by Eric Olson | Twitter.com/thefndtn

Have you ever wandered away from your Mac, only to start worrying about what you left up on the screen? A spreadsheet, a sensitive email, an employee evaluation? Even worse, think about the contents of you entire computer resting unrestricted in the wrong person’s hands - not a pretty picture, but only a lost or stolen computer away from reality. The following is a brief survey of some techniques and products available to keep your private data away from prying eyes.

First, turn off Automatic Logon. If you are not required to enter a password before you see your desktop, nothing will stop even the most casual snoop. Think of it as removing the lock from the front door on your home. Turn off automatic logon in the Accounts preference pane, click the Login Options icon, and change the Automatic Login option to Off (you may have to click the padlock icon and enter your username and password to access this setting.) Setting the “Display login window as:” to “List of users” is fine, but to require entering both username and password, select “Name and Password.”

To address the untended computer situation, think about locking your screen saver. First, in the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane, set the “Start Screen Saver” setting to a short interval - five minutes or so. Second, in the Security preference pane, check the box for “Require password after sleep or screen saver begins”. After that, your Mac will be password protected while you’re away.

Ok, so we have prevented easy access to your Mac, but anyone can remove your hard disk, or connect your Mac to another and easily view or copy your files. To really protect them, we need to encrypt them. Encryption essentially scrambles the contents of files, and they can only be successfully unscrambled with the correct password. Next, we’ll discuss some effective encryption tools.

Need a safe place to store all of your passwords, codes, credit card and bank account numbers? A Word or Excel document is not the place. Consider getting a password manager that stores your information in an encrypted format. You’ll need a password to access your data, and even the most sophisticated hacker won’t be able to get to them. There are many out there, from free to pricey, but I’ve had good luck with SecretBox and 1Password. SecretBox is a simple password manager with built-in formats for different types of private data. 1Password combines security and convenience by integrating directly into your web browser to make logging into your password protected web sites a one-keystroke one-password affair.

If you need to protect a large chunk of your files - perhaps your financial records, you can encrypt files and folders in an encrypted disk image. If you have ever installed software, you have probably opened a .dmg file which mounts on your desktop like a CD or hard drive. An encrypted disk image is a .dmg, but one that is inaccessible without a password. You can create an encrypted disk image with Apple’s Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder), and then just move files and folders into it. Use the files as you would any file on removable media, then eject the disk image to lock it away safely. Apple provides step-by-step instructions. For an application that makes the creating and using encrypted images super easy, try Knox from the creators of 1Password.

To encrypt your entire Home directory (Documents, desktop, mail, pictures, music) consider the built-in FileVault feature available in the Security preference pane. After you log in, your files will be decrypted and encrypted as you use them. It might be overkill to encrypt your iTunes library, but some people might not want it known that all they listen to is Cheech and Chong.

With any of these encryption solutions, remember that forgetting the master password means losing everything that is encrypted. Not even the techs at The Foundation will be able to recover your data without it. Also, just because your data is secure from prying eyes, does not mean it is secure from hardware failure or loss. Backup remains critical, and some of the methods above will require special consideration for backup. The Foundation techs can help with any of your encryption or backup needs. Just give us a call at (612) 465-0700.  More on this in a future article.

by Cory Elsmore | Twitter.com/thefndtn

On June 15th Apple released an updated Mac mini.  The new machine is a thing of beauty.  It is even smaller than the old mini.  The entire box is only 1.4 inches tall, The machine sports a unibody enclosure.  Rounding out the new hardware offering is more power, an SD card reader, and an HDMI port.

The new machine comes in desktop and server flavors, which has been typical of the Mac mini line as of late.  Starting at $699, the desktop offering sports a 2.4GHz Intel Core2Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a superdrive, and a 320GB hard drive.  The server model comes without the superdrive, has a 2.66GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and two 500GB hard drives.  The server model is $999.

A huge improvement over previous models of the mini is that the power supply is now built into the unit.  Previous models had a bulky power brick required to power the machine.  It’s amazing that not only has Apple reduced the size of the mini, it’s put more of its components in the box itself.

