May 31, 2010

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Mac Roundtable 2010.05.30 Episode #83

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 8:37 am

Katie Floyd
Mac Power Users http://www.macpowerusers.com
Twitter: @katiefloyd

Allison Sheridan
NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com
Twitter: @podfeet

Don McAllister
ScreenCastsOnline http://www.screencastsonline.com
All About the iPad Blog http://allabouttheipad.tumblr.com
Personal Blog http://themacscreencastguy.com
Twitter: @donmcallister

Bart Busschots
Blog http://www.bartb.ie
International Mac Podcast http://www.impodcast.tv
Twitter: @bbusschots

WWDC isn’t having the annual  design awards for OSX developers (only doing it for iPhone and iPad  Apps) so ArsTechnica is doing the Ars Design Awards.  To see the top  nominees for the categories of Best New App, Best User Experience, Most  Innovative App, Best K-12  Education App, and Best Student-created App,  and to vote on the  Reader’s Choice Award go to:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/05/readers-choice-poll-for-2010-ars-design-awardsmac-os-x.ars

Recording Apps
Audio

Video

International iPad launch

Home Theaters

With the AppleTV rumors buzzing about, we talk about our home theater setup, our  experiences with  AppleTVs, Mac Minis, Boxee, ATV Flash, and others.

Picks:

Play

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April 4, 2010

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Mac Roundtable 2010.04.03 Episode #81

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 2:20 pm

This episode was hosted by:

Katie Floyd – Mac Power Users http://www.macpowerusers.com Twitter- @katiefloyd

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

Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Podcast http://podfeet.com Twitter @podfeet

Adam Christianson – http://www.maccast.com Twitter – @maccast

Victor Cajiao www.Typicalmacuser.Com Twitter – @victorcajiao

In this episode we discussed the iPad:

How we got our iPads

preorder vs. reserve vs. show up?

how was it?

First impressions

Happy Impressions

  • books
  • maps
  • typing is better than I thought

Negative impressions:

  • heavier than I thought
  • hard to plug in the connector
  • can’t figure out how to sync up my podfeet.com email
  • tried creating calendar event – add invitee, but NO….
  • gathers dust and finger prints pretty easily
  • Apple case: $39, bought it instead of a dock, weird flap, very thin, roundy standing up, maybe it will get a crease? not very Apple-like, kinda hinky.
  • Fail on download of Pages. Had to download via iTunes. Didn’t tell me it failed, just stopped and didn’t show up. grrr… trying to download again told me I had to go to iTunes

Mini rant 2: I did go out and get 1PW for iPad and then found out I did not have to do that. 1PW did send out a link to clarify but I had not seen it before. I put a post up to let people know and that has a link to the iTunes store to get a refund.

iPad Apps

  • Some are VERY expensive
  • Ability to do hybrid Apps
  • Some developers (1Password) are offering iPad upgrades for those who have alerady purchased.
  • Other developers are requiring you to purchase new versions at a premium

Mini-rant about apps, a well-written app, be it on a iPhone/iPod Touch, Mac, PC or iPad, should not make assumptions about screen size. If companies are just charging extra for something they should have done to begin with, that’s a ripoff. If it takes advantage of the features of the iPad, that’s different.

Font Scaling?

  • The old raster (bitmap) versus vector (paths) font issue
  • iPhone apps at (2x) size suck

Charging issue

Accessories

LCD Visibility Outdoors

  • Any different than any other LCD screen?
  • Mac OS X 10.5.8+ required

iPad Internals:
http://i.imgur.com/It9To.png

iPad versus Baseball Bat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGUppxoJUVg
Best and Worst apps:

Worst – we give them 60 days to fix them

  • Netflix but we applaud them for being there
  • Wall street journal – expensive AND popup ads! plus it’s slow, unintuitive

Best

  • Marvel (free with some free comics)
  • Google Maps
  • Drawing Pad
  • USA Today
  • ABC App (no scrubbing through the movie tho)
  • Twitterific
Play

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March 11, 2010

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Mac Roundtable 2010.03.11 Episode #80

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 9:57 pm

Bart Busschots – www.bartb.ie, www.impodcast.tv, @bbusschots
Tim Verpoorten MacReviewCast.com and Surfbits.com : @surfbits
John F. Braun – The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab, Monday’s Mac Gadget, @johnfbraun
Steve Stanger – http://themacattack.tv, @tmasteve
Katie Floyd – Macpowerusers.com, katiefloyd.me, @katiefloyd

Geotagging – be careful!

