Games for your Mac

I am not into games, but I am sure many of you are. If that is the case check out Apple's Game Trailer page. It is a theater where you can preview Mac games before they come out. Here's the link;
http://www.apple.com/games/trailers/

Game trailers are pretty good at letting you know what it is all about by using actual screen shots. There are literally dozens of games listed and many that will work on your iPod Video.

Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford

Commencement Address at Stanford University

by Steve Jobs

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever -- because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."

-Steve Jobs

This speech was delivered June 12, 2005.

This is from Learn Out Loud Podcast. Very Interesting even if it was in 2005.

Get Rid of Stuffit

Get Rid of Stuffit
By Jimmy@Smalldog.com

If there’s any one application that I install on each of my Macintosh computers, it’s Stuffit. Stuffit if you don’t already know is an application that works with compressed and archive files. These are .ZIP, .RAR, .TAR, .SITX and .HQX file types (there are 25 in total that it currently supports). Of course each time I need to install I have to fill out Stuffits download request form, and then wait for them to email me a download link to the software. It gets to be kind of annoying, although it’s partly my fault since I usually forget to make a copy of the software or I forget where I put a copy.

I just recently downloaded a file that used the 7z format. Unfortunately Stuffit didn’t work with this file format so I was on the lookout for an application that would work with this file. After doing a quick Google search I came across a very simple application called ‘The Unarchiver’! This program is about 1.4MBs whereas Stuffit
is about 14MBs. Obviously The Unarchiver only un-archives things so that’s probably why it’s much smaller. Of course that’s all I really need it to do anyways, I don’t really need the extras in Stuffit. It opens all the file types I need it to open and I don’t have fill out some form to download it!

I think I’ve just seen the last of Stuffit, and I gladly am welcoming in The Unarchiver!

You can download a free copy of The Unarchiver here:

http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

Mac Gaming News - Ambrosia Brings DEFCON to the Mac

Ambrosia Software is teaming with Introversion Software to bring the popular PC Game DEFCON to the Mac. DEFCON is an online multiplayer strategy game based on the threat of thermonuclear armageddon and was inspired by the 1983 moviw War Games. The game is expected to be available for download at the Ambrosia Software Web site in March, and will be priced at US$25

Speech Recognition for OSX

ScriptPaks add voice control for many of your favorite applications by installing scripts and macros into iListen 1.7 or greater. Once installed, you will be able to use your voice for many other tasks in the application for which the scripts in the ScriptPak were designed. With ScriptPaks we have done the scripting so you don't have to.

This ScriptPak is designed for Mac OS X 10.4 or greater and iListen 1.7 or greater.

Find out the Commands in the iRemember ScriptPak at Macspeech

TeachMac

Presenting the Class of '07…

TeachMac is a searchable library of cross platform, multimedia computer tutorials built by Mac users for Mac users. With over 40 new features and fixes and new free content every week, TeachMac is better than ever.

New Features of TeachMac '07

• See topics lists before you download
• Advanced Search
• Editable custom modules
• Displays video at native resolution, even HD
• More features here

Learn What You Need

New to the Mac and want to learn everything? Need a quick tutorial on Apple Mail?.. in German? Want to learn how to build a Cocoa web browser? Download the free TeachMac application and grab lots of tutorials ranging in price from free to $15 or buy a subscription for only $49.
Details here

Teach What You Know

Spreadsheet Samurai, Gaming Guru or Programming Paragon, share your knowledge, help build a community of teachers and learners, author your own modules, and make some dough.
More about authoring modules with TeachMac

http://www.teachmac.com/

See Through Stickies

Apple's Stickies application is handy for storing quick notes and other bits of information, but those note windows can get in the way of everything else on your Macs desktop. If you need to see the contents of a Stickie window and also see what's behind it, just make the window see-through. Here's how:

http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2007/02/23.1.shtml

Sending text Messages with iChat

Cell phone text messaging is a convenient way to communicate with someone when speaking on th phone isn't appropriate. The process of entering a message on a cell phone's number pad, however, is less than convenient. If your Mac is handy, you can use iChat instead to send messages to your friend's cell phones. Here's how:

http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2006/08/21.1.shtml

Use Tiger's (OS 10.4) ColorSync Utility to Quickly

Use Tiger's (OS 10.4) ColorSync Utility to Quickly Shrink Images
by don@smalldog.com

I discovered this tip by accident. A customer asked how he could quickly reduce the size of digital images for sending via email. The customer didn't want to use iPhoto or Mail to do this (see Mac Treat #14 for how to resize photos in OS X Mail.) Also, he didn't want to download the excellent (and free) ImageWell application (linked
below.) Basically, he wanted to do what he was used to doing in Windows -
right-clicking on an image to resize it.

