5 posts tagged “mac”
I just recently watched the latest installment of MacBreak over at the TWIT network. The topic of discussion was a nifty little app called Text Expander. I have downloaded the trial version and played around with it for a few hours now.
I have been delightfully surprised. This little app is sure to boost productivity and efficiency. After installing text expander I immediately added their autocorrect plugin. This feature is quite helpful when typing in TextEdit, Apple Mail, or whatever, but is still quite limited. It currently contains approximately 100 auto corrrections, though it is only version 1.1.
In effort to see how robust this app is, I went to Photoshop/Image Ready and prepared an animated gif signature and inserted it into a new snippet. I fired up mail, typed in my snippet, and instantly my signature was inserted into my message. I then emailed my message to myself, and sure enough, the gif animated as expected and my lengthy signature appeared without a hitch.
At first glance, this app appears to worth its weight in gold. The Macbreak episode was not the first time I have heard positive reviews of this program but I had been skeptical about the $29.99 price tag. After a little use, I am quite sure that when the 30 day trial period ends I will be registering my copy. You may download Text Expander from smileonmymac.
Well, where should I begin. I cannot believe it. The iphone is more than I expected. When I was watching the keynote I was literally shouting with excitement. The AppleTV was about what I had expected, and to be honest, was disappointing. With all the other companies fighting to serve our content on our living room displays, there are a lot of impressive features out there. The 40GB HD was a nice surprise but, why is the USB port on for service? I didn't expect DVR functionality, but it would be pretty nice. I can stream my content wirelessly but do I want to watch 640X480 on my 50" display? Also, do I want to invest in a product which is dependent upon a non-ratified wireless standard?
Once all of the excitement died down I was able to really reflect on the Macworld announcements. The most apparent thing is that it was not much of a Macworld. Computers weren't really discussed at all. This was quite a disappointment. Personally, I am desperately waiting the release of both Leopard and the Octo. I would really like to upgrade to an updated cinema display as well. But, nothing about any of these. I can't believe that they didn't even mention Leopard at all.
The iPhone is a very exciting product. I have been waiting for it for quite some time now. I am proud to say that I have turned down 6 months of offers for more minutes with T mobile to remain out of contract. I will be one of the first people in line for two iPhones, one for me and one for my fiance. That being said, there are some things that the iPhone seems to lack. First, no GPS! It seems like this is something that they should be able to get in there. Are they going to get a full version of iChat to offer voice over IP? Will third party developers be able to develop for the slimmed down OS X? There are a lot of questions still to be answered.
For now I think that I will be holding off on AppleTV. Although I can watch some of my favorite podcasts in HD (Macworld), it is not worth it until iTunes offers HD support. And why didn't apple announce some HD content for iTunes. If microsoft can offer it via Xbox, I am sure that iTunes can offer HD content.
All in all the iPhoneWorld expo offered three things. We have AppleTV (next month), an iPhone in June, and Beatles songs on iTunes. I still can't believe that there is nothing for me to buy today. Well, I'll be waiting for Octos, Leopard, and Cinema Displays (with integrated iSight).
The last comment I have to make: Did you feel the disappointment in the room when Jobs announced that the phone wouldn't be shipping until June?
This is a quick tutorial on how to text message a mobile phone via iChat. It is very simple. All you need to do is:
- Open iChat
- Hit Command+Shift+N or go to the file menu and select new chat with person
- Type in +1234567890 (+, 1, area code, phone number)
- Type your message and hit enter
- You will get a prompt that looks like ...
This is a really great tool if you are at your mac and need to quickly send a message to someone. The recipient can even reply to you on iChat. Enjoy!
It may seem like a great time to buy a new Mac, but is it? Although Apple only recently completed the Intel transition it may not be the ideal time to buy for several reasons.
