appleJAC Users Group

President's Place

July is already upon us; wow, it’s hard to believe that. Due to the extremely dry weather, fireworks displays may be on hold this year but, our annual maintenance meeting is not.

It IS, however, pushed back one week due to a July 4th celebration downtown. We will meet at Coffee Zone on July 10, 2012, and Taisir will be open at 5:00 pm to serve supper. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm and feature simultaneous presentations by George Kopp and Joe Mertzlufft.

In an effort to be more informative and helpful, we will try something new this meeting. The group will be divided in two with each group being shown a different program. George will start in the front of the store talking about iOS maintenance, and Joe will be in the back informing about MacOS issues. At the break, the pair will switch places and do their presentation with the other half of the group. We anticipate this will work well, and that members will gather more information with this format.

Don’t forget, the meeting is the second Tuesday of July, and dinner will be available after 5:00pm. 

Join us for an informative meeting on how to keep your equipment running smoothly:

Yanis Coffee Zone
130 E High Street
Jefferson City, MO
573-761-4277

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July everyone, and we’ll see you on July 10 in downtown Jefferson City.

 

President's Place

Wow, have the first five months of this year flown by! It’s nearly June and time for the annual appleJAC Group barbecue and picnic. We look forward to this time to meet and get to know each other on a different level. 

I want to thank Peggy and John Landwehr in advance for hosting this year’s event. Hopefully the rain will hold off until after the evening’s festivities, and we can go home dry, unless that is, you decide to go in the pool.

Oh yes, there is a pool, so if you choose to, you can bring a swimming suit and quench the exterior thirst. The club will provide the hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Doorprizes won at the previous May 1 appleJAC MUG meeting include:

• iTunes card.......................Zack Fletcher
• iKlick..............................Julie Smith
• Photoshop book.................. Larry Garvin
• USB hub............................Charlie Bland
• Designing Software for iPad.....Greg Perry
• MobileMe for Small Business.....Dr. Tom M.

This month, we will enjoy the Annual appleJAC MUG Picnic (see agenda below). Friends and family are all invited to attend (bring a beverage, side disk and lawn chair). This is an opportunity to relax at the poolside home of Peggy and John Landwehr, and enjoy food, fun and friends. RSVP is requested (if you haven’t already). Directions below to their house (east side of Jefferson City off Eastland Drive) show that they are easily accessible.

You bring something to drink and a side dish. We’ll dine with friends ... and I’m quite sure, we’ll have a ball.

President's Place

by Julie Smith

Harken back only a few short years ago to when, if you wanted a new software program, you either had to go to an electronics store (and hope they carried Apple/Mac software), or purchase a disk off your favorite online site and wait a few days to receive it in the mail.

Well, fellow Mac users, no longer. With the popularity of the iOS devices and instant downloads, you can now purchase your computer software or apps the same way. Keep in mind, "app" is short for application, and an application is software. It’s all the same thing, just different branding. As long as you have high-speed internet connection or access to wi-fi, it is an efficient delivery system.

Doorprizes won at the previous April 3 appleJAC MUG meeting include:

• iTunes card......Brian Fuller
• Flashlight........Todd ?
• Pen...............Ann Lane
• Apple cloth......Jenice Taggart
• Lion Tutorial....Bill Krause
• Apple cloth......Gale Fuller
• Stress apple......Ron Hansen
• appleJAC cloth..Mathias
• appleJAC cloth..Peggy Landwehr
• appleJAC clip...Jim Stevenson
• Stress apple.....Joe Mertzlufft
• Stress apple.....Dan Watson
• Stress apple.....Jan Watson

With the popularity of portable devices like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, we had focused on apps for those devices, but this month we get back to the computer that made it all possible, the Apple Mac. Whether you have an iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Pro, you are now able to download your software directly to your computer and start using it right away. And, with the availability of gift cards at nearly any store, gifting software is as easy as ever.

A few of our members will show some of their favorite Mac Apps and demonstrate them for us Tuesday, May 1, 2012, at the May appleJAC Mac User Group meeting beginning at 7:00 pm in Kennedy Hall below the Immaculate Conception School gym.

Hope to see you Tuesday, and bring along a few friends.

