Java 5.0 Apple recently released the J2SE 5.0 as part of Software Update. Java 1.4.2 remains the default version of Java used for apps and applets unless J2SE 5.0 is requested specifically by an application or configured for system-wide use.
J2SE 5.0 Release 3 Release Notes

Boosting Cell Strength Indoors If you're, say, trying to use your cell phone in your basement on a regular basis, this article may be helpful:
Four ways to boost your cell signal strength indoors - Lifehacker

Entourage Help I was recently trying to move a large mass of email from Outlook 2003 to Entourage and came across this site, which is filled with lots of helpful tidbits about Entourage:
The Entourage Help Page

Safe Sleep Mode I've never actually had my PowerBook's battery die on me, but if you're worried about this happening while you've got it closed and tucked away, check out this article about "Safe Sleep" mode (which sounds amazingly like Hibernate under Windows):
MacNN | New "Safe Sleep" mode available on Mac laptops

And Finally Spotlight searching wins an award in Popular Science's "Best of What's New 2005":
MacNN | Popular Science honors Spotlight search

Anti-gravity/Patenting Starships
Being a long time science fiction fan, I'm convinced that it's only a matter of time before someone is going to figure out how to break the light speed barrier, or at least invent engines that make interplanetary travel practical. So I was pretty excited to see this: United States Patent: 6,960,975, which seems to be a patent for a starship (!). My hopes were dashed almost immediately after by this article: US grants patent for anti-gravity device. I'll keep being optimistic though.

Content Protection Gone Wild
My mind is still boggled that Sony felt it could legitimately make kernel mods to peoples PCs for their ill-concieved content protection scheme. Congratulations on opening the door to new viruses. Yeesh.
Sony BMG faces digital-rights seige | The Register
Mac anti-rip code surfaces on Sony BMG CD | The Register
PC Pro: News: Sony suspends controversial CD production

LCD Monitor Rejuvenation
Via LifeHacker, a step by step method of replacing the backlight in LCD monitors (yes, laptops included). I actually have a laptop that's developed a pink hue to its display, so I'm anxious to try this: DIY LCD Monitor Rejuvenation - Lifehacker

Subversion & Xcode
Apple has published an article on installing and setting up Subversion on Mac OS X, including Xcode instructions. Worth reading here:
Getting Control with Subversion and Xcode

Xcode, Interface Builder and Missing Connections
I've been mildy annoyed trying to figure out (from time to time) what connections are missing in Interface Builder when it tells me there are missing connections. My main strategy has been to spend a lot of time guessing. It seems there's a better way though:

You can track down bad/missing connections in Interface Builder by changing the view in the nib window from icon view to list view (click the little tab in the top right of the window, right above the scrollbar) and disclosing items with the little exclamation mark by them.

Well...that's a lot easier.

Ventrilo for Mac
Well, it hasn't been long since TeamSpeex brought Teamspeak support to Mac users, and now we actually have a Ventrilo client available as well. Still only supports the Speex codec rather than the GSM one which everyone actually uses, but it's a big start.

Stupidity and greed in one convenient location
Consumers Sue Apple for Alleged iPod Nano Defects: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

'Nuff said.

Fun with Standards
Safari became the first web browser to pass the Acid2 test test. Acid2 is a test page written to test web standards. What's fun about this is trying out browsers other than Safari just to see the results.

Rebuilding a Spotlight index
I recently lost the ability to search message bodies in Mail. No errors, but there were never any results returned for any search. Turns out my Spotlight index was corrupted/missing/incomplete. Probably from the myriad of hard crashes while I've been trying to get ActiveSync 4.1 working in Virtual PC for Mac. You know, those crashes where the display turns translucent and you see an attractive multi-language screen telling you to hold down the power button? In any case, it's easy to rebuild the Spotlight index but opening Terminal and typing:

sudo mdimport -f /

It took about 40 minutes to rebuild the index, and searching in Mail is now working fine.

Regular Expressions & Dashboard
If you're looking for a handy way to construct and test regular expressions, RegexToolbar is a regular expression parser and evaluator for Dashboard. Quite handy although a little large for my screen.

Download at DashboardWidgets - Showcase

ActiveSync 4.x
It's not just me & my Virtual PC setup that's having problems with ActiveSync 4.x - Microsoft has found the need to post a troubleshooting guide for run of the mill PC users. Sadly it doesn't help at all with Virtual PC for Mac.

ActiveSync Help & How Tos

Find Spotlight Slow?
The search-while-you-type feature of Spotlight may not have been the best idea - or it may just need a little tweaking. It's annoying enough at times though that this showed up on Macworld's Mac OS X Hints weblog:

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Don't wait on Spotlight

And finally...
I'm still debating whether or not to get one of the new video iPods. The only reason I'd do this over, say, using my Pocket PC is that the iPod can actually hold more than one TV show at a time :-) If I do get one, this site will become my favorite for a while:

HOWTO Rip DVD Movies To Your iPod Using Free Software