Dave Hamilton

This week John asks, "Dave — Which microphone should I use for podcasting?" I get this question so often that I figured it was time to publish some general (and some specific) advice based on what I've learned doing our Mac Geek Gab podcast for the past 8 years (plus what I've learned using microphones, in general, for 30 years). Short answer: You want a mic that you can get really close to when you're talking, and dyanmic is better than condenser, but read on and I'll explain why.

Mac Geek Gab listener Philip sent in this great tip about a shortcut he accidentally found to get to the Drafts list on your iPhone or iPad. Just hold Compose and voilà!

I'd like to thank Newer Technology (and, of course, their parent company, Other World Computing) for sponsoring TMO here this week. The focus this week is on their Power2U replacement wall outlet. The Power2U has two AC outlets just like you're used to, and then also has two USB ports that are capable of 2A (10W) of charging power, enough to properly and quickly charge your iPad, iPhone, or other USB-based device. Just plug in your USB cables and go.

I'm happy to welcome Other World Computing back as this week's sponsor for us here at TMO. This week we're focusing on OWC's memory upgrades, and I couldn't be happier about this. If my history of the company is correct, I believe RAM was one of OWC's very first product lines, and Larry and the team over there really learned to obsess over getting the technical details right — a trait that has stuck with the company all the way through today.

I'd like to thank BitSuites for sponsoring TMO this week. BitSuites is an iOS app development team that takes a different approach, and one that works. Indeed, we've worked with BitSuites — they wrote our Mac Geek Gab iOS app for us — and it was a hugely positive experience.