Top 5 Tricks to Make Your PC More Like Your Mac (4/24/2009)

Recently, I created a Pages document that grew to be unusually large in file size due to the images that I was using. The Pages file was roughly 140MB, so even exported to a PDF, it only shrunk to about 50MB–still too big for an email.

Rather than resize the images that I put in the document itself, there’s an easier way.

In Pages, select *File > Reduce File Size.* This will resize the images according to how large they actually appear in the document itself.

*140MB > 1.2MB?* Success!

As promised, here is my list of favorite FREE applications for Mac. While these are my own personal favorite apps, many of them are also great for new Mac users and recent switchers.

These are all legitimate applications, and not pirated or black market titles. I use these apps weekly and even daily, and don’t hesitate to recommend them.

Note that I didn’t include any web-based applications and services in this list, though I was tempted to do so. We’ll cover our favorite web apps in a future Kibbles & Bytes.

*1* “OnyX”:http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html This is a multifunction maintenance, optimization, and personalization utility for Mac OS X. It’s available for Panther, Tiger, and Leopard. I use it about once a month or so to keep all my Macs running smoothly.

OnyX allows you to verify your Mac’s Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, run miscellaneous tasks of system maintenance, configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and some of Apple’s own applications, it deletes caches, removes a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome and more.

“Click here to learn more and download OnyX!”:http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html

*2* “VLC”:http://www.videolan.org/ VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, more) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

In other words, VLC will play back many file formats that the QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, etc can’t handle. Best of all, VLC doesn’t need any external codecs or programs to work.

“Click here to learn more and download VLC.”:http://www.videolan.org/

*3* “Bean”:http://www.bean-osx.com/Bean.html Bean is a small, easy-to-use word processor (or more precisely, a rich text editor), designed to make writing convenient and efficient. Bean is Open Source, fully Cocoa, and is available free of charge! MS Word, OpenOffice, etc. try to be all things to all people, and indeed offer many more writing tools, templates, and output options. But sometimes you simply need to write, and that is Bean’s niche.

Bean includes many writing essentials including a live word count, a Get Info panel for in-depth statistics, a zoom-slider to easily change the view scale,
an Inspector panel with lots of sliders, date-stamped backups, auto-saving, page layout mode, an alternate colors option (e.g., white text on blue), selection of text by text style, paragraph style, color, etc, a floating windows option (like Stickies has). find panel allows regular expressions (pattern matching), and all of Cocoa’s good stuff (dictionary, word completion, etc.).

I combine Bean with “Think”:http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=7013 for efficient, clutter-free writing.

“Click here to learn more and download Bean for Mac.”:http://www.bean-osx.com/Bean.html

*4* “NetNewsWire”:http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/ This is an easy-to-use RSS and Atom reader for your Mac. It allows you to browse, subscribe, read, and save hundreds of thousands of website feeds. It is a true desktop Mac application, with integration with Spotlight, Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, Growl, Twitterific and more. Best of all, it effortlessly syncs with NetNewsWire’s web-based RSS reader for free, allowing you to manage all your RSS feeds from any Internet-connected computer (Mac or PC).

“Click here to download NetNewsWire!”:http://www.newsgator.com/

*5* “HandBrake”:http://handbrake.fr/ HandBrake is an open-source, multithreaded video transcoder, available for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows. It will convert just about any video file you can play on your Mac into a variety of other, easier to play, more portable video formats. Most people use HandBrake to back up their DVDs, or convert a DVD into a file that can be played back on their iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PS3, etc. Use it as you will. HandBrake has been updated substantially over the past several years since its initial release

“Click here to learn more and download HandBrake.”:http://handbrake.fr

*6* “Carbon Copy Cloner 3.”:http://www.bombich.com/software/index.html I admit, since Time Machine debuted with Leopard, I don’t use this app as much as I used to. However, for simple, successful backups, Carbon Copy Cloner can’t be beat. You can also use CCC3 for backing up across network, backup to disk images, and backup of selected files only. CCC 3 features an interface designed to make the cloning and backup procedure very intuitive. In addition to general backup, CCC can also clone one hard drive to another, copying every single block or file to create an exact replica of your source hard drive.

“Click here to learn more and download Carbon Copy Cloner!”:http://www.bombich.com/software/index.html

*7* “The Unarchiver”:http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html Forget the other commercial unarchiving apps (like the free version of StuffIt)–the Unarchiver is all you need. Uncompress RAR, 7zip, tar, and bz2 files on your Mac. The developer notes “Many new Mac users will be puzzled the first time they download a RAR file. Do them a favor and download UnRarX for them!”

“Click here to download the Unarchiver and learn more.”:http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

*8* “Google SketchUp”:http://sketchup.google.com/ Google SketchUp is used to create, modify and share 3D models of anything you like. I know a few people who used SketchUp extensively to plan and pre-visualize house renovations. I’ve used it to create a virtual set for planning camera placement. There are dozens of video tutorials, an extensive Help Center and a worldwide user community for SketchUp, making it relatively easy to learn.

