iMac
Great Book for PC Users with a New Mac
Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 1:12pm | by CindyFriday Fun: an iMac Prank - Invert the Colors
Fri, Feb 12, 2010 @ 12:18pm | by CindyDo you have a colleague who uses Mac OS X? Next time they step away from their desk, press CTRL-OPT-CMD-8. This will invert the colors on their screen, as if they're looking at a photo negative. To restore the proper colors, just press the four buttons together again.
This and other Mac OS X pranks can be found here: http://www.zaphu.com/2007/08/22/mac-os-x-pranks/
To Err or Not To Err
Thu, Feb 11, 2010 @ 9:18am | by CindyThat really is the question, another frustration I have with my new iMac. The operating system is so accommodating, it happily does whatever you tell it to do. Or not. But no matter what, it never complains. Users may not like to see all the error messages you encounter on a PC, but at least with the error messages you know what's going on. The iMac doesn't return any error, ever, from what I can tell, it just silently ignores your command like an obstinate child.
For instance, when I tell iMovie to import a really big .AVI file, it appears to do so. It grays out files that it can't import as movies, and the AVI files aren't grayed out, seems like it should work. After selecting an AVI, it even tells me it's processing afterwards. Then I sit and wait, wondering just how long it takes to import. But it never does import the AVI video because iMovie can't import AVI files, which you can find out by research, but certainly not by the program telling you or returning any errors.
Do you know, the index of the Mac book I bought doesn't even have "error" in the index! Perhaps this is why Mac-nuts rave about how great it is?
27" Screen Totally Worth It
Wed, Feb 10, 2010 @ 12:18pm | by Cindy
Have you ever looked at your digital photos at a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels? It opens up a whole new world.
I'm a hobby photographer, and I have zillions of photos not only of my kids but some pretty nice landscape photographs too. For instance, we went to Canada a couple of summers ago and I came home with over 2700 photos from our 10 day vacation on Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. It was a photographer's dream to be there with picturesque shots crying to be taken everywhere you look. My only disappointment while we were there, we only saw one bald eagle and I had been hoping to see more.
The imagery on an iMac is immensely impressive. The colors are vibrant, it uses an LED-backlit display to push more light through the pixels, making them really stand out. Apple also uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology which means you can have your display at almost any angle and still see it clearly. My old 17" ViewSonic monitor pales in comparison. Literally it pales, it's much less vibrant.
Add to that the 2560 pixels across the screen at a whopping 27 inches, you can see so much more detail from your photos than ever before. This really is a must for any serious digital photographer. Photos that you've seen hundreds of times before on your camera or a standard size display look like entirely new pictures, and much closer to what you see in real life. In skimming through my Canada photos again, now on the iMac, something fascinating was revealed to me: we did see numerous bald eagles, I took several nice shots with them in the pictures but never knew it until I could see the pictures with this much detail!
iMac Disappointments
Tue, Feb 2, 2010 @ 10:22am | by CindyThere are a couple of things I don't like about the iMac. One is having to relearn keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard shortcuts do not directly translate to a PC, and I never realized how dependent on them I am. Trying to force my middle finger to use CMD-C to copy instead of my pinky requires re-training what my fingers have been doing for over a decade. The Home and End keys on the iMac don't function the same way either. CTRL-A doesn't select all but actually returns you to the beginning of the line, except when you're in a webpage form field, sometimes then it takes you to the previous webpage losing everything you were typing in the form field. Very frustrating!
The only other significant thing I don't like is the operating system has the same opinion about my intelligence as Bill Gates does, that is that the computer knows better where I want my files than I do. NOT TRUE!!! Steve Jobs, give me more credit than that!
For instance, I've been using iMovie to create a movie (more about that tomorrow). When you're finally finished, you don't "Save" your movie, in fact you can't even save your project, you have to go on faith that it's saving it for you (which also means don't work ahead expecting you can "save as" a different filename later - any change you make is made to this one and only version). When you're ready to use the final product, you "Share" it. You can share it in different formats, each choice determines where on the computer it goes, for instance you can share it with iDVD so you can write it to a DVD. But can I find that file anywhere? No, it's not to be found, not even through searching, although I don't know what the filename is which makes it difficult.
If I just want the file itself because I want the file off my iMac and not in one of their pre-determined uses such as an iPod or iDVD, I have to export it. According to Apple documentation, exporting does exactly the same thing and uses the same format as sharing, except exporting allows you to give it a filename and decide where to save it. Imagine that, a user wanting to know what the file is named and where it is.
iMac Cool Feature: Magic Mouse
Mon, Feb 1, 2010 @ 9:35am | by Cindy
The Magic Mouse has it all, including the corny name. It has a smooth surface with no buttons or wheels, yet it works the same as a PC mouse, plus a whole lot more. My right-click is too ingrained still to ignore that, so the first and only customization I made to the mouse was to enable right clicking. OK, no problem, I even mastered the vertical screen scroll the PC scoll wheel does, swipe your finger the same way in the middle of the mouse, without the wheel. OK, pretty cool. But there's more.
You can scroll horizontally within your window, just move your finger right or left (or even an at an angel) and it moves around inside your window that way. Honestly I haven't needed this much yet, but when I get Photoshop on it I'm sure that will be very handy!
OK, not bad, but what else, you ask? One feature I use a lot is the two-fingered scroll. Want to go back in your web browser? Put two fingers on the mouse and slide them both to the left at the same time. Want to go forward? Slide them right. That is a big time saver, not having to find the back button in the upper left of the screen or the backspace key on the PC.
Still want more? Hold down the control key while scrolling up or down with your finger - it zooms the entire screen! The resolution on a 27" iMac is a whopping 2560x1440! But realistically, font size looks about the same as 1280x1024 on my wimpy little 17" PC monitor, there are just that many more pixels! So you want to zoom in on something to see it better? CTRL-swipe up.
And yes, there's more! My favorite part of the mouse is something I've adapted to quickly and barely notice already, except when comparing it to my PC (which I haven't quite given up entirely yet). Scroll With Momentum means the faster you move your mouse, the faster and farther it moves. Moving it slowly gives you more precision, quickly gives you greater power, you could scroll the length of this article with one quick movement!
And it works without a mousepad!
Watch the mouse in action: http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/#here-video
Switching to an iMac
Wed, Jan 27, 2010 @ 8:40am | by Cindy
I needed a new computer, my clients are needing more video editing capabilities for me that my 3-year-old PC couldn't handle. As much as I love my Dell, it was time to face facts: Apples are better at graphics. I priced out a top-of-the-line Dell, compared specs to a less-expensive iMac, and found the iMac was faster for what I needed to do, with a better screen and came with video editing software. Considering the Dell was going to make me learn a new operating system and upgrade all of my software anyway (due to Windows 7), there really was no choice left to be made.
At the Apple Store
The store is very contemporary, very clean, all white, like you're in an unearthly world. Very streamlined too, like their computers. There are more than two dozen computers sitting out, connected to the Internet and loaded with the iLife "lifestyle suite," waiting to be test-driven. And I have to add, as a mother this was important: a video game console to keep the kids occupied! We hadn't been in the store more than a few seconds when the Concierge introduced us to a Specialist. This guy spent the next 2 hours dedicated to me, answering every question, recommending what I needed based on what I said (he listened!) and what was more than I needed or useless for me. Very down-to-earth, honest kind of guy, not salesman-y at all. When I was ready to check out, he verified what I needed, ordered it on his handheld (some guy in the back brought it up), and swiped my credit card through his handheld. I don't know if they even have a register there for checking people out, this was all done standing in front of their demo machines.
I had originally placed my order with Dell before looking at the iMacs. They told me it would be at least two months before I could receive my order. After 2 hours at the Apple store, I walked home with a superior computer in my hands, including a gorgeous 27 inch monitor, for less expense. Not bad, eh?
Recent blog posts
- The iMac and Skype - upgrading to 2.8 on Mac OS X
- Coolest Background Ever
- Friday Fun: Need A Number?
- What You Can Learn From Your Landing Pages and Bounce Rates
- What Search Words Point To Your Site?
- How Are Visitors Finding Your Site?
- What to do When Your iMac Won't Start Up
- Friday Fun: Firefox Personas
- The Eyedropper in Photoshop CS4
- Excellent Article about Building Trust
Related Tags
Follow This Blog
Become a Fan:
Re-Tweet It:
