite fit together.

RailModeller takes the hassle out of designing railroads and racetracks by reducing the process to what is essentially nothing more than an electronic jigsaw puzzle. You can move bits of track about, change the position of switches and junctions, and just generally play around with different ideas to see what works for you. Once you’ve come up with a design you like, you can preview that design in 3D, and then export a shopping list that includes the product numbers and prices you need to place your order online or at your local model shop.

Installation
RailModeller is available as a 7.4 MB download that includes the application and a comprehensive selection of data files called Railsets that contain the track shapes and sizes for most model railroad gauges and slot car brands.

User interface
Perhaps the best thing you can say about a user interface is that you don’t really notice it, and that certainly applies here. RailModeller is incredibly easy to use, working exactly as you’d imagine it would, assuming you’ve at least put together a model railroad or slot car racetrack at some point in your life!

You start off by creating a new document, called a Worksheet. By default this is 250 cm by 250 cm in size, but you either change via the Worksheet Properties menubar item, or else alter the default settings in the Preferences. And yes, you can switch between Metric and US units as you prefer.

The Worksheet is essentially the baseboard (or living room carpet!) and to design the layout, all you do is drag railroad or racetrack pieces onto the Worksheet. There are various keyboard shortcuts to help you orient the pieces, and when two pieces touch, there’s a clicking sound that indicates that if you “drop” the piece you’re moving, it’ll clip into place onto the one that’s already there. The result is that you can quickly create designs with all the track pieces properly interconnected, just as they would in real life.

Much use is made of buttons, palettes and contextual menus. For example choosing a piece of track and then holding down the Rotate button on the strip of buttons below the menubar brings up a selection of rotation options: 15 degrees, 30 degrees, and so on. Other buttons allow you to add polygons to the design, to mimic station platforms and other buildings, and you can also add text boxes to identify particular parts of the design.

Once you have a design you like, you can switch over to the 3D View to get some idea of what the final layout would look like. There are a few things lacking here, most obviously any way to add genuinely three-dimensional structures, such as tunnels or mountains. What you’re looking at is really just the flat track layout, twisted and turned as if viewed from an angle.
Neither can you directly add things like rolling stock or racing cars. If you want to check a siding or station platform is long enough for the trains you’ll be running, the best you can do is use the Measuring Tool on the Worksheet and then compare that length to your engines, carriages and cars.

But perhaps the biggest shortcoming in terms of three-dimensional designing is the inability of the RailModeller to plot things on more than one plane. It’s quite common for model railroads and slot car racetracks to have gradients and overpasses, but you can’t model these beyond having the track pieces drawn on top of each other, all in one plane. Needless to say, in the 3D view, you don’t get any sense of what the finished railroad or racetrack would look like.

Versatility
RailModeller has lots of track and scale options that make is a very flexible application useful to all sorts of hobbyists. A major plus for users in different parts of the world is that the palettes of track parts can be configured to display products made by different manufacturers including the principle American, European and Japanese brands.

All the major names are here: Arnold, Fleishmann, Hornby, Kato and Lionel to name just a few of the railroad manufacturers; and among the slot car brands are Aurora, Carrera, Scalextric and Tyco. If your particular brand or scale isn’t featured, additional Railsets can be downloaded or you can use the built-in editor to create your own. You aren’t limited to using a single scale or brand at one time. So if you’re an American modeler building an H0 layout, you’re free to use both Atlas and Kato track pieces and see how well (or not) they connect together.

As well as different brands, all the major scales and formats are represented as well, in the case of the model railroads these range from the tiny Z-Scale (1:220) through to the jumbo G-Scale (1:22) popular in Germany and the US for building garden railroads. Likewise, there’s a full selection of slot car scales as well.

Buying track pieces
Besides being useful for designing railroads and racetracks, RailModeller can be used to make shopping easier too. One of the tiresome parts of putting together a model railroad or slot car racetrack is that many of the pieces required look very similar and have similar names as well; if you buy the wrong bits, then your selection of track pieces won’t connect together. So it’s important to buy precisely the bits you need!

RailModeller solves this by producing a Part-list containing all the pieces of track on the Worksheet. This contains not just the names of the track pieces, but also the stock numbers used by retailers, so it’s easy to order the bits you need. You can also add the prices of the pieces, making budgeting easier as well. By filtering the Part-list through a Stock list containing pieces you already own, you can make sure you don’t buy any pieces you don’t need. The final Part-list can even be exported as a text file, so all you need to do is print this off, and away you go.

One annoyance is the separation of the Stock option under the File menu (where you edit the list of track pieces you have) from the Part-list option under the Worksheet menu (where you can see and export the list of track pieces you need). Contrary to most of the rest of the application, you probably will need to read the manual to realize that these two options are interconnected, and until you’ve edited the parts list via the Stock option, the Part-list option won’t be able to list the pieces of track you need to buy. This is really the only part of the application that is genuinely badly designed, and that’s perhaps why it stands out as being so boneheaded.

Summary
All things considered, the good things about RailModeller far outweigh most of the niggles mentioned, the sole exception being the lack of gradients and overpasses, a feature that some designers will find awkward. It should be stated though that this failing doesn’t mean you can’t design railroads or racetracks that have gradients and overpasses, all it really means is that your designs won’t look right in the 3D View mode. All the other aspects, such as easy connection of track pieces and the useful Part-list work just fine.

So, the bottom line is that RailModeller is a useful application at a low price that does its job extremely well. It’s easy to use and very versatile, and compared to the old fashioned way of designing railroads and racetracks, an absolute godsend.

Pros: Very easy to use; track options for all the major scales and brands; lots of useful features

Cons: Can’t model gradients or overpasses; 3D view somewhat limited; Stock and Part-list options depend on each other, but aren’t obviously connected in the user interface

System requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher; Universal Binary

MyMac.com Rating: 4 out of 5

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Blurb BookSmart book publishing application
Company: Blurb
BookSmart software free. Book pricing varies with format and page count
http://www.blurb.com/

Apple’s marketing juggernaut has done a fine job of convincing iPhoto users that its book publishing feature is the only book publishing game in town. While iPhoto does a fine job of allowing even a novice book designer to produce a creditable looking book, many users crave more. Now there’s another option: Blurb.

