After owning an iPhone for several years, I was pleasantly surprised when I recently learned a new iPhone shortcut that I now use everyday. You can jump to the top of your Contacts list by simply touching the “top bar” which is where the time and battery level indicator are. See the picture below to understand this more easily. Simply touch where I put the red mark in the photo.

I use this feature to jump to the top of my Contacts list so I can easily get to the Search field. I have a lot of contacts so I find the fastest way to locate the individual record that I need, is to use the Search function. I can now easily get to it by tapping the menu bar.

This feature is available on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. It actually works on any long list. If you have many email messages in your Inbox, for example, you could tap the menu bar to jump to the most recently received email message.

Click to Print or Email

Here are instructions on how to connect your Mac to your flat panel TV to send both audio and video to it. There are a number of reasons why one might want to do this including showing an iPhoto Slideshow, watching a Netflix movie or TV show from Hulu. I’m only providing information about connecting Macs with Intel processors since this covers all Macs back to 2006. Here’s a quick description of what’s involved in connecting your Mac to your TV. First, you need to determine your Mac’s Model Identifier, then you need to buy one or two cables and maybe an adapter. However, there are also a few idiosyncrasies of which you should be aware.

Overview – The types of ports on flat-panel TVs varies from model to model. I’m only going to address VGA, DVI and HDMI ports since they are the most common types. VGA and DVI cables only carry video signals while HDMI cables can carry both audio and video. For this reason, whenever possible, I recommend using a TV’s HDMI port.

For most Macs made between 2006 and the end of 2008 one will need to connect two cables, one cable to carry the video and a second cable to carry the audio. When Apple switched to using Mini DisplayPort connectors in 2009 most Macs can now use just one cable to carry both audio and video from the Mac’s MiniDisplay Port to the TV’s HDMI port. One idiosyncrasy to be aware of is that when using HDMI or DVI to connect your Mac to your TV you might have to change your TV’s display settings to turn off overscan. I’ll address this in a future Tech Tip.

Model Specific Details – For most Macs you can use either Method 1 or Method 2 listed below. For each of these methods I list the Model Identifier for each specific Macintosh model which can use this method. If you don’t know how to determine your Mac’s Model Identifier please read this previous Tech Tip. To buy the cables listed in the method click on the cable name which is a link to a web site which sells the cable. I also list variations on each method that are either required or optional for certain Macintosh models.

Method 1 – Buy a DVI to HDMI cable and a 3.5 mm analog stereo audio cable. The DVI cable will carry the video output from your Mac and connect to the HDMI port on your TV. The 3.5 mm (aka 1/8″) stereo audio cable will carry the audio from your Mac to the audio in (aka headphone) port on your TV.

Specific Macintosh models supported by this method: Macmini 1,1, Macmini 2,1, MacPro 1,1, MacPro 2,1, MacPro 3,1,  MacBookPro 1,1, MacBookPro 1,2, MacBookPro 2,1, MacBookPro 2,2, MacBookPro 3,1, MacBookPro 4,1.

Variation 1 – If your TV has a digital audio input port, sometimes called Digital Optical audio or Toslink then you could substitute a digital audio cable for the 3.5 mm analog stereo cable. Recently, I’ve encountered some TVs that only have digital audio input ports and no longer have a headphone port so you may have to use this digital audio cable instead.

Idiosyncrasy: All of the Mac minis, MacBook and MacBook Pros have a combo audio output port that can accept either an analog 3.5 mm audio cable or a digital Toslink audio cable. The MacPros have separate analog and digital analog ports so make sure you use the correct one.

Variation 2 – If your TV’s HDMI port(s) are already in use then you could use a DVI to DVI cable in place of the DVI to HDMI cable as long as your TV has an unused DVI port.

Variation 3 – If you have one of the MacBook or iMac models listed below then you can use the two cables listed in Method 1 and just add a Mini DVI to DVI adapter in order to connect the DVI cable to your MacBook. Model Identifier: MacBook 1,1, MacBook 2,1, MacBook 3,1 MacBook 4,1, MacBook 5,2, iMac 4,1, iMac 4,2, iMac 5,1, iMac 5,2, iMac 6,1, iMac 7,1, iMac 8,1.

Variation 4 – If you have a MacBook Air, model identifier MacBook Air 1,1, then you can use the two cables listed in Method 1 and just add a Micro DVI to DVI adapter in order to connect the DVI cable to your MacBook Air.

Method 2 – Buy an HDMI cable and a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. The MiniDisplayPort adapter plugs into the Mini DisplayPort port on your Mac and then you connect the HDMI cable to it. The other end of the HDMI cable connects to an unused HDMI port on your TV.

Specific Macintosh models supported by this method: Macmini 3,1, Macmini 4,1, Macmini 5,1, Macmini 5,2, Macmini 5,3 MacPro 4,1, MacPro 5,1,  iMac 9,1, iMac 10,1, iMac 11,1, iMac 11,2, iMac 11,3, iMac 12,1, iMac 12,2, MacBook 5,1, MacBook 6,1, MacBook Air 2,1, MacBook Air 3,1, MacBook Air 3,2, MacBook Air 4,1, MacBook Air 4,2, MacBook Pro 5,1, MacBook Pro 5,2, MacBook Pro 5,3, MacBook Pro 5,4, MacBook Pro 5,5, MacBook Pro 6,1, MacBook Pro 6,2, MacBook Pro 7,1, MacBook Pro 8,1, MacBook Pro 8,2, MacBook Pro 8,3.

Idiosyncrasy: Typically this configuration will carry both audio and video from your Mac to your TV. However, the first few Mac models that have Mini DisplayPorts port do not carry audio signals. They only carry video signals. I’m not sure why Apple designed these Macs this way since Mini DisplayPort ports can carry both audio and video as evidenced by subsequent models. Apple doesn’t clearly list which Mac models with Mini DisplayPort ports only carry video so if you find that your Mac is one of them then you’ll need to use either a 3.5 mm analog stereo audio cable or digital audio cable to carry audio from your Mac to your TV.

Note: MacBook Pro models 8,1, 8,2, and 8,3, iMac models 12,1 and 12,2 as well as Mac Minis model 5, 1, 5,2 and 5, 3 all have Thunderbolt ports instead of regular Mini DisplayPort ports. Thunderbolt ports look and act the same as regular Mini DisplayPort ports, but they offer additional features as well.

Variation 1 - Macmini models 4,1, 5,1, 5,2 and 5,3 have HDMI ports (as well as MiniDisplay Port ports) built-in so you don’t need to buy the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. All you need is the HDMI cable.

Variation 2 - If your TV has a digital audio input port, sometimes called Digital Optical audio or Toslink then you could substitute a digital audio cable for the 3.5 mm analog stereo cable. Recently, I’ve encountered some TVs that only have digital audio input ports and no longer have a headphone port so you may have to use this digital audio cable instead.

Idiosyncrasy: Using a digital audio cable is not an option for MacBook Airs 2,1, 3,1 and 3,2 since their audio output port is analog only.

Click to Print or Email

Do you receive a lot of packages in the mail and want to have one place where you can easily monitor their status? Then you need Delivery Status by JuneCloud.

I frequently order products on behalf of my clients and I want to be notified of their shipping progress and when they are delivered. Delivery Status lets me do this easily. Initially, I used the free Delivery Status widget. When I received a vendor’s email with a tracking number, I’d add this item to the Delivery Status widget. It can track packages from USPS, DHL, Fedex, OnTrac and many other shippers. Delivery Status would then send me status updates via Growl every time the package made progress towards my door. This was great but I realized I only got updates when my Mac laptop was awake and connected to the Internet and sometimes I wanted to be notified in the middle of the day as I was moving between client appointments. Consequently, I decided to buy the iPhone/iPad Delivery Status app ($5). Now, I get notifications on my iPhone since this app can sync with the widget if one sets up a free account at the JuneCloud web site.

I’ve been using DeliveryStatus for about a year and have been very pleased with its performance. Check it out.

Click to Print or Email

Here are some products which can make it easier to sync your iPhone or connect it to other accessories.

iStubz are short iPhone syncing cables - The white sync cable which Apple includes with all iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches is about 3.5 feet long. I find it too long and cumbersome at times. Instead of using this long cable, I now carry an iStubz cable which doesn’t get tangled. iStubz are available in two sizes 7cm and 22 cm which are about 3 inches and 9 inches, respectively.

Apple iPhone Dock –  I like to have my phone standing upright when my phone is sitting on my desk so I can easily see and read the screen. One way to keep the phone upright, while also charging and syncing the phone is to use an iPhone Dock. Apple sells the Universal Dock which works with all iPhones and iPods, but they also only sell the iPhone 3G/3GS dock and an iPhone 4/4S dock.

If you want to learn more about the features and capabilities of these Docks please read this Universal Dock review and this iPhone 4 Dock review from iLounge.

dockStubz and dockXtender – If you keep your iPhone in a case, you may find that the case makes the phone too thick to fit into a Dock. Alternatively, the iPhone’s 30-pin Dock connector might be too recessed inside the case for some iPhone accessories, like a car charger, to be able to reach it. dockStubz is a short extender which would let you connect the car charger or other accessory. The dockXtender is a short cable which would let you connect your thick iPhone to connect to an Apple Dock or other accessories.

Click to Print or Email

Do you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro? Have you noticed that its keyboard doesn’t have a “Forward Delete” (aka delete to the right) key like the one that exists on an iMac’s keyboard? This tip tells you how to perform a forward delete. Simply hold down the Function key, which is labeled “fn” while pressing the delete key. The fn key is located in the lower left corner of the keyboard.

In case the phrase “forward delete” is confusing, let me elaborate. We all know that the delete key, aka the backspace key, deletes the character to the left of the insertion point. The forward delete button does the opposite. It deletes the character to the right of the insertion point.

