Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Take a look at the different parts of the Finder window like the Toolbar, Status Bar, Sidebar, and Path Bar. You can show and hide these elements, as well as customize them and what appears in each one.

If it is possible for an app to already be a classic, then High Noon would be it. The idea is based on a lot of the gunslinger games that predate it on computers and consoles. But with your iPhone you have to holster and then draw — you actually have to hold the device by your side and draw to start a duel. Then you need to move your iPhone around to target your opponent. This makes it much more challenging than point-and-click game.

Apple released updates to Mac OS X Lion and Final Cut Pro this week. The OS X update, version 10.7.3 includes support for some new languages, as well as bug fixes and security fixes. The security updates are also available for Snow Leopard users. These updates can be downloaded by simply running Software Update.
Final Cut Pro version 10.0.3 adds multicam project support, allowing videos to automatically sync using timecodes or audio. Also included are new chroma keying features, a media relinking interface, better support for XML 1.1 and broadcast monitoring over Thunderbolt devices. The update can be downloaded using the Mac App Store.
In other news, apple has hired a new senior vice president for retail: John Browett, former CEO of Dixons, a european electronics retailer. He replaces Ron Johnson who oversaw the creation and evolution of the Apple Stores before leaving to become CEO of JC Penney last year.

“I’m always online. I constantly update my blog, a YouTube page and my Twitter stream.”
“Want to come by and see me tomorrow?”
“Sure! What’s your URL?”

Did you know your Mac has a second clipboard buffer for text? In addition to Command+C/X to copy/cut and Command+V to paste, you can use Control+K to cut and Control+Y to paste (Note: Control, not Command). And this is a separate storage space from Command+C/X. So you can store one piece of text in the Command+C/X buffer and another with Control+K.

If you don't have Numbers, you can use Pages to create simple spreadsheets. Just use the tables inside Pages to create small spreadsheets that can use formulas to perform calculations. You can even sort and use basic and conditional formatting.

With iDVD no longer available for new Mac users, it is important to find an alternative if you still wish to make DVDs. Roxio Toast 11 is a program that has been around for a long time and used by many Mac users to create DVDs. It has a simple but powerful interface for burning video DVDs. You can customize it and add slideshows and data too. https://macmost.com/j-toast

The new iTunes U app for iPad lets you subscribe to entire college courses. The courses can include video, audio, reading materials, apps, web links and other items. You can follow along with the course and take notes.

A fun puzzle game is Where’s My Water? by Disney. Each level has you slashing at the ground to let water drain into a pipe to feed an alligator’s shower. While that metaphor is quite a stretch, the result is some good puzzle gameplay and nice graphics.

Want to email someone a quick screen capture? You don’t need to capture the screen, save to a file, and then attach it to an email. You can do it all from right inside Lion Mail. Just write your email, and then choose Mail, Services, Capture Selection From Screen. Then you can grab whatever it is you want to show them and it automatically becomes an attachment in the message. You can also do this from inside other applications like TextEdit or Pages.

It seems that almost every quarter Apple breaks new records. With $46 billion in revenue and $13 billion in net profit the 20122 holiday quarter was more than twice as profitable as 2010.
More than half of Apple’s revenue comes from the iPhone which sold 37 million units. iPad sales totaled more than 15 million. Also more than 5 million Macs were sold, a new record for a quarter. The Mac sales broke down into 3.7 million MacBooks and 1.5 million desktops.

“Yes, I know that iPhone is way too big. So was the wish-list of new features you wanted added to it.”

The new version of iBooks for iPad allows you to read advanced textbooks. These can include interactive images, 3D objects and even review quizzes. You can add your own notes and then review them as Flash cards.

Take a quick look at iBooks Author, the new tool from Apple that lets you create textbooks for the iPad. You can design and layout pages like in iWork Pages. You can also add special elements like photo galleries, quizzes, 3D objects and interactive images.

Two transitions in Keynote allow you to animate between similar slides. The Magic Move transition will animate the positions between objects from one slide to the next. This give you infinite variation and also allows you to create simple motion graphics for use in videos. The Anagram transition allows you to create an interesting build between two pieces of text.

This morning Apple announced a new iBooks app, and a content creation tool to match. The announcement came at a special presentation in New York featuring top Apple brass.
iBooks 2 for the iPad is available right now in the iOS app store and improves on the original by adding support for more graphics and animation, and even interactive widgets. Note-taking has also been improved. To get iBooks 2, simply go to the App Store on your iPad and update your apps. The new version of iBooks should replace the old one.

“I charge twenty bucks. Forty if you are a Wall Street analyst asking about Apple rumors.”

Ever want to drop a meteor or fire a missile at someone? Well, now you can do it, at least on video, with the Action Movie FX app. You shoot a few seconds of video and then it applies a dramatic special effect to it. Works surprisingly well and is at least worth checking out even if you don’t upgrade from the free effects that are included.

You can turn your Mac into a cool visual jukebox using the Lion screen saver. Just go to System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver and select the iTunes Artwork screen saver. Then hit the Test button if you can’t wait to try it. The screen shows all of your album artwork, and unlike other screen savers you can use the cursor without disturbing it. Then click on an album to start playing a track from it. Fun at parties!

Sometimes you need to place a watermark, like the word DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL, behind text in a document. You can do this using text boxes that are made into background items and then set them to appear across all pages in the document.