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Tim Gaden writes: "Ever wanted to send an encrypted message in an email but haven’t wanted the trouble or difficulty of obtaining a digital certificate? Chibi Ninja, a new app released yesterday, might be for you. It allows you send an encrypted message (and image if you want) through Apple Mail which the recipient can decode using the same password you encrypted it with."
Easy to use, simply sit I-Dog Interactive Music Companion in front of a speaker or plug it into the headphone jack of any hand-held music system and I-Dog will move and groove to the rhythm of the song. I-Dog displays four distinct personalities that are dependent on the type of music it hears: rock and punk make it rebellious, classical and country relax the I-Dog, pop and R&B make the robot happy and dance music excites him. In addition to head and ear movement, I-Dog expresses its different personalities through a unique array of colorful LEDs located on its face.
For a lengthy review I suggest you take a look at Macenstein.
Jonathan Ive, the man behind Apple's iconic iPod and iMac, has become a CBE in the New Year Honours list. He is widely seen as one of the key figures in Apple's resurrection. Apple said in a statement: "We are as proud as could be that Jony is receiving such a prestigous commendation."
Using superior analog technology all but lost in today’s common digital electronics, this is the first tube-based iPod speaker system, producing a luxurious warmth and clarity prized by audiophiles and previously difficult to reproduce outside of custom-built amplifiers of a handful of live musicians.
Developed and built by German audio technicians, the system consists of an aluminum-encased amplifier housing four powerful Class-A tubes which glow gently as they generate warm, low-octave sound that is virtually distortion-free, considered by audiophiles to be the most pleasing to the human ear.
The tube amplifier smoothes over distortions found in modern digital recordings while helping to compensate and minimize the quality loss inherent in compressed audio such as MP3s. The matching double-cone, full-range speakers—designed solely for use with this system—faithfully generate warm, realistic tones using a single, highly synchronized chassis per speaker (reducing ill-timed and out of phase audio).
In addition to the iPod line-in jack, a second audio-in port allows you to connect additional components such as a CD player or satellite radio. An RCA cable and two highly-insulated 13' triple-core speaker cables with gold-plated connectors are included. System: 11 1/2" H x 6 1/2" W x 26" L. (42 lbs.)
If you're an audiophile with a large pocket go to this page and get yourself these babies.
Imation has released a very cool looking micro hard drive. Available in 2GB and 4GB capacities, this portable drive features a flexible USB 2.0 connector that locks back into the drive, forming a handy attachment clip for briefcases, backpacks or belt loops.
Features include:
- Multi-gigabyte storage capability
- Small, lightweight design - 1.61in x .66in x 3.3in
- Fast read/write speeds (Read 5MB/second, Write 3MB/second)
- Reliable and durable form factor
- Requires no additional power supply or USB cable
- LED lights up when drive is in use
From the security perspective, Imation hard disk owners can freely download Imation Security Manager Software that offers password protection, file back-ups and 128 bit file encryption. The software requires Mac OS x 10.2 or higher.
MacFixIt reports that Apple has released a 1.0.1 version of their all-in-one production tool Aperture. Some of the improvements in this release include white balance adjustment accuracy and performance, image export quality, book and print ordering reliability, auto-stacking performance and custom paper size handling.
Chris Saribay writes: "Newer Technology and Other World Computing have come together and created a series of replacement batteries, notably, those that offer the prospect of longer battery life. Apple’s batteries fresh from the factory are good and well enough, but to say that they retain a strong charge is not exactly an accurate statement. In this review, we’ll be testing Newer Technology’s NuPower High Capacity Battery for 12†Aluminum Powerbooks, but the company also offers similar replacement batteries for other Apple products."
Macintosh speech recognition authority MacSpeech has released a new ScriptPak for Final Draft 7. The new ScriptPak installs almost 250 commands into iListen that allows the user to do virtually anything by voice in Final Draft 7 they would normally do using keyboard shortcuts or menus.
ScriptPaks work with MacSpeech's flagship product, iListen, whose TalkAnywhere technology allows users to dictate anywhere they would normally type. ScriptPaks enhance iListen's Command & Control capabilities by teaching it about the individual keyboard and menu commands in a specific program. ScriptPaks only affect iListen's ability to control an application and are not required for dictation.
MacSpeech offers several iListen packages, including a software only solution for $99, and a software and headset with microphone for $149.
This article shows you how to set up Mac X 10.4 Server to function as a VPN server. It also looks at the client configurations needed to connect to that server from Mac OS X 10.4 client (the non-server version of the OS) as well as from Windows XP.
Giles Turnbull writes: "When you read the articles and weblog posts by prominent Mac users and Mac pundits, do you ever find yourself wondering what kind of computer setup they're using? I do. So I recently contacted a bunch of Mac professionals - journalists and developers - to ask them straight out: what Mac do you use? And what do you like about it? Here's what happened."
Paul writes: "I am, as you might know, one of the more prominent Windows-based writers on the Web. This simple fact makes the notion that I'd buy a Mac for my wife seems like an April Fools joke, I know. But the truth is, I've owned one or more Macs since summer 2005, and I'm a big fan of Mac OS X, albeit one who is perhaps more honest about the system's shortcomings than the typical Mac fanatic." Very interesting article that shows just how easier it is to work on a Mac.
If you are using the Safari web browser, you probably either have your own solution for this, or you are in a desperate need to solve the little thing that gets on your nerves. I am talking about preventing Safari from automatically closing all tabs if you accidentally click the Quit Safari key combo.
Safari is currently my preferred browser. I migrated from Firefox because of a number of performance problems including constant crashing on flash enabled web sites. The problem was fixed in the latest version, but I still hold to my Safari. In my article "The reasons behind my love for the new iBook" I mentioned that I use Command + A combo quite a lot and often, because of closeness, A becomes Q and as you probably know Command + Q closes the active window. I hated having up to 10 tabs open and then accidentally hitting the mentioned combination that resulted in Safari closing itself immediately. From the reader feedback I received on the iBook article, there were some good tips on preventing this problem. контейнерные перевозки
Change the key combo
Our reader Chris Mear gave his point of view on fixing the situation. "In System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts, add a new shortcut for Safari, menu item Quit Safari". This is quite a good hack, as the Keyboard Shortcuts menu gives you the possibility of setting up a new shortcut for a specific application. In this case, it means that you are not changing the default close window shortcut in all applications.
Taboo hack
Taboo is a simple Safari hack which provides a warning before quitting or closing a browser window containing multiple tabs. I really prefer this method, as it is easy to use and blends into Safari perfectly. This is done by using SIMBL (Smart InputManager Bundle Loader) that allows developers to build hacks for Cocoa applications and apply the code selectively based on an application's unique identifier. Thanks to Daniel Brouwer for introducing me with Taboo.
