Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

The best apps are the ones that make life simpler and easier. GrubHub lets you order takeout from nearby restaurants right from your iPhone. You can see what places are in their system that deliver, browse the menus, and build your order. Then you pay through the app and wait for the delivery.

“So now I only date women who have a iPhone. That way we can share apps.”

There are many apps that come with your Mac that you can use in school. The Dictionary app is more than just a way to look up definitions. You can also use it to browse and search the world's largest encyclopedia. The Grapher and Calculator apps come in useful, and the free Google Maps app can help with geography. But perhaps the most useful educational app is iTunes because of access to thousands of free lessons through iTunes U.

There are a variety of buttons and keyboard shortcuts that you can use to quickly create, close and navigate between tabs. How some of these work depends on your Safari preference settings. If you use tabs and multiple windows, these tips should help you optimize your web viewing.

You may be surprised at how much you can do with the controls on your EarPods with your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. In addition to pausing music and changing the volume, you can also rewind and fast forward. You can also answer and refuse calls and activate Siri. You can even take a picture.

If you select an event in the Mac Calendar app, you can copy it with Command+C and then paste it into any text area, like an email, word processing document or text message. You’ll get a nicely formatted version of the event with the title, scheduled time, location, notes and other information.

Here’s another role-playing game app, but this time with a refreshing new style of gameplay. Well, actually, it is an old style of gameplay, just new to apps. Knights of Pen & Paper is a simulation of a role-playing game, complete with character sheets, a table, and a dungeon master. You don’t just role-play the adventure game, you also role-play the person playing the adventure game. Add to that an environment where you travel around and go where you wish instead of following a strict storyline, and this game is a nice break from other RPGs.

Apple launched a new support web site this week at getsupport.apple.com with an easy-to-use interface that leads to multiple ways to get help with Mac, iOS, iTunes and other products and services.
The site starts the process by asking users what type of product they are using. Then narrows down the type of problem with simple choices. The user is then given a choice of talking to someone on the phone, scheduling a call, using online chat, or making an appointment at an Apple Store. Apple Knowledge Base articles are also listed at the bottom of the screen.
The new site is being rolled out day-by-day around the world, so not everyone has access to it yet, and not all services, like phone support, are available everywhere.
This change was rumored previously, and may only be the first of many changes to the way Apple offers support. Some sources believe that Apple will soon change its AppleCare extended warranty program to be a per-user service, rather than a per-product service.

“My parents bought me a new iPad for school.”
“Which class do you use it for?”
“Angry Birds 101, mostly.”

I often hear myths and misconceptions about Macs in the comments and questions I get at MacMost. Here are some of the most common ones I see.

When you add a Google Gmail account to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can get email, calendar and notes syncing, but not contacts. To add contacts, you need to add the Google account a second time, as a CardDAV account. Then you can see your Google contacts in your Contacts app.

You can store videos on an SD card and then transfer them to your iPad using a simple adapter. This allows you to store videos to watch externally and put them on your iPad when you are ready to watch them. It is useful if you are traveling and have limited space on your iPad. However, you need to know how to trick the iPad into thinking the video comes from a camera, and then you need to use the Photos app to watch the video, not the Videos app.

Apple is once again holding its iTunes Festival in London and broadcasting it to the world via Apple TV and iOS devices. The iTunes Festival channel has appeared on Apple TVs as the 30-day concert event starts on September 1. It will feature some of the top music artists in the world. iOS device owners can download the iTunes Festival London 2013 app to stream the video.
More rumors bloggers are jumping on the iPhone 5C bandwagon, agreeing that there will be a cheaper plastic version of the iPhone coming out in September. Photos and video of devices and shells seem to be appearing everywhere. Most believe that the announcement will come September 10.

If you are a developer, then you may occasionally want to open files that are normally hidden in folders. When using a standard Open File dialog box, you can make hidden files and folders appear by pressing Command+Shift+period.

If you played any of the original Ultima games, then the existence of a completely new game is very exciting. But add the fact that it is an iOS game and it becomes a must-try. Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar is kind of a sequel to Ultima IV, drawing from that early storyline. The graphics try to look good while remaining simple enough for enjoyable gameplay. It is basically a large RPG adventure with some multiplayer aspects. And it is free. Well, there are in-app purchases, but you can get enjoyment out of the game either way.

The doomed USS Sea Lion
Remaining air for crew: 3 hours
Remaining battery life of crew’s MacBook Air: 7 hours

While you can't create rules in the Mail app for iOS, you can set rules at the server level if you are using iCloud email. These rules will be applied before the email arrives on your iPhone or iPad. This is also useful if you are using multiple computers and want the rules to apply to all of them and your devices.

By using the GarageBand app on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can create ringtones and use them on your device, without needing to connect to a computer. You can use instruments, music loops, songs on your device or just record from the microphone. You can assign these ringtones to any alert sound in the Settings app.

When you back up for iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac, it stores it deep in your hard drive. But you don't need to go searching for those backups. You can manage them from inside iTunes. This is useful if you want to review your backups and delete old ones from old devices. You can also quickly find them on your drive to see how much space they take up. An archive function lets you save a backup and start a fresh one for a device.

Most rumor sites are now focusing on the probable release of a new iPhone this fall. Several prominent news sources are claiming that Apple will hold a special event on September 10 to announce iPhone plans.
Analysts predict that there will be two iPhone models introduced. One would be the iPhone 5S, an upgrade of the current 4-inch display model. The other would be an iPhone 5C, a cheaper plastic model with a smaller screen.
Other rumored changes include a better camera on the iPhone 5S and a fingerprint censor built into the Home button that will let you unlock your phone without entering a passcode. The plastic iPhone 5C may come in a variety of colors.