Saginaw Macintosh Users Group

The comma key’s hidden powers on iPad
~MacWorld
Whether you’re a touch-screen typing savant or a two finger tapper, there’s no denying that iPad typing isn’t as convenient as using a real keyboard—especially when you want to access frequently-used punctuation that isn’t even available on the virtual keyboard’s main screen. A little-known trick can help: swiping up quickly on the Comma key will instantly insert an apostrophe; swiping up on the Period key inserts a quotation mark. That’s one quick swipe, instead of a tap on the .?123 punctuation key, and then a second tap on the specific punctuation mark you’re after.

Get Account Info in Mail in Preview
~MacOSXHints.com
In Mail.app, press Command+I on the Inbox icon (or right-click on it and choose ‘Get Account Info’) and sample the awesomeness. Actually, this works with any of the main mailbox icons. Just select an account from the popup menu.

It gives space usage for each folder and quota limits for the account, plus other settings from the ‘Account Info’ preference, and works for Gmail and Exchange too. I just stumbled onto it and found it worth sharing.

Retrieve S/Ns of iPods connected to your computer
~MacOSXHints.com
If your iPod is lost or stolen you’ll want to find its serial number. Luckily, your Mac keeps a record of all the iPods that have connected to the computer with the s/n and other info.

The file that stores info about iPods is located at /Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPod.plist. Open it with your favorite text editor.

Here’s the hierarchy of the XML file with (descriptions):
<dict> (everything/root)  <key>Devices</key> (the section that stores info about the iPods themselves)  <dict>   <key>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</key> (a unique identifier for each iPod, not useful to us us <dict> <key>Connected</key> (the first iPod) (In here is the info about the iPod. Subsequently, I will refer to things at this level of the tree.)
</dict>   </dict>  (ignore stuff in here; it’s not useful to us)
<dict>Line 2 of the section I said we’d focus on is a date. This is the last time you connected the iPod.Line 4 tells us that the device is an iPod, which we already knew. Line 6 tells us what ‘family’ the iPod is. My Nano G5 is a 16. Line 8 is the firmware version in a single number (not the version that we usually see). Line 10 is the firmware version as a the number we’re used to (X.X.X). Lines 12 and 14 are about games on the iPod, and not very useful to us. Line 16 is that unique ID we saw earlier.Line 18 is the language (language-country). Line 20 is the big one: the serial number. Lines 22 and 24 are info for the software update application, and not very useful to us. Line 26 is the number of times you’ve connected that iPod. If you’ve connected more than one iPod, you’ll see another of the blocks that starts with <key>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</key>.

How to re-sort photos on your iPhone
~MacOSXHints.com
An anonymous Hints reader was flummoxed: He (or she) used iTunes to sync pictures from iPhoto to his (or her) iPhone. But when he looked at the pictures on his phone, iPhoto Events didn’t appear in the order he wanted. As far as he could tell, neither iTunes nor the iPhone offered any option to change the phone’s photo-sorting behavior.

As the anonymous reader discovered, however, there is a solution—one that’s less obvious than it might appear at first. The iPhone will honor whichever sorting option you select within iPhoto. To change the sorting order there, launch iPhoto, select Events, and then choose View -> Sort Events. You can then sort Events by date (in chronological or reverse-chronological order), alphabetically by name, or in a manual order of your own creation.

But, wait, there’s more: If you switched to iTunes now, your photos still wouldn’t be in the order you wanted; they’d be out of order on your phone, too. You must first quit and relaunch iPhoto. Once you’ve done so, iTunes will notice the new sort order you’ve set for your Events. When you sync your iPhone this time, events will appear the way you want them to.

Open Google search in new tab behind current
~MacOSXHints.com
In Safari, we all know if you highlight some text and then Control+click (or right mouse click) you get a pop up contextual menu. I use this to search text in Google all the time, but didn’t like that it would open in front while I was still reading the web page. So with a little experimenting, if you hold down the Command key before you click on ‘Search with Google’ in the pop up menu, the page will open in a tab behind your current one.

Launching apps quickly on iPad
~MacWorld
I have too many apps on my iPad. While I can always find certain apps quickly—I remember which home screen they’re on, and where geographically the icons are located on that screen—there are many more apps that I just can’t find. Instead of paging through home screen after home screen, I use Spotlight as a virtual keyboard launcher.

Tap the Home button to get to your first home screen, and then either tap it again or swipe to reveal Spotlight. Start typing the first few letters of the app’s name, and then tap on the right result to launch it instantly. Spotlight automatically surfaces your most frequently used apps at the top of its matching results, which is often very useful.

