The moshi iGlaze hardshell MacBook Air cover is my new favorite MacBook Air case.

While moshi isn’t a household name, the iGlaze is a great case and the company makes many cases for Apple and other notebooks.

The moshi iGlaze hardshell MacBook Air cover looks really nice, adds almost no weight or thickness and protects the soft aluminum that Apple uses to encase their computers. You’re less likely to get dings and scratches with one of these elegant cases covering your MacBook Air.

While you’re using your MacBook Air you’ll hardly notice the moshi iGlaze. That’s likely the biggest compliment I’ll ever give a case that stays on your computer while you use it. You want it to disappear so you can enjoy computing on the Air.

I use a similar style of case on my MacBook Pro. I liked the Speck SeeThru shell case, but I now wish moshi made one for my MacBook Pro also.  I’d gladly switch. The moshi case looks and feels better than Speck’s case because it elegantly disappears for the user.

I experienced one issue with Speck’s case. The sharp front edge irritated my wrists as I typed on my MacBook Pro. I don’t experience this on the moshi iGlaze case.

There’s good news for those who buy the latest MacBook Pro when Apple launches it, most likely sometime soon. That won’t help those of us with older MacBooks if Apple changes the case design like we expect them to.

The case fits snugly and covers all the corners, the top and the bottom. The cutouts give you access to all the ports and the back includes an opening so your computer’s vent stays unobstructed.

The cover allows the Apple logo to shine through while your computer’s powered on thanks to the translucent material. You can also get a clear, white or black case all three of which lets the Apple logo shine through.

The bottom covers the rubber feet on your Air with rubber disks so you still get the non-skid feet.

I really like the moshi iGlaze. It’s not intended as a rugged protective case so don’t drop your MacBook Air assuming its protected. It keeps your computer safe from scratches and light dings. If you carry your computer around the office or throw it in a bag for transport most of the time, then you don’t need much more protection that the iGlaze offers.

They offer the three colors mentioned above for both the 11 and 13 inch MacBook Air. The 11″ iGlaze case costs $55 and the 13″ costs $60 directly from Moshi.

moshi iGlaze MacBook Air Hardshell Case Review: My New Favorite is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The OS X System Preferences app shows all of your useful tools to configure your Mac the way you want, but it also has some that I will never use. That’s why I got excited when I learned your can hide the unused preference apps quite easily. Let me show you how.

Open System Preferences using either your Dock icon or from the Apple Menu in the upper left corner.

Once it’s open, click on the View menu and then on Customize.

All your preferences will now show a check mark next to it.

Uncheck the ones you want to hide.

Why would anyone hide any of these System Preferences?

I got rid of the MobileMe icon because I already migrated to iCloud. I don’t need it any longer. I also removed the Startup Disk icon because I don’t plan to change my startup disk on my MacBook. Since my kids don’t use my Mac I got rid of the Parental Controls icons. You might want to remove the Trackpad icon if you use a desktop without one or the Mouse icon if you only use a Trackpad on your MacBook. Maybe you don’t need the Universal Access tool or never change Spotlight settings.

When you’re finished nuking the unneeded icons, click Done at the top of the window and close it.

Let’s say you discover that you need to get one of these hidden icons back. You can either turn them all back on by clicking on the View menu and choosing Customize again and recheck the hidden icons. This makes them come back.

What if you only need that System Preference app once but don’t want to restore it all the time. You can click on Show All and hold down your mouse or trackpad button until the list of System Preferences Apps shows up listing even the hidden apps. Find the one you need and open it from that menu.

How to Hide Unused System Preferences in OS X is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

WaterField Designs came out with a new Apple MacBook Air case called CitySlicker. This urban MacBook Air case offers a nice custom distressed leather flap in one of four colors that covers the top of their signature ballistic nylon fabric.

