Easy Mac OS X Lion - Kate Binder [39]
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Chapter 9: Living Online
So much of modern life happens online. Despite some people’s complaints that a sense of community is disappearing from our society, community is thriving on the Internet. That’s what the Internet is all about—a network of people sharing a network of information—and your Mac is your passport to that network.
In this chapter, you learn how to set up iChat and begin exchanging messages with others. iChat works with AOL, MobileMe, and Jabber screen names, but if you don’t have a screen name already you’ll learn how to create one for free. With iChat, you can set up your own chat rooms in which multiple people can exchange messages; in this chapter, you also learn how to take advantage of iChat’s video and audio chat features to actually talk with your buddies or even see them over a video feed. For those features, of course, your Mac must have a microphone and a webcam (a small digital video camera). For even better video quality, you can use FaceTime to place video calls to anyone using a Mac or another Apple device.
Other tasks introduce you to surfing the Web with Apple’s very own web browser, Safari—a fast, compact browser that you’ll quickly learn to love. You’ll learn how to create bookmarks and use the History so you can return to your favorite sites, as well as how to keep those bookmarks organized and accessible. And you’ll view RSS and enable Safari to automatically fill out web forms for you—a great time-saving feature if you do a lot of online shopping.
Hanging Out on the Net
Making Video Calls with Facetime
FaceTime, Apple’s new video chat program, uses new video technology that provides better quality with lower bandwidth and at full-screen resolution. And FaceTime works with any Mac or Apple device with FaceTime installed, so you can use it to call your friends on their Macs, iPad 2s, iPod touch 4gs, or iPhone 4s. Move over, Dick Tracy—real-life video calling has finally outdone your wristwatch phone.
Start up FaceTime—it’s in your Applications folder, and you may have a FaceTime icon in your Dock.
Enter your Apple ID and password and click Sign In. (If you don’t have an Apple ID, click Create New Account and follow the prompts to get your very own Apple ID.)
Click a contact group to see a list of contacts.
Click the name of the person you want to call.
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Note: Who’s Calling, Please?
When you get a FaceTime call, FaceTime starts up automatically and shows you who’s calling. You can click Accept to take the call or Decline to ignore it. When you click Decline, FaceTime tells the caller you’re not available.
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Note: You Can Get With This, or You Can Get With That
FaceTime only works with other Macs and Apple devices using FaceTime. So, if you want to chat with someone using a Windows computer, or with more than one person at a time, try iChat instead. Turn to page 169 later in this chapter to learn more.
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Click the phone number or email address you want to use for the call.
Click the double arrow to switch to full-screen mode.
Click the Mute button to mute your microphone.
Click End to hang up on the call.
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Note: New Friends
FaceTime picks up contact information from Address Book and Exchange, so if you don’t see someone you want to call in your FaceTime contacts, that person either isn’t in your Address Book or the entry for the person doesn’t have a phone number or email address. Create an Address Book entry for your new friend, and he or she will show up in your FaceTime contacts.
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Tip: How It Gets There
FaceTime uses email addresses to call Macs, iPods, and iPads—devices that don’t have phone capabilities—and phone numbers to call iPhones, If you have both an email address and a phone number for a person, you can use either to place the call. No matter which method you use to call someone, the call rings