andPOP » Technology

Barnes and Noble Help Burn the Books

Stephen Baldwin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:21:14 +0000

Barnes & Noble Inc. Is expected to unveil an electronic-book reader to compete with Amazon.com’s creation Kindle.

The ‘Nook’ is the newest e-reading technology. It features a colour touch screen and Google Android OS technology.

While the convenient, stylish e-reader is sure to save customer’s money on novel purchases, it doesn’t come cheap. The ‘Nook’ has a reported retail price of $259…similarly priced to Amazon’s model.

E-readers can also be purchased through Sony, IREX Technologies Inc. and Plastic Logic Ltd.

According to a recent Forrester Research report, about 900, 000 e-readers will be sold over the 2009 holiday season, and that’s expected to double in 2010.

The popularity may spell an unfortunately dramatic decline to the literature industry.

3D TV On the Tech Horizon

Stephen Baldwin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:53:53 +0000

Tech giants Panasonic and Sony plan to bring 3D viewing to the small screen by 2010, Reuters.com reports.

Last week Panasonic unveiled a 50-inch high-definition 3D plasma television with glasses that make images appear as if you can reach out and touch them.

The technology tricks your brain with high-speed shutters working in sync with the glasses to form a double-layered image.

“When the TV is showing the left image, the shutter closes the right eye so people can see only the left image,” explained Keisuke Suetsugi, manager in charge of high quality AV development.

“And the next moment, when the TV is showing the right image, the shutter glass is covering the left.”

The company announced that it will team up with the creators of James Cameron’s upcoming 3D film “Avatar” – set to be released in theatres on December 18th. The agreement will no doubt commence a new wave of negotiations between Tech and production companies to improve and refine the way that people watch television and movies in their homes.

Japan’s CEATEC tech show, opened Oct 6-10, revealed the Panasonic and Sony models, along with models by major tech companies Sharp and Samsung. The exhibit ensures the inevitable presence of 3D television sets in homes over the next decade.

Account Edge, CANADA, for Mac: Welcomed by CBC’s

Rick Levine — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:08:54 +0000

Until now, current Mac Users who wanted to run a pro level accounting software package on the Mac platform in Canada, CBC’s (Canadian Bean Counters), had precious little to choose from. CBC’s could install the US version of AE, however, the effort was, by and large, futile. Not being able to obtain current tax table updates or easily account for and track dual Canadian taxes such as the GST/PST really left MacCanadians, right out in the cold. As of September 2009, Acclivity Software has picked up the ledger, where MYOB/ Account Edge left off in 2001, with the release of a Canadian Edition of Account Edge for Mac. AE for MacCanada, is a number crunching powerhouse with a pretty face, and straightforward enough to grasp. AE verson 13.4.1 is Snow Leopard compatible.

Financial Information at Your Fingertips

If you are installing AE for Mac Canada for the first time, you will find AE to offer a friendly, easy-to-navigate interface. The AE software is ‘Mac like’ and intuitive, affording anyone, with even a little Book Keeping experience and a bit of purserverence, to be ‘in business’ almost immediately. The individual with absolutely no Book Keeping experience will probably have to count on AE’s excellent, knowledgeable support team and the Acclivity’s 30 Days Free Technical Support Service to get up and running. Although it is no simple ‘walk in the park’ for the non Book Keeping types to configure the entire accounting package, once Account Edge for Mac Canada and its selected modules are set up/configured, entering the day to day data is pretty simple and the incredible variety of Reporting features will make the practice worthwhile. Complete up-to-date accounting information, including receivables, quarterly tax remittance amounts (just a fraction of AE’s abilities) will literally be at your fingertips. The practical minded will appreciate AE’s modular approach.

To get started with AE, you would use the AE ‘New Company File Assistant’ to help create an AE data file. To generate this new company data file, you would enter some basic information about your company, such as your Fiscal Year End, Tax Numbers (PST & GST numbers) and Account Lists. Once this Company Data File is created, you can modify the ‘Chart of ACCOUNTS’ that will allow you to keep track of your Assets and Liabilities. For those who aced their way through high school book keeping, it will be a breeze and you will be crunching your company’s financial records in no time at all. If the words ‘Debit and Credit’ used in the same sentence cause you to glaze over, zone out or hyper ventilate, then you will most certainly need to hire the services of a Book Keeper or Accountant (with some computer skills) to get you past any initial barricades. AE provides a link to the a PDF called: Accounting 101 Guide

Massive Power in a Minature Package

The AE online ‘context sensitive’ help system is the next best thing to having a book keeper with Mac computer skills right at your side. Although the Canadian version of AE Mac is packaged in a slender box with a slim ‘Getting Started’ Guide, the Context Sensitive Help system is super impressive. While performing a task, the user can click on the circular, purple ‘Question Mark ICON’ located on the lower left hand corner of the AE home screen to generate Context Sensitive Links leading to answers that were surprisingly well written and more helpful than expected. Flanked by the excellent AE context sensitive help system, the online AE help menu and Acclivity’s telephone/email support, most issues can be resolved effectively. The AE Partner’s Program pledges to provide a list of Certified Book Keeping consultants around the country whose professional level services may be contracted should one be in search this type of assistance. AE provides a number of on-line resources including and ‘Easy Setup Guide’ for users.

There is no Accounting for the Unpredictable – It’s been EIGHT years!

Catching that first glimpse of all of my MYOB/AE data in this newest release of AE was a truly impressive moment – honest! With a little help, I had all my custom designed INVOICE forms printing out as slick as ever from AE v13.4.1. If you are migrating from an earlier version of Account Edge (which is compatible), with the push of a couple of buttons, the upgrade prosess can work seamlessly, but each person’s upgrade experience may vary.

AE is certainly robust enough to be a reliable, full-fledged computer accounting package for small to medium businesses. The program has Eight integrated modules covering Accounts, Banking, Sales, Time Billing, Purchases, Payroll, Inventory and Cards. The BANKING module is where you keep track of your Bank Deposits and Withdrawls. In this MODULE you can accomplish all your banking needs and set the program up, to Print Cheques as well as Reconcile Bank Accounts. The TIME BILLING, PAYROLL, INVENTORY and PURCHASES modules are all pretty much self explanatory and certainly versatile enough to fulfill the requirements of most businesses. You will need to dedicate yourself learning the technical ins and outs of AE and to subscribe to AE’s company updates should you wish to utilize these modules. If you choose to utilize just the SALES module of AE for the purposes of generating INVOICES and keeping track of GST and PST remittances, you will find the REPORTING capabilities of AE to be very helpful. Once properly set up, these handy reporting features are simple to use and quite convenient. Of course you could just stick to using good old EXCEL in order to generate simple numbered invoices, tally the sale totals and tax figures, but AE has style, elegance and provides room to grow in the event you want to take the time to learn integrate and utilize the next module.

The CARD FILE module is certainly the easiest module to understand and to maintain. Most of the other modules rely on the CARD FILE module to function, therefore you would need to make use of and maintain the CARD FILE module even if you only using the SALES MODULE for example. The CARD MODULE is ultimately a real time saver because once you enter the contact information of your Customers and Vendors, repetitious tasks such as creating Invoices and printing cheques can be much less tedious. AE Card File always worked well in the old version and this newest release of AE has been modernized to include email and website information fields so that emailing an invoice is now only a click away. In addition to being able to import customer records from other database programs, the CARD FILE module can also integrate with Apple’s Address Book.

This new release of AE has what is labeled the TASK DRAWER whose usefulness can only be truly appreciated by those who had used a previous version of AE that did not have the TASK DRAWER feature. The TASK DRAWER is a handy sliding module that glides out of the right side of the AE window and is a place to store previous tasks such as a GST Tax report. This is the type of report that has to be generated several times a year and the TASK DRAWER is the place to be able to re generate the report with out having to reconstruct all the technical details. After adding a task to the TASK DRAWER and eventually creating a list of common TASKS, just click on the TASK that you want to generate in the TASK DRAWER, put in the current date parameters and voilà, the report appears. The TASK DRAWER is brilliant and a real time saver.

Crossed Platforms – Will Gates do the Job?

In a perfect world, everyone would be using the same OS (operating system) – preferably Macintosh of course, but it is understandable and certainly of no surprise that WINDOWS is the platform of choice for the Book Keeping/Accounting profession. This compatibility issue is probably not a huge deal in the long run, but the Mac/Windows situation could raise a number of immediate questions: For one, to what extent should this compatibility issue be of concern? Presently, your up-to-day Macintosh AE data file will not be accessible by WUBA’s (Windows Using Book Keepers/Accountants) until a PC version for Canada is released and adopted by the Bean Counting Community.

