January 2010 Archives

UPDATE: contest has ended. But your comments are still welcome!

Kanex Products will be exhibiting for the first time at MacWorld 2010 and we want you to join us. Be there as we unveil our newest Kanex Product, watch our demos and get a Kanex Swag Bag full of sweet giveaways.

For your chance to win 2 FREE MacWorld Expo Hall Passes, simply participate in this blog by answering one question:

• What accessories do you want to see come out for Apple's latest and greatest, the iPad?

 

Twenty-five of the best responses will be chosen and awarded 2 complimentary Hall Passes good for the entire MacWorld event. These passes will give you full access to the Expo Hall, Feature Presentations, and show floor features. You can also receive a 15% discount off select conference programs.

Be sure to SIGN IN to comment so we can capture your email and comment no later than February 2nd to qualify. Winners will be chosen February 3rd and will be awarded immediately.

MacWorld is scheduled for February 11-13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco so save the date!

Already going to MacWorld 2010? Visit our booth #1666.

Boot Camp Update 3.0 - 3.1

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Support Issues for 27inch

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3173

Setup is simple and safe for your Mac files. After you've completed the installation, you can boot up your Mac using either Mac OS X or Windows.

(That's why it's called Boot Camp.) Or if you want to run Windows and Mac applications at the same time -- without rebooting -- you can install Windows using VMware or Parallels software.

Boot Camp allows users to create a partition on a Mac and install Windows.

Unlike virtualization apps like Parallels or VMware Fusion, Boot Camp users must restart their computers to use Windows.

Now you can dual boot your Mac with Windows 7! Finally. The recent update for Bootcamp (to 3.1) includes support for Windows 7.

With 2 downloads one for 64-bit and one for 32-bit versions of Windows 7, the download also requires an authentic copy of Windows 7 or Windows 7 upgrade, and is only supported on more recent Intel-based Macs; no Macs produced before 2007 will support Windows 7, as outlined in this Apple support page.

If you're upgrading your Mac's other side from Windows Vista to Windows 7, you'll first want to download and install the Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7, which "safely unmounts the read-only Macintosh volume on Microsoft Vista."

**Note: If you are already running Windows 7 on your Mac in Boot Camp, you can simply run Apple Software Update while booted into Windows to get the updated Win7-friendly drivers.

Here is a demo showing how to run and setup bootcamp for the first time.

And another video showing what Boot Camp is all about.

Use one of our HDMI to Mini Displayport Adapters with your 27 inch IMac and  you will have the best of all worlds.

Windows and Mac OS from the iMac, and the ability to bring PS3, Xbox, and Blu-Ray to the iMac screen as well.

Using the Kanex iAdapt 20 - MDP to HDMI w/ 2 Chanel Audio with a Mac mini server

The MacMini server is a fantastic idea, @ $999 it's a super idea. This setup comes with a minimum unlimited Mac OS X Server 10.6 license, two built-in 500 GB drives, and 4 GB of RAM, enabling almost anybody to own a server that provides email, instant messaging, calendaring, a wiki, podcast production, and more to a medium size workgroup.

Since the footprint is so diminutive, we can basically stick it anywhere, in a corner, on a desk, on top of a file cabinet. It doesn't need a dedicated monitor, but in some situations one would be a nice addition, but most of the time screen sharing works well to administer the mini servers. An Xserve requires a rack mount, or at least a small rolling rack. Sure you're limited to 4GB of ram and a 5400 RPM HD, but the heat savings will pay off in longevity of those drives in spades.

Compared to Xserve, the Mac mini is an inexpensive choice for small and medium size businesses.  You can easily migrate to Serves if and when you outgrow the mini servers, and even keep them around to run dedicated tasks. They do not lose their value very quickly.  The number of ports on a Mac mini server is fantastic: 5 USB 2.0 ports, 1 FireWire 800 port, and a gigabit Ethernet port. The Mini is also very simple but powerful; Mac OS X (UNIX power) Apache, PHP, Samba and Jabber/XMPP stacks all incorporated with ease of the Mac OS.  Being able to administrate the server this easily is a fantastic tool, given the standard unlimited-license version of Server is $499 by itself. Total Bargain.

The mini makes very little noise, and uses about 14 watts of energy when it's in an idle mode. The mini server does not impact your electricity bill nearly as much as any other traditional server.

Some have even upgraded their own mini's to include more ram and faster hard drives. http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/03/23/super-mac-mini/

There is a great article on how to turn one into a great media server for home here from Engadget: How to turn your Mac Mini into a media center.

Some great business/personal uses for a Mac mini server

·         Personal web page/personal WIKI/ Personal iCal/ Personal email hosting.

·         Remote Backups of all your machines on the network

·         File storage server - between Bonjour, SFTP, and AFP and with a properly configured router you can access files from anywhere.

·         One can store all of their files/TV/photos on a server at home - which they can access from home or work.

·         Tivo server by running pytivox

·         Media / iTunes server, print server, bit torrent 'server' downloader

·         External Storage Galore