Mac Kung Fu, Second Edition – Over 400 Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks for Apple OS X
Author: Keir Thomas
Publisher: The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Price: US $39 (print) | US $26 (ebook)
424 pages
ISBN: 978-1-93778-507-9
Mac Kung Fu is a collection of hundreds of little things that can make a big difference in the way your Mac works. I’m always surprised when someone stumbles across features that I’ve known for years but are new to them. Mac Kung Fu is full of that kind of stuff. While you may be aware of some of these tips, I doubt many besides the author will know all of these.
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.
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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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.
ProStyle Hardshell Sleeve 1
Company: Brenthaven
Price: $49.95 USD
When I purchased my first MacBook back in 2007, I immediately picked up a sleeve for it. First to protect it from wear and tear as I carried it around the house and elsewhere and also to maintain a bit of secrecy as I used it elsewhere as to what was inside.
WWF Together iPad App
App Developer: World Wildlife Fund, Inc
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Licence: Free
For over 50 years, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been the leading authority and educator for everything related to wildlife and the inevitable loss of species on our planet. WWF Together takes this legacy and delivers invaluable information in a free iPad app that is amazing in its design and delivery of visual and text based information.
You will gain access to resources relating to over 60 different animal species from around the globe. The navigation is done by a beautiful origami globe of the earth. The origami theme is featured throughout the app, and the 3D rendering of animals using this traditional paper folding technique is nothing short of astonishing.
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Kinesis Freestyle 2 Ergonomic Keyboard
Company: Kinesis Corporation
Version: Freestyle2
Compatible with: Macs; separate version available for Windows
Requires: USB port, Mac OS X 10.4 or later for full functionality
Price: $109.00 for keyboard, $40.00 for VIP3 Accessory Kit
The Kinesis Freestyle2 keyboard is an ergonomic split keyboard that works flawlessly with Macs. It takes absolutely nothing more than plugging it in to set it up. If your brain and hands can wrap themselves around having a split keyboard, this one is wonderful.
Audiobooks
Company: Simply Audiobooks Inc.
Version: 1.25
Compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation), and iPad. Optimized for iPhone 5.
Requires: iOS 4.3 or later
Price: Free
Audiobooks.com offers a quick and simple app to listen to books from your iOS device. It syncs with its website to offer an alternative way to keep up with your “reading” list.
The Audiobooks app is simple enough to understand. The Featured Books page gives some suggestions and a place to begin browsing. It’s also a place to login to your account, which can be set up on your device or on their website if you prefer to do it that way.
rEVOLUTION case for iPhone 5
Company: Marware
Price: $34.99 MSRP
The iPhone 5 is a beautifully designed and very lightweight phone that a lot of users don’t won’t to spoil by adding heavy cases to in an effort to protect them from normal everyday usage. Enter Marware’s rEVOLUTION case for the iPhone 5.
Sena Walletbook for iPhone 5
Company: Sena
Price: $54.95
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An upgrade to the iPhone 5 from a previous version means searching for a new case. The old iPhone cases will not fit because the iPhone 5 is longer and thinner. This is no problem for me because my only criteria, besides securely encasing the iPhone, is for the case to include pockets to store an ID, a couple of bills, and a credit card. The Walletbook is advertised as part designer wallet and part premium leather case with pockets, easy device access, secure snap closure, and a money compartment making it an excellent replacement case candidate.
OS X Support Essentials (Apple Pro Training Series)
by Kevin M White and Gordon Davisson.
Peachpit Press
Pearson Education
ISBN-10: 0321887190
ISBN-13: 978-0321887191
Price: $64.99
Mountain Lion (Mac OS 10.8) has matured remarkably quickly. As has now become the norm, printed guides, tutorials, reference books and introductions of all sorts have appeared equally speedily in the months following Mountain Lion’s release. Indeed, we have already reviewed Galen Gruman’s “Bible” (Wiley).
Most of these titles reflect the fact that, good and stable though it is, Mountain Lion has few startling or groundbreaking aspects. It hardly contains enough new features to fill a substantial book of its own. So it is with this Mountain Lion volume in the Apple Pro Training Series, OS X Support Essentials, by Kevin M White and Gordon Davisson.
Actually, it’s only in the subheading, “Supporting and Troubleshooting OS X Mountain Lion”, that you know that this is indeed a book for users of the latest Apple OS. But it is; and it does its job extremely well. So well, in fact, that it should be considered a leader in the couple of dozen or so books available now.
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I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words
Collator And Editor: George Beahm
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
US$6.95 (Paperback) US$5.59 (Kindle)
192 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1742703589
Immediately following the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011, book publishers world wide started releasing a plethora of books about the much revered CEO we simply knew as Steve.
I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words is one of these books. Whilst I personally don’t agree with publishers cashing in on the death of someone famous, this book was given to me as a gift and it turns out to be an interesting read, that is, if you like reading quotations and excepts from speeches.
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Genius LuxePad 9100 Bluetooth Keyboard
Price:$69.99 US
Company: Genius
I was recently sent a LuxePad 9100 Bluetooth Keyboard by Genius to review. In a nutshell, if you’re going to use a physical keyboard with your iOS (or other) device, this is a decent unit. However, there are shortcomings, not necessarily of the hardware, that you should be aware of.
The Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder — High Quality Sound On The Go
Company: Olympus
Website: Olympus America
Price: $199.99 USD
For most of us who are fans of iOS devices, the recording features in GarageBand for iOS or the built-in Voice Memos App suits our needs just fine. There are some people for whom the quality of recorded audio needs to be at a level that exceeds the capabilities of your favorite Apple gear. One possible solution lies with the Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM recorder. The quality of recorded audio is beyond CD-quality, all in a portable handheld form factor.
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Commuter Series Case for iPhone
Company: Otterbox
Price: $34.95 USD
http://www.otterbox.com
For those iPhone 5 owners who want to protect their iPhone but don’t want to go to the ultimate level of protection afforded by the Otterbox Defender series, they should honestly consider the Commuter series instead.
Defender Series Case for iPhone 5
Company: Otterbox
Price: $49.95 USD
http://www.otterbox.com
I have been using Otterbox cases for my iPhones since I purchased my first iPhone. Well known to be solid and dependable, built to protect an iPhone from just about everything, Otterbox has continued to do so with the Defender case for the iPhone 5.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 review
Price:
Standard Edition: $699.00 US, upgrade $199.00 US
Extended Edition: $999.00 US, upgrade $399.00 US
Company: Adobe
In the spring of 2012, Adobe released Creative Suite 6, or the CS6 version of their content creation and editing software suite. Among the updates, the flagship Photoshop got a CS6 version as well. Is it worth upgrading or buying? Read on to see what’s new about Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 11
Company: Adobe
Requires: multicore Intel processor, Mac OSX v10.6-10.8, QuickTime 7, Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8, 4GB hard drive space for both Mac and Windows
Price: $99.99, upgrade $79.99
Last year about this time, Adobe released Photoshop Elements 10. I wrote a two-part review, first on the Organizer, then on the Photoshop Editor. Not a company to rest on their laurels, Adobe has updated both the Editor and Organizer, giving us—you guessed it—Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.
The first thing you’ll notice when you open Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 (PSE11) is a new welcome screen, where you’ll choose between opening the Organizer or Editor. This setting can be changed to go straight to one or the other, if you prefer, when opening the application.
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OS X Mountain Lion Bible
Author: Galen Gruman
Price: $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-1184-0143-9
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
It’s encouraging for the Apple community that new books on new Mac operating systems appear regularly, and in quantity, each time a new OS release appears. During Apple’s less successful periods you struggled to find more than a handful of decent explorations in print of arguably the most elegant and robust OS for any desktop computer. Now there are several dozen. Galen Gruman’s “OS X Mountain Lion Bible” is one of the best for 10.8…
Kona Project 2 Backpack
Company: Brenthaven
Price: $149.95 MSRP
What do you get when you combine a bicycle company and a company that manufactures laptop bags and backpacks for computer users? What you get is a product that combines the knowledge of both companies designed to provide a great backpack that can carry up to a 16 inch laptop and your other necessary items in a unit that features an external water resistant Cordura fabric with a 100% waterproof internal dry bag.
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