Since last September I’ve been a happy Sirius satellite subscriber. Today I went to plug my Starmate radio into the line-in jack on my eMac and while I saw signal, nothing was coming out of the speakers.
LineIn 2.0.3 (freeware) for the Mac solved this problem nicely.
One of the best videos interviews I’ve seen in a long time — and a total must see for techies — is the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates interview at D5 Conference.
Great stuff. Go download it now while it’s available and free. The video is almost 1GB.
Thanks Macenstein.
The Color Jack Dashboard Widget seeks to make it easier to pick out good colors:
simulates various forms of color blindness! Sphere uses color theory in order to provide you with visually appealing colors.
Need help keeping track of your application updates?
can automatically check for updates to your installed software. It supports Apple’s software directory, MacUpdate and Version Tracker.
When you’re working on a document, and don’t want to be distracted, turn on Isolator. It will cover up your desktop and all the icons on it, as well as the windows of all your other applications.
This could come in handy during moments when trying to concentrate, but then why not just maximize the window to the whole screen?
The one thing about to-do lists I don’t care for is the time to prepare and manage them. Sometimes I can do everything I’d put on a to-do list in the time I’d put the list together and check it off. Perhaps a small exaggeration there but it feels that way sometimes.
is a small application to manage categorized to do lists. Each to do item can be linked with a file on your computer, a URL, such as the address of a website, or a contact from your address book. The linked item can be opened directly from the Do It window. To do items can also include notes, priorities and deadlines, which can be set as reminders in iCal.
Let’s limit our attention to one application–any application–at any time. Let’s make it easy to change focus when we have to. Let’s allow ourselves to bring other apps up quickly if we need them, but put them out of sight again just as quickly.
I’m not sure exactly what this does from a quick look, but I’m saving it to download and check out later.
At the beginning of 2007 I started creating a weekday updated videoblog affectionately dubbed Hmmcast. Despite having a nice iSight camera hooked to my Mac I haven’t used it yet.
The iRecord sounds like it might come in handy:
Just open iRecord, and video recording is as simple as pressing the red button. Take a quick photo by dragging the picture to your desktop.
I have used Quicktime Pro … on Windows (don’t shoot!) for compressing to MP4.
FreewareOSX offers a list of freeware programs for Mac OS X organized in the following categories: audio/video, communication, internet/P2P, games, graphics, programming, screensavers, utilities and word processing.
Thanks Digg.
My buddy darkmoon from LUX.ET.UMBRA points to Clonetool which is donationware that clones your hard drive so you can easily move your system. Then again, if I’m upgrading to an Intel Core Mac, wouldn’t I just want to backup the important files/programs I use on the Mac? There aren’t that many apps I’ll be moving to my next Mac when I buy one. When will that be? Perhaps next year. The eMac, though getting a bit old, works good for what I’ve been using it for to date.
Offered to keep Mac readers in a holiday mood and because these trees look pretty cool:
Mac OS X only: Freeware program X-MasTree puts a customizable Christmas tree on your desktop, complete with a days-to-Christmas countdown.
Just checked Wraparound out and while it is intended for those with multiple monitors it works slick with one monitor too.
Via freemacware:
When the cursor reaches the edge of the screen, it can now wrap around to the other side and keep going. It can work horizontally, vertically, or both.
Feels like much less work navigating with the mouse with screen wraparound.
From the learning and memorization corner comes Ebbinghaus:
An iTunes like application which let’s you easily learn new stuff.
Thanks Freemacware which notes:
Ebbinghaus will teach you with repetition. But Ebbinghaus has a great color coding feature that will keep track of your progress. You also have the ability to input photos. This would be great for memorizing things like country flags.
iPodfolder (Freeware, Mac or Windows):
Backup your iPod Music to a folder on your Mac or a folder on another iPod.
Tangerine (freeware) via Lifehacker:
Tangerine analyzes the beats per minute (BPM) and beat intensity of the songs in your iTunes library, then helps you create playlists based on these attributes.
LiquidCD is a freeware for burning CDs and DVDs built for Mac OS X. But LiquidCD is more than a burning software and has useful built-in features.
I’ve yet to try burning a CD on the Mac, so holding onto this one to check out when that day comes. You mean the Mac doesn’t already come with some sort of built-in CD burning software?
Doodim permits one to dim the background of the foremost application thereby enhancing its visibility.
I wonder what this application will do to your eyes after looking at it for awhile. Any readers used this for awhile? I’m going to download and try.
I currently don’t use any screensaver program with the Mac, besides the default going black. I’ve been thinking about buying that aquarium program, but IdleWeb might be worth considering:
A screensaver module for Mac OS X that allows you to view websites while you aren’t using your computer. URLs can also be dragged to the list of bookmarks from Safari.
Xbox 360 gamers might want to check out the Desktop Stats Viewer v1.1 widget:
This widget by default, shows the most recent game in the upper right, however, if you hover over the images on the bottom, It will display the specifics of the game you are hovering over, in that container.
Quicksilver 1.0b49 (freeware):
The Finder is a reasonably good tool for getting a visual overview of the contents of your disk, but it isn’t ideal for quickly locating and manipulating files, especially if you have a deep and complicated folder structure, or if you prefer keyboard navigation to using the mouse. Quicksilver allows you to find what you need quickly
I’ve heard about this program a couple times now and am planning to check it out.