It’s that time again. I’m handing this edition of Feedback Friday over to my brother whom many of you (and your husbands) have come to know + appreciate for his willingness to share that techie brain of his. Heeeeeere’s Kevin!

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I am trying to make an iMovie, after being inspired by your 12 videos of Christmas in Dec. ’11, and I am unable to access my iTunes songs (there is no arrow next to the iTunes icon in iMovie).  Any idea what might be wrong?

Adding an iTunes track to your iMovie project should be really easy to do, which makes me think there isn’t something I’m understanding here. Just in case there isn’t, all you need to do is look for the iTunes button on the right side of iMovie. Clicking this will reveal your iTunes library. From there, it’s a matter of dragging and dropping into your project.

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I recently switched to a Mac and am having such a hard time editing in Photoshop but still effectively using iPhoto for organizing – I’m not using the organizer and need some tips.

For the most part, PhotoShop (and even PhotoShop Elements at that) should be very similar between the Windows and Mac versions. Similar enough to make the transition relative easy when using those tools, at least. As for organizing your photos, there are lots of good how-to videos available on YouTube for using PhotoShop Elements’ Organizer tool.

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I had a paid subscription to me.com before iCloud came.  Now that I have moved over to iCloud and set everything up, do I still need to pay the annual fee in order to access my iDisk and the sync – up of my calendar/ to-do/ contacts, etc?

No – unlike its predecessor, MobileMe (and .Mac for that matter), iCloud was designed to be free for everyone! You will be able to sync most everything exactly how you do now, with a couple exceptions. Apple plans to discontinue the use of iDisk, MobileMe Photo Gallery and iWeb hosting after this Summer. Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, Email, Bookmarks, etc will remain in tact. I’ve actually had really good luck with all of those syncing services since migrating to iCloud. With the exception of the items that will be discontinued, I think you will be really happy with iCloud. I am still hoping that Apple announces equivalent services to compensate for the ones that we will lose shortly. Stay tuned.

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I am new to iMovie.  Do you know of any online classes that would teach me how to use the program?  Do you know of a PC counterpart?

Apple has some really great how-to videos on their site that helps you to get started with using iMovie. I really recommend you spend some time watching some of those. The other recommendation I have is that once you have some of the basics down, schedule an appointment with your local Apple store to go in for further help. Those guys are really, really good at spending quality time with you helping you to understand the ins and outs of your questions. It’s a one-on-one session, and best of all… it’s free!

As for a Windows alternate to iMovie… ArcSoft has a pretty good solution called ShowBiz 5. Check that out. Price is $79.99, but you also have the option of a 15-day trial.

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Any recommendations for organizing your pictures in iPhoto?  How often do you download your pictures?

The answer that I would give here totally depends on a couple things: 1) how large your internal hard drive is 2) how many pictures you take in a period of time. If you have a big hard drive and don’t take a lot of pictures, there really isn’t too much a need to archive older pictures off to an external storage device. However, if you are taking a lot of large (RAW) shots, it’s worth archiving off once in a while. I personally archive my pictures about every 6 months to make sure I have plenty of free hard drive space available. When that time comes, I usually leave about 2 months worth of shots on my local hard drive, the rest are stored elsewhere. Regardless of how you attack this particular challenge, be sure you are BACKING UP your photos! I can’t say that enough.

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I just got an android phone.  I see that the iPhone has an app called ‘Notica.’  Any recommendations for an android app that is similar?

I’m not too familiar with Notica, but I did some quick research for you. The closest thing that I could find for Android would be an app called “Photo Diary“. I’m not necessarily endorsing or recommending this app, but it might be a good place to begin your search. Good luck!

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I am using ‘Transfer.”  Do you know of another app that will move a large number of photos between all my devices: iPad, phone and computer?

As a one-time photo share project, you may want to consider syncing your photos to your computer, using that as your new primary copy, and then simply syncing the photos to your various devices. If you want to continually be in sync (not to be confused with ‘N Sync), you should definitely consider using iCloud’s Photo Stream service. This service (as part of the free iCloud service) syncs your images automatically from one device to another as you take them.

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What size dpi should I be scanning my photos at?  Also, what is the best file type to save them in for archival purposes?

Most consumer scanners have the ability of scanning images at very high resolutions. If the images are significant enough, you may want to consider scanning them at a really high resolution to ensure you are protected going forward, regardless how large you want to blow the images up. That, however, does result in much larger file sizes, so there is a fine line to walk. I scan my images at a 600 dpi resolution, which is good enough for most applications. Keep in mind that when you print these images, you typically don’t go much higher than 300 dpi.

