Categories
Average Joe's Tips

How To: Place a Web Page Bookmark in the Dock

You may not know this, but you can fill the dock with more than just applications and folders. It can also hold web pages stored as bookmarks in your dock. This allows you to have quick access to your favorite sites. Todo this, first find the webpage you would like to use. Then goto the URL and on the left should be an icon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you have found that, drag the icon to your dock. Now with a single click, you can access your favorite webpages right from your dock. To add more bookmarks to your dock just repeat the step. Each Bookmark will have the name of each site when it is hovered over.

 

 

Stay connected at my new twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

Categories
Average Joe's Tips

How To: Save Web Pages/ Reading Lists in Safari

If you are like me then you keep tabs open and use them as a list. But this leads to clutter, confusion, and very slow internet. Thank goodness for Safari, because it allows you to save your web pages very neatly and uncluttered. Saving the web page is very easy, to do this just scroll up to Bookmarks. Then click on Add to Reading List. To view your list go to View and select Show Reading List.Then on the left side of Safari will apear the web pages you have saved. When clicking on one of your Reading List items it will automatically load the web page. Also to delete an item just scroll to the top right of the pane. This has tremendously helped me keep keep my computer uncluttered and I hope it helps you.

Categories
Average Joe's Tips Uncategorized

How To: Input AutoFill Information for Safari

AutoFill enhances a users efficiency and overall saves a lot of time. Whether you are ordering something from amazon, or signing up for a new account, AutoFill will make your life much easier. AutoFill can automatically fill in your name, shipping address, login information, or even credit card information.

How To: Input AutoFill Information for Safari

  1. First make sure that the application Safari is open
  2. Click on “Safari” in the Menu Bar, and select “Preferences”
  3. Then select the AutoFill pane
  4. From here you will be able to edit your personal information
  5. Click the edit button to start the process (Each process to edit will be slightly different

By far the most important AutoFill web form will be “User names and passwords.” Located inside of this section will be every login information you specified to have saved. Unfortunately, you are unable to add user names and passwords from here, but you can remove them. So when you have an account with outdated information, you will be able to remove it from here. As for AutoFilling your name, phone number, and address, the information under your name within your address book will be the info automatically filled in. AutoFill is a great tool for productivity and efficiency, hopefully you will put it to good use!

Stay connected at my twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

Categories
News

Apple iOS 6 to come this fall

Apple has announced that this fall, iOS 6 will be released. Most current iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users will end up upgrading to iOS 6 in hopes of new features, and we hope that Apple doesn’t let us down. Based on what Apple has announced so far, most people are excited to get iOS 6 on their devices and take advantage of the newest features. I will go over some of the new features that Apple has announced so far.

The first thing that iOS 6 will provide is an upgrade for the Maps app. For those who have used the Maps app on previous iOS, they will notice that Apple has completely redesigned the app and has made it much more vivid and detailed. The new Maps app also provided turn-by-turn directions and offers different routes if traffic conditions have changed. Maps uses real-time traffic conditions to help you avoid traffic accidents and slowdowns. The app also has a 3D view of major areas that gives you a very clear image of the location you are viewing. Siri works well with Maps to help you get to your destination. You can even tap a pin on the map and view different information about that location, especially with the integration of Yelp into the Maps app.

Siri has also been improved. Siri works in more countries, understands more languages, and will now be available on the new iPad. You can tell Siri to look up the scores for a sports game, look up movie show times, find local restaurants, and even tweet or update your Facebook. Siri can even launch apps for you.  Apple is also working on getting Siri integrated in cars, a feature called Eyes Free. This will allow you to press a button on your steering wheel to communicate to Siri and allow you to call people, select music, text message your friends, and much more, without even lighting up the device’s screen.

Facebook will now be integrated into iOS 6. You can share photos from your Camera or Photos app, post your location from Maps, post your score from Game Center, integrate your friend’s profile information into Contacts and integrate events into Calendars.  Facebook is now part of every aspect of your device and you can even click the Like button in iTunes and the App Store. Not only are Apple apps integrated with Facebook, non-Apple apps can also connect to Facebook. This update is definitely going to be attract those who use Facebook frequently to post updates and pictures because it adds even more convenience to the use of mobile applications.

iOS 6 also gives you the option to Share photos from the Photos app with friends and family. If they are using iCloud on an iOS 6 device or a Mac running OS X Mountain Lion, the photos you share with them are delivered straight to their Photos app or iPhoto.  People can even like or comment it, similar to Facebook. If you want to share it with someone who doesn’t have an iOS 6 device or Mac running OS X Mountain Lion, they can view it on the web on the iCloud website.

