Macintosh

Download and install apps from the App Store
Mac Tip #352, 20 August 2008

Recent software updates for the iPod touch and iPhone have made it possible to add software that isn’t installed by default. Do this through the App Store — a name that suggests apps cost money, although many are in fact free.

Call up the App Store from within iTunes

Connect to the Internet, open iTunes, and click on iTunes Store in the left-hand column of the window. When the iTunes Store appears click the link for the App Store.

Browse the App Store

The App Store page appears in iTunes. Notice the quick link for a list of all free applications, under Categories on the left of the App Store page.

See more information about an app

Browse around the App Store until you find an app you like. Click the name of the app to find out more, or click the Get App button to initiate a download. The screenshot shows more information about Evernote, a free application I thoroughly recommend. If you decide you want the application click the Get App button.

You may find you need to log in to the iTunes Store.

Confirm the purchase for apps that have a cost

If the app has a cost attached you may see an alert, asking you to confirm this purchase. Click Buy or Cancel, as appropriate. Free apps don’t spark an alert.

The app downloads — probably very quickly, as most are small.

See all downloaded apps

Click on Applications in the list of sources on the left of the iTunes window. A page displays all applications you have downloaded. In my screenshot, the free Sudoku game is now available under Applications, along with some others I’d previously downloaded. Next time I sync my iPod the game will be transferred.

All iPod apps automatically show up on the Home Screens of the iPod.

Sync your iPod to transfer apps

Sudoku is being installed on my iPod, during a sync.

The app is available on my iPod

Sudoku is displayed along with some other applications on Page 2 of my iPod’s Home Screen.

Notes

Other iPods don’t have all the features of an iPod touch and cannot run apps, but otherwise synchronise in the same way. The iPhone should be very similar to the iPod touch, but unfortunately I don’t have one and can’t check exactly how it works.

If you can add useful information for other readers about synchronising or using apps on an iPod touch or iPhone, please leave comments below.

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Sync the versatile iPod touch
Mac Tip #351, 13 August 2008

The iPod touch is a miniature computer you can use for web surfing, email, watching videos, listening to music, checking maps and all kinds of other activities.

It’s tiny:

• Height: 4.3 inches (110 mm)
• Width: 2.4 inches (61.8 mm)
• Depth: 0.31 inch (8 mm)
• Weight: 4.2 ounces (120 grams)

You interact with it by touching the screen directly — there’s no keyboard or mouse. If you need to enter text, such as a web address or to type an email an onscreen keyboard is displayed where you can tap out the letters and numbers you need.

See a gallery of photos of my iPod touch in use.

Like any other iPod you plug it into your computer and iTunes transfers across any music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, photos, contacts and even bookmarks that you tell it to.

Plug in your iPod and wait a moment or two for iTunes to recognise it.

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Select the iPod in the list of Devices on the left hand side of the iTunes window. A summary of information about your iPod is displayed, including its capacity in Gigabytes, the software version and its serial number. Click the Serial Number label once to see instead the iPod touch’s Identifier number.

Click the tabs across the top of the window to access specific settings for Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Photos, Info and Applications. The Info tab allows you to choose settings for synchronising Contacts and Calendars, Mail Accounts, Safari Bookmarks and MobileMe.

The iPod should Sync automatically, but to force it to sync, especially if you’ve changed any settings, click the Sync button in the bottom right corner of the window.

Recent software updates have made it possible for iPod touch and iPhone owners to add applications through Apple’s App Store — some free, some not. A Tip coming soon will explain how that works.

Notes: other iPods don’t have all the features of an iPod touch, but otherwise synchronise in the same way. The iPhone should be very similar to the iPod touch, but unfortunately I don’t have one and can’t check exactly how it works.

If you can add useful information for other readers about synchronising an iPod or iPhone, please leave comments below.

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List Applications and More
Mac Tip #349, 30 July 2008

A colleague recently mentioned he was making a list of all his software — his computer had been in the shop for repair and he felt he needed a backup list of software in case something else went wrong.

Such a list is a handy thing to have, so I thought I’d mention 3 separate ways you can easily compile a list like that. Note: I’m using Mac OS X 10.5.4, Leopard. It’s possible older versions of Mac OS X may behave differently.

Method 1: Copy and Paste

This is the easiest way. Open your Applications folder in the Finder. Select All (Command A, or Edit > Select All) and choose Copy (Command C or Edit > Copy). Now open a text document and choose Paste (Command V or Edit > Paste). A list of all your Applications appears.

Tweaks

• before the Copy and Paste operation sort the list by Name — the pasted list will also be alphabetical.
• also use the disclosure triangle to open the Utilities folder. Items from within that folder will appear within the pasted list.
• Use this technique on any folder that’s open in the Finder.

Note: you have a text editor on your Mac — look for TextEdit in the Applications folder.

Method 2: System Profiler

This is also very easy. Open Applications > Utilities > System Profiler. A window opens, displaying a list of Contents on the left. Select Software > Applications in that list. The right-hand pane displays a list of all your software, including version numbers.

Tweaks

Choose File > Save As from the System Profiler menu, and for File Format choose either Rich Text Format or Plain Text, then save the profile. Open the saved file with your text editor to see a full profile of your computer. Scroll down to find the Applications section.

Click the thumbnail images here for larger versions.

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Method 3: Command Line

This isn’t entirely hard, but it does require some finicky typing and a moment’s thought. Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal. A Terminal window opens showing a prompt that may say something like ‘Macintosh HD:~ yourname$ ‘. Mine says ‘pluto:~ miraz$ ‘ because my computer is named Pluto and my username on that machine is miraz.

Now you need to type a command that lists the files in the Applications folder and then saves it into a text file, perhaps in your Documents folder. Type the following exactly (including spaces), but replace ‘miraz‘ with your username:

ls /Applications > /Users/miraz/Documents/apps.txt

Then press the Return key.

It will seem as though nothing has happened, but look in your Documents folder where you should see a file called apps.txt. Open that file into your text editor and you will see a list of your Applications.

Tweaks

List the contents of any folder by changing the command above. Remember to replace ‘miraz’ with your username. This one lists the Applications > Utilities:

ls /Applications/Utilities > /Users/miraz/Documents/utilities.txt

This one lists the Documents folder:

ls /Users/miraz/Documents > /Users/miraz/Documents/docs.txt

Some explanation

ls - (ell ess) is a command to list things. It’s followed by a Space

/Users/miraz/Documents - refers to the user miraz’s Documents folder

> - is a command to save the information in a file. It has a Space in front and afterwards.

docs.txt - is the name for the file the command saves.

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