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Apple just announced at WWDC that Leopard will ship this spring. You could save money (about $130) by waiting to buy a system with OS X Leopard preloaded. Additionally, Vista ships in the first quarter of 2007. Apple has said that Boot Camp will ship with Leopard but we may see better an alternative means of windows integration in Leopard ( a la parallels?). Parallels recently reported that their newest beta is capable of handling Vista. But, if you plan to run Vista and OSX, make sure you have the RAM and video card to do it.
- Despite the wonderful reviews of Intel’s new Core 2 Duo chips, it looks like there will be something even better in the near future. Intel has reported desktop and server launch of quad core processors in the fourth quarter of this year. It is likely that a notebook version ships in the first or second quarter of next year. Is this why Apple has not announced plans to incorporate the Core 2 Duo chips in the Mac Pro or Mac Book Pro product lines? I guess we will find out soon enough
- Apple is preparing a new network card for MacPros called Airport Express (not to be confused with the Airport Express base station). Although it is apparent that this card will not support wireless N, there has been speculation for some time that Apple will be one of the first adopters of the 802.11N spec, which is capable of data transfer speeds up to 200Mbits/sec. It is likely that we will see apple computers shipping with wireless N WiFi cards once the details of the N spec are finalized next year.
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Intel has announced that they will launch their Wimax chipsets in the fourth quarter of 2006. WiMax is an emerging wide area broadband service that will help to provide wireless access to the massees. Speculators suggest that these chipsets may appear in apple computers soon after their release. WiMax may not be broadcasting that soon but it would be nice to have the integrated chipset in your notebook once it is.
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While it will probably be some time before we see BluRay in macs, it may be sooner than you think. It is obvious that the extra slot in the recently released Mac Pro was built to incorporate this future upgrade. Although unlikely, maybe these drives will ship sooner we think. One can always hope!
So should I wait for all of these advancements to hit the marketplace, probably not. Whether you should buy or not depends upon your situation. If you need a new computer now then get one. The new Macs are amazing, but so are the old ones. If you can wait to buy your new Mac, you may benefit by waiting until spring of next year. At the very least you will be getting Leopard and you will likely get yourself a Core 2 Duo machine or even a quad core. If the world was perfect you also find options to integrate BluRay, WiMax, and 802.11N. In the end it all comes down to your needs and desires but you should know what lies on the horizon.
With the newly released Intel based Macs and the boot camp safety net, there are many PC users who find themselves buying a Mac. There are many applications out there for the Mac and I thought I would put a list together of some of my favorite most commonly used and most importantly "free," applications (except podworks). That's not to say that there are not a myriad of wonderful applications out there that are not free. There is nothing that compares to Apple's Final Cut Pro HD or Adobe's Creative Suite. Additionally, OS X is filled with applications that are both powerful and easy to use such as: Apple Mail, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, and my favorite browser, safari. Nonetheless, the fearsome fourteen pack a powerful punch and efficiently perform their respected tasks, which vary from email encryption to video encoding, to perfection!
- Gnu Privacy Guard (GnuPG or GPG)(opensource): GPG is a replacement for the PGP suite of
cryptographic software, released under the GNU General Public License. If you want to encrypt or digitally sign your email there is no better option than GPG. I recommend GPG to any- and every-body for several reasons. First, it is very easy to spoof email. A few simple prompts in the command line and an open port 25 and you can write email as anyone from any address. And number two, I’m sure that you have nothing to hide but, do you want ISPs watching everything you do? I recently heard that universities around the country are holding a record of every message in your university based email account. Whether it is true or not, privacy is invaluable (yeah I know, Privacy is Dead!). Stay tuned for a step by step installation tutorial on OS X and XP. GPG is also available for Linux.
