SVMUG May 21, 2007

Welcome and Introduction

New People: — saw us on the Web - G4 user, a novice - commented that Avery Labels does not support the Macintosh well. Members suggested the Seiko Smart Label Printer. Also, the Addressbook supports Avery labels, as does Filemaker Pro. Automator could also be applied.

Allen — Unix/Linux admin - checking us out. As are David and Mike.

Be sure to ask our volunteers for assistance.

News

1. Apple Stockholders Meeting — Steve indicated that Appleworks is deprecated. The dot-Mac service will be seeing some significant improvements. Pro Care has been split into two separate support programs: “Pro Care” and “One on One” (a personal training product). Each of these programs is $99 per year.

Note: Pro Care provides for expediting service requests compared to the cheaper Apple Care.

The “one on one” training allocates weekly hours of training on any topic that you may require.

Computer Solutions International is Apple Authorized and can perform warranty repairs. WeFixIt, while good, can not offer warranty repairs. But they can do component level repairs, and handle older machines.

[we will post some resources]

We hope to add new sections. The meeting notes are in forums/meeting notes.

A greener Apple: Steve Jobs noted that Apple has many forward thinking green activities, but at the same time he criticized Green Peace for their policies of intimidation and failure to look deeply into corporate operations, and taking a purely negative stance.

In contrast, Silicon Valley Toxins Coalition took a stance of cooperation, to which Steve Jobs responded favorably.

“If it was easy as just writing checks, Microsoft would have quality products.”

Union and Retirement groups took issue with the stock options investigations, but Steve Jobs commented that the issue was closed as far as he is concerned. The directors had conducted an investigation and published

And Linda got interviewed afterwards, for her support of Steve Jobs by expressing appreciation for the efforts over the past year.

iPhone will be out in June? June 10? June 29?

June 11-15 will be the WWDC, with a final preview of Leopard.

Presentation

Joe Kissell — author of eBooks — “Take Control” series.

Has written his first book about Leopard, alas — not ready to be released for obvious reasons.

Written 14 titles - 12 published - of the Take Control series.

Senior editor of Tidbits. Writer for MacWorld. Mac Geek since 1990. Was product writer for Nisus.

Take Control Series — fix a broken publishing industry with eBooks — high quality content — kept up-to-date — reasonably priced — free minor updates

Take Control of Maintaining Your Macintosh — schedule preventive maintenance. —— install the latest Mac OS X ———- only on the rarest of occasions will upgrades be problematic. ———- minor updates rarely cause application incompatibilities. ———- however, study the major updates for possible incompatibilities. ———- and certainly back up the data prior to updating. — audit your disk for unnecessary files, at least once each year. —— old installers —— shareware you do not really use —— etc. —— this will improve performance, make backups easier. — most of the time, de-fragmentation is unnecessary. —— unless you have filled your drive, or write and read BIG files. —— Or you have time sensitive data, e.g. audio video tracks — set up a back up system — set up system monitors: disk usage, CPU usage, temperature — use a good quality surge protector: power, ethernet, phone lines. —— look for the warranty on the surge protector. — uninterruptible power supplies are a reasonable precaution. —— especially useful in areas having marginal power service. — laptop coolers are more about protecting your legs — backing up: —— definitely have your back up schedule in force. —— you will get the back up religion after that first failure. —— two types: duplicate the drive, archives —— duplicating the drive offers the fastest recovery. ——— Super Duper. ——— Apple software Restorer ——— Ghost (Unix) ——— Prosoft ——— Carbon Copy Cloner ———— free and network capable —— archives are incremental backups — saving changes only. ——— Leopard will have “time machine” —— best backup media: external hard drives ———- fast, cheap, bootable, compact, portable ———- look for Hitachi and IBM ———- avoid Western Digital and Maxstore. —— keep the back up in a separate geographic location ——— so that a fire does not destroy both the original and the backup ——— or a thief does not steal both the original and the backup

Take Control of Troubleshooting Macintosh (to be published soon) — Don’t Panic —— chill out, have a cup of tea, take some deep breathes. —— have a repair kit handy (e.g. Tech Tool Pro, Data Rescue) —— have the backup bootable drive handy —— phone number of a genius — know the all purpose troubleshooting steps —— restart ——— schedule weekly restarts —— check disk space (< 5 GB can be a problem) ——— delete the unnecessary files —— repair permissions ——— it is not magical, but often good. ————- and it only very rarely causes problems. ——— Apple says do it after each update ———— but that is likely just CYA. —— try a safe boot (booting without extensions) ——— reboot while holding down the shift key ——— if that eliminates the problem, ———— then look for recent installations or changes —— turn off stuff you do not need —— diatalon is a conflict catching preference pane. —— if all else fails, you do have your backup, right?

Use Passwords Wisely — understand two types of passwords —— those that count, and those that do not. ——— non-critical web site sign ins can be kept simple ——— but your bank, etc, needs high security. —— do not use guess-able passwords in any case —— beware of the weakest link problem ——— do not kept passwords on sticky notes —— complex + random - good… up to a point —— come up with a pattern —— Keychain on Mac can store passwords for you

use Code CPN70518TB17 for 50% discount of on-line downloaded eBooks.

eBooks: go to the site, put books into your shopping cart, check out, and receive links to download the eBook (PDF document). Be sure to back up the file! Registered owners will be notified of updates. The PDF document also includes a link to check for updates.

Break

Demonstration of “WebGem”

Robert Hoops — Sharing photos direct from your own computer. Choose albums to share to either iPhoto or Aperture. This is a peer-to-peer client-server, showing an image browser window (customized). The client-server is multi-threaded so that multiple users may connect simultaneously. The users can download (with your permission) the full resolution image. Keyword searches are provided. The application is freeware! Requires Tiger. 4000 downloads thus far.

Auction of an Apple Newton H1000 - still working

Mike Elard — former BMUG moderator bids — $5 — 10 — 15 — 20 — going once - going twice - 25 — 30 — 35 — 40 — going once — going twice - 45 — going once — 50 — going once - going twice — sold for 50 to Mike Slater.

Viewed Maker Faire Photo Gallery

Q&A

1. Non-apple MP3 players — can iTunes manage MP3 files for such players?

Yes, by saving songs to folders, and then manually transferring to the player.

1. Need a WiFi “g” card — what are good brands?

There are some PC cards, and also some USB dongles. (D-Link)

1. Need a contact manager and project manager, for SMB.

For basics, just use the Addressbook. Another is Daylite. Ontourage.

Check with Omni Group.

A full project manager is Fast Trak. Also Merlin.

1. I wish to learn how to use Addressbook, iCal, etc.

Check Mac 101 tutorials. http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

1. Optical drive is making noise — buzzing — but only with certain CD discs.

This might be due to uneven printing on the CD label.

1. How to free up space in a flash drive? Erasing the files does not seem to free the space.

You need to select the drive and empty the trash.

1. Will Leopard support OS 9 (Classic)?

We suggest waiting to see, though one of us believes that a statement has been released saying it will not be supported.

1. How do I enable journaling?

This is done by default for most disks. To not have journaling, you must reformat the disk with the option deselected.

Generally journaling is a good thing.

1. Can the Help window in Office be eliminated?

We do not know of any method.

1. What is a good test for battery life?

Check Apple System Profiler to determine how many times the battery has been cycled, and it will tell you the available amp-hours.

1. Recommended and outliner application, to work with both Mac and Palm?

We are not familiar with any product that can be synced.

Raffle and Closing Remarks