Category: Peripherals

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Do anti-glare films for your display work?

 

Back when I got my New 15" MacBook Pro with a Glossy Display, one of the first things I wanted to try out was an anti-glare film. I was sitting at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store with an unrelated issue and the Mac Genius asked me if I had tried one/reviewed one yet. When I answered no, we all kinda looked at each other and decided that there was no time like the present.

The key to installing/putting on one of these films on any display is that the display has to be as clean as possible of marks, finger prints, etc. This way you lessen the chance for bubbles/air pockets too. So the tech took my MacBook Pro to the back room and did a meticulous installation job. It was flawless. No marks, bubbles or other problems. It looked like it had been done at the factory. 

 

OK, does it work?

The first thing I could tell right off the bat in the store was that the glare was cut down quite a bit! Although I was happy with what I was seeing, I really wanted to see it under my lighting/working conditions at home. So that I night I did my normal work which included a little portrait retouching in Photoshop. This is when I realized that the film had to come off! The problem was that the film adds a bit of grain to the look of the what’s being displayed. Most users probably wouldn’t care in non-image critical apps such as a web browser, email, etc. However, in Photoshop it was VERY DISTRACTING! It pained me to peel it off after the Mac Genius did such a good job putting it on, but I couldn’t take it anymore. Every time I would see the grain I would have to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t in the image itself.

 

The Bottom Line

If you’re not a photo retoucher and the MacBook Glossy screens bother you, then this Anti-Glare film may be worth a try. If your work is color critical and you rely on the display more than the average person you may want to pass on this film. I’ve gotten used to the Glossy Display and it doesn’t bother me at all. There are only rare occasions that I even notice it and even then I can just move it a bit. Rumor has it that Apple is going to offer more displays in a Matte finish. The collective creative community can rejoice if that’s true.

The Power Support Anti-Glare film goes for the 15" MacBook Pro goes for $34.95

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Too good to be true? 6 foot HDMI cable for 17¢ No way!

Way!

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What’s the difference between these two HDMI cables?

The one on the right cost about $14 and the one on the left cost 17¢. I know what you’re thinking, "what’s the catch?" That’s certainly the first thing I thought when my buddy Corey pointed this out to me. You may remember a few weeks back, I wrote a post about paying too much for cables. Well several readers responded with where they buy their cables. Corey contacted me later on and pointed me to this HDMI cable on Amazon.com for only 17¢. Needless to say we were both highly skeptical! Usually deals like this are not really a deal because they jack up the shipping to basically be the price of the item. However, that was not the case here. I ordered two of them and the total for the order including shipping was still under $6. Of course the other gotcha could be the cable itself. I was half expecting this thing be made out of cardboard. However, it was almost indistinguishable from the cable I was already using on one of my sets. Well of course looks can be deceiving! We still don’t know about the quality of the materials inside the cable. So this required a real test. I unplugged my "good" cable and plugged in one of these cheap ones. I could NOT tell a difference in picture/sound quality at all. 

  Continue reading “Too good to be true? 6 foot HDMI cable for 17¢ No way!”

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No ExpressCard slot, no problem

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I must admit that I was a little taken back by Apple’s decision to eliminate the ExpressCard slot, in favor of an SD slot, from their New MacBook Pro 15" models. However, I can’t argue the reasoning. If most buyers aren’t using this slot then it probably does make since use the space for something more usable like an SD slot although personally I would have preferred a Compact Flash slot on the Pros and an SD slot on the regular MacBooks, but oh well. Then I got to thinking about the ExpressCard devices that I currently use and realized that I only have 3 of them. I have a Verizon V740 EVDO 3G Modem, a Synchrotech ExpressCard Compact Flash Reader and a Belkin Multi-Card Reader (reads SD, Memory Stick and a bunch of other formats). Although I don’t have any plans of getting a new MacBook Pro anytime soon, I like to be prepared by transitioning my peripherals to the new standards ahead of time so that when I do upgrade, it will be a lot less painful. Well the good news is that I can live without the Compact Flash reader because I already have a Firewire 800 Compact Flash Reader by Synchrotech that I use most of the time anyway. I could also live without the Multi-media Reader because the New MacBook Pros will have an SD slot built-in and I so rarely use the other formats supported by the reader that I could have a USB reader if need be. However, there is the issue with my Verizon ExpressCard Modem…

  Continue reading “No ExpressCard slot, no problem”

