ATPM18.02 / February 2012 Volume 18, Number 2

About This Particular Macintosh: About the personal computing experience.™

ATPM 18.02 1 Cover

Cover ArtCopyright © 2012 Grant Osborne1. We need new cover art each month. Write2 to us!

The ATPM Staff

Publisher/Editor Michael Tsai3Managing Editor Christopher Turner4

Reviews Editor Paul Fatula5

Web Editor Lee Bennett6

Copy Editors Chris Lawson7

Linus Ly8

Ellyn Ritterskamp9

Brooke Smith10

VacantWebmaster Michael Tsai11

Beta Testers The Staff12

Contributing Editors Eric Blair13

Ed Eubanks Jr.14

Matthew Glidden15

Andrew Kator16

Robert Paul Leitao17

Wes Meltzer18

David Ozab19

Sylvester Roque20

Mark Tennent21

Evan Trent22

Frank H. Wu23

Vacant

1http://www.basenotes.net2mailto:cover-art@atpm.com3http://mjtsai.com4http://www.retrophisch.com5mailto:pfatula@atpm.com6http://albj.net/7http://chrislawson.net8http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com9http://www.ritterskoop.org

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ATPM 18.02 2 Cover

Artwork & Design

Layout and De-sign

Michael Tsai24

Web Design Simon Griffee25

Cartoonists Matt Johnson26, Linus Ly27, Grant Osborne28

Blue AppleIcons

Mark Robinson

Other Art RD NovoGraphics Direc-tor

Vacant

EmeritusRD Novo, Robert Madill, Belinda Wagner, Ja-mal Ghandour, Edward Goss, Tom Iovino, DanielChvatik, Mike Shields, Gregory Tetrault, Raena Ar-mitage, Johann Campbell, Ted Goranson, CharlesRoss.

ContributorsChris Albertson, Lee Bennett, Mike Grossman,Robert Paul Leitao, Linus Ly, Grant Osborne, DavidOzab, Narcis Parfenti, Ellyn Ritterskamp, SylvesterRoque, Cyrus Roton, Mark Tennent, Dave Traut-man, Christopher Turner, Macintosh users like you.

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Legal StuffAbout This Particular Macintosh may be uploadedto any online area or included on a CD-ROM com-pilation, so long as the file remains intact and unal-tered, but all other rights are reserved. All informa-tion contained in this issue is correct to the best ofour knowledge. The opinions expressed in atpm arenot necessarily those of the entire atpm staff. Prod-uct and company names and logos may be registeredtrademarks of their respective companies. Thank youfor reading this far, and we hope that the rest of themagazine is more interesting than this.

• • •

Thanks for reading atpm.

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ATPM 18.02 3 Cover

SponsorsAbout This Particular Macintosh has been free since 1995, and we intend to keep it that way. Our editorsand staff are volunteers with real jobs who believe in the Macintosh way of computing. We don’t make aprofit, nor do we plan to. Our aim is to produce a fiercely independent magazine, with multiple formatsdesigned for easy reading rather than showing ads. The views expressed in these pages have always beenour own, and to help prove it we do not accept direct sponsorships or advertising. We do, however, need topay for our Web site and other expenses, so we rely on minimal advertising, sold indirectly via Google andYahoo, as well as the support of atpm readers who shop at Amazon.com1 using our link.

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ATPM 18.02 4 Sponsors

Welcomeby Robert Paul Leitao, rleitao@atpm.com

Welcome to the February issue of About This Par-ticular Macintosh! We begin this month with a brieflook at Apple’s results for the December quarter. Forthose of us who use Apple products, the results re-veal that we have a lot more company. In this onequarter, around 60 million iOS devices were sold.

Apple’s December Quarter ResultsFor the 14-week period ended December 31, 2011,Apple reported record revenue of $46.33 billion andrecord earnings per share of $13.87. Revenue rose73%, and earnings per share rose 116% over the prior-year results.

In response to the outstanding December quar-ter performance, Apple’s market capitalization (thesum value of the company’s outstanding shares) cat-apulted to over $410 billion, making Apple the mosthighly valued company in the land. At press time,Apple’s market capitalization is about $417 billionversus about $245 billion for Microsoft and $221 bil-lion for IBM. Apple’s first big rival was IBM. Ap-ple’s second big rival was Microsoft. Within the nextyear, Apple’s value may equal or exceed the valueof the company’s two former rivals combined. Ap-ple’s biggest rival today does not have a corporatename. Apple now competes with capacity constraintsto meet global demand for the company’s popularproducts.

To put this level of success in perspective, Ap-ple’s December quarter revenue of $46.33 billion wasgreater than the company’s total annual revenueof $42.905 billion in the fiscal year that ended inSeptember 2009. Over a three-year period endingthis September, Apple will grow four times in size.

The iPhoneDespite early concerns that the iPhone 4S did notrepresent a conspicuous change in the technology con-sumers might have expected in the latest iPhone re-fresh, iPhone unit sales rose 128% to over 37 millionunits in the December quarter. Siri, Apple’s “intelli-gent personal assistant,” has become a big hit amongiPhone 4S handset owners. Powered by the A5 chip,the iPhone 4S handset was the clear winner amongthe smartphone choices available to US consumers inthe period.

The MacintoshIn the December quarter, Apple sold nearly 5.2 mil-lion Macintosh personal computers. For the secondconsecutive quarter, Apple’s global network of retailstores sold well over 1 million Macs with 50% of salesthrough the stores to customers new to the Macin-tosh platform. The Mac’s 26% unit sales gain defiedthe slowing pace of global PC sales.

The iPadThe iPad 2’s biggest competition in the Decembercame not from another tablet-style device. TheiPad’s competition was customer expectations of alate winter/early spring launch of the much antici-pated iPad 3. In the quarter, Apple sold over 15.4million iPads with year-over-year sales growth of111%. At this time, the global sales potential of theiPad cannot be reasonably determined.

Looking Beyond the NumbersNumbers can tell a story. But the big story of Apple’ssuccess is how the company’s approach to product in-novation has changed the way we communicate withone another and the ways in which we access newsand information from around the world.

Although Apple is now among the world’s largestand most successful enterprises, the company’s suc-cess is due to the millions of people who use Appleproducts each and every day. At atpm, we chroniclethe “personal computing experience.” We’d like tohear how Apple-branded devices have enhanced yourcomputing life. Success comes in different forms andsizes. How are Apple products helping you succeedeach day in the business of life? Please send yourstory to editor@atpm.com.

Our February issue includes:

MacMuser1: The Best and Worst Christ-mas PresentsThis month, Mark Tennent muses the Galaxy Tab,hard drive warranties, and Baconnaise.

1http://www.atpm.com/18.02/macmuser.shtml

ATPM 18.02 5 Welcome

PEBKAC2: The Normals’ View of Appleand the iPhoneTech-heads should realize that their view of Appleand the iPhone is very different from that of normalfolks.

Segments: An Achievable Dream3

Dave Trautman is back with more tales of his Mac-intosh computing experience.

Segments: Digital > Analog > Digital4A plea to keep QR codes on paper where they belong.

Segments: Smart Move?5

I want iPhone.

How To: Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones6

Custom iPhone ringtones do not require paying Applea dollar each, or buying specialized software to dothe job. You probably already have all the softwarenecessary to make them yourself.

Desktop Pictures: From ATPM Readers7

Four atpm readers provided this month’s photos.

The Spinning Beachball8In a paperless society, dogs still eat homework.

Review: The Information Diet9: A Casefor Conscious ConsumptionJust as there is junk food, there is junk information.Learn how to resist it.

Review: MacJournal 6.010

David Ozab has high marks for this powerful, flexible,and easy-to-use journaling environment.

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Copyright © 2012 Robert Paul Leitao. Robert Paul Leitaois a contributing editor at atpm and is author of thePosts At Eventide11 and The iPad Chronicles12 blogs.

11http://www.postsateventide.com12http://www.theipadchronicles.com

ATPM 18.02 6 Welcome

E-MailAAPL DividendThank you for another great issue of atpm. I enjoyreading every issue even when it only seems to talkabout the iPhone.

But I have a question that I hope you can answer.I’ve never understood the talk about Apple and itsstock. Your latest issue mentions1 “the company ex-pects earnings for the 14-week period in excess of $11per share.” I happen to own some Apple stock, andI know there is only one type of stock available fromthem, and Apple has never paid a dividend on theirstock, so how and why is this $11 per share figurevalid, and why is it stated at all? The stock rises andthe stock falls, but there are no dividends. Maybethis is a subject you could consider talking a littleabout in a future issue. Thank you and keep up thegreat work.

