shuffle June 2007 content

[Magnus]

Review: Apple Remote Desktop 3
by Magnus

Do you have several Macs at home, or do you manage Macs at work? If you are in any environment where there are more than one Mac, chances are you would want to manage them remotely. Instead of walking over to another Mac, you just connect to it via the network and see what’s on the other screen, and even control it just as if you were physically sitting in front of it. There are many solutions for this, including VCN and Timbuktu, but none that shines quite as much as Apple’s own Remote Desktop 3. A new feature in version 3 is remote Spotlight searches. This means you can use Spotlight to search through all the Macs on your network, not just your own. With Automator actions you make repetitive tasks available by one click of the mouse or even triggered by certain events or on a schedule. You can drag and drop files between the remote Macs and your local Mac, making it easy to transfer files. One of the more attractive features of Remote Desktop 3 is that you can manage software updates remotely, making sure your Macs are up to date, and update them if necessary. If you’re in the fortunate position of managing a lot of Macs, you can set one up as the Task Server, to which all other Macs connect. Then you can control software updates and most anything in Remote Desktop from the Task Server. In conclusion, if you manage more than one Mac in a network, take a serious look at Apple Remote Desktop 3. It will more than likely make your job a lot easier.

Price: 2094AED
From: Apple Inc.
Distributor: Apple IMC ME
Web: IMC Middle East - Apple Remote Desktop - Main page

[Magnus]

Review: TechTool Pro
by Magnus

Micromat, the makers of TechTool Pro (TTP), says it is “the complete Macintosh problem solving utility”, and that may very well be true. The basic functions of TTP are diagnostics and repair, optimization, data recovery, safety, and the eDrive. If we start at the end, the eDrive is simply a small Mac OS X partition that is created on one of your hard drives, which you can boot from in an emergency or to do some maintenance. It takes up around 4GB of space. You can also boot from the TTP DVD itself and run the tests and optimizations it comes with. In the safety area, TTP saves certain information about your drive and if something goes wrong it can restore it, thereby potentially saving you from a total crash. Data recovery is what it says, different ways that TTP can help you recover data from a disk that doesn’t appear as very healthy. Optimization is arguably the least useful part of TechTool Pro. It defragments your drives but it seems to me Mac OS X does a pretty good job on its own, so I’m not sure TTP adds much value in this area. In Diagnostics and repair, TTP offers a range of tests that checks various parts of your system such as memory, ports, processor, network interfaces, and much more. If you are going to run tests and optimizations with TTP, be prepared for it to take a long time. That’s about the most negative thing I can say about this software. It’s full of useful utilities and it may just save your valuable data one day. TechTool Pro 4, $98, saving your family photos, priceless.

Price: $98
From: MicroMat
Distributor: MicroMat
Web: Micromat - TechTool Pro 4

[Magnus]

Apple & the iPod - Changing the Odds by Investing to Win: Act 2
complied by Rockin Babe

It’s the end of 2001. The iPod has been launched to rave reviews for its beautiful all-white design, easy-to-use interface, relatively big (5GB) memory capacity, and unique wheel control. It has also drawn skeptical derision for its high price at $399. “iPod?” the jokesters said. “That stands for idiots Price Our Devices.” At the same time, Apple releases its iTunes software – but it’s simply a library application for storing music, useful but not terribly innovative or exciting.

With his healthy ego, messianic zeal, and history of success, Steve Jobs makes a delightful target for critics and nay-sayer, and they settle back in hopes of watching his latest crazy gamble go up in flames. But it sells. Within weeks, the iPod overtakes the few competing music players (such as a now-forgotten machine called the Nomad Jukebox) to become the leading device of its kind.

Still, Jobs and Apple recognized that they’re only one-third of the way to success. They don’t allow version 1.0 of the iPod device or the broader Apple music business to stand on its own for long. Innovations follow quickly. (It’s the same stepping-stone concept Toyota used, swiftly replacing a good first-generation Prius with a very good second-general Prius)

In March, 2002, Apple announces a 10 GB iPod priced at $499. In July, the second-generation iPod appeared with up to 20 GB of memory, a fancy “touch wheel” rather than the original mechanical wheel, and most important, the ability to work with either Mac or Windows-based software. Suddenly Apple is reaching out to the PC world, the vast bulk of computer users. Steve knows that he is playing in a new arena now - the world of consumer electronic, where gold and platinum records and blockbuster movies have a universal, not just niche appeal. Everyone wants an iPod, and Apple wants everyone to won one. Sales surge.

