TNW Quick Hit

Expert Feedback gives you up to 5 experts in 3 areas that help you build a better website.

Love It: The parent company has a huge list of credentials. Great service.

Hate It: Prices might be high for some users.

Overall: 4/5*

The Details

You've probably heard of Concept Feedback. If not, the short version is that it's a community of website reviewers. Combine that with Concept's sister site Public Feedback and you have an amazing group of over 7,000 users who love to review websites.

Today, however, there is a trifecta. ExpertFeedback lets you pick from 1 to 5 experts in the areas of Design, Usability and Marketing who will pick your site apart and let you know how you can make it better. While the crowdsource design of Public Feeback will work for many, Expert Feedback gives you a panel of assured experts, instead of just those claiming to be.

So why the star on the score? Simply because the 4/5 score relies heavily on what the experts would tell you. I have a hard time recommending any service before seeing its results, but Expert Feedback seems to be on the right path.

Is it worth the money? If you're building a site that you plan to use as a source of profit, then yes. It's absolutely worth it. The names on the Expert Feedback roster are impressive, and so is their track record.

Original title and link for this post: Does your website suck? Get some Expert Feedback.

Seven security experts have been entrusted with the key to reboot the internet in case of a global catastrophe.

The security experts have been given a key that can help them rebuild the DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) system of trust for the internet if a catastrophe takes it down. The experts would have to physically carry the root key to a secret data center in the U.S. in order to reboot the internet. They essentially carry the ability to recreate the internet's Yellow Pages database of web addresses.

The experts include Paul Kane, head of CommunityDNS; Norm Ritchie of Canada, Jiankang Yao from China; Moussa Guebre of Burkina Faso; Bevil Wooding from Trinidad and Tobago; Ondrej Sury of the Czech Republic; and Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at Recursion Ventures in the US. They have been dubbed the Seven Horsemen of the Web Apocalypse or the Fellowship of the Ring.

Kaminsky became famous in 2008 for pointing out a major security flaw in the Domain Name System, the protocol used to route traffic to the correct addresses across the internet. DNS had vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to hijack web traffic and redirect it to malware sites. The entire security industry got together to patch the flaw in DNS, before Kaminsky made the flaw public. But it was a temporary bandage, while DNSSEC was closer to the real solution.

DNSSEC is 15 years old but has had trouble getting adopted. ICANN, the internet's governing body, threw its weight behind DNS earlier this year and now the world's server operators are expected to migrate to the more secure protocol over time. In the meantime, if something catastrophic happens, these seven researchers hold the key. More trusted individuals will be given the key in the future.

We're in the midst of a security revolution that started 18 months ago, said Kaminsky, speaking on a panel at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The amount of resources necessary to get DNSSEC operational are enormous. It's only going to get better.

Rod Beckstrom, chief executive ICANN, said on the same panel that DNSSEC represents the kind of fundamental new technology that will help make the internet more trustworthy.

Within six months to a year, more corporations and governments will implement DNSSEC and thereby make the internet much more trustworthy.

Report Snapshot (full report embedded below)
Altimeter Group conducted research, and gleaned input from 34 vendors, agencies, and experts, to determine success criteria and develop a roadmap for Facebook page best practices. We found Eight Success Criteria for Facebook page marketing, and then tested the maturity of 30 top brands across six industries.

Our heuristic evaluation revealed that brands fell short nearly half of the brands we reviewed (14 out of 30) did not fully leveraged social features to activate word of mouth, the hallmark behavior of social networks. Within this immature landscape, a few brands were on the right track to successfully harnessing Facebook page marketing. Brands like Pampers, Macy's, Kohl's, and AXE increased engagement and activated word of mouth through advocacy and peer-to-peer interactions, or solicited business call to actions that result in transactions.

How should brands approach their Facebook page marketing? We asked the experts.
Research means digging in deeper to find the truth, and we know our place in the ecosystem is to work with others. As a result, we had a call for submissions, and we received input from 34 vendors, agencies, brands, and individual experts. We read blog posts, looked at examples, and reviewed case studies.

360i, AKQA, Awareness, The Community Roundtable, Context Optional, Digital Evolution Group, Edelman Digital, Facebook, Gigya, Horn Group, Inside Facebook, Janrain, KickApps, Lithium, LiveWorld, Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence, Razorfish, RockYou, SHIFT Communications, Spredfast, StepChange Group, a Powered Company, Vitrue and Wildfire Interactive. We also received input from individual contributors such as: David Armano, David Berkowitz, Bert DuMars, Charlene Li, Dave McClure, Annie Noll, Shiv Singh, Adam Smith, Justin Smith, Jason Sullivan, and Anita Wong.

8 Success Criteria for Facebook Page Marketing
After pouring over the data from the ecosystem we're part of, we found a clear pattern. There was a consistent set of criteria we heard from the industries experts, we found the following 8 criteria:

Then, we put 30 brands to the test to find out who's doing it right and wrong.
We then took that criteria, created a scorecard with quantitative criteria, and measured the world's top brands on their Facebook efforts to find out who's doing it right, and who's not. In the embedded report, you can download many of the high level findings, as well as see screenshots, comparison by industry and read our recommendations.

About the Altimeter research team.
For this report, I'm very thankful to work closely with Altimeter Partner, Alan Webber (bio, Twitter), who served as Editor. Alan is a multi-talented guy who stems from Forrester with a strong background in web user experience, and was able to tighten down the scorecard methodology which we'll use to help clients. Christine Tran, Researcher (blog, Twitter), lead a detailed and thorough research process, always kept the ball rolling and is a consistent and reliable source of quality work, long hours, and positive energy. I'm very thankful for both of their consistent help!

Our belief in Open Research: It works when you share it
We want to be facilitators of the ecosystem and want to work closely with the marketplace. We're publishing our report under Open Research, at no-cost under creative commons licensing, this report was 100% funded by Altimeter Group, we also do our best to disclose our financial relationships. To make Open Research work, we hope you read it, spread it, and use it to improve. If you found this research report helpful, please embed it on your blog, email it to your teams, and spread it to others.

Watch this video. If you're confused about how it works, check the diagram above.

If you're still confused, don't worry--you're in good company.

Nederlander Jan Ridders, who is something of a legend in the model engineering world, built what he calls his Thermo Pulse Mobile without really understanding how it works, basing his model solely on a YouTube video demonstrating another one in operation. At first it didn't work. Then...

After a lot of random experiments, which I shall not enumerate here because of their irrelevance, I almost gave up until I took a closer look at the video. I noticed a kind of restriction at the place were the brass cylinder was fixed in the glass tube... Because I hadn't the slightest idea how the restriction should look, I used numerous small brass cylindrical plugs from my scrap box, including those with and without all kinds of bores in them and other deformities. I started random experiments, putting all kinds of plugs in the glass tube at the place where it is fixed in the stand...

By far, most of the plugs didn't bring any positive effect, but with some of them the engine started to show some sign of life. I was pleasantly surprised and at the same time extremely astonished when I found one plug that caused the engine to keep running, although yet not fully reliable. Using the typical characteristics of this "reference plug" I made a new plug, adding step by step changes to the geometries of the reference plug. This was still a random way of working, but at least somewhat more systematic. Finally I succeed in making a restriction that allowed the engine to run reliably.

Even though they've now got a working model, Ridders and his fellow model engineers have been unable to come to a consensus explaining the thermodynamics.

If you're interested in this or any of Jan Ridders' engines, he will e-mail you high-resolution technical drawings for free upon request. Apart from this remarkable curiosity, Ridders' more traditional model engine work is not to be missed.

More:

• Measure the power and efficiency of your Stirling Engine
• Soda can Stirling engine
• Teacup Stirling engine
• Boyd's tin can Stirling hot air engines

Since launching Quora at the beginning of this year as a sort of thinking person's Yahoo Answers, former Facebook employees Charlie Cheever and Adam D'Angelo have increased their staff to 11, raised $11 million, opened up to the public, and grown a vibrant community of questioners and answerers even if they do still converse mainly about the San Francisco Bay Area and tech entrepreneurship. It's become a site I visit most every day. So I recently went down to Palo Alto to meet up with Cheever for the first time since January.

So what is Quora up to? The top items on the company's list, said Cheever, are growth and maintaining a high bar for quality content and the two are often at odds.

The thing that most stood out from our conversation is that Quora thinks of its role as one of governance. They want to design tools that encourage people to contribute knowledge that is informative and current. The company's plans are less about features, and more about figuring out ways to get new users to make good contributions, and giving power users incentives to share more. In a way, it's sort of like trying to birth an online version Plato's ideal society, with participants fulfilling designated roles in the interest of the common good.

That means that while Quora's team thinks about things like introducing user rankings as a way to organize information, it hesitates on implementation because that might discourage new expert contributors with no previous standing on the site from joining the conversation, said Cheever. Instead, Quora has recently been working on things like giving user admins tools to distinguish quality contributions, and building topic hierarchies. Another new feature recognizes how long it has been since a user visited the site, and formats his personalized news feed accordingly.

That's a different approach from the typical user-generated site say, Facebook which is designed to foster maximum participation by users, without placing any sort of value judgment on what they do.

Our No. 1 thing is knowledge that people trust, said Cheever. Being a resource trumps making people feel good about themselves.

Like Formspring, another (very different) Q&A company I visited last week, Quora thinks of the contributions it inspires as a sort of inverse blogging. Participants aren't writing into the void, with no idea if anyone wants to hear their opinion of the best hummus or the best startup lawyer. If someone asks a question, it's because she wants to hear an answer. And there's less pressure, said Cheever, to make something perfect. There's not an expectation that something has to be polished and professional-grade, or that people have to have the skills to build their own website to share their knowledge with the masses.

Though the hope is that everybody's an expert on something, Quora also wants to offer satisfying ways for non-experts to participate. Non-experts can do research and write concise summaries, they can recruit experts and elicit their expertise, or maybe they could just be good at finding thumbnail pictures for topics (which the site recently added), said Cheever.

Another big focus has been catering to power users. As tech insiders have been roused to share their knowledge especially about their own products or those of their competitors Quora answers have often become topics for news stories. (Here are some from GigaOM.) D'Angelo has even done this as himself, confirming rumors of Google's unannounced major upcoming social product in a post that amounted to irresistible linkbait. But some users would rather keep their answers within the community, so a few months ago the company introduced a not for reproduction option that will ostensibly stop these posts from being distributed outside the site (I'm not sure there's a legal precedent for disallowing fair use like this). Quora is also, by design, not currently indexed by search engines, though it plans to allow them in the future.

What about scaling to knowledge areas outside its core topics of Silicon Valley and technology (if those two things are even separable)? Cultivating a community of quality contributors is one thing, but Quora's big test is its breadth. Some competitors, like the technically focused Stack Overflow, are instead choosing the strategy of launching multiple sites to address different topics. Cheever admitted that diversification on Quora is happening slowly, but said general knowledge about things like local information in cities, music, movies and sports, as well as more specialized areas like physics, is coming along.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):

Social Advertising Models Go Back to the Future

PageRank, in simple English, works something like this. Google assigns a fixed number of points to a page that are then equally divided among the other pages that are linked from that page.

For example, assume that Google has assigned a web page some 100 points and there are 5 hyperlinks on that page. Each of these pages will therefore get 20 points from Google. If two of these hyperlinks are written using the rel=nofollow attribute, Google won't give them any points but the remaining three pages will still get 20 points each as before. The balance 40 points (100 20*3) are lost.

So should you use the nofollow attribute at all in your internal links? Google's webmaster site recommends the use of nofollow in some scenarios:

Search engine robots can't sign in or register as a member on your forum, so there's no reason to invite Googlebot to follow register here or sign in links. Using nofollow on these links enables Googlebot to crawl other pages you'd prefer to see in Google's index.

This stand is however completely different from what Matt Cutts has suggested in one of his recent videos (embedded below).

Matt has unequivocally advised that web publishers should not use rel=nofollow when linking to any of their internal pages even if they don't want to see those pages in search engines.

He didn't share any specific reason that made Google to change their original stand on the use of nofollow in web pages but, as a publisher, what matters more to us is the current recommendation which is no nofollow on internal links.

Related: Google Experts Answer your SEO Questions

Do Not Use Nofollow with your Internal Links

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

This is a companion post to How I Live and Breathe Google Reader. A few people have asked for some of my stats, so I am sharing them too.

Objectives behind using Twitter

Different people use Twitter for different purposes. My objectives are:

• Get fresh tech news as fast as possible.
• Learn what leading tech experts and analysts are reading and understand their opinions on current tech topics
• Share fresh tech news and my views
• Make a few friends and have fun.

I use @ScepticGeek as my professional account for my key goals, and @Palsule as a personal account for the last. The remainder of this post focuses on my @ScepticGeek account.

I think defining your objective behind using any network or service is important as it helps define the kind of social graph and relationships you build using it.

My Sharing Policy

I share tech news and opinion pieces about current tech trends. I try my best to keep my Twitter feed a relevant signal. I don't tweet all of my friends' blog posts just because they're my friends.

