Hey Guys-

Just decided after getting some feedback from a recent video on YouTube that I am going to go ahead and do a series every week or so covering the top tech stories on multiple Mac rumor and news sites. I think that this will be released every Friday or Saturday. This show will probably be a two part video every week, because I am not sure that I could get all of that information into just one ten minute video. If you have any stories that you would like me to cover in one of the episodes, you can send me a link at alexheidinger@gmail.com and I will do my best to cover it. I'm also going to try to post more to this blog, as I really enjoy doing it. I'm also out of school now, so expect more posts. Alright, I guess that's about it. Expect a new video tomorrow sometime!

OK, so I have my first big application review for you, and it is on a great piece of software for the Mac known as Mailplane. Mailplane is basically and application that allows you to access the Gmail interface from a desktop application. In this review, I am only going to cover a few big parts of Mailplane. If you wish to view a more in-depth review of the application, then go over to my YouTube Channel and view the video entitled “Mailplane Review: Part x”. The reason that I put in an x is because this is such a great application, it is going to take way more than 1 YouTube video to do a good review. Alright, now for the text review.

Mailplane is a sort-of email client that allows you to access Gmail’s web client, along with the Mailplane interface, and this gives you lots of new possibilities. I have included a screenshot of the Mailplane interface below.



Along the top bar in Mailplane you have your typical refresh, open, and overview buttons that allow you to navigate Gmail, but then the buttons that make Mailplane special. The next button is Archive your mail, and I did not do this before in Gmail, when I was using Firefox, but boy do I ever use it now. This also applies to the star button. I love starring my mail in Mailplane now, and it works great. The next few buttons are expected in any mail client, the Print, Reply, Foreword, Send, and Delete buttons. The next button is also really great, the Screenshot button. This allows you to push one button, take a screen capture of part of your screen or the whole screen, and it automatically saves and attaches it to the mail. I have used that feature countless times, and it is great. The next four buttons are separated from the other buttons, as they are quite different. The next button is Google Talk and allows you to bring up a new window with your chat in it. I don’t use that feature, but I do use the built in AIM compatibility. The button that follows Google Talk is the Downloads button, and this allows you to bring up Mialplane’s own Download window, which really helps. The iMedia button brings up a Media Browser window that allows you to navigate multimedia on your computer and attach it to an email. The last button, Accounts, pops out a drawer on the left side of the window that allows you to change Gmail account that you are connected to, since most people have more than one email account. The last button on the toolbar allows you to customize the interface of the application. I have included a screenshot of the toolbar below.



Well, that is a quick overview of the Mailplane interface and some of the features in the application. I will have a multi-part review up on YouTube by the beginning of next week. Thanks for subscribing - Alex

OK, today I published a video to YouTube all about the application known as Fluid. It runs about 8 minutes, I believe. I am trying to pump out a few more videos before I go back to school. I will probably get another couple up today and maybe a couple tomorrow. Go over to the YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/alexheidinger to check out the new video and subscribe to my channel. Thanks for subscribing, Alex.

OK, so it has been a while since I have done a software review on YouTube, so I figured that I would do a not-so-quick review. I am going to be doing a 2-3 part YouTube Series on the software that I use to make my website, RapidWeaver from RealMac software. This software is so very easy to use, and it takes nothing to learn how to use it. This is going to be one of my first big ScreenCast episodes, so I am currently working on setting up an good ScreenCasting environment on a separate user account on my Mac. One thing that I am still debating is if I should start up a completely different website for the ScreenCast, and then continue to do RapidWeaver episodes using this website, or if I should use the iAlex homepage to do this show...I am currently leaning toward a completely different website and do monthly versions of a RapidWeaver show. What do you think? Email me by clicking on the Contact tab and dropping me a quick email. I have also been doing more video's lately because I am on Spring Break, and event though it is harder to make videos while I am in school, I am going to try to keep making lots of videos.

Alright, I recorded the Airport Extreme video review today, and it is going to be encoding as soon as I leave for TaeKwonDo. The video should be up sometime around Midnight (US Eastern Time) today. In the video I cover the differences between the Extreme and the Express, and I go in depth about why the Express is a far better portable router than the Extreme. I also mentioned in the movie that Apple released a Wireless N Express today, and mine is Wireless G. There is not really a lot to post about this video, other than please go over to the YouTube Channel. Thanks for subscribing - Alex.

Ok guys, here is a quick update. Tomorrow I am going to be recording an Airport Extreme Review video, to be posted on YouTube. I am not going to go over the topics of the video in this post, as I am going to save that for the post about the actual video. Unfortunately, I do not have a Time Capsule, so I will not be able to do a video on this, but I hope to get one when I get my MacBook Pro within the year. I will then have done a review on on every single Apple base station. Check back and read some more tomorrow, as there will be a new post and a movie.