Suggesting Apple Improvements
Jim Hamm's been reading about improvements for Apple.
"If you follow Apple news at all, you've read about one of their senior VPs being fired recently. Along with this announcement was discussions of 'skeuomorphic design.' which apparently this VP liked, but others within Apple didn't. I had no idea what 'skeuomorphic design' even meant. This article gives an explanation. Having read the article, to me 'skeuomorphic design' is no big deal one way or the other. What do you think?"
"Here's an article that suggests an area that Apple needs to take a look at: web interface. I've oftened wondered why Apple must shut their online store down in order to do updates. Presumably old architecture, although Apple might have other reasons. Imagine Amazon saying 'hold it folks, don't order anything for awhile while we shut our web store down and update prices, etc.' Many people would just switch to another web store rather than wait.
"There's been quite a bit of blogging recently about Apple's web services being down often -- iCloud, et al. Now we know why. This surprises me, too. Apple is quite progressive in hardware design, but for some reason apparently has neglected a modern interface with the internet -- at least according to this article." With that, Jim signs off after giving us food for thought.
The iPad Innards
What’s Inside the iPad? Take a look. On page 1 scroll down to view the little thumbnail size photos and get an idea of the scope of the report. Eighteen separate photos, each on a separate page, illustrate the short descriptions.
Black Friday Deals
Well, it's Black Friday, when the stores expect to be "in the black" when all the sales are tallied. Maybe you're out shopping right now? Here's from the link from InformationWeek, pointing out Apple sales, listing discounts also at Best Buy and WalMart, the Apple online store, as well as giving links to find your local Apple Store. Also, click to see an iPad Mini Tablet slideshow.
Look at Apple's site, too. It's a one day sale. Save $ and have fun.
On Sale in Peoria
How do the words "on sale" sound to you? How about "Black Friday" or "Door Busters"? The Peoria MacMedia Store is even giving a $10 credit for any donation from non-perishable food to toys. . . and get this . . . message therapists will be on duty. Advertising food and beverages, along with great deals grabs our attention. Take a look here.
Here's Turkey Dog
If you’re subscribing to Small Dog Tech Tails you saw him, so I wrote and Liam wrote back it was OK to post him. Take a look at their site today.
Take Command! for Shortcuts
He lists 16 quick shortcuts, using the Command key. That's Ben, the Mac blogging guy in Brooklyn helping all of us Mac-aholics. After subscribing to his freebie news a few weeks ago, "Here's the Thing" today brought some very practical tips. Look here.
Speed Up Web Browsing on iPhone, iPad
"Here is a tip that might speed up your web browsing on an iPhone or iPad: turn off Javascript. I just did it, and will see if it impacts my web browsing one way or the other. I've disabled Javascript on all my computers and haven't missed it at all. Javascript is a great medium (access point) for malware hackers to get into your computer," declares Jim Hamm.
Your Surprise for Your Family
With your handy Mac computer you can easily make a nice surprise present for your family. Here’s three things that only YOU can do for your kids, grandkids, even the old folks!
- Make an “Old Time Favorites” cookbook from recipes handed down to you -- probably handwritten! Collect enough for 24 pages, some from each category. Write something about who originally made that yummy stuff.
- Make an “Shortcut Recipe” cookbook. This is where you’ve updated and simplified your own favorites. Instead of feeding 10, maybe change to feeding 2 or 4. Use modern ingredients, the microwave, convection oven.
- Make a “I Remember When” booklet. This is not your entire lifetime on 24 pages! Just some interesting highlights that you do recall. Describe what makes those events significant in your memory.
Jot down the first ideas that come to mind. Let it rest a few days. Reread and then rewrite.
Can you picture this as a 5 ½ x 8 ½ booklet which you’d staple? Would it work better on full size pages, 3-hole punched, in a notebook? Or, a spiral-bound booklet?
In Pages go to File > New from Template Chooser. See if you get any bright ideas after looking at these examples.
That’s the screen shot pasted here to the left side.
With Microsoft Word: Mac 2011 you can go to File > New from Templates and click to view Online Templates. There are a lot from which to choose.
