Looking Quickly

OS X has another handy feature you may have missed. This one is called Quick Look. If you have an iPod or use iTunes you may be familiar with “Cover Flow”. Quick Look does the cover flow trick with your file folders. Quick Look uses the “Preview” technology to display, play, and view. If you have a Quicktime compatible movie in a folder it will play it (if you press the space bar or click on the object and press the play button). If you have photos, it will display those as well. Do you have PDF files in a folder? Quick Look will display your PDF files without opening a program to read it. You can zoom in using the double arrows.
Guess what? Command and (+) will zoom in even further! Select the fourth button over "view" at the top of your folder window and give it a try.

Working With Files

The hardest task for a new Macintosh owner is figuring out how to work with your files. The right click comes in very handy for this task. There are a number of ways to achieve a "right" click. Tapping with both fingers on the touch pad will perform a right click. Mastering the two finger tap will take practice. Until then, you can hold down the (control key) and click. You will get a window with options.
When you right click on a file you will see a window similar to this one on the right. If you select "Get Info" you will get the information pane on the left. Take a close look at it. This pane contains tons of information about your file. For now, take a look at the Name & Extension section (if it is closed, open it by clicking on the arrow on the left). You will see the name of your file here. Now you can rename the file if you want. You can also hide and un-hide the extension. Next, look at the "Open with:" section. When you click on the double arrow on the right you can now select with application to open the file with. If you put a check in the box "Always open with," this application will open this kind of file until you change it.

One other not about the window on the right. Notice the "move to trash" selection. This is the alternate way of deleting a file (other than dragging it to the trash). You can also empty the trash with a right click. Create a test file to play with. Enjoy.

What Does That Say?

If you find the text too small on your Macintosh screen, there is a simple solution. Hold down the Command Key and press plus (+). Keep pressing plus until you get the size you want. This trick works with web pages (Safari, Firefox, Opera, etc.) Mail, Word, and others. You can reduce the size by holding down the Command Key and pressing the minus (-) key.

Get a list of other Command key options: Command Key

Play Scrabble With the World

If you are a fan of Scrabble, fear not, there is a wonderful scrabble community that you can join for free. WordBiz is a free program that will allow you access to a world wide Scrabble community. The Internet Scrabble Club is open to Windows and Macintosh users. If you have Firefox installed on your Macbook, you can also play in the Firefox browser (not available for Safari). Once you have your user name and password, you just log in and play.

Commercial TV in Your Browser

Watch TV clips, TV episodes, Feature Films, Movie clips, Film trailers.

Hulu has a great selection of current & old TV shows, show clips, plus movies. Here are just a few of the shows available:

* The Office
* Simpsons
* Family Guy
* A-Team
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Arrested Development
* Doogie Howser, M.D.
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents
* WKRP in Cincinnati
* Monk
* Dr. Steve-O
* Keeping Up with The Kardashians
* Weekend at Bernie’s
* Bulworth
* Andy Barker P.I.
* So You Think You Can Dance
* ‘Til Death
* Scrubs
* Bones
* My Name is Earl
The quality is good also. That is, compared to other streaming TV channels like ABC or the CW. It’s even getting HD quality content which will be even better.

Some Hulu features include:

* Share - Send an email to your friends about a certain show or clip.
* Embed - Put the show on your site.
* Details - What am I watching and when did it air?
* Feedback - Video issues? Report them.
* Fullscreen Playback
* Pop Out Window Playback
* Lower Lights - Makes the site background light gray instead of white.
* Rate - Rate the episode.
* Playlists - Keep track of what you watched. Even comes with RSS feeds and privacy settings.

The commercials are done right too. There are a few 30 second commercials every so often. Just like regular TV, only one, not 5 commercials at a time. Some advertisers are creating interactive and entertaining ads, others are just playing the same boring commercial over and over again.

Stacks in Your Dock

OS X allows the user to view folders placed in the dock in many different ways. Apple refers to this feature as Stacks. Any folder can be placed into the dock by dragging and dropping. the contents of these folders can be viewed in three ways.


Fan displays the folder contents as a leaning tower “fanning” away. Select fan for folders with few items.


Grid displays the folder contents as a grid on the screen. Grid is an effective way to view larger numbers of items in a folder at once. The Application folder can be used with grid.




List displays the folder contents in a list format. List is an effective way to view a very large folder.
Stacks have already been placed in your Macbook. Experiment with the settings to create the dock arrangement that you like the best.

Internet Television for Your Mac

Joost is a free video player that currently offers more than 20,000 TV shows, with more added daily. All of the content is free--all you need is a broadband Internet connection.

Use the Explore section to find channels, shows or videos. You can browse by category or check out what's new and popular. If you need instant gratification, use the search bar to find what you want.

Swiss Army Knife of Video Players

Every now and then you run across a video file that just won't play in Quicktime. There are many video players available for OSX. There is one video player that you should keep around, just in case you run into a video file that misbehaves. VLC (Video Lan Client) is a free video player that will play almost any video format. You can also view streaming video and damaged video files.

If you want to use VLC instead of Quicktime you must select "open with" with a right click on the file.

Too Many Spaces

With only 13.3" screen, you can run out of space pretty fast on a Macbook. The new Leopard operating system has a neat feature that gives you more space to store running programs. Spaces has the ability to add up to 15 more screens to your system. 16 total screens is overkill, but two or three more screens can help you get work done faster without the need to minimize and expand. Multiple screen has been around for some time. Users of Linux operating systems have had this feature built in for many years. Popular operating systems have not adopted this layering system until now.

BPS users will have to look for Spaces. Spaces was not placed in your Dock by default. You can startup spaces from your application folder or (command + space bar) and type spaces. Once activated you can select the number of rows and columns (in system preferences). The default is two rows and two columns. I find it easier to limit to one row and two or three columns to start. Once you have become used to the feature you can go wild. The best way to keep Spaces ready to use is to add it to your dock. When running, right click (control+click) and select "keep in dock."

Once Spaces has been activated and configured you can slide application to the side of your screen or click on Spaces in the dock and drag application where you want. Moving from one screen to the next can be done in two ways. Pressing (control) and either the left or right arrow key will switch your view to the next screen. You can also add a Spaces icon to the Menu Bar in Preferences. The Menu Bar Icon will allow movement with a click. Spaces allows you to change your mind and move applications from window to window whenever you like. Spaces preferences also allows you to specify which screen an application will load in (press + to add applications). This is a nice feature once you get used to using it. Spaces comes in handy with Parallels. You can run Windows XP full screen in one space and other applications in the rest. One caution, using several applications at once will reduce your memory resources. Try not to over do it.

Automatic Backups & Time Machine

Get yourself an external hard drive! A portable hard drive powered by the usb port is what you want. They travel very well with your computer, and you can find them at any retailer that sells electronics. Make sure that you purchase one that is larger than the 120 gigabyte hard drive in your Macbook. A 160 gigabyte version of the the Western Digital drive pictured will set you back $94. WD Passports are available in several colors.

Setting up Time Machine under Mac OS X Leopard includes plugging in a hard drive, opening Time Machine under System Preferences, and clicking the large virtual switch to 'On.' Users then select the drive they just plugged in and don't have to think about backups again. Time Machine silently and automatically tracks each version of every file, allowing users to metaphorically go back in time to retrieve any version of a document desired.

Apple's software performs incremental backups to ensure all changes are saved between backups, and includes a Time Machine menu in the System menu bar that allows users to see the backup status or elect to back up on the spot. Restoring requires users to select the desired files or folders and click restore, causing Leopard to place the files exactly where they were previously.

