Don’t forget the December MMOOS (Maine Macintosh Owners and Operators Society) meeting on Tuesday, 20 December at 7:00 PM at Brunswick High School in the Multi-Purpose Room on the second floor around back. See you there.

Now it’s time for the yearly MacHead Christmas Gift Spectacular, with gift ideas for Mac and iPod users young and old. Get out that plastic and let’s get it started!

The Apple Mighty Mouse. If you already have a Mac, the $49 Mighty Mouse is a nice way to put a little spark in your relationship. Once you use a multi-button mouse with Mac OS X, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it. Mighty Mouse features a scroll ball for scrolling vertically or horizontally. This is perfect for web pages that are longer and wider than your screen space, as well as getting around in Mac OS X’s Finder windows.

Give the gift of music. iTunes Music Cards are available in $15, $25 and $50 “denominations” from Apple’s online store, as well as retail outlets like WalMart and Target. You can also gift music and videos through the iTunes Music Store. Assuming you have an internet connection, just open the iTunes application and select “Music Store” from the “Source” list on the left. Then select “Gift Certificates” from the “Account” section. The first step is to decide how to send your Gift Certificate – either through email, a print-it-yourself certificate you mail yourself, or through the Postal Service. Either way, the recipient gets a code to enter into their iTunes application to redeem their certificate and download their music or videos.

If you don’t already have an iTunes Music Store account (a credit card on file), you’ll need to establish one, then decide the denomination of the Gift Certificate. Click and few buttons, and your gift is on its way!

Finally, since current iPods don’t come with them, consider an iPod Dock. The Dock is a “home base” with a cradle to hold the iPod upright. Inside the cradle is a connector like the one on the cable that comes with the iPod. Connect the Dock to the computer, and you can charge and sync the iPod from the Dock. Docks also have a line-out port to connect to a home stereo. The dock for the “big” iPods ($39) even has an infrared port to communicate with a remote control.

© 2005 Peter F. Zimowski