MACNJ Serving the Central New Jersey Macintosh Community since 1986 September 2011 It’s a double feature! Welcome back! Hope you’ve had a great summer. by Bill Barr, Program Chairman
For the September meeting, we offer two presentations for newsrooms back when local radio stations actually had you. Keeping with our “How to promote your small business newsrooms. Now the managing editor of the Hunterdon or non-profit”, Democrat, Curtis sees the immediacy of the internet and the vitality of nj.com as the news medium not of the future, Mr. Curtis Leeds from the Hunterdon Democrat but of the present. will discuss getting your content published in the newspaper. He has been reporting with the Hunterdon Democrat over 20 years. His recent move up to Managing Editor takes advantage of his intimate knowledge about the local political scene. He knows what’s happening. He also knows what catches his attention and then gets published! He’ll tackle a number of our concerns on how to make best use of “the paper”. There’s a lot that’s new. Bring you own notebook. How’s your short hand?
Our members, President David Davis and co-Newsletter editor Bob Fasanello, will give you an update on Apple’s latest operating system, “Lion - what to watch out for!” It’s a major update.
So a lot is cooking! Oooops. Time to make the donuts - bagels - coffee and more. All are welcome! Come for a visit or join MACNJ. See you soon - Saturday morning - September 10, - at 9am to noon - Voorhees High School just north of High Bridge, NJ. I can’t wait. Curtis Leeds got his start in the news business the way many young boys once did - by delivering a daily newspaper. He tired of trudging through the snow that is the hallmark of Buffalo winters, however, and decided life might be Saturday easier if he worked as a photographer for his hometown weekly newspaper. Still too young to drive, he bicycled September 10, 2011 around his Niagara River town of Grand Island, New York, taking photos that earned him fame but - at $10 each - 9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON didn’t earn him wealth. (Curtis’ fee had to pay for film and darkroom chemicals, too.) It was the immediacy of radio that prompted his next move, where he worked in Buffalo radio
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 1 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
What’s in our future? by Bill Barr, Program Chairman
Coming up later this year will be interesting presentations take the place of iWeb? Will it be as easy? What extras can on Web publishing software (October meeting) plus a it do? That’s all coming in October. guest presenter for December, Allan Hoffman, Star Ledger Technology contributor to discuss “iPhoneography and the Allan Hoffman has gone so far in depth with iPhone Future of Photography”. photography that he wrote a book - Create Great iPhone Photos - available from Amazon.com. You can read his You may have heard that with the advent of The iCloud columns regularly in the Star Ledger. Psssst - I think he’s a from Apple - a transition from MobileMe - the iWeb Mac fan but can’t quite come and say it. Or maybe he will application may no longer work for us! Chod Lang will to our friendly audience! demonstrate Freeway 5.5 web authoring software. Will it
How to Fax in Lion by Adam C. Engst
Faxing has been around in one form or another since the mid-1800s [1], and while there’s no question that it’s disappearing from many businesses around the world, there are still industries that rely heavily on faxed documents, notably real estate and construction, where paper trails of it’s worth a try moving the drivers over and restarting in signed documents remain important. While standalone fax 32-bit mode. machines aren’t going away any time soon, it’s relatively easy to find multifunction print/scan/fax devices, and as A better solution that doesn’t require restarting or fussing Internet faxing has become commonplace, it has become with old kernel extensions is simply to buy a new USB more difficult to fax using a modem attached to your modem that does work in Lion. Reader James Cutler has telephone line. confirmed for us that the US Robotics USR5637 [4] modem works perfectly in Lion (you can download firmware and That’s especially true for users of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which modem script updates [5] from the US Robotics Web site, but deprecates faxing in several ways. First, the Print & Fax which previously reported this model as being “Lion 10.7 preference pane from 10.6 Snow Leopard is now called Ready”). In a thread in the Apple Support Communities [6], Print & Scan, but when you click the + button to add a the Zoom 3095 [7] modem is also reported as functioning device, you can still add a fax modem. Second, the Apple under Lion. Both of these modems cost about $45. USB Modem (discontinued in 2009) won’t work in Lion because it relies on 32-bit drivers that don’t work (and thus These changes in Lion don’t affect us, since we rely on a aren’t included) in the 64-bit Lion. now-discontinued Epson AcuLaser CX11NF [8] multifunction printer for outgoing faxes of physical documents, and the Though I haven’t tested this, you can supposedly start MaxEmail [9] Internet fax service for incoming faxes, which Lion in 32-bit mode with these instructions [2] for 10.6 appears to be one of the cheapest around at $24 per year Snow Leopard, and user moonchilddave reported in the (for the “Lite Non-Local” fax-only plan). But your needs may MacRumors forum [3] that the old 32-bit drivers for the vary, and if that includes sending and receiving faxes from modem can be copied over from Snow Leopard to Lion. your Mac running Lion, a compatible modem is your best Others had trouble with his procedure, but if you have an option. Apple USB Modem that you need for a very occasional fax,
continued on page 3
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 2 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
How to Fax in Lion by Adam C. Engst continued from Page 2
I’ve received several queries about alternatives to Smile’s for groups that need a fax server, Soft Solutions has a beta PageSender [10], which is full-featured fax software that has of 4-Sight Fax Server that claims to be compatible with Lion. capabilities well beyond just printing to fax in Mac OS X’s However, the cheapest package of 4-Sight Fax [11] costs $495, Print dialog. Smile tells me that they will continue to maintain so if you really don’t need a group fax solution, you might PageSender for use with Snow Leopard, but have no plans to find it easier to set up an old Mac mini with Snow Leopard update it for Lion. As far as I’ve been able to discover, there is and PageSender. no comparable Lion-compatible fax software for individuals;
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax#Wire_transmission [2]: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3773 [3]: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1193996 [4]: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013FDLM0/?tag=tidbitselectro00 [5]: http://www.usr.com/support/product-template.asp?prod=5637 [6]: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3164614 [7]: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FCIOSW/?tag=tidbitselectro00 [8]: http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?oid=58311371 [9]: http://www.maxemail.com/ [10]: http://www.smilesoftware.com/PageSender/ [11]: http://www.4sightfax.com/
Unless otherwise noted, this article is copyright © 2011 TidBITS Publishing, Inc.. TidBITS is copyright © 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Reuse governed by this Creative Commons License: http://www.tidbits.com/terms/.
USE THE MACNJ FORUM! by Mike Fordice
Our forum, using new software to keep out spambots, is only as good as we make it. All members are encouraged to use the forum. It can be of great help in answering questions, providing news, etc., between meetings.
To Register: There are two links to the forum on the MACNJ home page; or go to macnj.org/forum/ and you are there. can also stay logged-in, if desired.
Click on “register” (top right). You’ll have to agree to Look under Profile Information and enter your location conditions. (City, State). This is mandatory. Enter any other profile information which you choose to use. Enter a user name which can be used to identify you as member of MACNJ--not strange encrypted names such as Click “submit” button, bottom of page. You will be notified xyz123--or you won’t be approved. Check the member list by email that you are registered as a MACNJ Forum to see what names have been accepted. member.
Enter a valid email address. Most questions about the forum are answered in the FAQ Section. Enter and confirm your password. Then remember it! You
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 3 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 Hardware Review: iCapsule by Dave Greenbaum
$100 http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/products/computers/ RF-ICAP12.html
For many new iPad users, Apple’s magical and revolutionary device acts as a laptop and sometimes even a desktop replacement. Many iPad users just need to check email and surf the net and a traditional laptop or desktop Partially they are right. Many people replace their laptop is overkill. For these users, the key features of the iPad with an iPad because they want a lightweight powerful are its long battery life and its simplicity, rather than its alternative with incredible battery life. Of course, serious portability. These people are most likely the target market typing is near impossible on the iPad. Typing on the of the iCapsule. iCapsule was quick and responsive. The device takes two AA batteries, but the keyboard goes to sleep after This integrated Bluetooth keyboard and case copies the non-use. original design of the first iBook so much that more than one person asked why I was carrying a black iBook. If Unfortunately the iCapsule suffers a near fatal flaw that I they ever make this in blue or orange, there will be many hope gets fixed in later releases. While the designers left confused people out there. space to plug in headphones on the side, they failed to include a port for the 30 pin connector. The only way to When the iPad is placed in this case, it looks like the typical charge your iPad is to remove it from the iCapsule. Over laptop: screen on top and keyboard on the bottom. Close time it becomes a pain to constantly remove your iPad the iCapsule just like you would a clamshell style laptop in order to charge it. Because the keyboard is bluetooth, (though the iPad won’t go to sleep when you close it) you’ll be reducing your battery life significantly and thus You’ll notice there isn’t a pointing device or trackpad on charging is more important. Moreover, the sleep button this “laptop”, which got annoying after a while. was difficult to access while in this case. The designers left little room for it. If you put the iPad in backwards I was so used to typing on it like a laptop I’d instinctively (which you can do), the iPad will constantly go to sleep move my thumbs towards the trackpad rather than the due to the pressure. Accommodations should have been screen. That’s a testament to how seamless the transition made to make sure that all ports were available and you from the iPad experience was. couldn’t put the iPad in its case backwards.
The actual case provides no padding, but has a handle Serious typists and those making the transition from a and is made of hard plastic so mishaps are less likely. The laptop will really enjoy how easy and natural the iCapsule screen is somewhat protected from impact when closed case and keyboard is to use. Be prepared for the constant because it is flush with the keyboard. Occasionally debris removal each time you want to charge the iPad though from the keyboard was transferred to the iPad screen when the case was closed (incidentally, this is a common Pros: problem with traditional laptops). Ideal laptop replacement with responsive and spacious keyboard While the iCapsule had your typical keys including control, option and escape, it replaced the typical function keys Cons: with a variety of handy quick keys such as full volume and Lack of support for charging while in the case or guides music controls (pause, play etc) as well as selection, copy, to prevent the iPad from being put in backwards spotlight and keyboard toggling. This is very handy for someone doing serious work on an iPad. 7 out of 10 Originally published and written for the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group iPad purists will balk at the amount of bulk this adds 2.0 http:// www.laugks.org/news and published by Dave Greenbaum at to the iPad and that it somehow defeats its purpose. http://www.clickheretech.com
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 4 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 Of iCloud, Dropbox, and Elastic Computing: A Cloud Primer by Rich Mogull
By the time you read this article Apple will have finally unveiled its long-rumored iCloud service. And these days it seems like you can’t swing a mouse without running into “the cloud” — a nebulous term that sometimes seems to represent anything that runs anywhere on the Internet.
In reality, there is an actual definition for cloud computing, and it turns out to be the single most disruptive technology to hit data centers since the mainframe. Combine cloud computing with the equally transformative growth in mobile computing and we find ourselves traveling through a technological thunderstorm that may have an impact as substantial as the Internet itself.
Forming the Cloud -- The term “cloud computing” has been floating around for many years, but started to take a more precise form in 2006 after Amazon opened up its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) hypervisor is the software that enables virtualization. service, an extension of Amazon Web Services. EC2 allows Operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X run customers to “rent” computers in Amazon’s data centers. You on top of the hypervisor, which divvies out processor time aren’t renting an actual dedicated computer, but a virtual or cores, and allots storage and memory to each virtual machine that boots and runs for however long you need on machine. Virtualization enables you to run a database server whatever host machine Amazon has where there’s enough and application server on the same platform, in separate, free computing capacity, memory, and storage. isolated, virtual machines. They may or may not be on the same physical server, but you don’t care whether they are or EC2 is an extension of technologies that Amazon developed not. (TidBITS went virtual last year when we had problems to optimize the resources in its data center. Running dedicated with our primary Xserve.) computers for dedicated functions is horribly inefficient. You have to build systems to handle the largest possible spike As powerful as virtualization is, it’s still inefficient. You can’t in demand, or else your application will fail when the load escape planning for capacity on each virtual server, as increases too much. Just ask anyone whose site has crashed we’ve learned (some recent outages of the TidBITS and Take under high traffic after being linked to by Daring Fireball. Control Web sites have been related to needing to tweak Apache and MySQL settings to handle unexpected load). For some scenarios, such as a large retail Web site that While it is sometimes possible to do nifty things like move a can’t afford to fail during pre-holiday shopping spikes, you running virtual machine to larger hardware without shutting might have to plan enormous capacity that’s rarely used, it down, there’s still a lot of manual management involved. and unevenly distributed, since that capacity needs to be This is where the magic of the cloud comes in. With cloud available on each individual system that comprises the computing all the resources are pooled together and a “cloud entire service. For example, every single database server will controller” orchestrates provisioning and utilization of the need extra capacity to handle spikes, plus you’ll need extra, pools on demand. dedicated, database systems for when things get really bad. Here’s how it works. If you need a database server of a EC2 (and Amazon’s internal platforms) address this problem particular size, you request one from the cloud controller, by collecting all the hardware into a pool of processors and telling it things like how much memory and storage you memory that runs “hypervisors” instead of normal operating need and what operating system you want. You even ask systems. Also known as a “virtual machine manager”, a it for an “image,” a pre-configured virtual machine with
Continued on Page 6 Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 5 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 Of iCloud, Dropbox, and Elastic Computing: A Cloud Primer by Rich Mogull (continued from page 5)
all the applications you need that lets you avoid having to install everything from scratch. The cloud controller chooses a physical server with the capacity to handle your request (it may be running all sorts of other virtual machines as well) and tells it to load and instantiate your requested image from storage. The controller is smart, and places the virtual machines to use the available capacity most efficiently.
