SVMUG - April 16, 2007 - Tax Day!

7:00 - Introduction (and stragglers come in)

Played the latest “I’m a Mac” commercials.

Welcome to those who do not need to do taxes tonight.

First timers? — Karen Tom — teaches Reunion for the Mac with the SV G. group. Uses a Powerbook G4. Version 9 of Reunion is now available, at the Apple Store for $99

— John — new Mac Book — new user for Mac OS X.

— newly moved to SV, has pretty much everything.

— returning member from 10 years ago.

— Jack — has a new Powerbook — formerly Apple user, then PC, now Mac again.

We are looking for some one to be a backup food handler, so David Strom can miss a meeting when he needs. Let Charles know if you can do this.

7:05 - News - Charles Gousha

Leopard (10.5) will not be released in June, but will wait until October. The stated reason was to allocate more programmer resources to the iPhone.

Seriously, we do want a solid release, so we can wait.

Several members however were holding off on purchases for the Leopard release, and they are willing to continue to wait.

Some members feel that this means the iLife update will also wait, likely until January 2008.

Bear in mind that if you buy a machine less than 30 days before a new OS release, you can get the update for S/H. However, this might not apply to an application such as iLife.

If you register for a CS course at DeAnza, you get a free copy of MS Vista. Rumor is that MS will cease to offer XP very soon now.

Apple TV — a Mac OS X hidden inside! hacks are appearing daily, including a Linux installation.

New tower is out, with up to 8 CPU cores (dual quad-core chips). Gets near to $20,000 with FULLY decked out.

100 Million iPods sold.

NAB announcement: Final Cut Studio version 2 has been released. New video format, new server software.

Adobe has announced CS3 — now shipping web and design editions. This is a universal binary, and wicked fast.

Apple shareholder meeting will be on May 10, 2007. The Google meeting is the same day, in the afternoon. The Apple meeting is in the morning. What for Greenpeace to make a showing, and some retirement fund managers want the stock option practices changed.

Google desktop for the Mac is available.

Old equipment: on Earth Day the equipment drop off is at the Apple Campus, 9 AM to 2 PM on Saturday. The collection is free, but you are limited to five TVs and five other devices.

Sunnyvale elementary school students are holding a Quicktime movie contest. The movies are to be five minutes in length.

A member is looking for a Quicksilver motherboard. Let us know.

7:45 - Presentation: Jones Castro, Sling Media, SlingBox/SlingCatcher

Founded in 2004 by two brothers. The Slingbox is a hardware device that allows network control of your home television. The motivation was to allow the watching of your TV anywhere in the World.

The box hooks up to you A/V system (cable box, DVR etc.).

Slingbox Tuner — takes a cable line in, and a ethernet to your router. The basic cable channels can then be viewed over the Internet (password protected, of course).

Slingbox AV — takes a composite or S-video input, with shared audio line. Thereby anything your cable boxes or DVR can play, can be relayed over the Internet.

Note: the system allows only one user at a time.

The recommended up/down bandwidth is 256Kbps. The port is user selectable. The highest resolution is 640x480, 6 Mbps. The system will optimize the streaming for the given Internet bandwidth.

Slingplayer is the user interface that appears on the client computer screen. The software gives you the same functionality as the real remote would provide.

Slignbox Pro — has four AV inputs and four AV outputs, and supports HD component video.

Comment: in addition to using the four inputs for DVRs, etc., an input can be used a security camera.

Are the Cable TV companies happy with this capability? … good question…

Clip and Sling is a software utility and web service that works with the box to record content and send the clips to friends, with e-mail announcement.

Slingbox Pro works well with Apple TV! Get your iTunes and your iPhoto on the road!

8:45 - Break - Dave Strom

9:00 - Group Q & A - Cortland (Charles on computer)

1. Google print out pop up window will not go away!

We could not replicate the problem — but try the File menu print instead of the Javascript print.

1. The Mac OS X sometimes will not go to sleep.

Sometimes applications will keep the Mac awake. Also widgets — by using network communications — can keep the Mac awake. Check network services, and the “wake upon network activity” option.

1. iBook G4 — is a Firewire or USB 2 external or internal DVD burner better?

It does not really make a lot of difference for DVD burners. However note in general that USB 2 will only get to 1/3 of the USB 2 specification. Firewire is better.

1. Startup items has a lot of stuff, which I wish to delete. Is this safe?

Under Mac OS X, the startup items are either shortcuts or command scripts. Deleting the startup item should not affect the use of the associated application.

1. Is the discount for Armed Services personnel available when purchasing items on line from the Apple Store?

Yes, there is a link for “government” in the Apple Store web page. You can search for “government apple store”. This discount is for any government employee, not just Armed Services, and it applies for Federal, State, and local.

1. I wish to access my Mac using a “remote desktop”.

You can use VNC as an open source solution, though limited. The commercial productions such as Apple Remote Desktop are better, though pricey. There is also Timbuk2, and other products.

1. Parallels — how do I adjust the configuration settings while Parallels is running?

You must actually stop the virtual machine to change the settings.

1. Mac Book Pro power adapter sparks when I plug it in to the wall outlet.

Surprisingly, this is not typical but also not a big concern. It is the discharge of the switching supply capacitors. Bright discharge but low current. It is not a surge.

9:27 - Finish up and raffle

9:45 Post-meeting at BJ’s