The Mac can do almost anything you want it to. And what really sets the Mac apart is how elegantly and simply the Mac does these things. But it can’t always do everything so wonderfully, and when it came time for me to recorded some simple audio, quickly and without hassle, I had a problem. All I wanted was to talk for a few minutes and then have the freedom of a simple .mp3 file that I could do pretty much anything I wanted with. You could use GarageBand, but its a large, somewhat bloated application with poor support for anything other than full-blown podcast and music production. (which it’s great at) This is where TapeDeck comes in. It is your perfect application for quickly recording audio, always never than two clicks and five seconds out of reach.

Tape Deck is incredibly simple, and aim’s to provide an experience similar to a regular analog tape recorder, but on your Mac, and pretty much idiot-proof. To record audio, you click the big red record button and then a new tape is automatically inserted and you can start recording. when your done, you can click stop, and then to review any part of the tape you can toggle the fast-forward and rewind buttons. You can also quickly pause the tape. Tapes pretty much represent any one recording in Tape Deck, just like an old analog tape, and are organized in a shelf/space on the side of the window so that you can easily organize, see and search through your recordings. You can label, give important information like date, time, etc… (which are automatically added) and then any notes you wish to add to a tape. You can even change the quality of the recordings (the demo only allows for low quality recordings), the volume, and change between stereo and mono. After you’re done, you can find your tape(s) in the Finder, which Tape Deck can easily reveal to you or email them as plain MP3s, or open the audio in iTunes. Either way, its easy and convenient.

Overall, I think that Tape Deck is a great application, filling one of the gaps I found in the Mac in a very Apple-like fashion. Its ease of use, vintage feel, and ingenuity certainly help to round-out my over general Macintosh experience. TapeDeck is available at Tapedeckapp.com for only $25.

Like some people, I prefer having the control and flexibility of a desktop RSS aggregator (although some people would say these are reasons to go with an online reader). All of this is opinion of course, but the best general solution I’ve found is to use desktop applications that somehow synchronize with online services for the added convenience. NetNewsWire, one of the most popular desktop RSS readers, uses this as one of its main selling points (even though its free).

But more and more people now are migrating toward their web browser for media consumption. RSS is no exception. For good reason, Google Reader has emerged as one of the leading online RSS readers with its appealing looks, tight integration with other Google Apps that you might/probably use, and simplicity that makes it possible for anyone to use it. The only thing that keeps me from using it (I currently use Vienna) is the lack of a desktop application. There are certain things with desktop applications that I, like most people, find advantages. But with the convenience and accessibility of an online reader, I find myself in an interesting position. This is why i was very happy to come across an Adobe Air application called ReadAir. So far, its just about the closest thing to Google Reader on the desktop that I’ve been able to find. Although it lacks some basic features, such as a badge on the dock icon to tell you the number of unread articles and keyboard support to name a few, there are plenty of advantages. If you are used to using Google Reader from  your browser, you will find things like the ability to star things from ReadAir useful.

ReadAir does have some minor bugs, but its still in active development, and you can see the list of things to check off on the app’s Google Code page. But if you are an avid user of Google Reader, I’m sure that this will be a neat and convent way to more easily access your RSS feeds, especially as it develops into a more robust and mature application.

jUploadr is a desktop app. for OS X that allows you to simply drag your photos into the huge drop zone and then one by one, or in groups, add titles, tags, descriptions, and the privacy of the photos. The interface is smooth, snappy, and pleasant. It’s almost like an even more simplified version of Flickr’s Uploadr, without all the bugs and a lot more control over which photos get uploaded and when. One thing that i really like about JUploadr is that it does just what i want, and that it. Its menu’s aren’t cluttered with options and features that i don’t need- its straight to the point and focused on getting what you want done quickly and efficiently.

Overall, if you’re looking for a powerful, simple, and generally efficient way to upload your content to Flickr from your Mac, jUploadr hits the nail on the head.

Vidnik is a relatively simple app allowing you to keep track and make collections of videos you upload to YouTube on your desktop. It does this by letting you save different video collections just like you would save a document with Pages. 

Overall I’m really impressed with Vidnik. You can download it from http://code.google.com/p/vidnik/. The source code is also available if you would like to tweak it to fit your needs. There have been reports about the video and audio feeds being out of sync once uploaded to YouTube. If you have any problems feel free to add them to the issues list on http://code.google.com/p/vidnik/. 

Google also has many other open source Mac apps available on http://code.google.com/mac.

If you are a bookmark junkie you may have your entire bookmarks bar filled with so many sites its hard to find your favorites.  Fluid allows you to make site specific browsers for your favorite sites allowing you to easily access them from your Dock. Fluid can either find the favicon for the chosen site or you can specify your own icon.

Not only does Fluid allow you easy access to your favorite sites, but it also sports many useful features other web browsers are missing.

- A full screen option making it easy to focus on that long article.
- A “Site Search” option making it easy to find pretty much anything on your favorite sites.
- Fluid includes a unique “Clipboard Plugin” allowing you to save almost anything without having to download it.

- Easily create a Tiny URL for any link, by just CTRL + Click or Right Clicking a link.
- Fluid allows you to open any photo in its Photo Browser, saving them for later.
- Fluid also includes a Thumbnail viewer allowing you to set up simple CSS tags, to tell Fluid which links to display.

First of all, she loved the fact where there wasn’t a screen, which made everything a ton less complicated. We also, figured out, that the iPod Headphones that come with it, give a greater sound quality then my iLuv Headphones. So if you don’t want to pay $100 for Bose headphones, stick with the original white headphones because their probably the best quality you can get for cheapo headphones.

Second, the clip-on idea is great for working out or On-The-Go. It’s very functional and easy. It’s also great for cooking, cleaning, driving, or whatever!  Also, the colors are very nice, chill, relaxing, and soothing.

One of the things that wasn’t very enjoyable was there was no Repeat which kind of sucked. Every time you want to keep a song repeating, you have to press the back button. Though, you do get used to it pretty quickly.

Over all, the iPod Shuffle is great if you’re always on the go. It’s very simple just to clip on and go! The Prices are cheap and have gone down. The iPod shuffle is also very great for those of you who don’t really know how to work an iPod or aren’t very Technical. Out of 5 stars, I give the iPod Shuffle a 5!

I uploaded a video to YouTube but it’s not up yet but it’s a video of me Unboxing the iPod Shuffle so click here and look for the video.

Look for the video here:www.youtube.com/ichrisproductions

MarsEdit’s Main Windows

MarsEdit is really really easy to use. Type in your site’s address and if you use a common blogging platform/CMS, it will automatically recognize it and all you have to do is input your username and password and you are able to start posting. Simple as that. You have to use straight HTML code, but there is a preview function to see what your post will look like formatted.

MarsEdit’s Post Window

MarsEdit 2 costs $29.95 for a full version license and while it may seem a bit expensive for a blogging client, it’s a huge headache reducer and can save you lots of lost brain cells.