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Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users
5 Amazing Children's Books Apps for the iPad
The iPad is proving to be a big hit with kids. They already love the iPhone but they love the iPad even more because its bigger. A fast becoming popular category is the Children's books. With the iPad's gorgeous screen, audio capabilities and that great touch input allowing interactivity, it's not difficult to see why. Here's a list of some of the best iPad children's Books Apps that are available:
Aesop's Fables Audiobook
A beautiful rendition of 20 classic all-time favorite fables that teach morals. Next, think of spinning the wheel of fortune. Before reading any stories, children have to spin the wheel that makes selection of fable story fun and exciting. Readers are also rewarded with simple spot-the-difference games after reading fables. It also has both pre-recorded and recording audio functions in different languages. With intuitive and fun elements, children will grow to love this reading experience.
link to iTunes
30 Appealing and Excellent Digital Art Wallpapers for iPad
The wait is finally here. The product that created so much hype, likes as well as dislikes from many has finally arrived at the US stores and soon it would be a worldwide phenomenon. However, the controvesial topic of the iPad would barely cease even after it has been launched.
As the iPad falls onto our clutches, it's inevitable that we can't wait to customized it to our own style. A change in the wallpaper design iwould be a great start.
Here we have gathered 30 appealing and excellent digital artworks for iPad wall papers. You might be able to find something of your liking if you are a fan of illustration and fractal art and not forgetting, an Apple fan. An excellent wall paper design certainly adds more asesthetic value to the slick and amazing touch technology.
Scare Tactics by Rob Sheridan
85 Useful Free Mac Apps for Designers
With many applications emerging one after another, it's not really difficult to find free apps out of the net. Perhaps, those free applications are suitable for us compared to commercial ones.
Knowing there are quite a number of designers out there using a Mac, we compiled free Mac applications for designers. In this compilation, you can find useful Mac applications that can be downloaded and used for free.
Update. Some screenshots are added for readers' convenience.
30 Free System Tools for a Better Mac
It's not an easy task to maintain our Mac system clean, healthy, and appealing with just relying on built-in applications. We will end up scratching our head just to delete some unnecessary binary files to clean our disk.
Therefore, we all here decided to make a good compilation of free system tools for Mac. With many varieties of applications, from system cleaner to system tweaker, from data organizer to system display manager, we have those all collected in this article.
Click on the application title to get to application homepage.
100+ Elegant & Artistic Wallpapers
Wallpapers can be creative, elegant, and refreshing. If you are looking to add some awesomeness to your Mac, you probably need a desktop wallpaper that decorates your Mac to create something that matches the elegance of Mac.
In this post we present mind-blowing desktop wallpapers related fantasy art, light stream, and color spectrum themse. All screenshots are clickable and lead to the pages where they can be downloaded.
They are definitely worth a look!
30+ Free Menubar Applications for Mac
Menubar applications are sometimes more favorable than normal applications because not only these menubar applications can run seamlessly on background but also they can save most of our valuable dock space.
Most importantly, in this article you will see some variations of useful, free menubar applications. Let's try them out!
40+ Eye-Catching Mac Screensavers
Running screensaver can help you relax your mind and suppose to reduce damage to your display screen. But most importantly, nowadays screensavers are used to mesmerize everyone around them.
Knowing the importance of having unique, stunning screensaver, we are here to present you this article which consists of many screensavers that would catch your attention. No need to have long introduction here, let's see what are those screensavers.
Note. Click on the title to go to screensaver download page.
Stunning Mac Setups 3: The Minimalist Effect
It's an undeniable fact that minimalist mac setups can draw our productivity to its fullest. Some of my favorites mac setups are those with clean, big desk supported by comfortable lighting condition.
If you want to decorate your cubicle or even turn it to be your productivity workplace, these setups will give you some inspirations to start with.
Enhance Your Music Life with iTunes
iTunes has often been carved deep inside our mind as one of the coolest music player that we have on our Mac. Apart from playing music, many useful features also can be added to your iTunes experience. From the music shuffling to music sharing over network, from tweaking rating system to setting music duration, will be discussed in this article as well as some other cool features.
Unveiling 10 Hidden OS X Shortcuts
Years have passed since the first time I used my Mac. While using my Mac, by accidentally hitting wrong combination or purposely browsing for it, I'd discovered some hidden keyboard shortcuts.
Shortcut, as the name suggests, should bring us more productivity juice rather than drag us down. However, some shortcuts may suit you well, some may take more time for you to adapt; to adopt these new hidden shortcuts or to drop them, that's all depend on you.
Apple Wallpapers, Gorgeous!
