Entries Tagged 'mac' ↓

Not up to the messier parts of building a Hackintosh? EFiX is a USB dongle that promises to take care of all of that for you, automagically on any PC. Pop it into the port and you can install OS X straight from the DVD “without having to worry about patches, replacing files and anything like that.” Update: There’s a video demo of this black magic here.

If you’re thinking it sounds too good to be true and that the site looks a little scuammy, you should know that it took a lot of time to craft this voodoo stick and required the developers to thwart “various problems, including sabotage.” After six months of testing, it’s due on June 23. Our advice? Let someone else be the guinea pig. Hey guinea pigs, if you buy this, let us know how it goes! [EFiX via Insanely Mac via Hack a Day]

The idea behind AppleCore LLCs aTV Flash Drive is that users can reflash their Apple TV and add all sorts of cool and useful functionality without having to waste time scrounging around the internet looking for hacks. According to the product website, all you need to do is install the drive and it will do the rest—without voiding your warranty. But what sort of features will it add?

Key Features: - Play most video formats (DivX, Xvid, AVI, WMV, RMVB + more) - Play DVD files WITHOUT converting them - Sync, organize and watch non-iTunes video files - Browse the web with a Safari based web browser - Rent & watch Hi-Def movies from Jaman.com - Stream media from UPnP(v1) media servers - View local weather forecasts - View RSS Feeds - Enable SSH access - All original Apple TV features remain intact - And much, much more…

The drive will run you $59.95, which is a small price to pay in proportion to the enhanced functionality you will receive. This is in addition to the fact that it can save you a ton of time—not to mention one big headache. [AppleCore LLC via Palluxo via Crunchgear]

Apple screen savers are pretty much just Quartz Compositions (graphics created via Quartz Composer, a node based visual programming language), and, while there are some nice ones that come pre-installed, they get old rather quickly. You could opt to dedicate those idle CPU cycles to an altruistic effort (or just put your system to sleep and save energy). However, if you are looking to add some glitz and glamor to your workstation you need go no further than your own system.

Apple has squirreled away some gems right on on your own hard drive and the first place you should look is /System/Library/Compositions (in the Finder, hit Command-Shift-G and paste that path in & hit return). With that folder open, go to System Preferences and select Desktop & Screen Saver and select the Screen Saver tab. Now, you can test each one by dragging a .qtz file right onto the test panel in the Preferences window and either wait a bit or click Test. Notable ones include Defocus.qtz, Stix.qtz and Travelator.qtz. Some may require you to select a base image (click Options… to see if any of the Composers have options you can tweak).

Things get really interesting if you head on over (in the Finder) to /Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer/Compositions (which only exists if you install the Developer Tools from the Leopard Install DVD). You have to dig into folders, but you’ll find Image TV.qtz under Conceptual which mimics various Apple ads and the Apple TV intro quite nicely. There’s even a token Screen Savers directory where you’ll find a Quartz Composer that uses motion-detection called Security.qtz (it may not be the best choice for a screen saver if there isn’t a great deal of motion around your system).

Screen Savers DIY

If you do install the Developer Tools, definitely head on over to /Developer/Applications and startup Quartz Composer. Apple made it pretty easy to create your own visual delights. It’s as simple as dragging nodes around, taking input and specifying how data should be processed.

You can open up any of the examples to use as a starting point.

If you do give it a try, drop a note in the comments and share your creation with the world!

[via Mac Tips & Tricks]

Connect 360’s been out for a good long while, allowing you to stream music, movies and photos from your Mac to your Xbox 360. Why would you go with Rivet, an app that does just about the same thing but only costs $1 less? Mostly for its folder organization, which allows you to browse your files as it exists on your Mac, instead of in one gigantic list you need to scroll through. Other than this, there’s not a whole lot of huge difference between the two programs, but sometimes $1 is the difference between not having some Pocky and having some Pocky. [Cynical Peak]

Corsair, the memory manufacturer which sounds like a 1970s airline, claims that its new Mac-tuned RAM will make the MacBook and MacBook Pro run up to 28% faster. How does it perform this seemingly impossible trick? Low latency, the explanation for which is so dense we find it easier to just think of it as magical fairy dust:

Corsair’s Mac Memory features special Serial Presence Detect (SPD) profile characteristics, so that Macs can self-configure for optimal performance for critical applications.

The graphs look impressive. According to the one above, Corsair’s memory shaves almost 30 seconds from a fairly demanding Photoshop task (it’s also one of the only times you will read the words “shorter is better”). You can see the rest of the tests in the linked PDF below. Four gigs (2×2GB) will cost you around $160. Not crazy expensive, but more than the competition. Maybe Corsair is relying on the Mac owner’s reputation as a hardware spendthrift?

Press release [PR Newswire]
Low Latency Memory Performance on Apple MacBook Pro [PDF – Corsair]

Being able to access your Mac remotely from anywhere in the world would certainly be useful—but I'll be dammed if I am going to fork over $100 to the .Mac service for the privilege. Fortunately, cheapskates like myself don't have to spend a dime on Back to Your Mac thanks to a simple how-to guide from our friends at Lifehacker.

This solution does not have all of the bells and whistles as BTMM (like encryption options and a near zero configuration set up) but the bottom line is that you will be able to have complete control over your desktop remotely when all is said and done. Hit the link for instructions. [Lifehacker]

The ViDock Gfx is an Express Card/34 card and video box combo that can drive two external monitors. Nothing unusual there, except that the manufacturer claims this one is extremely fast and, quite frankly, seeing it in action in the photo above looked cool enough to be worthy of an entry in the Best Giz Readers’ Computer Rigs contest. The ViDock Gfx will be available in April in 128- and 256-MByte flavors. Full press release after the jump.

CeBit 2008 - Village Tronic will show ViDock Gfx, an extraordinary graphics docking solution for portable computers.
Hanover, March 4th 2008 - Village Tronic is proud to announce during the CeBit fair will that ViDock Gfx, the first product of a new family of graphics docking solutions for notebooks, will begin delivery early in Q2 this year.
The ViDock family of graphics docking solutions is aimed at the professional user that wants to use a single portable computer both on the road and with a large display area made up of multiple screens in the office.
ViDock Gfx allows IT managers and finance professionals to view large quantities of data across multiple screens. Creative professionals can take advantage of ViDock's powerful multi-display support to experience the final work on one screen while viewing edit commands on another. Home users and gamers can use ViDock to turn their notebook into a high performance graphics platform, with full HDTV support.
ViDock Gfx takes advantage of the fast connection offered by ExpressCard technology, the latest standard from PCMCIA for notebook expansion, to deliver an uncompromised user experience in term of speed, responsiveness, 3D acceleration and resolution support. Combined with DVI Dual Link and Dual DVI video output, all the displays currently in the market can be supported, including the 30" ones at 2560×1600. The operating system compatibility ensures support for Windows Vista, Windows XP and Mac OS X. Aero accelerated user interface for Vista is supported.
ViDock will be on the market bundled with the valuable software application "VTMultiDisplay" that improves the user experience when working with multiple screens.
Village Tronic is an international, Multi-Display company and since 1996 is the world market leader for independent graphics cards for Motorola based Work Stations. In 2004 Village Tronic ignited the Multi-Display-Revolution for Notebook workstations with the introduction of VTBook for the Windows, Macintosh & Linux platforms. For further information about Village Tronic and its products, please visit the company's web site: http://www.villagetronic.com. EMail: press@villagetronic.com

[Village Tronic via Impress]

What it does

File sharing for Macs is made easy with Dockdrop. This desktop app, which works with Tiger and Leopard, allows you to upload files to the internet simply by dragging and dropping files into Dockdrop icon. It will also add an URL to your clipboard, so that it can easily be pasted into email, chat, or a website. Prior to sending files, you will have to configure the protocol through which you want your files to be sent. Dockdrop currently supports FTP, Flickr, WebDAV and SCP. Once that’s done, you can share files regardless of platform via links; a an overlayed transparent window will keep you up to date as to the progress of each file transfer. Dockdrop is free to use.

In their own words

“Dockdrop is a Mac OS X application that lets you share files fast.

Drag any file or folder you want to share onto the Dockdrop dock icon then choose how you want to send it. Dockdrop uploads it and puts a URL for your upload on the clipboard, ready for pasting into an Email, chat program or website.

Dockdrop is currently available completely free of charge.”

Why it might be a killer

Drag and drop file sharing for Macs—this is incredibly fast and easy to use. Requires no laborious file maneuvering as everything can be dropped into the dock, and it’s rather simple to configure. Really couldn’t get easier.

Some questions

How difficult is it to configure the protocols for sending? Will this remain free? Can multiple files be uploaded and sent at once?

Updates

 » original news

Back in 2004, shortly before the release of Mac OS X Tiger, Delicious Library 1.0 arrived as a slick looking inventory cataloging application designed to manage listings of books, videos, albums and other media. This year, Delicious Library 2.0, curr…