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Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Apple Crushes Black Friday Sales Expectations
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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Much to the surprise of no one, Apple beat market expectations for Black Friday sales, outpacing a typical Friday by more than four times. These figures, according to website 9 To 5 Mac, were taken from a screenshot of Apple's retail inventory system, and are not official. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster also believes these projections as he has anecdotal evidence that he and his team collected by physically standing in an Apple Store and tallying up sales. According to his estimates, Apple sold approximately 10.1 Macs per hour, and 14.8 iPads per hour, which translates into a 28% increase in Mac sales year over year, and a 68% increase in iPad sales over last year.
All of this is only speculation however, as Apple does not report sales figures until the current fiscal quarter has ended. However, the website ComScore.com is reporting that total online Black Friday spending totaled $816 Million this year; a 26% increase from a year ago. ComScore.com is also reporting that Apple was the fifth most visited website on Black Friday, behind Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and Target.
As a whole, it's been widely reported that Black Friday sales were up across the board, with Amazon stating that they sold four times more Kindles than last year's Black Friday, without actually divulging any numbers. It will be interesting to see how many Kindles have been sold since the Kindle Fire was released, and how those sales stack up against the iPad.
Apple's North Carolina iCloud Facility Not Generating Jobs
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| Photo Credit: The Washington Post |
Maiden is a small town in North Carolina, known mainly for its furniture production before the recession hit in 2008. After falling on hard times, locals looked forward to Apple building a $1 Billion data center just outside of town, with the hope that the facility would help employ local residents, and possibly put a dent in the 10.5% unemployment rate which has stifled the region. Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
The Washington Post is reporting that the huge new iCloud data center Apple built employs only 50 people full-time. The heavy lifting that would have been done by hundreds or possibly thousands of people in the past, are now done by hundreds or thousands of servers, running software written mostly in Silicon Valley.
Local authorities hope that Apple's presence will increase the local tax-base, and therefore allow the town to lower taxes for residents. People remain skeptical however, as they were hoping for a more direct injection into the local economy in the form of jobs.
This scenario is not unique to Apple, as Google has also opened a data center in North Carolina, while Facebook has recently begun construction of a new data center to complement its not-yet-completed facility in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Google's $600 Million facility employs over 100 people, and Facebook has announced that only 30 people have been hired full-time at their Rutherford facility. This is probably not what North Carolina residents had in mind when these projects were announced.
So is building these facilities a boon for local economies, or just a psychological boost for a region mired in unemployment? So far, it looks like the only people benefitting are North Carolina politicians and California corporations. We'll keep you posted as the new data centers come online, and more employment figures becomes available.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Dell and HP out of the tablet market?
It looks like the tablet market might be getting a whole lot smaller next year.
In a surprising move, computer maker powerhouses Hewlett-Packard and Dell are expected to cease all production of tablet computers in 2012. According to tech rumor website AppleInsider.com, the hardware manufacturers are unable to supply a streamlined pathway to content that other tablet makers such as Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble can provide, essentially closing them out of the market. Profits from the sale of content offset the cost of selling tablets at a loss, which almost all tablet makers but Apple are rumored to be doing. If consumers aren't buying their content directly from Dell or HP, there's no profit to be made. It's odd that Dell and HP didn't think that far ahead.
HP has already bowed out of the tablet game once, after trying to develop their own software ecosystem with WebOS. Originally developed by Palm, HP purchased WebOS in 2009 specifically to enter into the smartphone and tablet market. In August of this year, HP decided to shut down production of WebOS powered tablets, although the company still produces tablets that run Windows 7.
The decision by Dell and HP to get out of the tablet market could prove to be disastrous for Microsoft, who are hard at work on Windows 8, which is built heavily around the idea of being able to manipulate the interface by touch. Without these two companies making tablets, Microsoft might just have to build their own, which would put them in quite a bind. Apple has had 4 years to develop and hone the iTunes store to sell music, movie and applications directly to consumers through their Apple devices. Microsoft doesn't even have Windows 8 off the ground yet, and already they're playing catch-up.
This could also be seen as bad news for Google, as Dell produces many tablets that run the Android operating system. One less hardware vendor for Google means one less pathway to consumers.
In a surprising move, computer maker powerhouses Hewlett-Packard and Dell are expected to cease all production of tablet computers in 2012. According to tech rumor website AppleInsider.com, the hardware manufacturers are unable to supply a streamlined pathway to content that other tablet makers such as Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble can provide, essentially closing them out of the market. Profits from the sale of content offset the cost of selling tablets at a loss, which almost all tablet makers but Apple are rumored to be doing. If consumers aren't buying their content directly from Dell or HP, there's no profit to be made. It's odd that Dell and HP didn't think that far ahead.
HP has already bowed out of the tablet game once, after trying to develop their own software ecosystem with WebOS. Originally developed by Palm, HP purchased WebOS in 2009 specifically to enter into the smartphone and tablet market. In August of this year, HP decided to shut down production of WebOS powered tablets, although the company still produces tablets that run Windows 7.
The decision by Dell and HP to get out of the tablet market could prove to be disastrous for Microsoft, who are hard at work on Windows 8, which is built heavily around the idea of being able to manipulate the interface by touch. Without these two companies making tablets, Microsoft might just have to build their own, which would put them in quite a bind. Apple has had 4 years to develop and hone the iTunes store to sell music, movie and applications directly to consumers through their Apple devices. Microsoft doesn't even have Windows 8 off the ground yet, and already they're playing catch-up.
This could also be seen as bad news for Google, as Dell produces many tablets that run the Android operating system. One less hardware vendor for Google means one less pathway to consumers.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Screenshots in OS X. 2 Different Ways.
While writing this blog, I often times will need to take pictures of what I'm doing to demonstrate how something needs to be done. These pictures — known as screenshots — are easy to take, although the process for taking them is not obvious in any way. In OS X, there are two different built-in ways to take screenshots.
The first is the program Grab, which can be found in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder on the root of your hard drive.
Grab does nothing more than attempt to "grab" what's happening on the screen. Note that Grab only works for still pictures. If you want to record motion, you'll have to use Quicktime, which I'll go over in a future blog post.
Once you open Grab, it just sits there waiting for you to tell it what to do. Go over to the Capture menu item, and select it. You'll see the following:
There are 4 different kinds of screenshots you can take with Grab. The first is "Selection," which allows you to select a portion of the screen to capture. Once you have made your selection, Grab instantly takes the picture as soon as you release the mouse button. Use this option if only need to select a small section of the screen. The "Window" menu item allows you to capture entire windows, and nothing else. "Screen" takes a picture of the entire screen (everything that's currently visible), and "Timed Screen" waits ten seconds to take a picture of the entire screen. Timed Screen is useful if you need to get something ready before taking the screenshot, as in the screenshot above. I needed to get a picture of the Capture menu, but needed to have it open to take a picture of it. Timed Screen helped me do that.
The other way of taking screenshots in OS X doesn't require you to open any program. Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen (exactly like "Screen" above), and Command-Shift-4 to take a screenshot of just a selection ("Selection"). When you do Command-Shift-4, your cursor will turn into crosshairs, and you can then select whatever portion of the screen you want to capture. A neat trick here, is that after you press Command-Shift-4, if you then press the Spacebar, your cursor will turn into a camera. This is the equivalent of the "Window" option above.
There you have it: screenshots in OS X. Simple.
The first is the program Grab, which can be found in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder on the root of your hard drive.
Grab does nothing more than attempt to "grab" what's happening on the screen. Note that Grab only works for still pictures. If you want to record motion, you'll have to use Quicktime, which I'll go over in a future blog post.
Once you open Grab, it just sits there waiting for you to tell it what to do. Go over to the Capture menu item, and select it. You'll see the following:
The capture menu of Grab.
There are 4 different kinds of screenshots you can take with Grab. The first is "Selection," which allows you to select a portion of the screen to capture. Once you have made your selection, Grab instantly takes the picture as soon as you release the mouse button. Use this option if only need to select a small section of the screen. The "Window" menu item allows you to capture entire windows, and nothing else. "Screen" takes a picture of the entire screen (everything that's currently visible), and "Timed Screen" waits ten seconds to take a picture of the entire screen. Timed Screen is useful if you need to get something ready before taking the screenshot, as in the screenshot above. I needed to get a picture of the Capture menu, but needed to have it open to take a picture of it. Timed Screen helped me do that.
The other way of taking screenshots in OS X doesn't require you to open any program. Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen (exactly like "Screen" above), and Command-Shift-4 to take a screenshot of just a selection ("Selection"). When you do Command-Shift-4, your cursor will turn into crosshairs, and you can then select whatever portion of the screen you want to capture. A neat trick here, is that after you press Command-Shift-4, if you then press the Spacebar, your cursor will turn into a camera. This is the equivalent of the "Window" option above.
There you have it: screenshots in OS X. Simple.
Where are you? How to find the location of an open document.
There's nothing more frustrating than working on a file, and not knowing where it is in your filesystem. Sure, you probably know how to save files to a location you specify, but what if you are already working on a file, and need to know where it is?
An example of this might be a mail attachment you've downloaded. Someone sends you a file that you need to modify, and then you need to send it back. You open it, work on it and save it, without knowing exactly where you've put it! It's happened to me before countless times.
Or, maybe you are using the "Open Recent" menu option provided by many programs. You open the file, work on it and save it, but you have no idea where on your hard drive the file lives. It's there somewhere, and it's already open! Where is it?
OS X has a simple way to show you where a document is, no matter what program you are using.
Simply hold down the Command key, and click on the document's icon in the title bar of the current window you are working on. If you are not working on a document (say, if you are browsing the web) no icon will appear in the window's title bar. If you are working on a document however, you will see something like this:
Hold down the Command key when you click on the icon to see a path to the file.
Ready for the really cool part? The menu that displays the filepath is clickable! Yup. Once the menu is open, select any one of the folders to instantly open that folder in the Finder. Once the folder is open, you can manipulate the file as you see fit. You can even move an open document to another folder, and OS X will keep track of it for you in real-time.
This feature is insanely useful, and something I use all the time. You'll never need to go hunting for an open document ever again!
An example of this might be a mail attachment you've downloaded. Someone sends you a file that you need to modify, and then you need to send it back. You open it, work on it and save it, without knowing exactly where you've put it! It's happened to me before countless times.
Or, maybe you are using the "Open Recent" menu option provided by many programs. You open the file, work on it and save it, but you have no idea where on your hard drive the file lives. It's there somewhere, and it's already open! Where is it?
OS X has a simple way to show you where a document is, no matter what program you are using.
Simply hold down the Command key, and click on the document's icon in the title bar of the current window you are working on. If you are not working on a document (say, if you are browsing the web) no icon will appear in the window's title bar. If you are working on a document however, you will see something like this:
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| If you are working on a document, an icon will appear in the window's title bar. |
Ready for the really cool part? The menu that displays the filepath is clickable! Yup. Once the menu is open, select any one of the folders to instantly open that folder in the Finder. Once the folder is open, you can manipulate the file as you see fit. You can even move an open document to another folder, and OS X will keep track of it for you in real-time.
This feature is insanely useful, and something I use all the time. You'll never need to go hunting for an open document ever again!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Quicksilver — Act without doing
One of my favorite programs for OS X is Quicksilver. Quicksilver is the first program I install on any Mac I buy, and I feel helpless when I use a Mac it's not installed on; that's how ingrained Quicksilver can become into your workflow. It's a simple little program that is extremely powerful once you dig into it. Let's take a look.
There are many uses for Quicksilver, but lots of people use it simply as an application launcher, which is mainly how I use it. It's simple to set up, and easy to use.
Once it's installed on your system, you need to decide how you want to use it. Basically, you hit "trigger" keys, and Quicksilver springs forward, waiting for your next command. It's always running in the background, and uses very few resources. Here's what the interface looks like:
Once invoked, Quicksilver waits for you to type what you are looking for. If you want to launch Chrome for example, you would simply type "chrome." I'll bet Quicksilver won't let you get that far though. Quicksilver is smart enough to try to guess what it is you're looking for, and will present that guess in the window as you type. Hit the Return key to launch the program that is shown in the Quicksilver interface.
But what if it guesses wrong? No worries. Type what you are looking for, and if Quicksilver doesn't guess what you are looking for correctly, simply wait. After a few seconds, a menu will appear below the basic interface listing everything that it could find that matches the letters you typed.
By default, the Quicksilver trigger keys are Option and Spacebar. You can change these keys to anything you want in Quicksilver's preferences.
Notice how in the above example, Snapz Pro X is highlighted in Quicksilver, and to the right it says "Open"? This is a visual representation of what Quicksilver is going to do for you. But what if you want to get to that box on the right? Can Quicksilver do anything besides launch applications? Absolutely!
To get to the other box in the Quicksilver interface, type what you are looking for (the program or document to be acted upon) and once it's been found, hit the Tab key. Now press any arrow key. Huzzah! All new options that you can do to the file or program in the first tab!
From the second tab, you can do things like reveal the program (or document) in the Finder, move it, copy it, paste it and more! All that without having to stop what you are doing, go to the Finder, double-click through folder after folder to get to what you are looking for. Quicksilver is always on, and always available from any program. Hit the trigger keys, and Quicksilver is ready to go.
There's plenty more Quicksilver can do; so much that you could almost write a book about it. Explore the program, and you will most likely find a way to make it work for you.
Direct link to Quicksilver download here.
There are many uses for Quicksilver, but lots of people use it simply as an application launcher, which is mainly how I use it. It's simple to set up, and easy to use.
Once it's installed on your system, you need to decide how you want to use it. Basically, you hit "trigger" keys, and Quicksilver springs forward, waiting for your next command. It's always running in the background, and uses very few resources. Here's what the interface looks like:
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| The Quicksilver basic interface. |
But what if it guesses wrong? No worries. Type what you are looking for, and if Quicksilver doesn't guess what you are looking for correctly, simply wait. After a few seconds, a menu will appear below the basic interface listing everything that it could find that matches the letters you typed.
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| Quicksilver tries to find all everything that matches your search term. In this example, I typed "snap," as seen in the title bar of the white window, as well as underlined in the name in the grey box. Quicksilver updates in real-time. |
By default, the Quicksilver trigger keys are Option and Spacebar. You can change these keys to anything you want in Quicksilver's preferences.
Notice how in the above example, Snapz Pro X is highlighted in Quicksilver, and to the right it says "Open"? This is a visual representation of what Quicksilver is going to do for you. But what if you want to get to that box on the right? Can Quicksilver do anything besides launch applications? Absolutely!
To get to the other box in the Quicksilver interface, type what you are looking for (the program or document to be acted upon) and once it's been found, hit the Tab key. Now press any arrow key. Huzzah! All new options that you can do to the file or program in the first tab!
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| Quicksilver is no one-trick pony. |
From the second tab, you can do things like reveal the program (or document) in the Finder, move it, copy it, paste it and more! All that without having to stop what you are doing, go to the Finder, double-click through folder after folder to get to what you are looking for. Quicksilver is always on, and always available from any program. Hit the trigger keys, and Quicksilver is ready to go.
There's plenty more Quicksilver can do; so much that you could almost write a book about it. Explore the program, and you will most likely find a way to make it work for you.
Direct link to Quicksilver download here.
The Application Switcher — Move between applications in a keypress
People who watch me use my computer are sometimes amazed at how quickly I can get around the system. When switching between applications, I can get to where I need to be in a hurry. How do I do this? I use the keyboard.
Today I'm going to explain some of the more overlooked ways of moving around the system, as well as introduce you to the first piece of software I install on my computer, Quicksilver.
First things first, let's take a look at switching between applications. Of course you can use Mission Control, but that involves having to take your hand off of the keyboard (unless you've set it up to be activated by a key-command). I prefer using Command-Tab. Simply press the Command and Tab keys, and you will see the Application Switcher pop up on your screen (make sure to continue to hold down the Command key to keep it on your screen).
