AAUG Reviews

by Dave Enders ,AAUG Member

MacJournal 5 is a journalling application revamped for Leopard that allows any kind of content from text, PDF, Quicktime movies and images. It allows for multiple journals which can have the option to be password protected and AES 256 bit encrypted. This should be plenty to keep prying eyes from your journals if desired.

A nice feature of MacJournal is that you can import text, pdf files , images , audio and movies into your journal entries. I was able to paste, drag and drop and use the File->Import to bring these items into MacJournal. I would like to see a media browser added instead of doing the File-Import method. It would make it more consistent with Apple and third party applications while making it easier to use. Images that are placed in journal entries can be sized by percentage or by dragging the corner of the image. I found that pdf’s can also be scaled once brought into MacJournal.

MacJournal offers all the benefits of rich text editing such as bold , underline,italics etc. I did like was the Paste and Match Style feature which forces the text you are pasting to take the attributes of the paragraph that it is being inserting into. The Edit menu offered the following options for journal entries.

- Date and Time
- Checkbox
- Link (similar to the html tag)
- iTunes Artist and Song (currently playing)
- Safari Address (current Safari website) (more…)

by Theresa Geiger ,AAUG Member

iMac for Dummies 5th edition is well laid out as most Dummie books are. Chambers infuses humor into his writing to keep your interest up. At times you need to chuckle as he hits the nail on the head with his humorous explanation. The books starts with unpacking your computer using simple functions to get you familiar with the machine. It tells you about the great Apple help system to answer your questions. It moves on to get you familiar with Leopard and transferring data if need be.

Getting familiar with Finder is next along with Safari so you can surf the net is next. Most people have heard about iTunes and the book does a good job of getting you started. I always seem to learn something new each time I reread a chapter. I forgot about the custom equalizer in itunes and played with it which resulted in a better sound. Love the shortcuts for ITunes he presents.

Most people have a digital camera so the next important function of a computer especially a Mac is iPhoto. The new updated iPhoto makes it real easy to organize your photos by date with the new Events system of ordering your pictures by date. From there you can reorganize your photos into albums. The instructions in some cases were not complete and I had to revert to the help menu for iPhoto. One such time is when I wanted to start a new Event and wanted to transfer pictures from other events, I had taken pictures on different days and wanted to group them together. The help menu came to the rescue. (more…)

by Dave Enders ,AAUG Member

1Password has been called Keychain on steroids ! I’d call it Popeye with a whole case of spinach !!

1Password can generate strong passwords, auto fill forms utilizing multiple identities, .mac integration and is compatible with most mac browsers. That is a few of the features that attracted me to 1Password. You can even take your passwords with you on your Palm PDA or iPhone.

With the help of Mac OS X Keychain, 1Password manages passwords for hundreds of websites. The nice thing about using 1Password to manage these passwords is that they are available in any supported browser. I frequently use both Safari and Firefox (OmniWeb, DEVONagent, Camino and Flock are also supported) in my daily routine. A password entered in Safari is immediately available in Firefox and vice versa.

I appreciate any application that supports .mac and 1Password accomplishes this via turning on Keychain syncing . It helps save time and frustration by keeping my passwords synchronized between browsers and computers. There were some reports on the 1Password blog of problems with the .mac support. In my two weeks of testing , I can report that 1Password works very well with .mac. In my opinion this was an Apple issue since I had many woes using .mac a few months ago. (more…)

by Carlene Brown ,AAUG Member

IRIScan Executive 2 is a compact, portable, sheet fed, color scanner. IRIScan is USB powered, thus making it easy to use anywhere. The Mac version includes the OCR software Readiris Pro 11 for scanning text documents and photographs; and Cardiris 4 for scanning business cards..

I installed IRIScan on a Mac Book G4 running Mac OS X 10.5.2. Following the installation instructions I installed the Readiris Pro 11 software then plugged the IRIScan into a USB port. I next calibrated the scanner using the provided calibration sheet and was all set to begin. I chose a text document, fed it into the scanner and waited. The scanned result was a blank page I tried again, same result. I chose another document and once again it produced a blank page. The Quick Start Guide was of little use. I checked the settings and tried several more times but nothing happened. Because it was late in the evening I put it away and decided I would check it out another day.

My next experience began the same way, so I opened up the electronic 128 page User’s Manual. I spent two hours reading the manual, which didn’t have any troubleshooting information and no instructions relating to my problem, making minor changes in the settings, and trying to scan. Finally success! (more…)

by Wayne Watson ,AAUG Member

My initial impression of this book was dramatically different than my opinion upon merely thumbing through the digital page. I really like the electronic aspect of this book. This book was my first foray into a “paperless” book. The entire book is available as a PDF file–all 203 pages. The memory requirement is only 10 MB of hard drive space. The book is accessed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program. Each page can be zoomed in or zoomed out for further detail.

The target audience for this book appears to meet my intermediate skill range. I have been using Macs since 1984 and have close to 35,000 digital images in my iPhoto library.

