Doug answers:

A powerful Mac video converter designed for both Power PC and Intel Mac users. Support the latest iPhone 3GS, support the newest MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Http://www.bestvideoconverter.org/video-converter-for-mac.html

Doug answers:

You can use Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 web application for free on line. Sign into http://skydrive.live.com and then click Create Folder to create a folder if you don’t have any. Go into the folder. Click the New link and then choose Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation from the pop-up menu. After you create your presentation you use the File menu and choose Close. Then click Download to save your presentation on your computer. See the link below for free PowerPoint downloading options.

Doug answers:

Hi there…either will achieve the results for what you would like to do. You could also consider Open Office which is a freeware application nearly similar to Microsoft Office: http://www.openoffice.org/

All three programs allow file transferability seamlessly well, however Microsoft for Mac integrates the best for PC users.

Doug answers:

Yes, ‘Disk Utility’. It’s the standard MacOS X application to check and repair volumes (=drives / partitions).

You need to boot from a MacOS X install DVD, preferably the one that came with the Mac. Switch the Mac on and insert the DVD while pressing the ‘C’ key.

After choosing the standard language, you open the Disk Utility application from the desktop menu bar. Then select the start volume and click on Repair Volume. If it was successful, run Repair Permissions, too.

Download the user guide for trouble shooting instructions:

http://support.apple.com/manuals/#mac%20mini

(If the Mac is running on old MacOS 9, boot from that disc and use the First Aid application.)

Doug answers:

I have one and I love it. I don’t do scrap-booking either, I use mine for drawing and photo-manipulations; mostly drawing. The only problem I’ve had with it is that the cord is not the most durable thing there is; then again I do drag it around with me everywhere, so mine takes more of a beating than most people’s probably do; but the plastic on the cord started to split from being bent around so much and the wires inside started to fray a bit. Though I just re-enforced the it with duct tape to keep it from splitting anymore and it works perfectly fine. Over all it’s great, I definitely recommend it.

Unless you feel that you really need the mouse (chances are if you have a computer, you already have a mouse), the tutorial DVDs, magazine subscriptions, and extra programs (most of which seem to be for scrap-booking); I suggest just getting the regular Bamboo or Bamboo Fun instead of the Bamboo Craft.

The regular Bamboo costs about $60-70 depending on where you buy it and the Bamboo fun costs about $80 rather than $129 for the Bamboo Craft.

The diffences are that the regular Bamboo (what I have) comes with just the tablet, pen, pen holder, and basic instalation software.

The Bamboo Fun comes with the tablet, pen, pen holder, mouse, basic instalation software, and PS Elements

The Bamboo Craft’s extras much more scrap-book oriented; just look at the side colum of the link you posted. The only things is comes with that are actually useful for drawing and design are PS Elements 6.0 and Corel Painter, which you can find for free online.

The PS program is not actual PS, it’s PS Elements 6.0; PS6 doesn’t even exist yet (they just recently came out with PS4). Elements is decent (I have Elements 5.0) but it does lack some of the features that actual PS have such as cell shading and being able to link layers together without merging them. If you can find an actual PS for free (either PS3 or PS4) I recomend it over Elements. Actual PS costs, I think, about $600 if you’re wanting to buy it; don’t know how much Elements costs or if it’s even sold separatly.

Corel Painter is a digital painting program, I’ve never actually gotten to try it but I have a friend who uses it and makes some really nice paintings with it.