Quickies :-)

No, not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter :-) I a few pieces of software that I have used recently and they all work really well. But as one trick ponies, I am going to put them in one post as I have not been able to post on a regular schedule lately and I don't want to forget to tell you about them. So, with out further adieu ...

Spirited Away : Since I am always juggling lots of programs at one time, I fill my launcher bar up fast. Well, Spirited Away helps this. The program checks my minimized programs for use and if I haven't used them in a while it hides them making more room.... sweet :-)

Menu Shade : Menu Shade is pretty cool to get a clean desktop. It takes the bar at the top of the Mac screen and changes the color and sets a transparency level as well. The bar becomes full visible when you hover the pointer over it. This is good for taking screen shots or just for admiring your wallpaper in a more pristine environment :-)

Desktopple : Desktopple is a screenshoters best friend. This one trick pony hides everything on your desktop to take clean shots. This is great when you need takes shots for a work presentation but don't want them to see your Star Wars icons or funky wallpaper. This program will also hide everything before you hook up to a projector and show your prospects too much :-)

Dead.licious : If your like me you have a lot of bookmarks. In fact last time I checked I have over 1000 up at del.icio.us. Do I have the time to check them all for dead links? Heck no! Well, Dead.licious takes care of that for me now. Oh, and surprisingly on my last check, 1300 and all still good. Wow! lol

InsomniaX - The Missing Mac App

Did you know you can close the lid of your Mac laptop without it going to sleep? This is cool, well OK not so much cool and very 1999 (on Windows). This was one of the things I missed when I stopped using my old NEC laptop and started using my iBook. If it does exist in OS X, I have never figured out how to do it. This is a great tool, go get it! LINK




From the site.....

Version: 0.3

Description:
It always has been a missing feature: disabling the sleep mode on a Apple Laptop. Who does not want to use it as a big juke-box or go warwalking. The best looking server ever, especially at about one inch height. This small utility is what you will want, this small utility acts as a wrapper to the Insomnia kernel extension.

Perian for Quicktime

Perian is a great set of plug-ins. This was a gem of a find. I use Democracy Player to watch a lot of TV and vlogs. I really disliked the fact that on 3 or 4 out of 10 shows I would have to jump out of DP and launch VLC to watch the video. Well, after installing this last week, that number has dropped down to 2 out of 10. Not perfect, but better :-) Apparently DP likes it too since they are going to bundle it in there next version.



perian logo">

Perian is a free plugin that enables QuickTime to play almost every popular video format.

Download Perian 0.5

Note: Perian requires 10.4.7. If you have problems mounting the download, make sure that it is a .dmg and not a .dmg.bz.

With Perian installed, any OS X application that uses QuickTime can now use these additional media types:

• Divx, XviD, FLV, AVI
• MS-MPEG4 v1, MS-MPEG4 v2, MS-MPEG4 v3, DivX 3.11 alpha, 3ivX, Sorenson H.263, Flash Screen Video, Truemotion VP6
• These formats when they are inside an AVI:
  h.264, mpeg4, AAC, AC3 Audio, and VBR MP3.

SnapNDrag - Screen Capture

Since I have started to even consider doing a reviews blog I have seen the need for a good screen capture tool. I have been playing with the Mac print screen key combo, but it is awkward and does not give me any control on what to capture or when by using a timed shot. I came across SnapNDrag via Google search. It looked simple, flexable and fast... just what I needed. This software delivers just what it says. I dropped the file into my Apps folder was up and running in about 30 seconds. There is a setup feature, but it's really not needed. This program just works. Just click and drag as the below image shows. There is support for multiple file formats PNG, TIFF & JPEG are included.

SnapNDrag is designed to be simple and intuitive. There are four buttons on the left side of the window. The buttons correspond to these four modes of capture: Selection - lets you select an area to capture Window - lets you select a window to capture Screen - capture the entire screen Timed - capture the entire screen after a delay

The above picture and verbage is from their website. After using this for two weeks doing hundreds of sample screen caps, I give this package 5 out of 5, honestly there is no way to improve. If they add more into it the program would slow down or become more difficult to use. Truly a great program and I highly recommend that you go to Yellowmug and get a copy for yourself!

Cool Meditation Software for the Mac OS

Meditation Timer

After questing around the web to find a meditation tool to help me in my sitting I discovered there aren't many out the for the Mac. I came across Meditation Timer at the Mac Update site. It looked like it would do the trick so I gave it a whirl.

I have been using the software for about a month and a half and it works great. Basically its a simple countdown timer with a few extras. The software allows you to set a delay before start, a gong or bell noise at specified intervals. You can use your own sounds in mp3 format from your personal collection or from sound repositories on the web. Here is how from the included help file....

Adding Sound Files:
You can add your own sound files easily by adding an MP3 to the resources folder. Right click meditation timer, select "Show Package Contents", and open the 'Contents/Resources' folder. Drop MP3s here and Meditation Timer will automatically detect them.

The coolest feature is that you can export your sessions to iTunes. That means you can drop the mp3 on your iPod and sit in a park or anywhere else without the need to take your Mac with you :-) I have tried this at work using my headphones during lunch. The headphones distract me but the feature is great if you have a small set of portable speakers to plug into your iPod.

This program has become a part of my daily meditation sits due to the KISS factor. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The only thing I thing would add to improve the program is bundling mp3 importation into the program. If you meditate give this a try, I feel you will be very happy with it.