OS X has all sorts of little tweaks that can be made to it via the Terminal. These are usually items that aren’t available via the operating system GUI. In many cases, developers have made little utilities that allow you to make these changes outside the terminal. But instead of having to [...]
If you’ve ever used the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store, you’ve used their Concierge Service. You can sign up from Apple.com/retail from anywhere (not just within the store itself) for a convenient time that day and then head on in at your leisure. Works well enough and is definitely nice to [...]
The new Apple TV is shipping and you really, really want one. You think this is perfect for your old television, but then you realize you don’t have an HDMI or component input. But you really, really want one. How do you make this work?
Fear not, trusty readers. I have a theoretical [...]
A while back I started Daily Feeding, which was meant to be tips on regular tasks you might need to perform on your Mac. I’ve got the wheels turning again, and am trying to re-up that segment.
Today’s Daily Feeding has to do with hiding files that you might want to keep private. (I’m [...]
You’ve seen that stylish little white Apple Remote, but your Mac doesn’t have an infrared (“IR”) sensor. What are your options?
Twisted Melon has come out with a product called Manta TR1 — an USB IR receiver which works with Apple Remotes (and other remotes if you so desire). Source: SvenonTech.com via EverythingUSB. The Manta [...]
Apparently rock stars and record companies aren’t the only ones who can renegotiate their contracts. In an article for USA Today headlined Cellphone users set their sights on Apple’s iPhone, Jefferson Graham details how many cell phone users are currently looking for ways out of their existing service contracts even though they’ve never used or [...]
I’ve used GeekTool for quite a while, and it’s become one of those things that I just take for granted on my system. It monitors everything under the sun, and sticks it right at Desktop level on your screen so you can always reference it. My favorite use for it is a continuous [...]
CoolOSXApps posted SerialSticker, which is an application for storing all your software licenses. I don’t know how it works, as I haven’t tried it. But it got me wondering how everyone manages the multitudes of software they accumulate on their systems (assuming it’s legit…).
I know there are a handful – if not several [...]
Want to fill up your iPod with just a few clicks from the iTunes Music Store? Apple has made the process very easy to do, by offering some massive music compilations at reduced prices, far below the standard $.99 a song.
The most famous of these deep compilations was the promotion Apple offered with U2. Alongside [...]
After almost every screencast that I post here on The Apple Blog, someone asks about the software that I’m using. (Also about the wallpaper on my desktop…) Without hesitation I reply, Snapz Pro X. It’s screen capturing software on steroids, and makes the process of recording your screen movements absolutely a breeze.
Though [...]
My Powerbook’s hard drive died last summer, so when I rebuilt it I set up three users, one as the “Super Duper All Powerful” User, and one for my day job (“mike-work”) and one for my personal stuff (“mike-home”). The Admin user is only used for system upgrades and installing software. I don’t have to [...]
I think we’ve covered a lot of ground in the past 4 weeks, talking about Metadata in OS X. While it’s clearly a large step in a new direction, attacking that new way of thinking can really pay dividends as you hone that system to your own needs. In this wrap-up post about [...]
Apologies for a rather quick and dirty screencast this week. I’m headed out of town and wanted to make sure to get something out. So today’s is a quickie, but something you can easily build on to become more efficient with Quicksilver.
Watch the screencast, and you’ll get a feel for using the right [...]
Today I came across an article with a few ‘tools’ for web design and frankly, I thought it pretty lame and unexciting. There were 2 things on there that I felt were actually good information, Color Schemer and Typetester. The other, information was either lame (a “handy dandy” notebook) or untrue (“Mountain Dew“).
So, [...]
Backups are something that in my experience, most don’t worry about until they’ve been caught without one. Luckily I guess I’m paranoid enough that I’ve never found myself in a situation without my important files appropriately backed-up. But I think we can always do a little better to safeguard ourselves, especially as more [...]
Apple’s iPod commercials always seem to be something of a phenomenon when they are released. I almost always end up loving the music that’s chosen for these commercials…Is it because it’s just plain good music? Or maybe it’s just because it’s associated with Apple products. I’d like to think I haven’t drank [...]
LifeHacker links an interesting utility (that’s new to me), called Home and Away. It’s sort of a Do Something When, but based on your Mac’s IP address. You can set drives to mount automatically when the address an address is detected, but you can also set files or applications to launch. There [...]
Jamie Huskisson has written a nice article on how to lock and password protect you mac using a combination of screensavers, hot corners, and FileVault.
The benefit of his method is that your computer won’t go to sleep…meaning if you’re in the middle of running some sort of process (such as rendering video) and need to [...]
The Metadata Screecast that I posted yesterday generated enough questions that I felt it necessary to address them in a post, rather than a HUGE comment, buried at the end of the comments. So here it is. Each Answer references the number of the comment it relates to.
I will continue to update this [...]
A dead drive created a minor slow-down in getting this out, but an extra drive and a quickly restored backup and I’m back in action. (Along these lines, an answer to a question: The tags – Spotlight Comments – do in fact survive backups and such. Everything’s in perfect order post-backup/restore.) [...]
© 2009 The GigaOM Network. Marketing consulting by ACS.