—Claude NolanAs you point out, Apple does not currently paya quarterly dividend. Although there is muchspeculation that the company will return to aregular dividend program in 2012 or 2013, thelast regular dividend paid by Apple was in late1995 and prior to the return of Steve Jobs tothe company.

At present, the only way for Apple to in-crease shareholder wealth, since a dividend innot paid, is through share price appreciation.Although many factors including overall mar-ket conditions impact the share price, earningsand earnings growth are the primary catalystsfor share price appreciation. Earnings growthand the rate of earnings growth are importantfor current Apple shareholders and prospectiveshareholders evaluating the stock.

According to Yahoo! Finance, the currentWall Street 1-year price target is $505.96against a closing price today of $411.23. Incontrast, my current 12-month target price2,published in late October, is $640 based onexpectations of earnings per share growth of66%.

Because Apple’s earnings per share perfor-mance drives Wall Street price targets, it’s im-portant to mention when discussing the com-pany’s continuing success. I like the idea ofcovering the topic in a more comprehensive way

1http://www.atpm.com/18.01/welcome.shtml2http://www.postsateventide.com/p/aapl-12-month-pri

ce-targets.html

in a future issue of atpm, and I will discussthat with Michael and the editors. Please letme know if this response adequately addressesyour question or if more information is desired.

—Robert Paul Leitao

• • •

Thank you for your response to my e-mail. Your e-mail does answer my biggest question. Thank you.

I’ve had a few thoughts about Apple stock thatyou might also expand on should you decide to coverthe Apple stock topic in the future. Why hasn’t Ap-ple split their stock again? As much as I enjoy andbenefit from the price increase, it seems to me thatit would do even better if it were starting from alower base price. Wouldn’t it make sense that morepeople could and would invest in Apple stock if theprice were more reasonable? Do you think that Applemight be thinking of buying back some of the out-standing shares with some of the huge cash reservesthey have built up? Would that even make sense? Iwasn’t aware that Apple had paid any dividends. Ipurchased my shares either in 1995 or 96 and haveseen it split twice. Must have been ’96 since I neverreceived any dividends. I hope that Michael and theeditors agree that an article on the financial side ofApple is a worthy subject for atpm and would lookforward to reading it.

Thank you again for your response and your con-sideration of my suggestions.

—Claude Nolan

I’m working on an article covering the topicsthat you asked about for a future issue of atpm.

—Robert Paul Leitao

MacMuser: It’s Got No Blinking Light3

Sometimes I wonder how to find out if my iMac isreally sleeping or just has the display turned off. . .

—Ulf

Apple’s Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come4

Steve Jobs was widely credited with being the spiritand driving force behind innovation at Apple. He

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ATPM 18.02 7 E-Mail

is now gone. How likely is it that the team he leftbehind can continue the rapid and successful paceof innovation seen in the past decade? If one looksaround the technology landscape, Apple has beenrather unique in doing so under Jobs.

—Warren Shaw

The brilliance of Steve Jobs extended to the tal-ent he selected to lead the company. Tim Cook,for example, is an extraordinarily talented andhardworking individual who has an impressivecommand of and knowledge about all thingsApple.

I expect strong results from Apple over thenext few years as the company’s global marketexpansion continues unabated.

—Robert Paul Leitao

How Did This Happen?5

Your upgrade story reminds me of one with a Win-dows box a couple of years ago. I had a dual-processormotherboard gathering dust in my closet and wanteda decent (not top-shelf) Windows box for some lightgaming and other work-related tasks.

After six weeks and too much cash, I droppedthe project, sold off all the accumulated parts, andbought a small mid-tower HP cheap. It required re-placement of the power supply to power the graphicsadapter, but that was easily done.

The frustration factor was significant on thisproject, and I doubt I’ll attempt it again. . .even withall of my experience building and maintaining Linuxboxen.

Good story. . .—Dave Thompson

Easter Island Desktop Pictures6

I’ve got a Canon EOS Rebel t1i I got second hand.I will be taking it to Thailand and shooting somenew photos next month. atpm was kind enough topublish7 my first photos of the LOS (Land of Smiles)a few years back. The camera adapter for my iPadlets me preview my photos before I send them hometo my Mac Pro desktop. Awesome pictures of EasterIsland!

—Grover Watson5http://www.atpm.com/18.01/segments-how-happen.shtm

l6http://www.atpm.com/18.01/desktop-pictures.shtml7http://www.atpm.com/9.11/desktop-pictures.shtml

Adobe Persuasion8

Persuasion crushed PowerPoint in ease of use bothin development and presentation. Why did Adobeabandon such a great tool?

—Pete Fanarkiss

We’d love to hear your thoughts about our publication. Wealways welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions, andpraise. Or, if you have an opinion or announcement aboutthe Macintosh platform in general, that’s OK too. Send youre-mail to editor@atpm.com. All mail becomes the propertyof atpm and may be edited for publication.

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ATPM 18.02 8 E-Mail

MacMuserby Mark Tennent, http://www.tennent.co.uk

The Best and Worst Christmas PresentsThis year, because we are all grown-ups and havegot most of the toys we want already, we decided tohave a white elephant Christmas. This meant thatwe had presents to put under the tree and open afterSanta had passed our house. To be honest, we didwonder how he was going to get through the door ofour wood-burning stove.

Our tree this year was a work of art. After consid-ering £60 too high for something we would use for lessthan a week, we made our own by weaving ivy arounda conical plant support from the garden. With rose-mary branches poking out to look and smell like thereal thing, it was remarkably effective, especially witha large pile of Christmas presents surrounding it.

The white elephant is a North American idea,adapted for our needs. We bought gifts that couldbe entertaining or consumable by us all. At “presenttime,” we took turns selecting a gift and unwrappingit. Once we had one or more opened, we could chooseto steal from someone else rather than select a newparcel.

From the start, I was getting amazing presents—the benefit of having wealthy children. However,what does an iPad owner do with a Samsung GalaxyTab? Could I really use another copy of the SteveJobs biography, packs of green tea, or two pairs ofstereo headphones? Meanwhile, my family openedradio-controlled helicopters, bottles of vintage port,and two huge radio-controlled tanks. After an ami-cable shuffling around, we all settled down with ournew toys.

The tanks were not what had been ordered on-line. They were meant to be four cheap and cheerfultoys we could race around the house “shooting” oneanother—get hit and an LED glowed on the tank.The four had been replaced by two top-of-the-rangemodels, complete with real firing guns, two-speedgearboxes, and the like. By Boxing Day, our gar-den had become the Battle of the Bulge, completewith air support from the chopper.

Meanwhile, indoors, two Mac users were comingto grips with Android. We’ve wanted to have a goodlong session with a different tablet, and the Galaxyis the best of the also-rans. After a confused few

hours, I was getting more used to Android but, likeWindows, the main impression is that the operatingsystem keeps you at arm’s length from the computer.User choice is offered for no apparent benefit, unlikethe warm and comfortable feeling one gets within thewalls of Apple’s iOS. Nevertheless, as a tablet, theSamsung Galaxy Tab does most things well but ishindered by its operating system, which is clunky inmany areas.

Especially when you try to connect a Galaxy Tabwith a Mac or copy anything to it. Even Samsung’sWeb site is a little nebulous and recommends third-party software rather than its own. After hours of ex-perimenting and looking online for solutions, the freeapp Cheetah Sync1 seems the best solution for Mac-to-Tab connectivity, albeit working across a wirelessnetwork only.

Forget the simplicity of keeping address books,calendars, applications, photographs, and e-booksautomatically in sync across Macs, iPhones, andiPads unless you sign up to Google’s walled garden,which can be even more restrictive than Apple’s.This rather defeats the argument that Android isan “open” system. In reality, it’s a case of choosingApple’s or Google’s proprietary doorways. At leastchoosing an iPad gives the option of both.

• • •

Just before Christmas, Seagate gave us a nastyshock. It has reduced the warranty period on itsdrives (many to only one year), following in thefootsteps of Western Digital. In our experience,Western Digital drives have given us the most prob-lems, especially its MyBook series; and reducing theguarantee to only two years compounded our dislike.Our best drives have been Conners and a couple ofold Maxtors that just refuse to die. Conner mergedwith Seagate in 1996 and Maxtor in 2006; Seagatebought Samsung’s HDD business recently. At themoment, there are only three HDD manufacturers inthe world: Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital,with the latter having the greatest market share.

1http://jrtstudio.com/CheetahSync

ATPM 18.02 9 MacMuser: The Best and Worst Christmas Presents

Seagate Barracudas have been our default choicefor SATA drives. We have had a couple of failureswithin its three-year warranty period, but Seagatehas replaced them by return of post. It is moving allnew Barracuda drives, except the Barracuda XT, toone-year guarantees. Who in his right mind will trustdata to a drive that the manufacturer expects to failafter one year?