Google Calendar and iCal

I've been burned by Outlook failures too many times. For quite some time I did not use a calendaring program. If you are not in the business world, you can live without a calendar program. When a bought my first Macintosh I started to use iCal. I liked the simplicity of the program and the features it offered. The problem was that I was often on a Windows computer far away from my Mac. Then I learned about Google Calendar. The beauty of Google Calendar is that it can broadcast your information to other applications over the Internet. Now, I use Google Calendar as my primary calendar program. After I complete a scheduled task it automatically sends it to iCal. Google Calendar also sends be an email every day with my itinerary. To get started you must have a Gmail account. The accounts are free and it opens the door to many of the other free Google programs.

How to Delete Applications

If you are new to Macintosh, you may wonder how to delete programs from your computer. Deleting programs in Windows XP required you to go to the Control Panel. Then you found your application and deleted it. Pretty simple once you got the hang of it. Some users made the mistake of throwing the application into the Recycle Bin. They then discovered that this was a bad move. In some cases, remnants of the program would remain and in other cases XP started to act up. Windows programs often copy important files to several different parts of the operating system. If you just delete the program folder, there could be many files and settings that are left behind. OSX does not work this way. When you install a program, most of the time, you just drag it to the Applications folder. To delete a file, you can grab that same icon and drag it to the trash to remove it from your system. You can do this, but there will be files left behind. These files will not harm the function of your computer, but they will add up over time. There are applications available that will give you a clean sweep. I have been using AppZapper since the beginning. Using AppZapper is very simple. You grab that icon and drag it to the AppZapper window. You will then see all of the application files. When you click on Zap! all of the program will be sent to the trash can. AppZapper is not free. For $12.95, I think it is a good investment. There is a FREE program available that works in much the same way as AppZapper.
AppDelete is a free alternative. AppDelete is started by dropping an application onto the AppDelete icon. You can drop either the application or the folder that the application is in onto the icon. Once you do this you will get a confirmation window displaying the name of the application you dropped.

Burning CDs & DVDs Made Easy

Burning made simple. Want a FREE burning program? Very simple, drag and drop. Try Burn

Burn will take care of many of your burning needs. Just select the files you can to copy and drop them into the open window. You can change the format from Mac only to PC, DVD, and other formats. If you plan on making CDs or DVDs often, keep burn in you Dock. Remember to save a program in the Dock. Run it, and then right click on the icon and select "keep in dock."

PDF Power

When you using a Windows computer you must install a program to read PDF (portable document format) files. Adobe created the format and it is now a standard. Their reader has become gigantic and harder to use on older computers. I recommend Windows users turn to Foxit. It is light weight and that means it works with older and new Windows computers.

On the Macintosh side, there is is all kinds of PDF goodness. First and foremost, PDF manipulation is built into OSX. That means you do not need a separate program to read PDF files. If you click on a PDF, it will open in "Preview." The other feature that many users don't see is that you can create PDFs very easily in OSX as well. Anything that you can print, can be turned into a PDF. From any application that can print, select File/Print. You will see the dialog box on the right. Select the PDF button and select "save as PDF."

Changing the Desktop Image

Now that you have a L4L Macbook and you have played with it for awhile. It may be time to customize it to appeal to your taste. Macs allow you to select any image as your desktop. The higher the resolution the better your desktop will look. There are thousands of sites that offer "free" high resolution images formatted to the size of your computer screen. Your Macbook has a native resolution of 1440x900. Therefore, you want to find images that size so that they look good on your desktop. A good place to start is InterfaceLIFT.
This site has thousands of high-resolution images from photographers and artists that you can save to your computer. The link that I provided will take you to the first page of the site that has is formatted for the Macbook screen size. When you are ready to select an image, just click on download and the image will load on another screen.
Now you have two choices. Right click on the image and select "set as desktop Background." Or, if you want to create a collection of images, "save image as.." will allow you to store in a location you choose. You could create a sub-directory in Pictures if you like. You have many other choices for your desk. By default, when you enter "Change Desktop Background" (right click on a blank portion of your desktop) you will see options to select photos from IPhoto. Changing the desktop works in almost the same way as it does on a Windows computer. Have fun, be creative.

