Eject a Disc That is Stuck

by Magnus Nystedt A DVD didn’t want to eject from my Macbook. I right-clicked on the icon on the desktop and chose Eject, no luck. I pressed the eject key on the keyboard, no result. It sounded like it was being ejected but it never was and it kept coming back up on the desktop. I found a suggestion somewhere which said go to the hard drive, then System, Library, Core Services, Menu Extras, and double click on Eject. This puts a small eject icon in the menu bar. Choosing Eject from that menu spit the DVD right out. By the way, if you want to remove the little icon from the menu bar, press the Command key and drag the icon out of the menu bar.

DashBoard Widgets on the Desktop

by Yasir

You know how Mac OS X slows things down when you hold down the shift key and minimize a window, for example?

That also works with Expose. Hold down the shift key while you call up Expose and see it happen in slow motion. It also works with Dashboard. Now the real kicker here is that you can use this to drag a widget onto your desktop. First open the DashBoard and the DashBoard menu at the bottom of the screen. Then while holding down the shift key, drag a widget onto the DashBoard while its expanding slowly. Then let go of the shift key (but keep hold of the widget) and close the DashBoard and then let go. It even does that splash effect on your desktop.

Editorial - Apple Begins the Next 30 Years

by Magnus Nystedt

I would be remiss if this issue and this editorial didn’t focus on Macworld Expo and what announcements Apple made there. The iPhone was undoubtedly the main announcements and it has reverberated around the world, even in many traditionally non-Apple circles. Even here in the Emirates we’ve seen how businesses that never touched Apple products before are now interested. We even posted on the site about an email we received from a major mobile phone retailer in the Emirates, asking us about when we could sell them iPhones and at what price. With the iPhone Apple enters a new phase. They have to deal with issues they’ve not dealt with before and they stand to gain a lot but also to loose a lot. With the iPod Apple started what seems to be a steady march into more mainstream consumer electronics. They even dropped “computer” from the company name, probably more significant than any other news from Macworld Expo. Will this mean that there will come a day when there will be no more Mac computers? Perhaps, but I think that day is far off into the future. One thing that doesn’t seem to have changed though is Apple’s focus on hardware and software. They still seem to be making the best hardware around, and tightly integrate it with the best software available. The Apple TV is I think also a bit of a gamble. And a question many of us have is will it replace the Mac mini? Personally I’d be sad to see the mini go, but I would not be at all surprised. Whether it is another sign that Apple is moving away from computers as we know them, I don’t know. I do think we’re slowly going to see a changing role for the Mac over the coming years, both in how it’s designed and its intended use. EmiratesMac had a small gathering in Dubai during the keynote speech and we had a lot of fun. This is something we hope to repeat at future events. I think there’s a lot of interested in Apple in the Emirates as the growth of the site and our user group has shown. I for one is eagerly looking forward to the next time Steve Jobs gets on stage for a major announcement. Leopard, anyone?

Running Windows on Your Mac With Bootcamp

In the previous issue of shuffle we had a review of Parallel’s Desktop for Mac. Parallels has fast become a favorite among Mac users for it’s slick and convenient way of offering Windows and other operating systems without a reboot. Apple provides their own alternative and it’s called Bootcamp. When Bootcamp was released in April 2006 it caused uproar and excitement around the Mac world. Some users felt Apple had betrayed them, allowing Windows to be installed on Macs. Others felt Apple did exactly the right thing, giving users a choice. Bootcamp, weighing in at 143Mb and currently in version 1.1.2 beta, is a free download from Apple. Once installed, the application which is put in your Applications>Utilities folder, will let you partition your drive, burn a CD with Windows drivers, and start the Windows installation.

Partitioning your hard drive
In order for Bootcamp to be installed on your Mac your hard drive has to be partitioned. This basically means the Bootcamp installer will set aside a certain part of the drive for Windows and the two drives, although still being one physical drive, will to your Mac appear as two different drives. How much space you allocate to Windows will depend on what you’re going to install. 5Gb is the least you can allocate and then you have to think about what you’re going to put in Windows. Figure 1Gb at least for Microsoft Office, several gigabytes for Adobe Creative Suite, and for games the sky’s the limit. Most users with average requirements probably get away with 10-15Gb but you may want to put aside more. Think carefully before you commit the installer to a certain size because you cannot increase or decrease it later without deleting the partition. The installer seems a bit sensitive to some files and applications being installed. When I tried to put Bootcamp on my Macbook I kept getting an error message saying there was a file that couldn’t be moved so it couldn’t partition the drive and the suggested fix was to reinstall Mac OS X. I didn’t want to to do that so I removed my Parallels installation (after having backed up the whole drive, of course) and then it partitioned just fine.

