MMFixed – The ergonomic addition for your Mighty Mouse

After trawling through the last few days worth of entries on LifeHacker, a particular favourite haunt of mine, I saw a post for the ergonomic add-on for the Mighty Mouse, which in all fairness can hardly be called ergonomic – period!

Here’s the LifeHacker Link

After watching the simple-but-effective video, in which it’s mentioned that you can get one of these gizmos for $10 delivered to the US, I wondered what it would cost it to ship it to Blighty (the UK for those who wonder what I’m talking about) and much to my surprise, with some PayPal magic, the additional cost to send to the UK only comes to an extra 3 bucks!  In today’s terms, I find that pretty darn reasonable.

Here’s the MMFixed Link

I really like the simplicity of the Web Site.  Sure, they are only selling one product but they haven’t cluttered it up or made you click through several pages to get what you’re there for!

Needless to say, I am a lover of gadgets and gizmos and I’m thinking $13 delivered to the UK is a small price to pay if it’ll help keep RSI at bay.

Check it out, you might thank me one day!

PL

Media Centre – Replacing Sky

Something happened in my recent life where I decided it would be good to rationalise my monthly outgoings, and one of the things I decided to eradicate was Sky!  Now, I’m not an avid watcher of broadcast TV (honestly!), I prefer to accumulate TV that I like and watch it when I want.  Sky+ did give me that option but I don’t think the TV we get in the UK is worth the money!  If I want to watch a sporting event, I’ll go to the pub and watch it with friends!  Call this my attempt to stick it to the money grabbing b’stards at Sky.  They’ve had my wonga for quite some time and it had to stop.  I doubt I’ll be going back either or at least not until they stop charging an extra tenner a month for HD! Even when I do decide to go full HD.

The other thing that really bugs me about Sky+ is that you can’t export the content you record onto something useful…and you know I’m talking iPod or iPhone (or any other portable digital media you may have). It really is becoming increasingly behind the times.  Sure, you can watch Sky Sports on the web occasionally, but you need to have good bandwidth wherever you go and don’t get me started on the 3G coverage for O2 in the UK!  Needless to say, if I can record it, export it and watch it where I want, I’ll be happy.

Please welcome eyeTV!

 

On screen graphics, courtesy of Elgato

I already had an eyeTV diversity stick, which I’d been using on my iMac G5 sporadically when it was in the office but I decided it would be an ideal replacement for Sky, by hooking it up to FreeView and saving a little money.  The “diversity” model was equally ideal as it comes with 2 tuners built in, so if you have a boosted aerial you can use it to feed the two tuners with no ill effects, so immediately it’s just like sky, albeit with a few less channels, but a lot more possibilities!

 

eyeTV is a pretty good piece of software, simple to setup – I think my dad could even do it if he took his time – and the picture quality is very good.  The mac Mini doesn’t falter when recording two shows at once, even with the stock hard disk that I have installed in it (250Gb).

So what else does it do:

EPG:

Pretty good Electronic Programming Guide, courtesy of TVTV, first year subscription is free and subsequent years are around £10 for the year so not expensive at all!

Record and export:

I can now record a show and once complete, the software will convert it to a format of my choosing.  Most of the usual variants are covered including ipod/iphone or AppleTV.  The beauty of it is, once converted, it can be stored on a central location of it will add it to iTunes for me. The next time I dock my iPhone or iPod Touch 1st Gen, I get the show sync’d and ready to watch on the move!  If I want to keep the show that has been recorded, I can also, with the software provided, edit-out the adverts and store it in whatever format I choose.

In-built editor:

If I want to keep the show, I can edit out the adverts, credits and pre/post over-run time with the really simple built-in editor, so I get just the show and nothing else! I so wish I had that capability when I first recorded Star Wars as a kid on my parents’ Betamax video recorder…I knew each advert intimately and has left mental scars of post-Christmas sales and holiday bargains… but I digress.

Remote viewing:

Another function which the software offers is to connect back to the TV while I’m remote, from say my iPhone and watch TV that I may not have yet sync’d! I’ve not been able to take advantage of that due to the aforementioned bad 3G coverage for O2 in the UK and the fact that my BT-based broadband only has 476Kbit upload speeds.  I feel another rant brewing…upload speeds, now THERE is a pet hate of mine!

So all-in-all I am more than happy with eyeTV. Check it out here at the Elgato web site.

All-in-all I do not miss Sky+ at all, except for the fact that I can’t get Norm and the New Yankee Workshop on Freeview hehe!

I have my eye on the new eyeTV FreeSat unit that they have just released.  If that comes out with 2 tuners, I would be sorely tempted, especially since my sky dish is still mounted and 2 feeds begging to be used!

I think I might put the remote-viewing on my todo list and report back with my findings…in the interest of research of course.

PL

A “new” iMac comes home!

I thought the Mac Mini post would be my last “My Macs” post for a while but I’ve just come into the possession of a 2nd-hand iMac 20″ and it’s simply superb.

I was having an eBay moment.  I’ve had good and bad experiences with eBay like the majority of people I imagine but on this occasion, I felt like someone was smiling down on me.  I’d recently sold some old hardware items I had gathering dust, components and such from workstation, servers etc and made a nice tidy sum.  A sum that really *needed* to be re-invested into IT hardware!  So I thought I’d look for some Apple kit.  My main focus was to acquire a Time Machine for the house so that the AirPort Extreme could move into the home office outside.

The evening turned into a mix-bag of fortunes because I narrowly missed the TimeMachine auction I wanted because my 10-seconds-to-go manual bid didn’t come off because my Broadband/Safari session paused on me mid-transaction and I missed it. If there had been anything in the vicinity to hit, it would be hurting…but…the very same seller had an iMac for sale, so with the money I didn’t spend and the remainder of my recently acquired coffers, I decided to look at how the bidding went in the next 30 minutes for the iMac.

Long story…short…I won it for just over £700.  That doesn’t sound like too much of a bargain, except it’s spec is:

Dual Core 2.4Ghz, 4Gb RAM and a 2Tb disk and Snow Leopard installed.

On top of that, I had a voucher from eBay…the first one I have ever had, which entitled me to 10% off an auction upto the value of £70, hey, 10% of 700 IS £70, so I got it for £630!  It doesn’t end there though…

I hadn’t realised when I placed the bid that this also came with an additional 20″ TV/Monitor.  None other than the Samsung SyncMaster T200HD, worth at least another £150+. This screen comes with 2 HDMI ports, DVI and 15-pin D-Sub and a built in FreeView Tuner. Included were all the connectors anyone would ever need to hook it up too!

There is a suberb review of the T200HD <here>

I actually did a little dance around the room…yes very sad I know…but I kinda felt I was in bargain city!

So…now I have a super-fast replacement for my iMac G5, which was still going strong but I knew it was only a matter of time before I would need something more.  What’s more, I have since sold the iMac G5, to a friend for a mutually beneficial price, so all these goodies really only cost me £100 after I take off all the sales!  Fantastic.

I’ll post if I do anything out of the ordinary with this machine, but I think it is just going to well-versed in day-to-day stuff for a little while!

If you have any *great* uses specifically for an iMac, please let me know!

PL

The Media Centre Project!

OK, so you will have read I have a Mac Mini.

I bought it with one purpose in mind, to put it to task as the hub of my entertainment system in the lounge.

Like many people, I had (yes had) a range of components connected to my Denon 3805 amplifier – such a fantastic bit of kit, even if it is a few years old now – components such as Sky+ Box, DVD Player, Mini Disc (once upon a time) XBOX 360, Wii, AppleTv. It was my goal, with the exception of the Wii and XBOX to reduce it all down to the Mac Mini, but at the same time still be able to enjoy DVDs, Movies and Audio in glorious 5.1 Dolby Digital (or DTS) sound.

I used to have the Mac Mini 1.4Ghz G4 (below) and it was woefully slow at playing the higher resolution videos, so this upgrade is so much more capable and really has the chance to achieve these things.

I have a 720p Panasonic 7th Gen plasma @ 42″ so for now needed to be able to play 720p with no issues, but as soon as the money tree has started shedding it’s fruit I will be upgrading.

In case you’re interested, it’s likely to be the 50″ Panasonic NeoPDP V10 model, I’d like the 58″ but even though the room is a nice size I think it would be a little *too* obscene!

So…the Mac Mini…

The tasks at hand are: -

• Save some money and unsubscribe from Sky+ and for that a suitable replacement is needed for some broadcast TV
• Remove the DVD Player
• Remove the AppleTV – I want that in the kitchen for AirTunes and watching the occasional video
• All audio should be multichannel where available

But also…

• Play my centrally stored music collection
• Automatically download my favourite shows via BitTorrent
• Be easily controllable and not require a host of remotes or gadgets. One (or two) would be OK.
• Act as a speaker box for mutli-room sound for parties etc.

I think I’ll start at the first point…replacing Sky…coming next…

PL

My Macs (Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo)

You could be excused for thinking, with a Mac Pro and an iMac still in use, why would you need a Mini too?  The simple answer is that I wanted a complete Media Centre in “one box” to reduce the footprint and clutter of the devices in my lounge.  I’d been waiting with bated breath for this latest revision to be released as I expected it to consume less electrical power and still be good enough for any media application I set it to.

So pretty much as soon as Apple announced it, the order was placed.

I went for the 2.0 Ghz model, I couldn’t justify the additional (steep) price tag for the 2.26 Ghz model.  I went for the standard 250Gb disk and 2 Gb RAM.  Perfect for my needs.  It was delivered with Leopard installed and I’m still running it that way.  I’ll do some research into compatibility of all my media applications before I settle in to install Snow Leopard, although I know it’s a mere matter of time!

As you can see, there are plenty of ports to hook your Mini up. I’m on Gbit ethernet and have it connected to my 42″ Panasonic 720p Plasma, via mini-dvi to 15-pin d-sub adaptor.  A buddy of mine has a rather splendid 46″ Sony Bravia and has his (same spec) hooked up to HDMI running at full 1080p and he tells me it is awesome.  As far as replacing my increasingly antiquated panel, it’s good enough for now, so I’m not going to rush out to buy but if the gods of tech shine their light on me next year at bonus time, perhaps I’ll treat myself to a Panasonic NeoPDP v10 50″ screen, then we’ll see what this will really do!

I can safely say I believe my Mini is doing pretty much everything I need it to for a media hub.  I’ll go into some detail about software after this, my final “My Macs” post.

It might not be the last one though, I have my eyes peeled for the tablet number that is floating around the rumour sites at the moment.  That could be the icing on the cake.  My iPhone (albeit cracked and in process of being repaired) is an awesome thing but something slightly bigger with similar functionality would be just amazing for my trips away…

PL

My Macs (MacPro Intel Early 2009)

As you can probably imagine, this is where my experience with the Mac just went ballistic! There I am with little experience in the multi-processor realm (in Mac terms this is folks – I’ve had dual proc PCs since Jeebus was a kid!) and I click on the button to order the behemoth!

I went for the Dual Quad-Core 2.8Ghz variety, standard 2Gb RAM, single 500Gb disk and two Super drives (I say why not)!

Of course this isn’t where it stopped, oh no! I was upgrading my Infrant (NetGear) ReadyNAS NV+ to 1Tb disks so I had 4 x 500Gb disks coming available, so in three of them went.  As well as disks, I settled for another 4Gb RAM, yep, you guessed it, straight from our friends at Crucial so now I was cooking on 6Gb RAM with room for more if I wanted it.

On top of that, you have USB2 a-plenty, Firewire 400 and 800 ports, two Gbit Ethernet ports and the usual digital/analogue audio ports and it’s so quiet too.  Even at full steam it’s nowhere near as noisy as some Windows workstations I’ve used from Dell/HP.

