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Long and Short Lightning Cables

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Ever since I upgraded to the iPhone 5 and got an iPad mini I’ve been slowly but surely replacing my old 3o pin iDevice cables with newer Lightning cables. While the price of Apple’s Lightning cables are a bit on the expensive side, what bugs me more is being limited to a fixed 1m length. While 3rd party 30 pin iDevice cables are a dime a dozen and can be found in many different lengths and configurations, 3rd party Lightning cables are just now starting to become widely available. There were some really cheap knockoffs that appeared early on and as the saying goes you get what you pay for. I tried a few of the different cables and found that either they didn’t work at all, didn’t work reliably or stopped working after a while. One problem is that many of the cheap ones aren’t “reversible.” That’s one of the main benefits of Lighting cables is that there is no front/back up or down. You can plug it in either way and it just works. Many of the cheap ones only worked one way. I did find some 10 foot cheap 3rd party ones that worked properly. However, over time one by one they simply stopped working or started acting very flaky. I decided to wait until some of the trusted brands I’d used in the past. I wanted both shorter cables and longer ones than the 1m Lighting cables that Apple sells.

6 foot and 10 foot Lightning Cables

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One of my favorite sources for low price, quality cables and gear is Monoprice.com. Monoprice has listed both 6 foot and 10 foot Lightning cables for a while now, but they recently started shipping. Before these cables became available I was using USB extension cables to make my Apple cables longer, but I prefer to have a single cable that’s long enough. I bought a few of each length and as I expected they work perfectly. You can get them in either white or black here.

 

Very short Lightning Cables

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CableJive is known for selling a variety of different specialty cables and as I had hoped they just started selling pocket sized 12cm Lighting cables. This cables are short for a variety of different uses when you don’t want a long cable that you’d have to coil up. They are a bit pricey for the length, but they fit the bill for always having a Lightning cable for charging my devices, in my pocket.

Amazon has them here.

 

Lastly a lower priced 1m Lightning Cable

Amazon has their own brand of cables and they are offering a 1m Lighting Cable for less than Apple sells them for here. Monoprice also has some 1m cables cheaper too, here.

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Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock Review

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For the last few years I’ve used a MacBook Pro as my primary computer. I even sold my Mac Pro tower a few months ago as I just couldn’t justify hanging on to it for the few times I used it to do heavy duty video rendering. Sure it was faster than my notebook, but I just found that I was using my notebook more often than heading over to the Mac Pro. Now that I’m on the MacBook Pro most of the time, when I’m at my desk I want to connect all my peripherals. I’ve got a Wacom Cintiq 24HD display, Gigabit Ethernet drop, a 7 port USB 3.0 hub with a Logitech C920 webcam, Rode Podcaster Mic, Bose Speakers, Apple Wireless Keyboard, wireless Magic Mouse and an occasional external hard drive to transfer data from here and there.

What is the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock?

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It’s an external piece of hardware that sits on your desk and connects to your Thunderbolt port on your computer. Once connected it adds 1 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 Firewire 800 port, an additional Thunderbolt port, an audio in and audio out port, and 3 high speed USB 3.o ports.

Before the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock I would have to plug in the power and four cables before waking my MacBook Pro up. The beauty of a dock is that it can give you not only the convenience of having all your peripherals plugged into one device so that you can just plug in one cable, but it also can give you ports that you didn’t have. For example, on the MacBook Pro 15″ Retina Display Apple has eliminated Firewire and Ethernet ports. While I have the Thunderbolt Adapters to add these ports back in, the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock has them built-in plus one that I don’t have an adapter for and that is a standard 3.5mm audio in jack.

The design of the dock is appealing to my eyes and it has all of the connections in the back with a pass through to the front for the Thunderbolt cable (which is not included). I was a little disappointed by the rather large power brick, but then I reminded myself that I won’t likely be traveling with this dock. It’s designed to sit on your desk with everything connected to it so that I just plug in the Thuderbolt cable to my MacBook Pro when I get to my office.

I’ve connected a couple of hard drives to it for testing and  noticed no difference in speed. The other ports seem to work as expected.

The Bottom Line

This dock has been a long time coming. For a MacBook Pro owner it’s nice to have. For a MacBook Air owner it becomes an even better accessory since MacBook Airs have even fewer ports built-in to them. I would have loved to have seen one more Thunderbolt port and for the price I feel that it should have included a Thunderbolt cable. Otherwise it’s a solid piece of gear that will make my MacBook Pro feel even more like a desktop computer when I’m at my desk.

You can get the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock here.

You can get the needed Thunderbolt Cable here.

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What’s New In Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC and Muse CC?

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Today Adobe took the wraps off all NEW versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe Muse and more. The Creative Suite (CS) Applications have been rebranded Creative Cloud (CC). I’m here to give you your first look at these applications and to share my Top 5 Favorite Features in each one. I’ve created a Creative Cloud Learning Center playlist on my YouTube channel and added my four new videos to it. I’ll continue to add more videos on Creative Cloud in the coming weeks and months. The NEW CC versions will be available to Creative Cloud Members on June 17th.

Note: Currently there are no plans to add new features to Creative Suite. Creative Suite 6 will continue to be available indefinitely for those that aren’t ready or don’t want to go to Creative Cloud. Also Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Acrobat Professional will continue to be sold as perpetual licenses. This probably brings up a lot of questions and we’ve tried to anticipate as many as possible. Go here to get answers.

Continue reading “What’s New In Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC and Muse CC?”

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Watch Me in The Adobe MAX Keynote Live Today

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I have the honor of being on stage today at the Adobe MAX Keynote in Los Angeles. I’ll be showing some never seen before new technologies and you can watch the LIVE STREAM. That’s right, even if you didn’t make it to Adobe MAX this year you can still watch the keynote. It will air from 9:30-11:30am PT (GMT -7) and you can sign up to watch it here. I think this will be the largest audience I’ve ever presented in front of live and I look forward to seeing you at MAX or at least knowing you’re watching from where ever you are in the world!

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What I’m Teaching at Adobe MAX – The Creativity Conference Next Week

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I’m looking forward to seeing many of you next week at Adobe MAX – The Creativity Conference in Los Angeles. The show kicks off Monday for me with the Day 1 Keynote and sessions.

  • Monday, May 6th – 9:30am – 11:30am – A Creative Evolution – Keynote (Register to Watch the Keynote Online Here)
  • Monday, May 6th – 3:30pm – 4:30pm – Adobe Muse – Creating HTML Websites Without Coding
  • Monday, May 6th – 5:00pm – 6:30pm – Self Publishing on iPad – B.Y.O.D. LAB
  • Tuesday, May 7th – 10:00am – 11:30am – Community Inspires Creativity – Keynote
  • Tuesday, May 7th – 4:00pm – 5:00pm – Adobe Design Evangelists Shootout
  • Wednesday, May 8th – 9:30am – 10:30am – Creating Engaging Web Design with Adobe Muse
  • Wednesday, May 8th – 5:00pm – 6:00pm – Creating Engaging Web Design with Adobe Muse

Want to save $300 on Adobe MAX? Use this promo code: MXSM13

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Hands On With the New Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit

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During a brief visit to my studio between business trips I got a chance to try out the NEW Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit. I’m a fan of the Rogue FlashBenders and Diffusion panels. I keep a set in the outer pocket of my suitcase because they are completely flat when not in use. This means that on those occasions when I’m on the road and come across an interesting subject to photograph I don’t have to worry that I didn’t bring my usual, larger light modifiers.

The NEW Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit Changes the Game A Bit

I have all kinds of light modifiers in the my studio and smaller ones for travel and while I always looked at the Rogue FlashBenders as “great in a pinch.” I’m now looking at this new Rogue XL Pro as more of a primary tool for my on the road arsenal. The first thing I like about it is the XL part. It’s large enough to achieve better results. The larger the light source and the closer it is to your subject the softer it will be. So larger is definitely better. I also like the versatility in using it either to reflect light or diffuse it.

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The kit comes with everything you need to set it up as a large bounce or as a strip bank softbox. It’s the use as a strip bank that I was most interested in. I use a large strip bank in my studio on a regular basis and I wondered how this much smaller one would perform. To my surprise it worked out even better than I anticipated. I typically use a strip bank to get nice rim lighting, but using it as a main light ain’t bad either.

Continue reading “Hands On With the New Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit”

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We have a Winner and He’s Going to Adobe MAX!

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Last week I announced that I’d be giving away a FREE Ticket to Adobe MAX 2013 and I have a winner. The contest ran across both Twitter and Facebook. The Winner is Facebook Fan, John Paul Rock! John will join me at the Adobe MAX Conference as well as get VIP treatment at MAX Bash. Congratulations John.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the Creativity Conference – Adobe MAX 2013 in Los Angeles from May 4-8, 2013.

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I’m Giving Away A Pass To Adobe MAX on Twitter and Facebook

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I have an Adobe MAX pass that I will give away to one lucky person on Twitter or Facebook this Friday (winner announced on Monday 4/29). All you have to do to enter is send a tweet that says “I want to go to #AdobeMax and see #TerryWhiteAtMAX” or head to my Facebook fan page and tell me “why you want to go to MAX – The Creativity Conference.” I’ll pick one lucky person from either the tweets or the Facebook posts and you will have a Full Pass to the Adobe MAX Creativity Conference happening in Los Angeles on May 4-8, 2013. You’ll have to get to LA on your own and provide your own housing, meals etc., but the conference pass will be yours to attend. A $1,495 value!

Let the Tweeting and Facebook posting begin and I look forward to Seeing you at Adobe MAX “The Creativity Conference”.

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How To Fix Teeth in Photoshop CS6

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In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows how to remove the yellow from teeth as well as how to fix a gap. How to fix teeth in Photoshop.

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App below. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White - Wizzard Media