Ever wanted to improve your typing? One way is to use Mac software. You can find several learn-to-type-better programs, but the one I always seem to hear good things about is Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor. I used it myself many years ago. And now I’ve got a 2nd-grader using it to improve on what they are teaching her in school. It makes learning to type much more fun and easier than how they tried to teach me back when I was in school. With keyboards being the way we work and communicate today, it is worth trying to improve your typing speed with a little practice.
You’d think that four internal hard drive bays in my Mac Pro would be enough. But no, I also need to easily swap out external drives for backups and archiving. The Startech.com eSATA/USB to SATA External HDD Dock allows me to connect two large drives easily. It works with both USB and eSATA, if you have an eSATA card to connect it to.
Now that I am building iPhone apps, I find the need to track downloads and sales. As most iPhone developers know, Apple’s developer site presents data in an almost unreadable format. So a lot of third-party developers have stepped in to provide applications that will present the data in a useful way. I use AppViz which gets download and sales data, reviews from all countries, and even checks rankings. It has become an invaluable part of my business day.
I think when most people look at the Solio H1000 Universal Hybrid Charger they don’t realize it is really an external battery for the iPhone and iPod. It isn’t just a solar panel. So if you are going to carry around an external battery, you might as well make it this one. It costs about the same, and it charges itself given enough time. I just keep it in the window, and then when I travel I grab it. I can get a full charge while on the airplane. By the time I am taking my return flight, it is usually fully charged from the hotel window and ready again.
We record the MacMost video podcast straight into a Mac Pro, skipping tape. The way to do this is to use a Firewire camcorder. But this is a dying breed as the hard drive and SD card camcorders take over. The pinnacle of the MiniDV/Firewire camcorder will likely be the Canon VIXIA HV40 HD HDV Camcorder. We picked up one of these for less than $700 and it works great with our Macs. It is full 1080 high def, directly into the Firewire port. A great camera for video podcasting or taping your kids soccer game.
Were you disappointed when Apple removed full screen mode from Screen Sharing? You don’t have to use Apple’s application for this, however. An alternative is JollyFastVNC which gives you full screen mode and a variety of other features like automatic copy and paste. You’ve got a plethora of preferences to use to customize your VNC experience as well.
I hate to recommend inkjet printers. I hate inkjet printers. But every once in a while you need to print something out in color. Not often enough to get a color laser printer, so an inkjet in the house is just something you need. The Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Inkjet All-In-One Photo Printer is a pretty good bargain at $100. What I like most about it is it connects via wireless networking. Connecting a printer via a USB cable is so 1990s, considering that so many households have more than one computer nowadays. Plus, you can get a free iPhone app from Canon that lets you print directly from your iPhone. For $100, that’s a pretty good value.
I’ve stopped using CDs and DVDs to back up and archive files. Instead, I use 1 and 2 TB drives. You can get 1TB drives for less than $90 nowadays. But the one thing that bothers me is that they have no protection. Some of the circuits are right out there ready to be damaged. I stored them in small boxes with padding, but I wanted something better. I discovered these little hard drive boxes, which are perfect for the task.
I hate the earbuds that come with the iPod and iPhone. They are just so uncomfortable. And they don’t work well with airplane noise. So i usually use a set of noise cancelling over-the-ear headphones when I can. But sometimes these are too bulky to carry in a small airline carry-on. So I tried the Panasonic RP-HC55 Noise Canceling Earbuds. I thought they would be the same level of discomfort as the Apple earbuds, but at least the noise cancellation would be a benefit. I was surprised to find that they were also very comfortable. I may have finally found a set of earbuds that I like.
Not too long ago I recommended the Western Digital 1.0TB Drive, which is now an even better bargain at $85. But I decided to go with an even larger Time Machine backup drive when I saw you can get the Western Digital 2.0TB Drive for only $190. Even with my video editing and large photo and music collections, that should give me quite a deep Time Machine backup. I stuck mine inside my Mac Pro in the 4th bay, but you can use a cheap hard drive dock if you don’t already have one. Being able to get large drives like these for so little really takes away any excuse for not using Time Machine to back up your precious files.
I didn’t expect to recommend the iPhone 8x Telescope with Tripod when I ordered it. It looked more like a curiosity than a useful gadget. It is a small telescope that fits into a custom iPhone 3G/S case. It also comes with a special tripod adapter and small tripod. But the thing actually works and it is less than $30. Heck, the tripod adapter is the best I’ve used and might be worth the price alone. But the telescope attachment lets you take decent pictures and videos too.
It is tough to recommend a mouse. The reason there are so many different types of mice is that personal preferences vary greatly. A perfect fit for one person is a nightmare for another. And Apple mice tend to get blasted in reviews. To be fair, they have made mistakes in the past. The Mighty Mouse suffered from a horrible track ball that seemed to stop working the moment a piece of dust got near. While the Magic Mouse fixes that problem by using a touch-sensitive top instead of a ball, it lacks features like side and middle buttons. But having a Magic Mouse on one Mac and a Mighty Mouse on another, I can report that when I have to use the Mighty Mouse I can see how much of an improvement the Magic Mouse is. If you’ve got the budget to get a new $70 mouse right now, they you should try it.
I’m amazed by the number of people that still connect their digital cameras to their Macs to transfer pictures. A far better way is to use a USB Flash card reader. This
Kingston model is very similar to the one I have had for years. These card readers are usually faster than your camera in transfering photos — sometimes much faster. And they don’t run down your camera battery. New iMacs and MacBook Pros have an SD card slot, but this will help those with older models or with cameras that use other kinds of cards.
The two competing disk cloning and backup utilities are the previously recommended Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper!. I’ve recently switched to using SuperDuper! as I find it handles making full hard drive backups a little more smoothly. It is a free trial, and then $28 for all advanced features.
The good folks from Otterbox send me their Otterbox Commuter Case for iPhone to protect my iPhone. Another great design from them. It protects all the edges very well, but doesn’t hinder access to the screen or any of the controls. Comes with a screen protector too.
I often get asked about to-do list applications. I do like using to-do lists to get things done. So I’ve tried a lot of the Mac applications out there. But they usually fall short in one way or the other. A big one for me is being able to access my tasks from anywhere. I may be on my Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, iPhone or I may be on a computer at some other location. So a Web-based to-do list is best for me. Gmail Tasks is very simple, but it works. And I’ve got it set up to show whenever I visit my Gmail page, which is often. So tasks don’t slip by simply because I forgot to look. Plus Gmail Tasks works well on the iPhone.
I’ve mentioned before the Griffin iMic as a way to use a standard mic with your Mac. If you are ready for the next step up, try the M-Audio Fast Track USB Audio Interface which provides a little better quality, input control, and other features. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it requires an XLR microphone connector, which is fine for musicians, but podcasters will probably need this XLR Adapter.
Do you treat web sites like Gmail or Facebook like a complete application instead of a web site? Fluid allows you to complete the transformation and actually create a site-specific browser. So now you can run one of these sites in a separate browser from Safari with its own Dock item, menu bar, preferences and memory space.
Ever want to cool your MacBook down a little more by boosting the fan speed? With smcFanControl you can take manual control of your internal MacBook fans and monitor their speeds. The latest version is a bit hard to find on the site. As of today, you can download it from this post.
Looking for something a little different than iMovie, but without the complexity and price tag of Final Cut Express? MediaEdit might fit the bill. A video editor with a traditional timeline and plenty of features, MediaEdit is easy on the wallet at $60. One cool feature is the ability to draw in a layer over the video. There is a free 30-day trial.
