Snow Leopard Requirements

More details on how well your Mac will implement Snow Leopard is sent to us from Jim Hamm. He tells us, "For example, my MacBook Air will not realize any improvement from the 'OpenCL' design because it doesn't have a supported graphics chipset. This won't bother me as I don't use my 'Air' for any intensive graphics work anyway. Otherwise, it looks like my 'Air' is good to go with Snow Leopard.

"Even if your particular hardware configuration won't fully support all the features of Snow Leopard, I think you'll still realize benefits, including freeing-up about 6GB of hard drive."

Take a look at the article from About.com and note that Snow Leopard is only for Macs that use an Intel processor.

More On NetNewsWire


Wondered why NetNewsWire doesn't give you a "new content" bullet? Art Gorski gives us this info. "If you use NetNewsWire as your RSS newsreader (instead of Apple's Mail or Safari), and you 'subscribe' to the PMUG website, you will have probably noticed that you don't get a 'new content' bullet when something changes on the website. But if you just select the feed you can see the dates when each website page was last updated, which is almost as good." (Double click on the illustration to see this example.)

Here De Prez Allen Laudenslager checks in to the discussion: "It must be a setting thing. I use NetNewsWire and get a new post bullet for our blog! I use the default settings and mine works exactly the same for the PMUG blog as for all the other feeds."
Anybody else want to help shed some light here?

Way, Way Up!

Leading a SIG has gone to Jim Hamm’s head. Now we can see he’s head and shoulders up over Prescott. Bobbie Pastor sent this clever email, made with a template from the stationery program from Equinux. Double click on the picture here to enlarge it.

http://www.equinux.com/us/products/stationery/index.html It’s for Leopard only. The Stationery Pack costs only $29.95 and comes with a “try for free” offer on the home page. You have wondered about those cute emails Bobbie sends? Now you know . . . the rest of the story.

Considering NetNewsWire

Here's an article by Rob Griffiths explaining that he doesn't like the coming changes to NetNewsWire. Jim Hamm has this to say, "I presently use and appreciate the features of NetNewsWire, but don't use Google Reader nor do I try to sync my two Macs through or with NetNewsWire. I don't think I'll mind the advertising--businesses have to make money some way."
http://www.macworld.com/article/142032/2009/07/nnwsync.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_cbstories
If you use NetNewsWire, any thoughts--pro or con--on this coming change?

Changes Affecting Us

Changes will affect those of us who use NetNewsWire, according to a short note from Art Gorski. He says,"Many of us use NetNewsWire to aggregate RSS feeds and get our daily news. Unfortunately, version 3.2, now in beta test, will remove MobileMe syncing (useful for those with more than one Mac) and add advertising to the program unless you pay to not display ads. For those reasons I'm not going to upgrade from 3.1.6, and I recommend you don't either."
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/netnewswire-beta-beginning-of-transition-to-google-reader.ars

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Warning About Facebook

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A stunning problem is brought to our attention by Bill Williamson. Facebook can use your photo in ads. Today's article, http://www.komando.com/tips/ reveals some troubling information. By using third-party applications offered on Facebook you give their developers access to your profile. That includes your photos. Social ads on Facebook have some access to your data. To avoid some scary problems read the whole article. Kim Komando tells you how to opt out and protect yourself.

What's Happening to Skype?

If you're a user of Skype you'll want to keep informed. De Prez Allen Laudenslager alerts us:

VoIP provider Skype is in serious jeopardy, eBay warned in a regulatory filing this week, saying its future depends on a court battle over rights to the company's core components and its own software-development efforts to replace the technology. The issue derives from a claim by Joltid, a company owned by the founders of Skype, that eBay has infringed on its patents after revoking the company's license. New York Times, (07/30) from SmartBrief.com/news/ Enter "Skype" in the search box.

A longer article at http://www.techdirt.com (scroll down to Skype Founders) goes into more detail.

Allen says, “eBay bought Skype but only licenses the core technology that makes it work. Now eBay and Skype are in court (in England) over the licensing issues. Without the core tech, eBay will have to close down Skype - a real loss for those of us that use it - and write off the 2.6 BILLION they paid for it." He concludes, “There are an estimated 40 million active users.”

More People Prefer Mac

Interesting commentary on PCs and Mac. De Prez Allen Laudenslager tells us he found this on the Daring Fireball blog http://daringfireball.net/2009/07/microsofts_long_slow_decline

"Microsoft has lost all but a sliver of this entire market. People who love computers overwhelmingly prefer to use a Mac today. Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. Regular people don’t think about their choice of computer platform in detail and with passion like nerds do because, duh, they are not nerds. But nerds are leading indicators.