The case doesn’t just look nice, with that old-world frontier look, it protects the MacBook Air with three layers. High-grade neoprene and padded inner linings combine with an added impact-resistant plastic covered by the nylon outer layer to keep the MacBook Air’s soft aluminum safe in transport.

The flap covers a four accessory pockets. The pockets house things like pens, an iPhone or Android smartphone, your magic mouse or cables. They’re made of a stretchy mesh material. A back pocket with the same stretchy mess has a locking zipper that lets you store thin items or objects like papers thin books or a magazine or two.

Like most of WaterField Designs cases, you can get just the case and carry it around under your arm. You can also add the rings and include your own shoulder strap or pick from their two different straps. You can also add a handle to the mix to carry it like a briefcase.

The bag comes in one of four colors – black, chocolate, grizzly or camel. The cost of the cases and options are as follows:

• 11″ MacBook Air Case alone $129 and with handle $139
• 13″ MacBook Air Case alone $139 and with handle $149
• Add D-Rings for straps for $5
• With D-Rings and the simple strap add $12
• For the D-Rings and the padded Suspension Should Strap add $22

If you order now, you will get one starting May 28, 2012. This company makes great cases, so the CitySlicker likely won’t disappoint you.

WaterField Designs CitySlicker Case for Protects MacBook Air With Distressed Leather is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

If you’ve waited for a new MacBook Pro refresh to ship, then the wait could get shorter if a pair of benchmarks and a rumor about thinner machines prove legitimate.

According to “trusted sources in Apple’s supply chain” the refreshed MacBook Pro models will include a thinner chassis and higher resolution displays, not to mention more powerful graphics and processors and USB 3.0. 9to5Mac reported that their sources told them Apple is testing the new 15″ machines and it will ship later this summer. That might explain a pair of benchmarks that showed up on Geekbench.

9to5Mac posted this interesting mock up of what a thinner MacBook could look like

Geekbench provides benchmarking for Macs and shows those results online in their Geekbench Browser for all to see. A pair of Macs showed up on the site with some awesome results.

The first Mac identified itself as a “MacBookPro9,1″. The computer boasted an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM processor with a 2.7GHz clock speed. It grabbed a score of 12252 or 17 percent faster than the present 15 or 17 inch MacBook Pro running an Intel Core i7 processor.

The second called itself an “iMac 13,2″ and ran an Intel Core i7-3770 desktop CPU and included 3.4GHz clock speed. It included only 4GB of RAM which lowered its Geekbench score to 12183. The scores for the CPU alone grabbed a 9% gain over present generation desktops.

As Engadget noted, these scores don’t necessarily show that someone tested a pair of new Macs. They could show fake scores or something else. However, since we’re waiting on a refresh of the MacBook Pro line, this could indicate that one is immanent. Added to the evidence reported at 9to5Mac of new models referenced deep inside Mountain Lion code, we’ve got a good sign that Apple will refresh the MacBook Pro line soon.

The code in Mountain Lion shows a new MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge processors, USB 3.0 and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics chip.

Most recent rumors said the new MacBook Pro would look more like recent MacBook Air models. If the 9to5Mac “trusted sources” are right, it will look more like present MacBooks on a diet with the a new high res display, possibly matching the retina displays in the new iPad and iPhone 4/4S.

To summarize the new specs will include the following:

• High resolution retina display
• Ivy Bridge Intel processors
• Faster NVIDIA GPU
• USB 3.0 ports
• No more optical disk which allows for thinner design
• Power button on the keyboard like the MacBook Air
• A pair of Thunderbolt ports

Since the new Ivy Bridge chip includes USB 3.0 support, it won’t surprise too many if Apple includes it.  When Thunderbolt first shipped, some of us thought Apple would forgo USB 3.0 and push for Thunderbolt. The slow adoption rate of Thunderbolt and inclusion in Ivy Bridge make adding USB 3.0 a no-brainer for Apple.

