Good news for Mac fans

I know most of my readers use PCs rather than Macs. (Google gives bloggers statistics that reveal this sort of thing.) In fact, only about 10% of you are on Macs. This post is for you.

If you've upgraded to Mavericks, you can dictate now without sending the voice record to Apple to be deciphered. That's the old way of doing it. The old way works, of course, but you have to wait for Apple to respond -- and when Apple's servers are busy, you get no assistance and have to type the damn thing yourself.

But that was before Mavericks. Now, you can go into Settings/Dictation, turn on Dictation and then click the line below it, where it enables "enhanced" dictation. If you click this option, your computer will download nearly a gig of data, and then you'll have your own dictation engine on board. And you don't have to be online to use it. And it's quicker! You talk and it turns your voice into text almost as fast as you can speak. On my first try, it did everything perfectly.

How can anyone use a PC these days? They're relics of a long-gone dinosaur era.

Update: Curiously, I find it only works if I choose the option where I hit the Command key twice to engage Dictation. The other options don't work. Fine. I'll use either Command key.

Mavericks is a great update

I installed the new Mac OS, called Mavericks, last night. It was a smooth (though lengthy) process. But everything works great. In fact, things feel snappier.

I could go into my reactions at length, but there's a ZDnet article that already did it for me. Go check it out. Smoothest upgrade ever. I'd only add a couple of things.

Know that your computer will restart several times. If you're on a laptop, keep it plugged in throughout. You'll think it's done, but then it will start installing again. Just let it be. Even when Mavericks finally comes up, the computer will continue to do some work in the background. Simply let it do what it wants to, without interruption. You'll know when it's done because your computer will fall asleep, as it always does when idle. Then you can play with it.

But there's more. After it's done, do Software Update again. There will be a few additions to install. And when all that is done, restart your computer manually. Then it's done.

As always, back up before you begin. And when the install is complete and you're happy, back up the new setup.

For me, the best thing about the new system is tagging. You just click on a filename in the title bar of an application, and add all the tags you want. Goodbye folders, hello tags. They should have done this long ago but I'm happy to have it today. Good luck with your install (but you won't need luck; it just works).

iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks

I watched Apple's keynote presentation at WWDC live today and was wowed. We're getting a totally new OS for our iPhones and iPads (iOS 7) and Macs are getting a new operating system as well. The Mac overhaul is called OS X Mavericks (they need to drop the final s; it doesn't work). And it's a killer. As the various gurus of Apple walked us through the interface, it was like they were talking about a super-computer.

Both OS's are so cool. As a font freak, I love the look of iOS 7. Jony Ive, the re-designer, did a bang-up job. The interface is so simple and understated, just what I like. Plus it does tons more stuff, faster -- and with much less of a drain on memory. The new MacBook Airs they announced have batteries that will last for up to 12 hours! In fact, memory management is greatly improved in both the device and desktop OS's.

In iOS 7, there's a next-generation Siri that knows more stuff, is familiar with Wikipedia and has new voices! Thank dog. I turned Siri's voice off because it was so cartoon-like. They've got a male voice option now, too. And the new Siri will remember stuff. The one we've got at the moment starts fresh each time you call it up. So it doesn't know one damn thing about what you've been doing. The new Siri will change that.

I think one of the best things about iOS 7 is iCloud Keychain. It obliterates 1Password. iCloud Keychain will encrypt your passwords and keep them safely in the cloud. It also suggests complicated passwords when you join a site, so you can use an insane string of odd numbers and letters and it will remember it for you. Say goodbye to keeping track of your passwords. Good stuff.

Plus you can share all sorts of things with friends, easily and simply. We Mac users have been using Airdrop on the desktop and notebook for months, to transfer our files from machine to machine. Well, now it's available in iOS 7. So you can basically pick a few friends on the same Wi-Fi network and drop files on them. Sharing is wildly integrated in iOS 7.

BTW, when the presenter (I forget which one it was; there were a few) showed how easy it is to share files and info, he said something like, "It's so quick and simple. You don't have to, you know, bump into anybody's smartphone or anything." Dig, dig.

There's tons more stuff but I'm running out of steam here. I especially love the changes to the desktop OS. OS X Mavericks integrates Tags in Finder. I love this feature. For PC folks, Finder is what we Mac types use to find files on our computers. Now we'll be able to tag files with a keyword. And that tag automatically becomes a folder in Finder's sidebar. It will be sinfully easy to find things.

(In fact, this is how they did the presentations onscreen at WWDC. They were using tags!)

You can also create and edit Pages and Keynote documents in a browser. This is shocking. And you can do this even if you're on a PC! Right in the browser, you'll be able to retrieve and work with your documents in Pages or Keynote. It will seem as if you're using your home desktop, no matter where you are. Again, very cool.

There were so many improvements to both systems. But as I say, I'm not going to go on and on. I'm sure there are reviews all over the internet. Both OS's will be available in the Fall, BTW. And you can watch the whole keynote here, if you'd like. As a Mac and iPad user, I'm really excited by the new operating systems. I think Apple knocked it out of the park.

Microsoft must be quaking in its boots.