I get excited everytime Apple, Inc. releases a new version of Safari, because usually it is a worthy contribution to web browser interface design. Safari 4 is no exception with the inclusion of Top Sites (pictured above), which will undoubtedly be handy for most, Cover Flow search of both the History and Bookmarks, and the replacement of tabs on the top of the browser window. While some of my pet peeves with Safari remain, such as the inability to open a new tab automatically when clicking a link (it requires you to hold the Command key or download a 3rd party plug-in called Saft).
As with every release of Safari, I will be using Safari 4 as my default browser until I get to a site that requires Firefox or I get fed up with it altogether and just switch back over to Firefox. The quickness of Safari to load websites is still a big plus, the browser also loads way faster than Firefox on my Macbook Pro. The user experience is fantastic in Apple, Inc.’s new offering, but please give advanced users more options. For instance, allow the user to move the tabs back to where everyone is used to them being. Overall, Safari 4 is a good contribution to web apps, but Firefox still remains king in the eyes of developers.
For Apple Inc. information about Safari 4, visit the official site.
I thought my Applecare was worthless to me. Months after I purchased a MacBook Pro I was involved in a bicycle accident that damaged the outer casing of the computer (a bump on the corner by the Magsafe). Several years have passed without any issues to the MacBook Pro technically, except the overheating issue that is problematic of all MacBook Pro 1st Generation models. The Macbook Pro has started to produce video glitches in certain windows at random after begin turned on for several hours and heating up (iStat Pro shows the GPU at 180 degrees). This would suggest that possibly the video card is overheating and producing errors in the display. Apple Hardware Test confirms the heat sensor on at least component is malfunctioning.
So I send my Macbook Pro into Apple for repairs and they call me back to say that the exterior damages to the MacBook Pro are causing the video glitches to occur, because of shock damage. I asked the lady on the phone what visual evidence Apple had to suggest the logic board itself was damaged in the impact from three years ago. She had none and said she did not need any evidence. I asked her how I know that someone even opened the case to look at the logic board. She had no reply. So now I am a student living off Federal loans and I now have a screwed up MacBook Pro I use to make video art with without any way of purchasing a machine to make my artwork. In the following months, I think my Macbook Pro may die from excessive overheating, a problem Apple, Inc. has refused to acknowledge in this particular model of MacBook Pro.
So when you are in line drooling over the newest iPod or MacBook let this be a lesson for you. Wait for the next generation and always purchase Applecare. You will probably find structural flaws in the system architecture without the first year, every Apple Product has a 1 year limited warranty.
When the Macbook Pro came back to my local Apple Store, I complained to the Genius there and he replied that it was ridiculous the third party repair warehouse it was sent to refused to fix the computer, wanting to charge me $1300 for a new logic board, casing and fans. “The buck has to stop somewhere” he says. I agreed. He looked over the computer and ordered a new logic board and fans for it.
A week and a half later and now I am sitting in my bed with the MacBook Pro on my lap, I believe it has an updated logic board in it and the same Apple Genius reassured me that he tested the thermal paste and dusted the insides before he put the Macbook Pro back together. The dust was probably to blame he said. iStat Pro is reading the fans running at 1645rpm @ 126 degrees with Firefox and a few other Apps open. Time to upgrade to 2GB RAM and when my Applecare runs out this summer, a 200GB hard drive.
A quick tip suggested by my good friend Mr. Roberts is how to make screenshots in OS X using keyboard commands. There are three different types of screenshots available: fullscreen, region, and window.
Fullscreen
Hold down Command + Shift and press 3 to take a screenshot. A screenshot is placed on your Desktop starting with the name Picture 1.jpg. If you install third party system preferences tools like Deeper you can specify the file format and save location for screenshots.
Region
Hold down Command + Shift and press 4 and a crosshair will appear as the cursor. Click and drag a rectangle to specify a region of the screen for the screenshot.
Window
Do the same command as Region (Cmd+Shift+4) and then press Spacebar and the crosshair will turn into a Camera icon. Now you can specify a certain Window that would make a mighty fine screenshot.
