Last December, Andy reviewed the K750 and loved it. The only problems with it were the lack of a Mac specific version that could take advantage of the special apps required to view charging info and the special function keys didn’t work. Those problems are now history because Logitech has just announced a Mac version of the K750 that’s available today for $59.99. Now Apple fans can fully enjoy the K750 wireless keyboard which uses light to keep it powered (even indoors).

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, News

Tagged: Keyboard, OS X, Solar, Wireless

Logitech’s K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard is now available for the Mac originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm.

Have you ever wished you could project whatever you did or watched on your MacBook to your TV? I know I have and now it’s possible with a device called McTiVia. While there have been various ways to do this in the past, now I can just boot up the mac, start the McTiVia app, change one video setting on the TV using my remote and voila! I am surfing, watching video, checking email, and even writing this review with my TV as a second monitor – only much bigger.

So think about that… anything you see on your laptop is projected on the TV. Family movies and photos, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube – all of that can be shared with the whole family or friends. Simply and wirelessly. And you can connect up to 8 Macs although I’ve never, ever had 8 Macs at the same time.

But there’s a catch – isn’t there always a catch? For one, when my MacBook Pro is streaming to the TV wirelessly, it runs hot. Very hot. I have to prop it up in my lap to avoid burning my legs. Oh, and it’s a battery killer. After 30 minutes, my battery was down to 67%. Ouch. This is a new MacBook with the all the latest stuff, not some outdated G4 model. Which brings up another quibble. The McTiVia does not like older macs. My son had an older MacBook and it was not easy to set up. Heck, come to think of it, this MacBook wasn’t much easier to set up either. After many failures, I had to use McTiVia’s tech support to literally walk me through the process on the phone. It turns out I had missed a couple of steps not clearly explained on their web site. Maybe a techie geek could have figured it out, but McTiVia is supposedly designed for normal people who just want an extension to their laptop.

Build quality is solid. All the ports and connections on the McTiVia are tight and secure. It looks and feels like it will last a long time. It works on both Mac and Windows. McTiVia does not yet work with the iPad. I am told that Apple is the cause and that the people at McTiVia are working on getting approval.

When I contacted tech support, the person at McTiVia could not have been nicer or more helpful. He was amazing. If every other tech company did customer service like McTiVia, there would be no more jokes about them. He patiently guided me through the steps and after downloading the latest update to the software, I was up and running.

Viewing apps and other static stuff is a breeze – like writing this review. The resolution is good – not great, but at a normal TV viewing distance, it looks quite nice. After all, TVs are not computer monitors. There is a slight delay between the laptop and the TV, but it is no big deal. Also, the video on your monitor changes size when McTiVia is turned on, but returns to normal when switched off. Videos look good, however the delay becomes more pronounced. How long the delay is depends on the WiFi signal strength. My WiFi was just in the next room in line of sight and the video delay was about 1-2 seconds.

While trying YouTube video I discovered that it does not like the 480 (or higher) setting. The video gets very jumpy and there are audio syncing issues. At 320 or less, all is fine if you can put up with the lower video quality. On a HDTV, the lowered quality was very noticeable.

Keep in mind, everything I am doing is wireless. The McTiVia allows for a wired ethernet connection to your router which DOES equal better video and speed. However, my router is in the other room and well, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of a device like McTiVia. Also, who wants wires stretching from the TV to the couch or from the couch to another room? If you have to do that, why not just make a direct connection and save money?

If you can wire your mac via ethernet to your router without creating a tripping hazard, then you can put the MacBook back in its place and use a wireless keyboard and mouse to do whatever it is you do on your laptop. Video, apps, surfing, all of that can be done without even going to the MacBook. McTiVia comes with five different plug adapters for international accessibility.

The McTiVia will not replace hard wiring if you want an optimal viewing experience. But as a wireless solution, it’s not bad and it gives you much more freedom and flexibility than the AppleTV. Remember, anything you can do on your MacBook, McTiVia can show it to you on your TV.

Hey, if you lie awake nights jonesing to put OS X on that enormous flat screen tax-refund toy of yours and have $200 left over, then McTiVia could make you smile.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: OS X, Streaming

McTiVia Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 29, 2011 at 11:00 am.

