Computer^News^FAQ: photoshop

How to download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes

7:53:00 PM

How to keep your iPad safe

7:07:00 PM

The iPad is one of the safest computing devices you can use. Its combination of hardware and software security translate to a device that’s probably more secure than your PC or Mac—especially if you take the right steps to secure it.

Because there are currently no known remote attacks against iPads, the biggest security risk is physically losing the device. Thus, the first step is to make sure your tablet’s data is safe in case it’s lost or stolen. For that, I’d suggest a combination of encryption and remote wiping.

Passcodes and encryption

All iPads ship with powerful hardware encryption built-in, but you need to enable it. The simplest way to do that is to set a passcode on your iPad: As soon as you do, your data will be automatically encrypted. To enable a passcode, go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock and then enter a four-digit code twice. If you’d like to be extra-safe, you can turn the Simple Passcode option on that same page off; you can then use longer codes. While you’re there, you should also set Require Passcode for no more than 15 minutes and turn Erase Data on. (Technically, the iPad deletes your encryption key, not the actual data, but that’s faster and just as effective.)

All modern iOS devices also come with a second layer of encryption, called Data Protection. While the basic encryption enabled by turning on passcodes protects all of the data on the device (including your apps), it can be bypassed by jailbreaking. Data protection encrypts your e-mail messages and their attachments; it can’t be broken even if the passcode is stripped by jailbreaking. Data protection is also available for programmers to use in apps, but few take advantage of it. (At this time, there aren’t any jailbreaks for the iPad 2, so the basic encryption is still safe; but that probably won’t last forever).

Enhance the passcode

To make the iPad’s built-in security features even more powerful, you can use Apple’s (now poorly named)iPhone Configuration Utility. Designed to help enterprises manage iOS devices, it opens up a suite of additional security and business settings, even for individual users.

To start, click on Configuration Profile -> New, and select Passcode from the list that appears. In the subsequent Passcode pane, you have all kinds of options; the settings here override your iPad’s. At the very least, you can specify a minimum length to the passcode.

To activate these password settings, you’ll have to fill in some information on the General tab too—specifically, the name and identifier of the profile. If this is a device that only you will use, you can set the Security drop-down to Always. (That allows you to remove the profile whenever you want.) If you’re configuring an iPad to be used by someone else, you can set it for Never or With Authorization (and then provide a password) so that someone else can’t change the settings without your permission.

Installing the profile is easy: Click Share to e-mail it to your iPad. On the tablet, you then open Mail, find the message, click on its attachment, and select Install. You can also export the profile to a downloadable file and install with the iPad’s copy of Safari.

Enable remote wipe

Remote wiping is an important security tool that allows you to delete the data on a lost iPad if and when it connects to the Internet. If you have a MobileMe account, you can set this up by enabling Find My iPad in Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> MobileMe. Business users who connect to a Microsoft Exchange server (or Exchange alternatives such as Kerio Connect) can wipe their devices using Exchange ActiveSync support. This is managed on the server, not your device, so you’ll need to work with your IT administrator.

Remote wipe only works if there’s a network connection. That’s one reason why some companies purchase 3G iPads with data plans only.

Good safety practices

That takes care of the set-up. But there are also things you can do in daily use to make your iPad more secure.

One thing that means is to make your network connections as secure as possible. One of the best ways is to use a VPN

Another way is to use secure connections for e-mail. Microsoft Exchange servers encrypt data by default. If you use an IMAP or POP3 server, and it supports SSL, you can go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > your account > Advanced on your iPad and enable it there.

Although Data Protection encrypts your e-mail attachments, the moment you send them to an app such as Pages, it is protected by the iPad’s basic encryption only. If you’re reallyworried about such documents, you can use a special secure e-mail server tool like Good for Enterpriseand its free companion iPad app. Good locks encrypted e-mail attachments (and files downloaded from its secure browser) inside the app, which means you can read them, but not edit them.

If you do lose your iPad, one of the first things you should do is change your password on any services—such as Dropbox or iDisk—that you connected to from it.

Finally, consider getting the 1Password Pro () app. It enables good password habits (a different, complex password for every site), it syncs with your Mac and other devices over the network or via DropBox, and it stores secure notes and other information as well as passwords. It even includes its own embedded Web browser for logging into sites without having to copy-and-paste your credentials.

air sharing

Connect to a remote Mac from your iPad

7:01:00 PM

Plenty of iOS apps let you remotely access your Mac (as well as Windows and Linux PCs), and the iPad is an excellent platform for them: Because the tablet runs all of its programs full-screen, a remote-control app turns your iPad’s screen into your Mac’s. But while there are lots of these apps, one thing differentiates the best from the rest.

