Thursday Tips

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French iPhones Remain Locked
Those who travel to France to buy an unlocked iPhone are sorely disappointed when they get home and find their iPhones won't work with their non-French carrier. French iPhones retain a country lock which limits their use to French carriers only. Plugging in a non-French Sim card results in the inability to make any phone calls, use SMS or any of the other "carrier only" features. French law dictates the sale of unlocked iPhones but French law doesn't dictate the unlocking of such iPhone outside of France.

First "Get A Mac" Christmas Ad from Apple - so cute!!!

Video Recording Confirmed on iPhone
Monster and Friends have released a beta iPhone app that can record video at 45 frames per second using the iPhone's built-in camera. That is noteworthy because current smartphones that can record video can only do so at 30 frames per second (which is why the resulting video is so jerky). The app verifies the iPhone's capability of video recording and is expected to be included as a new feature once the SDK (Software Developer's Kit) is released in February. Not only will the iPhone get video recording but Apple plans on making it better than any other smartphone on the market.

100 Mac Keyboard Symbol Shotcuts
Ever want to insert a symbol in your text and couldn't figure out how to do it? Usingmac.com has a full page of keyboard commands to make symbols such as (apple), ¢ (cents) and © (copyright). Go here to learn them all!

Putting Time AND Date In Your Menubar
Mac OS X only: If you want to see today's date in your menubar, you can add it manually in System Preferences. It's not an obvious checkbox or dropdown, so follow these instructions closely.

1. In System Preferences, open the Date & Time feature then select "OpenInternational" and go to the Formats tab.
2. In the Dates section, click the Customize button. Under "Show:" select Full then arrange your date in the format you want to appear on your menubar. Use the down arrows on each element to choose between formats (January, Jan, 01, 1, etc.) I chose [Oct 29], as shown.customizedate.png
3. Now you must copy the entire date format and copy it to your clipboard so click inside the date bar box and hit Command A then Command C. Hit OK.
4. Hit the Customize button next to Times. Choose the "Medium" format.
5. Paste the date format on your clipboard next to the time format, add a space or two so the day of the week does not butt up against the AM or PM then hit OK.

Look up at your Menu Bar. You should not have the time and date something like this:

Thu 1:20 PM December 13, 2007

New Apple Displays Coming?
Rumors are spreading across the 'Net that Apple will announce new Cinema Displays at the upcoming MacWorld. Speculation says the new displays will include built-in iSight cameras, new trime, an HDMI port (for games or HD movie players), LED backlighting (iffy) and various sizes beginning at 24" to as large as 40". All speculation tho' based on the recent removal of all Cinema Displays from the front page of Apple's online store.