1. Log into me.com
2. Click the gear icon in Mail
3. Choose Preferences
4. Click the Addresses Option
5. Click then Add button (note below) to Create a New Alias
6. Choose your new Alias, enter the name and click done

Now keep in mind that this address will still forward email to your main account, but you can set up a rule to block incoming mail from alias email address.

1. To deactivate forwarding and return to regular visual voicemail enter ##61# and hit call.
2. If you are on AT&T in the United States and you not only want to deactivate regular voicemail but your busy voicemail as well, enter ##004# and hit call.

In case you are asking why?, well lets just say Google Voice is not all that it is cracked up to be.

As I began to import movies I found myself searching Google for poster artwork, as well manually selecting the movie genre. Unlike imported music, iTunes has a hard time importing movie art. Additionally, I wanted to include each movie’s description, but there wasn’t an easy way to find this information.

In the July 10th issue of MacLife I came across the Google utility Subler. Once downloaded simply drag the converted file onto the Subler icon. Alternatively, add Subler to the Application folder on OS X and open files from the menu bar.  Next click the search button and search for the movie. After deciding on the description and artwork click save.

The results of each search may vary depending on the movie. Once completed import the movie into iTunes and the saved information will appear once synced with your Apple TV, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch device.

It took a while to get use to using, but iOS 4 is done very well. Below is a hands on video that can explain the features much better than I can. My favorite parts to the new OS include the following:

• Digital zoom with the Camera, being able to zoom in was certainly missing.  Now can we get some better focus.
• Separating my apps into folders and reducing my pages to 2 is great.  It will take a bit of getting use to now that they are in folders.
• The new iPod controls with the swipe is great as you can lock the screen position.  Being able to keep the iPod in one position while I drive makes me a better driver.

I used my 3GS with iOS 4 today at work, and despite my best efforts to conserve energy, I was down to 68% by the end of my 8 to 5 shift. My use consisted of checking RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Mail, and iPod. The iPod ran most of the day, but I made a few phone calls. The battery life, or lack there of, is not a deal breaker for the new OS.  Being asked every time I first use an app if I want to allow location based service is wearing on me.   Of course many of my apps are not fully ready for multitasking. I can’t wait for the Slacker App to have multitasking.

For a free upgrade I am very happy with the new OS, but battery life may force my hand to buy a Mophie Juice Pack. In the end depending on your iPhone or iPod Touch or how you use your device your milage may vary.  Enjoy!

I connected the drive via the Firewire 800 cable to my 24” iMac (early 2009) running OS 10.6.3 and formatted it to a Mac OS Extended with Journaling per the PDF instructions that came with the enclosure.

All went well, however the drive continues to spin down, then immediately spin back up and repeats this process when the screen on the iMac goes black or what I refer to as in activity. Eventually the iMac will go to sleep, but upon waking the computer the drive will not spin back up causing me eventually to do a hard shutdown of the computer.

To correct this I first attemted to go to the Energy Saver preference pane in System Preferences and uncheck the “Put Drives to Sleep” option under both the Power and UPS sections. This did not correct the problem.

I then went to the Terminal and completed a sudo pmset command to set the disksleep timer to 0, thus disabling the drives function to spin down. Unfortunately, this only worked for the internal drive and a USB drive connected.

I hunted high and low for a solution to my problem, when I came across an applet called Keep Drive Spinning 1.1. As the summary notates:

“This applet simply creates a launch agent that tells OS X to touch a hidden file on the selected drive once every minute so that the drive stays awake.”

Upon running this script I set the external drive to touch the hidden file every 30 seconds. Running it any longer did not correct the problem. This applet continues to run even after a reboot or restart.

As for the drive, it works well and houses my Home Directory.  The Firewire 800 connection much faster than the USB 2.0 connection I used in attempting to house the Home Directory on an exteral drive.  The Seagage drive is very quiet.

