Sang Tang
Articles by Sang Tang
Microsoft Office or iWork, that is the question
No doubt about it: Microsoft Office is the 800-pound gorilla of productivity suites, both on the Mac and on Windows. In the latest version, Office 2011, the product teams have added lots of zing both in performance and features. Question is, can you go with alternatives? In particular, what about iWork? The answer is, it depends on the apps that you'll be using, the level of functionality you want from them, how you work and who you collaborate with. As there are great deals to be had today on Office ($80 for Home/Student, which only lacks Outlook vs. the Business edition), it's worth thinking about the match-up. [There are other commercial options, like Mariner Write/Calc, open-source alternatives like KOffice, NeoOffice and Open Office.org, and of course, cloud apps like ThinkFree, SlideRocket and Google Docs. Today we're talking iWork. –Ed.] For basic word processing, Pages is up to the task against Microsoft Word. Sure, things are in different places and the lingo may not be as familiar, and that may take some time getting used to. However, if the end goal is to get your thoughts on paper and to have the flexibility to format these words the way you want to, Pages will do the job. And if you need page layout flexibility, Pages' page layout tools makes for a more elegant and easy-to-use solution for documents that require you to position things around.
Essential iPhone apps for vegans
Whether you've always been a vegan, or are new to veganism, there are times when eating can be a challenge. Sure, you can plan your meals out and substitute this for that in a meal or recipe, but life happens, so here are the essential iPhone apps for vegans dealing with life happening. When you don't want to be "that person" Rather than staring at the menu, and burning a hole through it in the process, or asking the waiter what things can be removed or substituted, you could come into a restaurant fully prepared knowing what is or isn't vegan. This is what VeganXpress (USD $1.99) does. The app has a list of popular restaurants and marries to it the vegan choices and substitutes available. For example, the app shows that the Fresco Bean Burrito (my personal fast food favorite) at Taco Bell, while the Seven Layer Burrito can be veganized sans cream and cheese. In addition, the app provides an extensive listing of popular food items, beer and wine that fit the vegan bill. With it, I was able to comfortably buy a bag of Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, Hot Tamales and a couple of bottles of Chimay. When you don't want to worry about being "that person" But there's no need for fakin' a vegan meal when you can "facon" it instead (I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself), and this is what VegOut (USD $2.99) does. Powered by happycow.net, a popular restaurant guide amongst vegans, VegOut uses your iPhone's current location and gives you a list of vegan, vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants nearby along with user ratings. Alternatively, you can search for a restaurant, say "Italian" or "Thai," and the app will return a list of restaurants nearby, from which you can get driving directions to via the Google maps app.
5 productivity tips for Mail.app
Like Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills 90210 and her flings with Dylan, Brandon and Colin, I've been around the block with mail clients, both on the Mac and PC side.That said, I prefer Mail.app. While Mail.app is simple enough for less advanced users, it also contains some niceties for power users. Here are five tips to help enhance your experience in Mail.app. Threaded/Grouping Messages Making sense of who said what and when they said it in relation to who in an email string can be mind numbing. Thankfully, Mail.app has the ability to organize emails by thread, lumping them together by subject. To enable this feature, select on the mail box or folder that you'd like to view messages in threaded form and then click on "Organize by Thread" from the "View" menu. Messages will then be viewed as threads on an individual folder level basis. For instance, when applied to Folder 1, in which subfolders A, B and C reside, only messages residing in Folder 1 will be threaded.
Auto-updating charts with Numbers and Keynote
If you find yourself making the charts for your presentations in Numbers and would like an easy way to update them, the chart updating feature in Keynote does just that. With a simple click, your chart in Keynote is updated to reflect changes made in your Numbers spreadsheet. This feature requires that you start your workflow in Numbers. After creating a chart, copy and paste it over to a slide in Keynote. Now, whenever you click on the chart in your Keynote presentation, a button will appear atop of it. Clicking on the arrow with the two circles on it will update the chart with figures from Numbers. Alternatively, you can click on the "edit data" button (after clicking on the chart) and then "update all" within the data table. However, it's important to note that you must save the Numbers file first before doing this. Otherwise, the changes won't carry over.
