Textbook or iPad

        "Here's an interesting article comparing the cost of buying/renting physical books for school vs renting or buying them as eTextbooks. A student can save enough over four years to pay for the cost of an iPad. Another advantage of eTextbooks, not mentioned in the article, is how much easier/lighter it is to carry around an iPad versus heavy textbooks. Unfortunately, all publishers don't make their books available as eTextbooks yet.
        "Can't you visualize your six-year-old daughter getting ready for her first day in school and coming up to you and saying: 'Mom, I'm going to school now. I need a new iPad!'...(grin)." This came from Jim Hamm. 

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How the Internet Works

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        In only 3:22 minutes you can see how the Internet works, thanks to a youtube video sent to us from Jim Hamm.  His comments:  "You may have already seen this video of a simple explanation of how the Internet works. If you haven't seen it, take a look, it's very interesting.
        "Some amazing attributes of the Internet to consider. Probably most of us just take it for granted, and don't appreciate that it works, that it's free, and it's fast. You send out a request to view a web page, and that simple request goes thousands of miles to a server located somewhere far away, and the answer comes back in thousands of packets before they're finally put back together and shown on your computer screen -- all in about a second!. 
        "To me, it's simply amazing that somehow the packets can all be put back together again. And remember, that request is moving close to the speed of light, which is about 186,000 miles per second!" 
        Jim's summary: "Just think, on your computer screen those pictures you're looking at, the video you're watching, the music you're listening to, the text you're reading -- all comprised of zeros and ones -- that's what your computer recognizes. Yes, the Internet and computers are simply amazing."  

        When this website comes up note the name of the company, upper left under the title.  You can subscribe to this company's postings.  Next to that says, "63 videos" and you can view their pictorial listings. 
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History at a Glance

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         Maybe History was not your favorite subject in school?  Maybe you're too busy to poke into it now?  Never mind!  Help is here!  
        Jim Hamm forwards this site. "At first glance it may seem a bit confusing," Jim comments.
        Look at it, anyway!   "After you click on one of the buttons on the left, then look on the right side for more options. An interesting and colorful way to present history," Jim says.  You'll want to pass along this info to your kids, grandkids, and friends who like to keep on learning! 
       Note the fascinating background of the Swiss author, Andreas Nothiger.  He writes that he originally designed the graphs representing world history on a Macintosh computer.  
       And before you leave take a look at the "ultimate classical music destination." 

August Handout at PMUG

Necessary?  Needed?  Neglected?
        How are you saving what you’re saving?  Let’s take a look at the problems & possibilities. . .  
        Saving some information used to be done with paper and pencil.  Then: onion skin paper, carbon copies, black and white photographs, Polaroid pictures, wire tape recorders.  Remember?  But what of that is still legible, able to be viewed or heard?   
        How about those floppy disks,  old CDs, DVDs, even more recently, thumb drives?  How long will these be useful?  
        Here’s what I posted to PMUG newsblog on July 4, 2012:  “You didn't expect CDs and DVDs to last forever . . . but how long will they still be good?  John Carter grabs our attention with this information, "   Here's an interesting article that attempts to explain the reasons why you might not want to rely on CDs and DVDs for an archive of your favorite images, videos, and documents. The life span of such a media is dependent on more than just how the CD/DVD is made — mold and rot are also factors."  This MakeUseOf article was posted yesterday, and it tells how to check your disks for deterioration.”  
        CostCo, WalMart, other stores might be able to copy from some of these for you.  
        So, how are you saving writing, pictures, slides, emails you’ve sent and received?  
        How often do you back up to Time Machine?  Have you tried to copy back from Time Machine to get the practice before you actually and fervently need whatever it is?
        What about scanners?  Are the all-in-one printer devices better?  Do you keep paper copies, too?  
                           Mail Recipients . . . Need to Update?  
        You’re writing an email and start to fill in the To line.  Mail guesses the wrong names.  It’s time to update that list.  
        Mail > Window > Previous recipients.  An alphabetical  list comes up of people who you’ve sent to, or who have sent to you.  You can sort this list by name, email address, or the date that address was last used.  
        There’s a search field where you can enter a word or name.
        If the person is already in your address book you’ll see a little icon ahead of this person’s name.  Double click to bring up that entry.
         To add someone to the Address Book click on Add to Address Book.
        To remove someone from the list click Remove from List.
        Need more detail?  Go to Mail > Help and enter a key word in the Search.  
                                                       Tried the Word Clouds?

        On your June handout the Word Clouds were briefly mentioned.  Let’s look some more: 

Here’s the website I’m using now.  (Click to enlarge the screen shots posted here)     http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html     

Click on Word - Layout Options for categories: Word, layout, skip, advanced.  
Choose colors, tightness, frequency, theme preferences, font preferences. 
Under Shape you have 113 choices of shapes for your cloud. Click on Load at the top of this menu ……
Then enter the text you want the cloud to use.  
When I’d done that I clicked to Save and brought it up on my screen.  Command-Shift-4 lets you take a screen shot of what you’ve dragged your cursor on.  That then, was what I pasted and shrunk by its handles to make the size of this illustration.  

        Look at Shop for gift ideas, using Word Clouds.  Check out the blog,  http://blog.tagxedo.com/  and also look at FAQ.  How creative can you be?  Try Tagxedo and see!           

