Author: Joe

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Average Joe's Tips

Best Mac Setups: MacBook Pro and iMac

This week I am going to do something new, and instead of giving you my usual tip or trick I am going to show you some cool MacBook Pro and Mac setups.

Let’s get started talking about this first photo of the MacBook Pro setup. In this photo you see a 13-inch MacBook Pro being held up by a stand, an apple wireless keyboard, a 17-inch Samsung monitor mounted on the wall, speakers on the side, and a mouse. Some things that I like about this is how the screen is mounted on the wall and how much extra desk space that gives you. Something that would make this set up better would be if you mounted the speakers on the wall too, get a larger desk, and add a printer on an extra table.

This one might seem a lot better then the previous setup and I do agree. In this photo there are three Apple Cinema Displays, a Mac Pro, an iSight, speaker system, and a 13-inch MacBook. I don’t kno

w where to start so I will start with the triple action Cinema Display that gives you tons of room to multitask with, and on top of the third Cinema Display to the left i

s an iSight. Then there is an extra MacBook that comes in handy for travel. Also if you haven’t notice they have a very cool and comfortable looking chair to sit in. There isn’t very much that you need to change with this setup, but one thing that I would change would be to add a Powermat so that you can charge your phone and iPod with no messy wires.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let us know.

[Image Source] [Image Source 2]

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Average Joe's Tips

How to: Report an Accidental Purchase in the iTunes Store

Multiple times while using iTunes I had accidentally purchased a song twice not knowing that I had it before. To do this there are multiple quick and easy steps to this starting with opening iTunes and signing in. After that click on “Store” on the top and then click “View my account:_____.” Then click on the “Purchase History” and in the top section under “Latest Purchases” you will see a list of your recent purchases. On the right side of the item you purchased, the link “Report a Problem” will be there and it will bring you to the Apple iTunes Support website. From there you can select your problem and it will bring up things that you can do to fix the problem or you can email Apple’s iTunes Store Customer Service.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let us know how it worked?

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Weekly Apple Update 10/25/10

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Average Joe's Tips

How to: Download Free YouTube Videos in Safari

Don’t you want to watch your favorite YouTube videos on the go without having to wait for it to load the whole way? With a couple of easy steps and a few minutes you’ll have them on your iPhone in no time. The first step to this is launching Safari and opening up the YoutTube video that you want to download. Then (even if it is still loading) you go up to “Window” and scroll down to “Activity” and click on it. You will see a list of stuff that is helping to load the video, but the only one that you will need to click on is the largest file that should probably be in megabits you can select the file even if it is still loading, and to select the file press “alt” and left click. The video then will download into your “Downloads” and the last step is to drag bring it into iTunes. To do this you will need to download an application to convert the file to allow it to play on your iPhone or iPod. The application you will download is HandBrake. After you finish downloading HandBrake open it and select the “videoplayback” and click start. When the video is done converting name it and drag it into iTunes. The video should then be under “Movies” in iTunes and then after that just sync it up with your iPhone of iPod.

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Average Joe's Tips

How to: Customize Icons in Mac OS X for Free

One thing that I always liked to do was customize my computer icons so that they would look cool and stands out from the crowd. For that same reason I want to show you two different ways to customize your icons. The first way that to customize your icons are by just going to the apple website and downloading icons or by downloading apps.

I would recommend this way of customizing your icons for people who have a lot of time or really want personalized apps. First access the Apple Download’s page and then look through the list of icons, screensavers, and ect but when you look through the list make sure what you select is an icon download and not a screensaver or something else. You can even do this with your own pictures by opening them in preview and cropping the part that you want and clicking “Command + C. After you download the file open it up and you will notice that they are just thumbnails. What you need to do is select one of the thumbnails and click “Command + C”. From that point go to the app(s) that you want to customize in finder, select it, and press “Command + I”. Then on the top left of the new screen that popped up should be the icon and select the icon and click “Command + V”. After that the thumbnail that you copied should have replaced the old icon.

For those of you people who don’t want to waste to much time replacing every app you can just download and app. Some of my favorite two of my favorite apps that I use for downloading is “Candy Bar” and for my dock “Dock Library”. For “Candy Bar” you can either put “Change all icons” or you can select certain icons that you want you customize. Now  “Dock Library” is a little more confusing because you have to go to different websites like Lepoard Docks and download the a few neat custom docks. What “Dock Library” is for is to actually convert your dock. The way to do that is after you download the custom dock that you want you go into “Dock Library” and import them by clicking the “Import” sign on the top. The Dock should appear below and from there you select the dock on the bottom that you want and click activate.

Overall, no matter what tool you use, make sure your dock bounces off the wall!

What do you think? Leave a comment with a link to a picture of your dock? Who’s is the coolest?