SaudiMac

How to make Mac icons

2007-02-27T10:39:00.000+03:00

Filed under: How-tos

I love trying out new desktop icons from sites like the Iconfactory. In fact, my copy of Pixadex is bursting with nearly 3,000 icons. I guess it was inevitable that I'd eventually want to try to make my own.

Luckily, Macinstruct has posted a great tutorial on making icons for the Mac. It's fully illustrated and provides easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. Now I know what I'll be trying this weekend.

[Via Macsimum News]

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

Spanning Sync 1.0b15 - Sync Your iCal & Google Calendars

2007-02-26T09:54:00.000+03:00

Spanning Sync provides a two-way sync between iCal and your Google Calendars. Spanning Sync is currently in a free beta period, so if you decide to give it a try, back up your calendars before using the application.

What’s New/Fixed In v1.0b15

Fixed a problem with recurrences getting moved to the wrong time

Improved attendee handling

Fixed problems with recurrences and attendees not getting deleted

Fixed a problem that could keep the preference panel from opening

Minor UI enhancements

Download The Latest Beta Of Spanning Sync Here

(Via Cool OSX Apps.)

Gear Media Tech podcast from the Pixel Corps

2007-02-26T09:47:00.000+03:00

Filed under: Video, Podcasting

Leo and his growing band of merry podcasters can *not* stop generating media, and one of their latest efforts just might give the rest of us a smoother ride while hopping on the bandwagon. Gear Media Tech (iTS podcast link) is a new podcast headlined by Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne and Alex Lindsay (whom you may also know from such stellar podcasts as This Week in Media and MacBreak Weekly), delving into the tools, tips and techniques of producing media for the web.

I haven't gotten around to listening to an episode yet; I just stumbled across this and subscribed to download their first two episodes (it's brand-spanking new). Judging from the quality of the other TWiT empire shows, however, I'm sure this one will be a valuable resource to any aspiring pod and vidcasters, yours truly included.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

Learn Cocoa, Part II

2007-02-19T00:24:00.000+03:00

Filed under: How-tos, Developer

When we posted about Part I of Scott Stevenson's Learn Cocoa tutorial, some people complained that there wasn't actually any coding involved. Well Part II at least introduces what Scott calls "Thinking in Code" and begins to dig a little deeper into what is required to actually use Xcode to write a Cocoa application. Obviously, Scott is moving very slowly, as yet again he requires no previous experience, but his lavishly illustrated guide is a pleasure to behold. He holds out the promise of more such guides in the future, provided some donations are forthcoming. Given how well he's done so far, I hope that comes to pass. Check it out at Cocoa Dev Central.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

FFOSS (Freeware/Free & Open Source Software) Friday

2007-02-19T00:08:00.001+03:00

Here’s my weekly summary of Freeware, Open Source, and free web services mentioned in my personal blog last week.

Gawker: Create Mac OS X Time Lapsed Video with a Web Cam

Here’s an Open Source app for Mac OS X that will probably redirect all productive time to making amusing time-lapsed videos.

Gawker

If you feel like taking on Wallace and Gromit (or Gumby for the older crowd), you should take a look at some of the same videos on the Gawker site for inspiration.

Fugu: Mac OS X SCP Client

Fugu 1.2.0 was released on May 2, 2005 and hasn’t been updated since (though there is a roadmap through version 1.5). However, it is still a useful utility if you transfer files using SCP/SFTP instead of FTP.

Although you can open up a Mac OS X terminal window and use the scp command from the command line, it is often nice to have a GUI interface for the task. Fugu uses what Windows users often refer to as the Norton Commander interface (a reference to an old DOS application). It provides two vertical panes. The one on the left is your local Mac.

FlightGear Flight Simulator

Here’s a very nice looking (based on the screenshots) Open Source multiplatform flight simulator app…

FlightGear Flight Simulator

Here’s a link to the Free Software Magazine’s review of it.

