One of the only features some of us here like about Windows is that you can alt-ctrl-del and look at the open tasks and programs running at any given time.
It's nice to know what's sucking up all of your memory (pr0n) and what's bogging down your processor (DVD burning). Sloth for Mac OS X shows us exactly what's running, Windows style.
You can see which application is running which process, reveal the directory it's running out of, and kill it off if you want. If you're super geeky and/or bored you can even look at the IP and Unix sockets to see what application is connecting to the interwebs at any given time.
This is a really handy dandy tool, and the source is available too for monkeying...er, slothing around.
One of the better parts about Sloth is that it's a Cocoa app, and runs nice and slick on your Mac.
Do you know those cool art spinning booths at festivals and carnivals? Of course you do, they're awesomesauce aren't they?
Well now thanks to CosmicPainter from garageCube you can bring that to your Mac OSX desktop, minus the carnies and smell of funnel cake (booooo).
CosmicPainter lets you make designs from different pre-set shapes and colors, as well as from other images you already have on your computer. You can really dig in with the shading and depth choices on the pallette and make some really rad shapes and designs.
Why would you want to use this? Because it's hella fun and free.
We sat in front of this thing for hours and got completely lost. But Chris Pirillo, the tipster who sent this in to us, warned us that we'd get sucked in...and we're pretty sure you will too.
Update: Looks like we posted too soon. As commenters at TUAW pointed out, the workaround is not 100% foolproof. If someone is logged in via SSH under the same user name as the logged in user, it is possible that they can kill the ARDAgent process and run the script before ARDAgent reloads. While this requires additional finagling and timing and is an unlikely scenario for most users, please be aware that the issue is still unresolved. If you don't plan on using remote desktop at all with your Mac, you can archive and remove ARDAgent.app, which will rid your system of the program that can open up the vulnerability.
Yesterday, an anonymous Slashdotter posted about a security vulnerability in Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 that could allow a maicious party root access to your system. The vulnerability, which works by running an AppleScript on behalf of Apple Remote Desktop Agent, which because of the way ARDAgent works, sets the user ID to root. From there, any subprocesses are running with root privileges, without requiring a user password, and in the wrong hands, the results could be very, very messy.
Taking into consideration that several additional factors would have to be involved in order for any damage to unfold -- either physical access to the machine or a remote login under the same account that is currently in use or the end user would have to willingly run a malicious application -- this is still disconcerting enough for us to want a quick and effective resolution.
Luckily, there is a very easy way to protect your system from being affected. It turns out, if remote access is enabled under the Sharing pane in System Preferences -- even if no other users are permitted to administer or access your machine -- you're in the clear.
TUAW has a visual walkthrough on how to apply this workaround for both Tiger and Leopard users, but the fix is pretty simple. In Leopard, simple enable Remote Management feature in the Sharing panel, don't select any of the options and then select "apply to only these users" without defining any users. Now, if the potentially damaging script is run, your system will report an error instead of setting itself as root. Plus, if you do have a system that is managed remotely, that person can still acess your computer (just make sure they are listed in the "allowed users" panel).
If only all security threats were that easy to fix!
Been thinking about trying to install OS X on your non-Macintosh PC, but don't feel like hacking a bunch of configuration files to get the system up and running? In another week or two, you may not have to. EFiX plans to release a bootable USB stick that is purported to have software that will let you install OS X on any PC with an Intel CPU, as long as you have a retail installation DVD.
Keep in mind, even though you will need to buy a legal copy of OS X to use this method, installing OS X on a non-Apple machine is still a violation of Apple's terms of use.
It's not entirely clear how the EFiX USB stick works, but it does appear to work -- under some circumstances at least. OSx86 contributor netkas got his hands on an early version and shot the video above showing what happens when he used the stick with an OS X restore disc and his Macbook. You won't be able to get your hands on one until the developers begin selling the USB sticks on June 23rd.
Parallels for Mac, the crazily popular utility for Mac users to run Windows on their Apple computers in...a window has said the product's user base has hit 1,000,000 users.
That's a really nice pace for a piece of software not blessed by Mr. Jobs himself we'd say.
Right now the company's running a special where you can get 2 copies for $129. Kind of cool if you have multiple Macs around the house like a lot of you do.
Our question is this though:
Do a lot of people get Parallels and run Windows because they want to, or because they have to? Do people secretly love Windows XP (or egads Vista) but want to feel like a cool kid by having a shiny sexy Apple product?
Tell us what you think in the comments, if you're one of the 1,000,000 users of Parallels, why do you run Windows at all anymore?
Have you ever wanted to view or edit a file that wasn't sitting on your own hard drive? Sure you have.
It's either on your work machine, or on your mom's machine, or it's on your brother's Alienware gaming machine in the basement and you just don't want to get up to deal with it. You wish you had a network drive for all of these machines.
The great thing about external drives on the mac is that they show up on your desktop immediately. Like this little USB thumbdrives. We love how they JUST WORK.
Basically, ExpanDrive is a souped up SFTP client. You don't have to set up any configurations, you can log in to any machine with its current credentials to access files and edit them seamlessly.
Just like they were on your own drive.
If you get disconnected, no problem...you'll automatically reconnect when you're able to.
This basically lets you use any computer that you have access to as an external drive for storage. As long as that computer has an internet connection and is turned on...you're set!
Currently, the cost is $29, and that's an introductory price, so it could go up in the future.
We at Download Squad strive to find apps and services that make it easier for you to get things done. If that's what you're looking for, you should stop reading this post now, because once you start playing Neon Tango, you won't be getting anything done for a while. Neon Tango is 50 levels of colorful geometric space-shooter, set to an adrenaline-pumping soundtrack by Digital Droo.
The fun of Neon Tango is in its simplicity. While the visuals are pretty cool, the emphasis is clearly on gameplay. Your ship handles like a dream, and the variety of enemies in the three demo levels was sufficient to hold our interest through a few replays. Because the controls are so responsive, we wholeheartedly recommending playing a little Neon Tango as a break from work. The difficulty level of the game is adjustable, so blowing up rogue shapes can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be frustrating.
Neon Tango carries a $24.95 pricetag, which seems pretty fair for the hours of playing time and replay value you'll get out of it. This is, of course, not taking into account any money you might lose by gaming instead of working. The game will run on a G4 or better, and you can turn off some of the fancy visual effects if it's not fast enough for you.
Gawker lets you do time-lapse photography with your Mac's iSight. You can share and record your streams with other people, and they can record as well.
That's awesome. And very scary. Don't forget to turn it off before you go to bed, or the world wide interwebs will know that you sing Barry Manilow in your sleep. It was just one time, ok?
There's a neat page of examples that you can check out here.
The newest release lets you password protect your streams, schedule a stream to start and end, and some cleaning up of the user interface.
Apparently the folks over at the co-working space IndyHall were using it, and their fearless leader Alex Hillman tweeted about it.
So you love Mac OS X. We love Mac OS X. But you don't have the money to pony up for Office 200whatever, or maybe you don't even like it. Microsoft Office is overkill for most people who just need a simple word processor. We've used Open Office, but it's probably too much to play around with if all you want to do is write a document.
We've mentioned Bean before, along with other Mac "toolkit software", but a new version came out late in April (version 1.2.0)l, so we felt it deserved another look.
Do you often repeat the same HTML code, form emails, or text? jfSnips might be up your alley then. With jfSnips you can manage all of the text you regularly paste over and over again, as well as re-use everything you've copied in a clipboard, much like Windows does. Except this is for all of you Mac OS X lovers out there.
You can place clips of text in whatever categories you like, so you could have one for PHP code, Javascript, HTML, or whatever tickles your fancy. Just don't tell us about your fancy tickling, that's way TMI.
Keyboard shortcuts make it even easier to insert text wherever you like. A simple SHIFT-CTRL-V pops open the jfSnips drop-down that sits up in your menu bar. Easy.
So if you repeat multiple email signatures that go a little something like "Sincerely, Thurston Howell IV" over and over and over, then give jfSnips a whirl. You can download it and give it a 15 day try or pay $15 for a full license. If you're looking for a free option, or a commercial utility with a different feature set, check out our recent rundown of clipboard applications for OS X.
According an online survey/test performed by a group called IQLeague, MacPPC users who browse the interwebs with Firefox are the smartest web users alive.
Alexander Uslontsev says:
"IQLeague guys have some kind of online IQ test on their site and they group IQ scores of all visitors by different geographical locations (city, country, etc.)
Here is an interesting part - they also group IQ Scores by referrer website and by client browser and operating system."
MacPPC Firefox folks have an average 104.35 IQ, whereas those who use Firefox on Windows 98 have an average IQ of 91.66. Hey, what's wrong with Windows 98? We know plenty of smart people who still rock on the W98. Ok, maybe one. And we swear they're super smart.
What else did IQLeague uncover? Those that use Internet Explorer on Windows NT are smarter than those that use Internet Explorer on Windows XP.
Are you lucky enough to have more than one monitor on your computer? Sure it looks cool, and it's fun to show off to friends..but it's very helpful with productivity too.
What's the first thing you do when you set up a new machine or monitor? Throw up fresh new wallpaper of course! Your mom, your cat, or your wife or girlfriend (hopefully not both, awkward!).
It's out for Windows and Mac and only costs $10. It's well worth it because you can not only manage wallpapers on your monitors, you can add effects and gradients as well.
My favorite feature though? Set your wallpapers to change whenever you want. That's right, if you want new wallpapers at exactly 9pm, you can do it.
Give it a shot and drop a link to a screenshot of your hot new wallpaper in the comments!
By the time you're reading this, the download number for the latest version of the popular VLC Media Player is well past 81,297,899. And for good reason.
Ascross-platform, plays-every-type-of-media-file, and-for-free players go, it's tops in a lot of people's bookmarks. It's one of those toolkit apps that we have ready to go for the right occasion. You know, those moments when a friend gets a new Macbook and wants to play AVI (or MPEG, MOV, MP4, and many more) files. They ask you, and you fire back "VLC" without hesitation.
It's tough to get this type of mass following and community around an application, but VideoLAN has done it.
With really easy installs on Windows, Mac, and all of the popular flavors of Linux, there's no excuse not to give this a try if you haven't yet.
The major knock on VLC has been its bland interface, which obviously isn't their main focus with this app. But with skins you can liven it up a bit. It even works with Winamp skins. Remember Winamp? Of course you do, heck, some of us still use it (but refuse to admit it).
Give it a shot, put it in your toolkit. Pretty or not, it gets the job done.
If you're in the business of pirating colors from websites, then mooColorFinder is here to help you. Just type in a web address (say, your favorite blog) and mooColorFinder will return the colors used on that website. The colors are display as little tiles of color; which you can then mouse over to get the hex color.
Now, we should note that this web service doesn't seem to always work correctly on certain websites. We believe it has to do with the way in which the site was coded.
If you prefer desktop applications to web apps, you could always use DigitalColor Meter.app (Mac; found in /Applications/Utilities/) or Instant Eyedropper for Windows.
Have you ever needed to install an application, complete with custom setup and preferences, onto a large number of machines? The free program InstallEase aims to help streamline this process (and keep you from reaching for the Maalox).
InstallEase enables the user to create custom install packages for any application. Once the custom install package is created, you can use it to install the same application, preferences and all, on any number of machines.
So how does it work? While we'd like to say "by using furry gnomes," alas, that is not the case. InstallEase takes automatic snapshots of your system both before and after installation. The program then compares the changed data and uses that data to create the install package.
If you really like to get your tech hands dirty, you can manually create install packages by dragging and dropping which files will be added onto the InstallEase interface.
InstallEase also features the ability to create an uninstaller, custom filters, and support for PKG, Iceberg Project, and DMG packages.
InstallEase requires registration, and is Mac only.
One of the only features some of us here like about Windows is that you can alt-ctrl-del and look at the open tasks and programs running at any given time.
Do you know those cool art spinning booths at festivals and carnivals? Of course you do, they're awesomesauce aren't they?
Have you ever wanted to view or edit a file that wasn't sitting on your own hard drive? Sure you have.
Are you lucky enough to have more than one monitor on your computer? Sure it looks cool, and it's fun to show off to friends..but it's very helpful with productivity too.
