ATTENDING: Tom B, Ed W, Nancy C, Shelley M, Bob S, Dottie E, Jerry L,
Gene N, Ed M, Jan S.
TOPIC: STUFF (Q+A)
A wide variety of questions, topics and comments were shared at the
meeting.
Jerry brought a small,
bottomless box of interesting gizmos and gadgets he has found useful:
Ultrasonic
dog training aid - Pet
Parade Dog Repeller and Training Aid - $7.45 Amazon -This and very
similar models are sold for $30 or more. The reviews are
similar for most of them, $7.45 is worth the gamble. Not all
dogs will respond to this. Some are just plain stubborn. Jerry
said his dog is a wimp and responds well.
Pantone
huey MEU101 - Amazon $40. eBay is best bet, $20-30.
Designed for calibrating and profiling all types of monitors--LCD
and CRT. Each individual package includes a huey measurement device
(emission only colorimeter) with ambient measurement capabilities,
and software for monitor calibration.
huey corrects the color on your monitor so photos and designs print
more accurately, game graphics are more intense and movies are more
true–to–life. Easy–to–use right out of the
box, huey adapts your monitor for changing room lighting and applies
your personal preferences for viewing accurate color all of the time.
GPS
Adapter for Nikon camera - Aokatec AK-N7000: Bluetooth GPS for
Nikon DSLR D3200, D7000 & New Nikon D600, D5200 (also worked
on my old D90) Amazon $64.95.
USB
Power Battery Pack - Tekkeon
MP1580 TEKCHARGE Mobile Power Pack and Battery Charger - $23.93
- Amazon. This uses 4 AA batteries, many use high powered Li-Polymer
batteries, a LOT more bang! I liked the ability to change batteries.
Not using it for any high power drain devices like a phone so the high
powered types aren't needed. But, use good batteries.
Portable
Hard Drive - from OWC (Other
World Computing)- On-The-Go
Pro. Capacities from 320 GB to 1.5 TB, USB 3.0 and 2.0 or
USB 3.0&2.0/FireWire 800. $77.99 to $197.99 depending on
interfaces and speed.
SATA Drive
dock for above hard drive - Voyager $37.99
or $74.99 depending on the interfaces. Available bundled with
a hard drive, 3.5" size (not the small 2.5 " shown) with
capacities up to 4TB - from OWC.
Jerry also
brought a disassembled 2.5"HD to pass around so we could all touch
and see what goes on inside that mysterious little device - ooooooo
- shiny! Some discussion followed regarding the pros and cons of the
new solid state drives which have no moving parts and are lightning
fast.
OTHER TOPICS DISCUSSED
ClamXav -
Tom noted that this free anti-virus application has a handy feature called
'Sentry' which allows you to run a continuous guard on specific folders
such as Mail, Download, etc and will alert you to any suspicious files.
Read more about setting the up Sentry feature here.
How to Test
Your Anti-Virus Software - the simplest way to test ClamXav
and its Sentry feature is to simply download a file called the EICAR
test file. This file, actually a harmless text file, is an industry-standard
test designed to activate antivirus applications. If your antivirus
protection reacts to it, chances are that it is configured properly
and working as expected. Download a 'test virus file' from EICAR. To
get it, go to this
page and download the files listed at the bottom, from the left
to the right. These are basically the same file but it is increasingly
disguised, zipped, and stealthed to make it harder for your antivirus
to detect it. ClamXav should detect all the files in a flash and warn
you about them.
The
Safe Mac - great Mac malware guide with many excellent links to
ways of protecting your Mac from bad stuff.
Mac OS X Security
Guides for Apple operating systems (10.6, 10.5, 10.4, 10.3)
Ed asked how one
might find an older version of a particular software for his scanner.
The best answer seemed to be to go to the scanner manufacturer's website
and search for drivers for the model you need. Often older drivers and
apps are still available but tucked away in the support pages. Another
great source for earlier versions of apps is the website Old
Apps for Macs
Target
Mode - two Macs can be connected via a Firewire cable
for convenience and speed during installation of large files such or
a new operating system. This is especially useful, for example, if
the targeted Mac does not have a DVD player. Also see Apple's
help site on using target mode.
MONOPRICE is
a great place to buy FireWire cables for a few bucks - for example, the
6 ft. 400/800 bilingual firewire cable shown sells for $4.75 + $3 shipping.
Digital
Color Meter - Apple's handy utility built into all Macs - very
helpful in identifying exact color hues
SOFTWARE
Pixelmator -
Tom highly recommends this inexpensive app ($14.95) for retouching photos
- available at the Apple App Store - he showed how
to retouch a photo a pixel at a time to remove a fire hydrant
VirusBarrier
Express - free anti-virus app from Mac App Store (1.9MB) - easy
to use
Carbon
Copy Cloner - clone your entire Mac HD onto a bootable external
HD - programable for auto or manual backup - current
version is $39.95 - earlier
versions were free and will still work on Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5.
Jerry brought a small,
bottomless box of interesting gizmos and gadgets he has found useful:
Ultrasonic
dog training aid - 
USB
Power Battery Pack - 
Portable
Hard Drive - from 
SATA Drive
dock for above hard drive - 
Jerry also
brought a disassembled 2.5"HD to pass around so we could all touch
and see what goes on inside that mysterious little device - ooooooo
- shiny! Some discussion followed regarding the pros and cons of the
new solid state drives which have no moving parts and are lightning
fast. 
How to Test
Your Anti-Virus Software - the simplest way to test ClamXav
and its Sentry feature is to simply download a file called the EICAR
test file. This file, actually a harmless text file, is an industry-standard
test designed to activate antivirus applications. If your antivirus
protection reacts to it, chances are that it is configured properly
and working as expected. Download a 'test virus file' from EICAR. To
get it, go to 
Mac OS X 
Ed asked how one
might find an older version of a particular software for his scanner.
The best answer seemed to be to go to the scanner manufacturer's website
and search for drivers for the model you need. Often older drivers and
apps are still available but tucked away in the support pages. Another
great source for earlier versions of apps is the website 
