MaUsE DoubleClick December 2014

MaUsE DoubleClick
December 2014
2014 MaUsE Executive
• President : Michael Shaw
[email protected]
•Vice President: Ian Winton
Secretary & Apple Liaison:
Marcel Dufresne
[email protected]
• Treasurer: Ken Jansen
• Director: Stan Wild
• Director: Stephen Wood
• Director: Brian Elston
MaUsE Contact Information:
The MaUsE
c/o Michael Shaw
237 Huntingwood Drive
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
L1J 7C6
w w w. m a u s e . c a
DoubleClick
Produced and Edited by
Michael Shaw
Photographs by
Irma Shaw
Don’t forget to
pay your MaUsE
Membership fee.
Still only
$45 per year.
From The Editor
What you are looking at is the December 2014
edition of the MaUsE DoubleClick, the online
publication of the Macintosh Users East,
(MaUsE), a motley collection of mostly harmless
cranks who reside in Southern Ontario with their
motley collection of old and new Macintosh,Hackentosh & MacClone computers.
The DoubleClick is published using a 2.8 GHz
iMac Extreme and QuarkXPress 10. An antique
Kodak DX7590 is STILL being used for all pictures. Everything not specifically attributed to
someone else can probably be blamed on the
Editor. Back issues can be downloaded from the
MaUsE website: < www.mause.ca >. Submissions from MaUsE Club members are almost always welcome. Maybe that last bit is an
exaggeration.
Send your submissions and articles to me at:
< [email protected] >, especially if there are
files or pictures attached. I have never refused a
submission yet. Because we care about the environment, the MaUsE DoubleClick is created
using only recycled electrons: matter was neither
created nor destroyed in the process of creating
this issue. There is always room for another piece
on any Mac-related topic and Iʼll make room if
there isnʼt. I would like your submissions. But I
won't beg.
About MaUsE
Macintosh Users East.
also known as MaUsE,
is the most active
Apple-authorised MUG
(Mac User Group)
in Southern Ontario.
MaUsE is here for users of
all Apple products,
including Apple computers,
iPods, iPhones,
and iPads.
Apple, Macintosh, and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the
U.S. and other countries.
The MaUsE (Macintosh Users East) is an Appleauthorised Macintosh user group
Michael Shaw, Editor
MaUsE Meetings are held in Room 1 at the new Whitby Public Library on
the south-east corner of Henry and Dundas West in Whitby, Ontario on the
fourth Wednesday of each month except December, July and August. Meetings start at 7:00 PM but there is an early session from 6:30 for people who
wish to discuss hardware or software issues or problems. Macintosh virus
problem are discussion from 6:58 to 7:00 PM
TripMate Elite
from HooToo
The iPad is a perfect traveling companion. It is, for
the most part, light weight. It can fit into a purse or
small bag. When abroad, it acts as our game centre,
movie player, ebook reader, camera, and our link
back home. We can search the Internet with it, check
up on our email, plan our next stop and even make a
reservation. The list goes on and on. To be the best it
can be the iPad does need a bit of boosting power. If
you are on a long flight, it is possible to use up the
battery's energy storage. The reliability of the Internet
is directly related to your proximity to the router you
are getting a signal from. The security of your Internet
usage is dependent on that router also. The amount
of movies you can store on your iDevice is subject to
the unused memory that you keep available. I find
that I have very little room for any extras on mine.
Fortunately, there is a gadget that can fix all of these
problems. Let me introduce the HooToo TripMate
Elite (HT-TM04). Read on to discover how it can
boost your iDevice and make it the ideal travel companion.
The TripMate Elite provides four main services. First
of all it can act as a hotspot for your iDevices which in turn will provide
security for your Internet uses. Next, it will allow you to access information stored on an External USB storage device. It has a built in battery pack which will charge up any USB device connected to it. Lastly,
it can act as a plug to connect your iDevice to the wall socket. Let me
take you through each of these separately.
As a travel router, it will turn an existing network, such as at a hotel,
into a handy, secure, local hotspot that can be shared by the multiple
devices you might be using in your room. By connecting up to the
hotel network through the TripMate, you will be able to set your own
password and not have to use the generic password that the hotel
hands out to anyone staying there (if in fact they have a password).
The TripMate does have an Ethernet slot which could be used to turn
an existing wired network into a wireless one. Because the TripMate
is now the source of the Internet for your room, you should find an increase in the strength of the signal. Don't expect miracles. It is still
better to be close to the actual router providing the signal.
The external battery pack's use speaks for itself. The TripMate provides a handy charge for your phone, tablet, or digital camera while
you are on the go. The TripMate serves as a portable charger. If your
smartphone is about to run out of battery, simply use the TripMate
with its 6,000mAh battery to charge your phone anywhere. The TripMate Elite has a dual USB Wall Charger so you can plug two devices
in at the same time. One USB port charges at 1A but the other, suit-
able for iPads, charges at 2.1A. If that elusive power outlet is not
available, then the TripMate will come to your rescue. You can charge
it up later. With the addition of a built-in wall plug, the Elite replaces
the existing power adapter for your cellphone/tablet. The developers
claim that a fully charged TripMate battery has sufficient enough
power to charge most smartphones 2-3 times and extend the life of
most tablets for an additional 4-8 hours. I found that it was able to add
about 50% charge to my iPad 2. It took about four hours to accomplish this task. However, if you wanted to, you could still use the iPad
while charging. I found that the reverse process took about the same
time. Plugging the TripMate into a wall socket required four hours to
completely charge it up. It has a series of four blue LED lights which
indicate the percentage of charge on the battery. I really like this function. I can quickly check at any time how much of a charge is left on
the battery. An additional function of this battery is to power the TripMate's own network features mentioned above. In other words, you
don't have to have it plugged in to serve as the hotspot.
Lastly, there is my favourite use for this device. The TripMate creates
its own wireless network that enables you to transfer and share media
for Wi-Fi enabled devices. I have been looking for a gadget that would
save me precious storage space on my iPad while still providing fairly
clear video. We like to load up the iPad with either a TV series or a
couple of movies when we go traveling to a foreign country. The language on the local television is not always English and it is convenient to have something to watch when we have idle time.
The TripMate allows you to stream videos directly from your USB external storage without having to download them directly to the iPad.
This works anywhere because it is creating its own Wi-Fi signal. Now
my iPad is directly linked to an external USB drive enabling me to
transfer documents, photos or movies.
The Wi-Fi network is controlled through a special TripMate app which
can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store. Setting this up for
use is relatively simple. Turn on the TripMate Elite by holding the start
button for about five seconds, or until all the blue LED lights are on.
