Once you start CoolTerm, the first thing you’ll want to do is select Options, which will let you select your serial port, as well as the baud rate (speed) and number of data bits, parity and stop bits. These are often represented in a shorthand such as 81N (8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no…
John F. Braun
John F. Braun is a software and computer engineer with over 20 years of development experience, and has AS, BS and MS degrees in various computing disciplines, so his friends and colleagues are somewhat surprised that he?s a Mac enthusiast. Having worked in an environment comprised largely of PCs, and watching others wrestle with the horror that is Windows, he's glad to come home to a MacBook Pro and Mac mini at the end of the day.
Articles by John F. Braun
CarMD Shows CarMD for Mac Vehicle Diagnostic System
CarMD is a hardware and software system that can retrieve diagnostic information from any car made after 1996, as well as some vehicles made in 1994 and 1995, if they have a diagnostic connector that is OBD2 compliant. To start, you plug the CarMD device into your vehicle’s diagnostic port, and the device will retrieve…
Want to Secure Your Data Across Platforms? Check out TrueCrypt!
TrueCrypt is a cross-platform data encryption solution that is available for Mac OS X, as well as various flavors of Windows and Linux. To get started, run the TrueCrypt software and choose Create Volume. This launches the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard. The first choice you’ll need to make is if you want to create an…
Want to See What's on Your TCP/IP Network? Check out IP Scanner!
IP Scanner is a program that will probe your network for all available devices on the network. Sure, you can do this if you send a ping to the broadcast address for your subnet, but this only gives you basic address information. IP Scanner goes beyond the basics and will not only show the IP…
Want to Stream Your Content? Check Out Darwin Streaming Server!
For users of Mac OS X 10.5 and above, you can download the binary (avoiding all the fun of compiling it yourself) for both the streaming server and the streaming proxy from the project page. For users of other operating systems, which includes Solaris, Redhat Linux, FreeBSD and others, you can download the source and…
Want to Keep Your Mac Cool? Check Out smcFanControl!
When you run smcFanControl, it will place a small indicator in your menu bar showing you the current processor temperature and fan speed. This is is a great way to understand the correlation between temperature and fan speed. There is a fan RPM that you can’t set below a certain minimum, but you can use…
Want to See What Your HID Devices Are Saying to Your Mac? Check Out iHID!
iHID Shows Values Reported By Your HID Device When you launch iHID, there will be a Device menu. Click on this, and you’ll see a list of the HID devices currently connected to your Mac. The easiest is your keyboard. Select this, and you’ll see a list of all the possible Elements the device can…
Targus Shows File Share Cable for Mac
Targus File Share Cable for Mac
Microvision Demonstrates SHOW WX Laser Projector
Unlike many other projectors, which use lamps or LEDs and a lens to project an image, the SHOW EX uses laser light. The benefit of this is twofold. First, there is no need to focus; the projector can be placed at any distance from the projection surface. Second, you can get bright and vivid colors…
Verbatim Announces Speaker Keyboard, Store 'n' Go Micro USB Drive
The Speaker Keyboard has an integrated dual speaker system for stereo sound, and volume and bass boost controls to control the audio. There are also media controls, such as play and pause, designed for use with iTunes and other audio programs. To round things out, the keys are backlit, providing improved key visibility in low…
Want to Experience Mac History? Check Out Mactracker!
Most people know that Apple helped start a computing revolution, with the introduction of the Mac in 1984. Part of the intrigue of these early machines was the decidedly nonstandard hardware, much of which offered features beyond the competition. If you’d like to take a walk down memory lane, there has been much written about…
Want Your Mac to Sleep Smart? Better Get SmartSleep!
With the increasing amount of RAM you can have in your Mac, this process can take a while. Fortunately, a handy little prefpane called SmartSleep can fine-tune this behavior to your liking. Smart Sleep Prefpane Smart Sleep allows you to choose one of four sleep modes. The Mac’s default behavior is sleep and hibernate, which…
Squeeze the Most From Your Files with File Juicer
Echo One One of the features that makes Mac OS X so usable, considering the underlying UNIX foundation, is the Finder interface. The Finder takes the thousands of files on your hard drive, and present them in a way that allows you to do all sorts of cool things with your Mac. Normally, a user…
TMO at Macworld - Axiotron and OWC Unveil ModBook, the First Mac Tablet
SAN FRANCISCO — Axiotron, Inc. together with its strategic partner and exclusive US Distributor Other World Computing (OWC), on Tuesday unveiled the ModBook, the first ever Mac OS X tablet computer solution. Andreas Haas, President of Axitron and Larry O’Connor, CEO of Other World Computing, hosted a press conference unveiling the device. Ready to Unveil…
DEVONtechnologies Shows Updated DEVONagent Research Assistant
Users enter their queries into DEVONagent as they would with any search tool, using special qualifiers such as NEAR to gain even finer control over what theyire looking for. The software then presents the query to about 135 search engines. Once the tool gets results, it doesnit just display text and links, but also displays…
Seiko Smart Label Printer 430
Introduction Seiko hasnit been in the Mac label printer market since the late 1990s, due to a decision that retooling their software for Mac OS 8 wasnit worth the investment. But after noticing a beta Mac driver in May, Mac support in June, and the units at Macworld in July, we had to get one…
Macworld Boston - Delapod Displays Line of Handbags with Special iPod Features
BOSTON — The iPod is an indispensable companion when you’re out and about, but it can be a hassle to juggle another device to carry around. This can be a special challenge for some women who need to carry–among other things–a purse. The good folks at Delapod have risen to the challenge and designed a…
Quark Discusses QuarkXPress 7 Features, Educational Program
We received a quick update on their educational program from Shellie L. Hall, Marketing Development Manager and Education Evangelist. The program, which has been active for about a year, offers deep discounts on QuarkXPress to qualified instructors and students for $199 for a single copy, and as low as $99 a seat if purchasing a…
Diamonds in the Rough: Three Cool Products from the Show Floor
ART VPS Accelerator ? We noticed our first gem as we walked by the ART VPS booth and noted a demo which was showing a nice looking sports car at various angles. As first we thought this was some sort of presentation software, but we learned that the car was in fact totally computer generated,…
Pack Your PowerMac G5 with 5TB of Storage with G5Jam+
PowerMac G5 with G5Jam+ According to James Wiebe, CEO of WiebeTech, with the recent introduction of a 500GB SATA drive from Hitachi, a PowerMac G5 using G5Jam+ can support a maximum of 3TB (6 x 500 GB) of internal storage, and 2TB (4 x 500GB) of external storage. G5Jam+ ships with a replacement air baffle…
Real's Freedom is a Lie, True Music Choice Lies Elsewhere
S ince the last editorial I penned about Realis supposed "Freedom of Music Choice" campaign, things havenit been going very well for the company. The petition begging Real to stop this nonsense has more signatures than Realis official petition. The Real "Freedom of Music Choice" site first allowed user comments, but quickly disabled them when…
26 More Pics From The Floor
O ne of our most popular features during a Macworld show is the picture galleries. People who canit make the show like to see what they are missing, and we appreciate the clamor for more pics. Accordingly, we are offering up our third picture gallery taken from the floor. This time out we have some…
Newcomer "You Software" Introduces New Mac Apps
The first product is called You Synchronize, and is based on the award-winning ExecutiveSync package that we looked at back in 2002. Unlike basic synchronization packages that only look at the time and date stamp of files to detect changes, You Synchronize uses a proprietary Time and State (TAS) technique to detect changed files. What…
CMS Shows Higher Capacities for Desktop & Portable Backup Systems
Fortunately, the good folks at CMS Peripherals offer such a backup system, called ABSplus, the ABS standing for Automatic Backup System. We had a chance to chat with Mike LaPeters, Vice President of Sales, to give us an update on whatis been happening with the product, and to receive a demonstration. ABSplus Portable