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Using Non-Visual Voicemail to Take Voicemail Notes

Scott Rose — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:52:55 -0600

I like how my iPhone’s Visual Voicemail lets me listen to messages out of order. But I also use my iPhone for note-taking, and I can’t listen to my Visual Voicemail while using another app. Or can I?

That’s one our biggest frustrations with the iPhone. But if someone leaves you a voicemail with lots of important information, and you don’t have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes, you can still call your voicemail the old-fashioned way. Go into your phone’s keypad and hold down the 1 key for two seconds to access your voicemail. Then, put your call on speakerphone, press the Home key to bring up your apps, and switch to whatever note-taking app you’d like.

Calling our voicemail the old-school way, then putting the call on speakerphone, lets us take notes at the same time.

If you’re lucky enough to have Google Voice (invite-only at press time), the service transcribes any voicemails you receive and can send you a copy as an SMS text message or email it to your Gmail account. Apple has declined to allow a native Google Voice app on the iPhone (and pulled all third-party Google Voice apps from the App Store), but you can still access the service by surfing to www.google.com/voice/m in Safari on your iPhone.

The Ol' Icon Switch-A-Roo

Scott Rose — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:52:23 -0600

I’m having trouble seeing the Dock icons for the latest Office for Mac applications. I thought the Office 2004 for Mac icons were darker and easier to see in my Dock. Is there a way to alter the Office 2008 for Mac icons, or can I substitute one for the other?

Yes! In the screenshot you sent us, we noticed you had Office 2008’s icons in your Dock next to Office 2004’s icons. You can reassign Office 2004’s icons to your Office 2008 applications, but then you should probably drag the Office 2004 apps out of your Dock, so you don’t get confused!

The person writing in wanted to substitute the darker Office 2004 icons (on the right) for the too-light Office 2008 icons (on the left).

First, right-click (or Control-click) the Dock icon for Word 2008 (on the left in your screenshot), and choose Show In Finder. This will launch a new Finder window with the Word 2008 application selected. Press Command-I to open the Get Info window for that application. Now do the same thing to open the Get Info window for Word 2004.

Each app’s icon is at the top-left of the Get Info window. All you need to do is click the Word 2004 icon to select it (it’ll be highlighted blue when you do), and then press Command-C to copy that icon. Now over in the Get Info window for Word 2008, click that app’s icon to select it, and press Command-V to paste in the icon you copied (Word 2004) instead. Close the Get Info windows.

You can swap icons by copying-and-pasting the icon at the top-left of the Get Info windows.

The icon in your Dock won’t change instantly--you have to kick the app out of your Dock and then re-add it for the icon to be updated. Right-click the Word 2008 app’s Dock icon and select Show In Finder again, so you can remember where the application is stored--it should be showing its new icon in this window. Then drag the Word 2008 out of your Dock and watch it disappear with its little poof. In the Finder window that you just opened, drag Word 2008 sporting its new icon back into the Dock. Now you can repeat the process for your Excel and PowerPoint icons too.

MacBook Numeric Keypads

Scott Rose — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:22:37 -0600

Where can I get a keypad for my MacBook Pro? Targus states that theirs is Mac compatible, but it will not work with the Mac version of Excel. Is anything else available?

We haven’t tried that Targus keypad, but we’ll take your word for it. The Adesso 19-Key Mobile USB Numeric Keypad with Retractable Cable (model AKP-150) retails for $24.99 at www.adesso.com, but we found it on Amazon for less than $20.

If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch, check out an app called NumPad ($2.99 in the App Store), which turns your device into a numeric keypad. Your iPhone and Mac need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, but the setup is easy and the app works well.

The retractable cable on Adesso's keypad is a nice touch for laptop users.

Or, obviously, you could just use an external keyboard that has a numeric keypad. We still get compliments on our Moshi Célesta keyboard two full years after we initially reviewed it, but it’s also $120 (www.moshimonde.com). A cheaper but still quality option is Apple’s own wired Keyboard with Numeric Keypad for $49 (www.apple.com).

