Were you aware Security Updates for iTunes 8.02 and QuickTime 7.6.2 were released June 1st? The Security Update page in Apple’s technical knowledge update includes information as noted below.

If Software Update isn’t your preferred method of installing updates, you can find both updates on the Support Downloads page.

Weighing In

QuickTime 7.6.2 for Leopard is 57MB and for Tiger 48MB. iTunes 8.2 weighs in at 72MB. As with any software update, you should make sure 10% of your hard drive space is available, so you don’t run into any space problems.

iTunes Security and Compatibility Update

According to the iTunes 8.2 for Mac page, the update adds compatibility support for the iPhone and iPod touch and the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. It also includes a number of unspecified accessibility improvements and bug fixes.

A security issue that plugs a hole is also addressed, in case you visit a “maliciously crafted website [that] may lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.” The Security Content of iTunes 8.2 page claims a stack buffer overflow is fixed through improved bounds checking.

One note of caution, make sure that if you use an external drive to store your iTunes library, that you have the drive mounted before applying the update. One user reported on MacinTouch that he experienced the dreaded exclamation points of not found songs when he neglected to mount his drive prior to the update.

QuickTime Security Updates

The plugged security issues for QuickTime are more numerous, with ten vulnerabilities fixed, and while much of the page is aimed for the more technical minded, rest assured that there are no reported exploits of these bugs.  Apple’s page, About the security content of QuickTime 7.6.2. details the fixes.

According to the IDG News Service, “one flaw — a bug in the way QuickTime reads files that are compressed using the JPEG 2000 (JP2) compression standard — was partially disclosed in Charlie Miller and Dino Dai Zovi’s book, The Mac Hacker’s Handbook, released in March.” So much for that notion that by the time hardcover books are published they’re out of date!

We strive to provide excellent products and customer service at OWC, but we’re not about all work and no play! We’re committed to supporting the environment, the community, and employee mental health in a variety of ways. Some companies choose team building outings with mock exercises to build an enjoyable and productive corporate culture. We build our teams and culture around fun and unusual activities that provide creative and competitive outlets.

Fun with Cardboard

OWC boat and crew 2006

2006 marked our first entry into America’s Cardboard Cup Regatta. This annual national championship Cardboard racing event floats along a 200 yard course in Crystal Lake, Illinois, although similar races are held in many states. This year’s race celebrates its 25th year on June 27th and expects to host almost 200 various themed floating (hopefully!) entrants. Any group may enter, and the totally reasonable entry fee ($20.00) make it a great family, neighborhood, and corporate activity.

A Little History

According to Internet sources, cardboard boats made their first appearance on the lakes on America in 1962. An enterprising physics student in a Senior Design Department Class at the Southern Illinois University designed and built a 20lb, eight-foot boat. Davis Partt’s boat easily discharged its goal of traveling 100 feet without sinking. You can peruse the original assignment problem and design notes from the Cardboard Boats Design Department Southern Illinois University 1962 online.

Today, simple one-man box-boats have morphed into a variety of flotilla-worthy fashion, including pirate ships, trains, and animals. Requirements for a cardboard boat include corrugated cardboard, the ever useful duct tape, glue, and drywall tape. Banned substances include epoxy, fiberglass, metal, and pre-waxed cardboard. The Discovery Channel has a mildly funny video showing a mishap with a variety of boats.

Captain Ryan’s Building Crew

OWC's 2008 Cardboard Cup entry

OWC staff volunteers started building a 10-person human-powered vessel in April under the competent direction of our Warehouse Operations Manager, Ryan O’Connor. The hardworking volunteer crew works weekends to meet the June deadline.  Last year’s OWC entry, pictured here, qualified for the finals, but a bad storm sacrificed the event.

Builders can choose from three classes of boats, including Paddle and Oar, Paddle and other people power, and Sail. OWC plans to use kayak paddles to move its sleek entry through the waters. We have a secret to our waterproofing that definitely meets the official rules. We always do things by the book, just like how we run the business.

Now, we don’t want to give away our boat building prowess secrets, but we’ll let you have a sneak peak at our floating gem today. More photos coming after the race, along with trophy silliness, and the event itself!