President's Place

by Julie Smith

When thinking about what to write for the April President’s Place, a series of random thoughts entered my head. They range from what do pro golfers do for fun and relaxation to the elementary question: “why do you drive on a parkway and park in a driveway?” The golfer question has always been of particular interest, maybe only to me, as over the years I’ve read a number of interviews with professional athletes who seem to play a lot of golf when they are not practicing or playing their professional sport. I’ve always wondered, what, then, do pro-golfers do when not playing or practicing their sport? That’s just how my mind works.

I remember over the years seeing pictures of animals in costumes and wondered why people would do that to their pet. Well, now I have pets and am like a proud parent when their child wears a cute costume or accessory.

Yes, I have become one of those people of which I made so much fun for years.

Now, before you wonder where I’m going with all of this, please follow along . . . 

I think the same could be said for a group such as ours. I remember, back before I started using a Mac, that PC users used to make fun of Mac users and talked about how simplistic the computers and users were. I have discovered through the last few years, especially after joining the appleJAC Mac Users Group, that we see our computers as less of an inanimate object, but more an extension of ourselves.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I suspect a good number of you enjoy using your computer for work and fun, and quite frankly, somewhat miss it if you don’t have the opportunity to use the equipment as often as you might like. That includes the revolutionary iOS devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad) that have become commonplace.

Now that those devices have permeated nearly every sector of life, be it work, play or study, so has the explosion of available apps for these devices. Which is why we are devoting our next meeting to them.

Join us at 7:00pm, Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at Kennedy Hall at Immaculate Conception Church, for an informative demonstration of the latest in Mac OS and a few of our favorite apps.

 

 

President's Place

By Julie Smith

Spring is in the air, albeit early, so for all of those of you anxious to get started on your springtime internet queries or travel plans, join us for our next appleJAC meeting where we’ll learn about “All Things Google.” We’ll go from a brief intro about their well-known search engine to Google mobile services, including a few moments to touch briefly on the company’s history. 

To some, Google is a noun, while others see it as a verb. Tom Piper will deliver the presentation and let us know when it’s an action or a thing. Along with Tom, Steve Mays will let us know about trusting “the cloud”, along with specifics related to Google.

We hope that you will join us Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at 7:00pm in Lewis & Clark Middle School. 
We hope you’ll learn some useful tips to make using your computer, iPad, iPod or smart phone a more enjoyable task.  

We’ll also talk about the OSX Upgrade issue and briefly discuss the newest operating system, Mountain Lion, plus the latest in what’s new in Apple news.

The following meeting will be held on April 3, 2012, in Kennedy Hall at Immaculate Conception Church in Jefferson City. Join us that evening to learn about “Organizing Your Life with Apps” and the newest iPad 3.

Please remember that we welcome your input about meeting topics and participation. I’m looking forward to seeing how an object you cannot touch has become a worldwide phenomenon, and a part of our everyday culture. 

While we all hope the bulk of winter is over, I will once again give a reminder: if the Jefferson City Public Schools are closed on our meeting day due to inclement weather, we will not hold the appleJAC meeting that night.

Recap of CES/iWorld Reports

If you would like to see the pictures shown at the Feb. 7, 2012, appleJAC MUG meeting, just visit Tom Piper's Photo Gallery at http://gallery.me.com/macquest#100163.

To view the comparison of CES stats to those of Macworld | iWorld, just download CES:iWorldsummary.

For the video of the short CES clip, click on CESoverview.

Additional presentations available upon request to applejac@mac.com.

President's Place

by Julie Smith

Welcome to February and the appleJAC Mac Users Group. We look forward to having a meeting this year since last year we missed out due to the blizzard of 2011. 

It should be an interesting year ahead for Apple itself with new leadership at the company. I look forward to new products from the innovative electronics maker.

This, too, should prove to be an exciting year for our local group as we continue to grow. We look to you, our members, for ideas and certainly your participation. If you have a topic about which you would like to know more or if you are knowledgeable on an item or software and would like to make a brief presentation, please let us know. 

This club is sort of like school in that, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it. To that end, in an effort to keep current with trends and the newest in equipment, gadgets and Apps, our next meeting will feature information on the latest from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and Macworld | iWorld (formerly Macworld Expo) highlights Tom and Jason Piper. They attended iWorld in late January, so they’ll have first hand perspective, and have put together presentations on both shows. George will talk about taking notes electronically, and how they can help you have a more productive schedule.

