Sick and tired of seeing the same old linen wallpaper on the login screen every time you boot up your computer? It can get pretty boring after a while. In this video, I’ll show you how to change Lion’s login screen wallpaper to whatever you’d like.
Apple Giveth, and Apple Taketh Away. The Walled Garden approach Apple has taken with its App Store means that not everything you once bought is still available. However, that doesn’t mean you’re out of options for installing software that was previously downloaded:
Hello, I got the iTether app yesterday before Apple pulled it out, but my daughter didn’t get the chance to download it. How will I install it to my daughter’s iPhone? I back up my phone to my PC and I have the app in my file. Please help.
Rodante
Along with music, movies and photos, many people have some mysterious “other” data on their iDevices, which seems to increase over time. One reader is wondering how to get rid of this data and free up space:
When I look at my iTunes summary of my iPad it shows that there is 2.9GB of “Other” stored on my device. I haven’t put much stuff on my iPad and have no idea what is taking up so much space. I only have a 16GB iPad and like to put movies on it for when I travel, so space is a premium. How do I find out what is taking up so much space, and what is the best way to maximize storage space on my iPad?
Thanks, Kyle
iTunes Home Sharing has been around for a few years and is a handy way to access your media between devices. One reader wonders about trying to use this service while traveling:
My setup is Apple based i.e. iPad/iphone/appletv2/airport extreme/imac. The iTunes Home Sharing works brilliantly. Is there a way by which I can retain the home sharing function remotely? In other words if I am on 3g and still use the be able to see the iTunes media as I would on the same wifi? I have seen various articles referring to vpn and then indicating that iTunes is not available through the vpn tunnel or through the airport extreme etc.
Mac OS X Lion includes buried “HiDPI” display modes, which brings the possibility of Retina Display Macs one step closer to reality. Essentially, these display modes make user interface elements twice the resolution typically found on Macs, therefore increasing clarity and detail throughout the UI. This is exactly how the iPhone handles graphics with the Retina Display, and provides some insight into what Apple might be planning for future iterations of it’s computers. While not very practical at this point in time, it’s neat to try out. In this video, I’ll show you how to enable these HiDPI display modes in OS X Lion.
Sometimes when moving to a newer computer, you realize only after the old system is gone that you’re missing some data. With the proliferation of iPhones and iPads, cloud based services can help transfer things like Contacts and Calendars if incomplete:
My old Mac Pro was running OS X 10.4.11 and my new MacBook Pro came with Snow Leopard. Using Migration assistant just about everything except Contacts transferred correctly. Now the Mac Pro is across the country in NV and I am near DC. The only thing that has my old Contacts is my iPad. How do I transfer my old Contacts from the iPad to the new MacBook Pro without losing them when I sync?
Clint
The new iTunes Match service is a handy way to share music among all your computers and iDevices. One reader is wondering if this feature can also be used to replace older 128kbps DRM encoded tracks with their higher bitrate, unencumbered iTunes Plus versions:
Just wondering something about iTunes Match. I’ve got a bunch of songs on iTunes that I purchased early in the game, and they are in .m4p format, so they have the DRM locks and can’t easily be converted to .mp3 format. They are only at 128kbps, which is the only thing iTunes offered back in the day. If I sign up for iTunes Match, will these songs be updated to their new DRM-free 256kbps versions, or do I have to pay for the iTunes Plus service first?
With the dawn of solid state storage becoming a viable option for computers, many users are presented with the problem of managing disk space, as SSDs are typically much smaller than traditional spinning hard drives. In this video, I’ll show you how to effectively free up disk space on your Mac.
Mac OS X Lion includes many features that are very similar to those found in iOS. In this video, I’ll show you how to expand it even further, and make Mac OS X Lion even more like iOS.
Software can be a cantankerous thing. Sometimes programs won’t launch when you need them, and other times they won’t go away when you’re done! One reader is having a problem with iTunes refusing to quit when asked:
I have some questions related to 10.5 iTunes. When I quit iTunes it goes about the process normally and then starts back up. iTunes is using 80-100% CPU usage when running. Could this be related to a third-party plug-in? Very frustrating and have to force restart my mini as iTunes cancels the shutdown process.
Thanks, Tim
If you liked that tip earlier today about adding track information to your iTunes dock icon, here’s another great tip for you: it’s easy to replace the boring old iTunes icon in the dock with the album art for whatever track is playing. Here’s how.
There are a lot of great apps out there that will alert you to what track is currently playing in iTunes by flashing a notice on your Mac’s desktop; Coversutra and Growltunes, to name just two. But did you know that iTunes has a secret option to display track information on your desktop every time the track changes? It’s true. It’s attractive. And it’s just a terminal command away.
With security becoming an ever more serious issue, keeping your files safe is more important than ever before. Using an encrypted disk image is an easy way to safely store away files, while keeping them in one consolidated location. In this video, I’ll show you how to set up encrypted disk images.
So you’ve upgraded to the latest and greatest, and it’s time to give your old Mac to a new owner. But how do you get rid of all your old data and software before making the handoff?
I just pulled the trigger on ordering a new iMac, a nice new 21.5″ i7 quad-core. Needless to say, I can’t wait, even though it will be my first venture with OS X Lion. I get doing a full backup from my current iMac on my Time Capsule to load up my new iMac when it arrives, but I am wondering what to do with old Mac computers to make it clean and ready to gift to the Grandkids’ family.
Apple’s new music service, iTunes Match, launched today as a beta, and it includes the handy ability to upgrade your low quality audio tracks to lossless audio tracks and then mirror them in the cloud. In this video, I’ll show how to set up iTunes match and upgrade your songs. It just couldn’t be easier.
Apple likes to make things as easy as possible to join WiFi networks, especially when the network isn’t password protected. However in one reader’s case this isn’t a good thing but rather a major headache:
Is there a way to RESTRICT joining certain wifi networks to certain OS X user accounts?
When using my MacBook Pro, I have two basic OS X logins. One for known SECURE wifi networks, and one for INSECURE wifi networks. The problem is that Airport settings always remember the INSECURE network, and almost always tries to connect my SECURE OSX login to the INSECURE wifi, at which point Mail (or other apps) start up and shoot my logs/passes across the air for all to see.
Since the announcement of Siri with the iPhone 4S, countless OS X users have been wondering if Siri will eventually makes it’s way to the Mac. Well, you may not know it, but OS X actually includes a Speech Recognition system called Speakable Items, which is very similar to Siri in many ways. In this video, I’ll show you how to set it up, as well as how to tweak Speakable Items to your liking.
A lot of people don’t have access to unlimited 3G data plans, so they need to keep an eye out on the amount of data they use every month. There are different tasks and apps that will use data on an iPhone or iPad, and it can be hard to keep track of them all. Luckily, Apple has thought of a few ways you can limit access to 3G data by forcing apps to use Wi-Fi instead when it is available.
iCal’s Reminders feature is a handy way to keep track of our To Do lists, but sometimes you get pestered more than desired. Here’s one way to quiet things down when your iDevices have nagged you sufficiently:
I love the new Reminders app for iOS, and it ties in beautifully with my use on my iPad and iPhone. However, I hate sitting down at the end of the day and having to click through all my day’s reminders on my computer through iCal. In the iCloud settings, I can only disable iCal, but I don’t want to disable my calendars, just the reminders part of it. Is there a way I can disable iCal reminder notifications on my Mac without disabling the calendar syncing? – Benjamen
The iPhone is an incredible, world-changing device… but it’s never been cheap to own one. That’s just as true with the iPhone 4S as it has been with any other iPhone, which means every saved penny counts.
Figuring out which carrier to go with when you sign up for an iPhone 4S requires considering many different factors. For the best bang for the buck, though, Sprint is the way to go: their $79.99 Everything Data plan includes 450 minutes per month, free nights and weekends, as well as unlimited data and text.
Think that’s a pretty good deal? That’s nothing. Follow this guide and we can not only help you save up to $240 dollars on your Sprint iPhone 4S contract over the course of two years, we can even help you get more minutes for less money!
Interested? Read on.
I had previously written the following short article in response to a reader’s question about their MagSafe power adapter. Although the recent class action settlement has seemingly resolved this particular issue, some readers might find it helpful to look at this article as a case study, which may offer some points relevant to other product defects.
“Hi Cult of Mac,
About four months ago I purchased a used 2007 MacBook Pro online from a seller on eBay. Two weeks ago I noticed the charger was discolored and looked like it had started to melt! I can now see the wires inside the cable near the base of where it connects to my MacBook Pro. I don’t think I caused any damage to the cable. I never purchased AppleCare. What should I do?”
So iCloud is finally here, and MobileMe is going away. This is generally a good thing, but vestiges of the old remain with the new. One reader is wondering how he can make a clean break:
I’ve successfully upgraded to Lion, to iOS 5 on my iPhone 4, and migrated from MobileMe to iCloud. BUT, I still see the MobileMe icon in my system preferences, how do I remove it?
Mark
Noticing that people really liked to wrap the new iPod nanos around a wrist band and turn them into watches, Apple decided to embrace the Nanowatch movement with their latest update, specifically by rolling out a number of fun new watch faces. The most iconic of the new options, though, is the one that mimics the classic Mickey Mouse watch face, famous with Mouseketeers all around the world since the 1950s.
If you don’t have an iPod nano, there’s a cool, easy way to get yourself the nano’s Mickey Mouse watch face on your Dashboard. Here’s how.
There’s an easter egg in iOS 5: a new panorama mode that lets you stitch together multiple shots you take with your iPhone’s camera into a gorgeous 180+ degree image. Unfortunately, while Apple clearly spent some time putting this together, there’s no way to access it as a consumer unless you jailbreak your iPhone. Here’s how to get Apple’s panorama mode working on your iPhone 4, iPhone 4S or iPad 2.
Longtime Mac users often have pictures scattered across several different machines in multiple iPhoto libraries. Sometimes it’s nice to merge everything together when upgrading to a new machine:
I saw your MacRx article on Consolidating Your iPhoto Library and Removing Duplicates. How would you recommend I consolidate several different libraries? I have my first iPhoto library on my vintage Mac Mini. I have a 2nd iPhoto library on a laptop. My third library is on my new iMac. I want everything on the new iMac. What is the best way to attack this? – Deb