Is this an April Fools joke or are we really going to show you how to install the MacOS on your PC or how to free your iPhone from Apple’s stronghold. This meeting will not be podcasted, so the only way to know is to attend this meeting.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Robin Williams has done it again! Another outstanding book for a new user of Snow Leopard and the Mac.

Robin’s style is to expertly use page layout and screenshots to explain the features of an operating system in small bites everyone can digest. I enjoy the fact she doesn’t talk down to her readers. She expects a basic understanding of how to use a mouse and keyboard. This book is designed for a Mac or even a PC user making the transition to Snow Leopard, either via upgrade or by the fact it came with the Mac. She walks the reader through all the features of Snow Leopard. Williams apologizes for not covering the iLife or iWork suites, but clearly points out this is a book on Snow Leopard. I’m sure she realizes that if the book were too big, readers would be intimidated. While it’s over 450 pages, she uses a great table of contents and index to allow the reader to hone in on the info they are interested in. Want to know how to do screen sharing…no problem? Just like Snow Leopard, I noticed a few “tweaks” in this book that made it even better than her Leopard edition. The screen shots seem to be better annotated as compared to last time and the book seems even easier to read.

The table of contents is organized into three main sections: “Mac OS X Basics for new Mac users”, “Mac OS X Applications in Snow Leopard”, “Make it your Mac” and “Tech Stuff”. This allows the reader to focus on just what matters to them. She clearly spent lots of time making sure her book was extremely user friendly, just like the operating systems she covers. Not only does she cover practically all the features of Snow Leopard, but Williams includes great troubleshooting advice for when things go wrong. The advice she gives is as good or better than what you’ll get on the phone calling tech support or stopping by the “bar.” If her troubleshooting section doesn’t cover it, you’ll need a technician to come out!

My one complaint is that the author should have marked those features new or different in Snow Leopard. Doing so would allow an upgrader to focus on just those new items in Snow Leopard. This book is not intended for intermediate or advanced users. You won’t find out which port to open for screen sharing or its inner workings–just how to initiate it. I compare her books to more “manual-like” books that cover every feature in depth. This book is designed to hold the readers hand through the process of learning.

Pros: Outstanding layout and organization. Excellent descriptions for novice Mac users. Enthusiastically recommend it to all new Snow Leopard Mac Users. Use this book as a starting point in your learning!
Cons: Not for intermediate users, no clear distinction of new Snow Leopard features

Five of Five dogcows.

Notebook sleeves seem to be one of the hottest accessories today and with good reason. Protecting your laptop investment is a good idea.

Altego’s clear laptop sleeve is probably one of the best sleeves I’ve seen for protection out there today, and one of the ugliest. Literally, the Altego sleeve wraps your Macbook in bubble wrap. No, you can’t pop this bubble wrap, but nonetheless this sleeve is made up of air chambers that cushion the contents and protect it from mishap. While Altego dresses up this bubble wrap with fashionable colored accents, it still looks like bubble wrap!

Like many of the laptop sleeves today, under current TSA rules, you are allowed to travel with the laptop inside one of these sleeves and are not required to remove your laptop from its protection when passing through security. Given how rough travel is today, I’ll probably use this during travel to get that extra ounce of protection.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While I think the exterior is ugly, the protection this sleeve provides is beautiful.

PROS: World class protection with a cushion of air
CONS: Looks like bubble wrap, demands to be popped

Four out of Five Dog Cows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave™ or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here.
RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news. This was followed by the above presentation which consisted of many member questions.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included the Altego 13″ Clear Laptop Sleeve from Samsill.com and the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide, courtesy of Peachpit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

This meeting will teach you some of the basics of iTunes such as putting songs and videos into iTunes, organizing your files, and using iTunes U. Learn tips and tricks for our board of experts.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

I like this Otterbox a lot. The silicone sleeve (which comes in a choice of seven colors) hugs the phone closely without slippage, and felt very solid and tight in my hand, even when my hands were sweaty. I had no problem pressing the lock and volume buttons, or moving the headphone flap aside to plug in headphones. However, the dock flap is a little tricky to move aside in order to plug in the USB charger cable, as you really have to push it aside to get the cable inserted.

The solid plastic snap on over the back looks to provide protection in case the phone is dropped on its back. I obviously didn’t test this out, but the plastic seems more for style then real protection – the silicone case is the real armor in the Otterbox Commuter, and will absorb much of the shock if you drop the phone from a normal height. As for the screen protector, well, it’s a standard peel-on film that will probably save the screen from minor scratches but won’t save the glass from a crack should anything impact the front of the phone.

Overall, I feel the Commuter is a good compromise between the tank-like bulk of the Otterbox Defender line and the naked feeling of leaving the phone totally unprotected against the slings and arrows of the average purse or pocket. It protects well without adding too much excess bulk, and that makes it a winner for me.

Pluses: Good basic protection without excess bulk, looks pretty good
Minuses: Hard plastic snap-on seems gratuitous, tricky to move dock flap aside to plug in USB cable

Overall: 4 out of 5 dog cows.

Did you get a new Mac, iPod or other goodie for the holidays. This meeting is all Questions and Answers. Get all your questions answered for free by local experts. This meeting is ideal for PC “switchers” and beginniners

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Note our inclement weather policy: if USD 497 is closed, our meeting will be cancelled. Check our website if there is a question about whether the meeting is cancelled due to weather.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. This was followed by the above presentation on everything from Google Maps to Gmail to Google Docs to Google Sync all on your Mac.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included the Apple Training Series: iWork 09 and the Microsoft Office 2008 Visual Quickstart Guide, both courtesy of Peachpit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

The Lawrence Apple Users’ Group 2.0 will be having a meeting entitled “Welcome to Macintosh ” Wednesday, January 6th, 7pm at Van Go Mobile Arts 715 New Jersey Street in Lawrence.

Did you get a new Mac, iPod or other goodie for the holidays. This meeting is all Questions and Answers. Get all your questions answered for free by local experts. This meeting is ideal for PC “switchers” and beginniners

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Note our inclement weather policy: if USD 497 is closed, our meeting will be cancelled. Check our website if there is a question about whether the meeting is cancelled due to weather.

This book relies heavily on brilliant full color examples of the concepts being taught. The reader is easily able to compare what is in the book to what is on their Mac’s screen. “Teacher, did I do it right?” is easily answered by looking inside this book. Additionally, a review quiz is included at the end of each chapter to make sure you understand the current lesson before moving on.

While instructor-lead programs allow the student to ask questions and interact, the Apple Training Series is about the closest thing you can come to an instructor-lead program without having to leave your home, office, or coffee shop. I always love how the Apple Training Series includes a suggested time frame it takes to do the particular chapter so you can plan your schedule accordingly.

Pros: Excellent real world examples and clear instructions and output specifications
Cons: Absolutely none

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here.
RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Microsoft Office 2008 is overloaded with tons of useless features which make the program slow, complex, and bloated. “Microsoft Office 2008 Quick Start Guide” matches Office’s complexity. This 500-plus page tome is a comprehensive guide to many of Microsoft Office 2008’s major features.

Unfortunately, this is not a typical “Visual Quickstart Guide.” One would not get a Quickstart, because probably it’s hard to quickly start the digital equivalent of an oil tanker. Beginners to Microsoft Office will find this guide completely overwhelming and would be overwhelmed by all that Microsoft Office 2008 can do.

The author breaks up Office into its core components: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage, and the integration of those applications. Unfortunately he covers almost all the major features which is completely unnecessary for a Quickstart guide. For example, how often do people use the Notebook view in Word or the Newsgroups function in Entourage? Similar to Office itself, adding in all these extras makes it harder for the user, or in this case reader, to find the basic functions of the program they need. This book could have easily been half the size and the reader would have understood most of what they need to know about Office.

The text was easy to understand for those functions the author was describing but there was a distinct lack of the common Visual Quickstart Guide screenshots and visual enhancements. The book was extremely text heavy and dense because of this. For a intermediate user trying to look up how to create a stock chart or brushing up on mail merging, this is a good manual. Beginning users will be overwhelmed with the comprehensiveness of it all.

Pros: Covers a vast majority of functions in the Microsoft Office 2008 Suite.
Cons: A vast majority of functions in the Microsoft Office 2008 Suite are unnecessary and overwhelming, just like this book

3 out of 5 Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here.
RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Typically, Peachpit’s Visual Quickstart Guide jumps you into a program giving you the “quickstart” to get working and obtain a basic understanding of the program. This book didn’t follow that theme as closely as others in the series, but it’s still an excellent guide to iMovie 09. If you buy only one book on iMovie, I firmly believe this should be the one. It’s short, straightforward and highly accessible to someone who has never used a video camera before.

The book starts off with the essentials of movie making on your Mac, discussing important topics such as AV equipment, movie planning, lighting and composition. These preliminary chapters are an absolute gem. While I’ve worked with iMovie before, I never really understood the essentials of lighting, focus, and composition. A great iMovie starts out with the fundamentals and the first five chapters of the book are devoted to just this.

Next, the book gives you a “Make a Movie in a Hurry” overview of iMovie so you can quickly complete a task and have some initial success. Then, the author goes in detail about iMovie in a logical progression as to how the typical project would go: importing, editing, and exporting. Throughout the chapters the author includes tips and tricks not just about the usage of iMovie, but why a user should care about certain functions. Knowing all the features of iMovie doesn’t really help unless you know how to use them in your projects to enhance your work. After reading this book, I understood much more of the power of iMovie and how to use the features of iMovie to make better movies.

Ironically, what’s missing from the book is a guide to iDVD. One small chapter is devoted to iDVD and then the author directs you to his website for another 60 or so pages of iDVD info: http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321601322/supplements/iDVD_Addendum.pdf That’s my major con of the book: the title is extremely misleading. This is NOT a book about iDVD, it’s strictly about iMovie. I can’t imagine why the book was titled and distributed the way it was.

Pros: Easy to understand, accessible
Cons: No iDVD printed materials in book

Four out of Five dogcows

Four out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here.
RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. This was followed by the above presentation.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included an Apple Magic Mouse courtesy of our presenters iCafe.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

Google is more than just searching. It can do everything your Office Suite can do as well as create website and even make phone calls for you. Google is one of the best programs for any computer: Mac or PC.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. This was followed by the above presentation.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included The Macintosh iLife ‘09 courtesy of Peachpit Press and a Laptop Sleeve from Crumpler.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

The folks at iCafe will tell us all about the Macintosh product line and what will be the hot gifts for the holidays.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

The book is extremely iPhoto heavy and Heid covers the ins and outs of iPhoto over around 150 pages, more than any other aspect of the suite. iMovie and Garage Band each get about 80 pages of coverage. Least featured is iWeb and iDVD, each given only about 30 pages. For most casual users’ interest that’s about right. Each two-page spread of the book covers a different aspect of the program and Heid includes detailed screen shots to enable the reader to study when they are not at the computer. The table of contents allows you to hone in on the exact feature or project you are doing. In particular, I like how the book compared and contrasted the different overlapping features of iLife. For example, what is the best way to do an iPhoto slide show? iPhoto, iDVD, or iMovie–it gets confusing. Additionally, Heid goes beyond the functions of the apps and considers real-world problems and questions an iLife user might have, such as scanning old photos into iPhoto, or the best way to record sound in Garage Band.

The target audience of this book should be the intermediate user of the Mac who has a basic understanding of what each iLife program does and why they might use it. This is for the reader who wants to dive deep into a project and doesn’t want the unnecessary fluff of a beginner’s manual, nor does the reader want to be distracted by the features most people never use. This book covers the classic 20% that you’ll use 80% of the time.

Pros: Covers the key features of the iLife ‘09 suite while avoiding the time wasting feature inventory
Cons: Assumes some basic knowledge of the suite, skimpy coverage of iWeb and iDVD

Five out of Five dogcows

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. Also, here is a copy of the meeting’s handout and agenda. This was followed by a presentation on the ins and outs of setting up a Mac on a Windows Network as well as the company Groupware. Included here is a link to a recap of the presentation courtesy of Brian.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a Pogo Stylus from Ten One Design and Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders courtesy of O’Reilly Media.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

Confused about your options? Not sure how to setup wireless networks and share resources. We’ll learn the ins and outs of wireless networking.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. This was followed by a presentation on how to make pro-quality music with your Mac in the box at home. GarageBand and Logic’s impressive capabilities with a mic, your instrument and a little creativity.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of Apple Training Series: GarageBand 09 and the Apple Training Series: iLife 09 both courtesy of Peachpit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

This book is an excellent resource for someone wanting a hands-on learning tutorial about every aspect of the iLife Suite:  iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD.  This is not a “how-to” reference manual — you won’t find feature listings or troubleshooting tips.  Its exclusive goal is training sessions with pre-developed material to be done a classroom or self-teaching format.  For someone who has never been exposed to these programs, it’s a great resource with which to start from scratch. 

Each module has lesson files that are installed on your computer and gives you a time estimate of how long the project will take.  According to the book’s estimates, it will take you about 13 hours to complete; however for me the modules went much quicker.  Fortunately, since the materials are already created for you on the included DVD, you don’t have to actually shoot video or load pictures to understand the lessons.  You’ll be able to follow exactly line-by-line along with the book and compare actual results.  The book is well laid out with real screen shots for every outcome, so don’t be intimidated by its size.  At the end of each module is a quiz to test your knowledge of the subject.  Obviously this makes an excellent text book for instructor or group study.

Personally, I was new to iLife ‘09 but have used previous versions.  The book skipped over computing basics and focused primarily on new iLife features such as Face Recognition in iPhoto. The modules were extremely well paced and I had an excellent grasp of the subject material at the end. My only major complaint is that between iLife programs, the authors did not stay consistent and the lessons at times were confusing, as not all the authors had the same skill level or approach to teaching.  Nonetheless, the book was outstanding as is typical of the Apple Training Series.

Pros:  Training modules for the key features of the iLife Series along with pre-developed material
Cons:  Inconsistent style of lessons between modules.

Five out of Five Dog Cows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Brian Best of BestMacs (Best for your Mac Powered businesses) will talk about the overall attitude of IT departments towards the Mac, some of the challenges in network services (file sharing, backup, email), how Exchange 2007 and Snow Leopard will make things interesting.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218 9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

With well over 56,000 apps of this writing, the iTunes app store can be intimidating.  There are just so many apps out there one doesn’t really know where to begin.  Staring with the top 10 or top 25 is a great place to look, but too often the gems are buried in the middle and nearly impossible to find in that stack of 56,000 apps.  Even if you just stick to the top apps, you don’t get manuals or easy instructions with them, making purchasing apps that much more of a frustrating experience. 

“Best iPhone Apps” fixes both problems.  Author Clark has a good mix of popular apps such as Yelp and Facebook, but also includes some off-the-wall ones such as What The Font which helps you identify a particular font using your camera.  Each app receives one dedicated page of explanation and a screen shot – which is a heck of a lot more than iTunes or many developers provide.  Additionally, there have been some more expensive popular apps I’ve been afraid to purchase because there are no demos in the App store (a fatal flaw in my opinion).  An example of this is Jaadu VNC.  This $24.99 app sounds great, but does it work?  I bought it and couldn’t quite figure it out until I read this book.

Unfortunately, while the book is iPhone 3.0 aware, it was published before iPhone 3.0 software and the iPhone 3GS came out, so some of the information is slightly dated.  Nonetheless, the apps that are great now will continue to be great.  This book is perfect for a non-technical new iPhone or iPod Touch user who isn’t quite sure where to begin.  A vast majority of the apps listed in the book are free or low-cost so there is little risk in trying and exploring these apps.

Overall this book is perfect for a new iPhone user or a more experienced user who wants to take the time to learn about some new apps

Pros:  Covers a wide variety of apps in depth
Cons:  Quickly will become outdated

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and member questions. This was followed by the aforementioned presentation.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of The Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide from O’Reilly Media and the Roxio Toast 10 courtesy of Roxio.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

Terrence Moore discusses how to make pro-quality music with your “Mac in the box” at home. GarageBand and Logic’s impressive capabilities with a mic, your instrument and a little creativity.

