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Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

How-To: Sync an iPod Using Open-source Software

Written on July 09, 2009 by Lisa Hoover and 1 person has commented

It’s hard to deny how handy it is to plug an iPod into a Mac, fire up iTunes, and watch your device sync with your computer automagically. Take the Mac or iTunes out of the equation, though, and syncing gets a little trickier.
If you don’t like iTunes, or you use Linux as your primary operating [...]

The Ultimate MacBook Pro Protection Suite by Moshi

Written on July 07, 2009 by David Klein and 13 people have commented

I’m a huge fan of Moshi’s Apple-centric line of products and accessories. In fact, my entire collection of Apple products has now been complimented by Moshi. For example, I use the iLynx USB/Firewire hub and Celesta keyboard with my iMac; my iPhone is protected by the iGlaze 3G; and recently, my Macbook Pro experienced a [...]

Would You Be “Lost” Without Your Mac on Vacation?

Written on July 07, 2009 by Dave Greenbaum and 4 people have commented

As you head out the door, you have your tickets, you set the alarm. What did you forget? Unless you’re boarding Oceanic Flight 815, you probably have little to really worry about, but there are a few things that will ease your anxiety and ensure that your trip is as stress-free as possible.
Sometimes you just [...]

14 Free iTunes Visualizers

Written on July 02, 2009 by James Dempsey and 6 people have commented

Apple’s iTunes application is perhaps the most popular app ever installed on the Mac. It’s also one of the least flexible in terms of customization. There’s little you can do to “make it your own,” so to speak. However, all is not lost for habitual tweakers like myself; the iTunes Visualizer can satisfy your need to not leave well-enough alone. I’ve put together a list of 14 cool (and free) Visualizers to get your started with your collection.

Dig Into Unix: Standard Streams

Written on July 01, 2009 by Jon Buys and 2 people have commented

This is the third installment of our Dig Into Unix series, an ongoing look into the deep, geeky insides of the core of OS X. In the first part, we got to fire up the Terminal and take a look around the filesystem as the OS sees it, which is slightly different from how the [...]

Become a Mac Power User: iTunes

Written on June 26, 2009 by Nick Santilli and 7 people have commented

We’ve posted Power User tips focusing on OS X as a whole (look for an update post for the not-far-off Snow Leopard) and the System Preferences. Today we’ll cast our gaze on iTunes. Listening to music on your Mac is like peanut butter and bananas — they just go together. iTunes is a fairly straightforward [...]

iPhone 3.0 Battery Draining? Here’s a Possible Fix

Written on June 25, 2009 by Clayton Lai and 91 people have commented

All the goodness of iPhone OS 3.0 aside, the one thing you’ve probably noticed after updating your iPhone or iPod touch is how quickly its battery is draining.
I certainly did, along with many other users. The battery life of my iPhone 3G is now barely six hours, a huge departure from the 12+ hours or [...]

How-To: Tether Your BlackBerry to Your Mac

Written on June 24, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 9 people have commented

One of the big, new features of the iPhone is its ability to tether. BlackBerrys have had this ability for a while, so below I have outlined how to tether your BlackBerry with your Mac to use your Internet connection to browse the web with your computer.
Some Things to Note

This tutorial is for Leopard.
I have [...]

Quick Tips: iWork ‘09

Written on June 23, 2009 by James Dempsey and 14 people have commented

Having used Microsoft Office for many years, despite my utter distain for them, nobody was happier than me when Apple launched the iWork applications. For my light office application needs, Pages, Keynote and Numbers are just perfect. Here are a few tips I use to make my time in the iWork apps a little easier.

Dig Into Unix: vi

Written on June 23, 2009 by Jon Buys and 17 people have commented

Continuing our Dig Into Unix series, we’ve now covered the absolute basics of launching Terminal.app, moving around the file system, looking at files with cat, and learning about commands with man. Now, I’d like to introduce you to the power of vi.
vi (pronounced vee-eye) is a text editor for the command line, and was originally [...]