Yahoo! Pipes

Yahoo! Pipes launched yesterday (Feb. 8). It caused such a rush that the service went offline for a few hours and is still a bit flaky even a day later. Pipes lets you consume feed data from any site and then use simple logic or combinations of feeds to product a custom result. The programming is created using an easy to use drag and drop graphical interface. The example shown here is my first attempt. It takes the feed from O’Reilly’s Inside Port 25 site where Matt Asay and I write blogs related to Microsoft and the Open Source world. It then checks through the feed and pulls out just the blog items I wrote. A simple change could reverse it by just grabbing Matt’s blog items.

(Via Mac DevCenter.)

Yahoo Pipes

2007-02-19T00:08:00.000+03:00

If you haven’t gone over to play with the new Yahoo!Pipes yet, you just might want to give it a try. It’s kind of like a Quartz Composer/Tinker Toy-inspired layout system for information and it’s tons of fun. Pipes allow you to collect and filter information to create custom information feeds.

To get started, visit Yahoo Pipes via Firefox. (Pipes works a lot better with Firefox than Safari.) Click “create a new pipe” and log into your Yahoo account.

More after the jump…

You’ll see a list of modules on the left, chunked into categories like Sources (items from the web), User inputs (exactly what it sounds like), Operators (programmatic elements), URL (an element that builds URLs), String (concatenation) and Date. To create a pipe, you drag modules into the main layout window and connect them together.

For example, this pipe prompts the user for a Zip code and then searches for Pizza within a five-mile radius.

This pipe searches the Mac blog and TUAW for my posts.

You can also make the pipes do a “content analysis” on an RSS feed and replace the results with Flickr images that match the content of that feed, or you can keep an eye on current prices for particular eBay items, and so forth. To get inspired, pop over to Yahoo’s list of the most frequently run pipes. All published pipe layouts are public. If you see something you like, you can grab it and adapt it for your own use.

There are docs here, but they’re pretty sparse and not especially helpful.

(Via Mac DevCenter.)

NetNewsWire 3.0 developer version released to the public

2007-02-18T10:30:00.000+03:00

NetNewsWire is the one of the feed readers of choice for us MacUser bloggers, so it's always nice to see an update to this fantastic program. The latest version is the 3.0d46 developer release. This first public release of the pre-beta version of NetNewsWire 3.0 is still very unstable and incomplete. But, it does offer some very attractive new features. These include Spotlight indexing of news items, feed "thumbnails," tab previews (like in OmniWeb), full Growl support, and a new combined view. I briefly tried out the new version, and it looks very cool, but is still nowhere near ready for me to depend upon for day-to-day use. With that said, try out NetNewsWire 3.0 if you dare, but just make sure to back up first.

[via Infinite Loop]

Primary category: Software : Updates

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(Via MacUser.)

Apple wants you to watch the new Get a Mac ad. Cancel or allow?

2007-02-11T23:57:00.000+03:00

I'm not sure I want to talk about this, but, well I feel that I owe it to you. Last night, for the first time, I used Vista. I know, I know—I'm not proud of it. Believe me. I was just helping move my friend's data from her old computer to her brand new laptop, which just happened to be loaded with Vista. I didn't mean for it to go this way.
Anyway, this morning, I woke up to find that Apple had released a new ad, this time dealing with Vista's security. And for the first time, I really, genuinely laughed my ass off at a Get a Mac ad. Because it was spot on.
You see, every time you try to do anything that could remotely be construed as a security risk, Vista asks you if you're sure. It's just one of many features that has made me dub Vista the "Operating System Most Likely to Make You Want to End Your Pathetic Existence."
The thing that just confounds me, as I noted to my friend after growling in frustration at dismissing the confirmation dialog box for the umpteenth time, was that it doesn't ask you for any sort of security verification. If you want to do something in OS X that requires administrator approval, you have to enter your password (even if you're logged in as administrator). Whereas in Vista, it just asks you if you're sure; if you are, you click "Continue." That's it. Look MS, security that gets in the way of what you want to do is almost worse than no security at all. Because if you make it too obtrusive, people are just going to turn it off.
My biggest disappointment was that after spending ten minutes trying to figure out how to get Flip 3D, the Exposé knockoff, to work, I discovered that it wouldn't because it was Vista Home Basic. You know what, Microsoft? Bite me. I was willing to give you a shot, but you blew it. Also, everything in your operation pulses, glows, or flashes. Please hire at least one person who knows something about design. Cheers.

