One of the things that never ceases to amaze me, is the amount of functionality and utilities built right into OSX.

This week, I take a look at one of the Accessibility tools provided with every copy of Leopard and Snow Leopard - that's VoiceOver 3. Designed to assist partially sighted and blind Mac users, VoiceOver 3 is the latest version of the hugely impressive screen reader utility for the Mac. With VoiceOver, it's possible to have all the screen elements described and read back to you, using the built in speech technologies. Not to be confused with just Text to Speech, VoiceOver uses the concept of a VoiceOver cursor to highlight individual elements on screen (Text, menus, dock, icons, panels, dialog boxes, pretty much everything!) and have the contents of the VO cursor read back to you. With a multitude of keyboard commands, you're able to navigate the screen and interact with all the elements exposed with VoiceOver.

If you have a Mac laptop with a multitouch trackpad, you can use a new feature called "TrackPad Commander" to control VoiceOver using gestures.

As well as the core functionality, VoiceOver has been significantly enhanced to provide easy Web browsing using Safari with the addition of the new Web iTem Rotor.

Although VoiceOver is aimed primarily at visually impaired or blind users, this weeks show provides an overview of the VoiceOver technology for sighted people and web/app developers to foster an understanding of some of the features and promote the adoption of providing accessibility enhancements in third party apps. The full show covers:

• VoiceOver Introduction
• Using The VoiceOver Keys
• VoiceOver Setup
• Navigating using VoiceOver
• TrackPad Commander
• Web Browsing with VoiceOver
• VoiceOver Utility

Although this week is a members only show, because of the nature of the content, I’ve decided to make a special version available to non members. To access this show, you’ll need to sign up for the free ScreenCastsOnline newsletter - Just send a blank email to sconline@aweber.com. Once you’ve registered, you’ll get an email with a link to the special version of the show.

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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---

Luckily, most modern Macs need little or no regular maintenance. OSX is pretty much self maintaining, with automated scripts and an advanced file system, most people don't need to do anything to keep their Mac in tip top order.

Too good to be true?

Well not really, but human nature being what it is, it would be nice to understand what OSX is doing under the hood and perhaps keep an eye on how things are going. If the worst does happen and your Mac starts to slow down, or your favourite application starts to misbehave, what are the simple checks or processes you can undertake to try and fix things?

This week's show takes a look at both maintenance tasks and some simple troubleshooting tips to keep you Mac in tip top condition. This members only show covers:

• Daily, Weekly & Monthly Maintenance Scripts
• Checking Correct Operation of Scripts
• Running Scripts Manually via Terminal
• Third Party Maintenance Utilities
• "Maintenance" & "Onyx"
• Checking Permissions
• Rebuilding Spotlight Caches
• Speeding Up Mail
• Monitoring S.M.A.R.T Drive Status
• File System Check with Safe Boot & Safe Mode

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 Members Show

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

---

New Mac for Christmas? Friends or relatives with new Macs needing a basic understanding of what the Mac is all about and how to learn the basics. This weeks free show is the result of many requests from new Mac users asking for a single consolidated episode that will teach them the basics, and give them a forward plan in getting to grips with the Mac.

Especially designed with switchers (or sliders) from the Windows environment, this free episode will give them enough information to quickly get to grips with the Mac and master some of the subtle and not so subtle differences between OSX and Windows. This week's episode covers:

• Accessing System Preferences
• Configuring Magic Mouse
• Configuring Your TrackPad
• Keyboard Layout
• Keyboard Viewer Utility
• OSX Desktop
• Menu Bar
• Menu Bar Icons
• Spotlight
• OSX Dock
• Stacks
• OSX Window Management
• Using Removable Media
• Installing & Un-Installing Applications
• Moving

As this is a free show, please feel free to distribute this episode to anyone you feel may benefit from it

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 show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

Seeing as this show is going out over the Christmas period, I thought I'd give it a festive flavour with some hints and tips around getting the most out of your Mac for the holidays.

In detail. the show covers:

iTunes DJ : With the ever increasing numbers of iPhones and iPod touches in circulation, why not leverage the power of iTunes 9 and your wifi network to hand control of your Christmas or New year party playlist over to your guests! This section shows you how to set up iTunes DJ to allow guests to select, promote and demote songs from your iTunes playlist using the the free Apple Remote application directly from their hand held device.
Christmas Wallpaper & ScreenSaver: Why not spruce up your Mac with some gorgeous Christmas Wallpapers and a nice snowy screensaver. This section gives details of a superb resource of not just cool yule wallpapers, but also replacement icons and other such goodies. I show you how to install and configure some new wallpapers and screensavers with the addition of a fun time-lapse video of how one of the wallpapers was created.
PhotoBooth SlideShows with QuickTime Pro: One of the most popular applications, not just at Christmas time but all year round, is PhotoBooth. The source of endless hours of fun and probably the reason for a lot of Mac sales, PhotoBoot allows you to create literally hundreds of fun photos from the built in iSight camera on the Mac. But what to do with all those photos? Why not create a video montage of all the photos? THis section shows you how to create a standard Quicktime movie of all your photos at whatever speed you like. In addition, I show you how to use Garageband to add an audio track to your movie.
PhotoBooth SlideShows with iMovie 09: OK, so spending £20 to get the Pro version of Quicktime 7 may not be for you, so this section shows you how to do the same using iMovie 09 only better (and for free if you've already got iLife!) Using the relatively unknown feature of Beat Markers in iMovie 09, it's a breeze to cut still photos or even movie clips to the beat of your musical accompaniment. I use the PhotoBooth photos to demo but this is a fantastically powerful technique to use in your normally movie making, especially if you fancy your hand at becoming a music video producer!

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

---

This week it's a mixture of a few hacks and mods, a great free Safari plugin in and a "behind the scenes" glimpse of how we handle email here at ScreenCastsOnline.

In detail. the show covers:

Copying and Pasting Email Addresses : Snow Leopard has changed the default behaviour so I point to a terminal command that set things back the way they should be! Links: MacDaddyWorld
Modifying Grid View in iTunes 9: Lots of complaints about the white background on the Grid view in the latest version of iTunes. How to reset it to a darker colour. Update - Would you believe that Apple brought out 9.0.2 the night before this show was released and that they fixed the problem with a preference option! Luckily, I had chance to make the change to the show!
Hidden Keyboard Shortcuts: Some pretty neat keyboard shortcuts to allow you to control your audio plus access some system preference panes directly
ClickTo Flash: 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. Links: ClickToFlash
Email Tools and Processes :This section covers how I've adapted my email workflow to allow for the sharing of the ScreenCastsOnline mailbox with Mrs Don, and demonstrates how I pass emails on for further processing using a combination of automated and manual rules processing. I also include a rather smart utility from eCamm which allows you to have multiple badges on your email dock icon to keep track of the contents of multiple mailboxes - Dockstar. There's even a 35% discount coupon included! Links: DockStar

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

---

Following on from my previous Snow Leopard overview shows, I've kept the best for last!

As promised, this week, I finally get around to looking at Services in Snow Leopard, a brand new implemenation and a technology you can take advantage of immediately. As well as the new context sensitive architecture that Apple have introduced, they've also made services both supremely useful yet easy to master by anybody. No longer requiring programming skills, anyone can muster up a service to speed up their workflow via Automator.

In this weeks show I cover:

◦ Introduction to Services
◦ Creating & Customising Services
◦ Four sample services from scratch
◦ Movie - Open in Quicktime 7
◦ Images - Create PDF Book
◦ Text - Append Text to TextEdit
◦ Dropbox - Copy to Public Folder
◦ Resources on the Web
◦ Service Workflow Files - Locations

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

---

Well this was going to be the final Snow Leopard overview show but if I included everything I wanted to cover, it would be an hour long and then still rushed!

So I decided to do a slightly shorter show this week, leaving the way clear for a show all about Services and Automator in two weeks. This week's show focusses mainly on the new Text engine built into Snow Leopard. Some of the features are obvious, but some not so obvious! I also take a look at some other features such as Wake On Demand, location aware time zones and getting stuff out of the trash.

In detail, the chapters for this week are:

• Enhanced Text Engine
• Text & Symbol Substitution
• Spelling Autocorrection
• Word Break
• Smart Quotes
• Smart Copy/Paste
• Smart Dashes
• Smart Links
• Data Detectors
• Text Transformations & Speech
• Wake On Demand
• Displaying Dates
• Location Aware Time Zones
• Put Back From Trash

Look out for the fourth and final part of the overview series in a few weeks time.

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

---

So you've had Snow Leopard for three weeks or so. Have you found all the subtle differences yet?

No, neither have I!

But I have found quite a few, all of which go towards making Snow Leopard a much improved OS.

In part 2 of the Snow Leopard overview series, I explore and expose some of the new (and some not so new) features that you may not yet have discovered.

This week's show includes:

QuickTime X - The new and improved QuickTime X player is built on the brand new QuickTime architecture launched with Snow Leopard. I take you through the new interface along with a special section on screen recording and sharing. I also sohw you how to retro install QuickTime 7 if you find you need some of the more advanced features.

Screen Sharing - Nothing new here you may think, but Apple have significantly enhanced the capabilities of screen sharing and I show you how.

Menu Bar Icons - A little tip to allow you to get more information from your Menu bar icons

Keyboard Viewer - Well the main difference is that it's resizable but when researching this section I stumbled across some functionality I'd not realised existed. A tremendous boon to help you with special and international characters. This isn't a Snow Leopard feature, it was in leopard all along and I didn't know it!

Image Capture - I mentioned in a previous show that Snow Leopard would allow you to control the default actions of what applications (or none) load when different devices are plugged in. What I didn't realise was that, as well as this welcome addition to image capture, you can also share your devices across the network and access them from remote machines.

32bit Troubleshooting - Some hints and tips if the System Preferences pane restarts are driving you to distraction plus how to get around some issues with 32bit Safari plugins.

So lot's to cover in this weeks show and that's still not the end of it. Look out for the third part of the overview series in a few weeks time.

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

---

Ok, so you've installed Snow Leopard, now what!

On the face of it, the user interface to Snow Leopard doesn't really look much different from the original Leopard OS, save for a nice new desktop wallpaper. Most of the changes to Snow Leopard are in its underlying architecture, with parts being re-written and brand new technologies introduced to act as springboards for innovative new applications.

But if you look closely, there are a host of subtle changes to the user interface in the new operating system, all designed to improve on the original Leopard and enhance your Mac experience. This show takes you through some of the changes and demonstrates how they can help you be more efficient and productive.

This week's show includes:

32-bit vs 64-bit - A brief explanation of the difference and why you shouldn't worry that your MAc is not booting a 64-bit kernel just yet.

Improved Finder - Completely re-written in Cocoa and to take advantage of 64-bit and Grand central dispatch, the Finder now has a new lease of life with sparkling performance. Together with a few whistles and bells to boot.

