The iMacButton
Company: Joseph C. Lee Company
Price: $9.95
http://www.iMacButton.com
Normally, I don’t write reviews. I told the owner of this magazine that I’d rather not write reviews. I’m afraid to write reviews for fear that I might overlook an essential aspect of the product or write an embarrassing bogus report regarding said item, and I don’t want–nor need–that kind of pressure. Besides, there are far more talented and competent writers on this staff who already do a superb job at reviewing stuff. But apparently my editor thought I could handle this one because he had the item mailed to my house. I’m assuming it’s because I have an iMac and the item in question is applicable only to the iMac. So here goes.
Button, button, who’s got the button? The Joseph C. Lee Company of Fresno Ca., that’s who’s got it.
They call it the iMacButton, and instead of Think Different, they took the slogan Reset Different. What this simple invention does is take the place of your old paper clip or push pin that you can never find when your iMac decides to go into a hard freeze and must be reset.
Best of all, the button attaches itself over the reset hole and just sits there at the ready, waiting to be pushed whenever that inevitable hard freeze comes along. No more searching for paper clips and no more dragging out your troubleshooting manual because you forgot which hole to stick the paper clip into. (Just below the reset hole on the iMac is the programmer’s interrupt switch hole. You don’t want to be sticking no paper clip into the programmers interrupt switchhole by mistake because there’s no telling what kind of trouble that could get you into!) With the iMacButton installed you can’t make that mistake, assuming you install it in the proper hole to begin with, which is a no-brainer. Can everyone say, “Top Hole!” If that’s too difficult, let me draw you a picture.
This is what the iMacButton looks like just hanging around waiting to be installed on somebody’s iMac.
This is what the iMacButton looks like after you’ve installed it.
Doesn’t look like much, does it? Of course, the wheel didn’t look like much either till somebody found a use for it and put chrome spokes on it.
Although not quite as big a breakthrough as the wheel, the iMacButton does serve a very practical purpose. It’ll restart your computer at the push of a button–pun intended–when all your keyboard commands and power button-pushing leaves you high and dry with a frozen screen.
This is one of those gadgets you’ll never think about until your screen freezes and you go searching for the paper clip, magnifying glass, and flashlight so you can find that damn little reset hole in amongst all your modem, Ethernet, and USB cables plugged into the iMac motherboard. When that happens you’ll ask yourself, Why did Apple make this so damn difficult to reset?
Apparently the folks at the Joseph C. Lee Company thought the same thing, except, unlike you or me, they did something about it.
This little gizmo is so simplistic in its design and application that one wonders why Apple didn’t integrate a simular mechanism into the iMac from the get-go. My guess is that the engineers at Apple get a kick out of soothing peoples fears about being electrocuted after they tell them to stick a metal object into a socket on a hot computer.
The only drawback I can see with this add-on button is that should you ever decide to add more RAM or remove the motherboard for any reason, you must remove iMacButton because it willhang up on the iMac case when sliding the motherboard out. The Joseph C. Lee Company will be happy to provide free replacement adhesive pads upon request when a self-addressed stamped envelope is sent in. I would only make the suggestion that they send along a spare pad or two with the original order.
Aside from that, the iMacButton is a bright, innovative idea from the folks at the Joseph C. Lee Company. And their website promises more innovative ideas to come in the future.
If you run a lot of freezing, crashing, beta software on your iMac, or if you just find it repulsive to be sticking paper clips or other sharp pointed objects into the side of your new iMac, then this button will save you both time and aggravation, and is well worth the sawbuck the company is asking.
To get more detailed information about this product and for ordering, visit their webpage at: http://www.iMacButton.com
MacMice Rating: 4
Pete Miner
pete@mymac.com
Websites mentioned:
http://www.iMacButton.com
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