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To Lion or Not To Lion?

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        Still pondering the question shall I upgrade to Lion, or not?  David Passell shares this information from MacLife.  The writer ventures between serious and humorous, and the comments are sensible.  I found the best advice from someone named Fabulo writing under Comments who advises to partition your hard drive and install Snow Leopard on one partition and upgrade to Lion on the other partition.  You can continue to work with a familiar system while learning the new OS at a comfortable pace.

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How to Be Unsociable on Facebook, etc.

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        David Passell gets our attention with info on how to be unsociable.  He begins, "I don't know how many of our members are signed on to Facebook, or Twitter. I know that some use Gmail and may also have Google+. Here is an article about how to get rid of them if you feel unsociable : ) , but beware the warnings about Google+ if you have Gmail. I don't have Google+ or a Gmail address, but I understand, (dimly), that my cableone.net e-mail and spam filter are related to Gmail."
       David closes by suggesting members might be interested in a SIG or meeting on using these Social Services.  "Might also include Linkedin. You may not want to 'friend' or 'share' (such warm fuzzy terms :() but there are some interesting people you might want to 'like' or 'follow.'"

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Lion Review: Mac Mail

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        Here's John Carter's instructions on using Mail in Lion.  "First off, the download of Lion is about 3.7GB, and with a 7 Mbps Internet connection (which only provides about a 5 Mbps download rate) it will take a calculated 93 minutes to download. The install itself takes a little over 30 minutes, but then you have to do a software update and that may take another hour depending on what has to be updated (like iTunes, iPhoto, etc.)
        "After the download is complete, you will see a new application called 'Install Mac OS X Lion' come up automatically and prompting you to click Next to start the installation. To be on the safe side, you should insert a blank DVD (standard 4.7GB capacity) and burn that application to the DVD before you click Next. (You’ll find the application in the Application folder, but if you don’t burn the DVD at this point in time, that application will be deleted during the installation of Lion. You will want to have that DVD around for safety and security reasons.)
        "I’m only going to cover the new Mail application at this time, and I’m using it to create this report.
        "The new appearance of Mail can be a bit disconcerting. First, you really need to view Mail in full screen to take advantage of all that it has to offer. Clicking the double-headed arrow in the upper right corner of the Mail application switches to full screen mode. To get out of full screen mode, simply press the ESC key.
        "Some people will be put off by the new Mail application GUI. The default is to not show the mailboxes and to show two columns - one for the Inbox message list, which contains two lines of the message body (in Preferences you can select to show only one line), and one for the actual message that is selected from the message list (if that column is blank then no message in the left column has yet been selected). This threw me for a loop at first, and I admit that I panicked, wondering how I was supposed to see all the accounts and mailboxes I created.
        "In the image that follows, the right hand column shows two messages sent by the same person with the same subject line (I'm looking at a message in my Inbox mailbox). The bottom message has the number 1 in the upper right corner and the top message has the number 2 in the upper right corner - this shows the sequence of the incoming messages.

"But, you can switch back to the classic view in Preferences:

"I think I’ll stay with the new look, for a while anyway.   In the following image, the column on the far left (showing all the mailboxes) is only visible if you click on the tiny button just above it.

     

"If you have more than one e-mail account or if you want to see all the mailboxes you created, without that column displayed, you have to select which e-mail account Inbox you want to see by clicking on the Inbox button (yep, I have a lot of email accounts):

"Clicking on one item in the message list highlights all other messages in that list by that same sender where the subject line is also the same, hence making up a conversation. The blue highlighted message is the message being looked at and the orange highlighted messages are the related conversations.

"Overall, the text is extremely small on my 20” iMac. I tried to increase the font size of the message headers to no avail. But it does work if you don’t use the column format for the message list - use the classic (Snow Leopard) mode.

        "Attempting to adjust the message font is also useless — only the header gets adjusted and not the body.
        "The old Mail app had a Save button in the toolbar when writing a new message. There is no save button in the toolbar and there is no save button in the customize offerings for the toolbar. I guess Apple is trying to do us a favor by eliminating useless operations and made that function automatic when needed. But you can still click on File —> Save to save the current message as a draft. If you quit the message before sending it (red dot), you are given the option to discard the message or save it as a draft. If Mail unexpectedly quits or the computer shuts down while writing a new message, the message is saved in the Drafts folder."
        In conclusion John closes with, "In other words, there’s a lot about Mail that needs a little getting used to - except for those who are new to the Mac."