In the meantime, to bridge the gap, AE has excellent Importing/Exporting features which include the ability to Export/Import directly to EXCEL Spread Sheets. The work around would thus be, to Export any necessary Modular Data Files to EXCEL which is reliably cross platform. You could eMail your exported EXCEL worksheets to your WUBA for inspection and professional analysis, providing your accounting professional with all the numerical information needed to complete your business’ financial records and formal tax submissions.

Attention all CBC’s (Canadian Bean Counters)

For the Canadian Macintosh Business Person in need of a solid, feature rich, modern account program on the Mac, AE and AE Network Edition is a must see program. Time is money, so sharpen your pencil and visit the link below to find out for yourself just how much fun it can be to do your own book keeping, by obtaining the 30 day free trial version of the Account Edge Canada.

Canadian Pride – Aclivity held to account

Why in the world the CANADIAN version of Account Edge Canada is listed on the Account Edge WEBSITE in US funds ($399.00 USD) is something I cannot account for, but it is worth reporting that AE is willing to offer $100 rebate, also in US Funds, to Canadian Mac Users upgrading from any previous version of MYOB or AE.
For further information contact: customer.service@acclivitysoftware.com

1Mtweets – World Alzheimer’s Day Fundraiser Using Twitter

Robert Ostfield — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:27:33 +0000

No this is not a regular andPOP story, however it’s an important cause and a really cool approach to use Twitter as a charitable tool. A new and unique Twitter movement launched today with the goal of revolutionizing the way social causes connect with online communities. The movement, called “A Million Tweets to Remember,” (1Mtweets) seeks to digitally memorialize one million people who have lived with Alzheimer’s disease (past or present) by having their loved ones tweet about them at http://1mtweets.com/. The campaign coincides with the launch of World Alzheimer’s Day, a global initiative to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s.

The campaign is the brainchild of Jordan Banks, a committed philanthropist whose personal connection to the disease includes four grandparents who have all lived with Alzheimer’s. More than six million people across North America are currently affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

“I have seen four of my grandparents battle Alzheimer’s and, in their honour, I wanted to do something monumental,” says Jordan Banks. ”Over the past ten years I have dedicated a significant amount of time raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s research and care, but this time around I really wanted to leverage technology in garnering substantial support around the world.”

In a recent blog post, Internet marketing guru Seth Godin commented on the tremendous opportunities that exist for non-profits to tap into online social networks: “Take a look at the top 100 twitter users in terms of followers. Remember, this is a free tool, one that people use to focus attention and galvanize action …. None of them are non-profits. Where are the big charities, the urgent charities, the famous charities that face such timely needs and are in a hurry to make change? …. The marketing world has changed completely. So has the environment for philanthropic giving. So have the attitudes of a new generation of philanthropists. But if you look at the biggest charities in the country, you couldn’t tell …”

1MTweets seeks to prove there is a prominent place for worthy causes within social networks, and that – if engaged in the right way – people will actively network and connect to support and promote causes close to their heart.

“Twitter is a powerful platform,” adds Banks. “The transfer and sharing of information and level of engagement on Twitter is incredible, making it a great resource to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s and memorialize those who have lived with the devastating disease.”

All proceeds from 1Mtweets will be allocated to research projects focused on the aging brain and Alzheimer’s disease through the Alzheimer Society of Canada in collaboration with the American Alzheimer’s Association.

How can I participate?

Visit the 1MTweets website and tweet to digitally memorialize a loved one affected by Alzheimer’s.
Tweet about the program itself and make sure you include the hashtag #1Mtweets in the body of your tweet if your message is posted on the Twitter platform.
Opt in to our request to donate a minimum of $1 per tweet.
Also, consider creating a Twitter tribute, or “Twibute”, and share it with your family and friends
You can also support the movement by becoming a fan on the 1Mtweet Facebook page and by following 1Mtweets on Twitter.

Every 70 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated 35.6 million people worldwide will be living with dementia in 2010.
Six million North Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease.
1 in 11 Canadians and 1 in 8 Americans over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
Alzheimer’s is the 6^th leading cause of death in the United States.
36 per cent of Canadians know someone with Alzheimer’s disease.

T-Pain Yourself With New iPhone App

Emma Renda — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:55:53 +0000

I didn’t think anybody but T-Pain bought into the Autotune trend, but it looks like I was wrong.

Apple has released an iPhone application that allows you to Autotune your voice, and has apply called it “I Am T-Pain” after the rapper who brought the device to overwhelming mainstream employment. The app retails at $2.99 and comes with T-Pain’s instrumental discography as well as a Freestyle option that allows you to sing whatever the heck you want and sound like a robot.

T-Pain has actually based his career on his electronic-induced vocals, with songs like “Buy you a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” and even won a spot “singing” on the SNL’s Lonely Island skit, “I’m on a Boat.”

The app comes just weeks after Jay-Z released the single “Death of Autotune” on YouTube, where he slams the device, saying “I know we facin’ a recession/ but the music y’all makin’ gonna make it the Great Depression.”

T-Pain told MTV News he was “honored” by the song, somehow.

“That affected me in a great way, man. I made sure I honored him as a great songwriter . . . that’s like the best song I heard in a couple years, man,” he told MTV. “And it’s great that somebody that important stepped up and vouched for me.”

But Twitter reported something different this week. Fabolous spent his weekend tweeting from Rehab nightclub in Las Vegas where T-Pain was DJing and apparently slamming Jay-Z.

“Yo I’m at Rehab in Vegas.. T-Pain is Dj’ing.. Sayin Fuck Jay Z, he old, blah blah.. guess its backlash from D.O.A..,” Fabolous posted.

Apparently the DJ who followed T-Pain was unfazed and started his set with “Death of Autotune.”

Jay-Z has not responded, because Jay-Z doesn’t care.

BooksForSchool.ca Launches New Design to Help Canadian University Students Save Money

andPOP Staff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:16:30 +0000

Canada’s best online textbook exchange service just got a lot easier to use. BooksForSchool.ca, a free online textbook exchange service for post-secondary students, has just relaunched it’s web site with a brand new design and easier to use features.

Benefits include:

- 100% FREE service for students across Canada
- Connecting buyers and sellers who want to exchange or sell used textbooks
- Streamlined interface

Concerned over the high cost of education, rising tuitions, living expenses and onerous textbook fees, student developers were motivated to find creative ways to manage the accumulating student debt load. As a result of much research and hard work by student developers, students across the nation now have an efficient system to save money and time through use of the free online textbook exchange service.

WHAT IS AN ONLINE TEXTBOOK EXCHANGE SERVICE?

It is a web site that facilitates the direct exchange of post-secondary textbooks between students. Members may buy, sell or exchange their new and used textbooks without surcharges. There are NO membership fees for students wishing to access the “booksforschool.ca” web site and NO commission fees to buy or sell books.

“Textbook fees continue to rise and schools continue to devalue buyback offers on used textbooks.” said Daniel Levine, creator of BooksForSchool.ca. “We let the market – the students – determine the price of textbooks through supply and demand.”

With BooksForSchool.ca, students do not have to conduct extensive searches to try and find others selling their old books, or rummage through the long lines of their school’s used book store, only to come away empty handed. Instead, students simply enter the ISBN # of a textbook and our service will quickly show them what’s available on our site.

At the end of each semester, students can post their books on the BooksForSchool.ca web site and retain much of their original investment than they would receive from their school’s bookstore.

“Since BooksForSchool.ca is a country wide initiative, outdated books in one province, retain almost full value in another province,” boasts Paul Levine. “We are very excited to offer this improved service to Canadian students.”

BooksForSchool.ca is a free service that is open to all residents of Canada who are looking to achieve maximum savings on new textbooks and earn a substantial return on their used textbook investments.

Founded in 2003, BooksForSchool.ca pioneered the nation-wide online textbook exchange service in Canada. In 2005, BooksForSchool.ca combined textbook swapping with social networking, enabling students to minimize expenses and make it easier to buy and sell new and used textbooks.

BooksForSchool.ca is a completely free service for university and college students. The BooksForSchool.ca web site can be accessed by visiting: http://www.booksforschool.ca.

BodyGuardz Protect Your Gadgets

Rick Levine — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:27:59 +0000

After buying a new digital gadget, a protective case is the next sensible item most people purchase. Bodyguardz offers a product to protect your iPhone, iPod and Laptops in the form of a clear colourless protective film that covers the entire body of the device to protect from scratches and the outside elements. Therefore BodyGuardz will protect your device against scratches without changing the look of your device.

Putting the custom cut film on your gadget involves the use of a spray solution followed by careful application of the clear film, which is custom cut to cover every surface of the particular device. The new ‘skin’ will need to set for 24 hours.

