Updated: Top 10 business apps for iPad

TechRadar: All latest feeds Updated: Top 10 business apps for iPad

Intro and apps 1 - 3

The iPad has invaded our personal lives, but it also has a place in the business world. Whether you're a large company with employees who have access to iPads for work, or a small business running your entire enterprise from the device – the key to productivity is in the App Store. So, without further ado, here are our top 10 picks for the best business apps which you can get for your Apple slate.

1. SignNow

SignNow is a great free app for filling out and signing documents on your iPad. SignNow can handle more than just signatures, it also allows you to fill out forms and other PDF documents. Open up any PDF, Word, or RTF document on the app to add text, ticks, and signatures to a file. You can send the finalised document by email or to other apps like Dropbox or Google Dive for storage.

A great feature of this app is its ability to request signatures on a document from other people, allowing you to manage all your documents from one place – although you will have to unlock this feature with an in-app purchase. In fact several features are hidden behind in-app purchases, and at some point you will be encouraged to upgrade to a Pro account – but as long as you are a light user you won't encounter any problems not doing so.

Overall, SignNow provides a great user experience, which is boosted by the inclusion of syncing and storage for your documents via a free account. For a free app, this offering certainly boasts an impressive amount of functionality.

Price: Free (Upgrade to Pro for £17.49 per month)

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signnow-sign-fill-pdf-word/id489262811?mt=8

2. Splashtop Business

The Splashtop Business app allows you to access your work computer from your iPad. Effectively, the app turns the iPad's screen into your computer screen which you can access from anywhere.

The clean interface is simple to use, and although the remapping of the keyboard and mouse is tricky at first, it soon becomes second nature. To allow this app to open, run, and edit files located on your computer, you will first need to download and install the Splashtop Download Streamer on your PC. Once downloaded there is a simple onetime setup, but after that, as long as both devices have a good internet connection, you'll have access whenever you need it.

Privacy concerns are reassured by the provided 256-bit SSL encryption the software boasts, making Splashtop a must-have app for businesses that rely on software which is not available for iPad, but need their data to be secure.

The business package from Splashtop is reasonably priced at $60 per user, per year (around £35 or AUD$63). Note that if you're only planning on personal use it is worth checking out Splashtop 2, which sports many of the main features for only £11.99 a year.

Price: Free (Requires £35 yearly subscription)

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/splashtop-business-remote/id650739354?mt=8

3. Telegram

Earlier this year when Facebook bought WhatsApp, companies and individuals fled the service, and as a result Telegram's encrypted messaging platform became a hit almost overnight. Telegram is a secure private messaging service which looks and feels almost identical to WhatsApp, down to the cartoon icons in the background of a conversation window.

On a more serious note, the security Telegram provides for messages is amazing. The option for cloud-based encrypted messaging is standard, but for even more secure communication you can initialise a new Secret Chat in which messages are encrypted end-to-end. Messages in a Secret Chat cannot be forwarded and can even be set to self-destruct from both devices after a set amount of time.

The app was initially only available for iPhone, but unofficial versions of Telegram have been made available for iPad, Mac, Windows and Google Chrome – a truly multi-platform solution. The developer of the iPad creation admits the app is a work in progress, but at least there is an option available for iPad.

Price: Free

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/telegram-for-ipad-unofficial/id861876884?mt=8

Apps 4-6

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn in a well-known business social network, aimed at keeping you connected with family, friends and colleagues in a career-focused setting. The platform provides you with the ability to create an online CV, and relies on other members endorsing your skills – creating a socially verified page that can be shared with potential business partners. The same applies for businesses; they can add themselves to the site and create new business links, follow industry leaders, join groups and increase exposure.

The site works on the principle of six-degrees of separation. Once you have built up a foundation of known connections, you should be able to find the person or business you need by passing through your contacts' connections. This also makes the service perfect for finding potential employees as you are able to see references from previous employers. Throw instant messaging into the mix and you quickly realise how powerful a business tool LinkedIn really is

Price: Free

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/linkedin/id288429040?mt=8

5. Google Docs/Sheets

Google Drive is the tech giant's offering in the cloud storage market, and until recently the app supported the creation and editing of text and spreadsheet files. However, Google made the decision to split these two elements off into their own standalone apps – Google Docs and Google Sheet.