This thing ROCKS!

I’ve not seen anything like it, as an example, I can transcode a 42 minute TV show in AVI format down to iPod/iPhone format in a little over 3 minutes, 4 tops! All 8 cores singing away nicely, with Handbrake reporting well over 200 fps!

Whereas I used to use iMovie to mess around with video, well, it’s not that great with multiple processors, so I thought perhaps it was time for some Final Cut action, such a good move! This thing eats video!

I will go into the list of software I have but there’s nothing this thing can’t do.  Teamed up with some nice monitors (unfortunately my budget didn’t stretch to Apple displays) this is nevertheless the best thing anyone could want at home, if you ask it to do it, you will not be disappointed!

This is essentially my work machine.  The fun machine is next

More later on this one!

PL

My Macs (PowerMac G4 QuickSilver)

This Mac for me was all about the fact that I was in for a bargain!  For the princely sum of £100 on eBay I managed to aquire myself my first multi-processor mac.  Not only did I aquire the mac but I also got a 17″ 4:3 aspect ratio Cinema Display and some snazzy Apple Pro Speakers.

PowerMac G4 Quicksilver

The spec of the Mac when it arrived was as expected from the auction, which is a nice thing to see, because I have been shafted in the past on specification.  It came with 1.25Gb RAM, 80Gb Disk and Dual 800Mhz processors.  Sweet!  All for £100!

Now, to be honest, I haven’t done a lot with this machine.  It’s done it’s share of video transcoding, that’s for sure, but I just couldn’t find the niche for it in my setup. I added a USB2 card since it only had USB1.1 on-board and the bonus was it had Gbit Ethernet built in but still, nothing doing. Even today, this is gathering dust in my office.  If anyone has a use for it and wants to make me an offer, let me know.

It’s a nice looking machine though and in the right hands would still be pretty good.  Add a compatible SATA card and you’d easily fill those 4 disk slots with some high capacity drives for a decent file server or whatever!

It wasn’t all bad though, the Cinema Display and speakers are now in use at my parents, so there’s only one power socket for them to turn on, they get a great picture and surprisingly great sound from those small, but surprisingly heavy and well built speakers.

I’ll consider reuniting the whole package if the G4-DA goes to the mac graveyard in the sky, but for now I think I’ll run a duster over it
PL

My Macs (iMac G5)

For me, this is when I started getting serious about using a Mac to “do stuff”.  I kid you not, when I bought this brand new, I was like a kid on Christmas eve waiting for Santa to arrive.  It could not come quick enough. I snapped it up on the first day this speed bump-up was released and got it custom built with exactly what I wanted.  I had to wait 2 weeks or so and traced it all the way across the globe until it reached my door.

iMac G5 2.0Ghz

Again, opening the box was a delight, and one I took plenty of time to savour.

I fired it up, answered the usual questions about the keyboard, my Mac ID and the wireless router to connect to and hey-presto, we had lift off.  Again, this was bought when Tiger was still the OS X version of choice but it got its’ rightful upgrade to Leopard as soon as it was released.

The spec I bought was the 2.0 Ghz model, with the minimal amount of RAM possible (again to save a few shekels), 400 GB hard disk, Wireless, Bluetooth and Superdrive!  I’d already ordered the right RAM from Crucial to get this up to 2Gb and saved quite a bit in the process!  It was ready to rock with anything I threw at it.

In comparison to the Mac Mini, the G5 runs like a rocket.

Initially, I replaced the Mac Mini for “home office” duties and started dabbling more in putting together home movies, especially of my snowboard trips and a local music festival.  The G5′s rendering of the images, compared to the G4 would literally shave hours and hours of the production time, and this was just in iMovie.

I have been known to download the occasional TV show in the past.  As I’m sure you are aware, these come down in non-iTunes/iPod friendly AVI format.  The G5 was pretty good at being able to re-encode the files in a more friendly H.264/MP4 format but in order to give it that extra bit of ZIP to writing the files I got hold of an Elgato Turbo.264 USB stick and then it really entered another realm, up to 70fps encoding for iPod format, compared to the 30fps I was used to!

