AAUG Reviews

by Gary Miller, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

iFM This product has answered a prayer for my iPod Photo, finally FM radio listening without lugging along a portable FM radio. And that’s not all. It’s a remote control, it records FM, and it’s compact like you’d expect for your iPod.

When I first got my iPod a year ago, I loved it, started putting all my CD’s into iTunes, and added audio books via Audible.com, but I still missed having FM radio. So Griffin Technology released Radio Shark, and I could have my iMac record FM radio shows like your VCR or Tivo, and transfer them to my iPod. But… for walks, I wanted the option of having an FM tuner attached to my iPod, and once again Griffin Technology was listening to my prayers in the ethers…

iFM is a very compact, cute, mini shaped iPod that connects via a white cord with a connection for your earbuds and yes, it’s backlit for those long Alaska nights. I think Griffin must know our Alaskan wish list of features. Your earbuds act as an antennae too for better reception, good idea guys. (more…)

by Cheryl Babbe, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

50 fast digital photos In this day and age of computer wizardry, I expect authors writing about manipulation of digital photos to go “both ways”–I expect references to be made for both Macintosh and non-Mac platforms in the how-to’s given in the text.

There, I’ve said it!

I know that I am jaded by the simple ease of using our beloved Macintosh platform–one example shows five means for getting your photos from your digital photo media card reader (and many pages devoted to the how-tos); I say a sixth would have been in order. It would have been that “after inserting your media card in the reader, iPhoto will automatically open and you can name your roll and begin creating your masterpiece! And while the book eventually does cover that Photoshop Elements has a Mac version, it isn’t mentioned in many of the first references to the product. As early as first chapter, a reference is made to an Adobe Photo Downloader and later a Adobe Photoshop Organizer–sadly, after installing my copy of PS Elements 3.0 and NOT finding the seemingly “helpful” tool, I discover on page 238 that the Organizer is not included with the Mac version! (more…)

by Kathy Monterrosa, AAUG member Reviewed 10/2005

iPod Access v3.5 This soft-covered book is a comprehensive guide to using the iLife ‘05 software programs for the Macintosh computer. I took a look at this book as a novice user of iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD of which I was somehow able to create two DVD iMovies more by default and trial and error from the ‘03 software programs. My movies weren’t perfect, but I was left wanting to learn and do more with photos and movies. This book is a step-by-step guide to doing just that, along with learning about many other applications for the Macintosh.

The book is actually divided into two parts…the iApps that start with “i” plus GarageBand, and the iApps that don’t start with “i” which include the address book, mail, Sherlock, Automator, and Safari. Each chapter is divided into a “quick start” describing, in colored detail, the menu for each application. It goes on to walk you through the application and encourages you to create something as you do so. There are tips on the sidebars as helpful hints and colored photos throughout to help you navigate through the program. At the end of each chapter, there is a “project” that you can do…sort of a “hands-on” practice to tie in all of what you learned in the chapter. (more…)

by Mike Burns, AAUG member Reviewed 10/2005

iPod Access v3.5 This is a book that is designed to provide a comprehensive look at the latest version of the Mac operating system. It is aimed at those users who want to advance beyond the basics to intermediate or even advanced skill levels. It’s organized so that parts and chapters are divided into topic areas. This arrangement is simple and logical and I found it easy to go to those areas that I was most interested in. Of course, some of the new toys in Tiger were fun to play with on my new Imac. Dashboard and Spotlight were two of those items. Since I had a new computer and I was switching from Panther, I wanted to see if this book could walk walk me through the learning process for the new features. For most of the items, this book comprehensively covered each subject and I had no problem understanding and using the new Tiger “tools”.

I found parts of the section on setting up printers a little to general to be helpful to me. As an exercise I wanted to see if I could plug my printer into my Airport Base Station and send print jobs wirelessly from my Imac. The book brushed over this subject in general terms and explained the different ways that you can array printers with your system to do this. I could not get my computer to print wirelessly from the guidance presented. “Bonjour” is the term used to describe one of these of wireless printing options in the Tiger version. Two pages after introducing Bonjour the book switches and calls it “Rendezvous” which was the name given to it under Panther. This confused me and probably contributed to my inability to complete my exercise.

Despite this I do think this book is worth having for those people who really want to learn their “Tiger”. The operating system upgrade came out with a few bugs and so did this book but the vast majority of it is simple, accurate and complete. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.

by Bob Pearson, AAUG member Reviewed 10/2005

mac os x killer tips I switch to Mac in 2003. I am continually amazed of the power of the OS X Tiger operating system. However I, like many of the day to day users of the system, do not know how to access many of the neat tools available to Mac OS X Tiger users. I attend workshops and attend Apple User’s Group meetings and I’m blown away by the knowledge and skills of some of our Apple users. The problem for me is that even though the tips or hacks given are great one does not use them enough to remember them several weeks later.

