SweetMacTips

Refurbished Macs | Apple Store

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:55:10 -0500

Want a deal on a Mac? Check out the refurbished section on the Apple Store’s site (iPods too!).

If you don’t need a customized build, it’s a great way to save a few hundred dollars. Even better, when Apple releases new models, you can get refurbished, prior models for an even more killer deal.

Refurbished Macs carry the same warranty and you can purchase the same AppleCare. The only difference comes to rebate deals that Apple runs - sometimes they qualify, sometimes they don’t. See the rebate terms.

Check it out!

Build Google's Chrome browser for OS X

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:21:13 -0500

Build Google's Chrome browser for OS X:

(via vb)

Add more effects to iChat and PhotoBooth | MacWorld

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:07:52 -0500

Add more effects to iChat and PhotoBooth | MacWorld

Mac Compatibility Tip

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:51:17 -0500

Do you have file sharing set up on your Macs? Or, maybe an AirDisk? (USB hard drive connected to your Airport Base Station.)

If you’re using other platforms on the same network (linux or windows, for instance) you may have trouble seeing those shares from your non-Mac machines. The reason for this is they way Apple sets OS X to share those items. Using Rendezvous (formerly known as “Bonjour”, also known as mDNS) Apple places “.local” on the end of their hostnames. Apple’s rationale for this is that those things utilizing Rendezvous (shares, printers, scanners etc) are local to you - on the same small network.

Unfortunately, this clashes with just about everyone else. Windows machines in an Active Directory will see those shares just fine (they also use .local for addressing) but otherwise (Windows machines in a workgroup or Linux machines in general) won’t see this.

There is, however, an easy fix. You need to tell your non-Macs to look for .local addresses. You’ll need to add a search prefix (a.k.a. search domain) to your network settings. Go into your network settings and look for this field. What you want to add in there is “local” (without the quotes).

That should do it!

34 Stunning & Free Mac Screensavers for OS X

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:52:40 -0400

34 Stunning & Free Mac Screensavers for OS X:

(via vb)

Spaces Tips

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:22:18 -0400

If you don’t use Spaces, YOU SHOULD! If you do use spaces, here are some tricks:

Move to another space by pressing Control-. So, if I wanted to move to Space #3, I’d press Control-3, for instance.
Instead of opening up Spaces just to drag one window to another space, drag the window as you normally would, but this time push the mouse against the edge of the screen (while you’re dragging the window) and watch as you slide (with the window you’re dragging) to the adjacent space. This one only works left-right or up-down… no diagonal dragging (oh well).
If you already know the number of the space that you’d like a particular window to move to, click and hold the window as if you’re going to move it around, then press the shortcut like you would in tip #1 above. Your window will slide to that space and then you can position it on that space without letting go of the mouse.

Cool!

Free Stanford course on developing iPhone software

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:11:17 -0400

Free Stanford course on developing iPhone software:

vb:

“The 10-week course, iPhone Application Programming, is a hot ticket. It begins today and videos of the classes will be posted at Stanford on iTunes U two days after each class meeting (http://itunes.stanford.edu). Copies of the slides shown in class will be available there as well.”

i use this

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:18:20 -0400

i use this:

Great site for finding new software for your Mac. See what other people use and what they think about it.

100 Free Useful Mac Apps

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:04:16 -0400

100 Free Useful Mac Apps

vb: amyyy: imkevin: Sometimes OS X loses the ability to...

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:53:00 -0500

vb:

amyyy:

imkevin:

Sometimes OS X loses the ability to preview images. Does this happen to anyone else? You can just force quit the Finder and it’s fixed but it’s still annoying.

This happens to me quite often. I’ve become spoiled with the convenience of hitting the space bar for a large preview so quickly, that I already get instantly frustrated when this happens. Especially because I work with photos every day, and usually have 4 or 5 different Finder windows open… meaning I have to retrace my steps to get every folder open that I had in each window.

~~I’d be interested to see what the result of a Cmd-J is on that window when this happens. Is the “show icon preview” box checked?~~

EDIT: Upon further research, it looks like you may need to re-index your drive with Spotlight. Add your hard drive to Spotlight’s privacy pane for a few seconds and then remove it. That should initiate an indexing. See if that helps.

Scribbles - a great doodling tool. I was actually looking for an...

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:50:00 -0500

Scribbles - a great doodling tool.

I was actually looking for an application that I could use as a whiteboard along with my Wacom tablet and this came up great! The interface is very, VERY, easy to use and works great with the tablet pen. Much recommended. Probably one of the best features is that you don’t define how big the image has to be. If you need more room, fine - just slide what you’re working on over and keep on going. Give it a go to see what I mean. The unpaid mode limits a few things (like you get a watermark when exporting to different image types) but I think it’s definitely worth the $20.

10 tips for Stickies | Mac OS X Tips

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:09:03 -0500

10 tips for Stickies | Mac OS X Tips :

Make stickies do all kind of tricks.

5 Things You Never Knew About Spotlight | TheAppleBlog

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:02:55 -0500

5 Things You Never Knew About Spotlight | TheAppleBlog:

Did you know you can use Spotlight as a calculator? Read on for more!

Fine-tune your audio volume

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:42:35 -0500

If you hold option and shift and then adjust your volume on your keyboard you’ll get 4 levels of volume for each of those volume “blocks” that appear on the screen. Try it out, you’ll see what I mean.

This works on 3rd party keyboards too. For instance, mine has a volume wheel and it works fine.

Inquisitor. Spotlight for Safari You have to just try it. Read...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:49:40 -0400

Inquisitor. Spotlight for Safari

You have to just try it. Read the description here. Many many international versions too.

Perian is a free, open source set of QuickTime components. It...

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:55:16 -0400

Perian is a free, open source set of QuickTime components. It includes codecs for many many popular audio and video formats that don’t come with QuickTime by default. Click through to perian.org.

Use your extra mouse buttons for Spaces You can use one of your...

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:07:54 -0400

Use your extra mouse buttons for Spaces

You can use one of your extra mouse buttons to enable Spaces! Select a button in the drop down next to they key selection for “To activate Spaces” in your Spaces settings in System Preferences.

Use your extra mouse buttons for Exposé! If you have a...

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:06:28 -0400

Use your extra mouse buttons for Exposé!

If you have a multi-button mouse (like more than 2) you can assign the extra buttons (e.g. 4 and 5) to different Exposé functions. Use the drop down boxes next to the key selections in your Exposé settings in System Preferences

Pimp My Safari

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:04:42 -0400

Pimp My Safari:

One of the reasons I’d been holding onto using Firefox were the add-ins. Pimp My Safari provides loads of add-ins to add functionality to Safari. No Google Toolbar, but it’s damn close. Very useful!

Get those songs off of your iPod and onto your Mac. This free...

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:26:58 -0400

Get those songs off of your iPod and onto your Mac. This free utility called Senuti is great. There’s about a zillion utilities like this, but this is one that I like and use and isn’t a hunk of junk. Click for the site.