Launch Application Shortcut in OS X

For a long time I have been trying to find a way to create a key shortcut natively in OS X to launch an application. It appears that there is a way to assign shortcuts to switch between already running applications, but nothing which allows you to assign a shortcut for a cold start of an app.

I think this is something which is very basic and Apple very much needs to hear your voice. You can leave a comment/suggestion on the official Apple OS X Feedback page.

Hopefully, aided with the help of people speaking up, we will see in the next version of OS X this very basic shortcut ability addressed.

How To Change Icon Size in Apple iMac, Apple Mac Book Pro, Apple Macbook Air

A quick easy way of adjusting your icon size is to select the icon for the file on your Desktop or somewhere in Finder, and type the key shortcut Command + J, in order to use the Show View Options command on the View menu in Finder. In this window pane you can adjust the pixel length-width ratio, space between file icons, Font Size, Label Position, and others.

How to Convert DOC to PDF in Apple iMac, Apple Mac Book Pro, Apple Mac Book Air

You might be wondering if you can easily turn your Microsoft Document files into PDFs on the Mac. But, it turns out that there's an easy way of converting your microsoft .doc files to the PDF format natively in OS X.

1: Open your Microsoft Document file with TextEdit.



2: Type Command + P, or go to File and select Print.

3: Look to the lower left of the Print pane and you will see a "PDF" button. Click on it to see a drop-down menu.



4: Choose "Save as PDF...".

5: Choose where you would like to save your new PDF file.

How to Add and Remove Safari Buttons From Apple iMac, Mac Book Air, Pac Book Pro

 

You can remove the plus sign button for adding bookmarks, or remove the forward and backward buttons for page navigation. The layout in Safari is very flexible this way, you can even add buttons you perhaps were not aware of before, like a Downloads button or an Autofill button.



All you have to do is go to the View menu, and select "Customize Toolbar...". From there you can select and then drag and drop what you want or what you would like to remove from the Safari button layout.

How to Check Instant Spell of any Application in Imac

You can instantly check the spelling or grammar of anything you write in Safari, Mail, TextEdit, or any Application which has a space to write text.

You can simply type the text out as you like, and then highlight the word or set of words and right-click, or type Control + left-click to bring up a window with a selection that says "Spelling and Grammar", then clicking the sub-selection "Show Spelling and Grammar" will bring up a window (without loading any external Applications) with possible corrections, if any need be, for your text.

You can also check the spelling and grammar of an entire document without having to select text by typing "Command + Shift + ;".

How to Enable Magic Mouse Free-Scrolling in Leopard

 

You might have noticed the ability to scroll through web pages with the trackpad on the Magic Mouse in a way that is similar to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

It seems that Apple has only made this feature visible in System Preferences in Snow Leopard, but they have not added it to the interface on Leopard.

You can enable this kind of scrolling manually by typing some basic commands.

Simply start Terminal, and type the following (without quotation marks):

"defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse MouseMomentumScroll -bool yes"

After doing this, you might have to check and uncheck the Scroll option in System Preferences, and now you should have free scrolling fully enabled.

How to Import a .PST ( Email ) File From Windows Outlook To Outlook 2011 for iMac

• Start Outlook 2011 for Mac
• Go to File and than click Import
  
• Select Outlook Data File (pst or olm) and click on the next arrow
  
• Select Outlook for Windows Data File (.pst) and click on the next arrow
  
• Locate the PST file. Outlook will now import the PST file
  
• Click Done to close the import process
  
• The PST file will be available now in the left side of the screen “ON MY COMPUTER”

Speed up Apple Time Capsule

I recently purchased a 1 TB Time Capsule and was very excited to get home to hook it up. After the initial set up, which didn't go as smoothly as every other Apple product I've set up, I was extremely disappointed with the slow file transfer and constant disconnects I was encountering. I couldn't even stream my iTunes library (which is why I got it).

