Sedona Starry Night
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 12:44AM
Monday, May 16, 2011 at 10:09AM
Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 10:59AM 
I've been trying to be patient with the newest version of Skype for OS X, but today I surrender. I have officially gone back to version 2.8 (the last version before version 5, I know, I don't get it either) to fix all the audio and video problems I experienced with v5. I don't know what happened with this version. Skype has always been the most solid VOIP solution for PC & Mac, but version 5 broke video support for all sorts of cameras and the UI got completely ugly and obtrusive. Since the announcement about Microsoft purchasing Skype for $8.5 billion, I doubt there will be enough money left to fix this P. O. S. Luckily, the folks at Skype still have 2.8 available on their site here. Downgrading means I'll be giving up group video calls, but I didn't do that much anyway. Besides, there's always iChat for that.
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 10:13AM Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 3:23PM 
Once in a very great while an iOS app comes along that completely changes my normal workflow. To do this, an app has to be very useful, easy and cheap (inexpensive). Handoff fits that description to a tee. What is it? Well, I think the best way to describe it is to explain the problem it solves. Have you ever searched on-line for something on your Mac, found what you were looking for and then needed to get that info to your iPhone or iPad? It is a common task for me. Before Handoff, I generally got it done by sending the web page to Instapaper or clipping the text I needed into Evernote. Those methods worked OK, but neither solution is tailored for the task. Instapaper saves the entire page whether you need it or not and Evernote saves the clipping just fine, but that's about all it does. What makes Handoff so useful? The iOS apps know what to do with the data you send. If, for instance, you clip an address in Safari using the Handoff extension, you can send it to any or all of your iOS devices and the Handoff app on the device knows to open the address in Google Maps. For phone numbers, the Handoff iPhone app gives you the choice to instantly dial the number. You can also copy it to the clipboard if you'd like to make an Address Book entry. Simple.
Handoff has add-ins for Safari, Chrome and Firefox and they all work the same. Clicking the Handoff toolbar button sends links or selected text to the iOS device(s) of your choosing. The smarts built into the iOS apps work all the magic. If you like, Handoff will display a notification on your device complete with a "Slide to view" option.
Bottom line: Handoff is very, very useful, as simple as can be and at $1.99, cheap enough.