Though we've explored many nicely designed Apple wallpapers out there, new Apple wallpapers are popping out somewhere else. But we feel extremely delighted to know that we can further expand our collection of Apple wallpapers and share it with everyone.
You may want to see our previous collection of Apple wallpapers:
Either old walls or these newly discovered eye-candies will 100% suit your Desktop.
Can't believe us? Check it out…
Mac Resources for Your Christmas
Christmas is coming and it's the right time to start decorating your house, as well as your Mac.
Maybe there are already a lot of free Christmas resources around the net, but I'd like to make one special list for Mac.
Though this is not a huge list, but I've tried to cover the most interesting things on your Mac, such as screen saver, wallpaper, and many other fun stuffs. So, what are you waiting for now?
Wallpapers of the Month: December 2008
We're back again with the stunning wallpapers collection! Though we just started two months ago, we feel joyful to receive overhelming response from our readers.
Our eyes are just as sharp as last time to filter out the best wallpapers from huge selection of wallpapers around the world. As usual, we prefer to present you wallpapers with distraction level as low as possible in order to maintain your productivity level at its highest.
Before proceeding further, we would like to suggest you other great wallpapers compilation that we've made:
- Remarkable Apple Wallpapers
- 200 Mind-Blowing Nature Wallpapers
- Beautiful, Inspiring Firefox Wallpapers
- Wallpapers of the Month: October 2008 & November 2008
Here you go, our wallpapers selection for this month!
Mac Apps that Stand Out from the Crowd
There are too many Mac applications readily available which, either directly or indirectly, confuse most Mac users, making them hard to find the best application. On the other side, most application developers also feel really itch-scratching to think of fresh and unique application.
To my surprise, some developers have amazed me with their applications that came out different than others, such as application to set different Docks on different Spaces, to set different wallpaper on different Spaces, to bring you to cleaning room, and many other creative yet useful functionality.
There are many of them, but here I will mention some that I am currently using.
100+ Free Applications for Mac OS X
Most of the time, Windows users are reluctant to switch to a Mac. One amongst many reasons is that they found it hard to search for free softwares/applications for the Mac. Some of them have already switched to a Mac, but they're still running Windows OS on a Mac.
It's such an irony that actually there are mountains of free Mac applications available for us. After days of working on this, I've come out with list of free and useful Mac applications.
I've categorized and arranged the order of applications so that it will be extremely easy for you to find applications you need for your Mac.
Continue reading and you will see fabulous list of 100+ Free Mac OS X Applications!
Quicksilver Tricks
Many have tasted the increase in productivity by using Quicksilver as their Application launcher. Some even built more Quicksilver skins to make it look nicer. But only a few realized that there are still more Quicksilver actions available for them to use.
As one of the Quicksilver's big fans, here I am with full enthusiastic, presenting default actions and cool tricks that you can do with Quicksilver.
Funtastic iTunes Visualizers
Hearing music alone isn't enough; Hearing music and seeing the amazing visualizer are most satisfying. Not only we can throw our stress away but we can also kick off our boredom.
Apart from latest iTunes 8 Visualizer, there are still many others interesting iTunes visualizer that can be plugged in easily to enhance your iTunes. To run your iTunes visualizer, you can use keystrokes Command-T and keystrokes Command-F to toggle full screen mode.
Let's see some funtastic iTunes visualizers.
Wallpapers of the Month: November 2008
Without even noticing, time flies by so fast and another month has come upon us. Deep inside my heart, I believe that all of us have already bored with the collection of wallpapers currently on hand and starting to go out seeking for fresh and new wallpapers.
After days of rumbling around the net, we on UsingMac are proud to present you collection of best wallpapers for this month, November 2008. These wallpapers are chosen by the eyes of us to make your widescreen display even more attractive yet still keeping the distraction level to its lowest.
Here you go, wallpapers of the month!
Mac Application Launchers
Most Mac users feel that Application launcher is the most essential Application for them to install. Application launcher can save our valuable Dock spaces and assist us in boosting our productivity.
There are several application launchers available on the net. They have their own uniqueness, advantages and disadvantages. I am sure you will stick to one Application launcher, just like other power Mac users.
But for the very first time, you need to choose amongst many Application launchers, which one you love the most.
Dock Tweaks for Mac OS X Leopard
We know that Dock is one of the most essential features on your Mac, without your Dock, I can say that you will lose roughly half of your productivity. Even folks at Windows are imitating the Dock, as can be seen here, here and here also.
As a big fan of tweaking, I love to play around with the system files of the Dock. And more importantly, I've found out several tweaks that I believe will give you an extra boost in productivity and self proud.
