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President’s MessageCharles Clark is the President |
February 2012
The weekly iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone Get-Together (Mondays at 1:00 p.m. in the Mac Learning Center) is totally awesome. The January 30 Get-Together had more than 20 attendees. There are two groups: Advanced and Beginners. The Advanced group sits at the long table near the projector screen and is lead by the capable Charlotte Erickson. The Beginners group sits at a table at the south end of the room, lead by Bill Tilley. I joined the Beginners group as an observer. That status did not last long. Bill Tilley was the moderator of the Beginners group and he ran a fine rundown. At one end of the table, there was a smaller group that overflowed into chairs not around the table. These folks needed refresher training on managing their iPad email. Since I had had the same question with my own iPad email two weeks ago and had found an answer, I was now able to assist these patrons.
There was yet another group in the room: three women sitting together in chairs in the center of the room. They were discussing their iPads and sharing ideas. One of them mentioned to me that they would like to meet at a less busy time. I suggested they meet in the Learning Center at a day and time convenient for them, creating their own iPad get-together.
Three nice side effects of this weekly iPad group is that room attendance is up, we are reaching more PC users, and some of them join the Mac Club.
There is a new high-speed scanner in the Learning Center, attached to iMac 11. If you have a stack of paper documents or photos to scan, you can make digital copies in a batch run. We are still learning its capabilities.
iCloud is making itself known. I noticed that the purchases of eBooks and Apps that I made on my iPad are now populated in my desktop iMac iTunes Library. The only action for participating in the iCloud is to create an iTunes account with your Apple ID (usually your email address) and your own password. Remember the password. You can do the same account creation in the App Store on your desktop iMac or iPad. The two will then share files without your assistance.
January 2012
Bloomberg Business Week recently reported on an IBM forecast of five innovations that are not now in the forefront of our experience, but may be popular within the next five years. So instead of stating my New Year’s resolutions, lets see what is ahead in our already complex world from IBM’s point of view.
Junk mail will still arrive, but it will become so personalized that it may seem relevant. Ha!
The digital age will reach everyone, including the very poor. Digital phones will enable everyone to get connected. Believable. I doubt we are talking about the iPhone, however.
Headsets with sensors will be able to read your brain activity, recognize friends, and detect emotions without needing any physical inputs from the wearer. My take is that this is what our brains do already. So much for mind reading in the future.
Passwords will become passé. Biometrics (see above) will detect our finger or palm prints and our retina patterns. The biometrics are here. Authorizing your bank to logon by staring into your iPad is what we are waiting for. Believable. Just do not have a stoke in the meantime, please.
The energy we generate in walking, jogging, and bicycling will be captured as a power source. Even the energy of water flowing through pipes will be captured. Ok, a good thing if all of us walk, jog, and use a bicycle. The power from water flowing from pipes reminds me of power dams we have today.
Now for news that our Lion-enabled users can enjoy right now. Applejack runs on Lion Macs, except that Repair Permissions does not work. You can still use the Disk Utility to repair permissions if you wish. Applejack's AUTO mode does not work. This suits me, since I use the “interactive” mode. Meanwhile, I look forward to Applejack being fully compatible with Lion.
December 2011
2012 membership renewal time. Our membership campaign will end February 1. Annual dues are only $10 for residents and $15 for resident couples. The sign-up form is available in the Learning Center or on our web site, themacclub.org/form2.html Forms are brief and easy to fill out. Benefits include a lending library of Mac-related books and class announcements by email.
The App Store. Apple has changed how it sells software. DVDs and CDs are replaced with downloads from the App Store (although there may be exceptions). The App Store is a software application that is downloaded via Software Updates in Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) and Lion (Mac OS 10.7) Macs. The App Store icon is a blue circle with an “A” in it center, snuggled next to the blue Finder icon in your Dock. I purchased the Lion operating system for my 2008 Macbook, running Snow Leopard, at the online App Store. The App Store is available in Snow Leopard and above. You need an Internet connection, a credit card or Apple gift card, and most importantly an Apple ID and password. The first time you access the app Store, you will create your Apple ID if you don’t already have one.
Make your purchase, and your download begins. You can download the same purchase to other Macs you control with the same Apple ID. For example, the Lion software I purchased at my MacBook can be downloaded to my desktop iMac and Anne's iMac using the same Apple ID, at no addition cost. If you lose a purchased App, the App Store will permit you to download it again at no additional cost. The App Store remembers all your purchases. There are thousand of Apps to choose from.
November 2011
Steve Jobs News Flash. Before his death October 5, his vision was uploaded to the iCloud. He has become the network. I like that. Thanks to Darrin Bell, Candorville author. However, I have one concern about Apple Inc without their exceptional leader: Will Apple continue to make “insanely great” products? Steve’s autobiography Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, reveals that Steve left Apple with a few new product ideas, a blueprint for the near future. Thanks, Steve. Meanwhile, Andy Ihnatko, technology columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, likened "Apple after Steve" with the analogy of "driving your car when the steering is a bit odd." Time will tell.
2012 Membership Renewal Time. Our membership campaign will end February 1. Dues are only $10 for residents and $15 for resident couples. The signup form is available in the Learning Center or on our web site, themacclub.org. Forms are very brief and easy to fill out. Benefits include technical book and CD lending library and frequent email class notices.
New iMacs at the Mac Learning Center. We added four 27-inch iMacs in the Learning Center. They are slick and beautiful and loaded with the Lion OS. I thank the Golden Rain Foundation for its support.
Board Matters. We have vacancies on the Mac Board. Fern Lerner has moved to Evanston, Illinois. Metche Franke is retiring at the end of the year to attend full time to her husband. The best way to learn about our Club and Board is to attend our board meetings and volunteer to be an Assistant Supervisor in the Mac Room. You will fill in when the scheduled Supervisor is absent. We do not require all-inclusive Mac skills.
October 2011
2012 Membership Renewal Time. Our membership renewal campaign has begun. Dues are $10 for residents, $15 for resident couples, and $20 for nonresident members (one per household). The signup form is available on our website, themacclub.org, and in the Mac Learning Center. Forms are easy to fill out. The membership for new members joining now will be valid through the end of 2012.
Board Matters. Our Board, your Board, has a few vacancies due to board members moving or having mobility problems preventing their participation. If you can spare a few hours once a month on the Tuesday afternoon following the general meeting, I welcome you to attend a Board meeting. Common sense is all you need. The time and place are listed in the calendar published on the last page of the newsletter.
Apple. Want to keep current with Apple’s security updates? Are you running Tiger or Leopard on an Intel microprocessor? Then update to Snow Leopard or higher. Running a PowerPC processor, either G4 or G5? Sorry, you will no longer receive security updates from Apple. Lastly, Apple has stopped providing OS updates for PowerPC systems with the OS X 10.5.8 update. Time to move on…
OS X Lion. I installed Lion on my MacBook. Before installation, I purchased 4 GB of memory from an online vendor for $34 and a tiny #00 Phillips screwdriver from The Home Depot for $2 to open the case and install the memory. The only surprise was that the download from the App Store took about three hours. Yikes! I suggest you start downloading at 11 p.m. instead of 11a.m.
Facebook is changing its privacy policy. The major change is that there will be no privacy by default for Facebook users; they need to navigate complex settings to limit what strangers can learn about them.
September 2011
Jobs changes jobs. Steve Jobs recently announced that he is no longer able to carry out the duties of Chief Executive Office of Apple Inc. The Apple Board named Mr. Jobs Chairman of the Board. In this position, he will be able to contribute ideas and still observe the company’s activities. Many biographical stories have been published recently. One part of his life that struck me and gave me an insight into his high demand for elegance and perfection was his love of calligraphy while attending Reed College. I suspect this vision stayed with him in his careers in Apple, Pixar, and NeXT Computer. Search for his Stanford University commencement address. Very compelling.
HP explodes. HP exits consumer PC market, reduces the HP TouchPad tablet from $500 to $99 in a fire sale, and gives up making hardware for their WebOS they paid millions for last year. Maybe and maybe not. HP is the number one PC maker on the planet. HP announced their intention to spin off their $40 billion PC business into a separate company. The background is all about profit margins — the difference between the wholesale sales price less the combined manufacturing and marketing cost of their PC. HP needs to sell seven PCs in order to make the same profit as Apple makes on one Mac. HP finds itself spinning its wheels making low-margin PCs. HP wants to invest its energies into a higher-margin business such as business services a la IBM. That’s it. Perfectly logical. End of story? I think not. As I write this essay, I’m reading HP’s full-page newspaper ad stating, “Now, more than ever, we are committed to the future of personal computing.” HP needs to be more specific.
Tip of the month. Google and Open DNS recently announced an initiative to make your Internet faster. If you want faster web page loading, change your DNS settings in your wireless router or network system preferences. The Google DNS name servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4; OpenDNS servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. I have been using OpenDNS for years. I recommend you sign up for OpenDNS’s free services that can remove many categories that you do not want to see, e.g., phishing and malware sites.
July/August 2011
From the June 17, 2011, Los Angeles Times, I outline some interesting news.
Elder Care. It appears that using computers improves the quality of life for seniors and extends the time they can stay in their homes as opposed to an extended care facility. Playing computer games is excellent. In the future, interested friends will be able to remotely monitor your health when you are using your computer. Declining game scores will cause an alert. I just caused an alert by typing this paragraph.
Cyber Security. Business page B1 headline - Firms wary of moving to Cloud. Me too. Who can you trust? Why add your documents and photos to the Cloud when big banks cannot protect your account passwords stored on their computers.
Banking. Citigroup reports that some information on 360,000 credit card accounts was accessed by hackers last month. Luckily, Social Security (an oxymoron?) numbers, dates of birth, credit card expiration dates and security codes were not compromised. Feel better? One infamous hacker group, LulzSec, breached the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency - another oxymoron?) website.
E-books. Spam is clogging Amazon’s Kindle e-reader. The primary spam carriers may be the 99-cent non-traditional books. Amazon promises to improve quality control. Being an Amazon fan I wish them the best.
Apple. Apple has new products coming this month and shortly thereafter:
- Lion, the OS X 10.7 operating system, launches in July. Your Mac must have Mac OS X 10.6.6 with the App Store installed, and Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor, and 2 GB of RAM. Look at “About this Mac” on your Apple Menu. Mine says ‘Intel Core Duo’. I cannot upgrade my iMac. Good news, though, for our MacBook, which can be upgraded. For more news go to macworld.com.
- iOS 5, the operating system for the i-devices (iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone), will implement the iCloud. Computing without hard drive storage? I can wait.
June 2011
Internet Speed. West Coast Internet has increased the bandwidth speed in the Learning Center to about 7 Mbps inbound and 2 Mbps outbound. Previously the speeds were about 3 Mbps and 1 Mbps respectively. (Mbps=millions of bits per second).
Malware. So the barbarians are trying to breach out Mac computers. The recent news about MacDefender and its cousins has our attention. Kevin O’Connor related to me his observation of two Macs in our Learning Center that were asking for permission to download MacDefender’s program (a credit card scam!!!). For hints on how to handle this threat please see “Anne’s Corner” on page four of the June newsletter.
If you wish to protect your Mac from malware, I can recommend the Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition. I downloaded the software and scanned my entire hard drive and Time Machine drive. No threats were found. If threats are found, Sophos’s Quarantine Manager will guide you to remove them. Go to http://www.sophos.com and click on the link for Free Tools; then click on the first tool - Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition. It’s 100% totally, absolutely, completely free. Yes, really!
Common Sense Rules. Meanwhile, three common sense rules from krebsonsecurity.com to keep your Mac safe and trouble free from software downloads: If you didn’t ask for it, don’t install it! If you installed it, update it! If you no longer use it, remove it!
Backup. A few months ago a member installed an external hard drive for Time Machine, the automatic backup software used in Leopard and Snow Leopard. Recently she called to say her Excel spreadsheets were now opening in AppleWorks and the spreadsheets were mostly unreadable. I told her to navigate to the Microsoft Office folder in her Applications folder and then invoke Time Machine. Within Time Machine history view, locate a backed-up folder that contains the Excel application and click Restore. She did and magically the Excel application appeared. All is well!
May 2011
Apple Support. There must be twenty ways to get Apple support. I will mention three I have experienced recently. My favorite location to learn about Mac troubleshooting is Apple’s Support Communities. At the Apple.com web site, click the Support tab, and then click the Communities icon in the center section of the page. Apple recently revised the Support Communities web site, a collection of Mac (and Windows) users who either ask for help or suggest solutions. Apple employees do not contribute to the comments. If you have an Apple ID, you can log in and either ask for help or receive help. You can even earn “reputation points” for providing answers that other participants rate “helpful.” You can also log in anonymously and search for comments by others that pertain to your problem. To ask a question, however, you must log in.
Another source for information is on the Apple.com > Store (store.apple.com/us) web page. Click on a product; for example, the MacBook Air. Look down the page and click on the large orange icon containing a question mark. You'll find hundreds of questions with edited answers. Or ask your own question.
My final Apple support experience occurred at the Mac Learning Center where a lady asked for help who had received an email on her iPad from Apple advising her that her MobilMe account would be automatically renewed in a month. She did not want to renew. I saw a link in the email message where she could respond to the renewal notice, which we did. The form also asked for her email address and telephone number. We supplied the Learning Center telephone number. Less than a minute later, the phone rang. A nice young man from Apple wanted to verify the customer’s wish. Shortly after ending the phone call, she received an email from Apple confirming that the MobileMe subscription would not be renewed.
April 2011
Faster Broadband Speeds. Broadband Services, at a recent meeting, answered my question about two impending Internet speed additions. The Village currently enjoys a 3 Mbps (megabits per second)data rate for down-streaming. I used one of many web-speed test web sites: my downstream speed was measured at 3.7 Mbps (mega bits per second). The current upstream data speed from your Mac to the Internet is supposed to be 1 Mbps. Mine is .92 Mbps. To summarize, I enjoy 3.7 Mbps down and nearly 1 Mbps up. Fine, I’m not complaining. Let’s call this Tier 1 service, for which we pay $21 to $18 per month, and free if you work for PCM.
Paul Quaranto, owner of West Coast Internet, will soon announce an 8 Mbps down/2 Mbps up service for $35 per month (Tier 2). For those who need even faster speeds, you can purchase 15 Mbps down/3 Mbps up service for about $47-48 per month (Tier 3).
Printer Will Not Print. Another weird problem happened to me recently. My trusty Brother printer stopped printing. The usual steps of checking the cables and the printer system preferences did not fix the stoppage. I Googled the question and found a suggestion to plug the printer power adapter into the wall outlet, not into the power strip. I did, and the printer worked. The power strip was failing.
Digital Telephone Service. After trying and abandoning Broadband Services, we are now enjoying Vonage’s $25.99 a month telephone service with unlimited calls not only nationwide but also to 60 other countries, plus other great services, including receiving transcribed phone messages by email. We had to disconnect from Broadband Services’ digital telephone service after too many service interruptions and two instances of waiting seven days for repair. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
March 2011
New iPad Announcement. Apple iPad 2 Event set for March 2nd. Expect the iPad 2 to be thinner, feature an improved display with front-facing camera, FaceTime video chat and worldwide wireless goodness. Go to the Apple website to get the facts. Higher Speed Internet. West Coast Internet (WCI) currently offers Internet service at 3 Mbps (mega bits per second) download speed and 1Mbps upload. My download speed is 3.7Mbps; my upload speed is slightly less than 1Mbps. Soon, WCI will offer three service speeds, possibly up to 60Mbps, charging a fee for fast service. Only 5-10Mbps is required for watching streaming video. Why is this important? Netflix and Amazon offer streaming movies. I use a Roku box to route the movies from the Internet wirelessly to my TV via HDMI cable. My current download speed is sufficient. Steve Jobs recommends 5Mbps for movies.
Email Passwords. West Coast Internet (WCI) is the email provider for most of our members. I recently called their support at (949) 487-3307 for a member who could not remember his/her password and wanted to change it. The support person told us that they can tell you your password over the phone, but if you wanted to change it, you must do so at one of their websites, either mail.comline.com or mail.fea.com, depending on your domain name. Log on with your e-mail address and password, then, in the left margin, click on “Settings” (twin gear wheels). This will take you to a page where you can change your password. You must enter your current e-mail password and your new password on the form. There is no “Save” or “OK” button. Just click “Logout” at the top right corner of the page.
February 2011
Thank you members for renewing your Mac Club membership, and welcome to our new members. Please email me with any questions about your membership.
Our iPad group meeting on Monday afternoons is growing. We had to add a third table to accommodate our guests on a recent session. I suggest we implement two groups for the iDevices Get Together– one for new users and another group for the established users. Perhaps the new users group can use the smaller table on the south side of the room.
