NVMUG eNews 10/23/2004
Last updated 10/26/2004
Of Publishing and OtherThings
The talk at our meeting was about publishing and other things. With no agenda and no speaker we started and finished one topic and moved onto the next. I do believe there were fewer interruptions and side trips than in most meetings that have an agenda and presenter. My wife studied design where she learned that the smartest one in a group is the whole group, and this kind of meeting proves it. Read about it below.
1. Having Fun Still?
The question is not, Are we having fun yet?
It is, Are we having fun still?
And, if you are learning new things with a Macintosh, the answer is Yes.
I requested two books from Peachpit Press. The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby is a new release that I have requested for the NVMUG library. The other, The Photoshop CS Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby has just arrived. It is one I requested to review, also for the club library. Based upon The Photoshop Elements Book of Digital Photography by Scott Kelby, which have reviewed and then bought, I will probably buy the CS version to keep for further study and as a reference. It will be interesting comparing them.
I have the NVMUG library copy of Digital Photography Expert Techniques by Milburn, published by O'Reilly. I have read it at least twice, and expect that eventually I will buy a copy for my own collection.
Right now I I have my own new copy and am studying Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one by Deke McClelland which I reviewed before. I studied the Photoshop browser, and practiced using this summer's hiking pictures. Now I am studying Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows, and will practice using those same pictures. When I am done, I will have learned more, but most important, I am having fun. This is the first time that I have really practiced immediately on my one photos. There really hasn't been time for that when reading for a review. And, it is really worthwhile. In two chapters I have already learned enough to have received my money's worth from the book.
Learning something new and creating something on a Macintosh. What could be more fun; unless it is hiking a new trail on up mountain and getting to the top?
I hope you are having fun still.
1. The Meeting As Reported in the Caledonian-Record
Mac Users Range Over Topics
Veer-Tess Frost, left, and Richard Smith take notes as Midge Lubot shows how she gets icons for her Macintosh Powerbook at the NVMUG meeting in St. Johnsbury, Saturday.
As reported by Hartley Jim
Jackson in the Caledonian-Record.
Everyone there was involved in Saturday's Northern Vermont Macintosh User Group meeting in St. Johnsbury.
Leigh Hurley, Veer-Tess Frost, and Neil Raphel discussed their publishing issues. Midge Lubot showed pretty icons on her computer, and explained where she got them. Warren Walker showed the final proof of his 2005 Native Vermont Wildflower calendar. And, I received advice about an iPod sound system.
Hurley brought back an NVMUG library book, Google: The Missing Manual,
and recommended it for anyone interested in advertising in Google.
Raphel said that he advertised his books through Google. But after a few days they notified him that they would no longer sell his, The Case Against Wal-Mart.
Someone must have complained.
Hurley sells their eBooks books on subjects like How to Build a Solar Panel
and How to Build a Hydrogen Fuel System
through the Internet.
She uses Quark for the basic layout. Early on she was converting them to HTML, but now mostly produces them in PDF format.
How-to books on this specific topic work because people search for how-to information.
Raphel prints business books a few thousand at a time, mostly on marketing and direct mail subjects. He is now working on a larger book, The Complete Idiots Guide to Winning Customer Allegiance
His father was a speaker, and sold books on his speaking tours. Now Raphel sells them on Amazon, but he tells about the time they printed and mailed a free copy of a book to supermarkets and suggested that they buy a case of books to give to their employees. They sold a bunch of 40 copy cases. To find out more about his books, go to
http://www.raphel.com
Documents designed for a Web page usually do not print well. Among other things, type that is large enough to read on a Web page is too large when printed. Walker said that one way around this problem is to use style sheets so that one document can be formatted with two distinct styles.
Someone said they took an HTML Web page and changed it to use a style sheet instead. Within a couple of days it jumped too number 1 on Yahoo in that category. It was explained that it takes a lot of extra code in HTML to make a Web page look like you want, code that is not necessary using style sheets. So, when Web crawlers wade through script the one using style sheets has a much higher percentage of content they are looking for than one in straight HTML.
I have a free program, donations accepted, called CocoaBooklet which formats a PDF document to print into a small booklet. I save a Web page using Macintosh Panther and selecting File -> Print. When the print dialog comes up I can choose PDF to save it as a PDF file, or CocoaBooklet to save it as a file formatted to print as a booklet. I can also select a PDF, rich text, or plain text document to print and then select CocoaBooklet in the print dialog to save it as a file formatted to print a booklet.
When you print this file, it prints one or two pages on a sheet ready to fold and staple as a booklet. The larger size print of a Web page looks fine when reduced to half-page size for the booklet. Any Web page that you can print can become a CocoaBooklet.
One very nice thing about eBook publishing. You still have to do customer service, but when you make a sale and process the order you do not have to do the physical handling.
I received useful information on using an iPod in a home sound system. Most important - it works. Someone said they have seen people bring their music to a function on an iPod and connect the iPod to a PA system. Midge Lubot carries her iPod with her. She connects it to the sound system to play music in their factory and is quite happy with it.
The icons Midge demonstrated on her computer were from Xicon.com. Iconfactory.com is another source. Also, the thumbnail image of any photo on your computer can be copied and pasted into Get Info as an icon on a Macintosh computer.
