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Today's News by Cletus™ Good grief am I getting submissions for the Haxie contest. Over 400 in the first two days. Luckily I left my computer running and downloaded the mail right along otherwise I may have hit the limit for my mac.com account. But not to worry, the server gets freed up every 20 minutes, so go ahead and enter. I suppose I don't even care if you enter more then once. And some have.... ;)
 It is a very popular and easy-to-use contextual menu plug-in which allows you to launch customized applications or open documents with customized applications. It has been updated to fix a serious bug which corrupted the menu item preferences. Launch Items X 1.0.5 is now available to all and is a recommended upgrade for all users.
Another popular Mac OS X item is DockFun! and it has also been updated to version 2.5. Changes include: - Dock inspector window: Now you can change dock settings.
- Now you can open an application in a Dock you haven't enabled thanks to a simple contextual menu in the floating window or selection from the menu.
- "New dock" bug fixed with general improvement.
 Riccardo Ettore has released another public beta of TypeIt4Me X. It provides maintenance for a couple of bugs and adds several new features. I think everyone knows how I feel about this little gem of a program.
App Switcher 0.9.5 by Michael Ash is out. It is a configurable hot-key program, with the ability to exclude programs from the switcher window. You may now use command-tab to switch between programs, which makes the upgrade worth it all by itself. A full list of changes can be found here.
File Manipulator 2.0.1 will allow you to move, copy, rename, change type/creator/attributes, and filters. It is compatible with both Mac OS 9 and higher. There is other cool software to check out at the site.
 Macroxx has updated their freeware ICQ Resources 3.0 for ICQ 3.0.2 (classic MacOS) and ICQ 3.0.2 X for Mac OS X. To the right is an example of the new status icons in the release. There are additional screenshot images on the web site showing the changes.
I have stumbled upon CDFinder 3.5.1. It is an excellent replacement under Mac OS X for Iomega's FindIt. It even reads FindIt's files so I do not have to re-scan every Zip disk and/or CD. If you are looking for a capable, native cataloging tool for your removable media I recommend looking at CDFinder.
For all of the younger ResExcellence readers, Applelinks posted information on AppleStudentDevelopers.org.
OmniWeb Sneaky Peek has hit 4.1.sp63 if you haven't checked in a while.
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
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Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly Get your mid-week snapshot boost: - This anonymous screenshot sports U2photos’ “U2 Elevation Tour 2001” desktop picture. iTunes is cranking out music from the group, while QuickTime Player plays a U2 music video.
- A desktop picture extracted from the Beach OS X screensaver and the Sosumi Theme debut in this submission from Benjamin Harrison. Note how the two custom icons integrate nicely with the desktop picture.
- Noel Jackson submits this snapshot featuring a Techknow Design desktop picture starring one of the Danger Girls. The Gimp and xterm are running via XDarwin, which is configured with the Sawfish window manager.
- A custom “Remember” desktop picture and the Aqua 2 Theme are showcased in this contribution from Will. iTunes, overhauled with Will’s Aqua Bubble skin, is juggling songs near the top.
See just how easy it is to contribute to ResExcellence! Give our browser-based submission upload page a whirl.
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan
 Icons - Desktops: We've got an awesome lineup here! How about (8) New Desktops, (2) New Icon Sets, and of course, updated "News From Around the Web". All on display for today's update.
In an ongoing effort to make it easier for you to send us your Icons and Desktops, we've designed a new Browser Based Upload Page for the task. Just follow the easy to use instructions, and you'll find submitting your artwork is now a piece of cake! - Celebrate the arrival of Spring with "Florals" by Flax Creations . This set of 15 stylized flower icons designed for OSX are based off the Kalocsai Flowers dingbat font. Not to mention, they look pretty good in Classic mode as well.
- "Wasteland Icons" submitted by Tim Gray, are based on a post-apocalyptic game set in 2087. Your party, the famed Desert Rangers, has been assigned to investigate a series of disturbances in the desert. This minor assignment soon unfolds into a major, world-threatening plot... This jumbo sized set of OSX icons features 92 different Wasteland characters and critters.
- "Bottles" by Michael Addison of Macalodeon is another of the many amazing 3-D compositions we have the good fortune to be posting. Michael uses a large variety and range of software to achieve his effects, including Photoshop, Carrara, Bryce, Infini-D, Cinema 4D, Poser, Tree Pro, and Amorphium Pro. This one comes in 1024x resolution.
- Will Ernst created "Silent Traveler" while thinking about Winter in the Atlantic Ocean. He wonders what it's like to see and hear an iceberg travel along the ocean, and made this picture to try and capture the view at moonrise of an Iceberg in the Atlantic. Comes in 1024x resolution.
- In Apple land, where the laws of the land are all Apple rules, we all know that "Apple Rulze!" This simple Photoshop composition that got complicated by Bradford Wiles of Macmonkies comes in 1024x and 800x resolutions.
- Six month old kitty Caubush, owned by Dutch Wolf may not be the brightest penny in the roll when it comes to Mice, but she certainly knows a good thing when she sees it. This very cute desktop comes in 1024x resolution.
- "Think Morph" is Jakal's first attempt at desktop making, and I think you will agree, he did a great job! "Think different or be made to think" comes in a whopping 1600x resolution.
- Take a walk on the wild side with Angelina Jolie in another of John Rose's great celebrity desktops. Comes in 1280x resolution.
- Unfortunately, the preview for Mario Garza's playful "Outa Here" desktop is downright pathetic, and doesn't give you any idea as to what this cool picture is about. Solution: Download this one in 1024x or 800x resolutions and see for yourself.
- At first glance, this desktop titled "Windoze" submitted by an unknown reader is not much to look at. On closer inspection this one comes with a powerful "dark" message that you have to ponder a bit before it comes together. Comes in 1024x resolution.
News From Around the Web: MacMonkies is piling their platter with plenty of Monkie antics and a good dose of new artwork for your desktop. The latest designs include work from Neil Roberts, EA Design, and MacMonkies! When you stop by to fill your basket, take note of the site makeover that is now in progress. There's lots going down at MacMonkies to keep your Mac plenty content! MacuserX.com has been updated with 2 new icon sets, CM4s speaker icons and Pills icon set. Ethereal Creations is proud to announce the release of two stunning new desktops. One is an accurate Biblical scene appropriate for the upcoming Easter holiday and the other is a very cool abstract. Four older images have also been revised and there's a new article posted in The View From Here. Stop by and have a look! Mando just wanted to let you know that there is a new desktop at http://www.mandolux.com representing a new theme: vector-based desktops. The title of this first desktop is 'Woman in Red.' a continuing his F-18 Super Hornet Series. Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktops. The web's premiere source for quality freeware icons, The Iconfactory wants to remind everyone that there is only one week left to enter our annual icon design contest - Pixelpalooza. Blueskyheart updates with a New desktop picture, new icons and live nude girls. Check it out! John's Sketchpad has updated with a dozen new desktop pictures, some new illustrations and a new portfolio section. Take a look! Live Pencil updates: ICONS: 12 new icons in a new set; Smilies' Teeth. IT IS YOU: Once again we can see a funny funny animation of two kids. LIVE-ANIMALS: Chicks, all sizes, to be used in your e-mails. Tjmahaffey.com updates with a new icon set: Nostalgia Volume 2. Released officially today! So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
REALbasic News by Erick Tejkowski It's been a very busy week in REALbasic news: - Cubie's Contest Announced
- REALbasic 4.0.2 released
- New Database Plugins
- New Microsoft Office Automation Plugins
- New REALdb tool
- REALbasic Developer Subscriptions now available!
- New plugin from Theo Smith
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Today's News by Cletus™  This could prove to be a very exciting week at ResExcellence as we run a contest for three of the most popular shareware enhancements for Mac OS X. The first Mac OS X giveaway ever at ResExcellence was for WindowShade by Unsanity Software. Now ResExcellence and Unsanity are teaming up again to bring you a "Bundle" of three great Haxies. The bundle includes: WindowShade, FruitMenu and Xounds! Five lucky winners will receive free registrations for these terrific programs! Full details are available on the contest page.
Thumbnail Pro by Michael Thole is a Cocoa application, written for MacOS X 10.1 and above. From the home page: It creates beautiful 128x128 pixel thumbnail icons for your image files. Not only does it create standard thumbnails, but it includes a wide variety of themes and a myriad of options that lets you customize your thumbnails to your hearts content. An image of the work space is available here.
LogOut 0.1 in short, logs out current user when a screen saver activates. The description below explains how it works. LogOut is a screen saver designed to log out the current user when it goes active; in public-use labs it is often desirable to have some way of returning the machines to their initial state without depending on the users (read: unwashed masses) to log out when they are finished.
