Mac OS X Hints

Create Events-based iPhoto albums featuring specific people

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:34:00 -0700

Learn how to create an album in iPhoto to show all photos from all events that contain at least one photo of a selected person.

Repair incorrect icon associations

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:54:00 -0700

Are the icons for certain file types incorrect on your machine -- zip files appearing as disk image files, for instance? If so, this hint will help you quickly fix the problem.

Change color of BBEdit and TextWrangler 'invisibles' characters

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:35:00 -0700

Learn how to change the color of the special characters that BBEdit and TextWrangler use to display invisible characters, such as tabs and line breaks.

Reduce system workload during drive cloning

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:56:00 -0700

Cloning your Mac's hard drive as part of your backup strategy? Then make sure that Spotlight isn't active on that drive before you start cloning it.

Using iPhoto's Places without a GPS-enabled camera

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:22:00 -0700

iPhoto '09's Places features lets you tag the location where an image was shot. But what if you don't have a GPS-enabled camera? Here's how you can recreate the location-tagging feature with the help of an iPhone.

An easy way to get the newest Chromium build

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0700

A combination of a shell script and Automator application can be used to simplify the task of upgrading to the latest Chromium build.

Set default duration for new iCal events

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:16:00 -0700

Change the default duration for new iCal events from one hour to any time period you wish -- even zero minutes.

Change the Add Bookmark button's location in Safari 4

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:36:00 -0700

Learn how to split the Add Bookmark button from the URL entry area in Safari 4.

Capture output of certain Unix commands

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:46:00 -0700

Learn how to capture the output of certain Unix commands to the clipboard.

Two useful iChat 4.0 features

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:52:00 -0700

Discover the exact time an iChat message was sent or received, and learn how to use a special command to insert uniquely-formatted messages into your iChat conversations.

Extend Keynote's power with OmniGraffle's stencils

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:55:00 -0700

Learn how to use fully-scalable images (complete with transparency) in Keynote by working with OmniGraffle.

Simplify Terminal directory listings

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:15:00 -0700

Rob Griffiths shares a few Unix tips to simplify the output of the 'ls' directory listing command. Also, we point the way to additional Unix tips.

Combine multiple Mail messages for forwarding

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:30:00 -0700

Learn a very simple way to forward many e-mail messages in Mail as one new combined message.

Use Mail to help find Craigslist for sale items

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:26:00 -0700

Using Mail's rules and ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, you can easily watch Craigslist for things you'd like to buy.

Set custom retention intervals in Mail

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:36:00 -0700

Learn how to keep junk, sent, and trashed messages for any arbitrary number of days.

Identify inserted recordable media

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:36:00 -0700

Learn a few ways to identify recordable media in your Super Drive, without ejecting the disc.

Cursor movement keys in Safari 4 Beta and other apps

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:37:00 -0700

Rob Griffiths offers up some keyboard shortcuts for moving the cursor about in the Google search box in Safari 4 Beta, as well as in many other apps on your Mac.

Use QuickTime Player to create a video wall

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:39:00 -0700

You've seen video walls at trade shows and airports, perhaps -- those large banks of monitors showing single or multiple videos. Today's tip uses AppleScript to create a video wall showing multiple video clips on your own monitor

Flatten folder structure via AppleScript

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 21 May 2009 10:35:00 -0700

Use a simple AppleScript to flatten a collection of buried files and subfolders into one new top-level folder.

Organize Pages' customized templates

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:33:00 -0700

Learn how to organize your customized Pages templates. No longer must they all reside within your My Templates folder.

Use hot screen corners with modifier keys

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:14:00 -0700

Learn how to activate hot screen corners -- such as for activating the screen saver or sleeping the display -- only when modifier keys are held down.

Create a standalone video playback widget

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:51:00 -0700

Use Safari, Web Clip, and a special developer mode for Dashboard to watch video clips in a floating window.

Choose the dictionary for Spotlight's definitions in Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:08:00 -0700

Learn how to control which dictionary is used for Spotlight's definitions feature in OS X 10.5. Also learn where to find additional dictionaries for the Dictionary app.

How to use a pool of time servers

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:03:00 -0700

Learn how to set up a pool of time servers, so your Mac's clock will hopefully never be out of sync again.

Speed up iPhoto '09 operations on some Macs

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:16:00 -0700

A simple tip could speed up iPhoto operations for those with older hardware and/or large iPhoto libraries.

Solve an obscure Back to my Mac issue

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:13:00 -0700

Learn how a matter of time may prevent Back to my Mac from working.

Share any folder via a built-in Web server

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:18:00 -0700

Use a hidden built-in Web server to quickly and easily share any folder of files via a Web browser.

View super large preview icons in Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:58:00 -0700

Learn how to see super large preview icons (for photographs and movies) in Leopard without using Cover Flow view mode.

Access all Exposé modes on newer keyboards

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:31:00 -0700

Learn how to access all of Exposé's modes via the F3 key on new keyboards (laptops and standalone)

Disable favicons in Firefox and Safari

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:35:00 -0700

Learn how to disable favicons -- those small web page icons in the URL bar -- in both Safari and Firefox.

See full path to inserted filenames in Pages '09

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:08:00 -0700

Learn how to insert not just the current filename in your Pages '09 document, but the full path to that file.

Quick Look and video files

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Quick Look, the OS X 10.5 feature that lets you peek into files without opening them, is a great time saver, and the interface is about as simple as it gets.

Disable dictionary, calculator results in Leopard's Spotlight

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:22:00 -0700

Learn how to prevent Spotlight from working as a calculator and dictionary in OS X 10.5.

Use QuickTime Player to 'watch' text files

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:54:00 -0700

Learn how to use QuickTime Player as a text file reader.

Play favorite Flash games in Dashboard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:38:00 -0700

Learn a simple way to convert your favorite Web-based Flash game into a Dashboard widget.

Play chess old school style

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:23:00 -0700

Chess needs a GUI? I think not; learn how to play it in Terminal.

See nicknames in iChat's Buddy List in Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:34:00 -0700

Learn how to enable -- or disable -- the display of Address Book nicknames in Leopard.

Quickly create an image contact sheet in Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:01:00 -0700

Use Quick Look to make quick work of creating a sheet of image thumbnails