ThinkMac: Great Site and Podcast too!!!

Mac users: ThinkMac.net: smarter, happier and better looking!!
http://www.thinkmac.net/blog/

Podcast

Check this out, both the website and the Podcast in iTunes!! Quick tips to enhance the user experience of Mac OSX TIger! Providing Tips to new Mac users and Mac Geeks around the World.

Posted by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn

Save Internet Freedom, Support Net Neutrality

Save Internet Freedom, Support Net Neutrality
By Don@Smalldog.com

I was recently a speaker at a press conference in support of net
neutrality. We joined a coalition of groups to lobby Vermont Senator
Jeffords to actively support net neutrality in the telecommunications
bill coming up to the Senate this month. The senator came out in
favor of net neutrality last night, and we presented him with
petitions and held the press conference to encourage his support.
Vermont’s other Senator, Patrick Leahy, has been a net neutrality
supporter from the beginning. This is one of the few times that I
stood up with the ACLU, Vermont Public Interest Group, and groups
such as the Christian Coalition and the National Gun Owners
association to talk about a public policy issue. This is a vitally
important issue that you should be aware of and talk about with your
senators, too. More information is available at:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

The current telecommunications bill does not have protection for the
concept of net neutrality included in the legislation. At the urging
of a handful of telecommunications companies — namely, Verizon,
Comcast, Bell South, and AT&T — the legislation would allow these
very same internet "gatekeepers" to charge different rates for
different levels of access to the net. This would mean that the
larger companies could and would pay for faster page-loads and
preferred access while smaller companies, bloggers, and others may be
left with slow access or no access. The internet has been the most
free common ground for communications in the history of humanity. A
small company in the middle of nowhere with some good web-design
skills can look as good and provide the same goods and services as a
company that is much larger. With a tiered internet, that new
entrepreneur might be locked out of her new venture because she
cannot afford the extra fees for the higher level of access.

The impact upon bloggers, news sites, and a free press is even more
troublesome. An aggressive ISP might price these grassroots
newsgroups and bloggers out of the market or even make it so their
pages load so slowly that they are unusable. The only ones advocating
for overturning the status quo of a free, neutral net are those same
large telecommunications companies that want to make more money and
exercise more control over the content on the net. Some of the very
companies that could afford to pay these higher fees to gain faster
access are the most vociferous supporters of net neutrality.
Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google could easily pay to be
in the upper tier but have been very vocal and active in supporting a
free internet. They do not see any benefit to allowing Comcast,
Verizon, and Bell South to control internet content or speed.

Small Dog Electronics was born on the internet. The company was a
gleam in my eye and operated out of my living room and garage for the
first year of operation. We never would have had the success we have
achieved from the boonies in the Green Mountains without net
neutrality. It is a concept that is near and dear to us and one that
we will continue to support with our public voice and our votes.

How do you feel about net neutrality? Share your opinion at the Small
Dog Soapbox:

http://www.smalldog.com/PHPbb/viewforum.php?f=1

Posted by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn

Make Multiple iPhoto Libraries and iPohot File Structure

Make Multiple iPhoto Libraries or Make an iPhoto Library on an
External Hard Drive
By Ed@Smalldog.com

With iPhoto 5 and 6, it's very easy to create and maintain multiple
iPhoto libraries. You might do this to keep separate personal and
business iPhoto libraries, or to keep one iPhoto library installed on
your computer's hard drive and a separate iPhoto library installed on
an external drive.

To create a new iPhoto 5 or 6 library, click on the orange iPhoto
icon and then quickly hold down the Option key. You will be prompted
to choose an iPhoto library or to create a new library. If you create
a new library and you want to switch back to the old iPhoto library,
simply hold down the Option key again when launching iPhoto.

You can also download a great shareware program called iPhoto buddy
to manage multiple iPhoto libraries. iPhoto buddy makes it very easy
to do this. You can read about it and download it here:

http://www.iphotobuddy.com/

On the iPhoto File Structure

I could condense all my iPhoto wisdom in one sentence: for your own
benefit, please never, ever open the iPhoto folder library folder and
move files around. That's it. This is because iPhoto has to maintain
a very strict inventory of its data. The data structure is explained
here:

http://www.iphotolibrarymanager.com/Documentation/iPLM/pgs/
libraryfolder.html

There really is no reason for the vast majority of users to ever open
their iPhoto library folder. That includes me!

Posted by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn

Are you a Star Trek: New Voyages Fan?

A G5 for the 24th Century!
By Ed@Smalldog.com

A couple of weeks ago, Don Mayer received an email with the
intriguing subject, "A G5 for the 24th Century?" The email was from
Charles Root of Retro Film Studios, best known for their highly
regarded and hugely popular web-based series Star Trek: New Voyages.

If you are a Star Trek fan or simply a fan of great web-based movies,
you've probably heard of New Voyages. For everyone else, New Voyages
is a highly regarded, broadcast-quality, fan-created series set in
the Star Trek universe, focusing on the fourth year of the Starship
Enterprise's five-year mission. It is distributed on the web for
free. Episodes produced so far include the pilot, "Come What May,"
followed by "In Harm's Way." "To Serve All My Days" will be released
on September 8, 2006, at the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Gala
Celebration & Conference. Two more episodes are in preproduction:
"All The World and Time" and "The World Above, The Sky Below."

According the the New Voyages website, the idea of the series
originated with James Cawley. He had already assembled a large
collection of Star Trek set pieces and props, and had even built an
extremely impressive set based on the original Starship Enterprise
bridge. He had an idea to make a fan film, and with input from
director Jack Marshall, the series was set to launch.

New Voyages has attracted great interest from Star Trek alumni. "In
Harm's Way" featured Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. as a consulting
producer. The excellent special effects are handled by Max Rem, who
also worked on the Enterprise television series. Several writers from
various Trek series have pitched in as writers and even actors. The
next episode, "To Serve All My Days," was written by D.C. Fontana.
Indeed, "To Serve All My Days" will feature Walter Koenig in his
famous original role of Pavel Chekov — truly amazing for a web-based
series. George Takei will return as Sulu in the next episode, set to
begin shooting in September.

The New Voyages website proudly declares "STAR TREK LIVES!" Some of
the actors may only vaguely resemble the original cast, but the sets,
music, costumes and uniforms, and alien makeup seem as if they were
beamed from the late 1960s to the present day. It feels like a bona
fide, CBS-produced Star Trek TV series. Indeed, most of the effects
(especially space and ship scenes) are superior to the effects in the
original series.

New Voyages has the pioneering spirit of the original Star Trek
series. In real life, New Voyages is comprised of a diverse crew
working toward a combined goal. Charles Root, who sent the original
email to Small Dog, plays Mr. Scott. The other recurring cast
includes James Cawley as Captain Kirk, Jeff Quinn as Mr. Spock, John
Kelly as Doctor Leonard McCoy, Andy Bray as Lt. Pavel Chekov, John
Lim as Lt. Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu, Julienne Irons as Lt. Nyota Uhura, Ron
Boyd as Lt. Vincent Desalle, Shannon Giles as Nurse Christine Chapel,
and Katrina Kernodle as Yeoman Janice Rand. James Lowe, who is a Co-
Producer/Art Director and Website Co-Administrator (and also plays an
alien Federation Ambassador) wrote in with links to some pictures
(all photos are property of Star Trek New Voyages):

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/files/j-lo/sfm/album/

Effects and editing for New Voyages happen on of a variety of
computers and in a variety of software packages. Previous episodes
were cut on Adobe Premiere, with ship animation created in Lightwave.
Other post effects were added with Adobe After Effects. Some
rotoscoping and additional visual effects were done in Combustion.
Apple's Motion program might be used for some of this in the future.

Previously, some editing was done on a G3, which simply could not
keep up with production. Small Dog Electronics loaned New Voyages a
2.3 GHz Power Mac G5 to finish the current episode, "To Serve All My
Days," with Walter Koenig, which premiers September 8 at the Star
Trek: 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration & Conference at the Science
Fiction Museum in Seattle.

It is important to remember that the creators, cast, and crew of New
Voyages do not profit from its production. The best way to donate is
through gift cards from the retailers they buy supplies from. You can
also contact them with other ideas.

Successful, incredibly popular productions blending professional
knowhow, digital "prosumer" equipment, and amateur enthusiasm are
uprooting the traditional movie creation and distribution model. If
you want to see the future of media on the internet, visit New
Voyages here:

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/1024/home.php
Posted by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn

Your Windows Applications, Seamlessly Integrated on Mac OS X

Codeweavers Releases Beta of Crossover Mac
By Don@Smalldog.com

You have heard of Parallels and Boot Camp but Codeweavers solution for Windows applications is even neater. Basically CrossOver Mac will allow you to run COMPATIBLE Windows applications without having to own Windows! There are now over 2000 Windows applications that will simply just run in OS X. You'll need an Intel-based Mac and 120 MB of free hard drive space but this is an exciting development that might be the answer for many of us that only occasionally want to run a Windows app. CrossOver Mac allows you to install your favorite Windows applications and games on Mac OS X. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing Windows software simple and fast. Once installed, your application integrates seamlessly in OS X. Just click and run your application directly from
the OS X Finder. Clicking a Windows file or document - including email attachments - will launch the appropriate Windows program, allowing you to work on the files. Best of all you do it without needing a Microsoft operating system license.

This product will be about $60 when it is released but you can download the beta now and check out the long list of compatible applications. I do not own many Windows applications so I'd appreciate a first-hand review from any of you that do and I'll include it in our next issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

If you are lucky enough to have one of the new Intel Mac, you can even download a FREE Beta version right now and give it a try. Cyndi Danner-Kuhn