What was the other worst Christmas present?Luckily, not something I selected in the white ele-phant but had a taste of on Boxing Day. The productexceeds the fermented shark meat known as hákarl,beloved by Icelanders, and goes further than GamleOle, the year-old stinking cheese the Danes daren’thave in the house. Even the putrid odour of thenotorious durian has more attraction.

The product is called Baconnaise, a blend of ba-con flavour and cheap mayonnaise that should bebanned from European shores on the grounds of taste.Sales took off in the US after OprahWinfrey endorsedit. Personally, I agree with Jon Stewart, another USpundit. On trying Baconnaise for the first time, hegagged and stated afterwards that it’s “for peoplewho want to get heart disease but. . .are too lazy toactually make the bacon.”

Copyright © 2012 Mark Tennent2.

2http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 18.02 10 MacMuser: The Best and Worst Christmas Presents

PEBKACby Christopher Turner, cturner@atpm.com

The Normals’ View of Apple and the iPhoneThe last Macworld Expo I attended was in January2009. This also happened to be the last MacworldExpo Apple attended. While in the Bay Area, I andsome friends took advantage of the location and madethe short trip to Cupertino, and the Apple CompanyStore. For those who’ve never been, the CompanyStore differs from your average Apple retail store inthat it offers a variety of Apple-branded items suchas clothing, hats, and paper and office products, inaddition to the hardware and software you’d expectto see. I left with a black fleece pullover with a silverApple logo on the left breast (on clearance, no less).

By now you’re wondering why this is at all im-portant, and after all, aren’t I simply bragging? TheApple fleece has become my go-to sweatshirt. It’scomfortable, and as we fashionistas all know, blackgoes with everything. So it’s not uncommon duringthe two or three days of winter we have here in northTexas to see me sporting the Apple fleece. It’s also amainstay when I take our oldest son to the rink forhockey.

At a recent practice, a pair of fellow hockey dadswere standing by the glass a few feet from me, dis-cussing the iPhone, Apple the company, and SteveJobs. One of them had obviously recently finishedWalter Isaacson’s biography on Jobs1, given some ofthe material he was regurgitating. This led to morematerial on Apple as a company, both under Jobsand without him at the helm, and about the iPhoneand iPad. As I watched our sons practice and half-listened to their conversation, I was struck yet againat how differently I view the technology world, andspecifically Apple and its products, from normal peo-ple.

Please understand that when I say “normal” peo-ple, it is not a term of derision, like, say, muggle.I worked in IT for a decade and a half, nearly tenof those years exclusively on Macs. You wanted toknow why Mac OS 8 wasn’t behaving properly oncethe Finder appeared on screen after boot? Why, youmay well have a rogue extension or control panel in-stalled; let’s take a look. What’s this, Mac OS X

1http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451648537/?tag=aboutthisparticu

is actually based on Unix, and there’s now a com-mand line? Oh, goody, something new to learn so wecan better exploit the ease with which things can getdone and we can get back to our game of Doom 3.Or Modern Warfare 3. Or whatever game’s the latestand greatest. (Because that last part is what normalpeople think IT people are really doing when we’renot actually working on a computer.)

As I said, I see these sort of things differently, asdo many of my friends, including colleagues on thisvery publication. Normal people don’t buy black Ap-ple fleece sweatshirts. And if they happen to, normalpeople usually don’t make a special trip out of theirway to do so.

What I have noticed about wearing the fleecein the three years I’ve had it, is that fewer andfewer people will ask if I work for Apple. Or usedto, if they know what my current occupation is.The why is easy to answer: today, more than ever,Apple is such an important part of people’s dailylives that it’s not an oddity any more. Apple isno longer the alternative-to-Windows company.Apple is now the iPhone company2. And it seemsthat everywhere I look, someone’s using an iPhone.

And interacting with normal people who useiPhones, I’ve quickly learned that they use theiriPhone much differently than we more-plugged-intechie types do. For instance, they usually only haveone Twitter client, the official one from Twitter—ifthey have a Twitter client at all! <gasps, shock,horror> They don’t spend a lot of time obsessingover the latest and greatest apps, and most of thetime what they have installed beyond Apple’s defaultapps are recommendations from friends. From myown random, completely unscientific observations ofthe iPhone-using normal masses, the non-Apple appI see in use the most is Facebook.

I realize that a lot of this sounds like commonsense, but it’s sometimes hard for us techie typesto understand how differently we see the technologyworld versus normal folks. Those people who justwant stuff to work, just want to get stuff done so they

2http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-apple-the-iphone-company-2012-1

ATPM 18.02 11 PEBKAC: The Normals’ View of Apple and the iPhone

can get on with their lives. For us, the tech stuff isour life. Those who can make the transition back andforth easily are the ones who do very well in the ITconsulting arena. And, normal folks, it’s always greatto have someone like that in your corner.

Copyright © 2012 Christopher Turner, cturner@atpm.com.Managing Editor Christopher Turner is no longer in the ITbiz, but he has several friends who are. To his knowledge,none of them wear a black Apple fleece, but they are friendlyand knowledgeable.

ATPM 18.02 12 PEBKAC: The Normals’ View of Apple and the iPhone

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh Lifeby Dave Trautman, dave.trautman@shaw.ca

An Achievable DreamThe idea was to assemble all the parts necessary forme to shoot, edit, master, and distribute video pro-ductions on a completely portable system. The firstproper decision was to acquire a 17-inch MacBookPro with a 120 GB hard drive, a 2.16 GHz Core Duo,and max out the RAM at 2 GB.

I picked up a PYRO AV converter in order to beable to take on any possible source of video and au-dio from other recording situations. It allowed me toconvert digital and analog sources to FireWire sig-nals, which could be utilized on my MacBook Pro.

I had a professional digital video camera withFireWire output and got some Sennheiser micro-phones to go with it. My trusty tripod was stilluseful, and my lights were old but good. I had abird’s nest of adaptors and cables from decades ofproduction work, and I had now amassed a largecollection of USB, FireWire, DVI, HDMI, and otheradaptors and extensions to fit any situation I mightencounter.

I saved up for 18 months to afford Final Cut Stu-dio with all the components I would need to edit andmaster my video work and burn DVDs on my Mac-Book’s SuperDrive. Three very large external harddrives were the final parts of the project, which fi-nalized my shopping list of needs to become a fullyindependent video producer. Of course, a newer ver-sion was released a month later.

• • •

At different times of my life, I’ve worked inside andeven been responsible for multi-million dollar produc-tion studio facilities. I’ve done work in some of themost advanced facilities, and I’ve been fortunate tohave been given access to the most current machinesand techniques of video production as they were in-troduced. I began my career when a studio was theprimary location for making television. I entered theworkforce just at the time when cameras were mov-ing from the pedestal to the shoulder. They becamesmall enough to walk around and move toward thecontent instead of booking time under the lights andhaving the content come by for a visit.

I was extremely fortunate to have had a kind oflaboratory of video equipment and mobile gear whereI could experiment with different approaches to sto-rytelling and be exposed to a lot of the innovationswhich were arriving all the time. After a while, Ibecame responsible for running a studio in a largeuniversity, where materials were produced in-housefor use in class.

While I was in technical school, I challenged myinstructors regarding the future of television. I be-lieved computers were going to play a significant partin the making of television. They told me it wouldbe a very long time before people used computers inany part of making television.

I can confess that I did not find myself doing asmuch production as I planned for when I put togethermy studio-in-a-box concept. My work took a turnaway from direct production, and I eventually be-came a consultant to others. My experience and ex-pertise in all things media meant I was more involvedin helping others do their projects than I was in doingmy own. It was much more lucrative to be paid forhelping others than to invest in a project that mightor might not find a paying audience.

Shortly after I got my MacBook Pro, I was in LosAngeles and the motherboard died. I was able totake a day and get to the Century City Apple Storeon Santa Monica Blvd where I could see a “genius”about my problem. It was my first Apple Store ex-perience, and it was quite amazing. It was the firsttime I was able to observe people responding to thespecial qualities of the Apple product experience ina relatively normal shopping environment (as muchas one can say any shopping in L.A. is the least bitnormal).

My genius was very quick to determine the prob-lem and immediately offered to take the machine andfix it within a day or two. I had to explain that Iwas from Canada and would have to have it fixed lo-cally once I returned home. From what I had read atthe time, my particular model of MacBook Pro wasexperiencing this problem a lot. Upon my return, Iwent to my usual Mac service people and they had

ATPM 18.02 13 Segments: An Achievable Dream

my machine turned around in a day. Since then I’vehad zero problems with the motherboard.

About a year into owning my MacBook Pro, Ap-ple opened a retail outlet in my city with its ownGenius Bar.

Over the years, I have had some other issues withmy MacBook Pro. The first was quite surprising be-cause I had absolutely no idea what my problem was.I was, by this time in my Macintosh experience, chas-tened enough not to try to suss out the problem. Imade an appointment and brought my MacBook Proin for an inspection.

I had prepared a full length account of what I hadbeen up to, when things began to get wonky, andsome of my own theories about what might be wrongwith the machine. I sat on the stool and lifted themachine out of my case and set it on the counter. Thegenius immediately told me he could see my problemand he would be happy to replace my battery rightthen. I was flabbergasted. I pleaded with him tohear my story while he went to work keyboarding thesession and ordering up a replacement battery.

But the real shock for me was when there was nocharge for the visit. This was the second time that myMacBook Pro was taken in for work and there was nocost. What struck me was how observant this personwas in noticing the slightest bulge of the battery onmy machine. Until he pointed out the very smallbulge, I could not see it. Once the replacement wasout of the box and in my machine it was happy daysall over again.

As I was traveling more regularly for this particu-lar contract period than I normally did, I decided tobuy a second battery and have it for those times whenmy machine was running low. The original batterywas now replaced, and another battery was boughtabout three months later. When I was not traveling,the “spare” was on a shelf over my desk at home.

• • •

I had gotten pretty familiar with most of the Mac lineof laptops years previous to this. My father developeda condition where he had much difficulty walking andstanding, so I got him a greenish clamshell iBook touse. He learned to use e-mail, to browse for interest-ing things on his Internet connection, and he learnedto trade stocks on his account using the iBook. Af-ter about four years of daily use, this clamshell wasupgraded to a white iBook, and he continued to useit until he died in 2010.

My wife was allowed to get a white MacBook on atechnology allowance at her work and became some-what familiar with it. My son ended up using mywife’s MacBook for most of his high school years.When he started university, I bought him a nice newMacBook Pro with the unibody aluminium frame.There was a promotion at the time for a free iPodtouch. My son was not interested in the iPod touch,so I got it. It’s been in continuous use by me eversince.

My son’s approach to his MacBook Pro is tochange nothing. After three years he is still runningthe same system it came with. I had him loadOffice for the Mac and a couple of other utilities,but he’s never responded to the upgrade offers, orfelt he needed to move up to Snow Leopard or Lion.Only recently did he ask me to put Parallels on themachine and let him load up Windows 7 for some ofhis assignments.

As for me, I’ve upgraded my machine each timea new OS arrived on store shelves, and I’ve kept allof my utilities, applications, and widgets up-to-date.My MacBook Pro is not capable of running Lion,and there are one or two other limitations emerg-ing, which will require me to address its future fairlysoon. I continue to Time Machine my data and stayaware of issues of security and new features. I thinkthis is still a throwback to when I was running anunstable machine and needed to feel I could handleany problem.

Right now my machine sports a large dent on onecorner of the lid where it made contact with some con-crete stairs when I missed a step and stumbled. Mycomputer briefcase is leather, and I use a shoulderstrap mostly when carrying it. I hurt myself some-what when I stumbled, and I did not really notice mycomputer bag at the time. In fact it was not until afew days later that I noticed the dent on the machine.I had been using it constantly over those days and didnot really observe the lid closely until the weekend.I immediately imagined that my son had borrowedit somehow and put a dent in it, but I quickly dis-missed that (as much as I wanted to blame someoneelse) and it took me some time before I could recon-struct my movements of the past few days to makethe connection between my stumble and the dent.The machine usually travels in the briefcase in sleep-mode, and there was no damage to any of the data.This MacBook continues to impress me even as it getsolder.

ATPM 18.02 14 Segments: An Achievable Dream

My contract work required me to get Parallels forthe Mac, and it came with a companion disc of Win-dows XP as part of the sales promotion. I was able tooperate within a large government ministry entirelyoutfitted with IBM desktop machines and IBM lap-tops (as well as Lenovo tablet PCs) and access theirnetworks and servers as well as SharePoint and Ex-change systems with no trouble at all. It was alsohelpful for the MacBook Pro to be able to switchback and forth between systems so I could use mymore powerful Macintosh software when I needed it.As far as anyone wandering by my desk knew, I wasrunning a version of WinXP on my aluminium lap-top. Very few people noticed that it was a Mac. Butwhen they did it started some interesting conversa-tions about how they would prefer to use one or howthey got one for their son or daughter because it wasa better machine for school.

My MacBook Pro did make a few video projects,and once I was editing some video on my laptop inthis government office when someone noticed this.They were amazed that I was able to handle the videoand audio right there on my portable machine. Theywere also amazed later when the video played in aboard room on the hi-res projector and it looked fan-tastic. I delivered a DVD master for three differentvideo projects in that contract, and they were dupli-cated and distributed across the entire ministry.

• • •

The only other technical mystery related to owningmy MacBook Pro was when my household Wi-Fi con-nection would occasionally fail me. I would be work-ing away quite normally, and suddenly the Wi-Fiwould drop out for no particular reason.

This re-animated the “old me,” who was deter-mined to suss out this problem for himself. I spentmore than three months trying to narrow down thisproblem. I worried about the operating temperatureof the MacBook Pro getting too high if I was do-ing complex work. But that wasn’t it. My machinewould drop the wireless link even when it was cold.And I even investigated nearby wireless signals thatmight interfere with mine. But it did not reveal anyconclusions. I ran test after test and worked for along time on my own before I went to my local Applegenius to see what they could do.

Of course, the machine operated perfectly at thestore on their network. As much as I might explain,they just could not reproduce the problem. But they

did suggest that my wireless chip might have an inter-mittent problem and they would be happy to replaceit. So I did.

After about a week of having a more normal net-work connection, the drop outs started up again. Itwas during one of those frustrating afternoons whereI’d finally resolved to close the lid on this machinefor the rest of the day that I literally put my fingeron the problem. After closing the top of the laptop,I stood up from my chair and touched the sleepingmachine as I stepped away from the desk. I felt a cur-rent on the outside of the computer which I had notnoticed before. I wondered what was causing this.I knew from my vast experience with electronics ofall kinds that sometimes when the “ground” of anelectrical connection is “lifted”—or gets severed—atrace of the current will be conducted to the metalthe device is made with.

When I noticed the slight current with my fin-ger, I turned my attention to the power chain. Myhousehold outlets had all been upgraded two yearsbefore with a top-to-bottom re-wiring of my house(which included a lighting strike protection circuitfor the whole house). So, I had some confidence thatthe wall outlet was likely not the problem. Then Iturned to the power bar, which connects AC to allmy devices on this desk. When I pulled the cord outfor the MacBook Pro adaptor, the current on the lap-top vanished. When I plugged it back in, it returned.So then I checked the MagSafe connection, and whenit was out the current was not there; back into thesocket and the current returned.

Fortunately I had bought a spare power supplysome years back, when I realized I would be better offto leave one at the office and keep one at home. Thenext day I brought home the office power adaptorand substituted it for the previous one. Magically,there was no longer any current traveling throughthe metal case. I had solved this problem a little toolate to save myself some money, but essentially theun-grounded electrical connection was generating afield which was blocking the Wi-Fi signal just enoughthrough the case of the MacBook Pro to have it dropout fairly randomly. With a new power adaptor inhand, I returned to my desk and replaced the faultyone. Ever after I have had no trouble whatsoeverkeeping and holding a wireless network connection.

• • •

ATPM 18.02 15 Segments: An Achievable Dream

About a week later, I went to swap my battery for the“spare” I kept on the shelf and found it was poppedopen. This was the “newer” of the two I owned. Ihad written the purchase date on the plastic of eachof my batteries to distinguish them from each other.

A couple of days later I walked into my local Ap-ple store (having made my appointment online) andslapped down this bursting battery. It was the onlytime I encountered some resistance from them regard-ing my product failures. But after assuring them thatI in no way caused this battery to burst and pressingthem to “do the right thing” they eventually replacedit. So now I had replaced two separate MacBook Probatteries at no cost.

This is—for me—a hallmark of the Apple expe-rience. Fully aware that if I owned a different kindof computer or laptop I would never have been giventhe kind of service I got from the Apple Store, I ammore than just a little eager to show off my now agingMacBook Pro and tell tales of how they’ve kept megoing.

I’ve heard stories from people who’ve broken aniPhone or dunked an iPod and taken them for exam-ination by an Apple genius. In these stories, it is toldthat the genius has considerable latitude in decidingwhether the “story” being told is an interesting oneor is credible, and Apple encourages them to keep thecustomer happy—even if it means a little bit of costto the company.

