Some Summer Fun for browsing

THE FUTURE TECHNOLOGY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=17DPJHNVx2Q
Just fun to watch!!!!

What's that tree? Try Smithsonian's new app to see
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-06-10-smithsonian-tree-app_n.htm
"Scientists have developed the first mobile app to identify plants by simply photographing a leaf. The free iPhone and iPad app, called Leafsnap, instantly searches a growing library of leaf images amassed by the Smithsonian Institution. In seconds, it returns a likely species name, high-resolution photographs and information on the tree's flowers, fruit, seeds and bark."

Article: 6 Free iPhone Apps to Get Tiny Techies Learning Outdoors
http://www.naturallyeducational.com/2011/04/free-iphone-apps-kids-outdoors-nature/
“A big part of my educational philosophy is that learning best occurs with a genuine physical connection to the material. And nature is like a giant laboratory where children can use all of their sense to explore, ask questions, and perform experiments.”

Traveler’s Quest
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/07/tuaws-daily-iphone-app-travelers-quest/
"Traveler's Quest is an oldie but a goodie in the App Store -- it's a GPS-based treasure hunting map that will send you searching around your own area for virtual treasure with a game layer on top of it. It's simple to play and learn, but there's an addictive quality to hunting down and finding a certain location with your iPhone's GPS that will keep you playing while out and about, whether you're wandering around a vacation spot this summer or just exploring your own neighborhood."


Kaleidoscope Camera
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/30/tuaws-daily-mac-app-kaleidoscope-camera/
Kaleidoscope Camera is a simple little US$0.99 app that'll keep the kids amused for a little while longer. It produces a beautiful kaleidoscope effect using your built-in iSight or FaceTime HD camera and allows you to record the results to standard definition MOV files.

Library of Congress
How the Library of Congress is building
the Twitter archive
Checking in on the Library of Congress' Twitter archive, one year later.
by Audrey Watters | @audreywatters
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/06/library-of-congress-twitter-archive.html
“In April 2010, Twitter announced it was donating its entire archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. Every tweet since Twitter's inception in 2006 would be preserved. The donation of the archive to the Library of Congress may have been in part a symbolic act, a recognition of the cultural significance of Twitter. Although several important historical moments had already been captured on Twitter when the announcement was made last year (the first tweet from space, for example, Barack Obama's first tweet as President, or news of Michael Jackson's death), since then our awareness of the significance of the communication channel has certainly grown.”

Find Free images online
http://heyjude.wordpress.com/find-free-images-online/
Including images with postings enriches the experience for the reader and can also help to illustrate or support the writer’s viewpoint.

10 Apps you should install first on your iPad
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/04/10-apps-you-should-install-first-on-your-iphone/
“Now what?" you may be asking yourself. "I've heard about all the great apps that are available for the iPhone, but where do I start?"

Postcardly turns digital pics into real postcards
https://postcardly.com/auth/index
The newly launched Postcardly service bridges the gap between your digital snapshots and the real world by turning your pics into actual postcards that will make your grandmother happy and answer your 12-year-old's question: "Mommy, what's a postcard?"

Ten Must Have iPad Apps for Readers | Dear Author
http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/ten-must-have-ipad-apps-for-readers/
The article explains several of the most popular apps for reading.

Steve Jobs’ Mega Mothership Shows Building Planning Is Broken [Opinion] | Cult of Mac
http://www.cultofmac.com/steve-jobs-mega-mothership-shows-building-planning-is-broken-opinion/100020 “The video of Steve Jobs presenting Apple’s plans to build a new “mothership” in Cupertino to the local council was absolutely hilarious! Not just because of the absurd questions the councillors asked but their obvious lack of professionalism, understanding of architecture and ridiculous fanboy-ism.”
video on YouTube that shows Steve Jobs explaining his new plant to the town planning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuz5OmOh_M&feature=player_embedded

What Apple’s ‘Spacecraft’ Campus Will *Really* Look Like | RazorianFly
http://www.razorianfly.com/2011/06/11/what-apples-spacecraft-campus-will-really-look-like-humor/
“Receiving the unhindered green light from Cupertino’s mayor, Gilbert Wong, and set for completion in 2015, Apple’s “spacecraft” campus is getting a lot of media attention this week.”

