MacYourself

Quote selected text, include original attachments in Mail replies

Ant — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:02:03 +0000

Replying to messages is obviously a major part of the email process. In Apple’s Mail software, there are a few things users can do to make replies easier to compose now and more convenient to find later on.

Mail is a program that many of us use pretty much all day, every day. And yet there are so many things that go unnoticed because they’re not exactly where you would think to look. Or maybe you never even thought to look for them in the first place. Either way, once you know how to accomplish these useful tasks related to email replies, you’ll definitely find ways to utilize them.

Quote only selected text in a reply

There are certain times when you want to reply to an email and include only part of the original message. It could be for confidentiality, clarity, or just because you feel like it. Mail has this capability built in, but it’s not enabled by default. To turn this feature on, go to Mail’s Preferences and click on the Composing tab. At the bottom under the Responding section, select “Include selected text, if any; otherwise include all text”. Now when you’re reading an email, simply select the message content you want to keep before hitting the Reply button.

Include original attachments in a reply

When you reply to an email that contains an attachment, the file’s name is mentioned at the end for reference. But what if you wanted to send a reply with the original message’s attachment(s) kept intact? Maybe new people who haven’t received the file(s) are included in the reply? Or perhaps it’s being re-sent for convenience? Whatever the case may be, Mail has you covered. Simply go to Edit in the menu bar, click Attachments, and select “Include Original Attachments in Reply”. Even if you’ve already got a reply to a message open when you turn this option on, Mail will seamlessly insert it into the email.

Easily find your reply to a message

As you probably know, the way to tell if you’ve responded to an email is if there’s an arrow icon displayed next to it. But did you know that it’s not just a basic visual indicator? It’s actually a linked button that opens your sent reply when clicked. That means no fiddling around and searching through your sent items folder – it’s right there for your to pull up at any time.

Push media to iTunes 9 with “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder

Ant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:39:11 +0000

An unheralded new feature in iTunes 9 gives users a place to queue up music and video files to be added to their iTunes libraries without the program even being open.

As usual, Apple has done a good job of advertising the major highlights of the latest version of iTunes. There’s iTunes LP, the redesigned iTunes Store, improved app management, Home Sharing, and more. Absent from their list of additions, however, is 9’s handy “Automatically Add to iTunes” functionality. It comes in the form of a folder inside the iTunes Music or iTunes Media directory (found under Music/iTunes) on your Mac.

To use this feature, simply drag & drop or copy & paste any iTunes-compatible media file into the “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder. If iTunes 9 is already open, the files will immediately be imported into your library. But that’s not why Apple created this folder. The reason it exists is for times when iTunes isn’t currently running. Files will sit there patiently until iTunes is next launched, and then they’ll get added all at once.

There are a few reasons why someone might want to try out this approach. One is if they’ve downloaded a bunch of music from the internet (we’re not saying where) or ripped some DVDs from their personal collection. The “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder can be set as the default location to place these files in the applications they came from – essentially pushing them to iTunes. An alias for the folder can even be placed in the Dock, on the Desktop, or in Finder’s sidebar for convenient access.

Most important, however, is the ability to add audio and video to a networked computer’s library without ever touching iTunes itself. Just navigate to the right place on the other computer in Finder and drop the files. It could be just a couple or even a couple thousand. Next time iTunes 9 is opened on that machine, all of them will appear in the library. Folks who do this sort of thing often are cheering right now.

While that just about covers the benefits of the “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder, there are some important other things to mention. First, don’t even think about moving that folder to another directory on your Mac. It doesn’t work anywhere other than where Apple placed it. Second, ugly things could happen if iTunes tries to import a partial or incomplete file (an in-progress torrent, perhaps). So it’s best to either download them to another place on your Mac first and then move them, or keep iTunes closed until the download is complete. And third, files that iTunes doesn’t like for whatever reason will be placed in a sub-folder called “Not Added” for you to review. With these three things in mind, you’ll likely find that iTunes just gained a pretty cool new feature that can be quite useful in certain situations.

Nifty ways to minimize & un-minimize windows in Snow Leopard

Ant — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:21:04 +0000

Expanding on some features already in previous versions of Mac OS X and also introducing new ones, 10.6 Snow Leopard offers users more ways to work with minimized windows.

As mentioned at the end of MacYourself’s article, “Cool new enhancements to Exposé in Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” a new option in System Preferences allows users to minimize windows into the application’s Dock icon. While that was a welcomed improvement for many people, it won’t play nice with the tips mentioned in this article. So before diving into the techniques described below, remember to disable that feature if you have it turned on.

Un-minimize windows in the current Space

Let’s say you’re working with a program in a Space and then you minimize the window to the Dock. Next, you move to another Space to work on something else. Eventually you decide to un-minimize that window in the Dock. Clicking on it would normally move you to the original Space as the window opens. However, if you hold down the Command key when you click on the window, it will open in the current Space instead. It sounds trivial, but it can come in very handy.

Minimize & un-minimize all windows of an application

In the event that you have 3 or 4 Finder windows open, you can minimize them all at once by holding Option as you click on the yellow minimize button. Each one will float to the Dock in unison. The opposite is true as well. Click on any of the minimized Finder windows in the Dock while holding Option and they’ll un-minimize together. I’ve tested this with Finder, Safari, TextEdit, and a host of other programs. Pretty much anything that’s Cocoa-based will work.

Exposé integration

Both of the above tips will work in Snow Leopard’s revamped Exposé too. Minimized windows are displayed as thumbnails at the bottom of the screen, and clicking them with either Command or Option held down will behave just like in the Dock.

Free Giveaway! Cram for Mac, a study tool that actually works

Ant — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:25:26 +0000

Whether you’re a student, an employee-in-training, or just someone trying to learn a new subject, studying can be a bore. Cram for Mac helps the situation by offering a fun and interactive way to learn.

I’m admittedly terrible with tests and pretty much anything else that requires memorization. It’s not just that my brain isn’t programmed that way, it’s also due to my inability to stare at a page for more than five minutes without dozing off. Sound familiar? If you’re in the same boat, a piece of software called Cram might be for you. Developed by SimpleLeap Software, Cram is a $29.99 Mac application that makes studying a far more enjoyable and interactive process. It allows users to create their own flash cards and multiple-choice tests, then tracks performance for helpful progress reports later on.

Creating a new test

Cram’s user interface is fairly simple – all it takes is a few minutes to figure out how it works. The sidebar on the left lists categories which make it easy to organize a series of tests and study subjects. Clicking on the New button in the top toolbar, as one might expect, creates a new test in the selected category. Helpful options like randomizing questions & answers and setting a time limit are available here.

Once a test is created, sample questions can be managed by clicking the Details button in the toolbar. Up to five choices can be entered for each question, as well as interactive aids like images and sounds. These are great for people who are auditory or visual learners.

Studying with flash cards and practice tests

When the time comes to actually start studying the subject a hand, Cram has a valuable flash card function (the Study button in the toolbar). Cycling through cards and even reversing them – showing the answer first and then the question on the flip side – is a breeze. You’ll feel confident about your knowledge in no time.

Of course, the only way to really find out if the information is sinking in is to take a practice test. Clicking the Start Test button will put Cram in exam mode. At the end, the program will show how well you did and offer the correct answers for any that were wrong. Test scores are saved, so past results are accessible at any time from the History button. It’s a fantastic way to receive instant feedback on your progress.

Sharing, syncing, and printing

In addition to its learning tools, Cram also has features that make it more versatile. For example, it can download tests others have created and upload your own for others to try. Its Twitter integration for tweeting test scores is kind of cool too. And don’t think your study materials are trapped on your Mac forever. Cram is on the App Store for iPhone & iPod touch and can sync tests between devices for on-the-go learning. Finally, traditionalists have the ability to print a paper copy of their tests as well.

Overall, it’s safe to say Cram is the best way to study on a Mac that I’ve seen so far. It’s simple to use, flexible, and most importantly, effective. It’s got just the right balance of power and ease-of-use. If you’re a student, Cram could be a considered a must-have.

Win a free copy of Cram for Mac!

The developers of Cram (regularly $29.99) have been kind enough to offer a free software license to one lucky MacYourself reader! To enter, please leave a comment below, along with a valid email address (this is how we will contact you). In order to avoid spam filter issues, please type a coherent sentence saying you’d like a chance to win. Multiple entries will be deleted, so please only add one comment per person. And finally, don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear on the site immediately — it might be awaiting moderation and will show up shortly.

A winner will be chosen at random based on the comment number they happen to be. The lucky guy or girl will be announced on this page, so bookmark this article and be sure to check back later. All entries must be made by October 29, 2009 at 11:59pm eastern U.S. time. In the meantime, download a free trial of Cram to try it out for yourself. Coincidentally, the developers are running their own giveaway right now for Apple’s new Magic Mouse on their website. Check it out and try entering both giveaways if you’re really feeling good! Good luck!

UPDATE – November 2, 2009:
Congratulations to our winner Stacey! Her comment number was chosen from a random number generator and she has been given a free copy of Cram for Mac! Thanks to everyone who entered and remember to consider purchasing a copy of Cram yourself to improve your studying habits.

Take steady photos on iPhone, send full resolution via email

Ant — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:28:16 +0000

A simple tidbit can help you take steadier photos on your iPhone and avoid common camera shake problems. In addition, there is a way to email full resolution copies of your photos instead of scaled down versions.

The iPhone is probably the most used camera phone in the world. While it may not be perfect, it’s certainly among the best out there. Don’t be fooled by the megapixel hype – an image is only as good as its lens and digital processor. A 5 megapixel camera with crappy optics will look far worse than a 3.2 megapixel camera with advanced optics. And when you also consider the auto-focus and tap-to-focus features in the iPhone 3GS, Apple’s offerings are just plain awesome. Of course, iPhone owners will want to take full advantage of these capabilities. Continue reading for two great tips!

Taking sharper, crisper photos

Have you ever framed a perfect shot on your iPhone only to have it ruined when you tap the shutter button? That slight impact is enough to shake the camera into blurriness, and it’s maddening. Some folks have downloaded applications from the App Store to help avoid camera shake and achieve sharper results. That’s one approach, but there is another that doesn’t involve third-party software.

Did you know the iPhone doesn’t take a photo when you press the shutter button? That’s right, nothing happens until you actually release it. As you’re setting up your picture in Apple’s Camera app, press and hold the shutter button down. Keep your finger held down until you get your shot just right. To take the photo, gently lift your finger off the iPhone’s screen and it will be added to your Camera Roll. Releasing is a lot less of a jolt compared to tapping the screen.

Emailing full resolution photos (and videos)

You’ve most likely noticed that the iPhone automatically resizes & compresses both photos and videos when you use the Share function to email them. Apple does this to keep file sizes small, but it’s annoying to people like me who don’t want to sacrifice quality. Luckily, there is a workaround.

Instead of “sharing” photos & videos via email, the trick is to copy them. You can do this by going to the Photos application and pressing the button in the lower-left corner. Select the photo(s)/video(s) you want to send by tapping on them and then choosing the Copy option on the bottom of the screen. Next, go into the Mail application and paste the content you copied into a new message. When all is said and done, my iPhone 3GS can send full size media to anyone via email. Photos send at 2048×1536 instead of 800×600 and videos send at 640×480 instead of 480×360. Much, much better.

Review: Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with digital audio

Ant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:52:46 +0000

The long-awaited new product from Kanex – a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter that supports audio – is finally available for sale. We got our hands on one early and have been giving it a workout for the past week.

If you’re interested in this product, you probably know the story by now. Apple unveiled a new line of MacBooks (which includes the Pro and Air), iMacs, Mac Minis, and Mac Pros in late 2008 and early 2009 that debuted a video standard called Mini DisplayPort. Designed as the successor to VGA and DVI, Mini DisplayPort made it difficult for people to connect their Macs to HDTVs. A Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter was introduced in the first quarter of 2009, which fed 1080p video from the Mac to a high definition television via HDMI. The problem? It was just video – no audio.

Kanex, a brand of Apogee Inc., announced their intentions of resolving this shortcoming a few months ago. Their improved adapter was scheduled to be released in August and support both video & audio. Inevitable delays followed, but they finally delivered on their promise and are processing initial orders now.

Product Overview

A quick peek at the Kanex website will actually reveal two new products. The first is a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with analog USB audio for $59.99. A USB cable is used to grab sound from the computer, along with Mini DisplayPort for 1080p video. These two cables are funneled into a “converter box,” if you will, which spits out a single HDMI port on the other side. A separately-purchased HDMI cable can then go from the adapter right into the HDTV.

The second product at Kanex’s website is a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with digital audio for $69.99. So what’s the difference between the two? Well, this one supports full 5.1 channel digital audio (such as Dolby Digital) for higher quality sound and the ultimate home theater experience. Like the analog audio adapter, this product has a Mini DisplayPort cable for video and a USB port. The USB port is only for power here, though. It features a dedicated TOSLINK audio cable that goes from the Mac’s headphone jack (or minijack) to the adapter for sound. All three cables converge into one and, of course, there is an HDMI port on the other end. Note that audio volume is fixed at 100% on the Mac and can only be controlled via the TV.

MacYourself’s Review

The nice folks at Kanex set us up with the digital audio version of the adapter and it’s been used extensively for the past week with a mid-2009 15″ MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard and a 32″ 1080p LCD HDTV. The verdict? It just works. Once everything was plugged in, there was literally no setup. The adapter is programmed to output 1920×1080 resolution video out of the box and my Mac automatically switched to digital audio output. Depending on your HDTV (especially if it’s 720p or 1080i) and your Mac model, basic configuration may be required in System Preferences first. All you have to do is select a compatible screen resolution & refresh rate under Displays and then Digital Out under Sound Output. Kanex offers helpful troubleshooting tips and technical advice on their website’s blog.

I can honestly say the Kanex Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with digital audio is exactly what I have been waiting for. And, judging by MacYourself’s previous articles on this topic consistently topping our most popular posts list, you’ve all been waiting for it too. It’s not the prettiest device to look at, but it’s functional and that’s all that matters in this case. Grabbing stunning 1080p video and digital audio from a Mac and connecting it to a high-def TV with a single HDMI cable is a real treat. No mess and no clutter! The only thing I had to worry about was adjusting my television’s image settings (brightness, contrast, sharpness) to my liking. Once those got squared away, the picture was crisp and the sound was crystal clear. It’s perfect for playing movies, TV shows, games, and other media on a big screen. You just try to stay away from HD movie rentals on iTunes… I dare you! I certainly won’t be able to.

