Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2006.10.27
PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is
covered in The 'Book Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Products
iPod Accessories
Software
News & Opinion
Partial Disassembly Guide for 2 GHz Power Mac
G5 Dual
Sharpening Beneath's MIKX says:
"Do not use this guide for liquid cooled G5's
"This guide does not take you to the point where the motherboard
can be removed.
"We will just be removing the CPU-Heatsink Units and the Power
Supply.
"(The author assumes no liability nor responsibility for any
damage incurred by anyone using this guide)
"For the past two years my G5 has been sitting under my desk
quite happily up until June 2006 when it started having random
shutdowns and kernel panics. I tracked one of the causes down to a
fault in the original Apple supplied 160 Gig SATA I hard drive
using Apple Hardware Test. I replaced the damaged drive with a
Maxtor SATA II 250 gig 16mb buffer hard drive (Yes! SATA II does
work in Tiger in 10.4 PPC G5's!).
"Now that the G5 was in the spotlight I decided to look at this
Mac's operating and ambient temperatures using Marcel Bresink's
excellent "Hardware Monitor" and was shocked to see that the Memory
Controller Heatsink was running at an average of 72°C, that is
too hot for my liking, especially in a humid country like Japan
where I live. To make a long story short, the Memory Controller
Heatsink - after partially disassembling my G5, cleaning and
removing huge amounts of dust now averages 57.5°C. This is a
reduction of 14.5°C !"
"I have some little experience with tearing computers apart and
rebuilding them, I have owned many Amiga and Mac models. FDrom
swicthing off my G5 - disassembling - dust removal-cleaning -
re-assembly and restart took about two hours. If you have ever
upgraded a CPU in older G3 or G4 Macs you will not come to grief if
you plan the disassembly like a military operation. Work slowly,
thoroughly, keep notes, check everything three times.
"Assemble the tools and prepare your workspace thoughtfully and
soon enough your G5 will be clean, cool and happy."
Link: Power Mac G5 Dual 2 GHz
Partial Disassembly Guide
Products
12-Gigs in the Palm of Your Hand
PR: US Modular expands their Monstor Drive line and
pushes the limits of micro drive technology with 12 GB of
storage.
US
Modular, a leading designer and manufacturer of personal memory and
storage products, announces the expansion of its popular stainless
steel Monstor Drive line with the addition of a whopping ultra-high
capacity 12 GB model. Small enough to fit in the palm of a hand,
yet large enough to hold tens of thousands of data files, this
micro drive is the perfect portable data device. With the onboard
USB 2.0 port, files transfers are fast and easy. Ideal for MP3 of
video files, important jpeg files, or even redundant storage for
irreplaceable data, the Monstor Drives requires no external power
and is both Mac and PC compatible - making its appeal universal.
Proving that big things do come in small packages, these drives are
the ideal mobile mass storage medium for executives, road warriors,
students or anyone on-the-go. Priced at $129, the Monstor Drives
will begin shipping on November 1st.
"The beauty of digital data is that it is both highly mobile and
an excellent medium for archiving in that it does not degrade,"
explains Nick Payzant, CEO of US Modular. "As storage capacities
expand, people are finding ever more reasons to take data with them
and to replicate data for redundancy and security's sake. Our
mission is to offer higher density storage in smaller form factors
and at better consumer price-points. Ultimately, we believe that
100-percent data storage redundancy will be a common practice as
people look to secure their valuable, and often irreplaceable,
digital assets."
Features:
- 12 GB high-capacity, high-performance USB Portable Micro
Drive
- Industry standard USB 2.0 interface
- Reliable storage performance for any device with a USB port,
including PCs, digital media players, handheld computers &
other portable devices
- Low power consumption
- 1500G shock resistance rating
- Ultra lightweight & compact (weight 16 grams)
- Media type: Glass
- Rotational speed: 4,200 rpm
- Media transfer rate: 52.4-99.6 Mbits/sec
- Transfer rate: 3.3-6.5 Mbytes/sec
- Seek time (avg.): 10 msec
- Error rate (unrecoverable): 1 per bit
- Head load/unload cycles: 300,000
- Voltage: 3.3/5.0 VDC +/- 5% Auto Detect
- Current (write): 275 mA
- Current (idle): 18 mA
- Dimensions: 42.8 X 36.4 X 5.0 mm
- Temperature: 0° to 65° C operating
- Relative humidity: 8 to 90% operating
- Shock (half sine): 175G (2ms) operating
- Vibration (swept sine): 1G 0-pk (5-500 Hz) operating
- One Year Warranty
The Monstor Drives begins shipping in November and will be
available at RadioShack, Sam's Club and other major retail
locations. In addition, the Monstor Drives will be available
through major e-tailers such as
Buy.com, PCMall, Global, Tiger,
Ingram, PC
Connection and more.
Link: Monstor
Drive
Viewsonic Launches the World's First Displays
with iPod Support
PR: ViewSonic Corp. has redefined desktop display
options for consumers with the launch of its ViewDock VX1945wm and
VX2245wm LCDs - the world's first "Made for iPod" desktop
displays.1 The widescreen displays deliver a new dimension in
connectivity, versatility and multimedia entertainment to enhance
users' digital lifestyles.
The 19-inch VX1945wm and 22-inch VX2245wm blend ViewSonic's
award-winning LCD technology with new consumer entertainment and
connectivity options to offer more ways to experience digital
video, music and photos. The ViewDock Series incorporates an iPod
docking station, four USB 2.0 ports, an 8-in-1 card reader, a
microphone, stereo speakers and a subwoofer in an ultra-stylish
silver and high gloss black widescreen display. With the new
consumer display line, ViewSonic not only offers millions of users
a new dimension in expanded audio and video entertainment, but the
opportunity to clean up and simplify their digital desktop as
well.
"As
a display leader, ViewSonic is constantly finding new ways to bring
consumers greater simplicity and convenience to their digital
lifestyle," said Jeff Volpe, vice president of marketing, ViewSonic
Americas. "In addition to providing the performance people expect
from ViewSonic, our ViewDock displays offer innovative options,
such as the integrated iPod dock, to allow consumers to easily make
the most of their digital devices, content and desktop real
estate."
At affordable estimated street prices of $329 and $449
respectively, the VX1945wm and VX2245wm offer expanded connectivity
through a sleek integrated base station. The ViewDock Series also
features excellent front-of-screen performance, including
ClearMotiv™ technology, ultra-fast 5ms response times and
700:1 (typ) contrast ratio to get the most out of fast action
games, downloaded video content and full-length movies. Both
displays have a wide, 16:10 aspect ratio with the VX2245wm
featuring a 1680 x 1050 resolution and a 1440 x 900 resolution is
available on the VX1945wm. In addition, 2x2.5-watt stereo speakers
and a 1x3-watt subwoofer provide rich quality sound, while
OptiSync® technology supports rich visuals through multiple
inputs, including direct DVI signals for optimum source-to-display
synchronization and compatibility with a variety of video
sources.
Compliant with the strictest safety and environmental
standards, including Energy Star, the VX1945wm and VX2245wm are
available through authorized ViewSonic retailers, resellers,
distributors and mail order. The displays are backed by a
three-year limited warranty on parts, labor and backlight and are
eligible for ViewSonic's optional Express Exchange program, which
guarantees a replacement monitor within 48 hours, where service is
available. ViewSonic offers 24-hour, toll-free technical support,
seven days a week, excluding major U.S. holidays.
Link: Viewsonic
LCD Displays
NuLOOQ Navigator - Put Your Other Hand to Good
Use
PR: Put your other hand to good use; Logitech's NuLOOQ
navigator gives you a powerful new way to interact with your
applications.
NuLOOQ navigator is an innovative stationary control device,
about the size of a half a tennis ball but weighs in at a solid 1
lb. Built into the device are a multi-dimensional ring, called the
navring for simultaneous 360 degree pan and zoom and a touch
sensitive circular disk, called the tooltuner for fine precision
control.
Design,
create, edit or just navigate - put the fun back on your desktop.
The NuLOOQ navigator boldly goes where no device has gone before:
to the other hand
NuLOOQ navigator isn´t a mouse and doesn´t control
your pointer. You still need a mouse or a tablet or a trackball to
move the mouse cursor and also access your mouse buttons. NuLOOQ
navigator is designed to interact directly with your apps,
supporting pan and zoom navigation or adjusting values.
Adjust brush size in one pixel increments in Adobe Photoshop CS2
without ever moving a slider or clicking on a shortcut key
Fine-tune font attributes such as leading, tracking, and more in
Adobe InDesign® CS2 without using the option bar
Scroll and zoom your documents, spreadsheets, digital pictures
or more with the smallest movement of the gray ring
Scrub timelines in Final Cut Pro or iMovie quickly or slowly
Change volume or music tracks in iTunes quickly while it runs in
the background
And more...
NuLOOQ navigator is user configurable for virtually any
application.
Features
Precision Control
- Adjust brush size in Photoshop, or text attributes in InDesign,
timeline in video/audio apps or just control your system volume;
make fine adjustments with a feather touch using the innovative
touch sensitive circular disk.
Two Finger Navigation
- Gently nudge the gray ring forward, backwards, up, down, twist
clockwise or counter clockwise to navigate around your digital
picture, illustration, documents, spreadsheets or anything you can
program. Control, what, where and how fast to navigate with just
two fingers!
Quick Click to Commands
- A simple click or tap and quickly execute your shortcut
command. Map undo and redo or access a tool, or play/pause or
whatever you need right at your finger tips.
You can configure NuLOOQ navigator to control iTunes, such as
adjust volume, play/pause, go to next or previous track and more.
While you are running your design or drawing app, you can still
control iTunes without bringing iTunes to the foreground.
Application Intelligence
- Use one of our configurations or build your own for virtually
any application; NuLOOQ navigator is instantly configured for your
current application.
Advanced Technology
- The unique integrated sensor with 1000 levels of resolution
detects even the minutest motion in multiple directions
simultaneously. Move the ring a small amount to move slowly or move
it all the way to get to where you want quickly.
Solid Feel
- From the first time you get your hand on a NuLOOQ, you´ll
feel the difference. A solid 1 lb in weight ensures the device
stays still on the device. Only slight movement is required for
immediate reaction.
System Requirements
Macintosh
- OS: Mac OS X 10.4.4 or greater
- Processor: PowerPC® or Intel® Core® Processors
- Language: English only
- Memory: As needed by your application
- Disk Space: 10 MB of free disk space
- Port: Available USB 1.1 or greater port
Windows
- O/S: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or greater
- Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 (or equivalent) or greater
- Language: English only
- Memory: As needed by your application
- Disk Space: 10 MB of free disk space
- Port: Available USB 1.1 or greater port
Application Support
- Adobe Creative Suite 2
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 4
- Adobe Bridge
- Microsoft Word & Excel
- Final Cut Pro (Macintosh only)
- iMovie (Macintosh only)
- Adobe Premiere® Pro (Windows only)
- iTunes
User configurable for virtually any application
3-year limited hardware warranty
Available in White/Grey
$79.99
Link:
NuLOOQ Navigator
4-port and 6-port PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
Cards
PR: Small Tree Communications, an industry leader in
networking and storage solutions for Mac OS X, announces the
availability of three new PCI Express (PCIe) gigabit ethernet (GbE)
cards for Power Mac G5, Mac
Pro, and the new Intel-based
Xserve systems. The four-port copper PEG4 card, the six-port
copper PEG6 card, and the six-port copper or optical PEG6SFP card
are available for sale and delivery today.
The PEG4, PEG6, and PEG6SFP offer the highest port density and
extract the maximum network throughput from today's high-end server
motherboards. They are ideally suited for file servers that require
high bandwidth connection to a gigabit ethernet switch using
features such as Jumbo frames and 802.3ad link aggregation.
Additionally, Small Tree's multi-port PCIe GbE solutions enable
near wire-speed performance with low CPU utilization. Based on
current Intel GbE controllers, the PEG4, PEG6 and PEG6SFP come with
native driver support for all popular operating systems, including
Mac OS X, Linux and Windows.
"With the introduction of these cards, we believe that Small
Tree is offering the most complete portfolio of multi-port gigabit
ethernet cards for Mac OS X systems available in the market today,"
stated Derek Robb, Vice-President of Sales and Business Development
at Small Tree Communications. "Customers can choose either PCI-X or
PCIe cards with 1, 2, 4, or 6 ports and either copper, optical or
SFP connectors. Plus we provide them with our highly optimized Mac
OS X drivers and a level of support not found from other networking
solution suppliers."
The PEG4 adapter includes four independent copper
10/100/1000Base-T GbE channels in a single PCIe slot, while the
PEG6 includes six such channels. The PEG6SFP GbE adapter provides
greater flexibility with six independent Small Form-factor
Pluggable (SFP) channels that can be customized to simultaneously
meet optical and copper networking requirements. Customers can
specify which sockets should be dedicated for optical or copper
use. Additionally, users have the option of populating only those
sockets necessary for current needs, leaving open the opportunity
of tailoring remaining ports for future specifications.
Link: Small
Tree Communications
iPod Accessories
Blinkit: A Fun Way to Light Up the Holidays on
Your iPod
PR: Here's a bright idea
for a cool and useful holiday gift that's sure to put an extra glow
in the season of lights for the iPod lover on your list - Blinkit,
the iPod Fun Light.
This versatile flashing light accessory for Apple's ubiquitous
portable music and video player not only blinks in sync to the
music but has a brilliant light beam for safe nighttime visibility
when you are shopping, caroling, partying or just out for that
winter walk or jog.
Teens, college students, young
adults, Baby Boomers - anyone who has a mini, nano, or any other
iPod with a dock connector - will be the buzz of the holiday party
or family gathering with their must-have Blinkit flashing in any of
six modes. What's more, Blinkit dresses up for the season with
interchangeable tinted lens caps in holiday red, green, blue and
yellow.
"Blinkit is the sight of music," says William Weibel, CEO of
Intuitive Devices, Inc., a Silicon Valley inventor and Apple
aficionado who designed the Blinkit. "Think of it as audio eye
candy for your iPod."
Blinkit has a practical side,
too, with a variety of helpful uses wherever you need light. You
can use it to light up a path or sidewalk, find your way in a dark
parking garage, spotlight keys in the bottom of a purse or
backpack, illuminate door locks, read a book or map, or locate a
seat in a dark theatre.
Blinkit fits your iPod simultaneously with headphones, and the
adjustable mirror system lets you direct light forward or to both
sides with a high-output beam visible up to several hundred yards
away. Its efficient design minimizes iPod battery use to a
negligible level.
At last count, more than 3000
accessories are available for the iPod, from the ordinary to the
outlandish, but none quite as fun and handy as Blinkit. The
essentials atop most experts' lists include carrying cases,
external speakers and upgraded headphones. Now you can add
Blinkit.
Blinkit is available for $29.95.
Link: Blinkit
Software
Smart Scroll X 2.0b3
PR: Smart Scroll X brings new scrolling options and
enhancements to Mac OS X:
- Super Wheel - smoother, more comfortable scroll wheel
action.
- Grab Scroll lets you scroll by clicking and dragging anywhere
in a window. Currently for Cocoa applications.
- A "High Gear" for your scroll wheel, so you can have super-fast
scrolling when you need it.
- Universal Scroll Keys to scroll without having to reach for the
mouse. Scroll keys are the same in every application, giving you
fast & dependable scrolling right from the keyboard.
- Adds Scroll wheel support to FileMaker Pro 6 and 7 (as well as
live scrolling).
- Adds Live Scrolling and proportional thumbs to AppleWorks
6.
Grab Scroll
Grab scroll works with any mouse or pen or trackpad, etc. It is
essentially the same feature as the hand tool available in many
graphics programs, but now you can use it for scrolling in any
Cocoa application (support for Carbon applications is
forthcoming).
- With a single-button mouse, a scroll key lets you turn the
cursor into an open hand: hold the first key and tap the second
one. To scroll, click and drag with the mouse. Grab scroll mode
ends when you release the first key (the 2nd key is used to
activate grab scroll, and also to scroll faster when you
want).
- With a multiple-button mouse, you just press one of the buttons
(select one) to grab the page and slide it inside its window.
- With a graphics pen, you'll probably want to setup the extra
buttons so that the first one does a middle-click (so you can use
it to grab scroll) and the 2nd one does a right-click. Since the
pen lets you move the cursor farther with less effort and more
precision than a mouse, you can keep the normal speed at 1x for
maximum control and set the other speeds to some high value.
Two extra scrolling speeds are available, in addition to the
normal speed. One by holding a user-selectable key while dragging,
and the second by starting to drag near an edge of the area to
scroll.
Faster Scroll Wheel
You can make your scroll wheel faster when you hold down a
user-selectable key, up to 12 times faster. In addition, the speed
multiplier you choose is applied on top of the acceleration already
provided by the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane: this means
you keep the same level of control as you have now, but you can
scroll farther and without having to spin the wheel nearly as
much.
Universal Scroll Keys
A welcome alternative to always having to reach for the mouse,
Scroll Keys are a real time saver for anyone who types a lot!
With automatic scroll focusing, all you do is press a Scroll Key
and Smart Scroll X automatically selects and scrolls the correct
pane. Scroll Keys also feature their own adjustable scrolling
speed, with optional progressive acceleration, so that you can
easily scroll multiple pages simply by holding down a key.
Scroll Keys are the same across all applications: no need to
remember different keys for each app. Because of this, and because
Scroll Keys are conveniently located in the corner of the keyboard,
you can even scroll without having to look at the keys.
Scroll Keys are made possible by the new kind of keyboard
shortcut used in Smart Scroll X, which doesn't involve hitting
letter keys (hence avoiding conflicts with existing key
combinations). Instead, you hold down one of the four corner keys
and you scroll by hitting one of the others (some keyboards have
these keys on both sides, letting you scroll with either hand)
:
FileMaker Pro & AppleWorks Enhancements
Smart Scroll X brings scroll wheel support and live scrolling to
FileMaker Pro 6 and 7. You can now use your scroll wheel mouse for
scrolling FileMaker Pro documents. Note: With some layouts you may
need to click one of the scroll bars once before the scroll wheel
works. A fix will be available in the next version of Smart Scroll
X.
AppleWorks 6 users get live scrolling and proportional thumbs,
as well as scroll wheel support.
Live scrolling updates the document while you drag the scroll
bar thumb. Proportional thumbs show how much of the document is
being displayed, and they make it easier to see which part you are
viewing. They are also easier to grab with the mouse.
Scroll Next
If a window has two or more scrollable panes, it is the one
under the mouse pointer that scrolls. Automatic scroll focusing
will select one of the panes for you when you press a Scroll Key to
start scrolling, but chances are it won't be able to guess the
correct pane every time. To let you scroll another pane without
reaching for the mouse, Smart Scroll X adds the Scroll Next
feature: hold down Control and hit Shift to select the next pane in
the window for scrolling. The mouse pointer jumps to the selected
pane too, providing visual feedback.
Scroll Next is quite useful in applications such as Mail for
example, where one often wants to alternatively scroll the list of
messages and the text of an email.
Note: In the current version of Smart Scroll X, scrolling in
Carbon applications only works if the mouse pointer is above the
pane to scroll. An upcoming version of Smart Scroll X will remove
this limitation, and also enable the Scroll Next feature for Carbon
applications.
Other Features of Smart Scroll X
Finally, Smart Scroll X lets you select a comfortable scrolling
speed for Scroll keys (including optional acceleration), and offers
a larger selection of scrollbar arrows positions (still useful from
time to time, although with Grab Scroll and Scroll Keys you won't
need to click on arrows very often anymore). You do not need to
restart applications for these changes to take effect.
New in version 2.0b3:
- Improvements to Super Wheel and Grab Scroll.
- Various fixes for Scroll Keys, the preference pane and
registration reminders.
New in version 2.0b2:
- The Smart Scroll X Installer should now open correctly on all
systems. Thanks to Fernando Bracho for reporting this!
New in version 2.0b1
- New Super Wheel feature.
- New Coasting feature for Grab Scroll.
- New Grab Scroll feature for Carbon applications.
- Universal binary.
- Streamlined preference pane.
- Various fixes and improvements.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
System support: PPC
$19 Shareware
Link: Smart Scroll X
Desktop Mac
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