Help Is On the Way for CableOne Users

        Perplexed about the news of CableOne email?  John Carter to the rescue.  He is offering a special workshop for Mac members and guests who are currently accessing their CableOne email using Mac Mail.

        John announces, "You may be aware that on October 1, CableOne will switch from using their current email service to Gmail. This will require that anyone using a local email program such as Mac Mail to download email and send new email to modify their Mail preferences to recognize the new Gmail service.

        "This switch will not affect anyone who access their email online through CableOne MyMail - other than surprising the heck out of them with the new format and features.

        "A one-hour workshop should be more than adequate.
       " I have scheduled the following two sessions at the Prescott library Founders Suite A & B:

Thursday 9/16 - 11 am to 12 pm
Thursday 9/16 - 1 pm to 2 pm

        Please note that the 9/18 workshop has been cancelled - that's the same day as our club picnic!

        "A prerequisite for attendance is that the attendees call in to CableOne technical support and request to be immediately switched to the new mail service 24 hours in advance of attending the workshop. They will not be able to access their email with Mac Mail until they have performed the required operations on their computer, and even then it may take up to 12 hours before CableOne's new Gmail service recognizes and honors the change. However, within two to three hours making the switch, they will be able to access their email online through CableOne MyMail.

        "For those who do not have a laptop, handouts will be available to take home.

        "This is not a difficult process despite the problems that CableOne technical support has had with others.

        "Please note that CableOne technical support is likely to tell their customers not to use Mac Mail to access the new email service. They claim that accessing the new email service with Mac Mail is unreliable. This is a false claim."

        John concludes, "What I strongly advise is that anyone with just one email account set up a new separate Gmail account as an alternate. Either account can feed incoming email to the other account. Either account can be set up to send email from Mac Mail."

Email Change for CableOne

        Here's a "heads up" from Jim Hamm for those who use CableOne for email.  He reports, " I found out that CableOne will be dropping their old e-mail system -- probably the one you're using now -- effective October 1.
        "I just happened to find out about it by going on the CableOne website, read about the new system, and changed over to their new system right on the website for my CableOne email address. This is much improved over CableOne's existing email system: more storage (7 GB) and a much improved system overall. CableOne is leasing servers from Google and using some of the Gmail system software for their new email system. The tech I talked to said this allowed CableOne to retire old equipment and programs.
        "After I changed to the new CableOne email system on the website, I opened the Mail app on my Mac and found that my CableOne email address would no longer work. I called CableOne tech support and yes, all the settings that you're presently using have changed: both incoming and outgoing servers. I made the changes and I'm back in business on my CableOne email account.
        "I think one goes about getting on the new system, first on CableOne's website, then next, open Mail on your Mac (or perhaps Outlook Express on a PC) and make the server, SSL, etc., and perhaps a new password (a longer length required) setting changes there.
        "Presumably CableOne will be sending out a letter or email to their customers explaining what is happening. Also, hopefully, they will include instructions on how to change the server and other settings for CableOne; otherwise their support techs are going to be awfully busy helping people with these settings."

Look What's Inside

        From 2006 to the very latest in 2010 here's a look at what's inside 57 Apple products.  What caught my eye was this article about the new Magic Trackpad.  AppleInsider shows the innards of MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and more.  There was one little problem: clicking to go on to page 2 didn't work.  An email to their webmaster Kasper Jade was nearly instantly replied to and fixed.
        Curiosity led to the iFixit site.  They show you how to troubleshoot, they sell parts, supply repair manuals, help you recycle all sorts of things.  They invite you to contribute your knowledge.  Interesting!

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Have You Tried This?

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Here are two articles with nifty ideas to save time, trouble, and money.
Ten Simple Google Search Tricks, find the details here.
1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site.
2. Use Google as a spelling aid.
3. Use Google as a calculator.
4. Find out what time it is anywhere in the world.
5. Get quick currency conversions.
6. Use the OR operator.
7. Exclude specific terms with the – operator.
8. Search for specific document types.
9. Search within numerical ranges using the .. operator.
10. Area code lookup.
Avoid a Large Phone Bill When Traveling, find the details here.
Get the right phone, Check data roaming plans, Consider SIM cards, Look at the VoIP Option, Don’t forget the old-fashioned calling card.

Converting Documents, etc.

        "Are you using NeoOffice or Office for Mac and have you found that you can't open a .docx formatted document?" asks John Carter. He has an answer for that.  "One solution is to download Open XML Converter to get a .doc formatted file. Get it here. So what's the real difference between .docx and .doc? The .docx file is an XML formatted file and tends to be smaller than .doc.
        "Open XML Converter can convert Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations that are in the Open XML Format so that you can open and edit the files in Office 2004 for Mac and Office v. X for Mac. (And NeoOffice or OpenOffice.)"

Improving your computer skills.

Are you are looking for a program of structured practices that will improve your computer skills? Maybe you just want to learn how to use Mail better. One thing to get you started in a program to improve your computer skills is to create a list of the applications you want to master as well as the uses you want to put those applications to, such as how to use Numbers to create and manage (blank), how to organize incoming email to quickly identify priority items, how to work with Pages and Mail to handle things like mail merge, or the easiest way to create presentations with Keynote that really make a difference.

This isn't as daunting as you might think. But as you might suspect, unless you have a program in place to practice by, learning how to use a Mac efficiently can take a very long time of hit and miss effort. The one thing you must be aware of, though, is that unless you apply yourself daily - just like going to the gym to get toned - the results will be sketchy at best.

The same kind of skill-building technique for learning how to type is needed for developing computer skills: a structured program plus daily practice.

It does help to introduce new ideas sequentially rather than all at once. Each new skill requires a few days of practice before adding a new concept.

I recommend two ways to learn using a Mac or an application. One is to get a book that shows all the steps in easy to follow, progressive lessons. The other is to get a set of videos that does the same thing. Quite often, for some very technical processes, a book is not the best choice because it might say something like, "Do A, B, and C to get the desired results." A video does a much better job of showing how that is done. But to master anything takes daily, repetitive practice.

Tutorials abound on the Internet in both text and video format, and don't forget the Forums where people pose questions and get answers. The problem with many video tutorials is that they focus on one aspect of an entire application and are less than 5 minutes, which helps only if that one process is what you are interested in learning about. Still, seeking out all the tutorials and following them through is by far the cheapest way to learn something, but you have to provide the structure and the practice discipline. In this way you are following in the footsteps of people who have been there and done that.

An interesting fact is that even if someone thinks they know the basics of using a mouse, I usually show them a thing or two about using a mouse that they never knew. For instance, a two button mouse (left and right buttons and maybe with a scroll wheel in the middle) has four functions that can be used in every application. Do you know what they are? What can the left button do? What can the right button do? These operations are at the very core of using a computer.

Let me tell you how I learned to work with computers. I bought six books all on the same subject and all by different authors. I studied them one at a time. I applied daily what I was learning just by tinkering with each new idea. Much of the same information was repeated in each book, and each book had something that the others didn't have. After the sixth book was put down, I realized I knew more, with practical experience, than most graduate students. In fact, I met the author of one of the books and discovered he didn't even know everything that was in his book because his students were mostly responsible for the contents.

The point is, learn everything that is offered, even if you don't think you'll use it. It helps to develop a sense of analyzing a situation and seeing how different tools may be used to complete the same task. You probably do this already with some task that you do around the house or at work. Learning a Mac application is really no different.

What I tell everyone is that every application has at least three ways of accomplishing the same thing. Your efficiency with any application is enhanced only after you learn all of them.

I'm not going to mislead you. Using a mentor like myself can be very rewarding, but can also take a very long time. One hour isn't going to get it done. Students spend 40 hours in a classroom environment, learn hundreds of skill building techniques, and within a month of leaving the classroom forget 90% of what they learned - because they don't use it.

John Carter

Phone Calls, Via Mac

        David Passell writes, "I recently bought a Magic Jack from CVS. It cost $39.00 (-$5.00 discount I  happened to have). In case you don't know, the Magic Jack is a USB drive containing software/hardware which allows an ordinary touch tone telephone, answering device, etc. to be connected to one end. It even provides a dial tone. The USB end plugs into your Mac or PC. After answering some questions, you receive a telephone number which allows you to make and receive calls free anywhere in the US and some International. In addition you get a free 411 site which allows you to find business, persons, etc. telephone numbers and other information. It also enables multi-call (voice) conferencing. The cost includes the one-year $19.00 service charge. This can be renewed every year."
        David goes on to say that they gave him a Payson exchange number, as no Prescott numbers were available yet. "I have mine connected to a Brother 1960C Printer/Fax/Answering machine. If you should call the number you will get my 'Brother Message Service' message.  Since the number is tied to the device, I can unplug it and connect it to any Intel computer with a high speed connection."
        Since David's first email he's written to add more,  "I have had some other responses. Roger Lakner says he has one with a Prescott local number; don't know how he got it. He points out that it is useful when traveling. He also says that it will work on Windows PCs (their packaging says XP, Vista, or 7). For Macs it is limited to Intel machines. John Carlton also had one some time ago but didn't find it satisfactory. Bobbie asked me if my number is a toll call from Prescott. I think so."
        Perhaps David will demonstrate the Magic Jack at an up-coming meeting. . .

Prizmo for Photos

        Prizmo for Mac! John Carter passes along some new info.  "Now you can use your digital camera to get 'scanned' images of documents, and no matter how badly shaped they are, you can straighten them up with Prizmo. Better yet, if you take photos of a page from a book or magazine, you can even run it through the built-in OCR and turn that image into editable text. Wow!
        "So, you've taken some photos and found that your lens introduced some warping effect? Straighten that image with Prizmo! This should be great for those super wide-angle or fish-eye lenses that invariably introduce warped images.
        "For the stingy among us, the price tag on this app is only $39.95. That's a far cry from the $129 for ReadIris Pro. One user review says Prizmo actually works better than another so-called professional OCR app."

Your Thumb Drive for Both Mac & PC

        How can that innocent little thumb drive be accepted by both Mac and your kid's PC?  It was time to find out.  Putting that Cruzer Mini 1.0 GB into Mac, then going to Utilities > Disk Utility to format it as MS-DOS (FAT) was supposed to work.  Alas, it did not open on a PC.
        John Carter to the rescue! He got straight to the point, "Had you not formatted it, you would have been able to read/write on the Mac and on a PC. All thumb drives are originally formatted as FAT32 and will work on all OS types (PC, Mac, Linux).
        "Once you've formatted a drive on the Mac, it is unusable on a PC no matter which format you use. As far as I'm concerned, this is a bug. If it is formatted as Mac OS (any type), it will not even be recognized on a PC. If you formatted it as MS-DOS (FAT) on the Mac and reformat it on a PC, you are only able to ADD a 200MB FAT32 partition to the existing Mac formatted partition, and that's the largest size available on the PC. When inserted on the Mac, there will be two partitions on the drive, one with FAT32 as created by the Mac with 3.8GB and one with FAT32 as created on the PC with only 200MB. If you reformat it on the Mac, you can recover all the space in one partition.
        "A thumb drive formatted as MS-DOS (FAT) on a Mac has full read/write access on a Linux machine. If it is formatted as Mac OS (any type), it only has read access on a Linux machine.
       John closes with this advice: "Bottom line: don't format a drive on a Mac unless you only intend to use it on a Mac."

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Access Your Documents

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This site is recommended to us by Jim Hamm.  He writes, "Now you can access items in your Dropbox account from an iPhone, iPod and iPad, as well as your Mac. This could be very handy if, say, you're out and about and not near your computer. Just use your mobile device to log into your account on Dropbox (you'll need to create one with a password), then you can access that document you want to look at."

Extensions for Safari

          Safari 5 added the capability for extensions.  Jim Hamm explains, "Here's an article that explains the difference between extensions and plug-ins.  You did want to know the difference, didn't you? (grin) Here's a site where you can pick up a few extensions."
         He goes on to elaborate, "The availability of many extensions is one reason why Firefox has become such a popular browser.  It took a long time for Apple to add this customization to Safari — perhaps because of Apple's penchant to maintain somewhat of a closed, proprietary system."

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New Officers for PMUG

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PRESIDENT HOWARD LA PITTUS

          Howard is semi-retired, doing consulting work for companies that have federal government contracts.  Howard attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles, majoring in commercial photography. After leaving school he was a free-lance photographer doing fashion photography and covering the entertainment industry. Yes, he was a paparazzi, covering such Hollywood events as the Golden Globe Awards, movie premiers and various entertainment social events.

          Howard has over 40 years (yes, he is old) of diversified business management experience in the commercial film processing, photographic equipment, consumer catalog, and educational supply industries.

          One of the most exciting and rewarding experiences came when he had the responsibility of managing the JPL account in Pasadena. This involved the acquisitions, delivery and installation of photographic processing equipment that was used to process the first pictures from the moon.

          Howard, his wife Carol and dog Oliver moved to Prescott in 2005 from PA. Howard’s first computer experience was running an IBM Tab Card installation which including writing computer programs in RPG in the 60’s. (Yes, he is old!) Howard switched from a PC to a Mac in 2005. His hobbies include photography, meteorology and stamp collecting. And, “long walks on the beach, smoking his favorite cigar,” he adds.

VICE PRESIDENT ART GORSKI

          Art started with punch cards and FORTRAN programming in a freshman year college class in 1969. After getting his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering he became interested in the microcomputers that were just coming out in the late 1970's. He took a continuing education class at the local university and learned how to program the 6502 microprocessor in hexadecimal machine language. Since this was the same processor used in the new Apple II computer, Art ended up purchasing one in January of 1979. It's serial number 660, and he still owns it.

          Joining the local computer club, he decided to change careers and go into programming for a living and wrote programs in assembly language and FORTRAN for real-time flight simulators. He bought an original Macintosh 128 in early 1985, and eventually upgraded it to a Mac Plus. Later Macs included a PowerBook 100, PowerBook 2300, PowerMac 7200/90, and a G4 Cube (still owns it).

          He retired and moved to Prescott in 2007 and spends his time running a couple of websites and generally geeking out. He has a very sophisticated gigabit home network with a network attached storage server.

SECRETARY BOBBIE PASTOR

          After earning her Secretarial major in college Bobbie started at UniRoyal Rubber Company in Santa Ana, California where she did clerical work. From there she worked for Laura Scudders, then Kimberly Clark, retiring thirty-three years later. In 2003, Bobbie retired at 58 ½, sold her house in Placentia and headed to Prescott, AZ. Here she found the Mac User Group, and was “sentenced to being Secretary of PMUG” in 2006. She keeps the books, sends out notices, takes minutes, keeps attendance and has possession of the PMUG computer, projector and files for the club. Along with John Carter and Jim Hamm, she volunteers a Basic Mac SIG for PMUG members.

          She loves gardening and has a high maintenance landscape.  She is Vice-mum for the Diamond Chics Red Hat chapter.  She uses a lot of computer techniques that she has learned from being a member of the club and hopes to get a newsletter and website up for the ladies.  Home decorating and photography is of great interest, however, she doesn't seem to find the time for them.

          She lives with her "special needs" fur child, Archie.  He is not only blind, but he is socially challenged.  He loves to help her in the yard, and one of these days we will actually find time to grow vegetables!

TREASURER DAVID PASSELL

          David’s degree is from USC in Telecommunications (TV and Radio production) W56 as broadcast engineer/DJ for KUTE in Glendale, CA, then Chief Engineer for FM station WNCN in NYC.

          In 1961 he was telecommunications engineer at JPL (analyzing spacecraft data, writing reports, and writing FORTRAN programs). He did technical writing (IBM, Litton, Associated Writers, Conrac) retiring in 1996 from Ameritec, Duarte, CA.

          Betty and David came to Prescott in 1996. His Mac history: Apple II - 1978, MAC portable - 1991, Mac TV - 1995. Currently he has a MINI, an iMAC, and a G3. In PMUG since 1997, he’s been President twice and continues as Treasurer.

Finding Help

Hopefully, PMUG members and friends are gaining help when they need it.  Last week's update for Mac was an example of needing and finding help.  A quick email brought quick replies from David Passell, Art Gorski, and John Carter.  The technical details I didn't need; I just needed my printer to obey my commands. After following the suggestion to turn off the Firewall, since my Mac goes through a router, everything is fine.   Anyone else finding the help you need?  Want to pass the info along?