Archive for the ‘Mac tips & tricks’ Category

A table of special Apple symbols and their values

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Below is a table of symbols used in OS X menus to represent special and modifier keys; read on for how to create them in OS X, and for use in HTML and Javascript. 

Symbol Name Hex Dec
Shift 21E7 8679
Control 2303 8963
Option 2325 8997
Command 2318 8984
Delete Right 2326 8998
Delete Left 232B 9003
Escape 238B 9099
Eject 23CF 9167
Return 21A9 8167
Left Arrow 2190 8592
Up Arrow 2191 8593
Right Arrow 2192 8594
Down Arrow 2193 8595
Page Up 21DE 8670
Page Down 21DF 8671
Home 2196 8598
End 2198 8600
Tab 21E5 8677
NumLock 21ED 8685
Clear 2327 8999
Enter 2305 8965
Apple Symbol F8FF 637

Here’s how to create these symbols on your keyboard in OS X:

  1. Basic setup; to be done once:
    • Open the International preference panel in System Preferences
    • Under the Input Menu tab, check the Unicode Hex Input box
    • Check the Show input menu in menu bar checkbox. The Input Method Menu Extra will appear as a national flag in the top right of your screen.
  2. Click the flag and select U+ Unicode Hex Input
  3. Hold down Option while entering the hexadecimal value and the symbol appears
Enjoy Yourself!!
Source: joel bruner

Software by CodeWeavers - CrossOver Mac

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

From: codeweavers.com

Our flagship Windows-to-Macintosh compatibility tool. Intended for Intel Mac OS X machines, CrossOver Mac will allow Mac users to run their favorite Windows applications seamlessly on their Mac. Windows files can be opened directly within your file browser, or from email attachments. No rebooting, no switching to a virtual machine, and no Windows Operating System license required; CrossOver is a complete replacement for your Windows OS as far as your Windows software is concerned.

This is a sweet piece of software, easy to use, not heavy for the system, and very practical, as in: YOU DON’T NEED WINDOWS, to install any windows app!!!!

‘No rebooting, no switching to a virtual machine, and no Windows Operating System license required’

 

David Pogue’s Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

From David Pogue’s Blog


I really like his approuch

Here are some items I discovered and find news worthy:
(the ones in red I like the most) 
 

“* You can hide all windows, revealing only what’s on the computer desktop, with one keystroke: hit the Windows key and “D” simultaneously in Windows, or press F11 on Macs (on recent Mac laptops, Command+F3; Command is the key with the cloverleaf logo). That’s great when you want examine or delete something you’ve just downloaded to the desktop, for example. Press the keystroke again to return to what you were doing.

* You can enlarge the text on any Web page. In Windows, press Ctrl and the plus or minus keys (for bigger or smaller fonts); on the Mac, it’s the Command key and plus or minus.

* You can also enlarge the entire Web page or document by pressing the Control key as you turn the wheel on top of your mouse. On the Mac, this enlarges the entire screen image.

* The number of megapixels does not determine a camera’s picture quality; that’s a marketing myth. The sensor size is far more important. (Use Google to find it. For example, search for “sensor size Nikon D90.”)

* When someone sends you some shocking e-mail and suggests that you pass it on, don’t. At least not until you’ve first confirmed its truth at snopes.com, the Internet’s authority on e-mailed myths. This includes get-rich schemes, Microsoft/AOL cash giveaways, and–especially lately–nutty scare-tactic messages about our Presidential candidates.

* Forcing the camera’s flash to go off prevents silhouetted, too-dark faces when you’re outdoors.

* When you’re searching for something on the Web using, say, Google, put quotes around phrases that must be searched together. For example, if you put quotes around “electric curtains,” Google won’t waste your time finding one set of Web pages containing the word “electric” and another set containing the word “curtains.”

* You can use Google to do math for you. Just type the equation, like 23*7+15/3=, and hit Enter.

* Google is also a units-of-measurement and currency converter. Type “teaspoons in 1.3 gallons,” for example, or “euros in 17 dollars.” Click Search to see the answer.

* You generally can’t send someone more than a couple of full-size digital photos as an e-mail attachment; those files are too big, and they’ll bounce back to you. (Instead, use iPhoto or Picasa–photo-organizing programs that can automatically scale down photos in the process of e-mailing them.)

* Whatever technology you buy today will be obsolete soon, but you can avoid heartache by learning the cycles. New iPods come out every September. New digital cameras come out in February and October.

* You don’t have to type “http://www” into your Web browser. Just type the remainder: “nytimes.com” or “dilbert.com,” for example. (In the Safari browser, you can even leave off the “.com” part.)

* On the iPhone, hit the Space bar twice at the end of a sentence. You get a period, a space, and a capitalized letter at the beginning of the next word.”

 

Nice Stuff David! 

David’s Tech Blog runs @ the New York Times 

 

This is written using the new Wordpress app

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Now it is possible to use your iPhone to blog to your Wordpress blog using the new Wordpress app

This sure Rulez Big Time

features:
- Support for WordPress.com blogs and self-installed WordPress blogs (version 2.5.1 and higher)
- Full support for tags and categories
- Photo support for both camera pics and library photos
- Support for multiple blogs
- Auto recovery feature recovers posts interrupted by phone calls 

New iMac announced today

Monday, April 28th, 2008


What’s new?
 Processor up to 3.06GHz
 NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB memory
 Memory up to 4GB
 Hard drive up to 1TB

And as always a very sleek design!!
 

The Ultimate List of Keyboard Shortcuts

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Whhooohooo, 100 posts since september of 2006!!!

This is essentially a list of every single keyboard shortcut available in OS X. To access this list, open System Preferences and proceed to the Keyboard & Mouse section. Then click on the Keyboard Shortcut tab. This brings up a menu of every keyboard shortcut that’s built into OS X.
To enable pre-existing shortcuts, put a check mark next to the Description, to disable a shortcut, uncheck it. You can also add your own, as well as remove defaults by pressing the + or - buttons respectively. To restore the shortcuts to factory settings, hit Restore Defaults.

I also have a list of other important and obscure Mac keyboard shortcuts.

Toggle between applications windows quickly on the Mac

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

I just found out this great tip. It was allready bugging me for some time that I could’t switch between open windows in the same App. That means I could, but I didn’t know how. I finally took some time to browse Google and find out how to do it. Boy this is one big time saver for me, because I allways work in different windows in Apps. Now you know it to!! :-)

Hold down the Command key and hit ~ (the tilde key, usually to the left of number 1 or right of the shift key). If you do this and you are in an application that has multiple windows open, this will rotate through the open windows.