Mac Users Guide

Apple iPad: iPad Tips and Tricks

cberkeley — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:20:32 +0000

Taking a closer look at the new Apple iPad
Now that the iPad has been out for a while do you want to get more out of it? I ave put together another list of six of my iPad quick tips to reveal more of the iPad’s features.

iPad Not Charging?
No problem. After purchasing my iPad I ran into the iPad “Not Charging” issue with my 2007 Mac Pro. Apparently the iPad has some problems charging from the low-powered USB ports found on older desktops and some USB hubs. Resultng in the “Not Charging” message on the iPad when it‚Äôs connected. In many cases, the iPad does actually charge from these connectors, but only when the display is off‚Äîwhich means you can‚Äôt see the icon that tells you the iPad is charging. If you‚Äôre getting the ‚ÄúNot Charging‚Äù message, try leaving your iPad plugged in anyway, and see if the charge is greater when you return.

Relearning the ‘Touch’ with iPad Photo
For those used to the iPhone, there is a new art to using the iPad. You can interact with your photos stored on your iPad in a whole new ways. Start by launching the Photos app. Try pressing and holding with two fingers in the all photos view. You should be able to spin the photo and slide then around.

Orientation Lock Button
Did you know that your iPad is equiped with an orientation lock button! The iPad’s accelerometer is powerful and very sensitive. The orientation Lock button is located on the right side of the iPad just above the volume controls. When you are working on something and don’t want your screen to keep switching this is a simple way to deal with it.

Email up to 15 Photos from your iPad
If you tried sending multiple photos from the Photo app on your iPad you have realized that you can only send 5 at a time. If you need to send more you can use copy and paste to move them into the Mail app, up to 15 pictures. Simply launch the Photo App and select the stack of images you want to send. Tap the upper right hand icon, the box with the arrow in it. Begin selecting the images you want to send and tap Copy. Hit the home button and launch the Mail App. Tap the compose icon in the far upper right. Tap into the body of the email and hold. Select Paste and your ready to send.

Shared Documents
If you’re wondering where Pages, Numbers and other Apps that save files keep your files wonder no longer. When you Sync your iPad take a look at the Apps tab in iTunes. If you scroll down and you’ll see the File Sharing. Here you can check out the apps that utilize fie sharing and the actual documents. When you’re ready to sync your files, use click Add.. button to add your files and work with them on the go.

iPad Wallpaper
There are a variety of was to customize your iPad and creating your own wallpaper is one of them. iPad wallpaper images should be 1024×768. To assign your image to your home screen background or lock screen, you need to import it to your Photo app. You can use Aperature, iPhoto, Image Capture or you Pictures folder.
Once imported launch the Photo app and find your background. Tap the arrow icon in the upper right corner and select ‘Use as Wallpaper’.

Mac OS X Safari Tips: Navigating Tabs and Managing Downloads

cberkeley — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:03:22 +0000

Get The Most Out of Safari

Every week I bring you a series of Mac OS X Tips via my feed on Audioboo.fm. With the launch of Safari 5.1 update on Wednesday I was reminded why I love Safari so much. The new version enables third-party extension support in the web browser. Compared to Chrome it will give it a run for the money, but Firefox – well that’s another story. At any rate I wanted to leave you with a selection of tips I have come up with to help you get the most out of surfing Safari!

Drag & Drop File Uploads
This is one of Safari’s hidden features. Tired of having a file to upload, a YouTube video or a Flickr image, for example, normally you would click the “Browse” button to open a dialog box and navigate to the location of your file. Wouldn’t it be great if you could drag and drop the file from your already – open Finder window directly to the upload form’s ‘Browse’ button in Safari? Well you can! Next time just drag and drop your files to the ‘Browse’ Button and your done!

Tab through Safari Tabs
Cycle through your Tabs like a pro by holding down CNTRL-Tab. Hit Tab to move forward.

Putting Safari Address Bar to work!
Ever run into the problem of starting to type a URL in the Address Bar and then realizing that I intended to view it in a new tab. Instead of cutting and pasting the URL into a manually-created tab, Safari lets you stay in the current tab and press Command+Enter to open it in another.

Re-sizable text fields in Safari
When filling out an online form that includes multi-line text fields, you might feel a little cramped by the pre-determined number of lines coded into the page. In Safari you can resize multi-line text fields on forms and make them larger by merely dragging the bottom-right edge.

Snap Back feature in Safari
Typically when you are surfing in Safari and move through a website you might find yourself wanting to go back to where you started. Sure, you could hit the Back button – a few hundred times – to get back to the original page, or you can use SnapBack. SnapBack works by silently marking a web page everytime you type in a new URL, click a bookmark, or open a new window. Simply go History > Search Results SnapBack or Type Comand+Option+S and SnapBack will bring you back to the beginning immediately. A huge time saver!

Speed up Safari
Surfing the web is great in Safari but after a while your Mac might start slowing down. Have you emptied your Cache lately? What is Cache you ask? As you surf the web your browser makes copies of the pages you visit, in case you need them again. This can cause things to slow down though. Here’s how to do a clean up. Select Safari > Emtpy trash from the main menu. A dialog will appear. Click Emtpy.

Setting Download Location in Safari
Did you know that Safari provides several options for managing downloads? To set the location for saving downloaded files on your hard drive, from Safari’s Menu Click on Safari and select preferences and Click on the General tab. Next Click on the “Save downloaded files to…” drop-down menu and select either “Last download location” or “Other…” to specify a specific location.

Managing Active Safari Downloads
The Downloads option under the Window menu in Safari provides you with more control over your downloads. When you select Downloads from the Window menu, the Downloads Pane will open, listing all active downloads and also perhaps some past downloads, depending on your settings in the General preferences pane. You can start and stop a download by clicking the Stop or Resume button next to the file name. You can also view the progress of your download in the Finder by clicking on the ‘Magnifying Glass’ button. There is also a Clear button in the lower left hand corner to clear your history of downloaded Files.

Mac OS X 10.6: How to capture a packet trace

cberkeley — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:38:22 +0000

How to capture a packet trace

Recently I have been doing a lot more network troubleshooting rather than working on my Macs! Not a total loss in the sense that it has brought me back to the basics of using UNIX commands in Terminal and how to capture a packet trace. This post might be more advanced for some but I feel that it holds good information when trouble shooting a connection issue on your network, home or company. The case that I ran into needing to use this was on a network primarily using Apple products ranging from Mac Pro, PowerMac, MacBooks, PowerBooks and mobile devices. The issue I was having was a MacBook Pro network issue seeming to originate from a timeout error from the switch resulting in it not picking up IP, Subnet, Router and DNS info. We started running PING tests to capture packet traces to see how fast the lines were working to eliminate a timeout issue from the switch. The steps I am about to outline uses the Terminal and the the tcpdump command; if you are not familiar with using the Terminal, you may want to use for third-party software that can perform a packet trace instead. Check out CPA – Cocoa Packet Analyzer

Running Mac OS X 10.6 do the following:

1. Open System Profiler either by locating it in the Utilities folder (choose Go > Utilities while in the Finder), or by Option-Clicking the Apple Menu > System Profiler.
2. Once launched select the Network interface; here you will determine which connection (AirPort/Ethernet) you will need to capture the packet trace.
3. Make note of the Berkeley Unix Device Name of the interface. For example the BSD Device Name for the AirPort interface could be “en1″, the BSD Device Name for Ethernet is “en0″, and so forth.

System Profiler

If you are running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard follow these steps – they will be different for Mac OS X 10.5.

1. Make sure your Mac is connected using a network interface. You can check this under the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Network preferences), such as AirPort or Ethernet.
2. Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app).
3. Copy or type the following Terminal command. Adjust the command based on your network interface; press Return to execute the command.
4. You will be prompted for your admin password.
5. Terminal should display “tcpdump: listening on…”. Access the network function you want to capture for, and let it run.
6. Once the network function is completed, go back to Terminal and press Control-C to complete the packet trace capture.