Here are some tweaks I've done:

• Reduce Interference:
• Connect the Time Capsule directly to your router with a LAN cable, then log into it via the Airport utility. Click on the manual set up button, then the wireless tab to disable wireless and give her a reboot. When the Time Capsule restarts it should now say "Wired" in the connection status. - Please note, I live in an apartment with 20 or so wireless networks around me, which was causing major interference. After hard wiring the Time Capsule I no longer have drop outs.
• Rename your Time Capsule to a single word, mine is named Tera. Don't use weird symbols either, straight up letters and numbers here folks.
• Speed her up!
• Disable searchlight indexing. Go into system preferences, spotlight, privacy and add your time capsule to the list "Prevent Spolight from Searching these Locations"
• Following suite, I removed the Time capsule from Quicksilver's catalog - before I did this Quicksilver would crash or freeze when I tried to use it when my Time Capsule was connected, now I can use both in harmony

After performing all my tweaks, I can now stream iTunes music and videos and quickly update my iPhone and iPods! I haven't had any disconnects either.

Please post any other tweaks to the comments.

Customize the Mission Control Wallpaper in Apple iMac Lion

You have probably noticed when you activate Mission Control, in Mac OS X Lion, that there is a second background image behind the wallpaper you may have already chosen for the desktop. The Linen tiled picture is selected by default for the operating system, but you can change this to a custom image if you desire to give it your own unique look and feel.

Setting Up Your Image

Lion's processing will not recognize a file that does not have the proper extension for the file of the picture you will be using. So, in order for this to work, you will need to either make a new picture in an application of your choosing, or you can simply copy and paste your ready image to an app and export the file with the PNG format. To simplify this process, just follow these steps:

Open the file you want to use as the new Wallpaper (we are using Preview for these directions):

• Go to File, and select Export

• Next, choose the format PNG, and save as "defaultdesktop.png"

If you want to optimize the look of the wallpaper before exporting, you should see if
the resolution of your display matches that of the file you will be using. If the file is too long or too wide you could run into problems with how it displays. The default Linen image is 256 x 256 pixels small square that is used as a tiled pattern. You can check the resolution of your monitor by simply launching System Preferences and going to Displays.



Replace the Mission Control Background Picture



Buried within the system files, this little file is hidden waiting for you to change it. You cannot find this particular file by using Spotlight or the Finder search. Instead, follow these steps to get to it:

• Choose Go from the Finder menu (or hit Command + Shift + G) and type in this location:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/

• Look through the folders and files until you see "defaultdesktop.png" (you can make a copy of this if you want to revert back to this easily at a later time).

• Select your file you named "defaultdesktop.png" and move it to this Resources folder. You can do this the easiest way by dragging the file over the open Finder window. A window will pop up asking which option you would like to use. Choose Replace. You may have to enter your User Password to Authenticate this process.

• Next, launch Terminal from Spotlight and type the following command:
killall Dock



Now, whenever you use Mission Control by using the assigned F3 key or the three finger upward swipe or by simply using the icon on the dock, you will see your chosen beautiful custom picture appear before your eyes.

If you want to use an existing OS X Lion desktop image as a new Mission Control background, just as we have here in our example, you can find these desktop files by selecting "Go" from the Finder menu, and click "Go to Folder", then type "/Library/Desktop Pictures/". Once here, you can choose a file to copy. Select it, and go to the Finder menu and under Edit, hit Copy. Next, paste to the Desktop or wherever you want to paste. Then open the file in Preview, from there, follow the same process to export the file in the PNG format. After this has been accomplished, go once again to the Resources folder and drag the file over as shown in the preview steps above. Enter your password to Authenticate if needed. And Presto!

If you would like to go back to the default setting, you can just replace the file in the Resources folder with the original backed up Linen image file.

How to Rename iMac Computer

How to Name your iMac Computer. The name you choose will be used to identify the computer within your Network so others can access files should you enable that functionality. While most are happy with the name they've chosen for their iMac, some will want to pick another name. Fortunately, renaming an iMac is both possible and fairly simple to accomplish.

Step 1

Click the "Apple" logo at the top left of your Mac's screen.

Step 2

Select "System Preferences."

Step 3

Click "Sharing."

Step 4

Click the box next to "Computer Name."

Step 5

Type in a new name for your iMac.

How To: Charge Batteries of iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly

How To: Charge Batteries of iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly - Full Video Tutorial Guide

If you're an Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod idevices users than you must be aware of the concept of Wireless Access of iTunes via iPhone, iPad and iPod devices on previous version of iOS 5 but now the new way has been introduced which provide an option to iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 devices owners to Wirelessly Charge Batteries of iDevices. The new amazing technology has been introduced which provides an opportunity to Charge iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly and without the use of any cord and adapters. This amazing technology and idea has been introduced for the next generation of iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

In this post we will show you How to Charge Batteries of iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly without the use of cord, adapters and other wire oriented gadgets. To Charge iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Wirelessly is an easy task for any users and owners but for developing it is quite a risky and hard procedure and it may be dangerous way which will cause a bad effect on your iPhone, iPad and iPod devices permanently and may voids your warranty period as well. So iDevice users should be beware before trying or implementing the following video tutorial, try it only when you can afford this risk. You can follow the following simple Steps, Guidelines and Video Tutorial to Charge Batteries of iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly.

Important Instructions for iPhone, iPad and iPod Devices:

• Pin 25 is Data-
• Pin 27 is Data+
• Pin 16 is 0v or Ground
• Pin 23 is +5v

Video Tutorial to Charge iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod 4G Touch, iPod 3G Touch, The New iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1 Devices Wirelessly:

Before watching the following video tutorial you need a special expertise and techniques about electric circuits as well as the soldering knowledge. Additionally, a spare charging assembly, an extra Apple iPhone’s, iPad's and iPod's back cover and a very thin gauge wire and a wireless charger circuit like one used in video. You can find all the mentioned gadgets requirements from here. Let’s Start Now.

How to Install Mac OS X Lion Using an All In One Bootable USB Drive : UniBeast :

Introducing UniBeast- our new tool to create a bootable USB drive from your Mac App Store purchased copy of Install Mac OS X Lion or Apple Store purchased Mac OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive. This all-in-one bootable USB drive can also be used as a rescue boot drive for system recovery.

UniBeast + MultiBeast is the easiest method to do a clean install of Mac OS X Lion or update any Snow Leopard system. The following guide requires no coding, terminal work, or Mac experience of any kind.

You Will Need

8GB or larger USB Drive

Install Mac OS X Lion Application

OR

Mac OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive

STEP 1: Purchase Mac OS X Lion

The operating system is not free. There are two ways to purchase your copy of Mac OS X Lion. The simplest way is to download the Application from the Mac App Store. Alternately, the OS X Lion USB Thumb is available online at Apple.com or any Apple Store retail location.

STEP 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive Using UniBeast

Take a deep breath and take your time- this is pretty simple, but it's easy to miss things if you rush. Follow each step to the letter.

1. Insert USB drive

2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility

3. Highlight USB drive in left column

4. Click Partition tab

5. Click Current and choose 1 Partition

6. Click Options...

7. Choose Master Boot Record

8. Under Name: type USB (You can rename it later)

9. Under Format: choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

10. Click Apply then Partition

11. If using the Install Mac OS X Lion Application, it must be in /Applications folder.

12. If using the Mac OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, make sure it's plugged in and mounted.

13. Download and run UniBeast

14. Click Continue, Continue, Continue, Agree

15. At Destination Select, choose USB and click Continue

16. If using the Mac App Store "Install Mac OS X Lion" App choose that option.

17. If using the Apple Store "OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive" choose that option.

18. If using a laptop, choose Laptop Support in addition to one of the above options.

19. Click Continue

20. Enter password and click Install

The process will take about 10-15 minutes, depending on system and drive speed, but will show hours. Do not unplug or stop during this time.

STEP 3: Install Mac OS X Lion

You're almost done! All you need to do is boot from the USB drive and install! Your hard drive should be set in BIOS to AHCI mode. For recommended BIOS settings and screenshots, check out iBoot + MultiBeast.

1. If you have a Gigabyte motherboard press F12 to choose boot device.

2. Choose USB-HDD

3. At Chimera Boot Screen, choose USB

You may have to type extra command line flags to reach the installer.

• Asus Motherboard + NVIDIA Graphics - type PCIRootUID=0
• Unsupported graphics - type GraphicsEnabler=No
• Boot in Single-user mode - type -s
• Boot in Verbose mode - type -v
• Boot in Safe mode - type -x

4. When you arrive at the Installer, choose language.

If updating an existing Snow Leopard install, skip 5-14.

5. In the top menubar choose Utilities, and open Disk Utility

6. Highlight your target hard drive for the Lion installation in left column.

7. Click Partition tab

8. Click Current and choose 1 Partition

9. Click Options...

10. Choose GUID Partition Method

11. Under Name: type Lion (You can rename it later)

12. Under Format: choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

13. Click Apply then Partition

14. Close Disk Utility

15. When the installer asks you where to install, choose Lion, or your existing install.
16. Upon completion, restart system

The installation is complete, but the drive isn't bootable yet. Boot from the USB again, this time choosing Lion.

17. If you have a Gigabyte motherboard, press F12 to choose boot device.

18. Choose USB-HDD

19. At Chimera Boot Screen, choose your new Lion installation.

STEP 4: Post-Installation Using MultiBeast
MultiBeast is an all-in-one post-installation tool designed to enable boot from hard drive, and install support for Audio, Network, and Graphics. In addition it includes System Utilities to repair permissions and a collection of drivers, bootloaders, config files and handy software.

1. Complete Mac OS X Lion setup.
2. When you arrive at desktop, open Safari
3. Browse to tonymacx86.com and log in. If you don't have a user account, create one!
4. Go to tonymacx86.com/downloads to download the latest MultiBeast
5. Go to the DSDT Database to download your motherboard's DSDT
6. Open Downloads folder and move the .aml file to the Desktop
7. Open and run Multibeast's UserDSDT
8. Restart system

If your drive doesn't boot on its own, and you get an error referencing boot0, fix it using the methods listed here.

The above photo will provide general post-installation support for any recommended CustoMac build.

You may also use MultiBeast to install further drivers to enable ethernet, sound, graphics, etc... Be sure to read the documentation provided in MultiBeast Features.pdf about each option. Both UserDSDT and EasyBeast install the proper bootloader by default, so you'll not need to check that option.

Congratulations!

You now have a fully updated bootable version of Mac OS X Lion on your CustoMac! And a handy USB rescue drive to boot from in case things go pear-shaped. It's easy to get frustrated, but don't give up! If you get stuck, there are many users with similar hardware in the tonymacx86 Forum to provide support. Special thanks to everyone in the community, and our Mods for testing!

If you've had success using this guide, consider a contribution to help keep the sites going. We're constantly updating and tweaking our tools to help you.

How to Save Your Laptop Battery For Long Life

FlashFrozen maybe the answer to your short battery life. If you use Google Chrome, Firefox 4, and in Safari on 64-bit Macs, the Flash plug-in is pushed onto its own process. FlashFrozen lives as a tiny menu app, monitoring this process and will warn you (by turning red) if Flash is using a relatively significant amount of processor cycles. You can then go to FlashFrozen's menu to kill the Flash plug-in.

Any running Flash content is replaced with the broken plugin icon. Want to get Flash working again? Simply reload the page, or go to a new one. The next time Flash is needed, it'll come back to life. Flash ads or other Flash-related junk forces our processors to run hot and leech our precious battery fluids.

Flash animations and videos are among the top processor hogs on Mac OS X. A single poorly-designed Flash banner - even in an inactive window or tab - can suck up an entire processor core with its shady mortgage offers.

Your 5-hour battery life gets cut in half, your laptop runs hotter, and your legs cook to medium-rare.

