Are the MacBooks getting a new design and blurring the line between the consumer and pro models? More drama in the Time Machine over AirDisk debacle. Corey tells us why we should ditch Quicken and give iBank a Try. Katie and Corey talk about the iPod speakers that they use. More questions about how to get your TiVo content on to your mac, Tony has a problem somewhere deep in his user folder, and questions about using SuperDuper! with a TimeCapsule or AirDisk. (Running Time: 0:53:17)

Download/Play
Enhanced AAC
MP3
Show Notes

Billable 1.1.2
Review by: Corey
http://www.clickablebliss.com/billable
Price: $24.95

Billable is a easy to use Invoicing application, that will make creating your invoices quick and easy.

You setup your clients in an easy to use client editor window. The window allows you enter important information about your clients, and you can also use the window to import a client from your address book. This is actually one thing I love about Billable, too many applications make you store these Clients in your Apple Address book, which I don't want. I like that Billable has its own database, and Billable automatically backs it up each time you open the application. Read More...

AppZapper
Review by: Katie
http://www.appzapper.com
Price: $12.95

I recently took a call from a listener on the Typical Mac User Live Podcast who said that he had installed a ton of programs but thought he had removed them by simply dragging the icon in the Applications folder into the trash. Problem is, that didn't really uninstall all the "extra" files that were installed in other locations. The solution I recommended..App Zapper. AppZapper is one of those applications that once you start using it, you just don't know how you ever got along without it. The premise is quite simple, drag an unwanted application into AppZapper and ZAP! the entire application, including all those annoying little orphan files are instantly moved to the trash.

Many of the programs installed in Mac OS X are self contained in a package inside the Applications folder and once removed the entire program will be delted. But the problem is, most applications install files in places other than the Applications folder. One of the largest problems I've run into with with applications developed for Mac OS X is that for some reason, very few developers, even major developers such as Adobe, no longer include uninstallers with their programs. Do you have any idea how many stray Adobe files I have on my system since installing CS2? Scary...
Read More...

iSale
Review by: Katie
http://www.equinux.com/us/products/isale
Price: $39.95

Until recently, selling on eBay has always been a bit of a pain. I’d have to take pictures of my item and if I wanted more than one picture in my eBay listing I’d have to host the photo on my own .Mac webspace and then figure out how to link to those photos. If I wanted something other than simple text and a photo I’d have to open up an html editor and basically create a webpage that looked pretty. Once that’s all done, I’d have to copy the code, open up my browser and go through another half-dozen webpages to list my item on eBay. As I said, it was a pain, until iSale came around.
Read More...

Katie has a chance to co-host the Typical Mac User Live Podcast with Victor Cajiao this week. Victor has kindly asked Katie to be his guest host on the last Sunday of the month from now through the end of June. On this show we talk all about buying a new Mac. Making the choice between a desktop and a laptop, choosing which model Mac to buy, how to save money when buying a Mac, tips for getting the best deal on AppleCare, and more. We also discuss alternatives for the iSight and how to determine what files are bogging down your hard drive. (Running TIme: 0:57:28)

If you've never had the opportunity to participate in a live talkcast, it's never been easier, with the new talkshoe software you don't even have to setup or register an account. The show starts every Sunday at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern. To participate, go to www.talkshoe.com and search for the Typical Mac User Podcast. If you wish, you can also register for a free account. You can also call in to the show at (724) 444-7444 and enter Talkcast ID 3097. Call in on any regular telephone (great for those night and weekend minutes), use Skype or Gizmo Project.

Request for Feedback: In the past I've put these Typical Mac User Live shows in the feed because they were typically "special" shows occurring only a few times a year. Now that I will be a regular guest host on the show for the next few months, I'd like your feedback as to whether you'd like to continue receiving these shows in the feed. I know many of you probably already subscribe to Victor's show. Please send me your feedback, themaccore@gmail.com

Download/Play
MP3
Show Notes

He's Back! Katie and Corey have a chance to chat for the first time in a while. Corey tells us what he's been up to and becoming Apple Certified. Katie chimes in with her recent experiences buying a plasma TV. We also talk about our love of TiVo and thoughts on the AppleTV and it's possible future as a DVR. Corey discusses his new found family organization using BusySync and the duo discuss their iPhone cases of choice. (Running Time: 0:52:55)

Download/Play
MP3
Show Notes

David Sparks of MacSparky.com joins Katie today as the guest co-host. We talk about the rebirth of the Mac Roundtable, 10.5.2, first impressions of the AppleTV update and whether Apple has "gotten it right" this time around, the future of the iPhone, Aperture 2.0, and Review the A2 Speakers and W1 remote receivers from Audioengine and the Jawbone bluetooth headset. (Running Time 0:47:34)

Note: due to a cache problem, the podcast that was originally posted abruptly stopped at the 27:31 mark. As of 6:30pm Eastern on February 20th, that issue has been corrected. If you have the old version you may need to download the show again. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Download/Play
MP3
Show Notes

As you may have heard, I had an opportunity to meet some of my favorite Mac Podcasters at Macworld this year and had a chance to participate in that now infamous "podcasters lunch." It was commented that it was a shame that we didn't record our conversations from that lunch because what a great podcast that would have been. We thought it would be fun to get together on a regular basis to chat and catch up on all things Mac and if the conversation was worthwhile, post it to our respective feeds. Well, one thing led to another and we ended up getting together with the original crew from the Mac roundtable to re-launch that podcast, which we internally have called "Mac Roundtable, Take 2"

All of the original crew are back, including Adam Christianson, Steve Stanger, Joseph Nilo and Tim Verpoorten but we are also joined by Don McAllister, Allison Sheridan, David Sparks, Jonathan Cost, and myself. Talk about being a member of an All-Star team!

Now obviously, all the members won’t appear on every show but know we should be able to bring you a much more varied and regular show with a bigger pool of resources.The first show of the re-launched Mac Roundtable has just been published and you can listen here or even better, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes I hope you enjoy this first show with some of the new line up and thanks to the Mac Roundtable guys for welcoming us with open arms!

Audioengine A2
Review by: Katie
http://www.audioengineusa.com
Price: $199.00

First, I must say that I am not an "audiophile" but I appreciate good music and quality speakers. But still, I've never considered spending $200 for a set of speakers that I would hook up to my laptop, I think the last pair I bought were a $35 open box special at Best Buy. After listening to the Audioengine A2 speakers for the past few months, I'll never go back to those cheep computer speakers again. Read More...

This is probably our final show in our Macworld series. In this show we bring you a the MacCore's "Best of Macworld" with the best of the audio interviews recorded direct from the show floor. We learn about the new iPhone features coming to 1Password, learn all about Dr. Bott and their family of products, figure out how to watch WMV file and create WMV files using Flip4Mac, walk around "naked" with your iPod or iPhone without having to worry while wearing an Invisible Shield, get rid of all our old stuff to make room for the new on eBay using iSale, protect all your stuff and listen to your music wirelessly with products from iSkin, never run out of battery again thanks to iZapp, recover a stolen laptop with LoJack for Laptops, hear what's new from the folks on Smile On My Mac, and figure out how to finally organize our life and get thigns done with OmniFocus. (Running Time 0:52:14)

Note: For some, this show in iTunes is showing up as being tagged "Explicit" that is in error, I promise the show is family friendly.

Download/Play
Enhanced AAC
MP3

Well, I was hoping to get a new show out to you last weekend, unfortunately life got in the way. In addition to the podcast feed problems we had, which thankfully now seem to be resolved, I ended up coming down with the "Macworld Crud" and spending most of the last few days in bed. Thankfully I'm feeling much better now and will have our next show out for you sometime this weekend. This will probably be the last of the Macworld episodes as it will contain the best of the audio interviews I conducted from the show floor. Stay tuned, I'll be back with more this weekend.

You may have noticed that many of your favorite podcasts are not downloading right now. There are apparently a few separate issues going on. FIrst off, Talkshoe's servers have been down since sometime late Sunday night. They're supposed to be back up by mid-day on Wednesday. This is why you can't download my latest podcast, Show 55, where I was a guest host on the Typical Mac User Podcast. Since that was a talkshoe show, the actual file is hosted on their server and therefore unavailable. Apparently a few hundred of you got the show before the server went down, but as of now it's unavailable. It's a great show, Victor and I had a lot of fun so hopefully you'll be able to download and enjoy that soon.