Former Apple manager accused of hiding $125k in shoeboxes
Back when I was a kid, I kept my most valuable possessions, my baseball and basketball card collection, in a shoe box. Apparently, so too did former Apple employee Paul Devine. Devine is accused of wire fraud and conspiracy on the basis that he collected more than $2.5 million in kickbacks from Apple's suppliers. And during their investigation, officials found $125,000 stored away in shoe boxes at his home, as well as more than $20,000 worth of foreign currency. Prosecutors also allege that Devine may have other sources of cash. In Devine's position as a global supply manager at Apple, it's alleged that he was privy to information such as projected sales of Apple products, the cost to manufacture an Apple product, and the prices of bids from competing suppliers. Prosecutors allege that he leveraged this knowledge by providing it to those in the supply chain in return for kickbacks. The allegations against Devine are noteworthy, given Apple's penchant for secrecy. For instance, according to reports, Apple employees must test unreleased products in secret rooms under covered workstations, and are not allowed to follow other employees too closely. [via Macworld]
SmileOnMyMac is now Smile
Going forward, the artists formerly known as SmileOnMyMac will now just be known as Smile. The name change reflects the company's more diversified software offerings outside of the Mac, which now include an iOS version of its popular app TextExpander on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. In addition to TextExpander, Smile's (wow, it takes a while to get used to the name) portfolio of Mac OS X apps includes PDF editor PDFpen, CD/DVD label designer DiscLabel, and its fax app PageSender. Smile's name change is similar to a move that Apple made. Citing its changing product portfolio, which included products outside of the traditional computing paradigm, Steve Jobs announced at Macworld 2007 (where the iPhone debuted) that the company would be changing its name from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc. Accompanying the company's name change is a new logo (sans the "on my Mac") and a new URL (it has changed from smileonmymac.com to smilesoftware.com), though both URLs will direct you to the company's site.
An iPad, a couple, and a wedding
The iPad plays such a big part in some peoples' lives that you could almost say they're married to their iPads. And as for others, ... they just get married by their iPads -- well, sort of. The iPad helped facilitate the wedding of Aaron and Katie, as it made its rounds to the priest and then the bride and groom. Not only did the bride, Katie, read her vows to her soon-to-be husband, Aaron, from the iPad, she composed them on it as well. While the couple's wedding was held outdoors, a gazebo provided shade to help make reading easier; the iPad's glass screen and the sunlight usually don't make a good combination for readability. Offbeat Bride reports on creative wedding ideas; Aaron and Katie's iPad-enabled nuptials certainly qualify. If you plan on using your iPad in your wedding, you might as well plan your wedding using an iPad. You can use 100 Wedding Tips and the Wedding Guests app, which aims to help you make a final decision on who to invite to your wedding and who to cut from the list.
HBO iPad app scheduled to arrive in six months
Do you need to catch up with Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm? Do you want to re-watch that interview from Real Sports? Soon, you'll be able to do just that on your iPad. HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said that the premium cable channel is planning on releasing an iPad app (dubbed HBO Go) that will enable viewers to view a library of up to 800 hours per month of the channel's movies and TV shows. Best of all, if you're already a paying HBO subscriber, you can access content on the iPad app for free. The content streaming app ecosystem on the iPad includes ABC Player, Netflix and Hulu Plus, and HBO Go is set to join this space. HBO plans to release HBO Go for the iPad in six months, which means that the app will likely be on the App Store sometime during the early part of 2011. [via Mashable]
Nike plus is a minus on iOS 4
While iOS 4 is a significant upgrade to Apple's multi-touch operating system, it is not without its quirks. And one of these quirks (an extremely annoying one) is the Nike+ app. Simply put, the app is so buggy that it is almost unusable (the operative word here being "almost," since it takes a lot of fiddling around to get it to work correctly). A search for "Nike+ iOS 4" on the Apple and Nike support forums and Google will produce a smorgasbord of user complaints. I'll address some of those here and offer some possible remedies.
