blessingx

Here's new combined app functionality... PEE - App Store Popularity EnhancEr

Maybe every Dell didn't work as well as this guys...

If you're like me and a fan of audio tours, even when not in front of the places being described, you may enjoy this.... MyOnCell Mobile | NPS New Orleans Jazz NM Audio Tour

Interested in both these so very curious about your impressions.

As a followup to the last pages discussions, per a suggestion by Salt Peanuts I picked up an Belken AC powered Firewire hub. Unfortunately, this doesn't help us first gen MacBooks owners, as the fan slowly climbs as normal to hold at max. It was worth a try though. Thanks again for the idea SP. Interesting the AC is powering the Duet somewhat as the light comes on on it when plugged into the hub and not the MacBook. However this complicates things further. When then plugging into the MacBook it doesn't 'jumpstart' the Duet. It stays semi-alive (lit up, but not functioning). The Duet must be disconnected/connected between the hub and itself to work normally. On the positive side of things I also picked up a couple of these Sewell Firewire Extenders. For anyone that needs to move the Duet and extend the digital signal to minimize the analog one, these work quite well. Maybe this will help me in situations where I'm not next to the laptop fans. And for those wondering, no I didn't use the latter when testing the former.

Thanks much everyone. Hope you all had a great Xmas.

Have a great one Guillaume!

Apple announces final MacWorld, Steve Jobs won't deliver keynote - Engadget

New shoe tossing Flash game: kast_sko

I know the Core 2 Duos handle temps a bit better than Core Duos, but to put it in perspective - mine when fully cranked at work often causes people to look over the cube wall to see what is going on (assuming I'm watching something funny on YouTube). And that's on top of the environmental noise of the two full-tower server fans running in the cube across the isle. This isn't a minor thing only detectable between tracks. Anyway this is blowing up a bit more than I expected, but I think my experience is far closer to ph0rks than yours (and the only time I experience it besides plugging in the Duet is after watching a few Flash based vids back to back or encoding h.264 - that latter of which I supposed indicates the computer won't fail after running full blast for hours). Then again I don't encode for hours a day every day.

Well, perhaps I'm being a bit paranoid. Thing is I don't actually know what the fans would ideally run at to keep a constant temperature, I only know they climb to max and stay. I suppose I should test at long period of times to see if the temp stabilizes or eventually overheats, but as I mentioned, a concern would also be the fan life-time (and what happens after) running max constantly. Can't say I've ever had a laptop fan go out, but have several desktops. As for the more important noise issue, I agree open phones aren't the target audience though the more problematic nearby recording mic may be. And the fan noise is quite noticeable even with music playing. Not some, played loudly, but it's audible with most music I've listened lately with all my open phones (and what's so bad about wanting a near silent computer for listening? ). Those are my concerns with my setup, but again I'm not hitting Apogee hard on this because few may be in my position. And again I hope this isn't coming off as bitching, just surprised this isn't more reported (besides a few Apple support pages) is all.

True enough, but how much additional heat? For a product made for laptops (I think we can assume from the Firewire powering) and primarily designed for recording, maxing out fan spins and resulting noise is potentially a concern, no? Course this 'issue' may only affect a small number of models. Still for a product introduced about a year after my model was created - and the MacBook/MacBook Pro differentiation was far less pronounced than it is now - not to mention specs far above the minimum required, I'm surprised of this problem. Still we can probably assume most Duet users are on MacBook Pros and they do have 85w v. MacBooks 60w AC adapters so they do have a different power architecture. Oh well.

No, but that's an interesting theory. I assume you mean 'decrease'? I may swing by Fry's and pick up one and test. Likely won't be until after Christmas, but thanks for suggesting the option. I'll report back.

Thanks for much guys for your tests. I really appreciate it and shows again what a great community we've got. I did some more from my end also. Although not a complete fresh install, I did create a new test account. I few installs (like Maestro) were at the all users level, but I tend to install on user level for nearly all apps. With the new account and iStats only running the fans held at ~1500. With Duet plugged in and iStats and Maestro only running, the fan slowly rose (about half as quick as on main user where it was near immediate) and plateaued at ~5500 rpm, before settling in at ~4500 after 7-8 minutes. Unfortunately as soon as I tried to do anything else (surf net with Safari or stream radio through iTunes), the max of 6200 hit and held again. So ~1500 rpm base, ~3000 more for simply plugging in the Duet and ~1700 more (maxed) for doing anything. Not that this test is in anyway conclusive, but it makes me more slightly more unlikely it's a driver corruption or conflict issue and instead a power architecture one. If indeed that's the case, I'm not sure how wide a production issue it is, but again this is an early first gen 2006 model MacBook (what do people say about "Gen A" Apple products? ). The CPU was an upgrade (2.0, but even base was well above the Apogee min requirements), and is the Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo model. RAM maxed at 2GB. As I'm not likely to upgrade my laptop in the next year, now I have to decide about dealing with noise and potential hardware hazards, move back to the Pico or use occasionally and keep for the future. Hmmm. Again though thanks guys.

Thanks. I appreciate it. For comparison I have a 1st gen 2.0 Core Duo MacBook.

Not to make too much out of this, but I wonder if this hints to why the Firewire was removed from the current gen MacBook? Maybe the power architecture isn't setup to handle some Firewire scenarios. Certainly the PS are different between the two MacBook models.

Maybe JP. If it's localized to just the non-Pro MacBook (which I don't know if is the case) then it could be something with the MB power structure. I just started monitoring the speeds as it's audibly so noticeable. Basically silent with Pico and Parasounds to full blast with Duet. Seems to hover at 6200 rpm from a normal operating sub-1500. smcFanControl temp also shoots up 20+ degrees too. And this is with or without a Thermaltake passive cooling pad. Some discussion at Apple Support here. Seems to either be a power or Firewire driver issue. Or Leopard. Or Apple and Apogee blaming each other. Not looking hopeful. Hmmm. This may make the Duet unusable at least with MacBooks (if used for computing while near audio equipment). Hell it may even be dangerous (at very least to life of fans). Will report back after Christmas (as won't get much time to test before). I know most here use Mac minis with the Duet, though I expect most users elsewhere are on MacBook Pros. Seems like there would be a louder cry if more affected (as there was earlier this year when last update was produced). May only be a MacBook issue. Damn, I so like the sound.

Anyone have their Duets soar up the fan spins? Don't know if this is a MacBook (not Pro) specific issue. I'm finding a few references on the web and at least those are MacBook related. My MacBooks fans slowly soars to 6200 whenever the Duet is plugged in. You just want the rates climb. Even with no activity it hovers at this rate. Kinda a buzz kill as although I love the Duets sound, going from a relatively silence setup (with other sources) to this much computer noise is noticeable. Have completely uninstalled the Duet drivers with no change.

Finally got to the very fun... If you're late to the game to0: GIRL TALK - FEED THE ANIMALS - ILLEGAL ART .

BlacX USB with rebate down to $10... Thermaltake BlacX USB Docking Station - dealmac.com

New VLC remote - Featured IPhone Download: VLC Remote Adds iPhone Control to Our Favorite Media App

I like the looks at least.