As always, Tom will have several goodies he brought back from the iWorld Expo on hand to show. He also brought back books from Wiley Publishing and other things to give away.

Join us Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at Lewis & Clark Middle School, 325 Lewis & Clark Drive in Jefferson City, for a look into what’s new for the year, electronically speaking.

Thanks for your time, and we look forward to seeing you Tuesday night. Bring a friend or family member as a guest. 

President's Place

by George Kopp

Welcome to 2012....

Another year is come and gone. Your appleJAC club is strong; and, with its new bylaws, has a renewed purpose to support the Macintosh and iOS products. I want to start off by congratulating our new officers for 2012.

I believe this provides us a good mix of seasoned officers and new blood. New leadership continues to make the group stronger as long as we continue to have those that can always fill in and help.

The most important thing to remember, whether you're an officer or not, this is your club. What we do is a decision made based on what people in the club want to see happen. At our January meeting, we will be selecting topics for the rest of the year. We will also give an opportunity for people to ask questions and talk about products that they've got for Christmas, or that they'd like to learn more about. 

This year your leadership hopes to mix it up a little more. We want to have meetings in Jefferson City and Columbia. We also want to vary the topics between Macintosh products and iOS products. With so many of our members having new iPads or iPhones from Christmas, the first half of the year will have meeting topics that cover both. 

Upcoming Meetings

The topic of the next meeting is "Christmas Memories / All of the Questions ... and some of the answers". It will be held at 7:00 pm on January 3, 2012, at Kennedy Hall in Immaculate Conception Church, 1206 East McCarty St., Jefferson City, MO 65101

As the outgoing President, one of my last things is to I ask you is to get involved. We need your input to help us make the decisions that grow this club further and make our meetings more exciting. Please attend the January meeting, if at all possible, so that you can make your voices heard. 

(dictated with Siri on my iPhone)

President's Place

by George Kopp

The year has flown by, and here we are at December again. It amazes me how much has changed in the Apple universe since just a year ago. New computers and iOS devices seem like the normal thing now, but just a year ago, the features we take for granted today seemed like just a dream.  

iOS 5 has made our iPads and iPhones much more like computers and Mac OS 10.7 Lion has even made our Macs much more like our iPads. I foresee this trend continuing. But, as in all aspects of life, some things do come to an end, and those include my term serving as your President.

At our December meeting, we will have our annual business meeting and election of 2012 officers. In addition to this, we will be making some long overdue corrections and modifications to the Bylaws of appleJAC. These changes make our group more like the group we have become. They de=emphasize the Macintosh perspective for an emphasis on the Apple prospective. If you attend meetings, you know this has been the way the group has trended for the last few years. In between presentations on the Mac, we often have presentations on other Apple products, primarily the iOS devices that so many of us use on a daily basis.

I want to be clear. We are still a Macintosh users group, but we are modifying our Bylaws to prepare us for the future with a more broad Apple centric approach. These Bylaws are on the website (immediately following the agenda) for you to review (thanks Tom Piper for his efforts in scribing these changes)

The Nominating Committee has also come up with what looks to be a great slate of officers for next year.  Many of our number are continuing to serve in a leadership capacity, but we also have some new people getting involved and some others that are returning to the Board to assist the group as we move forward. Listed below are the nominations so far; we will accept other nominations from the floor also.

appleJAC Officer Nominations 2012

President - Julie Smith
Vice President - Alice Kopp
Secretary - Trish Alexander
Treasurer - Mark Snell
Webmaster - Tom Piper
Librarian - Joe Mertzlufft
Member@Large (room setup and presenters needs) - Greg Breuer
Member@Large (refreshments) - Sue Snell
Member@Large (photos) - Dan Walsh
Member@Large (recruiting) - Peggy Landwehr
Member@Large (past president) - George Kopp

Last month we moved our meeting location to Kennedy Hall in Immaculate Conception Church at 1206 East McCarty St. in Jefferson City. This new location proved to be a fantastic meeting room for us, and we will be discussing our future meeting locations at the business meeting also.

But don't let the thought of a business meeting scare you away. Tom Piper will be filling us in and responding to inquiries on the features of iOS5, and I will be presenting (and yes, answering all your questions) on iCloud, Apple's new cloud service package available to all Lion users at no cost.

