The Mind of Dr. Mac

Part I of this year’s dads and grads gift guide is up and available for your reading pleasure here: Gift suggestions for dads and grads | Dr. Mac | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle.

As I’ve mentioned before I’m an inveterate reader. I read tons of web pages, books, magazines, newsletters, and almost anything else that has writing on it including Read Me files and product documentation. One of the most useful things I read is TidBITS: Mac news for the rest of us.

TidBITS is available in many forms, all advertiser supported and available at no charge (though donations are gratefully accepted). I subscribe to the e-mail newsletter version and read it from cover to cover (top to bottom?) every week. They also offer information on their Web site and via podcast, RSS, and Twitter.

TidBITS has been around forever (well, since 1990) and is staffed by some of the most knowledgeable writers I know including founders Adam and Tonya Engst, Jeff Carlson, Glenn Fleishman, Rich Mogull, Matt Neuburg, and more. I receive a lot of press releases from vendors each day and let me tell you a little secret … many of the so-called “news” sites copy and paste the contents of said press releases and post them verbatim. But not TidBITS — every TidBITS article is original, thoughtful (or thought-provoking), and well-researched. It is (and always has been) one of my favorite information resources for in-depth coverage of Apple and Mac topics. So check it out — chances are it’ll become one of your favorites, too.

Click here for more info: TidBITS: Mac news for the rest of us.

And hey — if you find TidBITS as useful as I do, why not make a little donation?

This is very cool . . . Alltop just introduced a way for you to build your own custom news page with only info from the sites you like best! It’s called My Alltop and mine looks like this:

Three more things about My Alltop pages are very cool:

1. It’s free.
2. When you hover your cursor over any headline you see a summary of that article immediately.
3. You can share your custom news page with your friends.

If you want to check out mine, click here: My Alltop: LeVitus

And if you want to create your own, click here: My Alltop: Create an Account

When I offer a suggestion or solution to other Mac users, I’m often asked, “How do you learn these things?” Or “Where did you learn that?” There is no single answer. I am an inveterate researcher with an unquenchable curiosity. Every day I read literally dozens of Web sites, newsletters, news groups, forums, tweets, blogs, and RSS feeds. And, of course, I use Google extensively to research specific issues or problems.

I depend on far too many resources to tackle them all at once in a single post, so think of this as the first in a series…

How I Learn Mac and iPhone Stuff: Part I

When I need specific information about a product or problem I almost always start with a Google Web search. But while the little Google search field in the address bar of most browsers is handy, you might not always want start there. Rather, you might want to try Google’s Advanced Search.

The easiest way to get acquainted with this feature is to click the Advanced Search link on Google’s main page as shown here:

This will replace the single search field shown above with the multi-field Advanced Search form shown below:

The form should be pretty much self-explanatory, but if you want some help click the Advanced Search Tips link in the upper right corner as indicated above.

In addition to helping you understand the Advanced Search form, these tips show you how to construct an advanced search you can initiate right from your browser’s toolbar, so you don’t even have to bother with the Advanced Search form.

For example, to learn more about a jungle cat you might type this:

[ jaguar -cars -football -OS ]

into your browser’s Google search field. Google interprets that as, “search for pages with the word jaguar but exclude pages with cars, football, or OS on them.”

So, the next time you search the Web, try an Advanced Search. In many cases it will provide better and/or more relevant results, and save you both time and effort.

I’ll have more great learning resources for you in the near future, so check back here soon.

A few minutes ago Apple announced updates to all of its desktop computer systems: Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini.

I’m really busy with a big For Dummies book project (I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you and I’m decidedly non-violent), so I’m going to do something I’ve never done before — paste text from an Apple press release verbatim:

“The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.”

“Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. “The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer.”

Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.

For additional details:

Click here for new Mac Pro info

Click here for new iMac info

Click here for new Mac Mini info

The industry has sure changed… Take a gander at this video of Steve Jobs hosting the “Macintosh Dating Game” with Bill Gates (among others) back in the good old days when the Mac was a newborn… 

YouTube - 1983 Apple Event Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

Can you imagine them doing such a thing today?  I think not…

Did you know the Mac turned 25 this week? There have been lots of posts about it around the blogosphere but Guy Kawasaki’s is the best one I’ve seen so far. Which makes total sense considering Guy was working there as an Evangelist when Apple gave birth to the Mac. 

Check it out here: 

How to Change the World: Macintosh 25th Anniversary Reunion: Where Did Time Go?

My favorite quote: “Mike Boich started evangelism and hired me, and Alain Rossman worked with me as a software evangelist. Essentially, Mike started evangelism, Alain did the work, and I took the credit.”

