Podcasts

68

July 28, ’15

67

November 26, ’14

Dick talks to our new Treasurer, Julie Ackland, who volunteered for the position after only a very short time as a member. Hailing from the UK, Julie has spent a working life involved with computers, most recently as a PA to bankers and insurance people. Appropriately, she was persuaded to immigrate to Oz via an Internet romance and subsequent marriage. Julie came to the Apple users’ camp with the purchase of an iPad, and her household now sports two iPads, two iPhones and a Mac mini.
• Ngaire Denne tells the Curly Tales crew about her post-retirement life as a volunteer at Melbourne Zoo and at Cook’s Cottage.
• Ivan has a neat tip for those plagued by “winmail.dat” files received from Windows users.

66

October 1, ’14

Ivan talks this month to Bruce Wilson, a retired engineering project manager who lived through interesting times in manufacturing, being involved with the introduction at Sidchrome of computer-based systems and machines from a simple desktop computer in the early ’80s to the advent of numerically controlled (NC) manufacturing machines and advanced Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. Switching to work as a freelancer lead Bruce to his first Mac purchase, an LC //. A MacBook with docking station followed, and since retiring Bruce now runs a 24″ iMac that does everything he needs.
• The Curly Tales crew quizzes Photography SIG leader John Hart about teaching, as well as photo restoration and manipulation.
• Ivan suggests that iOS device owners use the general search method to locate contacts, rather the Contacts app’s own.

65

July 29, ’14

This month Dick talks to Rodger Stephens, a veteran of 40 years with PMG/Telecom/Telstra. Starting at age 15, he was later involved as a Senior Technician in all aspects of communications. Rodger’s interest in computing was sparked while observing his wife’s learning to use a Mac, and the purchase of a Director’s Edition 5400 soon followed. Introduced to AUSOM, Rodger found a home in the AppleWorks SiG and later in the Photography SIG, migrating over time from an early Kodak digital camera to a more modern Nikon. Rodger reads FirstClass every day, finding it “a family of friends”, and acquired his current MacBook largely so that he could keep up while travelling.
• Brand new member Shirley Biggs talks to the Curly Tales crew about her work with Melbourne University’s nationwide study of chlamydia.
• Ivan’s tip this month concerns the interaction between the Recent Items menu and the Command key

64

May 27, ’14

New President Philip Richardson is one of AUSOM’s true computing professionals — rotating shift worker in a Windows environment by ‘day’, and Apple hobbyist when at home. Philip talks with Ivan about his progression from a high school Apple II to a full complement of Apple devices today, with a side trip to the Newton to complete the set. Along the way he became a Windows professional. Philip found AUSOM after moving to Melbourne from his native Queensland, being still then an Apple IIGS user. Since graduating to the Mac he has been involved with AUSOM’s Newcomers and Intermediate SIGs.
• Committee member Marion Egerton retired from teaching to ‘relax’ with two choirs, walking, amateur theatre, computing and more!
• How to engage the ‘caps lock’ function on your iPhone or iPad? Ivan has the answer.

63

Apr 1, ’14

Genealogy SIG Leader Yvonne Pratt’s interest in genealogy was sparked when she became custodian of her mother’s collection of family history items. After first using a series of PCs, she was converted to the Mac and introduced to AUSOM by her brother (member Brian Moore) and managed to make the transition largely by self-teaching. Yvonne’s use of the Mac is centred on Reunion, Photoshop (for old photo restoration) and the Photograpy SIG. She does volunteer work with several other organizations, helping other folk to research their family histories.
• The Curly Tailers talk to Garry Barker — the Age Green Guide’s ‘Mac Man’ since 1995.
• Ivan has a tip on message sorting for users of Apple Mail with Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

62

Jan 24, ’14

Peter Carter began his working life as a civil engineer in VicRoads’ planning area. Dick’s interview starts with these early experiences in such projects as the Mulgrave and Eastern freeways. Returning from an extended trip to India in 1981, Peter was engaged in the very early application of mainframe computing in modelling the traffic effects of the Westgate Bridge’s opening, and later in bringing this kind of analysis to the desktop. In later years he was introduced to Apple computing by his father-in-law, and specifically to the use of the iPhone as a journalling device during motorhome travels. Preparation for a later trip to South America and Europe converted him to the iPad mini, ideal for the task.
• The Curly Tales crew talks to Sue Keable about dog training, ESL teaching, and volunteering for the position of AUSOM Secretary.
• Ivan reveals a method for MacBook users to see which apps maybe flattening the battery more quickly than is desirable.

61

Nov 27, ’13

This month Dick interviews long time AUSOM member and sometime AUSOM Office co-manager Brad Smith. A love of theatre led teenage Brad into the world of character makeup and hair dressing for movies. A little later he was recruited to the TV industry, then in the process of moving makeup continuity data for series productions from huge Polariod reference binders to corresponding computer systems. Introduced to the Mac by a sound recordist friend, and having purchased his first Mac, an LCII, Brad found the world of computing just as interesting as, and complementary to his ‘real’ work with Channel 7, then centered on makeup for Crawford productions such as Cop Shop. Having retired from what is essentially a young person’s world, Brad now uses his Mac principally to keep in touch with friends around the world.
• Ivan and Judy talk to instrumental music teacher and GarageBand enthusiast Amanda Watson about her work in teaching, journal editing, and music education research, with passing reference to gardening and occasional animal husbandry.
• Did you know that the Mac’s Calculator could be used for unit conversion? Ivan explains how.

60

Sept 29, ’13

Dick talks with AUSOM Secretary Alice Glover about her long and interesting career in medicine, beginning in general practice then moving back to her first area of study in pharmacology with the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Canberra, including a 12 month stint in Washington D.C. Returning to general practice, Alice found herself in a clinic using Macintosh software, which began her familiarisation with the workings of the Mac system, which she later introduced to other clinics. Her first ‘retirement’ involved a spell of backpacking, after which she returned to Peter Mac and subsequent ‘real’ retirement. These days, Alice’s use of the Mac is purely pragmatic — ‘What can it do?’ takes second place to ‘What can it do for me?’ Her Mac is used mainly for word processing and Web browsing.
• Onetime metal worker, bee keeper, and yachtsman John Smethurst talks to the Curly Tales crew about these activities, and about using the Mac to track superannunation investments.
• Ivan’s tip of the month explains how the iOS keyboard can reveal a number of text editing functions.

59

July 30, ’13

New member Christina Martin actually has a long history in using Windows computers in her career in educational psychology. More recently, she was attracted to Apple products (first an iPad, then an iMac) by their intuitive nature, and was encouraged by her Mac-using grown-up children. After purchasing her iPad, she found and joined AUSOM online via a Google search, and has begun to attend meetings, already finding them very useful. Like many newer members, Christina feels she needs to learn more about her iPad and its apps, especially regarding its use in overseas travel. Her interests for the big-screen iMac include music and photos.
• The Curly Tales crew talks to Norma Smethurst about books on the iPad and her many other interests including cooking, floristry, patchwork, beading, U3A and more.
• Adding signatures to documents using Preview is easy if you follow Ivan’s step-by-step tip.

58

May 24, ’13

Newly elected President Kevin Blazé lectured in plant physiology at University, and was always as much interested in the teaching process as in the topic itself, to the point of authoring an ABC TV series on plant production that ran for some years, broadcast to S.E. Asia and the South Pacific. About 10 years ago he started a business dealing with eLearning techniques for science and teaching. Kevin first used an Apple ][ computer in education in 1981, later acquired one of the very first Macs, and co-ran AUSOM’s Education SIG in the early ’90s.
•Committee member Steve Stretton talks to the Curly Tales crew about the writing of novels and short stories.
•Ivan’s tip covers the essentials of adding accents to characters.

57

Mar 27, ’13

Dick’s guest is Peter Hunter, a 30-year teacher of English and French and most recently a school welfare coordinator. Peter is partly French by ancestry and has travelled to France. He bought his first Mac after early encounters with the Apple //e at school. A Green Guide ad lead him to AUSOM in 1991, where many friendships grew with people seeking and offering help. The present public AUSOM News Index grew from a ClarisWorks database that Peter originated to keep track of News articles he wanted to remember, and with Pam Doughty’s encouragement and Ralph Learmont’s FileMaker expertise, this has become an essential reference to past issues’ content. Peter is a frequent contributor to FirstClass where he values advice that is personalised and quick. He is currently active in AUSOM’s Mornington Group.
• Judy and Franco talk to Eva Wynn about her annual visits to a co-owned house near Assisi, and her love of things Italian in general.
• How to quickly check the state of your laptop’s battery? Ivan’s tip reveals all.

56

Jan 25, ’13

Joanne Stevens recently supplemented her ‘collection’ of Macs by winning a MacBook Pro in AUSOM’s 2012 Raffle – a far cry from her first Apple //c, bought in her teaching days after seeing what her children were doing at school. Beginning her Apple experience with an evening course that covered such topics as Logo and Basic, word processing and problem solving, she eventually undertook a graduate diploma in computer education. A lecturer introduced her to AUSOM via the medium of the FirstClass bulletin board. Joanne is interested in genealogy and hopes to work with digital video as she and her husband continue their travels round Australia.
• The Curly Tales crew turns the tables on member Franco, to learn the secrets of his prize-winning home made pasta.
• Ivan’s tip this month concerns a hidden feature of OS X’s ubiquitous Font panel.

55

Nov 25, ’12

This month, Ivan talks with Helen Tippett who recently attended her first AUSOM meeting after being a member for 12+ years. Coming to the Mac as a tertiary-level teacher, Helen found AUSOM, as many others did at the time, on a then-regular ABC radio segment. The AUSOM magazine and other casual contacts kept her in touch with AUSOM and she now finds much pleasure in sharing knowledge with other meeting attenders.
• Tim Gurrie tells the Curly Tales crew how learning animation skills to get grandchildren interested in his home movies has led to a retirement ‘career’ in animation.
• Ivan explains Apple’s method of protecting you from installing bogus downloands, and a way of bypassing it if you know better than Apple.

54

Sept 27, ’12

Dick chats this month to active member Ralph Learmont; seldom seen but nevertheless very well known to FirstClass subscribers. Ralph’s early career as a design and test engineer in the aircraft industry lead to the creation of a home business for the design and sale of model sail plane kits. A customer introduced him to the power of computers for creating the drawings and page layouts needed in this work.The Mac became central to his activities and lead to his developing expertise in FileMaker Pro to manage various aspects of the business. AUSOM is very grateful for Ralph’s assistance in developing its custom databases, and most recently for the design of the AUSOM News Index application.
• Ivan joins the Curly Tales crew to talk with Peter Mackinlay, self-confessed public nuisance, letter writer and pursuer of lost causes.
• Ivan explores the resurrection of Save As… in Mountain Lion.

53

July 29, ’12

Annie Cumming recently set some kind of record when she volunteered to be an AUSOM Committee member after attending only one monthly meeting. Here she tells Dick how her family migrated from India 42 years ago, and how her mother’s qualifications as a computer operator began a family association with computers. Annie can claim to be one of only a few people to have been courted via punch card! Experience as part of a large extended family has convinced her of the value of post-retirement activity and learning, and with her computing background, she found herself quickly inspired by what AUSOM has to offer in this regard.
• This time round, the Curly Tales crew talks to Immediate Past President Susan Jensen about cars in general and the joys of sporty Subaru ownership.
• Resizing a group of photos in Preview is a simple task if you follow Ivan’s ‘Tip of the Month’ instructions.

52

May 26, ’12

This month Dick talks to Lorraine Fransdonk, whose formal garden was inspired by a 1991 trip to England and the Continent in pursuit of her other hobby — genealogy. Lorraine had become interested in the history of her ancestors’ migration to Australia from the 1850’s onwards. On the way she discovered such interesting identities as a pickpocket, a father of 20 children, a soldier/guard, and a seaman, with origins in Scotland, Ireland and England. Lorraine works with Reunion on her MacBook, which also serves to write the travel notes that help husband Bill with his video productions — the main reason that he switched to the Mac and iMovie.
• Committee member Bill Fransdonk migrated in his ‘teens from Holland with the rest of his family. The Curly Tales crew takes up the story, but is somehow diverted to a walk on Amsterdam’s wild side (thankfully without video content).
• Setting up more than one iTunes Library is easy when you know how. Ivan explains.

51

Apr 2, ’12

Long-time member Graham Woolley was introduced to an Apple ][ clone as a possilbe solution to illegible manual records in his dental practice. It was however somewhat unreliable and led him to purchase a genuine Mac LC. He tells Dick how a search for suitable software led him, like so many others, to make some purchases from Pam Doughty’s software library, and same-day membership of AUSOM followed. Graham delights in the crosssection of interests and knowledge of AUSOM people and finds FirstClass an invaluable resource. He reports that premium dental practice management, treatment record and technical packages are now finally migrating to the Mac, with the Mac’s ease of use a critical factor.
• The Curly Tales crew talk to Robin Helmond about mountain motor cycling, and 25 years of bread-baking.
• Ivan describes how to set up quick access to a ‘Sleep’ control with the use of Hot Corners

50

Jan 29 ’12

Since 1995, Gary Lowen has been responsible for rounding up the advertising that appears in AUSOM News and helps to pay for its production. This month Ivan talks to Gary, who undertook the role of “Mr Mum” for his family in 1993, where he found himself with a Mac LCII, an ImageWriter, and a need for both instruction and adult interaction. After finding AUSOM and assuming the Advertising Coordinator’s role, Gary subsequently spent a number of years on Committee. These days his use of the Mac reflects his deep interest in photography. His library of 16,000 photos includes scans of all his slides and film photos as well as his later digital work.
• Judy and Franco talk to our youngest member and keen soccer player Hannah Debuhr, who travels from Ballarat each month to enjoy the Garage Band SIG, among others.
• Ivan explains how to extract a freeze frame from a movie using Quicktime.

49

Nov 29, ’11

Dick talks this month to long-time member Jackie Corcoran, who spent most of her career in secretarial work, there being exposed to the Apple //e and a succession of Macs thanks to an Apple-enthusiast boss. On the way she completed a graduate diploma in Human Relations and acquired a lasting interest in genealogy, with Reunion keeping her in the Apple user camp after retirement, during which a number of trips to the UK have kept her in touch with her wider family. Essentially self-taught, Jackie found AUSOM when looking for a way to extend her computing skills, and now works mainly with Word, Reunion and Photoshop Elements.
• Judy and Franco talk to Ian McKean about the making of music for films using such software as GarageBand, Logic and Sibelius — not to mention the part an iPhone can play!
• Ivan explains how to access Lion’s improved speech-to-text functions.

48

Sept 26, ’11

This month Dick Johnson interviews Jim Atkinson, one of AUSOM’s longest standing members, having joined in 1986. Jim trained as a carpenter/joiner and subsequently served in the Navy in that role, travelling as far as Hawaii on ships conducting oceanographic surveys. Back on shore, Jim eventually established his own business and was looking for a business management system at reasonable cost when he found the Apple //c on sale at Myer. Jim took over the job of AUSOM Membership Officer at a time when the membership database ran on Omnis 3, and the task of labelling, packaging and mailing out 1400 magazines was a largely manual one. He served for a number of years in that important (and unpaid) role.
• The Curly Tales segment features a humorous podcast piece from the 2011 Extravaganza wherein Dick apparently interviews himself.
• Ivan’s tip concerns the taking of screenshots in Lion using Preview.

47

July 26, ’11

If you’ve visited the Knoxfield Sustainable House on its annual Open Day, you may well have met member Lorraine Hughes, its owner. After she graduated in Medicine, anaesthetist Lorraine’s travels inspired an interest in third world poverty, resulting in a 3-year period of working in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea. Marriage and family life were in due course followed by a career at a local hospital, during which Lorraine worked to implement a variety of techniques to maximise the energy efficiency of her home, to the extent that it has become an inspiration to many like-minded people. Having bought a Mac on retirement and having been referred to AUSOM by Mac user friends, Lorraine now makes all the signs and diagrams to explain her house to visitors, as well as notes for her U3A lecture series “Our Place in the World”.
• Isabel Collins talks to Judy and Franco about her passion with animation on the Mac.
• This month’s tip concerns the use of screenshots to record actions taken in Photoshop, for reference.

46

May 28, ’11

This month Dick Johnson talks to Andrew Kruger who, after 10 years in the Canberra Press Gallery, moved to Manhattan in 1980 to try his hand at freelancing for the AAP, remaining there for some 15 years. In the early days stories were written on a manual typewriter and telegraphed to Australia, and audio was transmitted by wiring a cassette recorder and a microphone to the telephone handset. The purchase of a simple RadioShack computer changed all that. Andrew’s conversion to radio began with on-the-spot reporting of the assasination attempt on Pope John Paul II. In 1986 Andrew and his wife had acquired a Mac Plus, but were later obliged to work in a PC environment. They have recently rejoined the Mac world and Andrew is enjoying learning with AUSOM.
• ‘Magical Bill’ Oldham is exposed by the Curly Tales crew and the contents of the magician’s box revealed.
• Ivan’s tip this month explains how to record and save important information about your iPhone.

45

Mar 26, ’11

Keen gardener Margaret Rackham worked initially as a primary school teacher but it was during two years wth her family in Western Samoa that she filmed the life of local caterpillars — a project which led to the “Silkworm” video with which many AUSOM members are now familiar. To work on an extensive collection of family history data she made the switch to Mac, and is interested in many types of appication, as her use of Keynote to make the Silkworm video shows. Ivan interviews Margaret for this month’s podcast.
• Curly Tales’ Judy Young joins Ivan in talking to AUSOM News editor Pam Doughty about her other life as a balloon-blower’s and magician’s assistant.
• iTunes items that are wrongly categorized can be returned to their proper places by setting the Media Kind parameter. Ivan explains how.

44

Jan 25, ’11

25-year member Mike Manger’s face has been a familiar one at meetings for almost that entire period, selling computer parts, accessories and consumables to fellow members. Dick Johnson talks to Mike about the beginning of the business in 1981 when he acquired the stock of a liquidated trader in consumables for minicomputers. The business grew into one selling and supporting Northstar and IBM PCs. Later, Mike’s wife’s job as an Apple-using teacher prompted him to attend an AUSOM meeting and the rest, as they say, is history.
• Curly Tales’ Judy Young puts Ivan in the hot seat re. motorbikes, photography and more.
• Ivan’s Tip of the Month explains how to get more out of the Recent Items list under the Apple menu.

43

Nov 24, ’10

Dick interviews David Kerr, who spent most of his working career in telcommunications with the PMG Dept and its successor Telecom, in the course of which he spent 2.5 years in Indonesia. He has seen radio relay systems superseded by satellite and fibre optics to cover Indonesia’s hundreds of islands. David bought a PC on retirement but finding it unintuitive, switched to a Mac and joined AUSOM for assistance in doing so. He finds the club valuable in extending his knowledge progressively, and observes that more one-on-one assistance would be especially valuable..
• The Curly Tales crew explores Volker Bulach’s musical interests, involving the use of SmartScore to transpose brass band music.
• Ivan’s tip suggests that resetting the printing system might help with printing problems.

42

Sep 26, ’10

AUSOM Librarian Phil Stevens’ face is a familiar one to those who attend our monthly meeings. Dick talks to Phil about his career as a primary school teacher and teacher/librarian which introduced him to the Apple ][ in around 1983. Phil’s own first Apple was a //c, and his first Mac an LC with //e card. Phil talks about the place of computers in education as a book library replacement (or not!). Phil joined AUSOM as retirement approached, and his current computing interests include Web research, personal finances, photography, and games.
• The Curly Tales crew talks to Flora Nicoletti, whose main AUSOM interest is in Photoshop, but who also makes gemstone necklaces as a hobby.
• Ivan’s Tip of the month relates to use of the ‘right click’ in Mail.

41

Aug 1, ’10

Pat Tasker, R&O SIG convenor and Photoshop SIG co-convenor, talks to Ivan about her career in pharmacology and microbiology at the Women’s Hospital where she first seriously dealt with computers. Following the purchase of a 512K Mac, she has since owned a succession of Macs, even surviving a brief graphics-driven romance with an Amiga. Given a copy of Photoshop 3 by a friend, and working at the time with botannic art, she quickly developed her current special interest in Photoshop and image animation.
• Lorna Johnson is cornered by Judy and Franco to talk about personal trainers, grandchildren, communal walking, and travelling in Russia.
• Ivan reveals the secrets of using your keyboard to choose and activate buttons in the Mac’s dialog boxes.

40

June 30, ’10

Dick talks this month to Committee Secretary Fred Jago. Apprenticed as a cabinet maker in North Melbourne, Fred moved to driving trucks and taxis. Later working with mentally incapacitated people at Loch Park and the psychiatric unit at Dandenong, he used a Mac on a daily basis. When the hospital closed, Fred took a TAFE course in computing with PCs, but later bought his own Mac, being introduced to AUSOM by a work colleague.
• Judy and Franco talk to Allan Groves about living in an English cottage garden established in the 1920’s, and his interests in photography, and in music using Garage Band.
• You can choose your own poster frames for your movies. Ivan explains how.

39

May 25, ’10

Nick West has been an active AUSOM member for almost 20 years. Here he talks to Dick about his discovery of Apple computers and AUSOM while in High School and TAFE. An early participant with his LCII in the Youth & Adventure SIG, he also discovered FirstClass, a resource he has since found invaluable. Nick now devotes considerable effort to collecting and recommissioning old Macs and PCs and has a garage full of these, his philosophy being: “If it still works, it’s still useful.”
• The Curly Tales crew talks to Yvonne Pratt, her family’s historian, about her interest in genealogy and travels to Ireland.
• Ivan explains how to launch applications with a few quick keystrokes using the Dock or a Finder window.

38

May 6, ’10

Dick Johnson’s victim this month is Mary Edgar, whose interesting adult life began as a microbiologist in the food industry, and included working with her late husband in the Leprosy Mission internationally. She subsequently worked in telephone counselling and in the ’90s undertook a Masters degree in counselling. After working for some years as a psychotherapist in Nepal, she returned to Australia to retire, and in 2007 joined AUSOM on the advice of a friend.
• Judy and Franco chat with Brian Moore about teaching a creative arts program for students, and his interest in pottery and Japan.
• Ivan explores the uses of the Fn key on a MacBook’s keyboard.

37

Apr 3, ’10

Committee member Greg Davies tells Dick about his career, spanning studies in biochemistry, electroncs &computers, and later anthropology and sociology. During part of that time he was a lab technician with CSIRO and Monash Uni, but subsequently moved to the public service, employed in the Dept of Social Security in social research and public relations – developing skills now very useful to AUSOM.
• Roger Threlfall talks to Judy and Franco about gliding and about making movies of his lifetime hobby.
• Ivan explains where owners of older Macs can find software to suit their machines.

36

Feb 5, ’10

This month Ivan interviews Peter Holloway, a Mac user since LC520 days. Interested for many years in newsletter production, Peter also designed the first (very large) website for the International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains, and at the age of 89 is still responsible for the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion Association’s website, and produces and edits its magazine.
• Ivan and Judy chat with Bette Clydesdale about her travels and the video production venture that grew from them.
• A simple shortcut can speed your work with open/save dialogs, as Ivan recently found.

35

Dec 3, ’09

This month’s guest is Jim Allinson. Jim’s working career was in soil conservation with several government authorities, and he wishes that computers had been available earlier, to aid in the costing of major projects he managed. When Jim’s wife needed to write a thesis the family acquired an Apple and found it far superior to Jim’s office PC. As a result of that acquisition, Jim has been an AUSOM member since 1997.
• The Garage Band crew catches up with Treasurer Damian Vuleta and chats about his acting and design activities.
• There’s a simple way to align windows of two applications side by side. Ivan explains.

34

Oct 31, ’09

AUSOM founding member David Turk is Ivan’s guest this month. Interested in computers from his pre-Apple schooldays, David found employment via his exploration of Hypercard with fellow AUSOM members. That experience led to programming and development of multimedia projects using applications like Macromedia Director and Adobe Flash. Most recently, David managed a project to develop an interactive website for the Lost Dogs’ Home. He currently assists with AUSOM’s Mac Forum and OS X Intermediate SIGs.
• Our Garage Band roving reporter catches up with the multi-talented Monty Maizels who recently added an appearance in City Homicide to his acting CV.
• Ivan looks at file paths and how to view them.