This starts the Wi-Fi signal. Next, go into the iPad settings and
choose the TripMate Elite as the source of your Wi-Fi network. Insert
the USB stick into the output slot of the Elite. It will detect the USB device and create a share folder on it which has 4 subfolders: Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos. Now, when you run the TripMate app,
you will see a folder that contains your external drive. The app will
also detect similar data from your iDevice. This easy to use app lets
you control the transfer of files as well as the playing of music or
videos with the tap of your finger. You can now read, listen, and view
those items stored on the USB drive without them being stored on the
iPad. In the future, while traveling, I will be transferring some of my
photos from my iPad directly to that external USB stick. I know that
the photos are also in iCloud, but I prefer to have multiple storage
areas for some special pictures (just in case).
The Elite is a light addition to your travel baggage. It is 82 X 82 X 28
mm (3.2 X 3.2 X 1.1 in) is size. The external wall plug folds away to
not add to its size. It weighs in at a paltry 200 g (7.15 oz). It is thus
barely larger than the wall plug you would have to pack to charge up
your iPad anyway. It does come with a Micro USB cable that would let
you plug it into a laptop rather than a wall socket to charge up but it
takes twice as long this way. Again, for traveling purposes, it has a
carrying case with a Velcro flap. This case will prevent it from picking
up scratches or dirt.
By combining the functions of a dual USB wall charger, personal
cloud, travel router, external battery, and hotspot into one portable device, the TripMate Elite is the ultimate travel companion.
There are a few limitations to the Elite. You can only access one USB
storage device at a time. There is only one slot that serves as the output. The USB drive will draw power from the Elite as it is an external
battery charger. If you are going to use the Elite for any length of time
it is best to use it plugged into the wall socket. Lastly, and most important for our purposes, the TripMate will not support MAC formatted
disks. It works with NFTS / FAT 16 / FAT 32. When I first tried out the
Elite I was wondering why some of my thumb drives were not showing up in the TripMate app. The reason was that I had reformatted the
drives with a MAC format.
Go to www.hootoo.com/ and have a look at this great device. Read
about it or watch a couple of videos showing it in action. With its fold
and go construction and small size and weight, it is a great travel
companion. I don't need any additional items other than my charging
cable. And the price for this great device? I found that amazon.ca had
it listed at around $50. So many different devices all packed into one
small affordable package. This is exactly what I have been hoping to
have while traveling with my iPad.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
November 2014 MaUsE
Meeting Report
The theme of the November 26th
MaUsE Meeting was Gadgets, and a lot
of our members brought in interesting
stuff to show and tell about. As is usually the case with Gadgets, we got people up and talking who don’t usually
present at our meetings and there was
a lot of socializing during and after the
meeting. It was also the last meeting of
the year and Stan announced the results of the MaUsE Elections and the
changes to the MaUsE Executive for
2015. We bid a fond farewell to Jim
Danabie, who has promoted the MaUsE
tirelessly for many years and offer a
fond welcome to Stephen Wood, who is
now the junior member of the MaUsE
Exec.
As usual, Marcel had quite a
few new gadgets to show. We
can depend on Marcel and Jeffrey to show us the latest next
best thing. Other presentations
for the evening included Osmos
by Chris and Brian, Hyperlapse
by Stephen, Free Memory by
Stan, and a quick look at batch
renaming and batch archiving
from the Yosemite Finder. The
meeting was well attended and
a good time was had by all.
Take Control eBooks
Learn iOS 8
DoubleClick features an ebook from Take Control Books every month.
These ebooks have been published in PDF format and cover issues
related to Mac OS. Because they are in PDF format, these ebooks
have a lot of advantages over the traditional paper books. Electronic
books are a new experience for many people, but they provide you
with a good deal of flexibility that isn't available with printed books.
With your purchase of the ebook you get expert advice on various
topics but with an Apple perspective. These are the same expert authors of some best-selling print books. The download is immediate
and you don't have to leave your house to get it. Because it is paperless it can be purchased for much less than a paper edition. Also, if a
new edition of the book comes out, your original purchase of the book
allows you to easily update your current copy for free. There are clickable links right in the text so that your book immediately leads to other
sources on the same topic. It is readable onscreen which means you
can control the size of the print. If you use Preview you can even
highlight sections without messing up the book (use a copy of the
original if you are worried). You can even print up a paper copy of the
book if you feel the need. The catalog is very extensive and can be
accessed from http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/catalog. They offer
free sample sections of all their ebooks and a money-back guarantee,
so try one out anytime. As readers of the DoubleClick, you also now
have access to this coupon (CPN90219MUG) which entitles you to a
30% discount on the purchase of a book.
The book featured this month is iOS 8: A Take Control Crash Course
by Josh Centers. With this ebook, you’ll quickly master new (and old)
features in iOS. You’ll get an overview of iOS 8’s new capabilities
along with directions for putting them to use right away. In addition to
explaining system features like Siri, Spotlight, and Notification Center,
you will explore the new Health app, plus discover what’s different in
iOS 8’s most-changed apps: Camera, Phone, Photos, Mail, Messages, and Safari. In this 120 page ebook you get additional special
topics which cover accessibility, privacy, important apps to try, managing data usage, and improving battery life.
You’ll find answers to questions like these:
 How do I install a third-party keyboard, like Smile’s TextExpander?
 How do I use iCloud Photo Sharing in Share sheets?
 What do I tap to send a voice message in Messages?
 Should I turn on iCloud Photo Library?
 What do I ask Siri in order to identify currently playing music?
 If I share my location in a group chat, is it shared with the chat or
the people?
 How does the 2-minute delete feature work for media in Messages?
 How do I get quick access to Evernote and other apps in Notification Center?
 Where did the search field and toolbar go in Safari?
 How do I connect 1Password and Instapaper with Safari?
 Which feature should I turn on to make buttons easier to see?
 How do I hook apps into Apple’s new Health app?
 Which apps are hogging my battery?
 How do I tell Siri who my mother is so I can call her by saying “Call
Mom”?
 In Family Sharing, what can I expect from the Ask to Buy feature?
 How do I find those cool Flyover tours in Maps?
 How do I tell my iPhone to stop tracking my location?
 How can I enable/disable the Zoom screen magnifier quickly?
 How do I minimize an email message that I’m writing so I can
check something else in Mail and then come back to it easily?
Learn iOS 8 essentials quickly and get more out of your iPad or
iPhone!! This ebook costs $15.00 normally but using the coupon will
make a difference.
Check this ebook out and a lot others at www.takecontrolbooks.com.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
VELO Press Release
Mio's New Heart Rate Wristband for Cyclists
VELO transmits heart rate, cadence and speed, transforming a rider's smartphone into
a powerful and affordable bike computer.
Mio Global, makers of the world's first heart rate monitors to provide, continuous,
performance-accurate data without a chest strap, today announced the launch of
Mio VELO, the wristband for cyclists.
Mio VELO has all the same features as Mio LINK, the heart rate wristband
launched earlier this year, but with added functionality for cyclists. VELO monitors heart rate during workouts while also converting data from ANT+ speed
and cadence bike sensors to Bluetooth Smart (4.0). The wristband allows riders to transform their smartphone into a powerful yet affordable all-in-one bike
computer. Workout data can be tracked with the Mio GO app or third-party cycling apps.
"Mio VELO is a great option for cyclists who want to monitor heart rate and cycling data, but aren't willing to invest in a pricey bike computer," said Duane
Franks, Mio Brand Champion and head coach, Trifiniti Endurance Performance
Coaching in San Francisco, California. "You can track everything in your favorite
app. And the best part is there's no uncomfortable chest strap!"
With configurable heart rate zones and a six-color LED to indicate current heart rate
zone, Mio VELO allows the rider to closely monitor his or her workout. The soft, durable silicone strap delivers maximum performance and is water resistant up to 30 meters.
Mio VELO will retail for $129.
VELO features Mio Continuous TechnologyTM, the same optical heart rate sensor
technology in Mio's award-winning ALPHA, LINK, and FUSE devices. The patented
design is extremely accurate, with a 0.99 correlation to EKG in laboratory testing.
An optical sensor monitors the volume of blood under the skin and sophisticated
algorithms are applied to the pulse signal so that the heart's true rhythm can be
detected—even at performance speeds.
Mio VELO can be purchased at www.mioglobal.com and select retailers.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
Special half-price promotions on Heredis genealogy software
Heredis for Mac 2014 ( Yosemite-compatible) at US$29.99 instead of US$59.99:
http://www.heredis.com/en/heredis-2014-for-mac/store-mac-2014/.
The Mac version is also available ont the App Store:
http://appstore.com/mac/heredis2014/
These offers are valid until January 4, 2015 inclusive.
Heroes & Legends:
Conquerors of Kolhar
One type of game I really like to play is the role
playing game (RPG). As with all RPG, you take your
hero through fast-paced combats that test your reflexes and reward your tactical decisions. As you
slay hordes of monsters, you grow in experience
and ability, learning new skills and picking up items
of incredible power. Old games of this type that I
have played are Realmz, Avernum and Diablo. In
this game, you will lead a group of heroes through a
mystical forest in search of the Queen.
The main difference with Heroes & Legends is that
the aimless wandering that is present in almost all
other RPG is omitted. This game stresses the combat and the acquisition of better spells and
weapons. There are two modes of play: story-line
and challenge. In the story mode, you will take your
trio through fifteen scenarios as you move around
the map. Each scenario comprises of a series of battles between your
heroes and a multitude of various opponents. You will face three or
less of these foes in each round. They will appear directly in front of
your warriors. In the challenge mode, you will work your way through
twelve scenarios, each more difficult than the last.
I first thought that Heroes & Legends would be too easy to play. There
was no exploration to be done. It was simply fight and defeat your opponents time after time. But the game turned out to be much more
complex than I first envisioned.
Each battle is a mind taxing juggling of weapons, heroes, potions, experience upgrades and
invoking magic powers. Each
defeated opponent adds either
a weapon or a healing potion to
your inventory. The inventory is
limited to five items, and as stuff
accumulates, the bottom item
drops out. You can reorder the
items, and, as some are more
valuable than others, you need
to keep track of what is there. If
a better weapon shows up, you
can equip one of your heroes
with it. Your health shows up as
a number next to each of your
heroes as well as your opponents. A watchful eye is needed
to make sure you don't perish
and leave yourself shorthanded
against the villains. You can invoke a health spell from one of your heroes to add health to each member of the group or you can take a potion from your inventory and feed it to your weakened player. Each
hero has a list of magic spells that can be cast. There are nine types
of these: physical attack, magic attack, physical defense, magic defense, speed of attacks, luck (chance of getting a good item),
charisma, dodging ability and health. Some work on you or your band
and others affect only your opponents. Once a spell has been cast, a
clock runs down on it, letting you know, in how many seconds, when
the same spell can be used again. This clock only runs when you are
actually fighting an opponent. If there is no one opposite you, the
clocks are at a standstill. You can interchange your heroes and make
sure that a healthier hero is in front of a formidable opponent. Moving
them around is essential as some heroes are better suited to fight
certain creatures. If your hero gains enough experience, then they
can upgrade in ability. Level-ups are also only available in battle,
meaning that your characters gradually become stronger as they
fight. There are three random abilities that show up with each upgrade. It is up to you to decide which would be best for that player. All
these decisions have to be made quickly. The longer you hesitate, the
more damage is inflicted on your players. Therein lies the pleasure of
playing Heroes & Legends. Are you up to the task of juggling all these
factors and coming out the victor? Of course, the deeper into the
game, the stronger the opponents become.
This game is not turn based, in that you swing and then your opponent swings. Each strike is based on a slide bar clock that runs under
each character. The faster the bar slides across, the more hits you
can inflict. Increasing the speed of your hero quickens the slider, and
decreases the time in between each swing. I went for speed as often
as not when upgrading my heroes. Many of the spells you can cast
slow down or even stop the slider on your opponents, letting you get
quite a few hits in before they respond.
The map includes two or three options. You can continue on with the
story mode. You can click on a random event, sort of like 'Take a
Chance', and either improve on your
inventory and health, or lose out on
the same. The event always forces
you to decide between two deals.
The third icon is a random challenge
against some foes. This is a good
place to go if you are trying to improve on your experience, or are just
trying to add some items to the inventory. I like to go here and fill up my inventory with health potions before I
tackle one of the main story levels.
From the map you can also go to either the forge or to character control.
The forge is the place to improve on
your weaponry and armour. It will
cost you wood, iron, silver or majorbs
(gems) to build any new weapon.
Fortunately, there is a recycling slot
that turns any weapon into these four
ingredients. You can also trade up to
buy some of the more costly pieces.
Ten iron will yield one silver.
Armour is bought the same way. The character area lets you pick
which of the five heroes in your band will do the actual fighting. You
start off with only three, but others will eventually join in. Each character has their own set of abilities and magic spells. Again, you can only
equip three spells to start with, but as your experience rises, you can
have up to five spells ready to cast when needed from the ten available for each character. When you click on a character, you are provided with their ability level in terms of all nine categories. This should
help you decide whom to use for the next adventure.
I like that death of any character is not permanent, nor does failure at
a scenario force you back. If a hero's health runs out, you can still get
them back into the fray by giving them a health potion. If you are not
successful at one level, you can retry the same level as many times
as needed until you survive. Any hero killed off in a scenario, is still
available, with all their weaponry intact, for the next assault. You
eventually end up with five characters from which you must select
three to carry on the trek. These can be changed at any time, as long
as you are not fighting.
There are a couple of things that I would like to see added to this
game. First of all, there are the music and sound settings. The sound
level has to be adjusted every time you play the game. The default is
full audio, and I much prefer having a quieter background. It would be
nice if the game settings were remembered. Secondly, there are no
keyboard shortcuts to help speed the game along. All controls are
through clicking on items with the mouse cursor. I would like to push a
key and have an item sent directly to the recycling bin. Thirdly, I would
like to have the option to purchase or make potions from supplies.
Lastly, the forge area does not actually list a description of the
weapon you are making. Would the flaming sword be better or a revolver for my hero? I would like to see some information of what the
weapon does similar to the description of the magic powers you equip
your heroes with.
The challenge level provides three warriors with weapons but there is
no carry over from the other story mode. This area is completely independent from the story mode. You have no control over your heroes.
Any experience, armour, or weapons that you upgraded them with in
the story mode are irrelevant to the challenge level. Each level of the
challenge gives you three new poorly equipped warriors. There are 12
levels to conquer, each giving you a taste of what to expect if you encounter these foes in the story mode. I found it a good place to practice how to defeat each type of opponent before I had to face them in
the story.
Overall I would rate Heroes & Legends as a simple RPG game. I had
a lot of fun trying to defeat the fifteen levels of play. I had to do a lot of
juggling in order to win out. Concentration was a key to winning. The
brute force method that I often employ in other RPG games did not
work here. The stronger I made my three heroes, the stronger the opponents became. My winning strategy... I will keep this a secret for
you to discover on your own. I got quite a few hours of game play out
of this game. The reset button in the settings will take you back to the
beginning, providing you with a clean slate from which to start over
again. I much appreciated the lack of running around and the straightforward graphics. Heroes & Legends: Conquerors of Kolhar is available for Apple and Android iOS devices. It is also available for PC,
Macs and Linux from the Phoenix Online Store, Steam and other digital stores. If you play this game through Steam, then there are twelve
achievements to strive for. The last is finishing the game. Steam always allows you to brag about your wins. You can read more about
this game from www.postudios.com/. The desktop version of the
game sells for $9.99 and it is $3.99 from the iTunes store. If you want
a complex RPG, then this game is not for you. If, on the other hand,
you are looking for a simple RPG to jump into, then I would suggest
that Heroes a& Legends will keep you amused for many hours.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
MaUsE Raffle
As usual, there was a nice assortment of
raffle items at the November meeting.
Besides books and software, there were
several huge TrueType font packages,
several dual speed (10/100) ethernet
hubs from Netgear and Asante, a LaCie
FireWire CD-ROM drive, and some vintage accessories. We have lots of members still using legacy systems, so
nothing goes to waste. Feel free to bring
in your own books and software.
SPAM
With a Follower…
I know that none of you have
ever been stung by a SCAM
artist but it does go on and on
and on... and eventually it may
happen to someone you know,
so a reminder warning is a
good idea. Here it is.
This is not the first time I have
encountered this type of
SPAM. I received the SPAM
message shown at right in response to an ad I placed to sell an old Schwinn bicycle. Getting this
type of SPAM is an extremely common occurrence and anyone
who sells anything on the internet can be targeted.
The idea from the point of view of the SPAM sender is to get the
SPAM connection off the computer and something more tangible into
your home mailbox, and from there into your hands and ultimately into
your bank, just as quickly as possible. To this end, the SPAM starts
with this short reply to your ad, no matter what you are selling:
“Is your item still available ? I want to buy it.”
No matter what you reply, you will very soon get the standard reply:
“That’s good. I will pay for the item full price immediately. Please remove the ad and send me your address and your name as you want it
to appear on the certified cheque. I will get a Postal Money Order (or
a certified cheque) into the mail today. Shipping will be arranged”.
If you want to entertain this foolishness, just send the SPAM artist
your name and address. You will quickly receive a beautiful certified
cheque (or possibly a beautiful Canada or US Post Money Order) for
the full amount of the item PLUS something extra to pay for shipping.
All you have to do is DEPOSIT the cheque and send the overage via
Western Union money order to the shipper, who will then come to get
the item. Easy. There is something very satisfying about holding
something pretty in your hands that actually has your name on it and
a dollar sign followed by numbers.
Your bank WILL accept the money order or certified cheque, no questions asked, and credit your account with
the funds. The money will appear in your
account immediately, inflating your balance until such time as the bogus money
order or cheque is returned to your bank
as NSF - at which time the funds will
magically disappear from your account.
And you may find yourself charged a
hefty fee for passing a NSF cheque.
The entire process - from the day of depositing the cheque to the day
of having the funds disappear - could take as long as a month. Your
SPAM guy hopes that during that month you found the time to buy a
Western Union money order with cash and mail it off.
So... Eventually you will come to understand that there is no real
money: except, of course, for the Western Union money order which
had been purchased by you to pay for shipping, and which has by
now been mailed to and cashed by the SPAM artist. There never was
an actual “shipper” so nobody comes for the item. The certified
cheque was bogus, so the money you thought you had is gone from
your account. End of story.
I first ran into this wrinkle about ten years ago when I attempted to sell
a vehicle online for $10,000. I was contacted by an interested party
and quickly received a beautiful certified cheque via snail mail for
$11,000 with instructions to deposit the certified cheque and then
pass on the extra $1,000 to the shipper via Western Union money
order. The certified cheque was a beauty, probably Made on a Macintosh, and would have passed easily at my bank, or at any other Canadian bank, if I had been foolish enough to deposit or cash it. In my
instance the “shipper” had an office overseas, in (of all places) Nigeria
which is to where I was supposed to send the Western Union money
order. Not being silly, I simply filed the bogus cheque and did not even
try to do anything with it.
In terms of suspicious requests for attention, especially if they come
from a relative in distress overseas or someone else who claims to
know you, the very name “Western Union”
should sound alarms, for no other reason
than that Western Union Money Orders are
as good as cash. When you purchase one
you pay 100% and there is no recovery or
redress if you lose it or give it away to a guy
in Nigeria.
Submitted by Michael Shaw
Armor A30 - a Rugged USB 3.0
Portable
External Hard Drive from Silicon Power
I have done number of reviews of external hard drives over
the years and listed some important uses for them, the
most common being as a backup for existing data. However, another crucial use of an external hard drive is to create a startup drive. With a USB 3.0 drive one can set up a
fairly quick alternate operating system from which one can
run a computer. With new operating systems cropping up
almost every year, one fears the inability for old useful apps
to continue functioning with the updates. By creating an alternate operating system, you can start up the computer in
whatever system you choose.
