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Steve Jobs 1955-2011

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        We were all shocked to hear of the death of Steve Jobs. Opening to Google's homepage this morning under the search box is the simple notation: Steve Jobs 1955-2011.  Clicking on the name takes us to the Apple website where a photo of Steve is posted.
         Jim Hamm writes, Many articles are appearing about the passing of Steve Jobs. Several of them are listed on the website 'All Things D.'  Here is one by Walt Mossberg, tech writer for the Wall Street Journal, and his remembrances of Steve.
        Jim reminisces, "Zee and I were at the MacWorld Expo (San Francisco) in February, 2008, where Steve introduced the MacBook Air. I, of course, rushed home and ordered one. We didn't make it into the conference room where Steve gave the presentation, and didn't see his presentation in person, but we got to see it on a screen in the expo hall. With Steve's flair for a dramatic presentation, I'll never forget him pulling the MacBook Air out of a thin, interoffice mail envelope and showing it to the audience.
        Jim closes with, "I hope Steve's creative spirit lingers at Apple for a long time."
        No doubt, there'll be many tributes and remembrances. Here's a quotation from the president of The Heritage Foundation, Edwin J. Fuelner, "As for journalism and reading in general, we have now gone back to where we started: the biblical tablet. The elegant slab we take with us wherever we go can do the same for us and take us, no matter where we are, anywhere in the universe our imagination wants to visit.
        ". . .  this half-Arab boy who was given up for adoption at birth and went on to drop out of college was able to transform the lives of individuals across the world because he lived and worked in this country."
     

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iCloud on Snow Leopard?

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        Prez Art Gorski clarifies questions about Lion,  Leopard and the iCloud.  "I've got Lion installed on my new MacBook Air, but my 4 year old Mac Mini still runs Snow Leopard. Rather than upgrade the memory (which I think will be required for good performance with Lion), I've decided to leave Snow Leopard on the Mini until I replace it within a year or so.
        "In Apple's announcements today, the iCloud presentation only mentioned Lion, and not Snow Leopard, and there is no solid information on the Apple web site. However, over on the MobileMe discussion forum (Apple Communities), there is a thread with a screenshot that's interesting. A developer testing iCloud opened up the old .Mac system preference on a Mac running 10.4 and the dialog said he couldn't activate .Mac (remember, this is 10.4, so it wasn't called MobileMe yet) because he had upgraded to iCloud. The interesting part of the dialog said he needed to upgrade to 10.6.9 to use iCloud."
        Art summarizes, "So it looks like Snow Leopard may very well be supported, and that there will be a 10.6.9 update coming out before iCloud goes live this month."

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Seeing Stars & Planets

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        This month's Prescott Astronomy Club meeting on October 5 will feature John Carter and his presentation, "Planets in Motion."  The meetings are always held at the Prescott Public Library in the Founders Suite from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. every first Wednesday of the month.  John will be using his MacBook Pro; his slides were created using NeoOffice.  Take a look at NeoOffice here.  "All are welcome," John announces.

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Editing a Plist

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"Apple provides a set of developer tools with every Mac. It’s called Xcode. It is an optional install in the OS X install DVD. Xcode provides three similar tools to edit a plist file in a way that is so common-sense (to me, anyway) that I find it hard to imagine anyone using any other tool for editing a plist, especially paying money for something that is already free. These tools are Xcode, Property List Editor, and Dashcode. I find it difficult to imagine that any other tool for editing a plist can make it any easier to use than what Apple has done."Notice in the image below how many different applications are compatible with editing a plist file when I right-click on a plist file:

"Not everyone will see all those applications. Notice that Property List Editor is the default. That makes sense to me. In that list, only Coda and TextWrangler are not part of the Developer’s Xcode tool kit. My preference would be to use Xcode, as it offers far more features than any of the others, but Property List Editor offers simplified methods for quick edits that would require no special handling. "For those who didn’t choose to optionally install the Xcode package from their install DVD, they can download the latest version from Apple. And if anyone is wondering if they need to download Xcode, the answer is no. It is something that simply adds to a Mac developer’s toolbox of goodies." Now John adds, "In Lion, the Property List Editor has been dropped as a standalone application. It is now fully integrated in XCode. If you click 'open with...' on a .plist-file and select XCode.app, XCode will bring up the Property List Editor, but it's no standalone app anymore."

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Time Machine Isn't Permanent, Either

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        Thanks to David Passell for the following important info.
        "Time machine is a very good program for going back if something goes wrong, but don’t use it as a backup for things you might want to go back to in the present. If you open Time Machine preferences you will note the last line, 'The oldest backups are deleted when your disk gets full.'
        "The nasty thing about it is that you get the warning after it has happened. (A clue is when menu icon turns for a long time). Then you open Time Machine and find out nothing but the last month or less is still backed up. If you think you can go back to that choice picture/article/etc. you deleted to save space, you are out of luck.
        "I have had it happen to me more than once. The following conditions may cause this to happen:
      • Forgetting to exclude Parallels virtual machines.
      • Connecting a new disk drive and putting a clone of your system or a sandbox on it.
      • Creating or downloading a large video or program file (Lion upgraders take notice).
It is probably a good idea to turn off Time Machine before doing a large download or any operation that may cause a backup of it all to occur. Before starting Time Machine again go to Options and exclude the new drives."
         At this point David offers his closing comment, "One last thing about Time Machine: I am considering purchase of a larger drive to replace the 500 GB drive I have been using since 2008. (I lost those early time machine records long ago). However, I have seen no instruction on transferring an existing Time Machine to a new drive to preserve the old ones and continue with new. Could I clone the Time Machine to a partition in the new drive, and then select the partition in the new drive as 'Use for Time Machine'?"

Would You Like to be a Dictator?

       Here's a program for everyone who'd like to be a Dictator!  John Carter tells about a nifty program that puts Mac to work by listening and writing what you say.  Typing may be on its way out?  Anyway. . . the program is Dragon Dictate, version 2.5.  John notes, "The new version works quite well on Lion."
        Watch 8 short video demonstrations, starting with the first.  One feature on their site is "Ask the Dictator" which gives tips, advice, and answers your questions.  They have dictation programs for legal, medical, and even French language.
        John wanted to install Dragon Dictate on both his iMac and his MacBook Pro.  "After installing on the iMac, it wouldn’t let me use the validation key a 2nd time to install on the MacBook Pro. So I simply copied the two plist files from the iMac to the MacBook Pro and it was automatically validated. In my mind, I should be able to install any app on 2 computers: a desktop and a laptop. And that’s what I did."

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Managing Multiple iPhoto Libraries

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        "Here’s a dream come true for some people who have probably thousands of photos they want to keep in iPhoto!" exclaims John Carter.  (You can download a FREE trial; that got your attention?)
        "The problem with having a lot of photos in one iPhoto library is two-fold. One, it takes a long time to save it to a backup drive (like Time Machine), and two, it is much slower to access.
        "If you can break up your photos into smaller chunks and still keep them all under the management of iPhoto, that would be a plus.
        "There is a way. It’s called iPhoto Library Manager. There are way too many features of that application to explain here, but I’ll list them by name:
1. Multiple libraries
2. Info at a glance
3. Share and share alike
4. In sync
5. Automate it
6. Quick switch
7. Making copies
8. Doing the splits
9. Photo first aid
        John concludes with this, "There's one version, 3.6.8, and it works for all versions of OS X from 10.4 and up and all versions of iPhoto from 4.0.3 and up. The price is $19.95."

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Bogus Flash Installer & Other Warnings

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     The eagle eyes of Jim Hamm have found some valuable info on how to avoid malware.  He sends this MacWorld article which describes the problem of a bogus Flash installer and gives a solution, along with a list of similar articles.  One point is to make Safari safer by going to Safari > Preferences > General and unchecking where it says "Open 'Safe' files after downloading."  This second article tells about safe downloading.

