Tips

Use Address Book to access Exchange contacts

Posted on May. 7, ’08, 12:00 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Tips

In my ginormous Macs-in-business post yesterday — which, frankly, I don’t blame you if you didn’t read completely…neither did I — I discussed some of the difficulties associated with using a Mac in a Windows-dominated corporate environment. One of the huge hiccups involves the ubiquity and importance of Microsoft Exchange in managing company-wide resources. There’s Entourage, sure, but some folks just don’t like it. Not surprising: it always forgets to use deodorant in the morning.

Contacts in Exchange are arguably one of its most essential components — and, let’s be honest, no one wants to use Exchange just for that. Thankfully, you might not have to: this post at Tenet Nosce details —with screen shots! — a procedure to configure OS X’s Address Book to query an LDAP/Exchange server when searching for contacts.

The process is three relatively simple steps, with some minor Terminal fiddling and tweaking of some preferences in Address Book. This also lets you search for Exchange contacts in Mail.app when you type a new address.

I don’t use Exchange — glory hallelujah! — so I can’t test this or testify to its usefulness. So I turn to you, dear Exchange-tethered readers, to give it a shot and let us know how it works. Thanks a million.

[via Mac OS X Hints]

Email annoyances and solutions

Posted on Apr. 30, ’08, 2:42 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Tips

I have four email accounts — down from 11 last year — that are constantly slaughtered by work emails and newsletters and, of course, an unholy daily barrage of spam that tries to convince me I need V1agra or C1al1s or sexy underwear or cheap prescriptions or a low-interest mortgage or designer footwear or Microsoft Office or stamps (??) or a date or… Well, you get it.

What I’m trying to get at is managing email is pretty crazy for me, and I imagine it is for plenty of you too. Brainiac Breen (two references in two posts!) over at the Mothership recognizes this problem, and has written up a bunch of tips for fixing annoyances and better managing your messy mail.

If you’re like 99.7 percent of computer users, your e-mail client gets more of a workout than any other software you use. And given the amount of time you spend with this particular software, it’s not surprising that minor annoyances you’d forgive in other programs become a Big Deal when you encounter them hour after hour, day after day. I’ve rounded up some common e-mail problems and provided solutions to help you keep them under control.

Tips include deciphering Windows-specific mail files, fixing sluggish email clients, sending email when you’re out, saving server space, and more. Check the article for all the frustration-easing info.

SSH Back to Your Mac

Posted on Apr. 29, ’08, 12:31 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Tips

I remember trying to access a remote computer’s files via FTP and SSH in the past: enabling an FTP/SSH server on the machine, forwarding the appropriate ports on the router, paying extra for a static IP address or using a service like DynDNS, and lots and lots of praying.

Several services made all that easier, but none as easy as Back to My Mac, which enables screen sharing and in-Finder file access of remote Macs. If you can get it to work (it can be a teensy bit flaky), BtMM can be amazingly handy.

And a great tip at Mac OS X Hints shows you how to easily use Back to My Mac to access your remote machines using SSH — the command line tool for remote file management built into OS X’s Terminal app.

Make sure Remote Login is turned on in the Sharing menu of System Preferences on the Mac you want to access remotely. Then, in Terminal, use this command to SSH into that machine:

ssh -vvv -p 22 hostname.username.members.mac.com.

Where hostname is the name you gave to the machine (i.e. the name that appears in Finder), and username is your .Mac username (i.e. if your email address is steve@mac.com, your .Mac username is steve). Note that there is a “.” at the very end of the command — I’ve had more consistent success using it that way. You can also try Terminal.app » Shell » New Remote Connection (or press Command-Shift-K) and then look under ‘Secure Shell (ssh) for “Discovered Servers”’.

I tried it, and it works beautifully. So if you’re a UNIX/command line kinda guy, here’s a great way to make Back to My Mac work for you.

The Big Book of Apple Hacks helps you regain control of your Apple products

Posted on Apr. 25, ’08, 10:44 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

O’Reilly Media recently released the new Big Book of Apple Hacks, a 640-page tome chock full of tips and tricks related to Apple products, requiring varying levels of expertise. Authored by Chris Seibold, a senior author for Apple Matters, the book covers Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger, iPods, the iPhone and Apple TV.

The book’s aimed at all sorts of users, from power users to recent switchers. The hacks vary from minor software level tweaks (known as “quick hacks”) to the full blown extravaganzas that may require you to get down and dirty with the hardware itself.

If you frequently find yourself wishing that your Mac or iPod did things differently and don’t find any preferences in the default set of options, this might be the book for you. Now, if only I could find a way to stop iChat from launching at random times in the day and sending nonsensical auto-replies to dumbfounded buddies.

P.S.: In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to add that I’m also an author for Apple Matters. That, however, did not influence this post in any way.

Today’s tip is brought to you by the shortcut “command-R”

Posted on Apr. 22, ’08, 9:16 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

I remember when I was but a wee lad, living in a small log cabin in the woods of New England. Those were the days: chopping fire wood for the cast iron stove, catching fresh trout for dinner, reading by candlelight. Simpler days, when all the commands in the Mac OS were spelled out for you in menus.

But we’ve passed those days, and now we get the same arcane keyboard shortcuts that we used to tease other platforms for. Take this hint from our brothers and sisters over at Mac OS X Hints: did you know what happens if you select a file in an Open dialog box and command-R? No? Me neither until I read this. Turns out that it’ll take you to the location of that file in the Finder. Hey, that’s actually pretty handy. But it’s one of those things you probably wouldn’t even figure out without your cat stepping all over your keyboard.

If you’re wondering what happens when you try the same trick in a Save dialog box, let me save you the precious seconds of experimentation: it doesn’t quite work. For one thing, you can’t select a file in a Save dialog box. You can, however, select a folder, but if you try it, you’ll see that focus does shift to the Finder, but it doesn’t open the folder you’ve selected. Alas.

Lingon: for all your Mac- (and puppy-) scheduling needs

Posted on Apr. 21, ’08, 9:05 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

If your eyes start to film over when we throw out terms like “launchd scheduling,” well just for you we’ve decided to implement a new system here at MacUser. Using a special browser auto-detect function, we can successfully replace all mentions of overly technical terms with references to puppies. We call it “PuppyVizion.” Let me just flip the switch there…

INITIALIZING PUPPYVIZION

…and go.

Do you ever wish you could schedule tasks for your puppy to do when you’re not around? In the olden days of puppies, this used to require issuing your puppy arcane commands with obscure syntax. But thanks to Peter Borg (the same clever fellow who brought us text editor Smultron), you can now schedule your puppy with a graphical user interface called Lingon. You can alter your puppy’s built-in schedules (not recommended, if you don’t know what you’re doing), or create entirely new tasks for your puppy at scheduled times, or based on certain actions.

Lingon is straightforward and easy-to-use—just like a puppy. And, best of all, it’s free (you can always send Peter a donation if you’re so inclined). So if you’re disinclined to dig around in your puppy’s innar—

EMERGENCY PUPPYVIZION TERMINATION

Errrr, so there may still be some kinks to work out. I’ll have the tech crew get on that right away. Please accept our apologies, and know that no puppies—real or virtual—were harmed in the making of this blog post.

[via Mac OS X Hints]

Transfer iTunes library from Windows to Mac

Posted on Apr. 10, ’08, 11:53 AM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Tips

With Mac market share growing at an admirable rate, the number of new PC-to-Mac converts grows and grows. But once a PC user is Saved, he’s faced with some tough challenges, not the least of which is transferring his iTunes library — playlists and all — from his clunky beige box to his new hot hardware. And I feel it is my duty to relay the solution to this complex conundrum (too much alliteration?) for the benefit of all Mac users…nay, all of mankind.

Plus, a friend of mine wanted to know how to do it, so I figured I’d turn it into a quick buck.

There are a few ways to do it — Mac OS X Hints, for example, loosely describes one possible procedure. But the simplest, most user-friendly ‘tune-transfer method comes from Apple (ironic, considering an Apple support rep told my friend this wasn’t possible).

It uses iTunes’ backup feature and the iPod disk mode, so it requires no networking or complex tinkering. And thanks to their easy step-by-step instructions and pretty pictures, even a novice user should be able to figure it out.

There’s my service to humanity. Now where are my thank-you brownies?

The desktops, they are a-changin’

Posted on Apr. 10, ’08, 9:18 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

Some say your desktop picture says a lot about who you are as a person. I haven’t changed mine on this machine pretty much since I’ve gotten it—I suppose that says I’m a stale, unchanging person. But perhaps you’re the sort who likes constant stimulation and enjoys seeing a fresh desktop gracing your machine every, oh, five minutes or so.

While you can do that using a few options in OS X’s Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane, that only gives you the option of using photos that are already on your Mac. Say you want to pull pictures from a source on the Net; your Flickr feed, for example. Perhaps you might then be a candidate for Desktoptopia, a preference pane that pulls desktop pictures of a variety of themes and lets you specify your own sources as well. Options let you dictate what happens if you have multiple monitors, and whether to change automatically or not (and if so, how often).

One thing that I found annoying was that you can’t disable one of the default feeds, because it’s “sponsored.” I understand that the app is free and thus, that’s how they make their money, but I think it would be nice if there was also a paid version that let you specify only your one feeds. Also, Flickr’s RSS feeds only seem to contain lower-res versions of photos that didn’t scale well on my MacBook’s screen, so that turned out not to be a very handy solution. Oh, well; back to my old standby desktop.

[via Lifehacker]

Hot deal: Fusion for $40

Posted on Apr. 10, ’08, 7:23 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Tips

It’s no secret that despite owning Parallels, I’m a huge VMware Fusion fan. It is, by far, my favored way to run Windows on my Mac. I haven’t struggled with the stability issues that I ran into with Parallels virtualization product. It worked like a champ, right from the start. They may not have as aggressively added new features, but being able to work reliably was the ultimate feature for me.

Neither package has had a really major overhaul in a while (makes me wonder what might be in the works). Part of what attracted me to VMware’s product was the initial offering price of $40. The good news is that Amazon has that same price following a $20 mail in rebate. If you’re still in the market for a great way to run Windows on that Mac, this may be the best time to buy.

Boss around your Mac via email

Posted on Apr. 9, ’08, 12:41 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Tips

Not all of us are power-hungry management-types who can out of boredom order people around through email. I’M of course not speaking of any one of my awesome bosses, but I imagine these types of kingpins are quite common.

Well, thanks to Cory Bohon at TUAW, you can learn how to exercise some level of control, in the form of sending various commands to your Mac via email and watching it submit to your every demand without defiance. How do you amass such magnificent authority, you ask? Simple, my autocratically-inclined friend: through AppleScripts and Mail rules.

Bohon demonstrates how to use email and AppleScripts to shutdown, restart, and put your Mac to sleep, but you can make Mail trigger any script with any function. Check his post for the full how-to, and learn how to flex your dictatorial muscle.