Don’t Make a Temporary File!
Cmd+Control+Shift+3 will make a screenshot and copy it to the clipboard. Cmd+Control+Shift+4 copies a region to the clipboard.
If you have any Apple tips, e-mail them to steveblue@iuseapple.com
Here we go again, my new cell phone the G’zOne Boulder made by Casio is not supported in iSync.
I can’t sync my contacts, calendar, or browse the contents of the phone via Bluetooth. I had a similar problem with my last LG Cell Phone. Why doesn’t Apple, Inc. treat cell phones like they do digital camera support?
OS X Doesnt Support the G'zOne Boulder
I decided that I wanted a cell phone that wouldn’t fall apart on me and the Boulder was free so, “why not?” I thought. The digital compass will be great for my adventurer lifestyle, the stop watch good for timing long exposures with my DSLR, and the LED flashlight could come in handy. The phone can also take a dunk in water and come out unscathed.
No luck with BitPim either. If I find a method to connect the G’zOne Boulder to OS X I will post a tutorial.
The typical OS X menubar is pretty functional. Several items in System Preferences allow you to display a Menubar Icon (Displays, Bluetooth, Network, Sound, and Energy Saver to name a few) for quick access to system settings. There are many Applications available that enhance the Menubar, adding additional functionality, while using very few system resources.
Notice how I’ve added an Eject Button, a Network Monitor (available through Little Snitch), an Audio Controller called Soundflower that allows me to reroute System Audio, and a Fan Speed Controller for my overheating MacBook Pro called smcFanControl to the Menubar? You can do the same thing. Most, if not all MenuBar items are just like any other Application. By the way, if you haven’t already you should tell Finder to display file extensions (Open Finder, Navigate to Finder -> Preferences and Select “Show All File Extensions”). This isn’t necessary, but always a good idea.
Just download the Menubar Application you want, unzip it and drag whatever is unzipped to the Applications: Utilities folder (This is just the preferable folder for me to put them, you could even create a New Folder in Applications called “Menubar Items”). Double click the Application to open it for the first time. Sometimes a Menubar will have an option already built in to load the Application at Startup or Login. Sometimes they don’t. If you navigate to System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items, you can manually add an Application to load when you Login.
Some Menubar items cost money, but many of them are available for free! Super OS X Menubar Items has a superb listing of available Menubar applications, although this site has not been updated for some time.
When you are finished installing your Menubar Items, you can rearrange them by holding Command and dragging the icon. Some downloadable Menubar Items cannot be handled in this fashion.
Lately I’ve been accidentally hitting Cmd + Space. This of course activates Spotlight, the built-in Search function of the Finder. Every time it happens I’m reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer gets the idea to become morbidly obese so he can work from home on disability, only to find his fingers are too chubby to hit one key at a time. “To continue press any key… Any Key? Where’s The Any Key?”
There’s a simple fix for this problem. The answer is to reassign the keyboard shortcut for Spotlight. Open System Preferences (found in the Apple Menu) and click Keyboard & Mouse. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts Tab. Scroll down the List until you see “Show Spotlight search field”. The screen should look like this:
Double click the Cmd+Space across from “Show Spotlight Search field”. This should highlight the entry. Now perform whatever keyboard command you want to replace Cmd+Space. I recommend Control + Space. Hold down Control key and Press Spacebar.
There, you’re done! Spotlight can now be opened using Control + Space instead of Cmd + Space. You can use this method to change any Keyboard Shortcut.
Apple, Inc. released iTunes 8 on September 9th, alongside a new line of iPods. New iPods include a one size fits all 120GB iPod Classic, new colors for the iPod Shuffles, an all new design for the iPod Nano (8GB, 16GB, and accelerometer inside), and of course a redesign for the iPod Touch, improving the device with GPS and Speaker at a lower price. But what is a new iPod without a new version of iTunes? The answer to what is new in iTunes 8 is a short list. Apple basically used this revision of the popular music player to rearrange the interface, add new visualizations, while adding one new feature called Genius Playlists.
