For a while now, Transmission has included the “Clutch” web interface, which essentially allows you to control your torrents from anywhere in the world. However, with limited ‘newbie’ guides around, most of us are left to admiring the Web Interface from a distance.

However, I promised one of our commenters on the µTorrent for Mac post that I would get to the bottom of this. And with the release of Transmission 1.4, the WebUI finally went from beta to full version with a special iPhone optimised theme. So without delaying any further, here’s the Smoking Apples guide to managing your torrents from distant lands. Continue Reading »

Time to rid yourself of the days of storing your files inside of hidden folders. They are not only unsecure, but also tend to get lost when you do a reformat or sell off your Mac (since you’ve hidden the folder so well). Keeping your files inside disk images not only keeps your data secure, but you can easily move them around and store them in places which might otherwise be considered public.

What’s the big deal about disk images?
Disk Utility, which comes built into Mac OS X, lets you create upto 256bit AES encryption, which I’m told is as secure as it gets. So how exactly do these DMGs work? If you have ever installed an application on the Mac, you know what a DMG or Disk Image is. The image is a single file, which once mounted turns into a virtual storage device where you can add, delete or modify files.

Oh wow! Let’s create one then!
To begin, launch Disk Utility (Applications » Utilities » Disk Utility). After launch, go to File » New » Blank Disk Image.

Note, that while the file name of the disk image can be changed later, the Volume name (which is the label shown after mounting the disk image). Continue Reading »

Unlike on Windows, the standard Mac keyboard does a lot more than just type your regular alphabets, numbers, and special characters. Hidden underneath those ordinarily labeled keys is an extraordinary powerhouse of special special symbols that one requires every now and then. Characters like ‘µ’ and ‘©’, which are so difficult to type on Windows, can easily be typed on Mac OS X, provided you know which keys to hit.

In the five years I suffered through Windows before switching to the Mac (and no, I’m not biased at all), I was never able to figure out how to type the ‘µ’ when writing ‘µTorrent’. Sure, all I needed to do was Google it up and the information would be there for me, but hey, Googling is so out of fashion anyway. Plus, it wasn’t very often that I needed to type special characters like that one and therefore I always shunted Windows’ inadequacy in this, yet another, field to the background. Continue Reading »

Everyone has used the OS X Color Picker. Whenever you’re working on something and need to choose a colour, this is what pops up. “Not this thing again!” A quick glance through the color picker and you wish you had more control. Well, its there, but perhaps you don’t realise it.

An introduction to the Color Picker
The Color Picker is a very versatile tool that uses up very little real estate and resources and is highly extendible using plugins. Using just the default Color Picker, I shall explore the various options available and how to juice them for what they’re worth.

As you can see, the tool appears to be very plain and useless. Going through the various tabs isn’t going to yield much either. However, the very first tab itself is fully functional and more than enough for most users.

The first thing you want to do is resize the picker. Making the wheel bigger not only lets you eyeball those colors better but will allow the mouse to select finer variations in the gradient. It’s just better. Continue Reading »

Welcome back to the Keynote mini-series. The last time round, I introduced Keynote and walked you through the process of creating a simple presentation, just to get the wheels turning. Let’s take it up a notch now, and start adding a few effects and styles to make that presentation *pop*.

But first, let me mention some choice quotes from MacDailyNews commenters, after the article was carried there. 

“I doubt what they’ve done is as rich as PowerPoint.” - Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman, January 8, 2003

And to that sparked this reply:

Richer than PowerPoint? Can you even use those words in the same sentence? A crayon and a Big Chief tablet are richer than PowerPoint…

Then there’s the hilarious comparison of Keynote with Powerpoint

When you try PowerPoint, it feels like you come from driving a Ferrari to drive a Yugo. And this is, even with the Mac version of Power Point. I tried the Windows version… man, it felt like driving a bike without a seat.

To which the reply

That *is* the Windows experience!

And neither the last, nor the least:

“Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely.”

Thanks for the amazing support, everyone, and the witty quips. Getting back to our topic at hand though, let’s resume from where we last left off. If you have loaded the previous Keynote file back into Keynote, you’ll see five slides there. [Ed note: In case you do not have the original file or have edited and saved it, you can grab a fresh copy from here.] Now, let’s add some transition effects to them. Continue Reading »

Most of you new to the Mac are not familiar with iWork, which is Apple’s competitor to Microsoft Office. The trial is installed on every new Mac, after which you’ve got to fork out $80 for the full package. It incorporates Pages, which substitutes for Word and Publisher. Numbers, the spreadsheet tool much like Excel. And then there’s Keynote, the one which not only competes, but also kicks the ass of Powerpoint out of the pond. And it kicks it so hard, that Powerpoint will never be able to swim in that pond again. 

Keynote is the most amazing presentation tool out there. Within minutes, you can create smooth presentations that will bring out that real ‘Wow’ (not the pathetic one Microsoft talked about with Vista). Already up at version 4, Keynote has matured, and has some great features like instant alphas, transitions and templates that are guaranteed to make people just stare at your presentations. 

You should note that I failed my computer practicals in college (topic was Microsoft Office) mainly cause I couldn’t make a good enough Powerpoint presentation. But within 10 minutes I had figured out how to work Keynote and made a stunning presentation my dad, then used on one of his talks. It has been three years since and he swears by Keynote presentations. As you can see, so do I. 

In this little mini series, I’m going to show you what keynote is about, how to use it, as well as let you download the each of the presentations that I will make. This will be a standard step by step tutorial so you can learn as you go. There might excessive use of superlatives like awesome and amazing, but that’s just the way it is. By the end of this series, you will be able to create the best presentation you have ever seen. So follow the steps, download the keynote files, and let’s try and make it fun! Continue Reading »

Let’s face it—Macs do have problems. Sure, they don’t crash as often or as horribly as PCs do but incidents of OS problems crop up here and there every now and then. Sometimes, in fact, the only way to get rid of the problem is to do a fresh reinstall of Mac OS X.

Although Time Machine can very well restore your system to a time before you muddled it up, reinstalling the OS can bring some good performance improvements. Going the clean install route entails you having to move all your data from your hard drive to an external drive and then copying it back once you’re done. Of course, you could do an Archive and Install which will leave your document files intact, but what about the application related data that an Archive and Install often messes up? Having gone through this similar situation, I have decided to create a checklist before reinstalling your OS—because you somehow always forget to do one important task which you cannot go back to later on.

1. Address Book and iCal. Just launch each app and back them up. Both apps have Export options right in the File menu. If you are a MobileMe subscriber, your calendars and contacts are synced to the cloud so there should be no worries about losing that data. However, I would still suggest you make backups as MobileMe might corrupt your data, at least in its current flaky state.

2. Your Pictures. Just copy over your iPhoto Library and whatever other pictures you have in your Pictures folder. The iPhoto Library will appear as one big file. You do not want to take the risk even with an Archive and Install. Remember, you can never get the cat to pose like that ever again.

3. iTunes Library. If you have painstakingly set ratings for songs and maintained playcounts, it will hurt to lose all that and have just plain music in your library. Copy over your entire iTunes folder over to an external drive. The iTunes music folder will be in your ~username/Music folder. Copy the full thing over (replacing the one that already exists). [Ed note: For a more detailed and foolproof guide to moving your iTunes Library, check out this article on iLounge.]

4. Fonts. There is always that font that you used in that PSD that you cannot find anymore and the whole thing just backfires on you. So just backup your fonts before you lose them to the wind. If you’re anything like me, chances are that you have fonts strung about all over your system. The best way is to launch Font Book, select all your fonts, and select Export Fonts.

5. Documents. This is a given. If you have mainly small documents, back them up to the cloud. Otherwise just move all your documents—PSDs, PDFs, Word documents, RTFs and everything in between—to your external drive. A manual copy-paste of your entire Documents folder and whatever other folders you might have created in your Home folder will do (provided you remember to copy them back later, of course).

6. Photoshop brushes, actions, swatches and workspaces. It takes just a few clicks but saving all those will get you a long way, especially if you have customised everything to your liking (dual displays, anyone?). Photoshop, of course, just serves as an example here. You need to backup the settings of whatever other pro apps you might be using as well.

7. Let go of some stuff! There is no point in holding on to a lot of things that do not make sense. Give up your wallpaper collections. Let go of those icons. Wash away all those screensavers that you think are cool but never really use. Starting fresh is a really good feeling.

Now what good is this post without giving a little info on reinstalling as well?

To do that, just pop in your Leopard DVD and double-click “Install Mac OS X” on the Window that comes up. If, for some reason, you cannot boot into OS X at all, reboot your Mac and hold down the C key when you hear the startup chime.

After the setup loads, there are three modes for installation:

Upgrade: You can skip this one. It would be used while, say, upgrading from Tiger to Leopard, where it keeps your files and applications intact, while reinstalling the OS. However, it also keeps some of the cobwebs in place, so I’d say if you want to start fresh, do it right.

Archive and Install: This copies all of the files in your Home folder, including Documents, Movies, Music, etc., into a separate folder and installs a brand new OS. This is really useful if you don’t have an external hard drive to backup all those movies. Your archived folder cannot be used as your normal home folder, all account settings are reset and you have to still manually move all files from the archive to your new Home folder. I’d recommend this process but just make sure that you still do have a backup.

Erase and Install: Erases everything from the partition and installs a brand new OS. Simple as that.

Now, in the following step, along with the Install button, there will also be a Customize button. Going into that will give you an option to deselect all the printer drivers and language files from being installed, effectively saving you somewhere close to 6GB! That’s highly recommended if you have a desktop and are not in constant need of printer drivers (although not having them onboard might result in some Windows-style frantic driver hunting if you decide to buy a new printer someday). Language files should be deselected in all cases (assuming that none of those listed happens to be your mother tongue or one that you’re particularly fluent in). This also speeds up the installation process.

That’s it! After installation, you will get the lovely welcome video and proceed on to a fresh OS, and a happier Mac (notice the wider smile on the Finder icon).

If you are new to the Mac, you will obviously want to try out new applications. How does one install those applications though? Even if you have managed to get some applications working, for the purpose of this tutorial, just assume that you do not know how to install them. And I’m not saying that just to get you to read this tutorial either—it’s entirely possible that you think you’ve got it right but are in fact doing it all wrong.

There are two basic ways to install applications on Mac OS X:

1. The first and most common approach works for apps that are enclosed in a disk image. Think of it as a virtual CD-ROM.

After you download a disk image (Firefox.dmg, for example), you’ll need to first mount it onto your desktop. Just double-clicking it should do the trick, assuming that it wasn’t automatically mounted for you beforehand. Once you do that, you will notice that it creates a virtual image on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar. For certain applications, it might also automatically pop open a window.

Continue Reading »