Hello There Macintosh User!
If you are getting this email you have sometime been a client of mine — Thank you for your past custom!
1. Network Hard Drive: My Book World Edition by Western Digital is a network hard drive to rival Apple’s Time Capsule. It is cheaper and doesn’t include the wireless router aspect of Time Capsule which you might not need if you already have a wireless network, or are not planning to have one but have a wired network in your house or business. It plugs into your router with a regular Ethernet cable and appears in Finder as a mounted drive. Install the software that comes with it or use Time Machine do run automatic backups. Around $450 for 1.5 TB compares favourably with $729 for 1TB for a Time Capsule. You can also store music and video on it and play the files from any connected computer.
2. Ollie’s iPod Extractor: Replaces Senuti which is no longer free, for getting music from any iPod into your iTunes Library. Bypasses the rather defunct DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection which is being dropped gradually by the music biz anyway. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12739
3. Express Scribe Transcription Software: Express Scribe is for controlling the play back of recorded dictation with a foot pedal or key commands so that the typist can slow it down or speed it up. Lots of useful features and pretty amazing for free! http://www.nch.com.au/scribe
4. Reqall: Is a free voice-operated organisational app that integrates your mobile phone and email into a reminder system, a sort of diary/organiser assistant. Seems like a good thing if you need organising, (doesn’t everyone?) as long as it can handle Strine. A pro version is available if you get really into it and want even more features. http://www.reqall.com
5. Pulp Motion: Fun, fun, fun, this clever application lets you import your photos into a sort of animated comic book format with included templates. You can add colours, effects and music and it is very simple and quick to learn. Free trial and then US$49. http://www.aquafadas.com/en/pulpmotion
6. iPhone Apps: Skype comes to the iPhone! To make calls you need to be in range of a WiFi network then it’s just like Skype on your computer — free to other Skype users on their machines and pretty cheap to landlines and mobiles. Free. Memory Stick lets you store files on it just as you can with a USB thumb drive except that it does it via a wi-fi connection not the USB port. It also can view Word, Excel, PDF, movie and JPEG files which can be very handy as you can take many different files with you to show someone: $2.49 ReaddleDocs has a similar function and then some. It has a huge range of uses including reading Office docs and PDFs, copying files directly from any computer, exchanging files with other Phones, etc etc. Worth reading about it because it is huge. $12.99 Tides lets you get the tide times so you know when it’s low tide for running on the beach and higher tide for surfing. Free. iPhone Music An orchestra at Stanford playing iPhones instead of instruments! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADEHmkL3HBg&feature=player_embedded
7. Google News Timeline: Google News Timeline “is a web application that organizes search results chronologically. It allows users to view news and other data sources on a browsable, graphical timeline.” You can customise it to suit your own queries of course. Google’s first take on news feeds. http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/
8. Security and Theft: Undercover is a company that sells software that sends a signal from the stolen device so that it can be retrieved. It sends regular screenshots, activates the camera to take pics of the thief and uses global positioning to track the little Mac. Quite amazing really. http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/iphone http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/mac
9. True/Slant: As the internet mutates, different ways of offering content will appear and either succeed or disappear. True/Slant is a news site with a difference, or rather several. Walt Mossberg explains it well and I am going to keep popping in for a look to see if it works. http://trueslant.com http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20090408/trueslant-tests-another-model-of-web-journalism
10. Jacqui Lawson Online Greeting Cards: There are loads of tacky online greeting cards websites but this site is quality! Happy Autumn. http://www.jacquielawson.com/
11. BSMUG: The Byron Shire Macintosh User Group (BSMUG) holds monthly meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of the month upstairs at the Mullumbimby RSL. Catering for Mac beginners as well as experienced Mac users. Visit the website and the forum for more information. http://bsmug.ozshop.net http://www.ozshop.net/ozforum/index.php
12. A Reminder of My Rates: I charge $88 per hour including GST. No call-out fee or travel charge in the Byron Shire. Half hour minimum. Telephone support costs the same in 15 minute increments. Email support is still free! Please include plenty of detail in your email inquiries! Serving the Byron Macintosh community for over 8 years. Until next time, Thank you Tommi ;>)
Mr Macintosh Tom Hain PO Box 1040 Byron Bay NSW 2481 6685 5504 041 840 8869
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