The Macmama

Leaking Apple Pie...iPad 3!

2012-02-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

Rumor has it that an announcement will be made on March 7 about the iPad 3, and that it will run on Verizon and AT&T's 4G network. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will sell a version of the coming iPad that runs on their newest fourth-generation wireless networks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the battle to cash in on big investments in mobile broadband heats up. Apple Inc. appears to be planning to announce the latest version of its tablet computer in the first week of March, according to another person briefed on the matter. Whether other carriers will also sell the device couldn't be learned.

iPad 3?

2012-02-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Rumors have been flying that there will be an iPad 3 soon. So if you are thinking of buying an iPad, maybe wait a few weeks. According to John PaczKowski of AllThingsD, which has an accurate record predicting Apple's product releases, there will be a media event in the first week of March announcing the latest model. The iPad 2 was announced last year on March 2. If things run as usual, it should be available to the first round of buyers about a week after launch. According to the sources, it will have a "much faster chip", improved graphics capabilities, and a high-resolution display.

Grrr. Just when I was learning how to control my digi-bling habit.

1Password woes

2012-02-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

1Password is my favorite password keeper/generator, but one of my clients experienced a bug. He regularly uses Safari's private browsing feature, as well as megaproxy.com to log into various sites. He noticed that he was having trouble with the Safari extension for 1password, getting the message: DATA NOT AVAILABLE. We contacted agilebits (the makers of 1Password) and found this out:

The "Data Not Available" error normally happens when the data from 1Password has not been synced to the Safari extension yet. To allow this to happen, please follow these steps:

Quit Safari
Open the 1Password app, unlock it, then wait 10-20 seconds
Reopen Safari and, if need be, unlock the extension

You should be good to go.

Safari's Private Browsing feature can also cause these errors because of a bug that we are working with Apple to resolve. To fix the problem, please disable Private Browsing and reinstall the extension with these instructions:

Uninstall the 1Password Safari extension: Go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions, select the 1Password extension, and press the Uninstall button on the right
Turn off Private Browsing: Go to the Safari app menu and uncheck Private Browsing
Quit Safari:

On Snow Leopard: choose Safari > Quit or press Command-Q
On Lion: Hold the Option key and choose Safari > Quit and Close All Windows or press Command-Option-Q

Update 1Password: in the 1Password app, go to 1Password > Check for Updates and if a new version is found, please update
Reinstall the 1Password extension: go to 1Password > Preferences > Browsers and click the "Install Safari Extension" button. This should automatically launch Safari and you can now go back about your business.

Another client complained that 1Password seems to "forget" her logins. According the agilebits support, this sometimes happens when a site is changed enough for password to have trouble with the autofill function. To fix this:

Website Login Issues

If you have found that one of your Logins that used to work just fine has recently stopped working, here are some things to look out for and a simple way to fix the problem.

How to re-save your Login

If you have a saved Login that is not working, it may need to be re-saved. Often this is because 1Password stores a lot of information about the login form, but if a website owner redesigns the site or changes the form enough, it may mess with 1Password’s ability to fill the form.

To fix the problem, you can re-save your Login with the following steps:

First, log out of the site
Open 1Password and find the relevant Login
Copy the Login’s password to your clipboard, then delete it (don’t worry, 1Password has a trash in case you need to reference or recover this Login)
As if you were logging in for the first time, open the site in your browser: type your username, paste your password from the clipboard, and press Return or click the site’s login button
1Password should prompt you to create a new Login. Please do
Log out of the site and try to log back in with your fresh new Login.

Even with these issues, I think 1Passoword is a fantastic application that can help you manage an create the many passwords we use to navigate our relationship with the digital universe.

And a few more tips with login issues:

Various things that can cause trouble for 1Password

Some technology used on the web can make it difficult for 1Password to fill in forms. These issues are rare, but they still appear from time to time so we figured we’d try to summarize a couple of them here.
JavaScript Interference
If after creating a new Login the site still does not work, it is possible that the web site is using some JavaScript “tricks” when the login is submitted. Sometimes this code can interfere with the AutoSubmit feature and cause it to fail.
To see if this is the cause, try disabling AutoSubmit (deselect the AutoSubmit checkbox on the 1Password toolbar menu) and logging in again using 1Password. If AutoSubmit was indeed the cause, you can re-enable AutoSubmit and disable it just for this item by editing it in the main 1Password application and changing its AutoSubmit setting to Never.
Adobe Flash
1Password is unable to save and restore Logins for sites that use Adobe Flash. As far as we know, no browser password manager anywhere supports Flash-based sites because Flash is a proprietary solution. At this time, Adobe does not offer interface tools for developers to plug into Flash in the way that 1Password and other form fillers require.
After working with a Flash consultant and reviewing the latest APIs provided by Adobe we found it is still not possible unless websites modify their code to allow it.
Most websites realize the problems with using Flash and provide a standard HTML login page as well. If you cannot find one, the only workaround is to save the username and password in 1Password, then open the 1Password extension when you visit the site, click the right arrow, and copy and paste your password.

Zappos and 6PM customer accounts hacked.

2012-01-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

I got an email today from 6PM.com and Zappos (yes, I know I have shoe issue,I'm working on it!) to reset my password, because their database which contains my, as well as millions of others customer information was hacked. Is it legit? Seems like it, I also read it on the New York Observer site as well as Huffington Post.

What to do? Go the the Zappos and/or 6PM.com website, and you will see a CHANGE PASSWORD link. Sign in with your old one and they will email a link to the password change page to the email address on your account.

Here is the email I received from 6PM:

First, the bad news:

We are writing to let you know that there may have been illegal and unauthorized access to some of your customer account information on 6pm.com, including one or more of the following: your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number (the standard information you find on receipts), and/or your cryptographically scrambled password (but not your actual password).

THE BETTER NEWS:

The database that stores your critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed.

SECURITY PRECAUTIONS:

For your protection and to prevent unauthorized access, we have expired and reset your password so you can create a new password. Please follow the instructions below to create a new password.

We also recommend that you change your password on any other web site where you use the same or a similar password. As always, please remember that 6pm.com will never ask you for personal or account information in an e-mail. Please exercise caution if you receive any emails or phone calls that ask for personal information or direct you to a web site where you are asked to provide personal information.

PLEASE CREATE A NEW PASSWORD:

We have expired and reset your password so you can create a new password. Please create a new password by visiting 6pm.com and clicking on the "Create a New Password" link in the upper right corner of the web site and follow the steps from there.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any additional questions about this process, please email us at passwordchange@6pm.com.

WTF Daddy?

2012-01-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

This was an email I got from a customer who manages and creates websites. He had a real frisky time with GoDaddy, a domain and web host device, but resolved it after some real bronc riding. He tried to transfer a domain and pay for one year, and they (oops!) accidentally signed him up for two years and then initially refused to correct their own mistake.

As you can see, BUYER BEWARE!!

My client's email to me, posted with his permission.

A friend of mine passed away. Since I managed her website and the domain name was set to expire in February, 2012 with Godaddy, I called Godaddy to move her account into mine and renew it for one year at my expense. I stated specifically that I needed to:

1) Move the account into mine

2) Renew the domain for one year

2) Consolidate it with my other domain names, which means that they would all then be set to renew March 2013

The representative at Godaddy asked for my credit card number, and confirmed that it was valid and matched the one on file, then said the charge would be ca. $24. I asked why it was double the normal yearly fee of $12.17. The representative informed me that he had entered a period of two years. I immediately said, no, I only wanted one year.

It was too late. The rep at Godaddy told us me I would have to either:

1) Cancel the domain name and start over, causing the website to be disabled for several days, or

2) Accept the two year registration, in spite of the mistake made by Godaddy

It was difficult to convince Godaddy that I should not be penalized for an unauthorized credit card charge from their side, as this is, in fact what it was.

Following hours of phone calls and rejections I threatened to call the Better Business Bureau, and only then was issued a refund for the extraneous year. To Godaddy's credit, I received the refund for one year, while the registration of the domain name will remain intact for two years. In fact, I didn't want the domain name to run for longer than year, but considered it an acceptable solution. Godaddy's reasoning as to why they couldn't change the length of the domain name term was that they are not the owners of the .com and .net domains, but rather only the registrar of it and an independent company owns these, and therefore Godaddy cannot change registrations once they are completed. I didn't research why this was so or whether it was actually correct.

Moral of story:

1) Charges made by phone must be reviewed before being finalized

2) Charges made without authorization must be refunded in full with no penalty

3) It IS possible to refund charges without a lapse in service if the billing department uses its resources to the full

4) Although the technical support at Godaddy is usually first rate, their billing department is behind the times in terms of customer service.

THE GREAT ASSASSIN GROUP OF EXHIBITION

2012-01-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today I got an email from a hired assassin, who told me he( or she) was paid $15,000 to kill me, but if I contacted him, I could pay a FIRST installment of $5,000 and I would get a tape that would identify the person who hired him. Now I checked out the name on the email address (bayinde99@att.net) , Ayinde Bukola, a Nigerian that I found on Facebook as well as a few eDate sites. Seems like a nice kid, likes music, looking for a serious relationship, maybe marriage. It's very likely that his name has been used and his email hacked.

This kind of "Pay us or we'll kill you" spam has been around for at least about 5 years, most of them originating from Russia. So what do you do if you get this? If they don't address you by name, or know any personal stuff about you, just delete it. If the email contains any info, like your name, address, phone, etc, you should report it to the Police, and the

Internet Crime Complaint Center:

http://www.ic3.gov/

Here is a snopes article about these types of "hit man" scams:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/hitman.asp

Or you could call:

Here is the email, complete with the logo and pictures of weapons included:

Am very sorry for you my friend, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as
soon as you don't comply.
As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don't have
any business with you,
my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL/ASSASSINATE you and I have to
do it as I have already been paid for that.
Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means, and the person have spent
a lot of money on this,
the person also came to us and told me that he want you dead and he provided us
with your name ,picture and other necessary information's we needed about you.
So I sent my boys to track you down
and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation on you,
and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is
Important to you or not since their findings shows that you are innocent.

I called my client back and ask him of you email address which I didn't tell him what I wanted to do
with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now.
As I am writing to you now my men
are monitoring you and they are telling me everything about you.
Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? As someone has paid us the sum of $15,000usd to
kill you and we are willing to tell you that you have to pay us the
sum of $5,000usd for the first payment so we can
legit your attention so we can forward the tape to you we
shall send it through DHl or FedEx for you
to view the video and discussion between both of us okay.
Get back to me now if you are ready to
pay some fees to spare your life,
If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up.

WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELL ANYONE
BECAUSE I WILL KNOW. REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL
WANT YOU DEAD! I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, IN CASE I NOTICE
SOMETHING FUNNY.
DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 6:16PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU
AND GIVE YOU THE TAPE OF MY DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU
DEAD AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLIED WITH MY DEMANDS, THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO
TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION..

GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR REPLY

ATTENTION: IF YOU THINK YOU ARE SMARTER THAN US, YOU CAN GIVE US A
TRY DON'T REPLY US BACK AND SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IN THE NEXT
TWO DAYS I PROMISE YOU, YOU WILL BE DEAD.

THE GREAT ASSASSIN GROUP OF EXHIBITION...............

2011-12-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

What will you get for Hanuka and Chrismas?

If you get an iGift, and are afraid to open the box, call me on New Year's eve!

I will appear on the call in radio show:

Call Kira About Aging! on KSRO 1350 AM, on Dec 31, 2011 from 2-3 PM, with a rebroadcast on January 7 on KNEW 910.

http://www.callkira.com/page/3/

This is your chance to call in, and ask questions about the new iGift you received. Call with any questions about your Apple products, and listen as I unravel the mystery of life with your iPad, iPhone, iPod and all Macintosh products.

Special! Listeners who call in get a 5 part eBook, Dear Macmama; a collection of articles printed in the Piedmont Post. And listen to the radio show to get 25% of of your first visit for new customers.

Hope for Quicken 7 users and Lion.

2011-12-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

There may be hope for Mac Quicken 2007 users. It looks like Intuit is looking to make Quicken 2007 compatible with Lion. The bummer? I already transferred all of my accounts to iBank, which I like fine, so transferring back will be a slight messy task.

A letter from Intuit...

Dear Quicken Mac Customer:

As a fellow Mac fan and customer, I wanted to personally introduce myself,
and share some highlights of our Apple-related efforts with you.

I recently became General Manager of the Personal Finance Group at Intuit,
responsible for Quicken and Mint.com. Intuit's 25 years of leadership in
personal financial management software makes me excited to lead this team
and I am committed to creating products to help you reach your financial goals.

I recognize, however, that we have not always delivered on this promise to
Quicken Mac customers.

As you may know, Quicken for Mac 2007 does not currently work on
Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion). I understand the frustration
this may have caused you and have put a team in place to address this issue.
I am happy to announce that we will have a solution that makes
Quicken 2007 for Mac "Lion-compatible" by early spring.
There are still details to be worked out, so I ask your continued patience as we
work through these.
In the meantime, you can find more information on our Mac FAQ page.

Working toward a Quicken for Mac 2007 solution is just a first step in winning
back your confidence.

We are expanding our development team to continue our renewed
focus on personal finance solutions that suit the needs of our Mac customers.
As we develop solutions, we'll be looking to you and the rest of our
Mac customers for ideas and feedback.

I understand we have a way to go, but I wanted to start by communicating
our commitment to Mac and look forward to sharing the details with
you as they emerge.

Thank you for your continued loyalty to Quicken.

Sincerely,

Aaron Forth
General Manager, Intuit Personal Finance Group

iPhone 4S, yes.

2011-12-09T12:57:00.001-08:00

I love it. In spite of the battery issue, yes it's a problem, and the fact that Siri's network does not always work, I still love my iPhone 4S. I have been able to mitigate the battery issues some by reducing the brightness, turning off bluetooth when I am not using it, and disabling some location and notification services (like Time Zone support). Apple still has to come up with a working solution for this, but I still think it's a great machine.

Now as far as the network. I switched from AT&T to Verizon, since Berkeley is a known trouble area for AT&T service. My impressions? I really do miss being able to access the web while on a call, the call quality on the Verizon network is worse and the download speed is slower. But I am hoping that Verizon catches up in all of these areas, because the fact is, I am now able to carry on long conversations. And I can't use the excuse, "Bad connection", when I really want to end a call in which I am snagged. Not you, Mom.

So bottom line, I will stay with Verizon. If AT&T fixes their issues, I may jump back over in a couple of years.

Stay Away from SOS backup!

2011-12-05T16:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, I back up religiously. Daily in 3 places. With TIme Machine, SuperDuper (for a cloned backup), and in the cloud to Crash Plan+. I want to tell you about what led me to Crash Plan.

I was using JungleDisk, and while it was seamless, I found the interface on the web clumsy and annoying. So, in one of my "everything's really going fine, but I'm bored" moods, I decided to shop around for a new online back up plan. Well, SOS got some great reviews from PC users and media, and they came out with a Mac version of their desktop software.

So I bought a 2 year plan, and stated my upload. That's right, I did NOT try it first, I actually bought a subscription. I'm flogging myself just telling you this. I ALWAYS try before I buy. Why I didn't THIS time can be blamed on the fact that my brain is loopy from the watching the new TV we bought. I have SOOO many episodes of Dexter to catch up on, and it's the first time I have had larger than a 20 inch screen. Yes, my name is Cookie, and I have a new addiction.

OMG, so I really deserved the tsuris I went through with this company. Short story? The Mac desktop application SUCKS, with limited ability to choose files to upload, and the organization on the web is dismal. So I looked online at my account to cancel. There is no place to do that. Also, I signed up for 2 years for $119.95, but on my account page it said $149.95. And that's right, no place to change it UNLESS I wanted to upgrade the account.

When I called customer support, and was told that I could NOT speak to an account representative, the ONLY way to cancel was through the support chat window.

So I tried that, and was told I would receive an email in 24-48 hours, but all I got was a "how do you like SOS?" email. I tried the chat again, and same result. Only until I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau did I finally get a refund. I also got a call from a customer service representative named Larry, very nice guy who sounded like someone I would like to go bowling with, but maybe not be in charge of my data(!!), who said, "Things are a mess in the customer service area of this company, and I'm going to clean it up!" When I told him that the representative I spoke to told me there was no way to speak to an account rep by phone, Larry said, "He lied." Great.

Here is the transcript of my support chat with "James Anderson", which I am SURE is not his real name. By the way, my favorite line of the whole chat is, "Sure Marlene" when I went on a (polite) rant about what I don't like about this product. Notice the "like" button at the end.

JamesAnderson

SupportConsultant

JamesAnderson7:48:30 AM

HelloMarlene Segelstein. How may I help you?

MarleneSegelstein7:48:51 AM

Iwould like to cancel my account that I signed up for on Saturday.

JamesAnderson7:49:06 AM

CanI help you with anything else?

MarleneSegelstein7:49:24 AM

No,I just want to cancel my account.

JamesAnderson7:49:46 AM

WhileI look in to your accounts, may I know the reason for cancellation ?

MarleneSegelstein7:51:48 AM

Acouple of reasons. The Mac software is too limited, and when I signed uponline, I

selectedthe $119.95 membership, and it put my account at the $149.95 one.

Therewas no place to change or cancel it. So I just want to cancel my account and

receivea full refund, please.

JamesAnderson7:53:19 AM

CanI help you sign up for $119.95 account ? Also cancel $149.95 and refund for the

same

MarleneSegelstein7:53:35 AM

Nothank you. Please just cancel my account.

JamesAnderson7:54:18 AM

illescalate the case to my accounts manager, he will update the status in the next

24to 48hrs

MarleneSegelstein7:55:23 AM

Doesthat mean he will cancel my account? I was told by phone support that this

chatwas the only want to do this. Will I get an email confirmation?

JamesAnderson7:57:27 AM

YesMarlene, he will send you an email

MarleneSegelstein8:00:01 AM

Pleasetell your manager that this is not a satisfactory way for customers to

managetheir accounts. On the other back up programs I have used, iDrive,

JungleDisk,I was able to cancel online immediately. The website seems set up for

easyin, but not easy out. For consumers that are looking for full features and

control,this does not make for happy campers. I'll look for a confirmation email

within48 hours.

JamesAnderson8:00:23 AM

SureMarlene

MarleneSegelstein8:00:53 AM

WillI also get a full refund?

JamesAnderson8:01:26 AM

I'mnot sure, accounts manager will update you on that

MarleneSegelstein8:03:39 AM

SinceI signed up only on Saturday, and the Mac software is limited, I expect a full

refund.I will also let my credit card company know this. Thanks.

