LAUG 2.0 News

Those who aren’t afraid to part with some hard-earned cash to purchase an iPod, usually aren’t afraid to hand over a little more on accessories of one kind or another. Everywhere you look, you’ll see a vast selection of add-ons for your favorite music player—cases, speakers, headphones, docks, chargers, etc. Probably the most popular of all accessories is the case. It’s your chance to individualize your iPod to fit your personality—whether you go for one made of leather, plastic, metal, silicone, or even those molded from old LP’s—there’s something for everyone! (more…)

So you didn’t get an iPhone? Sorry. Maybe it was the cost. Maybe it was your cell phone contract. Maybe it’s AT&T’s coverage where you live. Or maybe you just don’t like buying a 1.0 version of anything. For me, it’s all the above.

However, with all those smug people walking around with their $600 Newton 3.0’s you can one-up them. What you have right now can be better than an iPhone. Yes I said it–you’re better than they are. At least my therapist is telling me to deal with my jealously by saying this.
(more…)

A podcast from the August meeting of the Lawrence Apple Users Group. This month’s topic included a presentation on Living the Microsoft Free Lifestyle by Dave Greenbaum.

The meeting opened up with introductions, recent Apple news followed by a discussion of alternative office suites for the Mac. This included everything from iWork, Open Office, Mariner Write and host of others.

The meeting concluded with questions from group members and our monthly door prize, which included Andy Ihnatko’s iPod Fully Loaded and MacBackup by Macxware.

Click here for a PDF or Powerpoint file of Dave’s presentation at the meeting.

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

 

 Enhanced Podcast [87:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (24)

MacBackup is one of the backup programs sold at most Apple stores in spite of the fact it competes with Apple’s own Backup software. Even though Retrospect was the industry leader, it’s showing it’s age since it was bought by EMC and never made the transition to the Intel Platform. Ironically, though, neither did MacBackup. It still runs in Rosetta, which concerns me regarding its long term viability on the Mac platform. A backup is only as good as your ability to restore it. If you can’t read your backups, then they are no good. That happened to me with my old FastBack backups!
(more…)

Marware’s Protection Pack Plus really fills the bill. Like Microsoft Office, the pack has three useful and unique products in the box. First is the cloth sleeve that protects and helps clean the outside of your Macbook. This should not be a primary form of protection like the typical padded notebook sleeves. It is designed only to protect the cosmetics of the computer. That’s fine with me because it easily coordinates with almost any other protection strategy. Oddly and not surprising, the more I used it, the cleaner the exterior of my Macbook got. When I’d pull it out, it would gently polish the exterior of my Macbook. Also, don’t forget Macs are about style. I did feel like some kind of celebrity pulling out my Macbook from it’s secondary protective sleeve, as if it were the Hope Diamond or the prized knife of a Food Network star (I have one of those knives, but that’s a whole other story).
(more…)