Past Meetings

May 19, 2008

Attending: Bill N, Bob S, Jack H, Joe Y, Jerry L, Tom B.

Agenda - FAQ

Many interesting topics, questions and comments were shared over lunch.

Geocaching (pronounced 'geo cashing') - GPS-aided scavenger hunts - website explains this fun activity (Thanks, Bill)

Capacitors to replace batteries? New ways are being developed to use the high voltage devices that made TVs and guitar amps dangerous even when unplugged. (Thanks Bob)

Full size instruction manuals - tired of the microscopic print on the tiny paper manuals packed with your latest gadget? Many manufacturers provide a website link to download a PDF which can be printed out in full size. (Thanks Bob)

Photomatix ($99) - increase the dynamic range of your photographs with this software. (Thanks Jerry)

Two very handy keyboard shortcuts for web browsing : 1) Command +[  (left bracket) returns you to the previous web page viewed, and . 2) Pressing the spacebar scrolls down exactly one page. Also a copy of 20 Useful OS X Tips was passed out to everyone. Did you know that triple-clicking selects a whole paragraph of text? Or that pressing Esc while typing in most applications pops up a list of suggested completions of the word your typing? (Thanks Tom)

E-mail exasperation - can't send e-mail at a hotel via Mac Mail because the SMTP is being blocked? Change the server port to 587 in Mail Preferences. See the full article in MacWorld June 2008, page 75. (Thanks Joe)

The Grid -a superfast internet is coming soon which will replace the current world wide web. It will move data 10,000 times faster than current broadband and is already up and running in some higher education institutions in various parts of the world. The Grid was developed at Cern in Switzerland where the original world wide web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Read more... (Thanks Tom)

USB Stick FM Transmitter - load this $20 device with a ton of your favorite MP3 songs, plug it into the cigarette lighter of your car, and listen to the music via your car's radio/speakers.(Thanks Bill)

Mac Pro USB optical mouse - great buys on eBay for as little as $14 (originally retailed for $65). Hint: hold 'Control' to obtain a 'right-click' menu with a one-button mouse.(Thanks Tom)

Notebook Organizer ($49) - Is your desktop cluttered with files? Are you drowning in sticky notes? Do you remember where to find that important web clipping? Circus Ponies NoteBook is the award-winning application that helps Mac users manage all those bits of information that lack a good home. (Thanks, Joe- he will give a demo next meeting.)

Time Machine Editor - This free application allows you to change the preferences for Time Machine on OSX Leopard. For example, you can set it to backup once per day rather than every hour, which consumes a lot of computer resources. (Thanks Joe and Jerry)

WannaBe - a very tiny, fast and free browser for OS 8,9 and Classic which shows only text (no images or graphics). Very zippy. It worked great on the iBook running OSX classic.Free - download here (732k) (Thanks Tom)

Blue = Bad. For best archival performance of writable CDs, look at the color of the underside. Gold is best, silver 2nd best and blue is least desirable. NIST scientific studies on stability of optical discs have concluded this. (Thanks Jerry)

Exerpt: Samples containing phthalocyanine
performed better than other dye types. In
particular, phthalocyanine combined with a gold-silver
alloy as a reflective layer was consistently more stable
than all other types of CD-R media.
(p. 523, Vol 109, Number 5, Sept-Oct 2004)

- find the owner of any website domain name and other information related to that site.

HPORTMUG is now officially listed on the Apple Users Group site.

And finally, the retired railroad man at our meeting told us if we were ever driving a train loaded with chemicals and smelled 'coconuts' - get the h--- out of there. It's the nitroglycerin about to blow! (Thanks Jack) :-)

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 directly to the NonFrames version here - then navigate to the page you wish to bookmark or print.]