Forward delete is not a new feature for Macintosh laptops. All Macs laptops have supported this feature for many years, but because this feature isn’t obvious or well-documented many users don’t know about this feature.

If you would like to learn about more keyboard shortcuts you might find this Apple web page helpful.

Click to Print or Email

There are a few ways to enlarge the text displayed on the iPhone. Each method is useful in different situations. You may already be aware of some of these options, but I’ll bet you don’t know all of them.

• When viewing web pages using Safari or email messages, you can spread your fingers to enlarge the text size. The “Spread” gesture entails placing two fingers on the iPhone screen and then sliding them apart from each other. To reduce the size of text, you pinch your two fingers back together. For more details on how to execute these finger gestures check out this helpful web page on finger gestures.

The next two options require an iPhone 3GS or newer.

• Turn on the Zoom function. You enable this feature by opening the Settings application, then selecting General, then Accessibility.  Finally, click on Zoom and turn it on. Zoom magnifies the entire screen whenever you double-tap the screen with three fingers. Double-taping with three fingers a second time turns off the zoom function. You can move around the screen by pressing three fingers on the screen and dragging them around.

• Turn on the Large Text function. You enable this feature by opening the Settings application, then selecting General, then Accessibility.  Finally, click on Large Text and select a text size. This feature makes text larger in the following applications:  Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages and Notes.

I should mention that the iPhone actually includes a great number of features that make its usability and accessibility by people with limited vision, hearing or other impairments. Apple describes them all on their web site. 

Click to Print or Email

Do you use Apple’s Mail application on your Mac? It’s a capable email application and one of its best features is that its abilities can be extended using plug-ins. These plug-ins let you customize Mail so it can better meet your preferences and needs. Here’s a list of 10 plug-ins for Mail that’ll let you increase your productivity.

MsgFiler lets you quickly file email messages into one of your existing Mailboxes (aka folders). Using either a menu command or a keyboard shortcut you can file a message into a folder. Simply type the first few characters of the mailbox’s name and select the desired mailbox from the list of matches.

GrowlMail temporarily displays a small notification window on your screen every time a new email message arrives. By glancing at this notification you can monitor your Inbox while you’re working in another application.

SpamSieve offers better spam protection then Mail’s built-in junk mail filter. It accomplishes this by using Bayesian filtering methods. It require some initial training, but it’s very effective.

MailAct-On is an incredibly robust plug-in which lets you use keyboard shortcuts to quickly file, label or flag incoming or outgoing mail messages. That is an over-simplified description of its capabilities. This video introduction http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn_files/Virtual%20Tour.mov and video review http://media.macworld.com/media/vodcast/mwvodcast75.mp4 will give you a more complete understanding of it’s capabilities.

MailTags  let’s you assign keywords, priorities, categories and due dates to actions mentioned in an email. It lets you escape the constraints of folders by allowing you to organize and find your messages by keyword or other metadata that you’ve assigned. Made by the same developers, Mail Act-On and MailTags can be used together or separately.

WideMail reconfigures Mail’s layout. It moves the message preview area from below the list of messages to the right of it. This layout uses your screen’s space more efficiently. Apple realized this layout was very popular so they made it the standard layout in version 5.0 of Mail which comes with Lion, Mac OS X 10.7

Attachment Tamer gives you control over Mail’s handling of attachments that you send. Be default, Mail will display an attachment, such as an image, in the body of the email that you’re composing. Attachment Tamer lets you change this behavior and send the image as a regular attachment instead.

MessageFont  lets you set Mail’s default font when you reply to or compose a new email message. Mail’s preferences appears to let you set the default font, but this affects only what you see, not what the recipient sees. MessageFont changes which font is seen by the recipient.

MissingAttachments scans an email message and notifies you if you have referred to an attachment, but forgotten to attach a file. Unfortunately this plug in hasn’t been updated to work with recent versions of Mail.

MailUnreadStatusBar displays an icon to the upper right corner of your screen which lists the number of unread email messages you have. You can customize it to track multiple folders. Its icon then displays a menu listing the unread message count for each selected folder and lets you go directly to any of the listed folders.

In my opinion, these are some of the best plug-ins for Mail, but you can read about dozens more at the Hawk Wings web site.

Click to Print or Email

This week’s Tech Tip is written by our guest blogger, Elizabeth Bowman, President of Innovatively Organized.

Are tasks slipping through the cracks? Feeling overwhelmed by all the responsibilities on your plate?  There are lots of tools to help you manage your to-do list, but how do you know which tools are best?  You’re in luck!  At Innovatively Organized we have put together a list of 4 tools to help you manage your to-do list electronically.  Now, you will be able to access your tasks from home, the office, or on the go from an Internet browser or your mobile device!

Keep in mind, it’s not about having the perfect to-do list, it is about picking a tool that will work for you and using it consistently.

1. TeuxDeux

Compatible with:

• iPhone or iPad

• Internet

• Mac or PC

Highlights:

• Simple design

• Basic list tracker

• Cross out tasks when complete

• Moves un-finished items to the next day automatically

Toodle Do's Interface

2. Toodledo

Compatible with:

• iPhone, iPad, Palm, Blackberry, Droid

• Internet

• Ability to sync with Outlook & TaskAngel

• Has ability to print to-do list neatly

Highlights:

• Comprehensive and robust features

• Offers ability to delegate and email tasks directly

• Can filter and run reports on tasks

• Includes a timer to help you stay on task

3. TaskAngel

Compatible with:

• Native PC software download

• Ability to sync with Toodledo

Highlights:

• Matches Toodledo’s comprehensive task tracking details

• Runs fast on your PC helping you stay productive easily

• Can export your to-do list to Excel

4. 2Do

Compatible with:

• iPhone & iPad

• Ability to sync with Toodledo

Highlights:

• Option to color-code tasks by category

• Provides tabs in the interface on an iPhone and iPad

• Has lots of fields to enter your tasks easily from a mobile device

For more organizing and productivity tips, check out the Innovatively Organized blog!

Click to Print or Email

Safari version 5 introduced a new feature named Top Sites which automatically displays your most frequently visited web sites. Top Sites displays thumbnail depictions of each web site in a grid of several rows and columns. This tech tip tells you how you can customize Top Sites.

You can permanently add a web site to Top Sites by going to the Bookmarks menu and selecting Add Bookmark. Then select Top Sites from the pop-up menu near the top of the small window that appears. Then click the Add button, as depicted below.

By default, Safari 5 displays Top Sites when you open a new window. You can manually display Top Sites by clicking the grid icon located near the upper left-corner of the Safari window. This grid icon is highlighted in the red circle in the picture below.

When the Top Sites grid is being displayed, you can click the Edit button in the lower left corner. Then, in the lower right corner you’ll see that you can switch between Small, Medium and Large. These choices will cause Top Sites to display 24, 12 or 6 thumbnails respectively.

You can also drag the thumbnails around in the grid so they appear in the order that you prefer. Additionally, you can click the Push Pin icon or the X icon located in the upper left corner of a thumbnail to permanently add or remove a web site from your top sites. When the Push Pin icon turns blue then you’ve permanently added the web site.

 When viewing Top Sites look for a star icon to appear in the upper right corner of a thumbnail. The star indicates that the web site has added content since you last visited the site.

Click to Print or Email

There are a number of easy ways to convert an .mp3 song file to a ringtone for your iPhone. I typically use Garageband since the method is quick and easy, but I realize that not everybody owns Garageband so I’m pleased to share this other free method. Compared to using GarageBand there are more steps, but it’s not difficult to do.

Important: This process doesn’t work for copyright-protected songs (.mp4) purchased from the iTunes store.

• Open iTunes, go to the iTunes menu and select Preferences.
• Click on the General button and click the Import Settings button.
• From the pick-list next to “Import Using” select AAC Encoder. Click the OK button. Click the OK button a second time to exit out of Preferences.
• Play the .mp3 song file you want to convert in order to identify the 20-30 section of the song which you’d like to use for the ringtone. Specifically, you’ll need to write down the start and end time of your desired section. You can do this by watching the timer that iTunes displays near the top of its window.
• Click once on the mp3 song file and go to the File menu and select Get Info
• Click on the Options button so you can enter the Start and Stop times to set the 20-30 section that you want to become your ringtone.
• Go to the Advanced menu and select Create AAC version. This will cause a duplicate copy of the song file to be created. This duplicate copy will only be the length you selected when you set the Start and Stop times.
• Before you forgot, return to the original mp3 song file and clear the Start and Stop times. You don’t need to re-enter the original times. I simply leave these fields blank and iTunes will automatically know to play the entire song.
• Click on the newly created AAC song file to select it.
• Go to the File menu and select Reveal in Finder. This will open a Finder window showing you this AAC song file. Leave this window open. We’ll return to it in just a minute.
• Go to iTunes and make sure your AAC song file is selected.
• Go to the Edit menu and select Delete.
• You may be asked if you’re sure you want to remove this file from your iTunes Library. You’re sure so click the Remove button.
• Next, you’ll be asked, “Do you want to move the selected song to the Trash, or keep it in the iTunes Media folder?”. Click the Keep File button.
• Return to the Finder window that you left open. You’ll see the AAC version of the song file. You can identify it since its filename ends with .m4a file.
• Change .m4a to .m4r
• Drag this .m4r file onto the iTunes on the Dock. This will import this .m4r file into iTunes and it’ll show up in the ringtones section.
• Sync your iPhone and make sure that you’ve selected to sync all Ringtones. This will add the ringtone to your iPhone. Then you can assign it to a particular person listed in Contacts.

