MacMania 15 Seminars

• • • SAL SOGHOIAN • • •

25 Things You Need to Know About OS X

Finally, a way to master the basics of using a Mac! Even seasoned Apple veterans don’t take advantage of the numerous features of OS X. In this hands-on class, you’ll learn and apply the shortcuts and custom settings used by the pros. Bring your laptop.

Here are the slides (18mb file).

Introduction to OS X Automation

The “hidden gem” of OS X is its suite of incredible automation technologies, including AppleScript, Automator, and Services. Unrivaled in power and abilities, these built-in tools are ready to save you time and toil. Take a few moments to finally learn how to take advantage of these unique technologies in a relaxed “learn-by-doing” class. You’ll be surprised by what you can do with your Mac!

Instant E-Publishing

It’s official, the world has moved to an electronic format for publishing, creating a growing demand and challenge to move new and existing documents to digital formats viewable on both computers and mobile devices. Fortunately, Mac OS X offers built-in automation tools that make it easy to create high-quality digital publications from standard source materials.
          In this hands-on class, you’ll learn how to:

• prepare electronic media for publications and distribution
• quickly create and publish articles in web-app format
• easily create digital books in universal EPUB format

         Bring your curiosity and a laptop running Mac OS X Lion, and you’ll be creating digital publications in minutes — guaranteed!

Make Your Own Cloud

Nowadays, it’s all about the “Cloud” and “cloud-based services” for everything from shopping, to parking, exercising, and even finding your wandering dog. And all of these services want you to “trust them” with your personal information and files. But did you know that for a small investment and a minimumal amount of time, you can keep your data private and safe at home, by setting up your own “cloud,” using great Apple software and hardware? In this class, you’ll learn how to setup a Mac-based “cloud” that can store, share, and even distribute your data securely, to all of your favorite devices. Bring your curiosity!

Here are the slides (54mb file).

• • • LEO LAPORTE • • •

Mountain Lion

Apple’s newest version of OS X contains many new and hidden features. Leo Laporte gives a fast-paced tour of the over 200 new features, showing you what’s new, and how to get the most out of your Mac. Learn how to use new iCloud features, how Gatekeeper can make your Mac even more secure, when to buy an app from the App Store and when not to. Master your Mac like never before with Mountain Lion.

Social Media — For Fun and For Profit

In the first part of this series, Leo will show you how to best use Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Foursquare, Path, Pair, and other specialized tools for keeping in touch with friends, and staying on top of the latest news. In the second part, Leo will look at the best practices for businesses that want to use social networks for communicating with customers and marketing. Learn the keys to effectively using Twitter, Google+, and Facebook to build your brand, and what pitfalls to avoid.

IPTV

Mass media is changing as we speak — for the first time more users are getting their entertainment from the Internet than from broadcast television. The future of TV is on the web, and Leo Laporte is one of its pioneers. Leo will show you how he has built an Internet based media empire and how you can join the legions of “cord-cutters” who no longer pay for cable or satellite TV and get their content online.

• • • DON MCALLISTER • • •

Reading 101

A session about Reading? We all do it! But how do you keep control of all your reading material? RSS Feeds. Twitter, Facebook, Online publications, websites, eBooks, PDFs. Lots and lots of content available, but how to control and consolidate to a single device? This session demonstrates how to use your iPad to be your master reading device and take control of all your content. But what about the Kindle? The session also shows you how to also integrate reading on the Kindle into your workflow.

Here are the slides (17mb file).

It’s All About the Numbers

Numbers on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad provides an exceptionally powerful number crunching tool. This session is designed to introduce you to the concept of the spreadsheet and how you can use them in many many different ways. We’ll take a look at the basic concepts and how they are implemented on both the Mac and iOS, as well as demonstrate may different scenarios when a spreadsheet is the best tool for the job. Want to take your number crunching to the next level? We’ll also take a look at some of the more advanced features in the latest versions of Microsoft Excel and Numbers.

Here are the slides (18mb file).

It’s All About the Data

You’ve probably got lots of data stored all across your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Text files, lists in spreadsheets as well as all sorts of data in any number of applications. But are these the best places to store your data? What about capturing, analyzing, and retrieving your data? This session will introduce you to the power of the database, explain the concepts of database creation, illuminate as to why you need them, and describe how you can benefit from them. This session will lead you through mastering the defacto prosumer database application on the Mac — Bento — as well as examining the features and usage of it’s iPhone and iPad versions, from first steps to creating powerful databases to manage your data.

Here are the slides (12mb file).