a. Depending on which mail client you use, there are a number of plug-ins which providing a front-end to gpg for some operations. They typically allow you to read/write encrypted messages, as well as electronically sign messages. Plug-ins are available for:
i. Apple Mail
ii. Entourage
iii. Eudora
iv. Mailsmith
v. Outlook (for XP)
vi. And others
2. MD5: Checsums for the rest of us (freeware): Need to calculate, create, or compare an MD5 checksum? This Eternal Storms creation is a quick and easy way to do it. MD5 requires at least Mac OS 10.3.9 and is already written in universal binary
a. Fastsum is a PC alternative
b. Of course you could just do it via the command line.i. For more info type :~ User $ man md5
3. GimmeSomeTune (freeware): Have you ever found yourself with a bad case of missing album artwork in iTunes. This Eternal Storms Software creation is just what the doctor ordered. When album artwork is not detected, GimmeSomeTune will automatically find the cover art for you from the web. This wonderful feature is complemented by a slew of others including: customizable hot keys, a launcher daemon, a beautiful translucent and customizable floating window, iChat support, and a mini controller. GimmeSomeTune is very convenient and is a must for audiophiles and audiophobes alike.
4. Ollie's iPod Extractor (freeware): I am sure that you love your iPod. But, if you are like me, you are wondering why you cannot copy the songs from your iPod onto your mac. Well Ollie's iPod Extractor has the answer. Enjoy!
Podworks (shareware; $8): Podworks is a shareware alternative to Ollie's iPod extractor. If you are willing to shell out the big bucks this is the best way to transfer songs from your iPod to your Mac.
5. MacTracker (freeware): Did you ever want to know something about an Apple product. Well, this guy has the answer. Mactracker provides detailed information on every Apple, Motorola, PowerComputing, and UMAX Mac OS computer ever made, including items such as processor speed, memory, optical drives, graphic cards, supported Mac OS versions, and expansion options. Also included is information on Apple mice, keyboards, displays, printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPod, AirPort Base Stations, Newtons, and Mac OS versions. If there is any question you have regarding Apple product past and present this is an all in one stop, likely offering more than you will ever need to know. (Available for Mac OS 8/9, Mac OS X, Windows, and Ipod
6. Firefox (opensource): I don’t think anything needs to be said about this browser from the guys at Mozilla. Check out Sage for a great RSS reader that integrates seamlessly into firefox. Version 2.0 is currently available in beta. Come on give it a try!
7. Google Earth (freeware): Want to know more about a specific location? Google Earth Beta 4.0 has the answer. Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. This one is a blast, just try not to waist too much of your day!8. iSquint (freeware): Need to convert your video? Here is a great alternative to QuickTime Pro! iSquint offers fast conversion from nearly every video format to iPod, PSP, DV, DVD, AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG and Flash. Great for H.264 and mp4 compression, iSquint works seamlessly. Just drag and drop, select your viewing medium (iPod or TV), and click start. iSquint is a available in universal binary and is compatible with Mac OS 10.3.9 or greater.
9. MacTheRipper (freeware): Need to rip a DVD? Here is your answer. Based on open source libdvdread and libdvdcss libraries, this GUI app is “simply marvelous”. Of yeah, don’t forget this is only for backing up those DVDs that you own. Of course, you already knew that.
10. KillTheRipper (freeware): This handy little scipt is for the paranoid (and me since I wanted 14 apps for the title). This script will delete the invisible list of all the DVDs you have ripped from the root of your home folder.11. Flip4Mac (freeware): Would you like to watch your .wmv files in QuickTime? Well, you can! Just download this jewel and you will be off and running. Requires QuickTime 6.5 or later and Mac OS 10.3.9 or later
12. MemoryStick (freeware): MemoryStick provides a graphic display of your RAM usage. Memorystick will tell you whether you have enough RAM to avoid virtual memory swapouts and generation of extra swapfiles during normal activity; virtual memory swapouts make Mac OS X much slower.
13. MacFlac (opensource): Here it is! The free lossless audio codec. This GUI frontend app is used to encode, decode, and generate fingerprints for FLAC files. This handy app is available for linux and windows as well.
14. Shorten X (freeware): Shorten can be used to convert audio files to and from a compressed format. Shortened files are of course lossless! Flac and Shorten formats are often used by audiophiles who are concerned about conserving audio quality. This decoders are necessary for decompressing audio files from web sites such as Archive (they offer recording of many concerts etc. for FREE!)
If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact me. I hope this was helpful.