I can certainly testify to how happy I’ve been withmy adventures in laptop computing when it came togetting service from my Apple Store (and one other).And this takes me right back to my first encounterwith an Apple IIe, where I developed more and moreconfidence in both the idea of relying on computers todo important work as well as enjoying the experienceand being delighted by the whimsical approach Appletook to dealing with the user experience. Each of theMacintosh machines I’ve used has been yet anotheradvancement of my capabilities and a realization ofmy larger dream of utilizing the power of computersin my every day work.

This is a continuation of the story begun in last month’sHow Did This Happen?1. Copyright © 2012 Dave Traut-man. Dave is a Media Specialist working in Canada, witha special background in Media Effects, who has been usinga Macintosh computer since 1988. The Segments section

1http://www.atpm.com/18.01/segments-how-happen.shtml

is open to anyone. If you have something interesting to sayabout life with your Mac, write us.

ATPM 18.02 16 Segments: An Achievable Dream

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh Lifeby Lee Bennett, lbennett@atpm.com

Digital > Analog > DigitalIf you are connected to me via one of numerous socialmedia channels, you’re likely aware of my disdain ofQR codes. There’s only one use I find to be helpful:embed a lot of contact information into one and printit on a business card. This allows me to quickly set upa contact in my iPhone. I scan the code and importa vCard instead of manually (and slowly) entering aname, e-mail address, Web address, phone number,fax number, and physical address, ad nauseum.

vCards aside, nearly every QR code I encountersimply pushes a Web address. Though I’m awarethat plenty of people feel differently, I can generallyalways open my iPhone Web browser and tap out aURL faster than I can open a QR scanner app, waitfor the camera to wake up, scan the code, wait fortranslation, tap the link, and let the Web browsertake over to load the page.

I’ve been asked, but what about long URLs suchas:

www2.fooblahfooflah.co.uk/?id=1234&dumb=sk30s&lotsmoreURLoperators

Simple: if you have marketed a URL that’s muchmore than yourURL.com/something, then you’re do-ing it wrong.

Fine, people enjoy scanning those ugly squares (agraphic designer’s nightmare), so I concede they’ll beprinted on stuff for a long time to come. Thankfully,it doesn’t mean I have to scan them.

There is, however, a new problem. The entirepoint of QR codes is to bridge the physical/analogworld with the online/digital world. They provide ameans, on a physical object (e.g. paper), to connectyou to something online. But, the QR code fad hasgrown faster than people’s understanding of them. Asa result, they have crept into venues in which they donot belong—Web pages, social media profiles, etc.

A recent example is Firehouse Subs’ Twitter page1.At this moment, the page has two QR codes as partthe background image, which link to their mobileapps for iOS and Android. Don’t get me wrong, a

1http://twitter.com/firehousesubs

Firehouse sub with the founder’s datil pepper sauceis a party in my mouth. Nevertheless, to see QRcodes on a Web page is foolish.

Why?Before I answer, I must make the observation that

the design of Firehouse Subs’ Twitter page leaves pro-file content covering over the QR codes, so they can’tbe seen or scanned unless you have your browser win-dow stretched wider than the Mississippi River.

Firehouse Subs’ Twitter page as of January 19, 2012.

But, if we assume a Web content worker ensuresthe QR code is visible, why not instead provide ahyperlink to click or tap?

Put another way, a QR code on a Web page as ameans to link to another Web page is like duplicatinga digital music CD to an analog audiocassette, thendigitizing it back to a new CD. Obviously, the correctprocedure would instead be to digitally copy the CDdirectly. Likewise with Web pages, the visitor is al-ready in the digital world. A plain hyperlink to clickwill do just fine.

So, here’s my month-late New Year’s resolutionfor Web content workers: if you need to use a prettygraphic link instead of a plain text link, so be it, butresist the fad-driven urge to place URL-loaded QRcodes on Web pages.

Copyright © 2012 Lee Bennett. The Segments section isopen to anyone. If you have something interesting to sayabout life with your Mac, write us.

ATPM 18.02 17 Segments: Digital > Analog > Digital

ATPM 18.02 18 Segments: Digital > Analog > Digital

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh Lifeby Linus Ly, lly@atpm.com

Smart Move?I use Macs and an iPad for all my personal com-puting. For mobile music listening, I have an iPodshuffle, mostly because both a 10 GB iPod and aniPod touch died on me. I got my brother and oneof my sisters to go Mac, too, which means less techsupport work for me. Recently, I finally made theleap to having a smartphone, and I ended up with anAndroid phone—to be exact, a Samsung Galaxy S.What? Why not an iPhone? It mostly came down toinertia and money.

Change is a constant in life, but there is also in-ertia. Changes do not always happen drastically butsometimes gradually. That is the case with me andmobile phones. Much as I love computers, the lovedoes not translate readily to mobile phones. As amatter of fact, it was only when my wife was preg-nant with our child that I got my first cell phone,some time in the late 1990s.

It took another ten years or so for me to move upto a smartphone. By then I already had an unhappystint with AT&T, followed by many years with T-Mobile. I also have a family plan for three phones.Much as I’d love to take advice from Siri, I couldnot easily leave T-Mobile. I pay my bill online, sothe idea of having a new user name and password tomemorize, or even entered into 1Password and such,is not attractive.

It did not help that AT&T’s service continues tobe deplorable, at least according to what friends tellme. I suppose I could have taken the leap to Verizon,but Verizon in general is more expensive. Ah, it usu-ally comes down to money. With the T-Mobile dealI took, the data plan was only $10/month for 200MB. When you don’t download audio or video, 200MB a month is actually sufficient. I might be able toget data plans from other companies for $15/monthbut the $5 difference multiplied by 3 still puts themonth’s extra cost at $15.

The iPhones 4S sure would be nice to have, but itcosts in the hundreds of dollars, even with a two-yearcontract. Again, so that none of the three adults feelslighted, I would have to get three iPhones. In theseuncertain economic times, with every price on most

things on the rise while salary remains the same, Ineed to cut every corner I can.

So inertia and money are the underlying reasonsfor me not going with the iPhone. The many restric-tions AT&T and Apple force upon the iPhone usersalso are turn-offs. Even with the few dumb phonesI had in the past, I was able to set different songsas ringtones. Nothing to buy, no workarounds1, justwhatever songs I already own and have stored on theMac. Yes, it is a pain to transfer the songs via Blue-tooth, but it does not happen that often so the expe-rience is tolerable.

With my 200 MB/month plan, there is not enoughbandwidth to share with other devices. Still, shouldI want to, I have the ability to turn my unattractivesmartphone into a hotspot to allow nearby devicesaccess to the Internet, anywhere the T-Mobile signalis available. The ability is there in the iPhone, pro-vided you jailbreak it. The game of cat-and-mousesome people put up with for jailbreaking just doesnot work for me. I want a phone that works as aphone unless I accidentally make it unworkable, notbecause some OS update.

I saved some money by not going with the iPhone,but is it a good user experience? No, it is probablylike being at an unhappy job or flying coach. You getthe regular paycheck or you get to your destination,but it is not pleasant. The phone reps pre-loaded abunch of apps for me, and I think it may not be agood thing.

There were two versions of the Facebook app, oneof which always reminds me to download the latestversion. I complied only to be told again the nexttime it launched.

1http://www.atpm.com/18.02/create-iphone-ringtones.shtml

ATPM 18.02 19 Segments: Smart Move?

One of the Facebook versions that annoys me by promptingfor download of newer version each time it starts.

I still use Plurk, a minor competitor to Twitter,and its Android app actually relies on the alternativeWeb browser Maxthon. The Plurk app also keepstelling me to download the latest version.

Most of the app icons look crude compared to thetypical icon in iOS. Least acceptable are the T-Mobileapps MyDevice and MyAccount, as they look veryunattractive. Last but not least, there is a Files app,which lets you walk the folders and see all the filesin the phone, most with geeky names. The Cameraapp stores its files in a folder called Camera, whichis inside another folder called DCIM. DCIM? Totallyintuitive, no?

Yellow folders, just like on the desktop. I prefer iOS’s hidingof these desktop artifacts.

I would not be surprised if there were a text ed-itor for Android for the geeks out there to happilyedit configuration files by hand instead of throughthe GUI. I think this approach of bringing the desk-top folder structure to the smartphone is just a dis-aster waiting to happen. What safeguards are thereto prevent someone from deleting system files? I amnot going to try that on my own phone.

Life is full of compromises. Money, ease of use,geeky functions, and features. In my case, I make dowith a functioning smartphone that serves me wellfor e-mail and Facebook at a nominal cost. Perhapssome day I’ll come across a pile of money, or the kidswill leave the nest so I can have my own phone planand can splurge on an iPhone.

Copyright © 2012 Linus Ly. The Segments section is opento anyone. If you have something interesting to say aboutlife with your Mac, write us.