As for format, that again depends on how significant the images are. If you want a really good compression-less format, you will want to use TIFF. Again, that will result in massive file sizes. If you save them in a JPG format, your images will be compressed, but A) you usually can’t even tell, and B) you will save yourself a LOT of hard drive space.

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My iMac just arrived this week.  Any “start doing this now so you don’t spend hours doing it later” sort of tips?  How about any must have software?  And why do I see the little blue box with the question mark instead of pictures?

First of all, congratulations on buying a really nice system! I hope you’re enjoying it. If this is your first Mac (moving from Windows), check out “Learn the Switch the Mac“. It costs $0.99, but walks you through (interactively) how to make the jump from Windows to Mac. Some other apps to look for would be the Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Evernote, Caffeine and Twitter.

As for the “question mark instead of an pictures” issue, head over to my site and send me an email with more details. I’ll help you out.

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My iPhone won’t access all that I have on my computer when I am using Wi-Fi.  Is there a way to access it without having to load it?

There are some limitations to use the mobile version of Safari (the browser built-in to iOS, and thus iPhone/iPad). One of those limitations is the use of Flash video. Apple has made it pretty clear that they don’t intend to support Flash on these devices because of stability concerns.

That probably isn’t answering your question, but if you want to visit my site and provide me with more details, I can help you out.

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Does the iPhoto app allow you to do the same things that iPhoto on a Mac does?

Because iPhoto on an iOS app (iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch) is strictly touch-based and has a smaller display, you will be somewhat limited on what you can do. Having said that, Apple has done a really great job of incorporating the necessary filters and processes to make it a really useful tool. I have it on my devices and use it almost daily.

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How do you take a DVD you own and upload and watch it on your iPad?

This is a great question. I actually get this quite often, so I have a write-up on how to do it (step-by-step) here.

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I take most of my videos on my iPhone because it is always with me.  However, I cannot figure out how to get them on a DVD so we can watch them on the TV and not just on the computer.

First, you will need to transfer the images from your iPhone to your computer. Once they’re on your computer, it’s a matter of burning them to a DVD. Some DVD players will allow you to play a slideshow from a disc containing a series of images, and others require you to use iDVD (or something similar) to build an actual DVD menu. If your DVD player is like the latter, then it can be a painful process.

Another option that you may want to consider is to pick up a $99 Apple TV. These are awesome devices for streaming content to your TV, including photos. It has a feature called AirPlay that allows you to display a picture taken on your iPhone on your TV with a quick tap of the button. It’s very slick.

To be quite frank, the days of the DVD are very quickly going away. I personally wouldn’t spend too much time working out how to use DVDs to accomplice this.

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How do I re-size and purchase pictures using my new iPad?

You can crop photos using most third-party photo-editing apps available for the iPad as well as the built-in Photos app, but cropping isn’t really applicable here. Depending on the size of the original image, there can be an option to resize on the fly when you send the image via email, but outside of that scenario, I’d be curious to know why you need to resize it.

Purchasing photos… is there a specific source that you are trying to purchase these images from? If you’re interested, head over to my site and let’s start a two-way dialog about what you’re trying to accomplish.

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I have an android phone and I see now an app for instagram.  How do you use it and print the 4 x 4 picture?

Yes – Instagram for Android was launched not too long ago. There are two ways to print an image on your Android. The simplest way would be to email the photo to yourself, open it on your computer and print from there. Alternatively, you can print directly from the device. Keep in mind that Android doesn’t support the ability to print from the device by default, but here’s a quick write-up on how to work around that.

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I don’t get instagram – What exactly does it do for me and how do you use it?

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Instagram myself. Having said that, Instagram is a social photo-sharing app. It’s sole purpose is to allow you to easily share your photos with family and friends. Think of it like a photo-only version of Facebook or Twitter. In fact, Facebook recently acquired Instagram for $1,000,000,000 because they feel so strongly that it will compliment their social network nicely.

Becky chiming in: GASP! Not a fan of Instagram, Kevin!? I just wanted to say that I love Instagram for the quick filters that make my everyday pictures look cool. I don’t have it set up for social sharing at all. I don’t follow anyone, and no one can follow me. It’s just for taking personal pictures, which I then implement into Project Life, etc. I know a lot of people love it for the social sharing, and I just felt all these little gasps across the world wide web when Kevin said he wasn’t a big fan.  ; )

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I need help organizing photos in iPhoto.  Previously, on my PC, I have folders organized by year, month and date.  With iPhoto I am finding it hard to organize and find a file easily without having to scroll through my whole library.  Do you have any tips to make the process easier?

There are a few things you can do to make it easier to find your images quickly in iPhoto. First of all, iPhoto has a feature called “Faces”. This technology automatically finds and catalogs the faces of your family and friends. For example, if Sally is in one of your pictures, it will then put a link to that picture in Sally’s personal collection of photos.

Another method of organization would be to use Photo Albums. Using Albums is similar to creating/using albums in iTunes. Your album entitled “Rock” can contain songs of rock and roll. Likewise, your album entitled “Grand Canyon – 2012″ would contain photos of your trip to the Grand Canyon.

The last organizational method includes using tags. You can tag your photos with certain words, then have iPhoto search for all photos matching that tag. For example, if you tagged a series of photos with the words “vacation”, iPhoto would then list those images when you search for that keyword.

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I have a Canon 60D camera and I shoot in the best HD video possible (so I can create quialty home DVD’s).  I have iMovie/Quicktime.  How do I re-size the video/formatting so it does not take hours to upload to Facebook?

iMovie has a very easy-to-use video export feature that allows you to export a video using various sizes and qualities. Be sure to look under “Share”.

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How do I print downloads in the sizes I’d like?  For example it says ’3×4′ but I get a full page when I open it.

It sounds like you might be using Preview to print? If not, I apologize for a misleading answer, but if you are, read on…

The default setting in Preview is to print an image at full page size. Simply change the setting in the print dialog to “Scale” and “100%”.

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What online storage system do you recommend as another backup for photos?

For online backup, I recommend using Carbonite. Mozy is another service to check out.

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I have taken a few instagram photos on my iphone and uploaded them to my iMac.  I plan to transfer them to my USB stick to print along with all the ‘normal’ photos I have taken.  Can you please tell me, when I go to print these off, will they automatically print out as a 4 x 4, even if I select 4 x 6 size?  Will I need to copy them onto the USB separately?

The end-result paper size will be a direct result of the size you request from the printer. If you select 4×6″, you will get 4×6″ paper, even if the image you submit is 4×4″. You will definitely want to check with the specific print house you plan on using to find out how they handle this specific request. I can see this being handled differently, depending on their equipment and individual preference.

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I just got a new iPad 3 and it will not connect to our Wi-Fi network.  Our other devices connect just fine.  The first time I tried to connect my ipad, it was successful but the connection was lost within an hour and will not reconnect.  When I try to select to it again in the Network Settings it just hangs there (i.e., the rotating gear next to the network name just continues to spin).  I’ve tried resetting my network settings to no avail.  Any ideas?

First, let’s try and remove your wireless network connection, then we’ll reestablish. This will effectively reset it on your iPad.

On your iPad, go to Settings > Wi-Fi. Tap on the blue arrow to the right of your home wireless network, and then tap the “Forget this Network” button. When that’s done, go back to your Wi-Fi settings and try to re-add the network. That should do it. If not, head to my site, and we can start a two-way dialog.

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I want to be able to read and write to my new external HD, on both my PC and mu iMac (running Snow Leopard).  My old external HD worked perfectly with both.  My iMac won’t write to my new external hard drive which I think is formatted to NTFS.  I came across a product called NTSF for MAC OS X 9.0 (Paragon Software).  Is this the product I need or is there another way this can be fixed?  Also, when using my external hard drive on my PC it won’t let me save directly onto it from within a program.  It tells me the external HD is full (which it is not).  The only way I can save onto it is to copy and paste from within Windows Explorer.  What am I doing wrong?

This is a good question. First of all, there’s no need to purchase anything to make this work, and it’s easy to work around.

Before we dive in and fix this for you, you need to make sure that you have a copy of everything on the hard drive that you want to keep. If not, make a copy somewhere while we reformat it. If it’s an empty drive, you’re ready to go.

Next, let’s connect your new hard drive to your Mac. On your Mac, go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select the new hard drive from the list to the left (again, be careful to select the correct drive as the next step is destructive). With the drive selected, click on the tab called “Erase”. From here, change the format to “MS-DOS (FAT)”, give it a name and click Erase…

MS-DOS isn’t the most efficient file system out there (certainly not like NTFS for OS X Journaled), but you can read and write from both Windows and Mac. That’s it! Now you can enjoy using your new drive.

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I was attempting to burn photos onto a DVD that already had 4 months worth of pictures on it.  While in the process, the pictures that were already on the DVD somehow disappeared.  Is there any way of recovering these pictures?

There’s a very good chance there isn’t. If a file has been overwritten, it can’t be recovered because that space has been reallocated for other use, and another image has been overwritten on top of the old. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope you have a copy elsewhere!

In case you’ve missed it before (here and here), my ever-so-giving and super-smart brother Kevin does “Tech Friday” on my blog once in a while. Why? Sometimes you ask me tech-related questions. I’m not a tech expert. Kevin is. Kevin’s very generous with his time and loves to help others understand technology.

Here is the latest round of tech Q+A. He’s answering the questions you asked on facebook + twitter. Feel free to leave more questions here and he can add them to the cue for the next time. Thank you, thank you, thank you Kevin. Isn’t he just super?

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Q: @MotherWifeWoods asks, What’s the best & least expensive way to get my screen to match what I print? My pictures come out too warm.

A: If you are comfortable with using the built-in calibration tools in OS X (sorry Windows users, no built-in tools), you can go here and run a quick calibration. It’s free and works pretty good.

If you’re looking for something a little more complete, you will want to check out the Spyder calibration tools. Prices range depending on the version you purchase, but they start under $100.

Once you have calibrated your screen, you will want to download the appropriate ICC profile for your printer. For example, if I were using an Epson inkjet printer, I would go to www.epson.com and locate/download the ICC profile for your printer. By doing this, the computer and printer will now be fully in sync, and colors should match exactly.

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Q: Donna asks, I have recently had a lot of trouble with the storage devices I have used to backup the almost 50,000 pictures I have. I would like to know if you could tell me the best and safest type of storage out there so I can stop worrying about losing all of my pictures.

A: One of the problems with backing up a LOT of large files is the time it takes to transfer from media to media (i.e.: hard drive to cloud storage or even hard drive to hard drive). The easiest form of backing up your data is by using a service like Carbonite. It’s a no-brainer solution because it handles everything automatically. It’s still a valid solution if you have a lot of data, but it will take longer and eat up your bandwidth.

My personal backup solution involves a high-capacity Drobo storage device that I have at home. In addition, I have a copy of that same set of data made each week, and leave that copy at the office (in case something happens to my house). It’s not as convenient as a cloud back-up solution, but definitely faster. You may also want to consider an occasional dump to a series of DVD to store at a friend’s house.

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Q: Karen says, Yay for Kevin!! My question is that with my “time machine” on the Mac. How can I make it only save certain files I want to be backed up such as pictures instead of everything on the Mac?

A: Although you can’t be selective with Time Machine when it comes to file types, you CAN be selective when it comes to selection. Open your Time Machine preferences (System Preferences | Time Machine), and you will see an “Options…” button. From here, you can choose which directories to exclude from your backups. That’s all the control you have in Time Machine, for now.

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Q: Nanci asks, I would love to know how Kevin keeps track of his commitments? What software or online system does he use to track his to-do’s, promises, misc info?

A: Life is crazy! And my life/schedule is no different. I usually have a lot going on all the time. Before I tell you how I manage MY time, I need to remind you that everyone is different, and this is a very personal question. My answer may be unique.

Having said that, I use …  iCal and Mail. Yup. That’s it. It’s simple and effective for me. I’ve tried several other task management solutions like ToDo. TaskPad and Task ToDo. The problem I found with all of these is they attempt to do more than I wanted them to do. Between using iCal for calendar items and tasks, and Mail for email, it’s the perfect solution … for me. As an added bonus, I’m a big fan of “Zero Inbox”. Google it to learn more.

*** Added note from Becky: Same here, Nanci. It’s iCal for our family. ***

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Q: Brittany asks, I’m wondering how I can email groups from my iPhone. I love to send pics to grandparents but there’s got to be a better way to do it than adding each off their email addresses separately.

A: Unfortunately, sending to a group you already have established isn’t a native feature … at least not yet. I am hoping that when iOS 5 comes out later this year, this will be a feature that is slipped in, because I want it just as bad as everyone else.

For the time being, there are two ways around this. The first option is to manually choose your recipients. Rather than having to filter through your entire contacts list, however, you can filter to just the group you want to send to. This isn’t bad if you only have a small handful of recipients to send to (less than 10).

