Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Say you have an image file on your desktop or in a Finder window and you want to add it to iPhoto. You can select it and press the spacebar to view the image in Quick Look. Then, at the bottom, there is an icon to add the image to iPhoto. One click and it is done. This can come in handy when using Quick Look to browse through a folder full of images. You can easily add one or two to iPhoto as you browse.

Here’s another innovative game that uses the touch screen in a way we’ve not seen before. In Cut the Rope you’ve got to slice ropes with your finger to release candy for a creature to eat. Then start adding multiple ropes, floating bubbles and spikes and you’ve got challenging puzzle levels that require both skill and dexterity.

Learn about the various export options in Keynote 09. You can export as an interactive QuickTime movie, a PowerPoint document, a series of images, an HTML page or a PDF file. Each of these options have various uses.

iMovie 09 has its own unique way of storing files. Understanding how and where iMovie stores events and projects will help you manage your videos. You can store clips and projects on your internal drive, or a secondary or external drive. You can also easily remove and archive projects and events.

Alarm Clock Pro is a good alternative to filling your calendar with alarms and events. You can easily set alarms for specific times or intervals. These alarms can trigger scripts, sounds, alerts and actions for a variety of purposes.

Since there has been little or no Apple news this week, it is a good time to catch up on current Apple rumors. Since 2007 there have been rumors of the iPhone coming to America’s largest mobile network, Verizon. This week the Wall Street Journal claimed that Apple will be producing a CDMA version of the iPhone for Verizon in 2011.
While new versions of every Mac line have come out in the last year, the MacBook Air remains largely as it has been since its debut. It is hard to see its value over the less expensive, more capable and only slightly larger 13-inch MacBook Pro. But rumors of a smaller, lighter Air are growing stronger with reports that the current Air is out of stock. Rumors state that the new one will have an 11.6-inch screen and a special low-power processor.
There have also been more unlikely rumors of tests of a touch screen for future iMacs. While this innovation seems inevitable with the touch interfaces on iOS devices, most think that a touch-screen Mac may still be years away.

The iPhone’s spotlight search screen can be a very useful tool, but the amount of results can be overwhelming. Specify what shows up by going to Settings, General, Spotlight Search. You can also change the order of results. Narrow it down to only Applications, for instance, and you have a great way to launch apps.

If you like tilt-based puzzle games, vParticle+ is for you. You guide particles through complex and challenging levels with a huge variety of rules and features. A nice departure from the over-simplified puzzle games that clog the App Store.

Learn how to create simple charts from spreadsheet data in iWork 09 Numbers. You can create pie charts and line graphs and then customize how they look with inspectors and by just dragging elements. You can also put the charts on a separate page for printing.

Gmail is often the choice of email power users. You can optimize your Gmail experience even more by learning some simple keyboard shortcuts that allow you to navigate, read and compose email without having to move your fingers from the keyboard.

Take a look at the new Apple TV. In addition to most of the features of the original, the new device includes Netflix streaming. The new iOS is masked behind an interface just like the original. But the possibility exists for future expansion with apps.

The new Apple TV began arrive on doorsteps this week as Apple shipped the product in September as promised. Reports from those who have examined the device show 8GB of internal flash memory and a very similar architecture to the iPad. The door definitely seems to be open for future Apple TV apps.
Apple also updated iTunes to version 10.0.1 with bug fixes and a new right-side sidebar listing recent activity on your Ping social network. It even lists relevant information based on which artist and song you have selected in your library, such as showing artist posts and profiles.

Hard to believe that we’ve not gotten around to recommending Angry Birds yet. You sling various irate birds at the homes of these pigs that have somehow pissed the birds off. This game combines strategy and whimsy to create one of the best iPhone games out there. But if you can, play the iPad version of Angry Birds which is even more enjoyable.

Ever scroll down a very long web page on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, then need to get back to the address and search bar quickly? Just tap the top of the screen — the status and time bar — and the page will zip back up to the top and bring back the address and search fields.

One option for screen captures and recording is Snapz Pro. It offers more options than the standard capture ability in Mac OS X, such as being able to follow the cursor around and record anything on the screen. It comes with a high price tag, however.

You can use Rules in Mail to create autoresponders that will instantly reply with an automatic message when you get email. You can tailor the autoresponders to reply to messages with certain subjects, from people or domains or to special email addresses.

If you have accidentally deleted an essential Mac application, like TextEdit, Preview, iCal, Address Book or the QuickTime Player, you can get it back without reinstalling your entire system. The packages for these files are on your Mac OS X installation disks. It is just a matter of knowing where to find them and how to get at some of the ones that are somewhat hidden.

Apple rolled out updates to iPad and Mac OS X software this week. This started with a Tuesday release of a minor security update for OS X available from Software Update. The next day brought an update for Mac OS X users who have ordered the new 27-inch LED display, which started shipping. In addition, Apple released drivers for the Magic Trackpad for Windows users, which also allows it to work fully in Boot Camp.
On Wednesday, Apple released versions 1.2 of the three iWork apps for iPad. Pages has new features such as word counts, opening text files from Mail attachments, and object grouping. Keynote now supports exporting to PowerPoint format, object grouping, and new animations. Numbers now allows you to export in Excel format, object grouping, and opening CSV files from Mail attachments.
All iWork app updates also include a variety of compatibility and reliability improvements and all of them now support opening and saving documents to a user’s MobileMe iDisk or WebDAV service. You can get the updates through the App Store app on your iPad or through iTunes on your Mac.
Adobe entered the Mac consumer video editing market this week with Adobe Premiere Elements 9 for Mac. This simplified version of its professional video editing application has never been available on the Mac before. Priced at $99 it should compete directly with Final Cut Express.

You know that volume control in your menu bar at the upper right? Try Option+clicking on it. This gives you access to sound controls including switching between input devices and output devices. On newer MacBooks you can also choose how to use your single audio port. If you don’t have the volume control in your menu bar, you can add it by going to System Preferences, Sound and checking off “Show volume in menu bar.”

Looking for a good match-three alternative the one with the jewels? Arrrgh! Gather pirate treasure instead with Pieces of Eight! This full-featured puzzle game has all the same bells and whistles, plus bonus games.