I never fiddled with iTunes before I bought my iPod 5G in 2010 as my birthday present to myself. I found — and still find — iTunes to be both useful and maddening. Kirk McElhearn’s Take Control of iTunes ebook is a great resource for the music fan who just wants to get things done [...]
When I first saw an Asheville CD store saleskid flip open the hinges of a CD case to remove that annoying sticker from across the top of the lid, I was gobsmacked. Once I saw it, it seemed so simple — why had no one ever shown me this before? Why had I not been [...]
My 2007-era black MacBook uses a battery that needs to be regularly calibrated; that is, once a month, it needs to run down to zero and then charged back up. One of the Genius Bar guys told me that the worst thing to do to a battery is to leave it plugged in all of [...]
I don’t remember where I got this idea, but it’s one I’ve been using more lately. The idea uses wishlists and a form of timeboxing to help me reduce my impulse spending, especially online. It’s so, so easy to buy a Kindle ebook or an MP3 album on Amazon, especially when the items are priced in the cheap [...]
The MikeBook has been receiving tons of app upgrades due to Lion (haven’t upgraded yet; waiting a few months for the bugs to shake out). In general, the app upgrades have caused no problem except for Safari, which disabled the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys. I mean…what?? Sorry, Apple, but I don’t [...]