Newsletter

October 2006

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In This Issue:

• Meeting information
• Minutes of the September 20th, 2006 Meeting
• MAGIC Moments
• Updates, Updates, Updates
• Wipe out unwanted updates
• Networking Home computers
• coconutWiFi 1.3 -WiFi Helper Software
• Digital Cameras Buying FAQ
• Macware releases PowerSlides for Keynote, PowerPoint
• Rearrange your workspace

Future Meetings:

The newbie session started at 4PM, and the regular meeting was called to order at 4:30 by President Robert Elphick. Treasurer Carol Parks stated we have $1491.70 in our bank account. This includes a total of $550 donated by members toward a new computer and $275 received for the Club's old computer but not including $1161.77 due to Robert Elphick for the new computer, an Intel 1.8Ghz MacBook with 1Gb of RAM.

Nancy Ruff and Robert Elphick agreed to accept an action item to investigate Apple's offer of iScrapbook software for review and club use.

The meeting's presentation was given by Robert Elphick on Font management and Color Sync.

The October program will be "Photo Restoration" by Daryl Thomas

The November program will be given by Chris Douthitt and his multimedia class of Oak harbor HS.

The December meeting will be our annual Christmas party.

The meeting was closed by President Robert at 6PM.

Daryl Thomas
Secretary & Vice President, MAGIC (Mac Appreciation Group of Island County)

Robert Y Elphick

Many of the past MAGIC monthly presentations have been rendered into HTML and included in the Tricks and Tips page of this web site. A couple of recent presentations that have been included are:

• Fonts by Robert Elphick
• Apple Keynote application by Nancy Ruff
• "Using HTML to make a website" by Robert Elphick
• "Internet Search" by Nancy Ruff and Christin Chaya
• "Photoshop" by John Parks

New computer

The new MacBook has been delivered! The MacBook has enhanced memory (1 Gbyte) so that it will be able to handle memory intensive applications on its intel chips. It has been upgraded to the latest version of OS-X and has had the latest versions of iLife and iWork installed on it. It has been tested and all seems to work well.

Updated Maintenance page

The "Operating System Maintenance" section of the MAGIC website has been reviewed and revised. All members are recommended to print out the new version and follow its recommendations in order to keep their macintosh computers running smoothly and efficiently. The article can be found at: https://www.whidbey.com/magicmug/tricks/maintain.html

Whatever else you do, BACK UP your hard drive regularly!

Future presentations

We are actively looking for ideas for presentations and presenters in 2007 - it is closer than you think and we need to plan these things in advance. Do you have something that you would like to talk about? Is there a topic that you would like to have explained in plain English? Please contact me at

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Finally - Don't forget to check out the User Group Discounts: http://homepage.Mac.com/ugab/offers.html

by Ron Sharp

Check for software updates. There's a bunch of them including security updates for OS 10.3. Some 10.4 updates are listed below.

OS 10.4.8 Update
The 10.4.8 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

• connecting to wireless networks using the EAP-FAST protocol
• Apple USB modem reliability
• using OpenType fonts in Microsoft Word
• compatibility with 3rd party USB hubs
• scanner performance
• RAW camera support
• printing documents with Asian language names
• performance of the Translation widget
• broadband network performance
• security updates

About Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4
Delivers numerous enhancements for the Apple implementation of J2SE 5.0 on Mac OS X v10.4. J2SE 5.0 Release 4 improves reliability and addresses issues found in earlier releases of J2SE 5.0 for Mac OS X.
For more details on this Update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302983

iTunes 7 is Here
Buy music, movies, TV shows, and audiobooks, or download free podcasts from the iTunes Store 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Organize and play everything on your Mac or PC. Then sync it to your iPod and bring it along. Anywhere.

New in iTunes

Buy Disney films from the iTunes Store and go to the movies without leaving your comfy chair.

With Cover Flow, you can flip through your digital music and video collection just as you would CDs.

Just $4.99 in the iTunes Store, iPod games give you hours of fun.

Make the most of your time by telling iTunes in what order to download content from the iTunes Store.

Get at-a-glance information about everything on your iPod.

iTunes 7: How to improve performance while burning or ripping CDs Symptom
If you have a large music library, you may notice that iTunes 7 performance might be slow when you first open iTunes or when you are burning or ripping an audio CD.

Products affected:

• iTunes 7.0
• Windows XP or 2000
• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later

by Dan Moren

We had a bunch of updates last week, from 10.4.8 to pretty much the entire iLife suite. But, let's say you don't have one of the apps mentioned: Pages, perhaps, or Keynote. Even though you may not have them installed, the updates will still show up every time you launch Software Update. Annoying, right?

Fortunately, there's a pretty easy way to solve that problem. Just select the update (or updates) you don't want to show up any more (iSight updates on computers without an external iSight are my personal bane) and select Ignore Update from the Update menu. If you're a keyboard shortcut kind of guy/gal, you can hit delete (in Tiger) or command-delete (in Panther). Should you, at some point in the indefinite future, need to apply an update that you've hidden, just go to the Software Update menu and choose Reset Ignored Updates. You'll now see all the updates; you can just re-hide any of the ones you don't want.

http://www.macuser.com/tips/wipe_out_unwanted_updates.php

by Ron Sharp

Do you have two computers that you wish could share information back and forth wirelessly?

For the first time I have two similar computers that I wanted to network. It would be great to be able to transfer files and keep folders synchronized between computers without having to connect them with cables. Both my computers are iBook laptops but you should be able to network any AirPort equipped computer. On both iBooks I clicked on the Airport icon in the menu bar and clicked Turn AirPort On and hoped everything would be done. But that wasn't the case. There are Network Preferences; AppleTalk, Sharing Preferences and AirPort settings. After several hours of wasted efforts I contacted Robert who offered help and loaned me his OSX book.

The OSX book offered interesting information on the Network Preferences and it did state that I could network the two iBooks without using a base station which is what I was beginning to think I needed. ( Both computers have AirPort Cards) But nowhere did it list the specific procedure.

I was stubborn enough to figure it out and thought I'd share the information for anyone wishing to get their airPort equipped computers to connect wirelessly. If you already have a base station then you can use the AirPort Setup Assistant in the Utilities folder. I should also mention that for people with .Mac accounts it might be easier to just use their .Mac web space to share files between computers that have internet connections.

First, Turn AppleTalk on:
Open System Preferences and click the Network icon. Where it says Show, set it to AirPort. Then click on AppleTalk and below that check the box that says Make AppleTalk Active. The Location probably says Automatic. I turn AppleTalk on for all the listed locations, but then return the Location to Automatic.

Second, Set Sharing preferences: In the System Preferences, click on Sharing. Then click on Services and select the service you want to share. You'll probably need to turn on Personal File Sharing and Remote Login. You will need Personal Web Sharing on to share an internet connection. I haven't tested all these services to see just what ones are essential. You may need Apple Remote Desktop on, and Printer Sharing if you intend to share one printer.

Turn AirPort On: after making the above settings on both computers, click on the AirPort icon in the Finder menu and Turn AirPort On for both computers. The second computer will automatically connect to the first computer or give you the option of creating a new network. The AirPort icon changes to indicate four different functions; on, off, connected to a network, and sharing internet connection.

That's the setup, but there's one more step to actually see the contents of the other computer. In the Finder top menu click on Go, then click on Connect To Server. The name of the other computer should be there. Clicking on Connect will bring up a window for you to enter your administrator password and then a new sidebar Network icon should come up with the name of the other computer. Yes! You're in.

Instead of using the Finder's Go menu, you can click on the Network icon in the Finder window sidebar and it may already show the name of your other computer. Sometimes it takes a second to pop up. (If Network icons aren't shown in the Finder sidebar then that can be changed in the Finder Preferences drop down menu.)

Sharing an internet connection seems to make connecting the computers easier: If you want to share your internet connection from one computer to the other, then in the Sharing window of the System Preferences click on Internet and set the connection and ports you want to share and click the start button. You need to turn AirPort on before clicking the start button for it to work. Then that computer automatically becomes the server/host and the Airport icon changes to indicate it. And now when you turn on AirPort on the second computer it automatically asks if it should create a network, just click OK. (As mentioned above, you will need Personal Web Sharing on, in the Services menu of the Sharing Preference, and is the only service you need on to share an internet connection.)

AirPort icon when sharing an internet connection:
If you've gotten through this article you'll have no problem networking because it's easier to execute than it is to read or explain.