Click to Print or Email

Sometimes an application stops behaving properly and doesn’t respond to menu commands or keyboard commands. When this happens you’ll often want to use the Force Quit command to force the application to quit. There are several ways to issue the Force Quit command.

1. The easiest way is to click on the Apple menu and select Force Quit. A window will pop up listing all of the applications which are currently open. Click on the one that you want to force quit and then click the Force Quit button in the lower right corner. You’ll be asked if you’re sure that you want to do this. Click the button to indicate that you’re sure.

If the Apple menu is not responsive then you may not be able to use this method. In this case, try the next method.

2. Hold down the Option key while simultaneously clicking on the Dock icon for the application which you want to force quit. A menu should pop up after a couple of seconds. Select Force Quit from this menu.

If the Dock is not responsive then you may not be able to use this method. In this case, try the next method.

3. Simultaneously press the following 3 keys, Command, Option and Escape. The Escape key is labeled “esc” and is above the “1″ key. A window will pop up listing all of the applications which are currently open. Click on the one that you want to force quit and then click the Force Quit button in the lower right corner. You’ll be asked if you’re sure that you want to do this. Click the button to indicate that you’re sure.

If none of these methods work then you aren’t able to force quit applications. Typically, the only option at this point is to force the computer to turn itself off. This is accomplished by pressing and holding the Power button for 5 seconds. The power button is the round button you use to typically turn the computer on. Hold this button for 5 seconds. The entire computer will turn off and the screen will go dark. Then press and release this power button to turn on the Mac.

Click to Print or Email

Firefox and Safari for Mac are the two most popular web browsers for Mac users. At times, both of them can act up and not perform properly. When this happens, here are a couple of basic troubleshooting steps which you can take.

In Safari, go to the menu named Safari and select “Empty Cache”. This will remove the locally saved (cached) copy of recently visited web sites. This might be all you need to do to fix your problem. If not, you can continue by going to the Safari menu and selecting ”Reset Safari”. This is a very handy feature since it lets you easily remove some of the information which it saves which can get damaged and cause Safari to misbehave. By default, all of the options are checked in the Reset Safari window. Typically, I recommend that you only select and reset the following since they seem to cause the most problems:

• Remove all webpage preview images
• Remove all website icons

If your Safari problem is not resolved then you can go ahead and select other items to reset, but be aware that removed saved names, passwords and AutoFill data can mean that you’ll be prompted to re-enter this information down the road. Consequently, I try to reset these items last.

Firefox doesn’t have a handy reset feature the same way as Safari. However, you can empty its cache by doing the following. Open Firefox and go to the Firefox menu, select Preferences, click on Advanced and click on Network. Click the “Clear Now” button in the Offline Storage section. To do more advanced troubleshooting in Firefox, I recommend checking out this helpful troubleshooting article written by the makers of Firefox.

Click to Print or Email

Do you ever want to do any of the following tasks?

• View two Word documents side-by-side so you can compare them or more content between them
• View two Finder window side-by-side so you can move files from one folder to another
• Make a window fill your entire screen

If so, Cinch ($7) is an easy to use application that lets you accomplish these tasks. I regularly need to file documents that have accumulated either in my Downloads folder or on my Desktop into folder elsewhere on my Mac. In order to do this easily, I’ll open two Finder windows and then move them to one of the edges of my screen which triggers Cinch to automatically get them to re-size to fill half of my screen. With the two windows sitting side-by-side, I can then easily file my documents. If my brief description isn’t sufficient, please check out the brief but excellent video demonstration.

You can download Cinch and try it for free from the Irradiated Software web site. Irradiated Software also make a slightly fancier window management utility named SizeUp($13) that lets you accomplish the same tasks using keyboard shortcuts and it adds additional features.

Click to Print or Email

Do you give a lot of computer-based presentations or training? Do you need you audience members to be able to easily view and track your mouse, see when you click the mouse and see the keyboard shortcuts that you press? If so, Mousepose, could be your best friend. In previous Tech Tips I’ve talked about other ways to highlight the mouse and its clicks using MouseLocator and display keyboard shortcuts. using KeyCastr. Unlike Mouse Locator and KeyCastr which are both free, Mousepose costs money ($17), but it offers additional features. For example, it can be controlled and customized using AppleScript and it can dim the screen and put a spotlight on the area around the mouse pointer. If you give computer-based training you might really like Mousepose.

Click to Print or Email

Do you use multiple web browsers on your Mac? Do you use only one browser but you use multiple Macs? Do you want all of your browsers to have the same set of bookmarks? If so, you should checkout Xmarks, a free bookmark syncing tool that works with the most common web browsers on both Macs and PCs.

Setting up Xmarks is fairly straight-forward, but it’s beyond the scope of this article since there are a lot of combinations to consider since Xmarks works on both Macs and PCs and supports Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. In general, the setup process includes creating a free Xmarks account and then installing the Xmarks plug-in for each web browser you use on each computer you use. When you next open your web browser, you’ll typically be greeted by the Xmarks setup assistant which’ll give you guidance in configuring and using this tool.

Before you start the install process, it’s always prudent to have a backup copy of the bookmarks from each of your web browsers since it’s possible to over-write your bookmarks if you click the wrong button. If you use Time Machine to backup your Mac then the Time Machine backup will contain backup copies of all of your web browser bookmarks, but they aren’t readily accessible since they are tucked in the ~/Library folder.

Once Xmarks is installed, it can be setup to automatically sync your bookmarks. You can view your bookmarks via the Xmarks web site. There you have access to tools that will help you find and delete duplicate bookmarks as well as empty bookmark folders. By default, Xmarks only encrypts the login process so your bookmark data is being sent in an unencrypted manner to and from Xmarks’ servers. Thus, in theory, somebody could capture and view your bookmark data. This likely isn’t a big security threat but it’s something to be aware of. You can change Xmarks’ configuration to have it encrypt the transmission of your bookmark data. The basic version of Xmarks is free, but the developers offer paid versions that offer more features.

I looked at other bookmark sync tools including BookIt, URL ManagerPro and BookMacSter but found that I liked it the best. URLManagerPro and BookIt have not been updated to work with current web browsers. BookMacSter is current but I found it interface un-intuitive and jargon laden. It’s definitely powerful but I don’t need all of it’s features and I don’t want to learn a lot just to use the basic features. I also didn’t want to use a separate application to manage my bookmark syncing. I just want the syncing to happen automatically in the background. Thus, Xmarks was the best choice for my needs.

Click to Print or Email

I regularly provide small group training and I want audience members to be able to know when I use keyboard shortcuts. This way, they can see how I made something happen. For example, I might press the Command key and the P key to tell an application to print a document. Since the audience can see my screen, but not my hands, it’s very useful to have an application display my keystrokes on screen. KeyCastr lets me do this easily. KeyCastr is a free application, but donations are welcomed via PayPal. The developer of KeyCastr has not released a final version of the application. In other words, it’s still in beta-testing, but it’s been this way for a couple of years. In my use of it, I haven’t encountered any problems.

Click to Print or Email

Do you listen to either music or audio books on your iPhone or iPad as you fall asleep? If so, you could set the iPhone or iPad’s timer to put the device to sleep when the timer expires. Here are instructions.

• Open the Clock application your iOS device (iPhone or iPad)
• Click on the Timer button
• Spin the hour and minute dials to the desired time, such as 30 minutes or 1 hour.
• Click on the “When Timer Ends” button and scroll to the bottom of the list of options and select “Sleep iPod”
• Click the Start button to start the timer.
• Click the Home button to exit the Clock application.
• Open the iPod application and listen to your music or audiobook.

When your timer ends, your iPhone or iPad will go to sleep.

Click to Print or Email

Here are some simple instructions on how to enlarge the size of text on a web page when you’re using Safari, Firefox or Chrome on a Macintosh computer. I use this feature on a daily basis since web sites use a variety of font sizes. This is especially handy in low-light settings or if typically needs glasses but the glasses aren’t handy.

All three of these web browsers support the same keyboard shortcut. While viewing a web page, press Command + (plus sign) to enlarge the text size and Command – (minus sign) to reduce the text size. If you prefer to use menu commands then go to the View menu and select Zoom In, which makes the text size larger or Zoom Out which reduces the text size.

Click to Print or Email

Would you like to change Safari’s Home Page? Apple typically sets Safari to open to this page on their own web site.

You can easily configure Safari to show you any web page you’d like. Here’s how:

• Open Safari
• Go to the Safari menu and select Preferences
• Click on the “General” button
• In the box next to “Home page” type in the address of the page that you’d like. See examples below.
• Click the red dot to close that window.
• Go to the Safari menu and select Quit
• Go to your Dock and re-open Safari. You should now see the Apple start page

Web pages you might like:

In the past, people often set Safari to open to Google but this is no longer necessary since there is now a Google search field in the upper right corner of Safari’s window. Instead, you might like to configure Safari to take you to a news web site like the New York Times or Google News. Their addresses are http://www.nytimes.com and http://news.google.com, respectively.

Click to Print or Email

On July 20, 2011, Apple released Lion, their newest version of Mac OS X. One should plan their upgrade to Lion and not rush into it. Lion, Mac OS X 10.7, costs less then many previous updates to Mac OS X. If you purchase Lion from the Mac App Store it costs only $30. Apple doesn’t sell it on disc any longer but they indicated that they’ll make it available on USB flash drives in mid-August for $69.

Lion introduces a number of new features and changes, some of which are confusing when you first encounter them. Thus, the first step in planing the upgrade is to read about these new features either on Apple’s web site or in this excellent PDF-book Take Control of Using Lion ($15)

Next, wait for Mac OS X 10.7.1 or 10.7.2. Inevitably, all new products contain bugs. Some minor, some major. If your Mac is currently pretty stable then I would hate to see you lose productivity by upgrading to Lion and then encountering bugs so let Apple release one or two minor releases which’ll address the most significant bugs. If the past is any indicator of the future, I would expect 10.7.1 to be released about a month after 10.7.0 was released.

