iRig Mic Studio is the best portable studio quality microphone we’ve used at MyMac. If the price tag is a bit steep for you today, save up and buy it tomorrow. This go-everywhere microphone works perfectly with a Macintosh via an included USB input cable. Even better, it works beautifully with your iPad and iPhone via an included Lightning cable and the audio input app of your choice.
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We’ve all been there. You know you’ve made the mistake of accidentally deleting files that you desperately needed; and even though you were running Time Machine backup and an off-site backup solution, you still couldn’t recover the files you thought you lost.
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Why in the world would you want anything other than the Mac’s built in Calendar? It does a pretty great job, right? Hold on. Fantastical can shake your world up. At least that’s what Flexibits says they can do with Fantastical 2 for the Mac.
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Who would have thought in 2016 you have multiple turntable options – not just from multiple manufacturers but multiple options from just one manufacturer. Audio-Technica has a range from simple home use to pro level equipment. The AT-LP60-USB is their automatic USB turntable. This is a belt-drive turntable with a USB output that allows you to convert your vinyl to digital, or play records through what most likely is your digital audio system. It comes with a USB cable, two RCA to mini-plug cable (one male, one female), 45RPM adapter, and cartridge with stylus.
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Data Rescue is available in several versions: Free, Lite, Standard, and Pro, each supporting different levels of file recovery on Mac OS X 10.7.5 and later. I tested these on three MacBook Pro and Air models, with SSD and traditional magnetic hard drives.
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Back in 2011 I reviewed the Wacom Inkling. The Inkling was a pen and a clip which when used together digitized anything you wrote with the pen. To transfer the images to your computer you would sync the device with an app on said computer. Recently, Wacom released a very similar product called the Bamboo Spark. The Spark, like the Inkling, works with a specialized pen, that when used with the Spark portfolio, will digitize your drawings or writing. However, this time it uses an iOS or Android app for the transfer. How does it work? Read on.
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I find myself lamenting the passing of the Mac OS install disk. It provided me with peace of mind knowing that I could boot from that disk if something went horribly wrong on my internal drive. I researched how to make a bootable USB thumb drive to replace the optical disks of yesteryear. Finding the instructions was easy enough, but upon reading through the procedure, I found that the amount of dealing the the built in UNIX terminal exceeded my comfort level. A little more digging turned up DiskMaker X.
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People who deal with audio on a regular basis are a persnickety bunch. They want everything to work in just a certain way and sometimes try to cram functionality with hardware and software to do things neither was meant to do. Or perhaps I’m projecting my own idiosyncrasies on everyone. No matter, if you have to deal with audio from various sources, you probably are already aware of Rogue Amoeba and some of their applications like Audio Hijack and NiceCast to name just a few.
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The iRig Acoustic by IK Multimedia is a mobile microphone interface designed for acoustic instruments. This is the first such device for acoustic guitars. This interface has been designed to work with most acoustic guitars, classical guitars, and ukuleles.
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Macally’s new WIFISD2 is the perfect gift for someone who has almost everything. Not enough space on your iPhone or iPad for your movies, photos, music, games, and more? No problem! This Wireless iOS Media Hub and Travel Router can handle infinite SD cards, USB flash drives, USB external drives, with either network Wi-Fi pass through or an Ethernet cable connection. Even better: WIFISD2 has an internal battery that can both power it and charge an external USB device.
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This new IOGEAR stylus is great, as long as you have a tight fitting glass or absent screen protector.
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Its been many years since I used a sports watch to monitor my heart rate while exercising. Until I started using the TOMTOM Multi-Sport Cardio Watch, I had no idea how sophisticated the technology has become. If you want to keep track reliably of your exercise data in great detail, this stylish device will do the trick.
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iRig UA by IK Multimedia is an audio interface that allows you to create real time effects from many Android devices. It is very similar to IK Multimedia’s iRig2, but the UA adds a built in digital signal processor (DSP) that expands its capabilities to become a digital recording interface.
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TomTom’s new Bandit Action Cam is a fully self-contained personal POV (point of view) Wi-Fi enabled camera. You can use it as a solo purpose device, with no smartphone required, and to take full advantage of it the TomTom Bandit iOS app is required.
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In the digital age, all discussions of image editing software lead to Adobe Photoshop (PS). PS dominates its software class, but there are alternatives that challenge PS by offering the most used features at a lower price. Heavyweight software comes at serious prices with gigantic overheads. For people who want to avoid the Adobe business model and the various costs and other overheads that PS demands, Pixelmator is an alternative.
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This article covers the most common digital audio file types. I discuss why they were developed, how they’re used, and their advantages and disadvantages. Then I explain how best to preserve and protect a music collection from physical loss, or loss of compatibility with current hardware and music players.
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Deezer Elite and Deezer Premium Plus are the best streaming music services you have never heard or seen. Deezer is available in more countries than Spotify. Deezer’s user interface experience is superior to Rhapsody. Deezer has a more comprehensive range of listening and sharing options than other services. Deezer Premium Plus like/dislike customization is better than Pandora. Deezer Elites tracks areequal in audio quality toTidal. And Deezer is way more stable and mature than Apple Music.
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How many times have you tried to learn Adobe Photoshop or Aperture and given up in frustration? Or maybe you decided, as I did, since you’re not a graphic designer, you really had no need to invest in what’s required to unlock the power that Photoshop and Aperture boast. I don’t have the time or patience for that.
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Beep is a small Wi-Fi music player that connects to any speaker system and lets you cast music from your phone. That is the official description, humble and understated. In actual use, Beep Dial, a new company’s initial product, is the most innovative wireless audio iOS streaming invention in 2015, with the best dancing demo video. Beep Dials are assembled in San Francisco.
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This versatile external drive should be offered along with every iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The Seagate Wireless is an attractive, affordable, full-service external storage device that adds enormous capacity to the limited storage on portable iOS gear.
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