Sunday, January 27, 2008

XScreenSaver v. 1.6.1

XScreenSaver v. 1.6.1 ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x) compatible]

What is 'XScreenSaver'?: A folder of 210 screen saver files.
Cost: Freeware - $0.00.

What is downloaded: 27.2 MB 'xscreensaver-5.04.dmg' file.
Decompressed '.dmg' file: A 78.2 MB disk image (a virtural disk / folder) of 210 screen saver files and a 'READ ME' file.

web page - to view snapshots of screen savers: ‘snapshots'
web page - to download '.dmg' file from: ‘download.html'

direct download link: 'xscreensaver-5.04.dmg'

What now?
01. Download the 'xscreensaver-5.04.dmg' file.
02. Double click on the '.dmg' file to decompress it - resulting in a 'XScreenSaver 5.04' disk image appearing on the 'Desktop', and the disk images' 'ZScreenSaver 5.04' window displayed. See Figure 01.
03. Decide which screen saver file(s) you want to install, and which 'Screen Savers' folder to drag the file(s) to. See Figure 02.
For screen savers to be used only by the current user - drag the file(s) to the '~/Library/Screen Savers/' folder.
For screen savers to be used by all users of the Macintosh - drag the file(s) to the '/Library/Screen Savers/' folder.

[ Click on each picture to see in full scale ]

Figure 01.

Figure 02.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Free ware, Share ware, Commercial ware

List of applications demo'ed at 26. Jan. 2008 Mac@PACS meeting:

XScreenSaver v. 5.0.4
You Control: Tunes v. 1.6.1
Butler v. 1.4.5
MenuCalendarClock for iCal v. 3.1.0
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac



XScreenSaver v. 1.6.1 ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x) compatible]

What is 'XScreenSaver'?: A folder of 210 screen saver files.
Cost: Freeware - $0.00.

What is downloaded: 27.2 MB 'xscreensaver-5.04.dmg' file.
Decompressed '.dmg' file: A 78.2 MB disk image (a virtural disk / folder) of 210 screen saver files and a 'READ ME' file.

web page - to view snapshots of screen savers: ‘snapshots'
web page - to download '.dmg' file from: ‘download.html'

direct download link: 'xscreensaver-5.04.dmg'



You Control: Tunes v. 1.6.1 ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x)* compatible]

What is 'You Control: Tunes'?: A menu bar list of 'iTunes' controls.
Cost: Freeware - $0.00. ( requires free serial number** )

What is downloaded: 3.1 MB 'you_control_tunes.dmg' file.

web page: ‘http://www.yousoftware.com/tunes/

* - Not on my MacBook (late 2007), running 10.5.0, at the Macs@PACS meeting. However, when at home and connected to the internet - 'You Control: Tunes' did properly launch, etc.
** - Obtain free serial number here.

Remember - enter a bogus first and last name, and then enter any set of alphanumeric characters followed by '@mailinator.com'; such as 'qwerty01@mailinator.com' (also, remember to write them down). After clicking the 'Submit' button - open another another web browser window, go to 'mailinator.com', and check for any e-Mail messages to 'qwerty01'. From the reply by 'yousoftware.com' write down the provided serial number. You now have the information needed to register 'You Control: Tunes', from within the application.



Butler v. 1.4.5 ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x) compatible]

What is 'Butler'?: Is a task manager. The tasks can be managed with menu bar, popup menus, keyboard equivalents, hot (screen) corners, and events.
Cost: Donationware - $18.00

What is downloaded: 1.8 MB 'butler.dmg' file.

url: ‘http://www.manytricks.com/butler/



MenuCalendarClock for iCal v. 3.1.0 ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x) compatible]

What is 'MenuCalendarClock'?: A customizable menu bar clock / calendar utility.
Cost: Freeware / Shareware ($19.95)

What is downloaded: 976 KB 'MenuCalendarClock-3.1.0.dmg.gz' file.

url: ‘http://www.objectpark.net/mcc.html



Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac ['Tiger' (MacOS X 10.4.x) and 'Leopard' (MacOS X 10.5.x) compatible]

What is 'Parallels Desktop'?: A virtualization application. With 'Paralles Desktop' one can run various versions of Linux and MS Windows.
Cost: Commercial ware: $79.99

url: ‘http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/



Detailed reviews of the above applications will appear soon. Return to blog regularly to view.

FrogPad the one handed keyboard(http://www.frogpad.com/)


FrogPad™ is a one-handed keyboard to be used with USB Keyboard compatible PDA's, Pocket PCs, Tablet and Wearable PC's, and other mobile applications, such as portable laptops, which utilizes the flexibility and ease of one-handed functionality and the performance of an efficient keyboard.

