MacMost: Archives

You can launch an application using the Finder, Dock, keyboard, Terminal and even your voice. See how many of these you knew about.

You can print envelopes, mailing labels and two kinds of lists from Address Book. You can also print to a PDF file to put a list on another device or send in an email.

Look at the services you get with MobileMe and decide whether the service is worth the price. You get email, calendars and contacts, storage, a web site, syncing, Back-To-My-Mac and Find My iPhone. There are free services that can be used to replace most of these, but they are not exactly the same.

Hackers this week released a method for jailbreaking the iPhone that only involves visiting a web site. The method uses a security vulnerability that allows code to hide in a font embedded inside a PDF file. Apple has reportedly been working on a fix for this vulnerability and will release an update soon.
Jailbreaking allows owners of the iPhone to install third-party apps that come from sources other than the Apple store. Modifications to iOS on the iPhone can also be made. This is often confused with “unlocking” which allows an iPhone to operate on wireless networks other than AT&T in the U.S.
A security fix is necessary because the same vulnerability can be used to install other software, even malicious software, on the iPhone without the user knowing.
Meanwhile, the legality of jailbreaking was in the news recently. Federal regulators stated that Apple should not use of copyright law to claim that jailbreaking is illegal. This legitimizes many companies and web sites that help people jailbreak their iPhones. But it does not prevent Apple from making jailbreaking difficult.
Microsoft announced a release date and pricing for an update to the popular Microsoft Office suite for Mac. Office 2011 will arrive by the end of October and will feature lower prices: $119 for the home edition and $199 for business. The suites include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Messenger. The business edition also includes Outlook, a replacement for Entourage.

Check out the new Apple Battery Charger. Since Apple now has several peripherals that use AA batteries, they have come out with an energy-efficient wall charger and a set of NiMH batteries.

Take a look at five camera apps for the iPhone 4 that help you take better pictures and apply special effects and other elements when you are done. Learn how to two panoramas, time delay shots and time lapse.

Take a look at Apple's new Magic Trackpad. This stand-alone wireless device replaces a mouse and gives your desktop Mac a multi-touch interface like newer MacBooks.

Apple made changes to its iMac and Mac Pro lines this week. The new iMacs that feature i3, i5 and i7 processors, dropping the Core 2 Duo processor. Video chipsets in the new iMacs were also upgraded with 256MB to 1GB ATI chipsets. Faster memory is also included, and the SD card slots now support SDXC cards with up to 2TB of data. Drives on the new Macs start at 500GB with 1TB as a standard on most, and a 256GB SSD option as a second drive.
The Mac pro towers now come with either 4 or 6-core Xeon procesors, new ATI video chipsets, an option for a 512GB SSD and other improvements.
In addition to the new computers, Apple introduced a whole new interface this week with the Magic Trackpad. The device is essentially a trackpad like the ones on MacBook Pros, but as a stand-alone wireless Bluetooth device that replaces a mouse. The device allows an iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro user to use touch gestures which have been available on MacBooks for a while.
Apple also changed its display line, adding a 27-inch (2560×1440) LED display that also features an iSight camera, USB hub and speakers. It also has a port for connecting power to the most recent MacBook line. This is now the top-of-the-line display for Apple, which discontinued its 30-inch display.

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.

Apple updated Safari 5 today with full support for Extensions. You can now browse a gallery of extensions that will add toolbars, buttons and other features to the Safari web browser. Learn how to add, remove and set preferences for them.

You can use Automator to create scripts that appear in the right click menu. This example shows you how to build a workflow that attaches the current file to a new email message.

Apple is giving away free iPhone 4 cases in response to reported antenna issues. You can get your free case by using a new iPhone 4 app. Look at the eight cases currently listed.

Apple reported its Q3 financials this week, giving us a lot of data about the company’s performance. The quarter featured record Mac sales and the first quarter with reported iPad sales. Here are the numbers.

Apple’s total Q3 revenue: $15.7 billion. That’s up from $9.73 billion for Q3 last year.

