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Note and Compute

2011-11-27T12:24:00Z

We often have to deal with calculations. But for most of us they do not contain complex mathematical formulas, sines, or cosines: what amount to bill a client, how many panels to buy for remodeling of an apartment, how much money can I put away for a future purchase, how much others owe me taking into account their previous payments – here are most of the questions and issues with which we have to face on a daily basis. And the question of comfort does not lie in how many complex mathematical operations we can do, but in how can we conveniently store, redo and share our calculations.

What if and why not offering my client one more service of mine, and why not try buying less of the building materials this time? We want to see better what options we have. Often, we agree to the first reasonable option without much thinking only because we do not have a kind of tool that would allow us to quickly and easily apply the changes we want to make and get the final result. On the other hand, often we have to go back to the calculations in order to add something to them or modify them, whether that’s credit card payments, an estimate of expenses for the next month, or budget planning.

In most of those cases we take a piece of paper, pull out our calculators and start calculating. We write down the results on the sheet of paper and add comments along the way. If we happened to make a modification or a change to the equation, we have to start calculating anew. And when we need to share the calculations with someone else, we use a scanner, make a screenshot, or just retype it all again.

In the Mac App Store one can find more than 100 applications if searching with the keyword "calculator". Most of these applications simply copy the calculator invented in the 60s of the last century, adding an enormous amount of mathematical functions, which are absolutely useless for most of us.

Numeric notes

This application allows us to make calculations using text editor. Numbers, text, and other operations can be used all together in order to obtain clearer and expressive calculations, which are not only easy to understand, but just as easy to modify.

You simply enter what you need to calculate while simultaneously adding text, and the application automatically recalculates the result right next to it. Each new calculation starts on a new line. To the left of a calculation one can always add an additional text to give it a title.

What is remarkable is the fact that the application formats your text: in line with calculations it looks smaller and does not hinder the perception of numbers and operations. The application uses a separate style for text, thus you will always be able to distinguish between the title and the calculation.

Whenever you need to calculate an amount using computed results, press cmd +. As in any other line, you can have additional calculations entered above the amount. Especially handy when, let’s say, you want to get the total sum of all parts of the order, and then subtract a discount from it or add a tax to it.

When you need to recalculate something inside an individual calculation, just change it as you would change any text, and the results will be recalculated automatically. If you need to save an old calculation, simply copy the desired part, and paste and fix it right below or in a new note.

You can save any note as pdf file, and this makes it readable on any device.

It will even be useful for your home remodeling

Variants of computations

Different notes for different computations

All the details carefully worked out in each note

Tips and Tricks

If your friend or a colleague also has this application, you may exchange the calculations. Simply copy your computations and paste it into an email or an instant messenger. On the other end others will be able to insert the content copied from the letter and use it in the application.

You can paste a content copied from a spreadsheet editor (such as Excel or Numers) with no additional effort on your part: the app will render the first column as title, and as calculation - the second one.

Besides the standard keys for quick navigation through the text, you can use the TAB key to move quickly between the title and the computation.

Screencast

5 Amazing Children's Books Apps for the iPad

2010-08-03T12:45:00Z

The iPad is proving to be a big hit with kids. They already love the iPhone but they love the iPad even more because its bigger. A fast becoming popular category is the Children's books. With the iPad's gorgeous screen, audio capabilities and that great touch input allowing interactivity, it's not difficult to see why. Here's a list of some of the best iPad children's Books Apps that are available:

Aesop's Fables Audiobook

A beautiful rendition of 20 classic all-time favorite fables that teach morals. Next, think of spinning the wheel of fortune. Before reading any stories, children have to spin the wheel that makes selection of fable story fun and exciting. Readers are also rewarded with simple spot-the-difference games after reading fables. It also has both pre-recorded and recording audio functions in different languages. With intuitive and fun elements, children will grow to love this reading experience.

The Little Mermaid and other stories by H. C. Andersen

A classic tale brought to life with animations and sound effects. Also includes "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Happy Family". Very similar to Alice for the iPad with its physics engine enabled interactions that use the accelerometer to move objects around within pages. A pretty good job of digitally remastering the original illustrations was done.

Alice for the iPad

This is probably one of the first that come to mind when you hear about children's books on iPad. Beautiful artwork coupled the first physics engine enabled interactions. My favorite scene has got to be the one where Alice gets bombarded with cards.

Toy Story 3 Read-Along

The third part to this great series of iPad books that keeps getting better! It sports all the stuff you've come to expect from this series: narration, games, coloring. Now it also has a recording functionality and a song sing-a-long section. Kids can't get enough of the characters from this great movie.

