Until Apple rolls out a way to share reminders using an iPhone or iPad, let’s focus on the way to do it on a Mac. Open the Reminders application on your Mac; use spotlight to locate it if it’s not found on your dock.

You should see any current reminders scheduled (as well as completed), separated in categories along the left sidebar. You’ll need to be logged into iCloud on your Mac as well as your iPhone or iPad to sync reminders between your devices. Log on to your iCloud account on your Mac by selecting the iCloud icon in System Preferences.

Create a new category by clicking on the plus icon on the lower left; I’ve named mine “Shared Reminders“.

Populate this new category with any reminders you’d like by simply moving the cursor to the text field on the right and type away. For the basic type of reminder, you can stop here.

Click on the info icon on the right of each text field to add more information to an item. You can turn any item into a location-based reminder or choose a specific day for an alert to appear. Be sure to have a specific address handy if you are using location-based reminders; you won’t be able to search for one within the Reminders application.

Share your reminders with whoever, and as many people, as you’d like. On the left sidebar, click on the category you’d like to share; it will turn crimson red as you do so.

You’ll see the share icon to the right of the category name; click on this icon to bring up the sharing menu. I’m going to share my new category with my friend, Joe. All you need is an email address; don’t worry about knowing a specific iCloud address – that will be entered on their end.

These shared reminders can be added to, updated and deleted by anyone on your shared list.

I’m not sure why Apple hasn’t added the option to create shared reminder lists with others directly from an iPhone or iPad. It’s a feature that would certainly increase in its helpfulness when accessible on a portable device. I’d also like to see an option to receive an alert when someone modifies a shared reminder.

Fortunately, once you’ve set up a reminder list (and shared it), it can be added to at any time without the need of a computer.

The post How To Share Reminders Via iCloud With OS X Mountain Lion appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

And there lies the issue, browsing is less user friendly with each iOS update. Say you’re searching for hotel apps, for example. Typing “hotels” in the iTunes search bar on iOS 6 will bring up results one at a time. Although you can scan through the result list by swiping from right to left, the list of top apps for your search term are not presented on one screen, as it was with iOS 5. I liked being able to quickly scan several apps, along with their respective price and rating, at once.

This is the reason I like browsing apps on my MacBook instead. Along with a browser, comparing many apps at once is a piece of cake.

Note: I’d like to add that I’m using OS X Mountain Lion; I’m unsure if the following hint will work on previous OS X versions.

Continuing with the same example, searching for hotels using iTunes on Mac brings up over 100 results. Sure, you could compare a few apps by selecting one at a time and returning to the result screen, but here’s an easier way.

Drag an app icon to your browser of choice. For this example, I’ll be using Chrome, but any browser will do. The screen will populate with the app’s details directly from the iTunes Store. You accomplish the same thing by dragging apps from the Mac App Store.

If you would like to compare a few at a time, drag each app to the browser icon on your dock and the app details will appear on individual tabs.

Using a browser will allow you to switch between each app and make the selection process easier. You can select the appropriate “View in iTunes” button for the app you decide to go with.

It’s also possible to browse or search for apps on your Mac without opening up iTunes. Using Google, type in the following search term: “keywords site:itunes.apple.com“.

It would also help to add the country code to your search term to limit results to apps available to you. So if you’re looking for jogging apps and you live in the US, you’d type in: “jogging site:itunes.apple.com/us“.

If you use Mac search applications such as the Alfred or LaunchBar, you can add a custom search for the iTunes store by using the following term:

http://www.google.com/search?q={query}%20site:itunes.apple.com/us/

These hints are not for everyone – there’s nothing wrong with browsing through apps one at a time and searching using the iTunes interface. But if you’d like more flexibility when comparing apps you’re interested in, do it with a browser.

The post Browse and Compare Apps The Easy Way On Your Browser [Mac] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Google also allowed you to integrate contacts you may have stored within Gmail or Google Apps onto your iPhone, but the process was a bit complex and involved using Microsoft Exchange. Fortunately, the search giant has rolled CardDAV compatibility to their list of open protocols, making the process easier. We’ll walk you through the steps.

Adding Google Contacts to iOS

For this example, I’ll be using an iPhone 5 running iOS 6 but you may use any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or higher.

Any Gmail or Google Apps e-mail address you have installed on your iPhone device will remain unmodified. Navigate to the settings panel on your iPhone and select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.

From here, select Add Account and choose “Other”, the last item on the list.

Under the Contacts Category, select “Add CardDAV Account”.

In this screen, fill each text box with the appropriate information as shown in the screenshot below. Under server, enter: “google.com”. Enter your full email address, whether it’s a Gmail or Google Apps account, under the ”User Name” field along with the corresponding password.

The description field can be anything you’d like. In my case, I’m entering “Google Contacts”.

Click on “Next” on the upper right corner and your Google contacts will start syncing with iOS.

Verify that new contacts were imported successfully by opening up the contacts apps. I’m a big fan of digital cleaning so take some time to find any duplicates or unnecessary contacts and delete them by selecting an individual entry, tapping on “edit” and scrolling all the way down to ”Delete Contact”.

Tapping on the Groups button on the upper left will bring up a list of sources your contacts are filled (and edited) by. Since adding Google, I now have a total of three sources including iCloud and Facebook.

Select Google Contacts as Default

Although you can import from as many sources as you’d like, you may only have one default account. Any new contacts created through your iOS device will be added to this account.

You can choose Google (or any other email) as the default by returning to “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” then selecting “Default Account”. Simply choose your preferred account from the list shown.

Although Apple and Google are becoming stronger competitors each year, I love it when they play along. Having Gmail, YouTube and now full Google contacts integration available on my iPhone is a definite plus.

The post The New Way of Integrating Google Contacts On Your iPhone appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Here’s how you can get the most out of this feature on both an iOS device and on a Mac.

Photo Stream Albums on iOS 6

You can create and add images to a Photo Stream album on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 6 in many ways. The easiest way is to select a picture (or even several) from any of your photo albums, tap on the share icon, then select Photo Stream from the presented options.

If you haven’t created a Photo Stream album already, you can create one on this screen by tapping on “New Photo Stream“.

The next set of options will allow you to name the new album, designate who can see it, and includes a public toggle button. Choosing a public album will allow you to share your photos with anyone you give the Photo Stream link to.

If you’d like, you can name your album and proceed to the next step. You can always provide access to others later.

Before posting your photo to your new Photo Stream album, you can add a comment.

Once you’ve created an album, you can still modify it. To do this click on the blue arrow directly to the right of your Photo Stream album name; you may change the album name, add or delete those you are sharing it with and adjust your public settings.

Once you’ve provided access to your album (weather public or to a specific audience), they will always be able to see any photos transferred to that specific album –that is, unless you modify these privacy preferences or delete the album altogether.

Photo Stream Albums on a Mac

To access your Photo Stream albums (or join new ones) on a Mac, you need OS X 10.8.2 and iPhoto 9.4 or Aperture 3.4.

For this example, we’ll be using iPhoto. Share any photo from your iPhoto albums by selecting an image and clicking on the share icon on the lower right corner and choosing Photo Stream from the list menu.

Here you may select a specific album, or as its iOS counterpart, create a new one.

Note: I couldn’t find a way to create an album directly from the Photo Stream view in iPhoto. It seems publishing an image by the sharing icon is the only way to create one. I’m unsure if this is the same case with Aperture. 

Photo Stream Albums in Standard Browser

Sharing your favorite photos with Photo Stream albums are not limited to Apple devices. If you’d like to share a few pictures with grandma, make the album public and email the link.

These public albums have limited features; you can’t add or view comments, for instance. However, visitors can download an entire album easily thus allowing you to remove public access later.

Receiving Photo Stream Albums From Others

If Apple’s Photo Stream service becomes popular, you may start receiving invitations to join or view shared albums on iCloud more frequently. Depending on the privacy preferences, you may need Apple ID and compatible device to access the shared album.

There’s a ton of photo sharing software and services out there. I don’t even want to think about how many photos I’ve uploaded on Facebook. I like the idea of creating a Photo Stream album and sharing it with only a handful of people, hopefully it will catch on.

The post How To Share Photo Stream Albums on iOS 6 and Mac appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Get more out of OS X Mountain Lion by taking advantage of these 5 tips and tricks you may have missed.

1. 40 Stunning Wallpapers

Deep inside your Mac are 40 high-resolution wallpapers hidden within OS X Mountain Lion. I’m unsure why Apple has decided to leave most of these images out of the screensaver options but here is how you can get them to show up.

From the Finder Menu, select Go -> Go to Folder (or press Command+Shift+G) and type in the following:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.Framework/Versions/A/Resources/Default Collections/

The “Default Collections” window will appear showing you four folders filled with landscapes, animals and patterns. The images also include stunning photos from the Hubble Space telescope and National Geographic.

Keep this window open while you follow the next steps.

Launch “System Preferences” and choose “Desktop & Screensaver” from the first row and click on “Desktop”.

Now you can drag each folder from the “Default Collections” window to the Folders category in the wallpaper list on the left. Doing this will give you a shortcut to the images without creating any duplicates.

Since the images are sized at 3200 x 2000 resolution, they look amazing on a Mac desktop and even better on a Retina MacBook.

2. Notification Center Shortcuts

Access Notification Center on your Mac in a pinch by swiping with two fingers from the right edge of the trackpad to the left.

Notification Center on Mountain Lion can be incredibly useful – use it to send a quick tweet, for instance. Click on the “Settings” icon on the bottom to make various changes to the type of alerts your receive and their respective style. For example, you can deactivate sounds or toggle how long a specific alert will remain on the screen.

If you’re interested, you can also automatically import Growl notifications into Notification Center by upgrading to version 2.0 to disable Notification Center alerts temporarily, hold the “Option” key on your keyboard and click on its icon on the menu bar.

3. Safari (Pinch to Minimize)

No matter what browser you’re using, switching between half a dozen tabs can be a pain; try using the following tip that makes online multi-tasking a piece of cake.

Use a pinching gesture on your trackpad to minimize all open tabs in Safari into smaller windows, much like its iOS counterpart. Switch from one tab to another with a two-finger swipe.

4. Sending files over iMessage

Mountain Lion allows you to use iMessage to send any type of file under 100MB (music, video, PDF, etc.) to another Mac or iOS device. You could even send .gif images, although they will only play out in preview mode.

Emoji fans can access their favorite characters by pressing “Option + Command + T”.

5. Bring Back “Save As” Option

The “Save As” option is available in Mountain Lion but was not included as part of menu options for their applications. Only Apple can answer why is this so. Sure you could try the shortcut “Command + Option + Shift + S”, but there are easier ways.

Note: Unfortunately, when choosing the “Save As” option in Mountain Lion, changes will be saved on BOTH the original document and the newly created one. If you’re going to use this feature, remember to do so before making any edits.

Option 1. Hold the “Option” key while clicking on the File Menu from applications missing the Save As feature.

Option 2. Launch System Preferences and go to “Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts”. Now select “Application Shortcuts” from the left hand column. We’ll create two shortcuts here, one for “Save As” and another for “Duplicate”.

Click on the “+” sign and type “Save As for Menu Title” and set “Command + Shift + S” for the Keyboard Shortcut. Repeat this process and type in a second shortcut for Duplicate, say “Command+Option+Shift+D”. Complete these steps and you’ll find both “Save As” and “Duplicate”, along with their associated keyboard shortcuts, when clicking on the File Menu.

Other subtle features

• You can stream sound from your Mac to your Apple TV via Airplay. Access the feature by selecting “Sound” from the “Settings” panel.
• Create folders in Launchpad by dragging one icon to another. Folders can be renamed.
• Files can be renamed directly from the title bar.

It’s interesting how many features Apple has borrowed from iOS and made part of Mountain Lion. Hopefully I’ve covered one or two you didn’t know about. Feel free to share any that you’ve come across in the comments below.

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