How to choose where files save in OS X Lion with “Save As” gone

November 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

«This is what I think about you!»In another of Lion’s magical, revolutionary, and mandatory changes to your workflow, the “Save As” option and hotkey are gone from many Apple apps such as Pages.

As a lawyer who has gone all-in on the Mac bandwagon and is generally happy with dropping M$ pricey and bloated office application, I am nonetheless less than thrilled with the removal of the “Save As”  functions.

  • I get that saves happen in the background.
  • I get that I can duplicate files.
  • I get that I can export files.

HOW THE BLAZES DO I SELECT WHERE THE FILES GET SAVED!?!

“Don’t worry about it, the OS will take care of all that” is NOT an acceptable answer when I want to save files into a client’s folder.

Fortunately, like many things in Lion, the functionality in there, it’s just magically hidden from you. Or at least until you learn the new and funner way of doing it. And then you will just feel stupid for not realizing the new way Apple wants you to do things.

What’s the secret? Just use Cmd+S (or Save from the File menu). And you get a save dialog. Want more options? Press the disclosure triangle next to the filename and you can select where the file is saved.

In short, “Save” is the new “Save As.”

You know, learning the quirks of Lions feels a LOT like playing Portal 2. Cave Johnson, we’re done here.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

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Adding new voices to OS X Lion

November 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Apple’s OS X 10.7 adds new voices for text-to-speak, including a passable GladOS impersonation.

In the control panel, select the “Speech” icon.

Click the “Text to Speech” tab.

Select the pull down menu, and choose “Customize”.

Then select some new voices. I recommend adding Jill & Samantha. Also give Sangetta (Indian English), Fiona (Scottish), and Serena (United Kingdom) a try. Just keep in mind that each voice added has to be downloaded and is about a gig in size.

Ok, if you want your computer to sound like GladOS, get the Jill voice and then have her read the following:

There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend, the Companion Cube. Of course, he couldn’t come because you murdered him. All your other friends couldn’t come, either, because you don’t have any other friends because of how unlikable you are. It says so right here in your personnel file: “Unlikable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikable loner, whose passing shall not be mourned. Shall NOT be mourned.” That’s exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official. It also says you were adopted, so that’s funny, too.

Have fun!

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Expand text on iPhone using Shortcuts

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

| apple-command | iOS 5 comes with text expansion. You can type “omy” and your iPhone and iPad will type out “On my way.”

Sure, you could use the widely available Text Expander app. However, one benefit of iOS “Shortcuts” – what Apple calls its expansion system is that it is system wide. This lets you use snippets, er shortcuts anywhere on your iOS 5 device.

Turn on Shortcuts in Settings > General > Keyboards. Click the “Add New Shortcut” button to add a snippet.

 

Type in the full phrase you want your iOS device to type, and the shortcut (the abbreviation).

[Read more...]

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How to turn on Emoji in iOS5 for iPhones

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Emoji, those Japanese pictograms, are built in with iOS 5. So, you no longer have to buy a separate app. However, they are not turned on by default and they are pretty well hidden in the iPhone or iPad settings.

Here is how to turn on Emojis on your iPhone:

1. In Settings, click the “General” button

[Read more...]

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How to use Google for Voicemail on iPhone

October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Red Public Phone Boxes - Covent Garden, London, England - Thursday September Thirteenth 2007Instructions on setting up the iPhone to use Google Voice’s voicemail for iPhone messages were all over the web a few years back. However, when I tried to find them so I could set up my iPhone 4S, a lot of the original sites were gone. So, let’s review how to make this happen.

I am using the instructions originally found on Lan Bui.

To forward missed calls, rejected calls, and calls when the phone is off or in airplane mode to Google Voice, dial the following into the phone application keypad: [Read more...]

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Mac Tip: Removing files from Favorites side bar in OSX 10.7 Lion

September 19, 2011 By 17 Comments

Among the changes in Apple’s OS X 10.7 is how to remove files and folders from the Favorites sidebar in Finder.

I recently noted that I had accidentally dragged a file in to the Favorites folder.

