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Mac 101: Creating Secure Disk Image Files
If you have files on your Mac you don’t want others to have access to, the simplest way to secure them is to create an encrypted Apple disk image. An Apple disk image is a single file that can be mounted by OS X as a drive. You can create new blank disk images, which bear the familiar .dmg file extension, on a Mac using Disk Utility.
1. Open Disk Utility (located in Applications>Utilities) and select File>New>Blank Disk Image from the menu bar.
2. Under “Save As,” enter the desired filename for your .dmg. Enter a name for the disk image (this is what will appear in your source menu when it’s mounted) and choose the size of the disk you want to create.
3. Keep the format set to the default: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
4. Go ahead and set the encryption to 256-bit AES
5. Set Partitions to Single partition – Apple Partition Map
6. For Image Format, choose read/write disk image
When you click Create, you’ll be prompted to set a password for the file you’ve created. If you click on the key image next to the password field, a Password Assistant will pop up to help you create a strong password. Choose Memorable and a long length (the max length of 31 characters is most secure), and the Password Assistant’s autogenerated password will be very hard to guess using a software program (the level of security is similar to that of a Captcha, the word-generating fields used to determine whether a visitor is human or not).

Dragging data to your disk image when it’s mounted will copy it to the .dmg. Once you eject the disk image, you’ll need to enter your password to mount the image again and access your files. If the .dmg file is unmounted (ejected), people who don’t have access to your password won’t be able to get the data within. You can securely mount the resulting .dmg file from any Mac. If you decide to remember the password in your Mac’s Keychain (the password prompt will ask you if you want to do this), keep in mind that anyone else who has access to the user account that keychain is associated with will also have access to the files within.

This technique is particularly useful when preparing taxes or hiding the electronic trail of receipts and correspondences related to a special gift you want to keep secret from tech-savvy nosy kids this holiday season.

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8 iPad Apps for the 8 Nights of Hanukkah
Hanukkah comes early this year — it starts the evening of Dec. 1 — so gift givers better get on the ball! What better last-minute gift than these Jewish-themed iPad apps, hand-picked for a variety of backgrounds and ages? (To gift an app, click the triangle next to the price on the app’s iTunes Store page and choose “Gift This App.”)

1. Siddur HD ($19.99)

If you had to pick only one prayer-book app, Siddur HD is the most comprehensive. The main focus of the app is a complete Jewish daily (but not Shabbat) prayer-book. It contains a variety of styles for different backgrounds, such as Ashkenazi and Sephardi. The app includes only the Hebrew text, but an in-app upgrade ($8.99) includes the English for most prayer (but not transliterations).

Siddur HD uses the iPad’s GPS to find your local prayer times (Zmanim) and the compass function to show the proper direction to pray. The app even helps you find a local minyan and a Luach (Jewish calendar) tells you the Hebrew date and upcoming holidays (with push functions as well). The iPad version is an outstanding example of putting the iPad’s real estate to good use, as you can see in the Zmainm and Luach integrated right into the prayer screen.

2. Dreidel HD ($0.99)

Unfortunately, not many developers have made an all-around great dreidel app. In fact, I could find only one, Aint Bubbie’s, that actually allows you to spin your iPhone to spin the dreidel. After testing with the kids, the most popular game was Dreidel HD. This app allows you to “spin” a virtual dreidel with a tap. The dreidel lands with one of four symbols face up, which decides how much (if any) of the pot the player gets, or whether he or she has to add to it. The animation, including half-eaten gelt (chocolate coins), kept them occupied for quite a while. Maybe it’s best they can’t spin the iPad to spin the dreidel.

3. Jewish Radio ($0.99)
Whether you want an alternative to all the Christmas music playing on the radio, or some great tunes to fry latkes by, the Jewish Radio app has an extensive collection of Jewish and Israeli online radio stations. The scan function allows you to quickly scan like a car radio so you can find which station is playing “Rock of Ages.” For those running iOS 4.0, the music can play in the background.

4. Torah for iPad ($7.99)

Instead of showing you the Torah in a book-like format, the Torah for iPad app acts just like a scroll, with the text presented in a right-to-left format without pages (and without vowels). Unlike the real Torah scroll, the app allows you to bookmark certain key passages for later reference. The developer has marked each weekly Torah portion, as well as key passages such as the Shema and The Ten Commandments. Even a yad (pointer) is included.

5. 123 Color (Hanukkah Edition, $1.99)

If the kids are getting antsy for sundown, 123 Color can help them get into the spirit. The generic coloring book app has a specific Hanukkah module that allows kids to paint by number or letter on nine different Hanukkah cartoons, as well as winter, autumn and general shapes. After the kids (or really bored adults) finish a drawing, they are rewarded with a non-Hanukkah related song and can either email the art or save it to iPhoto.

6. Synagogues ($0.99)

If you’re traveling and aren’t sure where you can worship, or if you’re just lazy like me and want to quickly look up your local synagogue’s info, Synagogues is a great app. It uses your current GPS location to find the nearest local synagogue and provides contact details, the name of the rabbi, the congregation size and affiliations.

7. iTalmud – iPad Edition ($29.99)

For those who don’t know, the actual Talmud has old-school “hyperlinks” — well, footnotes — to other volumes and passages, so it ends up making an ideal iPad app. You can use the links to move easily between passages and see all the commentary on one page. This version includes both the Hebrew and English, as well as audio commentary from various rabbis that can be turned off and on. Those participating in a Daf Yomi program can keep track of their daily Talmud study in the app. Note that due to the large download size of the text and audio, it’s best to start initial study with a Wi-Fi connection, because you’re liable to transfer a whole lot of content onto your device early on.

