1. Computing

Getting Personal: Change Your Desktop Background

Getting Personal: Change Your Desktop Background

Macs have long been known as the computer for the creative individual. So, it's time to get creative and banish the bland desktop wallpaper that Apple supplies. With a little tweaking, you can outfit your Mac with your own custom wallpaper.

Customize the Look of Your Mac
Macs Spotlight10

PhotoBulk: Tom’s Mac Software Pick

Saturday May 18, 2013

PhotoBulk from Eltima Software is a bulk-processing app that provides watermark, resizing, and image optimization services. If you're a photographer, graphic designer, web designer, or blogger, PhotoBulk can be a key ingredient in optimizing your workflow.

PhotoBulk: Tom's Mac Software Pick

 

PhotoBulk

You can use PhotoBulk to add watermarks, including text and/or graphics, to an image. You can control the watermark's position, transparency, and fonts, as well as resize images or optimize them for JPEG or PNG formats.

PhotoBulk is $7.99. A demo is available.

See other software choices from Tom's Mac Software Picks.

 

Weekend DIY - Share Your Printers

Friday May 17, 2013

Although the price of printers has come down a great deal over the years, there are still quite a few reasons not to connect printers to every PC or Mac in your home or office. Instead, you can save money by sharing printers that are already attached to your Mac or PC with other computers on your network.

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Image courtesy of Epson

Many network-aware printers already have built-in Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity. If you have one of these printers, or plan to buy one, just follow the networking instructions that came with the printer.

If your current printers aren't network-aware, you can still connect them to your network by using the printer sharing capabilities available in Windows and OS X.

Share Your Windows 7 Printer With Your Mac

Share Your Mac's Printer With Windows 7

Share Any Attached Printer or Fax With Other Macs on Your Network

If your Windows OS is older than Windows 7, you'll find additional guides to printer sharing at:

About: Macs - Printer Sharing

 

Repair Your Drive When Your Mac Won't Start

Thursday May 16, 2013

From time to time, we get questions from our readers about problems they're having with their Mac's startup drive. Whenever I see these questions, I always hope that the readers have current backups, because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that every drive, no matter the make or kind, will eventually fail.

I tend to use drives for a very long time. I don't throw them away when I replace or upgrade a Mac; I reuse them as external drives, or dedicate them to a spare computer that isn't of critical use. Although I haven't kept records, I think that every drive I've ever owned has failed at some point. That's why it's important to maintain current backups of your data; you never know when you might need them.

Back to the original question: how do you repair a drive when your Mac won't boot? This may sound like the worst possible situation to be in, but there's actually a good chance you'll be able to boot your Mac, repair the drive, and get back to work, all in the same day.

How Can I Repair My Hard Drive If My Mac Won't Start?

 

What Question Would You Ask Tim Cook Over Coffee?

Wednesday May 15, 2013

In late April, Charity Buzz launched an auction for a 30 to 60-minute coffee-and-chat session with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Proceeds from the auction were earmarked for The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; Robert F. Kennedy was one of Mr. Cook's heroes when he was growing up.

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Courtesy of Apple

The auction's organizers hoped to raise about $50,000 or so; they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The auction closed on May 14th, with a winning bid of $610,000; that's more than $10,000 per minute for a 60-minute chat (coffee not included).

If you had the chance for a one-on-one with Mr. Cook, what would you ask him? Please leave your questions in the comments section, below.

Discuss in my forum

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