June Club News

June Meeting Happenings

Adrian Gaemers and Barry Bamford apologised for their inability to attend.

Administrative Matters

As with last month, there were no administrative matters to discuss.

Question and Answer Session

Mick Devlin opened the session by telling members that Mac the latest Leopard update, Mac OS X 10.5.3 had been released. Mick then asked if any members used Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras. Two members indicated that they did. Mick went on to say that he had come across a kit that could be used to modify the firmware of such cameras to provide addition features, such as the ability to shoot in RAW. A summary of the features can be found at Tidbits.

Kevin Trimmer said that he backed up Address Book regularly by dragging the relevant files to a disk. He asked if there was a better way to back it up. Mick Devlin suggested using Automator to create backup files. Automator used canned scripts called Actions to automate repetitive tasks. A user joins two or more Actions to create a Workflow. The Workflow can then be saved in various forms including as a folder action or an application for reuse. Automator is located in the Applications folder. Use the Help menu to obtain further information.

Kevin also asked about what accounting software was available for the Mac. He is going to rejoin the workforce and start his own business. Mick Devlin suggested Kevin start by looking at the templates available in Numbers to see if any of them met his needs.

Joe Leong went next and started by saying that a problem he described at the last meeting was fixed by applying an update. Joe's iMac would show a blinking question mark several times when booted before starting normally. Joe described a problem he encountered when using iMovie HD (iMovie 6). Joe deleted some footage from a video he was editing but, when the video was rendered, it contained the deleted footage. he tried several methods to eliminate it but was unsuccessful. he asked if any members had suggestions regarding how he could solve the problem. One member suggested visiting the Apple Discussion forums.

Judy Leong asked how she could change the default font size used in Entourage 2004 when she is drafting a message. She wishes to change to a smaller size than currently used. The current size is too big but the next size down is too small. Members suggested that Judy click the font size in preferences and change it manually to an intermediate size. Nikki Bowler checked if this was possible and how it could be accomplished. Nikki found that an intermediate size can't be selected.

Betty McLellan said that she had recently bought a USB key but was afraid to experiment with it. John Feltham had set up his iMac in preparation for his presentation. He demonstrated how to copy files to and from a USB key, how to delete files from it and the correct method of removing (ejecting) a key once no longer required. He demonstrated using several different makes of keys.

Betty also asked how to import photos from a CD to iPhoto. members asked if Betty knew what version of iPhoto she was using but Betty didn't know. The matter was set aside for addressing after the meeting.

Brian Christiansen said that he had a shot a video some time ago with the camera lying on its side. This meant that the video appeared in portrait orientation rather than landscape orientation. Brian wanted to know if any software was available that could correct (rotate) the video to landscape. members had no suggestions. Brian then stated that he'd play the video and film the screen and see if that did the job.

Brian then showed members an inverter. He uses the inverter to charge his MacBook from his car cigarette lighter. The cigarette lighter doesn't supply enough current to charge the battery on its own. The current supplied is only sufficient to run the MacBook, hence the need for an inverter. An inverter is a device that converts DC to AC. Brian bought the inverter from Dick Smith Electronics.

Ross Dewson went next and asked how he could move files from a folder on one drive to a folder on another on a different drive. Members suggested that Ross open two Finder windows. John Feltham demonstrated how this was done. John then took the opportunity to show members how to select multiple files for moving, which was Ross' next question!

Ross then said that his MacBook Pro goes to sleep after three minutes when using a power adaptor even though the Energy Saver settings are set for 15 minutes. Mick Devlin looked at John's machine during the break but was unable to resolve the problem.

Ross concluded by telling members that he was creating a register for work and wanted to know how he could reserve a page. The register is being created in Word. members suggested the use of hyperlinks.

John Tafe has Parallels Desktop as he uses some Windows applications. He is having a problem with one application that asks for modem settings even though John uses broadband. John has tried to contact the firm that developed the application but email requests are answered by a form response and not a person. The company is located in the US so ringing is impractical. John wanted to know if he could find an alternative email address for the company that would lead to a response from a human. members said that no means existed to find out such information.

John is also having password problems with his email application. John had trouble explaining the problem. members couldn't offer suggestions as the problem wasn't clear. When members encounter a problem like this and bringing a machine to the meeting is impractical, a screen shot or shots of the problem can help others grasp the problem.

Cheryl Robertson said that she has recently acquired a Wacom tablet and asked for assistance in learning to use it. Members offered their help. Mick Devlin also cautioned Cheryl to keep the drivers for the tablet up to date.

The session concluded with Les Hyland asking about how he could import music to itunes from cassette. He tried several times to import it but was unsuccessful. Mick Devlin stated that Australian Macworld had recently published an article on that topic. The topic is to be found in the February 2008 edition and starts on page 54.

The Presentation

John Feltham gave an informative presentation on Safari. John created the presentation using ScreenFlow. The results were most impressive.

Kevin Trimmer will give a presentation at the July meeting. The topic is using iCal.