Just a few days after getting my shiny new iGadget I shot a video of my nephew playing with the garden hose in his backyard. He was having fun squirting himself in the face and the only camera on me was my iPhone. I downloaded iMovie for iPhone and created my masterpiece (isn’t everything created on an Apple product a Masterpiece). I quickly found that the export to YouTube feature produces less than pleasing results. Come on Apple, 360p! While it is true that the iPhone 4s built in tools only provide for sharing of a compressed 360p version of a video I went back to the AppStore and found an app that allows me to upload the full quality video to YouTube and Vimeo.

Pixelpipe is a media distribution gateway that allows users to publish text, photo, video and audio files once through Pixelpipe and have the content distributed across over 55 social networks, photo/video sites and blogs, and online storage.

Before downloading the PixelPipe app I created an account on the main PixelPipe.com web site and setup a few “pipes” or destinations. I realized later that I could also have done this via the PixelPipe app. A “pipe” is the connector between the PixelPipe app and one or more destination sites where you want your content to be uploaded. For example, I set up pipes for flickr, picasa, and Dropbox and many others.

I setup some of my pipes as default routes. This means that any media I select to upload will automatically go to these default pipes. I have defaults for Dropbox and Box.net so that my photos or videos will be synced over the Internet to a folder on my iMac.

For each pipe I created, PixelPipe created a routing tag. The routing tag explicitly tells PixelPipe where to upload the content overriding any default routes. If you want your content routed to different photo sets you can create a routing pipe and tag for each one.

Content uploaded equally well over both the AT&T cellular data network and Wi-Fi. I had no trouble uploading a 50 second iPhone 4 video (editing in iMovie) over the 3G network to YouTube. I showed the results in a post on my personal blog prior post.

PixelPipe is not just a platform for routing images and video. It is also a micro-blogging platform as well as way to route content to other micro-blogging platforms such at twitter, tumblr and posterous. There is so much that PixelPipe does that I am feeling overwhelmed describing it all. Suffice it to say, that if you have a smart-phone device, PixelPipe provides a way to use that device to post your device created content out to the world.

However, the iPad version of NetNewsWires felt lacking. Yes, it sync with Google Reader but it took a long time to sync feeds and the sync often failed. Twitter and Instapaper integration was basic and in general NetNewsWire was well … just not sexy. I also tried NewsRack but that was similar in design and operation to NetNewsWire. The app store was buzzing about Pulse, a news reader that Steve Jobs mention during WWDC. Pulse turns your RSS feed into is visually pleasing magazine style application. It is a joy to use but its 20 feed restriction severely limits its utility to me. Good thing Reeder for iPad (and iPhone) came along.

Reeder for iPad describes itself as a Google Reader Client. Yeah, it does that. Well. Reeder syncs with Google Reader meeting my first criteria for a news reader. It has social sharing options (Twitter, Instapaper, Delicious, Mail, Google Reader Share) meeting my other requirement.

When I launched Reeder for the first time I was prompted for my Google Reader account information. Once entered, Reeder synced all my feeds to my iPad. I can customize the amount of syncing via the iPad Setting tab. There are quite a lot of options. I can sync just a few days of unread items or all. There are several other sync interval choices with similar settings for starred and shared items.

If you bought the 3G version of the iPad, you may be limited by the amount of data consumed via data plan. If you are a heavy user, pulling down lots of images via Reeder can quickly exhaust your data allowance. Reeder has options to help with this. I can specify whether or not images are cached and also that this happens via Wi-Fi only.

While feeds images and text are downloaded and synced locally, clicking on the article header will launch an in-app browser to pull up the full website. This is not cached.

Reeder has quite a few social sharing and bookmarking options including Twitter, Delicious, Instapaper, Read It Later, and Pinboard. I do a lot of sharing via Twitter and Mail so this ability is an important feature for me. With Mail I get the option of sending the whole article (as Reeder sees it) or just a link. I also use Instapaper to store links to article I want to read later. You can enable or disable these options via the iPad setting tab.

On the left side of the Reeder screen are buttons to sort feed item by starred or unread status, by date, and by feed title. There is also a button to mark all items read.

What of the other things I like about Reeder is the UI itself. The light grey text of beige backround makes things easy to read and gives the app a newspaper feel. Each morning, after I get ready for work, I prepare a cup of French Press brewed coffee (usually an Ethiopian Harrar) and sit out on my front porch to read the news. Reeder is the perfect way to enjoy a cup of joe.