How-To: Sync iTunes Playlists With a BlackBerry

Written on June 23, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 9 people have commented

I recently switched from an iPhone to a BlackBerry. As I mentioned before, one of my BlackBerry dislikes is that it simply does not sync as nicely as the iPhone. Until recently, I thought I could only drag certain songs onto my BlackBerry and that there was no way to sync playlists. Turns out I [...]

iPhone 3G S: Enable Tethering

Written on June 22, 2009 by Bryan Schuetz and 31 people have commented

So you’ve got a brand new iPhone 3G S and you want to know if you can use the AT&T tethering workaround everyone’s been talking about? Yes, yes you can. It’s all remarkably easy. It’s almost like Apple wants us to use this workaround — at least that’s the story I’m telling myself.
The good folks [...]

How-To: Remotely Control Your Mac Over the Internet

Written on June 22, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 13 people have commented

I previously wrote an article on how to stream your data from a Time Capsule and local computer over the Internet. After figuring out the basics of networking, I moved onto wanting to control my media center computer remotely. Below I’ve outlined the steps to set up remotely controlling your home computer over the Internet.
Some [...]

Problem & Solution: iPhone 3G S Video and the Not-So-Fine Whine

Written on June 22, 2009 by Dave Greenbaum and 38 people have commented

After the honeymoon was over, and I started using the iPhone 3G S in earnest, I began to hear a high-pitched noise on my iPhone-recorded videos. At first I thought it was the environment, background noise, or just plain interference. However, once aware of the noise, I noticed it anytime the phone was recording audio, [...]

How-To: Transfer Files Between Your Blackberry & OS X Via Bluetooth

Written on June 18, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 9 people have commented

I recently switched from my iPhone to a BlackBerry. A few weeks after the transition, I have discovered my likes and dislikes between phones, and by far the most frustrating difference is the “syncing with computer” feature. An iPhone is literally plug and play, whereas a BlackBerry requires tons of configuration, even for the simplest [...]

File-sharing 101 for Small Teams

Written on June 17, 2009 by Weldon Dodd and 3 people have commented

Despite all the advances in “Cloud Computing” over the last year or two, a large part of most people’s work is still contained in individual files like documents (Word, Pages, PDF), spreadsheets (Excel, Numbers), text files (HTML, text, notes), delimited data files (CSV), presentations (Powerpoint, Keynote), and images (JPEG, GIF, PNG). Finding the right file-sharing [...]

PDF How-To: Remove Pages, Reorder Pages, and Combine Mutiple Documents

Written on June 17, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 6 people have commented

I was recently helping a colleague prepare for a presentation that included a slideshow, but instead of using a PowerPoint presentation, our designer chose to make a PDF of the presentation. Using a PDF over a PowerPoint has a couple of advantages: The font doesn’t need to be installed on the client machine, so you [...]

Dig Into Unix

Written on June 10, 2009 by Jon Buys and 11 people have commented

When Apple revamped its operating system and adopted Nextstep as the base of OS X, they brought along with it an extremely powerful version of Unix based on the open-source project FreeBSD, now known as Darwin.
Unix has a long history, one that started in the basements of Bell Labs by a group of AT&T engineers [...]

Get to the Point: OS X’s Summarize Service

Written on June 09, 2009 by James Dempsey and 6 people have commented

There are a few really handy features in OS X that get very little attention – perhaps because they don’t have a snazzy GUI, or maybe it’s because they only appeal to certain users. Whatever the case, Summarize (found in the menubar under the Application menu) is one of those handy features that gets little attention, but delivers big by helping you get to the point.

Intuit and Apple Announcements Include Money and a Lesson

Written on June 09, 2009 by Dave Greenbaum and 5 people have commented

Intuit, the company that helps manage your money, may owe you some. Heck, even Apple might.
In the winter of 2007, Intuit’s Quickbooks for Mac 2006 contained a fatal bug — an automatic update erased the desktop folders of users’ accounts (yikes). Intuit’s silence on the issue was deafening. Finally, after days of complaining and people [...]