AirPort Network Example:
sudo tcpdump -i en1 -s 0 -B 524288 -w ~/Desktop/AirportDump1.pcap

Ethernet Network Example:
sudo tcpdump -i en0 -s 0 -B 524288 -w ~/Desktop/EthernetDump1.pcap

VPN Interface Example:
sudo tcpdump -i ppp0 -s 0 -B 524288 -w ~/Desktop/VPNDump1.pcap

Diagram of the tcpdump command options:
[-i] Sets a the interface from which you want to capture packets from. For example -i en0 = first Ethernet interface.
[-s] The number of data bytes to be sent; default is 56 or 64 ICMP data bytes. (This can be increased.)
[-B 524288] Increases the packet capture buffer size to 512 KB.
[-w] write a file
[.pcap] Packet Capture library

A file named “DumpFile01.dmp” containing your captured packet trace will appear on the desktop. If you want to display its contents, use this command in Terminal:

tcpdump -s 0 -n -e -x -vvv -r ~/Desktop/[Type]Dump1.pcap

iPhone 3.0 Photo Management: Syncing Video and Photos with your iPhone

cberkeley — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:26:56 +0000

iPhone 3.0 Photo Management: Syncing Video and Photos with your iPhone

Syncing Video and Photos with your iPhone
Expanding on my second to last post iPhone Troubleshooting: Troubles Syncing iPhone Photos I wanted to look more closely at how to import video for your iPhone. I recently had a friend get in touch with me regarding her new iPhone 3GS. She is new to the iPhone 3GS and had been shooting video and taking pictures. She contact me asking how to syncing her iPhone with her Mac. Most of us familiar with Apple’s logic take for granted that we intuitively go to certain apps to help us manage our iPhones. However for a relatively new user this can be confusing. Even though syncing between your iPhone happens in iTunes, there’s no preference for video syncing in the iPhone management screen. If you have shot video with your iPhone and you have iLife installed you can use iPhoto to help you with this.

Sync with iPhoto
If you have iPhoto selected as your photo management program in iTunes it will automatically launch once you connect your iPhone. Once open you can select which photos and videos you want to import, you can also opt not to import duplicates.

iPhoto - Select your iPhone under DEVICES

Start by launching iPhoto (if not already open)
Under DEVICES select your iPhone
Check “Hide photos already imported”
Check the photos and videos you want to import
Click “Import Selected”

Sync with Image Capture
If you don’t own the iLife suite you are not out of luck. Image Capture is your default photo manager an comes with Mac OS X. Similar to iPhoto you can select which photos and videos you want to import, you can also opt not to import duplicates. One major difference between Image Capture and iPhoto is that you can “Delete after Import”.

Using Image Capure to Manage your photos and video

Start by launching Image Capture (if not already open)
Under DEVICES select your iPhone
You can select and highlight which images you want to import
Check box “Delete after import” if you want to remove images or video already imported.
Select and destination folder under “Import To:” drop-down
Click Import when ready

Taking a closer look at the new Apple iPad: iPad Tips and Tricks

cberkeley — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:32:25 +0000

Taking a closer look at the new Apple iPad
Having gotten the new iPad on its release date I have been playing around with all the features and comparing the differences against my iPhone and iPod Touch. Basically the bigger screen makes a huge difference when working in the Apps. I have downloaded the new iWork Suite and found that integrates well with my current work flow. In getting to know the iPad I have compiled a series of my top tips to help you improve your productivity.

Put 6 Apps In the Bottom Tray
As we all know the iPhone hold up to 4 apps in the bottom tray by default. Did you know that the iPad can store more! Start by Tap/Holding on any app icon just like you would do to rearrange apps. Once your Apps are unlocked just drag any two additional apps into the bottom tray. Super handy!

Virtual Keyboard vs. Real Keyboard
If you still needs some practice using the virtual keyboard or just like the feel of a real one try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard with your iPad. Once connected the virtual keyboard will cease to appear. However, what if, for some random reason, you needed that virtual keyboard? Don’t unpair via Bluetooth in your General Settings. Just hit the eject key on Apple’s physical keyboard. It’ll bring up the virtual one.

Get Your Own (Free) Books
Similar to the way iTunes and the iPod can import and play downloaded music, iTunes and the iPad can import and display downloaded books. Supported formats are limited and the iPad only supports ePub (with or without DRM). Your local library may be a great source for free ePub checkouts. Also, Project Gutenberg has 30,000 free ePub books you can download since they have fallen out of copyright. If you want to convert your own PDFs and other DRM-free formats to ePub check out Calibre-ebook.com.