Better yet, instead of having a bunch of extra virtual servers running to handle spikes in demand, the cloud controller can rapidly spin up extra virtual machines as needed (automatically, based on pre-set rules), then shut them down when demand drops. If you’re running a bunch of different applications in your data center (the typical large business runs hundreds of applications on thousands of servers), the odds are low everything will be in high demand at the same time, and thus the cloud controller orchestrates everything to use your resources most efficiently. Amazon realized that others might find it useful to rent this spare capacity; perhaps for developing new applications Thus our data center moves from being a bunch of independently (instead of buying extra internal servers), or even for permanent running servers, all with extra capacity and spare servers to purposes. So the firm launched Amazon EC2 and enabled handle burst loads, into a pool of shared hardware (the cloud) anyone with a credit card and some technical knowledge where servers spin up and down as needed based on demand. to run their own virtual systems in Amazon’s cloud. Amazon This is known as a “compute cloud,” and we also have “storage also released Amazon S3, a storage service that works on its clouds” designed to optimize all the hard drives into storage own or with EC2, as well as Amazon RDS, a relational database pools. If Amazon needs more capacity, its technicians only have service, and other offerings so abstract that only information to add dumb hardware, load up some software to connect that technologists can love them. hardware to the company’s cloud, and let the cloud controller figure out how to best use it. That’s key — the whole point is This raised an interesting problem. Now all sorts of people may that you don’t have to configure everything specially for each run all sorts of applications on the same infrastructure, but they individual application or service. don’t want their neighbors poking at their servers. Amazon thus included features to isolate customers from one another. Now, I’ve simplified things a bit, but this is pretty much how a Although you can connect all your virtual services to each other, cloud infrastructure works. Amazon had to build it themselves they are walled off from everyone else. with custom software, but these days there are both commercial cloud infrastructure platforms (like VMware) and open-source The first version of EC2 was pretty limited, but these days options (like OpenStack and Eucalyptus). it supports lots of different things, including popular Web applications like Evite, large enterprise applications, and even Going Public individual blogs. All these customers pay based not on a fixed -- Amazon still faced a problem. Although it was much more rate, but based on what they use, much as your power bill efficiently using its resources for its core business, the company is based on how much power you use. This is called “utility still needed enough spare hardware capacity to handle major computing” since you draw on computing resources like any increases in activity, like the holiday shopping season. All other public utility. For example, my company runs a VPN server this hardware would sit around waiting to be used, with the on EC2 so we have encrypted connections when using wireless hypervisors twiddling their virtual thumbs. Internet connections in coffee shops. That virtual VPN server costs us about the same as a cup of coffee — black coffee, not
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Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 6 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 Of iCloud, Dropbox, and Elastic Computing: A Cloud Primer by Rich Mogull (continued from page 6) a latte — every month.
Although EC2 was a pioneer, there are now many other cloud computing service firms, such as Rackspace (which hosts TidBITS) and Hosting.com.
Building a Platform -- What I just described is known as “Infrastructure-as-a- Service” (often abbreviated to IaaS), where you consume raw computing infrastructure over the Internet (or build it yourself internally), but there’s a lot more to the cloud. What if you want to run an application and don’t want to bother with things like virtual machines?
To address this need, a service model known as “Platform- as-a-Service” (often abbreviated to PaaS) emerged. Platform- as-a-Service is a strange collection that includes things like over-the-Internet databases, building in features from Google (like Maps) into your application by connecting them to to use an application? This is called “Software-as-a-Service” Google’s service, and even running complete applications like (abbreviated to SaaS) and was around long before Amazon blogs or custom Java applications. EC2. If you use a webmail service like Gmail, an online calendar such as Yahoo Calenda, or advanced application like Let’s focus on the blog example for a moment. Traditionally, Salesforce, those are examples of Software-as-a-Service. You you would run your blog on either a shared host, with limits still share resources with other customers, and your pieces on the resources you can use, or maybe a dedicated host or are walled off from everyone else, but instead of building virtual private server you have to configure yourself. With anything you consume a complete application, pay for what Platform-as-a-Service, and a supported blog platform, you you use, and never worry about the raw resources. completely ignore the capacity problem. Most Platform-as-a- Service runs on Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and the Platform- But as we’ll see in a moment, just because something is as-a-Service controller simply grabs the resources it needs to Software-as-a-Service doesn’t mean it’s an example of cloud meet your demands. You are totally abstracted from things computing. like processors, memory, and operating systems; you simply run your application on a supported platform which grows Defining the Cloud and shrinks as needed. Examples of Platform-as-a-Service What I’ve just described — Infrastructure-as-a-Service, include Microsoft’s Windows Azure (for running .NET-based Platform-as-a-Service, and Software-as-a-Service — are the applications) and Amazon’s Elastic Beanstalk (which supports service models for cloud computing. They are the different Java applications for Apache Tomcat). major buckets of services you can consume. I also talked about the two main deployment models: a private cloud that Thus you have an elastic application that uses only the you run internally, and the public cloud, like Amazon Web resources you need. Of course, since you’re billed based on Services and Rackspace. Other deployment models include what you use, you have to be prepared for a serious bill if your a hybrid cloud, where you connect your internal resources site suddenly increases in popularity. to an external cloud for extra capacity, and a community cloud, where related groups like government agencies share Cloud Software a dedicated cloud. What if you want to skip all the low level stuff and just pay
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Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 7 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 Of iCloud, Dropbox, and Elastic Computing: A Cloud Primer by Rich Mogull (continued from page 7) While there are many different definitions for cloud computing out there, one of the most accepted comes from the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology. NIST breaks its definition of the cloud [http://csrc.nist.gov/ publications/drafts/800-146/Draft-NIST-SP800-146.pdf] into three main pieces: essential characteristics, service models, and deployment models.
We’ve covered the service and delivery models of cloud computing, and a few of the essential characteristics (elasticity, measured service, and resource pooling). Two additional characteristics are on-demand self-service (no need for someone to manually set things up for you) and broad network access (otherwise, it’s hard to connect to your cloud).
This is where definitions get a little tricky. Technically speaking, not everything we call “cloud” really is “cloud.” For example, many Software-as-a-Service providers still run on sitting in a data center to cross-Internet distributed traditional infrastructure and must manually add resources applications, we now have a massive, global, pool of to handle increased demand. Their services lack elasticity. resources we consume on demand, as needed, and pay for Another example is blog hosting services — most set a like our power bills. fixed number of blogs on a particular server, capping the resources of each, and all without using virtualization. When Combine this with broad network access and mobile they do use virtualization, it is still a static virtual machine computing, and the Internet as we’ve known it — email, not managed by a cloud controller. Contrast this with the file transfer, browsing the Web — starts to seem a bit resource pooling I described earlier. passé, as do our personal computers, much as we may love them. All our files become accessible wherever we are, Just because an application or service is on the Internet whenever we want. Our to-do lists and calendars magically doesn’t mean it’s using cloud computing. sync to any device we want. We manage our blogs from our phones, and never worry about our sites crashing if we’re Other services, like Dropbox, cross these definitional lines. Fireballed. Dropbox has a Web interface that functions like Software- as-a-Service (since it allows you to access your files, and And for those of you who run servers? You can tie together download older versions of them, for instance), but Dropbox all your spare hardware and software into a shared pool and also supports APIs that enable programmers to use it as a pull out what you need. Or provision your virtual servers Platform-as-a-Service. Finally, when you put a file in your in the cloud, manage them from your iPad, and grow and Dropbox folder and it’s mirrored to the cloud, Dropbox shrink them with the changing tides of Internet traffic. is functioning a bit like Infrastructure-as-a-Service. It’s all Automatically. Paying for only the computing, memory, and quite confusing, and as a user, all I care about is that my files storage capacity you use. magically appear on all my computers. And our Internet applications can connect to and draw The Power of the Cloud on services from nearly anywhere. Run your database on Here is where the real power and magic of cloud computing Microsoft Azure, pull your maps from Google, and have a comes into play. From a bunch of random hardware visitor log in using his or her Facebook ID. The Internet starts
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Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 8 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
Of iCloud, Dropbox, and Elastic Computing: A Cloud Primer by Rich Mogull (continued from page 8)
looking less like a bunch of isolated sites, and more like one big interconnected series of services that can be combined in all sorts of interesting ways.
