LAUG 2.0 News

First off I must say this was the most difficult company I have ever dealt with as a User Group Ambassador. They flatly and vehemently refused an extended demo. My average response time from sales or tech support was about five days. I can’t imagine what I’d do if I actually had to rely on this program for an auction. The company is based in Germany (in spite of having a US phone number) and I faced many language barriers in my questions. The answers didn’t match my questions and it took about three weeks to ask why the demo of the program wasn’t working.

I eventually gave up,installed it on my laptop, and was able to test the program. From reports on eBay, the registration process for the program is a nightmare and the program is not transferable from computer to computer and my questions about this to tech support were never answered.

ISale has consistently won design awards as for quality programming and implementation of Tiger’s functions.The interface is extremely intuitive and user friendly. It allows you to easily upload your pictures to your .mac account or to use eBay’s listing service. No eBay experience is required to use the program.

iSale considers itself part of the iLife suite. It integrates with iPhoto and shares many of the common interface elements. To add a auction,you simply click the Plus icon in the auctions column. Adding pictures to your auction is a breeze! You don’t need to know anything about webhosting. You can pick a photo from your iPhoto library, drag an existing picture into your auction, or even hold it in front of your iSight camera and take a picture. In addition, if you have a .Mac account, iSale will put your pictures onto your iDisk saving you money from eBay’s picture hosting service.

iSale’s preview function is excellent and the preview you get is a identical representation of what your auction would look like. This is great for new users to check that they didn’t make a mistake or forget anything. However, the preview doesn’t show you the fact iSale includes its icon on every auction. A paid user should not have to deal with a vendor’s ad in their auction, and I thought it was sneaky not to include it in the auction preview.

Managing draft auctions, current auctions, and completed auctions uses the familiar iLife interface and smart folders. You have an auction “Library” and then individual play lists—some created by iSale, and others you can custom create. For example, iSale automatically sorts which posted auctions resulted in sold and unsold items.

When the auction is complete, iSale allows you to enter information to track the auction and the buyer. You can indicate whether the buyer has paid, whether the item is shipping, and whether feedback was left. I was disappointed there wasn’t enough in the post auction features. Windows eBay programs generally let you leave feedback from within the program. Sellers generally leave the same feedback for everyone and iSale should have done the extra effort and added that in.

While there isn’t a backup function, you can export an auction. Considering how well rounded the program is, I would expect them to include an easy backup function.

I wouldn’t recommend this program if you are relying on eBay as more than an occasional hobby. The slick interface slowed me down and there wasn’t an easy way to backup individual auctions.

ISale is a good purchase for someone who wants to test the waters in making ebay into a hobby Starting eBayer’s should simply use eBay’s free website to post items. Once you start posting enough items that you get bored of typing the same information over and over again,that’s the time to move to iSale. ISale is great for the non-technical end user (as some books might call a “Dummy”), because it handles all the behind the scenes aspect of posting an auction.

If you can type a letter in Appleworks, you have all the skills necessary to use iSale. And if you need any support…just say “nein”to this pro- gram (that’s German for no).

Pros: Very user friendly, no eBay skills required, handles almost every aspect of an eBay sale. Great for most eBay hobbyists.
Cons: Very user unfriendly support. Not for someone who posts just a few items a year or for someone who posts a few items a day.

4 out of 5 dog cows

If you regularly search for a wireless networks,this I the product for you!
While the bundled airport software with OS X, can only give you a rudimentary determination of what networks are available and their signal strength. IStumbler is designed for the nerd that likes to know as much as possible what type of signals are floating in the neighborhood. It gives you the network name and a numerical value of the signal strength. It also tells you what kind of security the network has, the chipset/vendor of the wireless access point, as well as it’s Media Access Controller (MAC) address.

For those that war-dial, the program can also log the connections, thought that option is off by default. Finally,iStumbler can also help you determine and manage your Bonjour (the technology formerly known as Rendezvous) network.

Personally, I use it a lot when I’m in a cybercafe. Knowing the signal strength and noise ratios at a particular spot lets me find that sweet spot where I can both use my laptop on the internet, and effectively keep from spilling it on my Pismo.

In my work as a consultant,I find knowing the channel the base stations
are operating on is critical. Moving your network to a different channel often fixes networking problems and conflicts. Same is true with the chipset. Some routers don’t get along with certain wireless access card, and being able to track down those conflicts really helps. The interface is clear and easy to read. I used to use MacStumbler, but that program started showing it’s age and wasn’t as easy to read as iStumbler with it’s modern brushed metal interface.

The cost of the product is a $10 donation. The author describes it as “subscriptionware” you pay to help the product development continue. The product is not crippled in anyway but not having paid the fee, which is nice of shareware writers. IStumber can be downloaded at istumbler.net.

I’m going to review my experiences with Pages, the desktop publishing program from Apple. I’ve worked with Quark and Pagemaker, and was anxious to see how Pages stacked up. Pages comes either in the bundled software with your computer, or separately as the iWork suite, which includes Keynote as well. Pages is a newish program. It’s said that someday it may be a replacement for Appleworks. Well, don’t throw the Appleworks application out just yet. Pages is good, but needs some refinement.

When you first open Pages you are overwhelmed with these really cool templates. There are all kinds of professionally-designed files for home and school use, such as “Family Newsletter,” “Education Newsletter,” “Club Newsletter,”and such.

It also has stationary, resumes and other useful setups. It’s supposed to be able to read Microsoft Word documents but I’ve found the Word import can often make documents look unlike their Word originals. Of course,that’s probably more to blame on Word, because many of the Word.doc files I receive from PC users seem to be in a cryptic formula that can sometimes only be formatted correctly on a Windows-based Word application. But that is a whole ‘nuther issue.

My reason for purchasing Pages was to be able to make a newsletter for a club I’m involved with. I opened up the first club newsletter template and ‘lo and behold, it was a template for a British car club, which is the very type of club I was wanting to publish a newsletter for. At first all seemed to go well. I would take out the filler text and put in my own. I added my own pictures. It worked great. As one page would get filled up, it would flow into a new page. This happened with each page until I ended up with my eight page document.

Pages kept adding the pages, which was ok in concept, but the problem arose when a change was later made to an article and the CPU would work and work to make the text flow over however many pages I had created. A change on page 1 would reflow the text all the way through page eight. Moving one picture would result in a 15 second delay! Then you would want to change that and another 15 seconds. I was rapidly becoming exhausted with the wait. And I was running on a
relatively- fast G4 (1.33Ghz processor). I couldn’t understand how it could be slow since I used to run Quark on an PowerMac 8100 without any speed concerns at all.

Soon after the initial version of Pages was released, someone figured out that there were problems navigating through a long project and added a pane that has thumbnails of each page. You can click on them and it will take you to that page. When the page is selected, it is highlighted yellow. It was after that pane was introduced that I realized my 8 page document selected all at once as if it was one page. Try to delete page 4, for example, and the whole document would go with it. It was then I learned how to tame Pages.

I made a new document and added one new page at a time. Starting from a blank page and adding my elements that I cut and pasted from my monster eight page, page,I now had 8 separate pages. And with that,things got faster and easier and much simpler to use. However the strange end-of-page marker takes some getting used to. At this point in the maturity-level of Pages, it’s kind of like a puppy, eager to please but wetting the floor along the way. I think of myself as a power-user and when I became so frustrated by a simple thing like moving text around, I wonder how a less savvy user might be put-off by some of these frustrations. Either way,I’d give Pages a positive rating. For the money it has some flash and dazzle, but hopefully will grow up soon.

I know nothing about web design. Absolutely nothing. Enter Rapidweaver from Realmacsoftware. Rapidweaver is an all-in-one WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) application that allows even the most novice web designers to create professional standardized web sites.
The program is very easy to use and I was able to pick it up in a matter of minutes. It comes with several templates for creating everything from blogs and html to styled text pages. iLife integration is another great feature in Rapidweaver, allowing you to assemble photo and movie albums far superior to anything that Apple’s .Mac service creates.

While the application may have many features that the newer user might enjoy it also has some great under the hood features such as automatic RSS and podcast feed creation. This allows a user to create their own blog and podcast and syndicate the information and mp3s via any RSS reader and iTunes.

Rapidweaver’s only requirements are a Mac running 10.3 (Panther) or 10.4 (Tiger), an Internet connection, and some place to host the website. The program will host your site on your .Mac account, or on any FTP (File Transfer Protocol) enabled server you choose.

The application is available for download at realmacsoftware.com for $34.95.

4 out of 5 dog cows

Dave Greenbaum convened our October meeting with the usual housekeeping duties. Index cards were passed around so that people could sign up for the door prize and newsletter. Dave explained the problem we had with this month’s meeting announcement email via Yahoo. We will make a better effort, in the future, to see that the meeting announcements go out as planned. He also reiterated our continuing call for input from the group for meeting ideas and articles for the newsletter. If you a review an item (hardware or software) for our newsletter, you can usually get the item for free.