How to Make Your Own Holiday Special

Food is a topic close to our stomachs!  We probably think about it three times a day.  And food brings up memories.  Think how much fun it would be to share those memories with your family.  Mac can help you create a unique holiday gift. (Yes, it’s time to plan for the holidays!)  
Go through those old cookbooks or recipe boxes and find what’s uniquely yours.  You might choose to do a collection of a dozen special desserts, for example.  You could retype some of them, or scan.  Maybe you can find some old photos to illustrate your pages.
Don’s Ma made German Christmas bread every year. When I asked her for the recipe she brought out her German newspaper clipping and translated it for me.  Oh, it was work!  Peel all those potatoes, chop them and mix the huge amount of batter.  I saw how easily I could simplify that part by using instant mashed potatoes. I started making it every year.  
This summer I got the bright idea to share the booklet-making info with my Writers’ Networking group.  I did a Google search and found  http://www.live-like-a-german.com/german_recipes   The writer was asking for favorite recipes, so I emailed Ma’s recipe to her.  She likes it and asks for a photo of Ma.  Digging through old photos I found one from 1954 of Ma in her kitchen by the stove with the big old tea kettle.  What fun!  It might be published on the Internet soon. 
You could make a specialized little booklet of favorites from family potlucks.  ClickBook is a program that sizes your pages for booklets.  It’s about $49 from www.bluesquirrel.com  
In Pages click Command + P and on the left side  is PDF. Scroll down and click Open PDF with ClickBook.  (Click to enlarge this little screen shot.) 

You’ll see all the choices of page formats.  I use the  Side-by-Side (folded) for booklets that are regular sized paper folded in half.  This fits nicely into the greeting card envelopes size 5 ¾ x 8 ¾”.
There are more than 60 choices of format in ClickBook.
You will want to make some samples to view how your choice of fonts will look.  Since ClickBook sizes your whole page on Mac into a half-size printed you’ll want perhaps a 13 or 14 point type.  

Photos will be automatically sized, so you experiment.  An unstretched photo makes the person look very, very thin.  I go to Inspector > Graphic Inspector to add a shadow or reflection and to set opacity.  Under Metrics go to where you uncheck Constrain Proportions.  Now you can drag the photo sideways to fatten it up.  
As you work on this project make one document, then do Command + D to duplicate it and fiddle around with that first copy.  Do this for each “improvement” you think you’re making.  If you change your mind you can easily go back to one of the earlier versions without pulling out your hair.  Put all the versions in one folder on the desktop. 
About a 32 page booklet is fat enough for my stapler.  Each sheet of paper yields 4 pages for the booklet, so that’s 8 sheets of paper.  
It’s fun to try out various fonts. When I’m using Helvetica the question mark and the exclamation marks are too close to the last letter of the word when it shrinks down.  On the document in Pages I highlight the last letter of the word and the exclamation mark next to it.  
Going to Inspector and the large T, choose the slider on Character to enlarge the space there.  
Also in Pages > Inspector choose the first icon on the drop down menu so you can set the margins and header spacing.  
Here are some interesting websites that may give your creative mind some fresh ideas. 
http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/contact/    Photos of fancy decorated cakes. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_culinary_fruits  list of fruits by region where they grow.  
List of inedible fruits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inedible_fruits  some are poisonous, some only unpalatable for human consumption. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_culinary_vegetables   listed by variety.  Each one is a link to its own page with illustration, culinary & medicinal uses, top countries where produced, etc. 
http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/   What a list:  recipes from Prehistoric times through Medieval, Victorians, to Postwar/Modern.  Includes picture galleries of these times and places.
How about a child’s recipe book?  Ask the youngsters in the family for their favorite recipes and art  work.  
Consider starting a family blog.  www.blogspot.com  Post writing and photographs. You can set who can enter the blog, so you don’t have to let the whole world view your efforts unless you want to do so.   (See what I mean?  You can be more creative with your Mac! ) 

(This was today's handout at the PMUG Annual Picnic.) 

