apple -- Industry guru Dave Taylor answers questions about a wide variety of technical topics, including HTML, online advertising, Cascading Style Sheets, Web design, Unix, Linux, search engine optimization, Mac OS X, shell script programming and Microsoft Windows.

"apple" Help and Information



Snow Leopard: How do I add a folder to the Finder sidebar?

I'm running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and everything's going smoothly except for some reason I find that not all my default folders are showing up on the left side of Finder windows. Specifically, where's my "Movies" folder??...

Continue reading about Snow Leopard: How do I add a folder to the Finder sidebar?

Recommendation: Got a Mac? Get AppleCare!

I can still remember the first Mac I used: it was a 512K unit that the fine folk at the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link loaned me when they hired me to hack their discussion system and make it faster. At the time I'd just left my job at Hewlett-Packard and had no computer of my own (back then people didn't have computers unless they were hardware hobbyists or could handle cassette backups). To the proffered...

Continue reading about Recommendation: Got a Mac? Get AppleCare!

Why are there so many Web Browsers?

For the last few years it seemed like Web browsers were becoming passe commodities and that we were going to end up with a browser from each operating system company and one indie browser, Firefox. Now, though, seems like there are tons of 'em. What's worth checking out and why is there such a resurgence of interest in the Web browser?...

Continue reading about Why are there so many Web Browsers?

What is The Cult of Apple Mac?

What's going to be the big announcement at Macworld this year, Dave? You have an inside track on these things, right?...

Continue reading about What is The Cult of Apple Mac?

Review: Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC3 in-ear noise reducing headphones

If you've been on a plane flight in the last decade, you've doubtless seen people with huge headphones on their ears from Bose, headphones that would cut out most of the background noise even if they weren't using noise-canceling technology. It's not rocket science, big headphones can reduce background noise. But can little in-ear "ear bud" headphones prove effective in noisy environments too? To find out, I review the Audio-Technica active noise-canceling QuietPoint ATH-ANC3 headphones....

Continue reading about Review: Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC3 in-ear noise reducing headphones

Why do companies pay to produce software they give away?

I am quite frankly baffled why a huge company like Google would pay a bunch of programmers to develop yet another web browser, when we have Internet Explorer for Windows from Microsoft, Safari for Mac OS X from Apple, and the great third-party Firefox free web browser for both Mac and PC. What am I not seeing about companies that pay to develop software and then distribute it without charge?...

Continue reading about Why do companies pay to produce software they give away?

Review: LaCie Big Disk Extreme 1TB external hard drive

Wondering what to do with that Time Machine application that comes with the new Mac OS X Leopard? Have you thought about plunking $300 on Apple's Time Capsule? Don't do it: wait until you read this review... The LaCie Corporation have made hard disks for Macs since the beginning of time. They have a new external disk offering called the Big Disk Extreme 1TB. Let me first say yes, that's 1000 gigabytes of storage! Doubling...

Continue reading about Review: LaCie Big Disk Extreme 1TB external hard drive

Dave's Guide to Critical Mac Software

I just got a MacBook Air and have been enjoying having the world's lightest laptop. It's an amazing piece of engineering and while it appears to have some critical features missing (like a DVD drive or Ethernet port) the fact is that I never used those features on my older MacBook Pro laptop either so it's not anything I miss. Frankly, with my Corsair 8GB flash drive, it's just a super-modern version of "sneakernet" and...

Continue reading about Dave's Guide to Critical Mac Software

How do I create a custom stock market index?

My boss had a great suggestion for our local business web site: create a stock index like the S&P 500 that's just comprised of companies in our area. He said we should add it to our site but I honestly have no idea how to do that. Help!...

Continue reading about How do I create a custom stock market index?

Top Ten Mistakes When Buying Laptops as Gifts

Giving a loved one a laptop can be a great experience. As with any gift, the impulse comes from generosity and a wish to improve someone's life; but unfortunately, there are times when any well-intentioned gift can go badly wrong. With laptops, in particular, it is easy to make a small mistake that can be remedied only by outright exchanging the laptop; and that can mean some hassles at best, and at worst it might...

Continue reading about Top Ten Mistakes When Buying Laptops as Gifts

Why does my MacBook randomly shutdown?

Just bought a new MacBook and love it, especially the ability to run Windows through the Parallels system, but there's one thing that's driving me totally crazy: every once in a while it randomly shuts down with no warning. It's $#@$#@$@# frustrating! What's going on?...

Continue reading about Why does my MacBook randomly shutdown?

How can I reset the admin password on MacOS 9?

Please help me! someone has shut me out from my own apple Mac laptop! They have taken the admin privilages and set-up a guest account for me! I use MacOS 9....

Continue reading about How can I reset the admin password on MacOS 9?

What is a "Universal Application" on a Mac?

Dave, I just heard that Apple released some new computers and is touting that its latest release of some of the cool Apple software is built around "Universal Applications" technology, or something like that. I've been a long-time Mac user: what the heck are they talking about?...

Continue reading about What is a "Universal Application" on a Mac?


Advanced Search :: Ask Dave Taylor!


Match case   Search using regular expressions
Search: Entries Comments Both
Sort By:
Sort Order:
Search entries from:
Maximum results shown:


Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!
Search