This will be another great meeting to get a few details so you can answer your families questions while sitting around the Christmas tree later in December.

I hope to see you all at the meeting this month.

 

Proposed Amendment to aJMUG Bylaws

The appleJAC Macintosh Users Group Board of Directors is considering a series of changes to its corporate Bylaws which it hopes can be approved at the December 6 Annual Meeting.

These changes are intended to achieve the following:

• Eliminate the emphasis on Macintosh and focus on Apple products ( we have been doing this anyway with the iPhone and iPad of late);
• Eliminate the maximum number of Members of the Board of Directors;
• Emphasize that Board Members may be asked to perform a focused function (ie... refreshments, recruitment....); and
• Miscellaneous housekeeping changes for consistency and clarity.

The last changes were made five years ago. The current Bylaws showing highlighted proposed changes (overstrike to delete, underline to add) are shown on the attached document (Download AppleJAC Bylaws 120611).

 

President's Place (and map)

Oct. 4 appleJAC MUG Meeting Follow-up

We learned a great deal at our Cloud Computing meeting. Here is a free ebook on cloud computing found by George Kopp that you might want to link to on the website . . . www.ingrammicro.com/.

Marian Petrides, M.D. also sent a note reminding us that the cool new software for the iPod nanos (large icons, multiple clocks, etc.) works on last year's models just fine (to my delight, I tried it, and it makes my cute little nano even cuter).

Be sure to check out the pictures of the evening captured by Greg Breuer . . . with 45 people present, and lots of new information, it was a fun and educational evening. Be sure to bring your friends to "30 Tools in 60 Minutes" next month.

By the way, DropCopy (a free utility to transfer files from device to device) is available not just for Macs, but also for iPhones (and it works on my iPad too) . . . www.dropcopy.com.

 

President's Place

Lion Presentation Materials for 09/06/11 appleJAC MUG Meeting

 

Download "Presentation for Lion"

Mac OS 10.7 Lion website

Apple's Lion (video introduction)

Apple's Lion (technical specifications)

How to Upgrade to Lion

It’s All About the Apps: Aug. 2 appleJAC MUG meeting

The following iOS device (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) apps were presented:

Productivity Apps - Tom Piper

• Pages                                           ($9.99) 
• Numbers                                       ($9.99) 
• Keynote                                        ($9.99) 
• Navigon                                      ($49.99) 
• DropBox                                         (free)

Social Apps - George Kopp

• Tweetbot                                     ($2.99)
• Facebook                                       (free) 
• Google+                          (invitation only)
• Skype                                             (free) 
• Web Albums . . . a Picasa viewer   ($2.99)

Fun Apps - Alice Kopp

• Solitaire . . . MobilityWare              (free)
• Skee-ball HD                                  (free)
• Bejeweled                                   ($0.99)
• Moonlight lite                                (free)
• Angry Birds                                    (free)

News and Weather Apps - Greg Breuer 

• The Weather Channel                     (free)
• Weather Bug Elite                        ($0.99) 
• Weather HD                                   (free)
• KOMU                                            (free) 
• Pulse                                             (free)

The audience also offered a list of their favorites (transcribed by Ann Lane from Peggy Landwehr's video):

Findmyiphone: free, finds all Mac OS devices

News/Information/Search 

• The Onion: college eclectic newspaper
• Flipboard: free. Search engine w/9 categories, 
• NASA app: great pics and current status

Reading/Documents

• iBook, 
• Kindle: highly recommended; free
• Googlebooks
• Zinio: read multiple magazine subscriptions through single app
• Good Reader: allow you to open various documents, Word, pdf, allows you to store documents
• iAnnotatePDF: Download, annotate, highlight PDF articles

Music/Radio

• Shazam: recognizes music from external source
• Soundhound: similar to Shazam
• Tunein radio: free; battery hog
• Tunein radio pro: allows you to record
• Senuti: computer app; takes ipod music and loads into iTunes  1000 songs free

Entertainment/Games

• Card Shark: 56 different card games; universal app
• WhirlyWord: word game
• Wordflick
• WordBlitz
• Book Worn
• Diablo, Dragon Hunter; Dragon Hunter II: action, role-play games

