New Screen Savers in Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion users no longer have that wonderful Mosaic Screen Saver option. Instead, Apple has introduced more than a dozen new options for displaying your photos when you’re not actively using your Mac.

To set your Screen Saver:

1. From the Apple menu choose System Preferences

2. Click on the Desktop & Screen Saver icon

3. Click on the Screen Saver tab

4. In the left column, choose one of the styles. It will show a preview of what it will do

5. Next to Source, you can choose the most recently added photos or, to access a specific album or event in iPhoto, choose iPhoto Library

6. Click on the desired album or Event

There are also 43 stunning photographs of nature, the cosmos and others from National Geographic that you can choose as your Screen Saver from the source list.

BONUS TIP:

You can access these 43 additional photos in the Collections to use elsewhere.

1. From the Desktop click on the GO menu

2. Choose Go To Folder

3. Copy and paste this link:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.Framework/Versions/A/Resources/Default Collections/

4. Scroll through the different folders

5. If you View by Column or Coverflow you can see a preview of each image

6. If you find one you like, drag it to the Desktop so you can easily move it to another folder for safe keeping or choose it for your Desktop Picture

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Numbers and Punctuation

If you press the 123 key, the keyboard layout switches to numbers and punctuation. Then you have to press ABC again to get back to the letter keyboard.

Here’s a shortcut:

Tap and HOLD the 123 key and slide to the number you need. When you release, the keyboard will automatically switch back to the letters.

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Back to Basics: Creating Folders

A reader who’s been using his Mac for years recently wrote and asked how to create a simple folder and place existing documents into it.

As with all things Mac, there are several ways to accomplish this task.

If you are using Snow Leopard or earlier versions of the Mac OS:

1. First click on the Desktop (or be in the folder where you want this new folder to go)

2. From the File menu choose New Folder or Right Click on the Desktop and choose New Folder

3. An Untitled Folder will appear with the words highlighted

4. Without clicking or moving the mouse, type a name for this new folder and press the Return key when you’re done

5. Now you can drag files and documents on top of this folder to put them in it

If you are using Lion or Mountain Lion, you could do it this way or,

1. Highlight the documents you want to put into a new folder

2. From the File menu choose New Folder With Selection or Right Click on one of the selected files and choose New Folder With Selection

3. Title the folder and press the REturn key when you’re done

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Format Text in Email

Did you know that 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

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Setting Reminders in iCal

iCal is great for keeping track of appointments, birthdays, and other important dates. One of the features in iCal is that you can set a reminder so that you are alerted minutes or even days before the event.

To set an alert:

1. Double-click on the event

2. Choose Edit

3. Next to the word Alert click on the menu choice

4. Choose whether you want to be reminded with an onscreen message, email, etc.

5. If you’ve chosen Message, choose when and at what time

6. You can change the number of days by clicking on the number showing and typing

7. If you’ve chosen to receive an email notification, choose which email address to receive it (if you have more than one) and when

8. Be sure to click DONE for your settings to take effect

Learn more about iCal with The Virtual Classroom video lessons. Check them out at
http://www.mac2school.com/virtual-ical-lion/ for Lion and Mountain Lion
or http://www.mac2school.com/virtual-ical-snow/ for Snow Leopard.

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
4. Instead of choosing Add a Bookmark, tap Add to Home Screen

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Claim More Desk Space: Move The Deck

The Dock is that strip on the bottom of your Desktop with all of the icons on it. It’s a handy tool for quickly opening all of your favorite programs.

Most computer screens are wider than they are tall, and the Dock takes up precious screen space. Some people solve this issue by Hiding the Dock.

If you like to see your Dock, but still want more screen space, consider moving it to the side.

Under the Apple menu, choose Dock.

Slide the mouse over and choose Position on Right or Left.

It may take a day or two to get used to the new location, but I think you’ll really appreciate the full screen space.

For more great tips about the Dock, the Desktop and more efficient ways to use the Finder, check out the ALL ABOUT THE FINDER video lessons in the Virtual Classroom.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Selecting 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 select more than one photo at a time to email (or delete):

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

 

New Gestures in Lion and Mountain Lion

A reader emailed me this question:

My screen jumps to the left and reveals a few apps on a black background ( temp, calculator etc). This always comes as a surprise… I have no idea how it happens but I would love to know. And other times, I see miniatures of what’s open..what’s that?

