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social, health, political imagery through the lens of G J Huba PhD © 2012-2021

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I periodically make recommendations of apps on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone that I find exceptionally useful.

For the 2013 “back-to-school-edition” I picked a rather eclectic group of apps that I use all day as a knowledge worker. Are these the only programs I use a lot. No. But these are the third-party apps I use all day, usually immediately start every time I restart my MacBook Pro, and find very helpful in the generation of new content.

These will actually be a fairly controversial set of program choice. I suggest using a fancy text editor rather than a word processing program for all but the final draft (when it should be polished in Word or Pages). A mind mapping program is continuously open on the MacBook and used to develop ideas, remember thoughts, make lists and schedules. An electronic white board or pin board is indispensable to what I do on the computer all day.

The entire suite of programs I suggest in this #mindmap cost less than $200 in their PRO versions as I write this. In all cases, get the PRO versions and skip the freebie, lite versions.

This set of software selections will probably surprise you.

Click on the image to increase its size.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL MIND MAP.

Key Mac Programs for Day-to-Day Use

The second version has identical content to the first one but uses formatting to make the map more “memorable” (or attention grabbing). In visual thinking, small changes in graphics may make large differences in understanding and remembering.

Key Mac Apps for Day-to-Day Use

Well not really ….. unless you think that all there is to life is using your Mac Book or Air.

Two months ago, Apple replaced ny 17 inch 2011 MacBook Pro (without cost) with a new 15 inch MacBook Pro with a retine screen. They had tried three logic boards (essentially new computers) in the aluminum unibody case to try to fix the Thunderbolt port. Apple was nice enough about this although I had to be firm with them that if Thunderbolt would not work on the four separate logic boards (original + 3 replacements) then there was a flaw in their overall logic board design. (I do note that absolutely no screaming was necessary; they are cool — negotiate in good faith and let them suggest solutions and do not necessarily take the first one offered.)

I brought the new machine home, turned on the power, and selected my Time Capsule as containing the most recent back-up of the prior computer. 15 hours later my new machine was my old machine complete with passwords, app settings, preferences, datasets, and everything else. The restoration was NOT for just the Apple apps but all apps on the original machine.

If you go to school or work with your Mac or store photos and documents and email on the Mac, get off your ass and get the get the free (included) Mac app Time Machine running and backing up the Mac automatically. You can use Apple’s Time Capsule hardware or any other external hard drive on your computer attached with a wire or logged on to the same wireless network as the external hard drive. Installation is a semi-complex thing, but if you cannot get automatic backups running within 15 minutes, consult a sixth grader.

My intellectual property is worth many thousands of times the relatively inexpensive cost of adequate automatic backup hourly. And secondary periodic backups of the primary backup drive to another external drive.

How much do you value your intellectual property? Your upcoming college degree? Your work products? Your family’s pictures?

More than $300?