Barkings! | The Small Dog Apple Blog

From Apple:

The new MobileMe Gallery app is a great way to view the photos and movies in your MobileMe gallery right on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can browse your photos with simple tap, flick, and pinch gestures, and even view your friends’ albums, no matter where you are. And the MobileMe Gallery app automatically stores photos after you view them so you can quickly access them again, even without a network connection.

The MobileMe Gallery app for iPhone and iPod touch is available free through the App Store here.

Having trouble using your iPhone in the winter with gloves on? Worry no more! These new gloves by Tavo for $29.99 will keep your hands warm and your iPhone accessible at all times!

I nominate the Altec Lansing Mix iMT800 as the “iPod/iPhone Sound System of the Year”. This system looks a little like an old school boombox, but is fully modern with built-in iPod / iPhone dock (fully GSM-shielded so you don’t need to put the iPhone into airplane mode), two AUX IN jacks, digital FM radio, quality, high-contrast LCD, 7-band graphic equalizer, and cool remote control with built-in carabiner clip. Finally, while this system is a great bookshelf system, it can also run for up to 30 hours from 8 D batteries. It sports handles on the top and front, making it easy to bring with you to the beach, backyard, etc. It would be a great party system.

The Altec Lansing Mix iMT80 dominates our sound room with crisp audio, excellent volume, and truly deep bass. I was very impressed the first time I connected my iPhone to it, and continue to be impressed every time I hear it. I think it’s better than any other sound system in its approximate price range.

That said, I am not a fan of the Mix iMT800’s appearance. I’d love a less retro design (or perhaps more retro design if they’d go all the way back to the early 1960’s, a la Mad Men). The look of the Mix doesn’t really fit in with the rest of my sleek Apple equipment. I can live with it, though, since the performance is more than there.

The Mix iMT800 has a 4.5 star rating from Apple.com (where it retails for $299). We’re selling these like crazy in our retails stores. People seem to be looking for a higher end, premium sound system for the kitchen, living room, and office. I myself am getting one for my home office, which is also my guest room.

See the Altec Lansing Mix iMT800 by clicking here, on sale for $70 off MSRP. As always, free shipping and no sales tax (except VT).

I am pretty fussy with my pointing devices so when the new Apple Magic Mouse appeared in the warehouse, Jaime was quick to set one aside for me. My initial first impression was that the packaging is spectacular. The iPod-like plastic case showcased the Magic Mouse as a slick, sci-fi device that would fit right in on the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

See my first photos of the Magic Mouse here on Flickr.

I stopped ogling the packaging and was pleased to see that batteries were included and installed. There is a small latch to get to the battery compartment on the bottom and it takes two AA batteries. When the alkaline batteries die, I will replace them with lithium AAs which tend to last about 3-4 times longer.

I activated the Magic Mouse by moving the little on-off switch to the on position and then using the Bluetooth assistant to locate and connect to the mouse. It worked great as a nice lightweight mouse, but the scrolling and other features did not work. I noticed that the Mouse preferences did not have any reference to the Magic Mouse either, so I concluded that I needed to download software. Luckily, the Apple Wireless Mouse Update was waiting for download at the Software Update panel. You will need to download this 67MB file and restart your Mac to activate all the Magic Mouse features.

Once I had updated my software, the Magic Mouse was fully functional and I could right click, left click, scroll horizontally and vertically and swipe with two fingers left or right to navigate. I have to say that I am hooked. I love the Magic Mouse. I am getting used to the feel and know that in a few days the mouse will feel like an extension of my hand with flowing motions and easy navigation.

The Mouse system preference panel now supports the Magic Mouse and lets you customize the tracking, scrolling and double-click speeds. It also will allow you to set the right click to the right or left, set scroll with or without momentum (I love momentum!) and gives options for screen zooming with the control, command or option key held down. I also allows you to toggle two-finger navigation (why would you turn that off?). The panel also has a video demonstrating each of these features and a battery meter so you know when to change the batteries on the Magic Mouse.

Kali keeps trying to convince me to give up the Magic Mouse so she can have it but no way—this is now my pointing device of choice!

Editor’s note: When the cat is away, the mice will play…

In years past, Macheist has grown famous for offering incredible bundles of high-quality, independent Mac software, usually priced for just $49. This is a savings of literally hundreds of dollars. I’ve personally discovered and downloaded some great software from these bundles in the past, software I continue to use daily.

This year, Macheist.com has outdone themselves by offering a FREE bundle of six great software titles. It’s worth checking this out, even if you’re only likely to use one or two of the titles.

Say hello to the MacHeist nanoBundle:

• ShoveBox – ($25) – Catch all the little scraps of information that you can’t immediately act on, but don’t want to forget. ShoveBox sits up in your menu bar, waiting for you to drag in text, images, URLs, and more.

• WriteRoom – ($25) – Writeroom is a simple, but powerful app that provides you with a distraction-free writing environment. WriteRoom does one main thing and does it incredibly well: It’s all about writing…

• Twitterific – $14.99 – Twitterrific is an exquisite app that enables you to make the most out of your Twitter experience. It has a clean user interface that’s designed to take up little of your precious desktop space. Twitterrific is packed with features, so that you’ll feel like you’re in total control over everything you do on Twitter.

• TinyGrab – ($14) – TinyGrab is a simple, powerful app that enables you to quickly share screenshots of everything on your Mac. TinyGrab quickly uploads the screenshot and puts the URL for it on your Clipboard so you can easily share it via email, IM, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

• Hordes of Orcs – ($25) -Hordes of Orcs is a Tower Defense strategy game where you build walls and towers to defend your village from orcs gone rogue. There are several different towers, each with its own unique abilities. Build Arrow Towers, Radiation Towers, Fire Towers, and more to keep your village safe from the deadly clutches of green meanies.

• Mariner Write – ($50) – Unlocked for everyone when Macheist reaches 500,000 participants! Mariner Write is a fast, streamlined word processor that’s useful for everyone… professional writers, educators, students, casual computer users, and everyone in-between. It has a simple, elegant user interface so that you can create beautiful documents the very first time you start using it. If you’re tied to using Microsoft Word, then don’t fret… Mariner Write has the power to open and edit Word documents with ease. And it can save your documents in many different formats including RTF, PDF, and various other formats. You stay compatible.

Click here to visit MacHeist to learn more and download all the great apps!

Tags: bundle, free, independent, macheist, os x, software