Dr. Seuss series

This is another very popular series for preschoolers. Their current top seller is "Green Eggs and Ham" but they have at least 9 others in the Top Grossing Books Chart, showing just how popular this series is. They use mostly the original artwork from the printed books and added a great narration engine. Readers can also tap on objects on the page to see and hear the name of the object displayed.

30 Appealing and Excellent Digital Art Wallpapers for iPad

2010-04-06T12:29:00Z

The wait is finally here. The product that created so much hype, likes as well as dislikes from many has finally arrived at the US stores and soon it would be a worldwide phenomenon. However, the controvesial topic of the iPad would barely cease even after it has been launched.

As the iPad falls onto our clutches, it's inevitable that we can't wait to customized it to our own style. A change in the wallpaper design iwould be a great start.

Here we have gathered 30 appealing and excellent digital artworks for iPad wall papers. You might be able to find something of your liking if you are a fan of illustration and fractal art and not forgetting, an Apple fan. An excellent wall paper design certainly adds more asesthetic value to the slick and amazing touch technology.

Scare Tactics by Rob Sheridan

Troublemaker by Rob Sheridan

Black and White Sheep by Jamie

Cat Slicker by Jamie

Circle faces by iPad Walls

Birds by Judy Kaufmann

Darth Vader by Hey

Relax by Tuomas Ikonen

Float - inspired by animation film Up by themeekshall

Mound by Andrew Groves / IMAKETHINGS

Spotted fields by iPad Walls

Bokeh spots by iPad Walls

Blue squares by iPad Walls

Purple Spurt by GoodSlayer

Ancient Aliens by Michael Paukner

Urbanity by aharvey2k

Red green swirl by Jamie

Colorful Optic by wabbit

Fire Optic by wabbit

Dandelionby OnThe3rdFloor

Apple Abstract by iPad Walls

Concrete Apple by iPad Walls

Apple amidst the shatters by iPad Walls

Purple Apple by neo74

Dark Apple by ~LETSOC

Blue Apple by Daily iPhone Blog

Glass Apple by Alex Hopkins

Electric by Bob Kueppers

Apple color spills by iPad Walls

A Hearty Collection of Valentine Wallpapers

2010-02-11T05:00:00Z

Perhaps we haven't notice the reason why but the the heart is often associated with the notion of love. In ancient times, the heart was believed to be the origin of emotions. Giving your heart to someone could mean that you are giving away everything completely to that person. Be it myth or truth, most people see the heart as a symbol of love.

Although the heart shape looks nowhere near the actual heart, the concept of heart and its shape or symbol has been notable for its emblem of feelings and emotions. Many designers have applied this well perceived symbol into their works to illustrate their artistic expressions of romance and love. Different yet impressive styles of expressions are born, portraying a wide range of emotions coming from the similar sincerity.

Cute Hearty Valentine

As the love bud forms, the process is often sweet, adorable and innocent. The following wallpaper designs are bound to bring a smile to the both of you as they remind us how sweet love could be.

First Love

As the title suggests, we have gathered wholesome collection attractive wallpaper designs that comprise of the significant symbol of love- the heart. To add a little fun, we have brought you to different stages of romantic love. See which of the designs hit the nail on the head for you.

Inject a dose of love into your loved ones with these lovely wallpapers. And remember to do it when he's/she's not looking. Nothing beats a surprise of love when he/ she starts up her computer.

Boyish Love

Wondering Love

Be My Big Love

Shooting Love

Nerdy Love

Love Knows No Boundaries

Broken Bear Finds Love

Kissing in Love

Giving and Receiving a Huge Love

Sushi Love

Kissing Her Brings out the Love

Giving You a Big Heart of Love

Painted a Heart of Love for You

Rendezous Love

Anime Love

Silhouette Love

Bear Love

Arrow Hits the Pink Heart

Typography Inspired Hearty Valentine

As the love progresses, love becomes more affirmative with words. The following wallpaper designs would capture the hearts of typography buffs. Let the words from the heart do the talking now!

"Taylor Swift's Love Story" Love Song in the Heart

About Yourself in the Heart

Love in the Heart

"I Love You" Glows in the Heart

Happy Heart's Day

Love Quotes and Heart

Arrow Into Heart Says It All

Little Why of Love

Words of Love in Heart

Writing "I Love You" in Different Languages

Illustrative and Symbolic Valentine

As the love grows deeper, there is no need for words. A representation speaks the love. The following wallpaper designs show the different depictions of love in its various forms.