Along with the integrated power supply, the HDMI port makes this unit the perfect companion for your HDTV.  It will output up to the full 1080p resolution of the high-end HDTVs.  Sound output, unfortunately, cannot be hooked up in full surround sound.  Output is accomplished via a standard 3.5mm jack.  Hopefully this is altered with future versions of the mini, as many of the competing media center PCs offer surround sound support.

All things considered, the new Mac mini is a very nice offering.  The super compact size and reasonably powerful system make it a perfect living room computer.  For anyone looking for a simple machine to handle basic computing tasks, or for a way to get Hulu playing on their television, the Mac mini is a great choice.

by Patrick McAvey | Twitter.com/thefndtn

Whether you have the original iPhone or the latest iPhone 4, battery usage is always an issue. Because the iPhone does so much — plays video, music, checks email all day, delivers directions, search the web and plays games — it uses a lot more energy than a phone that is just a phone. To keep the power available to do the things I want, I have a few tips to make the iPhone do less and use less power.

1. Dim your display. In Settings-> Brightness I keep mine set to about 1/4 brightness which is bright enough for me under all circumstances. Since the backlight for the display is a major source of battery consumption reducing it can have a major effect.

2. Autolock. Tackling the same issue - LCD Backlight - the Autolock function turns off the backlight and locks the screen from input after a set amount of time. Setting your Autolock to the minimum of 1 minute will save more power for other things. Autolock can be found in Settings-> Autolock.

3. Limit your WiFi use. I leave my WiFi set to off almost all the time. This saves power in two ways - it turns off the WiFi antenna and also does not scan for networks to connect to all the time. I am rarely downloading large files and so can live without it. On the rare occasions I need to get a big file fast, I turn WiFi back on. If you are person who has to have WiFi to live, then by all means leave it on, but consider turing off the Ask to Join Networks option - that way it will connect to networks you know about, but not always be asking about new networks it finds.  All of these Settings can be found in Settings-> WiFi.

4. Bluetooth. If you do not use Bluetooth devices with your iPhone, turn that off in Settings-> General -> Bluetooth. If you use it very rarely you might get in the habit of turning it off until needed.

5. Play games less. If it is your thing, it is your thing, but accept that playing games can be a very high draw on your battery. It uses the CPU, LCD, the graphics system and even the networking for some games. Nothing seems to suck battery on my iPhone 3GS like playing Angry Birds. Games are fun, but really use a lot of battery power.

In general these tips can really help make it through your day with enough battery. A final essential tip I cannot stress enough is to plug in as much as possible. As I drive from place to place throughout the day I have my iPhone plugged in to the charger in my car. This means that not only do I top off the battery while I am driving, I also do not consume any battery during that time. At my desk I also have a charger and plug it in when I am in the office. I use my iPhone a lot and all day long but by following these conservation strategies and charging it whenever I can I am able to get though my day with power to spare.

by James Klann | Twitter.com/thefndtn

Update: FontExplorer X Server 1.5.2 for Mac and Windows has been released with plug-ins that automatically activate fonts when used with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Call The Foundation at (612) 465-0700 for more details.

Fonts… you know them, you love them, and sometimes you even hate them. They’re those pesky little files that designers can’t live without, but can cause havoc with Mac OS X. Since the introduction of OS X, back in the halcyon days of 2001, fonts have been a thorn in designers’ sides, making life more difficult that it honestly needed to be on the Mac. For those that are somewhat new to our fair platform, here’s a quick primer on fonts on Macs and how Extensis Font Doctor and other apps can help.

With the advent of OS X, Apple introduced the OpenType font class to their system. Prior to that it was just TrueType and PostScript Type 1.  TrueType was developed by Apple back in 1985, as a competitor to Adobe’s Type 1 format. Not appreciating being left out of the party, Microsoft joined in and created OpenType in 1994, intending it to replace both TrueType and Postscript fonts. In 1996 Adobe, sided with MS and by the early aughts Apple finally came on board. The beauty of Opentype fonts is that it simplifies things in that they’re cross-platform compatible and can be used on virtually any platform (Mac, Windows Unix) without modification.