Grant, Brian, and Mike working on the hull

OWC's 2009 boat takes shape

If you’re tired of waiting for Apple to release a new tablet or can’t find an old Newton, you need not wait anymore. Other World Computing is an exclusive US-based distributor of the Axiotron Modbook, the world’s only Mac-based tablet computer. Now, with new memory and storage upgrade options, plus a $200 price reduction, the Modbook may be just what you’ve been looking for in mobile computing.

Imagine sitting with your coffee at any cafe and drawing or writing directly on a screen, without any keyboard to confound your fingers or slow down your creative vision. This isn’t a fake Mac, but a converted MacBook, so all of your beloved Mac features still exist, including Mac OS X Leopard, a built-in iSight camera, Airport, Bluetooth, and a Dual-Layer SuperDrive. You choose the power configuration from a 2.0GHz to a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor; 2, 4 or 6GB of RAM; and storage capacity from 120GB 5400RPM drive up to a total of 820GB of internal storage capacity. You can even choose 80GB or 160GB SSD (Solid State Drive) technology if you prefer.

Prices start at $1899 for a 13.3″ Modbook OR, if you prefer to BYOB (Bring Your Own Book), you can supply OWC with your own Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook, and for only $1149, OWC can convert your black or white 13″ MacBook via its Modservice. We save you some green too if you use your own Mac OS X 10.5, your existing RAM, and hard drive. If you want us to upgrade any of your internal components during the conversion process, we can do that too.

Click here to check out your Build to Order customized Modbook.

OR

Click here to Bring Your Own Book (BYOB) and convert to a Modbook. We even supply the box and cover shipping costs.

Imagine…a world without keys…where you can write and draw directly on a screen. Modbook is that reality!

May saw a few updates in Apple’s arsenal of products. As a courtesy to our customers and readers, we’ll recap them here with links to pertinent information.

As of May 29th, some Intel-based Mac models have firmware updates available for EFI Boot ROM or SMC firmware (System Management Controller). The most recent updates are for the most recently released products; none of the older Intel-based Macs seem to have updates, yet. According to Apple, Software Update may not alert you that a firmware update is available. Click this page, EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs, and check your firmware version as explained in the support article. Download links and full instructions appear on that page.

Macworld UK reports that the SMC firmware update for 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro laptops adjusts the behavior of the fan under high workloads. The MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3 is available for MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008), MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2 GHz), MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4 GHz), as detailed on the EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs support page linked above.

If you use Keynote, Numbers, or Pages, then you own iWork. iWork 09 was updated to version 9.0.2 last week. Software Update should alert you to the update, but you can also download it. Apple’s download page simply states that the “update improves reliability when saving some iWork documents and when playing some presentations more than once per Keynote session.”  If you don’t yet own the very useful iWork, you can order it today from OWC.

Another welcome Apple update was a speed bump for a new MacBook. This $999 laptop now includes a 160GB hard drive (up from 120GB) and a respectable 2.13 GHz processor instead of the previous 2.0GHz. The RAM is slightly faster now too, clocking in at 800MHz versus the previous 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The Apple Store includes the complete specifications.

We do not endorse, certify, or recommend any of these updates – we’re just keeping you informed!

Don’t forget that you can achieve the best performance for all your Macintosh computers by maxing out the RAM. OWC offers RAM for nearly every model Mac made over the past two decades at very reasonable prices. Please check out our OWC Memory page to find the best memory for your machine.

As the summer approaches, more and more of us lucky folks with air conditioning will be sitting cool in the heat. For me, that means a lot of stress on my apartment’s very old electrical system and potential brownouts. To protect my computer equipment, I use an uninterruptible power supply for my desktop and surge suppressors on all my outlets. A surge protector plugs into your electrical outlet and protects any plugged in device from voltage spikes or fluctuations. It works by sending the interference or uneven power into the ground, instead of into your valuable equipment. It’s always good to update surge suppressors every few years, and I found this useful and environmentally friendly device in my own OWC backyard. It not only provides voltage protection and filters line noise, but also helps with unnecessary power consumption.

BITS Limited Smart Strip 10-outlet Power Strip

The intelligent BITS Limited Smart Strip 10-outlet Power Strip offers 2225 joules of protection with its 10 outlets. It is compatible with your computer and home entertainment equipment, and offers much more than simple surge and spike protection. It also powers down peripherals when you turn off your computer, depending on which of the ten outlets you use. If you think that’s just fluff, think again! According to some sources, your plugged in (and off) devices still use standby power; as much as 40% of the power that they use when on. According to Smart Home Systems, Inc., “Just a printer and a monitor can draw as much in idle current as a 60-watt light that is on 24/7.”