Saft tool
Our reader Eduo suggested using Saft: "Saft always knows what your tabs are in each of your windows. Should safari crash it will reactivate all tabs as they were. If you quit the program with tabs opened, they will reopen when you start the program." This is also a quite good approach - I've seen this function in Opera. I would prefer Taboo over Saft because, for instance, in one of the tabs I might write a lot of text, and if Safari closes, Saft will probably open the same URL, but it would not cache the content. I say probably because I didn't tested it. I really wanted to, but Saft has some problems. I tried both versions 8.1.2 (the "latest" version on Apple.com), as well as 8.2.1 (latest version from developer's homepage).
Saft 8.2.1 pre-requisites:
Saft 8.2.1 error after installation:
I manually deleted all 8.2.1 files, located in /Library/InputManagers/Saft and installed the new version, but I receive the same error.
As you can see from the images above, my Safari version is fully supported, but after installing Saft it says that it isn't compatible.
Conclusion
Bottom line, I use Taboo and it is a great addition to Safari. If you have any other suggestions do let me know, I am always curious to hear about better alternatives or workarounds.
Dennis Sellers writes: "iDive is easy to use, a great time saver and looks so gorgeous you’d think it was an integrated part of Apple’s iLife suite. The latest version (1.5) adds a Mosiac feature that makes the app—which is also great for Final Cut users—even better, especially if you’re a pro user or 5G (video) iPod owner."
FastScripts is a utility whose custom keyboard shortcuts, and superior integration with running applications make getting your work done quickly and elegantly its top priority.
Execute scripts from anywhere on your Mac, without leaving the keyboard. Anything that FastScripts can execute from its menu can be configured to run quickly in response to your desired key combination. Keyboard shortcuts defined for your application-specific scripts are only effective while that application is active, so you can define the same shortcut to do different things in different applications.
Here are the detailed instructions on how you can replace the hard drive of a 4th generation iPod by yourself and get it up and running for less than $100.
The battery life on the new 5G iPods is much better than the previous versions. Apple states that you can get up to 20 hours of music playback with the current 5G iPods, under optimal usage. Do you know you how to get the best performance out of your iPods battery though? Follow these tips and you will be rocking for up to 20 hours just like Apple says.
Being an icon and wallpaper junkie I want my desktop to have a new feel at least once a week. This leads me to search high and low for all the design elements I need to gather in order to make the perfect OS experience.
Listed here are the very best resources I use to grab free stuff all the time. There's something in these links for everyone, all styles are represented.
Wallpapers
Icons
Sites that offer both icons and wallpapers
I'm sure there are more cool places to get icons and wallpapers and I'd appreciate some links in the comments as I'm eager to get my hands on more goodies :)
Dejal Simon is a site monitoring tool that checks servers for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, or other means. You can use it to track updated sites, and to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers.
It can be used to monitor your own website and servers, track posts and new comments on your or friends' blogs, check for web mail, get notifications of updates to favorite news and entertainment websites, keep an eye on auctions, and many other uses.
This release fixes all remaining issues that were reported during the testing period; as a result Synergy is now a fully-fledged Universal Binary that will run identically (and natively) on both the Intel and PowerPC platforms.
Ever wondered: "What's that song?" and you just missed the announcement? Now there's help that can be waiting right on your Mac.
Let Tunatic hear the song and you will get the artist's name and the song's title within seconds. Tunatic is the very first song search engine based on sound for your computer. All you need is a microphone and Internet access. The best part? It's free.
Miraizon has added new functionality to its DVD movie clip extractor, Cinematize 2, to directly generate movie files for iPod video and PSP units, as well as for sharing on the Web.
These new features change what used to be a multi-step process into an easy single-step operation. The newly added output formats include Apple's H.264-based iPod video format for iPod and the MPEG-4 format for iPod, PSP, and web.
Cinematize 2 is a highly acclaimed software package that allows users to extract audio and video clips off of any unencrypted DVD and save them in formats compatible with major applications such as iMovie, QuickTime, FinalCut, PowerPoint, iTunes, or even an iPod or PSP.
Users can extract clips as short as fraction of a second or as long as a complete movie. Cinematize 2 offers an interface simple enough for novice users, yet with powerful enough features and performance to satisfy even demanding audio and video professionals.
Since its release, tens of thousands of customers have used Cinematize to incorporate DVD clips into their presentations, to create movie highlights collections, to edit recorded TV programs, to create still pictures, or to create audio clips for CDs, iPods, and iTunes. More details on the many features and applications of Cinematize can be found here.
Unison 1.7.2, the new version of this popular Usenet newsreader, offers a number of improvements: it cures a potential hang with marking files read, fixes an issue with incomplete NZB files, and increases the speed of marking lots of items as read, among many other improvements and optimizations.
Open Source Mac is a list of free and open source software for Mac OS X. In their own words: "We aren't trying to be a comprehensive listing of every open-source mac app, instead we want to showcase the best, most important, and easiest to use. This page should be a handy reference and a useful tool for getting more people to start using free and open-source software." We all love free software so check it out and enjoy.
Here’s Tim Gaden's list of the top 10 plug-ins, add-ons, scripts, and helpful apps that every Apple Mail user should have. If you're a Mail.app user this is a must read.
Tucked inside Tiger’s Applications folder is a slew of free apps. Mail and Safari get all the attention, but an often overlooked application - the humble Address Book - can also save you time every day. Here are Scott Kelby’s tips for making the most of Address Book.
David Chartier writes: "I've always heard about these "background maintenance tasks" that OS X performs in its omniscient glory, but I never knew much about what they actually were or when they were performed. This weekend I finally did some digging and thought I'd post a few thoughts that might help give some Mac users insight into maintaining OS X beyond simple permissions repairs and emptying the trash."
Backpack is a powerful web service that offers its users a great way to organize their files, write personal and business notes, create reminders, collaborate on business ideas etc. Its structure is based on specific pages, where you can write or upload your files.
This article will guide you on how to create an Automator application that you can use for very fast and efficient backup of your local files to your online Backpack account.
For the purpose of setting up an automatic backup solution, we will use one of the coolest Backpack's options - unique e-mail address. Every page you generate has its own private e-mail address. This means that sending an e-mail with different files to this address will be the equivalent of using the web forms to manually upload them.
First you need to login into your Backpack account and create a new page.
Upon creating the page, do check its footer and you will see an e-mail address.
