2016 - MacVoices

Jeff Carlson has done the research and picked The Best 360-Degree Camera for The Wirecutter, and joins us to talk about why his selection rose to the top. Jeff explains the many uses of this new type of camera, and how one goes about sharing the unique images captured, then covers what characteristics were evaluated to make […]

Josh Centers and Take Control Books have a new version of Take Control of Apple TV that covers the latest developments and improvements of Apple’s set-top box. TV, the newest Apple TV app to help you find and manage what you want to watch, is the centerpiece of the current Apple TV experience, but only if you […]

Jeff Carlson and Joe Kissell have an interesting story to tell about the newly updated version of Apple Watch: A Take Control Crash Course. Their collaboration is both unprecedented in Take Control history, and also provides a unique take on the latest updates to Apple Watch, since they both came at the device from different perspectives. Favorite features, […]

MacPaw has a new idea in software sales and distribution called Setapp. Described as a “Netflix for software”, Setapp gives you access to (right now) over sixty different software packages for a low monthly subscription price. MacPaw CEO Oleksandr Kosovan joined MacJury panel members Jeff Gamet, Brett Terpstra and host Chuck Joiner to discuss how Setapp benefits both […]

The great tech gift ideas just keep flowing with options that range from audio to wearables, video to travel gear, and repair essentials to health devices. Picking all of these, suggesting music to enjoy, and delivering style tips (yes, style tips) are the panel of Chuck La Tournous, David Ginsburg, Joe Kissell, and host Chuck Joiner. This […]

Thought all the great gift ideas were gone? You would be wrong. Picks range from stocking stuffers to some that won’t fit under the tree..or in the living room. Virtual reality, iOS apps, headphones and games are all picked by the panel of Barry Fulk, Jackie Dove, John Voorhees, and host Chuck Joiner. This edition of MacVoices is brought to you […]

The latest edition of The MacJury’s Holiday Gift Guide features discussions of home automation options, gear to carry other gear in, and products from Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota. Giving the nod to a piece of gaming hardware, a Bluetooth tracker and even an Apple product are the panel of Charles Edge, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, and host Chuck Joiner. […]

The third installment in the MacJury’s holiday gift guide series includes some stocking stuffers, some big ticket items, and, as usual, some unexpected gems. From music to fitness, backups to video production, and how to be popular late at night at tech conferences, the panel of Jean MacDonald, Bart Busschots and host Chuck Joiner deliver the […]

The second holiday gift pick MacJury got together to select some of the best presents to give and to get for the geek in your life. There are many different kinds of geeks…video geeks, travel geeks, even cooking and yoga geeks. This show covers them all, with the panel of Brett Terpstra, Victor Cajiao, Ewen Rankin and […]

The MacJury convened a special session to contemplate the long-term implications of several happenings within Apple in the last week or so. Topics of discussion included the report that Apple will discontinue the Airport series of wireless routers, the elimination of Sal Soghoian’s position, pro hardware and software support and the impact of Apple’s secrecy on […]

The holiday season is officially here with the first of our annual MacJury holiday gift guide panels. From iOS apps to audio gear, Apple products to legos, over sixteen terrific great recommendations for products to give or get some from the panel of Dr. Robert Carter, Peter Cohen, Kelly Guimont and host Chuck Joiner. This edition […]

Red Sweater Software has released  Touché, a free application that simulates the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pros. Daniel Jalkut  talks about his how and why he created it, what it offers to both users and developers, and his analysis of Apple’s implementation of this new interface option. This edition of MacVoices is sponsored […]

Bryan Chaffin  makes up for lost time with discussions of what the new MacBook Pro does and doesn’t offer,  and the need for Force Touch/3D Touch, Touch ID and the Touch Bar to be consistent across Apple products. Tim Cook’s performance as Apple CEO, Apple product placement in the media, the demand for the new […]

Paul Kafasis, the head man at Rogue Amoeba, gives us a brief update on the new version of their AirFoil application that lets you send audio from your Mac to Google Chromecast before settling in to answer five probing questions. Paul talks about how he listens to music and what gear he prefers, why his […]

Switcher Studio continues to advance the cause of iOS video streaming with the release of their new Switcher Go. Nick Mattingly,  the CEO and co-founder of Switcher Studio, is back to talk about how their new iOS app makes it even easier to broadcast to YouTube Live and Facebook Live. More advanced camera controls, the […]

Joe Kissell has released the third edition of Take Control of DEVONthink 2 to help you get the most out of this sophisticated information management tool. Joe starts out by reviewing what DEVONthink is, how it can be widely used for many tasks, and why it defines its own category of software. Some of the […]