Apple's Store-Opening Spree

It's fun to read about what Apple is doing!  The 9to5Mac article announced that Apple is on a store-opening spree, opening one new store every 50 hours for the last two months.  Then this Macitynet article from Italy says they have the second largest Genius Bar now open in the Apple Store in Bologna, Italy.  Want to read it in English and see a 7 minute video of the grand opening?  Go to Google Translate and enter this URL http://www.macitynet.it/macity/articolo/Apple-Store-Bologna-tutta-linaugurazione-nel-video-riassuntivo-di-Macitynet   in the box on the left side.  Up comes the URL in the right side box.  Click and up it comes.

Free Photography Workshop

        A free 4-day intensive workshop on Photoshop CS5 is coming Tuesday, September 20 through Friday, September 23.  John Carter sends this link to CreativeLIVE.com with the notation that details are here.
        Here's more:  It’s only free if you attend the online presentation which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on those days, with probably a break for lunch. You should register to attend (also free) to get the notification by email.  There will be a nightly rewatch (probably available only to those who register) that is also free.
        Synopsis:  In this special workshop, you'll dig into Photoshop CS5 with Lesa Snider, author of Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual.
        "There is so much to cover in Photoshop CS5 that we need almost a week to cover everything. In this special 4-day workshop (Tuesday - Friday, from 9:00-4:00, Pacific Time), you'll dig into Photoshop CS5 with Lesa Snider, internationally acclaimed instructor and author. Lesa is informative, yet entertaining with a unique way of explaining difficult concepts so you understand the 'why' behind the 'how.' Get ready to spend a fun, high-energy week digging into the power of Photoshop."
        Thanks, John, for this valuable info.  That word "free" always catches our attention!
        Oh, one more thing!  John adds, "Any lesson on any Adobe application applies to both Mac and PC. The only difference is between using the Command key or using the Control key (Cmd-C for Mac or Ctrl-C for PC to perform a copy, etc.) All other aspects of an Adobe application are identical between the two operating systems."

Go Places & See Things

We love Mac for helping us go places and see things!  Jim Hamm broadens our horizons with an article on "10 Things You can Do for Fun & Learning on the Library of Congress Online" and a link to the Library of Congress.  Some of the features are Ask a Librarian, a link to Copyright.gov and maps at Places in the News.  Other links take you to Remembering 9/11, Peace Corps, Comic Art, September Film Series on the American West, and more and more!

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No Signal, Dead iPad

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        A question about wifi antenna and software for an iPad was raised by Harry Morel.  Jim Hamm got right on it, and he passes along the information to us.
        "I use the Wi-Fire antenna occasionally on my Mac when I'm traveling and the wifi signal is weak. It helps to boost or capture more of the signal so your Mac can access the internet. And yes, your Mac will have a built-in wifi card to pick up the signal.
        "You can do a Google search on how to turn on internet sharing on a Mac. Here's one link to look at. Here's another one. As I understand it the Mac must be connected to the internet by ethernet, then it can share its connection via wifi to another device, such as another Mac or the iPad.
        "I've not used this internet sharing concept, so I won't be covering it in my iPad presentation. Perhaps someone else on this email distribution list might have some suggestions on internet sharing on a Mac.
        "Here's another option to consider if you're traveling: if your iPad has 3G capability, and you're in a 3G area (not Prescott), and you don't have wifi available, and you're willing to spend $25, you can buy 3G from your carrier for a month. Then you can turn it off at the end of the month so you won't be billed another $25. The minimum time period is one month. Not the most desirable option, but if you need to have an internet connection while you're away from home, this is available.
        "If you're talking about wifi in your house and your iPad won't connect to the signal, perhaps the signal is weak. You can check the signal strength by holding the option key on your Mac and clicking the wifi icon to see what the RSSI is. Down below is a meter to help you understand the results. If your signal is very weak, then you need to boost it.
          "Here is another diagnostic tool to check both the wifi signal strength and noise level. If your wifi signal is good in your house and the noise level low, and your iPad won't connect to it, then perhaps there is something wrong with the iPad. It is covered by a one-year warranty from Apple, so a visit to an Apple store might be in order," and as always, Jim signs off with a grin.  (Click to enlarge the screen shot.)