I have three Mac OS, Mavericks (10.9) and the newer
Yosemite (10.10) as well as the old reliable Mountain Lion
(10.8), available to be used on my computer. The easiest
thing would have been to have the internal drive partitioned
when I first bought my iMac. Since this was not the case,
and you cannot partition your main drive afterwards, I decided to partition my new A30 into two equal spaces. I put
Mavericks in one and Yosemite in the other. With the external drive connected via a USB 3.0 port on the back of my
computer, I now can start up my iMac with any one of these
operating systems. Now I can test drive the new OS and
see if I really want to install it as my main system. If I put
Yosemite on my main drive, I will make sure I have Mountain Lion in one of the A30's partitions so that I can always
run older software.
If you were tasked with designing the perfect external hard drive, what
would you build into it? Storage size, durability, the physical size, and
the speed of data transfer would certainly be at the top of the list. How
about a long term warranty that the drive won't fail? That should be included. Throw in the power source and the ease of access and connection and you would be getting pretty close to an ideal drive. And
finally, I would want it to be resistant to accidental liquid spills and
drops. All of this at an affordable price. Well, I don't have to look far to
find this ideal drive. It exists in the form of the Armor A30, a USB 3.0
Rugged Portable External Hard Drive from Silicon Power.
Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc. has been around
since 2003 producing flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card
readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives.
Headquartered in Taipei, their products can be found worldwide. They
are in the business of making durable hard drives and they have a
good one in the A30. You can read up on the A30 stats by visiting
their web site at www.silicon-power.com. As for my review, let me take
each of my previously listed characteristics and explain how the A30
measures up.
The hard drives on today's modern computers are in the Terabyte
range. My iMac is 3 TB and it is nowhere near full. The size of the A30
provides me with more than enough storage space. If an external
drive is to be truly portable, it is going to have to stand up to a few
bumps and bruises. The A30 has been drop tested directly onto a
concrete floor. It has withstood falls from over three metres. That is
my definition of durable. It certainly lives up to its "Rugged" moniker. It
comes with a three year warranty to back up its rugged claim.
The Armor A30 has a great read/write speed since it uses the latest
USB 3.0 interface. It is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. I tested
an older USB 2.0 drive and found the A30 to be about five times
faster. It thus saves you the user precious time backing up to and
from the hard drive when transferring mass data files. If you use it as
your Time Machine drive, you will notice a great speed improvement.
There will be fewer lags in computer use while it is waiting for Time
Machine to finish its hourly backup. It has a hot plug and play functionality. This means that it connects to just about any USB slot on
your computer and is ready to go immediately. The best speeds were
through the USB 3.0 cable that comes with the drive to the USB port
on the back of my computer as well as using the USB 3.0 port of my
hub. In case you are wondering if your port is USB 2.0 or USB 3.0,
the USB 3.0, which was released in 2008, is usually coloured blue.
The drive is compact and light weight. It measures 13.4 cm x 8.75 cm
x 1.9 cm and weighs in at around 180 g. It comes with a USB 3.0 connection cable which is attached in slots along the sides and top of the
drive. This cable-carry design makes the drive convenient to use on
the go. However, I must say that I prefer the recessed built-in cable
that came with their Armor A80 model over this cable set up (see DC
March 2014). This cable is longer (30 cm) and connects more easily
to the back of my iMac. With it attached to the drive, you should never
find yourself without a connecting cable. This makes it a perfect travel
companion, easily fitting in a bag or purse or even your pocket. As for
appearances, the Armor A30 is composed of a shock-resistant silica
gel which makes it able to withstand crushes and shocks.
I saved the most unique quality for last. It is water pressure, vibration,
and dust proof in compliance with the waterproof test. It can be submerged to a depth of one metre under water for 30 minutes and be
still fully operational. It is up to the task of surviving unexpected situations such as rain drops or liquid-spillage. It has an internal antishock hard drive suspension that is able to absorb a great deal of
bumping and keep on working. The cover of the drive is a very hard
plastic and, as such, not susceptible to dents and scratches.
Silicon Power's Armor A30 USB 3.0 is a military grade portable hard
drive which is waterproof, dust-proof, and can withstand serious
drops. It will keep your data safe and provide fast access with its USB
3.0 connection. And the price for this useful device? As I mentioned,
Silicon Power drives can be found world wide. In Canada, this drive
sells at Canada Computers for about $64.99 for the 500GB model,
$84.99 for 1 TB and $134.99 for 2 TB (www.canadacomputers.com).
You also get a choice of black or white for the drive. If you do some
Internet searching, I am sure you can find it available from other
sources.
The Silicon Power Armor A30 portable hard drive offers very fast performance, and it's waterproof and rugged. Despite all that, it still manages to be as compact as other portable drives that are based on a
2.5-inch standard internal hard drive. The drive is compact and nicelooking. It makes an excellent portable drive for travellers and home
offices alike. Whether you are looking for a backup drive for your computer, or an alternate OS drive or just a portable data storage device,
you should look into Silicon Power’s Armor A30.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
New
From Leviton
If you find that you are in danger of getting mixed up with
your too many chargeable devices and all of their individual proprietary chargers Leviton has a product for you.
Think of how convenient it would be for you to add a dedicated charging station like one of the wall receptacles
shown above in order to have a place where you could
charge all of your devices without losing the convenience
of a duplex receptacle for your 110 volt appliances.
Leviton’s ground-breaking USB Charger/Tamper-Resistant Duplex Receptacle helps simplify the lives of
electronic device users, by eliminating the need for expensive USB adapters and providing a centralized location for charging all of your devices like tablets, readers,
smartphones and portable music players. Users can charge two or
four devices at the same time using the two or four USB ports, depending on which type of Leviton USB charger is installed.
The Leviton USB Charger/Tamper-Resistant Duplex Receptacle uses
advanced technology to deliver the most efficient charging for every
device. The USB ports are controlled by a smart chip that recognizes the charging needs of each unique device and optimizes
current to reduce charging time. This allows users to spend less
time waiting for devices to charge and more time enjoying them. The
USB Ports are Type A, USB 2.0 and feature a combined power of 3.6
amps for the USB two-port plus duplex recepticle, or 4.2 amps for the
USB 4-port model.
Every detail, down to the placement of the USB ports on the device,
was carefully designed with the user in mind. While other USB receptacles have horizontally-oriented ports, the Leviton USB Charger /
Tamper-Resistant Duplex Receptacle features vertically positioned
ports that provide more space for maneuvering of charging cords and
help reduce stress on USB cables.
The design of the Leviton USB Charger Receptacle allows for easy
installation, making it a quick and aesthetically pleasing upgrade to
any room. The receptacle is back and side-wired for broad compatibility with diverse wiring needs.
Sporting a compact design, the device easily fits in any
standard wall box. It has been designed for compatibility
with standard wall plates, and can be multi-ganged with
other standard Leviton devices. For an additional safety
feature, the outlet complies with National Electrical Code
requirements for tamper resistance and features a shutter mechanism to help prohibit access to electrical contacts by foreign
objects.