Apple Will Last 100 Years, Says The Economist
http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-will-last-100-years-says-the-economist/100592 “To celebrate IBM’s centenary next week, the world’s leading financial magazine, The Economist, took a look at what high-tech companies might survive 100 years.”
“Like IBM, it had a near-death experience in the 1990s, and it is dangerously dependent on its founder, Steve Jobs. But it has a powerful organising idea: take the latest technology, package it in a simple, elegant form and sell it at a premium price. Apple has done this with personal computers, music players, smartphones and tablet computers, and is now moving into cloud-based services (see article). Each time it has grabbed an existing technology and produced an easier-to-use and prettier version than anyone else. This approach can be applied to whatever technology is flavour of the month: Apple has already shifted from PCs to mobile devices.”

Visualizing Childrens' Plans For The City Of The Future In Pop-Up Book Form BY Morgan ClendanielTue Jun 14, 2011
http://www.fastcompany.com/1759885/visualzing-childrens-plans-for-the-city-of-the-future-in-pop-up-book-form “Ask a kid what they think the future will look like, and you'll get some strange answers. But if you actually listen, you might get some good ideas.”

Steve Jobs' comic book bio coming to stores in August
by Kelly Hodgkins
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/14/steve-jobs-comic-book-bio-coming-to-stores-in-august/
“Steve Jobs' official biography comes out next March, but those who don't want to wait that long to read about iSteve can grab a comic book biography from Bluewater Productions.”

•Geek Trend: Tempting Fate Creating Steve Jobs Collectibles [Gallery] | Cult of Mac
http://www.cultofmac.com/geek-trend-tempting-fate-creating-steve-jobs-collectibles/100895
“In the last few years a kind of cat and mouse game has evolved between Apple Legal and some of the more daring (and creative) members of the Cult of Apple: tempting fate by selling Steve Jobs collectibles, and risking the wrath of Apple. How long before your Cease & Desist letter arrives?”

Article: iPhone 4 Is Headed To Space On Final Space Shuttle Mission
http://www.cultofmac.com/iphone-4-is-headed-to-space-on-final-space-shuttle-mission/100029
“A pair of iPhone 4s running an experimental science app are heading for the International Space Station next month, it was just announced at Apple’s WWDC.”
“Two iPhone 4s certified for space travel will be on board Space Shuttle Atlantis, the shuttle fleet’s historic final mission, STS-135.
Due to take off from Cape Canaveral on July 8 the iPhone 4s will be running the SpaceLab for iOS app from Odyssey Space Research, which will be used for space research. They will remain on the ISS for several months for the crew to conduct a series of experiments.
Among other things, the app will help ISS astronauts find their relative position is space by matching pictures of the Earth taken with the iPhone’s camera to a database of coastline maps in the app.
A $0.99 “terrestrial” version of SpaceLab for iOS app is available today from the App Store. According to the company: “Flight data from the experiments are expected to be collected, analyzed, and then shared via this app on the App Store.”

Final Space Shuttle Mission Will Feature iPhones
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/iphone-space-shuttle/
“The iOS-based software, called SpaceLab, will come pre-loaded on two iPhone 4s. Testing the software isn’t mission-critical, but it may lead to terrestrial commercial devices being repurposed for space in the near future.
“When Apple added gyros to the iPhone, it suddenly became a small avionics platform,” said Brian Rishikof, CEO of Odyssey Space Research, the company that designed SpaceLab. “You can imagine using it to do backup functions to recover navigational state. If it has any potential life-saving functions, it suddenly becomes a whole different animal.”
“We’re attempting to show how a commercial product that millions of people use can function as spaceflight hardware,” Rishikof said. “Once you demonstrate that it’s capable, you begin to wonder what else is possible.”