Installing Windows and drivers
Once the disk has been partitioned the installer will ask you for your Windows installation disk. It will check the installation disk to make sure you have the required version. To install Windows XP with Bootcamp you need a version of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2). Once the installer accepts your Windows CD it will reboot and the installation of Windows will begin. After the installation has finished you should as soon as possible update Windows and all its software to make sure you are as safe as possible. To get certain things like the Airport wifi to work you need to insert the drivers CD you burned earlier and install all the drivers. I’ve done this many times and on each occasion it’s seemed to me that the installer has crashed because nothing’s happened for a long time. But each time it has eventually finished the installation, so have a little patience.

Bootcamp or Parallels?
Both approaches has their own benefits and drawbacks. The clear benefit of Bootcamp is that it takes over the whole Mac which enables it to make better use of the resource since there is no Mac OS X running at the same time. This means that if you’re into graphics-intensive games, Bootcamp is the way to go. Also other demanding software applications will benefit from running in Bootcamp rather than Parallels. The clear downside is that you have to partition our drive and reboot in order to switch operating system. If you don’t have to switch to Windows very often that may not be a big deal. Parallels works very nicely and I use it every day, but it does require at least 2Gb or RAM to run well. Remember you have Mac OS X and Windows running at the same time and they both want memory. With Parallels you don’t have to partition your drive and it’s easier to recover from problems. A good tip is to make a copy of your Parallels installation once it’s set up so you can just copy it back if you face difficulties.

A final word
With Bootcamp Apple has given Mac users options. It’s opened up possibilities for many user to argue at work that they can now use a Mac in the corporate environment because they can boot into Windows when they have to but keep running Mac OS X most of the time. Bootcamp works very well for being beta software but do take a backup before you install it. I’m sure Apple has some exciting new things coming up with Bootcamp arriving in Leopard. This is only the beginning folks.

by Magnus Nystedt

By installing and running Windows on your Mac with Bootcamp you’re turning your Mac into a PC. This means that any vulnerability that Windows on a PC is susceptible to, Windows on your Mac is also susceptible to. With all the multitude of spyware, worms, viruses and more that attack Windows and software running in Windows, you should protect yourself. Microsoft provides for free a good anti-spyware software called Defender (http://www.microsoft.com/defender). There are many anti-virus softwares to choose from. My favorite is Nod32 from Eset (http://www.eset.com/). AVG from Grisoft is also a good alternative and there is a free version (http://www.grisoft.com). Remember this also applies to Parallels but with Parallels it’s easier to recover from a problem by removing the folder with the Windows installation and starting over.

Review: Microsoft Zune

The digital media player market is a market dominated by Apple’s iPod, which can now play music, photos and videos. And how can we forget the amazing iPhone announced recently at MacWorld 2007. The slick revolutionary mobile device that redefines how mobile phones should be from now on. If Apple cannot use the iPhone name for legal reasons I think they would definitely call it iPod mobile!

From the dark side
But today, we are not talking about iPods. I can assure what this article is about is nothing that Apple would dare release. It’s a device from a company many consider to be Anti-Apple. Yes, Microsoft. And let me set things straight; I do not think that Windows is bad and Mac is good. People can choose whatever side they prefer. Although we’re getting more user from the “dark side of the moon” recently, Windows is the dominating power in the personal computer business, for now. So Microsoft decided to challenge Apple and release their own “Digital Media Player” and they call it Zune.

What’s a Zune?
What’s a Zune? Well I looked it up in the dictionary and it proposed dune, June, rune, tune, zone, zuni. No Zune! Well to be fair, even iPod is not there. Anyway, I wanted to get the Zune for many reasons. I like to own unique gadgets, for one. How is the Zune unique you might say? Well, this device might be Microsoft’s only contribution to the iPod World. Moreover, I just wanted to get one. I have this feeling that I owe Microsoft the chance to try their best offering in the hard-drive based music player business. And owning over 10 iPods, a Zune would complete the collection for me in a bizarre way.

