Macintosh

Make reading the web easier than ever - Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:53:54 -0500

Although we now have 19" and larger monitors on most new desktop computers, the text seems to shrink. Why is that? It has to do with screen resolution (how much information can be displayed). Screen resolutions on today's monitors are up to 3X that of monitors we used just 6-8 years ago. We can see a lot more information, but often the text is too small to view for some computer users.

Never fear. Using this week's tip, you can easily and quickly enlarge the text of any web page using only your keyboard and mouse. This tip will work with any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc) and any operating system (Windows, Ubuntu, Mac OS X).

All you need is a mouse with a scroll wheel and your keyboard. This tip can be performed without the mouse as well, but I'll touch on that later. First, when you are reading a web site, particularly news web sites and blog type sites like mine, look for an indication of a printer friendly page. Often designated as Printer Friendly, Print this article, or simply Print, clicking this link brings up a version of the article you are reading that is much less busy and cleaner than how the article presents on the web page itself. This alone may make enough difference for readability.

However, you can quickly increase the size of the text you are reading by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and spinning your mouse scroll wheel away from your body (towards the computer monitor). Amazing, no? Holding down the Ctrl key and spinning towards your body (away from the monitor) will shrink the text again.

The same result can be achieved by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the "+" or "-" keys as well. I think the mouse method is a little more intuitive and elegant.

Watch the short video below to see this tip in action and see the web as never before!

Backup your digital photos with iPhoto - Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:21:27 -0500

Macintosh users take digital photos too. And they also need to make sure their photos are backed up safely. Thankfully, the bright men and women at Apple computers have built in a great picture management software called iPhoto. Within iPhoto, you will find a straight forward method of backing up your photos.

Here's how:

1. Start iPhoto
2. Hold down the Command key on your keyboard and select which folders, albums, or events you want to backup
3. Click Share from the menus
4. Click Burn button on the menu that appears
5. Once the burn is finished, the disk will eject.

I am still partial to Picasa for picture management, but Google still hasn't released a version for the Mac yet. However, as you can see, the iPhoto makes pretty easy work of backing up your photos.

3 Basic Tips for new Macintosh Users - Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:11:58 -0500

This week's tip focuses on skills that new Macintosh users will need to know in order to feel comfortable with their new Apple Computer.

In this video tip, I give new Mac users some important information about how to use the Macintosh HD (hard drive)icon, the Dock (which launches programs and documents), and a primmer on how application and folder windows differ from those in the Windows environment.

As with any operating system, there are multiple ways to accomplish the same task, none of which are wrong. Enjoy the tip if you are a new Mac user or pass it along to a new Mac user!

Mozy Online Backup - Now for Mac too

Rick — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:40:20 -0500

A couple of months ago I reviewed a couple of the online backup services and really liked (and continue to use) the Mozy Backup service. Today, Mozy announced the release of their online backup system for Macintosh users. You can read more about it and try it out by clicking this link.

How to get music off of your iPod

Adam — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:21:36 -0500

The iPod has set the standard for media players. It's ease of use and intuitive interface make it a device that media lovers of all ages and expertise can easily pickup and use.

However, the iPod has one disadvantage when compared with almost every other media player on the market. Once your music is stored on the system, there is no simple way of getting it back off again. If you switch computers or simply want to make a backup of your tunes, you must find a way around this system Apple has put in place to prevent you from pirating the music that has been purchased from iTunes.

Use Alt+Tab or Command(Apple)+Tab to quickly change applications - Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:54:12 -0500

Thanks to long time listener and web visitor, Daniel, for suggesting this week's tip. I have been using this technique for more than ten years, but in order to learn it, you really must see it in action. Thus, it was a natural for our Video Tips, which are now almost 18 months old!

For Ubuntu and Windows users, you can quickly switch between open programs by pushing Alt+Tab on your keyboard. Macintosh users have a key called the "Command" key on their keyboards. By holding down the Command+Tab key, Mac users can switch between their open programs.

Why use the keyboard instead of your mouse? Time. I didn't run any official tests, but I'm willing to bet that it takes at least three times longer to look at your task bar or dock (how many of you know what that is?), hunt for the application you need to switch to, then click on that program than it does to use the Alt+Tab or Command(Apple key)+Tab technique.

I know this doesn't make much sense reading it, so click the play button on the video below and watch it in action! I show the Windows technique first, Ubuntu second, and end with the Macintosh tip. All told it's about 2.5 minutes...2.5 minutes that WILL change your computing life. Pass this tip on to ALL of your computer buddies.

Microsoft Office function without the MS price - on a Mac! - Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:16:07 -0500

This is the first of what we hope to be many Macintosh video tips here at HelpMeRick.com. We posted a similar tip to this one a few months back for Windows and Ubuntu users, but this one applies to Mac users only.

In this tip, I describe to you how you can use the free NeoOffice product from neooffice.org to seamlessly create Microsoft Office compatible documents. Of course, the software also allows Mac users to open any Office document as well. NeoOffice gives Mac users complete abilities to share documents with any Windows user or fellow Mac user.

This short video demonstrates how to set your copy of NeoOffice so that it automatically saves your documents in the Microsoft Office format: