May 2008 MaUsE DoubleClick*

Transcription

May 2008 MaUsE DoubleClick*
May is the very best time
to visit Monster Island !
Let me show you around !
The Return to Monster Island !
*Hastily Written, Poorly Edited, Practically Unreadable
2007 MaUsE Executive
• President: Michael Shaw
[email protected]
• Vice President: Aaron Vegh
[email protected]
• Apple Liaison: Bruce Cameron
[email protected]
• Treasurer: John Kettle
[email protected]
• Logistics: Chris Greaves
[email protected]
• Publicity Director: Jim Danabie
• DoubleClick Editor: Michael Shaw
[email protected]
• Director: Guy Lafontaine
• Director Marcel Dufresne
Macintosh Users East
208 Winona Avenue
Oshawa, ON L1G 3H5
Message Line 905-433-0777
From The Editor
What you are looking at is the Monster Island May ʻ08 edition of the MaUsE DoubleClick newsletter from 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 computers.
The May 2008 DoubleClick is published using a 2.8 GHz
Aluminum iMac and Quark XPress 7.3. A Kodak DX7590 is
used for all pictures. Everything not specifically attributed to
someone else can be blamed on me. Back issues can be
downloaded from the <www.mause.ca> website. Submissions from MaUsE Club members are almost always welcome.
Send articles to me at < [email protected] >,
especially if there are files or pictures attached. I have
never refused a submission yet. There is always room for
another piece on ANY Mac-related topic and I’ll make room
if there isn’t. I would like your submissions. But I won’t beg.
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 independent Mac user group and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved of by Apple Computer,
Inc. Its very much like they donʼt even know we exist.
Shhhh.
True Confessions
In last monthʼs DoubleClick a series of
three articles about Intego software
programs were (partially) erroneously
credited to Marcel. The Intego Virus
Barrier and Net Barrier articles were
his but the third Intego article, the very
elegant and articulate piece about Intego
Personal BackUp, was actually submitted by Stan Wild. A corrected edition of
the April 2008 issue has since been
posted to our website. I apologize for this
error and will try to do better
in future issues.
Mea culpa, mea culpa.
Meeting Notice
The next MaUsE Meeting will be held on
the evening of May 28th at 7:00 P.M. at
the Whitby Public Library on the southeast corner of Hwy. 2 and Henry Street
in Whitby. Come a half-hour earlier if
you have software or hardware issues
and want to get help. The Meeting is
open to the public but only paid-up
MaUsE members in attendance will receive raffle tickets for the items raffled
at this meeting. There will be some interesting prizes including copies of
some of the programs presented in this
issue.
From the Editor
When I joined the MaUsE club 13 years ago it was
very much Jim Fosterʼs MaUsE Club. I knew very
little about computers but I did have some advantages. I had a brand new 75 MHz “Box of Delights”
Performa 6200CD with 8 Megs of ram (a computer
I know now to be one of the very worst Apple computers ever made) and a huge box of relatively recent (1989 to 1994) Mac-User and Macworld
magazines that I got from another MaUsE member,
Kevin Light. I never left home without a few Mac
magazines to read and I became familiar with the
great movements in Apple hardware and software
evolution through reading about them. Pressing
questions back then were: Why upgrade to System
7 ? Will Apple survive ? Why upgrade to System 8
? Will Apple survive ? Why upgrade to System 9 ?
Do I need StuffIt, RamDoubler, Conflict Catcher,
Nortons Utilities, and will Apple survive ? and who
is Gilbert F. Amelio and why are Apple clones faster
and cheaper than Apple computers ?
After that it was: Why upgrade to System 10 ? Why
upgrade to Jaguar ? Why upgrade to Panther ?
Why upgrade to Tiger ? Why upgrade to Leopard ?
Good questions all and we try to answer them at
the MaUsE meetings.
I used to look forward to getting Mac magazines in
the mail, and I subscribed to MacAddict for many
years. I recently returned from two months away
and found two new copies of Macworld waiting for
me. I looked at them cover to cover and I can honestly say that I found only one article in each issue
that I read. The rest of it concerned state of the art,
latest and greatest, next best thing technology that
I have no interest in acquiring. In fact, most of the
ads I saw are for hardware and software products
that I donʼt know what I to do with and would not
take for free, let alone buy. And I will not be subscribing to Macworld for exactly that reason.
Which brings me to the point. Iʼve heard some rumblings from the membership that the MaUsE DoubleClick may have gone the same way as
Macworld magazine. I have heard that a lot of what
I have published recently is simply of limited appeal
to many of our members. If this is true then the
sooner and more thoroughly we change the DoubleClick the better. And I say “we” instead of “I” because I am only the Editor. The content of the
newsletter is supposed to come from the membership. Some of it does in every issue and I thank our
contributors, but a lot of it I make up.
I have often appealed to the membership in the
past for articles for the DoubleClick in exchange for
software to review and a few members have accepted my invitation. I know its frustrating for you,
asking for stuff in the hopes of getting it and then
being disappointed, but thatʼs how it often works.
You see something on the internet that tickles your
fancy. So you ask me to try to get you a copy to review and I ask the company for a review & raffle
copy and they either ignore me or they thank me
for asking and toss a couple of copies into the mail.
However, itʼs useless to ask Adobe or Apple for a
free copy of Photoshop CS or Aperture, no matter
how badly you want a free copy, because that just
isnʼt going to happen. In all of my years on the job
of tracking down software to review and for our raffle I have only had a couple of times when an employee at a big company has sent me a big
commercial product. And I have asked, just in case.
The MaUsE DoubleClick, as important as it is to the
Mac culture of the Durham Region, simply does not
have the presence or clout on the internet to request and receive whatever we want. Some of the
more aggressive software companies have been
very co-operative and have sent us their entire catalogue one title at a time just for the asking, (which
is how we get regular software donations from Alien
Skin, Markzware, SubRosaSoft, Alsoft, MicroMat,
Prosoft Engineering, AKVIS and Freeverse).
If I donʼt get requests from the membership I have
to fill the DoubleClick with MaUsE Meeting photos
and stuff that interests me. Ideally, it should be filled
with stuff that interests you, not stuff that interests
me. I actually already have all of the software I
need.
Today is April 4th. This is Page 3 of the May 2008
issue and at this point there are nothing but blank
pages following this page and I havenʼt got a clue
what they will be full of by this time next month.
(Quick - jump ahead and see if the next thirty pages
are blank!). Iʼm hoping that Marcel, Guy and Aaron
and possibly a few others will send me something
to edit.
So hereʼs the deal: I would appreciate it if I could
get some feedback (or input from other MaUsE
members for the next few issues). If you think the
DoubleClick is just fine the way it is, thatʼs great.
But if you want to see something in it that isnʼt there
now, tell me what it is and together we will see if we
can make this a better publication. Send opinions
to: < [email protected] > and donʼt be shy.
Put DoubleClick Survey in the title of your email
so I will recognize it as part of this survey.
Now, go on to Page 4, just to see if itʼs blank.
Michael Shaw
Editor, MaUsE DoubleClick
April 23rd MaUsE Meeting and Raffle
Another really huge monster hit for the MaUsE Club. Early birds came at 6:30
as usual and the place was packed by 7:00. Our Aaron handled the welcoming and introductions and conducted the “Ask The Expert” session like the pro
that he is. The two main presenters of the evening were Marcel (on Geocaching) and me (on the new Adobe Photoshop Express). We tried out our
new sound system and found it to be excellent. The raffle was the usual success with software packages donated by Alien Skin, Markzware, Mariner, Joesoft, Intego, SubRosaSoft, BeLight, and others. I described the items and
Chris raffled them off. Attendance was definitely up now that winter has passed
and the roads are clear of snow. There
were three new members registered. All
seats were filled and we had a few people standing at the back of the room !
See you on May 28th at
the next MaUsE Meeting !
There will be more
MaUsE presentations,
more answers to your
MacQuestions, and another
terrific MaUsE raffle for
paid-up members.
Visitors are welcome so
bring a friend or two !
Donʼt forget
to mark May 28th
on your iCal !
TranslateIt! for Macintosh
Hereʼs a handy little application for those of
us who find that we are running into a lot of
foreign words in our reading that we have to
look up the meanings of. Although we usually
play exclusively in English in our neighbourhood, and are accustomed to seeing nothing
but English when we go onto the internet, all
it takes is a foreign correspondence or a
short visit to Europe or Asia to get reminded
that for many Mac users and software developers Japanese, Chinese, German, French, Spanish and Russian are very
much in use. Thatʼs where programs like TranslateIt! for Mac come in handy.
If youʼve been looking for a Mac OS X dictionary that can translate any word
from any language, congratulations! You have just found it!
TranslateIt! for Mac, (< http://mac.gettranslateit.com/index.shtml >) is the
multilingual dictionary for OSX that allows you to look up the meanings of foreign words on the fly. (It is also available for Windows). Using it is incredibly
simple: just hover the cursor over an unfamiliar word in any Cocoa Application,
and you will see its translation in a pop-up window instantly. With TranslateIt!
you will stop wasting your time looking up foreign words and you will use the
time you save to get even more productive.
Main features:
• Translate words in any applications by just moving the pointer over them
• Lots of free dictionaries for a great number of languages
• Translation Methods: translation from clipboard, drag-and-drop translation,
manual input of queries in the main window, double-click translation of words
in dictionary entries displayed in the main window
• English, German and Russian morphology support
• English Sounds (contains > 23000 English words pronunciation), German
Sounds (contains > 5000 German words pronunciation)
• Convenience translation with autoscroll
• Printing of flash cards
• Words Quiz (a game for easy learning of new words)
• Built-in DictBuilder utility for easy creation of custom dictionaries
• Multilingual user interface
New Features In TranslateIt! for Mac v9.2:
• German plurals dictionary
• German localization added
• TI widget updated
• New Help for the German localization
• Updates to the English, Russian, French, and Brazilian Portuguese Help
• We are happy to announce native support for German and French speaking
users, so the support languages are English, Russian, French, and German.
• From now on, update changes will be available in English, German, Russian, and French (additional languages will be available after this update)
• French morphology added
• English irregular verbs dictionary added
• On-the-fly re-formatting of dictionary entries using customizable regular expressions
TranslateIt! for Mac is
distributed as shareware,
and the user can use the
shareware version for free
during a 20 day trial period. The only limitation is
that the reminder to pay
shows up at application
start-up. To remove the reminder you can buy a 1year license for 15 €
(fifteen euros). After it expires you can abandon it or buy another license. Or you could buy a lifetime
license for 35 € (thirty-five euros).
