appleJAC Users Group

New .Mac webmail is coming soon

Apple has seen the light with their tired old .Mac webmail interface and is updating it to look more like Apple Mail.  On it's preview web page it says:

The new .Mac webmail is coming soon, and you'll feel like you've seen it before.

With its smart use of the latest web technology, it'll remind you of the Mail application on your desktop, with a simple and elegant interface, drag-and-drop capability, built-in Address Book, and more.

A new look
Everything is within easy reach. Your mail folders are next to the Inbox, and you can read full messages and access your contact info without leaving the page.

Drag-and-drop
Manage your Inbox easily, by dragging and dropping messages, just like you do on your desktop – even multiple messages at the same time.

Message pane
Read entire messages in a pane located right below your message list, just like you do in your desktop Mail application.

Smart Refreshes
.Mac webmail keeps page reloads to a minimum, by refreshing only the portion of the page that needs updating, instead of reloading the entire page.

Quick Reply
A .Mac webmail exclusive. Dash off a response without leaving your Inbox, by clicking the Quick Reply button next to the message to which you're responding.

Built-in Address Book
It's fully integrated, so you can quickly access and search your contact info. Start typing in a name, and all your matching Address Book contacts

Message previews
The .Mac webmail Inbox displays the beginning of every message, so you can quickly scan your messages without opening them.

Message flagging
Flag and unflag messages with a single click, just like you do on your Mac Mail application.

Keyboard shortcuts
Save time with keyboard shortcuts for common operations like composing new messages and searching your mailboxes.

All this sounds good Apple but what are you doing to increase the value of the rest of the .Mac service?

Locked Files

Q: While doing my backup this am got a message that a certain file could not be backed up because a jpg file on it was "locked." What does that mean?  Could access the file with no trouble.  How do I change that?

A: If you do a get info on the file, you should be able to uncheck the locked check box.

October Issue of the appleJAC Digest is Ready!

The October issue of the appleJAC Digest is ready for you to download.

This month you can find the digest on the new appleJAC Web site at www.applejac.org

Click in the link to the left side of this page under appleJAC Links titled This Month's aJ Digest (Members Only). The password is the same as in the past.

Also, don't forget to check out the list of vendor offers from the month located in the same place.

The next meeting is scheduled for October 3rd at 7pm and will be held at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Jefferson City.  The focus of this meeting will be iDVD. Attend the meeting to learn about creating DVD's with Apple's iLife software.

Agenda Set for October Meeting

Office 2007 For Mac Planned For Mid-2007

 
DevXNews interviews a Microsoft MacBU marketing manager about Office 2007 for Mac OS X. "'Apple's migration to Intel won't make development easier, but will present new opportunities for Microsoft developers, said Sheridan Jones, lead marketing manager for the Mac BU. 'There will be speed enhancements, and we can take advantage of the MacOS itself. There's lots of things in the OS we can take advantage of.'"

Apple Special Event Today at Photokina

Apple will host a special event today in Cologne, Germany, one day before the start of the Photokina tradeshow. Apple’s invitation to the September 25 event is typically nondescript, but it does give a hint as to what the company will talk about.

“Start photokina a little early this year” is the message on the invitation. Below that text is the front of a camera lens — and what appears to be a closeup of the same image used on the front of the box for Aperture...

Guess we will soon see what new products come from this.

UPDATE:  Today Apple introduced a new version of Aperture, version 1.5.

Aperture 1.5 delivers compelling new features, including flexible library management that lets you store images anywhere you’d like. The free update also introduces third-party extensions that let you use Aperture as the front end to expanded workflows. Aperture 1.5 offers RAW support for more than 50 camera models from a wide variety of manufacturers (including Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Sony, and others) and extends support to all Intel-based Macs — from the Mac mini and MacBook to the Mac Pro.

Is there any way to move a widget ‘up’ to the Desktop?

From Chris Breen's excelent Mac 911 column........

Reader R. Gordon Hershey offers what he terms a vexing question. He writes:

Is there any way to move a widget ‘up’ to the Desktop? I have a widget that I plan to use extensively, but it is more than a hassle to have to “flash” into and out of Dashboard every time I put something through the widget! Is there any help for this?

There is. It’s Mesa Dynamics’ $10 Amnesty Singles. This is a drag-and-drop utility that converts Dashboard widgets into standalone applications. Just locate the widget you want to work with and drag it into Amnesty Singles’ window to convert it to an application.

You’ll find Apple’s widgets at /Library/Widgets and widgets associated with your user account can be located at youruserfolder/Library/Widgets.

Couldn’t be easier.

Wait for your Apple notebook to fully shut down before you close the display

If you decide to shut down your Apple portable computer rather than putting it to sleep, be sure you allow it to shut down completely before you close the display.

You can tell when an Apple notebook computer is completely shut down by confirming you have a black screen, no active power light, and no fan or drive noise. If you close the display on a MacBook Pro, MacBook, PowerBook or iBook while it is shutting down, the computer may not shut down properly which can cause issues including starting up more slowly the next time you turn it on.

If you don't have time to allow the computer to shut down completely before you close the display, consider simply closing the display which puts the notebook to sleep.

Should I purchase Applecare for my Mac?

Many people ask me if I think they should purchase Applecare with their new computer.  First off, what is AppleCare?

The AppleCare Protection Plan is a uniquely integrated service and support solution that extends the complimentary coverage on your Mac to three years from the computer’s purchase date. This comprehensive plan includes expert telephone assistance, global repair coverage, onsite repairs for desktop computers, web-based support resources, and powerful diagnostic tools — all for one economical price. We recommend that you purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan when you purchase your Apple system to take maximum advantage of the coverage the plan provides.

Three years of security

Every Mac comes with 90 days of telephone support and one year of service coverage at an Apple-authorized repair center. By purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan with your Mac, you can extend your coverage to three years from the computer’s purchase date.

Comprehensive coverage

The AppleCare Protection Plan covers your Mac, as well as an AirPort Extreme Card, an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station, and Apple RAM used with your Mac. Mac mini, Mac Pro, Power Mac, MacBook Pro, and PowerBook customers may also register one Apple display for coverage, provided that the Mac and the display are purchased together.

One number to call for help

Get direct telephone access to Apple’s own technical support group, the people who know your system best. Because Apple creates the computer, the operating system, and many built-in applications, the Mac is a truly integrated system. Just one phone call can help resolve most issues with your Mac because AppleCare representatives can help troubleshoot Apple hardware, the Mac operating system, and many Apple consumer applications, including iLife, iWork, iChat AV, Mail, Safari, iCal, iSync, AppleWorks, and QuickTime.

Convenient repair options

The AppleCare Protection Plan ensures that Apple-authorized technicians will perform repairs using genuine Apple parts. With this plan, parts and labor will be covered for three years from your computer's purchase date. The plan includes onsite service for desktop computers and global repair coverage, which can be very important if you travel abroad.

So is it worth the cost?  Depends on your needs.  First off if you want someone to call and ask questions, this is a good way to get that.  Also if you want to be protected in the event of a hardware problem, it is a good deal.  My recommendation is as follows:

For laptop products, purchase Applecare.  These machine are carried around and bounced in and out of cases.  Also they are built of parts that are expensive to replace.

For desktops, I think it is still a good buy but this is a choice for you to make for yourself.

Looking for the Manual for your Apple Product?

It has happened to us all.  We put the manual that came with our computer away for safe keeping as when we need it, we can't find it.  Apple comes to the rescue here with a web site that has manuals for all it's products.

Not only will you find a manual for your curent product, but Apple also has manuals for iPods, Airports, other apple products and many older machines.  When you need to look at the manual, go to this easy to use site.

View Live Video from Anywhere in the World!

Ever wanted to be able to have a camera that you could view over the internet to check on things while you are away?

The HNC290G is the first network camera to feature automatic router configuration and web address (URL) setup for easy remote viewing over the web. It includes an advanced setup wizard that enables hassle-free installation. Using the latest technology, users will be able to configure their cameras for Internet viewing without having to make complicated configurations directly on their routers.

The HNC290G supports both the Wireless 802.11b/g and 10/100Mbps Wired Fast Ethernet standards, and can stream high-quality live video at up to 30 frames per second. The camera also features built-in motion detection, which adds an extra measure of security by allowing users to set up automatic recording and snapshot emailing when motion is detected. Included with the camera is a powerful management and control software application from which users can playback video, record directly to the hard drive, and trigger automatic recording via motion detection.    

The HNC290G features a built-in web server and utilizes its own IP address, thereby eliminating the need to be attached to a PC. The camera connects directly to an existing network, allowing users to view live video both from within their local area network (LAN) or from outside the network via the Internet. Sleek and economical, the HNC290G offers a broad array of applications and can be used to monitor various critical locations such as homes, offices, schools, parking lots, and other industrial and public areas.

The only unfortunate part here is that while this camera is completely usable with a Mac, it takes a PC to setup.  Glad we have Boot Camp!

Look up Words on the Fly!

This tip comes from a great Blog website that Steve Mays showed me.....

With Dictionary as a part of Mac OS X (10.4) there is a feature that not too many Mac users know about. When in any of the Cocoa (Mac native) applications you can hover your mouse above the word and press Ctrl-Cmd-D on your keyboard. You will get the Dictionary description for that word. Just move your mouse over to any other word and the Dictionary description for that word is displayed instantly. And no, you don’t need to have Dictionary open at all.

A few examples of applications where this works are; Safari, Mail.app, MacJournal, TextEdit, Text Wrangler, Comic Life, iWeb. Unfortunately it doesn’t work with any of the Mozilla applications, including Firefox, Camino and Flock.

From a great blog site called Silver Mac - Cool things you can do on Mac..... Check it out.

Use RPN with the Apple Calculator

In OS X Tiger, Calculator has been improved with the addition of RPN (Reverse Polish Notation).

What is RPN? Reverse Polish Notation, also known as postfix notation, is a simplified method of writing arithmetical formulas without parentheses. It is based on the work of Polish mathematician Jan Lukasiewicz, and has been available in handheld scientific calculators since the 1970s. In RPN, the operands precede the operators. All this means is that instead of typing “1 + 2 =” to get 3, in RPN you would type “1 [enter] 2 +”. This may sound backward, but it actually allows complex formulas to be processed in a surprisingly compact and efficient manner.

You can switch the Calculator application into RPN mode by choosing “RPN” from the View menu (this same menu allows you to switch between basic, scientific and programming calculator applications, and can activate a “paper tape” window for keeping track of your calculations).

You’ll notice that “RPN” lights up in the display panel and the “equals” sign on the virtual keypad changes to “enter.”

Private Browsing in Safari

Safari has a feature called “Private Browsing” (Safari -> Private Browsing) which keeps Safari from recording information about the websites you visit. Here’s the official description:

Using Safari’s new Private Browsing feature, no information about where you visit on the Web, personal information you enter or pages you visit are saved or cached. It’s as if you were never there.

Delete my Mail Attachments

Q: How can I delete attachments without deleting the messages themselves?

A: Select the messages in question, then go to Message>Remove attachments. This will create a duplicate copy of the message without attachments. The original message, including attachments, will be marked for deletion or moved to the trash mailbox, depending on your settings. Once you purge your messages or empty your trash, the attachments are not recoverable.

Leopard is on the way!

Apple previewed 10 features of the upcoming OS X Leopard at the WWDC 06.

The Time Machine dubbed backup and versioning feature is sure one of the more impressive features. Other highlights are the 64-bit Application support, improved iChat, improved Dashboard, Spaces (multiple desktops), Spotlight (enhanced with network search) and mail enhancements (to-do's, stationery, notes).

Apple OS X Leopard will ship Spring 2007.  See more about some of the upcoming features on Apple's web site.

Cover your Cable Tips

I like that Apple provides little caps for the various laptop cables, but I am always afraid of losing the caps. This is especially important for my Powerbook\'s power supply cable. Since I throw the power supply in my bag, I was concerned that the prong (tip of the connector) would get damaged, so I use the plastic cap for protection.

My little solution for tethering the caps is pretty simple. All you need are the supplied cap, some dental floss, and a safety pin. Here are the steps:

Using the safety pin, make a small hole in the top of the cap.
Thread the dental floss into the hole made with the safety pin. You can use the safety pin to help push the floss through the hole.  Once the floss is through, make enough knots to prevent the floss from sliding out the hole. Trim any excess floss for neatness.
Tie the other end of the floss to the cable.

Where's my Mail?

Q: I use an IMAP mail server. Where are my Apple Mail attachments stored?

A: They are stored on the mail server and also cached on your computer with messages in your Inbox (INBOX.imapmbox). This is different from Eudora, which stores attachments in your Attachments folder, separate from the messages. Apple Mail’s Inbox is stored in your home directory, in this location: Library>Mail>IMAPusername @yourmailserver>INBOX.imapmbox (where username is your username and yourmailserver is your mail server’s hostname, such as po14.mit.edu).

If you’ve created subfolders on the IMAP mail server, their .imapmbox files can be found in the INBOX folder, in the same location as your INBOX.imapmbox file.

Using the RSS Screen Saver

If you’ve never snooped around in (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver), you may have missed the RSS visualizer. It reads the content from any RSS feed you select and cycles through it’s entries.

You can use any feed you’ve added to Safari’s RSS reader. Select the Options box to view available feeds.

Just add a bookmark to Safari for the RSS feed you like and now the screen saver can see it and show you the latest news.

What is an RSS Feed?

Q: What is an RSS Feed?

A: RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

In Savari, when you see the RSS icon in the link bar of the browser, press the icon and see the RSS feed for the site.  Then you can save the feed as a bookmark to get back to it quickly.