Month of April, 2008

Here are some of my top tips for additional OS X functions, most have come from my experience at home and work.

1. Plugging in a TV or Second Monitor

Most Mac models come with an external connector for attaching additional screens (normally a mini DVI connector). From this you need a mini DVI to DVI connector then another cable to plug into your screen, this can be a DVI to VGA cable, DVI to DVI cable or as I have a DVI to HDMI cable. All the cables are very cheap and can normally be picked up from Ebay.

OS X should automatically detect the second screen plugged in and you can open system preferences to adjust the resolution. You may have to play around with the settings, my 26" LG HD TV looks best on 1280 x 720 rather than its native resolution.

I've had my iMac plugged into my TV for the past 6 months and people still think its cool how I can move my mouse from one screen to another.

2. Sharing your Internet over Wireless.

While I was at University our local cable supplier didn't give out free wireless routers so to save buying one I shared the Internet out through my iMac's wireless. In Leopard the Internet can be shared from the Sharing section in System Preferences.

3. Bluetooth Internet Through Your Phone

It usually takes ISP's about two weeks to put ADSL on a phone line. Clearly I couldn't be without Internet for two weeks so I turned to my mobile phone provider (T-Mobile) to hook me up to the net. Now that 3G signal is well established (and I have a 3G phone) I got speeds of around 3mb for £12.50/month.

First you need to sync your phone via Bluetooth in iSync. If your phone isn't supported then check the manufactures website or Google to see if someone has written a plugin. My Sony Ericsson K850i isn't natively supported in iSync however fortunately someone had written what was needed.

Once you have paired the devices click on the Bluetooth icon on the menu bar, select your phone and click connect to network. With 3G you shouldn't need to enter any dialing information and as long as you have good signal you should be online within no time.

4. Watching TV through USB Stick

I was in PC World a couple of months ago and I wanted to buy something, I wasn't really bothered what I just wanted to buy something new to play with at the weekend. I've looked at USB digital TV adapters before but was never convinced to buy one. I ended up with a £25 Hauppauge USB stick for my PC, I brought it and installed it on my PC.

The Hauppauge software was useless and I was considering taking it back until I stumbled upon EyeTV and most importantly that it supported my Hauppauge USB stick. EyeTV works flawlessly and its PVR functions have completely changed how I watch TV. It has everything apart from an automatic advert skipper.

5. Running Windows Applications

There are a couple of different options for running Windows applications on an Intel Mac. If its just the case of needing Internet Explorer 7 for certain websites or for testing purposes then ie4osx is a great application.

Otherwise you have the options of Parallels or VMWare.

6. Using Mail to access your Email Through IMAP

Being able to use IMAP in Mail is nothing new but its still under used. I use Mail to organise my two Google Mail accounts, the main benefit to using IMAP over POP3 is that is can syncronise between the mail on Googles server and on my computer meaning I can view the same emails from at home in Mail and from a Web Browser at work.

7. Recording Internet radio with Audio Hijack Pro

A lot of Internet Radio sites make it very hard to record, fortunately Audio Hijack Pro makes it easy (as easy as using your PVR or tape recorder).

First find the radio show you want to record.

Next open Audio Hijack Pro and drag Firefox/Safari into Audio Hijack (you may have to restart Firefox/Safari) click the hijack button and then hit record. When recording from services such as the BBC you may have to boost the volume because of the poor audio quality (in the Effects bab).

8. Keeping an eye on memory usage with Activity Monitor.

If you find your Mac running slow it might be because you're low on memory. The usual suspects on my Mac are Firefox or Parallels, even with 4gig of memory a lot still gets used.

One easy way to keep an eye on what you're using is to open the activity monitor program and to set the dock icon to show memory usage.

Then just set activity monitor to open at login.

9. Saving You Tube videos with Get Tube.

Occasionally there might be a need to save a YouTube video. There are various programs for OS X but the best one I've found is Get Tube.

First find your favourite video on YouTube.

Next open Get Tube and select which browser you're using. The video will then download. You can use Tube Cart for multiple videos.

10. Take a screen shot

You maybe wondering how I've taken all these pictures for this article. The basic way to take a screen shot on your Mac is by Command+Shift+3, this takes a screen shot of the screen and save it as a file on the desktop, alternatively Command+Shift+4, then drag around the area - takes a screen shot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop.

Related

52 Ways to Speed Up OS X
The history of the iPod

It's been quiet here at ImAFish for the last week because we have been working on our latest project:

www.ipodhistory.com

iPod History has pictures and details on every single iPod including size, battery life, compatibility and launch date.

The site is a great place to find out what others have to say about iPod models they have owned and to put across your views. It's still early days for the site so all comments are appreciated.

We have tried to make the site as informative as possible but are open to suggestions. If you like the site then please stumble it or add it to your blog!

For more check out www.ipodhistory.com

HOW TO SPOT A RICH GUY... To all viewers and bloggers: Please read my comment
Originally uploaded by Rockers generation

WTF man? I mean, does it really need to be this hard? Are you telling me that it has come down to us hiding domestic animals in our captcha characters in order to hold off bots?

This is a sad day for the HCI crowd.

read more | digg story

Intoxicated People vs Green Tree

read more | digg story

Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival is now well under way as reported last week. There are displays of work at the Gateway in Shrewsbury (next to my new office).

More on the cartoon festival and climate change can be found on the Carbon Forum website:

http://carbonforum.org/news/climate-change-cartoon-exhibition-opens-gateway-gallery-shrewsbury 

Shrewsbury, UK - Pete White and world famous ImAFish have today launched three new niche environmental blogs to help people keep updated with news in their respective areas.

www.reachnews.info tracks industry trends and news for REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances).

www.rohsnews.info brings up-to-date news regarding ROHS (the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment).

www.weeenews.info covers a range of stories in and around WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)

ImAFish takes the issue of the environment very seriously and helps where possible to spread environmentally friendly messages.

Holy crap-- somebody just went and TORE MY FREAKING USB CABLE IN HALF while it was still attached to my laptop!!! (No-- wait-- sorry. That's just my USB drive.)

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When deciding on service providers there is often a clear choice, whether it be because they have a local monopoly (like my water provider) or because they offer you a good deal (like my mobile phone provider) but when it comes to finding an ISP noone has a good deal.

At the one end there are the free/very cheap providers that are unreliable, have poor techical support and a low bandwidth cap. At the other end are the very expensive providers that I don't want to fork out for. Then there are the providers that throttle traffic at certain times to one degree or another.

Somewhere in the middle fell the provider I decided to go with - Plus net, for £20 a month they offer 20gig of bandwidth and are open about what they restrict and at what times. Hopefully I've made the right choice!

1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Start up
4. Make sure the guy who is annoying you can see the screen.
5. Close your eyes, join your palms together, tilt your head up to the sky & move your lips as if praying
6. Then hit the link

read more | digg story

In the past week I've moved office and moved house! I still have no Internet at home so I'm using my phone.

Last Thursday we moved office to The Pump House, an environmentally friendly building that gives us great new facilities and loads more space. The three of us had been crampt up in our old office for almost two years which means we can look to expand in the coming months.

On Friday I brought my first house with my lovely girl friend Laura, I've spent since then moving stuff in and sorting it all out. It's a slow process but we are finally getting there.

The office and house are only ten minutes walk apart meaning I can sleep in till 8:30 each morning and still get to work on time.

More coming soon once Plusnet activate my broadband.

This post is by guest blogger Matt Buck.

The fifth International Cartoon Festival is open now in Shrewsbury.

The main event when more than 40 of Britain's best cartoonists will be in town for a long weekend of cartoons and cartooning, runs from April 18-20.

But already six exhibitions of some great cartoon jokes and art are open to the public. You can find out more at http://www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com or at the Bloghorn,  - http://procartoonists.blogspot.com/

The festival offers unique opportunities to see cartoonists at work, with 20 of them drawing on huge boards in The Square, others drawing caricatures for anyone who asks and some, running cartoon workshops for all ages.

There's also a one-man show by Dave Brown, political cartoonist for The Independent newspaper and Steve Bell from the Guardian is coming too.

http://tinyurl.com/2p5mjm

Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival is organised by Destination Shrewsbury with Shrewsbury Civic Society and the support of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation. This cartoon is copyright of PCO member Tim Harries, if you would like to use it, please give Tim a credit and a link to the Bloghorn. Thank you
http://procartoonists.blogspot.com/

For more information: Web: www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com
Email: visitorinfo@shrewsbury.gov.uk - Telephone: 01743-281 200

This ones a no brainer, Laptops Direct will give you £5000 to have their name tattooed on your head.

The requirements are strict and may put some peope off:

• You must take a drug test and successfully complete a short psychological questionnaire to ensure you are of sound mind
• You must be over 18 years of age and have had no previous mental health problems
• You must be a tattoo virgin - It would cramp our brand if there were other competing tattoos
• You must attend an annual check-up to ensure you have not removed the tattoo, have not had any other tattoos added and are still of sound mind.

Tattoos for other parts of the body are also available if you don't fancy walking around with it on your forehead. Arms/Hands - £1000, Shoulders/Back - £500 or Legs/Feet - £100.

Of course the grand prize is clearly the forehead tattoo.

Anyone going to be getting one?