Click Here Technology Columns

Current Blog Assignments and Postings

2015-11-10T09:29:00.001-06:00

With some changes in contracts and intellectual property, I'm not pushing out my articles here as often. I'm now publishing articles every week. I'll try to post a synopsis every month of what I've been writing across the web.

You can find my articles at:

GigaOM (now inactive)
groovyPost
Guiding Tech
Lifehacker (a division of Gawker)
Technibble

As well as some occasional guest posts at places like Backblaze and Indie Fit

Software Review: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 6.0

2014-01-20T20:45:00.002-06:00

Some things get better with age such as cheese and wine, and some things just rot and start to stink and that’s what I think of this version of Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery.

Previous version of this program were great and I’m a big fan but this version seems like one to skip! While the program has more of a Mac look and feel than previous versions, it’s still contains spelling errors and grammatical nonsense that interferes with your ability to understand the functions.

For testing, I took a drive that version 4.1 was able to recover successfully without locking up and took that same drive in version 6.0 and the program locked up or simply gave up on recovery. Reran 4.1 on the same machine and the same drive no problems so this version clearly had problems. Even before the program attempted recovery, it took sometimes a minute or more to load while previous versions and competitors only took a few seconds on the same machine. Clearly version 6.0 is a step backwards not just in recovery but overall program function. The “quick scan” it offers was significantly longer than previous versions and seemed to recover less data though it locked up quite often while doing recovery.

When I ran into problems with the program during my tests I called the “24 hour tech support” and support was about as functional as the program. Language barriers made it very difficult to understand and instead of solving the problems or giving me advice, they asked me to install TeamViewer and leave it running all night since tier 2 only works during 9am to 4pm India Standard time. Talk about a security risk! I don’t like someone I don’t know messing around in my computer without my ability to monitor them.

Even the simplest of questions took at least 24 hours for a reply and often the answers were undecipherable and it took over a month for them to agree to even answer my questions without remoting in after hours. Questions would go back and forth and I couldn’t get it escalated. Almost two months to the day of opening my case, and waiting at least 24 business hours between replies I was told the program doesn’t work on a corrupt drive. I can’t make this up!

Therefore, if you are looking for a recovery program try to get an old version of Stellar Phoenix or use a competitor’s program. This program is slow, unreliable and the support is atrocious.

Pros: More Mac-like interface

Cons: Terrible support, program locks up on problem drives, slow to load

Two out of Five

Hardware Review: Mobile Home

2014-01-20T20:43:00.001-06:00

The Mobile Home has a very specific market: your need a car that has built in Bluetooth that is compatible with Siri. If you can press your home button and interact with Siri in your car, this is the product for you. Basically it takes that home button function and turns it into a wireless device you can place in a safer position.

It’s about the size of a small garage door opener and it works best clipped onto your visor, but you can put it other places such as your steering wheel. Pair it with your phone and when you press the Mobile Home button, Siri activates as if you were pressing the home button on your phone.

This is a safety device as it allows you to interact with your phone without having to fumble around. When I first got it I thought “$80 for a home button” but after I had it I found myself using Siri more and picking up my phone less. My hands stayed close to the wheel and moreover, I wasn’t tempted to look at my phone when I picked it up. It was safer for me to press the Mobile Home button than it was to adjust my radio or my AC.

Since it’s a Bluetooth device, it must establish a connection with your phone each time you go in the car. The problem is it has no way of knowing you are in the car, so the first time you press the button when entering in your car the Mobile Home “wakes up” and establishes its Bluetooth connection. This is kinda annoying as it’s not immediately available to you. What I’ve learned to do is if I’m going to be going on a moderate drive, I’m sure to wake up Mobile Home first.

This is really a brilliant device and the price is steep, but if you use your phone often in the car, this is a much safer way of doing it

Pros: Easy access to Siri

Cons: Delay in pairing, price

4 out of 5

Hardware Review: The Curb

2014-01-20T20:38:00.002-06:00

The CURB is a great little device to carry along with your laptop or your tablet. It’s a wedge of plastic that comes in a variety of colors and angles your device to keep it cool and to put it at an ergonomically comfortable angle of about 15 degrees. It even has a space for a charging cord.