Whole House Audio

So you have a few Macs, an iPad or two, an iPhone, and perhaps an Apple TV. Or perhaps just a couple of these devices. In this session, I demonstrate how to setup a whole house audio system with nothing more that your existing Apple devices. Stream music from any source on your Mac to any device in the house, or even to all of them at once, with zero latency. Add into the mix the ability to search and control your music from your iPad or your iPhone for ultimate control. You can even stream audio from your Mac to your iPhone or iPad. The possibilities are endless!

Here are the slides (16mb file).

Location, Location, Location

Location based services have seen a huge increase on iOS. This session explains the technology behind location services and how you can take advantage of the latest and greatest in location-based tools and services on iOS. We’ll also take a look at what you can do to protect your privacy when using location based services.

Here are the slides (40mb file).

Living with the Cloud

Gone are the days when the Mac was your Digital Hub (well for some of us!). With the advent of SSDs, our hard drives are getting smaller and more and more data is living in the Cloud. This session explores how we can keep a minimal data footprint on our Macs and iOS devices and make best use of iCloud and other cloud related services.

Here are the slides (24mb file).

The Power of Speech

This section explores just how far we’ve come using speech to control and command our Macs and iOS devices. With the powerful speech capabilities built into iOS and Lion, it’s never been easier to use our devices with just the power of speech. The session will also take a look at using the best third-party apps to create and edit flawless text, directly from our voice.

Here are the slides (14mb file).

• • • ALLISON SHERIDAN • • •

Turbocharge your Mac Productivity

Learn to use the built-in features of Mac OS and how to use great, inexpensive third-party tools to boost your efficiency in all that you do. Learn gestures, how to tame the sidebar, how to switch quickly to different programs, why you care about the top of the Finder window, quick application launching techniques, and even how to type fewer characters to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

Here are the slides.

Creating Spectacular Documentation

Do you ever need to create “how to” documents for family, friends or colleagues? We all know how much easier it is to add in screenshots or annotations to our written instructions, but it’s such a chore, even when you’ve managed to get the screen shot in the correct place. But what if you need to update a screenshot in place — nightmare! And what’s the best way to publish your “how to” masterpiece? PDF? Word Document? Wouldn’t it be great to automate the process or even publish directly to the web or even your own blog. All this and more can be achieved with a single tool — ScreenSteps. In this session, we’ll go through some best practice in creating documentation and demonstrate just how easy and effortless the entire process can be.

Here are the slides.

iOS Productivity Tools

Some people say that the iDevices are just for consumption, but in this session we’ll show you how wrong that is. Learn about applications to organize your thoughts, tell you what time it will be in another time zone, tell you how loud it is, how to keep trips (like this) organized, how to use your iOS device as a second monitor, and even how to stream video from your Mac (or PC) to IOS for learning on the go.

Here are the slides.

Video Conversion Made Easy for iOS

The iPad is a fantastic device for watching movies, but you don’t want to have to rebuy all the movies you already own on DVD. Learn how to capture your legally-owned DVDs to put on your iPad. You have a favorite home movie video, but it’s in a format you can’t put on your iPhone, learn easy tools to quickly convert those videos with no codecs or complicated processes to learn.

Here are the slides.

Introduction to Podcasting

If you’re a Mac fanatic, you can’t get enough of learning new fun things about it. The wealth of knowledge that’s available for free about the Mac on podcasts is just crazy. in this session you’ll learn how to find podcasts, how to subscribe to them in iTunes and how to manage your podcasts.

Here are the slides.

Photography on iOS

The iPhone camera is an amazing device, but by now you’ve probably outgrown the built-in camera app. In this session you’ll hear about camera apps that will inspire the shutterbug within you. Apps that allow you to set exposure separately from focus, retro cameras that mimic film, add styles and frames, tilt-shift photo apps, and even apps that let you touch up your photos like a real photo editor.

Here are the slides.

Security on Mac and iOS

You probably enjoy the fact that the Mac and iOS enjoy fewer security problems than other platforms, but there are still dangers out there that you can avoid. Learn safer browsing techniques, how to create easy to remember and yet secure passwords, and even learn about different options for securely storing your passwords online for easy access. It’s easier than you think!

Here are the slides.

• • • WALLY CHERWINSKI • • •

Video to Go — MacMania Style

Today’s camcorders are better, smaller, and easier to use and video is now built into most still cameras and mobile devices. With little more than your Mac’s editing tools and a dash of creativity, you can easily recapture your travels and adventures in an elegant way. Wally will share a few short videos from recent MacMania cruises and cover some hands-on techniques you can use to plan, shoot, and shape your own images into lasting memories. You’ll also take away tips to use during your trip and find out how to see and capture the best clips. Plus, you’ll learn how to set your personal video style and mood to create a polished product to share with family and friends.

Here are the slides (35mb file).
Here is Wally’s toolkit (4mb file).