My MacOS X

iTunes 9.0.2 is available via Software Update, and with that comes compatibility with Apple TV 3.0, an “improved look and feel,” and an easier-to-explore iTunes Store. iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility. iTunes 9 comes with many new features and improvements, including: • An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more. • iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for ...(continue read)

A dark scary place full of text. That’s how it feels at first anyway. This is a selection of Terminal Commands that I have found particularly useful. Change settings for Spaces, Spotlight, Dock, Finder, Time Machine, System, etc that aren’t accessible through the application or system preferences. If you are just making your first forays into OS X Terminal land hopefully they will help you out. Here are some very useful terminal commands and tips for hidden Mac OS X settings. All subjectsFinder Dock Spaces Desktop Time Machine Spotlight ISO CD/DVD Remote Desktop Network System commands Applications ...(continue read)
tags: configuration, preferences, Terminal

I could say -  I always write code that’s valid and “Apply Source Formatting” as Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 does it , but the truth is I’m a hack. I get things to work with spit and chewing gum, and my code is a sloppy mess. Tidy Service to the rescue! Tidy Service is a OS X Service that cleans up markup using the powerful HTML Tidy library originally created by  Dave Raggett. The version of HTML Tidy used in this build corresponds to the binary version released on February 11th, 2007. HOW DO INSTALL IT?Download Tidy Service Copy TidyService.service file to /Users/<your home ...(continue read)
tags: Development, HTML, Text Editor

In Mac OS X 10.5, the AirPort icon in the menu bar had a trick up its sleeve—hold down Option when clicking the icon, and you’d see more information about the various available AirPort networks - The hardware (MAC) address of the wireless station, which channel is in use, the signal strength (RSSI), and finally an indication of the data transmission rate. In Snow Leopard, this feature has been expanded, you can also see what mode your connected network is using (802.11n, for instance), security (WPA2 Personal), MCS Index, which appears to be related to the 802.11n standard. tags: airport, network

One of the oddities of my computer use style is that I don’t like to have my system go into screensaver or lock automatically very quickly. When I leave the keyboard, I like to be able to activate the screensaver/lock manually. Since I’m also not a fan of active screen corners, I want to be able to do so by keystroke. Annoyingly, OS X doesn’t let me bind a key to activate the screensaver. There used to be a couple utilities that enabled this, but they haven’t been updated since 10.3. The screensaver engine itself is an application, but we still need a convenient wayto activate it. Enter ...(continue read)
tags: 10.5, 10.6, quicksilver, screensaver, security

In 10.6 that when use Exposé in Application Windows mode, it shows  all windows, not just the ones in the current Space. I always end up clicking on the wrong window and being whisked away to a another Space. To stop that from happening, open Terminal and run these two commands:defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-show-windows-in-other-spaces -bool FALSE killall DockFrom now on, Exposés Application Windows mode will only show windows in the current Space. To reverse this hint, usedefaults delete com.apple.dock wvous-show-windows-in-other-spaces killall DockSource: mymacosx tags: expose, space

Apple today released iMovie 8.0.5, bringing several compatibility improvements and bug fixes to the company’s consumer-level video editing application. This update improves compatibility with a number of devices and fixes other minor issues, including: - Improved compatibility with camcorders using the iFrame video format - Improved compatibility with importing video captured on the iPod nano - Fixed problems with resizing the iMovie window during playback CNET offers additional detail on the new iFrame video format for which support is included in the update, noting that it brings smaller ...(continue read)
tags: ilife

One of my favorite add-ons for MacBook and MacBook Pro’s with the keyboard backlight is this awesome app from Lab Tick that allows you to manually control the keyboard backlighting via a menubar item. Yes, you can control the MacBook Backlit keyboard illumination via the function keys as well, but having the menubar item is very handy, try it out yourself! It’s been updated and works perfectly in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Control the MacBook Backlit Keyboard IlluminationLab Tick – download nowControl backlight via MacBook / Pro keyboard function keys:F8 turns off backlighting completely F9 ...(continue read)
tags: backlight, menubar

You can reveal the location of a recently-used item by holding down the Command key while looking at the Apple menu’s Recent Items menu. With the Command key held down, the wording of the menu items (for Applications and Documents) changes from some item to Show “some item” in Finder.source: osxdaily tags: 10.6, Snow Leopard

DNS request are usually cache, that’s good as it speeds up the lookups within the same host but sometimes we will want to clear the cache so it don’t hold the values that are no longer valid. In Leopard (Mac OSX 10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) To clear DNS cache in Leopard, just type this in your Terminal and hit enter. dscacheutil -flushcacheTo Clear DNS cache in Mac OS X Tiger Use the following command: lookupd -flushcache What is DNS? The Domain Name System (DNS) is a naming system for computers, and anything else on the Internet. When you type a website’s name into your browser address ...(continue read)
tags: 10.5, cache, dns, Snow Leopard

If you are a web designer or do any work matching colors with photos, you are in luck. Mac OS X comes with a cool little program to help you get the digital value of any pixel on the screen. It’s called Digital Color Meter. Here is how to do it: Step 1: From the ‘Finder’ menu, choose ‘GO->Utilities’ or click Shift + Command + UStep 2: Next, open the app, ‘Digital Color Meter’Now, you can change the aperture size to smaller (left) or larger (right). Also, you can use the drop down menu to choose what format you want it represented in. For HTML coding, ...(continue read)
tags: 10.5, Development, HTML, programming, Snow Leopard, Web

One of the great features in Adobe Acrobat Pro is the ability to annotate (comment, markup, circle, highlight) PDF documents and images like JPEGs, PNGs, etc. Although, there are many other features (like creating forms) in Acrobat that are useful for PDFs, it’s not really fair to compare it to Preview. Nonetheless, for those who don’t have Acrobat Pro or don’t want to buy it, Preview has become quite powerful especially with the new Annotate toolbar added in Snow Leopard.Open up a PDF or IMAGE on your Mac with Preview. Click on the Annotate button in Preview, located next to the Select ...(continue read)
tags: preview, Snow Leopard

The seed is said to contain dozens of minor bug fixes and performance improvements in these areas: Address Book, AppleScript, AppleScriptObjC, ATS, ColorSync, Component Manager, Core Animation, Core Audio, Core Chinese Engine, Core Data, Core Graphics, Core Text, File Manager, Garbage Collection, Graphic drivers, Help Viewer, ImageKit, IOHIDFamily, Networking, NS Image, OpenCL, OpenGL, OSA, QT Kit, Speech Recognition, Sync Services, and Xtype. The seed notes reportedly include a caution that there is a known issue with optical drives: that they may not be recognized and the eject key may not eject ...(continue read)
tags: 10.6, Snow Leopard