Mike Vincenti

After telling myself that I would not install Lion until after at least a few days, I lasted about a few hours before the new operating system graced both my Macs. And that is to say that not only have I been as impatient as even I expected to be, but that also the upgrade was seemless, perfect, pleasant and very impressive. There are many other sites that will go over the fine details and nuances of the new operating system. I was most concerned about compatibility but it seems that it wasn't a concern afterall. But still, I warn people NOT to upgrade immediately because I cannot vouge for your mission-critical applications. Everything on my end seems to work perfectly though! I'm thrilled. 

And here is one point of interest that I found most welcoming. First I upgraded my MacBook. I purchased the upgrade through the App Store using my Apple ID. But like any App you buy with your iPhone or iPad, the purchase is linked to your account and not your device (so it seems). So I come home and on my iMac, I perform the same upgrade through the App store and voila!, there is simply an "Install" button rather than a "Buy" button. What a pleasant surprise.

  After a year of using each of these applications, I feel that it is imperative to share with you these little secrets that make using your Mac (let alone any computer), so much more enjoyable and convenient. These are not bundled with the OS and they are not Apple branded apps either. These are 3rd party apps that have found themselves serving a very important niche. I would not be surprised to learn that Apple simply buys these companies and then incorporates their technologies into the next version of their OS but until they do, I cannot speak more highly of these 2 very useful applications.

Dropbox

  Beginning with Dropbox, there has become a need to share files. Ironically, I've found that I don't want to share files with others as much as I need to share files with myself! It is strange but true. Between my iPhone, my work computer, my laptop, and my home desktop- I find that my files- that is, my data, needs to be accessible from each device. I am not talking about movies or music or pictures, although that could be the case. I am talking about websites for clients, receipts, office documents that need to be referenced and PDFs that I like to have on hand at all times. Music, photos and videos pose a particular problem that I'll get into later. But for now, let me explain to you the wonderful features of Dropbox.

  The new iPhone will be available on June 24th. On the 15th, pre-orders will begin. This device, though it isn't new, dwarfs the release of the iPad just a couple months ago. True, the iPhone is nothing new but is really is changing the largest tech market on the planet again. Everyone uses a cell phone. An iPad is still quite new albeit tablets have been around for some time, the iPad is not your ordinary tablet. But the new iPhone, as we all suspected (or even expected), a very capable device that promises to close the gap between phone and computer even more. The fact that you'll be able to take HD video with your phone, edit it!, and then share it, is a feat that should blow anyone away. We finally see video chat becoming a reality and we've even expected it. Why didn't any other phone manufacturer beat Apple to the punch? Of course other phone's will eventually catch up but why wait to catch up when you could have predicted that this would be the case? The fact that this technology only works with other iPhone 4s ought to be proof of the fact that a system where software and hardware is developed in coordination with one another leads to quicker, more sustainable, and higher quality products. You can long argue which is better; hardware or software. But the iPhone proves to me that the integration of the two is the key to success. The success of one over the other serves no purpose to the end user. Just as I start contemplating the benefits of possibly jailbreaking my iPhone, the anticipated release of the new iPhone keeps me patient and the details of the device keep me above the Apple law.

  Since most people on Long Island have Cablevision as their ISP (Internet Service Provider), I will be using their email service as a demo. Many people have an Optimum Online account so therefore, I will use my OptOnline.net account as an example. Here is a screen shot by screen shot walk through...

  First, open Mail. Then, go to the Mail menu up top (next to the Apple Menu) and select "Preferences."

You will be presented with the following window:

Make sure you have the "Accounts" tab selected. It is very likely that you won't see any email accounts already configured. All of my email accounts can be seen in the left column. If you're reading this blog, you probably don't have any email accounts configured yet. So let's get going. Just make sure you have selected the "Accounts" tab.

At the bottom of the window below the left column, click the "+" sign. This is a common procedure for adding accounts. You will likely see this in other areas of the Mac OS. 

Now you'll be presented with a dialogue window asking for all of the information necessary to setup your email account. You'll need to know this information. You can call Optimum Online if you don't know it. And once you find it out, write it down because if you need it again, you'll have it! But for the most part, you'll see what information you'll need.

  At first this article was going to teach you how to setup your email account using Apple's "Mail" program. It is a great program. I have it open all day long and I always suggest that people use it over any web interface that their email account may offer. However, the article kept going off on tangents because it became a more complex issue than I had originally thought it was. But email can be tricky! So, if you know your email address, your incoming mail server and your password, you can skip the rest of this article and go right on to "Setting up email in Apple's Mail."

