Type of Article: MacTech Reviews

By David Creamer

Most printers are familiar with FlightCheck from Markzware (www.markzware.com), an US$99 standalone preflight application; however, with less-experienced users doing more work in-house, the need for proper preflight — a checklist of inspection points that must meet certain criteria — increases every day.

Designers and production artists have always used checklists to make sure something important wasn’t overlooked, but FlightCheck was the first software to automate the process.

Apple has two hits on its hands with iOS 6 software and the iPhone 5; heck, even the much-maligned Maps app is slowly improving. There’s a lot to love — and learn — about both products.

“iPhone 5: The Missing Manual, 6th Edition” is comprehensive, lively look at the inner (and outer) workings of both. And it’s written in the inimitable, tongue-in-cheek style of David Pogue, the weekly personal-technology columnist for the “New York Times” and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News.

By Laura Excell

Nikon (www.nikonusa.com) has entered the mirrorless camera market with a strong start by introducing their new Nikon 1 system (which starts at US$649.95 in pricing), which includes the J1 and V1 cameras.

WordPress (https://wordpress.com) is the favorite web site design/content management system I’ve tried. The free and open source blogging tool has been incredibly successful, rising from a handful of users to the most-used blog tool in its category.

WordPress is relatively easy to set up and use. But it has features and quirks that can take a new user a while to learn. “WordPress: The Missing Manual” by Matthew MacDonald will get you up to speed quickly and cut down on the learning curve.

Now that the entire Mac line — except for the long-in-the-tooth Mac Pro — sports USB 3.0 connectivity, Mac users have access to a wide range of inexpensive, back-up/secondary drives. The Backup Plus portable from Seagate Technology (http://www.seagate.com) is one of the best such products.