To make a .pdf in almost any Mac application:
1. In the Title bar, click File>Print

2. In the popup window, click the PDF button

3. Choose a location, name your document and save. You can even insert keywords and the like, if you’re cool like me.

4. If you want, you can preview the document in preview without saving it, or email the .pdf right from this prompt. Pretty rad if you ask me!

The following is a list of things that stick out from when I made the move to my first Mac. So if you’re delving into Macs for the first time, the following should come in handy.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Luckily, when it comes to the actual keyboard shortcuts, a lot of the shortcuts on your Mac are the same as they are on your Windows PC; generally you can just swap Command for Control for a lot of the standards. For example, the Ctrl-C/X/V for Copy/Cut/Paste become Cmd-C/X/V. Simple, right?

Instead of boring you with a long list of keyboard shortcuts like those, I’m just going to highlight some of the less obvious shortcuts.

• Force Quit: When a program freezes up on your Windows PC and you want to force it
  closed, you hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete. On your Mac, you’ll hit Cmd-Alt-Escape. This brings up the Force Quit dialog - a similar tool
  to the task manager for the purpose of closing unresponsive apps.

• Minimize/Hide: You can minimize a window to the dock from your keyboard by pressing Cmd-M. Or you can Hide an application by pressing Cmd-H. The difference is that hiding an application does not put anything on the dock, but hids every window of that app. Instead all application windows disappear from view until you switch back. In my opinion hiding is a better option because you can Cmd-Tab back to a hidden application and it will restore to your screen; however pressing Cmd-Tab to a minimized app will leave the app on the dock.

• Opening selected file: If you’ve ever opened a file or program on your PC by selecting the file and then hitting Enter to launch it you will need to know this tip. If you try to do the same on your Mac, your Mac will think you want to rename the file instead of open it. To open the file, you have to hit Cmd-O (for open).

• Backspace vs Delete: On Macs, the backspace key is called Delete. This key deletes from right to left, just like the backspace key. If you want to delete test from left to right, like the windows delete key, you will have to press Function-Delete (especially if you’re on a laptop). As well if you want to delete a file or folder from with a key press, select the file and press Cmd-Delete and it will go straight to the Trash.

• Closing windows and apps: In the Windows environment, whenever you close the last open window from a program, that program quits. Things do not opporate like that in the Mac world. Cmd-W will close the active window, however - unlike in Windows - once you’ve closed the last window of an application, the app will continue to run. If you want to quit a Mac app, you hit Cmd-Q (for quit). This one is especially important when you first switch to a Mac so you don’t end of wasting your system memory running several apps you’re not using.

Installing apps

This may seem like somewhat of a no brainer for Mac veterans, but when you switch to a Mac from a PC, you may find the installation process of new applications a bit confusing at first. That’s because, in general, there’s absolutely nothing to it. When you download an application (generally in the form of a compressed .dmg file, which will mount as a drive when you open it), you’re pretty much done with
the installation process. You can run an application (marked by the .app extension) from anywhere on your computer, and there’s really no installation to it. Broadly speaking, the installation of a new Mac app generally consists of moving the new application to your Applications folder. Many apps make this very simple, like the mounted Firefox .dmg above.

Unless you have your own system for arranging apps on your Mac, copying new apps to the Applications folder is a good practice. What you don’t want to do is forget to move the app from the .dmg folder to your hard disk.

While this article is just scratching the surface I hope it helps those readers who have just switched to a Mac or plan to soon. I’m sure their will be more written on this topic hear in the future, so if you’ve got questions on the subject; say there is something you did on your Windows that you just can’t seem to figure out how to do on your Mac - then let’s hear it. Send us your questions and we will do our best to get answers up. Also if you’re a Mac Addict like us hear at About this Mac and you have your own tips, we’d love to hear those as well.

This ol’ laptop (Dell) of mine is slowly dying (CMOS battery, CD drive is dead, other wonky stuff). So, of course, I’m pondering getting a MacBook before I head back to Africa in February since I’ll be gone for four months. I guess my biggest question is MacBook vs. MacBook Pro (I like the glowy keyboard in Pro) … but for a basic/average user, do I need what the Pro version has to offer and is it worth the extra cost? I guess the other thing I wonder is would you recommend a refurbished one from the Apple website or stick with a new one?

I’d say that most people really only _need_ the MacBook. Especially the new (as of this posting, October 2008) models. Unless you’re desperate for the larger screen. For the price, I think the MacBook is the way to go these days.

The major feature that it’s lacking is a firewire port which is what you’d use to hook up older (and some current) tape-based video cameras. Pretty much anything else will be able to hook up through a USB port.

There’s this comparison page Apple has for their MacBooks. There is also a great guide over at macrumors.com that can walk you through most of the features on both the MacBook and MacBook Pro models.

The refurb store is just as good as the “new” store. You get a 1 year warranty with most purchases and the machine has been checked out by Apple to be good as new. Although I don’t think they have any of the new (October 2008) MacBooks in there yet.

Then, it’s just a matter of waiting for one of your contacts to have installed it themselves so you can try it out!

You can tell one of your contacts has the video plugin installed because they’ll have a little video camera icon by their name in your contact list like this:

One click fills the cup and keeps your computer awake…
…and one click turns it off and allows your computer to use the screen/power saver.
Super simple, and it works. Awesomeness.

I only wish that I could decaffeinate myself that easily…

Watch CBS Videos Online

CBS link via Lifehacker.com

“A big red button is, by human nature, an object of compulsion. If you see it, you are overcome with the desire to push it. But what happens when you do?”

I need one of these!!! Here’s the story behind the EPB.

First, find that file (in my case, a .torrent file) and right click (or control + click) it. Select “Get Info” from the menu.

From this menu, click the triange beside the “Open With” pane to reveal the default application switcher.
Select your app from the drop down menu (I want Transmission) and then click “Change All”
Voila! Close the window!
Note: Oh, and if you only want that single file to open in that program, and all the rest to still stay in the other type, don’t click “Change All”. Just close the window.

No more!

Brando’s USB to SATA/IDE cable connects all 2.5″ and 3.5″ IDE and SATA drives (even optical ones!) to your computer.

I don’t have one (yet), but the reviews I’ve read look upon it quite favourably. Brando sells it for $35, but you can find it at other places for around $15. Hey, my birthday’s coming up in November!