Dave’s Answer:

There are a lot of Web browsers available nowadays for us Web surfers, whether you’re on a Windows system or a Mac OS X-based computer, but each seems to have its pros and cons, which is still pretty frustrating. Google Chrome? Not compatible with a bunch of sites. Firefox? Crashes left and right. Safari? Breaks some sites too (like Google Image Search, surprisingly enough).

Still, I appreciate your desire to move from one browser world to another and see if that works better for you. I keep switching back and forth, though I haven’t found The Perfect Browser yet.

The best solution to your question is really to sign up and use one of the different free and commercial bookmark synchronization services. A quick Google search of “bookmark sync firefox safari” produces a quarter-million results. I’m sure there’s one or two that’ll work for you.

Rather just do it manually? No worries, here’s how I exported my bookmark bar from Firefox and brought it into Safari with just a few mouse clicks…

I think the hardest part of this entire task is figuring out how to export your Firefox bookmarks. Why? Because the feature is hidden in the “organize bookmarks” area. Launch Firefox the choose “Organize Bookmarks…”

The bookmarks organizer window pops up and if you don’t look closely, you won’t see the button you need to click: “Import and Backup” (apparently “export” is something they’d rather avoid saying):

That brings up a small pop-up menu, and you’ll want to pick “Export HTML…”

Now just give the file a memorable name:

Saved? Good. You can quit Firefox and launch Safari now.

In Safari you want to choose “Import Bookmarks…” from the “File” menu:

Find the .html file you just saved from within Firefox and select it.

Click “Import” and the HTML file will be parsed and all the bookmarks will be brought into Safari:

We’re over half way, no worries! As you can see, though, the problem now is that the Firefox bookmarks are indeed imported into Safari, but they’re in a new sub-menu, which doesn’t help you replace the bookmarks bar in the browser.

Luckily it’s not too difficult once you realize that you can drag and drop sets of bookmarks from one area to another in Safari as a way of organizing them. What you need to do is delete everything that’s currently on your bookmarks bar in Safari, then we’ll just drag the bookmarks bar bookmarks there to update them.

Start by choosing “Show All Bookmarks” from the Bookmarks menu (or clicking on the little open book button on the very left of the bookmarks bar). You’ll see this:

As you can see, I have selected the “Bookmarks Bar” on the left and it’s showing me all the bookmarks I have in the current Safari bar. I don’t want those, though, so I’m going to click on the first bookmark in this folder that I want to delete (it’s on the right side), Shift-click on the last in the list (which selects them all), then Cmd-click to get the pop-up menu. I’ll select “Delete” and *poof* they’re all gone.

On the left side you now want to click on the newly imported bookmarks folder.

Open up the “Bookmarks Bar” folder, and use the same click + Shift-click to select every single bookmark from there that you want to move. Now, just click and drag the entire set to the “Bookmarks Bar” on the left side:

Here you can see that I am moving 17 bookmarks with a single mouse click. Handy!

The end result:

Hopefully that’ll help you quickly and easily move your bookmarks from Firefox to Safari!

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Dave’s Answer:

It’s always delightful to have people actually want to hear the podcasts that I’m involved with, so thanks mucho for the question! I co-host two tech discussion podcasts, in case you’re coming into this new: Boulder Open Podcast [iTunes link], which is a 5-10 minute weekly chat between Michael Sitarzewski and myself, and the longer, more in-depth Three Insight [iTunes link] where Michael and I add PR pro Doyle Albee to the mix. If we had Doyle as a guest on B.O.P. that’d cause massive confusion, so we’ve never done that. Yet.

To subscribe to a podcast on your iPhone you can actually do so directly by starting with the iTunes app (go to More –> Podcasts and search for us), but if you were following along on my earlier tutorial on how to subscribe to a podcast in iTunes 10, you’ve already got the episodes downloading onto your computer.

The trick is to ensure that the episodes copy onto your iPhone when you sync. Easily done!

Plug in your phone, then look closely at the options along the top:

See “Podcasts”? Click on it.

As you can see, I haven’t chosen to sync any podcasts. Not good. To do so, all I need to do is click on the checkbox next to “Sync Podcasts” and you’ll see all the default settings are exactly what you want:

That’s all there is to it. Next time you sync up your phone you’ll find that you have a podcast waiting to listen. To find it, tap on the “iPod” app then tap on “More” on the lower right corner:

Now tap on “Podcasts” and you’ll see my Boulder Open Podcast queued up to listen:

Tap the show icon and you’ll see the episode name too:

Oh, and you can review our back episodes easily by tapping on “Get More Episodes…” on the iPhone:

So there ya go. Hope that’s helpful, and thanks for listening!

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One of the very best features of the X Window Systems (or “X Windows”) was its virtual workspaces, where you could “virtually” have as many monitors as you wanted, and could use simple keystrokes to switch between them.

This feature is included in Mac OS X and has been for a long time, and it’s called “Spaces”. If you don’t already use it, you’re really missing out on one of the gems of the Mac system, a feature that’s pure gold for productivity in my opinion…

To get started with “Spaces” you need to enable it because, most likely, it’s disabled by default. Before we get into that, though, I have to warn you that it’s a bit of a mind shift because instead of a 1:1 relationship between your monitor (the physical object connected to your computer) and the screen (the graphical representation of the information shown on the monitor). That can get a bit weird because you will be able to have applications running just fine, with all their windows open and functional, yet not be able to see anything on your actual monitor.

Sound weird? Yeah, it does take a bit of getting used to, but remember it’s just like how your TV receives all the channels at once but is only showing on the monitor the image sequence from the channel you’re “tuned in” to (unless you have picture in picture, but that’s exactly how that works: the monitor displays two screens of data simultaneously).

Let’s get started, though!

First step: enable Spaces in the first place. Go to Apple –> System Preferences…

Click on “Exposé & Spaces”, then make sure you’ve clicked on the “Spaces” tab along the top of that window:

Along the top – and highlighted in this screen capture – is “Enable Spaces”. Check that.

Now you’ll want to determine how many virtual screens you want to work with. I have six by default, though lately I have found that four are sufficient for what I like to keep open and running. You might start with two just to get the hang of it. Notice also that you can create a grid or a long strip of virtual screens. Probably the long strip is easier to start with, but you’ll see later that the Mac gives you a visual reminder of what space your in based on whether you have a grid or strip anyway.

Close the System Preference and you’ve got Spaces running. Nice.

Now, to get to the sort of super-view where you can see all your Spaces, all your virtual screens, at once, press Function+F8 at the same time. Your current window moves “back” and all the other windows show up, in miniature:

You can easily move app windows from one Spaces virtual screen to another by just clicking and dragging. Here I’m moving my Chromium (Chrome) web browser from space #2 back to space #1:

I typically have four or five apps running at the same time and like to have each live within its own Spaces virtual screen, as you can see in these two screen shots. Saves a lot of screen clutter (especially if you have the discipline to avoid having files and app icons on your Desktop too).

You can also specify which Space your individual apps should launch within, a feature I find super useful in terms of starting out with the organization I prefer. Do this back on the System Preferences pane:

No surprise, you can see that Mail is assigned to Space 1, Chromium and Firefox to Space 2 and GraphicConverter to Space 3.

Want to add an app? Launch it, then click on the “+” on the lower left:

Now it’s on the list so you can assign it a specific Space or, often more useful…

Assign it to be visible in all Spaces you’re using. That’s how I have iTunes set up, for example, so that whatever I’m doing its little mini-window is visible on the lower left corner.

To navigate from Space to Space easily, don’t use Function+F8, instead use Control-arrow. Want to move one virtual screen “left”? Use Control-<-. Try it! As you go, you’ll see that Spaces gives you a helpful visual cue about what virtual Space you’re in for a second or two:

In this instance I’m in Space #6, which actually doesn’t have any apps assigned at the current moment.

