Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Save 50% in Take Control's Back to School Sale Adam C. Engst Our teenage son prefers to deny it, but as we move into August, it's hard not to think about the start of school. For those of you for whom learning is a lifetime endeavor, we'd like to make it a little easier to pick up new skills. Through 15 August 2013, you can [1]add any number of our ebooks to your Take Control library for 50 percent off the cover price. All books are DRM-free and available in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats, so you can read wherever, whenever, and on whatever device you like. We don't expect you to read every one of our books cover to cover, much as we'd be honored if you did. Instead, each book has a Quick Start section that gives you a look into the book beyond the Table of Contents so you can jump instantly to the sections that will teach you what you want to know. Whether it's fixing up your passwords, setting up sensible backups, using your iPad, going paperless, or finally writing your own book in iBooks Author or Scrivener, we have a title to help. We also have ebooks about Mountain Lion (and the last decade of older versions of Mac OS X), iCloud, GarageBand, iTunes, Mail, Messages, Safari, CrashPlan, DEVONthink, Dropbox, LaunchBar, PDFpen, and TextExpander. What can you learn from our expert authors? Tons. Here are some highlights: * Develop a secure password strategy that will protect your online life from hackers without slowing down your everyday activities, thanks to the real-world help in Joe Kissell's 'Take Control of Your Passwords.' * Replace slow, clumsy manipulation of your Mac with LaunchBar, which helps you do nearly everything on your Mac with lightning speed. Kirk McElhearn explains how in 'Take Control of LaunchBar.' * Have the amazing experience with your iPad that you should with Tonya Engst's 'Take Control of Your iPad.' And remember our two-fer offer: share a copy of this book with a friend, relative, or colleague who needs it more than you do ' spread the love! * Reduce the piles of paper that infest your life by implementing Joe's heavily tested suggestions in 'Take Control of Your Paperless Office.' Paperless office converts may also wish to learn more about PDF editing with Michael Cohen's 'Take Control of PDFpen 6' and document storage with Joe's 'Take Control of Getting Started with DEVONthink 2.' * Learn everything there is to know about Dropbox ' including the non-obvious bits ' for file transfer and collaboration with Joe's 'Take Control of Dropbox.' But don't be deceived; as useful as Dropbox is, it does not a backup strategy make. The definitive word on backups remains Joe's 'Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac.' * Manage your music collection more effectively with Kirk's tips in 'Take Control of iTunes 11: The FAQ,' where he answers oodles of questions about playing, ripping, buying, tagging, viewing, organizing, searching, syncing, sharing, and burning your music. * Move up to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, if you're cautious that way, with Joe's essential 'Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion' and Matt Neuburg's 'Take Control of Using Mountain Lion,' the combination of which will help you migrate your old Mac to Mountain Lion and come up to speed on its new features, along with those that you may have missed in earlier big cats. * Avoid trouble, solve problems, and speed up your Mac with Joe's dramatic trilogy of 'Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac,' 'Take Control of Troubleshooting Your Mac,' and 'Take Control of Speeding Up Your Mac,' all of which are fully updated for Mountain Lion. Any one of these titles will help you run your Mac more effectively; buy all three and you'll have a vast array of essential tips and procedures at your fingertips. For even more Mac mojo, don't miss Joe's 'Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal.' So [2]stock your Take Control library today with the titles that you've been wanting to read or that you think might become useful in the future! Thanks for your continued support, and the many useful questions and kind comments you've sent over the years. And please, if you would do us a quick favor, spread the word about this sale to friends and colleagues! References 1. http://tid.bl.it/50-percent-off-back-to-school-sale-2013-tidbits 2. http://tid.bl.it/50-percent-off-back-to-school-sale-2013-tidbits