It’s amazing that SketchUp is free! “Download SketchUp by clicking here.”:http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsu.html

*9* “Tweetie for Mac.”:http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/ Tweetie is my desktop Twitter app of choice. I like that I can easily mange multiple Twitter accounts, view entire tweet “conversations” iChat-style, and compose Tweets in a seperate draft window (with built-in URL compression). The free version is ad-supported, which so far I don’t mind. I mean, it is free after all.

“Click here to learn more and download Tweetie for Mac.”:http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/

*10* “AppCleaner”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/ Want to remove some of the apps you’ve downloaded here, or downloaded in the past? Try AppCleaner. It’s a small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps. Installing an application distributes many files throughout your System using space of your Hard Drive unnecessarily. AppCleaner finds all these small files and safely deletes them.

“Click here to learn more and download AppCleaner for Mac.”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/

Honorable Mention: Quicksilver. I know I’d get lynched if I didn’t include this app, which is #1 on many lists of essential Mac software. I simply don’t use it anymore, or ever since I upgraded to Leopard. It’s an awesome app though. “Click here to learn about and download Quicksilver”:http://www.blacktree.com/?quicksilver

Runners Up: “Audacity”:http://audacity.sourceforge.net, “Adium”:http://adium.im/, “NeoOffice”:http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php, “CyberDuck”:http://cyberduck.ch/s, “Firefox”:http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html, “Camino”:http://caminobrowser.org, “Carbon Copy Cloner”:http://www.bombich.com/software/index.html, “xPad”:http://www.getxpad.com, “Windows Media Components for QuickTime, by Flip4Mac”:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx, “iStat Pro”:http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro, “Think”:http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app, “SuperDuper”:http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html, “Burn “:http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html “Chicken Of The VNC”:http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc, “Skype”:http://www.skype.com, “Anxiety”:http://www.anxietyapp.com/

Thank you for your support in 2009! All of us here at Small Dog Electronics realize that ultimately it is you, our loyal customers, that pay our wages and we pledge to continue in 2010 to provide the very best in customer satisfaction.

We believe in making customers for life and want to hear from you with comments, suggestions, complaints, praise or just a friendly hello!

Happy New Year from Small Dog Electronics!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
_Don, Kali and Ed_

It’s sad but true: there are still many conference centers, hotels, and office buildings that lack Wi-Fi. However, many of these do offer hardwired internet access via Ethernet or (egads) a dial-up connection. If you’re solo, this is only a minor inconvenience. However, if you’re traveling or working with other people, a single wired connection can be a major productivity block.

Fortunately, Mac OS X makes it easy to share a single wired internet connection over a Mac’s built-in AirPort wireless card, to other computers that also have wireless capabilities. Except for the Mac Pro, every Mac released since early 2006 has featured a built-in AirPort card (which is what Apple calls its brand of wireless card).

This tip works best from a wired Ethernet internet connection, but I’ve read that it will also work with a cellular internet connection, such as those provided by Verizon, Sprint, etc.

To share an internet connection via a Mac’s Wi-Fi, first connect the Ethernet cable to the Mac that will be serving as the base station.

Next, navigate to that Mac’s System Preferences panel (found under the Apple in the upper left corner of the screen) and select *Sharing*. When the Sharing panel opens, select *Internet Sharing* (note that you won’t be able to check the Internet Sharing box until other options are configured). Next, make sure *”Share your connection from: Ethernet”* is selected in the drop-down list.

Since we want to share our Mac’s connection wirelessly, click *AirPort* in the “To Computers using:” box. Finally, click the *AirPort Options* button to give your new network a name and password. When you have everything the way you like it, turn Internet sharing on.

The Mac serving as base station will still be able to surf the web while others piggyback on its internet connection. Any device with Wi-Fi (including the iPhone and iPod touch) will be able to share this connection.

_Dear Friends,_

It is going to be a rare blue moon on New Year’s Eve tonight. I heard on Vermont Public Radio on the way into work this morning that happens only once every 19 years. If I can stay up, I’ll probably head down to our neighbors for the traditional Prickly Mountain New Year’s Eve with lots of friends, champaign and dancing. I saw that our pond was shoveled off, so there will also be ice skating tonight (I’m definitely skipping that, though!).

I’ll be heading west next week for the Consumer Electronics Show where I will be looking for new products and will be helping to man the Chill Pill Audio booth as we exhibit at this huge show for the first time.

All of us here at Small Dog send our best wishes to you and your family for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2010! I am a half-full kinda guy and am really pumped about heading into a new year. We are expecting snow for the next several days as we really enter the winter season with the turn of the year.

Enjoy our look back at some of the best articles of 2009 and our look forward!