Dragon dictation recognizes emoticons:
🙂 is “smiley ” or “smiley face”
😉 is ” winky ”
Angry face mad face… …
Ellipses, you say dot dot dot
Ellipses, you say dot dot dot
Author: jjmarcus
Apple Specialist, Mac Whisperer, Cloud Wrangler - Your Remote CTO
New Mac, need more wireless, how about a mini media server?, and ready for Google Apps!
• I’m replacing my 2006 MBP with a shiny new one which will arrive this week – a fully loaded 15”.
Woohoo!
• What’s the best migration approach?
Your new Mac will ask if you have an old Mac, and instruct you through booting the old one to “Target Disk Mode,” and connecting the Macs via FireWire. Then you hit “Go,” and ALLLLL your stuff — user accounts and home folders, applications, support files, network configurations — will get brought over to the new machine, which will finish booting and reveal itself to be just like your old one.
• I use SuperDuper to back up to local disks at home and at the office.
• Shared drive for the family network – mainly as a music server – just hang a drive off the Airport extreme?
The main thing to consider about an AirDisk (disk attached to an Airport, or the built-in hard drive of a Time Capsule) is that there’s no easy way to run daily, incremental backups from the AirDisk to another storage device. So the AirDisk is really best (read: solely) used as a backup itself. For home media server, one of my top three most favorite projects currently — which, incidentally, also include setting up a Mac mini with OS X Server in a business, and hooking a business or household together with Google Apps — is putting a beautiful little Mac mini with Server in the central entertainment system of a household, plugging it into a big flat-screen with HDMI, and making it the kickass, full-throttled media jukebox for the whole family.
Plus, the mini becomes central file and backup storage for every Mac on the property. Time Machine from Mac to Server is so very sweet.
Important to say at this point that there are some great, small PCs coming out with Windows Media Center (ewwwwwww!) or, better, Linux. They can run a media front-end such as Boxee that is pretty easy to operate with a simple remote. But without question, even in spite of its high price tag, the Mac — running Boxee and Plex and Hulu Desktop and maybe an EyeTV One — is currently the best platform for the job.
• My colleagues and I are ready to transition away from an in-house Microsoft environment – we have an Exchange server for 4 people – to Gmail, cloud storage, etc.
I am, as I say above, fully ready to help any business of any size move to Google Apps. It, and services closely related, are the best thing that has happened to the internet since the Web. And we are very able to do work in Austin, and lots can be done remotely.
• Upgrade the home network – right now running one Airport extreme which is not sufficient to cover the house – at some point I may need a wiring guy to enable broader wireless coverage.
Certainly ethernet cable is always the most reliable mode of networking. Everyone with a home, however, should know about PowerLine adapters: run network through your home electrical system. Sometimes cheaper per drop, depending on the house, but always more convenient than hiring a cabling contractor, especially if you only need, say, one or two more drops to attach to Airport Expresses, which are great for extending an Airport network.
And I thought “Quark 7” was a good punchline
Wow. Just when the tech world is debating whether Flash is going to remain a viable and widespread platform on the internet, Quark announces massive, even "Magic!" support for Flash design and development.
OK, OK – I am glad that someone continues to create competition for InDesign, but … really?
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Quark <cservice@quark.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 3:58 AM
Subject: Perform Magic with Flash in QuarkXPress 8
To: info@j2mac.com
From: Quark <cservice@quark.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 3:58 AM
Subject: Perform Magic with Flash in QuarkXPress 8
To: info@j2mac.com
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Our Current Methods
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Attached: Our Current Methods |
Message from info@j2mac.com:
http://bit.ly/j2currentmethods I am inspired to create a doc that has all of our current methodologies. I'm going to update it from time to time, and rely on Google Docs to keep revisions.
Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
The Usual Scenario
Client buys a new Mac
Typical Purchase
Single CPU for home or small biz. Client should walk out of the Apple Store with at least:
- Mac
I think everyone should have a laptop as their main computer, buy maybe they really want an iMac.