ATPM 18.02 20 Segments: Smart Move?

ATPM 18.02 21 Segments: Smart Move?

How Toby Sylvester Roque, sroque@atpm.com

Create Your Own iPhone RingtonesIn the summer of 2010, I parted with my old Palmphone and entered the fraternity of iPhone owners.I could have waited to see if other carriers got theiPhone—which they did mere months later—beforemaking the leap, but the Centro phone no longerplayed nice with my Mac. Each attempt to sync cal-endars and contacts was a laborious, time-consumingordeal.

Normally, when I buy a new electronic toy I diveright in, push every button, and try every feature. Ididn’t do that with the iPhone 3GS. I’ve never beenone to use a lot of data or multimedia on my phone.It’s nice to have the option to do so, though. Untilrecently I hadn’t even bothered to investigate how tocreate custom ringtones on my phone. It’s not thatI expected creating ringtones to be difficult but thatit was just a low priority for me.

Why the Sudden Interest in Ringtones?I’ve only had four or five different cell phones sincethe mid-nineties, and none of them have made it es-pecially difficult to add new ringtones. In spite ofthat, I haven’t felt the need to add new sounds. So,given my less than burning desire for new ringtones,why investigate that now?

Recently, over a period of several days I seemedto run across an unusual number of forum threadssimilar to this one1, asking what was needed tocreate custom ringtones. The answers often in-cluded links to sites where ringtones could bepurchased or links to third-party software such asiPhone Ringtone Creator2 or YouTones3. Personally,I’ve got nothing against either method of gettingcustom ringtones, but this seems to fit right in withour ongoing theme of investigating existing Macsoftware when starting a project before purchasingnew third-party software. This process, while not

1http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/89857-ringtone-maker.html

2http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/other-hardware-peripherals/188307-how-make-your-own-iphone-ringtone-iphone-ringtone-maker-windows-mac.html

3http://itunes.apple.com/app/youtones-ringtone-recorder/id289549602?mt=8

uniquely mine, is easy enough that anyone can do it.Let’s open the lab and get right to work.

Gather Your ToolsYou don’t need any special tools for this project. Es-sentially we’re taking a portion of a sound file on yourMac and converting it to a format that the iPhonerecognizes as a ringtone. In fact, all you really needare:

1. A few sound files that you want to con-vert to ringtones. I’ll be using files frommy existing iTunes library, but you canadd any sound iTunes can play properly.These directions were written with DRM-free sounds in mind. If you’re going to beworking with iTunes Music Store files thatstill contain DRM, give these directions4

a try.

2. iTunes (or other software capable of cre-ating AAC files).

3. An iPhone. I used my iPhone 3GS for thisexperiment, but I have seen reports thatthis process works with older iPhones aswell.

If you would like to have more precise control overthe final sound than iTunes provides, GarageBandwill do the trick. In fact, any sound editor capable ofsaving files in AAC format, including many free ones,should do nicely.

Now that we have the right tools, let’s get downto work. We’ll start by creating a new folder that wecan drag the new ringtones into. Unless you choose todelete the folder later, you’ll only have to do this once.Creating this folder gives us a convenient place tostore the new ringtones until we are ready to importthem. I placed my folder on the desktop, but it couldbe anywhere.

Before we create any new sounds, let’s make sureiTunes is configured properly. Launch iTunes and go

4http://lifehacker.com/334073/create-custom-iphone-ringtones-the-free-and-apple-way

ATPM 18.02 22 How To: Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones

to the Music section of your library. Right-click asong that’s DRM-free. When the contextual menuappears, examine the listed options. If one of themsays “Create AAC version,” you’re ready to start.Some versions of iTunes have “Convert Selection toAAC” listed. The exact wording isn’t important aslong as iTunes is converting sounds to AAC format.If you already have one of these options listed, feelfree skip the next paragraph.

Creating AAC Sounds

The conversion option listed in the contextualmenu depends upon your chosen format for import-ing music. Making the format change is simple.From the iTunes Preferences window, click the Gen-eral tab. Near the bottom of the window is a buttoncalled Import Settings.

Where to Change Encoder Settings

Click here and wait for the next window to appear.In some versions of iTunes, this option is found in theAdvanced tab and listed as “Import Using.” In eithercase, change the Import Using pop-up menu to “AACEncoder.”

Encoder Changed to AAC

This setting can be reverted to your chosen formatwhen we’ve finished creating your new ringtones.

Creating Your First RingtoneSelect the sound that you want to use as the newringtone. You must keep your ringtones to 30 secondsor less. In iTunes, snipping that much time out of a

ATPM 18.02 23 How To: Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones

song is simple. Start playing a song and wait for it toreach the beginning of the segment of sound that youwant to use. Make note of that time, as it’s shown iniTunes. Let the sound play until you reach the endof the segment you want to use and note that time.Now do the following:

1. Right-click your chosen song and choseGet Info. In the next window, click theOptions tab and place check marks by thecheckboxes for the start and stop times.Enter the times you noted earlier in theseboxes. Changing the volume and equal-izer settings shouldn’t pose a problem.

Completed Options Tab

Click OK and iTunes will use the soundsegment that you just marked to createthe ringtone. Don’t worry; the conversionprocess creates a new file rather than al-tering the original.

2. Right-click the sound/song again andchoose “Create AAC version.” iTuneswill beep when the conversion is com-pleted. Now you can right-click youroriginal file, go back to the Optionstab, and clear the start and stop timecheckboxes.

3. Once that is finished, we need to locatethe new sound inside your iTunes Musicfolder. In recent versions of iTunes, you

can do this easily by right-clicking theoriginal song you are working on andchoosing “Reveal In Finder.” This takesyou directly to the appropriate folder.The new sound is usually right next tothe original file.

4. Drag your new song file from its currentfolder to the temporary folder you createdearlier. If you have difficulty identifyingthe new song, look at the filenames. Theshortened file that will be your ringtoneusually has a number at the end of thefilename just before the extension (e.g.sound1.m4a). Quick Look can also bea useful tool here as well. It’s an easyway to see the file durations and sizes ifneeded. Change the extension of thesefiles from .m4a to .m4r. The Finder willask which extension you want to use.Make sure you choose .m4r.

5. At this point, we are almost done withthe project. Go back into iTunes andselect the shortened AAC files that youcreated. It’s safe to delete those now. Itnot absolutely necessary to remove them,but all they are really doing is clutter-ing up the library. If you have troublefinding the right files, go to the Viewmenu in iTunes and select View Options.Click on the “Kind” and “Date Added”checkboxes and click OK. These columnsnow appear in your library. Clickingthe “Date Added” heading will sort thelibrary based upon when the files wereadded. The “Kind” column can be afailsafe to make sure you are deleting thecorrect file.

6. While we are still in iTunes, go to theFile menu and choose “Add To Library.”Navigate to the temporary folder whereyou stored the ringtones and let iTunesadd them to the library. If you are onlyadding one new ringtone at a time, trysimply double-clicking the .m4r file youcreated. It will be added to the libraryautomatically. All that is left to do nowis sync your iPhone so the ringtones willtransfer.

ATPM 18.02 24 How To: Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones

Final ThoughtsI don’t have a means of testing this at the moment,but I believe a similar process might work with othersmartphones. This assumes that you know what fileformat and length of sound the phone expects. I amstarting to wonder if it would be possible to do otherthings such as create new alarm sounds for iCal, butthat’s a project for another day. Maybe next time.Until then, the lab is closed.

Copyright © 2012 Sylvester Roque, sroque@atpm.com.

ATPM 18.02 25 How To: Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones

Desktop PicturesFrom ATPM ReadersWe need new desktop pictures each month. Write1

to us!

This Month’s Desktop Pictures2

This month’s desktop pictures were contributed byatpm readers:

Chris Albertson3 This is a photo I took frommy window, looking East over Central Parktowards the Triboro (now RFK) Bridge. Itworks well as a desktop, I think, because it isnot a busy, distracting background.By the way, a Mac user since 1984 (and Ap-ple before that). I find atpm very useful andentertaining. Thank you for that.

Mike Grossman I was inspired to visit ChacoCanyon in July 2011 after reading aboutthis ancient Native American site in JaredDiamond’s book Collapse4: How SocietiesChoose To Fail Or Succeed. Having dweltin humid, swampy Florida most of my life,this dry, sun-blasted landscape with its ruinsfascinates me. It was a very important place1,000 years ago when people lived(?) there. Iwonder whether our cities, monuments, stockexchanges, cathedrals, mosques, and syna-gogues will be mysterious ruins 1,000 yearsfrom now, whose function will be the topic ofmuch scholarly debate and endless conjectureby UFOlogists. Perhaps the battered relicsof our Apple i-devices cluttering our landfillswill be interpreted as ceremonial props in aglobe-spanning, fruit-worshipping religion.