Our Learning Center will be open Monday, February 21, Presidents Day, at Noon so that iPad users will not be denied their opportunity to share and learn. Fun begins at 1 p.m.
Two Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Shut down now, do not ask “Are you sure:” control-option-command-eject. You should observe a powered off Mac. Here is another:
- Put Screen to sleep, keep other computer components active. shift-control-eject. Tap any key or mouse click to see your screen.
Time Machine Repair. Recently my Time Machine would not finish its backup. The tiny menu bar icon just kept revolving, round and round. I used Disk Utility’s First Aid - Repair Disk tool to restore Time Machine to its normal operation. After Disk Utility started, it spewed out lots of messages, some of which were serious. Then the message “Time Machine was repaired successfully.”
Pet Peeve. Please keep a record of your Administrator password, any Standard account passwords, and your email password. Also, know where your system install disc is stored; it is necessary to reset passwords and repair the hard drive with Disk Repair tools.
January 2011
Membership Renewal Time. If you have not renewed your Mac Club membership, please use the renewal form on Page 5 of the Newsletter to do so.
Mac Board Associate (MBA). We have room for new Board members who wish to have a say in our club’s governance. If you do not like something we do, speak up. You can start as a Mac Board Associate (MBA), which is a nonvoting Board member.
Many years ago I had an issue with a meeting and found a helpful Board member to resolve the issue. This incident developed into a “best friend” relationship.
Instructor. Another position we can use is instructor. If you have a Mac competency that you want to share in a class or in a less formal setting such as a user group gathering, please talk to me. The best instructors are those who are passionate about the subject matter. An example is Dennis McGovern’s Print Shop class.
Supervisor. Our cadre of Supervisors keep the Mac Room open and provide expertise to members and visitors. Volunteering to be a standby Supervisor is a great way to help our members. This is another way to get involved with the the club. The lastest full-time supervisor added to the slate is Kevin O’Connor. In his spare time he edits our newsletter.
iPad Group Expanding. Our weekly Monday afternoon (1:00 P.M.) group will now include the iPhone and the iPod Touch. There is no prepared agenda and users share their knowledge and experiences with the group. If you have one of these Internet-enabled devices, or if you are just thinking about these “computers in your pocket,” please drop by for a friendly and informative time. There is no fee for the gathering but donations are always welcome.
December 2010
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Thanks for your loyal membership. We look forward to serving all of you in the new year. One way to renew your membership is to drop by the Learning Center, fill out a short form and attach your check for $10 (residents), $15 (resident couples), or $20 (nonresident, one per household, subject to availability). You can also access the membership form and mailing instructions at http://themacclub.org/form.html. Members who joined after August 1, 2010, do not need to renew. Their membership extends through 12-31-2011. New members who join now will also have their membership extended until the end of 2011. Our dues are very low but important to the club’s fiscal well being. Thank you for your continued support.
Backup. We hope you enjoyed our November general meeting topic on backing up your Mac with Time Machine. Not to be too mean, but there are two kinds of computer users: those who have had hard drive failures and those who will have hard drive failures. Be prepared.
Here is a happy Time Machine outcome: A member’s 16-month old iMac would not start up. Well, it would off and on. Very ‘flaky’ behavior. No backups had been made. After a lucky restart in my workshop, I quickly made a backup onto my personal external hard drive using Time Machine. Meanwhile, this iMac failed again soon after my backup. The member and I took the iMac to the Spectrum Apple Store.
The Apple genius was the best, with very good listening, people, and technical skills. After said member whispered to me asking me why a hard drive should fail on a ‘new’ computer, I replied, “Good question.” The Genius overheard our comments and said, “Apple will replace the hard drive free of charge.” I was happy, the member was happy. A few days later we pickup the iMac with a new and larger hard drive - free of charge. However, all data were lost. Only the standard iMac applications were on the hard drive. I restored the personal data from my Time Machine backup. Oh, joy! Everything, especially family pictures and treasured email messages, were restored.
A few days later, the member bought an external hard drive at Costco, which Anne connected to her iMac, and Time Machine is backing up regularly now.
November 2010
Membership Dues. Time to renew your Mac Club membership. The best way to renew is to drop by the Learning Center, fill out a short application form and attach your check for $10, or pin a ten dollar bill to your application form. You may also access a membership form and mailing instructions at http:// themacclub.org/form.html. New members can join now and enjoy membership until the end of 2011. Our dues are very low but important to the club's fiscal well being. Thank you for your continued support.
New iMacs. The Learning Center has four new iMacs. Two have giant 27-inch screens and two are the medium- size 21.5 inch models. Once you get used to the 27-inch screen, you do not want to go back to a smaller size. The new Macs are on the second row. All have stunning displays for your viewing pleasure. Library. We add new books to our Learning Center Library every month. Shell Weinberg makes the purchases after receiving requests for subject matter. We have an impressive collection. Check it out. Books are on loan to members for two weeks.
iPad Weekly Meetings. The iPad get-togethers, formally known as the iPad Chat Room, are held every Monday afternoon at 1:00 P.M. in the back of the Learning Center. You do not need an iPad to enjoy the gathering. I have been observing the iPad meetings. I am impressed with the knowledge gained and shared. Some owners have over 100 apps installed. Talk about gung-ho. We have a club- owned iPad for you to explore any time the Learning Center is open. These meetings have the characteristics of early Mac user group meeting. Come and see the action.
October 2010
Board matters. Dennis McGovern is our new club Vice- President. He was unanimously elected at our last Board meeting. Welcome aboard, Dennis.
