A number of years ago the MacWorld conference (Mac festival) thrived on both coasts.  In the winter, the conference went on at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.  In the summer, MacWorld occurred at New York’s Javits Convention Center.  The MacWorld people decided to move the summer program back to Boston (where it had originated).  Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc.), the mainstay of the conference said it would not support the relocation to Boston.  The convention moved to Boston and Apple did not attend.  It shrank significantly and ultimately disappeared.

For the next several years the Mac world met in San Francisco every winter.  Apple attended.  So did a large array of vendors of products that ran on or worked with Apple’s hardware and a few who just showed up for the party and the exposure.

Last year Apple said it had no further need for MacWorld and would not attend in the future.  The Mac people bravely went on and met in San Francisco earlier this month.  I went to the convention (as I have done for years).  It was sad.  Yes many Mac users attended.  Yes they saw a reasonable collection of Mac software and accessories.  No, Apple did not attend.  And MacWorld this year did not compare favorably to the previous MacWorld conferences.  It reminded me of the first year back in Boston without Apple.  Still it was MacWorld, but it was less than it had been.

It appears that MacWorld has entered the Twilight Zone and that it may hang on for another year or two, but that the prognosis does not favor long life for the conference.  It appears to have run its course.  I, for one, will miss it when it goes.

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A company called Thiphone has released two new devices designed for the iPhone, but compatible with the iPod Touch and many other smart phones.  You can get either or both of the two devices, for $24.95 each, from the Thiphone online store (www.thiphone.com).

The Thiphone folks kindly supplied me with a review sample of each device.  The holster is an interesting clip on device that fits over a belt or strap and holds on to the smart phone.  It will accommodate some cases.  It does not itself provide much protection for your smart phone, however.  The device allows you to tilt the phone up, allowing you to use it without disconnecting it from the device or removing it from your belt.

Thiphone holster

The holster works well, but the phone does tend to move around a bit more than with a traditional style holster.  You may find that somewhat disconcerting.  On the other hand, it takes up less space under a jacket.

The flagship product, the Thiphone, allows you to strap the smart phone to your thigh for convenience and use it in that position.  The Thiphone was designed for the iPhone, but works with many other smart phones, the iPod Touch and other devices as well.  While you probably will not want to use the Thiphone device just to use your calendar, it does make some sense if you are watching a movie or doing something else requiring prolonged use of the device in a situation where you do not have a table (such as an airport) or a lot of space, such as on an airplane.

The Thiphone uses a suction cup to attach itself to your iPhone, smart phone or other device.  The concept works, at least some of the time.  It has some serious limitations.  To start with, the basic issue I have with suction cup connections is, well, that they suck.  When they hold, they work fine;  but they do have a tendency to release, often suddenly and without warning.  That could result in your device falling onto the floor and suffering damage.  Suction cups work best on smooth clean surfaces (such as the back of an iPhone outside of any case, or the hard and smooth surface of some cases.  If you have a cloth, leather or textured case, you will need to remove the phone from the case to get the suction cup attachment to work.    Suction cups work best if you clean them off with water prior to attaching them.  It also helps to leave some water on the cup’s surface to help create a bond to the device.  Be particularly careful in doing this as you have probably heard that water does not do good things to most electrical devices.

The Thiphone people would do well to combine the connection device used on their holster with the Thiphone as that would provide a more stable connection, although one most likely more limited in size.

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The folks at Uniea asked me to let you know that they have a year-end special sale on their cases at their web store.  The information you need is as follows:

The code is “newyear” and it is good for 20% off on any purchase in the online Uniea store at http://www.unieastore.com. The offer is valid From 1/1 to 1/3 only and is valid worldwide.

Uniea send me some sample cases to look at a while back;  I thought they were pretty decent.  In fact I have been using one of their samples on my iPhone 3Gs for the last month or so and I like it quite a bit.  If you have a chance, you might want to wander over to their website and take a look.

Tags: Apple, cases, Hardware, iPhone, Uniea

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Apple recently re-configured its iMac line of computers.  Most of the reconfigurations represented good upgrades to the existing models, but nothing to cause you to run out and buy a new one if you already had a fairly current model.  In addition to reconfiguring its existing models, Apple added a substantially different unit to the line.  For the first time, Apple included a quad-core model at its top end.  The quad-core comes in a base mode that includes  27-inch display, 4GB of RAM, a 2.66GHz quad-core i5Nehalem intel processor, a 1TB hard drive, an 8x double-layer superdrive and ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB OF RAM.  The base model comes with built-in Bluetooth,  10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet, Apple Airport Extreme (802.11a/b/g) WiFi, built-in amplifiers and stereo speakers, an iSight webcam, a microphone, Apple’s Bluetooth wireless keyboard and its impressive new Bluetooth Magic Mouse.  The computer also comes with 4 USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port and a built-in SD card slot.  The newly configured model includes a mini DisplayPort output port that supports DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI adaptors.  It supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch external display (2560 x 1600 pixels).