Narcis Parfenti Varasti Sunset: Varasti is a vil-lage in Southern Romania I passed through onlyonce, but I stopped the motorcycle only to cap-ture this sunset.Flowers: Those are the flowers in my girlfriend’sgarden, which I shot with the intent of makinga wallpaper. And I would like to share it withyou all.

1mailto:editor@atpm.com2http://www.atpm.com/18.02/atpm-readers/4http://www.amazon.com/dp/0670033375/?tag=aboutthis

particu

Old Boat: That actually is a reconditionedboat, but villagers in the Danube Delta stilluse them on a daily basis, the design hasn’tchanged for hundreds of years.

Cyrus Roton Cyrus sent a collection of Navy pic-tures of the USS Hornet.

View Picturesa

ahttp://www.atpm.com/18.02/atpm-readers/

Contributing Your Own Desktop PicturesIf you have a picture, whether a small series orjust one fabulous or funny shot, please send it toeditor@atpm.com and we’ll consider publishing it innext month’s issue.

Previous Months’ Desktop PicturesPictures from previous months are listed in the desk-top pictures archives5.

Downloading All the Pictures at OnceSome browsers can download an entire set of desktoppictures at once.

Safari Create a workflow in Automator with thesethree actions:

1. Get Current Webpage from Safari.2. Get Image URLs from Webpage. Get

URLs of images linked from thesewebpages.

3. Download URLs.

iCab Use the Download command to “Download alllinked files in same folder” and configure thelimits to download only the linked images.

5http://www.atpm.com/Back/desktop-pictures.shtml

ATPM 18.02 26 Desktop Pictures: From ATPM Readers

OmniWeb Choose “Save Linked . Images. . .” fromthe File menu.

Placing Desktop Pictures

Mac OS X 10.3.x Through 10.7.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu, click the “Desktop & Screen Saver” button,then choose the Desktop tab. In the left-side menu,select the desktop pictures folder you want to use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Select the Screen Saver tabwhich is also in the “Desktop & Screen Saver” Sys-tem Preferences pane. If you put the atpm picturesin your Pictures folder, click on the Pictures Folderin the list of screen savers. Otherwise, click ChooseFolder to tell the screen saver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.1.x and 10.2.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu and click the Desktop button. With the pop-up menu, select the desktop pictures folder you wantto use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Choose “System Preferences. . .”from the Apple menu. Click the Screen Saver (10.1.x)or Screen Effects (10.2.x) button. Then click on Cus-tom Slide Show in the list of screen savers. If youput the atpm pictures in your Pictures folder, you’reall set. Otherwise, click Configure to tell the screensaver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.0.xSwitch to the Finder. Choose “Preferences. . .” fromthe “Finder” menu. Click on the “Select Picture. . .”button on the right. In the Open Panel, select thedesktop picture you want to use. The panel defaultsto your ~/Library/Desktop Pictures folder. Closethe “Finder Preferences” window when you are done.

ATPM 18.02 27 Desktop Pictures: From ATPM Readers

The Spinning Beachballby Grant Osborne, http://grantosborne.com

Copyright © 2012 Grant Osborne.

ATPM 18.02 28 Cartoon: The Spinning Beachball

Book Reviewby Ellyn Ritterskamp, eritterskamp@atpm.com

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Con-sumptionAuthor: Clay A. JohnsonPublisher: O’Reilly1

Price: $23 (paper); $20 (e-book)Trial: Table of contents and sample pages2.

Junk information is as toxic as junk food. As agroup, Americans are fat. Our diets are out of con-trol: we eat too much and, Clay Johnson explains,we take in too much in other ways. This book is hisattempt to convince you of that and to make recom-mendations for how to curb our intake.

Johnson examines obesity and our cravings forfat, salt, and sugar, and says that our informationchoices lead us down the same paths: we look foropinions, facts, and treatments that agree with whatwe already believe. It makes us feel good to have af-firmation. Over time, we avoid topics and opinions

1http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920019978.do2http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920019978.do

very different from our own, or we tend to approachthem only to argue, to reinforce our current and long-held positions. This is called “confirmation bias.” Itsdanger is that we rarely get exposed to anything new,and rarely revise our positions. “It’s too high of acognitive and ego burden to surround ourselves withpeople that we disagree with,” Johnson writes.

Search Engine OptimizationJohnson’s look at news organizations includes an ex-planation of how headlines are crafted. Most onlinesites are forced to construct headlines that will getyou to click on them, regardless of their relationshipto the story content. We call this search engine opti-mization (SEO)—I work for a daily newspaper withan online component—and its purpose is to get youto click on stories so that we can show our advertisersthat people are seeing their ads. All online news or-ganizations participate in this SEO effort to varyingdegrees.

Johnson talks about the spectrum of TV newsstretching from Fox to CNN to MSNBC, explaininghow they got to their political positions and why mak-ing the news choices they do works for them.

After he sets up the problem, Johnson pro-vides strategies for how to change our informationdiet. The strategies require a sense of humor andwillpower. I was amused that one of the tactics forsharing the ideas in the book was to join a localonline group, which would be just one more wayto be online, but then he encourages us to meetface-to-face, so I got it. But still. . .

PragmatismI recognized my favorite branch of philosophy nearthe end of the book: “Most of us give too muchweight to information that’s not actionable and rel-evant to our daily lives,” Johnson states. In thissection, Johnson is encouraging us to forego inter-national news for local news. I was reminded of JohnDewey’s and William James’ brand of thinking calledpragmatism—the only uniquely American contribu-tion to philosophy. The idea is that we don’t waste

ATPM 18.02 29 Review: The Information Diet

energy working out how many angels can dance onthe head of a pin, unless it affects our daily lives insome way. Spend energy only on things that matter.On this, I agree with Johnson one hundred percent.

I got bogged down toward the end of the bookwhen he got political, as will many non-Americanreaders. He is clear about his background in politics,so this is not a surprise, nor is it inappropriate. I ad-mire that he makes a call to action, and many readerswill appreciate the routes he suggests to make thingsbetter.

But I think most of the point of fixing thisis just about each of us choosing to turn off thedarn computer/phone/mobile device more often.To be clear, I am also reading a book about howwe think about food, which advocates mindfuleating—basically, slowing down and appreciatingthe moment we’re in, rather than rushing to getto the next, better one. The ideas in this book(Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life3 by ThichNhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung) will fit with themodifications of both food and information diets.

RecommendationsThe Information Diet is a good introduction to theidea of turning off the noise, but it can go further infuture editions.

I think this book would have been more effec-tive with a few more strategies for changing ourinformation diets. Johnson encourages readers tovisit his Web site for an ongoing discussion, and theblog and forums4 do indeed have more ideas. Butagain, I am faced with the dilemma of spending moretime online to find out how not to spend so muchtime online.

Dr. Andrew Weil recommended news fasts yearsago. Even though I work at a daily paper, I have beenon such a fast for at least 20 years, spending almost notime on TV news except for very rare events. Thereis a desperation about television; TV producers theywant you not to change the channel. That makes ithard to take for some of us. I suggest trying a one-daynews fast and then expanding it, is my suggestion.Johnson suggests ditching cable altogether, which Isaluted, though I won’t be going down that path justyet. A friend of mine recently moved and didn’t buycable TV, and he’s thrilled with his newfound savingsin money and time. He’s discovering several great TV

3http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061697699/?tag=aboutthisparticu

4http://www.informationdiet.com

shows on disc a few years after they’ve aired, and he’senjoying himself far more than before.

Copyright © 2012 Ellyn Ritterskamp. Reviewing in atpmis open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 18.02 30 Review: The Information Diet

Software Reviewby David Ozab, http://fatherhoodetc.wordpress.com

MacJournal 6.0Function: Journaling.Developer: Mariner Software1.Price: $40; $20 (upgrade).Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8.Trial: Fully-featured (15 days).Journals. Every writer needs one,but most people who journal aren’t writers. I guessthat the best journaling program would be one thathas the flexibility to accommodate both. It wouldhave word count goals and timed writing sessions; in-terface with popular blogging formats; import text,graphics, audio, video, and Web pages; and keep ev-erything organized so I don’t have to. MacJournaldoes all these things and more. It is a powerful, flex-ible, and easy to use journaling environment.

Getting Started

A New Journal

The basic blocks of MacJournal are journals andentries, with journals functioning as books, and en-tries as pages within a book. Getting started is sim-ple. Each new document opens with one blank entry.Select the entry and start typing. The info bar di-rectly above the text shows the “topic” of the entry—really, the title. This defaults to the date and time,

1http://www.marinersoftware.com/products/macjournal/

but you can change it to whatever you want. Whenyou’re done, save. The first time you save you willcreate a document that will hold all your journals. Atthis point you have a simple date-based diary (a.k.a.journal) where you can add new entries each day. Notmuch different than paper and pen. . .yet.

