Latest News
Meeting Report: 11th June 2010
Posted: June 12th, 2010
Two members brought their new iPads to this first SEAL meeting after the UK release so members got the chance to play with Apple’s latest.
We discussed the latest news including Apple’s iPhone 4 announcement and the recent release of Safari 5. Also mentioned were the winners of the Apple Design Awards for iOS (iPhone and iPad) apps and the Ars Design Awards run by Ars Technica for Mac Applications.
Dave brought along his G5 iMac which has recently succumbed we suspect due to the capacitor plague after 5 years of service. Dave opened up the computer so members could see it’s design and construction and also see the failed capactiors.
Robert gave an introduction to AppleScript presentation covering the basics of Apple’s scripting language and some of the uses it can be put to. He demonstrated some of his own scripts and showed members how they could find out more. Websites for more information on AppleScript include:
AppleScript, the language of automation (recommended by Apple)
MacScripter with tutorials and lots of example AppleScripts
Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes
No Comments »
Meeting Report: 14th May 2010
Posted: May 17th, 2010
The undoubted star of this meeting was Sonia’s iPad which she had imported from America. Sonia gave a detailed demonstration of Apple’s new tablet including the new iPad versions of the iWork applications: Pages, Keynote and Numbers. Using the VGA adaptor accessory we were able to project slideshows and presentations (although sadly it can’t display the user interface). Sonia also had a number of third party games and apps installed which proved very popular with members.
From the number of members who had already placed an order and those who were wowed by their hands-on impressions with the device we expect to see quite a few iPads at the June meeting!
No Comments »
Meeting Report: 9th April 2010
Posted: April 10th, 2010
In our news segment, members discussed the iPad release and the first impressions of US users. We also covered Apple’s preview of iPhone OS 4.0 with it’s much anticipated and interesting new features such as multitasking and home screen folders.
During the workshop, members helped Alan free up some disk space on his eMac’s hard drive that was nearly full.
Finally Robert gave a demonstration of cooking application SousChef which allows you to catalogue your recipes and then print them or view them full screen, it even have voice control so you don’t have to touch the computer in the kitchen. The program has a clever importer that allows you to grab recipes from web pages and documents without having to type them in. Just before the meeting Robert had a problem with the program where it corrupted his database and lost some recipes, he’ll be reporting this to the author.
No Comments »
Meeting Report: 12th March 2010
Posted: March 17th, 2010
In our news section members discussed more about Apple’s iPad and the changes to the Mac Developer programme. We also talked about Valve bringing their Steam game distribution platform and popular game titles to the Mac.
Dave, our resident indie Mac developer, then demonstrated his recently released privacy application called Tiptoe. This handy app allows users to run many popular applications with “private browsing” like privacy which stops traces of user activity such as recent items and history from being recorded.
Nigel then showed us Evernote, a comprehensive note taking system which stores your notes in the cloud so they can be accessed from the web, PC or Mac software and applications for popular mobile devices including the iPhone. Members were particularly impressed with Evernote’s ability to recognise text (including hand written notes) in images so they could be indexed and searched.
No Comments »
Meeting Report: February 12th 2010
Posted: February 11th, 2010
Updated: February 16th, 2010
The meeting started with our usual discussion of the latest Mac related news. The hot topic was of course Apple’s iPad announcement. As expected members were very excited about the device and there was much discussion about its features and how it will affect the market for laptops, netbooks and other devices. Other news items discussed included:
During the workshop portion of the meeting members discussed various Mac problems and gave hints and tips. Alan was looking for recommendations for how to deal with a large number of duplicates in his iTunes library.
Robert gave a demonstration of the Image Capture application included with Mac OS X. The new Snow Leopard version is a big improvement over previous releases and can be used with a wide variety of scanners and most digital cameras without installing drivers from their manufacturers. Despite some hardware problems with his scanner and camera, Robert showed some of the useful scanning features including automatic cropping and various image adjustment options.
No Comments »
|