BodyGuardz includes two complete sets of ‘body protectors’ and offer lifetime replacements if needed. One of the cool things about Bodyguardz protectors is how the product is custom fits on the device, allowing the beauty of the actual product to be appreciated. A conventional leather/silcone would naturally ad bulk to your portable device but the BodyGuardz protects the screen and other delicate parts without adding bulk. No additional bulk is one great BodyGuardz benefit, if you want to slip the device into your pocket or hand bag easily. However, if you ever accidently drop the gadget, a bulkier leather case might offer a little more protection to the delicate inside parts upon hitting a concrete floor for example.
The trade off between convenience and protection is an individual decision – the risk of dropping, as opposed to the convenience factor. It is likely that once you try the BodyGuardz on your gadget you will really appreciate the convenience and beauty of the product and get a BodyGuardz for all of your portable devices – With the BodyGuardz it is possible to have the best of both worlds – the BodyGuardz custom fitting will accommodate the good old leather case if you really want the double protection.

Prices for BodyGuardz will vary depending on the particular device but they are relatively cost effective for the protection provided. Fro example, BodyGuardz for the iPhone of Blackberry Tour 9630 phone is $24.95 USD. BodyGuardz for an Apple Mac Book air is $49.00
Visit www.bodyguardz.com for complete pricing and to view a video demonstration of BodyGuardz durability: http://www.bodyguardz.com/

AppDeal Finds Great Discounts on iPhone Apps

Daniel Levine — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:24:47 +0000

Our friends over at AppDeal have sent over another list of great iPhone App deals.

These deals won’t last forever so check them out.

1. Scorecard for Gold – Was $1.99, now $0.99

Did you ever want something to keep track of all your golf scores? Tired of using a paper and pencil scorecard on the course? Dont like using other electronic scoring devices because they are hard to use, or dont save your rounds?

2. Fitness Builder – Was $19.99, now $9.99

FitnessBuilder is your Ultimate Fitness App. The amazing program combines the features of over 300 other health & fitness apps and provides exercises, workouts, custom sessions, fitness calculators, tracking, logging, weigh-ins and personal trainer support in ONE App.

3. Camera Flash – Was $1.99, now $0.99

Camera Flash adds a software-based camera flash effect to iPhone camera. Unlike a small physical camera flash, Camera Flash app has unlimited effective range; and it does not drain the battery.

For more iPhone App Deals, visit AppDeal.

Ultimate Ears ‘Triple Fi 10vi’ Ear Buds for iPhone

Rick Levine — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:32:54 +0000

Noise Isolating Earphone Monitors - ‘Don’t leave home without ‘em’

The Triple Fi 10vi noise isolating earphone monitors, with voice capability, from Ultimate Ears (UE) are no ordinary pair of earbuds. These are marvelous headphones that provide a totally satisfying listening experience, without the gimmicks and colored sound. The audio experience from the Triple Fi 10vi is a smooth all around sound, absent of harsh overtones devoid of mushy bass. The Triple Fi 10vi, penetrating well into the ear canal, actually feel good and are comfortable to wear. The silicone material used for the fittings allows these headphones to feel as close to a ‘custom fit’ as possible, contributing greatly to what I discovered to be a quite satisfying listening experience. The fine sound quality, beyond initial expectations, was no doubt, due in part to having been accustomed to listening to music with the standard iPod earbuds. Be that as it may, this fact cannot steal the thunder from the UE Triple Fi 10vi’s excellence, as I immediately appreciated the rich audio quality as well as the custom fit of these pro level, isolating earphone monitors.

Professional musicians will be most likely be familiar with the Ultimate Ears Brand, as this is THE Ultimate Ears company who provides the ‘custom fitted’ monitor ear buds used worldwide by pro recording artists as well as live concert musicians. Next time you are at a live musical concert or watching your favorite live music concert on DVD, notice the tiny earphones each performer, musician is wearing. These ‘tiny hearing aids’ are probably UE Custom Series monitor headsets designed for touring musicians and serious audiophiles. I have seen James Taylor use them, Gwen Stephanie and many more. The UE product line is divided into four series, ‘Metro’,‘Super’, ‘Triple’ and ‘Custom’ providing a headset solution to suit every budget – fortunately there is in fact, a pair of UE’s available ‘for the rest of us’.

The Triple Fi 10vi is in the upper-mid to semi pro range, a worthy member of the UE family that ships with more accessories that one can initially identify. To obtain the most out of the Triple Fi 10vi experience, the first thing to do after unpacking and taking a close look at the headphones is to inspect all the accompanying contents. I highly recommend, even before ever wearing the new buds for the first time, pay a visit the UE website and view the brief online demonstration video which will explain all one needs to know about the product, from how they should be worn, the memory wire, to what all this stuff is that you will find in the box.

Here is a ‘heads up’ as to what you will find in the box:

A pocket sized 3 inch by 2 inch hard shell metal case to store the numerous accessories: silicone and foam ear cushions for the “magic seal” effect, an extender cable, a sound level attenuator, a cleaning tool and last but not least, a 1/4 inch adapter, to connect the Triple Fi 10vi’s 3.5 mm to equipment where necessary.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. The sound quality of the Triple Fi 10vi is strongly related to the fit. If the earphones are properly set into the ears the sound will be rich and full. The earbud cables have what is called ‘memory’ wire, knowledge of which is integral to creating a proper fit.

2. The Triple Fi 10vi with voice capability has built in microphone for use as a headset with the iPhone and as a recording mic on the iPod Touch 2G. Used with an iPhone the audio transmission was clearer than than ever for the usual telephone conversation.

3. The Multifunction button answers a call on the iPhone or pauses/resumes music and video play and works with the entire current iPod family of products.

4. The sound attenuator converter will adapt the FOUR section 3mm end that you would see on earbud/mic headsets that are usually used with the iPhone, to the THREE section end that you would see on the standard stereo iPod headphone jack. Use of the enclosed sound level attenuator converter, might be useful in re-solving unusual mechanical issues in some cases.

Technically, the clear sonic quality of the UE Triple Fi 10vi is primarily facilitated through state of the art audio design. Three drivers, directed to their designated speaker combined with an audio filtration system, shapes the sound of the Triple Fi 10vi. The goal is to provide the listener with an experience that is as close as possible to that of custom personal monitors.

The look and feel of the Triple Fi 10vi with voice capability can confidently be described as solid, and the sound quality is rich an creamy. The biggest dilemma which will arise, is that after using the Triple Fi 10vi, the ‘pleasure’ of listening to an iPod with the ‘standard buds’ will pretty much be lost forever. As one might say, “Once you go blue you can’t go back”, or something like that.

With the ‘Triple Fi 10vi with voice capability’ offering a whole new listening standard, the next time you take your iPod out for a walk, you’ll will likely be finding yourself sharing my headspace, thinking the very same thing: ‘don’t leave home without ‘em’. Visit the Utimate Ears website to experience the complete line up of headphone monitors available for every budget.

MSRP $419.00 USD

For more information visit http://www.ultimateears.com/

Review: Astound Stereo Expander for Macintosh

Rick Levine — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:20:01 +0000

Astound Stereo enhancer for Macintosh is a software program that can change the way the music sounds from your mac. It really does make a difference to any audio file, in a way that I would compare to putting on 3D glasses while watching a 3D enhanced movie. Some listeners will love it, purists won’t. That being said, the great thing about this particular audio software enhancement package is that you can completely control the amount of audio enhancement you want to hear – from OFF to HIGH. It is also worth noting that this audio software enhancement program does not modify or alter the actual audio files, since it works as a system preference that can be enabled, disabled or completely removed altogether with the uninstaller.

How all this musical magic is actually accomplished is not the focus of this review, but suffice it to say, whatever it is, E.Qing, reverb, delay, or whatever, it does change the sound- and once again, the amount of change to the audio file is completely user controllable and completely reversible – very cool!

Here’s what the advertising hype has to say:
‘Hear the Future…AstoundStereo, sounds appear to emanate from all around you…widens the stereo image for a truly immersive listening experience. AstoundStereo Expander produces a richer and more expansive stereo image’

It is a fact that Astound Stereo enhancer for Macintosh can completely change the audio listening experience, and that can be a good thing in some cases. In my view, a great benefit of this audio enhancement program will be, in the case where you are listening to your old vintage music collection. There would be a experience of having heard that great classic tune a thousand times and then hearing it with the enhancements. I enhanced a few favourites from my good old Beatle collection and must admit that it gave a new polish as well as a refreshing listening experience to those great old tunes, ultimately enhancing the re-listening experience. For that alone it is worth the modest $32.00 purchase price.

The package includes an audio demo file that designed to make the audio qualities affected by the Astound Stereo enhancement software very evident. Trying to describe an audio listening enhancement experience is a lot like trying to describe the taste of spamoni ice cream to someone who never tasted spamoni or ice cream. Therefore, ultimately, the best way to find out if this program is for you or not is to download the demo and try it out. No harm in trying – Don’t be surprised it you end up loving Astound Stereo enhancer for macintosh! Visit http://www.astoundstereo.com for more information.