Have you ever had a YouTube video or audio segment you wanted to transcribe but didn’t have the patience to sit and manually type out what the speaker/s said? I ran into just such a situation yesterday and, instead of it taking hours for me to listen, pause, type, listen, pause, type etc I was able to transcribe the two YouTube videos I needed in under ten minutes. Here’s how…… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I was pretty critical of Evernote back in December when they released some iOS apps that just fell flat. I mean, a special app for food logs or exchanging personal information? They called it Evernote Hello, I called it Evernote NO! and I was pretty clear that Evernote needed to put their energies into their core business: the various Evernote apps and they way in which they can make note-taking easier. Well, thankfully, they have done just that and have released a new version of Evernote for Mac that offers some great improvements. What are they?… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Last week Apple worked to make the iPad an even more important educational tool than it already is. The textbooks and their own publishing app Apple set the stage for some really huge increases in iPad-in-education adoption rates. The iPad as study tool is nothing new and one of the best educational apps for it has been around for some time. Mental Case is a flashcard creation and study tool for both Mac OS X and iOS. The Mac version of the app is $29.99 and can be found here. The iOS version is $4.99 and can be found here. I’m using it to create a tutorial system for my students becoming Bar and Bat Mitzvah and am impressed with just how flexible it is. Here’s a video of it in action with a little extra “tech” at the end!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The other day one of my Rabbinic colleagues asked what “system” I use in the synagogue to keep track of all of the various lifecycle “events” that take place in the community as well as make sure that all of my colleagues have as accurate and up-to-date information as possible. I wrote up my answers and then, after sending them to him, realized that while our uses for the services I mention are rather specific, the way in which we use them can easily be adapted to a host of different work-settings.

Here’s what I told him.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

If you still weren’t convinced that Apple’s desktop/laptop Mac OS X operating system and their mobile operating system iOS were moving closer and closer to one another here’s yet one more example.

If you have a Mac go to software update and download the Airport Utility update. Once you do you’ll be greeted with a utility that will be rather familiar if you have used the recently release iOS Airport Utility.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Image courtesy of Carrypad

I’m a huge fan of eBooks.  I’ve been reading them since the Peanut Press days, I have gone on at length about the strengths and weaknesses that I’ve found in the various software eBook readers currently available, and I’ve reviewed a number of “enhanced books” right here for y’all. I haven’t read more than one or two hardcopy books per year in the last several years.  I love eBooks.

I think Apple’s iBooks app is pretty decent, all things considered.  As I ranted on at length about, I think there’s a lot of things to be modified, but it’s a good first effort.  So I was… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

We had a copy of Dragon Dictate for Mac to give away. CES 2012 is over and it is belatedly time to pick a winner…… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) arrived late in 2006 on the PC, and the Mac version took about sixteen months longer to arrive on Mac OS X. In fact, the first expansion for the PC game arrived before the Mac port, but unlike the expansions for the original Neverwinter Nights there is not a simple way to get ‘Mask of the Betrayer’ (or ‘Storm of Zehir’ or the ‘Mysteries of Westgate’ adventure pack) running on your Mac. I had thoroughly enjoyed the PC version of NWN2 when it was released, declaring it the best RPG of 2006 over Oblivion and Gothic 3 despite the fact that it had a number of bugs and camera issues… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Last fall I applied for and received a grant that will allow my synagogue to build a new technology lab. Within the next few months we will have a number of iMac desktop computers and a host of iPads being used by our kids and adults alike. In fact, I’m working on a special tutorial program for students becoming bar and bat mitzvah that will run on the iPad. It uses the awesome iOS application MentalCase. More on that at a later date.

When I found out we were getting the grant, I reached out to a number of companies with whom we work for some assistance. Both Kensington and Zagg were fantastic about… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The other day David, our Gear Diary automotive guru, emailed with some bad news. Yes, it seems he welcomed the New Year with a serious shoulder injury. Here’s what he wrote (I feel his pain as he typed each letter…)

I hope this is not an omen as to how 2012 is going to shape up for me but I am having to go on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury I sustained on New Year’s Day… It is my right shoulder and prolonged time typing and using the mouse really aggravates it… This may be the perfect time to test out Dragon Dictation, huh?
David

I’m sorry to hear about the injury and hope… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

So you got a new phone, tablet or computer and you are ready to get to work. You will want to check out Evernote. Evernote will let you save pictures, documents and other forms of information in a single place and then access them from virtually any and all devices. And if you are going to use Evernote you are going to want to check out Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials: The Definitive Getting Started Guide for Evernote. Evernote Essentials is a PDF book with some great tips that will get you up and running with Evernote in no time. As Brett explains:

The amount of information we want and need to

If you got a new phone, tablet or computer and you plan on doing anything more than play games on it you are going to want to check out Evernote. Evernote will let you save pictures, documents and other forms of information in a single place and then access them for virtually any and all devices.

And if you check out Evernote you are going to want to check out Evernote Essentials: The Definitive Getting Started Guide for Evernote by Brett Kelly. Evernote Essentials is a PDF book with some great tips that will get you up and running with Evernote in no time. As Brett explains:

The amount of information we want and

Virtual City Playground Update for iOS and Android:

The Virtual City Playground 1.3. Update with new quests, winter-related content and decorations hits the App Store and Android Market today.

Through January 2, 2012, players will be able to “switch on” winter in their dream cities, decorate buildings for the holiday season and build Santa’s residence.

What’s new in the update:
UPDATE YOUR CITY! New city decorations and a new entertainment building.
NEW DECORATIONS! 68 New building decorations.
NEW QUESTS! 5 New quests – already finished your quests? Here are some new ones to fill while sitting by the fire.
SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS! Post screenshots of your winter city on Facebook.
About Virtual

One concern I had when the Mac App Store went live was that it meant the end of Mac application bundles. Those bundles, something I had never seen when I used a Windows computer, helped me get some of my favorite OS X apps. Thankfully steals and deals on Mac apps are still happening. Deals like this one day sale.

You can grab any or all of these steals in the Mac App store today only. Check them all out here

I love the concept of the “bento box”.  I think the first time I saw it was in The Breakfast Club, where Claire (“the princess”) brought one as her lunch.  So Japanese, you know?  Several different items, all neatly compartmentalized and neatly laid out for your consumption.  So different from the “smoosh everything together in one metal lunchbox” style that I was used to.  Made the OCD part of me nearly jump for joy.

Now, I don’t know how much FileMaker’s new Bento 4 Holiday Kit adheres to that type of thinking, but really, shouldn’t you judge for yourself?  Here’s what FileMaker says:

The Bento Holiday Kit included 3 pre-designed library templates that help organize holiday