Hopefully we’ll know more about this at this year’s WWDC coming in early June. The amazing specs mentioned above might call for a keynote address including an announcement about the new MacBook Pro in lieu of an iPhone announcement, which seems likely to occur in the fall again this year instead of at WWDC as it was before last year’s change. Whenever the announcement comes we will learn whether they will refresh the 17 and 13 inch models. These reports only mention the 15-inch model.

MacBook Pro Ivy Bridge Benchmarks Leak, Point to Coming Refresh is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

DragonDrop helps Mac users move their files around in finder with a creative tool that sits in your Menu Bar and activates when you need it. It acts like a temporary shelf to store your files so you can find the new folder to drop them. Let me show you how it works.

Open a Finder folder and select the file or files your want to move. Now either drag them to the icon in the Menu bar or shake your mouse until the DragonDrop box opens. It has a flared pattern that rotates.

Watch DragonDrop in action in the video below.

Drop the files on the box and then find the new spot where you plan to place the file or files. Drag the file or files from the DragonDrop box to the new folder and the box disappears. DragonDrop copies the files to the new place.

It works with any kind of file you can store on your hard drive and it works with websites. Just drag the website’s address bar icon to the DragonDrop box just as you would a file. Then, open a new browser and drag the site to that browser window’s address bar. You might need to test a site in more than one browser. This offers an easier way to do that than typing a long site’s URL each time.

I love this utility. It costs $4.99 in the Mac App Store, which seems a bit steep. It feels more like a $2 app. I wish the feature would show up in a future release of OS X.

If you want a free taste, go to the app’s website and get the free trial version. If you like it buy it in the App store.

I had one difficulty, which you can see in the above video. If you drag the files, shake the mouse cursor and them move the cursor too far after the DragonDrop box appears, then it goes away. If you’re dragging a bunch of files, the files icons can mask the box making it hard to see that the box appeared. Aside from the cost, that’s my only complaint. I recommend it to OS X users who do a lot of dragging and dropping of files. I installed it on all of my systems.

You can set DragonDrop to start at login, which you’ll want to do. You can turn off the shake feature and only use the Menu Bar if you want. Or you can turn off the Menu Bar icon and only use the shake feature.

DragonDrop Review: Simplify Moving Files in OS X is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Apple introduced a security flaw in OS X 10.7.3, but a new software update being pushed out over Software Update fixes this flaw. The new OS X 10.7.4 update is available as a free update to all OS X Lion users.

Apple also shipped a new version of their web browser Safari that now checks your version of Flash and disables it if it isn’t running the latest version. They hope this will alleviate security holes that come from outdated Flash.

OX X 10.7.4 Update for FileVault Vulnerability

The flaw in OS X exposed a user’s password if you upgraded to Lion 10.7.3 but left the legacy version of FileVault turned on for compatibility reasons. FileVault encrypts your hard drive to keep prying eyes from seeing your sensitive data. Many users use FileFault to hide files they don’t want anyone to see when they access the system.

The current version of FileVault doesn’t suffer from this flaw, so the problem likely only affects a limited number of people who kept the old version active for compatibility with older software. FileVault 2 in Lion fixed this and added other creatures like full hard drive encryption, support for external drives, and performance enhancements.

The bug left a gaping hole in systems of the very few people who used the legacy version. Even if that’s not you, I suggest you get the update because you never know what else Apple includes in their security updates. They keep the full details secret to not tip-off would-be hackers.

You can either update via Software Update from the Apple menu on your system or you can download it from Apple directly. Read the full details quoted from the previous link below:

The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes fixes that:

• Resolve an issue in which the “Reopen windows when logging back in” setting is always enabled.
• Improve compatibility with certain British third-party USB keyboards.
• Addresses permission issues that may be caused if you use the Get Info inspector function “Apply to enclosed items…” on your home directory. For more information, see this article.
• Improve Internet sharing of PPPoE connections.
• Improve using a proxy auto-configuration (PAC) file.
• Address an issue that may prevent files from being saved to an SMB server.
• Improve printing to an SMB print queue.
• Improve performance when connecting to a WebDAV server.
• Enable automatic login for NIS accounts.
• Include RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras.
• Improve the reliability of binding and logging into Active Directory accounts.
• The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes Safari 5.1.6, which contains stability improvements.

For information about the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Safari 5.1.7 Flash Security Fix

The Safari 5.1.7 update will check to see if you installed the latest version of Adobe Flash. If you’re running version 10.1.102.64 or older, then your system does not update itself properly, a feature added to the latest version of Flash for OS X. Out of date Flash often causes security problems on systems allowing nefarious people to access to your system. Thus, Safari will turn flash off so you don’t get infected with malware.

You might have to install the OS X 10.7.4 update mentioned above before you’ll see the new version of Safari in OS X Software Update. Update using Software Update from the Apple menu, restart your system and then run Software Update again. It should show up and you can download it. You can also get it directly from Apple. For future updates bookmark their download page, which always lists the new updates available for all of Apple’s software.

Apple Beefs Up Security in OS X and Safari with Updates is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Microsoft just patched their Word 2003 and 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2012 for Mac to fix what they called “extremely important issues”.

These security patches will bring your version of Office for Mac 2008 to 12.3.3 or Office for Mac 2011 to 14.2.2.

Microsoft explained that the security flaw might allow people to execute code remotely to affect your Mac. If you care to see all the details you can learn about them on a Microsoft Technet security bulletin (link to bulletin for Word 2003 and 2007; see this bulletin for Excel 2003 and 2007) quoted below:

The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted RTF file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

They call this update critical, meaning you need to apply it as soon as you can. You can download the files yourself from Microsoft or use the built-in update feature accessed from the Help menu in Office for Mac or Microsoft’s update feature built into Windows Update on a Windows PC.

For those running a Windows PC, while you’re in Windows Update, get the other security patches available. Microsoft addressed a total of 23 flaws in Windows various operating systems and software in this month’s bundle of fixes.

While many of these security updates fix obscure vulnerabilities that you might never deal with in the wild, it’s always a good idea to apply critical security patches like these on all of your software. It keeps your machine clean and avoids infecting other people’s systems.

Also, spammers notoriously use vulnerable systems as spam bots, machines used to send out spam on the behalf of the spammer without the user ever knowing it’s happening. The only symptom might be a slightly slowed Internet connection or system. Even then you won’t notice the slowdown since they often tell the systems to send out the messages late in the evening when you’re not sitting at the computer.

Microsoft Updates Office for Windows and Mac with Important Security Fixes is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Apple notebooks have a high starting price compared to the average consumer notebook, but the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air often go on sale.

Dealnews tracks the price of Apple notebooks like the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, sharing great deals on Apple products.

By tracking deals on the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air, we can tell you when the best time to buy a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air is.

Unlike the savings on the iPad and the iPhone, Apple Notebooks see significant discounts faster, and with bigger savings.

Best Time to Buy a MacBook Pro

Dealnews uses the 15.4 inch MacBook Pro with a starting price of $1,799 as the example, but I expect that similar savings apply to the rest of the MacBook Pro line.

Shoppers who wait just 2 days after Apple releases new models can find deals of nearly $50 off at sites like MacMall and Amazon.com. Waiting 3 months results in access to deals that approach $300 off the MacBook Pro.

Apple users should always look for a good deal before buying a MacBook Pro, as there are countless deals available on these notebooks throughout the year, not just on Black Friday.

Best Time to Buy a MacBook Air

The 11-inch Macbook Air is the cheapest notebook sold by Apple, but that doesn’t mean shoppers shouldn’t look for deals. Just one day after release shoppers can expect to save $49 dollars on the MacBook Air, and four months later, prices can drop to $149 below retail.

Dealnews tracked the 11-inch Macbook Air, but in my experience the 13-inch Macbook Air receives similar discounts.

How long will you wait to save on a new computer?

