tedlandau.com: Archives

February 5, 2008

User Friendly Blog debuts. As you may already know, I currently write a monthly column for The Mac Observer called User Friendly View. Starting today, I am also doing a weekly blog, called (appropriately enough!) User Friendly Blog. The first entry is now online.

January 29, 2008

iPhone articles. I have had a variety of iPhone-related articles published recently (and one soon-to-be-published):

Everything You Need to Know about iPhone 1.1.3. This is a new article, but the information will be included in the next update to my Take Control of Your iPhone book.

Roll Your Own Ringtones. This is an excerpt from my iPhone book, posted online at The Mac Observer.

Manage iPhone Syncing with Multiple Computers. This is an excerpt from my iPhone book, posted online at iPhone Atlas.

Avoid iPhone navigation and typing hassles. This is an excerpt from my iPhone book, posted online at Macworld.

Recovering from Crashes and Freezes. This is an article I wrote for the Macworld iPhone Superguide.

Total Leopard: Macworld Superguide. I contributed two articles to this new Macworld book: Troubleshooting Your Mac and 7 Upgrade Features.

January 17, 2008

Macworld Expo session slideshow posted. I have posted the slideshow presentation (in PDF format) for the session I gave at Macworld Expo 2008. Click here for a download link.

January 7, 2008

Take Control of Your iPhone updated to version 1.0.1 . It's a minor update to my 195 page iPhone book. You can order it from this Take Control Books page.

Macworld Expo. I will once again be speaking at Macworld Expo in January 2008. You can get the details here.

December 12, 2007

Take Control of Your iPhone is out. My iPhone book is finally done and published! Titled Take Control of Your iPhone, it is 195 pages of problem solving info and more generally how to make the most of your iPhone.

November 3, 2007

MacFixIt sold to CNET. Techtracker (the parent company of MacFixIt and VersionTracker) was sold to CNET in late August 2007. At least for now, CNET has happily let MacFixIt to continue on its own path.

MDJ vs. MacFixIt (MDJ loses). For my reaction to MDJ's outrageously unfair column about MacFixIt, click here.

To see other Apple-related columns from my Slanted Viewpoint blog, click here.

August 24, 2007

Books: Good news; (Sort of) sad news. Let's start with the good news:

I am currently writing a new book on the iPhone. The working title is Take Control of Troubleshooting Your iPhone. It's part of the Take Control ebooks series of books. I'll have more details soon.

The sort of sad news is that I will not be updating Mac OS X Help Line for Leopard. The current Tiger edition is the end of the line for this book. The main reason is that the cost (in terms of the time needed for me to write the book) to benefit (in terms of my royalties) ratio was too high to make it worth doing anymore. At over 1200 pages, it took 9 months to a year to research and rewrite!

July 10, 2007

Slanted Viewpoint. My personal blog, called Slanted Viewpoint, has some recently added Apple-related items, including a couple on iPhone and one on an iPod hassle that Apple should fix.

Louisville User Group appearance. I did a live iChat at the Louisville Computer Society on June 26. Had a great time! And the iChat software worked like a charm.

June 7, 2007

MacTech 25 announced (and guess who made the list?). The 2007 MacTech 25, a list of the "most influential people in the Macintosh community," is out. I am pleased to announce that I am one of this year's honorees!

MacMania VI. The MacMania cruise to Alaska ended on June 2. I was a speaker, with a session titled: "The 4 P's of Mac OS X: Preferences, Packages, Permissions & Passwords." I had a great time, along with fellow MacManiacs Rob Griffiths, Ben Long, Joe Schorr, Sal Soghoian and the rest of the crew.

March 10, 2007

Macworld online article on DST. A "mini-article" I wrote for Macworld, describing the implications of the new DST schedule for Mac users, can be found here.

Bugs & Fixes column. I am now writing a monthly column for Macworld. It's called Bugs & Fixes and it appears as a sidebar to the Mac 911 column.

February 12, 2007

Latest MacNotables and Tech Night Owl Live podcasts. In my most recent MacNotables podcast, I discuss Steve Jobs’ position on Digital Rights Management (DRM) as well as my experiences setting up my new 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station.

You can also hear me talk about the future of Mac hardware and a bit about the AirPort Extreme in this Tech Night Owl LIVE podcast.

Conference cancelled. The Macworld conference in London, where I was scheduled to speak later this month, has been cancelled. They hope to reschedule it for later this year.

January 18, 2007

Latest columns cover the Expo and the iPhone. My latest User Friendly View column for The Mac Observer offers my thoughts on Steve Jobs' keynote address at Macworld Expo, esepcially its focus on the iPhone.

My latest MacFixIt mac.column.ted column offers some post-Expo reflections on why I may not rush to get an iPhone, despite the certainty that I will get one eventually.

January 12, 2007

Macworld Expo. Macworld Expo (San Francisco, January 8-12, 2007) ends today. PDF files of all five (5!) presentations I gave at the Expo are now available for download. You can get them from the Macworld Expo page.

Bootable flash drive. Want to know how to create your own custom bootable flash drive? Or optical disc? Read all about it here.

November 22, 2006

MacMania. Earlier this month, I went on my first MacMania cruise: MacMania V to the Western Carribean. I gave a session on File Sharing 101 and participated in a panel discussion on Mac Horror Stories (where we related the worst disasters that have befallen us as Mac users). It was great fun. You can read all about it in my November Mac Observer column.

I had so much fun that I am coming back for more, attending MacMania VI (to Alaska; from May 26 to June 2, 2007). I will be giving a session titled Packages, Preferences, Permissions, and Passwords. It's for <P>ower users (get it?).

Podcasts. I continue with regular podcasts as a member of the MacNotables.

Slanted Viewpoint. I have finally started making regular postings to my blog. Check it out to read my thoughts, comments, rants, and opinions about whatever topic is currently on my mind. It is not restricted to Mac topics. In fact, the Mac rarely comes up at all.

August 6, 2006

I was interviewed by Gene Steinberg for the July 27 broadcast of Tech Night Owl LIVE.

MacMania. I will be a speaker on the MacMania V Geek Cruise to the Western Carribean (October 28 - November 4, 2006).

March 12, 2006

On their March 9 broadcast, I was interviewed by the Tech Night Owl LIVE.

February 23, 2006

Help Line update info posted. I have posted an initial set of updates, corrections, etc. to Mac OS X Help Line: Tiger Edition. It includes new info on Intel Macs, iLife '06, Mac viruses, and more. Check it out here.

January 14, 2006

Macworld Expo. The Expo is over. You can download a PDF file of the slideshow of my User Conference session here. It is slighly modified from the version used at the show (the main change is that "movies" have been deleted).

MacFixIt subscribers can read my brief assessment of the Keynote address here.

January 2, 2006

Mac OS X Help Line: Tiger Edition is out! The book is now available for purchase. Read all about it here. You can buy it at Peachpit, Amazon and all the other usual places.

December 5, 2005

MacNotables. Recently, I have joined up with a group of other "notable" members of the Mac community to produce a regular series of podcasts. The topics include virtually everything and anything to do with Apple, Macintosh computers, and iPods. The tone is light and fun. It's all hosted by Chuck Joiner. Check it out at the MacNotables Web site.

Macworld Expo. Further details of my Macworld Expo appearances have been posted. Check it out here.

November 24, 2005

Help Line for Tiger coming. It's been awhile since my last update to this site. I have been busy trying to finish the latest edition of Help Line. I am happy to report: Stick a fork in it! It's done and will be published within the next few weeks, with an official debut at Macworld Expo in January.

Mac Observer columns. My column, User Friendly View, gets posted around the 20th of each month. I skipped November (again, so I could meet my book deadline). But I will be back on a regular schedule next month. For a complete list, check it out here.

New MacFixIt columns and tutorials. I have been focusing more on tutorials than columns of late. A series on Preferences (.plist) files has just begun. The full list is here.

New Macworld articles. New Macworld articles have been published. Check out the list here.

MacFixIt is 10! Believe it or not, MacFixIt (the Web site I founded) will be ten years old in 2006 (that's like 60 years in human time!). I will be posting more news about this and some other surprises (including a new blog I will be starting) in the months ahead. As always, stay tuned.

February 28, 2005

February's mac.column.ted columns are posted. I did two columns this month. Check them out here.

Note: For those of you unable to read my old columns on MacFixIt, because you are not a MacFixIt Pro subscriber, my first seven columns are now available here.

New reviews of Help Line. New reviews of Mac OS X Help Line have been posted. Read them here.

January 16, 2005

Macworld Expo wrap-up. Macworld Expo San Francisco 2005 is history. For those who attended either my Help Line or MacWizardry sessions at the Expo, PDFs based on the slide shows are available. See this page for details.

October 26, 2004

Mac OS X Conference. I presented a 3.5 hour tutorial session, titled The 3 P's of Troubleshooting (Permissions, Preferences, and Packages), at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference, October 25-28 in Santa Clara, CA.

To download a PDF version of the slide show presentation, click here.

See this page for details on the conference.

July 18, 2004

Reflections on Macworld Expo Boston 2004. This MacFixIt article offers my impressions of the summer Macworld Expo.
Also: You can download the slideshow of my Macworld Mac OS X Wizardry session from this page.

July 6, 2004

Mac OS X Help Line reviews and news. Initial reviews of Mac OS X Help Line has been posted. Check 'em out.

The book continues to sell well on Amazon.com, remaining in the top 10 of all Mac computer books. See this page for more details.

Monthly MacFixIt column. The MacFixIt column for July has been posted. Click here for the full list of columns.

June 2, 2004

Mac OS X Help Line is out. Ted Landau's Mac OS X Help Line has been published. Yesterday, it was ranked as high as #6 on Amazon's list of computer book best-sellers (for all platforms)! See this page for more details about the book.

January 9, 2004

Macworld Expo. Macworld Expo San Francisco 2004 is over. You can read my reflections on the keynote address in this MacFixIt article.

The slideshow presentation for my Mac OS X Wizardry session is now available for download. For more details on sessions I presented, click here.

I also penned two articles for the Macworld Total Panther special issue, available only on newstands.

December 27, 2002

mac.column.ted for December is posted. This month's column for MacFixIt has been posted. Check it out.

Macworld articles. I have an article in the January 2004 Macworld magazine, titled The Power of Preferences.

The Savvy Computer Shopping article in the January 2004 issue of Macworld has a section on page 57 where it recommends Mac OS XDisaster Relief and Mac OS X Help Desk. Thanks guys!

December 9, 2003