Back to School Shopping Guide Part II: Essential Apps

September 21st, 2008

No college student can get by nowadays without a few productivity apps to help them keep track of assignments, files, notes etc. There are a ton of different apps designed to do this sort of thing, but a lot of them are either aimed at business users (and priced accordingly) or don’t just feel to feature-laden and dense to be really practical for quick notes in classes.

So here’s a few productivity apps that students might find are worth checking out. Affordable, intuitive and ideal for quick notes, references, links and more.

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Back to College Shopping Guide – Part 1: Notebook Stands

September 8th, 2008

It’s that time of year again – the start of a new college term, when new and old students alike start rummaging around their wardrobes for bags, books and other necessities.

In this series of articles, I’ll be taking a look at some Student essentials for coping with schedules, cramped dorm rooms and life on campus in general. In each article I’ll not only pick the try to pick options suitable for every budget as well as highlighting the best solutions. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Notebook Stands

Hands up if you gotten neck cramp from staring down at your notebook computer for too long, whilst sweating over a term-paper with a looming deadline.  Been there, done that. But there are some affordable and simple solutions that can fix that problem and help you to avoid clutter on your desk to boot. 

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Jetplane Review: V-Moda Vibe Duo

August 17th, 2008

Introduction

As many iPhone owners may have noticed, the headset Apple includes with the device is pretty decent and very useful - but the sound quality is just not that great. Other headphones you have may sound better, but don’t offer the handy microphone / clicker functionality of the original.

Enter V-Moda. Despite being relatively new to the Apple accessory industry, their flagship Vibe Duo earbuds for the iPhone seem to be the ideal replacement for Apple’s stock ‘phones…

What’s in the box

The Duo’s are in-ear headphones that are designed to block outside noise and sit just inside your ear canal. They feature an attractive all-metal enclosure and a sturdy fabric-shielded cable. Apart from “Gunmetal Rouge” (pictured), V-Moda also offer black and chrome versions of the Duos. The main selling point for iPhone users is the built-in mic / clicker that lets you answer calls and skip tracks just like you can with Apple’s headset.

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Jetplane Review: Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 8000

July 27th, 2008

I know a lot of Mac users have been looking for a decent bluetooth mouse for some time now and for whatever reason most manufacturers fail to get some essentials right. Most competitors are either designed only for travel use, lack an on/off switch or gobble through batteries like there’s no tomorrow. (Or in the case of the Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse, they have a scroll-ball that gunks up after a few months of use and is impossible to clean!)

For some years now Microsoft has made pretty decent peripherals and surprisingly enough their Mac support is usually not bad either. The Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 is no exception: Aside from rugged good brushed-metal looks that go great with a Mac Pro or Macbook Pro, the mouse can also be customized to your hearts content using the powerful Microsoft Mouse preference pane. But before we get into details, here’s a rundown of the main features that drew me to the Wireless Laser Mouse 8000:

Features:

- Bluetooth, so you can use your Mac’s internal bluetooth device

- Laser sensor

- Rechargeable battery and charging station

- 4-directional scroll wheel

- Additional programmable buttons

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First iPhone Cisco VPN client impressions

July 8th, 2008

I recently had the chance to play with an iPhone running the developer preview version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Aside from the AppStore, the feature I was most excited to try out was the built-in Cisco VPN client (my university’s Wifi access is restricted to clients connected to a Cisco VPN network).

Impressions and Issues

The first issue that caught my attention was the difficulty of entering your connection details manually: Don’t get me wrong: I have very few issues with the iPhone’s keyboard when entering normal words. But entering the 30 digit pre-shared key took me the best part of 10 minutes.

Luckily, according to this deployment scenario document (warning PDF link) the final release will be able to import a pre-defined, password protected connection file - just like VPN connection files can be deployed en-masse to Cisco desktop clients, so most users will probably never have to manually edit their connection details.

Once I had everything set up and running, the connection seemed to work just fine and browsing speeds seemed to be just as fast over VPN as they were on a regular Wifi connection.

Summary

Everything basically worked as advertised and I look forward to finally being able to really put my iPhone to use at University without having to rely on a slow GPRS/EDGE connection.

P.S. Conspiracy alert! Does anyone else remember that “iPhone” trademark spiff Apple and Cisco had last year? I wonder if that’s why Cisco is the only IPSec VPN gateway manufacturer to be supported on the device. At least the last sentence of the press release seems to imply some sort of closed-door deal:

In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

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Jetplane Review: Brentaven Metrolite II for Macbooks

May 26th, 2008

(If you enjoyed this review, you can support the site by buying your Metrolite II via my Amazon affiliate link.)