(Via MacUser.)

New Get a Mac ad: Security

2007-02-09T14:37:00.000+03:00

I am not one of those Mac people who immediately hates anything from Microsoft, in fact I actually think Vista is a pretty good OS (I've been using it for awhile now on my MacBook Pro). That being said, the latest Get A Mac ad from Apple is right on the money. It is called 'Security' and it features the familiar PC and Mac, but this time the PC has a security guard. The security guard gives the PC a chance to 'cancel or allow' pretty much everything, much like Vista's User Account Control which can be pretty darned annoying.

It is nice to see Apple aggressively taking on Vista, but I would still rather see these commercials highlight features of OS X rather than simply mock Vista (though that has its charms as well).

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

Smile. You're on "candid laptop"

2007-01-26T12:53:00.000+03:00

TUAW reader Dylan O'Donnell has set up his Macbook Pro to snap a picture using the built-in iSight whenever its lid opens. He put together a simple command line capture utility and triggered it with Bernard Bahr's SleepWatcher. Then he added automatic uploads via FTP and displayed the results with the open source BolGallery.
"I initially did this as an anti-theft measure as the script will upload the photos to any FTP site for you, and the PHP gallery will autothumb and display the photos. Apart from the nauseating effect of seeing my ugly mug repeating, the result is good and I hope to maybe do a time lapse in quicktime sometime down the track!"<
It's a cute idea, completely open source, and an excellent example of ingenuity in action. It's also a good example of the completely self-conscious reasons that I do not personally own a webcam. Me, in the morning, before I've woken up and had my caffeine? Not a pretty picture.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

iPhone Announced

2007-01-11T13:27:00.000+03:00

Steve Jobs just dropped a bombshell on the audience attending his Macworld Keynote Address. Jobs at first announced the product as three separate products; a widescreen video iPod, a phone, and a mobile internet communicator. This was exciting enough, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who was a bit disappointed to think about carrying three devices. According to Laurie who is listening to the feed from the expo floor, the crowd went absolutely wild at this announcement.

The iPhone will use a revolutionary interface called MultiTouch, first seen in Apple patent filings over a year ago. The iPhone will run OS X, and be capable of running desktop-class applications.

The Nitty Gritty:

Single front button.
3.5 inch widescreen display featuring the highest pixel density ever shipped in a portable device.
2 megapixel camera.
iPod dock.
Proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how a user holds it.
11.6 mm thick.
Syncs with iTunes
GSM/EDGE
Wifi
Bluetooth
Cinglar only.
Visual voicemail - shows a list of your voicemails like you see a list of emails.
Error correcting on-screen keyboard.
Gestural interface
Mail.
Safari.
Google Maps.
Widgets.
Switches seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi.
Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs.
GPS
5 hour video battery life.
16 hour audio battery life.

The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June.

[Photo via Engadget]

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

The best twenty Mac apps you've never heard of

2007-01-08T00:03:00.000+03:00

Mac enthusiast Dustin Bachrach has written up his picks for some of the best Mac software you might never have heard of. His list includes:

Backdrop: an easy way to take OS X screenshots
CocoaMySQL: a great interface for management of databases
Service Scrubber: helps clear out your services menu.

Do you have an unknown Mac app you'd like to share? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. — Wendy Boswell
The Best Unknown Mac Apps [Dustin Bachrach Blog]

(Via Lifehacker.)

Free e-book teaches Ruby programming

2007-01-05T13:17:00.000+03:00

Interested in learning Ruby, the open-source, object-oriented programming language? Start with Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book, a new e-book that teaches the basics and then some. An introductory excerpt:

In Ruby, everything you manipulate will be an object. Everything. Even the results of operations on said objects are objects; this approach differs from C++ or Java where primitive types exist or some statements do not return a value.

I'm no programmer, but I like the author's relaxed, humorous approach to the subject. (For example, there's a Chapter 0, and it's titled "What'chu talkin' 'bout, Mister?") This looks to be required reading for anyone new to Ruby or even somewhat familiar with it. You can download the e-book as a PDF or view it online, though the author does encourage purchasing a print copy to help support hosting. — Rick Broida
Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book

(Via Lifehacker.)

Apple web site features teaser shot

2007-01-02T12:36:00.000+03:00

Is it a sunrise? A monolith? The light from an oncoming train? Whatever it is, it's now decorating the website of everyone's favorite fruit-flavored company.

Presumably we may expect big things this year from AAPL.

[via MacRumors]

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

MacBreak: Minimize distractions on your Mac

2007-01-01T13:15:00.000+03:00

MacBreak 33: The Distracted Mac (Direct MOV Download)

Although it covers a lot of the same ground as a previous MacBreak we did on the subject, I think Leo and my segment on un-distract-ifying your Mac turned out pretty good (my atrocious hairstyle at shoot time notwithstanding). Download 10:28 MOV file now…
Here’s the apps and tricks that we covered, with links:

Hide Others - In the front app, select “[Application name menu] > Hide Others“

Turn [Dock] Hiding On - In the Dock, CTRL-Click the Dock’s vertical separator bar, and select “Turn Hiding On“

Backdrop - Create a black background that still lets you easily interact with Desktop contents

MenuShade - Alter the brightness of your Menu — or totally black it out, like I do

Spirited Away — Hides non-active applications after the interval of your choice (thanks for the legacy download link, Don)

Path Finder - Totally tricked out Finder on steroids that I love love love; where I made the Desktop black and hid all mounted drives, folders, etc. (doable in the regular Finder, too)

Hazel - Automagically clean up the contents of folders and the Desktop (e.g., “move old MP3s here” or “archive files older than a week” etc.)

Textmate - My favorite text editor. Which I apparently love to plug for no particular reason.

Edit 2006-12-21 16:51:22: Check after the cut for reader suggestions from comments for this post…

MacBreak: Minimize distractions on your Mac

2006-12-22T14:42:00.000+03:00

MacBreak 33: The Distracted Mac (Direct MOV Download)

Although it covers a lot of the same ground as a previous MacBreak we did on the subject, I think Leo and my segment on un-distract-ifying your Mac turned out pretty good (my atrocious hairstyle at shoot time notwithstanding). Download 10:28 MOV file now…

Here’s the apps and tricks that we covered, with links:

Hide Others - In the front app, select “[Application name menu] > Hide Others“

Turn [Dock] Hiding On - In the Dock, CTRL-Click the Dock’s vertical separator bar, and select “Turn Hiding On“

Backdrop - Create a black background that still lets you easily interact with Desktop contents

MenuShade - Alter the brightness of your Menu — or totally black it out, like I do

Spirited Away — Hides non-active applications after the interval of your choice (thanks for the legacy download link, Don)

Path Finder - Totally tricked out Finder on steroids that I love love love; where I made the Desktop black and hid all mounted drives, folders, etc. (doable in the regular Finder, too)

Hazel - Automagically clean up the contents of folders and the Desktop (e.g., “move old MP3s here” or “archive files older than a week” etc.)

Textmate - My favorite text editor. Which I apparently love to plug for no particular reason.

Edit 2006-12-21 16:51:22: Check after the cut for reader suggestions from comments for this post…

The BEST iSight security use yet

2006-12-22T13:36:00.000+03:00

When I came across this tip at macosxhints.com today, my jaw dropped. It has to be the most brilliant use of the iSight yet. Seriously. It describes how to make your iSight snap pictures any time someone tries to log into your Mac and fails. Now you can catch your jealous roommate in the act.
It requires a tiny bit of technical knowledge, but the author of the hint has repackaged the required code as an installation package to make it easy. For those interested in how it’s done, it’s a little bit of a Unix hack. Basically, it uses a script that watches the end of a log for a failed login attempt and when the appropriate line is written, your iSight is invoked and takes a picture.
No doubt you could hack this even further to upload the pictures to somewhere on the net. That is left as an exercise for the reader.

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(Via MacUser.)

FFOSS (Freeware/Free & Open Source Software) Friday

2006-12-08T13:31:00.000+03:00

Collection of free applications for your mac...

I’ve long been interested in Open Source applications for proprietary Operating Systems like Microsoft Windows and, more recently, Mac OS X. I’ve only been a Mac user for less than 2 years. But, I’ve been learning a lot by collecting F/FOSS (and free web based services) information on my personal blog as a learning tool. I thought some MacDevCenter readers might find some of the Mac F/FOSS findings interesting too. So, I’ll be posting summaries from my blog here whenever I have an interesting list to contribute. And, if you know of interesting/useful F/FOSS for Mac OS X, please let me know!

Nvu: WYSIWYG HTML Editor

AppleJack Mac Troubleshooter

jEdit Programmer’s Editor

jEdit Programmer’s Text Editor

CyberDuck 2.7 (Mac OS X)

The R Project for Statistical Computing

stikkit: Web Yellow Sticky Notes

CoreDuoTemp

(Via Mac DevCenter.)

The "Lost" prompt

2006-12-08T13:21:00.000+03:00

Blogger David Winter has a posted a cute how-to showing you how to change the prompt in your terminal to the ">:" used in Lost.

Basically, you update your .zprofile or .bashrc or .kshrc to include the line export PS1=">: ". Me? I'm a csh weenie. I'd have to use set prompt=">: " to get the same effect. (The same thing applies for tcsh users.)

Winter also includes instructions on how to get the green-on-black color settings used in the program.

4 8 15 16 23 42 and all that.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

10 Little Known Command-Line Utilities

2006-12-08T13:15:00.000+03:00

OS X Daily has a nice list of OS X command-line utilities today that you may have forgotten about or might never have encountered. For example, the article suggests using ifconfig to check your IP address or lsbom to peek at the contents of an OS X installer package. If the notion of extending your command line vocabulary appeals, it's worth a visit to this quick article. You might pick up a trick or two you can incorporate into your day-to-day routines.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

iPod 101 support docs

2006-12-08T13:12:00.000+03:00

Apple just went nuts releasing a slew of iPod 101 support documents, most likely just in time for all the iPod-toting user who are about to unwillingly embark on a new side career this holiday season: supporting their family members and friends who just got their own little white (or black, or pink...) music player. Instead of forcing you to trudge through Apple's Support docs, using their less-than-stellar search, I thought I'd link everything I found for your bookmarking pleasure. Don't forget the last doc about backing up one's library, as well as the backup overview our own Scott McNulty wrote about this rocking new feature when iTunes 7 launched:

and of course, the ever-pertinent:

iPod 101: Backing Up Your Library

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

Apple Launches iTunes Store New Zealand

2006-12-08T13:11:00.000+03:00

Good news for the people of New Zealand. Thats one less country until Saudi Arabia, Apple, we are waiting.

After tons of rumors and speculation, the New Zealand iTunes store debuted today. The online store offers over two million songs, with individual tracks priced at NZ$1.79, music videos at NZ$3.59 and many albums at NZ$17.99. Many New Zealand artists are featured exclusively in the New Zealand store, including Fat Freddy's Drop, Brooke Fraser, Tim Finn, The Datsuns and Bic Runga as well as extensive catalogues from New Zealand greats including Shihad, Crowded House, The Black Seeds, Breaks Co-Op, Elemeno P and Dei Hamo.