I really liked this simple device to carry in my laptop bag. While at a coffee shop my laptop was more comfortable to type with, stayed cool, and stayed away from the crumbs on the table.

At $16.99 it’s nice price for such a handy device.

Pros: protects you and your laptop

Cons: none

Five out of Five

Software Review: Reflector

2014-01-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

Ever wanted to share your iPhone or iPad screen with someone else on a desktop or laptop instead of an AppleTV--as they say, there is an app for that. Actually that capability is already built into iOS via AIrplay. Reflector is a program you run on either your Mac or a PC that turns the computer into an Airplay device. This allows you to mirror your iPhone or iPad display onto a computer running Mac OS X or Windows. Moreover, multiple people can present at the same time.

This allows you to mirror what’s showing on your iPhone without having to use an AppleTV making it ideal for presentations. We’ve used in our user group numerous times to allow participants to explain a problem they are having or to be shown how to do something -- and in particular the program has profound educational opportunities.

The Mac version is extremely easy: start it up and it shows up as a AirPlay device on any iOS device. You can choose the background colors, screen size and, if you wish, password protect connections. The Windows version is a bit trickier due to firewall issues, but that’s true of many Windows programs. On either platform, once you connect your iOS device your screen magically appears on your computer. Just an FYI, you’ll be very tempted to try to control your iOS device from your computer until you remember only the screen is mirrored, you will still have to touch the iOS device to control.

One more thing, it also allows you to record these AirPlay sessions making it great for tutorials! Whether you are demoing for sales or doing a tutorial walk through, Reflector makes it super easy.

The best feature though is the price: $12.99. This is really a bargain for an application that does so much. They offer multipacks of the programs so it can be used by multiple users.

If you’ve ever presented from an iPhone or iPad this is the app for you. Easy to use, reliable and best of all you can record the sessions.

Pros: AirPlay universality, screen recording price

Cons: You’ll be tempted to touch your Mac screen to control your Phone.

Five out of Five

Software Review: CollageIt Pro

2014-01-20T20:26:00.000-06:00

This program has one purpose that’s obvious from the title: grouping photos into a collage. You can arrange them via a variety of templates or go free form if you wish. You can put up to 200 photos within a collage, though obviously they won’t scale well. There are two versions of this program which is confusing and somewhat deceiving. The free version only lets you create a collage while the pro version also allows you to crop the pictures as well as put text in them. The program provides essentially the same functionally as the Projects from within iPhoto but with slightly more options and you don’t need to buy a print after creating it.

Within the program you can import photos from iPhoto as well as drag and drop directly into the gallery. Once you’ve got the pictures in the program you can arrange them on the page in a free form mode or using different templates provided such as mosaic, grid, center and pile. After you know where the pictures should be placed on the collage you can then create a background and (in the pro version) add text and crop the photos. You’ve got quite a bit of options here as to how things should look. Additional customizations as far as number of rows, columns and spacing in between pictures are included. The options can be a bit overwhelming, but the default settings do a good job.

Once you create your collage you can print it or export it as a picture file in a variety of file formats as well as directly as a desktop image, email, or into iPhoto or Facebook. Once you’ve got it into iPhoto you then have all the great print options available within that program. The online help walks you through all the steps rather nicely

Although this is a one trick pony, the function it provides is really nice. I dislike the two different program options as it’s confusing and the $29.99 price for the pro version is a bit steep, but if you’ve got photos that you want to arrange in a unique and interesting way and you want to extend it beyond iPhoto, Collage (Pro) is for you

Pros: Great tool for making a picture out of pictures

Cons: Price

Four out of Five

GigaOM: Windows Phone 8 and the Mac: Surprisingly compatible

2013-12-25T19:24:00.000-06:00

In this article for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog, I look at how to make a Windows Phone 8 sync with a Mac

Software Review: Vitamin R-2

2013-12-25T19:16:00.002-06:00

Trouble focusing on your work? This is the program for you!

