Saturday, May 5, 2007
App Pick: iPhoto Diet★
With a new template in development and on the way, I thought it apt to take the time out and write yet another 'Take' on an application.
Meet: iPhoto Diet. If you have a messy iPhoto library with images all over the place, unassigned, duplicated or you're library is just sitting pretty at a leisurely 10gb too fat, then iPhoto Diet may just be your savior.
True to its name, iPhoto Diet puts iPhoto, on a digital byte-saving diet. It checks for duplicates, redundant backups, unrotated originals and of course strips icon thumbnails (allow iphoto to generate more up-to-date versions that my just save some space).
iPhoto Diet can also check for unassigned photos, or in other words, photos that aren't in an album or categorized in any way.
My only advice would be to use the program slowly, and when you're not using the computer. It'll take probably 5 minutes if you check all the options, but I'd recommend that you perform actions one at a time. For instance, checking Move: Unassigned Photos, and selecting New Album is a good start. The same goes for duplicates.
I wouldn't move photos into the trash first however; if you find a photo you want to keep in the trash it can only be dragged back into the library, where it becomes unassigned and nearly impossible to find. However, If you move them to a new album, you can restore chosen photos into albums and then to delete the unwanted, repeat the process with 'Move to iPhoto's Trash' selected.
I think that iPhoto Diet could do itself a favor by improving its gui and usability even more. For now, it does the job, and it does the job nicely. Check it out at FreshMeat
Labels: app-pick
★ 3 Comments. | By Skippy, Saturday, May 5, 2007 9:24 PM
Friday, May 4, 2007
Temporary Template Switch★
Since the old template was becoming a little stagnant, and since people were also complaining about the old color scheme, I've updated the MacTake to this new wordpress port template for now. Soon I'll have time to design and code a unique template for the MacTake, but for now, we shall have to bask in the glory of paper flowers and blue skies.I've just realized that they're flowers. That's decidedly un-manly. Oh well, expect yet another template change shortly!
Happy Mac'ing!
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, Friday, May 4, 2007 7:26 AM
Thursday, May 3, 2007
OpenOffice, with added Matrix.★
NeoOffice 2.1, the Mac 'port' of OpenOffice with an injection of matrix-like oomph was unveiled not long ago to the percussion-like fanfare of thousands of jaws world-wide hitting floors.You see, NeoOffice has earned the title of the one-and-only office application for OS X. It trumps Microsoft Office's clunky gui, poor loading time and weak functionality and is very much on-par with the iWork applications, although I would say that Pages has quite the upper hand when it comes to creating page layouts and churning out template based content.
Gone are the days of clunky OS 9 gui's, poorly designed Microsoft Office mock-ups, and sub-standard word processors. NeoOffice boasts a delicious aqua interface, clean gui and oh-so-wonderfully designed buttons.Install a new dictionary with ease via your internet connection (no hunting for the Office CD), and switch input languages with the click of a button. NeoOffice isn't (as afore mentioned), a sub-standard mock-up of Microsoft Word, purporting to deliver the same features at a 0 Alex Price tag, its the true-blue real thing (with added spice).
The argument that a product is worth every penny of its price tag is mute in this instance. NeoOffice is open source, and has proven to its users that its developed with extreme care and dedication, by people with a passion.
What would you rather have? An application that is pumped out lethargically by a giant organization paying cubical-refined employees to code for a word-processor app one day and a video game the next, or an application that has been created with zeal, attention to detail and energy by people who really care, and therefore do it in their own time for free?
If you ask me, OpenSource is moving faster these days, towards a common beneficial goal, than anything before it.
Overall application verdict?Download it free, today!
NeoOffice is not just a substitute for MS Office, its a complete and far-superior replacement.
http://www.neooffice.org/
Happy Mac'ing!
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, Thursday, May 3, 2007 6:04 PM
So Many Me's★
| HowManyOfMe.com | ||
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★ 1 Comments. | By Skippy, 9:32 AM
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Apple proves its still green.★
Steve Jobs has for the first time openly discussed his plans for Apple to get green, and stay green.Apple have cut lead out of their product lines, and have attained a 9.8% recycling weight of past sales amongst other things.
They've made industry leading decisions and implemented them even before bodies such as the EU thought them up. As of now, they're actually devoting research into the overall carbon footprint of their products, results and data of which they plan to announce about this time next year if not sooner.
We will be providing updates of our efforts and accomplishments at least annually, most likely around this time of the year. And we plan to bring other environmental issues to the table as well, such as the energy efficiency of the products in our industry. We are also beginning to explore the overall carbon “footprint” of our products, and may have some interesting data and issues to share later this year.
Happy (Green) Mac'ing!
Labels: news
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 7:12 PM
Spam Fighter: Progress/Status update.★
So a while ago I told you about Spam Fighter, and how I was going to test it on the MacTake.Results are pretty good, I don't have a control experiment to compare this with and hence my 'experiment' has absolutely no scientific validity (that, and its statistical hell anyway); but I can tell you this:
I've had absolutely no new types of spam hit my inbox since I chucked in the Spam Fighter link. Sure, I've had the usual 2 suspects: pharmaceuticals and 's0ftware' spam, but absolutely nothing new. Interestingly enough, this spam is getting sent to me from my own address but, address masking is easy to do with pretty much any language; I can send an email to you, from you with just a few lines of php.
Verdict?
So far so good; no new types of spam, and the old ones have been pretty easy to tackle. A track-down to the pharmaceutical company accompanied with a quick email, informing them of their 'error' as well as a friendly heads-up about a potential letter from the old solicitor. As for the s0ftware company trying to sell me bung pc pirated drivel, you guessed it: I just tabbed into Junk Mail preferences, and added the subject line as a clause.
Lets hope that things stay this way, in the mean time, why not give Spam Fighter a try on your website and fill me in on your thoughts? Just an idea!
Happy Mac'ing!
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, 4:50 PM
Sunday, April 29, 2007
News: Halo 2.0.1 Update★
Good news for all of us still addicted to Halo 1 on Mac. We've seen this game come from xbox, to pc to Mac PowerPC, and finally to Universal Binary. Now a patch has been released from MacSoft to better improve the UB version's performance on Intel & PowerPC Macs.If you ask me, the performance gain is quite impressive, the whole game has a smoother graphical feel, and you'll actually note a whole bunch of new reflections, textures and changes that, rather than take the game's look and feel away from the original xbox version, bring it closer.
I'm running it on 1680x1050 right now, and seem to be getting a frame rate of about 25 on the open area in Assault on the Control Center. Pretty good, considering that wasn't before possible, even with the x1600.
The update is only 4mb, so don't hesitate to head on over and pick it up. You can download it by clicking here.
Happy Halo'ing!
Labels: news
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, Sunday, April 29, 2007 2:07 PM
App Pick: It's about time to learn the switch to Mac (1.0)★
Straight from the 'It's about time products' company, comes an all-singing, all-dancing new Mac switcher guide.I've always pushed for more and more switching guides, tips and just anything that will make a new user's or even accomplished quicksilver-toting veteran's lives easier. It's actually why I started the good old MacTake, the more help there is out there, the easier it will be for everyone.
Switch to Mac features a tastefully designed and intuitive gui, and covers the essential basics of OSX. If I had access to this app when I made the switch, I would've found the whole task a lot less daunting. The way that Switch to Mac helps you to analyze your previous Windows habits and learn the more logical* Mac approach. You'll find split screen video presentations of both Windows and Macintosh systems in there, as well as a fairly new and intuitive presentation structure; users can simply click a link to the task that they'd like to perform & learn about, rather than sit through the whole thing learning the rigid basics.
However, I'm a little less pleased at the price tag. It's $29.95, not exactly on the cheap side for something that I could only see someone using a couple of times.
In a way the program has disadvantaged itself; because the content is so memorable and well-explained, I don't see users having much of a need to refer back to it at all.This might be a good choice for a new switcher, picking it up with a new Mac for an additional $30, but I feel that the price tag, however well justified might keep the rest of us away from it for a while.
The better news is that there must be quite a switcher market out there, expect to see more products like this soon.
You can check Switch to Mac out by clicking here.
* (sometimes more logical for those of us who harbor that cynical dark-side - me included)
Happy Mac'ing!
Labels: app-pick
★ 0 Comments. | By Skippy, 1:38 PM