That's where FlashFrozen comes into play.

FlashFrozen lets you stop the Flash plug-in dead in its tracks, letting your new-fangled Mac cool down, use less power, and give you more time to do whatever it is you do. Probably blog or tweet or something.

And the new AutoKill mode actively stops Flash at all times. Turn this on and off at will to save even more battery life.

How to Close Your iPad Open Apps At Ones on 1 Click

Since the introduction of Multitasking to iOS, you can now run more than one program on your iDevice at the same time. That doesn’t mean you always want them open though – so this will show you how to close (or quit) any program running on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

1. Start out by “double-clicking” the Home button on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. The Home button is the one at the bottom of your iDevice, as illustrated in the image below.

2. This will bring up the ‘list’ of currently running Apps – by way of an “App bar” at the bottom of your screen. Tap and hold down on any one of the currently running Apps (even if it’s not the one you want to close).

3. You’ll notice that each App will start to “wiggle” and now has a small “minus sign” circle in the upper left corner. Tap the “minus sign” of the App you want to close/quit.

4. That App will now close. NOTE: This will close the App, not delete it.

5. You can continue tapping the “minus signs” to close all open Apps, if needed.

How to Close Your iPad Open Apps At Ones on 1 Click

Since the introduction of Multitasking to iOS, you can now run more than one program on your iDevice at the same time. That doesn’t mean you always want them open though – so this will show you how to close (or quit) any program running on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

1. Start out by “double-clicking” the Home button on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. The Home button is the one at the bottom of your iDevice, as illustrated in the image below.

2. This will bring up the ‘list’ of currently running Apps – by way of an “App bar” at the bottom of your screen. Tap and hold down on any one of the currently running Apps (even if it’s not the one you want to close).

3. You’ll notice that each App will start to “wiggle” and now has a small “minus sign” circle in the upper left corner. Tap the “minus sign” of the App you want to close/quit.

4. That App will now close. NOTE: This will close the App, not delete it.

5. You can continue tapping the “minus signs” to close all open Apps, if needed.

ow to Fix the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad Problems

If you are unable to type letters, numbers, or symbols, you may have Mouse Keys enabled on a keyboard that has no numeric keypad or Num Lock key.


It happen to me this week, I was entering a password which had numerical numbers and I was using the numerical pad on the right side of my keyboard and I kept getting the wrong password message. I used the numbers above the letters on the keyboard and they worked.


So I thought I had a bad keyboard, until I did a simple search and there it was at Apple support, "Unable to type while Mouse Keys is enabled in Mac OS X"

Seams like I wasn't the only one having this problem.


How to Fix:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Choose Universal Access from the View menu.
3. Click the Mouse tab or in Lion Click Mouse & Trackpad
4. Click Off, next to Mouse Keys. If you have already logged in as a different user where Mouse Keys is disabled, click On and then click Off next to Mouse Keys, to return the keyboard to normal operation.

Note: You may also check/uncheck the box for "Press Option key five times to turn Mouse Keys on or off".

Note: If you are logged on to a user where Mouse Keys is already disabled, but your keyboard is not responding properly, toggle the radio buttons for Mouse Keys "On" then "Off" to restore normal functionality.

How to Import Contacts to iPhone With Easy Way

I had been looking for an easy way to import contacts to iPhone and after months of fruitless search, I have found the method described below as useful and quickest.

Requirements:

• A PC with contacts loaded to computer
• Your iPhone
• A small app used to import contacts to iPhone import contacts to iPhone

1. Locate where your contact entries are loaded on your PC

2. Download and run an app named CopyTrans Contacts from the link above, connect your iPhone. Your current iPhone contacts will appear in the program window

3. Drag and drop the contacts from the folder on your PC to the program’s main window. This will import contacts to iPhone directly

4. You can now see the newly imported contacts to iPhone via the program main window

To double-check, you can go to your iPhone and see the contact list. Contacts have been imported to iPhone successfully.

This is how to import contacts to iPhone from computer in 4 quick steps.