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Archive for » September, 2010 «

Mouse On The Couch With The Gyration Air Mouse

Monday, September 20th, 2010 | Author: OWC Grant
Foreword – This post written by OWC customer Robert M. from New York, a Mac user since 1985 (or so) who I’ve gotten to know on a personal level over the last year after “blowing him away” with our approach to gaining his confidence and satisfaction. – OWC Grant

In my living room, I have a Mac mini connected to a 40″ Sony 1080p LCD TV. Typically, I use that set-up for watching both NetFlix video on demand (VOD) and content via Hulu.com via the web. Occasionally, I’ll plug an external hard disk drive filled to the brim with content and watch it via a selection of media applications. Unfortunately, since none of this is via Front Row, it means I must navigate the content via a mouse and keyboard. This is inconvenient to say the least as I prefer to relax on the comfy couch while enjoying media. Initially, I used a hardwire mouse and keyboard. While this required getting off the couch and sitting on the floor in front of the TV, it did work. For a while. I even bought a super slim, non-marking mouse pad for the mouse. Both the keyboard and mouse stored away beneath the TV stand when not in use. But, it annoyed me that I’d have to actually get off the couch to navigate my mini run home theater.

Article Continues…

Buy Office 2008 Now, Get Office 2011 FREE Later.

Friday, September 17th, 2010 | Author: OWC Grant

A couple of weeks ago, OWC Tim touched on the upcoming release of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Along with talking about the new features, it brought up some interesting points, and is probably worth a quick read. Go ahead and check it out – I’ll wait here…

This latest incarnation of Office sounds well…pretty sound. If you need Office compatibility (and who of us in Corporate America doesn’t, these days?) and you haven’t upgraded to Office 2008 already, it’s probably gone through your mind to just hold of on getting Office 2008 and wait for Office 2011 to come out.

That may not be the best idea, after all…if you like getting a good deal.

If you pick up a copy of Office 2008 from OWC now, you are eligible for a free upgrade to Office 2011 when it comes out.

All of a sudden, dropping the cash on the current version seems a lot better: not only do you get the instant gratification of having the software you need right in your hot little hands, but you also can rest easy knowing you’ll be getting the latest and greatest version of Office as soon as it comes out.

That’s a double-win as far as I’m concerned…

Elite-AL mini prices get mini-er.

Friday, September 17th, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

What’s not to like about a bus-powered, “quad”-interface portable storage solution based on the award-winning OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro? If it’s that you want a deal on it too…then you’re in luck.

But we’ll get to that momentarily. First, let’s take a quick look at the Elite-AL mini and see what makes it so special.

The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro ‘mini’ is a smaller, portable, bus-powered version of our best selling and award winning Mercury Elite-AL Pro line of desktop solutions. Designed for performance, flexibility, reliability, and portability, the Elite-AL ‘mini’ features FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, measures in at only 5.5″ x 3.8″ x 1.1″ and provides up to 1.0TB of high-performance portable capacity!

Other key features include:

  • Performance Oxford-based bridge solution
  • Two 1394B 9 pin, One USB 2.0, and One eSATA interface ports
  • Large data buffer up to 32MB
  • Fully bootable, ideal for applications, A/V, backup (Time Machine, etc), photos, music, etc.
  • Single cable bus-powerable via FireWire or USB 2.0
  • Bus-Power via FireWire (or AC Adapter) for high-performance eSATA interface use.
  • Attractive & compact shock resistant Aluminum design
  • FireWire 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA flex cables ALL included!
  • Fully Mac & PC compatible
  • Intech Hard Disk Speed Tools suite and Carbon Copy Cloner included
  • Full retail versions of Prosoft DataBackup 3 for OS X (a $59.95 retail value) and NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows (a $49.95 retail value).
  • Industry leading three year solution warranty

So, yeah, these are some pretty great little drives. Now about that price thing… We’re dropping prices on almost the entire line of these drives. Now you have no reason to put off picking one of these solutions up! Article Continues…

Tim Robertson’s Last – OWC Radio #42

Friday, September 17th, 2010 | Author: OWC Tim

Will iPads replace laptops? The CEO of BestBuy thinks so. Tim got his hands on the new iPod Nano, and has a report! Also, as this is the last OWC Radio by host Tim Robertson, he reflects back on the history of the show.