Features and Benefits
 USB Ports are positioned vertically providing more space for
maneuvering and reducing
stress on the USB cables.
 Smart chip-powered USB
ports recognize the requirements
of attached device and optimize
charge accordingly.
 Compatible with Decora and
Decora Plus wallplates.
 Can be multi-ganged with
other devices.
 Compact design fits in a standard wallbox.
I thought these Leviton fixtures
so interesting that I asked Leviton for literature to make available at our Gadgets meeting.
They did not respond.
Submitted by Michael Shaw
Emberwing: Lost Legacy
from Boomzap
Emberwing: Lost Legacy is a casual hidden object puzzle adventure
game developed by Boomzap Entertainment and published by Big
Fish Games. This game is part hidden object and part item locator. In
order to progress through to the end, you must find useful items and
use them to solve puzzles. Some of these items are to be found
among the hidden object scenes. Emberwing consists of more puzzles and mini games than actual hidden object scenes. It is more of
an adventure game where you roam around locating tools and such
that will help you along the way. The main differences between the
various games of this type are the story line, the amount and type of
mini games that often have to be solved to enter the next location,
and the type of hint that is provided.
The story line for this
Emberwing adventure
involves dragons, elves,
you and your little boy.
As the story goes, dragons have not been seen
for hundreds of years in
the Dark Forest and
were just a bedtime
story as far as your
young son, Tevin, was
concerned. Suddenly, a
real dragon attacks your
house in the dead of
night and kidnaps Tevin,
believing he has a special power that will help
their kind. But elves and
other magical races,
hidden in the unexplored Dark Forest, are
after him as well.
Can you save your son from the dragon's clutches before it's too late?
You will need the aid of many creatures that pop up along the way.
The cut scene at the beginning gives you enough info to start you on
your trek. The story line itself is well done. It is short and to the point.
It never gets in the way or slows down the game play. If you are replaying the game, you can quickly skip the dialogue, at no cost, as
there is no penalty associated with skipping.
There are just under forty locations for you to move through. The first
is in your home which gets attacked by a dragon. Your son is taken
and you must quickly devise a way to follow as your house is burning
down. After all, it was attacked by a dragon. All the other locations are
initially locked. Solving all the puzzles in the first scene will unlock the
next spot in the line. Scrolling the cursor over various areas is the key
to moving on.
The cursor's icon will change from the initial arrow to one of a speech
bubble, a hand, gears, or a magnifying glass. The speech bubble denotes a character that wishes to speak to you. They usually have
some vital information to convey. The hand suggests that there is an
item of value to pick up. The gears are used to show that there is a
puzzle waiting to be solved, usually with an item from your inventory.
The magnifying glass means that you should take a closer look at that
spot. Clicking the cursor when these special icons are in play will
cause the objects to be picked up, the character to speak or a new
smaller window to be opened.
There are three levels of play. I strongly suggest the Beginner mode
first, just to get a handle on how the game works. You can always replay the game with a greater level of difficulty, or even change in the
middle. The Beginner mode provides the fastest access to hints and
the skip puzzle timer will clock out sooner. The Advanced mode has
the hints and the skip puzzle timers taking longer to reset. In the Mercenary mode you are on your own. There are no hints and no skips.
The bottom of the screen window contains a list of your inventory
items which are essential in getting through the many puzzles. Eventually the right hand side of the bottom menu bar will contain a map
which can be used to quickly switch location without having to slowly
travel from one adjacent site to another. This will save on a lot of tedious and wasted movement. Clicking on an unlocked map site (each
of these has its own name to make it more convenient to recognize)
will instantly move you to that location. There are many areas to explore and you will have to backtrack and revisit the sites more than
once. Some areas actually become locked behind you. For instance,
your house, from which you started, has burnt down and cannot be
revisited. This did confuse us. We thought we had some unvisited locations to go to until we realized we had been there but they were
now not accessible.
The mini games are varied both in the type of game and in the degree
of difficulty. Some of the games are quite difficult, but most are simple
and fun to play. None come with an explanation on what to do. That is
the first part of the puzzle. There is a question mark symbol at the bottom right of the puzzle's page. Clicking this will provide you with a description of what the puzzle entails. I found the hardest mini game
was a swapping game between eight characters, interchanging them
two at a time. There was one button that changed the path between
the pairs, but it took a long time to figure out where to place each one.
At least a green halo surrounded the characters when they were in
the right position.
It is the hints that really help make this game fun. As with all games,
there may come a point where you have no clue what to do next. You
think you have exhausted all the possibilities. The hints in Emberwing
take away any frustration that might occur. First, depending on the
mode of play, there are map alerts. An exclamation point symbol
shows up on any map location that has some unfinished business.
By looking at the map, you get a very good idea of what your next few
steps should be. Clicking on the hint button in the bottom left of the
screen will either take you to the next scene that needs your attention
or highlights the exact spot in that scene that requires interaction. Unless you are playing at the Mercenary level of difficulty, these hints are
available.
There are a few differences that I would like to note with the game
play for Emberwing. Many of the hidden objects are not only hard to
see, but in fact not visible as they are in a closed drawer or have to be
put together from pieces on the page. Besides the dragons and the
elves, there are a few other animals that appear during the adventure.
There are the polar bear knights, a helpful cat, and my favourite, the
warrior guinea pig with its own set of armour.
Emberwing: Lost Legacy was released at Big Fish Games. You can
go there (www.bigfishgames.com) or to the Boomzap web site
(www.boomzap.com) to learn more about this game and other
Boomzap games. They have quite a few good series of Hidden Object
Games there. I reviewed a Dana Knightstone mystery in the May
2014 DoubleClick and RedLeaf Forest in Oct 2014. I have found all
the Boomzap games I have played to be full value for the money.
We spent over five hours playing Emberwing at the Beginner mode. I
know the time because the game provided this information when we
had completed the quest. The graphics are bright and colourful. The
Emberwing countryside is beautiful to move through. Each scene is
filled with animation and detail. Once you have played through the
first time, you simply create a new profile in order to play again. This
game will provide hours of play and is one of the better quality HOG
we have tried out. Because this game is from Big Fish Games, you
can download a free one hour trial and give it a whirl. I am sure you
will find the $7.14 CAD that is the cost of the full game well worth it.
