Here’s a nice list of open source Mac software.
Category: Apple
MacFixIt – iBook problem
MacFixIt – Sudden loss of AirPort connectivity for iBook G4 mid-2005 series: I hope this doesn’t happen to my iBook!
MacTheRipper and MPlayer
I’m spending some time today looking around at various shareware and freeware Mac apps that might be useful on my new iBook. MacTheRipper is a DVD ripper for the Mac. This could be useful if I ever decide I want to rip a couple of DVDs to watch while I’m on vacation or something. Then, I could watch them with MPlayer.
Notetaking applications for the Mac
- NoteTaker from Aquaminds — nice look and some interesting features.
- StickyBrain from Chronos — lots of features. Can sync with iPod and Palm.
- NoteBook from Circus Ponies — big on outlining and general note-taking. Very colorful.
- MacJournal from Mariner — oriented towards keeping a personal journal and blogging.
- Formation from Radical Breeze — almost like a database program. Custom fields/forms, stuff like that.
- Hog Bay Notebook — appears to be a fairly simple notebook app. Nice-looking, though.
All of these are pretty interesting. Meanwhile, I’m still using iOrganize, which isn’t as flashy as any of these, but does the job.
iBook battery
I tried to calibrate the battery in my iBook today, but it’s 11:30pm now and it’s not quite drained yet, and I should probably just go to bed. Maybe I can try again tomorrow. Macworld has an interesting article about battery stuff too.
Sherlock issues
I had some Sherlock issues on my new iBook, but this page at Macworld had a solution (under the heading “Baffled by Sherlock”).
new iBook
My new iBook showed up today! So far, so good. Migrating information from the old iBook was really easy, using Tiger’s Migration Assistant. It took about an hour over FireWire. Now, I’m letting it run Software Update. That looks like it’ll take another hour or so. When all is said and done, I should have an iBook much like my old one, only with a bigger screen, faster processor, bigger hard drive, etc, etc. Much less hassle than I’d have migrating a Windows machine.
iTunes 5
You know, I completely missed this until I saw it mentioned in an article today. iTunes 5 has playlist folders! I’ve been waiting for this one for quite a while. It’s a really obvious feature, and I could never understand why it wasn’t there.
50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod
Here’s a list of 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod. I believe I’ve only done one of these.
firewire blues
After much research and many failed experiments, I have decided that my old iPod just doesn’t want to work with my PC. I don’t know if it’s hardware, software, or some combination, but it just doesn’t work reliably. So I gave up and went back to the iBook. I reformatted the iPod on the iBook, set up iPodder, downloaded a bunch of podcasts, and synced them to the iPod. It worked great, no problems. I’m thinking about setting up my newer iPod to sync everything but the podcasts, but I don’t think that’s really necessary; there’s plenty of room on it. Meanwhile, as long as I’m using the Mac, I’m looking at iPodderX.