KINDS OF EMAIL

POP: This is a very common email that is offered by most email services. Optimum Online offers POP accounts. What is significant about POP is that when you connect to an email server using POP, your computer downloads all of the email to your computer and then deletes it from the server. This can be configured so that mail stays on the server for a week or a month but often, POPing your email will result in mail being deleted after it has been downloaded to your computer. The good thing about this is that your mailbox will never become full. Automatically, your messages are deleted from the server so that you always have room for newer messages. This does NOT affect the email that has been downloaded to your computer. So not only do you have complete access to all of your email from your own computer, but your email is available to you even without an internet connection because your mail is being accessed locally since it has been downloaded to your computer. This scenario was ideal 10-15 years ago when everyone's internet connection was a slow dial-up connection. It was rather annoying having to sign-on to the internet just to read old email.

  This is a rather controversial topic. Although sharing files across the internet could be a totally legitimate way of sharing information, it is usually the primary method of piracy. Because high speed internet access is almost the standard across the civilized world now, piracy has reached all time highs. I'd like to offer my disclaimer immediately and let everyone know that I do not condone piracy. However, I strongly encourage you to read my article in reference to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and why I personally have no conscience when it comes to sharing music. Keeping in mind that I am myself a musician, I'd like to suggest that the internet and the affordability of technology is rendering record companies more and more useless every day. It is of utmost importance that musicians do NOT sell themselves short when signing a contract. They need not "sell out" as quickly as they did before. However, it is also recognized that the record companies are the gatekeepers AND the key holders of the music industry. Please, just read the article.

  Let's imagine that you have a Mac and want to share a file with someone. If the other person has a Mac, there probably won't be any problem at all. You must know what kind of file that you are sharing. For instance, if you are sending someone an image, there should be absolutely no problems. But know that you are expecting them to have an "image viewer" installed on their machine. This is a safe assumption to make if your are sending an image to someone. But if you are sending someone a Word document, should you make that same assumption? Should you assume that everyone has Microsoft Word? Or worse yet, imagine that you are working on a Photoshop document. Photoshop is a $600 program and you cannot assume that everyone has it, much less the same version as you! In these cases, you'd want to save it AS a more generic file type. Save it as Text Only or RTF (Rich Text Format) so that some of the formatting will be retained. For images, save it as a JPG or a TIFF. Both of these formats are rather generic and any computer in the world today ought to be able to open these kinds of files. Keep in mind that the same editing capabilities will not be retained as with the proprietary format. For instance, all layers in a Photoshop file will be flattened if you send it out as a TIFF or JPG. Usually, two copies of the same file are created to accomodate sharing and editing.

  This is a common question but I find it a bit odd. The real question is "What do you want to do with your Mac?" There are thousands of programs available to you but if you aren't going to make a movie for Hollywood, then you probably don't need Final Cut Pro. If you're not going to be multi-tracking the next one hit wonder for Sony Records, then you probably don't need Logic Studio 8. But, if you'd like to dabble with making movies or create your own soundtrack, then iLife would be perfect for you. Plus, it's only $79 so it is a no-brainer.

  iLife comes with iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, iWeb and GarageBand. iTunes is a free download and will come with every Mac. Obviously, this is for organizing your music, syncing your iPhone or iPod and purchasing music, movies, TV shows and iPod Touch or iPhone apps. This suite of programs is for your creative side and is most common on most Macs. If you think you're going to be doing more "serious" work, Apple has another suite of applications for you called iWork.

  iPhoto ’08 is a great update to the very popular iPhoto application that comes bundled with iLife. There is a new feature in iPhoto ’08 that is sort of a twist on an older feature that is still available in iLife ’06. When you import your photos from your digital camera, iPhoto will now categorize them automatically by the time stamp that your camera attaches to each photo. This is often very handy because it helps organize your imported photos immediately and automatically. iPhoto calls these grouped photos “Events.” Though this works perfectly most of the time, it is sometimes the case that you’ll want to merge 2 events together or split a single event into 2 events. The former is more obvious because there is actually a “merge” button on the bottom of the window. Plus, merging events is very intuitive- while in the Events view, simple drag one event onto another event and iPhoto will ask if you want to merge the two. But what if you want to do the opposite?

  In that case, simply double click on the event that you want to split. This will present you with a thumbnail view of all the photos in that event. Select the photo (by clicking on it once) that you want to split the event at. Then, from the menu up top called “Events,” select the option “Split Event.” iPhoto will then split the event into 2 different events and the split will occur at the photo you have selected. The photo that was selected will become the first photo of the new event.