JamesAnderson

Thankyou

iDid

2011-10-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few days, since Tuesday's iPhone 4S announcement changing my mind constantly.
No, I won't buy it, it's not enough better than my iPhone 4.
Yes, I will buy it, Siri looks amazing.
No, I don't want to give up the ability to access data while on a call.
The deciding factor? A 10 minute ride home from a day of MacMama work, and a phone call that dropped 3 times. Which is typical on any given 10 minute ride home. And we barely get a signal in our house, so using my cellphone as a business phone is not possible when I am sitting at my desk. Which of course, sucks. So, Goodbye AT&T.

Because I ordered an iPhone 4S from Verizon. Actually 2, one for me and one for my husband, who has never quite forgiven me for forcing our family off Verizon and on to AT&T, back when the Blackberry Bold came out. SO we will be paying a termination fee of $90, and switching our wireless service. And most likely, I will use Square Trade instead of AppleCare or Verizon's insurance, like I did on my other iPhone and iPad.

I spoke to a few salespeople at Verizon who promised to call me back to set stuff up (and did not keep their promises) . So today I called and spoke to Robert, who was an excellent sales representative. I asked if I could post his direct line on this blog, since he was so thorough and friendly. I HATE grumpy sales people, and rude customer service reps, and I certainly speak out when I come across them, but this guy is the best. So if you ARE going to get one from Verizon, call him.

ROBERT: 888-924-7934, EXT. 8186.

iAm.

2011-09-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am going to upgrade to the new iPhone that is allegedly being announced this Tuesday. Will I do it right away? And the bigger question, will I leave AT&T?
That depends on a a couple of things. Namely, if it has dual mode CDMA and GSM, I'll switch in a flash (no reference to Adobe). If I have to choose CDMA in order to switch to Verizon, (and actually be able to get a signal in my house), I may have to think about it.
More on that later. Must go walk dog. By the way, at the dog park, I get FABULOUS AT&T service. WTF?!

A Keeper, until...

2011-09-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, the update is, I like the bag. The Eagle Creek Dane that is. I have been using it for about 6 weeks, and I must say, I have not run into a situation where I wished it had more room or more sections. The backpack straps are just fine, and when it is packed well, it actually can stand up like a hard sided briefcase. There are a few things I would like, though.

1. A place for a water bottle on the side.
2. A waist strap to take some of the weight off of my shoulders.
3. Better looking exterior. Yes it's slick, but it's just another black bag among black bags.

So until something else comes along, I'll continue to go between this and my Tom Binh Super Ego.

I like the Binh for looks and style, but the Dane holds more and is more comfortable to wear. Tom Binh has some beautiful (read expensive) bags, and is made in Seattle. So if you are feeling like getting something that will turn some geek heads, and have the cash, check them out at the link above.

Girls love bags.

2011-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am reviewing a laptop bag, the Eagle Creek Dane.

Let me admit this, I am a bagaholic. Every time I hear of a new and improved bag, I salivate a little. I was considering the Timbuk2 Commute 2.0, but when I saw it and tried it, it seems a bit floppy, and the laptop area was too close to the top. I was afraid my 15" Macbook Pro (mid 2011) would not be protected well. The layout of the rest of the bag looked great, but it did not have backpack straps.

My criteria for a bag:

*Checkpoint friendly
*Shoulder strap
*Padded handle
*Ergonomic backpack straps
*Easy laptop access
*Good protection (suspended laptop container)
*Room for wires, external hard drives, etc.
*Good warranty, lifetime preferred

I love Eagle Creek products, so I thought I would give this bag a try. Here is what they claim:

Three carry options: Padded concealable daypack straps, removable shoulder strap and padded grab handle
Checkpoint Friendly laptop compartment with butterfly-style opening sized to fit most 17” laptops
Smart Travel Security™ organization with Secure-Zip™ toggle closure includes: interior mobile phone and electronics pockets, zippered mesh pocket, key fob and pen slots
Two-way lockable zippers on main and laptop compartments
Two interior pockets for electronic chargers/cords
Front zippered pocket
Back slip panel for securely stacking on wheeled luggage
Reflective accents for dusk and nighttime visibility

And yes, they have Eagle Creek's famous lifetime guarantee. So more on this at the end of this week as I put this bag to the test.

iBank, iApprove.

2011-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have been using Igg Software's iBank for a couple of weeks, and although it took me awhile to get used to it, I have found it meets my needs very well.

Initially, I was entering my transactions in iBooks AND Quicken essentials in case I hated iBank. But in the last week, I have abandoned Intuit's poor substitution for Quicken, and jumped right into iBank's interface.
The reports are very easy to read, and colorful in a way that points to pertinent info.

I Love:
I can see a list of my accounts in a left side panel.
Customizable toolbar with a calculator, currency exchange rate, reports, etc.
iPhone and iPad sync (OMG!)
Reconcile checkmark near left side of register, much more ergonomic.
Cute piggybank icon for savings account (see above).
Ability to add icons to categories.
Transferred my Quicken info beautifully.
Great customer support, constant updates.

Not so love:
Entry feels a little clumsy, once I save a transaction, it still has active entry fields, so when I come back to iBank, I'm not sure if I have saved it. It only looks final when I click the plus sign to add a new transaction.
Not enough like a check register, so it took me awhile to feel at ease with setting it up. I would rather have the check number right after the date.

Here are some screenshots (samples, not my accounts!)

iBank: Quicken substitute?

2011-07-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have been using Quicken Essentials for a week, and am not happy with it. So I am giving Iggsoftware's iBank a try. Even though I upgraded to Lion, I saved a copy of my Snow Leopard system on an external drive. I booted into that and exported my Quicken data which was easily converted by iBank. I have also downloaded the iBank iPhone app, and have synced it with my Mac.

Now, I was in no way a power Quicken user. My needs are basic. I have a personal checking, two business checking , and a savings account. I use categories for tax reporting, and don't keep track of my credit card accounts, since, yes I pay my balances off every month.

So give me about a week, and I'll let you know what I think.

Just FYI, here's the blurb from IGGSOFTWARE:

iBank 4 delivers a new standard for intuitive, full-featured personal finance software. Monitor account balances at a glance, track your investments, maintain budgets, and manage your credit cards, savings, checking and loans — all in an easy, powerful, familiar Mac interface.

Set up in a snap.

iBank's setup assistant gets you up and running in no time. Import data from Quicken for Mac or PC, Microsoft Money, and other financial programs with minimal effort, or start with a clean slate in minutes. [screenshot]

Track all your finances in one place.

iBank includes tools for keeping tabs on all of your real-world financial accounts: checking and savings, cash and credit cards, investment and retirement accounts, even mortgages and loans. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Update your records with ease.

Many banks offer direct download for one-click updates; for the rest, iBank includes an integrated browser that you can use to import data straight from your bank's website. iBank helps you to clean up the new transactions and remove duplicates automatically. Manually record and edit transactions as needed. [screenshot]

Categorize everything.

Set up category hierarchies, assign categories to all of your transactions, and split transactions for more detailed category tracking. Best of all, iBank learns how you categorize the transactions you download and assigns categories automatically when you update your accounts! [screenshot | tutorial video]

Generate powerful reports.

Create beautiful and detailed reports on your account balances, spending categories, investments, net worth and more with the click of a button. Click on any element of a report to drill down and view more detailed information, then print exactly what you see onscreen. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Plan your budget with envelopes.

Due to popular demand, iBank now supports the envelope method of budget tracking. Plan your upcoming expenses, then save cash in envelopes until payments are due. Carry over savings from month to month, and move cash between envelopes when necessary. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Sync data with your iPhone.

With iBank Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, you can keep your account balances and transaction history synchronized between your Mac and mobile devices with the click of a button. Transfer data over a local wireless network, remotely via MobileMe, or using your own WebDAV server. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Track investments with ease.

iBank's powerful investment management features let you record the shares you buy and sell, track the prices of your securities over time, and analyze the performance of your portfolio with reports tailored specifically for investors. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Reconcile with paper statements.

For those of us who prefer to keep tabs on what the banks do with our money, iBank provides convenient statement reconciliation features. Each month when a paper statement arrives from the bank, create a virtual statement in iBank, check off the transactions that match up, and make any adjustments necessary to keep your accounts properly balanced. [screenshot | tutorial video]

Go global.

Just like your Mac, iBank works worldwide. With multi-currency support, you can set a default currency for any account, download exchange rates and calculate transfers between accounts automatically. iBank supports localization for British English, and now includes full French language support as well.

Take control of your financial life.

iBank includes a host of other features to help you keep control over where your money goes. Use scheduled transactions to track recurring expenses, and post them to your iCal calendar. Attach receipts, statements, pictures, or any other files to your transactions for better record-keeping. Maintain accounts in multiple currencies and perform currency conversions with a minimum of hassle. [screenshot]

Discover more great features.

You'll uncover lots more capabilities in iBank, including robust data export (to programs such as TurboTax), custom check printing, and password protection for your iBank documents. You'll also find a great community of active users at the IGG forums, and if you need us, an enthusiastic support team always willing to help.

iMac Seagate Hard Drive Recall.

2011-07-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Apple has determined that a very small number of Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems, may fail under certain conditions. These systems were sold between May 2011 and July 2011.

Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will replace affected hard drives free of charge.

Apple is contacting affected iMac owners who provided a valid email address during the product registration process to let them know about this program. If you have not been contacted, but think you have a 1TB Seagate hard drive, you can enter your serial number to see if it's part of this program. Here is the link to the Apple announcement:

Apple Seagate Recall

Roar.

2011-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ginger

UPDATE: Lion, OSX 10.7, Apple's newest operating system will come out tomorrow, July 20. This will be a new era of upgrade, as this will ONLY be available through the App Store. So in order to upgrade to 10.7, you must first have 10.6, Snow Leopard. Actually, 10.6.6, which is when the App store was introduced. If you have Leopard, OSX 10.5, you can get a copy of OSX 10.6 from Amazon for around $30. If you are running Tiger, OSX 10.4 or earlier on a PowerPC, time to gather those shekls and upgrade your hardware. Of course, should you be the first to upgrade to Lion? Well, let's consider some things. First of all, system requirements. Do you have what it takes?

Mac OS X Lion System Requirements

In order to install Mac OS X 10.7 you will need:

Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of RAM
Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later with the Mac App Store installed
At least 4GB of additional disk space to accommodate the download, but more is obviously recommended

And then there's the "C" word. Compatibility. Since Lion will NOT support Rosetta, Apple's dynamic translation process which allows software built for PowerPC's to run on Intel Macs, many earlier applications like Eudora and Quicken will not work. So it's best to check to see if the software vital to you is compatible.

Here is a compatibility table by roaringapps.com:

ROARINGAPPS.COM COMPATIBILITY ABLE

Will I upgrade right away? Well, I will back up my system using SuperDuper, and jump right in. Then if there is too much freak happening, I'll restore to 10.6. But yes, I am a risk taker. Open the gates and let 'er buck.

A note about Quickbooks 2009 and 2010

2011-07-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

What's the news for those folks using earlier versions of Quickbooks for Mac? Bad news. Not supported in Lion. My favorite paragraph in the explanation:

We know many of you are disappointed by this news. We’re sad to deliver it. And it’s just us telling you this, the QuickBooks for Mac team. Not our marketing or PR department. We want you hear the full story straight from us. All of you are important to us.

Oh. Like, "I'm breaking up with you, but at least I'm doing it by email and not by texting you". It's a ridiculous statement which basically says that if Intuit supported older software compatibility, they wouldn't have time to keep their newest working.

...we have to be honest and say that supporting new operating systems is a significant investment in our team’s time. It means testing, finding, and fixing bugs in all three versions on all the operating systems. It’s not quite three times as much work across the board, but it is a significant increase. And that would mean that we wouldn’t have time to improve QuickBooks for Mac to make it even better based on your feedback.

I don't buy it. Microsoft does it with Office, even Adobe with the CS series, many software companies keep updating older versions. Some of my dearest friends are still using FileMaker 10 happily even though the current is FileMaker 11.

Here's the full explanation from Intuit.

"Well, you SEE Mrs. Cleaver..."

I'm Back!

2011-07-16T08:36:00.001-07:00

Macmama has been very busy in the last 2 months, moving to a new home, sneaking a puppy into the house, and receiving a homeward bound college freshman. So apologies for the silence.
Here we are , at the forefront of the release of Lion, and all kinds of questions are swirling in the clouds, the very same cloud being one of them.
But, one thing that HAS been keeping me up at night, besides aforementioned freshman and puppy, is the compatibility of Quickbooks 2011, which I use grudgingly but religiously. There have been many statements by Intuit indicating that Quickbooks was not compatible with Lion. But yesterday, they released an update that solved that issue. Here is the link:

QUICKBOOKS 2011 UPDATE

Now as far as Quicken for Mac, we are not so lucky. Since the Mac version was originally built for PowerPC architecture, Intel based macs had to use Rosetta; a dynamic translation process which allows software built for PowerPC's to run on Intel Macs; to run Quicken. SO according to Intuit, your choices are:

1. Use Quicken Essentials (Aughhhh!!!)
2. Use Mint.com (hmmm)
3. Use Quicken for Windows (now come on!!)

Look at the full explanation here:

Intuit 'splains

So I am using Quicken Essentials, and as a long time Quicken user, I do not like it. It's flabby, and looks different to me. And trust me , I do NOT need to make balancing my checkbook any more difficult than it already is.

OK, time to take the puppy to the dog park.

By the way:

And Apple has plans...

2011-05-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

From the horse's mouth:"In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware."

Here is a link to Apple's official statement:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4650

New malware targets Mac OSX users.

2011-05-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from Macrumors.com, May 2, 2011, by Eric Slivka
Antivirus firm Intego today noted the discovery of new malware known as "MACDefender" targeting Mac OS X users via Safari. According to the report, the malware appears to be being deployed via JavaScript as a compressed ZIP file reached through Google searches.

When a user clicks on a link after performing a search on a search engine such as Google, this takes them to a web site whose page contains JavaScript that automatically downloads a file. In this case, the file downloaded is a compressed ZIP archive, which, if a specific option in a web browser is checked (Open "safe" files after downloading in Safari, for example), will open

More information is available in Apple's support communities (1, 2), where users report that the malware is popping up directly in Google image searches.

Users running administrator accounts and with the Safari option to open "safe" files automatically checked appear to be most at risk, with some claiming that no notification of installation was seen or password required. Only when a screen popped up asking for a credit card number to sign up for virus protection did they realize that malware had been installed on their systems.

For those infected with the MACDefender malware, the following steps are recommended:

1. Open Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor and quit any processes linked to MACDefender.

2. Delete MACDefender from the Applications folder.

3. Check System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items for suspicious entries

4. Run a Spotlight search for "MACDefender" to check for any associated files that might still be lingering.

Full details on the malware and the simplest steps needed for its complete removal are still being investigated.

Users are of course reminded that day-to-day system usage with standard accounts rather than administrator ones, as well as unchecking the Safari option for automatically opening "safe" files, are two of the simplest ways users can enhance their online security, adding extra layers of confirmation and passwords in the way of anything being installed on their systems.

You can read more about this on macworld.com.

Life in the big city

2011-04-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

As you know, stuff happens. Things break, they don't last as long as we would like them to, and sometimes our things get stolen. This unfortunately means that our portable devices can sometimes end up in the wrong hands. More and more of our crucial information is stored on computers, and sometimes it feels that we are helpless to prevent the risk of identity theft.

Many of us take our laptops everywhere, and it's very easy to turn away for a second, only to find it gone. What can we do?

In the next day or two, I will give you my feedback on Undercover, Orbicule's anti-theft software for Macs, an invaluable partner to their other product, Witness, reviewed below.

Witness in my pocket

2011-04-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

As promised, a few words on a low cost motion detector on your laptop.
Witness, an application from Orbicule, "...turns your Mac into a home alarm system, using its iSight camera as a motion sensor. If motion is detected, Witness sends mugshots and video to your iPhone or iPad."

When I first downloaded Witness, I was surprised at the ease of setting it up. You create an account online, and can access it from any computer AND (here's the great thing) yes, there is an iOS app for both iPhone and iPad. After you install it on your computer, a little house appears on your menu bar, and you can activate and deactivate from either your laptop, or, get this, from your iPhone or iPad. So if you leave the house, and forget to turn it on, you can do it from afar. And the $39 price tag is pretty good for this little mini alarm system.

But (of course, a but), it was only AFTER I paid the $39 and received my license by email that I was notified of a small bug, that the notification system did not work with the iPhone and iPad, and that Orbicule was waiting for their fix to be approved by Apple. Oh sure, now you tell me, I thought. Of course, I wanted to believe them, but experience prevented my optimism.

And how happy I was to be wrong, they INDEED fixed it within a week of my purchase, and although it is no substitution for a true alarm system, now we can find out if our landlord is visiting us while we are not at home.

More from Orbicule:

Witness not only functions as an alarm system, it also locks your Mac, preventing anyone from looking at your files. You can use the built-in lock screen that comes with Witness, or the standard Mac OS X screensaver password feature. Witness nicely integrates with your Mac’s screensaver password: when you come home and unlock your screensaver, Witness automatically turns off the alarm.

Other products from Orbicule include Undercover, theft recovery software for Mac and iOS, and Incognito, a Safari extension that prevents Facebook and Google from following you on the web.

Undercover

Incognito

When Orbicule's fix was accepted by Apple for the App store, they sent an email apologizing for the delay, and offering a 15% coupon on all of their products. I think they should have offered half price off for at least one product, but I am still happy with this mini security system.

Secret Intruders?

2011-04-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

This week I will be reviewing Orbicle's Witness, which basically turns your Mac into a very basic home alarm system, using your isight camera as a motion detector. I have been using it for about a week, and will give you my review in a few days. It all started when we thought maybe our landlord, or some previous tenant was walking into our house while we are gone. More in a few days!

The Borg Apple.

2011-03-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Often times I get an email or call from one of my customers who want advice on a complete Mac set up. Sometimes they are switching from PC, or upgrading from an antique system. So I send them to the Apple store with this list; computer, printer (usually has a $100 rebate), iPhone, external hard drive, Apple Care and Microsoft Office 2011, Home and Student edition. Although I usually don't buy software from Apple since it's cheaper elsewhere, coming home with everything in one trip is appealing to many.

But alas, what they often come home with is everything on the list with one change; instead of Office, they have iWork; Apple's answer to Microsoft's Office suite. It seems, they relate, that the nice sales person explained that Office is not an Apple product, and iWork works much better and does the same thing. As we used to say back home,

"Now lookie here, Apple!"

