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Do You Use Dictation?

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        One of Mountain Lion's features is Dictation.   Here's a 2 page article:        
 http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/13/inside_os_x_108_mountain_lion_gm_dictation_speech/page/1  that describes Dictation and shows screen shots. It's currently supported on the new iPad and iPhone 4S, also. 
         If you're using Dictation why not drop us a line so we can pass along your assessment of the experience? You'll see the email directions in the column, About PMUG, on the right side of the homepage.  

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iPhone 5 Maps Test

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       This article on iPhone maps, just in from Jim Hamm, is well described and illustrated.   "Here's an article reviewing the new maps feature in the iPhone 5. Conclusion: Pretty darn good."  
        And, look at that same site  http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/car_gadgets/  for info on car buying, reviews, in the news, recalls, video, 2012 Auto Shows in New York, Chicago, Detroit.  

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Show Your Photography

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        Many of our PMUG friends are talented with their cameras.  Have you made a photo into a picture postcard?   
        Carlene Hardt took these photos and Peter tells us, "Small batches we print at Costco as 4x6 photos and then Carlene attaches a self-adhesive back to make it a postcard. The backings come from Photographer's Edge. They have a WIDE variety of products: http://www.photographersedge.com/Postcards-4-x-6-pkg-of-25/productinfo/A298PC/

        "They also have dozens and dozens of card frames you can put the photo in to make photocards: http://www.photographersedge.com/Blue-Mist-with-Raven-Black-Accent-Ink/products/103/

      "Larger batches we have commercially printed as postcards, with custom information on the back side. We use Prints Made Easy who do a great job, http://www.printsmadeeasy.com , but we do occasionally have issues with getting certain colors right."
        With a jpg of the postcard you can drag it to iPhoto and highlight it when it comes up on the album page.  Up comes a little arrow at the bottom right side, giving you several choices.  You can also click Create at the bottom right side of the iPhoto page, and find out how to order cards, albums, books, and calendars.  Under Share you can order prints, from 4"x6" up to 20"x30".  (Plan ahead for those creative Christmas gifts!)  

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Are You New to the Mac Computer? Mac 101

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        "Here is the start of a new series of instructions for the new Mac user," writes Jim Hamm.  
        Yesterday, (10-4) Macworld started a new series of How-To for the new Mac user.  Go there, bookmark it, and watch for that weekly posting.  That’s if you want to hear about everybody else’s problems!  You’ll have to sort that out.      
        HOWEVER,  in the Prescott area you have PMUG and you have the PMUG monthly SIGs (Special Interest Groups.)  

        Sometimes asking a smiling person at our meetings can be more helpful than reading a whole book!  You'll find people at PMUG who previously used PC, you'll find people who just got their first Mac or iPhone or iPad, you'll find people who have used Mac since 1984.  And here on this blog you'll find all sorts of help.  Scan through the Labels on the right hand side to get an idea.   
        See you on the 20?  Ginger Carlson will give you a cookie!  
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Changing the Full Screen-Size View

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         Aaaaack!  Another problem, but it turned into a “new feature” of Mountain Lion. 

        It’s in Pages and Safari; maybe other programs, too?  Looking at a Google news page on Safari I saw some little icons at the top. Pointing at one, a tiny box comes up, naming it.  Clicking on the unnamed one with two little arrows suddenly made my open page in Google expand to fill the entire screen.  There was no indication of how to go back to the previously normal-sized page.  
        Trying various keys on the keyboard: the Function 3 key brought up the Dashboard. At least I could now get to other icons in the Dock.  I tried looking up Help, without finding any help.  Perhaps I just didn’t word my search correctly?  
        In desperation, I emailed the helpful tech down at the Peoria MacMedia Inc. store.  Amazingly, I soon got a reply from Kyle Smith, sent from his iPhone.  “This is a feature of Apple, and you can do that from any program, but if you hold your cursor in the top of the screen it will drop down a menu and then you can click the blue icon that has the 2 arrows pointing towards each other.  That should fix it.” 

....................... Here's the arrows at the right side, top. 

..................Here's what happened.   
                                  

Here's the view of the blue arrows at the top.