Virtually all remote access iPad apps rely on Virtual Network Computer (VNC) technology for remote control. VNC is built into Mac OS X (for the past several versions, at least); it’s what makes Screen Sharing possible, among other things.

But while VNC makes it relatively simple to connect to a Mac that’s on the same local network as your iPad, it doesn’t help as much when you need to connect to one that’s not. Most VNC apps discover and connect to computers using Bonjour; once you’re outside the network, Bonjour doesn’t work. That means it’s time to get your hands dirty.

To reach a computer on one network from an iPad on other means configuring that distant router to let you in. That means messing with ports, dynamic DNS, and other arcana that make many users uncomfortable. It’s not only messy, but you may have to do it repeatedly.

That’s why I recommend just two remote-access apps for the iPad: LogMeIn Ignition (; $30) and iTeleport: Jaadu VNC (; $25). They might seem expensive compared to most iOS apps, but they’re cheap for what they can do: Both let you connect to a remote Mac on another network with virtually no effort on your part.

LogMeIn

To use LogMeIn, you need an account (free) and a desktop client. It uses proprietary technology, not VNC, so you have to install software on whatever Macs or Windows systems you want to reach. That software comes in several flavors; there’s a free desktop version that is quite full-featured.

You need to set up an account because LogMeIn uses its own servers to mediate the connections between systems. Once you pay $30 for the app, you can access any number of desktop systems running LogMeIn Free from any of the iOS devices registered to your iTunes account.

I’ve used Ignition extensively ever since it was released, and I’ve never had trouble making a connection back to a computer on which LogMeIn was installed. A recent update added file-access capability; that means you can browse machines to which you have access, and view and copy files from them to your iPad.

iTeleport

iTeleport is a full-featured VNC client, which also takes advantage of Apple’s Screen Sharing extensions for supporting multiple monitors. (Unenhanced VNC clients can only access the monitor on which the menu bar is located.) But while LogMeIn uses its own servers to mediate the connections between machines, iTeleport uses a Gmail account as the glue. It uses Google’s systems to let the two machines negotiate a connection without port mapping or other router fussiness. The connection itself doesn’t pass over Google’s servers, however. It seems to work well.

The company provides free Mac OS X and Windows server software, which you register with a Gmail account’s login name and password and install on the Macs you want to reach. iTeleport will also works with standard VNC clients on any platform, although you then have to configure the connections yourself.

air sharing

How to print from an iPad

12:28:00 AM

Among other things, the iPad is a great way to save paper: It lets you carry around all kinds of digital documents that you might otherwise have had to print.

But from time to time you may still need to print data that’s on your iPad—business documents that you created in Pages and Numbers, for example, or driving directions to hand someone who’s not packing silicon. Printing from the iPad can be easy if your needs are modest, but even if you require extensive printing control, there is, as they say, an app for that.

(The following steps work for any iPad, including the iPad 2 and both Wi-Fi and 3G models.)

The basics

Even though you can add a USB port to your iPad with Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit (), it’s no use plugging in a USB printer, because iOS doesn’t know how to talk to printers via USB. Some printers have built-in Wi-Fi (a natural match for the iPad). But for the rest, you’ll need a computer or other proxy device to serve as a conduit for iPad print jobs: your iPad connects wirelessly to your Mac (or other device), and that in turn connects to the printer.

But the communication channel is only part of the picture; you also need software that knows how to send data to the printer in the right format. Starting with iOS 4.2, Apple built printing support into the iPad with a technology called AirPrint. Any app that has been updated to take advantage of AirPrint can print wirelessly to a compatible printer with a couple of taps.

For reasons that only Apple knows, the initial implementation of AirPrint works with just a handful of newer HP printers that support something HP calls ePrint. If you happen to have such a printer (HP has a list of them on its Website), and it’s on the same local network as the iPad, your iPad will be able to see it and print without any special configuration. (ePrint also gives your printer a private e-mail address, so you can also e-mail a document as an attachment, and it'll print automatically.)

If you aren’t fortunate enough to have an HP ePrint-compatible printer, however, you can still use AirPrint with the vast majority of printers. All you need is a bit of extra software that runs on your Mac.

Activating AirPrint

Two such applications are quite similar: Collobos Software’s FingerPrint ($8) and Ecamm Network’sPrintopia ($10) (). Install either of these utilities on a Mac on your network, select the printer(s) you want your iOS devices to be able to use, and you can then print to those printers from your iPad just as if they were HP ePrint printers. Both of these tools let you print from your iPad to any local or network printer; they also let you use the Print command to send documents to your Dropbox or a folder on your Mac in lieu of a printer.

