Tag: Apple

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Fax a PDF from a Mac

Faxing seems to be an ancient technology that just won’t die.  It is still embraced, often even preferred or required, by many businesses.  Most people don’t want to have to own a fax machine any more but do have to fax from time to time.  There is a modern day solution.  You can easily fax any PDF from a Mac.  And since you can convert anything in a browser to a PDF easily on a Mac, it allows you to fax almost anything you could print out.

Apple makes a USB fax modem but sadly, they’ve not maintained it so it doesn’t work on the latest Macs any more.  Fortunately, US Robotics makes a great US Robotics USB Fax Modem that is compatible with a Mac.

Once plugged into a Mac, you’ll notice you have gained a new option via the Print PDF menu.

If you’re like me and have dropped your expensive home phone service for a cheaper Voice over IP phone line, then you may have a little more work to do to actually get a fax to go through.  In the case of the popular Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service, you have to tell the line that you are about to fax so it can optimize the connection.  This is done by prepending a *99,, to the phone number you are faxing to.

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iTunes Match

Benefits

iTunes Match accomplishes a few things for me:

  1. Updates my collection to 256 kbps aac files (higher quality)
  2. Backs up my collection online (iCloud)
  3. Makes it easier to use other Apple products for my music collection without needing to download everything. This makes it easier to use a lower capacity laptop, iPhone, or iPad.

It’s worked pretty seamlessly for me and costs $25/year, although you only need one year if you just are interested in accomplishing #1 above.

Updating to 256 kbps

I followed the Macworld instructions to create a Smart Playlist that shows just the songs needing an upgrade (see picture). Hold down option key when clicking the plus to add the conditional rule for iCloud Matched or Purchased.

Then I selected all the files and deleted them, making sure to NOT select to delete them from iCloud. Then I downloaded the files over a couple of days.

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Keynotes – Amazon and Apple

It’s been an exciting week of product announcements from Amazon and Apple. Decide who does a better Steve Jobs impersonation.

Amazon Kindle Press Conference – September 28, 2011, New York, NY

Apple Special Event – October 4, 2011, Cupertino, CA

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Mac Eject Key for External Disk Drive

Apple keyboards have an eject key in the upper right corner that works with built-in Mac DVD drives. If you have a new Mac Mini without an optical drive, you might want to use a 3th party external disk drive. The problem is that the eject key doesn’t work for these drives.

Thanks to tjb1 at MacRumors who gave instructions on how to make the eject key work.

  1. Download and install KeyRemap4Macbook. Restart is required for use.
  2. Open System Preferences > KeyRepma4Macbook
  3. Make sure you are on the “Change Key” menu and click in the search bar in KeyRemap4Macbook, not the search for System Preferences.
  4. Type “eject” in the search bar and check the box next to “Eject to Command+Control+Option+Shift+E”
  5. Exit System Preferences and open Automator.
  6. Choose the template “Service” and hit “Choose” at the bottom right.
  7. In the search bar at the top left, type “Run Shell Script”
  8. Drag “Run Shell Script” from the left to the Workflow Area.
  9. At the top above “Run Shell Script” click the arrows next to “Service receives selected text” and pick “no input” at the bottom of the list.
  10. Next delete “cat” from the Shell Script and type this “drutil eject”
  11. While in Automator go File > Save As > Eject
  12. Close Automator and open System Preference > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts
  13. In Keyboard Shortcuts choose Services in the left box.
  14. In the right, scroll down to “General” and you should see “Eject” listed.
  15. Make sure the box beside “Eject” is checked and double click on the right side, left of the scroll bar. This should open text box where you hold down Command+Control+Option+Shift+E. This will enter those keys as shown here.
  16. Restart the operating system.
  17. Close System Preferences and the Eject key should now eject your external cd/dvd/blu ray drive.