Japan Primer for the Mac Techno-Tourist by Todd Ogasawara
Many of us believe that Japan is the land of geek nirvana. If you're contemplating a visit to the gadget promise land, you'll enjoy Todd Ogasawara's report on everything from cell phone coverage to buying Mac accessories. 05/27/2005

A Closer Look at Spotlight by Matthew Russell
Spotlight integration with Tiger and its apps tilts the scales back toward Safari, Address Book, iCal, and Mail for your core applications. Matthew Russell shows you how this intelligent technology enables you to find just about anything, anywhere, regardless of where you are at that moment. 05/24/2005

An Introduction to Tiger Terminal by Mary Norbury-Glaser
Now that you've had a chance to enjoy all of the GUI goodies in Mac OS X 10.4, you might be ready to check out what's happening with the Terminal app. This article will introduces you to Tiger's Terminal app and CLI (command-line interface). 05/20/2005

Tiger's Powerful Migration Assistant by FJ de Kermadec
Transferring data, prefs, and apps from old Macs to new ones can be painful when upgrading computers. Fortunately, Apple's Migration Assistant has the brains and brawn to save users and system administrators alike much time during this process. Here's everything you'd want to know about this great tool. 05/17/2005

20 Cool Tiger Features You Might Not Have Heard About by Scott Knaster
Even though Tiger has been out for a while now, many of its major features have nuances that haven't received much press--and there a zillion minor tweaks to discuss. Scott Knaster takes you on a tour of clever, and sometimes even obscure, Tiger goodies. 05/13/2005

Magnificent Seven: What's New for Users in QuickTime 7 by Chris Adamson
Tiger is cool, but it's not the only new cat on the block. Apple has also released an updated version of QuickTime. Chris Adamson examines the user-visible features and changes in QT 7, including QT 7 Pro, renovations to the QuickTime Player application, and the implications of the powerful new H.264 video codec. 05/10/2005

Build a Dashboard Widget by Andrew Anderson
A little HTML, a dash of JavaScript, and a sprinkle of CSS and you can create your own Dashboard widget. Andrew Anderson shows you how. 05/06/2005

Write Your Own Automator Actions by Matt Neuburg
Tiger introduces Automator, which lets users string together preinstalled script steps--called Actions--into a workflow that can be run and saved. For developer types, these Actions are a convenient way to distribute scripts. And in this tutorial, Matt Neuburg shows you how to write your own. 05/03/2005

The Soul of WWDC 2005 by Derrick Story
A few years ago, Apple moved WWDC from San Jose to the brand new Moscone West building in San Francisco. The new location improved the face of its developer conference. This year, Apple wants to enhance its very soul. Here's how O'Reilly is going to help them do that. 05/03/2005

Everything You Need to Know to Install Tiger by FJ de Kermadec
Installing Mac OS X Tiger can be as easy as inserting the OS disc and clicking a few buttons. But if you want to customize your install and take this opportunity to tidy up your Mac in the process, this exhaustive tutorial will show you everything you need to know. 04/29/2005

Housecleaning Tips for Tiger by Derrick Story
Is your Mac ready for a smooth transition to Tiger? Maybe you're in need of a Spring housecleaning anyway. Check out these tidy tips from Derrick Story, then roll out the red carpet for Mac OS X 10.4. 04/26/2005

Building Cocoa-Java Apps with Eclipse by Mike Butler
Eclipse is a gloriously powerful, open source IDE, which is a joy to use when working with Java. It makes sense, then, when writing Java-based Cocoa apps, to use Eclipse. But how? What does Eclipse know about the esoteric world of Cocoa-Java? Well, with a little help from Ant, the flexible build system, you can tell it everything it needs to know. Mike Butler shows you how. 04/22/2005

Mac Mini Eye for the Linux-Windows Guy by Todd Ogasawara
Todd had no intention of giving up his Linux and Windows boxes to become a "Mac switcher." But he had heard good things about OS X, so the Mac mini presented the opportunity for him to become a Mac-tryer. He details his experiences here. 04/19/2005

LinkBack: Applications Working Together by Charles Jolley
Have you ever carefully created a chart or graphic and then pasted it into a report only to discover you needed to change it later? Apps should work together so you can make this sort of change with just a few clicks. That's now possible thanks to a new open source technology called LinkBack. Even better, you can add this technology to your own applications. Charles Jolley, creator of LinkBack, shows you how. 04/15/2005

17 Things You Might Not Know You Could Do with iWork by Giles Turnbull
If you've installed iWork on your hard drive but haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet, maybe this article will inspire you to do so. Giles Turnbull takes you on a romp through this production suite showing you lots of fun and useful things to do with it. 04/12/2005

O'Reilly Sessions at WWDC by Derrick Story
Online version of the Mac Newsletter for April 8, 2005. 04/08/2005

Protect Your Source Code: Obfuscation 101 by Matthew Russell
You can protect your applications from attack by applying obfuscation techniques to convolute your source code. Matthew Russell shows you how. 04/08/2005

Xsan and You by Scott Murphy
Yes, interns are still running around media production houses with FireWire drives in hand copying files to workstations. Storage Area Networks (SANs) can improve efficiency dramatically, and Apple's Xsan is at the top of that list. Here's a practical example. 04/05/2005

Developing in OpenGL Using Makefiles by Michael J. Norton
Yes, you can work strictly in Xcode for developing OpenGL apps. But if you want to work with platform-independent source code that runs on multiple Unix platforms, you'll want to go "old school" and use makefiles. Michael Norton shows you how. 04/01/2005

HDTV on Your Mac by Erica Sadun
Even though the Mac is a little late to the HDTV party, you can roll your own setup for not too much time or money. Erica Sadun shows you how. 03/29/2005

Targeting Windows (too) for Your REALbasic Apps by Aaron Ballman
If you're using a multi-platform IDE such as REALbasic for your Mac applications, you might be interested in Aaron Ballman's tips for porting your software to Windows. My favorite reminder is, "Don't use terms like 'Windoze' or 'Wintel' in your product." 03/25/2005

Movies Made Easy in iPhoto 5 by Derrick Story
One of the best features in the current crop of consumer digital still cameras is their ability to capture high-quality video. iPhoto 5 is in step with this evolution and provides a great environment for taking those snippets and creating real movies. Derrick Story shows you how. 03/22/2005

Inside StYNCies, Part 2 by Matthew Russell
In the first part of this two-part series, Matthew Russell showed you how to develop a user interface that lives up in your menubar like the system clock. In this final installment, he covers how to reverse-engineer the storage format of the StickiesDatabase file to develop your own API to Stickies. 03/18/2005

Exploring the Mac OS X Firewall by Peter Hickman
Like so many tools built in to Mac OS X, the firewall just works. But what is really going on inside it? Peter Hickman explains why the firewall works so well, and then takes you inside and shows you how to fiddle with things. In the end, he returns you safely to the default settings. 03/15/2005

Inside StYNCies by Matthew Russell
Stickies is one of the handiest little apps out there. It's been bundled with Apple's operating systems for ages, but Apple hasn't yet taken advantage of the new possibilities for it. This first installment of a two-part series works through building a partial implementation of StYNCies, a neat little utility that synchronizes your Stickies to your iPod and/or iDisk. 03/11/2005

Getting Things Done with Your Mac by Giles Turnbull
Even the most savvy Mac user can have problems staying organized. A number of tips for using a Mac to help organize your life are available from 43 Folders and other sources. This article takes a look at them with the help of Merlin Mann himself. 03/08/2005

Muscle Up Your Mac FTP by Glenn Fleishman
Here's a much better and vastly safer way to FTP on the Mac than using the built-in FTP software in Jaguar or Panther, which is an Apple-modified version of FTP software that works fine with other Unix variants, but has its problems on the Mac. Glenn Fleishman explains. 03/04/2005

Podcasting with Your iPod Photo by Wei-Meng Lee
With Apple's release of the iPod photo, podcasting just got more fun. Using iPodderX, a podcast client for the Mac, you can download audio, movies, images, documents, and any other kind of files from the internet onto your Mac. Cool, huh? Wei-Meng Lee explains how. For more fun tips for your iPod photo, check out Wei-Meng's All About Your iPod Photo. 03/04/2005

Build an iTunes Remote Control by Matthew Russell
AirPort Express is great for streaming music from your Mac, except when you have to change tracks from another room. There are commercial solutions available, but here's a great evening project using your web-enabled cell phone and the power of Mac OS X. 03/01/2005

Applying "Digital Hub" Concepts to Enterprise Software Design, Part 6 by Adam Behringer
So far, Adam Behringer has covered an enterprise software architecture based on a flexible hub that stores and vends data to a number of cross-platform tools and apps using a standard XML spoke. In this final installment, he shows you how to use web services to pull weather information out of the database hub and chart the data using Perl and AppleScript. 02/25/2005

Display Your Favorite Album Artwork in iTunes by Wei-Meng Lee
What good are a bazillion iTunes without the album art? Bring the two together again on your iPod photo. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how using two free programs: Clutter and art4iTunes.com. For more useful tips and tricks for using your iPod photo, check out Wei-Meng's latest eDoc, All About Your iPod Photo (PDF). 02/22/2005

Scripting Dot Mac by Matthew Russell
Recently we compared .Mac to Spymac's Wheel, and in the process provided a good overview of .Mac services. One of the tools missing, especially for those who want to publish web pages on their .Mac account, was server-side scripting. Well, just because it isn't in the package doesn't mean you can't do it. Take a look at this tutorial and see how. 02/18/2005

iPod shuffle Tips and Tricks by Scott Knaster
The iPod shuffle is the easiest-to-use iPod to date. But that doesn't mean you can't customize how you listen and upload music. Scott Knaster shows you some very handy tips and tricks for the shuffle and iTunes 4.7.1. 02/15/2005