An Entry Takes Shape

Getting OrganizedChances are, though, that you’re going to want tocreate several journals for various topics. Creatingjournals is easy. Either right-click in the left bar un-der the default journal or select New Journal fromthe File menu. The number and variety of journalsis limited only by your imagination. I’ve been livingand working with MacJournal for over two weeks, soas an example, I’d like to show you what I’ve done.

I’ve created a total of six journals so far. Thefirst one, which I’ve titled Projects, contains all mycurrent writing projects, the latest of which is thisreview. Let’s look at the most recent entry titled“MacJournal Review” (which you are reading at themoment). Looking at the entry, I can see the dateand time I began writing it (January 23, 2012 at 2:28PM). If I select the information icon (labeled “i”), Iopen up the inspector window. Here I can set thestatus (at this point: underway), the priority (1), the

ATPM 18.02 31 Review: MacJournal 6.0

deadline (midnight, though I don’t plan on being upthat late), and a word goal (1,000—almost halfwaythere). As you can see, there are lots of other optionsthat I won’t go into here.

Multiple Journals and Entries

To give you some ideas of what other uses I’vefound for MacJournal, let’s go back to the left partof the window. Under Projects, I have journals titledPress, containing the press releases for my most re-cent publications (planning to put a lot more in here);Calls, containing calls for submissions with upcomingdeadlines; Writing Quota, where I type a minimum of300 words each day to keep my writing flowing; Fam-ily, containing personal entries about my wife anddaughter; and Blogs.

This is just a small sample of what could be in-cluded in a MacJournal document.

Going PublicMacJournal offers various ways to interact with theoutside world. In addition to text, you can importgraphics, audio, video, and Web pages. All of theseelements retain full functionality within MacJournal.Here are a few examples of how I have used thesefeatures:

A Web Page in MacJournal

Magazines and anthologies post calls for workscontinuously. Sometimes these calls are ongoing, butmostly they have specific topics and deadlines. I havea huge pile of bookmarks in my Web browser that Itry to keep track of, but inevitably I miss one hereor there. So I created a journal titled Calls in whichI’ve imported Web pages listing some upcoming sub-mission deadlines I’m hoping to make. In each case,I select New Entry From the File menu and choseWeb Page. A window opens, asking me to enter theURL of the Web page. I copy and paste the link andpress Return. Then I select OK, and the Web pageloads directly into the edit window. Of course, thepage can’t be edited any more than it could be in abrowser, but otherwise it is fully functional.

New Blog Server Dialog

MacJournal doesn’t stop at downloading individ-ual Web pages. I also downloaded both of my Word-Press blogs. To start, select Blog Settings underJournal. A dialog box opens, asking for the blog ad-dress, username, and password. (If you don’t havea blog, MacJournal walks you through setting one

ATPM 18.02 32 Review: MacJournal 6.0

up in Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, TypePad, orTumblr.) Once connected, select Download Entriesand your entire blog will appear as a new journal,complete with dates and times for each entry.

My Blogs, Downloaded

You can also blog from MacJournal. Once con-nected, any entries you create can be uploaded toyour blog and posted immediately. I prefer workingthrough WordPress, but everyone is different.

Keeping PrivateThe traditional paper diary comes with a lock forgood reason. We record our most private thoughtsand feelings, and we want to keep them secure.MacJournal lets you individually lock journals witha password by either right-clicking the journal andselecting Lock Journal or by selecting Lock Journalfrom the Journal menu. Once locked, the journalcan also be encrypted for increased security. Simplyselect the journal. The password entry box includesoptions to encrypt and always encrypt.

A Locked Journal

Writing Without DistractionsBut none of this matters if you’re not writing some-thing, and sometimes the fanciest bells and whis-tles get in the way. So like many other writing ap-plications, MacJournal includes a “Focused Editing”mode, which defaults to a terminal-style text-only in-terface. Click the Enter Focused Editing button onthe top toolbar (or select View . Enter Focused Edit-ing) and start typing. When you’re done, press theEsc key to return to your normal screen.

Focused Editing

So Many PossibilitiesI have only touched upon a fraction of what MacJour-nal is capable of. One of the big additions to version6.0 is the Timeline view, which is very nice, but Idon’t see myself using it.

Timeline View

That’s me, though. Many other people will findmany other possible uses for this software. The

ATPM 18.02 33 Review: MacJournal 6.0

video tutorial lists some of these, including “medicalrecords, flight itineraries, homework assignments,and project management information.” The exam-ples I’ve listed are all related to my writing career.With a different set of interests, I could come upwith a completely different set of examples that stillwouldn’t come close to exhausting the versatility ofthis journaling environment.

Copyright © 2012 David Ozab. Reviewing in atpm isopen to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 18.02 34 Review: MacJournal 6.0

FAQ: Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat Is ATPM?About This Particular Macintosh (atpm) is, amongother things, a monthly Internet magazine or “e-zine.” atpm was created to celebrate the personalcomputing experience. For us this means the mostpersonal of all personal computers—the Apple Mac-intosh. About This Particular Macintosh is intendedto be about your Macintosh, our Macintoshes, andthe creative, personal ideas and experiences of every-one who uses a Mac. We hope that we will continueto be faithful to our mission.

Are You Looking for New Staff Members?atpm is looking to add more regular reviewers to ourstaff. Though all positions with About This Partic-ular Macintosh are volunteer, reviewing is a greatway to share your product knowledge and experiencewith fellow members of the Macintosh community.If you’re interested, contact atpm’s Reviews Editor,Paul Fatula1.

How Can I Subscribe to ATPM?Visit the subscriptions page2.

Which Format Is Best for Me?• TheOnline Webzine edition is for people who

want to view atpm in their Web browser, whileconnected to the Internet. It provides sharptext, lots of navigation options, and live linksto atpm back issues and other Web pages.

• The Offline Webzine is an HTML version ofatpm that is formatted for viewing offline andmade available in a Mac OS X disk image. Thegraphics, content, and navigation elements arethe same as with the Online Webzine, but youcan view it without being connected to the In-ternet. It requires a Web browser.

• The Print PDF edition is saved in Adobe PDFformat. It has a two-column layout with smallertext and higher-resolution graphics that are op-timized for printing. It may be viewed onlinein a browser, or downloaded and viewed in Ap-ple’s Preview or Adobe Reader on Macintosh or

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Windows. PDFs may be magnified to any sizeand searched with ease.

• The Screen PDF edition is also saved inAdobe PDF format. It’s a one-column layoutwith larger text that’s optimized for readingon-screen.

How Can I Submit Cover Art?We enjoy the opportunity to display new, originalcover art every month. We’re also very proud of thepeople who have come forward to offer us cover art foreach issue. If you’re a Macintosh artist and interestedin preparing a cover for atpm, please e-mail us. Theway the process works is pretty simple. As soon as wehave a topic or theme for the upcoming issue we letyou know about it. Then, it’s up to you. We do notpay for cover art but we are an international publica-tion with a broad readership and we give appropriatecredit alongside your work. There’s space for an e-mail address and a Web page URL, too. Write toeditor@atpm.com for more information.

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How Can I Contribute to ATPM?There are several sections of atpm to which readersfrequently contribute:

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh LifeThis is one of our most successful spaces and one ofour favorite places. We think of it as kind of theatpm “guest room.” This is where we will publishthat sentimental Macintosh story that you promisedyourself you would one day write. It’s that specialplace in atpm that’s specifically designated for yourstories. We’d really like to hear from you. SeveralSegments contributors have gone on to become atpmcolumnists. Send your stuff to editor@atpm.com.

Hardware and Software Reviewsatpm publishes hardware and software reviews. How-ever, we do things in a rather unique way. Techno-

ATPM 18.02 35 FAQ

jargon can be useful to engineers but is not always ahelp to most Mac users. We like reviews that informour readers about how a particular piece of hardwareor software will help their Macintosh lives. We wantthem to know what works, how it may help them intheir work, and how strongly we recommend it. Pleasecontact our reviews editor3, before you begin writing,if you have a piece of hardware or software that you’dlike to review.

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What If My Question Isn’t AnsweredAbove?We hope by now that you’ve found what you’relooking for (We can’t imagine there’s something elseabout atpm that you’d like to know.). But justin case you’ve read this far (We appreciate yourtenacity.) and still haven’t found that little pieceof information about atpm that you came here tofind, please feel free to e-mail us at (You guessed it.)editor@atpm.com.

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ATPM 18.02 36 FAQ