It’s no iPod
So how does it compare to the iPod? Lets me say that it likes Windows. It will never be Mac OS X. Yes it can do everything an iPod can do. Well in a sense. Lets start with the positives. The box is neat, very Apple-like. Once you pull the top off, you’re welcomed by the phrase “Welcome to the social”. I felt there’s a word missing there for some reason. Anyway, enclosed in the box is the Zune (30Gb and white, headphones (surprise!), a data/charging cable, software and manual. The whole package oozes quality and creativity, but it is not Apple. The device itself is a nice solid block of matte plastic meaning I don’t have to clean it every time I touch it (see “How to keep your iPod clean and shiny”, shuffle December 2006), which has a nice screen and click-pad. On top there’s the familiar lock switch and headphones plug.

Loaded with music
I hookup the Zune to my iMac, and yes I know it doesn’t work with Macs, but I needed to charge it. Charging through USB is an international language. I started fiddling with the device and to my surprise it was loaded with music. Overall it’s a nice music player, I don’t think there is room for innovation in the sound area. The menus are nice, nothing special. Other than music, videos and pictures, the Zune has a built in Radio tuner. Thats a good addition to have I guess. The menu feel & animation is good, again nothing special.

Doesn’t work with Parallels
After charging I tried to connect it to my MacBook Pro which has Windows XP running on Parallels Desktop, but that didn‚Äôt work for me. I don’t have a Windows version setup in a BootCamp partition as I heard it should work there. So I guess I will not cover the software side of the interconnectivity. From what I heard its not a great experience, so if you are interested you can find more on the net.

Squirting
Feeling let down on the whole experience, I wanted to try the infamous and much lauded sharing feature. Basically, it works with other Zunes in the vicinity. You locate a fellow Zuner or Zunette, you point and “squirt”. Yes, squirt. Since I didn’t have another Zune to try it on, I started squirting to my iPods. No fun. I was a bit messy to say the least. So lastly, out of boredom, I tried to hookup the Zune to the XBox360, a fellow Microsoft device. They met and synced (no squirt required), but nothing more. My guess it that I don’t have my own media to “stream”.

The final word
Would I recommend a Zune? No, it’s nothing special. It doesn’t connect to a Mac. You can’t use it as storage device. This article doesn’t cover the details of what Zune can do or its Music Store (not sure if its offered in the Middle East), but I guess I already know what it can do. I have my iPods and that’s enough for me. I guess my white Zune will be a white elephant. That is until I can find another Zune to share squirts with.

by MacUAE

Review: Alpha Baby

I have found a software program called, Alpha Baby, that lets your child play with the computer with out missing up your work. This game is free and it’s available from http://www.kldickey.addr.com/alphababy/.

Interaction
Alpha Baby has nice interaction, because if you hit the “J” key, then a “J” will pop up on the screen. This will help with letter recognition. So this software should take your child from their toddler years, through there preschool years. Alpha Baby can be a lot more, than a game that lets your child hit the keyboard. You and your child can come up with so many games of your own when playing this software. What is also better about this game is that it is free, and you cannot get much better than that. Your child can bang away at the keyboard all they want to, and click the mouse, and different shapes, letters, and photos, pop up on the screen, depending on what key they press, and what settings you have selected in AlphaBaby.

iPhoto integration
It integrates with iPhoto so you can select an iPhoto album to be displayed, and you can select different things in terms of colors, shapes, and all kinds of things. It’s really a simple program but we think you and your child can get much entertainment out of it. There are a lot of preferences you can set. Something to note is that if you are integrating with iPhoto and select AlphaBaby to speak the names of photos, make sure you have meaningful names on those photos.

Buy an extra keyboard
One final piece of advice I have about using AlphaBaby is this: buy a cheap keyboard that you won’t mind being bashed to pieces by your little one. And a special AlphaBaby-dedicated mouse might be a good idea too.

by Crystal Nystedt

MacWorld Expo 2007

It’s over for this year and as usual Macworld Expo leaves us with a line of product announcements and other news that it takes some time to take in and digest. in this article I will try to bring you a summary of the main news from Steve Jobs’ keynote address.

by Magnus Nystedt

New name
Possibly more important than any of the other announcements is the change of name for Apple as a company. They’ve been known for 30 years as Apple Computer Inc. but they dropped the computer part and from now on they’re just known as Apple Inc. This probably means it’s even easier for people to mistake it for a fruit company but it also means a broader change of directions, I think. Apple announced on their web site some time before the keynote that the first 30 years of the company’s history was only the beginning. We understand now that what they referred to was this change in direction. The company that has had the Mac line of computers as its core for 30 years is ever expanding into other consumer electronic devices, most recently with the iPhone. I don’t think the Mac will disappear anytime soon, but we will probably see more emphasis from Apple on other product lines. And it probably makes sense in a broader context. I believe personal computers as we’ve known them so far are gradually morphing into other devices, more integrated with other things, making them a more natural part of our lives.

Apple TV
We found out that what was previously known as the iTV is now going to be called the Apple TV. As you probably know by now the Apple TV is a small device that hooks up to your TV and lets you send video from iTunes on a Mac to your TV set. To use the Apple TV you a “widescreen TV” and that it works with “widescreen, enhanced-definition or high-definition TVs capable of 1080i, 720p, 576p, or 480p resolutions”. So if you have not invested in an HD-capable TV set yet, once the Apple TV is out, it may be a good time to do so. All this glorious HD-content can be sent to the Apple TV using 802.11n wifi networking, supported by the new Airport Extreme Base Station and most recent Macs. The Apple TV has a 40 Gb hard drive but you cannot store things to it like on a Mac. That space is only used to temporarily stored media that is streamed to it. It can temporarily store media that is synchronized from a Mac. That way your Apple TV can always be up to date with the movies, TV shows and more that you purchase and download with a Mac. You can also stream content from up to five Macs. On the Apple TV’s hard drive you can store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each. The interface of Apple TV is basically FrontRow and you control it with the same Apple Remote you use for Macs and other things. It comes standard with most any connection you would want, including HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Steve Jobs said about the Apple TV that it is “like a DVD player for the 21st century, you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store” The Apple TV will be shipping in February in the US for just $299. When it will be available in the Middle East and what the expected price, we don’t know at this point.

iPhone
Without doubt the big news at Macworld was the announcement of the iPhone. When Steve Jobs started talking about three devices, a mobile phone, an iPod, and an internet communication device, but in one physical device, the audience in the Moscone Center seemed to go wild. And certainly those of us that followed it live via IRC and other means also were very excited. At the heart of what is so special about the iPhone is the software and the interface. Everything is controlled by a touch screen that covers almost one entire side of the device. There are no physical keys or stylus, like in most other devices, which makes the iPhone something very new and exciting. It means a more natural interface, and an interface that can be software upgradeable in the future. And the interface is multi-touch meaning you can use more than one finger to control it. For example by moving two fingers closer together or further apart, you zoom in or zoom out. The iPhone will sync with a Mac with iTunes, and other desktop applications such as iCal and Addressbook. It also comes with a full version of Safari which is a first for such a small handheld device. Since the iPhone apparently runs a scaled-down version of OS X, it should be fairly easy for Apple to port applications to it and make them talk to their Mac OS X counterparts. Whether users will be able to install their own software on the iPhone or if it’s restricted is something we don’t know yet. Personally I hope Apple will open it up to third-party developers. For communications the iPhone should have most everything you would want, including GSM, Bluetooth, wifi, and EDGE. EDGE is for data communication over a mobile phone connection and speeds seem to run around 100-150kbps. It’s far from as fast as what’s referred to as 3G mobile phone networks, but there are already speculations that 3G is on its way to iPhone. With all this communication wouldn’t it be cool to be able to purchase stuff from iTunes Store straight from the iPhone? Many questions remain and since Apple still has six months to develop the iPhone before first sales, I’m sure there will be many more announcements before then. Some concerns I have are will the storage be enough since there is no way to expand it via more memory cards or anything, will the screen hold up to constant touching, and what will the battery life be like in everyday use? We’ll see when it makes it to the Middle East, since it will be available in the US in June 2007, in Europe toward the end of 2007 and in Asia in 2008. In Apple’s worldwide organization Apple IMC ME is a part of Apple Europe which then should mean we’d get the iPhone here later this year. But this is of course not at all for sure and at this point I don’t think anyone knows when the iPhone will be available here. No doubt we’ll start to see iPhones here as soon they are out in the US though, so hopefully we can get our hands on one to review it.

Airport Extreme
Last, but by no means least, is the new Airport Extreme Base Station. The big news is that it now supports 802.11n which most recent Macs also do. The new Airport Extreme is up to five times faster than the previous model and it can achieve up to twice the range. Both are important factors for any wireless network users. But when we talk about speed, remember that you will still be restricted by your internet connection’s speed when accessing anything outside your network. Not wanting to settle with 802.11b and g, Apple also throws in 802.11a into the mix, a standard not very widely used but that has definite benefits that will appeal to some users. A really cool new feature is that you can plug in any external USB hard drive to the Airport Extreme and it becomes available to all users on the network. Apple includes the Airport Disk Utility with which you can control what will be shared and who has access to what. This instantly turns almost any hard drive into a NAS (Network Attached Storage) something that you previously had to pay quite a bit extra for when buying a hard drive. It’s easy to imagine that the new Airport Extreme base station is much more important to Apple’s future strategy than we think right now. It’s much faster than the previous Airport Extreme and you can connect a hard drive to it. With those features it’s possible to integrate various devices more closely in our homes, like the Mac, the Apple TV, and indeed the iPhone since it does wifi. My guess we’ve only seen the beginning of what Apple is going to do with the new Airport Extreme.