Why is this useful? I find that having just one app’s windows on screen helps me concentrate and avoid distractions and — SQUIRREL! — side tracking. Further, if you’re in the middle of a game or some social networking goofiness, it lets you mentally put it aside while you’re trying to be productive (or vice versa!)

Spaces might not be a winner for you, but it’s a must-have capability for me on any Mac I use, and I can’t imagine working on my systems without it.

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Dave’s Answer:

That’s a bit beyond me, but fortunately I have friends! I asked my good friend Michael Sitarzewski and he came up with an ingenious solution for you…

There are a couple of ways to make this happen, but the most elegant solution by far is to buy Phone Amego ($20) from Sustainable Softworks. Phone Amego is a software phone dialer that connects to a Bluetooth phone, a USB dialer, or (and this is where the fun comes in) Google Voice. Yes, you can dial numbers and contacts directly from your Mac, and because it’s a Mac app, it supports AppleScripting.

Using iCal’s event alerts and AppleScript, you can tell Phone Amego to dial a conference call number using Google Voice a minute before the call is set to begin.

The AppleScript required to hook Phone Amego to iCal is about as basic as it gets:

Open the AppleScript Editor (in the “Utilities” folder ), copy and paste the above AppleScript, and save it to your Documents Folder. Don’t forget to change the number!

If you’re savvy, you can add the control codes (like a comma for pause) to get directly to your conference call.

Note: Google Voice blocks access to some of the “free” conference calling systems. You’ll be able to call the main number automatically, but getting into the call automatically won’t work.

Back to the project. Once you create and save the script above, open your meeting in iCal. Choose Alarm > Run Script. A dialog box will open, asking you to find the script to run. Find the AppleScript you created above and click “Select.” Change the time to alert you to a few minutes before the call (being prompt is important!). I set this example to three minutes before. If you’re on the right track, your meeting will something like the following:

I’d encourage you to play with the settings, and do some local testing, but this solution will accomplish your needs: an automated call to your conference call using Google Voice.

If you’d rather not buy the software above, I’ve also created a shell based (Umm, that’s Terminal.app on the Mac) solution using Mac OS X’s built in PHP scripting engine. If you’re geeky (and/or cost conscious like me) let me know and I’ll post that version.

Dave’s Answer:

Sure, happy to help, though if you’ve gotten through that first article you should probably be able to figure out this last step, particularly if you have enabled the Bluetooth menu. Why? Because the bluetooth status menu itself has a “Send File…” option:

Still, let’s go through the more standard path to accomplish this task because if you’re like me, you do your very best to minimize what shows up on your menu bar. For me, it’s an aesthetic thing, but that is, as they say, another story!

Once you’ve paired your cellphone with your Mac via bluetooth, the next time you go to the Bluetooth system preference, you’ll see that device listed. Make sure you’ve selected it and you’ll get all sorts of geeky incomprehensible information:

That’s fine. ignore it all. Instead, on the lower left corner click on the little gear wheel:

Ahhh, there’s that “Send File…” option again. Choose it.

Now you need to find the file (or files!) you want to copy from your Mac to your cellphone. Note that there’s a useful file search function in the top right of this window, so you can simply type in part of the filename and it’ll show up in the search results, as I have done here with “break your”.

Select the file, then click on “Send” in the lower right and…

Quickly replaced by the actual transfer occurring:

I will warn you that Bluetooth is pretty cool, wireless, etc, but it ain’t fast. In fact, if you’re sending anything of any notable length then you might be waiting for rather a while as the transfer inches along. No worries though, as long as there’s room it will work eventually and you’ll have copied content from your MacBook, Mini, iMac, whatever, to your cellphone via Bluetooth!

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Dave’s Answer:

It’s actually not too difficult to pair a generic bluetooth cellphone with your Mac, whether you have an iMac, MacBook Pro, or even a Mac Mini. The key is to know that the “Bluetooth Setup Assistant” is magically launched when you’re in the Bluetooth system preference and go to add a new device.

Of course, adding a device is slightly less intuitive than it could be, particularly if, like me, you have already paired other devices with your system.

It’s a nuance of bluetooth, actually, that I didn’t realize until I was working with it on multiple devices: “pairing” something generally means that the computer knows about the device and can then connect to it faster in the future. The device “trusts” the computer to connect too, so both devices remember the connection.

However, they’re not actually connected when you have paired them. You still have to connect them for the specific use you desire (audio output with the speakers, file transfer with the cellphone, etc). It’s kinda like “pairing” is when you build the pipes from the faucet to the water main, but no water is yet flowing so you still need to turn that on too.

Let’s pair things and you’ll see what I mean.

Start out by going to Apple –> System Preferences… and look for “Bluetooth”:

When you click on it you’ll see the list of devices you have previously paired with the computer — if any — as I have with my daughter’s cellphone and the wireless bluetooth speaker system I’m evaluating for a review (The YUBZ Magnum):

What you want to do is click on the plus sign in the lower left (highlighted above), to add a new paired device.

Now you’ll launch the Bluetooth Setup Assistant and see this:

Patience, young padawan, your device should show up momentarily. If it doesn’t, check the device to ensure that it’s in “discoverable” pairing mode: many phones require you to go to a certain spot in the configuration or settings. Hopefully, this is what you see after a moment or three:

Click on “Continue” and it’ll try to connect:

(I’m blanking out the device name to protect my son’s privacy btw. Yours should be in focus!)

Once the Mac and the cellphone see each other, the Mac offers up a security code that you’ll need to enter on the phone to validate that you do want the two to pair (why? Because otherwise anyone with a computer could connect to your cellphone and grab data off it, including your phone directory, etc. Not good):

Enter the code — you have about 90 seconds to do so — and if you have “share Internet connection” configured on your Mac, you might well see this:

If not, no worries, and if you do see it, you can also skip this step, as I did, by clicking on “Continue”.

That’s basically it:

Here’s the wrinkle that I noted at the beginning, though: the phone isn’t connected to the computer, they’re just paired via bluetooth. To connect you’ll need to either use a service that automatically connects (like “Send File…” from the Bluetooth menu, if displayed) or you need to click on the little gear button on the lower left and choose “Connect…” from the options.

I have another article coming about this second step, so stay tuned for that!

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Dave’s Answer:

First off, yes, there is. But before I get to the answer, I have to say that my druthers is that instead of saving money on MobileMe, I really wish Apple would add more services and capabilities to the system so that it was a no-brainer $99 investment each year. When it first came out, there were apps included in the subscription price, but now it really seems like an email address and shared data space and not much else. Oh, and Find My Lost iPhone, which is pretty darn useful, admittedly.

Still, your question begs the bigger question of what could MobileMe be that would make it a more valuable and useful service? What do you think?

Now, when my MobileMe account was expiring, I got an invoice from Apple for a $99 renewal, but remembered that my original membership was only $79 from Amazon.com. So why spend the extra $20 when it’s the same service?

Turns out that a big of poking around on Amazon.com (search for MobileMe then look at the “Used” deals: make sure you get the “Updated 2009″ version of MobileMe) actually revealed a vendor that was selling a renewal for $70, an even better deal. I checked that it was the latest version and that they had a good seller rating, and bought it.

