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The pilot episode of the new Maccast Loop. “The Loop”, is a brand new show and will be produced in addition to the Maccast you have come to know and love. What is different about the Loop vs. other podcasts is that it is recorded live each Sunday at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST. Using the Talkshoe network and technology we are able to offer live audience participation using text and audio chat. Each week in the Maccast Loop I will go more in depth on the hot topics from the prior weeks Maccast and also take questions directly from the audience. The Loop narrows the gap and closes the loop between podcaster and audience, making you more a part of the show than ever before. If you missed this first edition don’t worry, it’s still a podcast. You can subscribe in iTunes or by using the links above and then join us live next week. I really hope you like this new addition and thanks for listening.
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The pilot episode of an all new Maccast begins in just 10 hours. The Maccast Loop is your chance to be a part of a brand new kind of Maccast. Each week I get such great feedback, comments, and email from you, but I am not always able to cover it all. I also receive questions and comments that turn out to be a bit too specific or niche for me to cover on the main show. “The Loop” is here to take care of that. Each and every Sunday morning at 10:00AM PST, myself and Loop producer, Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast [iTunes]), will be taking your calls and discussing your feedback, comments, and reactions to the past few episodes of the Maccast. We will also get into any topics and conversations brought up live as we record the show. If you choose to participate, head over to Talkshoe.com now and sign up for an account. Then, just call in to the conference on Sunday and you can be a part of the show (see details on Talkshoe). It should be a lot of fun. Don’t worry if you can’t make it live because the show will also go out as a podcast. Look for it on iTunes or here once the RSS is ready for the first episode.

Maccast Loop, Mac Geeks United.

So we all know that Mac LCDs have been occasionally known to have bugs, but this one might take the prize. Listener Jay was disappointed one day when he saw a dead pixel in the lower left portion of the screen on his 17″ 1.33GHz G4 PowerBook. So imagine his shock and amazement when, while searching for a replacement LCD on eBay, the dead pixel started to move. Turns out he literally had a bug in the display. The poor little guy appeared to be trapped within the layers of the screen, possibly between the backlight and main panel. He made a daring effort to escape his confines, pausing briefly near the center of the screen, and mustering just enough strength to get to the upper right before, alas he died. Now Jay has a 2mm long black fuzzy line in the upper right quadrant of an otherwise beautiful 17″ powerbook screen. Has anyone else heard of this happening before? I would guess that the poor guy somehow became encased in there during manufacturing, possibly even as an egg. But, look at the bright side, if you had to be trapped in a computer wouldn’t you rather be trapped in a Mac?

Full size images on Flickr

One of the early “Get a Mac” ads featured the Mac being able to communicate with a new digital camera while the PC just looked on, bewildered. Apple computers are supposed to “just work.” Yep, they “just work” with some peripherals if you happen to have a USB cable handy. Why is this the case?

Apple has always been an innovator. They dropped the floppy disk drive much earlier than other PC makers, included wi-fi in their laptops before many others and of course, Apple’s industrial design has influenced many other computer makers.

But for some reason, Apple has not integrated a media card reader into their laptops, nor their desktop lines. I own a MacBook Pro, and a couple of more slots on the side of the laptop would not look odd or ugly. iMacs could also benefit from a few slots for SD or CompactFlash cards artfully placed below the CD/DVD drive. It’s absolutely inexcusable that the Mac Pros do not have such slots. These are pricey computers; they should have features that are available on low-end PCs. However, I am not sure where on the Mac mini Apple could place easily accessible multimedia card slots.

You would think that since Apple is geared towards the creative, with software like iPhoto and iMovie, that there would be an easy, USB cable-free way to get the data on to your Mac so you can create. Who wants to search for cables when creativity strikes?

If you have a MacBook Pro and are dying to have a card reader, there’s a solution from Belkin that keeps your MacBook Pro’s form factor intact. You can view the product over at Belkin’s site. As of this writing, Belkin is out of stock of their multimedia card reader.

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 177. New Apple Store to open in Florida this weekend. Potential iPhone touchscreen lawsuit. Apple and Cisco reach iPhone settlement. Apple releases WWAN Update 1.0 for Mobile Networks. More Apple updates, mostly fixes for Daylight Savings Time (DST). Interesting new Apple dock patent. Apple may return to the sub-notebook market. Possible to hack 802.11n into a MacBook Core Duo. Follow-up on MBP C2D Airport issues. Listener review of iFlash. My rocky experience replacing my iBook HD. Review Newertech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. Drag and Drop not working in the Finder for one listener, help? Changing Photo metadata and EXIF data. Powering USB powered portable drives. Creating a 2nd “mobile” iTunes Library. Maccast Loop (LIVE) pilot episode airs this Sunday 2/25 at 10:00 AM PST on Talkshoe.com.

New music, Wide Awake by Canon (iTunes).

Promo for the Earmuff Awards

You are one wise Caucasian, Vic. – Shaft (1971)

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I just saw this cool little app over on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) and tried it out. Desky is a little application that makes it super easy to change your Mac’s desktop in the Finder. All without having to take the usual route of going into the System Preferences. I love simple little apps like this, especially when they work unobtrusively, and Desky does. What makes Desky “click” for me is that you have the choice to place it in the Dock, Finder sidebar, or the Finder toolbar (which is how I have it set up). Then it sits there ready and waiting for you to want to change your desktop background. Once that mood finally strikes, simple drag an image file onto Desky and presto-changeo, you have a new desktop beaming back at you. Sweet! Well worth the asking price, which is free.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Maccast.com is feeling the pressure of some heavy activity from DIGG. This is awesome, but obviously unexpected. I have ordered some more processing power and memory, but it won’t be added until early tomorrow morning. This is just heads up to let you know that until then the site performance may be a bit spotty and you may even see the occasional error. Of course, there will also be a brief outage around 10:00 AM PST tomorrow while we upgrade the server. Sorry for the trouble.

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I had a chance this week to hang out with Tim and Chad over at the MyMac Podcast. We had a great time chatting about some of the latest things going on in the world of Apple. If you would like to take a listen the show is up and available for download here, or better yet, simply subscribe to their podcast (iTunes).

When Adam says something looks like it’s going to be cool, it probably will be. The SendStation Dock Extender is no exception.

According to SendStation, “The Dock Extender enables iPod & iPhone users to dock and connect their device with iPod speaker systems and docking stations, as well as FM transmitters and voice recorders, without prior removal of its protective case.”

For ages I have been annoyed because I have to take out my iPod from it’s case thus exposing it’s precious body to the elements whenever I wanted to dock it. No more with the SendStation Dock Extender. From the pictures (see above), it looks like a little dongle that hitches to your iPod’s dock port. Once attached, your iPod, case and all, can then dock with your favorite iPod dock connector accessories using the included Universal Dock insert. According to SendStation the Dock Extender will work with any iPod case that has dock connector opening. I take that to mean any case that accepts the connector from the sync cable included with your iPod. The Dock Extender is due out in March and no matter how much it costs (suggested retail price is to be determined), I bet I will be getting one.

If you’re a cyclist, runner, or hiker and own a Garmin Edge 305 or 205, or a Garmin Forerunner 305 or 205, then you may be interested in a new GPs training application from Montebello Software. Ascent will let you download and analyze GPS data using text based and graphical views. The program also offers an “Animation” feature that offers real-time playback of your activity. This feature offers a heads-up display, giving you the ability to review values like speed, gradient, heart rate, and cadence. In addition, Ascent includes GPS location, altitude, time in heart rate zones, activity type, equipment, effort, disposition, and weather data. The program can import .tcx and .hst files exported from the Garmin Training Center application and can also import and export files encoded in the standard GPS Exchange Format (.gpx). Assent sells for USD$35.00 and is available for download on the Montebello Software web site.