Mac 101: Five tips for working with PDF files in Mac OS X
One of the best things about Mac OS X is its built-in support for PDF files. Instead of testing your sanity while you wait (sometimes it can seem like forever) for Adobe Acrobat to open a PDF file, you can use Preview.app to open them up quickly. However, built-in PDF support allows you to do other neat things as well. Here are five of my favorites. Print At the top of the list is the ability to create a PDF from almost any document. Whether it's a Word or Pages document, a spreadsheet, or a Web page, in most instances you'll be able to create PDFs out of them. Many Windows users print to a PDF printer in order to create a PDF file, and in a similar manner, creating PDFs on Mac OS X involves selecting the print option from the app that you're working in. Within the app, click on "File" and then select "Print." Then, you'll be presented with a dialog box with a "PDF" button on the left. Click on this button and select "Save as PDF." Annotate Once you've created your PDF, you can annotate it. Open up your PDF in Preview.app, click on "View," and select "Show Annotations Toolbar." After doing so, a toolbar will appear on the bottom left of your document. Alternatively, the toolbar will also be displayed if you select any of the annotate options under the "Tools" menu. Annotations include the ability to create text boxes (useful for filling out forms), add notes, or highlight and create shapes (among other things). Rearrange You can also move pages around within Preview.app (like rearranging the songs in an iTunes playlist). Simply choose "Contact sheet" or "Thumbnail" view from the sidebar, and then drag and drop your pages as you see fit. Bookmarks Let's say that a couple of pages within a PDF interest you, and you want to revisit them later. To do this, click on "Bookmarks" in Preview.app and select "Add Bookmark" (or use the Cmd+D shortcut). One of the neat things about this feature is that, even if your PDF isn't open, you can still access your bookmarks. Crop I've made no secret about my fondness of Preview.app's image editing ability, and this extends to PDFs as well. One neat image editing feature for PDFs is the ability to select an area and create a new image based on this selection. To do this in the PDF, click on the "Select" tool, select an area, and copy it. Then, in Preview.app, click on "File," select "New from clipboard," and voila, your selection is in a new document. This document can be saved in a variety of formats, including PDF, JPG, and PNG. PDF parsing and rendering are core features of Mac OS X and iOS. While providing for native support for PDF files, it also served as the foundation for the recently released Web-based jailbreak for the iPhone.
Toddler wooden puzzle roundup for the iPad
There's nothing like walking around in the middle of the night and stepping on the knob of a wooden puzzle piece. It kind of hurts. Believe me, it's happened to me on many an occasion, and it has resulted in firetruck and dinosaur-like imprints on my feet. If you're tired of stepping on puzzle pieces, having puzzle pieces go missing -- and if your toddler is tired of doing the same puzzles over and over -- you may want to consider some puzzle alternatives on the App Store. While I'm obviously too old to be doing wooden knob puzzles, my 18-month-old nephew isn't. So, these observations are based, in part, on his interactions with the apps and a sit-down we had over a bottle of milk to discuss them.
