Oh, happy day! My AppleID account was hacked!

No doubt, some time ago, you read or heard about how some miscreants broke into journalist Mat Honan's Apple ID and wiped his MacBook Air, iphone, and iPad clean. Which reminded me of something that happened a few years ago. My AppleID had been hacked, too—by me, but with no evil intentions and not just for kicks. I did it out of desperation. And my "accomplice" was an Apple employe who, like me, had no idea that she was doing anything wrong. [To be continued.]

Email to Apple CEO Tim Cook

More is less, or is variety the spice of life?

Here's a copy of a message that I recently emailed to Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Is Apple competing with itself? Surely you are aware that, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy which he saved by slashing the number of Mac models and accessories. Since then, Apple's lineup of producs has again increased, much to the confusion and dismay of some of its potential customers. Currently the iMac comes in two sizes and an array of specifications. In addition, Apple offers a choice of 3 iPads, 3 iPhones, 4 iPods, 3 MacBook Pros, plus the MacBook Air, the Mini, the Mac Pro, Apple TV, 2 routers, and Time Capsule. Is Apple truly "maniacally committed" [your words] to producing the best products, or is the goal to attract more buyers, even if some of the models are inferior to others but cheaper not just in price? "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

No response as yet and none expected, but still…

I can see clearly now!

Do you have to squint like I do to make out phone numbers in your Mac’s address book? Having problems reading addresses in your email? If so, here are a few pain-free prescriptions that, in a blink of an eye, will improve your visual acuity while using your Mac.

To make a phone number in your address book easier to read even from 30 feet away, you can temporarily display it in super-sized type. Here’s how:

Select the name of the contact whose phone number you want to magnify. Click the phone label at the left of the number and choose Large Type from the pop-up menu.

To stop displaying large type, click anywhere else on the screen or quit out of your address book.

You can also view enlarged type of phone numbers, dates, and addresses in email messages. Just slide your cursor over a phone number, date, or address in the body of an email until a tiny arrow appears. Press down on the arrow and up pop several options, including Large Type. Choose Large Type if that’s the option you want or, if you prefer, select any of the other options.

Ahhh! Just another example of how Apple pampers Mac users.

Why Apple won't sell laptops

It's true. Apple doesn't sell laptops. I heard it from an Apple employe who chided me when I referred to my MacBook Pro as a laptop. "We don't sell laptops but we do sell portables. We don't sell laptop computers because, generally, portable computers get too hot to keep on your lap." As you know, Apple is a stickler for everything it produces, including the words it uses to refer to its products.

<p>Lesson learned: I won't refer to my MacBook Pro as a laptop unless I'm willing to take the heat.</p>

<p>…or stay cool with SSD.</> 

Thank you, Google

Just a few moments ago I realized that I had swallowed a rubber band. How did I manage to do that? Don't ask. What was great was that Google allayed my fears of unpleasant or even disastrous consequences. I just entered "swallow rubber band" in Google's search box and up came numerous comments. All of them, including several from physicians, were very comforting, assuring me that my health was not in danger and everything would come out okay in the end. (Accidental pun.)

iPhoto Click Trick

Sometimes I discover things that had been staring me in the face possibly for ages. For example… Today, when I was in iPhoto, I noticed a little arrow in the lower right corner of the pic that I was viewing.

Wow! Was I surprised to see what happened when I clicked on it… and, once again, I whacked my forehead for being so stupid to overlook something so useful for so long while back-patting myself for being so intelligent to get a Mac in the first place.

Column Views—More or Less

Of the four different ways to view items in the Finder (by Icon, as a List, in Columns, or by Cover Flow), I prefer the Column view. Sometimes, some of the names of the files in one or more columns are truncated. No problem. It's easy to resize the columns so that the truncated names are expanded. All you have to do is move the pointer to the divider (the two tiny vertical bars) at the bottom of the column and double-click, or, drag the divider to the right to widen the column as much as you wish.



To shrink a column, drag the divider to the left.  To expand all the columns simultaneously so that the longest entry in each is revealed, hold down the Option key while double-clicking on any of the column dividers. To resize the columns so that they are all the same width, hold down the Option key while dragging any of the dividers.