Apache and AppleScript by David Miller
AppleScript traditionally interacts with Mac applications and Apache is the web server that powers most of the Internet. David Miller shows you how AppleScript can invoke Unix utilities through its do shell script command, thereby creating some interesting intersections with Apache. 02/11/2005

Spymac's Wheel vs. Dot Mac for Easy Web Services by Christopher Roach
For Mac users who like a convenient package of web services, two major players have emerged -- Apple's .Mac and Spymac's Wheel. Christopher Roach takes both services for a spin and reports on the strengths and weaknesses of each offering. 02/08/2005

Output Like a Pro with iPhoto 5 by Derrick Story
Earlier I discussed how iPhoto 5's RAW capability lets you input like a pro. But some of its new output features are quite sophisticated, too. Here's a look at how to create sophisticated slideshows and QuickTime downloads using only iPhoto 5. 02/01/2005

Top Ten AppleScript Tips by Adam Goldstein
AppleScript lets you control Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, FileMaker Pro, and hundreds of other Mac programs with just a few lines of code. But if you think of AppleScript as just a nerdy workflow-automation tool, you're missing out on a lot of power. Truth is, AppleScript has lots of hidden tricks and timesavers built in -- and they all come for free with your Mac. Adam Goldstein, author of AppleScript: The Missing Manual, has hand selected ten of the most useful tips for making AppleScript work for you. 02/01/2005

Scripting a Binary Tree Using Tcl by Michael J. Norton
Here's a thought that will surely make the pragmatic C programmer's head spin. Michael Norton puts the Tcl language to work managing binary trees. 01/28/2005

How to Record a Podcast by Glenn Fleishman
Podcasting involves two distinct tasks. First you have to record the audio and prepare it for listening. Then you need to syndicate it via RSS so others can subscribe to your programs. In this tutorial, Glenn Fleishman shows you some nifty tricks for recording your audio, especially if you want to capture phone interviews for syndication. 01/25/2005

Embedded Development with Xcode by Jim Schimpf
Until OS X, there never was much interest in, or support for, embedded development on the Mac. Now, with the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, we can benefit from the huge open source effort supporting small microprocessors. Jim Schimpf explores. 01/21/2005

A RAW Look at iPhoto 5 by Derrick Story
Apple overhauled much of iPhoto in version 5 and presented photographers with a more robust tool for managing their media files. Derrick Story looks at importing existing iPhoto libraries, using the new editing tools, and working with RAW and QuickTime files. Image samples of RAW comparisons are included. 01/19/2005

How to Use mutt, FastMail, and Mail.app Together on Your Mac by Philip Hollenback
Many Linux users who are adding Mac OS X to their computing life look to combine the control of command line with the convenience of GUI. In this article, Philip Hollenback, a seasoned Linux user himself, shows how to bring these worlds together on Mac OS X using mutt, FastMail, and Mail.app. 01/18/2005

Little Things Are Big at Macworld SF 05 by Daniel H. Steinberg
Apple's Macworld announcements featured the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle. But the more you look at the breadth of Apple's new offerings, the more impressive Cupertino looks right now. Daniel Steinberg discusses his impressions accompanied with photos by Derrick Story. 01/14/2005

RSS and Tabbed Browsing in Safari, Firefox, and Camino by Wei-Meng Lee
We know that RSS support is coming for Safari with the Tiger release, but you can enjoy this service now in Firefox. Wei-Meng Lee shows you the ropes plus some slick insights for tabbed browsing in Safari and Camino. 01/11/2005

Build an eDoc Reader for Your iPod, Part 3 by Matthew Russell
In this conclusion to the series on building your eDoc reader, Matthew Russell shows you how to extract text from PDF documents. You'll accomplish this task by using an open source Java package called PDFBox and the not-so-well documented Cocoa-Java bridge. 01/07/2005

Skype on Mac OS X: A Hands-On Approach, Part 2 by FJ de Kermadec
In Part 1, F.J. introduced you to Skype for the Mac. In today's conclusion he talks more about configuration and hands-on use. 01/04/2005

The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac was Made -- An Interview with Andy Hertzfeld by Derrick Story
What really happened in Cupertino during the early '80s as the Mac was born? Andy Hertzfeld was there and talks with Derrick Story about the early days of the Macintosh, folklore.org, and his new book, Revolution in The Valley. 01/04/2005

Skype on Mac OS X: A Hands-On Approach by FJ de Kermadec
In this article, you'll read about the wonders of Skype for Mac OS X and see how to integrate it in your routine. This chat/telephony software also has its limits, and those will be covered too. 12/28/2004

BBEdit 8.0 -- A Developer's Viewpoint by brian d foy
BBEdit is a great all-around text editor. But how does the latest version--BBEdit 8.0--fare for the working developer? We asked brian d foy to put it through its paces, and here's what he found. 12/21/2004

Build an eDoc Reader for your iPod, Part 2 by Matthew Russell
This second part of a trilogy teaches you how to make reading electronic documents on your iPod easy. Matthew Russell delves into the engine of the application and adds some user interface conveniences through NSUserDefaults. 12/17/2004