Warren Walker has a neat format for his 2005 Native Vermont Wildflower calendar. It opens up to 5.5 inches wide by 17 inches long, ideal for hanging in those narrow spaces that need decorating such as between windows. The calendar includes a map of where he took the pictures with his Nikon Coolpix 4500 camera.
3.More About the Meeting
There is a lot more in a meeting than fits in the Caledonian-Record. It may be difficult to believe, but there is even more than gets into my notes and is reported here.
Frost creatively solved her problem maintaining her Web site. She found a young kid
who wants Dreamworks and is willing to help her maintain her Web page. Her programmer had used some kind of files that require more knowledge to maintain, and the kid will redo the site to make it more easily editable.
Warren talked about print-on-demand books where you order and pay for individual copies after the original setup charge. They are mostly used for text books, or to print out-of-print books for a literature class. Neil said print-on-demand books cost more, maybe $4.00 a copy for a book that might cost $1.25 a copy if 3,000 copies were printed.
Warren and Neil also talked about a new e-paper, a thin plastic film that has a texture like paper for use on an a device like an ebook reader with no keys except those needed for navigation. The initial use might be in stores where the graphics change daily, Someday they might be used to download your newspaper.
Check 21 is now legal, where your check will be scanned and for rapid processing between banks. Instead or two days of float, you may now have less than 24 hours before your check bounces. The banks, however, are not required to post your deposits or credits that quickly.
Someone said that today blog sites are getting the news out faster. In the mainstream press if they quote something bad about one candidate, they have to say something bad about the other, or to explain it away.
Can you believe we even talked about global warming and journalism. At first, the evidence of global warming was controversial. Journalists were careful to cover both sides of the issue. Today the preponderance of evidence confirms global warming, and very few scientists question whether it is real. But, the press in order to appear not to take sides gives the same amount of ink to the few doubters as to the far greater number who no longer have any doubt.
Stephen asked if anyone was familiar with RSS. It is headline news from many different sources on any subject you want. In Stephen's case it is Mac news. RSS tells you when these news feeds are updated. -ranchero.com makes one of the news feed readers.
Hint: If an URL does not work correctly, just use Google to search for it. You will usually find the URL you want.
How does clear FM reception compare to MP3? MP3 gives better frequency coverage, but MP3 may have more harmonic distortion than FM. Midge has a second generation iPod and when she connects it so an amplifier or receiver) there is what Stephen calls technically an impedance mismatch. The newest iPods have a separate line-out for better sound.
Whether you can tell the difference in sound quality between the original CD or the iPod depends upon the quality of the speakers. There is a difference when using the highest quality speakers. But, as we get older, we are less likely to notice. I had a friend years ago when HiFi was the rage who said, it depends upon whether you listen for sound. He said he listened for music.
Midge said, also, don't forget Airport Extreme. Could leave the device hooked up to speakers and transmit from your computer, as long as Jim and Dona don't both transmit their individual music at the same time. ( I am thinking of using a Bose iPod system in the living room area, and using the good speakers I have connected to my iBook in the computer room where I spend more of my time.)
Richard Smith said his nice 3.2 meg Canon A40 digital camera no longer accepts rechargeable batteries, and the alkaline ones are cost a fortune. Stephen suggested that he check the manual to see if there might be a software reset, but Richard no longer has the English version. After discussion, Richard will check the Canon Web site to see if he can download a new manual, and to see if it has a support address.
Lazot on Church Street in Burlington and ProCam in White River Junction are good sources for camera repairs if needed.
Midge and Richard were at a wedding in south western Ohio. The photographer had an old twin lens reflex. It worked well partially because of its lower angle and partially because it was not as in-your-face as a camera you hold up to your eye. You can get this same effect with some digital cameras that have moveable LCD screens.
Midge said that every time she lets someone else use her camera, the picture comes out dark. Someone asked if the other person might be partially covering the flash or the sensor.
If you have Small Dog work on our iBook, you can have them take the white coating off the bottom of your iBook, leaving you with a cool clear panel instead.
The new iMac weighs 25 pounds instead of the original iMac's 40 pounds so it is reasonable to move it, portable. Richard Lubot said he is happier with his laptop because he likes to be comfortable on the sofa. Midge has everything she needs to run her business on her laptop, with an 80 gig file on her desk at work as a backup.
You do not have to backup the system on your computer unless you have modified it a lot. You have it on CDs.
Streaming audio like music does remain on your hard drive, downloaded audio does. Real Audio files end in .ra or .ram. If you search for .ra, the very small files are address files which you may or may not want to keep for the next time you go online. Large .ra or .ram files are audio files which you may or may not want to keep because they can take up large chunks of your hard drive.
Stephen brought in older IBM ViaVoice speech recognition software, an older Aladdin System Stuffit Deluxe, an older QuickKeys, and Office 98 and asked if anyone wanted any of them. Last I noticed, Stephen still had them.
Stephen recommended
http://www.sitelink.net
I believe it was Stephen who observed that with the G5 iMacs, everywhere where it says gigs, put in megs and you will have specifications for the first iMacs which cost as much or more. That is 1,000 times better.
Is there any reason not to upgrade an eMac to Panther? Warren's concern is his special printer needs which he does not dare mess with.
MIdge says that iView and Photoshop images looked a lot different on her printer. Now she has set her printer to automatic for iView only and saved the settings. It works.
Finally. some people are anxious to learn more about the new Macintosh Tiger operating system due out in the first half of next year. They wonder what its system requirements may be. Will it work with all iMacs?