The Smart Strip Power Strip includes a Control Outlet, and three red-colored sockets that are always on. This means that your wireless router or telephone stay on, while your desktop Mac or printer are turned off. Another set of six outlets automatically turn off when you turn off the device plugged into the Control Outlet. This prevents the drawing of phantom power and consequently saves you money in your electric bill. Other features includes a six-foot heavy-duty power cord, lighted power switch, 45 degree angled plug, a 15 amp circuit breaker, and up to 60 decibel (dB) line noise reduction.

To satisfy your inner Geek, Smart Home Systems, Inc. displays an annotated photo of the Smart Strip circuit board on their site and another annotated graphic of the Smart Strip’s features.

While I can’t guess how much money the Smart Strip might save you, an equipment loaded-household may easily save the purchase price in power usage in only a few months. I can say that it is environmentally friendly, and with all its power saving features, it’s a good buy at only $34.99.

There are many different bus-powered portable hard drives on the market, but most fall short in delivering everything you need. Bus-powered means that you do not need an AC-adapter to run the drive and that your FireWire or USB port powers it. Iomega, LaCie, Apricorn, and others sell 500GB portables that fit in your pocket, include some kind of shock resistance, and as I can personally attest, work flawlessly. What these companies do not offer is a portable drive that offers multiple types of connections, a speedy hard drive mechanism accompanied by a reasonably sized data transfer cache, and a suite of useful hard drive utilities.

Enter the Mercury On-The-Go Pro. What sets OWC’s new portable solution apart from other brands are these features: Drive speed, data cache, software, and warranty. The newest option finds a massive 500GB 7200RPM drive with 16MB data cache – suitable for video and sound editing on the go – securely housed in our proven shock resistant polycarbonate acrylic transparent case. While big on performance, this little powerhouse will fit discreetly into your pocket and weighs only 2.5 lbs.

This 500GB baby fills your travel bag or pocket with a complete solution, perfect for photographers who depend on RAW file capture or the video or audio editors that need portable speed and space. When you need to preserve your MacBook’s or laptop’s battery life, you can use the OWC Mercury On-The-Go AC Power Adapter. The adapter sells for only $4.99 and uses a standard US AC plug.

If your technology budget hangs over your head like the Sword of Damocles, OWC offers other Mercury On-The-Go Pro solution in a variety of affordable FireWire/USB 2.0 interface and RPM speed models.

Included with all these perfectly portable storage solutions are a carrying case, all the cables you need, a 3-year warranty, and a CD with OWC’s signature disk utility software bundle. The $200 retail value bundle includes a retail version of Prosoft Data Backup 3 for OS X, NovaStor NovaBACKUP for Windows, Intech HD SpeedTools, and Carbon Copy Cloner. These applications are not required to use the On-The-Go, but are useful utilities for backing up data and managing your hard drive.

Don’t Take Our Word For It

While our newest, speediest solution hasn’t been on the market long enough to generate any reviews, we can link you to reviews of our other Mercury On-The-Go products. Read for yourself how the experts liked the ultimate portable Mercury On-The-Go solution. Please note that the prices listed in the reviews may not reflect current pricing.

BlogCritics Technology Review, by Mark Buckingham, 3/13/09: OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM External Hard Drive.

ZDNet, The Apple Core, by Jason O’Grady, 5/6/08: Review: OWC Mercury On-The-Go 500GB portable HDD.

Macworld.com, by Chris Holt, 12/09/08: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FireWire 800/400 + USB 2.0 320GB.

CNET Editor’s Review by Dong Ngo, 5/13/08: OWC Mercury On-The-Go (500GB).

With the tax season finally receding in memory, many of us now have previous year’s financial data buried quietly on our hard drives. Most of us need last year’s tax files for the current year’s taxes, but you should also  make a backup you can find easily. You should save it as the original file from the tax program you used and, create a PDF, in case your software disappears.

If you used Intuit’s TurboTax for 2008, they recommend you open the return and choose Save As from the File menu, and create another copy for posterity. To make sure you can open that file from a Mac or PC, make sure you add the .tax2008 file extension to your saved file.

How Long to Save Taxes

Have you ever thought about what would happen if the IRS decided to audit you? While some records need only be kept for three years, you should keep your tax records for up to seven years. The length of time recommended depends on the period of limitations for a particular problem.

The IRS Publication 552: “Record Keeping for Individuals,” states: “You must keep your records as long as they may be needed for the administration of any provision of the Internal Revenue Code. Generally, this means you must keep records that support items shown on your return until the period of limitations for that return runs out.” Yes, in that same publication the IRS also states that if you receive W-2 wage forms, you should keep your Copy C until your social security benefits kick in. For some of us, that could be more than 40 years!

CD/DVD for Backup

The question remains, what do you use to backup your files? Burning files to CD AND DVD may last for some years and you should create backup media of your taxes, as insurance. Your experience may vary, but I have some CDs, only five years old, that no Mac will read today. So, I suggest you duplicate your discs and move your files from one disc to another every couple of years.

Hard Drive for Backup

A hard drive, used sparingly may last for years. I can attest to that. I have a seven-year old OWC Mercury Elite Pro Classic drive that still functions flawlessly. I use it weekly to back up my music files. My three-year old OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Quad Interface drive, holds my photo library backup. A 1TB version of this robust drive is on sale now.

The bottom line is, make multiple copies of your tax and other important files using different kinds of media and copy the files from an older solution to a newer one every couple of years. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a hard drive solution from OWC.

Please realize, we’re posting this information as a courtesy only and are in no way are representing ourselves as tax advisors. Any tax questions should be referred  to a licensed tax attorney, your accountant, the IRS, or the company who develops your tax software.

The new OWC Express USB 2.0 Enclosure is one of the most reasonably priced small hard drive cases you’ll run across. This $19.99 stylish drive in Discreet Black, Sleek Silver, or Smooth White holds any 2.5″ Serial ATA hard drive, also referred to as SATA I or II. At only 2 oz plus the drive weight, and with sleek dimensions (3.07″ Width x 5.12″ Depth x .55″ Height), it fits into many pockets or purses easily. We even include a carrying sleeve and a double-shielded USB 2.0/1.1 connector cable, so it’s a complete package. (Mouse in photo not included.)

You can easily use any 2.5″ drive up to 9.5mm height and up to 7200RPM speed. All you need to know is how to twirl a screwdriver to install a drive mechanism. If you don’t have a spare drive handy, OWC offers drives from trusted sources, such as Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital mechanisms to fill ’er up to 500GB starting at $47.99!

If Your Port Isn’t Up to Snuff

Now, one USB port supplies 500 mA of current, which is usually enough to power up any bus-powered drive, but sometimes, you need more power. If you connect your Express and it just sits there and doesn’t mount, you may need more power. You can solve this problem without an AC adapter, by adding a USB “Y” cable, also called a double USB cable or dual input USB cable. OWC sells this handy accessory in clear or black, and it incorporates a 1-meter cable with one USB 2.0 Mini-B connector and two USB 2.0 A connectors. It’s even designed to stretch behind your laptop, so that you can reach the USB ports on both sides of your PowerBook or MacBook.

Basically, this USB  cable doubles the power your bus-powered drive receives, so that it works flawlessly. While most Mac users may never need such a cable, it’s a handy item to keep in your computer tool arsenal, especially for computer consultants.

One note of caution though, do not use this cable to connect your new OWC Express to more than one computer at the same time. It won’t work and it may damage your drive. No USB or FireWire drive can be connected to more than one computer at a time; that’s why we have file sharing and networking so easily configurable on the Mac.

I thought I’d follow up on a previous blog post by OWC Chris S. covering how to relocate your Home Folder for anyone with a machine that’s tight on space with an in-depth examination on the use of Mac OS X on a Netbook.

While rumors abound that Apple may never produce a Netbook for those of us who would love such a machine, there are a number of stalwart types who want one badly enough that they have provided tutorials on how to install Mac OS X on a PC Netbook. Referred to as a Hackintosh install, three sites have posted step-by-step instructions, each with their own style of detail, so I recommend you peruse all three sources.

Obviously, your first hurdle is to pick a Netbook upon which to perform this OS surgery. All sources point to the excellent “Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart,” at Boing Boing. The Dell Mini 9 seems to be the weapon of choice by some notable Mac writers.

