See some things I tell you are true, as listener Al discovered when he took my advice and upgraded the RAM in his iBook.

I know you have mentioned several times on your show that adding more
than the default 256MB to the Mac (in my case an iBook G4 800) will
make a big difference, but despite all my years as a computer guy
(though recent switcher) I am astounded at how much of a difference it
does in fact make! I added 512 MB (had to toss out 128MB to do it) so
I have a total of 640MB now. It is amazing how snappy applications are
now. Quicksilver, for example, would almost always take a couple
seconds to come up when I hit its hotkey. Now it’s instantaneous,
always. Multitasking is a joy now. Literally the best $150 CDN
(including tax) I’ve ever spent on a computer upgrade (and I’ve done my
fair share over the years… ;)

I would like to recommend to all Canadians (and maybe Americans too)
that they check out http://www.canadaram.com/macram.html. 512MB of
iBook RAM for $131 CDN seems to me like a great deal. My order took
less than 3 days between the time I clicked submit and the time I
clicked the RAM into place. ;)

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050406.mp3 [11.1mb (24:20) 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 46. Rumors elude to possible video iPod, a Tiger update and Apple lauches store on mobile phones in Japan. Darrell’s Guide for new Mac Geeks #2, a forum discussion of Apple’s OS upgrade policies and the Mac Geek site, VersionTracker.com. New Music, What if? by Accrington Stanley. If it’s you or you know who it is please tell me. Your ears will love you for it. Shownotes in HTML or OPML

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Offenburg, Germany – April 6, 2005
E.R.S “Pleasant software for the people” announces the release of the new software ShowMacster. ShowMacster is an extension to Apple’s iChat AV which enables the user to stream pictures, Quicktime movies and live screen captures during video conferences. ShowMacster is seamlessly integrated into iChat AV, adding a drawer to the video chat window. By pressing a button or hotkey ShowMacster will switch from the current iSight video stream to whatever assigned picture, movie or live screen capture. Thus, ShowMacster not only enables the user to show slide shows of his pictures or video clips but also to illustrate his actions on his screen to his opponent.

ShowMacster is available for Mac OS X 10.3 and Mac OS X 10.4 and is priced at 15 Euro (about $20).

For more information and a free downloadable trial version of ShowMacster visit http://www.showmacster.com

I will be at the San Diego Macintosh Users Group (SDMUG) Meeting tonight (4/6/2005). If you are in the San Diego, CA area and want to meet me in person I invite you to stop by. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM (PST) and is at the Madeira Room at the Ramada Inn, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, San Diego, CA. You can find directions and more details on the SDMUG web site. Hope to see some of you there.

Artist and MacCast listener Dorothy Yamamoto is looking foward to the upcoming “Tiger” release as much as all of us MacGeeks. She sent this great image along with these comments:

Like most MacCast listeners, am anxiously awaiting Apple’s Tiger OS release. And like my painting here, “The Big Cat,” the tiger is waiting for Steve Jobs to give the go-ahead. I’ve been studying Jeremy Sutton’s terrific “Painter Creativity” book and instructional DVDs and applied his “single brush” assignment in which you must use only one brush and its variants to complete a painting. I used the soft oil pastel in a monochromatic study. Am fortunate to work on a G5 with lots of RAM and a Wacom Intuous 3 tablet which give the Corel Painter IX digital art experience as close to natural media as possible.

To see more of Dorothy’s work visit her web site

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050404.mp3 [14.0mb (30:42) 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 45. Mac Mini’s at Best Buy, Time magazine looks at iPod alternatives, Adobe announce InDesign CS2 and InCopy CS2. Was Tiger Apple’s April Fool? 6 million Americans listen to Podcasts and a rumor of two new Apple hardware projects. Listener review of iPod Mini and feedback on educational discounts. New MacCast forums, http://forum.maccast.com and new music, Lies In Stereo by The Pickpockets. Your ears will love you for it. Shownotes in HTML or OPML

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Ok. I have set up a MacCast Forum at http://forum.maccast.com. I have not customized the look and feel yet, but it is a start. To post and reply you will need to create an account. If you just want to read then no account is needed. You also need a vaild email address to register. Right now it is self activation via email, but if I start having issue with spammers I may need to go to admin approved accounts. Let’s see how it goes. Please try to keep your posts clean. The MacCast is a family show. Enjoy.

Adam

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050401.mp3 [17.1mb (37:26) 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 44. Apple is 29. Tiger is GOLD. A laptop love song, Mic/Line in show corrections, PlayPod issues resolved with update, Podium Cool Pad review, why switch top 10 contest, response to Apple K-12 student dicounts, Simon Toon’s SlamIdol Podcast promo, MacCast: creating switchers one by one, OutPod review and keeping a PowerBook awake. New music, Might As Well by Thinking of Pinky. You should hear this. Shownotes in HTML or OPML

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Sorry gang. The day got away from me and it is already early Saturday morning. I will post the show tonight (04/02). Since it is now the second, this is not a joke. ;)

Well at least one MacCast listener has added a Mac Mini to his living room. Here are Peter’s comments and pics. Check out this setup.

The following is a set up I use for my Mini Mac downstairs next to the warm stove! It is connected to the router upstairs with airport. I have a Samsung 17 inch LCD connected to a magazine rack with a Ergotron arm. I use a bluetooth mouse and a TouchStrokes software keyboard. The power brick is on a bookshelf behind me and the Mini is on a shelf on the back side of the magazine rack. See pictures attached. I will also take the Mini, mouse and power supply with me and hook it into a monitor at work or elsewhere. Monitor runs around $200.00, Arm around $99.00.

I forgot to add that I am using airport express and thus print to my
printer in my computer room where I also have a 20 inch iMac.