Now, we have generated the page and snatched the page's e-mail address. Go to the Applications folder and open Automator. Our backup application will have four actions and you will use a specific folder that will hold the files you want backed-up. After starting the application, the files from this folder will be e-mailed to the specific Backpack page and therefore they will appear online.
1) Finder -> Get Specified Finder Items
This action passes the specified Finder items into the next step of our application. Here, we will setup a folder that will host your files. The output of this action is the location of the backup folder.
2) Finder -> Get Folder Contents
This action gets the items from inside the specified folder and outputs them to the next action.
3) Mail -> New Mail Message
Here we will setup the needed e-mail message fields, as well as the account that will be used for sending. The previous action will automatically feed the files from the backup folder as attachments to this new message.
4) Mail -> Send Outgoing Messages
This is the final action we will need. It just sends our e-mail, so we don't have to do it manually.
The last step is to save our workflow as a new application.
Now you just need to start the application and your files will soon appear in your Backpack account.
I should just mention some specific things you should think about:
- If you are backing up personal files, do check out if you shared the page with someone or made it accessible by anyone.
- As the backup process is utilizing your e-mail, do watch out the size of files you are backing up. Some e-mail accounts have a maximum of 10 MB per message. Also check the amount of free space you have on your Backpack account.
- Backpack will automatically sort your files in their respective categories such as "images", "files" and "e-mails". Under e-mails you will find all *.txt files that were backed up in the process.
For more information on Backpack, do visit their homepage.
To change the settings that may be helpful to anyone who is hard of hearing, begin by choosing Apple > System Preferences, click Universal Access, then click the Hearing tab.
If you have a video iPod and want to watch ABC's "Lost" on it, you don't necessarily have to pay Apple Computer for the opportunity to download the show from the iTunes store. That's because Hauppauge Computer Works has released Wing, a software application that, in conjunction with its WinTV-PVR hardware--a plug-in card that brings personal video recorder technology to PCs--allows users to record television shows directly to their video iPods or Sony PlayStation Portables.
I just came across the following info from Microsoft: "As of January 31st, 2006, Internet Explorer for the Mac will no longer be available for download from Mactopia. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari." Finally, the software was not updated for ages; it automatically froze after startup (it was unable to render "modern" MSN homepage) and the bottom line - it was developed by Microsoft. I would say RIP, but... (evil grin)
If in any case you are not satisfied with the amount of storage on your iPod Nano, you should consider upgrading it. While some people would just buy a new device, others will try to solve the problem by various means of hacking. Uncyclopedia has published a detailed guide on transforming iPod nano 2 GB model into iPod nano 200 GB.
Chronos announced the release of StickyBrain 4, its fourth generation note manager for Mac OS X. This new version adds significant new class-leading features including seven new types of notes, support for Spotlight, a built-in web browser for viewing bookmarks, and a new streamlined interface.
StickyBrain 4 goes beyond storing and searching sophisticated rich text content by adding seven new types of notes: pdf, image, movie, audio, web archive, bookmark, and files. Specialized controls are present in each type of note so users can do things like zoom images, pause playing movies, and search for words or phrases in pdf's. The contents of these new types of notes are fully searchable. This means users can search their pdf's and web archives alongside their traditional rich text content.
The new bookmark note features an integrated web browser so users can do their research from within StickyBrain. With a single click, users can turn live web content into a permanent web archive so their research is preserved beyond the often short shelf-life of the Web. The built-in web browser is based on the Safari web engine and contains all the features users expect like built-in Google search, forward/backward buttons, history, etc.
StickyBrain 4 works with Spotlight so users can find content in their notes along with everything else on their system. Plus, StickyBrain 4 sports a new streamlined interface making it the easiest and most intuitive note manager on the market. Other new and notable features include:
• New forward/backward buttons in viewer window to navigate your recent note history
• 300-1000% speed improvements throughout the software
• New global default font for new folders
• New convenience commands added to StickyBrain Dock menu
• New FlashNote window can be detached from the menu bar and resized
• FlashNote searches can now be limited to select folders
• QuickNote lets user choose folder to save new note in
• Palm synchronization supports non-destructive conflict resolutions and two-byte handhelds
Trendy Shields consists of an ultra thin plastic film that adheres to your iPod. The film is 100% transparent so you can barely see it when applied. The film adheres strongly to the iPod and will not come off with regular use but is easily removed with out leaving any residue on the iPod.
As Apple includes Intel's chips inside its machines, will it also point to the Intel brand on the outside? In particular, will Apple place an Intel medallion on computers, or mention Intel in the ads for computers that house Intel chips?
Here's a conundrum: last time you switched on your Mac OS X computer, did you have to enter a password before it loaded up your user account and desktop? No? Funny, because the computer asked for one. You didn't see that part, nor did you see your computer provide a password for itself--but that is, in effect, what happened. Your computer comes with a neat collection of security features built-in, but if you have it set up to automatically log you in every time you boot it up, you're bypassing one of the most basic of them.
Podcasting has exploded over the past year. Justin Williams gives you an introduction to creating your own podcast using Mac OS X and Apple's Soundtrack Pro. Keep in mind that this is part 1 of 5 - I expect this series to be very in-depth when complete.
According to sources and reports already present on the Web, Mac OS X 10.4.4 stands to deliver over 120 bug fixes to the Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system. Targeted areas are said to include audio, AppleScript, Bluetooth, Dashboard widgets, DVD Player, graphics, graphics drivers, iChat, Safari, and Spotlight.
This article offers a look at additional ways to tighten security on workstations, from disabling peer-to-peer sharing to limiting SSH access and securing local NetInfo data.
With the end of the year approaching your chances of getting that iPod that's been the top of your wishlist are increasing. Once your new best friend gets stuffed with music and you're ready to carry it around for the world to see, the time will come when you'll start thinking about a case. It's a natural thing, we want to protect what we love :) Cases are released all the time and here are some of the recent ones, I'm sure you'll find something of interest.
MicroGlove is a sporty case that offers complete protection for your iPod with video. It features a neoprene and microsuede exterior in contrasting colors with integrated play-through protection for the screen and Click Wheel. MicroGlove’s unique Velcro and strap closure secures your iPod and the removable carabiner allows you to clip it to your belt loop, backpack, or purse. When closed, MicroGlove provides access to the Dock connector, headphone jack and hold switch.
i1030 by Pelican is a tough, watertight case with a versatile molded rubber compartment that's compatible with any generation iPod or iPod mini with belt clip. A separate compartment holds the USB or Firewire cable. Under the lid you can store your earphones and AC adapter. A detachable light-reflecting nylon strap is also included.
The i1030 has a tough polycarbonate shell that stands up to extreme environments. The strong latch with stainless steel pins keeps the case closed after drops and hard knocks. The shock absorbing molded rubber liner doubles as a watertight seal. Plus, the automatic pressure release valve with one-way membrane equalizes air pressure at high altitudes and keeps water molecules out. The i1030 is available in yellow.
It looks like it's got your iPod in a fluffy cloud. It's made of a strong, tear resistant material and features a removable belt clip. It makes your iPod well protected in a design that will certainly find its fans.
It mounts away from the iMac to allow you to position it up above from the clutter and obstacles that reduce wireless effectiveness. Not only that, but the 5.5dBi omni-directional antenna design picks up and magnifies wireless signals with three times the power of the stock antenna. Do you need that much power? Of course you do.
Cocoa UltraSMS is a free utility for extracting SMS messages from a mobile phone into a simple MySQL database for use within your own applications and websites.
Because of the low rating Aperture got in the in-depth Ars Technica review no wonder their review sparked a lot of discussion. In order to clarify some of the things readers asked about they published a follow-up to the review with even more details.
Mac OS X, in its current 10.4 Tiger incarnation, is well suited as a MySQL-supporting platform, especially since it includes Apache and the P-languages out of the box. (MAMP has yet to catch on as an acronym, but maybe someday.) Earlier versions of the OS supported MySQL well enough, but only recently have MySQL AB's installer and documentation support begun to shine.
Author: Chuck Toporek
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596009143
Pages: 236
As Mac OS X evolves, new things are added and some things are done differently. There are many books on Tiger but few (if any) are so compact as the one I'm reviewing today. Let's see what it brings to the fold.
The first thing you'd expect this book to cover are the new features and this pocket guide covers most of them: Spotlight, Automator, Dashboard, etc. But that's not all.
The author covers various topics ranging from security (where he teaches you how to use good passwords, the Keychain, File Vault, etc.) to all types of system configuration options. The System Preferences window, although very intuitive, still leaves many new users clueless and the coverage in this book will help them for sure.
If you're not scared of the idea of using the command line, you'll definitely enjoy the part of the book where the author introduces the basics of UNIX. He teaches you how to use the Terminal and some commands.
This is a book that both new and intermediate users will appreciate. If you are new to Mac OS X it will get you started quickly. In case you already know your OS X this title will introduce Tiger and its features.
Because of the intelligent layout you'll be able to find what you need in a snap. The step-by-step instructions, screenshots and tables, make this an excellent guide. I'm sure that just the list of keyboard shortcuts will be something many readers will consult a many times.
Despite being small enough to fit in a larger pocket, this book is full of well organized quality information that will be a valuable addition to any Tiger user's reading list. Get this book today, you won't regret it!
Are you Mac-savvy? Many Windows administrators and technicians have never had to support Macs on their networks, so the idea of suddenly having a handful of Mac workstations might seem really challenging. Luckily for you, it's an easier task than you probably think. Here's a simple guide to supporting Mac workstations and Mac users within your Windows network.
Matthew David compares the Gen 5 iPod to the Sony PSP and reluctantly concludes that Sony will come out the loser. Again.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, average weekly download sales as of Nov. 27 fell 0.44% vs. the third quarter. Says independent media analyst Richard Greenfield: "We're not seeing the kind of dramatic growth we should given the surge in sales of iPods and other MP3 players." Which brings us to a grand irony: Apple, which launched the digital music revolution, may now be holding it back.
Xcode Build Settings allow you to customize your build process in an intuitive way, giving you greater control managing complex project settings. This article shows you how.
Although its capabilities are limited compared to a laptop, it is possible to use a full-sized, color-screen iPod to run presentations developed in PowerPoint or Keynote. You’ll need to attach the iPod to a projector or a TV so that everyone can see the presentation, and to speakers if you have a soundtrack or narration to go with the presentation.
In this synced-up, wireless world, keeping information at hand has never been easier. But having your calendar in your PDA doesn't mean that you won't forget to look at said calendar and notice that you're supposed to pick up your cousin's son from soccer practice! With a little help from Mac OS X Tiger's Automator, however, you'll never miss an appointment again.
Find Spotlight slow when searching your e-mail? Justin Williams reviews MailSteward, a new utility that archives your e-mail and allows you to search it in a variety of ways.
Here you can find some anecdotes about the development of Apple's original Macintosh computer, and the people who created it.
IDG World Expo announced a major focus on digital photography at Macworld 2006. Several new features have been added to this year's event that will provide attendees with more education, services and product insight about digital photography - always one of the most popular topics at Macworld.
Apple has a series of articles that will be of interest to anyone moving from the PC to the Mac and I'm sure many will after the holidays :)
Annoture lets you transfer annotations from iView MediaPro catalogs to Aperture projects and albums and back. This two-way transfer of IPTC and metadata information means you are not tied to any one application for your image management and workflow needs. Annoture also features a modular interface that can be extended to support additional applications in the future.
Over the weekend I was checking the Apple site to find some useful widgets. I found some good ones, but in the process of browsing I came across some rather useless "Gaming" widgets. Between all of the strange ones I installed, here are the ones that I find the most useless.
The Guy Who Invented Beer - Comparisons
We all love beer, don't we? The guys behind this widget thought of a simple way to pay their respects to the "guy who invented beer". Every time you open your Dashboard, this widget will give you a quote comparing the guy who invented beer with other "guys" such as the one who invented g-strings, days off, girls, Google Earth etc... Pretty useless widget but it is focused on beer, so woo-hoo ;)
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 4 minutes (you need to open/close the dashboard every time to get a new quote)
Go go redball
This widget could occupy at least a minute or two of your time. It creates a red ball that you can drag and shoot in other corners of your Dashboard. That is it - it just bounces around. The bouncing effect doesn't work so smooth on my computer, but the ball has a nice shading effect. The next time you want to break something, just take the ball and shoot it around.
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 3 minutes
Ask Dave
This widget is a perfect companion to the people without any friends. You can ask Dave any question you want (you actually say it not type it) and Dave will give you one of his "special" generic answers.
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 1 minute
Hula Girl
This widget is wrongly titled hula girl because it is skinnable. You can both change the backgrounds, as well as the characters. We have Hula Girl, Boy, Homer and Jesus. What a combo. When you hover the mouse over the widget, the hula character starts moving.
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 3 minutes (it takes a while to check all the Hulas)
Panda Name Generator
I need to give special credits to this widget. It is really the most unnecessary widget I tried over the whole weekend. It gives you the possibility to enter your name and then it will generate a Panda name based on your input. Why should anyone be interested in using this? The most "interesting" part of my interaction with this widget was trying to break it by feeding different characters and long lines of text - what a blast...