Dropbox is still my personal favourite cloud storage solution, but their app only lets you view the contents of certain file types, and lacks the ability to edit or create files. These two apps from Google can combine to provide you with a solution to managing and creating text or spreadsheet files – although note that the files you create can't be sent from the app, you can only invite people to co-author a document with you. This means that the recipient will have to sign up for Google Drive as well. On the plus side you can collaborate with colleagues on documents, and add comments.

Overall, Google provides a great solution for a quick synced document that is easily available on more devices than just your iPad, but lacks the features that more detailed projects will probably require.

Price: Free

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-docs/id842842640?mt=8

6. Pages/Numbers

Pages and Numbers are easily described as a paid upgrade to the previous recommendation Google Docs and Sheets. The additional cost provides a ton of extra features when creating and editing documents, along with more options in terms of how you can save and share the files.

The Pages and Numbers apps will let you share the file with other apps and can also save your document in a PDF format, which is extremely useful if you don't want the contents to be changed at a later date.

With excellent templates included on both apps to get you started, and great spreadsheet and text editing options, making professional looking documents has never been so easy on an iPad.

Price: £6.99 each (or free with iPad since September 2013)

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

Apps 7-10

7. Puffin Web Browser

We have all been in a situation where a website won't load properly on the iPad – and it's more than likely because your iOS device does not support Flash. Most of the web has accommodated and provided mobile versions of their sites, but there are still situations where Flash is required, and that is where Puffin browser steps in. The browser connects to the internet via the company's servers, which process the web content before streaming it to your iPad.

Puffin has several features added to the browser, including theatre mode which will take video full screen, but its main selling point is the ability to deliver a site running Flash to your iPad. The app is not really designed to replace the main browser on your iPad, but when Safari on your iPad doesn't load a page, Puffin will more than likely save the day.

Price: £2.99

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puffin-web-browser/id406239138?mt=8

8. Genius Scan – PDF Scanner

The app store is flooded with apps that scan in your physical documents using the iPad's camera, so they can be sent as images or PDFs to your contacts. The app that seems to float to the top and always find itself in the Top 10 of the business charts is Genius Scan.

With this little app on your iPad you are basically carrying around your own personal portable scanner. Take a picture of the item you would like to scan and use the Genius software to locate the corners of your document. The app then takes over and adjusts the image accordingly, taking care of any perspective issues you encountered whilst initially taking the photo.

The finished product is a colour scan of your page cropped to size, and this app is commendably easy to use. Genius Scan also caters for documents by grouping together scans with other pages of the same document to help keep things organised and tidy.

Price: Free (Upgrade to Genius Scan+ for £4.99)

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/genius-scan-pdf-scanner/id377672876?mt=8

9. Invoice2go for iPad

If you have a small business, creating invoices and estimates can be a time sapping chore. When you also take into account the additional filing required you will more than likely realise too much of your precious business time is being wasted on paperwork.

Invoice2go for iPad is a great solution for your business invoices, estimates, credit memos, purchase orders and more. Choose from over 20 templates to find a layout that suits your business, which can be personalised with your company's logo and branding.

The feature list is awesome, but a few of my favourites include the ability to add PayPal buttons to your invoices so customers can click and pay you instantly, and the ability to keep track of customer payments and know how much you're owed and make business decisions with over 10 built-in reports and charts.

Price: £10.49

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/invoice2go-for-ipad/id415577978?mt=8

10. Kashoo Accounting

Kashoo has provided an iPad app to complement its solid online accounting services. Kashoo enables businesses to keep track of all their income, outgoings and view Kashoo generated reports. Essentially, Kashoo provides you with the tools you need to do all the business basics from your iPad, from quickly entering expenses to creating professional looking invoices. Financial reporting is its real strong point, as it goes into some detail. Kashoo also gives you a really useful clean and simple overview of your accounts so your business can keep track of its finances.

To start with, Kashoo is free to download and the majority of features are free, but you will need to upgrade to a Pro account if you would like to remove the Kashoo branding from your invoices, or if you need offline access to your files, or require additional reports and templates.