You can use the mouse to select the application you'd like to switch to, but that kind of defeats the purpose. After all, you don't want to take your fingers off of the keyboard if you don't have to. Instead, hit Tab again, and the selected icon will move to the right. Continue hitting Tab to cycle to the right. If you want to go left, while still holding down Command, either hit Shift-Tab, or hit the Tilde key, which is above the Tab key. You can also use the arrow keys to cycle right or left.
As soon as you let go of both the Command key, you will be switched to whatever application is currently highlighted. There are tons of ways this is useful, and once you get used to using the Application Switcher, you'll wonder how you lived without it.
But wait! There's other stuff the Application Switcher can do! Hit Command-Tab to bring up the Application Switcher window, select a program with open, visible windows, and while continually holding down Command, hit the H key. All of the windows of that program vanish. But fear not, they're not gone, they are just hiding, as hitting the H key while a program is selected in the Application Switcher hides all of its windows. If you want to see the windows again, simply switch to that program. This can be useful if you have a ton of windows open, and you want to focus on just one application, without having to minimize all of that programs open windows.
You can even quit programs from the Application Switcher by selecting a program and (again, while continuing to hold down the Command key) hitting Q. Careful with this, as even though OS X will ask you to save any unsaved work, web browsers will close without a second thought, taking any and all open tabs with it.
And there's one more trick you should know about, and this one allows you to switch directly to windows within a program. Once you open the Application Switcher and cycle to the program you want to use, hit either the Up or Down arrow keys to see all of the open windows for that program. The downside is that you have to use your mouse to select which window you want to use, but if you know what you are looking for, this can be a huge timesaver.
And there you have it. Move between applications using nothing but your keyboard, so you don't have to go fumbling around with your mouse. Simple and elegant.
Today I'm going to explain some of the more overlooked ways of moving around the system, as well as introduce you to the first piece of software I install on my computer, Quicksilver.
First things first, let's take a look at switching between applications. Of course you can use Mission Control, but that involves having to take your hand off of the keyboard (unless you've set it up to be activated by a key-command). I prefer using Command-Tab. Simply press the Command and Tab keys, and you will see the Application Switcher pop up on your screen (make sure to continue to hold down the Command key to keep it on your screen).
You can use the mouse to select the application you'd like to switch to, but that kind of defeats the purpose. After all, you don't want to take your fingers off of the keyboard if you don't have to. Instead, hit Tab again, and the selected icon will move to the right. Continue hitting Tab to cycle to the right. If you want to go left, while still holding down Command, either hit Shift-Tab, or hit the Tilde key, which is above the Tab key. You can also use the arrow keys to cycle right or left.
As soon as you let go of both the Command key, you will be switched to whatever application is currently highlighted. There are tons of ways this is useful, and once you get used to using the Application Switcher, you'll wonder how you lived without it.
But wait! There's other stuff the Application Switcher can do! Hit Command-Tab to bring up the Application Switcher window, select a program with open, visible windows, and while continually holding down Command, hit the H key. All of the windows of that program vanish. But fear not, they're not gone, they are just hiding, as hitting the H key while a program is selected in the Application Switcher hides all of its windows. If you want to see the windows again, simply switch to that program. This can be useful if you have a ton of windows open, and you want to focus on just one application, without having to minimize all of that programs open windows.
You can even quit programs from the Application Switcher by selecting a program and (again, while continuing to hold down the Command key) hitting Q. Careful with this, as even though OS X will ask you to save any unsaved work, web browsers will close without a second thought, taking any and all open tabs with it.
And there's one more trick you should know about, and this one allows you to switch directly to windows within a program. Once you open the Application Switcher and cycle to the program you want to use, hit either the Up or Down arrow keys to see all of the open windows for that program. The downside is that you have to use your mouse to select which window you want to use, but if you know what you are looking for, this can be a huge timesaver.
And there you have it. Move between applications using nothing but your keyboard, so you don't have to go fumbling around with your mouse. Simple and elegant.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Feedback: How to change the modifier keys on your keyboard
Some people who have switched from a PC to a Mac complain about the fact that Windows uses Control (CTRL) as a modifier key to get things done, while a Mac uses the Command key. For example, in Windows, to copy something you press Control-C, but on a Mac you press Command-C. There's not a big difference, except for the fact that the keys are in different places, and after doing something the same way for many years, you build up muscle memory that can be difficult to change. You might instinctively reach down with your ring finger to copy something instead of your thumb. How frustrating!
No sweat. It's possible to easily change the modifier key layout in OS X Lion. Here's how:
Go into your System Preferences and select the Keyboard preferences.
No sweat. It's possible to easily change the modifier key layout in OS X Lion. Here's how:
Go into your System Preferences and select the Keyboard preferences.
Once opened, look down in the bottom right-hand corner for the button labeled "Modifier Keys".
Click the button, and a new window will pop out as follows:
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| From here, you can change the layout of which key operates as which. This can get a little confusing, but as long as you know which key is which, that's all that matters. |
If you want the Control button on your keyboard to act as the Command button (which would be most "Windows-like"), change the Control option in the right column to Command, and the Command option in the right column to Control. Or is you'd prefer to use the Option key as the Command key, switch those two. If you have any problems, or want to go back to the default settings, click the Restore Defaults button on the left.