I realize this may be construed as anti-social behavior among social media experts, but as I explained in Role of Curation in the Attention Economy, I don't wish to increase noise for my followers and am more interested in curating my Twitter feed to keep it relevant for my followers.

My Follow Policy

My objectives drive my follow policy. I typically follow people who break tech news. I also follow people who may not break news themselves, but who constantly live in the breaking tech news world and are always sharing fresh stuff.

The key principle behind my Follow Policy is Relevance. Thus, I do not follow all experts and people I admire. A person's greatness isn't always proportional to the relevance of their Twitter feed to my objectives.

Because I follow relatively few people, some folks assume that I only follow big shots. That simply isn't true. Sometimes, I also follow people who @Reply me with interesting comments on what I share.

I am constantly following new people and unfollowing some of them. This is a continuous process and I am brutal in curating my following list. Sometimes, I use the following benchmarks in deciding whether to unfollow someone:

• Have I liked/retweeted any tweet or article shared by that person within the last month?
• Can I explain to myself why I follow a person given my objectives?

Lastly, I don't care if the people I choose to follow, follow me back or not.

What Follow Means To Me

To me, a Follow is more than a social gesture. A Follow means that I try my best to read tweets, read the articles being shared, listen, answer questions when I can, offer help where possible.

Twitter as a Conversation Platform

A great many people complain that Twitter is not suitable for having conversations.

On the other hand, a great many people I admire and respect, from top tech bloggers and editors of leading tech blogs, to VCs and media/journalism experts, unaware of this inherent limitation of Twitter, continue to use it for meaningful conversations. So do I.

My Reply Policy

I make an effort to respond to each and every @Reply, as long as it is being made in good spirit and doesn't reek of fanboyism.

Attribution Policy

I try to attribute my sources as far as possible, as I described earlier in Thanksgiving via Attribution.

On Automated Tweets

From Google Buzz + Reader + Twitter + Facebook = Noise: When you auto-share, you're not a human on that network, you turn into a bot. Bots are what we call spam.

I neither use any tool that automates tweets, nor do I typically follow those who do.

Tweet Format

I try to make each tweet meaningful for my followers. My usual format is:

Original Post Title <Link> by Author/Blog /via @source /my comments if any

Frequently, the original blog title is either too sensationalistic or entirely misleading or link-baiting. In such cases, I dispense with the original title entirely substituting it with my own.

My URL Shortener

I use Bit.ly as my preferred URL shortener. Here are my Bit.ly stats for the past month:

My monthly stats typically range between 500 to 3000.

Though Twitter mostly works in real-time and I live in India, it is interesting that my followers are primarily based in the United States and EU.

Klout Score and Classification

For those who're interested, my Klout Score varies from 58 to 62.

According to Klout, I am a Thought Leader:

I usually avoid ending my blog posts with the customary You can follow me on xyz here plea, but I will make an exception for this post. So if you're interested in tech news, do follow @ScepticGeek on Twitter!

You must be living in a vacuum if aren't aware of the buzz surrounding the latest Old Spice videos that have gone viral. Earlier this week on Facebook, I responded to a question posed by Social Fresh about whether or not the viral ads will sell more Old Spice.

Will the Old Spice viral video campaign sell more Old Spice? Yes or No?

Here was my response:

Of course it will. As consumers we may not realize it consciously.

But, when standing in the aisle in front of all the brands even if you are loyal to another brand you will see Old Spice. Don't think for a second that this is not a coordinated retail effort.

Pay close attention to product placement in the next few weeks Is there more end cap placements for Old Spice, more Signage, etc. What may seem like a social only event is certainly tied to a set of specific retailing strategies at the store level. The brand owner of OLD Spice is a former Proctor and Gamble exec. More will be sold. Lots more.

Correction: At the time, I posted the comment, I failed to remember that OLD Spice is a Proctor and Gamble brand. So better said:

Remember, the brand of owner of Old Spice IS a Proctor and Gamble executive. What does P&G do? BUILD BRANDS.

An effort that started with a commercials during in the Super Bowl,

Old Spice Super Bowl Ad

is much more thought through than the blogosphere is giving Old Spice credit for. This is a well planned, coordinated, measured effort to increase revenue.

Remember, this is P&G we are talking about!

What does P&G do?

BUILD BRANDS.

There are a lot of super smart, creative, innovative and intelligent marketers in this world. Nothing that is happening with Old Spice brand right now is happening by chance. Nothing. Market share, and more importantly, MIND share is be gained every day.

I'm thinking this was dreamed up in late 2008, early 2009. Read this Fast Company article about Old Spice's Brand Manager, Alex Keith, and you will see why.

BY: EVAN WEST May 1, 2009

In a few short months, we will see the same come true in B2B marketing. My bet is that SAP has some super things in the works. Have you seen SAP's Facebook Friend Optimizer? I bet they have much more on the way. Watch them. Here is an interesting interview with William Robb, Director, Social Media Marketing for SAP. SAP will be a B2B brand that continues making waves in the social web.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Remember, the recession slowed everything down. The creative juices are following everywhere. I am excited for the future of B2B marketing, are you?

You asked for help with the thorniest problems facing Mac, iPhone, and iPad owners, and we answered, providing 50 foolproof solutions that'll come in handy for anyone who uses Apple gear.

For months now, we've been asking you to send us your most burning Apple questions, and to put it mildly, you came through. The queue in our inbox looked longer than the lines that curled around NYC's 5th Avenue Apple Store for the launch of the very first iPhone. And when we dug into the meat and potatoes of your queries, we could only marvel at the insightful list of vexing technical issues and twinkle-in-your-eye trivia tidbits that you challenged us with. We distilled all those inquiries down to the 50 best, most burning questions about Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple itself. Then we put our crack team of experts on the job of coming up with this ultimate answers guide for all things Apple. Struggling with iTunes syncing? iPhone backups? RAID cards? iPad printing? Or just wondering exactly what Steve actually wears every day? The answers await, backstopped and bulletproofed by the pros at Mac|Life.

1. Duplicates in iPhoto

I can't find any options in iPhoto for removing all duplicate pictures in one fell swoop, and I don't want to find and delete them all myself. Any ideas?

iPhoto lacks iTunes' duplicate-deleting prowess, but the shareware app Duplicate Annihilator can fill this gap and free your photo library of clutter. Despite the name, it identifies and tags duplicate pictures with a keyword so you can collect them in a Smart Folder to review and annihilate at your leisure.

2. Wi-Fi Dropouts

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard, my Wi-Fi connection randomly drops for no reason. I still get Wi-Fi reliably on my iPhone, and my wife gets it on her PC. Any advice?

This problem seems to be affecting many Snow Leopard users, so we've come up with a series of steps that should resolve it. Start with the first and work down until the problem goes away:

Update to Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later.

Restart your modem and router.

Upgrade your router's firmware to the latest version, particularly if it's a non-Apple router.

Turn AirPort off then on again from your menu bar.

In your Network System Preference, create a new location and delete all of the previous locations.

One of our best tips for troubleshooting Wi-Fi connection problems is to create one brand-new location and then delete all of your previous locations.

Within your new location, drag AirPort to the top of the service order by clicking on the gear icon and choosing Set Service Order.

Delete all of your preferred networks. To see your preferred networks, click on AirPort in the left margin, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab.

Within that Advanced area, click on the TCP/IP tab and turn off IPv6. Then, go into the DNS tab and make sure that your DNS servers are correct. If in doubt, try Google's DNS servers of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Run Keychain First Aid in Keychain Access, which is located in your Utilities folder.

Manually change your router's wireless channel to another channel to avoid interference with other wireless networks. See which channels are being used by other networks with a utility like AirRadar ($20, koingosw.com).

Turn off 802.11n mode on your router, leaving it in 802.11b/g mode only.

Change the security settings on your router from WEP to WPA/WPA2.

Zap the PRAM on your Mac (get instructions here).

3. Multitouch Gestures

Why can't I do the one-finger double-tap to open documents in Snow Leopard?

You can absolutely use the one-finger double-tap on your Multi-Touch trackpad to open documents in Snow Leopard. Simply go into your Trackpad System Preference and make sure that Tap to Click is checked. Your confusion may also stem from the fact that your Multi-Touch trackpad is capable of understanding many gestures. So if you've enabled Dragging or Drag Lock, you might be holding down your finger too long after the second tap. If you've enabled Secondary Click, you might be tapping in the wrong area of your trackpad.

4. Syncing iPhone Photos

When I sync my iPhone, all 6,000 of my MacBook Pro's photos move to the iPhone--very uncool! How do I remove them from the phone and ensure one-way photo transfers to the Mac in the future?

That's at least 5,950 pictures too many. Just connect your iPhone to your MacBook, then select the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar. Click the Photos tab, where you can choose to transfer none of your pictures or just specific iPhoto Albums, Faces, and Events to your iPhone. Re-sync to apply your new settings and get back a few gigabytes on your iPhone.

5. Uninstalling

My Mac still runs processes from a program I deleted. How do I delete an application entirely and prevent this from happening?

Unfortunately, there's no standard way to remove a program from your Mac, but some developers simplify the job by including an uninstaller with their application. It may lurk in the main folder of the app you want to terminate--check those subfolders!--or it might be in the original installer itself. Launch the installer and proceed through it carefully. An uninstall feature may be obvious, or it could be hidden among options to customize the installation process. Be sure to quit the program you want to delete before uninstalling it.

If an application didn't come with an uninstaller, then the only way to delete it is to drag it to the Trash. However, this won't remove preferences and other support files left behind on your Mac. You can use Spotlight to search for the deleted application's name to find these strays, but if you have a lot of applications to remove, consider investing in a dedicated uninstaller like CleanApp, AppZapper, or AppCleaner. These programs automate the process of zapping unwanted programs--and their stuff--off your drive for good.

6. File Compression

I'd like to save hard drive space with the Finder's Compress command, but I'm not getting useful results. I recently compressed a 117.4MB file to just 116.7MB. Am I doing something wrong?

Not all file types can be compressed with the same space-saving results. For example, compressing a ZIP archive won't make a significantly smaller ZIP file. Some files, such as JPEGs, MP3s, and other media formats, have a certain level of compression already built in, but the sizes of text files and uncompressed image file formats can be dramatically reduced with ZIP compression.

7. Remote Control

When I use my iPod touch as a remote for my Apple TV, it appears to only give me access to the Apple TV's library as if it were an iPod. Is there a way to use the iPod touch like the traditional Apple remote? For example, can I use the touch to navigate to the YouTube app and search for videos, or to browse the movie rentals?

Apple's Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch lets you control the playback of media that you've already purchased or downloaded. But for content that doesn't live on your Apple TV, such as YouTube videos or the iTunes Store, you'll still need your traditional Apple remote to navigate to those screens. However, the good news is that whenever an onscreen keyboard appears on your Apple TV, the Remote app will display its own keyboard, which lets you quickly type what you're searching for.

8. Photo Migration

Can Faces and Places data in iPhoto 09 be moved to another Mac, or do I have to click on all those faces and enter all those locations again?

All your vacation sites and friendly faces will transfer to another Mac with OS X's Migration Assistant, or you can drag your iPhoto library file from your Pictures folder to the same location on a new Mac. When you launch iPhoto on the new machine, you'll be told the locations of pictures containing GPS data must be retrieved again, but custom locations you've entered yourself (for pictures taken with older cameras, say) will remain intact.

9. Gmail, Behave!

I sync Gmail with OS X's Mail, but when I delete a message from Mail, it remains in Gmail's All Mail folder in the sidebar. What's the right mailbox setting to move a message deleted in Mail to Gmail's Trash?

All your Gmail goes into the All Mail folder, whether or not it's been recently deleted and no matter which Gmail folder label is attached to the message. Google's default IMAP Mail settings (available here) are correct, but to send a Mail message directly to Gmail's Trash, you'll have to drag it to the [Gmail]/Trash folder in Mail's sidebar.

10. Crash-Tastic

It always happens at the worst possible time: I'll be using my PowerBook G4 when the screen suddenly dims and shows a Rosetta Stone's worth of languages telling me to restart the computer. Why does this keep happening, and how can I stop it?

Ouch. What you're describing is a kernel panic, a cute name for a not-so-cute problem. An operating system's kernel acts as a bridge between applications and the computer's hardware, and kernel panics are the last-ditch efforts of the operating system to recover from serious conflicts between them. The chief causes of kernel panics are faulty RAM and software incompatible with the operating system you're running. Unfortunately, that range could include any number of bad things that may be happening on your poor PowerBook.

Happily, even a kernel panic isn't the end of the world, and we can offer some pointers to help you figure out what's wrong. The first step is to look at your Mac's history. Was there a time when it didn't get kernel panics? Think back to any (and we mean any) new hardware or software you installed before the panics began. Update or uninstall them one item at a time to isolate the panics' cause until you narrow down the trouble. Also note which hardware and software you're using just before they strike--there may be a pattern. Whatever the issue, your Mac isn't happy, so be sure to back up important files and verify your hard drive with Disk Utility regularly.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

11. Get Zippy iPhone Backups

How can I speed up iPhone backups so I'll never have to cancel mid-backup again? They seem to take forever when a couple minutes really should do it.

A. First off, keep your iOS software current. Not only will the latest updates squash bugs and add features, they can improve backup times. To update, sync your iPhone, select it in the iTunes sidebar, then go to the Summary tab.

B. Pare down the number of applications on your iPhone. Application data like in-app purchases, saved games, and new documents are all backed up when you sync, and that can add up to a long wait while the backup progress bar creeps by. To start cleaning house, connect to iTunes, select the Apps tab, then delete your most infrequently used applications. You'll lose the data saved in these apps, but you'll gain speedier backups.

Ask yourself this: Are those apps you never use on your iPhone really worth slowing down your backups?

C. Sync often. If you sync at least once or twice a day, fewer applications will have new data to back up when you reconnect to iTunes. If you can't bear to part with any of the applications on your Home Screen, making multiple faster backups will let you keep all your favorite apps at your fingertips.

D. Keep Camera Roll clean. While the contents of your iPhone's photo library aren't backed up during a sync, the photos, movies, and screenshots in Camera Roll are. Transfer this media to iPhoto as soon as you begin a sync, and delete the files from Camera Roll when the transfer is complete to get this data copied onto your Mac while excluding it from being backed up in iTunes.

More photos = slower backups.

E. Connect to a USB port on your Mac instead of an external USB hub. Not all USB ports are created equal, and connecting to a powered, full-speed USB port that's built into your Mac will ensure the fastest possible transfer speeds during backups. That means you can be off to your next port of call quickly, secure in the knowledge that your iPhone data is safe on your computer.

F. Before you sync to iTunes, purge unnecessary SMS messages, old call histories, and non-essential files downloaded by apps that store data on your iPhone. For example, if you regularly copy files to your iDisk app or productivity apps like DocsToGo, make sure you're only carrying what you need before a backup. Odds are these files live elsewhere on your Mac or iDisk, so there's no need to back them up again.

Junk your old, unused files, too.

12. Time Travel

I've been running Time Machine for months in Mac OS 10.6.3, but I've never seen instructions about how to go back in time and retrieve information. Help!

Mount your backup drive, then launch Time Machine from your Mac's Applications folder. Your desktop will be replaced by a timeline and Finder windows showing your Mac's contents as they were in the past. Just click a Finder window (or click within the timeline) to return to a specific date. You can also search within Finder windows for specific filenames, and more. When you find a missing file, select it and click Restore to return to the present with your document.

13. Rip Encrypted Movies

I want an easy way to download a DVD to my computer so I can put it on my iPod or iPad. I used to use HandBrake, but that no longer works for encrypted DVDs.

HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr) is still the quickest and most reliable tool for directly converting DVDs into video files that will play on your iPod or iPad. But you'll also need to install VLC (free, videolan.org) if you want to decrypt commercial DVDs. Place both HandBrake and VLC into your Applications folder, and you'll be able to convert encrypted DVDs with HandBrake once again.

14. Dump Discs

I want to go disc-free on my MacBook, but a few of my games require a CD or DVD to play. Is there any way to make OS X think the disc is in the drive when it's not?

OS X's Disk Utility can make a duplicate of your game's CD or DVD and save it to your Mac as a file called a disk image. Once created, disk images can be double-clicked to open and mount on your desktop just like a conventional disc (you've already seen them in software installers downloaded from the internet). But there are two things to remember: copy-protection schemes on the disc may prevent duplication, and you should have plenty of room on your MacBook's hard drive before you begin. A DVD's disk image will take up several gigabytes.

To get started, insert the disc you want to dupe, then launch Disk Utility from your Utilities folder. Select the disc in the sidebar, then click New Image in the Disk Utility toolbar, set the image format to DVD/CD Master in the resulting sheet, and save the disk image to your Mac. Next time you want to play your game, double-click the image file, then launch your game normally once the virtual game disc mounts. When you're finished, you can drag the mounted disc to the Trash to eject like any conventional media, leaving the disk image on your Mac for the next time you want to get your game on.

15. Branching Out

Which operating systemsand I mean all of them, not just Mac versionswill run on a PowerPC-based Mac?

The PowerPC processor has become something of a museum piece since Apple abandoned it for Intel's chips, but these Linux distributions can help you breathe new life into G5- and G4-powered Macs. Ubuntu, Yellow Dog, and Fedora all maintain builds that run on PowerPC hardware. When you're looking to run a worthwhile alternate operating system on older Mac hardware, the penguin has you covered.

16. The $1M Question

When will Adobe Flash content be viewable on iPhones and iPads?

Never. In April, Steve Jobs had this to say about Flash on Apple's website: Flash was created during the PC era--for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low-power devices, touch interfaces, and open web standards--all areas where Flash falls short.

17. iLife Oops

I accidentally deleted iMovie and the Apple Loops that came with GarageBand. Can I reload them from the original disc without losing all my other iLife files?

Sure! First, launch the iLife 09 installer from your disc. At the bottom of the final screen is a Customize button that lets you install iLife components individually. Click it, then select the items you want to reinstall. The installer will insist on installing GarageBand along with your missing loops, but your missing applications and files will return to your Mac without affecting other iLife applications and documents, including GarageBand preferences. Just remember to run Software Update afterward to ensure that everything's up to date.

18. iPad Printing

What are the best ways to print from the iPad?

Until Apple decides to build printing into iOS, there unfortunately isn't a best way--although there are several apps in the App Store that might meet your needs.

Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone runs on the iPad and will print photos to certain Canon printers. And the App Store is full of plenty of third-party apps that promise printing from your iPad, although in our experience the results are decidedly mixed. PrintBureau ($12.99) searches your network for shared printers. It reliably printed to one--but not another--of the printers on our home network without any intervention. There's an optional free helper application you can run on a Mac to give PrintBureau access to your printers (a solution common to several iPad printing apps), but we'd hardly call that true iPad printing.

We also had success with Air Sharing HD ($9.99), which is packed with features for moving and sharing files with your iPad. It didn't work immediately with our Wi-Fienabled printer, but turning on Printer Sharing on our Mac made all our printers visible to the app. But--like using a companion app--that also requires that you have a Mac running. Ultimately, the least fiddly solution often ends up being emailing yourself a document and printing from a computer. Hopefully Apple has something better in the pipeline

19. Tame Bookmarks

I have tons of Safari bookmarks on my Mac. I don't want them all on my iPhone, but Apple only allows syncing of all or none. Is there a fix?

It's almost elegant. Xmarks (xmarks.com) syncs bookmarks across multiple browsers, and its profiles let you decide which bookmarks appear on specific devices, including your iPhone. Best of all, you can view (and even search) them in a layout formatted for Mobile Safari. Just sign up for Xmarks, follow their instructions, and disable iPhone bookmark syncing in iTunes. Unfortunately, Xmarks doesn't sync new bookmarks made on your iPhone back to your Mac. Like we saidalmost elegant.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

20. Stay Safe

How can I tell if someone is using my Wi-Fi?

Elementary, my dear Wi-Fi user! The mystery's solution lies in MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, which are unique codes that identify network devices. Different routers have different ways of showing which addresses (and thus, devices) are accessing your network. If you have an AirPort router, launch AirPort Utility from your Utilities folder, double-click your router's icon, then click the Advanced icon in the resulting window. Click Logging and Statistics, then Logs and Statistics. In the Wireless Clients section, you'll see a graph showing the address of each device connecting to your network. The list will include your Mac, the AirPort router itself, and any other computers, iPhones, game consoles, or other devices using your Wi-Fi connection. Next, match the MAC addresses to your network devices. We'll get you started: your computer's address can be found in the Network section of System Profiler. When you're finished, you'll know the addresses of devices you want on your network, so you can tell when something with a foreign address is using your Wi-Fi. Then the game's afoot!

21. Sim-plify

I have a 1G iPhone that I want to use as a simple iPod touch, leaving aside the phone features entirely, but I don't have the original SIM card. What are my options?

Your options are slim. Unlike later models, the 1G iPhone requires a SIM card to operate as a basic iPod, even after AT&T service has been terminated or transferred to another phone. You can get a new SIM card from AT&T, but this will require signing up for a new phone service contract. Unfortunately, there's no way around this limitation besides jailbreaking your iPhone with one of the methods floating around on the internet.

22. Merge Partitions

Is there any way to un-partition a non-boot hard drive in OS 10.6 without wiping the data?

You're in luck. Since 10.5, OS X's Disk Utility has been able to add and remove partitions from disks without affecting other data on the drive. However, Disk Utility won't merge data from the deleted partition to another partition on the drive, so back up all your data--especially files on the partition you'll be removing--before you begin.

Once all your data's securely backed up, launch Disk Utility from your Mac's Utilities folder, then select the drive in the sidebar (be sure to choose the icon noting the drive's capacity, not just its name). Click the Partition button, then in the shaded box showing the drive's Volume Scheme, select the partition you want to remove. Click the minus button below the Volume Scheme chart to remove the partition (don't worry, it won't disappear right away). Click and drag other partitions to resize them and fill the empty space that will be left behind by the deleted partition. You can also click the plus button to add a new partition that can also be resized. Click Apply to commit your changes and begin Operation: Un-partition.

23. No Scratching

I just bought a new 21.5 iMac (late 2009 model) and found a serious design flaw: the CD slot has sharp aluminum edges that can inflict permanent, irreversible scratches to valuable CDs. Help!

These days, Apple's really into razor-sharp edges. For example, the unibody MacBooks also famously have sharp edges where users rest their wrists, and those very same sharp edges have made it onto the slot on the side of the iMac where CDs are loaded. Luckily, those sharp edges are just on the outside, not on the internal drive itself. So if you carefully and slowly slide in your CD without touching the outside edges, you may avoid scratching your CD. But here's a more practical solution: Put electrical tape around the edges of the slot. This isn't the most beautiful thing to look at, but it's almost guaranteed to keep scratches at bay. Another option would be to purchase an external CD drive to either use as your primary CD drive or to make copies of your valuable CDs. That way, if a CD gets scratched, at least it's not the original.

24. Font Fixes

When using Mail, any font that I use in my outgoing email always shows up on recipient PCs as Courier--that archaic, typewriter style font. How can I get my Mac fonts to translate onto PCs?

In order for a font to be successfully seen on somebody's computer, they need to already have that particular font installed on their machine. If your recipient doesn't have the same exact font as you, their computer will substitute your font with a font that is already installed on their system. This applies to emails, websites, Word documents, almost anything. If maintaining the integrity of fonts is important to you, you'll need to create PDF files or images and attach them to your outgoing email message.

25. App-Update Errors

When I try to update apps from my iPhone, I get a Cannot Connect to iTunes Store error, yet I have no problem downloading new apps, and no problem updating them in iTunes on my computer. What gives?

Assuming the problem is reoccurring and not a freaky networking accident, it sounds like your iPhone (or the problematic apps themselves) may be confused about the status of your iTunes account. This could be because a different user has logged into your iPhone, because you have multiple usernames or passwords tied to your iTunes account, or even because your billing information was recently changed on another device. The easiest place to start is by navigating to Settings, tapping Store, and confirming that yours is the currently active account on your iPhone. If it is, try signing out and signing back in with your most recent iTunes account information, then verify that your address and billing information are correct. If the problem persists, the apps may the culprit. Try updating them in iTunes, then deleting them from your iPhone. Reconnect your iPhone to your computer to sync the updated apps back to the phone. If, down the road, these same applications refuse to update from your iPhone again, deleting them from your Mac and re-downloading them from the iTunes Store may fix this.

26. Make Windows Behave

I have various finder windows set to appear in different views depending on their content. But certain windows stubbornly--and randomly--refuse to remember my preferences. Is it a bug, or am I missing a setting?

Setting a specific folder to open in a particular view (such as columns, icons, or lists) can make browsing files in the Finder a lot easier. Just open and set each folder to your preferred view, then select View > Show View Options in the menu bar and check the topmost button in the resulting window to force the Finder window to always open in that view. Unfortunately, the Finder has ignored these helpful preferences since the earliest days of OS X. Your stubborn folders aren't the first!

Your folders may be confused by corrupt .DS_Store files, the invisible files created by the Finder to store icon sizes, window backgrounds, and more. System utility apps like TinkerTool and Cocktail can reveal or delete these files for you, or you can use the Terminal to delete them yourself if your UNIX Fu is strong.

If those options don't do the trick, your Mac may think you don't have permission to reset the view options of certain folders. Some, like the Applications folder, don't technically belong to any user except the system itself, and only the system (also known as the root user) can make permanent changes to these directories. What looks like random stubbornness may be OS X remembering that it's in charge of these folders, not you.

To show your Mac who's boss, log in as the root user, then set uncooperative folders to the view setting you prefer. Just be careful, and remember to log back into your normal user account and disable root access when the job is done. Moving or deleting the wrong files while logged in as root can have serious consequences for your Mac. Apple explains how to log in as root here.

