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How to Get Turn-by-Turn Navigation on a MacBook Air

Posted on February 14, 2011
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When choosing between a MacBook Air and an iPad 3G, you might think you’re giving up GPS if you go with the MacBook.  That may not be entirely true, depending on what you want to do with GPS.  There are plenty of Mac-friendly Bluetooth GPS receivers and data loggers that can provide both realtime and recorded GPS data to your MacBook Air.

The one I’ve been using most late is the Columbus v-900 Bluetooth Data Logger ($99 on Amazon). Once paired with your MacBook Air, you can track your movements, record waypoints, and even plan a route.  Voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation with live, updated routes is also possible on a MacBook Air thanks to an application titled RouteBuddy.

Pairing Your Bluetooth GPS Receiver

As with all Bluetooth devices, paring with a Mac is straight forward and easy.  Once this setup task is complete, the GPS receiver will be accessible to GPS-enabled software like RouteBuddy.  To pair the Columbus V-900 GPS receiver (and most others, too), follow these simple steps:

  1. From System Preferences, click on Bluetooth in the Internet & Wireless section.
  2. Click on the “+” icon in the bottom left corner of the device list to add a new Bluetooth device.
  3. Select the device from the list and click Continue.
  4. Once paring is successful, click Quit.

Once pairing is established, you’ll have to access it through your software of choice, since OS X does not have the same CoreLocation service available to it as iOS does. And because connectivity to the receiver over Bluetooth happens via the serial interface, only one application at a time can access GPS information.

Making location available to RouteBuddy is easy. It just knows that a valid GPS receiver has been paired and turned on, and starts using it automatically upon launch.

RouteBuddy for Mac With Detailed Road Maps and a POI Database

RouteBuddy and its iOS companion app RouteBuddy Atlas are the perfect pair for planning and documenting a trip.  The Mac version can do turn-by-turn navigation, and the iOS version focuses primarily on topographical maps and creating waypoints and tracks.  The road maps that RouteBuddy uses are based on Tele Atlas mapping data, the same service that Google uses for its maps, and the one acquired by TomTom in 2007.  Once you’ve purchased and installed RouteBuddy for Mac (currently on sale for $59) and the detailed road map of the United States (sold separately for $39), you’ll need to install and register your map with the software.  Once complete, you’re ready to create your first navigable route:

  1. Select two or more Waypoints that you want to create a route between.
  2. From the Map menu, select the Create Route menu item.
  3. Double-click on the resulting route to change the order of the destinations if more than two waypoints were selected.
  4. Select the route you want to use from the drop down list of selections in the library on the left.
  5. Click Start to begin your turn-by-turn navigation.

There are several other ways to create a route from within RouteBuddy, too.  You can even connect to RouteBuddy Atlas (available for free from the App Store) on your iOS device via WebDav to access the waypoints and tracks you have recorded, and import them into RouteBuddy for Mac. When navigating, RouteBuddy will even recalculate the route if you don’t follow the turn-by-turn directions exactly, just like a dedicated GPS navigation device.  The points of interest database is quite extensive, with over 4 million items.  The smaller size of the MacBook Air’s screen makes it a perfect choice for use with RouteBuddy, but always remember to keep your eyes on the road, no matter what device you’re depending on to get from point A to point B.

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How to Backup Your DVD Movies for Mac, Apple TV, iOS & iPod

Posted on February 11, 2011
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Creating an image file of a data disc is straightforward. Preserving music CDs on a Mac is only challenging if you wanted to get it just right.  While somewhat forbidden, it’s still possible to tame Blu-ray on a Mac as well.  That just leaves your DVD-based movie collection to conquer.

Surprisingly, I’ve found DVDs the most challenging of all disc formats to preserve and back up. The variety of software available for the task is overwhelming, and the success rate of said solutions is far from 100 percent. Sometimes you have to try different software, or tweak certain in order to get the desired outcome. Here’s a guide to using some of the best current Mac software available for DVD archiving.

Keeping Your Discs Clean

For whatever reason, DVDs tend to be the most fragile of the optical disc formats that I’ve had to deal with. Beyond keeping a soft cloth nearby to wipe down each disc before decrypting and decoding, I’ve found that more serious means of cleaning discs are often times necessary.  Generally speaking, Aleratec’s DVD/CD Disc Repair Kit for about $40 on Amazon gets the job done. You’d be amazed at how many failed rips can be resolved just by cleaning your disc.

Decrypt and Copy to Hard Drive

Once you have a clean disc, the next step is to get its contents onto your hard drive. On the Mac, there are only a few good options to consider for doing this. Longtime favorite MacTheRipper has all but disappeared, as has the open-source Fairmount.  That leaves Pavtube and The Little App Factory’s RipIt.  Since I already covered Pavtube when working with Blu-ray on the Mac, this time I’ll focus using RipIt.

  1. Download, install and launch RipIt.
  2. In the Preferences (Ripit > Preferences in the Menu Bar), under General, set the destination for the extracted files.
  3. Also in General Preferences, make sure that “Use .dvdmedia Extension” is not selected. This will make sure your movies are saved as a standard VIDEO_TS folder, which can be read by many applications.
  4. Insert a DVD and click Rip.

It’s that easy. And once you set the location where you want to store the decrypted movie files to, you don’t have to change your preferences unless you want to select a new destination. Just insert the DVD and click Rip.

Encode for Apple TV

While both Pavtube and RipIt offer the ability to compress the DVD’s content into various other formats directly while ripping, I prefer to use HandBrake on the Mac and its built-in preset list of supported device targets. Encoding from a DVD that has been copied to the hard drive is also much faster than encoding from the original disc.  To encode your video files with HandBrake, all you need to do is:

  1. Download, install and launch HandBrake.
  2. Click on the Source icon in HandBrake’s toolbar and navigate to the location where you ripped your DVD’s VIDEO_TS folder to using RipIt (which you set in step 2, above).
  3. In the drop-down menu labeled Title, select the title you wish to encode.  HandBrake usually does a pretty good job at automatically selecting the actual movie title, as it is typically the longest running video on the DVD.
  4. Toggle the presets and select Apple TV as the destination device.
  5. Select a destination and file name.
  6. Click on the green Start button.

Encode for Everything Else

Unfortunately there is not one best encoding format for all devices.  If you encode to the lowest common denominator (likely an older iPod), you’ll notice serious quality problems on larger HDTVs.  You can certainly follow the exact same steps above in HandBrake and select different destination devices each time, but there are two other more convenient options available to you:

iTunes Conversion. In Advanced menu in iTunes, you will notice two options: ”Create iPod or iPhone Version,” and “Create iPad or Apple TV Version.”  This works great for turning files in your library that you’ve created using HandBrake for Apple TV into ones that work with your iPhone or iPod.  This process tends to take a very long time to complete.

iSquint Conversion. Like MacTheRipper, iSquint has fallen from grace and is no longer supported.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work.  Once you’ve created a version of the movie file created via HandBrake, all you need to do is drag and drop your media files onto iSquint’s single screen. iSquint is great when creating versions of movie files for older video iPods and iPod Classics.

Unfortunately, from time to time you’ll encounter a DVD that just wont rip using either iRip or Pavtube.  In these cases, if you have access to a Windows machine (virtual, Boot Camp, or physical) either AnyDVD or DVDFab should help you resolve the problem. Converting your DVD movies to Apple device-friendly formats may not be easy, but once it’s done, you can sit back and enjoy your film collection however you choose, which feels pretty good.

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Exclude Spammy Sites from Google with This Custom Search Engine [Search Tip]

Posted on February 10, 2011
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We’ve shown you how to create site-specific search engines in Chrome and Firefox, and reader isaaclyman reminds us you can also use that to exclude spammy sites from your search results. More »







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How to Upgrade the Hard Drive in Your iMac [Video]

Posted on February 9, 2011
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iMacs are really great for a lot of reasons, but one of their biggest downsides is that, by design, they’re not easily upgradable. Tech blog Tested shows us how to get inside your iMac and replace the hard drive. More »







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How to Back Up Your Data & Installation Discs

Posted on February 2, 2011
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With the advent of the Mac App Store, it seems arcane to think that software is still being distributed on disc.  But even if you buy into digital distribution completely, what about all of your existing installation and data discs? What’s a good way to preserve the disc and its contents? Create an image of your disc on your hard drive, that’s how.

