Nice to see Apple taking its highly advanced Multi-Touch pointing and guesture technology to desktop Macintosh users with it's recently released Apple Magic Trackpad input device. At around 5x5 inches it's notably larger than what's built into MacBook laptops - and designed to compliment Apple's wireless Bluetooth keyboard.

*NEW* Apple's MagicTrackPad

Bluetooth Touch-Pad
Requires OSX 10.6.4

Somewhat like it's cousin, the revolutionary Magic Mouse (Which requires OSX 10.5.8 at a minimum) -- You have to be rather current with Mac OSX on an Intel Mac to use either of these sophisticated wireless Bluetooth input devices. No, unfortunately it is NOT pressure sensitive like Mac graphics tablets are, and no, it's not for use with iPad or iPhone input.

Tags: Apple Bluetooth, Apple Trackpad, Apple TouchPad, Mac Bluetooth

Revisions to the new Mac mini line brings some welcome changes: A physical low-profile redesign that FINALLY HAS A BUILT-IN POWER SUPPLY to eliminate the kludgy brick we've all come to hate. It's shoulda been built-in from Day 1.



MP3 player and photo buffs will appreciated the addition of the Mac mini SDHC Card slot that's now standard on the Unibody MacBooks and Aluminum iMac. Its inclusion reduces the number of external USB 2.0 ports on the mini to 4. However, the slot's location at the rear of the mini is inconvenient at best.

Given the popularity of the mini as an HTPC media center, the addition of an HDMI video-TV port will certainly be welcomed. The new Mac mini design offers a far, far easier way to open up and upgrade the memory and hard drive - something which has long been an arduous task on previous models.

Along with incremental speed bump, hard drive capacity and CPU speed advancements - the NVidia graphics processor upgrade is most significant for the growing Mac gamer market.

All in all: The 2010 Mac mini is a fine product revision of it's desktop computer .

Tags: 2010 mac mini, sd slot mac, new Mac mini

Our Mac Life demands more computer cables, wires, adapters and power transformers than most of us really want to deal with. But there's some interesting - and smartly designed - combo accessories for Apple users. These can help minimize and consolidate some of the tangle our desks have to cope with.

Everybody needs a Mac backup drive, and usuallly, a powered USB 2.0 high-speed hub. So why not combine the two into one?

3-Port USB Hub Drive Dock

For FreeAgent Model Drives
From Seagate

Matching FreeAgent Go Backup Drive

Choose 320Gb or 500Gb Drive

Mac mini owners in particular may find this 3-Port FireWire 400, 3-Port USB hub drive combo to compliment thier computer and expansion needs.

Iomega MiniMax Hub/Drive

1or 2 Terabyte Options


A top mac accessory pick that combines both a great set of 2.1 stereo speakers with a powered 3-Port USB hub continues to be Logitech's AudioHub thats a natural fit behind any MacBook (and sounds 10 times better!)

Hub + Speaker Combo

With Volume/Mute Control


Griffin Simplifi Hub - Dock - Reader
For iPod - iPhone



And for the millions of iPhone users - whether Mac or PC - Buffalo combines a Dock hard drive enabled with both FireWire 800 for backup - and USB to synch and recharge your iPhone or iPod Touch. 2 extra USB ports are avalable as well for other Mac gadgets.

Buffalo Dualie Dock

Backup, Sync and Charge

Tags: USB combo devices, USB hub drives, USB speaker, iPhone dock

With its large, high resolution display, watching TV on an iPad proves more enjoyable than on the smaller screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch. But regardless of which you own - it's all doable with free or low-cost apps from the iTunes App Store. Check out Equinux's Tube To Go or free Live TV app, or ElGato's $4.99 EyeTV app.

It all starts with a Mac compatible TV tuner to record and export your fave TV shows and movies on your Mac. Adding a USB HDTV tuner to your Apple computer opens up a world of television viewing enjoyment at your Mac desktop or laptop - or on the go!



Your best tuner choices are the Equinux Tubestick TV Tuner for Mac (or PC) - or any number of tuner capture devices from ElGato such as the latest model; the 2010 EyeTV Hybridfor OSX (as wel as Window Media Center PCs.) Both offer ways to either remotely stream TV over WiFi or 3G -- or sync your recorded television content to your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone for TV enjoyment when you're out of range.

Tags: ipad tv, iphone tv

They're Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere: Get ready to do your civic duty and cough up your tax dollars to help out our poor US Treasury department. Order now, and small businesses can write off their Mac tax preparation software as a business expense in the current year:

TurboTax Deluxe Federal + State 2009 + efile


H&R Block At Home 2009 Deluxe Federal + State + eFile

[ Previously named TaxCut ]

Both now ship cross platform Mac + Windows version on CD so the days of having to hunt down OSX specific retail boxed versions of their tax prep software are over.

Tags: mac turbotax, mac tax preparation, taxcut mac, mac tax software, OSX tax software

This next generation Mac and Windows compatible 2MP web cam from iPevo is unique among cameras: The IPEVO P2V USB Camera can zoom in closer than any other webcam on the market with a 2" focal range. Like it's predecessor, the POV -- it features a unique design for handheld demonstrations of detail -- Hence it's name: The Ipevo Point 2 View Webcam. It also includes a laptop clip and destop stand for more conventional video chat uses - and snapshot software for not only PC - but also for Mac OSX 10.5+ Leopard.


The P2V webcam has built-in hardware Auto-Focus with switch-selectable override for manual zoom - and a snapshot button (but alas, no microphone.)

Tags: OSX Web Camera, UVC Webcam, Apple Webcam

It happens. Mac DVD burners laser 'eye-balls' burn out and start giving disc burning errors. Or, your MacBook Air needs a drive that costs half of what Apple's $99 USB SuperDrive for MacBook Air does. Or, your Macs factory-installed burner is just getting temperamental and unreliable. Slot-Load SuperDrives are notorious for problems ejecting, discs getting hopelessly stuck, and at worst - damaged. It happens.

$50 Mac Compatible USB SuperDrive Replacement


This Mac friendly Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive gets all it's power from its USB cable.. For some it's a viable and low-cost alternative to paying $200 or more to have a MacBook or iMac's Super-Drive replaced. It may be a good stopgap solution to still be able to read and burn DVD's and CD's on an aging Mac that you don't want to sink alot of repair money into, but still has some life left. T

Tags: mac dvd burner, slot load drive

With Apple shipping nearly TEN MILLION Macs a year - I dare say College campuses are experiencing a huge shift in Mac use as the numbers just keep growing. It all just goes way beyond Student deals on MacBooks, iPods & iPhones - They're becoming utterly interwoven into the Higher-Ed landscape.

Mac adoption was always higher in education, but something is tipping on the scales and I think the 2010 school year is a year where Apple computers - and ever more student's exposure to them is part of a SNOWBALL that's really only begun rolling. Cuz these kids are gonna take their love for Mac into thier internships and careers to follow. Think Apple's stuck at oh, say 10% marketshare in the US? Think again. Apple's well on it's way to Fifteen -- and then Twenty Million Macs a year - Mark MacGizmo's words...

Tags: best macbook, college computer

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard Upgrade Disc has shown up at Amazon available at $29 for Pre-order and they'll ship automatically when Apple offcially ships it in September.


Critical to note: Snow Leopard 10.6 Upgrade ONLY RUNS ON INTEL PROCESSOR MACS. Sorry G4 and G5 owners, it's the end of an era. But that spells great things for Intel Macs - Snow Leopard will strip out all the old PowerPC code for a faster, leaner OSX that will free up gigabytes of disk space during the upgrade process.

Tags: leopard upgrade disc, snwo leopard

Voice Over Internet Protocol - VOIP for Mac - has been around a long time: Even since the days of dial-up modems, since speech doesn't require alot of bandwidth like music or video does. This Mac Gizmo Guy remembers his first 'Free Long Distance' voice phone call 5-some years back on a Slot-Load G3 iMac. I've saved A LOT of money using VOIP on my G5 iMac and MacBook since then.

Skype for Mac
has long been a great money saving option for long distance here in the USA and Canada using low-cost "Skype Out" minutes. The latest Yahoo Messenger v3 for Mac also offers cheap 1 cent/per minute across the nation calls to landlines and cell phones using Yahoo's "Call Out" options. Paired with a dedicated USB or Wireless IP phone - or with a decent headset you can have a great VOIP experience. But in a pinch, even a Mac with a built-in microphone and iSight webcam can get you started.

Other full-fleged OSX VO-IP options are out there with dedicated monthly VO-IP providers like Vonage and others who'll bundle a 'free' Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) configured for their service as part of your startup package. Just plug in a regular analog phone and you're good to go. Many also offer a SIP - Software Internet Phone application for OSX that lets you make and receive calls directly on your MacBook iMac, Mac Pro or mini.

For those of us who don't want to cough up $100 or more a month for Cable/DSL * 'Unlimited' IP phone bundle packages, or pay the outrageous rates your local phone company may charge - there's a decent range of pay as you go, pay very little by the minute VOIP options for Apple computers that can save you REAL MONEY month after month, call after call.

I HAVE HAD IT WITH APPLE'S CRAPPY iPOD HEADPHONES! They fell out of my ear canals for the last time - and I made sure they fell right into the garbage can! Ear-BUDS are the way to go for not just good fit and enhanced frequency response - but for superior sound isolation as well. You just don't know what you're missing till you've upgraded from Apple's dissappointing 'Oops they fell out again!' earphones. Best bang for the buck replacement? These Awesome Sennheiser CX300-B Earbuds with that thoughtful right-angled plug really take your listening to the next level. I'd owned 2 sets of Skull-Candy's Smokin Buds and thought they were pretty decent. But these Seinheiser buds response is just noticeably better across the frequency response range. Love 'em!

Wireless STEREO sound via Bluetooh has taken awhile on the Mac platform. Until a year ago, most were limited to monophonic sound. OSX Leopard 10.5 finally delivered critical A2DP protocol stereo support in the operating system. Just this week, iPhone 3.0 OS has enabled Bluetooth stereo on 2nd Generation iPod Touch and iPhones. Other dock connector iPods can take advantage of dual-channel streaming audio with compact A2DP enabled Bluetooth dock transmitters. So we now have alot of ways to get sound from a Bluetooth device to...

Check out these Stereo Bluetooth wireless speaker systems and headsets! There's a wide range of A2DP stereo devices now available - whether you're interested in a portable battery powered Bluetooth speaker system to take on a picnic - or more audiophile grade Bluetooth speaker options for home stereo use.


Sony CMT-BX50BTI Bluetooth Micro Hi-Fi Shelf System

It's important to remember Bluetooth is a PAN - a PERSONAL Area Network scheme - not a Wide Area one like 802.11 WiFi. So Bluetooth is designed to operate at a personal CLOSE RANGE - generally in 30 feet or less between Bluetooth devices. So while great for in-room listening, A2DP isn't the solution to cover an entire house or office environment. Keep that in mind as you shop for Bluetooth speakers and headphones, you CAN enjoy wireless listening freedom - within reason.