Price: Free (Upgrade to Pro for £34.99)

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/kashoo-accounting/id442878143?mt=8

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How to Connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell

Petri IT Knowledgebase How to Connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell

Every Microsoft Exchange administrator knows that one of the best way to get things done in Exchange on-premise is through the Exchange Management Shell, which is based on Windows PowerShell. With that in mind, many administrators may think you cannot use PowerShell to control Exchange Online, but that simply isn't the case. You can still put all of your knowledge of scripts and cmdlets to good use with Exchange Online. In this article, I'll show you how to connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell.

PowerShell and Exchange Online Pre-Requisites

Before starting this process, make sure that you're running a compatible operating system with necessary updates. Any version of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 will work fine. You can also use Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, as long as you also install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or 4.5.1 and Windows Management Framework 3.0 or 4.0.

Connecting to Exchange Online with PowerShell

1. Get started by opening Windows PowerShell on your computer. The first command you are going to enter will prompt you for your credentials:

$UserCredential = Get-Credential 

2. The Windows PowerShell Credential Request dialog box will come up.  Enter you Exchange Online user name and password and select OK. Your credentials are now stored in the variable $UserCredential, which we will use in the next command.

Using the $UserCredential = Get-Credential command to prompt the
Windows PowerShell credential request dialog box. (Image: Jeff James)

3. Next, enter the following command to create a new session  to the Microsoft Exchange Online server:

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

This last command will import commands from the remote session we established into the current session.

Import-PSSession $Session 

Using PowerShell Cmdlets with Office 365

Now you should be connected, and you should have the ability to use cmdlets up against your Office 365. Now that we have the Exchange Online commands let's try them out. Let's start off with something simple:

Get-Mailbox 

If you received an error message, then there a few things you should check:

• Double-check that you entered your password correctly.
• Your account must be enabled for Remote Shell.
• There can only be three open remote PowerShell connections at a time.
• Traffic must be allowed on port 80 between your computer and Exchange Online.

Another thing to check is to make sure that Windows PowerShell is configured to run scripts. This only needs to be done once, but you will get an error message without first configuring this option. Start by opening an elevated Windows PowerShell window (right-click the icon and select Run as Administrator). Now enter the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned 

Choose Yes by typing 'Y' and pressing Enter.

Of course, when you are all done don't simply close the PowerShell window, but make sure to disconnect first with this command:

Remove-PSSession $Session   

And there you have it.  Once connected you'll find that there are still limitations. Being that you aren't able to control Server features (for the most part) even through the GUI you will also be limited in that regard within the Shell. But now that you have the connection you'll find out soon enough what you can and cannot do.

The post How to Connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell appeared first on Petri.

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Tesla gets sporty with new electric car, the Model 3

Cnet Tesla gets sporty with new electric car, the Model 3

The all-electric car company confirms that a smaller vehicle is in the works, but it probably won't go on sale until 2017.



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7 essential apps for international road warriors

Geek Tech 7 essential apps for international road warriors

I rarely take real vacations, but I do travel often. Since I'm a freelancer, my work can, and does, travel with me.

Case in point: I recently took a trip to Seoul, South Korea on a whim, to see my brother compete in the CrossFit Asia Regionals. Because this trip was sort of last minute, I didn't really have time to block out "vacation" time (that's where I try to finish a bunch of projects before the trip so I don't have to work during the trip). Instead, I relied on in-flight Wi-Fi, a plethora of mobile devices and apps, and sheer willpower to get my work done—even while overseas, jet-lagged, and at a CrossFit competition.

Getting work done on the go is actually pretty easy these days, but it's a lot easier if you have the right apps. You've probably seen "road warrior" app suggestions before, but you'll need an entirely different toolset if you're working in the air and overseas, because many of the typical apps won't work without a cellular connection. I found seven apps that are essential for the international road warrior.

TripIt

Of all the dozens of travel-planning apps, TripIt (free for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone) is my go-to for two reasons: It keeps all of my travel plans and itineraries organized and in one place, and it's accessible offline. That second reason is particularly important when I'm traveling internationally, because not all airports have readily available Wi-Fi hotspots.

Make sure to sync TripIt once before you go, and you'll have all your information handy wherever you roam.

If you've never used TripIt, you're missing out. At its core, it's really just a simple organization app that gathers your various travel plans in one place, like flight numbers, and hotel and car rental reservations. You can either input these details manually, or use TripIt's ultra-convenient "email itinerary" feature, where you link your email account to the app and forward all relevant plans to a special TripIt email address. TripIt can also identify travel-related emails that appear in your inbox and automatically update your itineraries.

