Attendance: ? Mac users

Topics Discussed:
Christopher Breen's presentation covered the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. Lee recorded the presentation, but at the moment is unable to access and edit the video. It was encouraging to see the younger Mac, iPhone, and iPod users of our group in attendance. Below are pictures of the meeting (click picture to open full sized picture in a new window):

Christopher Breen

Christopher Breen and Lee McIntosh (webmaster)

Christopher Breen and Dawn Hurwitz

Attendance: 17 Mac users

Topics Discussed:
Dawn demonstrated the new iPad that was recently released. It's very similar to an iPhone or iPod. It has applications that must be purchased through iTunes. One of those applications allows the user to purchase digital books or periodicals, ranging from free to $15, and read them on the iPad. It has a large digital keyboard that is easy to use for those with big fingers, and an audio headphone jack. One drawback is that the iPad can't print. The file has to be emailed to a computer. The model we looked at has WI-FI, but no internet access. You can purchase a more expensive model that can access the 3G network just like an iPhone. So you can browse the internet, send/recieve email, and instant message. The battery is built-in, and lasts about 10 hours. There are many accessories available from Apple and third parties to enhance your experience using the iPad...

How to care for Apple devices with batteries: Drain the battery all the way down, and then charge it all the way up at least once a month. This will help prolong the life of your battery, and allow you to get full usage out of it when fully charged.

Lee tried to stream the meeting live using his iPhone and Ustream. The iPhone only lasted about an hour after being fully charged, and the audio didn't come out very clear, either. It was dubbed a failure, and any future attempts to stream the meetings live has been put on hold until better technology becomes available...cheap!

App- Short for applications.

WI-FI- A certification mark developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to indicate that wireless local area network (WLAN) products are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards.

A great app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is Dragon Dictation. Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard. And it works amazingly well. We tested it during the meeting, and it performed rather well. You do need to speak well in an even voice, or it begins to make mistakes.

If you're looking for a bargain on a newer Mac, you can purchase refurbished Macs from the Apple Store at a considerable discount...

Attendance: 11 Mac users

Topics Discussed:
A modem allows you to connect to the Internet through a dail-up account or to send a fax. An Airport card allows a user to connect to a WI-FI network that usually, but not always, is connected to the Internet.

The Magic Mouse, Apple's latest mouse, utilizes gestures like the trackpad on the MacBook Pro. Visit Apple's official description for more information.

If you have a subscription to MobileMe, it will sync the information on your iPhone and Mac without having to be physically connected via the USB cable. This can or can not be a good thing depending on your settings in iTunes.

Sometimes comments have to be approved by admins before they are displayed on blogs, forums, or web sites. There usually is a notice that warns you if this is the case.

If you want to quickly add a new email address to your Address Book from Mail, make sure the email is selected. Then choose "Add Sender to Address Book" from the "Message" menu. The applicable information fields will be filled out for you without having to open Address Book. You can check later to make sure if the information is correct.

If you have multiple cards of a contact in Address Book with different information, you can easily merge them into one card. Select the cards, then choose "Merge Selected Cards" from the "Card" menu.

The MobileMe cloud is just a fancy term for a server that is connected to the Internet where your MobileMe data is stored.

iWeb is a part of the iLife suite, and allows you to design web sites.

Pressing the command key when you select files in the Finder allows you to only select the files you click on. Pressing the shift button when you click on files selects all the files inbetween.

Information is treated differently when syncing your iPhone and Mac. Here is a detailed explanation from Apple.

Visit this guide on how to send and receive Hotmail using your Gmail account.

iDisk is 20GB of web space offered to MobileMe subscribers to store your files on. This is no longer a free service.

GarageBand can create podcasts.

Safari can block pop-up windows. Make sure "Block Pop-Up Windows" is check marked in the "Safari" menu.

MobileMe subscribers have the option of locating their iPhone if the option is enabled. A drastic measure can also be taken if your iPhone is stolen, by erasing all your data located on the iPhone. This means that any unsaved data will be lost (not to be done lightly).

iChat has a feature that allows you to video chat with other iChat users only.

iChat Theater lets you present slide shows in an iChat video window. You control the presentation from your desktop, while your buddies view it on theirs. Most files on your computer are available for iChat Theater. You don't need a video camera to host an iChat Theater presentation. Click on the link to learn more.

To create a new administrator account for Mac OS X, create a new administrator account. Then log out of the old account, and log into the new one. Now delete the old administrative account. Just be mindful that you will lose your preferences, serial numbers for applications, and files that are located in the old home directory. I would not suggest this for the average Mac user.