ThemePark 1.0b2 is a Theme editor for Mac OS X. Below is a partial list of changes to this version. - You can now change the size of pxm# and ppat images
- Resized the default resource editors so they're smaller
- Added image size display to the pxm# and ppat resource editor windows
- Added color count display to the ppat resource editor
- Fixed bug that made importing gray scale images from Photoshop problematic, and importing indexed color images from Photoshop impossible
- Fixed bug that allowed one to drag an image into a pxm# when none of the pxm images were selected
Beeper 1.0 is described as a sound effects application for the stage or home. "Use it to fool your friends, make you neighbors mad, or just for your own enjoyment."
Pixel Tester 1.2 is now available. Mentioned previously, it helps detect any dead pixel on your screen or LCD display.
Icon Machine 3.0b16 is now available for Mac OS 8.6 or higher. With it you can create and edit custom icons. - New OS X version of the Edit Icon contextual menu plugin
- The Apply Icon command now works in Mac OS 8-9
- Fixed a crash that happened in Mac OS 8.6 when opening icons
- Fixed a crash that happened in Mac OS 8-9 when quitting with multiple unsaved documents
- Fixed copying and pasting in mask view
- In OS X, the open dialog shows previews of icon files (Icon Machine III documents and .icns files)
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Polling Place by Michael Coyle  I'm not quite sure how to evaluate the results from last week's Polling Place. It would appear that most years, fewer and fewer people are using the MacOS. Almost two-thirds of readers have been using it for at least a decade. Of course, the numbers are biased towards more experienced users given the content of ResExcellence, but still I had hoped to see a more "U" shaped curve based on the sale of iMac computers over the past few years.
Does anyone have a link to the number of Apple computers shipped each year (or quarter) for the past ten years? Let me know. Your friendly, lovable WebMaster™ is taking a few days off this week for vacation. By the time you read this I will already be working on my first sunburn of the season. Keeping with tradition, this week's Polling Place question asks, "How many differerent vacation breaks do you take a year?"
Tools of the Trade. by Michael Coyle  I heard back from Adrian Chow from Justy on the pricing of the white 2 button mouse. Shipping is $126.69 and the 12 mice are $40 each. UPS will deliver just about anywhere in the continental US for about $6, so the final cost per mouse with UPS shipping to you is $57.
More than 12 readers emailed to express an interest in buying a mouse, but now that the price has been set I'd like to ask you to email me again confirming your decision. The first readers to send me a $57 check secure a mouse. A couple of readers expressed an interest in buying two mice. That's fine with me, but the limit it two, or a check for $114. Any checks after the first 12 mice are spoken for will be returned. I'm doing this as a nice guy. :) I'll make nothing on the purchase of these mice, so don't send me hate mail if you don't get one. If enough interest is generated, maybe Justy will find a US distributor and everyone can order one. Send me a letter with the number of mice, shipping address and your check made out to Michael Coyle to: Chicago Recording Company
Attn: Michael Coyle
55 West Wacker Drive Suite 710
Chicago, Il. 60601 When I have received enough money for all 12 mice I'll place the order. When they arrive in Chicago, I'll mention it here so you'll know to expect them in a few days.
If you're a bleeding edge, nightly build user of Mozilla, a reader in the forum mentioned that the newest skins for those versions are located on a separate page form the versions for Mozilla 0.9.9
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how my QuickTime MIME setting were changed so the plugin wouldn't play MP3 files. At that time I guessed that some other application had probably changed the setting during an install. After installing iTunes on a friends computer this weekend, it does appear that iTunes changes the setting. The first time you launch iTunes a setup dialog is presented. One of the questions is shown below. Using the default will overwrite the QuickTime MIME setting, possible breaking the plugin when it is called upon to play an audio stream.
User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?) - VoodooKilla sent a matching Boot Panel and MOSS submission featuring the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Shazaam! updated his pretty iTunes skin that goes by the name of Irish.
- If you're tired of the fire-breathing dragon on the Mozilla splash, take a look at this bold one from Nicholas Francisco.
- Jesse sent a MOSS which is graced by the image of Laetitia Casta.
- Conrad sends two more About this Mac replacements for you. These are titled Red Light and Swirl.
Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly Monday’s snapshots are up for your viewing pleasure: - A custom desktop picture composed of the “Bummer Dude” desktop picture from our Desktop Archive and a “Jeri Ryan” desktop picture from MacDesktops merged into one is showcased alongside the Brushed Theme in this contribution from Jon Breitenbucher. Selections from Xicons are nestled in the dock along the right edge.
- Anime Wallpapers’ “Rorouni Kenshin” desktop picture and the Silverfox Theme debut in this submission from Jan. Adium is managing chat sessions in the lower left, and icons from Xicons reside in DragThing along the left edge.