The second option is to download a utility app from the iTunes store to do the job for you. One that I use occasionally is called “GroupEmail”. It costs $0.99, and gives you the ability to send to groups. This is one of many that are available.

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Q: Stephani asks, I’m looking for decent priced video editing software that is compatible with iTunes to edit our home movies. Just to make it even more confusing, I have a PC.

A: Video editing on a PC?? Noooo!!!! Just kidding. Not only is it possible to do this, but a lot of people still do. You’re not alone.

There used to be two solutions to check out: 1) Avid and 2) Pinnacle Systems. However, if you visit the two sites, you will realize they are both now owned by Avid. So, just to make it easier, there is one real option to consider … Avid.

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Q: Melissa says, I would love some iPhoto basic info to go along with the time machine questions below on how you organize photos, sort them, tag them, back them up, etc.

A: Tagging photos is a great way to keep your library organized, but it’s time-consuming. If you love your photos enough to keep them “OCD organized”, definitely get in the habit of tagging. If you haven’t tagged before, start now. Albums and Smart Albums are good to, but tagging is awesome, and those tags are also backed up to Time Machine (as part of your overall library). iPhoto also has a really cool facial recognition engine built-in, and it actually works pretty good.

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Q: Jennifer says, Would love to know his thoughts on a good point & shoot camera. iPhone is not an option … initial cost is OK but not willing to pay more monthly to have one so need a one time cost point and shoot camera worth the $$$.

A: I’ve always been a big fan of Canon, and still use nothing but Canon. My point & shoot is the SD900, but it’s showing it’s age now (I use it less and less, and my iPhone 4 more and more). If I were to get one today, it would probably be the Canon ELPH 300 HS. Price ranges from $300-400.

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Q: Joanne asks, Should my first Apple computer be an iPad or a MacBook Pro? I’m leaning towards an iPad 2 because of its portability.

A: If you plan on using it for just basic tasks (email, web, games, etc), the iPad is awesome. One thing to watch out for is that the iPad is still somewhat limited in what you can do with it. It’s a GREAT companion to a laptop. When you want to do light lifting on the go with great battery life, the iPad is where you go. When you want to do some heavy lifting (photo editing, video, etc), the laptop is the place to go. If you can only have one or the other, I would strongly consider picking up a MacBook Pro now, and adding the iPad when you can later.

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Q: Sabrina asks, I’m thinking about jailbreaking my iPhone. Besides losing the support from Apple, do you know of any drawbacks? Have you heard horror stories about the phone locking up or losing functionality?

A: I’m personally opposed to jailbreaking because once you hack away at Apple’s software, you can no longer guarantee that things will run smoothly. I jailbroke my iPhone 3G back in the day, and after 3 or 4 days, reversed it because it was too unstable. Having said that, I know plenty of people who have done it and are happy. Those people are usually tech geeks though (just to give you an idea).

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Q: Melaina asks, Why can’t I delete just one individual phone call on my iPhone? It either all or none.

A: Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer for you on that one. “It is what it is”, as I am finding myself say more and more often these days. I’m not sure why Apple doesn’t allow you to do that, but I can’t think of what it could be. Try again when iOS 5 comes out later this year to see if they sneak that feature in.

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Q: Jennifer Wells asks, Sometimes when I am reading a blog or website, in the place where the photo is supposed to be, a blue box with a question mark shows up. What gives??

A: Usually, that is because the one updating the web site hasn’t done all the clean-up they needed to, and left some unfinished business. Short of refreshing the page to force a reload, there isn’t a lot that can be done on your end. I would be interested to know if it happens on some computers and not others, though.

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Q: Margie asks, I would like to move all of my photos from iPhoto to Lightroom without losing my most important metadata (mostly keywords & ratings). Do you know the easiest way? The latest idea I’m considering is trying out the 30 Day free trial of Aperture and using Aperture as the go between, i.e., iPhoto>Aperture>Lightroom. Any thoughts or experience about this? I know this is a rather specific question so no worries if it is too “out there”. Thank you.

A: You’re actually on the right track by considering the iPhoto -> Aperture -> Lightroom approach. That’s valid and should get you where you want to be. If you end up going this route, be sure to clean up after yourself so you don’t have 2 or 3 copies of everything scattered all over the place.

Another option to consider is an app called Picture Sync. The idea is that it syncs your metadata. Two things to be aware of: 1) it’s no longer supported, so you may get mixed results and 2) it’s no longer updated, so it may be a good one-time approach.

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Q: Michelle asks, Just purchased a new Macbook. What would be the best software to use for photo editing that includes adding text. iPhoto is great for everything else apart from that.

A: When you say “adding text”, are you talking about adding text on top of an image? If so, you are correct in that iPhoto doesn’t allow for that. Primarily, iPhoto is a photo management tool, and secondarily, an editing system. PhotoShop is the opposite. You can look at using Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe PhotoShop Elements, or Pixelmator. These apps can be relatively expensive, but remember … you aren’t just getting the ability to add text. A whole new photo-editing world will be opened up to you.

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Q: Dawn asks, How can I find the date that I took a picture on my iPhone?

A: It would be nice if you can do this right on the iPhone (and maybe you can with a 3rd-party app somewhere), but right now, that’s not the case (as with other iOS features, check on this after iOS 5 is released later this year). What I do is import my photos into iPhoto (or any other photo management app), and then expose the metadata that way.

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Q: Sandy asks, How do you add a playlist to your blog? So many people have that, it’s so cool!

A: I actually have never seen that before, but after doing a quick Google, it looks like a lot of people are doing this (wow, the wording of that makes me sound like an old fart!). It depends on where your blog is hosted as to whether it will even work, and then how you add it. Do a Google on “add playlist blog”, and you should get some good answers out there.

{ FIRST } The winner of the Silhouette goodies from yeterday’s giveaway is … Lydia in Texas (the one who said she would gladly build a shelf for the Silhouette)! Lydia, email cwalsh@silhouetteamerica.com to claim your prizes! Congrats!

{ SECOND } My 1,000th blog post is coming up! What’s one of my most memorable blog posts ever for you? I would love to hear from you, and may even include your note in that 1,000th post. Email submissions@beckyhiggins.com and tell me which post you’re thinking of.

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{ TECH FRIDAY WITH KEVIN }

There was such an awesome response to my brother’s Tech Friday post last month. So we’re doing it again! I invited you to ask any tech-related question (via facebook + twitter) and you didn’t hold back. Today, Kevin is answering your questions. Because he’s seriously just such a nice guy.

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Q: Loved the answers about changing over to NO CABLE, but what about sports?? Are there channels for just certain sports/teams/etc or is that out like local channels? Olympics are included in local? I’d love to switch since we only use about 5 channels+sports PS: you 2 are super cool sis & bro team [Ada Fisher]

A: As I mentioned before, the one gap in my home entertainment system is live sports coverage. I’m not a huge sports nut, so it doesn’t bother me much. I do, however, like to watch significant events like World Cup, Wimbledon, etc. Those, fortunately, are covered by the big networks like ABC, which are in turn broadcast (in HD) via free airwaves. These are the channels that are picked up by purchasing an inexpensive receiver from Wal-mart or Target.

If you follow college basketball, you may have noticed something very interesting during this last “March Madness”… a free app that streamed all the tournament games directly to your iPad and iPhone. I watched a few games this way, and the quality was pretty amazing, especially over WiFi. I think going forward, this is how it should be done. Free live streaming (to any device).

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Q: My 2 kids and I each have iPhones or iPod Touches and share a computer with iTunes. Is there any way to have separate accounts in iTunes? Everyone is always spending everyone else’s money when they buy things. The kids get gift cards and can not keep it straight whose money is whose. That being said the kids like to share apps and music too. Is there a better way to mange all of this? [Tracey Romanofsky Edmonds]

A: First of all, if you have multiple people in your family using a single computer, I HIGHLY recommend that each user have their own computer account. That will A) ensure that each person can have their own wallpaper, settings, etc, and B) allow everyone to have their own iTunes libraries with their own payment/credit information.

As for sharing content (music, apps, etc), no problem. Check into “Home Sharing”. It allows you to share your purchased iTunes content on up to 5 computers at home or work… legally. Here’s a blog post with more information on Home Sharing.

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Q: I have an iPad and love it. I NEED an iPhone! Should I get one now and deal with not being able to surf the web and talk on the phone at the same time? Or should I wait for the next version of the phone, which hopefully has that capability? [Briana Thatcher]

A: As you know, CDMA (the network that Verizon users) has a serious drawback… it doesn’t allow you to use voice and data simultaneously. This is not the same on a GSM network (like AT&T). I consider this a serious drawback because I use that feature all the time on AT&T. Unfortunately, this will not be remedied on the iPhone until the iPhone itself works on their new 4G LTE network. So the question is, will the next iPhone run on the new network?