There are some times — like when you’re watching a DVD movie or burning a DVD with iDVD — that you don’t want your Mac to sleep. Sure you can open the Energy Saver and/or Desktop & Screen Saver System Preference pane and make your adjustments there, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could suspend both — sleep and screen saver — with a single click? 

Well you can. All you need is a copy of Caffeine, a freeware application from Lighthead Software. Launch Caffeine and a little coffee cup icon appears in your menu bar, like this:

To turn Caffeine on and stop your Mac from using its screen saver or sleep temporarily, just click the coffee cup icon in the menu bar and it will fill with coffee to let you know it’s turned on, like this: 

To change the default duration Caffeine is enabled, Command + click the coffee cup icon in your menu bar and make your selection from the Caffeine menu that appears, like this:  

How can you not love that? It’s free, it’s easy to use, and it’s handy as all heck!

Click here to learn more about and/or download a copy of Caffeine.

On Tuesday Apple announced that the upcoming Macworld Expo (January 5-9 at The Moscone Center in San Francisco) would be the last one it attends… Furthermore, it also revealed that Steve Jobs would not be delivering his trademark keynote address, but would be presented by Phillip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing instead.

Here is the complete text of the press release: 

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(® today announced  that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip  Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver  the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be  Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on  Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s  Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.   

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many  companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its  customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5  million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly  reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, includingNAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.  

I wrote a column expressing my personal thoughts on it, which  will appear Tuesday in the Houston Chronicle. While I was gathering the information I needed to opine intelligently, I read many other opinions of this news. Here are a few I found quite interesting: 

This is a BusinessWeek column dated December 15 (the day before Apple dropped its bombshell). Consider whether it might have played a part in Apple’s announcement the next day: Steve Jobs Will MAY Be At Macworld Expo, Event Manager Says

Jason Snell, Editorial Director and head honcho at Macworld magazine, had this to say: Apple at Expo: What went wrong?

An insightful column with predictions by Chuck La Tournous (for the Mac Observer): It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)

Brad Stone for the New York Times: Apple’s Chief to Skip Macworld, Fueling Speculation

Edward C. Baig and Jon Swartz for USA TODAY: Steve Jobs skips Macworld; Apple denies health rumors

Some opinions from troubleshooting guru and founder of MacFixIt, Ted Landau (for the MacObserver): The End of Macworld Expo

And last but not least, a juicy, tabloid-style tell-all story of Steve Jobs and Macworld Expos in the past written by David Bunnell, founder of Macworld Magazine and Macworld Expo (for SFGate): Steve Jobs didn’t make the first Macworld, either

There is one more thing… Before the ink was dry (or the electrons were settled) on the Apple press release, a site that parodies the press release – AppleCancelledChristmas.com — appeared on the Web. Not my favorite Apple parody but good for a giggle.

I guess it’s the time of year but I’ve come across yet another incredible bargain: The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle includes ten excellent and useful applications that would normally cost a total of $447.69, but for the next nine days you can get all ten of ‘em for just $49.99. 

We’re not talking shovelware here, folks… we’re talking ten truly terrific programs:

	Drive Genius 2.1: Optimize/repair/test/resize and clean up your Mac’s drives.  I recommend this program at its retail price ($99) all the time. It would be worth buying this bundle for Drive Genius alone…    .
	RapidWeaver 4.2.1: Create template-based websites rapidly.  This is the program I used to create my  Web site (www.boblevitus.com).  It was a bargain at its retail price ($79) and it’s a steal as part of this $49.99 bundle.  .
	Default Folder X 4.1: Enhances Save and Open dialog boxes.  Default Folder is one of  my all-time favorite utilities. It makes the Open and Save dialog boxes much better and usually costs $34.95.   .
	VirusBarrier X5 10.5.5: Kill the latest viruses. I’m not presently running an anti-virus program but if I was, this is the one I’d be running. (A $69.95 value.)  .
plus:	MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0.5: Easily create, build, and share your recipe collection. Little Snitch 2.0.4: Alerts you to outgoing network connections. iVolume 3.1.4: Improves the built-in ‘Sound Check’ function of iTunes. KeyCue 4.3: Displays all menu shortcut commands. MacPilot 3.2.1: Enable over 700 hidden features in Mac OS X & other apps. WhatSize 4.4.1: Helps find out what files are taking up all your HD space.

This bundle is a fabulous bargain even if you think you only need one or two of the included programs. But trust me when I say these are all really useful programs and that there isn’t a single clinker in the bunch.

You can even download and try the entire bundle if you like.

For complete details on this amazing offer, just click here.