Extending your iPad Battery Life
Concerned about your iPad’s battery limit? There are three main factors that can affect how long a charge lasts: The brightness of the screen, volume and Push services. The higher the volume and brightness are, the more battery life is consumed. In addition you might want to update your Push services from “Push” to “Manual” by going to Settings -> “Mail, Contacts and Calendars”.

Instant Muting
Lets say you are in back row of a wedding just minding your own business when, oops, you forgot to mute your Audioboo Tips from Mac Users Guide! No worries. There’s a quick way to cut the speaker. Holding down the volume down button for about two seconds will mute your iPad.

Access Special Characters
Simply bring up the keyboard and hold down any vowel. You’ll see a menu pop-up with additional variations of that character. When in Safari or Mail holding down the .com key to get a set of additional domains such as .edu, .org and .net.

Set your iPad Mail to more than two lines
When working with Mail on your iPad you qucikly realize you have space! This feature exists also for the iPhone and iTouch but their smaller screen makes it less practical. On the iPad, however, I find the feature is pretty handy for skimming several emails without opening them. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts and Calendars and select “5 lines” under Preview.

iPhone Troubleshooting: Troubles Syncing iPhone Photos

cberkeley — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:41:42 +0000

Using Image Capture with iPhone solves syncing issue with iPhone photos: Try Image Capture

Using iPhoto or Aperature Image Management Tools
When you sync your iPhone with iTunes you have the option of selecting a image management software like Aperture or iPhoto. You can also select a destination folder like Pictures or a custom folder of your choosing to sync with.

how to sync, image management, photo management, iphone photos

Easy to setup using iTunes.

Select the Photo Tab
Check the Sync Photos
Select the folder or application from the drop down menu

Troubles Syncing iPhone Photos

Typically when you sync your iPhone with Mac Aperture or iPhoto launch to help you import and manage your photos. However with the recent upgrades to Aperture I have notice one key feature missing. Deleting already imported images from your iPhone. You can select not to import duplicate images during import but what do you do after they have been imported? The best method I have found requires one more step using Apple’s Image Capture.

Launch Image Capture. ( Applications > Image Capture )
Select your iPhone under DEVICES.
In the bottom left corner you should see a control panel displaying “Connecting this iPhone opens…”. You should see a check box just below this “Delete after Import”.
Check “Delete after Import”.

Once you have downloaded all the pics to the folder of your choice or to an image management software your photos will automatically be deleted off the iPhone. No synching wit iTunes necessary! This works great if you are off-loading images at a friends house.

Macintosh Troubleshooting: Make a bootable Mac OS X USB flash drive for repairs

cberkeley — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 07:44:04 +0000

Make a bootable Mac OS X USB flash drive for repairs

I am always on the go working on a variety of Macs. As reliable Macs can have their bad days and you don’t want to be caught unprepared. We have all been there, and it only takes that one time faced with a repair not having the right utilities or maintenance tools. I always have a USB flash drive with me that is ready for all situations that require me to diagnose, repair or maintain Mac OS X.

The best device I have in my arsenal of repair equipment is my Iron Key USB flash drive loaded with a bootable copy of MAC OS X. With this clean installed system you can pin point most problems that the main drive might have troubles isolating. I tend to have 3 or 4 of these USB keys, one for each Mac OS (10.4, 10.5 and 10.6). I used to lug around a big bulky portable drive but with more reliable USB flash drives available portability has become a great added tool.

Getting Started
To start you will need to have a USB based Mac, either Intel or PowerPC based on what you plan on repairing and at least a 16GB USB flash drive, I use the a S200 16BG Ironkey from Amazon. SanDisk also carries a reliable drive. Lastly you will need a version of Mac OS X.

Plug in your USB flash drive to your Mac.
Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
Select your flash drive in the list on the left.
Click on the Partition tab and select “1 Partition” from the Volume Scheme drop-down menu.
Enter a name for your USB flash drive (I called mine “Lifesavor OS X”)
Under Format select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”. Make sure the size is somewhere around +/- 16GB.
Below the partition display click the ‘Options’ button.
Choose “GUID Partition Table” from the popup window and click OK.
With you setting chosen click the ‘Apply’ button. Disk Utility will take a minute or two to complete this task.
Insert your Mac OS X installation disc.
Double-click the ‘Install Mac OS X’ icon and progress through the installer until you get to the screen that says “Mac OS X will be install on…”
Click the ‘Show All Disks’ button and select your USB flash drive.
Click on the ‘Customize’ button and a new window will appear.
Un-check all of the items except ‘Essential System Software’. Save space and don’t check ‘Rosetta’ and ‘QuickTime 7′.
Click OK to Install. The rest of the process should be automated and might takes about 30-60 minutes.
Once Installation is complete test the flash drive by booting it up. Restart your Mac and hold down the Option key to choose your flash drive manually. HINT: You will need to do this in the future also to boot to the drive.
After restarting using the USB flash drive follow the set up prompts just like you would a new computer.
Once the OS is running launch Software Update and make sure that your flash drive OS is up-to-date.
Finally install any third party diagnostic utilities you may have. For example, Alsoft’s DiskWarrior is an invaluable tool going beyond what Disk Utility has to offer.

DONE! Although booting to a flash drive is a bit slow it does the job and is convenient; a lot lighter than dragging a book of CD/DVD’s around. Hopefully you will never have to use it but having it available is a great portable emergency too for troubleshooting your Mac.

Mastering GarageBand: Combining Two Garageband Projects

cberkeley — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:28:51 +0000

Combining Two Garageband Projects

I have been working with Garageband since it first came out and have seen it evolve into a pretty powerful audio editing program. I primarily use Garageband for my Podcasting but have used it to create ring tones and music. To help in my podcast production process I started using a “template” that I set up that included my intro music and my primary voice-over. I had this saved to my desktop and when ever I wanted to create a new podcast I simply duplicated it. Recently I discovered an easier way of doing this that has been available since Garageband 3.0! You can simply combine two songs into one by importing one project, or a part of a project, into the one you are working on. Before you get started make sure you store your GarageBand projects or their Alias are located in GarageBand’s default location ~users/Music/GarageBand/. Otherwise you will not be able to access them within the Media Browser. I have mine within a project file and created an Alias by selecting the Folder and hold down the Command+L and placing that within the default folder. Next:

Launch GarageBand
Open the Media Browser located in the bottom right hand corner of your window.

GarageBand Media Browser

Select the Audio tab at the top of the Media Browser inspector.
Navigate to where you have your GarageBand files stored. NOTE: By default it is your user’s ~/Music/GarageBand folder.
Select and Double-click the project you want to import. NOTE: If you haven’t opened it from within the Media Browser before, GarageBand will most likely warn you that project was not saved with an iLife preview. You will get a dialog asking you to open it in GarageBand so that you can save it with an iLife preview.
Click ‘Yes’
Close the project you just opened and re-open the original song.
Re-open the Media Browser again and drag the song you just converted into the current project.

Drag-and-drop the song you just converted into the current project

The newly imported song appears in an orange track with a small guitar icon next to its name in the timeline. The orange color indicates it’s an imported project. If you need to further edit the song you just imported, do the following:

Double-click the imported track in the timeline. This opens up the Track Editor.
Click ‘Open Original’ in the Track Editor.
Make the changes you want to the imported project, then save and close it.
GarageBand re-opens the project you started with and informs you that the imported project has been modified. A dialog will ask you if you want to update the imported region. Click ‘Update Region’ button.

That’s pretty much it. The process is a bit of a back-and-forth requiring you to make frequent changes to both projects. I found however that if the track you are importing is mostly complete and ready to go you are just focusing on the track you are importing to. In my case my intro is pretty standard what comes after that is what I tweak! Working this way this technique works pretty well.

Mac OS X Safari Tips: Get The Most Out of Safari

cberkeley — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:43:15 +0000

Get The Most Out of Safari

Every week I bring you a series of Mac OS X Tips via my feed on Audioboo.fm. Comparing Safari to Chrome I was reminded why I love Safari so much. Here are a selection of tips I have come up with to help you get the most out of surfing Safari!

RSS and Safari
Security risk in Safari using it as your RSS reader. Fix this by opening Prefer>RSS> and select a alternative RSS Reader.

Private Web Browsing
Enable private web browsing by selecting Safari > “Private Browsing” from the menu.

Tab Through Checkboxes and Radio Buttons in Firefox and Safari.
Don’t look in the Brower’s Preferences. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. At the bottom under Full Keyboard Access select All Controls.

Set Your Wallpaper with Safari.
Quickly set your wallpaper by dragging the image into Safari. Right Click the image and “Set As Desktop Background…”

ZOOM ZOOM in Safari
The zoom feature in Safari works just like Safari on the iPhone. Instead of just increasing the font size, it increases the size of images and other media as well. To access this tool go to View > Zoom In or Zoom Out. You can also use Command + and Command -. Take it one step further Left clicking your toolbar or choosing View > Customize Toolbar to add the zoom buttons.

Emailing Web Pages.
Find a web page in Safari you want to share with a friend, don’t send them just a boring old link — send them the page itself. Just press Command+I and a email with the page it in will appear. Simply type in the email address of the person you want to send the web page to.

Bookmark Multiple Tabs in Safari.
If you have more than 1 tab open in Safari and want to Bookmark them all go to: Bookmarks > Add Bookmark For These (#) Tabs.

Tab through Safari Tabs.
Cycle through your Tabs like a pro by holding down Control+Tab. Tap Tab to move forward.

Safari Tab Shortcuts.
Working in Safari and want to open a link but don’t want to loose your spot on your current tab. Try holding down Command + Shift and Click the desired link and it will open a new tab and immediately display the page.

Merge Windows with Safari (Manage Windows in Safari)
Safari 3/4 now allows you to drag and drop tabs. You can drag a tab off the bar to create a new window or drag it onto an existing window to add it. You can also use this to rearrange the order of your tabs. If you have lots of open windows each with different numbers of tabs, there is an easier way to get them all into one instead of dragging and dropping. In the Window menu you will find the “Merge All Windows” command. This will instantly combine all your open windows into one tabbed window.

Improve your MacBook Pro’s Performance: MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air

cberkeley — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:02:39 +0000

Troubleshooting your MacBook Pro Performance

Improve your MacBook Pro’s Performance

I have been using Apple’s MacBook Pro line since they first came out in 2006 and have serviced quite a few since then. I have pulled together some helpful tips to help you increase your performance and get the most out of your MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. These tips address best use practices, dealing with sluggish performance and battery issues.

Good Sound Apple Advice
Right out of the box make sure you follow some of the tips found in the MacBook Manual. This includes conditioning your battery and other helpful tips.

Increase Your Performance
If you leave your MacBook on 24/7 only plugging it in to recharge it and you notice in decrease performance you might want to consider shutting it down waiting a while and then restarting. Most people say that the MacBook should be designed to operate all the time but you should give it a rest once and a while mainly because it needs to run maintenance scripts in the background. These maintenance scripts run every hour, day or week and if you contently put it to sleep it won’t have the opportunity to run them. When you restart the system checks the last time they have been run and forcibly runs the ones you haven’t run in a while.

Another way to increase performance is to check your Energy Saver Preferences and see what your graphics are set to. Go to System Preferences > Energy Saver. Click on the Graphics pane at the top and enable ‘Higher Performance’ instead of ‘Better Battery Life’. This forces your MacBook to run faster graphics instead of the lower more energy efficient on.

Single Button Trackpad Troubles
If your MacBook (late 2008) is one with a single button and found that it is sometime unresponsive then your are probably due for a Firmware Update. You can restore your trackpad back to its old glory by installing the MacBook Pro Trackpad Firmware Update 1.0. One note of warning here that if the Firmware install gets interrupted, or was interrupted, for any reason you may wind up with an nonfunctional trackpad. If this happens you will need to find a wired mouse and perform the Firmware update again.

Battery Not Holding a Charge
This is a common issue with most MacBooks that are now 2 years old. Make sure you have conditioned your MacBook Battery, check out my Getting Started guide for MacBook. If you feel a new battery might be your next step make sure you have installed the latest MacBook Pro Battery Update. How to tell if the battery update has been installed.

Go to SystemConfiguration folder: From the Go menu select Go to Folder.
Type: /System/Library/SystemConfiguration
Click Go.
Select the file named BatteryUpdater.bundle.
From the File menu, choose Get Info and check the Version or type Command-I.
If the version is BatteryUpdater 1.3 your system and battery are up to date.

If installing the batter update does not work you can test your battery with coconutBattery. coconutBattery shows your current charge of your battery and its current maximum capacity in relation to its original factory capacity. This might prove that you need a new battery and a visit to the Apple Store might be in order. Your MacBook might qualify for a new battery even if it is out of warranty.

Sleep Issues
If your MacBook Pro doesn’t turn on or start up after being turned off or going to sleep try the following suggestions in order until your computer turns on:

Make sure the power adapter is plugged into the computer and into a functioning power outlet. If the power adapter is not charging you won’t see the indicator light on the power adapter turn on when you plug in the power cord. Try unplugging and replugging the power cord to reseat it on the MacBook and try a different outlet.
Check whether the battery needs to be recharged. Press the small button on the left side of your computer. You should see one to eight lights indicating the battery’s level of charge. If a single light indicator light is on, connect your power adapter to recharge. If you press the battery button, and all battery indicator lights flash five times quickly you may need a new battery.
Try returning the computer to its factory settings by disconnecting the power adapter and holding down the power button for at least 5 seconds.
If you recently installed additional memory, make sure that it is correctly seated and compatible with your MacBook. Try removing the new RAM and reinstalling the old chips allows the computer to start up.
Press the power button and immediately hold down Command+Option+P+R keys simultaneously until you hear the startup sound a second time. This resets the parameter RAM (PRAM).

Links for 2010-02-10 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PST

Apple IPad Parts Cost as Little as $219, ISuppli Says (Update1)
Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computer carries component costs of as little as $219.35, less than half its retail price, according to a preliminary estimate by market research firm ISuppli Corp.

Links for 2010-01-02 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

10 Million Apple Tablets? A Glance Back for Perspective - PC World
The rumors run rampant as we await news of the Apple Tablet. It seems that one thing is out there that it will take the name 'iSlate', at least for now. PC World reports a run down of Apples previous product debuts giving us an idea of the benchmark of success that we can expect with the coming of the new Apple Tablet. Here's hoping in 2010 that we will see Apple's new tablet!
1st Annual ‘Show Me Your Mac’ Photo Contest | Mac Users Guide
Mac Users Guide has launched its first annual 'Show Me Your Mac' Photo Contest. Anyone over 18 can enter with little or a lot of photo ability. To enter your image upload your photo to the Mac Users Guide Flickr Group and tag it with MyMac2010. Limit one image per entry and submit before January 31, 2010. Prizes include a $10 gift card and your image posted on Mac Users Guide!

Links for 2009-12-14 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

Mac OS X v10.6: About incompatible software
When you install Snow Leopard or migrate to Snow Leopard, known-incompatible software is moved to a folder named Incompatible Software on your hard drive. Snow Leopard also prevents known-incompatible software from opening. If you see an "Incompatible software" message, contact the software's vendor or visit their website for a later, compatible version

Links for 2009-12-04 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

Google Public DNS
Not entirely Apple related but still note worthy this week is Google's Public DNS. I have been using it since they first mentioned it and have noticed a slight difference in speed. Try it and see.

Links for 2009-11-27 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

To do list, simple, easy, fast, sharable: Ta-da List
Looking for FREE iPhone Apps? Try web based sites like TaDa List. One major flaw in the iPhone is the lack of a todo list software package that synchronize online, desktop and iphone. TaDa list is a fast, simple to-do web based application that has replaced the Notes App. Just create and account and visit the site on your iPhone. Log in and Click the + at the bottom of your iPhone Safari to Add to Home Screen.

Links for 2009-11-23 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Block Posters - Create large wall posters from any image for free!
With the holidays coming up you might want to make your own full size poster. This is a great idea and this software is free and helps you compose your full size poster using your printer.
Macintosh Laptops: Apple MacBook Pro – Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz | Mac Users Guide
I just picked one of these up before the holidays and man is it great. I photographed it recently to share on Mac Users Guide. Introduced in late 2008 the new aluminum uni-body a new long lasting battery, High-performance NVIDIA LED display, 8 GB of RAM, iSight Camera, Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking, Bluetooth and a 500 GB hard dirve.
The Complete iMac History -- Bondi to Aluminum
Complete iMac History on Mac Life. Show the complete line of Apple iMacs.

Links for 2009-11-20 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

New Apple Products--as Imagined by the Elite Gadget Press | Mac|Life
I have been following news about the Apple Tablet for the past year and am always excited when I find a new lead. These are not real products hitting the market but are new Apple Products as imagined by Elite Gadget Press. You have to check out these out as they are very imaginative.