But you can use the App Switcher for more than just switching to open applications: you can use it to quit applications you are finished with.

Hold CMD and press TAB until you arrive at the application you want to quit.

While still Holding CMD (releasing CMD at and time during a CMD+TAB operation will exit the App Switcher) press the “Q” key.
Your application will quit!

Click to Learn.

Easy for Computers to Guess

This calendar app is amazing!

1. Me.
This is me from 7 years ago, working on 4 Macs at once.

I started my career 12 years ago selling Macs.
I loved being a resource for people, educating and empowering them.
I especially enjoyed a new Mac setup and customizing things just so.

One day, a customer asked me if I could go to their home to do this.
I said “sure!”

They said “what do you charge?”
I remember thinking to myself “people… charge for that?”

In a moment of 21 year old brilliance, I asked “What do you normally pay?”

2. Annoyed woman.
In my Mac consulting travels, I found that people almost always learn by picking things up along the way.
They learn by necessity, when they need to do something new or they were on a deadline.

It was rare that I would meet people who took courses or actually read the books they bought.

They would learn by doing, and once they know what they need to know, things were good.
They would settle into a very productive … comfort zone.

If you do it this way, it’s okay. Really. It’s human.

…

But when there’s a problem, it’s usually a big problem. They’d call me, frustrated.
“I can’t work. I need it fixed. And I’m WAY too busy to learn right now.”

I did a lot of that kind of work. Solving the problem so they can get back to their productive comfort zone.

3. Cheese.
I don’t know about you, but I want really big amazing things in my life.
I want the cheese. I want the best cheese.
I have a pretty awesome picture in my mind of how things could be.

Anyone else with me on that?

Right. We like our ideas.
I think even the couch potato likes the idea of better crunchier chips.

So… How does it feel to be running through the finish line after all the training?
To close that big sale you worked on for weeks?
To finally perform on stage after years of practice.

What’s it like for Kate, to create an event like this and see all these great people mingling?

What is it like to lie in a hammock on a beach somewhere tropical knowing your staff will handle things perfectly without you?

That’s the cheese I’m going for.

4. Pencils.
I firmly believe that your Mac, your iPhone, your apps and your gadgets…
Your online presence…
These are all great tools for acquiring the cheese.

They’re tools for designing your life.
The better you understand the tools, the better the life you can design.

We’re not talking hammers and chisels, with just one purpose.

These are dynamic tools, an extension of your mind and your hands with nearly unlimited possibilities.
They amplify your voice so you can reach thousands, millions of people.

…pause

The clients I worked with who were the most successful, they understood this.
They would really dig in and learn.
They always asked me to show them what I did. To teach them the fix.

Sadly, I would see them less and less often as I worked myself out of a job – but they still refer people to this day.

5. Nerds.
Now, I don’t mean becoming a certified IT person yourself…
I think you can be a connoisseur of the tools just in the areas most relevant to your life.

You can master the tools for getting the results you’re after.

(Besides. Being a bit nerdy is cool these days. Nerds get the cheese.)

…

I think most Mac problems are actually people knowledge problems.

I can prove this.

When I email a PDF and it bounces back to me because it’s too big, I don’t get annoyed.
I just move over to FTP or Dropbox.
I have options and a solution, and I’m totally calm.

Imagine if every time a light bulb burnt out you had to pay a specialist to come fix it.
Or every time your toilet was plugged you paid a contractor top dollar to come by with a plunger.

When you have options and solutions, and you know how to use them problems just aren’t a problem anymore.

6. Audi.
Now let’s take it to the next level. And I love this place.

Once you not only know how to use the tools and solve the little problems, but also how to customize and improve things yourself … that’s when things start going really smoothly for you.

You get into creating this great custom dashboard, where everything you need is perfectly in reach.

It’s like, the dashboard of your life…

…

This is not something you can delegate. It’s not like bookkeeping or house cleaning.

This is something you gotta work on, like the first several times you parallel parked.
Once you’ve done it enough times, it becomes second nature. It should, anyway. (haha)

I have to say, driving around life with this kind of technology experience is really fun.

7. Comfort zone.
Every little tip you learn, every Mac epiphany you pick up gets you closer to this place.

Who here renames a folder by doing the click, wait, click thing?
Next time just click the folder and press Return.
There, I just gave you a week of free time in your life.

…

It’s just a little humbling and uncomfortable to get there. Getting the cheese takes putting your productive comfort zone on pause for an hour, being proactive, learning from someone. Investing time and money.

I really believe that is required if you want to live extraordinary.

So I will end with a question: Is closing the big sale, getting on stage, sprinting through the finish line worth it? Is getting the cheese faster, worth the investment?
I think so. Cheese is awesome.

I could talk about this for days. Tweet me @macinhome. God that word is unfortunate.

1. Photos you take on your iPhone automatically show up on your Mac and AppleTV. Even the bad ones.

2. Share your calendars so you never miss an important event. Unless you want to!

3. All your iPhone data backs up through the air. Drop your iPhone in the toilet anytime.

4. Notes and reminders show up on all your devices. Remember the name of that awesome book your friend recommended that you fully intend to read someday. Probably.

5. You can tell people how cool it is and how you’re fully “cloud enabled.”

6. Your Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents stay in sync between your Mac and iDevices.

7. Apps and games you purchase sync to all your iDevices. Waste time more efficiently!

8. You finally have an excuse to upgrade your older Mac (or just buy a new one).

9. Your iBooks and bookmarks sync to all your iDevices. Look really busy in meetings.

10. The harassment from our friends at Apple will stop.

Do you have what you need for iCloud?

• MacOS X Lion 10.7 or later
• To be sure the Mac you’re using will be Lion-friendly, check under Apple menu -> About This Mac
  • look for: Intel Core 2 Duo or later, 2GB or more RAM, OS 10.6.6 or later.
• iTunes 10.6 or later
• iOS 5 or later on iPhones and iPads
• iPhoto 9.2 or later (for Photo Stream)
• iPhone 3GS, 4, or 4S
• iPod Touch 3rd or 4th gen
• To be sure the hardware, OS, apps, fonts, plugins, and peripherals you use are Lion-friendly, call Macinhome at 1-877-707-6227

Contact Macinhome and we make it quick and simple, starting with a free visit or conversation.

1-877-707-6227 or solutions@macinhome.com

Or, grab a simplicity package from our online menu at resultsmenu.com – Results by Macinhome.

Their raison d’être is to react as soon as possible to avoid casualties. Imagine this; you and your friends Mike and Jerry are sailing off the coast of BC, when your vessel hits a rock. No one is around. You’re in trouble. You jump on the vcf radio, but Mike says : “Oh wait, we’re not going to bother these nice gentlemen with our little problem. Let’s scoop the water out, we’ll see how it goes”.
“Makes sense to me,” says Jerry. “And on top of that, the hull is so dirty! I wouldn’t want them to see the boat before we can scrape it clean…”

This situation looks surreal, doesn’t it?

Now imagine that you decide not to pay attention to what your friends are saying, the costguards arrive in no time, and they’re so good at their job, and arrive quickly enough that you’re actually able to fix the crack in the hull in a couple of hours and resume your trip. They even give you a couple of cool navigation tips to prevent your disaster form recurring. By the smile on their face – and on Mike and Jerry’s too – you know that you did the right thing.

At Macinhome, we like it better when things go smoothly. But we are also here for our clients when a hidden rock grounds the boat. In a case of network or system failure; in situations when staff is drowning in complexity, think of us as your mac coastguards.

And don’t feel embarrassed to call us because you think we’re somehow too busy, or because your hard drive is a mess: you’d rob us of the opportunity to save the day!