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition now available in 8GB version

2006-11-08T13:04:00.000+03:00

Good thing I waited, now my new red iPod nano 8gb is on its way!

iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition now available in 8GB version:

Filed under: iPod Family

Apple has upped the charitable goodness ante with a new 8GB version of the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition, which is now available for $249 (same price as the 8GB black version) exclusively at Apple's online and Retail stores.

$10 from the sale of each 4GB iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED goes to the Global Fund to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. No word yet on whether the 8GB version is kicking back more cash to the cause.

Still waiting on those (PRODUCT) RED MacBooks and (PRODUCT) RED iMacs. I say go all out and introduce an entire (PRODUCT) RED "Candy Apple" lineup!

Thanks, Tom!

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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

i2's "latest" iPods

2006-10-22T23:51:00.000+03:00

I saw an ad on Arab News today from i2 (mobile phone company) which claims its an "authorized reseller of Apple". They offered the "latest" iPods. On the ad you can see an old iPod Shuffle and Nanos. I wonder when will the new Shuffle/Nanos become the "latest" ipods?

In other iPod news, seems no matter how high the iPods are priced, some fool would still buy them. I found a store that sold 8GB Black iPod nanos for 1500SR(yup, thats $400!), the store owner admits he overpriced them and he's sold out. Can't blame him, there is an Arabic saying for that...

2nd Generation iPod Nano's arrive to Saudi Arabia (only silver & black)

2006-10-06T03:16:00.000+03:00

"Extra Superstore" was the first to bring in the new second generation iPod nanos in a record time, usually it takes stores 3 or more months to notice a new product (although they still sell old iPod Photos!).

No real color options, only silver and black models were available. As for pricing the 2/4/8GB models were priced (as I remember) 750/950/1050 SR. If I had to buy one I would go with the 8GB for the best price otherwise I buy them from Amazon and use Aramex's Shop'n'Ship.

WeWantAppleGreece site launched by Greek Mac users

2006-10-05T19:19:00.000+03:00

A new web site called WeWantAppleGreece has been launched by Greek Mac users to increase the availability of Apple products and service in the country. The amount of Apple products sold in the Greek market grows daily, but there’s the impression that the service and the support provided by several independent small companies in Greece doesn’t follow the standards of the rest of the Apple companies worldwide follow, according to the site organizers.

Read on at Macsimum News.

Other similiar site from Poland. Guess we should start a Saudi one of our own.

2006-10-03T18:40:00.000+03:00

This is the first post for the Saudi Macintosh Site and Group!
I will be posting news here, hope you enjoy it!

SaudiMac

How to make Mac icons

Spanning Sync 1.0b15 - Sync Your iCal & Google Calendars

Gear Media Tech podcast from the Pixel Corps

Learn Cocoa, Part II

FFOSS (Freeware/Free & Open Source Software) Friday

Yahoo Pipes

NetNewsWire 3.0 developer version released to the public

Apple wants you to watch the new Get a Mac ad. Cancel or allow?

New Get a Mac ad: Security

Smile. You're on "candid laptop"

iPhone Announced

The best twenty Mac apps you've never heard of

Free e-book teaches Ruby programming

Apple web site features teaser shot

MacBreak: Minimize distractions on your Mac

Recommended by 43f readers in comments

MacBreak: Minimize distractions on your Mac

Recommended by 43f readers in comments

The BEST iSight security use yet

FFOSS (Freeware/Free & Open Source Software) Friday

The "Lost" prompt

10 Little Known Command-Line Utilities

iPod 101 support docs

Apple Launches iTunes Store New Zealand

iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition now available in 8GB version

i2's "latest" iPods

2nd Generation iPod Nano's arrive to Saudi Arabia (only silver & black)

WeWantAppleGreece site launched by Greek Mac users