A huge shift is occurring in the personal computing marketplace: Desktop computers and even good ol’ laptop sales are under tremendous pressure as more and more people take to iPhones, Smartphones, and tablet computing on Apple iPad and others. The chart below from IDC reveals the increasing trend towards mobile computing devices and phones and away from conventional computing platforms.



These trends are of interest to Apple computer users. Many of us use both a Macintosh desktop or MacBook laptop AND have one or more iOS gadgets like an iPad, iPhone or iPod to complement it. So our notion of shopping for the “Best Mac Accessories” these days should really take into account the kinds of Apple compatible peripherals that will work well on MULTIPLE computing platforms.

One good example of shopping for tech peripherals with the most versatility and usefulness for both Mac OSX and Apple iOS would be in the Bluetooth computer speaker market. Ideally, look for wireless Bluetooth speakers that can pair with - and remember the configuration for MULTIPLE devices. And if you use an iPhone, HANDS-FREE Bluetooth speakers with built-in microphone and call management features are the smart buy.

For more private audio needs - a stereo Bluetooth headset for Mac and iOS can serve both Mac desktop and MacBook users - as well as mobile computing needs for music listening and handling calls on your iPhone as well. Again, look for on-earpiece controls for call management if you plan to use a handsfree capable headset for your cellphone needs.

Another example is the insane demand for Apple AirPrint compatible printers for iPad - iPhone or iPod Touch. More and more laser, inkjet and All-In-One multifunction printers now support wireless iOS AirPrint printing, as well as compatibility with Mac OSX.

Lastly, compact wireless Bluetooth keyboards for iPad, iPhone and Mac which implicitly support some of Apple iOS or OSX special function keys are available when keyboard input is needed as well.

In conclusion, when you’re shopping for Apple accessories, think with a multi-device big-picture view so that your peripheral purchase can work well on existing platforms you already own -- and those mobile gadgets you’re more likely to acquire in the future.

Tags: Mac accessories, ipad peripherals, mobile computer accessories

Mac Speech To Text is a new feature of OSX Mountain Lion. Apple voice recognition and Mac speech recognition has taken a huge step forward in OSX 10.8 and higher. OSX has had some degree of Mac voice recognition capabilities with VoiceOver assistive software in the Speech preferences pane. But now, Mac dictation services take Apple speech recognition to a new level. It allows you to simply say what you want to type in any application that supports text input. That includes not just word processing and text editing apps, but also inside of any web pages which have text fields as well. For example, Apple speech to text capabilities are very handy for filling out online forms, composing a Twitter tweet or FaceBook status update, or dictating a new blog post.

Apple dictation services are not on by default. To enable Mountain Lion speech recognition and OSX speech to text features you must explicitly turn it on in System Preferences. You must also have an active internet connection since your spoken words are transmitted to Apple servers for translation and the resulting text is sent back to your OSX application.

Unlike other standalone speech recognition programs for Mac, dictation in OSX doesn't require any training sessions to recognize your unique vocal patterns, and supports native translation of over a half dozen spoken languages, not just English. Once activated, simply press the FN Function key twice to begin recording your voice pattern, tap the FN key again to transmit it to Apple's servers. After a few seconds of processing, the interpreted text is sent back to your Mac application.

OSX speech recognition isn't perfect, and really supports just a very basic set of punctuation commands. But it can save you a ton of typing once you get the hang of dictation Apple style. It's important to speak with diction and clarity - and have a good quality sound recording mic or USB headset for Mac to insure the highest recognition accuracy possible. I've found dictating just a few sentences at a time works best. Don’t expect Apple's speech to text translator servers to interpret long, long paragraphs. Just give it small, digestible sentences and sequences to process.

Macbook dictation presents a few challenges. Unless you own a very recent MacBook like the Retina display model that has a directional beam-forming microphone array built-in, the built-in microphone under they keyboard on most Mac laptops aren't ideal for speech to text recording. The MacBook's internal mic also has a tendency to pick up keypress sounds and hand movements as you use Mountain Lion text to speech, which isn't desirable. Use of Mac compatible OSX dictation headset or external Mac compatible microphone can improve Macbook speech recognition and minimize any errors. The more accurate the speech pattern recording is, the less editing that will be needed to correct any misinterpretations.

Tags: mac speech recognition, Apple dictation

Wanting to take advantage of Apple and Intel's ultra high-speed ThunderBolt interface on your Mac desktop or MacBook? Here's 10 currently shipping ThunderBolt external hard drives that range from surprisingly affordable to insanely fast - and expensive.

Presented somewhat in order of price, starting with the very affordable Buffalo miniStation combo drive under $200 and ranging up to the performance leading Pegasus Rx RAID series. In between, you'll find reasonably affordable consumer drive options under $500 and higher capacity ThunderBolt drive offerings for professional and business markets.

1. Buffalo MiniStation Combo Drive - USB 3.0 + ThunderBolt

2. Seagate Portable External Hard Drive, Dock and Cable

3. Elgato ThunderBolt 120 GB Solid State Drive

4. Seagate GoFlex Desk External Hard Drive, Dock and Cable

5. LaCie 1TB Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Dual Drive

6. Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo

7. G-Tech G-RAID with Thunderbolt 4TB

8. LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt SSD 240GB

9. LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series 6TB Drive

10. Promise Pegasus R4 ThunderBolt Drive Array

* Most of the drive models linked above come in various capacities from each manufacturer. ThunderBolt SSD's are typically 120GB or 240GB. Spinning platter drive options range from a modest 500GB to 3TB in the consumer market, and 4TB to 12TB and beyond in ThunderBolt RAID multi-drive systems.

** Check product details carefully. Many external ThunderBolt storage offerings do NOT include a ThunderBolt cable in the box and must be purchased separately. Currently, Buffalo ships both USB 3.0 and ThunderBollt cables in the box, as does Seagate's GoFlex drives when ordered as a bundle. Otherwise all higher-end drives are still selling the cable separately.

Tags: thunderbolt drives, mac thunderbolt drives, thunderbolt external drives

The debut of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports on Apple’s Mid-2012 MacBook models has been a long time in coming. It seems likely that before year’s end, we’ll see USB 3.0 iMac and Mac mini updates before the Holiday shopping season. The somewhat neglected Macintosh Pro is slated to get both ThunderBolt and USB 3.0 ports in early 2013. That’s the good news. USB 3.0 for Mac is well on it’s way to replace the decade-old USB 2.0 standard, while still maintaining backward compatibility with slower, legacy USB 2.0 gadgets.

USB 3.0 MacBook Air

$999 11.6" Display
  
USB 3.0 MacBook Pro 13"

Dual USB3-USB2 Ports
  
USB 3.0 Retina Display MacBook

New Ultra-Thin NoteBook

The bad news is the transition to a Mac SuperSpeed future is going to have a slow ramp-up phase, with some nasty glitches and got-cha’s along the way. For example, the Digital Music creation market is finding some of their legacy USB 2.0 audio hardware is not playing nice on either PC or Mac USB 3.0 ports even though they’re supposed to be fully backward compatible.

At least the external hard drive market embraced USB 3.0 whole-heartedly last year. As a result, most new backup drives now incorporate USB 3.0 as the defacto standard interface - usable on older and current systems - and ready to plug into the SuperSpeed future. That’s a good thing and anyone pondering a Mac backup drive solution ought to make sure it has USB 3.0 to ‘future-proof’ their purchase. The downside - as the Windows market already learned - is that in spite of USB 3.0’s Ten-Fold theoretical bandwidth increase over USB2, the real-world performance doesn’t come anywhere close to the specs on paper. Part of that is simply the limitations of mechanical hard drives which can’t fully leverage USB 3.0’s bandwidth potential. So realistically expect backing up your Mac to cut your data transfers and backup times in half, but no where near ‘a 10th of the time’ we were all hoping for. Solid-State SSD backup drives do leverage USB 3.0 bandwidth a lot better - but unless you can fit your Mac data onto a 120GB or 240GB SSD, you might find the more impressive performance of flash memory drives over USB 3.0 to be a bit too pricey.

There are USB 3.0 card readers that work well on a new Mac, however you’ll find most SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards don’t have data Read/Write speeds that can keep up with a USB3 port anyways. Other devices like USB keyboards, mice and graphics tablets simply don’t have the ability - nor the need - to max out USB 2.0 speeds, let alone USB 3.0.

Things get more interesting in the Audio-Video market, where USB 3.0 accessories for A/V enviroments can and will take advantage of USB 3.0 for high-bandwidth, low-latency needs like multi-channel audio and high-definition HD video streams.

Tags: USB 3.0 Accessories, USB 3.0 MacBook

Of all the Macintosh computer models, iMac desktop owners are probably the least likely to buy external computer speakers for their Mac. Among all of Apple’s computers the iMac has, well, the ‘best’ computer speakers built in of any Mac. For many, the audio quality, volume and frequency response is ‘Good Enough.” But for those who want more deep bass rumble and room filling presence, there’s no shortage of 2.0, 2.1 and Surround computer speakers to fit the bill. But which speakers are best for iMac and it’s design and aesthetic? Here’s my top pick:

Self-Powered USB iMac Speaker


Aux Input + Subwoofer Output

The xTremeMac TangoBar USB Speaker for iMac is a gorgeous and outright elegant addition to unobtrusively tuck under your iMac’s front bezel and compliment it with sleek aluminum styling and add zero additional footprint to your desk space. It’s also a great match for an Apple ThunderBolt or Cinema Display which lack built-in speakers. This self-powered sound-bar speaker features a right mounted volume/mute control, and 1/8” headphone and audio inputs, plus a sub-woofer output jack at the rear. The loudspeakers contain dual midrange and dual tweeter drivers as well as passive radiator woofers. With digital amplification from a USB port’s power, they claim up to 10 watts of room-filling audio - without needing an external power supply.

Some other good options styled right for an iMac might be a sleek, silver pair of affordable Bose Companion 2 speakers or possibly a Twelve South BassJump 2 to balance out an iMac’s low-frequencies somewhat.

Tags: mac speakers, iMac speaker, speakers for iMac

The article you're reading here has been dictated into OSX Mountain Lion’s new Apple Dictation software without having to type a single sentence. An intriguing new feature in OSX system 10.8 is Apple’s Speech To Text Dictation Services. It has some interesting potential for those who create websites or promote and market content on their Mac.

You enable Speech To Text capabilities in System Preferences > Dictation & Speech preference pane. You can then begin speaking into any available text entry field in nearly any Mac application enviroment. Once Apple's Dictation services have been enabled, you simply tap the FN - Function key twice in any edible text field to begin recording. A pop-up microphone icon appears, ready to listen. When you're done speaking simply press the Function key again. Your voice recording is transmitted to Apple, processed, and the written version shows up on your Mac in mere seconds. (Note: you MUST have an active internet connection for translation to occur since it’s processed on Apple’s servers, not on your Mac.)

Speech To Text recognition can be a real timesaver when you want to add web page content, compose an article or write a post for your blog. As long as you are able to clearly structure your thoughts, speak distinctly, and create logical sentences on the fly - Apple's speech recognition performs admirably. Unlike other speech recognition products on the Mac, Apple dictation does not require any training sessions. It can recognize nearly anyone's voice without having to teach the system first. For example, IBM ViaVoice, Dragon Dictate for Mac and MacSpeech require a bit of training time so that it learns the patterns of your voice before you can begin using the program for dictation.

Punctuation commands can also be spoken in your stream of conversation. For example, I can say ‘comma’, or ‘exclamation point’ to add punctuation correctly as I'm speaking the sentence. Talking out your punctuation commands can be a bit confusing at first, but with a bit of practice you’ll be able to handle as-you-go sentence punctuation while you're speaking. Capitalization is automatic and surprisingly accurate as well.

The possibilities for using Apple dictation services in your website promotion and Internet Marketing plan are limitless. Any Apple OS X application that has a text input field can handle speech to text. That includes text fields on web pages within your Safari web browser, programs like Apple TextEdit, Microsoft Word for Mac, Stickies notes or any other text editing app on your Mac.

Social Media Marketing tasks can be performed with Apple's dictation by simply speaking a tweet that you’d like to send to Twitter or to compose a Facebook status update. The possibilities are endless. You could use your voice to create social bookmark titles and descriptions, tags and keywords by merely speaking into each of the appropriate text entry fields as you create your bookmark submission.

For those into article marketing or blogging, Apple dictation services can be a godsend helping you rapidly create fresh new content for your blog or to distribute out on article or blog networks. Once you've spoken the article you want to publish, you’ll need to do a bit of editing and fine tuning to ensure all the capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure and voice interpretations are correct. After proof-reading a full version of your text, you could optionally use a Mac compatible article spinner such a SpinRewriter to create statistically and mathematically unique versions of your article prior to distribution.


In my testing, Apple's Dictation services works fairly well with my MacBook Air’s built-in microphone. However, you may wish to use an external microphone or headset to insure optimal recognition accuracy and avoid the possibility of background noise hampering your recording session. Please visit mac-microphones.com for some recommended external USB microphones and Mac compatible headsets to help with your speech recognition and dictation needs. Mac Dictation also seems to perform best when processing just one or two sentences at a time. You’ll get better results staying short and succinct, and not expecting it to recognize entire paragraphs or long streams of continuous speech.

Tags: mac speech recognition, apple dictation, speech to text

A lot has evolved in both the PC and Macintosh compatible SSD market during the past year. Lower flash memory material costs, vastly improved new generation SSD interface controller chips and firmware, faster data clock speeds, and increased data channels have permitted Mac SSD drives to deliver significant performance gains in Read/Write data rate at ever lower price points.


Image source: silveradosys.blogspot.com

For those who believed that Solid-State drive upgrades are way too costly - or too small to store your Mac's data, you may want to check again - SSD hard drive prices have come down significantly while performance has improved dramatically. Affordable SSD's in the 256GB, 400GB and 512GB range have plummeted recently. As such, the former high cost of SSD flash drive technology has gotten more affordable than ever, with many peak performing Flash drives now costing significantly under a dollar per Gig. Large volume of SSD drive demand by both computer manufacturing companies, external drive makers and consumers has caused a great degree of competition between all of the big name SSD manufacturers as of late. My top recommended SATA III SSD's for a Mac mini or MacBook Pro would be an OCZ Vertex4, Crucial M4, or SanDisk Extreme.

If huge storage capacity at more affordable pricing is important to you; check out the latest SSD Hybrid disk drive offerings from Seagate Technologies at www.ssd-for-mac.com. Solid-State Hybrids combine both SSD flash memory technology with 500GB to 750GB conventional spinning platters to give your Mac desktop or laptop computer the advantages of both worlds. These models in the Momentus XT drive series are the 1st of many that will likely evolve to dominate the data storage market by merging the qualities of both technologies.

Depending on whether you're hoping to replace a slow and dying hard drive in a desktop Macintosh, or perhaps pondering an upgrade for an older Apple MacBook Pro, Air or Classic - your best investment for the long term is an SSD based on the newest SandForce or Marvell controller chips. With both Read and Write speeds near or exceeding 500Mbps, these leading-edge SSD models make the most of the available bandwidth of the SATA III connection used in recent PC and Mac computers within the the past several quarters.

Tags: ssd for macbook pro, mac mini ssd, ssd mac, apple ssd, ssd for mac

Look closely at what's under the front grille of this cleverly engineered USB powered portable laptop speaker from Edifier. In a sleek aluminum chassis that will compliment any Apple MacBook - they've manage to put multiple, very high-quality sound drivers into a slim 1.75" x 10" sound-bar that's easily transportable.

Mac Laptop Speaker



Sound-To-Go SoundBar

This all-in-one USB speaker is fully portable and features an elegantly brushed aluminum chassis and dark metal front grille. A USB cable provides both power and pure digital audio streaming from any Apple laptop or desktop Macintosh's USB port. On it's side is a 1/8" audio in jack - as well as a manual volume control button.The auxiliary device input also allows use of other devices like your iPhone, iPad or iPod. The Edifier Sound To Go features a 3 x 1¼ inch oblong passive radiator subwoofer, dual 1¼ inch mid-range drivers and a pair of 1¼  inch tweeters with a built in digital amplifier to provide exceptional audio volume and frequency response far better than a MacBook's built-in speakers.

For the past few year's I've used an IPEVO Tubular Wireless Speaker as my 13" MacBook Pro's sound system. That can be nice for the wider sound-separation the detachable speakers provide. And occasionally I did use it wirelessly across the room. But powering on and occasionally having to futz with Bluetooth Pairing and Apple's Sound Preference Pane could be intermittently frustrating. I've got a new MacBook Air with ThunderBolt and USB 3.0 ports on order - and to celebrate I've decided to try this USB computer speaker instead.

Tags: speaker for macbook, macbook computer speakers, louder macbook speakers