Master Your Mac bridges the gap nicely between the basics and the more advanced features of OS X. It’s certainly not an OS X manual/bible delivering details on every feature. Master Your Mac is more of a stepping stone to some features and applications a basic user is probably unaware of. Chapters include Automation, Security and Troubleshooting among others.

Many of the books tips require the download and often purchase of a third party application. This is my only real complaint, but I think thats more of my personal taste than anything. It certainly does a good job of highlighting third party tools that do a good job. I just prefer a more purist OS X experience.

Disclaimer: Promotional copy was furnished by the publisher.

Bandai recently announced the launch of their “big in the 90′s” virtual pet known as Tamagotchi, as an Android and iOS app.

I  understand why the virtual pet devices were big in the late 90′s, but in the current day and age of mobile gaming, I just don’t think it’s a big deal. Maybe the retro vibe will keep the original owners happy, but I doubt a new crowd of youngsters will care.

When the app is available later this week, grab a copy and let us know what you think.

In the meantime developer Adhesive Games are running an invite only BETA and we have an extra invite to give away.  To win just leave a comment below and I will choose a winner at random.

Check out the below video for a taste of the action!

Because a PDF is a finished and rendered file, it is possible to split into sections or add additional information or images on top of the existing content. This could be the best way to use a PDF if you have a simple report that you want to make notes on, for example.

Conversion tools

To edit the contents of a PDF you need to convert the file into another format, which will allow you to make changes to it. There are a range of conversion programs around, and prices start from about £60 for professionally approved software.

Advanced PDF editors

The kind of program that you need will depend on the type of editing you want to do; as you would expect, the more advanced programs are slightly more expensive. A professional piece of software will allow you to edit text, create or move images, and even translate PDFs into another language. This kind of program is probably more suitable for companies that receive PDFs on a regular basis, or create PDF documents such as weekly newsletters and reports.

Eliminate text flow issues

Even if you want to do simple text editing within a PDF, you will come across the problem of ‘text flow’. This is concerned with the arrangement of the text (i.e. in paragraphs and with line spacing). Copying and pasting text from a PDF into a Word document interferes with the text flow, and leaves you with a significant amount of work to do just to get the format correct again.

Using the right PDF editing tool is the simplest and quickest way to achieve the editing results that you’re after.

Elvis Phone

Though ‘The King’ might not be able to call you himself, you can rock while you call your friends with an Elvis inspired telephone.

Robot Telephone (Pictured)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexkerhead/3119156213/

They say that Star Wars fans will buy anything. They may be right. But try taking one look at this mini phone and tell me you don’t want one!R2-D2 Novelty Telephone

Burger Phone

Popularised by the hit movie Juno, the burger phone is a fat free way to order your takeaways.

Beer Bottle Telephone

It’s not advisable to make calls when you’re under the influence, nor is it advisable to try and drink a telephone. But if you can steer clear of those two mishaps, this could be the phone for you.

Lip Phone

Maybe it would make a little more sense if this phone were ear shaped, given that you are talking directly into it, but seeing as the voice from the other end will come out of it, there’s at least some sense in the lip phone.

Stiletto Telephone

Only glamour pusses need apply for this telephone. You would possibly expect to find these featured on The Only Way Is Essex but if you want to bring some razzle-dazzle into your front room, then grab this phone before it wanders off.

Garfield Home Phone

One for the lazy types amongst us (or maybe just those of us who like lasagne), the Garfield phone is good fun, if not overly practical.

Skull Shaped Telephone

With Halloween just a few weeks away, it might be time to get yourself a skull shaped telephone. Genuinely terrifying!

TARDIS Telephone (pictured)

We end our round up with the only phone that is actually phone inspired. Doctor Who famously travels through time and space using an old telephone box and now you can too. Well, not quite, but you can at least make calls from it, which is something the Doctor rarely does.

I ordered two iPhones for release day delivery, a 32GB in black for myself and a 16GB in black for my wife. Both phones were shipped via UPS. Mine arrived at about 9AM as an express package and the other later in the day as standard shipping. I’m not sure why the different service types. They were ordered in the same way online, so my only thought is maybe it’s model related?

Unboxing and Setup

Ripping into the box, my initial thought was “Wow this is light”. Having just put down the iPhone 4, this felt like a featherweight in comparison. My second thought was how awesome the mat black finish on the frame and rear looks. You really do have to see it in person to appreciate how it looks and feels.

Setup was simple, a quick wireless iCloud download and a few minutes later it was ready to roll. By far a much faster setup than any previous iPhone.

Screen

The screen initially felt narrower instead of just taller than the iPhone 4, but it’s not, it just felt that way. Compared to an iPhone 4 screen it’s only 176 pixels (or 0.37 inches) taller and exactly the same width. Overall the new 4″ (diagonal) screen versus the older 3.5″ (diagonal) screen is one of the top additions to the iPhone 5 hardware. It doesn’t seem like a big difference on paper, but in usage it feels like a world of difference.

Camera

The rear camera hardware has seen no upgrade from the iPhone 4S, but for me it’s a big jump over my previous 4. Moving from 5MP shooter to 8MP shows a significant improvement as seen in the shots below taken at the Columbus zoo over the weekend (not shown at full resolution).

