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Archive for the ‘Applications’ Category

Listen to FLAC Audio Files in iTunes Without Converting

February 24th, 2009 Brian Cometa No comments
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While most online songs are in MP3 format, which is compressed and degrades audio quality, some are available in another format called FLAC. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. FLAC file sizes are much larger in exchange for superior sound quality (like a CD) — they also aren’t supported in iTunes.

I recently downloaded some FLAC audio tracks and started looking for the best way to get them into iTunes; enter Fluke.
Read more…

Popularity: 18% [?]

Use Text-To-Speech (“Start Speaking Text”) in Firefox

February 22nd, 2009 Brian Cometa 4 comments

A few days ago I made my yearly move from Safari to Firefox. It starts up quicker for me than Safari and web pages load 2-3x faster.

However, I was stumped today when I wanted my Mac to read me a Flash 101 tutorial. I went to Firefox -> Services -> Speech, but “Start Speaking Text” was grayed out.

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After a quick Google search I found a simple 2-step solution (thanks to aynmensch @ mozillazine): setup a shortcut key for “reading selected text” which can be evoked within Firefox.
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Popularity: 8% [?]

Control Your iPhone From Your Mac (ATTACH KEYBOARD TO IPHONE!)

December 13th, 2008 Brian Cometa 12 comments

If you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone (which, btw, is now possible with firmware 2.2) you can easily control it from your Mac (or PC). Check it out:

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What does this mean? How do you do it? Read more…

Popularity: 26% [?]

Fusion + XP + uTorrent = Super Fast & Reliable Mac Torrent Downloads

October 10th, 2008 Brian Cometa 5 comments

As previously mentioned, Transmission works for downloading torrents on your Mac. But lately, at least for me, it’s been slow and unreliable — so I’ve set out to find a new solution.

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While browsing forums for ideas, I found a post mentioning uTorrent. A few hours later, I was downloading torrents VERY quickly and reliably using a streamlined process: downloaded torrent file, torrent automatically opens in uTorrent (in Fusion/XP), torrent downloads very quickly, once completed the file is moved back to my Mac.

Keep reading for instructions on setting up this streamlined process…
A complete guide for setting up Fusion, XP, and uTorrent to give you fast and reliable torrent downloads on your Mac

Popularity: 33% [?]

Google Gear Plugin For Safari = Offline Google Docs

September 17th, 2008 Brian Cometa No comments

Google just released a Safari plug-in that makes your Google Docs available offline — when you don’t have an Internet connection. The setup process is effortless, here’s a quick-start guide:

Using Safari, go to the Google Gears web site and install. After installation, you’ll notice some new menu items on the docs.google.com site:

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Click the “Offline” link and you’ll see this pop-up:

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Popularity: 9% [?]