The Disk Utility app of Mac allows one to create a password protected folder. An encrypted disk image is created. To mount the disk one has to enter the password set at the time of creation. The steps to create one is very easy.
Open up the Disk Utility app. Goto File -> New -> Blank Disk Image. Enter a name for the image. Choose the location. Disk name will be the name of the mounted image. Set a size that you want. Importantly enable encryption from the drop down. And for the image format drop down, select the Sparse Disk Image option. Click on create.
A new window comes up to set a password. Remember to uncheck the “Remember password in Keychain” option. Set the password and you are done.
Double clicking on the image file will bring up a window to enter the password. Authenticate yourself and you’ll see that the image has been mounted. Add files, remove files, etc and do whatever you want to. Remember to eject the image after your work is done.
There you go. A password protected image is all setup.
It was only a week ago that I switched to Mac from Windows and my 10.7 Lion has already impressed me with its battery life. With battery level down to some 60%, I was able to play audio songs on my iTunes through out the night.
I started iTunes at 11 in the night and queued 132 songs for playing. No more activity. I left the lid as is, switched off the lights and went to bed. I woke up at 5 in the morning and the songs were still playing. Happily I dozed off again. The music had stopped when I next got up at 7:30.
But being able to play music for 6 hours with only 60% battery is an amazing battery performance. Really impressed!
I do not have one yet, but I am sure I want one – strictly as a personal laptop though. I admire their attention towards achieving aesthetic excellence.
The other day I was watching the Apple Keynote video dated 20th October, 2010 (I have not watched the video completely at the time of writing). The Mac sales statistics are incredible! Apparently a customer sale study has put the ratio of Macs to the rest at 20%, which means that 1 in every 5 computer is a Mac! And if this does not impress you enough, then consider the iLife product that has been demoed next. I saw the iPhoto and iVideo applications and will write about them.
iPhotos does way more than any other photo software I have used till date. It has a nice full-screen feature which lets you focus completely on the task at hand – arranging your photos or making a collage or choosing the next facebook profile photo or making a photo album of the last adventure trip you had. The photos, if tagged properly, can be shown on a map at their locations. Apple has put in themes that allow you to quickly make a picture slideshow. One of the theme goes thus -
A globe is shown to start with. Then the app zooms into the city and photo pins start appearing on the neat map. Then using the time data from the photo, the app transitions from one photo to another. And while all this is happening, a soothing tune will be played in the background.
Say you now want to print these photos into an album and show them to your parents. iPhoto picks up your photos and chooses an appropriate cover. Inside, few pages contain single photos and the rest are collage. The single photos are those that have been rated higher, while the lower rated ones will be used as thumbnails in the collage. But this does not mean you are restricted by this default choice. You can just drag and drop photos to swap them or reorder the collection. The whole thing is so intuitive, you do not need a tutorial to make the first album. Just drag and drop.
iVideo was even more mesmerizing. One can now also apply effects on sounds, let alone the video. And the best feature was making trailers. iVideo comes with a few inbuilt trailer themes and it is very easy to get the hang of it. In fact, through the demo of making a trailer, was shown another feature which I loved the most – applying face recognition to videos. Say you want all the clips in which only one person appears. Just set a filter and voila! Watch the keynote video and you’ll appreciate the brilliance too.
There must be more to it than just this, but as I haven’t watched the complete video yet I’ll rather not comment. Now, your manager probably might not get impressed with the amazing slide transitions in your presentation, but your girl friend will definitely enjoy those lovely themes using which you can make a picture album in just a few minutes. Even without having used one, I do recommend a Mac for home use.
I love gadgets. I want the best and the latest of those. Which is why the very first mobile that I bought was a N72. Well, it wasn’t the best one at that time, best it was the best option available to me. It was the cheapest amongst the N series of Nokia.
I’ve been using N72 for two years now. The time has come to pass on this mobile to dad and look for a new, better one. But this time around I will not be settling for a lesser phone looking at the price tag. Dad is ready to spend money this time on which ever mobile I fall in love with.
Thus began my search for a new one. The Nokia N96 has always been amongst the news. Nokia being a reliable provider, easier to get serviced in case of any problems. Infact, I think of Nokia among mobiles as Maruti is amongst cars. N96 should be a priced possession. It has large screen, slides the keypad below, slides above to reveal music controls. But it has its drawbacks too. It lacks a qwerty keyboard, and has the same look as my N72. However, it is one of the mobiles I am considering. At present this phone costs around 36K in Hyderabad.
Moving on further, I came across the Samsung Omnia. Released just a few months ago, it has stunning appearance. Completely touch screen, but lacks the Apple‘s flick features. The usual features of a smart phone are all available in this one. Though a weak battery life of just 5 hours talktime, makes it a not clear favourite of mine. Mom liked this phone and was ready to buy it immediately. 30K is the price of this one.
And then comes the absolute beauty, the Sony Ericsson Xperia. As far as I have looked about it, it is the most talked about. The latest phone in the market, it has been quick to attract the attention of everybody interested in smart phones. It has Windows Mobile operating system. Touch and qwerty keyboard are both interwined to provide a great experience. Apple’s flick features are also present in this gadget. The qwerty keyboard slides to the left side. I almost fell in love with this phone. The only drawback is its weight. It’s the double of my N72 in weight. Xperia is priced at 42K in Hyderabad at the present.
But these are only three. I would like to look at more options before settling for one. I have browsed for Blackberry, and none of them impressed me. Motorola doesn’t have anything to offer either. I am running out of options. But I shall keep looking. I have got another 3 months to decide the phone that I would like to finally buy.
I shall keep posting the features of all the phones that I shortlist. Hope to find a good one soon.
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