Second, you must acquire a complete, retail version of Mac OS X. Update disks will not work correctly and pirated disks may not contain all the original code, which hampers any OS updates you may want to apply.

The third requirement is either an 8GB or higher USB flash drive or an external USB DVD drive. Instructions for using both to install Mac OS X are on the sites linked below.

Fourth, you must use the Type11 Bootloader, called the DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso.zip, downloadable from Dell Mini forums and posted by a helpful person named “bmaltais”. (Note, the forum requires registration.)

At this point, your entry cost to create your own Mac OS X Netbook is between $500 and $650, including the cost of Mac OS X. Now, once you’ve completed your install, following the instructions in one of the resources below, you may find your space squeezed a bit. As OWC Chris S. suggested, you can use OWC’s handy resource for relocating your home folder onto an external drive to preserve your precious storage capacity.

The ability to tote around a lightweight and very useable PC are your rewards in creating your own personal Mac OS X Netbook.

Links to Tutorials on Creating a Mac OS X Netbook

Installing Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 – the easy way (Updated 3x) by Jason O’Grady on ZDNet.

How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook by John Mahoney on Gizmodo.

OS X on a Dell Mini 9 Netbook, by Steve on Accelerate Your Mac.

How to build the OS X Dell Mini 9 Hackbook – The Easy Way, by Tomas Ratas on Test Freaks blog.

How To: Load OS X DIRECTLY onto RunCore FROM a Mac, by Iantzn on DellMini.

MacResource Forum posts about this method

Loading OS X DIRECTLY onto Runcore FROM a Mac, MacResource Forums.

Dell Mini 9 Leopardized: The RunCore Direct Install Edition, MacResource Forums.

Disclaimer: OWC does not support or endorse any of the above methods to create an OS X Netbook. Information and links are provided as a courtesy to our readers. In addition, an interesting discussion on the legality of installing Mac OS X on a non-Mac appears in the MacResource Forums.

Lest Earth Day be celebrated and forgotten, I want to remind you that the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus is a leader in green technology. Techno Dad Mike Ferrara highlighted the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus Hardware RAID-1 storage solution in a segment on ABC in Chicago: Earth Friendly Electronic Devices. The GMAX, as we affectionately call it, incorporates energy efficient technologies for up to a 40% power savings, using four platters instead of five. This means it generates less heat, which extends drive life. Plus, its thermo-regulated “Smart Fan” increases in speed during heavy drive usage, so it is not running at full power all the time.

The Guardian MAXimus “live activity” backup/data redundant external solution saves data while you work on two SATA hard drives, so you have a “mirror” of your files. It’s not only energy efficient, but protects you against a system crash. Choose from 250GB to 2.0TB drives (in pairs) for peace of mind storage in one convenient package. The new 2TB solution with eSATA was introduced on April 21st.

All models include four interfaces (FireWire 400 and 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA), a complete set of interface connecting cables, and over 1GB of software. No need to search for backup software, because the software bundle includes Prosoft Engineering’s Backup and Bombich Software’s always-popular Carbon Copy Cloner. Plus, the drive supports Time Machine. PC users get NovaStor NovaBACKUP for Windows.

We know you don’t want to just take our word for how well this drive works in the real world, so check the links below for independent reviews.

A Year With NewerTech Guardian Maximus and RAID, an OWC blog post with links to Eric Brodeur’s blog.

Guardian Maximus for up to the minute protection, by Terry White on his blog, 6/11/08.

The Newer Tech Guardian MAXimus RAID Mirrored Data Redundant Solution Review, by Judie Lipsett at Gear Diary, 6/5/08.

Review – Guardian Maximus RAID Drive Enclosure, by George Starcher, at Typical MacUser, 5/12/08.

Our versatile and fearless leader Larry O’Connor has posted an informative article in our Quick Tips area, titled “Make your Current Mac feel like it’s a New Mac again!” This concise article links to helpful tidbits on how you can possibly get better performance out of your old Mac by upgrading some of its parts, than if you plop down that fortune on a brand new machine.

The article also links to an archived newsletter (linked below) that details how you can add RAM, a hard drive, faster DVD, or even replace your video card and/or processor to create your dream machine. All at a fraction of the cost of a new machine.