To do this in Tiger, select an image you wish to resize. Right-click on the image, or, if you use a laptop or a single-click mouse, click on the image while holding down the control key (usually the key located in the lower left corner of the keyboard.) A contextual menu will open up. In this menu, select "Open With" and chose "Color Sync Utility."

In ColorSync Utility, click on the square resizing icon, which is second from the right. If you don't see the square resizing box icon, click on the oval tic tac-looking button on the upper right corner of the ColorSync window.

When you click on the square resizing box, a menu will open up, with an option to Resize: scale. You can chose how small you want the image to be by percentages. You won't see the changed to the image until you save it. IMPORTANT NOTE: the new, smaller image will overwrite the original image unless you choose Save > As and rename the new image. This is why iPhoto is great - non-destructive image editing means you can always revert to the original photo.

However, for quickly resizing an image, ColorSync Utility is fast - it only take four steps, including saving the image.

Download ImageWell to make simple image edits (including scaling them down) here:

http://www.xtralean.com/IWOverview.html

Problems staying connected in iChat?

Solving Random AIM Disconnections
by Seth@Smalldog.com

Recently I was having problems connecting to iChat, was getting
random disconnections from AIM, and I couldn't video chat. I did
some research on various message boards, where I discovered a
consensus that port 443 is the most stable for video chat. My iChat
preferences were set to port 1053. To view your iChat port settings,
simply launch iChat, then browse to Preferences > Accounts > Server
Settings. There you will see assigned ports.


And here is another resource with screenshot instructions on how to fix from MacObserver.
http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2007/02/14.1.shtml

Arizona Mac Users Group

http://www.amug.org/

WoW!!! this site is full of resources. Take a look.

Find out why the world’s leading researchers are using Macs.

Find out why the world’s leading researchers are using Macs.

http://www.apple.com/education/whymac/science/

NeoOffice

NeoOffice^®

is an open source software development project created by Patrick Luby and Edward Peterlin

NeoOffice (http://www.neooffice.org/) is a fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Released as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis.

It is available for free from the NeoOffice download page.

Emails show MS experienced OS X Tiger envy

Newly released documents reveal that Microsoft executives were awed by Apple's future operating system features, saying that the it may not be able to achieve Apple's innovation levels and acknowledging future, similar Windows Vista features would be directly compared with Mac OS X. Confirming earlier reports that Vista development was inspired by Tiger..... To Read the whole article go to:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/02/08/ms.inspired.by.os.x.tiger/

Resizing Photos in OS X Mail

Resizing Photos in OS X Mail
By Don@Smalldog.com

I first noticed this tip on the Unofficial Apple Weblog (www.tuaw.com/) but later also noticed it at Apple's Hot News RSS feed. I didn't realize that you could do this but it has saved me some steps. I showed it to a few people here at Small Dog and most
didn't know about it (except for Morgan and Jimmy that seem to know everything). Normally, when I would include a picture in an email, I would open iPhoto and find the picture I wanted to send and choose the "mail" icon to open a new mail message with that picture in it. When I did so, I was greeted with a dialog box that would let me choose the size of the photo. Then I would compose my email or drag the picture from that email message opened by iPhoto to the message I was working upon. A lot of steps to send a picture.

You do not have to go through all that! After you attach a photo to your email message (you can just drag-and-drop the image into the new message window from iPhoto), take a look in the bottom-right corner of your email message window, and you’ll see a pop-up menu where you can choose the image size you’d like to send. As soon as you choose a size (other than actual size), the image is immediately scaled down right within the email message window so you can see the exact size of the photo you’re sending.

FreeSMUG: Free OpenSource Software Mac Users Group

Tutorial, info, news, help on end-users Free and OpenSource Mac software

Open Source Mac

A Simple list of Free, open-source software for Mac OS X

Free and open-source software is good for you and good for the world. This is the best OS X software that we know of and the links to download them.

iWork '07 nears release with new spreadsheet app

iWork '07 nears release with new spreadsheet app

By Ryan Katz, Senior Editor

January 5, 2007 - Apple's launch of iWork '07 next week is expected to be touted as one of the company's more significant product launches of the year, most notably due to the addition of a new spreadsheet application. This third component will better enable Apple to compel Mac users to forgo Microsoft Office and consider its offerings instead.

As first reported by Think Secret in July, the application, referred to internally as Lasso and expected to be titled Numbers or Charts, will offer more than 200 hundred functions and full support for importing and exporting Microsoft Excel documents.

In addition, countless templates will offer easy, first-rate options for many popular categories, from personal planning and finance to business marketing and sales.

