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Gaz and Guy actually have a semi-serious conversation about Apple, Microsoft, Google, and people’s perception of them as enemies. See if you can guess how long the serious part lasted? There’s also a new quick contest in support of fellow MyMac writer Donny Yankello. You can win a copy of his Book or App by sending an email to Guy or Gaz saying you want in. That’s about as hard as it gets. Lot’s of terrific feedback from all of you great listeners and for that we thank you. Hope you had a wonderful Easter
Some links
Kim Jong Un Uses an iMac…what?
Links
Guy’s App Pick: Robot wants Kitty free, but get the kitty connect app purchase for access to a lot of new levels. Recently updated with new monsters. More fun couldn’t be had this side of a grumpy cat.
Gaz’s App Pick: Backdrop declutters your screen to concentrate (doesn’t actually declutter) or to clear all those desktop items if your doing a screencast.
People’s Pick: From Ryan Waldon. This is the best calendaring option available for the iPad!Week Calendar HD $2.99
The iLine Mobile Music Cable Kit Meets All Your iOS Connection Needs
Company: IK Multimedia
Price: $59.99 USD for entire kit; individual cables range from $14.99 to $24.99 USD
IK Multimedia is releasing a new line of 6 high-quality cables today. Aptly named the iLine Mobile Music Cable Kit, the cables provide musicians and audiophiles with nearly every possible cable to connect your iOS devices to speakers, headphones, stereos, amplifiers, or your vehicle. The Italian-made cables feature a level of craftsmanship seldom met by other manufacturers. IK Multimedia coins the kit as the “Swiss Army Knife” of the cable world.
KitCam
Company: Ghostbird Software
Version: 1.4
Compatible with: iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S, 5), iPod Touch 3rd generation, 4th generation, and 5th generation
Requires: iOS 5.1 or later
Price: $1.99
Vienna Symphonic Library’s MIR Pro
Company: Vienna Symphonic Library GmbH
Serious music composed and/or played on your computer can still risk sounding squeaky, scrappy… just plain artificial.
MIDI files can be all very well; but there’s a danger that every instrument sounds like a tin bassoon!
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW’s) and notation software like Finale and Sibelius have made great progress towards realism in recent years. But they still need to reach into the real acoustic world in two long and deep ways in order to pass muster.
First, they must have credible-sounding professionally-sampled virtual instruments (VI’s). But just as importantly, there must be a sense of acoustic space: reverberation, three-dimensionality, distance from (perceived) source – and, ideally, the very essence of a venue’s “personality”.
Such sampling technologies are areas in which Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) leads the field by a long way. The Austrian company of dedicated musicians and acoustic, technical and audio experts produces MIR Pro – recently upgraded to become, without doubt, the front-runner of a tiny clutch of similar products.
By co-incidence, the MIR Pro range is also on sale for the whole of this month, April 2013.
Macally is an international designer and manufacturer of Mac/PC equipment and gear for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod.
This company started in the early nineties as a manufacturer of Mac specific products (hence the name, an ally for your Mac), and since then, they have developed an innovative, high quality, cross-platform and competitively priced line of Macally brand products.
Today, we are going to take a look at a few of Macally’s products for our Apple gear.
Protective Case Cover for the MacBook Air
MSRP: $49.99
The great thing about having a MacBook Air is portability. It is so light and thin that bringing it with you when you are traveling, or just walking around the house, is a no brainer. All of that movement exposes your portable to the normal wear and tear one might expect, especially external scratches and scuffs. Computer bags are great, but you have to pull your MBAir (MacBook Air) out of the bag to use it, once again exposing it to danger and scuffing it up when you place it on a table.
The Traveler
Company: Insanely Great Products
Price: $10
Works with: iPhone 3GS, 4, and 4S, and most smooth-backed devices
More and more people are using their phones as their GPS devices. It’s difficult—and in many places, illegal—to use your phone while driving. The best solution is to mount your phone on the windshield where it’s easy to see and hear your route directions. The Traveler by Insanely Great Products fits the bill nicely.
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DS1 Thunderbolt Docking Station
Company: Matrox
Price: £195/$249
After what seems like an interminable delay since the introduction of the high-speed Thunderbolt interface to the Macintosh two years ago, consumer-level Thunderbolt devices are finally appearing on the market. Unlike more conventional devices such as hard drives, the Matrox DS1 docking station aims to capitalise on the massive bandwidth available in the interface to provide a single cable docking connection for your portable Mac.
Freedom Arm for iMac
Guest review by Bob Wood, President of Tucson Macintosh Users Group
Manufacturer: Ergotech
MSRP: $199.00 (Internet pricing: $159.00)
Freedom Arm for iMac
There are two types of people sitting at desks throughout the world. There are files people and then there are piles people. I like to think of myself as a files person and yet when I look at my desk I know in my heart of hearts that I am a piles person.
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Tim and David discuss Carbon Copy Cloner, Atari Flashback 4, Apple Game Controllers, Apple TV, getting back to work, Sleeping Dogs, iPods, FiiO Headphone Amplifier, and much more!
Links:
Atari Flashback
OWC Radio interview with Mike Bombich
FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier
Crock-Pot Recipes App
Company: iCookbook.com
Version: 1.0.1
Price: $3.99
Requires: iPhone 3GS and above, iPod touch 3rd generation and above, iPad, iOS 4.3 or later.