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NewerTech Voyager Q Review

 A couple of weeks back I reviewed the NewerTech Universal Drive Adapter. While that solution works for both IDE and SATA drives, it only works over USB 2. I wanted something that was faster! Well NewerTech does make a faster device that’s actually a bit more elegant as well. It’s the NewerTech Voyager Q. This external device resembles a toaster. You insert your bare SATA drive, connect the power and connect it to either your Firewire 400, 800, USB 2 or eSATA port, turn it on and you’ve got access to the drive. This is great for people upgrading to larger drives or just have older drives lying around that they want to periodically access. Check it out in action here:

 

 

The Bottom Line

If you need to connect SATA drives to your computer on a regular basis, there is no better, faster or easier solution. The fact that it supports all the interfaces in use today and that it supports both 2.5" and 3.5" drives makes it a winner. The Quad Interface Voyager Q goes for $94.99 from Other World Computing.

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There’s always an ink cartridge in my drawer

I use a variety of different printers. Some are ink jet based and therefore require ink cartridges. Nothing is more frustrating than to run out of ink in the middle of  a job. Of course that’s exactly when you need to replace an ink cartridge. After all the printer is not likely to run out of ink just sitting there (unless it sits there for months). Usually I have a set of ink cartridges in the printer and another set ready to go for when I run out. A good rule is that when you replace a cartridge with a spare that you would then buy a replacement for the one you just put in. Unfortunately I’m a busy guy so I’m not going to remember to order or go buy a new cartridge right then and there. Trust me, I’ve tried.

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Staples Ink Drop Service

I’ve been using the Staples Ink Drop Service for years now.  Here’s how it works: You load your printer up with ink just like you do now. You buy an extra set (from wherever you like) so that you have one set of replacements on hand. Then when you run out of ink for a particular color or set of colors, you put those empties in a Staples Ink Drop postage paid envelope and drop it in the mail. Staples gets your empties and sends you a new replacement (of the exact same brand and model number), billing it to your credit card on file with FREE shipping. They then recycle your empties properly. When you get your replacement cartridge, they also include a couple extra envelopes for your next order. There are no signup fees or membership fees or any other fees of any kind. You just pay for the ink (plus applicable sales tax).

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The Bottom Line

Could I find cheaper prices for my ink cartridges? Probably. Could I find a more convenient, painless, automatic service? Probably not. Learn more about Staples Ink Drop Service Here.

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You’re probably paying too much for cables

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It would be kinda hard to exist in this tech world without needing an additional cable here and there. I recently did some upgrading around the house to my TV’s and needed a couple more HDMI cables. When I did some quick price checks the prices varied from around $15-$99 for a standard 6 foot HDMI cable. That’s when it hit me that the average person probably pays way too much for cables. Retail chains like Best Buy sell cables right there next to the consumer electronics and computers that you’re going to buy. Chances are those cables prices are NOT the “best buy.” Cables are a way for retail stores to recoup some of that money/profit margin that they used to discount the prices on those other big ticket items. Consumers are constantly comparing prices for the TV’s, computers, Blu-ray players, etc., but rarely bat and eye when the cables that are needed to run those gadgets are thrown on the bill for some ridiculous prices.

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My buying advice

Think about the device you’re getting ready to go buy or order and how you’re going to connect it up. Most electronics these days rarely come with the cables you’re going to need. So since you’re going to need to buy some you might as well plan ahead. No matter how much the sales person tries to pressure you into buying cables in the store, DON’T! You’ll almost always pay more! Also don’t get suckered into buying the “premium” cables or the “gold” cables. Yes, you should buy quality cables, but studies have shown that these premium cables in most cases are no better than the cheaper “non-premium” cables that are sitting right next to them.

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Terry, where do you buy your cables from?

I knew you were gonna ask me that. My answer is, “it depends!” My primary source for cables is Cables-to-Go. However, I don’t deal with them exclusively, because depending on the kind of cable I’m looking for they may not have the best price. So here are the latest cable deals I have for you for the most common cables I’ve used recently:

6 foot HDMI Cable – Only $14.99 from Octava, Inc. I discovered these guys when I bought my HDMI switcher. The Cables-To-Go price was $19.99. The Best Buy price was….wait for it….$35.99! More than twice the price I paid! I’ve used the Octava HDMI cables for YEARS and haven’t had a single issue yet. I usually keep a couple on hand for future upgrades/toys.

