CHECK BACK SOON! New information is posted here often.

MACFIXIT NOW FREE
MacFixIt, an online source of information on Mac-related repair and troubleshooting advice is now available free to Internet users. CNET recently purchased MacFixIt and plan to expand the information available at the site.

The site is an excellent source of information to help printers solve problems related to Macs and the various operating systems. The URL for the new MacFixIt site is http://reviews.cnet.com/macfixit/.

ENFOCUS ONLINE TRAINING VIDEO TARGET PRINTERS

Enfocus has set up a whole range of helpful product movies, from quick overviews to short feature movies. Find an answer to those problems you face as a print professional every day. The videos deal with such topics as how to detect trim marks, how to use Profiles and Action Lists, how to detect and fix objects without bleeds, how to outline problem text, how to find unwanted spot colors, how to apply Pantone colors and more. To find out more visit Enfocus.com or http://tinyurl.com/mqegqp.

NEW GUIDELINES FOR OFFICE PDF CREATION

The new Office Printing PDF Creator Guidelines are available for free download at: http://gwg.org/Office_Document_Printing_-1.phtml.

The Guidelines cover image quality and color, fonts, transparency, PDF creation tools for Microsoft Office, creation of PDFs from other applications (using Adobe PDF Printer and Jaws Creator), and considerations for processing PDFs.

BUSINESSES SLOW TO ADOPT SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social networking may be getting a lot of ink, but businesses are slow to adopt it as a marketing resource. Discover Financial Services’ Small Business Watch recently took a poll about social media. It reported that only 38 percent of those responding were members of online social networking communities. Only about 45 percent of those who did belong used it to promote their business.

One of the most surprising facts was that 62 percent of the small business owners reported they do not have a website for their business.

If the poll is representative of small business, printers will still have to use other means to get leads. A simple and inexpensive way to find out what businesses are around you is to use Google Search. Search for a type of business that typically uses printing and see who is close to you but not using your services. Just find your location on the Google map and then use the Search Nearby feature. You may be surprised at how much business is right in your neighborhood and you didn’t know it.

FONT PROBLEMS RESOLVED
Smasher 1.7 is a preventive maintenance utility that helps Apple Macintosh computers eliminate corruption to font caches and temporary files. This is the number one cause of font related problems and workflow interruptions.

Insider Software, makers of FontAgent Pro, said it has improved Smasher’s support for Adobe Creative Suite 4, QuarkXpress 8 and Microsoft Office 2008. According to the company, Smasher is the only program that runs automatically to help avoid font problems.

The program costs $49.95 and is available from www.insidersoftware.com.

FREE QUARK TRAINING GUIDE
Quark is offering a free training guide at its website to help  an instructor teach the key features of QuarkXpress. You can download the guide free at: http://www.quark.com/education/teacher_resource_guide/. The Guide contains a sample syllabus, 14 training modules, and an outline for deploying the modules in a classroom environment. The syllabus includes a capstone project for students to develop as part of the course with class-time suggestions.

WHICH FONT TO CHOOSE?
CreativePro.com offers an excellent guide for selecting the fonts to use when designing brochures. The article offers the ends and out of type in design and will help any designer do a better job selecting the right typeface to promote the message. Check it out at http://www.creativepro.com/article/dot-font-the-best-brochure-fonts

INDESIGN CS4 TIP
If you use InDesign CS4 you know how confusing it can be to try to figure out what file formats it supports. A good reference source is available from Adobe at http://tr.im/idcs4kb1. It lists all the supported file formats in Open, Save, Export and Place.

DMA MAKES GOING GREEN EASIER

The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) offers an online “Environmental Policy and Vision Statement Generator” that can be used to not only help you write your own statement, but it is also a checklist for sustainability activities.

While the DMA is a trade organization for companies who use a variety of media including direct mail to sell their products, the online statement generator is useful for any company using or producing printed materials. It covers five areas:

List Hygiene and Data Management

• Design
• Paper Procurement and Usage
• Printing and Packaging
• Recycling and Pollution Reduction

According to DMA officials, because this checklist/statement generator is used by print buyers/users, as well as print producers, printers can also use it to understand how direct marketers are thinking about sustainability.

When you’ve completed the checklist and customized the statement to fit your operation, have a copy emailed to you. In a matter of minutes you have created a formal environmental policy statement that you can put into your own format and publish. 

FREE PANTONE HELP
When you are dealing with color, you’ll want to have the free Pantone application called myPantone Pallets. The software provides tools for creating, managing and sharing user-defined and Pantone-identified color palettes. It features an eye-dropper for picking desktop colors, color harmonies, auto-generating palettes from imported images and the ability to save, print and also share palettes through the myPANTONE online community.

To download the color helping software, go to www.pantone.com.

HELP CUSTOMERS FIND YOU ON GOOGLE MAPS
Google.com is offering a free service for businesses on Google Maps. Google gives businesses a free listing on Google Maps to make it easy for customers to find you.  Any business can use the Local Business Center to create a free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they'll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos of your storefront or products. It's easy, free, and you don't need a website of your own. Go to www.maps.google.com to sign up.