The Mac lets you use fast hand Gestures to activate different actions and windows. If you aren’t aware of these settings, you don’t realize that your movements are actually giving these commands.

The black background screen is the Dashboard, a collection of web based apps that you can open without first opening Safari and then navigating to the site. Your screen jumps to the Dashboard when you accidentally swipe the mouse or trackpad sideways.

The window with a mini view of all open applications is called Mission Control. With so many windows open, this feature makes it easy to quickly click on the one you want to work with next.

You can turn off these gestures: in System Preferences, under either Mouse or Trackpad, click More Gestures. Roll your cursor over the individual choices to see a short video that demonstrates what each gesture does. To turn off any gesture, just remove the check mark.

BONUS TIP: If you like to access Dashboard and Mission Control, but don’t like doing it with Gestures, you can set a keyboard combination to access them.

In System Preferences, click on Mission Control, choose a keystroke combination for each feature you want to use.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Settings for Visually and Hearing Impaired

Macs have always catered to users with visual and hearing disabilities, so it is no surprise that the iPhone and iPad also have settings to make using these devices easier for folks with limitations.

Tap Settings

Tap General

Tap Accessibility

Here you can turn on VoiceOver, to have the device read to you

You can Zoom text, make text much larger, even change the text to be white text on a black background.

This is also where you can set your device to work with an adaptive accessory if you have difficulty touching the screen.

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Clear Safari’s Cache in Lion and Mountain Lion

Safari’s Cache makes pages that you’ve previously loaded open faster. Often because it’s opening the older version of that page. Sometimes refreshing or reloading a page will bring up the newer version, but sometimes it’s best to Empty the Cache.

In previous versions of Safari, it was easy and clear how to Empty the Cache. The newest versions of Safari have changed where you go to empty out the Cache.

Now, under the Safari menu choose Reset Safari.

Remove the checkmarks next to things you do NOT want to reset.

Click Reset and everything else, including the cache, will be cleared.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Check out these free travel-related apps

Gas Buddy: Find gas stations near you and compare prices.

Hotel Tonight: Get last minute deals on hotels.

KidzOut: Find kid-friendly restaurants, parks and play places, even diaper changing stations.

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New VIP Feature of Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion, Apple’s newest operating system, is packed with new features and capabilities.

One feature in Mail is great for keeping track of emails from your most important people, your VIPs.

You can designate someone as a VIP by clicking the star icon to the left of the person’s name in any incoming or sent message. Every message to or from that person will now displays a star in message lists, making it easier to find those messages.

In addition, when you designate a person as a VIP, a new mailbox in the VIP Mailbox is created so that when you can click on a VIP’s name,you get a list of all messages, across all mailboxes (including Sent and Trash), to or from that person.

To remove the VIP designation, click on an email from that person, then click the arrow on the right side of their name and choose Remove from VIPS.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Undo and Redo

Did you know there is an UNDO and REDO button on the iPad?

If you accidentally delete some text, you can undo your last action in Mail or Notes.

To UNDO, tap to access the number keyboard, then tap the Undo key.

To REDO, tap to access the Symbol keyboard, then tap the Redo key.

As an alternative, you can also shake your device to undo and redo, like this:

After deleting some text, hold your iPad firmly with your both hands and give it a quick shake, and the Undo button slides in for you to undo.

To redo, shake it again.

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Keyboard Shortcuts in Safari

Instead of using your mouse’s scroll wheel or dragging the blue scroll bar, you can move down the page by pressing the Space Bar.

Move up the page by holding down the Shift key and pressing the Space Bar.

To go Back to the previous page, instead of clicking the Back Arrow, press the Delete key.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Copy and Paste

1. Yes, of course you can copy and paste text on your iPad and iPhone.

Press and hold your finger at the beginning of the text you want to select. A menu appears, and the text is highlighted in light blue and there are blue circles on either end of the selection

2. Drag the blue circles to highlight all of the text you want to work with or choose Select All

3. Choose Copy

4. Press and hold your finger where you want to put the text you copied

5. Choose Paste

Edit Text

Use this same technique of pressing and holding your finger to reposition your cursor to Edit text

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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 with just the text

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

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Saving an Image You Find Online

If you’re surfing online and find a picture that you want to save or share with someone, it’s easy:

1. Find the image

2. Tap and hold on the image

3. Choose Save image (this may not work with a photo someone posts on Facebook)

4. The image will appear in your Camera Roll, where you can then email it or post it to Facebook.

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Email 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

Get Ready for the Summer Olympics

If you want to keep up with the latest news, games and scores during the upcoming Olympic Games in London, check out these Apps.

London 2012 Official Join In App: Developed and maintained by the official London Organizing Committee, the app includes current information on the Olympic Torch Relay plus news on all the cultural, city, and community celebrations happening now.

Once the games begin, the app will provide up-to-date coverage on each Olympic sport and each competition venue. In addition, for London visitors, the app provides full access to searchable maps, details of facilities, augmented reality views, and information about how to get the best out of your historic visit.

Universal Sports Network: This App will provide exclusive television coverage of this year’s games in the U.S. Plus, for the first time, free live coverage will be available for each sport no matter the time of day. Although separate iPhone/iPod touch and iPad apps for that purpose have yet to be released, this app is a suitable alternative for now.

Using the Universal Sports Network app, users can view exclusive pre-Olympic programming. In total, the free app provides more than 1,200 hours of original video content.

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Cleaning Your Keyboard and Mouse

Keyboard:

If your keyboard is wired, first disconnect it from your computer. If it is wireless, turn off the power on the keyboard and remove the batteries.

Use a lint-free cloth lightly moistened with water or iKleen. Don’t get moisture in any openings and don’t use aerosol sprays, solvents, or abrasives.

Older Mighty Mouse:

If your mouse is wired, first disconnect it from your computer. If your mouse is wireless, slide the power switch to off and remove the batteries. Clean the outside of your mouse or trackpad with a lint-free cloth lightly moistened with water or iKleen. Don’t get moisture into any openings and don’t use aerosol sprays, solvents, or abrasives.

If the scroll ball on your Mighty Mouse has become discolored or dirty, use a clean, lint-free cloth lightly moistened with water or iKleen to clean it.

Wipe the ball and the surrounding area, making sure to rotate the ball itself to ensure complete coverage.

If the scrolling feels rough or if the scroll ball isn’t scrolling up, down, or side-to-side, hold the Mighty Mouse upside down and roll the ball vigorously while cleaning it to help dislodge any particles that may have collected on the internal hardware.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Hidden Volume Adjuster

Even faster than pushing the up and down button on the side of your device, you can adjust the volume right on the screen.

1. Double tap the Home button to reveal the bar that shows all of your recently opened Apps

2. Slide that bar all the way to the right until you can’t go any further and you’ll see the volume slider

3. On your iPad, you can also adjust the brightness here

4. Double tap the Home button when you’re done

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Customizing Notes

If you have an iPad or iPhone, you may already be using the Notes app and syncing them with your Mac.

But many folks don’t want to SEE their Notes in the Inbox with all of the email.

Of course, you can change this setting:

1. Under the Mail menu, choose Preferences

2. Click on Accounts

3. Click on your iCloud account, the one that is syncing your Notes between your Mac and your devices

4. Click on the Mailbox Behaviors tab

5. Remove the checkmark next to Show Notes in Inbox

6. Close and Save your changes

Now, to see your Notes, hover on the Reminders in the left column and choose Show and your Notes will be listed. Click the arrow to reveal them.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Customizing Notes

Did you know you can choose a font for your Notes?

1. Tap Settings

2. Scroll down to see Notes in the left column

3. Choose your font

4. This is also where you choose to sync your notes with your iCloud account or only save them on the device

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How to Install Adobe Flash Player

If you are no longer able to watch certain videos online you may need to download the newest version of Adobe Flash Player.

– First, go here and click to Download
– You’ll see a blue progress bar in the top right on the Safari window
– It will download it into the Downloads folder
– When it’s done downloading, QUIT Safari from the Safari menu (don’t just close it)
– Open the Downloads folder which you can find under the GO menu when you’re on the Desktop
– Double click the file called Adobe something.dmg
– It will create another file called Install Flash Player
– Double click THAT
– Follow the directions
– When it’s all done and working, you can take the installer AND the .dmg icon to the trash

The other kind of video that people get in emails requires Windows Media Player, which doesn’t work with Lion.

To install an alternative to this, go to www.mac2school.com/tips and scroll down for the tip about the VLC Player

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:

Tap Settings
Tap Picture Frame
Choose your Transition
Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order
Choose which photos and albums to show

 

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.

 

Count Your Words

If you write articles or have to submit your bio for something, they often suggest a limit to how many words you can use. NO, you don’t have to count them by hand. Built into Microsoft Word and Pages is a word count tool.

In Word, click on the Tools menu and choose Word Count

In Pages, click on the Inspector, click on the left icon for information about the document and click on the Info tab.

iPad Tip of the Week

Are You Missing Your Bookmarks Bar?

By default, Safari does NOT show the Bookmarks Bar, but, if you’re like me, it’s where all of your frequently visited website are, and you’d like to be able to access them from your iPad and iPhone too.

To see the Bookmarks Bar in Safari

1. Tap Settings.

2. In the left column tap Safari.

3. In the top section on the right, next to Always Show Bookmarks Bar, slide to On.

4. This is also where you can control whether Safari opens New Tabs in the Background.

5. If you’re not sure what this does, turn it on, open some pages in Safari, and you’ll see that each page stays opened as a tab that you can X to close or tap back onto to reopen.

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4 Ways to Highlight Text

Dragging across a word or a sentence or paragraph is one way to highlight the text so that you can delete it, copy it or cut it.

But here are several alternatives, depending on what you are selecting:

~ To highlight a single word: double click in the word

~ To highlight an entire paragraph, triple click on any word

~ To select a long section of text, click at the beginning of the section, hold down the Shift key and click at the end. Everything between the two clicks will be highlighted

~ In Microsoft Word (not Pages, sorry) you can select two unconnected blocks of text to copy and paste! Highlight one sentence, then hold down the Command key while highlighting the second sentence. Both will be selected. You can copy or cut them and when you paste them, they will appear together, as two separate paragraphs.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Apps to Help You See Better

iMagnifier: iMagnifier is just one of several free apps that magnifies text, making it easier to read menus and other printed materials.

Use the Search feature of the App store to see all of the choices and compare their different features and user ratings.

Combine the magnifier with a free Flashlight app, and you can really see better.

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File Names with Microsoft Office 2011

If you can no longer open documents that were created in a previous version of Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, it’s probably because of the file name. It may be too long or, it contains a slash or other no-longer-acceptable characters.

To change the name of a file:

1. Click once on the item

2. Press the Return key to highlight the file name

3. Type a new name. If you press the left or right arrow key it will move the cursor to the beginning or end of the text

4. Press the Return key when done

Now try opening the file and it will probably work!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

All About Sounds

You can control what sounds play when different things happen. Maybe you don’t like the sound when you unlock your device. Maybe you prefer NOT to hear a sound every time you receive or send an email or when someone sends you a text or leaves a voicemail.

It’s easy to choose which sounds and alerts you want to hear.

1. Click on Settings.
2. Click on Sounds.
3. Scroll through the list, choosing which you want on and which you want off.

This is also where you can choose a different ringtone and make the Vibrate feature silent.

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Important Tips for Gmail Users

If you send and receive your Gmail mail using Apple Mail’s postage stamp, there are a few settings you need to check.

1. In Mail, under the Mail menu, choose Preferences

2. Click on the Accounts Tab

3. Click on the Gmail account in the left column

4. Click on the Account Information tab to determine if this is a POP account or an IMAP account

~ If it’s IMAP account

1. click on the the Mailbox Behaviors tab and

2. Remove the check mark so that:

3. you DO NOT store Drafts on the server

4. you DO NOT store Sent messages on the server

5. you DO NOT store Junk messages on the server

6. you DO NOT store deleted messages on the server

~ If it’s a POP account

1. click on the Advanced tab

2. Put a check mark next to Remove copy from server and choose When moved from Inbox in the pull down menu. This will help minimize the emails that you delete on one device from appearing on other devices if you haven’t recently checked mail on them.

5. Close the Preferences window and Save your changes

6. You might also want to log into your Gmail account via the internet and be sure that you don’t have a large number of old emails in the Trash there… If you do, take the time to delte them all.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Split the Keyboard

If you find the keyboard on the iPad to be too cramped, you can split it, separating it so that it fits your typing hands better. This works in both portrait and landscape modes.

