Waterfield bags are designed to be very tough (not surprising as the company was founded by a former bicycle messenger), so I was keen to take a closer look at the Waterfield Cargo bag.

Features

The Waterfield Cargo looks like fairly typical messenger-style bag at first. It has a shoulder strap, front flap and a buckle. But there are ton of nifty design touches that make the bag very practical in everyday use:

• The top zip makes it easy to get stuff from the main compartment without lifting up the main flap
• The interior fabric is a bright colour, that makes it easy to find things inside
• The back pocket is great for your iPad or a folder with papers

Design

This bag looks pretty good, but the design isn’t the main reason you’d buy this bag. It’s a very functional design and it’s“tidy” enough to take into any office, without looking too corporate.

You can also customise the look quite a bit by choosing various trim and colour options.

Quality and Durability

Waterfield state that the bag was inspired by ruggedized bike messenger accessories and it certainly feels every bit as durable as its heritage. The nylon fabric is extremely tough and feels much more durable than the fabrics used on similar products from other well-known manufacturer’s bags I’ve owned.

This is how much I can easily fit in the Waterfield Cargo:

Contents of my bag

As I mentioned at the outset, I plan on commuting by bike quite a bit with this bag, so I want something that can be strapped to the back of a bike rack and withstand a bit of wear and tear. So far, the Waterfield Cargo has been more than up to the challenge: Despite being bumped around on the back of a bike for several weeks, kicked around on the floor of the subway and dragged halfway across Malaysia on my honeymoon, it still looks like new. Any dirt or muck you get on the bag easily brushes off, and all the seams and zips are rock solid.

Bonus Round

There’s a lot to like about this bag, but here are a few extra tidbits I particularly like:

• The strap can easily being adjusted just by lifting an adjustment flap at the side, but it doesn’t accidently lift or slip
• Underneath the front flap are two slim pockets that are almost hidden – perfect for storing your passport or other valuables somewhere hard to access while travelling.
• The interior pockets don’t get in your way, so you can use the space inside the bag to the fullest.
• If you do need extra compartments, the Sleevecase accessory is perfect for documents and laptops (it has two compartments, perfect for a MacBook and iPad), while the Cablepouch is great for all your accessories and cables:

Conclusion

At $189, the Waterfield Cargo is certainly one of the more expensive laptop bags out there. But this Waterfield bag, which was handmade in San Francisco, is extremely well made with high-quality materials used throughout, so I’d argue that the price is more than justified. If you’ve got a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air you’re carrying around, it’s worth investing in a good bag to protect it.

Unlike other messenger bags that I’ve owned, that have all started to fall apart at the seams after a few months of owning them, this bag feels as though it will give me a good few years of use.

The attention to detail and everyday practicality is very obvious — someone really thought about every aspect of this bag while designing it – and it is very versatile, equally useful as a travel bag for longer journeys or as a daily bag for the office.

Overall, highly recommended.

Enter the Dodocase for iPad 2 – a hand-made, book-like case with an elegant wooden frame. The DodoCase has a moleskine-like design and elegantly encloses your entire iPad like a hardback book. On the right side of the book sits a wooden frame that has special cutouts for the iPad, while the left has a trademark ownership label and customiseable colour  lining.

Likes

Protection
The DodoCase is great for toting your iPad around inside any old bag and you don’t have to worry about the Smart Cover sliding off and it getting scratched or dented.

Look and feel
The case itself looks great and it’s quite nice to carry around. It’s fairly easy to get the iPad in and out of the DodoCase, with squishy corner fasteners making sure that it stays firmly in place. The wooden frame has cutouts that allow access to the connection ports and right-hand controls and an elastic band ensures the lid stays firmly shut. It’s also comfortable to use your iPad while it’s in the case (particularly in landscape mode), but it’s also fairly easy to take it out if you need to.

Weight
The bamboo used to construct the DodoCase is really light, so despite its considerable size (see below), it doesn’t add much weight to the iPad at all. Since I usually take my iPad with me when I want to avoid lugging a heavy laptop, this was quite important to me.

Dislikes

Magnets

I’ll start with a big one: no magnets. The DodoCase for iPad 2 does not support the iPad’s sleep/wake if cover is opened feature, which is quite disappointing for a case that isn’t exactly cheap. You can however jerryrig your own solution by sticking a slim fridge magnet in the right spot of the cover, but I would have assumed that  wake-on-open support would be a no-brainer for this type of product. The FAQ on the DodoCase website seems to hint that future versions of the DodoCase will have magnet support though, so it may be worth checking back in the near future.

Stand
If you flip the cover over, the case will also prop your iPad up a bit, giving you a better angle for typing. However the Smart Cover has a slightly higher angle. You can also stand the DodoCase upright , but unless you have a sufficiently grippy surface, the whole affair is a bit wobbly – the Smart Cover wins again here.

Size
While the DodoCase does add quite a bit of protection for your iPad, it does feel unnecessarily large, compared to the thin and sleek design of the iPad 2. The case is roughly 2,2cm thick when closed, which is 2,5x thicker than the iPad. When the iPad is inside the case, there looks to be a bit of space between the back of the iPad and the case, which seems unnecessary.

Conclusion

The DodoCase for iPad 2 is a great-looking case that is really well made. If you mainly plan on using your iPad around the house, I would probably stick with the Smart Cover, simply because it is more convenient. But if you plan on taking your iPad out a lot, the DodoCase is a great and stylish alternative to getting a bag with a laptop pouch.

#The short version

## The good
- Really fun to use
- Just about small enough to take with you most of the time
- Wide selection of micro 4/3 lenses
- Compatible with huge numbers of cheap(-ish) legacy lenses
- Images don’t require any post-processing or messing about with RAW if that’s not your thing
- Built-in flash  – can even be bounced
- Very affordable

## The bad
- Build quality not quite as good as competitors
- Autofocus a little bit slower than the Panasonic GF1 and Sony NEX-3
- Low resolution screen
- You’ll want a good pancake lens to really benefit from the compact size – which will add considerably to the price

#Body & Build

On first impression it seems obvious how Olympus managed to trim almost $400 off the price of the E-P1 or E-P2: The E-PL1 feels a lot cheaper than its metal-clad PEN siblings. That first impression isn’t helped by the mushy buttons and low screen resolution, which both make it feel quite cheap, especially when compared to the luxurious fit and finish of Sony’s NEX-3.

But first impressions can be misleading: whilst the quality of the materials isn’t quite as high as on some other cameras, the E-PL1 still feels very solid and sturdy – despite the plastic. There’s no squeakiness and despite a few knocks, the body still looks as great as it does when I first got it. Olympus also seem to have invested a bit more in the controls that really count – the shutter release button and mode dial.

The camera isn’t as amazingly thin as the Nex-3, but this is still a very small micro DSLR. By losing a bit of the bulk of the E-P1, the camera feels considerably more portable and if you use it with a pancake lens, it will easily fit into a (large) jacket pocket. The hand grip on the right side of the body makes the camera confortable to hold and since it is so light, one-handed shots are easily pulled off as well.

The design of the body isn’t spectacular, but it does remind me of the type of cameras I used to see growing up. Combine the looks with the unintentionally dated looking interface that Olympus includes, it’s quite a charming camera.

#Controls
Looking past the mushiness of the buttons on the E-PL1, getting to grips with the actual controls can be a little bit challenging as well. Whilst the E-P1 and E-P2 both have dual jog-wheel controllers that allow you to quickly adjust values and navigate menus, the E-PL1 is saddled with a four-way directional control schema. Adjusting things like exposure, shutter time etc. takes a bit longer because of this and it decreases the amount of experimentation you’ll likely do as a result.

If you plan on using iAuto mode, Olympus has included a feature that they call “Live Guide”, which makes it much easier to adjust things such as colour saturation, motion blur or background focus. This allows anyone to create interesting photographic effects, without actually having to know all that much about photography priciples such as shutter speed or aperture. These controls are just one or two button pushes away, but would be even more convenient with a jog dial.

Setting other values in manual modes requires a push up on the directional controller and then up-down or left-right presses to adjust aperture and shutter speed. Not too bad, but again not quite as convenient as the jog wheels found on other micro DSLRs.

One fantastic feature is the ability to customise the fn and video recording buttons on the E-PL1. You’ll need to dive into the advanced menus to do so, but the firmware will allow you to assign one of 6 commonly used features to either of those two buttons. This lets you access the features you use most often with just the push of a button.
The placement of the one-touch video recording button has been criticised by some, as the button is prone to accidental presses. I only really had this issue once or twice whilst wearing gloves, but you can disable the button entirely using the customisation feature, making it a non issue.

The whole menu looks very 1980s with its blue and yellow colour scheme and low-resolution icon, but you can’t beat it for customisability and the features you’ll need the most often are just a few button presses away, so it’s definitely a case of function over form.

##Everyday use
Despite some of compromises the E-PL1 makes, it is hard to describe how much fun this camera is to use when you actually get out with it. It is compact enough to take it with you, even if you’re not sure you’ll need a camera. It’s nice and responsive eough to fire off quick snapshots, but also allows you to get a bit more creative if you’re feeling artsy. I also found it interesting that people who usually feel initimidated by a DSLR felt right at home picking up the E-PL1 and taking pictures.

The shoulder strap works really well with the E-PL1 and you hardly notice the weight of the camera at all when walking around with it. I’ve taken it to the Tollwood arts festival here in Munich and even on a bike trip and around town without any problems. Several times I’ve had to check to see if I still have it.

##Autofocus
Some criticism has been aimed at the autofocus feature on the PEN series cameras and that is definitely not their strong suit. Unlike full-sized DSLR cameras that use a phase-detection autofocus system, Micro Four-Thirds cameras use a contrast-based autofocus like the kind that is usually found on point and shoot cameras. The phase-detection system is what allows cameras like the Canon EOS / Digital Rebel series to focus almost instantaneously, whereas the PEN has to hunt & peck to find the focus sweet spot. This means you sometimes lose a few precious seconds while the E-PL1 attempts to focus on certain objects, especially in low-light situations. It certainly doesn’t happen often enough to be a showstopper, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you plan on taking a lot of low light or fast moving shots.

##Art Filters
The E-PL1 offers 8 Art filters that are applied instantly to your shots or video. Of course, you could achieve similar effects with other cameras using post-processing software, but it’s quite inspiring to see an effect applied to your shot before you have even taken it, and might give you inspiration for a shot you wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

The filters greatly slow down the refresh rate on the screen though and whilst they can be applied in video mode as well, the reduced frame rate makes most of the filters unsuitable for video.

One exception is the diorama mode, which will give your videos a timelapse-like effect, so if you plan on filming from a fixed perspective, that mode is worth playing with.

##Flash
The lack of a built-in flash on the E-P1, E-P2 and Sony Nex cameras really limits their use as an allround camera and whilst you can use external flash modules with their hot shoes, I imagine this is fairly offputting for many casual users.

The flash on the E-PL1 is great: you can choose from a number of flash timings and the E-PL1 will also use the flash for focus assistance in certain lighting conditions.
One particularly nice touch is the ability to use the flash in a “bounce” position: Because the flash is raised on a little arm mechanism, you can pull it back to point the flash up towards the ceiling. By doing so, the flash will bounce off the ceiling, illuminating your subject but without the shadows and red eyes typically seen in flash shots.

You can’t lock the flash into the bounce position (it’s not even clear if this was an intentional design decision or a lucky accident), but it’s easy to hold it back with your left index finger whilst shooting.

##Legacy Lenses
Micro Four Thirds cameras can be used with old analog lenses, such as the Konika Hexanon or Olympus OM series of lenses, provided you have the correct adapter. Whilst you will lose convenient features like autofocus capability and aperture adjustment, both of these can be manually adjusted using controls on the lens. But why would you want to bother using an old manual lens? Well, there are quite a few of these lenses being sold on eBay and a you can buy some pretty impressive lenses for well under $50. An adapter will set you back about $20-50, depending on the kind you need. And whilst the modern micro 4/3 lenses are great to use, nothing can quite beat manually adjusting aperture and focus on a well made lens from the 70s or 80s.

You’ll want to switch to aperture priority mode, as this is usually set on the lens itself, leaving shutter speed (and the correct exposure) up to the camera. Legacy lenses force you to learn a little bit of camera theory and will help you to better understand some of the concepts behind the PASM modes, which is good if you’re just getting started like I am.

## Video mode
The E-PL1 will record 720p video at 30fps, which doesn’t sound so impressive now that your average smartphone probably has similar video specs.

But the E-PL1 gives you full control over your video shots, allowing you to choose between continuous or manual focus, aperture values etc. This gives users the ability to achieve some really creative video shots, more reminiscent of a motion picture than a wobbly home movie. Of course – most of us will end up with wobbly (albeit high-resolution) video that looks like it was shot while jumping up and down, but at least the camera is capable of more.

Here’s a quick, unedited clip I shot using the Hexanon 52mm lens with manual focus (so it keeps getting blurry is because I’m messing with the focus wheel, not because the camera is hunting for focus). It gives you a pretty good idea of the low-light capabilities of the camera in movie mode, as well as the audio quality – bear in mind though that it was quite windy on that particular night):
[video src="http://jetplanejournal.com/jetplanejournal/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Tunnel-near-Laim.m4v" width="640" height="360"]

#Conclusion
The E-PL1 is a great intermediate camera: it offers manual controls, interchangable lenses and decent image quality in a considerably smaller package than your typical DSLR. Your choice of lenses is much better than on the Sony NEX series and the price tag is quite a bit lower than the Panasonic GF1 or Olympus E-P2.

While it doesn’t offer quite the same level of image quality as a full-sized DSLR, comparisons have shown that the sensor is nearly as good as APS-C sized sensors at low ISO levels. In fact, DPReview claims:

[...] the 4/3 sensor is competitive (but overall not necessarily better than) APS-C sensors with its 12MP PEN E-PL1 model being independently tested to out-resolve 15MP APS-C based competitor cameras and even matching an 18MP APS-C SLR camera model in actual resolution and high ISO detail rendering.

The built-in flash also means that the E-PL1 is flexible enough to be used for casual photography as well, something the E-P1, E-P2 and Sony NEX all lack (the optional flash modules are too cumbersome to be really useful in my opinion).

I believe this is currently one of the best cameras around for a photography enthusiast looking to make the jump up to a “proper” camera, with the Gf1 being the only other (considerably more expensive) option I would seriously consider.

In fact, the E-PL1 was good enough that a few days after returning my review unit to Olympus, I had to order one for myself.

Support the site and buy your very own E-PL1 at Amazon:
E-PL1 at Amazon.com
E-PL1 at Amazon.de
E-PL1 at Amazon.co.uk

Sony were kind enough to loan me a NEX-3 for a fortnight recently, so I’ve put this intriguing new camera through its paces.

*Note:* I’m most definitely an amateur when it comes to photography, so this review will focus aspects that someone upgrading from a compact camera might look for.

#Body and Build

The NEX-3 has a very compact body. In fact, if you remove the lens, the body itself isn’t much bigger than most compact cameras and is quite a bit smaller than traditional bridge cameras such as the Canon G11.

The NEX-3 compared to the Panasonic TZ-3

The NEX-3 compared to the original iPhone

Once you attach the kit lens, a lot of this size advantage is lost, as the lens itself is several times deeper than the camera body. However Sony also offer a 16mm “pancake-style” lens, that is quite a bit slimmer than the kit lens, making it almost pocketable. Considering the NEX-3 has a APS-C-sized sensor (which is the same type of sensor you’ll usually find in large DSLRs such as the Canon EOS-600D / Digital Rebel TSi series), it’s an amazingly small package for such a tiny body.

The huge APS-C sensor inside the NEX-3

The build quality of the NEX-3 is quite nice overall. The body itself is a hard plastic with a metallic-looking finish. The lens barrel is constructed entirely out of metal and feels very solid indeed.

Even moveable components such as the articulating display and battery and memory card compartments feel very sturdy and you get the impression that this camera could survive a fair bit of wear and tear.

##Controls and buttons

The NEX-3 has just 5 buttons and 1 jog-dial which which you’re supposed to control everything. While this may sound positively oppulent to Apple users, the NEX-3 could actually use a few extra to be really useable:

My biggest issue was the lack of a mode-dial: you need to hit menu, select the mode options and then turn the jog wheel. Ironically, this option then gives you an on-screen visualisation of – a mode dial wheel!

This is mitigated somewhat by the dedicated video recording and playback buttons, but given the choice, I’d much prefer to have a fast way to switch between the iAuto, scene and PASM settings.

#Articulating screen

This is a feature I didn’t think I’d use much – but in practise it really does come in handy and allows you to take pictures from some interesting angles. The hinge feels very sturdy and when you fold the display back, you almost can’t tell that it’s adjustable.

#Performance

Overall I was very impressed with the camera. It takes great pictures with the automatic settings, which will be what most users buy this camera for. Switch it on, point it at your subject and snap away.

Occasionally I experienced minor issues with the auto-focus being a little bit slow or with blown out highlights, but generally speaking I was quite impressed by the results.

#Features of Note

*Auto-stitching*

Sony has included a nifty feature, that allows you to hold the camera at arm’s length and pan around to create panorama images. What sounds terribly gimmicky actually works pretty well in practise. You hold the camera up and an arrow on screen tells you how to move your arm. I basically just held it up and spun around without looking at the screen at all.

The results are pretty good:

While stitching is pretty seamless (no pun intended!) with the software that is available nowadays, it’s nice not to have that extra step and the in-camera software does a nice job of straightening and aligning the images.

*Defocus Background*

This is a new feature that several Micro-DSLRs have introduced this year. It basically enables you to shoot images with lots of bokeh, without having to bother with focal lengths, aperture or other photography concepts.

This feaure works mostly as advertised: you point the camera at your subject and turn the dial to sharpen or defocus the background of the image, leaving the camera to figure out the rest.

The "Defocus background" menu

This is the type of feature that encourages amateurs by allowing them to take “pro-looking” photos fairly easily. You would think this is the sort of feature that would act as a stepping stone to more serious experimentation with the manual controls of the camera, but unfortunately the NEX-3 doesn’t tell you what values it’s changing to achieve the effect, so you can’t easily re-create it using the manual controls, unless you know what you’re doing.

#Flash

Like the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2, the NEX-3 lacks an onboard flash. However, unlike the bulky flash modules Olympus offers seperately, Sony includes a small external flash module, that is small enough to leave attached to the camera for longer periods of time. It uses a clever folding design that makes it fairly inconspicuous when attached to the camera. However, it’s a bit fiddly to attach and a built-in flash would have been preferable.

# Accessories and compatibility

As this is a brand new Sony device category, there isn’t a huge selection of accessories and lenses just yet: The NEX-3 works with Sony E-mount lenses (other lenses can be fitted with an adapter, but will not support autofocus) and the smart shoe for flash modules and other accessories is also proprietary. However, as this camera is clearly aimed at a first-time DSLR buyer, that’s unlikely to be an issue for most users and the current selection of peripherals will undoubtedly continue to grow in the near future.

Whilst the bottom of the camera proudly displays the Sony Memory Stick logo, the camera also accepts standard SD cards, so you’ll be able to re-use your exisiting memory cards.

#Conclusion

The Sony Alpha NEX-3 is a fantastic camera for photographers looking to move beyond the capabilities of a point & shoot camera, without going all out and getting a “real” DSLR. The easy-to-use menus and helpful features like Background defocus give novice users the benefits of using a camera with an APS-C-sized sensor without the complexity and bulk of a DSLR.

It’s questionable whether the extreme miniturization of the body was really worth the effort, considering the size of the kit lens, however it’s still an impressively compact package that you’ll be able to take nearly anywhere.

Considering this is Sony’s first foray into the “Micro-DSLR” market, this is a fantastic first offering. The NEX-3 offers great overall value for money and is aggressively priced compared to other Micro-DSLR style cameras, whilst boasting the largest sensor seen so far in this class. It’s worth serious consideration if you’re in the market for a compact camera that can shoot excellent images.

Interested in the Sony Alpha NEX? Suppor the site and check it out at Amazon:

Sony NEX-3

Sony NEX -5

But OS X has gone through a lot of changes since Transmit 3 was first introduced and the app is starting to show its age. Enter Transmit 4!

This latest update adds a completely new user interface, innovative new features like Transmit Disk as well as a slew of customisation options. I was fortunate enough to be a beta tester for version 4, so I’ve had a few weeks to play with the new version – here are some of my thoughts.

New UI

Panic is know for their sleek user interface design and attention to detail and Transmit 4 is no exception. First off, the biggest change of them all: A NEW TRUCK!

But the logo isn’t all that has been refreshed: The entire app feels brand new. Most UI elements have been given a 2010 update and the interface feels a lot tidier.

You start off with a list of your configured servers that uses a sleek black look that was made popular by apps such as Pixelmator, CoverScout 3 and SongGenie (disclaimer – I work for equinux).

Selecting a server puts you into a familiar file browsing mode – more on that below:

Buttons and features are usually exactly where you would expect to find them and unobtrusive animations and pretty icons round out the package and give the app a nice touch of Panic personality. Here are a few bits of eye candy I noticed during testing:

File Browsing, Places & Quick Look

An FTP client fundamentally has two jobs: show me my remote files and allow me to move files between my local and remote storage. To accomplish that, an FTP application has to replicate a lot of the functionality of a regular file browser, so users can browser their local files as well as their remote files.

Transmit 4 offers single and dual file-browser layouts, (rearrangable!) tabs and the icon, llist, column and cover flow viewing styles you are familiar with from the Finder. But it also has a few additional tricks up its sleeve, that you won’t find in the Finder.

Here are some of the more interesting file browsing options:

• Folders above Files changes the sort order, so that folders are always displayed before your files in a view
• Quick Look makes it easy to see a file’s content and even works with remote files stored on your FTP server
• Places can store shortcuts to your most frequently used folders, so they are just a click away. You can also drag files to a Place shortcut.

Places is really useful, but the way you add locations by dragging them to the breadcrumb area is a bit unconventional. Once you’ve figured it out though, it quickly became one of my favourite Transmit 4 features.

Transmit 4 offers enough view options to suit almost anyone’s preferred file browsing style. Whether you perfer to work with multiple windows, tabs, split layouts, column view etc – Transmit 4 has got you covered. While it’s debatable whether most users need so many options, file browsing habits are usually so ingrained that it was probably a good idea for Panic to include as many options as they could.

DockSend, Droplets, TransmitDisk and more…

Most of the time, I find myself uploading files to the same place over and over again. Transmit has a number of ways that give you an easy way to send a file to your FTP server straight from the finder:

• Drag it to a custom droplet you can create in Transmit 4
• Enable Docksend and you can drag it directly to the Transmit 4 icon in your Dock
• Turn on TransmitDisk…

TransmitDisk is a nifty new feature, that uses MacFUSE to allow you to mount your FTP server as a volume that the Finder can see. Once mounted, you can interact with your FTP folders like you would with a drive on your local network.

In my experience this worked fairly well, but occasionally felt a little bit more sluggish than using Transmit’s own file browser – but your mileage may vary.

Conclusion

Overall this is a great upgrade to an already very useful application. The new features are well thought out and make working with your FTP server a lot easier and faster. While this isn’t a revolutionary upgrade, it is solid enough to make it worth your while.

You can buy or upgrade to Transmit 4 in the Panic Online Store.

Unlikea more general-use utilities such as LaunchBar or Quicksilver, Keyboard Maestro is designed primarily for text manipulation and keyboard shortcuts rather than general purpose file system actions and macros. Having said that, it can also replicate some of the functionality those programs offer as well, giving it a bit of an advantage over more basic text replacement tools such as Typinator or TextExpander.

Performance

If there’s one thing you need your text-replacement utility to do, it’s reliable text replacement. You want it to work immediately, regardless of which application you’re working in. If it causes any extra delay, it would interrupt your thought and you would probably be quicker off typing things out yourself.

Keyboard Maestro performed very well in this regard and worked instantly every time, regardless of which every application I tested it with.

Advanced Commands

Once you’ve become accustomed to basic text replacement, you start thinking about more advanced things.

I for instance use a number of text replacements that allow me to create URLs based on file paths I’ve copied. So by copying the path “/images/example.jpg”, I can simply type the shortcut “..imgloc” to turn that file path into the URL “http://jetplanejournal.com/posts/images/example.jpg“.

But Keyboard Maestro can also trigger non-text events, such as mouse movements, system events (e.g. volume, disk ejects etc.) open URLs etc. The Keyboard Maestro website has a number of ideas and suggestions to help you optimize your workflow.

But there’s more…

So Keyboard Maestro is a text replacement utility, a keyboard hotkey tool and a time saver. What other tricks does it have up its sleeve?
Well, it can also:

• Store your clipboard history and manage multiple clipboards
• Remote control your Mac from your iPhone using its built-in macro trigger webserver
• Run regular scripts and jobs for you
• Record GUI-based scripts

Gripes

Keyboard Maestro is a very powerful utility, but manages to be easy to use thanks to a fairly simple and straightforward interface. However, the UI could do with a little bit of extra polish here and there and one or two Macros that are enabled by default may be confusing:

• Some of the icons could be more obvious, e.g. you enable and disable macros by clicking a (stateless) check mark. A “no entry” icon is used for delete instead of the conventional “—” icon.
• To finish editing a new macro, you can either close the actions pane, or click the “+” icon, neither of which is particularly obvious.
• By default, Option+backspace is remapped to forward delete, which left me scratching my head for a few seconds, as I generally use that shortcut to delete entire words.
• Similarly, Ctrl+Tab is remapped to Keyboard Maestro’s own application window switching function (which is similar to the Dock expose feature in Snow Leopard) – I use that shortcut extensively to switch between tabs in Safari.

But these are all minor gripes that won’t annoy you at all once you have everything set up the way you want, so I offer them mainly as feedback to the developer.

What about the tools built-in to OS X?

I know a lot of users prefer to use the tools and functionality built-in to OS X whenever possible, so you might ask what’s wrong with those tools…

Well, although text substitution service has been beefed up significantly in 10.6, it’s still lacking the customizablity you’ll find in utilities such as Keyboard Maestro. You could also replicate a lot of the functionality in Automator, but in my experience, Automator is so slow to execute a command, it’s not worth the effort.

Conclusion

Keyboard Maestro is a great utility for anyone that spends a lot of time working with text on their Mac. Whether you might be thinking of using it to help you quickly answer repetitive email, create blog posts or just to map certain mouse-based actions to a keyboard shortcut, it’s definitely worth checking out.
I’ve tried a number of similar utilities, but in terms of extendability and scope, Keyboard Maestro seems to take the cake. At $36, it’s not cheap for a utility, but considering the time it’ll help you save I think it’s a fair price. I’d recommend you try it out and see how well it could fit into your daily workflows. A free demo is available.

Recommended.

Disclaimer: Peter Lewis, maker of Keyboard Maestro kindly provided me with a license for this review. All opinions are however, of course my own.

Take Germany for example. The iPhone is only available with a 2-year T-Mobile contract. The contracts T-Mobile Germany offers are significantly more expensive than comparable contracts from other providers, so alternatives such as the Palm Pre have received a fair amount of interest. In the US, the situation is similar, but it is primarily AT&T’s poor network performance that has customers looking at alternatives.

So the Pre might be less expensive and on a carrier with better coverage than the iPhone – but can Palm match the great overall user experience Apple offers?

Disclaimer: I received a 10-day loan of a Palm Pre review unit with Touchstone charger from O2 Germany to review, which was returned at the end of the review period. I received no other compensation and the opinions stated reflect my honest impressions. Having said that, if you like this review you can save a few bucks, support the site and buy your Palm Pre at Amazon.

The short version

There’s a lot to like about the Pre: Multitasking, the quick-launch bar, the messaging application and background notifications are just some features that I would welcome on the iPhone. Occasional slowdowns, poor build quality, a tiny keyboard and the smaller number and somewhat simpler nature of 3rd party apps means the Pre is just shy of being a true iPhone alternative. Here are my top pros and cons for both devices:

Unboxing

Your initial experience of opening a product can set the tone for your overall impression. Apple’s attention to detail really shows in this area and Palm’s legion of ex-Apple employees seem to have brought this thinking with them to Palm: The Pre comes in a sleek white box that is very clean and uncluttered. This packaging is somewhat marred though by the plastic wrapper with specs that O2 insists on wrapping it in. When you first turn on the device, you’re forced to create a Palm Profile before you can start using the device. The Pre then launches an interactive tutorial, that shows you how to navigate around its interface and explains some of the gestures. This is important, as WebOS requires the user to use gestures to navigate back through menus.

A nice mood-video completes the initial setup and does a good job of leaving the user with a good first impression of the device.

Hardware

The device itself looks very attractive: the screen is flush with the body and the glossy black plastic enclosure is quite fetching. The back same glossy plastic is used on the default battery cover, which feels slightly slippery in your hand. Luckily, this can be swapped for the Touchstone-enabled back, which has a rubberized matte finish, that looks and feels much nicer. You can’t see where the screen ends and the housing begins when the screen is switched off, which gives the front a very smooth look. When closed, the Pre is a very nice size and fits nicely into your hand and most pockets.

Build quality

The single button on the front of the device has a nice “clickiness” to it, but the other the physical buttons on the device are all very mushy and feel extremely cheap (the power button is particularly nasty). For a phone with this price tag, these buttons feel almost unacceptably junky. Luckily you won’t need them very often though.

The Pre’s slide-out keyboard is hidden by a sliding hinge mechanism, which is easy to open in one hand. When the keyboard is hidden though, the screen can be wobbled slightly – quite the contrast to the iPhone’s sturdy fit and finish.

The Pre’s USB connector is hidden behind a small plastic cover on the side of the device. The cover is flush with the rest of the casing, but this does make it a bit fiddly to open. Since you’ll need to open the cover quite a bit to charge the device (more on battery life later), I’d definitely recommend investing in the Touchstone wireless charger instead, to save yourself the hassle.

Other Hardware Details

The device uses one of the various micro-USB connectors that you see on consumer electronics instead of a regular mini-USB jack. This means your existing USB cables probably won’t fit. If you plan on transferring media to the device on a regular basis, I’d recommend buying a second USB cable, as you’ll also need one to charge your Pre.

The standard 3.5mm headphone jack is nice. The Pre also comes with a wired headset, complete with a clicker for accepting calls and pausing or skipping music. The earbuds have little magnets on the side, so you can stick them together when not in use, which should help prevent the cord from tangling. The sound quality doesn’t quite match Apple’s earbuds though and the headset feels fairly cheap overall. Still, it’s nice to have and I hope we’ll see third party accessory makers offering compatible headsets in future.

Keyboard and typing

One feature many smartphone users would like to see on the iPhone is a physical keyboard. I’ve only ever used T9 text input on a regular phone keypad, so the iPhone keyboard was actually a welcome step up for me and I had high hopes for the Pre.

The keyboard is fairly tiny, so it actually offers less typing space than the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard whilst the width of the keys is about the same. The only way I was able to accurately hit a key reliably, was by using the very tip of my thumb, which slows you down a bit. On the iPhone, I can just type away and worry less about hitting each key exactly. I also feel that typing special characters, such as an apostrophe, comma or period slows things down as well: the iPhone usually autocompletes these, or has a shortcut. On the Pre, you have to hunt for the modifier key first. With some autocomplete intelligence built-in, the keyboard would be far better.

To give you an idea of how fast I was able to type, here’s a short comparison video – but bear in mind that I have much more practise typing on the iPhone:

WebOS

When Palm announced the Pre, the OS is what had everyone most excited. Palm had been floundering for years with several failed new OS projects, none of which were ever released. Palm OS was long overdue for an overhaul, but few people believed Palm would be able to produce anything to match the iPhone in the near future. Palm responded with WebOS – an entire mobile operating system built on web technologies and designed for a multi-touch interface.

WebOS feels quite snappy, but opening apps can be a little bit sluggish at times. This video demonstrates opening the phone  app on both phones:

However, in contrast to Apple’s iPhone OS, WebOS is designed to enable application multitasking via it’s “card” metaphor. Open one application and it will take up your entire screen, just like iPhone apps do. But press the home button and the app will zoom out and you can launch another app beside it. You can then switch between two or more apps at any time with a simple press of the home button. Swiping up across a card closes the application.

Here’s multitasking in action:

Swipe and pinch are supported on the Pre just as you would expect from a multitouch device and it even has a few more tricks up its sleeve: Slide your finger up from the area around the home button (the “gesture area”) and you can bring up the Dock-like launch bar, for instant access to your 4 favorite apps. Swiping from right to left across the gesture area will take you back in menus and dialog screens. The back gesture could be a bit sluggish to respond at times and I don’t really a huge advantage over a soft, on-screen back button.

Unlike in the iPhone OS, taps are visualized by a small dot pointer and wave animation, that indicates exactly where you tapped (like a mouse pointer). Certain menu items, such as the wifi options in the menu bar require quite a bit of accuracy to hit, as the targets a quite a bit smaller than a finger. This is compensated somewhat by the visualization of your taps, but Apple’s approach of making every UI element in the iPhone OS finger-friendly is definitely a better solution. I sometimes found tapping UI elements in WebOS a bit challenging.

WebOS is also not quite as responsive as the iPhone OS. Scrolling in lists in just one example of the slight sluggishness you sometimes feel on the device. Overall though the responsiveness is still fairly impressive and the ability to open multiple apps makes up for the occasional slowdown.

My favorite feature in WebOS might be the global search feature. Unlike Spotlight on the iPhone, that requires you to go to the Spotlight home screen, global search doesn’t need any additional steps to get to: just open the keyboard and start typing to search within your applications and contacts. If no results are found on your phone, WebOS will offer to search Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter.

Phone and contacts

The phone application is fine and the on-screen number pad for dialing without the physical keyboard is very useable. You can easily access your contacts and voicemail as well. Speaking of contacts, one of Palm’s heavily touted features is “Synergy” – the ability to sync and merge contacts from multiple sources. If you sign into your Google and Facebook accounts, those contacts will be displayed in a single unified list. Depending on how tidy you keep your Facebook contact list, this feature may vary in its usefulness.

Messaging

This is a bit of a mixed bag. Similar to the “Synergy” feature for your contacts, the Pre displays SMS text messages and IM messages in a single application. This makes a lot of sense, but can be confusing at first. Overall AIM and text messaging worked pretty well though and it definitely beats the iPhone, which doesn’t offer IM support at all out of the box.

Mail

The mail application is fairly basic. It has a nice “favorite” feature, that allows you to create shortcuts to your most frequently used mail folders. But it lacks batch move and delete commands you’ll find on the iPhone. It does have more advanced attachment capabilities though, so you can grab documents, videos, audio files or pictures and attach them to any mail message. On the iPhone, you’ll need to go to the respective application and either copy & paste your attachment, or select the email option in the app.

Connectivity and browsing

The iPhone 2G only has EDGE (which is fairly slow), so I mostly stick to RSS readers and dedicated apps for mobile data access on the iPhone. Apps such as Netnewswire, Facebook or Tweetie have little overhead and load data fairly quickly – even on an EDGE connection. But browsing the web is usually too slow on EDGE to be of much use, so I was interested to see how much fast browsing over 3G on the Pre is. Truth be told I was slightly disapointed: webpages still took quite a long time to load and the browser is slightly more sluggish than the iPhone, so it wasn’t the leap forward I had hoped it would be.

The browser itself is webkit-based (as is WebOS itself) and is quite snappy. Scrolling isn’t quite as smooth as on the iPhone, but overall it’s a very capable mobile webbrowser.

Battery life

I was asked by several iPhone 3G and 3GS users if the Pre’s battery life is any better than the notoriously power-hungry iPhone with 3G enabled. Whilst I don’t have exact measurements, I’d have to say probably not. My original iPhone can go about 2 days without a charge, but the Pre was usually nearing empty at the end of the day (and was probably being used less than I use my iPhone during that time). You could argue the Pre has an advantage due to its user-replaceable battery, but honestly for day-to-day use you don’t really want to have to rely on battery swaps. It is nice to know that when the battery reaches the end of its useable life, you can easily pop in a new one though.

Third party applications

Palm includes a handful of common apps with the Pre, but you can also download & install additional apps via the Palm App Catalog. The Catalog currently only has about 1000 apps, but you’ll already find apps for a lot of popular sites and services. I downloaded apps for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, weather, music services etc. and found them all to be quite useable. Strangely enough, the App catalog has a lot of subcategories, despite some of them being empty. I understand this may be due to regional restrictions, but it does seem as though the subcategories are far too detailed considering most general categories often only had a handful of apps.

The apps that were available all felt slightly less sophisticated than comparable iPhone applications – Facebook can only display and post to your news feed for example, as opposed to the near-complete experience its iPhone counterpart offers. The twitter applications I tried were similarly limited. Most of the time, they offered the main functionality I was looking for though, so they serve their purpose. The WebOS SDK is also less mature than Apple’s iPhone SDK (don’t forget, it is already in its third iteration), so I’d expect to see the apps improve in future. But by design, WebOS will only ever offer an experience comparable to a web app (but as webapps become increasingly sophisticated, this limitation will become less significant).

Background notifications

Since 3rd party applications can run in the background on WebOS, it doesn’t need the klutzy push notification system you’ll find on the iPhone to send you messages or updates that you receive whilst using another app. Notifications appear along the bottom edge of the screen and tapping a notification will open the corresponding app. Occasionally I also received notifications for applications that I had closed, but I guess that feature is limited to Palm’s own Mail and Messaging applications.

Syncing

This is one area that Palm doesn’t really compete in at all. While the Pre launched with iTunes compatibility, a few iTunes updates soon put a stop to that practice, so the Pre now only shows up as a regular mass-storage device. You can easily drag music, videos and images to the corresponding folders on the device, but that still leaves you with no way to manage applications, podcasts, purchases etc. I know some users prefer the ability to manually manage content on a device, but I think nowadays most users will prefer the iPod-like syncing offered on the iPhone.

Overall

The Pre is a great phone. But is it better than the iPhone? I’d have to say no. Launching apps and most UI interactions feel quite a bit more sluggish on the Pre than on the iPhone (and remember – I’m comparing it to my original iPhone, which is considerably slower than the new 3GS). Whilst this isn’t a huge deal breaker, it does emphasize that most other smartphones can’t match the overall quality of presentation the iPhone OS offers. Web OS is very pretty and there’s plenty of love and polish on display – but it’s just not quite as polished as iPhone OS.

The apps are also just slightly less sophisticated, which seems at odds with the slightly more advanced gestures and multitasking support in WebOS. It’s a geekier, sleeker smartphone, but the apps seem better suited to less demanding casual users.

If the iPhone isn’t an option for you, the Pre is a great device. It has a lot of the features that make the iPhone special and is almost definitely a step up from your current phone. But if I had to choose, the iPhone is still an easy pick.

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CameraBag, by Nevercenter, gives digital photography enthusiasts an easy way to introduce some of that flavour back into their photography. Like its iPhone sibling (App Store link), CameraBag Desktop is designed to be straightforward and easy-to-use: Instead of presenting users with a confusing number of options, exposure settings, histograms and color profiles, CameraBag has 9 styles, that can all be applied with a single click.

The styles are based on a mix of classic analog cameras and media formats. The manual describes as such:

Helga: Square-format toy camera with washed-out highlights and old-school vignetting.
Lolo: Shoot from the hip and take life as it comes with vibrant, colorful shots.
Mono: Smooth, refined, balanced black and white
1962: Dynamic, high-contrast black and white from the photojournalism of a bygone era.
Colorcross: Hazy, chemical color-swapping straight from the darkroom.
Instant: No need to shake this instant-developing film.
1974: Your father’s camera: faded, tinted, and hip.
Cinema: Dramatic, moody coloring with a widescreen aspect ratio.
Magazine: Rich tones for glossy pages.

Once you’ve dragged your image into the main window, apply one of the styles by simply clicking its preview thumbnail. Each style will crop your image and apply a variety of filters. You can also mix & match styles by checking the “multi-filter” option. This will allow you to apply multiple styles on top of each other, creating distinctive looks and styles. If you want to start over, simply click the “original” thumbnail, to discard all applied styles.

CameraBag also applies a crop and border to your image, based on your style. If you prefer, you can also pick these manually though, allowing for even more image variations. If one of the styles doesn’t suit your taste, you can also “Reprocess” an image to see variations of that style. If a style produces an image that is too dark or lacking in contrast, reprocessing your picture will often deliver a much better result, so if you’re not happy with the way a photo turns out, try reprocessing it!

Some styles may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I found myself using some more often than others. But most styles do a really good job of adding some flavour to your images.The CameraBag Photo Blog has some great examples of the kinds of results you can achieve, with nice before/after comparisons.

The UI is nicely laid out and very easy to use (although I’m not quite sure why the designers found it necessary for a user to “turn on” reprocessing). EDIT: @CameraBag clarifies:

“[...] reprocess auto-enables when clicked. It’s more about the off switch to get back to each filter’s signature look”

Styles are applied nearly instantaneously and while you’re finding the right style for your images the application feels very fast. Rotating and saving images causes a slight bit of delay, but both are extremely minor. For those who enjoy a good manual with their software, Nevercenter includes a detailed PDF guide, which I personally find a lot more useful than trying to find information with OS X’s built-in help system.

Overall CameraBag is a great and affordable way to liven up your shots. It’s an interesting new type of photo stylizer that works well as a complementary tool to traditional photo editing applications such as iPhoto or Picasa.

Available for just $19, it’s a must-have for every wannabe photographer.

Download CameraBag

Design

The first thing you’ll notice is the design Belkin has chosen for this hub: Its rectangular shape means it’ll take up less space on your desk than previous versions, while retaining the two top ports –  useful for USB memory sticks and similar devices. The top ports are also spaced out a bit, so you should be able to connect larger USB devices without any problem as well. The device features an attractive white & blue color scheme – quite a departure from the usual gray, black and silver. Belkin also offer a brown edition of the hub, if white’s not your thing.

Cable Management

At the end of the device Belkin have included a cable loop made out of firm but rubbery plastic The loop can be adjusted slightly, making it easier to cram all your cables inside. The loop allows you to reduce cable clutter, makes for a tidier look and is useful if you need to route one or two of your USB cables to the front of your desk (e.g. for your keyboard). I’m forever losing the business end of my camera’s USB cable behind my desk, so this feature should prove to be very useful.

Build quality

As expected of a device with this price tag, the build quality is great:  the materials feel very solid and smooth and even the power brick feels less cheap than other generic power adapters. The cable loop material is thick enough to be reass  The only slight issue I encountered: The top USB ports were a little ‘stiff’ at first, making it quite difficult to plug in a regular Apple USB cable. After a few times it did become significantly easier though.

Performance

USB 2.0 obviously has performance rates and limits imposed by the standard itself, so you ask whether performance is an issue at all. Often though, you’ll see reduced throughput if you connect a lot of high-speed devices to a single hub. The 7-port Hub Plus performed tremendously though, even with 2 external harddrives, iPhone, digital camera, Logitech wireless mouse, iMic audio interface and printer connected.

The hub also comes with a power supply. Whilst you can use the hub without power, you’ll need it to use (and charge) devices such as iPhones, iPods or USB-powered harddrives.

Support & Warranty

Belkin offer a lifetime warranty of this device and I was pleased to find a single folded piece of paper with all their technical support numbers in the box. Whilst this may seem like a given, a lot of manufacturers will bury that kind of information of their websites. I don’t expect needing a lot of support with a hub, but it’s still nice to know it’s available.

Conclusion

The hub performs very well and will also help you to reduce some of the cable clutter on your desk. If you have a MacBook, it’s great to be able to just plug in a single USB plug and have access to all of your devices. Whilst more expensive than generic hubs on the market, it’s thought-out form, design and functionality are well worth it.

Recommended

The Belkin 7-port USB 2.0 Plus Hub: RRP $49.95

Support Jetplane Journal and buy the Belkin 7-port USB Hub Plus at Amazon. (Brown edition)

Enter the Røde Podcaster: This USB microphone promises to make recording professional-sounding audio with your Mac really simple. But does it live up to the promise?

What’s in the box

The Podcaster comes in a sturdy black box: Apart from the mic itself, you’ll also find a USB A to USB B connector (the kind most printers require but never include), and an adapter ring for connecting the mic to a stand.

Build Quality

The microphone has a solid metal enclosure that gives it considerable heft and weight, but in a really good way. It has a fairly large pickup area that is also protected by the outer casing, which is good as the mic grill is something that is often damaged by knocks or drops on traditional microphone designs.

The adapter screw also doubles as the USB port enclosure and is also entirely made out of metal. This should also do wonders for this mic’s durability, as the stand adapter is often under a lot of strain on mics and can often crack if made out of plastic.

The one minor gripe I have is the headphone volume control on the front of the mic: It’s made out of plastic and feels a bit wobbly and out of place on a mic this well made.

Audio performance

Probably the most important factor when choosing a mic: How good does it actually sound? Røde promise “High quality broadcast sound” and I’m pleased to tell you that the Podcaster delivers. It has an incredible textured sound that gives recordings a “studio” feel. It sounds very accurate without too much treble and produces clean, warm audio.

A normal recording setup requires:
- A mic
- A mixer with preamps and monitoring capabilities
- An audio interface

Whilst there are some solutions out there that can act as an interface as well as a mixer, this mic is so much quicker to get set up: A single cable to your Mac, plug in your headphones and you’re set. Ever tried to record decent audio without hearing yourself? Or without hearing your overall mix? Getting monitoring set up (without a delay!) is usually more trouble than it’s worth – the Podcaster solves that issue nicely and you have zero timing issues.

I’ve created a short audio snippet to give you an idea of the audio quality: Both the voice and guitar heard in this video were recorded with the Podcaster.

Compatibility

The Podcaster works out of the box with OS X: Just connect the USB cable and you’re all set. There are some Windows drivers and applications on the CD that’s included, but you can safely ignore those. Fire up Garageband, select one of the vocal presets and you’re good to go. It also shows up as an audio output device immediately as well.

Tip: Remember to turn off Garageband’s live monitoring feature if you use the Røde as your output device (the mic will already pipe your audio to your headphones) – otherwise you’ll start hearing yourself twice!

Conclusion

The Røde Podcaster is a great microphone for any Mac user. It is well suited to creating podcasts, screencasts, movie voiceovers and even recording music. The build-quality is almost flawless and it offers an ideal feature combination of features for fast and easy recordings.
I’ve found myself quickly recording song ideas and voiceovers, simply because it’s so much less hassle to do so (previously I had been using an interface with a traditional microphone, which usually required extensive setting up and configuration to get decent results).

The Podcaster includes a 10 year guarantee and is available online for around $229 – less than a traditional microphone, audio interface with mixing capabilities would cost you. The convenience and audio quality you get for that price is currently unmatched in my opinion.
Highly recommended.

Links:

Røde Podcaster manufacturer website

Support Jetplane Journal: Buy the Rode Podcaster at Amazon.com