From: xxltony@crash.cts.com (Tony Lindsey) Subject: Mac*Chat#092/10-Oct-95 Mac*Chat#092/10-Oct-95 ====================== Welcome to Mac*Chat, the weekly electronic newsletter biased toward Mac users who are production-oriented professionals. Other Mac users may find many, many items of interest as well. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, due to the massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee a personal reply. Tony Lindsey, . Mac*Chat may be copied freely, provided that all copies are left intact and unedited. Financial donations are gratefully accepted, to help defray the costs of putting-out one of the fastest-growing newsletters on earth. For more information, send e-mail to , with "Donations" in the Subject line. Mac*Chat back-issues may be found within any Info-Mac ftp archive at /info-mac/per/chat and read with any Web browser at See the end of this file for legalisms and info on how to get a free subscription. Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue The Results Of The Experiment, And The Next Steps Beyond Mac*Chat's New Business Manager Excellent Web Sites Jaz Drive Info PhotoGIF First Virtual - I'm Now An Online Consumer, Part One LaserMerge Info Info About Clippings, And A Request For A Utility Interesting Questions My Advice For Folks Seeking Answers To Bizarre Mac Questions Consulting Questions Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I release the results of my voluntary-donations experiment, and talk about my future plans and new business manager, we mention a few Web sites worth visiting, including one of the best Mac sites (located in Finland), we get more news about the upcoming Jaz drive, I mention a useful (but somewhat annoying) utility for creators of Web graphics, I begin a series of articles talking about my experiences with online finances, a very nice utility for printing forms is located, we learn about clippings in System 7.5, readers request info about indexing software and a good color banner-making program, I mention the many Mac-related USENET newsgroups as a resource for tracking down information, we discuss concerns for consultants, and (sort of) review an excellent book for consultants. The Results Of The Experiment, And The Next Steps Beyond -------------------------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I apologize for the sparse output of Mac*Chat issues lately. Many people missed-out on issue #91 for some reason. It's in the back-issues: Admittedly, I've also been dragging my deadlines further and further. I've been going through a period of personal introspection. I've been meditating, and pondering where I want to go with Mac*Chat. I recently began a system of soliciting donations to help keep Mac*Chat ad-free. In the first week, there were eleven donations of 10 dollars each, eight in the next week, and two after that so far. I'm deeply grateful to everyone who was so kind and generous, and I plan to pass every dime to Shrimmy, the guy who voluntarily handles the Mac*Chat mailing-list drudgery for me. I can't see myself working for free any more. So, I had some thinking to do, and decisions to make. I needed to figure out how to financially justify the newsletter and all the time and effort going into it. I dearly love creating these electronic publications, and want very much to go on. I suspect I'm just a bit ahead of my time. The day has not yet arrived where the Internet will allow paid subscriptions that mean anything. So, the decision has to be between shifting the newsletter to a completely professional basis, and discontinuing it. I was chatting with a neighbor, who told me that a similar crisis-point had been reached a while back by an idealistic printed magazine called the Utne Reader. I had never heard of it, and she gave me a back-issue. "Utne" means "Far Out" in Norwegian, according to the masthead, and I found it to be a fine, interesting magazine with a lot in common with Mac*Chat. It's a selection of short essays about the human condition in the new age, for lack of a better way to describe it. My neighbor told me the Utne Reader had tried to go completely ad-free, but had failed. Looking at its current, glowingly vibrant Web version, I would say they passed that hurdle with total success, despite having ads in both the Web and printed versions. So, I would like anyone reading this to lend a hand by recommending good, solid, reputable businesses to be part of Mac*Chat's upcoming all-ads companion newsletter, called Chat*Ads. (Thanks to William Lorenzo Moss IV for the name). I will be encouraging those businesses to widen their vision to reach ALL of Mac*Chat's target audience, all over the planet. I'm new to this, so please act as an ice-breaker to introduce me to the people involved in the businesses you trust. Mac*Chat is all about networking. I like to use it to pass-along the best-possible nuggets of useful information. Using Chat*Ads, I can include top-quality businesses in the mix. I would also like suggestions for the most cost-effective ways to handle a new LISTSERV mailing list comprised of nothing but