News and ReviewsMac Edition Radio produces reviews and news stories about the latest technologies, digital imaging, music, & photography.
Review – NEC MultiSync EA244UHD 24" 4K Widescreen Desktop Monitor w/ IPS Panel and NEC MultiSync PA302W-BK 30" Color Accurate Desktop Monitor

If there was a theme to this year’s 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, it was 4K Resolution TVs and Displays. NEC’s introduction last winter of its first 4K display, the EA244UHD  24" 4K Widescreen Desktop Monitor w/ IPS Panel opened up an entire new world of resolution for desktop image editors. Don't need that level of resolution, but want a superb wide-gamut desktop display, the PA302W-BK 30" Color Accurate Desktop Monitor is one solution. If you are interested in how this technology will impact your imaging and editing workflow, then read on for our full review.

Harris Fogel, posted 6/18/2015

Review – Maxon’s Cinema 4D R16 3D Software

There aren’t too many software products that can boast still having its original development team after 25 years, or having started first on the Amiga platform, migrated to Windows, Alpha NT, and the Macintosh OS. But it’s all true for Cinema 4D, Maxon’s venerable 3D application. The latest version is Cinema 4D R16, and boasts a slew of new features, a worldwide following, and strong interoptibility with Adobe After Effects. If you are interested in the current state-of-the-art of animation and 3D software, read on for our full review!

James Van Metre, with additional reporting by Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, Posted 6/12/2015

Hi-Fidelity on the Road with the Oppo PM-3 Planar Magnetic Headphones, Oppo HA-2 Amp/DAC, and the Seagate Wireless Plus Hard Drive, with Music from HD Tracks played back on Android and iOS Devices

If you travel, the one sure-fire way to forget you are jostling around on a road, bouncing over railroad tracks, or strapped into a narrow airplane seat, is with some great tunes. Our own John Mulhern III, beat me to the punch and reviewed the superb Oppo PM-3 Planar Magnetic Headphones and the Oppo HA-2 Amp/DAC. With recently released music from HD Tracks, I wondered how the combination performed on Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! Is this the perfect portable audio companion for you? Read our review to find out!

Harris Fogel, with additional editorial input by Nancy Burlan, Posted 6/12/2015

Review – Seagate Recovery Services – When You Need to Recover Data – Part Three

In this third part of our series on storage, we knew that it wouldn't be the real world if we didn’t discuss the fact that drives do occasionally fail. In 2005 Maxtor introduced an exciting drive for its time, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition drive series which paired two hard drives in a single Firewire enabled enclosure. But, our two units stopped working and sat on a shelf for almost a decade gathering dust. We wondered if our pair of dead systems had any chance of recovery? To test this we turned to Seagate Recovery Systems. Read our full review to see if rescuing your dead drive makes sense.

Harris Fogel, with additional reporting by Nancy Burlan & Ken Kramar, Posted 5/26/2015

Review – Using a Seagate NAS Pro 16TB to Create Your Own "Cloud" – Part Two

In part one of this series on storage we explored the Seagate NAS Pro 16TB NAS device as a NAS solution, but for part two in our series our question was “how to backup the backup device”? Sounds confusing, well, it isn’t actually. So, in part two we explore using a second Seagate NAS Pro as an automated offsite backup solution, at a fraction of the cost of some commercially available “cloud” offerings. In this second of a multi-part article on NAS devices and storage options, we review the recently released Seagate NAS Pro, 16TB Network Attached Storage, powered by the LaCie NAS OS 4 operating system, but this time with NetBackup enabled to use it as a backup device. Read our full review to see if creating your own personal “cloud” makes sense.

Harris Fogel, with editorial input by Nancy Burlan & Ken Kramar, posted 5/24/2015

Review — OPPO PM-3 Headphones and HA-2 Headphone Amplifier

OPPO has recently released their PM-3 closed-back planar magnetic headphones and HA-2 portable headphone amplifier and DAC. John Mulhern III reviews these products, both independently and in combination, and looks at whether OPPO has managed to score yet another win with the audio enthusiast.

John Mulhern III, Posted 3/22/2015

Analysis – Apple's New MacBook Is A Lesson In Vision And Market Power

On Monday, March 9th, 2015, Apple announced the first new MacBook in four years. John Mulhern III believes that this new MacBook, the lightest notebook that Apple has ever made, is a lesson in vision and market power.

John Mulhern III, Posted 3/15/2015

Review – Seagate NAS Pro 16TB Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Does Mac Edition Radio’s digital life sound familiar? We have lots of data to deal with, so we need multiple hard drives strategically placed around our homes and offices, and of course, tangled webs of different interfaces and cables. Some storage devices are portable, while others might be AC-powered external desktop drives. Either way, most of them aren’t secure, nor are they accessible to others or remotely. Enter the NAS, or Networked Attached Storage, which has been growing in popularity as an affordable, secure, fast, and increasingly easy-to-configure solution to how to store all that precious data. In this first of a multi-part article on NAS devices, we review the recently released Seagate NAS Pro, 16TB Network Attached Storage, powered by the LaCie NAS OS 4 operating system.

Harris Fogel, with additional research by Ken Kramar, Posted 2/26/2015

Review – Wacom Cintiq Companion – Someone finally Smushed my Laptop and Sketchbook together!

Ideas for creative people happen quickly, in some moments unexpectedly. We need tools that allow us to pursue those ideas with precision and confidence. The Wacom Cintiq Companion delivers on those “tools” and instantly upgrades any creative person’s arsenal.  And everyone knows the old saying, “you need the right tools for the job” and in today’s completive market for artistic designers and photographers creating digitally is not another means to end, but a must to keep up with the every growing pace of the creative world. Is the Cintiq Companion the right tool for you? Read our review to find out!

Michael Mann, with additional reporting by Harris Fogel, posted 2/13/2015

Mac Edition Radio’s The Best of 2014 Top Ten High-Resolution Audio and Musical Picks To Start The New Year!

We love the holidays – they bring stress, commotion, travel headaches, and joyous times with family and friends. But they also bring exciting new products, music, and tools to soothe our transition to the new year. Here is a quick list of some High Resolution Audio and Music highlights from 2014 to consider as 2015 approaches! Music from HD Tracks, Blue Coast Records, Society of Sound, Pure Blu-Ray Audio, AIX Records, Capitol/Universal Music, Chesky Records, Real World Records, and music software from Channel D and Sonic Studio.

Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, Posted 12/24/2014

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