It’s as if the entire Internet becomes one big resource pool that we can access from any computer or smartphone.
iCloud and the Cloud -- Apple’s MobileMe service currently offers an interesting mix of Software-as-a-Service (email, calendar, galleries, contacts) and Platform-as-a-Service (syncing, iDisk). While I don’t know if MobileMe’s back-end infrastructure really is a cloud platform, it meets most of the characteristics of cloud computing on the surface.
But what about the just-announced iCloud? iCloud appears to be a mixture of Software-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a- for instance), but that’s easier for most consumers to deal Service, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service all rolled up into a with anyway (which is why we buy blocks of minutes on whole that will support both Mac OS X and iOS. To wit: our cell phones instead of paying by the call).
• The Web interface we now use as MobileMe is clearly iCloud is also an entirely new way of building out our Software-as-a-Service, although Apple didn’t say if desktop and mobile computing platforms. Thanks to its it would continue with iCloud. There will almost connections with Mac OS X and iOS, iCloud may turn out certainly be some Web-based access to aspects of to be one of the most significant developments in the iCloud. history of consumer operating systems and devices. It’s integrated into Apple’s operating systems, tying together • The developer APIs to integrate iCloud capabilities all of our disparate endpoints. No more worrying about into apps mean iCloud also serves as a platform. This moving files between computers. No more hassles flavor of Platform-as-a-Service is closer to something manually configuring new systems. No more losing all like the Google APIs than Amazon’s Elastic Beanstalk, of your family photos when your hard drive crashes. Your but still well within our definition of a cloud Platform- computers and mobile devices stop being the center of as-a-Service. iCloud enables outside developers to your digital life, and become replaceable endpoints to a use Apple’s data center as a platform to expand their far larger platform. iCloud won’t provide all these features own applications. or address all these problems out of the gate, but it’s clearly headed down that path. • iCloud even treads on the edge of Infrastructure- as-a-Service by providing users with raw storage All of a sudden my Macs and iOS devices look less like that’s fully integrated into their mobile and desktop a bunch of independent platforms and more like parts operating systems. of a larger whole. It’s not magic, but as Arthur C. Clarke said, any sufficiently advanced technology — and cloud While it’s possible that Apple built all of this without computing distinctly qualifies — is indistinguishable using cloud technologies in their data centers, from the from magic. consumer perspective, iCloud certainly meets most, if not all, of our essential cloud characteristics. It’s elastic, uses Unless otherwise noted, this article is copyright © 2011 TidBITS resource pooling, supports broad network access, and is Publishing, Inc.. TidBITS is copyright © 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Reuse governed by this Creative Commons License: http://www.tidbits. fully self-serviced. It isn’t exactly metered, relying more com/terms/. on service tiers (where you’ll be able to buy more storage, Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 9 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
Hardware Review: PadDock 10 by Dave Greenbaum
iPad Dock 10 $99.99 http://www.smklink.com/
Although the iPad has excellent sound, it will never fool you into thinking it’s a true stereo system. However, wiith the PadDock 10 you get a rich full sound you’d expect from a set of standalone speakers. Unlike many other products, the PadDock was designed for the iPad rather then retrofit from an iPhone solution. This device serves three main purposes: iPad stand, charging dock, and stereo speakers, and does all of them well.
As a stand, the iPad fits securely and snugly into the unit. Other stands for the iPad generally hold the unit in place via gravity or a few clips. Since this is an actual dock, music and watch videos while working out on a treadmill the dock connector holds it in place and the top of the unit at my home gym. I keep the PadDock in the kitchen to has a firm clip that ensure the iPad isn’t going anywhere listen to music while cooking and keeping the iPad up out when the unit rotates. This snug fit does get some getting of harm’s way. used to when placing the iPad into the dock or removing it. The rotation of the stand is 360 degrees, but at each 90 Eventually, my PadDock ended up in the kitchen so I could degree interval the stand has a soft lock making sure the listen to music or view instructional vidoes, keep the iPad rotation doesn’t stray. Clips at the four corners prevent safe, and charge all at the same time. Overall this is an you from having to put pressure on the iPad to rotate outstanding product that serves many functions. If you’ve it. An elegant and stylish black and grey design matches upgraded to an iPad 2, the PadDock is a perfect way to the aesthetics of your iPad. extend the function and flexibility of your original iPad as an entertainment station [There is a Version 2 PadDock for As a charging dock, the unit allows you to expand the type iPad 2-ed.]. of cables used to charge your iPad. Included is USB power cord that uses a type A male connector to power the unit Pros: instead of the standard charging cable that came with Flexible stand and dock charger, quality stereo speakers your iPad. The PadDock also comes with a USB to USB Mini cable creating a more standardized solution. To charge, Cons: I was able to use a variety of USB chargers including the Tricky to move iPad in and out stub charger that came with my iPad. I liked keeping my original iPad cable connected to my Mac for syncing and 4 out of 5 Dogcows using the PadDock to charge my iPad. To sync your iPad to your computer via a PadDock, you’ll need to flip a switch to go from charge to sync. Originally published and written for the Lawrence Apple Users' Group 2.0 http:// www.laugks.org/news and published by Dave Greenbaum As stereo speakers, the dock’s sound was outstanding for at http://www.clickheretech.com its size. ------
Compared with other bedside and table solutions that sound tinny, the PadDock had substantial bass and was able to achieve fairly high volume that let me listen to
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 10 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
Subtle Irritations in Lion by TidBITS Staff