The first two days with the iPad 3G were the most telling.  I had stayed home that day to ensure that I did not miss the FedEx delivery.  The iPad came pre-charged and ready to go.  In anticipation of delivery I had read a host of reviews of iPad app and had already downloaded quite a few to iTunes (on my Mac mini).  I own a second generation iPod Touch so getting the iPad on my home Wi-Fi network, setting up email and calendar,  and syncing apps and other content was easy and familiar.  My next step was to pick a cellular plan.  As promised, I had two no-contract options: 250MB for $14.95 and Unlimited for $30.  I chose the 250MB and regretted it two days later.  Here’s why.

Netflix on iPad 3G

The day after the iPad arrived was a Saturday and we had planned to attend an event honoring my college Physics professor who was retiring.  My wife and I both attended Drew University in Madison (a borough in Morristown, NJ) and as we headed out for the one hour drive north, I handed the iPad to my kids in the backseat.   Why my wife and I chatted about our party days in college, the kids were busy in the back surfing the internet, playing games and watching movies.  We’ve had a Netflix subscription for quite some time and when Netflix started offering streaming video via our TiVo the service became even more valuable.  That value increase even futher when you consider that my kids can now watch Netflix instant queue movies on the iPad – on demand movies from the backseat of the car.  Via 3G.  AT&T 3G.

We were at the event for about 6 hours with the iPad providing constant (the battery finally quit after 9PM) entertainment for my kids while we caught up with our “boring friends” (as my daughter called them) from college.  By Sunday afternoon I had used up the entire 250MB.  The iPad warned me at 10% and 5% and before long I had signed on for the Unlimited data plan.  Living in the cloud requires high bandwidth connections.

I always start my day with a coffee.  I’ve developed a taste for Ethiopian coffees – Harrar and Yergacheffe – brewed using the French Press method.  This week I am enjoying Ethiopia Amaro Gayo Washed from Gimme! Coffee.  It’s taste is subtle and smooth.  I am enjoying drinking it black.  I have Type 1 diabetes and part of my daily routine involves testing my blood sugars and injecting insulin based on the glucometer readings and what I plan to eat for breakfast.  Through trial and error, my endocrinologist and I determined that for breakfast I should wait 30 minutes after taking insulin before eating.  That’s thirty minutes to use the iPad while enjoying a great cup of Java on my front patio.  Bliss!

NetNewsWire for iPad

The most frequently used app on my iPad is my RSS feed reader, NetNewsWire. It’s also the feed reader I use on my iMac and MacBook. Upon launch, NetNewsWire syncs my read/unread items with Google Reader.  I subscribe to over 200 news feeds so reading everything is impossible.  I do a quick scan of the headlines in the left pop-out panel, select the story I want to read, and sit back for another sip coffee.  Portrait mode is perfect for reading web articles.  I prefer reading the articles as just text but NetNewsWire also has a built in web browser if I choose to read the article on the original web site.  With a tap I can share what I’m reading via Twitter, e-mail or save for reading later in Instapaper.

iPad Calendar

Before I head off to work, I quickly check my iPad calendar so I can start thinking about what I need to do when I arrive at the office. I also check for meeting changes or accept/decline new meetings invitations.  In day view mode, The iPad Calendar mimics the look of a paper based day planner., which I find comforting.  At work, I keep my iPad in a stand I made from my son’s Lego.  It works well in either portrait or landscape orientations while viewing my calendar.  I don’t need to use the iPad calendar at work.  My work computer has Outlook 2007.   The iPad is just more fun.

iPad Lego stand

I take my iPad to all my meetings.  I use it to keep notes, quickly Google an answer to a meeting question, or pull up the current document under discussion.  My coworkers are amazed that I can get work done with this lightweight device.  I remind them that walking around with the 1.5lb instant on iPad beats carrying around a 6lb computer.  However, I find the back of the iPad to be a bit slippery and I was concerned that I might drop it.  After much research I decided to order the DODOcase for iPad.  It’s designed to duplicate the look of the popular Moleskin journals that were used by famous artist and writers.  This works for me since I have been using Moleskins for a few years to keep my professional and personal notes.  Turns out I’m not the only one.  This morning, during our weekly one-on-one, my director was excited to show me that his iPad 3G will arrive June 18 (one day before father’s day) and he mentioned he ordered the same case.  Good to know we think alike.

TweetDeck for iPad

On the lunch break, I use the iPad to catch up my social networks and general news.  I love Twitter and there are quite a few excellent twitter clients for the iPad that make use of the 9.7″ screen.  My favourite is TweetDeck.  It has a multi-column view – I prefer to use i in portrait – and support for multiple twitter accounts.

NPR

NPR and the BBC both have excellent news clients.  Both apps provide live streaming of breaking news and the NPR app also provides access to previously recorded shows.  Reading news items is slightly easier on the BBC News app and both apps provide tools for sharing (email, Facebook, and Twitter).

FriendSheep

When I get back home, the iPad becomes an entertainment device.  I love playing games with my kids but I generally dislike board games, especially games with dice.   However, I discovered a few good games for the iPad that my kids and I really enjoy.  The first game we played together is FriendSheep HD – a silly action board game for up to four players.  The game showed up a competitive streak that I did not think my kids had.  They had an intense delite in beating Dad.  The aim of the ridiculously named game is to herd sheep and make them stay put or prevent them from eating your patch of grass.  I think we played this one five times yesterday. Time flies when you are having fun.

Small World iPad Game

The other multi-person iPad game that has become popular in my home is Small World for iPad.  This iTunes description says it all.

Small World is an award-winning fantasy board game where two (human only) players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate all of the zany races such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs and even humans that inhabit it. Sitting across from each other around the iPad, you will use your troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other players’ races off the face of the earth, in this rip-roaring fun digital board game.

When not playing or working on my iPad I read books. So far I have bought only one book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin, in the iBooks app.  The app is easy to use and you can purchase books right from the app.  But iBooks has a limited catalog of recent book.  Fortunately, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have released app for the iPad.  If you are a Kindle or Nook  user you can download your existing purchases to the iPad.  Amazon and B&N have a significantly larger catalog and many older titles are available.  Any book you can find in iBooks can be found in the Kindle and B&N eReader catalogs.   The downside to the Kindle and eReader apps is that you must visit the Amazon.com and B&N web sites to make purchases.  In app book purchases are not available.  Still, it is nice to know that anything my Kindle and Nook carrying colleagues can I access, I can do as well from my iPad.

iPad Camera Connection Kit

One other area where the iPad has made a difference is with my photography.  I bought the iPad Camera Connection Kit.
The iPad Camera Connection Kit includes two accessories for importing photos and videos:

• Camera Connector: Features a USB port to directly connect your digital camera using its USB cable.
• SD Card Reader: Features an SD card slot to directly connect an SD card.

In addition to supporting digital cameras and SD cards, you can also import photos and videos from your original iPhone, iPhone 3GS, and iPod nano using the Camera Connector. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW.
Instead of waiting until I get home to preview and process my images, with this little device I download images from my camera’s SD card, crop or make other adjustments (there are a plethora of great iPad apps for this), and upload to photo-sharing sites like flickr.com.  The iPad has added freedom to my photography. I can imagine a professional photographer shooting a wedding event and being able to provide a sample set of preview images for the wedding party.

I love my iPad and each day I find new ways to use it.  The iPad is not for everyone and is not meant as replacement for my computer – I still use an iMac for serious photo and video editing – but it does most of what I do on a daily basis.  And this is only the beginning.  I’m looking forward to next week’s WWDC where iPhone OS 4 (and perhaps a new iPhone) will be released and I expect Apple has a few more surprises up Steve’s turtle neck sleeves.

This article was inspired by the article, Typical Day With the iPad, by James Kendrick.

Links:
Typical Day With the iPad
What’s Inbox Zero?
Type 1 diabetes
Friendsheep HD: The Insanely Popular Party GameBy Floating Cube Studios
Small World for iPad By Days Of Wonder, Inc.
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
Will Apple rebirth Lala.com at the WWDC?

Google provides a method for accessing their Gmail service via the IMAP protocol. IMAP is a standard protocol for accessing email but unlike POP3 the email stays on the remote server. With POP3 you are limited to reading your email from one location. With IMAP the email stays on the server and you can read it from any computer. IMAP is the method I use to access my Gmail in Apple Mail. If I read an email in a web browser then it is marked as read on the server and in Mail.app. The iPad also has support for IMAP. Google provides no instruction on how to access the calendar service via the iPad but setup is fairly easy.

Google provides a method for accessing their Calendar service via the CalDAV protocol. CalDAV is a standard protocol that allows access to web based calendars from desktop clients like iCal. From iCal I can create calendar entries that appear in my Google web calendar and vice versa. The iPad also has support for CalDAV. Google provides no instruction on how to access the calendar service via the iPad but setup is fairly easy.