Vitamin R-2 is a unique program that allows you to get things done on your computer using something similar to the pomodoro method in which you do work in short intervals and then take breaks. Pomodoro timers are a plenty on the Mac but Vitamin R-2 has the flexibility and options to adapt it to your needs.

On the base level, it’s a timer. You mark how long of a time slice you want to take and the project you are working on. The program then counts down and offers you a time and open ended break. That’s just the beginning though.

Within the program are lots of features to optimize your productivity and reduce distractions. When creating a “time slice” you can force select (or all programs) to minimize in order to reduce distractions. While working if you think of something and must write it down, you can quickly open up the app’s “Now and Later” board to write down your thoughts for now, later, objectives, or simply a scratch pad. This quickly gets you back to work. During your work you can also have a variety of sounds playing in the background such as white noise or a variety of ticking time clocks. Occasionally the program will tell you how much time you have left.

When a time slice is complete, you can leave yourself notes on where to pick up from. The program logs time spent on tasks and tasks can be tagged and categorized.

On first glance the program is intimidating and the manual focuses, pardon the pun, on the science of focus more than how to use the program. After continued usage I was able to incorporate more of the features to improve my workflow. By using the tools to plan the work and then to pick up when I shifted task, I really did get more done in the given day and be able to ask answer the question “Where did the time go?”

Pros: Great productivity encouragement with the flexibility to adapt to individual workflows
Cons: Can be a bit intimidating with the options and features

Four out of Five Dogcows

Software Review: MacBreakZ

2013-12-25T19:13:00.000-06:00

Like many computer users, I tend to sit hours at a time working on projects without taking healthy breaks. If an interruption occurs that’s about the only time I remember to stop typing, look away or simply take a break. MacBreakZ is a welcome product to make sure I don’t suffer injury.

First, MacBreakZ watches your computer usage via keyboard and mouse/trackpad usage and suggests microbreaks after a certain amount of activity (this can be adjusted). It also gives you a timer and a color code in the menu bar to know when your next break is needed and how excessive your usage is. Typing really fast for a long period of time? Take a microbreak. If you are staring and watching a video, it’s more likely to leave you alone (it will bother you though so best to turn it off during a presentation or a video)

Let me say this: the product is terribly annoying but that’s a good thing. I’ll be working right along at a project and “in the zone” and that stupid window pops up asking me to take a deep breath and look away. I’m way to busy for that- but in reality that’s the point. I don’t want to feel exhausted, I need to take breaks so that way my hands don’t cramp up or my eyes start bothering me. Once I accept the importance of taking breaks I really do feel more productive. The Microbreak shows up as a transparent windows so it can be ignored if you want to, but I warn you it will start annoying you more the more you ignore it. It’s bothersome without being intrusive. It nags but doesn’t pester.

Besides the Microbreaks, MacBreakZ also offers tips for stretches throughout the day for various body parts that tend to get fatigued after extended computer usage.

Initially I balked at the price of $25 for a program that simply told me to take a break, but this is really so much more as it adapts to your usage and offers direct suggestions of how to take a break to prevent repetitive stress injury.

If you use your computer for an extended period of time and don’t have the discipline to take a break and stretch, this program is a lifesaver

Pros: tells you how and when to take a break
Confs: pricing may seem a bit high

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right

GigaOM: iStocking stuffers: 5 great iOS gifts under $30

2013-12-11T19:21:00.000-06:00

In this article for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog, I review stocking stuffers for your Apple devices under $30

GigaOM: iOS 7 won’t waterproof your iPhone, but these cases will

2013-12-04T19:19:00.000-06:00

In this article for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog I review waterproof iPhone cases

Book Review: Raspberry Pi Cookbook

2013-11-27T15:28:00.001-06:00

I'll admit that I've always wondered about the Raspberry Pi: the tiny little computer that can do so many things. I wasn't sure where to start since I’ve never used one before.This book was heavy on the ideas and specific ways of utilizing device in a high level technical format.The book jumps right in and ignores the handholding and step by steps I often find in other books and goes right into Python and using GPIO. This isn't a complaint, but these recipes were a bit intimidating.

The middle section of the book was the most interesting:what can you actually do with a PI such as setup a webcam or a game emulator.I would have liked more expansion in this area rather than the heavy programming and hardware interfaces (dip switches and jumpers scare me!)

If you are programer wanting to get into Pi then this is a great book for you, but if you are a hobbyist wanting to simply play with a Pi and see what it can do for you, this may not be the best book

Four out of Five

GigaOM/TheAppleBlog: How to prevent iOS 7′s Activation Lock from potentially bricking your iPhone

2013-10-20T16:08:00.000-05:00

In this post for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog I explain how new features of iOS 7 could lock you out of your iPhone or iPad

2013-09-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

In this post for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog, I review Garmin's new Head Up Display (HUD)

Hardware Review: MyCharge Amp 2000

2013-08-18T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Mycharge Amp2000 is a small convenient cylindrical battery pack that has the right balance of portable and power. Measuring in at 1.3 x 1 x 3.9 inches and a soft rubberized finish on the outside this charger fits just about anywhere: your pocket, your glove compartment or your carry on giving you that extra boost of power with it’s 2000 mAh battery that can provide up to 9 hours of extra talk time.

The package includes a micro usb cord for charging and the device has a standard USB Output of 1.0A for charging (bring your own charging cable). Also included is a lanyard that you can use to wear around your neck although I’m not sure why you’d want to do that.
A nice easy power boost to get you through the day or an emergency!

Pros: small, cylindrical, just enough power
Cons: none

Five out of Five Dogcows

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Hardware Review: MyCharge Hub 6000

2013-08-11T11:09:00.000-05:00

Mycharge.com calls this ““Swiss Army Knife of portable power devices,” and trademark issues aside they have it right on the money. Starting off with this is a 6000mAh Lithium Ion battery providing up to 27 hours of talk time. A battery pack is simply a battery pack, expect when it’s a Hub charger.

This device has a retractable micro-usb and an Apple compatible Lightning connector to charge most modern devices out there as well as a standard USB port to use older devices such as 30-pin or mini-usb cables. I’m disappointed the 30-pin wasn’t included but I understand Apple has discontinued that style. All three charging ports (usb, Lightning, Micro) can be used at once allowing you to charge three devices simultaneously. To charge the pack a retractable AC plug comes out and can plug into a wall and when not in use its well-hidden to prevent snagging.

Aesthetically this device is a beauty and matches Apple’s design style with silver metallic base and white plastic edging (ok black would have been better) and with smooth edges it should easily fit in most backpacks, briefcases and carry ones.

With the right connectors, the power and the style of this battery pack modern road warriors will be able to go all day long without skipping a beat

Pros: Power, connectors
Cons: No 30-pin connector

Five out of Five Dogcows

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Hardware Review: MyCharge Peak 6000 Battery Pack

2013-08-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

When traveling I can’t seem to get enough power but I absolutely despise filling up my carry on with a bunch of extra chargers and cables. While there are lots of chargers on the market, this one is as close to all in one as you get with retractable cables and AC adapter as well as a USB port and even an audible indicator telling you what is charging and how much charge is left. Due its somewhat large size it took up two wall plugins.

Starting off, this has a powerful 6000mAH battery which according to specs provide up to 27 hours of talk time for your (the iPhone has a 1,400 mAH battery). The device has a built in 30 pin charger (see other products for Lightning adapter) and I can easily put my iPhone on top of the device and charge it without excess cable getting in the way. In addition to the 30-Pin there is a retractable micro-usb cable as well as a standard USB port and the beauty of this is all three can be used simultaneously so I can charge my phone and Bluetooth headphones at once.

When you plug in a device, an audible alert tells you the device is charging and you can press a button to see how much charge is left in the battery as well as receive an audible indicator. At a quiet location (think library) this could be annoying but otherwise I found this a great feature because I knew it was working and could quickly tell how much battery is left.

For travel this is the ultimate balance of power and convenience for users of Apple devices pre-iPhone 5 and iPads with Lightning chargers. If your primary goal is to charge Lightning devices you’d probably be better off with another product but for the rest of us in the 30 pin era this device rocks.