A few days later the box arrived with the all-important activation code inside, and after some exploration online, I figured out how to go through the MobileMe system to use that activation code to renew my membership. Here’s how…

The first step is to go to me.com and log in to your MobileMe account. Along the top you’ll notice the following icons:

As I’ve highlighted, you want to click on the “Settings” icon. Now you’ll see this:

Confirm your password to enable you to access the admin area, then on the left side look for the “Billing Info” option:

Click on it and you’ll see this Billing Information screen:

What you want to click on is the little “Apply Activation Key…” button on the lower left. It brings up a small window wherein you need to type in the activation key on the sticker in the MobileMe box:

Do so, make sure you pick “Apply to an existing account” then click on “Activate” and you should get here:

Do you want to confirm renewal? Of course you do! Click “Renew Account” and after a few seconds, you’ll see this:

Congrats, done. You just renewed your MobileMe account for another year and saved a bunch of money along the way too.

Caveat: after I entered the activation key and pressed “Activate”, the system immediately logged me out of MobileMe. I logged in again and went straight to the confirmation window, so I don’t know if that’s normal or some odd glitch I experienced. If you see the same thing, don’t panic, just log back and see where you are.

Now, before we leave, I should point out that the way MobileMe shows your renewal date is bound to cause some heartburn because it looks like the renewal wasn’t accepted. On mine, for example, it showed the same renewal date even after my new code was entered:

That kinda freaked me out, especially with a MobileMe activation key purchased from a third party, not Apple.

What you need to do is click on the “Options” key (highlighted above), which will reveal:

See that second line? It confirms that an Activation Key will be applied to the account on the renewal date and that all is well.

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Dave’s Answer:

While the majority of the time you should be able to just plug in any sort of external hard disk or drive, sometimes Mac OS X does get a bit picky about write permissions based on how the drive is initially formatted. In particular, it doesn’t natively support computer drives that are formatted as NTFS, the Windows NT File System, a very efficient file system designed for Windows computers that supports extremely large file sizes.

I had a similar experience myself when I hooked up my new 2TB external drive to my Mac Mini server, so I can show you how I fixed the problem. I will say that initially I too was befuddled and closely examined the hard drive itself to see if it had a “read only” switch. It didn’t.

So here’s what I saw when I looked at the drive on the Mac, within the Finder:

Notice the lower left corner? I’ve highlighted it: the pencil icon with the line through it. That’s the Mac’s subtle way of saying that you can’t write to it.

Chose File –> Get Info… to get more details:

Again, you can see on the bottom that it says I can only read the drive contents, not write to it. Dead useless as a backup device, for sure!

To fix it, the path I took was to let the Mac erase and reformat the drive, figuring that since it was empty, there’d be nothing lost and I would be confident that it was then completely compatible with my Mac systems.

The program you want to accomplish this is in the Applications folder, within Utilities: Disk Utility. Start it up and you’ll see all the drives listed on the left side. Click on your new drive on the list to proceed:

You’ll want to click on the “Erase” option along the top after you’ve picked the drive. In my case, it’s “2 TB WD Ext HDD 1021…”

Now you can pick which format should be used when the disk is rebuilt from the list:

Since I know that I’ll never plug this drive into a PC, I’ll choose a Mac disk format, and of those, extended journaled is your best bet. If you wanted to have it be PC compatible, use MS-DOS format, but be warned that my experience is that read/write speed suffers on the Mac because of it having to reorganize data as it hits the drive.

Give the drive a name — I chose “Insurance” for mine — and click on “Erase…”

Ayup, there’s nothing on the disk, so let’s proceed. Click “Erase”. The resultant action will take a few seconds up to a few minutes or longer, depending on your drive size and speed…

Once it’s done you’re also done and good to go. What you might see, however, is a prompt asking if you want to use the drive with Time Machine if you’re running the slick Apple backup software:

I don’t want to use it – I already have a disk drive specifically for Time Machine – so I click on “Don’t Use”.

Now, finally, one more peek at the newly renamed drive with “Get Info…”:

That’s solved the problem, and I am off on my merry backup journey. Hope that helps you out too!

If you’re dying to have NTFS support, btw, it appears that the only solution i to install some third-party software, specifically either MacFUSE or NTFS-3g.

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