appleJAC Users Group

Bring Bookmarks into Firefox

The review of Web browsers firmly convinced me to switch from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer
to Mozilla’s Firefox. However, the Import wizard in Firefox will not import bookmarks from Internet
Explorer. I finally found a quick way to do this crucial task.

Choose Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks, and then choose File >Import.

Make sure that the “From File” option is enabled, click on “Next,” and in the resulting Import Bookmark File window, navigate to the Explorer folder (/your user folder/Library/Preferences/Explorer).

Select the “Favorites.html” file and click on “Open” to import the bookmarks.

You can also use this technique to import your Explorer History file as bookmarks. Simply choose “History.html” rather than “Favorites. html” in the Import Bookmark File window.

Chris Breen’s Mac 911
via The Finder, Mid-Columbia MUG,Kennewick, WA

Tools of the Trade: Have Tools, Will Travel

Here is a tip from Chris Breen’s Mac 911 column.....

Having recently spent several weeks on the road talking up Macs and the voodoo they do, I thought I’d cover the troubleshooting tools and utilities I pack when traveling. When my bags pass through
airport security, here’s what shows up on the X-ray machine:

iPod

My iPod pulls double-duty when I travel—it not only holds enough music to get me through a couple of long flights, but also carries a bootable version of OS X, any applications and files I need for my trip, and the troubleshooting utilities required to fix my PowerBook if things go
wrong. Creating a bootable iPod is no big deal. Your iPod should be 10GB or larger in order to hold a full installation of OS X and the files you need. To install OS X on the iPod, just treat it like any FireWire drive and follow the usual OS X installation procedure.

Bootable Utility and OS Discs

I always travel with bootable Disk Warrior and Drive Genius discs, as well as a Tiger installation DVD. But since I don’t dare risk damaging those discs while on the road, I bring copies. My original Disk Warrior disc isn’t compatible with Tiger anyway, so I’ve downloaded the free DiskWarrior 3.0.3 CD Update, which allows me to create a Tiger-compatible bootable copy of the Disk Warrior CD. As for the Drive Genius and OS X discs, I use Apple’s Disk Utility to burn bootable copies. To do so, insert the disc you want to copy, launch Disk Utility (/Applications/ Utilities), select the disc in the left side of the Disk Utility window, and choose “File: New: Disk Image From” name of disc, substituting the name of the disc you’ve selected.  In the “Convert Image” dialog box that appears, choose “DVD/CD Master” from the Image Format pop- up menu and “None” from the Encryption pop-up menu,
and then click on “Save.” Once you’ve created the image, select it in the left side of the Disk Utility window, insert a blank disc of the appropriate type (a CD-R if the original disc was a CD, for example), and click on the “Burn” button at the top of the window. In the sheet that appears, click on “Burn” again. When the disc is complete, it should contain an exact copy of the original, one that’s capable of booting your Mac.

Cables

The beautiful freedom of wireless networks hasn’t yet reached much of the world, so my gear bag includes cables. Specifically, I carry a 6-foot Ethernet cable, a phone cable, two USB cables (one for standard peripherals and another with the kind of mini USB connector routinely found on digital cameras), and a 6-foot FireWire cable (helpful when I need to link my PowerBook and another Mac via FireWire Target Disk mode).

Airport Troubleshooting Tips

Here are the Top 10 Airport Troubleshooting tips from Apple:

1) Make Sure That AirPort is On
If you can't make a connection, open Internet Connect in the Applications folder, click AirPort, and make sure that the dialog shows that AirPort is on. If it's off, click Turn AirPort On. Alternatively, if you've opted to display the AirPort menu in your menu bar, click the AirPort menu icon and be sure that AirPort: On is displayed in the menu. If not, choose Turn AirPort On.

2) Check Your Physical Location
Being free from wires doesn't mean that you can go anywhere and still get a connection. The maximum theoretical range of a wireless network is 150 feet, but range can vary based on your environment. If your connection seems spotty, make sure that there are no metal objects in the path between your computer and your base station or wireless access point. Try moving closer to your base station. Be aware that certain electrical items such as power lines, railroad tracks, and power stations, can cause communication interference—and try to avoid life situations that have you working behind concrete barriers or bullet-proof glass, both of which can impede your reception.

3) Check Your Access Privileges
If you enabled encryption on your network, make sure that you set up your base station or router properly, consult the documentation that came with your product, and that you're using the correct settings and password. If you're trying to connect to a wireless network that you didn't set up and are having difficulty, the network may require a password to access it, it will ask for one if required. If you're joining a closed network, a network with its name hidden, make sure that you've entered the network name and password correctly. If the network is secured by access control, make sure that your MAC address is registered with the network administrator—consult the network administrator for assistance.

4) Make Sure That the AirPort Port Is On
If you can't make a connection, make sure that your computer's AirPort port is active. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click Network. From the Show pop-up menu, choose Network Port Configurations (or Active Network Ports) and make sure that the AirPort checkbox is selected.

5) Restart Your Base Station or Wireless Router
Try restarting your base station or router by turning it off, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it back on. Or unplug the power cord, wait a few seconds, and then plug the cord back in. Then try connecting again.

6) Make Sure That Your AirPort Card Is Installed Correctly
If you installed an AirPort card into your computer but don't see AirPort in the Network pane of System Preferences or in Internet Connect, you may not have installed it properly, although this doesn't apply to computers that came with AirPort preinstalled. See the installation instructions that came with your card. To verify that your computer recognizes the card, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu and then click More Info to open System Profiler. You should see “AirPort Card” listed in the Contents list, either under Hardware or Network. If you don't, shut down your computer and reinstall the card. If that doesn't work, try installing another card.

7) Check for Other 2.4 GHz or 5.0 Ghz Electronics
If your wireless connection is intermittent, for example it works but may sometimes drop out, make sure that you're not using other devices that use the same 2.4 or 5.0 GHz frequency ranges as AirPort technology. 2.4 GHz cordless phones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, and even some digital cameras can interrupt your connection, decrease performance, or decrease your AirPort signal range. Avoid using these types of devices when you need a continuous connection, such as when you're downloading large files. If you can, place your computer and yourself somewhere with less interference.

8) Check for Firmware Updates
Check the manufacturer's website for your base station or wireless router to see if there are any firmware updates available for your model. If so, download and install the software and try connecting again.

9) Verify That Your ISP is Working
If your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) servers are down, you won't be able to connect to the Internet. Make sure that this isn't the actual problem—open a web browser on any computer that's directly connected (by wire) to a modem or network and make sure that you can connect. If not, wait for your service to be restored.

10) Restart Your Computer
Sometimes a simple restart can clear up issues. From the Apple menu, choose Restart and restart your computer. Once it's finished starting up, try connecting to the network again.

Edit an Album at a time in iTunes

Q: When I copy and put in by hand the album art in iTunes, is there any way to do it for an entire album?  I am currently putting the album art, that is not available at iTunes store, in one cut at a time.

A: In iTunes, select all the songs in the album you want to add art for.  Press Command-I (for get info.)  iTunes will ask if you really want to edit all of these together, click Yes.  Now you will see a panel that lets you make a change to all the songs information at the same time.  Just click the box next to the Album Cover box, past in the cover and press OK.

Looking for a new Printer.... Cheep??

Here is a great deal I just couldn't resist passing along to you.  PC Connection is selling this printer for $39.95...  That's Right, less than the cost of replacing your ink in your printer that you have....   Check it out.

HP PhotoSmart 8050 Printer

The HP Photosmart 8050 photo printer is one of HP's best photo quality printers with 6-ink color or up to 4800 x 1200-optimized dpi - for stunning color and black & white prints. The 1.8-inch color LCD preview screen makes editing, enhancing, previewing and printing photos a snap. You can even correct color with features like red-eye reduction. And you don't even need a PC - direct photo printing is simple using digital camera memory cards slots, Pictbridge connector and the color LCD. Your printing options are so versatile - everything from professional-quality photos that resist fading for generations - twice as long as most traditionally processed photos - to great everyday laser-quality black text. Plus, it's fast with 21ppm black and color prints and 4" x 6" color photos produced in as fast as 27 seconds.

Microsoft Office Looks like a real Hit

Microsoft Corp. at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco offered attendees a sneak preview of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Well, part of it, at least.

The Redmond, Wash-based software giant is previewing the next-generation of Word, its word processing and document creation software due as part of the combined suite sometime in the second half of this year.

Microsoft said it chose to showcase Word during the conference because it's further along in its development cycle than the other Office components, and "because it's the Office application people use most."

One of its highlights is a new user interface dubbed "Elements Gallery." It speeds up document creation by allowing users to drag-and-drop predefined templates for some of the most commonly used "Document Parts," such as headers, footers and tables of contents.

Microsoft, which embraced the concept of clutter with its gazillion Office toolbar variations during the '90s, is taking a more level-headed approach with Office 2008 and has built the template interface directly into the document window. Other template libraries cover "Charts," "Tables," "Smart Art Graphics," and "Word Art."

Additionally the new version of Word features a "Publishing Layout View" that lets users create incredibly layout-rich documents such as newsletters, fliers and brochures by uncovering desktop publishing layout tools and providing text box entry.

During its presentation at Macworld, Microsoft also previewed My Day -- a stand-alone widget-like application that allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what application they’re currently working in. It interfaces directly with Entourage -- another component of Microsoft Office -- offering at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without having to launch Entourage.

Though not on display at Macworld, a new version of Excel will add support for "Ledger Sheets," enabling anyone to use spreadsheet application to handle common financial management tasks. "Home and small-business users can balance checkbooks, track accounts or manage investment portfolios more easily than ever," Microsoft said in a statement earlier this week.

Microsoft Word, shipping later this year as part of Office: Mac 2008

Of course, the real push behind the new version of office will be its Universal Binary format, which will run natively on both Apple's PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

"With Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, we focused on what our users want the most -- compatibility with PCs, along with unique features for their Mac experience," Roz Ho, general manager for the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU).

She said customers have requested want quick access to tools and features within Office, and that those improvements can be seen in enhancements like Elements Gallery, which draws off of the company's new cross-platform graphics engine called Office Art 2.0.

Ho said another important change is that Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (like Office 2007 for Windows ) will be based in the Office Open XML Format -- which was approved in December by the standards body ECMA International as an international standard.

"Office for Mac users will benefit from the ability to access raw XML data within the file without having to parse the entire document, and ZIP-based container technology, allowing for easier recovery of corrupted documents and smaller file sizes," she said.

New Mac OS X-based "ModBook" tablet computer

Axiotron, Inc., together with distribution partner Other World Computing, saw huge crowds at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco this week, as attendees flock to take its new Mac OS X-based "ModBook" tablet computer for a test run.

Unveiled at MacWorld, the $2,279 device is an after-market hardware modification to Apple's MacBook notebook line. The companies claim it's the "first ever Mac OS X tablet computer solution."

Each ModBook starts off as a MacBook Core 2 Duo but undergoes a surgical operation where its original display and keyboard are severed, then replaced with a new 13.3-inch Wacom pen enabled widescreen display set in a chrome-plated magnesium top shell.

The device runs the current version of Mac OS X and utilizes that software's built-in Inkwell handwriting recognition. Meanwhile, the tablet retains all of the hardware features of the current Apple MacBook line, such as a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an integrated camera and CD/DVD combo drive.

While the ModBook utilizes the original MacBook iSight camera, it has been slightly tilted downwards to allow video conference applications like iChat to better frame the face of the user.

Axiotron says the ModBook features the same Wacom Penabled hardware technology that has made Wacom pen tablets and interactive pen displays the preferred choice amongst professional artists and photographers. The technology requires no batteries and allows the Mac OS X cursor to be controlled in a mouse-like interface, even if the user's hand is resting on the screen.

Check out the new Apple TV

Any time is prime time
Now there's always something good on TV. With Apple TV, you can enjoy movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts in your iTunes library, plus photos and movie trailers, on your widescreen TV — wirelessly, from your Mac or PC.

Download
Ready to be entertained? Any time day or night, simply download what you want to watch or listen to from among millions of choices on the iTunes Store. Then let Apple TV do the rest.

Sync
Apple TV automatically grabs the digital media on your computer and makes it available for you to enjoy on your TV. Best of all, whenever you add something new in iTunes, Apple TV updates automatically.

Watch
Thanks to the intuitive interface, finding what you want to watch is as easy as navigating a few simple menu items using the included Apple Remote. Just a few clicks and you'll be enjoying all your favorites from the comfort of your couch.

Read all about it on Apple's Website.

