MacMost: Archives

Apple issued updates for iPhoto and Apple TV 2 this week. Both updates fixed some bugs. In iPhoto, merged events will no longer split up again when synced to an iPhone. On the Apple TV, 2 a variety of video and audio issues were addressed.
Apple and two app makers have been hit with a lawsuit over privacy. The suit claims that the unique phone ID is being used to track individuals and serve advertisements. It appears that those two app makers were specifically targeted only because they were mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article about user tracking.
Apple has reportedly decided this week to not use its advertising network, iAd, on apps meant for kids. A message to one developer said this was at the request of advertisers. This may leave some app creators without a source of revenue for apps they have spent time and money developing.
Microsoft has made a deal to buy Internet telephone company Skype from eBay. This alarmed many Mac and iOS users, fearing that they may lose support. But Microsoft issued a statement saying they plan to continue to support non-Microsoft platforms.

“My new toaster has an App Store. For 99 cents I can get an app that burns a picture of Elvis into the toast. For $2.99 it will tweet when the toast is done.”

If you use a Mac to browse the Internet, you should be using 1Password. This third-party utility lets you create, save and use secure passwords on every site you log in to. You can also store bank information, notes and files inside 1Password's encrypted database. In addition, it will protect you from dangerous phishing attacks.

Login Items are applications that launch automatically when you log in to your user account on your Mac. Utilities supporting some of your applications may be found there. You can also add your own applications, scripts, folders, documents and even web bookmarks.

Flickr is another service that you can use to share photos with friends and family. It is a better option than email large files. You can share directly from iPhoto with Flickr, but have to pay a small fee for unlimited use.

Apple updated the entire iMac line with new processors, ports, camera and graphics. The new iMacs went on sale on Tuesday with essentially the same exterior design, but new internal parts. There are 21.5-inch and 27-inch screen models.
All of the iMacs now feature quad-core Intel Core i5 processors as standard, with options to get an i7 as well. In addition, they all have the new high-speed Thunderbolt ports that support an external screen as well as hard drives and video equipment. The graphics chips range from the AMD 6750M to the AMD 6970M. The built-in camera is now 720p HD.

“The new MacBook Air weighs -3 ounces. Would you like me to get one down from the ceiling for you?”

Another great way to share photos is with Google's free Picasa service. You can use the Mac application to upload photos and then share them with friends or embed a slideshow on your own web site.

MobileMe photo galleries are one of many ways to share photos with friends. You can create them directly from iPhoto. They can be shared publicly or password-protected. You can allow your friends to download the photos or even add to the gallery.

Learn how to use Styles in iWork Pages. You can apply styles to paragraphs or characters, redefine styles already in place, and select all text that uses a specific style. Styles are an important tool for document creation in Pages.

Since the reporting last week that iPhones keep a record of location data, information and misinformation has been inundating the tech news world. This week Apple responded to the reports.
Turns out that iPhones have been keeping cache of cell phone tower positions, not tracking your exact location. And this information is stored on your iPhone and backed up to your computer along with everything else on your iPhone. But it is not sent to Apple or anyone else. The data apparently helps speed up location determination used by apps.

“I’m concerned about my iPhone keeping track of every place I go.”
“Because it is an invasion of privacy?”
“No, because I’m afraid someone will find out how boring I am.”

Update: This technique also now works with the iPhone 4S.
Update: See episode 702 for a new method of doing this.
Learn how I capture the iPad 2's screen to use in presentations and video podcasts. You must use the iPad 2 plus the HDMi adapter. Then bring the HDMI in to your Mac or recording device using special hardware and software.

You can assign rules to keyboard shortcuts with the Mail extension Mail-Act On. This makes it easy to send messages to folders without your hands leaving the keyboard. You can also assign rules to outgoing messages and alter how Mail sets the read status of messages.

Ever wanted to know what goes into creating iPhone cases? Learn how iPhone and iPad cases are designed and tested at OtterBox, a maker of rugged protective cases. See interviews with designers and technicians and look at some of the equipment they use.

Another fantastic quarterly report from Apple was issued yesterday. Here are some of the more interesting points:

Apple reported a profit of $5.99 billion on revenue of $24.67 billion.

In the same quarter last year, those numbers were only $3.07 billion and $13.50 billion.

This was the best non-holiday quarter in Apple’s history, but the numbers almost topped the last holiday quarter to be the best overall.

About 3.76 million Macs were sold, a 28 percent increase over last year. Strong sales of the new MacBook Pros and MacBook Air.

About 18.65 million iPhones were sold, a 113 percent increase from last year, probably due to Verizon iPhone sales.

In the end Tom was thankful that Apple didn’t make the iPad’s screen less reflective.

Many new Mac users have some common misconceptions about their Macs and how they work. See if you are operating under any incorrect assumptions. Add to the list of common misconceptions below.

You can have Pages automatically create a table of contents based on the styles you have assigned to paragraphs in your text. With a little more work you can also have the table of contents automatically insert numbers and subchapters.

With the most recent iOS on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch you can use AirPrint to print a document from some apps to some printers. Find out which printers are compatible and how the printing process works.