What I like about TripIt is that you can access it offline—well, most of the time. To ensure you'll be able to get your trip info when you leave your carrier's network, you should open up your itinerary while you're still connected so that the info is freshly stored. Later, when you get to your final destination, you should have no problem pulling up the itinerary offline. TripIt also sends email notifications if your flight is delayed, which is a great feature. For $49 per year, TripIt Pro adds more features, including notifications by text message, which are virtually useless if you happen to be in another country with a CDMA phone.

Plug Finder

Airplanes are becoming more and more tech-friendly: I see in-flight Wi-Fi, under-seat power sockets, and even USB chargers all the time now. But while my flight to Seoul had Wi-Fi, there were no sockets to be found, except in the lavatories, and everybody knows those stopped working 30 years ago. Unfortunately, this was an issue for me, because my little MacBook Air gets about six hours of battery life on a good day, and the flight was 11 hours long.

Plug Finder finds plugs, and that's all it needs to do.

Luckily, I had a 2-hour layover in Narita. And instead of diving behind the airport's vending machines and ATMs in search of an outlet, I pulled up Plug Finder, a free iOS app that crowd-sources plug locations. (I may or may not have ended up unplugging a vending machine – Narita is severely lacking in open plugs, at least in my terminal.)

Plug Finder is a simple app that displays nearby outlets on a map. In theory, the app can be used to display outlets anywhere, but realistically, you're only going to find a large number of pins in places like airports and train stations. The app uses your phone's GPS (which still works overseas, even if your mobile network is turned off, by the way), but you can also enter in your location manually or just tap and drag the map. Users can upload plug locations with a photo of the plug and a description of the area, and most people are smart enough to mention terminals and gate numbers in their descriptions.

Plug Finder isn't the most polished app, but it's ridiculously useful for finding a nearby outlet when you have a short layover.

Wi-Fi Finder

Besides just finding the Wi-Fi networks you're in range of, Wi-Fi Finder can pinpoint nearby hotspots you can use for free.

When you're traveling internationally, finding Wi-Fi becomes your top priority, especially if you don't have a phone or a SIM card from your host country. Opening up your Wi-Fi menu on your smartphone can be useful for finding networks, but it's not the best way, especially not if you're in South Korea, where I swear each fire hydrant has its own Wi-Fi network. If you just use the Wi-Fi menu, you may miss out on networks because your device will get overwhelmed with the sheer number of networks in the area. Or, you may not realize that if you take three steps to your left, there's a free, public Wi-Fi network just waiting to be discovered.

Wi-Fi Finder is a free Android and iOS app for finding Wi-Fi whether you're online or offline, and whether you can currently see the networks or not. Wi-Fi Finder has a scanner, which you can use to scan for networks that your device can actually see. The scanner delivers information about each network, such as its signal strength and how it's secured. The app also has a "Public Wi-Fi Near Me" option, which gives you a listing of public Wi-Fi hotspots in your area. This is where you'll find restaurants, cafes, libraries, and other establishments that offer public Wi-Fi either for free or for a fee.

I actually ended up using Wi-Fi Finder more often than I thought I would, because my typical strategy for finding Wi-Fi when I'm overseas is to hop into the nearest Apple Store. But guess what? South Korea has no Apple Stores.

Desks Near Me

As a freelance writer, I don't have a lot of overhead. I don't need an office, or even a desk, to do my work. But not everyone is so lucky—plenty of people need meeting spaces to meet with clients or collaborate with colleagues, and hey, some people just work better in an office environment.

Sometimes even I might pay cash money for an honest-to-goodness work space.

Desks Near Me is a handy app for finding various work spaces when you're overseas. The free app, which is available for iOS and also has a web version, lets you search for "desks near you." The app uses your phone's GPS to locate nearby work spaces, but you can also manually enter in your location. You can filter for price (free to $200 and up), number of desks (from one to 10 or more), and amenities, such as 24-hour access, child-friendly spaces, or business equipment like fax machines and copiers.

"Desks" are listed by type—you'll find a lot of conference rooms, private offices, and shared workspaces, especially if you're looking in the United States. International offerings are less impressive, but still there: I found a small meeting room in Seoul renting for just 2,000 won (about $20) an hour. You can book a desk directly through the app, or you can call the provider for more information, assuming you have phone service.

