Today's News by Cletus™
You have until midnight Saturday to enter the PrefsOverload Contest. Three free registrations are up for grabs. But you must enter to be eligible to win. Imagine that. Put your thinking caps on and get to work ResExers.
A Better Finder Rename X has been updated to version 4.8. It uses the CMM routine for batch changing multiple file names. Changes according to the PR states that this release for Mac OS 9 and OS X adds the ability to "rename a file to its modification or creation date. The OS X version is now an application bundle and the installer supports automatic uninstalls. The new version also includes additional internal changes preparing the way for a host of new features scheduled for version 5."
Launch Items X has been updated solving a problem where the texts of the "Open Document" menu were not displayed correctly, especially for the Japanese language. This is another contextual menu plug-in which allows you to launch applications, web pages and virtually any type of file.
Dockprefs is a dockling that allows selection of all preference panels via the Dock. This new version fixes a bug where the Dock Icon Hider would prevent System Preferences from coming to the front. Additionally a more technical fix is this one: "The Dock Icon Hider now sets LSUIElement instead of NSUIElement. If you are using NSUIElement, it should work fine, but Apple says to use LSUIElement for compatibility."
YazSoft has posted an update to Speed Download. A rewrite of most of the http code helps improve performance. The Speed Download Plugin for both Classic and Mac OS X has been updated and enhanced. Several bugs have also been dealt with.
Kind of a quiet day over all with regards to software. Hey... I ordered my copy Jaguar. In the process of attempting to order on line, I had my account disabled. For security reasons it stated. Apparently after attempting to enter the password 15 times or so incorrectly it nailed me. I sent an email off and within 4 hours had a response fixing it. In the end, I ordered 10.2 over the phone. On an aside, Maury at RAILhead Design provided some information on the pronunciation of the word Jaguar if you are interested.
I have changed a lot since Mac OS X has come out. I have switched to Mozilla at Michaels endless urging and I am really happy with it. I love the Tab feature. I have also begun to use Mail instead of Entourage. More so for when the newer version comes out. I like to use Rules and the current version is very limited in this respect. I am very anxious to get iCal also. I use a PIM more then any other program throughout a day. While I will not have everything in one program as with Entourage, I hope to be just as happy with Apples three programs: Mail, Address Book and iCal. Having the address book perform system wide will be wonderful. Time will tell.
Everyone have a nice weekend.
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium
Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle
Would you like to win $1000 for yourself and $1000 for charity?
There are only a few months left until all possible keys are gone and someone wins the RC5 distributed-net contest. If you join Team ResExcellence and win, ResExcellence will donate its $1000 share to Epilepsy research. Currently, Team ResEx is ranked 179 out of 12,552.
So run the client on your computer and crunch a few billion keys. You may win $1000 and help a needy charity!
I received the nicest email from Bernie:
"I've been reading ResEx for years. As a freeware author, I'm being affected by this .Mac issue. I'm sad to hear that so many people are going to have to close their sites down.
I thank you for your suggestions posted today. Thank you for letting people submit stuff to the ResEx archives. I assume you realize that you might get a lot of posts now? So, how's ResEx doing? Are you paying the bills OK? Do you think that you might need to add a donate page? I mostly read ResEx for the software news; but, I support the whole site. I would make a donation (if I have the money)."
Bernie, if you're a millionaire, feel free to send a little dough my way, but don't worry about ResExcellence! Knock on wood, you won't see a PayPal sign hanging on this site. ResExcellence has one key factors in its favor. I own and maintain the web server on a 1.5MBit SDSL line. This keeps my expenses much lower just about any other major Mac site. I just upgraded to a 18G hard disk, so I have plenty of room for more contributions from readers.
Another key to keeping expenses low is running Linux and using Open Source software. Imagine how much tougher it would be to balance the books if I had to dish out several hundred dollars every few months for software upgrades!
In all seriousness, if you want to see ResExcellence thrive, visit our sponsors, buy their goods, and tell them ResExcellence sent ya.
Riding in on a White Horse to help ResExcellence contributors, Felix Velarde emailed this generous offer:
"We run head-space, an entirely anti-commercial collaborative creative project we set up around five years ago.