Check Out Simspons Creator Matt Groening’s 1989 Apple Student Guide
http://www.cultofmac.com/check-out-simspons-creator-matt-groenings-1989-apple-student-guide-hilarious-gallery/100326


iOS 5 To Allow 1080p Video Export
http://www.macstories.net/news/ios-5-to-allow-1080p-video-export/
“Following the increasing speculation about the next-generation iPhone getting an 8-megapixel camera, the iOS 5 beta seeded to developers earlier this week keeps providing interesting details on features that Apple is baking into the OS, but aren’t ready or usable yet as they’re being built for future devices. In addition to iOS 5 enabling playback of 1080p video files scaled down to 720p as Apple hasn’t built a screen with enough resolution to support 1080p, 9to5mac points to more code strings from the developer beta that seem to confirm developers will soon be able to activate video export options at 1080p in their applications. This means Apple’s apps like Camera and iMovie, or other third-party solutions, will be capable of saving 1080p files with the public release of iOS 5. Previously, developers could only export videos to 720p.”

Steve Zalot WOWS PACS- Oct 16, 2010

Senior Systems Engineer for Apple, Steve Zalot WOW'd the audiance on Saturday with the latest and greatest Apple technologies.
From Nano, to iPod Touch, iPhone, and more, and through the latest Apple iOS4 operating systems, Steve answered Questions and provided an excellent overview.

Super Job!

Memo/DOC App for iPhone/Touch

I was looking for a simple Memo/DOC App similar to that found on my old Palm IIIxe PDA. The standard “Notes App”, which comes with the iPhone/Touch is OK, but lacks some of the features of my Palm.

I downloaded the following freebies from the Apps Store:
NoteStuff Lite
Notes n More
AyeNotes
Password Notes
Safe Note

Some of these were too complex for my purposes, some did not provide adequate instructions. Of the ones I tried, I chose “Safe Note”. The application prides itself on its simplicity and ease of use. It also employs variable length fields so the user can enter anything he likes. Other programs have fixed length fields and are limited to “template-like” entries.

I also appreciated the fact that the data files are password protected. And that each file can be given a real title, and not just listed with the first few lines of its text as a pseudo-title.

Import/export of files from a desktop machine to Safe Note can be accomplished with email and the copy/paste capabilities of the iPhone/Touch.

Please let me know if others have a favorite Memo App that I haven’t tried yet.

Join Steve Zalot on Saturday, May 15th

As a Senior Systems Engineer for Apple, Steve Zalot will be there Saturday to
thrill and chill us with the new Apple technologies.
Questions will be asked and answered.
Learn about the iPad and other goodies
Insights will be opening doors to new techniques.
Enjoyment for one and all.
Join us.

Ben Romney's April 17, 2010 Meeting Presentation Tips & Info

Have you ever lost your iTunes Library or portions of the media stored on you iPod device [iPod, iTouch, iPhone]?

Apple's iTunes is a great application of getting your media from your computer to your device, but if you need to pull that data back to your computer and into iTunes you are out of luck!

Out of luck unless you have Kennettnet's Music Rescue. This application, recently rated as one of the best iPod Recovery apps by MacWorld, does so many tasks helping you to get your media off the iPod back onto your computer.

What does it do? Music Rescue can:

• Copies media from an iPod, iTouch or iPhone to your computer [Mac or Win]
• Compares iPod contents to local iTunes library
• Simple recovery of all media--music, podcasts, audiobooks, etc. on your iPod

In addition to being a powerful easy to use application that gets the job done, it has the look and feel of well designed Mac application. The author has an active support site and provides video tutorials to walk you through all of Music Rescue's features and capabilities covering:

• installation,
• getting started,
• advanced features,
• quick recovery feature,
• recovering a single playlist, and
• keeping different iTune player devices/libraries in sync.

Music Rescue easily helped me recover several thousand music files that iTunes somehow lost during upgrades or moving the library.

Available for purchase, you can download a trial version to try before you buy.

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Want to be able to create your own Time Lapse Movie?

Gawker

An application for Mac OS X that creates time-lapse movies using a webcam or your iSight. Images from your camera can be shared, allowing other users to record your image stream. Streams can also be combined to create a time-lapse movie with up to four locations side-by-side. This is an excellent shareware program that enables you to do what professionals do at a much higher cost and special equipment. The program's website provides several examples of the different types of time lapsed movies you can create--it's only up to your imagination. You can download the program to try for yourself.

