Links for January 2008.
- Apple drops NBC television shows from iTunes – Information about NBC’s pull from the iTunes store. On Apple Insider.
- Top 15 Leopard Hints – There’s some good tips here for Mac OS X 10.5 users. I expecially liked the one that explained how to get the printer to Quit automatically after printing. If you use Leopard, check this out. On Appletell.com.
- The way it was supposed to be – An interesting video showing the way Leopard’s Stacks feature was originally designed. I suspect that Apple will remove this from the Web via threat of lawsuit, so don’t be surprised if this link doesn’t work in the future. On Kuragari.com.
- Mac OS X 10.5: About Back to My Mac security – Basic information about security issues with Leopard’s Back to My Mac feature.
- Mac OS X 10.5: When to use Time Machine or .Mac Backup to back up data – Some advice on when to use Time Machine or Backup with .Mac to back up data on your computer.
- Mac OS X 10.5: Fonts list – Information about the fonts installed as part of a Mac OS X 10.5 installation and where they are installed on your hard disk.
- The why and how of blogging – Miraz gets a plug for our WordPress book in New Zealand. Article includes a lot of blogging basics. On it.gen.nz.
- Podcasts Technical Specification – On Apple’s Web site for the iTunes Music store. Lots of valuable information for podcasters, including video podcasters and people interested in creating content for AppleTV.
- Apple sub-notebook to retail for $1500, 3G iPhone by June – report – Details on the rumors of a Mac sub-notebook — perhaps my next computer? On Apple Insider.
- In-depth review: can Amazon’s Kindle light a fire under eBooks? – A very detailed review of the Amazon Kindle. On Apple Insider.
- Mac OS X 10.5: Using Time Machine and troubleshooting Time Machine issues – An Apple support article with links to more information about using and troubleshooting Leopard’s Time Machine feature.
- Mac OS X 10.5: Troubleshooting printing issues – An Apple Support article with links to other resources for adding and troubleshooting printers on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
- Protecting Content by Using Static Pages – One way to help protect Web content from scraping. Too drastic for me, but it is an option. On Plagiarism Today.
- 15 Apps for Recording Skype Conversations – A list of 15 windows and Mac OS applications you can use with Skype to record conversations. On VOIP-Sol.com.
- Road to Mac OS X Leopard: iCal 3.0 – Interesting article about the history of software-based calendars, leading up to iCal 3.0 in Leopard. On Apple Insider.
- Add more power to 10.5′s screen sharing – Excellent article by Rob Griffiths with how-to info for adding functionality and ease of use features to the Screen Sharing feature in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. On Macworld.com. Thanks to Miraz at http://mactips.info for sharing the link.
- QuickLook Plugins List – A web site that lists and links to QuickLook plugins for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users.
- Yet Another in the Ongoing Series Wherein I Examine a Piece of Supposedly Serious Apple Analysis… – I could read blog posts like this all day. John Gruber tears apart the December cover story for Fast Company, revealing shoddy, hack journalism and a touch of the dramatic. On Daring Fireball.
- Macintosh Web Browsers – An amazingly complete list of Web browsers for Mac OS, kept up-to-date. By Darrel E. Knutson.
- WordPress 2.3.2 in detail – Details about the changes in WordPress from version 2.3.1 to 2.3.2. On Westi on WordPress.
- Broken Macs read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – Okay, so I’m a bit late, but this is worth sharing. On Future Tense.
- Your GTD System Isn’t the Problem – Excellent advice for people trying to implement GTD to be more productive — and not succeeding. On the Cranking Widgets blog.
- Making the Switch: Going From Partial to Full Feeds – Good article about switching from partial to full RSS feeds. On PlagiarismToday.com.
- A long list of modifier key tricks – For Mac OS X Tiger; should work in Leopard, too. On MacOSXHints.com.
- Color Wheel Article – Link to EXCELLENT article, in PDF format, that explains exactly how colors work together. From Before & After magazine.
- An Interface of One’s Own – An anti-Word, pro Scrivener piece (of all things!) in the New York Times. By Virginia Heffernan. Thanks to @ev on Twitter for sharing the link.
- Goodbye, cruel Word – Steven Poole no longer uses Microsoft Word. Here’s why.
- E-book the letter – Steven Poole lists the features an ebook reader SHOULD have. I think they sound rather familiar, don’t you?
