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Open DNS

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:29:20 +0000

Not more Open stuff...oH yes

Domain Name System: A system of servers located throughout the Internet that handle Internet connections and the routing of email.

Its the back bone of the internet , its what translates a number like 169.195.17.53 into a domain that begins www.

If your dns servers are slow as I find many ISPs are then Open DNS is the one for you.

Firstly its free, its easy to set up on your mac or mac system...

Open VPN

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:20:00 +0000

A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network (e.g., the Internet) instead of by physical wires.

You can link offices by it, or it could link you to your Grandma and help her fix her mac remotely

Some broadband routers have vpn built in but you can use software on your mac with a braodband connection to be safer and securer behind a firewall for instance Open VPN is....

Use the Mac speech utility to proof read documents, essays etc.

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:17:06 +0000

Proof reading is a difficult business some people pay others to proof read their documents, save your money and get your mac to do it. Yes your Mac can talk to you; and you can harness this power to get your mac to read documents to you, essentially proof reading them.
To get past our own inbuilt desire to see a document the way we think it sounds rather than actually what we have written you get your Mac to read your document to you. I suggest using Alex the system voice as this is the most advanced...certainly in Leopard mac 10.5
Now how to do this... set up text-to-speech in System Preferences. Click on Speech, then the Text to Speech tab.
Heres where you can select the supplied voices. When you've decided which voice to use, check the box marked "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" and click the Set Key button. Then set the key sequence you want to use to start the mac reading your text.
Then simply select the text you want read, then press the key command, and your mac starts speaking. Press the key command again to stop.
TextEdit, has some of this already built in and I would say is an underused tool in the mac applications folder.

As a registered user you can help write this blog

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:16:42 +0000

As a registered user you can submit items for this blog under the "submit news" in the menu on the right having clicked on macmendblog and you can comment on any article.

We welcome your input and opinion

No Google Chrome Browser for mac

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:00:02 +0000

So you were looking for the new google chrome browser, well there isn't any for us mac users. Doh!

I am informed after the press conference to announce Google's new Web browser, Chrome, Google cofounder Sergey Brin asked BoomTown's Kara Swisher if she'd try it out. She is reported to have responded "But you don't have a Mac version, baby, so no," "I know, I know, it's embarrassing," says Brin. "When is that coming out?" Swisher asks. Brin, then appeared to look over his shoulder to be rescued and He says: "Um, I don't have a date for you. I'm going to have to get back to you. I'm asking every day. I hope it'll be a matter of months."

I really hope we have not gone backwards, in things not being made for macs or could it be that in order to protect safari and with the Google guy on apples board they have deliberately not brought out Chrome for Macs.

In the corporate world of computing there's no such thing as a free lunch.

More uses for stickies in mac osx

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:15:08 +0000

Did you know ...If you are in any cocoa based application and select some text or text and an image then press Command-Shift-Y hey presto...the text is automatically stored in a sticky note on your desktop.

This is really useful when surfing, but for you firefox people...it doesn't work in firefox

Whats going on in your mac - iStat

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:37:40 +0000

Our recent purchase of a the macbook air with the high speed fan at time when you would like things to be quiet, has made us realise the importance of knowing what goes on in your mac.

iStat does all that and more, it is the essential tool that tells you everything you need to know about what is happening in and on your mac.

It comes in two versions as a dashboard widget and a menubar item. At macmend we always wondered what these kinds of utilties were for, now we know.

You can find iStat at
iSlayer

Top 5 widgets for Mac OSX

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:50:00 +0000

I hardly used widgets at all because they dont appear on the desktop, then I got into yahoo widgets and wondered why i was using them and not the inbuilt OSX ones.

There are 3 ways of using widgets, via the dash board, using a bit of terminal and F12 to make an individual widget appear on your desktop or using Amnesty Now with OSX 10.5 you can make your own widgets by using safari to clip parts of web pages, this is especially usefull if you dont want to both with RSS and can get headlines and updates via your clipped widgets instead.

My top 5 widgets besides the ones I clip are:

To Do Widget

Links with iCal and list things I need to remember and do

iCal Events
Its a sort of desktop ical, listing calnedar events and more

ViewmyTV
does exactly what it says allows you to view umpteen TV channels on a widget.

Easy envelopes

Back in OS9 there were some useful envelope printing tools, It may sound boring but its very useful

iStat Pro
The ultimate tool to tell you what goes on in a mac, I have been using it lately for an old G5 imac that overheats to tell me what the temp is.

see what you think

how to sell your old mac on ebay

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:00:00 +0000

How to sell your mac on eBay

ask questions here : http://www.macmend.com/machelp/modules/newbb

Of course first you must register your details at www.ebay.com or the ebay site in your country (for me its www.ebay.co.uk) The choose an eBay User ID and password so youve got a trading identity on the site. If its just mac stuff you intend to sell its a good idea to make it a mac style identity. MacSeller or Mac bargain, like mine is macmend because I run the troubleshooting site at www.macmend.com.
Once youve found a good name and checked its available, you complete the sign on process and confirm your registration by clicking on the link ebay emails to you. Done all that? Well now youll now be signed in. Click on "Sell" at the top right of of your screen, enter your debit or credit card details and click "Continue." Its definitely worth registering with PayPal,( a basic personal account will do) as you get secure payments.
Go to My eBay and click "Related Links"> PayPal. Now you are ready to begin selling your mac Click on the Sell tab, choose a relevant category and sub-category for your item, usually something like Computing>Apple/Macintosh>(your type of mac here) then click Save and Continue. Enter details of your item on the Create your listing page. Include words likely to be used by buyers searching eBay for macs such as emac, G4, imac, mac mini, iPod etc.
The next step is to add a photo. You can include one image per sale item for free, and further images for a fee. Use an image editor to crop the pic to eBays standard 300x400 pixels, dont let eBay automatically resize it. Note you should save it as a Jpeg or GIF, then click Add Pictures to upload your photo.
State really clearly what the items condition is and enter a detailed description in the given field.
Now proceed to the Selling Format box and enter a Starting Price for bids. You can also set a Reserve price very useful when selling decent kit you dont want to go to a low bid.
If the reserve price option isnt visible, click Show/Hide Options at the top of the page. Specify the items condition and enter a detailed description in the appropriate field. Now proceed to the Selling Format box and enter a Starting Price for bids. You can also set a Reserve price a useful fallback if bidding is slow. If the reserve price option isnt visible, click Show/Hide Options at the top of the page.

Of course if all this is a bit complex and you want to sell your mac in an intuitive mac way i recommend two pieces of software:  "Garage Sale (Mac)" and "iSale 4.0 Personal Pro (Mac)" (Equinux)

They do it all for you. Dont let that old mac sit in a cupboard, sell it on ebay.

NB before selling any storage media or mac including internal storage media ensure you do not leave data on which you would not want others to see....initialise your disk and zero all data or secure erase. Good luck

How do I run Windows on my Mac

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:26:09 +0000

It is possible to run Windows and Windows applications on your mac but you will need to install software to do it. The software depends on which mac you have

If you have an Intel-based Mac

The new Intel macs are able to run Windows and Windows applications as quickly as other PCs. There are different ways of doing this.
a) Apple's Boot Camp, is to dual-boot between OS X and Windows. This approach provides the most compatibility with Windows software and peripherals, but it does not allow you to run Windows and Mac OS X applications at the same time.
b) Parallels Desktop uses the virtual machine method, and though it doesn't support as much Windows functionality as a dual-boot configuration, it allows you to run Mac and Windows applications concurrently.
c) Is the Windows compatibility layer, which allows you to run Windows programs without having to install Windows itself. Compatibility layers typically offer good functionality for a limited set of Windows applications. Here are some links for these applications:

* Apple Boot Camp
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

* Parallels Desktop
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

PowerPC-based Macs

For Power PC macs you need to install hardware emulation software. This works by mimicking hardware within an application. When you run a PC program in the emulation environment, the software takes the commands and translates them into code your computer understands. In this way you can run many PC applications and, with some programs, even multiple PC operating systems (e.g., Windows 98, Windows XP, Linux).The downside is its slow. However, if you only use PC software now and then, or if you are not bothered by slowness.

* Virtual PC for Mac
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc

* Guest PC by Lismore Software Systems, Ltd.
http://www.lismoresystems.com/en/index.php