January 2008
49 posts
How I Organize and Process Files on My Mac - Part... →
If you missed the last installment, read it first. In the previous article I discussed how to organize your files to be processed. In this article I will show you how to access your files, and how to process through them.
So if you remember I told you about how my mother’s desktop was a wreck: files everywhere, with the desktop full with icons. I could hardly find her hard drive on the desktop....
Photoline Review: A Truly Great Photoshop... →
I’ve been looking for alternatives to Photoshop (and Illustrator, but I digress) ever since Adobe apps started refusing to launch if they couldn’t phone home (i.e. around 2001).
Since Adobe introduced product activation, I’ve been searching for something I can just license and install on any machine I use, the way I can with a lot of indie products (e.g. Silo, Cheetah, and Unity).
Well, my...
Mac Blogging Tool: ecto 3 Beta →
Recently MacApper had an open call for new blog contributers which got me thinking, what’s the current state of some of the best Mac blogging tools? In today’s world of online web apps, many rely on the hosted UI of blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger, but on the Mac we are proud of the high quality, low cost, offline desktop tools at our disposal.
In this article I’ll review the...
Porticus GUI for MacPorts →
Filed under: Software, Freeware
Porticus is a GUI for MacPorts, the open source command-line utility for installing command-line, X11 and Aqua software. Akin in many ways to PortAuthority, Porticus also provides Growl support, Sparkle updates, and an AppleScript library. It’s snappy and light weight, and it’s free.
Porticus allows description searches, auto-detection of outdated...
iGet, Mac OS Remote File Access for the iPhone →
iGet Mobile is an application that lets users browse their Mac OS files from iPhones. It is basically a web server that you install on your Mac, that will create a “view” of your files which is tailored for small displays. It works with any web-phones but it has been optimized for the iPhone. [via Uberphones]
Highlights Browse and view Mac files
View Mac files from a Windows browser
Downsize...
Find the Best Popular Wisdom at RulesofThumb.org... →
Searching through crowd-sourced “rules” database RulesofThumb.org is a lot like having your smart-alecky uncle hanging around—but far more helpful and easier to silence. Users submit rules, concepts, and common wisdom in various topics to the site, vote other rules up and down, and anyone can glean a little wisdom or motivation from the information. A search for...
Corral CPU Hogs with Process Lasso [Featured... →
Windows only: Freeware system tray application Process Lasso monitors your running processes for CPU hogs and reins them in before they take over and freeze up your computer. Like previously mentioned Process Tamer, Process Lasso does this by lowering the priority of those processes on a runaway train to freeze-ville. Unlike Tamer, Process Lasso also offers a ton of user customization, so you can...
The LCD format oddity poses a nightmare for users →
Nebojsa Novakovic the Inquirer, Monday 14 January 2008. 11:05:00
Comment Widening the distortion
SINCE THE beginning of square pixels on computer monitors during the reign of Atari ST, Amiga and IBM PS/2 VGA, the common resolutions were based on two screen aspect ratios: either 16:10 (or more correctly 8:5) for 640x400, or 4:3 for 640x480….
Shuffle Wallpaper, Embed RSS Feeds in Your Desktop... →
Windows only: Freeware application Chaos Wallpaper embeds RSS feeds in your desktop and shuffles your wallpaper on-the-fly. The application is a standalone executable (meaning it requires no installation), so just download, unzip, and run it to get started. If you only want one feature, Chaos can simple shuffle wallpaper from a folder you point it to or embed clickable links from your feeds on...
Fix Windows' Master Boot Record with an Ubuntu... →
If you’ve ever delved into the realm of Windows/Linux dual-booting, you probably know that the Master Boot Record can unexpectedly stop working, leaving you locked out of your Windows system. If you don’t have (or just don’t want to dig up) your Windows installation CD to fix it, ArsGeek has a handy tutorial on un-wonking the MBR with an Ubuntu live CD. The guide seemingly...
Control Time Machine from the Terminal [Time... →
The MacTipper blog posts the command that will start Time Machine’s backup process (and run it in the background) from the Terminal:
/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper & Why would you want to do this? Perhaps to kick off a TM backup through an iCal event reminder at exactly the time you want it to start, or combined with a reminder to plug in...
Done in 60 seconds: The Steve Jobs Keynote →
Filed under: Fun, Video, Blogging, Apple
So you can’t find time in your day to watch the 90 minute Steve Jobs Keynote that took place yesterday, even though you live and breathe Apple? Is your computer in the manager’s line of sight, so you can’t even watch it at work? Mahalo Daily has got you covered: they’ve managed to shoehorn the Steve Jobs Keynote into 60 seconds. No,...
