Student Mac Owners: How to Run Windows Applications

If you own a MacBook, IMac, or Mac Mini and you are taking a computer class that does not support Mac or requires you to run Windows applications like Microsoft Office 2013, Paradigm’s SNAP, or Raptor you have some options.

Although there are several alternatives the easiest and best is to run Apples Boot Camp on your Mac. This will dynamically partition your hard drive or solid state disk drive to offer a second boot up alternative for Windows without affecting any Mac files already on your drive. Here is the link to Apples guidelines for using Boot Camp: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1461

With Boot Camp you can press a key to alternatively start your computer in Windows to run the Windows applications when your start up or boot your computer.  However, you will need to buy the academic version of Windows 8 to do this. The present cost for this is around $80. You will also need Microsoft Office 365. This will give you the Office suite of applications for 4 years. The present cost for Microsoft Office 365 is also around $80.

Now, you might think, why not run MS Office 365 from my Safari browser running on my Mac OS X? This will work unless you are using one of the online learning systems such as Paradigms SNAP which requires Adobe Flash. You will need to access and use SNAP from Windows using a browser that supports Flash like Internet Explorer or Firefox.

If you are using applications like Raptor (http://raptor.martincarlisle.com/) you will need to download and install the application in Windows as it is not browser based like Office 365. To do this you will need to reboot your Mac and press the startup selection key so that the Mac boots up into Windows and not OS X. Then open a Windows browser and download Raptor from the site.

How to Create a GIF file

You can really jaz up your posts in online forums with the insertion of  a custom GIF file. There are free GIF files available on the Web but most of them are pretty old and used. Some of them can be used as emoticons in your writing to add emphasis. However, you can also make your own emoticon just by making the GIF small enough to fit in a line of your text and then inserting the GIF at your cursor location.

Okay, you know what to use them for let's see how to make them.

Using any graphics program like Paint or Photoshop you can create art and then an animation of that art by creating several frames that change slightly from frame to frame.  For example, look at the animation below.

The art was easy to create and didn't require any artistic skills. I just created one frame with some straight yellow lines, another with the text, and a third with the orange angled lines. So in this post the frames look like this:

The second frame looks like this:

And, finally, the third frame looks like this:

Each is played for about 1/2 seconds in sequence creating the animation. The tools for creating the animation can be found in several common software tools including Adobe Photoshop (TM) or Adobe Flash (TM). After creating your file in one of these tools (you can create the art there as well) be sure to save your file as a .GIF type file!

Then, insert your GIF file into your forum post using the image insert tool just as you would any other type of image. Make sure your image is set to public view or you may be the only one who can see it!

How to Use the Screen Capture Tool

One of the most important tools you will need to master as an online student is the screen capture tool. This is especially true if you are using software in the class you are taking. You can capture the actual screen in which you are having trouble along with any special pop ups that occur describing the problem. You then insert the screen capture as an image in your course messaging or course email tool. If you do not know how to insert the image you can attach it. However, inserting the image is more useful as you can add language around it describing the problem.

There are several ways to do a screen capture depending on which hardware or operating system you are using. For example, if you are using Windows XP or earlier you do a screen capture by holding down the function (on a laptop) or shift key and then pressing the “prt sc” (for print screen) key in the upper right corner of your keyboard. When you do this you capture the contents of the screen to the Windows clipboard and can then paste it where ever you wish.  The easiest thing to do is open up a Word document and paste it there. Save the Word document and then attach the document to your message. If you want to insert the image in your message you will need to paste the screen copy into Photoshop or Paint and then save the file as a jpg.

A second way to do a screen capture is using the Snip tool which is available in Windows Vista, 7, or 8 but not on earlier versions of Windows. Open the Snip tool by clicking on your start button in the lower left of your screen and then typing Snip in the search box. Snip will then let you capture the screen and save the file directly without using a second piece of software.

So You Think You Have a Great Mobile App and You’ll Make Millions!

As a mobile app developer I get many requests to work with someone who thinks they have the next great multimillion dollar app. Maybe they do and maybe they don’t.  However, there are some things they need to do even before getting to the coding stage.

Consider that today’s apps are developed by teams of experts with budgets exceeding $250,000. Apps continue to get more sophisticated and draw on the every improving resources of today’s smartphones including the increase in memory which now stands at 1GB. I remember when my desktop PC only had 256k of memory (but I am showing my age.) This is great in that the increased resources allow the creation of better, more colorful, sophisticated games but bad for us indies who do not have the resources to keep up with the big guys vis a vis Rovio.