- AppleCare
Maaaybe someone wants to buy at Best Buy and get their extra coverage, but I want every Mac to have AppleCare. Businesses can negotiate for custom AppleCare quotes.
- External hard drive
(See the section on Backups for current software selections.)
This can be a 1TB or 2TB Time Capsule, but if they already have a wireless router, then an external drive with FireWire is essential. In San Antonio, the 3 brands that both are available and don’t suck completely are LaCie and G-Tech (Apple Store) and Seagate (Best Buy).
The number of LaCie d2 Quadra drives we have unpacked and installed has probably entered 3 digits: FireWire 800 is now standard on every Mac except the MacBook, and the extra option of eSATA rocks. Until recently, we spec’ed the 500GB model, but since the 1TB unit is $154 on Amazon, that size has entered the sweet spot of price-per-gigabyte.
- Consumers
If a client uses an email address given them by their ISP, we immediately start pushing them to sign up for a Gmail address. If they don’t want to do it, fine, but it’s easy to assure them that the process, described below, is quite easy and painless.
So, obviously you sign ’em up http://gmail.com. Then we turn on forwarding in the ISP’s webmail, and the vacation responder as well, to say, “Thanks for writing me. Please know that, from now on, you can find me at yaddayadda@gmail.com.” Also, in Gmail settings, we configure a filter that “labels” any mail sent to the old address as, for example, “satx.rr.com” or “sbcglobal” or whatever.
Other Gmail settings to tweak are: keyboard shortcuts ON, IMAP enabled, and HTTPS/SSL enforced.
Obviously, we are usually going to configure Apple’s Mail.app. See this hint for a good tweaking of Google’s recommended config for Mail (I am going to comment on that hint with a couple of amendments that I have found useful). But I want people to get familiar with the Google webmail interface. Show them filters and labels. Consider showing them Docs, Calendar, and Buzz, and even Wave if they’re a bit nerdy.
- Businesses
Business clients are always asked who their email host is, if any.
New Mac setup
- Run Software Update.
- Next, System Preferences:
- Desktop & Screen Saver: Turn off “Translucent menu bar,” and demo RSS screensaver.
- Security: Turn on the Firewall and enable Stealth Mode. Consider “Require password to wake from sleep.”
- Keyboard: Turn on “All controls” for a tab-able interface.
- Trackpad: Turn on “Tap to click.”
- Sharing: Anonymize computer name. Consider File and Screen Sharing for desktops, but turn off every service on laptops.
- Accounts: Configure second admin account called “Administrator,” with the same password as the primary user. On laptops, turn off “Automatic login.” On any Mac, turn on “Allow guests to log in,” and turn off “Allow guests to connect to shared folders.” Consider additional user accounts and fast user switching.
- Date & Time: Make sure network time service is enabled.
- Time Machine: (See section on Backups.)
- Next, install freeware: See this blog post for Things I Download on Every Mac. Direct links are included.
- Safari: Turn on Autofill for “User names and passwords,” and “When a new tab or window opens, make it active.” Set new windows and new tabs to open to “Empty Page.”
- Mail.app: Bold unread messages. See above for configuring Mail for Gmail.
Backups
- On-site
1 Partition on external hard drive. SuperDuper backup will live side-by-side with Time Machine.Time MachineSuperDuper (Carbon Copy Cloner is great, but just not as clean, and not anywhere near as FAST as SuperDuper. Also, CCC can’t co-exist with Time Machine backing up to the same partition.)
- Off-site
Patience becomes me not.
But I had nothing to do but wait.
Multitasking
Developers will have access to seven multitasking services, which will allow tasks to be performed in the background while preserving performance and battery life. So you’ll be able to make a Voice over IP call while playing a game or checking email, find a restaurant on Urbanspoon while listening to Pandora, and more.
Netflix on iPad! Wheeeeee!