Quickly open two instances of the same PDF
~MacOSXHints.com
Sometimes you need to have two views of the same PDF document (e.g. to have a quick access to the list of references in a thesis without the need to scroll to it and then back to the text). However, Preview does not allow a file to be opened twice.

The quickest solution would be to hit Cmd-P and select ‘Open PDF in Preview.’ You’ll have a temporary copy of your PDF where you can select the second view and have both views handy for easy switching.

When you’re done, just hit Cancel in the temporary document.

Fix an iPhoto ‘11 slowdown
~MacOSXHints.com
As I’ve been adding photos to iPhoto ‘11 (9.1.3), it’s been getting slower and slower. On Friday, it ground just about to a complete halt, such that even force quitting took about 20 minutes to accomplish.

According to Activity Monitor, there was no CPU activity and no network activity to speak of, which stumped me because I was assuming it was Faces or Spotlight laboring mightily away in the background.

After many trials and errors, I determined that the problem was due to my entries in the Accounts preference. I had MobileMe (times two), Facebook, Flickr, and six other e-mail accounts registered there. About a minute after each launch, iPhoto had been attempting unsuccessfully to connect with at least one of the accounts, which brought iPhoto, Finder, and any other open programs to a screeching halt.

As luck would have it, I was one of the lucky ones hit with MobileMe’s latest outage, but after I deleted all the Accounts preference entries, iPhoto sprang back to life.

I subsequently determined that it is normal behavior for iPhoto to attempt indefinitely to connect to services listed in the Accounts preference, with no time-out or notification to the user about what is going on.

If you find yourself in this predicament — iPhoto open but utterly unresponsive — you may be able to shorten the time it takes your Mac to return control to you by severing all network connections (Ethernet, Airport, etc.), at which point iPhoto is supposed to detect the lack thereof and stop trying to connect.

Tapping and holding virtual keys on iPad
~MacWorld
Virtual keys hold special powers. Press and hold on a vowel, for example, and a popover containing accented versions of the selected character appears. (Certain consonants, like C, S, and N, also offer alternate versions when you tap and hold on their virtual keys.)

Press and hold a vowel key—the ‘i’ in this case—and the iPad will summon a popover with accented versions of the character in question.

Similarly, holding down punctuation marks can provide extra options. the standalone Period key—the one on the punctuation keyboard, not the main keyboard—hides an ellipsis. The hyphen offers an em-dash and bullet. And the dollar sign hides symbols for numerous currencies.

Auto-correction is your friend on iPad
~MacWorld
One last keyboard-related tip: especially when you’re using the on-screen keyboard, the easiest way to becoming a virtual typing pro is simply to trust the auto-correction algorithm. The slower your iPad typing speed, the more likely it is that you make frequent use of the backspace key. Or to put it another way: slow iPad typists only allow themselves to type precisely the right keys, and delete each individual mistake.

Not power users! Power users trust that iOS will fix their typos for them. When I type “Dippieedl,” my iPad recognizes that I’m after “Supposedly.” After just “Wkeph,” the iPad knows I want “Elephant.” Fix fewer typos, and your iPad typing will ironically improve.

Undelete from Trash to Original Locations
~MacOSXHints
If you’ve ever trashed some items and then wanted them returned to their original folders, Apple has a counterintuitive way to do so. It is rather odd, but neat!

To return the items from the Trash to their original locations, open the Trash folder, select the item or items to be returned and hit the delete button (red circle with line through it on the folders toolbar).

Your items will disappear from the Trash and reappear in their original folders. If you don’t have the delete button, you can add it to all folders using the Customize Toolbar command under View.

Removing Widgets from the Dashboard
~MacOSXHints.com
The documented way to remove widgets from the dashboard is to press the + button at the bottom left of the screen and then click on the X button of the widget to be deleted. However, there seems to be another way.
Go to the dashboard, put the cursor over the widget and then press the Option key. An X button will appear on that widget. This works in Mac OS X 10.6.7 but I suspect it also works in previous versions.

Reveal the Password in a Password Field on a Web Page
~MacOSXHints.com
If you’re ever in the situation where you have forgotten the password for some web site, but it is right there in the password field of the login form — only in the form of asterisks or bullets — and you would like to copy it from the password field, if only it were not asterisks…well, you can.

You can convert the password field to a plain text field, which will reveal the password behind the asterisks. To do so, you will need to use your browser’s web inspector. The following is the procedure for Safari; the steps are similar in Google Chrome.