Before upgrading a Mac it’s typically best to do some research and make sure that all of the applications and peripherals which you use throughout the week are compatible with Lion.

Roaring Apps is building a list of application compatibility information based on submissions from users like you and me. Apple has an article listing printer and scanner compatibility information. Additional research for applications or peripherals can be conducted at the manufacturer’s web site.

Once, you’re read about Lion’s new features, waited for Apple to release some bug fixes and determined that all of your applications and peripherals are compatible then you’re ready to upgrade to Lion.

Click to Print or Email

RSS is a convenient way to stay abreast of news stories or articles added to a particular web site. Rather then needing to visit your favorite web site over and over, you can use RSS to be notified when a new story or article has been added as well as read some or all of that article. I like to read my RSS feeds in my email application, Mail.

Below are instructions on how to add an RSS feed to Apple’s Mail application.

1. Open a web browser, like Safari and go to a web site that offers an RSS feed. I’ll use Tidbits.com as my example, so go to http://www.tidbits.com

2. In the right-hand end of the address field you’ll see an RSS icon as depicted in this picture. Click on the RSS icon.

3. If the web site offers ONLY 1 feed then the address of the feed will be listed. In this case, Tidbits.com offers 3 feeds so I choose the “Full Text Feed” and then see a window like this one:

4. Copy the feed address, feed://tidbits.com/feeds/tidbits.rss by highlighting it and selecting Copy from the Edit menu.

5. Open Mail and select “Add RSS Feeds” from the File menu.

6.In the Add RSS Feeds window select “Specify the URL for a feed” and then select Paste from the Edit menu to paste the feed address (aka the URL) into the field. Use the picture below as a guide.

7. Click the Add button.

8. In a few seconds, you’ll see the Tidbits feed listed on the left-hand window of the Mail window under the “RSS section” as depicted below. The number to the right of the RSS feed’s name is an indication of the number of unread articles.

9. If you have added a number of RSS feeds, then you may want to rename them so they sort in a particular order as I’ve done by adding number prefixes.

Click to Print or Email

Adding memory (RAM) to a computer is one of the most common upgrades made to a computer so many people think that this will speed up a computer. Adding memory to a computer can slightly improve its performance if the computer didn’t previously have sufficient memory installed to accommodate the applications which were simultaneously used. Let me elaborate to add some clarifying detail.

A computer’s processor (CPU) is a chip which carries out the instructions of an application. The faster the processor the faster tasks can be completed. Currently, common processor chips are the Core Duo, Core 2 Duo and Core i3, i5 and i7. These processors typically run at speeds around 2.0 to 3.0 Gigahertz (GHz). The speed of a computer’s processor is typically the largest factor in the computer’s performance. Typically, it’s not possible to either speed up or replace a processor in today’s desktop or laptop computers. Thus, people have to make other changes to try to improve a computer’s performance.

Applications, like Microsoft Word, are permanently stored on a hard drive. When one opens Microsoft Word then large parts of it are copied into memory (RAM). As one opens more and more applications one uses up all of the available memory in a computer. Eventually, the computer will start to use virtual memory. It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain virtual memory but, trust me, whcn I indicate that it’s slower then regular memory.

If one were to add more memory to a computer then the computer would need to rely on virtual memory less, when a lot of applications are open simultaneously. Consequently, the computer’s performance is improved. It’s common to need to add memory to a computer a few years after it was purchased especially if one has installed updated versions of applications like Word or the Mac operating system, Mac OS X. This is because new versions typically require more memory then their predecessors and thus utilize the computer’s memory faster and cause it to start to use virtual memory sooner.

Here are a few Wikipedia articles which could be useful if you want to dig deeper to try to understand some of the terms that I mentioned above: RAM (random access memory), CPU (central processing unit), GHz (gigahertz), virtual memory.

Click to Print or Email

Are you looking for an iPhone holder which’ll move with you between cars and will work with various iPhone models? If so, you should take a look at Tetrax’s XWAY.

This holder clips to the louvers on one of your car’s vents using four grips which you tighten onto the louvre by spinning the knob at the center of the XWAY. At the center of this x-shaped knob is a strong magnet with a concave center. The XWAY comes with several thin magnetic discs which each have a central buldge. After affixing one of these disks to the back of your iPhone or iPhone case then you can easily connect it to the magnet at the center of the XWAY. The buldge on the back of your iPhone will fit snugly into the concave center of the magnet on the XWAY. When you want to detach your iPhone it’s best to slide the phone to the left or right. If you attempt to pull it straight off the XWAY, you run the risk of pulling the XWAY off the vent’s louvre.

I like this clip because you can unscrew it and easily move it from one car to another. Additionally, since it holds an iPhone in place via magnets it can work with any model of iPhone. In fact, it could be used to hold other small electronic devices like GPS units.

In my car, I attached the XWAY to a vent that is near the middle of the steering wheel. This way, I can easily glance down to see the caller ID information displayed on the iPhone’s screen. Additionally, the vent is within reach of my car’s cigarette lighter and the Belkin iPhone charger which I keep plugged into the cigarette lighter. This way, I can recharge my iPhone as needed. The magnets on the iPhone are strong so they hold the iPhone firmly in place which I appreciate. I don’t want a loose iPhone to sliding around on me.

Click to Print or Email

Have you ever wanted to report a bug or request a feature for an application made by Apple, Adobe or Microsoft? Each company offers you the opportunity to do just that. Use the following web page addresses to submit your bug reports or feature request.

Apple Product Feedback and Feature Request

Microsoft Product Feedback and Feature Request

Adobe Product Feedback and Feature Request

I should mention that you shouldn’t expect to receive any feedback when you fill-out one of these forms. I had a conversation with an Apple Store manager who mentioned that when he had visited Apple’s headquarters, he’d seen a room full of people who were reading and processing all of the feedback which they received.

Click to Print or Email

Are you unable to install Office 2008 Update 12.2.9 because you’re told you have to quit Sync Services, but you can’t find SyncServices? Use this work around.

In order to get the 12.2.9 update install, I had to stop using Microsoft’s built-in auto-update feature and install do this installation by hand using these steps.

• Download the Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.9 update from Microsoft’s web site by clicking the Download button. The update should be placed in your Downloads folder if your Mac uses Mac OS X 10.5 or higher. It’ll be named Office2008-1229UpdateEN.dmg
• Close and save all open documents and quit all applications.
• Safe Boot.  We’re using Safe Boot to ensure that Sync Services is not running. A Safe Boot takes longer then a normal startup so please be patient.
• When your Mac has finished starting up double-click the Office2008-1229UpdateEN.dmg file located in your Downloads folder. (Or wherever it is located.)
• Double-click the Office 2008 12.2.9 Update.mpkg to start the installer.
• Follow the on-screen instructions which are displayed. Mostly you just need to click on the Continue and Agree buttons a few times. Eventually you’ll be asked to enter your Mac account’s username and password.
• The 12.2.9 update will be installed. Quit the installer after it has finished.
• Restart your Mac normally. In other words do not do another Safe Boot.

Congratulations. You’re done. The update is installed. You can confirm this by opening Word and then selecting “About Word” from the Word menu. You’ll see version 12.2.9 listed.

Click to Print or Email

Do you want to clean up your Mac hard drive? Is your hard drive nearly full and you don’t know why? OmniDiskSweeper (free) can help with both of these situations. OmniDiskSweeper will scan all files and folders on your Mac and then list them by size, starting with the folders taking up the most space. This helps you to focus your clean-up efforts on the folders that are taking up the most room on your Mac’s hard drive.

People often erroneously think that their Mac is running slowly because the Mac’s internal hard drive has so much stuff on it. This is rarely the case. Unless the hard drive is 90% or fuller then the computer’s performance is not impacted by the amount of stuff that is stored on the hard drive. I should be clear to mention that when the hard drive is nearly full, typically starting around 90% full, that the computer’s performance is significantly impacted. So, if your hard drive is this full then please download and use OmniDiskSweeper to help you clean it up.

OmniDiskSweeper conveniently shows you all of the invisible files and folders on your Mac. Over the years, I’ve seen several hard drives that were filled with spurious log files or errant backup copies of data — all of which happened to be invisible. These invisible files and folders are part of the Mac operating system, Mac OS X. Some of them are critical files so don’t throw away any invisible file without being sure that you have a full, bootable backup of your Mac and that you know what you’re doing. If you’re unsure check with a Mac expert or hire a Mac consultant.

Using OmniDiskSweeper is easy.

• Download OmniDiskSweeper and install it in your Applications folder. Double-click it to open it.
• Then, from the list, select a hard drive which you want it to scan. OmniDiskSweeper uses the term sweep to imply scan. The scan can take 10-15 minutes or longer, depending upon how much data you have.
• When the scan is complete you’ll see a columned window (see below) listing all folders sorted by size.
• If you’ve identified a file that you want to delete you can select it in the column browswer window and then click the “Delete” button in the lower left corner.
• If you want to look at a file or folder then select it in the column browser and double-click the icon in the lower-right corner. This will reveal the file or folder in the Finder so you can look at it more closely.

Happy hunting. I use OmniDiskSweeper regularly and find it an indispensable tool for cleaning hard drives.

OmniDiskSweeper File Browser

Click to Print or Email

Did you receive an email attachment named winmail.dat or winmail? Here’s a brief explanation of what this file is and instructions for opening this type of file.

