Posted by Daniel Feeney on January 14, 2011
I am a person who has a million and one thoughts going through my head at almost any given moment, most of which are ideas and things to do as well as how and when I will do them. The issue for me is remembering. Normally, I end up jotting them down on a scratch piece of paper which I tend to misplace shortly thereafter. Nowadays, iPhones, iPads, and Macs take the paper out of the equation with apps like Stickies on Dashboard and Notes on the two portables. Over the course of a few weeks, I have been using a new application for taking down these to-dos. It is called Things.
Things is an application that allows you to have your to-do list with you everywhere, from iPhone to iPad to Mac. However, each of these apps costs. Things for iPhone costs $10, for iPad $20, and for Mac $50. Things is a very simple, appealing application that comprised of two columns. One a sidebar, the other a main area. In the sidebar, there are three parts. The first is titled “Collect” which houses the Inbox. The Inbox is a place where most things get tossed into prior to being organized away into a specific location in the app. The next part is “Focus” which is where things (like Inbox items) are organized into. Here, one can schedule re-occuring things to do (such as bills or appointments) as well as add things that need to be done within the same day, the next, even ones that are for a project that has yet to take flight. Lastly is an area for projects which have multiple steps (e.g. a history project or site development). You can read more into the composition of Things here. (more…)
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Posted by Charlie Minato on December 2, 2010
We’ll be blunt: when it comes to protecting your Mac from a virus, there is one name we trust, Intego. Why would we trust Intego over the industry heavyweights like Mcafee and Norton? Because we are talking about Macs and when it comes to Apple, Intego is simply the best. Intego only handles Apple products and therefore not only does the software function better, but it just makes more sense. Would you take your iMac to Best Buy or would you take it to the folks at the Genius Bar? We think the latter and if you need to find the best anti-virus (and everything else nasty for your computer) software, sit back and enjoy the ride.
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Posted by Daniel Feeney on November 25, 2010
An ever growing trend for MacBook owners nowadays is to buy a stand, whether it be an Apple-inspired creation or some cool feet, people are flocking to get one. Just recently, I set my sights on the worlds thinest laptop stand, it’s called Aviiq, and after seeing said product, I had to figure out if thin really is better. (more…)
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Posted by Daniel Feeney on October 24, 2010
A few weeks ago, I received my brand new 17″ MacBook Pro, a computer that has brought me nothing but a great experience, and now I attempt to return the favor. When you have a MacBook, you are faced with a difficult decision: to use the computer without a case to retain the machine’s beauty, but be vulnerable to damage, or get a hardshell case, protect the machine, but loose quite a bit in the aesthetics department. For the time being, I chose the latter with the Incase Hardshell. (more…)
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Posted by Charlie Minato on September 17, 2010
If someone asked me what the most used Mac accessory is that isn’t designed in California and made in China (i.e. not Apple) – I’d say it’s a pretty runaway contest: Incase neoprene sleeve. And it’s odd. It’s not that pretty of a product. It doesn’t do a whole lot protection wise. But for whatever reason, no one has been able to crack the market. Things have been changing. I previously reviewed Tech21′s Impact Wrap, a British take on the notebook sleeve that offers tons more protection. Today I take on a simplistic and stylish alternative from the Netherlands, the Closeable Notebook Sleeve designed by Manon Garritsen.
Out of the Box
It’s the sleeve with a tag attached in the box. Still waiting for someone to include some McDonald’s toy.
Design
Manon Garritsen sent me a marble grey rendition of the 17″ version of the Closeable notebook sleeve. It’s a pretty simple design. A woolen felt material makes up the width that is seen by most of the notebook sleeves on the market. The material is 3mm thick meaning that when empty it’s just under a centimeter thick. The flap goes over the pcoket and is secured by a black elastic strap. Other than that, there’s a small red tag on the side with the logo.
Protection
The material itself is relatively heavy with a decent amount of flexible that helps to cushion the notebook. I purposely spilled a bit of water on the material just to see its effect. It’s definitely not waterproof, but my notebook stayed dry from a Dixie cup’s worth of water. I wouldn’t say that it provides anymore water-resitency to the Incase Neoprene sleeve. And that’s sort of the story. It offers the same protection all around as the Incase. It’s still not going to protect your notebook from anything beyond a minor fall. I wouldn’t feel comfortable as saying that it is even capable of being of shileding any sort of drop. The Incase’s fault is the zipper on the top, the Manon Garritsen obviously doesn’t have that problem. The other large difference is that the Manon Garritsen is a bit more spacious. My MacBook Pro and Speck hard case fit snug, unlike the Incase, where stretching must occur in order for it to fit.
In closing
It’s a great product. No doubt a lot of care went into the creation of the Manon Garritsen. However, there’s a price. Regardless of what MacBook you have (from MacBook Air to my 17″ MacBook Pro) Manon Garritsen’s sleeve will set you back $50 or so plus shipping. That compares to the basic Incase that will set you back $40 at most and a lot of times a lot cheaper depending on where you pick it up. In some defense, a lot of Incase’s custom creations will set you back more, but to me I still think that $50 is a bit much. It would be unfortunate if that becomes the standard price, but speculating isn’t really the point of this review. At the end of the day, if you like the looks, it’s a great looking piece, just understand it’s function is relatively limited.
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Posted by Daniel Feeney on September 5, 2010
Photo slideshows are a fantastic way to share pictures from the past on the big screen, and up till now, I have been using iMovie alongside iDVD to do so. A while back, I got my hands on Daniusoft’s DVD creator, an all-in-one solution that creates the slideshow and burns the disk from one, very simple application, and I have been begging to go back ever since. (more…)
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Posted by Charlie Minato on August 9, 2010
So… I’ve been known to review a few backpacks over my time here at TheMacFeed. Today’s a little bit out of my comfort zone. When I first saw Archival Clothing’s Rucksack, I thought it just looked cool. It’s not really a backpack that I would review, mainly because it has zero to do with notebooks. Perhaps that’s a stretch. It’s just not made for notebooks. That being said, it’s not like it can’t hold notebooks. So the cool people at Archival Clothing made my day and sent one over… (more…)
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Posted by Daniel Feeney on August 7, 2010
Yes, another bag. Today, the Loopbag Transit, a bag designed for 12-inch laptops or, for us, an iPad. Loopbag is a premium laptop bag supplier and their prices reflect it. The only question is, is it worth it? (more…)
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Posted by Charlie Minato on August 2, 2010
Yet another backpack review. This time it’s a specialized backpack. Guess it’s not the first time for that either. This rendition comes from MONO Cases, a company aimed at making storage products for music professionals. It’s called the Kondensor and I’m not really sure why, as it’s pretty big. Anyways, another backpack review after the jump. (more…)
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Posted by Glenn Künzler on May 2, 2010
Over the years, there have been a lot of applications to help users maintain their Macs. There has also been growing debate over whether or not regular maintenance of a Mac is even necessary. While I will not settle that debate today, I will provide some thoughts directed towards those who do feel that doing maintenance is am important aspect of owning and operating a Macintosh. With that in mind, allow me to introduce a fairly new addition to mac maintenance programs: MacKeeper by ZeoBIT LLC. (more…)
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Posted by Daniel Feeney on January 20, 2010
Probably one of the most advertised Mac applications in the market, CleanMyMac has quickly become the standard application for keeping your Mac clean and healthy. CleanMyMac is an application that helps you to remove all of those files that can limit your computers performance and take up valuable disk space. Unlike any other application, we can only say good words about this amazing application. TheMacFeed’s updated review of CleanMyMac follows. (more…)
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