June 2011
12 posts
5 tags
iTunes Artwork Lookup →
The iTunes artwork search does a decent job, and that’s admirable on Apple’s part, but sometimes it misses things, or you want an alternative Album Cover, Movie Poster, or TV Show box.
The above app runs a Google search for whatever song/movie/TV show is currently playing in iTunes. It does require that something is playing in iTunes, otherwise it won’t work.
This was...
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Automation in Mac OS 10.7 Lion →
Apple’s automation tools (Applescript, Automator, etc.) are fantastic, and I would say light years beyond that of any other OS…but there’s always room for improvement. Apple has officially released the videos from this months WWDC 2011, and there are some pretty amazing updates.
Click above to watch Lion-Sized Automation, an overview of the updates and additions to the existing...
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Biz Tip #3.14
“First rule of government spending: why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?” - S.R. Hadden, Contact (1997)
First rule of IT: never ship a piece of equipment out into the field unless you have a replacement on hand. Laptop, printer, cell phone, doesn’t matter. When it breaks, your user doesn’t have time (and sometimes the aptitude) to get it replaced...
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Secure Wake Toggle →
The secure wake feature on your Mac allows you to add a password to the screensaver/display sleep function. That way, all you have to do to keep things nice and secure, is activate the screensaver or put your display to sleep, and no one will get at those super important, super private things floating around in your Mac.
The only pesky thing about the feature is, sometimes you want it on,...
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Color Change Script →
Ever wanted to change the label color of your files in Finder? Not just one at a time, but a whole group! Voila, the above script does just that. Pick a folder, pick a color, and it takes care of the rest.
Enjoy!
Thanks to Red Menace from the AppleScript section of the Macworld forums (see the post here).
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Fun with Speech!
If you’re a geek like me (and the fact that you’re reading this means you almost certainly are), you’re always looking for new thing to make your Mac do. How about a custom speech command?
For instance, whenever I want my browser to appear in dramatic fashion, I hold down the escape key (the default trigger for your Mac to listen), and say in an authoritative tone, “To...
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“It is the fate of manufactured goods to slowly and gently depreciate…but it is...”
– Neal Stephenson, In the Beginning was the Command Line
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System Extensions List →
As a sequel to my previous post, this script generates a concise list of all the file extensions recognized by your OS. I say concise, because the list is quite long, but I exclude any extension longer than 4 characters, and shorter than 2.
It runs through Applescript, but it wouldn’t take much to have it output to a text file, PDF, etc. As always, happy to answer any questions.
Special...
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Extension Change Script →
It’s amazing what simply changing a file extension on your Mac can do. Want to read Apple system files? Change them to XML! Need to submit a picture file but it’s a PNG and they require a JPG? Just Drag and Drop! Sure, you can change the extension in Finder, buy why not just drag, and have a predefined list appear!
How it works:
Click this post’s title to download the...
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“God, to me, it seems
is a verb,
not a noun,
proper or improper.”
– Buckminster Fuller 