Maria’s Guides

Information from Software Update.

Apple released the following updates today:

• iTunes 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. iTunes 8.2 also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes. For information on the security content of this update, visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
• GarageBand Update 5.0.2 addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and fixes a number of other minor issues. The issues addressed include:
  • Improved purchasing experience for Artist Lessons in the GarageBand Lesson Store
  • Accessing installed Jam Packs in the loop browser

  The update is recommended for all users of GarageBand ’09 and is required to use the Lesson Store.

• QuickTime 7.6.2 includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security. This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users. For detailed information on this update, visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3520. For information on the security content of this update, visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

An Excel solution.

A while back, someone I know here in Wickenburg called me with an Excel question. He needed to calculate the date of the Wednesday least 90 days from an entered date.

So, for example, if he entered 2/14/2009 in a worksheet cell, he didn’t want 5/15/2009 (a Friday), which was 90 days later. He wanted 5/20/2009, which is the Wednesday at least 90 days after the date he entered.

The solution was to use nested IF statements to evaluate whether the day of the week 90 days after the entered date is a Wednesday. If it is, it uses that date. if it isn’t, it does the same evaluation for 91 days after the entered date. And then 92 days. And so on.

The spreadsheet I came up with can be downloaded here. This screenshot shows what it looks like. It has a lot of other stuff in it that I used to test the formula. Notes in the worksheet explain. I saved it just to share it here. You might find it useful if you have a similar need.

Just watch those parentheses.

Links for the month of April.

Here are a few links of interest to the folks who read my books and articles or watch my training videos.

• The Microsoft discount - An opinion piece about the Microsoft "Apple Tax" advertising strategy by Dan Miller on Macworld.com. I couldn't agree with this comment more: "But for the benefit of my Windows-using friends, I will say for the record: I don’t use a Mac because it’s cool. I use it because it works better for me. I use it because it doesn’t stink." Thanks to @danfrakes for tweeting the link.
• The Poor Man’s Mac: Microsoft’s recession-era ploy to get you to buy a PC instead of a Mac - By focusing only on price, Microsoft is telling us only one thing about the Windows logo: It's what you look for when you're settling. By Farhad Manjoo on Slate Magazine.
• Microsoft conjures imaginary ‘Apple Tax’ - The age-old battle between Microsoft and Apple is heating up again, and this time, Redmond is cheating. On The Register.
• TweetSig, simply converting your tweets into an image. - A way cool tool to generate a Twitter-based signature line for use in e-mail and forum posts. Thanks to @Firgs for sharing the link.
• On Twitter, mindcasting is the new lifecasting | Technology | Los Angeles Times - Another article about real-life uses of Twitter. On the Los Angeles Times blog.
• Finding Utility in the Jumble of Tweeted Thoughts - NYTimes.com - Good article on the New York Times about putting Twitter to good use. Thanks to @mjvalente for sharing the link.
• 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates - Excellent post that gives real examples of how Twitter is used. On Mashable.com.
• A Visual Guide to Twitter - Interesting diagram showing how Twitter can be used.
• Operating System Interface Design Between 1981-2009 - Interesting history, with screenshots, of GUI operating system development. On Webdesigner Depot. Thanks for @god on Twitter for sharing the link.

Information from Software Update.

iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. You will enjoy noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing.

In addition, iTunes 8.1 provides many other improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
• Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
• Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
• Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
• Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
• Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
• Includes many accessibility improvements.
• Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.

iTunes 8.1.1 adds support for renting HD movies and provides a number of bug fixes, including addressing issues with VoiceOver and syncing with iPhone or iPod touch.

Links for the month of March.

Here are a few links of interest to the folks who read my books and articles or watch my training videos.