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Safari: Changes = Improvements

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        So it’s Command + D that makes a bookmark in Safari for that site you want to find again sometime!  With Mountain Lion not showing that little + sign next to the URL in the bar it wasn’t obvious how bookmarks work now.   
         Take a look here:   http://www.apple.com/safari/features.html  gives brief info on the 250+ features of Safari.  So, to find that same page again?  You can bookmark it, and you can change the wording of that bookmark.  Click on the illustration to enlarge it, then click to return to this place. 

 Here's how I renamed it for my own use. 

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Problem Solving & Learning More

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        Three articles caught Jim Hamm's attention, and each deserve at least a quick look.  Even if you're not particularly interested in the topic, it might be interesting to note the links on these sites. The first two are from MakeUseOf, and it has links to How To & Tips, Cheats & Guides, Geeky Fun. The third is from the latest Macworld that shows links to What's Hot, Reviews, How-To and Creative.
        "If you were a Mobile Me user, you might have additional storage on iCloud. Take a look at this.
        "Here's an article describing the difference between the internet and the World Wide Web. For most of us, we probably don't care about the difference, we just appreciate that it all works.
        "If  you've upgraded to iOS 6 and are experiencing some problems, here's an article with some tips that might help."         

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Too Soon for Passbook?

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        "Here is an article commenting on how the new iOS 6 app 'Passbook' is half-baked at this point. As you read through the article one wonders if anyone at Apple even tried this app before releasing it? Not a smooth move by Apple -- somewhat similar, apparently, to the maps app they just released, which is getting a lot of flack in the blogs."
        Jim Hamm closes with,  "Apple seems to be rushing some apps to market before they've been thoroughly tested."   

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About Firefox

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It was a very short email from our travelin' man Jim Hamm, "If you use Firefox as a browser, you may want to take a look at this manual."          So, is this the best browser? we asked.  And Jim and Zee somewhere along the Mississippi River on a tour wrote back,  "No, Firefox not my favorite browser. I don't have a favorite. I rotate between FF, Safari, Maxthon and Chrome. They all work well. FF does probably have more extensions and add-ons than other browsers, and they are useful. I don't happen to have FF installed on my MacBook Air or I could share the add-ons I find helpful."  So, we'll probably hear more a little later.  

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iMessage Tip

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        Although he hasn't tried it yet, Jim Hamm forwards this info:  "Here's a tip concerning iMessage. And following is a quote from the article. "With the combination of iOS6 and the OS X 10.8.2 update, Mountain Lion's Messages app can now send and receive iMessages using an iPhone's number as the identifier.'  Since I haven't upgraded to iOS6 yet, I haven't been able to try this out." 

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How Long Will SSD Drives Last?

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        "Here's an interesting article speculating on a 'bleak' future for SSD drives. The article assumes that SSD cells will continue to shrink in size, from the present 25nm to perhaps 6.5nm in 2024, with an inherent increase in errors.  There's some interesting comments following the article you might also take a look at."  
        After pointing us to this article, Jim Hamm goes on to give some personal information and opinion.  "I've got two laptops with SSD drives (a MacBook Air and a ThinkPad), and I certainly like them -- not necessarily because they're faster than a spinning drive -- but because I don't have to worry about 'jiggling' the computers when moving them around, and SSDs make for good traveling computers.
        "I've never had a problem with a spinning drive on any of the computers I've owned, and I think they're fine. In fact, I recently bought a nine-year-old iMac G4, which has seen a lot of use, and still works well, albeit slower, with a spinning drive.  Why did I do this? I like the looks of the iMac G4, and compare the idea to someone buying a '57 Chevy. May not make practical sense, but conceptually/emotionally satisfying."

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FaceBook Concerns

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        "For those of you with FaceBook accounts, and getting ready to upgrade to iOS 6 when it comes out, here's something else to worry about. iOS 6 will have the ability to sync your Contacts with your FaceBook friends. This is a two-way sync, so your Contacts (Address Book on older Macs) will potentially get a bunch of new information added. The problem is that FaceBook is scheming to increase the use of useless Facebook.com email addresses, and will send them to your Contacts. Check out the story for the details."  This info from Prez Art Gorski.  http://www.tuaw.com/2012/09/04/with-ios-6-your-address-book-may-be-invaded-by-facebook-com-em/

Unexpected Freebie Handouts

        Prez Art Gorski gave out unexpected freebie goodies to those attending Saturday's monthly PMUG meeting at the Library.  The handouts were a surprise gift from this Apple User Group, http://appleusergroupresources.com  who had mentioned PMUG in their September Milestones list on home page.  Ward Stanke mentioned it to me, I wrote an email to thank them, and here came the goodies.  Art is rationing them out, so you can expect a freebie of some kind at the next several PMUG meetings.