Additionally, there is apparently a separate issue going on with some feedburner feeds as well. My feeds also go through feedburner to serve them so I've been hit with a double whammy. As far as I can tell, no one has been able to access any of my content in the last 48 hours or so. Hopefully that issue will be resolved soon. It's surprising that both of these outages happened at the same time, but these things sometimes happen in the podcasting world. Stay subscribed and hopefully you'll be hearing from me soon.

Katie had the pleasure of co-hosting the Typical Mac User Podcast Live on Talkshoe this evening. Katie and Victor talk all about their Macworld experience and their reactions to Apple's most recent announcements, as well as some of their favorite picks from the show floor. You can find Victor's excellent show over at www.typicalmacuser.com. You can find photos from the show floor by clicking the Photo Album link on our website. (Running Time: 01:20:01)

Download/Play
MP3

Katie will be the co-host on this Sunday's edition of the Typical Mac User Podcast with Victor Cajiao. Victor and Katie will talk all about our first experience at Macworld and the recent keynote announcements. This will be a live show on TalkShoe on Sunday, January 20th at 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific where listeners can interact with the hosts and guests by calling in to the show and participating in a live chat.

I you've never had the opportunity to participate in a live talkcast, this is a great time to start, with the new talkshoe software you don't even have to setup or register an account. To participate, go to www.talkshoe.com and search for the Typical Mac User Podcast. If you wish, you can also register for a free account. You can also call in to the show at (724) 444-7444 and enter Talkcast ID 3097. Call in on any regular telephone (great for those night and weekend minutes), use Skype or Gizmo Project.

Click here for more information.

Well, I must say this is a day that I'm glad to see come to an end. As I type this last blog entry I'm on the flight home and due to land in about 30 minutes. Assuming you're reading this, it means I made it home save and sound and was able to post. The day started out with news that our flight home had been cancelled. Apparently there was fairly bad snow in Atlanta and as a result our flight and about 1000 other Delta flights were cancelled. I was supposed to catch my connection home through Atlanta, so that was a no-go. After 45 minutes on hold with Delta I was finally told the best they could do was to put me on a 3-stop flight that would eventually get me home around 9am on Sunday, assuming the Atlanta airport was open the following morning. Great...just great. The Delta representative on the phone did tell me that although my re-booked flight didn't leave San Francisco for another 10 hours, I could possibly do better if I went to the airport and tried to get on another flight from there. So the decision, go to the airport, give up my room, and risk being stuck there for 10 hours until our re-scheduled flight take off with the possibility of getting out sooner, or stay another day in San Francisco and fly all around the country throughout the night and hopefully make it home the next morning.

Well, I went straight to the airport and luckily my gamble paid of. The Delta agent at the airport was extremely helpful, and within just a few minutes had me booked on a US Air flight with one connection that left in 2 hours and would have me home within 10 minutes of my original scheduled arrival time. Perfect. So, here I am, on the last leg of my flight, and hopefully will be home warm in my own bed within the next hour or so.

All in all it's been a great trip. I had a chance to meet some of my podcasting friends, see the sights of Macworld, and get introduced to some really great products. I'm going to be going through all the audio I recorded from the show floor in the next few days and hope to have that posted to the feed over the coming weeks. In the short term, stay tuned as I'll be making a special guest appearance on the Typical Mac User Live Podcast this Sunday where Victor and I will gab about our first Macworld experience. It should be a lot of fun, especially considering Victor and I know have had an opportunity to meet in person and get to know each other a bit more.

Well, no Macworld Expo today. I've never been to San Francisco, so today was my day to go explore the city and see some of the sights. We took the famous cable cars down to the pier, saw the sea lions, and took a boat tour under to Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz prison. After our boat tour we went to Ghirardelli Square where I had to pick up a few gifts for the folks back at the office. What is it about girls and chocolate? :) Wait...don't answer that. Wrapped up the day at Lorri's diner with some Apple Pie ala mode - Yum.

I was able to get a good connection to the hotel WiFi so I've posted all my photos up on Flckr. To access them, just click the Photo Album link in the right navigation bar of this site.

Well, after day two at Macworld I think I've decided I'm going to give up on my career and become a full time Mac junkie. Does anyone happen to have a spare $60k laying around so I can pay off my student loans? :)

Seriously, I had a great day on the show floor today. I took about a dozen or so audio interviews from the show floor with my Zoom H4. I haven't had a chance to listen back to any of them yet so I'm hopeful they turned out. I'll be editing for quite a while and will try to post some of that audio out in the coming weeks. It was great to actually put names with faces and see some of the great products offered by Mac developers that I didn't even know existed. One note for today, there will be no more photos posted to flickr. I took so many photos today and the hotel wireless just isn't reliable or fast enough to get the photos posted. But rest assured, once I'm home and back on my reliable broadband I'll have a chance to edit and post.

A few follow-up notes on the Apple products I thought would be of interest. As to the MacBook Air, I am now getting conflicting information from the Apple employees on the show floor. Two Apple reps told me that the MacBook Air would boot from a CD that was in another computer's optical drive using their Remote Disc software, one told me it would not, and several others stated they didn't know. So looks like we're going to have to wait a bit and see on that one. Also, I'm not getting conflicting information about the Apple TV Rentals and whether or not they can be rented on the Apple TV and then moved to a computer or iPod. Two Apple reps told me that if it was rented on the Apple TV it stayed on the Apple TV and if it was rented on the computer it could not be transferred to the Apple TV. Several people have questioned this and indicated that Steve indicated the exact opposite in his Keynote demo. I watched the keynote and it was my impression too that the rentals could be transferred freely, but I'll have to go back and see for sure.

Far and away, the best part of the day was having the chance to meet in a more personable atmosphere some of my favorite Mac Podcasters. Allison from the Nosillacast showed up today and we really hit it off. I'm going to have to see about having her on the show more often. I also had lunch with Allison, Victor, David, and Don and what struck me as so odd was it was as though we had known each other for years. Kindred spirits I guess. Of course tonight we had Adam' Podcaster Meet-up and the Mac Mingle party which was great. The panel was quite interesting and as a relatively novice podcaster I felt I learned quite a bit from their conversation. I have a lot of ideas that I want to try to implement now based on their thoughts and suggestions. I'm sure the audio will be available in a few days in the MacCast feed. One great treat for me is I got to meet Tom and Veronica from Buzz Out Loud, one of my favorite shows. I also talked to Scott Bourne and Liana Lehua from the Apple Phone Show and Girls Gone Geek. One of the most pleasant surprises of the day was learning that many of these podcasters that I so admire actually listen to my show, truly an honor.

I'm having such a great time here at Macworld that I don't want to leave, but alas all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow (Friday) is my last day in San Francisco and I'm going to take the time to skip the show and instead to a little sight seeing around the city. I've never been to San Francisco before so figure a little tourist fun is in order.

Well, by the time I finish posting all this I will have been up for 22 hours straight. And to be honest, I'm not all that tired. I'm no longer speaking coherently, hopefully I'm typing coherently, but I'm running on adrenaline here. I only had an opportunity to spend a few hours on the floor today. The show closes at 5 and once we got to the hotel, checked in, and grabbed some lunch it was nearly 3pm. But I do have a few thoughts and impressions from my first day on the floor.

First off, the MacBook Air - Wow. That pretty much sums it up, wow. I had the opportunity to play with one briefly and learned a little more about the device. Although it's not the right device for me, right now, it's am amazing piece of technology and I can't wait to see how it evolves. First off, this thing is TINY. The pictures don't do it justice but until you pick it up you don't realize how light 3 lbs is. The keyboard feels good and the screen is very clear. My only problem with the device is that it is designed to complement another Mac in your household, it will probably not suffice as your only mac. Only 1 USB port, a non-user replaceable battery, no built in optical drive and only an 80GB hard drive and 1.6 GHz processor means that this mac is good for traveling light, but not a replacement mac for the average consumer. Though I did learn a few things about it today. Most notably, you CAN boot the MacBook Air from a CD when the CD is in another Mac. How Apple does this from a technological standpoint I don't now, probably magic is involved. But in theory at least, you can boot your from a CD or DVD wirelessly. I still think this may pose some troubleshooting problems, especially if you're having trouble with your mac all these fancy features may not be working properly. However there's always the option to boot off a USB drive and I suspect we'll see companies coming out with USB drive utilities in the near future.

The new Apple TV software is great, I cannot wait to get my hands on this update. The demos they're doing seem flawless, but I notice they're all using the same material which leads me to believe the two week delay is more related to adding content than it is to finishing the software update itself. One thing I did learn that gives me some concern is that if you rent a movie on your Apple TV you can NOT sync that movie back to your Mac or transfer it to a portable device. If you rent on the Apple TV you watch on the Apple TV. Similarly, if you rent the movie from your Mac you can move it to an iPod or iPhone but you can NOT move it to the Apple TV. From a practical standpoint, I don't see this being much of a concern for me as I plan to watch and rent all my movies on my Apple TV and not my Mac. But I don't see why Apple felt the need to put this limitation in the software.

I only had a chance to browse the exhibit hall today to get a lay of the land but I have a game plan to go back tomorrow with my Zoom H4 audio recorder and my Canon PowerShot SD850 to make sure I get lots of audio and photos for you. I'm going to post the photos as a batch up to flicker each night, but I will not have time to do any editing or organization. I'm just throwing them up there for you to see. Once I get home and have some time to catch up I'll go through and edit them and try to do some labeling. But for now, they're just up in the flickr stream. You can find them up on http://www.flickr.com/photos/themaccore/

However, far and away the best part of the day was The Mac Observer's Cirque Du Mac Party. The Mac Podcasters had an unofficial meet-up and I finally had a chance in person to meet Adam from the MacCast, Victor from the Typical Mac User, Don from Screencasts Online, David from MacSparky, John from Mac Tips Daily, Ken from Mac OS Ken, and Dave and John from The Mac Geek Gab. These guys were great and I am so thrilled to have finally meet them in person. I can't wait to have a chance to talk to them more at the Mac Podcaster Meet-up and Mingle tomorrow night. Also, gotta say the Macworld All Star Band- awesome. They put on a great show for us.

That's all for me tonight, I'm off to bed but I l can't wait for a full day on the show floor tomorrow!

Some of these are pretty out there, some have have a chance, and maybe even a few will happen by the end of next week. Here is Katie's list of things she would like to see from Apple, Inc. in 2008. Note that these aren't predictions for 2008, but just a wish list of things we'd like to see. If you have you own ideas of where you'd like to see Apple go in the new year, post a comment to this thread, or send us a email to themaccore@gmail.com or leave us an audio comment and we'll continue the discussion on a future show.

(story continues...)
Read More...

It's a quick show this week but Macworld is nearly here! In this episode Katie talks about some of the news leading up to the show and what people are expecting Steve Jobs to announce at his keynote address. If you happen to be going to Macworld this year, feel free to say hello. I'll be on the show floor most of Wednesday and Thursday and attending the Mac Meet and Mingle party and Podcaster Meetup on Thursday evening. (Running Time: 00:23:00)

Download/Play
MP3
Show Notes

My apologies for the lateness of this review, but I figured to keep in line with my new years resolutions, better to post late than never. I actually started writing it a few months ago, and well, forgot about it. For those of you who don’t yet have an iPhone, it’s food for thought. Though you know you may want to wait now until after the January 15th Keynote at Macworld…you never know.

I wasn’t going to buy an iPhone. I had agonized back and fourth over the decision for months and when release day came, I watched all the coverage on the news and Internet wishing I could be a part of it all. But no, the iPhone wasn’t a practical decision for me. Finances were tight as I wasn’t working while in graduate school, I was getting ready to move to a new city and start a new job, and I was happy with my current provider and in the middle of a two-year contract. On top of it all, the phone was a first generation product that still lacked many features and cost $600. (You can read more about why I wasn’t going to buy an iPhone in my previous “Thoughts on iPhone" Blog Post.)

The first few weeks after the iPhone came out I avoided actually touching one. Sure, I had read all about them, watched the tutorials, and probably knew more about the iPhone than the average person who owned one. Corey had played with an iPhone that a co-worker owned and offered up this bit of advice. “If you really don’t want to buy one, don’t touch one. If you touch it, you will buy it.” He was right. I touched it…and I bought it…and now I can’t imagine my life without it.

The iPhone is a hard product to review because it does so many different things. I’m going to try to break this review down into the different categories of iPhone functions in hopes of making it a little easier to digest. Please feel free to post any comments or questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. You can also email us at themaccore@gmail.com or call our audio hotline at 206.203.2673 with your own thoughts on the iPhone. Read More...