3/07/2006
NVMUG eNews 3/05/2006
Last updated 3/07/2006
Scott Pelok and Geri
Scott Pelok and Geri arrived this morning from Michigan to spend the week visiting with Midge and Richard Lubot. Scott was the NVMUG leader for many years, and tries to attend a meeting almost every year. He brought a new MacBook Pro laptop computer and four video iPods and lots to talk about at the meeting.
1. Scott Pelok and Geri with the MacBook and Video iPods
Scott Pelok did not prepare a presentation for the meeting. Instead he brought four video iPods and a new MacBook Pro for people to play with. He also brought a lot of experience, and Geri.
Scott Pelok
Scott set up the MacBook Pro, and demonstrated how easily the removable power cable can be pulled away from the laptop without pulling the laptop off the table, and yet how firmly its magnet connector holds it in place. It is a little thing, but prevents a leading cause of damage to laptop computers.
Scott said the MacBook Pro has a brighter display screen. Richard Smith set his PowerBook next to the MacBook Pro, and the MacBook Pro screen on the right was brighter.
PowerBook and MacBook Pro
Scott said that the backlighted keyboard on the MacBook Pro is a real help in a dark room, or airplane. You can turn off, and increase or decrease the backlighting.
Scott demonstrated the new two finger scrolling. When you drag one finger on the control pad the cursor moves with it. When you drag two fingers the page being displayed scrolls with them.
He said he has only found one small program that does not run on the new MacBook Pro. The universal binary programs that have been written to take advantage of the new Intel chip, including the iLife package, run extremely fast.
Scott bought the MacBook Pro because he had to. His 800 titanium PowerBook broke, and he stepped back, moving his hard drive to a 500 PowerBook just to keep working. When he ordered the MacBook Pro it was a 1.8 GHz machine, but the Intel chip was upgraded before the machine was delivered, and so he has a faster 2.0 GHz machine.
The MacBook Pro screen is 15.4 inches on the diagonal, and it is just on inch thick.
Scott said he went from 800 MHz to 2 GHz and did not notice any lags when running Rosetta, programs, which are basically an emulation mode, after the initial set up runs. Photoshop works fine, but will be much faster once it is available in the universal binary mode.
He said the official word at Apple is that if somebody wants to make Windows run on a Macintosh with an Intel chip, we don't want to hear about it.
Scott said that where this would help is that there is cad-cam technology that takes just two hours from start to finish to make a dental crown. It only runs on a PC. But, he can do a video capture on is Macintosh, and having both programs run on a Macintosh would make it much easier to develop training materials.
Other than running on an Intel chip, it is the same Macintosh with new features added to it.
Scott demonstrated the Apple remote control with Front Row software with which you can scroll through different applications like iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, and iDVD. You can select the chapter in iDVD, control the volume, and run slide. You can sitting out front with the audience and control the show. He showed a little of his favorite DVD, Pirates of the Caribbean.
One of the advantages to the Intel chip, in addition to being faster and running cooler, is that it costs less. So Apple has been able to add other things to the MacBook Pro including the improved display and a built in iSight video camera. The camera is on when the little green light above the display screen shows up. The actual camera has a 2.5mm lens to the left of the square dot. Here is a picture of the MacBook Pro taking my picture.
MacBook Pro taking my picture
Scott said they do a lot of video conferencing. They can see up to four windows simultaneously when running through AppleÕs computer. You need at least DSL or faster for four windows. His connections with Midge and Richard should be much better now that they have DSL in place of their satellite connection.
The new MacBook Pro does not have a built in modem. Scott said that he has not needed a modem in his laptop because he has found connections everywhere he has been in the last couple of years. He said he had a meeting at noon when he was in Seattle. Scott was in a coffee shop in Seattle in a three way conference with connections in Vermont and Michigan.
Using iChat you can connect with friends using AOL, Yahoo, or MSN in addition to people with a .Mac account.
Scott and Carol LaRow both Apple Distinguished Educator received awards for achievements in Video Education at their 5 year reunion meeting. Every other year ADE's are invited back to Cupertino for training in the latest software and hardware developments at Apple. The training session is also a time for over 200 ADE's around the country to brainstorm on new and better ways to use Apple technology in education.