Pros: Powerful battery, retractable cables and connectors
Cons: Audible alert could be annoying, no Lightning connector

Five out of Five

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Book Review: Talking to Siri Learning the Language of Apple's Intelligent Assistant (2nd Edition)

2013-07-28T16:59:00.000-05:00

Like many iPhone users, Siri was cool at the beginning but I quickly got bored with her and couldn’t really figure out how best to utilize this tool--until I read this book.

Siri is all about asking the right questions and phrasing your requests properly and this book shows you how. This isn’t about silly games such as “Open the pod bay doors” but powerful syntax to utilize all the functions available to you.

Each chapter examines a different area in which Siri can help you ending up with a quick reference card of the commands. Until I read this book I barely used Siri, now I can’t live without her! Some of the tips included in the book is to be sure to use nicknames and create relationships so you can say advanced phrases like “Remind me when I get to the grocery store to buy milk” or “Tell me a gas station on my current route”--complex commands that would take much longer if you had to do them by hand.

If you’ve got Siri on your phone or iPad, get this book!

Five out of Five

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Book Review: Cooking for Geeks

2013-07-27T22:58:00.001-05:00

Although I am a geek, I’m not a scientist and this book was really geared more towards chemistry majors as much of it went above my head. That being said, what I did understand was fascinating. If you like Alton Brown you’ll love this book because it takes that scientific approach to cooking to the next level.

Presented like a computer manual, each chapter examines a function of cooking such as the hardware, software, variables and methods involved. In these chapters celebrities and food luminaries are interviewed for their unique perspective on the subject and recipes demonstrating the concepts are also included.

The book is densely packed with information and if you understand college chemistry and physics you’ll get much more out of this book then I did because I struggled remembering the details of chemical bonds and Kelvin. Even with those limits, I still struggled with the onslaught of information explaining different tasting patterns and flavor combinations and had to read some chapters more than once. This isn’t light fluffy reading but it’s really worth it in the end.

After this book I was much more empowered to experiment with my cooking and cooking methods and understand why I like certain foods, combinations and cooking methods and why I dislike others. This is the science behind the art of cooking.

Hardware Review: Jawbone UP

2013-07-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

The Jawbone UP is Jawbone’s answer to the popular Fitbit fitness monitoring product line. This water-resistant product is worn around your wrist and will track not just your steps but your sleep as well. With a variety of colors and sizes this is not only a fitness monitoring tool but a great accessory for you and your iPhone. The 10-day battery means you don’t have to take it off to charge very often.

The UP measures yours steps throughout the day though has a problem with movement that doesn’t involve the wrist such as biking or an elliptical machine. You can add those movements manually to the app or put the device in your pocket. Although it’s water resistant, Jawbone advises against wearing it while swimming or in a long hot shower because long term water contact can cause problems. My first one had a problem potentially with overflexing the band to fit on my ankle and I was warned the electronics are throughout the whole band and can be damaged.

The UP also measures your sleep quality and will let you take a power nap or set vibrating alarm and be woken up in an optimal time so you aren’t in the middle of a deep sleep and are jarred awake. This is a great feature for those who have trouble getting up in the morning, although I didn’t notice much of a difference but to be fair I’ve tried other products like this without much success as well.

The way you read the data is through the iOS app and you must plug the device into the headphone jack to get a full read. It does not sync via Bluetooth or a computer: a smartphone (though not an iPhone) is required to analyze the data. Fortunately syncing only take a few seconds so it’s not a big deal.

The food tracking capability of the iPhone app is amazing. Not only does it have an extensive database of foods but it also allows you track food via scanning bar codes or taking pictures. No excuses for not watching what you eat.

With all this data of how you move, what you eat and how you sleep, the app offers insights and observations to improve your health and lets you analyze this data on your own to see trends how lack of sleep might cause you to overeat or not exercise enough. Impressive information for those trying to improve their health.

Built into the app is a team function in which you can work with others to compare fitness goals. Personally I couldn’t find any friends using the Jawbone UP to compete with (although I had dozens of friends using the Fitbit). Similar to many technology products, it’s about an installed base. Fitbit got to the market first with the products and have a large group of users who continue the momentum of the product. Tides easily turn. so it’s unclear who will win this war. If competing with others is important to you, be sure other friends have an UP first.

