Basics of Transparent Blitting, Part 1 by Michael J. Norton
In this follow-up tutorial to his article, Basic Offscreen Buffering, Michael J. Norton focuses on how to copy sprites to the buffer. He also covers the role of the transparency pixel when rendering sprites (blitting). 08/17/2004

Further Your CS Development with Mac OS X by Julie Starr
As the new school year approaches, Julie Starr has some ideas about what type of computer CS students should be considering. We'll give you a hint: It isn't a Windows box. 08/13/2004

The Inside Scoop on the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference by Derrick Story
Sometimes, looking at a conference program grid is like looking at Edinburgh Castle. It's impressive, but you really don't know where all the bodies are buried unless you have a tour guide. Let me introduce myself: I'm the program chair, and I'd like to take you inside the upcoming Mac OS X Conference. 08/12/2004

Making the Jump to Subversion by Adam Swift
Subversion can run standalone or on a network as a repository server with multiple clients. The preferred client/server configuration uses Apache and WebDAV for network communication. It's a powerful alternative to CVS, and Adam Swift shows you the ins and outs in this tutorial. 08/10/2004

Inside SSH, Part 4 by FJ de Kermadec
In Part 3, François Joseph de Kermadec investigated more advanced SSH techniques, including editing configuration files. Now in this final installment, he shows you how to administer computers remotely, including running software updates, disk utilities, and more. 08/06/2004

Mo' Betta Indexes by David Miller
Apache has had the same skin since around 1995. And while it's true that visitors interact with the pages of your site more than the HTTP daemon, the only real snapshot they'll receive is through your site's auto-indexes. So why not take some time to put some spit polish into them? 08/03/2004

21.5 Things You Can Do with Office 2004 by Giles Turnbull
By now you've probably read about all the new features in Microsoft Office 2004. Good. Because we're not going to cover them here again. Instead, Giles Turnbull shows you 21-and-a-half things you can do in Office that you might not have previously realized. 08/03/2004

Applying "Digital Hub" Concepts to Enterprise Software Design, Part 4 by Adam Behringer
The "hub" of most enterprise software systems is a database. However, getting the information from the database to all of the applications that need it and then back again can be a challenge. Here in part four of his ongoing series, Adam Behringer shows you how. 07/30/2004

Ruby/Tk Primer, Part 3 by Christopher Roach
In Part 2 of this series, Chris Roach spent some time with the Tk library. Now in this final installment, he pulls together all of the pieces so you can finish your demo application. 07/27/2004

Creating DVD/VCD Photo Slide Shows for Your Mac by Wei-Meng Lee
Let's face it: you still have friends and family who've yet to enter the computer age. And yet you'd like to send them copies of your vacation photos (or your newborn, or your cat) taken with your digital camera. What to do? Wei-Meng Lee offers an alternative to using iPhoto for creating slide-show CDs -- Ulead's DVD PictureShow for Mac. He walks us through how to burn digital photos onto disc so anyone with a DVD/VCD player can view them. 07/27/2004

OS 9, Mine, All Mine by Giles Turnbull
What serious Mac fan in his or her right mind would consider booting anything other than OS X? Well, lots of them. Gile Turnbull interviews a handful of dedicated OS 9 users to find out why. 07/23/2004

Ruby/Tk Primer, Part 2 by Christopher Roach
In part one of this series, Chris Roach introduced you to programming basics in Ruby, and in the process, created the back end for the GUI we're working on. Here, he spends some time with the Tk library. 07/23/2004

Inside SSH, Part 3 by FJ de Kermadec
In Part 2 of this multipart series delving into the Secure Shell on Mac OS X, François Joseph de Kermadec showed you how to securely fire up the Secure Shell and start communicating. Now, in Part 3, he digs deeper, showing you more advanced techniques including editing configuration files. 07/20/2004

How to Fall in Love with Your iSight, Again by Nitrozac and Snaggy
Snaggy and Nitrozac are back to show you how to fall in love with your iSight, again, and provide a few chuckles along the way. Consider them your personal tech-therapists, willing to help bring you and your gorgeous hardware back together, with advice on apps and add-ons that will enhance your iSight relationship. If you like the way S and N weave humor and tech talk, check out their book, The Best of The Joy of Tech. 07/20/2004

Higher-Order Messages in Cocoa by Rob Rix
Higher-Order Messaging (HOM) refers to the treatment of a message as a data type, like an object, so that it can be used as the argument in another message. The grandest use of them by far is for fun uses of arrays; combining them, getting selections from them, and so forth. But they also have uses in exception handling. Rob Rix explains HOM in this tutorial. 07/16/2004

12 Steps to Improving Your Mac's Performance by Joli Ballew
Keeping your Mac happy and performing as it did the day you brought it home takes a bit of degunking. Joli Ballew offers 12 steps to improving your Mac's performance that will have it humming along in no time. For more in-depth details on why the Mac slowdown occurs and what you can do about it, check out Joli's new book, Degunking Your Mac. 07/16/2004

