Applebyte 2007 May - Canterbury Apple Users

Magazine of the Apple User Group of Canterbury Inc.
Applebyte
May 2007
Waimairi School Hall
May 30th 7:30 pm
APPLEBYTE is the monthly magazine of the Apple User Group
of Canterbury Inc.
Submissions for publication are due by the 12th of the month of
publication. Please submit all articles to editor@appleusers.co.nz
Copyright: © 2007 Apple User Group of Canterbury Inc.
This publication is copyright to the Apple User Group of Canterbury Inc.
Individual articles may by copyright to their authors or publishers and
are reproduced here with permission.
Contents
Meeting venue
Meeting programme
Special General Meeting
Oopppss
Editorial
Intrepid adventurer
Sign language
Special offers
Review: The Photoshop Lightroom Book
Finder tips
MagnumMac sez
History - the rainbow apple
Headlines
Getting there
Opinion
Why I Need a laptop
Colours
SeniorNet Mac
Accidental discoveries
Group contacts
Appleline
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27
About the user group
28
Applebyte is produced on an Apple MacPro using Pages software.
The magazine is printed by PrintStop (http://www.printstop.co.nz).
Meeting venue
Meetings are held on
the last Wednesday of
each month (except
December) beginning
at 7:30pm, at Waimairi
School at the end of
Tillman Avenue, off
Bligh’s Road.
Drinks and snacks are
available while we all
calm down after the
excitement of the meeting.
Some members carpool to get to meetings. If you don’t have a car and
find it difficult to get to meetings, please contact a committee member to
arrange transport. Usually there is someone living near you who can
offer a lift.
Meeting programme
Wednesday 30th May 2007
Special General Meeting
• Election of vacant positions
Monthly Meeting
Welcome and News
MacBasics - Aliases
Overview of Pages (part of iWork ‘06)
Workshops:
Putting together the Magazine
Basic Questions & Answers
• Supper
• Information Exchange
•
•
•
•
Applebyte page 3
Special General Meeting
A Special General Meeting of the Apple User Group of Canterbury Inc.
will be held at 7:30pm on 30 May 2007. The sole business of the SGM
is to complete the election of officers of the AUGC for 2007.
The normal monthly meeting will commence immediately after the SGM
- at about 7:35pm hopefully.
Please arrive promptly so that the SGM can be completed without delay.
Oopppss
Peter Fitchett
Why Computers Sometimes Crash! by Dr. Seuss.
Also known as:
What If Dr. Seuss Wrote Technical Manuals? (anonymous)
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
.... (additional verses deleted)
This rather well-known poem has circulated widely on the internet for
quite a few years now, and it is actually an abridged and plagiarized
version of the original. It was also not written by Dr Seuss, who died
in 1991, but rather by Gene Ziegler in 1994, “after my four year old
grandson and his older brother had significantly rearranged the
resources on my Macintosh”, and titled:
A Grandchild’s Guide to Using Grandpa’s Computer
Gene, (Dr. Z or Dr. Zseuss) writes to entertain friends and relatives at
night. By day, he “writes endless boring memos and reports ad infinitum,
ad nauseam”. Back in 1994, Professor Gene Ziegler was an educator at
New York's Cornell University. More recently he became Dean of the
American Graduate School of Management, an online business school in
Nashville Tennessee.
To read the original of this poem and it’s history, and Gene’s response
upon discovering the widely circulated version, follow the links from:
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/elz1/clocktower/
page 4 Applebyte
Editorial
Peter Fitchett
May already; almost half the year gone already. Change is our only
constant in this technological world - the marketeers keep a continual
parade of goods coming to tempt our plastic cards. Apple is doing its
part - since I bit the bullet about 9 months ago and purchased a Mac Pro,
we have seen a new model released with twice as many processors (8)! I
probably don’t even use all 4 processors that I currently have, but
wouldn’t eight be nice? We have also seen the faster wireless devices 5-times faster with twice the distance - oh for a reasonable broadband
network to connect it to! And just this month, a speed-bump for the
MacBook together with more memory and disk. It is a fast-paced world,
but what we need to go with that is the opportunity to sit back and enjoy
the peace and quiet of a slower life. Are you making the most of your
holidays to step back and enjoy life?
How about stepping back and writing a paragraph or two for your
favorite monthly magazine? Contributions have been very light this
month - you could make my life a lot simpler by helping out just a little.
Submitting your article
Electronic submissions are preferred (to save wear and tear on my
fingers). Just choose whatever format suits and send it to:
editor@appleusers.co.nz
One page is roughly 340 words. Most article are less than 4 pages, but
longer articles may be accepted if of particular interest or relevance.
Please ask in advance if you are planning a longer article.
Please write clearly; short sentences are recommended to help you do
this. Use a spell-checker. If you are quoting some other article, please
include an acknowledgment of your source.
Pictures can help explain your article, so by all means include one (or
more) if appropriate. The format is not important - jpeg, tiff and gif are
all fine, but try to provide a high quality image (300 dpi) if possible.
For screen shots, you can use the build-in Apple functions Apple-Shift-3
or Apple-Shift-4, or a utility such as Snapz Pro, available from:
http://www.macdownload.com.