Digitization Station. Visit our new workspace if you have audio tapes or records of the LP, 45, or 78 variety that you wish to be converted to MP3 format and recorded on CD. Want to produce your CD case liners with playlist contents, liner notes, and an a attractive front cover? The Digi Station iMac is outfitted with the application "Print Shop for Mac 2.0" for stunning graphics. The EZ software transcribes audio from records to CDs. The Epson Artisan printer prints directly onto CDs. The station is on a table in the room's northeast corner. Dennis McGovern has installed "Print Shop for Mac 2.0" on many of the iMacs in the Learning Center and is planning a class to instruct our members on using it. Of course, iTunes and iPhoto help you create beautiful photo slide shows on CDs.
My Favorite Browsers. Over the years, I have used quite a few web browsers starting with Mosaic. My favorite right now is Google Chrome, which is built for Intel Macs only. There is no separate search field in Google Chrome. Enter your search text into the address field and Google will know what you want even if you are a little vague yourself. I like using applications that are smarter than I am. The new Safari version 5.02 allows you to save search results and email entire web pages. Firefox suits the needs of power users that like tabs, lots of tabs. Camino used to be my favorite browser, and I still use it, because it has many of my accumulated bookmarks. Camino uses a Mac-native Cocoa programming environment that complies with Apple’s human interface guidelines. Very Mac-like. Opera is very fast. Others are Minefield, Flock, OmniWeb, and Shira.
September 2010
Board transitions. Fern Learner and John Hansen have resigned from the Mac Board for health reasons. Fern will continue to be our ‘Sunshine’ committee, sending out ‘get well’ cards. She now has difficulty herself getting out. Once, with my usual wry humor, I suggested she send a card to herself.
John is slowed from walking difficulties, but he is determined to finish the third book of his family history. Anne and I have enjoyed John’s hospitality over the years. John enjoyed barbecuing steaks he bought at Costco. In return, I would tune up his Mac computers. John was the treasurer and also the club photographer, an avocation he honed in the Air Force, flying photo reconnaissance missions over Europe during WWII.
Welcome new Board members Audrey Glenn and Dennis McGovern. Audrey is the young lady who telephones members before each meeting who do not have email. When she recently graduating from WebTV and acquired an iMac, I knew she was fully qualified to be a Board member. Dennis is the Friday morning Supervisor. He has established a Music Digitization Station in the front corner of the Learning Center. You may convert LPs and audio tapes to CDs. Print on finished CDs with artwork and liner notes. Dennis McGovern is pushing us into the creative efforts.
Are you interested in leading the Club? Our Board members are the core group that gets things done. We have a seat waiting for you at our Board meeting.
The iPad Chat meetings held every Monday afternoons are fun. You do not need an iPad to enjoy the gathering. There is an iPad in the Learning Center for you to explore at any time the Learning center is open.
Four new iMacs are coming to the Learning Center soon.
The Quake-Catcher Network. Are you a latent earth scientist? Like to keep up with earthquakes? Enjoy exploring with Google Earth? Want to use your Mac for community service? Sign up at qcn.stanford.edu. For extra credit, you can buy a seismic detector for $50 and let the world know what’s shaking in the Village.
July/August 2010
The iPad has arrived in the Learning Center for you to touch and enjoy. The club also purchased a nice leather case, some digital books (iBooks), and fun apps for the iPad. Meanwhile, I use my own iPad at home to check the email and the news while having my morning coffee. The iPad goes where you go. You are welcome to visit the Learning Center and ask to see the iPad.
Welcome to Macintosh. I do not normally comment on the previous month's general meeting program, but the motion picture 'Welcome To Macintosh' has more to share. This picture was first broadcast in January 2010 on the cable network CNBC. I recorded it on my DVR at home. Since Anne and I started using Macs in the mid 80's, the history of Apple and its products were familiar to us. The motion picture was well researched and very well edited. The result was exceptional. Louise Dawson suggested that this picture would make a great meeting topic. Shell Weinberg had the same idea and bought the DVD from Amazon for $19. He intended to reduce the 83 minutes run time to 60 minutes. However, he found very few clips to cut and and said, 'What the heck, let's show the whole thing with an intermission." Everyone at the June meeting enjoyed the DVD. A few said, "That was your best meeting ever."
Meanwhile, I took the DVD home and played it again. I discovered the DVD 'Extras.' The DVD content is much greater than the motion picture. The interviews are three hours long. Some of principles are Guy Kawasaki, Andy Hertzfeld, Ron Wayne, the forgotten founder, and my favorite, Jim Reekes. In the spirit of 'Extras,' there is a featurette showing the making of the motion picture, movie trailers, and a montage called 'Symbiosis' showing how various Apple computers fit into our culture. A bit strange, but fun, as if the director is making sight gags.
The DVD is in our library for check out. Enjoy.
June 2010
Date and Time Problems? If you have an annoying problem with your Mac that you cannot fix - perhaps the Date & Time settings are incorrect or the PDT time zone and location (Los Angeles) are not available in the Date & Time system preferences, try these five troubleshooting steps.
Step 1. Turn your Mac off and remove the power cable; plug it back in after a thirty second pause. This will reset the Power Management Unit (PMU). This will work for most iMacs. Other Macs may require opening the case up and pressing the PMU button on the logic board or removing the motherboard battery for thirty seconds. See the Apple online instructions if these circumstances fit you.
Step 2. Repair Disk Permissions. Launch the Disk Utility application found in your Utilities folder. Look left and confirm that your hard drive (mine is Macintosh HD) is highlighted, then click the Repair Disk Permissions button.
Step 3. Zap the PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory). PRAM retains five settings in your Mac which it needs to boot up accurately: time zone, startup disk, speaker volume, DVD region setting, and kernel panic information.! Resetting the PRAM is a twenty-year-old technique that still works in the OS X Macs: On start up, depress and hold down four keys (takes both hands): Option, Command, P, and R. Wait for three system chimes - then release the keys. This flushes out stray or erroneous data in the PRAM, which might have caused your problem.
Step 4. "Google" your problem.
Step 5. Download (apple.com/support) and run a "Mac OS X Combo Update" for your operating system. We have a few Combo Update CD's in the Learning Center which club members may borrow. If additional troubleshooting is required, the Apple Store Genius or your guru can assist you.
May 2010
Board Matters. Ed Egan, Board member and a Past President, has resigned from the Board. He will remain a club member. Ed was President when I joined the club some ten-plus years ago. Ed is a store of club history because he participated in the early days of the first ₀computer club₁ (PC and Apple), then the PC Club with an Apple branch, and then the Macintosh Users Group which continues as the Laguna Woods Village Macintosh Club. The Board has two vacancies. If you are an ardent Mac or iPad user, I would like to talk to you about joining the Board.
iPad. The Board of Directors has decided to purchase one iPad for the Learning Center, in order to give you a chance to try out this extraordinary device.
Keyboard shortcuts. I have recently learned some keyboard shortcuts that I think are ‘nifty.’ To Shut Down your Mac immediately without mousing with the Apple menu, first depress and hold three keys: control+option+command and then depress the media eject key. If all goes well, you will see an immediate shutdown without being asked ‘Are you sure…’
To send a file to the Trash without dragging the file icon to the Trash, depress the control key, click and hold on the file⁽s icon, select ₀Move to Trash₁ in the drop down menu. To empty the Trash without moving to the Finder⁽s File menu, depress shift+command+delete keys (not forward-delete).
My favorite keyboard shortcut is command+tab. You will see the application your are currently using with other application icons you have opened but are not using. To move to the next unused application, depress command+tab until you get to the application you want. To quit the selected application, depress the command+Q keys.
April 2010
iPad. Apple has announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available at the Apple Stores on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models, and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. I get the feeling the Mac Club will buy one Wi-Fi model for use in the Learning Center ;-).
Apple Support. Apple has updated their support page “What to ask if you're having issues sending, receiving, or configuring Mail.” It is a long form that you should fill out before you have mail problems. The form is too long to reproduce here. You can find it at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1277 and print it. If you do not know all of the answers, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as West Coast Internet, or your email service provider (ESP}, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Apple's MobileMe. From time to time, I find wrong settings on the Mail accounts used in the Learning Center. If your email service is not working, check the account settings.
Apple Troubleshooting. If your web browser (such as Safari, Firefox, or Google Chrome) displays these unwelcome alerts, "A connection failure has occurred", "The specified server could not be found,” “Name servers not responding” or similar messages, refer to Apple’s troubleshooting page at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1843. If your web browsing is fine, you do not need to read the troubleshooting steps. However, please make one test now to see if your DNS (domain name system) settings are correct. Type this URL ( http://17.149.160.49 ) into your browser’s web address bar and press Enter. It should take you to Apple’s web site. If you get the Apple web page, your DNS service is fine. DNS servers convert web address containing numbers to words so that humans do not have to memorize millions of numbers for web page addresses. Thank goodness!
March 2010
Protected passwords. Keychain Access, located in your Utilities folder, is the preferred keeper of your passwords for logging on to websites that insist on passwords, such as iTunes, Apple Care, news sites, your bank, and on-line stores. Over the years I have created an AppleWorks document five pages long with many passwords, many obsolete and a distant memory. However, it is bad practice to have your passwords readable in a document that any other user of your Mac can access. I finally became familiar and comfortable with using Keychain Access. Keychain Access works automatically when you set up a new account on a website, provided you check “Remember this password” during the account setup. Keychain Access can also be used to manually create new passwords. I have been doing more of this lately. The key feature of Keychain Access is that it requires your administrator’s password to access your passwords. If you leave your Mac open to other users, or if your Macbook is lost, your passwords are protected.
Here is a brief tour of Keychain Access: Inside Keychain Access, highlight the login Keychain at the op of the left sidebar, and in the Category section below, select Passwords. The list that appears shows the name of each website/account, the kind of account, the kind of password (Internet or application), and the date modified (created or edited). To find your password for that website/account, double-click on the item of interest. Click the checkbox “Show password,” enter your administrator password, and click Allow. This will make your password visible.
Another useful category of Keychain Access is Secure Notes. You can write one or many Secure Notes. To access your note later, you must provide the administratorÕs password. I recently copied and pasted my long AppleWorks list of passwords into a Secure Note and it worked well. Rather than having a list of passwords in an easily accessible text document, I now have all my password safe in Keychain Access.
February 2010
Board Matters. Louise Doslu, Instructor and Supervisor for Monday morning at our Learning Center, was recently elected to the Board of Directors. Louise is an iPhone enthusiast. If you ask Louise a question about the iPhone she will smile as she opens her ever-handy iPhone. Filling LouiseÕs Mac Board Associate position is Dennis McGovern, our Friday morning supervisor. Dennis is an experienced FileMaker Pro user. Dennis has developed an online membership roster using File Maker Pro. When GRF requested our club roster for their records, Dennis filled out their new new online form in a jiffy using "copy and paste." The roster was received with a BIG THANK YOU. I have been told that not all clubs know how to “copy and paste.” Dennis is now looking at automating our Mac Room Library circulation system.
Using iCal. At the January general meeting, Forrest Blanton and Dave Silverberg, Apple Creatives and Geniuses at the Apple Spectrum store, showed us how to add events to our iCal calendar. Anne’s Corner in this newsletter has a tip on how you can add the Mac Club calendar to your iCal program. I did it yesterday. I also added the Lakers and Clippers calendar in my iCal calendar. To see other calendars you can add ("subscribe to"), go to apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars/. For extra credit, I also created a calendar from an obscure web site, imported that event into a Google Calendar, and then subscribed to the Google calendar in my iCal calendar. More details at Google Calendar.
Printer misbehaving? If your printer will not print, turn the power off and disconnect the data cable. Wait a few seconds. Also restart your Mac. Reconnect the printer and turn the printer on. If you need instructions on how to change ink cartridges, go the manufacture’s web site. Each printer brand has their own sequence of steps to perform. If you have the printer’s User Guide handy, place it under the printer for rapid access.
January 2010
Welcome 2010. Thank you, members, for renewing your Mac Club membership. If you have not yet renewed, please drop in at the Mac Learning Center before the end of January and fill out our ‘really short’ membership form with your check for $10. Nonresidents are welcome for $20 (one per household), subject to Golden Rain’s “10 percent membership“ limit.
House Calls. I have received a few calls recently for help in reconnecting to the Internet. If you call West Coast Internet for help, they will tell you to disconnect the power plug from the cable modem, wait a few seconds, and reconnect. Works 99% of the time. Not so in a recent visit. After verifying cable connections for Ethernet, power, and coaxial, and seeing the green lights on the cable modem, there was still no connection. I decided to enter the cable modem’s web interface number: In your browser's web address field, type 192.168.100.1 and press Enter. This will display the status of your cable modem. I saw that the Cable Modem Status was “Disabled” instead of “Operational.” In the “Configuration” page, you can click the “Restore Factory Defaults” button. I clicked the button, waited a few minutes, and closed the browser window (click the red window button). Voilà! The Internet connection was working. I cannot explain how the cable modem became 'Disabled' in the first place.
I expect all Mac owners using OS X to know their Admin User Name and its password. Guess what? I can assure you that I do not know your password. This is the password you use to install your Mac's software updates. If you forget, Apple has a back door that allows you to reset your password using the Mac OS X system disc that came with your iMac. Do you know where your system discs are? If not, I'll use mine. If you know your password, I suggest you write it on a Post-It note and affix it to the bottom of the keyboard for easy retrieval. The last sentence will bother security purists but not me.
December 2009
Board Matters. We have two new Board members: Ted Miller and Lee Wight were elected Directors at our November Board meeting. They will fill two vacancies. Louise Doslu was appointed Mac Board Associate. An Associate is a non-voting Board member who acts as an advisor to the Board. I am very pleased that Ted, Lee and Louise want to help manage the Mac Club. Meanwhile, Bob Payne will resign his position on the Board at year end. Bob has been very helpful in explaining Broadband issues, high-definition television and broadband Internet, facing the community. We wish Bob and his wife, Virginia, the opportunity to do what they want to do.
Just one more thing. The Club officers were reelected for another year term beginning next year. The officers are Charles Clark, President; John Hansen, Vice President; Anne Clark, Secretary; and Wim Vermolen, Treasurer.
I thank the Directors and Officers for their contribution and service. We are always looking for volunteers; play an active role in your Club.
New iMacs. Five new 24-inch screen iMacs were installed in the Learning Center. These lovely iMacs replace the now obsolete white flat-panel iMacs with the dome bases. The flat-panel iMacs will be sent to the PCM maintenance warehouse on Via Campo Verde for sealed bids by residents and employees of the community. Watch for announcements in the Globe for the bidding announcement. The funds go to Golden Rain, not to the Mac Club.
Year-end Wishes. See you next year. To Good Health and Happy Mac Computing. May your printer print, your email work, and your browser be always connected to the Internet.
Happy Holidays!
November 2009
Gladys Greene. Gladys Greene, former newsletter editor and Board member, has moved to Arizona to be with her family. Gladys fought this move for months, but after she tripped over her beloved dog, she consented to the move. Call for Volunteers. We have several openings in our Mac Board. If you wish to make an impact on our club and make some nice friends, please contact me (837-6080). I can invite you to a Board meeting so you can see for yourself if you are a fit. Common sense is a plus. Technical skill, not so much.
Renewal time. Your 2009 membership dues will expire at the end of the year (unless you joined on or after September 1, 2009). Dues are $10 for residents, $20 for nonresidents. Combined with our 'world-class' Learning Center, your membership is very special and very affordable. While $10/$20 dollars is a nominal amount, your dues do help the Mac Club maintain the Learning Center, paying for ink, toner, paper, and the printing of newsletters. New members signing up now will have their membership extended to the end of 2010.
Mail Call, Not. The Post Office now requires bulk rate users, such as us, to deposit their mailings at the Santa Ana Processing and Distribution Center, not at the Laguna Hills office where we enjoyed good relations for many years. This has proved to be a hardship. The Board has decided to use first class stamps for the November and December mailings. Cost is a bit more but saves in gas and time. Furthermore, the Mac Club will no longer mail newsletters to members after the December issue. You may pick up a paper copy in the Learning Center or at our general meetings. You may also read the newsletter for free at our website, www.themacclub.org/newsletter.html. You can even print out a copy at your printer.
Happy Thanksgiving!
October 2009
Annual Membership Dues Our 2010 membership renewal drive is open. Your dues are good for one year and expire on December 31. Dues for Laguna Woods Village residents are only $10 per person ($15 per couple, if applying/renewing together). Your dues are important to the club.
You may renew either in person at the Learning Center, where we have application forms and a Supervisor can assist you. Or go to our web site, www.themacclub.org/application, and fill in the online application. Full remittance instructions are on the application form. $10 is quite a bargain.
New members who join now will receive membership for the remaining months in 2009 and the full year 2010 for $10. The Board has reduced the $15 first-year membership dues to only $10, same as the renewal dues.
Slow eMac Recently a member needed help with his eMac that had become sluggish when surfing the Internet. Memory was insufficient. The eMac had only 384 MB of memory. Due to owner inexperience, no maintenance routines had been performed, such Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk.
I installed 1 GB of memory. Increasing memory is the best investment you can make in your Mac. Memory prices are very reasonable. I also installed a newer operating system. If you are two or three versions behind the current operation system, your Mac will miss out on improvements and support for new equipment.
Finally, I used my favorite tune-up script, AppleJack. The use of AppleJack was written up by Anne in last month's Anne's Corner. One AppleJack feature I like very much is purging your user cache files. Over time these cache files grow in large numbers (thousands), and any performance improvement is offset by the delays in finding and reading the cache files. AppleJack deletes all cache files. Your Mac will be snappy, and you will be happy.
September 2009
Murray Massin, Board Member, Instructor, and past Program Chair, passed away this July. He will be missed by everyone who knew him. I have written a long essay about Murray in the September newsletter.
Our beloved Board Member, Newsletter Editor and Supervisor, Gladys Greene, has resigned her positions with the club due to recent infirmity. With great sadness on her part, she reluctantly gave up her Pealings newsletter that she created so diligently for many years. She mastered PageMaker and InDesign publishing software. Gladys was an early member of the club. In the days when we had no permanent meeting place, she would open her house and be a gracious host for members to learn more about ’Macintosh.’ I now hope, with her responsibilities lifted, she will be able to recover.
Kevin O’Conner, recently retired from the performing arts field, has accepted the job as Newsletter Editor. He was recently elected Board Member, and he continues as an Assistant Supervisor. I still have his written note stating his interest in helping the club. I expect him to do well. Welcome aboard, Kevin.
Ted Miller answered my call for volunteers. He is the Monday afternoon Supervisor, skilled in Photoshop, and was recently appointed Mac Board Associate. Welcome aboard, Ted.
Recently two members had the same printer problem: printer won’t print. Step one to try in cases like this is to open the “Print & Fax” System Preference and click on the ’Open Print Queue...’ button. If printing was stopped, click the “Resume Printer” button. If that does not work, turn off the printer and disconnect the USB cable from the printer and the Mac. Wait a moment and reconnect the USB cable. Turn on the power. Check that the printer appears in the “Print & Fax” System Preferences Printers list.
July/August 2009
Safari 4. The new Safari 4 browser for Mac and PC users has been released and it is fast, very fast. The download is free. Coming in September is OS 10.6 also known as Snow Leopard. The announced price is $29 or $49 for a family pack.
OS X v. 10.6 Snow Leopard. Coming in September is OS 10.6 also known as “Snow Leopard.” The announced price is $29 or $49 for a family pack.
New One-to-One Apple Training Rules. Apple has expanded their person-in-store One-To-One membership. First major change is One-To-One is offered only at the time of purchase of a new Mac at an Apple Store or Apple Online Store. You must choose One-To-One at the time of your new Mac purchase. Current One-To-One members can renew one more year without the purchase requirement. Lapsed member? Sorry, you have to buy a new Mac at Apple.
One-To-One offers overnight transfer of files from your old Mac or PC and installation of new Apple software, both in the right place. You still make one hour appointments for a training session. The requirement for one weekly session is replaced with unlimited appointments provided the new appointment made is after the current One-To-One session. So if you want, you can have hours of training in a day or week, depending on Apple’s available schedule, provided that the sessions are scheduled one at a time. New is “Personal Projects.” For example, if you need more than one hour to build your web site, make a Keynote presentation, or learn that Pro application, you can get a three hour training slot with a Apple Creative trainer. I envision that there will a group of attendees, each with their own project, and one roving trainer to guide you through your questions.
Finally, One-To-One members will have access to the One-To-One web site with many training videos and other aids as well as your scheduling portal.
June 2009
Welcome Kevin O'Connor. Kevin joined our club last year and has offered to help run the club. Therefore, I am pleased to announce Kevin is our latest Assistant Supervisor. He will fill in when a Supervisor is absent from the Learning Center. Kevin’s mother is a Laguna Woods Village resident and he is a resident of Laguna Hills. He recently retired as Director of the Downey Civic Theatre. Kevin has extensive Mac experience, starting with the first Macintosh. Over the years he has had a Mac Plus, LC III, and currently works on a MacBook Pro. Kevin grew up in the circus world where he learned, among other things, how to revive sick animals with a wee bit of brandy. He also attended the same high school that Shell did, Fairfax High, except Shell preceded Kevin by twenty-two years.
If you wish to help the Mac Club please come to Clubhouse 1 at 5:30 p.m. on monthly meeting nights and offer to help set up the projector and other equipment; visit the Learning Center often, and attend our monthly Board meetings. You are always welcome.
Web Browsers. I currently use Safari Version 4 Public Beta. This is the browser that will ship with the next Mac OS, Snow Leopard, hopefully without the ‘Beta’ handle. Being an Apple product, Safari should be a robust browser for you. Firefox 3.0.10 is the latest from the Mozilla Organization, and they have announced version 3.5 to be released soon. Firefox is good to have when your primary browser has an issue loading a particular web page. OmniWeb 5.9.2 and Opera 9 are also powerful browsers in their own right. If you want to try a different browser, please try my long-time favorite, Camino 1.6.7. It is finely tuned for the Mac. I find it worthwhile to have more than one browser handy in case something funny happens in your web browser.