GreerMUG
September 2007 Meeting Highlights
Pre-game Show
Tonight's pre-game show was created by Matt using the
latest version of Keynote!
Our opening clip was "Think Tank" by Matt Nadeja. Very
creative (and funny!). Show Notes is sorry if you missed
it.
Opening Moments
Mike talked about the trial version of iWork '08. After the
trial version expires, it's supposed to become like a
player/viewer where you can open (and in the case of
Keynote, play) a file, but not change the file. Wanting the
player feature on a certain computer, Mike thought he could
install from the regular iWork cd that came out of the box.
Oops. That doesn't work, the boxed cd doesn't give you a
trial option. It simply expects a serial number. So, if you
want player mode, you'll have to install the version
designed to be a trial version. You can download the way
big dmg file from http://www.apple.com/iwork/trial/.
MemberDock
Matt encouraged us to keep up-to-date by checking out the
MemberDock. He also pointed out another one of Joan's photo
posters. Cool. Then he introduced Tim and Mike so they
could roll out our SHINY, NEW Members Only section of our
website.
Here's how to login:
Go to greermug.com like normal and click on the Members
Only link.
At the login page, your user id is the email address you
gave us when you filled out a member card at your first
meeting. The password is your last name (starts with a
capital letter.)
Matt's Shareware
Report
Introduction: Here's another new feature at our meetings!!
Every month Matt Chandler is going to bring us the
Shareware Report! Man, there is so much great shareware and
freeware out there for the Mac. He can't cover it all, but
these monthly highlights will spotlight some of the very
best for us. Thanks, Matt!
Tonight's Shareware Report covers two pieces of software.
MainMenu
The first one
is totally free. It's called MainMenu. You can find it
at http://www.santasw.com/.
What does it do? Show Notes wanted to get it right, so it
talked with Home Page, over at MainMenu's website.
Show Notes: Home Page, can you tell us about MainMenu?
Home Page: Sure! Don't have time to run all the various
tools and scripts to keep your Mac running smoothly?
MainMenu makes these tasks quick and easy, right from your
menu bar. Rebuilding your Spotlight library for faster
searching, repairing permissions, cleaning caches to
improve application performance, and even more advanced
settings — such as enabling and disabling the Dashboard —
are no more than two clicks away. MainMenu is full of
powerful maintenance tools to keep your Mac running like
new, within a slick, simple interface.
Show Notes: Thanks, Home Page! Now back to...er...me I
guess.
SuperDuper
This is one of
the best pieces of software that the Windows world doesn't
have. SuperDuper is incredible backup software. Both
free and shareware versions are available.
Matt did a quick demo and shared a lot of information with
us. Fortunately, Show Notes was able to obtain a copy of
Matt's Keynote Presentation which contains all this
valuable information. It's a Quicktime movie. We parked
it here.
One of members uses SuperDuper and Tim shared that he uses
it, too. Highly recommended.
How does SuperDuper compare to .Mac's Backup? SuperDuper
will make a bootable copy of your hard drive, Backup can't
do that. And Backup doesn't backup hidden and system files
- ouch, that could hurt.
Get the free "backup-only" version at least.
Core
Presentation
This month's Core Presentation is a glance at each of the
applications in iWork '08 with a quick look at one of their
newest features.
Pages
Tim shared with
us a couple of the new features in Pages '08.
First, Tim scrolls through all the themes/templates. WOW,
there are so many now!
You know, before Pages was sometimes a little difficult to
use to type just a simple document or a letter. Now, Pages
has added a toolbar that makes this effortless. Thank you,
Pages! Tim types a simple letter. Change the font size -
easy. Change a style - easy. Change the font - easy. Change
the - well, you get the idea.
Plus, now you can insert inline OR floating graphics.
That's super duper to us. Tim easily places a floating
graphic wherever he wants. Watch the graphic submit.
Inline graphics? Inline graphics are graphics (picture,
clip art, drawing, box, etc.) that are placed "In Line"
with the text and will move as the text moves. Tim adds an
inline graphic and types some - this lets the graphic stay
associated with its text.
