Last fall when Apple released its iCloud service, of course, I was an early adopter. After some initial issues in which Apple seems to have worked out, I have found iCloud to be essential in maintaining my personal data and can’t wait for it to get even better. Using Gmail, I have always been able to sync email, contacts and calendar events between my Apple devices, but not without some nagging issues. Fortunately, iCloud has proven to be flawless in keeping my iPhone, iPad and multiple Mac computers in perfect harmony. Update a contact, add a calendar event, or download an app from any device and iCloud automatically updates all my devices. Syncing information across all my devices would be great by itself, but add to that integration with iTunes (in the cloud) and it becomes a truly remarkable product. If you are not currently using iCloud, I strongly recommend setting it up on all your devices. Here’s how to get started and remember that an iCloud account is Free! Continue reading
Pandora – Free Internet Music, Even Better on the Mac
As a Mac user, you undoubtedly already know that the Mac platform is built for entertainment; whether it’s music, videos, movies, or photos. However, you may not be aware of Pandora, a free internet based music streaming service that integrates perfectly with the Mac. One interesting feature of Pandora is that it seems to truly understand what you like now, while introducing you to similar artists; taking your enjoyment to an even higher level with greater variety. That is, Pandora doesn’t just play what’s already in your iTunes collection and seldom will it play an artist completely opposite that of your taste in music. Even at the free level, Pandora is a terrific, high-quality streaming service and will serve most of your needs. For an annual subscription of $36, you can upgrade to Pandora One which removes browser ads, delivers even higher quality music and several other key benefits.
If you are not yet familiar with Pandora, go to www.pandora.com and setup (register) a free account. While logged in to pandora, setup a few favorite stations which is easily done by entering your favorite artists or genre in the “new station” box. You can certainly use Pandora directly from your browser but this requires that you keep the page open and is certainly not the most convenient way to experience Pandora. While Pandora is available via any browser on both Mac and Windows, 3rd-party apps for the Mac menubar and desktop are available that fully extend the Pandora service well beyond the typical browser experience.
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MacBook Air – The Most Incredible Laptop Ever!
Last month saw a new addition to our family. That’s right, I am now the proud owner of a brand new shiny 13″ Macbook Air. While necessity certainly wasn’t my motivation for making this purchase, I am certainly thrilled to own such a fascinating device. A month later now, I am still in complete disbelief of the incredible engineering and performance of this laptop.
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Steve Jobs – A Legacy Not Soon Forgotten
There is no doubt that October 5, 2011, came way too soon. I can’t help but wish that the incredible leader and technology genius that was Steve Jobs could have been with us for at least another couple of decades. I suspect that most people will remember Steve Jobs as the guy from Apple who made possible all the really neat products that we have come to love for bettering our lives. Some may recall that he was the guy who was fired from the technology company he co-founded, only to return to save what was described to be a company in ruins. The really insightful follower will regard Steve as a truly brilliant thinker and visionary who helped revolutionize our own mobility as no longer is the power of information confined to the desktop or even our laptop computer. Regardless of how we remember him, Steve Jobs certainly deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the many technological advances fulfilled through his leadership.
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Fantastical – Easiest & Best Calendar App for Mac!
Since the primary focus of my blog is making you more productive on your Mac, it only makes sense to introduce the best menubar calendar app I have ever used. It’s called Fantastical and it has certainly made me more efficient at keeping my calendar up-to-date. Yes, it’s a must-have app that sits in the menubar thus it won’t get in the way, but can easily be called up with your mouse or configurable hot key. If being efficient and maintaining your calendar are both important to you, then read on… Continue reading
Meet Alfred – You Will Be Way More Productive On Your Mac
After reading this post, you will know how to be way more productive on your Mac! Might sound like a rather bold statement, but I assure you it will be true. A few years ago I came across a program that wanted to help me launch applications and find files using the keyboard instead of a mouse. I immediately thought this had to be a terrible joke and could only be a step backwards. However, I quickly discovered that it was very much for real and deemed the concept a must for any Mac user. There are numerous “application launchers” but I have found Alfred the one to use for its simplicity, appearance and many great features. Continue reading
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Evernote Lets You Remember Everything
I will freely admit that I have never had a very good memory. Fortunately, since I started using Evernote several years ago, it’s no longer an issue. Evernote is an incredible free service that essentially lets you capture anything and everything, then lets you find it in an instant. But Evernote is much more than just a note-taking application. Sure, it can do great things with text but Evernote also allows you to capture photos, clip webpages, and store files while organizing your “stuff” in notebooks while applying tags so that you can quickly find everything when you need it.
So what exactly can you do with Evernote? The answer is almost endless but just a few everyday ideas to make life easier would include: Continue reading
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1Password – Password Manager for Mac
If ever there was an application that should be a must install for any Mac computer or iOS mobile device, it would have to be 1Password from Agilebits. In addition to being an excellent password manager and form filler, 1Password allows you to safely store software licensing, secure notes, and sensitive credit card or other personal “wallet” information. With its browser extensions, 1Password integrates seamlessly with your favorite browser allowing you to securely login to all of your personal accounts. Remember my recent blog on Dropbox, well 1Password also gives you the option to sync your protected data across multiple computers and iOS devices using your trusted dropbox account; making your data available regardless of your location.
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Dropbox – Save, Sync, Share and Access Your Files
Have you ever emailed yourself a file so that you can work on it from another location? Do you carry around a flash drive as means for always having your important data with you? How about the time your hard drive crashed and you suddenly realized that it had been months since you made a backup, assuming you have a backup at all.
Several years ago I stumbled across a truly incredible application called Dropbox that completely resolves all of these situations and more. So what exactly is dropbox? It’s a simple way to keep all of your data with you at all times, and in sync, no matter where you find yourself.
But actually Dropbox is quite a bit more and allows you to: Continue reading
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Roars
As promised, Apple released their latest operating system, OS X 10.7 aka Lion, and it’s quite an upgrade. Right away, the Lion installation process was a breeze and true to Apple form, everything seems to work just fine.
Though I have yet to discover all of the 250 new features, it didn’t take long to appreciate the noticeable enhancements to such core apps as Mail, iCal and Address book. If Apple had made no other improvements, these apps alone would have been worth the $29 cost to upgrade. While these apps have been mostly left behind in past upgrades, they now have the look and feel of their iOS equivalents which should delight iPhone and iPad users immediately.
I have been very please with how quickly the party party developers have responded to the release of Lion. Sure apple seeds the developers sooner than the rest of us but that doesn’t always mean that things work so well when a new o/s is first release. Amazingly there were very few problems/
I guess its only fair that I mention the one aspect that I can’t quite get used to and that is the monochrome icons. As we experienced with iTunes 10, the new Finder in Lion is chock full of monochrome icons and so far no way to change them back to the colorized ones that seemed too good to ever change. I am sure a gifted programmer will resolve this issue quickly as they did with iTunes 10. I suppose its the new modern look but, like many others, I still prefer the colored icons. Continue reading
