Ho, Ho, Ho, There Macintosh User!
If you are getting this email you have sometime been a client of mine — thank you for your past custom! Have a Very Happy Christmas and a Productive New Year!
1. Is This The First Cyberwar?: The Wikileaks documents that have been leaked, amounting to about 250,000 are causing all sorts of embarrassment for their original senders as the everyday citizens find out how the people they elected behave. This has resulted in a huge backlash against one of the founders of the site, Julian Assange, who has become the fall guy in the battle for freedom of speech online. A group calling itself Anonymous have directed Denial of Service attacks on websites like Amazon and Paypal who ‘convicted’ him as guilty without a trial. Indeed, the reaction to the whole Wikileaks saga has really brought the un-democratic people out from under the rocks and is an attack on free speech that they pretend to espouse, but in reality oppose. So there is a battle going on between those in power who would prefer that everyone shuts up and do what they are told and the rest of us who won’t. We are at the beginning of a change in attitudes and possibility as we can become a part of online protest with organisations like Getup or take it even further with groups like Anonymous. Here are a few articles about it all including a John Pilger interview . http://www.getup.org.au/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/17/anonymous-wikileaks-protest-amazon-mastercard http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/web20-attack-anonymous/ http://johnpilger.com/videos/john-pilger-defends-julian-assange http://www.economist.com/node/17732839
2. The New Mobile Media Is Here: Already available is Project, an iPad-only publication from Virgin with the Rupert Murdoch Daily expected early in January. These are both interactive media expressly created for the iPad and both have full time staff and office just like regular newspapers or magazines. Daily will obviously be every day while the Project is monthly. But this is not the only obvious difference: the Virgin offering is interactive with links to blogs and other online places and readers being able to comment while the News Corp will be read-only with no links. They join the Wired magazine’s effort which has been out for a few months and is similar to the Project’s first monthly edition which is worth a look and is a lot of fun. The Project is $3.99 per month and available from the iTunes Store now. A New York Times article on the Daily: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/business/media/22carr.html?scp=1&sq=the%20daily&st=cse
3. iPhones and iPads As Musical Instruments: This page of video clips shows musicians, bands and orchestras in action. Cool. http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/10-terrific-iphone-and-ipad-musical-performances-20101126-189l3.html
4. I’m A DJ!: djay for iPhone and (better because of the screen size) iPad is a fully fledged DJ mixer using your iTunes library so you can be the party pumping person you always dreamed of! $23.99. http://www.algoriddim.com/djay-ipad
5. iPhone 4 Find My Phone: A new feature for iPhone 4, iPad and the latest iPod users is Find My Phone. This is a free service that used to cost a bit. Very handy if you have misplaced it, or it has been stolen and you want to wipe the data remotely. This page explains how to set it up. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/find-my-iphone/
6. Xmas Reading: Good article on the web and some people who use it to create campaigning web sites. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/28/internet-radicals-world-wide-web
7. Make Your Own Icons From Any Image: IMG2ICNS is a free, fun little app that allows you to make a new icon for your hard drive or folders or any icon at all. There is also a Pro version with more capability for $13. http://www.img2icnsapp.com/
8. Happy Christmas? — Look After Your Data: Backup, backup, backup. Although there are said to be only two types of people using computers — those who have lost data and those who will loose data — many of you are still not backing up. Hey, its Christmas, so buy a backup solution if you don’t do any other computer spending this season. If your hard drive dies your data usually dies with it, all those pictures that we don’t have in hard copy any more are important and irreplaceable. As are the accounts… An external hard drive is only about $100, you plug it in and if you have Leopard 10.5 or Snow Leopard 10.6, the current operating system, then it begins backing up immediately and does it automatically from then on as long as you leave the backup drive plugged in. Essential.
9. Happy Christmas? — Look After Your Computer: Mains power in this area is awful. It surges and fluctuates regularly and even disappears completely. This plays havoc on the electronics of your sensitive Mac. An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is the best thing you can buy your computer. It keeps the power even and has a battery so that if the mains cuts out the computer stays working and warns you that it is time to shut down. Costing about $150 – $200 depending on the model, it will serve you for years as they don’t really wear out. You plug a power board into the output and hang all your peripherals off it. Highly recommended.
10. 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 Shire Apple Macintosh community for over 9 years. Until next time, Have a relaxing break and may the coming year be good to you and yours, and of course to the Mighty Chelsea. We would like the Champion’s League title this year please… Tommi ;>)
Mr Macintosh
Tom Hain PO Box 1040 Byron Bay NSW 2481 6685 5504 041 840 8869