        Using Pages go to Inspector, then Metrics Inspector and unclick Constrain Proportions.  This allows you to “fatten” up your pasted illustration so you can then use it in ClickBook, the Blue Squirrel site to make booklets.  That program shrinks your writing, so that’s why photos or illustrations need to be dragged wider, but not necessarily taller.  
   Experiment, that’s the fun of Mac computers!  
Then share what you’re learning and doing! 

See you in September at PMUG?  

 Practical.  Interesting.  Macintosh!  
This is today's handout from Elaine Hardt. 

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POP or IMAP: Which is Best for Email?

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        POP or IMAP: which is best for your email? "This is a very nice article," John Carter goes on to elaborate, "with a few not-so-obvious exceptions but also not very important.  What is interesting is one of the related articles mentioned at the end:   6 Reasons Why You Should Stop Using Desktop Email Clients In Favour Of Web-Based Options.
       Hold on!  Another email from John to add more info:  "Here's another related article that explains a bit more about the differences between POP & IMAP and also talks about the differences between an email app and webmail. There's a lot to take in with both of those articles." 

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Seven Ways to Offload Used Electronics

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        The headline asks, "Got an old iPod?  Seven ways to offload your used electronics for cash."  That got PMUG Prez Art Gorski's attention, and he passes along this Arstechnica site.  The article describes these companies: Gazelle, Amazon, NextWorth, uSell, Totem, Apple, Radio Shack.  There's 58 comments to look at, too.

Pixelmator Is On Sale

        Here's what Ward Stanke says, "Pixelmator was written for the Mac, and it has a more intuitive Mac-like interface than GIMP.  I personally prefer it over GIMP or even Photoshop."
        Pixelmator is a Photoshop-like picture editor. It has many, but not all, of the same features at a tenth of the cost. He points out that it's currently on sale for $14.99 (normally around $60.00, and this is for a limited time).  The site does not say when the sale is over, but hurry, take a look.

Fix Photos: GIMP + Mountain Lion

        John Carter knows photography!  He informs us, "The older version of GIMP (<= 2.6) does not work in Mountain Lion because it requires the older version of X11.  However, the latest version of GIMP (2.8) works on Mountain Lion and all previous versions of Mac OS X."
        (Forgot what GIMP is?  John's previous entry “Fix Those Photos”  was posted November 14, 2011 which describes features in GIMP, a tutorial on Resynthesizer, and includes John's step-by-step,  how to install.)   

        "Get the latest version of GIMP here. If you really like GIMP and want to help keep its development going, make a contribution of any amount, preferably a minimum of $10, on that page."
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Google's New Authentication Process

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        "Here's a MacWorld article providing further details on a new two-step authentication process available from Google," begins Jim Hamm.  He goes on, "Since I use Gmail I thought this might be a nice security feature to use. After reading the article, I'm not so sure. Seems a bit complex and convoluted. I think I'll wait for now and see if this authentication process becomes a bit simpler later on."

Amazon & Apple Security to Blame

        The latest information on how Wired writer Mat Honan's iCloud and Twitter accounts were hacked is found here at AppleInsider.  Son, Peter, sends this link to Wired. Be sure to read this.
        See the earlier posts about this hacking, "Apple's Fault" on 8-5, and "Hacking Incident Warns Us About Passwords" on 8-4,  and how Amazon and Apple security measures were factors that caused this mayhem.

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iCloud Vulnerability, Continued . . .

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        Here's another story in the saga about iCloud vulnerability, sent to us by Jim Hamm.  He comments, "Apple has an article explaining what to do about iCloud if you plan to sell your Mac or other Apple device.

        "What is not clear in Apple's article (at least to me) is that your device must be connected to the internet to decommission iCloud. Although, thinking about this, it does make sense. But it's easy to overlook, and it could be made plainer.  
        "As a side note, one must also de-authorize the device from iTunes as well before selling your Mac or other Apple device. If I recall correctly, only five devices can be authorized to play iTunes under one account.
        His final comment, "I imagine we'll learn more about the pros and cons of using iCloud as time goes on." 
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Running Windows Apps in Mountain Lion

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        "It's cheaper than purchasing Parallels and Windows 7 just to run a few Windows applications," explains John Carter as he sends info on Crossover.  He says, "Crossover has a new upgrade for Mountain Lion. Those Mac users who have upgraded to Mountain Lion or are waiting for the Crossover update, I can attest to the fact that the new Crossover upgrade works in Mountain Lion and you can now use Quicken 2010 (Windows app) and other Windows applications under Crossover in Mountain Lion.

        "The issue with the older version of Crossover on Mountain Lion is that the older version required X11. Mountain Lion will not run X11. Instead, Mountain Lion installs XQuartz, which is an upgraded version of X11. Without X11, Crossover will not work in Mountain Lion — or any other Mac OS X version for that matter. So, if you have something other than Mountain Lion and haven't yet used Crossover to run a Windows applications, and you want to do that, you will have to download and install XQuartz to work with the latest version of Crossover. That is, if the latest version of Crossover will run on the earlier versions of Mac OS X.
        "If you do not have a current annual subscription to Crossover to be able to download and install the latest version, it will cost you $59.95. This is far cheaper than purchasing Parallels and Windows 7 just to run a few Windows applications."