Synchronize Your Address Book with Google/Yahoo/MobileMe

Here's an idea:  synchronize your Address Book with Google/Yahoo/Mobile Me.  Why, you ask?  I asked that, too.  Here John Carter explains the why and how:
"There is no way to export the Mac Address Book so that it can then be imported into something like Google Mail Contacts or Yahoo Mail Contacts, but you can synchronize between your Mac Address Book and Google, Yahoo, or your MobileMe accounts.

"It's easy to do, but there are complications. . . "

"Here's the sequence:
1. Open Address Book
2. Select Preferences
3. Select Accounts

"Check the accounts you want to synchronize with.
Select 'Configure' for each account. You will asked for the username and password for that account.
Nothing happens right away. In a short while you will get a pop-up that notifies you that one of those accounts is attempting to synchronize. There may be conflicts between the two accounts that you will have to correct, choosing which entry to accept (from the other account or from the Mac account).

"When you're all done, check both the external contact list and the Mac Address Book. There will be lots to do to make them look the same (this is the part that can be complicated). But once you've done this, synchronizing thereafter will be a breeze.

"Once you've got your contact list updated in Google or Yahoo, simply export the contact list to a CSV file. That file can be imported into any other application."

"But John," I asked,  "Does putting Google or Yahoo or MobileMe in any way compromise your security and/or the privacy of the names and info you have in your Address Book?"

"No."

Then I needed to know, "Will I want to, or need to do this at some time?  I have lived this far without having this synchronized."

John explains, "It's a personal choice. Sometimes I'm away from home. The only access I have to email is through Gmail, Yahoo, or my GoDaddy account. If I don't synchronize the address book with the Mac Address Book, I may not be able to send a note to someone I'm thinking of.

"With regards to my GoDaddy account, since there is no direct sync with that provider, I then need to export the address book from either Gmail or Yahoo and import it into GoDaddy. It has to be done this way because the Mac Address Book has no way to export the address book contents into a CSV formatted file. The exports from Gmail and Yahoo can be done to a CSV formatted file."   # # #

Using NUMBERS

Here's a tip John Carter has discovered regarding NUMBERS. He begins, "Let's say you have two DATE columns (formatted for dates). Let's call them Start and Finish.

"Now let's say you want to know the number of months between these dates, and you want the result in Integer format to a two decimal precision.

"The standard way of subtracting the two dates gives a result that looks like an Integer, but it is actually a DURATION format. You can't operate on a DURATION value in the same way that you can operate on an Integer and expect an Integer value, because what you get will still be in DURATION format.

John continues, "For instance, let's say that the Start value is 1/1/2009 and the Finish value is 10/1/2009. The difference (=Finish-Start) will be 273 days, and it will appear as 273d in the cell. The 'd' stands for days, not duration. Now if you want to find the number of months as an Integer you might think that just dividing by 30 (or by (364/12) to be a little more accurate) would give you the number of months in Integer format, but it doesn't. Look:

"The manner in which Months is displayed depends on how many places you want to show in the result (using the Inspector). But notice that the result appears to be 9 days, given by the '9d' value. This is actually supposed to be read as 9m, because it's months, not days, but Apple didn't think ahead on this one and didn't provide the Inspector with the ability to format a duration in months, and if we set the display for weeks, we get 1w 2d 0h. Well, fortunately that equates to 9d. Oh, what a mess! It's very awkward in this format to read properly, so let's change the value of Days to an Integer format.

"With Microsoft Excel, you could simply change the Days cell format to be an Integer and be done with it. NUMBERS doesn't allow changing the format of a DURATION in such a direct fashion.

In the Days cell where you are subtracting the two dates, e.g., "=Finish-Start", use the following formula instead:

=DUR2DAYS(Finish-Start)

This converts that value to an integer.

Then in the next column when you divide Days by (364/12), you get a real Integer instead of a duration that doesn't even look right.