33

Oct 12, ’09

Ivan talks to member Beverley Davis. Beginning her working life as a stenographer with the Dept of Immigration, Beverley married early and supported her husband as he completed several medical degrees in both Australia and the USA, and raised three children in the process. After hosting (in the games room of the family home) the meetings of a fledgling AUSOM, she was persuaded in 1987 by her son to swap her IBM Selectric for a Mac SE30. She thereafter became something of a DTP expert, and in recognition of her production of a high volume of work on behalf of numerous community groups was awarded the OAM in 1995.
• Ivan explains how to use Mail’s Get Info function to work with your mail while it’s still on your ISP’s server.

32

Sept 4, ’09

Occasional interviewer Ivan Radywonik talks to Past-President and Life Member Ron Webster. Ron and his business partner were the electrical contractors to Channel 7 in Melbourne for some 25 years. His interest in computers began with an Apple ][ clone bought to support his son’s school work, with the family’s first Mac following in 1989. A copy of AUSOM News displayed in McGills brought Ron to AUSOM, first via the R&0 SIG. Following retirement he served on Committee, first as Secretary and then for several years as President.
• Ivan’s tip this month concerns the Services menu and Mail.

31

July 3, ’09

Telecomms technical bod Peter Emery is this month’s ‘victim’, interviewed by Dick Johnson. Peter’s first Mac was a Classic, which lead to his being introduced to AUSOM by an Apple service person. Pete joined in 2003 with the intention of getting help with digitizing a photo and slide collection, the FirstClass System being seen a good resource for this. He’s now convenor of the iPod/iTunes and Internet Plus SIGs, and has a collection of 15 vintage Macs, all but one working.
• This month Ivan has a tip for movie-makers.

30

June 4, ’09

A turnaround this month as Ivan interviews Immediate Past President and 10-year Committee member Dick Johnson. By profession Dick was a metallurgist with BHP, in whose planning department he first encountered computers. Mainframes were replaced by ‘minicomputers’ and then by desktops including the Mac, preferred for its presentation capabilities. Dick’s first home Mac was an SE, and a friendship with the late Courtney Wright, formed in his early AUSOM days, eventually led to his joining Committee. These days Dick is known as a home entertainment guru.
• Ivan’s tip concerns the making of a basic slideshow or presentation using PDF documents.

29

Apr 30, ’09

This month Dick interviews Stephen Withers, an AUSOM member since 1990, who begain his career by acquiring a Ph.D. in Operations Research, working with speech recognition as early as in the 1970s. At Monash and Melbourne Universities he was involved in small computer support systems and staff tuition, and was introduced to the original 1984 Macintosh. Publication of an unsolicited equipment review by Personal Computer World in the U.K. set the scene for later substantial reviewing and authoring work covering both Mac and Windows systems.
• Ivan reveals a simple way of dealing with websites that resist Safari’s charms.

28

Mar 31, 09

Judy Young currently leads the GarageBand SIG. Coming from a very musical family, Judy was steeped in music as both student and teacher from an early age. Following a career teaching in secondary schools and at the Melba Conservatorium as well as freelancing, Judy now works entirely from home where she has two teaching studios. GarageBand helps Judy to explore music composition and to produce podcasts for use by her students.
• If you’d like your Mac to speak custom alert phrases, follow along as Ivan explains how.

27

Feb 27, 09

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Jan 17, 09

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Nov 15, 08

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Oct 24, 08

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Sep 22, 08

This month President Dick talks with past VP and Secretary and current SIG leader Geoff Wallace. After many years spent in the skilled electrical trades, Geoff, now an apprentice master, found himself with the ‘side job’ of maintaining a database on an early Mac. Gathering experience through the remainder of his formal working years, Geoff then found himself being asked to help others with their Mac problems, which lead in turn to the establishment of his current business as the Mac Fixer.
• Ivan explains how to keep those ‘automatic addresses’ in Mail under control.

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Aug 30, 08

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Aug 12, 08

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June 24, 08

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June 7, 08

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May 16, 08

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Mar 30, 08

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Feb 28, 08

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Dec 27, 07

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Nov 27, 07

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Oct 28, 07

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Sep 28, 07

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Aug 27, 07

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Jul 25, 07

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Jun 21, 07

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May 24, 07

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Apr 23, 07

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Mar 13, 07

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Feb 19, 07

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Dec 6, 06

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