DocuSign Ink

The last thing you want to do when you're traveling is try to find a printer, a post office, or a fax machine—but what else can you do if you have to sign a contract and send it back while you're overseas?

DocuSign Ink makes it easy to keep up on your paperwork without having to find a fax machine. 

Well, you can use DocuSign Ink, a free app for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone that lets you virtually sign and date documents and email them to clients and employers. DocuSign Ink is a cinch to use: Just open up your document (usually a PDF) in the app and tap to sign it. If you have a physical version of the document, you can also take a photo of it and then virtually sign it.

You don't even need to sign every single document: The app has you sign once and then it takes that signature and places it into future documents. You can sign as many documents as you like for free, store them in cloud storage services such as Dropbox or Evernote, and send them from the app (you get 5 free sends per month, and you can buy more with in-app purchases). DocuSign Ink is compliant with the eSign Act, so your signature is legally binding.

Expensify

If you're traveling, you're probably spending a decent amount of money on things you normally wouldn't: hotels, food, and other incidentals. But if you're traveling for work, those costs could be expensed to your company—or tax-deductible if you're self-employed—so it's a good idea to keep track of them with Expensify.

Expensify can track receipts, time, and mileage for your trip, then generate and send your expense report.

Free for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone, Expensify not only tracks expenses and creates expense reports, but also lets you track other variables (such as time and mileage), snap photos of receipts, and track bank and credit card transactions. Expensify works offline, too, so you don't have to worry about being connected to a network to use it.

Expensify is a lifesaver for people like me, who are terrible with paperwork. But even if you plan to save all your physical receipts and take them home with you, Expensify is still useful if you're traveling internationally. It's got a built-in currency converter, a trip manager (which you definitely won't need if you're already using TripIt), and real-time flight updates if you're connected to a network.

Word Lens

Pick up all the language packs for Word Lens while they're free, just in case you need 'em someday.

Although I didn't use Word Lens in Seoul (Korean is currently unsupported), it's still a great app for international travelers. Free for Android and iOS, Word Lens is an augmented reality app that uses your phone's camera to read text and translate it into different languages in real time. The app is currently in the process of being acquired by Google, and all language packs—which normally cost around $15—are free until the acquisition is complete.

Word Lens offers language packs for English to Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, and Spanish. It's not the greatest app if you want to translate a chunk of text, because the augmented reality can get a little confused—point Word Lens at a paragraph and you'll see words jumping all over the place. But it's perfect if you're looking to translate just one word.

And for those of you who don't think that's useful, it is, especially if you're traveling. Think map directions, train station exits, warning signs, the remote control in your hotel room, and on and on. Word Lens even helps if you're learning the language, because it's like an instant dictionary.

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Name Faces in iPhoto efficiently

MacOSXHints.com Name Faces in iPhoto efficiently

I've become somewhat obsessed with the faces feature in iPhoto. Currently, I have about 7000 unidentified faces in my library. I knock out a few hundred here and there. It's oddly satisfying, but I go to a lot of large events - events where a lot of people look familiar because they are regulars, but I don't know them. This makes finding faces rather cumbersome, especially since the method of ignoring faces requires the mouse. Everything else can be done with the keyboard. Plus, doesn't track repeatedly ignored faces, so the same faces keep showing up. Well, I've discovered a way to work around these cumbersome limitations.

Doing everything with the keyboard makes things go a lot faster. If you're using the Find Faces feature and skip faces you don't know (because you don't want to pause to use the mouse), the next time you click on Find Faces, you'll be presented with those same unknown faces over and over again. They build up and always get presented in the same order, so you end up spending a lot of time skipping them before you get to new faces.

To avoid this, just name all these unknown faces 'Unknown' (or some other word with an uncommon starting letter). Then all you have to do to ignore a face (once you've tabbed to it) is type a 'u.' After you've labeled a bunch, open the 'Unknown' face album and bulk-confirm all the unwanted faces. Now the next time you use Find Faces, you'll get right to the new faces.

A few other time-saving tips:

You can create a smart album containing unnamed faces, open the album and hit the info button, then start tabbing and naming. The photos with unnamed faces will disappear as you update them. This allows you to have a good idea of your progress.

Not naming a face when the person's name is on the tip of your tongue, can make them rather hard to return to when their name pops into your head. I find it useful to name them something like '?Alan's Wife' or some other memorable note. All such names will be at the top of your Faces album listing (because of the question mark), and you can change the name of all occurrences simply by renaming the album.

Let auto-complete do most of the work. Most times, the first few letters are all you have to type before iPhoto fills in the rest of the name. Note, iPhoto uses Facebook, your contacts, and your previously named faces for auto-fill, but it skips contacts' middle names and does not include nicknames.

When confirming faces, if you come across a different face that you know, you can right/control-click and name it. Plus, sometimes all it takes to remember a name is the context of the photo, but the Find Faces feature does not let you zoom-out to see the whole image. Yet, when confirming faces, you can unzoom/zoom with the switch at the top-right of the window. I find that the confirm-faces interface is a faster way to find new faces than the Find Faces feature and I was methodically going through each face album to find new faces this way before I discovered the smart album trick mentioned above.

[crarko adds: Faces is not a feature I use very much, but this might get me to start. By the way, sorry about the slow July. I've been on vacation a bit, and the hint queue is pretty bare at the moment. I'll be putting up a couple of polls related to Yosemite as we await the public beta. Things will probably remain slow until that release.]

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20140709150132330

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Life after Aperture and iPhoto: What to do with your image library

Macworld Life after Aperture and iPhoto: What to do with your image library

When most companies kill off a neglected product, the damage is usually limited to the few remaining customers that have stuck by it. In the case of Apple retiring iPhoto and Aperture, however, the disruption is much more broad: As iPhoto has been the included image management application on the Mac for years, it's actively used by millions of customers. And although Aperture never made as many inroads into the professional community as Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom, it was still the Apple-supplied pro option.

Both programs are being replaced by Apple's upcoming Photos for OS X application, which at this point is still a mystery: Will it incorporate the advanced features of Aperture, will it be a stripped-down limited clone of the Photos app under iOS 8, or will it be something in-between?

No matter what's to come, you can start to take steps now to prepare for your transition—whether that means switching to Photos or migrating to another third-party photo application. (Regardless of your decision, make sure you have good working backups of your photos!)

If you want to upgrade to Photos for OS X

It's important to recognize that you don't need to immediately block off the next week to migrate your photo library. iPhoto still works and Aperture will be updated to work with OS X Yosemite, scheduled to appear this fall (likely October). That gives you at least a year—assuming Apple won't continue to support Aperture in the next OS X revision after Yosemite—to plot a strategy, and more important, to evaluate options as they arrive.

Second, Apple has said that users will be able to migrate their existing photo libraries to Photos for OS X when the application arrives in "early 2015." We don't yet know what that migration process will look like, but it will probably be a built-in step the first time you run Photos that converts the library, just as previous updates to iPhoto and Aperture have done over the years.

A big advantage on this front is the fact that iPhoto and Aperture share the same library format. Currently, you can open a photo library in either application without converting the data. Metadata and adjustments applied in Aperture that iPhoto doesn't have inputs for are simply ignored. I suspect that will be the approach of Photos, pointing to a (hopefully) smooth migration process.

Begin freeing your photos from iPhoto or Aperture

If you're itching to jump to something else, or want to start preparing for an eventual switch, here are a few practical steps you can take right now.

Aperture and iPhoto by default store your photos in a single library file (which is actually a "package," a folder that OS X presents as a single file). The library includes much more than just the image files, including thumbnails of various sizes, database files, and a maze of nested folders.

Remove your photos from Aperture: To make it easy for you and third-party applications to access your images, get them out of the library package and into a regular Finder directory.

1. In Aperture, select the photos you want to relocate. To move everything, select Photos in the Library tab and then choose Edit > Select All. However, I strongly urge you to first choose a small subset of photos as a test, to make sure everything moves over correctly.

2. Choose File > Relocate Originals.

Relocate your Aperture photo master files.

1. In the dialog that appears, select the folder on your hard disk where you plan to store the images.

2. Choose an option from the Subfolder Format pop-up menu. With None selected, all the photos appear together in the same folder. I prefer the Image Year/Month/Day option, which builds a folder hierarchy based on the photos' capture dates.

Choose a destination and subfolder format.

1. Click Relocate Originals to move the files. Aperture still keeps track of their location, metadata, and any adjustments that you've applied in-app; only the original files are moved.

