How-Tos

Ted Landau December 2004

I've been taking digital photos for several years. And my biggest dilemma has remained the same: what to do with the pictures after I download them to the computer.

Most of my photos remain in my iPhoto collection, unedited and unprinted. Occasionally, I have used iPhoto's print service. It has worked well overall, but there are some downsides: I don't like how long it takes to upload the photos, it takes several days for the pictures to return and -- if a picture does not come out the way I expected -- I … Read more

When problems materialize in conjunction with an incremental update to Mac OS X, and all known workarounds have failed, or a critical issue appears that must be resolved immediately, it may be necessary to perform a reversion process and backpedal to the prior incremental version.

The process is somewhat time-consuming and will require you to restore some previous settings, but relatively straightforward. Also, note that you will need to be using Mac OS X 10.2.x or later for this process.

First, make a backup of your current Mac OS X installation, problematic as it may be. If there … Read more

Ted Landau November 2004

Serendipity. The dictionary defines it as "making useful discoveries by accident." Serendipity was in full bloom for me when I attended O'Reilly's Mac OS X Conference in Santa Clara, CA last month -- where I happily and "accidentally" discovered several outstanding new software programs.

But before I get into that, for those of you not familiar with the O'Reilly conference, I highly recommend that you check it out when next year's event rolls around. The conference solidly hits a very appealing sweet spot: While obviously geared toward the … Read more

Your errant hand or a curious pet can inflict serious damage on a PowerBook or iBook if liquids are nearby. A spilled beverage -- especially those containing sugar or of naturally high acidity -- can be damaging or even terminal for your laptop.

Aside from the general advice of never keeping any food or beverage within striking distance of your 'book, there are some methods for possible resurrection of a flooded unit, as well as preventative measures that can ensure your investment will not be completely lost.

Immediate post-spill procedure Perhaps the most important step in avoiding permanent damage to … Read more

From time-to-time, removable media (including CDs, DVDs and others) can refuse to eject via the normal Mac OS X methods -- pressing the keyboard eject key; using the Command-E keyboard combination; selecting the item in the Finder and clicking the Eject button next to its name; dragging the item to the trash; or pressing the F12 key.

A number of methods can be applied to help coax media out of an optical drive in such a situation. Before applying these methods, however, note that busy disks (either startup disks or disks with an open file) should not be ejected and … Read more

by Ted Landau

A recent news article declared the floppy disk to be officially dead. Although you can still buy these disks, it is true that floppy drives have entirely vanished as built-in drives on today's computers. They were doomed by their slow speed, low capacity, and relatively poor longevity. Mac users, of course, can say "I told you so!" -- Apple gave up on the floppy drive when it first introduced the iMac back in 1998! [True, at almost the same time, Apple stumbled by initially backing DVD drives in preference to CD-RW drives; but that'… Read more

by Ted Landau September 2004

Apple makes no secret of the fact that "beneath the surface of Mac OS X lies an industrial-strength UNIX foundation." It's touted on an Apple Web page titled, appropriately enough, "Based on UNIX." What is somewhat less clear is exactly what this implies for the typical or average Mac user. By "typical" or "average," I mean the Mac user who is about as interested in delving into UNIX as the average mobile phone user is interested in understanding the &… Read more

[Plus: Macworld Expo: past and future]

by Ted Landau

This another two-topic column. The first part considers the merits of replacing a perfectly working second generation iPod for one of the new fourth generation models. I consider some other iPod issues along the way -- and even throw in a music-related mention of the AirPort Express. The second part continues my reflections on Macworld Expo following the event that ended last month in Boston.

Moving on up: The new iPods

I replace my Macs about every 3 to 4 years. As I have two Macs, a desktop and a PowerBook, … Read more

[Posted July 6th]

Ted Landau July 2004

This another two-topic column. The first part covers some thoughts on Apple's preview of Tiger, the next update to Mac OS X, and other WWDC announcements. The second part deals with my personal experience with the darker side of Amazon.

Tiger and the (r)evolution of Mac OS X

When Steve Jobs announced (at the WWDC Keynote last week) that the next version of Mac OS X (code-named Tiger) would not be out until "the first half of 2005," I breathed a sigh of relief. I was relieved that I … Read more