Just in time for the holidays, Civilization 5 for Mac has been released and is now available for purchase!

Civ 5 has been one of the years most hotly anticipated gaming titles to come to the Mac platform, and it’s here at least. The turn-based strategy game lets you choose from eighteen historical civilizations to lead from stone age origins all the way into the space age as you build a massive empire and take over the world. To say that Civilization 5 is addictive would be an understatement, the game is simply awesome and a ton of fun for anyone who enjoys strategy games.

You can buy Sid Meier’s Civilization V for Mac from Amazon and get free shipping.

I wish I had some Stormtrooper Legos to clean up my iPad screen with. On a more serious note, you can learn properly how to clean the iPad screen if you haven’t already.

The above picture was sent in by Tavis from Flickr.

If you’ve recently downloaded an iOS IPSW file, you might be curious how to use it to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. It’s pretty easy, just follow these directions:

How to Use IPSW files

You can use IPSW files on Mac or Windows, both require iTunes.

• Connect your iPhone or iOS device to your computer
• Select the device in iTunes
• On a Mac, hold down the “Option” key and then click on “Update”
• On a Windows PC, hold down “SHIFT” key and then click on “Update”
• Select the IPSW file you downloaded and click “Choose”
• Let the iOS device update as usual

You can also click on “Restore” and select an IPSW instead but you will lose the existing files and settings on your iOS device. Use “Restore” if you want to restore to a custom IPSW file, such as something created with PwnageTool or sn0wbreeze. This is usually only relevant to those who jailbreak and unlock their hardware.

Where do you get IPSW files?

We have several comprehensive lists of iOS IPSW files hosted from Apple’s servers, you can download iPhone ISPW, iPod touch IPSW, and iPad IPSW of all iOS versions after 3.0.

Hot off the heals of a public release of the iOS 4.2.1 update, the iOS 4.2 SDK pack is now available for developers to download. Unlike the beta releases, any registered developer can download the new iOS 4.2 SDK without paying the $99 yearly membership fee, which is nice if you just want to explore the development environment without a membership commitment.

You’ll need an Apple Developer Login, and you can grab the SDK from iOS Developer Center, the download weighs in at a hefty 3.5 GB and is packaged with Xcode 3.2.5.

You can download iOS 4.2 directly from iTunes 10.1, but if you’d prefer to use a direct download link, here they are from Apple:

iOS 4.2.1 Direct Download

These are direct download links from Apple’s servers. It’s best to right-click on the file and then “Save As” to prevent any problems downloading the IPSW.
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The highly anticipated iOS 4.2 update for iPad and iPhone has been released for public download. This update is particularly enticing to iPad owners because it brings the full iOS 4 feature set including multitasking support and folders to the iPad. iOS 4.2 includes AirPrint for wireless printing, and AirPlay for wireless content streaming to all compatible devices. Additionally, owners of newer iOS hardware will gain free access to “Find My iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch” which helps to locate missing hardware.

Download iOS 4.2

The free iOS 4.2 update will be available first through iTunes, if launching iTunes doesn’t automatically alert you of the software update, you can do the following:

• Plug your iOS device into your computer
• Launch iTunes
• On the iOS device summary screen, click on “Check for Update”
• Follow the instructions to download and update to iOS 4.2

Remember to backup your device before proceeding. The release of iOS 4.2 is actually iOS 4.2.1 as build 8C148. If you are having problems with the iTunes update, you can use iOS 4.2.1 direct download links from Apple instead.

iOS 4.2 Compatibility

The iOS 4.2 update is compatible with the following hardware: iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd gen, iPod touch 3rd gen, iPod touch 4th gen. Missing from the list is AppleTV, which will get a modified iOS 4.1 update that includes AirPlay. You will need iTunes 10.1 to download and install the iOS 4.2 update on your device.

I have agonized for years over this one and surely you have too. If you’ve ever had that burning question of “how on earth do I pick up and carry my iMac G5″ then you’re in luck.

In what is undoubtedly the single most useful support document to ever exist in the entire universe, Apple answers this amazingly complex technical question with the following ground breaking advice (brace yourself):

Pick up the iMac G5 by grasping both sides of the computer. Carry it to wherever you wish.

Grasp… both sides of the computer… and… carry it… to… whereever I wish????? Holy Moly. This changes everything! I never knew this was possible, imagine the possibilities.

OK enough sarcasm.
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If you hover over any multi-page PDF file within the Finder, you’ll see two arrows pop up over the documents icon. If you click these arrows, you can flip through the entire PDF right on your Macs desktop. This tip is obviously a bit more useful when your icons are displayed larger.

On a similar note, you can also play audio files and play movies directly in the Finder by hovering over them as well.

This is a fun tip that shows off the attention to detail in Mac OS X, I hope we see more in the upcoming Mac OS X 10.7 release.

Facebook is a great way to stay connected to people and has plenty of benefits, but that’s not why we’re here, we’re here to block access to Facebook. Why? Well, there are many reasons to block the site, companies often block the site to prevent employees from accessing it on company time, and parents may want to block Facebook to keep their young children away from some of the more mature content.

Then there are people like me, you like the site but you find Facebook to be an enormous distraction when trying to be productive. Sometimes the easiest way to eliminate the distraction is by forcibly blocking a site along with others that are blackholes of time. I actually have Facebook and a handful of other sites permanently blocked on my work machine, it has kept me free from distractions and I’m sure it helps my productivity. Without further ado, let’s find out five different ways to block Facebook.
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Want to check mountain conditions right from your iPhone? The appropriately titled Snow and Ski Report app by REI offers an easy way to check on snow conditions and ski resorts from anywhere, and it’s free.

Snow and Ski Report gives you snow information for the past 72 hours, total snow depth, the number of trails and lifts that are open, access to the mountains webcams, a five day forecast, and it also follows a resorts Twitter feed so you can get up to date information directly from the operator. You can easily add multiple resorts to follow and have push notifications tell you when any of them get new snow.

The app is a free download available through the iTunes App Store, click here to grab it.

If your winter free time revolves around snow conditions and what’s going on at your local mountain, this app is for you. For the price of free, you just can’t beat it.