Mac OS X ezine - External Hard Drives & More

Volume 1, Issue 5

October 2006
Copyright 2006 Claire J Rottenberg

(Revised May 2008)

Welcome to the October issue of our monthly ezine for Mac OS X users.

Table of Contents

  1. Article: Benefits of External Hard Drives
  2. Quick Start Lesson: Updating Mac OS X
  3. Featured Free Software: Widgets
  4. Tip of the Month: Updating an Address Card in Address Book
  5. Website of the Month: MacUpdate

1.  Article: Benefits of External Hard Drives


2.  Quick Start Lesson: Updating Mac OS X


3.  Featured Free Software: Widgets

This month I'm featuring two new widgets for Dashboard. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Dash Clipping (for Mac OS X 10.4 only)
Author/Company: Graham Parks / Utsire
http://www.utsire.com

This widget emulates a feature of Dashboard that is included in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Safari 3 - the Web Clip tool. You can use Dash Clipping to create your own Widget from any website. You enter a URL in the Widget's text box, click the "Next" button, and the website will appear in the Widget. Select the area of the website you want to use for your Widget and click the "Save position and size" button. You now have a new, personalized Widget.

Bubble Trouble Widget
Author: Janos Pal Toth
http://tjp.hu/bubble/

A Widget that lets you be diverted from work for a short period of time is always good, and Bubble Trouble is a perfect diversion. It's a simple little "burst the bubble" game that is colorful and fun to play. Your best score is saved and always displayed so you can compete against yourself with each game.

4.  Tip of the Month: Updating an Address Card in Address Book


5.  Website of the Month: MacUpdate

http://www.macupdate.com/

This month I've chosen my favorite Mac website - MacUpdate. It's the largest Mac only website for software downloads and I like it because of its easy-to-use and pleasant-looking interface and its quickness at finding and listing new software and updates. The site is constantly updated (24 hours/day) and it is easy to find what you're looking for by doing a search. The site also has an RSS feed that can keep you abreast of the latest software and updates. The main page lists the name of each program, the size of the program and the type of program (freeware, shareware, demo, commercial, update). Each product page gives you more information about the particular software, including a description, system requirements, platform (PPC/Intel), user comments and reviews, and a link to the developer's site. A special feature of the MacUpdate site is the daily "Promo" of a particular piece of software that is offered at a special discount (usually 30-50%) to MacUpdate readers. If you aren't familiar with MacUpdate, perhaps now is the time to visit the site.

We hope you enjoyed this issue of Tips and More for Mac OS X. See you next month.


Read the previous issues of Tips and More for Mac OS X.


Disclaimer: All trademarks and products mentioned in this ezine are assumed to be the property of their owners and no infringement of rights is intended through mention of the products in this ezine.