In early August, I was interviewed by MacVoices producer Chuck Joiner about my new Lynda.com course covering WordPress.com, WordPress.com Essential Training. The interview went live today. You can read about the interview, access related links and listen to our conversation on the MacVoices Web site.

MacVoices, by the way, is available as a podcast. It’s a great way to get news about new Mac products delivered to iTunes and your iPod. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update contains several changes that improve stability and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer’s memory by using malicious code.

You can learn more at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956344.

Note: This update is huge: over 100 MB. If you’re updating on a laptop, make sure you have a good Internet connection and your power cable attached.

iPhoto 7.1.4

This update contains new holiday greeting card and postcard themes for use with Apple print products. It also addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.

iWeb 2.0.4

This update addresses general compatibility issues.

iMovie 7.1.4

This update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.

iLife Support 8.3

iLife Support provides system software components shared by all iLife ’08 applications. This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. It is recommended for all users for iLife ’08.

For information on the security content of this update, visit http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798

The Mac OS X Update For MobileMe is recommended for users running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 and includes general system fixes that enhance your Mac for MobileMe.

For detailed information about MobileMe, visit http://www.me.com.

This week, Apple released its new online service, MobileMe. At the same time, it discontinued its old service, .Mac.

My Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard book provides some coverage of the features of .Mac. I have not yet had time to work with and develop new material covering MobileMe. I expect to be writing new articles and creating new videos about MobileMe soon. You’ll find them here as I release them.

In the meantime, if you’re a .Mac user, I highly recommend that you read Apple’s support document, “.Mac to MobileMe transition FAQ.” It will provide you the basic information you need to make the transition from the old service to the new one.

If you have specific questions about using MobileMe features, please use the comments link or form for this article. Although I can’t guarantee an answer, I will use the questions I receive here to write new articles about MobileMe for this site. Just keep in mind that I can’t provide technical support for connection and compatibility problems. For that kind of help, please turn to Apple Support.

There’s nothing wrong with Office 2004 that’s fixed in Office 2008. It’s the same software with some Interface tweaks. After all, at this point, what can Microsoft do to change Office?

The answer, of course, is to create an abomination like Office 2007 for Windows. They said they made it more intuitive, but for who? People who have never seen a computer before? As a long-time Office user, the new “ribbon” interface drives me batty. I can’t find any of the commands I need.

I thank my lucky stars that they didn’t destroy the Mac version, too.

But although I didn’t need or want to update to Office 2008 for Macintosh, I soon realized that if I wanted to record videos about the software and write the occasional article or Maria’s Guides post about it, I should bite the bullet and put it on at least one of my computers. That lucky computer was my MacBook Pro, which I have with me in Washington State this summer.

The installer warned me that the sky would fall (or something equally horrible would happen) if I didn’t uninstall previous versions of Word. So, like a real sucker, I let the installer uninstall Office 2004. I’d learn Office 2008 with a thorough emersion.

Compatibility Woes

I began running into problems almost immediately. The first was compatibility. For some reason, the geniuses in Redmond decided that Office 2007 (Windows) and 2008 (Mac OS) should have a different file format. So when you save a document from Word 2008, by default, it saves in the .docx format. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my editors and other people I share files with did not upgrade to Office 2007 or 2008. These people couldn’t read the files without installing a special converter, which was not immediately available.

And if I happened to open a Word 2003 or 2004 file and save it, I got all kinds of worrisome warnings about document formatting possibly being lost.

The solution, of course, was to save in Word 97-2004 format. And so I didn’t have to deal with choosing a file type option every time I saved a document, I set that as the default file type. That would pretty much guarantee that my file could be read by anyone using any modern version of Word.

Macro Woes

Things got worse.

I began work on a book I revise each year. (I’m not allowed to say what it is because I’m under nondisclosure, but you can probably figure it out if you consult my Books list.) That book is written in Word, which my editors use. We make extensive use of the Track Changes feature. All of my editors are on Word 2003 (Windows). While I assume that the Track Changes feature works the same in both versions, I know the macro feature does not.

You see, the geniuses in Redmond decided to disable Word’s Visual Basic macro feature in Word 2008 for Macintosh. Sure, there’s a dialog full of predefined macros that are probably preprogrammed into the software. I haven’t fiddled with the feature yet, so I can’t say much more about it.

But I can tell you that if you try to open a Word document or template that contains macros with Word 2008, Word wants to strip them out. Yes, you can open the file without stripping out the macros, but you can’t use the macros.

While for most folks, this might not be such a big deal, it’s a huge deal for this book project. Each book file has to be based on a template that includes these macros. The macros automate several tasks and really do make my life easier. I want to use the macros.

While I do have my old 12-in PowerBook handy and it has Word 2004 on it, it doesn’t have Photoshop on it. I need Photoshop, which is on my MacBook Pro, to process the screenshots. My MacBook Pro also has my e-mail software so I can send out the finished chapter files and art.

I was looking at a workflow nightmare. My options were as follows:

• Run the software I’m writing about on my Dell PC (it’s a Windows software program), write the book on my PowerBook, and edit the screenshots on my MacBook Pro. That meant having three laptops open while I worked and shuffling the files among all three computers before putting them on the MacBook Pro to send them out.
• Reinstall Word 2004 on my MacBook Pro. Then run the software I’m writing about on my Dell laptop and do all the text and image editing, as well as e-mailing final files, from my MacBook Pro.

Which option would you choose?

So that’s why I’m downgrading to Word 2004 on my MacBook Pro.

The 10.5.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

For detailed information on this update, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1994.
For detailed information on security updates, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance.

For detailed information about this update, visit
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119963.

Note that this is a huge update: 150+ megabytes! Be sure you have a fast connection and enough time to complete the download before beginning the update.

QuickTime 7.5 improves application compatibility and addresses security issues.

This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.

For detailed information on the security content of this update, visit http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.

The 10.5.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

For detailed information on this update, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1141.
For detailed information on security updates, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

I’ve been doing a lot of work with WordPress.com lately, preparing some new training material to cover the new features and revised administrator interface. Part of my new material is a list of tips for WordPress.com bloggers who want to attract more readers. Here’s the list:

• Create original, well-written content. Too many blogs just rehash what’s already out there on the Web. But if your content is new and original, you’re more likely to attract readers who want fresh information or a different, independent point of view.
• Blog regularly. If you’re serious about attracting readers, you’ll need to post new content at least a few times a week. Be committed and you’ll be rewarded with a strong following.
• Stay focused. Studies have shown that popular blogs have one thing in common: they focus on a limited number of topics. Readers find this attractive because they know that if one of your posts interests them, they’re likely to find other posts that also interest them. This simply isn’t true if your blog covers a very wide range of topics.
• Comment on other people’s blogs. When you comment, you often have the opportunity to include a link to your site. If your comment is thoughtful and appropriate, you might encourage others to come visit your site.
• Share your blog URL everywhere you can. Three good places is on business cards, letterhead, and your e-mail signature. I bet you can think of a few more places if you try hard enough.
• Use appropriate keywords in your blog posts. Key words are picked up by WordPress.com. If you apply an appropriate keyword, WordPress.com visitors may discover your blog when exploring a keyword.
• Enable the Related Links extras feature of WordPress. This includes your blog among those blogs that can appear in related posts list on other WordPress.com blogs.

What do you think? Can you apply these tips to your blogging activity?

This Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 adds Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05 to your Mac. This update does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 5.0 or change the default version of Java.

For more details on this update, visit http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307403

Yesterday afternoon, I had the honor of being one of the “jurists” in the new MacJury podcast created and moderated by Chuck Joiner. Chuck’s responsible for a number of podcasts aimed at Mac users, including MacVoices and MacNotables.

From MacJury’s About page:

Designed to be entertaining, informative and thought-provoking, The MacJury will pass judgment on news, issues, products and more. Each show will feature a different panel of personalities from the Mac universe in a freewheeling discussion that will interest Mac users of all expertise and experience levels.

I was invited to be one of the jurists for the third podcast of the series. Chuck was joined by me, Nancy Gravley, Joe Kissell, and Don McAllister. Through the miracle of the Internet (specifically, Skype), the five of us, located in the U.S. and Europe, were joined together for a good discussion of the pros and cons of .Mac and the new Mac clones. You can download the 54-minute MP3 file containing our discussion from the MacJury #803 page.

Or, better yet, subscribe to the podcast. If you’re a Mac user interested in current topics that affect you and your Mac, I think you’ll get a lot out of it.

This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security.

For detailed information on the security content of this update, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

I bought a 15-inch MacBook Pro about a year ago. I use it primarily as my “test mule” — the computer I run software on when I’m writing about the software. But recently, I signed a contract to create a video training course for macPro Video. I’d record the video on my MacBook Pro using some high-end recording hardware. The hardware’s install guide requires a minimum of 1 GB of RAM, which my MacBook Pro had. But it also recommended 2 GB of RAM. More RAM is always better than less, so I looked into upgrading.

I found compatible RAM on the 4AllMemory.com Web site. LIke most RAM suppliers, 4AllMemory makes it easy to find the right RAM for your computer by letting you tell it exactly which computer you have. In my case, I have a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz 15.4-inch computer. The page for that computer offered a bunch of options.

I was shocked by the price. And, as usual, I must digress to explain why.

Back in 1989, when I bought my first Mac — a Mac IIcx — I upgraded the RAM from the 1 MB (not a typo) on board to 2 MB (not a typo) by installing four 256 K (not a typo) RAM SIMMs. The cost for that upgrade: $750 (not a typo).

The single 1 GB SO-DIMM I needed for my MacBook Pro would cost me $29.99 with free shipping.

As discussed in “MacBook Pro: How to install memory” on Apple’s Web site, RAM is very easy to install. The only thing you need is a size 0 or 00 Phillips screwdriver. The instructions on that page are step-by-step, with diagrams that show you each step. While I recommend that document as required reading before a memory installation, I took some photos this morning to supplement those steps.

Here’s how I did the job.

First, I shut down the computer. Then I laid out a dishtowel on my kitchen table and put the closed computer upside down on the towel (to protect its footless top from scratching). The bottom of the computer looks like this:

Next, I removed the battery by pushing up on the two sliding latches that hold it in place and pulling the battery out. That exposed the three small screws that hold the RAM cover in place. I removed the three screws with the Phillips screwdriver. In this photo, two of the screws have already been removed:

With all screws removed, I lifted the RAM cover off, exposing the RAM slots. As you can see here, there are two slots; one is filled with a 1 GB SO-DIMM and the other is empty. A diagram illustrates how the slots work. Basically, the DIMMs slide in at an angle and then get pushed down parallel to the computer’s body.

I lined up the new DIMM’s pins and notch with the slot on the computer and firmly pushed in into place. Sorry about the bad focus in this shot:

Then I pushed the entire DIMM down until it locked right above the other DIMM:

After that, it was just a matter of screwing the RAM compartment cover back on and replacing the battery. When I started up the computer, a quick peek at About This Mac confirmed that the computer recognized the new RAM.

Total time elapsed: 5 minutes. But that’s because I stopped to take pictures.