Digitally Sign A PDF Document Using Mac Preview & Your Webcam [Tip]

Electronically signing a document is much easier and faster than printing it out, signing it with a pen and then scanning and emailing it. Normally, you would go looking for an app that, in addition to editing a PDF, also supports adding signatures. While you can dish out some bucks and grab such apps from Mac App Store, if you just need a method for adding digital signature, there is already a built-in way to do it in OS X Lion. Preview in Mac is more than just an app for opening files; as covered in earlier tips, it does much more, such as taking screenshots and adding e-signatures to PDFs. All you need is a good webcam – possibly a high quality one – and adding a signature is only a matter of a few clicks.

You will need a clean white sheet of paper and a black ball point. Avoid using any other type of writing instrument, e.g., felt-tip pens and markers or pencils etc, since a ball point is the best way to authenticate and distinguish a signature. Sign your name on a small paper (a quarter of an A4 paper should do) and open Preview’s preferences. In the last tab, Signatures, click Create Signature.

A new window will open, which will basically be a preview pane on the right and whatever is in the camera’s view on the left. A thin horizontal line will be drawn across it. Position your signature on this line. Don’t try and position it all on the line if it starts from one point but moves above the line; just position the starting point on the line. The rest is your signature’s unique orientation and should not be changed in anyway. Wait for the camera to pick the image. It will be previewed in the pane on the right, and once you like what you see, click Accept. Try and keep the paper as steady as possible.

Whenever you need to enter this signature, click the little marker tool and click the button with the “S” on a line. If you’ve added several signatures, it will list them for you, and you can choose which one you want to use. Drag your mouse over the area (on the PDF) where you want to enter your signature. You may resize it later if you want.

If you notice in the screenshots, anything that was below the horizontal line was cut out of the signature. It might take you a few tries to get it just right. Make sure you are using a good camera, a good pen, and a very clean white sheet of paper.

[VIA CNET]

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Signal Displays WiFi Connection Strength & Stats In The Menu Bar [Mac]

A while back, we covered Network Strength (reviewed here), a free Mac app that shows the Wi-Fi signal strength as a percentage in the Menu Bar. Additionally, the app tells you the Ping time, local and public IP and the noise level. Signal is a free Mac app that is similar in concept, but differs slightly in the stats it reports. This app shows connection strength as a series of vertical bars and gives you information about the router you’re connected to, including the signal quality, strength, noise level and signal to noise ratio. The app icon changes to show when you’ve lost connectivity or when there is an error in the connection.

Once downloaded, launch the application and the bars will begin to appear in the menu bar. If you are already connected to a network, and there are no problems in connectivity, you should only see the bars. If you are not connected, a small red cross will be added to the the bar’s icon. If you are connected to a network, but there are problems with internet connection settings, a yellow notification mark will appear on the icon.

  

If connected without issues, the bars will light up in correspondence to the signal strength. The number of lit up bars changes if the strength improves or degrades. Clicking the icon  will bring up a menu, displaying stats about your connection. Unlike the Network Strength app that would come in handy for network administrators, this app is built for end users who might want to know simple information about their connection or the type of router they are connected to.

A more sophisticated function that Signal performs is that it detects which channel you’re connected over and will suggest a different one should any conflict arise.  The app’s preferences aren’t much; they allow you to disable the channel recommendations or view signal information in either percentage or dBm.

The app is no doubt excellent, but a worthy feature would have been to allow it to open Mac’s network preferences. Most users have enabled viewing the Wi-Fi status in the menu bar because it quickly lets you switch to another network or turn the Wi-Fi off. With this app, users would have two different icons for connectivity in the Menu Bar, which is redundant.

Get Signal From Mac App Store 

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Cookiepix: Create Collage Desktop Backgrounds; Apply Several Effects To Individual Images [Mac]

Finding a simple plain textured desktop background or a complex color rich one isn’t difficult, but nothing beats family photos or anything else that you may have personally snapped. Cookiepix Lite is a free Mac app that lets you combine your favorite pictures and create a desktop background out of them. The app is much like a collage maker that can help you create a wallpaper featuring whatever images you want. It comes with several styles that you can apply to images, and also has color and corner effects for better customization (where the latter simply makes the image look as if it were folded from a corner). Images can be zoomed in to focus on a particular spot, tilted and placed one over the other. More after the break.

