While I have written of my experiences in a previous post, let me recap for those who do not want to read that lengthy account. In an impulse purchase I bought a MacPadd Pro mouse pad through the manufacturer’s (QMS) web site.

Shortly after completing the purchase I ceased receiving any communications from the company. This lasted several months and I had given up hope of ever seeing the mouse pad I had purchased or the money.

In a last ditch effort to get closure on this transaction I initiated a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Almost immediately I received an email from a representative of QMS. Through several discussions the company agreed to send my mouse pad.

The shipment went out in early November. After several weeks I had still not received the MacPadd that had been shipped. I took into account the holidays and patiently waited to no avail, I still did not have my mouse pad.

I continued to exchange emails with the company and finally in January they agreed to re-send another mouse pad. On January 19, 2010 I received a package from MacPadd. From the postmark on the outside of the package I can only assume this was the second one that was shipped since it was dated January 8, 2010.

I have never seen the first package and I am willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt that it was indeed sent but somehow lost in transit. So nearly ten months after I ordered the MacPadd from the QMS web site, the transaction was finally completed.

It has been a long and arduous path for a mouse pad and I can honestly say I never want to go through that again. I am frustrated to find my name continues to be associated with this. I was sent a link to the MacPadd web site where they have posted my email to them on their blog.

I did not authorize them to use this email and I am extremely disappointed and quite angry that they took this liberty without my permission. I do not appreciate them posting my email address in clear text to be picked up by every SPAMbot on the Internet.

While I appreciated the company following up and making sure I received the product I purchased, this has not been a pleasant customer experience. I have been accused of slander, had company representatives send scathing notes to me (which were later rescinded with a formal apology), and had my ethics questioned all over a mouse pad.

And perhaps the worst part of all of this is that after I finally received the MacPadd Pro I found that it did not meet my expectations. It is smaller than I expected, the tracking with my Magic Mouse is not as precise as I would have liked, and it was loud when dragging the mouse across it. So after waiting all that time, the MacPadd now sits in a desk drawer.

I should probably have posted this statement earlier but at approximately the same time as the second MacPadd shipped, my credit card number was stolen. I have been more than preoccupied with Internet Fraud authorities than with posting the outcome of a mouse pad purchase.

The most popular rumor is the release of the highly anticipated Apple Tablet which has been expected for over a year. As is always the case, Apple closely manages the information that is “leaked” prior to an announcement.

Steve Jobs and the crew at Apple have perfected the art of product releases to build the hype to a frenzied level making sure all media outlets will cover their event. You would think that the public would become accustomed to these events but Apple never seems to disappoint regardless of whether the introduction lives up to the rumors or not.

The January 27 event has been billed as being “mobile” specific. This could mean anything from an update to the successful MacBook laptops to an iPhone upgrade to the new tablet. Personally I am expecting this to be the tablet which some have suggested will be named the ‘iPad”.

Rather than regurgitating the various rumors surrounding this new product, I thought perhaps it would interesting to talk through some of the challenges Apple may have in this space.

While we all love to talk about cool hardware and get excited at seeing the device in person, it is important to keep in perspective that the success of new computing devices are less tied to hardware specifications. For a device such as the Apple Tablet to gain traction in the market it will require incredible software and one killer application.

When Apple Computer introduced the Apple I and later the Apple ][, it was largely described as a “hobbyist device”. To make it work required some software engineering to create a program each time the computer was powered up. It was relegated to a market segment of people who dabbled in electronics; definitely not a mainstream product.

All of this changed with the introduction of VisiCalc. VisiCalc was an electronic spreadsheet that allowed the user to complete mathematical tasks quickly and easily. When people saw what VisiCalc could do, the sales figures for Apple ][ computers literally took off. Suddenly people who before would never have looked at a personal computer were buying these devices and inventing ways to use spreadsheets in their daily lives.

In 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh computer. It took some of the best design ideas from the Apple Lisa and built them into a compact computer. By itself the Macintosh was a novel experiment in alternative input/output. While the Lisa had a similar interface it did not penetrate the market as Apple had envisioned.

Apple made a decision to include two applications with the Macintosh, MacWrite and MacPaint. These two applications showcased the features of the new hardware and enabled users to envision their lives being better as a result of using the product.

Customers flocked to Apple stores after the Macintosh announcement and laid out $2,995 for a computer with 128K of RAM, a 9 inch Black & White monitor, a 400K disk drive, and a dot matrix printer. The shortage of Macintosh computers resulted in waiting lists that at times reached on for several weeks or months before delivery.

For nearly a year after its introduction the Macintosh had just MacWrite and MacPaint software available yet people continued to buy the hardware just to use these two applications.

When Apple introduced the iPod, it also included iTunes as a way for user to interact with their new handheld device. With iTunes users could not only load the iPod with music but would facilitate adding content changing the paradigm of how we buy music.

Now Apple appears to be set to introduce a tablet. The question becomes, what will be the killer application that will drive people to purchase the device. It has been rumored that the tablet will be able to act as an electronic book reader, a multimedia device capable of displaying video and photos, and provide surfing capabilities. Will that be enough to garner the interest of users beyond the current loyal Apple customer base?

Each of the markets (book reader, multimedia, and browser) is adequately covered by existing products both within Apple and elsewhere. Personally I think it will take a completely different piece of software to push the tablet to cult status that previous Apple products seem to have achieved.

It is hard to envision what that software may be especially since very few have been fortunate enough to see the device before its release. The announcement needs to not only provide a glimpse of the new hardware, it must also capture the imagination of software developers to inspire them to develop something that will capture the public driving not only software sales but also hardware.

Like many, I will be glued to my computer during the presentation to see what the device can do and hopefully be inspired to develop something that can push the limits of the device and enable the users to places they could not imagine before the product was announced.

While I would love to continue waiting for delivery of the mouse pad I bought, I have to move on especially now that I have a glass top desk. As everyone knows, the laser mice that are popular on the market now just don’t work on a glass surface or if they do the performance is lackluster to say the least.

I started by assessing what my requirements were for a mouse pad. I know, it is kind of sad that I would take the time to list requirements for something as simple as a mouse pad. But given the amount of time I work on the computer, the last thing I wanted was to introduce a point of frustration into my workflow.

As a graphic and web designer it is imperative that the mouse track well. Accurate mouse movement is imperative especially when I am retouching photographs or designing graphics.

Another important criterion is mouse pad real estate. There is nothing worse than running to the edge of a too small mouse pad in the middle of a critical edit.

Finally I am looking for durability. I have gone through more than my share of neoprene mouse pads where the cover peels away from the pad itself making the mouse surface uneven.

Once I had the requirements list I began searching for mouse pad options. After looking at several sites and visiting several local stores I finally came home with what I think will work well for my needs.

I settled on the Rocketfish Gaming Mouse Pad. Gaming is about the lowest thing on my priority list and to be honest I haven’t played a game on my computer since Zork was popular.

Despite its name, the Rocketfish Gaming Mouse Pad is not just for people intent on piling up the body count in a video game. It is designed for high performance as well as precise mouse movement making it perfect for artists and designers.

The mouse pad itself is fairly large giving you ample space to move your mouse even when you have a 24 inch monitor. The pad itself measures approximately 10 inches by 13 inches.

The Rocketfish mouse pad is actually two pads. On one side the surface is designed for quick response and fast mouse movements. This is perfect if you want to quickly move around the screen.

Flipping the pad over gives it another surface that is designed for accuracy, perfect for when you are working with precise image file edits. While you may sacrifice a bit of speed, you more than make up for it with a surface that precisely tracks mouse movements.

In the few days I have used this mouse pad I have quickly become a big fan. Its expansive surface is perfect for the large desktop areas afforded by today’s monitors. Having a dual surface comes into play a lot more than I anticipated.

I find myself flipping the pad over depending on the type of work I am predominately doing. That’s not to say I have to flip it over, to be honest either side works well for most tasks. The control surface just gives me a little more peace of mind making me wonder if there really is that much of a difference or if it is more of a mental edge.

If you find yourself looking for a new mouse pad I would definitely recommend the Rocketfish Gaming Mouse Pad. Now if I could just get them to offer different edge colors it would be perfect.

It first started out as a simple file but recently I have noticed that the PDF files are getting much more advanced and complex. Rather than just flipping through page by page the files I am now receiving have table of contents, password protection, and other features.

The progression of these files is fairly natural but unfortunately most of today’s browsers have a limited amount of functionality built into them for viewing these files. It was therefore just a matter of time before someone invented a better PDF browser plug-in to support the advanced features.

The developers at Schubert IT have come up with a solution for Safari on Macintosh OS X. It is aptly named PDF Browser Plugin.

The PDF Browser Plugin gives you a more robust experience when viewing PDF Files. Not only will it show each individual page, it will also give you access to advanced features such as table of contents with hot linking, filling out forms within a PDF document, and several display modes to assist the reader with content presentation.

The PDF Browser Plugin currently only works with 32-bit mode Safari and at the time of writing this post no announcement had been made as to when a 64-bit version would be available.

For non-commercial use the plugin is free making it very cost effective for Mac users. If you wish to purchase a site license for PDF Browser Plugin for commercial purposes they are available for $69.

Overall the plugin works flawlessly allowing me to continue to use the browser when viewing PDF files without losing functionality. It is also much faster and appears to take up less memory that the Adobe client.

For the price it is hard to beat and fills a need very well. If you need something beyond the core functionality that is built into Safari take a look at PDF Browser Plugin and see if it works for you. You can’t beat the price.

My wife of course would argue that point and could probably come up with a list of the idiotic things I have done that would stretch for miles. Despite all of her irrefutable evidence, I still claim that I am not quite as dumb as I look. After today though I might need to rethink that theory.

I was working on my Mac today cleaning the 1,148 photos that I shot during my son’s soccer tournament this weekend. Somewhere in the midst of all the editing I was doing, my fingers got lazy and I hit a series of keystrokes.

At the time I was not aware of the exact keystrokes I hit and it went somewhat unnoticed for a while. Soon though I started noticing strange and unusual behavior from the Macintosh. Now given my life and my personality, strange and unusual is normal. This time though it was weird even for me.

My keyboard has been rock solid and working flawlessly ever since I bought it. Somehow today it developed a mind of its own. The numeric keypad, which had been working, was now not doing anything.

I quickly went into troubleshooting mode and began assessing the problem. I knew it had to be a hardware problem and I changed ports for the keyboard, which made no difference. I suspected maybe I had a corrupt file somewhere and began going through each file trying to figure out what could be wrong.

I rebooted the system thinking that would resolve the problem but the numeric keypad still failed to work properly. I sat in front of the screen muttering under my breath at the disruption I had and scratching my head as I tried to troubleshoot the problem.

After what seemed like an eternity of getting nowhere I somehow happened upon the Control Panel module for accessibility. There staring at me was the answer. Through a set of keystrokes I had inadvertently enabled Mouse Keys, which will turn your numeric keypad into a control pad for the mouse.

Pressing the Option Key five times enables Mouse Keys. I honestly have no recollection of doing that but somehow I did. So after a couple hours of troubleshooting and a large piece of humble pie my keyboard was back working the way it should and I learned a valuable lesson. Never assume you know the answer to a computer problem and always look for the simple solutions first.

Shortly after purchasing my MacBook Pro last spring I was looking for a new mouse pad for the wireless Mighty Mouse that I bought. While the MacBook Pro is a portable with a track pad, I also have a large screen monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse that I use when I am at my desk at home.

I really didn’t want a neoprene mouse pad that reminded me of the old trap door on a pair of scuba diving long johns. I was looking for something sleek and modern that would make the perfect accessory to my new Macintosh.

After picking up a few magazines I came across an ad for the ultimate mouse pad. It was called MacPadd from Quality Management Systems (QMS) Inc. in Ontario Canada. Their product was touted as the “better mouse padd”.

It is a piece of machined aluminum similar to the MacBook Pro’s case. From the photos on the web site it looked like just the thing I was looking for. The problem was the size. According to the site it was nine inches by six inches.

With a 24-inch monitor and my primary applications are graphic and photography software, it was just too small. After going back and forth with the company via email I learned they were about to release the MacPadd Pro, which was nine inches square. That was still on the small side of what I wanted but it looked so cool I just had to get one.

I paid via PayPal from my checking account, something I rarely do but made an exception this once. The order was placed on April 5, 2009. I eagerly waited for my mouse pad to arrive hoping it would live up to the hype on their web site.

I received an email from the company shortly after ordering saying my order had been accepted. At that point though all communications ceased from QMS. After a couple of weeks I had still not received the mouse pad that I had ordered. I sent an email to enquire the status of the shipment but received no response.

A month passed and still no mouse pad so I sent another email asking for status. That email too went unanswered. Each month on the anniversary of my order date I would send an email asking for status and none of these were ever answered.

I began to think that I had been duped and that this company did not exist. How could I have been so stupid? I attempted to file a complaint with PayPal to try and get my money back. Because I paid with my checking account, PayPal would not help leaving me without recourse.

After six months I had written off this purchase figuring I would never see the product or my money again. Shortly thereafter I began seeing activity on the MacPadd Twitter account. They were advertising their product with regularity.

I attempted to contact them via Twitter but my messages there went unanswered. I tried email again but it too did not receive a reply. I also found a Facebook account for MacPadd, which like the Twitter account had come to life and was actively adding messages.

I tried to get a response via Facebook but on the two occasions where I brought up my unfulfilled order the messages were deleted. I was now positive that this company was not legitimate. Rather than sit idly by I decided to do something about it.

I went to the Better Business Bureau web site and opened up a complaint against QMS Inc. Within a couple of days of that I received an email from the owner of QMS. He stated that my order had somehow been misplaced and all of my emails had gone to his Junk folder.

While that seemed a little far-fetched I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He apologized for the problem with the order and assured me that the mouse pad would be shipped that week.

Just a few hours after that email I received a message via Facebook with a two word profanity. I was taken aback from this as I thought things were finally progressing and the transaction was finally coming to an end.

It seems I was a passenger on a ship caught in the perfect storm. At this same time, the company was involved in a disagreement with a member of Tom’s Hardware over an order. This disagreement went from perhaps a simple misunderstanding to a firestorm of activity around the Internet with both sides claiming the other was at fault.

The messages between Tom’s Hardware and QMS Inc. deteriorated rather quickly and because Tom’s Hardware made the argument public it became ugly. Personal attacks were attributed to both sides and flame wars erupted on several web sites and blogs.

I just happened to file my BBB complaint at the same time and as became caught in the crossfire. It was a nightmare that I really had no intention of getting involved with. I was just looking to get my long lost mouse pad and live my life.

After several emails back and forth with QMS Inc and also with the Tom’s Hardware representatives, I believe I have eliminated me being part of their public fight. I did receive a very nice apology from both QMS Inc and also from the owner’s son.

They have given me assurances that my MacPadd Pro has now shipped, seven months after the initial order. I am now in a waiting game as the mouse pad makes its way from Canada to Arizona.

For six months I was frustrated at the lack of communication from QMS Inc. and felt as though it was a fly-by-night operation. Rather than publicly ridicule the company and create a personal vendetta I posted warnings that my order had been unfulfilled.

As a result of staying calm and levelheaded and not making this a personal Jihad. I was hopefully able to resolve the problem and will finally see the mouse pad. I remain hopeful that this transaction will end soon and I will finally have the product.

This whole experience has been less than optimum. Hopefully through this QMS will learn from the issues and find a better way to allow customers to contact them without having to go through the BBB. Customers too need to realize that like many other companies this is probably a one-man operation and they cannot expect instantaneous communication like it was a major corporation.

Cottage industries such as QMS have been a part of the Macintosh community since its inception and are vital to provide products and services that Apple does not. I would hate to see that spirit destroyed over a single mouse pad.

When I finally do get the MacPadd, I will post a review of the product itself without all of the drama and back-story that I have just laid out. I felt this saga was important but I did not want to make it the focus of the product review, that would not be fair.

This is an opportunity for Mac users to be exposed to some great products that they may not otherwise consider. I purchased the MacHeist bundle and quickly learned how great this software really is.

From that moment I began monitoring MacHeist hoping to be notified when they created a new software bundle. This week that monitoring paid off as I received an email announcing the MacHeist nanoBundle.

This is a collection of six applications for the Macintosh. The bundle included utilities, applications, and games making the suite valuable to several types of Mac users.

Perhaps the best news was that MacHeist was offering this collection of software for free. Yes you heard right, it didn’t cost a penny.

I downloaded the software and began to use the applications which include ShoveBox, WriteRoom, Twitterrific, TinyGrab, Hordes of Orcs, and Mariner Write. With the exception of Twitterrific I had not heard of any of these applications but shortly after installing them I began to appreciate each one.

These are not free trials nor are they in anyway disabled. Instead licenses and serial numbers for each piece of software was sent to me allowing them to be completely unlocked and usable.

I suggest stopping by MacHeist and checking out what they are offering. If you happen to miss out on this bundle stay tuned as I am sure the MacHeist guys will be back again with another great deal for the Macintosh user community.

Since the MacBook Pro has both a USB port as well as a FireWire 800 port I had the advantage of finding a storage solution that utilized either of these standard interfaces. After deliberating over several different choices I ultimately selected the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac drive.

The device is a slick aluminum looking device on a vertical stand. On the rear of the device is a power connector, two FireWire 800 ports and a mini USB port. This allows the FreeAgent Desk for Mac drive to connect to the computer through whatever port happens to be available on the Mac.

The drive came formatted for use with a Macintosh and was a quick plug-and-play solution. I selected a 1.5TB version of the drive and just left the drive plugged in to the FireWire 800 port of the MacBook Pro.

The second FireWire 800 port on the back of the FreeAgent Desk drive allowed it to daisy-chain with an additional FireWire device. For the first two months of use the drive worked flawlessly. I was able to use it for external storage and the throughput via FireWire make it a great solution.

After the initial two months I began to notice the Macintosh would hang at various times for no reason. It was usually at times the system was idle and the first application to report the hang was iTunes. I have no music stored on the FreeAgent Desk drive so I immediately discounted that as a potential issue.

The hanging would result in forcing applications to quit and then rebooting the MacBook Pro. After rebooting things would return to normal and I would work without issues for perhaps weeks at a time.

Slowly the problem began to occur more frequently. For one reason or another I happened to unplug the FreeAgent Desk drive during the time the MacBook was hung up. The computer immediately came back to life without having to quit applications or reboot the computer.

I began trying to troubleshoot the issue to see if my computer problems were indeed connected to this external drive. I am still conducting tests but it appears that the hanging only occurs when the device is connected via the FireWire 800 port. If the drive is connected via USB it does not hang.

At this point I am unclear whether the issue is with the FireWire 800 port on the FreeAgent Desk drive or if it is the FireWire 800 port on the MacBook Pro. I don’t seem to have problems with other devices on the FireWire 800 port so at this point I am leaning towards this being an issue with the external disk drive.

Given my experiences I cannot recommend the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac external drive. If you do purchase this device I suggest cabling it to use the mini USB port. You may be giving up transfer speed but you will make up for it by having your system be a lot more reliable.

Once a framework has been established, the reader is now ready for a more Macintosh specific book to help them learn application development. A follow-up book to Learn C on the Mac is Learn Objective–C on the Mac (Learn Series) by Mark Dalrymple and Scott Knaster.

The Objective-C book, like the Learn C book, is published by Apress publishing. They do a very good job of editing the text and organizing the books to make them understandable and flow appropriately.

It should be noted that the Objective-C for the Mac book is not a beginning programming book. It rightfully assumed that the reader has experience in software development and specifically in C. Without this experience the subjects covered in this book will quickly go over the reader’s head leaving them confused and frustrated.

Learn Objective-C on the Mac begins with a description of the extensions to C that make up Objective-C. This affords the reader with necessary background information for what is different over and beyond the standard C language.

After an introduction to object oriented programming the book discusses the Macintosh development tool suite that makes up Xcode. The Xcode environment is integral in the text of this book and provides a good reference for the toolset.

Besides basic coding, Learn Objective-C on the Mac offers good information on memory management and optimization techniques that will be invaluable to the budding Mac developer.

This book is not an easy read. The best way to utilize it is as a reference and a companion while attempting the code on a computer. Unless you have tremendous amount of prior software development experience it would be hard to follow the examples just on paper.

From a perspective of learning Xcode and the nuances of Objective-C on the Macintosh this book will do a decent job of introducing the terms and gives you enough information that you can delve in further in areas you might find interesting.

This may not be the ultimate Macintosh development manual but it contains enough good information and programming examples that it will get you up and running in minimal time and by the end of the book you should have the knowledge necessary to be a Macintosh developer.

Suffice it to say there is no easy answer to what is the right book or training that will make you a Macintosh developer. The good news is there are many avenues you can take to learn programming on the Macintosh and many of them will be dependent upon what your level of knowledge is going into the development process.

Recently I have found myself trying to get developers up to speed quickly not necessarily on the Macintosh OS X operating system but to get them through the basics so that they can begin developing for the iPhone.

Many of those asking for a recommendation come from a background of design or other non-programming related background. From that perspective it is necessary to begin to build a foundation of programming while introducing the tools they will ultimately utilize for development.

When the Macintosh was first released in 1984, many of the routines in the Mac ROM were Pascal based. A thorough knowledge of Pascal helped when developing applications that ran on the original Mac. As the Macintosh evolved, the development platform migrated to a more standard based set of tools.

With the introduction of OS X, Apple moved the underpinnings of their operating system to a Unix kernel, which allowed tighter integration with C as the preferred development language. C was well on its way to being the de-facto standard long before this time but in my opinion the move to OS X sealed the deal.

So anyone wanting to learn Macintosh development now really should have a basis is C and specifically in Objective-C which most of Apple’s tools will utilize. Since Objective-C is based on C I find it easier to recommend a good C book as the beginning introduction to Mac programming.

I have been recommending Learn C on the Mac (Learn Series) written by Dave Mark. This is a very good introduction to the C language and the examples all use Apple’s XCode tool suite as the editor to give the reader a good basis for using the tools they will have to be familiar with in the long term.

The book is a good mixture of history, theory, and common sense and was written not for the techie but for a typical user who has little background or knowledge for programming. This is definitely a beginning-programming book.

If you have prior C experience or any C-type language for that matter, this is not the book you want. If however you are a computer user who wants to begin to learn to develop applications this is a good primer that will begin your journey to becoming a developer.

The programming examples are fairly simple and are not Macintosh specific. The code output is primitive and uses just the console. It does not delve into the power of the Macintosh specific calls nor does it explain the nuances of UI development. It simply teaches the constructs of C.

Having this basis though will allow the reader to gain a basic knowledge and understanding of the C language, which can then be built upon by a follow-up book such as Learn Objective–C on the Mac (Learn Series) by Mark Dalrymple and Scott Knaster.

Learn C on the Mac is a fairly quick read if you are just scanning the book. The benefit really comes from building the example code and getting a hands-on experience with the XCode integrated development environment (IDE).

For those who do not want to type the code themselves, Mark provides a link to the Apress web site that has a zip file of all code examples contained in the book. This way the reader can open the files without actually having to do any keyboarding.

I’ve seen computer users with no background in programming emerge with at least a framework of knowledge they can build on by using this book. It will not make you a full-fledged Macintosh developer but will begin you down that path. For that reason I would recommend Learn C on the Mac as a good book to help anyone regardless of their age learn programming on the Macintosh.