Archive for March, 2008
March 29, 2008 at 1:11 pm · Filed under Mac for PC Users, Tips, Support, Software
A few tips you can try to get a handle on SPAM for your .Mac email account for users of Mail.app (Apple’s default email application).
Be Sure SPAM Filtering is Enabled in Mail
Mail provides some basic SPAM protection. If it’s off it’s of no use to you, so be sure that it’s enabled.
- In Mail navigate to Mail > Preferences…
- Click the Junk Mail option
- Ensure “Enable junk mail filtering” is checked
With junk mail filtering enabled, there is one more thing you need to do: train Mail. Mail constantly learns from what you flag as SPAM to try to do a better job in the future. Be sure that you flag junk mail as such as opposed to just deleting it.
Get a More Advanced SPAM Protection
The junk mail filtering for Mail on OS X is a nice feature, but it does seem that it takes it awhile to learn a new strain of SPAM when it encounters it. I’ve considered getting more SPAM protection for Mail.app, but just haven’t bitten the bullet yet.
The program which holds the most appeal to me is called SpamSieve by C-Command Software. If there is an opportunity to evaluate SpamSieve prior to purchase I’ll give it a test drive and report back on how effective it is.
Report SPAM you Receive
I’m not sure if it will assist in your short-term battle with SPAM, but being a part of the solution is always a good thing (right?). When you do get SPAM, submit it to a SPAM reporting service such as SpamCop–be sure you go to spamcop.NET not .COM.
Tags:Email, Junk Mail, Mac for PC Users, Mail.app, Software, SPAM, Support, TipsShare This
March 14, 2008 at 12:41 pm · Filed under Hardware
Artist and mad Mac modder Hideo Takano has given the diminutive Mac mini the Mac Pro treatment.
Elsewhere on the web:
Tags:Hardware, Mac mini, Mac mini Pro, Mac Pro, moddingShare This
March 13, 2008 at 10:51 am · Filed under Rumors, Hardware
In theory, Apple TV sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, as a stand-alone product in my living room, it’s not going to cut it.
Apple TV’s handling of television content is abysmal
I have no problem with Apple’s model of purchasing and renting videos. In fact, I am a fan of it. Insofar as television goes, Apple needs a reality check. We currently live in a DVR world. We record what is streaming into our homes and consume it at our convenience. Once getting a hold of a DVR recording of what is coming into your home is free (assuming you have avoided having to pay a monthly access fee). Not so with Apple TV.
With Apple TV, to have access to a show which aired yesterday, or two weeks ago, you have to pay for it. Two bucks. For me, that is not a viable solution. On the TiVo in our home we have no less than seventeen season passes currently set up. We constantly delete programming we’ve watched and always have a fresh stable of scores of shows to watch. I can’t imagine what we’d have paid Apple if Apple TV was our solution for all this.
But, it seems as though Apple may wake up to the DVR revolution and their lack of living room presence.
Apple TV DVR functionality patent
A recent patent filing that Apple Insider posted about this morning calls attention to a version of Apple TV capable of browsing and recording live television programming in addition to serving iTunes content.
Personally, I couldn’t be happier to see this patent filing, and hope that Apple follows through. My gut tells me that they’ve been slow to move on it due to the complex nature of negotiating with the music, television and movie industries to-date. Hopefully there’s a plan to put the DVR in the little lackluster box and bring it to the living room in force.
TiVo is getting worse by the day. I’d love to see Apple to pick up the slack.
Perspectives from elsewhere on the web:
Tags:Apple TV, DVR, Hardware, Patent, PVR, Rumors, Studios, Television, TiVoShare This
March 12, 2008 at 9:01 pm · Filed under Tips, Miscellaneous, Support, Software
I just installed the retail version of Office 2008 for Mac and ran in to a problem. After running the installer, I started experiencing font issues. Safari specifically was having issues. I’m not the only one who has experienced this; it’s an issue that reared its head during the Beta testing but apparently didn’t get taken care of completely before Office shipped.
Avoiding font issues when installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
It’s simple: When the Installer recommends that you close ALL applications, take the installer’s advice. If you do so, you should be in the clear.
Correcting font issues after installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
If you didn’t heed the installer warning and you’re reading this post, you likely have some interesting font issues. The problem stems from the installation of fonts which took place as a part of the Office 2008 installation. Here’s how to bring things back to normal:
- Open the Font Book application
- Look for fonts which have a circle indicator next to their name. This indicates that there are duplicate versions of the font installed.
- Expand the font and identify the variant (bold, italic, condensed, etc.) of the font that has the issue (or variants).
- Click on one of the font variants and click Command-I to Show Font Info
- Identify which of the fonts is the original version, and which was later installed (look for the “Duplicate” attribute toward the bottom of the criteria in the right-hand side pane showing the font information. If it says ‘yes’, this is the one you’ll want to remove).
- To remove the font variant, Control+Click on the font/variant name to remove.
- Continue to do this until you’ve removed all the newly installed, duplicated fonts.
- Restart your Mac. Everything should be back to normal.
Tags:Font Problem, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Miscellaneous, Office 2008 for Mac, Safari Font Issue, Software, Support, TipsShare This
March 10, 2008 at 2:50 pm · Filed under Tips, Hardware
Here’s a screen that you weren’t supposed to see on your iPhone. It’s the iPhone’s Field Test Mode which provides the following menu items to be used in test mode:
- Network Information
- Cell Information
- GPRS Information
- PDP Information
- Call Information
- Versions
iPhone Field Test Mode
- Select the Keypad (dialer) on your iPhone
- Enter the following number:
* 3 0 0 1 # 1 2 3 4 5 # *
- Press the “Call” button
That’s it-your phone will present you with the Field Test screen. This was originally posted on the Cellular PCS web site (Apple iPhone Field Test Mode). To be honest, I really have no use for this kind of information… Interesting though.
Tags:Hardware, How To, iPhone, Tips, Undocumented FeatureShare This
March 6, 2008 at 12:03 pm · Filed under Mac for PC Users, Software
At this morning’s iPhone SDK announcement, Apple put the end to the question of the iPhone’s viability in the enterprise by announcing Exchange support by way of Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology.
ActiveSync will synchronize contacts and meetings with the iPhone’s native address book and calendar, leading to the inevitable question: when is OS X’s Mail and iCal going to get Exchange support?
The improved iPhone Exchange support will be made available at the time of the next iPhone Software Update.
Tags:iCal, iPhone, iPhone ActiveSync, iPhone SDK, Mac for PC Users, Mail.app, Microsoft, Microsoft Exchange, SoftwareShare This
