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TheAppleBlog
TheAppleBlog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products.
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Learning From Apple, Part 2: Resources & Free Online Seminars

In a previous article I described the abundant tutorials and tips Apple supplies online for their various software products. In this article I'll examine two other ways Apple provides learning tools for their software.

Resources

Apple's resources pages contain numerous links to information on a particular product. This can be information both inside and outside of Apple.

A typical resources page may list downloads available for the product, Apple support/discussion forums, third-party web sites, upcoming seminars, third-party books, links to PDF manuals, etc.
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Mark Papermaster Was Not the Proverbial "First Choice": This Surprises People?
“I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right ones.”

The above line, from the Disney movie Miracle, is delivered by the coach of the USA hockey team when an assistant coach questions some of his choices for the final roster. It seems very apt when looking at Apple's hire of Mark Papermaster.

Sometimes I'm surprised at the what the Apple blogging community considers newsworthy. Maybe “slow news days” really do exist, because it's otherwise hard to understand why anything would be made of the fact that Mark Papermaster was not initially Apple's “first choice” when looking for Tony Fadell's replacement.

Big deal.
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Targus 4-Port Bend-A-Hub
Targus, a company more popularly associated with its extensive line of laptop cases, also markets computer accessories. One of their newer introductions is the Targus USB 2.0 4-Port Bend-A-Hub, a modestly-priced, useful add-on and an excellent gift suggestion or stocking stuffer for computer users on your Christmas list.

This hub allows you to connect up to four USB devices through a single USB port on your computer.

“So what?,” you’re probably saying, “there are dozens of 4-port USB hubs that do that."

However, what makes the Bend-a-Hub distinctive is its literal flexibility plus its two specialty connectors; one of which can adjust to a 90-degree angle for better accessibility — able to be oriented either horizontally or vertically, making it ideal for connecting a flash thumb drive or iPod. Moreover, another of its four USB ports folds out to reveal a mini USB connector of the sort used by many digital cameras, mobile phones, and PDAs. The Bend-a-Hub’s flexible form factor makes it easy to accommodate a variety of larger USB devices.

It may also be possible to charge devices through the mini USB port if the connecting device supports charging through a mini USB connector. The unit works with both USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports and supports both Mac OS X and Windows (2000, XP, Vista).
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Poladroid Adds 1940's Flare to Your Modern Snaps

Macs are definitely not all-work and no-play machines, and this fact is made even more evident via a nifty little application called Poladroid. With holidays coming up, nostalgia will most likely be at an all-time high and Poladroid helps you inject some into your modern pictures in a very slick way.

Not content to just provide a Photoshop (or PhotoBooth) filter, the makers of Poladroid came up with a way to electronically “develop” your photos into Polaroid-like snaps, complete with the ability to shake the film while you wait!

Simply drag an existing photo onto the application, sit back and watch the results appear – slowly – right before your eyes. The process is done when the red mark appears and you’ll find a full-size JPEG, complete with oversized white border, in your “Pictures” folder ready to add to your online or in-print collection. You can save a copy of the photo during any stage in the “developing” process by right-clicking on the film and choosing “I want a sample now”. But there is one catch…you only get to process ten photos per application launch as that was the limitation in the original Polaroid film cartridges.

I have made the full size before and after images available, but the actual source photo was much larger. Poladroid auto-crops the images, so make sure you are working with what you want your end result to be. For those that make holiday DVDs through iMovie, you could save a photo at various points during the developing process to make for a very nice transition element or just use the resultant image to mark special moments on a timeline.

If you are inclined to share outside your normal circles, Poladroid has its own Flickr group and encourages you to add your own “new nostalgia” to the mix. If you are more of a DIY-type person, right click on the Poladroid application itself, “Show Package Contents”, and drill down into “Contents/MacOS/stuff” to find a Polaroid-style frame you can use in your own creations.

Poladroid is free, and available for download and is a great example of the fun one can have with REALBasic.

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