November 2007

This article could also be called “an introduction to Google Gadgets for OS X”, as that’s exactly what it is. At some point in the last few hours, Google Gadgets has become available to OS X users by way of the Google Updater (the software that comes with Google Desktop, Google Notifier etc).

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This brief tutorial will guide you in turning off some of the (possibly) unnecessary features in Windows Vista. [click to continue...]

Update: until I can find extras.zip (the file referenced in this tutorial, which is now offline) please see How to make Leopard look more like iTunes 7 - which includes making the scroll bars use the iTunes 7 “gray” style (among other things).

Using Extras from Abitbol software, you can change the default ‘blue’ scroll bars in OS X to the new gray scroll bars as seen/used in the latest iTunes.

boring old blue scroll-bars	new ‘iTunes style’ scroll-bars

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Using the small and free program NOMu, your OpenOffice.org documents are just a click or two away.

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This brief guide will walk you through the steps to make any of your programs transparent in Windows 2000 or XP. Transparency levels can be set on a per program basis, turned off and on again, and more. [click to continue...]

This tutorial will show you how to view the size of a folder, and all of its contents, in Windows Explorer. [click to continue...]

Thanks to the good folks over at xdd software, you can now install a small plugin for Quick Look that lets you view the contents of a zip file, without opening it.

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This tutorial will guide you in using HandBrake, an open-source DVD to MPEG-4 converter, to encode a DVD to a file format playable on your iPod.

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Shock Aero 3D is a task switching (alt-tab) utility that brings some of the Aero graphics (”Windows Flip 3D”) of Vista to Windows 2000 and XP. And though it requires a registration, it is free software.

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This tutorial will guide you in using free software for Windows to resize a group of files all at once (batch resizing). The input pictures can be JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG or HD Photo (.wdp, .hdp) format. The resized output files will be JPG. [click to continue...]

This tutorial will guide you through setting up Mail 3.1 - the email program included with OS X 10.5 (Leopard). [click to continue...]

Using the package ies4osx combined with Darwine 0.9.49, you can install and use IE 5, 5.5, 6 and even 7 (though it’s in beta) while running OS X. This tutorial assumes you have X11 installed on your Mac - if you’re using Leopard, it’s installed by default. If you’re using Tiger, you can find the installation instructions here. And it’s worth mentioning up front - Darwine requires that you have an Intel powered Mac.

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This article will take you through the steps to set up and sync your Windows Mobile device with a PC running Windows Vista. [click to continue...]

This guide will take you every single step of the way through making sure you have the right iPod software installed, “jailbreaking” your iPod Touch, and then installing 3rd party software on it.

1. Check your iPod Touch Software Version
2. Restore to Software Version 1.1.1 (if needed)
3. Jailbreak your iPod Touch
4. Installing Software on your iPod Touch

Note: The steps in this guide will be nearly identical if you want to jailbreak your iPhone, with the exception of the “Check your iPod Touch Software Version” and “Restore to Software Version 1.1.1″. The screenshots are specific to OS X, but Windows users should be able to follow along with no problem. [click to continue...]