Jim Tierney, Chief Anarchist at Digital Anarchy, talks about their new video production plug-in Samurai Sharpen. Making it easier to sharpen just what you want, Samurai Sharpen lets you isolate just the parts that need work, leaving the others untouched. Jim talks about how it works and  profiles the other Digital Anarchy products, including one […]

Christopher Breen  is back to follow up on a previous conversation about the nature of creativity and why we can all consider ourselves creative by the right measurement. From rebuilding his piano and the difference between physical and digital instruments to his efforts to become a better photographer, Chris examines what it means to be […]

Subscription software has been a hot topic, and promises to be a hotter topic in the future. The MacJury takes on the questions surrounding the matter, examining it from both the customer and developer perspectives. The panel shares their personal reactions to the various subscription models, what makes them acceptable or detrimental, and how they […]

Joe Kissell‘s latest accomplishment is the 5th edition of Take Control of iCloud, and he takes us through what’s changed and why a whole new edition was needed. Joe starts with the benefits and possible consequences of using Optimized Storage, and how iCloud’s  performance is involved, then moves on to discuss changes and enhancements to […]

The Garmin Dash Cam 10 is a minimalist but competent dashboard camera that does all you really need a dash cam to do. Chuck talks about why the feature set is just what you need, why a dash cam is so important in today’s driving and litigation-filled world, and what makes this his favorite in […]

Jason Snell has authored the new version of Photos: A Take Control Crash Course  to help you do more with Apple’s digital photography app. Jason talks about how Photos has been implemented across the many Apple platforms, how powerful they all are, and why some have lagged behind others. Getting the most out of the […]

Jamie Siminoff, the CEO and inventor of the Ring Video Doorbell, discusses the convenience and security aspects of his company’s products that go from your front door to your back porch and beyond. Ring let’s you answer the door remotely, and even talk with whoever is there, whether you are home or not. Their Stick […]

Philip Goward of Smile  is the second guest in our “Five Questions” series that helps us get to know how some of our friends use their technology. Philip talks about his unusual choice of entertainment apps, which browser he uses and why that choice is affected by Smile’s customers. He explains the surprising way he […]

Members of The MacJury convened after having varied, but adequate, amounts of time with their new iPhone 7 models to talk about their impressions. Some of the topics you might expect were evaluations of the camera, home button, lack of headphone jack and the two new color options. What you wouldn’t expect are discussions of […]

The Anker SoundCore Sport Bluetooth Speaker is a small, very capable Bluetooth speaker that is both water and dirt resistant. Chuck explains why it is his new favorite shower speaker that can be so much more in this MacVoices Briefing. This edition of MacVoices is sponsored by Smile, the makers of PDFpen 7 and PDFpenPro […]

In what might be a record even for him, Joe Kissell has released four updated versions of his Joe On Tech books to bring them, and you, up to date on macOS Sierra. The Joe On Tech Mac Fitness Bundle  consists of books on backing up, maintaining, troubleshooting and speeding up your Mac, available at […]

Need to get up to speed fast on the new version of the macOS? Scholle McFarland  helps you get there with Sierra: A Take Control Crash Course  as she provides  some insight gained from her experiences with the new Optimized Storage features and how it has influenced her workflow between Macs. She talks about useful […]

Ted Landau  has decided to pass on upgrading to both the iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch Series 2, and shares his thinking on the options offered, the costs of upgrading and his strategy. Then, Ted discusses his experiences with partitioning Fusion Drives, why it might not be a good idea, and some missing capabilities […]

Matt Abras, the creator and CEO of SoundShare, talks about the music-oriented social media service that he created. SoundShare integrates with Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify and Deezer to make sharing the music you are listening to easy. Matt explains how it all works, why he created it, and why it is iOS only at this […]

Josh Centers  and Take Control Books have released iOS 10: A Take Control Crash Course to help you take advantage of the most important features of Apple’s latest OS for its handheld devices. Josh discusses the upgrades to the Lock screen including widgets, home automation with the new Home app, Photos’ new Memories feature, Stickers […]

Joe Kissell  helps guide us through the potential pitfalls of upgrading to the new version of the macOS in Take Control of Upgrading to Sierra. Even though upgrading has improved over the years, there are still potential issues you need to be aware of and choices to be made as you make the move. Joe […]

With a new version of iOS comes a new version of iMazing, the Swiss Army Knife of iOS management.  Gregorio Zanon of DigiDNA, the makers of iMazing, talks about both the legacy and new capabilities that iMazing gives the user. With iMazing, you can transfer files from your Mac to your iPhone, iPad and iPod […]

