My New Mac: 52 Simple Projects to Get You Started [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Wallace Wang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2008

You finally took the plunge and bought a Mac. Whether yours is a MacBook, Mac Pro, Mac mini, or iMac &mdash it's still a Mac, and it runs the Macintosh operating system, Mac OS X.

But what do you do with your Mac after you turn it on? Do you even know how to turn it on and off properly or put it to sleep? You need a book like My New Mac to make everything easy.

Wallace Wang, author of the best-selling Steal This Computer Book, will show you, step-by-step, how to use tools like iPhoto to organize your photos, track birthdays with iCal, and clip and save information from the Internet so you can find it again. You'll find simple projects that will show you how to:

• Organize your files and folders by color and keyword
• View stocks, flights, and the weather
• Set up and manage parental controls to limit your children's computer and Internet access
• Play and burn CDs and DVDs
• Transfer photos from your digital camera to your computer
• Share songs, images, and documents wirelessly between Macs

Don't put off learning how to use your new computer. Let Wallace Wang show you the ropes with My New Mac.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wallace Wang is the author of several best-selling computer books including the Steal This Computer Book series, Steal This File Sharing Book, The Book of Nero, and Visual Basic 2005 Express: Now Playing (all No Starch Press). He is also a successful standup comic who has appeared on A&E's "Evening at the Improv" and appears regularly at the Riviera Comedy Club in Las Vegas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593271646
• ASIN: B002KE464A
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,035,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I may be the only computer book author who hates computers. I love what computers can do but I hate the fact that they're so complicated, hard to use, unreliable, and downright troublesome. Besides writing computer books, I also enjoy performing stand-up comedy just to do something creative that involves human beings as opposed to machines.

I've been involved in computers, stand-up comedy, teaching, writing, and game designing for most of my life. In the computer industry, I've written over 50 computer books. Initially I focused primarily on Microsoft products such as Visual Basic and Microsoft Office. Later I switched focus to the Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad as I've watched the trend of computing shift from the PC/Microsoft dominated world to the mobile/Apple-influenced world. I've also shifted my programming focus from Delphi/Pascal and Visual Basic to Objective-C and LiveCode (a HyperCard clone) to create Macintosh and iPhone/iPad programs.

In the stand-up comedy world, I've been performing stand-up comedy for over 20 years, having appeared on A&E's "Evening at the Improv" and SiTV's "Latino Laugh Festival" along with appearing at the Riviera Comedy Club in Las Vegas. Currently I'm focusing my comedic writing skills towards occasional comedy performances but mostly towards screenwriting. You can read my screenwriting blog at The 15 Minute Movie Method (www.15minutemoviemethod.com). I've collected the best ideas from my screenwriting blog and condensed them into an e-book also called "The 15-Minute Movie Method," which is available as an e-book.

In 1992, I got my first cat and after reading a basic cat care book, I found that none of the advice offered had any basis in reality for dealing with the quirks and whims of a real cat. Based on that experience, I wrote a parody of a cat care book called "How to Live with a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To)." This book is now available as an e-book.

In the teaching world, I've taught at community colleges around San Diego as well as teaching at the University of Zimbabwe in Africa. Currently I teach an online Microsoft Word course through a company called Ed2Go.

In the writing world, I've written for several magazines including Computer Power User (CPU), Boardwatch Magazine, and Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities. I also write a weekly Macintosh column in an online computer magazine called ComputorEdge (www.computoredge.com). In addition, I've ghost written several books for real estate experts, stock day trading specialists, and network marketing millionaires. In 2008, I also helped San Diego State University's film department win their first student Emmy when they filmed my sitcom pilot, "Three of a Kind."

In the game designing world, I've created and published a game in 1983 called "Orbit War," which was published by Steve Jackson Games (the game is now out of print). The game simulated low orbital combat between satellites. I'm currently designing educational games for teaching various college level topics such as organic chemistry, calculus, and geometry.

I'm interested in always learning something new and combining my various skills and experience to stay ahead of changing technology and I enjoy writing about complex topics and making them easy to understand.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Questionable Accuracy?, November 7, 2008

By 

DigitalMan - See all my reviews

This review is from: My New Mac: 52 Simple Projects to Get You Started (Paperback)

I'm a Macintosh tech. Just perusing the excerpt of this book available on Amazon, I found a couple errors. First, he says that pressing the power button will bring up the Shut Down dialog. This is only true of laptops and certain very old Macs which had the power button on the keyboard. All current non-laptops will by default just go to sleep if you press the power button.

He then recommends the keystroke combination "CTRL-OPTION-ESC" as a way to shut down your Mac if it is frozen. This too is incorrect. To begin with, that keystroke does nothing whatsoever. The keystroke he is looking for is "COMMAND-OPTION-ESC"... and even that keystroke doesn't shut down your Mac. Instead it brings up a list of programs you can force to quit.

Since it seems this book is targeted at beginners, every small error like these will cause considerable confusion and frustration. Whether the rest of the book is like this, I do not know, but felt a review might be helpful to someone. Best of luck!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complete and comprehensive guide for anyone who wants to do everything they did on a Windows machine and more, August 11, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My New Mac: 52 Simple Projects to Get You Started (Paperback)

The major alternative to PCs with the Windows OS is the Macintosh. "My New Mac" is a complete and comprehensive guide for anyone who wants to do everything they did on a Windows machine and more, using the popular alternative. With countless tips on organization, internet browsing, media creation and archiving, security and more, "My New Mac" is the ideal starter's manual, and even has a few tips veterans will find handy. Highly recommended for community library computer collections.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, August 28, 2009

By 

Barry Ntkin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My New Mac: 52 Simple Projects to Get You Started (Paperback)

Being new to the Mac I find the book extremely helpful. After my One-on-One lessons at Apple I can refer to the book for extra help. Highly recommend!