Below is a Step by Step Guide to What’s New in iTunes 8.
The New List View
List View is basically a combination of List and Album View from iTunes 7, along with the Genre, Artist, Album Browser built in. This view combines all of my favorite ways of browsing music in iTunes into one simple interface. Sometimes I ask the question, why do I need any other view?
I can make the album covers visible or invisible by clicking the arrow by the Artwork Column.
The New Album View
For those who regularly listen to entire albums, this is the view for you. I like this view as opposed to Cover Flow for viewing Albums, but many people may find this view to be superfluous.
One feature in Album View is the ability to rate an entire album at once. Just Control+Click or Right Click the album and rate in the menu.
Genius Sidebar and Playlists
For those who regularly purchase music from the iTunes Store this new feature may be really useful. But, many people may find the Genius Sidebar annoying or even useless. The Genius Sidebar can be turned on by clicking the Arrow Icon Next to the Genius icon in the bottom right corner of the iTunes 8 window. iTunes then logs me into the iTunes store and analyzes my iTunes library. One big drawback to using the Genius Sidebar is that I give up all privacy regarding the contents of my iTunes library so that Apple can analyze my music and recommend new songs. For those who have privacy concerns, there is an easy method to turn off Genius Playlists entirely outlined below.
Whenever I click on a song, the Genius Sidebar will recommend tracks available at the iTunes Store that are musically like the one I already have selected.
While a song is selected, if I click on the Genius Icon in the bottom right, iTunes will then make a Genius Playlist from tracks in my library based on my selection. What is a Genius Playlist? Basically, it is a playlist with songs that are in the same genre or have a similar sound to the song I selected.
The Genius Sidebar is anything but a Genius. I thought a R.E.M. track may reveal artists who were influenced heavily by R.E.M. or even newer unknown bands who had the same low-fi sound that R.E.M had in their beginnings. Instead, all that was recommended to me was more R.E.M., what’s popular, and big name alternative/pop bands who anybody that listens to R.E.M. probably already knows. Why would I want to know what’s popular when I am looking up a band who isn’t popular? I’m not saying R.E.M. isn’t popular, but when I want a recommendation based on a relatively unknown Indie band, give me more up and coming Indie bands. I laughed when the artist Seal was recommended to me when I had R.E.M. selected. The Genius Playlists are alright, but why should I have to give up my privacy to activate a feature that sorts tracks already in my playlist? This is what companies like Google and Apple are asking of us now, sacrifice a little privacy for more features.
Apple, Inc.’s Genius Sidebar is based on a rather simple algorithm. That combined with my privacy concerns influenced me to turn off the Genius Sidebar, but only after Apple got a look at everything I listen to. For those who have privacy concerns, there is an easy way to turn off the Genius Sidebar. Choose Turn Off Genius in the iTunes 8 Store Menu.
A New Visualization
It’s been several updates since Apple, Inc. gave their customers new visualizations in iTunes. But wait, is there only one new visualization? The new visualization is a psychedelic space age warp through black holes that transform into molecular patterns of light. I’m happy that the new visualization doesn’t have the Apple logo appear every so often, but c’mon, where are the rest of them Apple? Haven’t you hired people to play around in Quartz in the last few years? Turning on the Visualization is simple, make sure iTunes Visualizer is selected in the View -> Visualizer Menu. Then Select Show Visualizer in the View Menu to turn it on (or hold Apple / Cmd and Press T). Select Hide Visualizer in the same menu to turn it off.
HD Content in iTunes
Another feature upgrade is the addition of HD video downloads from the iTunes Store. NBC has hopped back on the iTunes Store with some new offerings. HDTV Shows go for $2.99/ show. Or I can purchase a Season Pass for around $36.99 (based on the cost of Lost Season 4). Some shows like Battlestar Galactica are purchasable by Episode Only.
This is a nice feature for those of us who own a Mac but do not own a HDTV. It’s even good for anyone who has a HDTV but doesn’t have access to cable or satellite. Most Apple monitors can handle HD Quality video these days, so this feature is ripe for anyone without a HDTV and for someone who has the Hard Drive space to support it. Looks like I’ll be burning DVDs to backup my content.
