Lion Starting to Purr Better
I purchased Lion on the day it was released (July 20). Lion (new Apple operating system 10.7) is starting to purr better as I have used it for three weeks.

Automatic Shut Down: The first time I shut down with Lion it did so automatically. I checked the “shut down” button under the Apple icon. A prompt asked me if I wanted to “shut down” my computer. I said “yes” and one by one the applications closed on it’s own. In less than a minute, the MacBook Pro automatically shut down. I like this feature better than the older Snow Leopard — you had to manually closed each application before you could shut the computer down.

Shows the Non Compatible Applications: Lion shows each icon that is not compatible with Lion. You receive a prompt when you attempt to open the application. that says, “You can’t open the application _________ because PowerPC applications are no longer supported.” The application icon contains a white circle with a slash through the middle. I went through and deleted several incompatible applications. I was sad that The Print Shop is not compatible with Lion. On my older MacBook will continue to use Snow Leopard that I can use The Print Shop when I need the “neat” application. I like the application to make cards, signs, and posters. Also, I found several other applications and parts of applications in the sub-folders. I deleted all incompatible applications and related items that will not work with Lion.

Learning the Short Cuts: The F-1 to F-12 at the top of the keyboard offers short cuts:
F-1 and F-2: Raises and lowers the brightness of the screen.
F-3:Launches Mission Control which shows the number of applications which are open on your laptop.
F-4: Opens the widget screen with all of the widgets appearing. I have weather, time, dictionary, sport scores, language translator, and sticky notes on my widget page. Touching the button opens the page and a second touch closes the page.
F-5 and 6: Adjusts the contrast of the screen.
F-7,F-8, F-9; These keys control the music and music videos in iTunes. F-7 moves back in you music library. F-8 pauses and stops the selection. F-9 moves to the next selection.
F-10, F-11, F-12: These are volume controls on your sound. F-10 is the button; F-11 lowers the sound; and, F-12 raises the sound.

Experiment and Try New Stuff: I am finally learning how scroll with my fingers and I am getting that done quite easily. You stay in the middle of the touch pad and it works well. I like some of the features of the full-screen features. I think that you need to experiment and learn how to uses the new features.

On Mondays, iBlog.

Consider Photoshop Elements the lite version of Photoshop (mostly because it is). It a great add-on to iPhoto when you need more. And with the Advanced Photo Editing option in iPhoto, you can easily use both iPhoto and Photoshop Elements at the same time in the same iPhoto app.

If you are frustrated with the new iMovie (actually it’s not that new anymore), and you want features like the time line in the original iMovie back, then Premiere Elements is right up your alley. Premiere is a replacement for iMovie (sorry, not an add-on).

OK It’s not free like iLife that comes with your Mac, but combined price of both of these Adobe product is $120 (normally $99 each or $150 package deal). Definitely affordable and well in the worth considering bucket.

Start out by reading more about them here: http://www.adobe.com/products/psprelements. Then when think you might like to give it a go, Adobe has trial versions of both packages! Simply click TRY on the page.

But to be honest, I’ve not tried them yet, just reading and listening to other reviews prompted me to post. I’m looking forward to YOUR comments!

Ed

I recently had the opportunity to test a new product (new to me at least) called Wi-Fire. It is a long-range WiFi adapter that connects via USB. It’s not really new, Wi-Fire has been around since 2007.

The first thing you notice when you open the box is a little note for Mac users. It says the software on the CD is outdated and you must go online to get the latest version. Generally not a problem. Everybody has access to the Internet these days. If not personally, you know somebody who does. Downloading and installing the software was simple and easy.

I then plugged in the adapter and nothing happened. Rebooted. Still nothing. I looked around and found and new app called Wi-Fire Connection Manager sitting in my Applications folder. I started that and still nothing.

Step back and take a deep breath. Dumb little me. Up in the Menu Bar is a new icon: . Had I gotten past downloading a new version of the software in the manual, I would have known that. The new icon is to the left of the Airport icon. Airport is showing me 3 networks. Wi-Fire is showing me 9. I’d call that more power. Three of the network names are as expected 2WIRExxx. One is a neighbor’s last name. Then there is Moo, ungas, and even a “Wireless”. (Surprisingly there are none named Linksys.)

Unfortunately all of my neighbors are knowledgable WiFi citizens and their networks are all secure, so I can’t really test connecting to a previously unknown network. Obviously my own network is still the strongest.

But here is where I got to test support for the Wi-Fire. Personally I have one internet connection but two wireless networks. One private, WPA2 secured that all of my computers are on and one public network that people who visit can use. The Wi-Fire could connect with no problem to my public network, however it refused to connect to my secured network. A couple of go-arounds with Wi-Fire support came up with a solution (and one that I’ve seen before). Open the network (remove the password), connect with the Wi-Fire. Then secure the network connection again and reconnect. As I’ve said, I’ve seen this before with Apple networks. I had just forgotten about it.

Another benefit (although not unique) is that the Wi-Fire software shows me the channels the other networks are using. Using my Airport and a free program called iStumbler, I made sure my network was not on the same channel as others. When Wi-Fire showed me 3 times more networks, now I was clashing with other networks. I changed my WiFi channel and my overall network strength went up 5%. Why the network that is 10 feet away from me is 90% instead of 100% signal strength I’ll never know but that is a totally different issue.

Wi-Fire requires 10.4 or higher on a Mac. It also support Windows and Linux platforms.

If you don’t have a wireless connection or you want more power (who doesn’t), this is a great choice.

But wait! There’s more!

They are offering a special for members of Apple Users Groups. Visit http://appleusergroupresources.com/?p=1133 and the price is 20% off so instead of $49, it is $39.20.

Please mention that you heard about them at the DAUG web site.

• Accounting
• Audio
• Design
• Print & Graphic Design
• Development Tools
• Digital Media
• Music
• Photography
• Sci/Tech
• Servers/Networks
• Small Business
• Support

To find out more about these and other Apple events, please visit: http://www.apple.com/seminars