Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com Twitter @podfeet
Don McAllister – ScreenCastsOnline – http://www.screencastsonline.com
Tim Verpoorten http://www.surfbits.com, http://www.macreviewcast.com, @surfbits
Bart Busschots – International Mac Podcast (http://www.impodcast.tv), http://www.bartb.ie Twitter @bbusschots

Don’s SSD Failure

Are there drives it’s not logical to back up?
Is it better, worse or no different that SSD’s don’t warn you when they fail?
how do you deal with friends  and their backups?  what have you used to convince them to back up? any  sure fire strategies? I’ve had a bunch of people I set up with time  machine, but since they have laptops they just don’t seem to get around  to plugging that drive in!

iPhone case refund/acquire process

very cool and super efficient!
helping people make a decision on the iPhone cases
Apple bumper case doens’t have a dock connector hole big enough for the dock connector on many cables, even those from Apple
Katie bought the Scosche Charging Adatper for iPod & iPhone fromscosche.com, fixes not-fitting dock connector and charging problem.

New Mac Pros, iMacs and MacBook Airs

What’s our wishlist for these?

iPad hits and misses after the first 90 days

Goodreader from http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html
Wall Street Journal App isn’t nearly as bad as it was early on!

Picks:

Allison – Altaz HD Network Multi-Media Player ($100) http://www.altazdesign.com/Altaz-HD-Network-Media-Player-AZNMP101.htm

Tim – Freeware Video Converters:
MPEG Streamclip: http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
FLV Crunch: http://flvcrunch.awardspace.us

Don – FlipBoard for iPad  – http://www.flipboard.com/

Bart – Fraise – port of the now defunct Smultron programming editor – http://wiki.github.com/jfmoy/Fraise/

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John F. Braun

The Mac Observer?s Mac Geek Gab http://www.macgeekgab.com/

Monday?s Mac Gadget http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/features/mondays_mac_gadget/

Twitter: @johnfbraun

Steve Stanger

The Mac Attack http://www.themacattack.tv

Twitter: @tmasteve

Jonathan Cost

Mac Tips Daily! and Thinkmac Reviews

Thinkmac.net – www.thinkmac.net

twitter: @MacTipsDaily

Chuck Joiner

The MacVoices Group http://www.macvoicesgroup.com

Twitter: @chuckjoiner

Bart Busschots –

http://www.bartb.ie

The International Mac Podcast – http://www.impodcast.tv

Twitter: @bbusschots

MEASURING TEMPS IN YOUR MAC

smcFanControl http://www.eidac.de/

A cool CPU is a happy CPU.  I’m actually wondering if there’s any quantitative data showing the benefit of a cooler CPU versus minimal power consumed by running fans a bit faster.

CoolBook  http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html

Reduce processor voltage to reduce clock speed

ThermographX (no update since 2008, doesnt’ see all temp sensors, but does graph)

http://www.kezer.net/shareware/thermographx/

TemperatureMonitor (free, current)

http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

Shows values, can store history as well.

iStat Menus (now pay), MenuMeters (free), Matias iRizer (portable stand)

http://matias.ca/irizer/index.php

Thermapak  http://www.thermapak.com/

Podium CoolPad and Traveler CoolPad  http://www.roadtools.com/index-2.html

Griffin Elevator  http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elevator

Be careful if the little rubber “feet” fall off your laptop – replaced my lost one with a penny taped to the bottom of my MBP!

Even if you’re not experiencing a heat-wave, it’s worth monitoring your temps and fan speeds anyway. If they begin to creep up over weeks or months, your machine may be full of fluff and crap! I vacuumed out my G5 iMac because it over-heated and always had fans going, now it runs much much better.

(Side note: UPS protects computer equipment against brown outs and possible power surge during heavy peak power use times.)

CABLE MODEM ISSUES DUE TO HEAT

Many cable modems offer a status page here:

http://192.168.100.1 or  http://192.168.1.1 typically.

(nice if your cable modem isn’t locked down)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/signal.html

**Some important figures are**

Receive Power Level and Transmit Power Level (in dBmV)

Downstream/receive should be between -15 and +15

Upstream/transmit should be between +5 and +58 (below 50 is best)

Another important figure is SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) may not be available, have to break out the big guns to get this value:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/docsdiag/

This is a Java program that will extract many values (via SNMP I assume) that web status page may not make available.

Run from command line:

docsdiag -jar docsdiag.jar (-vvv)

SNR should be 30 dB or higher, mine is 34.5 right now.

There are also error figures

SigQu: received without error        = 1737538425 codewords

SigQu: correctable errors            = 106961 codewords

SigQu: uncorrectable errors          = 9387 codewords

I was told if the last two values steadily increase, this can also indicate an issue.

iPhone 4 Antenna Thoughts:

Article on Engadget from their experiences.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/yes-the-iphone-4-is-broken-no-the-iphone-4-is-not-broken/

Our Picks:

John: 3M MPro 150 Pocket Projector ($395 retail)

http://www.3m.com/mpro/products150.html

Steve: http://safariextensions.tumblr.com/ – list of available Safari extensions to tide you over until Apple opens their gallery.

Bart: Apple World Travel Adaptor kit – http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB974ZM/B?fnode=MTY1NDA4NA&mco=MTA4NDYwMDk ($39)

Jonathan: Sirius XM APP: http://www.siriusxm.com/oniphone/indexd.xmc

Requires Premium streaming account, but allows you to listen on your computer and your iPhone/iPod.  Free 7 day trial.  You can add it onto your SiriusXM account for an extra $3 a month.

Chuck: Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go MiFi with pay-as-you go plan

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/mobile-broadband-2200.html

Chuck’s Review: http://www.chuckjoiner.com/2010/07/14/virgin-mobile-broadband-mifi-portable-connectivity-with-no-contract/

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