Mac usage surges amongst University of Virginia freshmen since 2004
According to the University of Virginia's Information Technology and Communication (ITC), which services the IT needs for most of the campus, 43 percent of first-year students at its residence halls during 2009 were using a Mac. The figure represents a continuation of a five-year trend that's seeing increased Mac penetration on the campus amongst first year students. Prior to 2004, Mac usage amongst freshmen hovered between three and four percent (with the exception of 1997). 2004, however, served as a watershed year: share increased by four percentage points. A host of theories can help explain this jump. I'd probably point to the release of iTunes on Windows in 2003. While the iPod and the "halo effect" surrounding it had existed for three years, up until 2003 only Mac users were able to fully experience the benefits of hardware and software integration. Or, perhaps it was partly due to the fact that OS X-only Macs began making their way into the market during 2003. Other significant events that occurred throughout the years include the release of the iPod nano (2005), Intel-based Macs (2006), and the iPhone (2007). But perhaps as influential as anything else during this time frame is the "Get a Mac" campaign. The "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" ads highlighted the benefits of a Mac and contrasted them with the downsides of owning a PC -- i.e., security issues, performance and lifestyle apps. Data for the University of Virginia ITC is collected by the group's student employees, known as Computing Advisors (CAs), a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing. The data is based on a census of first-year residence halls each fall conducted by the CAs, and can be found here. Hat tip to Glenn Fleishman.
Installing iMovie HD 6 without iLife '08
When iLife '08 and '09 came out, I was pretty happy about all of the new bells and whistles -- except for iMovie, that is. As much as I wanted to like the completely revamped iMovie, to me it was as tasty as "New Coke" when compared to Coca-Cola Classic. When Apple released iLife '08, it provided a free download (which is no longer available, so I hope that you saved it) of iMovie HD 6, and it could live alongside of iMovie '08 harmoniously. However, let's say that you've just completed a fresh install of Mac OS X, and you want to install both iMovie HD 6 and the latest version of iLife, iLife '09. That's not the most straightforward of tasks. First, you'll have to install iLife '08, because the Apple-provided, free download of iMovie HD 6 does a check to see if you have iLife '08 installed; if you don't have it, you can't proceed. Your next step is to install iMovie HD 6 and then install iLife '09. With this little tip, you can save 10 minutes of your life and install iMovie HD 6 without iLife '08. First, mount the .dmg file of the iMovie HD 6 download that Apple provided (I hope you kept it). After it's mounted, right-click on the installation package and select "show package contents." In the "Contents" folder, double-click on this file: "Archive.pax.gz." This archive will extract its contents to a folder named "Archive," which you'll need to locate. Inside the Archive folder, you'll find a folder named "Applications," and living in this Applications folder, you'll find the "iMovie HD" app. Just drag it over to your Applications folder, and you're all set. Readers, tell us what you think. Did it take you a while to fully embrace the '08 and '09 versions of iMovie, or do you still wholeheartedly prefer iMovie HD 6?
Magic Eraser magically cleans your Apple products
Besides its usefulness cleaning walls, tables and shoes, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is excellent at cleaning many Apple products. If your white MacBook is starting to look brown and your Apple iPad Case has stains from who knows where, the Magic Eraser just may be your solution. And at $2.99 for a two-pack, it's not that big a gamble. The Magic Eraser and similar products are made of melamine foam; for consumer household use, it acts like extremely fine sandpaper. This allows it to get into tiny grooves and pits to "erase" stains. Per instructions on the package, just add some water to the Magic Eraser and begin gently -- and I repeat, gently -- rubbing it on the surface area of what you're cleaning. As you're dealing with electronics, it's a good idea to turn off the device and not use too much water. With the Magic Eraser, I was able to remove all the grease from my burgers and French fries from my Apple iPad case. It looked almost new again. Although Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser is one of the more commonly known brands of melamine foam-based cleaners, others exist. They include the 3M Scotch Brite Easy Erasing Pad and the Nano Sponge. Store brands, which are commonly less expensive, also exist and I've found them to work just as well as national brands. As is the case with cleaning anything expensive, especially electronics, it'd be wise to be extra cautious. This includes test cleaning on a small area, and not over-applying water. TUAW & Aol assume no liability for any damage to your equipment caused by the use or misuse of this product.