Apple, of course, doesn’t comment on unannounced products, so it’s left up to people like me to guess what their next move is. Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball, but if I was a bettin’ man, I would say that the next iPhone will NOT work on LTE. The fact is, LTE isn’t broad enough… yet. I am willing to bet that the next iPhone will have a slightly newer design (possibly a larger display), but will have both GSM and CDMA radios built-in, so it can be used on either network. My advice: buy your iPhone now.

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Q: Briana, I have had an iPhone thru Verizon since February, and I haven’t once missed being able to surf the web and talk on the phone at the same time. Not once. Go for it! [Annie LaPoint Mills]

A: See previous response. The great thing about technology is that we all use these devices differently. I certainly don’t expect everyone to use an iPhone just like me. That would be nuts. “Adapt and enjoy” is my motto.

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Q: I have an Epson 1400 printer. The ink doesn’t want to dry on the photos. Is there a smaller photo printer I should try? [Marsha Alford]

A: I really like Epson for photo printing. I have the 2200, and love it. I haven’t heard of ink “not drying” on photos before, so it begs the question… what kind of paper are you using? I know it sounds crazy, but there is a real science to how ink embeds itself in the fibers of paper. Some people say it’s crazy to buy Epson-brand paper just because you have an Epson-brand printer. The fact is, paper is scientifically designed to accept ink in a certain way.

I gave up on printing smaller prints (4×6, 5×7, etc) at home because it’s too expensive in the long-run (and I don’t do it often enough), but if you’re looking for a good small-format photo printer, check out the Epson Artisan 50 Inkjet Printer. It will run you about $150.

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Q: What is the best way to transfer/copy PSE 6 to an EHD? Is it possible to do that? [Joanne Nickla Teliszewski]

A: I’m assuming you want to run the application from the external hard drive. The first thing you want to do is remove the version installed on your primary (internal) hard drive. That will clean it off. After that’s done, you want to reinstall the application from the original install disc. During the installation, it will ask where you want the app installed. Point the installer to the external hard drive, and you’re set to go. One thing you should know: by running the app from an external hard drive, you will likely run into some performance issues. Nothing major, but don’t be surprised if you find that it runs just a tad slower than normal.

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Q: I would like to know how David & Becky did the TV/picture screens that are in their kitchen. Maybe you can explain. [Jeanette Campbell Matheson]

A: It’s a lot easier than you think (don’t tell Becky I said that!). The simple part is finding and mounting the screens. In David & Becky’s case, they hung two screens top and bottom. The coolest multi-screen display I’ve seen was 4 screens wide by 8 screens high, each of them mounted right next to each other. Pure awesomeness! I digress. Once the screens are hung, you need something to drive them. In D&B’s case, their screens have a built-in SD slot that has a series of photos preloaded on them. The software in the TVs themselves reads the photos from the cards, and displays them like a screensaver. If you wanted to go one step further, you could add an Apple TV to each of the screens. That would just give you more functionality.

[Becky interjecting] I’m sorry my brother is the one who had to finally answer this question that many of you have had! I’ve been meaning to make a video of our kitchen digital photo display.

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Q: Does Kevin have any recommendations for iPad apps? Esp. for editing pictures, but any would be cool! [Nancy Wongsotaroeno]

A: Here’s a blog post that shows some of my favorite iPad apps.

As for image editing, check out ArtStudio for iPad. I also really like Camera+ for iPhone. You can, of course, use this on an iPad, but I’ve also been told that an iPad version is coming out soon. That would really be awesome.

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Q: I have TOO many photos in my iPhoto library of our main desktop Mac at home (about 22K photos and growing)! I want to weed through them, assigning key words and also delete the photos I don’t need. I would love the ability to do this while mobile (I travel a lot for work). If I got an iPad with the iPhoto app, could i put part of my main iPhoto library on it while on travel, then work on whittling down and organizing the photos in certain events, then sync it back up to the main Mac when I got home? If not, how would you recommend accomplishing this? THANK YOU! P.S. my whole work life is PC/Windows based, so I’d have to buy whatever equipment you recommend. Thanks again!! [Carol Macha]

A: Let me get this straight… you want to start tagging 22,000+ photos? That is serious ambition! I don’t even know you, and I’m proud of you.

I’m faced with a similar challenge. My solution is to cut my losses and do the best I can going forward. That doesn’t work for all, and it sounds like it won’t work for you. I wish I had better news for you on the prospect of taking photos on the go, tagging them and then returning them to a more permanent storage (while retaining the tags). iPhoto is a great photo management system, but it has its limitations, and this is one of them. As the iPad is becoming more popular, maybe this is an opportunity for Apple… portable management. Sounds like a good idea to me!

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Q: Another iTunes question. We have the similar situation like Tracy. (too many “iToys”?) How do we manage all these different devices? Two kids have iPod Touches, my husband & I have iPod Nanos & iPads. The kids each have an iTunes account for their iPods. Since we just purchased Apple TVs (thanks for sending us over the edge!) we are looking at purchasing more movies on iTunes now. Can we sync all of our different devices with my account without any problems for the purpose of loading movies onto their iPods? Thanks for helping with the techie stuff! [Susan Loveland]

A: The more “iToys” and iTunes accounts you have, the more complicated it can get. See the previous response for some tips. Another idea is to just have one main iTunes account that everything is purchased through. That way, it’s easy to manage and track. As long as you’re using Home Sharing, you will still be able to share your purchased content with up to 5 computers (and countless devices), enabling everyone in your family to enjoy.

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Q: Ack! Another question. I’m trying to use HandBrake to get a DVD that we have into iTunes. When I select source and then the DVD, it says that I need VLC. So I downloaded VLC, opened the movie using it, and now I don’t know the rest of the process to follow. What now? Do you have an easy tutorial on the process I’m supposed to be using (but can’t figure out)? Thanks so much! [Susan Loveland]

A: VLC, in this case, is used for nothing more than a resource app that HandBrake uses to decode/encode. In other words, you need to install it, but you really never need to run it.

For a complete tutorial on how to use HandBrake (and why), check out this blog post.

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Q: Is there an app for radio for the ipod touch that doesn’t require internet signal? [Ellie Lundstrom]

A: The only way to listen to the radio (whether it be old-fashioned with an antenna or new-age over the Internet) is to have some way of delivering that content to you. In the case of Internet radio, you HAVE to have an Internet connection, otherwise it won’t have a way of reaching your device.

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Q: We’ve noticed our internet download speeds have slowed down. We have many things pulling from our wifi (iPod touch, Color Nook, printer, 2 laptops, DSi, BlackBerry, etc.). We have a Motorola Surfboard Wireless Cable Modem Gateway, model SBG900. Would a new modem/router combo improve speeds? If so, what do you recommend? [Kristine Dreffs]

A: The first thing I would do is test your modem/router to ensure it’s working properly. I’ve actually seen the wireless portion of modern routers go bad over time, while the wired portion works just fine. The first thing you need to do is plug a computer directly into the router with a network cable. Once you can get online, go to www.speedtest.net to test your actual Internet speed. If this matches what you think you should be getting from your ISP (give about a 10% allowance for network overhead), then your router is working fine. At that point, there may be an issue with the wireless location or antennas.

If you’re still looking for a new router, I highly recommend the Apple Base Station (works for both Macs and PCs. They are a little more expensive than other wireless routers, but when you look at the features, I think you’ll find it’s worth the cost. Linksys is another brand to look at.

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Q: Love the photos! I have a question…how do you print pics from your phone? I was without a camera for two weeks and used my phone for POTD. Help! [Betsy]

A: Great question! Check out this blog post here for a solution.

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Q: On Becky’s blog post about BYU, she said that she is using your instagram for many POTDs. How do you print those? Because they are not a 4×6. I have the same program and love the features and would love to use those pictures! [Kirsten Travis Davies]

A: One of the characteristics of Instagram is its square aspect ratio. When you print a 4” wide Instagram shot, it will print at 4×4”, not a standard 4×6”. If you send that photo to be printed at Costco or another printing facility, the photo would likely come back as a 4×6”, but with a 1” border on the top and bottom. This is because they won’t be using custom paper to print your photo. What does that mean for you? A little more work. You will need to manually chop off the excess.

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Q: After remodeling our master bathroom we have had one area of wall and ceiling that constantly “peel”…what do you suggest? [Vicki Maloney]

A: Personally, I would replace the sheetrock with LED displays. That way, when you want to change your wallpaper, it’s just a matter of a click, click and save.