appleJAC Users Group

Trade in you old phone or iPod for a new iPhone

observations by Tom Piper

On the day after Black Friday (at the Coffee Zone), I learned of a terrific program at Target that allows you to get great value for your old iPhone (or other digital device), and trade up to a new iPhone. Some of our appleJAC MUG members have already done this with great success (like getting $200 credit for an iPhone 3GS, and $100 for an iPhone 2G).

Target's mobile centers now coordinate a new trade-in program. Customers can trade in a range of electronics -- including smart phones, MP3 players, cell phones and video games -- for store credit. The new in-store exchange does not replace Target's existing online recycling program, where consumers can trade in used electronics for gift cards.

Target Corp. has made this bold move into the competitive consumer electronics market by joining with RadioShack to add mobile phone centers in about 850 of its 1,743 stores by year's end. The program began as a pilot last year in about 100 Target stores.

RadioShack operates and staffs the Target Mobile centers, which offer wireless phones and accessories plus service plans from such carriers as Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
RadioShack has provided a similar service in Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., since 2004.

The retailer also has established a free hot line for questions about any Target electronics purchases such as televisions, cameras and video consoles. The number (1-877-myTGTtech or 1-877-698-4883) can be used to troubleshoot problems and get warranty information.

President’s Corner: It’s a Beautiful Day Outside

by Tom Piper, aJMUG President

It is Sunday, and I’m ending this six days of recovery from oral surgery. The temperature was in the mid-50s, and a beautiful blue sky, with a strong hint of winter approaching. This weekend I’ve been listening to music from the 1950s, and reminisced about all of the wonderful things of years gone by. There are many wonderful memories from those days, but I much prefer today with hot and cold running water, indoor toilets, fresh ground coffee, and instantaneous communication through the finest computers in the world. I am very pleased to be an evangelist for Apple products, and all the benefits and enjoyment there brings to our lives. These are wonderful times that we live in!

At our last meeting,  we learned about Bose speakers for the iPod from Kim Zindle, and features of the newest databases for portable devices. Mark Snell discussed Bento 3 on the Macintosh and iPad, while I presented FileMaker Go for the iPad, contrasting it with FileMaker Pro on the Mac. The evening’s door prize winners included:

•     appleJAC chip clip    Aileen Garvin
•     appleJAC chip clip    John Knapp
•     appleJAC flashlight    Charlie Bland
•     appleJAC flashlight    Peggy Landwehr
•     TopXNotes (software)    Jan Watson
•     appleJAC stress apple    Wilma Levy
•     appleJAC 6-in-1 desk tool     Brian Fuller
•     iPhone 4 (O’Reilly book)    Brenda Hancock

Our next meeting will feature our 3rd annual “30 Gadgets in 60 Minutes”. We plan to have six presenters with five items each (that’s a new gadget every two minutes). This is also the time of the year for our annual meeting (appleJAC is a 501(c)7 corporation) when the officers for 2011 will be election. THIS IS THE TIME TO NOMINATE YOURSELF OR SOMEONE ELSE for President, Vice-President, Secretary-Editor, Treasurer, Webmaster, Librarian, or any of four Members-at-Large. AND, as a special Christmas gift for our members, a special one-time uniquely-designed present will be given to every member (including new ones) who attend this meeting. This will be a fun and rewarding meeting.

Our next meeting will be at the 6th Grade Commons (Conference Room 600) at Lewis and Clark Middle School. Mark your calendar NOW for this interesting meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, at 7:00 pm. Bring family, friends and new members to get the most out of your Mac and other Apple products.

December 2010 Meeting Agenda

Dragon Dictate: The New Leader in Voice Transcription

a review by Tom Piper

Tired of typing? Need a break from the mouse? Want to step away from touching the screen? Yearn to just talk to your computer and have it transcribe every word at normal talking speed? There is a terrific product to give you this freedom.

