Two Up Macintosh Window-Management Utility

TwoUp is a great free utility I use to help with window-management on the Macintosh. It's actually a stripped down version of a program with more advanced features that's not free, which is a great way to market products. It's from Irradiated Labs at http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com.

It's very simple to resize an application window, pressing CTRL, OPTION and COMMAND keys all at once (they're right next to each other) and one of the ARROW KEYS. It causes the application window you're using to re-size to the left half, right half, top half or bottom half of your screen. If you want to work side by side with two finder windows or a finder window and a text window, for example, just select the window and press the appropriate keys. It works with most Mac programs, but check the exceptions in the documentation (two are Microsoft Word and Excel 2004).

It's worth a look, and it's FREE.

Macintosh Group DVMUG in Contra Costa County

I discovered the Diablo Valley Macintosh User Group last year and thought I'd share it with you. They seem to be one of the most active groups in the East Bay, having a number of special interest groups (SIGs) and a web-based Bulletin Board with many forums on many topics. The SIG I've been attending regularly is the Genealogy SIG, headed by Verner Laursen. They also have an interesting iLife SIG.

Cartoonizer

This Cartoonizer web site has been around for a few months. It allows you to upload images, modify and then download them to your computer for free. There are many effects available, the most useful is turning your photos into a cartoon-like image as shown here. There is a "watermark" on the free version that is easy to work with. This is not strictly speaking a Mac product, but it works perfectly on my Mac Firefox web browser. The website is http://www.befunky.com

http://www.macgen.org is born

The April 25th meeting went well and we're planning the next one on June 27th. Read about it at the MacGen web site.

Macintosh Genealogy Meeting April 25, 2009

I live in Castro Valley, Calif. and belong to four Bay Area genealogy groups. Each has a small number of people that use Macs to help with their genealogy research. There are just not enough people in these PC-dominated genealogy groups to have substantive meetings that cover the wonderful advantages a Macintosh can bring to your genealogy avocation. The best group for Mac Genealogists I've encountered so far is the Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group (used to be Silicon Valley Personal Ancestral File group) in Santa Clara. They have a sub-group headed by Mac Guru Pat Burrow (plumlady.com) who is a treasure of Mac information. Every second Saturday, they have their two hour Mac presentation in the South Bay. They also have a Getting Started Class taught by Pat Solomon. But, it's not enough for me. I think our East Bay Mac users deserve a way to share their two passions, genealogy and their Macs.

So, I'm exploring this month to see if such a need exists. On Saturday, April 25th, at 1:30 pm at the Oakland LDS Family History Center, a meeting will occur with as many genealogy enthusiasts that use Macs, as can be found. Please see a flyer I created with more details, and hopefully I'll see you on the Saturday the 25th.

...Bill

MacIntosh User Group in Livermore

I just noticed this Mac User Group that meets monthly on the Third Thursday from 7-10pm, 1155 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton. They have a very informative Newsletter, "The TMUG Insider". See their web site at http://www.clubtmug.com/. I hope to attend their Thursday July 17th, 2008, meeting.

iPhoto Photo Books and Calendars

I finally put some of my photos to work, publishing a two photo books and a photo calendar with iPhoto. They turned out great! The photo books are spectacular with the slip covers.