Review - My MacBook

No, I'm not reviewing a new MacBook Pro (today), I'm taking a look at "My MacBook", a book by John Ray published by Que. It's an excellent visual guide to the latest Snow Leopard based MacBook computers from Apple. It's got step-by-step instructions on a great variety of tasks that anyone might want to do on the Mac, covered in 12 chapters. Every page has clear annotated screenshots explaining things very well. It's not an intro to computers - they assume you've worked with computers before but are new to the Mac or new to the Snow Leopard operating system.

As some who used and loved Macs back-in-the-day (i.e. the MacPlus and the LC II) but who has lived in a world of Windows and UNIX for the past decade, I found it to be an extremely helpful guide to the way of doing things with a modern Mac laptop. It never gets haughty, never talks smack about Windows, it just gets on the business of how to get cool things done. While the book covers things in detail and really doesn't assume a lot of background knowledge, I was surprised by the number of advanced topics it managed to cover. Examples: VPN on demand, RSS feeds in Safari, VNC screen-sharing, and other fun three-letter acronyms. It also covers how to backup with Time Machine, configuring the AirPort for wireless access, how to use the Finder, MobileMe, and adding hardware devices. From all indications, this is the manual that "should have been in the box." Well done, John Ray and Que!

Review - Cradlepoint CTR350 Mobile Broadband Travel Router

How cool would it be to have a device about the size of a pack of cigarettes that was a personal/portable 'hotspot' that could provide instant wifi access anywhere, not just for you but for a dozen friends or devices? Laptop, iPad, iPod Touch? How about for $99? What about $69? It's not science fiction, it's the Cradlepoint CTR-350 Mobile Broadband Travel Router. I just picked one up at the Lafayette Best-Buy for $69 (normally $99).

I took it out of the box, plugged in my company's 3G wireless card, and my netbook and iPad were online with almost no configuration, in about two minutes. Ok - that wireless card is the "catch." This Travel Router has a USB slot where you can plug in a "3G data modem" card which typically is used to connect a single laptop to the internet via a 3G mobile service plan. The card I have is the Sierra Wireless 881u which works well. The cost for the data plan varies, but tends to run $35-$49 per month (two-year plan).

IF you already have some kind of data modem, the CTR350 travel router lets it work simultaneously with up to a dozen wifi devices and is a super buy. Some people can instead use a smart phone with "tethering" capability to provide the access. If you don't yet have the modem, and either travel a lot or don't yet have broadband it might be worth considering.

If you have a data modem that is an express card, get the CTR-500 instead. If you want a battery powered personal hotspot, Cradlepoint has a model called the PHS-300. The CTR350 and CTR500 have the added advantage of an Ethernet jack, so you can use it to either hook up a computer without wifi, or you can use the router with your cable model as a Wifi access point.

Even better, talk your boss into getting your team one, so that you can be productive at all times, even on the road, as a passenger in a car on a long drive, or on-site at a client's location.  :)