Mac OS

If the Mac App Store is open and there are updates available, you’ll notice a red badge appear on the App Store icon in the Mac OS X Dock. Of course most users click on that and update their apps from the Mac App Store that way, but for some versions of OS X there … Read More

You’ve probably noticed we’re fans of some retro tech stuff around here, whether it’s flip clock screensavers, retro Cathode terminals, or the ridiculous 80’s block iPhone case, there’s just something fun about bringing back the old to interact with the new. Apparently popular iOS Developer Neven Morgan of The Incident fame agrees. So enthralled with … Read More

MenuWeather Lite is a great little free app that shows your current locations weather in the Mac OS X menu bar. As you can see in the screenshot, the menu bar item is just a discrete little icon representing conditions along with the current temperature. That’s pretty neat in and of itself, but if you … Read More

Looking around for a clock screensaver I stumbled across Fliqlo, which is a simple and free flip clock screensaver that mimics the appearance of those retro flip clocks that existed in the time of dinosaurs. The Fliqlo flip clock screen saver is visually pleasing and it’s available for Mac users as well as offerin versions … Read More

We all have that person (or ten) on our buddy lists that insist on having their IM text formatted in stupendously obnoxious ways. Maybe it’s just using tiny font sizes, but sometimes it’s a full fledged assault on your eyes with bright pink size 26 Comic Sans font clashing against a neon yellow background in … Read More

iCal automatically assumes that a new event will be an hour long, but you can manually adjust that into shorter minute intervals by using the defaults write command. Here is the syntax to enter into the Terminal: defaults write com.apple.iCal “Default duration in minutes for new event” 15 You can set the 15 at the … Read More

Playing NES games on your Mac might be considered nerdy or retro, but it’s also just plain fun. I finally found a decent NES emulator for Mac that’s free, and more importantly, it’s stable. It’s called Nestopia, (get it, NEStopia?), and it has all the features you’ve come to expect from a good emulator: stability, … Read More

We’ve shown a few different ways of how to lock your Mac screen with a keystroke or a hot corner, but another option is to lock the screen and desktop of your Mac through a little-known Mac OS X menu bar item. The result is a little lock icon in the menu bar of OS … Read More

If you’re on a Mac and you need to print to an older printer connected to a Windows XP PC, well, you’re in for a bundle of joy to get it working in OS X. While it’s not the simplest process in the world, here’s the gist of it, and it does indeed work to … Read More

The Mac App Store now has an order and buy confirmation, which should prevent many accidental purchases from occurring. This is a nice addition and undoubtedly helps to eliminate refund requests, and maybe it’ll even make some people think twice before inadvertently buying an app twice. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before … Read More

Angry Birds for Mac is a ton of fun, but you probably already know that. Here are some keyboard shortcuts for the Mac OS X version of the game: Keyboard Shortcuts for Angry Birds on Mac OS X Some of these you can use anytime and others must require you to be in a current … Read More

Did you know that your Mac has a built-in FTP & FTPS client? You don’t need to download any additional software or apps to connect to FTP sites from Mac OS X, instead you can connect to remote servers directly from your desktop by using an excellent and little known feature. If you’ve never used … Read More

If you’re trying to remember an exact command you executed via the Terminal but can’t quite come up with it, you can query your command line history to discover old commands that have been run or executed in the past. This trick to find and retrieve prior commands executed in the command line works on … Read More

Update: GreenPois0n RC5 3 for Mac includes built-in 10.6 and 10.5 support. This release eliminates the need for the hack below. GreenPois0n RC5 2 is out for Mac but it requires Mac OS X 10.6 in order to run, right? Wrong! Thanks to this hack from cmdshift we can get GreenPois0n RC5 running in Mac … Read More

If you click and hold on any open applications Dock icon, you will launch Expose for just that app and it’s corresponding windows. You can also access this app-specific Expose with the F10 key (Function+F10 on newer Mac models and keyboards), I’ve used this trick for a long time to quickly switch between windows in … Read More

Apple has released Xcode 4 GM for those who are enrolled in the Mac and iOS development programs. Xcode 4 is a significant update to the Xcode IDE and includes both iOS SDK 4.2 and Mac OS X SDK 10.6. According to early reports, XCode 4 GM allows developers to submit iOS and Mac apps … Read More

The more apps you install on your Mac, the more bloated your “Open With” menu gets. Some apps that are completely unrelated to the file type may show up in the “Open With” menu and just serve to clutter your choices. This is annoying, so lets restore the menu to what it should have. How … Read More

If you are using metered internet service either through an official Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot service, a jailbroken iPhone WiFi hotspot, or a local cable or telecom monopoly that’s imposing bandwidth caps and limits on your internet access, or any other bandwidth restricted service, you’ll probably want to keep an eye on your bandwidth consumption so … Read More