January 27 2006
VIDEOTAPE TO DVD
Colin had attended a workshop session in Christchurch which explained the process of converting video footage into DVD format, and brought to the the meeting a copy of the workshop's extensive notes on how to do this. See Tony if you would like to borrow them (sorry, they're not on e-mail, although I could scan them). Thanks, Colin.
UPDATE OF iLIFE / iWORK
The iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Garage Band, iTunes, iWeb) and iWork (Pages & Keynote) are now available in their updated 06 versions. There is not an upgrade price, so if you already have 05 versions, you need to pay full price to get the new versions. For further details visit http://www.apple.com
NEW MAC MODELS
New Mac computers (both iMac and laptops) will be available with a choice of either the present PowerPC processors, or the considerably faster Intel Core Duo processors - The new iMacBook Pro laptop operates 4x faster, and the new Intel iMac 2x faster.
The operating system in Intel Macs will contain software called Rosetta, which will enable non-Intel software (such as we are using at present) to run Ð with some exceptions (such as Final Cut, which will need to be upgraded to an Intel version). It seems that Intel Macs do not run Classic applications.
Visit http://www.apple.com/hardware/ and http://www.apple.com/rosetta/ for further information.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A variety of topics were discussed at different times during the meeting. A summary:
CONCEALING MULTIPLE E-MAIL ADDRESSES
When I'm sending an e-mail message to a number of recipients, how do I stop a list of addresses from appearing in the header?
- Type the addresses in the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) panel message, instead of the To or Cc (Carbon Copy) panels. Doing this sends the message to multiple recipients (as does Cc), but each recipient sees only his/her own address when the message is received:
- If you use Mail as your e-mail application, you may find that the Bcc panel does not appear, as by default it is hidden.
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To make it appear, click on the
symbol at the left of the message panel, and check the Bcc Address Field line, and this toggles the Bcc to remain on in this and subsequent messages.
OPENING MUSIC ATTACHMENTS
Sometimes music attachments on e-mails don't play Ð how can I hear them?
- The music file may be in a format which your e-mail application doesn't recognise, Don't open the attachment; instead, save it to the Desktop, then try opening it in your web browser, which may (or may not) recognise it.
BURNING DISKS
How do I burn files onto a CD?
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Simple Ð just follow these steps:
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Insert a blank writeable (or rewriteable) CD into your CD drive
- Drag the files you wish to burn onto the CD's icon on the desktop
- Drag the CD's icon to the trash (no, it won't get trashed!) and you will notice that the Eject symbol has been replaced by a Burn Disk symbol - MacOS knows that you are trying to eject a disk which has not been burned, and you will be asked if you want to burn it before ejecting.
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More advanced CD burning techniques (eg. burning more than one session onto the same CD) are available with applications such as Roxio Toast.
TWO PAGES IN A PDF FILE
When IÕm sending a PDF file, how do I join two separate pages?
LAPTOP SCREEN DIMMING
How do I stop my laptop screen from going dim after a few minutes?
- Go to System Preferences/Energy Saver screen and select settings for Battery. In the Sleep panel, increase the 'Put the display to sleep...' to a longer period, or Never.
- In the same panel, there is a checkbox for putting the Hard Disk to sleep - having this checked saves battery power when the computer is idle by stopping the hard disk from spinning.
PHOTOS INTO WORD
How do I insert a photo into a Word document?
- It may depend on the version of Word that you are using, but both Microsoft Office X and Office 2004 Mac support 'drag and drop' insertion into documents.
PHOTOS FOR PC
How can I send images from iPhoto to a friend who is a PC-user?
- An album from iPhoto can be read by a PC (but not the 'extra' info that is with each image, such as the thumbnails), so it can just be copied to a CD. It may be easier to create a new folder on the desktop, drag the images into it from iPhoto, then burn the folder to a CD.
VIDEOS IN iTUNES
What can I do about some videos which won't play in iTunes 6?
- Videos which won't play in iTunes 6 may need to be re-encoded. Visit this site to download the shareware application FFMPEGX, which will perform this task: http://homepage.mac.com/major4/
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Select the 'iPod for TV' format when re-encoding for iTunes.
OTHER SESSIONS
MacBASICS ~ EXPOSE
Sheryl demonstrated the use of the Expose feature, introduced in MacOS 10.3 (Panther), allows the user to press function keys to view either
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all open windows (F9), or
- all windows of the current application (F10), or
- the desktop (F11).
This is a handy way to find your way around if you have multiple windows open, or are using more than one application at a time Ð if you can remember to use it!
SCANNING
Tony, Sheryl and Roger gave an overview of the basics of scanning procedures, with an introduction to equipment, settings and some of the associated software.
As scanners come from a variety of manufacturers, the software supplied with them is not always suitable for using with Macs in general (and MacOS in particular). Many will operate through MacOS X's Image Capture application (with handles the importing of data from both digital cameras and scanners), as Tony demonstrated, but more advanced operation may require an application such as Scanwise, which is freeware downloadable from Apple: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/drivers/agfascanwisex.html
Shareware to operate scanners includes both MacOS 9 and MacOS X versions of VueSCAN, which support over 500 models of scanner Ð visit http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html
Note: While mentioning non-Apple scanner drivers, please note that non-Apple printer drivers are available at Gimp Print (now Guten Print) - visit http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
Or alternatively http://www.linuxprinting.org/
iDOG
Ricky provided some light relief at the conclusion of the meeting by showing us his iDog... What's an iDog???? HereÕs what its website says:
Ever think of having a pet listen to music with you? This is no longer a dream! iDog not only listen music with you, it also dances with rhythm as well as compose song. This is the latest hot release by SEGA.
When you place it in front of speakers or plugging it into a headphone of any hand-held music player, its face lights up and it moves its head and ears. It is the loveliest speaker as well. There are 7 LED lights in different colors on its face which flash with strength of rhythm. It is compatible with most portable music devices such as Discman, iPod, or Rio MP3 players.
iDog can sense your touch - when you touch it at different part of its body, it tells you it is happy or not. The LED lights also express its emotion. Its face can sense light so when it is playing music, you shade its face with your hand then the rhythm will change. It composes and plays wonderful music in different mood. iDog can remember up to 70 songs. Feed it with sounds when it is hungry! It loves any sort of sounds.
Regards to all....
Tony Climo
Secretary, Aoraki Macintosh Users Group
E-mail it.climo@xtra.co.nz
Phone 03 693 9215
REMINDERS
Next AMUG Evening meeting will be on Friday February 24, 2006 7.30pm.
Next AMUG Daytime Meeting Monday February 13
Regards to all....
Secretary: Tony Climo, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group
