My other column, Dr. Mac, runs every Tuesday in the Houston Chronicle. Writing for the newspaper is a lot different from writing for The Mac Observer (TMO). The newspaper column is the same length-roughly 500 words-every week; TMO columns can be as long or as short as the subject requires. Newspaper columns don’t have screen…
Bob LeVitus
Bob LeVitus, often referred to as “Dr. Mac,” is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Mac OS X and one of the Mac community’s most trusted gurus for almost thirty years. He’s known for his trademark humorous style and unerring ability to translate ‘techie’ jargon into usable and fun advice for regular folks. A prolific author, LeVitus has written or co-written over 75 popular computer books with more than two million copies sold worldwide in a dozen languages. His most recent titles include: iPhone For Dummies, macOS Sierra For Dummies, and iPad For Dummies, all for Wiley Publishing. LeVitus is currently a columnist for the Mac Observer and has written the Dr. Mac column for the Houston Chronicle since 1996. While LeVitus has seen his work published in more than a dozen computer magazines over the past eighteen years, including: a three- year stint as Editor-in-Chief of the irreverent and unpredictable MACazine; and four different columns in MacUser magazine—Beating the System, Personal Best, Game Room, and the Help Folder (with Andy Ihnatko, and later, Chris Breen). Though best known for his writing, he’s also dabbled in broadcasting with a radio show (Inside Mac Radio, CNET Radio, 2001-2002) and a television series (Mac Today, Syndicated, 1992-1993). In addition to his writing, LeVitus runs a consulting business that provides expert technical help and training to Mac users anywhere in the world, in real time and at reasonable prices, via telephone, e-mail, and/or its own unique Internet-enabled remote control software. If you’re having a problem with your Mac or want to learn how to do almost anything with it, point your browser at: http://www.boblevitus.com. Always a popular speaker at Mac user groups and trade shows, LeVitus has presented more than 200 seminars, workshops, conference, and training sessions in the U.S. and abroad, including keynote addresses in three countries. (He also won the Macworld Expo MacJeopardy World Championship three times before retiring.) His most recent foray is Working Smarter for Mac Users, a site, newsletter, and more, all aimed at helping Mac users do more work in less time so they have more time for the things they love. Prior to giving his life over to computers, Bob worked in advertising producing television commercials, radio spots, and print ads at Kresser & Robbins and SelecTV. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from California State University and currently lives in central Texas with his wife, kids, and a plethora of pets
Articles by Bob LeVitus
Dr. Mac: Rants & Raves - Good Software, Cheap
Great software doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Great-but-expensive programs-like Final Cut, Photoshop, Logic, Dreamweaver, InDesign, FileMaker Pro, and many others-are (excuse the pun) a dime a dozen. Cheap but crappy programs are ubiquitous and worth a penny a pound or less. My favorite programs are the hardest to find: Inexpensive, well-designed…
Dr. Mac: Rants & Raves - Drum Machines on Your Mac: Not for Drummers Only
When it comes to creating drum tracks, GarageBand kinda sucks. Sure you can use loops and many of them sound fantastic, but if you want to record drum tracks from scratch, your choices are as follows: Record real drums one track at a time, which is both difficult and tedious. Record Software Instrument drums using…
Dr. Mac: Rants & Raves - How Safe Is YOUR Data?
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that external FireWire 800 drives using the Oxford 922 chip-set may lose data when you connect them to a Mac running Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. If you haven’t, Apple offers an information page at http://www.apple.com/macosx/firewire800specialmessage.html: A special message for FireWire 800 disk drive users Apple has identified an…