The odds of ultimate success move up to 50%.

As iPod gets upgraded, so does iTunes. By mid-2002, play list management capabilities have been added to the iTunes software, making it easy for users to assemble their own music collections according to artist, genre, theme, mood, whatever. Behind the scenes, Apple has begun working on a prototype version of iTunes that will facilitate legal music downloading (potentially replacing the legally shaky piracy services like Napster).

By April, 2003, Apple has introduced the ultra-thin, third-generation iPod, which will include memory options up to 40 GB. Raves from early users, celebrity endorsements, fabulous free publicity, and a few hip television commercials combine to help make iPod a must-have style accessory as well as a gadget for technogeeks and music mavens.

In the same month comes the biggest breakthrough of all: the launch of the iTunes Music Store, an online music downloading website run by Apple, built into iTunes software, and offering songs by all four of the major record labels – EIM, Sony, BMG, Universal, and Warner Brothers. The interface is easy to use, the content is broad, and the pricing is user-friendly - a flat and affordable 99 cents per track. Apple hopes that iTunes will sell a million songs in the first year. It sells a million songs in the first week.

What does it all mean for Apple? After several years of having been relegated to a niche computing space, Apple has re-entered the public consciousness as an innovator and a powerful force in business and technology. Since the introduction of the iPod and iTunes Music Store as a suite of products in April, 2003, Apple’s stock has risen steadily, with the iPod as the primary driver of Apple’s revenue growth. iPod has gone from generating just 2.5% of Apple’s revenue in 2002 to 33% in 2005. As a result the compound annual growth rate for Apple’s total revenue was 34% between 2002 and 2005.

It shows what can happen when you bet the company on a great project, and then keep changing the odds until you win the best.

Apple’s Further Moves to Raise the Odds (II):
- Follow version 1.0 with improved versions – fast (stepping-stones technique).
- Reach out to broader markets (Windows).
- Capitalize on brilliant design with celebrity-driven publicity.
- Build a customer-serving infrastructure (iTunes) to support and enhance the great product (iPod).
- Keep adding capabilities to fuel growing customer demand.

Source: Mercer Management Consulting

[Magnus]

Digital Scrapbooking
by Crystal

Scrapbooking has been around as long as there has been printed material, and it is a way of story telling. People used it to keep record of things that happen in their personal life, in their family’s life, or maybe a way of keeping memories of some special events. Today people use creative ways to showcase their displays of photos, text, journaling and their memorabilia. People also use it more of a way to tell their family stories in a creative way, to pass down to their children. Another reason people scrapbook is as a baby book, they keep all of their child’s memories in one special book.

This creative way of scrapbooking took on a life of its own, many years ago. Wikipedia says the first store that opened for just scrapbooking, was opened in 1981 in Spanish Fork, Utah, USA. So scrapbooking as we know it today is over 25 years old. This way of scrapbooking was to use different items to make the page have different textures and almost makes the pages 3-D to the touch and the look. The embellishments can include stickers, stamps, eyelets, brads, washers, chipboard elements in different shapes, letters, ribbon, and that doesn’t include the different textured paper that they can use. People even made special book covers to match the design of the their pages on the inside. The things that you learn in scrapbooking are also true for cards and even posters.

Today scrapbooking has taken a different direction in that some people are making all of their books online in a digital format. If they are not finding different die cuts, they are finding different fonts to tell their stories, and with that the resources online have grown. If you do not use the die cuts online, you sure can use all the wonderful ideas that you find online. With digital scrapbooking you can design and print your scrapbook page from your computer. There is no need to go and find all the supplies and then the sometime have to deal with the messy glues, you just do it from your computer. With the new digital way of scrapbooking there are a lot of software choices that you can use to build your page.

I just received software called iRemember 2.0 Digital Scrapbooking, which works on your Mac. This form of digital scrapbooking allows people to have very professional-looking layouts, that they can then get published into a book or print them to add to their album. Some people just keep them in completely digital format that they can use on their website or to just keep in their “digital scrapbook” on the computer.

After playing around with it for a couple of hours, it does seem to be a simple scrapbooking piece of software to use and it is a good start, if you want to do digital scrapbooking. I like the drag and drop feature that we are use to when using a Mac, and it makes for easy use here as well. This was my first attempt at digital scrapbooking, and I have to say that I miss the hands-on feel and touch of creating my page. So I have to say that I am not totally sold on only doing digital scrapbooking, but I do like using it for the clip art, templates, the drag and drop affect in creating some of my pages, and with all the different ideas, I can stay busy for a long time. iRemember 2.0 is a tool in my scrapbooking kit now, and even better for my card and poster making. Making my own cards and posters, make them that much more personal, and this software helps me do this. What is also nice about iRemember 2.0 is that I can save my digital page as jpeg, so that it is easy for sharing, or I can save the page in iPhoto.

The cost of iRemember is $39.95 and you can find it at their website MacScrapbook.com Home Page, Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more, and Apple. Their website MacScrapbook.com Home Page has a wealth of information to help you and to give you even more ideas for your digital scrapbooking.

[Magnus]

Seven Wonders of the Video World
by istara

Mac OS X’s built in multimedia capabilities aren’t bad - QuickTime basic, iTunes, DVD player - but there is a wealth of third party applications out
there that can really enhance your video experience. And the best news is that most of these vital video apps are free. Here is my selection for the top seven video applications for Mac OS X.

1. VLC media player (VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS!) - Free

What’s not to love about VLC? It's a free player that opens nearly every single video format known, including obscure mobile phone video and so on. It also enables Mac users to watch certain video streams that normally only Windows users can open, and it has cool features such as playlists.

2. Flip4Mac WMV plug in (Flip4Mac - Digital Media Tools for the Mac) - Free

Flip4Mac WMV is absolutely vital for all Mac users. It;s a free plug-in that enables QuickTime and Safari to open and play Windows Media (.WMV) and .AVI files.

3. MPEG Streamclip (Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows) - Free

MPEG Streamclip is a miracle product. Completely free, it opens nearly
every video format. It can rip, encode, compress, convert between all main
formats, and can even download from YouTube and video streams. It even has
features that QuickTime Pro lacks - for example the ability to save custom
export settings. And you can buy plug-ins to allow it to export to Flash
and Windows Media.

4. iSquint (iSquint - iPod Video Made Easy.) - Free

iSquint is the iPod user’s dream. It rapidly converts most popular video
formats to MPEG-4 (with optional H.264 encoding) making them suitable for
iPod viewing or TV viewing. There’s a simple Quality slider, and if you
want to make advanced settings tweaks you can do. It exports to H.264
quicker than QuickTime (at least on my dual G5). iSquint’s biggest strength
is its interface: even the most tech-clueless person could figure it out
instantly without help.

5. HandBrake (handbrake.m0k.org/) - Free

HandBrake will rip any DVD-like source and convert it to MPEG-4, .AVI or
OGM. It also does H.264 encoding. I have used it to rip media from a damaged/wrongly burnt DVD that wouldn't even play with any other software or hardware DVD player. It’s a favourite application among Apple TV users who want to transfer their DVD library to play on Apple TV.

6. Snapz Pro X (Ambrosia Software, Inc. -- news) - $69

Snapz Pro X is payware, but one of the few applications that is really worth
it. It’s a screen capture utility that will record anything happening on
your desktop as a movie, still image or audio file. It will capture all or
part of the screen. For example you may want to create a demonstration of
how to use certain software, and you can even do a microphone voice over
while Snapz records your actions. Or you may have a video that simply will
not convert to any other format. With Snapz Pro X you just re-record it.


7. Vidi (Mitz Pettel : Vidi) - Free

Vidi lets you capture video on your Mac from any FireWire DV device. What
I have found is that Vidi will also capture video with timecode errors that
Final Cut refuses to ignore. So for video editors it can a be a lifesaver.