I put off reading the book because I did not want to read it on my iMac 17″ monitor at home. I kept thinking a “paper” book would be so much more useful. However, it wasn’t until I realized I could copy (using my thumb drive) the PDF file over onto my 12″ Powerbook G4 and take the book “on the road” did I truly fall in love with the electronic format. This “eBook” version of the original Peachpit Press book is distributed by Take Control Books and has additional resources such as linked resources. I read the entire book on a three day business trip on the Powerbook. No wonder these Visual QuickStart books are the industry’s best-selling series of affordable, quick-reference guides. I felt like an old dog who learned a new trick. (As a side note, I was surprised but completely understanding to learn Peachpit Press has more than 200 titles (more…)

by Wayne Watson ,AAUG Member

This iPod Touch case is plastic but has what they advertise as a “liquid rubber finish”. While this finish sounds intriguing, it boils down to a slip resistant finish similar to rubber–but without the bulk of a rubber finish. The fold-out movie stand in the back is a nice feature but I typically hold my iPod Touch in my hands while watching a movie. If someone wants to extend the fold-out stand and prop the iPod up on its side like a landscape picture frame, this is the case to buy.

The liquid-polymer-coated hardshell case

My older 40gb photo iPod has a thick rubber case that I tend to open up while recharging for fear of having the 40gb iPod overheating. However, this Gear 4 iVak hard “liquid rubber finish” case is so think I do not worry about over-heating during a charge.

The clamshell encasement allows easy access to the power button as well as the docking/ear phone connections. I like this case and hope it becomes available soon in the US.

by Chris Tofteberg ,AAUG Member

I just broke down and got my first iPhone, and I’m wondering what took me so long to get one (probably the price). The first thing I thought when I held it was that it desperately needed a case. A hard case that is slip-proof. And protects the screen. And, as I discovered after spending 16 hours in aircrafts, one that has a stand for watching movies. Enter the iVak from gear4. This case satisfied all of these needs and looked cool doing it.

What it is: The iVak is a hard case for your iPhone that is composed of two pieces, basically the front and back. However, they fit together about 3/4 of the way down the backside, which prevents the case from “splitting” in half. Trust me, this can and does happen with cases that simply couple at the middle. There is also a screen protector that is integrated into the front piece. And for you business types, a handy belt clip to show off your iPhone prowess.

It’s getting to the point where there are almost as many styles of iPhone cases as there are iPod cases to choose from. Given that, you say, how did this one rate?

Exceptionally well. While this is a hard case (versus a rubberized one) it has a mildly texturized surface that minimizes slipping if you set it on a smooth surface. (more…)

by Chris Tofteberg ,AAUG Member

Belkin is well known for the accessories they make for the Mac, the iPod and just general gadgets like USB hubs. I’ve been very impressed with every Belkin product I’ve ever owned. Except perhaps this one, the Belkin Washable Mouse.

How the Washable Mouse differs from most of the other mouses out there is that it can be, as the name implies, washed. And not just wiped off, but rinsed under running water. All mouses become dirty after a while, no matter how good your hygiene is. And you usually dig out some cleaner and a cloth to gently rub the gunk off. The Washable Mouse makes it so you can be more liberal with your cleaner and water if you choose. I just had to douse the mouse in water to see how it held up, and it worked just fine after wiping it down with a towel.

The mouse looks and feels like a traditional mouse except that the top part your hand sets on is sealed in a rubber-like coat. The Washable Mouse features two buttons (if you push them both you get a center-click, something I’ve never found a use for) and a unique Scroll Pad. The Scroll Pad has no moving parts and is touch sensitive. The Scroll Pad can also side scroll but the oblong shape of it, about the width of your finger, does not bode well for side scrolling. (more…)

by Steve Nigl ,AAUG Member

I’ve been doing photography as a business for about two years and have always been hesitant to shoot a wedding. Much of this is because I’m working in an information vacuum. Short of apprenticing with an experienced wedding photographer, Glen Johnson’s book, “Digital Wedding Photography - Capturing Beautiful Memories is a great way to get your bearing in the world of shooting weddings.

Johnson assumes a basic knowledge of photography and dives-in with a description of the three prevailing types of wedding photography today: Traditional, Journalistic, and Portrait Journalistic. He explains how the photographer’s financial needs may actually dictate which artistic style is chosen.

The book covers how to be prepared for the key events in any wedding, and strongly emphasizes the authors philosophy of non-interference in what should be a couple’s key life event. Not turning that blessed event into ‘a photo shoot’. He covers photographic technique; which equipment is essential to (digitally) shooting a wedding, and what not to waste your money on; to creating a manageable workflow.

I’m still not convinced that wedding photography is right for me, but I am sure that any digital photographer who is considering entering this area of specialty, cannot afford NOT to buy this book!
Rating 5!

by Susan Veatch Golds ,AAUG Member

When I was learning to use my Tiger program as a Mac novice, I learned about the added features that were available in the Leopard program. So, I up-graded. Since I have found out that books are a good way for me to learn, I selected this one to review.

One of the features I was particularly interested in using was the Stationery that could be found in Apple Mail. I was using Google’s Gmail program with the POP3 format set up for email usage. This was not compatible with fully using the Apple Mail. With this book, I was able to understand the difference between POP3 and IMAP settings. And best of all, I was able to make the change and can now get all my email on Apple Mail. This allows me to use my addresses from Google and add them to my contacts in Apple Mail in a very slick manner. Therefore I can keep all my email addresses current, and available both on the Internet and on my computer.

There was wrinkle in this “improvement” as suddenly an unbecoming photo was being sent along with my emails when using Apple Mail. My identity photo had been taken in the store when I bought the computer. Using Goggle Gmail, it never showed up, and continues not to show up when viewing the sent mail by Apple Mail. However, it was in revealing color on Apple Mail itself! I could never figure how to eliminate it totally, but did choose an innocuous symbol for the email thanks to the information on “Setting Up and Managing User Accounts”. (more…)