My whole goal with my calendars is two fold. One, I want to be able to share calendars with my wife so that we can keep up with each others schedule. Two, to be able to access and edit my calendar from just about any where, meaning from any of my iOS devices and any web browser if need be and have it sync across all of my devices. With the introduction of iCloud and the new iOS 5, I now have, what I feel is a better solution to syncing and accessing my calendar from just about any where. Let me show you how I set this up.

The first thing you are going to want to do is make sure you update all your software on your Mac and your iOS devices. This is going to be crucial to all of this actually working. Once this is done, and let me tell you, it will take a bit to do this, the next thing you need to do is set up iCloud on your Mac and your iOS devices.

For the Mac, it is pretty easy. The first thing you are going to do is go to the System Preferences. Then you are going to want to click on the iCloud icon.

Then you will set up your iCloud by logging in with your Apple ID credentials. From here in order to have iCloud on your Mac you need to click on the box next to the Calendar. You are now done setting up iCloud on your Mac as far as your calendars go.

Next, you are going to want to setup iCloud on your iOS devices. You are going to want to click on Settings and then click on iCloud. Again, you will be asked to put in your Apple ID credentials. When you are done, you are then going to turn “On” your calendars.

Now the last thing you need to do is setup your calendars on iCal. This is where it will take a little time. You have to now create calendars in iCal that are iCloud calendars. This is the only way that your calendars will now sync across all your devices. You are going to want to click on File, New Calendar, and then iCloud. This will create a new iCloud calendar. You can then label it what you want. Lets say you call it “Work”. This calendar now will be in sync with all of your devices that you have installed iCloud on. If you already have different calendars on there and you want to convert them over to iCloud calendars that would be easy to do as well.

As far as sharing goes, this is pretty easy to do. All you have to do is click on Calendars and then right click on the calendar that you want to share. Then you are going to want to click on “Sharing Settings…”.

You can now set up your calendar to share with whoever you want. You have the choice of making it a public calendar by sharing it with everyone or you can invite people to read and/write your on your calendar. In my case, I only want to share my calendar with my wife, so I will click on “Only the people you invite.” Then I will type her email and let her read and write this specific calendar. Once this is done, your calendar will now be shared with whoever you specified.

Now your calendars are synced across your Mac and your iOS devices. But what if for some reason you are at a computer that is not yours and you don’t have any of your iOS devices with you? No fear, you can always edit or check your calendar on the web at iCloud.com. All you have to do is log in and you can then access your iCal calendars, among other things that are there. And this is not a slouch of a web version of iCal. In fact it looks pretty close to the Mac version of iCal. There you can edit and check your calendars just like you would on the actual iCal. And since this is also part of iCal, it will sync across all the rest of your devices as well.

So there you go, a different solution to the Google Cal sync to iCal. Do I like this solution better than Google Cal and iCal? In short, yes I do. I like that I only have to deal with iCal and not worry about Google Cal and Google Sync as well as iCal. The set up is a lot easier and the up keep is pretty easy as well.

What do you think? Do you like this solution or are you a diehard Google Cal person? Do you have a different solution that you like? Hit me up in the comments and let me know. Also, feel free to ask any questions about this process.

Now, granted, the jury is still somewhat out on Google + and whether it is going to be a viable threat to both Twitter and Facebook. Although Google + gained a lot of traction early on, the traction that it got was somewhat misleading. Yes, a lot of people started using it, but the big question is, will people stay with it? Is there room for three social networks?

Regardless, there are a fair amount of you that want to update all three social networks. Up until recently, there really wasn’t an easy way to do this. But, that has all changed with a simple Chrome and Firefox plugin called Publish Sync. As far as I know it is one of the only plugins that will actually update all three of your social networks at once.

All you have to do is download the extension on Chrome or the plugin on Firefox first. Then you set up your social networks within the plugin and you are off and running. It is really that simple.

What happens is that when you are either in Facebook, Google +, or the web version of Twitter, and you want to update your status, all you have to do is start typing in the status update box. You will then see boxes below for the other two networks and you have the option of posting to both of them or one of them. Again, it is that simple.

As you can see form the screenshot above, I am about ready to update my status in Facebook and because I have the plugin already installed, I can also choose to publish my status to both Google + and Twitter. The one other nice thing about this plugin is that you can choose what circle in Google + you want to send your status to. So maybe you only want certain people to see your status, you can make sure to check the appropriate boxes so that your status only goes to them.

Screenshot of updating status in Twitter

Screenshot of updating status in Google +

Other than that there is not much else to this. It is easy to set up and use and comes in very handy. The plugin is still in its somewhat early stages so there can be a few missed statuses here and there, but it works as advertised. Best of all it is free, doesn’t cost you anything.

So what do you think? Would you use something like this? Is there anything else out there that does what this plugin in does?

Introducing PandaBar. PandaBar is a simple app that lives in your menubar. It is a Pandora player for your Mac and it works great. After you download it from the Mac App Store and put in your Pandora credentials, you are now off and running.

It works almost like the Pandora website does. You can switch between your different stations. You can like or dislike a song as well. There are even keyboard shortcuts! You can use the media keys on your keyboard to control PandaBar as well. That is a very nice feature to have.

The best part about this app is the fact that you don’t have to listen to ads by Pandora, even if you have a free account! I tested it out with a free account and a paid account and they both work the same, no ads! That alone is worth getting this app. The one minor thing that worries me is that I wonder if at some point Pandora will put an end to this. But for now, take advantage of it!

Other than that, that is pretty much it for this app. It is a simple, easy to use, menubar app for Pandora. I love using it and I use it every day. It’s available on the Mac App Store for $1.99. I honestly think that is a steal for this app, being that you don’t have to pay for ads. Overall, great app and can’t wait to see what features they are going to put in next.

Are you a frequent iTunes searcher? I know I am always looking for the latest and greatest apps, music, and books for my iOS devices. But, opening up iTunes can sometimes be so slow at times. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could search iTunes without having to actually open iTunes? This is where an app like Tunesque comes into play very nicely.

Like, I mentioned earlier, Tunesque is a menubar app that gives you the opportunity to search the iTunes library. And it is not just for music, you can search, books, apps, podcasts, practically anything you would look for in the actual iTunes, you can search for in Tunesque.

When using the app, all you have to do is type in what you want to search for in iTunes into the Search bar. You will then get a populated list of different items from the iTunes library. There are a couple of neat things that you can see from here. The first is that if you want to only look at iPad apps from what you searched for, you can use the short cut key that is assigned in the top right corner for each different item in iTunes. For example, if I just wanted to see iPad apps, according to the picture above, I would click on Command button and the number 6 to see just iPad apps.

 As you are searching through you can put your mouse over an item and it out will pop a display window displaying information about that particular item. The nice part is that the display window will show you information about that particular item you are searching for, for the most part. Some of the types of items may not have descriptions for it.

Once you find the item that you want, you can click on it and then you will be directed to iTunes so that you can download what you want. You can also modify the search so that it only searches certain things. For example, if you strictly want to search iTunes for just iOS apps, you can tweak it so that Tunesque just searches for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad apps.

The best part about this app is that it is totally free. You can head over to the Tunesque website and download the latest version of the app. Marco Tabini, who is the creator of the app is a great guy to follow as well. If you are a heavy iTunes user and even if you are a casual user, this is a great menubar app to have for the Mac. It has come in so handy.

Fantastical is a calendar app for your Mac. Now, before you get bored and decide “Oh, not another calendar app.” or “What can this calendar app that any other calendar app can’t do?” Well, instead of me writing about it, I felt the best way to communicate how cool this calendar application is, was to actually show you how it works. So with that, take a look at the video below.

As you can see Fantastical is a great calendar app that takes your natural language and is able to put it into the calendar for you. Talk about saving you some time. You can get Fantastical from the Mac App Store for $20. In my opinion, it is well worth the price. The ease of use and the fact that it syncs with all of the major calendar applications, makes it a no brainer for me.

First, the all new Macbook Air. You can get it in 11 or 13 inch screen sizes. The processor on these Macs got bumped up to 1.8 GHz from the previous Air’s. You can also get 2 or 4GB of memory and up to 256 GB of flash storage. You also now can get a Thunderbolt port in these new Air’s, but at the moment, it won’t really do much for you because there really isn’t a lot of Thunderbolt accessories that are out on the market. The base 11 inch model will cost you around $1000 and if you want to beef it up with more RAM or storage, you are looking to spend somewhere between $1100 and $1300. For the 13 inch model, the base starts at $1300. The only thing you can upgrade in this model is the storage which would put the new price around $1600. What makes this line of Macbook’s so intriguing is the thickness, coming in at less than an inch thick.

Now, when you look at the Macbook Pro lineup, you will notice a significant difference. The Macbook Pro comes in three different screen sizes, 13, 15, and 17 inch. You will also notice that the Macbook Pro is bigger and faster in every other category as well. They have bigger hard drives (500GB to 750 GB), more RAM 4GB to 8GB), and a faster processor (2.3 GHz). Plus it has got a little longer battery life versus the Macbook Air. It also has a HD camera for FaceTime whereas the Macbook Air only has a SD camera for FaceTime. There are a couple other features that the Macbook Pro has that the Macbook Air doesn’t.

Even with all the shortcomings of the Air as compared to the Pro, you still are hearing that many people are flocking to the Air. So why in the world would you buy an Air instead of a Pro if the features are that much less than the Pro? That is the $100 question.  As you are going out to your local Apple Store or going to Apple.com to purchase your new Macbook. There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the right Macbook for you.

Why The Air Makes Sense

The Macbook Air would make the most sense for those who need to or want to be mobile. Maybe you are on the go a lot, you travel, or just want a computer that you can always carry around with you. Then the Macbook Air is the way to go. It is a great secondary computer for you to take around for work, or on trips. This is exactly the reason that I am getting it. I have a great Mac at home that I use, but I travel around a lot for work and need something light that I can lug around with me throughout the day. Yes, you do sacrifice, storage space and RAM. But if you are using the Air for what it is intended to be used for, you won’t need a ton of space and RAM. Most Air users are using applications like Google Docs or Dropbox to store their files in the cloud and they are not running intensive apps like Photoshop all the time. They need a Macbook that they can surf the net, check email, word processing and maybe a few more things. They have a home computer to store photos and music and to work on more intensive apps. If this sounds like you, the Air makes perfect sense for you.

Why The Pro Makes Sense

The Macbook Pro makes sense for users who want more of a desktop experience, but still want the mobility of a laptop. With all of the options to beef up the Macbook Pro, you really can get a pretty solid computer out of it that will let you store lots of files, music, and photos on it, without having to put your stuff in the cloud. You will also get a longer battery life so you will be able to stay unplugged for longer and not have to worry about finding a place to always charge up. And if you want to tinker with photo and/or video editing and have lots of apps open, this Macbook will handle that. Of course, all of this comes with a higher price tag, possibly even higher than a similar spec’d iMac. But, you don’t care because you still want a machine that you can take with you, even if it means sacrificing a little more money and some weight as compared to the Macbook Air.

 In the end you will have to decide what is best for you and your situation. Hopefully, I have been able to give you some insight as to what each Macbook does and who it is good for. Feel free to ask any questions or leave your thoughts in the comments. 

One of the great new features in the new OS X of Lion is the fact that Apple implemented many great gesture features. Gestures, are a feature that Apple has slowly been starting to migrate to more and more. With the advent of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad, swiping and flicking have started to become a part of the experience of using an Apple product. So it only made sense that Apple would start to implement gestures into the Mac. With Lion, Apple took advantage of this in an even greater way than before. When used properly, this can really help you with using your Mac. Let me show you some of the new gestures and what they do.

First of all, one gesture that should be familiar with everyone is the scrolling gesture. When you use the trackpad, if you swipe with two fingers up or down, you can scroll through whatever app you have open. When you are using the Magic Mouse, this same feature works with just one finger.

If you want to access Mission Control, then you are going to want to use a three finger swipe up. This will then let you access it. To get out of Mission Control, you just do the opposite, which is a three finger swipe down. If you want to do this on a Magic mouse, you would do a two finger, double tap on it.

This next gesture is one of my favorites. You can now swipe through your open apps if they are on different screens. For example, lets say I have Firefox open on one screen and iPhoto open on another. I can just use a three finger swipe to the left or right to get to each application. With a Magic Mouse, I would use a two finger swipe to the left or right to do this.

There are also a few gestures that Apple put in Lion specifically for Safari. Let me show you them.

When you are in Safari, you can do a two finger tap on the trackpad and that will zoom in on where your mouse currently is. If you want to zoom out, you just do a two finger tap again. With a Magic Mouse you would do a one finger tap to zoom in and out wherever your mouse is.

Another way to zoom in and out is pinch to zoom. Most people who have used iOS devices are familiar with this as this is a feature that is widely used. This feature can be used in Safari and iPhoto. I have also gotten it to work with Chrome. Unfortunately, if you have a Magic Mouse, this feature doesn’t work on it.

The last gesture is called swipe to navigate. When in Safari, instead of having to hit the Back and Forward button to go between web pages, you can now swipe left or right with two fingers to go back and forth between sites. This is definitely a nice feature to have. Again, unfortunately, this doesn’t work with the Magic Mouse.

Well, there you have it. I hope these gestures will help you become more efficient with your Mac. As you can see, Apple, is really wanting you to use either your trackpad on your Macbook or to get a Magic Trackpad to take full advantage of all of the features.

As most of you know who follow The Easy Mac, I am a fan of ZooGue and Tim Angel, the genius behind the company. I have been able to review ZooGue cases for the iPad and the iPad 2. I have always been a fan of the ZooGue case, for the most part, as I love that I can have my iPad at any angle.

This time around, Tim came up with something totally different. He shot me an email a week or two ago and told me he had been working on a case for students. Naturally, my interest was piqued. As a school teacher and one who loves tech, I really got excited for this. So I asked him if I could take a look at what he had been working on. The minute I saw the pics, I knew this was going to be a winner. Let me show it to you.

The design for this new iPad case, or as it is called a binder pouch is radically different than what previous ZooGue cases look like. But, this makes sense because it is meant for students. The basic design reminds me somewhat of what a pencil pouch would look like, except instead of pencils, you put your iPad in it.

Well, Lion is finally here. And whether we like it or not, this is the first time that Apple is not releasing OS X on a disk. So it got me thinking. What are the many ways that you can obtain Lion? So I came up with a list. Some of them cost money, and others don’t. Most of these I believe are legit and legal. There are some that I am not sure if you may be bending the rules or not, but hey, it is worth a shot. Like the saying goes “Act now, as for forgiveness later.”

1. The Mac App Store ($29.99)

Ok, this is the most obvious choice out of all of them. This is where Lion is mainly being sold and this is where Apple wants you to go and buy Lion. But what if you don’t want to? That is where the rest of this list comes in handy. 

2. Spouse, Significant Other, Friend (Possibly Free)

Not quite sure if this is a loophole on Apple’s part of if this is something they know is going on and they really don’t care much about it at this point. But, there is a process by where you can share your Mac apps with someone else. All you have to do is log into your account on their computer in iTunes. I go into more detail about it here. To be perfectly honest, this is how my wife and I got Lion. I bought it first and then I let her use my iTunes account and she was able to download Lion on her computer for free, essentially. The only downfall to this method is that when you want to update, you have to make sure you are signed in as the person who you got Lion from. Your iTunes account can only be active on 5 computers, so this is somewhat limited to that amount. So, if you are lucky, maybe your spouse, significant other, and quite possibly a friend may be willing to just do this for you. You probably owe them big time after this though.

3. Apple Store ($29.99)

Not sure how many people will actually do this. But I am sure there will be a handful of people that will. You can actually go to the Apple Store and they will install Lion for you. Make sure you bring your Mac with you. This is a great option for those that don’t have a fast internet connection or are just a little leery about loading Lion themselves.

4. Apple USB Drive (too much….I’am sorry mean to say $69)

Ok, I sounded off on this in my previous post. I still can’t believe Apple is doing this.  But starting some time in August, you can buy a USB Drive from Apple, that has Lion on it. Then you can bring it home and load Lion on your computer this way. Now, I am going to be perfectly honest here, you either have to be lazy as all get out or have money to burn, which in that case, go here, and donate to my Macbook Air fund. I won’t get going on this, but I still cannot believe anyone would spend 3 times the amount of money for a piece of software just to get it on a USB drive from Apple.

5. iTunes Gift Cards (Possibly Free)

If you are like me you got iTunes gift cards laying around from stocking stuffers from Christmas or birthdays. I hardly ever use them, unless I need to make a big purchase and this could warrant that. If you do have iTunes gift cards, that is great news because you can use that free money to go toward your Lion purchase on the Mac App Store. Yes, even though it says “iTunes” on it, you can still use it on the Mac App Store. Here’s to hoping you have at least $30 worth of iTunes gift cards!

6. “Borrow” a bootable disk or drive (Possibly Free)

There are tons of tutorials online on how to make a backup of Lion on a DVD or USB drive. Maybe you have got one of those “friends” that already bought Lion and would be willing to do this for you.  Provide them the DVD, maybe even brush up on the tutorial so you know what you are doing, and then convince them that this is a good idea, and maybe you could score yourself a copy of Lion on DVD.

The downside to this method is that whenever Lion comes out with updates, you are not going to be able to update your software. This is because you would have to do it through the Mac App Store.
Ok, so there you have it. These are my suggestions as to how you can legally or at least somewhat legally get Lion. By no means am I endorsing getting Lion in an illegal way. Can you think of any other ways? Leave a comment down below.

Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a USB thumb drive through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) for $69 (US).

I like that Apple is giving people the option of coming in and downloading Lion that way. But who in their right mind would want to pay $69 for Lion on a stinking thumb drive? Really? Does Apple really think that someone will pay over double the price for it? I guess, the better question to ask is, WHY would you pay that price just to get Lion on a USB drive?

I get that Apple has to charge more because they have to cover costs for the actual USB drive, but $69 more? If you have a USB drive laying around why not just ask someone to burn you a copy Lion on a DVD or USB drive for you? And if you are worried that you won’t have a physical backup of Lion, there truly isn’t much to worry about here. Let’s say your Mac crashes and you need to re-install Lion. Take it down to your nearest Apple Store, they can probably look up your Mac App Store purchase history, or show them your receipt and I am sure they can load Lion for you then.

What this comes down to is convenience and piece of mind. Having the USB drive gives people the convenience and piece of mind that if something were to go wrong or if they are afraid of downloading from the Mac App Store, they have a physical copy. I am going to be honest, that is a high price to pay for that!

Any thoughts? Am I just out of my mind?