1. From the Home screen, tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll down to Keyboard and tap

4. Turn ON Split Keyboard

To use the split keyboard,

1. Tap any APP that requires typing

2. When the keyboard appears, use two fingers on the keyboard and pinch it open

3. Pinch it closed again to return to the standard keyboard

To move the keyboard around so that it isn’t covering your text

1. Tap and HOLD and drag on the Keyboard Toggle button in the bottom right corner of the keyboard

2. If you hold it too long before dragging, you’ll get the choice to Dock and Merge, meaning put the keyboard back together at the bottom of the screen

 

 

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

 

Seeing What Fonts Really Look Like

You can change the fonts of text in Mail as well as most other Apple programs by highlighting the text and then clicking on the Fonts tool.

The Fonts window shows a list of grouped fonts (Collections), the family of typefaces, the possible styles of each typeface and a size to choose.

To see what the font actually looks like, you can reveal the Font Preview Pane.

1. Click on the barely noticeable circle that is below the word “Fonts” and above the “T” tool. Your mouse becomes a tool with arrows.

2. Drag the tool down to reveal the Font Preview Pane.

You can make the entire window bigger by dragging on the the diagonal lines in the bottom right corner of the window.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Don’t Type Periods

Instead of actually typing a period at the end of a sentence, double-tap the space bar and it will put in a period and a space so you can just start typing the next sentence.

If this feature doesn’t work:

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Tap Keyboard

4. Turn the “.” Shortcut ON

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Creating Your Own Signature in Email

A signature can automatically appear at the bottom of your email. It can be your name, your contact information, even a favorite quote. You can create several different signatures and choose which one you want for a particular email.

To create a signature:

1. First, create a new email message so you have a place to type

2. Type everything you want to appear, including choosing the font, size, color

3. Highlight it all

4. From the Edit menu, choose Copy

5. Then, under the Mail menu, choose Preferences

6. Click on the Signatures icon

7. Click the “+” sign at the bottom of the middle column to create a new signature

8. Title it in the middle column where it is highlighted in blue

9. In the right column, delete the text that appears there

10. From the Edit menu, choose Paste
Your typed text will appear.

To actually USE the signature, you have to now assign it to an email account.

1. Drag that named signature from the middle column to on top of the email address in the left column that you want to use it with.

2. Click on that email address and, at the bottom, under Choose Signature, decide whether you always want that signature to appear or, if you choose None, then you can select the signature when you want to use it in a particular email.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

 

How To Take A Picture of What’s on the Screen

Sometimes you need to take a snapshot of what’s on your screen. Maybe to report an odd problem. Maybe to brag about a high score on Scrabble.

To take a picture of the screen, hold down the On/Off button at the same time that you press the Home button. You’ll hear a shutter sound.

To find the picture, click on Photos and look in the camera roll. Now you can email the picture or save it for future use.

 

 

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Create a Holiday Playlist in iTunes

For all of you Christmas music lovers, the easiest way to keep that holiday music playing is to create a Playlist.

Instead of manually looking for the songs you want, use the powerful SEARCH tool.

1. In the top right corner, click in the Search box and type Christmas

2. All songs/albums/artists with that word will appear

3. From the File menu choose New Playlist From Selection

4. The new playlist will appear at the bottom of the left column as Untitled Playlist

5. Without clicking anywhere, type a name for this Holiday Playlist

You can add additional songs to this playlist by dragging them from the main music window to on top of the playlist.

Watch the free video that shows you how to do this!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

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Saving Photos You Receive In An Email

There’s no need to keep an email just so that you have access to the pictures. Instead, save them right in to iPhoto.

Open the email.

In Lion’s Mail, first click Show Details.

Then click and hold down the SAVE button and choose Add to iPhoto.

It will look like nothing has happened but your pictures are now in your iPhoto Library.

Now you can delete the email.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Changing the Font for Notes

While the font Marker Felt might be fun, it may not be your font of choice for your Notes. Now, with iOS 5 you can change the font for your Notes.

1. Click on Settings
2. Scroll pretty far down the list and click on Notes
3. Choose one of the three font’s listed