Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Your basic message list includes the sender, subject, and the first few words of text. But you can also add a To/Bcc tag and the images stored in your Contacts app. Look for these settings in the Mail preferences under Viewing. You can also adjust the number of lines of text that will appear.

You can use the Google app to perform voice searches that return similar results to using Siri. Google voice searches can often be faster because your voice is interpreted on the phone, rather than being processed by a remote server. But Google voice search isn't integrated with iOS like Siri, so using both is your best option.

The quick Command+Option+Esc keyboard shortcut gives you access to a list of running apps and lets you force-quit the if necessary. You can force-quit several apps as well, or use this as a quick app switcher. There are also other ways to force-quit apps, though in normal use you should always try to quit an app normally.

You can choose from a list of equalizer presets in iOS to adjust how you hear music from your Music app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The best way to use it is to play some music and try different settings. The Late Night setting is a little different as it applies to video as well. You can use iTunes on your desktop computer to get an idea about what each preset is doing.

To quickly view an image full screen from the Finder, select it and press Option+Command. Better yet, you can select multiple images, then press Option+Command, and then use the arrow keys to flip between them. This also works with other kinds of files, such as word processing documents, if a preview is available.

Here’s yet another game by MacMost’s parent, CleverMedia. Push Around is a puzzle game for those that want a tougher challenge than what is offered by most iOS puzzle games today. It could literally take weeks or months to play through the 100 levels in the game. However, learning how to play is simple: you move a robot around and push boxes into place. No complex controls to learn, no huge list of rules and complicated move combinations to master. Just push.

“Apple figures out all sorts of ways to charge top dollar for their products and avoid paying taxes on their profits. The government should do something!”
“You know our retirement account is up 1000% over the last 10 years because of all the Apple stock we own, right?”
“I’ve always liked Apple. It might be time for me to get an iPad.”

Version 11.0.3 of iTunes for Mac, available through Software Update, includes a new MiniPlayer with album artwork and a progress bar, an improved Songs list view and better grouping for multiple-disc albums.
Last week Tim Cook mentioned the upcoming change that will bring production of one Mac model back to the United States. Rumors point to this being either a new Mac Pro tower or the next generation Mac mini. Cook said that the effort represents a $100 million investment. In addition to the model being assembled in the US, many of the components will come from domestic sources.
Apple currently employs about 50,000 people in the United States, with much of its software development and services located here.
Apple also released its testimony submitted to Congress, which is investigating how large companies use tax loopholes. In it, Apple suggests that Congress should eliminate tax loopholes and lower corporate tax rates, as well as place a reasonable tax on foreign earnings. Apple currently keeps much of its overseas revenue outside of the US.

The special All My Views view in the Finder gives you access to all of your user files in one list. You can arrange these to group them by application, size or date. You can also sort inside the groups and search to narrow down the list.

You can use a Google Calendar on Mac or your iOS device just as easily as you can use an iCloud calendar. There is no need to 'sync' between them as using one or the other is all that is needed. Google Calendars can be shared between your Mac, iOS, Android and Windows devices.

The OS X Finder offers simple options to compress video and audio files. You can use this to quickly re-compress these files before archiving them or sending them to others. These simple functions only work with some file types and offer limited options.

Another slow week allows Apple’s self-promotional 50 billionth app sale contest to top the news. The lucky guy from Ohio who downloaded an app from the App Store at just the right moment won a $10,000 gift card.
This milestone puts a spotlight on the overwhelming success of the iOS App Store. It has transformed both the mobile device industry and the software industry in five short years.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will soon appear in front of a Senate subcommittee about Apple’s practice of keeping money earned overseas outside of the United States to avoid domestic taxes. Many other large international companies do this as well. Microsoft and HP have already participated by answering questions and many more companies are expected to do so. Some government officials would like to find a way for companies like Apple to bring this cash into the United States. Currently the large resulting tax bill would go against shareholder interests.

I’ve recommended many other Google apps before, but recently the one at the center of it all, the search app simply called Google, has been getting a lot of attention because of its superior voice recognition to Siri. While that one feature is impressive, it doesn’t quite replace Siri, which wins because of the variety of things it can do. Still, it is certainly worthwhile having the free Google app on your iPhone as it gives you nice voice web search ability and lots of built-in mini apps like Gmail and Google Calendar clients. You also get Google Goggles, which lets you search by taking a picture of an object.

There is a setting in Finder, Preferences, that allows you to change what appear in new Finder windows. You can choose any drive, your home folder, Documents folder or Desktop. Or, you can select a specific folder of your choosing. You can also use the special All My Files view. Consider changing this if you often open new Finder windows and they are always in the wrong folder.

“I’m very disappointed. In the past you have scored 95% or better on your tests. But this time you scored only 94%. I’m going to have to call your parents.”
Stock market analysts would not make good grade school teachers.

There are a variety of ways to export a photo from iPhoto. Using the File, Export function you can decide which file format to use and set the quality and size. Learn how to use the various options and see a comparison between image quality settings.

Rulers and guides can be found in page layout and graphics apps. You can use them to precisely align objects on a page. Learning to use rulers and guides can make it easier and quicker to create professional designs. You can use them in apps like Pages, Keynote, Pixelmator, Photoshop and more.

You can set custom vibration patterns for your iPhone to use in addition to custom ringtones. You can use these vibrations to tell who is calling you, or what type of alert you have received. You can also set your phone to blink the LED flash so you can see an alert in addition to hearing and feeling it. You can turn off vibrations and silence your phone and still see the LED alert.

Days is a photo diary app. You take pictures of things as you go about your day and it creates a little collage of images that tells the story of your day. You can then share it with others, or just use it for yourself. It has an interesting feature where you can take several pictures in a short timeframe and it will make them into an animated GIF.

If you are watching videos using the QuickTime Player, you can increase the speed by clicking the double forward arrow button in the controls. Click once for 2X, again for 4x, again for 8x. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command+Right Arrow. Use Command+Option+Right Arrow to increase the speed by 0.1x. Use the double rewind arrow button or Command+Left Arrow to play the video in reverse.