Apple held its 2011 WWDC today and debuted quite a few new products, including: OS X Lion, an update to the operating system aboard their iMac desktops and Macbook notebooks: iOS 5, the mobile operating system aboard their iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices; and the long-await iCloud online storage and sync system, which Steve Jobs himself introduced.  Loads of new stuff!  Below are just the highlights and I’m sure there will be more detailed info and discussion all over the web in the coming weeks.  Special thanks to Engadget for the fantastic live event feed coverage!

Mac OS X Lion

Loads of new features, only a portion of which are listed below.  Download an update for $29.99.  Available in July.

• Multi-touch gestures – for Macbooks with touchpads
• Full-screen apps
• Mission Control for desktop app management
• Built-in
• – In-app App Store purchases
• – Push Notification
• – Delta Updates (only what is updated, not the entire system)
• Launchpad
• Resume
• Auto Save
• Versions
• AirDrop
• updated Mail

iOS 5

200+ new features, including the following.  To ship this fall.  Supports devices starting with iPhone 3GS, iPad and 3rd/4th gen iPod touch.

• Notification Center – way improved notification management
• Newsstand – electronic subscription manager
• Twitter – integrated right into the OS and into many apps
• Safari
• – new ‘Safari Reader’ button for streamlined page viewing in the browser
• – Reading List – simply way to read pages later
• – Tabbed Browsing
• Reminders – a built-in app that syncs across devices
• Camera updates
• – new camera button on the lock screen
• – use the ‘volume up’ button to take pictures
• – in-app pinch zoom
• – one-tap exposure optimization
• – in-app editing – crop, rotate, red-eye, etc
• Mail
• – rich-text formatting
• – indent control
• – address drag
• – flagging
• – search entire message
• – S/MIME for security
• – built-in dictionary
• – splittable keyboard
• PC Free
• – setup and activate your device right on the device
• – software updates Over The Air (delta updates – only what’s changed)
• – Sync iTunes library over WiFi (more on this below under iCloud)
• Calendar – set up and delete right from iOS
• Game Center
• – Achievement points
• – Friend discovery
• – Friends of friends
• – Game discovery
• iMessage
• – works between all iOS devices
• – send texts, photos, video, contacts, group messages
• – get delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notification
• – works over WiFi or 3G

iCloud

MobileMe is gone, with its functionality incorporated into the new FREE iCloud with 9 apps.  Will ship concurrent with iOS 5 this fall.

• Stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices
• Integrated with your apps, so everything happens automatically
• MobileMe re-written from group up to work in iCloud
• No ads
• MobileMe is gone; Contacts, Calendar, Mail will be free to use via iCloud
• updated AppStore
• back up devices to the cloud – WiFi only, including purchased music, books, photos and videos, device settings, and App data
• Documents in the Cloud
• – store documents in the cloud and share across all your devices
• – works on all iOS devices, as well as Mac and PCs
• Photo Stream – photos taken on any device are pushed to the cloud, then sent automatically to the other devices via WiFi
• iTunes -
• – no charge to multiple downloads to different devices
• – new ‘Purchased’ tab shows everything you have in the cloud
• – download a song on one device, it downloads to all without having to sync
• – runs on iOS 4.3 beta
• 5GB of storage for Mail, Documents and Backup plus “other storage too” but Photo Stream and iTunes don’t count again it
• For music you’ve ripped from CDs, three options:
• – sync devices over WiFi or cable
• – re-buy the songs, but from iTunes
• – use iTunes Music Match – $24.99 per year for as many songs as you want
• – software will scan your tunes and match it up with those songs in the store – takes minutes to scan, not weeks to upload
• – any songs that don’t match will be uploaded for you and anything that’s matched is upgraded to 256Kbps AAC, without DRM

No mention of iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 or whatever it will be called, but even still, perhaps one of the biggest WWDC unveiling events yet.  Anyone besides me stoked for this?

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Apple, iCloud, iOS 5, iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, OS X

Apple announces OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 6, 2011 at 4:00 pm.

