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Clean Your Mac

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        Ward Stanke shares this info about a FREE disk cleaning app.  The press release claims, "CleanGenius Pro is an award-winning and all-in-one Mac solution for Mac OS X 10.6 or later, featuring the options to fast scan and clean up Mac junk files, completely uninstall unwanted applications, show disk space available, warn when the disk space is running low, and eject mounted drives with a brand-new look, positioning itself as a must-have utility to speed up your Mac."
        The Free version is available on Mac App Store here; the Pro version is free here.  Both are available for only a limited time.  A Mac consultant,  Ilene Hoffman includes a link to her blog. 

Photographers' Tips

        Want to see what Gimp can do?  John Carter sends this info:  "Here’s an image that has been slightly modified by GIMP - the corners of the image have been rounded and a drop shadow added. Click on the image to highlight it to see the original full size.

"Gimp makes it dead simple to round the corners of an image. To do this, choose Filters > Décor > Rounded Corners. A dialog will open. Select the Edge Radius, which is the amount of curve, and if desired, click to add a Drop Shadow and then set the Shadow Offset and Blur Radius. You can select to work on a copy of the image (rather than the original), and select whether or not to add some background behind the curved corners – the current background color is used for this. Click OK to round the corners of the image.
        "When it comes down to it, only ONE step was required to achieve the above results.  Now compare that with the similar task in Photoshop here.   For additional Gimp tips, look here.

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Take Control of iTunes 10

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        Take control:  those two little words grab your attention?  John Carter helps us out, "The 173-page Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ, Second Edition is bursting with answers to all your iTunes questions, and it has a special new chapter devoted to explaining iTunes in the Cloud features, including iTunes Match. The author, Kirk McElhearn is a Senior Contributor to Macworld, where he writes frequently for the Playlist column. It normally costs $15, but is only $10.50 for MUG members using this link:   http://tid.bl.it/itunes-faq-mug-discount
        "Kirk helps you appreciate and understand the process of adding media to iTunes, tagging it, adding album artwork, and organizing it into playlists. By following his setup advice, along with the many other tips in the book, you can enjoy your music, movies, audiobooks, ebooks, and more without hassles when it's time to find a particular item or when you want to do something special like sync a subset of music to your iPod, create a party playlist, identify music you haven't heard in a while, or listen to the chapters in an audiobook in order.
        Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ includes a pair of coupons. You can save $5 on Equinux's SongGenie tool for automatically filling in missing album artwork, fixing incorrect song titles, adding lyrics, and identifying unknown songs. And you can save $3 on Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil software for playing audio wirelessly to any source."
        John closes for now with this, "PS: Don't miss the just-released Macworld iPhone 4S Superguide, a 268-page ebook that provides setup advice; details on most of Apple's apps; insider suggestions for working more efficiently; ways to work with music, photos, and video; a thorough troubleshooting chapter; and recommendations for cases, headphones, speakers, and more. It's also 30% off via: http://tid.bl.it/iphone-4s-superguide-mug-discount

New Library Restrictions

        There are new Prescott Library restrictions, John Carter informs us:  "If you haven’t been to the Prescott Library this week, here is information I’m sure you’ll want to know about when taking your laptop there.
        "As of 1/8/12, the restrictions for accessing the Internet at the library have been increased. This was instituted when the library switched over to using the more robust and secure city servers.
        "You can no longer access the Internet with email applications like Thunderbird, Mail, Outlook, Evolution, etc. You are allowed to access your webmail using an Internet browser.
        "In addition, access to the Internet with VPN is not allowed, as are other protocols of similar ilk.
        "Skype access is allowed (but as yet unconfirmed). And if you know how, you can use SSH to remotely log in to your home computer which then would give you unlimited access to the Internet.
        "The explanation given for not allowing email applications to access the Internet has something to do with IMAP’s and VPN’s vulnerabilities, in that the servers can be attacked via those protocols."

5 Reasons to Choose iPhone Over Android

        Here with some cheery news, John Carter forwards this article by Tim Brooks.  The article states, "If you’re considering buying your first smartphone, you’ve got a fairly big decision to make. As well as choosing a carrier, plan and minimum contract period you then have to trawl through the barrage of handsets until you find something you like.
        "Most buyers will probably end up choosing between the Android operating system and an iPhone running iOS. So how do you know which is right for you? In this editorial I’ll put the iPhone argument forward and explain why I think Apple’s plan is better than Google’s."

Google Going All In

        This caught John Carter's eye.  He notifies us, "Albert writes in his Continuations blog:  Last July I had predicted that Google would go all in by bundling Google+ aggressively with search and that is exactly what was just announced yesterday with Search, plus Your World. The 'plus Your World' part right now refers 'your world on Google' as only Google+ profiles, posts and shared images are included and not content from Twitter, Facebook or others. John Batelle’s capture this well in his aptly titled 'Search, Plus Your World, As It’s Our World.'"

Need An Answer?

