MacMaster's Blog

Schedule your Tweets for future

2011-10-23T14:19:00.001-04:00

There would be many applications out there in the market but one of those which is definitely super-cool to use, is Hootsuite. Once you sign in to this application, you will find an option as Pending Tweets, this is where you can draft a tweet and schedule it for future.

All you need to do is tap on ''Pending Tweets". Go to the next window and write a tweet.

Once you are done with tweet drafting, tap on Menu.

You will be shown the above screen where you have to tap on Schedule.

Set a date and time for your schedule to be posted and tap on 'Set Date' at top right and you are done.

Hootsuite apart from giving you additional features, it also has inbuilt browser which opens the url when clicked on. Further you have option to open the url in browser or send to Instapaper or send it via Email / message.

It's really beautiful and worth trying.

Setting up iDevices after upgrading to iOS5

2011-10-16T04:44:00.001-04:00

The steps are simple…

…and you are done!

What’s new in iTunes 10.5

2011-10-16T04:10:00.001-04:00

It’s Christmas in October. Lots of people are getting new iPhones, but the rest of us have plenty to celebrate, too, as Apple rolls out iOS 5, iCloud, Mac OS X 10.7.2 and, of course, iTunes 10.5 — the glue that sticks it all together.

Fire up Software Update because the mothership has a freebie for you. iTunes 10.5 (download) brings a lot of good things — features we’ve all been wanting for years — to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac:

The New iPod touch from MacMall.com• iTunes in the Cloud: iTunes now stores music and TV purchases in iCloud, making them available anywhere, any time, at no additional cost

• Automatic Downloads: Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices

• Download Previous Purchases: Download your past music, TV, app and book purchases again, at no additional cost

• Sync with your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 5

• Wi-Fi Syncing: Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network

Unlisted in the bullet points is a user interface tweak to the Podcast sidebar that more accurately displays the current update status — waiting, downloading, in process — of individual podcasts after you click Refresh.

iTunes’ sidebar icons are sadly still rendered duly in grayscale.

Whereas iCloud will surely be an improvement over MobileMe if for no other reason than it’s “free,” the feature I’ve been wanting for many, many moons is wifi syncing. Yes, there are third-party solutions that address parts of the issue, we’re finally getting the whole enchilada (with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, chips and a little sprig of that green stuff) — yeah!

- Guest Writer: John T

Calendar sync issue on iPad and iDevices

2011-10-10T04:44:00.001-04:00

If you ever notice that your iPad or iPhone calendar doesn't seem to be synchronizing correctly, or is just very slow, here's how you can fix it.

First, this is caused by the technology used to connect you to our Exchange services, called Activesync. It also happens on other devices (Android, Windows Phone, etc). To fix the problem, you are simply going to turn Calendaring synchronizing off, then back on again.

From your iPhone/iPad:

Open the Settings app and tap on Mail, Calendar and Contacts
Tap on you Exchange account
Then tap on the On/Off toggle button for the Calendar

When the pop-up message appears, tap on Delete (removes the old calendar data on your device)

Then tap on the On/Off toggle button again to turn Calendar synchronization back on and receive a fresh copy from Exchange
Then tap the Done button. You can now go back to work!

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - iReview

2011-10-10T04:08:00.001-04:00

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an amazing game that gives you lots of stages to play. Smooth motion and high graphics is so tempting that you can't resist without playing. It costs $ 1.99 and its worth it.

Total of 14 stages and each of it has different graphics and weapons to fight. It is recommended to play at high difficulty level. Chopper ride gives you a nice experience of fighting while you sit in a chopper. The second last stage 'Desert Chase' will be little hard to play, but I know at the end, like other games, you will surely make it.

Only drawback about this game was that it was quite small and easy. It is recommended to play at medium or hard difficulty level.

Battlefield

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Congratulations iPhone–You are 4 now!

2011-07-02T10:57:00.001-04:00

It has now been 4 years when Apple Inc. had launched its most innovative and the most popular product in the year '07. The iPhone not only transformed the mobile industry, but has also given a few face to Apple. Before the launch of iPhone Apple and the details of Apple business was not so popular among masses specially in non European and Asian countries.

If you have a look at Apple and its business in last four years, you can see that the market cap has increased three times. No one would have ever thought this can happen in next four years.

In 2007, Apple was nearly 10 years into a fantastic business turnaround. Propelled by the early success of the iMac and pushed further into the black with the iBook, iPod, iTunes and the transition to Intel processors, the iPhone took Apple into an entirely different direction.

Four years after the first iPhone was released, a lot has changed in the mobile space. Smartphone adoption has finally gone mainstream. The fortunes of Nokia, RIM and Palm (now HP) have significantly changed. The big leader in the mobile OS space is Android, Google’s open source OS that debuted a year and a half after the original iPhone. - Christina Warren (Mashable).

10 Great features of Mac OS X Lion - I

2011-06-11T02:58:00.001-04:00

Mac OS X Lion has 250 new features which were discussed in WWDC’11 this week. Let’s have a look at few of them which are really appealing

1. Auto Save:

Ever thought how wonderful your life would be if you don’t have to bother about saving your document at regular intervals. Apple’s new OS X Lion has various new features among which ‘Auto Save’ is quite amazing. While you keep working, Lion will take care of saving your documents. In case you want to lock the changes, just zoom in on the title bar of your document you can see the name of the document is a menu now and you actually can tap / click on it. Under this option you will find four menu – Lock, Duplicate, Revert to last Opened and Browse All Versions.

Lock: While working, you reached to the final level of your project and you like it in that form and don’t want to change in any more – no problem – just click on Lock and it till lock your changes. Now, unless you do it manually, your data is locked.

Duplicate: Ok, assume the scenario when you like this copy and don’t want to make any change as this is almost perfect still you want to try few more things to make it better. Again, you don’t need to take risk, just click on Duplicate and your last copy is saved and now you are on a duplicate one – play as much as you want.

Revert to Last Opened: If you feel the document was better the way it was when you last opened and worked on it, and you want the changes you made today to be vanish off – try Revert to Last Opened, it will meet your requirements.

Browse All: I prefer calling it ‘Time Machine's Kid’. If by mistake Auto Save has saved your docs and you don’t want this one and need to revert – don’t panic – go to Browse all, it will show you lovely new interface, just like you get in Time Machine. The only difference is that Time Machine shows you version of whole system but this feature is only about this file.

Watch some of the features here – MacMasters

How to add signature on iPad & iDevices

2011-05-22T19:48:00.001-04:00

An appropriate signature is the requirement of every mail that you sent out regardless of personal or official. Here are four simple steps of altering signature on your iDevice:

I am using my iPod to take the screenshot and upload it on this blog, however steps will remain same on all the iDevices.

1. Click on Settings

2. Scroll to find Mail, Contacts, Calendars and tap on it

3. On the next screen you might need to scroll down till…

4. Scroll down till you find the option of Signature and tap on it

5. Here you are on the edit signature view. Edit according to your choice and click on Mail icon at the top left

and you are done.

Taking Remote Sessions using iTouch

2011-04-30T19:30:00.001-04:00

This is one of the most beautiful experience I had in recent times. I used my iTouch to control my home machine while I was in office. I tried controlling PC and Mac, both gave me wonderful experience. I would like to add, it’s not just for iTouch but you can also use it on iPhone and iPad.

The software I used was RDM+ lite, you can go for RDM+ full version spending less than $10. Lets have a look at the features:

This was the screen capture I took when my nephew was watching The Bourne Ultimatum at home thinking no one was watching him. Have a look at the icons above – it’s the shortcut. You can go to other media items, logoff from here, get info, and if you click on the icon at extreme right, it will show you the keyboard shortcut and special commands.

Mouse movement is amazing in this application, its smoother than you can even expect. If you don’t want this shortcut panel you can just drag it upwards and its gone. See the next image in which I have hidden the shortcut bar. You can also see ad at the bottom which is there because I am using a free version of this application. If you purchase the full version, your iTouch screen will be yours and no one will force any ad on it. In fact the advert at the bottom is spoiling the symmetry of the screen, just because of it, you cannot see the title bar of the application running on your computer.
Mouse control is smooth and easy. You can see the cursor on the screen, it is used for click and right click and even double click. If you want additional options that you do on computers, then just hold the mouse and you will get contextual menu to perform required actions. Its simple, its easy and its fast – faster than you can expect.

Steps to connect:

Download the application from app store for your iTouch, iPad or iPhone
Go to the RDM+ homepage and download the plugin for your Windows, Mac or Linux
Once done, you will need to fill up following information on your iDevice:
Computer Name – this will be generated by the application you install on your machine
Account information – you need to sign up on the homepage of the website.

Under settings, you will find these options:

Mouse Control Mode, Image Quality and Hotkey Configuration which will help you to control your device according to your preferences. This application is really one of the best apps I have seen. I would really suggest you to give it a try – at least the free one!

Disc and Disk – The Difference

2011-03-16T20:23:00.001-04:00

The word disc always refers to an Optical Media, which is external and commonly known as CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVD-Video disc. When unmounted, they come out of your machine physically.

The term Disk is used for magnetic media such as hard drive (internal or external). A disk is always rewritable in nature and can be reused multiple times. Another characteristic that keeps it separate from discs is its nature to be further divided into multiple partition.

Not of very great use, but I am sure this post will add a little to the knowledge bank that most of us have.

How to uninstall Applications in Mac OS X

2011-03-12T03:22:00.001-05:00

The problem with Mac OS X is that like a PC it does not have add remove programs menu which can be used to get rid of the application or software you want to. There are different steps which can be used to uninstall the application. Few of them are mentioned below:

Method 1
Steps to uninstall applications in Mac OS X:
1. Click on Macintosh HD
2. Click Applications icon , it displays all the applications installed on your system
3. Select the application to be removed , hold ‘CTRL” key , it will bring the options and actions
4. Select the operation ” Move to trash”

Method 2
Just dragging the application you wish to remove, to the trash bin in the dock will delete it.

Method 3
You can also uninstall the applications and related preferences with the shortcuts using the third party applications like AppTrap.

Method 4
If you ran an installer to install an application, you may wish to try running the installation program again to see if an uninstall option is available at any point during installation (many times in a drop-down menu). Check the installation CD or disk image for the original installer file. Some vendors have included simple Perl scripts that will run in the command line to uninstall applications, and may be named "uninstaller.pl". Running this will also remove the application completely from your machine.

iPad 2 – Few lines about it

2011-03-12T03:08:00.001-05:00

iPad2, the most awaited device of the year was launched on Mar 6, 2011 and the with stunning new features. A lot more to do, a lot to enjoy and a lot more to learn – iPad 2 is really faster than the older version.

Tablet integrates a series of radio communications such as Wi-Fi module A1395, A1396 GSM and CDMA A1397. Apple iPad 2 is thinner by 33% over the first version and use that HDMI port given to it so users can easily connect to Internet. Given the sensitive screen from scratches, Apple has decided to offer a protective case with magnetic fastening, very elegant. 1024 x 768 screen capacitive type IPS 9.7 inches diagonally (1024 x 768 pixels) and LED lighting.

Apple does not say much about the specifications of its products but still find that its performance is behind the A5 dual core processor. The two cameras on both sides aplasia can provide quality images and the possibility of appeals. Apple does not say much about the specifications of its products but still find that its performance is behind the A5 dual core processor. Autonomy amounts to 10 hours, the tablet is very attractive in this regard. Apple iPad 2 will hit the market on 11 March at a cost of $ 499. Looking slightly to the performance offered by the price at which Apple decided to sell the new device is not. If users are turning to alternative top with 64GB storage and communication module 3G price reach 829 dollars. Besides Apple wants to offer its potential customers in the future, and cheaper equipment.

In addition, any such prices are not high. In the United States. For example the price of an iPad Apple Store starts at 500 USD (~ £ 1500). For example a 64GB iPad cost 699 USD in Apple Store. Equal to the invention of television in home entertainment, the iPad has revolutionized the way you browse the Internet and in books that we enjoy, movies, music and games. 300,000 applications, from gaming to education and office applications are available for installation. And starting this year, more and more publications will also have versions for the iPad.

According to rumors lately appeared in the IT environment, the new graphics processor is being developed by British developer Imagination Technologies, a developer who was not the first collaboration with a U.S. maker Apple. The processor will be available in two versions, single core and dual core version that promises to provide significantly improved 3D performance. Also, the same rumors talk about implementing a new graphics processor with dual core processor based on ARM architecture, clocked at 1 GHz or 1.2 GHz.

One thing I am sure about – A5 processors are surely going to rock.

Connecting your iMac to projector

2011-03-12T02:38:00.001-05:00

The idea to write this post came to my mind this weekend when I was planning my Mac training and had to connect the iMac 24” to a projector so that it is visible to my 14 people class.

If you want to connect your iMac to an external projector or display you can do that, but you need to have a VGA Digital Adapter. You can find this adapter on Apple Store at a price of $29.00. This adaptor gives you the possibility to connect your iMac through its Mini Display Port with a projector, an LCD which has VGA cable or connector or an analog monitor. Before you buy this product you have to be sure that your external LCD monitor, display or projector supports at least one of your iMac’s resolution and if it doesn’t you will not be able to see at the external monitor.

Now you know a couple of ways to connect your iMac to your TV. Don’t forget about the image adjustment in order to have a better view you can adjust the image from your monitors control panel. And once you have connected you will be able to see your favorite movies, TV shows, pictures or images slideshows on a big screen. You can even play your favorite games or you can invite for friends over for a movie night and a lot of popcorn.
Apple iMac with this great feature gives anyone the possibility to see what they want on a bigger screen and that is great.

Introduction to iPlay in iPad II

2011-03-06T13:51:00.001-05:00

Blast some tunes, have a movie night, show off your HD movies and photos, or crack up watching that piano-playing cat on the web. Now the music, photos, and video on your iPad can stream wirelessly to your HDTV and speakers via the new Apple TV.*

You have great HD videos on your iPad and some friends on your couch. Or you’re in the middle of an epic action scene that could use a little more screen. Just tap the AirPlay icon on your iPad and see it on your HDTV. Make sure your iPad and Apple TV are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and the AirPlay icon appears automatically.

Give your photos
the big-screen treatment.

When it comes to sharing photos and video, AirPlay lets you go big. Widescreen TV big. Just open the Photos app and tap the AirPlay icon to relive your adventures on the widescreen. Watch a replay of your niece’s first steps. Flick through photos or watch video and prove to everyone in the room that you really did go backstage at the concert.

DJ wirelessly with AirPort Express.

Conduct a symphony, chill with an indie band, or put on a rock concert — anywhere in the house. AirPlay lets you stream music wirelessly right from your iPad. Just connect any speaker you own to an AirPort Express. Or stream directly to AirPlay-enabled speakers from manufacturers like Denon, Marantz, B&W, JBL, and iHome. Your iPad automatically detects your speakers, so all you have to do is tap the one you want to hear. Since it all happens wirelessly, you have the freedom to cue the tunes from wherever you happen to be sitting, standing, or dancing.

Tips and Tricks on iPad

2011-03-06T13:39:00.001-05:00

Lock down

Are you afraid that the contents of your iPad might fall into the wrong hands if it’s stolen or lost? You’re not alone.

As a simple security measure, you can set a passcode that must be entered in order to unlock the machine.

Go to the Settings page, open the Passcode Lock section, and tap Turn Passcode On at the top of the page. Type in the four-digit code you want to use, type it in again, and you’re set. The downside is that you’ll need to enter the passcode every time you wake up your iPad—but at least your data will be more secure.

To be doubly safe, you can turn on the Erase Data switch (located on the same page) so that the system will erase its entire contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts to enter the passcode. Just make sure you have a good backup on your host computer to rebuild your iPad if its contents do get erased.

Multiple mailboxes

The iPad can accommodate multiple Web-based and server-based e-mail accounts.

Let’s say you want to keep your business e-mail account and add a Gmail account. Open the Settings page, tap on Mail, Contacts and Calendars and then tap Add Account. There’ll be a list of six choices, from Microsoft Exchange to AOL. After typing in the account particulars, tap Save and it should now be in the e-mail accounts section below the first one you set up. If you have another account to add, do the same to get the iPad to start working with it.

Shortcuts

The iPad’s on-screen keyboard is adequate for most short typing needs, like e-mail or Web addresses, but it can’t compare to a good old mechanical keyboard for lengthier pieces. Still, it has a few shortcuts that can make on-screen typing a little easier, including these:

Hit the space bar twice at the end of a sentence to add a period and a space before starting on the next sentence.

Hold down a letter key to get any special characters that are available for that letter. You could use this feature to, for example, add an accent mark to a letter.

Need the euro (€) symbol? Press the dollar-sign key for a few seconds, and the iPad will give you a choice of five international currency symbols.

You can hold down the iPad’s .com button to get .edu, .net or .org instead.

The app remover

With so many apps available at the iTunes App Store, it’s easy to overwhelm yourself and your iPad with software. You can get rid of an app that you aren’t using by holding a finger on the app’s icon. It’ll wiggle and a small X will appear in the icon’s corner. Tap on the X and click Delete to get rid of it. Be sure to delete the app from iTunes on the host system as well, or it will be reinstalled the next time you synchronize your iPad.

New signature

Out of the box, the iPad’s default e-mail signature is “Sent from my iPad.” That obnoxious declaration will appear at the bottom of every message that you send from the device. Once you’ve gotten over your new-iPad-owner’s enthusiasm, I suggest that you might want to think about changing that.

Go to the Settings page and click on Mail, Contacts and Calendars and then go to Signature at the bottom of the page. You can type in whatever you want to use as your signature, or you can leave it blank if you want to remain anonymous.

Quiet!

If you get as annoyed as I do with a computer that beeps when new e-mail arrives or clicks when you use the keyboard, you deserve silence to preserve your sanity.

Go to the Settings page, click on General and then Sounds. There you can turn off the sounds that play when you send or receive e-mail, get a calendar alert or lock your iPad. You can even turn off the especially annoying keyboard clicks. If you don’t want to turn off the sounds completely, you can at least turn down the volume.

Fixing Wi-Fi & other problems in iPad

2011-03-06T13:34:00.001-05:00

Wi-Fi connection problems

A Wi-Fi network is the only free way to connect an iPad with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, there are many potential connection snags. The iPad’s Wi-Fi range is more limited than that of most notebooks—the iPad has a maximum range of about 65 feet, while most notebooks manage over 100 feet—so if you’re having problems, getting closer to the router will help.

If your connection gets dropped repeatedly, try renewing the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) lease. Go to the Network section of the Settings page, click on Wi-Fi, and then tap the little blue arrow on the right side of the row for the network you want to use; click on the Renew Lease button to refresh the connection with the router.

If that doesn’t help, use static IP addressing instead of DHCP. Create an IP address that isn’t being used by the router—it will have the prefix 192.168.1.xxx. (I generally pick a number at the top of the router’s range to avoid conflicts with DHCP IP addresses.) In the Settings page, click on Static and enter the address in the IP Address field.

Power problems

Most iPads get between seven and eight hours of on-and-off use per charge. Not getting close to that? Here are a few things you can do to keep it going and going and going:

Dim the screen. Go to the Brightness & Wallpaper section of the Settings page to turn off auto-brightness and then set screen brightness to between half and three quarters.

Deactivate Bluetooth. If you’re not using a wireless keyboard or speakers, turn off Bluetooth by going to the General section of the Settings page, clicking on Bluetooth, and tapping the switch to Off.

Turn off the modem. If you’re not using the 3G modem, you can turn it off by tapping the Cellular row on the Settings page and then tapping the switch to Off.

Back to Square One

Every so often, for no particular reason, an iPad will lock up and stop responding to touch. Most of the time, that’s caused by a software problem, and there are three things you can do to help fix it:

Close the active application by pressing the Home button so that the system returns to the Home page.

If that doesn’t help, try a soft reset by pressing the Sleep/Wake button for about five seconds until the Power Off slider appears. Run your finger across it to shut the iPad down. When it’s off, press the Sleep/Wake button to start it up again, without the offending app running.

Still having problems? It’s time to restart the system and start fresh. This time, press the Sleep/Wake button along with the Home button. The screen will go dark, and then the Apple logo will appear. The iPad should start up and—hopefully—run fine.

No charge

The most common complaint that I’ve heard about the iPad is that, after plugging the USB connection cable into a computer, the battery doesn’t charge.

The problem is that the ports on many USB hubs, smaller notebooks and even some desktops aren’t powerful enough to charge the iPad while its screen is on. The battery icon in the upper right corner of the screen shows Not Charging rather than the “+” symbol inside the battery.

This is an easy problem to fix. If you don’t want to use the AC power adapter that came with your iPad, you can plug it into a powered USB hub, which should work.

The heat is on

The iPad’s lithium polymer battery is very sensitive to temperature swings—it doesn’t like environments colder than 32 degrees or hotter than 95 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, if you’re out in the sun for too long, the system runs the risk of overheating and automatically shutting down.

About the only thing you can do in that case is let the device cool down and then restart the system. On warmer days, use your iPad in the shade and never put it in a hot place, like the back shelf of a car.

And if you’ve just come in from the cold, you may want to let your iPad warm up a bit.

Sync or swim

No iPad is an island. It needs to periodically connect to a computer to update its software, load new apps and get fresh data. But there are potholes on the road to synchronization.

To begin with, if the iPad has a nearly dead battery, it won’t connect with a computer, so make sure it’s charged.

If the host computer doesn’t recognize the iPad, the result will be a major snag in the syncing process. The cause is often the AMDS (Apple Mobile Device Support) software that connects the two computers. Often all it needs is a restart.

If you’re syncing your iPad with a Windows PC, go to your Control Panel and open Administrative Tools/Services/Apple Mobile Device. Click to stop and then to restart the service.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, you may need to do something that’s more involved: Uninstall and reinstall AMDS and iTunes from the host computer. Simply go into Control Panel and do a normal uninstall; when you download and install the current version of iTunes, a fresh version of AMDS will be included.

For Mac owners, Apple suggests skipping the restart and simply replacing AMDS. The process is a little more involved on a Mac, but it follows the same idea: Get rid of AMDS and iTunes and then reinstall.

Use the Mac’s Finder to locate iTunes and put it in the trash to uninstall it. In the Extensions Library, find the AppleMobileDevice.kext file and trash that as well. In the Library Receipts section, find AppleMobileDeviceSupport.pkg and put it in the trash. Empty the trash and restart the system; then download and reinstall the latest version of iTunes.

Unresponsive screen

The iPad’s touchscreen is its main interface, and it gets a lot of use. Chances are that sooner or later it’ll get dirty enough to be nearly unusable. Time to clean.

Stay away from abrasive or ammonia-based window cleaners. Your best bet is to gently wipe the display with a damp paper towel. I also keep a soft microfiber cloth handy to clean the screen every few days.

Backtrack

One of the most useful things about the iPad software is that whenever it syncs with its host computer, the entire system is backed up. If the system is acting weird, try returning to the last synchronized data.

Plug the iPad’s USB cable into the host computer, and the iTunes software should automatically start. Click on the iPad on the left side of the computer’s screen and then select the Summary tab.

After clicking on the Restore icon, you’re ready to reload your iPad with data. Use “Restore from the last backup” so that all your music, videos and apps will return during your next synchronization.

If that doesn’t work, click on “Set up as new iPad” to start from scratch—although you will lose anything you’ve done or bought since your iPad came from the store.

The whole process will take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, but you’ll notice that the app icons are now arranged alphabetically (rather than in the order they were installed).

Black screen

If your iPad’s screen goes black after about five minutes of inactivity and no amount of screen tapping gets it back, it’s probably not broken—just sleeping to save power so that the battery lasts longer. Some users find this annoying, but it’s easy to change.

You can adjust the length of time the screen stays on before the system goes to sleep.

Go to the Settings page’s Auto-Lock screen and adjust how long you want the screen to stay on before it goes blank—the choices are 2, 5, 10 or 15 minutes. If you like, you can turn this feature off altogether for an always-on system (although this will, of course, decrease your battery life).

Lock your Mac in 5 seconds

2011-02-19T16:57:00.001-05:00

Security has always been a concern for all of us, specially when we are in our office. For which it is necessary that we lock our machine whenever we leave our workstation. Were you been on a PC, you would have tried Ctrl+Alt+Del and clicked on Lock Computer or Windows+L can do the job. Being on Mac very few of us actually know how to lock the machine using shortcut. Let’s learn it here

Open up the System Preferences and open the Security section. Now make sure that you have set you computer to require a password once the screen saver begins or once the computer has woken up from sleep as below.

Now when you hold down the keys Control+Shift+Eject your screen will go black and after 5 seconds your computer will then require a password to log back in.

Run Mac OS X updates via Terminal

2011-02-12T17:56:00.001-05:00

To run this command line, first open up Terminal from Applications > Utilities. Within Terminal type the following:

sudo softwareupdate -i -v -a

This script will run and do the following: First it will invoke the software update tool, it will then install any available updates using the -i modifier, it will also install all of them using the -a modifier. Finally the -v modifier will tell you what is happening. In short, look, download, install.

If you want to use this tool but you don’t want to install anything. You can let the tool list any downloads available to you. To do this type the following:
sudo softwareupdate -l

The, -l, modifier will list any updates. It may take a while for anything to appear, its best to let it run. You will get something similar to the image below if any updates are available.

A simple and useful command, that is quite interesting. If you want more information on this tool, type the following into Terminal.

man softwareupdate

View zipped files without expanding

2011-02-12T17:40:00.001-05:00

Don’t know how useful this command would be for an end user but yes, if you are good at Terminal, you would love to use this.

So lets start, launch the Terminal. Navigate to the zip file you want to have a glance at, by using the “cd” command and type the path to your file. For example cd ./downloads, this file can be any any where on your Mac. downloads can be replaced by the folder on your Machine.

Here comes the magic bit, copy and past the following into Terminal.

unzip -l "$@" MyFile.zip

Where text.zip is the name of you zip file you want to view. You need to have the at and dollar symbol for the text to be displayed on screen. You should have something similar to the image shown below.

Very handy where you can see the size of the file in bytes, the date is was created and the name and location of the file.

You can send the information found in the screen shot to a text file. You can use this to keep a log of a text file or as a backup to send to someone else. To forward the information to a text file type the following:

unzip -l "$@" MyFile.zip > textfile.txt

You can append the data to the end of a text file by using to arrows “>>”. This will add what ever is found in the zip file to the end of the text file you select, great if you are making an archive of what is in text files.

There is nothing much to do except writing few line and you can check if the file is exactly you are looking for.

The Evolution of iMac

2011-01-18T19:22:00.001-05:00

Here is life cycle of the most successful Mac ever - iMac

Alternative way of taking backup of Mac

2011-01-16T15:49:00.001-05:00

We all know the great app created by Apple, that is Time Machine. It is a brilliant application that every user should have and use it. In case you can’t manage to use Time Machine as your backup tool, you might want to try an alternative way to take one time backup. Here is another way of taking backup of your Mac using Disk Utilities.

We will use this tool to take image of your current volume which has OS in it and can be used for back up. This backup is better if you don’t have a dedicated hard drive but use it once a week or so. As soon as you get this drive, you take a backup and then can replace where you got it from.

Taking backup of your machine is way enabled you to use the newly taken image as OS whenever your machine crashes or you get another machine and you want all the files to be as it is on your older one.

Great feature, lets try and explore more.

The power of "Secure Trash" in OS X 10.6

2010-12-27T00:57:00.001-05:00

Once you delete the item (files/ folder) it is moved to Trash bin. Now if you want to delete those items permanently, you can click Secure Trash in the latest version of Mac i.e. Snow Leopard. In the earlier versions of Mac OS X, this feature was termed as Empty Trash. Its the same process that you do by when you select Empty Recycle Bin on a Windows Operating System.

The purpose of this post is to focus on how safe your data is, once you delete is permanently from your machine. As we all are aware of the data recovery methods available in the world of IT today where you can use third party utilities and recover the data even after it is deleted from the machine. Taking this into consideration, the security of your deleted data is too low which might cause loss of business or integrity.
In order to tackle this, Apple has added a feature of 7-Pass Erase using which you can securely delete the data from the machine. In this process, it writes random data on the hard drive and deletes it which reduces the chance of data being recovered to almost null. This feature is so strong that it meets the standard of US Department of Defense.

So next time when you are Securing your Trash bin, you can be assured of the data being wiped out and will not be recovered using the utilities available in the market.

An introduction to Mac OS X Server

2010-12-25T11:15:00.001-05:00

Mac OS X server is combination of Power and Style. It derives power from its strong UNIX base and the style comes from well known Apple GUI. This combination makes Mac OS X Server one of the robust server available in present time.

Mac OS X Server is built on a fully compliant UNIX foundation. This battle-tested core provides the stability, performance, and security that organizations require. And full UNIX conformance ensures compatibility with existing server and application software. Mac OS X Server is the ideal platform for deploying groundbreaking enterprise applications and services.

The kernel in Mac OS X Server provides superior thread management and affinity algorithms for efficient handling of multithreaded applications on the latest generation of Intel multicore processors. It also provides precise control of real-time processing requirements, allowing a user-level thread — even an unprivileged one — to precisely specify its requirements for time-sensitive operations. Mac OS X Server implements the complete POSIX threading model (from the POSIX 1003.1c standard), ensuring that each thread can be scheduled independently for maximum efficiency.

Simple administration	iCal Server 2	Address Book Server
Podcast Producer 2	Wiki Server 2	Mobile Access Server
iChat Server	File sharing	Mail services
Web hosting	Spotlight Server	Client management

“Service and Support”

When your operation hinges on network availability, you can’t afford server downtime. To ensure rapid issue resolution for your server deployments, Apple offers a comprehensive range of technical support plans and products to keep your organization up to date.”

SlingPlayer lands on iPad

2010-11-24T15:28:00.001-05:00

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad was looking pretty slick when we saw a preview a couple weeks ago, and now, just like that, it's arrived at the App Store. Folks who already invested in the iPhone app might be a bit disappointed to find they need to fork out another $30 for the iPad version -- although they can keep using the iPhone app in "Compatibility Mode" if they'd like -- but Sling is touting new video quality levels for the iPad, that your iPhone can only dream of, to sweeten the deal. There's also a new program guide UI and other iPad-friendly tweaks. Check out that video preview after the break to learn more, or just hit up your local App Store and start downloading (it's rolling out in typical App Store fashion, which means it might take a few minutes to pop up in your particular iTunes).
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad is exactly what you think: a new iOS app that lets Slingbox Solo and Pro-HD owners watch and control their home TV and DVR from an iPad. You can view live media from your cable or satellite subscriptions, or stream something from your DVR, Apple TV, or even compatible home security camera systems. The program guide has been revamped for iOS's touch-friendly environment, and a "recent channels" feature makes it easy to get back to what you were watching. And the video quality is a lot higher than that available on the iPhone app.

Unlike the SlingPlayer app’s debut on iPhone, AT&T didn’t have to throw down its wireless hammer to defend its network this time around. The SlingPlayer app for iPad works on both 3G and Wi-Fi.

Fixing Keychain issues – Advance Steps

2010-11-24T15:20:00.001-05:00

Quite honestly, I think you’re putting the cart before the horse. Before tossing out the Keychain Access application I’d run through the steps necessary to cure whatever ails your keychain.

For those tuning in at home, the first step is to launch Keychain Access and from the Keychain Access menu, choose Keychain First Aid. In the same-named window that appears, make sure the Verify option is enabled, enter your administrator’s user name and password, and click the Start button. If any entries appear in red, click the Repair button and click Start again. With a measure of luck, the red entries disappear and you’re left with nothing but black entries and keychains that perform as they should.

If this doesn’t happen and you continue to have keychain problems, quit Keychain Access, go to your user folder/Library/Preferences, and move the com.apple.keychainaccess.plist file to the Desktop. This is Keychain Access’ preference file. If it’s corrupt it could be causing the problems you experience. You needn’t fear losing the data stored in your keychain when you move this file. The com.apple.keychainaccess.plist file doesn’t contain any of your keychain data.

Still having problems? If it's only specific items that are causing you grief, open Keychain Access and use the Search field to locate related items. For example, if you're having problems with MobileMe remembering passwords and login information, search for .mac in Keychain Access' Search field and delete those entries by pressing the Mac's Delete key.

No good? If you have a backup of your keychains (as you would if you’ve run Time Machine), quit Keychain Access and locate those backed up keychains (found in your user folder/Library/Keychains). Try substituting them for your current keychain files (move the current ones to the Desktop should you need them later).

If this does no good (though I’m not sure why it wouldn’t), launch Keychain Access, choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu, and in the General tab of the resulting window, click the Reset My Default Keychain button. You’ll be prompted for your administrator’s password. When you choose this option your old default keychain (which is likely the “login” keychain) is renamed and a new empty login keychain is created. You do this simply to get a fresh start. All your old keychain entries will be gone, so we’ll hope that you’ve written down your passwords and login information so you can reenter them when prompted.

Resetting the default keychain

If you’ve failed to write them down and you’re the adventurous type you could try copying keychain entries from your old keychain to the new one. To do this, go to your user folder/Library/Keychains, locate the login_renamed_1.keychain file, and double-click on it. This will launch Keychain Access (if it’s not already running) and cause the login_renamed_1.keychain item to appear in the Keychains list. You’re now at liberty to select items in the old keychain and copy them to the new login keychain. This could be helpful if the old keychain itself was the problem rather than the entries in it. (Of course if the old keychain is that mucked up it’s possible it won’t appear when you double-click it.)

Source http://www.macworld.com

How to hide MUD (Microsoft User Data) folder

2010-11-24T15:09:00.001-05:00

Be it MUD folder or other folders, you can hide them using the following command provided you are registered as a Developer. Some applications like MS Office, Final Cut X etc create their own user data folder inside your Documents folder, which at times is irritating. Here are the steps that you have to follow in order to hide the folder. This command has to be executed in Terminal:

SetFile -P -a V "~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/"

Now once it is hidden all the apps which require those folders or files in those folders will be able to access it, it just that it is hidden. You can replace the path of the folder from what is mentioned above.
If you want to see that folder back in your Documents folder, try following command in Terminal:

SetFile -P -a v "~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/"

This command works well, but the only drawback with this application is that it needs you to be a developer to use this.

For any query / suggestion, Tweet on http://twitter.com/MacMastersTeam

How to decipher .pcf files

2010-10-24T11:42:00.001-04:00

Before I write this post, I am in conversation with Cisco personals about the legal implications of decrypting the CISCO Shared Secret or Group Passwords. Please bare with me for few days as I will complete this post as soon as I get green signal from Cisco!

Thank you for your co-operation.

Meanwhile you can drop me an Email if you need to discuss this topic with me: Laeeq.Humam@macmasters.net

Configuring VPN client on iPhone & Mac OS X 10.6

2010-10-24T11:41:00.001-04:00

Today we are going to discuss the details of .pcf files and the way to configure it in iPhone or Mac. Once the configuration part is complete I will talk a little bit about how to decipher the .pcf file. You might be aware of the new option added in System Preferences under Network which is CISCO VPN. Yes, it means you don’t have to install the application if you need to connect to VPN. Indeed, Mac OS X is the most advance OS in today’s world – Oh we would discuss its greatness later on, lets talk about making the VPN work for you:

On Mac OS X:

Launch System Preferences
Go to Network
Now click on the plus ‘+’ sign (which is meant to create a new service)

On the iPhone:

Go to Settings
Now go to General
Under Network, select VPN
Now select Add VPN Configuration

Enter the details in these fields from your .pcf file. To get the value that needs to be entered, you need to open your .pcf file which could be save on your machine. To know where the .pcf files are saved on your Mac, you can visit this link.

If you open the .pcf file using any text editor available on your Mac, you’ll see list of options and related values — these are the key terms that you have to enter in the Mac or iPhone network preferences. For example, your organization's server address is the value/text written under the corresponding Host value in the .pcf file.

Under authentication tab (in Network settings) in VPN option, we need two important entries: the Group Name and the Shared Secret or Group Password. Group Name is found in the configuration file under the GroupName line in the .pcf file that you have opened in text editor. The last field that's necessary to make the VPN connection is something called the "Shared Secret" (it is also know as Group Password in many organizations). To know what the group password is, you have to see the value under: enc_GroupPwd. If you are unable to decipher the value as it is encrypted, drop me an Email at: Laeeq.Humam@macmasters.net or visit my next post.
If you need any more information on this topic, please feel free to contact me via Email.

Find CISCO VPN profiles on a Mac

2010-10-24T11:27:00.001-04:00

Once the CISCO VPN client is installed on the machine the profiles are automatically saved. In case you want to find where the VPN profiles are saved on Macintosh, you can peek at the following destination:

/etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient/Profiles/
/private/etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/

VPN can be configured on iPhones and Macs but you will be able to access the office network using VPN tunnel only when you have been provided sufficient privileges on your corporate Active Directory account. In order to get VPN access you may contact your IT Helpdesk.

How to configure Cisco VPN on iPhone or Mac
Understanding the .pcf files
How to decipher .pcf files

Connect to server (afp, smb, nfs)

2010-10-18T01:33:00.001-04:00

We will discuss about the different protocols and the process to connect to server using each of them using a Mac OSX machine. The famous protocols to connect to server used in Mac are: afp, smb, WebDAV & nfs. Lets have a look at each of them in details.

Connect to an AppleShare server (afp):

1. Under Finder, select ‘Go To’ menu, now select ‘Connect to Server’ or press Command+K .

2. In the Connect to Server window, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of the server. Click Connect.

3. In the authentication window that appears, type the credentials for the server. Now click on Connect.

4. Select the volume of the server and click OK.

Connect to Windows file sharing (smb):

1. Under Finder, select ‘Go To’ menu, now select ‘Connect to Server’ or press Command+K .

2. In the Connect to Server window, type smb:// , followed by the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of the server, a forward slash, and then the name of the shared volume (e.g. smb://macmasters.net/fileshare/tutorials)

3. Now click on Connect.

4. In the authentication window that appears, type your username and password for the server.

To connect to an Network File System server (nfs):

1. Under Finder, select ‘Go To’ menu, now select ‘Connect to Server’ or press Command+K .

2. In the Connect to Server window, type nfs:// , followed by the FQDN or IP address of the server, a forward slash, and then the path of the exported share (e.g., nfs://macmasters.net/fileshare/tutorials/unit1).

3. Click Connect.

To connect to a WebDAV server (http):

1. Under Finder, select ‘Go To’ menu, now select ‘Connect to Server’ or press Command+K .

2. In the Connect to Server window that opens, type the URL of the WebDAV shared volume (e.g., http://macmasters.net/).

3. Click Connect.

4. In the authentication window that appears, type your username and password for the server, and then click OK.

Installing RAM in Macbook Pro (late 2008)

2010-10-17T13:59:00.001-04:00

Here are the steps to install RAM in the Macbook Pro released in late 2008. Follow the steps as mentioned in the video and don’t forget to remove the static in your body by touching any metal surface.

Installing RAM in Macbook Pro (early 2008)

2010-10-17T13:54:00.001-04:00

Today we will have a look at the RAM installation in the Macbook Pro. We will discuss about the old model because in the newer ones you hardly need an upgrade. The only thing you need to remember is that there is no static in your body as the RAM is more likely to be damaged due to static while installing it in Macbook Pro. So to remove the static in your body just touch any metallic surface and then follow the instruction in this video:

iPhone 4 Braille Display for iPhone blind users

2010-10-16T12:06:00.001-04:00

The wireless Braille display stretches the iPhone 4 markets further more

If you are blind I guess you won’t be reading my blog for iPhone 4 Braille display. However, if you are not you should firstly be thankful for having the ability to use iPhone 4 and secondly should help iPhone blind users.

According to an estimate 3% of the world’s population is blind. This makes around 200 million. If we segment it properly we can get around additional 6 million potential consumers who can use iPhone 4 Braille display to overcome their inability.

Around the world we have many blind users’ appliances. The segment is niche but still can stretch iPhone deeper in the minds of the consumer. Recently it has been revealed that iPhone Braille display can be used by blinds to use iPhone with ease. There are various Braille available which can be connected to iPhone 4 via Wi-Fi and thus enabling blind users to access iPhone. Although the users cannot see, but they still can touch and fell the iPhone 4 features.

The iPhone 4 Braille display works in a simple and convenient way. The Braille is connected to iPhone 4 via Wi-Fi and upon each tap a robotic voice announces your tap loudly. In this way blind users (with ability to hear) can listen to the voice commands they are tapping on their iPhone 4 from the Braille. Moreover some of the devices are dynamic so they let the blind users analyze the situation even without voice.

This new innovation is definitely bringing a change for Apple and blind users, but it is under experimentation. There can be a possibility that Apple announces its official Braille accessory to facilitate its new consumers and bypass competition.

Active Synch for Hotmail on iPad & iPhone

2010-10-16T12:01:00.001-04:00

At last, Microsoft announced ActiveSync support for Hotmail on iPhone and iPad.

This development will open new doors to easy access for iPhone and iPad users who access Hotmail and other similar web services. The MS Hotmail ActiveSync was previously supported by other Smart-platforms like windows mobile, windows phone 7, Nokia (E S, and N series), but now it will also be supported by iPhone and iPad.

The Hotmail support for Microsoft’s exchange ActiveSync (EAS) will now be available to customers worldwide. This is a push synchronization support which on the iPhone and iPad would require just a tap to perform synchronization with your email, chats and other Hotmail services.

iPhone and iPad users can use Microsoft Hotmail ActiveSync, which will enable them to get their mail, calendar and contacts on a tap-to-push automation using the exchange server. The support is quite robust and supports multiple MS windows versions. The ActiveSync works in a very similar fashion of any live exchange server. It updates both the nodes at the same time for live synchronization. This means that changes made on the phone can be seen on the web and vice versa. This is not all. The ActiveSync also supports extended capabilities for MS Outlook. So if you are using Outlook for synchronization you can set up ActiveSync for Hotmail synchronization for your iPhone and iPad.

Microsoft further announced that ActiveSync is not yet available for Android. According to reports, the MS Hotmail team is looking forward to deploying it on Android too but there are some technical limitations, which are creating hindrance. Until then iPhone and iPad users can be grateful that they own an Apple product.

iPad and Apple TV in media

2010-10-16T11:56:00.001-04:00

Recently, a lot of media companies are paying heed to the Apple TV apps for iPhone and iPad. Apple has recently launched the iTV which is gradually penetrating into the mobile television market. It seems like Apple’s proclaimed mobile television market has become a lucrative option for media companies. This is the reason we see them pouring in their apps for iPhone and iPad.

Various prominent media broadcasters have introduced their Smartphone apps. AT&T U-Verse is an IPTV based television service. They have made their app, which enables the user to download and view content from their iPhone and iPad. All U-Verse customers would be able to subscribe and can use the iPhone TV app to view the content. They would also be able to use the application for managing the DVR. This is currently available for paid app only.

Some of the satellite TV providers like Disk Network also give its subscribers the ability to view content on the iPhone and iPad. They follow a different model of free app and paid content. Netflix and Verizon also follow a similar sort of model for free apps with movie rentals.

These media broadcasters are coming to Smartphone for a reason. There is a constant increase in the Smartphone market and the television providers would enhance their share in the market from advertisements. Soon enough the Smartphone industry would see a shift in mobile TV while Apple would be the best reaper due to iPhone and iPad mobile TV apps.

Using Mathematical Symbols

2010-10-05T04:16:00.001-04:00

Whether you are doing your Math homework on your Mac, creating a great Math study guide for your friends, yourself, or students having the ability to actually use Mathematical symbols in documents or even Safari fields comes in handy.

With the simple use of Character Palette, you can have access to lots of math symbols and add them to any document within any program.

To add Math symbols in your documents and fields on your Mac:

Click on the “Apple” icon located at the top of your screen.
Select “System Preferences” from the menu.
Click on “Language and Text.”
Click on “Input Sources.”
Check the “Keyboard & Character Viewer” to “On”

Make sure that “Show Input menu in menu bar” at the bottom is selected.
NOTE: You will now notice a new menu bar icon at the top of your screen.
Click on this the new ‘Input Menu’ in the menu bar and select “Show Character Viewer”.
Select “Math” from the list and click on the special math symbol you want to insert.
Add the cursor in the space where you would like to insert the Math symbol.
Click on the symbol you would like to add.
Click on the “Insert” button. Your character will now be added to the field or document of your choice.

How to fix DVD region issues

2010-10-04T02:43:00.001-04:00

I remember an issue reported by a user last week who complained that his Mac asked for DVD region code multiple times for the same disc. This was in fact a PRAM or NVRAM issue. The user who called in was on iMac 27” so it was NVRAM which I had to fix.

For readers who are not sure what NVRAM and PRAM is, can refer to my last post: What is PRAM and NVRAM.

As we know that information regarding DVD region setting is saved in NVRAM of an iMac, so all I had to do is reset the NVRAM by pressing Command+Option+P+R before the grey screen appeared during the start up. Just by this small step, the issue was resolved.

What is PRAM or NVRAM

2010-10-02T16:47:00.001-04:00

Any person using Mac OS X machine might have heard of the term PRAM or NVRAM. These both are similar things, the only difference is that in Power PC based Mac machines it was termed as PRAM which stands for Parameter Random Access Memory and NVRAM is Non Volatile Random Access Memory which is in iMacs.

What is the purpose of PRAM or NVRAM?
The main purpose of PRAM or NVRAM is to save some settings related to hardware or software related to the system. In iMacs these are Screen resolution, display settings, video and screen refresh rate, recent kernel panic information (if there is any recent one), DVD region settings.

How PRAM or NVRAM works?
In an intel based MacBooks NVRAM takes power from the backup battery, however in other models it takes little (trickle) power from the main source to store data.

The information saved in PRAM or NVRAM are:

Display and video settings such as refresh rate,
Screen resolution
Number of colors
Startup volume choice
Speaker volume
Recent kernel panic information, if any
DVD region setting

So if there is any issue related to the above listed items, you can go for PRAM or NVRAM reset, hopefully it should fix the issue. Other issues where resetting PRAM or NVRAM would work are: Mac freezing or is not booting up after the grey screen.

Backup User Accounts And Files without Time Machine

2010-09-24T20:55:00.001-04:00

This post is going to be very helpful for the users who don’t have Time Machine and cannot backup data or user accounts on regular basis. For such users, its hard time in case they have to migrate the data on a new drive. Although there are many options available, but this is the simplest ever and would take just few steps to do it (though it might take hours depending on the data you are taking backup of). We are going to perform this with the help of Disk Utility.

So lets start:

Go to Disk Utility i.e. open Application > Utilities > Disk Utilities from Finder
From the Disk Utility application, select ‘New Image’ from the toolbar
or
Go to File> New> Blank Disk Image
Give a name to it and proceed
Save this file out, you can add compressing and encryption if you feel like, remembering that it will add to the compressing and decompression time. Compression is useful if you are short of space.

This process might take few hours but once done you can assure yourself that you have backed up all your user accounts and data.

Office for Mac 2011 – Announced by Microsoft

2010-09-19T18:08:00.001-04:00

Microsoft provided the most extensive look yet into the next version of the Mac version of its popular Office suite on Thursday at Macworld 2010. The new product, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, will arrive in time for the 2010 holiday season.

Macworld spoke with several representatives of the company’s MacBusiness Unit, who told us the company is focusing on three things with this new release: better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a more refined user interface. Also, as Microsoft announced last August, the suite will include Outlook for Mac, which replaces Entourage as Office’s Email client. And, in keeping with Microsoft’s 2008 promise, the new version of Office will offer renewed support for Visual Basic, which was dropped in the 2008 version of the productivity suite.

The new version of Office will incorporate document-collaboration features that take advantage of Microsoft's online storage features. With Office for Mac 2011, Mac users will be able to share files and collaborate on documents with other Mac and Windows users via Microsoft's SharePoint, SkyDrive, and Office Web Apps. Those online tools will allow users to collaborate on documents with other Windows and Mac Office users in real time, much as you can in Google Docs now. You could, for example, create a document in Word on your laptop, save it to SkyDrive, then share it with others. A pop-up in Word will show you who’s working on the document; click on that list, and you’ll be able to send them a message (as long as everyone is using Outlook or Microsoft’s Messenger IM application). The paragraphs your collaborators are working on will be locked out until they’re done.

The greatest new in Office 2011 is the demise of Entourage and the return of Outlook. The new Outlook will support PST imports (allowing you to move an Outlook installation, including all your old Emails, from a Windows PC to a Mac).
Oh That's Lovely !!! Thank you Office for Mac Team :)

The new Outlook for Mac Email and calendaring application, which replaces Microsoft Entourage, will include a scheduling assistant that lets users view their calendars alongside their mail, making it easier to, say, work out meeting details. Users of Microsoft Exchange will also be able to see details of calendars shared by co-workers and keep track of responses to meeting invitations they’ve sent.

That’s not the only competitive move that Microsoft has made, either. The company is also introducing companion Web apps that are compatible with Office 2010 (for Windows) and Office 2011. According to the video, users will be able to view documents and make “light edits” in their Web browsers, then continue editing in Office 2011 with the software’s full functionality.
Finally, PowerPoint for Mac 2011 will include a feature that debuted in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Broadcast Slideshows. It allows users to give presentations that can be viewed on any Web browser, regardless of platform.
The experience is surely going to be great both for the home users and office users.

iPad has decreased lappy sale by 50% – Best Buy

2010-09-19T17:01:00.001-04:00

Electronics retailers are revamping their aisles to focus on hand-held gadgets this holiday season to excite consumers who have grown weary of their traditional big-sellers: televisions and personal computers.

Handhelds are changing electronics retailing. Above, a Best Buy employee in Chicago delivers iPads in April.
Shoppers this Christmas can expect to see more smartphones, electronic readers and touch-screen computers in the most prominent store displays, underscoring a dramatic shift to powerful portable devices that is fast changing the face of consumer electronics retailing.

The new priorities are plainly evident in the changing strategy of Best Buy Co., the nation's largest electronics retailer by revenue, which is now morphing into a mobile gadget specialist after decades of promoting the latest in big-screen televisions, desktop computers and high-fidelity stereos. Read more on Wall Street Journal

Apple displays refurbished iPads starting@499

2010-09-19T16:51:00.001-04:00

Apple has decided that now its time to sell refurbished iPads. They have announced a discount of $50 on their online store. Though all the products are not available on Apple online store but they are continuously improving in the availability of numbers of products.

According to Apple Insider:
Currently, just refurbished Wi-Fi-only iPad models are available, though all capacities can be purchased, with a shipping time of between one and three days. The 16GB model sells for $449, the 32GB offering is $549, and the highest capacity 64GB device is $649.

The iPads are available with one year limited warranty from Apple and of course you can get the AppleCare Protection Plan with the product. However, 3G-capable refurbished iPads are not yet available for purchase via Apple's online store. All three models are listed as out of stock, and will also sell for $50, starting at $579 for the 16GB model.

Completed my ACMT Mac OS X 10.6

2010-09-19T10:48:00.001-04:00

It was on August 20th, 2010 when I completed my Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) certification

Its time to Ping Apple Inc.

2010-09-12T02:50:00.001-04:00

Apple Inc has entered into the world of social networking with a new service called Ping. There are lots of sign ups going on at this website. The music-oriented service already has a million members.
Apple’s new Ping social network has gotten off with a bang, of course the iPhone guys would love to Ping . They announced their new idea just a few days ago and there have already been over a million people sign up in the first couple of days. Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services, reported “One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping. As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.”

Since there are 160 million iTunes users, it is likely that Cue’s prediction makes more than just a small amount of sense. The one million that have joined to date are truly a drop in the bucket when compared to the 500 million users of Facebook and the 145 million Twitter members, but a million users in two days is not to be sneezed at.

There is a small drawback of this service that it does not automatically Pings what you are listening on iTunes on an internet enabled device. But, as usual Apple learns from its own experience, the team would soon enable to auto-ping service which will update the song you are currently listening to. With the launch of new dashing iPod touch with retina view, this is going to become more popular. Hope Steve will rock the web again.

Apple redesigns iPod nano® and iPod shuffle®

2010-09-11T12:07:00.001-04:00

iPod nano
The completely redesigned iPod nano® features Apple's Multi-Touch™ interface that lets users navigate their music collection by simply tapping or swiping a finger on the display. Nearly half the size and weight of the previous generation, the new iPod nano features a polished aluminum and glass enclosure with a built-in clip, making it instantly wearable.

iPod shuffle
The redesigned iPod shuffle® features both clickable "ring" buttons and Apple's innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling users to easily navigate their music and playlists without ever looking at their iPod shuffle. The new wearable iPod shuffle has an all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in clip, comes in five brilliant colors (silver, blue, green, orange and pink), and has nearly 50 percent more battery life.

iPad – Now shipping faster than ever

2010-09-11T11:56:00.001-04:00

It was no mistake that the wait times for shipping an iPad dropped off from 3 weeks to 24 hours in fairly short order. Apple has just about doubled their production capability for their popular tablet.

It is hard to tell whether Apple is just girding its loins for the inevitable tablet wars or if they are simply making an adjustment in iPad production capacity after having been caught with their pants down by the early order rate. Whatever the reason, Apple’s manufacturing partners are now building 2 million iPads per month, up from 1 million capacity on their initial single line. And, according to an AppleInsider article, they have plans to increase their manufacturing capabilities to 3 million in the near future. It is clear that the folks at Apple think that there is a big future in iPads.

This news comes through analyst Katy Huberty at Morgan Stanley. Apple admitted that they were caught off guard by the tremendous sales of the iPad right out of the gate. Apple fell behind on shipments of the iPad, sliding to three weeks from the date of order, and even delaying the introduction of the tablet into foreign markets by a full month in order to try to catch up with shipments to waiting customers in the U.S. It was therefore very noticeable when Apple’s website indicated earlier this week that new iPad orders would ship within 24 hours of receipt.

There is some feeling in the industry that as more tablets from other companies become available, it will validate the concept of the tablet computer, and that demand for tablets will really take off. Apple obviously wants to be ready when this happens. So far, they are pretty much the only player in the tablet marketplace, but that is slowly beginning to change as other manufacturers scramble to catch up.

Customize the Dock in Mac OS X 10.6

2010-09-04T20:10:00.001-04:00

If you have upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard you will not find any major change in the dock. If you want to have a completely different dock, you can try this simple step and can have a dock similar as I have on my Mac in office.

Let's try to change it. Open up the terminal, and type the following command, then press the return key

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

Now, you need to reload the dock, to do so, again, in the terminal, type the following.

killall Dock

Once done, your dock should look like the following image: Now if your father doesn't like this new dock and you want to change your dock theme back to the original display, open the terminal, and type the following commands.

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO

killall Dock

That's it, now you can see a smile on your father's face!

The Growth chart of Apple Inc

2010-08-28T19:03:00.004-04:00

The case study done by Faber Novel tells you how and why was Apple able to beat Microsoft and Google. See the growth chart below, in 2000 no one would ever had thought that Apple can grow so fast and even think of competing Microsoft or Google.

“When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, […] you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.” Steve Jobs1

At Apple Inc, they talk about Vision, Focus and Goal.

Vision: Apple identifies needs and use cases to make decisions about function and technologies.

Focus: Drops 20 % of non-required functionality to perfectly design 80 % of key user needs.

Goal: Attention to details leads to excellence in user experience.

MacMasters would soon be releasing the case study which will give you more sight on this topic. This 50 page pdf file would help you understand the power behind Apple's success.

1 Q&A: Jobs on iPod's Cultural Impact, Newsweek, 10/16/2010

Blog It for Safari

2010-08-28T11:30:00.001-04:00

'Blog It' is a wonderful feature of TypePad that makes it easy to quickly post articles, photos, video, and more to your blog. Blog It for Safari is an extension for the latest version of Safari 5 (and would not work on older versions) that puts the power of Blog It right in your browser’s toolbar. Just click the Blog It button, customize your post, and publish.

To try it out, first you need to update your Safari to the latest version and then simply get this extension. Once you donwload it, double-click to install, and you’re done. If you don’t already have a TypePad blog, you can create an account right from within Blog It.

Safari 5 is not the end, for you, they also have support for other browsers, they also offer a Google Chrome extension and a bookmarklet.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Mac

2010-08-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

Basic Shortcuts

This is a list of shortcuts that should be hardwired into your brain. These are usually the most commonly used. Most of the shortcuts on the list are for Finder, although a lot will work in other applications. If I wrote a list for every single application out there I would be here for ever.

⌘ + Q = Quit
⌘ + W = Close window
⌘ + O = Open a file in your application
⌘ + P = Print
⌘ + C = Copy
⌘ + V = Paste
⌘ + X = Cut
⌘ + S = Save
⌘ + Z = Undo
⌘ + A = Select All
⌘ + Y or Space = Quicklook
⌘ + Tab = Cycle through windows

Personally I use all of those shortcuts all of the time. It helps to remember them and use them. Most will come naturally over time.
Other Shortcuts

This is the list where every other shortcut resides. Have a look through and see if there is anything which is of interest to you.

⌘ + ⇧+ 3 = Take fullscreen picture
⌘ + ⇧ + 4 = Take selected area screenshot
⌘ + ⇧ + 4 + Space = Take screenshot of window or menu
⌥ + ⌘ + Escape = Bring up Force Quit window
⌘ + Space = Spotlight search
⌘ + ` (back tick) = Cycle through applications windows
⌘ + . = Cancel operation
⌘ + ⇧ + ? = Open help
⌘ + I = Get Info
⌘ + [ = Go backwards in history in Finder
⌘ + ] = Go forwards in history in Finder
⌘ + Up Arrow = Go to previous folder in hierarchy
⌘ + Down Arrow = Open folder of file in Finder
⌘ + ⌥ + T = Show hide Finder’s toolbar
⌘ + Delete = Move item to Trash
⌘ + ⇧ + Delete = Empty Trash
⌘ + E = Eject disk
⌘ + F = Find
⌘ + G = Next result in Find option
⌘ + H = Hide application
⌘ + M = Minimize
⌘ + N = New window
⌘ + ⌥ + W = Close all windows
⌘ + ⇧ + Z = Redo
⌘ + ⇧ + H = Go to Home folder
⌘ + ⇧ + D = Go to Desktop
⌘ + ⇧ + C = Go to Computer
⌘ + ⇧ + K = Go to Network
⌘ + ⇧ + I = Go to iDisk
⌘ + ⇧ + A = Go to Application
⌘ + ⇧ + U = Go to Utilities
⌘ + ⇧ + G = Go to folder
⇧ + ⌘ + Q = Log out
⇧ + ⌘ + ⌥ + Q = Log out immediately.
⌘ + D = Duplicate in Finder
⌘ + ⌥ + 8 = Turn on Voice Over
⌘ + ⌥ + + = Zoom in (if turned on)
⌘ + ⌥ + – =Zoom Out
⌘ + ⌥ + D = Show/Hide Dock
^ + Eject = Show shutdown dialog
^ + ⌘ + Eject = Close all and restart
⌥ + ⌘ + Eject = Sleep
⌘ + Shift + F = Find file by name
⌘ + R = Refresh widget

Skype 2.8 for Mac OS X - Keep in touch

2010-08-18T05:15:00.000-04:00

World's best Skype has released ver 2.8 for Mac OS X loaded with many new features. Now you can also share your screen with somene you are on call with and experience better sound and image quality.
If you are wondering what Skype is or have never heard or used Skype before, let me describe in one line. It's a program used for communicating with others via chat or a telephone-like system that allows users to talk or make video calls to each other for free. This application has recently gained much populatiry since they have launched new version for mobile devices.
New features included in the latest ver 2.8 for Mac OS X are:

Now insted of instructing how to work, you can share the screen & show. A really simple screen share tool.

Experience better audio and video. The image resolution is better than ever. You will love it on your iMac.

Download Skype for Mac OS X from here.

The Magical RedEye mini is available now

2010-07-23T05:54:00.003-04:00

iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, today announced availability of RedEye mini, the world’s best and feature-rich portable universal remote adapter for Apple iOS devices.

RedEye mini owners can easily operate anything controlled by infrared signals anywhere they go: TVs; cable and satellite receivers; gaming consoles; Blu-ray, DVD and digital media players; and more.

“RedEye mini works so seamlessly and seems so simple in concept that it’s easy to overlook the amount of engineering that went into it,” said ThinkFlood President and Founder Matt Eagar. “Ultimately, it’s that surface simplicity which makes it wonderful—just drop the mini into your headphone jack and immediately you have a powerful, customizable remote that goes beyond systems costing several times as much. It’s also a lot of fun.”

Why choose RedEye mini?

Available now in 52 countries (US MSRP $49)
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
Download IR codes anywhere using a 3G connection or Wi-Fi
Activity-based control and macros (common in advanced home theater remotes)
Activity-based control and macros (common in advanced home theater remotes)
Smaller than a thumb drive; comes with carrying case
Database of 45,000+ IR codes; ability to learn commands from existing remotes
Free in-app TV program/channel guide (coming later this summer for the US and Canada)
Customizable touchscreen buttons, Multi-Touch and motion gesture shortcuts
Leaves iOS device’s dock connector open for charging

About ThinkFlood

ThinkFlood (http://thinkflood.com/) designs and develops remote control hardware and software. Its RedEye line of networked universal remote control products for mobile phones, MP3 players and tablets offers features and functionality previously available only in remotes costing several times as much. ThinkFlood is a privately held company headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Courtsey: Waltham, MA — July 20, 2010

Apple updates iWork suite for iPad

2010-05-23T01:26:00.001-04:00

It was on May 20th that Apple launched updated for iWork (iPad version). Updates can be downloaded on the iPad or through iTunes.

According to Apple, the updates include:

Related to Pages

Now it support for French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
The toolbar and ruler are now available in wide-screen landscape view
Also. documents automatically fit to page width in landscape view
Improves reliability when exporting Microsoft Word documents
Addresses issues with exporting documents previously imported from Microsoft Word
Fixes an issue with text wrapping in Microsoft Word after exporting a document with a frame around an image
Addresses a chart font size issue when exporting documents previously imported from Microsoft Word

Related to Numbers

Now they support French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
Enhanced Back/Front slider in the Arrange panel
Improves reliability when importing Numbers '09 spreadsheets
Addresses a chart font size issue when exporting spreadsheets previously imported from Microsoft Excel
Fixes an issue when formatting a table pasted from Keynote or Pages
Addresses an issue where formulas did not properly update when dragging and dropping cells
Fixes an issue with applying a new style to a table in a template after an Undo

Related to Keynote

Now they support French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
Enhanced Back/Front slider in the Arrange panel
Added the option to show additional alignment guides at smaller intervals
Improves reliability when importing Keynote '09 presentations
Improves reliability when importing Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
Addresses a chart font size issue when exporting presentations previously imported from Microsoft PowerPoint
Fixes an issue preventing access to some table cell color fills in landscape mode with an external keyboard

iPad satisfaction survey

2010-05-23T00:53:00.001-04:00

Among 153 iPad users, 74 percent say "We are very satisfied"

This was supposed to be part of my last post, but unluckily I could not make it. Well, I believe in the philosophy of better late then never. Here is what we have been discussing about iPad: Satisfaction percentage of the owners.
A survey was conducted over 153 iPad owners and majority of them nod that they are satisfied with the features. Number of eBook readers have increased in recent months and it has made a positive impact on iPad and its sales. Lets have a look at the survey graph.

If you see the graph, positive rating to iPad is done by 91% of the users which is much more than what Apple has expected.
Good job Steve, keep it up!

Related links: Current.com | TUAW | iClarified | Tech Blorge

iPad sale is higher than Mac

2010-05-22T07:30:00.001-04:00

iPhone topping the chart, followed by iPad and Mac subsequently

No doubt, iPad has become today’s trend. In spite of many drawbacks and limitations of iPad, it continues to rock European countries. It has left sale of Macs far behind. People have started believing it as the best travel companion and they are replacing their laptops while they are on the move.

According to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky, Apple is currently floating about 200,000 iPads per week, where Macs being moved are just 110,000. However, both of those Apple products stay far behind iPhone, which is apparently racking up sales of 246,000 per week.
Lets have a look at graphical presentation.

Analyzing the graph, the present looks good and no doubt, Apple has planned to make some major changes in iPad and enhance the features, which will ultimately increase the sale in near future. One of the most demanding requirement by iPad uses are a USB hub and a hi-resolution webcam.

More info on iPad sales are available at these links:
PC World | Business Week | Tech Crunch | Yahoo News

The New MacBook – 10 hrs of battery life.

2010-05-22T04:17:00.001-04:00

Here is what Apple has promised about the new MacBook.

On Tuesday, as expected the Leaked MacBook Refresh was made official. The machine has 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo refresh with NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics and longer 10-hour battery life which is really appealing, specially for the sales guys and others who, quite often are on move. Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, US and some other locations were chosen to display MacBooks in Apple stores.

With all those features and an Apple logo, it costs you only $999.00. They claim to deliver in 24 hrs within US if you order it from here and also have offered attractive EMI options of 6, 12 or 18 month special financing options. Wait, there is more for you, if you select Apple Education Discount, you can save big on all Apple products and this offer is available here.

Before you plan to buy this one, I would rather suggest you to compare all the MacBooks and chose the best one for you. Global launch of this great battery backup MacBook is expected shortly.
You can gather some more information from:Engadget | Tech2 | Techmeme | OS X Daily
Video is available at Gizmodo & You Tube.

INTERNET FREEWARES FOR MAC OS X

2010-05-21T14:19:00.000-04:00

Download full version, they are 100% free. 100% Safe. Virus & adware scanned

Download for free | Mac OS X Software | Web Applications

1. HTML Purifier

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010

HTML Purifier is an open source standards-compliant HTML filter library developed using PHP.

HTML Purifier will not only remove all malicious code (better known as XSS) with a thoroughly audited, secure yet permissive whitelist, it will also make sure your documents are standards compliant, something only achievable with a comprehensive knowledge of W3C’s specifications.

Visit the developer's website

2. Slink

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Slink represents a very easy method to remotely connect to your home network in order to use iPhoto, iTunes, screen, file and print sharing. Slink is the easy way to remotely connect to your home network. All shared services on your home network automatically appear in the Finder, iTunes, iPhoto, and other applications. (Just as they do at home!)

Visit the developer's website

3. Chrome Touch

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Chrome Touch enables iPhone like touch scroll interface, so that you can browse different webpages faster.

On the normal text and Textarea form, the scrolling command do not run. You can select text normally.
To turn off the scrolling feature temporarily, press Cmd or Shift key while dragging.

Visit the developer's website

4. Write Area

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010

Whenever you find a textarea in a page where HTML is allowed you can use the entry from the context menu to launch this editor that will enable you to easily write the HTML without worrying about the syntax.

The core is FCKeditor 2.6 with a little change so it can run properly inside the chrome, and it also provides a way for FCKeditor to use the internal spellchecker.

Visit the developer's website

5. iFind

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

iFind is a nice and useful Internet Speed Search tool.

iFind is the top internet search program. To avoid the initial search entry pages of the search engines with their annoying advertisements.

After entering the search, your default browser will open with the result pages of the chosen search engine.

Visit the developer's website

6. Transmute

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Transmute is a bookmark converter that can import and export bookmarks, or favorites, between the latest web browser bookmark formats such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Apple Safari, Konqueror, Chromium, Flock, SeaMonkey and XBEL.

Visit the developer's website

7. Cherokee

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Cherokee is a very fast, open source, flexible and easy to configure Web Server.

Cherokee supports the widespread technologies nowadays: FastCGI, SCGI, PHP, CGI, on the fly encoding, Apache compatible log files, TLS and SSL encrypted connections, Virtual hosts, Authentication, and much more.

Visit the developer's website

8. iChoose X

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

iChoose makes it easy for you to store your favorite links, without filling up your screen with big clumsy icons.

Links are quickly accessed through a discreet icon placed in the menu bar.

Starting with this version, iChoose can now be used for shortcuts to files, folders and applications too. In other words all your favorit stuff in one place.

Visit the developer's website

9. Download Manager Tweak

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009

A modification of the Firefox download manager that changes its appearance and allows it to be opened in a separate window, a new tab, or the sidebar.

The Download Manager Tweak extension streamlines the current Firefox download manager. The extension allows the Firefox download manager to be opened in a separate window, the sidebar, or a tab.

Visit the developer's website

10. Folx

Categories: Internet Freeware
Posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009

Folx helps you download files of any size via multiple protocols: HTTP, HTTPS and FTP.

Folx supports auto-resuming and guarantees maximum speed possible thanks to our multi-thread download tasks. With Folx you will be able to download not only separate files, but the whole folders with all the contents via FTP.

Visit the developer's website

World time in iPod

2010-05-16T02:35:00.001-04:00

New feature of world time in iPod

If you are a music freak and carry your with you everywhere except your washroom, you might have seen the option of world clock.
This is a beautiful feature that can be used if your friend or relatives work according to different time zone. You can set alarm according to their office timings to wake him/her up or to remind them for their lunch.
Ok wait, if you have contacts in multiple time ones, iPod gives you a solution to track all of them and put alarms separately.

Next time you wear the headset, make sure you try those new options Apple has included for your convenience.

Apple values the relation with Adobe

2010-05-16T00:43:00.001-04:00

Steve’s article on relationship with Adobe

Under the heading ‘Thoughts on Flash’ Steve published an article on Apple’s relation with Adobe

No doubt relation between Mac and Adobe has been really great. Here is what Steve Jobs had to say about this, “Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.” Read in original

iPad apps in limelight this week

2010-05-07T04:45:00.001-04:00

TIMES

Time's app sets another great example of how to properly display print media on the iPad. It really does feel like flipping through a magazine. When you launch the app you're ushered to the cover where you can immediately start swiping pages to the conveniently laid out table of contents or launch the unobtrusive dashboard to scan articles and jump to a desired section. Articles are crisply depicted without compromise and the text is rich, satisfying, and readable. Time has also included an embedded browser for Time.com, where you can scan the top stories of the day, or catch up on relevant posts in a desired category. Everything is a very seamless experience and a wonderful step in the right direction. A few things like bookmarking and some slightly less fickle touch controls would be nice, but they hardly hamper the overall experience.

WSJ

Here it comes, the WSJ news application for iPad. Nothing new could be find in this application. Some tech websites like engadget say its just copy of WSJ printing press and converted that into 1s and 0s, which—for future reference to all publishers—does not work well on the iPad. But if you have a broad spectrum, its business and they have kept the original look to make their clients get the feel of real WSJ. We cannot ignore that front page feels cut in half with leads and blurbs crammed in a tight space, killing any aesthetic that's present on the paper version. Streaming video present in place of some photos is poorly compressed and looks awful compared to what Vimeo and YouTube can do elsewhere on the device. Navigating from section to section is awkward and frustrating. Swiping side to side flips pages within a section while swiping up and down changes section to section. A few of my more careless swipes sent me jumping to a place I had no desire to be, requiring patient re-navigating to get back to the page I was skimming. Thankfully, a ‘Sections' tab exists in the lower right corner to help you navigate to specific areas, but I found this slow to load more often than not. This is an irksome, uninspired, and clunky experience. You're much better off getting NPR, NY Times, or an RSS Reader.

PLANET Vs ZOMBIES (Game)

It's been widely acclaimed on almost every portable platform known to man, but I admit, I avoided Plants Vs Zombies, much because I knew it was coming to the iPad at a higher resolution. The game is beautiful, and tower defense titles (of which I'm a huge, huge fan) obviously work wonderfully on a large touchscreen. I was quickly suckered into way too much "test" time with Plants Vs Zombies, despite it being far simpler than the hardcore tower defense games I usually play (you don't route enemies through a maze like other games, and towers don't have quite the same rock, paper, scissors effects). It's just charming, addictive eyecandy. My only real complaint is that this, along with many other "HD" games don't include a free version for my iPhone, but its hours and hours of gamplay make up for that. $10.

NFS Shift

Need for Speed, whatever you talk about it, will remain less, its indeed the best of the best racing game ever created. Pricing $15.00 in Apple store, it's worth the price. What you're getting is a beautiful, real racing game that feels like it belongs on a console while scaling its difficulty from casual to hardcore gamers alike. You steer with the iPad, which is extremely effective. And from there, decide whether you'd like help with the braking and shifting, or whether you'd like to go full manual. (Both schemes actually work.) 28 real, beautifully modeled cars. From our count, at least 12 tracks with detailed environments. Race online or locally. For the App Store, it looks like an expensive game—notice it's over twice the price of RealRacingHD, which we also praised highly. If money is no object, Need for Speed Shift is the better, deeper game that would look like a bargain on the DS or PSP. And it's among the best-looking games on the iPad.

iPad the latest wave of knowledge flow

2010-05-06T17:50:00.001-04:00

Steve Jobs brought us all to a standstill when he unveiled Apple’s new tablet PC, the iPad. Multi-media functionality, eBook support, eReader software and the iBookstore confirm that Apple is jumping into the eBook market with both feet.

But what does the iPad mean for publishers?
From what’s currently known, we suggest there are four important implications:

1) Building iBooks: ePub
Steve Jobs explicitly stated that the iPad will use the free and open eBook format standard − ePub. This is a surprising but welcome move for Apple to embrace a non-proprietary media format − and terrific news for the publishing industry. It will make it easy for publishers who have already adopted ePub to capitalize on the iPad and realize an even greater return on investment. We are already working with many of you to produce ePub content and are preparing for significant growth in volume ahead of the iPad’s release.
However, it’s important to note that while ePub is a widely accepted standard, the quality of the output still greatly depends on the form factor of the target device. As soon as the iPad is available we will be undertaking extensive testing to understand the impact of its dimensions on output as compared to the iPhone, iTouch, Kindle, Sony Reader, etc.
The ePub standard will likely need to be updated to allow publishers to create more detailed layouts and attach various types of multimedia supported by the iPad. The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) has announced that it will start work this year on an updated version. The question is whether the standard will drive the industry or vice versa.

2) Building iBooks: Color vs. E-Ink
The iPad includes a color display, whereas most eBooks to date have been created for E-Ink readers that support only greyscale. To help reduce production times for the iPad and other color devices, Develoopment organizations have been working closely with resellers and publishers on the introduction of quality color graphics. Our standard eBook production process ensures that graphics and images are built and embedded in color to allow for simultaneous delivery to E-Ink based eReaders and color devices like the iPad.

3) Protecting iBooks: DRM
It appears that Apple will be implementing their own DRM to secure ePub files, which would presumably then be distributed through iBooks (iTunes for books). This could eliminate the need for a DRM middleman and result in a more streamlined eBook model.
On the other hand, the application of a proprietary DRM would limit delivery only through iBooks and limit reading only on an iPad, thus undermining the publishing industry’s effort to make eBooks accessible across multiple eReaders. The end result will likely either be consumer confusion and frustration − or extreme consumer loyalty to a single eReader.
Barnes & Noble and Amazon have attempted to maintain their market positions and customers by developing eReader applications for the iPad. In essence, they are extending their storefronts from their own proprietary devices to the iPad, in hopes that they will keep current customers who adopt the iPad, in addition to reaping some share of new customers who have been attracted by the device.

4) Distributing iBooks: The iBookstore
Apple is introducing their own iBookstore, which is expected to mean changes in how publishers deal with all eBook sellers in the future, not just Apple. We are already seeing how Apple’s pricing model is adversely impacting Amazon, as publishers push to adopt a new pricing strategy that is far more favorable.
It appears that Apple’s iPad can provide a one-stop-shop solution to content publishers through their online store, reader software and DRM − which can only serve to simplify mobile content delivery.
And undoubtedly one of the most promising aspects of the iPad announcement is the impending growth in size and scope of the eBook market − thanks to the power of the Apple brand.
Develoopment organizations are in the process of examining the iPad SDK (software development kit) to fully understand the iPad’s impact on eBook applications. We will keep you updated as our evaluation continues and we have more information to share.

Drag & Drop feature introduced in Gmail

2010-04-21T21:37:00.001-04:00

Just like Outlook or any other Email client, now you can drag & drop files to attach in Gmail.

Before April 15, 2010 to attach a file we had to click on Attachments, then browse all the way to select files and attach them. Now its the talk of ancients, now post April 15, 2010 you can just drag files and drop them to your composing Email and it will get attached.

Once you drag the files over the browser with Gmail, it will give a prompt of ‘Drop files here’ which once done, should attach the file to the Email.
This was one of the most awaited feature of Gmail by users. The limitation of this feature is that it is enabled and will work only on Firefox or Chrome as of now. IE users hope a better tomorrow which should come soon. For more details, you can visit Google blog. Some other resources are DNAMail, TechieBuzz, findithow and LivBit.
Buzz

Apple makes net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion

2010-04-21T21:28:00.001-04:00

The Company posted revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion.

Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2010 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 20, 2010 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq210/. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
The Company sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

Also they have sold 10.89 million iPods during the quarter, representing a one percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
These results compare to revenue of $9.08 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.62 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

iPad grabs unbelievable 0.03% traffic in the very first week

2010-04-17T21:01:00.001-04:00

Great news for Apple lovers

According to the report received from NetMarketshare, it indicates that iPad is soon going to make a solid place among all the countries within all user segments. The report says iPad grabbed 0.03 percent of total web traffic which is fairly high.

If you take a glance at the competition you will find iPad’s performance is incredible.
iPhone: 0.51%
BlackBerry: 0.04%
Android: 0.07%
Windows mobiles: 0.07%

The figure is really impressive, seems Steve’s idea might become a revolution in the web world in coming time. Good luck Steve!

Buzz

10 Essential iPad Tips & Tricks

2010-04-04T23:22:00.001-04:00

Well, if its just about using an iPad, anyone can do it. There should be a difference between a common man and a professional. Here are some of the tips by Gizmodo that will surely help you become smarter while playing with an iPad.

The Soft Reset
Cut, Copy and Paste for Experts
Import Your Own (Free) Books
Easy Mute
Never Buy a Digital Photo Frame Again
Take Giant Screenshots
Super Fast Webpage Scrolling
Preview More Of Your Mail
Bring Up the Virtual Keyboard With a Real Keyboard
Downrez 1080P HD Videos...Or You Can't Watch Them
#11 BONUS: Put 6 Apps In the Bottom Tray

For all the above mentioned tricks, please read this article from Gizmodo.

Netflix has targeted iPhone & iPod touch

2010-04-04T23:01:00.001-04:00

Increasing business with Apple products.

It seems Netflix is continuously gaining popularity. They have recently come up with a new application. This one needs very little explication indeed. Netflix has just officially confirmed that its currently iPad only app will be trickling down to the smaller iPhone OS devices. It's all very teasing and noncommittal as far as the timeframe goes, but who's not excited about getting the "dessert" to the iPad's main course? Hopefully there next target would be iPad, of course the world is crazy about it.

Twitterific for iPad - $4.99 for Pro, Regular account- free

2010-04-04T22:47:00.001-04:00

The terrific twitter client for for iPad

We have been seeing this application on Mac since long time, now Twitterific has launched version for iPad. Largely the same interface as we've seen in prior iterations, and it makes the transition well here. Again, as usual, columns are easy to navigate and the sheer volume of information never seems cumbersome, although we find it pretty annoying that you have to switch to portrait mode to click on links, photos don't get their own formatting (relegating you instead to the site), and there doesn't seem to be a way to follow a public conversation thread - but ya, it's free and great for multiple simultaneous feed navigation. Some people might find Twitepad ($0.99) more to their liking, but in our time with the software it was a little too crowded for our tastes, and buggy in its current state. It's definitely one to keep an eye on, though.
Im sure if you have used this application on your Mac you will continue to use it on your iPad once you get one for you. Keep Tweeting.
Tweet me @MacMastersTeam.

To Disable quarantine pop up after downloading an application

2010-04-03T19:37:00.001-04:00

When you download an application from internet, it gives a prompt to open or go to the website once the downloading is complete. Following this post you can get rid of annoying prompt.

Before I start I would rather recommend that if you are new to Mac don’t disable it unless you are well versed with the behavior of Mac Operating system and its functionality. If you are smart enough to manage, then lets move ahead. All you have to do is type the following command on terminal screen.
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool NO
This command stops the quarantine message that you get after downloading is complete. Activation and deactivation of this feature is almost same. All you have to do is change the last section of this command from ‘NO’ to ‘YES’, as mentioned below:
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool YES
I have tested this on two iMacs, please let me know if you face any issue is executing it.
Tweet me on: @MacMastersTeam or drop a mail with error message to Laeeq.Humam@MacMasters.net

Apple launches new version of iTunes – 9.1

2010-04-02T07:56:00.001-04:00

Along with the launch of iPad, Apple has introduced the latest version of iTunes.

New iTunes come with many features as new Genius Mix editing abilities, iBook support and organization and, of course, iPad support. The timing here should give all of the iPad’s earliest adopters plenty of time to update to the required version of iTunes. And that’s important since Apple doesn’t include software disks with any iDevices.

Latest iTunes 9.1 is loaded with several new features and improvements, here they are:
• Sync with iPad to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books & more on the go.
• Organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library.
• Rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes.

For information on the security content of this new update, please visit Apple official homepage: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Wish to Download all new [iTunes 9.1] get it now. Happy synching and transferring. I believe its true, we cannot live without music.

MacBook Pro 2.26 GHz– Pros, Cons & Specs

2010-03-28T23:19:00.001-04:00

Lets have a look at the last released model of MacBook Pro

In just three and a half years, the MacBook, targeted at average computer users, students, and PC switchers, has become Apple’s best-selling Mac model.

Pros	Cons
Lovely unibody design makes a lighter, more comfortable MacBook. Long battery life. Glass Multi-touch trackpad. Support for up to 8GB of 1066MHz RAM. Performs as well or better than 2.26GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro.	No IR port. No SD card slot. No video adapters included. No FireWire port.

A new and better version of a MacBook pro is about to be launched in couple of months and we hope the above mentioned Cons would be no longer found in it.

What’s inside an iPad – Lets reveal the secret

2010-03-28T22:50:00.001-04:00

By now we all know all the outlooks of the most awaited device of the year. Lets have a look at the tech-specs of an iPad.

Here are the specifications of iPad. Have a glance at it and you will come to know what make iPad the best of all other browsing device available (and will be available) in the market.

CPU: Apple's custom 1GHz A4 SOC, manufactured by Samsung. And we can tell you, it's blazingly fast.
Display: 9.7-inch, 1024 x 786 (132 PPI), LED backlit IPS with capacitive touch and oleophobic coating.
Storage: The iPad will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB variations.
RAM: No word on this from Apple (just like with the iPhone and iPod touch). We assume it's more than the iPhone 3GS's 256MB, but we won't know for sure till we see a full breakdown.
Wireless: iPads come standard with 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. You can also purchase a version which has 3G connectivity (UMTS / HSDPA 850, 1900, 2100MHz and GSM / EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz). Sorry everyone, AT&T only here in the US -- and if you're thinking about using your iPhone SIM, think again. The iPad uses new micro SIMs.
Other sensors: The iPad has a digital compass, there's AGPS on-board in the 3G version, and both versions have an accelerometer and ambient light sensor.
Ports / input / output: Headphone jack, 30-pin dock connector, built-in microphone, built-in speaker.
Battery life: Apple claims "up to" 10 hours web surfing on WiFi, listening to music, or watching video, and over a month on standby.
Dimensions: height: 9.56-inches, width: 7.47-inches, depth: 0.5-inches, weight: 1.5 pounds (1.6 for the 3G model).

First Shipping of iPads Sold Out, next order dragged to April 12

2010-03-28T22:32:00.001-04:00

The very first shipment of iPads are sold out with great success. Good job Steve.

It is a rumor that around half a million iPads were brought to market which are sold out and the next order that was supposed to be delivered on 3rd of April has been moved to 11th April. It was a great success for Steve as there are many competitors in market now. HP and MSI has well planned to launch similar devices and there are many more brands in the run.
When mashable released the post about iPad alternatives the readers across the world started questioning the success of iPad but the latest response from the market shows there is no competition for Apple.

Fixing basic issues of iLife

2010-03-16T03:27:00.001-04:00

Courtsey: Cnet.com

If you are experiencing issues with any of the iLife applications included with your Mac (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, or iWeb), you can take these basic steps to begin troubleshooting your problem.

First thing's first. If you're having problems with one (or all) of your iLife applications, double-check your system against the system requirements for iLife. You can find the minimum requirements for iLife '09 here, or on the retail box. Note that though your machine may meet the minimum system requirements, some applications (or features of applications), like GarageBand and iMovie, require higher system specs.

Once you have determined that your machine meets the system requirements, be sure you have the latest version of each of your applications. The easiest way to do this is by using Software Update (located by clicking the open apple icon in the menu bar) and checking for any updates.

If you're still experiencing issues, you might try and delete application preference files. This can be done by navigating to username > Library > Preferences and finding the files named "com.apple.application.plist (where application denotes the application name--iphoto, imovie8, garageband). Move the file to your Trash and restart the application.

You might also try removing the application receipts and reinstalling your iLife applications. In Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard, simply drag your offending application(s) to the Trash, insert your iLife installation DVD, select the Customize option in the installer, and choose the applications you deleted to reinstall. Be sure to run Software Update when you have finished to bring your application to its latest version. For users with 10.5.x, follow these instructions.

New Text features in Mac

2010-03-16T03:22:00.001-04:00

Here are some additional features which are not so popular while typing text in Mac.

Character substitution

In OS X Snow Leopard, Apple introduced text substitution. While for the most part it is used for symbols, it can also be used for word substitution. Apple includes a number of default options, such as copyright and trademark symbols, but provides the option to add customized words and other substitutions of your choosing. To set this up, go to the "Language & Text" system preferences, and in the "Text" tab, use the plus button to add new substitution options. In order to use symbols, glyphs, or other nonstandard characters in the substitution, when you are entering the replacement text it might be useful to have the system's "Character Viewer" panel open (available from the input menu) so you can insert desired symbols.

Autocompletion

One additional composition aid that is available in Snow Leopard is word suggestion, which can be used in part as an autocompletion feature. To invoke it, just start typing a word and press escape. Applications that support this feature will display a list of words that start with the entered text, and then highlight a suggestion. You can then use arrows to select from the list, or continue entering characters, and when the desired word is highlighted, pressing either the "Tab" or "Enter" keys will complete the word.

How to default length of iCal Event

2010-03-16T03:16:00.001-04:00

In this post we will discuss the steps to change the default length of iCal Events

This is going to be a quick tip for any users who regularly use iCal. When you create a new event, either in the day, week or month viewer you will realize that the length of the event is one hour long, for most people this is fine. However if you regularly have meetings which are half an hour long, or book rooms for two ours at a time, it may be beneficial and more efficient to adjust the default meeting time. This means you don’t have to fiddle around with the length slot if you regularly use the same event length.

This trick, as many tricks on this site do, uses Terminal. Open it up from Applications > Utilities. Then type or copy and paste, the following and hit enter.

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 15

This will change the default event length to 15 minutes. To see the results re-open iCal if you already have it open. The number at the end represents how long the new iCal event will be. You can change this to any length you want, 10 for ten minutes in length or 120 for two hours in length. Don’t make it too small otherwise it may be difficult to see the event in iCal. For example if you set the iCal event to 1 minute long, all you will see is a small strip in iCal and you may find it difficult to adjust the time.
If you want to reset it back to the default time of one hour, simply change the value to 60. You could delete the preference option with this command:

defaults delete com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event'

Again, restart iCal to see the effect. Note that if you don’t restart it will take about 10 minutes for the preference to kick in. Restarting allows you to see the effect straight away.

Use Preview to compress .pdf files

2010-03-16T02:55:00.001-04:00

Here are two options to compress the pdf file using Preview application, I hope either one should work for you. Also I would request you to send if there is any other trick which I have not yet discovered.

Both of the compression options are found in the Save As menu. First find a large PDF file that you want to shrink, any will do for this example. Go to File > Save As. In the save box there will be two drop down items. The second one is what we are interested in, Quartz Filter. From the drop down menu select none. This may be counter intuitive at first, however it allows the PDF engine to run and reduce any parts that it can. It doesn’t run any other filters. For the most part on an uncompressed PDF this will produce pleasing results. The image below show the drop down box on the Save As menu.

The option of having no Quartz Filter for the most part is sufficient. This can reduce the file size. This option is known as loss less, so it wont remove anything at all and keep things in high quality. This is needed for PDF’s with images. However for PDF’s with only text or simple geometric shapes to may be better to reduce the file size even more.

To apply a reduction in quality (however it still stays pretty good) in the drop down select “Reduce File Size”, I never notice it at first. This option will crunch images and remove parts of the PDF that are not needed, in a similar method of a jpeg images. There are slight problems with this method. Images turn out horrible and lose all quality. However for text and simple bands of color it is perfect, and the reduction in file size can be massive.

Changing Permissions of all contents in a Folder

2010-03-16T02:24:00.001-04:00

This method is specially for changing the accessibility of all the files places in one folder.

Here are the steps to change read/write access to multiple files placed in the folder. If you like to use Apple terminologies, you can call it as they do it: ‘Changing permissions of all enclosed items’ in a folder.

1. Select the folder and press Command + I to get the info of the folder.
2. It will show the permissions of the current user on that folder.
3. Click on the lock down the bottom and unlock it (it might ask for admin credentials).
4. Once unlocked, click on the drop down next to gear icon (setting icon).
5. Select ‘Apply to enclosed items’ and lock the info.

Once done, you should have rights to play with all the files inside the folder. This method is easy and can be in seconds, although if you work at an IT helpdesk like me, make sure that you don’t grant access to application or system files to end uses. I would really don’t like your boss screaming at you for any faults.

Changing the autorecovery interval

2010-03-07T23:46:00.001-05:00

How to change auto-save or autorecovery interval for Office for Mac applications(Excel, PowerPoint & Word)

One of the drawbacks that we all agree about Mac is that it freezes more as compared to PCs. Once it is frozen, you are supposed to do a force quit which is more likely to lose the data. Hence it is necessary that you reduce the autorecovery time to the least possible interval. Here are the steps: (I am taking the example of MS Word for Mac, although the steps are same for all three applications)

Launch the application
Click on Word menu and go to Preferences
From the left column, select Save
Now check the option Save auto recovery info every xx minutes
Click on OK and the preferences are saved

Before I end, I would like to repeat the suggestion by Microsoft, make a habit of Command+S as soon as you take a pause. This will save you from all panics.

How to set default connection entries in VPN

2010-02-25T16:11:00.001-05:00

Whenever you launch VPN with multiple connection entries, you have to select the one of your choice every time when you try to login.

There is an option where, using VPN you can set up default connection entry so that you don’t have to bother about selecting it every time when you login to VPN.
This change in your VPN setting is surely going to increase your productivity.
Click on the option ‘Set as Default Connection Entry’

Switching between HTML & Plain text in Entourage

2010-02-16T19:30:00.001-05:00

While writing Email if you want to compose it in colorful format, you can try following those steps:

Go to ‘Entourage’ menu and select ‘Preferences’
On the left column select ‘Compose’ and it will bring the ‘General’ window
Change to HTML/Plain text from the option Mail format.

How to delete the cache files of any application

2010-02-04T23:55:00.001-05:00

There are multiple issue that can be fixed just by removing the cache

We all are aware of the fact that majority of Mac apps run from a cache. If this cache gets corrupted and isn’t updated it can produce many unexpected errors. If this happens you can delete the cache and then re-launch the application. To delete the cache relating to a program go to /Users/[name]/Library/Caches , find the folder relating to the application and delete it. Make sure the app you want to solve is closed before hand. When you restart the app it should have cleared any problems. Some cache files may also be stored in /Library/Caches, of any hard drive, though you might see such cases once a while.

If deleting the app results in any adverse effects (it shouldn’t do), simply close the program and move the cache files back from the Trash into there original location.

Apple has released firmware update for its 27” iMac

2010-02-04T23:36:00.001-05:00

The company has released a firmware update for their 27-inch iMacs which is an update for the display hardware itself, which is going to resolved display problems on the new machines. By this update they have reduced blank displays, yellow-tinted LCD colors and display flickering.

So far there are more of positive feedbacks on this launch. Despite these instances, for others the update has worked as expected.
In the knowledgebase about the update, Apple suggests if you continue to experience display flickering issues after the firmware update has been applied, you should check to ensure you have applied the previously released "27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0," which updated the graphics cards on the new systems. So it seems this is a sequel of the old release.

Since these updates and the problems they address have to do with firmware, you might try resetting the system's PRAM and SMC after you have applied the update. Doing this should reset firmware settings and configurations to default values, and clear any potential contributions to the problem by faulty settings. The recent update can be downloaded from the following Web page:
27-inch iMac Display Firmware Update 1.0
If you have not applied the previously released graphics firmware update, it can be found at the following site:
27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0

Hopefully this release will fix all the display issues that iMac 27” users were facing. This was an important step which was expected to be launched early this year.

Unable to send mails using Mac mail

2010-01-23T19:08:00.001-05:00

In the scenario where you are able to receive mails but unable to send it because the Send button is grayed out or is completely inactive. Try those steps out, this has worked many of my home users.

Launch Mail.

Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences.

Click on Accounts in the Preferences window.

Open the Account Information pane.

Here could be the first reason, that the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu could be set to "None". Change it and select your server from the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu.
These steps should work, so run a test & see if you are able to send the mails.

If this did not work then the problem should be in the settings of your SMTP server.

Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences once again.

Click on Accounts in the Preferences window & select your account from the left side.

Click the Account Information pane.

Here in the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu, choose Edit Server List.

Check the correct SMTP server asking your service provider.

Click the "Advanced" tab.

Verify the details like the port, authentication, user name, and password settings also matches to what your Email service provider has supplied you.

Once done save it and retry, this should work.

If still it tries to play with you, then delete the account and reconfigure it. Make sure you have all the details with you before you delete the account. Ask your service provider that do you have to select SSL option while configuring the account.

Use MobileMe to set a passcode remotely on your iPhone

2010-01-23T08:11:00.001-05:00

One of the fact of life is we keep losing and getting things. If unfortunately you ever miss your iPhone somewhere you can lock it using your MobileMe account. This is one of the safest investment that you can make. Just to remind you about MobileMe, this is not just a security application, but it is perfect combination of office and personal tools. It has push Email, push contact, push calendar and inbuilt photo Gallery for iPhone and iPod touch. Also, it has many more features, visit Apple official website for more information.

Lock your iPhone remotely
Once you realize you haven’t simply misplaced your iPhone at home under a pile of laundry, you may want to protect its contents until your iPhone is safely back in your hands. Just sign in to your MobileMe account and remotely set a four-digit passcode lock to prevent people from using your iPhone, accessing your personal information, or tampering with your settings.

Official Mac applications for downloading

2010-01-20T20:40:00.001-05:00

Here are some applications that might increase value in your work. Get a trial version and see if you like it. Most of them are for official purpose.

Slices
Slices is an application that allows you to split and combine files. With Slices you can email large documents, as well as fit very large files onto CDs, memory sticks and other writable media. And, like SlidePad, Slices is free!

Learn more | Download

SlidePad
SlidePad is a powerful, convenient note-taking application that allows you to unobtrusively take notes without ever leaving your keyboard. And SlidePad is free!

Learn more | Download

Parachute
This is a versatile, powerful backup tool that allows you make automated backups of your files. With Parachute you can select files individually, set your own schedule and backup to both local disks and remote servers.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Renamer
Renamer gives you to option to rename and number many files at once. If you've every tried to rename a large set of files by hand and thought "there must be an easier way", then Renamer is for you.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

MainMenu
MainMenu is a powerful maintenance tools to keep your Mac running like new, packed in a slick and simple interface. Improve application performance, make searching faster and speed up your disk access quicker. All that and more is just two clicks.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

iArchiver
A must-have tool for anyone working with archives. Safely backup your files with iArchiver's built-in encryption support. Open all the popular archive formats including RAR, StuffIt, DMG, 7zip and of course Zip. And convert easily between archive formats, such as from RAR to Zip.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Sponge
You're running out of disk space? You want to clean your hard disk to free up some space and get rid of the clutter? Sponge is a tool to keep your Mac clean and tidy. With Sponge you can reclaim your disk space by safely removing applications, finding large files and directories, and tracking down and deleting duplicate files.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

ResizeMe
ResizeMe is a lightweight, incredibly easy-to-use batch image editor that allows you to create drop shadows, add a "shiny table" reflection effect, add text watermarks, convert, resize, crop and rotate thousands of your images and photos at once.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Yum
Yum is your ultimate recipe and cook book manager. Add your favorite recipes, organize them into categories, assign them ratings, print them with custom layouts, create shopping lists from the ingredients, and many more features.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Family
Family is a genealogy application for Mac OS X that allows you to map out your family tree visually, associating images and files with each person and telling each person's story.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Dragoman
Dragoman batch converts image, photo, music, sound and archive files. It supports the popular image file formats JPEG, PDF, TIFF and PNG, as well as digital camera formats from Canon, Kodak, Sony, Nikon, Olympus and Fuji cameras.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

iCombiner
With iCombiner you can merge multiple images into a single PDF document. iCombiner can merge all the popular image formats, including PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, GIF, Postscript, and many more.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Source: Creativebe

Install MySQL Database on a Macintosh

2010-01-12T19:24:00.001-05:00

MySQL is a popular, free database server with dozens of books to teach you the ropes. In the past you had to install MySQL with the Macintosh Unix command line interface but more recent versions can be up and running in minutes.

Download the MySQL package installation. MySQL is in varying stages of development, including alpha and beta releases, so make sure you download the most stable version for your Mac. Make sure to select the download for your platform (Intel or PowerPC) and version of OS X.
Double click on the DMG file. A disk image will mount on your desktop. If you download a TAR compressed file (which contains files and folders), you downloaded the wrong installer.
Run both the MySQL installer and the MtSQLStartupitem PKG files. You may have to enter your administrative password. Select your internal drive as the destination disk.
Drag the file MySQL.prefPane to your user library folder. It should be placed in the subfolder "Preference Panes." Open your System Preferences to confirm it's there.
Restart your computer. MySQL won't run until your system reboots.
Open the MySQL preferences by double clicking on the MySQL icon. If the server isn't running, you will see a message saying the server instance is stopped. Click "Start MySQL Server" to launch the server.
Connect to the server from your database management utility. This could be a web site, a web development program with database management capabilities or a freeware utility.

How to copy a DVD & burn it on Macintosh

2010-01-12T19:13:00.001-05:00

If you want to share your party video with your friend and have only one copy of the DVD then this guide will help you to create an image file and then you can burn as many DVD you want later on.

Insert the DVD that you have in the Macintosh CD/DVD drive. The CD/DVD tray does not eject like it would in a PC.
When you see the Finder, click on Utilities. Choose the Disc utilities choice on the menu.
Click on the DVD to select it.
Click New and then from whatever the DVD was named in the previous step. Choose that from the file menu at the top of your screen.
Enter the new file name from the master DVD. Make it something easy to remember for your new DVD on the Macintosh.
Click the burn image in the disk utility screen. Watch the dialog box on the screen to see your DVD burning progress.
Insert a blank DVD when prompted during this process.
Now click the Burn button to complete the burning process for your DVD.
Once you have created the image and saved it on your Macintosh, you will only need to insert a blank DVD, open the disk utility and click burn from the image you created in the first few steps.

Passwords missing in the new Keychain

2010-01-12T05:18:00.001-05:00

This could happen after creating a new Keychain

This generally happens when you are in a network and the password is changed by an admin or helpdesk remotely using the server or AD. This scenario arises when your domain password is expired and you cannot do it yourself and you call your helpdesk to do it for you. Once you set a new Keychain on your Mac, you might not get the old saved passwords.
If this happens all you have to do is, go to saved preferences files and find the new keychain.plist fiile and move it to the desktop and the old file which is now renamed as oldkeychain.plist should be renamed as keychain.plist.

Just those two simple steps will surely bring all your old passwords in the Keychain database that will use your new passwords.

How to speed up your Mac?

2010-01-12T05:10:00.001-05:00

Simple steps to increase speed of your Mac. These changes will not make any harm to your machine and can be tried by anyone who is not even too tech savvy.

Rebuilding your desktop is recommended once a month. This can be done by holding down the Command and Option keys while you restart your Mac. Keep the keys pressed until the computer asks if you want to rebuild the desktop. Click OK.
Also remove the fonts you never use. (The process is to open the Fonts folder in the System Folder and simply drag the fonts to Trash).
Open the Extensions Manager control panel and turn off system extensions that you don't need.
It is always recommended to add RAM if your computer takes a long time to open programs and slows down when working with multiple programs or large files.

These small steps would definitely increase the speed of your Mac.

Adding author’s name in Office for Mac applications

2009-12-29T02:54:00.001-05:00

How to add your name as Author in any MS Office application?

When you check the properties of any MS Office document there is a field of “Author” and if you want your name to be displayed as author of the document, then follow three simple steps and your document is ready to show off.

1. Launch the application in which you want to be added as author (in this post we will consider MS Word).
2. Now go to Word menu and select preferences.
3. From the left column menu select User Information. the details entered here will show when anyone checks its properties. Make sure that you make those changes before you start editing the file.
To check the properties of the file, select on it and press Command+I in combination. This combination shows the properties and complete info of the file.

Some other changes that can be made in a file using Command+I.

10 Best Freewares Every Mac User Should Possess

2009-12-27T16:53:00.001-05:00

All he applications mentioned here are exclusively free for for use. All of them are full version.

Thunderbird

This bird is the best technological counterpart of the pigeon or the hawk used for sending mails in earlier ages. Newsgroup and RSS feed reading comes as an added advantage. Download and try it from here.

GIMP

The mightiest photo manipulator is ready to ride the Snow Leopard. Forget anything that ends with a suffix -shop. No need to shop. Its free. Download and try it from here.

OpenOffice

The free and open productivity suite. Thousands of free online templates. Impressive presentations. Everything an office gives and more. You have to see it to believe it. Download and try it from here.

Perian

Your Quick time never takes time off to play many other wonderful video formats on the net. Its time to teach him a lesson. Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats. Download and try it from here.

Cabos

Peer to peer file sharing is like sharing abirthday cake with Cabos. Cabos is Gnutella file sharing program based on LimeWire and Acquisition. "It is free software. No spyware. No adware. Guaranteed." as proclaimed by the company itself. Download and try it from here.

Juice

Apple juice is good for health. This software Juice is best for podcasters health. Download and try it from here.

Cyber Duck

Cyberduck is an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Cloud Files and Amazon S3 browser for the Mac. It features an easy to use interface with quickly accessible bookmarks. The outline view of the browser allows to browse large folder structures efficiently and you can quickly preview files with Quick Look. Download and try it from here.

NVU

Nvu is a standalone 'WYSIWYG' (WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet) HTML editor based on Gecko, Mozilla's rendering engine. Download and try it from here.

SeaMonkey

This is the most intelligent monkey on the software planet. It is a Browser, Email Client and HTML Editor IRC Chat client, DOM Inspector - all in one. The technology engine behind this is Mozilla- the Firefox, so there’s no doubt about it unctionality. Now stop monkeying around with paid software and enjoy this free delight. Download and try it from here.

The process to clear cache in Entourage

2009-12-27T15:38:00.001-05:00

How to delete cache in Entourage?

The steps mentioned here will work for all types of mail i.e. POP3, IMAP and Exchange. To clear the cache, open Entourage (make sure you log off from any other instances of Exchange on your iPhone or Smart phone or Blackberry). Before you follow the steps further you should make sure that you are connected to the network. Within Entourage, on the left, mouse over the name of your Exchange account and press the ‘Control+mouse click’ simultaneously to get the contextual menu. In case you have activated secondary button in mouse then just ‘right click’ on it. Select Folder Properties. Under the General tab, which opens by default, click on the Empty button to empty the cache.

Clear address cache in Entourage

2009-12-27T08:49:00.001-05:00

How to stop auto complete address suggestion in Entourage?

If you want you Entourage to stop giving you suggestions of old Email addresses while typing the name, then you can follow the steps mentioned below. This is really useful when someone who is in your address list and you have sent him/her mail earlier but now their Email address is changed. In this case Entourage will keep suggesting you the old address which is cached in the memory. You can clear the address cache by following this small step:
Go to Preferences under Entourage menu.

Select Compose and under Recent Addresses, click on the button “Clear List”.
Doing this will make Entourage forget all the addresses saved in cache.

If you want to disable this feature entirely and have Entourage only offer auto-complete for addresses in your address book, simply uncheck the option "Display a list of recently used addresses when address messages".

Office for Mac files not showing in Spotlight

2009-12-26T17:40:00.001-05:00

This problem might happen with any MS Office file.

Some of the Mac users noticed that many of my Excel documents were not indexed as part of the Spotlight database; Spotlight search results for obviously-known content was coming up empty.
The reason for this invisibility was that I still had Microsoft Office 2004 installed (some of the users keep this for macro compatibility), and when this happens, the old PowerPC version of Microsoft Office.mdimporter still sits in your ~/Library/Spotlight folder.
Many mdworker console messages were indicating that only a PowerPC importer plug-in was found, thus many Office documents weren't getting indexed.
The solution to this is to trash the PowerPC version of this file, and trash the /.Spotlight-V100 file, which forced a total re-indexing. The system then used the Intel version of the Spotlight importer, and all my Office documents are once again indexed.

Changing the login screen in Mac OS X 10.6

2009-12-26T16:50:00.001-05:00

How to change the login screen background in Snow Leopard?

Since the time you have bought your Mac, you might have been seeing the same boring background of login screen. There is a small trick that can help you to change it. Here are the steps:
1. Go to Finder and open ‘Go to Folder’ or you can also hit Command+Shift+G to open the same screen.
2. Now in the path, type /System/Library/CoreServices/ and click ‘Go’.
3. Once done, find the image file in the name of ‘DefaultDesktop.jpg’ and replace it with the image or file of your choice.
I would suggest to make a backup of the original file.
Also see the resolution of the image so that you can replace it accordingly and the new image looks perfectly fit to the screen.
That was all! Now you can reboot and try this hack, its wonderful. This trick works to change the login background in Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 only. I know you are smart enough to find the file in Leopard also.

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