SweetMacTips

Advanced Screen Sharing in Leopard

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:18:39 -0400

Advanced Screen Sharing in Leopard: This link has some GREAT information on how to use Leopard’s built-in screen sharing to its full potential. If you’ve got more than 1 Mac at your house or work or you do some light tech support for folks less capable than yourself, this is a must read.

In Safari, you don’t have to click the typical...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:43:07 -0400

In Safari, you don’t have to click the typical “browse” button to upload files. Simply drag and drop a file onto the button!

Google Notifier If you’re a big Google user for mail and...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:07:00 -0400

Google Notifier

If you’re a big Google user for mail and calendar like me, sometimes you don’t keep a browser window open all the time to know when you’ve got new mail. Google Notifier runs in the background and will check in and see what you’ve got for new mail. It’ll give you a little pop up as you get new mail too. Free, as always.

Leopard can re-size partitions on the fly! If you need to add...

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:05:37 -0400

Leopard can re-size partitions on the fly! If you need to add another partition (treated like another hard drive, but still part of the same physical disk) Leopard can do it without losing anything currently on your computer. It’s very useful if you need a new test environment and don’t want to lose what you’ve got done already. Just select your disk, go to the Partition tab and click the + button. Cool!

Customize your toolbar in the Finder Did you know you can...

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:12:53 -0400

Customize your toolbar in the Finder

Did you know you can customize the toolbar in the finder? Make a lot of folders? Put a new folder button up there. Need to know your file path? There’s a button for that too. Burn files a lot? No problem. There’s something for everyone. In the Finder, select Customize Toolbar… from the View menu to get started.

I wouldn’t usually think of posting this because...

Thu, 29 May 2008 09:22:13 -0400

I wouldn’t usually think of posting this because it’s a bit of an advanced tip, but I found this application so good I had to put it here. It’s called Iceberg. If you’re an administrator and need to distribute applications with customized Mac OS X-based installers, this is for you! Best part is that it’s FREE. Click the picture to go to the download page.

Take Screenshots

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:54:39 -0400

If you need to take a screenshot on your Mac, it’s super easy, and the built-in tools usually get the job done great. Here’s how to do it, super easy.

For a full-screen screenshot, press Command-Shift-3. You’ll hear a camera shutter and a new image file will appear on your Desktop. It’ll be named Picture 1. Keep taking shots and you’ll get Picture 2, Picture 3 etc. For full-screen screenshots, one nice feature is that if you have dual displays, it’ll take shots of both displays and place them in separate files.

To take a screenshot of just a segment of the screen, press Command-Shift-4. The mouse will turn into a crosshair. Simply click and drag over the section you’d like to grab. When you let go of the mouse button, you’ll hear the shutter sound.

One more step you can do, is take a screenshot of the current window or even menu. Again, press Command-Shift-4, let go, and then press the Spacebar. This time, your mouse will turn into a picture of a camera. Simply click on the window you’d like to take a shot of.

If you need some other options, like delaying when the screenshot is taken, open up Grab located in your Applications/Utilities folder and play around with it.

SweetMacTips #5 - Keyboard Shortcuts on Vimeo. Best to watch it...

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:37:00 -0400

SweetMacTips #5 - Keyboard Shortcuts on Vimeo. Best to watch it full size. (via Vimeo)

Menu Meters is so old and busted compared to this. Say hi to...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:54:04 -0400

Menu Meters is so old and busted compared to this. Say hi to iStat Menu. I’ve been using the iStat Dashboard widget for, well, ever. Bye bye Menu Meters. Click the image for islayer’s website.

Sweet Mac Tips #4 - Spring-loaded Folders on Vimeo (via...

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:58:33 -0400

Sweet Mac Tips #4 - Spring-loaded Folders on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

It’s best to watch it full screen in HD here.

Adding iTunes Album Art

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:45:43 -0400

If you’re like me, iTunes is nearly always open when using my Mac. I can’t go through the day with silence. I also like looking at the big beautiful artwork available from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). But, did you know that the album artwork isn’t embedded into your audio file? Me, I’d like a “complete picture” of my music. iTunes will actually fetch artwork from the iTMS to display but unfortunately, it won’t embed it into the file itself. Luckily, it’s an easy fix to marry art and music:

Find the albumb you’d like to add art to.
Select all the tracks in the album you’d like to embed the art into
In the bottom left corner, click on the “Show/hide artwork” button
Right-click (or control-click if you’re on a one buttom mouse) the image that is shown and select “copy.”
Right-click the tracks you’ve selected and pick “Get info”
In the window that pops up, right-click the artwork box and select “Paste”

You’re done! Now, no matter were your music goes, no matter what software it may later grace, it’ll have embedded art.

Evernote is pretty damn cool. Watch the video and then go here...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:34:00 -0400

Evernote is pretty damn cool. Watch the video and then go here for more information. I’ve got 10 9 invites if you’d like to give it a go. Email me for one.

Google Labs

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:43:58 -0400

Google Labs: Google Labs is a great place to see what Google’s working on. Quite a few things that Google’s worked on “in the lab” has become a final product that millions now use every day. Get ahead, find something cool!

More Flickr tools

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:10:51 -0400

More Flickr tools: A few posts back I let you know about some cool Flickr tools - here are some more.

If you’re like me, you have particular artists that you...

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:12:00 -0400

If you’re like me, you have particular artists that you like to listen to. The problem lies with finding new artists that you like. I’m picky. In steps last.fm. Basically, start a free account and download the software. It will do two things: figure out from what you’ve listened to what you like, and then make new suggestions. Myself, I like just playing music from the last.fm software by typing in an artist or genre that I like and then it’ll play similar things. You can then rate songs by “love” or “ban” and it’ll figure things out further from there. It also keeps log of what you’ve listened to, what you like, and what you don’t like. You can also embed what you’ve listened to into your blog/tumblr/twitter/myspace etc.

I rate it as “essential.” Click the picture for their site.

Upload a lot of pictures to Flickr? You’ll love some of...

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:59:55 -0400

Upload a lot of pictures to Flickr? You’ll love some of their tools. I use Flickr uploader all the time. It makes assigning tags, sets and all kinds of other information a snap. Free, of course. Click the picture to go!

Flickr does indeed love you

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:51:29 -0400

Flickr does indeed love you: Because of Flickr’s open API, loads of people have created loads of add-on services for Flickr, many of them free. Check out this page for some very creative (and interesting) things to do with your photos.

Sweet Mac Tips #3 - International and Special Characters. ...

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:16:58 -0400

Sweet Mac Tips #3 - International and Special Characters. It’s best if you watch it in HD and full screen. You’ll need to go here to do it.

Suggestions and Feedback

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:34:02 -0400

I’d love to hear some suggestions or feedback. This site’s only been up for a few days and it’s approaching 60 followers… not bad I think :)

Something driving you nuts? Are there suggestions you think I should cover but you just don’t know how to do? Curious about something?

Drop me an email:

smt [at] fronkis [dot] com

Sweet Mac Tips #2 - Add some personality with custom icons. ...

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:42:27 -0400

Sweet Mac Tips #2 - Add some personality with custom icons. It’s best if you watch it in HD and full screen. You’ll need to go here to do it.