Net quarterly profit: $3.25 billion, up from $1.83 billion last year. That’s $3.51 per diluted share, up from $2.01 per diluted share.

Both the revenue and profit numbers beat analyst expectations.

International sales were 52 percent of revenue in the quarter.

iPad sales: 3.27 million units and $2.17 billion in revenue. This is the first quarter with recorded iPad sales.

Macs sold: 3.47 million, a record, and 33 percent higher than Q3 last year.

MacBooks and MacBook Pros accounted for 71 percent of all Mac sales.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Mac sales grew 73 percent. China had 144 percent growth and Korea 184 percent.

iPhone sales: 8.4 million, a 61 percent jump from last year. This only includes a few days of iPhone 4 sales at the end of the quarter and in only 5 countries.

iPod sales: 9.41 million, an 8 percent decline over Q3 last year. But iPod Touch sales were up 48 percent creating an increase of 4 percent in total iPod sales revenue.

iTunes sales and related services: $1.2 billion in revenue, a 25 percent increase.

The App Store now has more than 225,000 apps, 11,000 of which are iPad-specific.

Apple’s stores generated $2.58 billion in revenue, a 73 percent increase.

Apple Stores sold 677,000 Macs versus 492,000 for the same quarter last year. About half of sales were to people buying their first Mac.

Apple expects to open 24 new stores in Q4.

Guidance for Q4 is $18 in revenue with $3.44 earnings per share.

In other news, Apple held a special press conference last Friday about the iPhone 4’s reception issues. CEO Steve Jobs showed evidence that the problem was not specific to the iPhone, but occured on other smartphones as well. He then announced a free iPhone case program that will allow iphone 4 users to get a free case from Apple. Having a case has been widely reported as alleviating the problem. Details on the program should be posted on Apple’s site by the end of the week.
Apple also released small updates to both iTunes and the iBooks app. The new iBooks app will allow features like video and audio, which can be used by future books published for the platform.

You can create iMovie projects that serve as templates for a future video or series. You can include titles, sequences and placeholders. Instead of starting from scratch with a new video project, you can then duplicate the template.

Learn how to choose your own desktop background, use your own image as a background, rotate through a collection of images and other techniques. Also learn how to create a solid black background and use a third-party program to show video, animation or a web page as your desktop background.

You can use the Help menu present in almost all applications to find menu commands, search documentation and get information. You can also use it as a way to navigate the menu bar using only your keyboard.

Many are still complaining about iPhone 4 reception problems, and Apple has called a special press conference for Friday morning. Speculation about the announcement ranges from free bumper cases for all iPhone 4 users to Apple simply presenting evidence to dismiss complaints.
Meanwhile, developers have received version 4.1 of iOS for testing. The update increases the accuracy of how reception strength is reported on the phone.
This week Consumer Reports declined to recommend the iPhone 4 based on the reception issue, despite giving it the highest rating among smartphones. Others have criticized the magazine’s testing methods, and many of the testing methods used by other media sources.
MacMost’s own unscientific field testing shows that the iPhone 4 without a case does seem to lose “bars” when held tightly. A protective case seems to fix the problem. Call drops have been experienced, but at no greater rate than with previous iPhone models.
In other news, Apple has set up a program for replacing some defective Time Capsule units sold between February and June of 2008. These defective models sometimes shut down unexpectedly or have trouble starting up. Those with the problem should take it to an Apple Store or authorized retailer to be checked out.

Learn how to use Automator to convert selected text, or text from a file, to audio. You can listen to the result on your Mac, iPod or iPhone while on-the-go.

Learn how to use Seashore to create a 32-bit semi-transparent image and then use that image as an overlay to point out or highlight something in your iMovie video.

Many take the file open and save dialogs for granted, but there are a lot of power user actions and keyboard shortcuts that can make these tools easier to use. You can navigate around your drive space with drag and drop, the keyboard, sidebar, the media browser and more.