• 10 Features That Will Make Twitter Better - A wish list of features that should please any hardcore Twitter user. On SixRevisions.com.
• Exporting 720p from iMovie ’09 | Video | Mac 911 | Macworld - Excellent article by Chris Breen outlining a problem and workaround for de-interlacing 1080i HD video from iMovie ‘09. Thanks to @JeffCarlson on Twitter for the link.
• Twitterfall: A New Twitter Tool for Journalists - A quick review of TwitterFall, which offers life tweet tracking by keyword with other bonus features. On Poynter Online.
• Tuesday is upon us: new Apple hardware - A summary of the new hardware released by Apple today. On TUAW.
• Explaining Twitter to Grandma Rose - This explanation is pretty good, although I know my grandmother (who is no longer with us) wouldn’t have understood. By Hildy Gottlieb.
• Jim Cramer smackdown includes talk of Apple - This is the kind of stuff that needs to stop. As an Apple stockholder and user of Apple products for over 20 years, Cramer's attempt to manipulate Apple's stock prices makes me sick. What other companies are being screwed over by people like him? How much money have innocent investors lost? On TUAW.
• Apple - Support - Discussions - Converting AVI files - Having trouble getting video clips into iMovie '09? ricktoronto provides some advice in this Apple support forum thread. Worked for me, although I still had a few questions.
• DV, DVD and (XS)VCD on a Macintosh - A good reference for converting all kinds of video on a Mac.
• We found the chip inside the new iPod headphones…but is it DRM? - I'd like answers to the questions in this post. On Boing Boing Gadgets. Thanks to @danfrakes for sharing this link.
• Apple, vendors confirm iPod headphone-chip rumors - This is not the kind of information I want to read about Apple products. On Macworld.
• TweepMe | Browse Members - These people are so desperate for followers that they'll use a Web service — and possibly even pay! — to get automatic followers. Pity them. They are true social networking losers.
• How to Tweet Your Way Out of a Job - When will they learn? On I’m Not Actually a Geek. Thanks to @jodene on Twitter for sharing the link.
• Dealing with M2T (HDV) for Macs - Jeez Louise! Where was this when I needed help a few months ago? Wish I'd had this info then. I won't lose it now. On MacHouse - A World of Video Tutorials.
• Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts - You know, I was believing this until I got near the end. I guess I shouldn't read Web-based articles too early in the morning, before my brain has a chance to spin up. On BBSpot.

What’s your backup strategy?

This morning, on Twitter, I read a tweet from one of the folks I follow, @SeeTTL :

RT @JCDean: PSA: Please back up your computer! My wife just went to console a friend who may have lost EVERY pic of her kids.

This sad story really hit home with me. No, not because I have kids. And not because I’ve lost the contents of a hard drive forever — despite the fact that I’ve suffered three total hard disk crashes since 1989. But because I could imagine how badly I’d feel if I’d trusted my hard disk to hold the only copies of all my photos.

As a computer user, the data you create is the only thing that can’t be replaced when lost. I’m talking about photos, diaries, accounting records, address books, original manuscripts, and more. Sure, a lot of this stuff can be recreated with some effort, but some of it can’t. Like all those photos.

The only way to protect this data from loss is to create reliable backups and, whenever possible, store them offsite, away from the computer.

Mac users have a few options for automated backups:

• Time Machine is truly transparent. It goes to work in the background to faithfully duplicate what it finds on your hard disk. You can use it with its default settings or customize settings to limit what’s backed up. All you need is an attached hard disk or Time Machine-compatible network disk. Time Machine does the rest. Best of all, it will even keep copies of stuff you deleted by accident — at least for a while — so you can get it back. With external hard disk prices so low right now and Time Machine free with Leopard, why not take advantage of it?
• Backup is backup software that comes with Mac OS X. It’s highly configurable and can be used to back up to a hard disk, optical media such as CDs or DVDs, and a MobileMe account. This last option is probably the best because it automates off-site storage. I wrote about using Backup in “Save Yourself (and Your Data) with .Mac Backup,” which I wrote for Peachpit.com in 2006. It might be dated, but I’m sure you’ll find some good tidbits of information there.
• iDisk is part of a MobileMe account. You might not think of it as a backup solution, but it can be. First, you can simply drag and drop the things you want to back up to your iDisk to copy it to your MobileMe storage space. That’s an offline storage solution for you. But what you might find easier is to enable iDisk syncing so a copy of your iDisk space is available on your computer’s desktop. Then simply store data in it. The data is automatically copied to your iDisk space on MobileMe when synced. Not only that, but if you more than one Mac, all of them can share the same iDisk. That means the documents you copy there are available with you on all of your computers.
• Third party backup solutions are also available to you. There are quite a few out there and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not up to speed on them. I haven’t needed them. I have a very good backup strategy without them.
• Fetch and iCal can also be used together to create an automated offsite backup solution. I wrote about that in ““Creating an Automated Backup Plan with Fetch and iCal”,” in 2007.

CDs and DVDs can always be used to back up data to. This is what some people seem to forget. And it’s what probably could have saved the woman referenced above a lot of grief.

Last week, I wrote a blog post for my personal blog that outlined my workflow for geotagging images. In it, I included Step 4: Backup. That’s the step where I copy all of my images from my hard disk to a CD or DVD before erasing the camera’s data card. I have dozens of these discs, nicely labeled, in my office. I’d be smarter to have them offsite. But at least I have them. Anyone who makes a lot of digital images and does not perform this step is looking for trouble. Don’t say a hard disk crash won’t happen to you. It will. It’s just a matter of time.

Heck, it happened to me three times already.