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

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QuickerTek has announced an external battery/charger that will give MacBook Pros an additional 18 hours of battery life.

The product expands the included battery’s capacity for 11.5 to 18 hours. While in use it also charges the internal battery. Users can benefit from the extended battery life during airline flights.

“This new battery and charger not only gives you all-day performance, but it also enables a longer wireless experience, by providing all the extended power needed when mobile. It looks good and it’s easy to carry with you when you travel,” said Rick Estes, QuickerTek president.

“This battery technology is now 25% more dense – so we can pack more into a smaller size.”

The product is three pounds and is available for $499.95 USD.

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The newest release of Suitcase is really exciting and practical, taking advantage of the latest Apple OS technology. Typography is a beautiful thing. With Suitcase Fusion 2, typography becomes a pleasure to work with and responsible font management can resolve many of the common ailments facing Mac users such as poor system performance. A splendid upgrade, the newest version of Suitcase takes advantage of Apple’s newest animation technology as well as Leopard’s modern interface to provide the user with new visual functionality. What iTunes does for cataloging your music selection, SF2 does for activating, previewing and cataloguing your font collection.

SF2 Sports a modern and entirely new user interface. A Font Libraries and Sets Pane is located on the upper left hand side. This is the character based area where you organize your fonts to suit your needs. Located on the lower left is the Attributes Pane where fonts are classified. The Preview Pane is where you will spend most of your time and takes up the central part of the interface. There are numerous ways to preview fonts in SF2 which utilizes some of Apple’s newest and most impressive animation technology. With the Waterfall View all Fonts can be sized with a slider allowing you to zoom in and out of fonts sizes seamlessly. Of course you can type your own text for previews with the Quicktype selection as well in any of the preset views from the drop down menu at the bottom of the Preview Pane.

In terms of new functionality, SF2 has a feature called Floating Previews that is way cool. Floating Previews is a convenience feature that allows you to manipulate your fonts directly from SF2 while working with outside documents. Type any text in the preview pane, grab that preview as a floating panel or ‘tear off’ palette and put it in any outside document you are working on in order to see exactly how it looks on that particular document. The ‘Drag-and-drop your previews into a live document’ feature is just too wild to explain, so take the time to view this on the On Line Demo (third video demo) called ‘Comparing and selecting fonts’.

If you need to use Wingdings, Symbols, Dingbats or fonts that are not of the usual roman characters, you will find The Glyph viewer very useful. The Glyph view allows us to view all if the different characters in a particular font. By hovering over that particular character, additional useful information will become available including how to create that particular character. The ‘Codepoint’ indicates the Key Commands used to create that symbol or dingbat. Adobe Pro Fonts are accommodated in the Glyph view as well by allowing you to view particular portions of the font family, which can be a real time saver in these pro fonts families that have so many variations available. Here is a link to the Apple Key Command Symbols that provide a visual table of the keyboard commands. This ‘key command’ table should be listed in every user manual but never is.

A plug-in based auto activation feature automatically activates fonts needed for a particular document. Font Sense creates a ‘finger print’ of your fonts by applying a unique I.D. to each font in order to activate the exact font you want for a document. For example, there are many versions of Helvetica, and it may be the Adobe version of Helvetica that you actually want to activate instead of the version from Linotype. In addition to Font Sense, the Auto Activation preference panel allows the user to have control over Font substitution, embedded fonts, and entire font families. Duplicate fonts can cause a lot of headaches on the Mac OS. ‘Name duplicates’ are allowed but SF2 will not allow the loading of exact duplicates.

Fonts from Suitcase Fusion can be imported to SF2 so you will not have to re- construct all your existing font sets if you are upgrading. This did not work too well when I was upgrading. During the process an alert box appeared telling me that a particular font on a particular external drive could not be located. In the end I had to re-construct my sets for the upgrade, but ultimately it was time to do some housekeeping anyway.

Suitcase Fusion 2 is a well constructed, solid must have program for every Leopard user. It is hands down, the best version of suitcase ever, with incredibly useful new font management features. Used properly, SF2 will help you manage your fonts effectively and greatly improve the performance of your Macintosh. Download the 30 day free demo online and see for yourself and wonder how you ever lived without SF2.

Minimum requirements: Leopard 10.5 (will not work in 10.4)
www.extensis.com
$99.95 for Suitcase Fusion 2
$49.95 to Upgrade from Suitcase Fusion
Available on line or as a retail package.