Every time you enter a disc into your SuperDrive, it gets mounted to the big directory structure that makes up your computer. We use the term mount because we used to physically mount spools of magnetic tape onto devices that were accessed by computers.  Once mounted, the user can then delve into that particular disc’s file structure and access its content via the Finder.  The same concept holds true for .dmg (or Disk Image) files.

Apple’s Disk Utility has the ability to mount and unmount these devices as well as format, erase and copy file structures.  It’s therefore possible to create a an image or copy of any CD or DVD.  This resulting image file works just like the .dmg files you often download from the Internet and use to install third-party applications, like Firefox and Skype.  In fact, if you open a .dmg file and then type the command ‘mount’ in the terminal, you will see that the operating system is looking at the .dmg file in exactly the same way it looks at discs you load using the SuperDrive.

To preserve the type of file system the optical disc is using, you can Disk Utility’s ability to create images. Here’s how:

  1. Insert a data CD or DVD into your computer’s SuperDrive and launch Disk Utility (located in your [User] > Applications > Utilities folder)
  2. From the source menu on the left, select your disc drive. It should have a CD icon next to the manufacturer’s name and a model number
  3. Click on the New Image icon in the Toolbar at the top of the Disk Utility window
  4. Select a save location as well as a name for the image file you are about to create
  5. Be sure to select “DVD/CD master” as the Image Format and leave Encryption set to none
  6. Click Save

At this point, Disk Utility will create a copy of the CD or DVD that you had in the SuperDrive. To mount this file as a drive, simply double-click on the file in the Finder.  Your file will be mounted just as if the original disc was inserted into your SuperDrive. This only works for data discs, not movies or music.  You can even reverse this process and burn a physical disc from an image that was created by Disk Utility.  To burn a disc from a .cdr image, you need to:

  1. Open the image file in Disk Utility (File > Open Disk Image… in the menu bar)
  2. Find and select the image file
  3. Click on the Burn icon on the Toolbar
  4. Insert a blank disc of appropriate size into the SuperDrive
  5. Click Burn

Disk Utility will burn the disk image from the hard drive to the optical disc.  Again, this only works for data discs, not music CDs or movie DVDs, but it should help you get started on de-cluttering your physical media collection.

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Turn Any Action Into a Keyboard Shortcut on Your Mac [Video]

Posted on February 2, 2011
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Macs have some great built-in keyboard shortcuts, but if you want to create custom or global shortcuts that perform more complicated tasks, you’ll need to do a little extra legwork. Here’s how to turn virtually any action into a keyboard shortcut. More »







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InvisibleHand Alerts You When It Finds Cheaper Airfare [Downloads]

Posted on January 31, 2011
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Browser extension InvisibleHand has long been great at subtly showing you the best prices for product searches, but now it can suggest cheaper alternatives when searching for airfare as well. More »







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A Guide to Mac Diagnostic and Repair Utilities

Posted on January 21, 2011
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Back in the very old days almost every Mac user owned a copy of Norton Utilities, a name synonymous with fixing any Mac problem. “Have you run Norton on it?” was the first step in any repair routine. Today, no single program dominates the market. There are several different maintenance applications to choose from, and the one you end up using will depend on both the specific problem you’re encountering and your level of comfort and experience with Mac troubleshooting.

Apple Utilities: Your First Step

Regardless of what problem you’re having, your first step should be to try one of Apple’s own utilities. Apple provides several free Mac utilities in the OS. Apple Hardware Test (AHT) is included with every new Mac. The AHT boot CD bypasses your operating system and tests basic hardware such as your hard drive, memory, processing, and video. The tests are very basic and a passing  grade doesn’t always mean all is well. Apple sees AHT as a quick test to rule out obvious problems. If your Mac is just acting weird, AHT is a quick and easy place to start your troubleshooting journey.

Another Apple utility is Apple’s Disk Utility which can be found inside the Utilities folder (which is in your Mac’s Applications folder). The app is also on your OS X installation disc. Disk Utility’s is primarily for screening drives for serious problems like disk file structure errors (things are out of place), SMART failures (early warning signs of a problem), or permissions issues. For some repairs, you’ll need to boot from your installation disc. Apple’s provides extensive instructions on how to use Disk Utility on its support website.

General Disk Maintenance and Basic Repair

For basic hard drive checks and repair, the closest equivalent today to the power and simplicity of the original Norton Disk Doctor is Alsoft’s Disk Warrior ($99.95). Disk Warrior primarily does one thing and does it very well: it repairs disk directories.

All the cryptic and confusing errors Apple’s Disk Utility has problems with, Disk Warrior fixes with flying colors. Your disk’s directory is similar to a table of contents crossed with an index, and when it gets confused (usually due to program crashes or improper machine shutdowns), Disk Warrior rebuilds (instead of repairs) the directory, allowing the computer to operate normally.

Disk Warrior can’t repair the drive it’s installed on, so you’ll have to run it off of the installation DVD or another volume if you want to repair your boot drive.

Disk Warrior should be a part of any basic troubleshooting routine and I always run it before any system updates. It’s my most trusted and relied upon Mac Utility.

Data Recovery


At the first sign of disk failure, you need to consider whether or not you’ll be sending the drive off for forensic-style data recovery from a company like DriveSavers.  If you think you’ll be using professionals, then stop all recovery efforts and call them right away. Although these services often cost thousands of dollars, sometimes it could be covered by insurance.

If you want to go the do-it-yourself route, my first choice is Stellar Phoenix 4.1 ($79). The program is extremely powerful and deals best with volumes that won’t mount on your Mac. It pushes right through read errors and recovers data that other programs can’t find. Some recovery applications may give up if they encounter excessive read errors, which are common on dying hard drives, but Stellar Phoenix will keep trying until it recovers whatever data it can. Unfortunately, the interface is confusing and unintuitive like. In spite of the bad UI, however, the program itself is very reliable.

Hard Drive Optimization


Drive Genius 3($99) by Prosoft Engineering, has a comprehensive suite of hard drive utilities attractively packaged with a easy-to-use interface that lets you tweak every possible byte of performance from your storage device.

Drive Genius includes not only those functions covered by Disk Utility such as secure erasure, initialization and partitioning, but also adds a slew of maintenance and optimization routines. For those using a smaller hard drive, their proprietary DriveSlim algorithms removes unnecessary files to add space.

Although not necessary for the average user, Drive Genius also includes a defragmentation option, along with advanced functions for sector editing, benchmarking, cloning and an early warning system for potential problems called “Drive Pulse.” Drive Genius is used by Apple’s own Genius staff for yearly checkups. I recommend Drive Genius for more experienced users and geeks who want to really explore their hard drive.

Hardware Problems

TechTool Pro 5 ($99) by Micromat goes way beyond the AHT, doing more extensive testing of your memory, hard drive, audio and video. Apple includes a limited version of TechTool called TechTool Deluxe with the purchase of AppleCare that provides a limited subset of the full version’s hardware tests.

A unique part of TechTool is the “eDrive” feature, which creates a bootable partition on your current hard drive in order to run its utilities in case of emergency. More technical users probably would be more comfortable using an external hard drive, but rest of us will find this eDrive very useful for basic maintenance and testing. eDrive and most of TechTool’s other hard drive tools aren’t included with TechTool Deluxe, representing the major difference between it and the full Pro product.

Which should you buy?

Overall, every Mac user would benefit from owning a copy of DiskWarrior for periodic maintenance. If you aren’t fastidious about backing up (or work with others who aren’t), Stellar Phoenix can really save your data and I suggest it as your primary recovery tool, but you might be able to wait until something actually goes wrong. For the more technically inclined, I’d recommend TechTool Pro over Drive Genius because it includes both optimization and hardware testing. If all you want to do is occasionally optimize your hard drive and save space, owning just Drive Genius is a great choice.

While one program doesn’t do it all like in the days of good ol’ Norton, this list of programs will provide you the key to solving some of your own computer problems.

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Fix “Trash Cannot be Emptied” Problems in OS X [Mac Tip]

Posted on January 21, 2011
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Every once in a while, you’ll go to empty the trash on your Mac only to have it spit out a “Trash Cannot be Emptied because ______ is in use” error. Here’s how to fix that problem. More »







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Arrange Your Mac’s Dock Like Your iPhone Homescreen for Better Organization [Video]

Posted on January 17, 2011
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Whether or not you’re happy about the iOS-centric changes coming with the release of Mac OS X Lion, you can still benefit from organizing your current OS X dock a little bit more like your homescreen. Here’s how. More »







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