advertisements. Back in early September, we discussed the idea of an all-ads newsletter in Mac*Chat issue #88, and the folks running TidBITs announced their own version last week: Chat*Ads will be similar in many ways, but I intend to keep it constantly adapting to circumstances as they arise. Any other suggestions? Remember, I have a responsibility to tens of thousands of loyal readers, so please don't suggest anything that would drive them away. I haven't changed my nature and convictions, I'm just adapting toward something more like a win-win situation for my readers and me. In any case, I'm back to a regular deadline, so expect an issue every single week. You can depend on it! Mac*Chat's New Business Manager ------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I've asked my husband Dennis to be my business manager and to take an active role in helping me plan Mac*Chat's future. I'm the idealistic dreamer of the family, and he's the one who makes sure the mortgage gets paid on time. If you haven't met him yet, check out my personal Web page: He's an excellent choice in many ways. He's certainly a lot more practical and business-savvy than I am, and he has the technical expertise to go with it. His other job is at the Union-Tribune in San Diego, helping them get their newspaper onto the World Wide Web in a month or so. We've been a great team for over five years, and I am eagerly looking forward to the next fifty or so! Excellent Web Sites ------------------- [I strongly recommend visiting this site and adding it to your Hot List - Jussi is to be widely admired for his devotion to organizing useful information for Mac users. His site is a permanent part of my Netscape menu!] By Juhani Sirkiä, Finland Inviting you to Cult of Macintosh(tm)... A labour of love constantly changing and growing. Something like 100 visitors per day, I guess and hopefully growing. Not probably the greatest of them but close! Then again I'm biased to say this :-). Our university's servers have been a bit nervous lately but hopefully you can get through... ------ [I've included the following info for the many self-employed graphic-designers among my readers.] By Matthew Bernardini I found this site today and I thought other people on this list might be interested as well. The site is for The Optima Design Awards: Call for Entries The Optima Design Awards officially launched its second annual design competition on August 18, 1995. Dedicated to recognizing and rewarding outstanding talent, the awards main focus is on taking great design and showcasing it not only within the design community, but also by expanding the vision that design is everyone's concern ! This years Optima Design Award Winners will be showcased at the 1996 Macworld Expo in Boston and will receive over $32,000 in prizes. The close date of the competition will be October 30, 1995. Winners will be announced in January 1996. Request entry forms via World Wide Web at or by Fax at (609) 393-2202. Jaz Drive Info -------------- By Benjamin Cox >Also, has anybody gotten the Jaz drive yet? [It's the 1-gigabyte cartridge drive that is causing a lot of my peers to become excited - see issue #87] I haven't received it yet, but I ordered a Jaz from Mediastore [800-555-5551/714-997-5551 ] I ordered on or around August 25 and was told to call back on Sept. 25; they should be shipping around the first week of October. They said they were second in line from Iomega and they expected to get a LOT of these drives. I called back around Sept. 21 and was told that the expected ship date had been pushed back to the end of October. Do other dealers have these drives yet? Mediastore's price is $599 (plus around $7-8 shipping) for the drive, which comes with one cartridge. Additional cartridges are $103. PhotoGIF -------- By Tony Lindsey Sometimes, it's hard for me to remember where I get things. I get a LOT of files attached to e-mail messages, and I sometimes forget where they come from later on, usually when I'm staring with dismay at a hard drive containing 1.4 megs of free space. One of these Mystery Files turned out to be quite nice for somebody who works on Web-page graphics on a regular basis, as I do. PhotoGIF is a Photoshop plug-in that makes it easy for me to save GIF files as interlaced images with a transparent color, allowing non-rectangular images to "float" on the Web page. I discussed this same concept back in Mac*Chat issue #67. I recommended a couple of separate programs (in addition to Photoshop) that did the same thing. This plug-in makes it one-step easy. Please be aware it has some really nasty reminder dialog-boxes that get in your face at every turn, begging for moolah. I can't say I blame them, so I didn't take too much offense. Instead, I decided to use my irritation to force me into joining the world of online commerce.... First Virtual - I'm Now An Online Consumer, Part One ---------------------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I loaded the PhotoGIF plug-in mentioned above, and found the "Please Pay" dialog-boxes to be very annoying. They will go away if I pay the software authors. As soon as I saw that they use the same type of Register program as Mac*Chat, I decided to pay them with no paper or grimy cash involved. What the heck. As an adult in the computer age, I've found that I don't learn something really new unless there is some form of pressure to drive me along. Since I understand this, I now choose to use any excuse I can find for new experiences, such as volunteering to put out a club newsletter (forcing me to learn PageMaker 1.0 way back when) or learning directly about online finances: First, I stopped by the First Virtual Web site though you can get the same info through e-mail: if you don't have access to a Web Browser. Contrary to what several of my readers assumed, there is FULL support for folks who aren't inside the USA. There really is no difference between the procedures, except for a different phone number to call and minor stuff like that. I clicked my way through the instructions, and entered data into the on-screen form, using my Web browser. At no time was I asked for any financial information while online. There was plenty of help available, and I had no errors or problems. I was also given the option of choosing my "gift" for signing-up, so I chose a three month trial subscription to "WEBster, your definitive guide to the World Wide Web." After getting a sample table of contents, it sure looks like a lot of online noise to me. Thanks, but I already have quite enough to read! I already get NetGuide magazine (my other option), but I gladly recommend it to anybody who is offered a free three-month subscription as their gift. After sending off my application, I was told to expect some e-mail containing further instructions. When I got it, I was given a 12-digit code and a phone-number to call. With my VISA card handy, I called and went through the touch-tone steps with no problem, and I was told that the process cost me two bucks and maybe ten minutes out of my life. I'm still waiting for my final confirmation and First Virtual code number. I haven't waited long, I'm just on deadline. I'll continue this log in the next issue. LaserMerge Info --------------- By Fred Monsour Andrew Duncan asked: >I am appealing to Mac*Chat for some help in locating an update to LaserMerge, a utility from MindGate that merges electronic letterheads with paper when printing. A client of mine has version 1.01 and this appears to be incompatible with Apple's LaserWriter driver 8.x, and no resellers in Australia know anything about it and I haven't had any help from the Mac.apps Usenet group. I was wondering if any Mac*Chat readers are using a later version of LaserMerge and whether it is compatible or not with Apple's MindGate would be greatly appreciated.< MindGate can be reached at (800) 648-6840. They are about to release LaserMerge 2.0, which will work with any printer driver (QuickDraw, PostScript or fax modem). This sounds like a _super_ printing enhancer, especially for businesses that do a lot of printing on a variety of forms, letterheads, etc. The list price is $95, but they have a $40 competitive upgrade from any other print utility (such as Dynopage). An extensive brochure is available by faxback (615) 937-4636, phone or email . No, I don't work for them, but if their product is as good as it sounds, I would love to see it be a success. I've placed my order, and if there is interest here I'll write a brief review after I've used it. It's reportedly shipping in October. Info About Clippings, And A Request For A Utility ------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Patin (come visit for some free Mac software) I have a simple idea for an extension that I think a lot of people would use. I use the Clipping extension all the time, especially when reading MacChat (I extract interesting paragraphs, URLs, etc.); my only complaint is that the clipping documents don't have a name that means anything. I have two solutions which a smart programmer could implement in a control panel or extension: 1) when a clipping is created, a dialog pops up asking for its name; or 2) when a clipping is created, it takes the name of the first 10 or 15 (configurable) characters of the clipping itself. I would think it could be really tiny and oh-so-usable... and I'd be glad to help test it! About the Clipping Extension: If you're running System 7.5, it's installed in your Extensions folder (it's part of Apple's system software). I actually didn't pay any attention to it for the longest time, until reading a blurb about it in MacUser or MacWorld. In some applications (notably Stickies, SimpleText, or Claris Emailer, which I love), you can select text and drag it to your desktop. It becomes a tiny file containing that "clipping". You can then drag that clipping into a document that supports clippings. I copy email addresses from Emailer mail (like MacChat for example), save them as clippings, and then when I want to send mail back (for example to subscribe to a list), I drag the clipping to the address field in Emailer and it pops right in! Try it, you'll quickly be hooked. Interesting Questions --------------------- By Bob Patin