Empowering your iPhone with Scosche's passPORT
iPod car stereo integration is great. You can control your music library with your car stereo's controls. In some cases, you can see track info like artist, song and album information. Best of all, your iPhone's charging via a dock connector while all of this is happening -- that is, if you have a fairly recent integration kit. While many older car stereo integration kits can play and control music through their iPods and iPhones, they've lost the ability to charge newer models. The reason for this is that Apple re-engineered the dock connector for the iPhone 3G, second generation iPod touch and fourth generation iPod nano onward. However, you can empower yourself against this annoyance with Scosche's passPORT. The passPORT is a dongle that serves as an intermediary between your car's dock connector cable and your iPhone, charging it while you're enjoying your music. Scosche has a list on its site with car compatibility information. While my car's kit -- the original iPodYourBMW factory kit -- isn't on the list, it worked flawlessly with the passPORT. The Scosche passPORT is available at the Apple online store, and at some Apple retail stores for US$19.95.
Cops using Will.i.am's iPad to track down thief
It's hard out there for a hip-hop star. Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas recently had a not so good, good night. Thieves broke into his parked Bentley and made off with $10,000 worth of loot including jewelry, other personal property and the singer's shiny Apple iPad. However, law enforcement officials have honed in on the the perpetrator using the iPad's GPS functionality, and are close to making an arrest. The exact means they used for locating the iPad, however, is unknown -- i.e., whether it was an app or MobileMe's "Find My iPhone/iPad" feature. Whether for a special event performance or music partnership, Apple has collaborated with many musicians in a variety of ways. Back in 2004 the Black Eyed Peas, and their hit "Let's Get it Started," were prominently featured in the launch of the iMac G5. [via TMZ.com]
If I couldn't use a Mac
Joshua Piven's The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook sits on my desk. The book provides instructions on how to deal with certain scenarios, say wrestling yourself free from an alligator or landing an airplane. What it doesn't provide, however, is a guide for going without your Mac and using a Windows-based PC, which is a worst-case scenario for many TUAW readers. What if I was forced to use a PC notebook? What would I use?
First impressions of iPhone 4
For those of you whose preordered iPhone 4 arrived early, just realize that the rest of us were jealous ... incredibly, incredibly jealous. It's one thing to hear it from Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, but seeing countless others rave about the iPhone at about the same time made me that much more anxious to get my hands on the iPhone 4. Was it worth it to get in line at the Apple store at 3:45am with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning? In a word, yes.
If I couldn't use an iPhone...
I was at a bar the other night having a beer with friends, during which we talked about things guys talk about at bars. Would you rather have the power to see the future or to read someone's mind? Who's better, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant? And, lastly, if you couldn't use an iPhone, which phone would you use? The four of us sat there confused trying to answer the last question, and actually never got around to answering it. The reason we never finished our answers was that it became more a question about how ingrained and integral the iPhone is in our lives than a feature-for-feature comparison of the iPhone against its competitors. But if there was no such thing as an iPhone, which would you pick? Here at the virtual TUAW bar, we each have our own picks and reasons for them.
Pocket protector, meet your cousin: the iPad suit
Apple products often spawn ecosystems of product categories to facilitate their existence. The iPod and iPhone, for instance, gave birth to speaker docks, FM transmitters and protective cases. And now an ecosystem of products is materializing for the iPad: they include cases of all sorts, bean bag lap rests and, yes, clothes. Suits, to be specific. Upscale Manhattan tailor Mohan's Tailor Shop, which boasts a clientele including Barry Bonds, Walt Frazier and Gary Carter, recently unveiled a custom made suit with a jacket pocket to accommodate the iPad (as reported in the WSJ). The impetus for it was the result of several customer requests for the feature; since its unveiling, the tailor says it has received about "100 calls and scheduled several dozen appointments with customers over the next several weeks" for a fitting. Mohan's must be pulling off some magic of its own to fit Apple's "magical" device in a jacket pocket. At 1.6 pounds, I'm guessing the iPad may pull one side of the jacket lower than the other, thus necessitating some kind of counterbalance. Personally, I'd rather just use a bag. [via Cult of Mac]