Most publications that cover Apple applications have side bar graphics that draw the readers attention to a neat tip. However, what is really needed is a book that gathers these “Killer Tips” and put them in one resource organized in a manner that allows the reader/user access to the real power of Tiger. That is what is exactly what Scott Kelby’s Mac OS X Tiger Killer Tips does.

The book is well designed and the layout is pleasing. The tips contained in the book are the type that cause you to smile, nod and say “amen”. Do you want to know how to zip a file in Tiger, capture a page, keep your private data private? The books contains literally hundreds of truly killer tips and they are explained in a language and style that we all can understand. (more…)

by Dave Enders, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

master visually ipod and itunes I have to state that I am an iPod fanatic and spend a good part of my day convincing others why they should own an iPod. I bought one of 1G iPods and currently own a 3G and a shuffle and enjoy using them all the time. The iTunes music store is great because I no longer need to worry about my 400 cd collection getting any larger .. just a good backup. So when I took this book to review I thought to myself that there was very little that I could learn from this book cause I knew it already right … WRONG !!

I was impressed from the time I cracked the cover to the time I wrote this review. It taught me things I have not read in any leading Mac magazine and it it did so in easy to follow two pages lessons and they up to their name being visual. The screenshots are very clear and easy to read. There are no 50 page lessons here. This book in addition to covering the Mac also details using a Windows PC (for those that have not made the jump). I found this to be a welcomed step as I believe the iPod is a good vehicle for getting those PC users to come over to the Mac community. (more…)

by Sean McPhilamy, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

Star wars battlefront Get this game. Now, that said, I’ll cover through this review a couple of cautions, then mention a perspective, then finish with Fun, Fun, Fun!

By the way, have I mentioned that you should get this game? Definitely, this game is a must if you’ve ever thought it’d be fun to be a defender of the Old Republic, or if you’d rather defeat “Rebel scum.” Or, even if you’ve thought you might like to take part in any of those grand battles of the Star Wars universe.

Now for a couple of cautions. I was exceptionally excited after getting this game. And then upon initial installation (which was very smooth and simple), I was asked for the code to enter which would begin the game, easily found on the back side of the DVD-rom plastic case. (more…)

by Ludwig Laab, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

photoshop cs 2 in 24 hours If it weren’t for the b&w illustrations I would have given it a 5, the best, rating. A ‘how to’ as well as a reference book about pictures and picture manipulation, which is done for the most part in color, and the illustrations are in b&w? When comparable books, in price and content, do have color illustrations? Saving money in the book’s production?
Perhaps the publisher knows something I don’t. Especially since this is one book in a series of ‘Sams Teach Yourself’, which would indicate the publisher knows what he’s doing.

Other than the b&w illustrations: the book is very good! Carla Rose, an accomplished author with many book titles and articles to her name, does an excellent job in breaking down and explaining in a simple, personal and friendly way a pretty complex software application. And: it does give you color photos (which you get from the Sams Publishing website) to work along certain examples – yes, most of us learn better and faster by doing. Another plus: there are plenty of illustrations which makes understanding a lot easier.

I like the ‘24 Hours’ concept, it works for me, draws me in, – OK, just another hour … I suspect it will do the same to/for you. And before you know it – you’re through (unless you have to review the book, then it takes longer). (more…)

by Peter Porco, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

chessmaster 9000 Chessmaster 9000 is game software that can fill hours of time with engrossing chess play and training for the beginner, intermediate and master player, the first upgrade to the Chessmaster series in five years.

In a few technical respects, it’s a bit clunky. Also, you’ll need to insert the DVD-ROM whenever you want to play the game, which means the disc will always ride along wherever you cart your laptop. But the game and its features are mostly easy to manage, and for those who care even a little about improving play, Chessmaster 9000’s tutorials, coaching, library of classic games, insight into the mentality of chess champions, and other features more than adequately reward money and time invested.

I tried the Mac version, which installed easily on a PowerBook G4 running OS 10.4.2 (”Tiger”). Read Me and FAQ files provide a sense of what’s in store, including some technical issues. The software is up front in saying it is “memory hungry.” It says it will do OK with the minimum memory required, the 256MB RAM that my PowerBook happens to offer. But it admits to playing more smoothly on machines with greater RAM. (more…)

by Randy Brandon, AAUG member
Reviewed 10/2005

adobe photoshop cs2 Being a pro user of Photoshop, I am always excited when a new version is introduced. Not simply because it is “new” , but because of all the new(and hopefully timesaving) features that it might have.

The full Photoshop program is the gold standard when it comes to digital photo editing. And now having said that, it should also be noted that most people who already own it, barely know what it is capable of.

The past two versions of Photoshop have used the Photoshop “browser” as a tool to edit images, and as a way to select images before opening them up in camera raw, or Photoshop. (more…)