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, has been, by all accounts, a sales success, with over one million copies downloaded on its first day of release and more, custom icons for folders do not appear in the sidebar, undoubtedly millions more since. These stellar sales results showing every non-Apple folder as a generic folder icon do not necessarily reflect a perfect product, but merely one rather than using the icon that the user has supplied. that has been much discussed and long anticipated. Just as with the initial releases of 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.5 Leopard, Again, we don’t expect this to change any time soon; Apple 10.4 Tiger, and all the other big cat releases, this one has its is in a monochromatic design phase right now (witness share of minor changes from previous versions that irritate the recent updates to iTunes). It is unfortunate that Apple’s and baffle, plus new bugs that confound and confuse. design imperatives are overriding what is largely a functional feature — color and custom icons are significant visual cues Don’t misunderstand the point of this article. Our goal is to in interface navigation. call out subtle aspects of Lion that feel as though they’re making us — and many other long-time Mac users — less Mission Control’s Spatial Unpredictability productive on our Macs. Our hope is that Apple will revisit -- In Spaces in Snow Leopard, now subsumed into Mission the discussions that resulted in these changes to Lion Control, you could set up two or more desktops in a and reevaluate how they affect not just usability for new two-dimensional grid, and switching between them with customers, but productivity for loyal Mac users who live and Control-left-arrow or Control-right-arrow key presses always die by their Macs. And, for those who might have felt that revealed individual desktops in a predictable sequence. using Lion seemed awkward but couldn’t quite identify the Now, in Mission Control, the desktops are arranged linearly, issues, perhaps our descriptions will let you figure out how and, by default, those desktops are ordered depending on to adjust your workflow to compensate. which one was most recently used: the desktop that appears to the right or left of the current desktop may not be the Here are some of the minor cosmetic and operational same one that was there a few minutes earlier. Fortunately, changes that have irked us. this default behavior can be changed in the Mission Control preference pane. Hidden Scrollbars -- The utility of being able to tell at a glance how long a What’s more, the desktops in Spaces wrapped around the page is and roughly where you are in it is key for some of the grid: once you were viewing the “last” desktop in the grid, things we do (editing in a very long document, for instance). the next Control-right-arrow would take you back to the Luckily, you can set scrollbars to appear at all times — not “first” desktop. In Mission Control, the line of desktops just when you’re scrolling — in the General preference doesn’t wrap around: when the user is viewing the final pane. desktop in the line of desktops, the next Control-right- arrow does nothing, except to make the currently displayed Also, even when they are showing, Lion’s scrollbars present desktop jiggle for a moment. To get from the rightmost to a smaller, harder-to-hit target for a pointing device than the leftmost desktop can require quite a few key presses. scrollbars in previous versions. We don’t expect Apple to And there’s no System Preference setting that can alter that change anything here; their goal would seem to be to behavior. encourage everyone to scroll via a trackpad or Magic Mouse rather than by clicking the scrollbars. It’s good that you can make desktop position in Mission Control predictable if you wish; it would be nice if Apple Finder Sidebar Icons would enable wrap-around access to desktops as well. It’s -- The monochrome-only icons in the sidebar of Finder possible Apple removed this capability to make switching windows — even for custom folders — makes it significantly between desktops more like switching between Launchpad harder to pick out particular items in the sidebar list. What’s pages, which also don’t wrap around, much as Home screen
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Subtle Irritations in Lion by TidBITS Staff (continued from Page 11)
pages don’t wrap on iOS. On the other hand, the bookshelves in the iBooks app on iOS do wrap around, so it’s not like Apple is completely opposed to wrap-around navigation.
Apple Mail’s Reply within Conversations to the message that was selected; and if all else fails, Gmail -- In Apple Mail, when viewing a conversation, you often replies to the last message in the thread. Hopefully Apple want to respond to a message that has just arrived as a Mail can learn from Gmail’s example. response to a previous email that you sent. When Mail’s conversation feature is active, those responses can be visible Three-finger Salute and completely readable in Mail’s browser window even if -- Swiping three fingers up or down in Snow Leopard moved they haven’t technically been “read” yet; instead, the selected you (in some programs) to the top or bottom of a document message in Mail is still the last message you clicked, which is or page, the equivalent of pressing the Home or End key. In often a message that you sent. Lion, that helpful gesture is gone, replaced with a system-wide setting: the three-finger swipe up is either select-and-drag So, if you click the Reply button in the toolbar or use the or reveals Mission Control, and the three-finger swipe down keyboard shortcut, you create a reply to the currently is either select-and-drag or App Exposé. You can reassign selected message in the conversation, which is not the Mission Control and App Exposé to four-finger swipes, but just-received response, but the message you sent that if you want the three-finger swipe for Home and End back, elicited the response. As a result, your “reply” is really a reply you’ll want to install one of these utilities (in order of their to your message, not a reply to the most recent message success of providing that particular feature): jitouch (http:// that just arrived in the conversation. You have to remember www.jitouch.com/), MagicPrefs (http://magicprefs.com/), or to click within that response to reply to it. Otherwise, you end BetterTouchTool (http://boastr.de/). up sending your reply to yourself — great if you’re feeling lonely; not so great if you want to keep the conversation Auto Save going. -- Lion allows applications that support Auto Save to save data automatically without user intervention. Working (As an aside, you can choose in Mail’s Viewing preference hand-in-glove with Versions, Auto Save not only prevents pane whether the most recent message in a conversation users from worrying about losing data by forgetting to appears at the top or the bottom of the conversation. Most save, but also gives them a way to go back in time to earlier recent at top is like Twitter, whereas most recent at bottom versions of a document and revert some or all of the most is like most discussion forums. We generally recommend recently autosaved changes. That is spiffy, but Auto Save most recent at bottom, since otherwise you have to read can’t be turned off in applications that support it, and its threads that are new to you from the bottom up, which is mere presence eliminates a common File menu option: Save awkward.) As.
This sort of user experience tuning often takes place in In pre-Auto Save versions of Mac OS X, you could open a subsequent releases, since it’s hard to know what most document, immediately choose File > Save As, name the users want to do before many people have seen the feature. copy, and begin working, leaving the original intact. Now For what it’s worth, Gmail, which pioneered the concept you must open a document, choose File > Duplicate, rename of conversations, is quite good about this. Every individual the duplicate, and (optionally) manually close the original message in a conversation has its own Reply and Forward in order to work on a copy without affecting the original. links (to be fair, Apple Mail has them, too, but in Apple’s Should you forget to duplicate the document immediately, war on user interface discoverability, they don’t appear any changes end up automatically saved in the original unless you hover over the message header); if you click in document; in the old model, no changes are saved until a a message and then use a keyboard shortcut, Gmail replies manual Save or Save As command is issued.
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Subtle Irritations in Lion by TidBITS Staff (continued from Page 12)
Speaking of Auto Save, we’re not fond of the hidden menu you use to access versions — hover your cursor over the name of the document in the title bar, and you’ll see a tiny downward-pointing triangle to indicate the menu’s presence. Click it to access commands for duplicating, locking, and browsing versions of the document. This is overhead, either somewhere in System Preferences, or in yet another example of Apple’s newfound penchant for every individual application that supports Resume. It would hiding essential user interface elements. For something as be nice to be able to toggle the default restart behavior necessary as accessing a previous version of a document, so the “Reopen windows when logging back in” checkbox it’s way too hard to find these controls. would be deselected by default; this is the sort of thing that’s often handled by a hidden defaults write command. We don’t see Apple changing anything here; we include this item more to alert those upgrading to Lion to how The Unbearable Slowness of Help you’ll do the equivalent of a Save As in Auto Save-savvy -- This problem is not new in Lion; Help has been apps and how you access older versions of your auto-saved unacceptably slow for quite a while. That it’s still a problem in documents. Lion is disappointing. An application’s Help menu should be the first place a user goes when trying to solve a problem or Auto Termination figure out how to use a feature, but the Help window takes -- Apple could largely resolve complaints by making the several seconds before any useful information appears in it, Dock and Command-Tab app switcher continue to show and the Search field in the Help window often takes several icons for apps that have been terminated by the system, more seconds before whatever the user has typed even much as the iOS Fast App Switcher shows all recent apps so appears. As a result, users may assume that Help is broken, the user doesn’t know or care if they’re running. and never again try to use it. Come on, Apple, it’s always annoying when you have to wait to get help on the phone Resume on Restart/Reopen or in a store, and it’s no different on the Mac. -- Whenever you quit an application in Lion, the next time you launch that application, it opens with the same windows iChat Stuttering on Yahoo showing as were present when you previously quit it. That -- iChat in Lion now supports Yahoo IM accounts. But the may generally be desirable, but it isn’t always. The built-in feature seems to have an interesting bug for some users: solution is to press Command-Option-Q to quit and discard whenever they begin to type a message in iChat to a Yahoo open windows, or hold down Shift when you launch an contact, iChat immediately begins to send what they are application to have it not open previously opened windows. typing before they hit Return. And as they keep typing, And you can deselect the “Restore windows when quitting iChat continues to send everything they have typed up to and re-opening apps” checkbox in the General preference that moment as individual messages. For example, suppose pane to disable the feature globally. one types, “Hi. Lovely day here in the wonderful land of Oz.” iChat sends multiple messages in a sequence that looks But you can’t disable the feature on a per-application basis: something like this: it’s all or nothing. When it comes to restarting a Mac, the situation is even less configurable: you can deselect the Hi. “Reopen windows when logging back in” checkbox when you shut down, log out, or restart, but you have to do it each Hi. Lovely d and every time — there’s no way to disable that feature permanently. Hi. Lovely day her
Even though power users may want application-level Hi. Lovely day here in the won control over Resume, it’s hard to see Apple providing it, since it would add a significant amount of user interface Hi. Lovely day here in the wonderful land of Oz.
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Subtle Irritations in Lion by TidBITS Staff (continued from Page 13)
Hopefully this bug will simply disappear with iChat’s next update.
Smart Folders Are Broken touching the trackpad, as well as by pressing a key on the -- Not completely, of course, but the problem appears when keyboard or clicking the mouse button. Since there was you save a Finder search as a Smart Folder and later attempt always a worry that a subsequent key press might insert a to modify the search. If you choose to view a Smart Folder’s character in an unwanted location (we writers hate that), search criteria in the Finder, two things happen: we generally opted for the mouse or trackpad. But Lion now ignores mouse or trackpad motion for waking the screen, 1. The criteria shown are the defaults (no search string forcing us to click the pointing device button or tap a key is present, and there is only one criteria bar shown, with on the keyboard. It’s not a big deal, but we can’t imagine Kind set to Any) instead of the terms and criteria you had why Apple would have made the change. Perhaps it’s just an entered. oversight and it will return in a future update. Looking Forward to 10.7.2 -- All of this is not to suggest, 2. The previous search criteria are not just not visible, of course, that Lion is a disaster. Far from it. Much about but deleted, rendering that Smart Folder useless. Apple’s latest version of Mac OS X is exciting, some of its new capabilities are inspired, and most of it works well. However, This is clearly a bug, and it was a little surprising that Apple as with many 10.x.0 releases, this big cat could benefit from didn’t fix it in 10.7.1. a flea-bath and some mane-trimming in a future update. 10.7.1 has just appeared, and it doesn’t address any of the Screen Wakes Require Keyboard Access issues we raise here, so now we’re looking forward to 10.7.2. -- This is truly minor, but it threw us and several colleagues briefly. Before Lion, if your Mac’s screen had gone to sleep, Unless otherwise noted, this article is copyright © 2011 TidBITS Publishing, you could bring it back to life by moving the mouse or Inc.. TidBITS is copyright © 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Reuse governed by this Creative Commons License: http://www.tidbits.com/terms/.
Member Benefits O’Reilly & Associates Don’t forget, you can MACNJ User Group members in good standing receive 35% off any O’Reilly, are encouraged to take advantage of the following No Starch, Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint, savings and benefits: or Syngress book you purchase directly from O’Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by phone Peachpit Press 800-998-9938. ordering at
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 14 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 FRESHLY SQUEEZED REVIEWS: Snip Goes The Cable by Frank Petrie
When I moved into my new apartment this past November, I honored a promise that I had made to myself, I cut the cable.
Actually, it was a no brainer. I mostly watch podcasts. For the few shows that I watch on broadcast TV' I picked up a Terk indoor HD antenna. That combined with Netflix, MLB's package, and Hulu+ pretty much covered the rest for me. Still there were about three shows I couldn't get. What could I do to get those? THE PULP Installation is a breeze. There were both US and UK shows to Now, I usually lecture people about torrent sites; there's choose from their extensive list. Luckily, I was able to locate malware in there and your basically ripping someone the shows that I wanted. Unfortunately, you're at the mercy off. Then I saw this program. (WARNING: I can personally of the torrent sites, as to whether or not their catalogue is rationalize just about anything!) up-to-date. TVShows has no control over this, so there's nothing that they can do to remedy that particular issue. "TVShows is a Mac OS X application that automatically downloads torrents of your favourite shows. You no longer THE RIND need to manually download torrent files, or find a working Nada. RSS feed for each show you wish to subscribe to. TVShows does that for you." SUMMARY TVShows is naturally a favorite. It's a one-trick pony that is Could this complete my puzzle? streamlined and fulfills a need. It also works extremely well with the new Miro 2. If you find that you like it and use it THE JUICE regularly, be sure to donate a fair price to the developer. Using TVShows could not be simpler. Select your favorite shows from the sidebar menu and set your preferences Now, with D'Onforio back on 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' from within the TVShows application. The preference pane and access to every Yankees' game (yes, Bosox fans - I then takes care of the rest. It uses a lightweight background SAID YANKEES!), my entertainment needs are more than process which automatically launches at a regular interval satiated. (chosen by you) to check for new episodes. No fuss, no muss. RATING: 10 of 10
© 2011 Frank Petrie
MACNJ Membership has its Privileges! Join today!!
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 15 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
Finding a Replacement for Quicken ???? by Michael E. Cohen
Unlike the death of the classic Mac OS, which came with a That said, my second piece of advice is the crucial one: full-blown funeral service officiated by Steve Jobs himself, Don’t upgrade to Lion until you have exported your the passing of Rosetta, Apple’s software that allowed Quicken data, imported it into a replacement, and tested PowerPC applications to run on Intel-based Macs, took it. That’s because the export feature in Quicken 2007, place without any public acknowledgement from Apple unsurprisingly, requires Rosetta to run. Although some Quicken alternatives may be able to read Quicken data directly, many more require that information in Quicken Interchange Format (.qif) files. You don’t want to lose your ability to run Quicken until your financial data has found a new home, moved in, unpacked, and had a little time to get comfortable. Lion can wait.
