saturday 07 july 2007
Dear All -
As always, a warm welcome to new readers of this newsletter, going out to nearly 450 people now around the globe - most of you are clients - thank you.
Firstly, an apology for the slip of the finger that issued an un-edited version of this news letter in june. Ooooops!
Secondly, I note that there is a lot of information here, do call if you want any more information and explanation. This newsletter goes out to you all - to some of you it will seem all “old news”, to some of you it will “over my head, dear boy”, some of it will be of interest to some of you.
As noted in the recent Quick Updates emails - that’s where the Urgent stuff will go.
There will be two sections in this newsletter.
Here’s the Important stuff:
Updates from Apple:
Apple has recently released two important updates which have had errors in them for some people, update 10.4.10, and iTunes 7.3.
iTunes 7.3
Do NOT install iTunes 7.3. As at least one of you has discovered it can corrupt your music library and make it inaccessible. A new version of the update is being worked on by Apple and we await its release.
Update 10.4.10.
There have been a number of problems with this update, but the worst affected were Intel-based machines.
Apple has now posted a revised Mac OS X 10.4.10 update for Intel-based Macs, fixing some bugs in the first version. This release is called Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update v1.1 (Intel), and a a 10.4.10 v1.1 Combo version is also available.
It includes the contents of Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update and fixes a non-security issue that causes audio popping sounds in certain Intel-based configurations running the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update. PowerPC-based configurations are not affected by the audio issue.
The Software Update utility will not present Version 1.1 of Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update for systems already running Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update.
If you wish to carry out this update, I strongly advise you to do a good back-up of all your data, and any applications and downloads that are important to you, and that you apply the so-called “Combo” updater. This is an enormous 170 MBytes or so, but it will apply all the updates, in the right place, from a core OS X 10.4, all the way to 10.4.10 (v1.1).
Be patient and allow the machine plenty of time to do the updates, which may require more than one restart.
More generally, there have been Security updates released for OS X 10.4 and 10.3.
Remember, you should be running - OS X 10.2.8; or 10.3.9; or a recent 10.4.x - update you machine using Software Update (in System Preferences if on 10.2; in the blue Apple menu if on 10.3 and 10.4).
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OK, that’s the important stuff out of the way. The rest of the news letter is the usual collection of snippets of information that have caught my eye over the past month or so.
Apple about to fail? Perhaps not!
Apple Inc.'s market capitalization broke the $100 billion barrier for the first time on wednesday 30 may 2007, as shares of the company surged above $116 following a bullish research report from investment bank Morgan Stanley.
iPhone
It seems that Apple (and their carrier partner in the US, AT&T) sold in the order of 700 000 iPhones in under a week from it’s introduction last friday (29 june)! This is the fastest take-up of a piece of technology ever. Will the iPhone come to Europe? Yes. Who will carry it? Don’t know. Carriers here are being put off by the demands that Apple is making for a share of the revenue from the use of the ‘phone.
Handy gadgets for USB
I’ve had a couple of requests recently for alternatives to Apple’s keyboard and mouse and found this site for alternative keyboards, trackpads, trackballs etc:
http://www.hands-free.co.uk/products/index.php?id=41
Tiscali problems
Tiscali have recommended that its users use a free e-mail service, in place of their own, following a weeks worth of problems with their outbound e-mail platform, and the possibility of another week until the problems are fixed.
The issues arose after an influx of spam through their mail servers that has caused Tiscali to be blacklisted as a source of spam. Many service providers subscribe to 'spam blacklists' in order to help identify where spam is originating from, and to stop it from known sources. There is always a risk that legitimate sources can be blocked, but many service providers live with this in favour of receiving less spam mail for their customers.
Large internet service providers are regularly targeted, via their customers, to send spam, but unless there was a particularly large increase in the amount of spam being relayed via Tiscali, this seems like an unlikely cause for the problem. A spokesman for Spamhaus, an operator of one such blacklist, told the BBC that they were not seeing anything to indicate a need for major blocking, and speculated that a technical failure at Tiscali could be the cause. Tiscali, however, denied any technical problems.
A statement on the Tiscali website apologises and expects work to be complete. However, this will not bring an instant fix as it can often take some time to get off of spam blacklists once the problem has been curbed. This is one obvious flaw in the system, as the ISP in question who sends the mail has no control over who subscribes to these blacklists where they may be listed in error.
Homecall, a Tiscali wholesale partner, have also been affected by the problem.
BT buys Brightview
This includes all of the Brightview brands, including Madasafish, Global Internet and Waitrose.com. It is unclear at the moment whether they will be merged onto the BT retail platform or maintain autonomy as is currently the case with Plusnet.
New prices and specifications for MacBooks
Announced on 15 may.
And there are rumours of new iMacs in the summer. But they are rumours.
Yellow Camp Software releases Anzan 1.0.0
Yellow Camp Software has released Anzan 1.0.0, a utility for easily transferring files between multiple Macs on a local network. Anzan makes the transfer of a file to a co-worker or family member as simple as dropping a file onto the recipient's name. With Anzan you can think in terms of who you wish to send a file to instead of how to send it. In addition, the utility provides a history of your transfers, both sent and received, and can quickly reveal these files in Finder. The license for two computers is US$18.95, while the license for up to five computers is $36.95. A license for up to ten computers is $65.95.
NeoOffice Update
Some of you are using free/cheap alternatives to MS Office such as NeoOffice.
NeoOffice 2.1 Patch 5 updates the latest release of this Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite. According to the release announcement, this patch brings performance improvements:
“After countless hours of performance analysis work, we recently had a breakthrough that enabled us to identify specific performance bottlenecks in NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org code and fix those bottlenecks by replacing the OpenOffice.org code with code that is optimized specifically for Mac OS X.
“As a result of our fixes, image scaling and drawing speed has been increased and memory usage has been reduced. While users may not notice much change in performance when using text-based documents, users should see image-intensive activities such as running a slide show with transitions or scrolling through large documents perform several times faster than before.”
Jer's Novel Writer
Jer's Novel Writer 1.0.0.3 is a word processor for creative writers, with features to support large creative writing projects. Features include margin notes, automatic outlines, a database for tracking characters and other items, full-screen mode, separate formatting for print and screen, word and page counts, support for large documents, and more. This release changes the regex engine from POSIC to Tcl and adds a Find Select Text command, a single Find window shared by all documents, valid XHTML output, and other changes. Jer's Novel Writer is $30 for Mac OS X (Universal Binary).
SOHO Organiser
SOHO Organizer is a powerful and integrated productivity suite that helps you manage your contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes. Its best-of-class synchronization ensures that you always have your latest information on your cell phone, iPod, Palm handheld, multiple computers, iCal, iSync, and Address Book. SOHO Organizer can be used by single users or workgroups who wish to share information over a network. It sports many time-saving features including six views (contact card, contact list, day, year, calendar list, and journal), daily notes, hierarchical contact groups, note linking, attachments, alarms, custom fields, keywords, maps, and more. Plus, you can design and print labels, envelopes, letterhead, fax covers, invoices, and address books. Needs OS X 10.4.9 or later.
Adobe Digital Editions
"Adobe Digital Editions is a new way to read and manage eBooks and other digital publications. It is built from the ground up as a lightweight rich Internet application (RIA). Adobe Digital Editions works online and offline and supports PDF- and XHTML-based content as well as Adobe Flash® SWF for rich interactivity"
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions
Easier podcasts
"Übercaster makes it easy for you to produce your podcast show in four simple steps.
"Each step has its own layer which bundles various functions in an easy to use yet powerful user interface. This makes Übercaster suitable for both, newbies and advanced podcasters. All you need is Übercaster, a Macintosh and something to tell...
http://www.ubercaster.com/
Sibelius
"The Sibelius Group introduced Sibelius 5, a major update of its music notation software, due to ship at the end of this month. This release is a Universal Binary and adds the Ideas Hub for capturing and tagging musical ideas, a 2 GB collection of sounds, playback using both VST and Audio Unit instruments, a panorama view for displaying music, easy cue creation and instrument changes, new hand written-style fonts, functional analysis, early music and avant garde symbols, and more. Sibelius is $599 for Mac OS X 10.4 and up or Windows XP/Vista."
New Skype version
"Skype for Mac 2.6, is the latest release of its communications software for Mac that offers a new feature currently unavailable to Windows users. Skype has introduced a new call-transfer feature exclusive to the Mac platform, enabling users to transfer an ongoing call to another Skype user on a contact list. Skype is available for free, requiring Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later."
Crossover
"CodeWeavers' Crossover Mac 6.1 makes it possible to run Windows applications natively on Mac OS X without Windows. This release adds handling of mailto: links both inside and outside of Crossover, support for installing a set of Windows-specific truetype fonts, improved Leopard support, QuickTime 7 support, and other changes. Crossover Mac is $59.95 for Mac OS X and an Intel-based Mac. The company provides a compatibility page for Windows applications."
MS Converter
"Microsoft has released a long-awaited Mac OS X-compatible drag-and-drop OOXML converter (which can convert Word 2007 for Windows and Word 2008 for Mac OS X [when released]) documents to RTF (rich-text-format) documents, readable by Word 2004, Word v.X and other applications.
Currently, the converter provides read-only access to Office Open XML files in the following formats (which are converted to RTF):
• Word Document (*.docx)
• Word Macro-Enabled Document (*.docm)
A full converter, which will translate OOXML Excel and PowerPoint files will not be released until this Summer."
Performance tip: Keep the Desktop clutter-free (empty, if possible)
This will be a shock to some of you! But might be worth trying if your machine seems slow.
“Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organised later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.
“Unfortunately - aside from the effect of disarray it creates --keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks.
“As such, keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost - particularly for the Finder.”
CardRaider 1.2 adds RAW support
“Ecamm Network has released CardRaider 1.2, an update to its program for recovering photos from memory cards used in digital cameras. Any type of card is supported, so long as it can be accessed from a USB-enabled reader, or a camera with a connector cable. Users can choose to scan and save separately, or automatically save everything, with the added ability to export directly to iPhoto. Conversely, images can be deliberately sabotaged to be inaccessible. Version 1.2 introduces the critical feature of RAW support -- compatible formats extend from major manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon, to more niche companies such as Leaf and Sigma. The software requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, and costs $20 for the full version. A 1.9MB demo is also available.”
Flash-based Apple notebooks planned
“Apple is planning to release a new notebook with solid state flash memory "soon," according to sources cited by Macworld UK. The Cupertino-based company is destined to release an ultra-portable thin 13-inch MacBook with an LED-back lit display, no optical disc drive, and on-board NAND flash memory that is thinner and lighter than existing MacBooks, according to AppleInsider, which should launch late this year or early next year. Industry watchers speculate that the portables will make use of Intel's new Santa Rosa laptop processor, which implements support for solid state memory that can boost laptop battery life and startup times. Apple CEO Steve Jobs earlier this month in an open letter to the public revealed that the company plans to introduce its first Macs with LED backlight technology this year.”
Access to the KJV Bible on Dashboard
Further to my note last time, Logos are working on a version of their software that will run on OS X, and in the meantime has made available a free BibleWidget for users of Mac OS X Tiger. It is based on the KJV, and can be used for simple text searches, by entering (or cutting and pasting) the book followed by the chapter and then the verse number (no ranges).
http://www.logos.com/mac
As at the time of writing this newsletter Logos’ site is up, but requests to download the widget fail
Google Earth
Now at 4.1 for OS X 10.4 users.
Program default changer
In order to make Eudora your default email application in OS X you have to tell Mail; in order to make Firefox your default browser you have to tell Safari!
“Fortunately, there are more direct means for changing these settings. The most prominent is through the use of RCDefaultApp, a freeware preference pane (accessible through System Preferences) that allows designation of default Web, Mail, RSS, FTP clients and more.”
http://www.rubicode.com/Software/RCDefaultApp/
Microsoft Expression Media
“Expression Media 1.0 is the successor to iView MediaPro, the digital asset manager that Microsoft purchased in 2006. Like MediaPro, it includes support for many image formats, drag-and-drop importing, offline catalog searching, batch conversion, CD/DVD archiving, extensive metadata support, and more. A free trial download is available. Microsoft Expression Media is a Universal Binary priced at $299 for Mac OS X 10.4 and up or Windows XP/Vista. According to the product web site, iView MediaPro owners may qualify for a free upgrade through August 1st 2007, after which the upgrade will be $99.”
Notes from the field
Notes from the field are contributions from users like yourself. They might be something discovered; they might be a question that is looking for an answer, they might be publicising something you or your organisation have done. They will be posted at www.themacdoc.co/field.html immediately, and some posted here:
“While working in Word for the Mac on a big editing job, which I had manually saved every few minutes as I went, I then renamed the folder in which the file resided, in order to back up the folder to an external device. On attempting later to open the file, Word could not find a path to it; and neither could I, not on my PowerBook nor on the external device. The problem seems to have come from renaming the folder with the document still open; so unless a better explanation comes along, do not risk this! I lost not only the latest changes but the whole file altogether - about six hours' work.” PB
And AS asks “Has anyone else had a problem with Mac Help on OX (Panther 10.3.9)? The question marks which appear in many of the help windows indicating further help don't work, and Help Viewer is always "quit(ting) unexpectedly" and asking me if I want to submit a bug report. I have done so a couple of times but in spite of definitely being connected to the internet at the time there is no indication that my post has left this corner of cyberspace (e.g. no sound or automatic confirmation). In Browse Mac Help I can't get further than about three moves e.g. I can get as far as Working with desktop > Basics but the next move always causes the application to quit.
"Question marks don't respond either in AppleWorks, Mail, Address Book or Safari. In addition, Address Book Help comes up with "TopicListNoResults" whichever topic I click. I thought Text Edit was ok but Browsing in TextEdit Help has just caused a quit."
AS also wonders: “I am a committee chairman often embarrassed by incompatibility problems. For instance, I've requested Minutes in RTF since I couldn't read the format in which they were originally sent. The straightforward text is ok but the Responsibilities column does not appear as such and "Responsibilities" appears squashed in front of the first heading in the main text; there are huge gaps down the pages thereafter and the people who should feature in the column appear in all sorts of bizarre places. Presumably this is because the page isn't wide enough to take the column but there doesn't seem any means of reducing the Text Edit margins. (The documents won't Save as Word Format.)
Another problem comes when I'm sent graphs, which Text Edit can't cope with at all. I've tried converting them to Apple Works spreadsheets but that is most unsatisfactory.
Any suggestions please?”
Ideas for AS to me and I’ll forward them, or put you in touch.
OK, that's it for the moment. Any questions - let me know!
Best wishes to you all, and thanks for being Mac users
hugh