Changes to the Dock & Stacks - Some nice polish applied in these areas with some subtle but necessary changes to Stacks

Exposé - Worth the price of the upgrade alone! Exposé has had a major rework turning it from a cool piece of technology to demo your Mac, to a really use productivity tool. The show demonstrates the many ways of using the new supercharged version of Exposé including:

• Standard Exposé
• Exposé in the Dock
• Exposé via the Application Switcher
• Dragging & Dropping via Exposé
• Exposé & Spaces

This is just the first of an occasional series of Snow Leopard related shows to illustrate the power of this brand new operating system.

Special Announcement for Extra! Members - New Plex Plugin

As an extra on this weeks show, there is also a short segment for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! announcing and demonstrating the availability of a brand new plugin for Plex. You may remember Plex from show SCO0201 - it's a fantastic media player for your Mac.

This new plugin allows you to access all your members content in HD from right within Plex. Just update the plugin, enter your username and password and you'll be able to stream all the Members shows in HD or ED.

A big thank you to the Plex developers for creating this plugin, especially James Clarke - I owe you one James!

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

---

Well, it's finally here!

Snow Leopard, the long awaited update to Leopard has finally been released by Apple. And if I say so myself, this show has impeccable timing, being published on the same day of Snow Leopards release - no mean feat!

With some significant re-engineering "under the hood" and a raft of subtle interface and usability enhancements, Snow Leopard is the culmination of several years work to make OSX the most stable and efficient operating system available. Add in the extremely low price of both the single and family pack upgrades, Snow Leopard becomes a "no brainer" for all Intel mac users.

In this week's show, I take you through some of the common tasks required before upgrading to Snow Leopard, along with some things to take into consideration before taking the plunge. I identify some free applications, utilities and services to help you with your housekeeping and backups before committing to the upgrade.

As well as the preparation, the show also takes you step by step through the standard upgrade installation, with some special hints and tips on customising your upgrade.

The Snow Leopard installation has been greatly simplified since previous installations but at the expense of some of the more advanced options such as Erase and Install. Never fear, as this show also explains exactly how to go about a full Erase and Install with the option of migrating your data and applications from backups.

Now that Snow Leopard is released, I'll be taking a look at some of the new features in the next few weeks.

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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---

Time for another Mac Montage!

Rather than focus on a single topic or software application, I include a number of different hints and tips, all intended to help you get the most out of your Mac!

Removing Duplicate Photos from iPhoto : Following on from last week, as promised, I take a look at a relatively inexpensive utility that allows you to purge your iPhoto library of duplicate photos. I explore the most effective methods of using Duplicate Annihilator and importantly, cover how to safeguard against finding false duplicates, along with some suggestions for double checking your results. Links: Duplicate Annihalator (25% off using CPN7756165310)
QuickLook Plugins: Introduced in Leopard, QuickLook allows you to see the contents of all sorts of files directly from the Finder, just by tapping the space bar. Apple have made the QuickLook architecture extensible allowing third party developers to create custom QuickLook plugins. In this section, I take a look at a great web resource for Quicklook Plugins, along with how to install and configure them. I also cover the installation of three free sample Quicklook plugins - BetterZIP, Photoshop Brushes and Suspicious Packages. Links: QuickLook Plugins Website
The Zoom Button in OS X: The source of frustration for many Mac users especially switchers from Windows. What on earth does the "Zoom Button" actually do? Why doesn't it maximize the screen when that's all that I want it to do! The reasons behind the usual behaviour of the Zoom button are explained in this section along with a handy little tip on how to resize the iTunes window without it turning into a mini player - don't you hate it when that happens! In addition, if you really hate the standard behaviour of the Zoom button, I show you how to install a great free utility that changes the the default behaviour of the Zoom button to a "Windows like" maximise button. Links: RightZoom
Security “On the road”: In this fourth and final section, I take a look at some of the considerations you need to bare in mind when traveling with your laptop. I look at some easy tips on making your laptop more secure, tips which can also be applied to desktop machines too. You don't have to follow all the suggestions but the section covers most of the basics to make your machine more secure when travelling. Links: PGP TrueCrypt

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.
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To View the Trailer for the Members Show
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Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

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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Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
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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
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!
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Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

Time for yet another Mac Montage this week!

Rather than focus on a single topic or software application, I include a number of different hints and tips, all intended to help you get the most out of your Mac! A fairly mixed bag included this week, with some simple and some more complex hints and tips.

Photo Location Information Updates: Apple have introduced some handy new features to help you assign location information from photos taken with the iPhone across to photos taken with a normal "Non-GPS" enabled camera. This tip shows you what is involved and also takes a look at a simpler way to move a locations pin to provide more accurate placement on your iPhoto maps.!
Spurious Zooming on MacBooks: Whilst I love the multi-touch gestures on the new unibody MacBooks, there is one that drives me to distraction, and that's zooming in Safari and Mail. This only seems to affect those of us used to the older MacBooks with the single button, where we used one hand for clicking the button and the other for moving the mouse. It's really hard to relearn not to use button finger and on the new MacBooks, this leads to inadvertent zooming in Safari and Mail. Very annoying. Well as Apple don't provide a way to turn this off, one enterprising coder decided to create an InputManager to disable this function. This tip shows you how to install this InputManager and retain your sanity! Links: Original Instructions
Creating Symbolic Links with Automator: I've looked at this technique before of using DropBox to syncronise application data using symbolic links. One of my favourite applications has now been enabled to use this technique, and that's TextExpander. Rather than show you the typicalway of implementing this, I stumbled upon some third party Automator actions that remove the need for typing long commands into terminal to set this up. Links: Automator Actions Manual Instructions
Monitoring Disk Usage: This segment features two of my favourite utilities for seeing just where all that precious disk space has gone - GrandPerspective and OmniDiskSweeper. Both utilities do the same job of showing you which files and folders are taking up the most space on your drive, but each has a different approach on how the data is presented. I take you through both utilities and describe how I use each one. GrandPerspective OmniDiskSweeper

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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---

Time for another Mac Montage this week!

Mac Montage shows ar eturning out to be one of the most popluar types of ScreenCastsOnline shows. Rather than focus on a single topic or software application, I included a number of different hints and tips, all intended to help you get the most out of your Mac! A fairly mixed bag included this week, with some simple and some more complex hints and tips.

Renaming Files In situ : You know when you’ve just saved a file and realise that you should have actually called it something else? Yes you can File Save As or rename the file in the Finder once you’ve saved it, but this little tip is so much simpler!
Accessing Bento via Multiple Machines: If you’ve more than a single machine, it can be quite frustrating to have your Bento database accessible via one machine and not another. This hint shows you how you can use DropBox to synchronise your Bento database across multiple machines. There are some caveats such as this isn’t supported by Filemaker and you can’t use Bento as a multi-user database, but it’s a neat way of doing it and could be useful for other applications, not just Bento. Links: Bento, DropBox, BentoUsers website
Configuring Spelling in OSX: Although OSX supports many different spelling using many different languages, it’s not always that easy to understand how? It’s OK if you’re one of the people that thinks color is the correct spelling, but this can be a minor irritation to some people! This section shows you how to change the default language settings for Finder and Menus, as well as how to switch on the various spelling dictionaries in your applications.
Clearing out iPod and iPhone Files: Two tips in this hint to help you reclaim some of your disk space. Whenever you update the firmware on your iPod or iPhone, OSX keeps a copy. After a few upgrades this can use up a fair slice of your disk space. In addition, iPod touch and iPhone users, did you know that each time you install or upgrade a mobile application, iTunes keeps all the old unneeded copies. They may be small, but it soon adds up! This hint shows you how to clear them out and get some disk space back.
16 Cores in Action: A couple of viewers have asked to see how I utilise the two Mac Pros to encode my videos using Compressor. Well small segment shows you just that. See the power of 16 cores roaring into action! Well you did ask!

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

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---

Another project based show this week, as I take you through some of the recent changes behind the scenes at ScreenCastsOnline. If you've been following me on Twitter or on my blog, you'll probably already know that I recently updated the ScreenCastsOnline production studio with another Mac Pro!

This show takes you through some of the reasoning behind the acquisition of the new kit, along with showing you some of the tools and techniques I used to both reconfigure and upgrade my existing Mac Pro and commission the new one.

I also examine why I didn't get one of the new "Nehalem" based Mac Pros but decided to go with one of the "End of Life" current Mac Pros.

Now before you start wondering, the show is not just for those looking to migrate to Mac Pros but contains a lot of information and useful tips and techniques for anyone considering upgrading or migrating from one Mac to another. This weeks show covers:

• Existing Mac Pro Configuration
• Discussion of RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAiD 5
• Using SoftRaid
• Splitting a Mirrored Disk
• Swapping a System Disk
• Migration Assistant
• Using SoftRaid to create a RAID 0 partition
• Using Disk Utility to create a RAID 0 Partition
• USing A KVM with a Dual-Link DVI monitor
• Link Aggregation on a Mac Pro

As mentioned at the end of this weeks show, I’d like to recommend a new set of training videos for beginners to Final Cut Pro. This is a new resource published by my friend Izzy, from IzzyVideo. I’ve had lots of requests to create such a resource myself, but it’s on that ever expanding list of projects I never quite got around to!

Izzy has done a great job of assembling over 6 hours of quality training in easy to digest chunks, specifically aimed at the Final Cut Pro beginner. To be honest, if you’re not a Final Cut Pro user, but you have invested in Final Cut Express, there are still lots of hints and tips you’d most likely pick up from the tutorials.

As a ScreenCastsOnline viewer, you can get $10 off the usual price of $59 making the discounted price just $49 for the complete set of tutorials, available for immediate viewing from the IzzyVideo website. Just use the coupon code:

4AA88

Just so that you are aware, as well as supporting Izzy, you’ll also be supporting ScreenCastsOnline as I’ll receive a small commission for any sales via this coupon code! You can get more information and watch some of the sample videos from here:

http://www.izzyvideo.com/products/learn-final-cut-pro-6-for-beginners/


Discussions: Forum

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---

Another Mac Montage this week! A couple of tips I use every week to create the show and associated supporting documents and graphics along with a great way to personalise your emails, together with a look at an OSX application.


This weeks tips in detail are:

Finding and capturing HiRes Icons in OS X: Now that Leopard supports huge 512x512 icons, application designers have gone to town, creating beautiful HiRes icons for all of your favourite applications. Not only that, but Apples own designers have created many, many beautiful HiRes icons for folders, software and even Apple hardware devices. This tip will show you how to find them on your system, copy them safely and create your own transparent png graphics for use in graphic projects and presentations - all for free. The tip also includes a handy little trick for capturing those gorgeous 512x512 icons from third party applications too!
Creating eMail Stationery Templates: Another new feature in Leopard was the inclusion of full colour HTML based email templates to brighten up your emails. Whilst, the pre-built templates are all very nice (!) wouldn't it be great to design your own personalised eMail templates for personal or business use? Well this tip shows you how to do just that! By examining an existing email template, this tip steps you through the structure of the template and shows your how to amend the template to suit your needs, then save it as a custom template.
Using The OS X Dictionary: he dictionary has been around for a while, but has been greatly expanded in Leopard to allow you direct access to a Thesaurus, and Apple dictionary and even direct access to Wikipedia. This tip also shows you a simple keyboard shortcut that allows you to look up words in any Cocoa app without having to load the full dictionary application - very cool!
Capturing Single Frames in Quicktime Movies: This simple tip shows you how to capture a single frame in a Quicktime movie and export it to png or jpeg format.As promised, the second of an occasional series of various hints and tips on getting the most out of your mac. Instead of the show focussing on a single piece of software or subject, I mix it up with several unrelated hints and tips on various aspects of using a mac. Each tip is directly accessible via chapter marks so you can either watch all the tips in sequence or jump straight to the tip you'd like.

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

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Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
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---

As well as covering the best in both Apple and third party software, I also like to cover OSX and some of the hidden features that continue to amaze me. One such feature is the inclusion of speech technologies within OS X Leopard, something that Apple has included with all versions of it's operating systems since the early 90s.

However, OS X Leopard made some significant advancements in these technologies and introduced a new computer generated voice called Alex enabling the inbuilt Text to Speech functions become viable and in fact, extremely useful.

As well as Text to Speech, OS X also has a full range of speech recognition technologies built right in, at no extra cost, allowing you to control your mac and access many application functions with just your voice - very cool!

So this weeks show examines such features including:

• Text to Speech Setup
• Selecting Text to Speak
• Proof Reading using Text to Speech
• Automator Action to convert PDFs to Audio and import into iTunes
• Configuring Speech Recognition
• Using Speech Recognition
• Demo of some Typical Commands

By the end of the show, you'll have a good appreciation of just what is possible and be ready to try it out for yourself!

Links: Speakapedia

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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---

As promised, the second of an occasional series of various hints and tips on getting the most out of your mac. Instead of the show focussing on a single piece of software or subject, I mix it up with several unrelated hints and tips on various aspects of using a mac. Each tip is directly accessible via chapter marks so you can either watch all the tips in sequence or jump straight to the tip you'd like.

This week, the tips include:

Numbers and OS X: Easily set up OS X keyboard shortcuts to access your most commonly used menu items. I found a few frustrations in switching over from Excel in that my normal keyboard shortcuts were not available in Numbers. A few clicks later and I was able to replicate them in Numbers and boost my productivity at a stroke! The really neat thing is that you can use the same technique for creating your own customised keyboard shortcuts in all your favourite applications.
Numbers: Another frustration was the absence of the Excel command for "Convert to Columns" to convert imported CSV files. Whenever I imported CSV (Comma Separated Variable) files, they didn't format properly! The answer was blindingly obvious and you'll kick yourself if this has been tripping you up too. All is revealed in this weeks show.
Safari: Despite all the choices we have as mac users with a plethora of browsers, I still keep coming back to Safari as my browser of choice. It's fast, fully compliant and integrates fully with the iPhone. Safari also has some pretty nifty features on how it handles tabs, windows and bookmarks including integration with address book. This section alone gives half a dozen tips on getting the most out of Safari
iTunes: Following on from the recent show covering iTunes 8, another feature is the inclusion of artwork for Genres in Album view. It can get a bit messy when you have none standard genres and no artwork. This tip shows you how to access a free utility to manage and update your iTunes genres artwork plus gives you access to some free genre artwork via Flickr.
OS X, Launchbar, Google Translate: This tip allows you to set up your mac to do virtually instant translation of foreign language text snippets. Frustrated by not being able to follow my non English speaking friends on Twitter, this tip shows you how to use Launchbar and the Google Translate service to quickly and easily translate virtually any language to any other language using a few simple keystrokes. Even if you're not a Launchbar user, you can still utilise copy and paste and the Google Translate service to accomplish this but not as impressively!

Links:
iGenres
Genres Flickr Pool
Iconaholic blog
Radio Lingua Network
Cava and Twitts
Launchbar
Previous ScreenCastsOnline Launchbar Tutorials
Google Translate Service

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 trailer for this show from this web page by clicking on the video below.

---

Something different for this week - a montage of Mac hints and tips!

As you're probably aware, the show usually focuses on one particular topic or subject area but in doing that, lots of smaller topics get overlooked. So this week I cover 4 completely different topics that wouldn't justify a full show individually but should still help you get the most out of your Mac. This weeks mini tutorials are:

Create a new Web Receipts option - OSX has a built in feature that allows you to use the print menu in any application to save your print to a PDF. They even provide a special option to save your PDF to a "Web Receipts" folder in your documents folder. This section allows you to duplicate this feature and create your own "Web Receipts" folder, call it anything you want and save it anywhere you want. The tutorial also shows you how to edit your new menu option to insert a time stamp right into the PDF title.


Sharing Your Internet Connection - Did you know that if you have a Mac with an Airport card or built in Airport, that you can turn you Mac in to an Internet access point by sharing your wired Internet connection? I use this a lot to allow my iPhone to use Wifi in my home studio where 3G is non existent and my existing wifi router signal is very weak. A couple of clicks in System Preferences and even if you don't have a wifi router, you can switch on Wifi and use your Mac as a Wireless Access Point.


Tweaking Screen Sharing - We all know that you can start off a screen sharing session using the button in the finder but did you know that there is a standalone screen sharing app built right into OSX? This section exposes the underlying app and gives you instructions on reconfiguring it to see all your bonjour enabled machines. It also shows you a tip on making the standard screensharing window much more functional by unhiding some extra features and buttons in the toolbar.


Creating Disk Images using Disk Utility - Yes, we all use Disk Utility to examine our disks and repair permissions, but did you know you can create your own disk images to send to other mac users, swap data from mac to mac or even burn to CD or DVD. As well as standard disk images, you can even create secure, password protected, encrypted disk images to store your sensitive data on your disk away from prying eyes. In this section, I look at the basics of disk images, creating a secure disk image and explain some of the different file formats available to you. I also look at how disk images can help us store sensitive data on USB pen drives.

So lots to cover in this weeks show!

If you want to copy and paste some of the commands I used in this weeks show, you can download a text file containing the commands from here

The website I got the Web Receipts info from is here

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 trailer for this show from this web page by clicking on the video below.

---

We revisit one of OSXs most misunderstood features this week and that's the latest version of Automator in Leopard.

Automator is a way of creating special applications or plugins that allow you to "automate" repetitive tasks. Each workflow is built up from a number of predefined actions that are bundled in with most of Apples own applications and an increasing number of third party applications. Initially introduced in Tiger, Automator has received a significant make over in Leopard with the introduction of some brand new features, mainly the ability to record tasks using the new "Watch Me Do" feature along with the introduction of user and system generated variables to use in your workflows.

So if the thought of AppleScript sends shivers down your spine, check out some the new features of Automator.

The show covers:

• Automator Basics
• The revised Interface
• Creating a Sample Workflow to resize images
• Creating a Sample Workflow with Text and Speech
• Saving Workflows as Applications
• Saving Workflows as Plugins
• Creating a Sample Workflow with "Watch Me Do"
• Creating and Scheduling an iCal Plugin

This weeks show also includes an Extra! section only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members:

• Variables in Automator
• Creating a Sample Workflow including Variables

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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Busy, busy week this week! Apple finally released Leopard 10.5.2 and in a flash, put right a lot of the issues and complaints people were having with the User Interface. So this week I take a look at some of the changes in the new update and the best way to install it.

Also, I've been holding off doing a show on Spaces, the virtual desktop management system in Leopard, as I must admit, I did find it a little buggy! Hopefully 10.5.2 has fixed that so the second part of the show is all about Spaces. In this section I cover:

• Spaces Concepts
• Setting Up Spaces
• Moving Between Spaces
• Visualising Spaces

This weeks show is the first that contains an Extra! section just for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members. In this additional section I cover:

• Moving Apps & Objects Between Spaces
• Organising Spaces by Task

Some major changes to the show format this week in that I've introduced a brand new theme and and transition clips. The new theme was commissioned from Geoff Smith, podcast theme maker extraordinaire! To celebrate, I spent some time putting together a new opening sequence, a new chapter marker and a new ending. All in motion graphics. I hope you like them!

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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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

---

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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Another Members show this week and it's part 2 of the iCal tutorial. In this weeks episode, I look at some of the more advanced capabilities of iCal that make it such a powerful planning and sharing tool. In addition, I also take a look at some third party tools that enable you to extend the capabilities of iCal and also integrate and syncronise with Google Calendar.

The show covers:

• Time Zone Support
• Sharing Calendars including
• Exporting
• Publishing
• Subscribing
• Syncronising Calendars including
• .Mac Sync
• iPhone Sync
• Third Party Integration
• BusySync for sharing iCal calendars
• Spanning Sync for integration with Google Calendar

Don't forget that the members version of the show has embedded chapters so you can go straight to the section that you want or easily skip sections.

LInks mentioned in this weeks show:

ScreenCastsOnline Forums
The MacBites Podcast
BusySync - See update below
Spanning Sync

Update 31/12/07 - In case you were not aware, BusySync has just been upgraded to sync across the WAN (ie via Macs connected across the Internet not just the local LAN). The press release can be found here. If you're interested in learning how to configure the new WAN features, see this section of the user's guide.

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 over 120+ 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

---

I've been holding off doing a show on iCal for a while now, but I'm glad I did. Leopard and the iPhone has brought a new lease of life to iCal, the calendar application included with Mac OS X.

Under the hood, there's a ton of cool and really useful features that now make iCal a credible and reliable tool to help you plan, organise and share your busy schedule.

In fact, there's so much stuff to cram in, I've had to split the show into two parts! In this first part, I cover:

• iCal User Interface Basics
• Creating and Managing Calendars
• Calendar Groups
• Creating and Editing Events
• Setting up Mail for iCal invitations
• Using Invitations to Setup Meetings
• Mail Integration
• Using Data Detectors in Mail
• Setting up To Dos via Mail

Part 2 will be along shortly looking at some of the more advanced features of iCal.

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 over 120+ 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

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This weeks' show is the last Leopard related screencast for a couple of weeks, and it's all about a couple of the most controversial aspects of Leopard, and that's the Leopard Desktop and Stacks.

These two areas seem to have been the most contentious, what with the missing rounded corners, the translucent menu bar and the perception of the 3D dock as being just eye candy! Not to mention the dubious visual metaphor of Stacks using the foremost icon in the dock - very confusing!

Well in this weeks' show, we'll examine all these features and look at some resolutions using some free third party applications. So this weeks show covers:

• New Menu Bar
• Recreating Rounded Corners
• Turning off the Translucency
• Configuring New Screensavers
• Customising the 3D Dock
• Stacks Overview
• Fixing Stacks Visuals
• Creating a Recent Items Stack

As promised, here are the links to the various utilities used in this weeks show:

OpaqueMenuBar
Displaperture
Leopard Docks
Stack Overlay Icons
mac OSX Hints

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 over 120+ 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

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The first full show on one of Leopards most unique features - Time Machine!

We all know what Leopard is supposed to do but in this show I take you from the basics of using Time Machine with the Finder, through iPhoto integration and even take a peek at Time Machine support in OSX Leopard Server. This weeks show is a free show, but I've included a special Extra! members only section at the end of the full show covering some of the more advanced features.

This week's show covers:

• Time Machine Basics
• Using The Finder in Time Machine
• Spotlight Integration with Time Machine
• iPhoto Integration with Time Machine

The Extra! members section also includes:

• Using Storage on Other Macs for Time Machine
• Setting up Personal File Sharing on Leopard
• Sneak Peak at Screen Sharing
• Sneak Peak at Using Leopard Server for Time Machine

Look out for more Leopard related screencasts in the coming months.


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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Yes, it's finally here - this week is the Leopard install show! If you've been hanging on and haven't installed Leopard yet, now you can learn all about the final preparation, a cool way to create a backup of your Leopard DVD plus the different options and customisations available when you install the big cat!

This week's show covers:

• Considerations Before Install
• Creating a bootable image of your Leopard Install DVD (optional)
• Using iPartition to dynamically resize partitions (optional)
• Final preparations
• Removing APE to prevent installation hangups
• Leopard Installation - Upgrade
• Leopard Installation - Archive and Install
• Leopard Installation - Erase and Install
• Using Migration Assistant

LInks to this weeks Software:

Special Pre-Order Discounts for Leopard:

US
Mac OS X 10.5: $109 (Save $20)
5-License Family Pack: $189 (Save $10)

UK
Mac OS X 10.5: £79.98 (Save £5.02)
5-License Family Pack: £119.98 (Save £7.02)

Links to the software used in this weeks show:

SuperDuper
iPartition 3

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 over 120+ 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

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At last! The launch date has been announced, the DVD printers are churning out copies of Leopard and all we have to do now is pre-order and wait for the big day!

Well we could sit and wait, but there's lots of things we can be doing in the meantime to ensure that our Macs are fit and ready to receive Leopard. More importantly, there are things we can do in advance to make sure that the installation or upgrade goes smoothly and that we are in a position to recover if things don't go as well as planned.

Yes, this week's show is all about preparing for the Leopard install and what sensible steps you need to do in advance.

One of the major things is ensuring that you have a good bootable backup of your Mac BEFORE you even think about upgrading. In this episode, I take you through some of the options for getting an external hard disk that can dual as both a bootable backup of your current system and also be configured to act as your Time Machine backup at the same time! I also cover some simple housekeeping steps to weed out the data and applications that clutter up your hard disk. The show covers:

• Selecting an External Hard Disk
• Partitioning your new disk
• Creating a Time Machine volume
• Creating a Bootable Backup using Superduper
• Testing your Bootable Backup
• Disk Housekeeping
• Identifying large files with Grandperspective
• Removing Applications with Appzapper
• Updating Applications with AppFresh

LInks to this weeks Software:

Special Pre-Order Discounts for Leopard:

US
Mac OS X 10.5: $109 (Save $20)
5-License Family Pack: $189 (Save $10)

UK
Mac OS X 10.5: £79.98 (Save £5.02)
5-License Family Pack: £119.98 (Save £7.02)

Links to the software used in this weeks show:

Carbon Copy Cloner
SuperDuper
GrandPerspective
AppZapper
AppFresh


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 over 120+ 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

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So Macs don't crash that often (but let's face it they do sometimes!) but more often we may get a rogue application that decides to go AWOL and take up all of your precious CPU cycles. And let's not mention the "spinning wheel of doom" that occasionally appears if an application decides not to play nicely.

The good thing is that these occurrences don't happen that often but when they do, we need to be able to track down the culprit and stop the app so we can carry on working.

Step up to the mark, Activity Monitor.

Activity Monitor is a free Mac OS X application installed on every Mac and is just the job for seeking out misbehaving applications and some other really useful information. It even allows you to selectively quit individual processes that may be causing problems on you Mac.

This week's show gives you a run down on the major features of Activity Monitor and describes how you might use it to find out more about your Mac and to help sort out any process issues you may come across. Activity monitor also has a number of features and displays that enable you to continuously monitor the health of various aspects of your Mac via separate windows or even via the dock application.

If you want an alternative to Activity Monitor, this weeks show also has a quick demo of a super donationware package that lets you monitor many aspects of your macs health direct from the menubar. That's iStat Menus

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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Back to basics this week and hopefully it'll relieve the pressure off the credit card for our US based friends who may have maxed out buying the iPhone!

This week I cover one of the most misunderstood, under appreciated and under utilised functions with OS X and that's OSX Services.

OSX Services are like mini utilities that help you manipulate, format and transfer text into all sorts of applications. I'll be looking atService Scrubber which is a donationware application which allows you to enable and disable services, restructure your services menu and assign keystrokes to service actions.

Also, I take a look at some of the more useful services and touch on how to use the TextExpander service. It's possible to download and install services and I take a look at WordService and TinyUrl , both extremely useful OSX services.

Finally, I take a look at configuring QuickSilver to access your OS X Services directly instead of via the menu.

All in all, a pretty packed (and hopefully informative) show!

This week's show is an Extra! members only show so subscribers to the free feed will only get a sampler of the full show. To get more information on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member, visit the Become a Member page.

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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To give you (and your wallet!) a rest from all the cool applications I've been featuring recently, I've gone back to basics and produced a primer for the OS X Terminal.

OS X Terminal gives you direct command line access to the Unix shell on which OS X is built on. While it may seem intimidating to some people, there are lots of really useful and immensely powerful tools available to you from Terminals command line interface.

This weeks show looks at:

Running Terminal
Customising the Terminal Window
Some Basic Terminal Commands
Man Pages
Navigating Your Directory Structure
Using Pipes
Network Diagnostics
Remote Login using SSH

The show barely scratches the surface of what you can accomplish with Terminal so please head over to the ScreenCastsOnline forum and leave your favourite Terminal hints and Tips here!.

If we get enough, perhaps I'll do a more advanced show to follow up.

Discussions: Forum

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This weeks shows gives you some basic information on how to share folders and files either on the same mac, between macs on your home network and also between Macs and Windows PCs.

As an experiment, the show is split into 3 sections:

Part 1 - For Everyone - Basic Filesharing
Part 2 - For Extra! Members - Using Sharepoints and more advanced file sharing
Part 3 - For Extra! Members - A short section covering the recent beta release of Parallels introducing some amazing new features.

Parts 2 & 3 are only available in the versions of the Extra! versions of the shows (in High definition) made available via the RSS feeds for Extra! members. Slight change this week in that the Extra! membership has been simplified to just 1 option - Premium Extra! Membership. See here for details.

Part 2 also includes information on installing and configuring Sharepoints - A great donationware application that makes the whole process of setting up File Sharing Only users and shares on the mac.

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Following on from the recent show (SCO0071 - Using an Internet Hosting Provider) I'm pleased to say that ScreenCastsOnline viewers have been setting up SiteGround accounts using the ScreenCastsOnline Affiliate Link!

Thank you!

This will be the last SiteGround related show for a month or two, but people have been asking about setting up the email system with OSX Mail application. So this show teaches you how to create email accounts in Siteground and configuring your mail in OSX. As this is a fairly standard procedure, you may fins that this is applicable to other hosting providers too! The show also covers some great tips on organising your mail accounts. So this week we look at:

Setting up single and multiple email accounts in Siteground
Configuring the OSX Mail Application
Forwarding multiple emails to single mailbox
Configuring multiple emails in a single mailbox
Organising your emails using Rules
SiteGround WebMail

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Back to the usual format this week. The recent WWDC keynote inspired me to cover one of the unsung heroes of OSX and that's the Mail application. It's been a while since I did a switcher show so I thought, why not!

This weeks show is in two versions, the usual free show and a special "enhanced" version for Extra! members which includes a separate Extra! section.

In the free show I cover...

Setting up Mail with .Mac, Mail User Interface, Mail Preferences including Rules, Organising your Mail Preferences incl Rules, Mailboxes and Smart MailBoxes

The Extra! section covers:

Migrating Data from Outlook to Mail, Setting up Mail with GMail, Installing a 3 pane view plugin

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Something useful for new mac users and regular users alike!

OSX is an extremely stable and low maintenance operating system but if you aren't able to keep your machine booted 24x7, there are some simple actions you can do to keep your mac in top condition. This screencast gives you some guidance on how to keep your mac spruced up for top performance.

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.

If you're not already registered on the forums, you'll need to register when you click the link but it's free and very simple to do! Once you are registered, future clicks on this link or for future shows will take you straight to the forum.

Duration: 10:37
Size: Desktop & iPod:30MB HiDef:35MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links:
MacJanitor
Disk Optimisation with OSX
Cocktail

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This is the third in a series of screencasts especially for mac switchers. This episode covers the amazing Expose functionality built right into OSX

Future episodes will cover all aspects of OSX tiger to give switchers (and potential switchers) a really good start in mastering their mac.

Please support ScreenCastsOnline by letting newbie friends and colleagues know about this useful resource and leave all comments about this ScreenCast on the ScreenCastsOnline Forums

Duration: 09:45
Size: 30MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy

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This is the second in a series of screencasts especially for mac switchers. This episode covers the Finder in OSX and gives hints and tips on navigating around the mac environment

Future episodes will cover all aspects of OSX tiger to give switchers (and potential switchers) a really good start in mastering their mac.

Please support ScreenCastsOnline by letting newbie friends and colleagues know about this useful resource!

Duration: 22:31
Size: 37MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy

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This episode covers the Dock in OSX and demonstrates how to master both simple and advanced built in functions of the dock.

Future episodes will cover all aspects of OSX tiger to give switchers (and potential switchers) a really good start in mastering their mac.

Please support ScreenCastsOnline by letting newbie friends and colleagues know about this useful resource!

PS - I'm assuming all switchers will be using a two button mouse so there are references to right click throughout - If you're a switcher and you haven't got a two button mouse then go and get one immediately!


Duration: 13:07
Size: 25MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links used in the ScreenCast:

Beamup Media

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A quick overview of Spotlight - one of the new features of OSX Tiger. This tutorial covers basic usage of the spotlight search functions within Tiger along with some more advanced hints and tips you may not be aware of!

Duration: 10:21
Size: 16MB
Platform: mac
Level: Easy
Links used in the ScreenCast:

Apple Spotlight Tips

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How to capture local copies of Web pages using Safari and Paparazzi. Following on from the previous screen capture screencast (SCO0007) this episode demonstrates how to create web archives and access them using Spotlight. Also the use of a great freeware package to capture whole web pages as graphic files.

This is the second 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: 12:15
Size: 30MB
Platform: mac
Level: Simple
Links: paparazzi

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How to use the inbuilt features of OSX 10.4 to do screen captures plus demonstrating the use of a brilliant dashboard widget to enhance screen captures

As promised, this is the ScreenCast first distributed on macTV at the beginning of this week. It is replicated here for any ScreenCastOnline subscribers who are not subscribed to macTV.

I appreciate that this may cause a duplicate download for those subscribed to both. If this is a real cause for concern, please drop me a note at screencastsonline@gmail.com and we'll look at an alternative for the next macTV special.

Duration: 5:46
Size: 8.5MB
Platform: mac
Level: Simple
Links: Capture Widget

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