MacMost: Archives

When users first switch to Gmail from an older email service, it is hard to understand the concept of labels and an All Mail folder. With Gmail, you wouldn't typically delete email, but simply add or remove labels. These labels look like folders when you use Apple's Mail program, but understanding how they really work will help you use your Gmail account.

The next version of OS X, Mountain Lion, will be launched by the end of this month according to Apple. And some signs point to them being right on schedule.
This past week Apple released a gold master of the OS to developer, which is usually the very last test release before launch. Apple also asked developers who were working on Mountain Lion versions of their software to start submitting those versions to the Mac App Store.
In addition, Apple posted a special “how to upgrade” page that includes which Macs are eligible for the new OS. As expected, some older 2008 and earlier models are not compatible with Mountain Lion and will need to remain with Lion as their OS. You can see the complete list as well as other upgrade information at http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/. It will cost only $19.99, the lowest priced OS X upgrade ever offered. It will only be available as a download from the Mac App Store.

“I have 100,000 songs in my iTunes collection, but I can’t listen to any of them right now.”
“Why not?”
“Ironically, because they are all stored ‘in the cloud.'”

Learn how to add page numbers to the bottom or top of your word processing documents in Pages. You can also add the total number of pages. Find out how to get the page numbers to appear on the left and right sides of facing pages.

Using the Address Book app you can print out lists of contacts, specifying exactly which fields you want to include. You can also print compact pocket lists that can easily be carried with you.

You can download free Apple user manuals right from Apple. Almost all Apple products have PDF files that serve as user manuals. You just need to know where to look. Once downloaded they can be easily read and searched.

“My mom said she likes the smell of old books. Well, I downloaded this ebook almost two years ago and it doesn’t smell like anything!”

You can use mail merges for more than just letters and envelopes. You can create your own custom spreadsheets of data in Numbers, and then merge that with a custom Pages document for interesting results. In this example, a small list of school test results is printed on individual pages.

If you have several people in your household and want to share iOS apps between them, you can do it with iTunes Home Sharing. But turning on Home Sharing on each computer, and then authorizing each other to use purchased items from each others' accounts, you can drag and drop apps in iTunes. Then sync with your iOS devices to put those apps on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

You can create the same charts in Keynote as you can in Numbers and Pages. But with Keynote you can animate them. You can have the different parts of a bar graph, line graph or pie chart appear using different transition effects. Then you can export the result as a video to use in iMovie.

Summer Carnival 1997
“Tell me: Who will be leading the mobile phone and handheld game industries in 2012?”
“You’ll never believe me. How about I just give you your $5 back.”

There are several ways to export bookmarks in Safari. You can use these techniques to archive old bookmarks and clean up your list in Safari. You can also create handy lists of links that can be stored elsewhere or uploaded to a web site.

You can print both labels and envelopes from Address Book without needing to do a mail merge or use another app. You can choose from many different standard label templates or create your own. You can also choose different envelope sizes. You can print them in bulk, or just use this feature to print a single envelope.

When taking your US Apple products to Europe, you only need to bring a simple and cheap plug adapter. The power adapters that come with MacBooks, iPads, iPhones and iPods are all universal adapters that work with 100V to 220V. There is no need for an expensive and heavy power converter.

“I demanded final cut. They said yes, and sent me a $300 gift card to the Mac App store.”

Learn to use header and footer rows in iWork Numbers. Footers allow you to easily perform functions, like sums and averages on entire columns. Headers can remain at the top of the screen as you scroll. Both can be used to keep calculations and titles separate from sorted data in the body of a spreadsheet.

iCloud services are tied into apps like Mail, iCal and Address Book. But you can also access your data through the iCloud.com web site. This allows you to get your email and access your events and contacts even when you are using a computer that doesn't have iCloud. The web-based apps are very sophisticated, offering almost the same functionality as the full apps, and often more functionality than the iOS apps. You can also use iCloud.com to transfer documents between your Mac and iOS devices, even in Lion.

Mac cleaning apps are being advertised heavily across the Internet. But do you need these programs? Some of what they do is already being done by OS X. And most of the rest is simply an effort to remove a small number of files from your drive and give you more drive space. But you can do better by archiving projects and keeping your documents tidy on your own.

Apple announced and released a new version of the MacBook Pro this week, the biggest announcement at Monday’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote. The new MacBook Pro is the first laptop to feature a retina display, similar to the new iPad. The new machine also comes with an SSD hard drive, no optical drive, HDMI output and a redesigned case featuring a new fan and battery system.
The rest of the MacBook line was given an incremental boost with new processors and memory. The 17-inch Macbook Pro was retired. The Mac Pro was also given a small incremental increase in power, but remains the only Mac without Thunderbolt support. Apple did add this week that new professional Macs will be coming in 2013.
In other news at the keynote, Apple revealed that the next version of OS X for Macs will come out in July. A new version of iOS is now in the hands of developers. iOS 6 will bring Siri support to new iPads, and Facebook integration, a new Maps app, and many other features.

I know this probably isn’t what Apple meant by sandboxing, but I just want to be sure we are doing things right.”