The final word
Macworld Expo was a bit of an anticlimax in a way for me. I had certainly expected some Mac news, at least iLife 07, an updated Mac mini, and perhaps iWork 07 too, but that was not to be I guess. Looking back that was of course because the news about the iPhone was much bigger than anyone had anticipated and Apple didn’t want to steal thunder from it. But it is after all “Macworld”, not “iPhoneworld”. I think we all forgive Apple for this though and we look forward to some exciting Mac news in the near future.

Review: OmniWeb

We’ve come to expect that web browsers are free, available to us at no cost. So why would a company continue to develop a browser and charge $14.95 for it? Let’s take a look at the things that make OmniWeb special and see if it’s something for you to check out.

Tabs and site preferences
The most obvious thing that appears different in OmniWeb is tab drawer. Instead of showing tabs at the top of the screen, like other browsers, OmniWeb shows a drawer with thumbnails of the different web pages. The thumbnails are live so you see changes as they happen. This is a really cool feature but for users with smaller screens it may take up too much valuable screen space. One of the more important features that set OmniWeb aside from the other browsers is that you can set preferences on a site by site basis. This means that for different sites you can have separate settings for stylesheets, fonts, ad blocking, Javascript, cookies, and more.

Feels slow
So what is not so good about OmniWeb? The main complaint I have is that it feels slow. Perhaps it’s the thumbnails in the tab drawer or something else. But browsing with OmniWeb feels slower than both Firefox 2.0 and Safari on my Macbook. I see the spinning wheel in places where I don’t in the other browsers, for example. Perhaps that’s a setting I’ve made, I don’t know.

Final word
Whether you should spend $15 on another browser is up to you. OmniWeb has some special features that may be very useful to some but that won’t add much value for others. My suggestion is that you download the trial and check it out.

by Magnus Nystedt

OmniWeb is available from http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb. You can download and try it for 30 days. If you want to keep using it after the trial period the price is $14.95. OmniGroup can be found on the web at http://www.omnigroup.com. They make a number of very exciting applications and utilities for Mac OS X, including OmniGraffle, Omni Outliner, and OmniPlan. OmniGroup supplied a serial number for OmniWeb for this review. We will be back in future issues of shuffle with reviews of more OmniGroup software.

Review: 2nd Generation iPod Nano

In September 2006, Apple launched what they called the “completely remastered” iPod nano. The 2nd generation nano is almost a combination of the 1st generation nano and the old iPod mini. It has the form factor of the first nanos but the aluminum exterior of the mini. It also comes in a selection of color, like the mini, and you can now choose from five vibrant colors. The 2Gb model only comes in silver while the 4Gb nanos come in silver, pink, blue and green. The 8Gb model is available only in black. There is also a red 2nd generation nano. Unfortunately we’ve been told by Apple IMC ME that it will not be sold in the Middle East, which we think is really regrettable. A part of each red nano’s price goes to charity, something that we think is as important here as it is in North America, but I guess Apple does not agree.

The mini is back
Besides different colors, perhaps the most obvious new feature of the new generation nanos is the body. Imagine taking an iPod mini and squeezing it a bit to make it smaller, and adding a color screen, and you have the new nano. The body is made out of aluminum and it does not attract dirt and scratches nearly as much as the first nanos did. Although I cannot confirm it I’d say that Apple has also made the screen more scratch-resistant, which is a good thing.

Nano size indeed
You will all agree, I’m sure, that the 1st generation nano was very small indeed. Apple managed somehow to make the 2nd generation even more nano-esque if you like. It now measures 90mm x 40mm x 6.5mm, and weighs in at 40g. That’s really not much at all. And holding it side by side with a 1st generation nano it both looks and feels a lot smaller and lighter, probably more so than what the real numbers are.