Why would you want to add a calculator to your iPhone/iPod touch? You can’t remove the standard one, and it does most of what normal people use a calculator for all ready: add, subtract, multiply, divide, hold a number in memory and let you use it in an operation. There’s even a “change sign” button. What more could you want? Well, if you’re the scientific kind, you’d want to turn it to landscape and get all those trigonometric function keys, log functions, square, cube, square roots, percentage, and a few other keys. That should do it, right? Yes, the built-in calculator is pretty powerful. But what if you’re involved in alternate number systems (binary, hexadecimal, or octal, for instance)? It would help if your calculator did some of the work for you. Or if you need to plug in large numbers regularly, such as the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation (6.6742e-11, if you’re interested), or the speed of light in a vacuum (299792458 metres per second), or pi, or the Golden Ratio (phi), or the Faraday constant. And what if you needed more or fewer decimal places, or a better font or color for reading in your environment? Would you just carry along your trusty HP or TI scientific programmable, or would you keep a list of these bits of information and write it down from your notes, then tap it in when needed? For many of those in the scientific community, this is a constant necessity (no pun intended).

Well, James Thomson, a former Apple employee and the developer of DragThing, has created just the thing for you: pCalc. Available for the Mac and for iPhone (in two flavors – more on that later), it’s an amazing amalgam of tool, reference list, and study in great interface design. I’m going to specifically cover the iPhone versions here, but encourage you to look at the Mac version if you’re of the numerical bent.

With changeable themes, you can “skin” the app to meet your aesthetic requirements (white on blue to look like a blueprint, or “high powered” – shiny black with white markings and the reverse for numerals) or for better selection of keys (functions in blue, “clear” keys in red, numerals in white, operators in yellow, and a large, green “=” key). You can also customize the background tint of your display, the color of the numerals, and the actual font that is shown, in addition to padding the numbers to always show a certain number of decimal places. Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) entry is supported, as well. (For those who don’t know, here’s a brief idea of RPN entry: a standard equation (3×4=12) would be entered like this on a regular calculator: 3, the “x” key, 4, and the “=” key. In RPN, you enter 3, ENTER, 4, then “x”. The result is the same, it’s just different, and some people think that way. If you’re doing long strands of calculations where you need the partial results along the way, it’s much easier to use.)

Another interesting feature is the tape. Want to see all the transactions you have entered, in order to verify an answer that you think may be off? Hit the “Tape” key, and there it is: a scrolling list of everything you’ve done, with your final readout still on the display. You can even email that tape to anyone, and it’s time/date stamped. Alternate numbering systems are not always on the mind of the average person, but they can be useful for even a web designer, who’s trying to find an average color between #000000 and #FFFFFF. How do you divide that range into, say, six equal parts? (One sixth of FFFFFF is 2AAAAA. Twice that is 555554, and so forth.) Converting those numbers into base10, or any other system, is as easy as pressing the button for the desired system. You don’t have to hit “convert,” enter the number another time, or anything else – just change the keypad to decimal, and 555554 is changed to 5592404. Tap octal, the display changes to 25252524. That’s beyond the overflow for binary, but it’s just as easy to change to that system with smaller numbers. Unfortunately, if you do not perform an actual operation, the information is not applied to the tape, so you can’t do a conversion and email it.

The list of constants, which can be added to an equation by a single tap in the menu, is extensive. Various math-heavy scientific fields are used to organize them loosley. The humor (James would spell it “humour”) of having “42″ as the Ultimate Answer constant is also echoed in the icon for the app. You won’t get that if you’re not familiar with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and if that’s the case, first of all, SHAME ON YOU!!! Your geek cred just took a serious hit. And second of all, go read it, as soon as you finish here. You’ll thank me later.

By far, one of the most far-reaching features is the conversion tool. Enter any number on the keypad, and you can change it from one unit to another with a single menu command. You don’t have to actually convert it, if you want, you can only enter the number of, say pounds, and, just to know what that would be in ounces, you click the A->B key, choose weight, then pounds. The list of other units (Grams, Kilos, Newtons, Ounces, Stones, Tonnes, Tons (UK), and Tons (US)) are there, along with the conversion of that entered amount to each. There are conversions for Angle, Area, Bytes, Cooking, Energy, Fuel Efficiency, Length, Power, Pressure, Speed, Temperature, Time, Volume, and Weight. Each of those categories are fully populated as well. For instance, the Pressure category offers conversion between Atmospheres, Bars, Millibars, Pascals, Pounds per Square inch, and Torr. Time offers to move units to and from Days, Hours, Microseconds, Milliseconds, Minutes, Seconds, Weeks, and Years.

Versions

There is a “lite” version that is possibly the best free calculator on the App Store. While Apple do not (or did not in the past) allow developers to make a limited full-range version that has to have features unlocked for a certain fee, they are allowed to have a fully-functioning version that has fewer features than the full version. With Pcalc Lite, you get two themes, two digit fonts, four conversions, a shortened list of three categories of constants, and two key click sounds (plus off). RPN mode is included as well. There are no non-decimal number systems supported, but it’s still impressively far enough beyond the built-in calculator as to be worth a download. The regular version, of course, is available at full cost, with no demo or locked features. (This is Apple Store policy.) I have no idea if the developer will later release a version with additional features, but current Apple Store policy is that complete apps cannot be charged for twice. All updates, no matter how significant, are free. After Apple’s announcement of iPhone OS 3 today, with unlocking of features and levels and subscriptions, I don’t know if things will change, but one thing is for certain, you’ll not lose features if there are changes made. Apple has decreed that free apps shall remain free forever and cannot have a paid upgrade, so to move up, you’ll actually have to get the full-featured version as a different download. I think that once you try the Lite version, you’ll be willing to pay for the advanced features, if you need them.

What’s missing?

You’d think, given this impressive list of features, that there is absolutely nothing more that could be done within the realm of calculators, wouldn’t you? Pcalc has taken the art of calculator construction to it’s absolute zenith, right? Well, close, but not quite. There is no “build-your-own-formula” area, where you can enter several other numbers, along with the constant or two, and then enter a single measured number to see what that formula is for that single variable. This would be a great feature for a future version. (I remember having to enter a 7-element equation into a formula for each measurement while testing concrete cylinders, working for an engineering firm in grad school. Sleepy, newly-wed eyes, early mornings, punching a dozen or so numbers into a TI-30 for each test, and lifting test cylinders onto and off of a hydraulic press is not a fun combination.) Storing several frequently-used formulas would add a lot of value, but is far beyond what most calculators do, so I can’t really deduct points for that. I’d just like to see it. Also, with the impressive array of features, you have to make sure not to accidentally hit a stray key while making changes. With that many buttons on the screen, it’s hard to “zero in” on the correct digit at times. The regular version is $9.99, or, as we say in the real world, ten bucks. I give both versions a solid five stars, for completeness, ease of use, and overall value. Pcalc works on all models of iPhone and iPod Touch.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: iPhone, OS X, Software

PCalc iPhone Software Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 30, 2009 at 11:41 am.

For my portion of the HP Mini 1000 Team review, I volunteered to ‘hackintosh’ the netbook. Hackintoshing is where you get a windows/linux computer running a hacked version of the Mac OS. So, in this review I will be discussing the level of difficulty of acquiring and installing the hacked OSX, usability on the Mini 1000, and comparative look at it against real Macbooks.

To begin, I was a complete newbie to downloading this size of file, reconstructing it into a single, usable file, installing, tweaking, using terminal, etc….. So, the learning curve was pretty steep. But with the assistance of Julie, Rob, and several other helpful souls out on the Net, I was able to stumble my way through the process.

When I was researching how to make this transformation happen, all the threads would discuss the various different ‘builds’ of the hacked OSX and (for the most part) only elude to where to acquire it/them – saying that it was available at ‘the usual places’. With her MSI Wind experience, Julie pointed me in the right direction to download the 36 – 100mb pieces that the OS was chopped into. Downloading these took a long time and there were errors in several of the downloaded files. So, during this process, I had to determine which of the 36 were corrupt and replace them. Once that was done, I had to figure out how to put them together.