- Tim Chong submits this NeXTStep snapshot taken from an old NeXT workstation. NXNetwatch is browsing Tim’s own website.
- VX submitted this slick screenshot sporting Kevin Knopp’s Sosumi Theme. An atomic model of a protein strand is rendering along the left edge. NeXbar provides the NeXT-style dock residing in the lower right.
See just how easy it is to contribute to ResExcellence! Give our browser-based submission upload page a whirl.
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan
 Icons - Desktops: We've got a huge lineup here! How about a whopping (8) New Desktops, (2) New Icon Sets, and of course, updated "News From Around the Web". All on display for today's update.
Announcements:
In an ongoing effort to make it easier for you to send us your Icons and Desktops, we've designed a new Browser Based Upload Page for the task. Just follow the easy to use instructions, and you'll find submitting your artwork is now a piece of cake! - Matt Harrington combines some Photoshop magic and Can Combine Icons software to create "Matt's Folder Icons". This set designed for OSX includes 18 happy looking Aqua style folders.
- Steff Koerner appears to enjoys the basic shape of the Cube so much that he decided they were worthy of becoming a cool little set of 14 Classic sized icons.
- Keaner, freelance digital artist from Tampa Fla., flexes some digital muscle to keep his digital art skills in good shape with an interesting composition tilted "Adriana". Comes in 1024x resolution.
- Alan Sherwood of EA Designs submits another of his awesome 3-D Bryce compositions titled "Complete-Supremecy-IV". This fiery desktop is available in 1024x and 800x resolutions.
- "2525 by Bradford Wiles of Macmonkies is a minimalist Bryce piece with a futuristic touch. Gotta love that shiny stuff! Comes in 1024x and 800x resolutions.
- Here are Robert Marking's first contributions to our desktop section with more to follow. Included are two different views of an old NIC (Network Interface Card) he designed and modeled using Carrara. Both are available in 1024x resolutions
- Nate Penwell puts together a stylish looking desktop homage to the lovely superstar "Angelina Jolie". Available in 1280x resolutions.
- "Ti2" by Mario Garza combines brushed metal, colorful reflective glass, and some Bryce effects to make a cool looking backdrop in 1024x and 800x resolutions.
- When Thomas Haller finally figured out how to capture the amazing patterns generated by the iTunes default visualizer, he got swept away with excitement making desktops. "Tunesy Desktops #3" is the third grouping selected from a total of 55 sets. While we won't be able to post all of them, this one contains three different images, and displays in several resolutions. (Instructions for making your own iTunes backdrops included!).
- As mind boggling as it is, we are now up to Survivor 4, and for all intensive purposes it's practically become a cult. Fazo53 submits the splash screen from this latest T.V. incarnation in 1152x resolution.
News From Around the Web: Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktops. The web's premiere source for quality freeware icons, The Iconfactory wants to remind everyone that there is only one week left to enter our annual icon design contest - Pixelpalooza. Blueskyheart updates with a New desktop picture, new icons and live nude girls. Check it out! Mando just wanted to let you know that there are 5 new desktops at http://www.mandolux.com representing a continuing his F-18 Super Hornet Series.
John's Sketchpad has updated with a dozen new desktop pictures, some new illustrations and a new portfolio section. Take a look! Live Pencil updates: ICONS: 12 new icons in a new set; Smilies' Teeth. IT IS YOU: Once again we can see a funny funny animation of two kids. LIVE-ANIMALS: Chicks, all sizes, to be used in your e-mails. Tjmahaffey.com updates with a new icon set: Nostalgia Volume 2. Released officially today! Ethereal Creations pleased to bring you one new release entitled Visions of Heaven. Rendered in Poser4 and Bryce5, this one will strike the fancy of those of you who appreciate angels of a more realistic nature. The main splash page graphics have also been beautifully re-designed and we've got a new issue of the View From Here and more Site News. MacMonkies adds 7 spectacular new desktops to their gallery including 2 new pics from MacMonkies, a "heart-filled" piece from Andy Moraitis, a pair of pics from the boys at EA Design, some "double" fun from Todd Darland, and a fine debut from MacMonkies newest contributor Neil Roberts. MacuserX.com has been updated with 2 new desktops, Souljor with Staff and Adium and one new icon set, CDR's. So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
REALbasic Tile Mixer by Erick Tejkowski Are you tired of navigating through all of the windows in your browser? Today we will expand on some Javascript hints that Michael Coyle has recently posted on ResExcellence. With the help of REALbasic, AppleScript, and Javascript, we can clean up our web browsers in a flash. (Continued...)
Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.
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