John concludes, "We could have used DUR2DAYS() on the Months value. It will amount to the same Integer value."   ###

Internet Addresses Set for Change

Keeping up with the latest about the Internet, this one is a biggie.  David Passell forwards this article, describing the addition of non-Latin-script web addresses. It's called the biggest change in the way the Internet works since it was created 40 years ago. The first applications for IDNs (Internationalised DomainNames) will be accepted November 16, with the first up and running by "mid-2010."  More details follow:

The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese, and other scripts.  More than half of the 1.6 billion people who use the Internet speak languages with non-Latin scripts.  Plans for the IDNs were first approved in June 2008, with the testing of the system on-going for the last two years.

This article goes on to say that the move paves the way for the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) to be changed so it can recognize and translate non-Latin characters.

Icann was set up by the US government and founded in 1998 to oversee the development of the net.

Macintosh Apple Pie (the real thing)

Look at this!  When I say Apple, do you think "apple"?  When I say, "Macintosh," do you think, "apple"?

Jim Hamm says he's going to see if Zee will make him this pie. He wrote, so I wrote back that he could try to make it himself and let us know.  He responded with "I can't cook at all.  That's why I whine and plead like a real man to get Zee to cook a pie like this."
Here from SmallDog.com is the one you'll want if you like apple pie.

The link above takes you to the archives of every newsletter since August 2008.  Now here's the actual page link.

Actually, they call this "Grace's Vermont Apple Pie,"  by Grace Mayer


CRUST

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons very cold butter
  • Grated rind 1/2 lemon
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons ice water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small bits and add to flour mixture. Using your fingers, cut in the butter until it has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Add the lemon rind. Separate the eggs and set the whites aside. Beat the yolks with the water and add to the mixture, stirring quickly with a fork.
Gather the dough into a ball and place in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
FILLING

  • 8-12 McIntosh Apples
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 cut brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Take one quarter of the dough and put it back in the refrigerator. The remaining piece will be the bottom crust. Roll out the crust between two pieces of wax paper. The crust should be as round as possible and should fit into the pie plate with the edges hanging over.


Carefully peel the wax paper off one side and lightly lay the paper back on. Flip the dough over and carefully peel the wax paper off this side. Place in the pie plate and carefully peel off the remaining paper. Fit the dough into the plate and cut off any extra from the edges.


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pare the apples and cut them into thick slices. One apple should yield only about 8-10 slices. Place the sliced apples into the crust. Dot the top with the butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar, flower and cinnamon over the top. Set aside.


Roll out the remaining dough between two new pieces of wax paper. Make this piece as square as possible. Peel the paper off the bottom crust. Use a fork to flatten the edges.


Brush the top of the pie with the leftover egg white and sprinkle lightly with some sugar. Place in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Watch the pie for the last five minutes. It may need a little more or less time. depending on your oven. When it is evenly browned, remove and cool before slicing.


(No, we won't publish everyone's recipe in our PMUG news blog.  But, hey, this is Apple, and it is Macintosh!)

Keyboard Shortcuts with Apple Mail

Everybody likes to save time.  Jim Hamm begins by saying, "One tip not mentioned, which I use often is Command+N to open a new message box to send an email." He sends us this article of tips for Quickly Managing Mail.  (If you, like me, prefer to read black type on a white background instead of white type on black background do this: Control+Option+Command+8 and rest your eyes.)

Throughout the whole time of using Mac, often we will spend time on checking and managing our mail. I personally like the default mail application for Mac: Mail.app.

In this trick, I am going to share with you some keyboard shortcuts that come in handy when we're going to manage our mailboxes, quick navigate mailbox, and handle message.

Managing Mailboxes

You will use these shortcuts often. You should quickly burn these into your brain.

Cmd-Delete → Delete selected mailbox item(s)
Cmd-Shift-L → Mark selected items as "Flagged"
Cmd-Shift-J → Mark selected items as "Junk"
Cmd-Shift-Y → Add sender(s) of selected items to Address Book
Cmd-Shift-K → Select all related messages
Navigating Mailboxes

And you can always use keyboard shortcuts Cmd-1 ~ Cmd-8 for quick navigation to other mailboxes.

