Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Brush off those 1980s programming skills and write some BASIC code on your iPhone or iPad. The Basic! app lets you type out some code and run it just like you would on an early computer or terminal. Besides being nostalgic, this could actually come in handy if you need to write quick programs to perform calculations. They have even added some touch screen functions.

Did you know you can change the order in which columns appear when viewing your iTunes library in List, Album List or Cover Flow views? Just drag and drop the column headings left or right to move them around. So, for instance, you can have the artist name show in the leftmost column and the track name in the second column. You can also go o View, View Options to choose which columns are present.

So with this new app I press a button and dinner is automatically served in a bowl on the floor.
Wow, it is great that you can take care of your dog like that.
What dog? This is for my husband.

You can email a slideshow to a friend by exporting the slideshow from iPhoto as a video and then attaching that file to the message. But there are many good reasons not to use email, but instead share the video online and send a link instead.

Some newer Macs may not come with Adobe Flash installed. You can install this popular browser plug-in yourself by going to Adobe's site and downloading it. Flash allows you to view some video, game and other interactive content in your web browser.

You can share your Pages, Numbers and Keynote documents using Apple's iWork.com service. Others can view your documents right in their browser, and make comments and notes if they are using Safari. You can even upload Keynote presentations and present right from the Safari.

Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have been circulating for four years. This week the rumors became fact as Verizon and Apple jointly announced the coming of the iPhone to Verizon.
The launch of a slightly different iPhone 4, customized for Verizon’s CDMA network, will occur on February 10 in Apple and Verizon stores. Verizon customers can pre-order an iPhone on February 3.
The design of the iPhone 4 for Verizon is slightly different to accommodate the CDMA antenna and lack of a SIM card slot. The CDMA network differs from AT&T’s GSM network in that voice and data cannot be used at the same time. GSM also has faster data speeds and can be used in more countries for those that travel with their iPhone. But CDMA may offer better call reliability.

Yet another innovative puzzle game. In Burn the Rope you turn your iPhone to keep flames burning upward along the ropes. Bugs crawling along the rope and flame colors add depth to the puzzles.

You can search the new Mac App Store by document extension to find applications that will handle a certain document type. For instance, type “extension:doc” in the search field at the upper right corner of the Mac App Store and you will get a list of all applications that can handle .doc files.

The new GarageBand is so advanced it does it all by itself. My iMac has a record contract and starts a 30-city tour next week.

Verizon and Apple announced that the iPhone will be coming to the Verizon network in the U.S. on February 10. There will be a new version of the iPhone 4 to support Verizon's CDMA network.

In iWork Pages you can import images and manipulate them in various ways. You can resize, rotate and crop images. You can also place them inside of shapes and adjust colors.

In episode number 500 of MacMost Now, Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at the Mac App Store. After updating to Mac OS X 10.6.6 you can browse, purchase and download Macintosh software using the Mac App Store, which fundamentally changes the way Mac users get software.

The Mac App Store is now up and running with more than 1,000 Macintosh applications. To view the Mac App Store you need to use Software Update to get Mac OS X 10.6.6. This adds a Mac App Store icon to the dock. You can also access the store form the Apple Menu.
The store looks similar to the iOS App Store in the iTunes application. You can browse and search for applications. The main page shows featured apps. Other pages show top charts and categories. You use your iTunes account to make purchases.
The launch features many familiar third-party applications like Evernote, BBEdit, Pixelmator, Stuffit Expander, and Transmit. The three iWork applications are also present, as well as iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand from iLife 11. You can buy each individually, which is a first for those applications. Prices for apps vary from $0.99 for some, to more standard software prices of $10, $20 or more. Some apps are available for free.

If you are in to the whole check-in craze, then you might want to check out the free app Instagram. This app lets you take a quick picture and then check in using Foursquare, Facebook and other systems all at once. I like how you can use filters on the photos to help make them more interesting.

If you use multiple screens like I do, one frustrating aspect is your menu bar and document window can sometimes be very far apart. The little free app MenuPop solves this issues by letting you choose any item from he menu bar without having to go to the menu bar. Just press a shortcut key and all of the menu commands appear at your current cursor location.

You can get a quick dictionary definition of any word in just about any Mac OS X in application. Just position your cursor over the word and press Control+Command+D. This handy little window appears with a definition and some controls. Click elsewhere to make it go away.

So the new Mac App Store lets you find, buy and download software online? Isn’ that how we did it before?

If you are not a computer expert fixing problems can be difficult. Here are some basic things you can do to troubleshoot issues. But persistent problems can usually only be fixed with first-hand help.

A look at what Apple may have in store for us in 2011. The Mac App Store will launch in January, Lion in the Summer, and rumors of a new iPad and iPhone should make 2011 another interesting year.