In addition, the front facing camera now allowing 720p HD is a big improvement for Facetime calls. The picture is now crystal clear!

SPEED!!!

Simply put, IT’S DAMN FAST! The feel of zero lag when opening apps or performing an action makes the iPhone4 feel like a snail. I didn’t realize how slow it was until playing with the 5.

5. Radio Control Vehicle – Wide open spaces and a whole lot of sand is just screaming for some offroad RC car action. There are a whole bunch of options, all the way from the cheapy options you can pick up at Toys R Us or a Traxxas Stampede (mid range but more than enough for the beach), all the way to the top with a King Motor Baja nitro powered truck.

4. Apple TV/Roku – Keep that pasty completion intact by staying in and catching up on some TV or missed movies. Either an Apple TV or Roku and an HDMI cable are both small enough to take along to the beach house and grab some relaxing couch time.

3. Board Games – You could go traditional with a little Monopoly or Scrabble but I think being a little bit more adventurous is the way to go. Try Small World , The Settlers of Catan, Risk Legacy, Formula D, or any one of the many other boutique board/card games available.

2. Read a book – Lug a copy of the H.G. Wells Classic Collection and break your back carrying it, or use a Kindle Touch or Kindle Fire and open up your library to hundreds of thousands of books, magazines and newspapers.

1. Metal Detector – The ultimate in beachside geekdom! There is nothing more geeky than sweeping the beach, weaving between the sun worshipers with a giant pair of headphones and digging up the sand to find some old ring pulls. For less than $100 grab a Bounty Hunter TK4. I picked up one of these for our trip so I’ll let you know how it goes later this month.

Photo Credit: Witer on Flickr

If you’re an iPhone user like me, you love to upgrade hardware when the latest and greatest version is released (I skipped the S version phones, both 3 & 4, but thats another story). With all indications that we’re likely to see an iPhone 5 release in September, it’s time to start thinking about what to do with your soon-to-be last generation hardware.

Sell online to a bulk buyer (get ~$300 for 32GB 4S)

Amazon and Gazelle seem to be leading the electronics buy back market. You can even lock in a price with Gazelle right now and not ship your phone until October 1st, giving you plenty of time to secure your new phone. On the plus side it’s super simple and easy to do, but on the negative you’ll generally get less money than other options.

Sell online via Craigslist/eBay (get~ $400-450 for 32GB 4S)

It certainly takes a little more work to sell your phone privately, but the effort & risk vs. reward is greater. Unless your willing to sell your hardware before the iPhone 5 is released your likely to make a little less money than mentioned, but if you can go a few weeks without a phone (or have a backup device) you can certainly cash in now while the price is high. There is always the added risk of scams when selling via CL or eBay, but again it’s a risk vs. reward scenario. In my mind eBay does not do enough to protect the seller in these transactions so I prefer a cash transaction in a public place via CL.

Give it to a friend/family member (get awesome Karma and a nice fuzzy feeling)

If you can afford to give it away, do it! It’ll make the recipients day/week/month/year. You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good and all will be right with the world. Another option is to sell it to a friend/family member at the cost of a new phone (on contract). This way everyone wins! You get enough to cover your new hardware, the buyer gets a phone at less than current market value and you make the world a better place.

Any other suggestions for your old iPhone hardware? Recycle? Let the kids play games? Repurpose as an iPod for the car? ……?

The most common technical problem posed to a player using an iphone or ipad is weak or total loss of signal. When a player is in the middle of a game, loss of signal will interrupt play; the game or hand will be lost and if the game uses real money, the money can be lost as a result. Particularly when playing poker, when signal is lost, the dealer will assume that you have folded, or you might miss a hand completely. This can be extremely frustrating as a player.

In addition to this, the actual screen size can be problematic in that it does not allow for instant messaging and playing at the same time. The user must go between the two screens and can miss important information.

Wireless internet speeds can affect playing on a PC. Delay can desynchronise game play, hindering group gambling.

It would therefore be recommended (particularly if money is involved) that prior to committing to a game, be sure that you will be in an area with high coverage. There is nothing more annoying than losing a game (and sometimes money) simply because you lose signal.

But do not let this put you off, the advantages of gambling on the go – convenience, accessibility and entertainment – make sure there will always be a market for gambling apps.

Here’s what we can look forward to for the rest of the month:

• E3 – Nintendo kicked off things a little early this year with a pre-E3 video announcement providing more details on their next generation hardware, Wii U. Details announced so far highlighted the online social services and a Pro controller (basically a hybrid 360 controller).  E3 officially kicks off on June 5. We can expect some interesting news from Microsoft and Sony, but probably not any official next generation hardware.
• Computex – Expect a strong showing from Microsoft at the Taiwanese computer conference (June 5-9). Windows 8 preview was recently released to the public, so expect to see more Windows 8 info and hardware.
• WWDC – Apples yearly developer conference in San Francisco (June 11-15) will probably focus on the latest announced version of OSX, Mountain Lion. We probably won’t see any iPhone hardware announcement, but will get some iOS6 details. Maybe we’ll finally see the Macbook Pro refresh rumored for the past few months? Plus, possibly some Apple TV news?

And that’s just the big things for this month. Who knows what else we’ll see?