iOpeners…. eye openers..get it?

Mac, web, photo, graphics, videos  and jokes that made me go – oh! reallly???
Welcome!  (^.^)  Joan

Mighty Mouse lost it’s Might

Do you have a Mighty Mouse that will scroll down but not up?  I do.  The blogs say get a soft cloth and rub the little gray button at the top fairly firmly across it several times to dislodge whatever is stuck to it inside the mouse.  I did that and it worked a couple of times.  But now I’m sure there’s a big hair ball or something in there.

So instead I changed the top little gray button to Button 3.  Open the System Preferences under the black Apple on the top left of your Desktop.  Choose Keyboard and Mouse.  Then click the top drop down menu leading to the little gray button and choose Button 3. Now, when I want to scroll up, or down, I press the gray button and a little round icon shows up, then just drag the mouse up or down and it follows.  The scroll 360 degrees doesn’t seem to work but that’s ok.

BTW, also make SURE the right button is set to Secondary Button.  Then all the right-clicks will work!  LOVE that one!

Oh yea, one more – my double-clicking to open a Folder or file quit working.  I thought it was related to the sick mouse, but I had somehow set the d0uble-click rate up too high – it was faster than I could click.  That’s why when I clicked 3x really fast, it sometimes worked.  So I dragged that slider down and now we’re happy mouse again.

Make things with your Photos

We had a MacLearn hands-on session on doing things with your photos.  We did iPhoto cards, tried the iMovie green screen (what a riot!), did Photobooth and talked about Smilebox, one of the few Mac friendly e-card sites and tried Pages for a Christmas newsletter.  We really had fun.  If you are interested in handouts I added one at drop.io/hmaus_maclearn Feel free to use it or print it.  If you share it please credit HMAUS (Hawaii Macintosh and Apple Users’ Society).

iPhone apps

I don’t have an iPhone but the recent hmaus-l post had a couple of iapps that sound really useful.  Here are the posts courtesy of Brad White.

Dragon Dictation, powered by Nuance?s world-renowned Dragon
NaturallySpeaking software, allows you to stay connected all the time,
even when your hands are busy.  You can text or email your friends, update Facebook status, send notes and reminders to yourself, or tweet to using your voice.  http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/apple/dictation.html

Live streaming via iPhone.  The race is over. Ustream Live Broadcaster is the first app that can stream live video from the iPhone to the Internet.   iPhone Atlas – CNET Reviews  http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10413255-233.html?tag=mncol;title

Btw the Hawaii Macintosh and Apple Users’ Society list is a great way to post questions and read solutions. It’s been helping folks for 15 years now.

Zoom zoom zoom

If you have a high resolution monitor, and most folks do these days, sometimes you want to zoom in to see more detail.  Instead of going to the menu and choosing View > Zoom and selecting a percentage, do this.

Go to the System Preferences under the Apple (top left of your screen) and click the Universal Access button in the “System” row of icons.

Under the the Seeing tab click Zoom:  On.
Note the keyboard shortcuts – Opt-Cmd-= to zoom in, Opt-Cmd–(minus) to zoom out.

Next click the Zoom Options button and choose “When zooomed in, the screen image moves:  Only when the pointer reaches the edge.
Click Done and close the window.

Now when you press those shortcuts you will zoom in and out.  If you cannot see something past the edge (left, right, top or bottom), simply move your mouse in the direction you want to see and when you reach the edge the view will move for you. No need to zoom out, scroll up or side zoom in again!

Convert almost any file for free….

Zamzar beta

Thanks to Ian Kitajima for this tip.  Zamzar is a free online service that allows you to upload and convert a ton of different kinds of files, from images to video.  No registration for the free service. Convert up to five 100 MB files at a time.  If  you sign-up for a paid plan you also get online storage.  It’s  $7/mo for the Basic plan for files up to 200 MB file plus 5 GB of online storage and goes up from there.  Go to www.zamzar.com/signup/# for their plans and cost.

Microsoft Word – showing formatting markers (tab, returns, page breaks)

I always switch back and forth between a nice clean looking document and one showing all the formatting characters that indent, break lines and pages, and tab my words. This “messy” view, however, is the best way to fine tune formatting and remove extra spaces and tabs. But it IS a little distracting – hence turn feature on – turn feature off.

Welllll….all this time I’ve been going to the toolbar and clicking that little backward P icon to turn this feature on and off. Hated doing that!

Apple iApp Handouts – free

If you’re trying to learn iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and iWork, you’re welcome to download and print some handouts that were created for the HMAUS (Hawaii Macintosh and Appple Users Society, the Apple User Group) site. http://drop.io/hmaus_maclearn Tip: download the pdfs, then print. For some reason when you print directly from the drop.io site it sometimes runs off the page.

My Mouse Doesn’t Scroll Up/Down

I thought I had to replace my one year old Mighty Mouse. Nope! Some kind bloggers gave me the solution – with a clean cloth rub the little rubber nubby button on the top. Then turn the mouse over and rub firmly (don’t kill it), on the cloth. It cleans off the junk that’s gotten on the button over time….hmmmm.. wonder how?? Ooops!

iMovie iDVD 8/22 free

Come to our HMAUS (Mac user club) presentation tomorrow Sat from 10-12 n – free

ING Direct Cafe at 1958 Kalakaua – parking avail but see directions at  www.hmaus.org Click the calendar for 8/22 for details .  Should be a good presentation – Ross is VERY clear and knows his stuff.

Could it be true?

Shared tidbit from Norm Hallett!   What makes a mouse work?

http://2006.1-click.jp/