For those of you who need to do a small amount of photo editing, but don’t want to spend a lot of money on photo editing software like Adobe CS5, iPhoto could be a great option for you. To start editing, just select a photo from Faces, Events, or wherever you are keeping your photos in iPhoto and it will pop up enlarged. If the photo is “sideways”, simply scroll down to the toolbar and click “Rotate” or command + r until the picture is facing the right way (each time you click “rotate” the picture will rotate 90 degrees). Once your picture if oriented corrected, click on “Edit” (the button right next to “Rotate”) and a new toolbar will appear on the bottom. There are many things that you can do in iPhoto so I will just go over some basics. The first editing tool is cropping. Cropping allows you to cut out portions of your picture that is not needed. Removing a portion of your picture allows you to make the picture fit better in a layout, remove unwanted distractions (like people walking in the background), and/or have your eyes focus on the subject of the picture. To begin cropping, select the cropping tool and adjust the cropping box so that the part of the picture you want to keep is within the cropping box. Anything outside the box, will be “cropped” or cut out. Another tool that is helpful to use is the straightening tool. Once you select the straighten tool, a yellow grid comes up as well as a black bar with a ball. Move the ball on the bar and the picture begins to move and twist. Use the lines of the yellow grid to help you straighten your picture. This is a great tool for editing photos that weren’t taken with a tripod. Probably one of the most used editing tools is the “Retouch” tool. This tool gives you a brush in the form of a circle. The size of the circle can be adjusted so you can select the size that best suits your needs. The retouch tool blends the pixels from one area to the next so that you can hide imperfections. First click on the area that you want the “retouched” area to blend into or look like, then click on the “retouched” area and the first area you touched is essentially copied or blended into the second area. The last editing tool, I am going to discuss is the “Effects” tool which allows you to change the color or add borders to your photos. Click on the “Effects” tool and a box pops up allowing you to choose from 9 different types of effects. You can choose “sepia” or “black and white” to create an old fashioned photo or “edge blur” to blur the edges of your photo. If you click on an “Effect” and there is a number in the box, this means that you can click on the box again to either intensify or lessen the “Effect”. Have fun!

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An easy way to record video on my iPod Nano (5^th generation). That is how I would describe the Griffin Tribot in a simple and concise sentence. Personally, I find the Tribot as a great product, but seems a bit luxurious from the price of $29.99 at first glance. The Tribot is a simple product, a stand and a case for the iPod – which has proved to be very rugged. Before I get into more in-depth detail, lets look at the breakdown.

The Breakdown:

- Brand: Griffin Technology Website

- Name: Tribot

- Price: $29.99 USD

-Color: Black (stand)

- Intended for: iPod Nano (5^th generation)

Point-Scaled Grading

For reviewal of all products by The Real Mac Genius.com, a point-scale grading system is used to cover each individual aspect of the product. Said grades on varying scales are then weighed to determine a final score, which is then translated to an overall grade, as follows:

Style: 1-25 Given: 22

Price: 1-15 Given: 12

Quality materials: 1-15 Given: 14

Brand name: 1-10 Given: 7

Modern technologies: 1-15 Given: 14

Compatibility: 1-15 Given: 7

Ease of use: 1-5 Given: 5

OVERALL: 81/100 B-

For further explanation, continue reading.

Continued Evaluation

An aspect that is a detriment for the Tribot is that they are other products that are cheaper and do the same thing. Also, though the iPod Nano (5^th generation) is a great device, it does not have the same quality like a Flip Mino HD – which we use to capture video here at The Real Mac Genius.com. Additionally, there are not many uses for the Tribot unless you are a periodic movie-watching traveler – the Tribot is extremely light. Final thoughts: If you are willing to spend the money for the Tribot, it will do well.

For Griffin Technology Review Policy:

http://bit.ly/griffinreview

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A quick way to sum up Hulu Plus is being able to watch your favorite Hulu content on the go.  Now you may be thinking that is amazing, but before you even go near that iTunes icon to go download it, there is a catch.  Hulu Plus comes with a small fee.  The app may be free and some of the content, but most of the content is “Plus” content or premium content.  You have to sign up for a plus account with Hulu to get this, but for those of you who are always traveling and may not be able to access a computer with wifi to access Hulu this may be for you, or if you have decided to cut back, or don’t have the budget to by a TV, and have decided to use Hulu instead, Hulu plus may be for you.  Hulu plus may be for you without a tv, as they are only able to show about five episodes of a tv show because of rights of the show, but if you get Hulu plus you can get the entire season of shows.  It is $9.99/month, so it isn’t too bad of a price to be able to get your favorite tv shows in HD on you iPhone, iPad, or any other device that has Hulu connection capabilities.  Hulu Plus may or may not be for you, but if you think it is and want to research a little more on Hulu Plus you should  check out their site here.

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For those of you who have never used the terminal program, there are many great things that you can do with the terminal. Here are some new tricks that you can try. My first trick lets you measure the strength of your wifi. To find out the strength of your wifi, just type this into the terminal “/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -I” . You will see a number of texts on the screen. Look for “agrCtlRSSI” which will show you the signal strength for your wifi. If you want to figure out what applications you have running that are using the internet, just type in “lsof -P -i -n | cut -f 1 -d ” ” | uniq” and a list of the apps using the internet will appear. If you don’t want to type the script, just copy and paste it in – simple as that! Also, if you want to turn your computer into your talking mouth piece, just type “say (then your text of what you want it to say)” and press enter and it will say what you wrote! Have fun!