You might even want to try the Collector's edition of this game which
provides an extra chapter to the adventure.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
337 King Street West, Oshawa, ON L1J 2J8
1.855.800.4817 | [email protected]
www.alarytech.ca
Profile:
AKVIS
Everyone who reads the DoubleClick
will instantly recognize the name
AKVIS. In just about every issue there
is a mention of some new or updated
AKVIS software. AKVIS makes magically effective image editing
software that works on every
platform. The company was
founded in 2004 by IT professionals having considerable experience in programming and software development. Since then
the company has released a large number of successful programs for Windows and Mac OS X:
Some of the AKVIS titles are creative and others are for technical processes but they all have the same basic interface and they can
all be purchased either as a stand-alone product, a plug-in for Adobe
image editing software (like Photoshop or Elements) or as both. Each
AKVIS title is uniquely priced and some are available at special discounted rates when bundled with other AKVIS programs. There are license levels for personal and for commercial applications and for bulk
or group licenses.
All AKVIS titles for Macintosh can be downloaded with support documents and users guides directly from AKVIS by using the link at the
bottom of this page. The AKVIS installers will get you a 10-day demo
version of whatever AKVIS title interests you and you can try out
every feature of the AKVIS software during the 10-day trial period.
This “try before you buy” policy ensures that you know what you are
getting before you commit to paying for it. Just install the demo version of the program and use it during the evaluation time, no registration is needed. Of course, to extend the license and to become the
owner of a fully licensed version you have to purchase a key from
AKVIS and register the trial version with your license key.
The AKVIS website has plentiful support for every AKVIS title with
pages of instructions, before and after sample images, lengthy detailed tutorials, and various screenshots of the software in action.
Check out the list at right to see if one or more of these titles appeals
to you, or go to the MaUsE website (www.mause.ca) and download a
few back issues of the DoubleClick to see illustrated articles about
AKVIS software.
AKVIS AirBrush v.2.5 - Airbrushing Techniques on Your Photos
AKVIS ArtSuite v.10.5 - Frames and Effects for Your Photos
AKVIS ArtWork v.8.1 - Versatile Collection of Painting Techniques
AKVIS Chameleon v.8.5 - Photo Collage Creation
AKVIS Charcoal v.1.0 - Charcoal & Chalk Drawings
AKVIS Coloriage v.9.5 - Add Color to Black and White Photos
AKVIS Decorator v.3.0 - Resurface and Recolor
AKVIS Draw v.1.1 - Hand-made Pencil Drawing Effect
AKVIS Enhancer v.14.0 - Bring Detail To Your Pictures
AKVIS HDRFactory v.4.0 - High Dynamic Range Images
AKVIS LightShop v.4.0 - Light and Star Effects
AKVIS Magnifier v.7.1 - Change Image Size without Quality Loss
AKVIS MakeUp v.3.5 - Retouch Your Portrait Photos!
AKVIS MultiBrush v.8.0 - Image Editing & Drawing Tools
AKVIS NatureArt v.6.0 - Bring Nature To Your Photos
AKVIS Noise Buster v.9.0 - Digital Noise Reduction
AKVIS OilPaint v.3.0 - Oil Painting Effect
AKVIS Pastel v.1.0 - Turn Photos into Pastel Paintings
AKVIS Refocus v.5.1 - Focus Improvement & Blur Effects
AKVIS Retoucher v.7.0 - Image Restoration Software
AKVIS Sketch v.16.0 - Convert a Photo to a Pencil Sketch
AKVIS SmartMask v.5.0 - Save Time on Complex Selections!
You can download demo copies of all 22 AKVIS applications for Macintosh at:
http://akvis.com/en/download-macintosh-software.php
AKVIS Sketch 16
Huge New Update for Sketch
AKVIS has really done it this time: the new release of Sketch 16 in
November marks a phenomenal leap forward in “push-button” image
editing. As the name implies, Sketch lets you create a wide range of
styles of color drawings and sketches from your digital images. Adjusting the settings, it's also possible to add some painting effects like
watercolor, pastel, and charcoal to the pictures.
The program can operate in Express and Advanced modes with two
main drawing styles, Classic and Artistic, each with its own multitude of controls and an impressively large number of ready-to-use
Presets. The Sketch window, shown below, gives an idea of how it all
comes together: import a photo and click on a Preset (Classic has 35
distinct Presets) and then fine tune the image by using the Tools and
Effects sliders to achieve the final form. Even more than any other
AKVIS title, Sketch will suck the user into clicking on Presets and exploring the possibilities. You have to see it to believe it. The software
makes your photos look
like real drawings or
paintings done in your
choice hundreds of
styles - and the best
part is you don’t need to
have any artistic ability
to use it. If you can click
a button and drag a
slider you are all set.
The window below shows Sketch in the Artistic style. In this mode
there are 49 Presets, some of them are a bit more extreme and dramatic than the Classic presets. Worth mentioning is that this mode
also allows the user to keep the original colours or to totally remove
the colour from an image and choose any pencil crayon colour (black
is shown below) to shade the image. As in the Classic mode, the program provides a floating preview window over part of the image that
gives an instantly updated sample of what you can expect from the
Preset.
At the bottom of the application window the program shows the various steps along the way are shown below the main image window. It
is possible to revert to any step just by clicking on it. In the Advanced
mode there is a selection of useful tools available that make it possible to apply the Preset effects selectively,
just on some or all objects in the foreground - or, depending upon how the tool
is used, just the background or objects in
the background.
But wait: there’s more. In Advanced mode there is a Canvas setting which opens up a library of about 150 textured surfaces that
can be selected and then adjusted to give the effect of the sketch
having been done on various cloth or other materials with variable
degrees of coarsenes. Once a canvas selected, a virtual light
source can be adjusted (angle and intensity) to accentuate the
depth and give more or less contrast to the texture.
For those of you who may want to retain control of your images,
Sketch provides several ways to watermark the images you create
with it. There is a Text panel that makes it possible to over-print
the final image with text in any location, size, font, or colour. The
Text panel also offers the optional ability to over-print the image
using a logo instead of text if you happen to have one handy. With
the text and logo you can also control the level of transparency.
As with the other AKVIS titles, AKVIS invites all interested parties
to download a free fully-featured copy of Sketch 16 and use it on
an unlimited number of images for ten days before deciding
whether or not to purchase it. During those ten days you can access the online tutorials and learn to do everything a registered
user can do - and save the changes to all of your images.
See www.AKVIS.com for more information about this and the
other AKVIS titles and download a few to try out. You will be
amazed at what you can do with your pictures, a little time, and
AKVIS software.
Submitted by Michael Shaw
Typinator, PopChar, and KeyCue
Applications from Ergonis Software
Ergonis produces a trio of extremely useful applications for your computer. I have been using these products for many years (PopChar has
been around since 1987). I have reviewed these products more than
once over the years. The reviews have to be redone every so often
because these apps evolve as the MAC OS keeps changing. Ergonis
has kept up with the times and all of their apps are better than ever.
For this review, I will do a brief recap of each of the three apps, highlighting how I use them. For a more detailed account of what they can
do, you can look back to the previous reviews or go to
www.ergonis.com to get more info.
