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Compare Two Files with FileMerge in Mac OS X

Mar 4, 2010 - 11 Comments

FileMerge lets you select any two files and it will compare the two, pointing out any differences between the files. If you’re a developer you already know why this is wildly useful, as it makes tracking down major and minor code changes remarkably easy. Apparently FileMerge is a survivor from the days of NeXTStep, and … Read More

Find a Fast DNS Server with NameBench

Feb 23, 2010 - 26 Comments

There’s no shortage of DNS Server options out there, with Google DNS, OpenDNS, your own ISP’s, and the gazillion of others available to use. The question remains though, which of these DNS servers is going to be fastest for you? And how do you know which is fastest? That’s where NameBench comes in. NameBench is … Read More

Find out how much you’ve spent at the iPhone App Store

Feb 22, 2010 - Leave a Comment

Appropriately named App Store Expense Monitor does exactly what it’s name implies, it tallies up your App Store spending on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch apps and gives you a grand total.

Kill the Flash plugin with BashFlash

Feb 10, 2010 - 6 Comments

It’s no secret, I hate Flash. It’s the plastic pink flamingos of the web but worse, it’s crass, it’s loud, it’s obnoxious, it will crash your web browser, and on a Mac it is a literal drag on the machine, sucking up the CPU and memory as if there’s no tomorrow. Adobe really laid a … Read More

Enable Syntax Highlighting of Source Code in Quick Look for OS X

Feb 2, 2010 - 3 Comments

I use the OS X Quick Look feature constantly for everything from quickly viewing pictures, movies, text files, and of course, source code. Source can be a pain to view in QuickLook because there’s no syntax highlighting by default though, but this excellent Mac plugin changes that.

Virtual Desktops in Mac OS X

Feb 1, 2010 - 10 Comments

A colleague of mine is a recent Mac switcher and he was complaining to me that virtual desktops are not included in Mac OS X, the irony is that they are, they just have the name Spaces (coming from a heavy Linux background, I guess the naming convention just threw him off). Virtual Desktops are … Read More

Track an Applications Usage in Mac OS X with opensnoop

Jan 27, 2010 - 4 Comments

Using the command line tool ‘opensnoop’ you can track any Mac applications (or system process) usage of the file system. This is a very handy tool for administrators and troubleshooting! The simplest way to use it is as follows:

Inspect Mac .pkg Package Installer Files

Jan 26, 2010 - 3 Comments

I just came across a really useful QuickLook plugin called SuspiciousPackage that lets you inspect those .pkg package installer files that so many Mac apps and downloads come in. Using this plugin, you can determine if an admin password is required, how many install scripts are in the package file, where the installation locations of … Read More

Create a New Floating Stickies Note from Anywhere in Mac OS X with Shift+Command+Y

Jan 18, 2010 - 9 Comments

You may already know that you can use a keystroke to make a Stickies Note from Safari app in Mac OS X, but did you know that same keystroke works in many more apps on the Mac? Yes, it turns out you can instantly create a Stickies note from almost anywhere and any application in … Read More

Addicted to RSS? Try the RSS Notifier Menu

Jan 16, 2010 - 1 Comment

Are you constantly checking your favorite RSS feeds? Me too, I am pretty much addicted to my favorite sites. Thankfully, RSS Menu makes it really easy to keep on top of all the latest posts coming out of our online world, by sitting in my menu bar and notifying me if there are any new … Read More

Stop the Mac Startup Sound on Older Macs with a Preference Panel

Jan 13, 2010 - 14 Comments

Mac’s have a very distinct startup sound that chimes whenever they boot, this is fine for most people but if you’re in a quiet office or library it can be very obnoxious to have the loud startup sound announcing to the world that you are on a Mac. Thankfully there’s a nice little utility that’s … Read More

Instantly Create a New Stickies Note from Safari with a Keystroke in Mac OS X

Jan 7, 2010 - Leave a Comment

Want a block of text to float over your Mac desktop so that you can reference it easily? That’s a perfect usage for the Stickies app in OS X, and using a little known trick you can instantly create a new Stickies note from within Safari. The secret to this trick is quite simple: you’ll … Read More

How to Recover Deleted Pictures from Digital Camera Memory Cards from Mac

Dec 28, 2009 - 2 Comments

If you’ve ever accidentally deleted pictures from your digital cameras memory card, you’re not alone. That feeling of dread when you forever lose photographic evidence of memories and experiences in digital form can sometimes be resolved though – so don’t freak out quite yet! Using an excellent free tool called Exif UnTrasher, Mac OS X … Read More

Access a whole bunch of hidden Mac preferences with Secrets

Dec 11, 2009 - 1 Comment

Secrets is a pretty nifty system preference panel add-on that lets you access all sorts of hidden ‘secret’ preference options. Instead of typing a bunch of default write commands you can basically just click checkboxes or change dropdown options to easily enable some pretty cool stuff. It’s pretty comprehensive, with a bunch of options for … Read More

Mac To-Do List Managers

Nov 25, 2009 - 7 Comments

If you’re looking for a free Mac ToDo list manager, look no further than these apps. We highlight our favorite three to-do list apps, and one of them already comes with your Mac! Mac ToDo List Manager Software Our first ToDo list manager app for the Mac is called Anxiety, and on top of having … Read More

Resize Partitions in Mac OS X with Disk Utility

Nov 20, 2009 - 26 Comments
Resize Partition in Mac OS X with Disk Utility

You can easily resize any disk partition in Mac OS X using the included Disk Utility app, located in /Applications/Utilities, and you can even resize a mounted volume. In fact, you can grow or shrink HFS+ (Mac OS X) Partitions on the fly, with the resizing done live regardless of whether the drive is internal … Read More

Like GeekTool? You’ll love this collection of GeekTool scripts

Nov 19, 2009 - 5 Comments

If you’re a GeekTool user and you’re looking for a bunch of awesome GeekTool scripts, look no further. Geeklets is a site run by the UK based MacOSXTips, and it allows for users to submit their own GeekTool scripts and rate others. It’s newly launched so there’s a limited supply of scripts and vote data … Read More

Convert WMA to MP3 on a Mac for Free

Oct 21, 2009 - 27 Comments

On a Windows PC recently I ripped a CD only to find out that it was converted as WMA rather than MP3. In Windows this isn’t a big deal, you just open the files in iTunes as usual, but I wanted them on my Mac, easy right? Well for some reason Apple doesn’t allow Mac … Read More

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