Psystar OpenMac:
Bring in the Clones
The big news in April 2008 was the emergence of
Psystar as a maker of Macintosh clone computers
that would ship directly from Psystar with OSX
10.5 Leopard pre-installed ! ! ! ! ! . Many people were
asking on the internet whether Psystar would still be
in business by the end of the month. Psystar started
advertising on their website a pair of new clones called
the OpenMac (renamed Open Computer after midApril) for only $399.00 and OpenPro for only $999.00
on their website. Psystar is claiming their computers
will ship with a fully compatible version of Leopard.
This is apparently accomplished with the help of an
EFI V8 emulator and a few drivers. They say it is possible to install Leopard's kernel straight from the DVD
that you purchased at the Apple store barring the addition of a few drivers to ensure that everything boots
and runs smoothly.
In many of the past issues of the DoubleClick I have
written about my favourite Macs and MacClones. I
have long been interested in the attempts of companies to produce “MacClones,” or computers from companies other than Apple that could run the Macintosh
OS. Especially if the clone could run it faster and
cheaper than the genuine Apple products. (Somewhere around the DoubleClick office I still have a PowerTower Pro and a fully functional Daystar Genesis MP
800+ or two). For the most part the saga of the first series of MacClones ended abruptly in 1997 when their
true menace was recognized and neutralized. I am
tempted to order one of these $399.00 Psystar units
fast before they are forced to suddenly “cease and desist”, if you know what I mean. Paying $399.00 for a
fully-equipped Psystar OpenMac Core2Duo Intel Macintosh clone sure beats the $10,000 that Daystar was
charging for their Genesis 800 MP+ Mac clones, and
that was in 1997 dollars without any video card installed.
They say on the Psystar website:
The Open Computer is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified
OS X Leopard kernels. If you
purchase Leopard with your Open Computer we
will not only include the actual Leopard retail package with genuine installation disc, but we also include a Psystar restore disc for your Open
Computer and we will preinstall Leopard for free
so you can begin to use your computer right out of
the box.
The Open Computer/OpenPro is fully compatible
with the OSx86 Project and is 100% operational
out of the box. With no assembly required the
Open Computer is a great value. You won't have to
try to return parts because they're incompatible or
don't work exactly as you'd like them to. Psystar
has tested the Open Computer thoroughly and
even run XBench to confirm the performance that
is advertised. With this level of compatibility it's
easy to install OS X Leopard on your own.
Base Configuration $399.00 Open Computer
• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor
• 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
• Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics
• 4 rear USB Ports
• Storage, by default, a 250GB 7200RPM SATA hard
drive
• Video Card The Open Computer can be configured
with an optional nVidia GeForce 8600 video card for
improved performance in image and movie editing and
drastically improved performance in gaming.
• SuperDrive The Open Computer comes equipped by
default with a Dual Layer DVD+/-R burner that is equal
to the Apple SuperDrive without you having to pay
extra for it.
• Options You can buy it in black without having to pay
more. You can buy it with Firewire. You can buy it with
a GeForce 8600, if you like.
Advantages
• Vanilla The Open Computer runs the Vanilla kernel with minimal kext patching
• Acceleration The Open Computer can include
nVidia GeForce GPUs which are normally only
available in Mac Book Pros or Mac Pros which are
over 4x the price of the base Open Computer
• Power The Open Computer is faster than the
entry-level Mac Mini and costs less
• Drive The Open Computer comes with a superdrive equivalent and 250GB 7200RPM SATA hard
drive while the Mac Mini defaults to a simple
combo cd/dvd ROM and an 80G laptop drive
Psystarʻs $999.00 OpenPro has a slick new look
and more power to match. With a beautiful fullsized ATX case and Intel Core 2 Quad processors
the OpenPro is locked and loaded. The name
"Open" has been selected to reflect the fact that
ANY consumer operating system can be installed
and run on it. Not only is it bigger and better but it's
even more customizable. The OpenPro features a
full-sized case made of steel for a high-quality
server-case feel. The case door opens 270 degrees and features audio and I/O ports on the front
of the case for accessibility when it comes to plug
and play devices. With the OpenPro you can get
a 10,000 RPM SATA drive. The performance-hungry will appreciate the accelerated Read/Writes
and not mind the slight bit of extra noise. For those
who would use their OpenPro primarily for audio/visual, a 750GB 7200RPM hard drive will fit the bill
but for those who can't have enough storage space
Psystar offers a titanic 1TB hard drive.
Base Configuration $999.00 Open Pro
• 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
• GeForce 8600GT 512MB
• 4 rear USB Ports
• Storage, by default, a 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA
hard drive
Firewire is standard on the OpenPro and it has
USB ports on the front panel as well. It comes with
2 gigs of RAM but can take up to 8 Gigs. You have
your choice of four processors, Core2Duo and
Core2Quad, various storage and video possibilities, and your choice of operating systems. The
OpenPro can come with no OS installed or it can
come with Ubuntu Linux for free or commercial installations of Windows XP Pro, Vista Home Premium, or MacOSX 10.5 Leopard pre-installed.
By the time you read this the Psystar story will
have been revealed as either the biggest April Fool
joke of 2008 or the best thing to happen to Apple
computer users since Apple switched to Intel
processors.
In the electronics business nothing stands still and
nobody can rest on their laurels. Not even Apple.
The Psystar story is bringing a lot of attention and
focus on the question that many Mac users have
been asking for a long time: If it actually costs less
than $600.00 for the components required to build
a really good basic computer, whether it be a PC or
a Mac, why does it cost us $1,000.00 to buy a
Core2Duo Intel PC with Windows installed from
Tiger Direct or MDG and $3,000.00 or more to buy
a similarly-equipped Core2Duo Intel Macintosh
with Leopard installed from the Apple Store ?
Eventually there will likely be a way found to install
the latest Mac OS on “unsupported” Intel computers. With enough ingenuity and determination a
hack will be written and a way will eventually be
found. Like the Sonnet PCI installer script that allows the Jaguar OSX v10.2 to be installed on the
old PCI Macs and 604e Macintosh clones from the
late 1990ʼs, a way will eventually be found to install
the very latest Mac OSX onto Intel-powered machines it was never intended to run on.
Markzware PUB2ID v1.51
Markzware develops award-winning quality control and conversion tools. Their target markets include creators of PDF files, graphic artists, ad
agencies, printers and publishers and all of the
people who use Adobe, Microsoft, Quark, and
Corel products either professionally, or for their
own amusement. Nobody makes more or better
document conversion tools than Markzware. Weʼve
seen them all featured at our MaUsE raffles,
demonstrated at our club meetings, and written up
in the DoubleClick. The various Markzware programs weʼve looked at may work with different host
applications but they all have one thing in common:
they all allow you to take a complex document created in one professional layout program and convert it into a usable document in another
professional layout program without losing the formatting or the data.
I recently saw a video on the internet which featured a designer
who had created an Adobe InDesign document that had somehow
become corrupted. Eventually the
file refused to open in InDesign.
Ordinarily an event like this would
be disasterous to a layout artist, especially if the document were a
huge commercial layout for a magazine or a book. Since the file would
not open he could not even revert to
a saved copy. Instead of starting all
over again the designer launched
QuarkXPress and invoked his Markzware InDesign
to QuarkXPress XTension (ID2Q7) to convert the
entire InDesign layout into a perfectly good Quark
document. It looked really good as a Quark document and he showed that all of his tables, illustrations and text were successfully saved. Then he
launched InDesign and used his Markzware
QuarkXPress to InDesign
plug-in
(QXP2ID) to successfully open and
convert the Quark
copy of his layout
document
back
into an Adobe InDesign layout. The
result of the whole operation, shown in the video,
was that the resultant document was a totally repaired and usable InDesign document, saving the
designer many hours of work.
QuarkXPress and InDesign are not the only programs that Markzware has a solution for. Up until a
few years ago, many publishing companies and
small businesses that used Microsoft Office software also used Microsoft Publisher as their layout
program of choice for creating their business
documents and forms.
Publisher was
commonly used to do the usual company forms: sales and product brochures, company
letterheads, postcards, and calling cards. I bet
some companies are still using it but many businesses have either farmed out their layout work or
moved on to Adobe InDesign, a more advanced
layout tool for creating complex digital documents.
InDesign has more flexibility and better design options and tools than Publisher.
If you only had one or two files to convert over you
might open both applications, create a new layout
in InDesign and copy-paste the data from one application to the other but, if you have a whole library
of Publisher documents you need to update or you
are working somewhere that is experiencing the
transition from Publisher to Adobe InDesign and
you want to import Publisher files directly into
Adobe InDesign in order to work on them, you will
definitely need Markzware Microsoft Publisher To
Adobe InDesign (PUB2ID).
PUB2ID is a plug-in for Adobe InDesign. It provides
a quick, easy and affordable method for you to migrate all of your Microsoft Publisher content into
new Adobe InDesign documents. With the PUB2ID
InDesign plug-in installed you will be able to navigate to your Publisher files from the InDesign File
menu and use the Open command to open the
Publisher files right into InDesign. Any
changes you make can be saved and you
will be encouraged to rename the files.
The new files will be InDesign documents. No more re-creating documents
from scratch; PUB2ID gives you a big
head-start.
On their website Markzware warns that
because of the different ways that various layout programs handle the same
tasks, like text flow, fonts and
runaround, there is a distinct possibility that the converted document will need to be
tweaked a bit in order to get it to look exactly like
the source file. My own experience with all of the
Markzware conversion tools has been that
Markzware software works better than expected
and these minor adjustments are far less arduous
than totally re-creating the document.
PUB2ID v1.51 is compatible with Macintosh and
Windows PC. You can buy the licensed software at
a cost of $199.00 for a single license.
MacHeist III
MacHeist (http://www.macheist.com/) is a website that resells Mac OS X
shareware. The site has become known for its unique and peculiar marketing
tactics. These tactics include challenges (or "heists") that entitle successful
customers to free software licenses and/or discounts, as well as the concept
of selling software in a bundle that increases in size as more customers purchase the bundle. The site was founded by John Casasanta, Phillip Ryu, and
Scott Meinzer.