[Magnus]

Smorgasdashbord
by Magnus

XCuts
This is one of few widgets I find really useful. It lists all kinds of keyboard shortcuts from Mac OS X and categorizes them so they’re easy to find.

Rating: 5
Download from: Apple - Downloads - Dashboard Widgets - xCuts

Word Of The Day
It shows one word each day with an explanation of that word. Use it as a way to learn new words. I just wish it wasn’t so boring to look at.

Rating: 3
Download from: Apple - Downloads - Dashboard Widgets - Word of the Day

Earth Shots Photo Of The Day
This widget displays one photo each day and it’s the shot of the day from EarthShots.org, a photo a day contest. I wish the photo would display a bit bigger, but you can always click on it to go to their site.

Rating: 4
Download from: Apple - Downloads - Dashboard Widgets - Earth Shots Photo of the Day

Mezmerize
What’s the point? It show some colorful moving patterns and shapes and you’re supposed to be mesmerized and relaxed. More like annoyed and hitting the delete key in a hurry.

Rating: 1
Download from: Apple - Downloads - Dashboard Widgets - Mezmerize

Remote Desktop Widget

This one is special because it only comes as a part of Apple Remote Desktop 3 (see review in this issue of shuffle). And all it does is let you see the remote desktop of a another computer in the widget. If you have Apple Remote Desktop, check this widget out.

Ranking: 5
Download from: Comes as a part of Apple Remote Desktop 3 (IMC Middle East - Apple Remote Desktop - Main page)

[Magnus]

Switcher Interview
by istara

Name: Kirstie Hepburn
Job: PR & Events
Mac: MacBook Pro Core Duo
Switch date: Spring 2006

Q: Why did you switch?
A: I started as a Mac user at my first job at one of the Mirror Group's newspapers. I had never really used a PC before that, and used a Mac solidly for 6 years. I only started using a PC when I left journalism in 2002. When I started, Macs were causing something of a revolution in the newspaper industry by replacing the old forms of printing, where letters were literally cut out and pasted on to the page. In those days, Macs were the indisputed tool of choice for design work, while people who didn't need the publishing tools were encouraged to stick to PCs as you got more for your money and they were easier to fix. I made the decision to switch back less than a year ago. The addition of Powerpoint and Excel was a huge plus for me, while I had always been a fan of the designs. I bought a 15-inch MacBook Pro in June last year. I have always maintained that you are born a Mac or a PC person; my experiences haven't altered that thought at all.

Q: How did you find the Mac to start with?
A: It was like riding a bike - the operating system is much more intuitive for me. It is perfect for my work, and the software and tools package works very well for me. I am looking at upgrading the RAM though: I always have a number of different programmes on the go, and I am finding that the Mac is struggling a little. I was warned before I bought it that I should upgrade the RAM, but I didn't listen!

Q: What were the best things about it?
A: The operating system and general stability, while its extreme good looks are a given!


Q: What did you find difficult?
A: There are still occasions where marketing material we have prepared does not translate or open into OSX. When we were doing pre-launch testing for a new website, there were a number of glitches that only appeared on the Mac. However, in the long run, it has been turned into a positive as we conduct much more rigorous testing in advance on both PC and Mac.

Q: Do you still use Windows at all?
A: Not on the Mac though it has the dual boot ability. I still keep my old laptop (Sony VAIO) at home, but it is only used for surfing the internet.

Q: Would you ever switch back?
A: No, I don't think so.

Q: What would your advice be for other Windows users considering switching?
A: Make a list of what it is you need your computer to do. Chances are, a Mac will fulfil everything on that list. Also bear in mind the major saving in downtime because Macs are so less susceptible to viruses.

[Magnus]

Weaving the Web

Accelerate Your Macintosh! News Page - 6/22/07
Accelerate your Mac
One of the best places to go to for information about Mac parts, how to upgrade, and what is compatible with what.

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
The secret diary of Steve Jobs
No it's not really Stevie, but it's very funny.

macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
MacOSXHints.com
The mother of all Mac hints sites.

Applepeels
ApplePeels
Some very good insights from a guy who used to work for Apple.