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Add A Page Turn Effect in iPhoto
If you haven’t checked out iPhoto ’09’s bounty of slideshow options, it’s about time you tried. Here’s how to add a page-turn effect No longer does the term ‘slideshow’ invoke involuntarily yawns and vividly spun excuses, as using iPhoto ’09 to create an exciting showcase of your favourite pictures is one way to guarantee excitement! Slideshows are a fantastic way of showcasing your prized pictures; whether they are from baby’s first birthday or your collection of rare roses, slideshows can take the hassle out of flicking through your frames and they allow you time to enjoy them with the audience. What is more, you can add music and captions for greater creativity. But another way to liven things up is to add a transition. There are a whole host of exciting effects to choose between, and you can affect the speed and direction of your slideshows too. In this easy peasy four-step tutorial we’ll show you exactly how to add our favourite transition – the Page Flip!
1: Open upWith a collection of images selected travel down to the plus icon at the bottom of the interface. Select this and plump for Slideshow from the drop-down menu. Pick Classic from the choice of templates.
2: SettingsFrom the row of icons underneath your slideshow select Settings. Opt for the tab labelled All Slides, check the box listed as Transitions, now open the drop-down menu and source Page Flip.
3: Preview and playWhen ready hit the Preview icon to watch the slideshow within the Edit Suite interface. Note that when Preview is in action the icon turns blue. To watch your show in full-screen glory, hit the Play icon.
4: ExportIf you are happy with your slideshow, why not export and share it? Head to the File menu and find Export, or use shortcut Cmd+E. Find Slideshow on the tabs and choose a viewing format and method.Source: iCreate Magazine
15 Awesome Google Services You Never Knew Existed
Whether you're sending an email in Gmail, finding directions to that fancy restaurant using Google Maps, or pretending to be a part of the latest microblogging craze with Google Buzz, the G-word is everywhere. Well, it turns out that there is also a whole library of Google web applications and services stacked up behind the everyday services you may have come to take for granted.Most of the mega company's services are either full blown web applications readily available to the public, or secretly tucked away behind a door in the Google Labs. However, even those wearing their Public Beta scrubs are readily available to play with. We've gone and picked through fifteen Google services you may not have heard of before, but can definitely benefit from. Try them out, and if you have any suggestions of ones we may have missed, leave a note in the comments.Never miss another important headline
If you're tired of missing out on the week’s most important headlines, set Google News Timeline as your browser’s home page and you’ll never be out of the loop again. This distinct search engine scours various news outlets, Wikipedia, and even Twitter. Just enter in search term and News Timeline will retrieve the most recent headlines from the web containing the word. You can even specify what publications you’d like News Timeline to search, including your local paper. Sadly, Mac|Life wasn’t among the choices. Patent your inventionGot a crazy robot that does all sorts of cool, crazy robot things? Well, before you start working on the actual mechanical implementation of that idea, mosey on over to Google Patents to make sure your product hasn’t already been invented. This specified search engine sifts through indexed patents registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The search engine uses optical character recognition (OCR) to sift through patents based on words and terms embedded in the image scans. We took a few minutes to glance at some of the random patents that popped up on the front page. For instance, this apple case for use in preserving apples and this kid-friendly inhaler that looks like a panda. See if you can find any of Apple’s patents.Let's get political, political
Yeah, the presidential election meme is totally passé, but voting is an American right and should be utilized to the fullest extent. That’s why Google’s still got the reigns on a nifty service dubbed In Quotes, which displays side-by-side comparisons of noteworthy quotes from major politicians on a variety of hot topics.
Type in a search topic or choose a political issue from the drop-down box, then choose your politicians and a year; the generator offers speeches and opinions from a wide selection of politicians, beginning from 2003 to present. There’s also a U.K., India, and Canada edition for international expats.
Quotes are generated automatically, depending on the topic. In Quotes is a great tool for students preparing a paper on a recent politician or political matter, but if you’re looking for anything George Washington-era, get ready to crack open a book. You’ve got questions? They’ve got the answers
Google Moderator offers an open forum for users to post their questions, offer suggestions, concoct ideas, and receive answers in return. You can scour topics and vote on other people’s opinions, or contribute your own. Each question has its own list of topics, while a list of Google's featured services offer up alternative sites that are a bit more specific, like Take a Tip, Share a Tip--an open forum for users to share their experiences on how to be frugal in all areas of your life.