Tim brings up a blank document. How about newsletters?
Pictures, text, captions, etc. Tim types a block of text.
Pages used to assume "inline forever" in certain cases, but
now you can click and change an inline graphic to floating.
Now Tim brings a photo into some text, the text wraps
easily. Ooooh, Show Notes likes that.
What a good demo. Thanks, Tim!
Numbers
Mike shared with us a couple of the new features in Numbers
'08. Specifically, the Stepper and the Slider controls.
Hold on now! Spreadsheets aren't going to become FUN are
they? Yep, they just might. They just might at that.
Mike created a tiny spreadsheet that figures out when you
can buy a new Mac if you save so much each day. Want to see
it? Show Notes has a copy of it right here on the website!
Thanks, Mike, for a look at Numbers! We knew we could count
on you!
Keynote
Matt shared with us a couple of the new features in Keynote
'08.
Matt starts a new Keynote document. Matt saw a great demo
in a store in Raleigh for Bose speakers. Matt recognized
the transitions! Bose had used Keynote to create their
demo! Can't blame 'em for that.
Matt scrolls through the multitudinous themes (kinda like
Tim did.) Wow, Apple has been busy.
Matt encourages us to check out the themes. Each theme
contains various master slides for presenting different
types of information.
Here's a couple of things Matt wants to point out to us:
Matt adds a slide and brings in a photo of Zion National
Park. Matt re-sizes the photo.
Now he's going to add a picture of a hiker so he can show
us one of the cool new features of Keynote. He shrinks the
hiker and now he's ready to move her around the map. MOVE
her? YES!! But wait, when we move her, all that white space
in the photo will block the map image. Matt shows how the
new Alpha tool allows you to select a color, like the white
space, and make it transparent! Now the white space isn't
obscuring our map image!! "Excellent." You used to need
Photoshop for this.
Okay, now tell us how to move the hiker. Look! On the Build
Inspector! Build In, Build Out, and NOW, Action! Apple has
added some cool new actions to Keynote and one of them is
Move. Matt gives us a demonstration of how Move works.
Straight line, curve, change the speed, constant speed,
ease in/ease out, multiple segments. Whew, a lot of
options.
Tip from Matt: whenever you get bored, just sit down, hold
down the Option Key and start clicking around - you'll
learn exciting new things about your Mac.
Matt adds several segments by adding points to the move
track. Now, watch the hiker hike the lonely trail through
Zion National Park!
Members: "That is cool!"
Matt says you can combine moves, builds and effects to
create some very sophisticated slides.
Thanks, Matt, for a cool look at the new Keynote!
Questions and
Answers
Member: What key did Matt press to zoom in and zoom out?
Matt: Preferences - Universal Access turns Zoom on and off
and selects the Zoom key.
Matt: On my iBook I set power saving features to go to
sleep, but today it would not to sleep.
Group: Airport can affect this, check your screensaver, and
new software in demo mode (it's busy counting) can affect
this.
Give-away
Tonight's give-away is an Apple Liquid Refreshment
Dispenser. Highly coveted, highly sought after.
Tonight's winner is: Alex Hyman! Congratulations, Alex!!
MemberDock Revisited
Matt reminded us that if we like PeachPit books, a MUG
member can get one for free if he or she will write a
review on it. See Matt for more information.
Also, we're planning on setting up a "GreerMUG store" at
Cafe Press where you can buy cool GreerMUG items and
support the group!
SHAMELESS PLUG
ALERT!
Check out Tim's blog at TimothyGodby.com. A cool Mac blog - its coolness begs
for your interaction. Tim has done a great job pulling
together lots of news and stories of interest to the Mac
community. Check out the latest today!
Also, check out Matt Chandler's site NewMacUser.com !
Preview
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 16th.
Our next Photo SIG is now scheduled for October 27, 2007.
3:30 PM Check back here for more details. This one is going
to be special.
Copyright 2007 Greer Macintosh User
Group