5 basic but priceless Apple tech features.

Last Thursday I left for work and realized I left my iPhone on the bedroom dresser.  I felt completely lost all day, like a piece of me was missing.  In a way it was - for as much as I use my iPhone it may as well be permanently attached to my hand. (Notice I said hand, not ear!)  Every day I seem to find new and creative uses for Apple products, but there are a few good old standbys I simply cannot do without:

1.  iPhone Clock Alarm.  I never worry I won't wake up because I set my alarm wrong or the power went out overnight.  Open the Clock app (standard on every iPhone/iPod touch) and click Alarm.  Click the + button to add a new alarm.  Choose the frequency by individually choosing days, sound (I like Marimba or Strum for a 5:30 wake-up versus Bark or Old Car Horn!), if you want a snooze option (yes, please!), and name the alarm if you'd like (in case you set up multiple ones).  Click Save, and just turn it on!

2.  iTunes Radio.  Although my music library is pretty diverse and I have over 1400 songs and 9 Genuis mixes, I still get tired of listening to my own music when I need to "plug in and tune out" at the office.  iTunes streaming radio is amazing - I can quickly find a genre beffiting of my mood du juor and choose from hundreds of stations.  I know Pandora is supposed to be streaming radio to the nth degree, yet I like to stay within the cozy, familiar confines of iTunes.

3.  Spotlight.  Oh, where do I begin?  I use Spotlight to find files, find and launch applications, and easily navigate my hundreds of daily email messages.  The level of intelligence this little, unassuming app has is mind-blowing.  I love that it can search the complete record or just title.  Last week I used a Windows-based PC for about 45 mins. and wanted to scream because I couldn't find a thing!  Little tip - when using the system-wide search use shortcut "Command + spacebar" to launch Spotlight.  Type in your search, navigate to your desired result and hit return.  Your wish is Spotlight's command!

4.  Two-finger scrolling.  Another function I simply can't live without.  How much time to PC users spend dragging their cursor to the upper right hand corner of their browser or file window and click/dragging the side scroll down?  When I help someone on their PC or have to use one myself (like last week) I instinctively two-finger scroll... the desired result does not occur.  Infuriating!  For setting/exploring one, two, and three finger trackpad "finger gestures" - click on System Preferences, Trackpad.  Turn features on and off and customize them as you wish, and view a video of how to use them.  Genius.  With the Apple Magic Mouse and now Magic Trackpad this is getting even better!

5.  Exposé.  Last but not least, this has got to be one of my all time faves.  The ability to clear all windows and find my desktop by dragging to a corner is such a time saver.  I'm one of those users who has about 8-10 applications and about 15-20 windows open at any given time during the day.  My newer to Mac husband likes to close down every window before moving to the next and "can't understand how I work like that".  How do you not?!?  Again, to view current settings and customize them visit System Preferences and click on Exposé and Spaces.  Configure away, or use the default settings.  To use the special functions on the function keys, click on Keyboard under System Prefs and check the "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" to turn them "on".  You'll need to press the Function (fn) key to use the features printed on the keys.

What are your favorite iPhone, iPod, Mac, or iPad features and functions?  How do you use them in your daily life?

Be in the know and the now w/RSS and podcasts.

In a failed attempt to become a info maven, I started watching the local evening news.  After a few nights of listening to the doom and gloom of the Chicago daily happenings, I was no closer to knowing what was going on in the world and a few steps closer to the proverbial ledge.  The network evening shows weren’t much better.  They took so long to get to “the meat” of what was going on, I was asleep halfway through.  Newspapers are pretty much outdated the minute the hit your driveway or the newsstand, and I don’t have enough time in the morning to eat breakfast, let alone sit and weed through the paper. 

Along came RSS... years ago, actually, and I ignored it.  I kind of got it but didn’t really get it.  Shortly after learning of RSS, I had my son and stayed home with him for a full year.   Then I really had no clue what was happening in the world!  When I reentered the workforce, I had to re-immerse myself in the tech industry in general and Apple products and happenings specifically.  If there is one company that has everyone buzzing, it’s Apple.  Between rumor sites (Apple does not publicly share product roadmaps, fueling the cult following of Mac enthusiasts), financial analysts predictions and commentary, Apple’s own Hot News and other industry sites, I was completely overwhelmed.  Often times I found out about news from someone else.  In a futile effort to be in the know and the now, I bookmarked top sites in my browser of choice (Firefox) and tried to make a habit of visiting them all every morning.  I quickly found I had neither the time nor commitment to make it a habit, and I constantly felt like I was drowning.