Depending on who and what needs to access the fonts, the files are stored in 3 to 4 places: System/Library/Fonts, Library/Fonts, ~/Library/Fonts and Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts. Items in the System Library are utilized by the Mac OS. Files in Library Fonts are accessible by all users that have accounts on the machine. Fonts that are stored in ~/Library/Fonts are only available to that specific user. Finally, items placed in Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts are only accessible to the Adobe applications.

Like any file, fonts can get corrupted over time, which can result in applications crashing, machines locking up, files not printing and a myriad of other issues. To complicate matters, OS X and the certain applications that use fonts (the Adobe Creative Suite, Quark, MS Office to name a few) create font cache files which can become damaged as well, resulting in similar issues specific to those applications.

So what’s a person to do? Well, first and foremost, clean up the fonts you currently have. Extensis Font Doctor is a great utility that will update font resources for OS X, resolve duplicates and let you know if the files you have pass muster. It’s fairly inexpensive and it also comes free with a purchase of Suitcase Fusion or the Universal Type Server.

Once the fonts have been vetted, you’ll want to a font manager of some sort. Apple’s Font Book is okay but I find it to be a bit cumbersome and problematic. For the home user or designer with very few fonts it’ll get the job done. Unfortunately for those that have an extremely large Font library or have purchased the Adobe Font Folio, you’ll want a more robust app. If you’re an independent designer or are part of a smaller workgroup, Linotype FontExplorer X and Suitcase Fusion 2 are both excellent choices. They support auto-activation and allow for fonts to be enabled on the fly, without having to reboot the system or log out of your user account. Finally, for those of you that are part of a larger workgroup and need to ensure all designers have access to the exact same fonts, Extensis’ Universal Type Server is what you want. It has a cross-platform server application that stores the fonts you upload to it. The server then interacts with the UTS client, which is installed on each design station.

So there you have it, a primer on the sometimes overwhelming world of fonts. Hope it helps you, our fearless readers, as you go forth and do what you do best: create and design amazing things. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at (612) 465-0700. We’ll be more than happy to help you put together the font solution that works for you.

by The Foundation | Twitter.com/thefndtn

We had all seen Apple’s iPhone 4 prototype before Steve Jobs delivered his annual WWDC keynote yesterday morning. At first glance, the unit that Jobs showed off was not unlike what we had expected — the surprises came in the form of remarkable craftsmanship and in-house applications.

Perhaps Mondays greatest surprise came in Apple’s latest mobile hardware. From the outside in, Apple carefully crafted what Jobs describes as “the most precise thing and one of the most beautiful things Apple’s ever made.” The phone’s razor thin at a mere 9.3mm thick  At the heart of the new iPhone lies a blazing fast Apple A4 chipset (1GHz). The frame resembles a unibody MacBook Pro sandwiched between two pieces of glass and continues Apple’s trend with both black and white models available at launch. Stand-by battery life has also been bumped to 300 hours.

Steve Jobs brought Activision (Guitar Hero) and Zynga (Farmville) on stage to present their own Apps, but it was Apple’s in-house apps that stole the show. Leveraging the latest hardware, Apple delivered iMovie with HD quality recording, editing and publishing. Additionally, the iPad’s highly successful iBooks app will come to the iPhone with built in PDF viewing, bookmarks and note taking. Books purchased for the iPad will be downloadable on all Apple platforms at no extra cost.

Coupling new hardware with software, Apple hopes to utilize the iPhone’s front-facing camera to bring video calls to the masses. For now, the feature will only work between two iPhones connected to WiFi. Apple claims they have to “work a little bit with the carriers” to get video calls over 3G. With AT&T’s new data plans, would video over 3G make much sense?

The iPhone 4 will be available on June 24 but you can pre-order yours beginning June 15, 2010. US Pricing will begin at $199 for the 16 GB model. Another 16 GB will cost you an additional $100.