Searching by Color Label

Besides the visual benefits of having certain files tagged with a Color label, there’s a hidden benefit: You can search for files by their color. For example, let’s say you misplaced an important file for a project you were working on. You can press Command-F to bring up the Find function, and from the top-left pop-up menu, choose Color Label.

Then, click on the color for the files you labeled in that project, and it will instantly find and display all the files with that color. Searching by color—only Apple is cool enough to come up with a search like this!

Need the First Available Printer?

If you’ve got a print job on your hands and you need it as soon as possible, but all the printers on your network are often busy, you can pool these printers together so your document will automatically print to the first available printer. Just go to the Printer Setup Utility (in the Applications folder, within the Utilities folder), Command-click on all the printers you want to pool together, then go under the Printers menu and choose Pool Printers. A dialog will open where you can name your pool (the default name is “Printer Pool”), and it shows a list of printers that are in that pool.

You can click-and-drag the printers into the order that you want and then click Create, which adds a new printer in your Printer list called Printer Pool. Choose that as your printer, and then when you choose Print, Mac OS X will start looking for the first available printer.

Charge your iPod Battery... the Right Way

All iPod models have an internal, nonremovable, lithium-based rechargeable battery. A fully charged battery can provide anywhere from up to 8 hours to up to 20 hours of battery life1, depending on the iPod model and its use2. After about 14 to 28 days of non-use, you will need to charge the battery.

Your iPod displays a battery icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to show approximately how much charge is left. If the iPod is asleep while being charged, a larger version of the same icon appears in the center of the screen.

Learn how to charge the battery the right way from Apples help article.

.Mac: Perform a Full Backup when backing up to a rewritable disc

Use Backup's Full Backup Plan when backing up to a rewritable disc (CD-RW or DVD+-RW) in order to avoid potential data loss.

Backup 3 performs incremental backups--backing up only files that have changed since your last backup. This also occurs if you are backing up to a CD-RW or DVD+-RW. If you perform a backup to a CD-RW or DVD+-RW, and later wish to backup changes that have occurred in your backup set to the same disc, you should perform another Full Backup, rather than a normal backup. Performing a normal backup may lead you to replacing the full backup on your disc with only data that has recently changed.

To perform a full back up, in Backup choose Full Backup from the Plan menu.

Roxio Releases Toast 8 Titanium

Roxio introduced the latest version of Toast for the Mac at Macworld last week.  Some of the new features include:

• Take your favorite TV shows to go, with easy TiVoToGo™ transfers
• Blu-ray Disc Support: Burn up to 50 GB - 12,500 music tracks, or 50,000 photos, or 4 hours of raw HD video.
• Restore and recover files from scratched or damaged discs while copying.
• Create DJ-style audio CDs with the same pro-quality audio features previously found in Roxio Jam™.

Roxio Toast® 8 sets the standard for burning CDs, DVDs, and now Blu-ray discs on the Mac. Create superior sounding audio CDs with crossfades. Enjoy your TV shows anywhere with exclusive EyeTV burning and TiVoToGo™ transfers to DVD or iPod®. Copy your audio CDs, movies and DVDs. It's your digital life, Toast It!

Website dedicated to new iPhone

Apple introduced iPhone at Macworld, combining three products,a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

There is already a website dedicted to the iPhone.  Check it out for more information on the newly announced phone.

Finding Where the © and ™ Symbols Live

Another tip from Apple....

Since nearly the beginning of Mac-dom, when you wanted to find out which key combination produced a font’s special characters (stuff like ©, ™, £, ¢, ‰, ƒ, etc.), you used a utility called KeyCaps. More than a decade later, KeyCaps is still a part of Mac OS, but a better way to access these special characters is through the Character Palette. You can access it two ways: (1) From within Mac OS X business apps (like Mail, TextEdit, Stickies, etc.), just go under Edit and choose Special Characters or click on the Actions pop-up menu at the bottom of the Font Panel and choose Characters; (2) add Character Palette access to your menu bar, so you can access it when you’re working in other applications (like Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign). You do this by going to the System Preferences in the Apple menu, under International, and clicking on the Input Menu tab. Turn on the checkbox for Character Palette and it will appear in the menu bar along the right side.

Either way you open it, here’s how you use it: When you open the Character Palette, choose All Characters from the View menu, then click on the By Category tab. The left column shows a list of special character categories and the right column shows the individual characters in each category. To get one of these characters into your text document, just click on the character and click the Insert button in the bottom right-hand corner of the dialog. If you find yourself using the same special characters over and over (like ©, ™, etc.), you can add these to your Favorites list, and access them from the Favorites tab in the Character Palette. To see which fonts contain certain characters (they don’t all share the same special characters), expand the Character Palette by clicking on the down-facing arrow next to Font Variation on the bottom-left side of the palette. This brings up another panel where you can choose different fonts. you can also ask that this list show only fonts that support the character you have highlighted.

Your keyboard now understands Dvorak

Everyone knows the Dvorak Keyboard layout is much more efficient.  But there are almost no keyboards that use this on the market.  Now you can convert youe Apple keyboard to Dvorak without taking the keys off.

• zCover silicone skin are crafted from non-toxic, durable high-grade silicone rubber. It is safe.
• Ultra thin (0.6mm) skin touch feeling, durable,
• Made of 100% high grade silicone,
• Multicolor and glow-in-dark fashionable design,
• Full shock-absorbing, tear-resistant protection,
• Molded to specifically fit every point,
• removable easy on and off for cleaning,
• Stays in place and does not shift around,
• Washable - you can wash zCover silicone typeOn skin by hand, washing machine, or dishwasher.  Make sure it’s dried out before put it on your keyboard.  Dry it in room  temperature. Please avoid direct fire and direct bright sunshine.

It's that Magic Time of Year!

Your appleJAC Reports!

Here we go!  Your excited reporters are ready to attend.  Join Tom Piper, Mark Snell, Sue Snell and myself, George Kopp, for all the sights and sounds of MacWorld 2007 beginning on January 7th.

For the week of MacWorld, all the reports will be going to this blog.  Check Back d aily to see all the events and news we can come up with.

Think All Memory Cards Are Alike? Think Again

Popular Photography reports on five memory card innovations, from high-speed cards to the latest microdrive cards to cards designed for forensic imaging to cards containing built-in USB ports—no media reader required

January appleJAC Digest is Ready!

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

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 still set to what it has been for the last few months.

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 January 9th at 7pm and will be held at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Jefferson City.
The focus of this meeting will be a Questions and Answers and with a live call from our MacWorld Travelers in San Francisco

Typing Shortcuts: TypeIt4Me

a review by Tom Piper

Tired of typing, and retyping the same words, phrases and paragraphs time and again? Wish you could just type in some short abbreviation as a placeholder for something which would later be replaced by an address or quote or something much larger? Want a shorthand way of typing a little but getting a lot? My need was fulfilled by a delightful program called TypeIt4Me 3.0.

“It’s autotext, Jim, but not as we know it!” . . . so says a website ad from the United Kingdom which goes on to say that TypeIt4Me expands your abbreviations as you type.It’s like autotext, but TypeIt4Me works in all applications, not just one. There are macro utilities that can type text but TypeIt4Me lets you define meaningful abbreviations, so you can type them naturally, as part of your writing, without memorizing obscure character combinations.

First you define a number of abbreviations and the full text entries that they represent, then you watch the Mac expand them on the fly even as you continue typing! This is the original and still the best text expander for Mac OS since 1989. Its as simple as the illustration below:

So, I’m sure you are now asking what this program is useful for. That depends on who you are and what you write about. Doctors, medical transcriptionists, lawyers, tech support operators and professional writers are amongst the most prominent types of users who have bought a TypeIt4Me user licence so far. Some find useful for typing the current date and my return address at the top of a letter and for a standard end of letter salutation. Another example is: "u r rh ab teh cgs" that would type out "you are right about the changes". (Assuming that you have defined u=you, r=are, rh=right, ab=about, teh=the and cgs=changes and that you defined the space bar as one of your expansion triggers.) Notice how the common mistake of typing "teh" instead of "the" gets automatically corrected as would "adn" for "and", plus any others that you can think of. TypeIt4Me can help you eliminate your most common typos on the fly. It is also very useful for entering repetitive data in a database file or spreadsheet. Or to log into various systems by typing an abbreviation that expands to your user ID then tabs to the next field and pastes your password. Enough potential uses?

TypeIt4Me is a very useful shareware program which can be purchased for only $27. Interestingly, I have come to enjoy the British author of this software, Riccardo Ettore, who is also updating from OS9 a real cute and delightful utility called Sounds4Fun that will be released in January.