Mac OS X Lion online learning and courseware is now available from CustomGuide. For a look at the table of contents and a preview of lessons, view our Mac OS X Lion title page.

Lion, the seventh version of Mac OS X, was released last July and has arguably become Apple’s most successful operating system.  By November of 2011, some sources estimated that roughly 30 percent of all Mac users were already using Lion.

Lion introduces several new features to Mac OS X, such as:

• Launchpad: Launchpad lets you access and manage all of your Mac’s applications, as you would on an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone.  Simply click the Launchpad icon on the Dock to access Launchpad.
• Mission Control: Mission Control is the new hub of your Mac, which combines earlier versions of Mac OS X’s Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces features. With just a single click or swipe on the trackpad, you can conveniently view everything on your Desktop.
• Full-Screen Applications: You can now view your applications in full-screen view, so that they take up the entire screen.

We also bid farewell to our existing web based training format with this new release. We feel that we saved the best for last in releasing Mac OS X Lion as the final title of our existing web based training format, as the title delivers the most interactive and detailed web based training ever produced for Mac OS X. Thanks to  all of our clients who have helped make our online training such a success.

As a salute to the web based training we’ve produced over the past decade, we’ve included a special Easter egg in the lesson, “What’s New in Mac OS X Lion.” Need a hint? Explore the end of the lesson to reveal the Easter egg.

iPhone and iPod Touch courseware is now available from CustomGuide!

You might ask, “Why are you providing training on devices that are so easy to use?” These devices are so simple and elegant, people assume they know everything after learning a few basic tasks and commands. But there is always more to know, and that is why we have training.

For example, sure, you’ve figured out how to download and use apps. But do you know how to organize, delete, and close them? And what about the device’s settings? Do you know what lies under those little gears? Would you know how to troubleshoot if your device froze up, or if you needed to restore it? And what if you don’t really know the basics? Having training to guide you through these skills is a great way to explore and really begin to own your device.

To learn more about our courseware, check out our pages for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

One of the things that impressed me most when I first picked up an iPad was how simple and intuitive the whole experience was. The basics of tapping and dragging my finger across the display felt absolutely natural, as was Apple’s primary goal with the interface. This is one of the reasons that the iPad is the most popular tablet on the market, and such a hit with users of all ages.

The longer I use one, though, the more I realize that there are more layers to the experience than the basics of tapping, dragging, and pinching. I found little tricks here and there that weren’t obvious at first, but have become natural and quite useful.

Some tricks come about by experimenting. Lots of iPad users know these common on-screen keyboard tricks:
• Double-tap the keyboard to insert a period followed by a space.
• Double-tap the Shift button to enable caps lock.
• Tap and hold the <.?123> button to display the numbers keyboard, drag to the appropriate number, and then release to return right to the main keyboard.

Many also know you can tap and hold certain letters to display accented versions of that letter. For example, tap and hold A, then select ä from the popup to insert it. Once I noticed this, I found myself tapping and holding every key on the on-screen keyboard to see what other special symbols were available. Some were more useful than others, like ? being used to insert a ¿, while some were a little more obscure–if I ever need to denote sections while typing on my iPad, I can tap and hold & to insert a §. There are too many of these symbols to list here, but it’s worthwhile to experiment and look for yourself.

While experimentation may reveal some tricks, others are less likely to just be stumbled upon. For example, if you wanted to delete an email from your inbox, you’d usually tap ‘Edit’ in the inbox, tap the delete button that appears next to the email, then tap ‘Done’ once you’ve finished. If you wanted to save a few taps and gestures, though, there’s a shortcut. Swipe your finger across the email you no longer want and a delete button will appear on the right side of the email. Tap delete and the email is deleted. Even though there’s no on-screen indication that this would work, it’s a common shortcut in many apps where there’s a list of things that could be deleted. Try managing your bookmarks in Safari, notes in Notes, or books and PDFs in iBook’s list view this way.

Other tricks are obvious in retrospect, but are things that many people just don’t think to try out. For example, most iPad users will at some point create app folders, and most will customize the apps that reside on the dock at the bottom of the Home Screen, but few think to put a folder of commonly-used apps on the dock at the bottom of the Home Screen.

With the pending release of iOS 5 this fall, there are plenty of big, showcase improvements such as:

• New notifications center
• iCloud integration
• New iMessage and Reminders apps

There will also be lots of small but very useful improvements that could go unnoticed by many. We at CustomGuide are working to make sure you are in the know with our iPad training. Look for it this fall, after the release of iOS 5.

Brian is a developer at CustomGuide, and is currently working on training courses for the iPad.

On July 20, 2011, Apple released Mac OS X Lion, the seventh version of Mac OS X.  The following day, Apple announced that Lion had already sold over a million copies, making it Mac’s fastest selling operating system of all time.  The same day, Apple also released its fiscal third quarter report, which reflected a tremendous growth in the company’s sales and earnings over the last year.  The report listed Apple’s net income at $7.3 billion out of $28.57 billion in revenue – an increase of 125% since June of 2010!  Just 13 years ago, it looked like Apple’s future was rather grim, as Microsoft dominated the world of computers. Today, however, Apple’s sales frequently surpass Microsoft’s.  How did this happen? What does this mean for CustomGuide?

Apple’s incredible success over the past 5 years can be attributed to the company’s decision to expand its production to various mobile electronic devices such as iPads, iPhones, and iPods, as well as offering thousands of apps through iTunes and the App Store.  On January 9, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company’s central focus had shifted from computers to electronic mobile devices.  Jobs’s announcement ushered in a new Golden Age for Apple, with tens of millions of consumers purchasing products from the company’s growing library of mobile electronic products.

One of Apple’s hottest selling products in the last 18 months has been their tablet-sized iPad. Within a year of its release in March of 2010, over 15 million iPads were sold. Sales of iPad 2, the latest iPad are almost twice as high. Apple reported that 9.25 million units have already been sold since its release in March, reflecting a 183% increase over the past year!  iPhones, iPods, and iPads currently use iOS4 as their operating system.  Apple expects to release iOS5, the generation operating system in September, which promises to have over 200 new features.

Gene Munster, a financial analysis at Piper Jaffray, attributes the iPad’s success to its portable size, explaining “People don’t want just a computer anymore, they want a computer in their pocket.”  The iPhone and iPod have also proven to be very lucrative for Apple, with the majority of the company’s growth in the past quarter attributed to its line of iPhones.  With over 20 million iPhones sold over the past quarter, sales of the product are 142% higher than a year ago. Undoubtedly, one of the key selling points of the iPad, iPhone, and iPod is the sheer abundance of apps that can be downloaded to them through iTunes and the App Store.  Since the opening of the App Store in July of 2008, over 15 billion apps have been downloaded onto iPhones, iPods, and iPads.  A recent analysis suggests that downloads from the App Store have increased 61% over the last year, while the average selling price of the available apps has also risen 14%.

The exploding popularity of Apple’s mobile devices has prompted many users to migrate from PC to Mac computers.  Nearly 4 million users have purchase Mac computers over the past quarter, with sales up 14% than a year ago.  The rapid rate of Mac OS X Lion sales suggests that more users will continue to migrate to Mac computers. Offering over 250 new features, Lion is getting a healthy number of good reviews and looks to be very popular in the consumer market.

We at CustomGuide recognize these trends and, while we remain committed to Microsoft’s applications, we are also developing new titles, including:

• Mac OS Snow Leopard
• Mac OS Lion
• iPad

We are also nearly finished converting our Online Learning titles to video-based formats that will work on tablets and mobile devices.

Keep checking the CustomGuide Website to see when these and other products are released.

Jeff High is a developer at CustomGuide.