TekkieBob - All Things Tech!

Change the Default Font of Notes App in OS X Mountain Lion : The new Notes app in OS X Mountain Lion features a default font that is hard to read and looks a bit goofy. If you want a more professional looking font that’s easier on the eyes, you can easily switch the default font from “Noteworthy” to the always classic Helvetica. From the Notes app, pull down the “Format” menu Open the “Font” submenu followed by “Default Font” and select “Helvetica” for the cleanest looking font, or choose “Marker Felt” to match the default Notes font in iOS Changes take effect immediately. Helvetica is shown below: Formatting can be lost as you’ll see in this video: You can change it in the iOS Notes app too .

Google adding Siri, Google Now like functionality to its iOS Search app in a couple of days [Video] : Today, Google has announced that it is rolling, in a few days, out a new version of its its Google Search application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The new version is notable in that it brings Siri and Google Now like voice search functionality to the App Store app.  The Verge  is on hand at the announcement, and they noted you can “ask for the weather in a natural way” and it will provide results. Search Engine Land is also on hand at the event, and they provide some more details. Notably, you can search mapping info, theme songs, and information about people, and conduct math calculations. This sounds just like Siri and Google Now, complete with contextual awareness. The app is not out yet: it’s coming in a few days. When it is, it will be available here in iTunes. Read more at the Official Google Blog .

Mountain Lion 101: Silencing Notification Center alerts : Mountain Lion 's Notification Center is handy. It displays banners and alerts from notification-aware apps to keep you informed of changes, like a new Twitter mention, Calendar event or email message. That last one can get distracting, depending on how much email you receive. Here are some ways to tame email alerts: Disable alerts and banners in System Preferences. Open System Preferences and click Notifications. Select Mail from the list on the right and then click None. You'll no longer see email notifications. Quit Mail. Apple's Mail app won't push notifications if it isn't running. Turn them all of at once. Open Notification Center on your Mac and swipe up to the very top. Move the slider labeled Show Alerts and Banners to the Off position to silence all pop-up alerts and banners (they still appear listed in Notification Center itself). Slide it back to On to restore alerts and banners. If you...

Filings detail Apple's plans to improve support for hearing impaired users : 'via Blog this'

Mac OS X Tips : This guy is good. If you want to tweak your login screen, make Automator workflows, or simply just learn some power Mac user tips, this is the website to go to! For example: Create your own EPUB ebook files using Automato r 13 things you didn't know about Preview Check it out! 'via Blog this'

Pretty interesting idea. Hands on keyboard.  Ubuntu Unveils New HUD Menu System, Dropping Traditional Menus (video) Geeky-Gadgets Ubuntu has unveiled a new innovative user interface system called Head-Up-Display (HUD) today which it has been testing, and has designed to replace the traditional menu system used by nearly every computer software application to date. The new user interface has been designed to provide a HUD that would search through all the possible commands to find the action you're looking for. Watch the video after the break to see the new user interface in action. (...) Original Story Ubuntu Unveils New HUD Menu System, Dropping Traditional Menus (video) © Geeky Gadgets , 2012. | Permalink | Unauthorized duplication and or distribution of our content is strictly forbidden © Geeky Gadgets , 2012 Sent with Reeder

How to Zip Files in Mac OS X OS X Daily Ever wondered how to make a zip file in Mac OS X? We recently demonstrated how to password protect zip archives , but in the comments a reader asked a more simple yet completely valid question: " what about just making a standard zip file? " Well, making zip files on a Mac is easy, and with compression tools built directly into OS X there is no need to download additional software or add-ons, here's how. How to Make a Zip Archive in Mac OS X You can use this to create zip files of files, folders, or both: Right-click on a file, folder, or files you want to zip Select "Compress Items" Find the newly created .zip archive in the same directory If a single file is being zipped, the zip archive will maintain the standard file name but append the .zip extension. If more than one file is being zipped, the archive will be named "Archive.zip", and if multiple archives are created, they ...

Gorilla Glass 2 will allow same strength at 80 percent of size, likely to end up in iOS devices 9 to 5 Mac - Apple Intelligence Inside Apple   writer Adam Lashinky at Fortune and Steve Jobs Biography writer Walter Isaacson recently discussed   a great story of how Steve Jobs got Corning to (re)invent Gorilla Glass: ..a really great CEO in this country, Wendell Weeks, who runs Corning Glass. Steve Jobs when he does the iPhone decides he doesn't want plastic, he wants really tough glass on it, and they don't make a glass that can be tough like they want. And finally somebody says to him, because they were making all of the glass in China for the fronts of the stores, says, "You ought to check with the people at Corning. They're kind of smart there." So, he flies to Corning, New York, sits there in front of the CEO, Wendell Weeks, and says, "This is what I want, a glass that can do this." So, Wendell Weeks says, "We once c...

Just got a new iPad and wondering where to start?  Here's TekkieBob's quick list: Of course, much depends on personal usage, but many apps that are must-haves are free.  I'll do it by category: Productivity : Must haves: Evernote DropBox iWork Pages - for creating good docs that can be converted to Word and PDF Numbers - the best spreadsheet app. Ever. Keynote - blows away PowerPoint and works great with external displays GoodReader - PDF annotation and password protected ZipBrowser - to open and manage ziped files sent in emails Good to have: DukePen - note taking and handwriting Skitch Gmail app Box -  box.com BE Write HD - blog posting, etc. Photography/Video: (Remember, the iPad camera is not the greatest) Must haves: Photogene 2 Color Effects Snap Seed - Yep, is very good!  Saw that Starbucks is featuring it this week as a give-away.  Go. Get. It. Good to have: PS Express TimeLapse Shutterfly - unlimited photo s...

Password Protect Zip Files in Mac OS X OS X Daily 7 hours ago by William Pearson Creating a password protected zip file is easy in Mac OS X and does not require any add-ons or downloads. Instead, use the zip utility that is bundled with all Macs. If you're familiar with the command line , the syntax of the encrypted zip command is as follows: zip -e [archive] [file] If you're not sure how to use that, read on to learn how to create zip archives encrypted with passwords. These encrypted zip files will maintain password protection across platforms, meaning you can send a protected zip file to a Windows user and they will still need to enter the password in order to view the contents. Set a Zip Password in Mac OS X You can create password protected archives of files and folders: Launch the Terminal from the Applications > Utilities folder Type the following command: zip -e archivename.zip filetoprotect.txt Enter and...

Explore the Cosmos with the Wolfram Planets and Stars Reference Apps Wolfram|Alpha Blog The next time you go stargazing, bring the power of computation along with the Wolfram Planets Reference App and Wolfram Stars Reference App for iOS. Both apps provide access to real-time data and the computational power of Wolfram|Alpha in order to perform advanced calculations and provide data on the planets and stars. Exploring all of the planets in our solar system is easy with the Wolfram Planets Reference App. Using real-time data on the eight major planets, as well as dwarf planets and minor planets, the app can: compute a planet's orbital properties, including orbital period and distance from the Earth and Sun; provide physical properties like radius, rotation period, and number of moons; and show information about a planet's atmosphere, including atmospheric pressure, average temperature, and major constituents. Impress your friends by finding ou...

--> Do You Need to Defragment a Mac's Hard Drive? About Focus on Macs In my mailbag this week, I found a couple of questions about defragmenting a Mac's hard drive. This question usually comes from new Mac users, or individuals who switch to the Mac from the Windows environment, where disk defragmentation utilities abound. Some individuals want to know which third-party disk defragmentation app they should use, or wonder why there is no defrag tool in OS X. Courtesy of Apple OS X does have disk defragmentation capabilities, but they're built into the system rather than a separate tool. Since OS X 10.2, Apple has included automatic defragmentation in the Mac OS. In essence, the Mac OS has built-in safeguards that attempt to prevent file fragmentation from occurring; it's also able to repair fragmentation, should it occur. This means that for the average Mac user, there really is no reason to worry about disk defragmentation, at least not as ...

Analyze and Simulate Control Systems in Wolfram|Alpha Wolfram|Alpha Blog What do your alarm clock, thermostat, coffeemaker, car radio, anti-lock brakes—and almost every other electrical and mechanical device you encounter in your daily life—all have in common? They are all examples of "control systems," one of the most ubiquitous yet unseen modern technologies. A control system is any system or device that controls or regulates the behavior of another system. Using various kinds of sensors and actuators, these systems automatically control most common appliances, industrial processes, and even your body's own biological processes! Take your home's humble thermostat. The temperature of your home depends on many factors, especially how long and how recently the home's furnace was on. With a thermostat installed, the reverse is also true: the state of the furnace depends on the temperature of the house (it comes on if the temperature is too...