"This is true in many markets with broad appeal, not just computers. Microsoft is looking ever more so like the digital equivalent of General Motors. Car enthusiasts lost interest in GM’s cars long before regular people did; the same is happening with Windows."

P.S. from Elaine. If you, like me, have trouble reading white print on a dark colored background remember you can toggle to white background and dark letters by doing the combination of Control + Option + Command + 8. When you're done, do it again to toggle back to normal.

It's Terminal, You Say?

Did you know that the Mac has a Terminal application for entering commands at the keyboard? Why would you want to do that? What's wrong with the graphical interface?

John Carter has some answers for us. "Well, for one, when you use the terminal both hands are constantly in the same position - over the keyboard - instead of one hand moving back and forth from the keyboard to the mouse. But if you're not a good typist that probably doesn't matter much to you anyway.

"Secondly, and this is probably the most important reason to use keyboard commands, the graphical interface actually hides a lot of functionality and detail from the user. Using keyboard commands gives you so much more control over what you want to see and do.

"Now here's an interesting tutorial that just might help anyone new to Linux to get used to keyboarding (as we call it).

"By the way, this tutorial will take you from 'why use a keyboard' to almost forgetting all about what a mouse is used for." http://osxfaq.com/tutorials/LearningCenter/

RSS Explained Some More, Hopefully

Updating what we posted on this blog on February 24:Have you solved RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to keep current with your favorite websites? You can set RSS for the PMUG site.

John Carter started us off on Monday with an email saying the RSS feed for the PMUG website appears to be working the way it should now. “After making two updates this morning, one in About Us and the other in Specials, I now see the update in my RSS feed as soon as I refresh the feed.”

I found his earlier email where John offers to help, "If you have any questions about how to subscribe to the PMUG RSS feed or whatever news reader to use, please send your questions." webmaster@pmug.us

Now, about using NetNewsWire as your RSS feed, http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/netnewswire/ Note that it’s a free Mac download.

Allen Laudenslager tells us, “In response to reports that the RSS button on the blog doesn’t work with NetNewsWire I found that if I open the PMUG blog in my web browser (Firefox) and highlight and copy the URL, then open NetNewsWire (my RSS reader) and lastly click on File and New Subscription a window opens that lets me paste the PMUG blog URL into NetNewsWire. Done this way, my reader automatically updates when something new is posted to the blog.”

Then to further clarify using NetNewsWire when it's open, Allen writes, “Click the Refresh All button on the top tool bar; that should bring in all the unread posts. You may have to highlight the oldest post and then move the cursor up to list them as read.”

Anybody else have comments about this?

Jim's & John's Impressions

Google is offering a new service called Google Voice. The basic idea is to give a person one phone number for all your phones. Jim Hamm writes, "I just received an invite, after submitting my name some time ago just to see what it was all about. With the same set of emails I received the following article by Paul Stamatiou on his first impressions of this service. Other links in his article contain more info. See http://paulstamatiou.com
"My first impression is that this is an intriguing idea, and a service that might be very useful to a business person who needs to stay in touch, or for someone who travels a lot. Also, it seems that a person can text message free using this service, whereas text messaging on a commercial carrier costs money.





"AT&T, Verizon, et. al., probably aren't too enthused by what Google is doing. I don't plan to jump on this service yet, if ever, because I'm not sure I really need it, and it seems a bit convoluted. But, having said that, when we're traveling in our motorhome it would be handy to have calls to our home phone number routed right to our cell phone.

"Google is apparently working on getting number portability, so one can just use their existing number and not have to get a new one from Google." Here's the Google site http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

Now, John Carter enters, "My impression is this: anyone can take the time, if they will, to forward their phones to any other number when they go on vacation. For busy business people with multiple phones, it might be appropriate to have one 'master' phone ring if any of the others ring, but to have ALL of them ring at once for ANY incoming call to ANY phone is a bit ridiculous. Still, I'm sure some Type A person will think that's a blessing."

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"Session Timeout" when accessing iTunes.

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Have you been receiving a "Session timeout" error message while trying to buy something from iTunes? Well, here's the odd (and easy) answer to that particular problem: your system clock isn't synchronized with Apple's! Although this is reported as a Windows problem, some Mac users are also experiencing this problem. Click on the title link above for the solution given by PCWorld. Or, if you want the Mac solution right now, open "Date & Time" in System Preferences, make sure that the box for "Set date & time automatically" is checked, and in the panel on the right select "Apple Americas/U.S. (time.apple.com)". Oh, and don't forget to set the correct time zone: Phoenix - U.S.A.


Thanks to the Prescott Computing Society Newsletter for this tidbit.

Jim Saves Time

We all like to save time, right? Jim Hamm, De Previous Prez, tells us how he saved time when transferring files to a new computer via Time Machine. "Here is an article from the 'Ask Dave Taylor' Newsletter on how to go about transferring files, etc., from Time Machine to a new Mac. It works, and one important item Dave mentions: connect Time Machine to the new Mac via ethernet cable, not wi-fi, which is too slow for massive transfers of data." http://www.askdavetaylor.com/use_apple_time_machine_to_restore_new_macbook.html

Bobbie Finds Out

Bobbie Pastor sends this comment to the June 27 blog entry, "Discovering Modem Speeds" where it said, "You might want to see if there are any upgrades in your area. If you're an 'old' subscriber there may be improvements now available." She says, "I found out through my own account, that if you are an old subscriber you can't have the upgrade unless you want the new, going rate which for me is $15.00 more a month. How do you like them apples?"

Mac for Sale

Bill Williamson writes that he's got a Mac for sale. Take a look:
"Believe it or not, we are running out of space on our lower floor. I will have to get rid of one of my Macs and the entire set up. A moving van is coming this weekend with lots more 'stuff' for our lower floor so I’m offering someone 'a chance of a lifetime' deal. All of the items in the package below will be sold to the highest bidder by this Friday providing they will pick it up by noon this Saturday, July 18th."
********************************
A Package Deal to the highest bidder:
Mac Power PC, OS 9.1, CD player, floppy disk and zip internal drives.
LaCie 10 GB external HD
Keyboard, Kensington Track Ball
Sony Multiscan 400 PS 19” CRT Display
LaserWriter Select
Software:
Adobe Photoshop 6.0
Kaleidagraph 3.0
MS Basic
MacDraw Pro
MathType 3.5
MS Office 2001
Painter 5.0
Quicken Delux 2002
Write Now 3.0
*********************************
Bill Williamson, 374 Summit Pointe Dr., Prescott, Ph. 928-708-0843

Mac Available in Library

Jim Hamm, De Previous Prez writes, "Here's an update on a new program at the Prescott Public Library entitled: 'Make the Most of Your Mac.' They have brochures at the front desk and a system in place to add Mac mentoring to their computer mentoring program. I've been working with the Library for them to purchase a Mac and to get this mentoring program in place. The Library has purchased a new MacBook Pro with the 13" screen. Initially, this Mac is available for use in our 'Beginning Mac' classes, and for use in the mentoring program. Later, it may be available for patrons of the Library to check out and use while they're in the Library. I'm very appreciative that the Library was willing to show this support for Mac users."

He goes on to explain, "Library patrons can sign up for mentoring on a Mac at the Library's front desk, or by calling 777-1526. The sessions are 1 to 2 hours duration, and may be repeated as often as requested. I'm doing the Mac mentoring as a volunteer at the Library. I'll bring a brochure to the PMUG meeting Saturday, and if you're in the Library stop by the front desk where they have a rack of the brochures and take a look.

"We sure are fortunate to have such a nice Library in Prescott--so supportive of the community with free meeting rooms available, wi-fi and internet access, computers for use, a computer mentoring program, and now a Mac. Let's remember this when it comes time for our annual financial contribution to the Prescott Public Library," and Jim ends with a grin and, "See you Saturday."

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New iCal URL for PMUG calendar.

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STAY TUNED! There is something wrong with the URL provided here.
An update will come when the problem is corrected. - John Carter
The iCal subscription to the PMUG iCal events has changed. The new URL is:
The following 'tutorial' is intended to help in updating the PMUG URL for iCal:



1. Open iCal.
2. Select any one of the PMUG calendar events.
3. In the Menu Bar, select 'Calendar', then select 'Change URL..."
4. A pop-up window appears showing the current URL for that event.
5. Paste the new iCal URL over the current URL.
6. All calendar events for PMUG will automatically update.
Or...
1. Open iCal
2. Right click on the PMUG subscription entry in the left panel
3. Select 'Change URL...'
4. A pop-up window appears showing the current URL for that subscription.
5. Paste the new iCal URL over the current URL.
6. All calendar events for PMUG will automatically update.
If you do not have a PMUG iCal subscription:
1. Open iCal
2. Right click in a blank spot in the left panel
3. In the pop-up menu, select 'Subscribe...'
4. Paste the iCal URL in the new pop-up window.
5. All calendar events for PMUG will automatically appear.
6. Rename the new subscription and/or change the color (if you like) by right-clicking on the subscription name and selecting 'Get Info'.