Winmail.dat files are sent by people using Microsoft Outlook as their email application. Under certain circumstances Outlook will encode attached files, like Word or PDF files, in this winmail.dat

Mac users can open the winmail.dat file using a free application (donations accepted) and extract the files hiding inside. Unfortunately, this application has a goofy name which is TNEF’s Enough. I won’t bore you with an explain of this name, but if you care, you can read about it on the developer’s web site.

Here are instructions on how to open the winmail.dat file.

• Save your winmail.dat file on your Desktop.
• If you use Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 then download TNEF’s Enough ver 2.2. If you use OS X 10.4 or earlier then download TNEF’s Enough ver 2.0
• By clicking on one of these links you’ll download a .zip file which contains TNEF’s Enough inside. Your Mac should automatically open the .zip file so you should see TNEF’s Enough sitting in your Downloads folder.
• Move TNEF Enough into your Applications folder.
• Double-click it to open it and then go to the File menu and select Open…
• Select the winmail.dat file which you previously put on the Desktop.
• You’ll then see a window listing the embedded files which are the files that you actually want.
• Click on each file, one at a time, and click the Save button.
• Save these files to your Desktop or any other desired location.
• Quit TNEF’s Enough.

You’re done. You can now throw away the winmail.dat file since you’ve extracted all of the files from inside it.

If you’d like to read more about how and why this happens please read this Microsoft Support article or this other article. These articles also provide instructions that you can pass on to the Outlook user who sent you the winmail.dat file so he or she can make changes to no longer send you winmail.dat files. Essentially, they have to edit their record for you in their Contact list and indicate that you should only receive plain-text emails.

Click to Print or Email

Do you want to know how to perform some routine preventive maintenance on your Mac? Here’s my recommendation of helpful preventive maintenance tasks as well as instructions on how to perform these maintenance tasks. You don’t need to have advanced knowledge to perform these tasks. These recommendations assume you are using Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5 or newer).

Overview

• Daily backup your data files
• Weekly update your bootable backup
• Monthly check your hard drive to make sure it’s not getting too full
• Monthly perform the following tasks using Maintenance (free): Verify your hard drive’s SMART status and its file structure (the invisible directories), repair your hard drive’s permissions, run the Daily, Weekly and Monthly maintenance scripts and delete the System, Application and Font caches.

More Detail

Daily Backup – I strongly believe everybody should have an automated backup system and, ideally, a comprehensive backup system. In other Tech Tips I provided detailed instructions on how to setup Time Machine. Time Machine is Apple’s backup application that comes with Mac OS X 10.5 (and newer). Time Machine will automatically perform hourly backups of one’s data assuming the Mac is on and the backup hard drive is connected.

Weekly Bootable Backup Update - It’s useful to be able to boot (start) your Mac from another hard drive if your Mac is not able to start from its own internal hard drive. This could happen if the internal drive is starting to fail or if an OS X update didn’t install properly or for a myriad of other reason. In other Tech Tips I provided detailed instructions on how to setup Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup of your Mac’s hard drive.

Monthly Check Hard Drive’s Fullness – A Macintosh computer’s performance will slow noticeably if it’s hard drive is more than approximately 90% full. It’s easy to make sure it’s not getting too full by doing this. Click on the hard drive’s icon on the Desktop, it’s typically named Macintosh HD, go to the File menu and select Get Info. Compare the values listed next to “Capacity” and “Used”. If the number of gigabytes of data listed in the “Used” section is 90% or more of the hard drive’s capacity then you need to free up some hard drive space. You can use Omni DiskSweeper (free) to help you determine which files are using the most storage space on your hard drive. Then you can either move some data to another hard drive, archive it to a DVD or delete it.

Monthly Maintenance Tasks – You can perform all of the maintenance tasks that I recommend using a free application aptly named Maintenance. Download the Maintenance disk image (Maintenance.dmg), then double-click it to open it and then drag the Maintenance application to your Applications folder to install it. Then, double-click the application to open it.

When you open Maintenance, it’ll display a message indicating that it’s checking your hard drive’s SMART status. SMART is an acronym which stands for Self Monitoring And Reporting Technology. It’s a simply diagnostic tool built in to most current hard drives. Next, Maintenance will ask if you want to Verify your startup volume (hard drive). Before you start this process please save and close all open documents and then quit all applications. Once the verification process is complete you’ll be prompted to enter an adminitrative-level account name and password. You’ll then be presented with a list of available tasks. I recommend inserting checkmarks into the first 5 items. (See below). Then click the Execute button to have Maintenance do the following: Repair Permissions, Execute Maintenance Scripts and empty the System, Application and Font caches. Wait while these tasks are completed. This could take 10-15 minutes.

Maintenance Task List

No harm should come if you were to perform the other tasks, but I find that they are more troubleshooting tasks rather then preventive maintenance tasks.

If you want to learn more about maintaining your Mac then I encourage you to read the $10 PDF book Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac

Titanium Software makes Maintenance as well as Onyx which can do everything that Maintenance can do plus a whole lot more.

Click to Print or Email

Did you know that Apple’s Preview lets you easily annotate PDFs, merge PDFs as well as delete and re-order pages within a PDF? Preview is a free application which comes bundled with Mac OS X. Apple has been quietly updating over the years and it has become quite capable and user-friendly. Just a few years ago one would have needed to buy the relatively expensive Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional PDF Editor to do many of these tasks.

I should note that there are slight differences in how certain tasks are done if you’re using OS X 10.5′s version of Preview. All of these demonstrations are done using OS X 10.6′s version of Preview.

It’s also important to know that the following techniques may not work on all PDFs. It’s possible for a person who creates a PDF to lock the file in such a way as to prevent others from manipulating it. Typically, locking a PDF like this requires use of an application like Adobe’s Acrobat.

I’ve created short video tutorials on how to do the following tasks. Read the brief text description and then click the link to watch the video.

If you need more extensive editing capabilities then what is offered by Preview then you should check out the relatively affordable PDFPen.

1. Reorder pages in a PDF – Open a PDF file, click the Sidebar button to view the thumbnail icons for each page. Click on one of the thumbnails and drag the page up or down. Look for the horizontal blue line that appears indicating the new location of the page. To remove a page you can simply click on the thumbnail icon for a page to select it and the press the Delete key on your keyboard.

2. Extract pages from a PDF – Open a PDF file, click the Sidebar button to view the thumbnail icons for each page. Click on the first page you want to extract. If you want to extract additional pages then hold down the Command key and click on additional thumbnail icons. Release the Command key and then drag the thumbnail icons to the Desktop. A new PDF file will be created on the Desktop. Rename the file as desired. Open this new file by double-clicking to verify that it contains the pages that you want. You can re-order the pages by following the tip listed above.

3. Move pages between PDFs (Merge PDFs) – Open a PDF file, click the Sidebar button to view the thumbnail icons for each page. Open a second PDF and click its Sidebar button too. Position the two PDFs so you can view both file’s Sidebars at the same time. Select one or more pages from one file’s Sidebar and drag them into the other file’s Sidebar. Look for the horizontal blue line that appears in the receiving file’s Sidebar. This blue line indicates where the new page appear. You can re-order the pages by following the tip listed above. Go to the File menu and select Save to save the changes.

4. Annotate text in a PDF -  Open a PDF file, click the Annotate button to review a row of tools at the bottom of the window. Use these tools to highlight text in a variety of colors, draw a line through the text, enclose text inside a rectangle or oval, add a note in the margin of the PDF.

Click to Print or Email

Have you wanted to change your Mac’s behavior so Apple’s Preview is used, rather than Adobe Reader to open all .pdf files? You can control which application is used to open any given file type such as .xls, .doc, .jpg, .tiff, or .awk files.

In this example, we’ll configure a Mac to use Apple’s Preview as the default application to open all .pdf files.

• Locate a .pdf file on your Mac.
• Click once on this .pdf file to select it.
• Click on the File menu and select Get Info.
• In the Get Info window which appears, locate the “Open With” section.
• You ‘ll see the current default application listed. Click on this application’s name and select Preview from the list. If you don’t see your desired application then scroll to the bottom of the list and select “Other” then browse your Mac’s hard drive to select your desired application.
• Click the “Change All” button that appears below this list.
• You’ll be asked if you really want to make this change. Click “yes” you do want to make this change.
• Close the Get Info window.

That’s it! You’ve now configured your Mac to use Apple’s Preview as the default application to open all .pdf files.

Every so often, you might want to override the default behavior. For example, you might want to use Adobe Reader to open a particular .pdf file. Here’s how you can do this.

Click on the particular .pdf file. Drag it and drop it onto the application icon for Adobe Reader. It’s easiest to do this if you’ve already added Adobe Reader to your Dock. To do this, go to your Application folder, locate the application named Adobe Reader and drag it to the Dock. This will permanently add it to your Dock.

Click to Print or Email

Here are instructions on how to copy a DVD.

Important Note: – using Disk Utility will NOT work for all DVDs. Some or maybe many commercial DVDs intentionally have copy-protection mechanisms in place to prevent copying. This method should work fine for DVDs which you made using iDVD, for example.

1. Open Disk Utility
2. Insert your DVD into your Mac.
3. Wait until the DVD shows up in the Disk Utility window and then click on it once to select it.
4. Go to the File menu, select New, and from it’s sub-menu select New Disk Image from <DVD name>
5. In the Save As dialog box that appears either accept the proposed name or type in your preferred name. Then, select a folder, like the Desktop, where the disk image will be saved. Click the Save button.
6. Wait for the disk image to be created. Depending upon the speed of your computer this can easily take 30-60 minutes or more.

Once the disk image has been created you can follow these steps to burn a new DVD copy.
A. Open Disk Utility
B. Go to the Images menu and select Burn
C. In the “Select Image to Burn” window select the disk image which you created previously, click the Burn button.
D. Insert a blank DVD-R disk and wait for the image to be burned onto this blank disk. This process can also easily take 30-60 minutes or more.