Blurb is a online print shop for people who want to design, print, and perhaps sell their own books. While most of us won’t be selling copies of our vacation travelogues, Blurb’s store does allow you to sell your publication. For the rest of us, it provides an alternative to creating a book with iPhoto.

One of the most common complaints about iPhoto’s book creation process is the lack of design freedom. It’s hard to create an ugly book, as Apple has made most of the design decisions for you. iPhoto 9 has thirteen templates, and it’s not feasible for users to create new ones. The only customizing allowed is choosing page backgrounds and the number of photos per page. Text options are similarly limited. This means that you’ll probably produce a good looking book, but it may not be the book you want to create.

Blurb’s BookSmart application frees your inner designer. You can choose from more book formats than Apple provides; square, standard portrait, black and white text 5" x 8", standard landscape 10" x 8", and large format landscape 13" x 11". All formats are available in either hard or soft cover, except the large format landscape, which comes only in hardcover. Hardcover options include a dust jacket, or images printed on the cover itself.

Once you’ve chosen the book’s physical format, choose one of thirteen layouts. Not happy with any of BookSmart’s choices? You can design your layout from scratch, with very few restrictions on how your pages look. Be careful! To quote writer and cartoonist Stan Lee: <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stan_Lee> "With great power comes great responsibility." It’s easy to get carried away, and end up with a visual mess. Better designs may come from making minor changes to BookSmart’s pre-defined layouts. But if you wish, jump right into the deep end of the design pool.

BookSmart plays nicely with iPhoto; it sees your iPhoto library and albums, making it easy to choose photos.

Given that users may be creating works for sale, BookSmart provides a good selection of text editing tools. You can control horizontal and vertical justification, fonts, text color, photo borders, and many other text and photo attributes.

Photos are added via drag and drop into frames on each page. Text frames are easily added or resized. One nice touch not found in iPhoto is the ability to add page ornaments.

BookSmart provides templates for Title pages, Table of Contents, Introduction, Chapter titles, and Index pages.

Your photos will look much better if you use high resolution originals. If you choose a photograph whose resolution is too low, BookSmart warns you by displaying a small yellow warning triangle.

Editing text and photographs is easy. I was impressed at how the toolbar changes the available options when you select text or photographs. If you prefer, you can select the various editing commands via a right (Command) click. Photo editing is limited to zooming and cropping, flipping, and adding borders. If you need to edit the way the photo itself appears, you’ll need to use your regular photo editor.

Can’t spell? BookSmart includes a spell checker that can check a single page, or the entire book.

A list of all the options and choices BookSmart provides would be too long to print here. If you’ve got the chops, you can design at home a book that’s virtually indistinguishable from one created by a major publisher. But if you don’t have the skills, BookSmart’s wizard can lead you through the process as well or better than iPhoto.

When your masterwork is complete, BookSmart’s preview gives you a chance to see what you’re about to upload for publication. The preview labels each page, so you won’t be confused about which page is the outside front cover and which is the dust jacket. Previewing is essential; you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a book, only to have it come back with typos and poor formatting. Preview several times yourself, and then get a second (or third) pair of eyes to review your work.

BookSmart’s uploading and purchasing process is quick and easy. When you’re sure the book looks just the way you want, click the Order Book button. You’ll get a warning to review the book, and then the uploading process begins. Once complete, BookSmart sends you to the Blurb web site, where you complete the purchase.

Pricing depends primarily on the book’s format, which was chosen when the book creation process began, and the number of pages. Like Apple’s books, Blurb’s prices range from moderate to rather pricey. But given the quality of the product, the money is well-spent.

A 40 page 7" x 7" square book ranges from $12.95 for a softcover book, to $24.95 for a hardcover with an image on the cover. Premium paper adds a bit more, as does having a custom logo.

A 40 page large format landscape 13" x 11" starts at $54.95, with the usual extra cost for premium paper and custom logos.

If your book is text only, you can buy a 5" x 8" black and white 40 page softcover book for $4.95.

Tax and shipping are extra.

For this review, I created a standard landscape 10" x 8" book with dust jacket, totaling 31 pages. The base price was $29.95. I popped for two-day shipping, which cost $11.14, bringing the total to $45.09.

As expected, the book arrived two days later. I was highly impressed with both the quality of the printing and the book itself. Blurb’s books are easily a match for Apple’s books. The four color printing was crisp and clear. The title was printed on the dust jacket, and lined up perfectly over the book’s spine. The book has been read many times, and the binding continues to hold up. We had several friends do a side-by-side comparison with our Apple books, and everyone said the Blurb book was at least as impressive as Apple’s, if not more so.

Pros:
Blurb’s BookSmart is a fine alternative to creating books with iPhoto. BookSmart provides many more options for book layout and design. Even the supplied templates can be customized. The program is easy to learn, and the Help information is useful and easy to access. The quality of the books are excellent.

Cons:
Users need to employ restraint to avoid creating unattractive layouts, especially when creating a layout from scratch. Choosing photos from an iPhoto library, while easy, is not as seamless as with iPhoto. You need to use your web browser to complete the purchase process. Prices can be high if you purchase premium paper and images on the cover.

Conclusion:
Blurb’s BookSmart is an outstanding application for creating and purchasing books. BookSmart’s ability to provide much more control over layout and design is a powerful asset in the hands of a smart designer. Blurb’s production values are excellent.

MyMac rating 4.5 out of 5

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HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 Wireless Printer
Company: Hewlett-Packard
Price: $159.99
HP.com

For a small office, choosing a color printer often means deciding whether to go the laser or the inkjet route. Typically, workgroup laser printers are more expensive to purchase up front but have lower overall consumable costs, while inkjets are cheaper to buy but when printing large numbers of documents, the consumables actually end up costing more. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 makes a pretty good argument for the inkjet side of things; it’s got remarkably fast print speeds for an inkjet, a 250-sheet paper tray with built-in duplexer, 32 MB of built-in RAM, USB/wireless/Ethernet connectivity, and (at least according to HP) a 50% lower cost per page than comparable laser printers when used with HP’s high-capacity cartridges. At only $159 list price, could this printer really be a viable alternative to a workgroup color laser?