Check out the Kanex website for more details and purchase information. Due to limited availability, their site is the only place to buy both adapters at the moment. This page will be updated if and when retailers like Amazon.com begin stocking these products.

Did you pick one up for yourself? Let us know what you think of your Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with audio!

How to use WiFi and Bluetooth on an iPhone in Airplane Mode

Ant — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:40:25 +0000

When you’re traveling with your iPhone, you occasionally need to turn off the cell network receiver by enabling Airplane Mode. Although this setting turns off all radio signals, WiFi and Bluetooth can be re-enabled individually.

As its name suggests, the most common place to use iPhone’s Airplane Mode is indeed when you’re flying through the air. You can stop all calls, texts, and cell data with Airplane Mode. Despite government laws that prohibit cell phones from being used on aircraft, your iPhone doesn’t have to stay in your pocket. In fact, the iPhone is a prime candidate to take advantage of the WiFi internet access airlines are starting to offer on some flights. And what about your travel companion who also has an iPhone or iPod touch? App Store games that support Bluetooth multiplayer are perfect for long flights too.

Airplane Mode isn’t only for flights, of course. When you’re traveling internationally and don’t want to rack up mind-blowingly expensive roaming charges, you can turn off cell phone capabilities and use your iPhone as an iPod touch instead – with WiFi and Bluetooth.

Enable WiFi while in Airplane Mode

Tap the Settings icon on the home screen.
Toggle Airplane Mode from Off to On. This turns off all of the device’s wireless signals.
Tap the WiFi menu option.
Switch WiFi to On and select a network if one is available.

Enable Bluetooth while in Airplane Mode

Tap the Settings icon on the home screen.
Toggle Airplane Mode from Off to On. This turns off all of the device’s wireless signals.
Select the General menu option.
Choose Bluetooth from the menu.
Switch Bluetooth to On and select a device to connect to, if available.

And with those simple steps you can put an iPhone in Airplane Mode while surfing the web via WiFi and interacting with other devices via Bluetooth – essentially turning it into a fancy iPod touch.

Hidden files & Quick Look in Snow Leopard’s Open/Save dialogs

Ant — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:49:01 +0000

The latest version of Mac OS X includes a couple important enhancements to Open/Save dialogs. While these mini windows are not quite as full-featured as real Finder windows yet, they’re getting there.

I rarely say this, but Windows beats Mac OS X in the Open/Save dialog department. Why won’t Apple allow Mac users to copy, paste, and rename files in these windows? It’s just inconvenient to open separate Finder windows every time you want to do one of these things. With that gripe out of the way, there are two new features in Mac OS X 10.6 that improve the usefulness of Open/Save dialogs – hidden files and Quick Look.

First, let’s tackle the hidden files. Macs are full of invisible files that are used by the operating system and not meant for us to mess around with. Every once in a while, though, the need comes up. We’ve already published a tutorial explaining how to show hidden files in Finder. This doesn’t apply to Open/Save dialogs, though. And in Snow Leopard it doesn’t need to – Apple already has us covered. In any Open/Save dialog, press Command+Shift+Period(.) to make hidden files visible. Pressing this keyboard shortcut a second time will hide them again.

There might only be an occasional need to show hidden files, but Quick Look can be used frequently on a daily basis. That’s why it was so frustrating in 10.5 Leopard to not be able to Quick Look files in Open/Save dialogs. This is no longer a problem in 10.6 Snow Leopard. Select any file, press Spacebar, and a Quick Look preview will appear just like in a real Finder window.

Bonus Tip:

I recently came across a cool tip I never knew about before, so I figured why not share it here just in case you weren’t aware of it either? It’s also about Open/Save dialogs, of course, but it’s not limited to 10.6. It should work in 10.5, 10.4, and earlier as well.

Let’s say you’ve got a Finder window open, showing the contents of a folder you’re working in. Then you switch to an application like TextEdit and go to save your document in that folder. But it’s not the currently-shown directory in the dialog! Don’t start manually browsing through your hard drive to get there. You can change the directory in that Open/Save dialog by dragging your working folder from the Finder window right on top of the dialog. Confused? Give it a shot for yourself to see what I mean. You’ll be glad you did – it’s such a big time saver!

Easily resize panels in Finder’s column view to fit long file names

Ant — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:40:34 +0000

When navigating through directories in Finder’s column view, file names often get truncated because they don’t fit in the default column width. Once you know the tricks that follow, that will not longer be a problem.

It’s been all about Snow Leopard here for the past month or so, but we’re going to take a detour and go over some tips that our friends still running 10.5, 10.4, and possibly earlier can enjoy. And don’t worry, early adopters, everything below applies to 10.6 as well. Everyone wins!

Let’s say you’re drilling down into the heaps of data stored on your Mac. Finder is in column view and you’re having a tough time spotting what you’re looking for because many files with long names are getting cut off. As you probably know, you can click the little draggable handle at the bottom of each column to manually resize them individually. That’s fine, I suppose… but why do things the hard way?

To best demonstrate each of the scenarios below, go to a folder that contains one or more files/folders with names that don’t fit within the default Finder column size.

Manually resize all columns simultaneously

When you go to drag that handle at the bottom of a column, try holding Option on your keyboard at the same time. All of the columns should shrink or grow in unison as you move your mouse left or right.

Automatically resize one column at a time

Instead of dragging the column handle, just double-click it. Notice how that particular column is automatically resized to fit the longest file name in the current directory?

Automatically resize all columns at once

If you’ve got 4 or 5 columns expanded in a Finder window, perhaps only 2 or 3 of them contain files with long names. In that case, you may only want those columns to be wider. Hold Option on your keyboard and double-click any of the column handles. Each column is resized to fit the longest file name it contains.

A similar trick would be to press Shift+Option and double-click on a column handle. All expanded columns are instantly resized to match the longest file name found across all columns. For example, there might be a single column with a 50-character file name. All of your other columns would also be stretched to accommodate a 50-character file name, regardless of whether they have one or not.

How holding the Option key unleashes features in QuickTime X

Ant — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:30:50 +0000

Now that we’ve all had some time to get used to QuickTime X in Mac OS X Snow Leopard, let’s dig a little deeper into the new software. One way to do that is simply to press the Option key.

It’s always fun to find little goodies that reveal hidden features in Apple’s software. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt that goes on forever, new discoveries are made almost every day in the Mac community. And when it comes to 10.6’s QuickTime X, a single keystroke makes a few fun tips possible.

Fast forward or rewind in 0.1x increments

When you press the fast forward and rewind buttons in QuickTime X, they pick up speed at 2x, 4x, and 8x fast. That’s just fine most of the time. Other times, however, you may want more control over playback speed. When that is the case, hold down the Option key before pressing the fast forward or rewind button. Playback will speed up in 0.1x increments, thus allowing you to watch or listen at 1.5x speed, for example.

Trim video based on audio levels

Basic video trimming is new to QuickTime in 10.6 and really couldn’t be easier. The trimming window displays tiny thumbnails of video frames to help pinpoint the exact spot to cut. But what if all those frames looked awfully similar and were hard to distinguish? Again, just go to Edit > Trim and then hold down the Option key. Instead of video frame thumbnails, the video’s audio levels are shown in wave format. This makes it even easier to accurately pick a trimming point.

Instantly jump to the beginning or end

The old QuickTime Player had buttons dedicated to skipping to the beginning or end of a media file. QuickTime X, on the other hand, does not. The functionality is still there, though. You guessed it… the Option key plays a role. Press Option+Left Arrow to jump to the start and Option+Right Arrow to go to the end.

Tweaks & keyboard shortcuts for Stacks in 10.6 Snow Leopard

Ant — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:04:15 +0000

Stacks are like mini-Finder viewers built right into the Dock. The feature got a few nice improvements in Mac OS X Snow Leopard and, with some shortcuts and customizations, it can be even better.

Back in the early days of MacYourself, we published an article for 10.5 Leopard that described how to add a slick white mouse-over effect to Stacks. It’s mostly for eye candy purposes, but it does actually help emphasize the currently-selected file or folder too. While that trick seemed broken at first in 10.6 Snow Leopard, it turns out we can still get the desired effect – just in a slightly different way.

White mouse-over effect

To get an idea of what this mouse over effect looks like, there’s a way to invoke it in 10.6 without ever running a Terminal command. Simply click and hold the Stack’s Dock icon, wait a second or two, and then drag up. As long as the mouse button is still held, the white background will display. But, although this is nifty, it is clunky as well.

The real way to get the mouse-over effect involves opening Terminal (Applications > Utilities) and running these two commands (pressing Enter/Return after each one):

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilite-stack -boolean YES

killall Dock

Now all you have to do is click on a Stack in Fan or Grid mode and hover over a file/folder to see the effect. You can reverse this tweak by replacing YES with NO and running both commands again.

Creating a hybrid List/Grid view

Have you ever agonized over the choice between List and Grid views because you liked certain things from both? Maybe, just maybe, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. It’s kind of hard to explain how it looks & works, so let’s just give it a shot. In Terminal, run these commands (Enter after each line):

defaults write com.apple.dock use-new-list-stack -boolean YES

killall Dock

Take a look at a Stack in List mode. It’s kind of cool, isn’t it? Whether you choose to keep it will depend on your personal preference, but it’s a nice alternative to regular List view. Replacing YES with NO and running both commands again will bring your Mac back to normal.

Stacks keyboard shortcuts

Everyone loves a good keyboard shortcut. Luckily, there are a few of them that make Stacks even more of a pleasure to use. Starting off with the most basic ones, you can navigate between files/folders with the arrow buttons and then open one by pressing Enter/Return. Command+Enter opens the enclosing folder in a Finder window. You can also hold down the Option key when opening a file/folder (via mouse click or keyboard stroke) to keep the current Stack open in the foreground.

If you’re in Grid view or the previously-mentioned hybrid List/Grid view, you can drill down into folders within the current Stack in 10.6. But what if you want to go back to the prior parent folder without touching the mouse? Just press Command+Up on your keyboard.

Everything you need to know about MMS on your AT&T iPhone

Ant — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:18:37 +0000

Today is the big day that AT&T finally unleashed MMS (multimedia messaging service) for iPhone users. Most people are reporting success so far, while others are experiencing issues. And one issue might not be a real problem at all.

First, some background information that may help explain why it took so long for this day to come. When the iPhone was first introduced, Apple and AT&T were hoping that email would take over as the main method of sharing photos between friends & family. Email is easier on the network because wireless carriers have to maintain specialized systems just for texting. It’s also a convenient way to get images from the phone to a computer. Unfortunately, for this plan for work, the rest of the world’s phones had to follow suit and emphasize email as well. And while smartphone adoption is increasing, the mobile phone industry just hasn’t gotten there yet.

Rather than wait for everyone else to change, Apple reluctantly integrated MMS functionality into the iPhone 3.0 software update in June. Most of the world could use MMS on iPhone 3G and 3GS models right when 3.0 was released. In the U.S., however, AT&T needed more time to prepare its large network for the massive demand. Say what you want about AT&T – yes, they should have been ready in June – but at least it’s here now and working for the most part. Who knows what kind of mass hysteria would have occurred if they enabled MMS on a strained network and it completely collapsed.

How to enable MMS on your iPhone 3G or 3GS

This part couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is plug your iPhone into your PC or Mac and click the “Check For Update” button on the sync page in iTunes. A small carrier update will download and install almost immediately as long as you’re already running iPhone OS 3.1. Now, here’s where some people are having trouble. You must turn your iPhone completely off, let it sit for a few seconds, and then turn it back on in order for the update to take effect. If you skip this important step, the update will do nothing. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are getting confused and missing this part.

How to actually send MMS messages

Now that you’ve updated and restarted your iPhone, you’re ready to go! Going into the Messages application will reveal a tiny new camera icon next to the message text box. Press this button and two options will come up: “Take Photo or Video” or “Choose Existing”. It’s pretty self-explanatory from this point. Here are most, if not all, of the ways to share media and information via MMS:

Launch the Photos application and select the Camera Roll or an album of your choice. Press the button in the lower-left corner and then select up to 5 photos or videos by tapping their thumbnails one at a time. Next, press the Share button and select MMS from the menu.
Also in the Photos application, while viewing an individual photo, tap the button in the lower-left corner, and choose MMS from the menu.
Open Contacts and select one of your entries to view its details. There is a Share Contact button at the bottom of the screen – tap it and select MMS.
Launch the Maps application and pinpoint a location of your choice. It can be your current location or something you’ve searched. View that location’s information page and go to Share Location > MMS.
Launch the Voice Memos application and then record a message or select one that already exists. Press the Share button and choose MMS from the list.
In just about any application, you can copy up to 5 images at once, go to Messages, and then paste them directly into the text box for a new message.

I think that just about covers it. I successfully sent 5 pictures in a single message to a Verizon Wireless phone and it went through quickly and easily. It’s likely most AT&T iPhone users who are experiencing slow network performance will see improvements over the next couple days as usage levels go back to normal. Everyone and their entire extended family is trying this out today.

How has your iPhone MMS experience been so far? Are you going picture/video crazy or was it not really a huge priority for you?

Not digging the 3D glass Dock in 10.5 and 10.6? Enable 2D mode

Ant — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:34:10 +0000

When OS X 10.5 Leopard came out a little under 2 years ago, the Mac community was split between those who loved the new 3D glass shelf Dock and those who despised it. With a quick tweak in Terminal, everyone wins.

If eye candy and fancy reflections aren’t your thing, the Dock in 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard is not your friend. Personally, I think it’s great. But that doesn’t mean you should suffer if you happen to disagree. Both of Apple’s recent Mac operating systems feature an alternate 2D black Dock in addition to the default glass Dock. Unfortunately, the only way to see it is to move the Dock to the left or right side of the screen… or is it?

A tiny bit of OS X trickery can get you the same 2D Dock that’s displayed on the sides of the screen, even when it’s placed on the bottom. The first step is to open Terminal (Applications > Utilities). Next, copy & paste the following command and press Enter/Return:

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

Now copy & paste this command and press Enter/Return again:

killall Dock

Your Dock should temporarily disappear and then reappear within a few seconds. And this time it will be black, flat, and not reflective in any way – just like you always dreamed. For anyone who is apprehensive about mucking around with core components of Mac OS X in Terminal, have no fear. The first command merely adds a value to the Dock’s preference file which disables the 3D glass look. The second command (despite its inclusion of the word “kill”) does nothing but restart the Dock. If you ever want to go back to the way it was before, run the same exact commands in Terminal – except this time change “YES” to “NO”.

Mac browser showdown: Multi-Touch gestures in Safari vs. Firefox

Ant — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:41:52 +0000

Those big, spacious trackpads on Apple’s recent line of notebooks were built for fancy finger maneuvers. It just so happens that the two main Mac internet browsers – Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox – were built the same way.

Although a lot of people are keyboard freaks who like to touch the mouse or trackpad as little as possible, it might be time to consider going the opposite way. The functionality offered by Apple’s multi-touch MacBook trackpads is quite impressive and continues to get better with each software update. The only time I’ve been reaching for the keyboard lately is just to type letters & words, then it’s right back to the trackpad. Application switching and user interface navigation are so much smoother with the flick of a finger. Internet browsing is a great example of an area where these trackpads are being utilized.

Considering they make both the hardware and software for Macs, it’s logical that Apple would inject Safari with some multi-touch. What’s really surprising, though, is that Mozilla Firefox has taken it a step further and done even more with this technology. Firefox wins the battle of the browsers in this particular area merely because it supports more gestures at this point. But to start off, let’s go over the gestures that are currently available in both Safari 4 and Firefox 3.5.

3-Finger Swipe Left: Go back one page in the current tab’s history. It’s the same as pressing the Back button in the toolbar.
3-Finger Swipe Right: Go forward one page in the current tab’s history. Again, it’s the equivalent of pressing the Forward button.
2-Finger Pinch Together: Zoom in one level.
2-Finger Pinch Apart: Zoom out one level.

Pretty cool, right? You can even hold down the Command key while doing one of those 3-finger swipes to open the previous/next page in a new tab. Now let’s take a look at what only Firefox can do.

3-Finger Swipe Up: Instantly scroll to the top of the page.
3-Finger Swipe Down: Instantly scroll to the bottom of the page.
2-Finger Twist Left: Move to the tab to the left.
2-Finger Twist Right: Move to the tab to the right.

These are smart, time-saving gestures Apple needs to “borrow” for Safari immediately. However, there is one hitch… the twisting gestures are not enabled in Firefox by default. We need to turn those on ourselves, and here’s how:

Type “about:config” (no quotes) in Firefox’s address bar and accept the intimidating warning message that comes up.
Type “twist” in the search field or scroll down the long list until you find items that start with “browser.gesture.twist”.
Double-click the “browser.gesture.twist.left” entry and type “Browser:PrevTab”. Press OK.
Double-click the “browser.gesture.twist.right” entry and type “Browser:NextTab”. Press OK.
Double-click the “browser.gesture.twist.threshold” entry and type “40″. This adjusts the level of sensitivity and can be changed to your preference, but I found 40 to be an acceptable value. A lower number would be more erratic and a higher number would be more sluggish. Press OK.

There you have it – basic multi-touch gestures on modern MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs that enhance your internet browsing productivity in both Safari and Firefox.

Even more ways to utilize Exposé in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Ant — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:14:33 +0000

We published an article called “Cool new enhancements to Exposé in Mac OS X Snow Leopard” a couple weeks ago thinking that was all the feature had to offer, but it turns out that’s not the case. There are even more nifty tricks to learn!

As mentioned in the previous post on this topic, 10.6 Snow Leopard integrates Exposé into the Dock. All one has to do is click and hold an active application’s icon to instantly view thumbnails of all that program’s open windows. Simple enough, right? Once you’ve mastered that technique, let’s take it a step further by selecting additional apps to display at the same time.

To give you a working example, open up a couple windows in Safari, a Finder window, and a TextEdit window. Click and hold the Safari icon to display all of its open windows in Exposé. Now Command-click the Finder icon in the Dock, and then do the same for TextEdit. Notice how those apps are now displayed in Exposé too, along with Safari? You can even exclude or hide currently-shown applications in Exposé by pressing Command+Option and clicking on the Dock icon. This kind of flexibility is a great example of Apple’s attention to detail.

Next, we’re going to touch on yet another new way to start Exposé in 10.6. Most people know that pressing Command+Tab brings up the application switcher, which can cycle through open applications. While this feature is still there in Snow Leopard, it has been given some more power. Press Command+Tab to bring up the application switcher and keep Command held down. Keep it held while you press Tab to highlight a program of your choice, such as Pages. Now press the up or down arrow on your keyboard and let Command go. All of the open windows in that application are now shown in Exposé. From here you can continue to press Tab to cycle through all of your active apps within Exposé.

Alright, so now let’s say you activate Exposé one of the traditional ways, like a keyboard shortcut or active screen corner. There are a ton of windows all over the place and you want to organize them in some way. Well, that’s easy now in Snow Leopard. Simply press Command+1 to sort windows alphabetically or Command+2 to sort windows by application. Everything will shift across the screen and into place. And if that’s still not enough for you, there’s also the ability to select a window thumbnail by name. For example, typing “even” would highlight this window because its title is “Even more ways…” in your internet browser. A Finder window currently showing your Documents folder would be highlighted by typing “doc”. And if you really want to go mouse-less, all you have to do is press Enter/Return once your chosen window is selected. No clicks needed.

iPhone tips & tricks: Email attachments, call duration, and more

Ant — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:30:57 +0000

The iPhone is Apple’s hottest product – and for good reason. It’s packed full of little tips and convenient features that seem to gradually pop up over months of use.

Apple released the latest version of the iPhone and iPod touch OS (3.1) this week. While it was mostly bug fixes and minor enhancements, there is one feature that got me excited (more on that later). But on top of that, there are some cool tips & tricks left over from 3.0 that weren’t covered in our original article, “9 of the coolest lesser-known features of iPhone OS 3.0 update.” So let’s play catch up first and then get to what 3.1 brought to the table.

Data detectors in Notes and Calendar events

Mac OS X makes heavy use of data detectors, and now Apple is working the technology into the iPhone and iPod touch. When an email address, phone number, or physical address is added to a note in the Notes or Calendar application, they are automatically recognized and linked accordingly. The email address can be tapped to type a new message, the phone number can start a call, and the physical address can be pressed to view the location in Google Maps.

Show duration of recent phone calls

The iPhone logs recent calls in the Phone application by name and then groups them by date. And while it shows those two bits of information at a glance, it doesn’t list how long each call was or exactly when it took place. To view the duration of each call to a certain person on a given day, just tap the blue arrow on the right side of the screen. The next page will display the call times and lengths.

Calculator copy & paste

It might be obvious to some, but not everyone would think to utilize copy & paste in the Calculator application. And yet, there it is. Pressing and holding the display area of the calculator (towards the top) causes a little popup to show, which allows you to copy the current number into memory or paste a previously-copied number into the app. This capability makes the Calculator so much more practical than in versions 1.0 and 2.0 of the iPhone software.

Spotlight search tweaking

As we all know, Spotlight search functionality was incorporated into the iPhone and iPod touch OS in 3.0. What you may not know is that you can edit what the device searches for and how it is displayed. Going to Settings > General > Home > Search Results brings you to a screen that lets you exclude certain types of content from searches. Plus, using the handles on the right side of the screen, you can drag each category up and down to prioritize your results.

Attach more photos & videos to emails

The iPhone and iPod touch can be used to email multiple photos within a single message by going to the Photos application, pressing the button in the lower-left corner, selecting up to 5 photos/videos, and then pressing Share. That’s great, but the maximum of 5 photos/videos doesn’t always cut it. Luckily, there’s a workaround. Instead of pressing the Share button, try selecting your desired number of photos/videos and then tapping Copy. Now go to the Mail application and open a new message. Press and hold in the content area, then tap Paste. All of your copied media will transfer over to the email and can be sent off. I should mention that while this method does allow you to send more than 5 photos/videos, it probably isn’t unlimited. There must be some kind of size limit depending on your email service provider. However, I was able to send 19MB of content in one message (7 photos, 1 video). Give it a few tries to see how much you can get away with.

Save a copy of video after trimming

This is the feature I was most happy to see in iPhone OS 3.1. After capturing a video with the iPhone 3GS, users are able to “trim” or edit the video by cutting off some of the beginning & end. The only problem was that, at first, those edits were destructive. When they were saved, the original uncut video clip was overwritten. It actually stopped me from trimming video on the phone altogether. But now with the 3.1 update, Apple has added an option to “Save as New Clip” whenever a video is trimmed on the phone. It really is little things like this that make or break cool features, so I’m glad they made it right.

Are there any other iPhone or iPod touch tips & tricks out there?

7 random features found throughout Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Ant — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:28:35 +0000

Rather than focus on specific system applications like we’ve done for the past few articles, let’s take a broader look at 10.6 Snow Leopard and cover some random odds & ends.

According to our statistics, the latest version of Mac OS X is already being used by over one-third of MacYourself’s visitors. That’s a pretty darn impressive number after just one and a half weeks on the market. While our specific set of readers is not necessarily indicative of the entire Mac user base, it does mean that 10.6 is seeing rapid adoption. And to celebrate that, why not dig even deeper into the new operating system and showcase some interesting features?

1. Put Back

Have you ever sent a file or folder to the Trash and then changed your mind? In order to go back to the way things were before, you would have to manually drag the file/folder to its original place. No more! In Snow Leopard you can simply select items in the Trash and go to File > Put Back in the menu bar. All done!

2. Show date in menu bar

Previous versions of Mac OS X required a workaround to display the date in the menu bar, but 10.6 makes it only a checkbox away. Open the Date & Time pane of System Preferences and click on the Clock tab. Check the box next to “Show date” and you’ll be all set.

3. Instant trashing in Preview

Since Preview is often used to look at image or PDF files just once, Apple included a clever little trick in the program. When a file is open in Preview, press Command+Delete on your keyboard. The window will instantly close and the original file will automatically be moved to the Trash.

4. Set desktop picture from Finder

It’s common for a web browser to include a contextual menu that makes it easy to set an image as the desktop background, but what about pictures that are already on your Mac? Right-click on any image file in Snow Leopard’s Finder and a new “Set Desktop Picture” option is revealed. Much more convenient than going into System Preferences, isn’t it?

5. Expanded data detectors

Data detectors were introduced in Mail in 10.5, and 10.6 takes this helpful feature a step further. In many Apple-made apps other than Mail, you can now select a piece of information like an address, phone number, or date and right-click. The top of the contextual menu will show “Create New Contact,” “Add to Existing Contact,” “Create New iCal Event,” and/or “Show This Date in iCal” options, depending on the type of data selected.

6. Extra information in the menu bar

Here’s a fun thing to try… you know all those menu bar icons with drop-downs? Instead of just clicking on them to reveal the menu contents, press the Option key while you click. The Power menu now shows the battery condition (also known as health). The Audio menu lets you select output and input sound devices. The AirPort menu displays a bunch of technical jargon about your current wireless network. You never know when this tip will come in handy – especially the sound one.

7. Quick Look in the print queue

If you do a lot of printing on your Mac, Snow Leopard includes a useful treat. You can now use Quick Look to preview pending documents in the print queue. Select a document in the print status window and press the Spacebar to take a peek at it.

Snow Leopard’s faster, more robust Preview for PDFs & images

Ant — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:58:30 +0000

Continuing our coverage of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, we take a look at enhancements to Preview. Primarily used as a PDF and image viewer, Preview is becoming more powerful and lightweight at the same time.

The raw speed Apple has squeezed out of Preview in Snow Leopard is astounding. Opening an image or PDF is just about instantaneous and the program’s interface is snappier as well. And yet, with these performance boosts also come new and improved features. They’re mostly little things, but aren’t those the ones that always turn out to be the best in everyday use? For example, text selection in multi-column PDF documents used to be impossible. With 10.6’s version of Preview, paragraph structures are better recognized and text selection is a breeze. Not to mention the fact that importing images from cameras and scanners is easier than ever – as is proofing your work for a number of printing situations.

Another improvement worth pointing out is actually one of my favorites… the higher-quality image scaling engine. Try zooming out or resizing an image in Leopard’s Preview and you’ll find nothing but blurriness. What a disappointment! This isn’t the case in Snow Leopard, which keeps everything nice and sharp. And for those of you who found making rectangular selections aggravating in Leopard, 10.6 offers some relief. The selection’s dimensions (in pixels) are now displayed in a convenient popup and holding the Shift key down will restrict the selection to an even square.

Going back to Preview’s new features in 10.5 Leopard, annotations and markups were a big deal – especially to folks who work with PDFs on a regular basis. And they’ve been given a nice overhaul in Snow Leopard. The top toolbar now includes an Annotate button, which displays a compact toolbar at the bottom of the window. Showing different options for images and PDFs, the annotations toolbar intelligently adapts to the current document. Users can add shapes, comments, highlights, text, arrows, and customize them all with a number of settings like color and line thickness. For even more customizations, go to Tools > Show Inspector in the menu bar and click on the 4th tab.

Although it’s not quite there yet, Preview is slowly morphing into a competitor to two of Adobe’s most popular programs: Acrobat and Photoshop. I don’t expect it to ever fully match those applications in terms of power or features, but it sure has come close in 10.6 Snow Leopard and will certainly meet the needs of most casual users.

An introduction to Snow Leopard’s all-new QuickTime X player

Ant — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:58:01 +0000

Perhaps the most radical and obvious change in Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the totally revamped QuickTime X player. Taking what they learned from the iPhone’s media player, Apple has started with a clean slate on the Mac side.

Before we jump into what QuickTime X can do for us as users, it’s important to look at the program from the right perspective. Snow Leopard’s new version of QuickTime is almost like beta software. Apple decided to throw out everything that previously existed and start all over again. They did this because the code behind QuickTime 7 is old, inefficient, and not really geared towards the future of digital media. So while QuickTime X packs some promising new technology, it is a completely different project and many of the extras and pro features we’ve come to know are missing – for now. QuickTime X is about building a solid foundation for future development, and the next iteration will surely catch back up in the features department.