YES, I think iWork is fun and good for lots of people and things. Keynote is much easier than Powerpoint, and just fine if you are in a MacCentric work or play place. But, face it. Most of the word processing world belongs to Microsoft. And most of the time that I suggest Office, it's for a good reason. Sometimes these customers are amateur or professional writers that hope to get some work published, or have to share files with PC users, or just want a fuller, more powerful word processor or spreadsheet. And now, with Office 2011 coming closer to the Windows version of Word etc, for many users, it's a no brainer.
I have been using Office 2011 since it came out, and I must say, it's a pleasure. The media browser works just as well as it does in Pages, so if I want to drag and drop a photo in one of my documents, it's very easy. And, the "ribbon" is finally in the Mac version, making PC users who switch more comfortable.
Also, Excel has Visual Basic version 6.5, the same as the PC version. Powerpoint still feels bloated and clumsy to me, I prefer to use iWork's Keynote for slide presentation. And although Outlook, the replacement for Entourage;the earlier Microsoft mail client for Mac; has full support for Exchange, and has nice search capabilities; it is still too buggy for me. So I use:

WORD PROCESSOR: Microsoft Word 2011
SPREADSHEET: Excel 2011
SLIDE PRESENTATIONS: Apple Keynote
MAIL CLIENT: Apple Mail

One thing I will say also about Office 2011. I have written to Microsoft support about the buggy behavior of Outlook ( I was reviewing Outlook for a client), and have usually gotten immediate and committed service professionals to stick with me on the issues. My experience with Office, is that usually by the 3rd of 4th service update, many of the bugs are worked out.

I didn't do it.

2011-03-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

No, I did not buy the iPad 2. And yes, I was tempted, especially since my friend Kendra kept texting me how much she LOVES her new one, and sending happy faces, and pics of the box. OK, Kendra, I got you into this Mac world, and now you have the best stuff!

So why didn't I bite? It does have some impressive improvements. First of all, I have an iPad already, and when I travel, I often take it instead of my 3 year old MacBook Pro. I email, play Scrabble, read the NY Times, keep my FileMaker database and even watch Netflix on it. I also use Logmein to get anything I need from my home system when I'm on the road. I don't really need another iCamera (I have the iPhone 4 which by the way has a flash, and the new iPad does not), I don't need any more features at this time. There is plenty of chatter on the web about "Should you or shouldn't you..." Yes, the A5 dual core processor will load your apps twice as fast, but the lack of a retina display means the screen resolutions are about the same. And still no Flash.

if you should decide to ditch your iPad and upgrade to this new edition, you can sell yours on ebay, Craig's List, Gazelle, or www.SellYourMac.com

Or you can give it to your mom, your kid, your spouse, or anyone that doesn't need the latest and could appreciate it.

What I do need is to save my bucks to upgrade my main horse to the new quad core MacBook Pro, which I deeply covet.

Deeply.

iPad 2

2011-03-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

OK, the iPad 2 is finally here. Same price, twice as fast, and (wait for it...) front AND rear facing camera. Will I get one? I already have the original iPad, so probably not. Would I turn one down, should some stranger (or very good, getting better) friends buy me one? Dyuh..NO.

I won't list all of the features, you can find them here:

iPad 2 Features

ANd as of March 11 (probabaly midnight), you can order one from the Apple store.
But, I really use my iPad, and highly recommend this new one. Wait. Maybe I DO want one.

BTW, Apple has REDUCED the price of the original iPad to starting at $399 ($349 for refurbished). So if you want to buy a present for your family or friends, it's a no brainer.

New things from Apple? MacBook Pro, iPad updates?

2011-02-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

Whenever there are pending hardware releases by Apple, rumors abound. Many times, they fade as wisps of flotsam (excuse me, I have been reading English literature again) into nothingness, only to be replaced by more "updated" rumors. No one can predict for sure, but judging by the average production cycles of the various products, many of these guesses prove to be right.

So here's what we know: Apple has announced a special media event to be held in San Francisco, 10 a.m. Pacific Time on March 2 to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a venue Apple has used for a number of prior launches, including the original iPad.

There have been rumors that Apple will update the MacBook Pros tomorrow, Thursday, but some speculate that all of the updated hardware will be announce on March 2. Some say that the MacBook Pros will contain some major changes, like the addition of "Light Peak" under the name "Thunderbolt", a new high speed connection.

So keep a lookout, and those of you getting ready for an update, get your checkbooks ready.

Dropbox or SugarSync?

2011-02-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

I just signed up for the new file sharing service called SugarSync.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

After reading the features page, I got that excited quivery feeling when you are closer in line and going to be NEXT on the pony ride. If it does what it says it does, it might just knock my trusty Dropbox into the lesser loved sibling. Although Dropbox has become such a trusty companion and important part of my workflow, I can't imagine loving anything more. But you get 5G space on the free service (look carefully on the home page, of course it's the smallest print). One of the things that the creators promise is the ability to sync/upload via email, share files of any size, and get this: stream music to your iPhone (drool).I guess I'm in and I might be in love.

Here's what the creators promise:

Reasons You'll Love SugarSync

Secure, Automatic Data Protection

As you work, your files are continuously backed up to your secure,
personal SugarSync website using SSL encryption.
Once in our servers, all data is then encrypted with 128-bit AES.

Anywhere, Anytime Access

If you've got an Internet connection or a smart phone,
you've got a mobile office. So take your BlackBerry to Bangkok,
open your laptop in London – or just stop by an
Internet café in Culver City.
Wherever you go, your files will be waiting for you.

Sync Without Limits

With SugarSync, you can sync as many computers and mobile
devices as you want on a single account — and changes
saved on one computer are instantaneously synced among the rest.

Seamless Collaboration

Easily send files of any size to anyone, from anywhere.
We'll save your file versions and make sure the right data goes to
the right team member, and they can send back an updated document
in just a few clicks.

File Versioning

Have you ever saved over a document and immediately
wished you hadn't? With SugarSync, we'll save, sync
and back up the five latest versions of any
given file — automatically. In a tough spot,
it can be a real lifesaver.

Enjoy Your Photos and Music On the Go

We know there's more to life (and backup) than work.
That's why SugarSync automatically organizes
your photos into online albums for viewing and sharing,
and allows you to stream your music limitlessly
to any browser or iPhone.

Cross-Platform Functionality

You can use SugarSync on any modern version of Mac
(including Snow Leopard) as well as any
Windows operating system.

Customer Phone Support - Business Account

Our professional customer support agents can answer any
questions you have about our Business service, from setup to
setting storage limits. The call is free and it's open
to all Business Account administrators.

Administrative Control - Business Account

Our powerful administrative tools make it easy to
customize your account, enable or disable users,
and set storage limits for all your employees.
And with pooled storage and centralized billing,
keeping your whole company in sync is simpler than ever.

Everything I learned, I learned from my mother.

2011-02-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

My mother is 82, blond and Hungarian. She wears designer jeans, Dolce Gabbana sunglasses, has a perpetual tan and walks 3 miles every day. Here 's a conversation I witnessed when I went with her and her friends (also Hungarian) Adele, Ruza for a late lunch in Kansas City after our pedicure at Walmart. I'll wait for you to take that all in... The conversation was between my mother and the waitress.

Mom (with Hungarian accent): Sweetheart, bring me eggwhite omelet.

Waitress (with Kansas City drawl): Ma'am, we have lot's of delicious things on the menu, but unfortunately we don't serve breakfast after 11:30.

Mom: I know... bring me eggwhite omelet.

Waitress: (Smile) Golly, Ma'am, I can actually suggest some wonderful soups or sandwiches, but unfortuantely, we don't serve omelets at this time of day.

Mom: I know... bring me eggwhite omelet. And some potatoes WELL DONE. CRISPY!

Waitress: OK. No problem. (walks away)

Mom turns to me and says: If I teach you one thing, it's this. Don't take no for an answer.

So in a true display of genetics, I got the MicroCell for free, as I described in the previous post. This is all to say that I set it up, it was "live" in about 25 minutes, and I now have 4-5 bars on my iPhone in the house. Next!

But I want one.

2011-02-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

In my neighborhood, the AT&T cell service sucks. But, alas, I was not one of those lucky AT&T customers who received a letter offering a free 3G microcell to help with a poor signal at home. And I use my cellphone as my business phone, and CONSTANTLY drop calls on an average of 2-3 times per call. Since I do a lot of remote and phone support, this is a very bad thing. So I called AT&T and spoke to a very nice agent, who listened patiently to my troubles. I explained that I felt that this bad phone behavior was costing me business. She put me on hold to check with her service supervisors, and said that AT&T was planning to put a new tower in my area.

Great! I said, when? October of 2012, she answered. So, I asked her, in 18 months I can expect to have great service at home?

Yes, she replied. When I asked her to please try to get clearance for me to get a 3G microcell for FREE, she confirmed that she could not do that, but that I was free to go into one of the stores and buy one for $199.

The part about going into an AT&T store to get one sounded great. But I was not interested in paying ANY money for it. So today, I walked into one of the AT&T stores in my neighborhood and talked to a guy named Brownie who was from Coffeyville, Kansas,. When he found out that I was from Kansas City, we started commiserating on the poor selection of BBQ in the East Bay. When we finally decided that the only way to get the slabs of ribs we were craving was to go back to the prairie, it was down to business.

I prepared to give him a very involved account of how I only get "less than one bar at home, dropped calls, etc." I did not get more than two sentences in, when he went to the back, came out with a microcell, and said, "This will help you". No arguments, no pleading, no whining. He helped me register the 2 wireless numbers we have at home, printed out my receipt, explained the terms of the device contract (does not affect your phone contract), put it in a pretty bag, and sent me on my way.

Wait, what? I actually got a solution from AT&T? Well, I got one from Brownie at the AT&T store. Tomorrow I'll hook it up and report on any improvement. And I might just bring Brownie one of my bottles of Gate's BBQ Classic Sauce. I order that by the case.

Back to School?

2011-02-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

As you know, the digital age is growing faster than an eighth grader. So how do you keep up with the changes? Well, you can read online blogs like this, subscribe to magazines like Macworld or MacTech, or hire someone to teach you. But what if you learn best through hands-on training, but can't afford a personal tutor?

There are several solutions. One of the ones I like the best is Lynda.com. Click on the picture to check it out.

There are literally hundreds of software titles, and more added constantly. Titles like, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Switching to Mac from Windows, etc. The cost is pretty reasonable, depending on what level of account you buy. You can watch the videos for $25 a month, and for under around $375 a year, you can have full access to the exercise files that accompany each tutorial, so you can practice even when not watching the tutorial.

You can also try it for a day:

Free 24 hour pass to lynda.com.

Another video site I have used is VTC, Virtual Training Center, which in some ways goes into more depth on subjects like Aperture, Photoshop, and FileMaker Pro. This costs about $30 a month.

And believe it or not, YouTube is a great resource for How To videos. Although they are usually done by 13 year old kids, you can learn almost anything from how to change the SIM card in your iPhone, to how to set up a printer wirelessly.

Macworld compares AT&T and Verizon Voice and Data Plans

2011-02-03T13:40:00.001-08:00

We all want to know...

http://www.macworld.com/article/157071/2011/01/compare_verizon_att_plans.html

Buy it now.

2011-02-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

Are you planning to buy a new Mac, iPhone, iPad and want to make sure that a new model does not come out days after you plunk down enough for a mortgage payment? As you may know, Apple is mum about new products. Even Apple store employees claim they don't know anything until the new products actually show up on their shelves.

But there are ways you can follow Apple's trends, and make a best guess about the production cycles.

If you go to MacRumors website, and click on the Buyer's Guide Tab, you can read about the cycles of all of Apple's hardware.

For instance, if you are planning to buy a new Macbook, here's what MacRumors suggests:

Another great website that keeps up with the modern trends of All things Apple, is TUAW (which stands for The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

These are two sites that I read along with my morning cup of coffee.

Wow me.

2011-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

I won't give a rundown on ALL of the cool things I saw at the Macworld Expo last Thursday, just a few that I am still excited about.

The first thing that caught my attention was Dolly Drive, the first online storage solution that allows you to use Time Machine.

This means that you can do a full Time Machine backup to cloud based storage. This is great news for travelers, who count on being able to access their files on the road. The other great thing about Dolly Drive is the ability to do a bootable backup with the same application. So you can have your Time Machine backed up online, and a bootable backup on an external drive in your office. This negates the need for two separate applications to provide a complete backup solution. For example, in my case, I use ShirtPocket's SuperDuper to make a bootable clone on one external drive, do a Time Machine backup on another, and use JungleDisk for online back up. You can find out more details for each of the products I just listed by clicking the links.

The second bit o' bling that I already have on my machine is Boom for Mac, which was one of the winners of Best in Show, by a company I have never before this week heard of called Global Delight. I know it sounds like a mail order bride service but no. It is not. It is actually a very simple volume enhancer for your mac. It is inexpensive, and yes, it really does work.

I deeply coveted the LiveScribe smartpen, and if I was a student I would whine for one.

And I am still trying to convince myself that i don't need the Zaggmate case for my iPad, a keyboard and case in one. The $99 price tag on that one is a bit steep for me, and I am thinking that money can be put to better use at Zappos.

Of course, some of my favorite vendors were there, like OWC, where I shop when I need memory and hard drives and the Omni group which makes my favorite task manager and outline program of all time, OmniFocus and OmniOutliner.

Macmama at the Macworld Expo

2011-01-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

I was the one in the Stroud's Kansas City Hat wandering around with my pal and FileMaker guru Dan "Moe" Peck, and Adobe Illustrator goddess Sharon Steuer. Some thoughts about what I saw and what I bought tomorrow. I will say that there were an awful lot of booth babes at this expo. I kept thinking I was back home in KC at the monster truck show. More tomorrow!

OMG! I can't believe I just did that!

2011-01-20T21:58:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thrown away photos that you needed in iPhoto? Today, I received a call from a client who was in a panic because after importing photos from his camera into iPhoto, he accidentally deleted them from the import window. And unfortunately, after the import, he selected the "Delete Photos on Your Camera" so they were erased from his camera's SD card. Of course, he could use one of the SD card data restore software programs like " Card Rescue".

But I figured that even though he had "trashed" the photos, most likely he had not emptied his iPhoto trash. So if this happens to you, don't fret.Open iPhoto, make sure Recent is uncollapsed (is that a word?) by clicking on the gray triangle to the left of the word:

And click on the Trash can.

Then, if you have not emptied your iPhoto Trash, your photos will be there. But you must move them out of the trash and back into the library to edit them. So click on one, then press Command-A (not the hyphen, just the Command button and the letter "a") to select all of them, and drag them back into your Library, onto the icon near the top that says Photos.

Then you will be back in business. NOW, it IS a good idea to keep your iPhoto trash emptied, since photos in the trash take up as much room as the ones in your library. To empty the trash, go to iPhoto on the menu bar, and select empty trash (or you can use the keyboard shortcut, Shift-Command-Delete):

Or, if you have iPhoto 11, with Trash open, just hit the Empty Trash button. When you empty the trash in any of these ways, you will free up the space the discarded photos are taking up.

No longer at this address.

2011-01-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Is Mac mail is remembering email addresses you haven't used in weeks, months, years (you start to type an address in the To: field, and outdated versions of your contact's email address pops up)? Here's how to get rid of them.

On the menu bar, click Window>Previous Recipients.

Then you can sort them by Name, Email Address, or Last Used. If you select Last Used, you can get rid of the ones you have not used in a year by selecting one, then holding the SHIFT key, and selecting the last one in the pile you want to remove, then click Remove From List.

Send a New Year's Kiss, Judy Jetson style

2011-01-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get the urge to send a quick video message? If you have a mac that has a built in webcam (intel iMac, Macbook Pro and Macbook), you can send a video message to your pals. Of course, you can do that from your iPhone, or FLIP or any other video camera. But what if you are sitting in front of your mac, and have a sudden urge to sing a verse of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" to your significant other(s)? Easy as making a list of resolutions.

Open the application Photo Booth, and make sure the video mode is selected. Yes, that's you in the little window.

Think about what you want to say, sing, yell, and make sure you are centered in the preview window of Photo Booth. Then click on the red center button. You will get a 3-2-1 countdown, and then your machine will start recording. When you are finished, press the same button, which is now a square. You can see the timer on the left. Try to keep these videos short for emailing, a 5-6 second video is a bit under 1 MB.

If it takes a few tries to get the one you like, no worries. They all go into a bin below.

Choose the one you like, click on the email icon.

The movie will be automatically attached to an email as a Quicktime file and will be ready to sent.

Happy New Year!

Spring Cleaning

2010-12-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

I am playing music this week in, yes, the Catskills. BUT I still keep a vigilant eye on Mac news, so let me pass on a nice link on the Macworld site.

Good advice, heed, my friends, heed it.

http://www.macworld.com/article/147190/2010/03/springclean.html

My Mac-up bag. Part the Second.

2010-12-20T23:39:00.000-08:00

Get it? Make-up bag, Mac-up bag. Oh God, that even embarrasses me and I'm the one who said it.

Continued from a few days ago, some not-in-the box necessities for me.

Text Expander
$34.95

http://www.smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/features.html

One of the great things about Snow Leopard, 10.6, is the ability in the Keyboard preference pane on System Preferences to add keyboard shortcuts. OMG, what took Apple so long. So if you just want to make a shortcut for say, your name, you need not spend the extra cash for a snippet editor like Text Expander, but if you regularly need to add longer snippets, or even want to add an image (like a scanned signature) then this may be one your most useful apps. I use it and love it. From the creators:

Save time and effort with TextExpander! Whether it's a simple email signature or several paragraphs of a standard response, you'll love how easy it is to use TextExpander to avoid typing the same thing over and over.

			Save thousands of keystrokes by using short abbreviations to insert "snippets" containing frequently-used phrases and images
			Insert standard greetings and signatures — including formatted text and pictures
			Assign hotkeys to save even more time when creating, editing and searching your snippets.
			Reposition the cursor in the expanded snippet, or use our new fill-in-the-blank snippets to enter variable data in multiple fields.
			Organize snippets into groups
			Add snippet groups from external files and online sources
			Sync snippets via MobileMe or Dropbox
			Insert the current date and time in any format you prefer
			Add common typos to your snippet library—TextExpander will automatically correct them for you! (more info)
			Type special characters without having to launch a special characters palette
			Trigger snippet expansions automatically by typing the abbreviations you specify, or use any one of over 30 delimiter characters as a trigger
			Position the cursor wherever you want in your expanded snippet
			Programmers: make editor-independent code templates; invoke AppleScripts and shell scripts

Transcribe
$50, discounts for multiple copies

http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/overview.html

Musicians are always listening to recordings to learn new licks. One of the most useful digital learning tools is a music slow downer. There are a few on the market. I used to use Ronimusic.com's Amazing Slowdowner (http://www.ronimusic.com/). But for the last 7 or 8 years I have used Seventh String's Transcribe! And that exclamation mark is not editorial, it's part of the application title. In my other line of work, as a musician (talk about slowdowns (!!),thanks to the banking industry and Ponzi outlaws), I listen to alot of old scratchy recordings. I can pop a music file in Transcribe! and mark a section, and listen to what the hell that Gypsy fiddler is doing at any speed and any pitch. It is not exactly a pretty interface, but it sure makes that work easier. Now if people will start buying live music again.

From the creator:
The Transcribe! application is an assistant for people who sometimes want to work out a piece of music from a recording, in order to write it out, or play it themselves, or both. It doesn't do the transcribing for you, but it is essentially a specialised player program which is optimised for the purpose of transcription. It has many transcription-specific features not found on conventional music players.

It is also used by many people for play-along practice. It can change pitch and speed instantly, and you can store and recall any number of named loops.

Amadeus Pro

$40 Single License, $25 Upgrade

http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html

Is this the best time for me to admit I am not a Garage Band user? Amadeus is my sound editor of choice. My needs are not too complicated, to be sure. But I have cut several demos with this. The interface is simple, it has enough editing tools (like signal boosting, limiters, crossfades, etc.) I use this to take out long silences and do simple fixes. And with Transcribe! (above), iTunes and this, my workflow with sound files is pretty smooth. From the creators:
Amadeus Pro is a powerful multitrack audio editor supporting a variety of formats including MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless, AIFF, Wave and many others.

Multitrack editor

Amadeus Pro is a fully featured multitrack editor. Each track can have its volume adjusted independently from the others. Amadeus Pro fully supports multitrack WAVE files and allows you to render sound on up to 5 different loudspeakers simultaneously.

Batch processing

There's that whole collection of files that you wanted to convert to Mp3, but you first wanted to normalize them and make them fade in and out nicely. Several hours of work in perspective? Let Amadeus Pro do the work for you! The powerful batch processor allows you not only to convert large numbers of files between any of the supported formats, but you can also instruct Amadeus Pro to apply any sequence of sound effects.

Repair centre

The handy repair centre allows you to find and to repair cracks with a simple click of the mouse. Furthermore, Amadeus Pro's powerful denoising functions allow you to easily get rid of that annoying hiss on your old tape recordings or of that 50Hz hum picked up by a badly insulated microphone.

By the way, check this out.
Veretski Pass

(www.veretskipass.com)

Yes, that's us. We play Jewish instrumental music from the Carpathian Bow. Not your mother's klezmer, but her mother's. We look like this:

And here's another group of outlaws I play with. That's me with Hank Sapoznik on tenor guitar and Mark Rubin on Tuba at Bud's BBQ in Richmond, VA and together we are Hank Sapoznik and The Youngers of Zion.

Don't forget, this holiday season, hire a musician or 3!

More must have goodies in my bag tomorrow.

2010-12-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

A few of my favorite things...Part the First.

2010-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

1Password
$39 SIngle User, $59 Family(5 users)

http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password/Mac

Don't keep your passwords in a text file called "Passwords" or "Computer Info", or in a small notebook by your desk. That's right, you know who I'm talking to! 1Password is a password and identity manager that gets rave reviews. I love this program. Love, not like.There are editions for iPhone and iPad, also.

Onyx
Free (!!!)

http://www.titanium.free.fr/index.php?sid=d554e8067530be7cfbf2c8b78f2ea93d

Onyx is a system utility application. It has a lot of functions and some nice bling. For those not fluent in Command Line Interface(in Terminal, the stuff the bad guys are always doing in the movies), this allows more flexibility and options than usually available to the average user.
From the creators:
OnyX is a multifunction utility for Mac OS X which allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, QuickTime, Safari, iTunes, Login window, Spotlight and many Apple’s applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome and more.

SuperDuper
$27.95

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Make a bootable backup of your system painlessly and easily. I can't TELL you how many OMG's this software has rescued me from. I just replaced my internal hard drive, and used SuperDuper to copy my old HD to the new BEFORE I installed it.
I run this along with Time Machine for a complete backup program.
Come on, for less than $30, you can have peace of mind that your precious files are backed up, and you don't have to be a techie to do it.
From the creators:
SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless. Its incredibly clear, friendly interface is understandable, easy to use, and SuperDuper's built-in scheduler makes it trivial to back up automatically. It's the perfect complement to Time Machine under Leopard and Snow Leopard, allowing you to store a bootable backup alongside your Time Machine volume—and it runs beautifully on both Intel and Power PC Macs!
SuperDuper's interface confirms all your actions in simple, clear language to ensure that the end result is exactly what you intended.

Red Velvet Cake!

RECIPE:

Ingredients

Vegetable oil for the pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
Crushed pecans, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.

Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)

Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Yield: enough to frost a 3 layer (9-inch) cake

Chef: Sara Moulton

From The Food Network

Things that don't come in the box.

2010-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

You got a new Mac, and you set it up and decide to start right in to work and play. Is what comes in the box enough? No way. What do I automatically add to my new machines? Coming up tomorrow. Part one of Mama's Must Haves.

Gallant keeps his desk clean. But what of poor Goofus?

2010-12-10T21:57:00.000-08:00

Most of us use our digital desktop as a dumping ground. We use it as a place to put documents, photos, movies, music, website links, even applications or application aliases. I have seen folks put so much stuff on their desktops, that it looks like a tornado site, post twister.

If you think of an analog desk (the kind with real drawers and a chair), the best workflow happens when you can keep the desktop clear to use as a workspace for whatever project you are busy with. The same goes for your computer.

The great thing about your Mac is that it is already set up with an organizational system in tact. If you look in your Home folder (the house with your account name on it in the finder window, click on a neutral area of the desktop and click Command-N to bring up a new finder window), you will see folders to keep your documents, movies, music and pictures. In each of these places, you can make as many folders as you like to organize your stuff.

Or, you can make a catch all folder called something like, oh I don't know, Catch All, or Stuff, or My Stuff, or Pinky's Plan for World Domination. The point is, keep your desktop clear of clutter. It will make your computer run smoother.

If you want to access your documents or applications, drag them to the right side of the dock (to the right of the dotted line). This makes an alias of them, and when you click on the dock alias, the display is lovely. Sometimes when it's raining outside, or I am grumpy (since I'm always on a friggin'diet), I click on the Application folder which I have put in the dock just to see the pretty colors. Look!

If that doesn't work, I go to Kitten Break:

http://www.kittenbreak.com/

And if THAT doesn't work...

Rocketbuster!!!

http://www.rocketbuster.com

Safe Online Shopping

2010-12-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

We all do it. Sit up at 2 AM, scrolling through the Frye boots at Zappos, checking our our favorite sellers on ebay, jumping on the "limited time offers". Internet shopping is at an all time high. Check out this article at Macworld's site with some good safety tips about safe online shopping:

http://www.macworld.com/article/155743/2010/11/holidaysafeshopping.html

And consider buying an application like 1Password to create and protect your passwords.

More about that another time.

Cookies, Cache and History

2010-12-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

I can't get websites to load! This is one of the top cries on the macmama's voicemail.

In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers download web pages and store them locally on your computer's hard drive in an area called "cache". The cache contains a kind of travel record of the items you have seen, heard, or downloaded from the Web, including images, sounds, Web pages, even cookies. Typically these items are stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

When you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again. This sometimes results in less than current versions of web pages being displayed. When the cache fills up, performance can slow down and your hard drive may run out of space.

What is a "cookie"? There are tons of stuff on the web about this, but this site, allaboutcookies.org explains it pretty simply:

Cookies are small, usually randomly encoded, text files that help your browser navigate through a particular website. The cookie file is generated by the site you're browsing and is accepted and processed by your computer's browser software. The cookie file is stored in your browser's folder or subfolder.

Your browser accesses the cookie file again when you visit the website that created the cookie file. The browser uses the information stored in the cookie file to help ease your navigation of the website by letting you log in automatically or remembering settings you selected during your earlier visits to the website, among many other functions.

Any particular website cannot access information on your computer other than the cookie it set on your computer. The cookie is not executable code so it doesn't have any “life” of its own other than being used by the website that created it. As explained above, such use is limited to helping your browser process the information located on the website.

Although cookies are merely harmless text files that help your browsing experience, they are not free from controversy. Cookies can be used to track your browser's website browsing history. If you feel this impacts your privacy, you can change your browser's settings to limit the use of cookies on your computer to cut down on its ability to keep records of your browsing history.

Essentially this is the memory of your internet browser where you can find all your cookies stored in a format that facilitates easy retrieval by a browser.

You should periodically clear the cache and empty your cookies to allow your browser to function more efficiently. It's also a good idea to clear your history at the same time.

Here's how to do it on your Mac.

In Safari, click Safari from the menu bar and you'll see this:

So you can just select Empty Cache, or use the keyboard shortcut, and that's (remember the option key?) Option-Command-E.

Look right above for the Reset Safari command.

This is kind of a one-stop shopping for a fussy browser. The items I have checked are my usual choices. I actually NEVER allow Safari to remember my passwords, I use a fabulous password application called 1Password. More on that at a future time.

Or you could just empty the cache, and clear your history. To clear your history, click History from the menu bar, and you've got it, select Clear History:

If you use Mozilla's Firefox, it's a bit different and a little more complicated.

To empty the cache in Firefox 3.5 and above:

Click Firefox menu in the menu bar.
Select Preferences.
Select Advanced.
Click the Network tab.
In the 'Offline Storage' section, click Clear Now.
Click the OK button.

To clear the cookies:

Click Firefox menu in the menu bar.
Select Preferences.
Select Privacy.
Click the Remove Individual Cookies link.
In the Cookies dialog box, click Remove All Cookies.
Close the Cookies dialog box.
Close Preferences.

To clear your history, you would think you should click on History in the menu bar. But no, click on Tools. Wait, what?

