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On The Mac Observer: Home Wi-Fi Weak in Areas? Use TP-LINK’s Powerline

November 9, 2015 /

Let’s all agree that Wi-Fi is a marvelous thing. It sets us free, untethered — literally — from cables and walls. It’s usually easy to set up, too — plug a router in, connect your cable modem (or whatever gets you to the Internet), answer a few questions and boom — you’re good to go.

Unless of course you travel to a room in your house that’s too far from your router, or you’re behind a concrete wall that doesn’t let the signal through, or you have an older device that doesn’t have Wi-Fi, or you’re in an area where a hundred other routers create congestion, or…you get the picture.

The short story is: Wi-Fi is great until it isn’t. As a result, wired networks still have their advantages, and the best network usually offers a mixture of wired and wireless options. Unfortunately, running network cables through your home can be a messy, expensive and difficult affair.

Read the full article on The Mac Observer.

On Macworld: How to set restrictions on the new Apple TV

November 9, 2015 /

The new Apple TV provides lots of options for bringing all sorts of content to your television, but not all that content may be suitable for everyone in your home. To deal with that, Apple gives you tools to control what can be downloaded and displayed on your TV. Unfortunately, those tools aren’t consistently applied across all content sources yet and don’t always work as expected. Even so, it’s better than nothing. Here’s a walkthrough of how these features work.

Read the full article on Macworld.

On Macworld: Five iOS apps to make your next road trip smoother

September 4, 2015 /

My latest Macworld article talks about five free iOS apps that could help you out on your next road trip. It focuses on apps that help save you time, money and frustration on the road by making it easier to find things like gas stations, food stops and hotels.

It was a fun one to write, based on a lot of real world experience. It was also inspired by a family trip to bring my son to his first year of college, so naturally, he wants a cut.

The article is on the Macworld website — I hope you check it out.

BTN Mac Show: ‘Trimming Back’

June 28, 2015 /

I was remiss in putting the word out about the latest Mac Show on the British Tech Network. I’d be lying if I said I remembered what we talked about, but I do recall it was a lot of fun as usual. Oh, right — I do remember talking about how I now have an Apple Watch.

My “Cool Thing” was the innerexile Glacier iPhone 6/6+ case — a slim, self-healing case that’s very, well…cool.

If you haven’t listened to The Mac Show, give it a try. It’s a fun, lighthearted conversation about some of the coolest things happening in the tech world today — and you don’t need to be an uber-geek to follow along.

Current C minus

April 27, 2015 /

Great catch from The Loop’s Dave Mark from Apple’s earnings call:

Remember the MCX Consortium, the competing transaction processing system from Walmart, et al? One of their high profile members is Best Buy. As a reminder, there was a lot of discussion when MCX started out about members being restricted from taking Apple Pay.

Now recall that Cook announced today that Best Buy is (present tense) accepting Apple Pay in its stores.

Mark calls it “a pretty solid crack in the consortium.” I’d say that’s a fair description.

New MakerBot iOS app turns 2D drawings into 3D shapes

April 16, 2015 /

MakerBot released an update to PrintShop, its iOS app that takes drawings and sketches and turns them into 3D printable files.

From the press release: “Our goal with the MakerBot PrintShop app is to make 3D printing more accessible and empower anyone to easily create 3D designs,” said Joey Neal, chief experience officer with MakerBot. “All it takes is a pen and a piece of white paper to create a drawing that can then be 3D printed using the new MakerBot Shape Maker feature. If you can draw a sketch, you can use MakerBot Shape Maker to transform your creations from the flat 2D world of pen and paper to the exciting 3D world of 3D printing.”

While 3D printing is still nowhere near ready for mass consumption, it’s getting closer all the time. The key is to get it beyond printing highly specialized things like spare parts for your dishwasher or vanity action figures of yourself. Easy to use apps like PrintShop are going to make that happen. (And faster print times. That’s a biggie.)

Again, from the press release:

How it Works
Shape Maker on MakerBot PrintShop is easy to use. Just open the MakerBot PrintShop iPad app, select Shape Maker and snap a photo with the iPad’s camera of a drawing or an item that has a distinct contrast and simple lines in its design. Use the slider tools to select the areas of the drawing to 3D print and scale; when all of the items or lines that are to be 3D printed turn green, choose a background select print or save right from the screen. Files saved will be accessible in the MakerBot Cloud Library and can be accessed through personal accounts on Thingiverse.com, the world’s largest 3D design destination for viewing, sharing and 3D printing digital designs. Files printed can be sent via Wi-Fi directly to a MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer, MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer or a MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer. For those who want to change the size of their finished print, it is recommended that the item be accessed via MakerBot Desktop for sizing and scaling to fit the 3D printer that is being used. To see Shape Maker for MakerBot PrintShop in action, go to vimeo.com/makerbot.