So what do you do? As a small operator or designer you must come up with basic concepts or simple games that are killers from the start. Remember the original Fruit Ninja or Ant Smash? If you can do this you can keep your development costs lower and increase your chances for success.

Once you think you have the next great idea apply some structure to it long before considering coding. One of the simplest methods of structure you can apply is the Storyboard Technique. Used by film creators and story writers for many years it is simply drawing pictures of individual scenes in your app. The drawings do not have to be well done and could even be stick figures. However, sooner or later you will need good art.

The Storyboard Technique will need a few additions for an interactive application, however. For example you will need to add menu scenes showing what choices the user has. You’ll then need to show scenes of what happens when they select each menu item.

Once your Story boarding is complete and you are satisfied with your app the next step is creating some basic art and animations. This can be done in Photoshop and saved as a GIF file. No coding needed, some of this same art can then be coded into the game if it is good enough.

After, you have completed your Story boarding, some basic art, and animations you are ready to take it to a programmer but not before.

However, you are not done yet. Since you will be investing a large amount of time in this project it’s time to do some more evaluation. Be sure to Google your app by name and subject to see what is out there. Find a good name that is not taken in the app store. If you have to promote it under another name it will hurt your downloads. Make sure there are no major competitors out there with similar games. You cannot over search your potential app before you make any more investments of time and money.

Java Confusion

The recent CERT (US Computer Emergency Response Team) http://whttp://www.us-cert.gov/ww.us-cert.gov/ warning not to use Java has caused immense confusion and problems with Internet users.
For example, an unaware user might disable JavaScript in his browser thereby eliminating the functionality of many interactive web applications such as the Blackboard LMS (Learning Management System.) JavaScript however is not part of the CERT warning even though JavaScript and Java Plug-ins or Applets rely on the same run time or Java Virtual Machine (JVM.) The JVM is the problem, however, but only in how it runs Plug-ins or Applets. Java Plug-ins or Applets can be disabled separately in browsers even though they use the same JVM as JavaScript.

The Security problem stems from how the version of JVM in question (7u10) allows plug ins more access to the users machine and operating systems than is advisable causing the security risk. If Java Plug-ins are disabled than none of these malware plug-ins can exploit that particular vulnerability.  Meanwhile the JVM can continue to run JavaScript without the security risk.

A later version of the JVM (7u11) issued by Oracle to fix the initial plug in problem still has potential vulnerabilities for plug ins. Plug-ins should remain disabled until Oracle comes out with the appropriate fix, presumably in JVM (7u12.)

What's All the SOPA and PIPA Fuss About?

For those of you following the network neutrality issues on this blog it may be apparent that the issues with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and "The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.[1] " (English Wikipedia) may have implications for network neutrality.

Either of these laws begins to give carrier lobbyists a new way to control the Internet by petitioning the courts under the guise of copyright violation when they may in fact have other alternatives. In most cases we need the government to help protect the freedom of the Internet. In this case special interest lobbies such as the rich and powerful Motion Picture Industry Association have pushed these bills to further enrich their members by attempted further enforcement of the copyright laws.
Although regulation in this direction may be necessary we must tread carefully lest we destroy the freedoms we have so carefully guarded on the Internet. For example, several sites such as Wikipedia and Etsy fear they will have to close as it will be too difficult to monitor the users contributions and the cost of doing so will be to large.

CamelCase

Microsoft Office products often include terminology with capital letters in the middle of words. For example PowerPoint. Power point would be an incorrect spelling of this product and confuse the reader as to what you are really saying.
“CamelCase (or camel case), also known as medial capitals,[1] is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor", "McDonald's", "iPod", or "GaGa". The name comes from the uppercase "bumps" in the middle of the compound word, suggestive of the humps of a camel. The practice is known by many other names.

An early systematic use of medial capitals is the standard notation for chemical formulae, such as NaCl, that has been widely used since the 19th century. In the 1970s, medial capitals became an alternative (and often standard) identifier naming convention for several programming languages. Since the 1980s, following the popularization of computer technology, it has become fashionable in marketing for names of products and companies, and for 1990s online video games where players use pseudonyms (when spaces were not allowed). However, medial capitals are rarely used in formal written English and most style guides recommend against their use.” (Wikipedia.)

Apparently, due to the fact that the naming convention in popular programming languages includes media capitals, Microsoft and other companies have begun using common words as product trademarks by using two words together and media capitals in the words. This is normally done by combining two words together to make one new word while capitalizing the first letter of the second word. For example, word art would normally be two words while in the CamelCase it is WordArt and means something specific (a Microsoft product feature.)