  • Not all services to share photos strip out GPS data from the meta data (EXIF Data) in the photos you post (edit EXIF data with the free app Reveal)
  • Many cameras now have GPS in them, including the iPhone, so many images have GPS data when they’re taken
  • iPhone and iPod Touch apps should ask for permission any time they try to use your location
  • Many Eye-Fi cards do this with WiFi, compatible with other schemes
  • Note that location services are required for Find My iPhone/iPod Touch

The iPad

  • Apple badly misses it’s target of “world-wide availability” in 60 days
  • US get it a few days late
  • UK & a few other large countries get it about a month late
  • No release date at all for other countries like Ireland

What version of the iPad are people getting?

App Store

  • Through some very clever trickery the EFF have legally, publically, released the iPhone dev agreement
  • Selective rejection and removal of apps
  • Why is Apple handling this so badly?

Picks:
Bart – 3D Sun – NASA iPhone
Katie – TextExpander 3
John – New 4GB RAM chip (OWC) and new Hitachi 500GB HD with case (OWC)
Tim – Fujitsu S1300 Scanner
Steve – HDRtist

Play

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February 28, 2010

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Mac Roundtable 2010.02.28 Episode #79

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 5:57 pm

Allison Sheridan NosillaCast @podfeet
Katie Floyd Mac Power Users, katiefloyd.me @katiefloyd
John F. Braun Mac Geek Gab, @johnfbraun
Bart Busschots bartb.ie, International Mac Podcast, @bbusschots
Steve Stanger The Mac Attack, @tmasteve

Thank you to Chuck for the great coverage at Mac World of the Mac Roundtable. See it at the Mac Roundtable Episode #78 or at Mac Voices #1013

Surge Protectors and UPS

  • Stay away from the $5 – $10 dollar power strips. They only offer basic protection.
  • You can get better protection for $15 to $25 (or more).  These strip will have better ratings and some special features, jacks for your phone line, cable line, even Ethernet.
  • Surge Station – These large surge protectors fit under your computer or on the floor. They offer superior voltage protection and advanced line conditioning. You can get one of these units for as little $30 US, or you can spend upward of $100 for more advanced models.
    • Example: Digicom power station 2520 joule surge protector 8 outlet Black $26 at Amazon
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) – Is a big battery back up –  If the power goes out, your computer will continue to run, feeding off the stored battery power. This will give you a few minutes to save your work and shut down your computer.  These units tend to cost from $30 US if you can find a deal to a few $100 dollars or more depending on the type of equipment you want to protect.
    • People think UPS’s will keep them going throughout the power outtage!
    • On consumer level UPS on average you get 7 – 8 minutes, more on larger units. Most connect to computer equip via USB and can shut down computer at a specific interval .
  • A UPS generally protects a computer against these different power problems:
    • Voltage surges and spikes – Times when the voltage on the line is greater than it should be
    • Voltage sags – Times when the voltage on the line is less than it should be
    • Total power failure – Times when a line goes down or a fuse blows somewhere on the grid or in the building
  • UPS come in all different sizes, one of the best ways to find what UPS is right for you is to use a website that offers a UPS selector.
  • One of the companies that makes UPS’s is APC (APC.com)  UPS Selector – where you input computer type, monitor, processor type, internal hd and stuff like that.  The selections you can choose from do include current mac models.  The results will give you a pretty good idea on what kind of UPS you need for your system
  • Better surge protectors and UPS may come with some sort of guarantee of their performance. If you’re shopping for more expensive units, look for a product that comes with a guarantee on your computer. If the unit fails to protect your computer from a power surge, the company will actually replace your computer. This isn’t total insurance, you can still loose your data, but it is a good indication of the manufacturer’s confidence in their product.
  • Remember no No surge protector is 100 percent effective.  

    • iPhone chargers
    A plethora of options have sprung up – perhaps there’s a big problem to be solved here? If you’re at a show or an all day event, you can’t actually USE your iPhone all day without one of these devices.  Tweeting is probably the root cause…or searching for wifi…or searching for 3G if you’re in San Francisco!

    Wireless
    Wi-Fire hfield.com extends wireless range if you have a localized outage and need to “borrow” someone else’s wifi.  Up to 1000 feet range.