Water Heart in Blue

Fresh Love

A Glossy Heart

Burning Valentine

Dragonfly Heart

Heart in an Upside Down Heart

Big Heart Small Heart in Unison

Burning Heart in Pink

Heart Tablet As a Love Remedy

Heart Accentuates in Love

Heart Stains Love

Purple Love

Falling Love

Love Gem

Heart of Love Flies

Hearts in Seemingly Electrifying Mess

3D Heart Nicely Wrapped

Hearts in a Mesh Bound With Floral Patterns Strips

Heart in Heart With Unusual Nature Background

Lock and Key Heart

Purple Love in Three Sizes

3D Hearts in a Corner of Scarlet Backdrop

Huge Heart Emerges

Heart of Love Sprouts

Coffee Love

Love's Waiting in a Corner

Beauty Appears from Heart in a Corner

Couple in a Heart of Love

Purplish Pink Heart That Sets a Diverging Pattern

Hearts in Curvy Patterns

Pinky Hearts on a Wooden Texture

Fluttering Little Hearts Around the Two Hearts

Real Heart in Blood Vessels

Reciprocal Love

Exquisite Heart

Love Dedication and Please Be Mine

Love Balloons in Various Languages

Love Tree

Roses Around the Heart In Alternating Shades of Green

Two Hearts Stand out in a Crimson Lattice

Suspended Hearts

Heart with Wings

Fire-sparkles Heart

Blinding Light Emerges from Heart

Grunge Inspired Hearts

Heart and Butterfly

Pattern of Hearts

Arrow Hit Heart in a Black Background

Finally, last but not least, as fans of Apple, here's a little Apple tribute.

Apple Love

Rounder Apple Love in Pink Background

Tweaks for the Dock

2010-01-05T14:00:00Z

Tweaking the interface of my Mac has long become part of activity. It's a lot of fun in the process of it. However, you should always remember to backup your files before starting the tweak, in case you accidentally make your Mac explode because of it (I'm exaggerating here).

Left all the worries behind and have fun with the tweaks!

Basic Shortcut

Though this one here can't be considered a tweak, but I believe it's good to know some of the shortcuts to faster up basic adjustment for your Dock.

Drag → Resize the Dock
Opt-Drag → Proportionally Resize the Dock
Shift-Drag → Move the Dock to Other Screen Edge

Note that when performing the Drag, you should click on the Dock separator and drag it.

Hidden Preferences

Have you heard about Secrets before? Secrets is a preference pane that reveals many of secret preferences. Example for Dock, it allows you to:

Change the pinning position
Use the Suck Effect for window minimization
Enable New List View for Stack
and many other interesting hidden preferences…

Secrets can be downloaded from http://secrets.blacktree.com/

Terminal Commands

In case you don't want to install additional preference pane (Secrets) for revealing secret preferences, you can still use the command line provided below and execute it with your Terminal for the effect.

New List View

defaults write com.apple.dock use-new-list-stack -bool YES && killall Dock

Stack Highlight

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilite-stack -boolean YES
killall Dock

2D Dock

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
killall Dock

Transparent Hidden Icon

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES
killall Dock

Add "Recent Applications" Stack

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
killall Dock

Dock Pinning (Left)

defaults write com.apple.dock pinning -string start
killall Dock

Dock Pinning (Right)

defaults write com.apple.dock pinning -string end
killall Dock

Restyle Dock Background

In order to get your Dock background changed like what is shown in the screenshot above, you can follow these steps:

Download the sprites from PlateauDock ↓
Open Finder, hit Cmd-Shift-G and enter this address:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources
And then copy in all 5 items inside the unzipped PlateauDock folder
Restart your Dock with Terminal command killall Dock for the change to take effect

Interestingly, if you delete these 5 files: scurve-l.png, scurve-m.png, scurve-sm.png, scurve-xl.png, and separator.png, you will get an Invisible Dock.

Rename Dock Menu

Feeling bored with default contextual menu naming for your Dock?
If so, you can try to change the naming with these simple steps:

Open your Dock, hit Cmd-Shift-G, and then enter this address
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj
Search for the file DockMenus.strings and open it, you will see lines of words, eg:
OPEN_FILENAME = "Open "%@"";
OPEN = "Open";
Left hand side is the command to OS, don't change it. Instead, you can change the naming on the right hand side. Example:
OPEN_FILENAME = "Launch "%@"";
OPEN = "Launch";
Restart your Dock for the change to take effect (Terminal → killall Dock)

This trick has been mentioned before here.

Do You Like This Article?

We are trying our best to write interesting articles for our readers. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments, you can always feedback us on the comment box provided or mail me at wendy[at]usingmac[dot]com.

Thanks for the time reading our articles.

100+ Beautiful Nature Wallpapers

2009-12-28T13:00:00Z

In this article, we’d like to showcase you a list of 100+ Beautiful Nature Wallpapers to decorate your desktop. Previously we have also compiled some beautiful wallpapers; if you like to collect wallpapers, you may want to look at some of these posts:

Let's proceed to wallpapers collection in this article.

Waterfalls, Lakes, and Beaches

Boat

Water

The Perfect Falls

Nei-Dong Waterfall

Rainforest Creek

Small Islands Caribbean

Maldives

Near the Ocean

Ocean Tides

Indian Beach

Exotic Beach

Rocky Coast

The Lookout

Sunny Bay

Sunset at the Bay

Sunset on the Beach

Tides Out for the Night

Beach Lake

Turquoise Reflections

Emerald Lake

Bridge on the River

August at the Lake

Autumn Lake

Lake Reflections

Sunset Lake

Lake Desktop

Maligne Lake

Moonrise Over Beebe Lake

Frozen Lake

Ice on the River

House on the Pond

Green Delight

Grizzly River

Rocks and Mountains

Mountain Cliffs

Mountain Valley

Between the Mountains

Cliff

Hardknott Pass Mountains

Balkan Mountains

Connors Hill

Mountains

Mountain Pass

New Castleridge

Peak District Valley

Newflower

Autumn Mountain

Cirques

Sammys Vac

Snow Alps

Fumarole on Mount Redoubt

Mountain Snow Forest

Cold Scenery

Way Out West

Mountain Lake

Lake Louise

Sky, Sunrise, and Sunsets

Morning Sunrise

The City of Thousand

Grassy Sunset

Ambury Sunset

Mystic Sunset

Clouds

Above the Clouds

The Long Goodbye

Green Landscapes and Woods

Autumn

Road Through the Woods

Country Path

Golden Autumn

Route to Castle Mountain

Winter Scape

Ivvavik National Park

Alone Storm

Sunset on the Field

Natural Scene

Nature

Rural Land

Waterville, Vermont

Green Bench

Road in the Woods

Forest Road

Country Road

Beautiful Autumn

In the Forest

Misty

Nature Elevation

Lighthouse

Industrial Landscape

Sunflowers Field

Wheat Field

Autumn Steppe

Fallen Leaves Tree

Green Striped Field

Daisy Field

Kahikatea Trees

The Shelter

Lazy Days

Deep Green

Freshness

Dreamy, Fantasy

Majestic Skies

Pacific City

Horizon

Beautiful Village

Verdant Field

Grain Field

Farm

Heaven's Farm

The Old Farm

Nature Balloon Ride

Balloons, Windmill, and Wheat

Summer Feelings

The Swan

Peaceful Winter

Moonlight Flyer

Old Dirt Road

50+ Mac Applications with Great Interface

2009-12-15T14:00:00Z

Having used Mac for quite some time, I discover that I deeply fall in love with smooth and sleek interface offered by most of Mac built-in applications.

And the good news is, there are many third-party applications out there developed with more or less the same design standard as those built-in Mac apps. More than fifty sample screenshots of beautiful Mac applications are ready to amaze you after the jump.

Productivity Tools

The Hit List - ToDo List for Mac

Homepage | Download | $49.95

Simple, yet sophisticated application to manage lists of your workflow.

Anxiety - Lightweight To-do Management

Homepage | Download | Donationware

Super-lightweight To-do list application for Mac OS X that synchronizes with iCal and Mail.

JustNotes - Notes App

Homepage | Download | Donationware

A simple, beautiful notes application with nice user interface to let you focus on taking notes.

NoteBook is an application that helps Mac users manage notes, clippings, and todos of your life, or the e-mails, diagrams and spreadsheets of that important project.

Scrivener - Word Processor

Homepage | Download | $39.95

Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers.

Photo & Imaging Tools

Adobe Lightroom

Homepage | Download | $299.00

Pixelmator - Image Editor for Mac OS X

Homepage | Download | $59.00

Beautifully designed and easy-to-use image editor for Mac OS X.

LittleSnapper - Snap, Collect & Share

Homepage | Download | $35.00

Built for people who love to capture webpages or their desktop.

Aperture - Photo Editing and Management Tool

Homepage | Download | $199.00

Import, manage, and enhance your photos in one simple, integrated workflow.

Picturesque - Image Editor for Mac

Homepage | Download | $29.95

Picturesque is a simple app used to make images more beautiful.

System Tools

Daisy Disk - Disk Visualization Tool

Homepage | Download | $19.95

Useful tool to help you free up disk space by using beautiful sunburst visualization to help you finding and deleting big, useless files.

iStat Menus - System Monitoring Tool

Homepage | Download | Donationware

The most advanced system monitor tool for your Mac with super sleek interface.

CleanMyMac - Mac Maintenance Tool

Homepage | Download | $29.95

1Password - Secure Your Passwords

Homepage | Download | $39.95

1Password can create strong, unique passwords for you, remember them, and restore them, all directly in your web browser.

Fontcase - Font Management Tool

Homepage | Download | €42.00

Fontcase can preview every font for you and activate them only when needed.

File Transfer Tools

Flow - Elegant, Intuitive and Powerful File Transfer

Homepage | Download | $25.00

File transfer client that makes working with remote files as intuitive and natural as working locally with Finder.

Internet and Networking Apps

Notify - Email Notifier

Homepage | Download | $10.00

Postbox - Email Manager

Homepage | Download | $29.95

A better way to work with email messages and content.

Midnight Inbox - Email Organizer

Homepage | Download | $35.00

Helper for inbox collecting, processing, reviewing, and referencing.

NewsLife - Elegant, Easy to Use RSS Client

Homepage | Download | €5.00

Simplest way to stay up-to-date with tons of websites without even having to touch your web browser until you see something you want to read.

Delibar - Delicious Client for Mac

Homepage | Download | $18.00

Full featured client designed for Mac OS X to access Delicious bookmarks.

Socialite - Social Networking Client

Homepage | Download | $20.00

Beautiful Mac OS X application, designed to make it easy to stay in touch with the social networks and services: Digg, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and RSS.

Tweetie - Twitter Client for Mac

Homepage | Download | $19.95

Simple and clean Twitter client for Mac OS X.

Canary - Twitter Client

Homepage | Download | Beta Version

Canary is a beautifully designed Twitter client.

Blogo - Blogging from Desktop

Homepage | Download | $25.00

Easily publish text, images, videos, slideshows and more with a simple, intuitive interface.

Propane - Campfire Client for Mac

Homepage | Download | $20.00

Full-featured application that runs in an ordinary browser as chat client for Campfire.

Delicious Library 2

Homepage | Download | $40.00

Catalog your books, movies, music, software, toys, tools, electronics, & video games.

Audio & Music Apps

Snowtape - Internet Radio Recorder

Homepage | Download | $29.00

Perfect solution for saving music on your Mac.

Capo - Learn Your Music

Homepage | Download | $49.00

Capo lets you slow down your favorite songs, so you can hear the notes and learn how they are played.

Tangerine! - Playlist Creator

Homepage | Download | $24.95

Tangerine! lets you easily create playlists of upbeat music, or playlists for relaxing. It works by analyzing the BPM and the beat intensity of your music.

Ecoute - Play Your Library

Homepage | Download | $10.00

Simple, sleek and minimalistic music, podcast, movie player for Mac OS X.

CoverStream - [Re]Discover Your Music

Homepage | Download | €14.95

CoverStream helps you control, browse, and search your music.

TuneUp - Music Library Cleaner

Homepage | Download | $29.95

CoverSutra - Elegant iTunes Controller

Homepage | Download | $19.95

CoverSutra gives you a handy and attractive way to control iTunes without having to leave your current application.

TapeDeck - Audio Recorder for Mac

Homepage | Download | $25.00

Video & Screen-casting Tools

ScreenFlow - Professional Screen-casting Studio

Homepage | Download | $99.00

With ScreenFlow screen-casting software, you can capture the contents of your entire desktop at the same time as your video camera, microphone and computer's audio.

Design & Development Tools

Flux 2 - Web Design Application

Homepage | Download | £40.00

Flux 2 has the power to be your only web design tool.

xScope - Measurement Tools for Mac

Homepage | Download | $26.95

xScope is a powerful set of tools that are ideal for measuring, aligning and inspecting on-screen graphics and layouts.

Espresso - Web Development Tools

Homepage | Download | €59.95

CSSEdit - Web Styling Tools

Homepage | Download | €29.95

Tools to help you designing beautiful, innovative and fast-loading web sites.

RapidWeaver - Web Development Tool

Homepage | Download | $79.00

RapidWeaver creates clean, beautiful code that adheres to modern web standards.

Snippet - Code Snippets Collector

Homepage | Download | $12.95

A little tool that helps in creating snippets from selected text anywhere.

Swatch - Color Snippets Collector

Homepage | Download | $4.95

File Sharing Utilities

Stuf - Share Text & Images on Local Network

Homepage | Download | €12.99

Dropzone - Drag and Drop Buffer for Mac

Homepage | Download | $10.00

Drag and drop utility with many functionalities, designed for your Mac.

Financial Management Tools

Cha-Ching - Financial Management App

Homepage | Download | Beta Version

Flexible personal finance application available for Mac OS X.

Billings - Time Tracking and Invoicing

Homepage | Download | $39.99

Billings is an invoicing and time tracking app.

On The Job - Time Tracking and Invoicing

Homepage | Download | $39.95

An application designed to help you track your time and expenses, and bill your clients by easily and quickly creating professional invoices.

Application Updater

Bodega - Application Store for Mac

Homepage | Download | Freeware

Information Management Tools

Tags - File Tagger for Mac

Homepage | Download | $29.00

Vinoteka - Wine Management Software

Homepage | Download | €29.90

Vinoteka offers a realistic interface to manage your bottles (wine, liquors or spirits) recreate your cellar and organize wine tasting sessions.