In April 2010, I did a review of MacSpeech Scribe which, at that time, was the world’s most advanced personal transcription solution for the Macintosh. With the acquisition of MacSpeech by Nuance Communications, Dragon Dictate has now replaced Scribe as the new leader in Mac transcription. As their website says, “. . . with Dragon Dictate for Mac, (you can) accomplish more than you ever imagined possible. Input text just by speaking – up to three times faster than typing – and interact with your favorite Mac applications using only your voice. With Dragon Dictate you can produce reports, e-mail, articles, books, research notes, online content, and more — quickly, easily, and accurately. You’ll get more done faster with less stress and more success — at home, at work, or wherever life takes you. Dragon Dictate provides amazing accuracy and requires just minutes of training to get started – it’s Simply Smarter Speech Recognition.” Here are a few of the features:

• Instead of a keyboard, use your voice to produce text. Speak your thoughts, then watch your words appear on screen in your favorite Mac applications (at up to three times faster than typing) with an astounding recognition accuracy rate of up to 99% right out of the box.
• Dragon Dictate for Mac keeps up with your brain. Transform ideas into text at the speed of thought, and start being creative and productive with only your voice -- don’t let typing get in the way of your ideas or productivity.
• Control your Mac in a relaxed, hands-free manner without being tied to your keyboard. Instead of using your mouse, just speak commands to launch and control applications. Move the cursor or click anywhere on screen simply by voice.
• Tell your Mac what to do, like “Reply To This Message” or “Open Microsoft® Word” or “Jump To Google” to work faster and smarter. Create voice commands that automate complex workflows on your Mac.
• Create a digital world, powered by your own voice. Customize Dragon Dictate for Mac with personal vocabulary and voice commands that reflect the kind of work you do.
• Dragon Dictate for Mac was built to give users the experience we expect from our favorite Macintosh applications - an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that dramatically boosts productivity. What’s more, Dragon Dictate for Mac works with our favorite Apple applications, including Mail, iChat, iCal, TextEdit, Pages, Safari and many more.
• Dragon Dictate is a very powerful product. I’m using it to write part of this review, and it has not made a mistake yet. The speed is incredible, as it produces text a whole line at a time. The transcription products before this one were very good, but this one is just plain incredible. The initial training for Dragon Dictate to learn my voice only took 5 minutes. if you need a program to do transcription on your Macintosh computer, this is the best software that you will ever find.

Dragon Dictate 2.0 can be acquired for $179.99 (electronic download), $199.99 (boxed shipment with standard headset), or $299.99 (boxed shipment with wireless headset) by going to http://www.nuance.com/talk/challenger.asp where any of the other products can also be considered. If you already own MacSpeech Dictate, you may upgrade for $49.99. Amazon.com also has the boxed version available for as little as $139.99. Dragon Dictate requires an Intel-based Macintosh and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later, Internet connection for registration, and Nuance-approved USB microphone. With a long history of dependable performance with Dragon Naturally-Speaking in the PC world, Nuance also provides Forums to acquire and exchange information, plus social network interfaces for Facebook, Twitter and others.

I have used MacSpeech products for number of years with great success. In addition to the regular tethered headset that came with Dragon Dictate, I have also purchased the high-quality Plantronics Calisto bluetooth headset that allows me to walk up to 30 feet away from my computer (wandering improves my thinking). This has really helped me achieve my goal of getting away from traditional computer tools to be more creative, and have fun doing it. I highly recommend this tool for your productivity and enjoyment.

Incidentally, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, then Dragon dictation is available for free from Nuance Communications. This is a terrific app which records your voice, sends it to a remote voice recognition application powered by Dragon Naturally-Speaking, and returns editable text to your screen.

Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac: Incredible Windows Support

a review by Tom Piper

Do you have a Macintosh computer, but need to run a Windows application?  Are you a “switcher” from a Windows platform, and still need to run some Windows programs for compatibility?  Do you require Windows XP or Windows 7 in order to access network or Internet resources? I have a great solution for you!

I have a small island of Macs at work, in a sea of PCs. It is important that I be able to simultaneously access both environments, and move information effortlessly between them. I started with Parallels Desktop 3 for the Mac several years ago, and have recently updated to Parallels 6, which now has over 80 new and enhanced features beyond its previous edition. This is a reliable and productive tool for my daily use.

As quoted from their website, “Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac is the #1 choice of customers worldwide to seamlessly run Windows applications on a Mac — without rebooting.” Graphics intensive programs are a breeze with this new and enhanced DirectX functionality. You can even remotely access your Windows programs from your iPad or iPhone with the Parallels Mobile app. If you love the look and feel of Mac OS, just turn off the Windows environment while still using its applications (like I use “Crystal” mode on my Mac). If you’re new to Mac, then keep the familiar Windows background and Start menu on your Mac (in a window or on the whole screen). Either way, you can run Windows and Mac applications side-by-side with no compromises in performance. I do it every day, and my Windows XP runs faster on my Mac than on most of the PCs around me.

In this latest “Switch to Mac” edition that I installed, Parallels comes with a high-speed USB transfer cable which works with the Parallels Transporter software to automatically move your programs, documents, and even browser favorites to your Mac. It even comes with video tutorials designed for Windows users, as well as Windows and Mac security software that is already included. And, if after using it for 90 days you don’t like it, it comes a money-back guarantee. This is a program that is bound to please.

To learn more, go to www.parallels.com . . . the usual price has been $79.99, but it has recently been reduced to only $59.99. Not only that, you can try it for 14 days for free, just to make sure you like it before you buy it. By the way, you do have to supply your own Windows software to put in Parallels Desktop. I highly recommend this software.

PhotoBox: A Digital Analytical Tool

a review by Tom Piper

Have you ever found yourself on a photo expedition, and wanted to examine the quality of your pictures in the field? The viewer on the camera is so small it’s difficult to analyze, but if you have your iPad with you, then it should be easy to closely examine the photos that you have taken. There is now a tool available for the iPad to help you with this task.

Boinx has designed a tool for photographers on the go. PhotoBox analyzes the technical quality of photos imported from camera to iPad via the iPad Camera Connection Kit (sold separately). Photos can instantly be analyzed in terms of exposure, focus, color, and overall look and composition, making sure that you do not leave the shooting location without a usable photo.

When you get home, you can go a step further by connecting your iPad to a VGA projector or large TV screen using the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter (sold separately). Just tap on an image to have it instantly appear for all to admire or discuss. Pan and zoom on the iPad and the image on the big screen will also be panned and zoomed. To show a different photo, simply tap on its image on your iPad screen. There is no need to put images in a sequence or wait for a slideshow to show the photo you want.

If you are an iPad user now, you know that you can view and zoom in your pictures using the Photos app on your iPad. PhotoBox appears to be a first-generation app that has a lot of growth potential. On their website, the company states that their vision is to turn PhotoBox into a personal on-set digital photography assistant. Unfortunately, they are still waiting for Apple to make certain improvements in their iOS to achieve this goal. I suspect that the next generation of this app will be much more robust after iOS 4.2 is released.

PhotoBox is available now at the App Store for $1.99 (I suggest you wait until after the end of November before buying it). Boinx is a rapidly-expanding software vendor with other Mac products available like BoinxTV, FotoMagico 3, iStopMotion 2 PhotoPresenter 4, You Gotta See This! (an app I demoed at our MUG meeting), FotoMagico Remote, FxTiles, and Mouseposé 3. To learn more, visit them at http://www.boinx.com/.

PlainText-DropBox: simple text editor app

review by Tom Piper

Have you found yourself wanting to write an extensive amount of text on your portable device, but don’t need a full-featured word processor like Pages, but need more than what the Notes app will provide? I’ve found a nifty little free app that just fits the bill.

For editing text on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, PlainText is a simple text editor with an uncomplicated, paper-like user interface. Unlike the default Notes app, PlainText allows you to create and organize your documents in folders and sync everything with Dropbox.com.

This is a very simple and straightforward text editor. It has a few simple controls such as cut ,copy, paste, and word count. To start a new document, you simply click on the plus sign and enter a title which is centered and capitalized at the top, then hit return, and you’re in the body of the text. When complete, simply click on the left arrow on the upper left-hand corner, which returns you to the list of documents, and you can begin another document.

What is particularly interesting and helpful, is that every document you create, including any folder that you create to put files in, are automatically placed into your Dropbox, thus giving you access from your iPad or iPhone or Mac. The Dropbox is a free service which is setup on your Mac, then selected in the Settings for PlainText . . . its very simple. You will occasionally see a small ad at the bottom of the screen, but if this is a problem, it can be removed for only 99¢.

If you really need something more full-featured, I recommend going to www.hogbaysoftware.com to learn more about TaskPaper, WriteRoom or SimpleText. This is a delightful small company in Bangor, Maine, which is working hard to get us a good value in a friendly manner (these are mostly for the Mac and iPhone, but iPad support is coming). And, this app is a nice little resource to add to your toolbox.

End of November 2010 Digest