8. Talking Hebrew ($5.99)

Whether you’re traveling to Israel or just want to practice conversational modern Hebrew, this iPad-only app has you covered. You’ll be presented a choice of either words or common phrases such as “Do you speak English?” in a flash-card format that presents a picture of the word, the word in Hebrew and then the audio. You can even record yourself speaking the word for practice. When you’re confident enough, you can take a quiz, matching the Hebrew with either the English or the picture. Sadly, no phrase for “Where is the bathroom?” was included, nor was “Do you have applesauce for these latkes?”

Whether you want to give a new app each night or give them all at once is up to you. Happy Hanukkah!

Disclosure: All apps were provided directly from the publisher at no charge for review purposes.

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Subsidized iPad Could Actually Save You Hundreds
Japan’s Softbank mobile network provider is now offering (Google translation) Apple’s iPad to subscribers free with a two-year service agreement. Japan is the second country to offer subsidized pricing for Apple’s popular tablet, after Orange and T-Mobile announced its plans for the U.K. last week.

Softbank will give you the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model iPad for free, so long as you sign up for a two-year 3G data plan, which will cost you around $55 per month. It also looks like that data plan provides unlimited usage, too. Not a bad deal, considering I had to pay full price for my iPad and still have to pay more than $35 a month for 5GB of usage.

In fact, if I do the math, my plan plus the price of the original iPad purchase (here in Canada) comes to $1607.27, while the Softbank deal works out to only $1344. That’s a savings of $263.27, provided I renew my data plan every month for two years, which I almost definitely will.

The deal starts Dec. 3, and is only a limited time offer extending until Feb. 28, 2011. If I still lived in Japan, I’d definitely go this route instead of buying directly from Apple. Especially considering that last time I checked, cancellation charges for exiting a contract early weren’t at all severe when dealing with Japanese network operators.

Orange and T-Mobile also recently revealed their specific subsidized device pricing plans, with the Wi-Fi + 3G model available for £199 (~$309 U.S.) on a £27 (~$42 U.S.) per month plan over two years. That plan gets you 1GB of anytime usage, plus an extra 1GB between 4 PM and midnight. Grand total: $1317 U.S. Again, better than what I paid, though you do get less data.

Compare that to what you can get in the U.S. with Verizon, data plans start at $20 for 1GB of data and run up to $80 for 10GB. With those deals, you’re also buying the Wi-Fi only version, remember, and a Verizon MiFi. The entry-level bundle will cost you $629 for a 16GB iPad. With the entry-level data package, your two-year total comes to just $1109. But if you’re a heavy user, that goes up quickly to $1920 for the closest to unlimited offered by Verizon. Softbank’s deal, by contrast, will save you $576.

Of course, Verizon also has the advantage of providing a MiFi in the bargain, which you can use with your smartphone and notebook, too. The iPad with 3G built-in can’t share it’s connection at all. Still, if you’re looking for a single-device connected everywhere solution, a MiFi might not be among your top priorities. In fact, it could hinder your overall portable, since you have to account for two devices instead of one.

Personally, I’d opt for a subsidized deal if something similar were offered here in North America, even given the possible advantage of a Verizon MiFi and the freedom of not being locked in. These packages look appealing to anyone else?

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Virgin's iPad-Only Magazine Now Available on the App Store
The new iPad-only publication Project from Virgin and Richard Branson has arrived, and is currently available for download from the app store. Users who download the app get a very limited preview of the international culture, business and travel magazine free, and can then buy the first issue for $2.99.

Project is unique in that it has no print version upon which it’s based. In addition to being digital-only, it’s also specifically designed with the iPad’s unique capabilities in mind. You won’t find the typical scanned pages or static content of most early digital publications here. Instead, subscribers to project get access to “updating content” throughout the month.

Kudos to Project if it does indeed manage to bring worthwhile updates to subscribers during the term of their purchase. One of the main problems with the magazine format in the digital age is that waiting an entire month to see new things is just too slow for many users. Of course, we’ve yet to see what Virgin has in mind in terms of updates. If we see only modest additions made throughout the month, it won’t really prove that much of a differentiator.

Potential rival The Daily , Rupert Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper publication, is set to launch early in December. While the content of the two publications probably won’t be all that similar, the fact that both will be using the iPad as their sole distribution platform will have the print news and periodical industries watching their progress very closely.

If publishers can get the formula right, the iPad is a market of tremendous potential profit. iPad owners are willing to spend more on apps than their iPhone and iPod touch-owning counterparts, and they also appear to be much more receptive to advertising than most.

In addition to better and more interactive content from publishers, a dedicated means of subscribing to content through iTunes would also go a long way toward attracting and keeping readers.

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Quick Fix: Get Your Music Back After the iOS 4.2 Update

The update to iOS 4.2 that rolled out last Monday went pretty smoothly, but there were many cases of people who updated to 4.2, then seemingly lost all of their music. I didn’t have this bug on my iPad, but I wasn’t so fortunate with my second-generation iPod touch. Luckily, the fix isn’t difficult.

In reality, your music hasn’t been deleted off the device; iOS has just forgotten it’s there. Here’s how to remind it:
1. Connect your device to your Mac or PC. (If your device is set to automatically sync when connected, you can cancel it.)
2. In iTunes, click arrow next to your device in the source menu on the left-hand sidebar, and go to “Music”.
3. Play any song.
4. Sync your device with iTunes.
That should do the trick. It worked for me as well as other TAB staff affected by the bug. When you fire up your music app, you should see your music there again. If those steps didn’t work for some reason, let us know in the comments.

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