Sena Corsa iPhone Case and Giveaway

When looking for style and protection for my iPhone, I didn't need to look far. Sena Cases is a small company that distributes high quality leather cases worldwide through the Apple Store and other retailers. They also just happen to be located about 15 minutes from MacSparky headquarters. Putting local nepotism aside, Sena makes beautiful iPhone and iPod cases.

I am reviewing the Sena Corsa case designed for the iPhone 3g and 3gs. This case is extremely slim but still affords your phone necessary protection. It is made of Napa leather to the precise dimensions of the iPhone. It is lined on the inside with velvet to protect your phone and has several small holes in the bottom so you can hear the speaker.

This case provides such a tight fit that getting your phone out could be extremely difficult. Sena solved this problem with a pull system. There is a small leather tab on your case that connects to a ribbon of sorts under your phone. When you pull the tab, your phone pops up. It sort of reminds me of a magic card trick I once saw.

This minimalist case comes in a variety of colors an can be purchased directly from Sena for $40. They have a several other quality leather cases in just about any configuration you could want. Check it out.

If you would like your very own Corsa case, gratis, you can enter the MacSparky Corsa giveaway. The nice people at Sena gave me a turquoise/black Corsa case to give away. If you would like to enter, send an e-mail to me at david@macsparky.com with the words “Sena Case Giveaway” in the subject line. I will then pick a random winner next week. Please only one entry. If you are outside the United States, I will require you to pay shipping. Good luck!

Mac Power Users 6: Setting Up a New Mac

Mac Power Users 6, about setting up a new Mac is up.

Enjoy.

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Screencast 16 - Multiple E-Mail Accounts

After a long hiatus, I've started publishing screencasts again. Episode 16 explains how to send from several different e-mail accounts using one MobileMe account. It also explains keyboard shortcuts for the process and a convenient keyboard shortcut to embed links in e-mail. If you enjoy it, give me an iTunes review.

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Apple Keyboard Shortcuts

Apple's master list. Helpful.

Mac Power Users Outfitters

We've had a surprising number of listeners ask about Mac Power Users clothing. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that our graphic artist, Darren Rolfe, is brilliant. Regardless, we have opened the Mac Power Users Outfitters. I will be adding some MacSparky stuff and other funny Mac shirts in the future (Am I the only one that thinks a shirt that said Cmd Z would be hilarious?). I'm not convinced anyone is really going to buy any of this stuff except perhaps me and my mom (though I'm not really sure about mom). Regardless, have at it.

New Link - Married to a Mac

A friend and prolific Twitterer, Marie Boyer, has started her very own Mac blog, Married to a Mac, in which she gives brief tutorials, including a recent one on my "precious" Scrivener.

I am thrilled to see Marie starting this project and eager to see where she goes with it.

FotoMagico 3 Review

A few years ago, I needed to quickly put together a slide show and I needed it to look fantastic. While I knew this was possible in iMovie, it took a lot of time and, frankly, didn't look that good.

On a whim I downloaded the trial version of FotoMagico. Within five minutes, I had my wallet out and purchased a license. Since then, I've used FotoMagico often for family and professional events. Indeed, my wife will volunteer me as the "slideshow guy" at weddings for friends and family at the drop of a hat. I can't really complain that much however because using FotoMagico for this is really quite easy.

The latest version, FotoMagico 3, adds several enhancements. FotoMagico produces professional quality slideshow presentations. It is very easy to operate with a similar "drag-and-drop" paradigm you see across the Mac platform. Take a folder full of pictures and drag it in FotoMagico and you have your slideshow. The application allows you to easily set transitions and animates individual slides with the Ken Burns effect. FotoMagico has sliders sliders for the before and after position of your photographs that make this very simple.

My workload has always been to drag the pictures in, sort them, adjust the Ken Burns effect for each picture, and drop in music. It really is that simple. You can similarly adjust rotation and insert text.

The newest version blurs the lines between FotoMagico as a slideshow application and a video application. You can now insert movies in your slideshows. You can set start and end points and even animate movies just as you would a photograph. Organizing and creating your slideshows is also now easier with an improved storyboard. Now that Boinx has teased me with this video support however, I'd like to see them take it further. Lower thirds would be very useful.

Another nice feature is the Aperture exporter plug in.

With the pro version you can get much more control over the audio. You can include multiple tracks and even the voiceover track. Each is independently controlled and adjusted.

While putting pictures in iMovie is much easier now, for speed, granular control of the Ken Burns effect, and overall presentation, I think FotoMagico still has iMovie beat.

Once you have created your slideshow, you can export it, burn it to a DVD, turn it into a screensaver, or put it on your iPod or Apple TV. Of course you can also just play it through the built-in player. This is normally how I do my wedding slideshows. The best compliment paid to this application is by the "official" photographers at the weddings I have participated in. They always ask me afterwards how I did it and they always want to know where they can get their own copy of FotoMagico. A single-user license is $29 and a single-user license for the pro version is $149. You can find out more at Boinx.com.

You can listen to this review on the Mac ReviewCast #215.

Omni Graph Sketcher Leaves Beta

The Omni Group's latest creation, Omni Graph Sketcher, left beta this week and shipped as 1.0. This is a unique application that allows you to make custom graphs for reports and presentations. Expect a detailed review in the near future.

Free Jumsoft Goodies

Jumsoft makes a variety of plug-ins and graphics for Keynote, iWeb, and the Mac in general. They also routinely give stuff away. They currently have several interesting free items worth checking out.

MacSpeech Passes the Bar

On the heels of my recent review of MacSpeech 1.5, MacSpeech announced its newest version, MacSpeech Legal, which includes a dictionary of over 30,000 legal related terms and phrases. I've spent some time with this product and it is really nice saying terms like ex parte without grinding to a halt. I know a lot of attorneys follow this blog. If you are practicing law on a Mac, this one will pay for itself in a few days.