But before we started…
Disclaimer
We won't take any responsibilities for damages or data loss due to practicing the content of this article. Please kindly backup your files involved in the tweaking before you proceed.
Now, I've shouted it out, let's begin our tweaking!
8 Essences of Power Browsing with Safari
Obviously, we want to have the best user experience while using this web browser and for sure, there should be some hidden features inside. That's why I'm here, exposing you to several remarkable findings on Safari web browser. And these findings will become your basic guide on using Safari web browser, if you are new to the world of Mac.
You could expect to find something new here, trust me.
40 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder
As the price of MacBooks are getting cheaper and cheaper while the design and specs of new arriving MacBooks (and the Pros) are getting more and more advanced, I believe they should be a lot of computer users are switching to Mac - including my friends, who are planning to switch.
Most of them will worry about the unfamiliar environment of the Mac they're going to migrate to. But what could I say is that, no need to worry too much, it only spends you less than three-day time to master the Mac.
Also it only takes you less than 30-minute time to see, try and familiarize with these Finder shortcuts. I believe you will also want to see my previous shortcuts compilation :
- Mac OS X Leopard: 200+ Productivity Booster Keyboard Shortcuts
- 100 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Creating Symbols
- 25 Useful Shortcuts for Safari
Continue reading and you will see a list of 40 Finder shortcuts!
Top 10 Mac Screen Savers
In old times, screen savers are used to prevent your screen from Phospor burn-in. Nowadays, screen savers are used for extra entertainment and eye-candy.
With increasing number of screen savers being coded and produced, it's time consuming for you to choose the best that fits your need. Hopefully, I've filtered down to Ten Mac screen savers that will make you droll (and they're all free).
Enjoy!
10 Nifty Mail Tricks that You Definitely Want to Know
As a solid procrastinator myself (and a mysterious Mac fanboy), I tend to stare all day long at my Mailbox and Subscribed Feeds. Even though you are less similar to me, under the depth of my heart, I still believe that you will frequently check your Mailbox. This motivates me in bringing up these cool, less-known tricks in using your Mail that will definitely benefit you, not to make you procrastinate further but to make your spare time more enjoyable.
These tricks include message redirection, message rejection, slideshow of attachments and other nifty Mail tricks. You will definitely want to know more about these as I was in the first place.
Wallpapers of the Month: October 2008
Every month, we'd like to present you with some beautiful high-resolution wallpapers. This is not only because it's too easy for us to get bored by the very same wallpapers sticking on our display screen everyday, but also because it looks dull and uncool to have a similar wallpaper time by time while your Windows friends possibly change their Desktop wallpaper in a daily basis.
These wallpapers are collection of remarkable wallpapers that I found, bookmarked and favorited all the time. They're the best, at least for now.
Let's see what are those Wallpapers of the Month: October 2008.
Apple Products Now and Then
It has always been my dream to collect classic Apple products and publish it on this site. Apple was really powerful, lackness of advanced resources in the old times didn't affect its development process; Apple was still producing fancy stuffs.
In front of your eyes, you will see collection of Apple products from time to time. Enjoy Different!
Remarkable Apple Wallpapers
It's been quite a time since my last Apple wallpapers compilation. And for me, keeping the very same wallpapers sticking on my MacBook display is a great sin, i.e. they could surely degrade my productivity, which has been relatively low before being decayed by continuous distractions.
These Apple wallpapers, coming with gorgeous color, would probably make you feel more energetic and cheerful. At least for me, it avoids me from being suspected as "nerd" by the opposite sex.
Elegant Apple Mockups
Submitted to Flickr by Miguel Suárez, this Black MacBook Pro hits Digg front page in a sudden.
"Once you go black…"
"Holy crap my wallet is burning."
Applying the black skin of MacBook Black, combining with the smoothness of MacBook Air edge and adding glass keypad along with the beautifully engraved MacBook Pro brand there makes this design really looks elegant.
Do you think Apple will take this creative, elegant mockup and implement for the future MacBook design?
Modifier Keys and Their Impact on Keyboard Shortcuts
If you want to become a Mac power user, you should first remember some essential keyboard shortcuts. These most commonly used Mac shortcuts alone can cost you a hell lot of time to remember them.
Luckily, most of the shortcuts are derived by adding modifier key to the initial shortcut. These initial shortcuts are easy to remember and shorter than their derivation (i.e. addition of Option, Control, Shift, etc). With only half of your work, you can get your productivity double-up; It sounds like iPhone ads: Twice as Fast. Half the Price.
I also have included some nifty tricks to give you an idea on how you can intuitively apply this to your daily needs.
