Past Meetings

November 29, 2007

The Hammondsport MUG met Thursday evening at 7pm in the new Taylor Public Library.

The first hour was spent in discussion of a variety of topics revolving around Jerry L's recent installation of the new Leopard 10.5 in his iMac. Everyone was dazzled by the many cool features found in the latest operating system from Apple. Jerry also showed us the tiny 160GB hard drive (Maxtor One Touch) he had bought as a backup for his iMac for $119 (no tax + free shipping) from Amazon.com. An external HD is needed for the Time Machine feature to work in the new Leopard OS.

Another short discussion revolved around the very handy image converter called Graphic Converter, which is a shareware from Lemke in Germany. The press has dubbed the program the equivalent of the "Swiss penknife" describing it as a "universal genius for photo editing on the Mac" and this high performance program costs just $35. It can import over 200 types of graphic files, including strange ones like HAM, DOODLE and KISS. (Download 20-80MB)

Bob S showed us his latest discovery - a free aerial mapping of the Hammondsport region with spectacular color and details.MapsLive is a Microsoft feature available through the latest Mozilla Firefox web browser. See how to use it here. (Note: MapsLive will work with latest version of Safari 3).

Tom shared a few of his favorite things.

Favorite Gift ideas for Mac Users

On-The-Go FireWire 40GB HD - $87 from OWC (OtherWorldComputing)-FireWire can transfer 50MB/sec to 2.5 inch hard drive. Clone your computer HD to make a bootable back-up as well as extra storage space for all those photos, movies and tunes.OTG enclosure is powered via a single FireWire cable- nothing else needed. It's never been easier or cheaper!

XLR8 AnyDrive USB Adapter - $24.95 - Hook up any IDE or SATA drive 2.5" or 3.5" to quickly copy data from your Mac. Informative review of XLR8 AnyDrive by Charles Moore

WiFi Range Extender - $79 from H. Field Technologies, increases your laptop's reception range by 3x, up to a 1000 feet. Just aim the device in the direction of the source to amplify the network signal. Very handy for making your WiFi connections away from home. Works with both PC & Mac, including latest Leopard OS. Looks better than the old Pringles can!

Kingston Data Traveler 1 GB USB Stick Drive - $9 - these handy gadgets just keep dropping in price and make great stocking stuffers for any computer user. Mac & PC compatible.

Unibrain FireWire Cam - $113 (free shipping) from The Nerds

IceCam USB Cam - $29 - cheaper than the cam above, but also slower (USB). The extra stiff cable serves as an adjustable support to hold the tiny cam steady in various positions while plugged in.

Favorite KB Shortcuts
Com+Shift+4       captures a PNG picture of anything selected to the desktop (JPG on new Leopard)
Com+Delete       sends a selected file straight to the trash
Com+S              saves current active file
Com+[              returns browser to previous page visited
Spacebar       moves browser window content down exactly one page
Opt+Com         while holding, click and drag an icon to make instant alias (shortcut)
Tab              moves cursor through form application boxes

Some Favorite Mac Websites
iFixit - the best place to find take-apart guides for Mac laptops
Apple Discussions - read lots of shared suggestions for any possible question
Applelinks - hosts the venerable Charles Moore's down-to-earth columns & reviews
Apple Matters - a different perspective on about everything Mac
Hyper Jeff - exhaustive list of OSX Apps + a ton of other interesting stuff (refresh this site & watch new stuff appear each time)
Mac360 - you'll have to write your own description of this site
MacFixit - founded by Ted Landau, this site has been around so long that many readers don't even remember what the bomb icon signifies - the free parts of the site such as Tutorials are very worth reading. For example: 'How to Create a New User's Account to Solve Problems'
XLR8yourmac - another long time site with many helpful tutorials
iFelix - the best OSX tutorials for printer, wifi and auxillary hardware
H'port MUG Links - our own list of links to everything helpful.

FreeWare - more Lists
Thriftmac
EasyMacOSX
Custom Solutions of Maryland

How to Make Your Own Desk Calendar
Customize the layout, shape and numbers by using Time and Date.com
Note - additional editing can be done by copying the HTML in View Source, pasting it into an HTML editor such as Text Wrangler or DreamWeaver.
See my HPORTMUG 12-month Calendar

To view more highlights of Past Meetings, link to H'PORTMUG homepage .

[Note: To bookmark or print a specific page on this website, click on the NonFrames link on Homepage or go d ectly to the NonFrames version here - then navigate to the page you wish to bookmark or print.]