Can't Check Gmail on iPhone 3GS

Scott Rose — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:38:50 -0600

I just got an iPhone 3GS, and I can’t connect to my Gmail in the Mail app. This worked just fine on my old iPhone, but now I’m getting an error message that says, “Cannot connect using SSL.” I can connect just fine to Gmail using Safari, but I’d prefer to use Mail.

We’ve noticed the same problem at the ScottWorld offices as well. It appears that Gmail has implemented some sort of new security restriction, but there’s an easy fix.

First, double-check that IMAP access is still enabled for your Gmail account. To do this, log in to Gmail in Safari, click Settings in the upper-right corner of the screen, click the Forwarding And POP/IMAP tab, and ensure that Enable IMAP is selected.

Then, on your iPhone, use Safari to go to Google’s account unlocking webpage at www.google.com/accounts/DisplayUnlockCaptcha. Type in your email address, your password, and the letters that you see in the image. Then tap Unlock.

Note that you must go through this unlocking process on your iPhone. After doing so, you may also have to delete and re-create your Gmail account from the Mail, Contacts, Calendars section of your iPhone’s Settings.

Secrets of Professional Podcasting

Joe Rybicki — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:06 -0600

Make your talking time shine.

So you've started a podcast, have you? And now that you've got a few episodes under your belt, you're starting to see your audience grow. Now it's time to get a little more serious about your craft. And we're here to help, with four tips to bring you closer to podcasting stardom.

Difficulty Level: Easy

What You Need:

> GarageBand '09 (included with iLife, free with new Macs or $79, www.apple.com)

> A microphone (see Step 1)

> A topic about which to ramble

1. The Right Gear Makes a Difference

Planning to record using your MacBook’s internal mic or your gaming headset? Please don’t. You don’t need a top-of-the-line microphone, but quality does make a difference. If a solo podcast is all the recording you ever expect to do, you can get the most consistent results from a decent headset mic. But avoid anything designed for gaming, as these tend to have mediocre recording quality even if the headphones sound great. Instead, plan to spend between $50 and $100 on a mic designed specifically for recording. We love the one on our U2 headset from CAD Audio ($49, www.cadaudio.com).

The USB-based U2 headset from CAD Audio is a decent, affordable option for podcasting.

If you’re not going to be the only one chattering away, or you expect to record anything besides podcasts, plan to spend at least $25 to $50 on a decent unidirectional mic, like the $49 Audix F50 (www.audixusa.com). But don’t forget you’ll also want a stand and some sort of windscreen to prevent against vicious pops.

2. Warm Up the Crowd

Want to wrap your podcast in a truly professional package? Then get yourself some theme music! You don’t need to compose a theme song from scratch--though if you have such talents, it certainly wouldn’t hurt. But for non-composers, Apple has thoughtfully included a whole suite of jingles with GarageBand.

Set your theme music to fade out and in slowly to avoid jarring silences.

Open the Loop Browser by clicking the eye in the bottom-left, then select the Podcast Sounds tab at the bottom. The Jingles menu gives you an extremely broad range of different styles to tinker with. Select one that’s 30 seconds or more, and give it about 10 seconds of play before the speaking starts. Click the gray down-arrow in the Track control panel to show the Track Volume automation curve. GarageBand will handle the “ducking” (i.e., lowering the jingle when the speaking starts), but you’ll still need to slowly fade the music out over the next 10 seconds or so. Then do the same thing in reverse at the end of your show. You’ll be amazed what a polished feel you can get from such a simple addition.

3. Don't Talk to Yourself

Bringing in guests can really spice up your podcast. And it’s becoming more and more common for podcasters to wrangle far-flung guests via phone or Internet-voice (VoIP) services like Skype: The host adjusts the levels of each participant before the session, and then records the output of the VoIP application with Audio Hijack Pro or WireTap Studio. While that can do the job, the sound quality is often subpar, and it becomes much more difficult to edit the podcast, since all the guests are on a single track.

Sync up remote recordings by having your guests all count together.

You can take a giant leap forward in quality and post-production flexibility by using a technique known as a “two-ender.” The concept is simple: You use a VoIP app to converse with your guests naturally, but each guest records his or her own voice locally and sends you the file, which you can then simply drag into GarageBand. Even if they don’t have quality recording gear like yours, it’ll sound worlds better than recording any kind of phone call. Just don’t forget to set a sync point in your recording: Having all participants simply count to 3 simultaneously will allow you to quickly match up the timing of the separate recordings.