Google Moderator is a great way to get an objective opinion from the many anonymous internet users trolling the web, or waste a little bit of time without having to get yourself extensively involved in a social network. If you like this web service, check out the most recent addition to the Google family: Aardvark.
Explore the world on footTraveling is already an extravagant endeavor. It’s a better idea to pocket the money you’d spend on travel books that will inevitably become outdated by the time you return from vacation, and simply invest some time in Google’s City Tours. City Tours generates a list of important traveling hot spots based on your destination of choice. For example, if you’re on your way to visit Berlin, Germany, type in a starting location (like the address of where you're staying) and City Tours will map out a route for a walking tour around the area you’re stationed.
Each landmark contains important information, like hours of operation and the address of the location--in case you decide to take a taxi or public transportation. You can also add other areas to your walking tour either manually or from a predetermined list provided by Google Maps.
City Tours still has a few kinks to work out, though it’s gotten better since we used it for last summer’s trip to Lund, Sweden. For instance, walking tours no longer take 53 minutes between each stopping point, and have been significantly cut down to less than 20 minutes. Regardless, we have to keep in mind that most Google Labs applications are a work in progress. And even so, this is one feature we plan on using for all of our future traveling destinations. Source: Mac Life
Membuka Folder Tersembunyi dengan Finder
Tekan ⌘ ⇧ G, atau melalu menu Go > Go To Folder…. Gambar di atas saya akan membuka folder /bin/ yang isinya aplikasi-aplikasi UNIX. Walaupun folder tersebut tidak ditampilkan, tapi kita masih bisa mengaksesnya, walaupun kita memakai akun Adiministrator. Saya kurang tahu alasannya kenapa Apple menyembunyikannya, tapi kalau menoleh kembali ke sistem desain Apple “Sembunyikan apa yang tidak perlu, yang dilihat hanya yang penting” merupakan suatu alasan yang tepat kalau folder-folder UNIX ini disembunyikan saja. Biarkan pengguna yang tech savvy saja yang berani merubah-rubahnya. Source: Make Mac
Sebagai sebauah sistem operasi UNIX, Mac OS X mempunyai folder-folder yang sama dengan Linux. Anda tidak bisa melihatnya karena oleh Mac OS X folder tersebut disembunyikan oleh Finder. Sebenarnya Anda bisa membuka folder tersebut, dengan cepat. Begini caranya.
10 Essential Apps To Install On A New Mac
This is by no means a definitive list of apps to install on a new Mac (some aren’t in fact apps at all), just those that I felt were essential enough to be picked first and some that just suited my new 16:9 screen. If you’re interested, beyond these utilities I also installed Aperture 3, Logic Studio, iWork, Civilization, Microsoft Office and Reason as well as transfered an obscenely large iTunes library of movies and TV Shows (that I’ll now need to buy again in HD) and music. In no particular order (other than maybe AppleJack) here they are, the first 10 apps on my new iMac: Source: iCreate Magazine
So, as you may have seen from my Tweets and will doubtless hear on the podcast this month, I bought myself a new 27-inch Core i5 iMac which arrived yesterday. As the day went on and my excitement grew, I began building a list of the apps I was planning to install first and, as I promised the Twitter faithful, I am now publishing them here.
AppleJack A product you hope you’ll never need but could be a lifesaver. AppleJack is a text-based trouble shooting tool that can be invoked any time your Mac wont launch into its GUI (Graphical User Interface). The best part about AppleJack is that you don’t even need a system disc to boot from in order to repair permissions and cache files which could be causing your boot problems. An essential tool to install and forget until you need it. http://applejack.sourceforge.net/
Adium This all-in-one chat tool brings the instant messaging tools you use most often into one app. The interface is customisable in numerous ways and you can group your contacts by friends, family, co-workers etc. Supports all the favourites including; iChat, AIM, MSN and Yahoo. http://adium.im/
Tweetdeck I’m normally a fan of Atebits’ Tweetie as a Twitter client but, with so much screen real estate at my disposal, I decided to give this wide Adobe Air app a try. I’m excited to see Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace integration is included and the organisation of direct messages, tweets and replies into different columns makes the whole Twitter process a great deal easier. www.tweetdeck.com/
Skype You know what it does, it’s clean simple and easy. Perfect for saving money on international calls and even better for video and audio podcasts when you can’t be in the same place as your co-hosts or guests. www.skype.com
VLC A free and very obliging media player that will play just about any media file you throw at it. It’s open source which means it’s updated regularly. I had a quick blast of The Hangover in HD using VLC and it worked flawlessly. www.videolan.org/vlc/
Perian If you can’t handle using a video player outside of Apple’s default QuickTime, you should investigate Perian. I downloaded this in seconds and within a couple of clicks I was playing an AVI inside the beautiful new QuickTime X interface. Mac purists rejoice. http://perian.org/
Cooliris With such a massive screen, browsing Google Images just got a whole lot more entertaining. Cooliris is a plugin for Safari and Firefox that displays your searches as a wall of images that you can scroll through smoothly until you find what you’re looking for. It’s a bit flashy but then who cares if it looks great, huh? http://www.cooliris.com/
Flip4Mac Back to the video department, this is another set and forget tool that simply allows QuickTime (and Quick Look) to play those annoying WMV (Windows Media Video) files that you see from time to time. www.flip4mac.com
Fusion 3 Following Flip4Mac, there’s a slightly more expensive alternative for using Windows file formats and that’s by running Windows itself. With a copy of Windows (XP upward) and Fusion 3 you can run Mac OS X and Windows side by side, even seamlessly using Windows apps and native Mac software alongside one another. It was a little unnerving seeing Windows 7 up so large but it can be handy to dip into Microsoft’s OS now and again, if only to realise that the grass is definitely not greener. www.vmware.com
UnRarX If you download a folder of files with the .RAR extension you can use this tool to piece them back into the original file. Rar files are favourites for torrent users (keep it legal guys) who split large files into smaller pieces for easier sharing. These files are sometimes password protected which UnRarX also caters for. www.unrarx.com
Cara Mengambil Screenshot di iPhone
Ketika iPhone masih versi 1.x mengabil screenshot harus memakai aplikasi tambahan, dan iPhone-pun harus di jailbreak terlebih dahulu. Tapi semenjak versi 2.x Apple memberikan fitur screenshot bawaan yang caranya sangat mudah.
Cara mengambil screenshot di iPhone sangat mudah, tekan dan tahan tombolHome kemudian tekan tombol Lock. iPhone akan melakukan screenshot sesegera mungkin layar akan bekerdip dana ada suara ceklek. Lihat gambar di bawah ini untuk lebih jelasnya.
2 langkah mudah
Gambar hasil screenshot akan masuk ke dalam Camera Roll di aplikasi Photos. Untuk mengirimkannya ke Mac, tinggal import memakai iPhoto.
Source: Make Mac
Review Magic Mouse
Mighty Mouse yang kini dikenal dengan Apple Mouse memang memiliki kelemahan utama yaitu pada trackball yang setelah penggunaan setelah sekian waktu akan menjadi macet karena kotor. Keindahan Mighty Mouse hilang tatkala kita harus membongkar untuk membersihkan trackball, sedangkan bagian bawah yang sudah kita bongkar tidak dapat kembali seperti semula.
Ketika Magic Mouse hadir di Amerika, saya sendiri langsung mencari-cari referensi dan review pengguna Magic Mouse disana. Banyak yang mengaku puas, namun banyak pula yang mengeluh karena performa Magic Mouse tidak seperti harapan mereka. Setelah sekian lama mempertimbangkan, akhirnya saya membeli juga Magic Mouse melalui Apple Store.
Minggu lalu, Magic Mouse tiba dan langsung saya coba. Seperti sahabat lama, begitu mencoba saya langsung akrab dan tidak merasa canggung untuk mempergunakannya. “Mouse yang keren” gumam istri saya ketika ia melihat Magic Mouse. Setelah seminggu mencoba, saatnya untuk memberikan review.
Material
Bagian atas Magic Mouse terdiri dari kaca fiber bening dengan dasar warna putih dan logo apple pada bagian pangkalnya. Sedangkan pada bagian dasar, berupa alumunium, dengan tombol on off dan tombol untuk membuka batere.
Bentuk
Di review yang saya baca, banyak orang mengeluhkan bentuk Magic Mouse yang terlalu kecil dan datar (kemungkinan tangan orang Amerika lebih besar daripada tangan orang Asia).
Namun, semua itu bukan tanpa pemikiran dari sang pembuatnya. Secara dimensi, panjang dan lebar Magic Mouse dari Mighty Mouse sepintas sama, namun dari ketinggian berbeda, Magic Mouse terlihat lebih pipih dan datar daripada Magic Mouse yang bulat.
Bentuk pipih ini, setelah saya pergunakan selama 1 minggu, ternyata memiliki kegunaan, bentuk pipih memberikan ruang lebih luas bagi jari untuk melakukan gerakan-gerakan dengan 1 jari, 2 jari, bahkan 3 jari sekaligus untuk memberikan perintah.
Konektifitas
Pada Mighty Mouse yang lalu, saya sering sekali mengalami konektifitas yang terputus setelah beberapa jam, yang harus di hubungkan kembali secara manual. Memang tidak sering, tapi cukup mengganggu.
Menggunakan Magic Mouse sepertinya masalah itu tidak terjadi lagi, saya tidak pernah mengalami koneksi terputus antara MacBook Pro saya dan Magic Mouse.
Tracking dan Scrolling
Tracking kursor pada Magic Mouse sepertinya mengalami peningkatan daripada Mighty Mouse, pada Magic Mouse kursor dapat digerakan lebih halus dan lebih cepat. input-input perintah tidak mengalami lag.
Pada System preferences mouse, pada opsi “Scroll” terdapat opsi “With Momentum” momentum ini memberikan efek smooth scroll, efeknya seperti anda menggeserkan benda di dataran yang licin, makan benda itu akan berhenti secara perlahan. Efek Momentum ini sangat bermanfaat bila anda menemui halaman web yang panjang dan memerlukan scrolling yang cepat. Namun ada kelemahannya, terkadang Momentum ini mengenali gerakan-gerakan halus pada mouse sebagai perintah, sehingga terkadang, halaman web menjadi seperti bergerak sendiri. Bila ini mengganggu Anda, non aktifkan fitur Momentum ini.
Software
Banyak yang mengeluhkan hilangnya fungsi Squeeze pada Magic Mouse, namun dengan bantuan BetterTouchTool perintah-perintah untuk membuat shortcut menjadi lebih banyak dan variatif. Tidak hanya 1 jari, 2 jari, bahkan 3 jari dapat memberikan perintah sesuai dengan keinginan anda. Mungkin ada baiknya bila pada update Mac OSX selanjutnya, setingan Magic Mouse diperkaya perintah-perintah seperti pada perintah BetterTouchTool.
Bagi Anda yang kidal, dapat dengan mudah mengatur Magic Mouse supaya lebih bersahabat dengan tangan kiri melalui System Preferences.
Batere
Magic Mouse sudah terdapat sepasang Batere didalamnya, ketika saya pergunakan seminggu yang lalu, batere masih ada di level 100%, ketika artikel ini ditulis (kurang lebih 6 hari kemudian) Level Batere berada di 88%. Saya menggunakan hampir 10 jam sehari Magic Mouse ini. Bila pemakaian konstan, diperkirakan batere akan habis pada umur 2-3 bulan.
Menurut Apple, Magic Mouse dapat berjalan dengan baik pada 10.5.8 dan 10.6.2, dan bahkan tidak dapat dipergunakan di OSX Tiger.
Source: Make Mac
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air arrived amongst a lot of controversy. On the one hand it’s the sexiest laptop in the universe, and on the other it’s missing an awful lot of features. So what is the big deal? Has any laptop ever had everything? Or has our expectation of Apple risen so high that they’ll never live up to it? It’s a tough call.
The MacBook Air is impossibly thin, measuring just 0.16 inches at its thinnest point and 0.76 inches at its most rotund. Of course the thinness also means it’s very light, weighing in at just three pounds. It’s far sturdier than you’d think, being crafted from anodised aluminum, and when you open it up and begin to use it, the first thing that strikes you about the Air is just how well put together it is. The whole keyboard is sunk into a tray so that the screen can lay flat on the keys when closed. Below that is the newly sized trackpad.
In order to fit all the specifications for a respectable Mac into this wafer of a laptop, Apple has managed to get early access to some new technology from chipmakers Intel, managing to shrink one of its Core 2 Duo processors by 60 per cent. There’s the option of a 1.6 or 1.8 GHz core 2Duo processor, it has 2GB of Ram, and the choice of an 80GB hard drive or a 64GB solid-state drive. This means that you get a decent computer for your money, but performance-wise this won’t set the world on fire.
The other features of the MacBook Air are tales of haves and have-nots. There’s no optical drive, but there is Remote Disc, which is a wireless way to access the drive of another machine. Because of its diminutive stature there is only one USB port, so if you need more then you’ll have to cart a hub around. You also get a micro DVI input and a headphone jack in the collapsible bay. There’s no ethernet port, but in this day and age, who really needs it? You also get an iSight camera for iChatting and a very cool ambient light sensor that will illuminate the keyboard in darker places.
The other major selling point for this laptop is the trackpad. It’s the only one of its kind in the line-up, and has technology taken straight from the iPhone. We now have two brand new gestures, as well as those we already know. The pinch will shrink and enlarge font sizes in Safari, icons in Finder, and zoom in and out of pictures in iPhoto and Preview. Two-finger scrolling is also standard fare from the other laptops. Three-finger swiping is new, and will skip you back and forth through pictures and web pages. Then there is rotate, perhaps the coolest gesture of them all. Semicircular motions will rotate pictures, and will no doubt soon be finding their way into a number of other applications.
In terms of fitting into the current laptop line-up, the Air sits between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. This is based mainly on price, as it’s possible to get a MacBook with better specifications for less money. The Air lacks the raw power and the disc space of other laptops, and because the Ram is so tightly packed, Apple has furnished it with an ample 2GB. But there’s no option to upgrade.
Overall, this Mac is a beautiful creation with cutting-edge technology at its heart, and no Mac fan will be able to resist the feeling of awe when around it. That aside, until Apple can squeeze a faster chip, more USBs, and an optical drive into something of similar size, then it’s going to be overlooked by people who use Macs for the professional advantage they give. If you have another Mac and money to spend on a serious piece of lap candy, then the MacBook Air will give you plenty to smile about. On the other hand, if you need one Mac and need it to be portable, you’d better look at the rest of the line-up.
iPad Has Come!!
Thats right, its finally here. The fabled Apple tablet. Rumours about such a device have been circulating for many, many years. So, after what was definitely the most insane period of rumours and speculation of all time, Apple unveiled what they hope will be both a Kindle and Netbook killing device. We’ve copied the Press Releease here in full so you can digest all the info and will be following this post with some of our opinions on what’s hot and what’s not, when it comes to the iPad.
SAN FRANCISCO—January 27, 2010—Apple® today introduced iPad, a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch™ display lets users physically interact with applications and content. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds— thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499.
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”
iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction. The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. Reading and sending email is fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organised as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. Watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.
iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. The iTunes® Store gives you access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalogue of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.
Apple also introduced a new version of iWork® for iPad, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch. With Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers® you can create beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for $9.99 each.
iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so you can sync all of your contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications and more from your Mac or PC. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.
iPad’s brilliant 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent colour with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle. The highly precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is amazingly accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.
iPad is powered by A4, Apple’s next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours.* Apple’s advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology deliver up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan.**
iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.
Continuing Apple’s dedication to designing and creating environmentally responsible products, each iPad enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy-efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iPad contains no brominated flame retardants and is completely PVC-free.
Apple today released a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad, so developers can create amazing new applications designed to take advantage of iPad’s capabilities. The SDK includes a simulator that lets developers test and debug their iPad apps on a Mac, and also lets developers create Universal Applications that run on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
Pricing & Availability
iPad will be available in late March worldwide for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad will be available in April in the US and selected countries for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. iBookstore will be available in the US at launch.
*Apple tested wireless battery life by browsing web pages and receiving email over an AirPort® network, never letting the system go to sleep during the test, and keeping the display at half brightness. This is a typical scenario of use on the go, resulting in a battery performance number that is very relevant to mobile users.
**A properly maintained iPad battery is designed to retain 80 percent or more of its original capacity during a lifespan of up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
Source: iCreate Magazine
