Tutorials
A Beginner's Guide to Quicksilver
Matt Cone July 3, 2007
Quicksilver is a freeware application launcher and productivity program for Mac OS X. With a couple of keystrokes, you can quickly and effortlessly start applications, open files and folders, move things around on your Mac, and even navigate your iTunes library - all without using your mouse! Quicksilver integrates seamlessly with Mac OS X and most popular Mac applications. With a little practice, using Quicksilver will become second nature, and you’ll be using it without even knowing it.
Validate HTML Files in BBEdit
Justin Busch July 2, 2007
Validating HTML documents is an important step in web development that can sometimes be overlooked in the hasty attempt to publish web pages. Validation checks your HTML against the formatting standard developed and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium. Valid HTML markup ensures that a web browser will be able to correctly interpret what you have coded. Thank goodness BBEdit, one of the best Mac web development applications, can do this right out of the box!
Must-Have Mac Maintenance Apps
Matt Cone June 29, 2007
According to Murphy’s law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. This holds especially true for mechanical and electronic devices. If you don’t change your car’s motor oil, your engine will eventually seize up. And if you don’t perform regularly scheduled maintenance on your Mac, your computer could be in a world of hurt. Mac OS X is based on the Darwin operating system, which uses many FreeBSD components. In plain English, this means that your Mac has lot of UNIX-like stuff under the hood - stuff like system logs, cron jobs, system cache, and much more.
How to Make Your Mac More Comfortable
Matt Cone June 27, 2007
Is your Mac’s Desktop looking a bit cluttered these days? Are your files and folders out of control? Do you need a new way to organize stuff on your Mac? This interactive tutorial can help! By using DeskShade and DragThing - two great shareware applications - you can sweep cluttered files and folders under your Desktop’s rug. Just click here to launch the interactive tutorial.
How to Save Text Files as PDF Files
Matt Cone June 26, 2007
PDF, which stands for “Portable Document Format,” has long been the desktop publishing standard for computer users everywhere. It’s an open-standard file format developed by Adobe and supported by many applications like Preview. You’re probably used to opening user manuals and help guides saved in the PDF file format, but did you know that you can also save your text files as PDF files? You can - Mac OS X makes it easy!
How to Install RAM in a Power Mac G4
Eric Buczynski June 25, 2007
Adding more memory, or RAM, is the least expensive and easiest way to upgrade your Mac. It lets you run more applications and keep more files open simultaneously. Most Macs have more than one slot to install RAM into, but certain laptops and early iMacs have limited slots, so in those cases it helps to purchase the largest memory sticks you can. How do you know which memory is right for your machine?
Must-Have Google Mac Apps
Matt Cone June 22, 2007
There’s a lot of information on the Internet these days. In fact, according to one report, there are now over 11.5 billion web pages. It’s anybody’s guess how we’re supposed to find the stuff we’re looking for - it’s like finding a needle in a haystack! Fortunately, there are some excellent tools at our disposal, like Google, the company that links us to information. You could, of course, simply use Google’s website to search, manage your Gmail account, and add events to your Google calendar.
How to Use iTunes: Connecting and Syncing Your iPod
Matt Cone June 20, 2007
If you’ve just purchased an iPod, you’re going to want to put some music on it. But how do you do that? In a previous tutorial, we discussed how to use iTunes. Now you’ll need to apply that knowledge in order to transfer music and other content to your iPod. In this interactive tutorial, we’ll show you how to connect an iPod to your Mac, tailor iTunes to meet your needs, and then transfer music and other content to your iPod.
Add Extra Fans to Your Mac
Eric Buczynski June 18, 2007
Summer’s finally here! Soon we’ll hear kids laughing and playing in pools, smell burgers and ‘dogs on the grill, feel pimped-out 4-door sedans blasting rap songs, and listen to people complaining about how their new air conditioner conked out on the hottest day of the year. Don’t let that happen to your Mac. Whether you’re running several CPU-intensive applications at the same time, or you’re in the heat of battle playing multiplayer games, you don’t want your Mac to conk out during the latest DVD-rip or frag-fest this summer.
How to Create an Internet Radio Station
Matt Cone June 17, 2007
Have you ever wanted to stream music to all of the computers in your house? Have you ever wanted to be a DJ? Have you ever wanted to create an online radio station full of music licensed under the Creative Commons, or music you create yourself? This tutorial will explain how to create your very own Internet radio station with Rouge Amoeba’s Nicecast. Here’s how to create your own Internet radio station: