appleJAC Users Group

President’s Corner: We’re Going to Columbia

 

by Tom Piper, aJMUG President

This has been a rainy week, lacking much Apple excitement (except for those who will really enjoy the “speed bump” that Apple applied to its MacBook Pro series). We are looking forward to having our next meeting at William Woods University in Columbia (see map on agenda below), which means we’ve had our last meeting at Lewis and Clark Middle School until September. We are also working on putting together a more reliable (and louder) sound system so our presenters can be better heard (and we encourage our meeting attendees to discontinue their talking during these sessions so everyone can hear).

At our last meeting, Steve Mays showed us his favorite gadget as a neat MacBook case that liked just like an older classic library book, and Joe Mertzlufft illustrated how Sudoku performed as his favorite iPhone app. I then struggled through a presentation of the new iPad with the help of several in attendance who also brought their iPads. Roman Griffith from Staples then made an extensive presentation about Printers and Printing, answering many questions about inks, toner, and his experience. Alice Kopp again provided another interesting perspective of jewels on our website. The evening’s door prize winners included:

•     Apple retractable ID holder.......Tom Vaughn, Julie Koenigsfeld, Rosalind Moulton
•     Apple bag.......Charlie Bland
•     Apple ink pen........Gale Fuller, Aileen Garvin
•     Apple keychain.......Bill Webb      

The next meeting will revisit the iPad focusing on experiences during the first month, followed by our  featured speaker, Larry Garvin, talking about Mariner Paperless, effective scanning and other dimensions of “paperless communication.” This is our first of two meeting this year in Columbia (the next in August at the Missouri Press Association), so we hope that we will be readily available to many new visitors from this area (this is a hint to all of our Columbia-area members). There will be plenty of time for questions and answers.

Mark your calendar NOW for the next appleJAC Macintosh Users Group meeting on the first Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at 7:00 pm. Bring family, friends and new members back to William Woods University just off Highway 63 in Columbia to get the most out of your Mac and Apple products.

2010 May Meeting Agenda

 
 

Missing Manuals: Essential Enjoyable Learning Tools/eBooks

a review by Tom Piper

I’m sure that you’ve noticed that very few software packages come with an instruction manual, and many of those that do just aren’t very helpful. Sure, we also expect that software be designed intuitively so the learning curve is manageable . . . but, powerful programs with lots of tools require thoughtful instructions presented in a logical fashion, while hopefully being entertaining and educational. If that’s not enough, we also expect them to achieve these expectations only with classic paper books, but also using new interfaces like on the computer, iPad and such.

Eight years ago, one of my favorite authors, David Pogue, award-winning how-to author and computer columnist for the New York Times, teamed up with O'Reilly Media, Inc. to launch Pogue Press. They dedicated their companies to producing sterling, beautifully written manuals for popular consumer software and hardware products. You no longer have to learn complex programs by reading electronic help screens or online help as a  substitute for a real manual.

The results of this collaboration produced Missing Manuals on iMovie 2, Windows XP Home Edition, AppleWorks 6, and iPhoto which are not only bestsellers, they're also the most popular books on their topics. And Mac OS X, 2nd Edition tops them all. The first edition of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual was the #1 bestselling computer book of 2002, selling 100,000 copies in six months.

 So, what makes a Missing Manual? I can’t say it any better than their website:

• Superb, professional writing: Warm, witty, and jargon-free, Missing Manuals have enough clarity for the novice, and enough depth and detail for the power user.
  
  
• Complete coverage: Each has a product overview, pointing out what it's good for; successive chapters dissect the entire product piece by piece with a real-world perspective; although Missing Manual titles feel "official" in many ways, flaws in the product are freely acknowledged (a distinct advantage over vendor-provided documentation).
  
  
• A menu-command reference: A final appendix of each book serves as a menu-by-menu drive-through of the software's commands and dialog boxes.

Now, they have taken the next step to allow these fine publications to be consumed on electronic media. Almost two years ago, they started releasing Missing Manuals in PDF format (readable on most computers), then in ePub format (readable on the iPad), and Mobipocket (readable on the Kindle). Recently, they have also added Android format. The Missing Manual series has exploded in its popularity over the past 8 years with well over 100 different titles for software, hardware and beyond (I even saw 7 new Mini Missing Manuals released recently, also in eBook formats at $4.99 each).

Books range in price from as little as $19.99 up to $49.99 . . . eBooks when bought alone are generally around 70% of the paper book cost, but when bought in combination with the paper version can be as little as $2.00 extra (keep the eBook and regift the print book to a friend or relative for any occasion). A visit to http://missingmanuals.com will be very rewarding, and add /library.csp to this address to see the complete list of Missing Manuals. If there are multiple titles that you like, buy 2 and get the 3rd one free by using discount code OPC10 in our shopping cart (all orders over $29.95 qualify for free shipping within the US). If that’s not enough, O’Reilly has long been a supporter of Apple user groups (many given away at our meetings were gifts from them), and offer great discounts for us (see description below).

Very soon, we will see the iPad Missing Manual (in June) which you can pre-order now. Until then, you can use your iPad (or iPhone, or iPod touch, or computer) to read electronic versions of their many other jewels. I now have 17 Missing Manual books in the iBook library of my iPad, ranging from iWork ’09 to Google Apps to Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Your Brain (they are branching way out beyond computers). It was as easy as downloading the file, dropping it into iTunes, syncing with my iPad, and immediately reading in iBooks. I fully endorse this series . . . David Pogue and O’Reilly started something great, and their tradition of excellence lives on!


O'Reilly Publishing is offering new and better discounts for groups. User group members can get a discount of 35% off all books and 45% off all ebooks (PDF, ePub, Mobi, Android) from O'Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint or Syngress books that are purchased directly from O'Reilly by phone or online. Add in free shipping for orders over $29.95 (US) and the offer gets even better.

Order from the O'Reilly Store online or by phone at 1-800-998-9938 ( extra shipping costs outside U.S.).

See what the buzz is about: http://www.oreilly.com/store/ 
This worldwide offer is ongoing.

iPhone LIfe a Magizine for Our Future by Tom Piper

 

So, you’ve got an iPhone and/or iPod touch and/or iPad (or you would like to get one), but where do you find the latest information about the latest features, the coolest apps, the best accessories, emerging rumors, product reviews, interesting tips and tricks, related social networking, context articles about home/work/education, gaming adventures, and so much more? Sure, all of this is scattered across Internet websites and a variety of computer magazines, but who has time to review all of these sources? I found them in one place!!!

iPhone Life (the magazine and iPhoneLife.com (the website) jointly represent the best central source I have yet seen for all of this information gathered by knowledgeable and well-organized “faculty”. In the most recent issue, I counted over 30 writers and editors producing almost 100 pages of valuable and timely information all about the devices that are near and dear to my heart. It was like finding the Mother Lode of information about some of the most advanced Apple devices of our time. Not just paper and web versions, but also a Zinio Reader app for both the iPad and iPhone/iPad touch.

When you visit their website, it is a burst of information including Hot Tips, Current News, Expert Blogs, Latest Apps, Best Sites and more only a click away. If you prefer the RSS feed, that too is only a tap away. The appearance initially seems very crowded and dense with topics to pursue, but you soon discover that this is an advantage because you can reach what you want quickly. I particularly like the Tips area which allows for quick review or surprising browsing (see screen shot above).

The iPhone Life app (its free) is organized into lists of topics (within topics within topics) which interact quickly, and provides satisfying new information. I’ve been told that this app will probably be revised soon to be even more helpful. In looking at the paper magazine, it is both colorful and easy to read with a fascinating array of coverage. Its hard to cover 150,000 apps, but they do a good job of keeping track of new and emerging.

This is a publication that warrants your attention. I highly recommend it for the new user and experienced guru. They even have a special user group discount (see below) that will get you started very inexpensively. I really believe that you will like it too.

 

"Have more fun, get more done" . . . iPhone Life magazine covers all things iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Each regular issue is full of reviews of apps, accessories and Apple handhelds; tips and how-to's; user profiles; business solutions; and how-to-create and market apps. In addition to the four regular issues per year, subscriptions will include two bonus issues, a Buyers Guide and a How-to Guide. Beginning with Summer '10 issue, all subscribers will receive the downloadable digital replica of the magazine both for the iPhone/iPad and Mac (or PC) via the Zinio Magazine Reader app and the zinio.com web site.  

Regularly $17.97 (US), this special discount price is only $12.97 (US); even better, pay only $19.97 (US) for two years.

URL with discount code:  

http://www.iphonelife.com/subscribe/ugab-special

This worldwide offer is valid through June 30, 2010.

