I have become a Spotlight addict ever since my friend Dylan recommended that I use it. So it was with some dismay that I fired it up on my MacBook and suddenly it could not find some of my key applications. I tried searching the interwebs and all I could come up with was several recommendations that I try removing and re-adding folders from Spotlight. None of that seemed to work for me. In the end I decided to do a full reindex of Spotlight, which can take quite a while. In the … [Read more...]
Optimizing the dual monitor environment for the Mac Pro
May 23, 2008 By 2 Comments
Now that I've had the Mac Pro for a little over two full days I'm finding it a joy to work with. It's very fast and quiet and amplifies the Mac experience that started for me on the little MacBook. I have VMware Fusion up and running on it and most of my development environment in there and spent a big part of yesterday in Visual Studio writing code. Here's is what appears to work best for me: Even with the dual monitors and an effective 3200x1200 resolution I still love using Spaces. … [Read more...]
A Mac Pro is a Force to be reckoned with
May 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
For those that follow this blog regularly you know that yesterday I went out and bought a Mac Pro to compliment the MacBook that started my adventures into the Mac world after spending the last 24 years in the DOS/Windows camp. I won't go into too much detail here because my first day post with the MacBook and subsequent posts leading up to this one make it pretty clear that I have been impressed enough to actually switch to Mac. But didn't I switch to Mac back when I bought my MacBook? … [Read more...]
First impression of the new Mac Pro
May 21, 2008 By
I just finished setting up the machine and will post a little more shortly but I was really impressed with how easy it is to set up and configure the Mac Pro. I needed to add two additional drives and 10GB of extra memory (now totaling 12GB). Having come from the Windows world where I manually built my previous machines the construction and design for the Mac Pro is just excellent. I'll put it into perspective: Time to install an additional hard drive: less than one minute Time to … [Read more...]
Already time for a new Mac
May 20, 2008 By
I've had the MacBook for just over two and a half months now. I've grown to really enjoy working on the little machine; so much so that I will use any excuse to spend time on it. All my web browsing, RSS feeds, e-mail, word processing, blogging, instant messaging, etc. happens on the MacBook now. If I have a meeting outside the office I snap the machine shut, place it in it's form fitting black neoprene Incase sleeve and take it with me wherever I go. It has become my trusty … [Read more...]
1Password makes it easy to remember
May 19, 2008 By
Just the other day I wrote about the importance of using different passwords with different systems to protect yourself against someone effectively stealing your identity. Several folks recommended that I take a look at 1Password, a utility for managing passwords to different web sites. I've never been a big fan of password utilities. The main reason behind this is that I have a pretty large number of machines I use on a frequent basis and knowing my passwords is just something I want … [Read more...]
Mac: Keeping a white MacBook clean with Mr. Clean
May 15, 2008 By
I had a number of people tell me in the comments of this blog that I should check out Mr. Clean Magic Eraser when I complained about the palm rests of my MacBook becoming dirty. I mentioned this to my youngest daughter and over the weekend she went shopping with her mom and brought home a box of the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for me. I didn't even ask her! (Have I told you I have wonderful kids?) There's nothing really magical about a sponge with a little soap inside of it, right? … [Read more...]
Got a Mac? Let Alex proof your writing before you post it
May 14, 2008 By
I just wrote about using the text to speech capabilities with Alex yesterday and already I have found a use for "him" that is very cool and I want to share with you. Have you ever had to write a significant e-mail that you read through several times before sending out? How about a blog post, or even a comment that will be published on the web for all to see? You know the kind: you want to make sure you are sending the right message and that it reads well. What I started doing … [Read more...]
Mac: iStat pro Dashboard Widget
May 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
One of the first applications I downloaded and installed on my Mac was iStat menus, a wonderful little add in to the menu bar. iSlayer also produces a little dashboard widget called iStat pro. If you like to use your dashboard and want a quick summary of the health of your Mac you should check it out. Takes seconds to download and install. It has the one thing I wish iStat menu would have: a battery health monitor. You can download it from the Apple Downloads area. … [Read more...]
Mac: Have you met Alex?
May 13, 2008 By
For all the advances in personal computing technology there is one area that seems to have advanced very little: Text to Speech. Since I have not had a personal need for accessibility features I have only watched this as a typical consumer. The first time I saw a Text to Speech feature was back in the 1980s and what's odd is that up until very recently the voices produced sounded pretty much the same. With the release of Leopard Apple also introduced us to Alex, a new … [Read more...]
The Computer, The Painter, The Image and His Brushes
May 12, 2008 By 1 Comment
When Dr. Michael Roach asked me if I might consider writing an article for DigitalAppleJuice, I was taken aback. I am a painter, and, one could say, a primitive, when it comes to the making of digital images. At least I used to be. Over the past five years, for a number of very practical reasons, I have become more adept at manipulating images on my Mac, … [Read more...]
Mac: Fixing the Command-Control-D Dictionary Lookup
May 12, 2008 By
As I posted earlier, I figured I'd try calling on Apple Support to see if I could get a resolution to my shortcut key problem for the Dictionary Lookup. I had tried numerous things to resolve the problem, finally culminating in calling Apple's support team, to no avail. Yesterday afternoon (2 days after I initially contacted Apple) I got a call from John at Apple's Austin Texas support group. Super nice guy, saw my support case and he wanted to see if he could solve it. He mentioned to … [Read more...]