Google Widgets for Mac
Dashboard is one of the interesting things you can have in your Mac, and I think I've long forgotten it. However, thanks to James Powell on Mac Tricks and Tips, his discussion on Dashalytics (Dashboard widget for Google Analytics) reminds me that we actually have a lot of useful widgets.
And for today, I will add some more information regarding to Google widgets that are very useful, such as Dashalytics, Blogger Editor, Amazing Google, etc.
10 Most Practical Apple Photoshop Tutorials
As a Mac user, I'm sure you also have a good sense of design. But, having good sense of design alone isn't enough, it'll be much better if you can actually learn and master the way to design cool things like what Apple did in Photoshop. So if you haven't had a Photoshop, buy one?
I believe I'm lucky enough to discover these wonderful Photoshop tutorials, including creating Coldplay inspired portrait, designing shiny photorealistic Apple remote, creating Apple mighty mouse, etc. You can see the full list after the jump.
Nicest Beijing Olympics' Calendars and Wallpapers
If you've watched, the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic is so spectacular that you will cry till you drop if you've missed it (I missed the live broadcast, and I cried till I half-drop). If you're interested in seeing those Olympic related stuffs, you can see more of these fun stuffs after the jump.
Note: I haven't put all of the wallpapers, pictures and details. You can click on the title to link back to original source.
Beijing Olympics' Calendars and Wallpapers: Fox
Note: Only several samples are put here, you can refer back to the original author site on sohu.com for more fox wallpapers and calendars. This also apply for the rest.
[13 Calendars and 17 Wallpapers]
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150 Awesome Nature Wallpapers
Several days ago, I compiled 200 Mind-Blowing Nature Wallpapers, including Aurora, Clownfish, Rocks and Waterfall wallpapers. I'm really happy; I got a great feedbacks and nice responses from you all. And today, I'm going to present you my collection of awesome nature wallpapers. There are more or less hundred and fifty of them.
Anyway, I will display the small version of those wallpapers in ratio 16:10, so you can imagine how they will fit your widescreen display. Enjoy!
10 Handy Mac Preview Application Tricks as Image Editor
Preview is the default image editor for your Mac. Even though it's shipped along with your Mac for free, but it's surprisingly useful for Mac users, especially for those who have upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard.
First, I will guide you to learn the very first and important technique of using Preview application, i.e. opening multiple images at once in one Preview window.
1. Opening Multiple Images at Once
Before you opened many images file with your iPhoto, think first. You will give heavy load to your Mac. It's better for you to open all of those images file with Preview application.
When you're going to open many images at once, don't forget to set your Preview Preferences (Command-Comma) to open all selected images in one window (if not, all images will be opened in separate windows).
70+ Creative Transparent Mac Screens
From the first time transparent Mac appears on the world of web, about several years ago, it has brought many interests and discussions among people, including me. I've tried to, but still cannot resist to collect more of those transparent Mac screens around the net and share them with you.
You will see seventy more transparent Mac screens shown after the jump. Hope you will like it.
Tip: Photo of transparent Mac screens shown below aren't likely to be photoshopped.
22 Useful Lists of Mac Applications
Maybe you will think that Mac applications are more expensive compared to those on Windows. However, it won't be the case if you really know where to download those free applications for your Mac. They're all around the web, the free applications.
Below, you will see 22 sources that will help you find applications that are essential for you.
Most Popular Apple Download
[20 Apps]
You can always check inside Apple official website under Downloads section to see what most of the people download from there.
22 Apple Inspired Free WordPress Themes
As one of the fellow bloggers, I admit that I should contribute something to the blogosphere. So, I decided to compile a nice list of unique Apple inspired WordPress theme. Hope that with this, I can make a little contribution to blogging community and at the same time add nice WordPress themes to your collection.
Tip: Click on the preview image to try out the theme.
Leopard Mac WordPress Theme
Leopard look alike 3-column layout WordPress theme. The Leopard Logo and Leopard designed Aurora wallpaper make this theme more attractive. [Download]
200 Mind-Blowing Nature Wallpapers
When it comes to the nature, we can't resist its beauty. The beauty of nature always comes with pleasant and mind-refreshing look. Even though we're in the middle of our stressing work, we still can withstand it with the help of pleasant scenery of nature.
However, we won't be able to leave our workplace for taking a walk all the time. That's where nice nature wallpapers come in rescue. Luckily, there are a lot of amazing and remarkable nature wallpapers showcased around the web. Here, I only do a little help by collecting 200+ nature wallpapers: Aurora, Clownfish, Rocks and Waterfall Wallpapers; 50 for each.
But my effort is really little compared to authors of the wallpapers. So I would like to give thanks to all authors, they're such a great person!