Next Deadline: 12 June 2007
Applebyte page 5
Intrepid adventurer
Some claim to have seen him waterskiing
without a towboat, others reckon he was
just walking his pet duck. Either way, our
Man of Mystery will leave no byte
unbitten in his ceaseless quest for the best
software the Net can offer. Who can he
be? We know him only as The Sprig!
Word Services v2.6.1:
add 37 different functions to convert, format or speak the currently
selected text, to insert data or to show statistics of the selection within all
Cocoa applications (e.g. Textedit, Pages, Mail, Stickies, etc) and Carbon
applications supporting services. Place the icon in your ~/Library/
Services folder and reboot. You'll wonder how you managed without it.
Freeware, 110kB, OSX 10.3+, PPC.
<http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/10523/wordservice>
iText Express v2.1:
Ever got irritated with TextEdit's limitations? OK, it's just a text editor
and you don't need M$Word-like bloat, but maybe just adjustable
margins or search & replace or perhaps some teensy-weensy headers &
footers or invisibles??.... iText is TextEdit on steroids. All the extras and
still in a manageable package for a price everyone can afford. You could
just about drop AppleWorks {except for spreadsheet & database - Ed.}.
Freeware, 4MB, OSX 10.3+, PPC.
<http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/21977/itext-express>
iScroll2:
a modified trackpad driver that adds two-finger scrolling capabilities to
supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks on OS X 10.3 and up.
Those models include most aluminum PowerBooks introduced from
2003 to 2004 as well as all G4 iBooks. Note this is very much a beta, it
may be buggy, although the author would appreciate being notified if it
does cause problems.
Freeware, 176kB, OSX 10.3.8+, PPC,
<http://iscroll2.sourceforge.net/>
Handbrake v0.8.5b1:
Convert DVDs to iPod or PS2, or back them up so the kids don't wreck
the originals (ahem!!). Looks complicated and a lot of jargon is
unavoidable, but the default settings usually work just fine.
Freeware, OSX 10.3.9+, PPC or Intel,
<http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12987/handbrake>
page 6 Applebyte
Sign language
Sally Tripp
We all get used to reading windows with verbal instructions that pop up
regularly on our computers, but lately I become aware of other signs that
upon investigation, actually mean something!
I subscribe to some podcasts that get downloaded to iTunes. Mostly
these are Radio NZ National (www.radionz.co.nz), and Macintosh
Folklore Radio (www.macfolkloreradio.com). I was puzzled when for
some reason episodes were not being downloaded. I hadn’t unsubscribed
and was stuck to know what the problem was. Then I noticed that there
was an exclamation mark in margin by the troublesome podcast. But I
had no idea what the exclamation mark meant. So remembering the
advice I often give others, “when all else fails, check the Help menu”!
And here I found an entry listing the Symbols used in iTunes and the
advice to click on the ”exclamation point”. (It’s a handy list to know
about.)
When I clicked on it, I learned that iTunes had taken upon itself to stop
downloading as I hadn’t listened to any episodes recently! With that
information I had the choice to resume downloading. It’s simple really,
when you know what the signs mean.
Another useful tip that I picked up in the latest MacGuide (where there
are heaps of great tips) is that the red button at the top right of the current
document lets you know if the document is saved or not. If the red dot
has a spot in the middle, it means the document hasn’t been saved – or
more work has been added since it was last saved. After saving the
document the dot in the middle disappears. This is very economical
communication, but you have to know the signs!
Applebyte page 7
Special offers
Peter Fitchett
Note: These specials are available to all user group members.
Contact Peter (web@appleusers.co.nz) for access or coupon codes.
CrossOver Mac
CrossOver Mac allows you to run many popular Windows software
applications on your Intel Mac. Your applications, documents and email
attachments are seamlessly integrated into the Mac OS X. You work as
you would in Windows, but with the freedom and ease of the Mac. You
do it all easily and affordably, without needing a Windows license.
CrossOver Mac offers user group members a special price of us$47.96, a
20 percent discount off the regular price of us$59.95.
This offer is valid through July 31, 2007.
Ovolab Geophoto
Ovolab Geophoto (http://www.ovolab.com/geophoto/) is a new Mac OS
X application for browsing and collecting digital pictures by location.
You can now browse your photo albums by panning, zooming and flying
through your pictures on a three-dimensional representation of the
Earth. Once geotagged, photos can be shared with other users and will
automatically appear in the correct location on the Earth when opened in
Geophoto.
User group members can purchase Geophoto at the special price of
us$14.95, a 25 percent off the retail price of us$19.95.
This offer is valid through July 31, 2007.
Mushkin Memory
Mushkin Perfect Match products for Apple are specifically designed for
Mac users. They have been creating enhanced memory for more than a
decade, and believe in providing the highest quality products at the best
value. Mushkin PerfectMatch upgrades are the smart choice. They
carefully select components and program each module to match the
manufacturer-installed memory and provide guaranteed compatibility.
A user group web store is now available with the same pricing given to
resellers (discounts of 20-40 percent) insuring the best possible price for
all Mushkin Mac products.
This offer is ongoing.
page 8 Applebyte
FastMac
Does your iBook lose its battery life extremely fast? Replace it with a
new larger capacity and longer lasting TruePower battery. Every
TruePower battery comes with a one-year warranty and 30-day
money back guarantee.