Right-click the password field and select ‘Inspect Element’ in the context menu. This will open the web inspector and highlight the HTML tag for the password field.
The highlighted line should contain something like this:

<input type=”password” name=”something”>
(Don’t worry if it doesn’t look exactly like that. As long as the HTML tag contains the type=”password” part, you can proceed.)

Double-click the word “password” following “type=”. This will let you edit the text.
Replace the word “password” with the word “text”, and press Enter. Now the tag should like this:
<input type=”text” name=”something”>

You should now be able to see the password in the password field. You can close the web inspector if you wish.
If this seems like a lot of work, an altenative is to install and use a browser extension that will reveal passwords when you do something like move the mouse over them or click inside them. For Safari, one such extension is ShowPass; similar extensions exist for Firefox and Google Chrome.

Avoiding Application Exits on iPad
~MacWorld
Sometimes, you notice something you’d like to check out more closely in an app—at the same instant you press the Home button. Instead of letting the app close, then finding its icon and waiting while the app relaunches, you can tell your iPad to abort your now-unwanted Home button press. Doing so is hilariously simple: don’t let go. If you hold down the Home button extra long—just a few seconds needed—your iPad will abandon its plans to close the current app, and you tap on that enticing link instead.

Track Down Music Playback Controls on iPad
~MacWorld
With the introduction of that multitasking bar, Apple made it a smidgen trickier to find music playback controls. When you double-tap the Home button, swipe the whole shebang towards the right. Doing so will reveal several controls: playback buttons (Reverse, Play/Pause, and Skip, along with sliders for brightness and volume.

Stash More Apps in the Dock on iPad
~MacWorld
Brand new iPads feature just four apps in the Dock. Because of that, many iPad owners keep just four apps in their docks. But it turns out that the dock actually holds six apps, if you’d like it to. All you need to do to keep more frequently-accessed apps in your dock is move them there: press and hold on any app icon until the apps start to jiggle, and then drag the app you’d like to move right into the Dock. You can stash even more apps by dragging a folder full to the Dock.

Go To URL Faster on iPad
~MacOSXHints
The process of loading a URL in a new tab on iPad can be rather cumbersome and slow. First, one launches Safari from the home screen, waits for the app to open and the old webpage to re-render, then one hits the tab switch button, presses the new tab space, waits for that tab to open, waits for it to switch to the search panel (this is the most irritating part of the process, since it seems to take even longer when what one really wants is the URL bar), and finally, one clicks on the URL bar to enter in a new URL.

To simplify this process considerably, just add a new icon to your Springboard that goes directly to about:blank.
To add the new icon to your home screen, first open a new page in Safari according to the usual method, and direct it to the url, about:blank. Then tap the more options icon (iOS 4.2) or the + icon (iOS 3.2) and select, ‘Add to home’. Give your icon a name like ‘Safari’ or whatever you like then tap add.

In the future when you want to switch to Safari and open a URL in a new tab, just tap the new ‘Safari’ icon you created, then tap the URL and X out the existing about:blank before entering in your own URL. Actually, you don’t even have to X out the existing “about:blank” in the location field. Just click in there and start typing.

How to restore a hard drive using Time Machine
~MacWorld
When Apple introduced Time Machine with OS X 10.5 Leopard, it became easier than ever to prepare for a data disaster—the only serious effort Mac owners running Leopard or Snow Leopard need to make is to plug in a hard drive. While we hope your hard drive never goes south, if it does actually fail, you’ll thank Time Machine for backing up your data. Time Machine backs up your system settings, documents, and applications, making it easy to not only recover from a failed hard disk, but also to migrate these files to a new computer, or to a hard drive that’s faster or has more capacity. Here’s how to restore your data from Time Machine.

Step one: Prepare your driveUnlike some utilities that simply make a bootable clone of your hard drive, Time Machine saves your files, applications, and system settings in a format that can be used to restore this data to a formatted hard drive with OS X already installed.

If you have a new hard drive, or had to erase and repair your old drive, you first need to install Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 on the drive, using the discs that came with your computer or a retail version of Mac OS X that supports different types of Macs. When the OS installation is done, the system restarts and you’re treated to a little tune.

If instead, you’ve purchased a new Mac and want to transfer your data from an old Mac to the new one, it’s a piece of cake. Since the new Mac has a fresh installation of Mac OS X, simply start up the system and the music will start playing.