Enhanced Accessibility
iTunes now supports the built in VoiceOver in Leopard for the visually impaired. Why iTunes didn’t have this before, nobody knows. Windows XP and Vista Users can use Windows-Eyes.
What’s So Different Then?
The real changes in iTunes 8 do not mean new features. Instead Apple, Inc. chose to tighten up the interface of the iTunes Application, hopefully making it easier for everyone to use. But what that means is that some of the functions we know and love about iTunes are now located in a completely different place in the Application. The rest of this blog post is devoted to showing where several functions like Disc Burning settings, Export Library, etc can now be found in the menus. I will take you through menu by menu to show what is different in iTunes 8.
File Menu & Library Import and Export
A lot of functionality has been placed in the Library Submenu of the File Menu. Everything to do with Importing, Exporting, Burning a Backup to Disc has been consolidated in the Library Submenu of the File Menu. Also located here is Consolidate Library, which used to be in the Advanced Menu. I can also Import and Export Playlists in the Library Submenu and Burn a Playlist to Disc.
Show Duplicates
“Show Duplicates” moved from the Edit Menu to the File Menu. Choose File -> Show Duplicates. I can browse only the Duplicates and delete the ones I don’t need. When I am done, I just click Show All at the bottom of the screen.
View Menu
The View Menu now reflects the three new View modes. The MiniStore is no longer available (and good riddance), so Apple + M will minimize iTunes now like any other Application. The Browser and Album Covers can be turned on and off in this menu. All of the Visualizer settings are located here, just now at the bottom of the menu. Overall, the View Menu is tighter and easier to use.
Show Current Song
A new feature in the View Menu is “Show Current Song”. Suppose I just downloaded a bunch of new music and I am listening to a song, I don’t know who it is, and I’ve navigated away from the song. I can choose “Show Current Song” from the View Menu to take me there.
Controls Menu
The Controls Menu used to come before the View menu, but now it’s the other way around. Repeat options are now in their own Submenu and Shuffle now has its own Submenu too.
Store Menu
“Create an iMix” has moved to this menu. I can turn Genius on and off here. “Check for Purchases” is now called “Check for available downloads”.
Advanced Menu
Everything is pretty much the same here, although Consolidate Library is now in the File Menu, Convert Selection to MP3 (or whatever file format I have chosen) is now called “Create MP3 Version”, and the “Convert Selection for iPod/iPhone” and “Convert Selection for Apple TV” options that used to be available when I Ctrl +Clicked a Movie are now listed in this menu too.
iTunes 8 Preferences
Several items have been reorganized in the iTunes Preferences. Press Cmd + , or Choose File -> Preferences to see all the changes. The “Syncing” Tab is now called “Devices”. The Podcasts Tab is now exclusively found in the Podcasts View, when I press the Settings… Button at the bottom of the iTunes window.
General
Several options have moved or have been deleted from the General menu. The “Importing” Tab that used to be in the Advanced Section is now at the bottom of the General Menu. Here I can choose what happens when I insert a CD and I can change the Import settings from AAC to MP3, or whatever else I want.
Playback
All of the Shuffle settings have been moved into the Controls Menu Bar and Smart Shuffle is now missing. An option to “Keep movie window on top of all other windows” has been added.
Store
The “Automatically create playlists when buying song collections” is gone.
Parental
The only new Parental Preference is to “Show content ratings in library”, which is turned on by default.
Devices
The “Forget All Remotes” Button has been moved to the Devices Tab from the Advanced General Tab, as well as the options to “Look for iPhone and iPod Touch Remotes”, “Disable iTunes volume control for remote speakers”, and “Allow iTunes control from remote speakers”.
Advanced
The Advanced tab has shrunk and many of its options dispersed among the other Preferences. Importing Preferences are now located in the General tab and the Burning Preferences that used to be here now appear everytime I attempt to burn a CD. Everything else is pretty much the same, but rearranged. A “Reset all dialog warnings” option is now available.