Our next order of business was for those around the room to make their introductions. This month’s attendees were asked to relate their worst Mac repair experiences. The next item on the agenda was Apple product news. Some people have been experiencing defects with the screens on the new iPod Nano. Apple is replacing the units that are effected. Backup 3.0 came out for .mac users and the available disk space has been increased to 1GB. Mac Minis have been silently upgraded. Some people are getting more powerful computers than thee labeling indicates. A Mighty Mouse (the new 4-button roller mouse) was passed around the room. The pending change of Apple computers to using Intel processors was discussed. The general opinion was that now is as good a time as any to purchase a new Mac. Some reasons given were: avoiding the initial transition period and supporting the current product line.

Dave introduced Ryan Arter from MacResQ http://www.macresq.com/ which is located in Olathe, KS. MacResQ and has been in business since 1994. The company was started in California and moved to Kansas after a merger. MacResQ offers “24-hour” mail-order repair service. When a customer contacts the company, they are sent an overnight box that includes instructions, packing and return labels. Once the service center receives the item, they call the customer within 24 hours with an estimate. After the repair is completed, the item is overnighted back to the customer.

Ryan remarked that the advantage of being located in the Midwest is the reduced cost and time of shipping items to and from the shop. The company is planning to restructure the front of their building to accommodate an increasing amount of walk-in business. MacResQ is a third party, independent repair center and thus does not provide warranty repair service. Warranty service requests are usually referred to Best Macs in Lawrence. Ryan shared with the group some unusual and humorous repair work orders that they’ve recently handled (My iPod spent
about an hour under water…). A commotion occurred in the room when Ryan announced the evening’s door prize, a new iPod Nano, and more index cards were passed around. MacResQ publishes a weekly email newsletter that announces specials including coupons for parts and service. You can sign up for the newsletter on their Web site. The shop repairs a hundred iPods and 15-20 Powerbooks a day and employs 15 people. Most of their business is iPods and Powerbooks because of the practicality of shipping those items. MacResQ also sells upgrades for iPods such as high-capacity batteries and larger hard drives. Powerbook upgrades (hard drives, optical drives and batteries) are also available.

Ryan shared several tips for prolonging the life of your iPods and Powerbooks. Be careful not to jar your iPod. Hard drives are easily damaged by mechanical shocks. Dropping it from a distance can either immediately kill or shorten the life of a unit. Don’t leave an iPod in extreme heat or cold such as on the dashboard or outside during the winter months. The Shuffle is the most durable of the iPod line because it doesn’t have a screen or hard drive. There has been a misconception that the Nano was virtually indestructible (Steve Jobs pulled
one out of his pocket during a demonstration) but the screen can be damaged by any bending or crushing. Powerbooks are also susceptible to extreme heat. Leaving a laptop on while inside a bag or in a hot car can melt the plastic parts, etc…. Shut off a Powerbook before stowing it in your carrying case. Again, dropping a laptop can shorten the life of its components. A Powerbook is not greatly effected by freezing. However, allow it to warm up to room temperature before starting it up again. “Heat is the number one killer of all electronics — anything electronic.” If you spill something on your laptop, the best thing to do is to shut it off immediately and send it in for cleaning and diagnosis. Don’t try to use it after getting it wet even if it continues to function. A question was asked about cat hair in a computer. Generally hair will not cause damage to a Powerbook. Lastly, iPods are not waterproof! A little humidity is fine but do not immerse them. The winner of the drawing for the new iPod Nano was Jane Hazard.

Smiles lit up the faces of LAUG members and new guests as they rounded the corner to the meeting area of Signs of Life in downtown Lawrence. What they saw warmed their hearts as the glowing screens of original Macintosh computers were happy booting up and operate after so many years. Participants were recalling first time Macintosh experiences and comparing models that were present. There was a Macintosh 128K computer, a 512K, an SE30, two Powerbook 170s and an Apple II. In the spirit of the evening, the notes for this meeting were typed on one of the Powerbooks.

The meeting was much more casual than usual, as people continued to recall stories of their early Mac experiences. Dave Greenbaum called the meeting to order and introductions were made around the room. It was determined that on this night, the fastest computer in the room was a Powerbook Wallstreet (250 MHz.) The oldest computer was the Apple II and owner Alfred Lata received a copy of Tiger software for bringing in his machine. A few questions were covered at the meeting. Someone had a Pizmo computer that wouldn’t boot. It was suggested to reset the power manager, and on that computer it’s done with a combination of keyboard buttons. Other questions were brought up about Blue & White G3 machines,

iPhoto issues, eBay inventory management on a Macintosh. An application called “Delicious Library” was described. Using an iSight camera as a barcode reader, you can index all your personal media. Visit http://www.delicious-monster.com/ for more info. New Apple products were mentioned including the Mighty Mouse which finally includes two-button clicking options for Mac users. Some speedbumps were announ-ced in the laptop computers and Mac mini has a memory increase.
Next meeting we will explore wireless networking including guest speakers from the Lawrence Freenet project.