January 26, 2007 Meeting

Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings





Web design

NEW HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

Sheryl outlined three new Apple products:

iPhone (left), which they describe as: "...combining three products - a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching - into one small and lightweight handheld device." iPhone has a number of innovative features, including:
  • Multi-touch display which enables selection, scrolling, zooming and typing by just finger-touch.
  • MacOS X, giving access to Safari web browser, widgets, calendar, text messaging, Notes and Address Book.
  • Multitasking, so you can browse the web and download e-mail simultaneously, for example.
  • Advanced sensors: automatically changes the display from portrait to landscape as you turn the iPhone, turns off the display when close to your ear, adjusts the brightness of the display according to the ambient light.
This amazing device will not be cheap - $NZ900+, but remember that it combines the functionality of both an iPod music player and an advanced smartphone (neither or which is cheap! ), and will not be available in USA until June, and in NZ until next year.

Apple TV (above) enables movies, TV shows, etc, which have been downloaded to iTunes to be wirelessly transmitted from computer to TV.

Airport Extreme, Apple's device for creating a wireless network, has been revamped with increased specifications: up to 5x the speed of performance, and up to twice the range of previous Airport models.

Visit http://www.apple.com for further details of the above products.
Barry showed us his FM Sender (left), a small device which plugs into (and is powered by) the computerÕs USB port, and enables audio output to be transmitted to FM radio - in effect turning the computer into a mini FM radio station. Made by Dick Smith Electronics, costs $NZ70. Visit http://www.dse.co.nz and search for FM Sender.
Rikky's latest pressie was a set of Wireless iPod Headphones, also available at Dick Smith's (now reduced from $200 to $160):

Thank you team for introducing us to these new products. There's no end to new gear - if we can afford it!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Several computing queries and suggested solutions included:

I have a file copied onto my pen-drive (flash-key), and now I can't delete it. How can I get rid of it?

Many files, particularly those from Windows users, may be locked by default, and this prevents you from deleting them, either accidentally or on purpose. To unlock the file:
  1. Click once on the file's icon
  2. Go to File Menu/Get Info (or type Apple I) to open the file's Information Window
  3. You should see the Locked label with a ticked checkbox in front of it. Uncheck it by clicking on the tick.

When I am using Excel on my Intel Mac it sometimes quits unexpectedly - what could be causing this?

Excel, part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, uses Rosetta to run on an Intel-processor Mac computer. Rosetta is the operating system software which enables non-Universal (ie pre-Intel) applications to be used, and there may be some issues with this. Possible solutions:
  • Download the latest updates from Microsoft (Excel v.11.3.3 released on 9 January), which may include a 'fix' for this problem. Office 2007 for Mac will probably address these issues.
  • Try deleting the Excel Settings preference file (Hard Disk/User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Excel Settings) .

In my System Preferences/Desktop pane, the list of available image folders contains some that I no longer wish to use - how do I get rid of them?

This list contains folders which came with the system or have been added to it, and also (below the dividing line) all the albums which you have created in iPhoto.
  • To delete folders, try deleting the Desktop preference file (Hard Disk/User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist).
  • To delete albums, you must remove them from your iPhoto Source List (column on the left of your main iPhoto window), as this is where the Desktp list comes from.

My laptop screen sometimes blanks out for several seconds - what can I do?

Assuming that it's not caused by your screen's sleep settings (in the System Preferences/Energy Saver pane), you can try resetting the Power Management Unit, which may be causing the problem. Do this by resetting the PRAM:
  1. Shut down the computer.
  2. Turn on it and immediately press and hold Command-Option-P-R (all 4 keys simultaneously) until you hear the startup sound.
  3. Keep holding until the startup sound has played three times. Resetting the PRAM may change some of your System settings and preferences. Restore them in the System Preferences panes.

SESSIONS

MAKING CARDS & CALENDARS

A group of members presented a combined session in which a variety of card- and calendar making software was demonstrated:

Rikky and Sheryl showed two different versions of Easy Card, a shareware application ($US30) which provides a variety of templates, backgrounds and online themes for producing greeting cards. Easy Card integrates with iLife Photo Library and other applications. Visit Version Tracker for details: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21339

[Sheryl is also investigating freeware Kodak card-making application, which she will report on later]
Russell demonstrated Print Explosion, which has a large variety of printing categories, including greeting cards, crafts, business cards, bookmarks etc. Graphics are included, and photos can be incorporated, giving multiple choices for arrangements. Visit http://www.novadevelopment.com/products/productinfo.aspx?productcode=pdm for further info.
Tony showed how Apple's own software can be used for both card - and calendar-making: iPhoto 6 contains a Card option which enables photos to be incorporated into either greeting cards or postcards. A large number of template themes are available, many of which contain a variety of background and design options, and fonts can be chosen.

AppleWorks can produce calendars for you: Go to File Menu/Show Starting Points and click the Assistants tab at the bottom of the window, then click on the calendar icon. The Assistant then takes you through the necessary steps to customise and produce your calendar. In the Starting Points, if you click on the Templates tab, you can choose to make separate calendar pages or basic greeting cards.

Sheryl described a several other calendar-making applications:
Hewlett-Packard's Activity Centre website has a number of creative projects, with a variety of free templates (including calendars) available for download in PDF format. Go to http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/activityCenterHome?lc=en&cc=us

Palm Desktop supply free software which includes calendar facilities: vivit http://www.palm.com/us/software/desktop/mac.html

iCal and Entourage both have provision for making customisable calendars.

Barbara noted that Epson produces double-sided photo paper, which could be useful for producing calendars. A variety of ideas for to encourage creativity! Thank you team for this presentation.

GENEALOGY SPREADSHEET

Neil gave a session in which he demonstrated how he uses AppleWorks Spreadsheets to enter family history information to make a genealogy record. He uses a separate spreadsheet page for each section of the family, which he limits to a screen-width of columns and rows - this allows him to take a screenshot (Shift+Apple+4) of each page for easy filing and access.
Thank you Neil for this session. It's interesting for members to see how others innovate using familiar applications.

LAPTOP BATTERIES

Kim gave us a look at a laptop battery which he had dismantled - it had been incorrectly registering the available charge, and Kim deduced that it was a fault in its chip rather than in the battery components, and he had reset the chip. He warned - don't try to dismantle a battery unless you know exactly what you're doing, as the screws have to be drilled out, and if you drill into the battery components by mistake they could explode!

Some info about laptop batteries:
  • they should provide at least 300 charging cycles.
  • shop around when buying replacement batteries - Apple-branded batteries are comparatively expensive.
  • being lithium-ion batteries, they are better kept fully charged when possible (unlike nickel-cadmium rechargeables which are better to be fully discharged before recharging, to prevent 'memory').
  • MacOS 10.4 System Profiler provides detailed battery information, including Cycle Count, Full Charge Capacity and Remaining Capacity. System Profiler can be accessed in either of two ways:
    1. Go to Apple Menu/About This Mac and click the More Info button
    2. Go to HD/Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.
    Click on Contents/Power to obtain battery information.
Thank you Kim for this information, and thanks for the warning!

TEXT APPLICATIONS etc

PopChar X

Hugh introduced members to PopChar X, which is similar to MacOS X's Character Palette in that it enables users to quickly insert special characters, accented and foreign letters etc into documents, but unlike Character Palette it contains both ASCII and Unicode characters, which means that it can be used with non-unicode applications such as AppleWorks, as well as with newer unicode applications like Word and Pages.

PopChar X requires MacOS 10.3.9 or later (PopChar Pro caters for classic applications). It is shareware, costing $US29 to register for full functionality Š the trial version enables use of a limited set of characters (letters in black, above).

PopChar X is very easy to use: when installed, a symbol appears in the top corner of the screen, and clicking on this opens the PopChar window (as above). Clicking on a selected character inserts it into the document. If desired, the Font menu can be set to 'As in Document', which obviates the need to select the font currently in use. Style and size can also be chosen.

For more info and download visit:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14804&vid=356047&mode=info

Free Ruler

Hugh showed a handy utility called Free Ruler which can be used to for on-screen measurements if exact sizes of objects are required for design, printing purposes, etc.

Free Ruler is a 1MB download from: http://www.pascal.com/software/freeruler/

ATPM

Hugh made reference to ATPM, which stands for About This Particular Macintosh, a free monthly Internet magazine containing a variety of columns, articles and reviews, which Hugh has found both useful and informative in keeping up to date with matters Mac. Its website says:

ATPM was created to celebrate the personal computing experience. For us this means the most personal of all personal computers-the Apple Macintosh. About This Particular Macintosh is intended to be about your Macintosh, our Macintoshes, and the creative, personal ideas and experiences of everyone who uses a Mac.

ATPM is available in four different types of subscription, all free:
  • E-mail Notification: you can then read the magazine online or download articles in which you're interested (best if your e-mail provider doesn't like large attachments).
  • Offline Webzine: a disk image in HTML format for viewing in your web browser.
  • PDF Print Optimized: a PDF attachment optimized for printing.
  • PDF, Screen Optimized: a PDF attachment optimized for viewing on-screen.
Visit http://www.atpm.com/ if interested.

A varied session about some useful tools - thank you Hugh.




JAJAH

Barry B gave members an introduction to Jajah, which is a telephone service in which you place toll calls on your computer, but are connected via the ordinary telephone system and speak/listen on either your landline or mobile phone. It is simple to use, requires no special downloads, is CHEAP (see rates below), and even FREE if you're calling another Jajah user (landline to landline only), either within NZ or in a number of other countries.

Jajah is available between most English-speaking countries, Europe and China, as well as a number of others. It costs nothing to become a Jajah user, and you pay for your calls by establishing whatever amount of credit with them that you specify.

Sample rates (in NZ cents/minute) for calls:

Within NZ:
  • landline to landline: 9.5c
  • landline to mobile: 40.8c
  • mobile to landline: 40.8c
  • mobile to mobile: 71c
NZ-Australia:
  • landline to landline: 7.8c
  • landline to mobile: 28.5c
  • mobile to landline: 39.1c
  • mobile to mobile: 58.8c
NZ-UK:
  • landline to landline: 7c
  • landline to mobile: 28.7c
  • mobile to landline: 38.4c
  • mobile to mobile: 58.9c
Calling within NZ isn't as cheap as calling to other countries, but it's still much cheaper than ordinary phone rates! Remember that landline calls between Jajah users are FREE.

Conference calls are simple to arrange and are at no extra cost. Jajah integrates with your Mac Address book (download plug-in), and works on both dial-up and broadband connections - unlike Voice-over-Internet systems such as Skype, which require broadband.

[One apparent glitch at present is that Jajah appears to treat all calls as conference calls - I've asked them about this, and they said they will try to rectify the problem shortly - good service! T.C.]

For further information, and a demo, visit: http://www.jajah.com
Thank you Barry for this interesting information - you've given many of us food for thought!

HANDY HINT

FORCE QUIT FINDER

If your Mac won't let you eject a disk or other media, saying it is still in use, even though you've closed all relevant windows and applications, then force-quit the Finder (Apple+Option+Escape), and relaunch it.
This should solve the problem.

DDENDUM (Session omitted from November Meeting Minutes)

VOICE OVER INTERNET

Kim gave an introduction to various methods of using the Internet to make cheap phone calls from computer to landline, or free calls from computer to computer. Various applications, including Skype, iChat and Jabber enable calls to be made.

Economy is a definite plus, but here are some drawbacks:
  • For computer-to-computer calls is that the person being contacted must actually be at their computer to receive the call.
  • Sound quality may not be as clear as through the telephone system.
  • Unless a headset is used, there may be spme sound feedback and/or echoing caused by the proximity of the computer's speakers and microphone.
Regards to all....

Secretary: Tony Climo, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group