• November 2012

     

    Printing Mailing Labels

    Apple’s Address Book/Contacts makes printing mailing labels so easy. You first need to create a Group of only the people you want to print labels for.

    Here’s are three great videos from The Virtual Classroom that will show you how easy it is to create a group and print your labels.

    The steps are different, depending on the version of the OS you’re using (Mountain Lion, Lion or Snow Leopard), so choose the video for your situation.

    Printing Mailing Labels with Snow Leopard
    Printing Mailing Labels with Lion
    Printing Mailing Labels with Mountain Lion

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Groups in Contacts

    iOS6 changes how you see your Groups in you Contacts. When you tap Groups, it now shows a list of all of your Groups. But if you tap on one, all it does is remove the check mark next to it.

    So how do you see who’s in a group?

    1. Tap Groups and they will all be checked
    2. Tap All Contacts and it will uncheck every group.
    3. Then tap the Group you want to see
    4. Tap Done
    5. Now it shows you only the people in that Group

    To see All Contacts again:

    1. Tap Groups
    2. Tap All Contacts
    3. Tap Done

    ————-

    Adjusting the Brightness

    Does your computer screen seem dim? Does the screen get dark if you don’t touch it for a while?

    One way to brighten the screen is by pressing the key on your keyboard above the number 2 with the picture of the sun on it.

    To change the setting that automatically dims the screen:

    1. Under the Apple menu, choose System Preferences

    2. Click on Energy Saver. It looks like a light bulb

    3. Adjust the time settings for the Display Sleep

    4. Remove the check mark next to Automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Picture Frame

    Family gatherings are a great time to share photos. And it’s fun to be able to have your photos displayed in the background.

    When your iPad is asleep and locked you can still view Photos using the Picture Frame mode. It’s different than the Slide Show mode when you are in your Photos.

    To set your preferences for Picture Frame:

    1. Click Settings

    2. Click Picture Frame

    3. Choose your Transition

    4. Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order

    5. Choose which photos and albums to show

    6. Sit back and enjoy.

    —————-

    Finding and Searching on the Mac

    Every program on the Mac has a Search tool. Usually it’s a rounded rectangular box with a mini magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen. (If you don’t see it, try dragging your window wider to reveal it.)

    Just type what you’re looking for in this box to save you time and aggravation.

    In Mail, when you Search, you can limit where Mail looks and what it looks for by clicking on one of the choices across the top: All Mailboxes or just the one selected, whether the text is in the Entire Message, From, To or part of the Subject of the email.

    To find a folder or document saved on your Mac, you can use click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner to open up Spotlight, which gives you a list of all items.

    A second way to Find documents is to choose the Find command under the File menu in the Finder. Type in what you’re looking for and a list will appear. Click once on the item and at the bottom of the window, you’ll see the path listed, so you know where to find the item.

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Finding and Searching on the iPhone and iPad

    Are you looking for a person’s phone number? While you might think it’s pretty easy to click on your Contacts and scroll to that person’s name, there is a much faster way.

    Slide to the screen to the left of the first Home screen to reveal the built-in Spotlight program.

    Begin typing the person’s name.

    Not only will their name appear next to the icon of the Contacts, but you’ll also see all emails related to that person, any iCal appointments, even text messages.

    Click on any entry and you’re there.

    —————-

    Back Up Your Contacts/Address Book

    Even if you use Time Machine to backup your computer, it’s a great idea to have a separate backup of just your Address Book, just in case.

    You can keep the file on your hard drive or also copy it to a flash drive or your external hard drive. Better save than sorry!

    Here’s a free video lesson that will teach you how to back up your Contacts!

    And, remember, deleting a person from your Contacts on your iPhone or iPad will also remove them from your Contacts on your Mac!

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Signatures in Email

    By default, every email you send says “Sent from my iPhone or iPad.” You can remove this and even add your own signature. And, with iOS6, you can now have a different signature for each of your email accounts.

    1. From the Home screen, click on Settings

    2. Scroll down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars

    3. Scroll all the way down to Signature

    4. Choose All Accounts if you want to use the same signature for all of your email accounts

    5. Click Per Account if you want to create unique signatures for each email account

    6. Delete the existing text and type what you’d like it to say

    7. There is no need to Save it, just tap back to Mail and you’ll see that, next to Signature, it now shows either the text you typed or the number of how many email accounts you have

    ———–

     
  • January 2012

     

    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!

    —————-

    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.

    ————-

    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.

    ————-

    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

    ————-

    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

     
  • November 2011

     

    Have a Little Google Fun

    The Google search engine has quite a few hidden secrets, called Easter Eggs. To get the most fun out of them, go to www.google.com and type in the suggested search words. Then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button to activate the Easter Egg.

    If you don’t see the I’m Feeling Lucky button, click on the gear in the upper right corner, click Search Settings, then, under Google Instant, choose Do Not Use Google Instant, then scroll down to Save Preferences in the bottom right corner.

    1. Google Tilt: Search the term “askew” and you’ll get more than just the definition…

    2. Google Gravity: Search “Google gravity” and then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Whoa!

    3. Google Sphere: Search “Google sphere” then click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Yeah.

    4. Barrel Roll: Search “do a barrel roll” and hold onto your stomach!

    5. Google Rainbow: Search “Google rainbow” and then click I’m Feeling Lucky. Can you see the rainbow?

    6. Ask Google “where is Chuck Norris?” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button.

    7. Pig Latin Google: For some Pig Latin fun, Google “ooglegay igpay atinlay”

    8. Google Pacman: View the awesome Google Pacman Doodle by searching “Google Pacman” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Use your arrows to play a real game!