If you use the Blue Squirrel program, Click Book will do the layouts for various kinds of booklets. http://www.bluesquirrel.com Here’s the link for Mac ClickBook: http://www.bluesquirrel.com/products/cbmac/ It’s $49.95 for OS X, compatible with Lion and Mountain Lion. Note special pricing on Print to iPad, iPhone, Android, or Kindle. They have more than 70 custom layout styles.
You might even scan and paste in some photos. Be creative! Picture the compliments!
Help us spread the PMUG info, www.pmugnews.blogspot.com And write and tell us what you’re learning and doing: edpr@commspeed.net We want our PMUG to be helpful and friendly. It’s a time to enjoy and participate.
Words, More Words, and Lots-a Words!
Yes, you use the Mac Dictionary. How handy to have it on the dock, and easily look up definitions, the Thesaurus, Apple dictionary and Wikipedia. But what about specialized dictionaries? There’s a bunch!
http://www.classicalworks.com/html/glossary.html musical terms
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary cooking terms
YourDictionary http://www.yourdictionary.com/ lists most misspelled words, how to do wild card search, brain training games, etc.
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml know the idea you want to convey but are fishing for that certain word? Describe the concept and up comes pages of suggested terms. Good for generating a list of words in some category.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/ extra features make this a helpful site to check on.
Going to Apple’s webpage brings up www.Dictionary.com/ , a free app for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
http://www.freebyte.com/dictionary/#specialized_dictionaries lists some specialized dictionaries, free thesauri, translation tools, spellcheckers, games, images, reference desk.
Here’s fun with the Mac’s Apple dictionary. Open it and type in “a” and up comes a list of every entry beginning with that letter. You’ll find things you didn’t know! Explore and learn.
Today, smile at that person sitting next to you and introduce yourself. Maybe they just moved here from Last Chance, Iowa or Beanville, Vermont or Fort Necessity, Louisiana. (Yes, I found those listed in http://www.accuracyproject.org/towns.html Your birthplace listed there?)
See you next time?
(This is the handout for 11-17-12 from Elaine)
Use Time Machine with ML
"Here's a helpful article on how to use Time Machine to recover files in OS Mountain Lion," says Jim Hamm.
Greeting Cards and Mailing Labels
Time to figure out making/sending greeting cards and printing out labels for mailing. John Carter speaks up, commenting on my question about labels, "A much better way, if you intend to print mail labels, is to use Avery Label's Design Pro for Mac (there's only one version, and Avery has discontinued support for the Mac as an application that you download - they now prefer that you use their free online service). Design Pro has a feature to merge contact information from Contacts and sort them."
Bobbie Pastor offers this info, "I make the club's name tags with Design Pro. That will be over when I get ML. I have to do my business cards with Design Pro on line as well. It Sucks! I don't like it at all. Downloading the program to your computer is so much better.
"Maybe, if you make cards and do a lot of that creative stuff, look into buying a program that can do all that. Here's one I found. http://www.snowfoxsoft.com/greeting-card-maker-mac.html"
What started the conversation was my comment about ML (Mountain Lion) Contacts which used to be called Address Book. Printing out a list of names for a Christmas card list the ML no longer alphabetizes the list, but does alphabetize the labels that you print out.
Where in the World?
"Here is an interesting website if you plan to go overseas. It gives you a video look at the city before you get there. Even if you don't plan to go, it's fun to look at the various cities, peoples and cultures." This introduction is from Jim Hamm.
And it raised some questions. Where in the world have you and Zee already explored? Jim wrote again, "We've been to 50 countries, and enjoyed them all. Going to Costa Rica in January, where we've not been."
Learning More About Photography
Interested in photography? John Carter to the rescue. He's now posted to the PMUG website this informative and illustrated report, "iPhoto for iPad vs. PhotoForge2." Go to http://www.pmug.us/reviews/ and benefit from his research.
Note: John Carter will be at the PMUG Genius Bar on November 17, when Art Gorski and Bobbie Pastor will be our other "experts" for this meeting.
Set Up an eBook Library on an iPad
"Here's a helpful article on how to set up an eBook Library on an iPad," says Jim Hamm. He continues, "At the Apple store this past Friday I took a look at the new iPad Mini, and because of its small size and light weight, it might make a good eBook reader. But as I played with it, I didn't like the small font size on websites. I had to increase the font in order to comfortably read it. I didn't like doing that. On my iPad 2 I can easily read website font, without adjustment, because of the larger size of the screen.
"Before buying an iPad Mini (if you should have an interest), be sure to look at the font size first. The font size on eBooks might be larger, but I wasn't able to check this out. For easy portability, though, the new iPad Mini would be handy. And, like all the iPads, it is a beautiful device.
"At the Apple store I also compared, side by side, my iPad 2 with the new iPad 4. I couldn't tell an appreciable difference between the two. In theory, the iPad 4 has a better screen and a faster processor, but I couldn't tell a difference in performance or viewing. If there was a difference, it wasn't enough to impress me."
Here John Carter adds his opinion of the MakeUseOf newsletter earlier reviewed by Jim Hamm above, " In addition to the article, you'll find several advertisement links to free eBooks - but I would be careful about going there as you never know how much money those "free" eBooks will actually cost you.
"There are also advertisement links to help you convert PDF files to the eBook format, links to help you write your own eBook, and links to help you self-publish your eBooks. Again, click with caution on any advertisement link."
And John also mentions, "The article itself is chock full of suggestions and tips on how to find eBooks, and not just for the iPad, but for the Kindle as well. And did you know that you can read a Kindle eBook on the iPad? There's an app for that."
Messages in Mountain Lion
John Carter passes on this info from TakeControl publishers: "Communicate more effectively with 'Take Control of Messages in Mountain Lion.'
"In 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple replaced the long-standing iChat program with Messages, which takes its interface cues from the iPad version of the program. Although Messages looks easy, many people have had trouble understanding how to integrate different chat services and Apple devices, now that messages can appear on Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
"For instance, should you use iMessage or AIM to chat with your friend? What if he's home on his Mac or out while using his iPhone? Can you add someone else to the chat? What if you want to switch to an audio chat? To video? For video, should you use Google Talk or FaceTime? And so on. The mechanics may be simple, but the setup and human interactions are anything but.
"To bring some sense to the situation, we asked networking guru Glenn Fleishman to explain how you can bend Messages to your will, and the fruits of his labor are now available in the 113-page 'Take Control of Messages in Mountain Lion.' The book normally costs $10, but the 30% MUG discount drops that to $7. Learn more about the book via the coupon-loaded link — http://tid.bl.it/tco-messages-mountain-lion-mug-discount
"With this ebook in hand, you'll discover more ways to manage and connect with friends and family than space permits to outline here. Get the ebook and find out.
"As always, thank you for your support of the Take Control series!
"Cheers... Adam & Tonya Engst, Take Control publishers."
Apple Helps You Donate for Superstorm Sandy Relief
Apple makes it easy to donate to the American Red Cross for Superstorm Sandy Relief. Look at the home page http://www.apple.com and click to go to the iTunes Store.
Apple Management Shuffle
"For those interested in management shuffles at Apple," regards: David Passell http://www.zdnet.com/apple-management-reshuffle-the-who-the-why-and-the-next-7000006561/
"Two significant senior Apple executives are out of the technology giant without an explanation. Who will win out of the management shuffle, and who could be vying for the chief's chair next?"
Free -- Only on 10-31-12
" Here's an offer of a free download of the Crossover software program from Codeweavers. The free download is good for only one day: October 31st," Jim Hamm notifies us. This program enables Mac to run Windows software without a license. Read the details.
Wallpapers Hidden in OS X Mountain Lion
Jim Hamm sends this link to 43 "amazingly gorgeous secret wallpapers hidden in OS X Mountain Lion." Thanks!
You've Noticed Google Translate?
If you've noticed the Google Translate icon at the top of this PMUG blogspot home page you've maybe wondered about it.
Our Blogger.com Stats for the last month show our PMUG newsblog has viewers in the United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, Poland, and the Ukraine. Our Pageviews from the U.S. last month was 539!
Interestingly, the list of Pageviews by Operating Systems shows 50% with Mac, and 42% with Windows. The remaining ones were Linux, iPad, Windows NT 6.1, iPhone, and Android.