One of the reality checks we’re faced with when it comes to inkjet printers is how quickly the cartridges need replacement-and how quickly that adds up, financially speaking. That’s one of the primary arguments for going with a laser if you’re planning on printing thousands and thousands of pages each month; even though each laser toner cartridge might cost upwards of $125 each, you will typically get a lot (as in thousands) more pages out of one than you will from a $19.95 inkjet cartridge. The OfficeJet Pro 8000’s color cartridges list for $19.95 but claim a page yield of 900 pages; the high-capacity versions will run you only $6 more but have a 1400-page yield (keep in mind that page yields normally assume 5% coverage). That’s very competitive when compared to laser toner costs vs. page yields, and when you consider that you can buy this printer today for only $159 (with street prices are as low as $127), it does seem a very attractive alternative to a laser printer.

For the environmentally-conscious among us, there’s even more to like. Not only is the 8000 ENERGY STAR® qualified, but HP claims it uses up to 50% less energy than color lasers. Because it’s got built-in duplexing (not typical of most inkjets), you can reduce paper consumption by 50%. Plus, HP actively promotes recycling of not only the toner cartridges but the printer itself through the “HP Planet Partners” recycling program.

I am compelled to point out, however, that for a “green” printer, the unboxing process sure created a large pile of rubbish on my office floor, all of which (except for the cardboard) I assumed would be headed for the waste stream. But even here, HP took the initiative to package the two printheads in recyclable plastic trays, very clearly indicated with a large “2” recyclable symbol. So, extra green points for that. Setup was pretty typical for an inkjet printer, although the initialization process, as the instructions warned, really did take upwards of 20 minutes. I’ve never seen any output device take anywhere near that long to initialize, but it’s a one-time thing, and the 8000 thoughtfully cranked out a page informing me that the printer was in fact initializing and that it could take up to twenty minutes, so all is forgiven.

The software installation was relatively straightforward. HP provides an illustrated full-color setup guide/poster as well as a separate “Wireless Getting Started Guide” booklet, a thoughtful inclusion but really not necessary as the installer guides you through the entire setup, whether you choose wireless, wired Ethernet or USB. The wireless setup first requires that you connect a USB cable to the printer (HP includes a USB cable, unlike some other printer manufacturers [are you listening, Epson?]), which actually makes perfect sense from my perspective. I’ve been confronted with wireless printers that force you to use their built-in control panel to configure wireless networking by arrowing up and down innumerable times to input IP addresses and subnet masks, a process which is tedious at best and painfully frustrating at worst. Oddly enough, the software prompted me to connect the 8000 to my wireless “n” network first, even though its wireless interface is b/g only. Once I redirected it to my “g” network and provided the password, it joined without any fuss.

As with other HP printers, the default installation installs a seemingly endless array of programs and utilities onto your Macintosh, but the 8000’s installer thoughtfully provides an option to install only the print driver and basic utilities, should you not wish to avail yourself of all the bundled HP software. If you do go ahead and install everything (which I did deliberately for purposes of this review)-only to regret it later when you see all the new HP icons crowded into your Dock-I can confirm that the included uninstaller works extremely well, removing virtually every item the installer installed, as well as uninstalling itself when it’s finished. For what it’s worth, the printer driver and software is fully compatible with OS X 10.5, as well as 10.4.11 (my test platform).

For those of you curious about the bundled software, it consists of the following:

• HP Photosmart Create: Create posters/banners/photo albums, iron-ons, etc.
• HP Photosmart Print: Additional printing options (think the standard Print dialog on steroids)
• HP Photosmart Share: Hooks you into HP’s online photo services (Snapfish, online albums, etc.)
• HP Photosmart Stitch: Creates panoramas from multiple images
• HP Photosmart Studio: Image organization and editing tools (think iPhoto)

The OfficeJet Pro 8000’s complete install gives you a multitude of image-related applications. Although these apps might be quite helpful for some users, I found the one at bottom right to be the most useful of all.

I certainly don’t mean to cast aspersions on HP’s included software bundle; in fact, I’ve seen “Mac-compatible” printers arrive with nothing but an outdated driver on a Windows-only CD. It’s just that I get kind of antsy when I see program after program after utility after utility being loaded onto my Mac, knowing that it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever make use of any of them. Of course, your mileage may vary, but when all is said and done, what really matters is whether or not the 8000 lives up to its promise of quick, economical printing over a USB, Ethernet or wireless connection. And after putting it though it paces, I can state unequivocally that it does.

Wireless printing is surprisingly quick; print jobs took no longer than a couple of seconds to move from the print queue on my Mac to the 8000, and the print speeds do come close to the posted specs. In “Draft” mode I was able to achieve 31 pages per minute with a black and white text document; that slowed to about 20 pages per minute in “Normal” mode, while in “Best” mode, which is what HP suggests you use if you’re trying to achieve laser-comparable output, I still got about 6 PPM, not quite as fast as a laser but certainly in the ballpark in terms of output speed. According to the specs, the 8000 can print at up to 1200 DPI in black ink and up to 4800 by 1200 DPI in color on HP Premium Plus photo papers.

As you might expect, print quality for text documents is, in my humble estimation, just slightly below that of laser output (specifically a PostScript laser printer), but “Best” mode provides print quality as good or better than any inkjet I’ve seen, and should satisfy all but the most demanding of consumers and business users. Photo output (as with most inkjets) using the highest possible settings is far superior to any laser printer, PostScript or otherwise, although as a high-volume business-type printer, most 8000s will doubtless be cranking out a lot more Word and PowerPoint files than photographs. Of course, graphic artists, accustomed as they are to true PostScript output and screen to print matching options, should probably look elsewhere.

Print speeds over USB and Ethernet were comparable to wireless, so unless you’re sending a massively large document to the 8000 wirelessly, the wireless printing option is quite usable. I did notice that you can’t have it working wirelessly and via Ethernet at the same time-plugging in the Ethernet cable disables the wireless interface-but I’m not sure why that would ever be a concern; if it’s wired to your router or switch via Ethernet, any Mac or Windows PC on your wireless network would be able to print to it anyway, and thus you wouldn’t need (or want) to have the 8000’s wireless networking activated.

The HP Printer Utility is accessible over any of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8000’s three interfaces and provides ink level status as well as cleaning and alignment options. There’s even a Dashboard widget to monitor ink levels without needing to launch the Utility, another of HP’s thoughtful nods to Mac users.

As far as the printer utilities and management are concerned, the HP Printer Utility (used for diagnostics, printhead cleaning, alignment and calibration) is quite capable and works just as well over the wireless connection as it does over USB or Ethernet. The 8000 also features a Bonjour-enabled Web interface, which means that the printer’s status, info and settings are available via Safari just by going to the Bookmarks menu and perusing the Bonjour bookmarks list for the OfficeJet Pro 8000. That sure beats frantically printing out various configuration pages trying to figure out what the printer’s IP address happens to be at the moment, and it shows that HP kept Mac users in mind when it engineered the 8000.

Usage reports and logs, accessible via the OfficeJet Pro 8000’s embedded Web server, let you peruse past print jobs to determine who’s to blame for using up all the magenta ink.

From the Web interface you can view usage reports and logs, set up email alerts to individuals or groups when problems occur (low ink, paper jams and the like), and enable enterprise-level IT options like Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS). While you may never need to utilize these features, much less even know what they are, they’re the kind of IT-friendly options that really put the “office” in “OfficeJet Pro 8000.”

At $159, I feel this printer is a remarkable value that basically does everything right; its price and wireless connectivity option even make it suitable for the home, while its enterprise management features, 15,000-page duty cycle and very reasonable consumables cost are ideal for small- to medium-sized offices. One minor omission for enterprise use is gigabit Ethernet, which is offered on many other HP printers, although not typically on inkjets.

My one real concern with this device is the physical size-at 19.5" wide and 24" deep with the paper catch tray at the front extended, it has a remarkably large footprint for a letter/legal sized printer. My HP OfficeJet Pro K850, which can handle paper sizes up to 13" x 19", is only about five inches wider than the 8000 and a mere 18" deep, while my ancient Brother B&W laser measures just 14" x 15".

So just make sure to clear a big space for this monster if you’re planning on introducing one into to your home or office; it may be a struggle to fit it onto your average desktop. But given that the OfficeJet Pro 8000 Wireless is an above-average printer, I think you’ll find it’s well worth the extra space.

ADDENDUM: While this applies to a great many HP printers, not just the 8000, I feel obligated to give a brief nod to HP’s free iPrint Photo application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which lets you print any image from your device’s Camera Roll or Photo Library as a borderless 4" x 6" photo directly to any supported HP printer. The program automatically discovers your HP printer on the network, and even selects the photo paper tray if applicable. If you have a supported HP printer and an iPhone or iPod Touch, it’s absolutely worth a look.

MyMac.com Rating: 5 out of 5

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Acoustibuds Premium Adapters for Earphones and Bluetooth Headsets
Company: Burton Technologies
Price: $14.99
http://www.acoustibuds.com

Acoustibuds are silicon rubber adapters that easily connect to the earphones that come with iPods and other MP3 players. The adapters achieve two purposes. First, they make your stock earphones fit more securely in the ear canal. Second, they improve the sound quality coming from most earphones.

When I bought my first iPod several years ago, I thought the earphones were poorly designed. The audio was barely acceptable considering the overall price of an iPod, and they simply did not sit securely in my ear. In addition, they came with nearly useless tiny flannel socks to cover the hard plastic ends of the speakers. My solution was to go out and spend about $50 on some decent Sony earbuds.

Had Acoustibuds been around at the time, I could have saved myself a bundle. For $15, Acoustibuds will improve the acoustics of standard iPod earphones by at least 50 percent. Made of silicon rubber, Acoustibuds are a little like a soft sock with flexible fins that keep them lodged in the ear, a big plus for those who wear their earphones while running or hiking. They fit snugly over standard iPod earphones. 

The manufacturer says, "Superior sound isolation is also created with the fins to seal out noise from outside. Volume and bass frequencies are amplified allowing operation of your MP3 at a lower volume setting. Inside, the ‘Twin Cone Core’ better channels the sound wave in your ear. The twin cone core guides the sound wave like a miniature acoustic horn to minimize sound impedance enriching middle and upper range frequencies."

I found all of that to be true when the Acoustibuds were attached to standard iPod earphones, but when I attached them to my higher end Sony earphones, they exaggerated the treble range too harshly for my tastes. They also were a little too big to create a tight fit with the ends of the Sony earbuds, and slipped off too easily. 

There’s no question they do define sounds more clearly, and listeners will definitely hear more instruments than they’d hear with the stock iPod earphones, but that’s not always a plus. If you’re the kind of music buff who listens to a Bach piano sonata and tries to disassemble the melodies played by the first and third fingers on the left hand from those played by the second and fourth fingers on the same hand, and then analyze how those are integrated with the melodies played on the right hand, you’ll probably find you can do that with Acoustibuds attached to almost any earphones. For me, however, that defeats the purpose of the music. I’m more interested in the sum of the parts than in each of the parts. 

I doubt Acoustibuds are designed for audiophiles. Those who are interested in high end audio will spend whatever it takes to get the last decibel of clarity out of their speakers. But I think most users will find that Acoustibuds perform as advertised. They definitely make your stock earphones sit in your ear more securely, and they unquestionably will make your iPod earphones sound much better than you ever thought they could. 

Acoustibuds come with two sets of adapters, one larger than the other. Experiment with size and fit, and heed the manufacturer’s advice to turn down the volume before you put them in your ears. They definitely magnify the sound and you’ll be able to play your iPod at lower volumes without a loss of audio clarity. 

MyMac.com rating: 4 out of 5

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Tim, David, and Guy discuss solutions for your old, unused iPods, the benefits of running two monitors off one Mac, and the persistent rumors of a Tablet Mac.

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Formula No. 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner

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STICKER SHOCK
We have all set out on the arduous journey of trying to find a new car that meets our needs, budget, and hopefully, taste. We have dreamt of being able to purchase one of the beautifully designed and engineered German or Japanese offerings only to be shocked by the sticker. Still, when comparing the engineering and design of these imports with many of their lower cost counterparts from around the world (US included), there is indeed a gap that exists. How can one account for the difference? Could it be that the added attention to design, engineering, and in many cases, superior materials, adds no value to the final product? Is there no real difference between the two types of vehicles that would justify the elevated cost in the marketplace?

Does the attention to design and engineering add value to the product, or is the higher cost just bloated pricing added by the manufacturer to shake a little more money out of the unsuspecting and uninformed lemmings? Many have used the term, "Apple Tax" to describe their belief that the design, engineering, and software choices of Apple Inc., do not add value to their computers but are instead an unjustifiable "tax" levied upon buyers of Apple products. This article will attempt to delve into the heart of the issue regarding the "Apple Tax." Does Apple suffer from an inflated view of its products, or has Steve Jobs and company added real value to their products through a unyielding and relentless pursuit of harmony through precision engineering and beautiful industrial design?

THE ECONOMICS OF ECONOMICS
There are many costs associated with the production of any modern day product. Every manufacturer must invest heavily in research and development, manufacturing equipment, materials, labor etc. We have all seen the many articles online which break down the latest piece of technology into its component parts subsequently arriving at a component part value of said product. If we are honest, we find it hard to justify paying more for that device than its cumulative component part value. Obviously, we understand that the manufacture should be entitled to receive some compensation for their trouble, but how much is fair?

The Market Value for any product, good, or service is determined by the various Market Forces impacting that product, good, or service. In other words, the price people are willing to pay will vary based on these forces. For instance, the Nintendo Wii has been popular and in short supply since its introduction. Therefore, some entrepreneurs who have been lucky enough to purchase one, have been able to turn around and sell them on sites like Ebay for a very nice profit. This market force is called Supply and Demand and can dramatically impact a product in the marketplace either negatively or positively. Because the Wii has been in such short supply, people have been willing to pay more than the suggested retail price to own one.

Perceived Value is another market force that can impact what people are willing to pay for a product. Perceived Value is the "perception" that a product has a certain level of value, quality, features, or even caché which can lead people to purchase said product. Whether or not the product actually possesses any of the perceived value, quality, features etc., is irrelevant to the discussion of perceived value. A good example of this principle is the Motorola Razor. When introduced, it was very thin and sported a simple and somewhat elegant exterior design. Because of its outer beauty, there was a "perception" of an inner beauty in terms of its hardware design and engineering. How many times have we made this same assumption socially only to realize that beauty, in many cases, is only skin deep. I can remember how enamored my daughter was with the device. Her contract was up for renewal, so we purchased the phone and brought it home. We realized very quickly that perception can be a slippery slope. The hinge was flimsy, the keys were inconsistent, and the reception was horrible. Taking that unit back for a replacement did not rectify the solution, but instead revealed additional problems with the product. Finally, my daughter gave up and went with a different phone from a different manufacturer.

Brand Recognition is arguably the most important market force in terms of the success or failure of a product, good, or service. As the accumulation of design, quality of manufacturing, advertising, user experiences, and media accolades, brand recognition is the symbolic embodiment of that which is known regarding a company, product, good, or service. The pinnacle of brand recognition is the establishment of an instantaneous, automatic, and associative response to a corporate identity. For example, I can remember the days when I would accompany my father to the local electronics store to purchase a new family television, he would always look at the Sony products first. I would ask him why and his response would always be the same, "We will start with the best and work our way back." I can remember the restless nights in my bed unable to sleep the night before a family outing to Disneyland. My insomnia, was the result of an associative recognition of the name Disney which equaled fun and entertainment in the unsophisticated psyche of a young boy. The associative response of beautiful design and precision engineering races into my mind whenever I see the familiar badge adorning the Stuttgart Coat of Arms (insert Porsche badge), or the three-pointed star of Mercedes-Benz. This response stems from my knowledge, both first hand and through extensive research, of these companies which consistently produce vehicles of the highest standards of quality, design, and engineering.

DOES SIZE REALLY MATTER?
At the end of the day, it matters not which market force delivers the world to your doorstep, the product must deliver. Companies like Sony and Microsoft have seen their market values and shares decline because of failures in the marketplace (Can you say PS3 and Vista?). However, for those companies which focus on delivering great products combined with an enjoyable customer service experience, there will indeed be a "Pot of Gold" at the end of their rainbow. The marketplace will reward beautiful design and precision engineering. Companies like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and many others have proven that there is a global segment of customers willing to pay a premium for design and engineering.

It is this very paradigm that has been the impetus driving Apple Inc., to their success in the personal computing marketplace. For nearly thirty-three years, Steve Jobs has relentlessly pursued the perfect union of form and function. Whether he was leading the charge at Apple or Next, Steve has brought his uncompromising sense of smithsonian worthy design and style to every project under his all-seeing eye. Concerned with every aspect of a product’s design and implementation, Steve once responded to an Apple engineer who felt that no one would care what the PC board inside of the case looked like,"I’m gonna see it! I want it to be as beautiful as possible, even if it’s inside the box. A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it." Channeling the real Steve Jobs, I think the fake Steve Jobs was very insightful when he said, "We march to our own beat. We think different. We’re not one of those companies that’s all driven by marketing and spin and hype. We just go to work each day and make the best products we can, the products that we want to use ourselves, and when those products are ready we put them out to the market and hope that other people love them as much as we do." 

THE COST OF REVOLUTION
The proof has been in the proverbial pudding. This paradigm has produced such revolutionary products as the original Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and MacBook Air to name a few. All of these products either established new revolutionary product categories, or revolutionized established categories. Revolution does not come cheap. While it is hard to place a specific value on design and engineering, I think it best to borrow a phrase penned by Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it." To this day, I can’t quantify that feeling of awe and amazement as I gazed upon the beauty of the iPhone for the first time, or the quizzical wonder of, "How did they do that?" as I held the razor thin MacBook Air in my hand and felt its superior build quality in all of its feathery lightness. How about the sense of, "This is how it ought to be!" brought on by that first symbiotic experience of OS 10? I can’t place an exact dollar amount on these feelings of complete satisfaction. The bottom line is that these feelings and sensations resulted in my willingness to pay a little extra for something superior.

Not everyone may see the value in superior design and engineering. Companies like Dell, Sony and the many other PC manufactures are hoping and banking on that very fact. There is indeed room for everyone on the digital dance floor of life. As with every other purchase decision, a simple formula will be calculated in our minds prior to every purchase, cost plus features equals value. When one considers the long list of features included in every Apple product, the price becomes a very competitive value. But are we really comparing Apples to Apples? If all of the hardware specifications are the same, then it comes down to design and engineering. Let’s be honest, how many people stand outside in a long line for the chance to happily plunk down their hard earned dollars for the latest offering from Dell? Beautiful design and engineering inspires fanatical passion! As to whether the added cost of an Apple Inc., product is bloated pricing or a design and engineering premium, we will let the ever growing market share speak for itself.

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Visual Quickstart Guide XML (Second Edition)
Kevin Howard Goldberg

Peachpit Press

ISBN: 0-321-55967-3

US $34.99, CDN $37.99

288 pages

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) has become the medium to move data in efficient and predictable ways. Derived from a similar markup language, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), XML is structured, but not as highly as SGML. Structure is what itís all about. The very loosely structured HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is also derived from SGML. Even the XML markup looks amazingly like HTML, except, as the author explains, HTML defines how information will look, while XML defines how the information is formatted.

Here is a portion of an XML file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<my_siblings>

<sibling>

<name>Norm</name>

<gender>Male</gender>

<age>65</age>

</sibling>

<sibling>

<name>Nancy</name>

<gender>Female</gender>

<age>52</age>

</sibling>

<sibling>

<name>Guy</name>

<gender>Male</gender>

<age>48</age>

</sibling>

</my_siblings>\

If you analyze the code sample above, you should be able to see that there are three siblings defined. Each siblingís information is contained, or wrapped, between the <sibling> and </sibling> tags, and that the information on those three siblings is wrapped between the <my_siblings> and </my_siblings> tags. Taking this one step further, you can think of these sibling "chunks" as parts of a database: the content between the <sibling> and </sibling> tags would be defined as a record, while the <name></name>, <gender></gender>, and <age></age> tags define fields within a record. This content can then be transformed into content in a different format and reused in many different ways.

In XML, as in HTML, you can also see that each chunk of information is tagged with an opening and closing tag.

Why structure? With a standardized method of defining chunks of information, the information can be easily shared, re-used, translated, and manipulated in infinite ways, yet retain its integrity and its overall definition. XML, being an ASCII text format, is universalóit can be shared among multiple platforms without modification, save for some minor file system issues that are beyond the scope of this review.

One major use of XML is in content management systems (CMS), where it can be searched, selectively extracted, and assembled into larger documents that then can be transformed into final deliverables, such as a PDF file, Help files, or a set of HTML files. Sure, you could probably do this with plain text, but without the underlying required structure, it would be a lot harder, and would probably require a large amount of post-assembly editing before even attempting to create the deliverables.

Another popular use of XML is in Adobe Flash animations and programs. By building the text content in external files formatted as XML that the Flash file points to, dealing with localized (translated) content is an extremely simple matteróoften just changing the filename links in the main Flash file can transform an English language document into a Spanish, French, or whatever document in momentsóand by maintaining the master files in a database-driven content management system, you can translate content that might be used in multiple documents or even multiple times in the same document once and only once, which, I can assure you, results in huge cost savings.

Kevin Howard Goldberg has put together an excellent primer on the multifaceted alphabet soup that is XML. He updated the first edition of this book, originally authored by Elizabeth Castro, with Ms. Castroís assistance, adding information on some of the newer applications of XML: XSL-FO, XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery 1.0.

The book is divided into the following sections, each of which builds on the previous chapter:

* XML ñ The basics of writing XML code, and the underlying structure.

* XSL ñ How to transform XML into multiple deliverables (HTML, XML, etc.). It also covers XSLT, XPath, and XSL-FO. XSL-FO is most widely used to transform XML files into PDF deliverables.

* DTD ñ Document Type Definition. DTDs are the underlying glue that holds the XML together. How? By defining and detailing the rules under which valid XML files function. Separate sections discuss entities and notations, as well as validations (ensuring the XML file follows the rules defined in the DTD).

* XML Schema ñ Developed to overcome some of the shortcomings of DTDs, the XML Schema is a more powerful document, designed to give the author even more control over how the XML content is structured and defined.

* XML Namespaces ñ A method of combining XML from multiple sources, even if there are identical element names. XML Namespaces provides a method to merge the content while retaining the definitions of each independent element (I hope I got that rightÖ).

* Recent W3C (World Wide Web Committee) Recommendations ñ Discusses some of the newest enhancements to the XML specifications including XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery 1.0.

* XML in Practice ñ Applications of XML, especially in Web 2.0 usage. Topics and examples include Ajax, RSS, SOAP, WSDL, KML, ODF, OOXML, eBooks, ePub, and more. I told you it was an alphabet soup!

* Appendices ñ Discusses XML editors and tools. Full character set and entity tables.

This book is a great introduction to XML. Itís loaded with sample code and examples to get you started. Itís well illustrated and makes great use of color. Peachpit Press also offers a companion website with sample code, updates, etc.

XML is not for the faint-of-heart. There are just so many pieces that comprise the XML specification; it can be confusing, even with this Visual Quickstart Guide. The only thing I didnít see in this book, and most likely because of its inherent specialization is the DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) specification. DITA is a highly specialized topic-based XML-based markup language, mainly used for creating instructional materials (user documentation, educational texts, and so on). I recommend this book highly.

MyMac Magazine rating of 4.5 out of 5

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Dom Sagolla joins us this week to talk about DollarApp to kick off the show. Then Guy, David, and Tim talk about the Menu problem on a dual monitor set-up in Mac OS X. Finally, Mark joins in to discuss the Airport Express Base Station.

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DollarApp.com

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TubeStick Hybrid
Company: Equinux
Price: $129.00
http://www.equinux.com

TV ON YOUR MAC
Companies like Elgato Systems with their EyeTV family of products, have brought the iPod like ability to time-shift your content consumption to the broadcast TV space. For decades, the Mac masses were relegated to converting old VHS tapes or, of late, ripping DVDs (for back up purposes only of course) in order to consume their media when and where they wanted. With the advent of EyeTV and now, TubeStick, the ski is the limit, literally. In fact, with the TubeToGo iPhone App by Equinux, you could literally be flying 30,000 feet in the air while watching the latest The Daily Show with John Stewart (WiFi enabled flight required).

With TubeStick Hybrid and its related software products, Equinux has shifted the paradigm within this space. With the addition of an online social networking component and the ability for the millions of iPhone/iPod Touch users to view their recorded content from almost anywhere, Equinux has thrown down the gauntlet to any and all would be challengers.

FEATURES
Everything you need to get started, sans the broadcast signal, is in the box

The TubeStick Hybrid provides the ability to receive both digital and analog signals in a small USB device. The TubeStick Hybrid can receive free over-the-air digital broadcasts, digital (QAM) and analog CATV (NTSC) channels. With the included adapter and cables, you can connect the TubeStick Hybrid to your video source via S-video, composite, or through the included antenna.

The included hardware is matched up with The Tube application which allows you to select the video source, program, pause, record, and publish (for viewing on your iPhone/iPod Touch remotely) your broadcast content on your Mac. Included with The Tube application is the ability to connect and chat with other users and participate in a social network of Tubers (this may not be the designation of choice). When you add all the features up, it is a very attractive package at this price point. For additional information, jump to the product page.  

USABILITY
The TubeStick hardware is easy to install. Depending on whether you are using an over-the-air antenna, cable, or satellite, everything you need is included in the box:
  

Once you have connected the hardware, you need to install and update The Tube software and then select your video source:

You will need to instruct The Tube to search for local channels in your area:

Once your channels are locked in, you can begin to surf for your favorite shows:

REVIEW’S NOTE: The included screen caps are not a representative sampling of the reviewer’s favorite shows, but rather, the result of being late at night and the channel with the best signal reception.

Once your channels are locked, the application will ask you to download the program data which makes programming the software to record your favorite shows, a snap:

The Tube software gives you two additional options, via your iPhone or iPod Touch, to view your content. The first option is to watch your locked in TV channels via your iPhone/iPod Touch using the Live TV App.

I found this to be a great option for moving around the home WiFi environment while continuing to watch live TV. The video and audio quality was excellent. There were a couple of instances where the iPhone App would lock me out because it identified the free over-the-air content to be encrypted. The content was able to be viewed without and problem within The Tube application running on the Mac, so it was the iPhone App which had the problem. Nothing a little debugging won’t fix.

The second option is to view your recorded content anywhere you have a WiFi connection via your iPhone/iPod Touch using the TubeToGo App

Once I set up the TubeToGo preference,

any recorded program was automatically encoded for the selected device (iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, iMovie) and uploaded to my designated server (local, FTP, MobileMe, and or iTunes Library). After recording a couple of shows, I cruised down to my local Starbucks and watched a little Friends while sipping a Peppermint Mocha. My content, where I want it, when I want it, what a concept.

The other signal source I connected to the TubeStick was my Dish Network box via the composite connecter included in the package. The video and audio is great. The problem is a lack of programable recording (more on this later). You can record manually if you want to stay and turn off the recoding once your show has ended (kind of defeats the purpose of RECORDING). Of course, if you are a Cable TV subscriber, you will have full compatibility and programability with the TubeStick Hybrid.

One of the interesting features of this product is the Talk/Chat option which promises the ability to connect with other Tube users in an online social networking environment. While this feature sounds great in this twitterfied world of online social interaction, it is either down, not implemented, or in limited release. The bottom line is that I could not get it to work. Hopefully, Equinux is working the bugs out even as you read this review. It could provide enough differentiation from the EyeTVs and Slingboxes of the world to give the TubeStick a leg up on the competition.

MAKING A GOOD PRODUCT BETTER
The TubeStick Hybrid and its related software products combine to provide a very nice solution for in home and mobile consumption of your broadcast content. However, there are a few additions and tweaks which would give this product the finishing coat of wax it needs.

A little debugging is needed on the Live TV App to insure that whatever live channels can be viewed on The Tube can be viewed on the Live TV iPhone App.

Adding the ability to manually program The Tube to record content from the composite source would really improve the usability of the product for satellite users. Considering the fact that this is simply a video and audio signal from standard composite cables (no digital program data involved), a simple script to turn the record option on and off at a certain time would suffice.

Some attention to the Talk/Chat option would provide a substantial bang for the buck. This option would, IMO, sway many consumers looking for this type of product toward the TubeStick Hybrid.

Finally, the ability to import content into The Tube (which could then be added to the published library for viewing via the TubeToGo App) would make this a complete solution for the modern consumer of digital content.

MYMAC RATING
I am very impressed with the TubeStick Hybrid. The combination of hardware and software at this price point offers consumers a great value. Equinux has done a great job designing a product that allows the consumer to consume his/her content when and where they want it. This product is only a few tweaks away from being the preeminent choice in this semi-crowded space. As it is, I am awarding the TubeStick Hybrid an outstanding and hopeful rating of 4.5 out of 5 on our MyMac Rating System

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Tucano Alba Laptop Bag for Apple MacBooks Review from Caroline Andreolle on Vimeo.