I know the “Speedbump that current Mac for that ‘New’ Mac feeling” article was useful to me, because I upgraded an old 500 MHz G4 AGP Graphics tower with one of OWC’s PowerMac processor upgrades and now use that machine solely for scanning photos, something it couldn’t do before. It’s convenient to have a workstation devoted to a life’s work that involves multiple pieces of hardware, which I don’t have to move out of the way when I need to work; I have an Intel Mac for that! Plus, scanning my thousands of photos gives that doorstop a purpose in life!

You may have heard of Woodstock, thanks to a huge concert held in Woodstock, NY, way back in 1969; but that’s not the only Woodstock on the map. Northwest of Chicago lies Woodstock, Illinois, the location where the movie Groundhog Day was shot, and the home of Other World Computing. The county in which OWC resides was once populated with oak and hickory woodlands, which are central to the area’s ecosystem. Unfortunately, land use, development, aging trees, and other factors, have dramatically changed the landscape.

OWC Gives Back

In celebration of Earth Day OWC donated 20 young oak saplings, to be planted Saturday, May 16, at the Westwood Nature Area, in Woodstock, near Route 14 and South Street. This event supports McHenry County’s Project Quercus, designed to protect and regenerate the oak woods in the area. OWC isn’t just dropping off those babies either, many of the staff will be on hand to put them gently into Mother Earth. The sponsorship of Westwood Nature Area Volunteer Work Day, along with their oak tree donation represent two of the five initiatives OWC plans to support in 2009 as part of our long-term commitment to the environment. A press release launched today contains more details, plus we will post more blogs as we implement the services.

History of Oak Loss

While you may not appreciate the magnitude of the gesture, the Land Conservancy of McHenry County notes that “Oaks are one of the things that make McHenry County beautiful, but we are losing them at an alarming rate due to a combination of environmental stresses. Some of those stresses happen inadvertently when homeowners mow, fertilize, and grade their property in ways that harm the oaks’ delicate root systems.” (Source: Environmental Defenders of McHenry County.)

The problem in this area is rather critical, as a 2007 study of the past and present status of oak trees by the McHenry County Conservation District showed: “… that while about one-third of the county had oak-hickory woodlands in the 1830’s, today less than 5% of the landscape contains oak woods–an 87% loss.” There are over 400 varieties of oak in North America, but the Midwest oak savannas tend to include bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), white oak (Q. alba), black oak (Q. velutina), and northern pin oak (Q. ellipsoidalis). The Savanna Oak Foundation, Inc. contains more information on the importance of the oak savannas in the midwestern ecosystem.

OWC doesn’t just reside in a town, it actively supports environmental efforts to make sure the community withstands the passing of time. It also fosters community within the company by promoting activities  of interest to staff and their families.

4/24/09: Rearranged a couple of links.

You can buy products from a variety of sites across the Net; but often you have to blindly trust that the company will honor the warranty, provide timely customer service, or replace problem products. Often, friends are your trusted vendor source. While it may seem an impossible task to identify the best place to buy, BizRate, a shopping and product comparison site, provides store ratings and has awarded OWC the BizRate Gold Circle of Excellence for five consecutive years.

We tell you what other customers are saying about us with monthly Customer Comments, right on the site. If that doesn’t warm your heart, than look to unsolicited blogs, written by a couple of Mac devotees.

For example, in his post, Doing It Right, Jordan Satok notes how seamlessly things progressed when he ordered a 1.0TB drive from us, even though it was a holiday weekend.

Larry Yaeger, Professor of Informatics at Indiana University, purchased multiple NewerTech Voyager Q hard drive docking stations that had the same FireWire ID numbers. He resolved his problem with a call to NewerTech technical support. OWC resolved the whole problem by initiating an ID fix within hours of hearing about the problem. Incidentally, Larry’s calls to another vendor’s support department went unanswered.

Whether you email, call, or request assistance on our web site, OWC’s tech support team handles every request with Miss Manner’s decorum. How many companies offer free lifetime U.S. based technical support — even on weekends? We do and we’re proud to offer you great products, at reasonable prices, with a full complement of support services. I know that I like their products and service so much, I now work for OWC!

Maps – Geeks, nerds, travelers, and millions of trivia buffs, all love maps. Almost everyone, except my mother, loves maps. Internet maps are particularly interesting, because they often highlight the most read sites in a creative way. One trend is to show off site popularity by mapping sites on a subway map. Subway maps have lots of logical pathways that make showing Internet topic areas easy, plus they allow color-coding and good layout. I can’t imagine how anyone could read such a huge amount of information if you tried another format, such as a circuit board, or the national electric grid!

Web Trend Map 4 Final Beta overlays the most popular web sites over the Toykyo transit system map. This gargantuan effort, fashioned by Information Architects (iA) in Japan, shows off  the 333 most popular Web sites. A timeline-type graphic along the bottom highlights the 50 most influential domains and their associated movers in the industry.  According to the site, the map should be finalized today, and only 1,000 copies will be printed. The 2008 version sold out completely, but you can still download the PDF file of the Web Trend Map 2008. We recommend you open the file on a large monitor,  if you want to view and actually read the map.

The new map includes topic lines for Community, Creative, Consumption, Broadcasting, Knowledge, Advertisements, Sharing, Entertainment, and Filters. Little square stations populate the map to highlight domains, which show off site success by height, stability by width.

The lost and missing on this map are hardware companies and equipment vendors. They can’t be dismissed as unimportant across the Web, especially considering how much valuable information these sites contain. Maybe next year a similar map with the likes of HP, Hitachi, Seagate, and of course, OWC will appear.

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro FireWire+USB2 Combo Portable solutions provide convenient, interface flexible storage at a competitive price. Built for performance, reliability, and durability; all models are bootable via FireWire and/or USB2. And now this lightweight powerhouse can be had at a lower price!

Each drive is bus-powered (no external power required), feature Oxford performance FireWire chipsets, and the best qualified HD mechanisms for optimum performance and reliability. The shock absorbing design further protects the drive and valuable data from external forces. All connecting cables, carrying case, and an industry leading 3 Year OWC Warranty are included. We also include a $200 retail value disk utility bundle of award-winning Prosoft DataBackup 3 for OS X, Intech HD Speedtools, and NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows.

Don’t take our word for it!

These drives and their sister, OWC On-the-Go 2.5″ Kits, now priced from $27.95, solve all your travel needs, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Here are links to recent reviews of our On-The-Go solutions:

12/11/08 – OWC Mercury On-The-Go (320GB) – PCMag.com, by Joel Santo Domingo.

12/09/08 – OWC Mercury On-The-Go FireWire 800/400 + USB 2.0 320GB – Macworld.com, by Chris Holt. (By the way, don’t miss the comments section for even more user testimonials.)

11/25/08 – Photographer Scott Kelby’s travel photography workflow, which depends on OWC On-The-Go drives.

4//19/08 – OWC’s Triple-Interface Mercury-on-the-Go 500GB HDD, Gizmodo, Australia.

If these recommendations don’t convince you, take a look at who 9to5mac shows using two OWC Mercury On-The-Go drives with a MacBook…President Obama!

While searching the net for great equipment deals may sound like good entertainment, doesn’t it makes more sense to sign up for email alerts that tell you about those great deals before they hit the proverbial web newsstand? OWC has just such a newsletter and we know you don’t want us to run out of these great deals before you find your wallet!

Sign up for our free OWC Hot Deals Blast Newsletter, which contains a variety of products on sale that range from end of life, discontinued, cosmetically damaged box, open box, one-of-a-kind, or refurbished products, plus Apple trade-ins. You can find RAM, hard drives, enclosures, printers, and even iPod accessories and speakers. While we send the Hot Deals Blast as products become available, you can also sign up for our monthly OWC Tips & Deals Newsletter. This gem is another great source for exclusive specials, tips and reviews.

It Doesn’t Pay to Wait

Today we offer over 150 great deals. Just speed on over to our Garage Sale page and click the filters on the left to see if there’s a deal on goodies you know you want, at a price you can afford.

If you hesitate, you may lose out, but we’ve made the process easier by letting you know the supplies on hand for each limited quantity item. Just to whet your appetite, take a look at a small sampling of what’s available now:

• ATI Radeon 3870 512MB PCIe Performance Video Cards for Mac Pro – $199.

• 40 different model 2.5″ & 3.5″ Hard Drive Enclosures from $25.00.

USB2, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and/or eSATA interface options!

• 3.5″ IDE/ATA & SATA Hard Drives 250GB and up to 1.0TB from $45.00.

• 3.5” Special – WD 160GB 3.5” IDE/ATA Hard Drive, Preformatted for Mac – Brand New with 3yr for $39.99.

• 2.5″ Hard Drives 80GB and up to 250GB from $29.25.

• G4 Processor upgrades up to 1.4GHz starting from $8.99 and up to G4/1.7GHz.

• SATA, IDE/ATA, and SAS RAID Controller and RAID Controller Cards for Mac from $16.75.

• 802.11n Wireless Network Adapters & Routers from $39.75.

• 1GB memory modules DDR2/DDR3 for MacBook/MacBook Pros, iMacs, Mac Minis as low as $9.50.

• Memory modules for Mac Pro & Xserve – 1GB Kits from $20.00, 2GB kits from $48.25.

OWC provides hardware striped performance RAID-0 arrays, up to a capacity of 3.0TB, in their Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual RAID Solutions. We’ve lowered the prices to help you meet the performance demands of video and audio production more cost-effectively.

The Elite-AL Pro RAID is a sleek and compact Aluminum design (9.3″ Long x 2.8″ Wide x 5.6″ High). These Elites are fully A/V Certified as well as EMC Retrospect Backup Certified for all your Audio/Video, Backup (Time Machine Ready), Graphics, Music, and General Data needs. With 2-FW800 ports, 1-FW400 port, and 1-USB 2.0/1.1 port, these bootable solutions provide excellent data accessibility via any of the available interface ports, with complete interoperability with read/write functionality and accessibility.

All the solutions include TWO 7200RPM drives and a retail version of Prosoft Data Backup 3 ($59 retail value) for OS X and NovaStor NovaBACKUP ($49 retail value) for Windows. Also included is the complete Intech HD SpeedTools performance suite. These applications are not required to use the Elite, but are great to have in your Utilities folder. Unlike other hard drive solutions, we also supply the FireWire 800 connecting cable, FireWire 400 connecting cable, USB connecting cable, plus a 2 Year+ Warranty.

You can see the full line up of our Elite-AL Pro Striped RAID-0 SATA drive arrays on the site. Rebates are available for some of the 2TB solutions.

If you’d prefer to build add your own hard drives, we also offer the OWC Elite-AL Pro RAID Enclosure Kits from $109.99. You can configure these drives for different RAID and non-RAID modes.

If you run Windows on your computer, you may want to get up to speed on Conficker, the computer worm that has been spread all over the Internet. According to various sources, estimates claim as many as 10 million computers may have the worm. While it is inactive now, it can be passed on, and the variant Conficker-C is supposedly scheduled to receive instructions on April 1st. It seems no one really knows what the worm will do, because it depends on the instructions it receives. Whether this is an April Fool’s hoax remains to be seen.

Recommended Sites/Links

You can watch an informative 60 Minutes interview on the CBS News Video page to learn more about viruses in general and specifically, the Conficker worm. Lesley Stahl interviews Symantec VP, Steve Trilling, Google VP, Vince Serf, and Don Jackson, Dir. of Threat Intelligence at SecureWorks. If you can’t load the video, the text of the interview is also online.

Symantec Corp. provides a page of useful information, including what to do if you’re infected with Conficker. Their Threat Explorer page keeps daily track of all risks and vulnerabilities, posts the name of each threat, and assesses threat severity. This page is very useful if you want to keep tabs on future potential problems.

CNET has a Conficker FAQ, titled FAQ: Conficker time bomb ticks, but don’t expect boom, including history of the worm and what Microsoft has done to avert the threat.

PC Magazine’s Security Watch blog has also posted The 7 Most Important Things to Know About Conficker. This simple and straightforward page covers how to avoid Conficker and how it works.

The most comprehensive information lies in Wikipedia, complete with a surprising list of affected agencies worldwide, under the Impact paragraph. The Conficker page specifies:  “This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.”

Linux/Mac Users Immune

While Linux and Mac users are generally immune to worms of this nature, and specifically immune to Conficker, if you use Windows through BootCamp, Parallels, or VMWare Fusion, you may be vulnerable and should take appropriate precautions. OWC sells the Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 compatible, Virus Barrier X5 from Intego, which includes a year of virus definition updates. We also sell Parallels and VMWare Fusion, but you might want to wait until April 2nd to install. Symantec has the software you need to protect your Windows install.