Newsletter to Members
August 2008
Next Meeting:
MONDAY 4 AUGUST 6.30PM (ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING)
Your Committee is up for re-election. Incumbents have indicated they are prepared to stand again, but if you would like to join the Committee and contribute to the running of the club, you will be very welcome (only financial members can stand for election and vote).
Join us for supper in the break. Raffle prizes this month include:
- Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Install DVD
- The iPhone Book by Scott Kelby and Terry White, courtesy of Peachpit Press
- USB Hub with card reader
- 4GB USB Thumb drives, iTunes Cards, recordable CD/DVD media – and more!
Public Domain Software Discs
Our Disc-of-the-Month software compilation CDs are on sale at meetings for just $5 each. For more info and order form, log in to the AMUG web site members area, or view these recent PDFs:
- "AUDIOPHILE" (new) – a huge collection of audio and music tools for the Mac (3-page PDF 144K).
- "ARCADE MANIA" – a collection of over 50 classic, retro and modern Arcade Games that will provide hours of fun for all ages (2-page PDF 132K).
REMINDER: Fees are due 1 July each year – have you renewed?
STAY TUNED for news of our 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS in December.
Boy, what a time to be away with so many Apple events happening in June and July. While your itinerant editor was swanning around Europe and Britain, Apple dominated the media with a number of significant announcements from the Worldwide Developers Conference…
Sydney Apple Store opens
Apple’s First Retail Store in Australia opened to great fanfare in Sydney on Thursday 19 June. Located in the heart of the city’s shopping district, the Apple Store Sydney features two floors dedicated to Macs and iPods and a third floor entirely dedicated to service, including the world’s largest Genius Bar.
Every Apple retail store offers customers great ways to get the most out of their Mac and iPod, such as free advice at the Genius Bar, popular in-store workshops and special programs for kids. Customers can also book a free appointment with a Personal Shopper to get expert buying advice. The hands-on Apple retail store experience gives customers a chance to test-drive Apple’s entire product line.
The Apple Store Sydney also brings Pro Labs to Australia, offering free, in-depth training on Apple’s professional creative applications for digital photography, music production and video editing including Final Cut Pro.
Apple now operates 215 retail stores in six countries including Australia, the US, UK, Japan, Canada and Italy.
The Apple Store Sydney is located at 367 George Street, one block North of the Queen Victoria Building. A Schedule of in-store Workshops and Events is online here: www.apple.com/au/retail/sydney/
While in London, I visited the London Apple Store on Regent Street. The friendly staff there claim theirs is the world’s biggest in terms of floor space, although they acknowledge that Sydney runs a close second (even bigger than New York). Note 2-to-1 experts/customer ratio at this Genius Bar – KD.
iPhone 3G released worldwide
Twice as Fast at Half the Price
In case you have been living under a rock recently, the iPhone has reached Australia, and not just the first-generation US model – the new iPhone 3G gives users faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.
Image courtesy of Apple.
New iPhone 2.0 software provides the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac or PC.
iPhone 3G comes in 8GB and 16GB models and is available on a variety of monthly and prepay plans from Telstra Shops (Next G Network), Optus, Vodaphone and JB Hi-Fi.
iPhone 3G is now available in 22 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US. As at 15 July 2008 – just three days after its launch on Friday 11 July – Apple announced it had sold one million of the new iPhones worldwide.
The iPhone App Store
iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, with over 500 native applications available to iPhone users in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available.
Australian TV shows on iTunes
Apple announced in June that television programmes from Australia's top networks including the ABC, 7 Network and 9 Network, along with US-produced programs from The Walt Disney Company's ABC Studios, Disney Channel and MTV Networks, are now available on the iTunes Store in Australia.
Television shows now available are: Canal Road, McLeod's Daughters, Sea Patrol, Urban Magic, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Scrubs, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes, Double the Fist, Foreign Correspondent Postcards, Sleek Geeks and Surfing the Menu; Disney Channel's Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Cory in the House; and MTV Networks' Blue's Clues, The Hills, Laguna Beach, My Super Sweet Sixteen, South Park and Pimp My Ride.
Apple charges A$2.99 inc GST per episode in Australia. TV shows from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, fifth generation iPod, iPod classic, iPod touch or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.
dotMac replaced by MobileMe
MobileMe replaces dotMac and is a new Internet service that “pushes” email, contacts, and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs.
"Think of MobileMe as Exchange for the rest of us," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get."
MobileMe web applications are 100 percent ad-free and provide a desktop-like experience that allows users to drag and drop, click and drag and even use keyboard shortcuts. MobileMe provides anywhere access to Mail, Contacts and Calendar, with a unified interface that allows users to switch between applications with a single click, and Gallery makes it easy to share photos on the web in stunning quality.
Gallery users can upload, rearrange, rotate and title photos from any browser; post photos directly from an iPhone; allow visitors to download print quality images; and contribute photos to an album.
MobileMe iDisk lets users store and manage files online with drag and drop filing and makes it easy to share documents too large to email by automatically sending an email with a link for downloading the file. MobileMe includes 20GB of online storage that can be used for email, contacts, calendar, photos, movies and documents.
Pricing:
MobileMe is a subscription-based service hosted in the US, that costs $99 (US) per year for individuals and $149 (US) for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Current .Mac members have been automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts. Subscription does not include the cost of Internet access from a compatible ISP.
System Requirements:
For use with a Mac, MobileMe requires Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 or the latest version of Mac OS X Leopard. For a PC, MobileMe requires Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2), and Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later is recommended. Using an iPhone or iPod touch with MobileMe requires iPhone 2.0 software and iTunes 7.7 or later. MobileMe is accessible on the web via Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7, and Firefox 2 or later. Broadband Internet connection recommended. Some features require Mac OS X Leopard and iLife '08, available separately.
Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers
Mac OS X Snow Leopard will build on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime X. Snow Leopard will include out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.
WWDC Keynote : QuickTime Version Available Online
Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil iPhone 3G, the App Store, MobileMe and more in his WWDC keynote address from San Francisco's Moscone West.
See what all the excitement was about: www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08/
Apple Software Updates posted in July
Go to Software Update under the Apple menu on your computer, or download from www.apple.com/support/downloads/
- Posted 31/7/08: Security Update 2008-005
Recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update (PPC: 88MB; Intel: 143MB; Leopard: 65MB).
- Posted 29/7/08: Lexmark Printer Driver 1.1
Includes the latest drivers for printers you have used on your system (71MB). - Posted 28/7/08: Aperture 2.1.1
Supports general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues (48MB). - Posted 24/7/08: AirPort Extreme Update 2008-002
Recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers running Mac OS 10.4.11 Tiger (2MB). - Posted 22/7/08: iPhoto 7.1.4
Contains new holiday greeting card and postcard themes for use with Apple print products (74MB). - Posted 22/7/08: iMovie 7.1.4
Addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues (38MB). - Posted 22/7/08: iLife Support 8.3
Provides system software components shared by all iLife '08 applications (10MB). - Posted 22/7/08: iWeb 2.0.4
Addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues (35MB). - Posted 15/7/08: HP Printer Driver 1.1
The HP Printer Driver Update includes the latest drivers for printers you have used on your system (405MB). - Posted 10/7/08: iTunes 7.7
Sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G (48MB).
S
upport for Adobe Flash Technology, PDF Portfolios and Real-time Capabilities.
New Acrobat 9 provides support for Adobe Flash technology, enabling users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents – for example, to convert web pages with multimedia to PDF documents. The PDF files can be shared for review and comment with others who are using free Adobe Reader® 9 software.
Acrobat 9 includes the ability to unify a wide range of content into a single document with the new concept of PDF Portfolios. PDF Portfolios enable users to assemble multiple media types into one, compressed PDF file that can be customized with several professional layouts. A single document can include charts, spreadsheets, images and video.
In addition, for enterprise and corporate users, Acrobat 9 provides access to capabilities for collaborating live within a PDF document, enabled by working with Acrobat.com, a suite of hosted services available as public beta at www.acrobat.com. This new capability can enable users to drive a group’s navigation through a PDF document in real-time, helping ensure everyone is literally, and figuratively, on the same page.
The Acrobat 9 family consists of Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro (for print professionals), and the new Acrobat 9 Pro Extended software. The most comprehensive member of the family, Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, includes Adobe Presenter software for easily turning Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations into multimedia experiences that can be published as PDF files.
A feature comparison between Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat 9 Pro Extended is posted here:
www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/matrix.html
Adobe Creative Suite® 3.3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, and Master Collection bundles include Acrobat 9 Pro.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Upgrade
Adobe has announced immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer's essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.
Microsoft® features MacBook with Office Online
Microsoft’s Office Online web site features Office apps running on what looks very much like a MacBook, in its pages targeted to School and Education users. Interesting, given Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer’s well documented and often YouTube’d rants against Apple and its iPhone marketing activities. Or is it a MacBook look-alike? Check it out:
office.microsoft.com and
office.microsoft.com/en-us/school/FX102781641033.aspx
China Photo Trip
September 21 to October 4, 2008
David Harradine – pro photographer, respected Adobe trainer and colour management expert – has just 2 places left for his China Photo Trip, completely devoted to photography. 14 days throughout China; includes sunrise and sunset photo shoots, Photoshop Lightroom workshops, seminars on techniques to improve images and some free time to explore.
Download David’s PDF (308K) for full details:
www.whack.com.au/website/images/pdfs/china2008.pdf
Steve Wozniak: How it began
Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in 1976. In this interview with the BBC from the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, California, Woz remembers how it all began and the influence of Bill Gates in those early days of personal computers.
Anthropomorphic Fonts in CollegeHumor Video
by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
We Mac users tend to put great stock in our fonts, and now, thanks to a hilarious bit of sketch comedy from CollegeHumor, we can imagine what different fonts would be like if they were people…
Take Control News
Screen Sharing in Leopard Explained
With screen sharing, you control the mouse and keyboard of one computer while you sit at another computer across the room or on the other side of the world. It's great for providing remote tech support, for configuring and managing remote servers, and for collaborating with colleagues in real time. There are two new ebooks about screen sharing, both by TidBITS contributing editor Glenn Fleishman.
In “Take Control of Screen Sharing in Leopard,”the author documents the new screen-sharing capabilities in Leopard. Screen-sharing applications have been available for the Mac for many years, but Leopard makes screen sharing accessible to normal Mac users. Apple has piled on the options, enabling screen sharing via iChat, Bonjour, directly by entering an IP address or hostname, and Back to My Mac. All these choices bring complexity, and this book helps you figure out which type of screen sharing to use when, how to share screens with people who are not running Leopard and even with Windows users, and how to get the most out of Leopard's hidden Screen Sharing application. The 88-page book also includes troubleshooting information and assistance with configuring routers for screen sharing. MUG discount link.
In “Take Control of Back to My Mac,” Glenn changes gears to focus on the Back to My Mac service also introduced in Leopard. With Back to My Mac, you can connect from one of your Macs to another for file and screen sharing, making it possible, for instance, to snag a forgotten document or to control your Power Mac G5 from your MacBook while on a trip. Or at least that's the theory, since in practice, people have had huge trouble in getting Back to My Mac working. In this book, you'll find essential details on configuring common routers to work with Back to My Mac, learn about the security implications of using Back to My Mac, and discover handy features in the hidden Screen Sharing application. The 100-page book even covers the latest significant improvements to Back to My Mac in Mac OS X 10.5.3. MUG discount link.
The above two new ebooks cost US$10 each (US$9 with our 10% MUG discount using the URLs above) or you can get both of them together for US$15 with this link.
Make Better Backups with New Take Control Ebooks
If you want to make rock-solid backups that will truly save the day in the event of catastrophic file corruption, disk failure, theft, fire, or flood, here are two updated ebooks about backups from expert TidBITS author Joe Kissell. As always, the links below include the 10% MUG coupon.
In the third edition of "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups," Joe helps you go beyond the false security of turning on Time Machine or copying a few files to CD. You'll find an at-a-glance comparison of different backup strategies (low-cost, easy, safest), along with extra advice for backing up digital photos and massive video projects. You'll also learn the pros and cons of each type of backup media, including hard disk, Time Capsule, Internet backup services, optical discs, and more; discover how to pick the best backup software for your needs; and find time-tested recommendations for setting up, testing, and maintaining backups, complete with essential instructions for restoring after a crash. Covers Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. MUG discount link.
Version 1.1 of Joe's "Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard" teaches you the fastest and easiest way to create a complete Leopard backup system – including archives, an all-important bootable duplicate, and an offsite backup – from which you can restore your data after an accident or disaster. Joe helps you identify the backup hardware that best matches your needs and budget (including a look at Time Capsule – Apple's new backup appliance), and he provides instructions for using Time Machine as well as alternatives for eight cases where Time Machine won't provide the backups you need. Joe walks you through every step of the way, from setting up your backup drive or Time Capsule to explaining how to recover your precious data in case of a deleted or corrupted file, a dead drive, or a stolen laptop. MUG discount link.
Some of the content Joe generated simply could not fit in an ebook, so TidBITS has put it online, and made it free to everyone. You can read his comprehensive comparison of Mac backup apps here.
Saturday Workshop
One-on-one Mac Help from AMUG Committee members in a friendly, sharing environment.
Saturday August 9, commencing 10am. Room 136C (Computer Lab), Ground Floor, Webster Building, UNSW Kensington.
Bring your own Notebook or use one of the Uni's iMacs.
To book, phone Rob on 9387 2069 or email sydamug@mac.com
If you do not wish to receive any future editions of this online newsletter, please send an email to AMUG Sydney.