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This Saturday....Dave Marra from Apple

"Known for his dynamic delivery style and exciting demos, Dave Marra has conducted thousands of technology presentations, keynote addresses and workshops for schools, Mac and PC user groups, businesses and other professional organizations across the United States and Canada. Certified as both an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator and an Apple Certified Systems Administrator, his specialty areas include digital multimedia, internet technologies, accessibility and Mac/PC integration."


Dave will talk with the mac interest group (9-12) and then present the main meeting at noon on the ma in a cross platform world.
Come join us.

AppleScript- A Short Report for a Very Long Book

I must admit that, at first glance, “AppleScript 1-2-3” by Sal Soghoian and Bill Cheeseman was a daunting experience. In today’s world, a printed volume that weighs nearly four pounds, and has 880 pages can be an unusual and intimidating document.

Yet, upon sitting down with the book and my MAC along side, and going through the numerous examples of the first chapter, I realized that, “Hey! This book is READABLE!”

Now, I won’t pretend that I’ve read the rest of the book in any great detail, but from what I’ve gleaned so far, the authors continue their hands-on, example-driven approach throughout- making the learning of AppleScript a very doable undertaking.

To those who are unfamiliar with AppleScript, let’s just say that it is an unbelievably powerful object-oriented language, built into every MAC from the beginning. It allows the user to manipulate the MAC applications in ways which add tremendous utility to the original programs.

For instance, my project involves taking a “whole boatload” of very old Microsoft Word files for MAC, and converting them into files that can be read by a modern WINDOWS PC- a daunting task if it were not for the MACRO capabilities of AppleScript.

AppleScript uses high-level, English language sentence structure and compiles it into a program that the machine understands. A built-in AppleScript Editor makes programming easy. An example of a command might be:

tell application “Finder” to open the startup disk

Nothing very cryptic there…

If you need your computer to do something different, or something not originally designed into a “Standard” application, you may want to give AppleScript a try. The book has a list price of $49.99. If you want to see if AppleScript is right for you before you make a commitment, look for a copy at your local public library.

Published by Peachpit Press
Copyright 2009
ISBN13:978-0-321-14931-2
ISBN-10:6-321-14931-9
mm
Ron K

December 2009 Meeting

December 19 , 2009

Tips & Tricks for everyone by Mark Bazrod

Bring TV to your MAC for Free by Ben Romney

Fill Your Wish List for the New Year with Dale's goodies

Free Photoshop Alternatives

Check this out!!!!
Three websites for 25+ Photoshop alternatives

==================================================================

11 Free Adobe Photoshop Alternatives (Softwares) | Tools
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-alternatives-softwares-to-adobe-photoshop/


Photoshop Alternatives: Another 14 Free Image Manipulation Tools | Tools
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/photoshop-alternatives-another-14-free-image-manipulation-tools/


One more site to check out for Mac based (non free) Image editors
Top 5 Alternatives to Photoshop For Mac Users | Psdtuts+
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/top-5-alternatives-to-photoshop-for-mac-users/

Links for September Tips

Here are the URLs for the Mac tips from the September 19, 2009 meeting. This is my first post to the blog so who knows how it will turn out.

BOOTABLE FLASH DRIVE http://www.mlmug.org/BMSep.html

TEN THUMBS TYPING TUTOR ($26) http://www.tenthumbstypingtutor.com

TYPING SHORTHANDS

1. SPELL CATCHER ($30) http://www.rainmakerinc.com/
2. TYPEIT4ME ($27) http://ettoresoftware.com/EttoreSoftware/About_TypeIt4Me.html
3. TEXT EXPANDER ($30) http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/

DWIGHT SILVERMAN'S BLOG http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/

The MACBUNDLES.COM http://www.themacbundles.com/

EASYFIND (free) http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/

TROUBLESHOOTING SITES -

1. GOOGLE http://www.google.com/mac/
2. APPLE http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa
3. MACOSHINTS.COM http://macoshints.com/
4. OSX FAQ http://www.osxfaq.com/
5. OSXGUIDE http://www.osxguide.com/
6. MACFIXITFORUMS.COM http://forums.cnet.com/?tag=hdr;snav

SPEEDDOWNLOAD ($25) http://yazsoft.com/

Mark Bazrod