Mac OS

I use TextEdit often for simple text editing and note taking, but you can also use TextEdit as an outliner and avoid downloading another application. Yes seriously, the TextEdit that comes on all versions of Mac OS X can function quite well as a basic outline app.

You can fast forward or quickly rewind any video playing in QuickTime Player in Mac OS X (or Windows if you go that direction) by using a trackpad or magic mouse. This is really easy to use but it’s best followed along and tried out yourself than just reading a tutorial, so launch QuickTime Player … Read More

Resetting your PRAM (or NVRAM) is a common troubleshooting technique when a Mac is misbehaving. We’ll cover how to reset PRAM on any Mac, as well as providing some additional information about PRAM and what it is to better help you understand when and why you’d want to reset it.

This is a neat trick that lets you mute your Mac audio and adjust sound output on a Mac from your iPhone. It’s a little involved so it won’t be for the average user, but it is kind of interesting anyway.

The popular LetterBox plugin for Mac OS X’s Mail app has been updated to be compatible with the release of 10.6.5. Prior to the plugin update, Letterbox required a manual fix for Letterbox to work with Mac OS X 10.6.5. The new version prevents the need for the hack. If you’re interested, you can head … Read More

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, you can now pre-order Civilization 5 for Mac through Amazon! The pre-order includes free shipping for the release date of November 23. Amazon is offering their pre-order price guarantee, meaning if the price drops after you buy the game but before it is released, they’ll refund the … Read More

You can mute the quack sound that your Mac makes when adjusting audio levels by adjusting a system preference setting. Yes, that means you can completely turn it off and stop the little quack / pop sound from happening anytime the volume changes. Here is what you will want to do in OS X:

Update 2: LetterBox for Mac OS X 10.6.7 has been released and it resolves the latest incompatibilities. If you’d rather fix the plugin yourself, follow the instructions below but use these two UUID’s instead: 9049EF7D-5873-4F54-A447-51D722009310 1C58722D-AFBD-464E-81BB-0E05C108BE06 Thanks to Vincent for providing the UUID’s in the comments! Update: A new version of Letterbox for Mac OS … Read More

For whatever reason, the Mac OS X 10.6.5 update did not include AirPrint shared printing support (meaning you can’t print from an iOS device to a shared Mac printer). But, you can unofficially enable AirPrint by downloading a few AirPrint files from 10.6.5 beta releases and then putting them in the appropriate location on your … Read More

Time to fire up Software Update, Mac OS X 10.6.5 has been released for everyone to download. The download weighs in around 700 MB, you can get it through software update or follow the download links below. Here are the 10.6.5 release notes from Apple: The 10.6.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac … Read More

Time Machine is a very convenient backup solution for Mac users, but typically requires an external drive to backup to. If you’ve got a network with an extra Windows or Linux PC hanging around with tons of disk space, you can get Time Machine to backup to that computers excess disk space instead of an … Read More

I know you’ve always thought to yourself, wouldn’t it be great if my Mac could see me songs? Or wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could make someone elses Mac sing songs? Well, you’re going to be thrilled to discover that, yes, your Mac can actually sing, thanks to the text-to-speech engine and the intonation … Read More

If you’re new to the Mac or Apple platforms, learning the menu keyboard symbols that appear in the menus and on some keyboard keys, can be a little daunting. Nonetheless it’s not too complex, and knowing what the Apple keyboard symbols mean and what keys they stand for to access the function is essential for … Read More

Sometimes novelty apps are fun, and this one is no exception. Called keySpazz, it makes your MacBook Pro keyboard backlights respond to typing and touch, so the keys light up when you are typing. Is there a purpose? No, not really, but it’s kind of entertaining. Check out the video above for a demonstration on … Read More

Apple has now opened the doors for Mac OS X developers to submit their apps to be included in the upcoming Mac App Store. Scheduled to be released within the next three months, the Mac App Store was announced as part of the Mac OS X 10.7 feature set, but Apple quickly revealed it would … Read More

Sometimes the hardest thing about writing is remaining focused, which is increasingly difficult in the digital world of mass distractions. Social media, alerts, notifications, there’s constant noise blasting our direction and ready to distract you. Using distraction free writing software can really help eliminate the interruptions that exist elsewhere on your computer, and the open … Read More

Mac users generally don’t have to worry much about viruses, but with the popularity of Macs growing the likelihood of viruses appearing increases. Just recently a new trojan called Boonana Koobface appeared that affects Mac users. If you’re concerned with getting a virus on your Mac, why not download a free anti-virus app for Mac … Read More

If you need to open and expand rar files in Mac OS X, you can unrar files with two free utilities available for the Mac. Not only will either of these apps quickly open and decompress .rar files, but it also has the ability to restore corrupted and missing archives using par files. Archive restoration … Read More