MacMost: Archives

Apple announced that it will hold its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6 to June 10 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This annual event usually sells out in hours and this was no different.
Apple typically makes some new announcements at the conference or just before, allowing developers to learn about new tools or operating systems at the conference. With the 2011 release of the Mac OS X Lion operating system, it seems likely that Lion will be one focus. A new version of the iOS operating system for the iPhone and iPad is also thought to be likely.

“They gave you high fives and cheered? Did you hit a home run?”
“That wasn’t a game, that was when I waiting in line at the Apple Store for an iPad.”

There are three simple steps you can take to protect your iPad against being lost or stolen. Use the passcode feature to stop someone else from accessing your data. Set up Find My iPad with your MobileMe or free Apple ID. Put a message on your lock screen to help someone return your lost iPad to you.

A common problem for new Mac users is to find an application missing from the Dock. Or, to find that it only appears when the application is running. Items can also go missing from the Finder sidebar or the desktop. This video explains why these can disappear and how to get them back.

Learn how to do basic page layout in iWork Pages. By starting with a page layout template instead of a word processing template you can easily add text blocks, titles and images. You can flow text from one box to another.

Apple began defending its trademark over the term “App Store” this week by suing Amazon and others over use of the term. Apple filed for the trademark in 2008. Apple also sent a cease-and-desist letter to a company that was promoting a porn “app store.”
The U.S. wireless landscape is about to undergo a dramatic change as AT&T intends to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. AT&T would then become the largest wireless network in the U.S., over Verizon. It would also leave Sprint as the only major carrier not offering the iPhone.

“I’ve got two iPhones. One for the office where I get AT&T but not Verizon. And the other for home where I get Verizon but not AT&T.”

Take a look at iMovie for the iPad 2. This simplified version of the desktop software allows you to put together clips you take with your iPad's cameras into short movies. You can choose a theme that determines the look of the transitions and titles. You can insert audio and photos.

Some Universal Access features in Snow Leopard can be used by everyone. You can enlarge the cursor, get feedback when you type, zoom in to see pixels and more.

Take a look at the iPad 2's cameras. While they are fine for video chatting and posting online, they are not good enough quality for even casual photography. See a side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 4's camera.

While lines at U.S. Apple Stores last Friday started out small in the morning, they grew by leaps and bounds as the 5 p.m. launch drew nearer. At the end of the day many stores did not have enough inventory to meet demand. Online sales were similar, with longer and longer shipping times as the day wore on.
Some analysts say that Apple may have sold as many as 1 million iPad 2s over the weekend. It was hard if not impossible to find one for sale anywhere by Saturday afternoon.

“I’d like to use FaceTime, but now that it is HD I can’t afford all the makeup and lighting.”

One of the tiniest additions to the iPad 2 may point to the future of Apple and all of telecommunications. And it gives us a clue to the secret of Apple’s success.
If you go to the Settings on the iPad 2, and then General, and then Sounds, you’ll see something different than what you get on the iPad 1. In addition to switches for mail, calendar, lock screen and keyboard sounds, you get to choose a Ringtone.

Take a look at the new GarageBand app for iPad. It provides a similar, but simpler interface for editing music as compared to GarageBand for Mac. But it also has screens that allow you to play keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. You can play each note, or use smart instruments to quickly compose with chords, rhythms and beats.

Take a look at the new iPad 2. It has two cameras and three new apps to support them. You can also get a new smart cover and an HDMI cable.

With the iPad 2 launch set for tomorrow at 5 p.m., Apple put several supporting pieces into place this week. iTunes was updated to 10.2.1 and the iOS 4.3 update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch was released on Wednesday.
The iOS 4.3 update added AirPlay streaming support for third-party apps and speeds up the Safari browser. The iPhone 4 also gets the personal hotspot feature for AT&T users.
In addition, Apple released updates to Safari for Mac and Apple TV 2 this week. Apple TV 2 shows that it is certainly capable of gaining additional “apps” when the update added MLB.TV and NBA League Pass. Though these offerings are of limited use due to blackouts of local games.

“I’m not sure now is the best time to buy an iPad. I heard a rumor that a new one is coming soon.”

Google's Chrome browser is an interesting alternative to the pre-installed Safari browser. The address field and tabs behave differently and you can extend the browser using Google's web store. Take a look at Chrome and then check it out for yourself.

Your browser temporarily stores images and data in a cache on your hard drive to speed up reloading web pages. But sometimes you may wish to clear your cache to load fresh content. Learn about the cache and how to clear it on the Mac in Safari, Firefox, Chrome and on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Learn how to create documents that can only be opened with a password. Documents in Pages and Microsoft Word can have passwords that restrict opening and use. Preview can be used to make copies of PDF files that require a password to open.