Macworld Boston 2004: Brains Over Beauty by Derrick Story
In the late 1700s, Boston culture facilitated debate by some of the greatest American minds. Now in 2004, it's once again the home for the Mac elite on the East Coast. Derrick Story photographs and comments on the character of this year's Macworld Boston. 07/14/2004

Inside SSH, Part 2 by FJ de Kermadec
Here in Part 2 of this multi-article series on tapping the power of the SSH server inside your Mac, François Joseph de Kermadec shows you how to securely fire up the Secure Shell and start communicating. 07/13/2004

Inside SSH, Part 1 by FJ de Kermadec
SSH is said "not to trust the network and to put minimal trust in the server or the domain name servers used by the network." In other words, SSH will consider the environment it is working in as a dangerous one and will try to rely as little on it as is possible. In this first article in a three-part series, you'll delve into SSH and learn how to master its power. 07/09/2004

Unix Gems for Mac OS X by Kevin O'Malley
Mac OS X users benefit from the platform's Unix underpinnings every time they launch their system. But the Unix heritage brings more to the table than power and stability; it also includes dozens of time-tested, useful utilities. In this article Kevin O'Malley shows you three Unix gems he thinks you'll start using right away. 07/06/2004

Hacking Mac OS X Panther
Rael Dornfest, coauthor of Mac OS X Panther Hacks, has selected three hacks from the book for your sampling pleasure. The first two detail how to find anyone in your Address Book who has an Amazon Wish List, and how to build a GUI to your Unix scripts with some Perl or Python glue code; the third is just for fun. 07/02/2004

Steve Jobs Introduces Tiger at WWDC 2004 by Daniel H. Steinberg
So many things to talk about at WWDC. So many things that can't be said. Here's an overview of what can be disclosed, including hardware announcements and a preview of Tiger, Apple's next version of Mac OS X. 07/01/2004

Bioinformatics and Comparative Genomics by Robert Jones
In this introduction to comparative genomics, Robert Jones explains why this is an important endeavor in life sciences, then shows you how to start exploring this treasure trove of data. 06/29/2004

O'Reilly at WWDC 2004 by Derrick Story
The Mac crew at O'Reilly has lots going on at this year's WWDC. If you're attending the ultimate Mac bash in San Francisco, then you might want to make a mental note about the following O'Reilly-related offerings, including book specials, O'Reilly-hosted BoFs, and our ongoing conference coverage. 06/25/2004

Ruby/Tk Primer: Creating a cron GUI Interface with Ruby/Tk by Christopher Roach
In this first installment of a three-part series, Chris Roach shows you how to use Ruby and Tk on Mac OS X. This tutorial creates a program that will act as a GUI-based front end to the cron daemon. 06/25/2004

Voice Recording Magic with the iPod by Derrick Story
Everyone knows that the iPod plays music unlike any other device, but many don't realize that it records clean audio, too. Here's a handy tutorial that shows you how to get started, then challenges your creativity with some nifty ideas about how to use these tools. 06/22/2004

Applying "Digital Hub" Concepts to Enterprise Software Design, Part 3 by Adam Behringer
In his previous two articles, Adam Behringer described how to build a flexible enterprise database. Here, in part three of this series, he shows how XML can provide great flexibility for database output applied to other applications. 06/18/2004

More LDAP in Mac OS X Server by Tony Williams
Now that you have your OpenLDAP server running smoothly, how about some additional tricks to better incorporate Address Book and email clients such as SquirrelMail? Tony Williams shows you how. 06/18/2004

RSS: The Next Generation by Giles Turnbull
Syndicated summaries of web content are more popular than ever before, and the recent explosion of users has prompted some dramatic changes in the world of RSS software. Giles Turnbull takes a look at some of the latest offerings, including PulpFiction, Shrook, and of course, NetNewsWire. 06/15/2004

A Brief Introduction to GPS Photo Linking by David Goldwasser
Digital cameras record EXIF data that tells us "when" we took a picture, but what if we want to know "where" too? Contributor to O'Reilly's Digital Photography Hacks, David Goldwasser introduces us to using GPS positioning data with EXIF timestamps to build interactive maps showing pictures of markers. What a sweet convergence of technologies. 06/15/2004

Introduction to Bioinformatics by Robert Jones
Bioinformatics is the intersection of molecular biology and computer science. For software developers, it’s a fascinating area in which to work. Mac OS X is gaining popularity in this arena, and this article introduces you to the concepts and opportunities related to bioinformatics. 06/11/2004

An Interview with Derrick Story (Digital Photo Hacker at Large) by Kathryn Barrett
Over the years, photography and the technology behind it have provided plenty of material for creative thinkers, making it a natural fit for the hacker spirit. In this interview with Derrick Story, O'Reilly's resident photo hacker, he talks about the direction of digital imaging, what makes it cool, and new ways that you can push the limits of your photography. 06/08/2004

A Basic Guide to Enterprise Application Distribution by Philip Rinehart
Keeping your software updated on your diverse Mac network requires attention to detail and perseverance. In this article, Philip Rinehart shows you options for tracking installations on your business or educational network. 06/08/2004

BYOB: Build Your Own Browser, Part 3 by Andrew Anderson
In part two of this series, Andrew Anderson showed you how to enhance your basic browser with multi-window capabilities. Here, he tackles adding a preferences window and a content eliminator. 06/04/2004

Inside Contextual Menu Items, Part 2 by Steven Disbrow
In his first article, Steven Disbrow described handy power user tips for two-button mousing on Mac OS X. Now he digs into programming and shows you how to create your own CMIs using Xcode. 06/04/2004

Integrating Ant with Xcode by Derek Haidle
Building Java code on multiple platforms is a problem facing many Java developers. One effective answer is Ant, an open-source tool hosted by the Apache Group. Derek Haidle shows you how to incorporate this tool with Xcode. 06/01/2004

BYOB: Build Your Own Browser, Part 2 by Andrew Anderson
In part one Andrew Anderson showed you how to get your hands dirty with WebKit. Now in Part 2 he goes beyond the basics showing you how to enhance your basic browser with multi-window capabilities, a preference window, and a content eliminator. 05/28/2004

Inside Contextual Menu Items, Part 1 by Steven Disbrow
In this first article in a two-part series, Steven Disbrow describes handy power user tips for two-button mousing on Mac OS X. In part two this coming Tuesday, he'll show you how to create your own CMIs using Xcode. 05/28/2004

LDAP in Mac OS X Server by Tony Williams
Typical network services problems, such as enabling all of your computers to use the same login information to authenticate users, can be solved with directory services. Panther has the built-in tools, but they're still less than elegant. Tony Williams shows you how to piece them together. 05/25/2004

Applying "Digital Hub" Concepts to Enterprise Software Design, Part 2 by Adam Behringer
In his second installment of Enterprise Software Design, Adam Behringer walks you through the design of a database that works today, and more importantly, down the road as business needs change. 05/21/2004

The Fight Against Spam, Part 3 by FJ de Kermadec
In part one, F.J. focused on laying the foundation for an anti-spam strategy and covered how to block most of your unwanted mail. Then in part two, he fine-tuned this strategy, plus he took a closer look at the technologies inside of Mail.app. Now in part three, the conclusion of this series, F.J. covers rules and additional tools and techniques you can use to avoid becoming buried in spam. 05/21/2004

Integrating Xgrid into Cocoa Applications, Part 2 by Drew McCormack
Last week in Part 1, Drew McCormack showed you how to install and start using Xgrid. Now in Part 2, he covers integration with Cocoa using a little program called Photo Industry. This will be an Xgrid-enabled app, and what's more, it will be a standalone app, not an Xgrid client plugin. 05/18/2004

The Fight Against Spam, Part 2 by FJ de Kermadec
In last week's Part 1 of this series, François Joseph de Kermadec showed you how to build the foundation for your spam-fighting strategy. Today, in Part 2, he fine-tunes this approach and digs deeper into Mail.app. 05/18/2004

Hacking Digital Photography by Derrick Story
Online version of the Mac Newsletter for May 14, 2004. 05/14/2004

The Fight Against Spam, Part 1 by FJ de Kermadec
Fighting spam is a battle that all Internet users must fight. In part one of this series, François Joseph de Kermadec shows you practical techniques, many of which you might have overlooked, to take back control of your email. 05/14/2004

The Missing Digital Photography Hacks by Derrick Story
The quest to compile compelling hacks is not something I can just turn off now that Digital Photography Hacks has hit the streets. It's an addictive process. And I admit it; I can't stop. So here are five brand-new tips for you to explore. 05/11/2004

Integrating Xgrid into Cocoa Applications, Part 1 by Drew McCormack
In this first of two articles exploring Xgrid, Drew McCormack provides you with a little background information, then moves to installation, and finishes off with a command-line script for distributing compilation using Xgrid. 05/11/2004

Automated Web Photo Galleries with iPhoto and Perl by Mike Schienle
If iPhoto is working nicely as your digital shoebox, but you want to automate the process of creating web galleries for your own server, here's a nifty setup using Sendmail, MySQL, and Perl. Mike Schienle, who specializes in task automation for a living, shows you the system he designed for his wife, who is an avid photographer. 05/07/2004

Applying "Digital Hub" Concepts to Enterprise Software Design by Adam Behringer
The essence of the digital hub is that there is one entity that stores data, and many modules connected to the hub and to each other through the hub. This hub-and-spoke architecture works well to solve many business problems, where you have many users doing many different tasks based around one set of data. Adam Behringer explains how to apply these concepts to effective enterprise software design. 05/04/2004

RAW, iPhoto, and Mac OS X by Derrick Story
iPhoto does an excellent job of breaking digital photography's chain of pain, that is, as long as the files are JPEGs or TIFFs. That's because iPhoto does not support RAW files, at least not directly. If your current workflow depends on iPhoto, you might be feeling left out in the cold with all the current hub-bub about using RAW capture. Don't. Derrick Story shows you how to have your iPhoto and shoot RAWs, too. 05/04/2004