Beer Tuesday

New Job and a change of pace

Since starting this Apple blog type site a while back I have since gotten a job at Apple and will no longer be commenting on any rumors involving Apple. I think I will turn this into a site dedicated to my learning how to program Objective-C and Cocoa. I will document my progress and the problems that I encounter as I learn the two new languages. I will also create a list of resources that I find helpful as I learn.

I hope you like the new changes and I hope some of you will help me as I will do the best in return as I can. Keep checking back for more updates.

Mike Landers

We have a widget!

I put together a small little dashboard widget (Mac OSX 10.4.3 required). A simple RSS widget with a custom skin. If anyone knows how to take widgets above and beyond what dashcode can do please email me if your interested in pimping my widget for me. I’ll even give you the source file.

You can grab the widget by clicking on this sentence.

Top 5 Dashboard Widgets

The dashboard for the Mac is a wonderful little app that’s always running. It can have tons of information or very little, it all depends on what you want. There are many great widgets out there but to many to talk about so here are my top 5 widgets that I use:

iStat Pro by iSlayer - These guys have made a wonderful and very informative widget that keeps you updated on how your Mac is doing, from processor power down to how much hard drive space you have left.

Now Playing by funkdaddy - This widget allows you to see what has been recorded on your TIVO and download them onto your mac as long as your on the same network.

Delivery Status by Mike Piontek - Great for checking when your next package is supposed to be delivered from about 20 different delivery sites.

Sports Fan by Andreas Amann - Great widget for following your favorite sports teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and baseball.

Gas by andrethegiant - Find the cheapest gas stations wherever you live in the US.

Don’t forget you can find some more awesome widgets at DashboardWidgets as well as Apple’s widget page. If you have created a widget send it my way so I can check it out.

Tip: Slow down your stacks

This is a worthless tip to know but it’s still fun to do from time to time.  When you go to click on a stack hold down the “Shift” key and click.  This makes the stack raise and lower extremely slow.  Just remember you need to hold down the shift key when clicking to make it go back down as well.  For a little video of the slowmotion in action, click on.

Tip: Rearrange the Menu Bar

With the video bellow you can see that I was able to rearrange the icons in my menu bar.  I did this by holding down the “Apple” / “Command” key and dragged the icons.  The different looking icons that I have come from iStat Menus.  The only icons that don’t work for this are application icons such as Adium and DeskShade.

10 Great Mac Wallpapers

Some of the best wallpapers on the web just so happen to be themed around Apple and the Mac.  After some searching I found 10 of the best Mac related wallpapers.  Click on an image to be taken to the source where you can download the original.

GoSquared

As you can probably see I have added some squares to the right panel.  Feel free to buy a square.  They are super cheap and you can have one for as long as you want.  They are provided by the recently revamped GoSquared advertising.  

Mac OS X Shortcuts

Most people don’t know but Apple has a very good online document outlining the shortcuts that you can do within Mac OS X.  A lot of these new to me and quite helpful.  If you have any other documents outlining shortcuts in any other application or online service please let me know and I’ll put it up and make a list.

Whats yo Tweet!

So Twitter is officially the new fad so that means everyone needs to have one. Twitter allows you to tell random people and your friends what you are up to. An easy and elegant way to post and check on your tweets on your mac is Twitterific. For an easy way to add it to your WordPress blog check out this article over at WP Collevtive. Go ahead and add me on Twitter, my username is OverjoyedWorm.

MacHeist is at it again.

That’s right the guys over at MacHeist are at it again. This time they are going to be releasing a retail bundle for the regular $49. Head on over to MacHesit to check out their video and be sure to keep a close eye on it when the vault opens. Also check out the interview with Phill Ryu (Brains behind MacHeist) over at MacApper.