Other wallpaper collection you may want to look at:
When Mac Users Get Bored
What will you do with your Mac? If I were you, I think I will..
Beautiful, Inspiring Firefox Wallpapers
Hi all, now we're back again with our big collection of Firefox wallpapers. There are almost 100 wallpapers in total for you to enjoy. Hope that Firefox can bring you warm, comfortable summer.
Added : Best to be viewed with Firefox.
Unique Clock Screensavers for Mac
Polar Clock Screensaver
I am so much attracted to the smooth transition between one color to the other. Without doubt, this is the most colorful yet simple screensaver that I've ever seen.
Terminal Sings Songs
Just a quick tip, with a your Mac built-in voice, you can make your Mac sings several nice songs with Terminal.
say -v Good oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Is it nice? Do you want more? Don't worry, there is more songs ahead for you to enjoy, especially during your most boring time. You know what I mean.
say -v Bad oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Maybe you feel the lyric is a little bit boring? All o's like that. Let's use a little bit creativity.
osascript -e 'say "Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum he he he ho ho ho fa lah lah lah lah lah lah fa lah full hoo hoo hoo" using "Cellos"'
osascript -e 'say "Dum dum dee dum dum dum dum dee Dum dum dee dum dum dum dum dee dum dee dum dum dum de dum dum dum dee dum dee dum dum dee dummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" using "Pipe Organ"'
osascript -e 'say "Dum dum dee dum dum dum dum dee Dum dum dee dum dum dum dum dee dum dee dum dum dum de dum dum dum dee dum dee dum dum dee dummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" using "Hysterical"'
I don't like this one above. It's just because it's too long.
osascript -e 'say "oh This is a silly song silly song silly song this is the silliest song ive ever ever heard So why keep you listening listening listening while you are supposed to work to work to work to work its because i hate my job hate my job hate my job its because i hate my job more than anything else No its because youve no life youve no life youve no life and you better go get one after forwarding this crap" using "cellos"'
You can Triple-Click on the displayed command line to highlight the whole line.
Special thanks to :
- MacRumors for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd songs
- The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) for the 4th and 5th songs
- The commentor Jérémie for the last song
10 Most Essential Things for Securing Your Mac
Now it's the time to secure your Mac from either data thieves or network hackers. These are the basic settings you can make to secure your Mac:
Securing Accounts
There are several things to be aware of when you're choosing options for your login items, such as disabling automatic login or hiding available usernames.
Here is the complete steps to secure your login:
- Go to Apple ▸ System Preferences inside Accounts
- Click on the Lock to make changes
- Choose Login Options
- Disable automatic login, so strangers will require password to access into your Mac
- Hide list of users by choosing Display login window as Name and password. So even though some data thieves can lure you away from your Mac, they won't get any hints to enter your account
- Don't show Restart, Sleep, and Shut Down buttons
- Don't give Password Hints. I believe you will remember your password
Stunning Mac Setups 2: Youngsters Edition
Last time, I've collected some Stunning Mac Setups from people around the world. Recently, I landed on a forum where some youngsters are discussing and posting their Mac setups.
Maybe some of you are curious, how fortunate youngsters out there are? Or maybe, how unlucky we adults are? I got my first Mac G5 on my nineteenth.
Here we present, 30 youngsters Mac setups!
90 More Nice Apple Wallpapers
Here again, UsingMac.com presents great stumble of Apple wallpapers for you to enjoy. I hope these Apple wallpapers can help you enhance your experience in using Mac. Maybe, just maybe, these great Apple wallpapers can impress your PC friends and turn them into Mac users. *evil smile*
Bookmarklets for Mac Safari
Above: Safari splitted by two. Done with bookmarklet.
There is a way to quickly run short script in your Safari web browser; It's by using bookmarklets. Bookmarklets are bookmark items and bookmark items are not limited to only url address; We can also make short javascript function as bookmark item by simply dropping the favicon to bookmark bar.
Free Download YouTube Video with Safari
Most of us like to watch YouTube, right? (Hope so). And it's surprisingly simple and easy to download those YouTube videos. Do you want to know? Follow next three steps.
Impressive Safari Plugins
Safari has been optimized for Mac and because of that, it becomes the best browser for running on Mac. However, with Firefox empowered by plenty of plugins, it's confusing to determine which one to choose: Safari or Firefox?
After searching around the web, I found several impressive plugins for Safari, such as del.icio.us bookmark, StumbleUpon toolbar, Tab Exposé, Greasemonkey script customizer, and many others. Interested?
Stunning Mac Setups
Sometimes, we should spend our time to setup our workplace. Nice setup can be used not only for showing off to your friends but also for increasing our productivity and motivation.
After jump, you will see a lot of nice Mac setups from people around the world. Hope you can gain some inspirations on how to make another stunning Mac setup.
5 Most Useful Terminal Command Utilities
Until now, I've already collected and posted around 60 Terminal commands that can be used to tweak your Mac preferences; There are :
- Leopard Tweaking - Terminal Codes
- Leopard - Terminal Commands for Desktop
- Leopard Tweaking - Another Terminal Commands
- Change Terminal Focus with Mouse Over
Those are quite difficult to remember. But these next 5 Terminal command utilities must be easy to remember:
100+ Must Know Quick Leopard Tips
There are a lot of things out there that can be done to your Mac OS X. These 101 are just a small collection of those cool things. Since every single trick are too small to be compiled as single article, I decided to combine them all in a single post. Hope you can enjoy it.
50+ Nice Apple Wallpapers
Most of the time, simple and unobtrusive designs may increase your productivity while at the same time may help you get inspiration. Nice wallpapers can also be used for eye-candy when having your break. Here are several nice Apple-related wallpapers for you to enjoy. Happy scrolling!
Top 8 Mac Screensavers
Hyperspace and Helios
The screensaver is nice, giving you the image of ultra high speed. However, They are quite heavy to be processed. They can be downloaded here for Hyperspace and here for Helios.
Add spacers to Leopard OS X
In Terminal.app, execute the command for number of times you want to create spacer.
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'
Then restart Dock. execute this command in Terminal.
killall Dock
Spacer can move with drag, can remove by context menu or drag outside. Another alternative, you also can download divider docks from Dock Dividers.
Categories:
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Tips and Tricks
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Screensaver - Another Point of View
Do you remember the most famous Mac Screensaver,
which is named Flurry?
Hidden Preference Panes for Mac OS X
Preference panes are dynamically loaded plug-ins that provide a graphical user interface to the system’s or an application’s user preferences - Apple
In System Preferences, each icon represents an individual preference pane plug-in which can be used to change or modify the setting for each application.
Most of preference panes contain generally used application. We can also create our own preference panes that will be able to be used by System Preferences or even by your application. The link above contains the details, if you're interested.
Skype - Get Hidden Emoticons
Playing around with Skype recently drawing out my curiosity to discover more and more of its emoticons.
Visible Emoticons
At first, I think Skype's emoticons are limited only to 72 default emoticons. Who knows that Skype actually has more hidden in depth.
Shown above : 72 Skype default visible emoticons.
Leopard Finder - Smart Sidebar Items
Initially, Leopard Finder has 6 pre-defined smart folders on it sidebar. Actually, there are 11 of them provided. How to activate all 11 of them?
They are called CannedSearches
First of all, you should spot them first. If you follow these simple steps, spotting them won't be hard :
- Open Finder
- Go to Macintosh HD ▸ System ▸ Library ▸ CoreServices ▸ Finder
- Right-click on Finder icon and choose
Show Package Contents - Dig inside Contents ▸ Resources ▸ CannedSearches
Preview Tutorial - Extract Shape
With Preview alone, you can do the most basic image editing, such as Extract Shape.
Pick Your Image
If your image is in the form image type file, i.e. JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc, you can highlight the file and then choose Open With ▸ Preview (if Preview hasn't been set as your default application) or simply use Command-A.
However, if you want to pick your image from existing Application's icon, you can do these steps :
- Highlight the icon
- Copying it into clipboard (Command-C)
- Open Preview
- Select File ▸ New From Clipboard (Command-N)
I picked : MacBook Air which I just captured from Apple.
Leopard - Activate 26 Menu Extras
There are 26 items come along with your Mac OS X that can be attached onto your menu bar. Here is the shortcut to show them all on your menu bar.
Perhaps you have read the new book by David Pogue, The Missing Manual : Mac OS X - Leopard Edition. There is inside written the complete list of all Leopard menu bar items and how to attach them onto your menu bar.
Leopard Mod Tools
Probably some of you guys like to use leopard default features, but some of you may want to do some modification to the current look and feel, theme, the way it works, so that we can increase our productivity, fun and also mood. There is one software that can do most of the stuffs as what I have posted earlier here by using some terminal command line. LeopardMod is the name of this software. It has functionality to tweak finder, dock, dashboard, safari, menu bar, and also expose.
Preview Tutorial - Embed Icon into Stack Drawer
It's Something Like This..
You Only Need Preview..
The drawer above can be easily made with only your Mac OS X Leopard little humble Preview.
