Tips

Those of you disheartened because your older iPhone or iPod Touch won't support iOS 5 have an "unofficial" alternative.

Available for free, a piece of software dubbed Whited00r can install a custom edition of iOS 5.1 on the iPhone 2G and 3G as well as the iPod Touch 1G and 2G. The software works by tapping into the Restore feature directly through iTunes. And it automatically includes the latest release of Cydia to jailbreak your device. So unlike other hacks, Whited00r isn't too difficult to set up.

Most of the key features that iOS 5 … Read more

Text substitution is a convenient option for quickly composing documents without needing to learn special methods for accessing symbols or full names or phrases that you regularly use.

This option is so commonly used that OS X has a central text substitution service that you can set up in the system preferences; however, not all programs are built to use this. Unfortunately many word processors, such as Microsoft Word and Apple's Pages, do not use central text substitution services, and instead incorporate their own text substitution options. As a result, if you set up text substitution in the OS … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week people wrote in with questions about a change to system colors, how to access lost e-mails in Time Machine, cursor repetition not working after upgrading to Lion, and DiskWarrior not being able to fix damaged file resource headers. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your own suggestions in the comments.

Question: Restoring system colors MacFixIt reader Margo asks:

The promise is seductive. Two of the biggest technology companies on the planet are combining forces to give their adoring fans free iPads and iPhones? Yes! And all you have to do is give up all your personal information for that chance.

That's what spam scammers are hoping you will do once you see the quasi-personal letter from everyone's favorite friend networker, Mark Zuckerberg. The e-mail will come off as somewhat legit, singling you out as a randomly selected winner of a one-time only promotional event sponsored by Facebook and Apple.

So, you've already won a free iPad or iPhone, but there's a catch. Mark Zuckerberg just needs your e-mail address, phone number, and other account information to confirm. And of course, the site that Zuckerberg chooses to use to acquire that information is not Facebook, but a random promotional company.… Read more

I get this question all the time, "I just bought a new TV, do I need to buy a HDMI receiver?" The short answer is no.

You can hook up your Blu-ray or cable box's HDMI outputs directly to the TV, and run digital audio cables to your receiver, and live happily ever after. Granted, you won't be able to play Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio soundtracks, just standard Dolby Digital and DTS audio you have enjoyed all these years. Some players, like the Oppo BDP-93 or '95 internally decode TrueHD and DTS Master … Read more

The keyboard offers a number of common characters for the language layout you have chosen, especially when you use modifier keys such as Shift, Command, and Option to invoke alternative character sets; however, while those that are mapped to various keys are common, they are only a minor subset of the characters that are available for you to use when composing documents.

OS X's support for unicode fonts makes a vast array of characters available for you to use in applications that are coded with Apple's Cocoa frameworks, and while some programs have their own input methods for … Read more

Though the biggest gripe for most iPhone 4S users has been an abnormally short battery life, an issue that could prove to be just as frustrating is gaining vocal ground in support forums across the Web.

These iPhone 4S owners are experiencing random muting during phone calls, an issue that has reportedly been ignored in the forthcoming iOS 5.1 update.

The problem happens as calls are placed. You tap the appropriate contact or dial the number you wish to call and at some point during the connection, the audio on the caller's end fails.

Interestingly, on the other … Read more

The Finder in OS X has four views: Icon, List, Cover Flow, and Column, which can be activated on any Finder window to display its contents in different ways.

Each has its perks and uses, though many may often use column view because it shows multiple levels of a directory tree in the same window and can therefore help in organizing and navigating files.

While this feature makes navigating and moving files around a bit easier, often when you scroll up or down in column view the column size will not change. This sometimes results in long file names being … Read more

American speaker manufacturer Magnepan has just launched a program to reach potential customers who would like to test out their speakers, but don't live near enough to a store to hear them in person.

The program, "Maggie Dealer-Direct," relies on dealer expertise to advise customers, but Magnepan ships directly to the customer for a 30-day home trial (in the U.S. only). You might say Magnepan will be acting as the dealer's shipping department.

Some might wonder why Magnepan doesn't just eliminate the dealers and sell speakers factory direct, but they value the depth of … Read more