Pardon the long URL below, but streaming netflix is so freakin huge. And Apple has posted a list of HTML5-compliant sites: http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/ . Sorry, Flash, but you’re no dealbreaker.
We just left Best Buy. It’s as good as I need it to be for now.
iTunes link to netflix app:
http://www.google.com/m/url?cd=4&client=safari&ct=res&ei=d463S8jfAo27twf96vK-…
http://www.google.com/m/url?cd=4&client=safari&ct=res&ei=d463S8jfAo27twf96vK-…
Good fun this way comes: iPad Guided Tours
Most important iPad feature: screen-rotation lock switch. Yesss!!!
Project management and Google Apps Marketplace
Have you played with Zoho Projects?I’m looking for another project-management solution. Basecamp just seems to confuse clients, consultants and staff. Definitely not a file-sharing solution. The only benefit I get is a task list with reminders. Whoopee. Their customer service is argumentative and unhelpful, and the workarounds too time-consuming.
Also, Google Apps Marketplace has just come into play. They’ve put a compelling new twist on the relatively-new-itself “app store” idea. Now, whenever I think “I need an online service that does [insert ingenious time-saving mechanism here],” I going straight to Marketplace.
I did a search for “project management”, and came up with a list of options — some free, some not. (Mind Meister Mind Mapping, recommended recently by a friend, was in there.) Then I saw the “Project Management” category in the navbar, which oddly came up with a differently sorted list with some different items.
Marketplace is interesting. The obvious immediate upside is “single sign-on,” i.e. signing into any of the listed services with your Google Apps login (in your case, the sitenb.com ID). They also list the benefit of “Google’s universal navigation.” I am definitely looking forward to imposing a consistent, extensible look between my cloud-based application — but I don’t know if that’s what “universal navigation” means yet.
I’ll admit I’ve had some problems getting a couple to work, especially with existing accounts at the respective services like Freshbooks. But I think it’s gonna be cool. By the way, I’m starting to see that Chrome should become one’s centre for all of this software-as-service, online app, cloud-tastic, web-2 stuff. Now I do all my research and reading in Safari, and all my mail, docs, invoicing, task management, and dish washing in Chrome. It’s just so springy!
iPhone abroad redux
We are going to be in Europe for 3 weeks, and we want to have service on our iPhones. Is there anything available (even cheaper?) than AT&T?
I have an earlier post on the subject, but thought I'd expand a bit:
I'll say the less positive stuff first: Unless one's iPhone is unlocked, the AT&T $6/month World Traveler plan, which drops per-minute charges a bit, is an iPhone owner's only option for over-the-phone communication.
Unlocking happens through a hack, as described in this Wired article. Unlocking and jailbreaking — alowing non-Apple-sanctioned apps — are doable and ultimately not that hard, but we recommend against these hacks on phones that are still in use as primary phones (as opposed to being sold or converted to an iPod touch).
Now, AT&T has some good recommendations for travelling overseas with your iPhone, including something I just found out, and wish I had known for my South America trip last year: their Data Global plan. This might come in handy; there was a lot of travel research I wanted to do on the fly.
But my bestest tip for people travelling internationally with their iPhones is still Wi-Fi! It's so awesome to have a great, little internet device in one's pocket. Whenever I'm travelling, and have a moment or a need, I scan for free wireless. Café-sitting is one of my favorite touring activities, anyway. I was happy enough with this for email and chat, but now you can make free iPhone-to-computer voice calls with the Skype app [iTunes link], and supposedly one-way video chat with Fring [iTunes link].
If you don't get the World Traveler plan, do read those AT&T instructions for turning off roaming, or you can wind up with a huge bill. Even if you do buy the plan, it turns out that you get charged for any incoming calls, whether you answer them or not(!), and voicemails, even if you don't listen to them.
My technique was to leave the iPhone in "Airplane Mode," and then turn on only Wi-Fi and scanned for open networks when I needed one. I had no surprises when I came home.
jjmarcus tech solutions 
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