You can download a larger, cleaner version of the video in MP4 format HERE. (70.8MB)

MyMac.com Rating: 4 out of 5

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Duet II Two-Piece Desktop Speaker System
Company: JBL
www.jbl.com
Retail: $99.99

There are more iPod speaker solutions out on the market than the entire Mymac.com staff could ever cover in a reasonable time period. Obviously, there is a market out there, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many solutions. So what does JBL have to offer with the Duet II Desktop Speaker System? Well, I’ve spent about 6 weeks trying to find that out.

So let’s get the errata out of the way. Testing for the Duet II was conducted using a 1st generation iPod Touch, a 1st generation iPod Shuffle, a 1st generation Sony PSP, and a 13" Macbook. I tested the Duet II in an open room (both the bedroom and office) and in an enclosed space (bookshelf).

So first impressions: the Duet II is easy to set up and easy to use. Basically, there are only three pieces to the unit; the adaptor, the left speaker, and the right speaker.

Everything pretty much plugs into the left speaker and the system connects to the sound source with a 3.5 mm mini stereo jack compatible with just about every electronic audio device out on the market. There is only one control, also located on the left speaker. This is the power/volume dial located on the top of the left speaker. This control is well-integrated into the overall design of the unit, which is very sleek and modern. There is one LED power indicator light at the base of the speaker, in case you’re like me and forget to turn off the speaker power after you’ve unplugged your device. The speakers are about 4" in diameter and 10" high, and while not heavy, they could double as bookends if space is at a premium.

So how’s does it sound? For it’s size, I was very happy with the overall performance of the Duet II. I felt that the system delivered good performance over the entire sound spectrum, and I ran it through it’s paces using podcasts for normal speech, a couple of fiddle and violin concertos for the high end, and some trip hop for testing the low end base performance. In all cases the system delivered sound comparable to a good pair of headphones. More importantly, there was no distortion when the speakers were set to higher volumes, which is sometimes an issue with smaller speaker systems.

My wife, on the other hand, felt that the sound was kind of "tinny", and at lower volumes (and depending on the equalizer setting on the sound source), I can’t deny that there was some of that "tinny" sound that you would normally associate with small/portable speaker systems. It was also more noticeable when the speakers were in an open environment. I found that I got the best sound performance when I had the speaker volume above mid-level, the equalizer on the sound source set to "bass boost", and the speakers placed in a bookcase where I could get a little sound reflected from the bass output located on the back of each speaker.

So what are the drawbacks? Well, the main one is the cabling – there’s just enough for about an 8 foot separation between the left and right speakers. This is not a problem if you’re planning on putting them in a bookcase or on a desk, but you won’t be able to put one in each corner of a room (unless it’s a small room). The other issue may be price. While I feel the JBL Duet II delivers good performance for the price, there are other speaker options out there for iPod users that are cheaper and will also double as a charger while you listen to your music. Of course, the systems I’m referring to are limited to iPods only, and the Duet II offers more flexibility for those looking for a small speaker system they can use with almost any audio device.

Mymac rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Today was a fun day. The family decided that it would be fun to visit the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum. And fun it was. We took two of the four kids, as the older two girls (high school and junior high school age) had other plans. But our youngest two, five and one years old, had a blast. And since we were going to be in Grand Rapids, I paid a visit at a Macintosh Garage Sale hosted by Dan Knight, the publisher of LowEndMac.com.

Dan is a great guy. His love for older Mac hardware is honest and contagious. He has been publishing Low End Mac since 1997, which is longer than many of you reading this has been using a computer. Dan has been around during the dark days of being a Mac user, when the computer press (and mainstream press for that matter) was touting the demise of Apple Computer every other Thursday and twice on Sundays.

Here is what sets Low End Mac apart from any other Macintosh focused website: they have a wonderful profile section that covers every Macintosh ever sold. Each Mac profile not only gives you much needed information, such as when it first went on sale and reached its end, what hard drive it had, how much memory could be installed, and the like, but also links to outside resources featuring each machine, such as product reviews and commentary pieces. Also helpful is the upgrade path for older Macs, a valuable resource if you are trying to keep an older machine in working order.

The used Mac garage sale was not a huge success for Dan today. When I visited around the time he had planned on closing it down, he had not sold one machine. That’s not to say these older Macs do not have a value, nor that there are not people interested in owning them: I think it had more to do with little advertising and how early in the year it is to hold a garage sale here in Michigan. (It’s still cold many April days here!)

No, I did not buy an older Mac from Dan. I have enough of those already, and in fact probably need to unload a few soon as well. (Plus, you know, my wife was there and… well, my wife was there! Sigh…) I did purchase something else that I really wanted: the original Apple rainbow logo stickers! Two sets, actually. Once I wash the Honda and the Dodge mini-van, they will be put to good use. There is just something special about the rainbow Apple logo, it has so much more character than the solid color logo Apple now uses.

And it is that character that brings me back to Dan and Low End Mac. Looking at my new "old" stickers, I am reminded not of the "bad old days" of Apple or the Macintosh, but of my own memory of discovery in the still-new world of computers and online publishing. When seeing that rainbow logo on another car, it signified, to me, a kinship with another person. A shared passion, a secret brotherhood of interest that most computer users did not share. The same is true of Dan and Low End Mac. We both share a passion for the Macintosh and the community that surrounds it, as well as the both of us being longtime online publishers.

Dan, and his passion for older Macintosh hardware and software, is reflected in his online publication, and only reinforced when speaking to him in person. Dan still uses AppleWorks, and his everyday working machine is running Mac OS 9. It’s honoring the past, while still using tools that work just as well as the shinny new ones being sold in the Apple store today. Dan was a pioneer in 1997 when he started Low End Mac, and remains a pioneer to this day, if for no other reason than his continued use of older and much beloved hardware / software. It’s refreshing for me to be able to speak to someone else with a shared history, both in publishing and the Macintosh. It’s even more refreshing for me to see someone like Dan continue on, doing what he loves.

Visit LowEndMac.com, take a look around, and revisit the profile page of the first Macintosh you ever owned. I bet it brings back some memories!

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