Update - November 10th 2008:

I’ve had a few emails as to whether this case would fit the new aluminum MacBooks as well. Short answer: Definitely. The new MacBook is smaller than the old one and the slightly wider new MacBook Pro should fit with a tiny bit of a squeeze as well.

Full Review

I was able to get hold of a Brenthaven Metrolite II case to take a look at, so this is a review after using it for a few days. Bear in mind I take my Macbook to university or my company Macbook to work on my bike nearly every day, so that’s the usage scenario I’m working with.

First look
This case is mainly designed to carry a Macbook or Macbook Pro around and also has a number of additional compartments for your accessories and other stuff.

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Jetplane Review: Belkin Sport Armband for iPhone

May 22nd, 2008

I’ve recently taken up jogging and the iPhone has been a great tool in helping me to motivate myself to get out the door. I use the stopwatch to keep track of my running times and of course the iPod app to play music and podcasts to keep myself occupied.

After carrying the iPhone in its Artwizz Seejacket case for a few days (which honestly wasn’t that bad), I decided to purchase the Belkin Sport Armband. Here’s some impressions after using it for a few days.

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Jetplane review: Times - a unique new feed reader for OS X

May 5th, 2008

Earlier this week I mentioned Times, a new RSS reader for OS X that has been generating some buzz.

Written entirely by 19 yr old Dustin MacDonald it makes extensive use of the latest Leopard technologies for a truly unique but intuitive take on the feed reader concept.

Now that it’s out, here are a few notes after using it for the past 3 days.

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More on Samsung CLP-300 settings

May 5th, 2008

(Note: This is a semi-followup to my original CLP-300 review so check that out if you’re looking for the full rundown…)

Google has been sending a few folks my way who are looking for CLP-300 colour settings, so I thought I’d share mine.

Note: I’m by no means an expert on colour accuracy and arrived at these settings through trial & error:

First I tested the printer with the default settings, which seemed to be a bit over-saturated. Several other sites I had read had mentioned reducing the colour levels slightly.

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Review: Artwizz Seejacket for iPhone

April 28th, 2008

After seeing all the interest in this case on all over the internet, I got in touch with Artwizz (who are based here in Germany) and asked them if it would be possible to review this case for Mac-Forums.com. But for the readers of this blog, I am also posting my review here…

So without further ado, here are my impressions of the Artwizz Seejack Crystal:

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Review: VoodooPad lite

April 14th, 2008

Yeah I know - reviewing the “free teaser” version of a Mac shareware application isn’t really the point of having a “lite” version. But everyone needs a little organisation in their lives, right? VoodooPad Lite is a great & free way to start your off in the right direction…

What’s it for?

Everything! If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a hundred little bits of information, clipboard contents, urls, email addresses and short-term todos to keep track of on any given day.
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MobileScrobbler: Last.fm on your iPhone

April 11th, 2008

Everyone knows Last.fm right? Y’know those crazy british guys that let you track the songs you’ve played in iTunes and find similar music for you… Well, unfortunately the music player on their website (last.fm radio) is flash based, so it (currently) won’t work on your iPhone.

Never fear! Thanks to “Sam” and his awesome iPhone app, MobileScrobbler, you can now enjoy some Last.fm love on your iPhone.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Review: Samsung CLP-300 Color Laser Printer

April 7th, 2008

I tend to use a printer in “short bursts”: Typically I’ll print a lot of text-only pages at the beginning of each college term or when I’m printing essay drafts. The rest of the time I’ll only print the occasional letter or card. But inevitably whenever I do need to print something, the ink in my Epson inkjet printer would be empty or have dried up. 

I recently discovered Samsung’s affordable color laser printer, the CLP-300 and as my Epson had started to chew up anything I’d try to print, I snapped it up. Here’s some of my experiences with it now after using it for a few weeks:
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Misu - iPod to iPod music syncing

April 5th, 2008

Misu (author’s homepage) is a new $19 tool that allows you to copy one iPod’s music library to another’s. Basically you connect both iPods to your Mac and Misu will add any songs from the source iPod that are missing on the target iPod.

It uses a very clean and simple UI: When you plug in your iPods, Misu detects the exact models you’ve connected (it even got the colour of my 4rd gen iPod nano right) and drops them on top of the window. Then hit the “Transfer Music” button and Misu starts copying away.
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