In my house, when the smoke alarm goes off it means Mom cooked and dinner’s ready. Translation: I’m a lousy cook. But making dinner is a necessary evil. I can use the crock pot but I only have two recipes. We can’t live on beef stew and pulled pork for the rest of our lives, so I needed more crock pot recipes. Crock-Pot Recipes App to the rescue.
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Can a Mac be a Mac if it doesn’t come from Apple? Quo Computers would like you to test this personally. Guy and Gaz go over the pros (and cons) of having a computer running OS X that doesn’t have an fruity logo. Also TONS of feedback regarding our 3rd anniversary show. So much in fact that this being our 450th episode almost gets lost in the shuffle…almost
Some links
Funny or Die’s iSteve biopic info
Quo Computers
Quo’s Kickstarter page
About Hackintoshes
Vendor Links:
Guy’s App Pick: Pizza Boy by Acne Games $1.99
Gaz’s App Pick: UK Map 7.99 pounds
Ordance Survey
People’s Pick:From Gary in Boise Stitcher Radio Free
What does a father do when he can’t find the app he wants for his child in the App Store? Well, there are three choice: pay someone to make the app, make the app himself, or forget it for now and hope someone makes it. In my case, I attempted the second choice and that decision was the start of Junior Typer.
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Topics include Tim getting a Wii U, North Korea, social change, feedback, Google Reader, Google Notes, and migrating your old data.
iPad in Education for Dummies
Author: Sam Gliksman
Publisher: Wiley
Price: $24.99 for softcover book, $16.99 for Ebook
416 pages
ISBN: 978-1-1183-7538-9
Elisa’s note: Today’s guest reviewer is my son, Shane Pacelli. Shane is a certified 1st-6th grade teacher, currently running the computer lab at a local elementary school.
iPad in Education for Dummies by Sam Gliksman is a must read for any teacher that has, or plans on having a classroom full of iPads. Gliksman breaks up the book into seven parts, with several chapters within each part. Within each chapter, he has numerous subtitles, step-by-step directions on how to use a certain app, and many pictures showing you what the app looks like. The book is set up so that you don’t have to read each chapter sequentially. Look at the table of contents, find a subject you are interested in, and read about the numerous apps that the author describes how to use in great detail.
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Gaz and Guy have been at it for 3 years and no signs of slowing down. What is it about these two people that keep you coming back each week? Their charm? Their intelligence? Their ever so thoughtful insights into the world of Apple? Nah, must be the larfs. This week however, they have a discussion about the seriousness of keeping your Mac secure and what are some of the things to look out for.
Links:
Guy’s App Pick: Vizzywig by i4software free!
Gaz’s App Pick: SCOtutor For Mac
People’s Pick: From Troy Muller PrivacyFix
SnuggBuds SB-X Ear Buds
Company: SnuggBuds
Price: $39.95
Works with: any device that accepts a 3.5mm audio jack
When I went to Macworld 2013 I didn’t have a shopping list. I didn’t need anything. Once I got there, I remembered that I could use a new pair of earbuds. I stopped at the SnuggBuds booth to find out if their product would suit my needs.
I was greeted by Marivic Schaefer, Vice President of Sales & Operations for SnuggBuds. I defy you to find anyone who believes in her product more than Marivic! After she explained how the different earbud models worked and let me listen for myself, I was still unsure about buying. “You’ll be back!” she told me confidently.
At the end of the day I went back.
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Perfect Diet Tracker
App Developer: Byoni Ltd.
Version 3.7.1
License: US$24.99 OS X 10.6.7 or later
I typically review applications that relate to my scientific, engineering, and astronomy background. However, after using this OS X application and its mobile companion iOS application Tracker2Go (US$2.99) for the past couple of months, I realized I should review, rate, and share this with you.
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Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Desktop Scanner for PC and Mac
Company: Fujitsu
Price: $495.00
I have been a fan of Fujitsu scanners since my first ScanSnap, the S500 model. It was my workhorse scanner for over four years. After giving it away with my old laptop with plans to purchase another ScanSnap, I began using the flat bed scanner of my multi-function printer. It worked after much trial and error but wasn’t as simple as my ScanSnap. It lacked the OCR software and ABBY FineReader which converted scanned documents into editable and searchable formats. Needless to say I was excited to review the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner.
Flux On-Ear Headset
Company: SteelSeries
$70 to $100 Internet pricing
I tested these new versatile on-ear Flux headphones with inline microphone against four different under-$200 on-ear competitors. Each of the two more expensive headsets has slightly superior music playback audio than does Flux, but both of them are far less comfortable than Flux.
The sonic music experience with Flux is essentially identical to the two headsets in its immediate price category of roughly $100. One of the other two has a much worse fit than does Flux, and the final competitor has a similar fit but is not as full-featured as Flux.
Jump to the head of the class, Flux by SteelSeries! Its audio cable can be attached to either right or left earpiece, and either earpiece can serve as an audio source for connected slave headphones. Flux’s microphone is among the very best ever for FaceTime or similar spoken conversations.
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You got to admit it’s getting better, a little better all the time (it can’t get no worse)! Yep, slowly but surely we’re sorting it out and eventually we’ll really have something…that sounded like it did before it got all screwed up. This week along with our usual nonsense, Gaz and Guy talk about the expectation of privacy on the internet and especially from some of the various social networks.
Links:
Guy’s App Pick: Marvel Unlimited iOS App 1 year subscription about $60
Gaz’s App Pick: Real Racing 3.
People’s Pick:Empty this week (sad face)
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