Mac users who are into graphics and design know the importance of pixels. Left to right, up to down, your Mac’s screen is measured in pixels. Designs are often measured in pixels. Macs are the preferred choice among discriminating designers, hence a number of ways to measure pixels on the Mac’s screen. Rule The … Read More »
Archives for September 2011
Share Your Mac’s Printer With iPhone Or iPad
For all of how Apple seems to understand the user’s needs, the company still makes it a pain to print from iPhone or iPad to a printer connected to your Mac (I’m not forking over $100 for yet another printer, just to print from my phone). Enter Printopia. Print From iPhone or iPad To … Read More »
The Fun Of Measuring Pixels On A Mac
Your Mac’s screen is measured in pixels; top to bottom, left to right. Pixels themselves vary a bit in size, but most Mac onscreen measurements are done in pixels. How do you measure pixels? Start with a PixelStick. In App Measuring vs. All App Measuring Mac graphics apps usually come with their own screen … Read More »
Print Your Own Business Cards On A Mac
Fans of James Garner as Rockford may remember how many different business cards he carried around. Instead of heading to the print shop or buying cards online, your Mac is the place to design and print business cards. Design, Print, Give Away Through the years I’ve used three or four different Mac business card … Read More »
When Your Mac Growls, Listen Carefully To The Message
Does your Mac talk back to you? Sure. There are alerts and pop ups from time to time. Incoming email has a distinct sound. Mostly the Mac is a rather quiet, unassuming beast devoid of much interaction with the users. The Mac does what we tell it to do. But there are apps that … Read More »
How To Paint Flames On Your Mac
Too many years ago, I toiled away in obscurity, creating graphics for newspaper ads, magazines, and brochures, using tools from some prehistoric era. Today, I can create any type of image effect in seconds, including painting flames. Paint Brushes On Fire Mac paint apps come and go. There isn’t much you can’t do with … Read More »
8 Ways To Add More Complexity To Mouse Or Trackpad
Life is complicated. If it’s not the economy, it’s the government. If it’s not the boss, it’s relatives. How does Apple help us reduce the complexity of personal computing? By complicating our lives with a trackpad instead of a mouse, or a mouse that does touch like a trackpad. Where is the simple life … Read More »
Paranoid? How To Kill Cookies On Your Mac
It’s been said that only the paranoid survive. Do you need to be a little paranoid about cookies? To paraphrase, if everyone is out to track you, paranoia is the right attitude to have. And everyone is out to track you when you’re online. Manage Cookies? Or, Kill Cookies? For Mac users, cookies are … Read More »
How To Use Google Maps In A Mac App
It doesn’t take much effort to waste plenty of time in Google Maps. It’s one thing to use Google Maps to map out a destination, but just playing around is more fun. For that, you need a Mac app that plays around with Google Maps. Think of an App with a Map That’s what … Read More »
How to Enhance your Mac’s Camera
Most Macs have a built-in camera, perfect for video calls with FaceTime, iChat, and Skype. The only problem with the camera Apple provides is the video quality. It’s an inexpensive camera with nominal low light capability. One of my favorite enhancements is iGlasses, an add on app that brings special effects, color adjustments, and … Read More »
How to Moom App Windows on your Mac’s Screen
As much as I love a Mac with a big screen, I still end up shuffling app windows all over the place. What I’ve wanted for a long time is a one click app that puts everything in place. Or, a way to make sure I know where apps put their windows. Moom To … Read More »
The Most Fun You Can Have With A Mac And A Train
My Mac is anything but loaded with games, but I have a few. One of them takes me back to childhood. It’s a train game. Yes, there were trains when I was a kid. I loved Lionel trains and tracks that wandered around the house. Relive Those Childhood Trains Rail Maze is a Mac … Read More »
Got Email? Is There A Mail Alternative?
How many ways can a Mac handle email? Years ago, Eudora was all the rage. Then Microsoft stepped up with Entourage. When Microsoft went into their typical languish mode, I moved everything to Apple’s fledgling Mail app. Are there better alternatives? I’m trying GyazMail on a few IMAP accounts. It’s worth a look. Missing … Read More »
How Many Ways Can You Tweet On A Mac?
Simply for the sake of satisfying a curiosity itch, I did a search on the Mac App Store for Twitter. One word. Why? To see how many Mac apps were suitable for tweeting or had some aspect or connection to Twitter. The results were astounding. Much Ado About Tweet Nothings As you would expect, … Read More »
How a Mac can Organize Music, TV Shows, Movies, Books
There’s a reason that Apple uses a bookshelf metaphor for iBooks. Shelves are a time honored way of organizing our media. From books to CDs and DVDs, the shelf is where everything goes. It’s where we go to place and organize our media collections. What’s needed is a Mac app for that. Collections for … Read More »
Peek-a-Boo! What’s Under Your Mac’s Hood?
There are multiple ways to tinker with your Mac. For some Mac users, the nitty gritty of Terminal is like a second home. For others, well, we just want to see what’s going on, but not actually take part in the action. Your Mac has an app for that in Activity Monitor. Or, use … Read More »
How to Backup Apps on a Mac
Our Macs are backed up everywhere. Online, Mac to Mac, Mac to MacBook, multiple hard disk drives. What we don’t bother to backup are Mac apps. Why? My backup philosophy has always been that a cloned Mac already has the apps installed. So, why bother? Not every Mac user shares my simple sentiment. Appbox … Read More »
Dropbox on your Mac? Here’s what it needs
Dropbox is a great invention for Mac users. Think of it as a synchronized folder on your Mac. It syncs files to a server in the cloud. That syncs those same files on other Macs or PCs. Dropbox basic is free. Many Mac apps use Dropbox to sync files between Macs (1Password is one … Read More »
The Coolest Mac 3D Screensaver Ever
My Mac is not well endowed. With superfluous eye candy apps. There just are not many Mac screensavers that I cherish. Most screensavers feature some kind of onscreen animation and that becomes annoying when I’m working on Mac #2 and the screensaver pops up on Mac #1. This screensaver app is different. It’s mesmerizing … Read More »
Yet Another Free Way To Delete Apps On A Mac
There has never been a time when my Mac had so many apps. Hundreds of apps reside in the Applications folder? Why? App reviews and the Mac App Store. Not all apps are created equal so there needs to be yet another app that helps to delete apps and all the files they leave … Read More »
How Fast Is Your Mac? How To Find Out
How fast is your Mac? That probably depends on what you mean by fast. Is it fast at converting a movie file? Fast at ripping a CD to iTunes? Does it render web pages quickly? Or, does it download files and movies from the internet fast? How do you know if your Mac’s graphics … Read More »