5 meter USB Cable – for shooting Tethered from my Camera into my Laptop. Only $26.99 from Cables To Go!

7 foot Cat5e Ethernet Cable – Cat5e cables will work in most situations over the more expensive Cat6 cables. Staples has this Belkin 7′ cable for only $5.99. The Cables To Go price is $9.99. Best Buy has them for $21.99 (Cat6 was all they carry in this length, but interestingly enough if you want a 50′ Cat5e cable, they (Best Buy) have one for only $19.99 – go figure.).

6 foot Firewire 800 Cable – lastly, I can’t forget about Amazon. Always check Amazon prices because they change all the time. This 6 foot Firewire 800 Cable is only $12.99. The Apple Store will gladly sell you this Belkin one for $39.95.

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The Bottom Line

You may even find better deals than I did! Great! Keep in mind though that if it’s too cheap, it may not be worth the effort. For example, if you find a $3 Firewire cable and everyone else is selling it for $12 or more, then that $3 cable may not be worth it to intrust your valuable data to it. Also consider how much handling the cable will get. For example, if the cable is going to be plugged in and unplugged frequently (such as a drive cable), then you probably want a better one with better quality connectors. The main point I’m trying to make here is shop around and do your homework ahead of time. Buy your cables before you need them and you’ll save.

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My favorite USB Flash Drive is back and better!

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Just about everyone in the computer field carries around some sort of USB thumb drive. They’re great for transferring files back and forth and sometimes more convenient or faster than setting up a network share or emailing attachments. Before getting my USBCard a few years back, I used to always run into a situation where I needed a USB thumb drive, but wouldn’t have one handy. It would be on my key chain and my keys wouldn’t be nearby. I’d have one in my computer bag, which would just so happen to be back in my hotel room. The one thing I almost always have with me is my wallet! So when I ran across the USBCard by Freecom.com. I knew that this was the one for me. I’ve had it in my wallet ever since.

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People are always amazed when I pull it out of my wallet

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Whenever I go to use my USBCard people are always amazed by the size of it. I end up doing a 2 minute demo/show and tell every time. Of course being a gadget guy I’d want to recommend this solution to everyone that was interested. However, the problem was that they were out of stock for months. Well the good news is that not only are they back in stock, they also come in larger capacities. I have the 2GB model. Now they come in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models. They also now come in both Black and White. As you might have guessed, I’ve already ordered the 8GB model to replace my 2GB model (you can never have too much space). There is no telling how long these will be in stock this time around. So if you’re interested, I’d suggest ordering one today.

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The USBCard starts at $16.90 for the 1GB card. The 2GB card is $22.50, the 4GB card is $29.00 and the 8GB card is $45.00.

Order them here.

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WD My Passport Studio Portable Hard Drive Review

Here’s another video review. This time I take a look at portable external hard drives. In particular I look at the NEW Western Digital My Passport Studio 500GB Portable Hard Drive and how much of an improvement it is over my older Passport Studio drive.

The WD My Passport Studio drives come preformatted for Mac but will work on Windows PCs too. You can use it as a bootable drive for either Power PC or Intel based Macs. It can also be used with Apple’s Time Machine for backups. This drive is bus powered over Firewire or USB 2 connections.

In this video I mentioned the Synchrotech Firewire 400 to 800 adapter.

The 500GB 5,400 RPM WD My Passport Studio Drive goes for $169.99 at B&H Photo and Video.

I’m starting to see more and more Western Digital drives around my office. So far no failures to date!

CORRECTION: In the video I stated that the OWC On-The-Go drives were not bus powered over USB. I was wrong (working off an old experience). They are!

CORRECTION/UPDATE #2: Blog reader Gary reminded me that this drive is not bootable over Firewire.My primary use for this drive is data transfer and storage, so while I could use it to boot over USB in a pinch, this would not be my drive of choice if I needed to boot over Firewire or needed to use it as a primary drive.

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Hook up an internal drive externally, temporarily

usb2driveadapter

Earlier this week I completed my project (two months sooner than expected thanks to throwing more Macs and DVD drives at it) of ripping all my DVDs to iTunes/Apple TV. Of course after spending months on this project, the first thing that came to my mind was “I want ANOTHER backup!” The movies are being served up from a Drobo connected to an iMac and I even have that Drobo being backed up nightly to a second drive, but I still wanted one more backup of this massive project to take offsite. I had a spare 750GB drive from a previous upgrade just sitting there. The problem was that it was a bare drive with no case. Also since this is going to be an “if all hell breaks loose” kind of archival backup, I didn’t want to dedicate a case to it. So I just wanted to hook it up to the iMac long enough to do the copy and then take it to my safe deposit box at the bank for safe keeping.