Click to Print or Email

Did you know that Mac OS X has a built-in zoom feature? This feature lets you zoom in on your screen so everything on the screen is larger. Of course, when you zoom in you can only see part of the screen on your monitor. You need to scroll around to see the other parts of the screen.

I use the zoom feature frequently when I’m giving presentations especially when I provide Mac training. I project my Mac laptop’s image onto a wall or screen using a projector. Then, I want to show audience members something on the screen so I zoom the screen so I can ensure that everybody in the audience can see what I’m trying to highlight on one part of the screen.

Zoom is off be default. Follow these instructions to turn it on.

• Go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
• Click on the Universal Access icon
• Click on the Seeing button.
• In the Zoom section set the button to On.
• Optionally, click the Options button and make sure in the section titled “When zoomed in, the screen image moves:” that it is set to “Only when the pointer reaches an edge”. Click Done. The other options lead to too much screen movement which I find distracting or even annoying.

Once the zoom feature is enabled then you can invoke it at any time to zoom in on your Mac’s screen by simultaneously pressing these 3 keys: Command, Option and the Plus Sign (which is typically the same as the Equal Sign key). Each time you press these three keys your Mac will zoom in a little bit more.

To zoom out simultaneously press these 3 keys: Command, Option and the Minus Sign key which is typically to the left of the Plus Sign key.

Click to Print or Email

Did you know that you can take pictures of what’s on your iPhone’s screen? For example, you can take pictures of a text message, a web page or an email configuration screen.

The procedure is simple. Press and hold the Home button while simultaneously pressing and releasing the Sleep/Wake button.

The Home button is located near the bottom of the front face of the iPhone. This is the button that you typically press to exit an application and return to your Home screen.

The Sleep/Wake button is the button on the top edge of the iPhone which you typically use to put the iPhone to sleep.

Be aware that if you were to press and hold both the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons continuously for 10 seconds then this will reset your iPhone. Resetting an iPhone isn’t necessary very often but if your iPhone locks up and becomes completely unresponsive then resetting is often helpful. Resetting the iPhone essentially just forces the iPhone to turn itself off and then start up again. It does not remove any of the data or applications on the iPhone.

The ability to take a screen snapshot was added in version 2.0 of the iPhone software which was released in the middle of 2008. If you happen to have an original iPhone and have never updated its software then you don’t have the ability to take a screen snapshot with your iPhone.

Click to Print or Email

If you ever struggle to find your Mac’s cursor then I recommend that you use MouseLocator. This free application puts a halo around the cursor to help your eyes locate the cursor. You can configure how long the halo is displayed. It can be displayed for as little as half of a second or permanently or somewhere in between these two extremes. You can also control how long the cursor must be idle before the halo will re-appear.

I find that MouseLocator is popular with people who use very large monitors or whose eyes are tired. I do a lot of computer-based presentations and I consider MouseLocator to be an indispensable tool. When I’m projecting my laptop’s display onto a large wall, MouseLocator helps audience members locate and track the cursor as I move it around the computer screen.

Check out MouseLocator.

Click to Print or Email

All batteries will eventually experience diminished efficiency and storage capacity and will need to be replaced. However, regularly recalibrating your Lithium-ion battery will help to prolong your battery’s life and health which helps you to reduce the frequency with which you’ll have to buy a new battery

Apple recommends recalibrating your battery at time of purchase and then every few months after that. Battery University recommends recalibrating your battery every 30 charge/discharge cycles. Apple provides written instructions on how to recalibrate your battery. For years, I had a repeating event on my iCal calendar that sent me an email reminder which included a copy of Apple’s instructions. Recently, I switched and started to use Watts (30-day free trial, then $6.95) which lets me monitor the health of my battery, reminds me to calibrate my battery and then guides me through it.

Apple indicates that one should expect current Mac laptop batteries to retain 80% of their charge capacity after 1000 full charge/discharge cycles. Watts lets you keep an eye on this and alerts you if your battery is not healthy and needs to be replaced. If you have Growl, the notification application installed, then Watts can be configured to display useful notifications and reminders to recalibrate your battery. I recommend Watts, check it out, you might find it helpful.

Here’s a copy of Apple’s current instructions for recalibrating your battery if you own a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or PowerBook G4 with a dual-layer DVD drive.

• Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook’s battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
• Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
• Disconnect the power adapter while the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
• At this point, save your work.  Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep.
• Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
• Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Click to Print or Email

Do you want to give your computer to another person so they can use it, but before you give it away you want to remove all of your data? If so, here’s an easy way to accomplish this. We’ll create a user account for the person who’ll be using the Mac, then we’ll delete your user account.

These instructions were written for OS X 10.5 and 10.6, but should work on previous versions as well though some of the names and wordings have changed subtly.

• Turn on the Mac and let it start up.
• Go to the Apple menu, select System Preferences and click on Accounts
• If the padlock in the lower left corner is locked then click on it to unlock it. Enter your user account’s password when prompted to do so.
• Click the plus sign button to add a new user account. Set “New Account” to “Administrator”. Enter the real world name of the new user of the Mac in the “Full Name” field. Enter a name in the “Account name” field; this name can not contain spaces, capital letters or punctuation marks. Enter a password in both the “Password” and “Verify” fields. Enter a password hint if you’d like.
• Click the “Create Account” button.
• Go to the Apple menu and select Log Out which appears at the bottom of the menu.
• You’ll be presented with a login window. Type in the account name and password for the account which you just created. You’ll be logged into this new user’s account and now that you’re no longer using your account it can be deleted.
• Go to the Apple menu, select System Preferences and click on Accounts
• If the padlock in the lower left corner is locked then click on it to unlock it. Enter your user account’s password when prompted to do so.
• Click on your user account which’ll be listed on the left-hand side of the window.
• Click the minus sign button to delete your user account.
• Select “Delete the home folder” to have all of the data in your user account deleted.
• Click the OK button. The actual deletion process could take 10-15 minutes, especially if there is a lot of data in your account.
• When the deletion process is complete you can close the System Preferences window.

Click to Print or Email

Here are instructions on how to use Disk Utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your Mac. These instructions were written for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.6. The process is very similar on older versions of Mac OS X but the screens will look a bit different.

Requirements – You’ll need either the Mac OS X install disk that came with your Mac or another OS X install disk that’ll boot your Mac, such as a retail copy of the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 install disk.

I recommend securely erasing a hard drive before you recycle it or give it away. The instructions below include the option to re-install Mac OS X onto the hard drive at the end of the process.

If you’re securely erasing an external hard drive you do not need to use a Mac OS X install disk. Instead, you can simply open Disk Utility which you’ll find in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive and then follow the last few steps below to erase it using one of the Security Options described below.

Background – Technically, it’s not possible to erase or remove data from hard drives. Thus “securely erasing” is a misnomer. Instead, what we’ll be doing is over-writing the data on your hard drive with gibberish, a random string of bits of data. When you securely erase your hard drive you’ll have a choice of how much over-writing you want to do. This process can take many hours if you select the 7-pass overwrite procedure. I recommend starting this process and then letting it run over-night.

• Insert the Mac OS X install disc that came with your Mac.
• Note: The disc will begin the process of installing Mac OS X on your Mac. Whether or not you actually choose to install Mac OS X is your choice, but if you do, you’ll do it AFTER you’ve securely erased your Mac’s hard drive.
• Select your preferred language from the list presented.
• When you see the welcome screen for the Mac OS X Installer go to the menu named Utilities and select Disk Utility
• In the left pane of the Disk Utility window, click on the hard drive you want to erase.
• In the right pane of the Disk Utility window, click the Erase tab.
• Click the Security Options button
• I recommend that you select the 7-Pass Erase options, but you could choose the 35-Pass Erase option. Here’s my description of these options.

Don’t Erase Data— This option does not provide any security. This option only over-writes the directories on the hard drive. Your files could still be recovered.
Zero Out Data— Provides a pretty good level of security. All of your files are over-written with a string of zeroes. There are forensics utilities that in theory could retrieve some data.
7-Pass Erase— Provides a lot of security. This is considered sufficient by government standards to erase data from a disk. It writes a random string of ones and zeroes over your data files seven times. It may take several hours or more to complete this process.
35-Pass Erase— Provides the maximum amount of security offered.This option takes an extremely long time, possibly more than one day.

• Click the radio button in front of 7-Pass Erase
• Click OK.
• Click the Erase button next to the Security Options button.
• Confirm you want to erase and the process will be begin.
• If you want to install Mac OS X then go to the Disk Utility menu and select Quit
• You’ll be taken back to the Mac OS X Installer welcome window. Click Continue.
• Agree to the software license.
• In the “Select a Destination” window click on the icon for the hard drive which you just erased and then click Continue.
• Click the Install button to start the installation process. Depending upon the speed of your Mac and the version of Mac OS X which you are installing this process could commonly take anywhere from 20-60 minutes.

Click to Print or Email

Did you know that Apple’s Mail application automatically builds a list of all recipients to whom you’ve sent email? I think it’s very useful to review this list a few times each year. By reviewing this list you can easily add useful email addresses to your Address Book and you can delete out-dated email addresses or addresses that contain typos.

Before we review this list, it’s important to understand how this list is used by Mail. When you are creating a new email message and you begin to type a person’s name or email address in the To: field you’re typically presented with a list of email addresses which match the letters that you’ve typed. This list of email addresses is a composite of email addresses from your Address Book as well as addresses listed in your Previous Recipients list.

If you ever made a typo in an email address and then sent the email message then this incorrect email address was likely added to your Previous Recipient list. By reviewing this list you can remove such undesirable email addresses.