Step two: Select Time Machine restoreWhen you’ve booted off your new installation of Mac OS X (whether on the new computer, new hard drive, or an erased and repaired old hard drive), you’ll be guided through the steps to set up your Mac. You’ll see a screen titled,” Do You Already Own A Mac?” asking if you’d like to transfer your information.
Choose the third option, From a Time Machine Backup. Click Continue.

Step three: Specify a Time Machine backupConnect the hard drive containing your Time Machine backup via USB or FireWire. The Time Machine backup will show up in a list called Select a Backup Volume. You can also find and restore from a Time Machine backup on your local AirPort network. Select your backup and click Continue.

Step four: Select the information you want to transferThis screen asks you to choose what data you’d like to restore. It calculates the size of your User folders, Applications, Documents and other files, which can take quite a bit of time, depending on how much data you have. All of the choices are selected by default. Uncheck the boxes of any file types you’d rather not bring over. Click Transfer when you are ready.

Step five: WaitThat’s it. Your files will transfer over and when finished, your computer will restart. If you chose to copy over all file types, your desktop picture, dock settings and everything else will appear just as they did on your old hard drive.

10.6: Using the Purchases Tab in Mac App Store
~MacOSXHints.com
While looking through the App Store, I stumbled upon something useful about the Purchases tab. If you use the same Apple ID across two or more computers, you may logically want apps purchased with the same Apple IDs installed on those computers as well. You can do this.

Select the Purchases tab in the App Store. You have a complete list of every app you have purchased using the current account. If there are apps you’ve downloaded on one computer that you’d like on another computer, simply click Install and it will download on that computer.

Simple, yes, but it took me a while to discover this. It comes in handy often.

Use right-click instead of menu in order to get single album artwork
~MacOSXHints
Want to Get Album Artwork for just one album in iTunes? Don’t use the Advanced menu.

If you select Get Album Artwork from the Advanced menu, iTunes will search your entire Music Library for songs with missing artwork (and will sometimes overwrite your artwork with mistaken album covers).

If you want to get a single album’s artwork, you might think that selecting a single track from that album and then choosing Get Album Artwork from the Advanced menu would accomplish that task. Unfortunately, iTunes still searches your entire Music Library no matter what tracks are selected.

In order to Get Album Artwork for a limited group of songs, right-click on the selected song(s) and choose Get Album Artwork from the contextual menu that pops up.

Another Timesaver for Entering URLs in Mobile Safari
~MacOSXHints
When viewing a web page, we all know to tap on the address field so we can enter a new URL. In mobile Safari, however, there’s no need to first tap the X to clear the existing URL in the address field. Instead, just tap the address field and begin typing when the keyboard appears. Mobile Safari will automatically overwrite the existing address.

Clearing your iPad’s memory
~MacWorld
Reader Tony Moon has been having occasional problems with the Netflix app on his iPad. He writes:I get inconsistent performance from the Netflix app on my iPad. Sometimes it works great, other times I try to launch a movie, the Netflix play screen appears for a second, and then the video window disappears. I have a strong Wi-Fi connection so I don’t think that’s it. Any ideas?

I’ve experienced the same thing and you’re right, it’s not a Wi-Fi issue—I’ve had Netflix play perfectly when I have just a couple of bars and quit when I have a full complement of bars.

I threw the question out to Twitter and the general consensus is that this is a memory issue. If you clear out the inactive cruft in the iPad’s memory, Netflix should perform as expected.
There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to simply restart the iPad. Doing so flushes the iPad’s memory and cleans things up nicely.

Optionally, you can use an app to free up memory. That app is XZone Software’s $2 XSysInfo. Launch it and you see a lot of information about your device arranged in categories including Usage, Processes, Estimated Work Time, Network, Device Identity, and Tech Specs. We’re interested in the Usage pane where you tap an arrow icon to clear out memory. If you tap the Settings icon you have the option to clean memory when you launch the app.

If Netflix is misbehaving and you don’t care to restart your iPad to flush its memory, it’s worth a shot.

Adding Additional Files to an iDVD Project
~MacOSXHints
When creating a DVD in iDVD something you would like to add additional content or files to the DVD that you distribute. Maybe some pictures, a link to your website, or maybe a iPod/iPhone/iPad sized version of the movie. I distribute highlight DVDs of my son’s football games and I add a HD version of the video to the disc.