Lion: Aggravations?

        Reporting on his latest finds with Lion, we hear now from Jim Hamm.  "Here's an interesting article on a new 'feature' in Lion: it automatically determines when to turn off an app that you've opened and left running, but haven't used recently. Per the article, apparently Lion does this when more RAM is needed, and you're using about all the RAM available. I can see the logic behind this, but I think it might have been better for Lion to send a warning that more RAM is needed, so some apps need to be closed by the user. This gives the user the decision on which app to close -- not Lion.
        "I think this may only be a 'problem' if you have many apps open and need more RAM for Lion to function properly. So far I've not experienced this shutdown feature -- but I normally don't have a bunch of apps open at one time.
        "Another aspect of Lion that I've commented on previously: the 'Resume' feature in Safari is aggravating to me. When I close Safari and reopen, I want it to open only with my Home page -- not all ten or so tabs I had open when I closed it. There's three ways to get around this 'feature:' turn off Restore for all apps in System Preferences; use a Terminal command; hold the shift key when clicking and opening Safari -- or another app.
        Now Jim closes with a grin, "I had to laugh at the following statement the author made: 'Moreover, there’s a larger question at stake: Who, precisely, is in charge? I think it should be me, but Lion disagrees — and not in this respect alone.'  An interesting question. Who knows best: you or the big Apple?"

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Lion's Restore Feature in Safari

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Jim Hamm delves deeper into Lion's Restore feature in Safari.  After research on several forums he states, "I found there is no way in Safari settings to turn off Restore.  It's all or nothing unless one does a Terminal command — which I don't like to do.  For now I went ahead and turned off Restore for all apps.  I just didn't like Safari to open all tabs from the previous session.  You can click here for more information on Restore."

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Character Viewer

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        "If you tried to use the Character Viewer in Lion to insert symbols, emoticons, etc., into email, letters and documents, you may have trouble figuring out how to do it -- I did," states Jim Hamm.
        He explains the frustration.  "In Snow Leopard all you had to do was click 'insert.' This feature is missing in Lion. In Lion there's two choices: double  click the symbol or drag and drop. Is this simpler than in Snow Leopard? No. Another example of where, seemingly, Apple designers stuck their fingers in Character Viewer, stirred the pot to make things a bit different but not better.
        "Here's how to get Character Viewer to appear in the Menu Bar: System Preferences > Language & Text > Input Sources > check Keyboard and Character Viewer. I use it frequently, for example, to put a bullet point • in front of a new paragraph. Or maybe this ☛.
        "Perhaps now you'll be pleased to use the Character Viewer...☺. . . Jim"

Known Bugs in Lion

       Those who have already upgraded to Lion have found some problems.  John Carter comments, "One thing to note, is that Picasa can no longer access iPhoto library. We’ll have to wait for an update to Picasa for that fix. There are other bumps, in particular with Parallels. If you’re using Parallels with Windows (any version) be sure to only open the guest OS in the Coherence mode. You’ll go crazy trying to figure out where the guest OS window is otherwise. And don’t even bother trying to bring up Ubuntu on the iMac under Parallels on the iMac, but it does work on the MacBook Pro. Isn’t it strange how the supposedly the same operating system works different on the different hardware? Not really."

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Lion Too Tough for Newbies?

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        This looks long, but it's worth your time.  John Carter gives a lot of info on Lion.  He starts out, "Jim Hamm brought an article to my attention wherein the author thinks that Lion might be too much for his senior parents to make the switch to from Snow Leopard.
        "Yes, and no. There are features that have change dramatically from 10.6 to 10.7. Spaces and Expose for one (or rather two into one). When I discovered that you needed either a Magic Mouse or a Magic Trackpad on an iMac to use all those complicated finger motions, I rushed right out and bought the trackpad. I was doing just fine without it.
        "In fact, for a two-finger, mouse-pushing geezer like me, a standard two-button mouse with scroll wheel is all I really need. I had trouble with the Magic Mouse when I had it, because my fingers like to tap and wiggle on the surface of things when I’m thinking about what to do next, and lo and behold if those taps and wiggles don’t mean something on a Magic Mouse - and a trackpad!
        "Okay, so now my iMac has both a standard mouse right next to my keyboard and a trackpad up above it. So far, there are very few things I’ve needed the trackpad for. Let’s see if I manage to keep the trackpad past the 30-day return period.
        "And my MacBook Pro? It also sports a two-button mouse with scroll wheel. That’s one gadget I can’t do without on any computer.
         There's more coming as John goes on, "Anyway, back to the other features of Lion.
        "If you don’t like the way Mail looks, you can switch back to the classic view.
        "If you don’t like scrolling down in order to scroll up (depending on your point of view), you can change the direction of the scroll based on the direction of the scroll wheel or the direction of the fingers on the trackpad.
        "If you don’t like swirling around on the trackpad to get from one Desktop to another looking for your apps, just ignore the fact that you have more than one Desktop and don’t bother trying to figure out which Desktop you’re in - it doesn’t matter as long as you know how to use CMD-Tab to switch between applications and CMD-Space to bring up Spotlight to then key in the name of an application you want to launch.
        "And what does it matter that you no longer need to exit from an application when all that is needed is to close the window of an app? If the window is gone, do you really care if the app is still active or not? Well, in one way it does matter. Each app that is launched uses some memory, even if there is no window open. But, if no window is open (and that means not even hidden from view), there is virtually no processor resource used - so who cares?
        "One real problem for anyone is figuring out how to get out of full screen mode so you can see that old familiar menu bar across the top of the display. Well, just press the ESC key.
        "In other words, the only thing that’s changed for me so far is that I really do like the facelift in Mail.
        And, wrapping it up John states, "And what about the author’s article? How did the readers take to it? You’ll have to read them to see what I mean by it doesn’t make any difference whether you upgrade to Lion or not. What you use and how you use it is all up to you. Don’t be afraid to venture into the unknown, because if you start out with fear, it will only lead to anger."

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You Can Block All Ad Spying

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        Here's some interesting info from Prez Art Gorski.  He writes about Ghostery, "This Safari plug-in (double-click on it after download to install) will allow you to block all ad spying services. To configure that option, go to a website like Macworld where Ghostery will show you the list of services spying on you, then right click on that to go to the Ghostery settings. In there, you can block all of them."
        Note the tiny "ghostly" icon in the heading when I bring up this PMUG Newsblog for the following screen shot.

     

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Get a Google+ Profile RSS Feed

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What?  you say as you read the title here.  Yes, we need to consider the possibilities of Google+ and RSS and Twitter.  Jim Hamm provides this article with simple instructions.  Go to MakeUseOf newsletter and scroll down to to learn the latest.  Jim explains, "I'm not much of a user of Google+ yet, but it might be interesting to see if posts to Google+ would appear via RSS in Google Reader, which I use a lot."

Mac & iPad Success

        Here’s an article Jim Hamm sends from Forbes that discusses the success of the iPad. When iOS 5 is released, this will permit the iPad to stand alone and not require a “mother’ computer to connect to for updates. This will probably help in fueling even more sales of the iPad, even as Mac continues to sell very well.
        Calling it "Surprised Acceptance to Focused Strategy" the article includes an interesting list of unexpected companies deploying iPads to their sales teams, others using iPads for internal company training, and even airline pilots using iPads.
        Jim comments, "While I certainly enjoy my iPad, it couldn’t be my only computer yet. As more capability is built-in over time, perhaps someday. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the convenience -- and novelty -- that the iPad offers."

Alphabetize/Sort with Pages

        After my complaining about Pages (7-24), let's hear from John Carter who explains how to sort lists: 
"Pages will only sort lists that are in a table. Here’s the process (gleaned from here):
     Select the paragraphs to sort.
     menu Format > Table > Convert text to table
     Select the table cells, then
     Inspector > Table >  Edit Rows and columns > Sort …
     Finally,
     menu Format > Table > Convert table to text."

Why NOT to go to Lion

Now, it's time for a smile!  Here's David Passell's take on why he will not be going to Lion until --
        1. Others have torn their hair out (I've already lost mine) and stomped on the bugs.
        2. I get another high capacity HD to totally backup my system. All the ones I have including the one in my Mini are much under the 10% free recommendation. I have lots of space on my Time Machine backup drive, but I am told I can't use it.
        3. I learn more about why I should want this Latest and Greatest System. I don't buy iTunes Movies or Tunes.
        4. I decide to be patient and keep all instruments like axes, clubs, and large mallets out of reach. I don't think it is true that older people become more patient  :)
        5. It might also help if Apple would sell install DVDs in addition to forcing people to download gigabytes. They aren't that costly.