Leopard - Fast User Switching
You will probably share your Mac with other people. Sometimes, it happens that the person with whom you share your Mac wants to use his/her account for a while. So, what should you do?
Stop All Your Activities and Log Off Your Account?
I thought we're talking about Leopard now. This old-fashioned, troublesome way to switch user is no longer of our interest, I believe.
Fast User Switching
Fast User Switching will be the right choice. Using this, whenever you want to switch to another user, you can just click on one of the accounts, enter the correct password and after a nice switching animation, your view have been changed to another account. Is it cool?
Mac Special Characters
There are bunch of symbols that can be created using keyboard shortcuts as I mentioned on my previous article : 100 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Creating Symbols. Unfortunately, not all of available symbols on your Mac can be called out with keystrokes. That's when Character Palette comes in handy here.
Character Palette
For all applications which are specially designed to run on Mac OS X, you can open the Character Palette. There are two ways to open it : navigating through the Flag or accessing via Edit Menu; The latter is easier.
The Flag is located on the right side of your menu bar. If you cannot see the Flag, you should activate it first from your International Preferences Pane (the bottom check box inside Input Menu tab). After you've got the Flag, you can click on it, choose Show Keyboard Viewer and your Character Palette will appear. You can refer back here to get to know more about Input Menu.
Some Nice Leopard Wallpapers
New wallpapers dedicated to Leopard themes have been really hot among designers. And here are some nice Leopard wallpapers.
Killer Leopard Trick - Finder Screen Sharing
Talking about Screen Sharing, the reflection of iChat shouldn't be far away from your mind. Actually, the Screen Sharing itself is provided in your Finder.
Screen Sharing Whereabouts
Just now I told you that Screen Sharing is separated from iChat. To prove that, you could go to Mac HD ▸ System ▸ Library ▸ CoreServices which Mac HD is your hard drive name. Inside there, you will definitely find Screen Sharing.
Leopard Preview Trick : Grab Icon
Responding my recent article Easiest Way to Grab Icon, Luke provides very nice trick that I believe putting it here will be helpful.
With a simple highlight and import, Preview can display exactly the displayed icon. Let's see how to do it.
Leopard Mail Tricks : Using Notes
I remember the last time I used my Mac OS X Tiger, I used Journler to take some notes.
Since the upgrade to Leopard, I started falling in love with mail and its new features : Notes and To Do. However, this time I'll share you my way to use Notes efficiently.
Before step further, I recommend you to download additional plugin for Mail. It's called Letterbox which I've discussed a little in my past article Get Various Leopard Enhancements for Free.
Shortcuts play the most important parts in increasing productivity. Therefore, in the middle this discussion, I'll include many useful shortcuts.
Leopard Tricks : Dictionary
Adding Reference Libraries
By default, your dictionary's reference libraries shown are Wikipedia, Dictionary, Thesaurus and Apple. Obviously, you can add more references to it.
First, go to your Dictionary Preferences Pane by either using keystrokes Command-Comma or using menu bar Dictionary ▸ Preferences. Then you will see there are more than four default references which is available for your Dictionary.
Get Various Leopard Enhancements for Free
Even though the released of Leopard has killed many 3rd party apps, we still got many of the survivals which have their own specialties.
Note : Clicking the title will refer you to the specified app's homepage.
100 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Creating Symbols
These shortcuts are for U.S. Keyboard as input source.
Warning
Some of these symbols cannot be seen.
Let's Start with an Apple
| 1 | Apple | Option-Shift-K (Apple) |
Mathematical
| 2 | ∫ | Option-B | 9 | ≠ | Option-Equal Sign[=] |
| 3 | √ | Option-V | 10 | ≤ | Option-Smaller Sign[<] |
| 4 | ∑ | Option-W | 11 | ÷ | Option-Question Mark[?] |
| 5 | ≈ | Option-X | 12 | … | Option-Semicolon[;] |
| 6 | ∞ | Option-5 | 13 | ‰ | Option-Shift-R |
| 7 | « | Option-Backslash[\] | 14 | » | Option-Shift-Backslash[\] |
| 8 | ≥ | Option-Larger Sign[>] | 15 | ± | Option-Shift-Equal Sign[=] |
25 Mouses You've Never Seen Before
Various kinds of mouses, some you probably haven't seen before.
Leopard - Story of Icons
Keynote : The Bitch of Living
It will be hard to see what is the text on the podium. However, Ken Drake brilliantly decoded it.