        Need an answer?  Here's help!  John Carter shares the following:  "WolframAlpha Course Assistant has several specialized apps for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch that will solve almost all of your technical problems. Here’s a list of apps currently available:
        "Algebra, Pre-Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Multivariate Calculus, Statistics, Music Theory, Astronomy, General Chemistry, Physics I, Physics II, Mechanics of Materials.
        "And more on the way. These apps are a meager $1.99 each (download through the App Store). Hard to believe.
        "But, if you want what all those WolframAlpha Course Assistant apps can do (without the fancy front end that prompts you for input) and answer questions like, “When was Robert Kennedy born?” (the answer is Friday, November 20, 1925) then download WolframAlpha (without specifying Course Assistant) from the App Store ($2.99) and start asking questions.
        "Wait! There’s MORE!
        "You can use WolframAlpha online for FREE! Give it a try!
        There's that word FREE, so you will want to . . . Wait!  John has more to say, "PS: The online version has it all. Check out the example subjects here."

.Zip That Photo

        Sending some Christmas photos via email brought some complaints from #1 son in Spokane. The picture came up in the body of the email but wouldn’t copy to his PC desktop. Some experimenting  showed me the usefulness of the .zip file. The Mac Help category fom the main menu tells us why and how.
        Compressed files take less disk space. This is handy for making backup copies of data or sending info on the internet.  Select item or items you want to compress and choose File >  Compress.
        Or, control-click an item and choose Compress from the menu.
        Or, in Finder window, select one or more items and choose Compress from the Action menu (it looks like a gear.)
        If you compress a single item the compressed file has the name of original item with .zip extension.  If you compress multiple items the compressed file is called Archive.zip
        To uncompress the item: double-click the .zip file.

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Using Your iPhone Camera

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        John Carter found an article that will interest both photographers and our iPhone users.  He begins, "I subscribe to Digital-Photography-School.com. Now and then an interesting post comes through. This one is from a guest post by Sarah and she gives her 10 tips for using the iPhone camera. It seems worth passing on. The highlights are:
 1. Hold the phone like you would a camera
 2. Don’t zoom in with the zoom on the camera, zoom in with your feet
 3. Shoot the same thing a few times
 4. Light
 5. Check out the resolution and picture quality settings – and set them on high
 6. Keep the camera still
 7. Move around and get in different positions
 8. Clean the lens… duh!
 9. Process!
10. Look for clutter-free scenes
        John concludes, "Read the full article here. And while you’re experimenting with photos on your iPhone, don’t forget about the video!"

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IMAP or POP?

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       "You may not have ever wondered, or even cared, what is the difference between IMAP and POP protocols for your email system. But, if you really want to know, here is a lengthy article explaining the nuances of both systems," Jim Hamm informs us.
       "I'm now using IMAP in my email programs and, overall, like it, after I got used to it. It seems Apple now automatically uses IMAP for any mobile devices, or a Mac, you purchase from them when setting up an email program. That's why/how I switched from POP to IMAP some time ago after purchasing an iPad 2. After switching, I noticed on my Mac that it takes a longer time to shut down the Mail program than it does other programs, and I wondered why. Here is a quote from the article that explains why: 'It's not uncommon for Mail to take a long time to quit. It looks like nothing is happening, but in fact it's trying (clearly, not hard enough) to log out of certain accounts, finish syncing mailboxes, or do other last-minute cleanup tasks such as deleting old messages.'
       "If, like me, your eyes tend to glaze over towards the end of the article, I'll understand why. But, you'll be so much better informed," grins Jim.

Parallels Confusion

        Got Parallels?  Got confusion?  Got frustration!  David Passell alerts us to this notice:  "Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac users:  It's your last chance to upgrade to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac at an upgrade price!
        "Soon, Parallels will end support for Desktop 5 for Mac. That means no future software updates, no technical support and no discounted upgrades to newer versions of the software. We don't want that to happen to you. Upgrade today!   Hurry! Offer ends on 12/31."
        Here's where the problem becomes evident, according to David.  He writes, "If you open your Parallels 6 desktop and 'check for updates' you will be informed that Parallels is up to date, checking further you will find information that the Parallels' team has been working with Apple and that 6 is compatible now with Lion. So what is Parallels 7?
        "Trying to get further information, I went to their website and after getting logged in (I had to do the PITA of getting my PW in order with current email address) I got little, so I went to the phone number for information.
        "I was very quickly (after another PITA push button 1, ... 2, ... 1, etc.) got a representative. He, with an accent, had a bit of trouble understanding me, bad connection. (I remarked that 'maybe that's because you are in India somewhere' -- he laughed and said 'yes').
        "In any case, to cut to the chase I told him about the fact I get the message about upgrading to 7, I have Parallels 6 which says it is up to date. He said I should ignore the emails, and I suggested perhaps the message should say if you have 6 ignore this message. He said he would pass the suggestion on.
        "I still don't know why they have a 7 from 5, but no 7 from 6. Oh well, what the h---:) In any case, it apparently is not going to cost me 39.99 (or 49.99 if I delay)."
        And here David draws his conclusion, "Logic may run one way in the digital world, but in our squishy analog brains, never the twain shall meet--the twain jumps the twack."