MacMost: Archives

Apple released Mac OS X 10.7.4 this week with bug and security fixes. No major new features were introduced. You can get it by running Software Update.
In addition, a new version of Safari, 5.1.7 is available. This version forces users to get the latest version of the Flash plug-in. It is important from a security standpoint to keep Flash up-to-date as well as your browser and OS, and it is interesting that Apple is now making that a requirement.
Three new regional U.S. carriers announced they will be selling the iPhone. Kentucky’s Bluegrass Cellular, Kansas’ Nex-Tech Wireless and California’s Golden State Cellular will all start carrying the iPhone on May 18.
Adobe released the next version of its software suite, CS6. This includes new versions of Photoshop, Premiere, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Flash Pro. The applications can be bought in the traditional manner, but starting tomorrow can also be acquired through Adobe’s new online subscription service, Creative Cloud, for a monthly subscription fee.

“Sure, they give you iPads while you wait, but they just have old outdated health magazine apps on them.”

Learn how to control which apps send you notifications and how they do it. You can choose how and where the notification appears, whether the app puts numbers in the icon or plays sounds. You can also arrange the order for notifications when viewed in the notifications center.

Rumors this week have Apple working on a $800 MacBook model. Right now the cheapest MacBook is the $999 MacBook Air ($950 educational pricing). Does Apple need to have a cheaper MacBook model? Is $200 really enough to make a difference?

In OS X you have various ways of setting default applications for files and other actions. You can set your default email and web browser applications with settings in Mail and Safari. You can set what happens when you connect a camera or SD card, or insert an optical disc. You can also set which application will be used to open specific file types.

Learn about all of the different Safari browser preferences that affect security. You can find them in more places than just the Security tab. Learn what each one does to protect you while you surf online and decide what the best settings are for you.

“Now with the Mac App Store I’ve got awesome games too.”
“Dude, I played all of those games back in 2004.”

Hidden in your Applications/Utilities folder is the complex graphing program Grapher. You can use it to plot 2D and 3D equations on your Mac. You can also export 3D animated graphs. Very useful for math students or those who use complex equations in their work.

There are many ways to share music between computers and user accounts with iTunes. The one you choose depends on with which devices and computers your are sharing. iTunes Match may be the ultimate method for a single person, but iTunes Home Sharing allows you to share music with other people whom have separate iTunes accounts.

With AirPlay and the help of the Mac app AirServer, you can bring your iPad or iPhone's screen to your Mac. You can then capture the screen using your favorite video capture software. This new method replaces the old method of using expensive HDMI cables and capture hardware.

Once again Apple’s quarterly report wowed investors, causing the stock to surge on Wednesday. Apple announced a profit of $11.6 billion on $39.2 billion in revenue. It sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads and 4 million Macs.
In a conference call after the announcement, Apple confirmed again that Mac OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, will be out in late summer. In the education market the iPad outsold Macs two to one. iCloud now has 125 million users.
On Wednesday Apple announced the dates for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference: June 11 to 15. Tickets sold out in two hours.

“This app warns you when guys are nearby who use apps to see when girls are nearby.”

With Preview in Lion, you can record your signature in Preview and then apply it to PDF files and other documents. Use your Mac's camera to take a picture of your signature. Add a variety of signatures and other stamps to your Preview preferences and use them with the annotations feature.

There are many things you should be doing with your Mac. But one is the most important of all: backing up. Any computer can have a hard drive failure, suffer from a user mistake or simply be stolen. Backing up is the most important thing that every Mac user should do.

There are many tips and tricks you can use to make it easier to type on the iPad. You can hold down keys to bring up special characters, ignore apostrophes and learn to tap-hold-release to get to some characters with less effort. Also learn about splitting and undocking the keyboard on the iPad.

Reports indicate that Apple is now offering MobileMe users free upgrades to Snow Leopard to help them transition to iCloud before the June 30 deadline. MobileMe users who are still using Leopard have been getting notices of the free offer. Previously $30, the Snow Leopard upgrade would give these users the Mac App Store, which is required to then purchase Lion, which is in turn required to get a free iCloud account. MobileMe is schedule to shut down on June 30.
For users of older Macs, there is no upgrade path. Both Snow Leopard and Lion require Intel processors. The transition from PowerPC to Intel processors began and was completed in 2006, making all PowerPC Macs at least 5 years old. However, some of the earliest Intel Macs do not support Lion as it requires at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

“Man, I had a nasty Flashback this morning.”
“LSD?”
“No, Mac trojan.”

Multicam editing can be used to combine multiple angles of the same shot. But it can also be simply used to combine a video show with separate audio. You can record video from one device and audio from another and easily combine the two in Final Cut Pro.

In addition to some standard shapes, you can create your own custom shapes in Pages using a series of points. These custom shapes can be used to wrap text around images in creative ways.

Learn how to arrange your app icons on the Home screen of your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. You can also put apps in app folders or along the bottom of your screen. You can launch hard-to-locate apps from the search screen instead of finding the app's icon.