I want to subscribe to the Word-a-Day listserv. Can you tell me how to find its address for subscribing, or post a query in an upcoming MacChat? I'd really appreciate it. ------ By Isaiah W. Cox I am working on my PhD Thesis, and I find that I have need for some *very* powerful indexing tools. Not only do I need to index my indices, and index footnotes (Something that Word will not do), I also need to be able to easily create 5-8 different indices in the same document. So, for example, I need to be able to give different kinds of tags to the same data set, and create different indices, one for names, one for kind of court case, etc. If anyone is curious, this is for a translation/edit of a medieval legal record. The Indices for this kind of work tend to run 100 pages, for an original text of 400 pages. Does the software exist for this? Can someone point me in the right direction? ----- By Bill Wallace, Cybrarian, Manzano Day School, Albuquerque, New Mexico Do you have any idea where you can find a color banner maker for a tractor feed printer. Printshop works but still leaves space between pages. I found a shareware program at Aim but it didn't support colors. My Advice For Folks Seeking Answers To Bizarre Mac Questions ------------------------------------------------------------ By Tony Lindsey Sometimes we all have Mac-related questions, and it can be difficult to get a direct answer. Personally, I've found good results from posting questions on the following newsgroups: comp.sys.mac comp.sys.mac.advocacy comp.sys.mac.announce comp.sys.mac.apps comp.sys.mac.comm comp.sys.mac.databases comp.sys.mac.digest comp.sys.mac.games comp.sys.mac.games.action comp.sys.mac.games.adventure comp.sys.mac.games.announce comp.sys.mac.games.flight-sim comp.sys.mac.games.marketplace comp.sys.mac.games.misc comp.sys.mac.games.strategic comp.sys.mac.graphics comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage comp.sys.mac.hardware.video comp.sys.mac.hypercard comp.sys.mac.misc comp.sys.mac.oop.macapp3 comp.sys.mac.oop.misc comp.sys.mac.oop.tcl comp.sys.mac.portables comp.sys.mac.printing comp.sys.mac.programmer comp.sys.mac.programmer.codewarrior comp.sys.mac.programmer.help comp.sys.mac.programmer.info comp.sys.mac.programmer.misc comp.sys.mac.programmer.tools comp.sys.mac.programmers.misc comp.sys.mac.scitech comp.sys.mac.system comp.sys.mac.wanted As a courtesy, I also like to leave answers for the questions that other people ask. That way, I'm not just taking from others, but contributing to the flow of good Internet karma. Would someone please review some of the above newsgroups for me? I have my personal favorites, but I'd like to hear about YOURS. Consulting Questions -------------------- By Jeff Brett I currently work at North Island College in Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada in the Fine Arts department. I am responsible for the care and maintenance of a Macintosh lab used by Art and Design students. I also teach community education courses on our Macs. It is an exciting task. I know of no other group that can push a Mac like our students. They just assume that it can do everything. Luckily the Mac can meet their expectations. My knowledge is becoming known in the surrounding community of Mac users. I have recently begun consulting outside my regular work. This area does not have a Macintosh dealer and there is an obvious need for some assistance. However, I am in need of some advice on software which can assist me in troubleshooting hardware and software ailments. Based on suggestions from MacChat I obtained Tech Tool. I have used it for a number of months with excellent results both in the lab I maintain and with clients' Macs. I also use Norton Utilities on a regular basis; Disk Doctor for diagnosing and Speed Disk for optimizing/defragmenting. Have you had any experience with other software that can help with diagnosing software and hardware problems? Tech Tool also includes information on two items; MacEKG(great name) for diagnosing a Mac's health and Drive Tech for cleaning floppy drives. Would you recommend these products? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. [I use MacEKG periodically, and like it okay - I haven't had any world-shaking results from it, but then I used to be a repair-tech for the Navy before I got into computers. I usually diagnose things pretty well on my own. I have no experience with Drive Tech. How do other people feel about these products?] ------- By Joseph Talavera I'm writing this to solicit some advice. Due, in large part, to the encouragement gleaned from MacChat, I'm ready to jump into the world of entrepreneurship and offer my skills as a consultant. However, a big question that needs to be answered relates to liability: What means and/or mechanisms do you (or your readers) have in protecting yourself in situations of liability? For example, you install something on a client's machine, which crashes a week later, for some totally unrelated reason. In situations like this, people are quick to point fingers, and I'm concerned about exposing myself to frivolous accusations. Some