You Can Zoom

One feature that many Mac users don't know about, have forgotten, or fail to use is the fantastic zoom feature in OSX. It is easy to use. Hold down the (Control) key. Put two fingers on the track pad and move them up. Moving your fingers down will return the screen to normal. This is much easier if you have a mouse attached. With a mouse you just spin the wheel up and down to zoom in and out.

Everyone should buy a mouse for their laptop. New users and especially windows users should buy a mouse. There are several different flavors of mice to choose from. Wired, Wireless (USB) or Wireless (Bluetooth).

If you select a USB mouse, you will loose one of your two usb ports. Some usb antennae are so large that they block the second usb port on the Macbook. Try before you buy or else you may end up with zero usb ports or be forced to buy a usb hub. The other option is to buy a "bluetooth mouse." Another nice feature of the Macbook is that they come standard with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is just another wireless protocol. Bluetooth is short range (30 feet) but it works well for headsets, keyboards, and mice. The nice part is that you don't need to plug anything in. You only have to pair the mouse to the computer and you are done. Both usb ports will be free to use for other things.

The Apple Mighty Mouse is not for the faint of heart. It takes some getting used to. With the popularity of Macintosh computers these days, more manufacturers are producing bluetooth mice. Look for the new Logitech, Kensington, and Razor Pro/Click Mobile. As usual the Apple product is the most expensive. You can start here.

Keep Track of Everything with a FREE Application

I hate keeping pieces of paper around with notes on them. I also hate stuffing notes in my wallet. Wallets fat with paper hurt to sit on. I found a FREE application that you can keep in your Doc. You can Copy & Paste anything you want to it. User Names and passwords, Google Maps with directions, draft documents,etc. Basically, almost anyting that you can see on your computer screen can be copied and saved for quick and easy retrieval with this program. Did I say it was FREE? You can sort, categorize, color code, drag and drop and export to you Ipod if you like. Everything lives in a single window.

Try XPad

What is a Podcast?

I love media. I love free media even more. A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term podcast, like "broadcast", can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. (Wikipedia). ITunes/Quicktime is the default media suite on your macbook. ITunes makes finding podcast or video cast very easy to find. What make podcasts so popular is that they serve unique and in some case esoteric interests. Finding and subscribing to a podcast is pretty straight forward. First you have to open ITunes. ITunes is probably not on your Dock. Use Spotlight to open it quickly (Command /Space Bar) and type "it" ITunes should be the first selection in the list. Just hit enter.



*Note: You can keep ITunes in your Dock by right clicking (Control/Click) and selecting "Keep in Dock."

The gateway to the Podcast listings is in the ITunes Store. If you don't own an ipod or you have never gone to the ITunes store, you will have to create an account. This is free and painless. You just provide an email address and select a password.

Once you have logged into the ITunes Store, you will find tons of media to choose from.



Look on the left under ITunes STORE. Select Podcasts. Now you can choose from the Top Podcast list on the right. Or go further down to Topics in Focus. If you know what you are looking for, use search in the top right corner of the ITunes application. Notice is now says "Search ITunes Store." When you find what you want "click" subscribe. Now you will receive the lastest shows when ever you start up ITunes. It's all FREE!

Changing Your Wireless Connection

Macs try to make things easier for the user. Sometimes, too easy. When you are in an environment where there are several wireless signals bombarding you, choose which one you want.


Click on the Wireless icon



Select to Wireless network that you want. If the access point requires a password, enter it and your computer will remember the password in "keychain."

Even though Macs have no current virus threats, it would be wise to avoid unknown "open" networks.

Safari is Nice, But...

Every Mac comes with the Safari browser. Safari is fast and solid. I like Firefox better. Mozilla has a version of Firefox for OSX as well. With Firefox you add almost unlimited features (Tools/Add-ons). You should be careful. Every Add-On that you install will force Firefox to use more memory. Some add-on may slow your web surfing to a crawl. If you want to avoid beach balls (wait icon) limit your additions. There are other browsers for Macintosh computers. My third favorite is Opera (http://www.opera.com/). Opera is a great browser. Opera offers on-screen widgets. The best feature of Opera is that it will allow FULL SCREEN. Yes, something Safari will not do. If you find yourself reading news websites, you should give Opera a try.

