TechTool Pro 6
MicroMat, Inc.
$99.99 US
MicroMat’s TechTool Pro has been one of the leaders in Macintosh disk diagnosis and repair for many years. At one time, TechTool was even marketed by Apple as a part of AppleCare. It clearly is one of the disk maintenance and repair heavy hitters, with its main competition being ProSoft’s Drive Genius, and Alsoft’s Disk Warrior.
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PowerSkin for Apple iPhone 4 (AT&T and Verizon)
$79.95 US
PowerSkin
Apple’s iPhone 4 has more battery life than its predecessors, but for many people, more is never enough. PowerSkin for iPhone 4 is a case-cum-battery that will provide lots more juice, as well as protect your precious iPhone. The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs took one out for several days of test-driving. Here’s what we found.
PowerSkin’s statistics are impressive. For your $79.95, you get an external battery with 2100 mAH (milli amp-hours) of capacity. So what’s 2100 mAH going to do for you? The iPhone 4 internal is 1400 mAH. The PowerSkin’s 2100 give you 50% more power IN ADDITION to the internal battery! The unit has an On/Off button on the bottom of the case, giving you the option to use the PowerSkin to recharge a depleted internal battery, or to leave it on, and have it keep internal battery charged until the PowerSkin is depleted.
Optoma Neo-i iPod/iPhone Dock Projector DV20A Projector
Company: OptomaUSA, Inc.
US $449.00
Two kinds of computer users need a projector: those who make group presentations, and those who want to listen to or view media with friends and family.
If you belong to one of those groups, Optoma’s Neo-i iPod/iPhone Dock Projector might be the right gadget for you. The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs gave the Neo-i a workout, and here’s what we found.
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iPhone 4: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition — Covers iPhone 4 & All Other Models with iOS 4 Software
By David Pogue
Publisher: O’Reilly Media / Pogue Press
US$ 24.99
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With the recent release of the iPhone 4 for Verizon, it’s appropriate to alert Verizon iPhone newbies that one of the best all-round iPhone books was, is, and probably will always be, David Pogue’s iPhone The Missing Manual. Oddly, the front cover has “missing manual” in lower case letters, but the frontispiece says “Missing Manual.” In any event, this stylistic glitch did not prevent me from enjoying this book.
Verbatim MediaShare 1TB MediaShare Home Network Storage Server
Verbatim, Inc.
US $350.00
With each passing day, it seems the average household has more computing devices, be they desktops, laptops, smartphones, or tablets. And everyone wants access to his or her data files, music, photos, and movies. What’s a person supposed to buy to fill this need? Verbatim has one entry into this increasingly crowded field: the Verbatim MediaShare 1TB MediaShare™ Home Network Storage Server.
PowerBlock Plus
Company: Griffin Technologies
Price: $34.95
Wall wart chargers are a bane of gadget-lovers existence. It always seems that when you’ve plugged in your gadget’s particular charger, you just used up the last free wall socket. Even more frustrating is when the charger is bulky enough to cover up one or possibly two sockets on your power strip!
Griffin Technologies’ PowerBlock Plus is one answer to this problem.
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Elan Form Graphite case for iPad
Griffin Technologies
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elan-form-graphite-ipad
US $44.99
Elan Reveal
Griffin Technologies
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/reveal-ipad
US $34.99
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs received two iPad cases from Griffin Technologies. We took them both for short tours of duty using the wife’s iPad.
These two cases are fundamentally similar: hard shells protecting the back and sides of your precious iPad.
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LaCie MosKeyto USB Flash Drive
Company: LaCie
4 GB size $17.99
2 GB and 8 GB available
One truism of modern technology is that everything gets smaller. Computers used to fill rooms. Hard drives that stored an incredible 5 megabytes of data were the size of refrigerators. Cellphones used to be the size of a military walkie-talkie. Thumb drives, also known as flash drives, or memory sticks, used to be the size of, well, your thumb. But that’s no longer the case. LaCie’s MosKeyto makes the average thumb drive look as big as Shrek’s thumb. Its the smallest thumb drive I’ve ever seen.
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs gave the 4 GB version a good workout.
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Atlona 2 X 1 Mini Displayport KVM Switch
COMPANY: Atlona Technologies
http://www.atlona.com/
PRICE: US $99.00
If you shelled out the big bucks for an Apple 24″ Cinema Display, you’ve got one of the best flat panel displays around. Many Cinema Display owners have a MacBook laptop as well as a desktop computer. It can be terribly frustrating not to be able to share the Cinema Display between your MacBook and your desktop. On top of that, wouldn’t it be sweet to be able to use one keyboard and mouse to control both machines at the same time?
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iWork ’09 The Missing Manual
By Josh Clark
Apple’s iWork productivity suite has been steadily gaining ground and market share against Microsoft Office, the 8000 pound productivity suite gorilla.
Pages, Keynote, and Numbers are excellent alternatives to their Office equivalents, and will fulfill most users needs splendidly.
But as iWork 09′s applications mature, the need for a comprehensive manual grows, as each application does more and more for the average non-specialist user. This is where Josh Clark’s iWork ’09 The Missing Manual comes in. In true Missing Manual fashion, Clark has put together a book that is both detailed and in-depth, yet easily readable.
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs recently took two CableJive cables for a test drive: the dockXtender and the duaLink. Here’s what we learned.
The dockXtender is the simpler of the two devices. It’s an extension cable, plain and simple. If the current docking cable for your iPod/iPhone/iPad is too long or too short, the dockXtender may be the right length. You can purchase it in two feet (60 cm) or six feet (180 cm) lengths. The dockXtender is solidly built, but the cable’s not so thick that it’s not flexible.
Be aware this cable is NOT for connecting your iDevice to your computer; it’s a 30-pin to 30 pin cable that allows you to move your iDevice further away from the gadget that also uses the 30 pin connector at the other end of the dockXtender. For most users, this will be external speakers or a docking station. It will pass all audio, video, and power from one device to the other.
Rohos Logon Key for Mac
Tesline-Service S.R.L.
Price: $32.00
http://www.rohos.com/
Have you ever worried that your Mac may be insecure? What if someone learns your password?
Administrator passwords should be secure! Do NOT use your pet’s name, your wife’s name, your birthday, or some other laughably guessable password. I know one wonderfully paranoid friend whose administrator password for his Mac is
"oO9MI5f^o`SJFyeh6]b0=/j4(@W4$Krf2n7ZKir&PMX6mj@H6y"
Most security experts would applaud this degree of complexity. Unfortunately, most humans would be hard pressed to remember this password, and be even harder pressed to type it correctly when required. But even a complex password may be stolen, especially if the owner is fool enough to write it down.
Rohos, a software firm based in Moldova, says their Rohos Logon Key for Mac can address these issues, and more.
The Rohos Logon Key for Mac (the "Key" hereafter) is a USB flash drive-based security solution. The Key allows two-factor (two separate passwords) logins, as well as requiring the USB key for login. It also permits the user to force certain actions whenever the USB flash drive is removed.
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs used the Key for several testing sessions, and here’s what we found.
Key installation is quick and painless. We needed less than a minute to install the Key software our late 2008 MacBook Pro and on a Cruzer 2GB flash drive. Rohos does not provide a flash drive, virtually any flash drive will work.
The Key software on the Mac is accessed by a menu bar icon. From there, you can set preferences, and launch the Key application. There’s little to do once you’ve set your preferences.
The Key application controls what happens when the USB flash drive is removed. We initially chose the Lock the Desktop option, but we tried all the various options during testing, except "No Action."
Hidden under the dropdown menu in this screenshot is one more important option: Change PIN. This allows you to set a separate password, distinct from your administrator password, that must be entered when the USB key is plugged into your Mac. This provides even more security if some nefarious person steals the USB flash drive. If you choose not to enable a PIN for the flash drive, anyone with the flash drive has access to the administrator password saved on the Key. This requirement for two separate passwords is "two-factor authentication," and makes your Mac even more secure.
Other features are controlled by the Preferences window. More security can be obtained by choosing Allow to login only by using USB Key, and Activate password protected screensaver upon USB removal. "Allow to login only by using USB Key" mean just what it says. If this option is not enabled, someone can use automatic login (if enabled), but the Key will be required whenever the admin password is needed.
If you’re forgetful, or worried that you might lose the flash drive, you can authorize more than one flash drive.
Aside from providing multiple layers of security, perhaps the best feature of the Key is automatic entry of the administrator password when the Key is plugged in. Depending on how you configure your Mac, you may need to enter the admin password many times per day. The longer, more complex, and more secure your password is, the more annoying this becomes, especially if you’re not a speedy touch-typist. With the Key, you’ll see the dialog box asking for your password. But after a very short pause, the Key enters it for you, and the dialog box goes away.
In our day-to-day use, the Key worked very well, with just a few glitches. We chose the "Lock the Desktop" option when the USB key was removed. If you don’t unmount the USB key from the desktop, you’ll get this warning when you pull the USB key when you leave your Mac:
Unmounting the flash drive is no different than ejecting any other external drive; just drag the disk icon to the trash. Or, click the icon to highlight it, and choose Eject from the File menu.
The average user may think the USB icon must be visible for the Rohos Key to work, but that’s not true. If you eject the drive, but leave the USB key plugged in, the Rohos Key works perfectly, and you won’t get the "not ejected properly" warning. It would be better if the documentation spelled this out. We complained to Rohos about this bug, and were told it would be addressed in a future update.
We just loved the way the Key automatically entered our admin password when needed. Our password is an eleven letter non-English word with mixed case. Most of the time, my less-than-dextrous typing skills enter it correctly the first time, but sometime not. The Rohos Key never missed a beat.
Both "Locking the Desktop" and "Sleep" options when the flash drive is removed worked as expected. We coupled this with "Allow login only by using USB key" to require the flash drive to log back in. If you then remove the flash drive, and have chosen the PIN option when the flash drive is re-inserted, the two-factor authentication kicks in.
There’s one very significant "it’s not a bug, but it’s not a feature" problem. Be very aware that the "Log Out" and "Shut Down" options still require the user to deal with any unsaved changes before the Log Out or Shutdown process continues. If you have unsaved changes in any document, but pull the USB flash drive and walk away, your Mac will still present the usual dialog box asking if you wish to save changes. Some nefarious agent could simply click "Cancel," thus stopping the Log Out/Shutdown process, and then keep using your Mac without the flash drive plugged in. Depending on the Key preferences you have set, the unauthorized user may keep prying into your Mac as long as the administrator password is not requested.
Other than the tremendous convenience of having the Key auto-enter your password (we can’t praise that feature enough), how much additional security does the Rohos Key provide over Mac OS X’s various security options?
Apple provides the ability to turn off both automatic login and choosing the user from a list, thus requiring the user to enter both the user name and password to boot up your Mac, and on any subsequent logins. You can require a password to wake from sleep, and you can set sleep to take place with as little as one minute of inactivity. You can require the password to access any System Preference pane. Choosing all those options means you’ll be entering your password a lot.
What Apple does not provide is two-factor authentication. If you require a separate PIN to be entered whenever the flash drive is plugged in, this adds a huge level of security. It prevents someone from stealing the flash drive and getting full access to your Mac. Also, as noted earlier, the longer your password, the more secure it is, but the harder it is to enter. Many people will succumb to temptation, and choose an easy to type password. Rohos lets you pick the hardest, most unguessable password possible, and have it automatically entered for you.
Be aware that if you PIN your flash drive, and forget the PIN, there’s no backdoor. The Windows version of the Rohos Key has an emergency access mode, but it’s not available for the Mac. Depending on your point of view, that is a feature or a drawback. If you’re worried about losing your flash drive, and being locked out of your Mac, don’t. You can authorize as many flash drives as you wish.
If you don’t want to rely on a USB flash drive, Rohos advertises that you can use a Bluetooth cellphone in place of a USB drive. While the instructions listed iPhone compatibility, I could not successfully choose my iPhone to work with the Key software, in spite of much fiddling with various Bluetooth settings on both the Mac and the iPhone. Points off for that. After inquiring, Rohos told us this was a own problem, and they were developing a small utility to allow iPhone users to use the BlueTooth capabilities of the Logon Key.
It’s good the Key is generally easy to install, configure and use, as the documentation has a slightly awkward "translated from the Moldovan" feel to it. Also, it would be better to provide an FAQ and troubleshooting file with the installer, rather than requiring them to be downloaded from the Rohos web site.
How secure is the Rohos Key? We made several attempts to fool the system, but failed. We first tried cloning the flash drive. Using Disk Utility, we made an "entire device" disk image of the Cruzer flash drive, and restored that image onto a different USB drive. Then we used Carbon Copy Cloner 3 to make a block level disk to disk copy of the Cruzer to the new flash drive. No luck, even though the block-level copy was successful. It appears that Rohos references each USB drive’s unique serial number, so cloning the original won’t work.
Can you get around the Key security via booting into single user mode? Sure, but that’s also true of the OS X security options discussed above. Unauthorized access to your files can be had via Target Disk Mode. The only way to plug these security holes is to enable an Open Firmware password. This will prevent your Mac from even booting up, or being placed into Target Disk Mode without entering the password. See this Apple Support document.
The main weakness was the issue noted above about naive users assuming the Mac will logout or shut down when the flash drive is pulled but there are unsaved changes. Other than that, the Key looks to provide both tight security and ease of user for administrator password entry.
Pros: The Rohos Logon Key for Mac, if properly configured, adds an additional layer of physical security for your Mac. Two-factor authentication is a major bonus. The ability to auto-enter administrator passwords eliminates all the hassle of using long and complex passwords.
