OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
April, 2007
www.oakcreekapples.com
Meetings Calendar The latest release of Parallels delivers
easy to use migration tools, USB 2.0
support, innovative Coherence technol-
Wednesday, April 11, 2007: ogy, and much more. It’s never been
Photoshop SIG …....... Cancelled easier to run Mac OS and Microsoft Win-
dows side by side.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007: With Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can:
Mac Basics & Beyond … 5:00 PM
Main Meeting …………. 6:30 PM * Run your favorite Mac and Windows
applications at the same time without
rebooting
Presentation: Parallels Desktop for * Seamlessly connect to any network
Mac in both Mac OS and Windows using a
shared network connection
Presented By: Snyder and Searle * Achieve a high level of performance
for Windows on your Mac by leveraging
The maker of Parallels Desktop for Mac Intel technology - an industry leading
claims the following. We’ll see if Gene solution available on Parallels Software
and Dick agree. * Copy and paste items between your
Mac desktop and your Windows desktop
Parallels Desktop for Mac is the leading * Quickly create multiple virtual ma-
virtualization solution for the Mac, ena- chines by using the new Parallels Instal-
bling Mac users to run Windows simul- lation Assistant
taneously with their Mac OS X on any
Intel-powered iMac, Mac mini, MacBook,
MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro Towers.
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
* Create “Active” backups by using swered. Thus SIG meets from 5 - 6
Parallels Desktop for Mac in conjunction pm every 3rd Wednesday, before the
with Parallels Compressor Main Meeting.
* Achieve optimal virtual machine
performance and reduce disk space by
50% or more with the new Parallels
Compressor
Oak Creek Apple meetings are held NOTICE
at the Elks Lodge in West Sedona, Until further notice, the Oak Creek
just off Airport Road, on the 3rd Apples Photoshop SIG, which in the
Wednesday of every month, except past has met on the second Wednes-
July and August. day of the month, from 6 – 8 pm, will
no longer meet.
Special Interest Group
Meetings The Apple Mug Store
(http://Applemugstore.com) is a
Mac Basics & Beyond SIG: wonderful place to shop for real bar-
Jannah Riemer does more than show gains, and is available to all Macintosh
how to point and click. There is al- User Group members.
ways something to learn for all Mac
users who don’t make their living us- You can find the current User ID &
ing special applications. This is a Password in the email notifying you of
great place to get questions an- the meetings of the month.
solutions to problems I didn’t even
know I had.
March Meeting Review
The main meeting was a presentation
In Mac Basics and Beyond, Jannah as on Digital Storytelling by Ron Melman
usual provided fascinating insight and Maike Wessel. Perhaps the best
into problems and work-arounds - way to describe what they do is go to
this time including Thunderbird their website
email, finding and ordering online http://www.yourstoryworks.org
airline tickets, photo handling and Here you will find examples of their
prep for email, etc. Sometimes I find results, but there was such pleasure
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
in watching Maike go through the not touch your computer and definitely
procedure of how she created a digi- do not launch any applications." I know
tal story, utilizing a microphone to some are inclined to blame the Unsanity
record a short verbal script, Garage APEs for pretty much any and every-
Band for music, iPhoto for visuals, thing, but I think it's worth considering
iMovie for putting it all together and what Rosyna has to say.
iDVD for burning to disk for poster-
In response to this Gruber points to a
ity. Total utilization of iLife. Thanks,
old post of his own on updating (we
Ron and Maike. even mentioned it back in the day). Ba-
sically, Gruber advises waiting a full day
until after the update is released, then
installing the update clean (with no
The Dangers of Updating: Don't Do other applications running), letting it
Anything While Optimizing finish, and then rebooting. These seem
like prudent steps, and probably worth
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) - the hassle in order to avoid the pre-
03/18/07 binding bug.
Posted Mar 17th 2007 9:00PM by Mat
Lu
Filed under: Tips and tricks, Software Instantly Backup Your Address
Update, Troubleshooting Book
Gruber points to this post by Rosyna at Small Dog 3/9/07 Mac Treat #17
Unsanity regarding a bug in Apple's By Ed@Smalldog.com
Software Updater. According to Rosyna,
"when you see the 'Optimizing System Don has a great tip below about how to
Performance' phase of a software up- restore a badly corrupted Address Book.
date, Mac OS X is really updating pre- This Mac Treat is about how to instantly
binding. Updating prebinding has a back up your Address Book - so, in the
very, very nasty bug in it... If multiple absolutely worst case scenario, you'll
processes are updating prebinding at have access to all your addresses.
the same time, then it is possible for a
system file to be completely zero'd out.
I typically use iSync and .Mac to backup
Basically, all data in the file is deleted
and sync my Address Book across multi-
and it is replaced with nothing." Yikes!
ple Macs, and on my Treo cell phone.
Rosyna claims most of the problems
that arise from software updates are However, a few months ago something
manifestations of this bug. His advice: happened during the iSync process, and
"When 'Optimize System Performance' all my addresses were tripled. What a
appears during the update process do pain! Luckily, I religiously (maniacally)
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
back up my Address Book using it's ex- (it ends with a .abbu extension), select it,
tremely easy File > Back up Address and click Open.
Book feature. I was able to use this to
restore everything from my back up. Finally, you can also export all your ad-
From there I reset iSync and .Mac sync dresses as a group vCard. To do this,
preferences, and I was back in order.
1. Launch Address Book.
How to do it:
2. In the menu bar at the top of the
1. Launch Address Book. screen, browse File > Export Group
vCard.
2. In the menu bar at the top of the
screen, browse File > Back up Address 3. A dialog appears, asking where you
Book want to save the group vCard. Choose
where you want to save the backup, then
3. A dialog appears, asking where you click Save. vCards can be opened, im-
want to save your Address Book back- ported and read by most modern PIM
up. Note that by default, the current date applications, including Palm Desktop and
will be added to the saved file name. the Daylight Productivity programs.
Choose where you want to save the
backup, then click Save.
That's it. I typically email a copy of this
back up file to myself - so I'll have it
saved on my email web-server. You can
also burn it to CD or save it to a flash
drive iPod. If you are worried about secu-
rity or privacy, you can easily lock your
exported address in an encrypted disk
image. Read how on our blog:
http://blog.smalldog.com/article/318/creat
ing-an-encrypted-disk-image
It's easy to restore your Address Book Finding your Lost Address Book
from the backed up file. To restore: In By Don@Smalldog.com
Address Book, choose Revert to Address
Book Backup from the File menu. In the I was innocently working at my Mac
resulting dialog, locate your backup file when I needed to look up an address.
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
When I opened the AddressBook appli- have 1000 Backups and Never Need
cation, I was stunned - there were none One".
of my 750 addresses present. All there
was was a blank database. I had a bit of
fear I had lost all those addresses from
20+ years of storing them on my Mac
when I realized that I had them on my
MacBook, synced to my .Mac account,
had a recent backup on my spare drive,
had them on my iPod and on my cell
phone.
Nevertheless, I was not happy that they
were gone when I needed them. I dis-
covered an interesting tip, if you find
yourself in a similar situation. If you fol-
From the N Y Times 04/05/07
low this path ~Library -->Application
Support---> AddressBook you will find Q & A Moviemaking With VCD
both a file entitled "AddressBook.data"
and a file entitled Article Tools Sponsored By
"AddressBook.data.previous". By J. D. BIERSDORFER
Published: April 5, 2007
If you should find yourself with an empty
AddressBook, simply close the Address- Moviemaking With VCD
Book application and change the name
of "AddressBook.data" to something like Q. How do I copy short videos taken
"lost my way.darn" or anything but with a digital camera to a CD-R that can
AddressBook.data. Then, change the be played on a CD/DVD player? The vid-
name of "AddressBook.data.previous" to eos have been stored in my PC, which is
AddressBook.data". Open the Ad- equipped with a recordable CD drive.
dressBook application and all your
A. If your computer does not have a
names and addresses should be recov-
drive that can record DVDs, you can
ered. probably burn your digital camera’s
clips to a video compact disc, also
The real lesson here is very clear. If you known as a VCD.
have ANY critical information on your
Mac, make back-ups! I love the signa- A video compact disc is a CD that can
ture of my friend, David Lerner, from play moving pictures and audio in the
Tekserve in New York city -- "May You MPEG-1 format. Many (but not all) DVD
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
players can play video compact discs. There are specialized programs like
With the right software, you can also VCD Easy (www.vcdeasy.org; a free trial
play a VCD in a computer’s CD drive. download is available) for creating these
discs. The VideoHelp site
At the most, a VCD can hold about 80 (www.videohelp.com) is one place for
minutes of video, and the picture qual- further reading on the topic, with in-
ity is typically not as sharp as a movie formation, forums and tutorials on
encoded for DVD; many have compared making your own VCD and SVCD mov-
the picture to that of a movie on VHS ies.
tape. Another format, Super Video CD
(SVCD), offers better picture quality but Editors Note:
doesn’t hold as much video.
The above is directed to Windows users.
If your PC did not come with software
that can convert video to MPEG-1 and For the Mac user, Toast 7 deals neatly
create video compact discs, other com- with this apparently little used fea-
mercial video-editing programs are ture.
available. Many programs for creating
DVDs also give you an option to make a
VCD.
New Office Suites For Macs
By Rob Pegoraro | April 2, 2007; 6:16 AM ET
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111
200143.html
Last week saw a couple of noteworthy developments in the Mac productivity-suite
business:
* The most Mac-like offshoot of the free, open-source OpenOffice suite, NeoOffice,
advanced to version 2.1, which adds support for the new file formats Microsoft in-
troduced in Office 2007 for Windows. (Confusingly enough, the original OpenOffice
project now has a Mac port underway too. Although an alpha release of it is expected
in May, it still seems far behind NeoOffice: According to its development roadmap,
"native printing" support won't happen until the end of the year.)
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
* Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, the successor to its Mac-only Office 2004, is now in
private beta testing. On Friday APC (short for Australian Personal Computer) pub-
lished a report on this new version. It features some details on the graphics infra-
structure and screen shots of its new, tab-centric interface, which--like the "ribbon"
feature of Office 2007--tries to make it easier for users to discover Office's numer-
ous features.
A potential third competitor in the office-suite market, however, remains a mystery.
For many months, the Apple rumor sites have been predicting an update to Apple's
iWork bundle of desktop-publishing and spreadsheet software, one that would add a
spreadsheet application and officially replace the company's antiquated AppleWorks.
But January's Macworld Expo convention came and went without any such update.
For a long time, the best productivity suite on the Mac was the only productivity suite
on the Mac--Microsoft's Office 2004 (still one of my favorite Microsoft releases).
Only Windows users had real alternatives to Microsoft, such as OpenOffice and
Corel's WordPerfect Office. Now that's changing. With NeoOffice and, eventually,
OpenOffice, Mac users have a free option; with a reinvigorated iWork, they may get a
better option.
On the chance that developers of any of these programs stumble across this humble
blog: What, Mac users, would you like to see in your next office suite?
Membership
The Oak Creek Apples is exclusively an educational institution for the public on the use of
Apple Computers, including maintenance, security, and software applications. Membership
is open to anyone who wishes to belong. A dues-paying membership is a Regular member-
ship (the member, spouse and their dependent children may participate, though only the
member may vote). Guests and the public are welcome to attend our meetings on an occa-
sional basis to become acquainted with the Group and its activities. Regular membership
dues are $25.00 per year to be renewed on the anniversary of joining the Group. In addition
to participation in group activities, regular members receive a monthly emailed newsletter
covering general and special-interest group activities, Apple news, and informative articles.
A postal mailed version of our newsletter is still available for an additional $8.00 annual fee.
To become a member when at our general meeting, ask one of our greeters at the greeting
table at the back of our meeting room. One can also join the Oak Creek Apples by sending a
check for $25.00 payable to the Oak Creek Apples to:
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OCAMUG April 2007 Newsletter
Membership Registrar
Oak Creek Apples
150 Color Cove Road
Sedona,AZ 86336
Please include your email address and mailing address and phone number with the pay-
ment.
We do not share our mailing list.
The Board of Directors The Steering Committee
Chairman: Gene Snyder Ph: 204-1901
Facilitator: Gene Snyder Ph: 204-1901
Email: eisnyde@npgcable.com
Email: eisnyde@npgcable.com
Treasurer: Jim Evans Ph: 282-4269
Treasurer: Jim Evans Ph: 282-4269
Email: jimetal@commspeed.net
Email: jimetal@commspeed.net
Secretary: Dick Searle Ph: 282-3222
Membership Registrar:
Email: dicksearle@esedona.net
Dick Searle Ph: 282-3222
Members at Large:
Email: dicksearle@esedona.net
Herb Felsted Ph: 282-4978
Oak Creek Apples Web Master:
Email: mexplore@npgcable.com
Chuck Murcko
Jane Kempe Ph: 284-5401
Email: chuck@topsail.org
Email: janed1@npgcable.com
Greeting Table:
Marge Herkenham
Special Interest Group Leaders
Email: herk@commspeed.net
Meeting Announcer:
Mac Basics & Beyond SIG:
Lynne Crowe
Jannah Riemer
Ph: 203-0362
Email: esedonainfo@esedona.net
Email: jannah@commspeed.net
Newsletter Editor:
Photoshop SIG:
Herb Felsted
Bill von Ofenheim
Ph: 204-1004
Email: mexplore@npgcable.com
Email: grandad@commspeed.net
Other Members:
Terri Wentch
Ph: 204-6464
Bob McGuinness
Carla Felsted
sedchart@sedonacharterschool.com
Pam Hashimoto
Jane Kemp
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