| macosxhints.com - Customize the iDVD background Apple
Logo
| As you may know, iDVD includes (by default) the Apple logo watermark
on your DVD. You can disable this in the General section of iDVD's
preferences. In my case, however, I wanted the watermark, but I
didn't want it to be the Apple logo. Here's how to change it
(you'll need the Developer Tools installed to do this):
| 1. Quit iDVD if it's running, then make a backup of the iDVD.app
program.
| 2. Control-click on iDVD.app in the Finder, and choose Show Package
Contents from the pop-up menu.
| 3. Navigate into Contents/Resources.
| 4. Edit the file watermark.tif to your satisfaction, retaining the
pretty translucency.
| 5. Open Watermark.qtz by double-clicking on the file; it should open
in Quartz Composer.
| 6. Click on the patch that says Watermark.
| 7. Click on Patch Inspector in the Toolbar, then choose Settings.
| 8. Import the watermark.tif file you just edited.
| 9. Save the file and restart iDVD.
| Beginners Guide: Programming Cocoa for OS X |
MacApper
| A few months back a friend asked me if I wanted to help work on a
small application for OS X. He figured because I had a long history of
Windows based programming I would have no trouble making the
transition to writing apps for Mac. Well he was wrong for obvious
reasons and I also found (unlike coding Windows apps) that the journey
to bring my skills up to par for Mac, was a greatly rewarding, yet
somewhat convoluted experience.
The Mac OS X Server community tends to be an odd one in the larger IT
world. It isn't because of the relative scarcity of our OS, or the
strange hardware, it's because the sysadmins are often not sysadmins.
The people tasked with Mac OS X Server are often educators, video
editors, or bus drivers who have been pressed into service as the Mac OS
X Server sysadmin; often for no reason more than they were reading
MacAddict at lunch. Because of this sysadmin conscription I often find
that the people waging the good fight lack training in the practices of
IT administration. Furthermore they are often not required to conform to
the practices of the organization as a whole since they are running
"Those MAC servers..." and are excluded.
A recent post reminded me of a trick I've been using for the past year
or so with great success, so I figured I'd share. Being a Mac
specialist, I find myself having to do OS installs on a pretty regular
basis. I carry around a couple of 2.5" FireWire hard drives loaded with
installers, diagnostics, and other goodies.
I wanted to be able to install the OS from one of my hard drives, like
in the old days of OS 9, instead of having to boot the the machine from
a CD or DVD. So here's what I did:
| Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | CNET
News.com
| Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a
phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the
situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the
Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the
Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said.
| From engaget.com
| Yep, everyone's talking about using the Mac mini as a home media
center, and there's
a reason why: its diminutive form factor makes it a good candidate to
fit unobtrusively into an existing audio/video or home theater setup.
It looks more like a consumer electronics device than a computer, so
it won't look out of place in your living room.
I always thought it might be helpful to use the OS X installation CD not
only for the purpose of installing the OS, but to do some repairs which
can't be done when running from the hard disk. Fortunately, Apple has
made this very easy. The only thing you have to do is to add the
application(s) of your choice to the /Applications -> Utilities folder
of the installation CD/DVD. After that, boot from the copy of the DVD,
and in addition to the usual utilities, (for instance) the Terminal will
appear in the list of commands you can execute if you added it before. I
find that really useful, because if something goes wrong, the underlying
Unix commands are most times able to fix it.
| Apple debuts updated PowerBook line | MacNN
News
| Apple today introduced its new 15-inch PowerBook G4, offering a sleek
aluminum design weighing just 5.6 pounds, a 15.2-inch widescreen
display, speeds of up to 1.25GHz, a backlit keyboard, and advanced
connectivity including AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, FireWire 800, USB
2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet. The new 15-inch PowerBook G4 starts at
$1,999. Apple also updated its other PowerBooks: the new 17-inch
model features a faster 1.33 GHz G4 processor with double the amount
of on-chip level 2 cache and is now available for $2,999, a $300
price reduction. The new 12-inch model features a 1GHz G4 processor
and includes a Digital Video Interface (DVI) port.