In the meantime, QuickTime 7 is still alive and well, and can peacefully co-exist with QuickTime X. Snow Leopard banishes it to the Applications/Utilities folder once the operating system has finished installing. If it’s not there, no problem. Just pop in that 10.6 disc, open the Optional Installs folder, and double-click the “Optional Installs.mpkg” file. The installer will give you the opportunity to re-install QuickTime 7 on your Mac (in the Applications/Utilities folder).

Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Even though QuickTime X is slimmed down, there are some interesting tidbits to share. A few of these tips also apply to prior versions of QuickTime or were previously only available in the $29.95 QuickTime Pro upgrade.

Toggling video dimensions

One of the areas where QuickTime X shines is resizing the viewing window. While making a video bigger or smaller as it was playing used to cause stutters, playback is nice and smooth in Snow Leopard. When you want to increase the size of a video in QuickTime X, a nice shortcut to remember is Command and plus (+). Decreasing the video size can be done, of course, by pressing Command and minus (-) at the same time. Even better, those with multi-touch MacBooks can take advantage of a cool trick. Using the two-finger zoom gesture launches full screen mode, and the two-finger pinch reverts back to the previous window size.

Playback control tips

Playback controls that are overlaid on top of the video frame is a big change in QuickTime X. What’s interesting is the ability to click and drag the controls box anywhere within the window. I’m not sure of the practical use of this, but perhaps it will help ease the pain of obstructing the user’s view. Aside from the visual overhaul, playback controls function a little bit differently too. The rewind and fast-forward buttons work more like a DVD player now, going 2x, 4x, and 8x fast when pressed. Holding the buttons down does nothing, unlike in QuickTime 7. And for movie files that have chapters embedded in them, there is a great-looking chapter browser that can be accessed by pressing the button with 4 squares.

Recording sound, video, and your Mac’s screen

The most exciting part about QuickTime X for a lot of people is the inclusion of advanced recording features. The File menu is now home to items for New Movie/Audio/Screen Recording. This means you can record a high-quality video from your iSight camera, a voiceover with a microphone, or a screencast of your Mac’s desktop. A small arrow-like button on the window allows you to choose video & audio settings, and then it’s as easy as pressing Record.

Video trimming

Once you’ve got that video recorded (or you’ve opened a pre-existing video) in QuickTime X, you can trim it to chop off any parts you don’t like at the beginning or end. Just like on the iPhone 3GS, it’s incredibly simple and easy to figure out. It’s almost as if QuickTime X was built specifically for YouTube.

Cool new enhancements to Exposé in Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Ant — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:45:24 +0000

Exposé was fantastic before, and with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard it just got even better. Apple has made great changes to the way it displays windows and how users can interact with them.

Snow Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X that shipped this past Friday, is chock-full of little improvements that make the overall user experience better. As one might expect, there is going to be a long series of articles coming up that explore what the new operating system has to offer. First up is Exposé, the window management feature that has received a minor overhaul in 10.6. Now organized in a simple grid and cleanly labeled with descriptive titles, Exposé’s interface is looking good.

The most touted enhancement to Snow Leopard’s version of Exposé is its integration with the Dock. Let’s say you’ve got 4 or 5 Safari windows open at the same time. It can easily get cluttered and hard to navigate between them. Now users can simply click and hold the application icon in the Dock for 1-2 seconds and Exposé will swiftly display thumbnails of all of that program’s open windows. Press the Tab key and Exposé will switch to windows from the next open app in the Dock. I’d just like to add that this functionality is pretty darn awesome. The spotlight over the active icon is a nice touch too.

Another thing Snow Leopard brings to Exposé is Quick Look. That’s right… hover over a window’s thumbnail and press the space bar. A full-size preview of that window’s contents will slide to the forefront. Then you can use the arrow keys to navigate between window previews. This is such a time-saver when you’ve got a ton of similar-looking windows open at the same time.

It isn’t just active windows that get to play here, either. Minimized windows get their own designated area in Exposé too, towards the bottom of the screen. They are shrunken down and separated from the viewable windows, but they can be zoomed in and clicked on just the same. Speaking of minimizing windows, Snow Leopard offers yet another treat to improve window management. Going to the Dock pane in System Preferences will reveal a new option to “minimize windows into application icon.” This allows minimized windows to be sucked right into the program’s icon instead of accumulating one after another on the right side of the Dock. A small group of Dock neat freaks are high-fiving somewhere.

A new design and features for MacYourself’s 1st anniversary

Ant — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:03:48 +0000

This week marks MacYourself’s first full year on the web and we couldn’t be happier with how well it’s gone so far. Today we’re unveiling a new and improved site to better serve our loyal visitors.

This is a day we’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. It’s been many months in the making (yup, we’re terribly slow) and now is finally the time to let it loose! We are really appreciative of all the people who visit this site on a regular basis and hope you find even more to like now. With that said, MacYourself’s new layout was created with a few things in mind, so let’s go over some of the improvements:

Visual facelift

First, the site was in need of a visual facelift. The original design was headed in the right direction, but never quite looked finished. So we decided to start over again and incorporate some of the things that worked originally. Think of it as our Snow Leopard – not radically different, but certainly a lot better. The pieces were mostly there before, now they’re just refined and polished to create a better overall product. And, even better yet, the site is leaner. Each page is 10-20% smaller in size than before, which means faster loading times for you.

Showcasing older content

Second, there needed to be a better way to showcase older content. We’re proud of the articles we’ve published over the past year, and just because they’re no longer on the home page doesn’t mean they should be hidden from our readers. Now there are Macintosh, iPod & iPhone, and News & Opinion links on the main navigation to filter out the stuff you’re not interested in. The featured content section in the sidebar now includes the most popular posts, some of our favorite posts, and the most recent posts in one easy-to-navigate place. The search function has been improved to display more accurate results as well.

Subscribing to MacYourself

Third, we wanted to make MacYourself’s RSS, email, and Twitter subscription options more prominent. Some folks still prefer the manual “bookmark and check” method and that’s just fine. For everyone else, there are now 3 buttons that make it easier for you to stay up-to-date with our latest articles right on the top of every page.

Adding interactivity

Finally, our goal was to increase the level of interaction readers have with us and each other. The key to any website’s success is an active and enthusiastic community. We’ve always allowed (and encouraged) comments on our articles, but they were a little hard to follow before. With the new layout, the comments section of each post has been overhauled to be more condensed and easier to read. Another thing we’ve added is a poll in the sidebar. It’s interesting to hear other peoples’ points of view, so every couple weeks we’ll be updating that poll question and inviting you to voice your opinion.

Share your thoughts

There are a ton of other little improvements and changes throughout the site, but you don’t need to be bothered with those. The most important things are that it looks better, loads faster, and is more user friendly. We hope you feel the same way, so please tell us what you think in the comments! It’s not too late to make tweaks if there are some better ideas out there. Thanks again for being a MacYourself reader – we look forward to getting back in the swing of things with Snow Leopard tips & tricks in the coming days, weeks, and even months! There’s a whole lot of new stuff to cover.