    Drop in Apple quality on software

    • John’s issues with iWeb
    • Not Apple, but Flash Plugin in Safari (Unexpectedly Quit…I now expect it regularly)
    • Aperture 3 abomination
    • Allison’s issues with iTunes (spinning pizza wheel on starting videos, stuttering on videos, doesn’t remember external monitor is gone)
    • Look at all the errors and calls to debugger in the Console, I’m surprised the system doesn’t crash immediately

    Picks:

    • Bart – iPhone Game Optia at iTunes – puzzle game where you have mirrors and other optical devices to try get a laser to blow up targets. LOADS of levels and builds up very slowly so you pick up a lot skill without noticing.
    • John – Google Analytics Automator Action – echoone.com
    • Steve – Dropbox dropbox.com
    • Katie – Cnet Tech Tracker   cnet.com/techtracker/
    • Allison – Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315 with a mousepad pullout tray target.com (don’t pay over $30 for it!)
    Play

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    December 27, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.12.27 Episode #76

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 9:16 pm

    This week’s episode of the Mac Roundtable is hosted by:

    Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast at podfeet.com @podfeet
    Katie Floyd – Mac Power Users at macpowerusers.com @katiefloyd
    Bart Busschots – bartb.ie @bbusschots

    Tech gadgets we must pack for vacation:

    • Chargers – phone, camera, video camera, iPod
    • Battery pack for iPhone
    • HyperMac (or similar) chargers? hypershop.com
    • Cables – Ethernet (Bart also carries ethernet crossover cable), iPod/iPhone, USB, Firewire
    • Spare Flash Drive
    • Movie Drive (small USB drive with Drive-In encoded movies (telestream.net/drive-in) sadly shut down by the DVD Copy Control Association
    • Noise canceling headphones for the plane
    • Surge protector for dodgy power (in Mexico) catalog.belkin.com
    • Plug converters for European travel (and American travel for Bart)
    • How much memory do you carry?  SD cards in camera vs. video camera?

    Related: What is your current travel bag and why do you like it?

    What tools or skills do we want to learn/improve next year?

    • Bart – I want to learn more about iMovie
    • Katie – Blogging (WordPress, Mars Edit, etc.) WordPress theme Allison recommended to Katie is Atahualpa from wordpress.org/extend/themes/atahualpa (named after the last Incan sovereign emperor)
    • Al – more about screencasting and video in general – still baffled by encoding options.

    Tech Related gifts bought or received:

    • Al – LowePro MicroTrekker 100 & Logitech MX Revolution amazon.com/Logitech-Revolution-Cordless-Laser-Mouse due to peer pressure from the Mac Roundtable – now how do I talk to it without the Logitech drivers?
    • Bart – iPhoto Calendar – it’s the most tech-related thing I’ve given this year. I decided on the topic at the very start of the year – “Butterflies of Ireland” – and spent the whole year diligently gathering the shots to assemble into the calendar. Even put in all the Latin names!
    • Katie – iHome iP9 Clock Radio for iPhone store.apple.com
    Play

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    November 14, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.11.14 Episode #73

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 2:45 pm

    This edition of The MacRoundtable included:

    John F. Braun: Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab / Twitter
    Chuck Joiner: The MacVoices Group / Twitter
    David Sparks: MacSparky / Mac Power Users / Twitter
    Steve Stanger: The Mac Attack / Twitter

    Our ‘Mac Tales of Woe’ on this episode of MRT. We discuss our (near) Mac disasters and how to prevent or repair our Macs when trouble finds them. We also talk about Applecare and insurance for your Mac and a new MacBook upgrade that all the cool kids are trying. We then wrap up the show with our picks.

    iFixit
    MacBook Scuba – What to do when you MacBook gets wet

    OptiBay info:
    MCE OptiBay
    MacVoices #9104: Arnie Ramirez of MCE Technologies Expands Your Mac Laptop with Their OptiBay
    ScreenCasts Online SCO0224 – Solid State Drives & OptiBay [Members Show]

    Picks:
    Chuck – ScotteVest
    David – Secrets
    John – eGo Ruby Red Portable Hard Drive
    Steve – Dungeon Hunter (itunes link)

    Play

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    September 14, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.09.13 Episode #70

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 11:15 pm

    Mac Roundtable #70 is hosted by:
    ? Katie Floyd of Mac Power Users at macpowerusers.com twitter.com/maccore, themaccore.com
    ? John F Braun of Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab macgeekgab.com and Monday’s Mac Gadget macobserver.com
    ? Bart Busschots impodcast.tv & bartb.ie (twitter.com/bbusschots
    ? Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Podcast at podfeet.com, twitter.com/podfeet

    In this episode we talk about how happy we were to see Steve Jobs back, our impressions of the sales numbers, and then we dig into the new features iTunes 9 and the new, or not so new features of the iPods.  Then we talk through the improvements of iPhone 3.1 and we close up with our picks:

    Allison:  Fiwi for $0.99 from wordpower-software.com
    John : XPAL Power XP2000 xpalpower.com
    Katie: Cocktail 4.5 – now for Snow Leopard maintain.se/cocktail
    Bart: iHandy Level Free – itunes.apple.com

    Play

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    September 5, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.09.05 Episode #69

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 5:35 pm

    This show’s panel members include:

    Allison Sheridan NosillaCast Podcast (Twitter)
    Katie Floyd Mac Power Users & The MacCore (Twitter)
    David Sparks MacSparky, Mac Power Users, (Twitter)
    Victor Cajiao Typical Mac User, Typical Shutterbug (Twitter)

    In this episode we worked through the processes we used to migrate to Snow Leopard, pitfalls to watch out for, things to do to make sure you DON’T hit pitfalls. Then we walked through our impressions and enjoyment of Snow Leopard, and the very few problems we’ve found. We did touch on what 64 bit means to normal users.