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 4 minutes (30 seconds for trying it, 3:30 minutes on breaking it)
Yoda Widget
This widget lets you enter a text that will be converted into a Yoda type of sentence with his audio interpretation. So for instance when you write "I visited NonStopMac.com", Yoda will say "NonStopMac.com, I visited". As regarding the audio, the widget uses system voices with Whisper as the default.
The amount of time the widget had my attention: 2 minutes
The tiny PocketDock FireWire lets you connect the new iPod’s docking port to a standard 6-pin FireWire cable.
When you’re on the road with your iPod, listening to your favorite hits, you may unexpectedly want to connect to another Mac or PC - to exchange files, or maybe just to charge the iPod’s battery. When you need it most, you’ll probably find that you didn’t bring the special iPod docking cable - it’s at home connected to your computer.
LANrev now offers an extensive integration with Microsoft’s Systems Management Server (SMS). This integration allows LANrev to transfer Macintosh computer data to the SMS database allowing management of the data from within the SMS framework.
The result is the further leveraging of previous capital costs to increase efficiencies and add functionality to existing tools.
Additional enhancements in LANrev 1.5 include significant performance gains and various application advancements.
"LANrev’s SMS integration allows our customers to further leverage their investment in SMS," said Peter Frankl, co-founder of Pole Position. "This single solution for management of a heterogeneous network results in a dramatic and rapid ROI.â€
LANrev is a comprehensive desktop management system that provides software deployment, asset management, remote configuration, patch management, and software license monitoring.
Built from the ground-up on a modular architectural base, LANrev supports both Macintosh and Windows computers and is easily scalable to support today’s largest corporate and educational enterprise networks.
If you are running Firefox on a Mac, you’ve more than likely came across the problem that it has no idea what to do with a .dmg file. Ideally we’d want it to open the .dmg just like it does a .zip file and here you can find out how to do that.
This all-new edition of Deep Freeze Mac allows for a completely non-restrictive working environment where there is no need to be concerned about system misconfiguration, corruption, or malicious damage to a Mac OS X system; a simple restart eradicates all changes down to the last byte and ensures that the standard system configuration is available at all times.
With Deep Freeze Mac, all changes to a machine are temporary for that working session, including the installation of new software, removal of programs, renaming or deleting files and folders, and application preference configuration.
“Deep Freeze Mac Version 2.0 takes the core functionality and all the most useful features from Deep Freeze Standard and Enterprise for Windows and delivers them in the unique and familiar Macintosh style,†said Brent Smithurst, Vice President of Technical Operations at Faronics. “All of the options can be configured on a per-workstation basis, and Enterprise-level deployment and control is available through Apple Remote Desktop.â€
The entire hard drive can be Frozen (protected by Deep Freeze), including even the root user account. LDAP, Active Directory, or Open Directory accounts can be used without limitation; user data can be saved to a network location, removable media such as a USB thumb drive, or a Thawed (unprotected by Deep Freeze) partition. Deep Freeze Mac ARD is compatible with Panther and Tiger platforms.
Get more information on Deep Freeze Mac 2.0 here.
This is (it will be when finished) a complete installation and configuration guide for changing your Mac mini into a full blown internet connected server to be used for all your needs at home.
When finished it will be able to be your web, mail and more server which you can put on the internet connected to your broadband connection. For now, you can read about the prerequisites, building a proper mail server and configuring it.
Using its concise and pleasing user interface, iPulse graphically displays the inner workings of Mac OS X on the desktop or in the dock. The entire user interface is completely configurable so you can turn off gauges you don't want, leaving only what you are interested in for easy viewing.
iPulse is the ultimate tool for Mac geeks, developers or anyone who is just interested in knowing what is going on under the hood of Mac OS X. Unlike other OS X system monitoring applications, iPulse has an interface that is customizable and compact, yet still remains informative. A single floating window displays all of the information you ask it to and does it beautifully.
Jennifer Berger writes: "It’s been a month since I started out as a Mac minimalist, challenging myself to only use the software that came on my well-equipped Mac mini. And what a month - my Mac mini was uncluttered, just cruising along. I was smug, I was feeling good…Until I had to work at home one day and found that my Office 2004 Test Drive had expired."
DivX 6 for Mac includes the new DivX Converter for Mac, a one-step video creation application that represents the first official stand-alone DivX encoding program for the Mac platform.
DivX Converter is a lightweight, drag-and-drop application that enables users to create high-quality DivX videos from a variety of sources in one easy step.
DivX videos created using the Converter can then be played back on tens of millions of DivX Certified consumer electronics devices from major manufacturers, including DVD players, portable media players, in-car devices and more.
The release also includes the DivX 6 codec for Mac, a Quicktime plug-in that lets Mac users easily playback and export to DivX video from any Quicktime-based application. With extremely fast performance and advanced encoding options that enable DVD-quality video at file sizes 7-10 times smaller than MPEG-2/DVD, the DivX codec for Mac offers the best combination of speed, quality and compression on the market.
DivX 6 for Mac is compatible with Quicktime 6 and 7 and Mac OS X 10.3 or later. The full version of DivX 6 for Mac is available for download here for $19.99 USD. There is also a free trial version available that includes a 15-day trial of the DivX Converter and a 6-month trial of DivX Codec for Mac with Pro features. The ability to play back DivX videos does not expire at any time.
Apple could be in for a bruising legal fight with rival Creative over the technology used in iPod music players. Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo has told the BBC he plans to "pursue aggressively" a US patent it owns on a system used to navigate music on digital players.
Unison, the popular Mac OS X Usenet newsreader, has been updated to version 1.7.1. It's got major new features, and best of all, it's a free upgrade for all users. It offers a ton of fixes, improvements and tweaks. The guys at Panic added additional rules and improved the grouping algorithm. But most importantly, they added binary uploading. That's not all, if you buy Unison before December 30th, you very well could win a special Panic-engraved iPod Nano.
The developer of what used to be a Mac OS X tool for displaying song lyrics of the track currently played in iTunes writes on his website: "As of December 6th, 2005 pearLyrics is no longer available due to a cease and desist letter from Warner/Chappell Music Limited. As a freeware developer I can not afford to risk a law suit against such a big company, although personally I don't see where pearLyrics should infringe any copyrights handled by them. After all pearLyrics only searches and accesses publicly available websites, displays, and, at the users wish, caches its content. Something that can easily be done with any combination of search engine and webbrowser too."
"Podcasting Pocket Guide" is a book for the non-geek who wants to get in on this revolutionary medium. With it, you can enjoy the best podcasts or produce them yourself. Small enough to fit in your pocket, this book shows you how to us tools and techniques to make and publish podcasts with just basic equipment: a computer, microphone, and some free software. You'll find practical tips and how-tos for creating, recording, editing, and uploading our own, professional-quality podcast. For a sample chapter -
Finding, Subscribing to, and Listening to Podcasts - head over to O'Reilly.
Experts at Sophos suggest Apple might be the best route to security for the masses - that is, until consumers all buy one. UK security company's senior technology consultant Graham Cluley rolled out the damning virus statistics for 2005, showing that with a 48 per cent rise in new viruses, buying a Windows box has never been more risky.
There's an abundance of software titles and services you can use to keep an eye on RSS feeds. Today I'm taking a look at NewsMac Pro, a software title that's been on the market for a while and has received praise for both its usability and overall feel. The target of this review is NewsMac Pro 1.2.2, the latest version of the program, released only a few days ago.
With the popularity of RSS feeds the Internet has undeniably changed. There's a plethora of websites you want to keep track of, yet visiting each one of them would just take too much time. By using an RSS reader you can keep watch on hundreds of websites and quickly scan the stories you are interested in. This has produced some repercussions: websites are experiencing less visitors and the overall quality of the articles is rising. It's simple, you have to produce higher quality content now more than ever, otherwise the reader will just head over to the next URL in line. The aim of this review is to see if NewsMac Pro can make that jump easier for you.
Please note that some of the larger screenshots in this review have a bigger version available, just click on the smaller image to see the big version. If case you're wondering, this review was conducted on Mac OS X 10.4.3.
First run
As expected, the installation of NewsMac Pro is very simple - you just have to drag the application icon to a location on your hard drive. When you start it up for the first time and check to see new feeds you get the following screen:
The first thing I noticed is the look of the application. It's very smooth, polished and looks just... great! The icons are quite intuitive and as far as the layout goes, well, it just makes perfect sense. I use a lot of diverse utilities for various tasks and sometimes I have to adjust to the interface. When I come across an application that enables me to start working right away without blinking it naturally makes me happy. I'm not an interface expert and I'm sure there are users out there that would like to see things done differently but the approach the author took here just worked for me.
Adding new feeds
The first thing every user will want to do is add their own feeds. You can either browse the wide selection of feeds available within NewsMac Pro, enter your own feeds one by one or import an OPML file. Here's the menu that you will be using for these tasks. It appears when you click on "Add Channels":
As you can see, everything is pretty intuitive and easy to use. Since I have an OPML file ready to be imported with all of my feeds I chose that option. In case you're using another reader or a service that enables you to export your subscriptions into an OPML file, starting fresh with this software will be pretty quick.
Since my feeds have been imported I'm finally ready to take NewsMac Pro for a spin and see how it performs.
Searching for news
Getting new items from a channel or a group of channels just right click and select the "Reload Channels" option and the downloads will start. NewsMac Pro allows a maximum of 10 downloads to occur simultaneously so if you have more, and I have many more, the rest will be put in a queue. The process is fast and works flawlessly. Keep in mind that I'm on a broadband connection and therefore cannot account for possible problems modem users could experience.
Shown below is an example of what you see once you reload some feeds select a news item you're interested in:
In order to browse news you can either click on an item to have it displayed within NewsMac Pro in its own browser or you can right-click and select the "Open in default browser" to continue browsing in your browser of choice. This is what browsing within the application looks like:
The pages I've tried load fast and the browsing experience is quite enjoyable for quick looks at interesting articles. It's even got the Google search bar included and with the channels waiting in the left side of the screen it makes them very accessible. When you click on a channel and select a new story to be displayed in the browser the story you were reading does not get replaced but a new tab appears which is very handy.
Feeds can be also synchronized with a PDA, cellphone or iPod. However, NewsMac Pro is not just about news. You can also subscribe to podcasts and listen them in the integrated player. It integrates with iTunes and allows you to sync with your iPod.
Customization: colors and columns
Oscar Wilde said: "I have the simplest of tastes. I am always satisfied with the best." As we all know, tastes wary and NewsMac Pro surprised me with a great selection of predefined themes that can be used to display news items. Go to NewsMac Pro > Preferences > Appearance and you'll see this dialog:
The quickest way to switch themes is to select the "Default Theme" dialog in the middle of the bottom bar of the program. There's something here for everyone and it definitely makes reading news much more pleasurable. After all, we all love to personalize our desktops and icons so why wouldn't we get to personalize the look and feel of a program we use on a daily basis?
What's more, you can customize the layout of the columns. Since I'm on a widescreen PowerBook I prefer settings that enable me to take advantage of the screen completely and naturally I appreciate this feature.
Smart folders
It doesn't matter if you have many channels sorted into folders like I do, you can always keep a watch on exactly what's important to you by using Smart Folders. To create one, simply click the "New Smart Folder" icon in the toolbar and you'll get the following window to fill out:
As before, everything is pretty straightforward and once you make a few Smart Folders you'll see how you can save on browsing time.
The help file
Although few reviewers take a look at the help file of an application, I always do. A good and thorough help file is very important for an application to succeed. Remember, not all users are experienced, something very intuitive for me can be strange for someone else. What's to note here is the simplicity of the help file filled with screenshots that will be clear to the most new of users. Very well done, it will certainly minimize support questions.
Final thoughts
By now you must be wondering it's pretty weird I haven't come up with any downsides for this tool, but there is one feature missing. What I'd like to see in NewsMac Pro is the ability to synchronize with my Bloglines account. This would make reading news on multiple computers and locations much easier and I think it would increase this tool's success ratio quickly as I know many people use online services to browse RSS feeds. Luckily, the author of the software thinks the same and he plans to introduce this feature in one of the next versions.
To sum it all up, I believe NewsMac Pro is a fine piece of software. As you can see from everything I pointed out above it's very straightforward and filled with a myriad of options. The tasteful icons and color selections are a big plus as well.
A trial version of NewsMac Pro 1.2 is available here. It does not expire after a certain number of days but rather allows you to have 10 feeds until you buy the full version for $24.95. Try it out and you'll see it will enrich your Internet experience pretty fast.
Since the iPod is one of the most wanted gifts this year, no wonder there are so many accessories to go with it. If you're thinking about a present for someone who already has an iPod than this list will certainly help. It has a sizeable collection of goodies that every iPod owner would appreciate.
VoodooPad is a new kind of notepad, it automatically links each page together, to form a miniature world wide web, on your desktop. The new version has just been released and some of the features are: export your pages as HTML documents, Automator actions, Spotlight integration, multi-alias support, and more.
This tutorial will walk you through a complete Dashboard implementation of Virtual Earth.
Inside your Mail folder (~/Library/Mail) there are many files and folders. What are they all and what does Mail.app use them for? Find out here.
The NewerTech NuShelf mini is designed for mounting the Mac mini underneath a desk or shelf. This simple and stylish clear acrylic mount allows you to free up valuable desktop space and protect your Mac mini at the same time. We also think the NuShelf mini would be ideal for mounting the Mac mini in a Home Entertainment Center above or below the TV.
Harman Kardon’s Drive + Play, an integrated iPod docking system specifically designed for automotive use, is a great addition to the “iPod lifestyle.†It offers a pleasant listening experience, but even more importantly, it makes it safer to listen to an iPod on the road. Read the review at Macsimum.
Dan Frakes writes: "Mac OS X has been firmly established as “the†Mac OS for a few years now. Still, even today, one of the most frequent requests Mac writers hear is, “How can I get back the Mac OS 9 Application Menu?†The questioner is referring, of course, to the menu that resided on the right-hand side of the menu bar in Mac OS 9, displaying the name and icon of the frontmost (“activeâ€) application and allowing you, via its menu, to switch to any other running application." Well, here you can find the answer.
It’s that time of year again: the holiday gift-buying season. A time when many people are out looking (or desperately searching) for gifts for their friends and family. If you’ve got an iPod owner on your gift list here are some quality cases as recommended by the folks at Playlist magazine.
This page has reader reports on using Apple's Broadband Tuner 1.0 that (basically) increases the TCP send and receive buffers for high-speed/high-latency connections.
What if you could combine Cocoa (that easy-to-use extension to C that is the primary language used for development on the OS X platform) and Java (one of the most widely used languages on the Internet) to create an OS X native application that utilizes the power of Java's libraries? Marcus Zarra does just that in this latest article in his series on Cocoa from the Java developer's perspective.
Paul Murphy writes: "Quite a number of pundits have gone out and predicted the appearance of Intel based Powerbooks from Apple this January - but it isn't going to happen. In fact what I expect is either, or both, an Intel based Mini and/or some Intel based iBooks. Beyond that, however, Intel is just not going to happen for Apple next year - no Powerbooks, no iMacs, no Workstations, and no X-Serves."
The ESPN cable sports network is mulling a deal to distribute some television programs on Apple's iTunes music and video service. Although ESPN has not held talks with Apple yet, the cable sports network plans to offer its diet of original shows and game clips to any pipe, any device.
The good thing about sites like this is that you are always in the loop with news on the latest Mac software. Yesterday we were informed by one of our visitors about a new software that adds up to 5 new-mail indicators to the Mail.app dock icon. I always wanted to have this feature, so I promptly bought it. Here are my thoughts...
I am managing more than 8 different POP e-mail accounts within my Mail.app. It is setup so it checks new e-mail every couple of minutes, as I really want to be fast with both reading and replying to the e-mails. While three of my POP accounts are related to newsletters and mailing lists, they aren't so important to check them out as soon as something new lands in the inbox. The other thing is that from time to time I am expecting an important e-mail, so with every number that increments in the Mail.app dock icon, I open the application to check out if I received THE e-mail. Now with DockStar, I am stepping up on optimizing these types of situations.
DockStar was released a couple of days ago by Ecamm Network, a company that develops a line of Mac OS X and Palm OS software products. Because the software offers very specific and therefore very limited functionality, the installation, setup and usage are a piece of cake.
Upon installing DockStar, the application will make you quit Mail.app. This is done because it needs to integrate in Mail.app's preferences menu.
For the initial DockStar setup you need to open the Mail.app and go to the Mail -> Preferences menu. You will see that the application placed its icon on the right side of the icon toolbar. In this 1.0 version, users can setup five different badges for their needs. Everything on the setup screen is so easy and straightforward - you just need to chose what mail folder each badge will represent.
The eye candy effect is managed on two ways. The first thing is that you can select the different shape for each of the badges. This is done by clicking on the badge you want to change. By selecting badge corners you can increase or decrease its size. The other customization step is to change the badge colors. You can do this by rotating the dials located on the right of the badge options.
There is another function, which is in my opinion rather useless, but on the other hand it is a big plus that developers were thinking about every possible aspect of their software. If in any case you want to revert back to the default color and shape settings, the software has an option to check what type of settings you would like to go back to. I need to clarify why I find this useless - mainly because the software is so easy to manage, so you can change all the colors and shapes literally within a minute.
A good tip for using DockStar is to setup specific filtering within Mail.app. I am talking about creating specific rules for e-mail addresses, subjects or whatever you want to point out. On this way you can output the filtering results to a new folder inside the Mail.app and use DockStar to show message count on the folder in question.
DockStar is a great addon for people that use their Mail.app with multiple e-mail accounts. It looks very nice and provides good and timely information on the current status of your mailbox. The software is reasonably priced at $8 and can be ordered from the developer web site.
Apple probably didn't intend it, but the iPod will likely prove to be an important stepping stone into solving a problem that has faced computer scientists for more than 30 years.
Kurt Hanson writes: "Here are three pictures I took of the internal of the new eyeMac G5 (iSight) 20". It differs from the eyeMac 17" considerably, as the HD is on the left hand side and the processor is in the center, being cooled by the center fan which draws its air from the back side vent. The 17" by comparison is just the opposite, and has the processor on the left hand side, and the HD in the center cooled by the fan with the backside vent."
What happens when a talented amateur with a solid rig picks up Aperture? Tom Bridge writes: "There's a steep learning curve, but Apple's come through with some great training videos that are included with the package."
DockStar is an add-on for Mail.app that adds up to 5 new-mail indicators to the dock icon. This lets Mail users keep track of email as it arrives in various accounts and local mailboxes. In addition, DockStar brings customizable shapes and colors to the Mail dock icon. Seamless integration allows users to control every aspect of the dock icon directly from Mail's settings panel. It's an ideal addition for people with multiple e-mail accounts.
Life used to be simple: Your company was a Mac shop or a Windows shop. These days, the line between the two platforms is blurring, with many organizations using servers and workstations of both platforms for various functionalities. Ryan Faas explains some simple ways for system administrators to reduce the headaches of a multiplatform business.
Erica Sadun writes: "In this article, I'm going to share a few of my favorite ways to play with Audio Hijack Pro. These are not the only ways I use the program, but they're some of the more fun ones. They range from digitizing legacy music from my old long-playing vinyl albums to time-shifting radio shows to bypassing digital rights management and more."
I'm not really that into stuff that can make your warranty suddenly become void but this page has some very cool information.
The author presents a slideshow where you see step-by-step how you can change the color of the Apple on your PowerBook.
Want to break free of the iDVD pre-set themes and create your own disc menu screen for your DVD masterpiece? With new features and options, iDVD 5 makes it easier than ever to create professional-looking DVDs - from choosing background music to creating your own screen layout. Jaemi Loeb will help you take the best of what iDVD has to offer and make it yours.
Phillip Torrone is in the process of building a $100 laptop using an old Apple eMate. He writes: "I need to find a laptop like device that had great battery life, tons of free apps, the ability to use Wifi and would work with a hand crank to charge it. It might not work out, but here is what I have so far."
Giles Turnbull wrote a very interesting article detailing the questions his brother asked him after purchasing a Mac for the first time. It's an insightful view on what you can expect to hear from people that you manage to turn over to the Mac. Also, if you're a lurker that's wondering what would it be like to move to Mac OS X, this is the perfect article to read.
Hawk Wings, an informative blog dedicated to Apple Mail, has a listing of many plug-ins and add-ons you might want to try. For example, did you know that there is an AppleScript called RCMail, that when attached to a rule in Apple Mail, sends commands written in an email to the shell for processing, logs the results and emails them back to you? Pretty good stuff so if you're a Mail.app user do check it out.
John Gruber over at Daring Fireball delivers a quick tip for those of you developing web sites on your Mac.
Dan Frakes over at Macworld recommends EasyFind as an alternative to Spotlight: "If you’re tired of Spotlight’s slow performance—especially for the most basic types of searches—give EasyFind a try. It’s free, uses very little memory when running, and is blazingly fast for many types of searches."
Dan Benjamin writes: "What follows are updated instructions for manually building and installing Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and LightTPD on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Compiling and installing these tools this way is well worth the effort, as the end result delivers an easy-to-upgrade, system-independent, stand-alone development platform that is impervious to potential problems that can be caused by system updates, operating system upgrades, etc."
This article will show you how to easily setup a free DNS service that will give your Mac computer a static hostname. There are a lot of possibilities you can use this for, as most of the Internet connections offer dynamic IP addresses. Having a dedicated hostname can make it easier to remotely connect to your computer and run any kind of server.
Since its inception in 2001, Dynamic Network Services offers a fantastic service called DynDNS. This is a Domain Name Service (DNS) that you can freely use. The company is quite popular in their line of work, so a number of routers have DynDNS service implemented in their software. I have been using this for a year or so in my Canyon WLAN Router and it works flawlessly.
For those who are still wondering what am I talking about, DynDNS can be used for giving your IP address a good-looking hostname. This is especially useful in situations where you are using dial-up access or ADSL connections with dynamic IP addresses. By using the DynDNS service with a combination of their software installed on your computer, you can be always available through the same host name. You can use this setup when you are hosting a web server on your local computer or when you want to use service like Virtual Network Computer (VNC) to access your desktop from a far away location. In both of these scenarios, you will need a static address, so the DynDNS service comes quite handy.
First you need to visit the DynDNS web site and create an account. One of their policies is that one person cannot create multiple free accounts, so watch out for this. When signing up, you will receive an e-mail requesting you to confirm the registration process.
After this you can log into your account. You will see a lot of options but don't bother with them, on the bottom there is a link saying "Add Host Services". Follow this link and then click on "Add Dynamic DNS Host". Here you will be able to chose your own hostname. There are tens of domains you can use and for the purpose of this article I chose nonstopmac.blogdns.com. The default IP you will se in the settings will be your current IP. In 99% of the times this is the IP to use, as you want hostname to resolve to the computer you are currently using. After setting this up click "Add host" and you are finished with the "first and only time" web setup.
I mentioned that the DynDNS service needs locally installed software. This is because the best way to alert their service that you have a new IP address is by doing it automatically. Manual labor is both boring, time consuming and in some cases inefficient (some ADSL lines are made to change the IP address transparently). The software consists of two parts - a daemon listener and a widget. Of course the daemon is more important, so you will be able to use it on non-Tiger Macs.
The configuration is pretty straightforward: you need to "Add user" by filling in username, password and description fields. Of course you need to use the account credentials you have setup for the DynDNS service. Now the software will snatch your information from the online account. If in any case IP address or a hostname you are using don't pop-up in the list, use "Edit hosts" to manually write in the details (btw, be sure to chose the Dynamic DNS option).
Now, the most important thing is that the IP you are seeing is the right one - you will need to change to the Interface you are using. Depending on the type of your connection there are a couple of options. Chose:
Default Interface
- If you are connected through normal modem, you should chose Default Interface
External Interface
- If you are connected to the Internet via ADSL modem, ADSL router, WLAN ADSL router and similar devices
Bottom line - the IP that will show on activated connection must be your external one - if it starts with something like 192.168.X.X, you can be sure that it is wrong (this subnet is used for local IP addressing).
After setting all of the information, just watch out that your daemon is running (there is a Pause button on the bottom of the File -> Edit Users screen that toggles this option on and off. Also a very important thing is that the "Active" boxes in the "Edit users" screen are checked on!
To test everything works just fine, you can ping the hostname. Pinging it will show the IP the domain currently resolves:
PING nonstopmac.blogdns.com (83.131.3.36) 56(84) bytes of data
Needless to say that the daemon must run in the background to be able to report your new IP address to the DynDNS service. File -> Preferences holds information on the daemon behavior on system boot-up.
Finally I would like to mention the DynDNS widget. It is just an eye-candy application showing the current state of your hostname and IP address. You can also change interfaces from inside this widget.
So this is basically it, if you have followed these instructions everything should work just fine.
David Pogue does it again. He's one of the most prolific writers when it comes to Mac related material and his work is quite impressive. Since Pogue has the freedom to write about the flaws in the programs as well as the features, his Missing Manuals are better than the books that would have been in the box. In this book, he blended coverage from his "iMovie HD and iDVD5," "iPhoto5," "GarageBand 2" and "iPod and iTunes" manuals, into one powerful, inexpensive how-to guide. Get all the information about the book here. A chapter in PDF format is available for download at this location. If you're in a shopping mood head over to Amazon and get the book right away.
In this aticle, he author notes various things he's not satisfied with in Safari. Although I agree with most of them, this is one that I would like to have changed first: "There are several problems with Safari's tabbed browsing. The first is that it isn't on by default. It really should be, particularly because even with it on, it doesn't break anything."
NewsMac Pro is a fully featured RSS and Atom news reader with podcasting support, smart folders, advanced headline searching and much more, all wrapped in a beautifully crafted Aqua interface. The new version comes with a plethora of new features: tabbed browsing, a channel directory, support for groups in OPML files and new download options.
Fink wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and Mac OS X. This article tackles some more advanced Fink topics, like building binary packages, running your own binary distribution server, and creating Fink packages for your own software.