Here is the decoding result :
God, I dreamed there was an angel Who could hear me through the wall As I cried out-like, in Latin "This is so not life at all Help me out-out-of this nightmare" Then I heard her silver call- She said: "Just give it time, kid I come to one and all"
She said: "Give me that hand, please And the itch you can't control Let me teach you how to handle All the sadness in your soul Oh, we'll work that silver magic Then we'll aim it at the wall" She said: "Love may make you blind kid- But I wouldn't mind at all"
It's the bitch of living (Bitch, just a bitch) With nothing but your hand (Just a bitch, yeah) Just the bitch of living As someone you can't stand See, each night, it's like fantastic- Tossing, turning, without rest
Leopard - Quick Dictionary and Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
Actually, you don't need to open dictionary application each time you want to check the definition of a word. With Leopard, you can trigger your word definition checking (Dictionary) on-the-fly. Like this :
Leopard - Optimizing Spotlight Search
In Leopard, Spotlight has been configured in such a way that it can search much faster than that of Tiger. Some Spotlight searching tricks below will certainly improve your productivity.
Adding Specific Keywords
By typing search terms as described above, you ask Spotlight to search only for certain type of file. However, you still don't know exactly what kind of keywords that can be used for this. Fortunately, Leopard happily provides you with detailed information regarding to that and here we will gladly deliver it to you.
Mac OS X Leopard: 200+ Productivity Booster Keyboard Shortcuts
| 1 | Cmd-C | Copy files |
| 2 | Cmd-V | Paste files |
| 3 | Option-Drag | Copy files to new location |
| 4 | Cmd-Drag | Move and auto-align icons |
| 5 | Cmd-Delete | Delete |
| 6 | Cmd-Option-Drag | Make alias |
| 7 | Cmd-Shift-Delete | Empty trash |
| 8 | Cmd-Shift-Option-Delete | Empty trash without warning |
| 9 | Tab | Select next field |
| 10 | Shift-Tab | Select previous field |
| 11 | Return | Perform default action |
| 12 | Escape | Close dialog box |
| 13 | Page Up | Scroll up list |
| 14 | Up Arrow | Select item above |
| 15 | Page Down | Scroll down list |
| 16 | Down Arrow | Select item below |
| 17 | Cmd-Shift-G | Open 'Go to Folder' dialog |
| 18 | Cmd-Period[.] | Close dialog box |
Apple Wallpapers
Simply looking at Apple logo, I feel the elegance of having a MacBook. It will even make me feel more elegant if I use Apple wallpaper for my Mac.
Leopard Tweaking - Terminal Codes
Dock
Stacks, Activate Mouse Over Gradient
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES killall Dock
Leopard Modifications - Dummy Edition
Everyone can do it. Everyone can enjoy it.
Quit Finder
default write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool YES killall Finder
By quitting your Finder, all the files scattered on your Desktop will be hidden. Those files will appear again as soon as you launch your Finder. Here is what the modified Finder menu looks like.
For detailed information : Quit Finder
Leopard Coverflow - Secret of Icons
9 funny things of your Leopard icons.
Leopard - Front Row
Front Row Resembles AppleTV
As told by Mike Schramm posted story on TUAW about Front Row , Front Row resembles AppleTV. Let's take a look at this side by side comparing.
Leopard - Change iCal Icon Color
Red and white is the original iCal icon color. Let's change it.
File with icns Format
iCal icon is stored in the file App-empty.icns. This file full-path is :
Macintosh HD ▸ Applications ▸ iCal ▸ Contents ▸ Resources
Adjust Color Using Preview
You are recommended to back up the original icon before doing some changes in the icon. Now, open the App-empty.icns with Preview. Next, you may use the new Preview tools Adjust Color and make the adjustments like below :
Leopard - Invisible Dock and Black Dock
Are you getting bored already with your monotonous looking Dock?
Invisible Dock
When I browse throughout my Leopard, I've found out that there are several image files in PNG format that control the appearance of the Dock. I tried to delete those files ( I made backup before that ) and I got invisible glass for my Dock. Let's see what are those files.
The glass where your icons sit is controlled by image files named scurve. It's separated into four files, scurve-sm, scurve-m, scurve-l and scurve-xl. I think scurve stands from super curve. I hope I'm not wrong. The one white line at the bottom of the Dock is controlled by an image file named frontline. A line that divide Dock into two parts is controlled by an image file named separator.
And all of them are located inside :
Macintosh HD ▸ System ▸ Library ▸ CoreServices ▸ Dock ▸ Contents ▸ Resources
Cat Emoticons Inside Adium
Enrich your Adium chat messenger with these cute cat emoticons.
Clean Up Mac Keyboard
Dirty Keyboard
This is my first time experience in cleaning my Mac keyboard. This idea come in mind when I saw my super-dirty Mac keyboard laid in front of me. This image I took after unplug all the buttons: