Hello and welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! This week we've got more questions from readers, such as using Target Disk Mode, moving your iPhoto library to an external drive, putting a bigger hard drive in an iMac, sharing a Magic Mouse, good gifts for a recent Mac convert, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify).

And now, on to the questions.

Kishen asks:


When your computer is connected to another computer in Target Disk Mode, the connected computer is effectively just an external hard drive and nothing more. So no, there isn't a way to control the MacBook Pro because it isn't functioning as an actual computer when in Target Disk Mode. It is simply another hard drive and behaves accordingly.

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The Daily Deals just keep on coming from our friends at DealNews.com. Even though today is Sunday, you still have time to hit the Internets and pick up some more great deals for all your holiday shopping needs. After all, there are only 25 shopping days until Christmas, so you better get busy.

Here are the deals for today:

MacMall: [Cyber Monday] MacMall 3-Day Apple Cyber Monday Sale: Up to 25% off Apple systems, more after rebate

Staples: [Cyber Monday] Staples Cyber Monday Savings Event available online

Adorama: [Cell Phones] Unlocked Sony Ericsson W350A Walkman Phone for $70 + free shipping

Best Buy: [USB Hard Drives] Seagate Expansion 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $50 + $6 s&h

Staples: [USB Hard Drives] Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $140 + free shipping

TigerDirect: [Projectors] 3M MPro110 LED Pico Projector for $155 + free shipping

Walmart: [Office Furniture] Orion L-Shaped Desk with Hutch for $89 + $29 s&h

Staples: [22-Inch LCD] Acer 22" 1080p Widescreen LCD Display w/ HDMI for $110 + free shipping

Dell Home: [20" - 22" LCD TVs] Vizio 20" 720p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $165 + free shipping

ZipZoomFly: [USB Drive Enclosures] Thermaltake BlacX eSATA / USB 2.0 Docking Station for $20 after rebate + free shipping

Best Buy: [Plasma TVs] Panasonic Viera TC-P58S1 58" 600Hz 1080p Plasma HDTV for $1,480 + free shipping

6ave: [40" - 42" LCD TVs] LG 42" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV w/ NetFlix, YouTube for $788 + free shipping

Here they are once again: some more daily deals from our friends at DealNews.com for you to jump at and get as much of your holiday shopping done as quickly as possible. Hey, I feel your pain, I don't like to go out to crowded stores either, so these online deals are just the ticket to take care of your friends and family and save a few bucks in the process.

Don't say we never gave you anything. Now, on with the deals!

• iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] 9000 BC EP2 for iPhone downloads for free

• Staples: [Office & Supplies] Staples printable coupon: 10% off one item in-store

• B&H Photo Video: [Office Software Suites] Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student for $75 + free shipping (updated)

• RadioShack: [iPod Accessories] Boynq WakeUp iPod Speaker & Alarm Clock for $30 + $6 s&h

• OfficeMax: [15" And Smaller LCD TVs] Pegasus 7" Portable Widescreen LCD TV w/ HD tuner for $80 + free shipping, more

• OfficeDepot: [802.11n Wireless] D-Link 802.11n Wireless 4-Port Router for $20 + free shipping

• Buy.com: [Bluetooth Headsets] LG HBS-250 Bluetooth Stereo Headset for $22 + free shipping

• 6ave: [40" - 42" LCD TVs] Samsung 40" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $599 + free shipping

• HP Home & Home Office Store: [Color Inkjet Printers] HP Officejet 6000 Inkjet Printer for $40 + free shipping

• Abt Electronics: [iPod Accessories] Sony Micro Shelf Stereo System with iPod Dock for $94 + free shipping

• Walmart: [Digital SLR Cameras] Nikon D3000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera w/ 18-55mm lens, bag for $499 + $1 s&h

• Overstock.com: [Office Furniture] Black Wood Corner Computer Desk for $100 + free shipping, more

Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we have questions about arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows via Boot Camp, AirPort networks, iMac rotation support, replacing the video card in an iMac, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Leah asks:

Is there a better way to arrange icons on my iPhone than by trying to drag them around on the phone itself. I can't seem to get it to work very well and usually mess it up.

Apple provided a better way of organizing iPhone icons in iTunes 9. In the past, I always tried to arrange my icons on the iPhone the same way you do, by dragging them around on the device itself. This isn't as easy as it sounds, especially if you have larger hands.

Now, with iTunes 9 or higher installed and your iPhone connected to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, click on the Applications tab, and you will not only see the apps you have installed on your iPhone, but the iPhone screens and the placement of the icons as well.

Simply drag the icons around in iTunes and put them in the desired order. The next time you sync, the icons are arranged identically on your iPhone as well. It's so much easier.

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Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about getting an iPhone, disposing of old Macs, wake from sleep issues, exchanging a recent Mac purchase, podcast hardware and software, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Tom asks:

I'm considering an iPhone but want to know what my options are. Is the iPhone the best smartphone if I'm a Mac user?

The short answer to that question is "Yes." The iPhone is the best smartphone for you if you use a Mac. It's designed by Apple to work seamlessly with your Mac and iTunes and for the most part, it does. For Mac users the iPhone offers the best user experience possible and keeps you, at least hardware-wise, entirely in the Apple fold.

That said, the iPhone itself may or may not be the best smartphone for your needs. One drawback is that it's only available if you are an AT&T wireless customer. So, unless you are already an AT&T customer, or are willing to switch, you are out of luck.

Plus, using AT&T on a daily basis can sometimes be challenging as it's network occasionally has issues. Also, the coverage in some areas is not quite as good as other networks such as Verizon -- even in larger cities such as Los Angeles, where I live.

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Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about the Trash, Migration Assistant, Safari Bookmarks, Mac mini Server, Windows and Mac file sharing and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

CL asks:

Is there any way to just delete a single item in the trash can? I only see options to empty the entire trash can?

Unfortunately, as they say in computer parlance "That's a feature, not a bug." At the moment, Apple only allows you to go for an "all or nothing" approach to emptying the trash. Of course, the best solution is to only put things in the trash you want to delete. But I'm sure you already thought of that.

Lamdavidortez asks:

I will be upgrading from my current February 2007 Macbook Pro that is running Leopard to a new October 2009 MacBook Pro that is running Snow Leopard I plan on transferring my data via the "Migration Assistant" but being that this is the first time I perform this type of operation ... I want to make sure that I do not run into any issues.

Are there any precautions I should take? My other concern is that I backup my current 2007 MBP via Time Machine to my Time Capsule. What will happen to that data once I switch over to the 2009 MBP? Will I still have access to that data? Will it be rendered useless?

Migration Assistant has been around for several years now and has evolved and become better with each successive update. There was a time when I would never consider using it and did things the manual way by copying each and every thing I needed individually from an old Mac to a new one. Now, Migration Assistant is good enough and, more importantly, reliable enough to be used on its own. So, migrate away.

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Today, as is frequently the case, the Apple Store Online was taken down and modified to feature new goodies from our favorite fruit-flavored technology company. Now that the store is back up and ready for your ordering pleasure, what's changed?

Well, Apple introduced a whole slew of new and updated products today. Here's the highlights of what's new and different at the store:

New iMac - Revamped to include, among other new features, LED-Backlit screens, dual core and quad core processors and up to 16GB of memory.

New MacBook - Entry level MacBook redesigned to feature unibody enclosure, built-in battery and LED-Backlit screen.

New Mac mini - Revised to include more memory, larger hard drives and with a special "Server" version featuring dual 500GB hard drives and Snow Leopard Server.

New "Magic" Mouse - Gone is the trackball, replaced by a seamless top-shell design that acts as one button or two, It also features a Multi-Touch surface with gesture support.

New Apple Remote - Not as exciting as new Macs but still, kinda cool if you like to control your Macs, um, remotely.

Other items of note reflected in the new products today include the removal of Firewire 400 from all Macs and the removal of the last Mac with a replaceable battery. End of an era folks, end of an era.

Be sure to keep it right here at TUAW all day for in-depth reports on all of today's Apple announcements.

Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about Photoshop alternatives, Windows and Mac file sharing, graphics problems in Snow Leopard and quickly switching between applications, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Matt asks:

I don't have the money for something like Adobe Photoshop. What's the best, cheaper alternative?

For my money, the best Photoshop alternative at the moment, and one I use every day, is Pixelmator. It has many of the same features as Photoshop like layers, masks, level and curve adjustments and a whole lot more. Plus, it's a relatively simple program to use and is written to take advantage of your Mac's GPU when doing image processing.

It also supports most image file formats including Photoshop PSD files and has many useful Automator actions built in. Actually, because Pixelmator is such a good app and takes care of most of my needs, it's pretty rare that I ever open Photoshop anymore. Sadly, Pixelmator is not free, but at US$59.00, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than Photoshop.

Some other alternatives include the open source GIMP and its more Photoshop-like cousin GIMPShop. You can also check out Acorn, or if you need very minimal tools like crop and resize, ImageWell. Of course, Apple's built-in Preview.app can handle many of these low-end tasks as well.

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Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly Mac troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about target disk mode, energy saver prefs, Safari file issues, iTunes album artwork, iTunes sharing and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

computergeeksjw asks:

I have an old iMac Blue G3. The fliesystem failed, but I can't reformat because there is a disc in the slot-loading drive. I tried the tricks I know like Open Firmware (gives me a weird error) and holding in the mouse button (I hear the drive spin up but nothing else happens). I have a newer G4 Quicksilver. Will it be able to boot up into Target Disk Mode even though the filesystem is damaged? (Then I can try to repair with Disk Utility or reinstall from there) or will it fail like a normal boot does?

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Even though the iPhone, in its several iterations, is most likely the smartphone of choice for the discerning Mac user, that doesn't mean Mac users choose the iPhone exclusively. In fact, RIM's BlackBerry device still commands a sizable share of the smartphone market. So, if you happen to be one of those people who use a Mac and a BlackBerry, wouldn't it be nice if both of your devices could work together by synchronizing files, music, video and more seamlessly via an application supplied by RIM themselves to maximize compatibility?

Well, that dream may become a reality according to a tipster who gave the scoop to the folks at the Boy Genius Report. According the the Boy himself, RIM is poised to give Mac and BlackBerry users something they've sorely needed: a brand new, updated and super cool BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac on September 25th.

This information isn't 100% confirmed, but Boy Genius does let it slip that he's using a previous build of the software and that it is "running beautifully." So, I guess that's a good sign this is probably one dream that will, in fact, come true -- and very soon.