Past Meetings
May 19, 2008
Attending: Bill N, Bob S, Jack H, Joe Y, Jerry L, Tom B.
Agenda - FAQ
Many interesting topics, questions and comments were shared over lunch.
Geocaching
(pronounced 'geo cashing') - GPS-aided scavenger hunts - website explains this
fun activity (Thanks, Bill)
Capacitors
to replace batteries? New ways are being developed to use the high
voltage devices that made TVs and guitar amps dangerous even when unplugged.
(Thanks Bob)
Full
size instruction manuals - tired of the microscopic print on the
tiny paper manuals packed with your latest gadget? Many manufacturers provide
a website link to download a PDF which can be printed out in full size. (Thanks
Bob)
Photomatix
($99) - increase the dynamic range of your photographs with this software. (Thanks
Jerry)
Two very handy keyboard shortcuts for web browsing : 1) Command
+[ (left bracket) returns you to the previous web page
viewed, and . 2) Pressing the spacebar
scrolls down exactly one page. Also a copy of 20
Useful OS X Tips was passed out to everyone. Did you know that triple-clicking
selects a whole paragraph of text? Or that pressing Esc
while typing in most applications pops up a list of suggested completions of
the word your typing? (Thanks Tom)
E-mail exasperation - can't send e-mail at a hotel via Mac
Mail because the SMTP is being blocked? Change the server port to 587
in Mail Preferences. See the full article in MacWorld
June 2008, page 75. (Thanks Joe)
The
Grid -a superfast internet is coming soon which will replace the
current world wide web. It will move data 10,000 times faster than current broadband
and is already up and running in some higher education institutions in various
parts of the world. The Grid was developed at Cern in Switzerland where the
original world wide web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Read more...
(Thanks Tom)
USB
Stick FM Transmitter - load this $20 device with a ton of your
favorite MP3 songs, plug it into the cigarette lighter of your car, and listen
to the music via your car's radio/speakers.(Thanks Bill)
Mac Pro USB optical mouse - great buys on eBay for as little
as $14 (originally retailed for $65). Hint: hold 'Control'
to obtain a 'right-click' menu with a one-button mouse.(Thanks Tom)
Notebook
Organizer ($49) - Is your desktop cluttered with files? Are you
drowning in sticky notes? Do you remember where to find that important web clipping?
Circus Ponies NoteBook is the award-winning application that helps Mac users
manage all those bits of information that lack a good home. (Thanks, Joe- he
will give a demo next meeting.)
Time
Machine Editor - This free application allows you to change the
preferences for Time Machine on OSX Leopard. For example, you can set it to
backup once per day rather than every hour, which consumes a lot of computer
resources. (Thanks Joe and Jerry)
WannaBe - a very tiny, fast and free browser for OS 8,9 and Classic
which shows only text (no images or graphics). Very zippy.
It worked great on the iBook running OSX classic.Free - download here
(732k) (Thanks Tom)
Blue = Bad. For best archival performance of writable CDs, look at
the color of the underside. Gold is best, silver 2nd best and blue is least
desirable. NIST scientific
studies on stability of optical discs have concluded this. (Thanks Jerry)
Exerpt: Samples
containing phthalocyanine
performed better than other dye types. In
particular, phthalocyanine combined with a gold-silver
alloy as a reflective layer was consistently more stable
than all other types of CD-R media.
(p. 523, Vol 109, Number 5, Sept-Oct 2004)
- find the owner of any website domain name and other information related to
that site.
HPORTMUG
is now officially listed on the Apple Users Group site.
And finally, the retired railroad man at our meeting told us if we were ever
driving a train loaded with chemicals and smelled 'coconuts' - get the h---
out of there. It's the nitroglycerin about to blow! (Thanks Jack) :-)
To view more highlights of Past Meetings, link to H'PORTMUG homepage .
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