The iPhone as an iPad Companion

I’m feeling you on the iPad. Just got back from my yearly visit to Thailand, and my iPad got put through its paces in the “land of smiles.” I had pictures I shared with Thai friends from previous visits, I loaded new photos daily, and it was a huge hit when I showed the locals their pictures old and new. It had no problem accessing the local hotspots on WiFi, and I had new and e-mails at my command every morning at breakfast without having to squint at a tiny iPhone screen. I saw a iPad ripoff at the local computer place. I had to look twice to realize it was a knockoff. Imitation being the best form of flattery, Apple would be very flattered just before they filed the lawsuit! Every pad device after this owes it success to Apple.

—gwats1957

Holy iPad: the iPad in the Hands of a Pastor

Thanks for your comments. I am a pastor and teach pastors, as well as a long term Mac user (1990). Currently I use MacBook Pro 15″ because I travel so much, and it is my entire office. But I have also watched the iPad development, and am leaning toward getting one. (By the way, Accordance might give you more for your language study, and I don’t think the copying/pasting is a problem.)

—Rich Shields

Replacing a MacBook Hard Drive

Very interesting article. What I would like to know is what degree of difficulty would be involved in replacing an internal hard drive in a black MacBook. I have done this in the older grey Mac and it was really easy. However, when I look at the black MacBook with the battery removed, I don’t see what any simple methods of getting to the innards.

—Richard Scotte

No Smoking Gun: Re-tooling Dodge and Burn

This is a very useful non-destructive dodging and burning technique that I use myself, but don’t be so hasty to discard Photoshop’s dedicated Dodge/Burn tools. The overlay blend mode technique lightens and darkens in a very blunt, linear way that pays no attention whatsoever to highlights, midtones, or shadows. The Dodge and Burn tools are much more intelligent in this respect because they’re working with actual pixel data. They’re superior for bringing out detail and deepening shadows without harming midtones or highlights so severely.

—Tronam

iSkin Keyboard Protector

I have the same problem. The iSkin is nearly two years old. It didn’t do this for the first year. I now work as a nurse practitioner and noticed it after I started using hand sanitizer a lot while using the keyboard at work. Now it’s there every time I wash the cover. I think it is degrading. I also cut a tear in the pad over the left Shift key because of the way I hold that finger. I’m ready for a new cover, and I’m not sure they are still available in the simple basic colors. I can’t find any explanation of what that greasy substance is caused by.

—Ronda

Making Your Word Processor Work

A Mac user since 1984 (and Apple before that), I find ATPM very useful and entertaining. Thank you for that.

I found the article on word processors particularly interesting. I started with The Electric Pencil (Apple ][) and tried every new one that came out, finally settling on Word Juggler made by Quark for the Apple ///.

—Chris Albertson

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