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Getting Your RSS

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        You used to see RSS at the top right corner of this blog.  When you clicked to subscribe to it you’d be notified via your email that a new posting had been made to PMUG newsblog.  In your Mail it showed you a few lines of the posting and then “read more” would open the site and bring up the entire article and the entire PMUG newsletter, actually linking you to all articles/messages here.  
        Prez Art Gorski suggests you try this:
http://pmugnews.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
       
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Getting New? What to Do?

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Size up what you’ve got.  What do you use your computer for?  

How long have you had it?
Having any troubles at this time?
Research.  Look at what’s come out since then.  
       Changes since your last Mac?  
              Memory, speed,
             Size of screen,  shiny or not?  
             Small screen of the iPad in place of a laptop?
               Battery life
                APC - Backups   Do you need more capacity? 
What would you like to be able to use your computer for?
What improvements would you like to have?
Write a list so you can review and add to the ideas you have. Brainstorm with someone. 
Print off info from websites and compile a folder of applicable resources.
Then, make that next big decision!  Apple can help you do your best!  
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Check out resources in this list.  Your busy brain will come up with other ideas, too!
Where can I get it fixed, or where can I buy a new one? Try this link. Also see list of Apple stores that sell iPod, iPad, Apple Computers, AppleTV, iPhone. 
Some Apple Stores in the valley: 
Arrowhead Mall 623-707-2860
Biltmore, 2502 E. Camelback Rd.   602-606-1470
Scottsdale Quarter, 15169 N. Scottsdale Rd.  
  corner of Scottsdale Rd. and Greenway Pkwy,  480-627-5501 
Repairs and refurbished Apple computers:
Desert Computer Solutions 16213 S. 33 St. Phoenix. 602-295-5918
New & used computers, accessories, books, parts, services, fix your computer: 
 MacMedia store 15525 N. 83 Ave #108,  Peoria.  623-850-8000  (Look at their map to more easily find this location.) 
                             Prepare before you get that new computer. 
Apple Stores will help you. http://www.apple.com/retail/learn/one-to-one/terms.html  Terms on the Apple store One to One service. Data migration, personal training, group training and open training at an Apple store. 
Tips and links to sites with cleaning applications to remove unneeded files, etc. http://guides.macrumors.com/Cleaning_Your_Mac's_Hard_Drive
How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413     Do not let either computer go to sleep while you are attempting to migrate; this tells how to disable sleep on both computers.  
What’s the latest?  http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/getting-ready-to-cross-ivy-bridge-the-laymans-guide-to-intels-latest-processors/   Go for Sandy Bridge now or wait for Ivy Bridge?   Ask if the new system has Ivy Bridge or be prepared to find the processor’s specific model number and compare it to part lists from Intel or other trusted sources.   Intel will make several versions available under Core i5 and Core i& names.  Describes USB 3.0 support, Thunderbolt ports.  
The new 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros feature Intel’s speedy new Sandy Bridge Core i7 quad-core CPUs, available up to 2.3GHz, along with AMD Radeon HD graphics processors (GPU), with up to 1GB of dedicated video memory.
Despite new update, new Apple MacBook Pros continue to crash when running multiple programs. Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/despite-update-new-apple-macbook-pros-continue-to-crash/#ixzz25o2ChEEc
Get ready for Mountain Lion OS X 10.8   http://www.macworld.com/article/1167629/get_your_mac_ready_for_mountain_lion.html    Backup.  Disable FileVault. Disable third-party encryption.  Run software update.  Check for Mountain-Lion compatible updates to third-party software, setup iCloud account, maybe have an extra drive handy. 
Pre-install Tasks:  Disk Utility, click First Aid and click Verify.  Feeling cautious, run Apple Hardware Test http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
Going to sell an old Mac?  Do you want to deal directly with some stranger?  Be careful, plan ahead.  
How to prepare your old Mac for sale or recycling: 
http://www.apple.com/recycling/   Get an Apple Gift Card for its value, recycled.
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This was today's handout at the PMUG General Meeting at the Prescott Public Library.  Hope to see you at the October meeting!