    In our discussion of how cool Services is (are?) we referenced the following resources to learn how to automate processes with Services

    Pixelcorps & Mac Automation

    Picks of the week:
    Allison Twitter search utility Incoming!
    Katie: zBoost YX500 cell extender for your house
    Victor: Bamboo Fun but more the benefits in software that come with it. Wacom Privileges web site found at wacom.com
    David: AppleScript book Applescript 123, Sal Sohoigan

    Play

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    August 3, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.08.03 Episode #67

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 7:08 am

    Hosts:
    Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Podcast hosted at http://podfeet.com, Twitter @podfeet
    Katie Floyd of  Mac Power Users http://macpowerusers.com Twitter: @maccore
    Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline – http://www.screencastsonline.com Twitter @donmcallister
    John F Braun of the Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab Podcast at http://www.macgeekgab.com, Twitter @johnfbraun

    Displays
    Is it worth Buying an Apple Display?

    • Allison is still using a 17″ Apple Studio flat panel and a 22″ Apple Cinema Display (8-9 yrs) and now a 24″ Cinema
    • Katie has an old Cinema Display (gray and white) that just won’t die. It’s nearly 10 years old. Thought it was the best monitor ever – till I saw the new LED screen on my MacBook Pro.
    • John uses Samsung
    • Don uses Dell Monitors (some are rebranded Samsung)

    Why doesn’t Apple take ergonomics seriously on the ACD
    Handling multiple monitors
    AppleCare for Display – http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB590LL/A ($99)

    Screensharing-ish Things
    Microsoft RDC
    Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2

    Team Viewer from http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx
    iChat Screen Sharing
    Can do remote with MobileMe “Back to My Mac”
    Cisco Webex

    HP vs. Canon vs. Epson
    All-in-ones? Laser Printers?
    Katie uses Canon – MP530 – Printer, scanner, fax – gripe – scanner doesn’t work via Airport
    Don uses Canon – MP600 – Scanner is sooooo slooooow
    Allison – HP all the way – HP4480
    John – HP Deskjet 990Cse & GCC Elite 12/1200 Laser!

    Input Devices
    Kensington Expert Mouse http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html
    Kensington Orbit® Optical Trackball  http://us.kensington.com/html/4771.html
    Katie likes the Logitec Mice – Have an MX Laser (older model) now looking at Revolution – http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/130&cl=US,EN Works great without any drivers.
    Don uses MX Revolution and Nano VX Revolution
    Al likes MacAlly and even a crappy little HP mouse!

    Picks
    Allison – The BT-1 Bluetooth camera from http://www.bt-1.com/ $149
    John – Snapz Pro and Hector Cam http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cam/
    Katie – MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 http://www.macspeech.com/
    Don – Matrox CompressHD – http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/compresshd/

    Closing:
    Please make comments on iTunes – in the US store the 2nd to most recent comment says “no longer available for free.  This is a great podcast but the guy that does it no longer offers it for free.” Even if you don’t put a FAVORABLE review up there (of course that would be our preference) we’d sure like factual reviews to come up under most recent!

    Play

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    July 17, 2009

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    Mac Roundtable 2009.07.17 Episode #66

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 1:48 pm

    This week?s hosts included:
    Chuck Joiner: MacVoices
    David Sparks: macsparky.com
    Tim Verpoorten: Mac Reviewcast
    Jonathan Cost: Mac Tips Daily
    Steve Stanger: The Mac Attack

    This weeks topics:
    The latest iTunes update breaks Palm Pre syncing. Did this really surprise anyone? This conversation then leads to an iPhone “love-in”. Next we talk about the rumors of a new touchscreen device from apple. Tim then raises the question “Are we seeing the death of the Apple desktop?” David recently upgraded his MacBook with a SSD hard drive and he shares his interesting findings with us. We also discuss our experiences so far with the 3.0 iphone / iPod touch upgrade.

    Our Picks this week were:
    Chuck – Pandora One
    David – Prowl (itunes link)
    Jonathan – Funbooth
    Steve – Topaz Adjust (Steve during the show called it Aztec Adjust)

    Play

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