Remove your photos from iPhoto: iPhoto lacks a Relocate Originals command, so the photos in its library file remain there. You can start storing newly-imported photos into folders, however: Go to iPhoto's settings (choose iPhoto > Preferences), click the Advanced tab, and turn off the first option labeled "Importing: Copy items to the iPhoto Library."

Start storing photos outside the iPhoto library file.

If you own Aperture, you can alternately open your iPhoto libraries in Aperture and relocate the images from there. When you re-open that library in iPhoto, the app will still be able to work with your images; they'll just be stored elsewhere.

Make the switch now

If you choose not to stick with Photos for OS X, or you want to explore your options before 2015, here are some applications that currently manage photo libraries. Most offer trial periods to get a feel for how they work.

For applications that offer more powerful library features, look to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription's Complete plan, at $49.99 per month, or part of the Photography Creative Cloud plan, at $9.99 per month), Adobe Photoshop Elements ($99, no subscription needed), Capture One Pro ($299), or Corel AfterShot Pro 2 ($79). Other applications provide a light interface for working with images in the Finder, including Pixa ($30) and Lyn ($20).

As I mentioned earlier, iPhoto and Aperture are not disappearing immediately. The best advice right now for most people is to be patient and see what Photos for OS X brings. But if you're looking to switch away from iPhoto and Aperture now, I have good news and bad news.

Switch from Aperture: The process is pretty easy from Aperture, which can export metadata such as ratings, keywords, and location information intact. However, there is a slight complication. The adjustments made to photos you've edited apply only when you export the images as versions, which means saving them as JPEG files. If your photos are already in JPEG format, this isn't an issue. Choose File > Export > Versions and export the images.

But if you capture photos in raw format, you can't go back and tweak an adjustment using a different application (such as changing just the Shadows value or the mix of red, green, and blue channels in a Black & White conversion).

The workaround is to export edited photos with their adjustments applied, and then export the photos' original files separately so you have the option of editing the source files later. Thankfully, Aperture's Smart Albums make the process a little more manageable.

1. Create a new Smart Album with one rule set to [Adjustments] [are applied], and a second rule set to [File Type] [Is Not] [Raw].

Use a Smart Album to find edited raw photos in Aperture.

1. Select the images and choose Metadata > Write IPTC Metadata to Originals. That adds the ratings, keywords, IPTC data, and other metadata to the JPEG files. This step is important if you're importing into Lightroom, because Lightroom ignores sidecar files (which are saved in step 5, ahead) associated with JPEGs.

2. Change the Smart Album's parameters so [File Type] is deselected, which shows all edited photos.

3. Select the photos and choose File > Export > Originals.

4. In the Metadata pop-up menu, choose Create IPTC4XMP Sidecar File.

5. Click Export Originals to save the files.

6. Import the photos into the new application.

Switch from iPhoto: If you want to jump from iPhoto to another application, well… it's a giant mess. The problem is that iPhoto doesn't export metadata well at all, let alone star ratings or your raw image data. When Apple merged the database formats for iPhoto and Aperture, it blocked all the routes that utility developers used to access the metadata and, for some inexplicable reason, made it impossible to export very much metadata.

I offer a detailed workaround in my book "Take Control of Your Digital Photos on a Mac," but honestly, I'd rather you hold off and wait to see what Photos for OS X offers than buy my book to learn those steps.

Make a line in the sand

A cleaner way to switch to another application is to simply start fresh with that program using the photos you shoot going forward. That way, you're not worrying about migrating your photo library at all. The downside to this approach is having bifurcated photo libraries, requiring that you open iPhoto, Aperture, or Photos to find the shots captured before you started over. But since Apple promises compatibility in Photos with iPhoto and Aperture libraries, even if the new application isn't as capable as you'd like, you can still access and export old photos.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2452232/life-after-aperture-and-iphoto-what-to-do-with-your-image-library.html#tk.rss_all

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Largest collection of FREE Microsoft eBooks ever, including: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 365, Office 2010, SharePoint 2013, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell, Exchange Server, Lync 2013, System Center, Azure, Cloud, SQL Server, and much m

Largest collection of FREE Microsoft eBooks ever, including: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 365, Office 2010, SharePoint 2013, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell, Exchange Server, Lync 2013, System Center, Azure, Cloud, SQL Server, and much m
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