There are many programs out there that can do this task. I played with three, UNrarX, Split & Concat, and Stuffit Deluxe. After trying this and that with each of these applications (failing many times), I finally got Stuffit Deluxe to successfully complete the operation. What came out the other end, was a 4.4gb .iso file ready to be restored or burned to a media that the Mini can boot from.

This is the step in the process that really slowed me down. I read in the threads that many people were installing the hacked OSX via ‘the thumb drive method’. It seemed like the easiest/simplest method to me….but let me tell you, it was far from that. I tried for DAYS to get the Mini to boot from the thumb drive. I read so many threads I lost count. I tweaked the thumb drive 50 times hoping that some little change would get the process moving forward. I was just about to give up, when I decided to try burning the iso file to a DVD and loading it onto the Mini via an external DVD drive.

Low and behold it worked like a champ. The Mini booted into the OSX installer and off I went . I cannot tell you how happy I was that it finally was working. So, during the install process, you have to choose the specific drivers necessary to get your former Windows laptop/netbook operational. But with all the threads I had read, I knew just which ones needed to be selected during the install. And about half an hour later, the Mini 1000 was transformed into a Macbook Mini. But that was not the end of the tweaking to get my Macbook Mini fully operational and for the most part, stable.

The next step was to load the video kext (Mac version of a driver) that changed the resolution from 800×600 to 1024×600. After that, I had to use Terminal (for the first time) to get the WiFi working, using scripts provided out on the net. The final step was to load approximately ten kext files (once again downloaded from the net) to get everything working correctly and the system stable. I need to mention, that after each step you had to ‘repair the permission files’ using Disk Utility and reboot the system. Once I figured out how to start the boot process, the installation took less about an hour.

Loading my software onto the Macbook Mini went well enough, Office, Lotus Notus, FireFox, and Stuffit Deluxe installed just fine. Adobe CS3 was not able to load, it had nothing to do with the hackintosh but the screen resolution of the Mini 1000. The screen resolution was too small for CS3 to install. The system is pretty stable, only crashing once due to a thumb drive hanging during an operation. Other than that, it runs perfectly fine, but it does hang/crash during shutdown about every tenth time. (UPDATE: I found a workaround for installing CS3 on the threads. It involved loading SwitchResX and forcing the Mini to the minimum resolution CS3 can load with (1024×768). CS3 loaded just fine, after that all you have to do is put the resolution back to 1024×600).

In the netbook hackintoshing world, the HP Mini 1000 is one of the more difficult to transform into a Mini Mac. Boing Boing has created a good chart detailing what has been accomplished on each of the netbooks. The short of it is that the MSI Wind and Dell Mini 9 are both completely transformable where as the Mini 1000 still needs the audio and ethernet drivers to be developed (although I believe the ethernet issue has been overcome). Neither issue was a deal killer for me. I would much prefer the Mini 1000 (or Mini-Note) as a piece of hardware versus any of the other netbooks.

As for speed and performance, the Macbook Mini is very similar to the Macbook Air (I upgraded the ram in my Mini to 2gb the day I opened the box). It is zippy enough to do email, IM’ing, dancing the Net, writing a review, etc (although, it is really slow to startup). And like the Air, the Mini does not have the computing horse-power to do video editing or enough screen real estate to do much photo work (although I do the tweaking for my review photos on my Air, but that is about it). I can definitely see why kids, college students, and travelers find netbooks a compact useful tool.

As a piece of hardware, I really like the quality and performance of the Mini 1000. That said, its compact size is a bit too cramped and screen too little for me (although I am going to write my next couple of reviews on it). However, I did enjoy the challenge of hackintoshing the Mini and creating my very own Macbook Mini (something Apple should do….). I learned a great deal during this effort that I can take away with me to potentially use on other geeky projects For my next Mini project, I hope to install a larger (& faster) hard drive in the Mini and make it dual bootable into the Mac OSX and Windows 7 beta.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Handheld PCs / Ultra Portables

Tagged: OS X

HP Mini 1000 Team Review (Hackintoshing) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 20, 2009 at 5:03 pm.