Oliver Breidenbach  of Boinx Software is back to talk about the new mimoLive, the successor to BoinxTV. mimoLive (Multi-In, Multi-Out Live) is a live video production tool puts the power of a television studio in your Mac. The power to integrate pre-recorded segments, lower thirds and a variety of effects with live video from a […]

After a few hours to contemplate the evidence, The MacJury convened to analyze and examine the announcements of Apple’s “See You On The 7th” event. Discussing the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, The Apple Watch Series 2, Apple Watch Nike+, new Beats headphones, new camera technology, the loss of the earphone jack, the introduction […]

The  Burner  app provides limited time phone number options so that you can make and receive calls and texts. Chris O’Malley, Tech Lead for Burner, explains how it all works to help you maintain your privacy by not having to share your real cell number  indiscriminately. Chris talks about how iOS 10 will increase Burner’s […]

John Brayton  of Golden Hill Software  helps make RSS more accessible to your iPhone and iPad with Feed Hawk. By making subscriptions as easy as pulling up a share sheet, and with support of some of the most popular RSS feed services, Feed Hawk will help you utilize news feeds to keep up with all […]

The MacJury addresses the topic of music streaming services with a discussion of what features would be included in their perfect streaming services. The importance of components such as  catalog depth, playlist creation and sharing, curation, discovery, voice control/Siri integration, and social media inclusion are evaluated by the panel of Peter Cohen, John Voorhees, and […]

Michael Horton  is back again to talk about what topics are driving the agenda at the upcoming SuperMeet in Amsterdam. The rules for video storytelling are once again being re-written with the spread of virtual Reality and 360-degree video. Mike provides some thoughts on where they are appropriate, how they are being used, and how […]

Kirk McElhearn  has issued an update to Take Control of Scrivener 2  that covers the new iOS version of the professional writing tool. If you think Scrivener is only for those who author novels or screenplays, you’re wrong. Kirk explains why Scrivener is not just another word processor, but is a tool to organize the […]

Yaroslav Stepanenko, Product Marketing Manager of MacPaw, talks about the results of the DevMate Survey of developers and their feelings about the Mac App Store. Some results are as expected, some are surprising. Yaroslav covers what developers like the most the biggest challenges facing Apple’s software distribution channel, and why they plan to make this […]

Tonya Engst is back for an eclectic conversation that starts out with  how she is approaching macOS Sierra beta and what she’s looking forward to. Then she shares her thoughts on work life balance and the implications for “keeping up” or not, as well as a different way to look at the issue of hardware […]

Joe Kissell  takes on the topic of virtualization in his newest Take Control book, Take Control of Parallels Desktop 12. If you are interested in running Windows, Linux or even multiple iterations of the same OS, Mac or otherwise, on your computer, you need to hear Joe’s thoughts on  accomplishing your objective efficiently and safety. […]

Neal Pann  helps us kick off a new segment on MacVoices. “Five Questions With…” will help you find out more  about how real people use their technology, especially Apple tech, to accomplish everything they do. Our conversation with Neal runs from project management to email, the Apple Watch’s capabilities as a running watch to where […]

Bob  â€œDr. Mac” LeVitus talks about his upcoming books, macOS Sierra for Dummies and iPhone for Dummies, 10th edition, reports on the progress of Working Smarter for Mac Users, and discusses some of the software and methods he uses to get things done. He talks about why  Pokémon Go was only on his iPhone for […]

Diane Hamilton  of  Binary Formations  is back to talk about their latest offering, My Reasons. Available as both a Mac menu bar app and as an iOS App, My Reasons is a habit builder that helps build good habits (or break bad ones) by putting motivational photos and materials front and center on your Mac […]

Victor Cajiao, along with musical partner Joe Cristina, has released Surrender, a musical project years in the making. Victor gives us a fascinating look at what it takes for an independent artist to put together a commercially available CD, start to finish. From the tech involved in creating the first rough demos to getting the […]

Adam Engst  and Josh Centers  have a new Take Control book out that covers an application you already have. In Take Control of Preview, Adam and Josh look at the power of the Preview that goes way beyond just PDF viewing. They talk about how the book was the result of reader demand, how it […]

Drobo CEO Mihir Shah and Mark  Fuccio introduce us to the latest new capability for Drobo, the  DroboPix  iOS app, that allows you to automatically upload your photos to your network-attached Drobo. This gives you your own private cloud service and backup service for photos you take while out and about. Mihir and Mark talk […]

If you missed  Macstock Conference & Expo  and the  Midwest Mac BBQ, I want you give you the flavor of the events by talking to as many attendees, presenters and friends as I could before we lost the light. Appearing in order: Kirschen Seah –  Free Range Coder Michael T. Rose –  The After Show […]