Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

The Journals feature of iPhoto for iOS allows you to publish galleries of photos to your iCloud account. You can play with the journals to turn them into scrapbooks of photos, text, and other elements. The journals appear on the Web and you can share them with your friends.

In Tim Cook’s address last week he announced the new iPad and a new Apple TV. Plus, he ended the event by telling us there is more to come in 2012. Besides the obvious, like updates for each Mac line and a new iPhone model, what else do you think Apple has in store for us in 2012?

The new iPhoto app for the iPhone and iPad allows you to adjust and apply effects to photos. You can also share your photos in a variety of ways.

You can sync many iOS devices, like iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, to the same Mac. If you own more than one iOS device, you can specify exactly which items ares synced to which device. You do not have to use the same settings for the devices. They can all behave differently.

Apple announced a new iPad yesterday. Dubbed simply the “new iPad” or the “3rd Generation” iPad in the Apple Store, the device looks similar to the iPad 2 but contains a number of internal improvements. Among those are new quad-core A5X processor, a better rear camera and a high resolution retina display.
In addition to new hardware there are also new versions of many Apple apps. Both GarageBand and iMovie get new features, which Pages, Numbers and Keynote get minor updates mostly to take advantage of the retina display. A new iPhoto app for iPad adds more advanced editing and sharing options than the default Photos app.
The new iPad will be available in Apple Stores on March 16. There are three memory options: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. In addition to the basic wifi-only models you can get 4G LTE-capable models for either AT&T or Verizon. Prices range from $499 to $829. Apple will continue to sell 16GB versions of the iPad 2 starting at $399.
A new Apple TV will also go on sale on March 16. It will be capable of full 1080p HD. A new icon-based Apple TV interface was unveiled today and is available for the original Apple TV 2 via a software update.

Tools of Mankind
20,000 B.C.: Stick.
2012 A.D.: USB Stick.

When you use an app in full screen mode in Lion, you can’t bring up the Dock on the bottom of the screen in a normal way. Going to the bottom of the screen won’t bring it up. But once your cursor is at the bottom already, drag down again and it will appear.

The new iPhoto app is more than just another way to edit and adjust photos. It is your link to the new iCloud photo journals feature. This lets you post pages of pictures on the web to share with others.

Today Apple announced the new iPad. This 3rd generation device includes a high resolution retina display, a faster A5X quad-core processor, 5MP/1080p rear-facing camera, and voice dictation capability. As well as a wifi-only version, there will be 4G LTE-capable versions. It comes out on March 16, and the iPad 2 will remain on sale for a reduced price. There are also new versions of Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie and GarageBand, as well as a new iPhoto app. The new iPad will simply be called “The new iPad” not the iPad 3.
What do you think of the new iPad?

You can hide rows and columns in Numbers to effectively filter your data. Hiding can be done one row or column at a time, or by groups of rows and columns. You can also set criteria for rows or columns to be automatically filtered, allowing you to see only the data you need.

Learn how to create transparent images for use in Pages, iMovie and other applications. You can cut out part of an image using the app Pixelmator and that part of the image becomes transparent and shows the items behind it.

Learn how to force an app to quit on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. You may need to do this if an app freezes up, or you wish to see a portion of the app that only appears when you first run it.

Apple sent out a special announcement to the press this week inviting them to a presentation on March 7. The invite states: “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”
Rumor sites predict that this will be the announcement of the iPad 3 which will sport a new high resolution retina display and a faster processor. Some say there will also be a 4G data connection option. Other reports specify a slightly different case design.
It is hard to predict when the iPad 3 will be available. Sometimes Apple makes new products available immediately upon announcement. At other times a special launch occurs a week or two afterward.

Here’s another one for the strategy game fans. Modern War is a pretty decent war strategy simulation. I still think someone will eventually figure out how to make a really good strategy game for the iPad, but until then games like this are worth a try.

In Lion’s version of Preview there is a built-in magnifying glass. When looking at a document, select Tools, Show Magnifier. You get a rectangle for a PDF and a circle for an image. You can zoom in and out using gestures on a trackpad. Hit Esc to quickly turn it off.

You can use Lion's screen zoom feature to quickly get closer to items on your screen. You can use keyboard shortcuts to zoom in and out. You can also zoom in on content in Safari with a separate feature that maintains the look of the web page.

Mountain Lion, Mac OS X 10.8 coming later this year, will include a new feature called Gatekeeper. It divides all third-party software into three categories: from the Mac App Store, not from the Mac App Store but digitally signed by an official Apple developer ID, and anything else. By default the user will be able to only install software in the first two categories. But the setting can be adjusted to allow all three, or only the first one. The second category allows developers to create anything not allowed in the Mac App Store, like system tools, but still take responsibility for their work and allow Apple to take action if something malicious comes to light.
What do you think of this new feature of Mac OS X?

In previous versions of OS X you could find links to lists of recent items on the left side of the Finder window. You can add those back in Lion if you like them. You can create smart folders and place them in the sidebar to help you find files in ways that fit how you use your Mac.

Here's a look at some of the common email etiquette mistakes that people make, like typing in capital letters, including unnecessarily large attachments, quoting all of the previous message and forwarding unwanted emails. Many of the same mistakes are made in forums and message boards.

Attention peaked this week on working conditions at Chinese factories where Apple products are built. ABC’s Nightline took a look inside the Foxconn factory on Tuesday night’s episode. You can see the video here.
While talk about how Apple and other electronics companies manufacture their products has been going on for years, renewed interest started last month when the New York Times published an article looking in to the human costs of the process. Apple CEO Tim Cook will be commenting on this issue at today’s shareholder meeting.
In other news Apple is planning on building a new data center in Oregon. The new center, likely years away from completion, will use solar power like Apple’s North Carolina data center. It will also take advantage of the cool central Oregon climate to keep energy use down.