iPod – The Graphic Mac

Skin your iPhone earbuds for better sound, fit and…

As any iPhone user can tell you, the Apple-supplied EarPods (or earbuds if you have an iPod Touch) absolutely suck as far as fitting. Though they’ve improved greatly with each hardware update, I still can’t find anyone who doesn’t say they fall out of their ear constantly because they simply don’t fit right.

Enter EarSkinz. For $11 you can get these covers that slip on the supplied EarPods/earbuds that claim to not only fit better and add comfort, but improve the sound quality as well. And of course, the 11 color options allow you to choose one that best fits your style.

General

Replug: Save your jack!

Replug is one of the most useful gadget accessories I’ve seen in a long time. At only $13, Replug protects your iPhone or computer headphone jack by turning it into a sort of mag-safe adapter like you find on Apple’s laptop line. Put simply, when you jerk your headphone cord by accident, rather than the jack breaking off in the mic jack, it safely just pulls away. Very cool!

General

“Why Apple is done inventing new devices” – Huh?…

I visit a lot of Mac-related websites on a daily basis. Of all those that I visit, I’ve come to realize that none are so off-based, sensationalistic, and void of any reasonable credibility as CultofMac.com; or as I often refer to them, Cult of Morons.

Their latest piece of link-bait is a piece titled “iPod. iPhone. iPad. Why Apple is Done Inventing New Devices.” This mind-numbingly long article (which I won’t even bother linking to) asserts that Apple will stop inventing new devices and focus on finding new ways to make money selling what they already have. For decades. Yeah, you read that right.

What bothers me about the article is not the 15 paragraphs of well-known Apple history that their target readership don’t need a lengthy reminder of, though that’s 50% of the mind-numbing part. No, it’s the idea that Apple has ever “invented” anything at all.

Steve Jobs — Does this look like a guy who wants to sit back and collect money on yesterday's success?

Maybe I have a definition of “invention” that differs from Cult of Morons. It’s this off idea of Apple inventing things that bothers me, and the assertion that Apple will simply sit back for the next decade and try to milk customers for more money using nothing but what they already offer, such as iOS, to do so.

To truly understand what Apple will do in the next decade, you can look back at Apple’s storied history to see that Apple takes existing problems and finds creative, appealing solutions for them that motivate people to buy. Constantly. Read more ““Why Apple is done inventing new devices” – Huh? Did they just say that?” →

General

Apple Stores: a victim of their own success

Apple Genius Bar — The promise made by Apple's Genius Bar is rarely delivered on anymore

When Apple built their first store here in Phoenix, Arizona I was ecstatic. No longer would I be forced to order Apple-related products online, I could walk into a store and walk out with virtually anything I needed. The atmosphere was fantastic – with plenty of space to move around and try everything, the staff knowledgeable and helpful, and the Genius Bar was such a great resource.

Those days are gone. Probably forever.

The Apple Retail Store has lost virtually everything that made it great, mostly due to their own popularity and success. It’s truly unfortunate. Read more “Apple Stores: a victim of their own success” →

Apple | Mac

5 iPhone sites you should bookmark

New and experienced iPhone and iPod Touch users can always use a another site for news, app reviews and commentary, and I’ve gathered a few great ones for you to bookmark.

By far, the best site I’ve come across for iPhone apps is AppShopper. When you want to read descriptions, reviews, and price watching, AppShopper is the place to go. It’s also the best looking and most organized site of the bunch. The site also offers a free iPhone app to complete the mobile experience.

The original iPod/iPhone site, iLounge, is still one of the first places people go for news and reviews on all things iPhone. In particular, the quality of their reviews of various iPhone/iPod Touch cases cannot be touched by anyone!

FreshApps is another app review site. The site doesn’t have nearly the amount of content as some others, but the layout is clean and I like the quality of content so far.

iPhone Alley isn’t one of my favorite iPhone sites, but it does contain quite a bit of good content, so it’s worth bookmarking.

148Apps is one of the more popular iPhone sites around, and for good reason. App reviews contain useful ratings, reviews and screenshots. This is one site you’ll want to check out when you’re considering purchasing an app. In particular I like the Price Drops section, where you can quickly see which apps have lowered their price or gone free.

General

Think twice before you buy a MacPro

I saw it coming years ago when Apple released the iPod Touch. Since that fateful day in September of 2007, it seemed like Apple tossed the desktop computer to the curb like a red-headed stepchild.

Every once in a while, they updated the desktop lines, but with the exception of a really nice iMac update (to what we have today), there’s been little to get excited about outside the laptop and mobile lines.

Now before you say “oh no, not another ‘Apple is killing the desktop’ article,” let me just say that this isn’t. Only an idiot would make the assumption, observation or claim that Apple is going to give up billions of dollars in sales – especially when their new love affair with mobile hardware requires a Mac to be useful.
Read more “Think twice before you buy a MacPro” →

Apple | Mac

Convert YouTube and Internet videos to iPod/iTunes format for…

There are plenty of browser plugins that allow you to download videos from websites like YouTube. A few of them even allow you to convert the video to a different format to suit your needs. However most of them are either complex, require further processing, or simply break every time the browser gets updated. Thankfully, there’s a free Mac OS X app that does it quickly and easily.

Evom from TheLittleAppFactory does just that. Evom allows you to convert online video to a number of formats, including iPod, Apple TV and HTML5.

Evom converts Internet videos easily — Evom converts Internet videos to a number of convenient formats easily

The easiest way I’ve found is to drag the Favicon of the YouTube page containing the video you wish to convert to the desktop, then to the Evom window. Evom does the rest for you. In my tests, it worked on YouTube and a number of other sites perfectly.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe releases Photoshop for iPhone, iPod Touch users

Adobe has released Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone application, allowing users a convenient way to edit photos, apply effects and share images in – all with the flick of a finger. Integration with Adobe’s free Photoshop.com accounts enables photo sharing and data back-up, saving valuable space on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone provides users a simple way to view photos with full-screen previews and edit images with gesture-based editing. You can transform your photos with basic editing tools like crop, rotate and flip; as well as adjust color with saturation and tint tools, enhance exposure and vibrancy and convert images to black and white.

The app also offers eye-catching special effects. The Sketch tool helps photos look like drawings, and Soft Focus can give photos a subtle blur for artistic effect. With a single click, you can also apply dramatic changes to the look and feel of your photos with effects such as Warm Vintage, Vignette and Pop. Edits or changes can be undone or redone so you can experiment without the worry of losing the original photo. The Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone application is available as a free download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch, or by clicking here. The application is available in the U.S. and Canada only. While you’re certainly not going to use an iPhone for anything remotely resembling heavy-duty image editing, it’s nice to see Adobe recognize a market, and move quickly to fill the need. Quite frankly, I’m kind of surprised Apple didn’t build-in more of these types of features. The only thing that irks me about this is that iPod Touch users don’t have the benefit of having a camera to really take advantage of the features Adobe offers with this app.

General

You’ve heard of the iPod? Introducing the OfficePod!

In the “I’ve seen it all” category, I bring you the OfficePod – the next generation of workplace. The OfficePod claims to improve productivity by providing a work environment that is separate from the disruptions of home life, and also provides employers a cheaper way to provide a workplace for their employees. Maybe they work a little differently in the U.K., but I just don’t see this type of thing going over well in the U.S. Still, it’s a cool looking little “remote office” if you’re entire life is on the computer. As for me, I can only see cramped space, and a vomit-enducing lack of air movement. After you spend what I’m sure is a small fortune on the OfficePod, you’ll have to find yourself a general contractor to run enough power to the thing. That is, after you get the permits.