27. Just Open!

I used to double-click any photo, and it would open in Photoshop. When I installed 10.6, this feature disappeared. Now I have to drop the photos onto the Photoshop icon.

Snow Leopard ignores creator codes, which changed its file-opening behavior--it's all about file extensions now. Right-click a JPG, choose Get Info, and under Open With, choose Photoshop, and click Change All. Do this again for PNG, PSD, TIF, and any other photo file types you want Photoshop to get first dibs on.

28. iPads Kill Wi-Fi

When enough of us use iPads on the office Wi-Fi, it can crash the Wi-Fi itself! I've heard this is a common problem--is there a fix?

You've heard right, and it'll take an OS and/or firmware update from Apple to vanquish this annoying glitch. Until then, know that the issue is caused because an iPad can stop renewing its DHCP lease when it goes to sleep, so if you set your iPad to never sleep (Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Never), you're good. That's hardly ideal, and at Mac|Life HQ, we set up an iPad-only Wi-Fi network, which creates a smaller pool of DHCP leases and keeps the main Wi-Fi network safe. Interestingly, iPads are also prone to other Wi-Fi glitches, like sketchy signal strength, frequent drops, and slow speeds. Bizarrely, one of the first things you should do is increase the brightness upward and turn off the Auto Brightness option (Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper). We can only guess that something's screwy with iPad power management

29. Mac Pros Are Hot

I just wanted to bring to your attention a widespread, frustrating issue that exists with all 2009 Mac Pros. Whenever you play any audio, the CPU rapidly heats up (core temperatures as high as 90 C, CPU heat sink 60 C). This problem exists in 10.5 and 10.6, but does not happen in Windows running in Boot Camp, so it appears to be a Mac OS X bug. And after spending $8,000 on Apple's top machine, I feel like I have been had.

Yes, this seems to be a prevalent problem with the 2009 Mac Pros. Playing any type of audio heats up the Pro precariously close to--but not quite at--dangerous heat levels. If your Mac actually reached dangerous heat levels, it would shut itself down. This increased heat also causes decreased performance. Unfortunately, we don't have any solutions for you, but we're publishing your letter in the hopes that greater publicity on this issue will help get a speedy resolution from Apple.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

30. What a Mess!

One of my co-workers spilled juice on his older MacBook Pro, and now the keys are sticky (when pressed down, they don't pop up right away). What's the best way to clean up?

Sounds nasty! Although this particular spill has long dried, we'll start these cleanup instructions from the moment right after spillage to make them more widely useful. So: Immediately power down, disconnect the power cord from the MacBook, and remove the battery (if it's removable). After doing as much as you can with paper or cloth towels, turn the machine over with the lid partly open to allow the liquid to drain, making sure that the laptop doesn't close all the way. Give it about 72 hours to completely air dry and then take apart the machine to thoroughly clean the innards. The website iFixIt.com has great step-by-step guides to taking the keys off and getting your MacBook back to normal. When dabbing at disassembled keys and other parts, we recommend a bit of gauze lightly dampened with rubbing alcohol.

31. Airport Fizzles

I stream my music from iTunes to an AirPort router, but it frequently cuts out. What can I do?

First, make sure your iTunes and AirPort software are up to date. If the problem persists, move your router away from possible sources of interference. Wi-Fi is convenient, but it's not an exact science. Signals can be impeded by microwaves, wireless phones, thick masonry, and more. If dropouts continue, try changing the channel on which your AirPort broadcasts in the Wireless tab of the AirPort section of AirPort Utility.

32. Family Planning

My wife and I have our own iPhones and iTunes accounts, and we're adding an iPad to the happy family. Can we sync both iPhones and the iPad (plus our Apple TV) to a single iTunes account, and share our apps on all devices without affecting our current library and future purchases?

Bad news first: there's no way to merge multiple iTunes accounts into one, so your family will have to keep juggling separate accounts and purchases from your iPhones, Apple TV, and bouncing baby iPad. The good news is that apps, like DRM-protected movies and TV shows, can be used on up to five authorized computers and the iDevices that sync to them. Just open iTunes, select Apps in the sidebar, then drag iPhone applications you want to share from iTunes to a networked computer or removable hard drive. Select File > Add to Library in iTunes on the second authorized computer, then choose the exported apps to load them into that computer's library. These apps won't retain saved data from the original computer, but otherwise they'll be fully operational and can be updated normally. Apple TV purchases, however, will still be tethered to one of your computers. But even these files can be synced and transferred to multiple computers and iDevices.

Here's the better news: Home Sharing, introduced in iTunes 9, simplifies this process by allowing users to drag and drop media to shared computers within iTunes. Activate Home Sharing by selecting Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing. Repeat this step on all your computers, entering one iTunes account username and password on each. Then you can drag media from shared libraries in iTunes' sidebar into a computer's local library at will. Future purchases can be shared automatically by clicking the Settings button at the bottom of Home Sharing iTunes library, then selecting which media you'd like to share. Once you set up all computers on your network, syncing works automatically, zapping new media off to each machine.

33. Double the Addresses

Why do I have duplicate Contact entries on my iPhone but not on my Mac?

Odds are your iPhone has gained multiple groups of contacts after syncing them both wirelessly through MobileMe and through iTunes when you connected your iPhone to your Mac. Whatever the cause, check your iPhone Contact app's Groups. If you see a group named From My Mac in addition to groups you've created in OS X's Address Book, it's a sign your iPhone thinks you have two distinct sets of friends.

It's hard enough to find the contact you're looking for--who needs duplicate entries?

To fix the problem, first back up your Mac's contact data. Connect your iPhone to iTunes, uncheck Sync Address Book Contacts in the Info tab, then re-sync. If that doesn't remove the extra contacts, turn off MobileMe contact syncing in Settings on your iPhone, choosing to delete the existing contacts on your phone. Next, turn Contact syncing back on, and choose to merge MobileMe's data onto your iPhone if asked. Now you should have just one set of contacts shared between your iPhone and Mac. You'll have half the friends, but half the hassles.

34. Conquer Syncing

What's the most elegant way to sync iTunes libraries between work and home computers?

We use SuperSync, a program that lets you sync your iTunes library among multiple computers on local networks or over the Internet. SuperSync's busy interface can seem a little daunting, but in just a few quick steps, you can start copying music from your crib to your cubicle and back again. Casual Fridays will never be the same.

A. Buy the Software

SuperSync looks and feels kinda like iTunes, but is a whole different beast.

To get started, you'll need a copy of SuperSync running on both your home and work computers. Two licenses will set you back $24, or you can snag ten for $34 and give one to your manager for Boss's Day.

B. Make the Connections

When you first launch SuperSync on your home Mac, it loads and displays your iTunes library in an iTunes-alike window organized by genre, artist, and playlist. While SuperSync may look a little like iTunes (and it can even play some unprotected audio files), it's really a conduit and control panel for syncing, not a jukebox. Your DRM-protected files must still be played by an authorized copy of iTunes, although SuperSync will transfer them just fine.

SuperSync can even keep metadata updated across different Macs.

If your music collection doesn't live in your Mac's Home folder, you can point SuperSync to a library stored on a remote or network drive and share from there. To set up sharing, just check the obvious boxes and enter a password in the application's Network preferences. While you're there, you can fine-tune what you sync and how. For instance, you can keep specific media types--all videos, for instance--out of your shared library and pick which metadata changes will be synced back to your home machine. Whether you simply want to copy files or meticulously update their play counts, ratings, and more across your computers, SuperSync has your back.

C. Start the Sync

To sync your library, install and launch SuperSync on your work machine, then turn on sharing and connect to your home computer. This is easiest (and fastest) on a local network, but you can sync your music over the internet by manually forwarding ports on your home router, or by using a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) router and letting SuperSync do the work for you.

When the syncing starts, SuperSync's interface gets pretty busy.

Once you get both computers talking to each other, you can synchronize your entire library in one go, sync individual files, or transfer albums, artists, and whole genres at once. You can even sync your playlists--both their music files and the lists themselves in the iTunes sidebar. Naturally, files added to iTunes on your work computer can be synced back to your home Mac. Just finish your download in iTunes, then phone home with SuperSync. New files will be noted automatically and can be transferred with a click.

35. Hot Flash

My MacBook Pro has been acting strangely. It will become sluggish, get hot, and the fans will come on at full speed. Activity Monitor shows that a process called PTMD is taking over 60 percent of my CPU. How do I prevent PTMD from taking over my Mac?

This may not be a common question, but it certainly is a burning one! According to Apple's Mac OS X Reference Library, PTMD stands for platform thermal monitor daemon, and it communicates any OS notifications effecting thermal conditions to your hardware. This daemon is supposed to automatically quit itself when it's done communicating, but apparently your Mac erroneously thinks that its thermal conditions are continuously changing, so it's trying to let your hardware continuously know this incorrect information.

This seems to be a new problem that has cropped up for some users in Mac OS 10.6.3, so hopefully it will be fixed in a future update to the operating system. In the meantime, you can manually quit out of PTMD in Activity Monitor (launch it from your Utilities folder) whenever it starts acting up. You may also try resetting your Mac's System Management Controller, which is responsible for thermal management (follow the directions here).

36. It's a RAID

I have Apple's RAID card in my Mac Pro, and it always pops up this error message: Write cache disabled due to insufficient battery charge. But...what is a RAID card, and what should I do?

Apple's Mac Pro RAID Card improves RAID performance and reliability.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks, and it's a tech that lets you combine multiple hard drives so they appear as one. RAIDs can either be mirrored or striped--in the first, each drive is an exact copy (or mirror) of the other drives, so if one fails, you'll still have all of your data intact on another (known as redundancy). If you configure your drives as a striped RAID, the storage space of all of your drives is added together into one larger drive. This will give you increased performance and increased storage space, but no redundancy unless you've configured your RAID with parity handling (which uses a portion of each drive to hold identical copies of data from one of the other drives). RAIDs can be controlled by software like Apple's Disk Utility or the excellent SoftRAID ($129, softraid.com), or they can be controlled by hardware like your RAID card. The main advantages of a hardware-controlled RAID are increased performance and reliability. With the error message you're receiving, it sounds like the battery on your RAID card has died, so take it into Apple to get replaced.

37. iPad 2

What upgrades will we see in the next version of the iPad? (We emailed a trio of well-known tech experts for their predictions.)

Daniel Lyons
Newsweek

"I'd guess the following:

Front-facing camera for videoconferencing
Multitasking (duh, already announced)
Higher-resolution screen
No Flash
Gorgeous ads that will change your life
Unicorn tears"

Christopher Null
Yahoo! News, Technology

"Dual cameras--a front-facing camera for videoconferencing will be huge for opening up a whole new market for the iPad."

Dylan Tweney
Wired

"One of the things most obviously missing from the current iPad is a webcam. This would instantly transform the iPad into a videophone, and its sizejust slightly bigger than the human facewould be perfect for face-to-face video chats. It's also likely that the next iPad will have more memory and a faster processor. If we're lucky, it might have an HDMI port too, so you can hook it up to a TV to show off photos, videos, and apps. One thing it definitely won't have, though, is support for Adobe Flash. That door is closed, probably forever."

38. Mac Van Winkle

When I wake my MacBook Pro from sleep, it doesn't connect to my Wi-Fi. Sometimes it even forgets the Wi-Fi password. How the heck do I get it to remember?

First, check out the extensive troubleshooting steps that we gave in Question #2 to see if any of those ideas solve your problem. Beyond that, your problem may be caused by one of the following issues:

Two Wi-Fi networks with the same SSID (wireless network name). For example, do you connect to one wireless router that's named Linksys at work and then another router that's named Linksys at home? If so, your Mac may be trying to apply the password from one router to the other router. Rename one of the wireless networks.

Keychain problems. Launch Keychain Access (in Utilities) and delete any AirPort Network password entries for the wireless networks that are giving you problems.

Preferred Networks problem. Go into your Network System Preference, click on AirPort, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab. Delete any unused networks, and drag your current network to the top of the list.

Corrupt preference file. Trash the file located at Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and restart your Mac.

Security incompatibilities. Try changing the type of wireless security on your router (for example, WPA instead of WEP).

Wireless interference. Turn on interference robustness on your router or change the wireless channel.

Your system may need a general maintenance. Run Disk Warrior on your machine, repair permissions with Disk Utility, empty the caches, and run the UNIX maintenance scripts with Cocktail.

39. Style Manual

What exactly does Steve wear on a daily basis?

We asked our team of fashion experts, and they said, The same dang thing no matter what. So we made them stalk the streets of Cupertino and watch hours of keynote footage to bring you the scoop on Steve's sartorial secrets. That'll show 'em.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

40. Sad Mac

My iMac flat-out freezes when I try to wake it from sleep. I ran DiskTools Pro, which verified and repaired my hard drive, but it still hangs after waking from sleep.

This is often a symptom of a failing graphics card or a failing logic board inside your Mac, in which case you would need to take your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider for repair. However, before assuming the worst, you can perform a series of basic troubleshooting steps to rule out other variables that may be causing this symptom.

