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SimpleChord 4.2.1 – Quick chord reference for musicians.

20 Jun 2009

SimpleChord is Part tool and part toy, a chord reference and composition tool for Mac OS X. It can show chords, play them, and order them into progressions, and it doesn’t end there.

Many Musical Possibilities – From power chords to jazz, it’s all there.
Your Composing Assistant – Arrange chord progressions right in the application to try out new sounds or use it to create accompanyment.
Have iPod, Will Travel – Chord dictionary and saved progressions can be exported to your iPod.
Works with MIDI keyboards – Use a MIDI keyboard peripheral to find chords that work with your melodies.
Print and go – Print out progressions for easy learning when you’re away from the computer.
Reverse Lookup – Punch in the keys, find out the chord.
Right on time – Convenient metronome and tempo-finder tools built-in.

DOWNLOAD NOW (5.9′MB) More information

(Via MacUpdate – Mac OS X.)

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Minitube 0.3 – Native YouTube client.

In: Internet| Mac| Multimedia| Video| software

18 Jun 2009

Minitube is a native YouTube client. With it you can watch YouTube videos in a new way: you type a keyword, Minitube gives you an endless video stream. Minitube does not require the Flash Player.

Minitube is in its early stages. It currently has a lot of bugs and still lacks many features I planned for it. That said, it partially works. Try it, report your experience in the comments and spread the word.

DOWNLOAD NOW (15.2′MB)

More information

(Via MacUpdate – Mac OS X.)

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10 Apps for Web Designers Using a Mac

In: Mac| WebDev| software

10 Jun 2009

Apple computers are known for their simplicity in design and excellence in performance. These are the two basic reasons that entice web designers and developers to use Macs as their work computer.

There are oodles of third party applications out there for web designers and web developers who use Macs. In this article, we share with you the top ten applications that web designers/developers on a Mac will find useful.

Though not all of them are exclusively for Macs, they are all build with Mac users in mind (and not haphazardly ported over for compatibility).

1. Seashore

Seashore is an open source image editor that utilizes the Mac OS X’s Cocoa Framework. It’s a full-fledged image editor that gives Photoshop a run for its money. Seashore provides a ton of features for its end-user including various textures, gradients, and anti-aliasing for its text and brush tools. Along with those great options, it also supports editing over multiple layers and alpha channels. It’s an awesome image editor for Mac users on a budget.

2. Coda

Coda can be the sole reason for switching to a Mac as a web designer; it is an extremely well-done and intuitive application that makes the web development workflow a breeze. It was designed to compartmentalize website-building processes and for team collaboration. Coda isn’t free, but at less than a hundred dollars, you get a lot bang for the buck.

3. TextMate

TextMate is an comprehensive text editor application designed exclusively for the Mac computer; it is the premier example of how text editors should function. A premium application, a MUST have for all web designers.

4. Paparazzi!

Paparazzi! is a basic tool for the Mac OS X which enables the user to take screenshots of entire web pages without any external editing. This tool relies on the Cocoa API and WebKit framework, written in C. A great tool for designers who need to capture entire web pages for design mockup presentation or as web graphics on a site they’re making.

5. Nvu

Nvu is a high-performance WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor built around Gecko (the rendering engine for Mozilla-based browsers). This application runs on Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later which makes web designing a cinch even to beginning-level web builders.

6. Think

Think is an excellent application for making you focus on the task at hand. This application creates an ‘Illumination Panel’ that replaces the Mac OS dock by creating a list of applications that you use to select the application you want to ‘Focus’ on. This is an essential application for those that are easily distracted by other things such as Instant Messaging, Twitter, and emails.

7. Aquamacs Emacs

Aquamacs Emacs is an extended version of the original and robust Emacs text editor with an addition of the new Aqua look-and-feel making the application blend right into the Mac OS X user interface. This editor is perfect for people who work with HTML, LaTeX, C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP and much more.

8. Xee

Xee is a straightforward application for browsing your images. This app can be considered as a replacement for Preview or any other default image viewer pre-installed on the Mac OS X. It’s sleek, fast, and uses very little system resources. Loads of shortcuts and a nice streamlined user interface add to its list of features.

9. Scribus

Scribus is an open source application for creating high quality page layouts for Mac and Linux users. Scribus has an intensive feature set under its clean and impressive GUI. Some of its publishing features include: CMYK Color, Separations, ICC Color management, and flexible PDF Authoring and Editing.

10. Smultron

Smultron is a gratis text editor which can be considered as a replacement for the default text editor that comes along with the Mac. Smultron is quite versatile and easy to use. It is meant to be used on the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. The editor can be used as a basic text to a complete HTML & Script editor.

(Via Six Revisions.)

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Steve Jobs to Make Surprise Appearance At WWDC

In: Apple| Mac| News| Technology| iPhone

5 Jun 2009

He said he’d be back, he’s allegedly been spotted at Apple’s Cupertino campus, and Woz thinks he sounds fine. Now the WSJ is saying Steve Jobs—after nearly ’starving to death’—might make it back in time for WWDC.

Yes, this is a Wall Street Journal report, but no, it’s not at all official; in fact, it’s classic Apple rumor:

Two people who do business with Apple said senior Apple managers have told them the company is now trying to coordinate Mr. Jobs’s return with a product launch or public event.

The statements of these ‘people who do business’ with Apple are then supplemented with some info about the new iPhone, which Jobs may unveil, from ‘people who’ve seen the device’:

The new phone will look similar to last year’s model but has more processing power and some new features like video editing.

That side of the story has been more-or-less taken for granted by other publications for a while now—it’s the Jobs angle that matters here. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good Jobsnote, and even if Schiller and co. did pretty well on their own, I think we’re all ready for one. [WSJ]

(Via Gizmodo.)

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How To Change Your Time Machine Backup Interval

In: Apple| Mac| Reference| software

5 Jun 2009

Time Machine's default Preference Pane. Time Machine is Apple’s all-in-one backup solution that takes a snapshot of your hard drive and incrementally backs up any files that have changed since the previous backup. The default configuration is pretty sparse; there’s an On/Off slider, Disk Selection, and an Options area where you can exclude folders from the backup.

You might think hourly backups are a bit excessive. Apple does not give you a convenient way to change the default backup schedule. Luckily this is easy. Here are two ways you can change the hourly backup schedule to one of your choosing.

Modifying the system files

If you just want to change the default interval and not schedule anything fancy, follow this method.

Warning: this tutorial involves modifying System files. As always, be sure to make copies of the original files before changing anything.

1. Navigate to

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

You’ll see a list of .plist files. Scroll until you see com.apple.backupd-auto.plist

2. Make a copy of this file somewhere else on your hard drive.

3. Verify that you (as an administrator of your machine) can Read and Write to this file. Highlight com.apple.backupd-auto.plist and ‘Get Info’ (Command + I). If you don’t see ‘admin – Read & Write’ or ‘[your username] Read & Write’ you’ll need to add yourself to the list.

4. Open this file with a text editor. Property List Editor doesn’t let me save any changes for some reason.

You'll need to find these two lines in your preference list.

5. In a text editor, find the lines

<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>3600</integer>

Change 3600 to the amount of time you want between backups in seconds.

6. Save and you’re finished.

Time Machine Editor

Another way to manage your Time Machine backups is the very handy TimeMachineEditor utility. In addition to changing the default backup interval, it allows you to dictate your hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly backup schedules with a very high level of detail.

TimeMachineEditor's configuration window gives you a wealth of options.