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If you are looking to buy one of the great audio interface boxes for the Macintosh, you may want to look at the Apogee Duet. The Duet is a quality sounding audio interface with a sleek modern design and comes with software specifically designed for the MacIntosh. With all its genius of design, the Achilles heel of the Duet appears to be the ‘The Dongle’ or in other words the way Apogee decided to provide connectivity to peripherals. Many people who love the quality of the Duet Apogee have been concerned about the cheesy looking Dongle and would like to replace that ‘dongle of strings’ with some other more substantial looking device. The Breakout Box for the Duet is now available to “take the tangle out of your Duet”.

The Duet Breakout Box is a welcome companion to the Apogee Duet and is built to the relative high standards. The device is basically in the form of a metal box which comes in either Black or Silver and the kit includes a 16 inch computer cable that connects the computer’s Audio to the outside world. The unit is simple to set up and works pretty much immediately with no flaws, as long as you take the time to hook it up properly in the first place. Notice the word ‘OUT’ on the top of the Box has been placed right where the INPUTS are located. As simple as it is to set up, better IN and OUT markings could clear up any potential confusion during the initial setup or when trouble-shooting.

Just one important note, before connecting or disconnecting the hardware to the MacIntosh, make sure to power down first. Make all the connections while the computer is OFF and then Boot Up your computer. Make sure the Apple Preferences are set up correctly for the Apogee Duet to be operating and you will be making beautiful music in no time at all. The Duet Breakout box for the Apogee Duet is available ‘on line’ directly from the manufacturer at a cost of: $95.00 plus shipping. So put your Apogee Duet ‘Dongle’ away for safe keeping and connect up audio peripherals with the Duet Breakout Box.

Visit: http://www.duetbreakout.com/
For photos, additional specs and further information.

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LaCie announced earlier this week the addition of USB Speakers by Neil Poulton to their product line. The speakers provide universal usability in both PC and Mac environments through bus-powered connectivity, and feature internal cable storage.

The LaCie USB speakers can plug into a PC or Mac without installing any additional drivers. The speakers can also be connected directly to a MP3 player with the purchase of an extra power adapter.

The speakers were also awarded the Janus 2007 Seal of Quality by the French Institute of Design, and were listed in Time Magazine’s Design 100 issue. LaCie was also awarded a 2008 Design Observer Star from the French Agency for the Promotion of Industrial Creation.

The LaCie USB Speakers are available worldwide for the suggested retail price of $59.99. For more information on this product, visit www.lacie.com.

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Technology, it seems, is in a constant state of transition and it’s often hard to stay current. Last year’s hi-definition disc battle illustrated just how quickly a format can descend into obsolescence.

One format that has long since gone the way of the dinosaur is VHS. The tape which claimed victory over Sony’s Betamax in the format war of the 1980’s was a staple of almost every household. After being effectively killed off by DVD’s, VHS found itself in an awkward afterlife. Electronics retailers continued to sell VCR’s, but with no new content released on tape, the concept was dead in the water.

The only reason to keep a VCR in the house was to watch old videos and home recordings. In this world of digital transference, that logic equates to a bunch of wasted space. 

Enter the Pinnacle Video Capture Suite for Mac, a brilliantly simplistic way of turning analog content into digital video files.

There are dozens of video capture options on the PC, but the Mac has been left out in recent years. This is partially due to Apple’s lack of user-swappable video cards. On a PC, users can install their own video cards with video-capture ability. Apple’s closed system restricts this freedom in favour of aesthetic purity.

Pinnacle’s steak-shaped product requires two connections: one to your Mac’s USB port, and the other to your VCR via a composite or S-Video input. The video connection cables are not included with the unit, but most VCR’s do come with them.

Once these connections have been made, Pinnacle’s OSX application launches and begins the capturing process. It’s simple: press play on the VCR, hit the red button and the digitization begins. Video capturing is normally a resource hog, bogging down your system’s processing power and RAM usage. Pinnacle’s product features a built-in MPEG-4 encoder for all the grunt work, meaning your Mac won’t break a sweat during the import. The MPEG-4 codec is also compatible with iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV right out of the box. I was astonished to see how effective this process worked.

Pinnacle doesn’t include any video editing software but who needs it? Apple’s built-in iLife suite happily accepts the MPEG-4 format and allows for complete flexibility of the encoded file. I was able to import some old home movies with the Pinnacle, edit them in iMovie and later burn them in iDVD. Pinnacle’s product fits perfectly into the Apple ecosystem of simplicity and flexibility.

DVD discs remain the format of choice for newly-released video, but their extinction is already foreseeable. I predict the future of video to be 100 per cent digital, a concept exhibited by Apple TV and the XBOX 360’s Video Store. Some prefer physically owning their content, a tangible manner of ownership, but in this green-obsessed world, the elimination of all physical packaging is unavoidable and understandable. As hard drives get bigger and cheaper, they’ll become the medium of choice for media storage.

Pinnacle, it seems, agrees with this logic. By jumping straight from the archaic VHS format to the digital MPEG-4 format, the Video Capture for Mac effectively skips a stage of obsolescence.
The Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac is available for $99 USD, a small price to pay for the elimination of that clunky VHS collection.

Pros-

Brilliantly easy to use

Converts to flexible and compatible MP4 format

Doesn’t hog system resources

Cons-

Doesn’t include video/audio cables

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It’s official: loving technology is cool. The image of the nerd in mama’s basement has been banished and replaced by the multitude of gadget lovers that roam the streets brandishing iPhones and Blackberrys. Companies are realizing the sales potential of cool looking devices in a world where image is everything.

Planon, a small Canadian company, employs a similar logic in their unique product line of portable scanners. It seems improbable that the words “portable” and “scanner” belong in the same sentence, but Planon pulls it off with the DocuPen RC800. The diminutive scanner makes quite an initial first impression. It’s a device that would feel right at home in 007’s back-pocket.

On paper, the DocuPen’s specifications sound pretty good. Roughly the size of a pen, the device is capable of full 24bit scanning in a matter of seconds. It’s activated through a rolling motion as you slide it over a document or image, and produces scans of up to 400 dpi. It can store about 100 scans on its 8mb internal memory, but can be upgraded with a microSD card.

In practice, it’s a slightly different story. While the pen is visually impressive, the build quality is very poor. I’ve used sturdier electric toothbrushes. It really is a shame that Planon chose to use cheap materials on what really is a cool looking and ridiculously overpriced product.

The pen operates through two side-by-side buttons: one to turn the unit on, the other to toggle between scan modes. It includes scanning modes for black and white documents, colour documents, and a dedicated photo setting. All of my test scans were done in the pen’s highest-resolution setting. I scanned a simple 8.5×11 text document and found the resultant images surprisingly legible. There were some harsh edges and blurred characters, but document scanning was impressive overall.

After switching to the photo mode, I ran the pen over a 4×6 print. Because the pen’s default size is 8.5×11, the resultant images included the surrounding scan area and needed cropping. Planon’s built in software should have included a function to do this automatically, but I was forced to do it myself in Photoshop. The quality of the photo scan was satisfactory, but mediocre when compared to a scan from a full-sized flatbed scanner.

The included software is extremely barebones, with nothing more than a thumbnail preview and download button. As simple as this sounds, Planon still managed to get this wrong. In order to transfer and save my scans, I was forced to use the save option in Mac OS X’s Preview application. As fast as the unit may be at scanning documents, the time it take transfer the files is painfully slow. The DocuPen is badly crippled by poor software implementation.

Charging the DocuPen’s built in li-ion battery requires a USB connection via Planon’s proprietary USB cable. Unfortunately, the unit features no battery status meter. I couldn’t tell whether I had a full battery charge or whether the pen was on its last leg.

As cool as this thing is, I’m struggling to see its day-to-day application. Those who frequently scan documents would appreciate the convenience of a portable scanner, but the clunkiness of the unit would certainly prove infuriating in everyday use. The MSRP of $299 USD is simply unreasonable, a ludicrous amount for a device worth half that amount.

The DocuPen is then a classic example of form over function, a cool-looking one trick pony meant to impress the guys at the office rather than become a permanent fixture in one’s technological arsenal.

Pros:
- Scans documents and photos effectively on the go
- Awesome design and diminutive design
- Mac and PC Compatible

Cons:
- Ridiculously overpriced at $299 USD
- Scan quality is mediocre at best
- Build quality and materials are sub par
- Terrible software
- Proprietary USB connection

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Parallels, a software company that specializes in compatibility software for Macs, has just released the latest version of it’s Desktop software. Parallels Desktop build 5600 provides full support for Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3, and provides increased compatibility with MacBook Air. By using the Parallels software, Windows programs can be run on a Mac without rebooting the computer.

Some other major features of the Parallels Desktop build 5600 include improvements in the Shared Folder software, such as faster file transfer speed and the ability to share files and folders between removable drives. There have also been smaller improvements in the bug fixing capabilities and overall performance of the software.

The Parallels Desktop update is free to all current Parallels users. Users can get the update via Parallels Desktop auto-updater, or download it from http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop.

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Macally says their new Turtle Mouse, designed specifically for laptop uses would be a great accessory for new MacBook Air users. “Macally today announced just the right mouse that matches the light thin design of the new slim Apple notebook. The Macally Turtle is a USB mouse and ideal for use with a Mac notebook.”