Get Info on a Song or Multiple Items
Several Get Info options were added in iTunes 7 so nothing much has changed here, with the exception that Get Info for Multiple Items now has a similar tabbed interface to the standard Get Info. All of the Options like Gapless Playback, Remember Position, and Part of a Compilation are still there.
Movie Playback and Conversion
I can no longer Right Click or Ctrl + Click a movie to Convert it for an iPod or Apple TV.
These functions are now located in the Advanced Menu. Video playback sizes can now be selected in the View Menu.
Burning a CD
The overall process for burning a CD is the same. Make a playlist of the songs I want on the CD, then Ctrl + Click the Playlist Name and Select “Burn Playlist to Disc” or select File -> Library -> Burn Playlist to Disc from the Menubar. Or Select the Playlist and the Burn to Disc button appears in the bottom right of the iTunes Window, Click it. When I do that, the Burning Preference Window Appears. If I want a Gapless Album, meaning there will not be a pause in between tracks, I must Select none in the Gap between songs dialog. Then I click Burn.
Conclusion
Well there you have it, a comprehensive guide to everything that is new in iTunes 8. Is it worth upgrading right away? I hardly think so, but it probably will be time for everyone to upgrade sometime before iTunes 9 comes out, since it may take some readjustment to figure out where Apple placed everything. Maybe iTunes 9 will reinvent the wheel, but I hardly doubt it, since it seems like Apple is fine tuning the interface and maturing the iTunes Store. I have to give up my privacy to use the main new Genius feature, something I refuse to let happen. So, the only new features that I can see really being useful for the privacy advocate are the Enhanced Accessibility for the Visually Impaired and the HDTV Shows now available from the iTunes Store. But then again, I just use iTunes to listen to and sort my music collection.
I hope this guide helped you in the adjustment to the new iTunes 8.
Step by Step Guide to What’s New in iTunes 7 from 2006.
Please comment below if you need more help.
September 14th, 2008 in
Apple How To,
Apple Pro Video,
Beginner OS X,
Cool Mac Tips,
OS X Leopard 10.5,
OS X Tiger 10.4,
Quicktime,
System Preferences,
iPhone,
iPod,
iPod Touch,
iTunes |
6 Comments
iUseApple.com was down today while I switched servers and performed a complete design overhaul on the blog. The current design originally created by Deniart reflects OS X Leopard and should bring a familiar look and feel for all Mac users.
New features include a Subscribe button, a familiar Spotlight Search bar, a Category tree structure to make browsing for topics easier, and a Related Posts feature. Also new to iUseApple.com is the Tell A Friend Feature, located at the end of every post. Now anyone can e-mail, IM, create a blog post, or use Facebook and Twitter to tell someone else about iUseApple posts.
New posts will be appearing soon, including a Step by Step Guide to iTunes 8. Other posts appearing soon will be How Tos concerning using a WiiMote to control OS X and playing Vinyl on a Mac. More tips and tricks will be appearing soon too! What would you like to learn about?
iUseApple.com solely operates on donations and contributions from readers. Please join in on the conversation in the iUseApple Ning Community, comment on posts, and from time to time if you could also click a link or two: that will help iUseApple stay online in the years to come.
What do you think about the new iUseApple.com blog design? Please leave comments below.
September 13th, 2008 in
iUseApple |
2 Comments
I have been researching how people read the news online for the past year. I even created a video game where the player can shoot down news headlines with a Wii Remote and then read the news stories. Recently, I found one of the coolest news viewers I have ever seen.
This news reader is an Add-On for Firefox called PicLens and guess what, it looks stunning on a Mac!
To install PicLens, Choose Tools -> Add-Ons in the Menubar while Firefox is open. Click the Get Add-Ons Tab. Search for “PicLens” I needed to click “See All Results (2)” for some reason. Click the Add to Firefox Button in the next window. Follow the On Screen instructions. You will have to Restart Firefox.
PicLens will add an icon in the top right next to the Google Search Bar. Click this logo to start PicLens. The first time you open, instructions will appear. You will be placed in the Discover Category. Click Discover in the top left to see all the various categories. The pictures will take you to news stories when double clicked, a single click shows a caption for the photo. Movies have a small icon and will play right in the window. Watch out for advertisements, they are clearly marked.
August 6th, 2008 in
Cool Mac Tips,
OS X Leopard 10.5,
OS X Tips,
Quartz Composer | tags:
firefox,
international news,
news,
os x,
rss,
rss reader,
us news |
5 Comments
I’ve been a straight up Mac user for several years now and gosh darn it, I don’t know squat about Windows Vista and my memories of Windows 2000 are fleeting. So when we had to purchase Windows XP, I was left like a bewildered moose on the highway.
Why the hell would any Mac user want to install Windows in the first place? Well, there’s that ever elusive Application that is only available for Windows. Games are the likely culprit to want to dual boot using Boot Camp. For us, it was 3D Studio Max. We shelled out $199 for a fresh copy of Windows XP Home Edition, installed it, then re-read the Minimum Requirements for 3DS Max and saw Professional Edition! I almost freaked out, after two hours of returning to the World of Microsoft, I already screwed something up! Sometimes people call me a Mac Genius, but when it comes to a PC, it’s most likely that I’ll crash and burn the thing. Why is XP still $199 when it’s five years old? A brand new copy of Leopard is only $129.99 and there’s no Home, Professional, Media, etc, it’s all one great package. I couldn’t believe that there is no way to view a .DOC straight out of the box with Windows. What a crock of… at least 3DS Max turned out to run fine under Home Edition on the Mac.
So, if you were looking for a tutorial on how to install Windows on an Intel Mac, just print the directions like Apple tells you to. It was easy, but for me it required that I back up, reformat my drive, install OS X, run Boot Camp, install Windows, install the drivers for Windows, then Migrate my Apps and User information from the backed up copy of OS X to the fresh copy.
Overall, despite running into the occasional boned headed question, “Why’d they make Windows so incompatible with everything out of the box?”, my experience with Windows on a Mac only corroborates what I’ve read on blogs that the particular MacBook Pro 15″ Intel Core Duo probably once was the fastest way to run Windows on any notebook at the time. I say notebook because a MacBook Pro isn’t a laptop. Of course that’s what Apple Geniuses are programmed to tell you when you take an Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro 15″ into the store, complaining of it overheating, running over 190 degrees F. “If you computer doesn’t shut off, it’s not overheating.” Looks like when Applecare runs out on this particular MacBook Pro, I’ll be taking it into the nearest Apple Reseller to have them install a 500GB Hard Drive and fix the overheating issue, two things Apple Inc. refuses to do to my laptop. It will void my warranty if I try to do these two things. I do not trust any hardware company any longer.
Two weeks later…
It’s already happened, Windows XP became infected with one of the most malicious viruses I’ve ever seen on one of my computers (but not on other people’s). I was locked out of Task Manager, my Internet Connection was clogged by the 362 Spy ware Apps that downloaded in less than ten minutes. I tried to cure this with AdAware and another Spy ware App, and to no avail, the virus would not be quarantined. I gave up and decided to backup the minimal amount of files I had accumulated and reinstall my copy of Windows XP.
The installation began as expected and when the installer was attempting to load, I encountered an error. the error message had a bunch of 0×00000000s in it. Just tell me in plain English! I rebooted and tried again, again, again, and then a fifth time. Discussion forums told me to copy my XP Install Disc to another burned disc and try again. The discussion pointed to an issue with the Superdrive and the Windows XP Install Disc. Why hasn’t Apple addressed this? Apple will not give support concerning the install of Windows as detailed in the Boot Camp Installation Guide. The disc wouldn’t boot (I must’ve screwed something up in the burning process). I then wanted to throw my MacBook Pro across the room, so I went for a bike ride and came back and tried again. Bingo! Windows installed fine. Now to reinstall all my programs, settings, and four hours later Windows is back to it’s crappy self.