Some Candidates -- Ah, but which new home? That’s not an easy question to at all. answer. Among the many candidates that might replace Quicken for you are the following, listed in order of The first that many people learned of Rosetta’s demise was decreasing cost: when they installed Mac OS X Lion and, upon attempting to launch a PowerPC application, saw a rather distressing • QuickBooks 2011 for Mac from Intuit ($183.96) dialog like this one: • MoneyWorks from Cognito ($99 to $1,999, Though many PowerPC applications have newer Intel-based depending on package) versions that will live happily in Lion-land, one popular application, Quicken 2007, does not. Sure, Intuit offers a • iBank 4 from IGG Software ($59.99) version with a reduced feature set, but Quicken Essentials isn’t a direct replacement for Quicken 2007. Instead, it’s just • YNAB (You Need a Budget) from Jesse Mecham another alternative financial package, one that may or may Steine LLC ($59.95) not be a suitable replacement for Quicken 2007, depending on your needs. Intuit itself makes this very clear. • Fortora Fresh Finance from Fortora ($49.99)
So what is a long-time Quicken user, with years of • Liquid Ledger from Modeless Software ($49.99) accumulated financial records stored in Quicken, to do? • Quicken Essentials from Intuit ($49.99) Two Preliminary Pieces of Advice -- My first piece of advice is obvious: Don’t panic. There are • Moneydance from The Infinite Kind, LLC ($49.99) a lot of personal finance packages to which Quicken users can turn. For nearly all Quicken refugees, one or more of • Moneywell from No Thirst Software LLC ($49.99) them is probably right for you.
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Finding a Replacement for Quicken ???? by Michael E. Cohen continued from Page 16
• moneyGuru from Hardcoded Software ($30 Quicken 2007, its predecessors, and its Windows-based suggested contribution) edition, all offer a variety of features and capabilities. It’s a rare Quicken user who needs all of them. What you need to • SEE Finance from Scimonoce Software ($29.99) figure out is how you use Quicken, which of its features are essential to you, and which you can live without. • iFinance from Synium Software ($29) On to the questions! • PocketMoney from Catamount Software ($19.99 for computers, $4.99 for iOS and Android) Do you use Quicken primarily as a smart checkbook register? • Money 4 from Jumsoft ($18.99) If so, most available packages, including Quicken Essentials, may fill the bill. Questions related to this category include • GNUCash (Free) the following:
• Xero Personal (online, $19 per month) • Do you reconcile your checkbook with your bank statement each month? No, don’t laugh: lots of people • Mint.com (online, free) don’t. In fact, I don’t (a brief pause while my mother, a retired bookkeeper, stops sobbing in shame); as long as These are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only my bank thinks I have more money than I think I have, possible Quicken replacements around, merely the ones I’m not worried about any small discrepancies. But if you I’ve taken a quick look at or that readers have suggested. are wiser than I, and your bank enables you to download monthly statements and import them so you can reconcile Also note that you can keep your Rosetta-requiring Quicken your records, you need to find a package that allows such 2007 if you are willing to partition your hard drive so you imports and that provides the capability to reconcile your can reboot and run Snow Leopard when necessary; you information with the bank’s. could also transition to Quicken for Windows if you are willing to run Windows in Boot Camp or a Parallels- or • Do you tag or categorize various expenditures and VMware-based virtual machine. These seem like stopgap deposits? Many people don’t, but I do. It makes my life much options to me, but if you want to learn more, Joe Kissell easier come tax time if I can find my deductible business discusses them in “Take Control of Upgrading to Lion [http:// expenses quickly and hand them to my accountant. If this www.takecontrolbooks.com/lion-upgrading?pt=TB1089].” matters to you, you need to find a package that can import Quicken’s categories and that can present you with a report But, in any case, I’m not going to recommend any one of of your transactions sorted or filtered by those categories. these replacement options in this article. Instead, I have a bunch of questions for you to answer. Your answers to • Do you use Quicken to print checks? If so, and these questions will put you in a much better position to if you can’t live without this feature, you need to find a examine the available alternatives and find the one that’s package that supports check printing. right for you. • Do you use Quicken to pay your bills online? If
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Finding a Replacement for Quicken ???? by Michael E. Cohen continued from page 17
so, you may need a package that provides this capability. • Do you have one or more outstanding loans that But you may not if your bank (like mine) offers such a you need to track? Loans come in all shapes and sizes: service online and you don’t mind flipping between your credit cards, mortgages, personal loans, business loans. If finance software and a Web browser when you’re paying you need to track outstanding loan balances, and principal bills. A tip here: if your bank supports OFX (Open Financial owed versus interest, and if you want to coordinate your Exchange) protocols for online bill paying, look for a loan information with your checkbook ledger, you need to package that also supports those protocols. look for a package that offers such amenities.
• Do you use Quicken’s reminders? I use them, but • Do you use Quicken to set up and stick to a I don’t rely on them; I know when my rent is due without budget? Some packages can show you where your money Quicken’s help, and my estimated tax payment dates are has gone; with others you can set up one or more budgets already in iCal, so Quicken’s reminders are a convenience and track your expenditures and income against them. only. But if you can’t live without them, you have to find a Ask yourself just how much a budget feature matters to package that has a similar feature. you, and how fine-grained the reports have to be.
• Do looks matter? Surprisingly, they do for some • Do you need to know readily what your current users. If the financial software package is hard on the eyes net worth is? Some packages provide enough information – the type is too small, the layout is confusing, the color for you to figure this out, others do not, and some actually scheme is obnoxious — that might be enough, all else do it all for you. If knowing your net worth at any given being equal, to disqualify a contender from being your time is of critical importance to you, find a package that Quicken replacement. provides it.
Do you use Quicken to track investments, Who else needs access to your financial loans, budgets, and net worth? information? Now we’re getting into some serious financial stuff, stuff It turns out that there are several audiences who may have that’s beyond my personal experience. Fortunately, my to be considered when you adopt any financial software: younger brother has a complex financial portfolio, and he yourself (obviously), a spouse or significant other, possibly has clued me in on some of the questions to ask related to an accountant, almost certainly the Internal Revenue this overarching question. Service in the United States (residents of other countries have similar governmental organizations who may have • Do you need to track the details of your a burning need to examine your finances from time to investments? For example, Quicken Essentials can track time). the values of specific holdings and their overall value, but it won’t track individual purchases or sales and calculate • Do you do your own taxes with the aid of things like capital gains nor manage stock splits. If this tax-preparation software? If so, you need to make sure sort of thing is essential to you, then you need to look that your chosen Quicken replacement and that software elsewhere. can play nicely with one another. At the very least, you need to make sure your replacement for Quicken can
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Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 18 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011
Finding a Replacement for Quicken ???? by Michael E. Cohen continued from page 18
export the necessary data in a form that the tax software format, such as previously mentioned QIF files, or Excel can handle. spreadsheets, can help you get through the trouble of an audit more easily. • Do you and your life companion maintain separate accounts, but need to use the same software (possibly How to Choose because you file joint tax returns)? If so, look for a package -- Okay, you’ve answered all my questions (and, I hope, that can handle multiple accounts without mingling others that have occurred to you). Now what? the information. Surprisingly, some don’t. Also consider whether you can maintain separate account information First, prioritize the features you need based upon your that your companion can’t easily access: although many answers. Some features may be essential, some may be couples don’t like to keep secrets from one another, you nice to have, some are almost certainly irrelevant. may not want your spouse to discover the purchase details of the holiday or birthday gift you bought. Start with the list of products I provided above. Explore the Web sites for each of the candidates you have in mind, • Do you have an accountant with whom you just to see if they offer the features that you need. Focus exchange financial information electronically? If so, find especially on the ones that offer a free trial version: With out what your accountant needs to be able to get from the exception of Quicken Essentials, all of the ones in my you and give to you, and look for a package that can list do. handle such exchanges. Possibly you can get away with being able to export and import Excel files or even After that, download one or two candidates that offer free tab-delimited or CSV (comma separated value) text files. trials and try to import your exported Quicken data into (I give my accountant paper. Paper is always good, but, them. If that works out, try them out for a couple of weeks, of course, you will probably get charged more if your putting them through their paces, while still maintaining accountant has to engage in manual data entry tasks that your “real” information in Quicken. an electronic transfer of information could have avoided.) Once you have found your replacement, do a final export • Is the IRS watching you? I have a cousin who of your Quicken data, purchase the replacement, and bring recently published several well-received novels and who your data into it. just got audited by the IRS. She told me that the IRS agents were astonished and a little appalled to discover that With only a small amount of luck, you should be able to cut she kept all of her records manually on paper. They told your ties to Quicken and finally move on to Lion. her that electronic financial records were, if not essential, strongly encouraged in the case of audits. While there Unless otherwise noted, this article is copyright © 2011 may be no official government mandate that requires TidBITS Publishing, Inc.. TidBITS is copyright © 2008 TidBITS taxpayers to keep electronic records, when you choose a Publishing Inc. Reuse governed by this Creative Commons Quicken replacement you may want to consider choosing License: http://www.tidbits.com/terms/. something that won’t make the government angry at you. A package that can export your information in a standard
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 19 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 MACNJ Member Directory from the MACNJ membership database Officers and Committee Chairs Debbie Lynch...... [email protected] Bryan Marten...... [email protected] David L. Davis, President...... (908) 782-0788 Dennis McAvoy...... [email protected] Robert H. Peabody, Emeritus This and That. (908) 995-9110 Don McBride ...... [email protected] Bill Barr, Program Chair...... (908) 730-8418 Marianne McElrath. . . . [email protected] Michael W. Fordice, PhD, Webmaster...... (973) 361-3715 Thomas McElrath ...... [email protected] Bob Fasanello, Co-Newsletter Editor...... (908) 537-2803 Jim McMekin...... [email protected] Stephanie Griffin, Co-Newsletter Editor. . . . (732) 246-3698 Sheila Meiman...... [email protected] Graham Curtis, Treasurer...... (973) 762-9366 Stan Menscher...... [email protected] John D’Almeida, Publicity Chair...... (908) 832-5595 Barbara Middleton...... [email protected] Hugh Murphy, Jr., Secretary...... (609) 660-1052 Michael Middleton...... [email protected] Margo Murphy...... [email protected] General Membership Hugh Murphy Jr...... [email protected] Harry Parker...... [email protected] Xochitl (Sheila) Barnes ...... [email protected] Bob Peabody...... [email protected] Bill Barr...... [email protected] Barbara Peabody...... [email protected] Mary Joan Barr...... [email protected] Frank Peluso...... [email protected] John Bramick...... [email protected] Patt Reid-Polentz ...... [email protected] Bob Brickman...... [email protected] Lee Roth...... [email protected] Ronni Buffington ...... [email protected] Matt Ramachandran. . . . . [email protected] Blessed Cannata...... [email protected] Pat Rachandra...... [email protected] James Carlson ...... [email protected] William Sanderson...... [email protected] Rosemary Carnali...... [email protected] Dennis Spence...... [email protected] Pamela Chamberlain...... [email protected] Bruce Thomson, Jr...... [email protected] Walter Chandoha...... [email protected] Jim Trier ...... [email protected] Jonathan Clymer. . . . [email protected] George Trogler...... [email protected] Kathy Counterman...... [email protected] Allan Warner...... [email protected] Graham Curtis...... [email protected] Geoff Withington...... [email protected] John D’Almeida...... [email protected] Christine Wojtaszek...... [email protected] David Davis...... [email protected] Lia DiStefano...... [email protected] Tom Emmer...... [email protected] Bob Fasanello...... [email protected] Dorothy Foran...... [email protected] About the Member List Mike Fordice...... [email protected] Every effort is made to keep the member directory current. If your name has disappeared from the list, you may be delinquent in your Brian Friedlander ...... [email protected] dues. Please check with treasurer Graham Curtis. Send all other address Joan Paul Gagnon...... [email protected] updates, changes and corrections to President David Davis. Thank you. Herbert Goodfriend...... [email protected] Stephanie Griffin...... [email protected] Doris Kiziah...... [email protected] Chod Lang...... [email protected] Ed Lavan...... [email protected]
Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 20 Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey September 2011 MACNJ Meeting Information Check the latest meeting information on the MACNJ website at www.macnj.org
MACNJ’s general monthly meetings are usually held on the second Saturday of each month at Voorhees High School, in High Bridge, New Jersey, from 9 a m to noon. Visitors are welcome.
From the Morristown area Go west on State Route 24 to County Route 513. Go southwest on 513 for 4.9 miles through Califon. Continue on 513. Voorhees High School will be on the left at 256 Route 513, across from Voorhees State Park.
From the Somerville area Go north on US Route 202 until it intersects with interstate 287. Take I-287 northwest for 4.2 miles to I-78 west. Follow I-78 west for 13 miles to Route 31 north (this is the Clinton/ Washington exit.) Follow Route 31 north 2.1 miles to a traffic light where there will be a sign for High Bridge. Turn right onto County Route 513. Follow 513 north for two photo by Bill Barr miles into the town of High Bridge. Voorhees High School is two miles further north at 256 Route 513, on the right, across from Voorhees State Park.
From points west Go east on I-78 to exit 15 (Clinton/Washington exit for Route 31 north) Follow 31 north 2.1 miles to a traffic light with a sign for High Bridge. Turn right onto County Route 513 North. Follow 513 for two miles into the town of High Bridge. Voorhees High School is two miles further at 256 Route 513, on the right, across from Voorhees State Park.
From the Flemington area Take Route 31 north past Clinton to a traffic light with a sign for High Bridge. Turn right onto County Route 513 north. Follow 513 for two miles into the town of High Bridge. Voorhees High School is two miles further at 256 Route 513, on the right, across from Voorhees State Park.
Parking and Entrances Parking is plentiful and free. Park in the main parking lot of the school, enter the main entrance by the flag pole, and follow the signs for the MACNJ meeting room in the choir room on the first floor.
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Volume 26, Number 8 www.macnj.org page 21 MACNJ Membership Annual dues are $24, due each January. Members joining during the year pay $2 per month for the months remaining in the current year. Please make all checks payable to “MACNJ”. Checks can be given to Treasurer Graham Curtis at the monthly meetings, or mailed to:
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