Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

John’s PowerBook went to AppleCare (and came back) this week. As such, John and Dave discuss AppleCare and what you should do when you’re sending your machine off. Additional discussion includes a few clarifications on the hub vs. switch conversation and the Volt/Amp discussion, both from last week’s show. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For the week of July 25th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, July 25th, 2005 John’s PowerBook went to AppleCare (and came back) this week. As such, John and Dave discuss AppleCare and what you should do when you’re sending your machine off. Additional discussion includes a few clarifications on the hub vs. switch conversation and the Volt/Amp discussion, both from last week’s show. Quick Note: Our apologies for the minor hum this week, folks. John’s audio had a buzz on it that we didn’t catch until after we finished recording. We do strive to get you top quality audio for each week’s show, and technology failed us this week! Products/Companies/Events mentioned: AppleCare Carbon Copy Cloner FoldersSynchronizerX Spamfire iPodObserver Wikipedia: Ethernet hub News mentioned: New Version of Windows to be Called ‘Vista’; Beta Release Aug. 3 Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) Subscribe to the Mac Geek Gab in iTunes 4.9! PodcastAlley – Vote (please!) Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Dave(even an audio comment, if you please!) or post in the comments below! Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index.

Back from Macworld, Dave finds lightning struck his home and office network and talks about what to do to make sure this never happens to you. That leads to quite a few tangents where John and Dave explore various topics, including their overall take on Macworld Expo Boston 2005. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For the week of July 18th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, July 18th, 2005 Back from Macworld, Dave finds lightning struck his home and office network and talks about what to do to make sure this never happens to you. That leads to quite a few tangents where John and Dave explore various topics, including their overall take on Macworld Expo Boston 2005. Products/Companies/Events mentioned: APC Back-UPS ES 650VA – Battery Back-up, surge protection device. Vonage – Voice over IP service that connects your telephone to your broadband connection. RadTech – Makers of care and cleaning accessories for your Mac desktop or laptop. The Graduate Safari Firefox Etchamac iPodObserver News mentioned: The Hidden Show: Macworld Conference Berklee College of Music Apple Profits Soar 425%; Mac Sales up 35% Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) Subscribe to the Mac Geek Gab in iTunes 4.9! PodcastAlley – Vote (please!) Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Dave(even an audio comment, if you please!) or post in the comments below! Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index.

Macworld Expo Boston is the stage for this podcast. John and Dave report their findings and experiences straight from Beantown, talking about products, events, and feedback from the show floor. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, Macworld Boston, July 12, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, July 12th, 2005 Macworld Expo Boston is the stage for this podcast. John and Dave report their findings and experiences straight from Beantown, talking about products, events, and feedback from the show floor. Products/Companies/Events mentioned: Macworld Boston 2005 Copley Square Hotel MacBrainiac Challenge at Macworld Boston – The “Smart Folders” team wins! Seiko Business Products – released new label printers with Mac support!. Etchamac – Aftermarket laser etching for your iPod… and your Mac. Parliant – Makers of Phone Valet, and starting to add podcasting features, as well. Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) Subscribe to the Mac Geek Gab in iTunes 4.9! PodcastAlley – Vote (please!) Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews [removed]eval(unescape(‘[removed](‘E-mail John and Dave‘)’))[removed]E-mail John and Dave(even an audio comment, if you please!) or post in the comments below! Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index.

John and Dave dig into the mailbag this week to answer your questions. Topics range from helping a user through the Finder, talking more about Mactel and what it means to you, a follow-up on WiFi/AirPort security, and a Macworld preview. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, week of July 11th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, July 11th, 2005 John and Dave dig into the mailbag this week to answer your questions. Topics range from helping a user through the Finder, talking more about Mactel and what it means to you, a follow-up on WiFi/AirPort security, and a Macworld preview. Products/Companies/Events mentioned: Macworld Boston 2005 – Macworld Expo – John and Dave will be attending and reporting on location. iStumbler – A software tool for Mac OS X, used to discover and report on wireless (802.11/AirPort) networks. TiVo – A reader asks whether or not you can use TiVo’s features without a subscription. The answer… within. Power Computing – Now defunct clone manufcaturer from “back in the day.” MacBrainiac Challenge at Macworld Boston – Tuesday, July 12, 12:45pm EDT. John and Dave will be your judges. Audio Comment Utilities Audio Hijack Pro GarageBand WireTap Pro Sites Mentioned: iPodObserver – A brand new site from us here at The Mac Observer. Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) Subscribe to the Mac Geek Gab in iTunes 4.9! PodcastAlley – Vote (please!) Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews The next show, technology permitting, will feature John and Dave podcasting direct from Macworld Boston. [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Dave(even an audio comment, if you please!) or post in the comments below! Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index.

Bluetooth is this week’s main topic with Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun. They chat about cell phone connections, headsets, and other related peripherals. Additional points of interest: iTunes 4.9 tidbits, and high speed internet access. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, week of July 4th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, July 4th, 2005 Bluetooth is this week’s major topic from Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun. They chat about cell phone connections, headsets, and other related peripherals. Additional points of interest include some key tidbits about iTunes 4.9, and high speed internet access. Products mentioned: Motorola V710 – Bluetooth-capable cellphone (US$174.99 from Amazon). Jitterin’ Thoughts: Motorola V710 setup as Bluetooth Modem under OS X/Panther BlueTrek Bluetooth Headset Motorola HS820 Bluetooth Headset – US$57.99 from Amazon Palm Tungsten PDA – Bluetooth capable lind of PDAs, work wirelessly with iSync HP Wirelss Print Server WP100 – 802.11 (not Bluetooth) based print server to connect USB printers to WiFi networks News Mentioned: Apple iTunes 4.9 – Some quick discussion about a few key (yet widely unknown!) features in version 4.9 Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) Subscribe to the Mac Geek Gab in iTunes 4.9! PodcastAlley – Vote (please!) Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews Next week’s show has us digging into the mailbag and answering YOUR questions. [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Dave(even an audio comment, if you please!) or post in the comments below! Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index.

This week, John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton come to you talking about wireless/airport connections, focusing on base stations, options available, and methods to secure them properly. Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, week of June 27th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, June 27th, 2005 This week, John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton have each had a crazy week, but come together anyway to talk about wireless/airport connections, focusing on base stations, options available, and methods to secure them properly. Products/sites mentioned: Linksys WRT54G – Highly configurable wireless router, supports same protocols as Apple’s AirPort (US$59.99 from Amazon). Sveasoft – Makers of VPN-capable firmware for Linksys (and other brand) routers LinksysInfo.com – Community site for supporting Linksys routers, includes download links to alternative firmware. Air Traffic Control – Widget for finding AirPort Base Stations and other access points. Freeware from SpinTriplet.</p Airport Radar – Widget for finding wireless networks. Shows name and signal strength. Freeware from Macwireless.</p Apple AirPort Extreme – Full-featured wireless router, supports USB printers. (US$199.88 from Amazon) Apple AirPort Express – Wireless stereo extension/router combination (US$124.99 from Amazon)</p News Mentioned: The Devil’s Advocate – Steve Meets Osborne, Again! …and John mentioned the mart Labels USA 2005 conference, which he’s attending this week. Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) PodcastAlley – Vote Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index. Have an idea for a future gab topic? Have a comment? [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Daveor post in the comments below!

This week, John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton chat about their favorite ways to get and listen to podcasts (and more!). If you’re listening to the Mac Geek Gab directly in your browser, you’ll definitely want to check this out, and even if you’re not you may get something more out of it! Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, week of June 20th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, June 20th, 2005 – RSS Feed This week, John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton chat about their favorite ways to get and listen to podcasts, plus they talk about their favorite podcasts and include a few tangents on both TiVo and Sears. If you’re listening to the Mac Geek Gab directly in your browser, you’ll definitely want to check this out, and even if you’re not you may get something more out of it! Products mentioned: iPodder – Freely available, donations accepted. NetNewsWire – $24.95 after 30 day trial iPodder X – $24.95 after 30 day trial NewsFire – Shareware, $18.99 BitTorrent TiVo Podcasts Mentioned: The Bitterest Pill – Feed Morning Stories – Feed On the Media – Feed 2600 – Feed News Mentioned: Michael Dell: ‘We Would Be Happy to Offer the Mac OS’ …and Dave’s rant about Sears is deserving of a link to them, as well. Podcast-related sites to visit (and vote for us!) PodcastAlley – Vote Podcast Pickle PodcastingNews Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure. Find more editions at the TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab index. Have an idea for a future gab topic? Have a comment? [removed]eval(unescape(‘E-mail John and Daveor post in the comments below!

Today marks the release of the inaugural edition of TMO’s first foray into podcasting, TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab. This podcast features two long-time TMO staffers — Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun — talking about the benefits of defragmenting your hard drive (and the best way to do it!), a focus on Mac OS X Tiger’s widgets (and how to manage them), and discussion of some great utilities for your Mac. Today marks the release of the inaugural edition of TMO’s first foray into podcasting, TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab. This podcast features two long-time TMO staffers — Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun — talking about all things Mac. Dave is, of course, TMO’s President (and you can visit his personal blog, too, to find out what else he’s done), and John F. Braun is TMO’s featured columnist for Monday’s Mac Gadget. Being technologists (i.e. nerds!), Dave and John often have chats about technical topics, and also have a knack for translating most of that suff into language understandable by humans. Now you can listen in weekly and learn from the pros! Mac Geek Gab will be coming to you fairly regularly (typically weekly, barring any technical or scheduling issues) and the first edition is now available for your listening pleasure. Mac Geek Gab will be included in TMO’s main RSS feed, and also in its own feed if you’d like to add it directly to your podcatching/ipodder client (soon iTunes, too). Enjoy! Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, week of June 13th, 2005 Podcast Link: TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab, June 13th, 2005 Today’s podcast finds John and Dave talking about the benefits of defragmenting your hard drive (and the best way to do it!), a focus on Mac OS X Tiger’s widgets (and how to manage them), and discussion of some great utilities for your Mac. Products mentioned: Drive Genius from Prosoft Engineering. MenuMeters from Raging Menace. Virex from Network Associates. Widget Manager from Downtown Software House. Little Snitch from Objective Development. Skype from Skype Technologies S.A. Widgets mentioned: Sysstat Marquee Fontsee TV Tracker Theme Music: “The Answer”, written by Jeff Steblea and Brian Ayles, as performed by Go Figure.