Maclanta
Newsletter for the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group • January 2009
Since 1984 www.amugonline.org
Your source for Atlanta area Macintosh news and information
Inside This Issue Google introduces a new Task Manager Pg. 3 What to do when programs stop working Pg. 4 A few favorite iPhone applications Pg. 5
January Meeting Announcement January 20, 2009, General Meeting, Macquarium 6:30 pm - Social and networking time 7:00 pm - Program Begins
Get complete coverage of Macworld 2009, the Mecca of Mac enthusiasts. As everyone has heard, Apple has announced MAJOR CHANGES for Macworld. Find out what’s going on. In addition to the latest announcements by Apple, we’ll also look at some of the major products unveiled by vendors during the show. Where is Steve?
Instapaper allows you to save Web text Pg. 6
Why is Apple pulling out of Macworld?
Is it the Missing Sync or the Missing Link? Pg. 7 Snapshots from our December holiday party Pg. 8 Apple says farewell to Macworld Pg. 10
Part of the beauty of Apple is its love for intrigue and unpredictability. Find out more at the January meeting.
A Note To Our Guests
Our club experts will discuss these topics and more at the January meeting.
Founded in 1984, the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group is a not-for-profit Georgia corporation organized and operated exclusively for the purpose of providing education and assistance to its members in the use of the Apple Macintosh computer and software. We encourage you to join our community of Apple enthusiasts. You can either join online, at the information area prior to meetings, or by seeing our treasurer Adele Ward.
About Maclanta Maclanta is published monthly by the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group, Inc.(AMUG™), Post Office Box 15130, Atlanta, Georgia, 30333-0130, a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization, as a service to the membership. Subscriptions: Portions of a member’s dues in AMUG are designated for an annual subscription to Maclanta. Annual membership dues are $40. A separate subscription to this publication is available for a fee to be determined by the Newsletter Director. © Copyright 2008 by the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Maclanta is an independent publication, not affiliated or otherwise associated with Apple Inc. or any other organization that might otherwise advertise herein. The opinions, statements, positions, and views stated herein are those of the author(s) or publisher and are not intended to be the opinions, statements, or views of Apple Computer, Inc. or any other organization that might advertise herein. Rather than place a trademark, copyright, or registered symbol at every occurrence, we hereby state that we are using the names only in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement of the owners work. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the Newsletter Director or the President of the AMUG Board of Directors, with the following exceptions: all articles and/or graphics not under copyright by the author may be reprinted by a nonprofit organization provided proper credit is given to the author and Maclanta. Proper credit is defined as Title, Author, and the words ‘Reprinted with permission from [month ] [year ] of Maclanta, a monthly publication of the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group, Inc.’ Permission to reprint copyrighted articles and/or graphics may be obtained by writing to the author or artist, care of this publication. Submissions: Maclanta welcomes unsolicited articles (including feature stories, commentary, and user group news) pertaining to personal computers, hardware, software, related products, services, and end users. Submissions should be made via E-mail attachment or body in text format. Unless otherwise arranged, the deadline for all articles, letters, and illustrations is 5 p.m. the Friday after the 1st Tuesday of the month before the month of publication. The editors reserve the right to edit for brevity and clarity. Payment will be in the form of credit in Maclanta and copies of the issue(s), at the least. AMUG Trademarks: AMUG and the AMUG peach are trademarks of the Atlanta Macintosh Users Group,Inc.
AMUG Board of Directors President .............................W. Michael Henigan Vice-President .........................Martha Shannon Treasurer . ............................................ Adele Ward Secretary .......................................Wendell Dillon Education Director . ......................................open Membership Director ........ Christina Wellman Newsletter Director ........................ Todd Daniel Program Director . .........................................open Publicity Director . .............................. Jim Minter Telecom Director ..................... Lawrence Sharp AMUG Hotline: General Information line 404-327-9002 Atlanta Macintosh Users Group PO Box 15130 • Atlanta, GA 30333-0130 www.amugonline.org
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Club News New Dues Rate The club has lowered its annual dues. If you are behind on your dues, we humbly encourage you to renew. Many great things are happening in 2009 — we don’t want you to miss out. New Dues Structure: Individual - $35 Household - $10 Academic - $25 Corporate - $90 (this is for 3 members) AMUG turns 25 this year This is a huge year for the club. Over the course of this year we’ll be featuring historical articles and having special events at meetings. We’ll also be announcing the results of our new logo contest. If you haven’t seen the entries yet, they are available to the membership on the AMUG forum — check them out! A “thank you” goes to everyone who sent in an entry for the contest. Board Positions Open To complete the 2009 Board we still need an Education Director and Program Director. Do you want to help? Please see any AMUG officer.
Membership Report Our Membership Director, Christina Wellman, is pleased to report that the following members have renewed their membership: Chris Waldrip. A “thanks” for your membership support!
January Birthdays A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes to the following. May each of you get lots of Apple goodies: William Jarrett, Rick Hertzberg, Sue Ramsey (1/1), Chuck Reece, David Zeeman (1/10), Scott Chappell (1/25).
December Treasury Report The Board has been evaluating expenses and has taken several cost-cutting measures. These include closing down our storage unit and switching our phone line from AT&T to Skype. Other cost reduction measures are being reviewed as well. At the same time, we are asking all members in arrears to please renew their memberships. Thanks!
Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009
Meeting Reports
General meetings, SIGs, and more... December General Meeting Our December 16 meeting was a joint holiday party with the Atlanta PC Users Group. We had a great turnout of about 50 people. Prior to the meeting we had a potluck dinner, featuring an incredible assortment of salads, entrees, and desserts. A thanks goes to our prez, Michael Henigan, who was up late the night before preparing a variety of dishes. After enjoying the holiday food, we went downstairs to the theatre and started out with a Mac/PC Q&A session, which was led by Lawrence Sharp. Then, the program for the evening began, which was a trivia game between the AMUG and APCUG user groups. Both sides selected a three-person team, and the two teams competed in a lively and spirited game. After the grueling match, which went until 9 p.m., the scores were tallied and
the PC users group defeated the Mac team by a mere 100 points. This is the second year in a row that the PC user group won. A congratulations goes to both teams: PC - Dick Sorensen, Jon Jessen, Wayne Baxter. Mac - Todd Daniel, Chris Waldrip, Lawrence Sharp. After the game, it was door prize time. In addition to prizes provided by the club, many members donated giveaways as well. A thanks to everyone who donated an item, and a thanks to Charlotte Ford for wrapping them and placing them in the gift bags.
SIG News • SIGS resume on January 27. We currently have two active SIGS — OS X and FileMaker. The SIGs meet at 7 p.m. in the upstairs area of Macquarium.
For pictures of the December Holiday Party, please see page 8.
Google Gmail Introduces Simple Task Manager by Doug McLean
Editor’s Note: I am a huge fan of Google’s free tools, and Task Manager is the one thing they were missing. I find it a little whacky the way it’s set up, but I’m still enjoying this tool. Last week Google added yet another feature, Tasks, to its growing list of handy Google Labs tools and utilities. Tasks is a minimalist task manager; it’s essentially an editable to-do list. You can create and save tasks, schedule email reminders, and convert email messages into to-do items. The feature looks and behaves like a Google Chat window, appearing at the bottom of your Gmail Inbox when activated and coming with options to minimize or pop-out the window. To activate the feature, log into your Gmail account, click the beaker icon in the upper right hand corner, and select Enable Tasks. (If the beaker doesn’t appear, click the Settings link and then click the Labs link.) For now, Tasks is so lightweight that it doesn’t even sync with Google Calendar, and thus not to anything else, like your copy of iCal or your iPhone. Such additional functionality is so blatantly obvious that I can’t imagine Google doesn’t have plans to add it. Still, as a diehard list-maker, I found it to be an efficient and convenient tool. About a month ago I tried out TaskPaper, another stripped-down task manager. I liked the simple feature set and interface,
but I never actually bothered to launch it when I was busy working. The tiny step of locating and opening the program was just enough to discourage me from using it - it seemed faster and easier to jot down notes by hand. But since Tasks is right there in my Gmail account, which I keep open all day, I’ll use it. While Tasks’ main advantage is its simplicity, I still wish it had a few more configuration options. It would be great to have control over where the list appears. Currently, you can hide the list, have it cover up part of your Inbox, or pop it out in a separate browser window. It would be nice to have the list appear in the margins of the Gmail window, like the Google Chat buddy list. Secondly, the Clear Completed Tasks action should have a keyboard shortcut, or should execute when refreshing the list or Gmail page. Despite these minor inconveniences, Tasks is still one of the better tools Google has rolled out recently. Though it won’t do for anyone looking for a more advanced task management system like Things or OmniFocus, it’s perfect for committed Gmail users looking for a simple way to keep track of their to-do lists. —TidBITS The new Google Task Manager is great, but the way it covers up part of your email inbox is odd.
January 2009 • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • Maclanta
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The Newsletter Director Speaketh When programs stop working correctly, DO NOT PANIC .... here are me tips By Todd Daniel, todddan@me.com Every so often a program will simply begin acting
weird. It’s happened to me with FileMaker, PowerPoint, QuarkXpress, Photoshop, and other programs. The first thing you should always do is NOT PANIC. Here is my own diagnostic routine, as well as a few tips. Many people are tempted to immediately reinstall the software, which is not only a drastic measure, but it often won’t help. Okay, take deep breaths and read my tips: Step 1: Determine if the problem is with the document or the application. Do this by creating a new document and seeing if the problem continues. If the document is corrupt, sometimes just hitting “Save As” can wash out the evil inside it. Step 2: If it’s not the document, the next suspect is preference files. I always set up a dummy account on all my Macs. If a program is misbehaving, my first step is to log into the dummy account and see if the problem is replicated there. If it is not, I immediately know the problem is with corrupt preference files. But don’t just go killing preference files at random. Go to the tech support site for the program in question and find the instructions for deleting preference files. Prior to doing that, BACK UP the existing preference files or rename them by sticking the word “OLD” in their name. Now, restart the program, and usually your problem will be fixed. Step 3: Your problem could be related to corrupt fonts or other issues related to the operating system. My next step is to clean out my caches using a utility called Cocktail. With a touch of a button, all your font caches are cleaned out, and hopefully you’ll be back in business. Step 4: Still no luck? If you fortunate enough to get an error message, enter it as a Google search. You’ll be surprised at all the tech support bulletins and forum discussions that pull up. Even if you don’t find a direct answer, you’ll typically get some leads and ideas on how to further address the problem. I’ve also had some luck at finding tutorials and solutions to problems on YouTube. Step 5: Go to Disk Utility and repair your permissions.
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Some people swear by this as a remedy to all sorts of problems.
Todd Daniel
Computer Won’t Start At All Newsletter Director If your computer won’t even todddan@me.com boot up or you get the blue screen of death, again, don’t panic. Find your original system disk, put it in your drive, and then restart the machine, with your finger on the “C” key. On the start screen you’ll have the option to go into Disk Utility. From there, go to “Repair Disk.” If the disk repair fails, you may want to try using Disk Warrior, which is pricey but effective. Your other option is to wipe the hard drive and restore. It is STRONGLY recommend that you have and use Time Machine, which makes this process much easier. There is a great video on this procedure on YouTube. Everyone should review it for when that inevitable day comes. Now, if you HAVEN’T been making good backups, you definitely should try DiskWarrior. Should this option fail, your only other option would be a disk recovery service (I sometimes see them advertised in the back of Macworld magazine). But really, I know that backing up is like changing the batteries in your smoke detector, but even so, I highly recommend it. More Humble Thoughts • Stock Configuration - Some Mac owners like to heavily customize their computer with third-party programs that enhance the operating system. Be careful when doing this because a new operating system or service upgrade could hang up on them. If you do have your system heavily customized, I encourage you to wait a few weeks before doing any operating system upgrades. Check Mac websites for any bug reports and warnings. As for me, I just prefer to play it safe by staying close to the stock configuration. • Terminal - I have met some AMUGers who love to play in Terminal. I used to be one of those people, but one day it hit me, “My gosh, what on Earth am I doing?” The problem is that I didn’t KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING. If you are required to venture into Terminal, follow any instructions completely. Playing with native UNIX is a real high, but one wrong move and .... yes, it can be bad.
Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009
My favorite iPhone applications Some great apps include Shazam, Bloomberg, Urbanspoon, and Remote By David McMorran, davidbmcm@mac.com An email from Todd Daniel asking for articles for the January newsletter showed up in my mailbox. I’m not particularly qualified to write one but he did seem to be pleading somewhat and I thought that if nothing else showed up he would have, at the very least, mine to consider. I don’t consider myself particularly qualified because I rarely show up at meetings - Tuesday evenings seem to be an impossible night for me to get away from home for some reason. But I have attended and am aware whenever the particular Tuesday arrives that I am not in attendance and generally feel remorseful yet hopeful enough to renew my membership every year. I got my first Mac about 4 years ago. I had been using a Windows machine for many years prior to that and had been trying to get my wife to use a computer for sometime. My attempts always ended in frustration for the both of us at the machine’s almost perverse success in deleting all her work just before she could save or send it. She swore computers off until I bought her an iBook and we learned together to do some very basic things on it. It was a match meant to be for her and a couple of months later I bought my own PowerBook and chucked windows for good. I still consider myself a newbie, switcher… whatever and still retain the original joy at working on it. I’ve become an Apple fanboy. So I own an iPhone now. Actually, technically, I own two: the original and the 3G. My wife uses the original which I’ve unlocked twice for trips to Europe and relocked each time upon our return. We are planning another trip for the end of January to England and I’m hoping an unlock arrives, as promised, on New Year’s Eve from the iPhone Dev-Team for the 3G model. I don’t have any games on the iPhone right now because I have an old Palm PDA with Sudoku on it that has so increased the time I spend in the bathroom as to make leaving it almost unnecessary. But I will put some games on both phones before we leave as we’ll be visiting our 7 year old grandson and 5 year old granddaughter. I’m open to suggestions bearing the ages of my grandchildren in mind… well maybe my age (59) too. It’s a long flight over and back. I have loaded some applications on the iPhone, however. Shazam is a really neat one if you catch yourself listen-
ing to a song somewhere and want to know what it is. For me somewhere is always Gold’s Gym which plays music I don’t generally like. But once in awhile something comes on the speakers and catches my attention and Shazam will more often than not tell me what it is. Don’t try to use it with WABE, though. I think it’s more tuned into the tastes of Paula, Randy and Simon of American Idol than Johann, Ludwig and Clara of Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. Can’t have everything. I’m a carpenter/contractor and use an application called Timewerks for keeping track of jobs, hours and task descriptions. I think I paid 3 or 4 dollars for it and use it regularly so I’d have to say it’s worthwhile. Bloomberg is an excellent news and market watch application. It was free and I periodically check it to keep my self esteem in check with the latest on exchange rates, corporate bailouts, etc. Urbanspoon is very good for coming up with ideas of where to eat on any given short notice. My wife and I use it when our own ideas fail us. Urbanspoon will come up with new ideas and forgotten favorites within parameters you can set defining price range, location and/or type of menu. It’s free on iTunes and really impresses people unfamiliar with the iPhone. I have other applications but don’t use them enough to remember them offhand, though I did download a free application today. Remote lets you control your iTunes library remotely with your iPhone. I can work downstairs in my shop and use my phone to listen to music or various podcasts on speakers connected to an Airport Express.
A Tip from the Editor To capture and edit an image from the Web (assuming there are no copyright issues), simply right click on the image and select “Copy Image.” If you want to edit it, go to Photoshop and click new (accept the settings). One of the miracles of Photoshop is that it will configure a “New” document based on the image settings in the clipboard. So, once you open a document simply click on “paste” and the image is placed on your canvas, at the correct settings, and it’s ready for editing. Cool! —Ed.
January 2009 • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • Maclanta
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Instapaper allows you to save web text Interested in reading an article later? Just hit “Read Later” and a copy of any web page is saved. By Tom Baley, tbaley@mac.com iphone and iPod Touch users – exploit the convenience of your device to time-shift some of that massive amount of data we are presented with every day. Take a moment to read about Instapaper (http://www.instapaper.com/iphone) from the Apple iTunes Application Store. The app store is perhaps the best innovation of the last year, bringing together the already cohesive community with simplicity and ease of use at a low cost. The application Instapaper is one of those gems. Instapaper has two versions, one free and Instapaper Pro, currently $9.99 in the iTunes store. After using the free version for just a few days, I bought the Pro version the first chance I had. While being expensive relative to most of the other applications in the iTunes Store, it is worth much more than that to me. Instapaper consists of two parts, one you install on your iPhone or iPod Touch (any version of either device), and a browser plug-in you install in all the browsers and computers you use – Safari only. When I arrive on a web page that contains a lot of information that I want to read at some time, but I do not have the time right now, I click the “Read Later” button Instapaper installed in Safari. Instapaper saves a copy of that web page and all its contents on the Instapaper web site in a private repository that belongs to me. That repository is available to me any time from any browser (including non-
Safari). But that is not the best part. Instapaper synchronizes that content with your device as soon as you start the application on your device. If you have an iPhone, it synchronizes via Edge/3G; with Tom Baley the Touch, as soon as you are on tbaley@mac.com a Wi-Fi network. Once it has synchronized your repository, you no longer need any network. With the web pages on your device you have the full functionality of Safari to read the web pages – optimized for the smaller display. Rotation, scrolling by touch, pinch, and all the other features, including excellent reforming of the page for small display (can be turned off). Right now I have about fifteen web pages sitting on my Touch, waiting for me to read them when I have a moment. They will be there until I delete them. It’s a wonderful way to build a dynamic library of page you want to review without bookmarks and without needing a computer online. The pro version has additional features, such as position saving (resume reading where you left off), tilt scrolling, adjustable fonts, sizes, colors, and more. See http://www.instapaper.com/iphone for a demo and a comparison chart. Rating: ★★★★★
Upcoming General Meetings Special Interest Group (SIG) Night
Jan. 20
Macworld Conference Review
Jan. 27
OS X & Filemaker
Feb. 17
Adobe CS4 Creative Suite
Feb. 24
OS X & Filemaker
Mar. 17
Handy Utilities for your Mac
Mar 24
OS X & Filemaker
Apr. 21
Hands-on Database Workshop
Apr. 28
OS X & Filemaker
May 19
Digital Photography Class
May 26
OS X & Filemaker
Jun. 16
iMovie and Campus MovieFest
Jun 23
OS X & Filemaker
All meetings are held in the Macquarium auditorium. General meetings begin at 7 p.m. (6:30 p.m. social time). SIGs start at 7 p.m.
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Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009
We are always looking for new SIGs - share your ideas by contacting any AMUG board member.
Missing Sync or Missing Link??? Synchronizing software is unpredictable and actually interferes with other syncing operations causes me to have to enter data multiple times. Enter a new contact in Address Book and it never shows up in Entourage Missing Sync is supposed to synchronize your PDA or or the Mogul. Vice versa, enter a new contact in the Mogul Smart Phone with Entourage, iCal, Address Book, etc. A (a slow process with the stylus) and it does not appear in more a propos name would be Missing Link, because it has Entourage. the intelligence and ability of a Neanderthal. I hate to review Missing Sync attaches the Mogul to my Macbook Pro a piece of bad software, but perhaps this will help others via the standard mini-USB cable. However, it appears to be avoid the headaches and heart break I have had with this very sensitive and only works in one of the three USB ports garbage software. on the MBP. And then it only First, let me describe my set “sees” the device one in five times up. I use a Sprint-branded HTC at best. It also has no support for Mogul phone with the slide out categories, syncing only one of my keyboard and want to sync it to calendars and one category of conEntourage. I have 3,200 contacts. tacts, about 250 calendar events, When it does see the device, and miscellaneous notes. In turn, the actual sync process usually fails I want to sync Entourage to iCal with errors on several of the items and Address book and then from (contacts, calendar, etc.), perhaps there to Google Calendar. And, in succeeding once in ten tries (with the middle of all that I use Mofreshly booted MBP and Mogul). bileMe to sync to the web and my It is unpredictable. The only way iPod Touch. I have found around this mess is MobileMe sync with the iPod to attach the Mogul and sync one Touch works great – always has. component at a time manually. In I have never had any of the probother words, sync only the calenlems widely reported by others The Missing Sync definitely seems to be missing something. dar, then start Missing Sync again with MobileMe. It has worked only the contacts in the next try, flawlessly from day one. It is really nice to make an entry and so on. in Address Book or iCal and “watch” it sync to the web and There has to be a better way. For the time being, I recdown to my Touch, sometimes within seconds. ommend steering clear of Missing Sync. I will be trying othThe link between iCal and Entourage works well, too. er products in the near future, and a new vendor has invited That is, until Missing Sync gets involved. With Missing me to beta their product. In the meantime, I simply back up Sync, I sometimes have multiple duplicates appear (like 15 the PIM file on the Mogul nightly to the 4GB card it has. copies of a calendar appointment), but more often, it simply Rating: Yuck. prevents Entourage and Address Book from syncing. This By Tom Baley, tbaley@mac.com
Software Update News • MobileMe subscribers finally get nearly instant synchronization of their contacts, calendars, and bookmarks with the latest Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard update. Deep in the release notes, Apple writes that these items “automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the Web at me.com.” Apple was criticized after the launch of MobileMe for promising that items would synchronize immediately from every source when changes were made. Apple later apologized, and said that desktop software would have a lag of as long as 15 minutes. The
company stopped using the term “push” to describe its software, and said it wouldn’t describe it that way until they’d improved performance. • Microsoft has once again updated Office 2008 (12.1.5) and 2004 (11.5.3), this time fixing two notable security issues, improving general stability, and addressing a number of bugs. It’s nice to see continued support for Office 2004. According to Microsoft’s Web site each update, “contains several improvements to enhance stability, compatibility, and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.” —TidBITS
January 2009 • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • Maclanta
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December Holiday Party Meeting! Our friends at the Atlanta PC User Group joined us for a joint holiday party that featured delicious food and lots of action. We also gave out tons of door prizes — a congratulations goes to all the winners.
left: Christina served as the moderator for the Jeopardy trivia game. Throughout the evening it was a tight contest between the PC and Mac teams, but in the end the PC team squeaked ahead and became the victor for the second year in a row. top: The food was beautifully arranged and
delicious. A thanks to everyone who brought a dish.
Photos by Todd Daniel
top: Nearly everyone won a prize during the door prize drawings. A
thanks to everyone who donated gifts. top: Attendees enjoy great food during the potluck dinner.
top: Mike shown with some of the many gifts that were given away.
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top: More fellowship and socializing during the potluck dinner.
Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009
Ask Mr. Peach We’re not sure how Mr. Peach came to be. Some people think he is an artificial intelligence algorithm that was created one night when Chris Waldrip spilled coffee on his keyboard. However, what we know for sure is that Mr. Peach is smart and will be glad to answer your computer questions.
Dear Mr. Peach: My Entourage 2008
Dear Mr. Peach: I have a sneaking
email is getting terribly slow. What do I do?
suspicion that my uncle doesn’t like me. The other day he asked me to sit in his lap. At the time, the prison authorities were strapping him to the electric chair.
Mr. Peach: Ahhh, the age old
problem. See, Entourage keeps EVERYTHING in one, single massive database. Okay, open Entourage holding down the Option key. Go ahead and click on “Rebuild Database,” which will also compact it and then back it up. This will take a long time, so be prepared. One word of warning: Each time you do a Rebuild the program will create another backup of the gargantuan database, and if you don’t remove these they’ll fill up your hard drive quickly.
Dear Mr. Peach: My computer is running slowly, what should
I do?
Mr. Peach: For starters, make sure your hard drive isn’t full.
The rule-of-thumb is to keep 10 percent of your drive free to allow for temporary swap files. If your hard drive is getting close to full, consider an external drive — they are dirt cheap these days. Another suspect is a fragmented disk. Normally, the OS X operating system can handle defragging, but if you work with huge files, like videos, and you are doing a lot of deleting, you may want to consider a third-party program. Some of the most popular programs that do disk optimization include iDisk, Disk Warrior, and Prosoft’s Drive Genius.
Dear Mr. Peach: I’ve developed a phobia about obsolescence.
Every time I get the latest versions of all my software and hardware, something new comes out. If I don’t have the latest of everything, I start acting really weird. Yes, my child, this disorder affects us all. Remember that companies continually roll out new versions to make MONEY! If you have lots of money, give it to them. If you are a poor Peach like me, only upgrade when you absolutely must.
Mr. Peach:
Do not take it personal. No one likes to go alone. Be strong and don’t let a little rejection get you down.
Mr. Peach:
I just bought Parallels and loaded Vista on my iMac. When it’s open, everything runs terribly slow. What’s going on? Dear Mr. Peach:
Load Utility Monitor from Utilities and you will see that Parallels takes an incredible amount of memory. If you have 1 GB of memory, you will notice a great performance improvement by upgrading to 2 GB. This is a necessity if you plan to keep Parallels open on your desktop. The Peach recommends that you take the Vista back to the store and exchange it for Windows XP. In the long run, the Peach thinks this will make your life more pleasant.
Mr. Peach:
I just set up accounts for MySpace and Facebook, but whenever I invite people to be my friends, they never respond.
Dear Mr. Peach:
Fear not, I’m sure your uncle would have responded. Perhaps it could be breath odor or a personality disorder. Since I’m just a peach, I’m really not sure.
Mr. Peach:
My computer is acting unusual. I have tried repairing permissions. What else can I do?
Dear Mr. Peach:
Consider clearing your caches — this seems to be a cure-all for many problems. There are many software programs for doing this task. One good one is called Cache Out X. Some people recommend a regular cache cleaning.
Mr. Peach:
January 2009 • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • Maclanta
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Industry News
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Apple to pull out of Macworld next year!!! ways appeared.) We wondered where that press release had gotten to a few weeks ago. Since Steve Jobs’s gaunt appearance at the 2008 Worldwide Developer’s Conference, reporters, bloggers, and Mac By Glenn Fleishman and Adam C. Engst, TidBITS staff users of every stripe have been speculating about whether Apple delivered a one-two punch via press release Jobs was suffering from an undisclosed health problem, a today, announcing that CEO Steve Jobs will not deliver recurrence of the pancreatic cancer that he suffered from in the keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo 2003 and 2004, or even a non-life-threatening consequence - a presentation slot he’s used for of that surgery. many years - and that Apple will This move by Apple doesn’t no longer exhibit at the trade show necessary mean anything about after this year. Jobs’s health, but it certainly Macworld Expo brings togethdoesn’t contribute to future coner tens of thousands of members fidence about his role in the comof the Mac community, including pany. Without a public succesconsumers, IT staff, graphic desion plan, and with investors and signers, and, of course, journalists. analysts possibly unduly focused We at TidBITS have a long on Jobs’s inimitable nature in dehistory with the show. Adam has veloping products and marketing attended every Macworld Expo strategies, expect to see a lot of may be less of a showtime next year, after Apple pulls out of the in San Francisco since 1992, and, Itannual coverage explaining how Apple’s Macworld show. with one exception, all of the east future is dim. coast Macworld Expos since 1989. The shows are an important aspect of our business, largely because we all work from No Future Exhibitions by Apple home, spread out across the globe. The face time we get with The second part of the news is potentially more devaseach other, along with other industry colleagues, company tating to the Mac community, as Apple said the company reps, and developers at Macworld has been a key element in won’t participate as an exhibitor in Macworld Expos after how we make and maintain relationships, generate content, this January 2009 event. The company has been a cornerand do business. We all wonder what’s to come. stone of Macworld in San Francisco since its inception, and Schiller Replaces Jobs for Keynote -- The most visible occupies an enormous space in the middle of the main hall. change this year is that instead of Steve Jobs delivering the In 2002, Apple decided to stop exhibiting at the midTuesday, January 6th keynote, we’ll hear the Senior Vice year Macworld Expo, which had taken place for many years President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller in Boston, then moved to New York in 1998 (see “Apple, speak. We’ve met Schiller on several occasions, and he’s an IDG World Expo Play Hardball Over Macworld Expo,” easy-going guy whose title (and manner) belies his impor2002-10-21). Apple did show up at the 2003 Macworld tance to Apple and his reach throughout the company. Expo in New York, albeit in a limited fashion, but did not Schiller occupies a position in the company akin to Jonfollow when Macworld Expo moved back to Boston in 2004 athan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, and 2005. Without Apple, attendance at Macworld Bosin terms of his purview and significance. Schiller is known ton plummeted in 2004 and 2005 (see “Macworld Boston for acting as the comic foil to Jobs in on-screen presenta2005: An Intimate Affair,” 2005-07-18), and the show was tions, appearing in the audience to take a phone call or encancelled shortly after (see “Macworld Boston Cancelled,” gage in a multi-person iChat AV session. 2005-09-19). Apple and Macworld Expo typically announce Jobs’s The January expo has always been in San Francisco, and participation as the keynote speaker several weeks before the has been one of the must-attend events on every Mac jourevent, in what’s been considered a pro forma decision made nalist’s schedule. Increasingly, mainstream journalists have long ago. (We don’t know if that’s true, but it’s how it’s albeen forced to attend as well, as Apple has come to domiEditor’s Note: Yes, I’m still in shock. I guess the days of computer trade shows are coming to an end.
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Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009
nate the digital music industry and play a large role in the mobile phone world. Over the last two weeks, two regular large exhibitors Adobe Systems and Belkin - announced their plans to not exhibit, quite late in the game. Paul Kent, General Manager for Macworld Conference & Expo, emphasized that there were still hundreds of vendors, and more in pure numbers than in the previous year. At last year’s Macworld Expo in January 2008, the show was spread between the large South Hall of Moscone Center and new West Hall, and while there were unused spaces used for lounges and other purposes, it was clearly a vibrant event, made even better by the variety of companies present. Why, Apple, Why? Why Apple would cut its appearance at Macworld Expo is clear: Like every other firm in the world, it’s reacting to a likely current and certainly future drop in revenue with consumer and business spending dropping through the floor. If Apple were trying to shed a few hundred million dollars in expenses, perhaps partly for the bottom line (despite the billions in cash they have hoarded), and partly to demonstrate their financial discipline, it’s easy to see them starting with the millions they spend in hard costs and lost productivity on Macworld Expo. One might think that the marketing benefit of getting millions of column inches and thousands of hours of airtime worldwide would offset those costs, but Apple has shown that it can market well without trade shows providing the venue for announcements. Apple noted in the press release that the company has backed off from involvement in other shows in recent years, and the firm regularly hosts its own events at its headquarters in Cupertino, or at other Bay Area venues. Apple said a few years ago that they’d stop making regular announcements of products and would switch to talking about hardware and software when it was ready. Macworld Expo, the Apple Expo Paris, and the Worldwide Developer Conference were the remaining pins on the calendar at which buyers and the press generally expected something, and were disappointed if no significant news was forthcoming. Focus on the Present For the time being, the only real change for the upcoming show is Phil Schiller standing in for Steve Jobs at the Macworld Expo keynote on 06-Jan-09. Whether that means Apple won’t have significant announcements is another question - the last time Steve Jobs backed out of a keynote, Greg “Joz” Joswiak, then Apple’s vice president of hardware product marketing, didn’t have much to announce. And despite the defections of Adobe and Belkin, Paul Kent was upbeat, saying “We’re on track for a terrific show
this year, with strong attendance numbers and nearly 500 exhibitors showcasing their products for another strong event.” Whither or Wither Macworld Expo? Without Apple as an anchor, can Macworld Expo survive? It’s a hard question. The Boston show collapsed partly because with two Macworld Expos each year, professionals involved in design, IT, animation, film, television, and other industries had already focused on the west coast event. Plus, IDG tried to do a traditional Macworld Expo without Apple, which was a mistake. But Macworld Expo has a lot of value to attendees beyond Apple’s presence, although it certainly has a higher profile in the average Mac user’s mind because of the worldwide press coverage of every utterance made by Steve Jobs. After all, it’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and there are dozens of sessions happening at the same time as the more high-profile trade show floor. Large numbers of Macintosh professionals rely on the training at Macworld to hone their skills or learn new skills. And while many users pay the admission fee for the exhibition floor to fondle whatever Apple just announced, the mere fact that it’s easy for most people to do that at an Apple Store shows that in-person talks and demonstrations with other Mac companies are likely more important. Even we journalists, who can often get free review units and not-forresale copies of software, appreciate being able to compare multiple camera models or laptop bags, for instance. Exhibitors and other companies also have off-floor rooms where they meet with journalists and bring favored corporate and academic clients for one-on-one briefings. Plus, though it’s difficult to quantify, professional networking is a key aspect of Macworld Expo. Apple didn’t say that they wouldn’t be part of future Macworld Expos - just that they wouldn’t exhibit. So don’t count Macworld Expo out just yet. Paul Kent told us, “We’re committed to continuing to serve [the interests of the Mac community] at Moscone Center on January 4th through 8th, 2010. Future events will continue to provide quality education, dynamic product viewing, and will additionally focus on the amazing ways people are putting Apple products to work across all endeavors from desktops to iPhones, from games to music. We look forward to many successful years of Macworld to come.” There it is - Macworld Expo will ride again in January 2010, and IDG is - at least at this point in time - planning to keep the show going beyond that. We applaud their tenacity and wish them the best of luck, since we would all miss Macworld Expo. The Mac community is about connecting with one another, and Macworld Expo remains the preeminent place to reapply the glue that binds us. Printed by permission of TidBITS.
January 2009 • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • Maclanta
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Maclanta • Atlanta Macintosh User Group • January 2009