Upgrading Mac To Snow Leopard Using USB drive
The latest Mac OS X – version 10.6 – was released to the public on August 28. Mac users who pre-ordered Snow Leopard should already have their copy delivered and surely have upgraded their Mac to Leopard by now. The Mac communities’ discussions are filled with the post installation experiences and thoughts and comments about the latest feline from Apple.
One of the afterthoughts I have with another Mac user friend is about the installation process for Macbook Air which has no optical drive. It was a short discussion closed by a “using Remote Disc of course” statement and a few chuckles. But then I wondered whether it’s possible to install Snow Leopard (or any other version of Mac OS X) using a USB thumb drive (something like creating a portable Ubuntu installation USB that we’ve discussed here before). This would be useful for Mac users who have no access to a physical optical drive.
For the sake of curiosity, I did a little Googling followed by a little experiment. Less than one and a half hours later, I knew the answer.
5 Websites To Keep Kids Busy & Happy
Sometimes you just have to get some work done, when all your child wants to do is play with you. While playing with your kid should be your top priority, you can’t always neglect your work. Being a parent sure isn’t easy.
I’ve had a colleague who sometimes had to bring her 3 year old son to work when the nanny was sick and no one else was available to take care of him. We all helped keeping him busy and now and then he would also enjoy some games on the computer.
Here are five ways to distract your child and keep any kid busy for a few minutes when you absolutely need it.
Create Your Own Custom Magazine Covers With CoverDude
Have you ever wanted to be on a magazine cover?
Of course you have – who hasn’t? But the probability of you actually getting there is slim to none. Sorry for bursting your bubble but chances are you’re not going to be famous. But maybe you want to feel famous or you want to create a little image trickery that will put you in the spotlight.
CoverDude lets you create awesome looking custom magazine covers (albeit fake ones) very easily. Even though the magazines are not real pretty darn cool looking.
All you need is an internet connection and a computer. The site is very easy to use and a well trained monkey could probably use it.
But I don’t know which cover a monkey would pick….but I digress.
Let’s check out the site. I browsed on over to CoverDude and got down to it.
Cool Websites and Tools [ September 4 ]
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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory. |
(1) Get EXIF Info – Simple web application that lets you extract and view EXIF ‘Exchangeable Image File Format’ data from JPG images online. The EXIF is a standard for storing meta information such as the model of a camera used, image creation date and time, resolution settings etc, inside JPEG image files. Read more: Get EXIF Info – Extract and View EXIF Data from Images
Synchronize Your Google Contacts, Calendar & RSS In Thunderbird
Today I started using the desktop email client Mozilla Thunderbird again. Gmail is an excellent email application but if I am out and about with my netbook and I have difficulty finding a wireless connection, then the ability to download all my emails beforehand to Thunderbird is a lifesaver.
Synchronizing your Gmail email messages with Thunderbird is a breeze by using IMAP. Every change you make in Thunderbird is more or less instantly reflected in your online email account.
But what about your Gmail contact book, your Google calendar and Google Reader RSS feeds? Although Thunderbird offers their own versions, I wanted it instead to synchronize with my Google accounts and keep everything updated as I made changes. The thought of having two versions, one in Thunderbird and one online, was not very appealing.
Here’s how I finally managed to do it.
The 4 Great Blogging Apps For The iPhone
Blogging is still an extremely popular hobby and profession, one which many of the MakeUseOf editors and writers are quite fond of. It’s a way to express our opinions on matters not very well covered in the media or to just have a good moan about whatever it is that annoys us.
In many regards, blogging is rapidly replacing the traditional personal diary. So powerful is the medium that jobs have been lost and people oppressed in countries such as Iran and China are arrested just for blogging.
But blogging at your PC can be a pain. Sure it was fine a few years ago but now things are much better when condensed into the palm of your hand, ready to tell the world about your love of old films or your hatred of Christmas shopping in October. The iPhone, pretty much epitomizing the smart phone, is a great tool for the blogger when he/she has the right apps.
Below is a list of my favourite blogging apps for the iPhone that I use for my own blogs.
How to Upgrade to Snow Leopard & What You Should Know [Mac]
The first impression I got upon hearing that Apple would be releasing Snow Leopard was that its price was unbelievably affordable. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate upgrading if it only costed me $25 for a brand new operating system that would not only speed up my Mac but free up some hard disk space, as well as letting me at some really cool new features.
While I was in London, I visited the Apple Regent Street Store to grab a copy of the latest OS to upgrade my Mac. Is it actually as simple as that? Quick answer – no.
There happens to be some fine print that everyone should be aware of.
Continue Reading…
4 Easy Ways to Customize Common Dialog Box on Windows XP
The humorist, Andy Rooney once quipped “computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done.”
Perhaps he was an early advocate of simplicity. The world has leapfrogged ahead since he made this observation and so has computer technology. If we dissect the razzmatazz of technology, life has been rendered simpler in some ways. Launches of new apps and software suites continue to push the agenda for productivity. Where would Windows tips and tricks or say, Firefox add-ons be without this central idea?
And we continue to search for productive ways to do the same old things. Even a simple thing like opening a file or saving it in default locations can be tweaked to shave a few seconds here and there.
3 Fun Poetry Video Games
Is gaming art?
This question has envoked a discussion that has been going on for the better part of gaming history. With pro’s and con’s, a definite answer is not present.
Some claim gaming is indeed an art, but not one of the greater arts, like painting, poetry and literacy. But where do you draw the line?
Some games integrate these ‘greater arts’ in a gaming concept. It’s hard to answer that same question again when the borderlines are fading.
Today we’ve gathered three poetry video games – games that express, test, or are poetry.
Convert A File To HTML Instantly With File2.ws
File2.ws allows us to convert almost any type of file into an HTML webpage with zero knowledge necessary in any web language or programming skills. This is awesome for someone to share a document or song with the world or a group of people.
If you get a email with a Word document attachment all you have to do is upload it to File2.ws and it will convert a file to HTML and shoot back the link.
Let’s check out how it works.
You start off by visiting their website. You will see a page that looks like this:
