To view all posts in this series, please visit the iOS Wallpaper page.
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Lion Recovery Disk Assistant
This new utility from Apple streamlines the process of creating a bootable installer and repair partition on an external hard drive. For more information, visit the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant page.
Posted in Apple, Mac OS X Leave a comment
Apple Mail in Lion: Include related messages in Conversations
The Mail program in Lion (Mac OS X v. 10.7) has a handy new “Conversation” view which shows messages in one long view, with extraneous quotations stripped out. The resulting appearance is a lot like a web-based forum.
By default, Mail only shows messages that are in the currently selected mailbox. (For example, your Inbox or Sent box, etc.) Luckily this can be changed:
- Go to the Mail menu
- Click on Preferences…
- Click on Viewing
- Under the View conversations header, check the box labeled Include related conversations
Now all messages will be included even if they are in a different mailbox, similar to Gmail or Sparrow
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Mac OS X Lion tip: Log into other users in the background with Screen Sharing
In Mac OS X v. 10.7 (Lion) you can log into other users, with a full GUI, via Screen Sharing without disturbing the current user.
- Enable Screen Sharing and set a VNC password.
- Take note of your computer’s IP address.
- Fire up a VNC client on another machine.
- Connect to your computer’s IP address along with the password you set earlier.
- You will see the Mac OS X login screen that appears when you first start the computer. If you log into the currently active user you will be controlling the computer’s screen. If you select a different user, you will be logged into that user’s desktop in the background. It will not affect what what is seen on the physical computer screen.
A few interesting uses include:
- Connect fom an iPad using an app such as Screens for a full desktop environment.
- Connect from an older Mac or PC to run software that requires a current Mac OS version.
- Remotely perform administration tasks that require a GUI without affecting the end user.
On the convergence of iOS and Mac OS X
With Lion and iLife ’11 it appears that there are two mobile interfaces (iPod/iPhone vs. iPad) and two desktop interfaces (full screen vs. windowed.) But the iPad UI and the full-screen mode for Mac OS X apps appear virtually the same. Why keep them separate? In the longrun, they won’t be. Instead of two systems with two UI modes each, there will be one system with three UI modes.
As mobile hardware gets more and more powerful, “universal” apps will run on iPhone, iPod, iPad, or Mac. On the iPhone and iPod an app may run with a very minimal full-screen interface. On the iPad, the interface will be bigger and more capable, but still only available in full-screen mode. But on a full-fledged computer, you will have a choice of running that app in a full-screen iPad-like mode or windowed mode.
Once it becomes the norm for apps to offer these different interfaces, we’ll see the lines between mobile and desktop blur even further. If you have a full set of applications and OS that adapts to anything from a 3.5″ iPhone screen up to a 27″ iMac screen, the only real difference between mobile and desktop will be the size of the screen, and whether a keyboard and mouse are attached.
Posted in Uncategorized 1 Comment
iPhone, iPod & iPad Wallpaper part 5
Welcome to the fifth installment in my series of wallpapers for iPhone, iPod and iPad. To view all posts in this series, please visit the iOS Wallpaper page.
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
iPhone, iPod & iPad Wallpaper part 4
Welcome to the fourth installment in my series of wallpapers for iPhone, iPod and iPad. To view all posts in this series, please visit the iOS Wallpaper page.
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
iPhone 4, 3GS tip: Tap-to-focus also sets exposure
Tap-to-focus is a handy feature on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. But did you know that exposure may also be affected by where you touch the image?
Wherever you tap the on-screen preview (before taking a shot), your iPhone will assume that that is your subject. It will adjust exposure to make sure that the subject is not too bright or dark. It may not be noticeable in most cases but if you have an especially light or dark subject the effect can be dramatic.
In the first photo I tapped on the camera, which made the image very bright. This result might be helpful if you are actually trying to show some small detail on the camera, but it made the photo too bright for my taste.
In the second photo, I tapped on the tabletop near the camera. The focus remains about the same, but my iPhone adjusted the exposure to make sure the table top is not blown out. In doing so it made the overall photo darker. The subject may be a bit on the dark side, but it looks a lot more natural this way.
Posted in Apple, iOS, iPhone, Uncategorized Leave a comment
iPhone, iPod & iPad Wallpaper part 3
Welcome to the third installment in my series of wallpapers for iPhone, iPod and iPad. To view all posts in this series, please visit the iOS Wallpaper page.
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
 iPhone & iPod | iPad |
Firefox tip: Send mailto links to Google Apps webmail
Firefox lets you choose Gmail as your email service, but it doesn't work if you're using Google Apps on your own domain name. Here's how you can configure Firefox to send mailto: links directly to your Google Apps web email interface:
- In Firefox, open a new window (File menu, then New Window)
- In the address field, type about:config and press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard.
- You'll be warned that this "might void your warranty." Click the I'll be careful, I promise! button.
- You'll be presented with an intimidating list of settings. Ignore them and just type the word "register" into the Filter field.
- All you should see now is a line that says gecko.handlerService.allowRegisterFromDifferentHost. Assuming the rightmost Value column reads false (which it does by default) double-click it. The whole line should become bold and the Value column should say true instead. Keep this window open for the final step (minimize it or move it out of the way.)
- In the box below, delete YOUR_DOMAIN_HERE and type the name of the domain you have registered with Google Apps.
- Highlight all the text in the box below and Copy it.
- Open a new window in Firefox and Paste into the address bar.
- Press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard.
- A bar will appear at the top of the window, asking you to confirm that you want to add Google Apps as an application for mailto links. Go ahead and click the Add Application button.
- Open the Firefox settings window: On a Mac, go to the Firefox menu, then Preferences. On Windows, click the Tools menu, then Options.
- Click the Applications tab.
- In the Content Type column, locate the entry called mailto.
- Click the menu next to it and select Use Google Apps, then close the window.
- Go back to the Firefox window where you have the about:config page open.
- Double-click the line that says gecko.handlerService.allowRegisterFromDifferentHost and make sure its Value switches back to False. Close the window when finished.
You're all set! Now you should be able to click on email links in web pages and have them open a new message in your Google Apps email.