Posts Tagged ‘Tips’

The Hackingtosh G4. -Part 1

By Luke On Mar 18, 2009 Apple | Hacks/Mods | Linux/UNIX | OS | Tips 0 No Comments Tags: , , ,

This is a documentation of my project to mod a Powermac G4 into a hackintosh.
Very little effort went into the research of compatibility. I was shopping on a budget and I knew if they didn’t fit I could just get a cheap pc case.
So, $470 dollars later my tigerdirect shopping cart is full of mostly everything I need.

    As of now I have been able to install the new Hard Drive, DVD Burner, and Power Supply into the G4.

      Read on for pics,. Read More

      The Week In Review.

      By Luke On Feb 21, 2009 Apple | Hacks/Mods | Rumor | Tips 0 No Comments Tags: , , , ,

      newminiWhat did Apple do the week of Febuaray 15th – 21st? Read on to get the goods.

                      Keep your eyes open for my upcoming review of Linux Mint 6 (64bit) on the MacBook Pro as well more Apple tips, rumors, and news!

                        Interested in what I do when I’m not blogging? Follow me on Twitter to stay up to date. Twitter.com/lwestlie

                        Power Management Tips for your Portable Mac

                        By Luke On Feb 19, 2009 Apple | Hardware | Tips 1 1 Comment Tags: , ,

                        cycles-illustration20090106Quick tips for keeping your battery in tip-top shape:

                          • For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. (This means not leaving it plugged in 100% of the time
                          • Fully charge and discharge your battery at least once a month.
                          • Have a spare battery you don’t use to often? Don’t store it with more then a %50 charge. (if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may experience some loss of battery capacity)
                          • Be sure to store your notebook and battery at the proper temperature (Between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit)

                          Looking for more info on battery management? Try Apple.com/Batteries

                            4 ways to get top quality HD content

                            By Luke On Feb 4, 2009 Tips 0 No Comments Tags: ,

                            More and more HD displays are making there way into our houses. Today the issue isn’t really the TV, its the source. You all know the TV can only look as good as the content passing through it. A high quality source is required to make any TV shine.

                              Here are 4 sources for top quality video.image_ducati

                                1. Physical Media. Nothing can really beat a Blu-ray player and a well mastered Blu-ray title. If you were to try and streaming Blu-ray quality media over the net, everyone would need at least a 27Mbps internet connection. Most of residential America is still limited to 10Mbps. Supposed HD web content usually has an HD resolution but bitrates top out at around 1-2Mbps. If you adverse to the prices of buying, why not give Netflix a try.
                                2. OTA/Cable/Satellite. While the later two can get kid of pricey, if you live in a big city you can usually receive somewhere around 15-30 HD Channels for free. All you need is a digital HD antenna. OTA (Over The Air) quality is usually much great then that of cable and satellite due to the lack of bandwidth restrictions.

                                  3. Read More

                                Stream media to your PS3,Wii,and 360 from your Mac.

                                By Luke On Jan 30, 2009 Apple | Games | Hardware | Media | Software/Freeware | Tips 2 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

                                More then likely either you or someone you know owns one. They are Muti-Media powerhouses. Great user interfaces and access to the internet make all of them ideal candidates for one thing. Media Streaming. That is, streaming your HD movies, tunes, and pics over your home network to your PS3,Wii, or 360. It may sound daunting, but these 3 little apps make it a breeze!

                                  First up, Sony’s Playstation 3.

                                  MediaLink. Your PlayStation 3 has been craving the media on your Mac. Finally, complete Macintosh and Playstation 3 integration is upon us. MediaLink can stream Music,Video, and Photos to your Mac. It does so by taking advantage of the UPnP technology of your router.

                                  Enjoying your media through the PlayStation 3 has never been this easy, on any platform — and the Mac isn’t just any platform. Its our favorite platform, so we’ve taken great care to create a seamless solution. MediaLink can stream and copy the following formats to your PS3: MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV-MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4-H.264, DIVX, XVID-AVI, WMV, ASF-JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP-RAW, PDF, PS, EPS, TGA.
                                  Read More

                                  5 Battery saving tips to save you.

                                  By Luke On Jan 30, 2009 Apple | Tips 0 No Comments Tags: , ,

                                  My laptop comes with me everywhere I go. I wake up in the morning, toss my laptop in my bag and head out. Often I don’t get back home for another 5-6 hours. This means I need my battery to last me all day. I do take the charger with, but I often never have time to stop and plug in. Here are five simple tips I follow to make sure my battery lasts me all day.

                                  1. WiFi – Don’t get me wrong, I love being connected but it’s not necessary 100% of the time. I batterylike to blog on the go, but when I write I make sure to switch the WiFi off until I am ready to publish my post.
                                  2. Screen Brightness – I will admit that a nice bright screen is very fancy, but at times, its just not all that practical. You can skip this if you have the automatically adjust screen brightness checked in system preferences. If you don’t have that checked, you can easily forget that you have your screen blasting as bright as it will go.
                                  3. Keyboard Brightness – Handy as it may be, it’s just another drain on your battery. Keep it off unless you need it.

                                    4. Read More

                                  The 20 Most useful Apple websites

                                  By Luke On Jan 17, 2009 Apple | Software/Freeware | Tips 1 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

                                  webapp2A list of the 20 most useful Apple websites to help you get more out of your Mac.

                                  Applications:

                                  1. macapper.com
                                  2. versiontracker.com
                                  3. macupdate.com
                                  4. Apple.com/downloads
                                  5. opensourcemac.org

                                  Forums/Support:

                                  1. discussions.apple.com
                                  2. forum.insanelymac.com
                                  3. forums.macosxhints.com
                                  4. macfixitforums.com
                                  5. mac-forums.com

                                  Read More

                                  3 tips to get more out of your mac in 2009

                                  By Luke On Jan 3, 2009 Uncategorized 0 No Comments Tags: , ,

                                  tools2008 is officially gone. Thank goodness. 2009 looks to be full of challenges and obstacles, so, you are going to need all the help you can get. Here are 3 tips to help you get more out of your mac in 2009.

                                  1. Wipe that hard drive. If you have been using the same install of OS X for over a year now, a fresh install can do wonders. Over time, whether you wanna believe it or not, OS X does slow down. It is hard to notice because it happens slowly but you will notice a difference after you reinstall. The included archive and install function makes it very easy. (Note: If possible, backup your data and do a fresh install, This results in a faster OS)
                                  2. Make some room. Performance can really suffer when your hard drive gets backed up. I like to always have at least 10GBs of free space.  This is mainly due to the fact that OS X utilizes virtual memory and free space is required to get the best performance.
                                  3. Keep those permissions in order. OS X utilizes a permissions database which prevents conflicts and ensures smooth operations. Occasionally after many programs have been installed and or removed conflicts can arise. These conflicts cause delays and stability issues. The simple way to fix this is to launch OS X’s Disk Tools located in the Utilities folder. Then choose the drive which has OS X installed and click on repair permissions. If all goes well all conflicts should be automatically fixed.

                                  Do you have any tips? If so we would love to hear them. Why not post them in the comments section below! Thanks for reading and enjoy 2009!

                                  3 easy to use finance managers for your mac.

                                  By Luke On Dec 8, 2008 Apple | Software/Freeware | Tips 0 No Comments Tags: , ,

                                  As of lately I have started keeping a closer eye on my money. Being able to organize and track my expenses has actually started saving me money. Now, it may not sound like the most exciting thing to do, but if you are looking to grab a hold of your finances by the horns, here are three little apps to help you out.

                                  1. iCompta 3.0 – iCompta is a freeware app that has support for multiple accounts, graphing, budgeting, and sorting/filtering. Ease of use and $0 price tag make iCompta a great choice
                                  2. Fortora Fresh Finance – Fresh Finance is a slightly more sophisticated app. It can handle a bit more information and is better suited for complex spending habits. Credit card monitoring, loan monitoring and upcoming paymernt alerts are a few nice features.
                                  3. Money 3.2 – Money is by far the most appealing and easiest to use. $40 is a bit high but if you are looking to seriusly monitor and manage your finances from your mac, Money is the way to go. Budget planning, expense reports, and portfolio summaries are just a few of the great features Money has to offer.

                                  Give ‘em a try. You may be surprised with how much good they can do for you and your budget!

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