Apple allows for you to upgrade the base model by moving to a 2.8GHz  i7 quad-core Nehalem processor for an additional $200.  You can upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB for another $200 (4×2GB boards).  For $600, you can get the 8GB in 2×4GB boards, leaving two slots open for future expansion.  If you want all the RAM you can get, you can bump it to 16GB for $1400.  In my opinion, don’t hesitate to take the 8GB for an extra $200 option.  Chances are if you do the upgrade for $600, you will not use the two slots you freed up for the extra $400.

If you want, you can upgrade the the 1TB drive to 2TB for an extra $250.  If you store, or plan to store, a lot of media on your computer, that may prove to be a good choice for you.  Otherwise, 1TB should suffice for most users.   I have a very extensive audio library on my computer and, together with an increasing amount of video it takes less than 200GB of space.  I have had a 1TB drive for the better part of the last year and still have 368GB of available space.

The base model sells for $1999.  While that may sound expensive considering what has happened to prices in the computer market, I consider it a very good value due to the power, capabilities and performance of the computer.

The ideal model for my use included the 2.8 GHz processor, 8GB of Ram ($200) and the 1TB hard disk.  The total cost came to $2399 plus tax (shipping costs nothing).

The computer comes with the usual collection of Apple software, the current OS (Snow Leopard) (OS X v10.6), iTUnes, TIme Machine, Spaces, Mail, Safari, Address Book, Spotlight, Photobooth, Front Row, iCal, QuickTime, DV Player, Dashboard and the iLife suite (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and GarageBand).

I really like the new 27″ screen.  The three inch increase over my 24″ diagonal display provides a significant amount of extra work and viewing space.  The display provide an exceptionally clear, bright and sharp image, as good or better as any I have seen on a computer.

The combination of the quad-core processor and Snow Leopard OS enables the computer to handle 64 bit as well as 32 bit programs.  I have had no issue with software that ran on a dual-core iMac and Snow Leopard not running on the quad-core iMac with Snow Leopard.  The quad-core boots noticeably faster and runs noticeably quicker than its dual-core cousins.

Having 8GB of on board RAM helps the computer run better and faster using Mac OS X native software.  It also helps considerably with the performance of a windows virtual machine running under Parallels 5.0 (the new version of Parallels).  I have tried it with both Vista and XP professional.  I have not yet upgraded any of my virtual machines to Windows 7.  Having the extra RAM allows me to upgrade the RAM for the virtual machine (you can go up to 3GB without a hitch) and still have sufficient RAM for the Mac to run well concurrently.

I had no problem with any of my existing peripherals or with interaction of my quad-core Mac to my network (which consists primarily of dual-core iMacs  and Xerox Phaser networked printers with intermittant connection by a MacBook or MacBook Air.

The bottom line:  I REALLY like the new quad-core iMac.  I am glad that I upgraded my desktop unit to the quad-core.  I will likely do the same to my home-office desktop sometime next year.

Note:  Image courtesy of Apple, Inc..  Apple, Inc. provided no consideration respecting this commentary.

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I thought you might be interested in knowing that the ABA GP Solo Division has released the newest issue of the Technology eReport.  You can read it on line or get your own copy at

http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/ereport/2009/vol8/num4/.

This issue has the following contents:

FEATURES

Is Your Website OK Today? » Attracting clients and making favorable impressions.

SaaS Security: Can You Trust Your Data in the Cloud? » How to pick the right SaaS provider, come rain or shine.

Setting Up a Web-Based Virtual Law Office » Practical and ethical considerations to address when moving online.

COLUMNS

MacNotes » Snow Leopard: snow job, or great new OS?

SurvivingEmail » Email sig files, social networks, and getting seen.

Sites for Sore Eyes » Where to go to learn about Windows 7.

TechNotes » Is Skype all hype, or is it a helpful tool?

ProductNotes » Casio EX-FC100 camera, Novatel MiFi 2200 USB modem, Google Wave, and PBworks.

DivisionNotes » Midyear Meeting events and an upcoming teleconference.

Tags: ABA, Apple, Casio, FC100, Google, Google Wave, GPSolo, Mifi, Novatel, SAAS, Snow Leopard, Technology eReport, Virtual office, web site

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Buy.com, a well known on-line discount site sent me an email today advertising that they were selling the George for $249, approximately half price.  I reviewed the George a while back.  It is an outstanding iPod speaker/docking system.  If you find yourself in the market for such a device, either for yourself or as a gift, this is a truly great buy.

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More on Mophie Juice Pack Air. I got the replacement. It worked for a few days and then stopped charging the iPhone.

It would not synch to iTunes from the beginning. It has gone back to Mophie and they have declared it defective. They said they will send me another one. It has not yet arrived.

While I was waiting, I got my hands on another Juice Pack Air. It has worked for purposes of charging the iPhone for about a week without a problem. It has never allowed me to synch the iPhone to iTunes through the case. In order to synch the iPhone, I have had to remove it from the Juice Pack Air case and plug it directly into my computer.

I have also continued to notice some signal loss when the phone is in the case.

So, the bottom line appears to be that the Juice Pack Air starts out as a great idea, but execution remains tenuous. As a charging unit, I am quite happy with it.

The failure to synch is problematic though and the failure rate that I have experienced In terms of units simply not working makes me think it is not quite ready for prime time. One other suggestion for the folks at Mophie, using a hard shell plastic case with a smooth finish is not the best idea.

Some softer outside coating to give the phone better protection would help. It would also help to have something in the finish that gave the case some resistance to slipping out of the user’s hand. Finally, such a finish would extend the useful life of the case. The exterior on the original Mophie Juice Pack works better than that on the Juice Pack Air.

Tags: charger, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mophie, Mophie Juice Pack Air

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Image Courtesy of Apple, Inc.

OK, Apple finally turned out iPhone OS 3.0.  I immediately downloaded it into my 16 GB 3G iPhone and gave it a quick run through before replacing that phone with the 32 GB 3Gs that I am now using and which I will report on in a week or so.  This is a preliminary assessment of OS 3.0.  Get it!  Get it now!  Apple makes it available free for all iPhone owners. iPod Touch users need to pay $9.95 for the upgrade.

Simply put, I am very impressed with the new OS.  It improves on existing features and adds some new features to the mix.  The things that most impressed me from the start:

1)  Spotlight.  You can now search your iPhone for data or the location of an App using the spotlight feature.  Spotlight is not immediately apparent on your iPhone.  If you go to the home page of the iPhone and shift one page to the left (you could only go to the right before) you find yourself at the Spotlight screen.  Type in your search term and let the computer (iPhone) do the work.

2)  ”Find-Me”.  Ever lose your iPhone?  Not such a problem any more.  You can use the GPS features of the iPhone and MobileMe to locate a misplaced iPhone using another computer.  The system is not perfect.  For example, it won’t tell you that you left it in the kitchen under the sports page.  It will tell you that you left it in the vicinity of your house or your office or at a shopping area, etc.  Note, it only works if the iPhone is on and has power, so don’t wait until the battery is gone before you start to look.  If you find out that you left it at home, go into the house, dial up your iPhone and follow the ring.

3) “Wipe” (or for you Beach Boy fans, “Wipe Out”).  As long as your iPhone has power and is on, you can wipe out all information on the iPhone remotely from your computer using the “Wipe” feature.  Not a bad idea if you get your phone stolen.  On the other hand, if you wipe it out and then find it, you can restore the information from the last synch using iTunes.

Apple also added “cut and paste” to this version of the OS.   I have not yet tested that feature, but I think it will likely add value and functionality to the iPhone.

Tags: 3Gs, Apple, Find-Me, iPhone, iPHone OS 3, Spotlight, Wipe

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I waited with anticipation for the release of the Mophie Juice Pack Air iPhone 3G case and supplemental rechargeable battery.  Well, Mophie finally released it and it sells for $79.95.  For those of you who, like me, have wished for longer battery life between charges for your iPhone 3G, I have good and bad news for you.

The good news is that the Juice Pack Air, which comes in white, black or (of all colors) purple, will add considerable life between charges to your iPhone 3G.  It adds some bulk (size and weight), but not so much as to make you unhappy to trade that off against the additional usage time between charges.  While Mophie could have produced it with a bit more care to ensuring that the top and bottom matched up more closely, that too comes within reasonable levels of tolerance.

The bad news is that the case appears to impair signal transmission and reception as, when I had the case on the phone dropped calls that it should not have.  I dropped far more calls with the case on than with the case off.

The case charges through a micro USB port.  I have no issue with that as many devices charge using micro USB ports these days and it synched up just fine with iTunes using the micro USB connection.  Unfortunately, rather than mounting the charging port flush with the surface of the case, Mophie’s designers chose to carve a notch out of the case and recess the port. They made the notch relatively small.   As a result many (maybe most) micro USB plugs will not fit into the notch.  Accordingly, you need to carry the micro USB plug that comes with it (or another equally slim-housed plug), which kind of defeats the purpose of the use of a common port that should allow for one cord to charge many devices.

My experience with the Juice Pack Air prove short-lived, however.  About a week after I got it, the recessed micro-USB port broke and prevented me from charging the device.  I do not know if it was because of the recessed port or some other reason.  I do know that I have a number of devices that use the micro USB port connection and have not had any of them break except this one.  All the others have the port mounted flush to the surface of the device.

The worst news, however, is that my efforts to contact customer service to follow up on getting this repaired and on other matters have proven fruitless.  I tried telephoning, making sure to call during their work ours and got voice mail each time.  While their machine took my messages, I have not receive any return phone calls or emails (I left phone number and email information in the message).  I also tried contacting the company for warranty service/customer service through their web site.  Shortly after the posts I received confirmation of the receipt and a notice that they assigned a case number.  The email said someone would get in touch with me soon.  So far, however, I have heard nothing further.

I am not sure what caused the failure of the USB port, but I noticed on the Apple web site that I was not the only one to experience that problem.  I also notice in other reviews of the Juice Pack Air on the Apple web site that others noticed the drop off in handling of calls with the case on the phone.

Normally, I do not like to write negative reviews and generally choose only things I like to write about.  This device promises to be so useful that I thought I should share my experience with others contemplating acquiring one, so that they could make an informed decision.

Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone battery, iPhone case, Juice Pack Air, Mophie, Product Review

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