Improved endurance and brightness
Apple says that the new nanos can play up to 24 hours of music on a single battery charge and that the display is 40 percent brighter than the old nano. We don’t have the equipment to accurately test either claim but I’d say hey are both likely to be true. After using the nano for a couple of weeks I can certainly say battery life is impressive and you are not likely to be in a situation where you run out very often. The screen is much brighter than the previous generation if you compare two devices side by side. This makes the 2nd generation much more useful outdoors, which is where, let’s be honest, many of us use them for recreation or exercise.

Software
In terms of software functions, arguably the nicest new addition is a search function. With the click-wheel you select Search after which you can select letters and numbers to search for. Select “beat” will find “The Beatles” as well as “The Beat Goes On”. Although the search function is a welcome addition, I suspect that many regular iPod users will have their music libraries all set up and well organized already, minimizing the use of the search features. But it’s nice that Apple added it and it will come in handy sooner or later.

New Headphones
Apple redesigned the white iPod earphones, and they do now feel better in my ears at least. I’m not sure this is really that important since those who use their iPod a lot are likely to buy other earphones anyway, but I guess it’s good that Apple is improving on this aspect as well. The old ones always felt awkward in my ears, while the new ones fit much better. I’m sure it’s different between individuals but the new earphones stay better in place for me than the old ones.

Conclusion
The 2nd generation nano reaffirms its position in the middle of the iPod range. Whether you should invest in a new nano if you already have a 1st generation one is doubtful. But if you’re considering an iPod for the first time, and size and portability is an issue, and you need a screen, the nano is a safe bet. With different colors to choose from, better battery life, brighter screen, and improved software, the 2nd generation nano is a winner.

by Magnus Nystedt

Emiratesmac.com tips and tricks

We continue our series of tips and tricks for how to do certain things at Emiratesmac.com. The intent is to tell our users about some of the perhaps less well known features and functions on the site in order to make their experience with the site a bit better. This time we focus on one feature, chat.

by Magnus Nystedt

We’ve had a Flash-based chat system installed for some time but it never really worked that well. Most recently during the Macworld Expo keynote many users were repeatedly kicked off the chat. So I decided to look for a replacement that could at least for now work for us. What I settled for was IRC. IRC is not the latest and greatest technology and it certainly isn’t the most stylish of chat solutions but it’s tried, tested, and reliable. Some of you may have followed an IRC channel at events like WWDC and Macworld Expo so you know that it can take a lot of users at the same time.

How to connect
You basically have two choices for accessing our chat. In the menu bar on the site there’s a link to the Chat. If you click on it a new window will open and after a little while a Java application that connects to our chatroom. The other option is to use a dedicated IRC client software, something like Colloquy.

IRC Channel
The particular IRC server the Java chat client connects you to is a server on the Freenode network. The Freenode network is a network of IRC servers spread all over the world with thousands of chatrooms that can be used for free. We have registered with Freenode as Emiratesmac and we have a channel (chatroom) called #emiratesmac. It is reserved by us but at the moment access is not controlled so anyone can get in there.

Nickname
In IRC every user has a nickname, similar to the username you have on Emiratesmac.com. There is no automatic connection between your username on the site and in IRC, so it’s up to you to set up your username in IRC and reserve it so others cannot use it. My suggestion would be to try to protect it as soon as you can. We recommend you use the same nickname in the chat as you do on the site so others will recognize you.

Reserve your nickname
We recommend you reserve your nickname in the chat, meaning that no one else can use the same nickname as you. Even if you reserve a nickname it expires (and anyone else can then reserve it) after 60 days of not being used. When you first connect with Colloquy you have to specify which server you connect to and what your nickname will be. The password you can fill in later. Once you’re connected go to the Console and type “/msg nickserv register ”. This will protect your nickname with a password so no one else can use it. You can hide your email address by entering “/msg nickserv set hide email on” but for admins to be able to contact you, you should set your email address with “/msg nickserv set email ”.

Other commands
Although you can do most anything you need with the menus and contextual menus in Colloquy, some basic commands may be helpful to know. By entering “/whois ” you can see some basic information about a particular user. The command “/away ” sets your status to being away from IRC for a while and displays the message you enter. When you come back you type “/away” again. You have access to all the same commands in the Java client.

Time will tell what users think of this new form of chat and how well it works. It should present us with less performance problems than our previous chat did. But it’s not as easy to use and it’s not integrated with the rest of the site. Even though we’re a user group that have meetings in person at least once a month, a chat system could be very useful for us. Everyone is not always able to come to meetings and events and this is one way they could participate albeit in a limited fashion.

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