Microsoft Office 2015 for the Mac

I read this morning that Microsoft Office is scheduled for release at the end of 2015.  However, Outlook is available now. 

If you have a subscription to Office 365 and you have updated your operating system, you can take advantage of the update now.

You can read more about it from the MacWorld article at http://www.macworld.com/article/2848035/first-look-microsoft-outlook-2015-promises-few-new-features-but-better-performance.html

Free Screen Capture and Annotate App - Snaplr

I have discovered some great free apps the last couple of days.  Snaplr is a free screen capture and annotate map.  It has some similarities to TechSmith Jing.  It can be downloaded from http://www.vessenger.com/snaplr for both the Mac and Windows PC.  A screen shot of the app is below. 

• Click on the Take Screenshot button 
• The screenshot will fill the window
• Annotate with the drawing/test icons
• Copy to the clipboard or save the image

The app is simple and easy to use.

Setting Up Email on the Mac

Chris Breen has a new post, Setting Up Email on the Mac, available from MacWorld.  If you are using an iPad or iPhone the instructions for the Mac should be somewhat intuitive.  The main difference is the you lauch system Preferences on the Mac, whereas, you launch Setting on the iPhone and iPad.  You can read more at http://www.macworld.com/article/2027270/setting-up-email-on-your-mac.html

Understanding the Mac - Menus

Chris Been has written two new columns about the Mac menus.  The first is "Diving into Menus, Part 1" at http://www.macworld.com/article/2013353/mac-101-diving-into-menus-part-1.html

The second is "Diving into Menus, Part 2" at http://www.macworld.com/article/2013626/mac-101-diving-into-menus-part-2.html

Even experienced Mac users can learn something from these two fundamentals articles. In the first article learn about Force Quit (equivalent to CTRL ALT Delete in Windows to force an application to quit). Learn about Smart Folders and Burn Folders. 

The Mac does things that Windows computers still are unable to do. 

Understanding the Mac - Input Devices

The iPad has opened up new doors to users considering a switch to the Mac.  The Mac is discussed in the 4th edition of the Nursing and Informatics textbook, but not with any kind of depth.  Prior to the 4th edition, hospitals and healthcare provider offices were strictly Windows computer users.  That aspect is changing.  The Mac and iPad are being used increasingly more in healthcar

If you are using a Windows Computer, you may have some initial confusion until you realize the differences.  The most important thing is to realize that the Command key on the Mac is used instead of the Control key on Windows devices.  Chris Bean writes a wonderful Mac 101 column for MacWorld.  Last week he wrote an article about Mac input devices and discussed information like the keyboard.

The keyboard on the Mac and iPad do some things that are very helpful.  For example, allowing users to easily type special characters.  One of my hobbies is genealogy and part of my ancestry is Finnish.  When typing the name Soderman, I need it to be spelled correctly as Söderman.  It is easy on the Mac and iPod because you simply hold the "o" key down to get a display of the different options for the letter o.  The same works for other vowels.

To learn more about Mac input devices, read Chris Bean's column at http://www.macworld.com/article/2013002/mac-101-your-input-devices.html 

iPad Mirroring Using the Reflection App

I decided to purchase Reflection for AirPlay mirroring of the iPad on the Mac desktop since it worked really well on the brief trial yesterday.  Am enclosing a screenshot of the feature that is used to turn it on.  Now I can use video capture to demonstrate iPad features.  What is especially nice is that it does not require me to have an app of the iPad. It will be great to use with face-to-face faculty development workshop meetings.

Reflection does require using the iPad 2 or the New iPad (since they allow mirroring and the iPad1 does not.  It will allow mirroring of the iPhone 4S, but not the older model that I have.

Endnote and Word 2011 Problem/Solution

When I got the iOS upgraded to Lion a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft Office 2011 was also installed on the Mac.  I noted that the Endnote citation software was missing from Word.  I remembered that Debby had the same problem, so decided to troubleshoot the problem.  I knew that the problem was Endnote and not Word because when I selected a citation to "preview" in Endnote the style was wrong.  Although I had selected APA as the output in Word - the output in Word was also wrong.  I looked at the APA 6th template in Endnote and it was formatted correctly.  At that point, I closed the program and did some schoolwork for a few hours. 

To resolve the problem:

• The first step is to close Microsoft Word, if it is open.
• Next download the Endnote 4X update from http://www.endnote.com/support/enupdates.asp 
• At this point, you might want to close Endnote and reopen it (will explain in a moment).
• Open Endnote and select the output style (I use APA 6th edition)

The next step is to select the citation style in Word.  The Endnote menu is available from the Tools menu.

I  believe that Endnote may have gotten confused when I did not close it after the update.  Anyway, I am very happy to report that the problem is resolved.   More and more of our nursing students use a Mac.  Since I require the students to use a citation manager and our university has a site license for Endnote - I needed to figure out a solution.

LogMeIn vs Splashtop for Remote Computer Access with the iPad

LogMeIn if a free app for the iPad.  The initial problem that I had was that I received an error indicating the the date and time zone were not set correctly.  It still gives me that error when attempting to connect to the Mac laptop.  However, I was able to connect with the computer in my university office. Hmmm.  Will try to Windows laptop next. LogMeIn is the same company that created one of my favorite screen-sharing apps, Join.me.

LogMeIn is similar to Splashtop in that I can control a remote computer with the iPad.  I find that it is easier to control the movement when using Splashtop.  I am interested in hearing from others about apps they have used for screen sharing that work with both the iPad and a Windows PC or Mac.