MacHeist I was a six week long event that the site ran at the end of 2006. It
culminated with a week-long sale of a bundle of ten Mac OS X shareware applications for US $49. Prior to the sale, a number of challenges (or "heists")
were posted on the MacHeist site. These challenges typically offered cryptic
clues to Mac-related websites, where the answers could be found. Users who
successfully completed the heists were rewarded a US$2 discount on the bundle for each heist completed, as well as free licensed copies of various Mac
OS X shareware applications that were not included in the final bundle. This
inaugural promotion proved to be quite successful, selling more than 16,000
copies in one week. The final bundle sold for US$49 and was available to the
entire Mac community, regardless of participation in the heists leading up to
the sale. It contained Delicious Library, FotoMagico, ShapeShifter, DEVONthink Personal, Disco, Rapidweaver, iClip, Newsfire, TextMate, and the choice
of one Pangea Software game (Bugdom 2, Enigmo 2, Nanosaur 2, Pangea Arcade). Newsfire was added to the bundle after the sale of approximately 4,000
bundles, and TextMate was added after approximately 5,600 bundles were
sold. The other applications were available from the beginning of the sale.
After the two later applications were unlocked, they became available for no
extra charge to the initial purchasers of the bundle. Another aspect of MacHeist
I was that a large portion (US$200,000) of the proceeds were donated to charities. This amount was divided between the following charities: United Way International, Direct Relief International, AIDS Research Alliance, Cancer
Research and Prevention Foundation, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife
Fund, Hunger Project and Save the Children.
Macheist has launched their latest application bundle MacHeist III. The 12 application bundle is somewhat of a "best of" bundle incorporating many applications featured in previous bundles. The bundle will be boxed and sold at
retail stores over the next year, but for a limited
time is available online. The bundle is now available and the Mac OS X applications (valued at
$286.55 separately) include:
Awaken - alarm clock / timer, works with iTunes
Cha-Ching - money management software
CoverSutra - iTunes controller
DEVONthink Personal - database for digital
files
iClip - multiple clipboard & scrapbook
Overflow - application and document launcher
Wallet - store and organize your passwords, serial numbers, credit cards and more
Writeroom - full-screen writing environment
XSlimmer - shrink the size of applications
Enigmo, Bugdom 2, Nanosaur 2 - games from
Pangea
12 Maintenance Tips
1) Keep Things up to Date
Make it a point to check for Apple software updates
once a month to keep your system running optimally. From the Apple menu, choose Software Update (make sure that your computer is connected to
the Internet). Software Update will assess the Apple
software on your computer and check our servers
for new versions. If it finds any, the updates will appear in the Software Update window. Select the
checkbox for the software you want and then click
the Install button to download and install the software.
2) Clean off Your Desktop
Make it a point to clear off the mess strewn about
across your Desktop and put your files away where
you can easily find them. This can help prevent accidental file deletion and help you find things much
more efficiently. You can get organized by creating
new folders (in the Finder, press Shift-CommandN) and arranging them into a workable hierarchy
for your files at hand, or you can move your files
into existing folders. And another thing: aliases belong on the Desktop. Applications do not. Applications belong in the Application Folder.
3) Name Your files
Untitled Folder_8, Word027.doc, DSC_1366.jpg:
youʼve probably got a few files and folders that
youʼve felt less than inspired to properly name.
Then suddenly you need to pluck that prized picture from your enormous collection of
DSC_0001.jpg to DSC_1400.jpg named files, if you
only knew which number it was. Go through your
generically-named files and folders and give them
more descriptive names so you can find what you
need fast.
4) Prune Your Files
To reduce the amount of clutter on your hard drive,
free up some disk space by archiving large, seldom
used files, and be sure to name the resulting
archive file appropriately too, so you know whatʼs in
it. Delete any unnecessary or outdated personal
files whenever possible and anything that you no
longer want or need - just drag them all into the
Trash and donʼt forget to empty it.
5) Repair Disk Permissions
Itʼs a good idea to make sure that your disk permissions are in good working order on a regular
basis especially after upgrading or installing new
software. Open Disk Utility (find it in /Applications/
Utilities) and select your hard disk icon in the left
pane. Click the First Aid tab, then click Repair Disk
Permissions to start the process, which can take a
few minutes to complete. If Disk Utility finds any issues, itʼll fix them along the way.
6) Backup Your Files
To prevent losing your prized or important files,
make it a point to back up your drives on a regular
basis. You can back up files onto a CD, DVD, external hard drive, iPod, iDisk, or other storage
medium and then delete the copies on your hard
drive to free up some space. To learn how to back
up files, choose Mac Help from the Help menu in
the Finder and do a search for back up files.
7) Restart Your Mac Every Once in a While
While your Mac can happily hum along 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, you should restart it every once
in a while to refresh the system if youʼre in the habit
of keeping your computer running all day and night.
This can help clear issues before they arise. Summer is coming and air conditioners take more electricity than furnaces. If you computer is shut down
when not in use it is protected from brown-outs and
summer thunderstorm power outages.
8) Check for Viruses
Macs donʼt get anywhere near the amount of
viruses that Windows PCs are prone to, but that
doesnʼt mean that they canʼt get infected. If you
donʼt already have antivirus software, you may
want to consider making a purchase. If you have
the software installed, be sure to keep your virus
definitions up to date, you can find the latest updates on your software manufacturerʼs website.
9) Optimize Your Hard Drive
To ensure the best system performance and keep
file damage to an all-time low, optimize your hard
drive at least once a year. Third-party utilities such
as Alsoft Disk Warrior Optimizer, iDefrag, and Drive
Genius II will defragment and optimize your drive.
10) Clean the Inside
Dust and other debris can harm your computerʼs innards if you allow the stuff to build up around your
workspace. If you have cats in the house and keep
your tower CPU on the floor there is probably already enough cat hair in it to make a small kitten.
Think of your Mac as an electronic air cleaner that
inhales and recycles all of the air in the room every
couple of hours and uses a labyrinth of hot charged
electronic components to remove dust and smoke
particles from it before blowing it back into the
room. Put your hand behind your Mac where the air
blows out: it should be possible to feel the flow. If
your Mac is a desktop box or tower model it is relatively easy to open and clean. Blow it out with
compressed air only, available in cans at computer
supply stores like Staples for exactly this purpose.
Avoid any computer desk enclosure that might restrict airflow or funnel the warm fan exhaust back
into the computer.
11) Clean the Outside, Too
Use a soft, dry, lint-free cloth, feather duster, or
canned air to clean your Macʼs outside as well as
the surface areas around it. You can use a slightly
water-dampened cloth to clean the screen. Do not
use any type of liquid cleaner to clean your Mac.
The consensus on many websites is that Bon Ami
powdered cleanser is good for restoring older beige
Macs to their original colour, especially if the discolouration is due to exposure to cigarette smoke.
12) No Strangers Allowed
Make sure your passwords required to wake your
computer or start it are secure. There's nothing like
the thrill of coming home to find out that some of
your childrens' friends were visiting and needed to
erase a bunch of your files in order to make room
to install their stupid games.
MaUsE Library
The Mause has a small library of computer books
and several training DVDs available to loan out to
members for one month each. Borrowed materials
must be returned to MaUsE in good condition in a
timely manner. There will be more new books on
the way soon. Here is a list of the titles currently
available. If you wish to borrow a book, please call
Irma at 905-576-2097 or send an email to:
< [email protected] > and we will
arrange pickup at the next MaUsE club meeting.
Only Members in good standing (paid up) will be allowed to borrow books from the MaUsE Library. A
signature will be required to sign out books and the
failure to return any book will be considered a grievous offense to the MaUsE.
I would like to express my gratitude to Jackie Hill
and the other fine people at Peachpit Press who
have provided us with the latest fresh additions to
the MaUsE library, the three books reviewed in this
issue.
April 28, 2008 Update - New Faster iMacs ! ! !
The Spring 2008 iMac line is suddenly available in
three models immediately from Appleʼs retail stores
and through the Apple Store (www.apple.com). It is
possible to order these models directly from Apple
configured with upgraded video, faster processors,
more RAM, bigger hard drives, alternative software
bundles, and AppleCare.
The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, $1,299 (Can),
20-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066
MHz front-side bus;
1GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (up to 4GB);
250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT - 128MB memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, infrared Remote.
The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, $1,599 (Can)
MHz front-side bus;
2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (up to 4GB);
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support
(DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO - 256MB memory;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone
Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, infrared Remote.
The new 24-inch 2.8 GHz iMac, $1,899 (Can),
MHz front-side bus;
2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to
4GB;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support
(DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO - 256MB memory;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone
Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple
Remote.
Build-to-order options and accessories include: a
3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB
DDR2 SDRAM, nVidia GeForce 8800 GS with
512MB of video memory and up to a 1TB Serial
ATA hard drive on the 24-inch iMac; up to 4GB
DDR2 SDRAM and up to 750GB Serial ATA hard
drive on the 2.66 GHz 20-inch iMac; and up to 4GB
of DDR2 SDRAM and up to 500GB Serial ATA hard
drive on the 2.4 GHz 20-inch iMac. Additional options include: Apple Wireless Keyboard and Wireless Mighty Mouse; AirPort Express® and AirPort
Extreme Base Station; the AppleCare Protection
Plan; and pre-installed copies of iWork® ʼ08,
Logic® Express 8, Final Cut® Express 4 and Aperture™ 2.
The introduction of the 1066MHz front-side bus
iMac alongside faster Penryn processors suggested that Apple may have been able to launch
the Montevina (1066MHz) chipset earlier than the
expected June time frame. When directly asked,
however, Intel simply describes them as being
"special" faster versions of the existing Santa Rosa
chipset. The main difference, however, appears to
be that these new chips consume more power than
the upcoming Montevina chipsets. Today's iMac updates provided a few surprising upgrades to the existing iMacs. The key changes include:
• Faster Penryn processors (2.4GHz-3.06GHz), up
from 2.0-2.8GHz Merom processors.
• 1066MHz Front Side Bus, up from 800MHz.
• nVidia GeForce 8800 GS 512MB on high end
model
• More RAM (2GB) in mid-range models, up from
1GB
The new iMacs should be in Apple's retail stores
now. However, Apple is currently providing substantial ($250-$700) discounts on refurbished previous generation iMac stock, which may better fall
in your price range if absolute performance is not
your top priority.
FusionCharts v3
At the April 2nd Executive meeting
John Kettle asked me to see if I
could locate some software for
him to write about in this issue. He
is interested in dynamic presentation of data in chart and graph
form and specifically wanted software that could create either QuickTime or Flash animated graphs and
charts on his Macintosh.
Iʼve found FusionCharts, a flash
charting component from InfoSoft
Global that can be used to render
data-driven & animated charts
for your web
applications
and presentations, to be the nearest
thing to it. Unfortunately, it appears that
a program created in the image of Johnʼs vision of
this software does not exist. The only program that
I was able to find for doing this sort of thing operates on the principle of imbedding: it cannot make
a little stand-alone QuickTime movie of a chart
changing but it can put a little animated chart onto web pages or
into a PowerPoint presentation.
And the charts are terrific. Since
they operate on web pages there
are a lot of examples of animated charts and graphs on the
InfoSoft Global website and
there is a version of the software called FusionCharts Free
that you can use to create simple animations. The manual
for FusionCharts is on line in
the form of a set of tutorials
that show you how to proceed step by step through
the animation procedure.
FusionCharts is made in Adobe Flash 8 (formerly
Macromedia Flash). Using XML as its data interface, FusionCharts makes full use of fluid beauty
of Flash to create compact, interactive and visually-arresting
charts. FusionCharts can be
used with any web scripting language like HTML, .NET, ASP,
JSP, PHP, ColdFusion, Ruby on
Rails etc., to deliver interactive
and powerful flash charts. Even
if you're a static HTML user or a
PowerPoint user, you can use
FusionCharts to deliver powerful
flash graphs for your websites &
presentations.
FusionCharts offers advanced
options to integrate charts with
AJAX applications or JavaScript
modules. You can update charts
on client side, invoke JavaScript
functions as hotspot links, or make dynamic calls
for XML data to server without involving any page
refreshes.
FusionCharts v3 offers you a wide variety of chart
types. From the basic bar, column, line, pie etc. to
the advanced combination charts, you can build all
the charts with the same ease of use.
Check Your Internet Usage !
For those of us who use Bell Sympatico, and there
are a lot of us, the issue of checking our usage has
become important. All new Sympatico accounts
now have a LIMIT imposed and if your uploads and
downloads exceed the limit on your account you
could geta nasty surprise when your internet bill
comes due. Remember, even if you are always
under your limit for many months and have low
average usage, as soon as you go over the limit
even once, you will be fined to the tune of $1.50
per gigabyte.
Sympatico does not make it very easy to check
your usage, but if you log in to their website and dig
around you will find they do have an Internet Activity Tracker, a self-serve tool that helps you monitor your online internet usage. It shows how many
gigabytes of data that youʼve downloaded and uploaded during a specific billing period. They update
your usage figures on their activity tracker regularly
but they do have this warning on the activity
tracker: Note: Current total Internet usage activity shown may be delayed by up to 60 hours.
If you are really conscious of certain rules you
should be all right. Usage refers only to all online
activity that occurs from your homeʼs Sympatico Internet connection. This can include both uploading
(sending) and downloading (receiving) data from
every computer in your home network that has internet access. Usage is incurred when:
• Web surfing
• Using peer-to-peer (p2p) or file-sharing programs
• Chatting on MSN Messenger
• Using e-mail
• Using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) program (like iChat or Skype)
• Streaming video or audio content
• Playing online games and gaming consoles
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
In order to control your usage keep
these thoughts in mind:
• 1 Some popular peer-to-peer file sharing programs (Bit Torrent, Transmission,
etc.) will, by default, upload shared files
to others as fast as your connection will
allow. This activity is often invisible to
you, but can accumulate significant
usage in a month. Check your program
preferences and ensure the upstream Internet is limited.
• 2 Leaving streaming music players running while youʼre away or doing other
things can generate usage you might not
be aware of.
• 3 If you use a news reader (Usenet),
make sure itʼs not set to automatically
download message bodies for groups
youʼre subscribed to. Otherwise, you
may download a significant volume of
material that is of no interest to you.
• 4 Running a server on your home connection is prohibited. By doing so, youʼre
not only violating Sympaticoʼs End User
Agreement, but you may be generating
volume against your account for the benefit of others.
If you are a Sympatico customer and are not aware
of your limits find out about them. Check your bill.
Call and complain when you get charged extra. If
you think you have an unlimited account, find out if
it has been replaced with a limited account. Donʼt
wait to get charged extra for what you think you
have always had as part of your account in the
past. Go to the Sympatico website and figure out
how to log into your account. If you can find it and
if Sympatico lets you, try to bookmark the Internet
Activity Tracker and monitor your activity carefully
for a few months. Make yourself aware of the relative size of documents. Watch out for the careless
habits that can get you into trouble. Check out the
Sympatico website and use filters to prevent spam.
Remember, you donʼt have to download everything
that people send you. If you use Gmail instead of
Sympatico mail you can see and read your mail remotely and preview images and attachments before you download them to your computer.
To find out your Sympatico internet usage check: < www.bell.ca/internetusage >
MarinerPak
In last monthʼs DoubleClick I wrote about Microsoft
Office 2008 for Macintosh. In this issue Iʼll
write about Marinerʼs office suite, MarinerPak.
Basically this suite is
composed of two terrific
individual Mariner products, Write and Calc.
They are bundled here together and available from
the mariner website at a
special price of $70.00 (a
savings of $50.00 over the
cost of buying the two programs separately). See: <
http://www.marinersoftware.com/shopproduct.php
> for details.
Mariner Write is the fastest word processing software available for the Mac. Itʼs like a stripped down
version of Word. There is a refreshing absence of
the usual clutter of menus and sub-menus and options dialogs for things you donʼt really need and
probably wonʼt really use. With Write you can open
and edit Microsoft Word documents, create and
save in several formats including Rich Text and
PDF files to share with others, automate your email with the Mail
Merge features. You can customise headers, footers, endnotes
and footnotes. No matter
what you write Mariner
Write has the functionality
to be your writing tool.
Compatibility with Microsoft
Word is a big plus for
Mariner Write because it
costs far less than Word
and Word documents are
the most popular type of
business communication files. People who
often have to work with complicated Word
documents should probably stick with Microsoftʼs product for the time being, but if
you just want a solid, easy-to-use word processing tool to help you get the job done, you
wonʼt go wrong with Mariner Write.
Similarly, Mariner Calc is a powerful spreadsheet
application that will open Microsoft Excel files and
has 150 built-in functions like named ranges, split &
freeze window panes, print preview, find, sorting,
auto sum, protected worksheets, and cell borders.
As a stand-alone program that provides the features most users actually need, without the powerful (and expensive) features in Excel, Mariner Calc
5.2 perform perfectly.
Write and Calc have been streamlined to include
only the necessary features that you are sure to
need and use, the features that won't get in the way
of getting your work done. They have all of the features you will actually use. The MarinerPak word
processor and spreadsheet bundle can be had for
a fraction of the cost of Microsoft Office yet offers
around 70% of the Word and Excel feature set that
you probably need.
With both of these Mariner products you will receive
complimentary technical support if you have questions or problems.
There is no installer or un-installer. The entire application, (excluding the preferences file you create
when you insert your registration information), resides in one folder, so installation is as easy as
opening up the product folders on the Mariner CD
and dragging the applications off the CD to your Applications folder. Removing the programs is simply
a matter of dragging the Write or Calc application
folder to the Trash and emptying it.
Visit the Mariner website at:
< http://www.marinersoftware.com/ >
to find out more about these and other Mariner
products.
The Macintosh iLife ʻ08 In the Classroom
A couple of years ago I wrote about an earlier edition of this book, The Macintosh iLife ʻ06, in the
June 2006 MaUsE DoubleClick. The Macintosh
iLife ʻ08 is actually the sixth edition of a 2002 Jim
Heid book that was originally called The Macintosh
Digital Hub. This most recent enhanced edition is
the book you need if you are going to get the most
out of iLife ʻ08 in an educational environment. Itʼs a
special “teacherʼs” edition of Jim Heidʼs iLife ʻ08
book that has been expanded and enhanced with
updated information and an added bonus. The
Classroom edition has additional sections created
by Apple Distinguished Educator Ted Lai designed
to help Kindergarten to Grade 12 educators get the
most out of the iLife suite. Ted has years of experience in education and currently works for the Los
Angeles County Office of Education. This is a huge
book, over 500 pages, selling for $55.00 in Canada.
It covers the types of projects that iLife excels at,
helping the user to do all sorts of fun things with
multimedia documents. The Macintosh iLife ʻ08 in
the Classroom was published by Peachpit Press,
well-known for their excellent series of “Visual
QuickStart Guides”.
The Macintosh iLife '08
is designed to let you
jump straight to the information you need.
The book is a series of
two-page spreads, each
a self-contained reference or visual guide
that covers one topic.
Each spread has its
own design, with sidebars, glossaries, and ill u s t r a t i o n s
supplementing the main text. Tabs on the edges of
the page let you quickly flip through the book and
jump to exactly the section you need. Teachers
learn by doing as the book steps them through projects that teach iLife basics. Choose from among
the six full lessons and 20 mini lessons. The lessons include projects, student tip sheets, and more.
The book devotes a section to each of the iLifeʼ08
programs: iTunes and iPod for music, videos and
podcast appreciation, iPhoto for photography,
iMovie for video editing,
iDVD for creating DVDs,
GarageBand for making
music, and iWeb for creating web pages. It also
has information about the
types of software and
hardware that compliment iLife: iPresent,
iSight, iSpeak, iSquint,
iToner,
iTrip,
iPDA,
iPhone, iMixes, iLounge,
iMic, iDisk, iChat, iCal.
iVCD, iWork and iWOW.
The format of the book makes it very easy
to learn and to teach from. No matter
where you open the text it works like a
tabloid: all of the information for the lesson
or task at hand is right there in front of you
so there is no need to leaf back and forth in
the book to complete a project. Every lesson begins with a title that describes the
project. This is followed by a short description of the purpose or intention of the lesson, how it can be applied. Then there is a
step by step procedure fully illustrated in
colour, indicating which action to take next
in which menu or application window to
achieve the desired results. Finally there is
either a set of essential notes and tips or a
glossary of terms, or a suggestion of how the lesson can be expanded on to achieve other results.
There is often a reference to a website where more
information is available.
To keep the book as current as possible there is a
companion website at: < www.macilife.com > that
offers podcasts and updates and has the latest tips
on using iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb. You donʼt have to use all of these
applications to get your moneyʼs worth out of this
book. Whether your interest only lies in editing photos, or movies, or music, or just creating the digital
media, there is more than enough in this book to
expand your enjoyment of iLife.
The MaUsE Library has a copy of this book. See
Page 12 of this issue for details. It is available for
one month to any paid-up MaUsE Member. We
only have one copy of this wonderful book so if you
want to borrow it be the first person to ask.
The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers
With over 40 books to his credit Scott Kelby is reputedly the best-selling computer-book author in
the world. In his spare time he is editor, publisher
and co-founder of Photoshop Users magazine,
editor and publisher of Layers magazine (which is
not about chickens), and the host of the top-rated
weekly video podcast and television show Photoshop User TV. In his other spare time he is president of the National Association of Photoshop
Professionals and president of the software training, education and publishing firm, Kelby Media
Group.