Today, this is in use every day.  I have it in my kitchen for Twitter (@palowther), email, iTunes (shared library using iTunes 9), Spotify, iChat, Skype and the occasional downloaded TV show.  It’s still running the latest and greatest version of Leopard (as it’s not compatible with Snow Leopard) and has recently had a fresh build to keep it clutter-free.  It’s a classic piece of hardware that just goes on and on and on!

PL

My Macs (Power Mac G4 Digital Audio)

After getting the Mac Mini with it’s “thunderous” 1.42Ghz processor, this one doesn’t seem quite so impressive, although it was a Power Mac! However, I got this through a stroke of luck, being in the right place at the right time!

Power Mac G4 Digital Audio

This little baby was destined for the IT scrapyard and it was screaming out to me to be saved, and save it I did!

The spec is a 466Mhz G4 and I upgraded the disk to 80Gb and added a couple of 256Gb sticks of RAM to it, which I happened to have lying around anyway!

I didn’t actually use this for much in my own place and it sat dormant for a while but as luck would have it, I reckon I have saved myself a nation of time, effort and hardship as a result of getting this beauty.  My parents were in the market for something to get “on the internet” with as they were thinking broadband might be a nice idea (LMAO).  One thing I didn’t want to have to do was get them a Windows machine and have them calling me every week to say something wasn’t right or had stopped working – it happens! – so the lightbulb came on and this was my gift to them.  What a generous son they have!

I installed Tiger, iLife 06 and configured Mac Mail and the wee timorous beastie is still good enough for them today for general surfing and email, storing and viewing photos and occasionally hounding me on Skype.  They love it and I can understand why.  It’s a solid piece of kit and hey when it’s for nothing, you can’t knock it!

PL

My Macs (Mini G4)

So where to start…

OK I’ll start by telling you the Macs I’ve had and continue to enjoy using.

My first foray was the Mac Mini G4.

Now, for those who haven’t experienced purchasing a new Mac, you do not know what you are missing.  The packaging alone is marvelous and makes the whole ownership thing special from the moment you sign for it at the door (or get it in the store).  There are many blogs that document the first opening of a new model and they do a great job of showing you all the bits but the experience, the feeling (if you truly appreciate your tech) is something else.

OK, so you’ve got it out the box and you power it on.  What then.  Well it just works and you know what, in every aspect of my Mac ownership, they just continue to work!

So, back to the Mini G4.  I decided to go for the top model at the time, the 1,42Ghz G4 and it came with Wireless, Bluetooth (for Apple keyboard and mouse), 80Gb disk, 256Mb RAM and the DVD/CDRW combo drive.

Front and back of the Mac Mini G4

The RAM I soon upgraded to 512Mb (sufficient at the time) by getting a well priced stick from Crucial who I would recommend to anyone!  It was cheaper than buying the RAM with the Mac from Apple and was easy to fit, so long as you had a sharp blade and a putty knife to hand!

I then more or less used it for email, photos, music and learning the differences between Windows and OSX.  I can tell you I was simply blown away by iLife which is essentially “free” when you buy your Mac and is even pre-installed.  I remember thinking, never before have I had so much functionality out of the box where each application worked with the others seamlessly and without issue.  I have built a plethora of PCs in the past and once you’d got over the issue of drivers, updates etc, the software choice was always your next issue.  Well that’s no more!  Windows doesn’t even come with a DVD Video player.

To this day I haven’t had one issue with it.  The version of OS X that came with it was Tiger where it zipped along and I’ve since upgraded it to Leopard.  Admittedly it could do with 1Gb RAM, the max it can handle but it’s still acceptable.

Right now it’s sat on a shelf, redundant but it’s there if I need it or want to hand it to someone else to figure out what OS X is all about!

A sound little machine and one I will always have a fondness for as it introduced me to a better world of personal computing

PL