• Open your iDVD Project.Select the Advanced » Edit DVD-ROM Contents menu item.
• Click ‘New Folder’ (this will add an ‘untitled folder’ to the window).
• Double click the ‘untitled folder’ to edit the name.
• Select your the folder you just re-named, and click ‘Add Files.’
• Browse to the folder to select you files.
• When done adding files close the window.
• Remember you are limited on the total amount of space on your DVD.
• To view the amount of spaced used on your disc. Select Project » Project Info.

Quickly confirming or rejecting Faces in iPhoto
~MacOSXHints.com
When confirming wether faces recognized by iPhoto ‘11 are actually correct, some will be wrong and need to be rejected.

iPhoto gives the hint to ‘Click to confirm or Option-click to reject,’ yet the easier and faster way to reject would be to simply double click the image, after which it will be marked as ‘Not (name).’

Easy Finder links to open websites at login ~MacOSXHints
It can be useful to have a clickable file on your Desktop or in the Dock that takes you straight to a specified website. It can be even more useful to have websites open automatically when you log in to your computer.

From either Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, you can make one of these files (it will have a .webloc extension) easily. Just click and drag from any website ele- ment that gives you a hand cursor to your desktop or a Finder window. You’ll get a file takes you straight to the website that the link lead to. Opening this file will open your default web browser to this website.

You can keep this in a folder, put it on your Desktop or in your Dock, or set it to open at login. To put it in your dock, just drag it there like any other file. To open it at login, go to the Login Items tab of the Accounts pane of System Preferences. Click the plus button and navigate to and select your file.

Mac Hints & Tips~Mac Hints & Tips
This is a handy trick for taking photos and other files from your iPod to your computer for sorting, editing, etc.

Connect your iPod to your comput- er and go to iTunes. When iTunes launches, your iPod will be listed in the Source list on the left side of the iTunes window. In the “Options” sec- tion of the iPod Preferences window, turn on the checkbox for “Enable Disk Use,” and your iPod will appear on your computer as a mounted disk (like a hard disk or USB device).

On your computer’s desktop, double- click the now-visible iPod, and you’ll see a folder with your stored files. (Don’t disturb the folder named Pho- tos.) Now you can select these files and drag them onto your computer.

Save PDF Graphic Elements using Preview~MacOSXHints
It is easy to create a PDF file with scalable vector graphics, which can be later included elsewhere (LaTeX users will appreciate this).

You will need some application to pre- pare the graphics — Keynote works well (I also tried PowerPoint). Select the graphic. Copy it to the clipboard (using Command+C or Edit » Copy).

Then go into Preview, and type Command+N ( or File » Create From Clipboard). Save the new file as a PDF. Notice that, no matter how much you zoom, the image does not pixellate.

How many times a day do you say that while on your computer? ~MacGroup, Chita Hunter
Wow that many.

Well, I for one usually say that after I accidentally close a Safari browser window. It is not unusual for me to have a minimum of 15 browser win- dows open at any given time. And those windows usually contain mul- tiple tabs that I click back and forth through. So, I do try to close those that may no longer be relevant. But, when I accidentally close the wrong one…

Though, when I quit Safari to end a browser session for the night, or whatever reason for quitting, it’s great to get right back to where I left off by using the “Reopen All Windows from Last Session” command under Safari’s History Menu.

So, I find the “Reopen” commands very, very helpful. But there are times when I may accidentally close one of those browser tabs, and until now there was no recourse to quickly res- urrect it, like I could after closing a browser window.

Hence, added to Safari 5, is the abil- ity to restore that accidentally closed browser tab. Simply select Edit > Undo or use the shortcut keys, Com- mand-Z. An additional safety net.

Avoid crossfade between select songs in iTunes ~MacOSXHints
By default, iTunes will crossfade be- tween songs, blending the end of the current song with the beginning of the next song. You may already know that you can disable this for classical mu- sic or other albums by selecting all the songs in the album and checking the ‘Part of a gapless album’ option in the track info (Command+I).

But you can also disable the crossfade on individual tracks (such as an Intro that fades into the rest of the song). Just make sure you set this option on both tracks.

iTunes will then skip the crossfade whenever both tracks have this op- tion set, effectively disabling the fade when you play the album in order, but not when shuffled or separated in a playlist.

Play songs from multiple playlists in iTunes ~MacOSXHints
This may be well known to many, or it may seem incredibly obvious, since folders have been allowed in iTunes’ playlists since iTunes 5 was released four years ago, but I just figured this one out…

If you have a bunch of playlists in a single folder, you can play all of those playlists as if they were a single play- list by selecting the folder and play- ing it. Anything you can do with an ordinary playlist — shuffling, sorting, etc. — you can also do when playing a playlist folder. The hint works with folders that contain ordinary playlists or smart playlists.

Print personalized Mailing Labels in Address Book
~MacOSXHints
While Address Book can print labels quite well, it’s not so easy to address the label to a family such as, ‘The Smith Family,’ when the Contact’s name field shows ‘John Smith,’ or even, ‘John and Jane Smith.’

But if you want to use Address Book to generate a personalized holiday card, baby announcement or other address label list, there is a way to ensure it prints the way you want. For addressing families, simply edit the contact by adding a company name such as, ‘The Smith Family.’

Format Mail.app messages with Tables or Lists
~MacOSXHints
When I send messages to my students, I frequently need to have a table with borders, etc. included in the body of the message. Mail doesn’t seem to offer the ability to create and format tables, so I use the following multistep process.

I create my message in TextEdit or Bean, including any tables with the formatting I desire.

Select the message

Copy and Paste it into Mail

The resulting email can still be edited. Both the source document and the mail message must be in Rich Text Format for this to work.

Change the Notes font in iOS 4.2
~MacOSXHints
For a while, it’s bothered people that you couldn’t change the fonts in the Notes app in iOS. Now you can, if you have iOS 4.2.

Simply go to Settings app » Notes » Font. Choices are Chalkboard, Helvetica and the default Marker Felt.

Using QuickTime 10 as a mirror
~MacOSXHints
Here’s how to use your iSight camera as a *full-screen* mirror.

If you select the File » New Movie Recording menu item in Quicktime 10, you get a window of your iSight camera that can be made full screen. Photo Booth has always been constrained to a small window.

Get Rid of Duplicate Songs in iTunes
~Mac Hints & Tips
In iTunes, it’s very easy to end up with duplicate songs. There are many ways this happens, but recently many people are ending up with duplicate songs as they upgrade their old iTunes Store purchases for new iTunes Plus tracks. There are several ways to permanently remove duplicate songs from iTunes. This will save hard drive space, and can make it easier to browse your iTunes library.

It’s worth noting that some tracks appearing to be duplicates may actually be different songs; for example, a “live” version versus a “studio” version. Be careful not to delete these. Otherwise, it’s very easy to remove duplicate items in iTunes with built-in management tools. Apple has a knowledge base article about this:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1417.

Some people use third party apps or AppleScripts to weed out duplicate tracks. Take a look at Tidy Up! (http://www.hyperbolicsoftware.com/TidyUp.html) and Dupin (http://dougscripts. com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php).

Also, here’s a virtually unknown keyboard short cut: in iTunes, hold down the Option key and click “File.” This will change the menu entry to “Show Exact Duplicates.” Show duplicates only displays tracks with identical titles, but selecting “exact” will only display tracks where ALL fields are identical.

iTunes 10 Album Art controller always on top

~MacOSXHints

I love the new feature of iTunes 10 to use album art as a mini-player (if you click on the album art preview in the bottom left, the album art that pops up now has hover controls to change tracks); but what if you want this to always be visible when working in other applications?

In iTunes, go to Preferences » Advanced and check the box ‘Keep movie window on top of all other windows.’ Now the album art controller will always be visible. I like to make it super small and tuck it into a corner. Works great!

Another way to make a new tab in Safari

~MacOSXHints

I accidentally stumbled on this one to- day when I mis-clicked a tab in Safari 5.

Double-clicking the empty space in the Tab Bar just to the right of an open tab in Safari will create and open a new tab. Not sure how new this is, but I can’t believe I have never thought to try this method before!

This is an addition to the other well-known ways of opening new tabs:

Command + T.

Control + Click (or Right Clicking) the empty space to the right of your tab(s) and selecting ‘New Tab.’

Clicking the small ‘+’ sign on the far right of the Tab Bar.

Control + Click (or Right Clicking) a URL, and selecting the ‘Open in New Tab’ option.

Command + Click a URL.

I’m sure there are probably a couple more ways to do this, but my most common are by far the first and last methods.

Keyboard shortcuts for Safari Reader

~MacOSXHints

Safari Reader is a new feature with Safari 5. There are several keyboard shortcuts you can use to bring up, navigate and close Reader.