I

abcNotes: iPad jots at your finger tips

 

by Tom Piper

You may already be using the yellowpad Notes app that came with your magic slate. But, if you really liked the flexibility and informal nature of StickyNotes on your computer, then you should consider the new abcNotes app for quick and easy use.

abcNotes brings us the ability to have real notes on our iPads. Notes can be rotated at any angle you wish. Six virtual desktops will help you to sort your notes, and each desktop background can be customized. You can create as many notes as you wish with each note able to be freely scaled, rotated, or moved independently. abcNotes supports any iPad orientation, so the notes layout will NOT be lost. You can also edit notes using an external keyboard.

The appearance of notes is also customizable with 16 skins to choose from, a lot of fonts and text colors, variable text size, and 40 amazing desktops backgrounds are are provided by famous design studio, Vladstudio. abcNotes has intuitive user interface with only two buttons on desktop to access Desktops and Create a new note. You can double-tap a note to edit the text or appearance, or scale and rotate the note using two fingers, or simply drag a note to move it. 

 I found abcNotes to be colorful, intuitive and fun to use. If you want to share your iPad thoughts, you can email a single note, a “desk” (collection) of notes, or all notes at once. I hope that it will evolve to be able to receive notes by email, and even insert graphics and pictures. It is nice that I could Copy text from other apps and paste it here.

This is a nifty little app that is straight-forward and useful. For more information, visit http://www.desktop-control.com/iphone/abcnotes/. To purchase, abcNotes is available for 99¢ at http://itunes.com/apps/abcnotes

PDF2Office for iWork v1.0: Converting to Editable Text

a review by Tom Piper

We live in a wonderful world of interchangeable information that is conveniently transmitted via Portable Document Format (PDF) files that have become a standard for multi-platform document dissemination. With the introduction of Mac OS X, the ability to “print to PDF” has been just a click away, and we’ve been able to share our creations with almost anyone. But, when we need to edit these documents, what do we do?

I have long known about a great program known as PDF2Office which would convert PDFs files into Microsoft Words files. Recently, they released a new version which makes conversion to iWork '08/ '09 files for the Macintosh. What GREAT version, because this is the environment I work in every day, and an incredible tool for everyday use.

As their website describes, PDF2Office for iWork converts PDF documents into editable Keynote and Pages files by recreating the intended construction and layout of the document; forming paragraphs; applying styles; regrouping independent graphic elements; extracting images; creating tables; all automatically without any manual intervention. It also provides detailed options for fine-tuning the conversion process such as substitution of fonts and conversion of the entire PDF file or a range of pages.

This powerful utility is simple, fast and accurate. No training or extensive reading is necessary because you can add the PDF, click on Convert to either Pages or Keynote, select any options desired, and have a new files literally in seconds. My first 5-page PDF conversion with mixed text and graphics took only 7 seconds (and this is typical)! It will even convert passworded documents into many languages beyond English.

PDF2Office for iWork will work on a wide range of Macs from the PowerPC G4 processor of at least 800 MHz up through the most modern Intel unit. Mac Operating Systems supported range from OS X 10.4.11 (Panther) up through the latest 10.6.x (Snow Leopard). iWorks ’08 or ’09 are needed to view and edit Keynote and Pages files. It couldn’t be easier.

Various configurations of PDF2Office for iWork are available including an individual license, Family Pack license, and Small/Home Office Business. If you want to try before you buy, a trial version is easily downloadable at www.recosoft.com. And for a limited time only, a special discount offer is available for Macintosh user groups (see below). I fully endorse this product without hesitation, based on past and current experience, and the reputation of Recosoft Corporation which has accomplished over ten years of successful Mac development.

PDF2Office for iWork v1.0: 15% Discount

Your PDF files can now easily be converted to editable iWork formats with the new PDF2Office for iWork. It converts PDF documents into editable Keynote and Pages ‘08/’09 files allowing for an efficient and transparent process in recovering and reusing PDF content with in iWork. PDF2Office for iWork has been designed specifically for the iWork user providing a simple and straightforward interface to convert PDF files to the iWork format while offering options to fine-tune the conversion results. This special converter eliminates the need to acquire and install additional PDF editing software and tools resulting in huge cost savings in both time and expense.

This exclusive Apple user group member offer for PDF2Office for iWork is $49.99 (USD), a great savings from the usual MSRP of $59.00 (USD).

For more information and download purchasing:
http://www.recosoft.com/specialoffer.htm
This worldwide offer is valid through April 30, 2010.

End of May appleJAC Digest/Blog