MAY 2007 www.limac.org NEWSLETTER OF THE LONG ISLAND MACINTOSH USERS GROUP LIMac was estab­­- lished in 1984, when April’s Meeting May’s Meeting the Mac was intro- duced. Annual dues This month, James H. Lee, Jr., President LIMac Inc. for member ship we had a of Tropical Software will P.O. Box 2048 are $36. (The first really great MAY make his second visit to Seaford, NY meeting is free.) presentation LIMac in May, and he’s 11783-0180 For information, by Justin hoping for better weather President contact any of the D’Onofrio, this trip. (If you remember Bill Medlow following: and Steven 11 our 2005 Holiday Party [email protected] Membership Tze, from you’ll remember that the Vice President Donald Hennessy Freeverse software, weather was not exactly hos- George Canellis (516) 541-3186 located in New York City. You may pitable.) This time he’s got even more to show [email protected] [email protected] know Freeverse from the Burning Monkey us. In addition to TopXNotes he’ll show us the Treasurer Technical Advice games. Justin handled the microphone, while new TopXNotes iPod. Donald Hennessy Bradley Dichter veteran illustrator Steven, demonstrated the TopXNotes began as a brand new twist on [email protected] (631) 348-4772 program. This made for a super-smooth that old favorite, the old Apple Notepad, but Secretary [email protected] presentation. TopXNotes has evolved to be much, much more. Bernie Flicker Program Lineform, is a vector-based drawing pro- It has all the basic functionality of your word [email protected] Coordinator gram, made for both the graphic artist, and the processor, including choice of fonts, style, and The LIMac FORUM : Rick Matteson average computer user. It sports a simple inter- colors. TopXNotes’ unique features include: Editors/Graphics rgmlimac Mo Lebowitz @optonline.net face and small tool set. This makes it easier for MultiView, the ability to view many notes at Loretta Lebowitz Photoshop SIG those new to drawing programs and those with once; the NoteOrganizer, an advanced table experience using other programs, but are new of contents with categories and groups you [email protected] Brian Revere [email protected] [email protected] to Lineform. In case you are not familiar with define based on your information; and most (516) 997-5370 the term “vector based,” it means that once you popular, QuickNotes, the ability to access your Board of Directors: MacBasic SIG have your project completed, it can be resized key notes instantly from the desktop from a Rick Matteson Geoff Broadhurst with no loss in quality. menu in a floating toolbar or from the same (Program Coordinator) [email protected] Albert Zygier OK, you have just chosen a tool, and are menu in the dock. TopXNotes also features auto- Geoff Broadhurst Multimedia SIG not sure what to do with it, or how to perform matic backups, unlimited Undo, Find, and note George Canellis Al Zygier certain functions with it, there’s no problem encryption to keep sensitive information safe. Al Choy [email protected] –Lineform’s built-in help menus to the rescue! TopXNotes iPod is a modern note organizer Donald Hennessy Produced using: What is a built-in Help Menu? Just click on a with all the useful features of TopXNotes plus Bradley Dichter Tex-Edit Plus, tool, and instructions on how to use the tool, the ability to export selected notes and groups (Technical Director) TextSpresso, and its modifier keys, appear directly under the (March’s Meeting continues on Page 2) Scott Randell Adobe’s InDesign, tool bar. This is the first time I have seen this, Bernie Flicker Photoshop, Illustrator, and it really helps. Want to add text to make General meeting time schedule: Bill Medlow and Acrobat. a flyer? Lineform has robust text editing tools, Meetings are held at The New York Institute of Technology, Harold Silvers Fonts are ITC’s Building 300 (Anna Rubin Hall), Old Westbury, Long Island. Brian Revere Franklin Gothic everything is dynamic (can be modified at any Meetings start promptly at 7:00 p.m. Richard Hickerson Compressed and time) and all of the text tools, (color, size, etc.) Bradley Q&A 7:00–7:30 p.m. Galliard Pro. built into Mac OS X are available. Beginner’s Q&A 7:00–7:30 p.m. The FORUM is pub lished monthly by LlMac. All If you are like me, (not an artist) you can Featured presentation 7:30–8:20 p.m. contents, except where make your drawings look a lot better – easily followed by announcements and raffle drawings. noted, are copyright SIG (Special Interest Group) meetings 8:30–10:00 p.m. ©2007 by LIMac. – with Lineform. Opinions expressed are the Photoshop SIG: Photoshop CS 2 – Layers You really had to be there to see Justin and views of the authors and do Multimedia SIG: “How to tell a story in a home video” from expert Al Zygier. not neces sarily reflect those Steve demonstrate the program, or go towww. MacBasics SIG: Taking an introductory look at the iLife package, consisting of LIMac. Contents may be reprinted for non-com- freeverse.com, download the demo, and see for of GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie HD, iPhoto, mercial use, with due yourself. and iWeb. What can we use them for? What acknowledgment to LIMac. sort of fun can be found in this versatile The LIMac FORUM is an At $79.95, this is a powerful program that independent publication will not overwhelm a new user, but will make a package? and has not been author- | In bad weather, call (516) 686-7789. ized, sponsored or other- savvy graphics user quite happy. | The next LIMac board meeting will be at wise approved by Apple Computer, Inc. Many thanks to Justin and Steve, for a really the Plainedge Library, (516) 735-4133, great presentation. 0 on Wednesday, Mayl 18th, at 8 p.m. –Scott Randell About Meetup and LIMac: Meetup Groups help people: make a difference. By George Canellis | Find others who share their interests Meetup.com earns money from: Meetup.com helps people find others | Get involved locally | Meetup Groups who rely on us to help them who share their interest or cause, and | Learn, teach, and share things create great Meetups and great local groups form lasting, influential, local community | Make friends and have fun | Partner organizations that use Meetup.com groups that regularly meet face-to-face. | Rise up, stand up, unite,& make a difference services to grow and strengthen their com- We believe that the world will be a better | Be a part of something bigger — both locally munities place when everyone has access to a and globally | Sponsors who buy unobtrusive text ads rel- people-powered local Meetup Group. We’re proud to give more power to the people evant to Meetup Group members That’s our goal. and we believe it’s possible to make a profit and (Continues on Page 3) 2 Bradley’s Tech Session President’s Message | What is Flash? Once again, I need to give you a “heads up” on This used to be Macromedia’s technology, our upcoming June 2007 general meeting. now it’s Adobe’s (because Adobe bought It will be on the second Friday in June, – Macromedia) for interactive animated multi- specifically, June 8th, but we have moved the media content for web sites and cell phones. meeting location to C.W.Post (1/4 mile east) Bradley Dichter There is the now-shipping $700 Flash CS3 for this meeting only. Maps will be on the back Bill Medlow President [email protected] Professional to create flash files and there is the of the monthly poster and on our Web site. We [email protected] free Flash Player 9 Internet plug-in for your will in meet the Humanities Building, just in Web browsers. Both were just updated for the from the Tilles Center. Mac. There is also the companion to Flash Why all the fuss you ask? We will have Dave Remembering the last point size used Pro CS3 the Flash CS3 Video Encoder. Its only Marra, an Apple Senior SystemsE ngineer, to in Adobe InDesign purpose is for converting your movie files, say talk about all the new things coming from CS2 : in QuickTime.mov format into an flv flash video Apple. As we know, Apple has changed its name You just resized the format for use in sites like the very popular from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. and has headline in an ad TIP! YouTube.com Beyond Flash, there is also the increased its product line to include other prod- to 76 points (a size new $499-$7.49 Adobe Flex Builder 2 inte- ucts such as the iPod, the AppleTV and the that’s not listed as Redefine paragraph a Preset in the Point styles in Adobe grated design environment for creating flash- upcoming iPhone. Size popup menu InDesign CS2: based Rich Internet Applications. It is not part I am mostly interested in how these prod- in the Character If you need to of any Adobe Creative Suite 3 bundle. It’s based ucts work and integrate with our Macintosh palette). You open make changes to a on the Open Source Eclipse 3.2 software develop- computers. Dave will offer information and another layout (File Paragraph Style, you ment kit which is itself based on Sun’s Java code. insight in all things Apple. Aside from making > ) and you’d like to could double-click Flash-enhanced Web sites are becoming more so many things possible, the Macintosh also make its 72-point on the style listing in 0 commonplace as Web developers go beyond makes them more fun.