Have Another Apple

 If your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is not charging fully and only to 95-98%, there is a way to fix this problem.

One common view is to unplug your MagSafe adapter and let it drain to 10%, and recharge. While this works, you only need to let the battery drop below 90%. This will save you a whole battery cycle on your MacBook.

Enjoy.

• AppZapper allows you to completely remove all program files when uninstalling a program. This programs boasts being the "Uninstaller Apple Forgot". Read this article for more information. Price: US$12.95 with free upgrades for life.
•  Coda is a website coding program with WYSIWYG also built in. One-clickpublishing, one-window web development. Read this article for more information. Price: US$79.
• Pixelmator for quick and easy photo editing, and boasts a much cheaper price "for the rest of us" (compared to Photoshop). Read this article for more information. Price: US$59.
• Office:Mac 2008. Whilst Apple’s native Pages and NeoOffice do the trick, nothing compares to the compatibility and world-wide use of Microsoft Office: Price: AU$229+.
• Adobe Photoshop. For those who are serious in design. Price: US$649, upgrade US$199.
• Speed Download is a download manager for OS X with amazing speeds. Price: US$29.38.
  
• Awaken brightens your morning with the music of your choice - straight from your iTunes. Support for your Apple Remote. Price: US$12.95.
• Candybar allows you to change your Dock and Icons on Mac OS X. Price: US$29.
• Ecto is a desktop blog publishing client for Windows and Mac. Price: US$17.95.
• Transmit is a useful FTP client with support for iDisk and SSL. Price: US$29.95.

Part one with the freeware apps can be found here.

Please leave comments on these programs, and also your own suggestions.

Love your Mac? Every user has their own way of using a Mac due to it’s ability to offer features for a very diverse community. Whether you’re a student, web designer or using one for the sake of "using a Mac"; there are a bunch of useful applications that you can use. 

This article will be split into freeware and shareware programs, and is brought to you by Have Another Apple and Another Pointless Blog. Part one will contain the freeware apps.

Here’s the freeware list, in no particular order.

• iMovie HD 6. This is a much better video editor than iMovie 08 (which has received much criticism over it’s lack of functionality). Freeware for iLife ‘08 users.
• Skitch! allows you to create quick and easy screenshots and post them to the web. Although this is a native Mac app, it is soon to be released on Windows. Read this article for more information.
• InsomniaX is a useful application that allows you to close your Macbook lid without letting it go to sleep. Read this article for more information.
• NeoOffice is a great alternative for those not wishing to fork out the hard earned cash for Microsoft Office. Read this article for more information.
• Firefox and Thunderbird are very commonly used on Windows, and this statistic is no different on Mac OS X. Great alternative to those who have trouble adapting to Safari and Mail.
• Bootcamp allows you to run Windows on an Intel Mac. Built into leopard or an additional install for Tiger. Whilst you love your Mac, you just never know when you may need Windows. Price: free for Bootcamp, Windows cost extra.
• Skype allows you to make the most of your iSight camera to keep in touch with your loved ones. How do you hello?
• Vienna is a RSS reader for Mac OS X, with the ability for you to set how often you wish to be informed of new posts, with a number count in your dock.
• Transmission is a BitTorrent application for Mac OS X. Lightweight and OpenSource.**
• Handbrake is a DVD to MPEG4 converter for Mac OS X. Like Transmission, this is OpenSource.**

Check back soon for Part Two of this article, with the Top 10 Shareware programs for Mac OS X.

Please leave comments on these programs, and also your own suggestions.

** Please note that neither Have Another Apple or Another Pointless Blog support the use of these programs for illegal activity. Keep it legal

Ever get frustrated closing the lid of your MacBook to open it later with MSN, DVD Burning or other tasks closed because your computer slept? InsomniaX is a program that allows you to easily disable the sleep feature, and close your lid with the applications running.

Once installed, the program adds a button to your menu bar with numerous options:

This menu allows you to easily disable and enable Insomnia, meaning you don’t have to keep your computer running every time you close the lid. There are also many other useful features, such as letting your display sleep while closing the lid.

Download Insomnia here.

Wanted to come home from work and have your Mac ready to use, yet don’t want to leave your computer running or in sleep? Well this feature, built right into Mac OS X without the need of an additional program, can allow you to do just that. This feature is called Energy Saver Scheduler.

Find out how after the jump.

Continue reading »

Apple have come a long way since their old 512k Macs. With the first commercial Graphical User Interface (GUI) hitting the market - it was no surprise that Apple has made the hit that it has. However, multiple changes have occurred since it’s foundation on April 1, 1976. This article will cover it’s design, advertising campaign and their products.

Design
Macs started with the same look as all other computers. However, it didn’t take long for Apple to incorporate colours to attract the viewers’ eye - especially those using Windows. This worked well while it lasted, however Apple decided there was a need to change to a simple, clean look: white. This was a very successful hit and quick made it’s way to all of Apple’s products. Their iMac’s, Macbooks/Powerbooks, iPods and accessories such as the Mighty Mouse were all transformed to white. Why was this a hit? Because it was simple, and effective. However, as of very recently, iPods have changed to a sleek black (in particular the iPod Touch and iPhone) and the iMac went aluminum in G6. The first Macbook to be released with the new aluminium look as apposed to white was the Macbook Air, released at Macworld 2008. With this new look going for them and reaching successful market share, it is likely that Apple is going to continue with this line of products.

Advertising and products after the jump… Continue reading »

Ever went to flick through your Photos using the function in Frontrow, and had to listen to the default music? There is a simple way to change this without any need for an additional application. This is done through iPhoto.

In the bottom left hand corner of iPhoto, click the slideshow play button.

Finished after the jump… Continue reading »

I’m sure that I am not alone when I say that I was a huge fan of Ctrl-Alt-Del, then Lock Computer on Windows. It is a simple way to secure your computer, without setting the computer to sleep, and giving you the piece of mind to know your computer isn’t about to be meddled with. So, when I switched to Mac, I looked hard for the same feature, and found that Leopard (Tiger has the some of the same features) has multiple ways to do this. We’ll start from least convenient and make our way down. To ensure these work, you will need a password for your account.

Sleep
On a Macbook, this can be achieved by pressing the power button and pressing sleep, or closing the lid. On a desktop Mac, the option is to press the Apple logo and selecting sleep (this works on a Macbook also). Why is this the least convenient? As when your computer goes to sleep, your applications stop running and it takes time for your computer to wake from sleep, which isn’t convenient if you are after something fast.

More after the jump. Continue reading »

Leopard was released with a bunch of new, exciting features for user’s to use. One of these, while used by many Mac users, is Spaces. However, there are a lot of little tips and tricks for Spaces that you may not already know and just how useful they really are.

First, let’s turn on spaces. In System Preferences, hit "Expose and Spaces". As you can see, I have four spaces set up. Now, I already know how I want to arrange my spaces. Space one is to be for my internet, space two for MSN, space three for Mail, and space four for iTunes. Therefore, I set up application assignments for this. This is very important for MSN, as you may find that while you are surfing Have Another Apple, a MSN window appears in the wrong space. Assigning it to one space will prevent this from occurring.

Now for the tricks (after the jump)… Continue reading »

 This Mac look familiar? A bit old? Well now this Mac 512k is running Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).   Creater Dave Clausen put the insides of a Mac Mini into this 512k, and set it up.  The monitor and a few other things changed too - but it looks just like the old Mac 512k, even the mouse.  Read more to see the video Dave made, and don’t forget - Macworld starts tomorrow! Continue reading »