I recently bought Pages ’09 (for only $19.99, btw) for a client via the Mac App Store on my Mac, because you need at least Mac OS X 10.6 to get the Mac App Store on your computer, which he did not have. And my client wanted to buy Pages separately. He did not want to buy the whole iWord suite. He also didn’t feel like leaving the house. ;) So logged onto the Mac App Store, bought it, and downloaded it thinking I could just take the installation file, copy it onto a USB flash drive, and then install it on his computer.

However, that’s not how it went down. I ended up having to keep it, because at the time, it looked like when you buy an app from the Mac App Store, you don’t buy the installation file, you buy the installation of the program on the Mac that you are using to buy the app, because right after it downloaded, it installed without asking me. And nowhere on my Mac was there an installation file for it.

However, I just found out yesterday that if you log into your account on the Mac App Store on another Mac of yours, you can download and install an app that you have already purchased and installed on the Mac that you used to buy it. Very cool of Apple to do that.

Anyway, back to issue at hand. So what happened was I already had Pages ’08 on my Mac. So I figured that when I downloaded and installed Pages ’09, it would simply take the place of the older version. NOT SO. Pages ’08 and Pages ’09 can co-exist on the same Mac, meaning they can both be installed on the same Mac and each be fully functional without any issues. I did not know this. So when I launched Pages from my Dock (the launch pad on the bottom of the screen of every Mac where you launch apps), it would launch Pages ’08.

I didn’t know why, so I called Apple Care (800.APL.CARE) and they told me that when you buy an app that is part of a suite (e.g. the iWork suite is made up of the following apps: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote), it does not put it in the folder for that suite. It simply installs it as a standalone app and lists it with all of the other apps in the Applications folder, NOT in the suite folder.

To give you a visual, here is a screenshot of how the iWork ’08 suite is listed in the Applications folder when it is installed as a suite from a disk:

You see how Pages is INSIDE the iWork ’08 folder?

Now here is a screenshot of how Pages ’09 is listed in the Applications folder on your Mac when you buy it from the Mac App Store and download & install it:

As you can see, this time Pages is listed with all of the other apps. It’s not in the iWork folder. This proves that Pages ’08 and Pages ’09 can co-exist on the same computer, because they are not located in the same folder. So, in order to launch Pages ’09, I either have to go into the Applications folder, which is not necessary, or I can just drag the icon for Pages ’09 from the Applications folder down to my Dock, which is exactly what I did.

And with regard to the icon for Pages ’08 that is already on my Dock, I can either click on it, drag it up, and let it go on the desktop so it will disappear in a puff of smoke, and I will just have one icon for Pages in my dock, or I can just leave both of them in the Dock and remember which one is which, or put them in different locations on my Dock.

So if you ever buy an app separately on the Mac App Store that is part of a Mac suite like iWork or iLife, then remember to go into the Applications folder, click on the icon for the newly installed app, which will be listed with all of the other apps, and drag it down to your Dock.

Enjoy!

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Today I attempted to purchase an Apple application called, Pages (Mac’s equivalent to MS Word), on my Mac via the Mac App Store. Pages is part of Apple’s iLife software suite. It’s a great suite and is MUCH less expensive than M$’s Office.

Anyway, since my client does not have the latest version of Apple’s Mac OS X, Snow Leopard 10.6, and you need Snow Leopard to get the Mac App Store, I decided to purchase it for him on my Mac since I had the Mac App Store already installed.

Well, we signed in with his Apple ID, clicked on “Buy,” entered his password again, and NOTHING. Tried it again. NOTHING. Signed me out of iTunes thinking me being logged into my iTunes account on my Mac while logging into his account via the Mac App store was causing an issue. It wasn’t. Still didn’t work.

Called Apple, and we tried doing it via a different user account on my Mac. Still no go. So they told us to contact iTunes. That was going to take too long, so I thought of the brilliant concept to just buy it for him and have him pay me for it. So I did.

When I clicked “Buy” while logged in with my account, it worked flawlessly. However, there was one thing that we were not aware of. When you buy an app from the Mac App Store, you are not buying the installation file that you can just throw on a USB stick and install on another Mac. You are buying the app being installed on the Mac that you are using to buy it, and that’s it! It works just like a software update. It downloads, and then installs right away.

Just thought I would share that little tidbit with ya so you don’t waste any money buying software for a friend or family member because you have the latest version of Mac OS X and they don’t.

Of course I understand why Apple does this, and I’m sure you do, too. If we were buying the installation file, we could just take it and install it on multiple computers while only paying for one copy.

However, they could monitor that by setting it up so that you have to enter a product key to install it, which would be noted on their servers (Like MS does with their OS), and then it would know that it has already been installed on a system if you try to install it on another Mac.

But, Apple certainly seems to know what they are doing, and I love them for it. So, I’ll let this slide and enjoy the latest version of Pages. ;)

Update: You can actually buy one app and install it on all of your Macs. All you have to do is log into the App store of each of your other Macs with the same Apple ID that you used to purchase it, and it will let you download and install it. You’ll simply do that process for each of your Macs.

The second way of going about this would be to download the trial version of iWork if you don’t mind paying for the whole suite, and then purchase a serial number for it if you like it. However, just realize that if you buy them separately in the App Store, you’ll save $15.

One of our readers pointed this out. Thanks, Justin!

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If you are looking at buying a used iPhone or you just want to know how to tell the difference between an iPhone 3G and a 3GS, then this is how you do it.

Do you have a Facebook page for you or your business? I’m not talking about your regular Facebook profile. I’m talking about a Facebook page for your business where you are actually allowed to do business, unlike your profile page. If you don’t, then I highly suggest you get one by going to www.facebook.com/pages and clicking on the “+ Create Page” button in the upper right section of that page to make one. It can be an incredibly useful tool for your business, as Facebook is where people hang out nowadays on the Internet.

For those of you who do have one, do wish you could change the name of it? Well, if you have less than 100 people who have “Liked” your Facebook page, then I have good news for you. You can change it very easily.

Here’s how:

1. Log into Facebook
2. Go to your Facebook Page
3. Click on “Edit Page” under the profile picture for your Facebook Page
4. Make sure “Basic Information” is selected on the left



(click to enlarge)
5. Under “Name” on the right”, change the name of your page
6. Scroll down the page and click the “Save Changes” button
7. Done!

However, if more than 100 people have “Liked” your Facebook page, then unfortunately you can’t change the name of it.

Here is FB’s answer to this question in their help section:

How do I change my Page name?

If an error was made in your Page name when it was created, you have the option to edit the Page name to correct this issue. This option is only limited to Pages with less than 100 connections. After selecting to edit your Page, you can adjust this information from the “Basic Information” section.

If that is the case, there are two options that I can think of:

1. Start a new Facebook page and then invite everyone to that new page. However, you will lose all of your posts, photos, videos, and you’ll have to re-upload and re-post them.
2. Not sure if Facebook still does this, but you can create a new Facebook page, and then send Facebook the URL of your current FB page, and the URL of your new FB page, and ask the to merge them. They did that a while back when they first came out with FB pages. People were merging their FB Group with their new FB page so they wouldn’t lose their followers.

To contact Facebook for Option#2, go to Facebook’s help section and see if you can find a way to email them. Try asking a question and keep saying that their answer did not answer your question. Hopefully, they’ll eventually give you a way to contact them if you keep saying that your question is still not answered.

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