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If I were asked to describe the Targus radius vertical messenger in one word, I would have to choose versatile. Throughout the testing of the review team at The Real Mac Genius.com, the radius messenger was able to contain our multitude of technology devices ranging from charger to MacBook Pro. Before we go into more detail, lets go over the specs:

The Breakdown:

- Brand: Targus

- Name: Targus 13.3” radius Vertical Messenger

- Price: $59.95 USD

-Warranty: Limited Lifetime Warranty

-Color: Black/Grey/Red

- Intended for: 13” MacBook

- Materials: Nylon

- Size: 1.02” x 14.17” x 2.17” Weight: 2.2 lbs.

Point-Scaled Grading

For reviewal of all products by The Real Mac Genius.com, a point-scale grading system is used to cover each individual aspect of the product. Said grades on varying scales are then weighed to determine a final score, which is then translated to an overall grade, as follows:

Style: 1-25 Given: 22

Price: 1-15 Given: 13

Quality materials: 1-15 Given: 13

Brand name: 1-10 Given: 7

Modern technologies: 1-15 Given: 13

Compatibility: 1-15 Given: 15

Ease of use: 1-5 Given: 5

OVERALL: 88/100 B+

For further explanation, continue reading.

Continued Evaluation

The messenger provides a stylish look with the added benefit of being light to carry. The messenger takes advantage of my MacBook’s form, which makes the the raidus messenger a top bag in my opinion. The messenger has many pockets, but it does not seem practical in my opnion. For example, some of the items I have do not fit snug in the provided pockets. A pocket for each item seems like a good idea, but unnecessary for some items. Though the messenger was intended to carry a 13” MacBook, the radius messenger does a great job carrying my iPad and papers. Final Thoughts: Extremely rugged, efficient, small, the Targus radius Vertical Messenger is well worth the price!

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When the iPad was first announced, and everyone was told it would not support flash, some people were very sad. But a recent hacker, Comex, has been able to port flash. Now before you get too excited, this is not a complete version of flash. Comex calls this type of flash “Frash”.Video playback does not work as of yet, like if you wanted to watch something on Hulu, but you can play games that use mouse movements only, as it has not been configured for the keyboard to appear when playing games that uses input from the keyboard. To get frash, you need to first have a jailbroken iPad, and secondly find the file (included in the description of the youtube video), which is called “Frash-0.01.deb”. (Video after the break to show how to install Frash on your iPad) Warning we are not responsible if you mess up your iPad while trying to configure frash on your iPad.

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I invite you to take a look at the Bowers & Wilkins (B & W) Zeppelin Mini (left). I think that says it all.

However, for a more technologically correct and analytical review/breakdown, I suppose you could read on.

In today’s ever-advancing modern world of sleek, black, and silver status-defining gadgets, design and style seem to be among the top interests for prospective buyers. Well, if you’ve seen a photo of the Zeppelin Mini, then you would have noticed right off the bat its appealing, curvaceous shape, and subtle, yet royal shine that allow it to sit prominently on any shelf or desk and still look stunning. But buyer beware, we mustn’t be fooled by such tempting outer-beauty, as “bell, book, and candle shall not drive [you] back/ when gold and silver becks [you] to come on” (William Shakespeare). Thus, we must look for inner-beauty. And look we shall:

The Breakdown:

- Brand: Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) Website

- Name: Zeppelin Mini

- Price: $399.95 USD

-Warranty: 2 years limited

-Color: Aluminum/Black

- Intended for: Compact music speaker: spec. iPods (all), iPhone

- Materials: Black cloth, etc.

- Components: The speakers, power supply, cradle for docking, remote control (battery included)

- Size: (HxWxD) 6.8 x 12.6 x 4.0 in. Weight: 4.85 lbs.

Point-Scaled Grading

For reviewal of all products by The Real Mac Genius.com, a point-scale grading system is used to cover each individual aspect of the product. Said grades on varying scales are then weighed to determine a final score, which is then translated to an overall grade, as follows:

Style: 1-25 Given: 24
Price: 1-15 Given: 12
Quality materials: 1-15 Given: 15
Brand name: 1-10 Given: 9
Modern technologies: 1-15 Given: 15
Compatibility: 1-15 Given: 11
Ease of use: 1-5 Given: 5

OVERALL: 91/100 A-
For further explanation, continue reading.

Continued Evaluation

Zeppelin Mini boasts incredible sound quality with great mixing and perfect, understated bass. Honestly, the primary issue I had with the Mini was minuscule. It doesn’t come with cradles for any of the iPods except for the Touches. But, all other iPods still work, so its no big deal. The iPod docks in a rotating arm, which allows for browsing music in cover flow as well as standard mode. The size of the mini is more convenient than that of the regular Zeppelin, and still easily fills a room or small apartment with high-quality sound, all at a much lower price than the regular Zeppelin. Overall, we have awarded the Zeppelin Mini an “A-” based on its diverse and well-rounded qualities.

So, it turns out that with this particular shiny object, the buyer needs not beware: The Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin Mini has both outer-beauty and inner-beauty, making it a great buy and worth the price. Happy Listening!

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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