OSX Information is Everywhere

There are endless sites on the Internet that provide news, how-to guides, and the latest updates available for OSX. I have some favorites. Some are written for geeky folks and others are for the casual user. I enjoy both. Here are some places to start:

Macworld

http://www.macworld.com/

The Unofficial Apple Weblog

http://www.tuaw.com/

MacNN

http://www.macnn.com/

Mac Minute News

http://www.macminute.com/

Open Source Mac

http://www.opensourcemac.org/

This a good place to find some great free stuff. A word of warning. Be careful with your election. BPS Macbook users will not have access to system files. This means that programs that modify or adjust system files will not work properly. One example is "Menu Meters." One of my favorite programs. This menu bar modifier allows you to see what is going on with your Mac at a glance (download/upload speeds, the computer's temp, CPU activity, memory usage, and more) I also use Istat Menu, which provide the same information but it look prettier. No point in going further, you can't use them at this point.

You Gotta Have Fun

Did you know that there is a free solitaire game for OSX? Well not only is there a free solitaire game it is also 3D!



After all, every OS has to have a decent solitaire application, right?
Try it out. http://www.lavacat.com/

* New users: Make sure you drag the program icon into your Application folder.

Another OSX 10.5.2 tip: Hold down the Command Key (the one to the left of the space bar) and press the space bar. This will launch Spotlight. Type the first few letters of the application you want to launch. It will quickly appear in the list (it may be the first selection). If it is the first selection, just press (Enter). Otherwise, select it with your mouse. The program will launch. This is a nice shortcut once you start collecting applications.

Staying Connected

One of the neat things about the Macbook is that it comes with both a web cam and microphone as standard. There are several things that you can do with these that will personalize your laptop and allow you to keep intouch with friends and colleagues. More importantly, you will also have the ability to share or control the screen of a friend to learn a program or fix a problem.

First, the application that is the hub for sharing and communication is IChat. To get going with IChat you need an account. The easiest way to do this is to setup a AIM account. AIM stands for AOL Instant Messenger. AOL gives away free accounts to anyone who wants one. Apple's IChat supports only AIM and .Mac accounts. AIM accounts are free and .Mac has an annual fee. Dot Mac may be worth the money if you have more than one Mac. If you don't, it is not worth the $80 - $100 per year. So, I recommend getting a AIM account.

You want to go to http://www.aim.com

Look at the bottom of the page:



You want to select Sign Up. Go through the sign up process and select a user name and password. You must remember what they are. In a later post I will show you a free program that you can keep in your Doc that can hold all of your important information (passwords, user name and information, etc).

Now that you have a user name and password, you must start IChat and enter this information.

When you get to this screen:



Change the selection from .Mac to Aim. Enter your "new" AIM account name and password. Now you are done. Now you want to let all of your friends know your IChat name. You can also search for them and ad them to your buddy list. Once they approve you, they will appear in your buddy list from now on. Once there, you will be able to have a text chat. Boring, but useful. A voice chat, a video chat, or you can share your screen with them (with voice) or they can share their screen with you. Always with voice in the background. This is a wonderful way to collaborate and help each other.

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog. I thought there was a need to publish some things that I thought were interesting, important, and fun for the Madison Park Community. There are many places where you can find information about using Macintosh Computers. I have only been using a Mac for 18 months. Switching to a Macintosh was much easier than I thought. Starting in mid-April, there will be 160+ new Macbooks in use in our community. Some teachers have owned and used Macintosh computers for some time. They will familiar with Apple software and hardware. Many more people will be new to the platform. I think after spending some time with unit. There is a great deal to discover. OSX Leopard has many features and embedded applications that will be new to all users. You have to play and discover, you can't break it. Well not too much.