Author: David M. Acklam

I'm a retired professional engineer actively involved in community outreach working with our local educators to help engage our youth in the sciences and mathematics. I'm a member of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Directors Advisory Board and chair their Kuiper Circle Community Outreach Committee. I am also an Ambassador with the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission and a docent with the Planetary Science Institute. I've been a Mac user since 2007 and currently I am the Members Advocate with the Tucson Macintosh User Group (TMUG). I also manage the TMUG and Kuiper Circle Facebook pages.

iPhone 4S on Tracfone, a Personal Experience

Apple, iOS, iPhone, Opinion, Review 0

You may be wondering why I am writing about an old iPhone 4S. Isnt everyone rushing out to get a new iPhone 6 or 6 plus? You are probably asking what the heck is this Tracfone thing? This is just another one of my personal experiences that I felt was worth sharing with our MyMac reader audience.

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Distant Suns (max) – IOS App Review

Features, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Review 0

As an amateur astronomer and a volunteer telescope operator at the Flandrau Science Center observatory, I enjoy sharing the night sky with the public. My primary objective, when inviting the public to look through the telescope, is to encourage them to enjoy viewing the heavens and to ask questions. I recognize that not everyone wants to be an astronomer and I certainly understand the magnitude of what is required to pursue a career in this profession.

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Take Control of Your Passwords – Book Review

Book Review, Features, Security 0

In my years as an engineer working in the defense industry, I had to regularly deal with many levels of security and comply with a multitude of security requirements. Today, I am prudent and reasonably confident and comfortable with my everyday personal computer security. Recently I added a password manager application to my personal computer and mobile devices but suspected I may not be using this application to its fullest capability.

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ATARI Inc, Business is Fun – Book Review

Apple, Book Review, Review 5

Nolan Bushnell has always been a name that was synonymous with Atari for me. As to Ted Dabney, I didn’t have a clue until reading Atari Inc, Business is fun. There are plenty more individuals, like Nolan and Ted, in the book that played very important and sometimes critical rolls in the the story of Atari.

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Perfect Diet Tracker Mac OS X App – Review

Apple, Apps, iMac, Mac OS X, Review 0

I typically review applications that relate to my scientific, engineering, and astronomy background. However, after using this OS X application and its mobile companion iOS application Tracker2Go (US$2.99)  for the past couple of months, I realized I should review, rate, and share this with you.

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Cosmos Story Vol1 – App Review

Apple, Apps, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Review, Tablet 0

As an amateur astronomer and a volunteer with Project ASTRO, I regularly use the concept of scale to help teach astronomy and engage our students in visualizing and grasping the immensity of our universe. I typically use examples scaled in the dimension of physical length, area, and volume to assist in illustrating the distance and sizes of planets, our solar system and neighboring stars and galaxies.

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Solar Walk Version 2 – Review

Review 0

This is an application that I reviewed in MyMac back in December of 2011. There were several changes and updates made in June of 2012 which included adding a new movie about the Cassini mission, changing Pluto to a dwarf planet, and adding its moon Charon. The application was optimized for the new iPad, and optimized the precision of orbits’ calculation for the moons of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The developer improved the animation for the Sun and provided new images of planets and moons. They also changed the model of Hyperion, one of Saturn’s moons.

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Genius Ring Presenter – Review

Adapter, All-In-One, iOS, Mac OS X, Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, Macintosh, Macs at Work, Mouse, Review, Wireless 0

The Ring Presenter is a clever wireless, multi-function, five button mouse and laser pointer, all packaged into a small, light-weight, soft natural rubber finger ring. Powered by a thin, built-in Lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the 2.4 GHz wireless mouse has an operating range of more than thirty feet. There is even a built-in blue LED that flashes when the battery needs to be recharged. A three position slide switch on the side of the mouse controls the modes and power on/off. The device is available in seven colors.

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Visual QuickStart Guide: iCloud – Book Review

Apple, Book Review, iOS, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac OS X 0

When Lion and iOS 5 were released, I timidly stepped into the Apple iCloud experience and began using some of its offerings. Although I still do not use all of the iCloud features, what I have chosen to enable has been through my own trial and error approach. For those of you that have not yet ventured into the iCloud, the iCloud: Visual QuickStart Guide will definitely allow this to happen with ease.

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Moon Globe HD iOS – App Review

Apps, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Review 0

As an amateur astronomer, I volunteer as an astronomy partner with a local elementary school science teacher in a program called Project ASTRO. Recently my teacher partner and I introduced her fifth grade students to the changing phases of the Moon. As part of this exercise, the students are teamed into groups and are given set of randomly arranged photographs of the Moon in its various phases and are asked to arrange them in the sequence they think the phases change. Since this is accomplished in the classroom, without being able to see the Moon, the students have to work as a team to best recall what they each remember about how the Moon changes phases.

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Exoplanet for iOS
Review

Apps, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Review 0

As a member of the front end of the “baby boomers” I can still remember learning that our sun was just an average star and we were one of nine planets orbiting it. I also learned that our Milky Way was one of several hundred billion galaxies that made up our known universe, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. That begged the question: if our star had planets then should the rest of the stars have planets too?

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