TekkieBob - All Things Tech!

Do you use Safari as your default web browser? If so, you will like this little tip. Any feed you subscribe to on Safari can be ported to Mail. Click File>Add RSS Feeds and from there get the ones you see in the dialog box from Safari. Of course, you could skip this step by simply choosing Mail as your default RSS feed reader. In Safari, open Preferences and then select RSS tab. Select Mail as your default reader. Now every little orange feed square will open in Mail and your favorite blogs will be up-to-date always!

Autofill is handy with Mail, but what if Mail keeps putting your buddy's old email address that he doesn't use anymore?  Instead of scrolling down to the right one, it may be time for some simple housekeeping. To clean out old addresses from Mail's autofill do this: Click Window>Previous Recipients.  Then look through the list and delete what you don't need.  If you delete an address that is in your Address Book, no worries, it just removes it from Mail's Previous Recipient list, not Address Book.  Whew!

With so many RSS feeds out there in cyber-space, it can be difficult to follow all the blogs and websites that interest you. A news reader (technically, a "feed aggregator") can help you sort it all out. A news reader can "check" the web site's feed to see if there is new content to display. But which news reader is right for you? Basically, there are two types of feed reader: Browser based and stand alone. Browser Based Readers A browser based reader is and Internet web site which allows you to subscribe to and read newsfeeds using your favorite Internet browser. Examples of these are: Google Reader News Gator My Yahoo Bloglines Some of the advantages of these types are (typically) the feeds are not downloaded to your computer, (except perhaps your browser's cache) and therefore do not take up space on your hard drive. Secondly, your activity (read feeds, subscribing, etc.) carries over from device to device. For example, if you mark feeds as read on...

Welcome to this 3rd installment of the Mac Productivity Series. Mail for Mac OS X Mail is a very robust e-mail client. Mail integrates with your Address Book, iChat, iCal, and even Finder smoothly and seamlessly. Some Major features: Smart Mailboxes - These dynamic folders can be configured just about anyway you like. For example, suppose you want to keep track of all email you get from Aunt Dora, but only what she has sent in the past 30 days that you have not yet responded to. Set up a smart mailbox like so: (Picture Smart Mailbox) Now all mail from dear ol' Auntie Dora that you have not had time to reply to is conveniently located in it's own mailbox. This will change automatically as the messages change. Any new messages your dear aunt in your inbox will also show up in this folder. If you reply, that message will no longer be there. If the message is more than 30 days ago, it will disappear from this folder. (The messages will still be in your inbox or where eve...

Address Book. Most Windows users are used to using something like Windows Address Book or Outlook to keep track of contacts. For Mac users, Address Book does this and a whole lot more! Who do you know? Address Book is designed to keep your contacts organized YOUR way. Your business contacts. Your family. Your friends. Keeping them together is a snap with Address Book for Mac. So many people today have several phone numbers, E-mail addresses and even physical addresses. (ie: Home, Work) Address Book allows you to record almost anything about people that you know. You can enter addresses, phone numbers, anniversary dates, E-mail addresses and even the dog's name if you want! Looking at the picture here, you can see that you can add anything you wish to remember about a contact. (All of this is searchable, by the way, in Address Book) You can also import contacts . Using the vCard format or even text formats you can import contacts. Simply click File>Import and you will ...

Mac OS X Productivity Apple has packed so many features into OS X Leopard that, for many, learning each one and becoming proficient at its use seems an impossible task! Over the course of the next few days, I will present a series of "how-to" posts featuring five Mac OS X Applications that really aid in productivity. They are: Spotlight - if it's in your Mac, you'll find it here! Address Book - People, people, people! Mail - From keeping in touch to keeping it together! iCal - Where am I supposed to be today? Quicklook - See what is in that file now! What you'll learn Each article will feature real-life usage and ideas that are practical. You will learn through screenshots, text and video tutorials how each of these applications can help you organize your work and your life. Of course, we'll try to have fun at the same time! After all, that's why you bought your Mac, right? Stay tuned...