One note of security. When you set your Sharing preferences, your firewall with remain on but you are allowing sharing on certain ports so your internet firewall is a little less secure.

Happy networking.

from versiontracker.com

Product Description: coconutWiFi displays you a small aqua-bubble at the top of your screen which indicates whether you're in range of a wireless network or not. The app also tells you if the wireless networks in your range are encrypted or open, so you won't miss the next open wireless network any more.

NOT compatible with 10.4.8 on MacBooks

What's new in this version:
it seems that there is currently a Airport performance issue while running coconutWiFi and Airport. I've created a workaround which should fix this for the moment. (feedback welcome) I will release a complete bug fixed version the next days.
Product Requirements: MacOS 10.3.9 or later

Article at: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29017

How do digital cameras work?

In contrast to a conventional film camera, in a digital camera the light is focused onto an image sensor called a CCD (charge coupled device). The CCD is a collection of light-sensitive photosites that produce an electric charge when struck by light. These charges are converted into numbers that are stored in the memory (usually on a memory chip). From there, the whole image can be displayed, sent to a computer, or even printed directly on a printer.

Who are the biggest digital camera manufacturers and what cameras do they make?

• Canon digital cameras - PowerShot lineup
• HP digital cameras - photosmart lineup
• Kodak digital cameras - EasyShare lineup
• Nikon digital cameras - Coolpix lineup
• Olympus digital cameras - Stylus, C-, D-, E-Series
• Sony digital cameras - Cybershot and Mavica lineup
• Fuji digital cameras - Finepix lineup
• Epson digital cameras - PhotoPC lineup
• Minolta digital cameras - Dimage lineup
• Casio digital cameras - Exilim lineup
• Panasonic digital cameras - Lumix lineup

Is the digital zoom important?

No, it is not. Unlike optical zoom, only some of the light sensors are used to produce an image when the digital zoom is used, producing a lower-quality picture. The same effect can be achieved by using the zoom in the image-processing software. The digital zoom is a marketing gimmick allowing digital camera manufacturers to claim a higher zoom factor than their cameras can really achieve.

Is the image stabilization important?

The image stabilization is very important when choosing a camera with a high optical zoom factor (>4). Without this feature, most pictures taken while zooming in, or at longer exposure times, and holding the camera in your hand will be blurred. Note that almost all digital camcorders have image stabilization.

What resolution do I need for high quality pictures?

For 4 inch by 6 inch pictures, you need at least 0.9 megapixels. For 5x7 prints, you need at least 1.3 megapixels. For 8x10 prints, you need at least 3.0 megapixels. For 8.5x11 prints, you need at least 3.5 megapixels. For putting up pictures on web sites, a 2.0 megapixel camera should be enough.

Best web page for digital camera information: http://www.faqs.org/contrib/dc/dc-faq.html

by Peter Cohen - MacWorld

Macware on Thursday announced the release of PowerSlides, a collection of presentation backgrounds for Apple's Keynote software, that are also compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. They cost $39.99.

PowerSlides includes more than 200 designer backgrounds and more than 300 textured backgrounds, as well as 15 Progressive Backgrounds. Macware describes Progressive Backgrounds as slides that visually show the passage of time or dynamic action - the phases of the moon, for example, or a human in action, the cycle of a single day, and more.

PowerSlides also includes more than 100 pre-formatted slide templates, and 50 template sets that include title, text and print variations.

Complete Article at: http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/10/05/powerslides/index.php?lsrc=mwweek-1009

by Franklin Tessler - MacWorld

Whether you use your computer for work or entertainment, you're at risk for developing repetitive strain injury (RSI). But you don't have to give up your Mac to stay fit. It's hard to say for sure what role computers play in RSI - even experts disagree on the subject. Still, the relationship between computers and pain, numbness, and other debilitating symptoms is too persuasive to discount. In this first of a three-part series, we'll show you the best ways to arrange your workspace to help avoid problems.

One easy way to lessen your risk of injury is to get the right chair (or adjust the one you have) and set up your hardware correctly. But while most ergonomists concur that certain arrangements are particularly hazardous, they don't always agree on what's best. That makes it difficult to suggest a perfect setup, so consider these recommendations as guidelines. As you read, refer to the illustration.

Customize your chair

Your chair determines the posture of your back, arms, and legs, so finding one that fits your body size is essential. Office chairs run the gamut, from economical models with a few adjustable features to thousand-dollar seats that sport more levers and buttons than a 747's cockpit. Here are some things to pay attention to, whether you're buying a chair or customizing your current seat:

A. Back Support The seat's back should be tall enough to support at least your lower and middle back, especially in the lumbar area (the lower part that curves inward). Also, make sure it tilts forward and backward. Adjust the back so that the angle between your trunk and legs is a bit more than 90 degrees.

B. Good Armrests Choose a chair with padded armrests. You should be able to rest your arms comfortably, without having to extend them too far or tuck them tightly against your body. Many chairs sport armrests that you can raise or lower so that you don't end up shrugging or stooping your shoulders. If you can't find a comfortable armrest position, remove them altogether or find another chair.

C. Solid Cushioning The chair should have a padded cushion that's long enough from front to back to support your buttocks and thighs without touching the back of your knees. Look for a cushion that's smoothly rounded in front to avoid putting pressure on the backs of your thighs.

Work Smart Creating a healthy, ergonomically correct workspace doesn't have to be expensive. Often, simply adjusting the equipment you already have is enough. You shouldn't have to reach out or crane your neck to perform repetitive tasks.

D. Height Adjustment Adjust the chair so that your forearms and wrists are about desktop height when your elbows are at 90 degrees. Your feet should be flat on the floor - if they dangle, use a footrest.

E. Rollability Chairs that are wobbly or don't roll smoothly force you to bend or twist to reach your equipment. Look for a chair with five legs, and make sure that it rolls easily. If you work in a carpeted area, get a floor pad that won't buckle as you move.

Adjust input devices
RSI problems are often compounded by poor hardware design, which forces you to use awkward positions and excessive force while typing or using your mouse. Fortunately, your setup can help minimize the risk of injury.

F. Trays and Wrist Rests Adjustable keyboard trays help on several levels. They keep your keyboard in a flat or slightly backward-tilted position, which is safer. They also help you tweak the height of your input devices so you don't have to angle your wrists to reach them. Tray or no tray, try to avoid propping up your keyboard on its retractable feet. Although that makes it easier to see the keys, it also forces you to bend your wrists.

Also, beware of wrist rests: they help keep your wrists straight, but they put pressure on the nerves and tendons at the back of your wrist. Look for a wrist rest that's smoothly contoured and padded, and only use it during rest periods, not when you're typing.

G. Typing Technique Pounding on keys increases the impact on your fingers. Instead, try to keep your hands in a relaxed, natural position as you type, with your fingers arched smoothly, floating over the keys. If your keyboard requires that you press the keys extra hard to elicit a response, try a different one.

H. Mouse Position Situate the mouse as close to the keyboard as possible, so you don't have to extend your arm and shoulder as you move between the two. If you use a keyboard tray, it should be large enough to accommodate both a keyboard and a mouse.

Move your monitor
The position of your LCD or CRT is crucial, as poorly placed monitors tend to put extra strain on your eyes and upper spine. Here's what to consider:

I. Height and Angle Conventional wisdom says that the top of the monitor should be slightly below eye level, so you don't have to glance up or crane your neck. While this advice works well for most people, some experts recommend an even lower position, so you're actually looking down at the monitor. As for tilt, make sure the monitor is angled backward slightly so that the top of the screen is farther from your eyes.

Distance It's less stressful for your eyes to focus on a distant visual target, so try to place your monitor 18 to 24 inches away, farther if there's room. (If necessary, enlarge the on-screen text size to compensate.) If you wear glasses and spend more than a couple of hours a day at your Mac, consider getting lenses with a midrange focal zone that's tailored for computer users - ask your optometrist about them.

Body Positioning Your body, monitor, and keyboard should form a straight line - you shouldn't have to rotate your trunk or neck to type or to read your screen.

[Dr. Franklin N. Tessler is a radiologist in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about ergonomics regularly for Macworld.]

Article at http://www.macworld.com/2006/10/features/ergo_workspace/index.php

MAGIC, the Macintosh Appreciation Group of Island County, serves people who use Macintosh computers, software and peripherals. Our goal is to share information and get answers to questions to make us more productive with our use of technology. Our monthly meetings give us a chance to discuss computer problems and share ideas with other Mac users, feature speakers on specific topics, and to keep apprised of Apple news.