Some tips this week to make your web browsing more pleasurable and effective, along with a great application for creating and retrieving text notes.

The first part of the show includes a couple of great bookmarklets which allow you to remove all distracting ads and extraneous content from web pages, so you can just focus on the content.

The first is Readability - a very smart bookmarklet that allows you to reformat a web page to your liking with a single click of a button. Also includes options to print or email the contents of the selected web page in a clean, easy to read format.

The second is AutoScroll - once you have your cleanly formatted web page, why not let AutoScroll control the scrolling of the page automatically, allowing you to kick back and just read!

These first two bookmarklets are excellent if you have time to read long articles when you find them. More often than not, we don't have the time to read them there and then. That's when we need InstaPaper!

InstaPaper is a free web service that allows you to mark web pages to read later, either on or offline. Similar to Readability, it also strips out all the distractions and provides you with a clean copy of the information that matters - the content of the webpage itself. Add in the ability to download your unread web articles in printable, kindle or ePub format, along with the availability of both a free and pay for iPhone application for offline reading, InstaPaper is an indispensable tool.

The last part of the show is all about Notational Velocity, a deceptively simple application for creating and searching textual notes. Built for mouse-less interaction and with its modeless operation, this application is screamingly fast at searching for existing notes and makes creating notes a breeze. All notes are stored in either a datafile (optional compression and encryption) or as standard text files for spotlight indexing. With full support for tagging and full text formatting, Notational Velocity is a great tool to keep on hand for all those little bits of information you need instant access to.

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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About This Weeks Show


To View the Trailer for the Members Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
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At last, a way to tame the beast that is Flash! A free Safari plugin that allows you to control what Flash content is displayed as you browse the interwebs. Cut down the distractions, stop your CPU from revving up and keep the heat down on your laptop. This great plugin also allows you control over YouTube, letting you default to H.264 formatted content and even download YouTube videos to your Mac in H.264 format for direct use in iTunes.

Watch the free show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

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This week, the second part of the exploration of the Mac OS X Utilities folder, and all the goodies contained within it!

Hidden away within the Mac OS X Applications folder is a folder called "Utilities", installed as part of a standard 10.5 installation. In this folder are 24 free utilities covering many different aspects of using your Mac. Last week, I covered the first 12 utilities, so this week, it's the final 12.

This second part covers:

• Grapher
• Java Preferences
• Keychain Access
• Migration Assistant
• Network Utility
• ODBC Administrator
• Podcast Capture
• RAID Utility
• Remote Install Mac OS X
• System Profiler
• Terminal
• VoiceOver Utility

Now some of the utilities I've covered before, and some, both you and I will never use. Where I have covered them before, I've included references to the other shows, and where the utilities are fairly obscure, at least you'll learn what they are all about and their intended usage!

Link to the iWeb website for the next show - MacMania09

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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---

This week, a whole folder of utilities! Yes, and all free!

Following on from a request for suggestions for topics for the Mac Montage shows, Steve Housley, a regular ScreenCastsOnline viewer, came up with a brilliant idea.

"How about starting at the top of the Utilities folder?"

Brilliant!

Hidden away within the Mac OS X Applications folder is a folder called "Utilities", installed as part of a standard 10.5 installation. In this folder are 24 free utilities covering many different aspects of using your Mac. So this week, I'll be covering the first 12 utilities, with the final 12 in next weeks show.

This first part covers:

• Activity Monitor
• Bluetooth File Exchange
• Boot Camp Assistant
• ColorSync Utility
• Console
• DigitalColor Meter
• Directory Utility
• Directory
• Disk Utility
• Grab

Now some of the utilities I've covered before, and some, both you and I will never use. Where I have covered them before, I've included references to the other shows, and where the utilities are fairly obscure, at least you'll learn what they are all about and their intended usage!

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
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To View the Trailer for the Full Free Show
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Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

Another great update to iWork 09 and that's the brand new version of Numbers, Apples very own spreadsheet.

Following on from an extremely impressive debut with Numbers 08, Apple has made some significant improvements to the new version of Numbers, making it a viable alternative to Excel for most people.

In this weeks show, I focus in on some of the new and improved features of Numbers '09, along with some not so new features thrown in for good measure. The full Extra! members show covers:

• In Cell Editing
• Absolute and Relative Cell References
• Headers & Cell Names
• Reorganising Data
• Categories in Numbers
• Conditional Formatting
• Linking Charts & Excel Integration

As I mention in the show, I don't think I've needed to open Excel once since installing this latest version, Apple have done a tremendous job on improving an already great product.
Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below


Back to other Apple tutorials

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Well I had to didn't I! This week saw the launch of the MacHeist3 Software bundle, a set of 12 amazing applications worth over $900 (when fully unlocked) for just $39, of which 25% goes to Charity! What a deal.

I've been heavily involved with MacHeist over the past two weeks as I was commissioned to produce the mini screencasts for all the individual applications plus the overview videos.

As I think it's such a fabulous deal, and I know a lot of ScreenCastsOnline viewers rely on me to keep them up to speed with special offers in the Mac community, I thought I'd do a special show this week featuring the 12 apps. Not to mention that the deal includes 25% of all sales going to charity so it really is a win, win situation all round!

I've included the 12 original promo videos in the show and have taken the opportunity to expand slightly on a number of them, giving some personal experiences of some of the applications I already use.

As I mention in the show, other than the fee for the commissioned work, I have no other ties with MacHeist so I won't be getting any commission of affiliate payments in connection with the total numbers of bundles sold, I just think it's a great deal!

Discussions: Forum

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A public service announcement this week! OK, perhaps not, but it sure feels like it. I've abandoned my schedule this week to bring you details of two outstanding Mac bundles that could save you a ton of cash.

To be honest though, it's not really the savings but more the fact that the bundles contain some of the finest Mac software available and I really don't want you to miss out on the opportunity of buying these applications at amazing prices. But for one of the bundles, you'll need to move very fast as it finishes on the 18th December 2008. To get the message out to the widest audience, this weeks show is not the scheduled members only show, so I'll be doing a couple of members shows in sequence in a couple of weeks.

Mac Switcher Bundle

The first bundle is the Mac Switcher Bundle which contains ScreenCastsOnline favourites 1Password, TextExpander and Witch.

For full disclosure I should point out that I've also contributed 10 ScreenCastsOnline videos from the archive, all aimed at the new mac switcher.

As I've covered both 1Password and TextExpander in previous episodes I've mentioned them in passing, but as Witch has not been covered before I've done a full section on Witch. Witch is a super window switcher for the Mac. Why do we need a window switcher when we already have Expose? Well, Witch allows you to switch between open and minimised windows of all running applications via the keyboard.

Four Safari windows open? Switch seamlessly between them with a few simple keystokes.

Witch displays an on-screen panel allowing you to see all open or minimised windows and navigate between them using the keyboard or even the scrollwheel on you mouse.

Check out the Mac Switcher Bundle here for links to all the applications. The bundle is available util 31st January 2008

MacUpdate Holiday Bundle

The second bundle is one you need to move fast on if you want to get it!

Containing applications we've covered before, new applications and updated applications, the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle is 10 applications at a killer price! I think it's fair to say that several of the applications are worth the price of the bundle individually if not more.

The bundle comprises the full versions of Rapidweaver, Drive Genius 2, Default Folder X, KeyCue, VirusBarrier 5, Little Snitch, WhatSize, MacPilot, iVolume and MacGourmet Deluxe.

The show gives a brief explanation of each application drilling into more detail for Drive Genius 2, Default Folder X, KeyCue, VirusBarrier 5, Little Snitch and WhatSize. Rapidweaver 4 will be explored in a full show in the new year so it may be worth snagging your copy now!

The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle segment of the show has not been sponsored or endorsed by any of the software vendors or MacUpdate but you can show your support for ScreenCastsOnline by using the special ScreenCastsOnline affiliate link - ScreenCastsOnline.com/mupromo


Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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This week is the final in the short series of product updates (at least for a month or two!) and I take a look at the newly launched version of PDFPen - PDFPen v4.

As well as PDFPen, I also take a look at a side benefit of some of the new features of PDF Pen that will help Evernote users in enabling PDF files to be fully searchable in Evernote.

As we're talking about PDFs, I also take a look at a free utility that allows you to take a standard full sized PDF and convert it automatically into a printable A5 booklet - very cool!

PDFPen has always been a great low cost PDF editor with some features previously only found in very expensive, top end editing applications. With the advent of PDFPen 4, there are even more features and the show will take a look at:

• Newly revised User Interface
• New Thumbnail view in the sidebar
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - This is a big one, enabling you to take your scanned, uneditable and unsearchable PDFs and convert them automatically to have full searchable and editable text.
• New Highlighting & Annotation Features
• New Print options for Comments and Notes
• New TIFF Output

The show also covers:

• Using PDFPen to convert your PDFs for Evernote
• Installing and using Create Booklet 1.0.1

Links:
SmileOnMyMac
Evernote
ScreenSteps
NosillaCast
Create Booklet

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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---

Another sneaky peak this week, this time on an update to one of the most capable image editors and that's Pixelmator.

Since its launch exactly a year ago, Pixelmator has firmly established itself as one of the stellar graphics applications for OSX, or as they like to say "Image editing for the rest of us". Sporting many features previously only seen in high end image editors (and now with additional features not seen in high end images editors), Pixelmator delivers a wealth of functionality and some leading edge technology. With the advent of the soon to be released Version 1.3, the Pixelmator developers have been focussing on delivering better performance and re-working and adding to Pixelmators rich toolset.

For this weeks show, I've split the contents into two halves:

The first half is all about the new tools and significant enhancements to some of the old tools. This section covers:

• Smart Palette Hide
• Magic Eraser
• Magic Wand
• Enhanced Paint Bucket
• Hue and Saturation
• Replace Color

The second half of the show looks at some of the other features and techniques used within Pixelmator to make it such a powerful package. These include:

• Layers
• Layer Masks
• Clipping Mask
• Curves Tools
• Gradient Tool
• Transform Tools
• Crop Tool

And don't forget, there are a wealth of filters and effects also available in Pixelmator that I ran out of time to cover. Check out the previous screencast to see some of these in action.

Please note, Pixelmator 1.3 is due for release in the next week or so!

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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---

It's here! One of the most eagerly anticipated applications for both the iPhone and iPod Touch is here - 1Password.

Regular viewers will know that 1Password is one of my favourite apps for the Mac and I use it each and every day to manage my passwords, my internet identities and also to protect me against phishing scams. Although, previous versions of 1Password offered support for the iPhone via Safari bookmarklets, I've been longing for the day when a native 1Password application would be available for my iPhone.

Much to my delight, a few days ago, Agile Web Solutions released a native iPhone/iPod Touch 1Password application via the iTunes App store. What's really amazing is that the App is a free download!

In its standalone form, it allows you to keep a secured database of your usernames and passwords (and notes) for your commonly accessed websites. However, its real power comes when you combine it with the 1Password desktop application (available from Agile Web Solutions). 1Password for the iPhone allows you to sync over WiFi with your desktop 1Password data, giving you access to all your stored URLs, usernames, passwords and secure notes in your pocket! Just configure the iPhone application to securely connect to your Mac over WiFi and transfer all your invaluable web data to the iPhone or iPod touch.

This show covers:

• Installing the iPhone Application
• Setting up the 1Password Desktop Application for Sync
• Configuring the iPhone Application
• Syncing your 1Password data
• Accessing your Logins
• Using your Logins
• Using the 1Password Mini Browser
• iPhone 1Password Settings
• Accessing Secure Notes on the iPhone

In addition, the first part of the show covers a few of the major changes to the Desktop application since we last looked at it back in December. These include:

• Additional AntiPhishing Support
• New Autosave prompt in Safari
• Go&Fill HUD in the Web Browser

Along with some invaluable preparation tips you need to undertake before syncing your iPhone or iPod touch with 1Password for the first time.

Correction: One slight error in the screencast - The keyhole icon in the mini browser is in fact the list of "Logins available for the current website" not the current open browser sessions. Mind you, the developers like that idea, so you never know!

Link to buy 1Password Desktop edition - ScreenCastsOnline Affiliate Link
Link to the free iPhone App - App Store

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
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An invaluable utility this week, one that I seriously could not function without!

It's TextExpander from Smile On My Mac.

On first glance, it looks like a very simple utility to help you save time. It allows you to create small textual abbreviations that, when typed, will expand into words, sentences, paragraphs or even images. It can even trigger AppleScripts, just by typing a few characters or even a single character!

What's really special is that it's a system wide utility so you're not restricted to just your email or word processor, TextExpander works with all the applications on your Mac.

Speed up your typing, use it to auto-correct commonly misspelt words, respond to emails in a flash, generate tons of CSS or HTML code, TextExpander really does give your productivity a boost.

In this weeks show I cover:

• Some common uses of TextExpander
• Creating your own Snippets
• Using Date and Time Variables
• Positioning the cursor in Snippets
• Using text selections to create Snippets
• TextExpander Groups including
• Adding from a File and URL
• Predefined Snippet Groups
• AppleScript Support

The free version of this weeks show is sponsored by Smile On My Mac and they have kindly offered a 20% discount to ScreenCastsOnline viewers up to July 31st 2008. To purchase TextExpander using this discount, just visit the special ScreenCastsOnline landing page at

http://www.smileonmymac.com/sco

Discussions: Forum

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
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by right clicking or CTRL clicking on this link Download Show
and select "Download Linked File" in Safari or "Save Link As..." in Firefox.

Watch a low resolution version of this show from this web page by clicking on the video below.

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Time for an update on an application I last looked at over 12 months ago. Acknowledged as the premier diagramming, charting and visualisation tool for OSX, OmniGraffle has recently been relaunched with a mojor upgrade - OmniGraffle 5.

Available in both Standard and Pro versions, OmniGraffle is the tool that Mac users rely on to produce diagrams, process charts, UI mock ups and much more. Recognised as a perfect Visio replacement for switchers coming across to the Mac, OmniGraffle is a delight to use (see this recent blog post - "OmniGraffle makes it easy to leave Visio behind") combining simplicity with ease of use to deliver outstanding results.

This weeks show revisits some of the functionality I examined in the last show but focuses more on the new features in OmniGraffle 5 including:

• User Interface Update
• New Toolbar
• Configuring Drawing Tools
• Mini Inspector
• Style Tray
• Tools Basics including:
• New Bezier Line Tool
• Diagram Tool
• New Layout Engine
• New Stencil Palette
• Graffletopia Integration
• New OmniGraffle Pro features including:
• Subgraphs
• Presentation Mode
• Visio Compatability

This weeks free show is sponsored by the Omni Group and they have kindly offered a special discount to ScreenCastsOnline viewers. You can get 10% off any purchase of OmniGraffle 5 (upgrades or new purchases) by using the promo code:

SCO_OG5

when making your purchase.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Preview is one of OS X Leopards hidden gems. So much so, that most people are only aware of a fraction of its somewhat surprising range of features and capabilities!

Preview received a complete makeover with the release of Leopard, providing you with lots of additional power and flexibility. The great thing is, it's free and it's on all Macs so you never have to falter to make that image correction when your favourite shareware or freeware application isn't installed on someone else's Mac.

In this show, I'll take you through all the basic features of the latest version of Preview including:

• Image Capture
• Viewing Single and Multiple Images with Preview
• Slideshow Views
• Managing Images within Preview
• Color Correction
• Image Annotation
• Image Conversion and Resizing
• Opening and Re-arranging PDFs
• Annotation and Mark Up of PDFs
• Searching
• Bookmarks

See, I told you there was a lot to Preview!

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Simple. Intuitive. Powerful. That's the strap line for this weeks application which is VectorDesigner by TweakerSoft.

Causing quite a buzz earlier this year by winning a "Best of Show" 2008 and also being featured as one of the premium applications in the last MacHeist* promotion, VectorDesigner is a fully featured vector drawing application.

Unlike raster or bitmapped based drawing applications such as PixelMator or Photoshop, VectorDesigner uses vector based graphics allowing you to create drawings that are infinitely scalable without any degradation or loss of quality. VectorDesigner has some pretty amazing features including:

• Fully editable Smart Shapes
• Bezier creation and editing
• Flowing text along a path
• Flowing text inside a shape
• Boolean operators
• Layers
• Image filters powered by Core Image and Quartz Composer
• iSight Integration
• Flickr Integration
• Scanner Integration
• iLife photo browser

In addition, VectorDesigner also allows you to import or scan raster based images and convert them into scalable, editable vector graphics.

This weeks show touches on all these features (OK, except for iSight integration, I don't think you're quite ready for my ugly mug in a screencast yet!) and even takes you through creating a vector image design from scratch.

Of special interest is the Flickr integration that allows you to browse Flickr via a VectorDesigner Flickr browser and search for images and photos based on subject, colour or your own criteria. Once you've found an approriate image, just drag the image directly into your own VectorDesigner document as a new image or to add texture to an existing object.

This week is a free show and is sponsored by TweakerSoft.

To order your copy of VectorDesigner with $10 off the usual price, just visit:

TweakerSoft store.

The offer is available until the 23rd May, 2008.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

* If you'd like to see more tutorials on applications that have been featured in the Macheist promotions, just click on the MacHeist logo or on the "MacHeist" category in the sidebar. ScreenCastsOnline is not affiliated with MacHeist but offers these tutorials as a service to the Mac community!

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Finishing off the trio of shows all about iWork '08, this weeks show brings you up to date with the newly revised Pages'08, Apples flexible, yet powerful, word processor and page layout application.

Addressing the major complaints about Pages'06, mainly that it wasn't a "proper" word processor, Apple have completely revised Pages '08 to include a brand new "word processor" mode, in addition to its original page layout mode. To make it even easier to use, Apple have also introduced the context sensitive format bar in line with the other iWork applications to allow for less reliance on the inspector panels and give you control of the common elements right within the application window itself.

Following on from the previous show I did on Pages '06 (nearly two years ago!), this show will bring you up to speed on lots of the new functions and capabilities of this outstanding package!

This weeks show is a free show, but there is an extended show available for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members with an additional 10 minutes of content and chapter marks. Extra! members will receive the extended show automatically as usual.

The show covers:

• Introduction to Pages '08
• Using the Format Bar
• Paragraph, Character & List Styles
• Page & Section Breaks
• Tracking Changes in Documents

The Extra! members extended show also covers:

• Working with Images in Pages
• Instant Alpha
• Wrapping Text around images
• Masking Images and Picture Frames
• Text Flow in Page Layout Mode
• Exporting

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

Back to other Apple tutorials

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ScreenSteps is a great application from Blue Mango Learning Systems that makes creating, annotating and publishing instructions or task based documentation a breeze. Now although ScreenCasts are a brilliant way to get across complex information, sometimes there's no substitute for step by step instruction manuals with clear screenshots and good, consise instructions. The problem with creating "printed" documentation is that it can be difficult to assemble and can go out of date very easily requiring Herculean effort to update. And as for trying to keep on top of changes to videos - forget it!

Screensteps is cross platform application for both the Mac and Windows, which allows you to create libraries of "lessons", each lesson being a step by step process covering whatever tasks you want to document. Available in both a free version and a pay for version, the application has comprehensive tools built right in for screen capture and image annotation to easily and quickly build up step based documentation. Once you've created your lessons, ScreenSteps also has some powerful export functions that allow you export your lessons in either customised PDF or HTML format (in the pay for version) or even directly to a hosted ScreenSteps Live web service (included in the free version as well as the paid for version).

As well as exporting individual lessons, ScreenSteps allows you to organise your lessons into topics and sections, allowing you to create individual PDF files or HTML output containing an entire Library of lessons complete with a table of contents and easy navigation. The PDF version collates all your lessons into a multi page PDF whilst the HTML output provides all the code you need to upload to your website for online documentation.

If you're not sure about uploading HTML files to your website (or if you don't have a website) be sure to check out Part 2 of this ScreenSteps show where I'll be taking a look at ScreenSteps Live, a free service to host your ScreenSteps lessons. ScreenSteps Free and ScreenSteps Live are tightly integrated and it's really easy to export your lessons directly and automatically to ScreenSteps Live from within ScreenSteps.

As well as the free options, there are Standard and Pro versions of ScreenSteps which allow you to export locally to PDF and HTML so once you've tried the package, you can upgrade to get the full features.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

Part 1 - ScreenSteps Desktop Application


Part 2 - ScreenSteps Live

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Not one but two top applications featured in this weeks show! This weeks episode is sponsored by Houdah Software and I cover both HoudahSpot and HoudahGeo.

HoudahSpot is no stranger to regular ScreenCastsOnline viewers as we covered it back in March 2007. Since then, HoudahSpot has been completely re-written to take advantage of some of the new technologies in OS X Leopard. HoudahSpot is really what Spotlight should have been and even with the improvements to Spotlight in Leopard, HoudaSpot enables you to take search on the Mac to the next level. It doesn't replace the underlying Spotlight engine, it justs gives you a much more flexible yet powerful "front end" to your Spotlight data. Add in Templates, the new BlitzSearch Menubar icon, integration with Launchbar and much more, HoudahSpot is a great addition to your Mac.

HoudahGeo is one of those applications you need to see to fully understand its capabilities! That's why we have ScreenCastsOnline! It's an application that allows you to easily "geotag" your photos with location data without needing access to a specialised GPS device or expensive GPS enable camera. HoudaGeo lets you simply add in location data visually using either a simple Map option or using its built in integration with Google Earth. But if you have got a GPS tracker, it can use that as well!

As well as allowing you to "Geotag" your photos, HoudahGeo also allows you to share you photos with its built in uploading integration with Google Earth and Flickr. Once Geotagged, just a click of a button and your photos will be uploaded and placed in the correct position on global maps with Google Earth or Flickr - it's really that easy!

Once you've exported to Google Earth, the show will demonstrate how you can create a virtual slideshow in Google Earth, flying from loction to location and displaying your photos at each location! Not only that, but you can email the slideshow to friends or family and they can watch it in Google Earth on their own computer (without needing a copy of HoudahGeo) - how cool is that!

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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[Extra Only Show] As promised, this week concludes the two part show all about Bento, the personal database from Filemaker.

As mentioned in the previous show, Bento is a very powerful application that harnesses the power of database creation and sophisticated data manipulation in a very stylish and easy to use package - the epitome of a mac application!

As well as allowing you to create your own databases (or libraries in Bento terminology) from scratch or via imported data, Bento also gives you direct access to your Address book data, along with your iCal tasks and events to design your own forms to view and manipulate your data. Eye candy is plentiful with the use of pre designed themes and the ability to create your own special views of your data via easily customisable forms. Even if you don't feel the need to dabble with a database, Bento allows you to access, view and amend your Address Book and iCal data with a great new interface, straight out of the box.

In this final show I take you through some of the more advanced aspects of using Bento to manage your personal data including:

• iCal Event and Task Integration
• How you might use iCal integration
• Additional Bento Fields
• Printing Tables and Forms
• Creating Mailing Labels
• How to import Data into Bento
• Backing up Your Data

Hopefully parts 1 and 2 of this tutorial will have you well on the way to managing your data more effectively and give you a fresh outlook on address book and iCal.

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Trailer for the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes



Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

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By popular demand, this weeks show is all about Bento by FileMaker. Bento is a very flexible and elegant database package that many people consider to be the application that was missing from iWork.

It's a very powerful application that harnesses the power of database creation and sophisticated data manipulation in a very stylish and easy to use package - the epitome of a mac application!

As well as allowing you to create your own databases (or libraries in Bento terminology) from scratch or via imported data, Bento also gives you direct access to your Address book data, along with your iCal tasks and events to design your own forms to view and manipulate your data. Eye candy is plentiful with the use of pre designed themes and the ability to create your own special views of your data via easily customisable forms.

This weeks show takes you through the basics of Bento and even if you've no database experience, should give you enough information to start creating your own databases with ease. The show is an Extra members show and covers:

• Introduction to Bento
• The Bento Interface
• Core Concepts - Libraries and Collections
• Address Book Integration
• Records & Table View
• Form Views
• Creating a Library
• Adding Fields
• Form Customisation
• Themes
• Advanced Find
• Smart Collections

More than enough to get you started! This is the first of a two part show on Bento and we'll look at some of the more advanced features in part two.

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Trailer for the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes



Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

It's been a while since I first found PDFPen, a great utility for editing PDFs. With the introduction of Version 3, however, the application now has some amazing features allowing you to edit the embedded images and text in the PDF itself!

Add in the ability to create and insert text, images, signatures and scribbles into a PDF and even create your own libraries of often used material, no longer do you have to spend hundreds of dollars on Adobe Acrobat!

This show is sponsored by Smile On My Mac, the publishers of PDFPen and covers:

• Introduction to PDFPen
• Manipulating PDF pages
• Working with Text
• Editing original PDF text
• Working with Columns
• Copying Text
• Searching for Text, Notes and Comments
• Working with Images
• Editing original PDF images
• Adding your own Images
• Filling in PDF Forms
• Adding Your Signature
• Making Transparent Images
• Applescript Support

On top of all that, this weeks show also contains a special ScreenCastsOnline discount code to save 20% off the usual price of PDFPen - The code is SCOPDFPEN - This code has been extended to 5th March 2008

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Thought I'd break myself back in gently by putting together Part 2 of the mini series - Setting up your Mac.

In this weeks show, I make a couple of slight alterations from Part 1 as suggested by pman and wastern, then it's straight into a section on configuring your new shiny aluminium keyboard to get the most out of it.

Then onto a list of some of the top freeware and donationware applications to install on your brand new Mac (or existing Mac if needs be!)

A few suggestions on commercial software I can't live without, topped off with an announcement on the new ScreenCastsOnline 2007 DVD now available (members only - sorry!).

Finished off with news of a groovy prize draw for all those people who buy a DVD before the end of February.

You know what, I didn't break myself in gently at all!

Some links for products mentioned in the show:

iStat Menus - Website
VLC - Website
Adium - Website
Onyx - Website
AppTrap - Website
AppZapper - Website
Hazel - Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode
1Password (Affiliate Link) Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode
Launchbar - Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode
Rapidweaver - Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode
SpeedDownload - Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode
SpamSieve - Website - ScreenCastsOnline Episode

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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For the first show of the new year, I thought I'd offer a helping hand to all those new Mac owners fortunate enough to get a new Mac for Christmas. The theme of this show was suggested by a viewer and I enlisted the help of the guys and gals over at the ScreenCastsOnline forum to assemble a list of best practices and essential software for the new Mac user.

The resultant list is just too much for a single show so I'll make it into an occasional mini series of shows for the new Mac user.

This first show looks at several different aspects of setting up a brand new mac from the view point of a new Mac user. I look at:

• Basic Dock Customisation
• Converting to a Standard Account
• Using Parental Controls
• Switching on the FireWall
• Setting a Screensaver Password
• Pointers to Using Time Machine

In addition to these common tasks, I also recommend six free software packages to get you up and running as quickly as possible (including running through the different installation routines for all of them) The software includes:

• Firefox - Web Browser (although I do recommend at least trying Safari for a short while)
• TextWrangler - A Fully Featured Text Editor
• Paintbrush - A simple bitmap graphics tool based on MS Paint
• Perian - Some essential video codecs to allow you play many different types of video
• Flip4Mac - Windows Media Playback
• The Unarchiver - Free unarchive utility for many formats

These are just the start and we'll look at many more useful utilities and applications in the following episodes.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Time for a product update this week. It's been over 12 months since I covered 1Passwd (not a typo - it used to be called 1Passwd!), the brilliant password manager and web form filler from Agile Web Solutions.

This is one of the must have applications for the Mac and makes managing and using passwords and web identities a breeze. Since the last screencast ( SCO0078 ) , the product has been re-launched as 1Password and has had a significant re-write with lots of new features and is now even better!

In addition to the new features built in to 1Password, the guys have come up with a unique feature to enable to securely copy all your 1Password information in encrypted form to your iPhone or iPod touch. So now you can have all your data with you on the go!

This weeks show covers:

• 1Password Basics
• Using 1Password for Authentication
• New 1Password GUI
• New 1Password Identities
• New 1Password Wallet Items
• Sync to iPhone and iPod Touch

Unfortunately the ScreenCastsOnline discount has expired but if you can buy 1Password via this special link 1Password I'll get some commission!


Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Featuring an excellent CD/DVD labelling utility this week, and that's DiscLabel 5 from SmileOnMyMac. As well as CD and DVDs, DiscLabel 5 also allows you to create stunning covers and inserts for all types of cases and boxes

As well as a whole library of templates and clip art, DiscLabel is fully integrated with iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD and other digital content packages to provide both artwork and automated track listings easily and quickly.

The show covers:

• Introduction to DiscLabel 5
• Creating Your Own Designs
• Inserting Tracks and Images from iPhoto
• Editing
• Applying Effects
• Installing and Using Clip Art
• Printing

This weeks show is sponsored by SmileOnMyMac and they've kindly provided a special ScreenCastsOnline discount code for 20% off the usual price of both the standard package plus the family pack. You can get the discount by using the coupon code: SCODISCLABEL The discount is available until 31st December 2007.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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This week's sponsored show features OmniWeb, the featured packed web browser from the Omni Group.

OmniWeb is unusual in that it's one of the few browsers that you have to buy, it's not free! Consequently, it has to be something special to compete against exceptionally strong competition, but you'll be glad to know that it delivers a brilliant browsing experience.

The shows covers all of the advanced features of OmniWeb including:

• Using Tabs & Thumbnails
• OmniWeb Workspaces
• Web & Search Shortcuts
• Bookmarks
• Site Preferences
• RSS Support

A 30 day trial of OmniWeb can be downloaded from the Omni Group Web site

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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A special free show this week all about Pixelmator, the beautiful new image editing application. Pixelmator is a low cost, yet extremely powerful, image editor built especially for Mac OS X. It utilises many of its core technologies including Core Image, Open GL, Automator, ColorSync, Spotlight and many more!

UPDATE - Since this show was produced, Pixelmator has had several upgrades and a new show is available. If you’re new to Pixelmator, I’d strongly suggest watching this show first to get a good understanding of the basics, then take a look at SCO0168 to see some of the newer, more advanced features.

As well as being a fully featured, layer based image editor in its own right, it also fully supports the editing and saving of PhotoShop files, removing the financial barrier many of us have in achieving PhotoShop compatibility.

The show covers many of the functions available in Pixelmator including:

• Pixelmator User Interface
• Using Pixelmator Tools
• Using Layers in Pixelmator
• Using a Clipping Mask
• Applying Filters to Layers
• Using a Layer Mask
• Using Filters and Effects in Pixelmator.

The beauty of the application is that you don't have to be a graphics pro to access some very advanced features and at only $59, Pixelmator is ideal for anyone on a budget.

You can order Pixelmator for download from the Pixelmator website

Downloading and Viewing the Show
The easiest way to download this weeks show and receive all future shows is to subscribe to the weekly show in iTunes. Just click this link to subscribe to the free feed in iTunes. To get the HD versions each week plus the Members Only shows plus immediate access to the 140+ shows in the ScreenCastsOnline archive, read all about becoming a member here.

As a special treat, and to celebrate the launch of Pixelmator, I've included links to all three resolutions of the show on this page as well. Just click on the icons below to start the show streaming to your browser, or right or ctrl click the icons to download to your computer for local playback:

	Free Resolution (22MB)	This is the usual resolution for all free shows.
	Enhanced Definition (32MB)	Normally reserved for Extra! members and is great for viewing on the desktop. All shows (and the shows in the ScreenCastsOnline archive are available in this resolution for members).
	High Definition (62MB)	Again, usually reserved for Extra! members, this resolution is superb for viewing on your Mac desktop or on your Apple TV. All shows (and the shows in the ScreenCastsOnline archive are available in this resolution for members).

Discussing the Show
Along with the show, there's a very active ScreenCastsOnline forum which you're more than welcome to take part in. As well as threads and sections on all things Mac, you'll also find a separate thread for each published show allowing forum members to comment on that specific show, add extra hints and tips or to put me straight if I've made a mistake! You can find the discussion thread for the Pixelmator show here.

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Time to take control of your messy folders and do a bit of Housekeeping! This weeks show features a great utility for managing your files, folders, trash and un-installs. All in one easy to use, yet exceptionally powerful package.

This week's show is sponsored by NoodleSoft and features their recently upgraded application - Hazel.

Hazel is a utility that resides in your preference pane (and optionally your Menu bar) and constantly monitors the folders that you instruct it to. By applying rules, you can make Hazel move, sort, colour, re-arrange, file... well pretty much anything with your files and folders. The really cool thing is it does it all automatically once you've created your rules.

For example, simply create a a rule for Hazel to monitor your desktop and automatically move completed downloads from your desktop to a sorted folder structure. Hazel does it for you automatically.

Add in some neat features to manage your Trash effectively and finish off with App Sweep to help you cleanly un-install applications.

App Sweep is built into Hazel and cleans your mac by sweeping up the miscellaneous files that a standard uninstall leaves behind, and you've got a pretty fully featured package that makes keeping your mac in tip top shape a pleasure.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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Straight into the good stuff this week with an in-depth look at all the major features of Numbers, the spectacular new spreadsheet application included in Apples iWork '08 suite.

This weeks show covers all the bases including:

• Introduction to Numbers
• Data Entry and Formatting
• Charts, Text and Shapes
• Images, Masking & Instant Alpha
• Printing
• Exporting to iWeb

I'm really pleased how this weeks show turned out and judging by some of the comments on the ScreenCastsOnline forum, I'm not the only one....

"I just don't know how you do this; it is brilliant.  I probably got my iLife a day earlier than yours (I have a son who is a director in Apple!!) and I have spent a couple of hours with it but your skill in absorbing a brand new product and communicating its essence is really something special.  You have just saved me 'hours' of work!! .....
 
Again Don, just a wonderful show and an abolute eye-opener in Numbers.....
 
Great app, great show!! many thanks."

Ron - A ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member

This weeks show is an Extra Members show and is available in Apple TV HD format (1280x720), Enhanced Desktop ED Format (960x540) and iPhone/iPod resolution (640x360). For full details on how easy it is to become an Extra! member and get this show along with the next six months worth of weekly shows PLUS access to the entire back catalogue of Mac based tutorials, just follow this link.

Discussions: Forum
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

Back to other Apple tutorials

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Another premier league Mac application this week, it's the fantastic Comic Life from Plasq.

If you've recently bought a new mac, chances are you've already got this super application already installed on your hard disk!

Comic life is a really easy way to turn your boring old digital photos into mini works of art. It's great for turning your holiday or family snaps into funny comic books that you can print, email or publish to the web using iWeb or .Mac. As well as its entertainment value, Comic Life can have a serious purpose in creating informative, easy to follow how to guides as well as being a great desktop publishing package. You'll find kids will love its flexibility and because it's so easy to use, Comic Life has carved out a special niche in the education market as a super educational tool for all ages.

In this week's show, I'll take you through the basics of Comic Life including:

◦ The User Interface
◦ Creating a Simple Comic
◦ Styles and Attributes
◦ Publishing and Exporting
◦ Some Sample Uses of Comic Life

Thanks to Cris over at Plasq for supporting ScreenCastsOnline by sponsoring this weeks episode.

Some links mentioned in this weeks show:

Comic Life Website
Educational Resources

Don't forget to also check out the Education Forum

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

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This week I take a look at one of the premier Mac diagram and drawing tool - OmniGraffle from The Omni Group. OmniGraffle is one of those Mac apps that just works and allows you to create stunning diagrams very simply and easily.

Focusing on OmniGraffle 4, the show takes you through the basic operation of OmniGraffle including the various tools and their usage. I also take a look at outlining and stencils.

As this weeks show is sponsored by The Omni Group, we have a special ScreenCastsOnline discount code for 10% off the usual price until May 15th. The code you need is:

SCREENCASTGRAFFLE



Discussions: Forum

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Spotlight - The search technology launched as part of OSX Tiger is great but..... well, really, it could be better! The simplistic user interface gives rise to immense frustration when trying to construct more complex queries to search through your hundreds if not thousands of files. Also, what is really going on "under the hood"? How do you know which volume is indexed, what about if you need to recreate a damaged or incomplete index?

Well this weeks show addresses some of the failings in Spotlight by introducing you to two applications to help you get the most out of Spotlight.


Spotless - By fixamac is a great utility for managing Spotlight and the indexes it creates. You can enable or disable spotlight for individual volumes, re-create indexes, re-create your spotlight index directories and even switch spotlight on or off.





HoudahSpot - By Houdahsoft Software extends Spotlight in ways you could only previously dream of! Houdahspot is the front end for Spotlight that takes creating search queries to the next level. A richly featured search form together with drag and drop functionality, templates, integral browsing and previewing make Houdahspot the interface that Spotlight should have had!

Extra! members can get this and other shows in High Definition. Membership also brings you such benefits as the next 6 months worth of shows in HD, access to Members only content plus immediate access to over 90+ screencasts from the ScreenCastsOnline archive. All for a ridiculously low one-off payment. Checkout this link for more details.

Discussions: Forum

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Something to get your creative juices flowing this week.

As an alternative to template based web creation tools, this weeks show takes your through the basics of Freeway 4 Express, the web creation tool by Softpress.

Freeway 4 Express allows you to build your website from scratch using your own designs and layouts to create a unique and spectacular website, all without coding. Once you've finished your design, Freeway 4 Express will generate all the HTML code required and upload your website to either .Mac or your standard hosting account.

ScreenCastsOnline recommends Siteground for a cheap and ultra reliable hosting account!

Not only can you create a web site from scratch, but you can also use the supplied, pre-defined templates to use as the basis for your own design, or for inspiration.

The show covers all you need to know to get started and runs through a "Getting Started with Freeway" tutorial available for download from this link. The zip file contains a PDF and all the media files used in the screencast so you can follow along at home!

As this weeks show is a sponsored screencast, you can get 10% off Freeway 4 Express directly from the Freeway Site, just use this link to the special offer page. There's also a 25% discount to upgrade to Freeway 4 Pro so check out the page for further details.

If you'd like more details on the differences between Express vs Pro, Softpress have put together a page with more details - Express vs Pro

Discussions: Forum

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Following on from last weeks show, this week finishes off the in-depth look at Speed Download 4 by examining some of its many other features. Yes, despite what the name says, it's so much more than just a download manager!

As well as the performance boosting download engine and the super resilient auto-resume features, Speed Download also has:

Full personal and public iDisk integration
A fully featured FTP client built right in
Support for integrating with WebDav servers

plus

A really smart built in capability to share files with other Speed Download users over a secure, resilient connection.

What's even better is that all these different types of connections are managed using the same application with a common interface and that's Speed Download. You can even automate the connection to your commonly used servers and services with a single click so all your common connections are auto mounted once Speed Download launches.

This weeks show takes you through these additional features and shows you how easy it is to configure and manage multiple connections.

Discussions: Forum

Click here to access Part 1 of the Speed Download Tutorial

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	960x540 - HD with overscan 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this show plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes




Watch the free show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

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Would you like fast and reliable downloads together with a utility that provides a central application to manage all your downloads plus uploads? How about a download manager with a fully functional built in FTP client? Why not throw in seamless iDisk integration and control your uploads and downloads to .Mac from the same application? Even better, why not create a secure and reliable method of sharing files with friends and colleagues with full control over who has access to what? Add in the ability to use the application in most of the popular OSX browsers and you'd have a pretty killer application!

Well all this and more is available using "The Ultimate Download Manager for OSX!" and that's Speed Download 4 from Yazsoft.

It really is a fantastic utility that fulfils all these roles. In fact, There's so much to show you, that I've had to spread it over two shows!

So this weeks show is all about the download capabilities of Speed Download 4 and next week I'll look at the iDisk, FTP and File sharing aspects of the application.

Discussions: Forum

Click here to access Part 2 of the Speed Download Tutorial

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	960x540 - HD with overscan 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this show plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes




Watch the free show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

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Something completely different this week. After watching the iPhone demo I remembered an application I tried out a while ago that uses an interface that would be well suited to the iPhone!

This week is a delve into Liquifile. Liquifile is a finder replacement that uses a groundbreaking user interface to browse and search for your files and folders in a unique and very clever way. By the way, it can be used as a Finder supplement not just a replacement! As described on the Liquifile website:

Liquifile is a new file management tool for Mac OS X. An alternative Finder, if you will. It is designed for visual thinkers who want to get a bigger picture of their files and feel them more directly. Did you ever wonder why searching and browsing is so separated in today's interfaces? Ever wished you had a bigger screen when finding or organizing your files? Ever lost files in deep hierarchical structures? Ever wondered what the next big thing in file browsing might be...? Well, maybe you should have a look at this:

It's one of those applications that really hard to explain and even more difficult just to pick up and use. There are certain key concepts you need to understand but once you've got it, it can be a very useful tool.

No special ScreenCastsOnline discount this week but it's a very low cost application anyway and besides, you can get a free 30 day evaluation copy.

One to watch for the future I think!

Discussions: Forum

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One of the ongoing problems of email is the ever increasing deluge of spam flooding into our inboxes. Spam has elevated itself past just a nuisance to a real business and even parental problem. Spammers are constantly becoming more sophisticated and using new techniques to bypass traditional spam filtering. This weeks show covers a client side tool which actually learns all about incoming spam and becomes more effective the longer it is used, foiling the vast majority of spam and giving you unprecedented control of your email.

The application is SpamSieve by C-Command software.

Whilst extremely effective in operation, the installation and configuration of SpamSieve may be considered difficult to some people, but that's where the beauty of the screencast steps in and takes you through some of the basic concepts and the entire installation process step by step.

For Extra! members, this weeks show contains an additional 10 minutes Extra! section looking in more detail at some of the configuration options and preferences.

The full show is also available automatically to ScreenCastsOnline Premium Extra! members in high definition as part of the membership package along with an addition 8 Extra! member only shows (not released in the free version) available for immediate download - over 3.5 hours additional content - See here for details

If you want to checkout the Macvoices interview with myself and Chuck Joiner and learn a bit more about ScreenCastsOnline, then just click through to the MacVoices website and download or subscribe to the show.

Discussions: Forum

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Following on from last week we look at some other great applications that enable you to make the best use of your Internet Hosting Account.

This time we look at FileChute by Yellow Mug software. FileChute is a really simple application that allows you to easily upload large files to your FTP account and automatically create email links. This weeks screencast also features a step by step installation guide using ScreenCastsOnlines affiliated hosting provider SiteGround. Well, you've got 40GB of diskspace available with a SiteGround account so you may as well use it!

We also look at using a really handy feature in SiteGround using cPanel to restrict directory access so you can add an extra layer of security on your FileChute service (if required).

ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members have an Extra! section this week, where we revisit an old favourite, Imagewell. This is a free application that's really great for resizing and annotating JPGs.

Imagewell has a built in FTP function which allows you to easily publish images to your hosting account on the web. Another neat feature is it automatically creates one of four different types of links in your clipboard allowing you to paste the image URL to a variety of forums or websites. This section is only included in the HD resolutions made available automatically to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members. To learn more about becoming a member, check out this link.

This show builds heavily on my experiences with setting up ScreenCastsOnline to use a third party hosting provider (SiteGround)to host my website, forum and membership system. I've been a happy SiteGround customer for 12 months and thought it would be useful to people to see what goes on under the covers when using SiteGround as a hosting provider. They do a great job with ScreenCastsOnline and their prices and service are second to none so I have no hesitation in giving them a personal endorsement!

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Well it's another Bank Holiday here in the UK so I thought I'd finish off some DIY and let one of the ScreenCastsOnline viewers present a guest screencast!

This screencast was submitted by Nicholas Pacheco and gives an overview of three very popular text editing packages - BBedit , SubEthaEdit and TextMate .

Nicholas takes you through some of the basics of all three packages. I've also included some announcements about the ScreenCastsOnline Forum, website and a brief progress update on the ScreenCastsOnline Extra! membership drive.

No Extra! section in this weeks show but of course, all Extra! members will get the show in high resolution, either HD (1280x720) or ED (960x560).

PS Sorry about the poor sound quality on the screencast itself, I tried to clean it up as best as I could!

Duration: 17:10 | Size: 20MB | Discussions: Forum

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Welcome to the second ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Members only show.

This show is all about Acquisition - a fantastic file sharing application for the Mac.

Acquisition allows Mac users to access the Gnutella file sharing network using a beautifully engineered software application with full integration with iTunes. It also has full support for Bittorrent providing you with a simple integrated Bittorrent client application to download legal Bittorrent files in a seamless and easy fashion making Acquisition the ultimate downloaders tool.

The show takes you through:

Background to Peer 2 Peer (P2P) Filesharing
Installing and configuring Acquisition
Setting User Preferences
The Acquisition Interface
Using Searches
Downloading Files from Gnutella
Bittorrent Explanation
Downloading Bittorrent Files

The show contains a disclaimer that ScreenCastsOnline in no way condones piracy or illegal filesharing and that unlawful use of Acquisition is prohibited by the license agreement. Due to the open nature of the Gnutella file sharing network, demonstrations during the show do unearth illegal files and I have taken steps to obscure the files from displaying in some of the portions of the show for legal reasons . I apologise if this is distracting during the show but the section on searching for podcasts is fully in the clear as these files are legal downloads.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Duration: 22:55
Size: 51MB
Show Links: Acquisition Web Site

Discussions on this weeks episode can be found on the ScreenCastsOnline forum here

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Growl is an extremely powerful notification system for OSX.

Many, many applications are "Growl Aware" allowing you to use a consistant, controllable system wide notification system using popups, email or speech to notify you of various application events.

This show introduces a new weekly section for every show - The Extra! section. Every free show will still be a complete show in it's own right, but tagged on the end of each show will be a special section every week for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members. This extra section will feature additional hints and tips or cover some elements of the main show in more detail. This weeks Extra! section covers the installation and configuration of two additional Growl applications to receive notifications from iTunes and Safari Growlitunes and Growl Safari.

The Extra! section will be automatically included in the high resolution versions of the shows received by ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members but only the introduction to the Extra! section will be included in the free version. This additional content is included with no increase in the price of the Extra! membership which still stands at $25 for a full six months. The only difference is that instead of getting Extra! content each month, you now get something Extra! each week along with the high resolution versions of the shows! Full details of taking out an Extra! membership and accessing the special shows are here.

Duration: 18:06
Size: 33MB
Show Links:

Growl
Synergy
CyberDuck

Vote at Podcast Alley - Enter your Email Address and click "vote" Discussions on this weeks episode can be found on the ScreenCastsOnline forum here

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FilmLoop by FilmLoop Inc. A brilliant free app and photocasting service provided by FilmLoop Inc.

It's very similar to Photocasting in iPhoto 6 but has many more whistles and bells! It's also free as supported by advertising but in a very unobtrusive way.

The loops created can be shared cross platform as there is a windows and a mac version on the software. This screencast covers the mac version of course!

Duration: 09:15
Size: 96MB
Show Links: FilmLoop

Discussions on this weeks episode can be found on the ScreenCastsOnline forum here

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DevonAgent by Devon Technologies - A guest screencast by Chris Meermann which explores DevonAgent, a powerful Internet search and research tool. Chris put this screencast together several weeks ago and the beta software he describes has now been fully released.

Also included in the screencast is a word about our sponsor - eShox and details of a special prize draw for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! subscribers who sign up before the end of April - a chance to win a brand new 1GB iPod Shuffle or a free 6 month Extra! membership.

Duration: 26:03
Size: 55MB
Show Links: Devon Technologies Web Site

Discussions on this weeks episode can be found on the ScreenCastsOnline forum here

High Definition (1280x720) and Enhanced Desktop versions of this screencast can be obtained by subscribing to ScreenCastsOnline Extra!.

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A great little app this week to make your completion of PDF forms a breeze. The show also covers how to access the ScreenCastsOnline archive of shows not in the normal iTunes feed.

I really hate completing online PDF forms as it invariably means downloading the form, printing out, filling it in manually, scanning it back into the computer and emailing it out. With Formulate, you can annotate any PDF on screen and create a new PDF with the results.

After a check on the download statistics for the Archived ScreenCastsOnline shows i.e those not in the normal iTunes RSS feed, I've noticed there is a significant difference in the numbers of archived shows being downloaded when compared with downloads of the older shows in the normal feed. My guess is that new subscribers to ScreenCastsOnline are not aware that the archived shows are still available, either via the ScreenCastsOnline website or via some special archive RSS feeds I've setup. This show just spends a few minutes showing you how to set up the Archive feeds in iTunes manually

There's a ton of good stuff in the archives including OSX tips, switcher tutorials and some Application reviews.

If you want to check out the HD version of the show, I've included a link to a 60 second sample of the show at the bottom of this post. It will give you a good idea of what you are missing! If you want to take out a subscription to get this and all future shows in HD, check out this page.

Please leave all comments about this ScreenCast on the SCO Forum Message Board. This link will take you straight to the thread discussing this show.

Duration: 12:07
Size: Desktop & iPod:35MB HiDef:68MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links:
Access Shows in iTunes Page
Formulate

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Little Snitch by Objective Development (the same people who brought you launchbar) is a simple and easy to use utility that gives you control over your installed applications and allows you to view and control any outbound communications from your apps.

Do you know which installed apps are communicating back to base?

Little Snitch can not only tell you, but also gives you the power to allow or deny these outbound calls!

Please Note: The discount mentioned in this screencast has expired and is no longer available. It did have a time limit but unfortunately it was not mentioned during the recording. Apologies for any inconvenience!

Please leave all comments about this ScreenCast on the ScreenCastsOnline Forums

Duration: 13:00
Size: Desktop:20MB iPod:32MB HiDef:61MB
Platform: mac
Level: Medium
Links: Little Snitch

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A short screencast demonstrating a fantastic freeware app - ImageWell. This is a simple graphics editor with built in transfer capabilities to automatically transfer your images to a .mac (or FTP) account and generate a URL for web publishing. Along with many neat features to annotate your graphics and screencaptures.

Duration: 08:55
Size: 20MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links: ImageWell

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For SCO Contributors Only - Well I said I'd produce some "premium" content for you SCO contributors out there as a token of my appreciation for your support and this is the first one.

It's a cracker!

If you've never seen what's available on the Usenet Binary Newsgroups or if you have seen and didn't understand how it all works, this screencast is for you

It takes you through using a commercial Usenet service, accessing easy to use Usenet Indexing services, automating the download of Usenet binaries using NZB files and the use of PAR files.

This screencast is only available to current and future SCO contributors.

I've set up a special RSS feed for this and future "Premium" content and the feed address is posted in the SCO Contributors section on the SCO forum. So if you're an existing SCO contributor and haven't registered yet on the forum, please do so and drop me an email with your login name. I'll upgrade your account on the forum which will give you access to the SCO contributors area and full instructions on accessing the feed will be posted there.


Duration: 18:16
Size: 40MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links:
GigaNews - Usenet Service
NewzBin - Usenet Indexer
iGrabNews - Usenet Reader
MacPar DeLuxe - Par File Checker

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A quick update on the newly released LaunchBar 4.1 - This new version brings Spotlight integration and some other new functions to Launchbar

Check out the previous screencasts on LaunchBar for a full review of the basic functionality.


Duration: 14:29
Size: 27MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links: LaunchBar

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A further look at an indispensable utility for the mac.

Includes some additional configuration steps to integrate your address book with SkypeOut. Also includes some great tips to add in some additional search templates to access the superb YubNub!.

Duration: 16:20
Size: 31.5MB
Platform: mac
Level: Simple
Links:
Launchbar
Skype
YubNub

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A look at an indispensable utility for the mac. I'm starting to get my head around Final Cut pro so there's some neat new features in this show. Keep watching till the end for a special treat for you guys!

This is the fourth ScreenCast originally distributed on macTV at the beginning of this week. It is replicated here for any ScreenCastOnline subscribers who are not subscribed to macTV.

Duration: 20:26
Size: 30MB
Platform: mac
Level: Simple
Links: Launchbar

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