MacMost: Archives

Review the year in Apple news: Mac App Store, iPad 2, iOS 5, Lion, iPhone 4S, iCloud, Steve Jobs and more.

With no official news from Apple to report, tech journalists have filled the gap by reporting this week on ever rumor they could find. But it is important to remember that most Apple rumors turn out to be wrong, except for the parts that are obvious. For instance, there surely will be an iPad 3, but when it will come out and what features it will have are merely speculation.
The iPad 3 rumors peg the release date of such a device as anywhere from January to April. Most rumors mention a high-resolution retina display, like the iPhone. However, a large 10-inch retina display may be too expensive to produce in the iPad’s price range. Other rumors talk of a 7-inch iPad variant, which is also unlikely given Apple’s insistence that a 10-inch screen is ideal, and poor reviews of other 7-inch tablets.
Many rumors this month have centered around an Apple Television. An “iTV” has been rumored for years, helped along by the existence of the set-top Apple TV device and parts being made for Apple computer displays and iMacs. Mentions of a television in the Steve Jobs biography are the main fuel for these rumors, but it would be a strange move for Apple to enter such a crowded low-margin business.

“If you throw the parakeet at your brother one more time I’m going to take your iPod touch away once and for all!”

A third grade class in Culver City, California is looking to get an iMac so they can produce and edit movies. They are using old G4 iMacs and really need something newer to let the kids be more creative. Join MacMost in supporting this project.

You can show your iPad or iPhone screen on your television wirelessly using your Apple TV 2. You need the latest iOS device and the Apple TV 2. You can also do it with cable adapters. The result is you can see whatever is on your iOS screen on your TV.

You can create nice-looking printouts from Numbers, but the options to do so aren't always obvious. Learn how to view your spreadsheets in layout view, adjust scaling, darken borders and use styles and design elements to create nicer Numbers printouts.

Parents of kids who have an iPad or iPod touch may want to know how to control restrictions in iOS Settings. It is fairly simple to restrict content like movies, music and apps. You can also set the device so your kids can't add new apps or change email or other settings.

Apple completed the holiday shopping season by giving away free shipping on products from its online stores. First it offered free two-day shipping, and then it upped that to free next-day shipping this week. In addition, it seems that most Apple stores offer in-store pickup of items ordered online.
In iTunes news, Apple added a “Complete My Season Pass” to the iTunes store that allows you to purchase the entire season of a TV show at a reduced price if you have already purchased some episodes individually. This is similar to the “Complete My Album” feature already in place for music. And that feature has been updated to remove a time limit that previous meant you could only complete an album within 180 days of purchasing the first track.
Apple is in the process of buying flash memory and chip design company Anobit. Since the iPhone, iPad, iPod and even some Macs use Flash memory, it is important for Apple to continue to be a leader in this area.

A school in Charlotte, North Carolina is looking to get an iPad. The idea is to give at-risk students the opportunity to learn with the aid of an iPad and educational apps. Join MacMost in supporting this project.

“You want an iPad 3? Kid, I may be able to fly around the world and deliver presents to every child in a single night, but I can’t perform the impossible!”

You can use the QuickTime Player in Lion to make quick changes to your videos rather than starting an iMovie project. You can merge videos, trim them, split and re-arrange sections of a video and export in standard QuickTime format. You can also rotate video that has been shot in the wrong orientation.

All iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users should know how to use the multitasking bar. It allows you to view your recently used apps, quit apps, control audio playback and AirPlay streaming. Learn how to access and use it. Also learn how to quit an app without using the multitasking bar at all.

You can place chapter markers while creating video projects in iMovie. These can be used to jump to parts of your video while viewing it in QuickTime Player, iTunes or on iOS and Apple TV. You can also use chapter markers to quickly create DVDs with iDVD that include those markers. Chapter markers and comments can both be used in your project to allow to you jump to specific times while you are editing.

Apple began offering iTunes Match in more countries this week, starting with Brazil and including some other countries such as the U.K, France, Australia and New Zealand. However, shortly after appearing for those countries the service disappeared and Apple refunded customers who had signed up. Apparently the service was turned on prematurely. It still remains available in the U.S. and Brazil. But this may indicate that a real international launch is just around the corner.
Apple issued a number of updates this week, including version 10.5.2 update for iTunes and a Thunderbolt display firmware update. Microsoft issued updates to Office for Mac 2011 and the previous version, 2008. They address security and stability issues.

A teacher in Milwaukee is looking to get an iPad for her students who have cognitive disabilities. They would use the iPad to help them communicate and to help them participate in regular classrooms. Join MacMost in supporting this project.

“I started using iTunes Match the other day. It works great, but everything I listen to now sounds a little more like Coldplay.”

The Dictionary app in your Applications folder can not only tell you the definitions of regular words, but it also contains a special Apple dictionary to help you understand your Mac. You can look up Mac-related terms and get quick definitions. You can also use its Wikipedia function to get even more detailed information about technology.

You can move your iPhoto library to an external drive easily by simply dragging the iPhoto library package to another location. But keep in mind that external drives are slower than internal ones, and networked drives even more so. You can also create multiple iPhoto libraries, storing seldom-accessed photos elsewhere.

Tab stops allow you to align text in word processing programs. They have been around for a while, but if you have only started using word processors recently, you may have overlooked them in favor of tables and other layout elements. Tab stops are a quick and easy way to display data neatly inside a document.

We’re starting the annual quiet period for Apple news as Apple will not typically release new products or make announcements during the holiday shopping season.
Apple released minor updates this week to Keynote on the Mac and iBooks and Cards on iOS. iBooks new features includes new fonts and a nighttime reading theme.