    9. Google Guitar: Search “Google guitar” and click I’m Feeling Lucky. Strum away with the musical Google Doodle to honor Les Paul’s 96th birthday.

    10. Google Pirate: Arrr! Search “Google pirate” and click I’m Feeling Lucky. (This one made me giggle.)

    11. Google Hacker: Google gets hacked! Type in “Google hacker” and then click I’m feeling lucky.

    12. Google Loco: Search “Google loco” and uh, it gets a little crazy. (Try searching something now!)

    13. Weenie Google: Search “weenie Google,” click the I’m Feeling Lucky button, and watch it shrink away!

    14. Epic Google: Or, search “epic Google,” click the I’m Feeling Lucky button, and see what you get.

    15. Gothic Google: Feeling a bit dark? Search “Google gothic” and click the I’m Feeling Lucky button.

    16. Google Flight Simulator: Enjoy the Flight Simulator when you go to Google Earth, click on Tools > Enter Flight Simulator and you’re off!

    17. Ask Google “what is the loneliest number?”

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    This month’s apps are all about pure, simple, no experience necessary FUN!

    MyPaint Free requires no artistic talent. Just pick a color, adjust the thickness of the brush and drag your finger on the blank page to create your very own masterpiece.

    Taiko brings a set of Japanese Taiko drums to your iPad. The harder you hit the drums, the louder the sound. Swirl your finger for faster or slower rolls. For one or two drummers!

    Songify turns speech into music, automatically. Speak into your device, choose a rhythm, then sit back and laugh.

    Note: Even if an app is only available for the iPhone, you can still install it on the iPad and even enlarge it to full screen!

    ——————–

    How to Back Up Your Address Book

    Even if you use Time Machine to backup your computer, it’s a great idea to have a separate backup of just your Address Book that you can save onto a flashdrive, just in case.

    Here’s a free video lesson that will teach you how to do this!

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Emailing More Than One Photo

    ipad photosIt’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 send more than one photo at a time:

    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

    ——–

    Private Browsing with Safari

    Are you doing a lot of online shopping for the holidays and don’t want your family members to see what you’ve been buying?

    You can set Safari to NOT include your visited websites in the History.

    From the Safari menu, choose Private Browsing

    Done. No more snooping or spoiled surprises.

     

    iPad Tip of the Week

    Typing an Apostrophe

    How often do you need to type an apostrophe. It’s such a pain to press the ?123 key to switch to the punctuation keyboard.

    Here’s an easy trick:

    Press and hold on the ,! key and the apostrophe key will appear. Just slide your finger on it to use it.

    ATTENTION iPOD NANO USERS

    Some 1st Generation iPod Nanos have Faulty Batteries

    Apple is recalling a series of 1st generation iPod Nanos and replacing them, free of charge. The affected products were sold between September 2005 and December 2006 and have the risk of overheating and possibly even catching on fire.

     

    Click here to determine if your iPod is one of the affected units and for all of the details on replacement.

    —————-

    Changing What Appears When You Re-Open a program

    Lion’s Resume feature automatically re-opens all of the windows you were working in when you Quit the program. This can be a handy, time-saving feature for some people, and an annoyance for others.

    To turn off the Resume feature in only certain programs, hold down the Option key when Quitting and the choice will say “Quit and Close All Windows”.

    To disable Resume for all programs, in System Preferences, choose General. Below the choices for Number of Recent items, remove the check mark next to “Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps”.

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Auto-Complete Text

    Do you type the same phrases all of the time on your iPad or iPhone? The new iOS 5 has a slick new feature to help you with this.

    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!

    10. You can create many different shortcuts. I’m not sure if there is a limit to how many you can create.

    —————-

    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

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

    iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

    Format Text in Mail with iOS5

    It’s true. Now 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

     

     

     
  • October 2010

     

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    EMAIL ATTACHMENTS

    Like with most things on a Mac, there are several ways to attach a file to an email.
    You could compose a new Email Message, click on the paper click to Attach, find the file and choose it.

    Or, you could save a lot of time and simply drag the file you want to attach on top of the Mail icon in the Dock.

    A new email message will automatically appear with the file already attached.

    This works whether you drag one file or several files at the same time.

    CLEARING CACHES

    Your Mac stores references to all the sites you’ve visited on the Internet so that pages load faster when you revisit those sites. The Mac also stores all kinds of other files on the computer. To help maintain an efficient system, it’s a good idea to empty the caches (pronounced cashes.)

    To clear the Cache in Safari:

    In Safari under the Safari menu, choose Empty Cache

    To clear the Cache in Firefox:

    In Firefox under the Firefox menu, choose Preferences

    Click on the Advanced Tab

    Click on Network

    Click to Clear Now

    To clear out all of the cached System files:

  • In the Finder click on the Go menu
  • Choose Home
  • Open the Library folder
  • Open the Caches folder
  • From the Edit menu, choose Select All
  • From the File menu, choose Move to Trash
  • From the File menu, choose Empty Trash
  • If a message appears about a file being in use, press Continue until all but those files have been deleted.

    REMOVING DUPLICATE RECORDS IN THE ADDRESS BOOK

    You can automatically search for duplicate cards in your Address Book.
    Under the Card menu, choose Look for Duplicates
    This will search through all the records in your address book and prompt you to merge duplicate cards into one.
    If duplicate data appears on a card after the merge, click the Edit button on the bottom of the card’s window and delete the duplicate information.

    ADJUSTING THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR SCREEN

    If your screen seems dark or dim, you can easily make it brighter. On your keyboard, press the key that looks like the sun. If you don’t have that key, press the F15 key to achieve the same effect. WOW!

     
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