Finally, one morning I sent an IM to my technology muse and friend, Danny, “RSS - what’s up?” “Yup, call me.”  The conversation went like this,  “From what I understand it’s a way to feed snipits of articles from the sites I subscribe to into one place so I can scan them quickly and see if I want to read more.” “Exactly.  All you need is a free reader application.”  Within five minutes I was up and running, subscribing to AppleInsider, InfoWorld News, Gizmodo, and CNN, for example, and you can be too:

1. Download a free RSS Feed Reader application, or use a web-based application like Google Reader (here’s a list of some top online readers).  Some application options include News Gator and their Mac/iPhone version NetNewsWire.
2. Find the sites of interest to you.  The sites can be webpages, blogs like this one (shameless plug, I know), or anything that has a web address and RSS or atom feed available. Once on the site, click on the RSS/atom button to be taken to the scaled down RSS version of the site.  You can then copy the link (Ctrl+C on a PC or Command+C on a Mac) and paste it into the “subscribe” option of your RSS reader. Or, depending on your reader, you can enter the main site (www.apple.com) and the reader will find the RSS feed for you.  Give it a title you will recognize.  Hit Subscribe and you’re done!  Keep adding sites until you have covered the ones you’re interested in.  You can always unsubscribe to feeds and add other feeds later. 
3. If you use a reader application instead of a web-based reader, it’s a good practice to set the RSS reader to open on your system when you log in.  On a Mac, you can do this through System Preferences (from the dock or the Apple menu), click Accounts, select your user account and click the Login Items tab.  Select from the list of applications, or add one by clicking the + button.  Find the Application (use the spotlight search function in Finder window) and click add.  You can then check the box next to the application to open it at login, but hide it in your dock if you’d like.  Quit System Preferences, no Save necessary - the change is immediate.  Now when you login to your system, your RSS reader will launch and you can start reading right away.  On a PC this is called Startup Programs. 
4. Make it a habit to keep the reader application, or web-based reader open and scan it throughout the day.  Once you’ve read articles or decided you aren’t interested in reading them, you can mark them as read.  Based on the reader you’re using it may indicate there are new articles available by listing a number next to the site name... like your email box lets you know there are new messages to read.
   

That’s it!  You are now getting feeds from all the sites you’ve subscribed to and you are the one having conversations about the happenings in the world.  How’s that for enrichment and empowerment through technology?  And it’s free!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention podcasts. This is another way to be “fed” information you subscribe to and get constant updates that you can review at your convenience.  The difference is podcasts are audio files, or “enhanced podcasts” are audio files with photos, videos, and/or documents and links that accompany the audio.  Think of this as electronic versions of news/shows you can download to your computer and/or portable device like an iPod, other MP3 players, or smartphone (Blackberry, iPhone, etc).  When you subscribe in iTunes, you’ll get updates any time your system is connected to the internet and a new episode is available.  You can manage the number of episodes you get and how often.  You can also set your preferences in iTunes for how your iPod updates and manages podcast episodes.  I’ll go into this more in the future, but if you’re interested now go to the iTunes Music Store and click on Podcasts.  Search for something of interest to you - ESPN, a Food Network show, a health and fitness magazine, etc... chances are there is a podcast available. Click on “get episode” to download just that episode, or subscribe and iTunes will get the most recent episodes and will update when new ones are available.  My husband got an iPod touch for his birthday this year (from his parents, yes, at 31 years old - thanks mom and dad!).  He is not the audiophile I am, but he loves sports.  By love I mean he always has ESPN or a game of some sort on, listens to AM sports radio, subscribes to Sports Illustrated and ESPN the magazine... you get the point.  He has found several sports-related podcasts that he downloads to his iPod and listens to during his workouts.  We also have an inexpensive car iPod adapter (or many new models have it built-in) and he listens to podcasts while driving.  So, put that commute to good use by listening to content you’re interested in, instead of scrolling through drolly morning shows.

RSS readers are free.  Podcasts are free.  They both serve up the news and other content you want in an easy to digest format.  Subscribe today and be in the know and in the now - now!

What is it about the Mac?

My mom refuses to hear me when I sell her on the benefits of switching to a Mac.  She's a bargain shopper.  She even once called me from a garage sale to tell me about a deal she found on a notebook.  "Please, please, please don't buy that thing!", I lamented, "If you do, I'm not helping you with it." When I listen to her tell me about all the ways she wants to use technology - to manage and share pictures (she had a camera surgically bound to her hand at age 20) - to video chat with me and my 2 1/2 year old son, for email and web access, and the occasional application like writing and printing letters and managing  personal finances, I grit my teeth and say, "It would all be so easy..." and she finishes my sentence, "If I had a Mac."  But, she just can't get over the higher up front cost.

 Even in this economic climate Apple Inc. posts record earnings and profit, defies industry analysts and outpaces the market by a notable magnitude.  If you listen to the earnings release webcasts, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's Chief Operating Office, sounds so humble when in a carefully crafted statement he attributes the record-breaking results to "...the best and most innovative products and solutions [delivered] to our customers."  What is it about the Mac that sells millions of them each quarter, with over half going to "new to Mac" users? 

Here are my Top 5 reasons users are getting on the Mac bandwagon:

1.  Know iTunes?  You know Mac.  The painful exchange with my mom has gone as far as her purchasing a PC notebook and bringing it to my house for me to "help" her with it.  This "help" consisted of installing software, removing software, trying to find and tweak user settings, get her setup with an IM account, and the list goes on.  We then installed iTunes and she was blown away by the ease of use for importing, downloading and managing music.  "Oh wow, that's so cool!"...(pregnant pause) "That's made by Apple.  Everything on a Mac is that easy, mom."  "Oh."  Most people have at least one iPod now days and thus, have used iTunes.  If you get that, you can manage your way around a Mac.  The Finder (file management system) on a Mac is similiar to iTunes, even leveraging Cover Flow for searching through and previewing documents.

2.  The hardware and software work together and come pre-loaded.  After hours of doing that, we were finally ready to "use" the computer.  But how?  Where is the video conferencing application?  How do you turn on the web cam?  (Three months later and she is still not using this feature of her PC.)  With a Mac, you setup your Mobile Me account ($99/year for website publishing, online storage, email - which is also your iChat messaging screen name) or use a free AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) account, launch iChat, click the video camera of the buddy you'd like to chat with and you're off and running - or riding a rollercoaster or visiting the Eiffel Tower... iChat has a bunch of fun multimedia backgrounds to choose from. 

3. No more calls to your brother-in-law, son, daughter (enter unsuspecting relation here) to de-bug your system.  Thank goodness I live over three hours away from my parents or I would probably be there more than at home.  My poor brother has spent hours "working on" my mom's desktop only to find she needs to hire some one to "fix" it.  I'm not quite sure what that means which is why fix is in quotes.  It is never fixed.  Macs don't get viruses, they run a more stable operating system, and they just work.  Sure, all technology has it's issues and no Mac is perfect.  But, you may find your children and other relatives like coming over a lot more when they're not relegated to your office "fixing" your system.

4.  You can do all sorts of fun stuff.  After hours of exhausting me with questions about using the PC, my mom said, "Okay, now what about pictures?"  I laughed a hysterical "you've got to be kidding me, I just can't take this anymore" laugh and then just said, "I can't help you there."  It was true.  The photo app that came on the PC was so user unfriendly and ugly I couldn't make myself go there.  iPhoto is the easiest way to manage and share pictures.  It's been around since 2001, and a part of iLife since 2003.  And it's free on a Mac.  One click creates an album, another publishes it to your own website/gallery, or Facebook or Flickr.  Share albums with dynamic slideshows set to music.  And this is just the tip of the iceburg... but you don't have to be an expert ice climber to figure it out.  iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and GarageBand round out the iLife suite.  They all work together, work with the same tools and smoothly - once you've played with one, you'll have it down.

5.  There is a whole culture supporting you.  The Apple Store retail locations continue to amaze.  The revenue these places produce per square foot is enough to make your jaw drop.  They are a social destination - a place to see and be seen.  They draw crowds at all hours of the day, all around the globe and they are popping up all over the place.  (Maybe I'll really go to the Eifel Tower instead of just using the iChat background, so I can visit the first store in France next year.)  Let's not forget, it's just a store.  Or is it?  Make an appointment online to have a Genius troubleshoot and diagnose your iPod or other Apple product.  Attend free in-store seminars, or buy One to One personal training or Pro Care and get personal training sessions - at your convenience and you decide the topics to cover.  Beyond the store is AppleCare, Apple's warranty extension option which not only provides repair/replace for things covered in the terms, but 3 years of telephone support from Apple on the hardware, operating system (i.e. Mac OS X is what Windows is on a PC), applications like those in iLife and other peripherals like Apple displays and wireless products (when purchased with a qualifying Mac.  See terms and conditions for details.)  And, the support site http://www.apple.com/support/ is very useful and easy to navigate.  Bottom line, you are not alone.

There is a whole burgeoning culture of new Mac users who have switched and will never go back.  Sure, Macs are not the end all be all of technology and Apple doesn't always get things right.  But, millions of users can't be wrong - there is something to be said for the ease of use, reliability and seamless user experience Macs provide.  Some believe a machine that does everything you want out of the box without add on hardware, software (whether free or downloadable), "just works", doesn't get viruses and has a whole culture to support it is worth a higher price tag.  Considering these points, does it really cost you more?  Maybe my own mom will finally see the value Apple provides and be one of the new-to-Mac purchasers referenced in a future earnings release.  For my sanity, I sure hope so.