No problem. I’ll just drag it off.

Except that dragging an item off the Favorites sidebar doesn’t work any more in Lion. Thanks Apple!

Thanks to a bit of googling and other users with the same problem, I found the trick.

Hold down the “Command” button while dragging the file. 

The file comes off with and vanishes with the regular puff of smoke when you let go of it outside of the Finder window.

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How to encrypt hard drive with Mac Lion OSX 10.7

August 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Over 800,000 laptops are lost or stolen each year. Now that OSX 10.7.x has whole disk encryption built into the operating system, you can encrypt your entire hard drive. If your laptop is lost or stolen, you will have piece of mind that all the data on the drive is encrypted.

1. Open “System Preferences”.

2. Click the “Security and Privacy” icon.

[Read more...]

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Using a Bluetooth Headset with Google Voice

July 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

Skype and Google Voice are great ways to stay in touch. However, sometimes you don’t want to sound like you are talking on a speakerphone, nor do you want to deal with the headset wires. The big problem is that, unlike in Skype, Google Voice does not let you send the phone ring to one device (the computer speakers), and the call to the second device (a headset). So, if you have a headset plugged in, but are not wearing it, you may miss a call because you don’t hear the ring in the headset speakers.

Of course, you could just start the call in speakerphone mode (using the computer speakers and mic) and then plug in. However, in practice, this does not really work: dealing with a headset is an unnecessary distraction while taking notes or looking up case information.

Why not go wireless with your VOIP?

You probably already have a Bluetooth headset for your mobile phone and are used to wearing it. Why not use you Bluetooth headset with your VOIP system (Skype or Google Voice)?

The headset I’m using is a Plantronics Voyager Pro+ based on Don McAllister’s ScreenCastsOnline episode on Dragon Dictate with a Bluetooth headset.

I remember reading a few years ago that Macs were terrible, to the point of being unusable, at Bluetooth audio. So, I was prepared for a simple pairing not to work and downloaded the programs Don McAllister recommended for getting a Bluetooth headset to work with Dragon Dictate: SoundFlower and LineIn.

However, I thought I should give the simple method a try first. And, what do you know? Pairing went off without a hitch. A Skype test call worked just fine! Instructions for pairing a Bluetooth headset with your Mac below the fold: [Read more...]

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Mac Tip: DropBox Tips – Selective Sync & Cache Cleaning

May 3, 2011 By 2 Comments

Chocolate Tools
Dropbox is an amazing tool and now that it has selective synchronization, you no longer have to have every folder synced across all of your systems.  This is particularly useful if you find solid states hard drive sizes a bit cramped. [Read more...]

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Mac Tip: Automate Tasks With Hazel

March 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This Mac tip falls in to the category of automating mac chores.

Hazel, a USD $21.00 program from Noodlesoft is a housekeeping app for your Mac. You set Hazel to watch certain folders and then take action on the files in them based on rules that you set.

  • You can set Hazel to clean off your desktop by moving files into another folder.
  • Or, move only those file that you have not touched in a set period of time.
  • Or, move the mp3 files into a “Music” folder, the html files into a “Web” folder, and the doc files into “Read Later” folder.
  • Or, change a file label color to red on files that have not been acted on in 3 weeks.

I use Hazel with my paperless system. My Fujitsu ScanSnap software places all scans into a temporary holding folder. I then optimize and save the scans into the correct client file. However, I prefer to keep a copy of the original scan for a set time just in case. Keeping track of the ages of files manually would be extremely tedious. Hazel makes this very easy.

Hazel installs itself as a preference pane:

Opening Hazel presents a simple interface showing the folders being watched. By selecting a folder, Hazel shows you the rules being applied to the folder.

Double click a rule to edit it or click the plus button to create a new rule. Here is how I set up the “Delete Old Scans” rule.

Hazel watches my “Temp-Scans” folder and any files with a creation date older than 15 weeks from today are moved to the trash.

There are lots of other common tasks you can set Hazel to perform such as emptying the trash, filing away documents, and automatically processing files. Check out LifeHacker’s article on Hazel for examples.

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