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History of Networking, etc.

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"What do you know about networking?" asks John Carter.  "For that matter, what do you care to know about networking? You might be surprised that knowing some fairly basic information about the technology involved could actually bring an ah-ha to your lips. This week’s TechTuesday on 'No Computer is an Island' is about networking which is mostly historical information and then winds up with an eye-opening paragraph about the Ethernet."

House Fire vs iMac

        Maybe you saw this in the latest TechTails, but I couldn't resist emailing the Apple technician who wrote it.  RJ Murphy wrote back and sent these photos.  His article went as follows:
     "A 24-inch iMac was recently dropped off at the service department because it would not power on.  This problem arose after the system sat through a house fire.  At first glance, we figured there was not much hope for it, as it was completely charred from top to bottom.  The plastic housing on the rear of the system had been badly damaged, with melted plastic around the intake and outtake vents.  However, the vents remained unobstructed.

        After a quick SMC reset, the system powered on and started up just fine.  I've since run our suite of diagnostics and stress-tested the iMac with no unfavorable results.  How much more resilient can a computer be?  I can't say, but surviving a house fire definitely tops the list — though the smoke smell can be quite sickening."
       (He took the photos with his iPhone!) Click to enlarge photos.

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Fix Those Photos

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         Got telephone poles, fire hydrants, dogs, trash, etc. in your photos?  John Carter describes a slight miracle -- how to remove them.  Read on:  "Photoshop 9 came out with a very nice feature called Content-Aware Fill."
        "Well, GIMP had that feature a long time ago. It is a plug-in called Resynthesizer. It takes a little more fiddling with than the Photoshop equivalent, but the results are exactly the same. The tutorial on how to use Resynthesizer is here.   Installing the plug-in in the Mac may not seem straightforward, so I’ll go through the steps.
    1. Download the plug-in . . .  found in your Downloads folder with the name resynthesizer.tar or resynthesizer.tar.gz. If the latter, double-click on it to convert it to the former.
    2. Double-click on the file resynthesizer.tar. It will create a new folder in the same location with the name resynthesizer.
    3. Copy the contents of that folder to ~/Library/Application Support/Gimp/plug-ins/ (the ~/Library folder is hidden in Lion, so you will have to make it visible by using Go->Go to folder (Finder hotkey: Shift-Command-G) and selecting ~/Library).
    4. Start up GIMP.
    5. Follow the instructions in the tutorial to use Resynthesizer.
          Is that all, you ask?  No, John Carter wants to add this info: "Just when you think Photoshop has it all, GIMP shows up with yet another feature buried in the works that puts it right up there with Photoshop. Starting with CS4, you get this really neat feature in the Content-Aware Scale tool where you can squeeze two people together in a scene or pull them apart.
        "When you install GIMP for Mac, that feature is also there, but renamed as Liquid Rescale and buried at the bottom of the Layer menu. Get the details on how to use Liquid Rescale at the Digital Photography School here. You will also find a link there to the author’s tip on how to do the same thing in CS4/5."

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Looking for Help with iDVD

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       David Passell asks this question and sends this warning about iDVD.   "Hi: I have been using iDVD 7.1.1 to create DVDs from pictures and movies from iPhoto (It still works with iPHOTO '11). I thought that perhaps there is a newer version and at the Apple App Store there is a 'MPVs iDVD 11 101.' However, beware: Here is a comment from a very dissatisfied customer. (Click to enlarge it.)

"If I read this correctly, not only is there no update for iDVD, but LION disables it completely. I notice it is not in the current iLIFE suite. Another reason why I won't be upgrading (if that is the correct term?) to LION.  Is there a later version of iDVD, and if so where do I find it?"

iPhoto Report

        David Passell reports:  I recently installed iPhoto 11 (version 9.2.1). Compared to the 7.5.1 I was using it is a monster app. 1.2GB vs 189 mb. CAUTION: When opening, it UPDATES your iPhoto library so you can't go back. Before running it, I saved the older library to an external drive (89 GB 6 hours) just in case.
        Now, replying to my question David explains, "I backed the old file (iPhoto library) onto a My Passport 500GB drive that I use on the Dell PC. Actually I can view some (but not all) of the pictures in the library on that Windows machine.
        "I kept the old iPhoto 7.5.1. I had to use Time Machine to retrieve it. One annoying thing: When I purchased/downloaded the new iPhoto it updated iPhoto 7.5.1 to the new version, but kept the old name I had given it. I can't change the name; so even though it appears as 7.5.1 in the Applications folder and on the dock, it is the latest. If you want to keep your old version of iPhoto be sure to 'save' it in the Trash or compress it before you update."

Take a Look at the PMUG Website

       John Carter announces that the PMUG website has been modified.  Take a look at the new look.  If you catch any broken links let John know.
        Note that you can access this newsletter from the header on the PMUG home page.  Hopefully you've subscribed by scrolling down this newsblog home page and clicking on Posts (Atom).  You'll get a short notice via your email when there's been something new posted here.

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Sandboxing: What? Why?

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        Maybe you've already heard the word, "sandboxing." Jim Hamm finds something that explains it.  He writes, "Sandboxing is here in Lion, and soon will be for apps as well. A prime example of Sandboxing in Lion is that Safari no longer connects directly to the web. Another process does that. Sandboxing is meant to be an additional security for a Mac user. I think this is a good step by Apple, but there are other thoughts on this. Here's an article that provides further insight into Sandboxing."

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Stickies: Here's How

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        Maybe you're already a fan of Stickies?  Jim Hamm sends this note:  "The Stickies app (not the Widget) can be very helpful in quickly posting notes that you want to keep as reminders.  Following is a link to an article that provides more info on Stickies."
        "If you're in Safari and want to quickly save something, highlight the text and/or image, then do Shift+Cmd+Y and it will be automatically posted into a Stickie note. If you're in Mail, highlight what you want to save and drag it to the Stickies icon in the Dock and it will be posted to a Stickie note."

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Apple's New Retail Store for iOS to Launch Thursday

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        We have Jim Hamm to thank for the following news release.  Here's what we see so far:  "While information about Apple’s new iOS app and retail plans have leaked out in various forms over the past few weeks, we now have the whole story thanks to a trusted source. On Thursday, Apple’s new retail store app for iOS will launch, and it will bring two major features with it. First, it will enable online ordering with retail store pick up. This has already started happening in a few stores in California and New York City Apple stores as well, and more stores will go live on Thursday. Hit the jump for details on what happens when you place an order through the app to pick up in a retail store nearby.
        - If a customer orders an in-stock product, pick up will be available approximately 12 minutes after completing the order. Why 12 minutes? Well, the order goes through the system to the designated Apple Store in about 3 minutes. Apple’s back-of-house employees have 2 minutes to set all of the products aside on a shelf from the minute it was ordered. There is then a 7-minute grace period for employees to get everything else in order. Around 12 minutes after purchasing, customers will be able to walk into the Apple Store, skip lines, skip registers, get their products, sign for them and leave. We’re told Apple is really excited about this, and it’s something customers have been seeking for a while.
        - If a customer orders something that a retail store does not have in-stock, like a custom-configured machine, an accessory the store does not carry, or something like an engraved or gift-wrapped device, the customer will be a given a pick-up date right after the purchase is completed. Everything will have free shipping when sent to an Apple retail store. Once the order arrives at the Apple Store and is available for pickup, a push notification will be sent to the customer through the Apple Store app, letting him or her know the order is ready. We’re told the same 12-minute timeframe applies here as well: 12 minutes from the time the push notification is received, the customer’s order should be waiting to be signed for.
        - We have been told customers who opt to purchase online or through the app will be given priority when they walk into the store over a customer waiting for a retail specialist, and that Apple expects the majority of customers over the next few years to use the in-store pick up option as their default method of buying products. This will help with foot traffic in retail stores while also reducing the cost of shipping for Apple, and possibly even reducing the number of stores Apple needs to open to accommodate sales.
        - Apple will offer customers the ability to return items purchased online to retail stores.
        - Lastly, we’re told that Apple will be attributing revenue from items purchased in this manner to the retail store where the items are delivered and retrieved. This should help create new job opportunities since hiring at Apple Stores is based on sales. Apple is reportedly expecting a 30% increase in sales at retail stores from this program, and it will only be available in the U.S. for now.
        "The other major feature coming in Apple’s new app? Customer self check-out at retail stores. This is a huge deal and Apple is the first to be able to put it together. Here is how this will work: after you find the item you want to buy, like an accessory, you launch the Apple Store app on your iOS device and there will be an option to buy a product in the store. You scan the product with the camera on your device in the app, click purchase, and it will charge whatever credit card is associated to your Apple ID. You then just walk out of the store. Yes, we have been told that Apple will not be checking purchases which seems hard to believe, but this self check-out option will launch Thursday worldwide at all Apple retail stores."
        Info on this can be found at Time.com's Techland site.  

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A Simple Technique in iPhoto

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        He starts out, "Have you ever taken a photo that turned out to be, well, pretty drab?"  Well, it's John Carter to the rescue.  He goes on to say,  "There is a simple technique you can use in iPhoto for enhancing the color of a photo (Edit -> Adjust, increase Definition), but sometimes it just isn’t enough or give you the result you were hoping for. You can vastly improve the color of any photo using layers in either Photoshop or GIMP. One contributor to Digital Photograpy School has provided detailed steps in two different posts, one for Photoshop and one for GIMP. Give it a try on one of your photos."

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Sync Problem With Mobile Devices

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        A workaround solves the problem of sync for mobile devices in iOS5, as described in this article from MacObserver.  Jim Hamm declares that Apple needs to address this complicated process in an update.
        This morning we have a reply from John Carter to shed more light on the situation: "I don’t want to rely on using WiFi for backing up iTunes to the iPhone and vice-versa, so I always connect the iPhone directly to the Mac for that purpose. However, anytime I make a change to my address book or calendar or add a photo to Photo Stream on either the Mac or the iPhone, just being at home with the Mac turned on takes no more than 15 minutes to see the change on the other device. Now that’s real handy! I don’t have to connect the iPhone to the Mac and bring up iTunes just to update my iCal or Address Book or photos that I took on the iPhone to make them available to iPhoto."
        To follow-up:  this article just came (11-1) from SmallDog to clarify the method of wireless sync with iTunes.  See if this helps.

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Where Is It? Now, We Know

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Wonder no longer.  David Passell shares this interesting info:  "Many others --  and I -- have always speculated on what would happen if a sunspot storm, high-altitude nuclear blast, or other event might cut off internet service.  I always thought that internet was carried via satellites.  Well, I was wrong.  It is underwater.  Here's a short, informative video from Kim Komando that will explain it to you."  Like David, we're relieved to hear this!