Author: Joe

Categories
Opinion

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

A previous article said Lion would be released July 14th. That date has come and gone, but where is Lion? Steve Jobs in his presentation at WWDC said Lion would ship “some time in July.” When in July? Guesses from July 6th to July 14th to July 26th have all been thrown in the air. Even the best Apple pundits have been stumped.

I think an unintended consequence of releasing software as download only has presented itself: there is no physical stock of install discs to tip the Apple community as to when a release will definitely happen.

What does it matter? Well, for one, Mac Geeks such as myself are forced to check the rumor mills constantly for some sign of Lion approaching. It also shows just how much control Apple has over its products. I must admit that they have been playing their hand very close to the chest to have fooled so many websites. Another implication is that those wishing to prep his or her Macs for the upgrade have no idea when they’ll need to get it done by.

However, sources are now guessing more confidently that July 26th will be it.

What do you think? Will uncertainty cloud the release of future download only upgrades, or does it not matter to know when an OS upgrade will release?

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Average Joe's Tips

The Basics and More: Dictionary

Basics of How to Use:

The Dictionary application given to you by Apple is an everyday application that is very simple, but I am going to show you how to get the most out of this everyday application. Like any Dictionary you just type in the word and a definition appears, but with this not only a definition, and thesaurus appear, but also information from Wikipedia about the subject you searched. For people who have trouble seeing the font on the computer you can easily enlarger or shrink the font by clicking the small or large A on the Top Menu Bar.

Things to Note

Some important things to note are that the dictionary and thesaurus will work without Internet, but the Wikipedia section of the dictionary will not. Another thing that is great about Dictionary is that when you read a definition and there is a word that you don’t know, you can select that word and it brings up that definition.

Conclusion

It is obvious that this application is very useful for everyday life whether it is understanding complicated words or expanding your vocab.

 

Stay connected at my new twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

Categories
Average Joe's Tips

The Basics and More: Calculator

 

Basics:

The Calculator app is a very self-explanatory app. It works like a normal calculator where you can select the numbers by keyboard or by mouse. The coolest thing about this app is instead of wasting time by opening the app you can go into spotlight (command + spacebar) and type in a math problem you have like 5 — 5, and under that in the spotlight search should come the answer from the calculator app.

Views and Converters:

Views and converters are the two more complicated features in this app. Views allows you to choose between three calculators: Basic, Scientific, and Programmer. To access Views you go up to the Top Menu Bar and click on views and underneath it will give you the options that were previously listed. It also gives you a few other options like viewing the history of what you clicked on in calculator called RPN.

The converters are a very useful tool in Calculator, which allows you to convert anything from money to time. To convert go to the Top Menu Bar and select Convert and the Drop Down Menu will show you a list of what it will allow you to convert, select one, and a screen will pop up on the calculator. Fill in the information for what you specifically wanted to convert. It might seem like nothing happened, but type in an amount on the calculator and press the equal sign and it will convert that number.

Overview:

The Calculator app is another effective app given to us by apple. It also shows you that it is not just a calculator which many people think, but three different kinds of calculators, and a convertor.

 

Stay connected at my new twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

 

 

Categories
Average Joe's Tips

The Basics and More: Dashboard

Use & Basics:

Dashboard’s main use is to allow you to view widgets. For those of you who do not know what widgets are they are tools that allow you to view or control certain things like music or weather from dashboard. You can download all different kinds of widgets. To add as a side note there are certain widgets like Movies, which can act as a movie billboard or transform into ticket machine where you can select the movie you want, theater, and time.

Where to Get More Widgets:

Dashboard would not be fun if there weren’t so many widgets. The best place to get widgets are from Apple. If you can’t find a specific widget you want you can always visit third party places on Google. What makes widgets even better is that they are that they are free, and you able to download what ever you want.

Web Clip Widget:

One special widget that comes standard is Web Clip. This widget allows you to view and control things online without opening your browser. To do this go into Safari, select File, and click on “Open in Dashboard…” From there select what areas in the website you want. Note that you can only do this in Safari and that the size you select on Safari is the size you will get. An important tip for when using Web Clip is that you are only able to control online sites that stay on one page like a game, and not Facebook because you are moving from page to page.

Overview:

All in all, Dashboard is a great and useful application. Where it lets you be the controller of endless amounts of widgets. This is definitely one of the many great perks to owning a Mac.

 

Stay connected at my new twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

Categories
Opinion

Lion only $29, App Store download

In my previous article about OS X 7 Lion, I mentioned how one of my concerns for the new operating system was the price. If it sold for anything over $100, I wasn’t going to really consider it. Well, looks like I don’t need to put any more thought into whether or not to buy it because the price is right. For only $29 you get a full step up in an operating system that touts many new features. That alone is a pretty crazy notion.

But wait, there’s more! Apple is again shifting paradigms on their heads. Lion will only be available as a 4 GB Mac App Store download this July. No install disc. No flash drive. Nothing physical at all. You can read more about the specifics of downloading Lion at Apple.

The catch? From what I can tell, only anyone with the latest version of Snow Leopard will be able to access Lion. I can only guess that this means if you have Leopard, it will cost you $29 to upgrade to Snow Leopard and then another $29 to get Lion. Even at $60, that’s still a value, but a bit daunting. There really isn’t a shortcut to it either, because it’s all based in the Snow-Leopard-only-Mac-App-Store. It will be interesting to see if there’s some work around to archive the Lion install on a flash drive.

Furthermore, the Intel Core Duo folks are finally forsaken to upgrades. In Apple’s typical fashion, they’re cutting out the hardware they consider “cruft.” Snow Leopard seemed to portray that only Intel Core 2 Duo Macs would be able to install it. I shirked the warning and was able to get Snow Leopard running just fine on my Core Duo MacBook. While, I don’t have my MacBook anymore, I still couldn’t imagine running Lion on it. The Core 2 Duo folks are still in the running, but it’s only a matter of time.

It was hard to get a good impression of Lion without a developer copy and without any more information than the Apple site provided. But with WWDC underway, Apple has finally revealed more of their hand to the general public.

I’ve seen what I need to see. In addition to the cool new features, the price can not be beat. Now we’ll see how hard it will be to download it the moment it becomes available.

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