/ Desktop News / Mactoberfest 2011 was the best ever!
Mactoberfest 2011 was over the top! Our special guest Christopher Breen, author, musician and Macworld.com columnist was informative, funny and encouraging. His message was, there is no “no can”. Not enough knowledge, skill, time or motivation have a solution – just try it! The technology Steve Jobs and Apple have given us allow all of us to be creative, to live easier, more fun and productive lives.
Here are some of Chris’ highlights.
- Lion is the first step to melding iOS for mobile devices with Mac OS for iMacs and Macbooks. With Airdrop open on your computer and someone else’s miles away, you can collaborate on docs by dropping them into a folder. Close Airdrop and the connection is broken.
- iCloud makes computing without walls possible. The ability to synch your computer anytime and anywhere, almost instantaneously is going to be big! Find My friends lets you see your friends’ locations on a map. Ok, that one’s spooky, but Apple will solve that.
- The new iPhone 4s brings Siri, the advanced voice control that learns what you want and helps you to do it almost magically. Apps you buy at the App store download to all of your devices.
- 911 tips: Backup, backup, backup! For the rare occasion you have a problem Lion installs a backup hard drive partition automatically. Restart your Mac holding down Command-R or Option key. Select Recover HD. It allows you to Restore from Time Machine Backup or Reinstall Lion. But what if you can’t even boot up. For that you can create a Recovery Disk Assistant file, available from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 and save it on a flash drive or DVD.
Then it was time to create. As Chris said there is no no can. One good presentation followed another. Mahalo to our photographer, Eugene Villaluz.
Chris Breen demonstrating Garageband
Chris Breen demonstrated creating a song using Garageband’s drag and drop loops (music clips) for all kinds of instruments. Add a digital keyboard or play a virtual instrument. The iPad has guitars, drums and other instruments you actually play. The iMac has just the virtual keyboard. iPhone has no Garageband but it does have third party apps for drums and other instruments. Chris and New Hope Church musician Bobby Clay helped folks to create a song and add their playing to it. No reason not to be a musician anymore.
Doc and Jerome of NonStop Honolulu
Jerome Koehler and Doc Boyd were the energy twins. They demonstrated cool iPad and iPhone apps with a focus on making a Keynote presentation on an iPad that goes right into the computer. Doc created a tribute to Steve Jobs that was awesome. This group was by far the biggest breakout. The iPad is revolutionizing computer anytime anywhere. They invited folks to send questions and checkout their iniformative Nonstop Honolulu video tech blog http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/tech/
Mike Harada
Mike Harada demonstrated Sketchbook Pro, a $1.99 – $3.99 drawing and painting app with multiple brushes and spray cans, color palettes and layers. The results were modest but gallery worthy as you can see below.
Mike's Students' works on exhibit - Katie Ozawa, Joey Johnson and Cynthia Oshiro. photofunia.com
Ross Rasmussen and Terry Takaki
Then Terry Takaki presented features of a camera you want to have for great pictures and Ross Rasmussen drag and dropped photos into an instant iPhoto slideshow or album.
Door prizes included Chris’s iPod and iPhone books for eight lucky winners, Apple bags, blankets and flashlights and the grandprize, a pre-amp mixer donated by Royce Tanouye!
In all there were 85 folks in the Pagoda Hotel’s LaSalle Room, some even coming from the neighbor island. Clear Hawaii www.clear.com/hawaii provided high quality WIFI for the day. It was comfortable, and there was plenty to eat. Many commented that they liked the venue and the day a lot. We certainly did.
Mahalo nui loa
to all of our great presenters for their expertise and passion for not only using, but also sharing with us
to our faithful volunteers who came early and stayed till all the cleanup was done
to the Pagoda’s staff for being so supportive!
and to our sponsors ad donors – Clear Hawaii, Peachpit Press, Tapacom.net and Royce Tanouye
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