External devices: When your Mac fails to wake from sleep, try unplugging any external hard drives or peripherals to see if doing so makes your Mac suddenly wake from sleep. If so, those external devices may be to blame.

RAM: You may also have bad RAM inside your machine. You can try to pinpoint bad RAM by either removing one of your RAM chips and see if the problem continues, or by running the Apple Hardware Test to see if it can identify any bad RAM. To run the Apple Hardware Test, take a look at the DVDs that came with your Mac; one of them will say that the Apple Hardware Test is on it. Insert that DVD and restart your Mac while holding down the D key on your keyboard.

Reset your Mac's System Management Controller (get instructions here).

Next, try to rule out the software problems:

Trash the following files and then restart your Mac: Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist and Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Reboot your Mac in single-user mode and run fsck (file system check)--get instructions here.

Back up your Mac, then erase and install Mac OS X.

If all of these steps fail, it's time, sadly, to bring your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

41. Stop Time

When Time Machine is running, my Mac virtually comes to a stop. What is happening, and what should I do?

Any time an application such as Time Machine is actively reading or writing to a hard drive, you may notice a tiny bit of a speed loss if you're also trying to access your hard drive as well because the read/write heads take time to physically move to different locations on the hard drive platter.

However, the key phrase is a tiny bit of a speed loss, meaning that the speed loss should be negligible to most computer users. Time Machine is designed to be fast and extremely lightweight, so if your computer is actually coming to a standstill, then something else is going on. The best way to troubleshoot this is by eliminating variables. First, make sure that you do not have any virus software scanning your backup drive. This is a known factor that could slow down your Time Machine backups to a crawl and that may affect your computer's overall speed as well.

Then, eliminate the possibility that your backup drive has a hardware problem by swapping it out with a different backup drive. If you don't have another drive handy, a utility such as Drive Genius ($99, prosofteng.com) or Disk Warrior ($99, alsoft.com) can help you sniff out failing hard drives. Your backup drive must also be partitioned properly, as explained at tinyurl.com/3zne68.

Next, use a different backup program like ChronoSync to see if the slowdowns continue. If they do, ChronoSync will let you see which file is actively being backed up while the problem is happening. It could indicate a problem with that particular file or with your internal hard drive.

Other than that, you can try some general tips to speed up your Mac overall: Upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard; purchase faster internal and external drives (7200 RPM or SSD); use a faster connection interface (eSATA or FireWire 800); add more RAM to your Mac; and turn off hard disk sleep in the Energy Saver System Preference (this last one has a huge impact if your hard drive is powered via USB only and has no separate AC power).

42. Display Despair

Why has Apple used so many display interfaces recently, and is the current Mini DisplayPort standard the best tech for the job?

Mini DisplayPort meets VGA with this adapter.

Apple's flirtation with different video interfaces makes it seem like a puppet of the International Dongle Cartel, but it's really all about doing more with ever-shrinking video ports. That includes today's Mini DisplayPort, which can carry video and audio and connects to VGA, DVI, or HDMI displays at resolutions up to 2560x1600. We're not sure if that makes it the best technology, but if it lets us carry just one small adapter that works on both MacBooks and iMacs, we're happy.

43. Feelin' Social

Does Apple have a Twitter account or Facebook page of any sort whatsoever?

YouTube has your favorite Apple commercials.

Steve may be cool with answering emails, but the company isn't too keen on Twitter. There is no official Apple Twitter account. Facebook is a bit more complicated. While Apple hasn't set up an official company page, it has created an App Store Facebook page: facebook.com/AppStore. Our preferred destination, though, is the Apple YouTube channel, which lets us check out all of our favorite Apple commercials: youtube.com/apple.

44. Feelin' Blu

When will Apple include USB 3.0 and Blu-ray in Macs? What's taking so long?

USB 3.0 gear is already trickling onto the market, so it's probably just a matter of time before the first computers sporting the blazing new standard roll out of Cupertino. Unfortunately, Blu-ray is another story. Apple's interest in promoting its HD iTunes movie downloads and Steve's declaration that bringing Blu-ray to the Mac is a bag of hurt don't bode well for Blu's chances on the Mac.

45. Photo Downloads

There seems to be no way to download my photos from my iPhone directly to my Mac without using iPhoto. Even then, I have to drill down through some crazy iPhoto directories in the Finder just to copy the photos somewhere else. Can't I just pull these photos off my iPhone and put them wherever I want?

Any photos that are in iPhoto can be easily and quickly copied somewhere else on your Mac simply by dragging and dropping them out of iPhoto. For even more control over the size, format, and name of your photos, use the File > Export command in iPhoto. You don't need to--and you really shouldn't--be drilling down into any iPhoto directories on your Mac.

Now, onto your next question of bypassing iPhoto altogether. In Mac OS 10.6, the Image Capture application gives you a significant amount of control over what happens when you connect your iPhone. If you have multiple cameras or iPhones, Image Capture even lets you set different preferences for each individual camera.

Image Capture is the place to go to directly download photos from your cameras or to set what happens whenever you connect your cameras.

You could have your iPhone launch Image Capture itself, which lets you manually download your photos into the directories of your choice and then delete those photos from the iPhone. You could have your iPhone launch Preview, which lets you import iPhone photos from the File menu. You could have your iPhone run an AppleScript.

But perhaps best of all, your iPhone could launch AutoImporter, a hidden application that automatically imports photos to the directory of your choice, without you intervening at all. It's located at Macintosh HD/System/Library/Image Capture/Support/Application/AutoImporter, and you can set this application's preferences by choosing AutoImporter > Preferences.

46. Tame MobileMe

I have four Apple devices: two MacBooks, an iPhone, and an iPad. It would be wonderful if MobileMe would do its job and sync all of my calendar and contact information, but I continually have glitches. One of the devices will often stop syncing, and then I have to wipe out data and start all over again. Is there any way to alleviate these problems?

We've heard from an Apple support representative that syncing problems with MobileMe are very common because the MobileMe servers are not yet robust enough to handle more than 1,000 synchronizations before everything needs to be reset from scratch again. While 1,000 synchronizations might sound like a lot, consider that a sync takes place every single time you make a change to a contact or a calendar. The good news, however, is that this same representative told us that Apple is aware of its MobileMe syncing shortcomings and is continuously working to increase the competency of its servers.

In the meantime, if you want to stick with MobileMe syncing, your best bet for solving the glitches you're experiencing would be to follow our extensive guide from our November 2009 issue (or find it online here--scroll down to #37) on how to reset your MobileMe syncing from scratch on all of your devices.

Alternatively, you may want to ditch MobileMe altogether and explore alternatives such as the web-based calendaring and contact solutions from Google, which can synchronize to your iPhone and iPad using Google Sync (google.com/mobile/sync). On your Mac, you can synchronize to Google using Spanning Sync ($25 for one year, spanningsync.com) or use the built-in (but more limited) syncing tools within Snow Leopard's Address Book and iCal.

If you have an extra Mac that you can use as a server machine, you can even take syncing into your own hands by using a product like Apple's Snow Leopard Server ($499, apple.com) or the outstanding Kerio Connect ($540, kerio.com).

47. The Other Team

I'm running Windows 7 on my Mac using Boot Camp. How do I maintain my computer so both the Mac and Windows platforms stay healthy? And how can I make a clone of my computer that captures both?

For tips on how to keep your Windows 7 partition healthy, you'll want to turn to our sister magazine Maximum PC (this is a good place to start), where you'll find the experts on all things PC-related. Although conventional wisdom about PCs dictates that you'll want to defragment your Windows hard drive regularly and immediately install antivirus software on your Windows partition, those are two things that Mac users are not required to do.

Your Mac will continue to maintain its health as long as all those hundreds of thousands of Windows viruses can't reach your Mac files from within the Windows 7 environment. And they won't be able to since Boot Camp only allows you to read your Mac partition but not write to it.

If you gotta run Windows 7, Boot Camp can get it done on your Mac.

However, if you install a program like MacDrive 8 ($49, mediafour.com), you'll have full read and write access to your Mac partition...and so will all those Windows viruses. So be doubly sure to have antivirus software on your PC side.

To clone your entire computer, you'll need to make two clones: one for your Mac partition and one for your Windows partition. For the Mac partition, use a tool like SuperDuper ($28, shirt-pocket.com) or Carbon Copy Cloner (donations requested, bombich.com). For your Windows partition, we recommend Winclone (donations requested, twocanoes.com).

48. Log Me Out

My iMac has separate user accounts for my wife and me, plus a Guest Account for when we have parties and people are drawn to the 27-inch screen to play. Can the Mac automatically return to the login screen after some period of inactivity? I don't want guests to have access to our accounts, and I don't want my wife to have to remember to log out when she's finished. I just want it to go back to the login screen to force the next person to log in as a user or guest.

No problem--head to System Preferences > Security and check the box for Log Out After X Minutes of Activity, setting X to be any number you like. While you're there, make sure Disable Automatic Login is checked too. That way, the login screen always appears when you start up, instead of a default administrator account.

The auto-logout option is in System Preferences > Security.

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You asked for help with the thorniest problems facing Mac, iPhone, and iPad owners, and we answered, providing 50 foolproof solutions that'll come in handy for anyone who uses Apple gear.

For months now, we've been asking you to send us your most burning Apple questions, and to put it mildly, you came through. The queue in our inbox looked longer than the lines that curled around NYC's 5th Avenue Apple Store for the launch of the very first iPhone. And when we dug into the meat and potatoes of your queries, we could only marvel at the insightful list of vexing technical issues and twinkle-in-your-eye trivia tidbits that you challenged us with. We distilled all those inquiries down to the 50 best, most burning questions about Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple itself. Then we put our crack team of experts on the job of coming up with this ultimate answers guide for all things Apple. Struggling with iTunes syncing? iPhone backups? RAID cards? iPad printing? Or just wondering exactly what Steve actually wears every day? The answers await, backstopped and bulletproofed by the pros at Mac|Life.

1. Duplicates in iPhoto

I can't find any options in iPhoto for removing all duplicate pictures in one fell swoop, and I don't want to find and delete them all myself. Any ideas?

iPhoto lacks iTunes' duplicate-deleting prowess, but the shareware app Duplicate Annihilator can fill this gap and free your photo library of clutter. Despite the name, it identifies and tags duplicate pictures with a keyword so you can collect them in a Smart Folder to review and annihilate at your leisure.

2. Wi-Fi Dropouts

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard, my Wi-Fi connection randomly drops for no reason. I still get Wi-Fi reliably on my iPhone, and my wife gets it on her PC. Any advice?

This problem seems to be affecting many Snow Leopard users, so we've come up with a series of steps that should resolve it. Start with the first and work down until the problem goes away:

Update to Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later.

Restart your modem and router.

Upgrade your router's firmware to the latest version, particularly if it's a non-Apple router.

Turn AirPort off then on again from your menu bar.

In your Network System Preference, create a new location and delete all of the previous locations.

One of our best tips for troubleshooting Wi-Fi connection problems is to create one brand-new location and then delete all of your previous locations.

Within your new location, drag AirPort to the top of the service order by clicking on the gear icon and choosing Set Service Order.

Delete all of your preferred networks. To see your preferred networks, click on AirPort in the left margin, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab.

Within that Advanced area, click on the TCP/IP tab and turn off IPv6. Then, go into the DNS tab and make sure that your DNS servers are correct. If in doubt, try Google's DNS servers of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Run Keychain First Aid in Keychain Access, which is located in your Utilities folder.

Manually change your router's wireless channel to another channel to avoid interference with other wireless networks. See which channels are being used by other networks with a utility like AirRadar ($20, koingosw.com).

Turn off 802.11n mode on your router, leaving it in 802.11b/g mode only.

Change the security settings on your router from WEP to WPA/WPA2.

Zap the PRAM on your Mac (get instructions here).

3. Multitouch Gestures

Why can't I do the one-finger double-tap to open documents in Snow Leopard?

You can absolutely use the one-finger double-tap on your Multi-Touch trackpad to open documents in Snow Leopard. Simply go into your Trackpad System Preference and make sure that Tap to Click is checked. Your confusion may also stem from the fact that your Multi-Touch trackpad is capable of understanding many gestures. So if you've enabled Dragging or Drag Lock, you might be holding down your finger too long after the second tap. If you've enabled Secondary Click, you might be tapping in the wrong area of your trackpad.

4. Syncing iPhone Photos

When I sync my iPhone, all 6,000 of my MacBook Pro's photos move to the iPhone--very uncool! How do I remove them from the phone and ensure one-way photo transfers to the Mac in the future?

That's at least 5,950 pictures too many. Just connect your iPhone to your MacBook, then select the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar. Click the Photos tab, where you can choose to transfer none of your pictures or just specific iPhoto Albums, Faces, and Events to your iPhone. Re-sync to apply your new settings and get back a few gigabytes on your iPhone.

5. Uninstalling

My Mac still runs processes from a program I deleted. How do I delete an application entirely and prevent this from happening?

Unfortunately, there's no standard way to remove a program from your Mac, but some developers simplify the job by including an uninstaller with their application. It may lurk in the main folder of the app you want to terminate--check those subfolders!--or it might be in the original installer itself. Launch the installer and proceed through it carefully. An uninstall feature may be obvious, or it could be hidden among options to customize the installation process. Be sure to quit the program you want to delete before uninstalling it.

If an application didn't come with an uninstaller, then the only way to delete it is to drag it to the Trash. However, this won't remove preferences and other support files left behind on your Mac. You can use Spotlight to search for the deleted application's name to find these strays, but if you have a lot of applications to remove, consider investing in a dedicated uninstaller like CleanApp, AppZapper, or AppCleaner. These programs automate the process of zapping unwanted programs--and their stuff--off your drive for good.

6. File Compression

I'd like to save hard drive space with the Finder's Compress command, but I'm not getting useful results. I recently compressed a 117.4MB file to just 116.7MB. Am I doing something wrong?

Not all file types can be compressed with the same space-saving results. For example, compressing a ZIP archive won't make a significantly smaller ZIP file. Some files, such as JPEGs, MP3s, and other media formats, have a certain level of compression already built in, but the sizes of text files and uncompressed image file formats can be dramatically reduced with ZIP compression.

7. Remote Control

When I use my iPod touch as a remote for my Apple TV, it appears to only give me access to the Apple TV's library as if it were an iPod. Is there a way to use the iPod touch like the traditional Apple remote? For example, can I use the touch to navigate to the YouTube app and search for videos, or to browse the movie rentals?

Apple's Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch lets you control the playback of media that you've already purchased or downloaded. But for content that doesn't live on your Apple TV, such as YouTube videos or the iTunes Store, you'll still need your traditional Apple remote to navigate to those screens. However, the good news is that whenever an onscreen keyboard appears on your Apple TV, the Remote app will display its own keyboard, which lets you quickly type what you're searching for.

8. Photo Migration

Can Faces and Places data in iPhoto 09 be moved to another Mac, or do I have to click on all those faces and enter all those locations again?

All your vacation sites and friendly faces will transfer to another Mac with OS X's Migration Assistant, or you can drag your iPhoto library file from your Pictures folder to the same location on a new Mac. When you launch iPhoto on the new machine, you'll be told the locations of pictures containing GPS data must be retrieved again, but custom locations you've entered yourself (for pictures taken with older cameras, say) will remain intact.

9. Gmail, Behave!

I sync Gmail with OS X's Mail, but when I delete a message from Mail, it remains in Gmail's All Mail folder in the sidebar. What's the right mailbox setting to move a message deleted in Mail to Gmail's Trash?

All your Gmail goes into the All Mail folder, whether or not it's been recently deleted and no matter which Gmail folder label is attached to the message. Google's default IMAP Mail settings (available here) are correct, but to send a Mail message directly to Gmail's Trash, you'll have to drag it to the [Gmail]/Trash folder in Mail's sidebar.

10. Crash-Tastic

It always happens at the worst possible time: I'll be using my PowerBook G4 when the screen suddenly dims and shows a Rosetta Stone's worth of languages telling me to restart the computer. Why does this keep happening, and how can I stop it?

Ouch. What you're describing is a kernel panic, a cute name for a not-so-cute problem. An operating system's kernel acts as a bridge between applications and the computer's hardware, and kernel panics are the last-ditch efforts of the operating system to recover from serious conflicts between them. The chief causes of kernel panics are faulty RAM and software incompatible with the operating system you're running. Unfortunately, that range could include any number of bad things that may be happening on your poor PowerBook.

Happily, even a kernel panic isn't the end of the world, and we can offer some pointers to help you figure out what's wrong. The first step is to look at your Mac's history. Was there a time when it didn't get kernel panics? Think back to any (and we mean any) new hardware or software you installed before the panics began. Update or uninstall them one item at a time to isolate the panics' cause until you narrow down the trouble. Also note which hardware and software you're using just before they strike--there may be a pattern. Whatever the issue, your Mac isn't happy, so be sure to back up important files and verify your hard drive with Disk Utility regularly.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

11. Get Zippy iPhone Backups

How can I speed up iPhone backups so I'll never have to cancel mid-backup again? They seem to take forever when a couple minutes really should do it.

A. First off, keep your iOS software current. Not only will the latest updates squash bugs and add features, they can improve backup times. To update, sync your iPhone, select it in the iTunes sidebar, then go to the Summary tab.

B. Pare down the number of applications on your iPhone. Application data like in-app purchases, saved games, and new documents are all backed up when you sync, and that can add up to a long wait while the backup progress bar creeps by. To start cleaning house, connect to iTunes, select the Apps tab, then delete your most infrequently used applications. You'll lose the data saved in these apps, but you'll gain speedier backups.

Ask yourself this: Are those apps you never use on your iPhone really worth slowing down your backups?

C. Sync often. If you sync at least once or twice a day, fewer applications will have new data to back up when you reconnect to iTunes. If you can't bear to part with any of the applications on your Home Screen, making multiple faster backups will let you keep all your favorite apps at your fingertips.

D. Keep Camera Roll clean. While the contents of your iPhone's photo library aren't backed up during a sync, the photos, movies, and screenshots in Camera Roll are. Transfer this media to iPhoto as soon as you begin a sync, and delete the files from Camera Roll when the transfer is complete to get this data copied onto your Mac while excluding it from being backed up in iTunes.

More photos = slower backups.

E. Connect to a USB port on your Mac instead of an external USB hub. Not all USB ports are created equal, and connecting to a powered, full-speed USB port that's built into your Mac will ensure the fastest possible transfer speeds during backups. That means you can be off to your next port of call quickly, secure in the knowledge that your iPhone data is safe on your computer.

F. Before you sync to iTunes, purge unnecessary SMS messages, old call histories, and non-essential files downloaded by apps that store data on your iPhone. For example, if you regularly copy files to your iDisk app or productivity apps like DocsToGo, make sure you're only carrying what you need before a backup. Odds are these files live elsewhere on your Mac or iDisk, so there's no need to back them up again.

Junk your old, unused files, too.

12. Time Travel

I've been running Time Machine for months in Mac OS 10.6.3, but I've never seen instructions about how to go back in time and retrieve information. Help!

Mount your backup drive, then launch Time Machine from your Mac's Applications folder. Your desktop will be replaced by a timeline and Finder windows showing your Mac's contents as they were in the past. Just click a Finder window (or click within the timeline) to return to a specific date. You can also search within Finder windows for specific filenames, and more. When you find a missing file, select it and click Restore to return to the present with your document.

13. Rip Encrypted Movies

I want an easy way to download a DVD to my computer so I can put it on my iPod or iPad. I used to use HandBrake, but that no longer works for encrypted DVDs.

HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr) is still the quickest and most reliable tool for directly converting DVDs into video files that will play on your iPod or iPad. But you'll also need to install VLC (free, videolan.org) if you want to decrypt commercial DVDs. Place both HandBrake and VLC into your Applications folder, and you'll be able to convert encrypted DVDs with HandBrake once again.

14. Dump Discs

I want to go disc-free on my MacBook, but a few of my games require a CD or DVD to play. Is there any way to make OS X think the disc is in the drive when it's not?

OS X's Disk Utility can make a duplicate of your game's CD or DVD and save it to your Mac as a file called a disk image. Once created, disk images can be double-clicked to open and mount on your desktop just like a conventional disc (you've already seen them in software installers downloaded from the internet). But there are two things to remember: copy-protection schemes on the disc may prevent duplication, and you should have plenty of room on your MacBook's hard drive before you begin. A DVD's disk image will take up several gigabytes.

To get started, insert the disc you want to dupe, then launch Disk Utility from your Utilities folder. Select the disc in the sidebar, then click New Image in the Disk Utility toolbar, set the image format to DVD/CD Master in the resulting sheet, and save the disk image to your Mac. Next time you want to play your game, double-click the image file, then launch your game normally once the virtual game disc mounts. When you're finished, you can drag the mounted disc to the Trash to eject like any conventional media, leaving the disk image on your Mac for the next time you want to get your game on.

15. Branching Out

Which operating systemsand I mean all of them, not just Mac versionswill run on a PowerPC-based Mac?

The PowerPC processor has become something of a museum piece since Apple abandoned it for Intel's chips, but these Linux distributions can help you breathe new life into G5- and G4-powered Macs. Ubuntu, Yellow Dog, and Fedora all maintain builds that run on PowerPC hardware. When you're looking to run a worthwhile alternate operating system on older Mac hardware, the penguin has you covered.

16. The $1M Question

When will Adobe Flash content be viewable on iPhones and iPads?

Never. In April, Steve Jobs had this to say about Flash on Apple's website: Flash was created during the PC era--for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low-power devices, touch interfaces, and open web standards--all areas where Flash falls short.

17. iLife Oops

I accidentally deleted iMovie and the Apple Loops that came with GarageBand. Can I reload them from the original disc without losing all my other iLife files?

Sure! First, launch the iLife 09 installer from your disc. At the bottom of the final screen is a Customize button that lets you install iLife components individually. Click it, then select the items you want to reinstall. The installer will insist on installing GarageBand along with your missing loops, but your missing applications and files will return to your Mac without affecting other iLife applications and documents, including GarageBand preferences. Just remember to run Software Update afterward to ensure that everything's up to date.

18. iPad Printing

What are the best ways to print from the iPad?

Until Apple decides to build printing into iOS, there unfortunately isn't a best way--although there are several apps in the App Store that might meet your needs.

Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone runs on the iPad and will print photos to certain Canon printers. And the App Store is full of plenty of third-party apps that promise printing from your iPad, although in our experience the results are decidedly mixed. PrintBureau ($12.99) searches your network for shared printers. It reliably printed to one--but not another--of the printers on our home network without any intervention. There's an optional free helper application you can run on a Mac to give PrintBureau access to your printers (a solution common to several iPad printing apps), but we'd hardly call that true iPad printing.

We also had success with Air Sharing HD ($9.99), which is packed with features for moving and sharing files with your iPad. It didn't work immediately with our Wi-Fienabled printer, but turning on Printer Sharing on our Mac made all our printers visible to the app. But--like using a companion app--that also requires that you have a Mac running. Ultimately, the least fiddly solution often ends up being emailing yourself a document and printing from a computer. Hopefully Apple has something better in the pipeline

19. Tame Bookmarks

I have tons of Safari bookmarks on my Mac. I don't want them all on my iPhone, but Apple only allows syncing of all or none. Is there a fix?

It's almost elegant. Xmarks (xmarks.com) syncs bookmarks across multiple browsers, and its profiles let you decide which bookmarks appear on specific devices, including your iPhone. Best of all, you can view (and even search) them in a layout formatted for Mobile Safari. Just sign up for Xmarks, follow their instructions, and disable iPhone bookmark syncing in iTunes. Unfortunately, Xmarks doesn't sync new bookmarks made on your iPhone back to your Mac. Like we saidalmost elegant.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

20. Stay Safe

How can I tell if someone is using my Wi-Fi?

Elementary, my dear Wi-Fi user! The mystery's solution lies in MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, which are unique codes that identify network devices. Different routers have different ways of showing which addresses (and thus, devices) are accessing your network. If you have an AirPort router, launch AirPort Utility from your Utilities folder, double-click your router's icon, then click the Advanced icon in the resulting window. Click Logging and Statistics, then Logs and Statistics. In the Wireless Clients section, you'll see a graph showing the address of each device connecting to your network. The list will include your Mac, the AirPort router itself, and any other computers, iPhones, game consoles, or other devices using your Wi-Fi connection. Next, match the MAC addresses to your network devices. We'll get you started: your computer's address can be found in the Network section of System Profiler. When you're finished, you'll know the addresses of devices you want on your network, so you can tell when something with a foreign address is using your Wi-Fi. Then the game's afoot!

21. Sim-plify

I have a 1G iPhone that I want to use as a simple iPod touch, leaving aside the phone features entirely, but I don't have the original SIM card. What are my options?

Your options are slim. Unlike later models, the 1G iPhone requires a SIM card to operate as a basic iPod, even after AT&T service has been terminated or transferred to another phone. You can get a new SIM card from AT&T, but this will require signing up for a new phone service contract. Unfortunately, there's no way around this limitation besides jailbreaking your iPhone with one of the methods floating around on the internet.

22. Merge Partitions

Is there any way to un-partition a non-boot hard drive in OS 10.6 without wiping the data?

You're in luck. Since 10.5, OS X's Disk Utility has been able to add and remove partitions from disks without affecting other data on the drive. However, Disk Utility won't merge data from the deleted partition to another partition on the drive, so back up all your data--especially files on the partition you'll be removing--before you begin.

Once all your data's securely backed up, launch Disk Utility from your Mac's Utilities folder, then select the drive in the sidebar (be sure to choose the icon noting the drive's capacity, not just its name). Click the Partition button, then in the shaded box showing the drive's Volume Scheme, select the partition you want to remove. Click the minus button below the Volume Scheme chart to remove the partition (don't worry, it won't disappear right away). Click and drag other partitions to resize them and fill the empty space that will be left behind by the deleted partition. You can also click the plus button to add a new partition that can also be resized. Click Apply to commit your changes and begin Operation: Un-partition.

23. No Scratching

I just bought a new 21.5 iMac (late 2009 model) and found a serious design flaw: the CD slot has sharp aluminum edges that can inflict permanent, irreversible scratches to valuable CDs. Help!

These days, Apple's really into razor-sharp edges. For example, the unibody MacBooks also famously have sharp edges where users rest their wrists, and those very same sharp edges have made it onto the slot on the side of the iMac where CDs are loaded. Luckily, those sharp edges are just on the outside, not on the internal drive itself. So if you carefully and slowly slide in your CD without touching the outside edges, you may avoid scratching your CD. But here's a more practical solution: Put electrical tape around the edges of the slot. This isn't the most beautiful thing to look at, but it's almost guaranteed to keep scratches at bay. Another option would be to purchase an external CD drive to either use as your primary CD drive or to make copies of your valuable CDs. That way, if a CD gets scratched, at least it's not the original.

24. Font Fixes

When using Mail, any font that I use in my outgoing email always shows up on recipient PCs as Courier--that archaic, typewriter style font. How can I get my Mac fonts to translate onto PCs?

In order for a font to be successfully seen on somebody's computer, they need to already have that particular font installed on their machine. If your recipient doesn't have the same exact font as you, their computer will substitute your font with a font that is already installed on their system. This applies to emails, websites, Word documents, almost anything. If maintaining the integrity of fonts is important to you, you'll need to create PDF files or images and attach them to your outgoing email message.

25. App-Update Errors

When I try to update apps from my iPhone, I get a Cannot Connect to iTunes Store error, yet I have no problem downloading new apps, and no problem updating them in iTunes on my computer. What gives?

Assuming the problem is reoccurring and not a freaky networking accident, it sounds like your iPhone (or the problematic apps themselves) may be confused about the status of your iTunes account. This could be because a different user has logged into your iPhone, because you have multiple usernames or passwords tied to your iTunes account, or even because your billing information was recently changed on another device. The easiest place to start is by navigating to Settings, tapping Store, and confirming that yours is the currently active account on your iPhone. If it is, try signing out and signing back in with your most recent iTunes account information, then verify that your address and billing information are correct. If the problem persists, the apps may the culprit. Try updating them in iTunes, then deleting them from your iPhone. Reconnect your iPhone to your computer to sync the updated apps back to the phone. If, down the road, these same applications refuse to update from your iPhone again, deleting them from your Mac and re-downloading them from the iTunes Store may fix this.

26. Make Windows Behave

I have various finder windows set to appear in different views depending on their content. But certain windows stubbornly--and randomly--refuse to remember my preferences. Is it a bug, or am I missing a setting?

Setting a specific folder to open in a particular view (such as columns, icons, or lists) can make browsing files in the Finder a lot easier. Just open and set each folder to your preferred view, then select View > Show View Options in the menu bar and check the topmost button in the resulting window to force the Finder window to always open in that view. Unfortunately, the Finder has ignored these helpful preferences since the earliest days of OS X. Your stubborn folders aren't the first!

Your folders may be confused by corrupt .DS_Store files, the invisible files created by the Finder to store icon sizes, window backgrounds, and more. System utility apps like TinkerTool and Cocktail can reveal or delete these files for you, or you can use the Terminal to delete them yourself if your UNIX Fu is strong.

If those options don't do the trick, your Mac may think you don't have permission to reset the view options of certain folders. Some, like the Applications folder, don't technically belong to any user except the system itself, and only the system (also known as the root user) can make permanent changes to these directories. What looks like random stubbornness may be OS X remembering that it's in charge of these folders, not you.

To show your Mac who's boss, log in as the root user, then set uncooperative folders to the view setting you prefer. Just be careful, and remember to log back into your normal user account and disable root access when the job is done. Moving or deleting the wrong files while logged in as root can have serious consequences for your Mac. Apple explains how to log in as root here.

27. Just Open!

I used to double-click any photo, and it would open in Photoshop. When I installed 10.6, this feature disappeared. Now I have to drop the photos onto the Photoshop icon.

Snow Leopard ignores creator codes, which changed its file-opening behavior--it's all about file extensions now. Right-click a JPG, choose Get Info, and under Open With, choose Photoshop, and click Change All. Do this again for PNG, PSD, TIF, and any other photo file types you want Photoshop to get first dibs on.

28. iPads Kill Wi-Fi

When enough of us use iPads on the office Wi-Fi, it can crash the Wi-Fi itself! I've heard this is a common problem--is there a fix?

You've heard right, and it'll take an OS and/or firmware update from Apple to vanquish this annoying glitch. Until then, know that the issue is caused because an iPad can stop renewing its DHCP lease when it goes to sleep, so if you set your iPad to never sleep (Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Never), you're good. That's hardly ideal, and at Mac|Life HQ, we set up an iPad-only Wi-Fi network, which creates a smaller pool of DHCP leases and keeps the main Wi-Fi network safe. Interestingly, iPads are also prone to other Wi-Fi glitches, like sketchy signal strength, frequent drops, and slow speeds. Bizarrely, one of the first things you should do is increase the brightness upward and turn off the Auto Brightness option (Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper). We can only guess that something's screwy with iPad power management

29. Mac Pros Are Hot

I just wanted to bring to your attention a widespread, frustrating issue that exists with all 2009 Mac Pros. Whenever you play any audio, the CPU rapidly heats up (core temperatures as high as 90 C, CPU heat sink 60 C). This problem exists in 10.5 and 10.6, but does not happen in Windows running in Boot Camp, so it appears to be a Mac OS X bug. And after spending $8,000 on Apple's top machine, I feel like I have been had.

Yes, this seems to be a prevalent problem with the 2009 Mac Pros. Playing any type of audio heats up the Pro precariously close to--but not quite at--dangerous heat levels. If your Mac actually reached dangerous heat levels, it would shut itself down. This increased heat also causes decreased performance. Unfortunately, we don't have any solutions for you, but we're publishing your letter in the hopes that greater publicity on this issue will help get a speedy resolution from Apple.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

30. What a Mess!

One of my co-workers spilled juice on his older MacBook Pro, and now the keys are sticky (when pressed down, they don't pop up right away). What's the best way to clean up?

Sounds nasty! Although this particular spill has long dried, we'll start these cleanup instructions from the moment right after spillage to make them more widely useful. So: Immediately power down, disconnect the power cord from the MacBook, and remove the battery (if it's removable). After doing as much as you can with paper or cloth towels, turn the machine over with the lid partly open to allow the liquid to drain, making sure that the laptop doesn't close all the way. Give it about 72 hours to completely air dry and then take apart the machine to thoroughly clean the innards. The website iFixIt.com has great step-by-step guides to taking the keys off and getting your MacBook back to normal. When dabbing at disassembled keys and other parts, we recommend a bit of gauze lightly dampened with rubbing alcohol.

31. Airport Fizzles

I stream my music from iTunes to an AirPort router, but it frequently cuts out. What can I do?

First, make sure your iTunes and AirPort software are up to date. If the problem persists, move your router away from possible sources of interference. Wi-Fi is convenient, but it's not an exact science. Signals can be impeded by microwaves, wireless phones, thick masonry, and more. If dropouts continue, try changing the channel on which your AirPort broadcasts in the Wireless tab of the AirPort section of AirPort Utility.

32. Family Planning

My wife and I have our own iPhones and iTunes accounts, and we're adding an iPad to the happy family. Can we sync both iPhones and the iPad (plus our Apple TV) to a single iTunes account, and share our apps on all devices without affecting our current library and future purchases?

Bad news first: there's no way to merge multiple iTunes accounts into one, so your family will have to keep juggling separate accounts and purchases from your iPhones, Apple TV, and bouncing baby iPad. The good news is that apps, like DRM-protected movies and TV shows, can be used on up to five authorized computers and the iDevices that sync to them. Just open iTunes, select Apps in the sidebar, then drag iPhone applications you want to share from iTunes to a networked computer or removable hard drive. Select File > Add to Library in iTunes on the second authorized computer, then choose the exported apps to load them into that computer's library. These apps won't retain saved data from the original computer, but otherwise they'll be fully operational and can be updated normally. Apple TV purchases, however, will still be tethered to one of your computers. But even these files can be synced and transferred to multiple computers and iDevices.

Here's the better news: Home Sharing, introduced in iTunes 9, simplifies this process by allowing users to drag and drop media to shared computers within iTunes. Activate Home Sharing by selecting Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing. Repeat this step on all your computers, entering one iTunes account username and password on each. Then you can drag media from shared libraries in iTunes' sidebar into a computer's local library at will. Future purchases can be shared automatically by clicking the Settings button at the bottom of Home Sharing iTunes library, then selecting which media you'd like to share. Once you set up all computers on your network, syncing works automatically, zapping new media off to each machine.

33. Double the Addresses

Why do I have duplicate Contact entries on my iPhone but not on my Mac?

Odds are your iPhone has gained multiple groups of contacts after syncing them both wirelessly through MobileMe and through iTunes when you connected your iPhone to your Mac. Whatever the cause, check your iPhone Contact app's Groups. If you see a group named From My Mac in addition to groups you've created in OS X's Address Book, it's a sign your iPhone thinks you have two distinct sets of friends.

It's hard enough to find the contact you're looking for--who needs duplicate entries?

To fix the problem, first back up your Mac's contact data. Connect your iPhone to iTunes, uncheck Sync Address Book Contacts in the Info tab, then re-sync. If that doesn't remove the extra contacts, turn off MobileMe contact syncing in Settings on your iPhone, choosing to delete the existing contacts on your phone. Next, turn Contact syncing back on, and choose to merge MobileMe's data onto your iPhone if asked. Now you should have just one set of contacts shared between your iPhone and Mac. You'll have half the friends, but half the hassles.

34. Conquer Syncing

What's the most elegant way to sync iTunes libraries between work and home computers?

We use SuperSync, a program that lets you sync your iTunes library among multiple computers on local networks or over the Internet. SuperSync's busy interface can seem a little daunting, but in just a few quick steps, you can start copying music from your crib to your cubicle and back again. Casual Fridays will never be the same.

A. Buy the Software

SuperSync looks and feels kinda like iTunes, but is a whole different beast.

To get started, you'll need a copy of SuperSync running on both your home and work computers. Two licenses will set you back $24, or you can snag ten for $34 and give one to your manager for Boss's Day.

B. Make the Connections

When you first launch SuperSync on your home Mac, it loads and displays your iTunes library in an iTunes-alike window organized by genre, artist, and playlist. While SuperSync may look a little like iTunes (and it can even play some unprotected audio files), it's really a conduit and control panel for syncing, not a jukebox. Your DRM-protected files must still be played by an authorized copy of iTunes, although SuperSync will transfer them just fine.

SuperSync can even keep metadata updated across different Macs.

If your music collection doesn't live in your Mac's Home folder, you can point SuperSync to a library stored on a remote or network drive and share from there. To set up sharing, just check the obvious boxes and enter a password in the application's Network preferences. While you're there, you can fine-tune what you sync and how. For instance, you can keep specific media types--all videos, for instance--out of your shared library and pick which metadata changes will be synced back to your home machine. Whether you simply want to copy files or meticulously update their play counts, ratings, and more across your computers, SuperSync has your back.

C. Start the Sync

To sync your library, install and launch SuperSync on your work machine, then turn on sharing and connect to your home computer. This is easiest (and fastest) on a local network, but you can sync your music over the internet by manually forwarding ports on your home router, or by using a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) router and letting SuperSync do the work for you.

When the syncing starts, SuperSync's interface gets pretty busy.

Once you get both computers talking to each other, you can synchronize your entire library in one go, sync individual files, or transfer albums, artists, and whole genres at once. You can even sync your playlists--both their music files and the lists themselves in the iTunes sidebar. Naturally, files added to iTunes on your work computer can be synced back to your home Mac. Just finish your download in iTunes, then phone home with SuperSync. New files will be noted automatically and can be transferred with a click.

35. Hot Flash

My MacBook Pro has been acting strangely. It will become sluggish, get hot, and the fans will come on at full speed. Activity Monitor shows that a process called PTMD is taking over 60 percent of my CPU. How do I prevent PTMD from taking over my Mac?

This may not be a common question, but it certainly is a burning one! According to Apple's Mac OS X Reference Library, PTMD stands for platform thermal monitor daemon, and it communicates any OS notifications effecting thermal conditions to your hardware. This daemon is supposed to automatically quit itself when it's done communicating, but apparently your Mac erroneously thinks that its thermal conditions are continuously changing, so it's trying to let your hardware continuously know this incorrect information.

This seems to be a new problem that has cropped up for some users in Mac OS 10.6.3, so hopefully it will be fixed in a future update to the operating system. In the meantime, you can manually quit out of PTMD in Activity Monitor (launch it from your Utilities folder) whenever it starts acting up. You may also try resetting your Mac's System Management Controller, which is responsible for thermal management (follow the directions here).

36. It's a RAID

I have Apple's RAID card in my Mac Pro, and it always pops up this error message: Write cache disabled due to insufficient battery charge. But...what is a RAID card, and what should I do?

Apple's Mac Pro RAID Card improves RAID performance and reliability.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks, and it's a tech that lets you combine multiple hard drives so they appear as one. RAIDs can either be mirrored or striped--in the first, each drive is an exact copy (or mirror) of the other drives, so if one fails, you'll still have all of your data intact on another (known as redundancy). If you configure your drives as a striped RAID, the storage space of all of your drives is added together into one larger drive. This will give you increased performance and increased storage space, but no redundancy unless you've configured your RAID with parity handling (which uses a portion of each drive to hold identical copies of data from one of the other drives). RAIDs can be controlled by software like Apple's Disk Utility or the excellent SoftRAID ($129, softraid.com), or they can be controlled by hardware like your RAID card. The main advantages of a hardware-controlled RAID are increased performance and reliability. With the error message you're receiving, it sounds like the battery on your RAID card has died, so take it into Apple to get replaced.

37. iPad 2

What upgrades will we see in the next version of the iPad? (We emailed a trio of well-known tech experts for their predictions.)

Daniel Lyons
Newsweek

"I'd guess the following:

Front-facing camera for videoconferencing
Multitasking (duh, already announced)
Higher-resolution screen
No Flash
Gorgeous ads that will change your life
Unicorn tears"

Christopher Null
Yahoo! News, Technology

"Dual cameras--a front-facing camera for videoconferencing will be huge for opening up a whole new market for the iPad."

Dylan Tweney
Wired

"One of the things most obviously missing from the current iPad is a webcam. This would instantly transform the iPad into a videophone, and its sizejust slightly bigger than the human facewould be perfect for face-to-face video chats. It's also likely that the next iPad will have more memory and a faster processor. If we're lucky, it might have an HDMI port too, so you can hook it up to a TV to show off photos, videos, and apps. One thing it definitely won't have, though, is support for Adobe Flash. That door is closed, probably forever."

38. Mac Van Winkle

When I wake my MacBook Pro from sleep, it doesn't connect to my Wi-Fi. Sometimes it even forgets the Wi-Fi password. How the heck do I get it to remember?

First, check out the extensive troubleshooting steps that we gave in Question #2 to see if any of those ideas solve your problem. Beyond that, your problem may be caused by one of the following issues:

Two Wi-Fi networks with the same SSID (wireless network name). For example, do you connect to one wireless router that's named Linksys at work and then another router that's named Linksys at home? If so, your Mac may be trying to apply the password from one router to the other router. Rename one of the wireless networks.

Keychain problems. Launch Keychain Access (in Utilities) and delete any AirPort Network password entries for the wireless networks that are giving you problems.

Preferred Networks problem. Go into your Network System Preference, click on AirPort, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab. Delete any unused networks, and drag your current network to the top of the list.

Corrupt preference file. Trash the file located at Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and restart your Mac.

Security incompatibilities. Try changing the type of wireless security on your router (for example, WPA instead of WEP).

Wireless interference. Turn on interference robustness on your router or change the wireless channel.

Your system may need a general maintenance. Run Disk Warrior on your machine, repair permissions with Disk Utility, empty the caches, and run the UNIX maintenance scripts with Cocktail.

39. Style Manual

What exactly does Steve wear on a daily basis?

We asked our team of fashion experts, and they said, The same dang thing no matter what. So we made them stalk the streets of Cupertino and watch hours of keynote footage to bring you the scoop on Steve's sartorial secrets. That'll show 'em.

Next page: Answers Guide continued >>

40. Sad Mac

My iMac flat-out freezes when I try to wake it from sleep. I ran DiskTools Pro, which verified and repaired my hard drive, but it still hangs after waking from sleep.

This is often a symptom of a failing graphics card or a failing logic board inside your Mac, in which case you would need to take your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider for repair. However, before assuming the worst, you can perform a series of basic troubleshooting steps to rule out other variables that may be causing this symptom.

External devices: When your Mac fails to wake from sleep, try unplugging any external hard drives or peripherals to see if doing so makes your Mac suddenly wake from sleep. If so, those external devices may be to blame.

RAM: You may also have bad RAM inside your machine. You can try to pinpoint bad RAM by either removing one of your RAM chips and see if the problem continues, or by running the Apple Hardware Test to see if it can identify any bad RAM. To run the Apple Hardware Test, take a look at the DVDs that came with your Mac; one of them will say that the Apple Hardware Test is on it. Insert that DVD and restart your Mac while holding down the D key on your keyboard.

Reset your Mac's System Management Controller (get instructions here).

Next, try to rule out the software problems:

Trash the following files and then restart your Mac: Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist and Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Reboot your Mac in single-user mode and run fsck (file system check)--get instructions here.

Back up your Mac, then erase and install Mac OS X.

If all of these steps fail, it's time, sadly, to bring your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

41. Stop Time

When Time Machine is running, my Mac virtually comes to a stop. What is happening, and what should I do?

Any time an application such as Time Machine is actively reading or writing to a hard drive, you may notice a tiny bit of a speed loss if you're also trying to access your hard drive as well because the read/write heads take time to physically move to different locations on the hard drive platter.

However, the key phrase is a tiny bit of a speed loss, meaning that the speed loss should be negligible to most computer users. Time Machine is designed to be fast and extremely lightweight, so if your computer is actually coming to a standstill, then something else is going on. The best way to troubleshoot this is by eliminating variables. First, make sure that you do not have any virus software scanning your backup drive. This is a known factor that could slow down your Time Machine backups to a crawl and that may affect your computer's overall speed as well.

Then, eliminate the possibility that your backup drive has a hardware problem by swapping it out with a different backup drive. If you don't have another drive handy, a utility such as Drive Genius ($99, prosofteng.com) or Disk Warrior ($99, alsoft.com) can help you sniff out failing hard drives. Your backup drive must also be partitioned properly, as explained at tinyurl.com/3zne68.

Next, use a different backup program like ChronoSync to see if the slowdowns continue. If they do, ChronoSync will let you see which file is actively being backed up while the problem is happening. It could indicate a problem with that particular file or with your internal hard drive.

Other than that, you can try some general tips to speed up your Mac overall: Upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard; purchase faster internal and external drives (7200 RPM or SSD); use a faster connection interface (eSATA or FireWire 800); add more RAM to your Mac; and turn off hard disk sleep in the Energy Saver System Preference (this last one has a huge impact if your hard drive is powered via USB only and has no separate AC power).

42. Display Despair

Why has Apple used so many display interfaces recently, and is the current Mini DisplayPort standard the best tech for the job?

Mini DisplayPort meets VGA with this adapter.

Apple's flirtation with different video interfaces makes it seem like a puppet of the International Dongle Cartel, but it's really all about doing more with ever-shrinking video ports. That includes today's Mini DisplayPort, which can carry video and audio and connects to VGA, DVI, or HDMI displays at resolutions up to 2560x1600. We're not sure if that makes it the best technology, but if it lets us carry just one small adapter that works on both MacBooks and iMacs, we're happy.

43. Feelin' Social

Does Apple have a Twitter account or Facebook page of any sort whatsoever?

YouTube has your favorite Apple commercials.

Steve may be cool with answering emails, but the company isn't too keen on Twitter. There is no official Apple Twitter account. Facebook is a bit more complicated. While Apple hasn't set up an official company page, it has created an App Store Facebook page: facebook.com/AppStore. Our preferred destination, though, is the Apple YouTube channel, which lets us check out all of our favorite Apple commercials: youtube.com/apple.

44. Feelin' Blu

When will Apple include USB 3.0 and Blu-ray in Macs? What's taking so long?

USB 3.0 gear is already trickling onto the market, so it's probably just a matter of time before the first computers sporting the blazing new standard roll out of Cupertino. Unfortunately, Blu-ray is another story. Apple's interest in promoting its HD iTunes movie downloads and Steve's declaration that bringing Blu-ray to the Mac is a bag of hurt don't bode well for Blu's chances on the Mac.

45. Photo Downloads

There seems to be no way to download my photos from my iPhone directly to my Mac without using iPhoto. Even then, I have to drill down through some crazy iPhoto directories in the Finder just to copy the photos somewhere else. Can't I just pull these photos off my iPhone and put them wherever I want?

Any photos that are in iPhoto can be easily and quickly copied somewhere else on your Mac simply by dragging and dropping them out of iPhoto. For even more control over the size, format, and name of your photos, use the File > Export command in iPhoto. You don't need to--and you really shouldn't--be drilling down into any iPhoto directories on your Mac.

Now, onto your next question of bypassing iPhoto altogether. In Mac OS 10.6, the Image Capture application gives you a significant amount of control over what happens when you connect your iPhone. If you have multiple cameras or iPhones, Image Capture even lets you set different preferences for each individual camera.

Image Capture is the place to go to directly download photos from your cameras or to set what happens whenever you connect your cameras.

You could have your iPhone launch Image Capture itself, which lets you manually download your photos into the directories of your choice and then delete those photos from the iPhone. You could have your iPhone launch Preview, which lets you import iPhone photos from the File menu. You could have your iPhone run an AppleScript.

But perhaps best of all, your iPhone could launch AutoImporter, a hidden application that automatically imports photos to the directory of your choice, without you intervening at all. It's located at Macintosh HD/System/Library/Image Capture/Support/Application/AutoImporter, and you can set this application's preferences by choosing AutoImporter > Preferences.

46. Tame MobileMe

I have four Apple devices: two MacBooks, an iPhone, and an iPad. It would be wonderful if MobileMe would do its job and sync all of my calendar and contact information, but I continually have glitches. One of the devices will often stop syncing, and then I have to wipe out data and start all over again. Is there any way to alleviate these problems?

We've heard from an Apple support representative that syncing problems with MobileMe are very common because the MobileMe servers are not yet robust enough to handle more than 1,000 synchronizations before everything needs to be reset from scratch again. While 1,000 synchronizations might sound like a lot, consider that a sync takes place every single time you make a change to a contact or a calendar. The good news, however, is that this same representative told us that Apple is aware of its MobileMe syncing shortcomings and is continuously working to increase the competency of its servers.

In the meantime, if you want to stick with MobileMe syncing, your best bet for solving the glitches you're experiencing would be to follow our extensive guide from our November 2009 issue (or find it online here--scroll down to #37) on how to reset your MobileMe syncing from scratch on all of your devices.

Alternatively, you may want to ditch MobileMe altogether and explore alternatives such as the web-based calendaring and contact solutions from Google, which can synchronize to your iPhone and iPad using Google Sync (google.com/mobile/sync). On your Mac, you can synchronize to Google using Spanning Sync ($25 for one year, spanningsync.com) or use the built-in (but more limited) syncing tools within Snow Leopard's Address Book and iCal.

If you have an extra Mac that you can use as a server machine, you can even take syncing into your own hands by using a product like Apple's Snow Leopard Server ($499, apple.com) or the outstanding Kerio Connect ($540, kerio.com).

47. The Other Team

I'm running Windows 7 on my Mac using Boot Camp. How do I maintain my computer so both the Mac and Windows platforms stay healthy? And how can I make a clone of my computer that captures both?

For tips on how to keep your Windows 7 partition healthy, you'll want to turn to our sister magazine Maximum PC (this is a good place to start), where you'll find the experts on all things PC-related. Although conventional wisdom about PCs dictates that you'll want to defragment your Windows hard drive regularly and immediately install antivirus software on your Windows partition, those are two things that Mac users are not required to do.

Your Mac will continue to maintain its health as long as all those hundreds of thousands of Windows viruses can't reach your Mac files from within the Windows 7 environment. And they won't be able to since Boot Camp only allows you to read your Mac partition but not write to it.

If you gotta run Windows 7, Boot Camp can get it done on your Mac.

However, if you install a program like MacDrive 8 ($49, mediafour.com), you'll have full read and write access to your Mac partition...and so will all those Windows viruses. So be doubly sure to have antivirus software on your PC side.

To clone your entire computer, you'll need to make two clones: one for your Mac partition and one for your Windows partition. For the Mac partition, use a tool like SuperDuper ($28, shirt-pocket.com) or Carbon Copy Cloner (donations requested, bombich.com). For your Windows partition, we recommend Winclone (donations requested, twocanoes.com).

48. Log Me Out

My iMac has separate user accounts for my wife and me, plus a Guest Account for when we have parties and people are drawn to the 27-inch screen to play. Can the Mac automatically return to the login screen after some period of inactivity? I don't want guests to have access to our accounts, and I don't want my wife to have to remember to log out when she's finished. I just want it to go back to the login screen to force the next person to log in as a user or guest.

No problem--head to System Preferences > Security and check the box for Log Out After X Minutes of Activity, setting X to be any number you like. While you're there, make sure Disable Automatic Login is checked too. That way, the login screen always appears when you start up, instead of a default administrator account.

The auto-logout option is in System Preferences > Security.

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