The Macally Turtle features a retractable USB cord and 800 dpi precision laser sensor. The device, announced at Macworld San Francisco is ergonomic and compact with a MSRP of $19.99

“As consumers spend more and more time at their computers for fun activities such as video editing, music downloading, and photography sharing, they want a mouse that delivers a physical point of contact that is comfortable, intuitive and full-featured,” said Andrew Saldana, Macally?s vice president of sales and marketing. “These new mice products provide our customers with the highest quality and value and will provide an effortless and pleasant interface with their computers.”

More info and pictures available at www.macally.com.

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TweakerSoft has announced VectorDesigner 1.0.0, a resolution independent vector graphics application exclusively for Mac OS X.

VectorDesigner is built for vector drawings, diagrams and illustrations, raster image handling, filtering and color correction. It targets users looking to create vector artwork, such as posters, brochures, stickers, logos, web design, tshirt production and more.

The software works using Mac OS X technologies such as Quartz and CoreImage.

Tools include: smart shapes, rectangles, ovals, rounded rectangles, polygons, stars, bezier creation and editing, as well as raster to bezier conversion.

Download link: http://tweakersoft.com/vectordesigner/

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) 10.5 (Leopard) recommended
* Universal Binary for PowerPC & Intel
* G4, G5 or Intel Processor
* 900 Mhz or faster
* 512 MB Memory or higher
* 8.9 MB Hard Drive space
* Some features require Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

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Miglia has just announced the TVMini+, a pocket sized USB 2.0 device to watch and record analogue and digital terrestrial television.

The device comes with Miglia TV software, allowing users to export recordings to iTunes, iPod, iPhone or Sony PSP.

Eric Ferraz, CTO, Miglia, commented: “TVMini+ is a fantastic solution for any Mac owner due to its wide range of features and its sleek, compact design. Customers will get all their TV needs in one small highly portable tuner and also benefit from a full suite of ground-breaking software

Key Features
• Watch and record digital analogue TV on your Mac
• 10-bit video and stereo sound on analogue sources.
• Includes remote control and digital antenna.
• Export recordings to iPod, PSP and Apple TV.
• 2 year manufacturer warranty.

The TVMini+ is available from Miglia’s distribution partners or online store with a retail price of €129.99 (about $195 CAD). A list of distributors and resellers is available on Miglia’s website:
http://www.miglia.com/buy/

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The release of Parallels Desktop 3.0, which is the first major update of Desktop for Mac since the launch of the Parallels Desktop for Mac in June 2006, introduces over 50 new features, enhancements and improvements for running Windows and Mac software at the same time on a single Intel-based Mac.

The release is anchored by SmartSelect, a new feature that lets users use any OS X or Windows application to open any file type, regardless of whether that file is on the Mac or Windows desktop. Users can select the right application to open a file each time via right click, or can set a default application association to ensure that a given class of file always opens in a specific application.

For example, if a user sets Word for Windows to be the default application to work with .doc, .rtf and .txt files, he or she could simply double click a file with that extension in either OS – even if it is an email attachment in Apple Mail or Entourage – and instantly open the file in Word for Windows.

SmartSelect is also automatically configured to mount and open Mac .dmg installer files in OS X, even if they were downloaded in Windows via Internet Explorer or Outlook, and to automatically open .exe files in Windows, even if they reside in Mac OS X.

“This new version is an important milestone for us helping computer users get the best of all operating systems on a single, seamless desktop,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, CEO of Parallels, Inc. “With new features that deliver more flexibility, increased security and peace-of-mind, working with multiple operating systems has never been easier, safer, or more fun.”

Core New Features

Snapshots: Save the state of your virtual machine and revert back to that instant at any time.

Security Manager: Manager the level of sharing between Mac OS X and Windows.

Hardware-Accelerated 3D Graphics: Support for OpenGL and DirectX (you can now play Quake, Half-Life 2, WoW etc…).

Parallels Explorer: View and modify Windows without launching it.

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac is available for online purchase at www.parallels.com/en/buyonline, and boxed copies are available at the Apple Store, Fry’s Electronics, MicroCenter, CompUSA, Amazon.com, Staples, Office Depot, select Best Buy locations, and hundreds of other retailers nationwide. The standard retail price (SRP) of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac is $79.99. New users are welcome to test a free, fully-functional copy of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac for 15 days.

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Sling Media today announced the availability of SlingPlayer for Mac, their software client that allows SlingBox and Apple TV users to stream their set top box directly to their computer from anywhere in the world. Version 1.0 includes photo-realistic remotes with the ability to program your favourite channels. In addition, its wide range of viewing modes allow you to truly experience the Macs look and feel.

“We have long admired the elegance, simplicity and visual appeal of the Mac OS and Apple’s innovation in general,” said Blake Krikorian, Sling Media CEO, Chairman & Co-founder. “It was important for us to capture that overall appeal and familiarity with SlingPlayer for Mac. In fact, we turned to the Mac community, through our private and public betas, where we received overwhelming feedback from these passionate users. It was this feedback that was instrumental in being able to present the Mac community with a quality television experience on their platform of choice. Being able to bring the SlingPlayer to the Mac is a real milestone towards delivering television on all available platforms and displays.”

The software is available in the USA and Canada.

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Product: Pzizz
Company: Brainwave Limited
Link: www.pzizz.com
Price: $29.95 per module or $49.95 for two

When I first heard of Pzizz a few months ago before MacWorld, I simply laughed. A program that will play sounds and put me to sleep – could you blame me? And then about two weeks ago I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in a while.

Research is continually showing that a good nights sleep and napping during the day can be beneficial: “Researchers announced today the results of an a 25 year study on the effects of napping in industrial and post-industrial nations. The study’s outcome was clear – “for 92.5% of workers, an afternoon nap increases their productivity, and their creativity and problem solving skill.” In layman’s terms, they not only get more done, but their work is better, too.” (Dateline: IP Clinic, Marin County, California.)

58 percent of adults report trouble falling asleep a couple nights a week, while 35 percent report suffering from insomnia at least a couple nights a week (http://www.neurocrine.com/ar03/indiplon.htm). In the face paced, demanding world we live in today, those statistics aren’t frighteningly surprising, especially considering I might say I fall somewhere within those statistics.

Pzizz is a simple program, comprising of two “modules”, the Energizer Module and the Sleep Module. Based on user settings, Pzizz will create an audio file (which you can play directly from Pzizz or export for use in iTunes or on an iPod) that help you to, well, get energized or fall asleep.

When creating a new audio file, you can choose which module to use, name it, chose your mix between voice and background music and determine the length of the file (anywhere from 15-60 minutes). Once a module has been created, it shows up in the source list in Pzizz, indicating its name, module type and length. Each time you select a created “nap” from the source list, Pzizz automatically recreates an original audio file for you based on the settings of that specific nap, so that you don’t get too familiar with the audio, which would decrease its effectiveness. This is a great feature, especially when you are considering the value you get for what you pay. When you purchase a tape or CD designed to help you fall asleep or get energized, you’re stuck with one repeating audio file for as long as you chose to use it. With Pzizz, each experience is brand new, the audio files never get dull or old. So while you might get stuck with one recording for a $40 CD, with Pzizz you’re essentially getting millions of combinations.

Overall the software was easy to use, but took a little bit to get used to. If you accidentally download the program without any modules, you might find yourself a little lost. Don’t forget that the sleep and energizer modules have to be downloaded and installed separately (unless you download the bundle). Once you make your first few naps, you should be alright handling the software.

Pzizz is a cross between a coaching system and hypnosis. The actual audio files consist of a man’s voice, speaking phrases such as: “Now, rest is on your mind. But soon, rest will be taken by your body” from the sleep module and “All you need to do, is let your mind and your body get more and more relaxed” from the energizer module. This calming voice is accompanied by even more relaxing music and sounds in the background.

If this all sounds corny, I can’t blame you. I had heard all the same and still mocked the idea of Pzizz. So if I can’t convince you that it works, I’ll go by the old adage, “actions speak louder than words”. Go to http://www.pzizz.com/downloads.asp where you can find a sample 15 minute energizer soundtrack and a sample 15 minute sleep soundtrack to try out for yourself. Keep an open mind and you may be surprised. I’ll wait, go ahead, try it now.

Okay, refreshed? I hope so.

Pzizz is so dynamic its perfect for anyone. Students, business people, on the plane, in the middle of the day, whenever or wherever you like. That’s the beauty of Pzizz, you control how long you nap for. If you find yourself getting less and less yours of sleep every night, or a little too tired in the middle of the day and in need of a refresher, this is going to bed the best $50 you’ve spent in a while. You can’t put a price on feeling great.

Keep in mind that every person responds to things like personal hypnosis differently, some more susceptible than others. Personally, I find the sleep module more effective for myself, but with time I hope to become a better “napper”. I look forward to seeing some new features and more modules in the future.

Product Requirements:

Mac

- Mac OS X 10.4 or later

Windows

- Windows XP / XP Pro / 2000
- 64MB RAM
- QuickTime 6.0.2

For more information, or to download Pzizz, visit www.pzizz.com

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Product: AppZapper
Link: www.appzapper.com
Cost: 12.95(USD)
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later

I might not be a huge fan of Microsoft Windows, but if it has one thing over Mac OS X, it’s a system wide ability to easily uninstall software. In its own regard, the Microsoft approach may not be perfect, but it’s better than nothing.