Since our initial and follow-up reports on Lasso, sources have managed to provide images of the application's icon and default blank interface. It is uknown, however, from what stage of Lasso's development these images date from, and sources caution the final shipping version may differ considerably.

Sources have also passed along additional notes regarding features in Lasso, including many that will transcend all iWork applications, such as conditional formatting in spreadsheets, enabling images to be treated as content in table cells, and an iPhoto-like "heads-up display" interface offering image editing options. Other improvements will focus on the interface, improving how documents are viewed and navigated and allowing multiple inspectors to be snapped together and moved as a group.

OS X Leopard will create no new jobs

OS X Leopard will create no new jobs but Microsofts Vistsa will create 100,000 in tech support and helpdesks!!
APC magazine, 13th December 2006 by Tim Gaden

Researchers have discovered that Apple's new operating system, codenamed Leopard, will create 0 new jobs when it is launched early next year.

This research (which was not commissioned by Apple) stands in sharp contrast to the findings of an industry report (commissioned by Microsoft) that Vista's release will create 100,000 new jobs in tech support and help desk positions.

Commenting on the impact Vista will have, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple Bertrand Serlet was not surprised:

"...underneath it's still Windows. It still has the registry at its core. It still has DLL hell and it still has this well-loved feature called activation. If you can't innovate, you have to imitate, but it's never quite as good."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a similar view ("Our friends up north [Microsoft] spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple") but was more charitable, finding the root cause in a lack of vision and life experience on the part of Microsoft's CEO:

"I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."

While Vista seems set to impact on the economy by creating more IT support jobs to fix the broken or frozen computers of other employees, research shows that Apple will take a different path.

Apple is well known for its award-winning innovation. With Leopard's release Apple will continue an innovative strategy of impacting on the economy by increasing individual productivity. It will let people get more of their own work done, faster and smarter, without the need for endless calls to tech support, compatibility hassles, driver problems or time wasted defending their PCs from viruses and trojans.

A spokesperson for Apple was unable to say how this on-going productivity boost for every Mac owner compared to the US$ 70 billion ($89 billion) Vista is expected to inject into the economy.

Is Steve Jobs Too Dangerous For Apple’s Future?

Is Steve Jobs Too Dangerous For Apple’s Future?
By Jeffrey Mincey - Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Just as Bill Gates steps aside as head of Microsoft, Apple’s Steve Jobs reaches a zenith of near-cult popularity.

What price glory for the man who IS Apple? Is Steve Jobs too dangerous for Apple’s future?

Most of us who claim the position of Apple watcher, Mac user, and techno pundit shudder at the thought of Steve Jobs leaving Apple.

Greedily, we worry about the resulting stock price crash, with recent estimates of a 30-percent drop should Steve leave Apple.

Mac faithful look forward to Jobs’ Macworld keynotes as much as zealous followers of a religion look forward to words on high from a spiritual master.

You know something has changed in the public psyche when a non-entertainer such as Steve Jobs becomes fodder for episodes of Saturday Night Live.

Such has been the case a few times the past year or so as parodies of Steve Jobs have appeared a couple of times on Saturday Night Live, and on MadTV.

I’m not tracking such appearances but managed to see all three and drew a singular conclusion. The bits are funny, somewhat accurate, but not good for Apple’s future.

Why not? After all, Bill Gates as head of Microsoft and the world’s richest man is arguably more well known throughout the world than Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs.

Microsoft’s fortunes are not tied to Bill Gates in the same was as Apple’s fortunes are to Steve Jobs. Gates appointed Steve Ballmer as CEO and no one blinked.

Who’s the heir apparent at Apple? There is none.

Some say that Apple is Jobs. Jobs is Apple. In a way, I am forced to agree.

No other company of such prominence in the tech industry has a CEO who retains such micro control over a company’s character and product line.

Jobs believes that art and technology are one and the same and Apple exudes that personal combination in the Mac, Mac OS X, the iPod, even the not-yet-released iPhone.

If all good things come to an end, is it possible that Steve Jobs, elevated to parody material as a Zen-influenced Svengali on popular comedy shows, is dangerous to Apple’s future? Yes.

The issue is not “if” Job leaves Apple, it’s “when” Jobs leaves, and under what circumstances. As it stands now, the company’s fortunes are too intertwined in Jobs’ mesmerizing and now highly public leadership persona.

Elevated higher in the public’s consciousness, Jobs could even detract buyers from Apple’s products, not wanting to be associated with a “religious” purchase from those “Apple fanatics.”

With no successor in sight, with Apple riding a huge wave of popular products, record sales and profits, is Steve Jobs becoming too dangerous for Apple’s future? Yes, we’re headed in that direction.

Share your concerns, insights, perspective with other Mac360 readers in the Comments section below.