When you see the Reader icon in the address bar, you can use the following keyboard shortcuts:

Command+Shift+R to enter Reader mode

Arrow keys up and down to navigate page

Spacebar or Page Down to page forward

Shift+Spacebar or Page Up to page back

Home (or Command+Up arrow) to go to the top of the page

End (or Command+Down arrow) to go to the end

Escape to dismiss Reader

Making ZIP Files (Compressed Files) in One Click

~ Scott Kelby’s Mac OS X Tiger Killer Tips

One of my favorite Mac OS X features is the ability to create ZIP compressed files from within the OS (basically, this shrinks the file size, ideal for files you’re going to email — smaller file sizes mean faster file transfers).

To create a compressed file, either Control/click on the file and choose “Create Archive” (which is Apple-speak for “make a compressed ZIP file”). Or you can click on a file, then go to the Action menu (the button that looks like a gear up in the Finder window’s toolbar), and choose “Create Archive” from there. Either way, it quickly creates a new file, with the file extension “.zip.” By the way, if someone sends you a ZIP file, don’t sweat it — just double-click it and Tiger will automatically decompress it.

Manage apps from the Application Switcher
~MacOSXHints
Press Command-Tab to bring up OS X’s application switcher. Keep holding down the Command key. Press Tab to cycle forward through open applications, the tilde (~) key (just above Tab) to cycle backward, the arrow keys to move back and forth, or the mouse to point and choose an app. When you release the Command key, whichever application’s icon was selected is made active.

Press Command-Tab to bring up OS X’s application switcher. Keep holding down the Command key. Press Tab to cycle forward through open applications, the tilde (~) key (just above Tab) to cycle backward, the arrow keys to move back and forth, or the mouse to point and choose an app. When you release the Command key, whichever application’s icon was selected is made active.
However, without leaving the application switcher, you can quit or hide/unhide applications. Select the icon of the program you want to quit or hide, and press ‘Q’ to quit and ‘H’ to hide. Select the program you want to go to (for me, usually just the one I started in), and release the command key. This method also works for unhiding apps, just press ‘H’ again.
This is a great way to quit and hide applications without changing focus, and you can do it all with the keyboard. I’ve found it much faster than using the dock or switching, quitting, switching back.
Also, (I believe this has been noted here before) hold down option before dismissing the switcher and the selected application will come to focus and open the most recently minimized window, or, if there are no minimized windows, make a new one.

Add screen grabs to Stickies
~MacOSXHints
This might already be well-known but I’ve never spotted it before. If you right-click a Stickies note, there’s an option for Capture Selection from Screen. This effectively brings-up the screengrab tool and you can click and drag to not only capture part of the screen, but also automatically insert it into the note. If you use Stickies for research and note-making purposes, like I do, this is a superb and fuss-free way to grab a photograph or diagram from a web page, or even a document you’re reading (or a block of text if you can’t be bothered to cut and paste).

A few free fonts from iMovie ‘09
~MacOSXHintsI was changing some preferences in iMovie ‘09 when I noticed there’s a cool font in the last tab – Coolvetica.

I was sure I don’t have it installed on my system, so I dug in the application itself and there it was, together with some other nice fonts, like Duality or Strenuous, which I might use later for some titling in FCP – that’s what those fonts were used for.

Right-or control-click the iMovie icon in Applications folder, and select Show Package Contents. Then go to Contents/Resources/Fonts, and double-click and install those you like.

I searched Hints but only found a story about one font in Aperture. People in the comments there are discussing the legality of extracting fonts from Trial software, but iMovie is on every new Mac.

System Preferences Sorting
~Mac Hints & Tips
By default, the System Preferences are grouped into categories. If you would prefer to see it alphabetically, go to the View menu and choose “Organize Alphabetically.”

Easy quitting of multitasking apps in iOS 4
~MacOSXHints
Apple made it quite easy and intuitive to quit out of apps in iOS 4; however I have not seen this method mentioned anywhere. Double tap the Home button to bring up the multitasking applications view, then tap and hold on an app (as if you were arranging your home screen). A small red circle will appear on each app; tap one to close that app. And, of course, you can still swipe through the list to see more.

Quick Look and images: zoom in and out
~MacOSXHints
If you’re using Quick Look on an image, you’ll appreciate the following trick for zooming.

Once you’ve opened the Quick Look window on a JPEG or other image file, simply press Option and the pointer will change to a magnifying glass with a plus sign in the middle. Click somewhere on the image to zoom in.

Drag the cursor around to move around, or use the scroll wheel (2 fingers on trackpad) to move around. Option-Shift-click to zoom back out.

Sharing
~Mac Hints & Tips
Remember how in Tiger you only had a “Drop Box” to share your files? Unless you fiddled with “sharepoints.” Now in Leopard, you can share any folder and alter the permissions.

Jump into System Preferences > Sharing. Click on “File Sharing.” (You may have to turn File Sharing on first). Add or remove Shared Folders, then specify the Users and their rights! Click on “Options” to specify even more cool features, like sharing with AFP, or FTP, or SMB (Windows)!

Measuring screen elements in pixels
~MacOSXHints
Measuring elements on the screen quickly and easily can be really important for all sorts of tasks. I often use the excellent Free Ruler app for this but don’t always want to waste time opening it up.

Measuring elements on the screen quickly and easily can be really important for all sorts of tasks. I often use the excellent Free Ruler app for this but don’t always want to waste time opening it up.
For super-quick measurements just use the built-in screen capture command (Cmd-Shift-4) to drag and measure the element you’re interested in instead. Click and drag to measure and to avoid taking a screenshot simply press the Escape key before releasing the mouse button.

Refresh a widget in Dashboard
~MacOSXHints
To refresh a widget in the Dashboard, open the Dashboard, select a widget, and press Command-R. There is a slick little animation, and the widget will refresh.

10.6: Snow Leopard update remaps mouse click
~MacOSXHints
The latest Snow Leopard update (10.6.4) remapped the right mouse key to Application Switcher for the Apple USB Mouse when I applied it. If you are surprised at having the large dock style transparent window suddenly popping up in the middle of your screen, simply go into System Preferences » Mouse and remap the right mouse button back to the Secondary Button (which was the default).

This will also restore the mouse’s right-click functionality within your various applications.

Talk To AppleCare Without Waiting on Hold!
~Terry White, MacGroup
When it comes to calling tech support one of the biggest frustrations for most people is waiting on hold! People therefore go out of their way NOT to call support. They look for any other means of getting an answer first and only call support as a last resort. What if you didn’t have to wait on hold? Better yet, what if they called you at a time that was convenient for you?

Last week I had to call AppleCare. It had been so long since I called AppleCare that I had forgotten the number and since I was already on my computer at the time, I just went to support.apple.com to look the number up. I actually found something better than the phone number. I clicked the Speak to an Expert link in the lower left corner of the page. This page walked me through setting up a support call and if it’s during a busy time for AppleCare, you can have them call you back at a time that works best for you! IT WORKS! I set up a time and they guarantee to call you back within a 15 minute window of your time slot. So for example, if you setup 3:30 PM, they will call you back between 3:30 and 3:45 PM. Sure enough, my phone rang pretty much right at the time I scheduled. Also since you enter details about the problem you’re wanting help on when you setup the call, they can just read it right then and there without you have to start from scratch explaining the issue.

I actually didn’t get my issue resolved during that first call, so I had to talk with them again and this time since it was in the evening an option showed up to have them call me immediately. As soon as I entered my phone number and hit submit, the phone started ringing! Whoa! Now that’s service!

So the next time you need to talk with AppleCare, do it when it works best for you with a prompt call when you want the call to happen! Just head over to www.apple.com/support/expert/

Hard Drive Failure: The Warning Signs
~Mac Hints & Tips

If you have not had a hard drive die on you yet, just wait. Eventually, when you least expect it and can least afford the data loss, your computer will turn on you and give you some variation of the Dead Mac. Remember backups! Having a problem with your computer all becomes a lot less important if you take regular backups, either to CDs, DVDs, other hard drives on the machine, networks or external, even Google or Yahoo, email etc. We currently use and suggest Prosoft Engineering Data Backup 3 that, if you don’t use Time Machine, is great for keeping everything on your computer backed up.

The key is to detect the imminent failure of your drives before they give out on you and data is lost. Let’s look at some common warning signs of impending hard drive failure:

• Frequent but irregular crashes, especially while booting up
• Frequent and cryptic error messages while performing typical activities like moving files
• Folder and file names that have been scrambled and changed
• Disappearing files and folders
• Really long wait times to access folders and files
• Hard disk is silent for a long period after you request data by opening a file or folder
• Garbled output from open files or printing
• Hard drive grinds away constantly because of noisy bearings

Sound can be an excellent indicator of disk trouble. Sometimes it is your only indicator. If you previously didn’t hear a peep from your hard drive, but now you do, don’t wait for the drive to die. Check it out. You spend many hours unconsciously listening to your hard drive. You will notice if it suddenly sounds different. If it seems much louder than usual or makes occasional clicks or grinding sounds, check it as soon as possible and be prepared to backup your data and replace the drive.