Based on some hands-on time with the new version of Keynote in Apple's iWork suite, I have written up a 'First Look' piece for MacCentral on Macworld.com:
The main focus of the article is showing what's new and improved over the previous version of Keynote. It's not a full-blown review, but it does cover pretty much every new feature, with a fair number of screenshots and a couple of short movies.
Look for a similar writeup on Pages on either Monday or Tuesday...
I'm putting this in the "Reviews" category, because I can't really decide where it might best fit. We have a G3/500 iBook that hasn't been getting much use lately, so I thought I'd try it as a webcam for while, just to put it to some sort of use (I hate selling off my older Macs!).
Using a combination of built-in programs, OS X features, and EvoCam, our little iBook is now a fully-automated, somewhat failsafe, webcam serving machine. There's really nothing new in this hint/review, just a combination of things that have been covered here before all put to use in one solution. So read the rest of the hint if you'd like to see what I did...
In the continuing series of occasional (very occasional -- Two pages worth in three years!) macosxhints.com reviews, I've written up my experiences with the Contour Design NoteRiser, a stand designed to elevate the screen on PowerBooks and iBooks to traditional monitor viewing heights.
Executive summary: An amazingly well-built product at a premium price over its competition.
After way too much time spent tweaking and testing and writing and fixing, I've finally managed to finish and post my hands-on review of the new Dual G5:
Instead of posting comments here, I've set up a forum thread for feedback, corrections, rants, etc. You do not need to register to post a comment to the review (you do need to register to post elsewhere on the forums, though).
While my review is clearly not as technically deep as those you'll find on sites like Macworld or PC Magazine, I did do some non-standard things, such as recording a noise comparison and creating a screen movie demonstrating the launch of 10 applications in rapid-fire succession.
My wife wanted a small MP3 player for running, but getting one compatible with OS X is a big problem. Many players simply ignore the Mac, and those that don't seem to only support OS 9 at best. However we eventually found the Creative MuVo. It's USP [robg: Unique Selling Proposition?] is that it's an MP3 player and a storage class USB flash drive (so even if you don't use it as a player...). Although designed to be loaded via Windows Explorer, you can load files by dragging them from an iTunes playlist. The MuVo remenbers the playlist order and you're off and running, literally.
But, internally it appears to be DOS formatted so, it won't always accept filenames that are legal in OSX (like use of the "?" character) so you might have to clean up the filenames by editing them in iTunes. It won't tell you have a problem it jus won't load.
[robg adds: You can find a list of "iTunes aware" MP3 players (along with CD burners) on Apple's Playback Compatibility page.]
Using iMovie 3 to make a Video CD: An early review.
I've spent most of the last weekend using, fiddling with, and customizing iMovie 3. Although I have seen a few complaints on the web here and there, the overall trend of my experience is quite positive.
iMovie 3 is, the way I use it, at least, basically a very nice front end for QuickTime. Although it's perfectly possible to edit captured video in QuickTime Player Pro, it's not convenient and not free. iMovie 3 especially is much easier to use and you can't beat the price. I still use QuickTime Player Pro, as described below, but I am hopeful that in time I won't need to.
[Editor's note: The remainder of the article contains a very detailed look at using iMovie3 to create a VCD project, including some tricks for customizing the iMovie3 interface...]
I received my copies of Keynote and Final Cut Express today. I haven't had any time to look at FCPExpress yet (other than to note that the 750 page manual comes only as a PDF), I spent a couple hours playing around with Keynote tonight, and thought I'd write a brief review of the program (oddly enough, Keynote does include a 100-page printed manual that does a great job of explaining the program).
As a summary, I'll just say that I can't see going back to PowerPoint again ... read the rest of the article for some of the details on why not.
Mac Spotlight has published a firsthand look at FileMaker Pro 6.0; if you'd like to find out what's new and different with Apple's user-friendly database package, head on over and read their review.
Aspyr's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (MoA:AA) is a "first person shooter" (FPS) game set in World War II, and built with Id Software's Quake3 engine. It was ported to the Mac by Westlake Interactive, who are responsible for bringing some of the biggest games to the Mac (their current projects include Star Wars Jedi Knight II and Max Payne, for example).
After playing the PC demo for Medal of Honor (note to Aspyr - why no Mac demo?), the Mac version quickly found its way into my home. Read the rest of the article for a brief review of the game...