- What to Expect at Macworld – More rumors of what might be in store for us at Macworld Expo next week. On ReadWriteWeb.
- 10 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Social News Profile – Some tips for getting more followers on Twitter, which can boost your profile on other Social Networking sites. On ReadWriteWeb.
- Author Uses Amazon Kindle to Beta Test New Book – Interesting article about using Kindle to publish a book and entice readers to provide feedback to the author. On ReadWriteWeb.
- Twittering without access to Twitter.com – A how-to piece with suggestions on how you can participate in Twitter when you don’t have access to the Twitter.com Web site. On Twitter Facts.
- Mac OS X 10.5, iChat: Unable to participate in video conference – Workaround for problem using video chat feature of iChat with Mac OS X 10.5. On the Apple Support Web site.
- My essential WordPress plugins – Great post by Miraz Jordan that summarizes her must-have WordPress plugins. I’ll have to do a similar post soon. On the WordPress Visual QuickStart Guide support web site.
- Why It Won’t Work – John Scalzi’s take on why the Sony BMG plan to release non-DRM protected music won’t work. I tend to agree with him.
- Apples For The Army – According to this story on Forbes.com, the U.S. Army is adopting Macs to help thwart hackers. Not exactly good news for Mac users — we don’t need to give hackers a reason to go after us — but good for Apple.
- DUM – John Gruber’s take on the Kindle. On Daring Fireball.
- Sony caves; DRM is dead, dead, dead – Sony drops DRM. On MacUser.com. Thanks to @dmoren on Twitter for the link.
- iBed – Humorous photo of a recycled iMac. On I Can Has Cheezburger?
- The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry – Excellent article about the secret history of iPhone development. On Wired.com.
- A Savvy Approach to Copyright Messaging – A great tip for helping to protect an image posted on a Web page from being stolen and used by others. By Derek Powazek.
- Bad Behavior 2.0.11 WordPress Plugin Blocking Digg Submission – Excellent article that explains why WordPress blogs can’t be submitted to Digg with Bad Behavior 2.0.11 installed. Includes instructions on how to fix the problem. On GeekTeks.com.
- Nothing A Little Scotch Tape Can’t Fix – Comic that pokes fun (and a little hole) in the rumored Mac laptop. On Kalbzayn’s World.
- MacBook Air (Parody) – A video on College Humor.com. Thanks to @bck on Twitter for sharing the link.
- MacBook Air: the iPod shuffle of Macs – Interesting take on the lack of features in the MacBook Air. On MacUser.com.
- MacBook Air Attack – More commentary about the MacBook Air’s lack of features. On The Macalope: An Apple Blog.
- Six Things I Hate about Leopard – I don’t think I could have added anything to this. Quite complete, quite true. Hope Apple is reading it, too. On the TidBITs blog.
DoBeDo 4.0
I like DoBeDo because of its extremely flexible display options, which you can access on the back of the widget. You can set sort options, how long completed items are displayed, how far in the future items should be displayed. You can also choose from among 4 predefined styles and how much detail should appear in the dialog you use to add a new item.You can also print a to do list — which is something I can’t seem to do from within iCal itself. That alone makes it a good tool for managing things to do. I’m very glad to have it back.
To Do Widget
To Do’s customization features are a bit limited when compared with DoBeDo’s. You can set sorting options, but you can only select whether completed items show or don’t show –rather than allow them to be displayed for a limited number of days. One nice feature is the ability to set the font and font size, although the options are limited. I absolutely hate Apple’s choice of Marker Felt font,which is the default for To Do, so it was nice to be able to change it to one I prefer.
Choose a different application from the pop-up menu (shown here). If you choose Other, you can use a standard Open dialog to choose another installed application.


But did you know that when your Mac displays an authenticate dialog like the one shown here, if your Caps Lock key is down, it automatically displays a little icon in the password field to tell you about it? Just press the Caps Lock key again to turn off caps lock and the icon goes away.
OmniFocus enables you to set up any number of projects, each of which can contain specific actions. For example, I might have a project for Flying M Air to send out a marketing letter to travel agents. Within that project might be the individual actions to get the job done: get a mailing list of travel agents, write the marketing letter, print out the materials, stuff envelopes, mail. You can set up a project so its actions must be completed in order (sequentially) or so that they can be completed in any order or concurrently (parallel). Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any way to set up some actions within a project to be sequential while others in the same event were parallel without creating groups of actions.
It’s a