Handling Message

In the case of handling message, these keyboard shorcuts would be very useful:

Cmd-R → Reply
Cmd-Shift-R → Reply All
Cmd-Shift-F → Forward
Cmd-Shift-E → Redirect
Cmd-Shift-B → Bounce
Hope these shortcuts will help you in increasing your productivity.  # # #

,

Do You Value Your Privacy?

,

Here's the latest PMUG handout from today's October 2009 meeting.  Hope it's helpful.  Read on about security.

10-24-09
You have some choices to make that affect your privacy on the Internet. Here are some considerations.

A recent Internet article mentioned privacy, and the writer gave this advice. Use one Internet search engine, say, Google for looking up articles; use Firefox for your financial dealings with your bank; use Opera for ordering things from the Internet.

Open to Safari. Click on History on the main menu at the top, and go all the way down the list to click Clear History. Every website you’ve opened since the last time you cleared it, or for the last several weeks will be erased from this list. Want to save some? Click Show All History and delete just the ones you want to, at this time.

Go to Safari > Preferences > Auto Fill (or Command + ,) See what your default setting has been all this time. If “Use info from my Address Book card” has been checked, then no wonder that yesterday in your mailbox you got something from British Columbia. Just a few days earlier you saw a cute ad on the Internet when you were looking up something else, and you clicked to just read that ad. Now the company has all that info about you that you posted to your own Address Book.

Command + Shift + H takes you from wherever you are on the Internet to the Google homepage.

On Google’s homepage click under More. Then click Even More. There are lots of interesting Google Products. Decide which ones you want to know about, but keep in mind what level of privacy you want.

Got all your Cookies? Open Safari, do Command + , (comma) and chose Security. Here you can choose to accept Cookies, “always,” “never,” or “only from sites I visit.” Some sites will prompt you to set to accept Cookies, but when you’re done with that site you can go immediately back to this list and click Never, and Show Cookies. Delete what you want; I delete all every time I finish on the Internet. The next time you need a Cookie temporarily you’ll be prompted to allow Cookies. Do it, then delete after you’re done with that site.

Sign in to Google with your email address and your Google password, chosen for your Google account. Go to Web History. Here you are being tracked. To opt out choose to Pause Web History. Your previous History will be deleted and it says they will not gather this info until you allow it.

DO NOT use any social networking sites: FaceBook, MySpace, etc. Don’t post any information about yourself on the Internet, comments, forums, etc. that you don’t want the whole world to know.

On the Safari drop-down menu Private Browsing could be a good choice. # # #

Finding Info on the Internet

Looking for Something?  Finding Info on the Internet A few interesting sites when you’re looking for some info.

http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html Year by Year lists highlights from 1900 to 2008: world events, U.S. Events, economics, sports, entertainment, science, notable deaths

http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml  Describe the concept and it lists possible words you want.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Prescott+Valley+AZ     Local weather with animated radar map, weather history for this location, sports weather, state extremes, astronomy links, local weather stations, warnings. You can submit weather photos for their display.

http://www.loc.gov/index.html Library of Congress, articles, podcasts, copyright, folklife, lots and lots of categories to explore.

www.20search.com/    Lists 20 search engines, type in the search box and go to the site. Handy if you want to quickly look at some smaller search engines for comparison.

http://www.quoteland.com/ Use wildcard % search. See FAQ

http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi   Search for images to drag and use.

Dictionary Features

Here's a copy of the PMUG meeting handout on June 2009, in case you missed the meeting.

June 2009: Dictionary Features

Got a Word?
The Dictionary that lines up so nicely in the Dock is full of words! Take a look . . .

When you click on Dictionary you have choices of All, Dictionary, Thesaurus, Apple, Wikipedia.

What good is that Apple Dictionary, you ask? Type a in the search box. Click on Apple. Up comes a list of the “a” words, all of which apply in some way to Apple products. “Aqua,” what is that? A double-click brings up the definition. Did you already know it meant “the graphical user interface and visual theme of Mac OS X”?

If you’ve got time on your hands, do the same thing with Wikipedia. Type in a and see what comes up. “A & W” links to several titles, so we choose “Root Beer.” Clicking here brings up an outline of contents and concise information, including nutrition facts. You’ll find links scattered throughout, each opening to a new website.

Now, Thesaurus. It tells you there are 997 entries for "a." From words to phrases you can find more words. Click on one, and feast your eyes on words with various shades of meaning.

Dictionary opens by announcing there are 943 entries for a. On the menu at the top of your desktop go to Dictionary > Services > Speech and click on Start Speaking Text. Hear the chosen word pronounced. You may find this more helpful that sounding it out yourself, using the diacritical marks given in the dictionary entry.

Note: You can also click Start Speaking Text when using Pages and highlighting the words or sentences you’d like the voice to read for you. In System Preferences choose Speech, and select the man’s or woman’s voice you like.

What’s Up?
Go to http://pmugnews.blogspot.com/ to see what’s up. There are 161 postings since we started this feature in April 2008. Browse and see what’s there.
Now, ask yourself, what news could I send to Elaine that would be of interest to other PMUG members? Click on editor@pmug.us  and email me what’s up.

See also the PMUG website at www.pmug.us/ and explore the info there. Webmaster is John Carter.
# # #

Google Maps

Now with our blog's new Jump Breaks capabilities I'd like to post the handouts given out at previous PMUG meetings.  As your news blog editor I've printed up handouts beginning in May.  Now I can post them here without hogging the whole homepage! In the next few days I'll post each, separately.  To start us off here's May 2009: Google Maps

5-23-09     Google Maps  
Have you tried Google Maps with new features?
Go to Google and type your address in the search box. No need to capitalize!
When the page opens click on that address where it says maps.google.com
Up comes street map, arrow pointing to that place and a tiny photo of the house.
In the upper left click on the yellow man and begin to drag him towards your house.
All streets that have been Googled are now outlined in blue.
Put the man down in the street at your address. Watch as your house comes up.
You can scroll in a 360 degree circle to see the neighbors.
The tiny icon at right side, top will enlarge your house to fill your screen.
You can move towards or away from using other control icons on the left side.
Notice you can use the Back Arrow to go to the previous screen.
On the first map, top right, you can find Traffic, More, Map, Satellite, Terrain.
Go under More and find Photos, Videos, Wikipedia, Webcam.
Experiment and see what you find.

Instead of putting in a whole address Google will find places if you type what it is, Ground Zero Twin Towers, Club 50 Fitness Prescott Valley, Washington Monument, etc.
On the left side other links will appear. You can even read and post Reviews.  # # #

Consider "Net Neutrality"

Should the FCC and the government stay out of the Internet, or should ISPs be allowed to, say, charge for the amount of usage a person uses?  Jim Hamm raises this question and goes on to say, "After reading this article I'm still a bit uncertain if I'm 'fer or agin' net neutrality. Do you think the FCC and government should stay out of the Internet, or should ISPs be allowed to, say, charge for the amount of usage a person uses? For example, YouTube has caused a significant increase in soaking up broadband, as does downloading movies, etc. This can cause internet slowdown in a neighborhood. Should people pay for this increased usage?"

"Another example: now many RV parks charge for WiFi (which is OK, somebody has to pay for this service), but now when one pays the fee you are limited to 60MB/day usage. Once you get to that level, you have to pay another fee for another 60MB. The parks say this restriction is needed because too many campers were soaking up available WiFi watching or downloading movies.

Jim concludes, "We'll see and hear more about this issue in future months, I'm sure."  Here's the article.

See Google, See Life

Just found a nifty Google feature.  Go here for the home page of the listings of all Life magazines from 1935 to 1972.  Under "about this magazine" they give free access to share, print and post images for personal use.  There's also a world map with red pins marking places mentioned in the magazine you designate.  When you click on Contents the list of articles in that magazine come up. You can view full screen, two pages up, or four pages up.

I discovered this from World magazine's article, "Googly eyes," which states you can do an image search by appending "source:life" and the search will be limited to Life archives.  Without that nice URL you can just go to Google's homepage, click on More, then click on Books.  Magazines are shown, as well as books.