Contactizer Pro - Information Management Tool

Homepage | Download | €99.00

All-in-one solution for managing, sharing and organizing your personal and business information.

Mac Applications for Tagging Files

2009-12-08T14:00:00Z

Often, we have plenty of important working stuffs stored on our Mac. Without proper management on those files, it will be difficult for us to search and get back to our previous work files.

One way to manage our files is by grouping files. There are some worth mention Mac File Tagging Applications that can help us grouping, categorizing, and managing our precious files using tags.

Punakea

Punakea is developed in order to work together with Spotlight search. In which, Punakea helps us in tagging files and even our bookmarks, enabling us to refer back easily anytime. Also, it helps us grouping files with common tags; this can boost our productivity.

Homepage Download Trial Version (30-day) Buy for $39.95

Nifty Box

If you're one of Spotlight avid and you want to further optimize your Spotlight search result, you should try using Nifty Box. With it, you can add personal keywords and tag your files and web bookmarks.

When the number of tags grow, Nifty Box also helps us organizing our tags into a bundle so that we can browse through our tags easily, just like browsing through our iTunes playlist.

Homepage Download Nifty Box (Free)

Default Folder X

Default Folder X makes file saving dialogs in Mac OS X easier to use by adding some enhancements to the interface, such as.

Hierarchical pop-up menus. Browse with menus that reveal folder contents as you hover over them.
Hierarchical location menu. Use the Open and Save dialog's location menu as a hierarchical pop-up menu.
Keyboard shortcuts. Open your favorite folders with keyboard shortcuts in every application as well as in Open and Save dialogs.
Dock and menu bar icons. Use Default Folder X's pop-up menus without an Open and Save dialog.
Available disk space. See your volumes' available disk space in pop-up menus.
And other enhancements…

With Default Folder X, you can easily add Spotlight keywords rights from the save dialog. Not only that, there is also a feature for you to assign default folder to each of your application, which can decrease time consumption during completion of workflow.

Homepage Download Trial Version (30-day) Buy for $34.95

Together

Together lets you keep everything in one place. By using Together, with a simple drag-drop action, you can collect, tag, and preview texts, documents, images, movies, sounds, web pages and bookmarks, or even find them again easily the other time.

Homepage Download Trial Version (15-day) Buy for $39.00

Yojimbo

Yojimbo helps keeping all important bits of information organized and accessible. It’s practically easy to use Yojimbo, without any pre-learning required.

There are as many uses for Yojimbo as there are users of it. It accepts almost anything from text, bookmarks, images, pdfs, to web archives, serial numbers, or even passwords by simply dragging, copying, importing or printing.

Homepage Download Trial Version (30-day) Buy for $39.00

Yep 2

The strength in Yep is the ability to see your documents and search through them without worrying where exactly you saved it to.

With Yep, you can add your own tags to documents. It also has the ability to automatically move documents into a simple date based folder system located in your Documents folder, which results in the ease to track records of receipts, invoices, research papers, etc.

Homepage Download Trial Version Buy for $39.00

Fresh

You can use Fresh to tag files, pick recently used tags, and even rate files. By tagging files, using Spotlight to search for tagged items will be so much easier.

Homepage Download Trial Version Buy for $9.00

Leap 2

When we need to handle and manage hundreds (or even thousands) of files, we definitely need to group them with tags, which makes it extremely easy to find those files, regardless of their location.

Using Leap, you can use OpenMeta tag contentions to share tags across numerous programs. With tweaks and improvements in user interface, Leap makes tagging, rating and browsing of files even easier.

As a side note, you can buy a bundle containing Fresh, Deep, Leap, and Yep, four of them for $69.00, which I see as a good bargain if you really like to use them.

Homepage Download Trial Version Buy for $59.00

Of course, it is not recommended to purchase all of them as the functionalities of these file tagging applications kind of overlapping each other. You just need to find one that suits you the most and stick to it.

Although I myself rarely feel the need to manage my files (usually I just left them behind, cluttered), I hope that this small compilation of file tagging applications can help you in organizing your Mac.

Custom Exposé Glows for Download

2009-11-06T13:00:00Z

In our previous article: Daily Trick 47. Tweak Exposé Glow, we have brought forward the option to change your Exposé glowing effect. After few minutes playing around with the image sprite, I have come up with these various sprites.

In this article, I'd like to share the sprite with you. You can refer to the previous daily trick for the step by step guide on how to change the effect.

Inspired by Artless Processes - Customize Snow Leopard Exposé Glow.

Screenshots and download link provided after the jump.

Transparent Blue Glow

Transparent Black Glow

Transparent White Glow

Outline Hover Effect

Transparent White Rectangle Glow

Download Link

All of the images for creating effects shown above can be downloaded from this link: Sprites.ZIP (10.9KB).

Shiny White Glow by Kent

Download link: shiny-white-glow.zip.

If you have created some nice effects and want to share with the rest of UsingMac readers, you can email me the attached sprite: wendy[at]usingmac[dot]com. You can also drop few words on provided comment box.

Mac Application Updaters

2009-11-05T14:00:00Z

Sometimes, it's difficult to search and update to the latest Mac applications. This may hinder some people in using their Macs. In order to reduce the hassle searching for required applications, we can use application updaters, which will do the information gathering for us.

Some application updaters can be seen after the jump.

Bodega

Bodega is an application updater for Mac that collects information on available Mac applications and presents them nicely with a sleek and nice user interface.

Within the Bodega, Applications are categorized. Hence, you can easily browse through Applications and directly download them to your Mac.

Homepage | Download Link ↓ | License: Freeware

AppFresh

Having installed various applications to your Mac, it's always good to keep them up to date with latest version. This can be easily done by using AppFresh.

AppFresh helps you check for latest version and keep all of your applications, widgets, preference panes, and plugins up to date.

Homepage | Download Link ↓ | License: Freeware

App Update

Similar to AppFresh, App Update also tracks for latest version of applications installed on our Mac. However, App Update presents the information with a simple widget interface.

Homepage | Download Link ↓ | Kind: Dashboard Widget

Any Suggestion?

Perhaps, I've missed out one of your favorite application updaters. You can use the provided comment box to share with us. We will really appreciate it.

Daily Trick 47. Tweak Exposé Glow

2009-11-04T15:00:00Z

For Snow Leopard Users

If you have noticed, whenever you press F9 key to activate Exposé, you will see a rather different Exposé from Mac OS X Leopard. And upon mouse over on one of the item, you can see blue glowing effect.

Today, we are going to bring you to tweak on the glow color to your liking.

Step 1. Find the Image Sprites

Most of the time, the items that can be seen (let it buttons, icons, or other items) are located in the System folder of our Mac. The glowing effect of our Exposé is also using the image sprite stored in the System folder.

Here is the quick step to the directory containing the image sprites:

Open Finder and hit keystrokes Cmd-Shift-G
Type in the directory address: /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources
Then, hit enter to quickly jump to that directory (Resources folder)

Step 2. Move Them to Other Place

As you are now inside the System folder, the permission setting will stop you from making any direct changes to the files inside.

The workaround for this is to copy these two items to other place outside System folder, modify them, and move them back.

Here are the detailed steps:

Inside the folder, search for two image files, namely: expose-window-selection-big.png and expose-window-selection-small.png
Copy these two items somewhere else. And delete the original copy from this Resources folder
Now open these two images with your favorite image editor (e.g. Preview, Pixelmator, or Photoshop), change the color, and then save the changes
Move back these two images into your the same directory as before (Resources folder)

Step 3. Restart Exposé to the Effect

Finally to see the changes, you need to open Terminal and execute command line:

killall Dock

The above command line will restart the Dock for you as well as restart Exposé. After restarting the Exposé, you can now see the change in glow color after the modification.

The key to quickly do this tweak is to open several Finder windows. This will save your time from going through the whole process to search for Resources folder.

And, it's always recommended to make a backup for these two image files. Enjoy the tweaking!

New Design. The White UsingMac

2009-11-04T09:25:00Z

After several months of black-theme UsingMac, we've decided to transform into white-theme design. Perhaps, some of you might feel surprised by this sudden change, but we hope that you feel comfortable with our new design.

Why Do We Choose White?

Having browsed through most of the websites that contain guide or information, rarely can we see them using white-on-black layout. That's when we think of changing into white-on-black layout.

What Are The Changes We Made?

If you have visited our site before, you would notice that the look-and-feel of several places have been tweaked, for example: mini highlights on the top now is incorporated with simple round button, you can browse through those highlights by clicking on the button.

Besides that change, we have also made changes to

Logo → Now with simple text instead of image, for faster loading
Search Bar → Located at right most of our navigation bar
Sidebar → More appealing hover effect is added for better navigation
Comment Box → It has been enlarged and now accept line break

And the biggest change would be the change from Black to White.

What Do You Think?

We believe that we are still far from perfect. It's really appreciated if you can give us any constructive feedback or comment on this new design. Not only for giving feedback, you can also try out our new comment box.

Hope you enjoy this new experience with UsingMac.

Fave Mac App 3. Path Finder 5

2009-10-23T14:00:00Z

Path Finder is an award-winning file browser and management application for Mac OS X. This is achieved by adding on more useful features to the familiar user interface of Finder.