suggestions I've had are: incorporation, providing some protection but doubling startup costs; and liability insurance, which is also costly. Based on your experience, would you recommend one over the other? Neither? (i.e. am I being paranoid)? [I handle this sort of thing by making a strong declaration of my desire to support my client (see Mac*Chat issues 63 and 90) as soon as I complete my work. I use my word as my bond. In over 14 years of doing business, this has been sufficient. I fear worse, but it hasn't happened.] A second, easier question: When you take on a new client, do you enter into a written contract with them? Why or why not? [No, I don't usually do this with individual clients (the vast majority of my clientele). Since they all are referred by others, they seem quite happy to take the word of somebody who they haven't met yet, but who talks a darned good line. Once they see me at work, my behavior confirms that I am a man of my word, and they trust me. Corporations commonly ask me to sign contracts as an independent contractor, and I gladly stick to those agreements. Incidentally, one of the common clauses ask me not to disclose information to competitors. If I was a weasel, it would be laughably easy to conduct industrial espionage, since I am given so much unsupervised time and can carry gigabytes of information in and out on my optical disks. Since I'm not a weasel, it would take some heavy torture-unto-death to get me to betray my client's trust. I'm just as human as everybody else, and I don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm a plaster saint. In fact, my moral structure, when viewed from certain angles, looks like Swiss cheese. This doesn't stop me from trying to be a better human being, with a responsibility to the people who share my local and worldwide communities. Mac*Chat is one of several ways I put good karma out into the world. I don't see any point in complaining about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket - That evades responsibility for doing something about it. I can't change the whole world, but I can affect some small part of it.] Consulting Book Reviews ----------------------- By Robert Hook, Queensland, Australia >Have you ever heard of HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COMPUTER CONSULTANT, 3RD EDITION by Alan R. Simon? It's published by McGraw-Hill (Feb 1994).< I've seen it on the bookshelves here in sunny Brisbane, and it looks pretty good - I was actually thinking about buying it in the next couple of days (and when you understand that specialist books like this start at about $55 Australian Pesos, you can see that's a reasonable sort of endorsement). It looks to have a balanced approach, and concentrates on the business and people-skills side of things, which are likely to be lacking in the archetypal computer geek... ------ By Jay Parr, Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada I have the book, "HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COMPUTER CONSULTANT, 3RD EDITION", but have only started to read it. Let's say the Table of Contents looks good and anything in a Third Edition must be do something correctly. The author has been in business for many years and sounds as if he understands 'the game'. I have used some of the ideas: "Why Clients Use Computer Consultants", "Types of Computer Consultants", "Your Skill Sets", and "Forty Different Consulting Specialties". These are in the first two chapters. Having just scanned the Table of Contents again, I think I will read some more tonight. This book provides a number of sections that would help Randy Chevrier decide whether he wants to proceed with his dream. Legalisms --------- Copyright 1989-1995 Tony Lindsey. Nonprofit groups (such as Mac User Groups) or other non-commercial publications) are welcome to use any part of the Mac*Chat newsletters if full credit is given. All others will need to contact me. This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free information. No profit has been made from any of these opinions. Time passes, so accuracy may diminish. Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their companies. This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader. Tips from readers are gratefully accepted. Please write them in a user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site, please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it. Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter ------------------------------------- You may subscribe to Mac*Chat by sending e-mail to: The Subject line is ignored, so it can say anything. In the body of the message include the following line: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton You will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general listserv info. You will then automatically receive Mac*Chat in your e-mail box, for free, every week. ============== ____ ================================================== Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter Mac*Chat Editor \X / ================= \/ =================================================