We have some spare bandwidth and space and I saw your comments about the (dot)mac migration. We'd be happy to hear from people who want to move existing sites to the head-space server - we may not be able to host them all, but we'll do our best to accommodate as fit the rules (i.e. no for-sale stuff, must be entirely original work etc.)
Please ask people to email rescue@head-space.org and we'll take it from there."
Felix, thank you for the amazing offer. Hopefully head-space can keep several great Mac sites from slipping into oblivion.
Head-space also offers some great looking desktop pictures for you download!
More on IE Toolbar Icons...
Drew Pauley has a page featuring more than a dozen cool toolbar icons. And rumor has it that SpyMac has over 60 sets of IE Toolbar icons!
Avaritia Design has posted some nice desktop pictures, and some MacAMP Lite X skins!
Sergio Diaz wrote to say, "With the OS X release of Internet Explorer, the cycle through windows shortcut changes from Command-4 (as OS 9 Spanish version) to Command-~ (cmd+alt+ñ in the Spanish ISO keyboard).
I modified the Localized.rsrc file to return the shortcut Command-4, making it a download file called it "Comando4" to share it with the Spanish community.
With the IE5.2 release I modified the resource file again, adding some new features (Google in all search functions and replacement of Microsoft links in Tools window to Apple related sites). See http://homepage.mac.com/sergeidoc/cmd4/ (Spanish) or (English thanks to Babel)
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?)
- The Pinky Toe sent a bunch of contributions from one of the more twisted cartoons on TV - Invader Zim! The set includes two Boot Panels and a series of five logos for the Login Screen (Use Visage to install these). My favorite Zim is the one where he goes around school eating everyones internal organs.
- Featuring the original multi-colored iMacs, Matthew Harrington assembled a MOSS and matching About this Mac screen.
- John Rose submitted a futuristic Boot Panel of a scene from Farscape.
- Here are two new Boot Panels from Conrad. The first shows a red sunset over water, and the second a collage of flowers.
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Today's News by Cletus™
Remember to stop by the current contest page and enter. You can not possibly win if you do not enter! I am sure you must have an idea or two for a program floating around that you would like to see developed for Mac OS X that does not currently exist. Now is your chance to say so and possibly win a free copy of PrefsOverload.
Bains Software has apparently taken over development of Son of Weather Grok. They state that Son of Weather Grok 4.2 is an update to StimpSoft's popular desktop weather program. It remains freeware. The main attraction in this version is the addition of forecasts! Other changes include:
- A new "Query" feature in which Son of Weather Grok automatically locates weather stations in your area using your zip code. This feature will also work with City & State look-up's, but is far less reliable. (For now, the "Query" feature is only available in the United States.)
- Various bug fixes.
- Various interface enhancements.
A new version of DockRestarter available, at least for a little while. Until their iTools trial account runs out. Now is the time to get it. If you have ever had your Dock stop responding, this application will restart it for you preempting having to restart or Log out. It has become a very popular little program. Personally I have never had the Dock freeze— he says whilst knocking on wood.....
2.1.1 is the newest version number of System Optimizer X. The program states that it improves system speed and responsiveness by performing an exercise describe by Apple.
Astral Blossom by Imaja is a new screensaver for Mac OS X. The release information describes it as featuring a constantly changing colorful display of luminous, geometric, kaleidoscopic, psychedelic, generative art. Pop in a Jimi Hendrix CD, listen to Foxy Lady and away you go back to the '60's!
Inferiis have released a new plugin manager for installing items more easily into your system under Mac OS X called Alfred. From their homepage: Alfred is an easy to use, customizable, universal plug-ins manager. Its main purpose is to bring Mac OS 9's simplicity back to the users. Life is made easy when installing, removing and managing plug-ins, filling a gap in Mac OS X. It takes care of Mac OS X specificities, works with any kind of files and is not restricted to system management. This looks very promising and the icon is sooo cool.
I wonder how many people actually purchase screensavers. Personally I do not use Apples for more than 15 minutes before I have sleep kick in, and wonder about spending money on something designed to display when one walks away from the computer. Does one remain at the computer to watch it? Do you enable it and sit and think while watching it? Is it important enough to purchase one? I have started a thread in the forum to see what people actually look for in a screensaver or what they use it for. Would you purchase a screensaver yourself?
