I wanted to write about the specific troubles in Apple’s manufacturing facilities in China for today’s commentary, but then I thought: To what end? What will beating this live horse of an issue help? Instead I find myself more interested in commenting on how the story was publicized. I know I was disappointed when Apple [...] (more...)

The release of iBooks Author by Apple last Thursday has created a flurry of mixed reactions among writers in the computer industry. While the iBooks 2 reading app adds some great features for reading books, such as highlighting text, flash card creation, and high quality interactive books, the authoring program seems to have some issues. [...] (more...)

A common question people have is “What does this icon mean in the iPhone Weather app?” The iPhone Weather app gets its information from Yahoo Weather. The forecast should be the same as if you want to Yahoo and looked up the weather for your area. But the iPhone Weather app doesn’t include descriptions of [...] (more...)

Using gestures is the key to getting the most from Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Knowing them can make you much faster at getting to things and working with your apps. You can find them all by just looking through the System Preferences under Trackpad or Mouse. But it can be useful to have a [...] (more...)

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac users. There are Mission Control shortcuts, Finder shortcuts, system shortcuts, application shortcuts and more. Many you can find by just looking through the menu bar for that application. You can find system ones by looking in the System Preferences under Keyboard. But some keyboard shortcuts are more [...] (more...)

One of the tiniest additions to the iPad 2 may point to the future of Apple and all of telecommunications. And it gives us a clue to the secret of Apple’s success. If you go to the Settings on the iPad 2, and then General, and then Sounds, you’ll see something different than what you [...] (more...)

When I first became a parent I was given a copy of Love and Logic, a parenting book. I recommend it. It is a lot of common sense stuff that should be obvious about parenting, but for some reason isn’t. Among the many ideas in there is the idea of giving children a choice. For [...] (more...)

Now that The Beatles are finally available on iTunes, you have to wonder who would be buying those songs there? I’ve had the CDs since the 1980s (and vinyl before that). I ripped my CDs into iTunes before it was even iTunes (SoundJam) and still listen to those MP3 files today. So if you are [...] (more...)

Apple has been giving some love to the Mac again, so I thought I would too. It isn’t hard to name a lot of reasons why I have loved Macs for a long time. But since I get asked occasionally for specific reasons, here is a good top-ten list. 1. Clean Consistent Intuitive Interfaces I [...] (more...)

Like many, I was thrilled with Apple’s announcements at yesterday’s special event. New iPods, a new Apple TV and iTunes 10. It all sounded great. But then as the day went on, I began to see problems. By this morning, I’ve identified six issues that will hurt the products announced yesterday. I Guess Video Was [...] (more...)

Gmail is the dominant email service used by MacMost users, followed by MobileMe. In a poll of 728 people, Gmail was reported as the preferred service by 41 percent. Mobile followed with 27 percent. Also in the poll were Yahoo at 7 percent, Microsoft’s email services like Hotmail, MSN and Live at 3 percent and [...] (more...)

10:00 — Steve Jobs takes the stage and talks about the success of the iPad. 10:10 — iBooks app update, including in-line notes, new controls for bookmark functionality, ability to read PDFs. Out later this month. 10:12 — 225,000 apps currently in the app store. 10:20 — Zynga announces Farmville for the iPhone. Available at [...] (more...)

Here is a list of the major points announced at this special event. 10:00 — Steve Jobs takes the stage and talks about Apple as a mobile hardware company. 10:10 — Announcement: the iPad! 10:11 — Steve is demonstrating the device. Looks like a giant iPhone or iPod Touch. One-screen keyboard. Basic apps with a [...] (more...)

In 24 hours we’ll find out what the Apple Tablet looks like, what it can do, and what Apple wants us to use the Tablet for. But in the mean time we can speculate and empose our wishes on to this potential device. Plus, it is fun to take the pulse of the community to [...] (more...)

The popular online game Gold Strike has come to the iPhone. Gold Strike has previously appeared as a Web-based game, downloadable game and smartphone game for the pre-iPhone generation of phones. It has been played by millions since its release in 2003. Gold Strike is an action puzzle game where you play a miner trying [...] (more...)

Where do Mac users buy their digital music? Well, overwhelmingly they purchase at iTunes. Despite the many mentions I hear of alternative music sources, nearly 75% buy from iTunes. I wish I could compare this to the same poll taken a year ago, just before Apple announced that iTunes would be DRM-free. Since removing copy [...] (more...)

The MacMost.com Guide to Online Password Security When you create an account at a Web site you are usually asked to provide a password. What do you choose? Your child’s name? Your dog’s name? Your favorite flavor of ice cream? Choosing a weak password opens your account up to being invaded. Someone could mess around [...] (more...)

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac users. There are Finder shortcuts, system shortcuts, application shortcuts and more. Many you can find by just looking through the menu bar for that application. You can find system ones by looking in the System Preferences under Keyboard. But some keyboard shortcuts are more useful than others. [...] (more...)

Which is better, Mac or PC? Why choose? After all, your Mac is a PC, it just runs Mac OS X instead of Windows. And it looks pretty. But what if you need to run an application that is Windows-only? Like a piece of accounting software, an engineering simulation, a database application, or even Internet [...] (more...)

The new MacMost iPhone and iPod Touch app gives users easily access video tutorials, news, recommendations and other content from the Apple tutorial site MacMost.com. The free app allows users to view recent episodes of the MacMost Now video podcast right inside the app, without downloading the podcast or using the Web browser. New videos [...] (more...)

Thanks to everyone who voted in the to-do list application poll here at MacMost.com. We’ve now got our top six task managers. While it is impossible to say which one is best for you, this will at least give you an idea of what others are using. The top spot belongs to Things from Cultured [...] (more...)

This week the Apple rumor sites are out of control. They are reporting on a mention of an “Apple Slate” by the executive editor of the New York Times. They say that this mention, in a private meeting, is proof that the device exists and is coming soon. I find it amazing that bits of [...] (more...)

I often get asked about iPhone cases. People want to know which one is the best one, or which one is right for them. Not only is it hard for me to tell which is best, but I can’t even pretend to have seen or used even a fraction of the hundreds of cases out [...] (more...)

The MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac is now in stock in local and online bookstores. You can purchase it today at Amazon. MacMost.com founder Gary Rosenzweig quickly gets you comfy with your new Mac, demonstrates the “Mac way” to perform every common Windows task, and shows how to do more with Macs than [...] (more...)

There has been a lot of controversy lately about how Apple handles iPhone app store submissions. The app store is a strange distribution platform. It is similar to past distribution platforms in some ways, but has its own unique mix of problems. Previous to the iPhone app store, software on mobile phones worked one of [...] (more...)