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Hit The Right Digits This Tax Season

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Tax season. It’s the dreaded inevitability we face every spring. And we all know what kind of stress that can come along with it. Missed deadlines, forgetting to deduct your generous charitable contributions, careless math … there’s so much that can go wrong when navigating this minefield.

While we here at Other World Computing can’t help you beat procrastination and meet that ever-nearing April 15 deadline, we can help you hit the right digits when you file. Mathematical mistakes are common when doing taxes and they can actually end up costing you money. Needless to say, it’s important to enter the correct numbers when filing, and this small investment can help you do just that.

The Cropmark LMP Bluetooth Keypad is the perfect addition to any Apple wireless keyboard and makes punching the right numbers a breeze when you file. It also pairs well with your MacBook or any other Bluetooth capable Macintosh.

The key to the Cropmark keypad that makes it so great lies in its ability to physically connect to the Apple wireless keyboard. And its durable plastic frame is designed to match your keyboard’s aluminum finish for a seamless look. The Cropmark keypad features 28 keys for convenient entering of figures, tables and calculations. Of course, it includes figures 0-9, operation keys, hot-keys, page up/down, arrow up/down, delete forward and an enter function key as well. And there’s no dongle or driver installation required, so it’s easy to use!

And OWC shipping will make sure you get it fast, so you can get started on your number-crunching and get the refund you deserve.

Shielding Resolves USB 3.0 Conflict with Bluetooth

Thursday, December 6th, 2012 | Author: OWC Chris S.

We’ve spoken quite a bit about the benefits of USB 3.0 in recent months. Its high rate of data transfer, backward compatibility with previous versions, and overall low cost are still very compelling arguments for the interface. However, many Mac mini 2012 users (and, to a considerably lesser extent, other 2012 Mac users) using USB 3.0 devices have experienced random dropouts or even outright loss of the use of Bluetooth mice and keyboards.

The cause of this is somewhat technical. For those so inclined, you can peruse this white paper written by the USB Implementers Forum for the full details, but the practical upshot is that the signal from USB 3.0 devices can interfere with the 2.4GHz frequency of Bluetooth. The unfortunate result is dropped or lost signals at distances as near as five feet, compared to the normal 20-30 foot reception range of Bluetooth devices. This interference increases the further away from the computer the Bluetooth device is located. At the same time, it was noticed that the further away from the Bluetooth antenna the USB 3.0 device is, the less severe the interference.

Unfortunately, this is the direct inverse of how many Mac mini users are using their computers. Many users have their USB 3.0 devices immediately next to or stacked on top of their minis, taking advantage of the Mac mini’s small form factor. While this may be problematic enough for desktop use, those using their Mac minis in home theater setups will likely have their keyboards and/or mice across the room from the mini’s location, exacerbating the Bluetooth problem.

As the Newer Technology miniStack is designed to for use with the Mac mini, this has obviously caught our attention. We set out to find a resolution to the problem – one that fixes things not just for the miniStack, but for all USB 3.0 drives used with a Mac mini. Article Continues…

Category: Tech Tips