The winners are TerryC and Dale Lymn. I’ve sent their names to audioengineusa.com and they should get their gear soon. Thank you everyone for participating. I really enjoyed reading all of the interesting ideas for using this unique product.
Also, thank you Audioengineusa.com. They were very generous with this contest and I hope you all consider them in the future for your audio needs.
Ars Technica is reporting Apple has sent out invitations for a press event on March 6 where it is going to discuss the iPhone software development and Apple’s “exciting new enterprise features.” Hmmm. They missed the promised February date, but just barely. Furthermore, it is not even clear whether the SDK is done but at least we’ll get some information and the tease about enterprise compatibility may be a game changer for a lot of folks. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
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Just two days left until the drawing for Audioengine AW1’s so if you haven’t joined the contest yet … do it now.
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It is Tuesday again. This time Apple announced some very nice updates to the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. They include processor and hard drive bumps. Likewise, the MacBookPro 17″ is now getting an LED display and the MacBook Pro line is getting the MacBook Air gestures on the track pad. You can see the product details here.
I know several people who have been waiting for this update (including my friend Victor from the Typical Mac User podcast) and I expect we’ll be seeing reviews of the new hardware in no time at all.
I’m still quite satisfied with my slightly aged MacBook Pro. If any readers are buying one of the new machines, chime in on the comments.
Reader Anthony recently wrote me about the OS X slow motion features. That is, if you hold down the shift key while minimizing windows or activating expose’ or spaces, everything moves very slow. It really gives you a better idea of how the animation works in terms of both motion and fade.
I always thought of it as eye candy but Anthony makes a good point. When teaching your switcher friends how windows minimize into the dock, slowing things down can be helpful to demonstrate exactly how it all works.
In addition to other pursuits, I like to fiddle with the OS X developer package. Dashcode is one set of tools that is particularly appropriate for me (dumbed down for someone without a lick of programming prowess) and, as a result, the place I spend the most the time. Anyway, I’ve decided to start publishing my self-made widgets so feel free to download and enjoy.
This widget gives you the macsparky feed right in your dashboard.
This review was also broadcast on the MacReviewCast #148.
Remember when the iPhone first released and there were just 3 cases on the market? Well that was eight months ago and now there are more like 3,000 cases on the market. To be honest I had little interest in any of them. I have an invisible shield on my phone (although I’m often tempted to remove that as well) and that is it. It works fine. Fits in my pocket and gives me no troubles.
I must admit however that I was very intrigued by the products offered by OtterBox. They specialize in cases that are more functional than pretty. Put simply, Otterbox is in the protection business.
The reason I was attracted to Otterbox is that while I usually don’t need a case at all, I sometimes need one desperately. Our home is very near some of the areas that got burned out in the California fires this year and I’ve taken to hiking through the woods and taking pictures. Likewise, I often find myself chasing my kids through things like tidepools and beaches with my phone in my pocket.
This is why I got an Otterbox Armor iPhone case. This case is the Sherman tank of iPhone cases. It opens with two sturdy latches. Inside is a stereo plug that slides into your iPhone and a rubber grip to hold it snug.
You then close the case and lock it down with the side tabs. On the outside is a translucent material that allows you to operate the touch interface with a noticeable, but not unusable, bit of resistance. This may have been amplified my invisible shield. It has an external headphone jack (not recessed) and external buttons that (with some mashing) give you access to all of your primary iPhone buttons and controls. It even has small diaphragm type devices over the speakers.
Put simply, this rugged case makes your iphone waterproof, dustproof, dirtproof, sandproof, and drop-proof, kid-proof, tidepool proof, and just about anything else-proof. It has rubber on the inside and protective plastic rubbery stuff on the outside which would allow you to confidently spike your phone on the ground with little fear of damage. I don’t think there is another iPhone case out there that could take a beating the way this one could. It can even go underwater. That is right. The iPhone submarine. According to the manufacturer it could go as deep as three feet.
Now I love participating in the Mac community and I will go to great lengths for my fellow Mac geeks, but sinking my iPhone three feet in the pool was one shot I just couldn’t take for the team. Instead I put a wad of tissue in the case and then sank it three feet for 15 seconds. When I pulled it out, I opened it up and the tissue was remarkably dry. I couldn’t see any signs of water intrusion inside the case. I don’t think you can take your phone scuba diving with this case but if I do end up dropping it in the tidepools someday, I’ll probably be alright.
They have one version that is black on black and another that is black and yellow. The Armor is not what I would call an elegant case. It is attractive though … in the same way a muddy Range Rover driving out of the jungle is attractive. It is big and bulky and completely contrary to that elegant simplicity that you always find in Apple design. However, if you are going to beat the heck out of your phone, the Armor is for you. I keep mine in my car so when I decide to hit the beach or go for a hike, into the Otterbox Armor it goes. The armor sells for about $70 and you can find it at many online retailers.
Here is one for photographers …
For a long time I looked at those funny graphs in my photo applications and just scratched my head. They are actually very helpful though both in the field and at the computer. I have more-or-less understood them now for awhile but I recently stumbled upon this excellent article that really helped me “get it.”
I’ve received several emails from readers asking me about the Audioengine AW1 Wireless Adapter I recently reviewed. Well guess what? The folks at Audioengine have agreed to give away two of them to Macsparky readers. This isn’t one of *those* contests. I promise. All you have to do is head over to Audioengine and look at the AW1 Wireless Adapter. Then post a comment to this thread explaining what you would do with a free AW1 Wireless Adapter. I can’t wait to see what ideas everyone has for this great product. Please just one entry per person. This contest is only available to people with a United States shipping address (sorry).
On Friday February 29 (yes.. leap year day), I’ll randomly select two names and announce the winners. Audioengine will then ship the winners their free AW-1. See? Easy! No DNA sample required and no “discussion” about the benefits of timeshares.
Audioengine also agreed to give a 10% discount off all of their products to readers using the “Macsparky” discount code. So if you’ve been looking for some outstanding desktop speakers, a floor shaking subwoofer, or (like me) lusting after the shelftop A5’s, now is your moment. Carpe diem.
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A further note regarding the contest…
A few people have written me confused on how to enter. All you have to do is put a comment below and leave an email that finds you if you win. I’m going to make a list of all the comments (removing duplicate entries), then number the list, then randomly generate two numbers and those two are the winners. Rather than do the usual “email me” contest, I thought it would be more fun for everyone to post. This is a unique product and I’ve already got several new ideas on how to use it from your posts.
The winners are picked Friday (contest closes 9pm pacific on Friday) and the winners are announced on Saturday. Good luck!
You may recall my enthusiasm for BusySync, a preference pane application that allows you to sync all of the various iCal calendars on all the Macs in your home or office. I reviewed it right here. The promised version 2.0 is just around the corner and there is now a public beta of version 2. I’ve been using it just a few days but very impressed. The addition of Google Calendar syncing allows me not to just sync my calendars on my home network but from any computer plugged into the interweb.
I have a subscription to Spanning Sync and have been a generally satisfied user (except for the occasional sync explosion). That being said, so far I prefer BusySync. BusySync will put your iCal calendar straight on Google. I do not need to create separate calendars on Google and go through the process of linking iCal calendars to Google calendars. If I want to sync my iCal calendar, I just check the box. The actual syncing process also seem faster. Finally, at the expected $25 price point, BusySync is less expensive. I may do a second review of BusySync 2.0 once it escapes beta but for the time being, if you are interested, go download it here.
As always, whenever you are playing with calendar syncing back up early and back up often. That is actually another benefit of BusySync. It automatically creates and stores 10 backups of your calendar.