The one negative besides the drive spining off and on is the Blue LED light indicating the drive is powered.  I would prefer not to have this or have it located in the back.  Of couse this is only an issue when I am encoding something during the night.   Since that is on the rarest of occasions I believe I can live with it.

It should be noted I have sent an email to Macally technical support and hope to update this post with their response.

Update:  I took the enclosure back to the local Apple Reseller and spoke to the owner regarding the issue I was having.  As he put it “you have gone to way too much trouble, it sounds like the power supply in the enclosure has gone bad”  So I purchased another enclosure and it did the trick.  I will be taking the broken enclosure back for a full refund.

Posted via web from jtray’s posterous

An alternative presented itself in the form of OS X’s iChat program.  As of February 2010 iChat users gained access to create a generic Jabber account to chat with Facebook users as a result of Facebook’s chat being powered by Jabber/XMPP.

To set up iChat to interface with Facebook follow these steps.

1. Open iChat
2. Click on Preferences and go to the Account Tab
3. Click on the plus sign and add a new account
4. Select a Jabber account from the Drop Down Menu
5. Enter the following yourusername@chat.facebook.com.  (Your user name can be found via Facebook’s Account settings page.)
6. Enter your password
7. Finally in the server box type “chat.facebook.com,” then configure the port to 5222 and make sure to un-check the box for “Use SSL.”

From there sign-in and start chatting away with your Facebook friends.  Please note several third party applications on both Mac and PC support this feature as well.

The “leaked” photos of the next revision of the iPhone have people all a buzz. Whether you believe or are skeptical, there is certainly enough information to absorb regarding this story.

To add fuel to the fire, I offer some correlation to a story that surfaced back in March 2010. I recalled today driving into to work that as of May 2010 Apple would stop selling the protective film that many iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod users apply to their devices for protection.

Now if the “rumors” are true it is not too far of reach to conclude the reason for the ban is the film could blur or obstruct a front facing camera’s lens. Anybody who buys a new camera knows that the film attached to a lens for protections during shipping certainly lessons the quality of the picture or video if left attached.

This is not say that the manufacturers of these protective films could easily adjust the design to prevent the obstruction of a front facing camera current film protector’s lack. It is also likely that a new designed iPhone would mean a redesign of the film, given the dimensions are likely to change as well.

If you were on the fence (and I don’t know why you would) with the iPhone HD stories of this past week, maybe this could move one to believe the recent stories surrounding the new device from Apple.

Posted via email from jtray’s posterous

Unlike the iPod I didn’t have a big need to use it as a eReader for eBooks, or iBooks, whatever Apple had decided it should be called. I am not a big reader and to be honest still find actual paper books more appealing than an electronic version.

The other thing is I own a 24 inch iMac. At the time it was the biggest screen Apple offered. I like a big screen and prefer a larger screen versus a small 10 inch screen. As @PilotPete put it on a recent episode of the Mac Geek Gab, using the iPhone or iPad is like viewing the world through a straw.

This could not be any truer. I use my iPhone when I am away from home, but prefer to do my computing via a computer. Andy Ihnatko tweeted this weekend complaining about the iPad WordPress app crashing on him, losing 2 drafts. I thought writing a blog post would be nice via the iPad, but it doesn’t feel secure enough to risk losing  hard work without actually using a text editor to create the post.

Speaking applications, it would appear that many of the iPad versions of iPhone apps need to be repurchased for the new platform. This should not come as a big shock and I don’t mind paying the developers for the applications, but paying full price seams a bit much.

The applications that I tested at the local Best Buy Demo table, were however fantastic, but as I said before I can get the same out of my iMac, MacBook or even my iPhone. Of course if I were to buy one I would want the 3G version and I would likely wait for the second or even third revision before purchasing.

Believe me I wanted a new Apple toy, but in the end I could not see a need, but to all my fellow Apple fan boys and girls I hope you’re happy with your purchases, but for me there wasn’t enough there to buy an iPad.