Resources for Apple User Group Presentations and Newsletters

LQ Graphics Photo to Movie

LQ Graphics Photo to Movie (PTM) gives you the simple ability to make professional and Hollywood movies from your stock pile of digital photos. PTM is much faster and easier than using iMovie or iPhoto. Prior to using PTM, I tried both iMovie and iPhoto and was frustrated in the time it took to do simple panning, not to mention that I could only pan from a beginning frame to an end frame. Adjusting the time and the overlaps was doable but not as effortless as in PTM. In addition, PTM allows you to pan, stop, and pan across the same photo a number of times so you can get the effect you want. No other application that I know of has the versatility and power of this program for performing pan and zoom effects to create movies. I highly recommend.

Click here to read the detailed review by The Macintosh Guild.

FileMaker Pro 9

Having had experience with several much earlier (Neolithic) versions of the database application FileMaker, I was able to begin using FMPro 9 for elementary operations almost immediately. However, the jump from FMPro 1 (which in OS 9 still did everything I needed but wouldn't work in 10.5/Intel) to FMPro 9 held a bunch of surprises for me, in the form of new capabilities and new ways of doing old ones.

Except for having to search for a few menu commands that were in new locations — some buried within sub-menus, I was able to quickly set up a database of an artists' organization's membership.

Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.

Tritton SEE2 Xtreme USB 2.0 DVI Video adapter

What do you do when you just need more desktop space to see all the parts of a project at the same time to keep things coordinated? Get a bigger desk. This is the concept behind multiple monitors and screen spanning. Several Mac models did not come equipped to support this concept, while the installed OS did. Enter the USB external monitor adapter. On a Mac Mini, when reading the directions for a process and you are called to launch the application, it often covers the directions. A second (or third) monitor can be a big help in these instances.

Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.

Digital Video Essentials: Apple Final Cut Pro 6

Digital Video Essentials: Apple Final Cut Pro 6 is the latest in a series of books written by Lisa Rysinger on digital video. The book is a valuable resource that should be placed in the personal reference library of every user of Final Cut Pro 6. It guides you through video editing in a step-by-step manner, using the industry's favorite Apple program. Lisa Rysinger is an accomplished author and teacher in her own right. Visit her site at http://vide.com/

Read the book review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.

Myvu Crystal Standard/Universal Goggles

I was very eager to try Myvu video eyewear with the new cable ($24.95) adapter designed just for my iPhone. I always wanted to try one of these video goggles. It was really simple to assemble; I begin watching a video from my iPhone in no time. This very-high-tech accessory is a great idea for viewing video from an iPod or iPhone player in privacy. I hoped it would be ideally suited for viewing a movie on an airplane; it would be comfortable and private. But I was very disappointed. The glasses would not stay on very comfortably and the video resolution was fuzzy unless I held them with one hand in a particular position. This was most tiring after awhile.

Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group

Mavis Beacon 2008 Deluxe International Edition

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing has been my favorite typing tutor program for many, many years. It offers dynamic personal lessons and numerous motivational affirmations throughout the program. With this version you can select British or American keyboard and spelling.

I love the integration with iTunes in this new version of the program. The very first lesson I opened pulled a very happy song in my iTunes library, which enhanced the pleasure of a typing lesson which would have been very boring otherwise. If you prefer to work in quiet, you can turn off the sound.

Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.

Photoshop CS4 and CS4 Extended

There are two editions of Photoshop CS4. If you work in film, video, multimedia, 3D, manufacturing, architecture, engineering, medicine, or science, Photoshop Extended is for you. If not, then Photoshop CS4 will serve you well. There are so many new features in CS4 which take advantage of Open GL to render screen effects such as Rotate View, dynamic brush resizing, pixel tossing, enhanced navigation, and more. Another technology called seam carving allows you to resize your images so your focal point remains unchanged. In step with these, comes a real 3-D engine, new Masks and Adjustments panels, and selective editing in Camera Raw, among many other new features.

Reade the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.

Garmin RoadTrip for Mac OS X

 RoadTrip for Mac users is quantum leap over trying to use the old MapSource for the PC. The interface is very Mac-like and was apparently developed by experienced Mac developers rather than being a clunky port from the PC version. It does exactly what it is intended to do without a lot of extraneous bells and whistles. It works very well with the newer Garmin USB compatible hardware and transfers data at very good rates. It gives you the ability to store copies of your trips and download a variety of more detailed mapping information to your GPS. Although it only works with the newer USB Garmin devices, if you have one of the older Garmin devices with a serial connection, you can still use RoadTrip to create routes and review tracks if you use a utility like Hiketech's Link2GPS and GPSWrite for connecting your GPS and transferring the data. If you are an avid or even casual GPS user who wants to go beyond what can be done with portable devices alone (i.e., enter a destination address and say "take me there"), then I highly recommend that you try RoadTrip.

Click here to read the detailed review by The Macintosh Guild.

Agent 18 Eco-Shield for iPhone

 When I received a press release about the Agent 18 Eco-Shield, I had very high hopes. It is an iPhone case that uses recycled plastic for packaging and is made from recycling plastic bottles. This would be an awesome way to reduce my carbon footprint while protecting my iPhone 3G investment. Unfortunately, while this wasn’t a case of greenwashing, I found the case inferior to others on the market and my green thumb couldn’t override my other nine fingers that didn’t like the case, in spite of reasonable pricing at $29.95 retail.

Read the review from the Lawrence Apple Users Group.

Spring Cleaning 10

Spring Cleaning reminds me of those shareware disks you would get with your order from a Mac mail-order catalog in the old days. Along with your order would be a floppy disk with an assortment of random shareware and freeware programs. Sometimes I’d order something just to get the latest disk. Back in the day, downloading and finding such programs were a major undertaking over dial up net connections.

Read the Review from the Lawrence Apple Users Group.