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Whether you are logging on to Facebook for the first time, or are a pro, “Facebook Me!” will teach you some valuable tips and tricks on how to maximize your usage. The author takes the novice user through ever aspect of Facebook including a heavy emphasis on privacy and security. In particular, Awl’s book will survive most Facebook interface changes because he focuses on the core values of why you are on Facebook and what you hope to accomplish. He handles such tricky issues as friending your boss and coworkers as well as to how to deal with friends who send you invites to every application known to man.

Awl gives great advice to new users on how to follow proper social mores on Facebook as well as how to prevent getting viruses on it. Experienced users will benefit from Awl’s suggestions on topics such as how often and what to say in status updates and most important, how to check Facebook from work. Business owners in particular will benefit from this book’s excellent explanation of pages, groups, and advertising on Facebook.

The book is extremely well organized so more experienced users can focus on the subject that interest them the most. A detailed table of contents helps readers hone in on their particular topics of interest and excellent use of color screen shots helps everyone visualize his descriptions. Although Facebook will surely redesign it’s interface and the pictures will then look different, the concepts of keeping up with friends and acquaintances are at the core of Facebook. Awl’s book is about how to use Facebook effectively, not merely a “how to” guide.

Pros: Well organized, detailed, perfect for novices and experienced users
Cons: Still doesn’t tell me whether I should friend my Mom or not

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The members spoke “We want more Question and Answer meetings”, so here we go again. This meeting is going to be all about getting your Mac questions answered

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee.

Primarly, Toperoek takes you through key functions of the UI such as the Finder, Dock, System Preferences, and the Leopard apps that had signficant changes. He briefly describes each function in Leopard and all the options related to it. This book helps you answer the question of “How do I” and “What does this function do?” Short, sweet and to the point. It’s includes the 20% of the Leopard functions you’ll use 80% of the time If you ever wanted to know the keyboard shortcut to any command in Leopard, it’s in this book. The index is almost as powerful as Apple’s Spotlight function and quickly allows you to hone on the questions you need answered.

A short review for a short 200 page half-sized book, but like the magna carta it is short yet very valuable!

Pros: Excellent overview of key Leopard functions geared towards intermediate and advanced users
Cons: No tutorials or pictures, but the technical Illuminati don’t need such things.

5 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

As many iPhone users know, the earbuds Apple includes with the iPhone are functional, but they don’t exactly have the greatest sound fidelity. Hundreds of different earphones are on the market, some costing more than the iPhone itself. Even these high end units do not have the ability to act as a hands free mic for the iPhone. Few things are more annoying then having to unplug your headphones when receiving an incoming call while jamming away on your iPhone. The Radius Atomic Bass Black Aluminum Earphones for iPhone aren’t just a great headphones, but a great handsfree mic as well.

Personally, I tend to use bluetooth and don’t listen to music that much on my iPhone. However, after discovering Pandora and Skype for the iPhone, I’m using these headphones a whole lot more. During use, I was simply blown away by the music quality. Not an atomic explosion blown away, but something that would definitely shift the balance of power. I’m not an audiophile, but I have headphones that cost three times this amount and the sound just doesn’t seem as rich. I tend to listen to more dance style music and these headphones picked up the bass much better than other headphones, so it’s well deserving of its name. The Radius Atomic Bass fits well into my ear and doesn’t slip out like the standard earbuds. The plastic covers come in three different sizes to help insure a custom fit and the earbuds are angled to fit deeper in the ear canal. Obviously these aren’t the type of headphones or handsfree you should use in the car as they block out external noise. These are not noise-cancelling headphones, so I’ll still use my other headphones in a plane or other noisy environment.

As a handsfree mic, callers on the other end who hear me talking though my Radius Atomic say the calls are much clearer than my bluetooth and can’t tell I’m using a hands free at all. I’m using the Radius Atomic with my laptop and then switch them into my iPhone when I get a call. The mic is located a few inches down from the earbud and, similar to the standard Apple issue earbuds, acts as a remote to pick up and end calls. The mic was extremely sensitive and allowed me to carry on a normal conversation with a caller while I was at a coffee house, though sometimes in noisy environments it was hard for others to hear me. In fact, the Radius Atomic Bass worked extremely well with Skype on my iPhone while my bluetooth handsfree did not.

Aesthetically, the Radius Atomic looks very industrial. They come in black, red, pink and white so you not only can accessorize, but avoid picking up your spouse’s headphones when leaving in the morning. Whatever color you choose, the earbuds will have silver accents at both end of the earbuds, matching the metal/plastic look of the current Apple product line. All the units have a white cord except for the black, which is black in both headphone and cord. Personally, I dig the black instead of the white so people don’t always know I have an Apple-branded MP3 player. The cord length is a few inches longer than the Apple standard earbuds, though the length of the individual cords after the yoke was the same as the standard units.

Overall, I highly recommend these headphones as a wired hands-free mic and a economical headphone for listeners craving deep bass in their grooves. The sound and voice reproduction is significantly better than the included headphone and rivals products that cost significantly more.

Pros: Excellent bass reproduction and voice quality, profoundly economical and fashionable as well
Cons: No noise cancelling or echo cancelling

Five out of Five Dogcows

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User’s Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by the aforementioned presentation.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of the Apple Training Series: iLife 08 and the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide, both courtesy of PeachPit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

We’ll give a whole new meaning to the term chips and bytes. Chat with your fellow Mac enthusiasts as well as buy sell trade equipment. The event starts at 7pm and dishes go as follows:
Leopard Users: Main dish
Tiger users: Side disk
Panther: Dessert
Running more than one: your choice
Not running one of these: save your money and bring a drink (and then upgrade)

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Dave Greenbaum on how to backup your Macintosh.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of Klix Photo Recovery courtesy of JoeSoft and the iPhoto 08 Visual QuickStart Guide courtesy of PeachPit.

Also, included here are Dave’s slides from the meeting, click here to download them: Presentation PDF and Keynote Presentation

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

When the iPhone’s touch sensitivity works, it works great! However the first week I owned my iPhone I realized how vulnerable my phone was. I got a flat tire and began to change the tire when I ran into some trouble removing one of the lug nuts and decided to call roadside assistance. Oops. My hands were greasy and grimy and I simply couldn’t control my iPhone. Without paper towels or anything I was in major trouble. From then on I carried a disposable phone in the car with me! Similarly, in the winter, my iPhone also wasn’t terribly useful with gloves hands. Again, my expensive smart phone was dumbed down by a thin piece of leather. While this hasn’t happened to me, I’ve seen women with long sculpted fingernails look about as stumped as Edward Scissorhands with an iPhone. Why deny them the ability to use an iPhone?

Unlike other smart phones, you cannot use a regular stylus since the iPhone relies on the electrical impulses of your fingertips or other body parts. The Pogo is a stylus designed specifically for touch screens. The bottom of the stylus has spongy material designed to activate touch screens. The Pogo stylus was not as responsive as my stylus was on my old Palm Pilot, but the Pogo was still extremely useful. The material at the bottom was soft and won’t scratch the iPhone, and in fact, helped clean mine a bit. I was even able to use it with my GPS, keeping my hands warm on the cold days.

The Pogo package comes with a clip to help keep the Pogo Stylus connected to your iPhone without creating bulk. Unfortunately the clip did not work with my external iPhone case, but people who keep their iPhone naked will have no problem using the Pogo Stylus. At $14.95 the purchase of a Pogo Stylus is about the best investment in protecting the usability of your iPhone. You may not need it today, but at some point you’ll need your iPhone and your hands will be dirty, wet, or otherwise inaccessible. That Pogo stylus will allow you to make the call! I keep one in the glove compartment and another in my laptop bag.

Pros: Allows iPhone use in situations you can’t directly touch the screen

Cons: Clip doesn’t work if the iPhone has a case

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Reviewed for the Lawrence Apple Users Group by Mike Silverman

The iPhone is an amazing portable computer. It features capabilities that twenty years ago would have been something out of the pages of science fiction. Instant communications access with anyone in the world, the ability to seamlessly access the corpus of human knowledge that is the Internet, and of course, an ability to be entertained by music, video and games limited only by your imagination.

Almost.

The iPhone, as shipped by Apple, is a wonderful device for 95% of its users. But Apple locks iPhone users into a gilded cage. The cage is sumptuously decorated, but it is still a jail cell. You are limited to using your iPhone in ways Apple approves of. “The man” (or Steve Jobs) decides what applications you can run and what capabilities your phone has. Like a bridled horse, the iPhone is docile, but unleashed, it could do so much more!

To really set the iPhone free, you need to “hack” it. Once you do this, your phone becomes the powerful computer it is meant to be, and you can run much more diverse software, giving your phone new abilities, like being able to record videos, customize the user interface, emulate popular video game consoles, and send and receive multimedia messages. You can even give your phone the ability to act as a wi-fi “access point” to the internet for your laptop, and unlock the phone to use on other carriers.

“iPhone Hacks” by David Jurick and Adam and Damien Stolarz is your guide into this brave new world. The authors act as friendly guide into the world of iPhone customization. This book is not meant for beginners; the authors assume both some technical computer knowledge and a curious nature. Some of the software-based “hacks” can be done by any experienced user, but other hacks require programming and even hardware “breadboard” skills, such as handiness with a soldering iron.

The authors first explains some of the basics of the iPhone operating system, including its history, the phone’s boot process, and how the file system is put together, which is an excellent overview, before they head into the basics of “jailbreaking,” which is the process where you use some simple software tools to open your phone’s operating system up to customization.

I should note that many of the hacks in this book require the jailbreaking process, which, contrary to its name, is neither illegal nor very difficult. There are several hacks which do not require jailbreaking, however, these are more in the vein of “power user tips” rather then true hacks. It is worth noting that Apple will not provide warranty services to jailbroken phones – luckily, if anything goes wrong, it is very easy to “restore” your phone to pristine condition before seeking warranty service.

The actual hacks are divided into various sections by theme. The first two thirds of the book is all software-focused, and as such accessible to those without programming or hardware hacking skills. For example, there are sections on using the phone as a multimedia devices, sections on enhancing the camera and video recording functions, as well as sections on topics such as SMS messaging, gaming, and user interface customization. Any of these sections can be accessed in an ad-hoc manner; there is no need to go in order after the initial chapter on the jailbreak process itself. Simple pick the topic you are interested in and dive in. It is easy to browse the book to get an idea of what the iPhone can do, and all of the chapters are very clearly explained, with excellent use of screenshots and supplementary information to guide you in the process.

The final third of the book covers both application programming, and actual hardware hacking, including how to disassemble and reassemble your phone. Many of the hacks in this section are very entertaining to read about (and fairly useless in a practical sense), especially since it would take someone way braver then me to actually crack open my phone’s case! The programming section is a useful introduction to both the official Apple-provided way to program for the iPhone as well as the unofficial ways to get access to private APIs and methods which can be used to program applications that could never make it into the App Store.

More controversially, “iPhone Hacks” also describes the process to “unlock” your iPhone (this is different then “jailbreaking”) so you can use it on a carrier other then AT&T. This information is presented fairly and accurately, with both the risks and rewards clearly outlined for those users who may need to use an iPhone on another carrier. The book also describes how to activate tethering, where you can use your iPhone as an internet access point for your laptop. This may violate your contract with your carrier, but the book doesn’t moralize here; it simply describes the “hack” and leaves the decision as to how to use the information up to you, the reader, which is as it should be.

Overall, this is an amazing book, clearly and thoroughly describing the dozens of ways you can truly make your iPhone your own. It manages to cover challenging information fairly and accurately in a manner that will appeal to any adventurous, curious and technically-minded reader. Even if you never plan to do anything other then the tamest “hacks” to your iPhone, browsing this book will teach you a lot about your phone as a computer, and leave you stimulated and fascinated.

Rating: 5 out of 5 DogCows
Plusses: A through and interesting book on how to expand the iPhone’s universe
Minuses: None

Your PC friends seem to have to do all this stuff to keep their PCs up and running. What do you need to do as a Mac user to protect your investment? This is a great beginner meeting

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee.

As an avid reader of Entrepreneur magazine, I had very high hopes for this book.  More and more businesses are switching from Mac to PC and need a guide focused on how to get typical business functions done on the Mac.  The book completely skips the iLife suite and takes the reader from the decision to buy a Mac over to the key tools a business owner needs in order to run a business on their Mac.  Unfortunately, the book is incomplete, inconsistent and needs to check its facts.

The first few chapters of the book helps the reader decide which Mac to buy and how to set it up, then takes the reader through the built-in contact management functions and then onto the Microsoft Office suite and,finally, backups.  This is not a how-to guide but rather an overview of the considerations to make when switching to the Mac and whether your business will be able to make that switch.  By the time you have actually made the switch, the book will be of little value to you.  Business owners on the fence about switching to the Mac will find comfort that it can be done and there are tools out there to help them do the job.

The author focuses too much on his personal preferences and has a recommended suite of hardware and software to buy, giving the reader few options if they wish to deviate from the path.  For example, he devotes 60 pages to Microsoft Office but barely mentions iWork or Open Office which are both extremely viable alternatives for the average company switching to the Mac.  Similarly, the penultimate chapter of the book mentions that every business should own the full $299 version of Adobe Acrobat when much of its functionality is already built into Leopard. The other programs he mentions are extremely expensive and often unnecessary for even advanced business owners.  Why does he recommend Photoshop CS3 to a business user?  This chapter could convince a business that it is too expensive to switch to the Mac.

The final chapter of the book is all about backups and Rich does an excellent job of explaining the various backup options the average business owner should consider.  He goes through not only the Apple options, but third party hardware and software as well.   Alongside with backups, Rich then covers (in the Appendix) something every Mac user should have: a full record keeping worksheet of all the important information about your Mac and the hardware and software that goes along with it. 

Unfortunately, Rich is just plain wrong on some of his facts.  Each chapter had a few minor facts wrong that would not impact the average business owner, but still reduces Rich’s credibility as an expert and an author.  The explanation of how to install software assumes that the software will begin installing as soon as you put in the CD, when in reality most programs that come on optical media require you to double click something to begin the install process.  Rich also explains grey-market hacked Apple clones, which should never be used in a business.  Rich even admits they haven’t been tested nor are they probably legal, so I’m not sure why a business book would mention them.    Entrepreneur Press is not used to editing technical books and it shows. 

Pros:  Cuts right to the chase regarding those aspects of the Mac most interesting to business owners
Cons:  Extremely biased and doesn’t empower the reader to make their own choices

2 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

I fondly remember the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer was developing a coffee table book…about coffee tables, so when I read about an iPhone book on the iPhone, I simply had to review it. Not that there is anything wrong with that, no of course not!

As an application, “iPhone the Missing Manual” was difficult to navigate at first. Instead of scrolling up and down to move from page to page, you swipe from left to right in order to move to the next page, much like turning a page of a book. Once I understood this design element, navigating was fine. Ideally, the program should have had a initial welcome screen explaining how to move around within the program. The text of the book was extremely clear to read and quickly rendered when turning pages. Other text programs I’ve used in the past had annoying delays going from page to page. However, the initial opening of the app the very first time I launched it had an abnormal delay of up to a minute, and I thought the app was hung.

While reading the book, I was able to quickly leave the program, check a function, and reenter without crashing. In addition, the URLs listed in the book were live and could be double clicked and opened in Safari. The table of contents was live and clicking on an entry took you to that portion in the book. The only major function lacking from a true print book was an index. The book also didn’t tell you when it was at the end, which was annoying. The applications come with limited preferences to allow you to modify the colors and fonts of the book. The biggest problem with the book as an iPhone app was that it was inexplicably missing a search function.