To view your Previous Recipient list, open Mail, click on the Window menu and select Previous Recipient. You can search this list using the search field in the upper right corner. You can also sort this list by any of the columns listed: Name, Email, Last Used. You can also sort by the left-hand most column which is not named. This column indicates if the email address is saved in your Address Book. If it is then you’ll see an icon which resembles a rolodex card. If the address is not in your Address Book then this space will be blank. I like to sort by this column to find common recipient’s whose email addresses I want in my Address Book. I then select them and use the Add to Address Book button. If you don’t typically add people to your Address Book this can be a fast way to add a whole lot of people to your Address Book.

In order to remove an email address containing a typo, I often use the search field to locate it. Then, I’ll click on it to select it and then use the Remove From List button.

I like to sort the list by the Last Used date. I’ll then review the oldest addresses listed and if I don’t recognize them then I’ll select one or more and remove them from the list too.

Click to Print or Email

Here are instructions on how to remove and re-add a print queue. I commonly do this to fix people’s printer issues. Somehow the old queue gets “damaged” and stops working properly. As long as you don’t mind losing any of the print jobs which may be sitting in the print queue then go ahead and do the following:

1. Go to Apple menu, select System Preferences, click on Print & Fax
2. On the left-hand list of print queues click once on print queue which you’d like to delete. For this example, let’s assume the queue is named Brother HL-5250. Click the minus sign icon below this list to permanently delete this print queue.
3. Click the plus sign icon (next to the minus sign) to start to add a new print queue.
4. A window will appear listing all printers directly connected to your Mac or available via your network. You should see the Brother HL-5250  printer listed. In order to appear the printer would need to be turned on and directly connected to your Mac using a USB cable or connected to your network using an ethernet cable. (If you don’t see the printer then you’ll first have to figure out why it’s not showing up.)
5. Click once on the Brother HL-5250 printer to select it. Wait a few seconds while a conversation occurs between your Mac and the Brother printer. Once the conversation is complete then the printer driver will be selected and listed at the bottom of this window and the “Add” button will become active. Click the Add button.
6. You’ll be taken back to the printer list in Print & Fax. You should see the Brother HL-5250 on this list now. Close this window by clicking the red dot.
7. Send a print job to the Brother printer to test it.

Click to Print or Email

Here are some examples of how I use QuickLook. I often have a Word or Excel file which I need to reference. I don’t need to make a change to the document I just want to read some information from it or remind myself of some details. Rather than double-clicking the file and wait for Word or Excel to open, I simply use QuickLook. When I’m cleaning up my Desktop, I’ll often select multiple files at once by Command-Clicking on them and then I invoke QuickLook. QuickLook lets me view each file one by one so I can see their contents and determine where they should be filed or if I can put them in the Trash. I should mention that not every type of file can be viewed with QuickLook but the most common file types can such as .doc, xls, .pdf, .mp3, .jpg and many others. As developers update their applications they can add support for QuickLook so overtime more file types will be supported.

Click to Print or Email

Apple produces their own technical tips for the Mac and iPhone. They are short how-to videos. Check them out. I’m sure you’ll find one or two that will teach you a new trick.

Over the years, I’ve  chided Apple for never providing a legend or explanation for the symbols they list next to a menu command which indicate the keyboard shortcut for that command. Well, at long last, Apple has a video tech tip which explains the meaning of those hieroglyphic symbols which tell you the keyboard shortcut for a command. Check it out. They also have a written technical note that explains the most commonly used hierglypic symbols.

If you aren’t satisfied with this brief visual explanation of the keyboard symbols then you might like Dan Rodney’s chart which is a more thorough list of the keyboard symbols. This BYU web page also lists a great number of Mac keyboard shortcuts if you just want to learn some more.

Mac Keyboard Symbols from Dan Rodney

Click to Print or Email

When you open Entourage 2004 does it immediately display the spinning multi-color ball icon? This icon simply indicates that Entourage is thinking, but if this icon never goes away then Entourage is getting stuck while trying to complete a task. There are a number of possible causes but over the past two months I’ve had 5 different clients all report this same problem and in every case the problem was caused by a message being stuck in Entourage’s “Outbox”. The Outbox is where Entourage temporarily stores an email message between when you click the “Send Now” button and when Entourage finishes sending the message. For reasons I haven’t been able to figure out, sometimes Entourage is not able to send the message and it gets stuck trying to send it.

There are two ways to fix this problem. Option 1 – I realized that if I disconnected the Mac from the Internet by either unplugging its ethernet cable or turning off Airport then I could open Entourage and it would not try to send the message. Then, I could simply delete the message in the Outbox. Then, reconnect the ethernet cable or turn Airport back on.

Option 2 – I did some online research and learned that people have been having this problem for years and there is an even easier fix. Simple hold down the shift key while clicking on Entourage’s icon to open it. Holding down the shift key disables the built-in schedule to automatically get for new email messages and to send email messages in the Outbox. This solution came from the Entourage Help Page which has been invaluable over the years when I’ve needed to troubleshoot Entourage issues.

Additional Note: A further curiosity in this situation is that Entourage seems to be frequently getting hung up while specifically trying to send a forwarded copy of an Alaskan Airlines itinerary. I don’t know what is unique or problematic about these emails from Alaska Airlines but I can only guess that Alaska Air has recently changed the contents of their itinerary emails and that one of these changes somehow causes Entourage to get stuck when it is asked to forward these emails.

Click to Print or Email

Here are step-by-step instructions for deleting bookmarks from Safari and Firefox. The instructions might vary slightly if you’re using a different version of Safari or Firefox.

If you use Safari 4.x or 5.x
A. Open Safari
B. Go to the Bookmarks menu and select Show All Bookmarks
C. You’ll see a window. On the left-hand list click on the “Collection” that you want to change. For example, you might click on Bookmark Menu since this is where most people keep bookmarks. Then, on the right-hand side, click on the bookmark that you want to delete.
D. Press the Delete key on your keyboard.

If you use Firefox 3.x
A. Open Firefox
B. Go to the Bookmarks menu and select Organize Bookmarks
C. You’ll see a window. On the left-hand list click on Bookmark Menu. Then, on the right-hand side, click on the bookmark that you want to delete.
D. Press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Click to Print or Email

Would you like to schedule automatic email reminders to yourself for iCal appointments? Here are instructions on getting this set up.

1. Open Address Book, click on the Card menu and select Go to My Card. Make sure that the My Card exists and that it contains your name and the email address at which you’d like to receive email reminders. You can add multiple email addresses if you want some reminders to go to one address and have other reminders go to another address.

2. Open iCal, click on the File menu and select Add Event. Type in a name for the event.

3. Double-click the event to see the event’s details if you use OS X 10.5 or 10.6. If you use OS X 10.4 then single click on the event to view the details in the Info area. In the Alarm section click on the word None to view a list of options. Select Email from that list. Then, below that, you can select from multiple email addresses if you have them listed in your My Card. You can also set how far in advance you’d like the email reminder to be sent.

4. You can set multiple email reminders. For example, maybe you’d like a reminder 12 hours in advance and then again 1 hour in advance. If you use OS X 10.5 or 10.6 then a second Alarm field automatically appears so just repeat the instructions in step 3 to add a second alarm. If you use OS X 10.4 then you’ll have to control-click on the word Alarm and select Add Alarm from the menu that appears.

Click to Print or Email

Do you often want to get driving directions from Google Maps for somebody’s address which is stored in Address Book? If so, then you should use Brian Toth’s Google Maps Address Book Plugin. I’ve used this great little utility for several years and rely on it regularly to get driving directions either from my office to a client’s office or from one of my client’s office to another client’s office. You can try the plugin for free. If you like it then please send a donation to Brian Toth, the developer.

Installation is easy. Click the download button on the developer’s web site. You’ll start to download the compressed zip file. Your Mac you automatically unzip this file, if not you can double-click it to get your Mac to unzip this file. You’ll then see the Google Maps Plugin installer application. Double-click it to install it.

It’s easy to use as well.

1. Open Address Book and hover your cursor over the “work” or “home” address label.

2. Click on the address label and select Google Directions.

3. To change the starting address click on the pop-up list near the top of the window to select your starting address. Then click the “Map” button.

Your default web browser will open and you’ll be shown Google Directions for the selected addresses.

Here are images to illustrate these instructions.
Extra Tip – I also use Brian Toth’s PostCheck plugin for Apple’s Address Book. PostCheck will fill-in an address’ missing zip code or verify that you have the correct zip code. You’ll notice that once you’ve downloaded and installed it that you can select it from the pop-up menu. Just look for PostCheck.

Google Maps Plugin Instructions

Click to Print or Email

Is your Mac’s screen cluttered with too many windows? Do you drag windows left and right, up and down, trying to find the window that you’re looking for? There is a better way to manage window clutter on your Mac. Apple offers a number of tools and techniques including Spaces, Expose, Minimize Window and others. This article talks about my preferred method. I use three different keyboard commands – hide application, Application Switcher and cycle through windows. Let me explain how to invoke each keyboard command. Then I’ll explain how to tie them together.

Hide Application – Nearly all applications can be hidden by pressing either Command-H or selecting Hide <Your Application’s Name> from the Application menu. For example, if you’re reading this article using Safari then click on the Safari menu at the top of your screen. Half-way down the menu you’ll see Hide Safari listed. Alternatively you can press the Command key and the H key to hide Safari.

Application Switcher – Not surprisingly, the purpose of the Application Switcher is to let you easily switch between applications. To invoke this feature simultaneously press the Command key and the Tab key. Then, release the Tab key. You’ll see a row of big icons appear across the screen. This row of icons is the application switcher. To use it, continue to hold down the Command key and then press and release the Tab key. Each time you press and release the Tab key you’ll see that the next application in the list is selected. If you continue to hold down the Tab key then you’ll rapidly advance through the list of applications. When you’ve selected the desired application from the list, then release all keys and the selected application will come to the fore-front. Hint: If you want to move through the list in reverse, then press Command-Shift-Tab.

Cycle through windows – Within a specific application, one can easily flip through all open documents and any other windows by simply pressing Command-tilde. The tilde key is the key to the left of the 1 key. The tilde is the accent mark that goes over an “n” in Spanish. To use this properly you need to depress the Command key and then press and release the tilde key each time you want to advance to the next window. Go ahead, give it a try.

Using all of these commands together. When I’m done with a given application, for a least a minute or two, and I want to switch to another application then I press Command-H to hide the current application. Then I press Command-Tab to invoke the Application Switcher and use it to switch to the application that I want to use. If I have many windows or documents open in this application then I just press Command-tilde to quickly find the document that I want. Then, again, when I’m done working on that document or application then I hide it and switch to the next application.  This lets me reduce window clutter and quickly find the document that I need.

Click to Print or Email

Dealing with spam or junk email in your Inbox is a waste of time. If you run a small business the time wasted identifying and deleting email can add up over weeks or months whether you are a one-person or multi-person team. Here are a couple of ways to reduce the amount of spam that you receive in your email Inbox.

First, make sure that your email provider’s email filtering feature is turned on. Almost every email provider has such a feature, but many of them are not very capable.

Next, you might consider setting up your own spam filtering application. For Mac users, I recommend SpamSieve. You can try it and if you find it effective then buy it for $30. It works with the most common email client applications including Mail, Entourage, Eudora and Thunderbird. This is a good solution for individuals.

If you own your own domain name and have a small workgroup then you might consider signing up for a email filtering service such as Big Mountain Hosting’s MailFoundry spam filtering service. In order to set this up you need to modify the MX (mail exchange) record within your DNS (domain name system) records. Specifically, you set your MX record to deliver all incoming email to the email filtering server. The server then scans all email messages and delivers legitimate email messages to your Inbox. All email messages that were identified as spam or contain a virus are put into a quarantine. You then receive one email that lists all quarantined messages. If a legitimate email was quarantined then you can  click a button to release the message from its quarantine and have it delivered to your Inbox.
I use Big Mountain’s spam filerting server and find it highly effective. Their plans start at $10/month for up to 5 users. They have tiered pricing for larger groups of users.

Click to Print or Email

Here’s a list of features in Apple’s Mail application which I use regularly and people appreciate when I point them out.

1. Connection Doctor – Go to the Window menu and select Connection Doctor. A small separate window will appear. It quickly tests all of your incoming and outgoing connections to your mail servers. After a few seconds you should see green dots to the left of each item listed. If you see yellow or red dots then there’s a problem. If you’re having problem sending or receiving email then open Connection Doctor. It might give you some information that helps you to figure out where the problem is. If you see green dots next to all items and you still can’t send a particular email message then it’s time to look for typos on the recipient’s email address.

2. Send Again – To use this feature just click on a message in your Sent mail folder or any other mail folder, for that matter and then select Send Again from the Message menu. I use this feature when I want to send the same email message to different people but I want to address the message individually to each of them. This feature is also handy if I send a message and immediately remember that I forgot to include a piece of information. I’ll select the message I just sent from the Sent folder and add the missing information at the top of the message.

3. Remove Attachments – To use this feature select one or multiple messages and then select Remove Attachments from the Message menu. One can use this feature to quickly stip email messages of all attachments while preserving the message itself. This is useful for housekeeping purposes. Most people don’t need to hold onto the attachments for messages that they sent since that document is typically saved elsewhere on your hard drive.

4. QuickLook – This feature requires that you have Mac OS X version 10.5 or 10.6 installed. As you may know, QuickLook is feature of the Finder. Click on a file in the Finder and press the Space Bar key. OS X will show you a quick preview of the contents of the document. QuickLook doesn’t work with every type of document but it works with the most common types of files such as jpeg images, PDF files and files made with Word, Excel, Pages and Numbers. Apple built QuickLook into Mail. If you have an email message with an attachment look for the QuickLook button near the Attachments line of the email’s header information. It’s just a quick way to look at the attachment.

Click to Print or Email

Did you know that you can remotely find and/or erase your iPhone? You can if you have a MobileMe subscription and you have the Find My iPhone feature turned on.

First, let’s enable this feature on our iPhone. Turn on your iPhone and go to Settings. Go to the Mail, Contacts and Calendar section and then select your MobileMe email account. Turn on the Find My iPhone feature using the slider button.

Now, let’s test this feature. Go to http://www.me.com and login to your MobileMe account. Click the green Find My iPhone button near the upper left corner of the web page. You’ll be asked to enter your MobileMe password a second time. Apple is just being extra secure by asking for this information.

Wait a minute or so while your iPhone is located. I should mention that this service relies on the GPS chip in your iPhone so if the iPhone is off then this won’t work. A map showing the approximate location of your iPhone will appear. This can help you determine if your iPhone is around the house, at your office or if you forgot it at the restaurant last night.

Below the map you’ll see three buttons: Display a Message, Remote Lock and Remote Wipe.

Display a Message lets you display a short text message on the screen and play an optional alert sound. This sound will play even if the phone is in silent mode. This sound can help you find the phone if its under a couch cushion. Or it could help a waiter find it if the phone is under a restaurant table.

The Remote Lock feature lets you enable the lock so nobody can view your data or run-up your phone bill. In my last blog article I recommended that you have the all the time.

The Remote Wipe feature allows you to remotely remove all data from the phone. As long as you have synced your iPhone recently then go ahead and do this. If you locate your phone eventually then you can restore all of the data by syncing it to your Mac.

Click to Print or Email

I recommend that every iPhone owner enable the password protection feature built into the iPhone. Then, if you ever lose your iPhone then others won’t be able to view the iPhone’s contents or run up your bill by placing lots of phone calls.

Here’s how you can enable this feature.

• Turn on or wake up your iPhone
• Click on the Settings icon
• Select the General category
• Click on Passcode Lock
• You’ll be prompted to enter a 4 digit passcode (aka password). Then you’ll be asked to enter it again to make sure you didn’t make any typos.
• Finally, click on Require Password and select how quickly your iPhone will require you to enter your passcode after being idle. I recommend “After 5 minutes”

This should give you peace of mind in case you lose your iPhone around your house, around town or while traveling.

If you have a MobileMe subscription then you should also make sure that you have turned on your iPhone’s “Find My iPhone” feature. More on this in my next blog article.

Click to Print or Email

Have you ever found yourself flipping back and forth between a web page and, say, an email message so you can copy and paste mulitple pieces of information from the web page into your email message? If so, then you should use a clipboard manager application so you have access to multiple clipboards.

Another common use that I have is that I copy a some text and then I get distracted, forget to paste it immediately and end up copying other text. With Mac OS X’s clipboard, which can only hold one piece of data at a time, the first string of text would be overwritten and lost. Clipboard managers store dozens or more items. These items can then be restored from a list of items or sometimes using a keyboard shortcut. I like to use keyboard-based methods since I find them faster.

My clipboard manager of choice is LaunchBar since it’s also a great application launcher. Here are some other clipboard managers that you should consider: CopyPaste Pro ($30), PTHPasteboard Pro ($25), JumpCut (free) and Clips (20 Euros).

JumpCut is a one-trick pony. I’ve used it in the past. It’s simple to use and you can’t beat the price. Many years ago I used PTHPasteboard when they offered a version version. I liked it very much. I haven’t tried CopyPastePro or Clips. Clips is a relatively new clipboard manager but it has a lot of features and capabilities. It could be worth checking out.

Click to Print or Email

As expected, in January Apple announced their first tablet computer. They call it the iPad. What is the iPad able to do and how is it innovative compared to PC tablets?

The iPad is a new class of device at least for Mac users. It’s a tablet computer and it fits somewhere in between a smartphone and a laptop. PC manufacturers have made tablets for over a half dozen years. These tablets typically required users to use a stylus or an on-screen keyboard for input and never sold well since they cost as much or more than a comparable laptop. The iPad differs from these PC tablets in two obvious ways. The iPad is a touch-input device and it costs less than a Mac laptop. The price range for iPads is $499 to $829 depending upon features and storage capacity. One primarily uses finger gestures and an on-screen keyboard to control the iPad.

The iPad is a versatile device that could replace a laptop for some users. This initial model’s strengths are in entertainment. It’s oriented towards consuming data not producing data. It’s capable of letting you listen to music, view photos and watch movies like an iPod and read books like a Kindle. It also has the ability to send and receive email messages and view web pages like an iPhone or a laptop. It also lets you view web sites and access your email. To increase typing speeds one can buy a special full-size external keyboard or use an external bluetooth keyboard. For a thorough description of what the iPad can and can not do, please refer to this MacInTouch article.

There are some important limitations and omissions based on the information that Apple has currently released about the iPad. While it’ll let you view and compose email messages, it’s unclear if you’ll be able to edit attachments. Apple has not indicated that it’ll be able to print. Curiously, it does not include a camera though it seems likely that this’ll be adding in the future.

The iPad’s ability to handle Word and Excel documents is unclear. Not surprisingly Microsoft has not had time to develop versions of Word and Excel for the iPad. Apple has announced special iPad versions of Pages and Numbers but how versatile they’ll be remains to be seen. It’s unknown if they’ll be able to open and edit Word and Excel files.

Over the coming years the iPad will evolve and eventually could become a suitable replacement for a laptop for business users if these shortcomings are addressed but currently it only seems that it’ll replace a laptop for more casual users whose primary uses for a laptop are personal email, viewing web pages and handling music, photos and movies.

Click to Print or Email