However, the two applications do have their differences. FingerPrint requires OS X 10.6 or higher, and it has an option to “print” directly to iPhoto on your Mac. But before a printer appears in FingerPrint, it must be shared using the Print & Fax pane of System Preferences. Printopia supports OS X 10.5 or later, works with any printer (shared or not), and can send files from your iPad to a PDF or PNG file on your Mac (much like OS X’s print-to-PDF capability). As of version 2.0, it also lets you “print” not only to iPhoto but to any Mac application, save files to any number of folders on your Mac, use any PDF Workflow on your Mac (such as e-mailing PDFs—click the PDF pop-up menu in any OS X Print dialog to see all your options), and configure printer settings. For all of those reasons I greatly prefer Printopia.

Another option exists, too, and it’s even free (donations requested): Netputing’s AirPrint Activator. But although it serves the same basic purpose of enabling AirPrint to use any printer your Mac can see, AirPrint Activator has a rather tedious setup process, and doesn’t offer a way to print to Dropbox or to a folder on your Mac.

Printing with AirPrint

Once you have either an ePrint-compatible printer or an AirPrint enabler set up, printing from your iPad is simple:

First, look for the Print command. Assuming an app has been updated for AirPrint support, this command is in there somewhere, although the location varies—sometimes it appears when you tap a button with the word Print or a printer icon on it, other times it may be in a popover that appears when you tap a Tools, Send, or Action icon. (When in doubt, check the app’s help.)

Next, if this is your first time using AirPrint, or if you want to switch printers, tap Select Printer and then tap a printer name. The printer you select becomes the new default printer, meaning you can skip this step next time if you want to use that printer again.

To change the number of copies, tap the plus (+) or minus (-) button. If the document has more than one page, you can limit which pages print by tapping Range and selecting the start and end page numbers. When you’re done, tap on Print.

Your document will begin printing. While that is in progress, you can double-tap the Home button and then tap the Print Center icon to view and manage your print jobs; Print Center disappears when printing is done.

Printing without AirPrint

AirPrint is certainly easy to use, but it may not meet all of your needs. Some apps, and some printers, don’t support it. Plus, AirPrint offers no control over things like paper size or print quality, and it doesn’t work when your selected printer is not on your local network. For these reasons and more, you may want a different sort of printing solution. Of the many other third-party printing apps, I personally prefer these three:

Avatron Software’s Air Sharing HD ($10): This multitalented file-transfer app can print directly to any shared printer on your local network (with or without AirPrint), and gives you access to all your printer’s standard options.

Microtech’s ePrint ($3) (): Like Air Sharing HD, ePrint can directly access printers on your local network. Among the many things it lets you print are documents transferred from other iOS apps, Web pages, data from the Calendar and Contacts apps, and the contents of the Clipboard.

EuroSmartz’s PrintCentral for iPad ($9) (): One of several iOS printing apps from EuroSmartz, PrintCentral communicates directly with Wi-Fi and AirPrint-compatible printers, but you can also install a small helper application on your Mac called WePrint that lets it work with virtually any printer. WePrint even lets your iPad print remotely by using an email account, iDisk, or WebDAV server as a channel for print jobs.

Apple

How to create vector masks in Photoshop

10:48:00 PM

Step 1. Prepare your file

Use Photoshop to open an image you’d like to edit; for this example, I’ll use the photo of a coffee mug. Once open, locate the Layers panel (Window -> Layers). You should see only one layer, called Background. Control-click (or right-click) this layer and, from the contextual menu, choose Layer from Background. You’ll be asked to name the layer; to keep it simple, just call it Photo. From the main menu, choose Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color. Stick with the default name (Color Fill 1) and click OK. Choose a color you want to use as a background (this will help illustrate the mask later on), and once again, click OK. You’ll notice that your picture disappears behind the solid color, but we'll fix that now. Return to the Layers panel and drag the Color Fill 1 layer below the Photo layer. This will keep the color fill layer hidden for the time being.

Create a color fill layer and place it below your photo.

Step 2. Outline your item

Click the Paths tab, which usually grouped with Layers and Channels. (If Paths is not visible, choose Window -> Paths.) Once you’ve located the Paths panel, click the menu icon in the top right and choose New Path. Give the path a name—Item Outline, perhaps—and click OK. Now choose the Pen Tool, which you’ll use to create a vector shape that outlines the item (in this case, a coffee mug). Place your first anchor point in a concave corner of the item, and work from there, placing anchor points along the perimeter until you close the shape. Stay as close to the edge of the item as you can; or, if you’re planning to knock out the background, try insetting the path just a touch.

