(You're reading all posts by Rob LeFebvre)
About Rob LeFebvre
Rob LeFebvre is a freelance writer and editor living in Anchorage, Alaska. He contributes to online tech, gaming and iOS websites around the net, including Cult of Mac, 148Apps, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. He owns and operates GamesAreEvil as well, so it's surprising he finds time to have two amazing kids, a disco band, and (yes) a day job. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)
Five Useful Tips To Master iBooks On Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch [Feature]
Apple’s iBooks provides one of the best, most accessible ereading experience on the iPad, in my opinion, and it’s pretty darn simple to use.
That said, there’s always room to learn just a few more tricks to make the experience even better for you. Here, then, are five tips to master iBooks on your iOS device of choice.
Apple Seeds Yet Another Pre-Release OS X 10.8.4 Build To Devs
Apple has just posted a new pre-release developer seed for upcoming OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4, Build 12E55.
In the notes accompanying the seed release, which includes Combo (comprehensive) and Delta (just changes) update installers, Apple notes the same focus areas as the last few seeds: Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. This seed, though, also has Windows File Sharing, a new addition to the list since the last seed, build 12E47, which was released at the beginning of this month.
Could this rapid release schedule mean that 10.8.4 is getting closer to actual release to consumers? As this is the sixth developer release of 10.8.4, and 10.8.3 went through 13 different seeds, the answer may be a qualified no, as Apple tends to iterate on its dot releases fairly often and consistently.
- Source Apple Developer Center
Grab Five Bucks And Play ‘Skyward Collapse’, A 4X Strategy God Game That Fights Back
Build and manage a floating continent while everything fights against you. Sounds like a good weekend.
God games tend to be pretty similar: build a little city, tell the inhabitants what to do, and watch them do it. Not in this game, though.
Skyward Collapse is a fantastic mashup of a 4X strategy game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) with a god-game (Spore, Black & White, Civilization). Your task is to create and populate a floating continent called Liminith. You get to create gods, creatures, and artifacts from Norse and Greek myth, and keep them from killing each other off until you’re summoned home by The Master. This will definitely be harder than it sounds.
Frugal Readers Can Access Free Sample iBooks On The iPhone And iPad [iOS Tips]
With iBooks on your iPhone or iPad (or iPad mini, my favorite reading device), you can download electronic books from the convenient privacy of your very own iOS device. You never need to enter a bookstore again (sorry, Barnes & Noble!), making purchases of guilty pleasures and important intellectual tomes equally simple.
A real bookstore, though, lets you browse through the books before you buy them. Heck, you can pick one off the shelf, riffle through the pages, and even (gasp!) read some of it without paying for the book. iBooks has a way to allow you to see inside a book before purchasing it, as well, and I can’t believe I keep forgetting that the feature is there.
If you’re like me, and constantly forget about sample iBooks, here’s your reminder.
The AL13 Ultrathin iPhone Bumper Is A Sharp, Classy, And Minimalist Delight [Review]
Apple might not make bumpers anymore, and Antennagate may be a thing of the past, but there are still some good bumpers out there… and top of the list is the AL13.
Make Your Mac Send Sound Output To Your Giant HDTV [OS X Tips]
At work, I use a big Acer monitor connected to my Macbook Air via an HDMI dongle from Moshi and an HDMI cable. For quite some time, I was content with having the sound come out of the Macbook Air, which I have set up just to the left of the big monitor as a second screen.
But the other day, since I have the huge TV in my office, the rest of the staff came in to preview a promotional video we’d done for our agency. The tinny sound of my Macbook Air speakers wasn’t enough. I wanted to hear it out of the TV.
This is what I did.
Apple Airs New TV Ad For iPhone: ‘Music Every Day’ [Video]
Music is what started it all for the modern Apple with the iPod back in 2001.
Today, the consumer electronics giant released a new TV ad entitled “Music Every Day.”
Matchmaker Added To Tinder, A Real-Life Social Networking Introduction App
Have you ever wanted to introduce two super interesting people from different circles of friends, but never really knew how to go about it? Tinder, a new app that helps you discover new people around you in real time, has just updated with an added feature: Matchmaker.
“Introducing two people, whatever the purpose, can be time consuming and often times socially awkward,” says Sean Rad, CEO of Tinder. “Matchmaker gives you an extremely easy and socially acceptable way to make that introduction, while furthering Tinder’s vision to be the platform people use to meet new people.”
Slide On The Dotted Line To Riffle Your Way Through An iBook [iOS Tips]
When reading an iBook on your iPad or iPhone, you typically tap the right side of the page to go forward, and tap the left side of the page to go backward, right? If you want to skip to a different part of the iBook, you can tap on the table of contents button in the upper left and tap to the chapter you want to go to.
How do you quickly navigate more than one page forward or backward, though? With a real book, you just flip through the pages until you find the one you’re looking for. In iBooks, you don’t riffle through pages, but you can navigate quickly and visually to other portions of the book.
Easily Open A Second Finder Window From The Same Folder [OS X Tips]
Typically, when you hit Command-N while you’re in the Finder, you’ll get a window for the folder you have set in the Finder’s Preferences dialogue. But what if you want to open two copies of the same folder on your Mac, to move stuff around in sub-folders when in icon view, for example? If you want to open two copies of the same folder on your Mac at the same time, simply do the following.
