Change Location to Save Screenshots in OS X Mavericks

Apple Mail unread menu in the menubar!

This is a really handy software solution for those that hide their dock and want to keep tabs of when they get new mail right from the top menu bar always visible on your mac :)

http://loganrockmore.com/MailUnreadMenu/

How to Fix Annoying YouTube Jumpiness in Firefox

Ever notice an annoying, persistent lag every ten seconds or so when you're watching a YouTube (or other) video in Firefox? Reader Bernard Sandberg has, and he's written in with a smart about:config that solves the problem for him. more

This is a simple and great tip!

External USB drive comparison Seagate vs. Western Digital

UPDATE 8/6/09 THE CONTROLLER CARD FOR THE WESTERN DIGITAL DRIVE HAS GONE BAD AFTER THE ONE YEAR WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED. AFTER PLACING THE DRIVE IN A NEW ENCLOSURE THE DRIVE IS STILL USEABLE AND WESTERN DIGITAL DOES NOT SELL REPLACEMENT CONTROLLER CARDS.

THE SEAGATE DRIVE IS VERY NOISY AND SLOW WITH USB, BUT THE 5 YEAR WARRENTY IS SOMETHING TO CONSIDER.

------

I strongly recommend WESTERN DIGITAL over sad Seagate

Western digital smokes my Seagate drive and has much less problems. The Seagate often goes to sleep and does not wake up, forcing me to unplug and then plug it several times to get it to wake up. If I even tap the Seagate drive it turns off.

Both external drives are connected to my wonderful amazing Mac Mini which I can't recommend enough for it's ultra small form and extreme power after upgrading to 2 gigs of ram.

here are the Xbench test scores of the two drives.

Results For Seagate Freeagent Desktop USB 34.50
System Info
Xbench Version 1.1.3
System Version 10.4.11 (8S2167)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type Seagate FreeAgentDesktop
Disk Test 34.50
Sequential 22.76
Uncached Write 45.84 19.11 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 45.05 18.45 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 8.90 1.41 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 51.69 20.89 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 71.21
Uncached Write 66.74 1.00 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 69.12 15.59 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 75.28 0.50 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 74.41 15.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Results for Western Digital 3200 USB/Firewire 89.65 3x faster using firewire cable
System Info
Xbench Version 1.1.3
System Version 10.4.11 (8S2167)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type WD 3200AAJS Externa
Disk Test 89.65
Sequential 79.17
Uncached Write 75.31 31.39 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 76.01 31.12 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 76.25 12.07 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 91.12 36.82 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 103.32
Uncached Write 149.36 2.24 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 115.64 26.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 83.19 0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 88.09 18.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]

UPDATE 8/6/09 THE CONTROLLER CARD FOR THE WESTERN DIGITAL DRIVE HAS GONE BAD AFTER THE ONE YEAR WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED. AFTER PLACING THE DRIVE IN A NEW ENCLOSURE THE DRIVE IS STILL USEABLE AND WESTERN DIGITAL DOES NOT SELL REPLACEMENT CONTROLLER CARDS.

THE SEAGATE DRIVE IS VERY NOISY AND SLOW WITH USB, BUT THE 5 YEAR WARRENTY IS SOMETHING TO CONSIDER.

Picasa 3 beta review

This is a very exciting new freeware program from Google and available for the Macintosh platform after being Windows only for some time.

If you have a large library of images and trouble finding the exact one you want this may be a great solution for you.

Expression Media has been my media management software of choice for some time now. Once it was purchased by Microsoft the customer support failed and upgrades became expensive with little noticeable improvement. That said it still does some operations better like saving different catalogs.

Picasa is free which is the main big plus about this program. The face recognizing feature works well. I am just starting to use this program and will give you more details later. Their support is very good with an update occurring very quickly after I discovered a file recognition problem it was fixed within a week.

Picasa can be downloaded here http://picasaweb.google.com

update: still having file recognition problems

How to control your desktop mac with your laptop aka remote control of a mac

Software I use for this procedure: All this software is FREE :)

Chicken of the VNC http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/
Chicken of the VNC is your window viewing the remote computer. I have Chicken of the VNC on my laptop or local computer.

and BwanaDik http://www.jschilling.net/sw_bwanadik.php
This software tells you what your IP address is both locally and on the internet. BwanaDik goes on your remote computer, the computer you want to control from a distance.

Warning: I do not know of the security risk of this procedure. To me I don't worry about it, I'm not a bank or that worried about it.









On the remote computer open system preferences, which can be found by clicking the apple in the top right hand corner of your screen. You will then click on the Sharing Preference.











Then you make sure you are in the services pane first and select remote access connections with a check in the box. Note the line below saying other computers can manage your computer at 10.0.0.5 this is for access when you are on the same router. It may be a different number than mine so write that down. If you are not on the same router or you want to take control of someones computer through the internet you will need to use something like BwanaDik to get the ouside IP address.

ok now you will want to click the access privilages button and make sure it looks like mine with everything i have clicked. Note you can make a name and password to use for login in by remote control here. Write this name and password down.



Make sure that you have a VNC entry in your firewall list. If not you can create one by clicking new and make sure it matches mine see picture to the right.

OK now the remote computer should be set up (my laptop in this case). You may need to do port forwarding on your router if Chicken of the VNC cannot connect.

Open Chicken of the VNC start a new connection and if you are on a local network meaning both computers are connected to the same router just enter the local ip number you wrote down earlier in the remote access preference, which in my case is 10.0.0.5. Other wise over the internet it will be the external IP address.

you will enter in the passord you wrote down and make sure the boxes are the same as mine. also check remember passord so you don't have to fill that in again. Then hit connect and you should see a window with the contents of your other computers screen.


here is another tutorial on vnc http://murphymac.com/chicken-of-the-vnc/

Gmail Task list

This is a helpful feature that gives me a to do list that I can see on my lap top or my home desktop computer.

quote from google:

Take entering a new task: just click in an empty part of your list and start typing. No buttons to click and it's saved automatically. Hit Return and you've got a new task right there.

You can also easily convert emails into tasks: select one or more messages and go to More Actions > Add to Tasks. (Or turn on keyboard shortcuts and use + t.)



We put your tasks in the same kind of window as chats, so they're visible while you're scanning your inbox, reading mail, or searching (and in Settings, too!). Just pop your list out into a new window to use Tasks outside of Gmail.

To enable Tasks, go to Settings, click the Labs tab (or just click here if you're signed in). Select "Enable" next to "Tasks" and then click "Save Changes" at the bottom. Then, after Gmail refreshes, on the left under the "Contacts" link, you'll see a "Tasks" link. Just click it to get started.

Google Analytics - Free information about your net traffic

Signing up for this is not very intuitive and annoying.

Once passed all that tho the information you get is very detailed and helpful in seeing where your traffic is coming from and if certain marketing ideas work or not.

Future of music sharing?

These guys really seem to have a good web development team because they made this web site EASY to use and share music.

Looks very promising as a way to get noticed in the music and sound production arena through the easy widgets they produce for you to share music files. I have not checked out all the features but it looks like you can share privately or publicly, a link and graphic generator and search for the music people have not even discovered yet. Comment on others work and get feedback and statistics.

go here http://www.soundcloud.com


SoundCloud: The Tour from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

This site looks promising too although I have not had time to play with it

http://www.podomatic.com/

Firefox quick window switch

Ever have a pop-up window come up asking you for something, switch to another window and now you can't find that small window? Short cut APPLE+` and there you go sift your way through all the open windows of that particular application. Similar to APPLE+TAB but it stays within one program.

Stop the startup sound on a Mac

Maybe the first thousand times I enjoyed the start up sound on my mac and now i'm just over it.

This lovely little freebe will have you starting your mac in silence.

-> http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/StartupSound/index.en.html

Review of NVU, KompoZer and Aptana Studio

To date I have not found an intuitive, fast and visual way to make web pages and internet applications.

I have used Adobe Golive, Macromedia Dreamweaver and some free apps I have found online.

NVU and KompoZer are from the same open source code and I really want them to do well but so far the programs fail. Expect crashing, unexpected bugs, very slow operation. Maybe they will get it together in the future but for now I would skip these 2.

Aptana studio is also free for the unsupported version and this program may just be the ultimate player in the web design and programming world. I just started using it so I can't say anything other than I'm optimistic that it may meet my html, css, php and other basic online programming needs.

Aptana can be found here -> http://www.aptana.com/

Saving your hands and shoulders stress

One simple tip to lessen the tension placed on shoulders and hands while working at the computer.

Switch the mouse to the other hand at regular periods.

Not only will it spread the work load on your body it will also improve your ambidexterity. Doing the same action in different ways is a known way to stimulate the brain to also think in different way thereby helping you find new solutions to problems.

Microsoft Office replacement FREE

A lot of you might think Bill Gates and Microsoft has made enough money for themselves. I agree and have been looking for a word and excel substitute.

Open Office delivers!!!

I have now been using it for over a month and now like it better than using Microsoft Word.

The biggest benefit is that it is FREE! I also like that the interface is easy to use and can read and write back to MS Office if you need to. In my opinion Word has gone down hill with too many palettes and has always had bugs that have cost me losing papers. So make the switch! Welcome to the open source community which is what the web initially tried to do. In addition do your part to help others get what they want and we will all be happier :)

Go here to learn about and download Open Office Suite which includes Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and more -> http://www.openoffice.org/

Itunes must have - Menu Bar Controller!

When you are working do you ever want to quickly rate a song or see who is playing without leaving the window you are on?

This is the answer and it fits neatly in the un-used portion of your top menu bar.

You control Tunes is a must have application if you love music while you work as much as I do.

I have tried other software attempting to do this like GimmesomeTune and they fail because they do not give you quick, clean access to what you want. For instance rating songs is one of my top techniques for organizing my music. You Control Tunes gets that and puts the rating one click away with no submenus to navigate. This is also donationware which means you can try for free but should you love the program throw these programmers a bone eh :)

For more info and download links go here -> http://www.yousoftware.com/tunes/tunes.php

Don't be afraid to register this program I have not recieved any spam because of doing so.

zip through your browsing history

In Firefox and possibly other browsers you can go forward and backward through your web history by pressing OPTION and SCROLLING your mouse wheel!

Try it! Much easier than searching for the back button or going through the history sidebar.

Mac Tip - Sharing your screen

When you want to show someone how to do something on a Mac a picture often helps out quite a bit.

I was using the included utility GRAB as it will capture your screen shot. My frustration with this is that it saves the image as a .tiff and then you have to open it with another program and do a save as .jpg

Tiff is a high quality file, yet very large and not good for emailing and useless for posting in blogs.

JPG is a compressed file that is much smaller than a .tif and will display in any web browser or email.

So here is the hidden shortcut that will save your screen shots as .jpg

use keyboard short-cuts:
APPLE-SHIFT-3 for your entire screen exactly as you see it
APPLE-SHIFT-4 to select a region using cross-hairs to draw a box.

Your new screen shots are now stored in your Pictures folder under SCREENSHOTS i.e. HOME/PICTURES/SCREENSHOTS

The pictures will be named sequentially and this is a fault with this method as you don't get to name each picture as it's made.

You may need to run a program named TINKERTOOL one time to set the screen capture format to .jpg
Tinkertool can be found here http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html and it's free.

Itunes tip for audiobooks

I like Itunes crossfade feature with my music as it blends one song into the other. with audiobooks this is totally annoying because it will cut off the end of one track and blend it with the beginning of the next which means you miss part of the story. Luckily you can select all your audiobooks, use apple+i and select yes or check mark gapless song/album. now it won't crossfade your audiobooks :)