You may have known that you can navigate around music, skip songs, go backward to prior songs, pause, and mute music, all from the iTunes Dock icon, but did you know that the iTunes dock item in OS X also includes a list of the ten most recently played songs?

To access the recent songs playlist, just right-click on the iTunes icon as it sits in the Dock, and you’ll see a “Play Recent” list with the song names that you can then select from. Choose one to start playing it immediately.

The Dock icons of OS X reveal a lot of tricks if you use the control/right click on them, so it’s worth trying it out with other apps too and you’ll likely discover some other tricks and interactions. iTunes alone is full of actions from the Dock Icon, you can even rate songs from the same menu, set shuffling, and more.

The Nintendo 64 was another great console that had many great games, and you can relive many of the gaming experiences of the N64 by getting an emulator for Mac OS X.

The N64 Emulator I use in Mac OS X is called SixtyForce, it opens and plays N64 ROM’s quite well and allows you to run the games at full screen or in windowed mode, customize your controls to use either a keyboard or USB gamepad, and more. Sound good, and you’re a fan of Nintendo 64? Then check it out yourself.

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So you saw the latest iPhone 4 commercial and fell in love with FaceTime. You bring your iPhone 4 home, and you attempt to make a FaceTime connection with a friend… but nothing happens. What’s going on? It’s probably the wireless networks firewall settings.

I was recently speaking with an Apple employee and they told me that most of the problems people are having with FaceTime connectivity have nothing to do with the device itself, but instead it’s almost exclusively an issue with the network it’s being used on.

If you’re having problems connecting to FaceTime on a WiFi network, be sure the following ports are forwarded (or open) on the firewall: 53, 80, 443, 4080, 5223, and 16393-16472 (UDP).

Apple has dealt with enough of the port forwarding issues to release a support article on the topic, which is where the aforementioned port numbers are from. FaceTime isn’t alone here though, this is actually a really common problem with computer based video chat services like Skype and iChat too, and having the ports straightened out almost always solves the issue.

A friend of mine just got a free HP Mini 1000 from his job and was bored stiff with Windows XP, he couldn’t really think of a use for the netbook so I suggested installing Mac OS X on it. The little machine is an excellent candidate for a hackintosh, and the setup is just a matter of patience and following some good instructions like the one at MyMacNetbook: Guide to Snow Leopard on a HP Mini 1000. A few hours later and he’s running Snow Leopard on a tiny Hackintosh Netbook!

Have you ever put your Mac to sleep, only to find it awake seemingly on it’s own when you return to the machine? I’ve run into this mystery of a randomly waking Mac a few times, and with a few terminal commands you can help track down what caused your Mac to wake from sleep. So if you’re wondering why your Mac is waking from sleep, read on to learn how you can help determine the cause.

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I really can’t emphasize it enough: you should get an external monitor, the increase in workflow and productivity is dramatic. Not to mention a desk looks great with two screens, like this aluminum iMac with the external LG display. Something about a good Mac setup just inspires creativity, what other computer does that? I don’t think any.

[ via Flickr ]

Update: The iPhone stand on the left is the Thermaltake Aluminum iPhone Holder

If you need to convert FLAC to MP3 in Mac OS X for free, the best way to do so is using a utility called All2MP3*. It’s super easy to use with drag & drop conversion tools and total simplicity, just grab the app and follow along with this tutorial and you’ll have converted your FLAC files in no time at all.

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If you have young kids there’s a couple things you can do to make your Mac even more friendly and easy to use for them. The focus should be on simplifying the user experience by reducing anything that’s confusing or distracting. Here are my favorite tricks for making the Mac experience extra friendly for young children:

Tips for Making a Mac Kid Friendly

• Create a New User Account for the child, make sure it is not an Administrator, then login to that user account
• Disable things like Spaces and Expose
• Shrink/Hide the Dock
• Disable ‘Recent Items’
• Increase the icon size and font text size of Finder items
• Choose a simple Desktop Picture
• Install kid-friendly and fun applications for the child to use
• Setup Parental Controls through the System Preferences > Parental Controls panel to do things like: determine what applications they can use, set time limits on computer usage, set bed-times, create logs for websites visited, limit email and iChat conversations to only allowed users, limit access to certain websites, and more.

Another great solution… let them use an iPad! Kids love an iPad or even an iPhone but the iPad in particular is great with little kids. There isn’t much room to mess about and you can put them into a good app or game and they will be entertained for hours on end. I find the iPad to be a great kid-friendly device and it’s really just a highly simplified Mac in terms of appearance so it works quite well for them.

Want to open a PDF file and save it to your iPhone or iPad so that you can read it later? The best way to do that is by downloading the PDF file into the Books app, which runs on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

You’ll need Books (once called iBooks) installed to do this, which most people should have already, and at that point you can easily save any PDF and then access it later.

If you’re unfamiliar with the process, here is what you’ll need to do:

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Apple released the iOS 4.0.1 update to download for iPhone users today. The update addresses the signal issue that many iPhone 4 users have complained about, or as Apple says in the release notes: “Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display”

Download iOS 4.0.1 Update for iPhone

The download is available for iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 users.

To download and update your device, plug your iPhone into your computer and sync it with iTunes. Then click the Update button and you will be able to download and install the iOS 4.0.1 update.

If you’ve been to Google.com today you can’t possibly have missed their logo honoring the late Josef Frank, a famous architect. The crazy looking Google logo is actually a take on Josef Frank’s wallpaper designs, which are intricately detailed and quite fancy.

After seeing these, I thought they’d look great on my iPad, so I decided to make a few Josef Frank wallpapers for the iPad. Here are four that I created fitting the iPad dimensions, but they’ll work on on your iPhone too. Enjoy!

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SNES9x is a full featured SNES emulator for Mac that lets you do all sorts of things, including using an external game pad, customized controls, enter cheat codes and Game Genie codes directly into the game, create freeze states (ie: saving anytime anywhere), export movies of gameplay, and so much more.

It’s been out a while, but I just wrote about playing SNES on the iPad and realized that we’ve never covered the very SNES emulator for Mac that I mentioned in that article: SNES9x. Yes, there are other SNES emulators for Mac but I always find myself returning to SNES9x, I never have a problem with it and I’ve been able to play through games completely without a crash. In my opinion, it’s the most developed SNES emulator for the Mac platform, if there is a better one I haven’t found it yet.

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Need to access the current Finder directory immediately within the Terminal? While newer Mac OS X versions have an option to enable “New Terminal at Folder” in Services, prior releases do not, so instead you can get cdto, it’s one of those must-have apps for anyone who’s constantly switching between the command line and the Finder.

Installing cdto is simple, just download the app and place it somewhere in your Applications or Utilities folder, then drag the app directly into your Finder toolbar.

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Microsoft is busy trying to play catch up with Apple’s runaway success of the iPhone and App Store model. According to BusinessWeek, Microsoft is actually providing financial incentives and revenue guarantees to developers that create for their new Windows Phone 7 platform:

The company is providing financial incentives ranging from free tools and test handsets to funds for software development and marketing, said Todd Brix, a senior director at Microsoft who works with app developers. In some cases, Microsoft is providing revenue guarantees, and will make up the difference if apps don’t sell as well as expected, he said.

This is an interesting strategy considering Windows Phone 7 is an OS that doesn’t even exist yet, which is a large obstacle Microsoft faces at the moment. Trying to convince developers to work for an unreleased an unproven platform is no easy task, especially when there is a pervasive gold-rush mentality with developing for the iTunes App Store, and to a lesser extent with Google’s Android Marketplace.

Will this strategy work for Microsoft? If I had to guess I’d say they will closely emulate the iOS and App Store experiences, just like they are trying with the Microsoft Stores that are so closely modeled after the Apple Store. Hey, maybe they’ll even revive Internet Explorer for Mac and bring it to the iPhone? Jokes aside, Microsoft is a potentially fierce competitor to both Apple and Google in the mobile space, so this should get interesting very quickly.

Update: The final version has been released and everyone can now download iOS 4.1. You can do this through iTunes or with links to the iOS 4.1 direct download from Apple servers.

Apple has released iOS 4.1 beta firmware to developers, with SDK updates that incorporate the Game Center features. When it comes out of beta, this will be the first major update to iOS 4.

iOS 4.1 Compatible Devices

Firmware for iOS 4.1 has been issued for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd and 3rd gen. Noticeably absent from the firmware lineup is the iPad.

Despite the speculation that the 4.1 release would include iPad support and unify the iOS across devices, it doesn’t look like there is iOS 4 support for iPad quite yet. Perhaps in future beta updates the iPad will join the iOS 4 party.

iOS 4.1 Download

Everyone can now download iOS 4.1, just launch iTunes.

To get the iOS 4.1 beta and SDK, you’ll need to be an Apple iPhone Developer.
* Login to developer.apple.com
* Download the firmware from the download links

Installing the iOS 4.1 beta is the same as any other iOS update. So far the only GUI difference that has been noticed is that the signal bars are more accurate. More to come!

All the jokes and iPhone 4 humor have finally gone mainstream. David Letterman featured the iPhone 4 on his famous ‘Top 10 List’ segment. Video is hosted below for now, but don’t be surprised if it gets pulled for copyright. Here’s the list repeated below:

David Letterman’s Top 10 Signs You’ve Purchased a Bad iPhone 4

• 10. To make a call, you have to insert a quarter
• 9. Automatically answers every call with a computerized, “Yello!”
• 8. Operates on 20 “D” Batteries
• 7. Pre-loaded with naked photos of Steve Jobs
• 6. You keep getting anonymous texts reading, “iPhone kill you”
• 5. Apple Store looks suspiciously like some dudes trunk
• 4. It smells and tastes like a pop tart
• 3. There’s no lather when washing your cornea (oh I’m sorry, that’s a sign you’ve purchased a bad eye foam)
• 2. You check your email and it shocks your nuts
• 1. Only accepts calls from Mel Gibson

The entire list misses the whole antenna debacle completely, but it’s still interesting to see that Apple-bashing is now part of late night comedy routines. Read more »

I just picked up the newest iPhone 4 commitment free for a friend of mine who lives outside the USA. If you don’t mind paying the higher price, anyone can buy an iPhone without a contract. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Locate and visit an Apple Store
• Find a sales associate
• Tell them you want to buy an iPhone 4 without a contract commitment
• Pay the full iPhone 4 price
• That’s it! Now you have a contract free iPhone

You may get a question or two about why you want a phone without the commitment, and they will likely remind you that the iPhone is a lot cheaper when it is subsidized by AT&T’s contract, but I think this is just to serve AT&T. It’s a painless process and only took me a few minutes. As far as I know you can not get an iPhone without a contract at any store except for directly at the Apple Store themselves. Interestingly enough, you also can’t buy an iPhone without contract on Apple’s website, you have to make the purchase in a physical store.

It’s important to know that in the USA regardless of buying an iPhone without the commitment, you are still tied to AT&T as the carrier. If you want to get around this, you will need to use a carrier unlock for the iPhone 4. Carrier unlocked iPhones are available in other countries, including France, the UK, and Canada, but not in the USA.

This applies to both the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. The price of iPhone 4 without contract starts at $599 and goes up from there, so get your wallet ready.

If you want to manually copy or backup iPhone data, you will need to know the locations of the database files on your iPhone. We’ll cover where to find SMS messages, Notes, pictures, videos, call history, voicemail, address book, and the calendar, they are all located within your iPhone /private/var/mobile/Library directory.

Remember, you will not be able access these locations directly unless your iPhone is jailbroken! Without a jailbreak you have to backup your iPhone normally since you can not access these files.

iPhone data backup locations

These are all located on the iPhone. In most cases you are looking for a database backup file named something like “sms.db” and “call_history.db”:

iPhone SMS/Text Message backup
/private/var/Mobile/Library/SMS
(If you want to, you can access and read iPhone SMS backups directly on your computer)

Notes backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/Notes

Call History backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/CallHistory

Voicemail backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/Voicemail
Voicemails are stored as 1.amr, 2.amr, within this directory. The custom greeting is stored as Greeting.amr

Contacts/Address Book backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/AddressBook/

Mail backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/Mail

Pictures and Video Recordings
/private/var/mobile/Media/DCIM/

Calendar backup
/private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar/

This is really only relevant to those who have an iPhone with jailbreak, since you can’t access these directories on the iPhone without an SSH/SFTP client. Without a jailbreak, you probably just need the local Mac/PC iPhone backup location so check that out instead.