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Archive for the ‘Hint’ Category

Use Scale Calibration Weights to Ease Start-up Commands

January 31st, 2010 No comments

Here’s a quick tip for other Mac repair technicians: use a 50 gram scale calibration weight to hold down keyboard buttons (like option, or shift). They fit perfectly on all Mac keyboards and only cost $5 with shipping.

You can find one of these weights on Amazon.com.

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Popularity: 1% [?]

Safari: Open .torrent Files Automatically After Downloading

April 12th, 2009 9 comments

I’m all about efficiency — especially when it comes to downloading my torrents. I’ve been gradually getting more and more annoyed that every time I download a .torrent file, I have to double click it (in the Downloads window) to have it open in Transmission.

Solution: Download this zip file which contains a revised version of com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist. This is the file that tells Safari what files are safe to open after downloading – it’s been revised to include .torrent files as “safe.”

After unzipping, just move the file to YourUserName/Library/Preferences; replace the file if it already exists.

Happy Downloading!

P.S. Thanks to Manuel Studer for this tip!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Trick to Easily Rotate Address Book Photos

March 19th, 2009 No comments

Since I just bought Cyntact for my iPhone, I’ve been moving my photos from iPhoto’s “Faces” into Address Book. Unfortunately, there is no easy (free) way to do this automatically, but I did stumble upon a neat trick when adding pictures to your Address Book contacts:


Option clicking the picture allow you to rotate it!

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It’s these little hidden niceties that make me love Macs!
Oh, and option+shift will snap to the hash marks along the circle :)

Popularity: 5% [?]

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

February 22nd, 2009 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.
Read more…

Popularity: 7% [?]

Use Your MacBook’s Magnets To Organize Your Desk

February 20th, 2009 No comments

Did you know that your MacBook display is more than just a display? It’s also a paper organizer, key holder, paper clip holder, business card holder; the possibilities are endless (okay, not really, but you can be magnetically creative).

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My MacBook display being used to hold business cards, keys, a lighter, and a receipt, along with a paper clip holding a bag of screws.

Keep reading for the details… Read more…

Popularity: 6% [?]