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Newer Technology USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter

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I had one of these sitting nearby for just such an emergency. The good folks at OWC like to keep me up on the latest and greatest gadgets and made sure that I had this cool accessory for testing and review. I’ve had it since January, but this was the first time that I got a chance to put it to use. After all, nothing like a real world test right?

What is a Universal Drive Adapter? Imagine if you took an external drive case and took the electronics that actually hook up to the drive out of it. Now also imagine that those electronics would connect to IDE or SATA drives 2.5″ or 3.5″ drives as well. That’s basically what the Universal Drive Adapter is. It allows you to temporarily hook up an internal drive externally via USB 2.0. The Adapter comes with all the necessary cables and includes an AC adapter to actually power up the drive. The fact that it works with either IDE or SATA drives makes it a great solution for anybody that needs to hook up a drive every now and then and doesn’t want to always have to buy a case or tear into one to do so. This adapter would also be good for anyone that is upgrading to a larger drive. You could connect your new New drive up using this adapter long enough to clone over your old drive to it and then swap the drives.

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How well does it work?

This is one of those things that either works or it doesn’t! The first time I got one of these was actually before January and out of the box I could never get my drive to actually mount on the desktop. I eventually just gave up, stuck the drive in a case and it worked fine. Things went a lot better with this kit. I connected it up to my 750GB SATA drive, plugged in the power and the USB cable into my Mac Pro and it came right up. I then used Disk Utility to reformat the drive. Next I moved the drive to the iMac and again for some reason it didn’t mount the first time. I was beginning to get discouraged until I remembered that there were some troubleshooting instructions. I followed them and the drive did mount. I just did a Finder copy of the Movies folder onto the drive and let it run over night (it is only USB 2.0 speeds after all). The next morning, the data was there and I disconnected the drive. Now I can take that drive offsite as an archive. Although I still have the DVD discs as backup, I would never want to have to spend the weeks or months doing the ripping again. That’s the point of this double backup.

ProtectaDrive

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The one problem with working with bare drives like this is that they are exposed! On most hard drives you can actually see (and potentially fry) the electronics of the drive on the bottom. So OWC also sells a rubber cover called the ProtectaDrive. This sleeve is designed to offer you some protection against shock and touching the electronics of the drive. They make them in both 3.5″ and 2.5″ drive sizes. Not much to it, you just slip it over your drive before you hook it up to the adapter. I felt a lot better using this than nothing at all. Although I could store the drive in it, I plan to just use an anti-static bag for the drive (like the ones they ship in) and put the drive in my safe deposit box at the bank. This way I can use the ProtectaDrive for other copy/clone projects as they arise.

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The Bottom Line

If you need to connect a drive up and don’t want to have to buy or use a case, this is your solution. I could see using this adapter in a lot of different situations. The only thing that I can think of that would make this solution even better is if it also had the ability to use Firewire 800/400. That would make the transfers even faster.

OWC sales the Newer Technology USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter for $29.99. The 3.5″ ProtectaDrive is $9.95. The 2.5″ ProtectaDrive is $7.99.

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Wacom Intuos 4 Video Review

It seems like it was only yesterday when Wacom introduced the Intuos 4 line of professional pen tablets at Photoshop World Boston. I did a first look on that day and promised to follow up with a more detailed review. Sometimes I’m finding that it’s just easier to show you rather than write paragraphs of text. So here’s another one of my video reviews showing some of the most important and my favorite features of the new Intuos 4:


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The Bottom Line

The more I use the Intuos 4 tablets the more I just love them! If you spend ANY time in Photoshop or Illustrator, these tablets are a MUST HAVE! Both Photoshop and Illustrator’s tool sets take advantage of the pressure sensitivity of the Wacom tablets. I still love my Cintiq, but when I have to travel with a tablet or just want to use one around the house, I reach for either my Intuos 4 Medium or Small tablets. The Intuos 4 Small stays in my laptop bag and goes everywhere I go.

Intuos Small $199.99 (List Price $229)

Intuos Medium $335.98 (List Price $369)