Tips for working with the Pen Tool

1. A single click of the mouse extends a straight line between anchor points.

2. You can create a smooth point (a point with two directional handles) by clicking and dragging the mouse. Direction lines will extend from the anchor point, and while still holding down the mouse button, you can control the shape of the curve.

3. You can create a corner point (any point that introduces a hard angle into your path) by option-clicking the most recent anchor point you created. This reduces the anchor point to a single direction line while the preceding path segment retains its curve. This is very helpful in dealing with concave indents in your item.

Once you’ve fully outlined the item and closed the path, you can tweak it using the Direct Selection Tool. Click and drag any anchor point to reposition it, or tug on the direction lines to tweak the curvature of the path.

Tips for working with the Direct Selection Tool

1. Eliminate direction lines by holding option-command as you click an anchor point.

2. Add (or replace) direction lines by holding option-command as you click the anchor point and drag the mouse.

3. Convert a smooth point to a corner point with independent direction lines by option clicking either handle. The direction lines can then be moved separately.

Use the Pen Tool to create a vector shape that encircles the item you want to mask.

Step 3. Multiple shapes

Certain items will call for more than one vector shape to properly outline. Our coffee mug, for example, requires one shape around its outside edge and another along the inside edge of the handle. Grab the Pen Tool again and use it to create new vector shapes along any inside edges of your item.

Here’s where things get a bit tricky. You’ll need to tell each of these new shapes how you expect them to function. Choose the Path Selection Tool (from the same part of the toolbar as the Direct Selection Tool) and shift-click all interior shapes.

In the options bar, you’ll see four icons (overlapping squares) that let you change how the shapes interact. Click the second icon—Subtract from Shape Area—to tell the interior shapes to punch through the first shape you created. A quick look at the path thumbnail will tell you if you’ve done it right: the item itself should be white, with both interior and exterior transparent areas showing as grey. Assuming all is well, you can go ahead and combine the shapes into a single compound shape. Choose the Path Selection tool and then click the path thumbnail; then, within the options bar, click Combine.

You’ll need a number of shapes to properly outline items such as this mug. Interior shapes must be set to “Subtract from the shape area.”

Step 4. Adding your mask

You’re all set to add the the mask to the photo. First, click the path thumbnail to highlight your new path. Note that the path lines are quite faint and might be difficult to see against some backgrounds; however, as long as you've clicked the path thumbnail and the path itself is highlighted (in the Paths panel), you can move forward. You've spent most of this tutorial working in the Paths panel, but to change the path into a vector mask, you'll have to return to the Layers panel. Choose Layers (Window ->Layers) and click the Photo layer. Call up the Masks panel by choosing Window -> Masks, and in the top right, you’ll see a small pen icon.

Click this icon once to add the vector mask to the layer. The background of the photo will then disappear, leaving you with just the item and the color fill layer you added at the start of this process. The Masks panel also allows you to feather the vector mask, which softens its edges and makes the transition between masked and non-masked areas less harsh. I recommend feathering at least one pixel, but you should experiment for best results.

Once added to the layer, the mask knocks out the background, allowing you to see through to the color fill.

Vector masks in Photoshop CS5 are a bit labor-intensive to build, but they’re also much cleaner and more accurate than those created with pixel selection tools. And remember, you can edit the mask at any time—just click the vector mask thumbnail in the layer, choose the Direct Selection Tool, and then use it to tweak the vector shape.

Computer^News^FAQ

How to download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes

How to keep your iPad safe

Passcodes and encryption

Enhance the passcode

Enable remote wipe

Good safety practices

Connect to a remote Mac from your iPad

LogMeIn

iTeleport

How to print from an iPad

The basics

Activating AirPrint

Printing with AirPrint

Printing without AirPrint

How to create vector masks in Photoshop

About me

Follow Us

Press

recent posts

Text Widget

Pages

PCWorld How-To's and Tips

PCWorld Latest Technology Reviews

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Computer^News^FAQ

How to download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes

How to keep your iPad safe

Passcodes and encryption

Enhance the passcode

Enable remote wipe

Good safety practices

Connect to a remote Mac from your iPad

LogMeIn

iTeleport

How to print from an iPad

The basics

Activating AirPrint

Printing with AirPrint

Printing without AirPrint

How to create vector masks in Photoshop

About me

Follow Us

Press

recent posts

Text Widget

Subscribe To

Pages

PCWorld How-To's and Tips

PCWorld Latest Technology Reviews

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images