When you install an application under Mac OS X, you’re not only installing the pretty file that resides in our Applications folder. Preference files, application support documents and caches all find a cozy place on your hard-drive to set up camp. To an advanced user, this might seem like child’s play, for most however, you’re probably still asking: What’s a cache?

With AppZapper, www.appzapper.com you don’t need to know. This great app is truly the “uninstaller Apple forgot.”

You open the app to a simple interface, which asks users to “Drag Apps Here.” Yes, it is that easy. I dragged Adobe Illustrator onto the app (Not that I would EVER get rid of Illustrator), and was surprised to see how diligent the program was, recognizing not only the app itself and the preference file, but also the apps containing folder with approximately 366MB of data inside. The program did miss one small thing however. Buried deep in my Library folder, under application support, is a Plug-Ins directory for Illustrator. Even thought the directory had no files inside of it, once I had deleted Adobe Illustrator there would be no need for an Adobe Illustrator plugins folder. This is by no means a huge issue (or really even an issue at all) being that the folder didn’t actually have any files in it, but for the obsessive, this may be an annoyance. Hopefully a future release will find a way to look at directories such as this one.

What impressed me most about the software was that it wasn’t limited simply to application files in your application folder. A helpful lightning bolt icon in the lower left of the main window drops down a list of PreferencePanes, Widgets, Plugins and iPod Updaters for you to uninstall. A “genie’s lamp” icon immediately to the right of the lightning bolt will “magically” find all of your apps and allow you to select which ones you want to zap (uninstall).

Don’t worry about deleting something you didn’t want to. Once you select an app to delete, AppZapper first shows you all associated files, their size and location on your hard-drive and allows you to select which to delete. AppZapper also warns you when you attempt to uninstall an open or “safe” app. Safe apps are applications you want to protect from accidental deletion. You can drag specific apps into the list (which you get to through the general preferences) or select some preset options that make default apps (like iPhoto, iTunes, etc.) and open files automatically “safe.”

Final Thoughts
5/5

There’s no question as to whether AppZapper is great. It has a clean, simple interface and does exactly it’s supposed to do: it fully deletes unwanted apps. This is definitely a feature Apple left out and for any Mac OS X user who wants to keep their system in check or simply doesn’t want to be scared of testing out a new app because they think it will leave too many unwanted files in their system, AppZapper is the solution. Advanced users might simply see this program as a slight timesaver or alternative to finding files via Spotlight. For the average user who only vaguely knows about all the extra files installed by an app, this is the way to go.

You can download AppZapper from www.appzapper.com and test out a few zaps for yourself. The application costs $12.95 but comes with free upgrades for life. If that awesome value isn’t enough for you, andPOP is giving away licenses of AppZapper to 5 lucky readers. To enter the contest visit our contests page.

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Miglia announced the TVDuo today for the Mac.

TVDuo brings a complete DVR experience to your Mac desktop. By integrating two digital terrestrial tuners, TVDuo lets you watch and record all of your favourite programs without having to decide which to miss and which to watch. TVDuo is compatible with the DVB-T standard (called Freeview in the UK and TNT in France) and works in most European and Asian countries.

Bundled with Elgato’s EyeTV2, TVDuo includes all the features you are looking for in a Digital Video Recorder: Record TV, remove boring adverts from recorded footage while watching live TV, access EPG data from the Internet, schedule recordings and much more. You can even export recorded shows to your iPod Video or other Mac applications such as iDVD and Toast.

The TVDuo sells for about $200 (Canadian) and can be purchased online at the Miglia Store.

The device requires a Mac with built-in USB 2.0 compatibility, a G4 with at least 1.25 GHz or a G5/Intel CPU and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or higher.

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Product: EyeTV 250 (hardware) and EyeTV 2.0 (software)
Company: Elgato www.elgato.com
Overall Rating: 4.5/5

For a long time, many Mac users had difficulty finding a good solution for watching TV on their computer. While there were many options available for the PC (like solutions from pinnacle – http://www.pinnaclesys.com) there wasn’t a great way to watch TV on the Mac. That was until I got a hold of an “EyeTV 250″ from Elgato (http://www.elgato.com). Elgato makes what is probably the most popular software for watching and recording TV on the Mac. They also make great hardware to go along with it. This review will look both at the “EyeTV 250″ hardware, that enables one to plug regular analogue TV into their computer and Elgato’s awesome software “EyeTV 2″.

The Hardware:

The EyeTV 250, is a small, USB 2.0 based piece of hardware that converts a standard analogue TV connection to a USB input for your computer. The package also comes with a fully featured remote that has everything you would expect to see on a regular TV remote, as well as more features.

What I liked about the hardware:

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was how small the EyeTV 250 was. Even with the pictures of the website, the small size was still a good surprise. This allowed me to discretely place the unit on the ground (under or next to my computer) without even noticing it was there taking up any extra room. A great bonus to the standard cable connection is the adapter (that comes with the unit), which allows you to connect other devices, such as a VCR, DVD player or gaming console via S-Video or RCA connections.

What I didn’t like about the hardware:

The only negative about the hardware would have to be the remote. While the remote has all the standard features (and more) that you would expect of any remote, I found the working range of the remote to be quite short. With the EyeTV 250 located under my desk, the remote worked fine from about 2-4 feet away. However, at certain angles and at a distance of more than 4 ft, the remote scarcely works. Due to this issue, I have resulted in not using the remote and instead use my Kensington remote to change channels and adjust volume. (You can also control the EyeTV software via the keyboard or on screen menu).

Overall hardware rating: 4/5

The hardware is great and works as expected, I just wish the remote was had a little extra range. Even though I found a solution with my Kensington remote, it has far fewer buttons and thus gives me access to much less EyeTV features when I’m not directly in front of my computer.

The software:

What I liked about the software:

The best part of this whole package is definitely the software. It was clearly created bottom up from the user’s perspective and works intuitively. Acting like a “Tivo” the EyeTV software allows you to easily program the device to record any show directly to your hard-drive. The interface has some similar features to iTunes and you shouldn’t have a problem using the program even if you’ve never seen it. The preferences allow you to control all types of things such as recording quality, export options and even lets you chose to de-interlace the image so it looks great on a computer monitor (de-interlacing is a method of converting interlaced images – which have two separate image fields in each frame and are used with traditional television monitors- to one normal smooth frame, which is used with most computer monitors).

All recordings are saved in a specified location and are easily navigable with the EyeTV software, which also easily lets you export recordings to Toast (for DVD or VCD) or iPod (to watch on your iPod or view in iTunes).

The program guide, probably the coolest feature of the program, shows you a complete list of shows for every channel for the whole day and can automatically update with an internet connection. You can then click on any program within the program guide to easily set EyeTV to record it. (Note that the program guide requires a that you sign up to TitanTV (in the US) for free or to tvtv.com (in europe), which is free for one year). The program guide is also searchable which makes it really easy to see when your favorite programs will be on.

EyeTV even includes a really simple, really easy-to-use editor for getting out those annoying commercials before you watch your favorite show or export it to iPod.

While I’m not a big-time gamer, I did hook up my Xbox360 and NES (thats right, I just said I hooked up my NES) and was really thrilled with the result. The picture quality certainly doesn’t match that of a TV and I did notice some lag (mostly in sports games like NHL 2007 on XBOX) but all in all it provided a great solution that allowed a casual video game player to relax and have some fun while taking breaks from work.

What I didn’t like about the software:

When we first tested the product, the EyeTV software we were using was an older version that was making our computer crash (PowerMac G5). The new 2.0 version seems to have cleared up those issues, though the program does lock-up from time to time when trying to quit.
Currently the EyeTV software uses TitanTV for users in the U.S. and tvtv.com in Europe, to get information for the built-in program guide. Unfortunately, EyeTV does not officially offer the use of the built-in program guide for Canadian users. This was initially a huge drawback, but I have found a great solution.

A recently released program called MacProgramGuide, allows users to get TV listings for Canada and the US directly in the built-in EyeTV program guide. Be careful though, it’s a little complicated to set up and isn’t officially supported by Elgato. However, I use it and it has made my EyeTV experience complete.

Overall Software Rating: 5/5

The EyeTV software is amazing, well built and functions great. Ya there might be a bug or two, but they don’t cause much trouble and they seem to disappear with each upgrade. With each version the program gets better and better. A recently released upgrade, version 2.3.2, adds support for picture-in-picture, great for watching a recorded program and the hockey game at the same time. If you have hardware with two tuners, you could even have real picture-in-picture. The only thing missing from the software is a “float above all windows” option. When browsing the web, emailing or doing work, the EyeTV screen can get lost behind other apps. It would be great if you could chose to keep the EyeTV window in front of all other windows so that I could watch TV and do some work at the same time. I’m sure this feature is in the works and look forward to seeing it in a future release.

Overall rating 4.5/5

The EyeTV is by far the best solution for anyone looking to watch TV on their Mac. The software has some awesome features that make the user’s experience smooth and enjoyable. The hardware is sophisticated and works as expected. All in all, the EyeTV just works and I couldn’t imagine not having it now that i’ve used it for some time. Scheduling TV shows to automatically record has given me more flexibility and left me not having to worry about setting the VCR or dreaming for a Tivo. If you’re looking to watch TV on your computer, or need some extra room and are thinking about getting rid of your TV, I definately recommend you check out Elgato.com. (Elgato also has hardware solutions for digital, terrestrial and satellite tv)

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Apple today held a large press event in San Francisco to update their music offerings for consumers.

The biggest announcement was that of a cell phone by Motorola featuring the iTunes software. The deal between Apple and Motorola was announced last summer, but there were delays in the announcement from earlier this summer that pushed it back to today.

The new phone, called the Motorola ROKR(pronounced “Rocker”), comes with a card that holds 512 MB of music, or about 100 songs.

“The way we think of this phone is, it’s really an iPod shuffle on your phone,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said at the announcement.

It is a regular cell phone, but at the push of a single button, the iTunes software comes up. The phone is bundled with stereo headphones, and can be used as a regular MP3 player.

When a call comes in, the music stops where it is, and you are able to take the call. The music resumes in the same place when the call ends. Music can be loaded on the phone using iTunes and the included USB cable.

ROKR features many of the same features that typical cell phones carry today including a camera with zoom and flash as well as video record, Bluetooth (though not for loading music), and talk time of up to 6.5 hours and standby time of 260 hours.

At the announcement, Apple revealed that Cingular will be the exclusive provider of the phone in the U.S., selling it for $249.99 with 2 year contract.

Motorola announced that Rogers Wireless is tabbed to sell the phone in Canada later this month. Pricing and terms were not available at press time.

Apple also announced the iPod Nano will be a replacement to the number one selling MP3 player in the world, the iPod Mini.

The Nano is much smaller than the Mini, though big enough that it still has room for a screen. The Nano improves on the Mini in that its screen is in colour. Whereas the Mini used a regular hard drive, the Nano uses a flash drive like the iPod Shuffle, meaning there are no moving parts in the player’s interior. This means there is no worry of skipping when a person is jogging, and the battery lasts much longer.

Even more remarkable is that the length is about the same as an iPod Shuffle, and it’s even flatter than the Shuffle. However it still uses Apple’s regular dock connector, and has room for Apple’s signature click wheel.

The Nano itself comes in and two colours, Apple’s signature white colour, and a new black colour. It is available immediately in Canada for $249 for the 2 GB model, and $299 for the 4 GB model.

Madonna’s 15 albums are now part of the iTunes Music Store, the same day Apple showed her in a new commercial for the Motorola ROKR.

Apple also added all 6 Harry Potter audiobooks to iTunes, and released a special 20GB iPod with the Hogwarts school crest engraved on the back. They teamed up with car manufacturers Audi, Honda, Volkswagen and Acura to include iPod connectivity options to new cars. And they released iTunes 5, which includes customization for the Shuffle feature, a cleaner interface, parental controls on the Music Store as well as album reviews, and a more powerful search feature. For Windows users, it now allows the ability to synchronize contacts and calendars from Outlook onto their iPods. iTunes 5 is now available for download at www.itunes.com.

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Apple Computer today released the upgraded G5 iMac, sporting speeds of up to 2Ghz, built-in Airport Extreme and Bluetooth. In addition, the new systems now ship with Apple’s brand new Tiger Operating System (Mac OS X 10.4). The new iMac’s also include an updated dual layer SuperDrive, Gigabit Ethernet, 512MB of RAM and Apple’s iLife ’05 software suite.

“Reviewers have called the iMac G5 ‘the most elegant desktop computer in the world’ and now it’s getting even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With a faster processor, built-in wireless networking, Tiger and iLife ’05, the new iMac G5 offers the best consumer desktop computing experience in the world.”

The iMac G5 ships in 17″ and 20″ screen configurations, boasting resolutions of 1440×900 and 1680×1050 respectively. The machines are now available directly through Apple and its Authorized Resellers.

Complete machine specs:

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:
– 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440-by-900 pixels;
– 1.8 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
– 512MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
– 24X Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive;
– ATI Radeon 9600 graphics processor with 128MB video memory;
– Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR;
– 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
– 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
– Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports; and
– Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:
– 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440-by-900 pixels;
– 2.0 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
– 512MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
– 8X SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
– ATI Radeon 9600 graphics processor with 128MB video memory;
– Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR;
– 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
– 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
– Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports; and
– Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:
– 20-inch widescreen LCD with 1680-by-1050 pixels;
– 2.0 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
– 512MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
– 8X SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
– ATI Radeon 9600 graphics processor with 128MB video memory;
– Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR;
– 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
– 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
– Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports; and
– Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

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