Setup Mail and Calendar

To first thing we need to do is launch the Settings app on the iPad and click the Mail, Contact, Calendar tab.  We will be presented with several options but we are going to select Gmail.

Enter your email address, password. The Description field is optional but go ahead an enter something to identify the account especially if you have multiple email account.  Then select Next.

You will get a message that your account is being verified.

If your username and password are correct, the iPad will login you in and return you to the Mail, Contact, Calendar tab. You will now see a list of your mail and calendar accounts. Select the Mail account you just created (this is why it’s important to enter something in the Description field). We are going to ensure that we are communicating securely with Google’s servers.  Select Advanced?.

Select the switch to ensure that SSL is enabled. SSL is a encryption technology that ensures that the communication between your iPad and Google’s servers stays secure. Select “Done” and your mail account will be setup.

Email setup is now complete. Now for calendar. Back at the Add Account screen, select Other. From this screen select Add CalDAV Account.

Enter www.google.com for the server and then add your Google Apps email address and password. If you have a Gmail account enter your email address.  Select None.  You don’t need to add anything under Advanced so just go ahead and select Done.  Once your account information is verified you will be returned to the main Mail, Contact, Calendar tab?.

You should now be able to sync your calendar and email with Google’s services.

What about Contacts?

Neither Google nor Apple provide a way sync Google Contacts with the iPad directly as we have done above with Mail and Calendar.  However, all is not lost.  Apple provides a way via iTunes and setup is easy.

Plug in your iPad and then select it in iTunes.

Select the the Info tab.  Click the Sync Address Book Contact checkbox.  Then select the All contacts radio button.  Next, select the Sync Google Contacts checkbox and click the Configure button.

Enter you Google ID and password and click OK.  Then click the Sync button and iTunes will sync your current Google Contacts to your iPad.  Each time you sync your iPad, iTunes will sync your any changes to your Google Contacts to the iPad Contacts.  Changes to iPad Contacts are synced back to Google Contacts.

Conclusion

I love Google Apps and I am excited that I can check or update my mail, calendar or contacts from anywhere – a browser, my Mac, and now, my iPad.  I have also written articles on how to sync Google Apps with Mail, Calendar, and Contacts with your iMac.

The iPad has arrived!

I took the iPad out of the box and marveled at it’s sleek futuristic appearance. I turned it on and was instantly seduced by the attractive use interface. I immediately plugged it into my Mac mini and launched iTunes. I had already downloaded some iPad apps waiting to be installed. I also configured the iPad to sync my television shows, podcasts, my favorite playlists, and my Google Contacts. I knew that on Saturday my family would be joining me at a symposium and party to honor my retiring college physics professor, so I loaded on a copy of Harry Potter and A Night at the Museum.

Movies on the iPad

Being a news junkie I launched my favorite news reader for the Mac ( and now also iPad ) – NetNewsWire. Reading blog postings via NetNewsWire is a killer app experience for me. I can quickly find a story that interests me, read an excerpt and with a quick tap of the headline, pull up the full article. Another quick tap and I can post a quick link to Twitter.

NetNewsWire for iPad

My kids, friends and family entertained themselves with the iPad all Friday night. I recharged the iPad overnight and spent most of Saturday morning reading the news on the NPR and BBC apps. My kids got bored listening during the symposia ( us physics majors can be über geeky ) so I let them use the iPad. I think the iPad was in use for about 12 hours before the battery quit.

Sunday morning I decided to research some iPad accessories most of all screen cleaner. The iPad screen gets dirty very quickly. I also shopped around for a protective cover, a carrying case, and the iPad camera connection kit. I also wanted a stand for my desk to make watching television shows and movies easier. Google helped me find something a lot more interesting. Inspired by a photo I found on Flickr I borrowed my son’s Lego and built my own stand. I think it’s awesome.

This was inspired by another Lego stand I saw on Flickr. I borrowed my sons Lego.

Did you get an iPad? Which one? How are you using it? Drop a note in the comments and let me know.

Posted via WordPress for the iPad

Communications expert Carmine Gallo has studied and analyzed the very best of Jobs’s performances, offering point-by-point examples, tried-and-true techniques, and proven presentation secrets that work every time.

Apple announced yet another revolutionary product yesterday- the iPad.

Patrick Rhone, a technology consultant and author of the minimalistMac blog had this to say about the negative reactions to “missing features” such as the lack of a camera, multitasking, and keyboard:

It may come as a shock to us geeks, but many people can’t handle multiple choices on a computing device. They learn the one way to do something and they always do it that way.

Furthermore, it is increasingly apparent that Apple feels that he moment you are presented with an option you are taken away from the experience and interaction with the device and that, my friends, is the secret sauce that Apple sells you. They have never been in the been about selling you a box. They sell you an experience and the more immersed you are in that experience, and the less choices you have to make, the more you can simply focus on what you need to get done.

John Gruber, software developer and noted author of the Daring Fireball, blogged about “The Big Picture”:

… the iPad is using a new CPU designed and made by Apple itself: the Apple A4. This is a huge deal. I got about 20 blessed minutes of time using the iPad demo units Apple had at the event today, and if I had to sum up the device with one word, that word would be “fast”.

It is fast, fast, fast……

And so my takeaway from this — with the bragging about making their own CPUs and their annual revenue and their size compared to companies like Sony, Samsung, and Nokia — is that this is Apple’s way of asserting that they’re taking over the penthouse suite as the strongest and best company in the whole ones-and-zeroes racket.

And Gizmodo had this to say:

We can sit here in our geeky little dorkosphere arguing about it all day, but as much as Apple clearly enjoys our participation, the people Jobs wants to sell this to don’t read our rants. They can’t even understand them. My step-mother refuses to touch computers, but nowadays checks email, reads newspapers and plays Solitaire on an iPod Touch, after basically picking it up by accident one day. That’s a future iPad user if I ever saw one.

Head over to the Apple web site for detailed specs and videos,, and the keynote.

	16GB	32GB	64GB
Wi-Fi	$499	$599	$699
Wi-Fi + 3G	$629	$729	$829

• 1GHz Apple A4 processor (custom)
• 0.5″ thick
• 1.5 pounds
• 9.7″ Capacitive touch screen (1024×768)
• 16-64GB of SSD storage
• 3G available but not in all iPads
• $14.99 for 250MB, $29.99 for unlimited data on AT&T (no contract)
• 3G iPads are unlocked, have GSM micro SIMs
• Accelerometer, Compass
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1
• Runs iPhone apps in window or pixel doubling
• Hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics
• SDK out today
• $499 for 16GB base model, $830 for all maxed out
• Dock with hard keyboard available but it will also work with the Apple wireless keyboard

• Accounts
  • Standard and Administrator Accounts
  • Creating strong passwords
  • Auto-login
• Network
  • Wireless Network Security
  • Virtual Private Network
  • Bluetooth Security
• Firewall
  • File System
  • FileVault
  • Master Password
• Applications and Services
  • Disable unused services
  • Secure services – restrict access levels by user
  • Bluetooth Sharing
  • Application Firewall
  • Parental controls
  • Software Update

Don’t be an Administrator

Mac OS X has three account types – Administrator, Standard, and Managed (with Parental Controls).

Administrator: An administrator account user can create, delete, and modify accounts, install software, and change system settings. Since administrators have such broad access, you should limit the number of administrator accounts created.

Standard: Standard account users cannot administer other accounts, but can install software for their own use and change settings related to their accounts.

Managed with Parental Controls: In an account managed by parental controls the administrator can place restrictions on: inappropriate Internet content, the amount of computer use, and access to applications, email, iChat.

When you take your Mac out of the box, it is securely configured to meet the needs of most common environments, so you don’t need to be a security expert to set up your computer. When you first setup your Mac, OS X will prompt you to you create your first user account. To keep things simple Apple set this by default to be a system administrator account. Operating your Mac with an account with such high level access leaves you vulnerable to malicious software that may have installed itself when your clicked that innocent looking video link in an email from your friend (except it was from a hacker using your friends email account). The Administrator should be used only when absolutely necessary to perform administrative tasks.

Create a Standard Account

The best security practice with any computer, is to create individual standard user accounts for each person who regularly uses the computer. Each user will have a separate home folder and can adjust his or her own account preferences without affecting the accounts of others users. In this way, only applications trusted by the user may receive administrative privileges, and malicious software may be kept from compromising the operating system. This is how most large companies create and manage user account for all their computer systems.

To create a standard user account in OS X (10.5 or 10.6) launch System Preferences->Accounts and click on the “+”. Enter a full name and a short name (short name can be anything), password, and a password hint. Don’t use a password hint that makes it obvious what the actual password would be.

Click the little lock icon and OS X will provide help with generating strong easy to remember passwords. I like to use short phrases to generate my password – using the first letter of each word in the phrase. I also like to throw in a few non-alpha characters. For example, “Mac user are the most creative!” would lead to password “Muatmc!”.

When a user attempts to install an application or change a system preference he/she will need to enter the user name and password for the administrator account. Most of us don’t have a need to change system preferences or install applications very often so this is a minor inconvenience for an increase in system security.

Login Options

There are some other account settings that help prevent others from getting access to your sensitive information. To enable these options click on the “Login Options” (the little house icon) in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. OS X allows you to setup an account so that your Mac automatically logs into that account on boot up. If you enable this option, anyone with physical access to your Mac ( a thief for example ) would be able to gain easy access to all your files. Turn it off.

Stay tuned

In the next article I will give some advice on securing your wireless network and locking down your Macs networking services.

You’ll need a few tools. I used Mail, Safari and and the Espresso HTML editor. The HTML editor is not necessary – you can use TextEdit for example – but it does make editing the HTML easier. I created the HTML layout for my HTML signature using icons I found in the Social Stamps FREE icon set. I’m a big Google fan and use many of their online services. My email domain (islandinthenet.com) is hosted using Google Apps; a collaboration service (email, calendar,documents) geared toward businesses, schools and non-profit organizations. This is why I chose the Gmail icon as part of my signature. Whatever image you use in your signature, be sure to save it in safe place on your computer. If you use a WYSIWYG HTML editor like Espresso (or Dreamweaver) you can preview your signature to get it just right. If you are using TextEdit, you can save the file with an HTML extension and then open it Safari to see what it looks like. Keep tweaking your signature until you get it the way you want. Save the file containing your HTML code to your computer with a file extension of html. I put mine in a sub-directory of my Pictures folder. The code for my signature started out like the following:

<img style=”float: left;” src=”http://khurt.com/images/gmail.png” alt=”" width=”64″ height=”64″ />
<div>Sincerely,</div>
<div>Khürt Williams, CISSP, ITIL</div>
<div>”The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed” – Williams Gibson</div>

The img elements places the image (I have mine stored online) while the div elements place each line of text. The float:left styling makes sure the text lines up on the right side of the image. This gives my HTML signature the basic look I want.

Once you have the basic HTML signature looking just the way you want, save it and open the HTML file in the Safari browser. From the Safari file menu, click “Save As…” (or Command S) to save the file as a web archive. I saved mine as “Signature.webarchive”.

To replace the current signature being used by Mail.app, shut down Mail.app (if it’s running) and copy “Signature.webarchive” file to /Users/youraccount/Library/Mail/Signatures directory. Now navigate to that directory. Look for a file with a name that includes a long string of numbers and letter with a file extension of .webarchive (e.g. 3330DB14-03C7-4004-BBE7-C0AACCD027E7.webarchive). Make a copy of that file (I saved a copy to the Documents folder) and then delete it. Select the file and then use Command-I and then select and copy the part of the file name that does not include .webarchive (e.g 3330DB14-03C7-4004-BBE7-C0AACCD027E7). Select the “Signature.webarchive” file and use Command-I to get the file info. Replace the Signature part of the new signature file name with the text from the original signature file (3330DB14-03C7-4004-BBE7-C0AACCD027E7). Open up Mail.app and you should be able to use your new HTML signature.

I use a digital certificate to digitally sign and encrypt my email. It helps other identify e-mail as coming from me and for certain communications keep prying eyes away. For an intro to digital signatures see my earlier post on the PMUG blog. Normally these digital signatures cost about $30 and can be challenging to setup. However, I found a company called Comodo that is offering digital signatures free for personal use. Although Comodo’s instructions are written assuming a Windows PC is being used, the certificate works quite well under OS X. Fill out the form with your name, your e-mail, a strong easy to remember password and submit (don’t forget to opt-out of the newsletter). When your certificate is ready you will receive a link via e-mail to retrieve it. Click to download to install your digital certificate to your key chain.

Bonus

For Gmail user who use Chrome Beta for Mac or FireFox, I have a bonus. A band of merry coders has put together a browser extension, called WiseStamp, that allows you to use your newly created HTML signature in your Gmail. You can use the extension itself to create your digital signature and then follow the instructions above to use it in Mail.app. I used WiseStamp to tweak the fonts and other styling features of the HTML signature I used in Mail.app. Enjoy.

References (links)

• Comodo FREE e-mail certificate
• Social Post Stamps Free Icon Set
• How to get more from Mail with HTML signatures
• Others