Tooble: get YouTube videos on iPod, iPhone,... →
Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities, Video, Apple, Freeware
There are other programs that can download videos from YouTube for Apple devices, but Tooble requires only a few clicks to do the entire process of download, convert, and copy to iTunes. Tooble is free for Mac 10.4+ and requires a (free) install of Perian for the conversion work. To use Tooble, either enter a YouTube video URL or...
Audio application notes →
Although Wolfson Microelectronics produces some fine integrated circuits, their application note section is somewhat out of the way and doesn’t like to be linked to directly. This didn’t stop me from looking around and finding some potentially useful app notes:
A.C. Coupling Capacitor Selection
Recommended Output Filters for Wolfson Audio DACs
Class D Headphone Filter Component Selection
...
Innovation First rolls out ROBOTC programming kit... →
Filed under: Robots
We haven’t heard much about the Carnegie Mellon-developed ROBOTC programming language since it went into beta testing way back when, but it looks like the kinks have finally been worked out — at least to the satisfaction of Innovation First, which has just rolled out a ROBOTC programming kit for its VEX robots. Among other things, it’ll let users write...
MacBook Air Hands-On (Video) →
Xavier Lanier has an interesting MacBook Air video that shows how the laptop looks like in the real world. Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones
Helpful Tip: “Open in New Tab” Keyboard Shortcuts →
When using your web browser there are a lot of things that you can do to speed up your efficiency and productivity, particularly when it comes to keyboard shortcuts. Thanks to a comment by Inferno_str1ke it struck me that some people may not realize the different ways you can make their browser open websites in a new tab. His comment sparked some “thank you’s” from other readers, and here’s what...
LeopardMOD Edits Hidden OS X Settings [Featured... →
Mac OS X Leopard only: On the heels of our Leopard power tweaks feature earlier today, desktop utility LeopardMOD offers a graphical interface to several Terminal settings. Customize Finder, the Dock, Menu Bar, Dashboard, Safari, and more using LeopardMOD’s kinda ugly but serviceable tabbed interface. My favorite mods include turning off Dashboard, making the menu bar opaque, and...
BusySync 2 to include Google Calendar to iCal... →
Filed under: Software, Beta Beat
If you’re iCal-based for your scheduling needs and you want to share calendars with family or colleagues, you’re probably already hip to BusySync and the delights of iCal syncing Mac-to-Mac without a .Mac account. Now the BusySync team has announced a key feature for 2.0, shipping in February: Google Calendar synchronization. You should be able to...
TUAW Responds: MAC Addresses on the iPhone →
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, Internet Tools, Security, iPhone
In the “use at your own risk” department, TUAW reader Carter P. wrote in asking, “Hey, I know this is a lot to ask, but would it be possible for you to build me a simple application? All I would like the app to do is to spoof a MAC address on my iPhone.” MAC addresses are Media Access Control identifiers...
Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M for Mac →
We already published about the Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 in October , the smallest and lightest duplex ADF scanner in the world, according to the manufacturer. Fujitsu is releasing today the device for Mac. Weighing less than 3.1 lbs and measuring 11.2” x 3.7” x 3.0”, it is the perfect mobile scanning solution for the hardcore travelers.
It converts up to 8 doubled sided pages per minute into PDF...
dsh: dancer's shell gives you power over multiple... →
Filed under: Cool tools, Open Source
This month’s MacTech magazine offers a feature article by Edward Marczak on using dsh, the “dancer’s shell” or distributed shell utility, to batch-administer machines in a single blast without having to hit each one, or use a pricey management tool such as ARD or LANrev. Although dsh isn’t included with Mac OS X or available as a...
Turn Off the Annoying Windows XP System Beeps →
When you spend a lot of time in front of your computer, the annoying beeps start to drive you mad after a while. I really don’t need to be told that I hit the wrong key anymore, so I’ve compiled a list of how to turn off all the system beeps in Windows XP.
One of the most irritating beeps happens when you use the Volume control… but there are other beeps, such as on error dialogs or...
Mac 101: Boot options →
Filed under: OS, Mac 101
We’ve had some questions recently on Ask TUAW about boot options so I thought it would make for a good Mac 101. Obviously, Boot Camp has brought dual-booting to the fore on the Mac platform, but there are actually a variety of boot time options built into your Mac which allow you to interact with it to some degree before loading the OS. The most important of these,...
DTerm: give your Mac a little shell love →
Filed under: Software
DTerm is a utility just released by Decimus Software Inc. It’s a Leopard-only app that provides a hotkey-triggered HUD which allows shell commands to be run from anywhere in OS X. In case you’re wondering why, just imagine what less window switching and screen clutter could mean for productivity on jobs that require both Finder and Terminal. Yes, you can do a lot...
The Great Mac OS X Freeware List →
We here at MacApper love freeware, and try to write about it whenever we can. If we can find a program that does as good a job as commercial offerings, we will do our best to bring it to your attention. Following along that vein of thought we prepared something we think you guys might find useful. It’s a list of the best and most popular freeware for OS X.
The list is sorted alphabetically by...
Troubleshoot Browsing Issues by Reloading the DNS... →
Have you ever had an issue where you continually get DNS errors while trying to browse, but another computer on the same network is working just fine? The problem is most likely that you need to reload your DNS cache on that machine.
You can tackle this problem two ways, first by just clearing the cache, but also by restarting the DNS client service, which handles caching of DNS lookups.
Clear...
Finder sidebar separators →
Filed under: OS, Productivity, Tips and tricks
Here’s a nifty idea to add a little organization to your Finder sidebar. Since it does not natively support separators, one fellow decided to hack up a solution by creating some fake applications whose icons are transparent and whose names consist of line characters. You can then drag and drop these on the sidebar to give the desired effect....
Hands-on with Qualcomm's Snapdragon-powered... →
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Features, Handhelds
We sat down with one of Qualcomm’s fancy new reference designs today, the Anchorage QWERTY slider phone. Let’s be perfectly clear — the Inventec-crafted device won’t ever see the light of day in this exact form, Qualcomm just needed some eye candy with which to demonstrate its new Snapdragon platform. The chipset features...
John Nack updates Adobe 2O7.net controversy →
Filed under: Software, Security
Adobe Photoshop product manager & corp-blogger John Nack has posted a followup on the issue of Adobe applications that ‘phone home’ to a quirky domain name; the official Adobe technote is here. In case you missed it, the commotion arose out of an Uneasy Silence post on 12/26. Dan initially thought that Little Snitch was catching CS3’s welcome...
Indeed… a Job Search →
If you’ve told yourself that it was time for a new job, but you just haven’t taken the time to go through the process, listen up. A service called Indeed will help you immensely in your search for a new job, no matter what type of job that you’re looking for. The reason that it’s so helpful compared to other career services like Monster or Hot Jobs is that it includes listings from job boards,...
Qualcomm shows off new mobile reference designs →
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, GPS, Handhelds, Wireless
Let’s put aside Qualcomm’s legal woes for just a moment and turn our attention to something a little more interesting and heartwarming: awesome-looking prototype devices. The company is showing off a pair of reference designs showcasing its new Snapdragon chipset, a heap of silicon said to offer one of the best power to...
PSTAM.com: Behind the Scenes →
Over 300 people have suggested via Skribit that I chime in on what’s involved with maintaining, writing and developing for this blog. With this post I aim to cover every aspect of how I work and keep PaulStamatiou.com rolling. Some things might be common sense while others might make you wonder. Enjoy.
Workspace
As part of my 2008 new year’s resolution, I plan on maintaining a clutter free...
Guitar Hero portable turntable controller →
Filed under: Gaming
Check out this sweet, sweet Guitar Hero mod by one Aaron Skillman, who whipped up a portable turntable controller in his garage one weekend. Instead of using the strum bar, you hit notes by scratching forward or backward. Since this baby is portable you can tote your alt instrument over to a friend’s place and turn co-op Guitar Hero into Rock Band lite. Video after the...
Nullriver to release MediaLink Mac / PS3 media... →
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops
Details are fairly light on this one, but it looks like Mac users wanting to bring some Connect360-style media sharing to their PlayStation 3 and computer of choice will soon be able to get their fix, and from the same folks behind that well-worn app, no less. According to Nullriver, it’ll be releasing its MediaLink application later this week, which...
Hands-on with Intel's MID platform →
Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video
Get your Silverthorn, red hot 45-nm dual-core “Silverthorn” processor and “Poulsbo” chipsets here. For some reason, we love to look at these future Menlow-based MID devices even though we’ve yet to find a home for the UMPC in our cold, jaded hearts. And that shiny bar above? Don’t get your hopes up kiddo....
Alienware curved display rocks Crysis at 2880 x... →
Filed under: CES, Displays
Don’t get all frothed up quite yet because it’s still only a prototype, but this sweet doublewide curved DLP display with OLED illumination from Alienware will reportedly be available in the second half of ‘08. The curvature of the 2880 x 900 rez screen mimics peripheral vision, and in action the performance seemed pretty flawless to our Crysis-dazzled...
Is this Windows Mobile 7? →
Filed under: Cellphones
Not all the big news is coming out of CES today: thanks to Nathan Weinberg’s InsideMicrosoft blog, we were able to check out a purported internal document detailing the revolutionary new input methods planned for Windows Mobile 7 as well as a ton of supposed screenshots. If this information is, in fact, accurate, it looks like Redmond is planning at least three...
Blu-ray Pretty Much Wins Format War →
The past few days have proved to be noteworthy for those following the Blu-ray and HD DVD format war. On Friday, Warner Bros Entertainment announced that it would release its high-definition titles exclusively on Blu-ray discs beginning mid-2008. Warner Bros was one of the last movie studios to decide which format to go with and previously offered movies in both formats. This announcement means...
How to use your laptop as a free Xbox / Xbox 360... →
Filed under: Gaming, Wireless
Microsoft apparently still hasn’t gotten the memo that charging $100 for its proprietary USB wireless adapter — not to mention leaving WiFi out of the 360 in the first place — is basically a criminal act upon the gaming populace. Walamoonbeam’s Instructable on how to share internet with your Xbox from your WiFi-connected laptop over Ethernet...
SKULLcandy new iPhones FMJ headphones →
[CES 2008] CES 2008] SKULLcandy is unveiling its new stylish iPhone FMJ headphones at CES, they will be compatible with the iPhone and the Blackberry Curve.
Available online for $89.95, the product comes equipped with aluminum housing and noise isolating ear buds as well as a high-end micro switch connect / disconnect feature (according to the specification sheet).
SKULLCandy has a very...
Understanding User and Kernel Mode →
Most operating systems have some method of displaying CPU utilization. In Windows, this is Task Manager.
CPU usage is generally represented as a simple percentage of CPU time spent on non-idle tasks. But this is a bit of a simplification. In any modern operating system, the CPU is actually spending time in two very distinct modes:
Kernel Mode
In Kernel mode, the executing code has...
The 20 Best iPhone and iPod touch Applications... →
Last week we showed you how to install third party apps on your iPhone or iPod touch, and since then a new firmware preview has leaked its way to the ‘nets with saucy new features that—once released—may tempt you to abandon your jailbreak for the newly introduced features. Fact is, until the 1.1.3 firmware is successfully hacked by the resourceful iPhone hackers, you can still enjoy all of...
Archos TV+ Wireless DVR, Media HUB →
[CES 2008] The Archos TV+ is a 250GB digital video recorder (DVR) that is also a WiFi receiver capable of downloading (via Archos content portal), streaming media (music/photos) to the television and even browses the web, thanks to the integrated Opera browser. Archos has a long history of creating very interesting portable media players and it is not a surprise that the Archos TV can also...
Free Your Music with iTunesFS [Featured Mac... →
Mac OS X only: Free application iTunesFS turns your iTunes library and iPod—including playlists—into browsable filesystems in the Finder. That means that you can use iTunesFS to do things like export full playlists, similarly to what iTunes Export does for Windows users. iTunesFS requires that you’ve installed previously mentioned MacFUSE, then just run the app whenever you want to browse...
Resolve to organize: Together 2.0.4 →
Filed under: Software, Productivity
The all-purpose organization app, Together, has been updated to version 2.0.4. Formerly known as KIT (Keep It Together), the new name came with the 2.0 version and a Leopard-only status.
Together, by way of background information, offers functionality similar to Yojimbo with several major differences, including file system storage, hierarchical folders, and a...
HierarchicalDock 1.2 is ready to go →
Filed under: Software
HierarchicalDock is one of the three applications we recently wrote about (along with Quay and OldFolder) that adds hierarchical menus to the Leopard dock. It works easily: Just drag any folder onto the HierarchicalDock icon and presto! It’ll behave like a good, old-fashioned dock folder. This week, Eternal Storms Software released version 1.2 of HierarchicalDock....
iTunesFS: your music in Finder →
Filed under: Freeware, iTunes
iTunesFS is a MacFUSE filesystem, written by Marcus Müller, that lets you browse your iTunes music library and playlists from the finder. It’s a great example of MacFUSE being put to use, and the source code is available (via Subversion) for others to learn from.
iTunesFS allows you to manage the songs in your library directly. “But I can drag and drop...
OnyX 1.9 →
Filed under: Freeware, Software Update, Leopard
A new year, a new software update. The creators of OnyX and Maintenance, Titanium Software, updated OnyX today. As you probably know already, OnyX is the ultimate Mac customization / optimization utility. In addition to this new version being completely re-written, there are also some bug fixes which include: Enable/disable Journaling ...