Scott received a research grant to purchase five video iPods for dental education. Dr.Scott Pelok has a series of videos already recorded on fabrication of radiographic and surgical guides for implant delivery. These procedures are done on patientsÕ casts outside the clinical setting but are required for patient care. Placing these indexed videos on a portable video delivery system (iPod Video) will allow the student to check a unit out with their instruments needed to complete the guides and watch as they do the procedure.
All students qualified to make these guides have already taken and passed a course on implant dentistry. This video delivery will supplement material already covered, but allow them to review without direct faculty supervision. Completed casework will, of course, still be checked as satisfactory by faculty prior to patient delivery.
In additional, Dr. Pelok is the clinical director for the International Dental training program, were he is using videos of clinical procedures to train the foreign students on techniques used in the states.
The menu on the iPods Scott brought includes the entire Incredibles movie, 8 chapters of dental implant movies, a movie on digital cameras and intraoral photography, the Luxo movie about why Pixar includes a lamp in their logo, and three music videos, and all 5,000 plus of Scott's iTunes. And, Scott only used 42 of the 60 gigs available.
One of the 60 gig iPods has all 5,000 of ScottÕs iTunes in addition to all the videos. A disadvantage of video iPods is that they are a little slow in large videos coming up, but this is understandable when the video is almost 8 megs for 320 by 240 high resolution videos at 30 frames per second.
AdobeÕs absorption of Macromedia has put it a little bit behind. They are developing brand new programs, and will not convert to universal binary for Intel Macintosh computers before then. Adobe may not sell the new programs at an upgrade price.
Scott teaches a course for dentists in how to use Photoshop. The dentist can do all the stuff in the Photoshop program to mock up the improvements the dentist can do with the customerÕs teeth. Mostly Scott teaches other instructors in how to make their presentations in Photoshop and PowerPoint.
Scott said that Photoshop Elements carries as much capability as most users ever need.
Geri came forward to answer questions related to iWeb. iWeb can be used to create blogs. There are free RSS sites. You can put a link in your web site to connect to our blog whether it is in .mac or somewhere else. There are templates in iWeb that you can modify using HTML. You can create your own web site, even on a .mac account if you have enough space.
Geri, right, helping Dee, at the computer. Behind them, Warren, left, and Midge look on.
Geri runs her G5 on her desk as a QuickTime server where she allows streaming access to videos and images so people can view it but cannot download it.
Geri said that when Apple created iWeb, they just put .mac onto an iMac.
Richard Smith said he is putting a web site series into RapidWeaver.
If you create a blog or host your web site on your computer, Google might find it, depending in part on your meta data. You can submit your web site to Google to have it scanned. But Google rates web sites based upon the number of hits they have, and how many other web sites link to them. Google has an information page with a lot of documentation if you want to understand where you are placed in their listings.
Richard Smith said he hit Neil's Speaking Of Business site,
http://www.speakingofbusiness.org
which should help increase its rating by Google.
Scott said that 92% of the people will not go to the second page of a web site, and 75% will not scroll down on the first page. (So you need something on the first screen of the first page to interest and entice them.)
A MacBook Pro will set you back between $1,800 and $2.600 depending upon what you get. Scott said that if your software is working fine, wait for 6 to 9 months for software to become up-to-date before you upgrade to a Macintosh with an Intel chip.
Geri said there is no need to upgrade if you are doing web site work. What would be the real gain you would get? A lot of the time it is your peripherals that are holding up your workflow, not your CPU. To illustrate, all video iPods are USB2. If you connect through a USB 1 cable it is really slow.
2. Phyllis in Egypt
Phyllis Hammon was just back from Egypt. There were 60 of them in two busses, and they stayed at the nicest hotels. They spent three days on Lake Nasser behind the dam with day trips to islands with moslem temples. Lake Nasser is about 300 miles long. They also went to a Cairo bazzar. Phyllis did sketches, and sold every one she did except one. Her only regret was in not having a digital camera.
