AAUG Reviews

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 Margritt A. Engel, AAUG Member

There are dummies, and then there are dummies: This dummie would need many more months to fully appreciate, let alone properly evaluate this book. Even so, following Mark’s pretty precise instructions I have already learned a lot and gained enough confidence to believe that I will one day in the not-too-distant future approach my Leopard-equipped MacBook Pro without fear and trepidation. His folksy tone, sense of humor and easy-to-read conversational style are just right for people like me who are naturally intimidated by any and all technological devices. Because of my own insecurity, I am inclined to consider what shortcomings I might detect in a guide like this my own rather than the author’s. But I also suspect that occasional discrepancies between what Mark says will happen (e.g. on p. 171 about removing an icon from the Dock) and what actually happened when I did it may be due to some differences between the laptop and the ‘big” Mac Pro. Or that, between the time the book was written and published and last December when I purchased my MacBook, Leopard already evolved and added a few new wrinkles.
I was downright touched by Mark Chambers’ enthusiasm for his subject. “Elegant” is the first word in his Introduction, reflecting his initial reaction to Mac OS X and apparently his ultimate judgment. That elegance was certainly lost on me even though I have been a Mac user for 20 years and have never even tried to use a PC. At first, his extolling the virtues of this OS over Windows and other references to Windows rather annoyed me, but ultimately (more…)

by Robert King ,AAUG Member

This full-color, 380-page book provides great information for shooting, sharing, and editing digital photos. Like other “Dummies” books, it is very well written in clear English for beginners and intermediate users of digital photography. Its tips and well-organized information also make it a good reference book for advanced users who will certainly discover things they didn’t know. As a book especially for the beginner, it is structured to cover a great variety of subjects, including providing an introduction to the subject of digital photography that places it in historical context with film-based photography.

The book is conveniently organized into five parts. Part 1 is “Peering through the digital viewfinder” and is an overview that also introduces topics that are explored in greater detail later in the book. These include what digital photography is and how it works, type of cameras and how to operate them, saving and displaying digital information, plus what you can do with them on your computer.

Part 2, entitled “Ready, Set, Shoot!,” builds on information in the first part by explaining how to achieve the right camera settings, how to control exposure and focus, and in general, how to get optimal pictures.

Part 3 takes your digital photographs from your camera to your computer and beyond into ways to display, share, and print them.

Part 4, called “Tricks of the Digital Trade,” provides a great overview of how you can use your computer and various programs to manipulate your digital image to achieve things virtually impossible with older film-based photography. Here you learn important skills like how to sharpen focus, cover flaws, create “new” (more…)

by Richard Geiger, AAUG Member

The iPhone for Dummies is a dated book and seems to be written for iPhone with firmware 1.0. The book does not cover the January 15, 2008 update that Apple rolled out at Mac World. Apple has also rolled out a 16 G iPhone in addition to the 8 G iPhone as of February 5, 2008 which is not covered in the book.

For someone that has been using the Mac OS X and uses Apples standard application such as Address Book, iPhoto, and iTunes the iPhone is probability not a hard to use and the iPhone for Dummies probability seems like an easy read. But if you are coming from a Microsoft Windows platform or have had little interest in learning or do not use a lot of the standard Apple programs that are on your Mac this book is for you. The authors easily walk you through the features of the iPhone. If the iPhone seems easy to you and you have questions about specific functions the book is easy to jump around without having to read the book from cover to cover. The book has a good table of contents and a good index to find what you want about the iPhone.

The book has good color photos and graphics so you can look at the pictures as you work along with the authors. The authors bolded the steps in the instructions so they can easily found and followed. (more…)

by Mark Lovegreen, AAUG Member

The book overall is well laid out. Chapters and their sections are labeled clearly and accurately. I’ve worked with books that used cutsie chapter names that are great for those in the know, but can mislead or confound the novice. When a command or display for a Mac is different than for a Windows machine, both are covered. As is common in instruction manuals for computers and software, there are margin symbols for tips, warnings, and the like. These are always nice to have. This book goes an extra step and repeats some warnings multiple times in different sections in recognition of how the book is likely to be used: as a reference manual. Equally nice is the fact the every time a particular warning shows up, the wording is the same so one can quickly determine that the information is not new and can skip on. For a given procedure, what to do in each step is in bold type followed by a simplified explanation for the reader who isn’t as experienced and may not understand how to execute the step. The experienced operator can stick to the bold type, and the rest of us can read the regular text to be sure we’re doing the right thing.

I’m in awe of the complexity of the iPod and so am necessarily impressed with a manual that gives me the confidence to try to do things I wasn’t even aware I could do with the device. One level of complexity for the authors is the number of iPod models that Apple has produced. Slightly different procedures or screen displays have to be, and are, covered. The book is current through the iPhone and iPod Touch. (more…)

by Susan Veatch Golds, AAUG Member

The book’s real strength is in the step by step organization of the information. It can help you decide IF you want a Mac; what KIND of Mac do you want; and HOW to set the computer up. Once you have made the decision to switch, you are told how to more smoothly transfer your information from your old PC to the Mac. Security issues are discussed. Ultimately, you are informed as to your choices of how to most securely dispose of your old PC to avoid making public your private files. Then it goes on to the specifics of running the computer with all the tricks to master the most from the machine. Including
the various programs that are available on the machine, or available on the internet (either free or for purchase) to help you do anything you could dream you would need while using your new Mac. I was able to even easily use the index and go back and read again the specific areas I needed to re-read to really be able to use the information.

I will give you specific examples on how valuable this book has been in the progression of my development as a new Mac owner.

I switched to a Mac Book Pro in June of 2007. The process was very frustrating as I could not even figure out how to enlarge anything I was working on. Coming from a PC, I was used to grabbing any part of the frame work of the program I was working on to make it larger or smaller. The email “page” on the Mac was so small that it was not functional. Asking for help at the store where it was purchased was a joke. The clerk told me that the Mac had such a good resolution screen, that it was fine the image was small. It was also very clear! This was to enable me to use several applications at once. But if I wanted, they could figure out how to reduce the resolution of the screen for me. (more…)

by Dave Enders, AAUG Member

I recently started uploading the reviews for AAUG. Our website uses WordPress to publish the sites content. I have to admit , I didn’t know a lot about blogging, WordPress or HTML when I started doing this two months ago. I managed to get my first few posts done although it took me a lot longer than I thought it should and I was frustrated at times with the formatting of the reviews. I wanted to learn more about WordPress. While browsing Amazon.com, I came across this book announced as a pre-release. I continued to post reviews while I awaited the release of the book that I hoped would translate the World of WordPress into something I could understand and become an effective user.

As I started to read the first few paragraphs of this book, I found myself saying, “… that’s how that is done ” , “… that’s what a slug is”. I was immediately impressed with this book. It is written in a clear , concise manner and flows nicely from chapter to chapter. The author references back to chapters if you choose to jump around reading the book. I quickly learned that there are three versions of WordPress (Hosted, Self Hosted and Multi-User). Why you would choose one over the others is very well documented. I liked that the pros/cons and costs associated with each version was presented. (more…)

by Wayne Watson, AAUG Member

This book is an excellent “must have” for anyone using the new Mac OS 10.5, commonly referred to as Leopard.

I purchased a family pack Leopard upgrade for my family’s Macs and picked up this book within the same week. I do not regret either decision. Leopard For Dummies is written by “Dr. Mac” Bob LeVitus, who has years of experience writing and teaching about Apple products. The reason for his popularity shines through loud and clear when reading any of the 398 pages in this book.

I have owned a Mac since the original 128 in 1984 and have no hesitation in stating that Leopard dramatically improves the Apple operating system in ways I did not dream were possible. With this said, this book is an essential companion to the operating system. Without this book, the new Leopard user will not use a fraction of Leopard’s potential. I took the book with me on multiple plane flights and found the reading to be light, informative, and with plenty of details. I could not wait to get back home to check out new features such as VoiceOver, a program for visually impaired users that is accessed through System Preferences and clicking on the Universal Access button. VoiceOver reads what is on the screen and integrates with the keyboard so the user can move around the screen until you hear the item you’re looking for.

My three Leopard upgrades went off without any problem (Powerbook G4, iMac isight, and MacBook Pro). (more…)

by Scot Seamans, AAUG Member

This is a good place to start. You might have the question why blog, and this book can give you good reasons why, and the strategies to bring your why, to how.   Everybody’s got an opinion, but that’s not the whole of the blog idea, although there is no dearth of dummies blogging.  In the last two years we have had some incredible interactions, revelations, and real cutting edge information come forward via the blogosphere (Iraq reporting comes to mind) when the homogenized news media neglected to inform or investigate.  For example, I felt the need to do a subject blog as opposed to a journal, because I became appalled and offended when lazy journalists were accepting “news by press release”, parroting that Compact Fluorescent Lights were good for the environment by reducing carbon emissions and saving energy.  In fact, in the life-cycle of a CFL they produce more, not less, of carbon emissions, plus they are toxic to the environment and harmful during use to human health.  It is not even possible to recycle them in most states so they’re either shipped out (more emissions) or put in the landfills (lots more mercury and other toxins).  In normal use they don’t even last longer; big waste of money. Therefore, I needed a blog not to “journal” but to actively recruit other peoples’ anecdotes and suggestions for further research sources.   The inspiration to do this, as a way to get information out to people as well, was hearing Aliza Sherman Risdahl, an Alaskan who wrote The Everything Blogging Book, lecture a variety of groups. Alas, because of my own skill level I needed to supplement the scope of her book with Blogging For DUMMIES, and it was a perfect choice.  They complement each other.
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by Elaine Robinson, AAUG Member

As I have said in earlier reviews, the Dummies series of books take complex subjects and breaks them into easily understandable sections. These books never seem to disappoint. The same applies to “Google Earth For Dummies”. Google Earth is such a cool application one cannot help being fascinated by what it can do. It is quite easy to use but I wanted to dig down into the complexities of the program to see what it can really do and that is why I wanted to review this book. I knew it did more and I needed this book to learn more about Google Earth’s features. You need not read the book through in a linear fashion. You can easily go to a section you want to know more about and skip others.

Google Earth is a free downloadable application from Google. You can virtually tour the earth and zoom in to see almost any part of our great planet. It uses tiled satellite shots from different sources and I have found that not all are of the same quality. The urban areas are more hi-res than remote some areas. Toss out your maps and globe and begin to explore Google Earth!

The book is organized logically and liberally sprinkled with illustrations and the usual “Dummie” helper tips, warnings, technical stuff and remember icons. Each chapter begins with a funny comic and quip. Chapter one introduces you to Google Earth and explains what it can do. It begins with a brief explanation of what the program is and possible uses for it. (more…)