Category: OWC Radio

Be Fair to Yourself

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 | Author: OWC Tim

It comes down to a matter of what is right and wrong. At least, when I was a child, and the world worked in pure black and white, with no shades of grey, fairness was everything. If one child cried, “That’s not fair!” people would take note. Fairness was everything.

As an adult, fairness has many different meanings, and many shades of grey. It’s not fair to take something that does not belong to you, unless it’s taxes. And then, how much is a fair amount? Who decides?

The most common type of fairness I see comes from personal lives. “I worked for two hours on that report, and saved it every five minutes. But my hard drive just died, and my report is gone! That’s not fair, I did the work!” Does this sound familiar to you?

When your personal sense of fairness is breached, it hurts all the more. In the above case, yes, the person did the work, and diligently saved their document every five minutes. (Probably a Windows 95 user who is used to the computer crashing every seven minutes.) But today, with the price of external hard drives way down, and the size of storage capacity way up, there really is almost no reason to ever lose your document, and more importantly, the hours you spent working on it. Article Continues…

Mike Bombich of Carbon Copy Cloner – OWC Radio #41

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 | Author: OWC Tim

OWC Radio host Tim Robertson has an interview with the developer of Carbon Copy Cloner, Mike Bombich. A very fun interview, and one of the first Mike has done as the developer for CCC. One of Tim’s all-time favorite Mac applications, Carbon Copy Cloner is a tool every Mac user should be using. This or That, of course, at the end of the show!

We would love to hear from you! email us at podcast@macsales.com

Category: OWC Radio

NewerTech Announces Guardian MAXimus mini Bus Powered “Quad Interface” Portable RAID Storage Solution For “Live Activity” Backup

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Newer Technology, Inc. announced today it has expanded its award-winning storage solution line with the new Guardian MAXimus mini bus powered portable hardware RAID storage solution for “live activity” backup/data redundancy of critical data. Featuring hardware RAID-1 redundancy for a MAXProtect “mirrored” copy of data or RAID-0 for MAXPeform speed and a “Quad Interface” of FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, & eSATA connections, the Guardian MAXimus mini offers Mac and PC users Plug and Play storage capacity up to 1.5TB and data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s.

The NewerTech Guardian MAXimus mini is available immediately in six pre-configured hard drive and Solid State Drive (SSD) models with up to 1.5TB of storage capacity starting at $249.99 MSRP from NewerTech’s exclusive distributor, Other World Computing, as well as through the retail channel. For more details on this new storage solution, as well as reseller inquiries, visit: http://www.newertech.com/products/gmaxmini.php. For more information on NewerTech’s complete line of accessories and upgrades for Macs, PCs, and iDevices, visit: http://www.newertech.com/products. Article Continues…

Category: Press Releases

Make All Your iPad-Using College Buddies Jealous

Monday, September 13th, 2010 | Author: OWC Morgan

Imagine the look on your friends’ faces when they see your iPad in a stylin’ case featuring your school colors and mascot.  Not only will you attract a lot of attention, but you’ll also be protecting your iPad from getting scratched or banged up while transporting it between classes. The NewerTech iFolio – Premium Leather Case-Holder/Folio for iPad is now available in 11 colors (many of them, perfect matches for school colors).

Unfortunately, iFolios sporting collegiate logos, mascots, etc. is not an ordering option at this time. But with your help, they might just be in a school bookstore near you soon. So help us out and let us know if we should look into licensing rights. Would you pay more for this unique look? Like your accessories to be as clean and uncluttered as possible? Tell us your thoughts!