The important thing to remember is that you want at least one key for each modifier key. OS X will let you set up two Command keys and no Control key for example. This is not recommended, as you never know when you might need to use one of those keys.
If you have any other questions, comments or suggestions for topics, email me at
josh.lifeaspixels@gmail.com. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook!
AirDrop — Not just for wireless!
This post is meant for those of us with a bit more experience with the Command Line Interface. If you aren't familiar with the command line in OS X, this post will still be useful to you, but take note that you should be very careful when using the command line. Although nothing in this post is harmful to your computer, what we are about to do is unsupported by Apple. I'm confident that there's nothing here that will damage your computer, but the point is, if you get into some trouble, or if this feature stops working for some reason, don't bother calling Apple for help.
AirDrop is a very cool and simple way to share files wirelessly with other Macs. But what about computers that are hooked up to your network with a wired interface like Ethernet? Not to worry, as you can trick OS X into using AirDrop with those Macs too.
(It is also important to note that these commands should be performed on the Mac with the wired connection.)
Go into the Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal... or type Command-Shift-U in the Finder to open the Utilities folder) and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1
Hit return. Now it's time to restart the Finder. This can be achieved with the following command in the Terminal:
killall Finder
The Finder will restart, and the Mac with the wired connection can now use AirDrop. If you want to turn off AirDrop on your wired Mac, change the 1 in the above command to a 0 as follows:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 0
Restart the Finder again with killall Finder and you should be back to your default configuration.
AirDrop is a very cool and simple way to share files wirelessly with other Macs. But what about computers that are hooked up to your network with a wired interface like Ethernet? Not to worry, as you can trick OS X into using AirDrop with those Macs too.
(It is also important to note that these commands should be performed on the Mac with the wired connection.)
Go into the Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal... or type Command-Shift-U in the Finder to open the Utilities folder) and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1
Hit return. Now it's time to restart the Finder. This can be achieved with the following command in the Terminal:
killall Finder
The Finder will restart, and the Mac with the wired connection can now use AirDrop. If you want to turn off AirDrop on your wired Mac, change the 1 in the above command to a 0 as follows:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 0
Restart the Finder again with killall Finder and you should be back to your default configuration.
AirDrop — Wirelessly share files with zero configuration
Now that you've learned the basics of file sharing, it's time to take a look at a neat feature unique to OS X 10.7 Lion called AirDrop.
AirDrop lets you share files with another Mac running 10.7 with nothing else required aside from having a wireless card turned on for both your Mac, and the Mac you want to send the files to. You don't even need to be on the same network! AirDrop does all of the configuration for you, and people "just appear" when you turn AirDrop on.
You will find AirDrop in the sidebar of your Finder windows. Below, AirDrop is selected in my Finder window:
If you don't see AirDrop in your sidebar, first make sure you are in the Finder, then go to your Finder Preferences to make sure that AirDrop is checked. Click on Finder in the menubar, and then click on Preferences. If you want to use a keyboard shortcut to do this, you can simply press the "Command" and comma keys. You will see the following window:
Once AirDrop is checked, go back to your Finder window, and click on its icon in the sidebar. The icon will jump into motion, and it looks like a RADAR, sweeping the surrounding area for other Macs running 10.7 Lion (again, this is a REQUIREMENT).
Once it finds one (or more) Macs, you can copy files to that Mac by dragging files onto the icon representing that Mac. A dialog box will pop up asking if you would like to send the file to the targeted Mac. Click "Send" and a window will popup on the receiving Mac, asking that user to verify the transfer.
This last step is important, because otherwise not only could you drop files onto other people's computers without their knowledge, but they could do the same to you, which is a security risk. The AirDrop connection is encrypted, so there's no need to worry about anyone snooping in on what you're copying.
Once the file transfer is complete, the person on the receiving end can find the file(s) in their Downloads folder within their User folder. It couldn't be more simple!
AirDrop lets you share files with another Mac running 10.7 with nothing else required aside from having a wireless card turned on for both your Mac, and the Mac you want to send the files to. You don't even need to be on the same network! AirDrop does all of the configuration for you, and people "just appear" when you turn AirDrop on.
You will find AirDrop in the sidebar of your Finder windows. Below, AirDrop is selected in my Finder window:
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| The icon next to AirDrop changes to a circular sweeping motion when AirDrop is actively looking for other computers. |
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| AirDrop must be checked under "Favorites" if you want to see it in your sidebar. |
Once AirDrop is checked, go back to your Finder window, and click on its icon in the sidebar. The icon will jump into motion, and it looks like a RADAR, sweeping the surrounding area for other Macs running 10.7 Lion (again, this is a REQUIREMENT).
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| My wife's Mac has been located! |
Once it finds one (or more) Macs, you can copy files to that Mac by dragging files onto the icon representing that Mac. A dialog box will pop up asking if you would like to send the file to the targeted Mac. Click "Send" and a window will popup on the receiving Mac, asking that user to verify the transfer.
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| The receiving user has the option to decline any and all file transfers. |
This last step is important, because otherwise not only could you drop files onto other people's computers without their knowledge, but they could do the same to you, which is a security risk. The AirDrop connection is encrypted, so there's no need to worry about anyone snooping in on what you're copying.
Once the file transfer is complete, the person on the receiving end can find the file(s) in their Downloads folder within their User folder. It couldn't be more simple!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
OS X File Sharing — The Basics - Connecting to Another Computer
Connecting to another computer in OS X is a very simple process, and there are several ways to do it. I'm going to show you a way that will always work, if you know the address of the computer on your network. If you don't, that's no big deal, as we can work around that by using an auto-discover feature in OS X. It's important to note, however, that this auto-discover feature has not been working well in the early versions of OS X Lion (10.7.0 and 10.7.1 specifically).
The procedure goes like this:
• Make sure you are in the Finder
• Find the other computer
• Connect to it
Connecting to another computer is going to be achieved by using a program called the Finder. The Finder is the filesystem manager for OS X, similar to Window Explorer on a PC. The Finder will most likely be the first program you will see when you start your Mac. If there is any doubt as to what program you are currently using, look up in the upper left-hand side of your screen to see what's running.
Once in the Finder, type Command-K, or go to the "Go" Menu at the top of the screen, and select "Connect to Server".
If you used the Browse method, double-click on the computer or device you want to connect to. If you entered an address into the Connect To Server window, click Connect. Either way, if all is well, you will see the following screen:
The procedure goes like this:
• Make sure you are in the Finder
• Find the other computer
• Connect to it
Connecting to another computer is going to be achieved by using a program called the Finder. The Finder is the filesystem manager for OS X, similar to Window Explorer on a PC. The Finder will most likely be the first program you will see when you start your Mac. If there is any doubt as to what program you are currently using, look up in the upper left-hand side of your screen to see what's running.
Once in the Finder, type Command-K, or go to the "Go" Menu at the top of the screen, and select "Connect to Server".
Next, you will see the following screen:
 |
| You can add servers you frequently connect to to the Favorite Servers list by entering a valid address into the text field (highlighted above) and clicking the plus sign to the right of the address. |
See the highlighted address above? If you know the address of the server you are trying to connect to, enter the address there and click Connect. If you don't know the address, but are sure that your computer is connected to the same network you are currently connected to, and that file sharing is enabled on that computer, click the Browse button at the bottom of the above screen. You should see something similar to this:
 |
| "Network" is highlighted, and to the right of that are computers and devices that are on the same network. |
Enter your username and password for the computer you want to connect to (which is not necessarily the username and password for the computer you are trying to connect from) and click Connect. If everything has gone according to plan, you should see the connected device somewhere in your Finder. This will depend on how you have chosen to see connected devices.
You now know how to connect to just about any computer from the Finder within OS X.
OS X File Sharing — The Basics - Enabling File Sharing
One of the great things about computers these days is that it's so easy to share things among them. Text documents, music files, photos... anything that lives on your computer can be moved to another device. Whereas this used to be a semi-complicated procedure for the novice, it's now as easy as finding a checkbox and clicking it. Mostly.
The procedure goes like this:
• Enable File Sharing
• Tell OS X who can file share with your computer
• Tell OS X what kind of permissions those people have
The important thing to remember when file sharing with OS X (or any computer really), is that there are two distinct devices: the server and the client. If you are connecting to a computer to take files off of it, you are the client. If someone else is connecting to your computer, your computer is acting as a server. Makes sense.
However, if you connect to a computer through file sharing, you can not only take files from that computer, but you can also put files onto that computer. As long as you have the proper credentials, you can move files, delete files and copy files from the computer you connect to.
So how do you do it?
Well, let's start by setting your computer up to share files, so that you can gain a better understanding of what's involved in the process.
First, head over to the System Preferences, and click the Sharing preference, as seen here:
Once opened, you will see the following screen:
On the left side of this screen, you will see different "sharing" services that you can turn on and off, simply by checking the box next to it. In the above picture, File Sharing is highlighted and enabled.
You will see that over to the right of the screen, there is a list of users. This panel is where you select the people that are allowed to connect to your computer, and what they are allowed to do.
You can allow anyone to connect to your computer, a group of people or individual users, and assign each of them different permissions. They will be able to either:
1) Read Only - not only see things on your computer, but also copy things from it. Others will not be able to modify files on your computer, however. This is the safest option if you want to share files with others, but you want to make sure that they don't change things by mistake. If you are at work, your administrator is probably giving you "read-only access" so that you can't mess anything up.
2) Write Only - copy things to your computer, AND modify items/files/etc. Other users can leave files for you, but they won't be able to see anything on your computer. This is handy if you want to provide a simple folder for others to drop files into. They won't be able to access any other parts of your system. A write-only folder is often times called a dropbox.
3) Read & Write - copy things to and from your computer, as well as see files and modify them. This should be used only if you completely trust the person on the other end, as they will have full access to whatever it is you are giving them permission to (in this case, your whole computer).
So, as you can see, there are many different options to choose from. For now, we are only going to concern ourselves with one user (you) and one kind of permission (Read & Write). The beauty of doing things this way is that you are only trusting yourself with the files on your computer. If you want to add more people in the future, you can just follow these instructions, substituting other accounts for yours.
Let's enable file sharing for your User Account. To do so, make sure File Sharing is enabled, and then click the "+" sign underneath the list of users. You will be presented with a new drop-down menu:
Click on your user account (probably your name), click the Select button, and your user account will be added to the list of accepted users on the right.
Next, it's time to set what permissions your account can have. Next to your name (which has now been added to the right side pane), click the black arrows. You will see the following:
Select "Read & Write", and you're done!
Once you've set this up once, you don't need to do it again. You can enable and disable File Sharing by clicking the checkbox, and OS X will remember who has access to your system. If you need to remove a user from File Sharing, simply highlight their name on the right, and click the "-" symbol below it.