PopChar is the first of the apps that I put on my computer. I had an
LCIII at the time. I wanted an easy way to add French accents to
some of my documents. Any special character can be displayed by
using a combination of simultaneous keystrokes. Unless I was using
these all the time, I would forget the exact combination. I always had
to look them up. PopChar provided me with a complete list of characters, including all the hidden ones, right from the menu bar where a
“P” icon was now shown. The window that resulted from clicking the
icon revealed not only those hidden characters but also enabled me
to switch quickly to a different font. It opened up for me a vast library
of characters. From that window, I could easily compare the same
character, shown in various fonts. The font preview option shows various sized paragraphs to give you a quick look of what it might look
like. I found PopChar especially useful since it displayed dingbats and
other pictorial fonts. I would not have used these at all were it not for
PopChar. It made it so easy to incorporate them into my documents.
As a Science teacher, I could pick the most appropriate arrow shape,
from a Pointers font, to add to a Chemistry equation. PopChar also
showed the keyboard combination that produced that character. You
could memorize this or, as I do, add the character to a favorites line
that appears at the top of the PopChar window. Now I don't have to
search around for my most commonly used special characters. I have
the apple logo () placed in my favorites line as well as the  ƒ ⌘ ⌥
icons. There are other ways to do this but I have found PopChar is the
quickest and most versatile way to use those hidden characters. If
you know the character you are looking for you can actually search
for it. For example, if you type pound in the search field then PopChar
displays "£". If you need info on any installed font, PopChar will display that for you. I last reviewed PopChar back in the October 2010
DoubleClick. Since then it has been updated often so that it is now
compatible with Yosemite. The current version also works with Mavericks, Mountain Lion, all the way back to Snow Leopard (10.6). Older
versions of PopChar are available if you have a more antiquated MAC
OS.
The second application that I got from Ergonis was Typinator. I consciously use this every day. By typing in a combination of three keys
in a row, I get my email address to pop up in a document. Using another combination of keys, I get a draft copy of a generic letter I want
to send out. I actually have five different form letters, depending on
what I am looking for. Sure you can copy-paste the letter, but first you
would have to locate it. With Typinator, I simply remember the keystrokes. And if I forget the combination, it is right there in the menu
bar, which is where Typinator is located. And, it not only does print but
also graphics. I have our MaUsE logo at my fingertips, ready to be inserted wherever I choose. Typinator takes the tedium out of repeatedly having to type your name, e-mail address, home page url, or
other words or phrases again and again. If you frequently need to
quickly insert images like your signature, or a location plan into docu-
ments then Typinator is for you. The Typinator application also includes a set of downloadable database files which contain common
typing errors and their corrections. In the background, Typinator will
auto-correct misspelled words. If you type in "defanite" it will auto-correct to "definite". This database of commonly misspelled words can be
updated and added to. There is a separate file for American and
British spelled words as well as a few other languages. Pick one or
the other so that the word "colour" appears as colour and not as color.
With thousands of predefined corrections for common typos and misspelled words, Typinator is not only a typing assistant that speeds
repetitive typing tasks, but also a system-wide auto-correction tool
that automatically fixes typing errors and misspelled words. It is one
app I would definitely not be without. I last reviewed this application in
the August 2010 DoubleClick.
The final app from Ergonis is KeyCue. I have had this on my computer for quite a while but, I have to admit, I do not use it a lot. Therein
lies my problem. If I was using it more frequently, then KeyCue would
be much more useful for me. By double tapping the command key
and holding it down on the second tap, I get a screen showing all the
shortcuts available for the active application I am using. The screen
actually separates the shortcuts into those for the active application
(on the left) and for System-wide shortcuts (on the right). There are
just so many shortcuts available to any application. Unless you are
using them everyday, you won't be able to use them effectively. A
shortcut is only good if you remember what it is. If you have to go
searching for it, time is wasted and the shortcut is rendered useless.
KeyCue attempts to show you all the shortcuts at one time to better
find what you want. It is hoped that using it will train you to remember
the shortcuts. I call it up once in a while, but I have not found that I remember the shortcuts any better. But that is why it is useful, and I am
glad it is there. Because it does put all the shortcuts on the screen, I
don’t have to actually memorize the shortcut. I can simply pick it out
from the displayed choices. There is a search field located at the bottom of the KeyCue window which will highlight all the shortcuts that fit
the simple profile you are trying to figure out. The more you use this
application, the more effective it becomes. I last reviewed this application in the December 2010 DoubleClick.
Ergonis has been around for a very long time. It has been keeping up
with the changing operating systems. In the past, when you purchased one of their applications, you were entitled to updates for a
couple of years. Now, rather than time-based, upgrades are versionbased. Upgrades for minor versions are free while major upgrades require paying for a new license. My favourite app is Typinator which
sells for 25EUR. Next comes PopChar, the one I have been using for
the longest time, which sells for 29.99EUR. Finally there is KeyCue
which sells for 19.99EUR. Ergonis also offers a productivity bundle,
which has all three applications, selling for 67.47EUR. These applications can be downloaded on a try-before-you-buy basis. Download
and test any of these products for free from www.ergonis.com. See
why I have been using them for such a long time and could not do
without.
Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
New From QuarkXPress
Old From QuarkXPress
People not involved with desktop publishing, archiving, and data retrieval will not be aware of it but QuarkXPress, now up to version 10,
has been a powerful and dominant force in the industry for so long
now (almost 30 years) that there exists in many companies libraries
an almost incredible lode of archived documents stored in older versions of the program. In fact, an entire data retrieval industry has
evolved to mine the resources hidden deep within these and other
millions of archived documents created back when older versions of
QuarkXPress were used on primitive Mac and Windows computers
running operating systems that are now obsolete.
There are so many “legacy” documents still stored on floppies in in
some company libraries that QuarkXPress has decided to address
the issue with a solution of their own: QuarkXPress Document Converter.
QuarkXPress Document Converter is a free application that Quark
has made available to anyone who needs to update older Quark documents. It has a simple utilitarian interface and can handle single documents and batch files with ease. QuarkXPress 10 inherently
supports documents created with QuarkXPress 7 through QuarkXPress 10, but not legacy documents created in versions 3 through 6.
Prior to the availability of the QuarkXPress Document Converter,
users needed to maintain a copy of QuarkXPress 9 in order to access
old documents.
Documents created in QuarkXPress 3.1 (and higher), 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x
are updated to conform to Quark version 9.1 file format to make them
accessible to QXP 9 and QXP 10. Some restrictions apply: users
have to remove web layouts in order to open legacy files in QXP10.
To download the free QuarkXPress Document Converter, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/3rmaqwm .
Submitted by Michael Shaw