Improving the Blog

New features and improvements for the blog keep on coming.  Thanks to John Carter for helping with the newest feature, "Jump Breaks." Scan down this page to note it as "Click to Read More."
Now is the time to consider starting a blog.  You can set it up for the whole world to see, or you can restrict it for select people, like family and friends.  You'll be able to share a lot of good stuff and publicize your blog in your holiday greeting cards!
Click here to go to www.blogger.com and follow the simple instructions. Then, let us know how it's going.

Tips for Avoiding Phishing Scam

On the heels of the warnings from De Prez Allen Laudenslager read tips from CNET News on how to avoid being a victim of an email phishing scam. Recently usernames and passwords from Hotmail, Gmail, and possibly accounts of AOL and Yahoo users being posted online has caused concern. Read in detail the five tips by Larry Magid: change passwords regularly, click cautiously, look for secure sites that use "https" (the "s" stands for "security"), use a phishing filter and good antimalware software, and think critically. Additional tips and links are given in the article.

Run a Mixed System?

For those who run a mixed system with both Mac and PC De Prez Allen Laudenslager says, "Malware is still a problem. This is not reported to attack the Mac, but since I run a mixed PC and Mac system I thought I'd pass it out just in case we have some members who are still running PC as part of a network.

"Never open attachments to email that claims to be from US or state agencies; they never use email attachments to communicate with taxpayers.

"This one claims that you may have under reported income and may be due a refund. It urges you to click on the attachment which directs you to a phony website that will infect PCs."  Here's the article describing the problem.

Mac User Groups = Gems!

"I can't I can't begin to tell you how much being a member of PMUG has benefited me," exclaims John Carter.   He goes on to elaborate, "Getting the bits and pieces of news and information through the PMUG Newsletter (Blog) is one of the best resources we have. And learning about other Mac User Groups and peeking in on their activities is another great resource.

"For instance, looking at RIMUG (Rhode Island Mac User Group) I discovered in their quarterly newsletter a review about Vertus FluidMask, a Photoshop plug-in (or stand-alone) application that takes the pain out of selecting portions of an image that you want to mask out of a photo. Wow! What other gems are waiting for me to discover in the world of Mac User Groups?"

John refers to an earlier post with this link to US and World User Groups. Take a look and be amazed.

Save Money on Photoshop

     Looks like a good deal.  Art Gorski tells us we can preorder Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 for $75 (after rebate) and get free shipping from Amazon.  Use this link to help support the great Macintouch website. This page on Amazon has a list of features comparing Elements 6 with the New Elements 8.  The "newest version of the #1 selling consumer photo-editing software . . . combines power and simplicity."  The item will be released 10-23-09.  
     Also take a look at Macintouch which today includes an updated Snow Leopard Compatibility List,  reviews, and articles that may be helpful. 

Soon to Be on Sale?

Rumors of new Apple products always catch our attention. John Carter sends us this biggie, "It has been rumored for the last month that there will be new iMacs for the Christmas buying season. Today, AppleInsider seems to have some information on these.  'A trio of online advertisements that appear to have been published prematurely by one of Apple's international online stores suggest it's only a matter of days before the Mac maker takes the wraps off of new families of ultra-thin iMacs, lighter & thinner plastic MacBooks, and more affordable Mac minis.'

John's advice?  "So if you are planning on buying or upgrading wait — new Apple products are usually introduced on a Tuesday. I would guess they will be out by the second Tuesday of the month — October 13, but perhaps we will see something next week."

Beware This New Scam

Thanks to John Carter for the following warning, "If you are a Facebook user, you might get a message from a friend saying something like, 'BigCityBizNews.org Read this news article...', or, 'Community-News.org...', which promises to tell you about a great money-making home business opportunity.

DON'T click on the link!  It's a scam!

"The link takes you to an authentic looking website with a news article about using Google advertising that eventually asks you to click on two other links and pay $1 for one link and $1.95 for the other link. You probably get nothing in return for the money you give them, or what you get is information on how to do something that you could figure out on your own. And what's more, the article looks even more authentic by mentioning the name of someone in your city who is making tons of money with Google ads."