Mac Tips
I began using a Mac computer in 1st grade and we had one at home when I was in middle school. I fell away from the fold and joined the ranks of PC users through my college career. It was then that I saw the light and returned to the Mac world with the purchase of a MacBook and then an iMac to serve as our family computer.
The first thing to emphasize when approaching the mac is that there are literally thousands of folks in the mac community who have taken the time to blog, podcast, and create websites highlighting the great things that you can do with a mac and all of the cool software and hardware that is available for your computer. I actually spent a considerable amount of time reading mac blogs and listening to podcasts before I rejoined the community. They gave me an idea of what I could do with my mac and gave useful tips for the process of switching.
My first tip for any new mac user or a person thinking of switching is to get set up with an RSS reader (RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication). RSS feeds are a subscription service where updates are pushed out to your RSS reader. Most news sites have RSS feeds available as do nearly all blogs. Podcasts are also pushed out through feeds. What this means for you is that if you have a list of sites that you check everyday manually (clicking a link and scanning the site) you can now just enter the list of blogs/news sites into your reader and it will present you with a list of all the new articles and updates. All macs have the ability to read feeds through both Safari (a browser) and Apple Mail. Youcan also sign up for a free feed reader through google and through bloglines.
Tips:
- You can quickly search using spotlight just by hitting “Command-Space Bar.” This will pull up the spotlight search box in the top right corner of the screen.
- Know that many long-time mac users refer to the “command” key as the “Apple key” because up until a little while ago, it had an apple on it. In fact, early Macbooks (including mine) still have the apple logo on it.
- Get to know your applications folder, especially the Utilities folder. Especially helpful is the “Activity Monitor.” If your fan seems to be going a mile a minute… check the activitity monitor to see what is using up the system resources. You can also kill applications via the Activity Monitor.
- With the activity monitor… from iSlayer get a program called iStat Pro or iStat Pro Widget. The widget runs in your dashboard. It can show your fan speeds, hard drive space usage, memory usage, case and processor temps, battery usage, etc. The program does the same thing… except it gets stuck in your menu bar. I actually use both. I’m a nerd. This is an AWESOME free program. I highly recommend it.
- Get a program called Coconut Battery. This is a free program that tracks your battery health. You can keep a log of your battery usage. When I had a battery poop out on me… I was able to show the Apple Genius the problem with the steady decline (at a very fast rate) of the battery health over the life of the battery. Just realize that when you by a laptop probably one of your biggest issues will be with power, whether it be a cooked power supply or a bad battery.
- These two recent articles from Macworld give us info on “Mac Maintenance”: Five Mac Maintenance Myths and Essential Mac Maintenance: Get Set Up
- Watch the Apple store in your area for free classes they offer. If you send your wife to one of them… and she falls in love with the Mac… she might let you get another one. I hope.
Websites (All of these have RSS feeds except “My First Mac”, “Mac Keyboard Shortcuts,” and “50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know.”
- The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) - good site for Mac news and rumors, plus product announcements. They also have a good Q&A section. You can subscribe to the whole site via RSS, or just choose specific feeds to watch.
- The Apple Blog – another good site to watch. The forums they have are very helpful. Plus they have contests where they select people who leave comments for free software. I’ve won an iPod case and an FM transmitter.
- http://www.myfirstmac.com/ A really neat website that helps folks with the transition from windows to the cult of Mac.
- Mac Keyboard Shortcuts: http://www.danrodney.com/mac/
- Macworld and MacUser. These sites are published by the same folks. You’ll find great reviews of new products and a plethora of tips on being a mac user. A sixth-month subscription to the print version of MacWorld normally comes with every new Mac. Here are two samples of articles:
- MacLife. Another great site with a host of reviews and tips that also comes in a print version. A good sample article is “50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know.”
- Lifehacker is a good all around site to read for tech related news and tips. A sample article: “Top 10 Things You Forgot Your Mac Can Do.”
Podcasts:
- Mac Roundtable Podcast
- More to follow.
Programs:
- VMware. This is the program I use to run windows xp. The only reason I’m running XP is to run Logos. However, Logos has released a Mac Alpha so hopefully my xp installation will go the way of the dodo.
- Yum. A free recipe manager. Really cool and fun.
- SuperDuper. A cool backup utility that works with time machine making an actual bootable time machine backup. You can also use it separately from Time Machine.
- Quinn. For those moments of boredom… great take on Tetris.
- Adium. Great instant messenger program that I think is in some ways better than iChat.
- Delicious Library. A really really cool program that allows you track your media (Books, CDs, Programs, Movies, etc). Version 2.0 should be out sometime soon. Take a look. A free alternative to this program is called “Books“ Also you can try librarything…. but it lacks a desktop client that would make it even more helpful.
- If you want to make full use of front row (the cool digital media program) you can begin to rip all your DVDs and TV shows to your hard drive. Be aware…. if you rip them at a decent bit rate (higher bit rate=better quality) you will need to get a big hard drive, and by big I mean 1 tb. The cost is getting lower and lower. To rip DVDs I recommend Handbrake. Very very cool software that allows you to rip a whole season of a TV show into separate files and to work overnight. Lostify allows you to “code” them so they appear as a season or whatever type of media they are (TV Show, Movie, etc.)
- MacSaber. Cool, nerdy program, that makes your MacBook sound like a light-saber. It uses the sudden motion sensors do detect motion. When sitting still… just a hum… when moving… it really sounds like a light-saber.
- Browsers: When I first switched to mac I used firefox. However, I’ve had more and more problems with firefox and have began using Safari, the built in mac browser, exclusively. I do keep firefox around… along with Opera.