There are several features that I like to use while using Path Finder:

Multiple Tabs Browsing
Sometimes we might need to open multiple Finder window to drag-drop or browse around directories. Using Path Finder, we can combine all these opened windows into just a single window with multiple tabs.
Temporary Stack
Although the drag-drop technique has become my habit in boosting my productivity in handling files. Path Finder enhances this experience by adding temporary stack where we can have a temporary place for drag-drop process.
Dual Pane File Browsing
Often, we need to view different folders side by side. And the good news is, Path Finder provides the dual pane browsing ability for us. This feature of Path Finder is just too good to be missed.
Quick Preview
By default, if we want to show information of certain item on Finder, we will reveal the Get Info pane by hitting keystrokes Cmd-Opt-I.
However in Path Finder, we can just toggle on Preview Mode and we can have all important information the item has.
Recent Applications
Path Finder can also help us keeping track of up to 50 recent applications.

Even though it's quite pricey for an application, I still recommend using Path Finder. Path Finder really helps a lot in enhancing your Mac experience. For your information, there is 30-day trial provided for this application.

Screenshots are provided after the jump.

Homepage | Download Link: Leopard ↓ - Snow Leopard ↓ | License: $39.95

Screenshots

To get better understanding of Path Finder's interface, you can take a look at several snapshots of it that we've taken. You can click on thumbnail to see larger view.

Poll. Your Favorite Mac Desktop

2009-10-22T14:00:00Z

This article is intended to give exposure to other contestants that have submitted their works. The screenshots of their submissions are listed below. And you can cast vote on any that you like (you can choose more than one) at the end of this article.

Let's vote for your favorite Mac Desktop and support the one that you like!
Hint. You can use keystrokes Cmd-[↓] to quickly scroll down to end of page.

1. Radio Station

2. iMac on the Dock

3. Apple Color Spectrum

4. Garden

5. Black, White, and Red

6. Audio Technology

7. Daily Task

8. Outside World

9. Invisible Dock

10. Blue Moon

11. Blue Fractal

12. Clouds and Rain

13. Wooden Mac

14. Three Programs

15. Funnel OS X

16. Desktop Workspace

17. Login Screen

18. Custom Icons

19. Wall-E

20. Menubar Calendar

21. Andrew's Mac

22. Background and Dock

23. Mac Desktop

24. Avalanche

25. Advance Laboratory

26. Apple

27. iTunes

28. Clock Only

29. Halo 3

30. Blue Lightstream

31. Leather Dock

32. Spyda's Screenshot

33. DMC

34. Facebook Notifications

35. Fire Leopard

36. Linux Screenshot

37. List View

38. Color Bubble

39. Gay Bar

40. Stay Green

41. Mac Spaces

42. Desktop Calendar

43. Mach Desktop (Red)

Tweak Screencapture Behavior

2009-10-19T14:30:00Z

Normally, we will use keystrokes Cmd-Shift-3 or Cmd-Shift-4 to take snapshot with Mac default screencapture utility. And new in Snow Leopard, we will end up having a PNG image file automatically stored inside our Desktop folder with the name Screen shot … .

Those behaviors mentioned above are the default ones. We can easily change those with simple command lines.

Change Screencapture Filename
defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "New Name"
killall SystemUIServer You can change the value "New Name" to the name of your liking. And if you put the name as empty string (i.e. ""), you will get your screencapture named with the format: [current date] at [time], e.g. "2009-10-20 at AM 03.02.57".
Change Screencapture Location
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location "New Location"
killall SystemUIServer Hint. You can drag-drop the folder to Terminal pane to get the folder location.
As seen in both command lines, the second line killall SystemUIServer is needed and used to restart the screencapture application. Only after restarting, changes will take effect.
Change Screencapture File Format
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type [new format]
killall SystemUIServer These file formats are available: PNG, PDF, JPG, JP2, GIF, TIF, BMP, PICT, and TGA.
Note. Replace the [new format] with one of those available formats, e.g. JPG.
Disable Window Shadow
When we used key combination [Cmd-Shift-4] + [Space], we will be able to capture a snapshot of window along with the shadow. The following command lines are used to disable the shadow. defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true
killall SystemUIServer You can change -bool true to -bool false to enable back the shadow.
Capture from Terminal Command
One of these command lines can be used to capture from terminal: screencapture -c
screencapture -i ~/Desktop/snapshot.png
screencapture -io ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
screencapture -M ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
screencapture -P ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
screencapture -t png ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
screencapture -T 5 ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
screencapture -x ~/Desktop/screenshot.png The usages of each command line can be checked using: man screencapture

Personally, I love to play around with Terminal tweaks. If you have any other interesting tweaks, feel free to share with us; we provided a comment box for that. Have a good time screencapture-ing!