Yes, that's right, none of the one stop shopping like in Safari.

But this kind of maintenance is important to keep your browser working efficiently.

Modify this.

2010-11-29T21:39:00.000-08:00

MODIFIER KEYS

A modifier key alters, or "modifies" the way other keystrokes or mouse clicks are interpreted by Mac OS X. Modifier keys include: Command, Control, Option, Shift, Caps Lock, and the functio (fn) key (if your keyboard has a fn key), and various combinations of these. For example, pressing Control-Option-Command-Eject shuts down your computer. Leave the Option key out (Control-Command-Eject) to restart. Option-Command-Eject will put your computer to sleep.

Throw stuff away much?
Command-Delete to throw an item away
Shift-Command-Delete empties the trash.
Option-Shift-Command-Delete empties the trash without the annoying, "Are you sure you want to empty your trash?" confirmation dialog.

One of my favorites is the Option key, which sometimes has "alt" also on it. This is one of the keys I use the most often, system wide. If I want to copy a file or folder, I hold the option key down, click and drag the item, let go of the mouse and then let go of the option key. Writing that sentence took way longer than the actual task. Like most modifier keys, the rule of thumb is Modifier key first and last. That means that for example in the task I just described, copying a file or folder, the FIRST thing you do is hold the Option key, use your mouse as described above, and let go of the mouse FIRST before you release the Option key.

A few more:

Option-Command key combination while dragging makes an alias of the item

And who hasn't needed this one?
Option-Command-esc to Force Quit.

One of the blingiest is this one. While clicking and holding an icon in the dock, press your option key and you get more, that's right, options. Quit becomes Force Quit. Hide becomes Hide Others.

Hold Option down while starting iPhoto and iTunes and you can choose or create a new library. The next time you open either application, it will open to the last library you used.
Option-Start on iTunes looks like this:

On iPhoto:

Hold Option while clicking on File(on the Menu Bar) in any program and see what you get. For instance in iTunes, clicking on File then pressing Option, we see the command Display Duplicates change to Display Exact Duplicates. That would help me sort through my 243 Track Ones for sure. And in iPhoto, holding Option while clicking on Photos in the menu bar changes Delete from Album to Move to Trash (iPhoto Trash is a whole 'nuther blog). I could go on and on. But there are 3 hours of Family Guy playing in the other room, and my pop tart is ready.

Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-11-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

First of all, here's the scoop. At our Thanksgiving dinner (which had too many delicious pies if there is such a thing), there was only 1 out of 20 guests who had his iPhone at the table. And what a surprise, it wasn't one of the teenagers, but a seasoned baby boomer. My son even said to me,"Dude..I mean Mom, what's with that?" I told him I guessed his mama ain't put the fear of sacred dinnertime into his head. Oh well, at least my young 'uns were chewing without clicking.

Now for this. I use my mouse for a few things; clicking, dragging, opening files and folders, but once I am in an application, my mouse is really just an expensive paperweight, keeping order over my Costco and Grocery Outlet receipts. Yes, I am a devotee of Keyboard Shortcuts. Although these links have more than you can learn in one viewing, even if you memorize a few (like Command-N for a new Finder window and Command-Shift-N for a new folder), your workflow will go smoother and your wrist will thank you.

Check this out, this is Apple's list of Mac OSX:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

And this is one by nice guy Dan Rodney:

http://www.danrodney.com/mac/

And of course, each program has it's own. Veteran users of Photoshop, Aperture, FInale and Sibelius use the mouse less and less.

You can also add your own in each program as well is in the OS through the keyboard pane of System Preferences. The possibilities are endless! Of course, so are the possibilities for conflicts between applications. So sometimes, you have to head over to that keyboard pane and reset the shortcuts to the default. But it is SO worth the trouble.

And I have not even talked about the Keyboard Viewer and Character Viewer. All in time, for sure.

Next time, the magic of the Option key, my fave!

Here's a bit of bling (ALT is the same as the Option Key):

Dinner Survey

2010-11-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

Admitted. If it has lights, buzzes, rings, I want it. BUT. A few places I keep my toys in their holsters are movies, the car, and the dinner table. So my question is this. How many people at Thanksgiving dinner will be texting, twittering, chatting or emailing?

Have a good one, and let me know. No judgement that I will admit, because I'm just saying.

Facebook, Big Brother?

2010-11-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have accepted the fact that my 19 year old son won't friend me on Facebook. Why should he? He, like alot of college kids, uses FB to communicate with his pals, show off his guitar chops, sass at the establishment, etc. But, it doesn't matter, I can see a lot of what he's what he's doing. Why? Well, he hasn't customized his privacy settings, and especially since I am a "friend of a friend" (his sister, my daughter), I can get pretty good intel on him, especially through the photos that he has posted.
So here's the deal. If you just accept the default settings in facebook, pretty much anyone can find out enough about you to either do some damage (if they are so inclined), or just get an idea of what you look like in some of your "cutest" (read most embarrassing) poses. Some of these settings hide in places that most of us don't look. Go to Account (top right) and choose Privacy Settings and you will see this page.

The top one, Connecting on Facebook, is where you control who can search for you, see your friend list, see your education and work, etc. The Applications and Websites is often overlooked, but very important. This is where you should customize what information is available to websites and applications that your friends use. What?!! you say. My FRIENDS applications can see information about me? Aha, now you're getting the picture. And this is where the often overlooked "public search" option is hidden. This means that anyone searching through Google, Yahoo, etc. can see your rants and raves, if you have not protected them through these settings.

The one in the middle, Customize Settings, is VERY important, as you go here to control who can see your contact info, your photos, and to enable or disable" Places I Check Into", and "People Here Now", a thing I like to call "Identity thieves one stop shopping":

I could go on and on (I guess I already have), but the bottom line is this. You should get into your account settings and privacy settings and click EVERYTHING.

Let's look at this possible scary scenario.

Some bad guy (or girl) decides he REALLY wants to be you, walk like you, talk like you, but most of all SHOP like you. He can go to Facebook, get a photo from your gallery (especially if you have portrait style ones) to make an ID card, find your mother's maiden name (if you have posted family info and made it accessible to everyone, or even friends of friends), your hometown, high school, place you work, any events you will attend,and if "Places I Check Into" is enabled, where you are at that very moment. The potential for damage is limitless.

Now, I use and enjoy Facebook, but I think of it this way:

Facebook is like a friend or business partner that is a lot of fun, takes me to cool places, but I would not leave alone with my sister. (Although my actual sister could handle him).

Facebook and Privacy

2010-11-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

This has been bugging me, so I will post on this today a bit. AFTER my coffee.
Do you have your privacy settings where they should be on Facebook?
We'll see. Now for my Java.

Kindle or iPad for reading books?

2010-11-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

KINDLE or iPad?
OMG, I am amazed at how many people ask me this question.
That's like me saying, "Shall I have coffee or breakfast?" Or, should I get the brown Fryes or the black ones? Those who have peered into my shoe closet know the answer to that.
The kindle is light, easy to read, and provides very few distractions to the words on the "page". Yes, you can fiddle with it, change the text size, listen through earphones if the book you are reading has text-to-speech enabled, search and buy stuff from the kindle store, etc., but it's really a small, light way to carry around an infinite number of words. Since it's not back lit like the iPad, it is easy on the eyes. But in real life, I read my kindle books on the iPad most of the time, and sold my kindle since my techno-bling purse just couldn't carry it all. But if I get up to stretch, or the book is too intense, I play a game of Scrabble, or look to see what those pesky Republicans are up to on the NY Times app. I check my email, maybe even log into my computer in the other room to get a file. No wonder it takes my 10 times longer to finish a book than if I had the actual book in hand, or my kindle.

So here it is:
Kindle pros: light, easy on the eyes, seamless download, enough customization to personalize, no distractions. Wifi version, $139
Kindle cons: Another machine, no distractions.

iPad for reading books pros: All in one, no need to carry around 2 machines, the ability to use other book reading programs also, can listen to music while reading, and so much more
iPad for reading books cons: Heavy! Many distractions, expensive if all you want to do is read. Screen is hard on the eyes for some, text can look frayed.

BTW, this is not a discussion about how we are overtaken by technology and should use our public library and how the feel of a page between your fingers is part of the reading experience.
I mean, d-uh.

The Macmama

2010-11-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Does Your Computer Tech Speak Klingon?

“I feel like I have been hit on the head with a blunt object!” This was what a client said to me after a visit from a home support computer company who “fixed” her laptop. After he was done “cleaning up”, she couldn’t find her files or access her email and he spoke in such techno-jargon, that she said, “I felt like a complete idiot!”

Many folks get a computer with great hopes of saving time and organizing their businesses, schedules and finances, and then get distressed when things start to go wrong. The printer doesn’t work, email gets stuck, they can’t hook up their digital camera. No one told them about these complications at the Apple store! Or their adult kids buy them a Mac, and then get impatient with their endless questions about operating the new arrival in the house. Often times when I arrive at a client’s home, they tell me that they are ready to throw their “time saver” out the window.

For me, this is my perfect client. I’m a middle-aged, menopausal, straight talking woman with years of experience and people skills . I’m also a professional musician (www.veretskipass.com). I have been a teacher for 30 years and am a patient and thorough professional, a mixture of a software and system technician and a hand holder. I also specialize in teaching computer skills to children as well as seniors. If I can teach my 82 year old Hungarian mother how to enjoy her laptop, I can teach anyone. I just moved here from the east coast, and I look forward to serving the Bay Area. But just remember, I support Macs only, that's right, I don’t do Windows.