Tagged: Apple

Adobe Reader for iPhone and iPad

Adobe Reader for iOSJust like Adobe Reader on the desktop, now you can use your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to quickly view and interact with the widest range of PDF file types – including PDF Portfolios, password-protected PDF documents and even Adobe LiveCycle rights-managed PDF files with Adobe Reader for iOS.

Using Adobe Reader for iOS, you can open and view PDF files from email, on the Web or from any application that supports the “Open In” function. Through its highly intuitive user interface, Adobe Reader provides you with an efficient PDF viewing experience regardless of the iOS device you happen to be using.

But that’s not all. You can also interact with PDF files in a number of ways including searching for specific text in the PDF or using bookmarks and page thumbnails to quickly navigate to different sections in the PDF file. And should you need a hard copy, you can also print the PDF wirelessly using iOS AirPrint.

I’ve been using Adobe Reader on my iPhone 4 for the last week or so, and found it to work extremely well. Previously I was using a 3rd party app, but it wasn’t nearly as fluid or easy to use as Adobe’s own solution.

Run Lion’s AirDrop on older and unsupported Macs also running Lion

OS X Lion's AirDrop

OS X Lion's AirDrop can work on older Macs with just a few Terminal commands

When Apple released OS X 10.7 Lion, they introduced a small but extremely useful feature for anyone with more than one Mac on the same network called AirDrop. While we’ve always had the ability to connect to other Macs with File Sharing turned on, it’s never been as easy as it is with AirDrop. The only problem: AirDrop only works with newer Macs. I have a 2006 MacPro, and was extremely disappointed when I found out AirDrop wouldn’t work. Thankfully, there is a simple work-around that got it working for me.

The first thing you need to know is that the unsupported Mac must be on the same WiFi or ethernet network, and also that you must run the commands below on ALL the Macs you wish to use AirDrop with, even if one or more of them already support AirDrop.

To get AirDrop running, type the following in the Terminal application:

  • defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1
  • Hit the Enter key
  • killall Finder
  • Hit the Enter key

After you perform these commands on each Mac on your network, you should be able to see your Macs when you click on the AirDrop icon in the Finder window sidebar.

Thank you, Steve. RIP.

Steve Jobs

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 running on a MacBook Air: Is it for you?

Apple MacBook Air and Adobe CS5My wife has been in need of a new laptop for a while now. Typically she’s delighted to get my old hand-me-downs when I upgrade. But this time around, she wanted something a little newer.

My one year old 13″ MacBook Pro was churning along just fine, so I wasn’t really thinking about upgrades for myself when she finally had enough and told me to get my butt to the Apple Store. She doesn’t need a powerful laptop, just plenty of storage for her music, photos and videos. I had a tough decision to make, because I’ve already been eye-balling a new 27″ iMac to replace my six year old MacPro sitting beneath my desk. I didn’t want to spend too much, but I do need a capable laptop for working on the go.

Enough of the background, what did I buy?

After reading a few forum discussions, playing with the demo units at the Apple Store, and three days of inner termoil, I decided to toss caution to the wind. I went with the 13″ MacBook Air, with the 1.7 GHz Core i5 processor, stock 4 GB of RAM, and the 128 GB SSD storage drive. My only question remaining to be answered was how would the Adobe Creative Suite perform on this lower-spec laptop? (more…)

The Graphic Mac Link Box #6: Mac OS X edition

The Graphic Mac Link BoxA collection of interesting or otherwise helpful links I’ve come across recently that you may not have seen, all focused on Mac OS X:

Steve: Who’s Going to Protect Us From Cheap and Mediocre Now?
Until the last sinew, the last synapse gives up, Steve Jobs will continue to influence the company he co-founded and later recreated. This article takes a look back at how Steve Jobs protected us from mediocre technology, and how Apple will continue to do so.

Things Mac OS X
While this web page has some outdated information, the list of Mac OS X resources is fairly extensive. The categories include browsers, FTP apps, databases, security, GUI and more. I love sites like this because I always seem to come across an app or a bit of information that I didn’t know about.

Shrine of AppleShrine of Apple
If you’re an Apple fan (which I assume you are if you’re reading this), then you need to check out Shrine of Apple. It’s a new website that aims to photograph every Apple product ever made, right down to adapters and cables. They’ve got quite a collection already.

OS X Lion GUI PSD files
If you’re a developer, or just want to comp-up some OS X GUI elements, you can grab the fresh-out-of-the-oven Mac OS X Lion GUI Elements. You can grab Lion UI Kit here, or OS X Lion GUI Kit here. Thanks to OSXDaily for finding these layered Photoshop files.

Lion’s Mail Favorite bar
Of course you know your web browser has a favorite bar (bookmark bar), but did you know Mac OS X Lion’s Mail app has one that you can customize with your preferred mailboxes. As a bonus, you can use keyboard shortcuts to access them.

The Steve Jobs Formula and Why It Works

Steve JobsI quickly grew tired of reading about Steve Jobs retiring last week. Practically every tech-blog filled their front page with article after article covering it. There were a few that I found interesting, one of which is The Steve Jobs Formula and Why It Works, by Scott Fulton at ReadWriteWeb.

The article covers six key things that we can look to Apple, and Steve Jobs, for examples of how and why it works.

  • Make it all one platform
  • Make your mission a cause
  • Make them look into your eyes
  • Fight to the death, every time, all the time
  • Surround yourself with smarter people, then own them like your children
  • Let the world see you fall, then rise again

While the article is focused on Steve Jobs and what he’s done at Apple, when you read it you can see that it’s really a formula for successful business in general.

Of course, you’ll have the opportunity to read more about Steve Jobs, including more about his resignation this past week, in November when Steve Jobs (the biography) by Walter Isaacson is released.

Steve Jobs: “That day has come.”

Steve Jobs

Health issues aside, it really was time for Steve to step down

When I think back on the entire length of my career, I find that it has been tied (for good or for bad) to Steve Jobs. From the Apple II, to the Mac, to NeXT, back to the Mac again, iPods, to my current iPhone, I’ve been using Steve Jobs’ devices and software virtually every day. It’s kind of weird to think about, really.

We all knew Steve Jobs would be retiring soon, and after the last keynote speech, most of us knew it was going to be much sooner than people thought; due to the obvious health issues. With Apple announcing Steve Jobs’ resignation today, I (like many of you) enter a new Apple era. Unlike the last time Steve left Apple, this time it’s in great hands and on top of the world. When you think about it, he really couldn’t have chosen a better time to retire as CEO of the company he founded.

I’m not going to repeat the hundreds of articles that popped up yesterday after the announcement. Instead I’ll just say this: Thanks, Steve. Thanks for the vision, courage and leadership. Thanks for making our lives easier, and better.

“Why Apple is done inventing new devices” – Huh? Did they just say that?

I visit a lot of Mac-related websites on a daily basis. Of all those that I visit, I’ve come to realize that none are so off-based, sensationalistic, and void of any reasonable credibility as CultofMac.com; or as I often refer to them, Cult of Morons.

Their latest piece of link-bait is a piece titled “iPod. iPhone. iPad. Why Apple is Done Inventing New Devices.” This mind-numbingly long article (which I won’t even bother linking to) asserts that Apple will stop inventing new devices and focus on finding new ways to make money selling what they already have. For decades. Yeah, you read that right.

What bothers me about the article is not the 15 paragraphs of well-known Apple history that their target readership don’t need a lengthy reminder of, though that’s 50% of the mind-numbing part. No, it’s the idea that Apple has ever “invented” anything at all.

Steve Jobs

Does this look like a guy who wants to sit back and collect money on yesterday's success?

Maybe I have a definition of “invention” that differs from Cult of Morons. It’s this off idea of Apple inventing things that bothers me, and the assertion that Apple will simply sit back for the next decade and try to milk customers for more money using nothing but what they already offer, such as iOS, to do so.

To truly understand what Apple will do in the next decade, you can look back at Apple’s storied history to see that Apple takes existing problems and finds creative, appealing solutions for them that motivate people to buy. Constantly. (more…)

Apple Stores: a victim of their own success

Apple Genius Bar

The promise made by Apple's Genius Bar is rarely delivered on anymore

When Apple built their first store here in Phoenix, Arizona I was ecstatic. No longer would I be forced to order Apple-related products online, I could walk into a store and walk out with virtually anything I needed. The atmosphere was fantastic – with plenty of space to move around and try everything, the staff knowledgeable and helpful, and the Genius Bar was such a great resource.

Those days are gone. Probably forever.

The Apple Retail Store has lost virtually everything that made it great, mostly due to their own popularity and success. It’s truly unfortunate. (more…)

OS X Lion: It’s the little features that will make a big difference

You’ve no doubt read a lot about OS X Lion, Apple’s next generation operating system for the Mac. The last few weeks have seen the tech media publishing gobs of information, but some of the new features in Lion aren’t getting the attention that some of the more popular features like Launchpad, the new Mail and Calendar apps, and iCloud are.

OS X Lion

A few features that should be in the final release of Lion when it ships in July that you may not have read about include: (more…)

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