Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Learn how to make playlists of your favorite songs and share them with friends. You can burn various types of CDs. You can also share your playlist online with friends using Ping, or gift a whole custom-made album of music to a friend.

Learn about the different hard drive formats like Mac OS, NTFS and FAT32. Find out how you can use NTFS drives with a Mac, and Mac OS drives using Windows. See how FAT32 formatted drives can be used to store files accessible to both systems.

When you’ve got a lot going on and you need to get to a file on your Desktop, there is a quick way to do it. Press F11 (fn+F11 depending on your keyboard settings) and all of the windows for all of your apps will clear off to the side, giving you access to your Desktop files. You can then start a drag and drop movement, press F11 again in the middle of the drag, and your windows will all come screaming back, ready to receive the file.

Like Microsoft, Apple and Google, Yahoo! now has its own browser — and it is an iOS browser as well as on Macs and PCs. The Yahoo! Axis browser has some interesting features such as visual search results and syncing your position across devices. It is free and worth checking out as an alternative to the built-in Safari browser.

“My ancestors were charlatan fortune tellers for medieval kings.”
“What is it that you do?”
“Basically the same thing. I’m a Wall Street analyst.”

With RSS reading functionality being removed from Safari and Mail in Mountain Lion, it is a good time to come up with an alternative. Google offers a free, easy-to-use and powerful RSS reader web site. It also works with several different apps so you can read your news on different devices and keep your data in sync.

If your carrier supports it, you can set up a personal hotspot with your iPhone so other devices like a MacBook or iPad can access the Internet. You can also connect with a dock cable or via Bluetooth.

One of the export options in iPhoto will let you export a set of photos as a web gallery, but not tied to any specific Internet service. You get a set a files that can be uploaded to your independent web host to your own site.

Some MacMost followers may be interested to know that CleverMedia (MacMost parent) is producing a short film. The screenplay is by MacMost’s Gary Rosenzweig, who is also the on-site producer. Directing is Jay Shaffer, who has also worked with MacMost.
From a technology standpoint, the movie will be edited on Macs, of course. In addition, numerous iPhones and iPads will be used throughout production.
You can follow the production using the film’s Facebook page. Behind-the-scenes photos and video will be uploaded during filming, which starts tomorrow.

Many rumors of new iPhones and Mac this week centered around improved screens. Some reports say that new MacBooks and iMacs this year will feature retina displays — higher density displays that are used on the iPhone and iPad. The change could be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June along with developer tools to allow Mac app makers to build resolution-independent interfaces.
Rumors also persist that a new iPhone may feature a slightly larger screen. This could mean simply that the number of pixels on the already-dense screens remains the same, but the physical size of the screen changes. Or, it could mean a taller screen that will continue to run existing apps without using the extra space, or leaving the extra space for notifications and other information. A new iPhone could be released in the fall, one year after the current model.

Here’s a twisted strategy game that provides a unique challenge. In Pandemic, you control a virus or disease out to destroy the entire population of the world. Adjust its properties as the threat spreads and race against the hospitals and researchers of the world as they try to stop you.

“I tried writing a book but couldn’t finish it. I tried blogging but couldn’t think of what to write. I tried tweeting and 140 characters was still too much.”
“What about Pinterest? All you need to do is click on photos you like.”
“Hmmm. Still seems like a lot of work.”

Did you know you can put Finder icon labels to the right of the icon instead of under it? Just select any Finder window that is using icon view — this includes the Desktop. Then choose View, Show View Options. Change the Label Position from Bottom to Right.

If you need to create printable forms that have blank spaces, you should use tab stops instead of underscore characters. Using tab stops allows you to line up blank spaces perfectly, making your forms look more professional.

Recently the environmental organization Greenpeace has been staging events to pressure Apple into using more renewable energy to power their data centers. They have blocked a shipment of coal to power plants, and have projected messages on to Apple’s headquarters building.
On the one hand, encouraging Apple as opposed to another company may bring more awareness to the need for renewable energy. On the other hand, Apple does a lot in this area already, including powering 50% of its North Carolina data center with renewable energy and stating that they hope to power 100% of its future Oregon center with it.
Should Greenpeace target Apple?

Google Drive is a new cloud storage system that is tied into Google Docs and your Gmail account. It is similar to DropBox and also offers a reasonable amount of storage space for free. You can use it to sync documents between your Macs or simply keep backup copies. You can also share Google Drive files with others.

By setting a soundtrack to your Keynote presentation and then recording the presentation you can create a slideshow timed to music. You can use Keynote's special transitions and effects to make the slideshow interesting and unique. You can then export the presentation as a video.

Apple released Mac OS X 10.7.4 this week with bug and security fixes. No major new features were introduced. You can get it by running Software Update.
In addition, a new version of Safari, 5.1.7 is available. This version forces users to get the latest version of the Flash plug-in. It is important from a security standpoint to keep Flash up-to-date as well as your browser and OS, and it is interesting that Apple is now making that a requirement.
Three new regional U.S. carriers announced they will be selling the iPhone. Kentucky’s Bluegrass Cellular, Kansas’ Nex-Tech Wireless and California’s Golden State Cellular will all start carrying the iPhone on May 18.
Adobe released the next version of its software suite, CS6. This includes new versions of Photoshop, Premiere, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Flash Pro. The applications can be bought in the traditional manner, but starting tomorrow can also be acquired through Adobe’s new online subscription service, Creative Cloud, for a monthly subscription fee.

“Sure, they give you iPads while you wait, but they just have old outdated health magazine apps on them.”

While it is disappointing that the Pinterest app isn’t sized for the iPad screen yet, it still is worth having if you are a big Pinterest user. You can browse your friends’ pinboards while waiting in line at the bank and even update your own.