iTunesHelper or iTunes Helper, is a program from Apple that runs in the background and monitors for the connection of any iPod or iPhone to the computer, if an iPod or iPhone is detected it will automatically launch the iTunes application. The functionality is the same on both Mac OS X and Windows PC’s, and … Read More

So you want a small lightweight portable Mac OS X machine, the closest thing Apple has in this area is the MacBook Air which is $1600 or more. No doubt about it, the MacBook Air is a great machine but I don’t want to spend anywhere near $1600 for another laptop when I already have … Read More

Apple certainly means well with the Software Updates, but sometimes I get update notifications I just don’t care about, or just don’t want to install for whatever reason. If you’re in this situation and you have a version of OS X before the App Store that ran exclusively in a native Software Update window, like … Read More

TechCrunch has an interesting op-ed piece today about why Snow Leopard is seen as disappointing to some casual Mac users who upgrade. The readers digest version? It doesn’t look or feel different enough. TechCrunch author MG Siegler basically argues that to the average user, changes in the look and feel of an operating system are … Read More

Everyone can make an iPhone ringtone using iTunes or Garageband, but is Apple ready to sell pre-made ringtones to iPhone customers? That’s that latest word from the Apple rumor mill, with CNET making the claim that on September 9 2009, Apple will be releasing an iPhone Ringtone Store. Remember, this is just a rumor, but … Read More

If you’re an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS owner and you’re on the AT&T network, you’ll be pleased to hear that AT&T is finally stepping out of the cellular stone ages and on September 25, 2009 will FINALLY enable MMS on the iPhone! It’s kind of amusing to be excited to get a 7 year … Read More

QuickTime X is really cool and one of the many great improvements in Snow Leopard, but I was really surprised to find out that QuickTime X no longer automatically plays movie files on open, you’d think since I just opened the file I’d want to watch the movie! Thankfully resolving this is just a matter … Read More

If you have a Mac without a functioning DVD drive (or a MacBook Air), you’ll need to find another way to upgrade to Snow Leopard, thankfully this is very easy, all you’ll need is an external firewire or USB hard drive. You’ll need access to a DVD drive *somewhere* so that you can make a … Read More

OS X Daily reader Todd Harris has tipped us off that when installing Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, your /etc/hosts file is reset. If you followed a tip we posted a while back about how to block access to specific websites then this is particularly relevant to you, so be sure to manually adjust … Read More

If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s being executed, which packages are being installed, and the installation directories and file locations of a Mac OS X system install, then you’ll enjoy this tip sent to us on Twitter by Murtika Laksmi: While installing Snow Leopard do the following: * At the “Mac OS X Installer” … Read More

This is somewhat controversial because it is against the Apple EULA, but apparently you can save $140 if you’re a Tiger 10.4 user and run the 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade without a problem. To make things even more interesting, popular Mac writer Walt Mossberg actually recommends that you do this if you are a Tiger … Read More

Yet another feature to be excited about, ZDNet reports that Apple has included a malware blocker in 10.6 Snow Leopard. Personally I have never run into any malware or viruses in Mac OS X, but it’s nice to know that Apple is including this functionality by default in their latest operating system. Better safe than … Read More

We all know Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is the next major version of Mac OS to be released in 2009, and we know some of the features too. But going further, the UK’s Register Hardware has a nice multipage preview of Snow Leopard, pointing out some changes, refinements, and new features.

If you’re like me you tend to have 10,000 windows open at once on your Mac while you work and multitask, thanks to Expose this is not a particular problem in Mac OS X. But, there comes a time when you don’t want to use Expose to either clear the screen or select a specific … Read More

It seems like people either love or hate Spotlight, if you love it then ignore this tip, but if you hate Spotlight and want to turn Spotlight off in 10.5 here’s your new favorite post. You can completely disable Spotlight in OS X 10.5 by moving a few system files (or you could delete them … Read More

If you ever want to hide a file or folder, you can quickly make it invisible with a command line utility called setfile. This is a really cool tip that should be particularly useful to those who share their mac with other people.

Here’s something that’s bound to be popular. The University of Washington is offering a Certificate program in iPhone Development, the coursework covers Cocoa too but there’s plenty of Cocoa development programs out there so it’s really the iPhone development that makes it stand out. For now the program is only offered at the University of … Read More

Got an older version of Mac OS X that you want to use Gmail with? While newer versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X allow for simple integration of using Google accounts with a Mac, older versions of Mac OS X don’t necessarily have these capabilities. But not to worry, you can still use … Read More