One Minute Mac

links for 2009-06-27

• Tweak Your Way to a Better Finder
  It's disappointing that Snow Leopard doesn't promise many major new Finder features, but with the right tweaks and plug-ins, you can make browsing files on your Mac significantly better.
  (tags: finder)

links for 2009-06-15

• How To Run iLife From An External Hard Disk [Mac only]
  There’s one common problem among iLife applications that most users will find rather annoying: the applications take up lots, and lots of storage space. In this article, I will show you how to transfer your iLife suite and access it from an external hard drive, freeing up precious hard disk space on your computer.
• Tutorial on How to use iChat as a Twitter client | MacAmour Blog

links for 2009-03-03

• Readability - An Arc90 Lab Experiment
  A helpful little browser bookmarklet from Arc90 strips all but the main text out of any web page and re-formats its layout, size, and margins, creating a newspaper or novel-like page for easier text digestion.

links for 2009-03-01

• The 28 Days of Quicktips has ended. Here they are.
  It was a crazy, busy month of February at the Editblog on PVC where we attempted one QuickTip a day (as well as all the other tasks of editing) for the entire month. They all went up (usually before noonish), some for Avid, some for Final Cut Pro with a few others thrown in the mix as well. Here are links to them all:
  (tags: finalcutpro)

links for 2009-02-24

• Apple launches iTunes Pass content
  Apple has introduced the concept of the iTunes Pass, a new shopping option in the music section of the iTunes Store. The Pass automatically subscribes a person to all of the tracks and videos in a particular collection, downloading existing material and anything new as it becomes available. Apple notes that all the material provided in a Pass is DRM-free, and encoded with 256kbps AAC audio. Currently featured is the $20 "Sounds of the Universe" Pass, which provides two songs from the upcoming Depeche Mode album and will fill out with material as the record's June 16th release date approaches.

  The scheme should not be confused with the one used for Microsoft's Zune Pass, which is a true subscription service that lets users play an unlimited number of tracks, keeping 10 permanently each month for a regular fee. A similar offering has been rumored from Apple for some time, but has largely been dismissed by industry sources.

  
  
  

links for 2009-02-21

• How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook
  I am typing on this on a 9-inch, 3G-equipped, almost-pocketable computer, running the best consumer OS money can currently buy. It costs around $400. Do you want one too? Here's how to get yours.

  There are a lot of netbooks on which you can install and run OS X, but if you're mindful of the handy comparison chart those lads at Boing Boing Gadgets have compiled, you'll know that the Mini 9 is about as ideal a platform as you'll find for a Hackintosh ultraportable: Everything from wi-fi, sound and the function keys down to the optional integrated mobile broadband card and the SD card reader are supported and work as they should. No hardware compromises at all. It's awesome.

  
  
  

links for 2009-02-19

• macosxhints.com - Update an already-shared iWork.com document
  If you wonder how to update an already-shared document to your iWork.com account, it's somewhat hidden in the interface. The Share menu will keep saying Share via iWork.com. However, if you do it like this, iWork.com will replace the document, but keep the comments intact: Share the first version, add contacts and a title. Edit some content ... or don't. Share the document again, making sure you select the Title from before in the "Copy to iWork.com as:" drop-down. If you do this first, you will see the former contacts filled in again, and you can then customize the Subject and Message. Hint: Open the online version while doing step three, and see how iWork.com auto-fetches the update in the browser.
  (tags: iwork)
• Sharing multiple files at once with Apple’s MobileMe iDisk
  Here's how:

  1) Select the files or folders you want to share. (To select multiple files hold down the Command key on a Mac or the Control key on a PC as you click on each one.)

  2) Use the Actions menu via the Gear icon in the Toolbar, and select Compress items. This will automatically create a single compressed file named Archive.zip that contains your files or folders.

  3) Share Archive.zip file just as you would any other iDisk file. (Before you share it, you can change the "Archive" part of the name to something more descriptive, but keep the .zip extension so the receiver's computer will know to decompress the files when the receiver opens it.)

  
  
  (tags: mobileme)
  
  
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  Troubleshooting OS X start-ups
  
  
  Your Mac was running fine. It started up quickly, it was zippy when you worked and snappy when you played. But suddenly something’s wrong: when you start it up, it takes longer—maybe a couple of minutes, maybe more—than it once did. What’s slowing things down?
  There can be a lot of reasons your Mac is taking longer to start up. Here are the troubleshooting steps you should take, in order, to find out what’s wrong and fix it.
  
  
  (tags: hardware troubleshooting)
  
  

links for 2009-02-17

• 69 really useful OS X timesavers
  The whole ethos of Apple products is to get things done more quickly and elegantly, and with our guide to 101 essential Mac timesavers you'll get the best out of your Mac, iPod or iPhone and learn some great timesaving tricks as well.

links for 2009-02-16

• Google’s ‘Understudy’ plugin brings Hulu and Netflix to Apple Macs’ Front Row
  Google's "Understudy" plugin allows access to streaming video through the Front Row interface of Mac OS X. The user can subscribe to multiple feeds, and select a video to watch from them. "Understudy" currently supports Hulu and Netflix.

  According to Google, "Understudy" is stable, but is also a work in progress. Please feel free to report any problems on the issue tracker.

  "Understudy" is not affiliated with any of the streaming video sites the plugin supports, and will only work in cases where those site would (typically this means you must live in the United States).

  
  
  

links for 2009-02-03

• How to restore iPhone App Store data from a backup
  Disable automatic syncing in the iTunes preferences under Devices. Replace ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/abc123 with an older version from Time Machine. Note that abc123 is a very long alphanumeric key identifying to your iPhone -- make sure you get the right one, in case you sync with several phones or iPods. Plug in the iPhone. Control-click (in the iTunes sidebar) on the iPhone and choose Restore from Backup. At the end of the process, your iPhone will automatically restart.
  (tags: iphone)