Overall a great product with impressive features to empower you to take control of your health

PROS: Long battery, wears around the wrist and water resistant
CONS: A bit delicate, lack of installed base

Four out of Five

Hardware Review: Fitbit Flex

2013-07-14T12:36:00.000-05:00

The Flex is the latest fitness monitoring product from Fitbit with a interchangeable wrist strap as well as water resistant electronics than may be worn in the shower or anywhere with brief contact with water. These features, however come at a price of reduced functionality compared with the One or Ultra and is more like the lower end Fitbit Zip.

The Flex uses the same iOS App and dashboard as the other Fitbit products and can be synced via a USB dongle or directly to your Bluetooth 4.0 iPhone or iPad but does not have a digital display. To see the actual steps you’ve taken for the day, you’ll need to use the app or view your progress on the Fitbit website. A series of 5 dots on the Flex tells you how far you’ve made progress towards your goal throughout the day (Five solid dots indicate you’ve met your goal). Without that display you also lose the stopwatch function, which was a very important part of my workouts.

The Flex does not measure stairs, unlike the Ultra or One, but does measure sleep and provides a vibrating wake up alarm and sleep quality monitoring. It seems to sit slightly above the Zip but slightly below the One in the product line (though pricing is the same as the One). Also because you wear it on your wrist, it didn’t register movement on an elliptical trainer, but when I put it in my pocket it worked fine.

All Fitbits feature the ability to compete with your friends to get in a certain number of steps each day regardless of which Fitbit product they have. If you are motivated by gamification, this is the product to help with your fitness goals. Fitbits also include a basic food diary for tracking calories, but the third party API’s help extend this feature such as through the Lose It app. The device charges via a USB dongle (but not the same one that enables syncing)

I’ll admit I was first very disappointed with the Flex’s inability to provide immediate readout and track stairs, but I gave up my obsession with knowing the exact number of steps and became satisfied accepting the simple progress bar on the device. Not having to worry about my Fitbit going through the washing machine and leaving it at home is a strong selling point even with a lack of features. As I wore it, others noticed and I was able to increase the number of people I competed with in the program.

A solid and reliable addition to the Fitbit product line to motivate you to stay fit.

Pros: Wear it on your wrist and not worry about water damage or loss, competition among friends
Cons: Doesn’t track elliptical motion, lack of digital readout

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Book Review: Jailbreak!: Free your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

2013-07-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

Jailbreaking is one of the more confusing aspects of using an iPhone and this book explains every aspect of jailbreaking: risks, rewards and caveats in a clear and easy to understand format for even the non-technical people who would never dream of jailbreaking.

First, the author makes clear the distinction between the relatively low risk jailbreaking and the high-risk unlocking. Jailbreaking is a software modification to your phone that allows you to make changes to the iOS and is legal at least until 2015 in the US.

Due to the previously questionable legal status of jailbreaking and the risks involved, few of the traditional companies have come out with books on the subject. That’s a shame because when done properly, jailbreaking is safe and legal and can be quite useful for those who need a bit more features on their iPhone rather than what Apple has to offer.

After explaining what jailbreaking is and why you might do it, the author explains exactly the process of how to do it making sure you can return to factory spec status if necessary. The explanation is detailed although only Mac instructions are included. Windows users won’t find the same handholding Mac users get in this book.

With your newly jailbroken phone, the next set of chapters introduces the App Store of jailbreakers: Cydia. Once you realize that Cydia isn’t some seedy pirate site but a legitimate way to buy apps, it’s really amazing everything that’s out there. Sure, there are some, pardon the pun, bad Apples out there and the buyer should beware and be aware, ratings and research will keep you safe and the author gives some good guidelines on staying away from problem apps.

Finally, armed with a jailbroken phone and a Cydia account, the world is your oyster for tweaks, modifications, and enhancements of your iOS device. Fun stuff like themes and visual effects to more practical items such as home screen shortcuts and ways to sweep up your iPhone and increase your battery life. Awesome functionality that Apple frequently includes in the next versions of iOS. Want iOS 7 functionality now? Much of it is already available to jailbroken phones.

Most of all this book gives the reader confidence to give it a go realizing they won’t damage their phone, void their warranty or go to jail and, if they don’t like it, they can easily revert back to a stock version. Don’t pay some questionable tech from Craigslist to jailbreak your iPhone: do it yourself!.

Pros: Great explanation of the features and the slight risks of jailbreaking
Cons: Could use better instructions for those on Windows.

GigaOM: For your summer road trip: 7 recommended chargers for your iDevices

2013-06-30T16:59:00.000-05:00

In this post for GigaOM/TheAppleBlog, I cover charging devices for Lightning based iOs devices.

Software Review: Mailplane for Gmail

2013-06-23T16:42:00.000-05:00

I’m a huge Mailplane fan and was using the beta for quite a while and fell in love. Mailplane simply put is a dedicated Gmail browser. Why do you need one? Many reasons.

The most obvious one is the fact it allows you to log into multiple Gmail accounts at once on different pages. Sure you can do this with two different browsers or use some of Gmail’s built in capabilities, but this does it all for you automatically in a dedicated fashion. Open it up and you have distinct pages for each Gmail account as well as optionally ones for the calendars. The menu bar icon indicates how many emails are in each account and color codes the different account.

In daily usage, I absolutely rely on Gmail and using it in Safari has caused me problems. Safari slows down, plugins such as Flash crash, and I often have to restart Safari. Even when Safari is acting flaky Mailplane allows me to keep on working while Safari is being annoying. Yes, I could use an alternate browser and have less problems than Safari has, but I love my dedicated email system has a dedicated program for it.

Mailplane just doesn’t deliver up multiple Gmail accounts but allows you to customize the toolbar to dedicate key functions to it such as easily adding attachments, screenshots and clippings to evernote. Opening your Gmail in the browser misses this functionality and each browser handles such situations differently. This is a unified experience independent how your Gmail or browser is setup. Operations such as marking items as trash, starred or spam work regardless of what Gmail view you are in because they are in the Mailplane toolbar.

To increase reliability of Gmail, Mailplane allows you to block ads as well as Gmail chat so that way your Gmail is quick and efficient while operating. Ultimately it uses the same engine as Safari, so it does tend to lock up about as much as Safari, but since it’s focused exclusively on Gmail this happens much less frequently and the program loads your email quickly after restarting it.

Serious Gmail users need to get this program and those of us that use multiple Gmail accounts absolutely need to get this quality program. I simply can’t imagine using Gmail without and when I’m forced to use something else Gmail simply loses something for me.

Pros: Perfect program for Gmail users
Cons: Can be as unreliable as Safari

Five out of Five Dogcows

Article was republished by the Lawrence Apple User's Group 2.0 here as well as other groups listed on the right.

Book Review: Windows 8 The Missing Manual

2013-06-18T07:54:00.004-05:00

Like many users I was initially very skeptical of Windows 8. The changes were not intuitive and the removal of the Start menu in exchange for the Start screen is downright confusing. However this book does an excellent job of explaining the interface for desktop users. Windows 8 the missing manual is a great companion for any Windows 8 user.

Typical of the Missing Manual series this includes an in depth analysis of the 20% of the features you’ll use 80% of the time while still introducing the list of features you’ll use that extra 20% of the time. No stone is left unturned, but the presentation is straightforward and easy to understand without being overwhelming.

When presenting functions, both the “Tile World” (Start Screen) and traditional desktop interfaces are covered. While the basics are reviewed, missing from the book are the detailed troubleshooting steps I’ve seen in previous versions, but ideally Windows 8 should have less problems. In particular, the appendix translating XP/Vista/7 functions into Windows 8 is a must have guide for anyone who is a bit perplexed by what changed in Windows 8.

If Microsoft issued this with every Windows 8 machine, people might actually start enjoying the new operating system. I sure did!

Pros: Excellent support for Windows 8 key features
Cons: None!

Five out of Five Dogcows