A new application that Apple is adding is Passbook. Passbook is your organizer that replaces a wallet for coupons, tickets, boarding passes, etc. Passbook also takes advantage of time and location to coupons and passes will appear on your lock screen when it is appropriate, like when you are about to reach the airport or walk into the store where you will use the coupon. Airplane tickets also update if the airline announced changes. Passbook provides convenience in one simple application. The only problem is that companies need to support the app for it to be useful.

Apple has finally announced the use of FaceTime over cellular networks, instead of only Wi-Fi. This means you can FaceTime with your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac, wherever you are as long as you have Wi-Fi or a cellular network. This feature is something I would have expected of FaceTime previously, but it’s better late than never.

iOS 6 also improves the Phone app. This improvement will be very useful for those using the iPhone.  The new feature gives you the option to send a preset text message or custom text message if you can’t answer a call. You can also set a time- or location-based reminder to alert you to call someone back. There is also a Do Not Disturb setting that will silence all incoming calls and notifications for a certain period of time or schedule, depending what you choose. It can even allow calls from specific people but silence the rest. This provides you with a whole new set of features for your iPhone.

With iOS 6, even the Mail and Safari app is updated. In the Mail app, you can set up a VIP list for important contacts. When you receive an email from someone on your VIP list, there will be a notification on your lock screen and those emails can be found in your VIP mailbox. Apple has made it easier to add photos and videos with just a few taps and allows you to use the swipe down to refresh your mailbox. Safari now has iCloud Tabs to keep track of webpages open on any device connected to your iCloud account. Safari also saves webpages in your Reading List so you can view them while not connected to the Internet. You can also post a photo or video from your Camera Roll or take a photo or video to post without even leaving Safari.

There are many new features on the new iOS, but some features will also be removed. Something of note is that Apple will remove the YouTube app with the update of iOS 6. Its license with Google to include the YouTube app has expired, but Google is already developing a standalone app for the Apple App Store. This isn’t a major difference but may be taken as a move by Apple to deviate away from Google apps.

With all these new features with the coming of iOS 6, who can wait? Improvements to many of the apps already provided by the previous iOS will make a big impact on the user experience. I’m definitely going to upgrade to iOS 6. The most exciting thing about iOS 6 for me is the new features with Maps and Phone, and the use of Passbooks. What are you looking forward too?

[Image Source]

Categories
Opinion

Chrome Better Than Safari

When I first heard about Google Chrome a while back all I would hear is that it was better. I would ask people why and they would just say that it was better. So I decided to switch over from Safari to Chrome and I was pleasantly surprised. It was better, faster, cooler, and easier to use. So to help you I am going to convert you from a Safari user to a Chrome user by giving you my top four reasons to why you should switch.

Speed

Speed that was the first thing that I noticed with Chrome was that it opened faster than Safari. Not just that, but websites would load faster too from using the Google DNS servers. Also you can have the same amount of tabs open and have it load faster with Chrome than Safari. If you try Chrome you will see what I mean.

Syncing Bookmarks

For those of you who have a work computer and a home computer this is a great tool to use. It allows you to sync your bookmarks from one computer to another. So instead of having to manually copy your bookmarks from one computer to the other you can just sync your computer. You do this by going to Preferences, then to Personal Stuff, click on Set Up Sync, and login to your Google Account.

Customization

This was a very nice addition by Chrome, which is partly what set it apart from Safari. Chrome will allow you to choose from themes created by artists or generic themes that Google made. To do this you must go into Preferences, then to Personal Stuff, and go to the bottom where it says Get Themes. Having themes might not have any practical reasons, but being able to customize Chrome is just nice to have because you can customize it to your own style.

One Search Bar

For all of you people out there using Safari you might think that you like having a Google Search Bar and a Web Address Bar, but trust me once you get use to having one search bar you will never want to go back. It is great because it is a two in one search bar. For example you can type in “the real mac genius” on Chrome and it will search it in Google for you or you can type in “therealmacgenius.com” and it will bring you to our website. I can assure you after a week that you will be hooked on this.

Switching Over

Switching over is a breeze with Chrome because you can transfer your bookmarks from Safari to Chrome by clicking on Chrome and scrolling down to Import Bookmarks and Settings. Then to make everything else similar to your old Safari all you would have to do is go into Preferences under Chrome and switch things like what you want your main search engine to be or your homepage. Its obvious that Chrome is better because of its speed, syncing bookmarks, customization, and sweet search bar. Plus if you use it and don’t like it you can just delete it.

Stay connected at my new twitter handle to stay updated 24/7 @TRMGaveragejoes and @realmacgenius

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.