Activity Monitor is a utility application included on every Mac since Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Essentially a task manager, the application enables users to monitor their Mac’s CPU processes, RAM usage and more.

Users can also use Activity Monitor to quit rogue applications or those leaking memory. Though it is an incredibly useful asset to nearly any Mac user, it has unfortunately been banished to the Utilities folder and therefore is seldom opened by the average user.

What many Mac users–even those familiar with the app–might not realize is that Activity Monitor’s functionality extends beyond its single window design. The application’s cardiac monitor styled icon–which has always been a personal favorite of mine–conceals an active icon capable of displaying your Mac’s performance or resource usage in real time.

To enable this hidden feature, simply navigate to *Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor* and launch the application. Once the app is running, right click its icon in the dock and select Dock Icon. The resulting menu presents a number of system monitoring options that will replace the app’s default icon as long as it’s running.

Users can select from CPU Usage, CPU History, Network Usage, Disk Activity and Memory Usage. Although the icon will revert to its original form upon quitting the app, you can always keep Activity Monitor in your dock for quick, convenient access.

This Thursday, Apple announced that more than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store since its debut three years ago. This announcement, coming less than six months after the store hit the “*ten billion download*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/app-store-to-hit-ten-billion-downloads/ mark, clearly exemplifies the exponential growth of the company’s mobile iOS platform and its base of over 200 million users since its inception in 2007.

Speaking on the tremendous success of the company’s digital storefront, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller offered the following:

bq. “In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen. Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

Last week, Apple announced that of the 425,000+ apps available in the store, more than 100,000 are native to iPad. Apps are available in a wide variety of categories and languages to support users in the 90 countries where Apple products are commercially available. Over its nearly three year run, developers–both large and small–have innovated and pushed the boundaries of Apple’s already versatile mobile products.

Although the App Store is undoubtably a lucrative platform for Apple–the company reserves 30% of every app sale for itself–according to Thursday’s release, Apple has paid out over $2.5 billion to developers to date.

These trends clearly indicate the App Store will likely continue to experience exponential growth in future months–presumably surpassing 20 billion downloads before the year’s end.

Last week, I was working on a project when my app crashed, leaving a pile of error messages (and an irritated Kali) in its wake. My file was also no more–nothing could be recovered since there was no auto-recovery feature built-in and horror of horrors, I hadn’t saved it yet.

Actually, as dramatic as that sounds, it wasn’t that bad to have to recreate it this time, but it got me thinking about previous data I’ve lost (irreplaceable!) and if I were to have a more major crash (certainly possible).

So, let’s back up that important stuff, people! We’re featuring the LaCie 1TB Neil Poulton Hard Drive with USB 2.0 for just $82.99 this week with free shipping.

iPhone 4 features an incredible five megapixel camera, and with HDR support, 720p HD video and an endless array of photography enhancing apps, it’s easy to see why it has surpassed many DSLRs to become the “*most popular*”:http://www.flickr.com/cameras/ camera on Flickr.

While apps such as “*Camera+*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fid329670577%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 and “*TiltShift Generator*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Ftiltshift-generator-fake-miniature%2Fid327716311%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 are capable of mimicking the depth of field and focus techniques achieved by true glass lenses, iPhone 4 is not the perfect choice for all occasions. Though great for capturing a night out or an in-the-moment photo, the iPhone’s camera is still not to the level where it can replace a true DSLR or even a higher megapixel semi-pro point-and-shoot.

One aspect of the phone which may compel users to reach for it over their standard camera is its built-in geotagging capabilities. Though many new digital cameras also include this ability, photographers with older cameras are stuck having to manually tag their photos should they want to add location data, which in iPhoto at least can be a serious pain.

Thankfully, there’s a way to easily add location data to all of your photos as long as you’ve taken at least one shot on location with your iPhone. First, however, it’s important to double check you’ve given Camera–or your photography app of choice–permission to use your location. To double check, simply visit *Settings > Location Services* and verify that the switch next to Camera is toggled on.

Once you’ve enabled location services, GPS coordinates will automatically be added to photos taken on your phone and preserved when imported to iPhoto. This data is plotted in the ‘Places’ category in the app’s sidebar, and provides users with an excellent visual aid of their travels and the photos taken during them.

To apply geo data to all photos taken in a given place–iPhone and otherwise–simply right click a photo known to have been taken using an iPhone and select copy. Next, browse for any photos taken on a non-geotag enabled camera and select them by either dragging a box around them or a combination of Shift and Command clicks. Once all of the photos from the same location as the original iPhone image are selected, right click again and select “Paste Location.” After completing this step, all images from a given location will adopt the data recorded in the original geotagged iPhone photo.

While this technique doesn’t yield results as accurate as using an iPhone or geotag enabled camera exclusively, it is an easy way to map your photos in ‘Places’ both for fun and for easier organization.

Gee what will I do this weekend? I think it will involve the outside, motorcycles, exercise and summertime activities here in Vermont. We pay the price in the winter for these awesome summer days so I’m sure going to take advantage!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Ben & Kali_

Actually, every __Thursday__ in the Small Dog office I crank the stereo with the sweet sounds of reggae music, which is known as “Reggae Thursday.” Peter Tosh is rocking the place right now as I write Kibbles, so I thought that a reggae special was in order.

I’ve been to Jamaica many times, often trading Macs for vacations with my friends at the Whistling Bird resort in Negril. Born of those experiences in paradise, I developed the reggae Chill Pill mobile speakers.

This week, exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers, buy any iPod from Small Dog Electronics we will send you a Reggae Chill Pill speaker for just $25, a $14.99 savings!

Add the “*Reggae Chill Pill here*”: http://www.smalldog.com/product/77728/chill-pill-mobile-speakers-reggae/at_kb and use coupon code *kbmon* in the cart to redeem your savings!