David Pogue’s writings in the entire Missing Manual series are always easy to understand and comprehensive in analysis. I reviewed the earlier edition of iPhone Missing Manual and Pogue did an excellent job of covering the new functions of the 3G iPhone as well as Mobile Me and the App store. Peppered throughout the book are handy tips that even advanced iPhone users may not know. Pogue adds quite a bit of information on how to use your iPhone in a corporate environment and connect to corporate resources as well as help you to convince your IT department to let you get an iPhone. Also expanded was the syncing and general troubleshooting section, though trying to troubleshoot your iPhone via an iPhone app might prove difficult.

Pros: Unique product for learning how to use your iPhone anytime anywhere
Cons: Slow and confusing upon first use, no search function

Four out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

First up is an app that actually spans the Mac and the iPhone. I’ve been using June Clould’s Delivery Status widget for years to keep track of Amazon.com, USPS , Fedex and UPS packages and now they’ve released a companion iPhone app for $2.99. This allows you to check packages via the iPhone when you’re on the go, but if you’ve ever tried to type in the 16 digit tracking codes with the iPhone (remember, no cut and paste) it tends to sour the experience. Well, June Cloud’s got you covered. Once you setup and account you can then sync your tracking data between the desktop widget and the iPhone and never have to type in those crazy numbers to your iPhone again!

Check out their site (junecloud.com) for all the details and I hope you’ve enjoyed the first installment of Random App!

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by on watching TV content on your Mac by Matt Kappenman.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of Toast 10 courtesy of Roxio.

Also, included here are Matt’s slides from the meeting, as well as a link to the antenna he uses to watch Digital Broadcasts, the Terk HDTVa. Download the slides here.

Download this month’s podcast: LAUG Podcast 03.09

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://laugks.org/.

You are supposed to brush after every meal, check your oil after ever fillup and regularly backup. If you’ve already broken your New Years Resolution to back up your Mac…this is the meeting for you.

Similar to the original version, each iPhone concept is devoted one entire page, no matter how complex or simple the subject. Turning on vibrate mode on your iPhone is given the same space as iTunes library syncing as setting up email accounts. If the superfluous white space and screen shots were taken out, the book would probably be about 1/4 it’s current size. The target user for this book is someone who probably wouldn’t normally buy a computer book. With the pictures and white space it’s a quick and easy read and allows the reader to pick up the book without having to remember where they left off. The reader will have a basic understanding of the critical aspects of the iPhone in a very short period of time.

Overall, the book is easy to read, but would only be helpful to the absolute beginner new iPhone or iTouch users. Again, this review is short because the book is so short!

Pros: Quick to read and easy to understand
Cons: Not enough helpful information and explanations

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Meetings will always be free. To cover some expenses we are offering optional $10 memberships. Membership forms are available at meetings and will soon be on the website Don’t worry, you can still attend meetings for free without a paid membership. We’ll offer some of the group discounts and a online support forum for paid members.

A podcast from the February 2009 meeting of the Lawrence Apple Users Group. This month’s meeting included a presentation from the group’s own Mike Silverman. Mike’s a quality assurance engineer for a Fortune 500 technology company gave us an overview of how software is development, why it crashes, and how to use that knowledge to get the tech support you need!

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by an excellent presentation by Mike Silverman.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included Mac Migration: The Small Business Guide to Switching to the Mac as well asThe iPhone Book: Second Edition, courtesy of Peach Pit Press.

Also, included are Mike’s slides from the meeting. Download them here.

Download this month’s podcast: LAUG Podcast 02.09

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/. ]]> http://laugks.org/2009/02/28/laug-podcast-0209-software-crashes-cure-and-prevention/feed/ 0 - A podcast from the February 2009 meeting of the Lawrence Apple Users Group. This month's meeting included a presentation from the group's own Mike Silverman. Mike's a quality assurance engineer for a Fortune 500 technology company gave us an overvie... A podcast from the February 2009 meeting of the Lawrence Apple Users Group. This month's meeting included a presentation from the group's own Mike Silverman. Mike's a quality assurance engineer for a Fortune 500 technology company gave us an overview of how software is development, why it crashes, and how to use that knowledge to get the tech support you need! The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by an excellent presentation by Mike Silverman. The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included Mac Migration: The Small Business Guide to Switching to the Mac as well asThe iPhone Book: Second Edition, courtesy of Peach Pit Press. Also, included are Mike's slides from the meeting. Download them here. Download this month's podcast: LAUG Podcast 02.09 Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/. LAUG 2.0 no 1:35:43 http://laugks.org/2009/02/22/march-4th-watching-tv-on-your-mac/ http://laugks.org/2009/02/22/march-4th-watching-tv-on-your-mac/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:59:22 +0000 LAUG 2.0 http://laugks.org/?p=233 The Lawrence Apple Users’ Group 2.0 will be having a meeting entitled “Watching TV on Your Mac” Wednesday, March 4th , 7pm at Van Go Mobile Arts 715 New Jersey Street in Lawrence.

The deadline for switching to digital TV is upon us and you might decide if you are getting a new TV to integrate it with your Mac. Take TV shows to and from your Mac and learn about the Apple TV

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Note our inclement weather policy: if USD 497 is closed, our meeting will be cancelled. Check our website if there is a question about whether the meeting is cancelled due to weather.

The book assumes you have iLife ‘08 and Leopard installed, and while focusing on iLife, it still covers such Leopard applications as iCal, Mail, Address Book, Safari, iChat and Time Machine. I would have suggested calling this an iLife book, but with the addition of some of the more practical applications that don’t fit into the iLife series, that wouldn’t make much sense either.

Overall the book is a competent overview of iLife and other Leopard applications. The book was lacking in some of Robin Williams’ trademark design. In fact, this book read like most other books on computers. The writing was a bit dense and lacking in full color photos and white space that increases readability. Dare I saw the book was a bit boring? The writing in individual chapters consisted mostly of features, menu commands and preferences and was lacking in practical applications or exercises.

After reading this book, don’t expect to become an expert in any of these subjects, but if you feel you want to “dabble” a bit more and don’t want to buy a whole book on iPhoto or iDVD, this may be a good book for you. This might be a good “in-between” book to help a reader determine if they want to explore iLife further. I would recommend this book to a Mac beginner who understands the basics of their new Mac, but wonders what all those programs that came with the computer can do.

Pros: Broad coverage of programs that come with new Macs
Cons: Lacks readability and practical application

2 out of 5 dogcows
This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Stellar is a primarily a PC based software manufacturer and it shows. Their user interface doesn’t look like a Mac program. It follows few, if any MacOS design conventions. In particular, their help system uses Windows icons and the Windows help interface. Their marketing material also shows a fundamental lack of Macintosh background. They refer to repair situations that only occur on older systems running OS 9. In addition, they refer to “Lacie” [sic] drives, when they apparently means external hard drives. Why they are using the generic term “LaCie” to refer to external hard drives is unclear, but I’m sure Maxtor, Seagate, and Other World Computing are annoyed by it.

As stated earlier, the interface of the program doesn’t follow Mac conventions and is quite confusing. You are faced with three choices for recovery: “Hard Drive”, “iPod”, or “Recover Photos, Music & Video Files.” However, the options are basically the same whichever one you choose, which is confusing. Once you choose one of the recovery types you have to decide between “Formatted media/Lost File Recovery” and “Search Lost/Deleted Volumes.” The documentation doesn’t make clear the difference. The choices also don’t warn you it doesn’t recover from FAT32 or NTFS volumes, which many external hard drive and flash drives use. Other programs warn you of this fact, Stellar simply says no data found, which can be misleading at times.

Unfortunately, because development is done outside the US, the program documentation and interface suffers from the typical grammatical confusion that occurs after something is translated from its native language to English. Similarly, technical support is not US based and when I had problems I was unable to effectively communicate with them and have my questions adequately addressed. Do not count on being able to contact technical support if you purchase this product.

In spite of the language barriers and the interface, if you are able to figure things out on your own, the product seems to perform well. Obviously testing data recovery properly is difficult because most recovery attempts change the reliability of future recovery attempts. Nonetheless, I recently had an opportunity to try it both as the first program for recovery and the second program, and Stellar Phoenix effectively recovered data consistent with other programs in the same price range. However, unlike other applications in its price range, Stellar Phoenix does not have a bootable DVD version. You must install Stellar on a computer before you can use it. This greatly limits Stellar’s ability to recover in emergency situations. Most other programs cost less and offer more options than Stellar.

Overall, the program does work, although the documentation and interface is quite confusing. This would not be the first nor the primary tool I would recommend to use in a crisis to recover files off a hard drive. If other options fail you, Stellar is worth at least a try with their free evaluation and 30 day money back guarantee.

Pros: Works decently and is another tool to try for data recovery
Cons: Poor interface, documentation and support.

3 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Executive Sync promises to sync files “to servers running Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and more” as well as “keep your work or personal files up-to-date between home, office, and on the road.” It does…but not really. I had inaccurately assumed the product was similar to Sugar Sync or Drop Box: I specify the computers I want synced and this happens in the background. I was wrong.

Executive Sync runs only on a Mac and the way it syncs is by mounting volumes from Windows, Linux and other operating systems. If you want to sync with a Windows machine, you must network your Mac to the PC and Executive Sync treats the Windows machine just like another disk. SMB file sharing is not a simple task for the average user. More importantly, in order to sync files you must be currently networked to the system you want to sync files with. Unlike other programs that sync through the Internet, Executive Sync requires you to remember to sync the files before you leave the office. Not sure how handy that is “on the road.” In theory, you could set up a complex VPN so you could connect to your home or office computer from the road, but that is technology that costs significant money and I doubt the average person has any type of setup like that. If they did, they would have probably write their own software to sync files.

Inaccurate marketing aside, Executive Sync does synchronize files between two folders mounted on your Mac. The program was able to find subtle differences between two folders and keep them in check. It does not do this automatically. You must manually start the program and run the sync. While there is a scheduling option, the scheduling only allows you to make sure the files are in sync at the time of scheduling. If the files are out of sync, you won’t be notified until the program runs again. Not only does this make it less convenient, but the program is quite slow. I synchronized two folders on my MacPro with about 40 GB of files and it took almost four hours. While running, the program was a processor hog and I couldn’t do much else.

The final nail in the coffin of Executive Sync is the fact there is virtually no tech support for the product. It is distributed by Smith Micro, which has no technical support information for the product. When you click the link for tech support, it simply takes you back to the product information page. The product is not listed in their tech support forums or contact pages. The help section of Executive Sync is acceptable, but can never replace technical support if you have an issue that goes beyond what is covered in the help.

Ultimately, the product does the basics of what it says: synchronizes files between two folders. The user interface was straightforward and easy to understand and the installer was the standard drop into the application folder. The program lets you pick which folders you want synchronized and allows you to save the settings. However, the marketing is misleading as to the scope of what the product does and the inability to get technical support on the product makes it a program that is best to avoid when so many other higher quality options exist with more features.

Pros: Does accurately synchronize folders
Cons: Misleading marketing, extremely slow, no tech support

1 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

With OS X, killer tips simply aren’t as necessary.  I’ve read most of this series in relation to the operating system.  Each iteration of the MacOS makes usage easier and more straightforward and thus tips aren’t as important.  The tips in this version are less killer than they were in Tiger and much less than Panther.  Even though all the cats of OS X are dangerous in the wild, they are becoming easier to understand and domesticate in each successive version. My review of Leopard Tips is harsher than Tiger Tips because there is simply less to cover and there is much more filler in this book that is inappropriate.  The “sexy side” of Leopard weren’t really tips, but more observations and the “cheap trick” section was fifteen pages of practical jokes you can play on people running Leopard  Excuse me?  Tips on how to create fake dialogs to scare users and how to corrupt their video so they buy a new monitor is more like a little knowledge being dangerous.  Such “tips” ensures no IT department will want their users to keep this book at their desk.

Save for the “cheap tricks”, a vast majority of the tips covered are so obvious even to the non-technical end user, that I’m surprised they authors weren’t too embarrassed to include them.  Do most users really need to be told that you can hide the dock?  Also, this is either a pro or a con, but the last few chapters cover each iLife component.   Personally, I don’t use iDVD, iMovie, or GarageBand so maybe those tips are worth the price of admission.  When you do the math, the actual Leopard tips are about 80% of the book; much less than previous versions.

As they state in the intro , this book is not really for beginners.  If it isn’t for beginners, why do they include such basic tips as having iChat’s status be your current song?  Yawn.  However, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and there were a few cool tips in the book, in particular located in the Spotlight section.  I learned a few cool shortcuts to writing searches, which might save me some time.  I also found out how to make printers auto-quit after launching a print job.  You click on their icon in the dock and choose auto quit.  Oh no, now you may have no reason to buy the book.  Of course, if it really annoyed me, I would have Googled and quickly found the tip.

While the book is accurate, it is generally too advanced for a beginner and too basic for an intermediate user.   The book might be good for a new Leopard user, and possibly for a seasoned Mac user that simply wants to know some cool things in Leopard and doesn’t want to try to self explore.  However, that’s a stretch.  I really can’t find too many people who would get value from the book and the “cheap tricks” chapter, well that cheapens the book’s value to negative numbers.

Pros:  Has a few good tips
Cons:  Not enough tips for most people to justify the purchase.  “Cheap tricks” are inappropriate.

1 out of 5 DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a Q&A led by our very own Dave Greenbaum.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included Mac OS X Leopard Killer Tips as well as Cool Mac Apps, both courtesy of Peach Pit Press.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Two different type of chargers recently came on the market with clear benefits and drawbacks to each. The odds are that one of these will greatly help you extend the usefulness of your iPhone 3G.

First, is the Richard Solo 1800 battery backup for the iPhone ($69.95 at www.richardsolo.com). Richard Solo was started by Richard Thalheimer, the founder of Sharper Image. I tried their previous version without much success and thus declined to review it. The 1800 is a complete redesign of their previous model. The 1800 has a much longer battery life than earlier models, and some very serious thought went into the overall 1800 package. The unit includes a car charger as well as a wall charger. Either charger can charge both the 1800 and the iPhone at the same time. If that wasn’t enough (but wait, there’s more), the 1800 has a built-in flashlight and laser pointer. Yes, freakin’ lasers (hat tip to Dr. Evil).

All these great accessories wouldn’t do much good if it failed in it’s primary mission of charging the iPhone 3G. Fortunately, it does a great job of quickly and effectively charging the battery. However, it has one major drawback in that it is very difficult to both charge and use the phone at the same time. The 1800 is about the size and thickness of the current iPod Nanos and sticks out from the bottom of the iPhone. This means it’s nearly impossible to charge the phone while in your pocket. Richard Solo includes a connector to keep the battery firmly connected to the iPhone while in use, but it wasn’t firm enough to keep the battery securely connected to the iPhone on a regular basis. I use it in my office sometimes while keeping the iPhone on the desk in speakerphone mode.

Even with the 1800’s awkward design, it is still a great product and I use it frequently. It fits effective along with my iPhone car mount so I use the Richard Solo charger to charge both the 1800 and my iPhone. While talking on the phone with the 1800 connected is difficult, it’s perfectly usable while using the iPhone for watching videos or simply surfing. In particular, I was easily able to leave both connected in the seat pocket of the airplane and let it pick up a charge while I had to turn off my electronic devices. It will charge most iPhones and iPods. However, one key disappointment with the 1800 is that it has no battery level indicator meaning I didn’t know how much charge was left in the 1800 as it charged my phone.

Using a completely different design concept is the Mophie Juice Pack ($99.95 at www.mophie.com). The juice pack combines a basic external case along with a battery extender. When attached, the juice pack adds about an inch of thickness to the bottom of the iPhone and makes the overall unit slightly thicker. Nothing too bulky. Unfortunately, you can’t use the iPhone with any other external case while using the Mophie no hard case and no silcone cases. The only type of protector that works with the Juice Pack are the plastic screen or case overlays. The Juice Pack is designed to be the exclusive external case for the iPhone.

When I tested the Juice Pack, I refused to take my iPhone out of my home. I was simply too afraid to carry around a partially naked iPhone. Who carries around an iPhone without some kind of protection? Apparently so, because after I used the Juice Pack for a day in my home and ventured out with my Otterbox securely protecting my iPhone, I found a vast majority of people I saw have no protection whatsoever. Naked, exposed and vulnerable iPhones out in the wild. If your iPhone is traveling naked, then the Mophie is absolutely perfect for you. Not only do you get extended battery life, but you get protection for your iPhone. While Mophie claims you can charge the iPhone and juice pack at the same time, I could not replicate these results; when my iPhone was plugged into the Mophie and the Mophie was plugged into the wall, only the Mophie charged, not the phone. Similar to the Richard Solo, the Mophie comes with it’s own USB charger and power adapter. Because the Juice Pack is designed to act as a external case, it is device specific and thus you can’t use an iPhone 3G juice pack for your iTouch.

Trying to compare the capacity in the real world between the Mophie and Richard Solo was impossible for me. I couldn’t use the Richard Solo all day because it didn’t fit into my lifestyle and I was too afraid to keep my iPhone only partially protected all day with the Mophie. After a few hours of use on a nearly drained iPhone, my Mophie was down about 30 and I couldn’t tell with the Richard Solo, but both devices fully charged my Phone.

Which do I recommend? For those that don’t use protection because it’s too bulky (I could make some analogies here, but that will be major TMI), the Juice Pack is a decent external iPhone protector that extends your battery life, and probably the life of your phone. If you don’t have an external case, the Mophie pack is clearly the better choice. If you are looking for the Red Bull quick-pick me up recharge, than the Richard Solo 1800 is great for you. Not only do you get the power boost, but the accessories are pretty cool as well. The Richard Solo is $30 cheaper to boot. However, you can’t use those worthless Sharper Image Gift cards to purchase the Richard Solo!

Richard Solo 1800
Pros: Multiple chargers, other useful functions of battery pack
Cons: For ergonomic reasons, generally can’t use the charger while using the phone

3 out of 5 dogcows

Mophie Juice Pack for the 3G
Pros: External case, slim design, battery indicators
Cons: Requires removal of any other external case

3 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Previously, my phone would be in my pocket, or my briefcase, or various other places. I tried the cupholder, but got nervous about my coffee spilling. I tried the glove compartment, but then it got knocked around. Most car accessories weren’t designed for the iPhone 3G or required rather hideous stick-on devices for the windshield or dashboard. Even with those, the stability was marginal at best. Their key fault was that all cars are not designed the same, so something that works well in one car, won’t work well in another vehicle.

ProClip is truly unique,and solves this problem. The clip consists of two parts. The first part is custom designed for your car; the “vehicle mount“. I had to specify the exact make and model for the car: 2003 Toyota Corolla Matrix. The vehicle mount differs from car to car. Some go near the radio, some near a vent, some in the middle console. The experts at ProClip determine the most stable place to mount your device. Often times it requires a little bit of prying. I was wary about that at first, but it was very easy. It wasn’t any harder than putting my iPhone in a hard case. Just place the tool at the predetermined spots in car and slip in the ProClip. I’ve had more trouble assembling a hard shell iPhone case then I did a ProClip.

The second part is the actual container for the iPhone; the “device holder“. Unlike other iPhone holders, the ProClip has an adjustable model that allows you to keep your silicone or hard shell around your iPhone while the device was held in the ProClip. Again, I was skeptical about the ProClip. There was nothing to hold the iPhone in place except for groves in the plastic. However, after going over some serious bumps and even purposefully knocking the clip around, the iPhone remained stable and secure. Wow. There are other models that aren’t adjustable forcing you to use your iPhone 3G naked as well as models that include chargers and pass-through connectors.

Unfortunately, with my car, the mount couldn’t be in a worse place. It is extremely close to the radio and is in front of the volume button so I have to reach around the unit to change the volume. The closeness to the radio increases exponentially my problems with GSM buzz. Also, since I have a GPS on the dash, the placement of the phone partially obscures my view of the GPS and gets in the way when I want to program destinations. If I didn’t have the GPS, the iPhone is in the perfect position for turn by turn direction viewing. If the placement in front of the radio wasn’t bad enough, the ProClip also sits right in front of the heating vent, which means that on cold winter days I can’t use that vent unless I want a blast of hot air to turn my iPhone into a toasty brick of plastic goo.

These mount problems are very vehicle specific. My spouse’s 2008 Camry allows for a mount much further away from the radio and air vents. The website shows pictures exactly where the clip would mount on your vehicle. An associate of mine has the same car I do and has a ProClip mount. He never listens to the radio, has no GPS, and doesn’t mind loosing one of the vents. In other words, my situation is unique.

ProClip is not a inexpensive solution. Vehicle mounts average $35 and the device holders are $30-$50. Also there is a 15% restocking fee should you need to return the item. That policy is a bit disappointing consider how personal and specific these vehicle mounts are.

In spite of these faults, I still use my ProClip unless I have a particularly bad GPS buzz problem or it’s a really cold day. I enjoy knowing exactly where my iPhone is and I can easily see callers while I’m driving. When my GPS doesn’t have my client’s address, my iPhone is always able to find it.

Pros: Custom designed holder for your iPhone and your vehicle. Keep your iPhone in reach without messy suction cups or mounting tape
Cons: Very vehicle specific and often requires you to compromise other vehicle functions. Unfair restocking fee.

3 out of 5 Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

I remember my first CompuServe experience back in the early 80s. We were living in Ohio and my uncle worked in Columbus for some computer company. He had his own computer, which was absolutely amazing to me. I was in middle school at the time and remember being allowed to use the TRS-80 in the administrative offices. The computers were cool and I was hooked. I could chat with girls who didn’t take one look at me and walk away.

“On the Way to the Web” brought back a lot of memories about the early days of the Internet and on-line services. I’m not sure people who weren’t involved in on-line computing during the 80s and 90s would have that same nostalgic smile. If hearing the words eWorld or AppleLink doesn’t ring any bells then you probably wouldn’t enjoy this book. Banks assumes you know these services and their place in online history, and more importantly, how their development was parallel to the development of the greater Internet. Having lived through this dramatic time in history I still found myself confused on the relationship between these services and the Internet.

The first few chapters are amazing, and effectively captured the headiness of those early days during the 1970s when TCP/IP was not preordained to be the preferred way of computers talking to each other. After commercial online services entered the scene, Banks focuses primarily on those services and their lineage. While online services were clearly important to get us where we are today, he tells the history in a dry and matter-of-fact manner without explaining what else was going on at the time. The level of detail he went into about how these services was over the top. The book is hard to follow because the author tells too many stories at once. I constantly had to refer to the appendix to review the timeline. I expected more about the people involved, rather than the competing companies and their online strategies.

Overall the book was an enjoyable trip down memory lane, but fails to explain how we got from the origins of the Internet to where we are today.

Pros: Nice historical overview of the Internet
Cons: Hard to follow

Two out of Five dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

When I had a bit of an accident with my last iPhone a month after purchase, I was determined to find the ultimate case. I wanted a case that was comfortable and functional yet protected my iPhone as much as possible. A quest! A quest not with trusty steed and map, but with my trusty Macbook and search engine. I wrote a list of exactly what I wanted: protect every single exposed port, silicone on the outside to prevent slippage, hard shell protection in case of impact, protect the screen without reducing the ability to tap, and finally still fit in my pocket and iPhone accessories. That case is the Otterbox Defender.

What is an Otterbox Defender? I remember seeing something about them at the MacWorld press room, but if you’ve seen one iPhone case you’e seen them all. Boy was I wrong! My quest came to an end once I installed the Otterbox Defender. This is clearly the 800 pound gorilla of iPhone protection and function. The Otterbox Defender consists of two main parts. First is the silicone overshell that protects ALL the ports, and I mean all: the volume, the headphone jack, the docking port, the ring silencer; everything. When the silicone shell is on, not a single port of your iPhone is exposed, though it’s very easy to operate the buttons through the silicone (or to flip open the protector.).

The other part of the Otterbox Defender is a hard shell case underneath the easily removable silicone. The hard shell includes a screen protector built in, so you don’t have to worry about those annoying bubbles underneath those stick-on screen protectors. The shell even covers the speakers at the bottom and the front with a slight bit of cloth (remember none of the iPhone case is exposed). Honestly, I noticed maybe a 5% reduction in sound quality when it is in the hard case. However, the slight sacrifice in sound quality is far outweighed by knowing my $300 investment is protected. The camera shutter also has a plastic overlay to protect it while still allowing you to take pictures. The pictures are every so slightly less clear with the plastic overlay, however cleanup in iPhoto restored them to near perfect quality and people couldn’t tell the difference between photos were taken with the case on and with the case off.

I used the case for over a month now, trying to weigh the pros and cons of the case. Besides a slight reduction in voice and picture quality, the case is just about perfect and I’m hard pressed to find any cons. Sure maybe maybe a transparent aluminum or the ability of the iPhone to accept a Shields Up voice command would clearly be the ideal solution, but in the 21st century the Otterbox is the best balance of protection and function on the market.

Finally, the Otterbox staff was an absolutely a pleasure to deal with. When I had a delivery problem, I didn’t have the run around typically found with large companies. Otterbox is based in Fort Collins, Colorado and is neighbors with one of the world’s greatest microbreweries, Coopersmiths, and gosh darn it, I think that just makes them happier people! I’m biased though.

The Otterbox Defender is available for $49.95 retail at www.otterbox.com and is hands down the ultimate iPhone case.

Pros: Protects every single nook and cranny of your iPhone and provides the best of hard shell and silicone protection, while leaving all functions of your iPhone intact
Cons: Slightly noticeable reduction in voice and picture quality

Five out of Five dogcows.

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

With the economy slowing down, more and more people are looking to sell their stuff on eBay. Putting items on eBay one at a time is a pain. Serious sellers use software to prepare and optimize their auctions. iSale is one of the best apps for creating and maintaining eBay auctions and is a clear leader in taking advantages of all the nooks and crannies of the Macintosh Operating System. They are a two-time Apple Design Award winner and their credentials shine through in iSale 5.0.

Some of the new features in 5.0 aren’t terribly compelling. For example, iSale 5.0 allows you to post your auctions on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube. However, if you are posting on eBay, you probably already tried to sell your items via your social network, thus I don’t see much usefulness in this feature. Expanded in 5.0 for users running Leopard is the integration with iCal. You can be notified when your auctions are going to end so you can start bugging buyers to pay you.Of course, like with any new release, there are more templates and backgrounds for your auction, which is nice, but not really worth the price of admission. People don’t buy items based on how cool the template is.

The killer feature that makes 5.0 a must-have upgrade is the Research Assistant. If you sell on eBay, you probably already check for other auctions similar to yours as well as Google your item for facts to include in your auction. iSale 5.0 automates this function. Search for an item and it will scan a preset list of websites including currently running auctions on eBay. When you see an auction similar to yours, click “create auction” and iSale copies the pictures and text from the listing…even the category. Of course you’ll have to worry about copyright issues, but you can easily tweak things to comply. If you only want to use part of the text from a website, the Research Assistant allows you to easily copy and past the text from within the program or save it into a clipping file for later. I easily modified the Research Assistant to include eBay completed auctions and Google groups so I can see what the going price was for something and possibly copy info as necessary.

My one complaint about iSale is it is a processor and memory hog. Even on my MacPro 2 Ghz CPU with 4 Gig of RAM, iSale seems sluggish. It would often take 70-120% of processor cycles and over a gig of RAM usage for just a few auction items. All these features come at a price and if I sell enough on eBay, maybe I can even upgrade the computer!

Equinux has a great trial version. They’ll let you download the program and try three auctions for free. No reason not to try it and see if you like it.

Overall iSale remains a great program to sell items on eBay and the 5.0 upgrade’s research Assistant is well worth the upgrade price of $25.00 New iSale users will have to pay $39.95 for a single pack of $49.95 for a five user pack.

Pros: Existing selling features combined with the Research Assistant make selling quick and easy
Cons: Memory and processor hog.

Four out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Free State Labs on the successes and failures of the Apple iPhone app store.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included PDO Sporteer Armband for iPhone from PDOStore.com as well as Stox courtesy of Prosoft Engineering.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

We’ll have the developers of GroceryIQ visiting to tell us all we need to know about iPhone applications. GroceryIQ is one of the top 10 applications for the iPhone. Anyone that has an iPhone or iTouch (or interested in one for a holiday gift) should attend this meeting!!

Meetings are always free and questions are always welcome, even if it isn’t about the topic being discussed. A door prize will also be given out to an attendee. Go to http://www.laugks.org for more info or Contact Dave Greenbaum, 785-218-9676, dsg@mac.com to be notified of upcoming meetings.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Mike Silverman on ways to get involved with the many social networking sites on the web.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included Facebook: The Missing Manual from O’Reilly and the equinux Stationary Pack from Equinux Software.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Bruce Sergeant on ways to repurpose older Mac hardware.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included the iLife 08 Apple Pro Training book from Peachpit and the One Clean Duo Pack from AM Denmark A/S.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Fast forward to 2008 and utility programs are easy to find. A few Google searches and you’ll find a utility to do anything you can imagine on your Mac. Actually, you might be overwhelmed with the number of programs out there. You can read reviews, of course, which are always helpful, or you can buy something like Spring Cleaning which combines a bunch of utilities into one neat package.

Spring Cleaning combines over 30 little programs into one mega-utility. Spring Cleaning won’t repair your computer if it has a problem, but it will help you maintain your computer. This program isn’t designed for newbies. There isn’t a one-touch cleanup setting, but rather numerous subtle ways of tweaking your system such as slimming down universal apps or cleaning out certain caches. If you aren’t sure what those things are, then this program won’t be of much use. The documentation tells you what each program does, but doesn’t explain why you’d want to use it. Nonetheless, I recommend this Spring Cleaning for anyone running low on hard disk space. A majority of the utilities allow you to find errant files on your hard drive to reclaim space.

As an advanced Mac user, I have utilities that duplicate most of these functions, but then of course I have to remember which program I use for what function. Spring Cleaning is elegant in the way all these programs can be accessed easily. I also like the fact that the Spring Cleaning functions have scheduling and “undo” for many of the features. The handiest utility in my book is the “Quick Compare”. I’ve found few shareware utilities that match its ease of use and simplicity. It does one thing very well: compare the contents of two folders and merge them together, which is perfect when you are trying to sync a laptop and desktop.

Overall, Spring Cleaning gets its value in its ease of use and one stop shopping for intermediate Mac users. Even advanced technicians will enjoy having all major utilities in one application.

Pros: Over 30 different utilities put together in one package, scheduling and undo function
Cons: Skimpy documentation. Functions can be found in other programs in the shareware or freeware realm

8 out of 10 rating

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Julie Sergeant on how to research and setup your family Genealogy on the Mac.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a Laptop Case from equinix, Getting Started with Leopard from friendsofed, and the iPhone Book courtesy of Peachpit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

When using the phone, I had difficulty operating the volume and the sleep/awake button. The case added so much bulk, you could no longer easily operate those buttons with your thumb because you had to press so deep that merely pressing your thumb on the buttons didn’t give it enough force. Granted, this isn’t the end of the world, but in the competitive arena of iPhone cases, every annoyance is magnified. I’d have to fumble just a little bit more when I forget to turn on vibrate during a business meeting. Also annoying was the inability to remove the SIM card while the case was on. If you often swap SIM cards then this is clearly not the case for you.

Aesthetics are an important consideration in cases. I ordered the black case, but the black case didn’t match the black of the iPhone. The Eco-Shield was a lighter black and light enough for you to notice the case didn’t match. Also, the plastic showed scratches very quickly and significantly more than an iPhone without a case. This is probably due to the type of plastic used.

As far as protection, testing is always difficult as I don’t have a bunch of extra iPhones to bang around, but the case did have some small shock absorbers protecting the back of the phone. Drop tests without the iPhone inside didn’t show shattering or cracks. The design is two pieces that snap together and the case wasn’t too difficult to remove, but didn’t come apart during my tests.

PROS: Eco-friendly recycling plastic reduces your carbon footprint
CONS: Difficult to grasp, showed scratches easily, and reduced accessibly of key functions

2 out of 5 Dog Cows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

MercuryMover is a program designed for fast typists who hate using the mouse. For these people, clicking the mouse to access a menu or function is as obscene a gesture as showing one’s middle digit in public! I too avoid removing my fingers from the keyboard and use either my Macbook trackpad or my Contour Rollermouse. MercuryMover allows you to move or re-size windows without having to move your hands off the keyboard, and implements the idea well.

MercuryMover runs as a System Preference, making it easy to install and remove. I run a fairly complex suite of applications and ran into no compatibility problems. The special modifier keys to move or re-size windows are fully customizable, so if there is a conflict with an existing program, the MercuryMover keys can be rerouted. By default, the program is set to use the control, option ,and arrow keys to initiate a re-size or move. After pressing the hotkeys, use the arrows or “jump” modifiers to move the windows one pixel or one screen at a time.

On a practical level, this program isn’t going to change your life. The program shines when you want to have tiled or cascading windows open and need to move or re-size the windows. For example, I had iCal and Excel open as I was transcribing billing statements for client sessions I stored in iCal. In addition, I was remote controlling my desktop computer and MercuryMover allowed me to accurately re-size windows, which is a problem in a remote session due to “lag time” between mouse clicks.

Unfortunately, you can configure every key but the key to dismiss MercuryMover from the screen (it is set to escape and can’t be changed). As a keystroke economist, I’d want the key to close MercuryMover closer to the modifier keys such as control and option. Fortunately, you can simply click somewhere and MercuryMover gracefully flashes off the screen.

My major concern about the program is price. I firmly believe in the shareware pricing model and know that developers should earn a decent wage. However $19.00 seems like a large sum of money for a simple shortcut application. I wouldn’t be able to justify the purchase of this program based on the price, it simply isn’t worth $19.00 to save mouse-clicks to move and re-size windows and the price is out of step with other keyboard shortcut programs of this type.

Pros: Quickly re-sizes and moves windows without using the mouse
Cons: Limited configurability, price

Three out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Ever need a file and realize that you aren’t on the right computer or device to access it? The file is on the desktop, but alas, you are on the laptop. What if you are at a public place and need the file? Do you want to open up your whole computer to the Internet, or just want to share a small portion of your files?

What SugarSync does is very similar to some of the functions of MobileMe. You specify folders on multiple computers you want synced and whenever something changes in those folders, the software pushes down the changes. Obviously this function only works for people who have MobileMe subscriptions and who have Macs configured with their MobileMe account. SugarSync opens this ability to both Macs and PCs that don’t have MobileMe subscriptions.

SugarSync is file syncing “for the rest of us” as Steve would say. Installation is a breeze. Install the program and it expertly figures out how to get to the web without reconfiguring routers or firewalls (some Windows third party firewalls might need to give SugarSync permission to work). For $2.49 a month or $25 a year, you get 10 gigabytes of storage space in their “cloud”. You can install the software on as many machines as you would like to sync with because pricing is based on file size. Upgrades to add additional space are allowed. Once installed, file updates are nearly instant. Within a few seconds of putting your files in a folder configured for sync, the file is on a secure website and it automatically synced to all the machines you specify.

The program is officially still in “beta development and testing” for the Mac, but I’ve had no problems using it. I heavily rely on the program to sync service orders which are scanned on my PC and then read on my Mac. In particular, I like the fact it allows other to access these files (with a password) without giving them any file sharing privileges on my Mac. Unlike file sharing or MobileMe, SugarSync keeps the last five versions of files, so if a collaborator makes a mistake, you can access the previous version. I have been using the program for six months without a hint of trouble. Even if you don’t sync between two devices, simply using SugarSync to back up 10 gig of information from your computer to their website for off site backup is well worth the $25 a year.

There are a few minor bugs, such as the inability to delete a machine you are currently syncing with, but I found the support quick and responsive when I had programs. You get to specify icons for the computers you are syncing with, but are given a limited selection of icons for that. Custom icons would be great, but that is a feature request, not a bug.

Other programs do this type of syncing but not quite the way SugarSync does. SugarSync’s closest competition is DropBox, which currently works under the same website synchronization concept, but is in development and only allows 2 gig of backup space on their website. DropBox is “by invitation only” so can’t easily be reviewed at this point. FolderShare by Microsoft does syncing between computers, but doesn’t have the robust version tracking and website backup that SugarSync has.

However, for me, the greatest features is the iPhone interface, which all its competitors lack. The SugarSync website is optimized for the iPhone browser, making it a breeze to read documents synced with them. In addition, they recently developed a full iPhone app for SugarSync, though I currently find the SugarSync website easier to use on the iPhone than their app (the app was release the last week in August).

Pros: Quick reliable backup and synchronization of files on Macs and/or PCs without paying for a MobileMe subscription
Cons: Minor customizations quirks that don’t effect usability, could be knocked out of position once DropBox gets out of beta

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

BusySync was one of the top rated products from MacWorld 2008. I immediately got a review copy and have been happily using it ever since. Though I had some initial setup problems, the product has worked so well that I simply forgot to review it. A program that works in the background and does what it says it will do is quite a refreshing surprise!

BusySync has two major functions. First, it allows you to sync with Google calendars. Google has functions that allow users to share calendars with the optional ability to edit someone else’s calender. However, getting Google to sync with your iCal is key. That’s where BusySync comes in. Purchase and install BusySync with a one time charge of $25, and you’ll be able to sync your Google calenders with iCal on your Mac. On initial view, this sounds very ho-hum. You may not even use Google calendar, so why care? Ah, becuase Google is Google and everyone syncs with Google. For example, if you have a Mac at home and a PC using Outlook at work, Google can act as an intermediary to sync your iCal with Outlook. If you don’t have an iPhone with Mobile Me, send a text message to Google and it will put an appointment on your Google calendar, and then BusySync will transfer it to your Mac.

But wait? Doesn’t Mobile Me allow you to share calendars? Why even mess with Google? Ah, Mobile Me allows what they call “calendar sharing”, but like at most museums, you may look, but not touch. If you share a calender with someone via iCal, they can’t change the information. Sometimes that is good. The Lawrence Apple Users’ Group 2.0 has a shared iCal. We want members to know about events, but not change them. However between myself and my spouse we need the ability to change events and have it appear on each other’s calendar. Friends call and move the dinner party from Monday to Wednesday, I want the ability to change both of our calendars (and if you don’t trust your spouse on your calendar, well can’t help with that). In addition, I use BusySync and Google to control an associate’s service call calender. I can put service calls on his calendar, and if he changes the time because a customer is running late, the changes show up on my iCal. I allow him to subscribe to my iCal via Mobile Me, because I don’t want him to change my calendar, only view it.

The other function of BusySync is the ability to sync between iCal without paying the yearly Mobile Me fee. If you are sticking with Mobile Me because of the ability to sync calendars between multiple computers or multiple people, save that $99 a year (Shh, don’t let Steve hear that). Some people work with sensitive data and don’t like the fact that Apple can see their schedule. BusySync running under Leopard allows SSH syncing between computers, so the data travelling across the Internet is secure.

When I setup BusySync, I had some initial problems. Google did not like the amount of appointments I had. I was trying to sync five years worth of data and it was too much data to send to my Google calendar at once and Google thought I might be spamming myself. After some very helpful suggestions from the developer, I archived my old appointments and let Google pick up just the new ones. That’s one great thing about artisan software: you speak directly with the developer. I didn’t have to wait on hold with off-shore tech support only to have them tell me to reformat my Mac. Sometimes I notice that if I change the time of a recurring appointment, the next time BusySync works it’s magic, it shows both the changed time and the recurring appointment. This somewhat makes sense, and it’s easy to see and fix. BusySync logs all of the changes it makes, so tracking down problems is easy.

BusySync realizes that it’s working with important data–all the appointments in your life. It makes up to five backup copies of your calendar, so if it or you make a mistake, there is a easy way to restore. I wish Apple’s SyncServices did that. More than once I’ve had a weird sync and all my data get corrupt. If I didn’t have TimeMachine, I’d be in a world of hurt! Thanks BusySync.

Also thank you to BusySync for not just responsive tech support, but an extensive, detailed, and updated online help system. Syncing is complex and BusySync has numerous diagrams to illustrate this difficult concept. I had some trouble figuring out my overall sync strategy and BusySync’s website made it crystal clear. Can we say that about MobileMe?

My only major complaint is the fact that you can’t have more than one Google account configured within BusySync. I have work and personal Google accounts and I’d like both to sync to my iCal. The workaround is to have my personal and work Google calendars talk with each other, and then I sync both to my iCal. Also on my wishlist is the ability to specify how many days of syncing I want on a calendar. I would like to BusySync to allow me to only sync the past 30 days (or any number I choose), similar to how you sync your computer with your iPhone. BusySync’s syncing is all or none. Either you sync all items or you sync no items. This lack of flexibility prevents me from giving the program a perfect five dogcow rating–and a gentle nudge for features to include in the next version.

PROS: Does a great job of syncing calenders between computers, and between google without yearly fees. Software is stable and reliable with great tech support.
CONS: Locks you into one google account and “all or none” syncing

Four out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation by Angie Brunk on how to protect and preserve digital photos as well as an assortment of paper media.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a Laptop Desk from LapWorks as well as a tote bag courtesy of DriveSavers.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

If you are an experienced Mac user, you probably start wondering about the way things are. Why did Apple do something this way? Why can’t iTunes play AVI files? What does this ‘Automator’ thing do? In the past, there have not been any decent books for experienced Mac tinkerers; a large gap existed between “Macs for Dummies” one one end and professional programming guides on the other. Luckily, “The Big Book of Apple Hacks” by author Chris Seibold has stepped in to fill this gap very nicely.

Overall, this is an interesting book, with a wide variety of hacks, ranging from relatively simple and harmless (customizing icons) to intermediate (changing the default Safari error page) to downright complex hardware hacks that may require some handiness with a soldering iron (as well as steady nerves). Some of the hacks aren’t really hacks at all, but rather short tutorials on interesting topics, such as how to use BitTorrent or how to simulate a static IP address with a dynamic IP service.

The book is laid out by general topic, rather then difficulty, with topics for Safari, the iPhone, AppleTV, iPods, and so forth. Each topic has a half dozen or more hacks, and the book overall has dozens of hacks. It is a very detailed and long book, and is an excellent value given the enormous breadth of data contained therein.

I made direct use of the book by following the hack to install a web browser on my Apple TV. Unfortunately, the book stumbled a bit here. This involved essentially making a special bootable USB flash drive and booting the AppleTV from this device, called a patchstick. The instructions in the book were a lot longer and more confusing then they had to be, and the first attempt, following the book’s instructions to the latter failed. I then followed the instructions contained in the actual patchstick download itself (not provided by the book) and it worked fine; however, it left my AppleTV with a working web browser — and an extraneous menu item for something called Jamen — an unpleasant surprise not mentioned in the book.

I do not want to ‘ding’ this book too much for my poor experience with their AppleTV hack, as by its nature this kind of thing will not work perfectly every time. You have to be willing to experiment to really enjoy the book, and the other hacks I tried worked flawlessly. Even for the hacks I didn’t need or want to try were enjoyable to read about; if nothing else the book will give you ideas and inspiration for your own computer use.

Note that this book is not for beginning or even intermediate Mac users. While some of the hacks are not difficult, they all have the potential to screw up your system, and while an intermediate user is probably OK, especially with a few of the topic-based tutorials, this book is really meant for an experienced user who is not afraid to get his or her hands dirty…and who always has an up-to-date backup of their system available for the inevitable screw-ups! It is also worth noting that the world of computers changes quickly, and portions of the book have already become out of date with new MacOS and hardware releases. So, check the book’s web site and as always, backup before playing!

Summary: A good overall guide filled with interesting ways to expand and enhance your Apple equipment for experienced users.

Plusses: Good mixture of easy and difficult ‘hacks’, very engaging writing style, lots of very useful ideas

Minuses: Some hacks were incompletely documented, quickly out of date.

Rating 3.5 out of 5 Dogcows

Even if you don’t eat at your desk, the keyboard is a wonderful petri dish of anything and everything that your fingers touch. Yuck. If you want to get really grossed out, think about those shared keyboards on corporate computers, or the IT person that goes from keyboard to keyboard spreading whatever they have along with half the company. Freaked out yet? You really should be. Do Google comparisons of your keyboard and a toilet seat.

Not to fear, AM One Clean Duopack Cleaner is here. While I’ve heard of using Lysol or other cleaners, these aren’t made for computers and could potentially do damage. AM Cleaner was especially designed to disinfect computer keyboards. Not only does the solution disinfect, but the cleaner sponge is specifically designed to get into the nooks and crannies of the keyboards because there is stuff hiding in there. The keyboard cleaner did a great job removing the grime and junk after my extended lack of cleaning.

The kit also includes a screen cleaner which does a great job, though it works horribly on the glossy Macbook (and newer iMac) screens. I have yet to find a good cleaner for those screens! That is the major flaw of the product and makes it unacceptable for users of glossy screens. If you own one of these Macs, buy the keyboard cleaner and wait for a product designed for glossy screens.

What makes these products designed for the Mac? Style of course! Instead of looking like a spray bottle and sponge, the kits match the colors and texture of the current Mac model line: brushed metal for the Pro and newer iMac line and glossy plastic for the Macbook and white iMacs. The sponge and cleaner are integrated into a stylish holder that looks like it was provided by Apple itself. People won’t accuse you of being a germaphobe with this handy device on your desk.

Next time you eat at your desk or IT says “move” and uses their magic fingers on the keyboard, pull out your AM cleaner and do your part to protect your health.

PROS: Cleans icky keyboards with style
Cons: Makes glossy screens look icky

Three out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation from Headquarters Counseling Center and Dave Greenbaum on how to protect and monitor children on the Internet.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a copy of Pzizz from Pzizz Technology as well as Getting StartED with Mac OS X Leopard courtesy of friends of ED.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, and opening questions. This was followed by a presentation from Brian Best of Best Macs on the ins and outs of Apple’s .Mac service, recently renamed MobileMe.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included free training on .Mac with Best Macs as well as Stox courtesy of Prosoft Engineering.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

When I first saw the Pzizz booth at Macworld 2007, I wasn’t really impressed with the product. I got a demo, tried it, wasn’t interested and moved on. The produce sounded too new age: help you sleep and help you be more alert. Isn’t that like when Unilver bought Ben and Jerry’s and Slimfast the same day? Yawn, literally. Then they sponsored a full naptime area at MacWorld 2008 and I decided to give the product another try after meeting with the developer and getting some tips on usage.

The concept of Pzizz is fairly sound – if you pardon the pun. The brain reacts to sounds in certain ways and you can gently nudge your brain into certain patterns. This isn’t anything like subliminal messages or hypnosis. You won’t suddenly bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken on command.

The program has two basic modules: energizer and sleep. You can tweak the length of time of the modules, the sound levels, and the voice levels, but for starting out the default levels are fine. When you export the mp3 modules Pzizz customizes the soundtrack on both a random and predictable levels. The general concept remains the same in each export: a gentle announcer walks you through relaxation techniques and gives you positive encouragement. Each time he might put the phrases in different order. In fact, I’ve noticed sometimes the modules bump against each other which can be a bit distracting as he won’t finish his sentences.

I suffer terribly from insomnia and would prefer a natural solution solution instead of popping a pharmaceutical with side effects. I don’t have any particular medical condition, I’m just way too busy and wired to go to sleep at night sometimes. After meeting with the developer of the product, he said there are a few key things to do to get the maximum benefit out of the product.

First, he suggests trying the energizer module during the day. Just export a 20 minute energizer session and close your eyes and let the sounds wash over you. Don’t even worry about feeling energized. Just listen with your eyes closed and relaxed position where you are at the maximum comfort you can be in. Try not to sit upright while using it.

