appleJAC Macintosh Users

SoundJaw: Sound Booster for iPad

a review by Tom Piper

Disappointed when you play music, a movie or podcast only to have the sound muted by your folded-back cover, or whatever the iPad is laying on? Wouldn’t it be great if you could redirect to sound toward you?

The SoundJaw is a device that greatly enhances and boosts the sound of your iPad. Developed specifically for iPad 2 (compatible with the new 2012 iPad), you can now enjoy a movie in the car, a loud room, outside, and all the other places you usually find it hard to hear. This unit is guaranteed to not only revolutionize your iPad, but also the market for accessories in general. 

The idea behind the SoundJaw is so simple, but makes all the difference for listening. It increase both the decibels and the quality of the music to which you listen. This results in a crisper sound that doesn't get lost to the world behind the iPad. More information is available at www.soundjaw.com/.

This little jewel is easy to mount, and does make a real difference in sound redirection. I only wish it was constructed of a thinner material so the back-cover could fit over it more comfortably. I’ve been using mine since I got it at Macworld | iWorld last January.

You can buy a SoundJaw in black, white, or purple for $12.99 at www.tinylightbulbs.com/all-products/soundjaw.html. Free domestic shipping, as well as discounted international shipping, on orders of 2 or more.

Every Apple Ever Made in 30 Seconds

This commemorative video was made by Rob Beschizza to quickly and
comprehensively show ever Apple product made over the last 36 years.

For a Mac computer, download EveryAppleMade, or

For an iPhone or iPad, http://www.redmondpie.com/check-out-every-apple-and-next-product-ever-made-in-this-30-second-clip-video/ (scroll down one page).

President's Place

by George Kopp

Oh, for the dog days of summer. They seem so wonderful until the thermostat stays above 100 for 5 days in a row! Yuck!! We can only be thankful for air conditioning, and lots of new Apple and Mac stuff to talk about. 

The big story this month is MacOS X Lion. Lion is the 8th version of Mac OS X and looks like it will be the shape of things to come from Apple. Lion integrates much of the interface built in iOS for the iPhone and iPad into the Macintosh user experience. Everything from Launchpad to the use of swiping gestures is now incorporated into the computer operating system we know and love. There is lots new to talk about here so appleJAC will be hosting a Mac OS X Lion demo at our regularly scheduled meeting in September. Plan to kick off the fall with a look into Lion. 

Lion not only brings us new interface, it also leads us to the new method for software delivery that Apple has in it’s plans. A few years back, Apple introduced the MacBook Air without a DVD drive, and we all thought that was crazy. Everyone needs a DVD drive to install software and play movies. Fast forward to today, and we see ourselves downloading a new version of the operating system and getting movies over the Internet from NetFlix. No DVDs need apply for this gig; it is an online-only world. 

Now we see the latest MacBook Air with a fast processor. This time just as fast as a MacBook Pro for all practical sense. And now the Mac Mini looses it’s DVD drive. Get ready folks, my next prediction: DVDs are going the way of the floppy. Some will cry and some will refuse to go, but expect a Mac in your future to be DVD-less. 

The other real story in line is the elimination of Rosetta from Lion. Rosetta was an emulation layer that allowed older software written for a PowerPC processor to run on Intel-based Macs. Apple contracted this software from IBM (who sold it the PowerPC processors), but the PowerPC has run it’s course, and even IBM is moving on. SO must Apple. For about 5 years it maintained this emulation to allow software developers time to bring their products forward into natively running on Intel. Unfortunately, some developers did not listen.

But, the vast majority of software you have issues with in Lion falls into two categories: 

1. Software that has been sunset – this is software the developer chose to end development on; this may be because it was replaced with a new product or it may be the developer just did not want to continue it’s development 
2. Software that has an upgrade - some of these are as simple as downloading a new version, but many, if not most, of them will be products that have a fee for the upgrade; users may not have been aware of this upgrade or chose not to pay; either way, these products will not run in Lion without the upgrade. 

It is funny to watch the complaints on the Internet about these two types of software. Some people believe that, if they purchase a product it should work forever. Others chastise Apple for not maintaining this emulation for 5 more years. Either way, these PowerPC applications join the Mac OS 9 applications that have been orphaned by new technology. 

The key thing for a user here is to be sure the applications you need will run before updating to Lion. If you do the update, and the files need to be exported, you may have just lost all those files to the old ‘bit bucket’ in the sky. Don’t let this happen to you. Remember, while Lion adds a lot to the user experience on the Mac, it is NOT a required upgrade. If what you have works for you, then you can still keep using it. Just don’t expect the world to stay behind with you. 

 

The other big story this month is the August appleJAC meeting. This year we are going back to the Yanis Coffee Zone on August 2 at 7:00 pm for a evening of iOS applications. Bring your iOS device (iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad) and learn about great applications for these devices. Just like the last time, the proprietor of the Coffee Zone will be there keeping the coffee on for you to order your favorite coffee drinks and great sweets.

I hope you can make it this month. Be sure to bring your iOS-using friends too. You don’t need to be a member to come see all the fun. 

iMate/KEYDEX Stands: iPad Empowerment

a review by Tom Piper

iPad accessories are a necessity for the enjoyment of your investment. Good sound, solid platforms, protective covers, and portable presentation ability is important to all of us.

iMate provides a series of innovative and affordable supplemental devices to enhance the utility and enjoyment of our iPads (and iPhones) including:

KEYDEX iPad Stand and Speaker ($44.99):

• Versatile design
• Position iPad both vertically or horizontally on stand
• Recline iPad against the slip-proof cylindrical speakers
• Stylish 1.5 watt speakers provide surround sound
• Compact size and design to fit onto any desk space
• Protective silicon case to protect your iPad
• Dimensions: 4.0” x 10.3” x 2.2”, 0.66 lbs
• Materials: ABS plastic and aluminum
• This stand will work with either the original iPad or the iPad2 (the silicon back cover with the speaker stand does not work with the Apple front cover). The quality of the speakers was much better than expected, but the AC power supply restricted placement (I was able to substitute a rechargeable USB battery to use it for more portability).

KEYDEX iPad Stand ($16.99):

• iPad can be operated on the stand
• Easy assemble without any tools
• Smooth stand edge and slip-proof rubbers
• Set iPad vertically and horizontally
• Quick disassemble for space saving travel
• Dimensions: 7.1” x 6.3” x 4.3”, 6.70 oz
• Materials: ABS stand and steel frame
• This stand will work with either the original iPad or the iPad2, and proved to be surprisingly lightweight and durable.

KEYDEX Protective iPad Stand ($49.99)

• Adjustable retractable vertical & horizontal footing
• Bumper protection all around (made for iPad)
• Shock-proof lined cloth cover for travel safety
• Dimensions: 7.6” x 0.7” x 9.7”, 6.07 oz
• Materials: ABS+PC, silicon bumper, rubber/steel feet
• This protective case was made for the original iPad, but an iPad 2 would fit into it. The zippered sleeve is made of neoprene and should sustain a lot of use, while also being somewhat weather-proof. The steel wire stands use rubber feet to reduce skidding.

 

While the protective stand would be okay for a lot of travel, speaker stand is my favorite because it holds the iPad firmly and produces excellent sound. All of these are available at either http://www.keydex.com.tw or http://imateweb.com, along with a huge number of other items from AC adapters to cables to iPhone accessories to much more. Some very interesting and innovative ways to expand the utility your portable devices.

Want to change your Macs Logon Name

One thing that has been a problem for a long time is finding a way to change an incorrectly typed short name for your user logon.  Here is a trick I saw in MacLife magazine......

The only works in MacOS 10.5.  Start by going to System Preferences: Accounts.  Click on the lock icon near the lower left and type your password to be able to make changes.   Next control-click on the user name and a selection opens called Advanced Options.  Select that option and see the dialog box below.




There are only two things you dare change and they must both match.  First, change the "Short Name" to the new name you want to use.  Then in the field "Home Directory", change the part of the name after "/Users/" to match the short name you used.

A couple of warnings.  Only do this if you have a complet backup of the user folder.  My recommendation would be to use a Short Name that contains no spaces.

Introduction to Automator AppleScript Actions Tutorial

Automator, in conjunction with AppleScript opens doors for you that will simply amaze you.

This tutorial shows you how to create an action for the Automator application using AppleScript as the implementation language. You are going to learn how to create an action by actually developing one. The tutorial assumes that you are familiar with AppleScript, but otherwise has no other prerequisites. It is helpful, however, if you have some experience with AppleScript Studio.

This comes to us from Apple's developer web site so the content is of an advanced nature.

Why isn't my Harddisk as big as I thought?

Mac OS X reports hard drive capacity in binary math, hard drive manufacturers report capacity in base 10 math

Modern operating systems such as Mac OS X use binary mathematics to define the total capacity of a hard drive. Using binary math, an 80-gigabyte (GB) hard drive reports approximately 74.51 GB of available space.

In binary math, 1 GB is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes, whereas conventional (or base 10) mathematics instead calculate 1 GB as exactly 1,000,000,000 bytes.

This numerical discrepancy (73,741,824 bytes per gigabyte) represents a difference between the physical “base 10” specification used by hard drive manufacturers and Mac OS X’s binary measurement of available capacity. The 80 GB and 74.51 GB values represent two methods of mathematical measurement that describe a hard drive with approximately 80 billion bytes.

This is normal behavior, and there is no hard disk space missing. Regardless of which method is used to measure total capacity, the storage capacity in bytes of the hard drive is the same. Previous operating systems (including Mac OS 9 and earlier versions) also demonstrate this mathematical difference.

Other factors, such as the system software, applications, updates, and customer data count against the available disk capacity, meaning a new Macintosh computer will not show the total capacity listed as available for use. The amount of hard disk drive space required for normal operation of a Macintosh computer will vary widely, depending on configuration, model, and personal requirements.

Note: Hard disk manufacturers may also round off decimal places when stating storage specifications, such as approximately "39.5 GB" instead of "39.49 GB".

You can convert a Boot Camp drive to a Parallels Volume

Yes, you read correctly. It works but it is a painful process.

This tip was pointed out by Jason Piper...

The challenges are as follows:
1. Backup your Boot Camp partition and convert it into a VM .hdd file.
2. Repair your Windows install so that it can work under the significant hardware change

The process is as follows:
1. Boot on Windows and clone your drive (I used the evaluation version of Snapshop
1.1. You will need lots of disk space for this. In my case I had to save the snapshop files on my mac partition (through MacDrive)
1.2. This snapshot file will have to be made available to a Parallels VM so put is somewhere you can share it through Parallels Shared Folders.
2. Create a new virtual machine in Parallels and install Windows on it. Once it boots, install Snapshop.
2.1 Configure "Shared Folders" to make your snapshop files available to your new VM.
3. Create a new HD for your newly created virtual machine. Make sure it is as big (or bigger) than your Boot Camp partition.
4. Configure the new drive within Windows. For XP, instructions are available here: http://blog.kevindonahue.com/archive...tall_addit.php
5. Once your new virtual drive is available, open Snapshop and restore your Boot Camp cloned drived onto your 2nd hard drive.
6. Create a new Parallels VM that will use your virtual HD that now contains your restored Boot Camp partition.
7. You are not out of the wood yet... If you try to boot the new VM, it won't work. You need to boot from your Windows install CD and and enter the repair console to repair your Boot.ini file. Instructions on how to do this are here (follow method 2): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477/
8. After doing this, my install still didn't boot (even safe mode didn't work - boot freezed after loading the Mup.sys driver) so I had to boot (again) from the windows install CD, select setup and repair my windows install as per the following instructions: http://www.theeldergeek.com/replace_motherboard.htm
9. Reboot (again) your new VM, install Parallels tools
10. Now if you want to get rid of the Windows selection screen at boot time, you will need to edit your boot.ini file to remove the entry that links to your boot camp partition. Instructions on how to do this are here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022/EN-US/. In my case, all I had to do was to delete the last line.
11. Now you probably open the Add/Remove programs control panel and remove the Mac drivers needed for Boot Camp.

After going through all of this, you will have to reinstall all the windows updates you installed in Boot Camp (the Repair process reverts to the original Windows version) but you should have all your data, applications and settings intact. In my case, everything worked.

Even more details at MacOSHints.