All Guy wants for ChristHannaKwanzmas 2011

Features 0

It’s near the end of year which means that yes, it’s time for another Holiday rant from Guy. It’s been a couple of years since I did this and with a family taking up so much of my time, I’m going to re-purpose some of the older content already published. Let’s call it something now and today. How about, ‘Re-cycled Content’. Yep that sounds nice and green and full of what ChristHannaKwanzmas should be (but isn’t) all about. To begin with, let’s go back a few years and give you the explanation of what ChristHannaKwanzmas is. READ on!

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My New Mac – Book Review

Book Review, Macintosh 0

A bit over three years ago I compared two Macintosh books for beginners, David Pogue’s Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual and Wallace Wang’s My New Mac. To cut a long story short, they’re both good books, but aimed at somewhat different audiences. The Missing Manual covers just about every aspect of the Mac operating system, giving power users the information they need to do all sorts of different things. But it doesn’t actually tell a new Mac user what they can do with their computer. To get the most from The Missing Manual, you need to have a fair idea of what you want to do first.

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video2brain – Review

Review 1

video2brain (v2b) has taken the concept of showing how to master a particular skill and has run with it. Formed in 2002, v2b has courses in English, German, French, and Spanish, with over 515 hours in English-language titles.

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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 From an Aperture User – Review

Review 4

I am an amateur photographer, a passion I’ve had since 2000. In 2002 iPhoto became my photo management software, and I used Photoshop Elements for further editing my pictures. I switched to Aperture version 2.0 around 2009, keeping Photoshop Elements as my external editor. Last year, I upgraded to Photoshop CS5, and since then I always wanted to compare Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to Aperture, mainly because Aperture and Photoshop integration is poor.

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It’s Not Happening Yet

Opinion 1

The death of Steve Jobs did more than rob the tech industry of a visionary. It also robbed some people of confidence in Apple as a company.

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Techsafe Cable Lock System – Review

Adapter, Features, Macbook, Review 0

It was a great relief to find that the Techsafe Cable Lock System performs exactly as advertised. The combination lock works with a clip that slips through the hinge that connects a laptop monitor to its keyboard. Because the flat side of the clip rests against the display, my initial thought was,  “Go carefully because if this isn’t in place correctly, you’re going to destroy the screen.” Some people like to say that worry is like a rocking chair because it doesn’t get you anywhere, but I that’s never stopped me. In this case, I went slowly but found my concerns were needless.

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The Listeners Take Over – MyMac Podcast #379

MyMac Podcast 0

Twitter and email and FaceBook run Guy and Gaz ragged (but in a good way) as they get to all that stuff you guys wanted to talk about. Nitrous Oxide, non-working Android tablets, a face-off between Siri and Microsoft’s TellMe is just the start. Jake Cherry wants to know more about iTunes and backing up and James Myers wants the GMen’s opinion (God knows why) on Apple Scripting, sandboxed apps, and Apple’s take on podcasting. Also a NEW segment on the show Phobiword of the day.

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Ivory II from Synthogy

Ivory II Grand Pianos Review

Audio, Music, Review 0

Ivory II is a Virtual Instrument (vi) – a large set of sophisticated high-quality sound samples of the concert piano. It can be used as a standalone application, which has a sophisticated yet easy-to-use single window interface; this was custom built with its own DSP engine and worked extremely well during testing. The piano samples in Ivory II also function as a bespoke plugin soundset for sequencers, DAWs and notation software such as Sibelius 7. The latter was concentrated on during this evaluation.

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Portable Quick Laptop Stand – Review

Features, Review, Stand 0

The  Aviiq Portable Quick Stand  is less than 1/4″ thick and folds to easily fit in a laptop bag. The patented folding design allows you to quickly unfold for use and fold for storage. As the advertisement indicates this, makes it surprisingly easy to “Pop. Snap. Go.”

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Zippy BT500 and LuxePad Bluetooth Keyboards – Review

Features, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Keyboard, Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, Review 0

These are the iconic products of modern day gadget freaks. They’re hard plastic, “leather-like” or faux this or that, and you can operate them easily only if you’ve had lots of experience with dainty teacups and Saturday morning origami classes. If you like the feel of a carpenter’s framing hammer, you’d better go back to your cave and forget these teeny keyboards. They’re smaller than your belt sander.

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Flashlight – 4 in 1. Flashlight, Strobe, Morse Code, and Lighted Magnifier – Review

Apps, iPhone, Review 1

Since the release of iPhone 4 with the included LED flash, developers have been creating flashlight applications for the iOS App Store. The result has been a large volume of both free and paid offerings.

Flashlight – 4 in 1 is not free but is available for US$0.99. This app is not just a simple flashlight. It is a 4 in 1 solution that incorporates a Flashlight, Magnifying Glass, Strobe, and Morse Code functionality.

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Wacom Inkling
Review

Features, Macintosh, Review 2

When I first saw the Wacom Inkling my reaction was ‘Wow!’ I also thought it was too good to be true. Well, I am happy to report, after being sent a review unit by Wacom, that it is not too good to be true and the device is awesome! As an illustrator who has scanned sketches into my computer for years and redrawn those sketches in Illustrator the Inkling is exactly what I have been looking for. Not only will it save me time and allow me to skip the scanning process it will propel me to another level where I can do a lot more artwork on my computer.

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Gaz hates iTunes and we’ve got Paul Kent! – MyMac Podcast #378

MyMac Podcast 0

Only about one and a half months togo until Macworld/iWorld! Hope you’ve got your hotel and flights arranged. Paul Kent from IDG comes on to talk about the new stuff this year and chat about his feelings (what?). Gaz hates iTunes or did until Lion seemed to straighten out most of his issues…well that and a new Mac. Twitter gets weird for the GMen and not one, but TWO new iTunes reviews! WOOT!

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