Matt Kloskowsk, as well as co-hosting Photoshop
User TV is the host of two other Photoshop podcasts and the author of seven books on Photoshop
and Illustrator. He is a well-known teacher of Photoshop and digital photography techniques, and
works full-time at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
This book is a joint project from these two professional trainers and full of practical advice and in-
struction (and created entirely on Macintosh G4
and G5 towers). Every project in
the book is designed to
achieve a specific goal or
resolve a specific frequently-encountered problem. Since both of the
authors have been exposed to, or saturated with,
years worth of requests for
advice from other professional Photoshop users, the
book has a very direct tone
that offers little explanation
for the suggestions in each
project. There is very little discussion or explanation of the
Photoshop Elements tools,
settings and filters and an understanding of how he program
works is assumed. Instead the
book is presented as a set of
problem pictures with full-colour illustrations of
workable techniques for
correcting them. The solutions to the problems
are presented as direct
advice: which settings to
use, when to use them
and why. Very little theory
or explanation. Just the
shortcuts to achieve the
desired results.
Photoshop Elements is
not Photoshop CS3 but
with the right sort of experience an Elements
user can achieve many of
the same effects as Pho-
toshop users without having to purchase Photoshop. This book shows some ingenious ways to duplicate many of the effects found exclusively in
Photoshop CS3 through creative
use of various Elements features.
The book covers colour correction, using Camera Raw for processing not only RA photos but
JPEGs and tiffs, really usable
sharpening techniques, and unobtrusively removing noise and
artifacts from images.
Because the authors of the
book presume a fairly advanced Photoshop awareness
in their readers and share a
common exposure to the requirements of Photoshop
professionals (as opposed to
digital photographers) there
is no padding of the book
with information about actually taking or printing the images. There is no mention of cameras, lenses,
exposures or recommendations about equipment.
The only focus of the book is the raw images and
what can be done to improve them using Photoshop Elements 6.
This book, like the other two books featured in this
issue of the DoubleClick, is published by Peachpit
Press. Itʼs 488 pages of the best advice and information from the best in the business. It retails for
$49.00 and was published last month so if you want
a copy make sure you call Chapters or Amazon to
see if they have a copy in stock.
It Came From the Internet...
Watch out
for MOTHRA !
AnalystSoftʼs StatPlus:mac
Finally, there is a Mac-user friendly data analysis
tool that works with Microsoft Excel. For those of us
who use Macintosh computers and run a version of
Excel as our data management program of choice
in our day-to-day work and play, there is nothing
more satisfying than a well-designed spreadsheet. A
spreadsheet can be a thing of beauty and a joy forever, to coin a phrase. Weʼve chosen the Macintosh
OS as the most user-friendly computer platform available anywhere and thanks to the strict interface requirements even the third-party tools that make it to
the Mac, like Microsoft Office:mac, are as easy to learn
and use as native Macintosh software.
But what if you are of a scientific bent, or work for a
math-heavy industry such as pharmacology, medicine or business, and complex statistical analysis is part of your daily routine? Where can you find a
user-friendly data analysis tool that works on your Mac? There arenʼt that
many Mac-user friendly statistical tools floating around. In fact, there arenʼt
many data analysis tools that can work on a Mac at all, user-friendly or not!
Generally speaking, you can choose between costly, heavy-duty, overly complicated statistical packages and lighter, easier to learn and easier to use tools
such as Microsoft Excel.
Although Microsoft Excel offers some data analysis capabilities, and is
user-friendly enough to be considered as your daily statistical tool there
is still the question of whether or not Excel is powerful enough to substitute for a ʻrealʼ statistical package? By default, Microsoft Excel provides limited functionality for data management and statistical analysis.
Interactive cell-by-cell calculations are a great simple way to perform
basic math and solve simple problems. Unfortunately, interactivity
harms reproducibility of results as there is generally no way to record
what you have done while calculating the result. If you make an error
on the way, you have to start your calculation all over again. Because
of this itʼs difficult use Microsoft Excel all by itself for serious data management and statistical analysis tasks.
StatPlus:mac turns your copy of Microsoft Excel 2004 or 2008 into a
powerful statistical tool without making you learn another software or
part with extraordinary amounts of money. Youʼll use the familiar Mi-
crosoft Excel interface to perform complex analysis and calculations, enabling
you to concentrate on analyzing the results rather than figuring out how to
achieve them.
Get repeatable, industry-standard results with StatPlus:mac. Supporting
ISO2602:1980, ISO 2854:1976, and ISO 3207:1975 standards ensures coherent, reproducible results every time you run an analysis. Perform a number of data processing operations from the very basics to advanced ones.
StatPlus:mac gives Microsoft Excel an ability to perform complex calculations and analysis tasks such as normality tests, Pagurova Criterion, correlation coefficients, GLM ANOVA
and non-parametric statistical
analysis. Use different methods
from contingency tables analysis to rank correlations, Probit
and Latin squares, KruskalWallis ANOVA and Cochran Q test.
Installation of the program is as
simple as downloading the program from the AnalystSoft website,
http://www.analystsoft.com/en/
decompressing it and dragging the
StatPlus folder to your Applications
folder. After you do this the program can be launched from Appli-
cations or put in the Dock. When
you launch it the Excel application
will automatically launch as well. I
put it in my Dock right beside Excel.
Besides the application the download folder is stuffed with 5 animated tutorials (HTML, JavaScript and ShockWave Flash video) and
20 example files that you can open and play with in Excel 2004 or
Excel 2008. The cost of the entire package is about $212.00 but you
can download a trial copy from http://www.analystsoft.com/en/ to
see how you like it.
With StatPlus:mac you gets
a robust suite of statistics
tools and graphical analysis
methods that are easily accessed though a simple and
straightforward interface. The
range of possible applications is virtually unlimited - sociology, financial analysis, biostatistics, economics, insurance industry, healthcare and clinical research, probability calculations for
lotteries and gambling operations - to name just a few fields where the program is already being extensively used. While StatPlus is a "heavy-duty" professional statistical analysis tool, the interface is so simple that even people
who have no knowledge of statistics are capable of processing data, provided
they know how to use a computer and clear instructions are given. This frees
up intellectual resources for analyzing the results, rather than agonizing over
who processed the data and how, and if any mistakes were made in the
process. Check it out. There will be a copy of StatPlus:mac available in the
May 2008 MaUsE Raffle.
The iPhone Review
Itʼs been over two months now since I
acquired my iPhone from Buffalo, and
itʼs safe to say that the device is as fantastic as youʼve all heard. I thought Iʼd
take a few minutes to share my
thoughts on some of the finer features
of the iPhone, now that Iʼve been living
with it for a while.
The first note Iʼd make is that Iʼm still
amazed at how well it integrates with
the Fido network. As you may know, the
iPhone needs to be connected to a
GSM cellular network, and in Canada,
that means either Rogers or Fido
(which are really the same company).
As a Fido customer prior to this purchase, I stayed with the carrier, and
swapped SIM cards. After the very simple unlocking process, there has been no problem using my
iPhone as a telephone. The only feature missing is
Visual Voicemail, as this has to be implemented by
the carrier. But the Voicemail button in the phone
application automatically dials my (plain old) voicemail number, so itʼs not a problem for me.
The second note Iʼd like to make is about how well
the iPhone integrates with my Mac. As Mac users,
one grey area has always been in the realm of
PDAs, and they way they sync with the computer.
Windows users have enjoyed stellar syncing solutions with Palm, Blackberry and Windows Mobile
devices for years! As Mac users, weʼve used these
devices, but getting the data (like addresses, mail,
bookmarks, etc.) to seamlessly move from mobile
device to desktop has been twitchy, to say the
least. The iPhone is the first piece of hardware that
finally, truly, seriously and deeply connects to my
Mac. Itʼs a full extension of my desktop experience:
I can trust that stuff that happens on the iPhone will
be reflected on the Mac. Even if Iʼm listening to a
podcast on the road, I can pick it up at the same
spot when I come home. The iPod can do that too,
but the phone extends that experience to all kinds of places I never appreciated till I had it.
The third note Iʼd like to make about
the iPhone is how wonderfully
portable it is. The device is so light
and slender, I can readily take it with
me everywhere I go. And of course, I
do! But it becomes a natural part of
your daily use that way. Have a
thought? Type in a note! Want to see
where your friend bought a house?
Use the Maps application! Want to
take a quick picture of your daughter
doing something super-cute? The
camera is always in your pocket. My
wife tells people that the iPhone is
surgically attached to me. Thatʼs not entirely true. I
just wish it were.
Twitter client (MobileTwitter) and an Etch-a-Sketch
application that my daughter adores, called
Sketches. Aside from these, Iʼm quite disenchanted.
The other problem is the GSM radio in the iPhone.
Itʼs freakinʼ powerful! So powerful that I can actually make and receive calls in my basement dungeon office. On the other hand, anyone with a GSM
phone can tell you that if there are unshielded
speakers near the phone, youʼll hear the duh-duhduh-duuuuuh-duh sound of the phone banging
away on the frequencies, moving data over the cellular network. You can hear it a bit on my (supposedly) shielded computer speakers, but itʼs
sometimes annoyingly loud on the baby monitor 20
feet away from my desk, or the car speakers, or a
telephone handset. But thatʼs not Appleʼs fault either: all GSM phones are like that.
So should you get an iPhone. Iʼm going to go with
a yes on that one.
Article Submitted by Aaron Vegh
It isnʼt all peaches and cream, however, so I
thought Iʼd part by mentioning two things that Iʼm
less than thrilled with about my iPhone. Interestingly, both issues are totally out of Appleʼs hands.
The first is the state of the third-party applications
available for the iPhone. This is a complete grey
market of programs that ambitious hackers have
written for the iPhone, and make available in a special Installer program that appears on the phone
after itʼs been unlocked by iJailbreak (see my earlier article regarding unlocking the phone in the
March DC). I thought I would be an extensive thirdparty app user, but it turns out that I have very little
use for them. A great portion of them require some
additional configuration/trickery to get working, a
bunch of them are unstable, and another good
chunk are just downright poorly-designed! I have
two apps that I do use, though: a recently-released
Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate
Madame Fate is the fourth in a series of casual
games that are called hidden object games. The
four are Huntsville, Prime Suspects, Ravenhearst
(see DoubleClick July 2007), and now Madame
Fate. I have enjoyed each and every one of them.
The basic objective of the game is to find objects
that are hidden in the picture. This is exceedingly
difficult as they are well camouflaged and of many
various sizes. Also searching for a bee might be for
an insect or the letter B. It is only with careful observation that all the items can be found. I would
venture to say that more than a hundred items
could be found per picture. Once found, you need
only click on the object to take it off the list. The hidden object game can be played by yourself or with
a group where everyone is helping find the camouflaged items. It is also a game to be enjoyed by any
age group.
The scenario for Madame Fate is that she is to be
killed by one of the 15 carnival workers. You must
determine where each of these suspects will be
when midnight strikes. Thatʼs the fated time of
Madame Fate's death. You are given a glimpse into
a crystal ball in order to accomplish this act of clairvoyance. Each of the four Mystery Case Files has
a different scenario. There are enough differences
between them that you do feel as though you are
playing a different game each time even though the
main object is to find hidden objects.
Once you have chosen a candidate to investigate
you are taken to a map of the carnival. There are
four or more sites in which 10 or 20 objects are hidden. Your task is to find these in order to get that
glimpse into the crystal ball. One of the sites requires only two objects to be found. Unfortunately
you need to solve some sort of puzzle (either word
or logic) before you are given the opportunity to
pick out the hidden objects. Once the puzzle is
solved then you need to
find 10 moons or 5 wands
or whatever in order to get credit for one discovery.
As with all of the Mystery Case Files, hints are supplied. In this game six can be accessed per map. In
the previous games the hints were very helpful. In
Madame Fate when a hint is called for, a large circle is lit up in which the object can be found. There
are times even with the hint that I have been unable to find the object, it being so cleverly camouflaged. Fortunately, you need to find two fewer than
the total that is hidden in the map. Missing one
does not hamper your progression in the game. Besides, if your time runs out, (did I forget to mention
that each map has a time limit) you can always start
that investigation over again. Once a suspect has
been eliminated, you do not have to repeat that
search.
nival locations to explore. There are hours of fun in
each of these Case Files. My wife and I usually play
it together with her finding objects I can't see and
vice versa. You can play them over again because
different objects need to be found at each site every
time you play the game. Rarely do the 10 hidden
objects repeat themselves. I have found that the
Mystery Case Files are faster loading, with better
and more responsive graphics with each new game
that comes out.
The full version of this game is $20 which can be
quickly paid online. It takes less than 10 minutes to
be up and running once you decide you want the
game. The trial version got me. When I had played
for an hour, I wanted to keep on searching.
Game Review Submitted by Marcel Dufresne
One of the new features found in Madame Fate is
the morphing objects: items that change shape
(such as going from
apple to orange). If you You can download a one-hour trial version of this game at
find enough of these, http://www.greenapplegames.com/macgames/madamefate-mac.htm.
you can unlock new car- It requires Mac OS 10.4.
Xslimmer by LateNiteSoft
It seems to be a problem that no matter how big a
drive we have for our computer we are always running out of storage space. It is even more crucial
for laptops as we aren't running around with external storage drives for them. That would defeat the
portability of the laptop. What if we could shrink the
size of applications? And I don't mean compressing
them with Stuffit Deluxe which would require unstuffing to use the application. Xslimmer is an application that will reduce the size of a program and
still leave it functional. It does this by removing unneeded code.
With the transition between the older PowerPC
Mac and the Intel Mac, programmers often created
what is called fat or Universal binary code. They
wrote their programs so that they could be run on
both machines. This meant that there was code
that would never be executed. Xslimmer determines which computer you are using and removes
this unneeded part of the application. Also, programs are often written to be used in other languages. Xslimmer is able to remove the Japanese
or German, etc. from the application. Again this will
save on some space.
I have read that the reduction in size of the application allows it to load faster. This makes sense to
me as there would be less code to read before running the application. I however have not noted this
with any of my applications. It is probably because
they are not large enough to notice. I have not had
any problems with running any of my slimmed
down applications and I have saved over a gigabyte of space. I was able to go from 105 MB to 34.8
MB with GarageBand. The Calculator application
went from 7.12 MB to 1.20 MB. The Console application from 3.13 MB to 0.416 MB. Each of these
ran perfectly fine afterwards.
Choosing which applications can be slimmed is
easy. Simply drag and drop the application onto the
Xslimmer window. Or you can drop a folder and all
of it will be searched. Once in the window you will
see the name of your application, its current size
and the size it would have after being slimmed. This
of course is only for those applications that can be
slimmed down. You will also be informed if no action can be performed on the chosen application.
You can then choose to slim it or not. There is a
"genie" button that quickly searches your hard drive
for any application that can be slimmed down. Updated applications will have to be slimmed again.
Not all programs can be slimmed. Programmers do
not always use fat binary. They will write two versions of an application. In these cases Xslimmer
will notify you that the program cannot be slimmed.
Other programs such as Safari or DiskWarrior have
built in checkers that attempt to detect any tampering with the code.
Xslimmer marks these as
blacklisted which means
that they will not run properly if they are slimmed
down. It is recommended
that you enable the backup option from the
preferences for Xslimmer if you intend to reduce the size of an application that you will not
be able to reinstall. The backup system you invoke will allow any code that is removed to be
saved (maybe on an external drive so as not to
use up hard drive space). This would allow you
to return the application to its unslimmed format should you feel the need to. You can restore an application by hitting the history
button and choosing restore. For my part, I
used only applications that I got off the Internet
or from my Mac Install discs. That way I did not
have to save the delete code and if anything
went wrong I could quickly get back the full
version.
The cost for this space saving application is
$12. Yes that's right. Only $12. There is a trial
version that you can download from www.xslimmer.com that allows 50 MB of slimming. It is
compatible from Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Panther)
all the way up to Leopard. How could you afford not to own this type of application?
Article submitted by Marcel Dufresne
Markzware questions integrity
of InDesignʼs built-in pre-flight
Markzware has launched a scathing attack on
Adobe InDesignʼs inbuilt pre-flighting utility through
the online video-sharing site YouTube. The video
compares Markzwareʼs own FlightCheck Pro software with Adobe InDesignʼs pre-flight tool, which
Markzware described as “virtually useless”. In the
video, Markzwareʼs Euro pean manager David
Dilling says: “Over the years, weʼve seen more
and more [companies] thinking theyʼre getting
full-fledged pre-flight if they use Adobe InDe-
signʼs built-in pre-flight tool. That simply is not
true. Furthermore, even calling it a pre-flight
function is actually stretching the truth. Itʼs not
rules-based, meaning you cannot even change
what you want to check for.”
The video goes on to highlight the greater functionality of FlightCheck and criticizes InDesign for not
allowing the creation of a rules set with which to
check a particular document. Markzware stressed
its own pre-flighting tool picked up on more errors
than InDesign and that it could check over 50 different file formats, including Photoshop, InDesign and
numerous image formats including Postscript.
Photoshop Elements 6 for Macintosh
About five months ago, two years after releasing the last edition, Adobe finally
released Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Macintosh (PsE 6). There never was
a Macintosh version 5 of this program: Adobe jumped it from version 4 right up
to PsE 6 in order to keep pace with the Windows version, which is now at 6
as well. If the number of times MaUsErs have asked me about it is any indication this has been the most popular program upgrade of 2008 with the
MaUsE membership. And we were not the only ones interested. In mid-January of this year at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco the new Photoshop Elements 6 was one of the Best of Show award winners.
This new version of Photoshop Elements ships on a DVD with a little 17-page
Getting Started Guide and a huge 22.4 megabyte 314-page .PDF Users Manual. Also included in the box is a coupon from onOne Software for $20.00 off
the purchase price of onOne Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements
and documentation entitling the purchaser of PsE 6 to a $25.00 rebate if the
purchaser also has a previously licensed copy of Elements. And speaking of
previous versions of Elements, this new version surpasses Elements 4 in
every way. Itʼs quicker to launch, sports a dramatically revised interface, is a
Universal Binary, and is packed with all sorts of tools that amateur photographers—for whom the full-fledged Photoshop is overkill—will appreciate. Photoshop Elements 6 walks you through each editing step to make improving
your photos easier than ever. Its all in the new interface.
As you can see in the picture below, the application covers the entire screen.
What you donʼt see is as revealing as what you do see. There is a complete
absence of the floating palettes that distinguish most Adobe products. Instead
there is a discreet panel on the right
side of the window with the main exclusive control palettes keyed to buttons. The EDIT button calls up three
sub-menus, Full, Quick and Guided.
For novices and beginners this new version of the program makes working
with pictures as friendly as digitally possible. It introduces techniques sequentially to help the amateur photographer build a better picture out of his
image. The interface is generous with its suggestions and encouragements
(What would you like to do ? What would you like to create ? How would you
like to share ?) and you can always easily click a button to undo what youʼve
done or reset the image to normal so the fear of damaging your pictures is
truly remote.
As you can well imagine, there is a whole lot more to Photoshop Elements 6
that I can adequately describe here in a few pages. (Elsewhere in this issue
is a review of Scott Kelbyʼs new Photoshop Elements 6 manual in which he
uses 488 pages to describe what he thinks is necessary and sufficient to use
the program). This new appearance of the sidebar with the universal flat grey
background has not replaced any of the powerful tools and abilities that youʼve
come to expect from the Elements version of Adobe Photoshop. It still does
layers and still has all of the common menus and many of the most useful and
powerful filters that you get with Adobe Photoshop CS. It still recognizes all of
the same third-party commercial filters that Photoshop CS does, and it is an
pleasure to use on my new Intel iMac.
One feature among others that deserves special mention is the new Photomerge Group Shot, from EDIT: Guided. There are striking examples of this
effect on the Adobe website. Photomerge technology can be used to copy facial traits from one portrait to another or combine a series of overlapped images to create a wide panorama composed of elements from multiple images.
EDIT: Full gives a HUGE selection of
possible effects, only a few of which
are shown in the included picture,
while EDIT:Quick gives access to
Auto or manual alterations and
changes in lighting and colour attributes, Smart Fix, and auto sharpen.
EDIT:Guided, just as the name suggests, gives access to step-by-step instructions and suggested cures for more
complex and for more common photographic alterations. Topics covered are
basic edits, exposure problems, color corrections, and merging images. All of
this takes place on-screen in the panel to the right of the image window.
The CREATE button leads to hints and instructions to help the user CREATE:
Projects and CREATE: Artwork. The SHARE button instructs the user how
to use the most common methods to send images to various destinations. Information is clearly presented with links to more instruction if requested.
+
With multiple pictures of similar groups its possible
to easily remove and replace discordant elements,
swapping out elements like just the faces with their
eyes closed or the people facing away from the
camera. Using Photomerge you can easily combine facial expressions and body positions from a
series of shots to create a single composite.
The program now opens with a Welcome screen
very much like the QuarkXPress Welcome mat. It
invites you to start a photo-editing project from
scratch, browse for images with Adobe Bridge, import pictures from your digital camera or scanner, or
open a recently viewed image. The version of
Bridge included in Elements 6 is nearly the full version from Photoshop CS3. Bridge lets users view,
=
sort, and organize their photos libraries. By viewing a photoʼs metadata, for example, you can learn
which aperture, shutter-speed, and ISO settings
worked and which did not. I usually rely on Graphic
Converter to check this type of information but now
itʼs available in Elements through Bridge. With
Bridge, you can select multiple photos and compare them, side-by-side, in the preview area. You
can apply keywords, descriptions, and ratings to
your photos and
then use Bridgeʼs
filtering capabilities
to find your photos
more efficiently.
Minimum System Requirements:
• G4 or G5 or Intel processor
• Mac OS X v.10.4.8 - 10.5
• 512MB of RAM
• DVD-ROM drive
BeLight Softwareʼs Get Backup
Over the years MaUsE has received several software packages from BeLight. We have featured
BeLight Softwareʼs Mail Factory, Swift Publisher
and Art Text in past issues of the DoubleClick and
in our MaUsE raffles. For this issue we have received Get Backup, a new program from BeLight
that has just been released. Get Backup is a native
Mac OS X backup software utility. This program is
a simple and efficient tool for creating personal
backups, suitable for both beginners and pros. It
gracefully combines the simple and elegant user interface with powerful backup capabilities, such as
automatic backups according to your schedule.
It doesnʼt take very much time from the day you buy
a new Macintosh to the time when the documents
on your hard drive are worth more to you than the
computer itself. And more expensive to replace as
well. All of this valuable information is stored on the
hard drive of your computer. And as we all know, at
the worst possible time, bad things happen and
hard drives do crash and burn.
Such things tend to occur when
they are least expected. So the
best protection is to back up
your data regularly. And this is
where Get Backup comes helpful. All you need to do is to restore your data if an emergency
occurs.
The customizable scheduling tool allows to fully
automate the backup
process, so that backups
are built on a regular
basis (daily, weekly or
monthly). You can specify
the backup start time up
to a minute. You can create separate schedules
for different backup projects. The program allows
to save backups to any
locally mounted device/drive,
including
FireWire, USB, ATA,
SCSI, CD and DVD devices, or network volumes. The program
allows for Full, Versioned or Incremental backups.
Tar-compatible backup archives allow you to extract backup files on any computer, even computers
without Get Backup installed. You can have the
Ability to launch Get Backup as “System Administrator”, a feature that allows you to back up system
files and any account. You can backup hidden files
and the program stores a record of brief and detailed logging of all program actions. After you recover from a disaster and your hard drive gets
replaced you can restore files back to their original
place, or to a location of your choice, restore files
with their original permissions. Preservation of resource forks allows to save additional parameters
of your files and folders, so the restored files will
have the same look and arrangements as the original ones. HFS file types and creators are retained
and restored as well.
Get Backup retails for $40.00. Visit the BeLight
Software website for more information or to buy a
copy.
there are good reasons for the book to be
this big. It is designed
to serve a wide range of Office users. Part I, the
first 37 pages, is a basic introduction and overview
of many of the procedures that are common to all
four Office applications. Starting new documents,
making and saving changes, renaming files, working with various types of content, and getting Help
are covered. After that Parts II to V contain lengthy
descriptions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage with plentiful explanation of the abilities of
each application. These four sections could have
been published as four separate Visual QuickStart
Guides.
Microsoft Office 2008 Visual QuickStart Guide
In last monthʼs issue I wrote about the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintosh, the latest release
of the third most talked-about Microsoft product,
(the other two being Halo and Vista).
The people at Peachpit Press were not slow bringing this new Office 2008 book to market. If you have
seen other QuickStart Guides you are familiar with
the format: QuickStart Guides have a lot of practical information and are designed to be used as reference texts. As the name implies the Visual
QuickStart Guides are also fully-illustrated manuals that are intended to get a new user up and running with an application in the shortest possible
time. One difference between this book and most
other guides in the QuickStart series is that the others concentrate on just one application in depth but
this book covers the most useful commands and
procedures for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, all four of the programs included in all editions of the Office 2008 suite. Another obvious
difference is the size of the book: itʼs hard to think
of a QuickStart Guide weighing in at a hefty 524
pages functioning as an introduction to a program
that Microsoft shipped with no manual at all but
The last part of the book, Part VI, Integrating Applications, explains how to use the four Office applications together. Information about how to use the
internet-related features are also covered in this
section.
This edition of the book is Macintosh-only, covering all three editions of Office 2008 for Macintosh,
and all of the illustrations and all of the screen shots
in the book are from the latest version of Mac OSX.
There is a separate Windows version of the Guide
which has Windows versions of the same pictures
and illustrations but thatʼs a different
book. Many of the other QuickStart
Guides I have seen are for users
with both platforms and use images
from either both or from whatever
Windows OS the author is using so
its good to see a manual of this size
and importance that is strictly made
for and with the Macintosh. Unfortunately this book does not cover Microsoft Expression Media, the digital
media organizer included as an integral part of Office 2008 Special Edition.
This book is written by Steve Schwartz, the author
of over 50 computer books (including the Peachpit
Press Visual QuickStart Guides to Office:mac 2004
and Office 2007 for Windows 2007) and has written
hundreds of articles for major computer magazines
including Macworld, PC World, and Computerworld.
The MaUsE Library has a copy of this book. See
Page 12 of this issue for details. It is available for
one month to any paid-up MaUsE Member and will
be loaned out on a first-to-ask-first-to-borrow basis.
Rewind from PowerOn
Hereʼs a flash from the distant past for those of
us (like me !) who still have a Mac somewhere in
the house that is running Mac OS8 or Mac OS9.
I was casually cruising the Macintosh utilities category on eBay, as I have been wont to do, and saw
an excellent bargain. With only a few hours left in a
seven-day auction nobody had bid on an unopened
copy of Rewind, Power On Software's incredible
safety-net utility that made its debut at Macworld
Expo 2000 in New York, and was selected as Best
of Show in the software category. I remember hearing about this program at the time but for $130.00
Canadian (US $99.00) plus GST& PST I gave it a
miss. There is nothing really very important on any
of my computers and I never accidentally delete
anything. Anyway, when I saw that the auction was
six days and twenty- three hours into a seven-day
auction and the seller had foolishly listed the package for one cent in order to get the bidding going I
decided to risk it and I bid a dollar for this program.
Since mine was the ONLY bid all I had to pay was
the one American cent in order to get it, plus
postage.
This is what ReWind does:
• 1.Rewind allows you to rewind your entire hard
drive to a previous state and restore your hard drive
to any time before your computer messed up.
• 2. Rewind allows you to rewind individual files to
a previous state. Get back the un-corrupted file you
had before it got messed up.
• 3. Rewind provides an “Emergency Startup Mode”
for when your system will not boot and you don't
have a CD.
A panel of experts from Macweek.com awarded the
coveted “Best of Show” honor to Power On Software for its amazing and innovative software tech-
nology breakthrough. Rewind protects against catastrophes, disasters, and user error that can spell
the difference between success or failure. Rewind,
based on several patent-pending technologies,
gets users out of a bind by permitting them to
merely click the program's Rewind button. The software then magically transports the user back to the
instant before the problem occurred. What if you
had two versions of a spreadsheet and saved the
wrong one? Or if you accidentally deleted the perfect picture of your kids? Or wrote over your Masters Thesis and didn't realize it until a week later?
Wouldn't you want a one- button way to fix it? Away
to go back in time?
Rewind can reverse even the bleakest-looking situations and rescue users from potential tragedy.
Using Rewind merely requires the user to click on
the Rewind button. The program then permits the
user to return to the moment just before disaster
struck. Typical situations where Rewind can come
to the rescue include:
• Accidentally overwriting or deleting a file or if important data has been lost and no backup exists
• New application software conflicts prevent the
computer from booting
• System files have become damaged, the computer won't start up, and the user doesn't have a
System disk
• Virtually any other situation where the computer
software had been operating normally until the fateful moment.
Rewind's patent-pending technology remembers
ALL the data that has been modified on a user's
disks, allowing users to return to previous versions
of documents, applications, or entire disks, with a
single click on the Rewind button. And Rewind's
breakthrough Emergency Startup Mode allows
users to reboot from their hard disk even if they
have deleted or damaged the entire System
Folder! Rewind is a technological tour de force
combined with an elegant and familiar interface. A
simple on-screen calendar permits users to travel
back in time by pointing and clicking at a date and
time. Rewind is completely transparent, working
unobtrusively in the background.
To use Rewind you must have
a PowerMacintosh with a hard
drive formatted in HFS+, running Mac OS8.x or Mac
OS9.x. The “Get Info” box will
tell you information about how your drives are formatted if you donʼt know or
aren't sure. When you erase a disk or drive, the Format window pop-up menu
may give you choices that include Mac OS Standard (HFS) and Mac OS Extended (HFS+). Mac OS Standard formatting is compatible with all versions of
the Mac OS. But Mac OS Extended is only compatible with OS8.1 or later. If
you format a hard disk with Mac OS Extended (HFS+) you canʼt use that disk
with computers that use OS8.0 or earlier. After the Rewind installation and
restart of your computer, Rewind starts a setup assistant to aid in configuration. This is where you can create your “Emergency Startup Disk”. The default
setting for the disk is 100 Megs, but you can resize it. The default startup key
for the disk is “R” other choices are “E” or “S”. Once you click on the create button, Rewind copies a minimal system folder and a copy of the Rewind application along with copies of Apple Disk First Aid, Apple DiskCopy and other
select utility applications on your hard drive if they are present.
From The President of MaUsE
If you are living in or near the Durham Region of Southern Ontario and
using a Macintosh computer or iPod and are not yet a member of MaUsE,
you can use the information found on the second page of this newsletter to
get MaUsE meeting info and to get in touch with a member of our executive to find out how to join the fastest growing Mac user group in the Greater
Toronto Area.