Second, don’t try to figure it out. Just listen to the sounds with your eyes closed and headphones in. Ignore the narrator if you want. He says it works better with headphones than with speakers. The sounds must be in stereo format to the get the full effect of the product. My Etymotic earphones worked very well in this setting. They allowed me to move my head and I wasn’t distracted by any band over my head.

My results were surprisingly good. I didn’t feel particularly “energized” after the energizer module, but I did feel less stressed. The sleep module worked much better for me. Even if you ignore the binaural science behind the product, putting on a set of headphones and tuning out the world for an hour makes a heck of a lot of sense. I tried another binaural beat product and didn’t like it. Because Pzizz is different each time, you don’t get bored with it. The unique soundtrack gives you something to listen to. It’s hard to listen to the soundtrack and think about the problems of the day. I thought I’d get annoyed by the narrator, but his chatter kept me from creating my own.

I found it worked much better using the headphones. It annoyed my bedmate a bit, but it was better than my constant tossing and turning because I couldn’t get to sleep. Occasionally I’d fall asleep with the headphones on, but more often I’d be at some point in the 60 minute soundtrack and I’d pull off the headphones and shuffle and then fall sleep. I can honestly say after about 4 months of using it, I haven’t heard the end of the soundtrack: I’ve fallen asleep before the end. That’s pretty amazing for me considering I often see my bedroom clock hit 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am…you get the idea. Yes, I know I shouldn’t have it viewable from my bed, but I still get up and peak. The times I had trouble sleeping and my shuffle wasn’t fully charged, I’d notice the difference. I didn’t use it every night…probably less than once or twice a week. If I couldn’t sleep after about 30 minutes of being in bed, I’d put on the headphones instead of using the computer or reading a book. Again,the mere fact I chose to listen to Pzizz instead of doing another thought provoking activity in and of itself promotes good sleep habits.

I highly recommend Pzizz to anyone who has problems sleeping. Be sure to follow the suggestions on how to properly use it and don’t expect miracles. What you will get is a way to help you sleep in a drug-free natural way. As the narrator tells me, it’s important to have a ritual before you sleep and if you have trouble sleeping make Pzizz part of it.

Pros: Helps you relax and get to sleep, drug and side effect free, not having talk to your bed partner?
Cons: Requires some planning, not having to talk to your bed partner?

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

My review of Leopard: The Missing Manual won’t be nearly as complete as David Pogue’s typical brilliance. How can someone write about the Mona Lisa? You must actually experience it to fully understand it. (Ohh…now I just made my trip to France tax-deductible). As always, Pogue’s Missing Manuals contain the nitty-gritty of every available function and possible combination. I compared the excellent Tiger edition with the Leopard edition side by side to see what changed.

The 300 extra functions in Leopard only added about 50 pages to the book, which is larger than a phone book and more complete! The Leopard edition had less handholding for Windows users, which is ironic because Boot Camp attracts more Windows users. Cut from the Tiger version of this book were among other things .Mac and iSync integration as well as some terminal tips and tricks.

Missing Manuals are well known for covering each and every function of the subject they cover and of course this version does not disappoint. Do you want to know the in-and-outs of Bluetooth on your Mac? No Problem. Screen Sharing? It’s got it. Every single function of Leopard is covered. The book is designed as a reference guide, not a tutorial

This is not the book for basic user who just wants to send emails and surf. There will be too much information and the almost 900 pages will be intimidating. This is for the person that wants to eek every last ounce of performance and function from the computer. They squeeze the toothpaste to the very bottom and use double coupons for items on sale. Novices may also be turned off by no coverage of iLife.

Pros: It’s all there. Every function, every System Preference. You name it, it’s got it along with Pogue’s style of easy to understand explanations

Cons: Consult a doctor before lifting this book, it’s heavy. Might scare off novices.

Five out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, opening questions followed by a presentation from Dave Greenbuam on how to utilize your Mac to keep track of your personal finances. The slides from the meeting are available in either PDF or Keynote formats.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included Leopard: This Missing Manual from O’Reily Media as well as Stox courtesy of Prosoft Engineering.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

The fact that O’Reilly and Pogue Press wrote a whole book on Facebook should be a testament to Facebook’s phenomenal growth. Way back in the dark ages of this social networking era, 2004, only college students were allowed to join. Then at the end of 2006 Facebook was made available to everyone. Now Mom and Dad could see where their college money was going and then students have to explain what “hooking up” was. In May of 2007, Facebook expanded again and allowed “applications” that included everything from vampire attacks on your friends, to playing Scrabble, and finding out how much your friends are alike.

In the Web 2.0 (are we up to 3.0 yet?), a website can have the complexity and functions of a off-the-shelf shrink-wrapped software application. Facebook is a clear example of this phenomenon. There are help screens in Facebook, but there is no manual. In fact, one false move on facebook and all of a sudden people get the wrong impression about you that can last a lifetime. Vander Veer takes the gentle reader through all aspects of signing up on Facebook, connecting with users and “installing” applications. Personally when I signed up with Facebook I made a few of these embarrassing mistakes. I added a few professional clients that might not have synced up properly with my personal life. Oops.

This isn’t a typical missing manual book. Missing Manuals tend to cover each and every function of a program. This book follows more of a tutorial format walking the reader through the setup of a Facebook account and it’s functions. Because Facebook is a website, it can change daily (and does) so full coverage is near impossible. Since this book was published, significant changes were made to the privacy and advertising functions of Facebook. The book is about half the size of the average Missing Manual.<

This book is ideal for the newcomer to Facebook who wants to find out what it’s all about and play a few games of Scrabulous with their colleagues (or grandkids). The book assumes no prior knowledge of Facebook–only that you have an interest in joining. If you are already are on Facebook, you won’t find many tips or tricks. The author did hint at some of the social complexities of Facebook: whom to friend, which groups to join, who should have access to your profile. I thought about those issues after reading the book, but once you are on Facebook, you figure out those things the hard way.

Pros: Perfect book for someone about to join Facebook. Excellent tutorial

Cons: Doesn’t cover many of the Facebook functions, a bit dated.

Three out of Five Dogcows

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, followed by presentations from Group members on how to utilize their iPod to the fullest extent.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included iPod skins from Gelaskins, ClearCal iPod protectors as well as iPod: The Missing Manual courtesy of O’Reily Media.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

My laptop tends to be my best friend ..tagging along with me places I wouldn’t ask my worst enemy to follow. Unfortunately, using a laptop in these conditions take their toll. Balancing a latte and a $2,000 laptop is a recipe for destruction. That is, if you don’t have a Futura Laptop Desk. The Futura combines elegant design and world-class ergonomics to provide a ‘body-friendly” workspace at almost any location.

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Elgato EyeTV 250 with QAM

Watching TV and using a computer are fairly distinct activities. TV programs do not crash. The characters on “Lost” don’t start walking slowly and stuttering when too many people are watching the show at the same time. Unlike Microsoft Office, Dwight Schrute from “The Office” won’t unexpectedly quit at the worst possible time (which is more then can be said for his writers!)

Still, TV does have a lot in common with your Mac…both require you to watch what goes on on a screen, and these days, both contain digital content that you, as a consumer ought to be able to watch and use at whatever time you see fit. In our brave new world of TiVo, video on demand, and YouTube, television is no longer “broadcast” to your home on the schedule of some fat cat TV executive; consumers today have more control then ever of how and when they watch their favorite shows.

The EyeTV 250 (with QAM) from Elgato brings the party to your MacOS computer in a big way. This small (about the size of two desks of cards) USB device allows anyone with a modern Mac to enjoy TV on their computer. At its most basic, the Elgato device is a TiVo for the Mac; you can watch live TV, pause shows in the middle (great for bathroom breaks on your schedule), and record your favorite shows. Recorded shows can be watched faster then if they were live, because you can quickly fast-forward through commercials. You can enjoy shows on your Mac’s crisp LCD display, or if you want, export them to your Apple TV to watch on your big-screen in the living room, or save shows to your iPod to watch on the go.

The EyeTV works in conjunction with the free TitanTV online programming guide to give you an interactive listing of TV programs, similar to what you might see on a TiVo or TV Guide. As you view a listing of channels and shows in the familiar grid, you can click on any show title to get a complete description of the episode and schedule it for recording. If there’s a show you watch every week, you can set up a “season pass” to have the EyeTV automatically record each week’s new episode.

In addition to a more traditional computer-like interface, with an on-screen ‘virtual’ remote control for controlling normal TV functions, the EyeTV has the capability to enter a full-screen mode. This can be controlled using the Apple remote as well as EyeTV’s own included full-function remote. Utilizing a view similar to the Apple TV, you can scroll through the channels you receive to watch live TV, or browse your previously recorded shows. This mode works great with the new iMacs, and watching TV on one of these systems (especially HD programming) is an amazing experience.

But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Before you can enjoy all of this, you do have to set up the EyeTV. Luckily, Elgato’s software walks you though most of the process automatically (with one big exception – more on that later). You hook the USB device to the back of your Mac, install the software, enter your activation code, and then EyeTV will ask you some basic questions about your setup, such as where you live (so it can download the correct program guides for your cable service). After scanning for channels (which takes a few minutes) you are ready to go.

The EyeTV 250 (with QAM) works with analog cable TV (the cable most of us have) as well as with digital over-the-air television (if you have an external antenna). There is also a port to hook up a VCR or other analog input device such as a game console or older camcorder. The newest EyeTV 250 also supports free digital cable, which is known by the industry acronym QAM. Both over-the-air digital signals and QAM digital cable signals can optionally, depending on the station, be high definition, which the EyeTV supports (both 720p and 1080i for those who speak geek).

Now a brief digression (if you were watching “Mythbusters” right now, you would see the “Warning: Science Contents” alert at this time!):

QAM is a geek feature. For those lucky enough to have cable companies using unencrypted QAM, and those with the geek skills and patience to use it, the EyeTV 250 will give you many dozens of crystal-clear digital channels, including (possibly) many HD channels, all for free (well, free beyond the normal monthly fee you already pay for cable). QAM is not documented much by Elgato, and not at all by your cable company, so actually using it is an arcane art, primarily because the cable providers do not provide the “channel mapping” for QAM that they do for regular, old-fashioned analog cable. QAM channels also sometimes (but not frequently) might “jump” to different locations depending on the whims of the cable gods. Anyway, if you use the QAM feature of the EyeTV, you end up with a list of some 100 or more unlabeled channels with names like “105-14.” You, the geek, can then manually tune each of these channels, figure out what network it is by the programming being shown, and then label the channel in the EyeTV interface. Once you do this time-consuming step, you then will have a nice list of properly-labeled channels and can use the program guide. It is well worth the effort it takes to do this – your reward is usually a bunch of crisp digital channels and a lot of glorious high definition programming. If any non-geeks have ready this far, please do not be scared away – you can enjoy easy-to-use program guides and properly labeled analog cable with the EyeTV without doing anything at all beyond running the installation wizard. QAM and its complexity is just for the geeks. Nothing to see here, so move along.

Obviously, you can use the EyeTV for simple channel surfing, but you’ll probably start using it to record shows. As I mentioned above, the interface to do this is very easy, a matter of simply clicking on a show’s title in the on-screen program guide. When it is time for a show to be recorded, the EyeTV software will launch (if it is not running) and record the show. After a show is recorded, you can watch it in EyeTV itself, or automatically have the show exported to iTunes where it can then be transferred to your iPod or an Apple TV. This is a very powerful feature, since the Apple TV doesn’t include DVR functionality. Even if you do not have an Apple TV, the EyeTV software itself supports streaming over your household wireless connection to other computers, so you could record television on your Mac in the home office and later watch it on your MacBook in the bedroom.

If you already have an Apple TV, the EyeTV is a perfect companion, especially if you would prefer to record shows yourself rather then pay Apple $2.00 per episode. Likewise, plugging in your iPod in the morning and having last night’s TV shows copied to it is a great convenience if you need something to watch on the morning train ride to work. Shows are exported as they were recorded, which means the commercials are included, but the EyeTV software includes a basic video editor, so if you have the time, you can edit out the commercials directly from the EyeTV software interface prior to watching or exporting the video.

Finally, the EyeTV has the standard RCA component inputs, allowing you to hook up a VCR or old camcorder. This is a great way to digitize your VHS video collection or any old camcorder tapes you might have. Once your video is in EyeTV, you can then edit it or export it into iMovie or another dedicated video editing application.

The EyeTV is indisputably one of the most useful and fun devices available for the MacOS. However, it is not without a few flaws. The EyeTV software, which just recently got updated to version 3.0, is somewhat buggy, and I have had it crash on me a few times. Elgato is aware of many of these problems and just released 3.0.1, which I am hoping improves stability. My EyeTV 250 also initially would not properly display analog signals from cable or a VCR, resulting in a screen full of wavy lines. I was able to resolve this issue by power-cycling the unit, but still, this was not a good first impression. Since then, the unit has performed fine, however.

Another issue with the EyeTV is not so much a technical failure of the device itself, but rather a risk that Elgato may be left behind by rapid technical changes in the cable television industry. Analog cable is gradually being phased out, and future digital cable technologies may require additional equipment from cable companies to utilize new features such as video on demand and encryption of digital content. The EyeTV cannot receive encrypted content, such as premium channels (like HBO). Future Elgato products may support the addition of a special card, called a cable card, to allow it to receive encrypted channels, but for now, you cannot use the EyeTV to watch this content.

One additional concern is that the Elgato technical support is very, very slow. I reported an issue with the EyeTV in order to test out their support process, and it took over a week before I got any kind of response through Elgato’s formal channels. Luckily, Elgato offers an online forum where other uses, and Elgato technical staff, often visit, which got me a quick answer to my questions. Unless I had to, I would skip the “official” support system and just use the forum.

These minor issues aside, I strongly recommend the EyeTV 250 to any Mac user who wants to watch television on their computer. Simply put, the EyeTV is one of those “wow” devices that will make both your television and computer experiences better. The software and hardware is well-designed and easy to use, yet also offers advanced features for experienced users. It is a winner.

Pros: excellent hardware and software design, very easy to use, packed with features, supports both analog and digital sources and HD content

Cons: doesn’t support encrypted digital cable

4.5 out of 5 dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Getting StartED with Mac OS X Leopard

Apress and the freindsofed division is a fairly new player to the Mac book industry, having focused in the past on heavier topics for programmers and hard core web designers. They are a welcome addition to the Mac Family.

Justin Williams wrote a very first-person account of his adventures with OS X Leopard. This should not be considered a beginners book, especially given the family this book is in. The book is designed for Tiger or other OS X users wanting to know what is new in Leopard. The book is a great effort, but at points I got annoyed that he was stating the obvious things a OS X user knows. Williams writing however was spot-on: easy to understand with plenty of screen shots and detailed examples. He also includes the basics of iLife ‘08, which is a bonus, though makes the title a bit misleading and leaves the reader with the assumption Leopard includes iLife ‘08. Unless you upgraded to iLife ‘08 and Leopard, 30% of the book isn’t applicable to you. Even with the iLife ‘08 the book is refreshingly short and can’t be used a child’s booster seat like so many technical books can be.

Though I’m an experienced Leopard user, I even learned a few tricks from this book, based on Williams personal experience with the operating system. This would be a good book to give a experienced Mac user that wants to know “what’s new” in Leopard. It was quick, straightforward and to the point: a good book for people who don’t like to read manuals.

Pros: Excellent tips, easy to understand for a experienced OS X user new to Leopard
Cons: Covers iLife ‘08 which adds unnecessarily to the book, covers thins many in the target audience would consider obvious

Three out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Serene Saver 2 HD

While at Macworld, I usually pick one product I simply can’t wait to try until I get home. When I saw Serene Saver, I knew it would be the product I’d try that very night. The booth’s location was in the “low rent district” as I like to call it. These are small kiosks usually staffed by the writer of the software. There aren’t sales people or flashy presentations because there isn’t any room. The quality of the product needs to stand on it’s own and Serene Saver doesn’t disappoint. Of course, when I saw “Serene Saver”, I immediately remembered the Seinfeld episode of a similar name. Ironically, that episode was inspired by “The Net” which was filmed at a Macworld Expo I was at.

The program really has three components. First, there are “live” backgrounds. Instead of static images, the program has stunning scenes that loop on the full desktop complete with sound. Your desktop could be a gentle moving waterfall, or the swaying of grass in a meadow. Of course, some of the scenes I don’t like. I never quite get why there is a carnival scene, but to each his own. Unfortunately I haven’t seen my desktop in about four years because it’s always hidden by my active work. In addition, I’m usually listening to music, so the background music isn’t always helpful. The program is configurable so that you can have the live backgrounds without the sound. Fortunately, the live backgrounds really encourage me to move my current work to the side, turn off the dance music and chill out.

The most useful aspect of the program is the way it request you to take a “Automatic Serenity” break. I work so fast sometimes I think my keyboard starts smoking like it did in Superman. These breaks can be configured to occur on a regular interval or up to four specific times during the day. The program chimes and gently reminds you it’s time to take a break. You can snooze the break if you wish, though each time I do I feel guilty. When you take the break, your current work goes into the background and the live background comes to the foreground. I love it…I really try to sit there for a few minutes and do the “Serenity Now” meditation ala Frank Costanza. If you are a type-A person like me, you can press escape and get back to work before the break is over.

Of course, the background scenes act as a screen saver, but that’s really a tiny aspect of the program, notwithstanding the fact that screen savers are considered superfluous in these days of LCDs and Energy Saver monitors.

My only major concern with the program is it does take up quite a bit of CPU cycles. I do notice a slight slowdown while running the program, especially with the “sharper image” mode. Obviously this was more noticeable on my slower laptop I brought with me to Macworld. My MacPro had no problem with the processor hit of the program. Fortunately you can download the free demo and see how your computer holds up to the extra work. Who knows, maybe it’s a feature, as it might force you to work a bit slower.

I don’t expect to reach some higher plane of existence with this program, but it’s indispensable to anyone who gets lost in their work and loses focus on the day. Depending on my day, I set the Serenity breaks to remind me to take a lunch or simply to stop working on a project and move on to the next. Heck, I’ve set the Serene desktop to show while I’m waiting on hold with tech support. Annoying tasks are more tolerable when you are viewing a peaceful nature scene.

I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to maintain focus and balance during a hectic workday.

Pros: Keeps you remembering that you work to live, not live to work. Great visual and auditory cues to take a break and gives your keyboard a rest.

Cons: Some scenes a bit goofy and it does slow down less powerful computers.

If all you do is check email and surf the web on the computer, you may not need a Serene break. However, if you tend to keep your nose to the grindstone, wonder where your day has gone, and feel your blood pressure rise throughout the day, Serene Saver helps make the fact your stuck in front of a computer for 4, 6, 8 , 10 hours at a time more tolerable.

Four out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

You know that one episode of Family Guy where Peter makes some seemingly random reference to something that connects him to Generation X’ers and then the sketch goes on for too long. You don’t quite get the reference, it’s bearing to the story, or why Fox didn’t let sleeping dogs lie. Oh yeah, that’s pretty much every episode.

However, this reference to pop culture does actually have some bearing on my review of “The iPhone Book”. This was a series of disjointed short “tips” about the iPhone that included way too many pop culture references that made you scratch your head and want to put on Futurama instead. The book was cowritten by Scott Kelby and Terry White and their styles mixed like oil and doorknobs. In the intro the authors warn the book is “quirky.”, and if you want “quirky” buy this book. If you want a great book on how to use your iPhone, put this book back on the shelf.

Writing a cohesive and comprehensive review of a book that is neither is actually quite difficult! Every topic is was exactly half a page. On the top is a picture of the iPhone or other item and the bottom has a paragraph or two of verbage. Flipping the “silent mode” switch is given about the same attention as troubleshooting the connection to a wireless network? Huh? The saving grace of their book is the admission that they stole some tips from David Pogue in spite of the fact that he writes for a competitor to Peachpit. Why accept a substitute when the Pogue’s book is a few clicks or steps away. You could drive a semi through the gaps in coverage. Complex topics are left to the reader to figure out for themselves and Windows users are completely left in the dust: there are no screen shots or tips for Windows users. Discrimination!

The book had both a poor table of contents, but at least a decent index. While I was able to find the topics a majority of people care about, the coverage was so weak in some areas that I would classify it as one step above useless. Does an entire page need to be devoted to clicking the Safari button to open the browser and only a page to setting up your email?

Unless this is the only book on the shelf regarding iPhones and your helping a freind on a gameshow, skip this book and go to the source they acknowledge as the true master: David Pogue

Pros: They are probably pros at technology, just not writing books together
Cons: The reader is conned out of the $25 they spent for the book. Book is difficult to follow and sorely lacking on explanations

1 out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Now that the show is over officially, I’ll give my overall review of the show. Brian will give his review here

My overall impression. Apple was accurate with it’s theme of the show: Something in the Air

Something in the Air tonight indeed. It’s called vaporware, or as another person put it…Engineering by Powerpoint (or in this case keynote). Some were Betas, meaning they are actually programs, but the vendors expect users to find the bugs. So many vendors were showing off product and then said “This isn’t out yet…but we expect to ship in…March…December…next Macworld.” That’s usually followed with “Buy our product now and we’ll give you the next version when it ships.” Here are some of the guilty:

Equinox: Tubestick (viewing HD TV on your Mac) and iSale 5. However, they are forgiven for having a great press pack…more on that later.

Neat Receipts for Mac: they expect to be fully compatible with the Mac…by December ‘08.

Intuit: No new version of Quickbooks (does anyone trust it?) and replacing Quicken with another money managment program called Quicken financial life: “some time in the third quarter 2008 we’ll have a beta”

Retrospect X: they gave out cool glasses known as “Retrospecs” to pacify the fact they still don’t have a Intel native version. Public Beta available. Gee…I’d trust a Beta of backup software…not

Avery: they will have design software for the Mac. Sign up for the Beta, but if you do, you have to agree for us to Spam you.

Thus I passed on this.

Now Software: Nighthawk. It was in beta at Macworld 2007 and still is beta in 2008. Yawn. Give up already!

iBank 3: Supports downloads from banks, just like Quicken. Will be released “in the next few weeks.”

Garmin: Beta Software to access your GPS from the Mac (have I mentioned how upset I am mine was stolen!!!)

Micromat TechTool: All they could say is if you buy version 4.0 now, you get a free upgrade to 5.0 which will ship on DVD “some time in the future”

Google Picassa: great booth, great products…still waiting.

The other theme that continued and expanded was iPod and iPhone cases. Every Tom, Dick, Harry, Jane, Sally and on and on had a take on the same basic theme of a wrap around silicone case. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Some differentiated themselves with features like “feet” or ” easy access slider”, but still the same. Mike just got a Nano and wanted a good case, I really had no clue. They all looked the same to me. Rough estimate is about 30% the show is cases for your iPhone/iPod cases, with another 10-15% cases for your laptop. Pratically every non case vendor I spoke with were annoyed that this is the “iShow” with the ocassional Mac product thrown in. At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll go next year, and IDG (the company that puts on Macworld) will have to make some changes and either limit the amount of case vendors, or have seperate shows. This is after all MacWorld, not AppleWorld, and while these products have value to Mac users, they don’t help promote Mac Products…which is a key goal of Macworld.

MacWorld tradition at the end of the show is to flicker the lights, applaud, and then begin the teardown. Macworld was split between two different buildings this year (Moscone South and Moscone West), but teardown began at about 30 minutes before the end of show and there was no applause…just security guards at 4:15 kicking out people who shouldn’t be there.

In sum, there wasn’t “much there” this year. If you factor out the companies merely announcing their intention to sell a product at some later date, and the companies selling the same basic iPod silicone case and zipper bag, not much to report on.

So as was last year’s tradtion, I’ll give my “Best of Show” along with some other commentary

Best Program:
Busysync: it won one of the “Best of Show” awards. It allows you to sync *and* edit iCal info without buying .mac. The next version (more vaporware…but he’s forgiven because the product is cool right now), will sync with Google Calenders.
(runner up) SereneSaver: it gets a strong mention because it was the first program I installed on my laptop. Serene Saver is an active background that helps you relax. I always look for ways to relax! Check it out.

Best Swag (swag is free stuff):
Drivesavers: to be fair, I was given access to their VIP room as a vendor, but apparently they gave this out on the showroom floor as well: bag, luggage tag, buttons, coffee cups, mouse

Best Press Kit:
Equinox: These were the guys a few years back that had no press kit, refused to give out a review copy and were generally rude. This time I got a Macbook case, a free copy of their Leopard Mail Templates, a USB massager, printed information, and apparently demos on a 1 gig USB flash drive. Only problem…image was corrupt on the flash drive. Oh well.

Best Booth in terms of information:
Dr. Bott: because they showed my company logo.
Serious answer: Parallels. Great demos, fun swag (stress balls), lots of knowledgable people

Best Booth as far as cool factor
Belkin: they used this same booth last year, but the created an entire house on the showroom floor. Wow.

Best Booth to annoy the daylights out of you
Skullcandy: they were blasting their music non stop–right next to the pzizz booth and annoying all the people in Moscone West.

Best booth to theoricetically take a nap in:
Pzizz, which is a program to “program” you to relax or be energized, used these cool Metronap pods, but IDG in it’s brillance placed them next to Skullcap. According to multiple vendors, skullcap told people to go away when asked to turn down the music.

Best surprise no show to the show:
BareBones software: These guys have been there as long as I can remember. Really great T-Shirts. Heck, they even had a product to announce. Personally, I chalk it up to a bad PR firm: Pearce Communication I spoke with the Naomi once…very pushy and over the top. Bad decision not to show this year BareBones!!! You and your T-shirts were missed. If she tells you to give away iPod cases instead, please fire her on the spot.

Best thing about the show:
The contacts I made. I got about 75 business cards this time of not just PR people, but engineers and tech support people. This helps me with my clients, because I can wade through the phones trees and outsourced call centers to get to the right person to get me the information I need for my clients.

Best booth that I wish I saw a few weeks ago:
Gadgettrak: helps you recover stolen laptops, iPods and GPS. Unfortunately not an easy thing to test.

Best time for the show:
I was done in about six hours. I established contact with every booth that 1) didn’t have an iPod case, 2) had something that would interest myself or my clients and 3) I understood what they were talking about. I was still exhausted.

BestMacs?:
Despite us being in the same place many times, we couldn’t hook up to actually see each other in person. The fact that AT&T’s network near the Moscone was overwhelmed with iPhones meant we couldn’t easily call or text each other.

Watch this space for more reviews of all the great products I’ll be getting in the mail

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, followed by users questions about Apple products.

The meeting concluded with our monthly door prize, which included a t-shirt from MacBak, as well as iPhone: The Missing Manual courtesy of O’Reily Media.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Here are my photos so far. Why is it version 5.?. Well, it’s my fifth Macworld and it’s day one.

Brian’s been blogging quite a bit about Macworld: Check out his thoughts as well.

I’m writing this from the Media Center at the show, starting day 2. In general, I was unimpressed with the show so far. The fact I was able to see most everything in about six hours is evidence there wasn’t anything to write home about, figuratively and literally. I’ll reserve final judgement until I finish the show. My initial thoughts is “evolutionary” not “revolutionary”. I have a term for stuff like this: “with sprinkles”. It refers to that episode of the Simpsons in which Homer gets enticed to eat donuts because it now has sprinkles. Most of the items I saw added a few bells and whistles and called it a new product. Many vendors said “Now we are compatible with Leopard” or “Now for iPhone”. Yawn. We kind of except that, it’s been out for a while.

More later!

The “Missing Manual”, in case you didn’t already know, is the gold standard of technical publications. Heck, it’s the platinum standard at this point. Any book that has the “Missing Manual” in the title is sure to be a must have. I’ve never been disappointed and “iPhone: The Missing Manual” carries the torch for the series yet again. Some books are only edited by David Pogue, but this one was written exclusively by hi, most likely because the iPhone was a hard find for anyone.

While Pogue expertly covered all the features of the iPhone, he also helped readers work around some of the limitations such as the lack of a word processor or a instant messaging program. I learned quite a few tips even for my mere mortal Treo 650. He helps you save money on text messaging, much to the chagrin of AT&T’s accountants. I had very high hopes for the book, and Pogue exceeded every one.

Ideally, the iPhone should be straightforward and obvious for most people, but occasionally you aren’t quite sure about a feature or how to combine features together to do what you want. For example, how does one avoid SPAM on the iPhone…yuck. This is more than the typical Missing Manual in my opinion. This includes those handy tips and tricks most companies write a separate book on. The list of websites that will simulate desktop apps is worth the price of admission alone.

As always, the Mac and PC platforms are covered equally and with respect. He explains how to sync contacts on a PC and a Mac. Most important, Pogue covers all the troubleshooting steps you need to know when your iPhone stops doing what it wants. Because the iPhone is so new, there aren’t many guides to fixing problems and I’ve had to google way too much in order to fix problems. Now I’ve got all I need in one guide.

No features of the iPhone is left undiscussed! Even experts with the iPhone (can you say you are an expert when it’s been out less than a year?), will find something in this Missing Manual. I think that anyone who has a smart phone will get ideas from this guide. If you can’t have an iPhone, get the next best thing.

Of course, if the manual were hard to understand or disorganized it wouldn’t do anyone much assistance. Fortunately, Pogue’s easy to understand writing style explains things in such a way novices can understand without talking down to them or boring expert users. The index and table of contents are very easy to use to hone in the particular features you are interested in. Extensive use of full color photos helps make sure you can follow along with the book.

Pros: Amazing guide to the iPhone. I suspect Steve Jobs secretly keeps a copy on his desk.
Cons: Besides the fact it doesn’t come with an iPhone, absolutely no cons.

Five out of Five Dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

I have a traditional love/hate relationship with Dummies books. When I am truly a dummy in the subject, I like their broad overviews. “Switching to the Mac for Dummies” is a new title for the Dummies series and is the first Dummies book by author XXXXX Renhold. Generally Dummies books are designed to give you the information you need in a lighthearted way so that the reader doesn’t feel intimidated or overwhelmed.

I’m not sure what mark Reinhold was shooting for but he clearly missed it. The book is overwhelming yet inadequate and in some places just wrong! As an example, Reinhold said you can’t run Appleworks on newer Macs. That is simply untrue. But why would someone switching to the Mac ever care about older version of Appleworks? Based on the contents of the book, it was more akin to “New Macs for Dummies”. Reinhold covered PC to Mac issues as well as Mac to Mac issues. While that’s nice, why would a PC user need that info? It creates an information overflow that makes the book harder to read and confusing for new Mac users.

While I realized Reinhold did not intend the book to be funny, I had to laugh at some of the topics he covered. Few users switching to the Mac need to know that back in the 1980s some PCs used MicroChannel Architectures (MCA) and Macs used NuBus. This minutae reminds me of the sketch on Airplane when the air traffic controller is asked how we got into this crisis, and he starts talking about dinosaurs creating oil and people buying expensive cars. Funny on a big screen, but not for a dummies book. That’s just an example of the massive overkill of useless information. Is the author prepping people for an appearance on a trivia show?

Too much information isn’t that bad so long as critical information is included and Reinhold simply failed to deliver on critical information. In particular I am comparing his book to the Missing Manual series of the same title and the Dummies version seems like a really poor rough draft of the Missing Manual. When people switch computers from either Mac to PC or PC to Mac they are most concerned about their data (including pictures and music), their emails and address book, and their favorites. Reinhold comes up with rather elaborate Rube Goldbergesque style ways of moving the information, but way beyond the skills (or budgets) of the average switcher. He also fails to cover how to convert email from PC to Mac, which is a top question for switchers.

Those topics Reinhold covers well are horribly disorganized and hard to follow with few, if any, illustrations or screen shots. You simply have to take his word for what he’s saying and use your imagination. I asked typical “How do I?” question on the Mac and none were covered. A new PC user might be calling Microsoft after reading this book asking for reconciliation.

Sorry for such a harsh review. I’m sure Reinhold knows his stuff and was simply trying to be helpful. Switching is a relatively new topic. Apple had to make a Newton before it could make the iPhone and I’m sure version 2.0 of this book will be much better. Skip this one though.

Pros: Interesting for trivia buffs, might increase Windows sales and Apple returns.
Cons: Disorganized, inconsistent coverage. Hard to read and follow.

Two DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, followed by a presentation on the Mac Product line.

The meeting concluded with questions from group members and our monthly door prize including iLife ‘08.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Color Decoder 1.0 by Stray Cat Technology

“Colors” are not just the theme of a mediocre 1980s gang movie starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. We mammals perceive the world in color, including our computer screens. However, a significant portion of the population experience color vision deficiency (popularly and somewhat inaccurately known as “color blindness”) where certain shades of color are unable to be properly perceived. Given that this is a fairly common phenomenon, and given how important color is in the Apple user interface, it seems rather surprising that Apple has neglected to handle color vision deficiency in their otherwise thorough Universal Access preferences. Luckily, Stray Cat Technologies has stepped up to fill this gap with their initial software release of Color Decoder.

Color Decoder is a simple application that does one thing – it tells you what color the screen is displaying underneath the mouse pointer. Color Decoder does this one of three ways; via a pop-up bubble the displays the color name, by speaking the color name out loud using Apple’s voice technology, or by flashing all pixels on the screen that share that specific color. Any of these three methods of color notification can be used by themselves or combined, so for example you could have the computer speak the color’s name and display it’s name in a bubble, but skip the flashing, or vice-versa. These preferences are controlled from a small palette on the screen which is the application’s entire user interface. Color Decoder’s recognition system can be turned off or on entirely via a hot key in case you only need it on occasions. The only other user interface option is the ability to turn on a magnifying glass to see exactly where the mouse pointer is pointing, which can be very useful when trying to find a single colored pixel in a huge image.

In actual use, Color Decoder works exactly as advertised. After launching, the palette opens where you can select your settings (you can hide this window once you have things set up as you wish). I tried out all three of the methods for communicating color in turn. The color name display only is a very minimalist method of showing the color, and is very useful when you have images on the screen where color is important, especially things like charts, graphs and other documents which use color to communicate data. The “flash colors” feature works well on images that are more complex with many colors mixed together such as gradients, weather radar displays and similar items. For most daily use, naming colors, supplemented by flashing colors works well. Magnification is usually not needed, although it is nice when you are looking at very complex images where there may only be a few pixels you need to track down or see (in these cases, the flashing feature is excellent as well).

I wasn’t as excited with the speak color name feature, where Color Decoder uses Apple’s speech synthesis to actually say the color names out loud. I can see this be very useful to someone with severe vision deficiency, but in actual use, having this feature on resulted in a continuous stuttering stream of half-spoken color names as I moved the mouse around the screen. I think this feature would be much more useful if there was a longer delay between mouse movements and the color being spoken, or even better if you could assign a separate hot key to speak color names on demand without having to leave the feature on all the time.

This minor quibble aside, I found Color Decoder to be a very functional and useful piece of software. Those with color vision deficiency will absolutely want to check this program out, but I would also recommend that anyone who works with color on a regular basis give Color Decoder a test drive. It fills an important hole in Apple’s OS and makes using a Mac easier for a large segment of the population, in a clean and elegant way.

Plusses: A great way for those with color vision deficiency to recognize and differentiate colors on the Mac; useful for designers and other users to find all examples of a particular color on a busy screen

Minuses: The spoken color feature could use some polishing

Summary: Color Decoder fills a gaping hole in Apple’s otherwise fairly complete Universal Access accessibility preferences and is definitely worth a download for those with color vision deficiency or who work with colors.

Color Decoder by Stray Cat Technology.
Price: $21.95; fully-functional demo version works for 1 week
Requires MacOS 10.5 or higher

Palm’s treatment of the Mac reminds me of that girl in high school who suddenly showed interest in me the time choosing lab partners came around…and then dumped me at the end of science class. Palm’s market share grew because of loyal Mac users. We were dedicated to the Palm and shunned it’s pale imitation: Windows CE and then Windows Mobile. However, Palm later joined the dark side, began making Windows Mobile devices and left us in the dust. Development of Palm software for the Mac stalled out and Palm left it to Apple to pick up the slack. Just like I was left stood up the week after science class was over. Whatever.

Fortunately, iSync works OK to do basic syncing of Palms with the Mac, so Palm can choose it’s own lab partner—the Mac is fine on its own. It fact, we created a better Palm: the iPhone. Of course that girl in grade school we dated..the Newton. I hope she doesn’t show up at the 20 year class reunion. She never did understand what I said anyways, so she’ll probably get the date wrong. iSync gets the job done, but some of us want more.

While iSync will move contacts and dates, MissingSync does so much more. iSync is your best friend’s sister that will be your date to the prom so you don’t go alone, while MissingSync is the supermodel of Palm synchronization. While it does move contacts and dates, it retains more of that information from address book and iCal such as work addresses and calendar groups. Not only that, but for Treo users it will backup your call log and SMS messages, and then synchronize the information with your address book. In my line of work, it’s great because I can easily determine every call and message to a particular client. The killer feature for me is it’s ability to synchronize with Yojimbo by Barebones.

Just like that supermodel, MissingSync is high maintenance, flaky and unreliable. Maybe I was stood up because my lab partner was using Missing Sync and didn’t realize the date? MissingSync randomly won’t sync some of my contacts and randomly changes the notes synchronization. I was given excuse after excuse by tech support. Eventually I bought a new Mac and got a new phone–and it still didn’t work reliably. Best (or worst) of all, if you want to speak to a human it will cost you $60. Oh, it gets better. That $60 gives you the right to a “call-back”–you specify a time window and they call you. Funny, that supermodel also required me to buy her something before she would give me the time of day. I’m sorry, but spending for $60 for support of a $40 program just seems wrong. If the program were reliable, that would be one thing, but it isn’t!

In general, MissingSync’s ability to synchronize so much more data than iSync or Palm’s hotsync manager make it a compromise that still leaves you ahead in the end–even when you combine the support costs. Yeah, all being said and done, it’s better dating a supermodel than your best friends’s sister, but not by as much as you think. Markspace will need to improve the quality of its product and tech support policies to persuade casual Palm users to use their product rather than iSync.

Pros: Transfers much more data to your Palm than iSync or Palm’s software
Cons: Flaky, temperamental, and poor tech support policies.

Two out of Five DogCows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, followed by an introduction to Mac OS 10.5 Leopard by Brian Best of Best Macs.

The meeting concluded with questions from group members and our monthly door prize, which included a couple Leopard t-shirts from Best Macs and “Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard” by Robin Williams courtesy of PeachPit.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

Robin Williams seems to have a uncanny clairvoyance that not only helps her figure out that William Shakespeare’s works were possibly written by Mary Sidney, but also helped her get a Leopard guide in
the Apple stores the same day Leopard came out. Ok, she had some help from Apple by getting an advance copy. Maybe she used the Time Machine feature to go back to the days of Romeo and Juliet. It’s a pretty powerful feature of Leopard.

Obviously Apple trusted her enough to provide her with a pre-release copy of Leopard as well as make her the featured Leopard book in the store. In the Mac publishing world, she’s about as well known and well respected as ol’ Bill Shakespeare himself–and written almost as many works. Unlike Bill, reading her books are easy and straightforward arming non-technical users with the skills and understanding to attack Leopard head on.

In particular, Robin’s style is to expertly use page layout and screenshots to explain the features of an operating system in small bites everyone can digest. I enjoy the fact she doesn’t talk down to her readers. She expects a basic understanding of how to use a mouse and keyboard. This book is designed for a Mac or even a PC user making the transition to Leopard, either via upgrade or by the fact it came with the Mac. She walks the reader through all the features of the Leopard operating system. She apologizes for not covering the iLife or iWork suites, but clearly points out this is a book on Leopard. I’m sure she realizes that if the book were too big, readers would be intimidated. While it’s over 450 pages, she uses a great table of contents and index to allow the reader to hone in on just the info they are interested in. Want to know how to do screen sharing..no problem? First, she marks it in a “Tech Stuff” section so novice or intimidated users can avoid it. Then she puts it in a logical chapter of “Get connected and share files.” Then a nice screen sharing section appears. Can’t find it there? Check the index either under iChat or Screen Sharing. She clearly spent lots of time making sure her book was extremely user friendly, just like the operating systems she covers.

Not only does she cover practically all the “300″ new features of Leopard, but includes great troubleshooting advice for when things go wrong. The advice she gives is as good or better than what you’ll get on the phone calling tech support or stopping by the “bar“. If her troubleshooting section doesn’t cover it, you’ll need a technician to come out!

My one complaint is she should have marked those features new or different in Leopard. That would allow a upgrader to focus on just those new items of difference in Leopard. Knowing her though, she did a careful analysis and determined there wouldn’t be enough white space on the page and left it out.

This book is not intended for intermediate or advanced users. You won’t find out which port to open for screen sharing or it’s inner workings–just how to initiate it. I contrast her books to more “manual” like books that cover every feature in depth. This book is designed to hold the readers hand through the steps or learning.

I avoided Shakespeare in high school, relying solely on those ubiquitous yellow and black “notes.” Hey, her book is kinda the same thing. Avoids all the fluff and gets down to the nitty gritty of what you need to know. Will future generations attribute her expert writings to a man? I don’t know, but I’m sure glad our generation has such an expert artist of words and pictures to teach us how to use our Macs.

Pros: Outstanding layout and organization. Excellent descriptions for novice Mac users. Enthusiastically recommend it to all new Leopard and Mac Users. Use this book as a starting point in your learning!
Cons: Not for intermediate users, no clear distinction of Leopard features

Five of Five dogcows.

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

Granted, Dockstar’s paltry price of $9.95 is well worth it and then some. Don’t you hate it when software developers charge too much for the product! This product is definitely right-priced.

So what does Dockstar do? It changes to the Mail icon scheme to allow for specialty badges to let you know which email accounts have new messages. So instead of the red seal indicating how many new messages Mail has retrieved, you can have a purple star for one account, and pink heart for another. Instantly you can see which account has a new message. I think if they added green clovers, then they’d have to name the product Lucky Charms –and that pot of gold will be suppled by the Nigerian prince who died and needs to transfer money to your account. Oh, then they’d get sued for copyright violation, so Dockstar might be a good name after all.

Short review for a simple product that does one thing and does it very well

Pros: Use the Mail app icon to instantly determine which accounts have new messages
Cons: No Blue Moons or Purple Horseshoes.

Five out of Five dogcows

This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news, followed by a discussion of accessories to plug in and enhance your Mac.

The meeting concluded with questions from group members and our monthly door prize, which included Macware’s MacBurn, and Sleevz for your iPod by Radtech.

Check us out on the web and subscribe to the podcast at http://www.laugks.org/news/.

It certainly has a pretty face, but like it’s celebrity brethren, does the new iMac have some brains behind her good looks?

Apple recently introduced their newest revision of the venerable iMac line of MacOS computers. The iMac is Apple’s mainstream home desktop computer, designed to cover a wide variety of consumer needs. It truly is the computer for the masses, but how does it stack up? I recently purchased a new 24 inch aluminum iMac and after using it for nearly a month, I believe Apple has definitely scored another winner.

The iMac comes in two screen sizes, 20 inches and 24 inches, the latter being as large as Apple’s 23 inch cinema display (remember how big those looked a couple years ago — now that resolution is available on a relatively inexpensive consumer Mac!). All the iMacs have the same processor, Intel’s zippy Core 2 Duo, with the only differentiator being your choice of 2.4 or 2.8 gigahertz speeds. Mine came with the 2.8 chip. Unfortunately, in an effort to shave an extra $50 off the price, Apple still shortchanges the iMacs with RAM, only shipping them with 1 GB standard. Luckily it is cheap, and easy to add additional RAM. You will want to put at least 2 GB if not more (up to a maximum of 4 GB) if you plan to do any more then basic web surfing.

The first thing anyone notices about the iMac is the screen. Controversially, Apple added a glass panel over the LCD itself, resulting in bright eye-popping color, but also introducing a possibly-annoying glare. I haven’t noticed any glare myself, but still, perception of glare is a very personal thing, depending on your own eyesight and the lighting in your office or room. I would recommend finding a friend (or traveling to the Apple store) and spending a half hour using the iMac before making your decision. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t provide an option for a matte screen, although I expect eventually there will be third-party “enhancements” (the glass panel comes off easily, although I wouldn’t try it at home!) Ironically, my own iMac arrived with a distracting speck of dust caught between the glass and the screen, necessitating a trip to the Apple Store in Kansas City.

So how is the iMac in day to day use? Very fast and very nice. It seems zippier then my “old” 2 ghz Mac Pro, and benchmarking tests bear this out, showing the iMac to be about 20% faster. Web surfing, using email, listening to music in Tunes, and editing photos in iPhoto are extremely fast, and the perception of speed is palpable. I also was very pleased with how fast Parallels ran on the iMac. Watching movies and TV shows on the huge screen, especially sitting back with the included Apple Remote is a pleasure as well. I use an Elgato EyeTV to record live television and combined with the iMac, this gives you a legitimate home entertainment center.

One unique feature of the new iMacs is that they come with a very different Apple keyboard (also available separately) which looks (and types like) the keyboard on the Macbooks. I have found the keyboard to be very pleasant to use, but like with the screen, I recommend trying out yourself first. Of course, if you don’t like it, you can plug in any USB keyboard.

Other nice touches in the iMac include a firewire 800 port (new to this generation of iMac, and very useful for adding fast external storage), extra fully-powered USB ports on the keyboard, and built-in Wi-Fi and bluetooth, and of course the video camera, useful for iChat as well as fun with Photobooth.

What is the iMac missing? For a consumer machine, very little. The only obvious oversight by Apple is the continuing omission of a built-in card reader for the most common digital camera memory cards. Attaching an ugly external reader ruins Apple’s clean lines, and given the design attention paid elsewhere, seems like an oversight. I also would like at least one USB port tucked away on the side of th iMac rather then the back, to make it easier to quickly attach a removable device. The workaround for this is, of course, a hub, once again, cluttering up the view! I should also note that, other then memory, the iMac has no user-upgradeable parts (most previous iMacs were this way too); if you ever think you might want to upgrade processors or hard drives, go with a Mac Pro.

In summary, despite some minor quibbles, the aluminum iMac is a winner. A powerful, fast consumer Mac that has long legs and will make a great Leopard machine for several years to come. Anyone in the market for a new Mac who doesn’t require the portability of a laptop should consider the iMac.

Aluminum iMac
$1200 – $2300 depending on configuration and screen size

Plusses:
- Extremely fast and powerful mainstream desktop Mac
- Gorgeous screen and all-around good looking machine
- lots of built-in extras

Minuses:
- Standard RAM is barely adequate
- No built-in memory card reader

Best for: General consumer and home/family use, students, office use, public-facing areas, consumer-grade digital photography or video editing
Consider a laptop instead if you require portability
Consider a Mac Pro instead if you do commercial-grade video/graphic design work or engineering

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news followed by a discussion on how to convert Analog audio and video into digital files for archival or playback purposes.

The meeting concluded with questions from group members and our monthly door prize, which included Stunt Software’s Overflow, MacBackup by Macxware and MarinerPack from Mariner Software.

Special thanks to the crew from BadHairCut Productions for their expertise throughout the meeting and Wolfes Camera, Camcorders and Computers for lending us the USB turntable to demo.

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