As someone who has used Windows as my primary operating system for years, I got very comfortable with modding various parts of the user interface. One of the things that was most fun to change is the startup image - my favorite was a very official looking FBI splash screen that made it look like you were logging onto a government computer.

Since switching to the Mac platform, I've been surprised at the relative dearth of modding options for the operating system. Thankfully, Steven Sande over at our sister site TUAW recently posted about BootXChanger, which allows you to change the monochromatic Apple logo that you see when booting into OS X to something different. While it's not an entire boot screen, it is enough to give your machine a bit of personality.

It turns out that creating images for use on the boot screen is very finicky, but BootXChanger comes with a set of fifteen sample images to get you started. Right away I was torn between using the radioactive symbol, or the classic Commodore 64 logo. The radioactive symbol won for now, but given the ease of switching boot logos, I can imagine I'll be swapping between the various options or maybe even taking a shot at making my own soon enough.

[via TUAW]

If you're anxious for Snow Leopard to ship, you might be excited to know that you can grab copies of the built-in desktop images, thanks to the developer previews and a crafty blogger over at Uneasy Silence.

While there are four images out of the set of 35 that feature leopards, the rest of the images run the gamut from beautiful landscape photography to classic pieces of art. The images are offered as JPEGs, so even Windows users might like to pick up a few.

It seems to be a requirement now that major operating systems release with a relatively substantial set of beautiful images to be used as desktop wallpaper.

No longer can OS manufacturers get away with offering eight photos and a few tiling images -- remember tiling your desktop? Does anybody ever do that anymore?

In today's multi-device, always-connected world, one has to wonder how loud the call for Gmail to do IMAP has to get before Google pulls their head out of their ass server room and flips the switch. Our trick for using Gmail over IMAP might not be an easy 1-2 setup but it definitely works well. If you're looking for an easier method to simply allow multiple email clients to download your Gmail, however, UneasySilence has highlighted an unsung Gmail feature that should do the trick. Simply adding a 'recent:' prefix to your login credentials (i.e. - recent:user@gmail.com) in any of your secondary POP clients will allow that client to download up to the last 30 days of mail, regardless of whether you've already downloaded it. For those who would like to check their Gmail on a mobile device in addition to a desktop client, this is definitely a great trick to have, but it certainly isn't a replacement for IMAP as UneasySilence seems to be indirectly stating. For example: when checking messages over IMAP, you can use Client A (for the sake of discussion) to read a few messages, delete a few, maybe move some into folders or tag them using the plug-ins we mentioned. Across all your other email clients - including mobile phones - those messages will appear as read, deleted or filed away, with no further effort on your part. This is the beauty of IMAP and one of the many reasons why so many Gmail enthusiasts - widely known to be early adopters and power users - are clamoring for Google to join the rest of us in the 21st century by providing IMAP in addition to POP. Heck, even a nominal fee for IMAP wouldn't be out of the question.

So how about it Google? While spending all that time trying to make it easier to find and manage information, are you listening to how your customers would like to be able to manage their mail?

For those who have tried out or even purchased Parallels, odds are the first virtual machine you created was for Windows XP. I'm also willing to bet that you underestimated how large to create your virtual hard disk. If that's the case, then that clever chap Dan over at UNEASYsilence has put together an über-handy how-to on making some more elbow room for yourself.

Using a combination of the Parallels Image Tool and the GParted LiveCD you can, with little effort, add as much or as little space that you like to your Windows XP virtual hard disk. And since it's all virtual, you can test it out by making a 'backup' copy of your existing virtual hard disk just in case you run into trouble. (While you're over there, make sure to check out ToasterClone as well!)

Remember the flying toasters, from the early 1990s? C'mon, cast your memory back, I know you know what I'm talking about. That's right - After Dark, by Berkeley Systems! Those whimsical winged kitchen appliances charmed my parents on my Mac Performa 635 and, I think, helped to chip away at their Luddism just a bit. They flew right into my heart, that's for sure.

As the days of screensaver obsession faded away with the twentieth century, though, the toasters were all but forgotten. But now they're back, thanks to the ingenuity of the good folks at Uneasy Silence. ToasterClone is available for Windows and Mac OS X (Mac users may choose between "modern" and "classic" toasters). So download it today and relive the good old days!

(Thanks, Dan!)

UneasySilence brings word of a little known page which appears to be offering rare and coveted invitations to Google Spreadsheet and online word processing application Writely. The site is still accepting applications (shoot them your email, they shoot you the invites) as of 9:45 MST. I haven't received mine yet, but the guys at Uneasy usually have pretty good stuff. The only other way for us lowly intarweb users to get invites to these services is through knowing someone who has accounts already, and they are few-and-far-between.

Update, 11AM: Got my Writely invite.