Receive 20 percent off MSRP by using the coupon codes at the FastMac
store (http://www.fastmac.com)
This offer is valid through July 30, 2007.
MacAddict Reborn
The Mac market has evolved, and so has MacAddict. Starting with the
February 2007 issue, MacAddict has become Mac|Life, the new Mac
magazine that changes all the rules. This publication recognizes
Apple's dynamic role in work, play, and life, and will appeal to core
Apple users. Features include in-depth how-tos, stunning design and
exclusive information. Mac|Life is the ultimate magazine about all
things Apple.
Mac|Life is offering a one-time Apple User Group member charter
subscription rate of us$14.95 for 12 issues, a savings of 40 percent off
the basic subscription price.
This offer is ongoing.
iVak 2G nano iPod cases
Vakaadoo (http://www2.vakaadoo.com) is a young company that is
having a real impact on the iPod accessories market with its innovative,
creative, aesthetically pleasing and accessibly priced iPod cases.
Their acclaimed iVak cases are sculptured to fit your iPod, preserving
and adding to the original beauty of its own contours.
The New Nano 2G case is offered specifically to user group members
for us$19.95, a 20 percent discount off the normal price of us$24.95.
This offer is valid through August 31, 2007.
[more specials over page]
Applebyte page 9
MarinerPak
Replace your copy of Microsoft Office with the award-winning
MarinerPak (http://www.marinersoftware.com) which contains a
powerful word processor and spreadsheet for Mac OS X. These
streamlined applications offer the features required by most users features you will use, including the ability to read Word and Excel files.
Regularly us$89.95, user group members can get the boxed edition of
MarinerPak for only us$65.66, or the downloaded version for us$58.36,
either of which is 27 percent below retail.
This offer is valid through August 31, 2007.
1Passwd
1Passwd password manager (http://agilewebsolutions.com) has browser
extensions that automatically save and fill in your passwords and other
sensitive information without the need for copy-and-paste. Its ability to
fill online forms and provide bulletproof protection from phishing
attacks and keylogging attempts makes it the best-selling password
manager for Mac. Better yet, 1Passwd provides all of this with only one
password to remember.
Normally us$29.95,, user group members can receive a 25%, buying
1Passwd for only us$22.46; additional savings are also available for a
Family License and Palm versions.
This worldwide offer is valid through August 31, 2007.
Note: These specials are available to all user group members.
Contact Peter (web@appleusers.co.nz) for access or coupon codes.
For further specials, see our website.
page 10 Applebyte
Review
Peter Fitchett
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book
The Complete Guide for Photographers
by Martin Evening
Around 2003, Martin, a long-standing professional photographer and
published expert on Photoshop and photography, was invited to join the
the alpha test program for a new Adobe development, Shadowland. After
three years of development, including 2 name changes and over a year of
public beta testing, Photoshop Lightroom has been released. As well as
contributing his experience and ideas to the development of the program,
Martin has assembled an extensive tome of some 336 pages of detailed
knowledge of the scope of Photoshop Lightroom, and revised it many
times as the features were revised over the years.
Looking at other people’s experience in using this book, you may find
that you either love it or hate it; and I can see why. Nothing comes for
free, and you do need to sit down and work your way through the
material to gather the knowledge that is available. The rush to be first to
press is apparent with a few points that missed the final revision, and
with the omission of differences between the Mac and PC versions of the
program. Also the lack of a detailed index prevents this book from
becoming your well-thumbed reference - sorry, but 5 pages is just not
enough for a book of this scope.
With the problems behind us, let’s have a look at what there is waiting
for us. The book is divided into 6 chapters and a technical appendix for
the more expert user. The chapters are: Introducing Adobe Photoshop
Lightroom, Importing, Managing the Library, Image Processing,
Printing, and Presenting Your Work. Each chapter is divided into
multiple subsections, copiuosly illustrated with detailed labeled
illustrations (captured from a Macintosh, of course). The text is loaded
with detailed information and hints. To get the best results, you will need
to start at the beginning and work you way through the book, page by
page. You do not need to try to follow everything on the computer as you
go; in fact you are probably better off not trying that. But with
perseverance, you will get an excellent grounding in Photoshop
Lightroom, and in storing, managing and processing your digital
photographs.
All in all, I found this a book that would have been very useful while I
was using the beta test versions of the software. It would have saved my
hours and enabled my to get much more from the software. Now I just
need to be able to afford the official release of Photoshop Lightroom.
This Adobe Press book is published by Peachpit, a division of Pearson
Education, and has a recommended price of us$40.00.
Applebyte page 11
Finder tips
To quickly rename a file, select it in the Finder and press the Return Key.
Now you can just type the new name.
To “Move” a file from one drive to another, hold down the Command
Key and drag the file(s) from one drive to the next and it will move them
instead of just copying them.
To make an Alias (a pointer) of a file/folder/app without the word alias
on the end, hold down the Command-Option Keys while you drag the
original to the location that you want the alias to appear in.
To add a document/application/folder to your Dock, simply drag its icon
to the Dock and when the other icons move over you can release it. If it’s
a document/folder you have to drag it to the right side of the divider.
You can preview a lot of different file types by simply switching your
window view to Column view. Once in Column view you can click on
things like QuickTime movies, MP3’s, etc. and preview them right in the
Finder.
To switch Finder Window views from the keyboard, hit Command-1 for
icon view, Command-2 for list view and Command-3 for column view.
Want a faster Mac? Keep as few items on your desktop as possible.
That’s what folders are for.
Use the Window Menu in the Finder to get to a window that’s buried
several windows back.
Change the default application that opens a file. For example, want your
JPGs to always open in Photoshop instead of Preview? Select any JPG,
hit Command-I for Get Info and in the Open With area, choose
Photoshop and then click the Change All button. You can do this for any
file type supported by the application you want to open it with.
Can’t remember if that application you want to launch is in Applications
or Utilities, just type the name of it in Spotlight and when it appears,
click on it to launch it.
If you launched an app that you decide you want to keep on the Dock
because you’ll be using it regularly, just hold down the mouse button on
it and choose “Keep in Dock” from the pop up menu dialog boxes.
To quit an Application without bringing the app to the foreground, just
hold the mouse button down on its icon in the Dock and choose Quit
from the popup menu.
To remove and icon from the dock of something that you’re not going to
be using regularly, drag its icon up off the dock and let go. Poof, it’s
gone.
page 12 Applebyte
Change your Desktop Picture with a Right Click (Contextual Menu). Get
used to the term Right Click. If you have a two-button mouse, the right
button is often set to Contextual Menu (Control-Click). When you right
click on the Desktop you can choose Change Desktop Background from
the Contextual Menu that pops up. Right Clicking is supported just about
everywhere in the OS and in your applications. You’d be surprised at
how much time you’ll save.
Use the Side Bar for Folders that you’ll access often. By default the Side
Bar contains, Home, Music, Documents, Pictures, Movies and
Applications. However, you can drag other folders there too. The
advantage of doing this is that you’ll have one click access to those
folders in all of your Open and Save dialog boxes.
You computer feels slow all of a sudden? See what’s really chewing up
your CPU time by launching the Activity Monitor in your Utilities
Folder.
What about Backing Up? Ideally you’d buy an external hard drive that is
at least as large as your internal drive, download Super Duper and clone/
backup your entire drive regularly. However, if you’re not quite ready to
be totally protected (and only God knows why not?), then at least back
up everything in your Home (the icon of a little house) folder. This
contains all the data YOU have put on your computer such as your
pictures, music and documents. If it will fit on a DVD or two, that’s
better than no backup at all.
ZIP it before you send it. If you have a large file or multiple files to send
via email, select them in the Finder and then choose “Create Archive
of....” from the Action menu at the top of your Finder window. This will
create a .zip file of whatever you had selected that is usually smaller in
size than the original and is cross platform. Not all file types will benefit
from this. Files like JPGs are already compressed.
Quickly move something to the trash without dragging. Select what you
want to trash and hit Command-Delete on your keyboard.
If you are having a hard time finding the same file/folder all the time in a
long list of items in a window, give it a color label so that it stands out.
Spotlight finds everything with the name you key in. To narrow it down
to just the kinds of things you’re looking for, put a “kind” after the name
you’re searching for. ie. iPhone kind:email would only bring up email
messages containing the word iPhone.
Rearrange the items on your Dock in the order you want by simply
dragging them to the left or right.
Customize your Finder windows with actions/buttons. Right Click on the
top of any Finder Window and choose Customize Toolbar. You’ll then
get a choice of actions such as New Folder, iDisk, etc. to drag to your
toolbar at the top of the Window.
Reprinted with permission of MacGroup-Detroit and Terry White
Applebyte page 13
MagnumMac Sez
What is new at MagnumMac?
As I write this Apple have just announced new
MacBook models. The complete MacBook range
has been updated with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB RAM and larger hard drives in every
model. Prices start from $1,839 inc GST.
We have several promotions happening over the next few weeks.
The one creating the most interest is buy any iMac until Saturday 9th of
June 2007 and receive a free 2GB iPod nano. If you are thinking about
getting a new iMac, this would be an ideal time to do it.
page 14 Applebyte
Also until the 9th of June, we have an instant
$550 inc GST cash back when you buy a
Mac Pro and Apple Cinema display. The
Mac Pro and Cinema display must be
purchased at the same time to qualify.
We also have two promotions that run through until the end of June.
Firstly we are offering a free 1GB Tomato USB flash drive when you
purchase any AppleCare extended service plan.
Secondly, our finance partner,
Flexirent, is offering a bonus
AirPort Extreme on any
Flexirent or Flexiown
transaction over $2,899 inc GST
over 36 months.
As always, there are a few conditions that apply to these promotions,
these are available instore.
Applebyte page 15
History - the rainbow apple
Jim Pollard
Whatever happened to the rainbow apple?
Apple computers used to sport a cheerful apple with six different
coloured stripes and a jaunty green leaf. But ten years ago the logo
was quietly dropped and replaced by a variety of more sombre
versions. I first noticed the change when MagnumMac in Carlisle Street
put up the Sign of the Black Apple as if in mourning for something. My
eMac has a shiny silver apple and I've seen white and pale grey versions
on other models.
Where did the rainbow apple come from and why did it go?
The use of rainbow flags has a long tradition; they are displayed in
many cultures around the world as a sign of diversity and inclusiveness,
of hope and of yearning. This denotation goes back to the rainbow as a
symbol of biblical promise when God gave the sign to Noah that there
would never be a flood like the one that happened then ever again. The
use of all the colours of the rainbow symbolizes all flags of gay people.
Already in the German Peasants' War of the 16th century, the rainbow
flag together with the peasants' boot ("Bundschuh") was used as the sign
of a new era, of hope and of social change.
The reformer Thomas Müntzer connected socially revolutionary claims
with his preaching of the gospel. He is often portrayed with a rainbow
flag in his hand. The Thomas Müntzer statue in the German town of
Stolberg also shows him holding a rainbow flag in his hand.
It has been used as a symbol of gay and lesbian pride since the 1970s.
The different colours symbolize diversity in the gay community. The
flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride in gay rights marches. It
originated in the United States, but is now used around the world.
According to History at www.kelleyad.com, Rob Janoff of Regis
McKenna Advertising designed an apple logo for Steve Jobs in 1977
with the apple representing “the acquisition of knowledge.” This
account goes on to describe how Steve Jobs added the rainbow colours to
the Janoff logo to emphasize the Apple II’s superior colour output.
Another version says that the profile of a rainbow coloured apple with
a bite out of it was chosen in homage to Alan Turing, the generally
acknowledged father of the modern computer and the developer of the
“Turing Test,” which pioneered the field of artificial intelligence. He
played a prominent role in the breaking of the German Enigma code
during World war 2. After the war Turing was treated very harshly by
the law when it was discovered that he was a homosexual and he was
forced to undergo chemical castration. On June 7 1954, his housekeeper
page 16 Applebyte
found his body. Next to his body was a cyanide-filled apple from which
one bite had been taken. .
Probably apocryphal but it may give a clue to Apple Computers
abandoning the logo in 1997. I can find no explanation for dropping it in
the usual sources on the internet so I've had to invent my own. Perhaps
the rainbow apple was dropped because of this spreading rumour and the
increasing use of the gay pride rainbow flag was thought to be damaging
to the image of Apple computers. I can understand the white apple as a
symbol of moral purity but how did the black version come about?
{Editor: I suspect the white logo wasn’t very prominent printed on white paper!}
~~//\\~~
Additional information:
Apple’s first logo, designed by Jobs and Wayne,
depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple
tree. Almost immediately, though, this was
replaced by Rob Janoff’s “rainbow Apple,” in
1976.
One story has this as a tribute to Isaac Newton's
discoveries of gravity (the apple), and the
separation of light by prisms (the colors).
Another story is that the logo is a reference to the
Bible story of Adam and Eve, in which the apple
represents the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
In her book Zeroes and Ones, author Sadie Plant
speculates that the rainbow logo was a homage to Alan Turing, the father
of modern computing.
According to Michael Moritz in The Little Kingdom, Rob Janoff, a young
art director, was assigned to the Apple account and set about designing
a corporate logo. Armed with the idea that the computers would be sold
to consumers and that their machine was one of the few to offer color,
Janoff set about drawing still lifes from a bowl of apples ... He gouged a
rounded chunk from one side of the Apple, seeing this as a playful
comment on the world of bits and bytes but also as a novel design. To
Janoff the missing portion "prevented the apple from looking like a
cherry tomato." He ran six colorful stripes across the Apple, starting
with a jaunty sprig of green, and the mixture had a slightly psychedelic
tint. The overall result was enticing and warm ...
In 1999, Apple began enforcing the use of a strictly monochrome logo.
No specific color is prescribed; for example, it is grey on the Power Mac
G5, Mac Mini, and iMac, blue (by default) in Mac OS X, chrome on the
'About this Mac' panel and the boot screen in Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4,
red on many software packages, and white on the iBook, PowerBook G4,
PowerBook G3 (late models), MacBook, and MacBook Pro.
Applebyte page 17
Headlines
Peter Fitchett
Hacker breaks into Mac at security conference
A hacker managed to break into a Mac and win a $10,000 prize as part of
a contest started at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver.
Student Paper Claims iPods Can Affect Pacemakers
Having the iPod within a couple of inches of the pacemaker wearer’s
chest caused their pacemaker to loose up to three heart beats within a
5-10 second period.
15% DISCOUNT SEE BELOW 15% DISCOUNT SEE BELOW
page 18 Applebyte
Getting there
Peter Fitchett
In a recent email from MacWorld, I was reminded that Google Maps had
the ability to find the shortest route
between two locations (for driving).
For example, select a journey from
Picton to Christchurch, and the result
is a detailed description of SH1 identifying all the
name-changes of the
road on the trip
south. How about a
trip from Wellington
to Christchurch? Yes,
Google knows that
you go on the Cook
Strait ferry.
The MacWorld email, looked at a New York to London trip. There is
no ferry, but all is not lost - Google directs you to Long Wharf in Boston,
and then tells you to swim - yes, swim across the Atlantic Ocean! The
total trip: 3937 miles (6336 km) requiring an estimated 29 days 10 hours.
(That is swimming a mere 192 km per day - are you up to the
challenge?)
W h i l s t M a c Wo r l d
claims that this shows
that Google has found
the shortest route, I
think one must wonder
a bit about swimming
past Lands End - all the
way to France where you then
drive from Le Havre to
Boulogne-sur-Mer and then to
the Dover Ferry! Scarcely the shortest route.
Oh, and by the way, Google hasn’t thought of us swimming to Australia,
nor across the Pacific to Los Angeles.
Applebyte page 19
Opinion
Nigel Cooper
In the absence of a “Prez Sez” column, I have volunteered to write a
“Trezh Sez”, because the club elected me Treasurer at the adjourned
AGM in March. This is not an onerous job, I believe. I have yet to find
out. Raewyn Saunders, who has done a magnificent job as President for
several years and Treasurer last year, has reluctantly had to hand
over the reins to others, now that she is fully occupied as a new Mum.
Congratulations Raewyn on this new achievement and adventure.
Having “been there, done that”, I rejoice with you in all the challenges
and joys that lie ahead. My only word of advice: when times are tough,
like being woken up several times a night, or the little one’s will trying to
take over and it doesn’t correspond with your will, be assured that, in
years ahead, as you look back, you’ll tend to remember the happy times
and forget about the tough times.
Raewyn, of course, will be bringing her child/ren up when the so-called
“anti-smacking bill” will be the law. Some might think this is a new era,
others a new error. Personally, I can’t remember the last time I smacked
my children. My daughter, now 25 and a mother herself, had (and has) a
very strong will – not a bad thing at all. Before she was two years old, I
recall smacking the back of her hand to stop some bad behaviour, and
she defiantly put out her other hand asking for another smack. “See, that
didn’t hurt, do it again, for all I care,” was written all over her face!
My son, now 22 years old, never needed a smack. If I so much as
frowned at him to let him know he was over-stepping the mark, his face
crumpled in tears, as he realised he had incurred my displeasure.
I needed inspiration one day, however, after the kids had been playfighting at the airport and wouldn’t settle down and ‘behave properly’
while seeing their mother off to England. Francis gave Liz a good kick
on the shins, and she tried to get him back, but I stopped it. She then
demanded to know what I would do to punish Francis. Well, what would
I do? In a flash of what I believe was divine inspiration, I said, “Well,
tonight we are going to have ice-cream for desert. Liz will have a large
helping, and Francis will have a small helping.” Liz grinned from ear to
ear, while Francis dissolved in tears. “That’s not fair,” he sobbed. It was,
and it solved the punishment issue immediately.
Enough on that. The other major story this month I’d like to comment on
is the David Bain case. What an extraordinary journey he has been on. I
don’t know whether he ‘did it’ or not, but I should like to make two
comments. One is that when the tragedy happened in the 90s, I met a
student friend of his, who told me with considerable conviction that she
knew him so well, she could not believe that he did this. There was no
possibility at all, she said. Clearly now, there were many who believed
that, and their faith has now been exonerated. It must have taken a lot of
courage on all their parts over many years to stick to their beliefs, in
spite of the many court cases, re-hearings, and disappointments. All of
New Zealand will now be rejoicing with them. And what a striking
figure David became when we saw him on TV after being freed –
page 20 Applebyte
dignified, calm, appreciative, not at all bitter or vindictive. He surely has
a valuable contribution to make to our society, in need of such qualities.
The editorial on David Bain (12 May), wrote, “If there is no retrial, the
trade-off must be that there will be no possibility of compensation for
him.” This is extraordinary. The guy has suffered hugely. Now he has
the chance for a retrial, which is the only way to clear his name. If the
Solicitor General decides not to hold another trial, either to save the
cost in time, money and effort, or because some witnesses are unable to
present their evidence, or because it might be impossible to find a fair
jury, then David should certainly have the right to ask for compensation.
If only because he is being denied the right to clear his name. Save a few
millions by all means by not having a new trial, and give those millions
to David, to enable him to cover some of the costs of those who helped
him, at considerable personal expense, all through the years. I hope the
powers that be will be fair to David now, which could help heal the pain
from their not having been fair to date.
Enough of current news and views. What of the Trezh report? Well, I can
only promise something next time, as I haven’t looked into it yet.
We have a short SGM at 7.30 sharp on Wednesday 31 May to complete
the election of
officers for this year.
The President is “If the club folds for the main one not
elected yet. At
the last committee
meeting, which lack of a President, was
a
sparkling,
pleasant, short would you be happy?” affair, we canvassed
all possibilities,
and drew a blank.
So I reluctantly faced the niggling thought I had been having for many
months, “If the club folds for lack of a President, would you be happy?
No. Look, you’ve benefitted from the club and enjoyed many friendships
for about 18 years. Why not offer to give back something to the club?”
So I volunteered to be nominated for President. That doesn’t stop anyone
else being nominated, of course. Twice in the past, I’ve been nominated,
and elections were held, and I came second each time, much to my relief.
It would not worry me at all should that happen again.
However, should I wear two hats, or should someone else volunteer to
relieve me of the Treasurer’s hat? The job is not onerous, I am assured.
The Secretary, Jim, clears the box, opens the mail and banks the cheques.
Raewyn will continue to maintain the membership database and produce
labels for members. And a committee member will be at the door each
club meeting to meet new people, take subs, etc. So the Treasurer has
only half the job to do – pay the bills and make a one page monthly
report to the committee.
If you are like me and having a niggling feeling at the back of your head
that you could give something back to the club after many years
of receiving from it, please volunteer, and let a committee member
know before 31 May. If no-one volunteers, I shall do it. Be there at
7.30 on 31 May. Be on time. I have another meeting that night, and
the Vice-President will be chairing the meeting.
Applebyte page 21
Why I need a laptop
David Chivers
Cycling the Otago Central rail trail without my Macintosh!
Alison and David Chilvers recently completed this 150km ride over a
5-day period with 4 other geriatric friends. This is a brief outline of the
trail and their journey.
In the days before the railway it could take two days by coach from
Dunedin to reach the Central Otago towns. Goods and supplies, which
had to come by wagon, took much longer as a day’s travel for a wagon
was seldom more than 30 kilometres.
From the early 1870s there were calls for a railway to be built to Central
Otago. There was general agreement on the need for the railway but
there was much argument over which route it should take. In 1877 a
government report reviewed seven possible routes.
The Strath Taieri route was adopted because it crossed a minimum of
rough country and its semi circular route (which skirted around the
formidable Rough Ridge, Rock and Pillar, and Lammermore ranges),
allowed access to the largest area of Crown land available for settlement.
Construction began with a ceremony on June 7 1879. Construction of the
line was slow. It took 6 years to complete the first 12.5 km. It wasn't
until January 1891 that the line reached Middlemarch, a distance of
64km. The remaining 150 km of line to Clyde was opened in April 1907.
Between 1914 and 1921 the line was extended to Cromwell.
Almost all the construction work (apart from bridge contracts) on the line
between Middlemarch and Cromwell was carried out under a
cooperative system. Under this system, workmen formed themselves
into parties of 10 - 12, one of who was elected the head man.
Construction camps were set up along the railway for the workmen and
their families. Schools, stores and boarding houses were built along the
line to cater to the needs of the inhabitants of the camps. These camps
page 22 Applebyte
were periodically shifted along the line to keep pace with the
construction.
The Otago Central Rail Trail is a 150km stretch of the former railway
track, which has been redeveloped at a cost of $800,000 approx, for the
recreational use of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The crushed rock
ballast of the railway foundation has been removed to improve the
surface for users. It has over 60 redecked bridges and is a unique
recreational facility within New Zealand.
No cars, no trucks, and no tour buses, make it a great place to cycle,
walk or horse ride.
The six of us decided to start at the Clyde end and we cycled about 30km
per day. This was usually
easily achieved by lunchtime.
This gave us the afternoon to
sight see our stop over area
and have a relaxed, and
sometimes rather liquid
evening! As a result, as well
as be able to enjoy the grand
central Otago scenery from
our bikes, we were able to
explore the new vineyards of
the Clyde area, the beauty of
St Bathens with its famous
haunted Vulcan hotel, the
peace of the Naseby hills and
the madness of the Macraes
opencast gold mine area.
We stayed at a variety of
Motels and Hotels,
the
standout being the
Commercial Hotel in
Omakau, which, although only
offering a cold show during the day, provided the most magnificent
cuisine in the evening!
Being 4WD drivers as well as cyclists Alison and I took the opportunity,
to travel to Clyde via the “old Dunstan Rd” This is one of the first roads
from Dunedin to the Goldfields of the Clyde in the mid 1800’s and went
OVER the Rough Ridge, Rock and Pillar, and Lammermore ranges rather
than around them. Even now it is a 4WD only track, which is closed in
the winter. What it would have been like in the stagecoach days is better
left to the imagination! Anyway it is now a grand scenic route through
some of New Zealand’s best high country, which now sports several
“mountain top” irrigation reservoirs providing first class sailing, boating
and fishing for the locals. We lashed our bikes to our spare tyre and went
for it, past the proposed 170-turbine wind farm site on the Lammermore
Applebyte page 23
Range, and had lunch watching the sailing on the Poolburn reservoir.
The road was so good at that time of the year (March) that although we
had several streams to cross we never had to engaged 4WD!
I always carry, when travelling, two compact cameras, one with a wideangle lens, an the other with a 10 times telephoto lens. As a result I
took about 300 images over the 5 days. Using the convenience of Apple
Macintosh’s iPhoto’s storage and viewing software I have since thinned
these down to the 70 best images which I have had professionally
printed in 5 by 7 size for our album of the trip. I do wish that I had had a
MacBook laptop with me though, which would have enabled me to do a
lot of the vetting each night and perhaps do some retakes the next day
before moving on.
Anyway, I recommend this trip for any age with a modicum of fitness,
in fact our observation was that there were more pensioners cycling when
we were there in March, than any other age group! But take your laptop
if you are a photographer!
page 24 Applebyte
Colours
Common Colors and Their Most Common Meanings
Red: energy, passion, excitement, power; also implies aggression,
danger.
Blue: cool, peace, spirituality, patience, loyalty, trustworthiness; can
imply sadness, depression.
Yellow: light, optimism, happiness, brightness, joy.
Green: life, naturalness, restfulness, health, wealth, prosperity; in
certain contexts, can imply decay, toxicity.
Orange: friendliness, warmth, approachability, energy, playfulness,
courage.
Violet: wisdom, sophistication, celebration.
White: purity, cleanliness, youth, freshness, peace; (but in some Asian
areas: death).
Black: power, elegance, secrecy, mystery.
Gray: security, maturity, reliability.
Pink: romance a feminine color.
Brown: comfort, strength, stability, credibility.
SeniorNet Mac
Computer Training Lessons: Two-hour sessions, once a week for four
weeks. Course notes are provided. Classes are small with a maximum of
six students and two tutors per lesson.
Social Events: Held occasionally.
Newsletter: Supplied every two months.
The Learning Centre is situated in the Cranmer Centre Poolhouse,
which is accessed from Montreal Street at the Armagh Street corner.
Contact: If you would like to join SeniorNet Mac and are in the 55-plus
age group, please contact Tom Mitchell at (03) 338 9837, or email:
t.mitchell@snap.net.nz,
or else leave a message on the club’s answerphone at (03) 365 2003.
Applebyte page 25
Accidental discoveries
Belinda & Rolf
Shut down
I used to use the keyboard with Command Control and the Power switch
to shut down the computer when it was not responding and all else
failed. I pressed Command Option Control and the Eject key for the CD
and it worked. Now I won't have to fiddle around behind the computer
looking for the switch and holding it down for 10 seconds.
Option + Command + Eject:
for putting the computer to sleep
Control + Command + Eject: for restarting.
Two videos
So you want to watch two videos on one monitor at the same time
(Why?) Start the two videos and then press F9 to make them share the
screen. As long as one has an audio track and the other doesn't this can
work. Good with screencasts.
(Do you have any suggestions as to what pair of movies could be
watched at the same time - and which sound track would you choose?
Any suggestions can be listed next month.)
Abraham Lincoln
"You have to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather
was."
Group contacts
Editor
Web Editor
Mailing Lists
Peter Fitchett
editor@appleusers.co.nz
Peter Fitchett
web@appleusers.co.nz
Peter Fitchett
listadmin@appleusers.co.nz
(3) 960 8189
(3) 960 8189
(3) 960 8189
The AUGC Discussion List is for members who wish
to discuss club matters.
The HELP list is open to all Mac users who wish to
give or receive assistance.
(Contact Peter to join these mailing lists).
page 26 Applebyte
Appleline
The following members are willing to give some voluntary help to
members who have problems.
Please respect the time they give as many have a working life as well as
catering for family needs.
Difficulty deciding who to contact. For advice where to start contact
Sally Tripp or Peter Fitchett.
Beginners/new users:
Sally Tripp
329-9752
sally.tripp@xtra.co.nz
Mike Holliday
383-1698
holliday@ihug.co.nz
Appleworks:
Ian Orchard*
352-4064
Ian.Orchard@ihug.co.nz
Desktop publishing; Pagemaker/Indesign:
Belinda Carter
942-3000
b.carter@paradise.net.nz
iWork: Pages; iLife:
Peter Fitchett
960-8189
pfitchett@netaccess.co.nz
Internet:
Peter Fitchett
960-8189
pfitchett@netaccess.co.nz
MS Word:
Euan Kennedy
980-5712
gonebush@paradise.net.nz
Networking:
Ian Orchard*
352-4064
Ian.Orchard@ihug.co.nz
Peter Fitchett
960-8189
pfitchett@netaccess.co.nz
Photoshop:
Warren Matthews 379-3071
sallys.preschool@xtra.co.nz
Systems management/problems:
Bart Hanson
980-1199
bart@orcon.net.nz
Systems; OS9:
Euan Kennedy
980-5712
gonebush@paradise.net.nz
Ian Orchard*
352-4064
Ian.Orchard@ihug.co.nz
OS X:
Ian Orchard*
352-4064
Ian.Orchard@ihug.co.nz
If a topic you require assistance with is not listed go to the
Club’s Website:
http://www.appleusers.co.nz
* These members are willing to provide help to members but there may
be a charge - you will be told first.
Applebyte page 27
About the user group
Aims
The Apple User Group of Canterbury
Incorporated (AUGC) is a non-profit
organisation which exists for the purpose
of exchanging ideas and expertise about
the use of Apple
computers,
the
Macintosh operating systems, and related
hardware and software.
Committee
Patron
Murray Wood, MagmumMac
President
Vice-President
Secretary
Treasurer
Committee
Help:
president@appleusers.co.nz
Noel Strack
vicepres@appleusers.co.nz
Jim Pollard
secretary@appleusers.co.nz
Nigel Cooper
treasurer@appleusers.co.nz
Peter Fitchett
editor@appleusers.co.nz
Ian Orchard
ian.orchard@ihug.co.nz
Bart Hanson
bart@orcon.net.nz
Peter Tuffley
ptuffley@xtra.co.nz
(3) 355 4546
(3) 358 7943
(3) 377 5582
(3) 960 8189
(3) 352 4064
(3) 980 1199
(3) 332 7951
A full list of helpers and volunteers can be
viewed in the Contacts section of our website.
Snail Mail: PO Box 31–053, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Website: http://www.appleusers.co.nz