Travel Helps

• MyLanguage Pro: pronounces translated words, $4.99, free version available 
• Weather Plus

Exercise

• Musichour: $1;  clips songs to 1 minute intervals; great for workout playlists
• PowerMusic Hour
• ImapMywalk: see how far you walk; other versions for hiking, biking, fitness, running

Photography/Photos

• Fotopedia: photos from around the world; will load into your iPhoto
• ColorSplash: special effects for your photos
• Flixlab: make and share movies using iphone

Retail

• Joann’s: coupons
• Hobby Lobby: weekly coupon
• Michaels: good craft hint videos
• CardStar: organizes all store loyalty cards in one app

Texting

• Textfree: free, send pics
• Dragon Dictation: translates voice command into text form & send to contact

How many apps do YOU have? . . . Check settings>General>About

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. 

Lion is here, but Rosetta is NOT: What no longer works?

by Tom Piper

On July 20, 2011, Mac OS 10.7 Lion became available for $29 as a huge (3.79 GB) install from the App Store. Many have rejoiced at over 250 major and minor improvements over its 10.6 Snow Leopard predecessor, but others have cried over the loss of legacy programs.

A number of previous features not only won’t be updated, they’re being dropped entirely. One of the OS X features getting dropped in Lion is Rosetta, Apple’s PowerPC software compatibility layer which originally shipped with OS X 10.5 Leopard. The simple angle here is that Lion will be native 64-bit and Rosetta supported 32-bit Universal and PPC code.

What programs will be affected? AppleWorks stands out first, and other notables like Quicken 7, Contribute, AOL, FilmLoop, Internet Explorer, MacLink Plus, MacTheRipper, OmniWeb, ReadySetGo, Thunderbird and others. For a complete list of the programs on your computer that would not work in Lion, follow these steps:

• Under the Apple at upper left of screen, click on “About This Mac”,
• Click on the “More Info...” button to get the System Profiler,
• In the left sidebar under “Software”, click on “Applications”, 
• Wait for the report of application titles (could take several minutes),
• In the “Kind” column, look for “Classic” and “PowerPC” designations . . . these programs will NOT work with Mac OS 10.7 Lion!!!

Once you have upgraded to Lion, it will show you which files no longer work by placing a white “circle slash” over the icon. If you double-click on one of these applications, it will report “You can’t open the application _________ because PowerPC applications are no longer supported.” I’ve grouped all of my old Classic and PowerPC applications into a single “Incompatible” folder for easy identification (and to avoid unnecessary errors).

What to do if you still need these old programs? Some would suggest dividing your hard drive into two partitions, one of which would boot from Snow Leopard, and the other from Lion. Another quick solution is to duplicate your old hard drive using a free program like Carbon Copy Cloner to a new external hard drive from which you could boot whenever needed, then upgrade the internal hard drive to Lion. It is even possible to install Snow Leopard to a bootable USB flash drive as a convenient alternative.

As for AppleWork 6, the word processing files will easily import into Pages, and spreadsheet files into Numbers. The draw files will easily import into EasyDraw 4. AppleWorks database files cannot be imported into anything else which retains their format; the only solution is to export the contents as an ASCII text file, then import into Bento, FileMakerPro, Numbers or something else.

Progress oftentimes comes at a price, so it is best to be prepared before you take the next step. We will discuss this much more at our September 6 meeting when we focus on Lion. We will even do a poll to see if a special class will be needed.

Prosoft Data Rescue: Do-It-Yourself Data Recovery Software

a review by Tom Piper

Your computer won’t boot -- all you see is a flashing question mark -- you did not back up your hard drive -- what, oh what, do you do? There are products to help you recover from this awful situation.

Data Rescue 3 is the best digital data recovery software on the market for recovering files from a problem hard drive or that have been previously deleted. It is specifically designed for computer data recovery and works where other tools often fail.

As described on their website (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php), Data Rescue 3 is completely safe to use since it does not attempt any risky repairs to the drive it's scanning. It is the same software used by many data recovery services, law enforcement, all major branches of the U.S. Military and major intelligence agencies.

As I experienced when I recently worked on a 160 GB damaged hard drive, you will need to save your recovered files to either an internal or external hard drive (USB or FireWire), removable media device, or a networked drive. It comes with a bootable Emergency DVD, so there is no need to disassemble your computer, and you can even get free technical support via phone or email.

Data Rescue 3 focuses on data recovery, instead of hard drive repair, so it will work in more cases, recover more effectively, and deliver your files in better condition than other utilities you may have tried in the past. Data Rescue 3 analyzes your entire hard drive looking for your data, then it meticulously re-assembles your files and stores them to a different location. This is very time-consuming (over 8 hours in my cases), but very effective.

If a drive is reformatted, usually the original file catalog is permanently lost and thus recovering files by their original name and directory location is not possible and thus files are recovered by content. If the file types you are looking for are among the supported types, there is a good chance that Data Rescue 3 will be able to find it. In addition to all of this is FileIQ which allows you to add your own file type to Data Rescue 3 to further increase it's capacity to recover your important files. 

Data Rescue 3 will recover pictures from a digital camera media card, that have been deleted, reformatted or a corrupt media card, as well as hard drives. It also allows you to preview a single file before recovering it, and you can select the individual files without recovering the whole drive. In the worst case of a physically-damaged hard drive, Prosoft has a new Data Rescue Center that can provide you with a free diagnosis (including free shipping to our facility). This is their full-service drive recovery service where they can do hard drive failure recovery (find out more at www.TheDataRescueCenter.com).

Prosoft Data Rescue 3 is a $99 investment that is well worth it if you need to recover lost data, and most technical professionals keep it in their tool chest. A special Data Rescue 3 LE version is also available for $59.99 at http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data-rescue-le.php. It is important to backup your precious hard drives, but even backups will occasionally fail, so it is good to be prepared. This is an excellent tool in the hands of an experienced computer user.

 

End of July 2011 appleJAC Digest/Blog

President's Place

by George Kopp

Back to School . . . a Different School this time

With summer comes our appleJAC Meetings hitting the road from our normal home base of Lewis and Clark Middle School. This month we will be heading to Calvary Lutheran High School in Jefferson City. Calvary Lutheran is located at 2525 Route B just south of Jefferson City (see map at right). The easiest way to get there is to continue through Jefferson City toward the Lake of the Ozarks on Highway 54, then take the exit onto Rte 179 toward Wardsville. Continue south onto Rte B (at the Tanner Bridge Road stop light), and on to the school a half mile beyond. The school is marked on the map with the letter "A".

This month's theme will be computer and hardware maintenance. We will cover some good tips for maintaining your Mac including routine service and backup. We will also address the options when it comes to backup, and why you may need more than a single backup method to ensure you are safe. We are also planning to touch on printer maintenance and maintaining your iPhone and iPad devices. It definitely promises to be a great set of presentations.

Traditionally at this meeting, we also offer to assist people with minor Mac upgrades. So, if you have an interest in adding memory, replacing a harddisk, or just adding software to your machine, feel free to email us at applejac@mac.com, and we will talk with you about parts you may need to bring with you to ensure you have what is necessary to accomplish your goal.

iPad Class a Great Success

This last month, appleJAC held it's first ever iPad class with a full house of over 30 participants. This class covered the basics of iPad use and delved into the settings of the device to help users customize their iPad's to meet their needs.  

The class continues a long line of appleJAC classes. As your Board of Directors plans for the fall, we would like some input on what additional classes might be worthwhile to offer. Feel free to send us your interests and ideas at applejac@mac.com, and we will see what topics have a critical mass.

Upcoming Meetings

In August we continue with our coverage of iOS devices when we address iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch applications. This regular meeting will be held August 2 at 7:00 pm at Yanis Coffee Zone in Jefferson City. Since many of our Mac-Challenged (ie... windows users) friends use iOS devices, so feel free to bring them along to this meeting. We promise to be "operating system agnostic" and only talk about our handheld devices that evening.

Then in September . . . hold on to your hats . . . MacOS 10.7 Lion will be featured. Learn about the new possibilities in Lion, and if Lion is your next step in Macintosh nirvana.

And, one last thought . . . those of you running AppleWorks may want to reconsider Lion seriously before an update. Lion is reported to finally kill Appleworks (it won't work anymore without Rosetta), so a move forward may be a setback to you. But, your appleJAC leadership warned you of Appleworks demise over 2 years ago . . .

Be sure to join us for a skyrocketing time on July 5 at 7:00pm.