Read Me
So, did you read the “read me” file sent to you with this issue? If not, I will also take this opportunity to fill you in.
My Mac will be released in two formats each month. First, you can continue to receive the DOCMaker only format that you are reading now. Or you can subscribe to “My Mac Deluxe”, which will be the same as My Mac “regular”, but will be sent to you each month with all the shareware/freeware programs we review each month. (Unless forbidden by the author.) This will be very helpful to all our Internet only readers, as many of the software reviewed here in My Mac can only be found on America Online. (And visa versa) In addition to the reviewed software, you will also receive some fun system 7 double-clickable sounds (to do with as you like), some Startup Screens not found anywhere else, some Icons for My Mac readers only, and anything else we can find to stuff in there!
So how much for all this? $12.00 per year (12 issues). Simply open the “Order Form”, print it, and send to the listed address. (Hand written forms are o.k. if you do not own a printer) You will still receive My Mac via email, or for an extra $10.00, to your home postal address.
So save yourself some time hunting for all the software you read about every month, and subscribe to “My Mac Deluxe” today! And, hey, you never know what may turn up in that folder each month:-)
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Welcome to My Mac #12! As always, we look forward to your comments on this issue, and invite you all to write in. This is a free publication dedicated to anyone and everyone who owns or uses a Macintosh computer.
This issue features a interview with Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki by Russ Walkowich!
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MARCH MADNESS
Hello and welcome once again, everybody. As I write this, I’m in a whirlwind of scheduling conflicts, homework assignments, Swing Choir contests and practices, speech contests and practices, band and vocal solo practices and contests, school play practice (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – I’m Prince Charming), track practices, and newspaper delivering in the wee hours of the morning. Through it all I have become a master in the art of surviving with six hours of sleep, and have successfully kept my straight A average, made the varsity track team as a shot putter, made All-State in the speech contest, and did excellent at the music contests. OK, so our Swing Choir got a II rating at contest, but nobody’s perfect. 
On top of all of this I’m
trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, and I’m finding that having a girlfriend (of roughly two months now) takes up more time than I ever imagined.
Now that you all know ten times more about my life then you cared to, I’d like to use the above paragraph as my excuse for this month’s article. It’s already three days late, Tim’s probably ready to torture me so I die a slow, painful death, and I’m afraid it might have to be a bit rushed. So, my apologies in advance. (Let’s see, the last time I apologized for a column was February, and to date that’s the one I’ve received the most positive mail for. Hmm… Continue reading »
Hi, Thanks for sending me your ezine.
I have one suggestion, which may or may not be possible for you. If the font could just be resizable, it would be wonderful. For comfortable reading I copy/paste it into word so I can increase the size of the print. After a long day at the computer easy-on-the-eyes is my no. 1 goal.
Have a great day. JoAnn
JoAnn,
After nine issues, the staff and I have decided on Geneva 10 pt. for the font. I know it is a little small, but it just looks better than any other font available with DOCMaker, the program used to create My Mac. So at least for now, Geneva 10 pt. will remain. (But copy/pasting into another word processing program is possible for those wanting a larger typeface. Simply select which page you want to read, choose “Select all”, copy, and then paste into Word or Clarisworks! Sorry, but the graphics will not copy/paste in.)
HTML Basics Part I
HTML or Hypertext Markup Language, is the language that you use to construct pages for the World Wide Web. HTML is very basic and can be read by any Web browser on a variety of different operating systems. Because HTML is so basic in nature it is very easy to learn. You can design your own Web page very easily and quickly. So if you don’t have a Web page yet, here is a basic guide to help you get started.
The first thing you need to do is decide which text program you’re going to use to make your page. All Web pages need to be in ASCII or plain text format in order to be read by a Web browser. This is easy, all this means is that you have to use a very simple word processor like Simple Text, or a program designed specifically for making Web pages. Some more powerful word processors also have the option to let you save a page in ASCII format instead of their own format. I believe the easiest way to make a page for the Web is to use an HTML editor like Web Weaver 2.5.3. You can find this excellent program on the Web at http://www.northnet.org/best/. Web Weaver is shareware and you can try it and see if you like it before you have to pay anything. Web Weaver not only saves files in ASCII format but has palettes that let you write HTML tags with just one click. This takes away the tedious typing that you would normally have to do to insert HTML tags. You can actually learn a lot from using Web Weaver.
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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Guy Kawasaki, (where have you all been?), a little background info is important. Guy Kawasaki, one of the most famous evangelists for the Macintosh since 1983, recently rejoined the company as an Apple Fellow, and has improved communication between Apple customers, developers and Apple staff. Mr. Kawasaki is a well known author, businessman, former MacWorld columnist, consultant, dream salesman, well…you get the idea.
His new job of “Apple Fellow” at Apple’s main office in Cupertino, California, is to “spread the good news” about Apple, the Mac, the Mac OS; basically, to let the world know that the end of Apple is not imminent, contrary to the everyday rantings of the unbiased press and media. Through the use of the EvangeList and the MACWAY, he has been providing “good news” to those who have grown weary of the PC pushers. For those of you who have yet to sign up, I have included the pertinent information at the end of the article so that you can immediately sign up for the MACWAY digest.
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Global Village Powerport
Platinum P.C. card Fax Modem
Estimated price: $339.00
Company: Global Village
The Global Village Platinum PC Card or the Platinum Pro PC Card is the ideal modem to make your PowerBook computer a truly mobile solution. The Platinum PC Card is so easy to use that you can master its use in mere minutes. The modem comes with Global Village’s GlobalFax 2.5 fax software, GlobalFax OCR (character recognition software), and PC Card Enhancement software that helps your modem interact with your application software and your computer much easier. In addition, you will love the Quicklauncher utility which provides easy access to all your Internet and communication software.
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Macintosh Powerbook 5300c
Estimated price: 8/500 model: $3,599
*16/750 model: $4,399
Company: Apple Computers
Why does it seem that Apple is always a little ahead, and then falls behind the competition? Apple’s line of PowerBooks have been no exception. When they first came out, the concept was totally new, and amazing. Then, companies like IBM came out with their imitations of Apple’s PowerBook. This left Apple alone, and seemingly helpless.
At Work
I worked with a 100 megahertz model, with 16 megabytes of RAM, a 750 megabyte hard drive, and an external Apple 600e CD-ROM drive connected to it. When I first got working on it, I noticed how nice the screen was. It was almost like a desktop monitor. Unlike previous PowerBooks that I have worked with, the 5300′s screen didn’t crunch the text together in the word processor programs. This is one of the best improvements Apple has made on these new machines. The heart of the 5300 is a PowerPC 603e CPU running at 100 megahertz. Though it gives you fast performance, the speed-up from the 500-series PowerBooks is not as it was when Apple made the PowerPC transition with its desktop macs. In fact, lab results from the February 1996 Macworld proved that the speed up was only double, but when the PowerPC desktop macs came out it was triple! Macworld also said that the speed was equivalent to the Power Mac 6100/66. This is not what I call satisfactory. If Apple says the processor is 100 megahertz, then it should perform somewhat CLOSE to that.
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DiskTracker 1.0.2
Shareware: $20.00
Mark Pirri’s DiskTracker 1.0.2 is a great shareware product. In fact, I will go so far as to say that if more shareware was up to the quality that DiskTracker 1.0.2 is at, then many more people would pay their shareware due’s. (You know who you are!)
DiskTracker 1.0.2 is a disk management utility. Need to find a program but forgot what disk you have it on? DiskTracker will find it for you. Fast. And fast is the key word here. Up until I found and downloaded DiskTracker, I had been using Catfinder. While Catfinder was just fine for a while, I did notice that it was taking forever and a day to search its records for the software I wanted. Was it because I have such a huge disk collection? Or was it a flaw in the program itself? Either way, Catfinder just wasn’t making the grade anymore.
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Windows 95 patch
Shareware: $2.00
The look and feel of your Mac is one of the most endearing aspects of owning a Macintosh, and with all the custom icons and software that lets you customize your Mac’s looks, it should be no surprise that someone, sometime, would make it easy to get a Windows 95 look. Last issue My Mac reviewed a ~Aaron patch that would give your Mac a very Windows 3.1 look. The creator of that patch, Bobby Kolling, has also released the Windows 95 patch.
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Keywack 2.0
Shareware: $10.00
Long time readers may remember my review of Keywack 1.2 way back in issue #3. Since that time, Keywack’s creator, Paul Duffy, has released a newer version, 2.0. While Mr. Duffy has left the best parts of Keywack the same, he has improved upon a few things. But first, let me tell you what Keywack 2.0 is!
If you have a toddler or baby that likes to sit on your lap while you work on your computer, Keywack is for you. When launched, Keywack will display random color shapes and play sounds anytime the keyboard is “whacked”. That’s it! Sounds simple, right? Well, I can say from experience that kids love it! And so will you if you have a small child in your home.
Changes to 2.0 include hiding the menu bar, which means you no longer quit Keywack by selecting “quit” from the File menu. Now, you type “command-Q”, then type in the word “Quit” within a selected amount of time. (ten seconds). Also changed is a preference menu, and a very nice picture of a baby when you exit the program. As a added bonus, Paul Duffy also tells you how to add new sounds to Keywack by using ResEdit!
Keywack 2.0 is a great product. I give it my highest recommendation! Well worth the $10.00 shareware fee! Write to Paul at epwarte@world.std.com for more information.
O-Limpia
Freeware!
O-Limpia, from JameshM781@aol.com is a very useful shareware to identify and inform you of items that get lodged into your Preference folder without your knowledge, and take up unnecessary space.
Often, when one gets rid of an application or software, we do not really go through and remove all the related items from the Preference folder. This shareware will, and also tells you in an instant what we should not be throwing away from the Preference folder, a very useful feature. It will also attempt to match a preference file to the host program, thus letting you know if the preference is used by an active or often used program or not. O-Limpia is well worth it if you find yourself constantly trashing software without also trashing all the related files, and the price is right, too!
Address Master Pro 1.5
I just came across a wonderful shareware utility , Address Master Pro 1.5 by Deb Lake. I have been using another program, FoneMate 1.5.4, by John J. Calande of InfoSoft, to make a list of phone numbers of all my international contacts. FoneMate is pretty good but unfortunately does not have enough space to record addresses and mobile phone numbers, special notations as to where you met them or why (!), etc. PhoneMate is very good for only the phone numbers and e-mail numbers. However, Address Master Pro lets you make notations, such as Edward’s mother’s birth date, or when to send flowers for your sister’s anniversary, etc.
The printing option allows you to easily make a handy 3”x 2 1/2” address booklet. It was designed to be printed on Avery 3” x 5” Index Card sheets (style #5388), but can also be used on plain paper. (Avery print sheets are expensive!)
Address Master Pro has space to accommodate all the international phone numbers starting with 011, country code, city code and has space and titles for two phone numbers and two faxes plus their home numbers, and cellular phone numbers. Address Master Pro lets you record all the pertinent info and some more. I congratulate Deb Lake. I recommend this software to all the people who are on the go, and need all the information in an instant.
Deb Lake can be reached via aol at Lake Group@aol.com or on the Internet at deblake@ixnetcom.com.
Finally, after months of rumors and unreturned letters, Apple has released its second update to System 7.5. From my point of view, it is a success, and will make the Macintosh computer more enjoyable to use. Although the update supports all Macs, Plus and above, the major changes are made for the Power Mac. In this review, I will cover all the major changes, for the Mac and Power Mac. Note that the changes that I mention here are only the major changes, and there are many more that I don’t have time or room to mention.
Power Macintosh Changes Continue reading »
Speed. It is what all computer users crave, and always want more of. In this update, Apple has made many changes that speed up the Power PC based computer many. Note that the Apple guide and Apple Menu Options support the regular mac, but the speed up does not occur.
A normal day at work has me on one or two computers, a PowerMac and a PC, effortlessly porting work from one OS into another. A “normal” day at work rarely occurs, however. Even with the recent Java release for the Mac, I still find that many web plug-ins don’t work as well or at all on my PowerMac.
Take the case of the Real Audio Encoder version 2.01. Since the Powermac has multimedia capabilities built in, I decided it would be easier to use it to capture audio off a CD. With the help of Kaboom!, and the Mac’s own audio player, I did so. Then I took the resulting .wav files and encoded them with the Real Audio Encoder. Real Audio is an amazing tool. You can shrink a 200K .wav files down to about 8 or 9K. The files sound like mono FM, sure, but they download quick, and they take a bunch less room on already overcrowded web servers. So the upshot of this is–when I tried to listen to the clips over the web, the information came across garbled. Sounded sort of like a guy gargling and playing a steel guitar. A quick call to Progressive Networks (The Home Of Real Audio) gave me the solution. Somewhere in the encoding process, something had gone wrong.
“Thanks. I sort of figured that.” said I.
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OpenDoc is a new system of working. The basic idea has already been done. “Publish and Subscribe” links different documents into one. When one changes, the final outcome changes with it. OpenDoc has this same idea. It is something that seems very strange at first. It is a system made up of many different components. These components interact with each other to create any type of document you need to make. It isn’t even an application, really. It is built into the System. You create a new document by using the menu command “New” or making a new piece of stationary.
Once you open the document, you will notice something very strange. The menu commands only include the basics like Print and Copy. You start off by pasting a graphic, typing text or using the Embed command. The Embed command loads any component that you request, so you can make the needed type of document. When you click on a block of text, a whole new set of menus appear. They may be Style, Font, Format and Size. When you click on a graphic, the menus may change to Image, Color and Tools.
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p>Secret Thoughts of Bill Gates
In February I told you I wouldn’t give up my day job to become a full time
poet. And I haven’t. However, I had a couple of rhyming words bouncing
around in my head like a song you hear in the morning and can’t get rid of
all day long. So to get rid of these words I gave them to you.
I will give $500 to the first person who can tell me how many words are in Continue reading »
my poem. DETAILS BELOW!
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384