Ecopad Bamboo Lapdesk for Notebook Computers
Macally
Price: $29
Macally has a reputation for making computer accessories that combine form and function without sacrificing aesthetics. The Ecopad is a typical Macally product — minimalist in design, attractive to the eye and hand, and serving a useful function. The Ecopad is a bamboo lapdesk, suitable for any laptop.
G-DRIVE mobile — portable FireWire/USB drive for MacBook Pro
Company: G-Technology
Price: $150 for 500 GB
I’m using both these portable Mac accessories today and every day, and I’ve been using them all summer while traveling through the American Southwest. G-Technology’s G-DRIVE mobile is my new favorite portable external bus powered FireWire/USB backup drive. FastMac’s new TruePower battery is a reliable replacement or additional battery for original MacBook Pro users with removable laptop batteries.
G-DRIVE mobile is designed to match the black and silver styling of Apple’s recent MacBook Pro laptop computers.
Gallery of additional company photos is here.
Kensington Portable Notebook Locks Review
Company: Kensington
Kensington MicroSaver DS Keyed Ultra Thin Notebook Lock – $49.99 at Kensington
Kensington ComboSaver Combination Portable Notebook Lock – $18.15 at Amazon.Com
My oldest son will be taking his brand new $1,000+ MacBook Pro High School, graduation gift to college this fall, and frankly, I can’t afford to replace it. He will need to take measures to be sure no one steals it. A laptop is stolen every 53 seconds in the USA and I really don’t want him to become a statistic.
We’ll be installing some security software within the machine, but how should we physically protect it? Answer: Go to the #1 seller of laptop locks, Kensington.
Kensington produces a variety of locks for home and business solutions including desktops and laptop computers. We’ll take a look at two solutions for laptops.
Both locks attach to the security slot built into most laptops. Both employ super strong carbon steel cables, and both are fairly easy to use.
In the past several years, I’ve interviewed teachers, poets, cartoonists, Mac evangelists, software developers, singers/composers, military advisors, reporters and people in various different lines of work. The one thing in common for all of them was their love of their Mac.
Today’s interview is no different. The line of work is something new and different, but again, the love of the Mac is still there. Now I’m familiar with DJ’s but VJ’s… that’s a new one on me. So sit back, relax; put your feet up as I get up close with Melissa Ulto, VJ.
My Mac: Melissa, welcome to My Mac. I guess the best way to start our interview is for you to explain to the readers what exactly a VJ is and what he/she does.
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Macs at Work Interview
Russ Walkowich
Contributing Editor
Tim Robertson
Publisher
A funny thing happened on the way to the MyMac.com Garage Band Loops Contest. Tim Robertson, owner and publisher of MyMac.com, was monitoring the contest when he noticed that quite a few of the entries for the Garage Band Loops contest were coming from the same email address, and that this Kathy Lies was submitting quite a few entries. Upon closer examination, he noticed that she would put that this entry was from this person and the next email, from another person.
His interest aroused, he wondered what was going on with these different entries for different people but under one email address. Ms. Lies signature file also mentioned the Wayne Country Day School in Goldsboro, NC. Contacting Ms. Lies to make sure that everything was within the guidelines of the contest, Tim discovered that Ms. Kathy Lies is a teacher and that she had made our Garage Band Loops contest a class project!
Both Tim and I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Lies to get the story behind the Wayne Country Day School – My Mac Garage Band Loops contest class project. So sit back, relax and enjoy as we find out how Macs are being used in the school and a different way of involving students in class projects using a web-based contest came into being.
This month, in Macs at Work, I speak with cartoonist Michael Jantze, creator of “The Norm.” Michael is a long time Mac user and enthusiast who stands totally behind the Mac. So sit back, put your feet up, close your eyes and think, “it’s Sunday morning and time to read the Comics!”
My Mac- Can you give us a little information on your background and how long you’ve
been involved with Macs?
Michael: I’ve used Macs since the 128k. A friend and professor of mine each had one in college. I was a film major, so the first thing I created was a tab-set MacWrite document for my film scripts.
In this month’s Macs at Work, I speak with Brad Peniston, a reporter for the Annapolis Capital, a Maryland newspaper located outside Washington, D.C. I first came across Brad and his enthusiasm for the Mac while reading through the EvangeList several months ago. Brad had posted a request for information about Macs and their use at urban newspapers to prepare information for him to bring to his superiors to try and convince them to go with the Mac rather then substitute a Wintel based system. I thought I would contact Brad and see how he uses his Mac at work and how he’s making out with his project to convince the paper to “go Mac.”
My Mac- Brad, would you please give us some background on yourself, your job and how you use your Mac everyday?
Brad: Well, to steal from my Web page, I am the military affairs reporter for the Continue reading »
Annapolis Capital, which means that I spend a lot of time at the U.S. Naval Academy. I’m also responsible for the Broadneck Peninsula page, which means writing three stories a week about the area between the Severn and Magothy rivers. Finally, there’s the “Intro to Internet” column, researched and written on my Mac. The column, which more or less alternates between essays on Internetica and thumbnail reviews of theme-related Web sites, runs Sundays in the Capital and a few other Capital-owned papers. It started in late 1994 as an eight-part series about the nifty new Internet and just kept going.
I was intrigued by the email that I had received from Bertie Hall last month wishing all of us a belated 4th of July from Saudi Arabia. I have continued corresponding with him since then and have taken what Bertie has sent me and and would like to share it with you in this month’s edition of Macs at Work.
Night Fire and a PowerBook Continue reading »
Bertie -
Here I am, a military trainer in the Saudi Arabian Desert, and the sun has just set in the west, and a yellow moon has broken through the desert floor in the east, rising to light the skies in competition with the illumination rounds being fired from the mortar tracks to my direct front. The HE (high explosive) rounds have been fired, eliminating a designated target out to the front a few klicks out. The forward observer continues to call for fire as the moon ambles on the rise.
We at My Mac are constantly looking for new avenues to explore and often ask you, the reader, for suggestions. Well, Paul Willis, of the United Kingdom, wrote in and asked “how about a general interview style column for people with interesting uses for their Macs?” We liked his idea so much that we decided that Paul, ” as a freelance press photographer using a PowerBook to wire pictures to newspapers” was going to be our first interview. So sit back, relax and read on to find out how our Mac brethren around the world and at home use the Mac everyday at work. We think that you’ll enjoy the trip. Continue reading »
Web Back In Action!
Our resident Icon Master, reviewer, and all-around great guy Adam Karneboge has resurrected the My Mac WWW site! And he has done a great job! For those of you with a good Web browser, we offer the full, graphic heavy web page. For those only looking to read something, we also offer a Text Only web page. Hey, in this day and age of low bandwidth, we try to do our part:-)
So be sure to check out the new My Mac Web page at http://www.webcom.com/mymac, and while you’re there, take a look at Adam’s web page, The Desktop, at http://www.webcom.com/mymac/ak. (T)
New Logo
Starting with this issue, My Mac has a new cover logo. Do you like it? Russ and I worked quite awhile creating it, and we hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do!
We wanted My Mac to have a permanent logo each month, and this is the design we have settled on. So, what do you think? (T)
Ram Doubler 2.0
Soon at a store near you, Mac users’ favorite system extension undergoes a major release! This newest version of Connectix’s best selling memory enhancer can actually TRIPLE your Mac’s memory without any loss of speed or performance! What’s really a nice feature will be a new control panel for Ram Doubler. Using a slider, users can select the amount of RAM they want, up to triple installed memory! This latest version will only work if you have 8Mb of real RAM, however. (Time to upgrade to 8Mb, people!)
The downside? This is a full version upgrade, meaning it won’t be free to previous Ram Doubler owners. Price should be around $60, according to Macweek. But licensed users of 1.x will have a $25 rebate offer! Hey, I don’t know about you, but I’m buyin’ this puppy! (T)
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Book Review
Book Review
MyMac Podcast #385
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