And so MacYourself is born…

Search for .plist and other system files with Leopard’s Spotlight

Ant — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:37:27 +0000

Although Leopard’s Spotlight search function is more powerful than the one found in Tiger, some of that power is hidden. Searching for OS X system files, for instance, can only be done when special parameters are set.

Spotlight is configured out of the box to produce results that include the folders and file types that the average Mac user searches for on a regular basis. It’s absolutely the right way to go for everyday routine searches, but what about when you want to dig a little deeper? The most common example of this situation would be trying to find an OS X preference file (.plist). Or maybe you’re attempting to track down your Parallels virtual machine disk image (.hdd).

If you’ve ever tried to find one of these with Spotlight in Leopard, you were likely left scratching your head. This is because Leopard excludes Mac system files from search results in an effort to prevent users from unknowingly screwing up their computers. However, if you know what you’re doing you can easily accomplish this task with a few extra clicks.

The first step, of course, is to open a new Finder window and type your search term in the Spotlight text box. For my demonstration, I will type “com.apple”. Notice that nothing really comes up for this term in the results.
In the upper-right corner of the window, click the tiny plus (+) button next to Save. A new menu will display directly below.
Click on the menu (which most likely says “Kind”) and select “Other”.
A window with a long, long list of attributes will pop up. Type “sys” in the search box and, once “System files” is listed in the results, check the box under In Menu. Click OK.
“System files” should now be selected in the Finder drop-down menu. Select “Include” in the menu next to it and your Mac’s previously-hidden files will be populated in the search results.

There you have it… simple enough, right? Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s possible to configure Spotlight to automatically include system files every time you make a search. You will have to press plus (+), choose “System files”, and select “Include” from the Finder window every time. If anyone with more knowledge on the topic can prove me wrong, please do so in the comments! It would be great to figure out how to cut out these extra steps in future searches.

Apple makes mistakes, but they eventually do the right thing

Ant — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:12:14 +0000

Although they make some minor missteps every now and then, history proves Apple really does listen to their customers. They may be slow to act, but they admit when they’re wrong and ultimately make things right.

Always being in the spotlight has been both a blessing and a curse for Apple. Their products make a big splash when they’re unveiled, but with that comes intense scrutiny from consumers and members of the media. Since they’re constantly under a microscope, there is little room for error before a major fuss is raised. Sometimes it’s a whole lot of commotion about nothing and other times it’s completely warranted. It’s during those times that Apple really shines.

Over the years, Apple has shown a great deal of respect and appreciation for their loyal customers. People often remember mistakes the company has made, but rarely do they look at how Apple has worked to rectify those tricky situations. Nobody is perfect, and when innovation and progress are a company’s core values, there are bound to be occasional misjudgments. When the Apple community is legitimately irked about something, the folks in Cupertino listen and do the right thing. A quick look at their recent history supports this argument:

iPhone price cuts

Back in the Fall of 2007, Apple announced a $200 price cut for the original iPhone. Just two months after it went on sale, customers could get the same device for 33% of its initial cost. While this was great for future iPhone buyers, many early adopters were enraged. They felt ripped off and betrayed for “falling for” Apple’s scheme. In response to the backlash, CEO Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to all iPhone customers. He stated that Apple believed the price cut was in everyone’s best interest, but they admittedly should be more appreciative of their most hardcore loyalists. “Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these,” Jobs wrote.

As a result, they offered a $100 Apple Store credit to everyone who bought an iPhone at the time. Was it a complete refund? No, but that would have been unreasonable to expect. Most companies would have told customers to pound sand because “that’s the breaks.” Instead, Jobs continued, “We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.”

Mac notebook gripes

Apple’s line of unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros were generally well-received when they were introduced last October because of their innovative new features and industrial design. It wasn’t all fine and dandy in the Apple community, though. A small, but vocal segment of users were infuriated by the lack of a FireWire port on the 13″ model and the absence of a matte screen option on all models except the 17-inch. Media professionals who stuck with Macs for years declared they would never buy another computer from Apple until these omissions were fixed. Apple remained quiet, but they were hearing these complaints loud and clear. When it came time to refresh the notebooks a few months later, the new 13″ MacBook Pro sported a FireWire 800 port. And just a couple weeks ago, Apple added a built-to-order option for 15″ MacBook Pros that replaces the standard glossy screen with an anti-glare matte display.

The MobileMe fiasco

This was a big one – and rightly so. Apple’s launch of MobileMe, the updated version of its .Mac service, was a disaster last summer. There were outages for days, if not weeks, which meant customers could not reliably access their email, calendars, contacts, etc. For a paid service that costs $99 a year, this was the ultimate worst case scenario – and Apple was well aware of it. In an email to employees, Steve Jobs again addressed the company’s troubles. He admitted MobileMe was not ready for primetime and that it was a mistake to launch at the same time as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software, and App Store. Too much of Apple’s resources were tied up to handle everything at the level of quality they expect from themselves, he said.

“The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about internet services. And learn we will,” Jobs conceded. The company made some internal structural changes and the service problems were resolved over time. Most importantly, Apple sent out letters to customers informing them that 60 days of free service were added to their account subscriptions to make up for the rocky start.

Wrap-up

In case there is any confusion, the point of this article is not to shout from the rooftops that Apple is the greatest company in the world. It’s merely meant to point out that, although they make people upset with some of their decisions, they eventually do the right thing. It’s not just that Apple is upfront about many of their shortcomings, it’s also that they take action to prove their appreciation for their customers. They’re often sluggish to do so, but better late than never.

Navigate Mac OS X dialog boxes using only your keyboard

Ant — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:22:18 +0000

Recent switchers from the Windows world might get frustrated at the Mac operating system’s apparent anti-keyboard bias when it comes to dialog boxes. The option to Tab through buttons is there – just not by default.

Have you ever had a dialog box pop up on your Mac and then need to move your mouse cursor away from whatever you were doing to select one of the options in the window? For example, every time a document is closed without being saved first, a message is displayed asking if you’d like to Save, Don’t Save, or Cancel. Or maybe you’re trying to quit Safari with a bunch of windows still open and you’re asked if you want to quit anyway. The answer is obvious – everyone has experienced this hundreds, if not thousands, of times while using their computer.

While Mac users have to move their cursor and point to a button, Windows users are able to use the Tab key on their keyboard to move from one button to the next in these types of dialog boxes. As it turns out, Mac users can do the same thing. Apple just has it disabled by default for some unknown reason.

In the Keyboard & Mouse section of System Preferences there is a Keyboard Shortcuts tab. The bottom portion of that window contains a “Full keyboard access” area for “In windows and dialogs, press Tab to move the keyboard focus between…” The default option in Mac OS X is “Text boxes and lists only,” but selecting “All controls” will give us the functionality we’re looking for. And that’s all there is to it.

The next time you come across a dialog box you will find one button filled with blue. Pressing Enter/Return will activate this button. Pressing Tab on your keyboard, however, will generate a blue glow around another button. Continuing to press Tab will cycle through all of the options in that window. When the blue glow surrounds the menu option you want to select, press Space on your keyboard to activate it. It is important to remember that Enter will always choose the button with the blue fill, while Space chooses the button you’ve tabbed to with the blue glow. It all sounds way more complicated than it really is, so just give it a try! This tip is a huge time saver and will undoubtedly increase your productivity on a regular basis.