4. Clean It Up

Finally, nothing screams “amateur hour” like wildly variable volume, forcing the listener to constantly scramble for the volume control. This is one of the most common transgressions against professionalism you’re likely to hear. But luckily, it’s also one of the easiest to fix.

For the sake of volume knobs everywhere, please compress your tracks.

Once you’ve recorded or imported all your vocal tracks--but before doing your final mixdown--go into each track and add a new effect by selecting one of the dropdown menus that currently says “None.” Scroll down to Audio Unit effects and choose AUDynamicsProcessor. This will make the loud parts a little quieter and the quiet parts a little louder. Unless you have guests moving dramatically closer or farther away from their microphones (which is why we recommend headsets), this should even out everyone’s volume, making your show considerably more listenable and your audience considerably happier. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

Manipulate PDFs Using Preview

Steve Paris — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:50:59 -0600

Acrobat, Schmacrobat. Preview has enough power to handle most of your PDF-wrangling tasks.

The advantage of PDF files over other formats is that they precisely preserve your page layouts, even embedding fonts that other people’s computers may not possess. Apple’s versatile Preview application lets you view PDF documents, but, as you might expect, you can’t edit the text in any way. You can, however, use Preview to modify the pages themselves. For instance, you could elect to keep just a specific section, reorder the pages, delete some, and even insert others. Preview is full of PDF flexibility, as you’ll see in the following steps.

Difficulty Level: Easy

What You Need:

> Preview version 4.2 or later (included with Mac OS X)

> A few PDFs ready for editing

> 20 minutes of your time

You can do more to your PDFs with Preview than just, um, preview them.

1. PDF Creation

Hopefully, most of you already know this, but Mac OS X has been able to convert any file from any program into a PDF since version 1.0. It isn’t entirely obvious until you’ve done it a couple of times--there isn’t a Save As PDF command in the menubar, but that’s because the feature is in the Print dialog. To make a PDF, go to File > Print. Click the PDF button at the bottom-left to launch a pop-up menu and select Save As PDF.

Show a Mac newbie this trick. They'll probably buy you lunch.

2. The Select Tool

Saving as a PDF is a great way to archive documents, especially webpages. However, the PDF file will contain everything on the original page--images, toolbars, and all those annoying ads. To clean up your PDFs a little, you can use the Select Tool to grab just the portion you want. With the PDF open in Preview, go to Tools > Select Tool (or use the Command-3 keyboard shortcut).

The Select Tool will let you boil down a PDF to just the essentials.

3. Copying a Selection

Click and drag on your PDF page to create a selection box. You can alter its dimensions by using one of its corner handles or even drag the whole box to another location. Once it’s over the correct portion of your page, go to Edit > Copy. Pasting doesn’t work in Preview. Instead, go to File > New From Clipboard (Command-N) to create a new document that contains everything you just copied.

Just the good stuff, please!

4. Copying Text

Preview also lets you copy text from a PDF file to the clipboard, for pasting words into the text-editing app of your choice, with formatting intact: Just go to Tools > Text Tool (Command-2) and select and copy text (Command-C) as normal. But you can’t use Preview’s New From Clipboard command here. Instead, open an app like TextEdit and paste your selection in (Command-V).

The New From Clipboard command is grayed out, but you can use the Text Tool to copy and paste text into a word-wranglin' app.

5. Collating Documents

Repeating the New From Clipboard action from step 3 creates a one-page document for each selection you paste into a new PDF. But it’s easy to combine these files into one. First, click the toolbar’s Sidebar button (top-right), or go to View > Sidebar or press Shift-Command-D. With two PDF files open, click and drag a thumbnail from one sidebar to another document’s sidebar, either above or below the existing thumbnail.

Combine PDF pages by dragging their thumbnails into one document's sidebar.

6. Reordering Pages

If doesn’t matter much if you’ve imported your pages in the wrong order. You can just drag the sidebar’s thumbnails into the correct order. A red line will appear to let you know where the page will end up once you release the mouse button.

Select multiples and drag them to their place. You're ALL out of order!

7. Removing Pages

If you no longer need a specific page, you can delete it in one of two ways: either go to Edit > Delete Selected Page or use the Command-Delete keyboard shortcut. Just like adding pages or reordering them, you can delete multiple pages at once. Command-click multiple thumbnails to select them, then use the delete command of your choice.

You can undo a delete, by the way.

Corralling Your iPhoto Library

Scott Rose — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:37:18 -0600

Call me anal, but I like things to be in folders of my choosing, so I can find them later without going through my iPhoto library. Importing photos to iPhoto creates a new folder. I’ve figured out how to give that new folder (film roll) a name of my choosing. Sometimes I’d really like to add photos directly to (or import directly to) an existing iPhoto folder (film roll). Is there a way to do this?

Sort of, but first we need to clear up some semantic issues. You don’t say which version of iPhoto you’re using, but starting in iPhoto ’08, new photos are imported into dated Events, based on when they were taken. We think these Events are probably what you’re referring to as folders or film rolls.

iPhoto ’08 and ’09 automatically split your photos into Events when you import new photos, but you can control this autosplit somewhat in iPhoto > Preferences > Events. If you want to see all of your photos without them being split into Events, just click Photos in the iPhoto sidebar, under Library.

Merging two Events into one gives you more control over organizing your photos.

After iPhoto imports new photos into automatic Events, you can redirect them into already-existing Events. Click Events in the iPhoto sidebar if you’re not already in Events view, then click the new Event that iPhoto just created to select it. Now find the old Event you want to combine the new photos with, and select that one too by Command-clicking it. Now just click the Merge button in the toolbar at the bottom of the window to combine those two Events into one. You might have to rename the new Event; click its name to do so. For example, we take a lot of iPhone screenshots, as you can imagine, so our iPhoto libraries have lots of Events that are just a few screenshots, rather than a party, trip, or real-life occasion. So every month we combine all those screenshot-only Events into one, and call it, for example, “August 2009 iPhone screens.”

If you double-click an Event to view its photos and notice some that shouldn’t be there, just select them all and click the Split button to split those photos out into a new Event.

And, of course, iPhoto still supports Albums if you’d rather organize your photos that way. Just select any group of photos, click the Plus sign button at the bottom-left of the window, and use the pop-up dialog to create a new Album. Later you can drag in new photos, change their order, and even delete photos from the Album without deleting them from your whole iPhoto library. You can also put a single photo in as many Albums as you like, even though each photo can only be part of one Event.

Changing the Creation Date of a File

Scott Rose — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:38:05 -0500

I took a bunch of photos with my digital camera, but the clock on my camera was set incorrectly. I’ve tried to fix this by changing the date and time of these photos in iPhoto, but when I show these files in the Finder, they still have the wrong date and time.

As you’ve discovered, you can adjust the date and time of your photos within iPhoto for your own organizational purposes, but that doesn’t modify the actual creation date and creation time of your original files in the Finder. And if you try to export these photos out of iPhoto, you’ll end up with the current date and time as the exported files’ creation date and time.

Plus, the Finder doesn’t let you modify the creation date and creation time of any files. If you click a file and choose File > Get Info (Command-I), you’ll notice that you’re prevented from making any changes to the Created field there.

You can change a file's creation date--along with other attributes--using the intuitive interface of A Better Finder Attributes.

The solution is to launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and type this, but don’t press Return just yet:

touch –t YYYYMMDDhhmm.ss

Replace YYYY with the year, MM with the month, DD with the day, hh with the hour (0 through 24), mm with the minutes, and ss with the seconds of your desired creation date. Before pressing Return, insert a space and then drag-and-drop the file you want to change into the Terminal. Then press Return, and you have just changed the creation date of your desired file.

If you’d like to change the modification date, start your line with touch –mt instead of touch –t.

If you’d rather not use the Terminal, you can download A Better Finder Attributes ($15, www.publicspace.net). This utility gives you a graphical user interface for modifying attributes about your files that the Finder normally won’t let you modify.