The FrogPad™ has been designed for fast data entry. The letter layout is based on the percent usage of each letter in the English language. Fifteen letters that are used 86% of the time by typists are placed in the most efficient locations on the keyboard.

FrogPad™ for the Disabled User

At FrogPad™ the mission is to improve the lives of the physically challenged. They understand the frustration that occurs at work when you can’t type at a productive speed because of physical limitations. With FrogPad™ you will soon be on your way to typing 40 words per minute regardless of if you only have the use of one good hand. FrogPad™ also helps physically challenged children to keep up with their classmates at school so that their disability does not interfere with their learning.

Unlike previous approaches to one-handed typing, FrogPad™ is intuitive and uses full sized keys just like the QWERTY keyboard. The letters have been arranged on the FrogPad™ to improve typing speeds over the QWERTY and half QWERTY methods. You may have been unimpressed with chording keyboards because of their awkward look and many complicated key presses. With the FrogPad™ you only need to use a maximum of two fingers at a time to access any letter. Also, the fun attractive look of the FrogPad™ will have all of your friends jealous and wanting one of their own.

The Veterans Coalition Challenge wants to give 1000 FrogPads to each disabled Veteran that wants one, but they need your help. see this url: http://medical.presslib.com/medical-products/607971.htm
Mac World, San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 14, 2008 -- FrogPad, Inc. announces the expansion of the Coalition Veterans Challenge. We asked the question, "What can we the people do for those who have been sent to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and have returned disabled".

We must stand in this question and recognize that there are no politics in a disabled soldier. As the weaponry becomes more sophisticated, the injury becomes more frightful and devastating. These are injuries that will affect the rest of the life of the young soldier. The estimates are that there are over 10,000 Vets returning from these wars without the use of a hand or arm.

FrogPad can do something that the big industrial and military complexes have not offered. FrogPad, Inc. begins the IOOO FrogPad Program . FrogPad products and services that make a difference to each US and Coalition veteran that requires one because of loss of a hand. FrogPad is a simple one-handed keyboard, which can have significant impact on a veteran staying integrated in the IT workplace. This is our effort to demonstrate that even a small Hispanic Woman Enterprise can bridge the gap in International relations.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Fred Slavin

Fred passed away on 18 January 2008, in his young 80s.




Saturday, December 1, 2007

Animoto...a cool video tool

If you don’t think you are a creative person. Or if you just can’t figure out those pesky details when it comes to technology. Then you are in luck, because this application, Animoto, will create some amazing artistic videos for you with little or no technical knowledge.

The amazing thing about this application is the unique approach it takes to every creation. I used different songs with the same slides to see what would result. I was totally amazed at the uniqueness of each movie. The application analyses each photograph and song so that it can appropriately massages them into a visually appealing movie that can be emailed, downloaded, and embedded into web pages. I can just imagine some of the finished products when you introduce creative people to such an application. I personally wasted (not really) several hours when I should have been doing something else. But, then I think of the enjoyment I got from putting my pictures and music together with some professional help.

Animoto Productions is a bunch of techies and film/tv producers who decided to lock themselves in a room together and nerd out. Their first release is Animoto, a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced in wide-screen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. They are a welcome end to slideshows.

The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic A.I. technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film. The technology takes into account every nuance of a song - the genre, song structure, energy, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocals. Whether it's punk, pop, hip-hop or a classical Mozart piece, every Animoto video is totally customized. Even videos generated with an identical set of images and music will each have a completely distinct set of motion design. No two videos are the same. They can be emailed, downloaded, and embedded in pages on websites including social network sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Animoto is also dedicated to supporting new artists and music. So while users can upload their own music, the guys at Animoto also proudly feature a regularly updated selection of fresh music that they truly dig. No stock music, no cover bands, no elevator music, and no wannabe bands.

Animoto is inspired by the digital camera revolution where taking dozens, even hundreds of pictures at a time gives people the ability to think more like a video producer capturing an entire experience, not just individual moments. As users are discovering the limits of traditional photo services, the guys at Animoto are innovating new ways for people to share their stories and express themselves through media.

While based in New York City, they also have an office in San Francisco, the founders are veterans of the entertainment industry and have produced shows for MTV, Comedy Central, & ABC, studied music in London, and played in indie rock bands. They share a passion for helping people better share their stories and express themselves through online media by innovating technologies in the field of video production.

Don’t linger………. Rush to: http://animoto.com/
Take a peak at one of mine: http://animoto.com/play/bbd3c52e591fc0e9bf1411c6af1d9cf3

Monday, November 26, 2007

WD Caviar GreenPower

New 500GB drive promises to save power

By Peter Cohen

Western Digital (WD) on Monday announced that it’s shipping in volume its WD Caviar GreenPower (or GP) 500GB hard disk drive mechanism. The drive costs $149.99.

The WD Caviar GP is a 3.5-inch hard disk drive bound for external enclosures or internal chassis inside computers that use Serial ATA (SATA) interfaces. The “GreenPower” moniker indicates that this unit is especially designed to be power-efficient. WD claims the drive is the industry’s coolest and quietest running eco-friendly 500GB drive.

The GP 500GB model uses the same technology as its 1GB counterpart. It yields and average drive power savings of four to five watts over other drives in its class; WD claims that results in an annual CO2 emission reduction of up to 13.8 kilograms per drive per year, or the equivalent of taking a car off the road for about three days per year.

The drive utilizes special technology that reduces power load during startup, and optimizes spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms. It will automatically unload its recording heads during idle periods, for example, which reduces aerodynamic drag. It also reduces less noise and lower vibration rates accordingly.

The drive sports a 16MB data buffer and an average read seek time of 8.9 milliseconds (ms). Transfer rate is 3 Gb/s for the buffer-to-host (SATA) speed, and 1,160 Mb/s for the buffer-to-disk transfer rate.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Leopard Update

Latest Mac OS X 10.5.1 build fixes Finder data loss issue

By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 04:00 PM EST


Apple Inc. on Monday continued to pound away at its first maintenance and security update to the recently released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system, issuing a new test build to developers that fixes the much publicized Finder data loss issue.

People familiar with the ongoing testing process for Mac OS X 10.5.1 Update say the new build, labeled Mac OS X 10.5.1 build 9B16, was accompanied by a note to developers that specifically mentions a Finder-related fix affecting files that are moved between directories.

It was widely reported earlier this month that Leopard's Finder is affected by a glaring bug in its directory-moving code, which could lead to horrendous data loss if a destination volume disappears while a move operation is in progress.

Those people familiar with pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.5.1 also added that the software update will deliver an enhancement to Leopard that will allow Apple's Software Update and installer applications to make revisions to application files which may have been moved outside their designated "Applications" directory on Leopard volumes.

As was the case with build 9B13, which was released for private testing last Monday, Apple is reportedly asking that its developers test the latest build broadly, paying particular attention to Time Machine, Mail, iCal, Back To My Mac, Bonjour, AirPort, gaming graphics, networking and the Finder.

Mac OS X 10.5.1 is expected to be released as a free update within a few weeks' time.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Steve Zalot presents iLife'08


Many thanks to Steve Zalot for a tremendous presentation on Apple's new iLife'08 and iWork'08. He certainly covered all of the bases and everyone had a tremendous insight into what the programs had to offer.
Now all we have to do is put his helpful hints into play.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Read - Watch -Do sequence for learning

Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One (CD-ROM included)
By McClelland, Deke
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-596-52975-8 490 pages, $49.95 US, $64.99 CA,
Company/Producer’s name: Deke Press/O’Reilley
Phone #: 800-998-9938 Online address: www.oreily.com

Deke created this book for both amateur and professional graphic artists, designers, and photographers. It is another in a series of books that provide step-by-step lessons accompanied by beautiful full colored lessons combined with video lessons and data files. The author’s approach is a “hands on –step-by-step process" that allows the reader to proceed at their own pace and establish their own sequence of lessons to personalize the instruction.
The book’s content is divided into 12 lessons that include several (up to 3-7) step-by-step exercises to explain the techniques. Explanations, data files, and video lessons support these real world project based exercises.
The book is highly visual, colorful, informative, easy on the eye providing nicely laid out pages on heavy clay based paper, and a comprehensive index to support the text.

Lastly, the wonders of the digital age have provided us with the possibilities of a virtual classroom in which anyone can invite an expert in the field to tutor them one-on-one. I would like to say that Deke McClelland has created a comprehensive training experience into which you can submerge yourself for hours at a time. In process of reading this book you'll get a good dose of graphics theory, best practices, and tips for avoiding Photoshop disasters. L. McNeil

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Apple Updates MacBooks to Santa Rosa, GMA X3100; 2.6GHz MacBook Pro

posted by MacRumors.com

Thursday November 01, 2007 05:08 AM ESTAs rumored, Apple has quietly updated the MacBook tonight to the Santa Rosa architecture with mild speed bumps and the GMA X3100 integrated video

White 13.3"
$1099.00 2.0GHz/1GB RAM/80GB/Combo/GMA X3100
$1299.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM/120GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100
Black 13.3"
$1499.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM/160GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100

Despite comparable clock speeds (2.0 -> 2.0GHz, 2.16 -> 2.2GHz) to the old models, the new MacBooks use the Santa Rosa chipset which boasts a faster 800MHz front side bus over the previous MacBook models. The introduction of the GMA X3100 video card also provides significant benefits over the previous models. The new specs can be seen at the Apple Store: