[WelMac] Welmac News & Update 6 Apr 08

[WelMac news]

CONTENTS:
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1. MEETING UPDATE
2. ITUNES STORE TOP MUSIC RETAILER IN THE US
3. MERGING PDFS AND IMAGES IN LEOPARD'S PREVIEW
4. APPLE ONLINE SEMINARS COVER VARIOUS TOPICS
5. RECENT APPLE UPDATES
6. QUICK TABS IN SAFARI 3.1
7. CARBON COPY CLONER 3.1 RELEASED
8. PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS OFFERS FREE PHOTO EDITING ON THE WEB

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MEETING UPDATES

WelMac Kapiti Meeting

For those members living at or near the Paraparaumu area, our next  
Kapiti meeting will be held at our normal time on Monday 7 April  
2008. It will be at the Rita King Cottage at St Marks Church in  
Rosetta Road, Raumati and will take a look at Apple’s iWork 08  
software package.

WelMac Basics Meeting

The next basics meeting will be held on Monday 14 April 2008. This  
meeting will be held in the Turnbull Room on the First Level of  
Turnbull House, 11 Bowen Street, Wellington from 7.10pm until 9.30pm.  
(parking should be available on The Terrace and further up Bowen  
Street, past The Terrace intersection)

This meeting is a seminar style meeting and will concentrate on the  
basic operation of Macintosh computers. This months meeting will  
concentrate on using basic applications such as word processors,  
spreadsheets, databases and basic graphics software.

Mac OS X Special Interest Group meeting

The next Mac OS X Special Interest Group meeting meeting will be held  
on Monday 21st April 2008, 7 to 9:30 pm in the Turnbull Room at  
Turnbull House, 11 Bowen St, Wellington.

It is open to all WelMac members (and prospective members) and the  
main goal of this meeting is for those "early adopters" who are  
already running Leopard to compare notes and experiences, and for  
anyone else who wants to run Leopard soon to come along and see it in  
operation, and ask any questions they might have.

WelMac Main Meeting

The next main meeting will be held on Monday 28 April 2008. This  
meeting will be held in the Ante Room on the Ground Level of Turnbull  
House, 11 Bowen Street, Wellington from 7.10pm until 9.30pm. (parking  
should be available on The Terrace and further up Bowen Street, past  
The Terrace intersection)

The first part of the meeting will be a questions and answers session  
and this will be followed by supper. The main presentation will cover  
Backup Strategy including Time Machine & Time Capsule.

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2. ITUNES STORE TOP MUSIC RETAILER IN THE US

Apple announced on April 3 that the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com)  
surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US,  
based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. With over 50 million  
customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features the  
world’s largest music catalog of over six million songs.

“We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become  
the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s  
vice president of iTunes. “We are thrilled, and would like to thank  
all of our customers for helping us reach this incredible milestone.”

*Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch  
survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and  
counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless  
transactions. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in  
the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February  
2008.


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3. MERGING PDFS AND IMAGES IN LEOPARD'S PREVIEW

by John Martellaro

Preview is a powerful application that can do many things. One of the  
new features introduced in Leopard is the ability of Preview to merge  
several files of different types into one, say, PDF document.

This can be particularly handy when you want to add a graphic or an  
additional page or two to an existing PDF file. That has been hard to  
do before Leopard.

Let's say we have an existing PDF file like the one shown below. Open  
it in Preview. Under the View menu, select Sidebar if it isn't  
already visible. Now open the file you want to add in Preview, too.  
It could be another PDF, but I used a JPG in this example. Open its  
Sidebar as well.

Here's the cool new feature in Leopard. Drag the new graphic's  
thumbnail image from one Sidebar to the other, as I've shown with the  
red line. Just drop it underneath the first image because you can  
reorder later. If desired you can drag more files into the first  
document's Sidebar in the same fashion. When you have them all, just  
drag a thumbnail up or down within the Sidebar to reorder.

Finally, go to Preview's File menu and save the document in the  
format you desire. In this example I saved it as a PDF. Once you have  
the file saved, you can have fun verifying the multi-page PDF file  
with Quick Look by selecting it and then hit the spacebar. A final  
tip: multi-page docs in Quick Look will have scroll bars when you  
view them.

Tis is only one of the number of new things Preview can do in the new  
Leopard version. The version of Preview that comes with Mac OS X  
Leopard is “more than just a fast and efficient program for reading  
PDFs,” writes Kirk McElhearn of MacWorld. Using the latest version of  
Preview, you can “enhance your images, annotate and merge PDFs, print  
multiple images on one page, and more—all without opening a  
specialized (and often expensive) image editor or PDF tool. Go to  
<http://www.macworld.com/article/132468/2008/04/workingmac2504.html>  
to get the full article.

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4. APPLE ONLINE SEMINARS COVER VARIOUS TOPICS

On the Apple web site, there are is a vast selection of online  
seminars that anyone can participate in once registered. Below are  
details of a couple of the seminars available at <http:// 
www.seminars.apple.com/sol/us_en/?locs=us_en>.

Compatibility with Windows seminar for new Mac users

The Mac is the best tool for both the office and the home, making it  
the ideal computer for a business. If you're one of the many  
businesspeople who is contemplating a move from another computer to  
the Mac, watch this online seminar to pick up useful tips and  
valuable information to help you make the transition seamless. Kenny  
Lee, from Apple's Small Business Marketing group, and Travis Fears  
from the Apple Store San Francisco present and demo specific content  
for new Mac business users <http://seminars.apple.com/seminarsonline/ 
sb-switch/apple/index.html>.

Get organized. Your Mac can help.

If you’d like to get your life a bit more organized, you should watch  
“Organize your work and life with your Mac.” The free online seminar  
shows you how you can take advantage of the powerful tools in Mac OS  
X Leopard — such as Mail, Address Book, and iCal — Bento, the  
personal database designed just for Leopard users, and FileMaker Pro  
to get more control of the contacts, events, projects, and other  
elements of your busy life. <http://seminars.apple.com/seminarsonline/ 
filemaker/apple/>

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5. RECENT APPLE UPDATES

Apple updated Keynote to version 4.0.3 last Thursday, an update that,  
"Addresses performance and stability issues when working with large  
documents." The update requires version 4.0.2 to already be  
installed, and weighs in as a 20.5 MB download. You can find the  
update at Download section of Apple's Support site, or download it  
through Software Update.

Apple released QuickTime 7.4.5 on Wednesday 3 April. The update for  
the multimedia playback and support system included security-related  
enhancements, improved compatibility with third-party applications,  
and improved reliability. The update addressed issues where Java  
applets could potentially gain elevated privileges, downloading  
specially crafted movie files could result in information disclosure,  
and viewing maliciously crafted movies or PICT files could crash  
applications or lead to arbitrary code execution. QuickTime 7.4.5 is  
available via Apple's Software Update application, or as a download  
at the Apple Support Web site. Versions are available for Mac OS X  
10.3, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, and Microsoft Windows.

Apple also released iTunes 7.6.2 at the same time. The update for the  
media management and playback application includes bug fixes, and  
improves overall application stability and performance. The iTunes  
update is available via Software Update, or as a download for Mac OS  
X and Windows at the Apple Support Web site

Along with its iTunes and QuickTime updates, Apple also released  
Front Row 2.1.3. The update for the Mac-based media center  
application improves overall support for the new iTunes 7.6.2 update.  
Front Row 2.1.3 is available via Software Update, or as a download at  
the Apple Support Web site <http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/>.

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6. QUICK TABS IN SAFARI 3.1

by Jeff Gamet

Tabbed browsing can save lots of Desktop space if you like to keep  
several Web browser windows open at the same time. Safari makes it  
easy to make new browser tabs with its Command-T keyboard shortcut,  
but if you are using Safari 3.1, you can Double-click to create new  
tabs, too.

To create a new Safari tab with your mouse, just Double-click in the  
Tab Bar. Safari will create a new tab and automatically select it as  
your active browser window.

Keyboard shortcuts certainly do make it easy to quickly perform tasks  
in Safari, like creating new browser tabs, but sometimes it can be  
even faster to create those tabs if you don't have to take your hand  
off your mouse to move to your keyboard. Double-click tabs is a  
feature that Firefox has been offering, so it's nice to see it  
finally show up in Safari, too.

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7. CARBON COPY CLONER 3.1 RELEASED

by Adam C. Engst

Bombich Software has released Carbon Copy Cloner 3.1 (CCC), a notable  
update to the popular disk cloning and backup software. CCC 3.1  
implements rsync 3.0 for "greater fidelity" when backing up using  
CCC's Copy Selected Items backup method, improves the already solid  
interface wording that explains what CCC will do for each selected  
action, adds "bootability" checks to see if the backup volume will be  
bootable (this doesn't work with duplicates made over a network,  
alas), and more. A variety of bugs were also fixed, so backing up to  
a remote Mac using a path with a space in it uses the correct  
location, invisible flags are maintained in Leopard when using Copy  
Everything, scheduled tasks in Leopard now run reliably after a  
reboot, and it's now possible to install CCC's Authentication  
Credentials package from multiple source Macs onto a single target  
machine (previously, manual tweaking of the authorization credentials  
was necessary to make this setup work).

For those who haven't used Carbon Copy Cloner, it's a full-featured  
cloning, synchronization, and backup program with scheduling and  
archiving features. I've started experimenting with Carbon Copy  
Cloner to create bootable duplicates of my primary work machines over  
the network to disks installed inside my Power Mac G4 file server.  
(This is in addition to Time Machine backups of my Leopard Macs, and  
Retrospect home folder backups of Macs running Tiger or Panther, all  
to the same Power Mac G4.) The capability to create a bootable  
duplicate over a network is uncommon, shared only with EMC's  
Retrospect (the excellent SuperDuper can create a backup to a remote  
disk image over a network, but that's not bootable). Carbon Copy  
Cloner's network duplicates work much more quickly than those in the  
current version of Retrospect.

Carbon Copy Cloner 3.1 requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher and works  
well with Mac OS X 10.5.2. The program is uncrippled shareware,  
meaning that all features are available whether or not you've paid,  
and no registration is ever required, but Bombich Software  
appreciates donations once Carbon Copy Cloner has proven its worth to  
you. It's a 2.1 MB download.

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8. PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS OFFERS FREE PHOTO EDITING ON THE WEB

by Jeff Carlson

Adobe has announced Photoshop Express, a new online photo service  
that makes it easy to upload, share, and - more important - edit  
digital photos without running a dedicated program such as iPhoto or  
Adobe's own Photoshop Elements. The service is free, currently  
includes 2 GB of online storage, and is a public beta. It also  
requires Flash 9 to operate. You can tour the service's functionality  
by clicking the Test Drive button on the home page.

It's easy to see the appeal of Photoshop Express as being "Photoshop  
on the Web," a way to tap into the long heritage of image editing  
established by Adobe Photoshop. But when I saw a preview of the  
service last week, my first thought was, "This is more like a really  
good online version of iPhoto." It features an easy-to-use interface  
and basic capabilities for uploading and organizing images into photo  
albums, as well as sharing photos with others (I've made a couple of  
galleries available).

As you might expect from technology based on Photoshop, the service  
shines when it comes to making adjustments to your photos. You won't  
find levels or curves adjustments in this consumer-oriented approach.  
Making an adjustment such as exposure gives you a strip of thumbnails  
with various degrees of the settings applied; click the one that  
looks best to you. (A few adjustments, such as White Balance, also  
offer sliders for a bit more control over how the effect is applied.)  
Making edits is also non-destructive, with a clear method of  
reverting to previous edits and toggling the application of  
adjustments you've applied.

A few corrections are quite nifty, such as the capability to "pop" a  
color and make the rest of the image grayscale. And I'm impressed by  
the implementation of the Retouch feature, which gives you more  
control over fixing blemishes than just applying spot patches to them.

Photoshop Express isn't a serious competitor against an established  
photo-sharing service such as Flickr, which functions as much as a  
social networking site as a way to post photos. Photoshop Express  
also lacks the capability to assign tags to images (which makes  
finding them easier later) or even a way to rename them, though you  
can add and edit captions. However, Adobe clearly understands this,  
because you can import and export pictures between other services.  
The service currently supports Facebook, Photobucket, and Picasa; an  
Adobe representative said that they've signed an agreement with Yahoo  
to add Flickr access soon.

Photoshop Express also isn't the first online photo editor, but does  
have the advantage of being Photoshop-derived. Picnik, which Adam  
wrote about last year (see "Picnik Duplicates iPhoto on the Web,"  
2007-09-07) offers similar features and works with many online  
services. In Flickr, for example, clicking the Edit Photo button that  
appears above one of your images opens the photo in Picnik.

The service does have a few drawbacks. Photoshop Express is currently  
limited to users in the United States. It's also quite network- 
intensive, since the majority of the processing is being done on  
Adobe's servers. While working in Photoshop Express on one computer,  
I've seen the Internet performance on other computers on my network  
slow down. The service is also built entirely in Flash; I've never  
been a fan of the technology, which has always struck me as overly  
resource-intensive and, frankly, annoying. That said, Photoshop  
Express reminds me that Flash doesn't have to be equated with  
annoying banner ads or goofy online greeting cards.

Adobe said that this iteration is specifically focused on consumers.  
Future revisions are likely to bring improvements such as more  
storage (for a fee, I would assume), a way to order prints directly,  
built-in support for the service in Adobe's applications, and  
probably more robust tagging and sharing options.

At its launch, Photoshop Express also stepped into a legal quandary:  
The terms of service (the ones you agree to, usually without reading)  
indicate that for any photos uploaded and made available for publicly  
sharing, "you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive,  
perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use,  
distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce,  
modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly  
display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such  
Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now  
known or later developed." In other words, Adobe can do whatever it  
wants with your images.

Later in the day, Adobe responded with a promise to change the  
language, writing, "We've heard your concerns about the terms of  
service for Photoshop Express beta. We reviewed the terms in context  
of your comments - and we agree that it currently implies things we  
would never do with the content. Therefore, our legal team is making  
it a priority to post revised terms that are more appropriate for  
Photoshop Express users. We will alert you once we have posted new  
terms."

Photoshop Express won't replace iPhoto or Photoshop Elements, but it  
does offer a high degree of near-immediate gratification. If you want  
to upload something quicl and make a few corrections (from any  
computer, since it's entirely Web based), the hassle factor is  
incredibly low. It's also an easy way for non-technical friends and  
relatives to make their photos available.

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Some articles above have been reprinted with permission from TidBITS.  
TidBITS has offered more than ten years of thoughtful commentary on  
Macintosh and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and  
access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit www.tidbits.com.	

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