Have Your Mac Read To You!

Did you know that you can have your computer read to you? The Speech commands are built into several Apple products and are really easy to use. Thanks, Sheila Cohn for sharing this great tip!

Try this:

Highlight this paragraph
Click on the Edit menu
Choose Speech and
Follow the triangle to the right to choose Start Speaking

To turn it off:

From the Edit menu choose Stop speaking

This works in Safari, too:

Find an article
Click on READER in the top right of the address bar so that the text is in its own window (A cool tip in itself!)
Click on the Edit menu
Choose Speech and
Follow the triangle to the right to choose Start Speaking
If you hadn’t first highlighted a particular section it will begin reading from the beginning

You can also change the voice and tone of the speaker:

Under the Apple menu choose System Preferences
Click on the Speech icon
Click on the Text to Speech tab
Next to System Voice, choose a name and click Play

Additional Speech and Voice Over features can be found under the Universal Access icon in System Preferences.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Quick Scroll to the Top

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top:

Just double tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Watching .WMV Files in Mail with Lion

1. Click here to download the VLC player.

2. Click on the top VLC choice for 32/64 bit.

3. It will download and appear wherever you have designated downloaded files to go. If it’s not on the Desktop, it’s probably in the Downloads folder.

4. To find the Downloads folder, from the Finder screen, click on the GO menu at the top.

5. Click on Downloads and find the file titled “VLC-1.1.12.dmg”.

6. Double click on the file and it will open.

7. Drag the icon of the orange cone on top of the Applications folder in that window and it will copy it.

8. When it’s done, close the window.

9. Trash the two VLC files that are still in the Downloads folder.

10. Now open an email that has a .wmv that you previously couldn’t open and it will work!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Deleting Emails

While there is still no way to Select All and Delete, there are two different ways to delete emails.

Option 1:

1. In the Inbox, tap Edit
2. Tap the circle next to each email you want to delete
3. Tap Delete

Option 2:

1. Slide across the right side of the email when it’s listed in the Inbox
2. Delete will appear as a choice

Try both options and see which one works better for you.

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Quick Look

Often, you’ll have documents in a folder or on your Desktop and you have no idea what they are. Instead of wasting the time to open each item, use the Mac’s Quick Look feature to get a Quick Look.

Click here for a short video to show you how it works.

FOR MORE GREAT VIDEO TIPS, check out the videos in The Virtual Classroom.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Add a Web Page to Your Home Screen

If you have a few favorite websites that you always go to on Safari, why not make them be icons on your home page for faster, easier access?

1. Open Safari
2. Go to the desired website
3. Click the “+” to Add a Bookmark but instead of choosing Add a Bookmark
4. Tap Add to Home Screen
5. Now that site is just a tap away.

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Safari: Zooming In and Out

Sometimes things online are just too small. Safari has an easy way to ZOOM in to see more detail.

There are several ways to zoom:

~ From the View menu, choose ZOOM IN

~ You can also hold down the Command key and type a “+”

~ You can even add an icon to the Toolbar for zooming

Under the View menu, choose Customize Toolbar.

Drag the big A little A tool into the toolbar.

Now zooming is click a click away.

Try it with this artist’s work that is more than just painting with tiny bits of paper. Look at the textures, the shadows, the kinds of papers the artist used. They are stunning.

FOR MORE GREAT SAFARI TIPS, check out the videos in The Virtual Classroom.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Portrait? Landscape? Lock It In Place

(This week’s tip works on the iPad 2 and the new iPad.)

You know that you can turn the screen sideways and the contents of the window automatically switches. Some folks like this feature, others find it annoying.

You can lock the screen so that it stays in one orientation.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll down to below Restrictions to “Use Side Switch to:

4. and choose Lock Rotation

5. Get out of Settings by tapping the Home button

6. Tilt the screen so it’s the orientation you want

7. Slide the switch on the right side to the locked position so that you see orange

The iPad will still automatically adjust to tall if the app doesn’t work in the wide mode.

 

iPhoto: Cropping Pictures for Printing

If you plan to print or order prints of your favorite photos, remember to first crop them to the desired size. Otherwise, the photo lab will crop them for you and you may be disappointed with the results.

To crop a picture in iPhoto:

1. In iPhoto, click once on the photo and click Edit from the toolbar at the bottom

2. Click on the crop tool

3. From the pull-down list of numbers, choose the size of the print you will be ordering. A rectangular box will appear on the photo.

4. Drag the corners to resize the rectangle to include what you want in the photo. You’ll notice that if you make it narrower it will also make it shorter–it is constraining the photo to the proportions of the size you selected.

5. You can reposition the rectangle by dragging in the middle of the rectangle.

6. You can also change it from a landscape to a portrait by choosing again from the size list–the last choices in the menu give you the option to make it tall (portrait) or wide (landscape).

7. When you have the desired area selected, click Done.

Now you have a proper photo of the desired size.

If you are ordering several different sizes of the same photo, duplicate the photo first (photos menu, choose duplicate) and crop each one to the desired size.

FOR MORE GREAT iPHOTO TIPS, check out the videos in The Virtual Classroom at http://www.mac2school.com/virtual-classroom-library/

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Turning To-Do’s Into Ta Dones

The free App, I DONE THIS gets five stars when it comes to writing stuff down and staying motivated, whatever you do. You just tap the icon of the cute dog face and write about everything you got done that day.

It’s not another TO DO list that might leave you feeling overwhelmed or unaccomplished. I DONE THIS is all about recognizing what you HAVE done. You can scroll through all of the entries and feel a sense of big accomplishment.

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Quicken vs Quicken Essentials

You’ve probably heard that Intuit finally released a version of Quicken that will work with Lion. Even if you’ve already converted to Quicken Essentials, you can still switch back to the new Quicken.

Why would you want to?

~ Quicken 2007 has much more complete reporting capabilities.

~ Quicken 2007 includes automatic backups of your important data.

~ Quicken 2007 allows you to pay your bills right from within the program.

~ Quicken 2007 tracks investments and securities.

And more.

Here’s the link to download the newest Lion compatible version.

http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance-software/quicken-2007-osx-lion.jsp

Be sure to read the conversion information too. Or call me and I’ll help you.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Emailing More Than One Photo At a Time

To send more than one picture in an email:

1. Tap Photos

2. Don’t select a picture! Instead, tap the Share icon, the rectangle with the arrow in the top right corner

3. Now select your photos

4. Tap Share

5. Choose Email

You can also use this technique to Delete several photos at a time.

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Scroll Bar Secrets

The scroll bar, on the right side of every window, allows you to move up and down the window to see the contents.
Dragging the scroll bar moves you fast, sometimes too fast. But Dragging the scroll button is the quickest way to go all the way to the top or bottom of a window.

Clicking the up and down arrows at the bottom of the scroll bar will move you a line at a time. This is great if you are reading a document line by line or looking at individual photos.

In the System Preferences, under Appearance, you can set the Scroll Bar to either jump to the next page or to the spot that’s clicked.

This is handy when you are scanning a document or wanting to quickly navigate through a section of your photos.

BONUS: In Safari, pressing the Space Bar scrolls the window a screen at a time.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Paper Karma: Get a handle on Junk Mail

Paper Karma is a free app that helps eliminate all of the junk mail and catalogs that fill up your mailbox. Just snap a photo of the label on any piece of junkmail and send it to the folks at Paper Karma and your name will be removed from that mailing list.

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Updates! Updates! Updates!

It is so important to keep current with all of your computer software updates. Updates fix bugs, increase security and make things work better.

Updates for all Apple software will come through Software update, under the Apple menu.

In addition, if you have purchased software from the APP Store, you will receive notification there as well.

If you see a red number on the App store icon in the Dock, that means that there is an update waiting for you to install.

Click to open the App Store, then click on Updates in the top right of the menu bar.

For Microsoft Office, Quicken, QuickBooks, Firefox and all non-Apple products, you need to check within each of these Apps for an update. Look under the Help menu for a link to Check for Updates.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Printing

Yes, of course you can print from your iPad and iPhone. You just need a wireless printer that is Airprint compatible.

For a complete list of printers that are Airprint compatible, click here.

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Tips and Secrets for Addressing Emails

Check out this free video that shows you secrets for addressing emails, clearing out incorrect or old addresses and so much more!

If you like this video, you’ll love the upcoming online class TAME YOUR EMAIL.
Click here for details.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Four Ways to Conserve Your Battery

Under Settings:

1. Turn off Bluetooth if you are not connected to a wireless keyboard

2. Under General, choose Restrictions, turn off Ping, Apple’s social networking music service

3. Under the iPod setting, turn off the EQ

4. Under Location Services, wisely choose which Apps REALLY need to know where you are

 

Make Things Bigger on the Desktop

Did you know that you can make the text AND icons bigger on the Desktop?

1. From the Finder click the View menu

2. Choose Show View Options

3. You can drag the top slider to make the icons bigger or smaller

4. Change the text size

5. You can even reposition the label text from the bottom to the side

6. Click a check mark next to Show Icon Preview and you’ll see a thumbnail of all of your jpgs

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Auto-Complete Text

Do you type the same phrases all of the time on your iPad or iPhone? You can create shortcuts for these frequently used sentences.

Let’s say you often type “Love you much” in your emails.

You can create a shortcut so that, when you type LYM it will automatically type the complete phrase.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll all the way down to Keyboard

4. Scroll down to Shortcuts

5. Tap Add New Shortcut…

6. Type in the complete phrase, ie: Love you much!

7. Next to “Shortcut” type the letters you want to use for that phrase, ie: lym

8. Tap SAVE

9. Open up Mail and try it!

You can create many different shortcuts. I’m not sure if there is a limit to how many you can create.

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Launch Pad

Lion’s Launch Pad offers you an easy way to look at your Apps. But it only shows Apple Apps and those you’ve downloaded from the App store. To see ALL the Applications on your Mac, click on the Go menu in the Finder and choose Applications.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Play With Friends

There are lots of fun apps that let you play with your friends, even when you’re not together. All of the games offer a free version and a paid version without ads.

Words With Friends is just like Scrabble. Play with me–my name is Ruthr

Draw Something is a combination of Pictionary and Jumble, so that you have letters to give you a hint about what your friend has drawn. No artistic skills necessary. Play with me–my name is Ruthspark

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Drafts in Mail with Lion

Lots of folks are asking where the Drafts Folder went in Mail after they installed Lion. It used to be that SAVE AS DRAFT was a choice. Now, just close the email you want to save and it will give you the option to Save As Draft.

Once you’ve saved something, the Drafts Folder will appear in the Mailbox list in the left column.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Weather

The weather widget in the Notification Center doesn’t just show you the weather for today. It can also show you the weather for the next five days.

Just swipe left or right for the full forecast.

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Where Are Those Missing Keys

The Apple Wireless Keyboard is sleek, compact and feels great on your fingers. But it’s missing the numeric keypad and a few other keys that some people are lost without.

Today’s tip is especially for all of you recently converted PC users who miss those special navigational keys.

Use the FN key (bottom left of your keyboard) with the following keys:

PAGE UP = FN + up arrow
PAGE DOWN= FN + down arrow
HOME = FN + left arrow
END = FN + right arrow
FORWRD DELETE = FN + delete

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Rearranging and Grouping Apps

There are several ways to move and organize your favorite Apps on your screen.

First, press and hold on one of the icons to get them wiggling.

To move an App, just drag the icon to a new position.

To move an App to a different screen, you can try dragging it all the way to the edge of the current screen. But this is aggravating and it doesn’t always work.

Instead, drag the App into the Favorites Bar at the bottom, slide to the preferred screen, then drag the App to where you want it.

The Favorites Bar can hold up to 6 items on an iPad and up to 4 items on the iPhone. You can temporarily move something off of the Favorites Bar to use the placeholder for all of this moving and rearranging.

To group similar Apps together, drag one on top of another and a Folder will be created that you can rename.

 

Missing Folders in Mail with Lion

Where did all of my folders go? Many clients are emailing me in a panic.

The triangles that used to appear next to ON MY MAC and iCLOUD and GMAIL that you could click on the reveal your folders are gone.
To see your folders, hover your mouse over ON MY MAC and iCLOUD and GMAIL where the folders used to be and you’ll see the word SHOW on the right side.

Click SHOW and all of your folders will appear.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Where Am I?

On your iPhone and your iPad if you have a 3G data service, you can immediately find your location on the Map.

1. Tap the Maps App

2. In the bottom left corner, tap the arrow

3. Your location will be marked with a green pin on the map

4. Turn your device and the map will rotate, based on the direction you are facing- a handy feature when you are using the Maps in walking mode.

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Fast Printing

Instead of opening up a document in order to print it, you can drag the icon of the document onto the printer icon in the Dock.

To get your printer into the Dock, open any document and print it. The printer icon will appear briefly in the Dock as it is printing. Click and hold the cursor on the icon and choose Options. Choose Keep in Dock.

Now, anytime you need to print something, just drag it onto the Printer icon.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Favorite Apps of the Month

People are taking more pictures than ever with their iPads and iPhones. If you’d like your pictures to have a little more pizazz, check out these free Photo Apps:

INSTAGRAM: Pick from several filtered effects and borders, then share your photos on Instagram’s website.

HIPSTER: Hipster lets you create a send photographs as postcards, complete with a photo, text, location and more.

PICTURE EFFECT MAGIC: Turn your photo in a retro snapshot or a picture drawn by a pencil or paints. Or just add a frame of flowers–the choices are endless.

PICIBOOTH: Turn your iPhone and iPad into a photo booth with different backgrounds and cool effects.

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Comparing Pictures in iPhoto

You can compare two photos in iPhoto by clicking on one, holding down Command and clicking on another. Click Edit and they will appear side by side so you can decide which one is better.

This is just one of the many tips and shortcuts that you’ll learn in The Virtual Classroom courses All About iPhoto. Whether you are still using iPhoto ’09 or have the newest iPhoto ’11, there’s a course for you.

Check it out!

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

New iOS 5.1 and iPhoto

With the introduction of the new iPad, there’s also a new iOS for all iPads and the iPhone.

Download the new iOS 5.1 software under Settings–General–Software Update.

Once you install the new iOS you can download iPhoto ($4.99) for your iPad and iPhone and do all the editing, effects and organizing you’ve been able to do with the Mac version.

The iPad and iPhone version also includes Photo Journals, great for sharing your pictures with friends and family on the device and online.

For a complete review of the new iPhoto for iOS 5.1, click here.

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Lion and Mail: Saving Photos and Attachments

In the newest version of Mail, the SAVE button isn’t gone, it’s just hidden.

1. In the top right corner of any email, click on Details.

2. Now you have the familiar SAVE and QuickLook options.

3. To Save a picture into iPhoto, just click and hold on SAVE and choose Add to iPhoto from the menu.

4. To Save an Attachment, click and hold on SAVE, choose SAVE ALL and choose where you want to save it.

iPad and iPhone App of the Month

Adding a Person’s Photo to their Contact Info

It’s fun to have a person’s face appear when you are receiving an incoming call from them on your iPhone or a FaceTime call.

1. Find the person in your Contacts.

2. Tap Edit.

3. In the top left next to their name tap the square that says Add Photo.

4. You can either take a picture of them or choose a photo from your Camera Roll.

 

Watching .wmv Files with Lion

If you are no longer able to watch jokes and movies that friends email to you, it’s because the Windows Media Player does not work with Lion. But these is an easy fix.

1. Click on this link to download the VLC player.

2. Click on the top VLC choice for 32/64 bit

3. It will download and appear wherever you have designated downloaded files to go. If it’s not on the Desktop, it’s probably in the Downloads folder.

4. To find the Downloads folder, from the Finder screen, click on the GO menu at the top

5. Click on Downloads and find the file titled “VLC-1.1.12.dmg”

6. Double click on the file and it will open

7. Drag the icon of the orange cone on top of the Applications folder in that window and it will copy it

8. When it’s done, close the window

9. Trash the two VLC files that are still in the Downloads folder

10. Now open an email that has a .wmv that you previously couldn’t open and it will work!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Get a Map to a Contact’s Address

Here’s the fastest and easiest way to get a map and directions to a contact’s address:

1. Find the person

2. The fastest way to do this is not to search in the Address Book but to slide to the Spotlight screen LEFT of the Home Screen and type in who you are looking for.

3. Tap on their name and you are on their individual entry.

4. Tap on their street address and Maps will open, showing you their location

5. Tap directions

6. Enter the start location

7. Click Route and you’re ready to go!

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Photo Stream

One of the coolest features of iCloud is the new Photo Stream. Take a picture on your iPhone, iPad or import from your digital camera into your Mac and that photo can be available on all the other devices.

When turned on, Photo Stream stores up to 1000 photos at a time (for 30 days) on iCloud. The photos are automatically imported at full resolution into your iPhoto Library but you get to choose which ones you save onto your iPad or iPhone.

Photo Stream works over your wireless network, so you don’t have to worry about using up your data plan for transferring these large files.

And, if you want to edit a photo on your device that’s on Photo Stream, you’ll first be asked to make a copy to save into the Camera Roll on your iPad or iPhone, leaving the original on Photo Stream.

To turn on Photo Stream on your Mac:

1. First, upgrade to Lion and also the latest version of iPhoto ’11. Update your iPhone and iPad to the latest OS 5.1

2. Then, in iPhoto, under the iPhoto menu, choose Preferences.

3. Turn Photo Stream ON.

4. In iPhoto, in the left column, you’ll now see Photo Stream.

5. New photos from Photo Stream will automatically appear in your Photo Library

Remember, photos from your iPad and iPhone won’t appear in Photo Stream until those devices have reconnected to your wireless network.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Photo Stream on Your iPad and iPhone

To turn on Photo Stream on your iPad and iPhone:

1. First, upgrade to the latest OS 5.1

2. Then tap Settings

3. Tap iCloud.

4. Turn Photo Stream ON.

To copy a single photo from Photo Stream onto your device:

1. Tap Photos

2. Across the top tap Photo Stream

3. Tap the photo you want

4. Tap the rectangle with the arrow icon at the top right

5. Choose Save to Camera Roll

To copy several photos from Photo Stream onto your device:

1. Tap photos

2. Across the top tap Photo Stream

3. Tap the rectangle with the arrow icon at the top right

4. Tap the photos you want to copy to your device. A checkmark will appear on each picture

5. You can now either tap Save to put them in the Camera Roll or

6. Tap Add To… to create a new Album

7. Title the Album

8. The photos will now be in the Camera Roll AND in an album

Remember, photos from Photo Stream won’t appear on your device until you have reconnected to your wireless network.

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Hiding Pictures in iPhoto

If you have your Desktop Screen Saver set to use all the pictures in iPhoto, you may have certain pictures that you don’t want to include. Instead of creating a separate album specifically for the Screen Saver, you can hide selected photos.

In iPhoto, click on any picture you want to hide from view.
From the Photos menu, choose Hide Photo. An X will appear in the top right corner, indicating it is marked as Hidden.

If you don’t want to see Hidden photos when you are browsing through your Photo Library, under the View Menu, re-select Hidden Photos to remove the check mark. Now the photos you have marked to be hidden will actually BE hidden and they will not be included in any Screen Savers.

The picture is still in your Library, you just can’t see it.

To Unhide it, first, from the View menu, choose to show Hidden Pictures

Then select the photo that has the X on it and choose Unhide from the Photos menu

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

This Month’s Featured Apps

FLIPBOARD
Named one of TIME’S Top 50 Innovations, FLIPBOARD creates a personalized magazine of all the things you like to read. Choose from Entertainment, Style, Architecture, Crafts, People, Food and so much more.

BIG OVEN
Recommended by NPR’s Splendid Table, BIG OVEN contains more than 170,000 recipes, a menu planner, grocery list and more. You can add your own recipes and even add photos.

UNSTUCK
If you’re feeling stuck with a problem or decision, this app coaches you through challenges using different tools. It helps you hone in on WHY you’re stuck and what ACTIONS to take to get

All of these Apps are FREE and can be found by searching in the APP store on your iPhone or iPad.

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A Hidden Calculator

Sometimes you need to do a quick addition or multiplication. Instead of finding and opening the Calculator application, use Spotlight.

1. Open Spotlight by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner of your screen

2. Use + for addition, – for subtraction, * for multiplication and / for division

3. The full equation with the answer will appear in the list next to Calculator

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Add a Web Page to the Home Screen

If you have a few favorite websites that you always go to on Safari, why not make them be icons on your home page for faster, easier access?

This is especially helpful if you are a Kindle reader, since the Kindle app no longer includes a button to go the the Kindle Store.

1. Open Safari

2. Go to the desired website

3. Click the “+” to Add a Bookmark but instead of choosing Add a Bookmark

4. Tap Add to Home Screen

Now that site is just a tap away.

To Add the Kindle store:

1. Go to Amazon.com

2. Search for Kindle ebooks

3. Click the “+” to Add a Bookmark but instead of choosing Add a Bookmark

4. Tap Add to Home Screen

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No Holiday Music When You Shuffle

Now that the holidays are over, my guess is you’ve had your fill of holiday music. So how do you NOT include those merry tunes when you set your iTunes to Shuffle?

1. If you’ve created a Holiday Playlist, select it. Otherwise, find all of the music in your Library with the word Christmas

2. Click on one song

3. From the Edit menu choose Select All

4. Yes, you do want to change information about all songs selected

5. From the File menu choose Get Info

6. Click on the Option Tab

7. Check the box next to Skip When Shuffling

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Play Music From Your Computer on Your iPad and iPhone

If all of your music is stored on your computer, you can play tunes from that computer on your iPad or iPhone when you are at home, sharing that wireless network.

1. First, in iTunes, click on Preferences

2. Click on the Sharing Tab

3. Click to Share My Library on my Local Network, either the entire Library or just selected Playlists

4. You can choose to require a password to access your music or not

1. Then on your iPad or iPhone, click on Settings

2. Click on Music

3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to the Home Sharing section and enter your Apple ID and Password

4. Go back Home and Tap on the Music App

5. Tap on the More icon at the bottom

6. Tap on the House icon that says Sharing

7. Tap on the name of your computer

8. Wait a moment while the Library loads

9. Now you can access all of the music by tapping on the Playlists, Artists, Songs, etc. at the bottom of the Music app screen

 

Have a Little Google Fun

The Google search engine has quite a few hidden secrets, called Easter Eggs. To get the most fun out of them, go to www.google.com and type in the suggested search words. Then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button to activate the Easter Egg.

If you don’t see the I’m Feeling Lucky button, click on the gear in the upper right corner, click Search Settings, then, under Google Instant, choose Do Not Use Google Instant, then scroll down to Save Preferences in the bottom right corner.

1. Google Tilt: Search the term “askew” and you’ll get more than just the definition…

2. Google Gravity: Search “Google gravity” and then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Whoa!

3. Google Sphere: Search “Google sphere” then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Yeah.

4. Barrel Roll: Search “do a barrel roll” and hold onto your stomach!

5. Google Rainbow: Search “Google rainbow” and then click I’m Feeling Lucky. Can you see the rainbow?

6. Ask Google “where is Chuck Norris?” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button.

7. Pig Latin Google: For some Pig Latin fun, Google “ooglegay igpay atinlay”

8. Google Pacman: View the awesome Google Pacman Doodle by searching “Google Pacman” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Use your arrows to play a real game!

9. Google Guitar: Search “Google guitar” and click I’m Feeling Lucky. Strum away with the musical Google Doodle to honor Les Paul’s 96th birthday.

10. Google Pirate: Arrr! Search “Google pirate” and click I’m Feeling Lucky. (This one made me giggle.)

11. Google Hacker: Google gets hacked! Type in “Google hacker” and then click I’m feeling lucky.

12. Google Loco: Search “Google loco” and uh, it gets a little crazy. (Try searching something now!)

13. Weenie Google: Search “weenie Google,” click the I’m Feeling Lucky button, and watch it shrink away!

14. Epic Google: Or, search “epic Google,” click the I’m Feeling Lucky button, and see what you get.

15. Gothic Google: Feeling a bit dark? Search “Google gothic” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button.

16. Google Flight Simulator: Enjoy the Flight Simulator when you go to Google Earth, click on Tools > Enter Flight Simulator and you’re off!

17. Ask Google “what is the loneliest number?”

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

This month’s apps are all about pure, simple, no experience necessary FUN!

MyPaint Free requires no artistic talent. Just pick a color, adjust the thickness of the brush and drag your finger on the blank page to create your very own masterpiece.

Taiko brings a set of Japanese Taiko drums to your iPad. The harder you hit the drums, the louder the sound. Swirl your finger for faster or slower rolls. For one or two drummers!

Songify turns speech into music, automatically. Speak into your device, choose a rhythm, then sit back and laugh.

Note: Even if an app is only available for the iPhone, you can still install it on the iPad and even enlarge it to full screen!

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How to Back Up Your Address Book

Even if you use Time Machine to backup your computer, it’s a great idea to have a separate backup of just your Address Book that you can save onto a flashdrive, just in case.

Here’s a free video lesson that will teach you how to do this!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Emailing More Than One Photo

It’s pretty simple to email one photo:

1. Tap the Photos icon on the Home screen

2. Tap the Photo

3. Tap the arrow icon in the top right corner

4. Select Email Photo

To send more than one photo at a time:

1. Tap the Photos icon on the Home screen

2. Tap the arrow icon in the top right corner

3. Now tap the photos you want to send and a check mark will appear on the photos

4. Tap Share in the top left corner

5. Choose Email

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Private Browsing with Safari

Are you doing a lot of online shopping for the holidays and don’t want your family members to see what you’ve been buying?

You can set Safari to NOT include your visited websites in the History.

From the Safari menu, choose Private Browsing

Done. No more snooping or spoiled surprises.

 

iPad Tip of the Week

Typing an Apostrophe

How often do you need to type an apostrophe. It’s such a pain to press the ?123 key to switch to the punctuation keyboard.

Here’s an easy trick:

Press and hold on the ,! key and the apostrophe key will appear. Just slide your finger on it to use it.

ATTENTION iPOD NANO USERS

Some 1st Generation iPod Nanos have Faulty Batteries

Apple is recalling a series of 1st generation iPod Nanos and replacing them, free of charge. The affected products were sold between September 2005 and December 2006 and have the risk of overheating and possibly even catching on fire.

 

Click here to determine if your iPod is one of the affected units and for all of the details on replacement.

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Changing What Appears When You Re-Open a program

Lion’s Resume feature automatically re-opens all of the windows you were working in when you Quit the program. This can be a handy, time-saving feature for some people, and an annoyance for others.

To turn off the Resume feature in only certain programs, hold down the Option key when Quitting and the choice will say “Quit and Close All Windows”.

To disable Resume for all programs, in System Preferences, choose General. Below the choices for Number of Recent items, remove the check mark next to “Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps”.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Auto-Complete Text

Do you type the same phrases all of the time on your iPad or iPhone? The new iOS 5 has a slick new feature to help you with this.

Let’s say you often type “Love you much” in your emails. You can create a shortcut so that, when you type LYM it will automatically type the complete phrase.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll all the way down to Keyboard

4. Scroll down to Shortcuts

5. Tap Add New Shortcut…

6. Type in the complete phrase, ie: Love you much!

7. Next to “Shortcut” type the letters you want to use for that phrase, ie: lym

8. Tap SAVE

9. Open up Mail and try it!

10. You can create many different shortcuts. I’m not sure if there is a limit to how many you can create.

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Reading Articles in Safari Just Got Easier

Have you found an interesting article to read, but you find all of the ads on the screen so distracting?

Safari has a built in READER feature that will open most articles in a new window with just the article. No distractions.

1. Find an article in a newspaper

2. Click on the word READER that appears at the far right side of the page’s address (this may not be available for all articles)

3. The article will open in a new window

4. Click READER again to get back to the full page in Safari

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Format Text in Mail with iOS5

It’s true. Now you can bold, italicize and even underline text in Mail. And you can indent paragraphs too.

1. Select the text you want to change

2. Tap the right arrow at the far right of the Cut, Copy, Paste menu

3. Tap BIU to change the format or Quote Level if you want to indent

4. Tap your desired format choice

5. Tap on the page to get out of the menu

 

 

 

Are You Missing Emails?
Losing Emails You Thought You Saved?

Many of my clients are telling me that they aren’t getting emails. Or that when they delete one email, suddenly many are gone.

There is a feature in Apple Mail that automatically groups emails together that are related, part of the same “conversation.” In Snow Leopard, this is called THREADS. In Lion it’s called CONVERSATIONS.

Some people like to see all related emails grouped together. But for many of us, it’s an extra step that is causing confusion.

To turn this feature OFF, in Mail, click on the View menu and choose Organize by Thread or Organize by Conversation to remove the checkmark.

Now all of your emails will appear individually, in the order that they were received.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Missing Emails?
Losing Emails You Thought You Saved?

This same Threading feature is available on your iPhone and iPad.

To turn it OFF

1. Click on Settings

2. Click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars

3. Scroll all the way down, almost to the bottom

4. Next to Organize By Thread, slide the switch to OFF

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Sharing Google Maps and Directions

If you’ve ever tried to send someone directions from Google maps using the Mail Link to this Page, you’ve probably discovered that the recipient gets a blank page.

To share a map or driving directions:

1. Map out the route on your computer

2. Under the File menu, chose Print

3. In the Print window, click on the PDF choice in the bottom left

4. Choose Mail PDF

5. A new email message will appear with an image of the map already attached.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

With more than 200 new features in the new iOS 5, it was hard to choose just ONE to share. this is one of my new favorites.

Quick Scroll To The Top

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top, just tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Resizing dpi of Photos

If you’re an artist you may need to resize your photos to certain parameters for submissions.

iPhoto does not include a feature to do this but you can resize your images in Preview.

1. Drag the photo to the Desktop

2. Drag the photo from the Desktop on top of the Preview icon in the Dock. If you don’t have it there, from the Go menu, choose Applications, find Preview and drag it onto your Dock

3. In Preview, from the Tools menu choose Adjust Size

4. Make your desired changes, either in inches or pixels (dpi means dots or pixels per inch)

5. You’ll see that the file size changes as you make adjustments

6. Click OK when done

7. From the File menu, choose either Save As (Snow Leopard) or Duplicate (Lion)

8. Title the new version

9. Click Save

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Setting Picture Frame Preferences

When your iPad is asleep and locked you can still view Photos. this is called Picture Frame mode. It’s different than the Slide Show mode when you are in your Photos

To set your preferences for Picture Frame:

1. Click Settings

2. Click Picture Frame

3. Choose your Transition

4. Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order

5. Choose which photos and albums to show

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Adjusting the Brightness

Does your computer screen seem dim? Does the screen get dark if you don’t touch it for a while?

One way to brighten the screen is by pressing the key on your keyboard above the number 2 with the picture of the sun on it.

To change the setting that automatically dims the screen:

1. Under the Apple menu, choose System Preferences

2. Click on Energy Saver. It looks like a light bulb

3. Adjust the time settings for the Display Sleep

4. Remove the check mark next to Automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep

IPAD and IPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Turn Off the Clicking Sound When You Type

If you find the clicking sound annoying or disruptive, it’s easy to turn off.

1. Tap the Settings icon

2. Tap General

3. Tap Sounds

4. Slide the button next to Keyboard Clicks to OFF

This is also where you can turn off the sounds for New Mail and more.

 

iCal: Moving an Event from One Day to the Next

Instead of deleting an event and recreating it on the correct day:

Hold down the Option key and drag the event to the desired day.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Moving Apps From One Screen to Another

It’s handy to have your most frequently used Apps in the first page. And it’s pretty easy to move your Apps around.

First, press and hold on the App you want to move. They’ll all start wiggling. Now drag the App to the edge of the current page and it should move to the next page.

If it doesn’t seem to work, here’s a faster way:

Once you have everything wiggling, drag the App onto the bottom dock of favorite Apps. Switch to the page you want to move it to, then drag it from the dock onto that page.

Yes, you can add and rearrange the Apps in that Favorites dock this way too.

When you’re done rearranging, press the Home button to stop the wiggling.

==============

The Difference Between the APP store and the iTunes Store

The APP STORE, found in the Dock and under the Apple menu on your computer, is where you can now go to purchase applications for your Mac. Instead of going to a store and purchasing a DVD, you can now download hundreds of programs and games that work on your Mac.

To find APPS to use on your iPhone or iPad, you don’t use the APP store. Instead, open iTunes and click on the iTunes Store.

To quickly find APPS for your Device, try the POWER SEARCH feature.

On the right side of the iTunes Store Home screen is a list of Quick Links.

1. Click on Power Search

2. Click on All Results and change to Apps

3. Under Device Compatibility, choose your Device

4. You can search by title, category, even choose to only look for Free Apps.

iPAD and iPHONE APP OF THE MONTH

Clients Share Their Favorite Apps

With the thousands of Apps available, it’s hard to know which ones to try. So each month I’ll share some of my clients’ favorite apps.

The easiest way to find a particular APP:
On your iPhone or iPad:

1. Click on App Store icon

2. Click the Search icon at the bottom

Or, if you purchase through iTunes on your Mac,use the Power Search feature:

1. In iTunes, click on iTunes Store

2. In the far right column under Quick Links, Click on Power Search

3. Change “All Results” to APPS

4. Enter words in the Keywords

5. You can also limit to just iPad or just iPhone

This month’s recommended apps, available for iPhone and iPad, are all about relaxing. And they’re all FREE so try them!

Buddhist Meditation (Lite): A free collection of five soul-stirring Buddhist melodies.

Relax Melodies: Rain, gong, piano, birds, thunder, xylophone, wind–you can combine your favorites sounds to achieve deep relaxation and meditation.

iZen Garden2 Lite: All the peace and tranquility of a Japanese Zen garden without the sandy mess.

YogaFree: 250 yoga poses with instructions and photos and more.

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Emails Print Too Small to Read

Several clients have asked why their emails print in such a tiny font that they can’t read them.

In the print window, there are several choices.

If you don’t see them, first click the triangle next to the name of your printer.
Or, in Lion, click Show Details.

To have emails print so that you can read them, be sure that
Keep the same apparent font size is the selected option.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Charging the Batteries

The fastest way to charge your iPhone and iPad is with the USB power adapter.

They will also charge, though slower, when connected to your computer. But if your computer is turned off or in sleep mode, the batteries will NOT charge but, instead, will continue to drain.

==============

Emailing Pics with iPhoto ’11

The newest version of iPhoto gives you two choices for emailing photos. By default, a new, fancier email is sent that allows you to choose different styles, like a corkboard or snapshot or collage.

While these are really fun, the recipient cannot download the pictures because they are embedded in the email and are not attachments.

To send photos as attachments, you need to change a preference.

1. In iPhoto click on the iPhoto menu and choose Preferences
2. Click on the General button
3. Next to the choice, Email photos using, click on iPhoto
4. Change it to Mail
5. Close the Preferences and now choose some photos to send.

==============

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Taking a Screen Shot

Sometimes you have something on your screen that you want to share with someone in an email.

To take a snapshot of your screen:

Press and HOLD the Home button and also press the Sleep/Wake button at the same time. The screen will flash and you’ll hear a click, indicating that a photo has been taken.

Your screen shots are saved automatically in your Photos gallery where you can view and then email them.

 

Lion’s New Scrolling Options

If you upgraded to Lion, you’ve probably noticed some changes in scrolling. The most noticeable difference is that the direction of scrolling is now reversed. Apple thinks it’s more natural that, if you scroll up, then the contents of the window should scroll up.

Maybe you like this new reversed direction.

Or maybe you’d like it to work like it did before Lion. If so:

1. Under the Apple menu choose System Preferences.

2. Click on the Trackpad icon

3. In the very top of this window, remove the checkmark next to “When using gestures to scroll or navigate, move content in the direction of finger movement”.

You might also notice that the Scroll Bars aren’t always there. Again, Apple assumes more people will be using a trackpad and scrolling with the gestures on the trackpad.

To change how often you see the Scroll Bars:

1. Under the Apple menu choose System Preferences.

2. Click on the General icon

3. Click on your desired preferences

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Change Your Default Email Address

If you have more than one email address, you can choose which one is automatically used when you send emails from your iPhone or iPad.

1. Click on Settings

2. Click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars

3. Scroll all the way down to Default Account

4. Click on the address that’s showing so that you can choose which email address you want to use

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Are You Missing Emails? Understanding Conversations

When we Reply to an email, or receive an email that is a Reply to something we’ve sent, this is considered a thread (in Leopard), or conversation (in Lion).

Some people like to group these emails together so that they can easily follow the order of the conversation. But when they are grouped, you can easily not notice when a new message comes in that is related to the conversation.

To turn off this feature so that you see each email individually in your Inbox:

In Mail, under the View menu, remove the check mark next to View As Thread (if you are using a version of Leopard) or View as Conversation (if you are using Lion.

You can make further choices about how you view these related emails in Mail’s Preferences, in the Viewing section.

MAC BONUS: FREE VIDEO TIP

I’ve started working on a new series of videos that share some of my favorite new features in Lion.

Maybe seeing what’s new will help you decide to upgrade.

Check out this free video that shows you how to play your iTunes music even when your computer is in sleep mode.

It’s called the Jukebox Screensaver. Just click on the icon to go to the video. Once there, you can click the tool in the bottom right to enlarge it to full screen.

Jukebox Screensaver

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Reception Issues

Cell phones send and receive signals from cell towers. As you drive around town, the signal connects to various towers, handshaking from one to the other. If you drive through an area without a tower (along the 51 through the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, for example) your phone loses connection from the system, if only for a brief minute, and even when it reconnects to the next tower, the signal may not be a 100% handshake.

You may notice more dropped calls or voicemails that show up on your phone hours after the call.

To resolve this issue, AT&T recommends turning off/on your iPhone after you drive through an area with no towers, and also turning your phone off and on at least every two weeks to re-establish full handshaking. Some people get into the habit of turning their phone off every day to ensure the best reception.

To turn your iPhone off, push and hold the sleep button on the top of the phone until you see a screen with the option “slide to power off.” If you continue to have problems with delayed voicemails and dropped calls, contact AT&T.

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Safari’s New reading List

If you’re like me, you find a lot of great articles and websites when you are browsing the internet. Maybe you save them as Bookmarks, but rarely go back to read them.

The newest version of Safari offers a great feature for people like us.

Click on the pair of eyeglasses under the Back Arrow icon at the left of Safari’s toolbar. This is the new Reading List, a place to collect web pages that you’d like to come back and read at a later time.

Clicking the eyeglasses again will hide the list.

To add something to your Reading List:

1. Go to a page you’d like to save

2. Click on the eyeglasses and the window will appear.

3. Click Add Page.

Click an entry to go to it.
Click the X next to an entry to remove it from the list.
Click Clear All to clear the entire list.

 

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Clients Share Their Favorite Apps

With the thousands of Apps available, it’s hard to know which ones to try. So each month I’ll share some of my clients’ favorite apps.

This month’s recommended apps, available for iPhone and iPad, are all about fun and creativity:

Brushes: Express your artistic side with painting and drawing tool that work just like the real thing.

Wreck This App: For kids of all ages, get messy, break the rules, color outside the lines.

iBrainstorm: A fun tool to draw, write and share your greatest ideas.

————-

Get a Quick Definition

Sometimes you’ll be reading something and would like the definition of a word. Instead of stopping, opening up Dictionary and typing in the word in question, try this.

Hold down the Command and Control keys and type the letter D and move your mouse on top of the word

The definition will appear as a pop-up menu.

NOTE: This works with most Apple branded applications (Mail, Safari, Pages) but not Word, Firefox and other non-Apple products.

To access the Dictionary in these other Applications, hold down the Control key and click (or Right click) in the middle of the word and choose Look Up or Dictionary, if it’s an option.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Customize Your Signature

 

 

By default, evey email you send says “Sent from my iPhone or iPad.” You can remove this and even add your own signature.

1. From the Home screen, click on Settings
2. Scroll down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Scroll all the way down to Signature
4. Delete the existing text and type what you’d like it to say
5. There is no need to Save it, just click back on Mail and you’ll see that, next to Signature, it now shows the first words of what you typed.

—————–

The Fastest Way to Open Any Application

 

Your most frequently used Applications are probably in your Dock and so clicking on the icon will open it.

But sometimes you might need to open an Application that isn’t on your Dock. Instead of finding the Applications folder and scrolling through to find what you want:

1. Click your cursor in the top right corner next to the icon of the magnifying glass. This is Spotlight, the built-in searching tool. A lot of people use Spotlight to find Documents and Files.

2. Type in the name of the Application you’re looking for and it won’t just find it, it will automaticlaly open it!

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

 

 

Mobile Boarding Passes

 

 

Have you seen people checking in by showing the ticketing agent their iPhone or iPad? Several airlines offer the option of a mobile boarding pass.

The boarding pass is emailed to you when you check in online. Usually you have the option of printing the boarding pass, or emailing it to you. You open the email, then click on the link that says, “Get mobile boarding pass.” Then the bar-code comes up on the phone.

Not all airlines offer this service and not all airports use the system.

Here’s a link to check which airports currently support the mobile boarding pass.

 

Which Newsletter Program Is Best For You?

It used to be that, if you wanted to stay in touch with your clients or your club members or even your family, you mailed them a newsletter. These newsletters were mostly text, maybe with a single photo at the end.

Nowadays, we want to include lots of pictures and maps and use fun fonts and colors. While these enhancements look great, they make the files really, really big.

If you are still snail mailing your newsletter, the file size isn’t an issue. But if you are emailing your content, it may be time to consider a new way to work.

Microsoft Word and Pages are great applications for designing and creating a newsletter if you are printing and then mailing your newsletter. And Pages makes it even easier with templates and simple ways to add pictures and wrap text around them.

But if you are sending your newsletter as an email, consider switching to an online email marketing program, like Constant Contact.

Constant Contact allows you to create a template and then just copy it each time, update the content and send it. You can add photos, jogs, even your own logo and signature.

Constant Contact has many templates to choose from, for newsletters, cards, flyers and more and it works with its own mailing lists so that you can choose who to send to.

For example, if you do the newsletter for your garden club, you may need to send some correspondence just to the board members while the entire membership receives your monthly newsletter. So you can create two different lists and only send to the selected list. You can even schedule your newsletter to be sent on a particular day.

No more struggling to line up your text in columns. No more sacrificing color and photos to get a reasonably sized file. With Constant Contact you can have it all.

The cost for this easy, efficient web-based email marketing program starts at $15.00 a month. For more information visit http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

And of course, I can help you set it up, create your templates and master this amazing, easy-to-use program.

And, if you still snail mail your newsletters, I’m happy to help you learn the great features in Pages that will make creating and designing your newsletters much easier and more fun!

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Caps Lock

While there is no Caps Lock key on the iPad or iPhone keyboard, you can create one.

1. Click on Settings

2. Click General

3. Click Keyboard

4. Make your choices for several keyboard options, including Enable Caps Lock

To use the Caps Lock, double tap the Shift arrow and it will turn blue, indicating that the Caps Lock is on.

———–

iPhoto: Cropping Pictures for Printing

If you plan to print or order prints of your favorite photos, remember to first crop them to the desired size. Otherwise, the photo lab will crop them for you and you may be disappointed with the results.

To crop a picture in iPhoto:

1. In iPhoto, click once on the photo and click Edit from the toolbar at the bottom .

2. Click on the crop tool.

3. From the pull-down list of numbers, choose the size of the print you will be ordering. A rectangular box will appear on the photo.

4. Drag the corners to resize the rectangle to include what you want in the photo. You’ll notice that if you make it narrower it will also make it shorter–it is constraining the photo to the proportions of the size you selected.

5. You can reposition the rectangle by dragging in the middle of the rectangle.

6. You can also change it from a landscape to a portrait by choosing again from the size list–the last choices in the menu give you the option to make it tall (portrait) or wide (landscape).

7. When you have the desired area selected, click Done.

8. Now you have a proper photo of the desired size.

If you are ordering several different sizes of the same photo, duplicate the photo first (photos menu, choose duplicate) and crop each one to the desired size.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Rearranging Icons, Grouping Into Folders

There are several ways to move and organize your favorite Apps on your screen.

First, press and hold on one of the icons to get them wiggling.

To move an App, just drag the icon to a new position.

To move an App to a different screen, drag it all the way to the edge of the current screen. If this doesn’t work for you, drag the App into the Favorites Bar at the bottom, slide to the preferred screen, then drag the App to where you want it.

To group similar Apps together, drag one on top of another and a Folder will be created that you can rename.

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Fast Finding and Searching

Every program on the Mac has a Search tool. Usually it’s a rounded rectangular box with a mini magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen. (If you don’t see it, try dragging your window wider to reveal it.)

Just type what you’re looking for in this box to save you time and aggravation.

In Mail, when you Search, you can limit where Mail looks and what it looks for by clicking on one of the choices across the top: All Mailboxes or just the one selected, whether the text is in the Entire Message, From, To or part of the Subject of the email.

To find a folder or document saved on your Mac, you can use click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner to open up Spotlight, which gives you a list of all items.

A second way to Find documents is to choose the Find command under the File menu in the Finder. Type in what you’re looking for and a list will appear. Click once on the item and at the bottom of the window, you’ll see the path listed, so you know where to find the item.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Fast Searching

Looking for a person’s phone number? While you might think it’s pretty easy to click on your Contacts and scroll to that person’s name, there is a much faster way.

Slide to the screen to the left of the first Home screen to reveal the built-in Spotlight program. Begin typing the person’s name. Not only will their name appear next to the icon of the Contacts, but you’ll also see all emails related to that person, any iCal appointments. Click on any entry and you’re there.

———–

Typing Accent Marks and Foreign Language Letters

It’s easy to type foreign characters such as accent marks on a Mac. As an example, for the word Qu√©, The accent mark is an optional character above the e.

First type “qu” then,

Hold down the option key and type “e” to get the accent mark. It will appear above the text and create an empty space.

Then type the “e” that goes under the accent mark.

To see what other optional characters you can type, such as Àú and ¬ø, you can look at the Keyboard Viewer.

Hold down the Option key in Keyboard Viewer to reveal some hidden characters.

Hold down the Shift and Option keys to reveal additional characters.

To actually type those characters, just hold down the corresponding keys when you are in your actual document.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Keeping Up With Software Updates

Be sure to connect your iPad or iPhone or iPod to your computer at least once a month. Apple often releases new versions of the software for your device and the only way to update it is when you connect via iTunes.

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