Cons. No emergency mode to access your Mac if you lose all authorized USB drives and the Key is set to require the flash drive to login. Documentation could be more detailed. I was unable to use my iPhone as advertised.
Conclusion, If you’re a security-minded person, Apple’s options provide a fairly good level of security. But Rohos takes it to the next level, combining more security and ease of use.
MyMac review rating: 7 out of 10
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TeamViewer for iPhone
TeamViewer
D-73037 Göppingen
Price: FREE
http://www.teamviewer.com
While the iPhone may not be the optimal platform for running a remote access application to control other computers, there are just some times when you simply have to get into your Mac. TeamViewer provides a pair of free applications that enable access to your Mac from your iPhone.
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs took the TeamViewer Mac and iPhone application duo for a workout. Here’s what we found when we tested them on the Lab’s Mac Pro and iPhone 3G.
On both the Mac and iPhone sides of the house, installation was straightforward. The Mac version is a downloadable disk image. Just drag and drop TeamViewer into your Applications folder (or wherever you wish to store it), and the installation is complete. The iPhone version is downloaded and installed via the usual iTunes App Store/iTunes application process.
No rebooting or any other annoying follow-ups are required. Installation doesn’t get much easier than this.
When the TeamViewer Mac application is running, the application will create a new and unique “session ID.” You’ll input this session ID into the TeamViewer iPhone app to locate and control the Mac. When you begin the connection process, TeamViewer iPhone talks to a central TeamViewer server to keep track of which session IDs are associated with which computers. TeamViewer’s software punches right through firewalls, so you need not worry about fiddling with router settings such as changing IP addresses for your Mac, port forwarding and local computer IP addresses.
TeamViewer Mac has a plenitude of configuration options that allow the user to control how much access the remote computer/iPhone has to the host Mac, password options, and whether to optimize connections for speed or display quality.
In contrast, the iPhone app has fewer settings options, since it’s used for controlling other computers, not hosting remote sessions. One nice option is the ability to display a short instruction page each time the app is launched. It’s a fine way to become familiar with the various commands while learning how to use TeamViewer iPhone.
TeamViewer iPhone takes several seconds to start up; it’s a big app. A few times during testing, TeamViewer iPhone quit suddenly after launching. Our iPhone 3G has only 128 MB of memory, just half of the 256 MB the newer 3GS enjoys, and memory management may be a problem if it’s been a while since rebooting the iPhone. TeamViewer iPhone ran more reliably if we rebooted the iPhone before starting a TeamViewer iPhone session.
When you tap the Connect to Partner button, TeamViewer iPhone uses either the ATT network or WiFi to connect with the TeamViewer server, which passes the connection request to the host Mac.
TeamViewer uses AES (256 Bit) session encoding, the same security standard used by https/SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) applications. This provides substantial protection, at the cost of some reduction in responsiveness, when compared to remote control applications that don’t use encryption.
Once you’re “in,” here’s what you’ll see in your iPhone.
The big X will break the connection with the host Mac. The keyboard icon will bring up a virtual keyboard. The Magnifying glass zooms the screen. This feature is especially useful when connecting to computers with large, high-resolution displays. Our Mac Pro has an Apple 24″ Cinema Display, and its screen display was very tiny when viewed from the iPhone. Zooming made navigation and reading much easier. Extra points for this feature!
Here’s what you see when you tap the keyboard icon. This is where TeamViewer iPhone shines. It’s able to re-create virtually the entire set of keys on a full keyboard, including arrow and function keys! To access the function keys, tap the keyboard icon a second time. Tap a third time to view Cut, Copy, Insert, Delete, End, PageUp, PageDn, etc.
If you need to type Command Q (Quit), for example, tap the cloverleaf icon. It highlights to show that it’s “on.” Then tap the Q key, and TeamViewer iPhone sends Command Q as a single keystroke.
When finished with the keyboard, tap the Eject Icon to hide the keyboard. Why the Eject key? I can’t figure that one out…
Navigating the Mac desktop from the iPhone is fairly easy, if a bit frustrating when the host Mac has a large display. To scroll the display, just flick your finger on the iPhone’s screen in the desired direction. I found that I could get lost, and not know where I was on the host Mac. This is where Zoom showed its worth. Zooming out will help you stay oriented on what part of the host Mac’s desktop you’re looking at.
When you’ve positioned the Mac’s cursor where you want it, you can double-tap the iPhone screen to send a double mouse click to the Mac, or you can tap the mouse icon at the bottom of the TeamViewer iPhone screen.
If you need landscape orientation, just rotate the iPhone; TeamViewer iPhone works as well if not better, in landscape.
TeamViewer iPhone works well. What’s not to like?
We had a few random crashes during testing. If you plan a serious remote control session in an older, memory constrained iPhone 2G or 3G, you may get more reliable operation if you reboot first.
If you need to get a file from your host Mac with TeamViewer iPhone, you can’t. It does not do remote file transfer. Other free VNC screen control applications I’ve used have this same limitation. Why? It’s a limitation of the iPhone OS; it does not allow file downloads. The easy workaround is to screen control your home Mac, and email yourself the file you need, assuming you can open the email attachment on the iPhone.
Our main complaint is that TeamViewer Mac must be running in the logged-in account to display the host’s screen on the remote Mac or iPhone. TeamViewer is not like other remote control applications that work as background processes; the application has to be running. So, you have to remember to start it before you leave your host Mac, or add it to the list of applications that run upon login.
While that limitation is manageable, the fact that TeamViewer has to be running in the currently logged-in account may prove to be a serious drawback for many users. My wife has her own account on our family Mac, and she shudders at the thought of running TeamViewer. She’s one of those people who wants to run just one application at a time. (Why did I get a Mac Pro and 8 gigs of RAM?)
Several times during testing, I used TeamViewer iPhone to connect to the home Mac, but saw only a black screen. My wife’s account was logged-in when I saw the black screen. I eventually figured out that I was connected to the home Mac, but TeamViewer Mac would not do remote screen display when the current account isn’t running it, even though TeamViewer is running on another account that is logged in.
If the wife was not at home, so I could call and have her switch back to my account, I was stuck. Even if she was home, if I wanted to remote in at 3 in the morning, my calling during the middle of the night was not going to score me any Brownie points.
If your home Mac is a family computer, with several accounts, this limitation may prove to render TeamViewer not suitable for your use. If your Mac is yours alone, just leave TeamViewer running all the time.
Conclusions: The TeamViewer iPhone and Mac duo allow iPhone users to do remote control. The iPhone app has excellent keyboard and mouse simulation. The Zoom feature is a godsend when controlling large monitors. Sessions are encrypted, with modest performance penalty. Setup is quick and painless.
TeamViewer iPhone may have the occasional crash on 2G and 3G iPhones that have not been rebooted in a while. On the host Mac, the TeamViewer application must be running in the currently logged-in account, or the iPhone will see only a black screen.
MyMac review rating: 7 out of 10
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Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds with microphone
Company: Skullcandy, Inc.
Price: $49.95
http://www.skullcandy.com/
Skullcandy can make good earbuds, no doubt about that. We liked their older FMJ model.
But time marches on, and Skullcandy releases new products all the time. The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs spent time with the new 50/50 earbud/microphone combo.
How well do they do the job?
The 50/50 is very comfortable. Skullcandy ships it with several differently-sized rubber ear tips, so you’ll no doubt be able to find one that makes nice with your ear canal. I was able to wear them for hours at a time with no irritation or ear tiredness.
Skullcandy’s PR blurbs brag about the bass output, and the PR mavens don’t exaggerate. The 50/50s have no shortage of bass response, yet I did not find them overly bottom-end heavy. Given that most earbuds don’t have much bass punch, the 50/50s will satisfy most users looking for a fuller low end.
Unfortunately, the microphone audio quality doesn’t quite match up to the fine audio output of the earbuds. Most people on the other end of calls from my iPhone reported the audio quality to be "OK," nothing more but nothing less.
Skullcandy ships the 50/50s with a nice little round, zippered carrying case. Small is good for fitting into your pocket, but the cord is long enough that it’s a bit of a tight squeeze to jam the 50/50s into the case.
Speaking of the cord, there’s no lapel clip, so the generously long cord dangles to and fro, rubbing against your clothes. This causes the dreaded cable noise. Skullcandy needs to include a clip.
Conclusion. Skullcandy’s 50/50 are very comfortable, and have fine audio quality, but are hampered by a merely-average microphone, and no lapel clip.
MyMac review rating 6 out of 10
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Atlona (Dual Link) DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter (USB-Powered) AT-DP400
Company: Atlona
Price: $199 US
http://www.atlona.com
When Apple introduced the 24" Cinema Display, it did not include the very common DVI input, and instead replaced it with Mini DisplayPort. This apparently inexplicable decision caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Macintosh community, as many potential purchasers for Cinema Displays don’t have Mini DisplayPort-capable computers.
If you’re not up to speed on Mini DisplayPort, Macworld has a great primer on Mini DisplayPort.
As of this writing (3/26/2010) all Macintoshes have Mini DisplayPort-out monitor connectors. But if your Mac is older than late-2008, it does not have a Mini DisplayPort output, and so can’t drive the new Cinema Displays.
What’s a geek to do when she or he craves a 24" Cinema Display, but their Mac is just a bit too long in the tooth? For that matter, what if you want a Cinema Display for your DVI-equipped PC? Atlona has introduced the Atlona (Dual Link) DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter (USB-Powered).
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs has been using it with a 24" Cinema Display for the past several days, and has good things to say about it:
I plugged it in to my Mac Pro’s DVI connector, and restarted my Mac Pro. The monitor looked just the same as it did when connected to the Mini DisplayPort connector. It just works.
We could conclude the review right there, but some readers may appreciate a few more details.
The converter box is not much larger than a deck of cards. Out of one narrow end sprouts a 7" USB cable and a 7" DVI cable. Plug these into your Mac or PC, and that completes the installation. No software is required, and that garners extra points from MyMac. No software requirements means that future Apple software updates won’t affect the converter. The computer’s USB port powers the converter, so there is no external power supply to complicate matters. I had no trouble using the USB ports on the Cinema Display, so there’s no shortage of juice from the converter box.
Blu-ray fans will appreciate the fact that the Atlona AT-DP400 converter is HDCP Compliant, which means you can play copy protected material though the converter. Having no Blu-ray player, the Weeks Lab is stuck in the video dark ages, so we could not test this feature.
The converter does not change frame rates, refresh rates, or any color settings. It will handle all resolutions up to 2560×1600. Atlona provides a three year warranty on parts and labor.
You plug it in, start your Mac, and it works. What’s not to like?
The main thing is the $199 cost. Many potential buyers may find that too expensive. At $899, Apple Cinema Displays aren’t cheap. An additional $199 adds 22% to the cost of the display, and that could be a deal breaker for many.
Conclusion. Atlona’s (Dual Link) DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter worked flawlessly to connect our Mac Pro’s DVI output to our 24" Apple Cinema Display. This is one of the best examples of a complex video signal conversion being done with plug-and-play simplicity.
At $199 retail, cost is the main drawback. But if you need to connect a DVI computer to a Mini DisplayPort monitor, Atlona’s converter works perfectly.
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LogMeIn Pro2
LogMeIn, Inc.
http://www.logmein.com
$69.95.
More and more people need remote access to their home computer while at work or on the road. LogMeIn has entered the remote access fray with LogMeIn Free and LogMeIn Pro2.
The good people at LogMeIn set up a test account for the Weeks Division of MyMac Labs to use. We took LogMeIn Pro2 out for a spin for several weeks, and here are our impressions.
LogMeIn Pro2 is a web browser-based remote control and file transfer application that uses a small application on the host computer (the one you wish to control) to talk to the central LogMeIn server. Older remote control methods, such as Netopia’s Timbuktu require a separate, stand-alone application. All that the LogMeIn Pro2 remote computer needs is a web browser. We used it successfully with both Safari 4.04 and FireFox 3.6. Google Chrome is supported, but we did not try it.
LogMeIn Pro 2′s installation is simple. Once you’ve set up your account at LogMeIn, you download a small installer application that sets up the LogMeIn application on the host computer. This application keeps LogMeIn aware of your Internet address, and handles communications through your firewall or router. This eliminates much of the hassle of older solutions like Timbuktu, which either require fiddling with your firewall and setting up port forwarding, or going through the trouble of installing, using, and running Skype to help Timbuktu find your home computer.
Using LogMeIn, the "other" computer, the one that is doing the remote controlling, needs only a web browser. The first time we tried to contact our home computer using our MacBook Pro, we were asked to install a small Flash plug-in for Safari. This is not required, but without it, the LogMeIn interface is not as elegant. Plug-in installation was equally straightforward for FireFox 3.6.
As long as the LogMeIn application is running on the host, and is set to accept incoming connections, all that’s required to control the host machine is to surf to www.logmein.com, login, and choose the machine you wish to control. The browser plug-in loads, and then you’re asked to login to your user account on the host computer. This provides an additional level of security; you need to know the logmein account username and the host’s username and password.
All data transfer between both machine is fully encrypted for even more data security.
The LogMeIn web page has the controls on the left, with buttons for configuration on top.
The interface is what some geeks would call "modal." You’re either in Remote Control mode, or File Manager mode, and never the twain shall meet; you can’t do remote control and file management simultaneously.
The remote control interface is highly customizable. If the controlling machine is a laptop, with a smaller screen than the host, you can set LogMeIn to scale down the host’s display so you can see it all on your laptop. If you wish, you can run full-screen on the remote computer, but that means you’ll have to scroll to see the entire host screen. Take your pick!
Some net connections are slower than others. The Weeks Division is stuck with a DSL connection that limits upstream speeds to 85K/second. No matter how fancy the software, this speed constraint affects the responsiveness of the remote control. But LogMeIn Pro2 allows you to make the best of a slow connection. You can adjust the color depth between what LogMeIn calls "Best Image Quality" and "Fastest Speed." Fastest Speed is just shades of gray, not color, so the small amount of screen data will get the fastest screen refresh on the controlling computer. Best Image Quality appears to use the bit depth of the host machine, and if it’s set to Millions of colors, it’ll take longer to draw screen changes on the controlling computer. You can easily adjust it to suit your connection speed and patience level. I found the setting one notch below Best to provide a good compromise between speed and color fidelity.
I often used the Full Screen setting, completely filling the controlling computer’s screen with the desktop of the host computer. One of the few glitches I had with Full Screen is that the small control bar of LogMeIn settings that’s supposed to stay visible at the very top of the screen usually did not display properly. I could still get it to appear by clicking at the top of the screen, but it took some fiddling to be able to get back to the normal "host in the browser window" display.
Transferring files between the host and the controlling computer is not as slick as LogMeIn’s remote control. Clicking on the File Manager button closes the Remote Control desktop display, and brings up a file selection box much like the OS X file selection, but on steroids.
Don’t click on File Sharing if you want to move files between your computers! File Sharing is for allowing third parties to have access to file you choose to share with them.
This is the File Manager interface.
It’s too bad that LogMeIn can’t do file management via the Desktop interface. I predict many novice users will be bedeviled with this method of exchanging files. While the Remote Control features are slick, File Manager is decidedly geeky. Mom and Pop won’t want to go here. But this is the Pro version, so I’d assume a certain level of competence for most users. If you get stuck, skim the User Guide, and experiment a bit, and you’ll probably be able to figure it out. The only problem I encountered was that File Manager choked on several UNIX-style hard links <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link> on my hard drives, causing the browser to crash.
One tasty feature of LogMeIn Pro2 is the ability to synchronize folders remotely. Once you’ve figured out File Manager, and have chosen the folders you wish to sync, just choose "Synchronize Current Folders" from the middle drop-down menu, and the content of both folders will be made the same. You can also choose to Copy, Transfer, Move, Delete, or Rename files or folders.
LogMeIn Pro2 allows third parties who don’t have access to your LogMeIn account to view or control the host’s screen, depending on how much access you want to give. The invitation has to be sent via email, which unfortunately adds time and complexity to the process. You can’t just tell your friend how to view your Desktop over the phone. On the plus side, you can control how long the invitation is good for. Once the recipient gets the invitation email, they need only three clicks to access the host computer. The host operator can decide to allow the remote user to either control or just observe the host desktop. The invited remote controller won’t be able to do any File Management or adjust settings. Each new session requires a new email invitation, which may or may not be a hassle.
If you wish to allow many others to share some of your files, LogMeIn Pro2 makes this fairly simple. From the host computer, you choose the file(s) to be shared, and then LogMeIn Pro will send an email to each person you want to share the file with.
Other advanced features in LogMeIn Pro2 include remote printing and sound output. Remote printing allows the remote user to print a document on the host computer using a printer connected to the remote computer. Got it? In other words, you’re controlling your home computer, and working on a file, but you need to get a printout in your hot little hand. Remote printing takes care of this. Of course, you could always just use the File Manager to bring the home file to your remote machine to print from there, but that takes all the fun out it.
I could not get Remote Sound to work. Not even a little bit. Digging into the User Guide, I found a small note saying that Remote Sound does not work with the LogMeIn Flash client, and that’s just what I was using on the MacBook Pro. Alas, no Remote Sound.
Fellow MyMac writer John Nemo exercised LogMeIn Pro2 by connecting from his MacBook Pro to my home machine. With very little coaching, he was able to adjust his settings for good responsiveness, and he had no trouble remotely controlling my Mac Pro. I sent Nemo a File Sharing invitation email, which he was able to use to retrieve a file from my home Mac.
One decision facing potential purchasers of LogMeIn Pro2 is that Apple provides both screen and file sharing as part of Mac OS X.
First, what about LogMeIn Pro2′s cost? LogMeIn Pro2′s standard subscription cost is $69.95 per year. This allows you to run the LogMeIn Pro2 software on one host computer. But there are no limits on how many remote computers you can use to access the host. So, if you subscribe for your home Mac, you can log in from a work PC, a friend’s Mac, or perhaps a hotel lobby PC. If you need only short-term access, you can purchase LogMeIn Pro2 access at $12.20 per month for a single host computer.
If you need access to more than one host, LogMeIn offers several pricing plans.
But why buy what you can get for free?
There are several reasons.
1) To enable away-from-home file and screen sharing, most non-geeks will need a MobileMe account, which costs $99/year. Also, and this can be a deal-breaker, MobileMe is finicky to setup, and several popular DSL modems (including my 2Wire 2701 from Qwest) don’t support Universal Plug and Play (UPNP), and so will simply not work with MobileMe.
If you can’t get MobileMe to work, you can try to get a static IP address for your home computer. That makes it possible to easily find your home machine when on the road. Most ISP won’t provide home users with static IP addresses, or they’ll charge you business account rates for them.
Without a static IP address, you can install a free Dynamic DNS software application, and then learn enough about port forwarding to forward file sharing and screen sharing ports through your Mac’s firewall. If that’s no big deal, then go for it! But most users don’t want to have to jump through all those hoops, and LogMeIn Pro2 eliminates any hoop-jumping.
2) Even if you go with Apple’s free solution, it’s harder to configure for best performance. You’ll need to research about how to best configure screen sharing. Mac OS X Hints is a good place to start.
3) Using Apple’s solution requires allowing File and Screen sharing, thus creating the possibility of security problems, depending on how you set up access. LogMeIn Pro2 does not require enabling File or Screen sharing.
4) Of course, don’t forget LogMeIn Pro2′s little sibling, LogMeIn Free. If all you want is desktop control, and you can do without file management, remote sound and printing, as well as the other advanced administration features, this may fit the bill.
Conclusion. LogMeIn Pro2 is a full-featured remote access and control tool for any type of computer.
Desktop access is well-designed, but the File Manager interface is both complex and powerful. It may take some getting used to for new subscribers. The software is very configurable and performs well. Some features do not work with the Flash plug-in. The need to send email invitations for both third-party desktop access and file sharing adds some hassle, but it makes these features very secure. Pricing is a bit expensive, but the overall value is good. The ability to purchase by the month is a plus.
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OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini
320GB 7200RPM Quad Interface FW800&400+USB2+eSATA Storage Solution
Other World Computing
macsales.com
$147.99
When we last tuned in, Other World Computing had recently introduced a portable SSD (solid state drive) hard drive. Our review concluded it was screamingly fast, but pricey, and perhaps not the ideal solution for portable use.
HoodMAC
Company: Hoodman Corp.
Price: $39.99
www.hoodmanusa.com
Laptops computers are just as useful outdoors as indoors, although I draw the line at taking my MacBook Pro to the sands of Coney Island’s beach. Unfortunately, most laptop screens just don’t have the brightness required for easy viewing in any amount of direct sunlight.
Hoodman’s HoodMAC is a useful, albeit homely, solution to the problem of how to use your laptop in the great out of doors. HoodMAC is a removable hood that will fit around the display of any 13″, 15″, or 17″ Apple laptop. Not a Mac user? HoodMAC will fit over PC screens of the same sizes.
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs outfitted a 15″ MacBook Pro with a HoodMAC, and braved the elements. After removing it from the travel pouch, and adjusting its snaps to fit it to the screen, we found the HoodMAC worked as advertised.
Continue reading »
“The wife of MyMac Reviews Editor John Nemo using a HoodMAC-equipped laptop”
iVisor AG anti-reflective screen protector
Company: Moshi
Price: US $38.00
http://www.moshimonde.com
Over the past few years, in spite of veritable howls of protest from LCD-haters, Apple has slowly but surely moved towards offering only LCD screens, and away from offering matte screens, for both their laptops and stand-alone monitors. Matte screen lovers say that LCD screens have too much glare, and color fidelity is lacking.
Only recently has the Steve caved somewhat. For $50, you can now custom order a matte screen on the 15″ MacBook Pro. Standard configurations are still LCD only. Oh yes, MacBook buyers are out of luck — no matte screens for you!
The Weeks Division of MyMac Labs just happens to have a late 2008 15″ unibody MacBook Pro with the glossy LCD screen to evaluate Moshi’s iVisor, an anti-reflective screen protector.
The iVisor is a combination glare reduction and scratch protection film sized to fit screens for either a 13″ or 15″ unibody MacBook Pro. We tested the 15″ size.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard in Depth
Paul McFedries
Que Publishing
816 pages
ISBN 978-0789742292
US $39.99 CA $47.99
Comments. Be heard!
Book Review
Book Review
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384