It's been a couple days since the keynote and I've had a bit of time to ponder. I think I can sum it all up with one word: Fantastical. I'm excited about the name change and the general direction of Apple. The 10 years since Jobs' return have been astounding: iMacs and iBooks, the shift to OS X, iLife, the iPod, the shift to Intel, and finally, the iPhone. Yes, it really is astounding. Given the content of the Jobs keyonte it seems likely that Apple's future is not only secure, but that it will continue to break away as a leader of design in many areas.

The iPhone and the Future of Apple Mobile
A mobile device that runs a version of OS X and incorporates an entirely new system of touch-based control is nothing short of groundbreaking. I wish they'd called it Apple Mobile which would better reflect the range of the device. Regardless, it seems obvious that there will be a series of iPhones, like the iPod, that will offer a range of prices, sizes, and feature sets. It also seems likely that the technologies in the first iPhone will make there way into upcoming iPods and perhaps a new class of mobile/tablet that does not include a phone. The iPhone is the first of a new Apple platform and as great as the iPhone will be, it is running on just the first version of mobile X. Get ready, this roller coaster is just pulling out. The first round of iPods, all of them till now, were just the process of standing in line and getting buckled in.

AppleTV and the new Airport Extreme
Back to the living room, not only did Apple release the expected AppleTV but also a new Airport Extreme. The news here is not the 802.11n which was the next logical step, but the inclusion of Airport Disk. According to Apple almost any USB 2.0 hard drive can be plugged into the Airport Extreme's USB port and then be easily shared via the network. Not only that, plug in a USB hub and share multiple drives and printers. Let's hope that Airport Disk will work with Leopard's new back-up system, Time Machine.

Leopard, iLife, and iWork
To everyone's surprise Jobs did not mention Leopard, iLife, or iWork. Not a peep. Many folks have expressed disappointment which is understandable. We've all come to expect new versions of these suites with each new year's MacWorld. Some have speculated that iLife and iWork apps will require Leopard technologies and so may be tied into it's release. It goes without saying that the Mac community is eager to get more details on Leopard and the iApps... hopefully we'll here something soon. I wouldn't be surprised to see a special Apple event soon.


Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Macintosh, Mac, iPhone, Airport Extreme, Airport Disk, AppleTV, Leopard

There are plenty of Apple oriented blogs and sites discussing the latest Apple developments and announcements so I often don't comment too much. Concerning the naming of the iPhone, why not just call it the "Apple Mobile"? Personally, I think the iProduct naming convention has gotten a bit old. Given the groundbreaking design of the iPhone as well as the fact that it is so much more than a phone, seems like it would make sense to break the naming convention as well.

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Macintosh, Mac, iPhone

This is the second installment in a series of articles for new Mac users. Part 1 focused on the Menu Bar and the Dock. Most of the information presented in each is intended to be a detailed explanation of just a few basic elements that may be helpful during those first few days. Welcome to the Mac.

The Apple Menu and the Start Menu
While the Apple Menu and the Start Menu are similar they have a few differences worth noting. The Windows Start Menu offers a shortcut to applications, Search, and the system control panel as well as buttons to shutdown or logout.

The Apple Menu offers About this Mac which provides an informative window that offers a quick overview of your current operating system version, the processor and amount of ram installed as well as a button to open up the System Profiler that provides you with all the details of your system. The Apple Menu also offers a shortcut to Software Update, Apple's OS X downloads page, System Preferences, Dock and Location preferences, Recent Items (Applications, Documents, and Servers), Force Quit (for frozen applications), Sleep, Restart, Shut Down, and Logout for the current user.

System Preferences
Assessable via the Apple Menu, open it up and get to know your system. There are lots of options to explore. By default there are four categories: Personal, Hardware, Internet & Network, and System. My suggestion is that you go through one by one within the first few hours of use. Here's a tip and an example of the importance of knowing what's in System Prefs. One complaint many Windows to Mac switchers have is that they have to relearn the shortcuts, specifically shortcuts that involve the Control key such as Copy, Cut, and Paste. On Macs the default modifier key for those shortcuts is Command key (has the Apple and ⌘, next to the spacebar). Well, rather than relearn that shortcut just open the Keyboard and Mouse prefs. On the Keyboard tab, click the Modifier Keys button. Set the Control Key to Command, and Command Key to Control, then hit OK.
Now your shortcuts will work exactly as they did on your PC.

One last thing I'll mention regarding System Prefs is the nice touch of the integrated Spotlight searching which includes keywords that include Windows terms. For example, type "Wallpaper" and the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane will highlight.

The Finder
Need to open a document or application? Unless you've placed a shortcut in the Dock you will use the Finder to navigate your hard drive or Spotlight to search (covered in more detail below). Similar to Windows Explorer, the Finder is both a file browser as well as a searching tool. You can open a Finder window by clicking the blue happy face in the far left side of the dock. By default you'll see a nifty side pane in every Finder window that includes various shortcuts. In the top half you'll see Network and Macintosh HD as well as any mounted external drives or mounted optical media such as cds or dvds. In the bottom half of this pane you'll see shortcuts to your Desktop, Home directory, Applications, Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures. Similar to the Dock at the bottom of your screen, you can add a shortcut to any folder or file to this pane in the Finder by simply dragging and dropping it. You can also remove any shortcut by dragging it from the pane and releasing it.

To learn more of the details check out Apple's Tour of Mac OS X. Part 1 of that tour is dedicated to the Finder.

Searching with Spotlight
Spotlight is your best friend. While the Finder makes managing files fairly easy, Spotlight makes finding files and nearly anything else on your Mac an effortless process with nearly instant results. Searching from the Spotlight menu in the top right of the screen is perhaps the quickest and most powerful technique. From the Spotlight menu you can find documents, images, contacts, tasks, events, email, system preferences and more. To give you just a hint of how great Spotlight searching is, it will find not just contacts by name, but will also search the text you have put into a contact's notes. The same goes for the notes in all iCal tasks and events. Spotlight looks into the content of pdf files and most text files as well. You'll also discover that Spotlight is integrated into every Finder window and most Apple apps such as the already mentioned System Preferences as well as Address Book, Mail, iCal, and Preview. Many of these applications allow you to create Smart Groups that are saved searches, updated real-time, based on Spotlight. While the search field in each specific application will only find content within that app they are all tied together by the same technology.

It's easy to get started with Spotlight but if you'll spend some time with it you'll find that there is a great deal of power buried within it. For more details on using this technology to the fullest, check out my post on project management with Spotlight.

Next up, Part 3: Keyboard Shortcuts, Installing Apps, The Help System

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Macintosh, Mac, Switchers, Switch to Mac

You gotta love Apple's style.

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Macintosh, Mac