Launch Cookiepix Lite and drag & drop images to it. You might want to add them one by one to make arrangement easier. Each image that you add to the app can be selected individually, and different effects can be applied to it. From the Border section, select whether you want the image to appear horizontally or vertically, and choose one of the eight border designs. Add a background pattern and then select a photo effect. For an image that is selected in the pane, there appears a small box of three sliders, which allow you to zoom in and out of a particular part of the image. Once you’ve added and arranged the images you want as your wallpaper, and have applied effects and borders accordingly, go to File > Save and Set Desktop. You can simply save it as an image by selecting File > Export Picture.

Your desktop should come out looking something like this (see screenshot below), but it is largely dependant on the number of images you’ve used. The images are arranged on the left, but can be dragged out to any other position. This is to ensure you have a clean spot for all you icons.

Cookiepix Lite is, as the name implies, a lite, feature-restricted version. The full version of Cookiepix has more themes for you to work with. However, no watermarks are added to images created in the lite version, too, as it is limited only by number of available themes and nothing else.

Get Cookiepix Lite From Mac App Store

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MLookerCL: Media Viewer That Supports Slideshows & Video Playlists [Mac]

Most free file viewers are just apps that allow you to read a particular set of file formats, and stay restricted to one particular genre of files, like audios, videos, images etc. Any other sophisticated features are likely to be sitting behind a price tag. MLookerCL is a free Mac app that is, at the core, a viewer for all types of media files. In functionality, it allows you to create playlists of audio or video files you want to view, and play multiple images in a slide show. The app allows you to view basic file information via a simple shortcut and can compress JPGs. Additionally, MLookerCL will allow you to play videos as a desktop background.

When you launch the MLookerCL, your screen, except the menu bar and Dock, will go black, and that is no cause for alarm. Image Viewer is accessible in this mode from File > Open. To view information for an image, hit the Command+I shortcut. The up/down arrows let you view the next/previous image, and Option+ left/right arrow keys allow you to scale the image size, with the right arrow increasing the size, and vice versa.

Before you start viewing videos, you might want to visit the app’s preferences first. You can manage the screen’s transparency, the file compression rate and how much an image is scaled down. The only option relevant to videos is the Movie on Desktop setting. If you check it, your videos will be played as a desktop background.

Browse and open any video from your hard drive. To create a playlist, go to Playlist > Show List and a window will open, allowing you to add as many videos to the queue as you want. From the Window option, select ControlBar and you will be able to view a seek bar and play/pause buttons on a video. Videos can be repositioned on the screen by clicking and dragging with your mouse.

As long as Movie on Desktop is not enabled, you can move the video to any part of the screen. If you enable the Movie on Desktop option, it will remember the position. The play/pause and seek bar will no longer be functional, and you will have to quit the app to stop a video from playing.

The app shows file information for videos as well when you hit Command+I. As far as simple file viewers go, MLookerCL does take it up a notch and is worth a try, at the least.

Get MLookerCL From Mac App Store

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Doit.im Mini: Group Time-Defined Tasks By Projects & Sync Them [Mac]

Doit.im Mini is a free Mac app for managing your tasks. It allows you to group tasks by projects and runs unobtrusively in the Menu Bar. The app’s interface is just one of the main reasons to give it a try, so elegant and simple it is. To use the app, you have to sign up for a free account. Doit.im Mini can be accessed easily via the built-in keyboard shortcuts that you can modify to suit your usage. Additionally, the app allows you to quickly add tasks via the ‘Smart Add’ feature, which has shortcuts and syntax support for quickly recording the time and deadline for a project or a task. The syntax is simple and allows you to append time and date to a task in addition to adding a new project.

Launch the app and click Don’t have an account to open the sign up window. If the app fails to register your account with the information you enter, alter the username you’ve chosen. The app does not prompt you if there is a problem with the user name – an annoyance, indeed – but nothing you can’t work around. You will also need to verify your account before you can begin syncing, which is done via a link emailed to you.

Doit.im Mini comes preloaded with a bunch of tasks that help you get through the basics of the app. Interface-wise, the app is divided into two tabs; Uncompleted (should read ‘Incomplete’; the grammar nazis will come calling) and Completed.

The Uncompleted category has three buttons at the top for managing which tasks you view. The Inboxbutton lets you view currently active tasks, the Today button lets you see all tasks for the day, while the calendar like Scheduled button lets you view all tasks that are due any other day except the current day. Tasks can be scheduled for an indefinite date and they go to the Someday category, which is the cloud like icon. The Completed tab has two buttons; one that allows you to see completed tasks for the day, and one that lets you view tasks completed in the past.

A plus button at the bottom left allows you to add a new task. You can enter a title, a deadline (All Day option must be unchecked for this), enter a project name and make a note. Click Save when you’ve added your task. Projects allow you to group different tasks.

To add a smart task hit Control+Command+N or select Smart Add from the app’s menu bar icon. Type ? to view the complete syntax and how to use it.

Doit.im Mini lets you modify the shortcuts for adding new tasks, marking a task as complete and more from its Preferences. You can also set the app to start at login and choose the auto-sync interval.

The app is definitely feature rich and excellent for keeping tasks synced across Macs. The interface is simple to use and most things are self explanatory.

Get Doit.im Mini From Mac App Store

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Best Ways To Send Text & Share Files From Your Mac To Other Devices

One of the most common ways people send files or text is over email or instant messengers. Messengers are excellent if you’re sending text to someone other than yourself, but if you need to send it to yourself or to another system that you might be using, a messenger might not be the best option. As far as sending files to yourself is concerned, you almost always email them. In both scenarios, you’re emailing files because you want them on a different system, but you’re achieving that at the expense of cluttering your email inbox. Here are a few methods where you can send files and text from Mac to any device, i.e., Android, iPhone, iPad, another Mac or a Windows PC.

Send Text From Mac To An IOS Device

Sending text from Mac to your iPhone or iPad has been much simplified, thanks to Messages that will debut in Mountain Lion, but is available for Lion to those willing to give the Beta a go. To send text and image files (only image files – does not support other file types), all you need to do is send yourself a message. Your Mac and iOS device need not be connected to the same Wi-Fi network; however, both devices must have internet connectivity. To send text or an image file, open Messages, compose a new message, and in the To field, enter your own Apple ID. Send the message and you will receive it on your iOS device. Although the message will appear twice in both the sent and received sides, but it will nevertheless be there.

Send Files From Mac To IOS Device

To send files from your Mac to your iPad or iPhone, you will face some restriction, in that both the devices must be on the same Wi-Fi. Use a pair of little apps, called Deliver for Mac and Bubbles the Deliver for iOS (both of which are absolutely free), and start sending files. File transfer may be a bit slow, but they can be sent reciprocally and the app is reliable. Additionally, you can password protect the transmission of files to ensure no one else can send them to your system or device. Read the full review of Deliverhere.

Send Files From Mac To Mac Or Windows PC

One of the many reasons that file exchange becomes painful, is because not everyone uses the same platform; some like Macs, and others use Windows PCs. Still others might have a combination of both Macs and Windows PCs. If you are in a situation where you have to work with both platforms and need a simple effective way of sending text and files, your answer lies in two excellent web services that are available for both platforms; Evernote and Dropbox.

Install Evernote on both the Mac and PC you want to exchange files between. Create a notebook that is meant specifically for exchanging text, and create notes whenever you have text to send. Access them from your other Mac or Windows PC from the stock app.

To send files between two systems, Dropbox is the ideal choice because of its desktop client that not only makes sending files easy, but also informs you when you have received a new file. As opposed to using it for storage, you can use Dropbox as a gateway between two systems. If the system you want to send files to isn’t your own, and subsequently not configured with your Dropbox ID, consider creating a shared folder with the person you want to send files to and adding files to it. Uploading and downloading files will take time though, depending on your internet connection speed.

The Universal Solution For Sharing Text Between Any Two Devices

If you’d rather use only one medium for communicating with just about any device when using a Mac, Clip.Share is an excellent service with apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. You can use Clip.Share’s web interface or make use of the apps to easily exchange text snippets. Do note that you will need a Gmail or Google Apps account to send text between two devices. The devices can be situated anywhere in the world, as snippets are sent over the internet. One limitation is that you can ‘throw’ and ‘catch’ only one snippet at a time, although you may throw it from a single device and receive it on any number of devices. There isn’t a similar solution for sending files, especially one that would make it easier to send files between Mac and Android, and you will undoubtedly have to resort services like Dropbox that exist on multiple platforms. Read the full review of Clip.Share here.

Hopefully, this will keep your email free of items that are just there because you had to send them to yourself and didn’t have any removable storage on hand to copy them to. As far as sending files or text between Mac and iOS devices is concerned, you will find lots of apps that facilitate it. For sending files or text to non-Apple platforms, you will have to rely on a web service. The process will be as smooth as the apps for the respective platforms themselves are.

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Webmailer: Redirect All Mailto: Links To Open In Default Browser [Mac]

A while back, we reviewed RCDefaultApp, a Mac preference pane that makes it easy to set default apps in your Mac. The only slight shortcoming with the pane was that it wasn’t developed for Lion and might act a little glitchy. Webmailer is a free Mac preference pane that helps you redirect mailto: links to your web browser or any other app that you would like to handle all your email through. This is built specifically if you aren’t a fan of Mail and would love a different way to handle emails. The preference pane handles mailto: links that originate in a third party app, and redirects them to the app you want (like your browser).

Although the app should simply redirect a mailto: link to your browser and open it in Gmail if you’re signed in, tests revealed that it did not do that. A simple work around for this is to use an app that redirects mailto: links to you browser and have Webmailer direct it to that app. In this case, we used Gmal Notifr, a free Mac app that works in the Menu Bar (read full review here) and set Webmailer to send all Mailto: links to it.

Click the Advanced button and select Try to use the current browser or Always use and select your default browser. Click Done and you’re good to go.

You must have Gmail Notifr running at all times. To test if it worked, click a Mailto: link in the Mail app, and it, too, will redirect to your browser. All links in any email that you may have synced to Mail will also open in your default browser.

It isn’t clear why you need Gmail Notifr to act as a middleman, since Chrome (the browser used for testing) handles mailto: links well on its own. It might have to do with how the defaults are set or perhaps even an extension that is installed. If you prefer to use Hotmail or Yahoo, it is likely you might need an app similar to Gmail Notifr, but tailored for that specific email provider.

Get Webmailer For Mac

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How To Permanently Delete A Single File From Mac Using Terminal [Tip]

A very basic thing to do, but still not commonly known, is how to delete a single file permanently from your Mac. Moving a file to Trash means it’s still there and can be restored any time, not to mention eating up precious space. The slight problem with Trash is that if you want to remove a particular file from it, i.e., permanently delete it, you have to remove all of them. In the event you have just a single file to remove (wipe permanently off the face of your hard drive and the earth itself), you go to the Terminal and execute the simplest of commands.

Open Terminal, type “rm”  (no quotes, but there should be a space after it). Drag & drop the file you want to remove onto the Terminal window, and its path will be added at the end of the command, then hit Return. Your file will be removed beyond recovery.

This tip works for any and all files types and sizes, and is literally irreversible. Be extra cautious when using the command, and better if you use it only sparingly. To delete files of low priority, use Trash, which gives you some allowance for recovering a file if it was removed by accident.

For folders, use the command “rm –rf” followed by the path to the folder. Enter the command without quotes. Your folder and every single file in it will be removed permanently. This command is really the same one for deleting files, but modified slightly to tell Terminal that you want to remove a folder. It will have the same permanent effect mentioned when deleting a file, so proceed with caution.

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