Best Times To Buy a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Apple wants MobileMe customers to make the jump to iCloud and their dangling a free copy of OS X Snow Leopard in front of them to kickstart the upgrade. This offer only applies to MobileMe customers running the two and soon-to-be three generation old version of OS X Leopard.

Apple will cut off MobileMe on June 30th replacing it with the new iCloud that debuted last year with OS X Lion. A few MobileMe customers resisted the move because they felt the new iCloud service doesn’t match the capabilities of MobileMe. Specifically iCloud doesn’t sync your passwords and operating system settings like MobileMe among others.

Apple offered Snow Leopard because that puts them just one $29.99 upgrade away from Lion, the minimum version of OS X that supports iCloud. Users have till June 15, just two weeks before the June 30 shut down of MobileMe, to take advantage of the upgrade. MobileMe users can do so by going to Apple’s site (the MobileMe site).

An image of the message sent to customers and posted at Macgasm reads, “Get your Mac ready for iCloud.” It reminds users that they must run Lion to use the new service and offers three steps to get ready.

1. They can take advantage of the free copy of Snow Leopard. Apple will send them a DVD to install the upgrade.
2. Upgrade to Lion for only $29.99 in the Mac App Store.
3. “You’re ready to move to iCloud,” said the message. You do that by going to me.com/move.

The differences between MobileMe and iCloud are many. Here’s a list of the things iCloud doesn’t include that MobileMe customers may miss with the upgrade.

• Weaker Online Document Access
• iDisk
• iWeb Sites
• Password Synchronization through Keychain
• Operating System Synchronization

iCloud offers document sync and you can download files, but MobileMe had better access built into the OS through iDisk.

Some users will miss these features, but iCloud offers a lot that MobileMe didn’t, including:

• iTunes Music Match for an added fee
• Backup of App, Book and most Movies purchased
• PhotoStream
• Backup and Restore for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

For more information about moving from MobileMe to iCloud see Apple’s website. It includes links on how to back up your iWeb sites and how to back up your photo galleries among other things.

Apple Offering MobileMe Customers Free Copy of Snow Leopard is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Apple pushed a new update to their iPhoto app, which brings some bug fixes, a fix for crashes on systems with many users and little else.

iPhoto lets users organize images, do simple edits and then share the images online or via print.

The update will fix a problem with using the program on a machine that includes more than one user account. iPhoto would crash on such systems. It also includes improvement to “overall stability” meaning minor bug fixes that affected few people.

Apple recently pushed a major update of iPhoto to make it compatible with iOS 5.1 and iCloud. It also let users delete images from their iCloud Photostream.

The new iPhoto 9.2.3 will show up in Software Update on your Mac. Click on the Apple Menu and choose Software Update. Let it search for updates and then check the iPhoto update if it isn’t already. Click on Install at the bottom.

If you haven’t already, you might see an update for Safari and Thunderbolt on some Macs. These showed up in recent weeks.

The new beta version of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will move this updating feature to the Mac App Store. If you installed Mountain Lion, open the Mac App Store and click on the Updates tab to find it.

If you want, you can download the update directly from Apple’s site. You might want to do this if you plan to apply the 200+MB update to more than one machine alleviating the need to download it many times.

See Apple’s update release notes below:

About iPhoto 9.2.3

• Improves overall stability
• Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly on systems with multiple user accounts

Included in Versions 9.2 to 9.2.2

• Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
• Addresses compatibility with iCloud and iOS 5
• Left and right swipe gestures can now be used to navigate between photos in Magnify (1-up) view
• Previously imported photos are now displayed in a separate section of the Import window
• Book/calendar themes and card categories can now be selected using a pop-up menu in the carousel view
• Resolves an issue that could cause some pages of books to print incorrectly
• Rebuilding a library now correctly preserves saved slideshows and books

The update is recommended for all users of iPhoto ’11.

Apple Updates iPhoto to Fix Multi-User Crash is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.