The iPad at five: How we saw it then

April 3, 2015 /

It’s been five years since the first iPad shipped (although the device was announced several months earlier.) Here’s a look at what we thought of the original iPad back then — in two articles for The MacObserver and one interview on Mac Voices.

Love It or Leave It: Extremist Views on iPad Obscure the Important Points

There were two predictions I made that didn’t materialize, though. The first was a front-facing camera. I was hoping Apple believes it’s time for mobile version of video iChat. But even more than that, I’ve come to rely on the camera in my iPhone for a host of utilities not having anything to do with taking photographs or video. No, the real power in the iPhone’s camera comes from things like “augmented reality” apps; apps like Red Laser that scan products and search the Internet for information and prices; apps that let you add a bottle of wine to a database — even apps that act as document scanners.

The second unrealized prediction was something much less tangible, but much more important. I said that the real key feature for Apple to include was something no one had figured out — something that we never knew we wanted, but — once Apple showed it — none of us would want to live without. Admittedly, that’s easy to say. It’s like the old joke about teaching someone how to become a millionaire: Step One — get a million dollars. But for me, it was crucial in order for Apple to make the iPad a truly compelling device. I was looking for something the iPad could do that I couldn’t do with either my iPhone or my MacBook Pro. Something that would make me forego the convenience of having a device that fits in my pocket; something that would sway me from just taking my laptop as long as I was going to have to carry something anyway. Without that, the iPad risks remaining a novelty — a very cool one, no doubt — but a novelty nonetheless, attractive to a niche market.

The iPad’s Killer App: It’s Not A Computer

That Apple never refers to the iPad as a computer is no accident. That Apple routinely refers to the iPad as magical is not being trite. Computers are scary, full of arcane commands and file systems and viruses. Technology is intimidating, reserved for younger generations and geeks with chin beards who speak of mega-this and giga-that. An iPad is friendly, inviting and — in spite of its capabilities — simple. A computer responds to commands. An iPad anticipates desires. And as OS updates and apps evolve, its abilities will expand ever further in empowering yet incremental and incrementally intuitive ways.

The iPad will not replace laptops — at least not right away. We geeks will use it as something that fits into a heretofore unimagined “gap” between the iPhone and a laptop, and the non-geeks who buy an iPad would never have bought a laptop anyway.

MacVoices #1009: Chuck La Tournous Delivers A Different Perspective on The iPad

Like the rest of us, RandomMaccess chief Chuck La Tournous has been waiting for the announcement of Apple’s iPad, but with different expectations. Chuck explains where the iPad fits (or doesn’t fit) in the Apple product matrix, and why he won’t be in line to buy one right now. While there are similarities, Chuck doesn’t see the iPad launch as the same as the iPhone launch, and discusses why this may make a difference as in the adoption rate. The discussion also covers the lack of Flash and why that isn’t as important as it once was, the ebook capabilities of the iPad and whether it will successfully challenge the Kindle, and more.

‘WonderCube:’ A multi-function keyring for your phone

March 16, 2015 /

Clever idea. It’s a USB/lightning cable, card reader, phone stand, light and emergency charger — all wrapped up in a 1″ cube that attaches to a keyring. It’s already over its IndieGogo goal of $50,000 (over $63.4K as of this posting.) At its retail price of $70, I’m less of a fan, but the $50 early bird price seems reasonable.

Especially clever is the emergency charging feature. A flip of lid reveals a 9-volt battery connector that the company says can provide 3.5 hours of talk time.

App Camp for Girls expands program to new cities

March 16, 2015 /

I’m a big fan of App Camp for Girls, the Portland, Oregon-based organization whose mission is “to empower girls by providing engaging and accessible educational programs in software development.”

Founded by my friend Jean MacDonald, co-founder of Smile Software, App Camp for Girls “seeks to address the gender imbalance in technology professions by inspiring middle-school age girls with a broad introduction to the process of app development, from brainstorming and designing ideas to building and pitching their apps.” It’s a terrific goal and I was thrilled to hear that the group is expanding its presence to other areas of the country, including my own Garden State.

The rub? The deadline for applying is March 17th and the program is open to girls local to the camp’s location, who will be entering 8th or 9th grade in Fall 2015.

Dates and Locations for Summer 2015

    Vancouver, BC: July 6-10, 2015
    Seattle, WA: July 13-17, 2015
    Central New Jersey: July 20-24, 2015
    Portland, OR: July 27-31, 2015
    Portland, OR: August 17-21, 2015

If you have — or know — a girl who qualifies, do whatever it takes to get her registered. You could change her life.