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. Charlie Brooker on Windows: This writer hates Mac evangelists and his reasons for continuing with Widows are great! http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/better-the-broken-windows-than-life-with-the-mac-monks-20091103-huew.html
2. iPhone Apps (100,000 and counting): iEvolve is hard to describe but check the website because it looks intriguing, an evolution simulator no less! http://coolfusionmultimedia.com/ievolve/About.html iAm Safe is either paranoid or a good idea depending on your viewpoint. In the event of trouble you click the iAm Safe button and it sends messages to pre-determined people and records your position via GPS. http://www.iamsafe-mobile.com eyeGlasses uses the newer iPhone auto-focus camera as a magnifying glass for the over-40’s who might not have their glasses with them. $3.99 anatomyLab is an amazing thing that lets you view an actual human body and dissect it in layers that you can see by dragging across the screen. Rotate and zoom in and out. $12.99 soundAMP is a sort of hearing aid that enables difficult to hear conversations to be amplified to your headphones. Not just for the hard of hearing, its also useful for students listening to lectures. Even has a 30 second repeat if you missed something vital! $12.99 For the iPhone camera: Camerabag automatically applies a choice of effects to your pics, like Polaroid simulation, monochrome, fisheye etc $2.49 Tiltshift adds depth of filed to make your pics look professional $2.49 TimeLapse is just that, adjustable timing and duration for the shoot $2.49 Photo fx has hundreds of presets to turn your pic into almost any look. Amazing $3.99
3. Using the iPhone As a Modem: Having just moved house, I had a few days without ADSL access so I asked Optus to turn on Internet Tethering on the iPhone. $9.99 per month extra turns it into a modem if you have a good mobile connection on 3G and it worked very well. Some companies don’t charge extra, like Vodaphone so check your deal. If you are thinking of getting a USB modem for when you are out and about or if you can’t get ADSL where you live then consider this option without buying the modem. Download amounts vary according to your plan. Setup is a cinch.
4. Free or Cheap Template Based Flash Websites: Wix lets you build a basic Flash website for free and add modules such as a shopping cart very cheaply as you grow it. Very flexible and cool. Local clowns Wacko and Blotto used it to make a very cool website. http://www.wix.com http://www.wackoandblotto.com
5. SoundCloud for Musicians: SoundCloud comes about as people try to create new business models for delivering digital content, in this case music. It aims to simplify the distribution of music online for musos and the locating of it for listeners. You can store tracks, send them to other people, choose who can listen to them and provide stats of the listening and put a widget on your website for easy access. All for free. Worth checking out if you have music to distribute and want a better medium than MySpace which is a bit passé nowadays. http://soundcloud.com/
6. Switcher’s Guide to Moving From a PC: Macworld, those venerable guys have produced a good guide to coming across. If you have any friends who are contemplating the switch or already done it this will help. http://www.macworld.com/article/143519/2009/11/mac_windows_switchers_guide.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_cbintro
7. Register Your Phone to Avoid Telemarketing: ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) has a service where you can register your phones — including mobiles — so you don’t receive telemarketing calls. Apparently mobile numbers go public next month so we will begin to get those annoying calls on them too… https://www.donotcall.gov.au/
8. QuickTime 7 in Snow Leopard: The good news is that the older QT still there! In your Utilities folder in Applications is QT 7 which is good for some older formats and if you have a QT Pro license it offers more editing options than the newest version that comes with Snow Leopard. If you can’t find it there, pop in the Snow Leopard install disk and click Optional Installs (which had to be ticked when Snow Leopard was installed) click QuickTime 7 and it installs the old beastie.
9. Software Update Tip: Apple very handily provide Software Update so you can easily download the constant updates that they provide. However, unfortunately the default setting is for it to do this in the background for all software available whether you use it or not. Some of these updates are pretty big and can tie up your connection and eat into your download quota. Much better I think to show you what’s available so you can choose. In System Preferences/Software Update you will see that the box called Download updates automatically is ticked so you can un-tick it and Software Update will offer you a list of downloads rather than just doing it anyway. If you have recently upgraded to Leopard 10.5 or Snow Leopard 10.6 this setting will have re-set itself so you will have to go back and do it again! Cheeky aren’t they. All in the cause of keeping your machine running well I suppose, but I prefer being asked first; sort of more polite isn’t it?
10. If You Liked Risk…: Then the game called Lux Deluxe might be for you. It is a computer version based on a Risk type scenario but with 700 maps of all types with more added regularly. Play historical, geometric, geographical and fantasy games with the same old object: conquer the world! Free for 30 days and then US$24.95. http://sillysoft.net/lux
11. 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.
Items for Sale is a free monthly service for my Mailing List. If you want to list something for sale send me the full description/specifications and contact details. Until next time, Thank you Tommi ;>)
Mr Macintosh Tom Hain PO Box 1040 Byron Bay NSW 2481 6685 5504 041 840 8869