You will now be able to see your computer on a network, and you can connect to this computer by using your User Account name and password. Once connected, you will be able to see all of the files on your computer, as well as copy files to your computer and modify things.
The procedure goes like this:
• Enable File Sharing
• Tell OS X who can file share with your computer
• Tell OS X what kind of permissions those people have
The important thing to remember when file sharing with OS X (or any computer really), is that there are two distinct devices: the server and the client. If you are connecting to a computer to take files off of it, you are the client. If someone else is connecting to your computer, your computer is acting as a server. Makes sense.
However, if you connect to a computer through file sharing, you can not only take files from that computer, but you can also put files onto that computer. As long as you have the proper credentials, you can move files, delete files and copy files from the computer you connect to.
So how do you do it?
Well, let's start by setting your computer up to share files, so that you can gain a better understanding of what's involved in the process.
First, head over to the System Preferences, and click the Sharing preference, as seen here:
Once opened, you will see the following screen:
You will see that over to the right of the screen, there is a list of users. This panel is where you select the people that are allowed to connect to your computer, and what they are allowed to do.
You can allow anyone to connect to your computer, a group of people or individual users, and assign each of them different permissions. They will be able to either:
1) Read Only - not only see things on your computer, but also copy things from it. Others will not be able to modify files on your computer, however. This is the safest option if you want to share files with others, but you want to make sure that they don't change things by mistake. If you are at work, your administrator is probably giving you "read-only access" so that you can't mess anything up.
2) Write Only - copy things to your computer, AND modify items/files/etc. Other users can leave files for you, but they won't be able to see anything on your computer. This is handy if you want to provide a simple folder for others to drop files into. They won't be able to access any other parts of your system. A write-only folder is often times called a dropbox.
3) Read & Write - copy things to and from your computer, as well as see files and modify them. This should be used only if you completely trust the person on the other end, as they will have full access to whatever it is you are giving them permission to (in this case, your whole computer).
So, as you can see, there are many different options to choose from. For now, we are only going to concern ourselves with one user (you) and one kind of permission (Read & Write). The beauty of doing things this way is that you are only trusting yourself with the files on your computer. If you want to add more people in the future, you can just follow these instructions, substituting other accounts for yours.
Let's enable file sharing for your User Account. To do so, make sure File Sharing is enabled, and then click the "+" sign underneath the list of users. You will be presented with a new drop-down menu:
 |
| As you can see, my user is greyed-out because my user account is already setup for file sharing. |
Click on your user account (probably your name), click the Select button, and your user account will be added to the list of accepted users on the right.
Next, it's time to set what permissions your account can have. Next to your name (which has now been added to the right side pane), click the black arrows. You will see the following:
Once you've set this up once, you don't need to do it again. You can enable and disable File Sharing by clicking the checkbox, and OS X will remember who has access to your system. If you need to remove a user from File Sharing, simply highlight their name on the right, and click the "-" symbol below it.
You will now be able to see your computer on a network, and you can connect to this computer by using your User Account name and password. Once connected, you will be able to see all of the files on your computer, as well as copy files to your computer and modify things.
Friday, September 16, 2011
The Heart of it All - System Preferences in OS X
Ok, you're running OS X Lion. Awesome! Let's hop over to the System Preferences and get acquainted with your computer. There are a few different ways to get there, but let's start out with a way that might not be entirely obvious, but is completely ubiquitous - the Apple Menu!
Look up in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, and click on the Apple. Your Apple might be blue, but we can change that through manipulating — you guessed it — your System Preferences.
When you click on System Preferences, you will be presented with the following screen:
This is the heart of your computer, more or less. From here, you can do all sorts of things like turn on file sharing, add user accounts to your system and encrypt your hard drive. Don't worry if your screen doesn't look exactly like this; I've added some things onto my computer to make it more useful, and there's plenty of time to cover that at a later date. I've also changed the arrangement of the System Preferences to be in alphabetical order (preferences for your preferences... so meta!) To do this, make sure you are in the System Preferences application (it should say "System Preferences" in the menu bar) and click on "View". Now, select "Organize Alphabetically" like so:
I find this a much easier way to navigate through the preferences. I don't have to guess what category someone at Apple saw fit to put Users & Groups in, I just need to remember that U is somewhere near the end of the alphabet.
We'll cover all of the included Apple preferences in detail, but for now, take a look at General by clicking on the General icon:
 |
| You can always find what you are looking for by using the search box in the upper right-hand side of the System Preferences window. OS X even helps you out by highlighting the icon(s) with a circle, and greying the rest. |
The following window will open up:
Experiment with these settings to your heart's content; you're not going to mess anything up. If you don't like something that you've changed, just go back into the General preference and change it back. Also, please note that these are preferences. You don't have to make them just like mine, but in case you're interested, this is how I set up all of my computers.
Two things of interest that you will only find in the General preferences:
1. Double-click a window's title bar to minimize
If checked, when you double-click on the title bar of a window, it will "minimize" to your dock. This helps get windows out of the way temporarily, and they are then instantly recallable from your Dock. I find this useful from time to time.
2. Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps
This is a new feature in Lion. If enabled, any window that was open when you quit an application will automatically open again when you re-launch that application. For example, if you are working on a text document in TextEdit and you quit the application while that document is still open (on your screen), the next time you launch TextEdit, that same document will pop up, just like you had never quit the application. This can be useful, especially if you tend to work on the same documents. However, if you are wondering why some documents are opening up automatically every time you open certain applications, it's because this option is checked. If you want to turn this feature off temporarily, hold down the "Option" key on your keyboard, and select Quit from any application's File menu. You'll notice that instead of "Quit", it now says "Quit and Discard Windows". The only documents that will open the next time you launch the application are windows that have something savable in them (OS X doesn't want to throw out something that you might need later).
You could also just make sure to close any document you don't want to automatically re-open before you quit the application. So, if you want three of your five currently open documents to automatically open the next time you use TextEdit (or whatever application), close two of the documents you don't want to open, leave the other three open and quit the program. The next time you launch the application, you should see those three documents.
Not all applications have been updated to support the "restore windows" feature, so some third-party (read: non-Apple) software might not currently behave as expected.
Feel free to play around with the General settings, and set up your computer the way you want it!
Let's start out on the right foot...
One of the most frustrating things to deal with is a computer that's not behaving correctly. Sure, sometimes it's operator error, but other times you can see what's wrong with your computer (ie. when I highlight things with my cursor, why does everything turn RED?), but you don't know how to fix it.
Of course, there are also times when you can't see what's wrong, you don't CARE what's wrong, and you just want it to work!
Fear not gentle readers, as one of the purposes of this blog is for me (a guy with over 20 years of experience using Macintoshes) to help you get things straightened out on your Mac. Huzzah!
First things first: we need to establish what version of OS X you are using so that we are all on the same page. If you don't know what version of OS X you are using, it's easy to find out by making a trip to the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand side of your screen. Click on the Apple, and then select "About This Mac":
The following screen will open up:
Right below the bold letters for Mac OS X, you will find the Operating System version number. As of this writing (September 16, 2011) the latest version of OS X is 10.7.1. If you don't have this exact version, that's ok, but for the sake of staying consistent, you'll want to be sure that you're running some version of 10.7 (10.7.0, 10.7.1, etc.) also known as Lion. If you are running a version previous to that, you will still find this website useful, but things might be in a different place and/or named something different.
If you are running any version of 10.6.6 or later (also known as Snow Leopard) you can buy the upgrade to Lion through the Mac App Store (located in your Applications folder) for $29. If you are running OS X 10.6.0 to 10.6.5, you'll need to update your software to 10.6.6 or later (click Software Update in your About This Mac window, as seen above) before you can download Lion. The reason? The App Store wasn't a part of OS X until the release of 10.6.6.
If you are running anything earlier than 10.6, you're going to need to either buy a copy of Lion on a USB flash drive from the Apple Retail Store, or upgrade to Snow Leopard, and THEN upgrade to Lion.
Please note: to run Lion, you will positively, absolutely need to be running OS X on an Intel processor; PowerPC processors were no longer supported after 10.5.x. EVEN THEN, the earliest versions of Macintoshes with Intel processors are not supported. To run Lion, you MUST HAVE:
• An Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor (NOT a Core Duo, or Core Solo... if there is no 2 between Core and Duo, you're not supported)
• 2 Gigabytes of RAM
If you bought your Mac after 2006, there's a very good chance that your system is compatible. If not, it might be time to upgrade anyway.
So, make sure you're running OS X Lion, and we'll move on.
Of course, there are also times when you can't see what's wrong, you don't CARE what's wrong, and you just want it to work!
Fear not gentle readers, as one of the purposes of this blog is for me (a guy with over 20 years of experience using Macintoshes) to help you get things straightened out on your Mac. Huzzah!
First things first: we need to establish what version of OS X you are using so that we are all on the same page. If you don't know what version of OS X you are using, it's easy to find out by making a trip to the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand side of your screen. Click on the Apple, and then select "About This Mac":
Right below the bold letters for Mac OS X, you will find the Operating System version number. As of this writing (September 16, 2011) the latest version of OS X is 10.7.1. If you don't have this exact version, that's ok, but for the sake of staying consistent, you'll want to be sure that you're running some version of 10.7 (10.7.0, 10.7.1, etc.) also known as Lion. If you are running a version previous to that, you will still find this website useful, but things might be in a different place and/or named something different.
If you are running any version of 10.6.6 or later (also known as Snow Leopard) you can buy the upgrade to Lion through the Mac App Store (located in your Applications folder) for $29. If you are running OS X 10.6.0 to 10.6.5, you'll need to update your software to 10.6.6 or later (click Software Update in your About This Mac window, as seen above) before you can download Lion. The reason? The App Store wasn't a part of OS X until the release of 10.6.6.
If you are running anything earlier than 10.6, you're going to need to either buy a copy of Lion on a USB flash drive from the Apple Retail Store, or upgrade to Snow Leopard, and THEN upgrade to Lion.
Please note: to run Lion, you will positively, absolutely need to be running OS X on an Intel processor; PowerPC processors were no longer supported after 10.5.x. EVEN THEN, the earliest versions of Macintoshes with Intel processors are not supported. To run Lion, you MUST HAVE:
• An Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor (NOT a Core Duo, or Core Solo... if there is no 2 between Core and Duo, you're not supported)
• 2 Gigabytes of RAM
If you bought your Mac after 2006, there's a very good chance that your system is compatible. If not, it might be time to upgrade anyway.
So, make sure you're running OS X Lion, and we'll move on.
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