The MaUsE Membership fee is $45.00 per year and meetings run from 7:00
P.M. to 9:30 P.M. on the fourth Wednesday of each month. See the second
page of this issue for details. There is enough information on our website
<www.mause.ca > to get you started and indicate the topics being presented at the next MaUsE meeting. If you just want to attend a few of our
monthly meetings before committing, please feel free to join us at the new
central Whitby Library at 7:00 P.M. on the fourth Wednesday of every month
(except July, August and December). The new Whitby library where we
meet is located at the intersection of Henry Street and Dundas Street West
just a few blocks west of the four corners in Whitby. Our meeting room is
right behind the Coffee Shop. We have a big welcome to new MaUsE
Members and anyone contemplating joining.
MaUsE Meetings are open to the public and admission is free but eligibility for winning valuable MaUsE Raffle prizes at our monthly
MaUsE Meeting Raffles and receiving (limited) technical assistance
are available only to paid-up MaUsE club members. All members of the
MaUsE club can present on any Mac-related topic or put on a demonstration of their software at MaUsE Meetings, participate in MaUsE club activities, and request copies of software to review. Other privileges of
membership are listed on our < www.mause.ca > website and include the
right to borrow from the extensive MaUsE Club Library and to submit articles to this excellent newsletter.
We also provide MaUsE Members with access to an email Topica List
where MaUsE Club members can post their software and hardware questions and ask for technical support if their computer is behaving badly. And
we get offers of discounts from software companies because we are registered MUG (Macintosh User Group) members.
Michael Shaw
Joesoft Hear
Anything we get from Joesoft deserves our careful consideration. Over the
past years many of the very best Macintosh harddrive utilities and software
featured in demonstrations at our MaUsE meetings have come from Joesoft
and its parent company, Prosoft Engineering. Another reason the name
sounds familiar to DoubleClick readers is that we have featured Joesoft Stox,
Jax and Klix and ProsoftEngineeringʼs Drive Genius 2, Data Rescue II, and
Data Backup 3 at MaUsE raffles and in recent past issues as well. Take a good
look at the big box at right. Jennifer Bell, Marketing Manager at Joesoft, has
sent us a copy of Hear to be featured in our MaUsE raffle this month ! Make
sure you attend for your chance to win.
"Hear is a great new program that makes everything sound
better on your Mac. All your music will be vastly improved,
your movies will surround you with rich sound and your
games will now blow you away" says Greg Brewer, CEO of
Prosoft...."Once you've listened to your music or movies with
Hear, you will never want to be without Hear.”
Iʼm sure you probably feel that there is nothing wrong with the sound that
comes out of your Macintosh just the way it is. You get used to it and then it
sounds normal, no matter how good or bad it is. However, as we all know from
exposure to other software like SynthMaker and DSP-Quattro, digital audio
can be enhanced to make it sound crisper and improve separation of tracks.
Better speakers can also improve sound quality but they can be very expensive. Joesoft Hear is a software sound utility that greatly improves the audio
quality in movies and music throughout all of your Mac OS X applications. And
its not just for system sounds: with Hear, your MP3s will sound richer, movie
sounds will be more powerful, dialog will be clearer and sound effects in your
games will have greater clarity and punch. Its like the difference between hearing your music being played off an LP on a good stereo system and hearing it
played in your CD player. Hear is a set of control panels that utilize the hardware already in your computer and combine that with DSP programming to
give you additional bass, spatialization, 3D surround and various other realtime enhancements of any sound played through your Mac.
Hear is made up of a set of thirteen modules, each of which can be individually switched on or off. They include:
• General: Easy access to controls for bass, ambience (reverb), fidelity (a simple EQ filter effect), plus switches for enabling or disabling other effects.
• EQ: 10-band EQ that you can view as sliders or draggable curves.
• Mixer: Allows you to control the output volume of your currently running applications.
• 3D: Much like SRS Labsʼ Wow effects, the 3D effect spreads the sound from
your speakers to provide a broader sound-stage.
• Ambience: Reverb.
• FX: Another 3D effect that not only appears to spread the sound, but allows
you to draw it more or less into the center of the stereo field.
• Maximizer: An effect found in many sound reinforcement rigs. Emphasizes
and more clearly defines highs and lows.
• BW: This effect generates brain waves targeted at relaxation.
• Limiter: An effect that limits volume peaks.
• Space: More 3D trickery. Normal setting gives you some spread.
Wide really spreads the sound.
• Fidelity: A frequency filter.
• Speaker: An effect for reducing bass resonance, boosting mid-range, inverting
phase, and flipping the stereo channels.
• Sub: Controls for altering bass frequencies.
As you can see from the expanded view
of some of the individual control panels
on the next page Hear is pretty serious
stuff. With this program you can take
control of everything your computer
does that has an audio track, including
listening to your music and podcasts,
watching movies, and playing games.
Everything that comes out of your
speakers will benefit from Hear and
you wonʼt be using it for very long before youʼll be wondering how you got
along without it. It makes my crummy speakers sound so good that I canʼt wait
to unplug them and try out a better set of speakers. Hear is the best thing you
can do for your ears. Its easy to install, easy to configure, and addictive. And,
at only $49.00 it may be the biggest bargain of the season, (after the Psystar
Open Computer on Page 5 of this issue). It comes with a 26-page .pdf explanation of the controls and a folder of about 50 bonus popular presets.
Mireth Technology Music Man v2.7
Installing Music Man 2.7 is as easy as downloading the .img file
from the Mireth website < www.Mireth.com > and dragging the
Music Man folder to your Applications Folder. You get a 15-day
free trial to decide how good the program is before you pay for a
registration. For what it does it is remarkably inexpensive, costing
just $25.00 to license the download version (or $35.00 if you want
to order the CD). For that you get a complete music management system that
you can use to take control of all of your music files. Music Man uses a very
clean task-based interface. Each of the seven available tasks is represented
by a tab across the top of the Music Man window. Depending what task you
want to do you click the corresponding tab. The tasks are:
Organize - organizes your music into Play Lists and Play Lists into Play List
groups for burning
Play - Plays Audio CDs, music files from your Mac, from CD, from DVD or directly from flash media
Rip - Rips files from CDs
Convert - Converts music from one format to another format
Burn - Burns file to Audio CD, MP3 CD, MP3 DVD
Flash - Writes music to flash memory
Music Store - use if you want to buy music from Music Stores
Key Features:
• Ripping
As a MP3 ripper Music Man can rip
Audio CD to MP3, WMA, AAC
(M4A,M4B) or to Ogg Vorbis - it will rip
the whole CD or just selected tracks,
and can rip to both MP3 and M4A in
one operation*
• Converting digital formats
It can convert the most popular digital music formats. Convert from Audio CD,
unprotected AAC (m4a, m4b), MP3, WAV, unprotected WMA, Ogg Vorbis,
AIFF, midi. Convert to Audio CD, AAC, MP3, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, WMA. (Please
note: Music Man will not convert DRM protected files. This includes WMA,
M4P, DRM protected purchased iTunes tracks, or any other DRM protected file
formats.).
• Playing music
Play Audio CD, MP3, WMA, Wav, AAC (M4A,M4B,M4P), Ogg Vorbis, Midi on
Mac OS X
Play from your Mac, from CD, From DVD, from Flash Drive
Play music files from anywhere on your computer
Play stereo music in mono format
• Burning
Music Man can burn music to CDs, DVDs or USB Flash Drive Memory
Burn Audio CD (CD-R, CD-RW)
Burn MP3 CD (CD-R, CD-RW)
Burn MP3 DVD (DVD-R, DVD-RW)
Burn DVD-Audio (DVD-R, DVD-RW) Burn to Music CD (WMA, AAC, OGG)
Burn to USB Flash Drive Memory
Put 10 hours of music on 1 CD, or 50 hours on 1 DVD
• Variable quality on writing to Flash Drive
To get the best quality on Flash Drive use the CD quality feature.
To get 2 hours of music on a 64mb USB Flash drive without changing the original files use the FM Radio quality feature.
To jam 4 hours of music on a 64mb USB Flash drive without changing the original files use the AM Radio quality feature.
Whether you want to rip, convert, burn or play music, Music Man is the digital
music management software for Mac OS X that does it all. Go to the Mireth
website < http://www.mireth.com/index.html > to learn more about the software that offers all the features you want in an easy-to-use music player that
also includes ripper, converter and burner features. While you are there checkout the other Mireth titles. Mireth Technology is a Canadian company located
in Vancouver, BC.
About firmware updates for Intel-based Macs
Learn how to locate, download, and apply a
firmware update to an Intel-based Macintosh computer. Firmware updates can be found at Apple
Downloads or by choosing Software Update from
the Apple menu.
• 1 Locate the appropriate update for your Macintosh model, and download it to your computer by
clicking the update's title, then clicking on the file
size indicator in download details or at the bottom
of the page. The download will place the disk image
on your desktop which contains an installer.
• 2 If you downloaded via Safari, Safari will notify you that an application is in the image.
Click OK to continue. If "Open safe files after
downloading" is checked in Safari preferences, the disk image file will mount by itself.
If that preference is not enabled in Safari, double click on the disk image to mount it.
To find out which version of firmware you have, see
this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237
If you are updating a portable Mac, make sure that
your AC adapter is plugged in. The Firmware Updater application will not run unless the computer
is connected to AC power.
Important: Do not unplug, shutdown, or restart your
computer while the update is taking place. Interrupting a firmware update can render your computer unusable. If this happens, take your machine
to an Apple store or authorized service provider or
perform the recovery yourself using another Macintosh computer to download the Firmware
Restoration
CD
disk
image
from
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/. This
software allows you to create a CD which you can
use to restore your machine to working order.
Installation takes a few minutes.
• 7 After your firmware has been updated, your machine will restart.
• 3 On the mounted disk image, you will find a
file named either MacBookFirmwareUpdate.pkg,
MacBookProFirmwareUpdate.pkg,
MacMiniFirmwareUpdate.pkg, MacProFirmwareUpdate.pkg, or iMacFirmwareUpdate.pkg.
• 4 Double-click the appropriate package for your
computer to start the firmware update process.
(The installer puts the Firmware Updater in the /Applications/Utilities folder, and launches it automatically.)
• 5 Read the onscreen instructions and click Shut
Down to proceed with the update. The firmware
image will be loaded on your machine, and your
machine will shut down, but the update will not be
installed until the next step.
• 6 Hold down the power button until the power indicator light flashes, then release it. A long tone will
be heard, then a gray screen with an Apple logo appears. There is a progress bar under the logo. As
the progress bar moves, your firmware is being updated.
• 8 After you log in, a dialog box will appear indicating the firmware update has been successful.
Click OK to dismiss this dialog.

May 2008 MaUsE DoubleClick*

Transcription

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