I ask because I have been getting more and more PR for screensavers. I mention them since they are an interface elements. However, many seem to be shareware, and I wonder about that.
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
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Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle
Derek Gordon from DGgraphics tipped me off to this site from Sergio Diaz that contains a huge collection of custom toolbar buttons for Internet Explorer. The site also contains tutorials for installation and creation of toolbar icons.
After our poll last week regarding gaming consoles, Arturo Molina emailed to let readers know about his open source project to provide an emulated XBox to run under Linux. Xbox-Linux has already laid down a lot of ground work, but there is not a working demo - yet.
If you're interested in running Nintendo, Playstation, and other console games on your computer, look at the offerings from Emulation.net.
Freeware and shareware authors are scrambling to find alternative hosting facilities for their software due to the new iTools policy change from Apple. If you're an old fart like me, you can remember back to the days when the number one site for Macintosh software was the Info-mac Hyper Archive from MIT.
Guess what, Info-mac is alive and well after all these years and is still updated daily!
If you're a freeware/shareware programmer, you can host your file for free at info-mac, alleviating bandwidth problems if your ISP has very conservative bandwidth restrictions. Remember, almost every ISP provides at least a few meg of free web hosting. Placing the program downloads on info-mac should allow you to continue offering your creations on the internet.
Unfortunately, solutions for icon and desktop artists are difficult to find. Several have already emailed to say they will have to shut down their sites at the end of September. I wish ResExcellence had the space and bandwidth to help host these sites, but the best we can offer is to post your creations in our archives so they have somewhere to call home. Perhaps artists can form co-ops, purchasing an iTools account with a few extra emails and dividing the expenses.
It's a sad situation, but we recently read that Mac users are smarter than your average netizen, so I'm hopeful the loss of Mac homepages will be minimal.
A helpful Applescript from Josh Lee will reposition the Dock along the top of the screen. While there are many other utilities to do this, I thought this script would be helpful as a tutorial for readers to use as a guide for creating other scripts that launch a terminal and enter command lines.
ResExcellence regular, BloodFly, has updated his site with lots of new stuff. Checkout the iTunes, Audion and MMJB skins, plus three new fonts, ten brush sets, two icon folder sets, splash screens, and tons of other stuff.
Due to the new iTools policy, Frank's Corner and Frank's Corner 2 will be shutting down soon. Stop by to make sure you don't miss any of his desktops and splash screens.
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?)
- A nice looking Giant Boot panel titled Project X was createrd by Gary Hubert.
- A contributor named Ben sends a psychodelic Internet Explorer splash screen. This download also contains the image in PNG format for use in Custom Splash Installer (CSI).
- If you were an Apple customer who bought a Cube, Dave McClain made a Boot Panel displaying your hardware.
- You know how the default MacOS X screen saver shows the silver Apple logo? Kurt Murray sent a replacement image featuring Hexely, the Darwin mascot. Follow the included instructions for installation.
- This is a very cool picture of a lovely red-haired women that has been made into a Boot Panel by Conrad.
Today's News by Cletus™
It has been a while since we had a giveaway. This week we begin again as Angelo Scicolone and ResExcellence are teaming up for a new contest that will give all ResExer's a chance to demonstrate their creativity. Angelo is offering three free registrations for his wonderful PrefsOverload program. More details can be found on the contest page.
Apple Screen Savers.com by Cassdesign is a site designed for Mac OS X screensavers. The newest section is the Vincent Van Gogh area. The package includes fifty paintings from the master expressionists. While the screensavers are not free, they are well designed and may appeal to a few of you out there.
The highly rated Launch Items X is now up to version 1.1.4 and allows the opening of customized documents with contextual menu commands. Always a desirable option with Mac OS X.
DeskShade is a program from Jan Van Boghout that hides or "paints" a new desktop on top of the old one. "That way you can use the desktop as your random file storage and still see your desktop. It gives you a nice empty desktop without having to (re)move the icons that you've put there."
X-Command has been released by Stephen Partos. X-Command is a small utility which sits in the top left hand corner (Can be dragged) and it has about 60 commands from a pop-up menu which helps make your OS X experience a bit easier.
If you went a little to crazy using the edits and hacks at ResExcellence that your system is totally out of whack or maybe just a little off, you may want to use AquaFix to set it right. AquaFix will restore all OS X interface elements to their default states. Useful if you've loaded a theme with no remover, or accidentally deleted an interface file. It also helps when the time comes to update and need an unmodified system so the updater works. Use this link if you have trouble downloading.
- AquaFix can now be run from the command line (single-user mode) so it can be run even when the interface graphics are sufficiently screwed to prevent booting.
- Menu restore scripts improved (installer simpler, and now includes white menu items as well)
- AquaFix now comes with an installer and does not need to be run from the disc image.
- Uninstaller added
If you happened to download and installed QuickTime 6.0 and you are not happy with it, Apple has posted QuickTime 5 Reinstaller for Mac OS X. This program will remove QuickTime 6 and restore your system to QuickTime 5. It is only available for English at the moment.
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Polling Place by Michael Coyle 
One night while channel surfing, quickly rotating through the cable stations, I paused for a moment on a movie showing a James Dean-like character standing in the middle of a busy street under a pouring rain. Looked lame to me.
Later, after the elephants were done mating on the Discovery Channel, I once again made my way through the thirteen channels of crap on the TV to choose from, and that same idiot was standing in the middle of the street in the rain.
Opps, it seems I'm the idiot. The man on the rainy street was the main character from "Grand Theft Auto 3", a PlayStation 2 video game with graphics so realistic that I was momentarily tricked into believing it was a real.
Almost a third of ResExcellence readers agree with my kids that PlayStation 2 is the best console on which to play games. It was surprising to see 21% of readers don't have any preference and that the venerable N64 slipped to 4%. Hurray for the Microsoft XBox which is preferred by less than 7% of readers. May it become the boat anchor that sinks the Redmond Warship!
Even while on vacation I heard about the tornado of controversy surrounding the change in status in for iTools and mac.com email accounts. Christian Thomas from Apple Computer states that 2 million people use the iTools service, but I wonder if those numbers are inflated. For example, I have six mac.com email accounts. Even if I were inclined to sign up for a (dot) mac account, I certainly wouldn't get full accounts for all six emails! If Apple is planning for 50% of the current iTools users to convert to the pay plan, they may be sorely disappointed if many users have multiple emails. This week's Polling Place asks, "How many mac.com email accounts do you have?"
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan
Icons - Desktops: Greetings! We have another great selection of icons and desktops to decorate your desktop with today. Starting off with (8) New Desktops, (2) New Icon Sets, and of course, updated "News From Around the Web", download to your hearts content!
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 a snap!
- Butterflies by Kiley Crosby is his first sojourn into icon making for OSX. Included are 10 different pastel colored butterflies in various poses.
- After stumbling upon the Hue/Saturation feature of Photoshop, Brien Edick decided to put it to some creative use. Thus, "iTunes iCons", a set of 10 color variations of the original iTunes logo.
- Adam's Art Desktops Vol.1 are all original pictures taken by Adam Dluzniewski with different Olympus digital cameras over the last several years. Each one has been filtered in Photoshop to give them the slightly artistic look. The first volume features 6 desktops, out of a total of 13 in the series, and all are available in 1280x resolution. Look for Volume 2 coming up soon!
- Nate Penwell returns with another classy looking desktop titled Apple Spill 2. This sequel to his popular Apple Spill desktop comes in 1280x resolution.
- The enchanting and talented Charisma Carpenter makes a guest appearance on this lovely desktop composition by none other than John Rose. Looking for more babes to drape over your desktop? Then by all means visit John's Sketchpad, where you will find a vast collection of backdrops dedicated to the female form.
- Troy Barrett, known for his "scribbles" style of artwork, sends us a whole new Collection of his work. This grouping includes 5 uniquely different desktops, all available in 1024x resolution.
- Ed Allen of EA Design submits another radiant looking desktop titled Easy Travel 5. This is the fifth member of an ongoing series, and is available in 800x and 1024x resolution.
- Experience Quartz desktops by Kevin Kee are three more beautifully rendering desktop pictures from an ongoing theme, ranging from nature scenes to space and beyond. These come in 1024x resolution each.
- Planetary Grid by Bob Osiin, attempts to illustrate the "Gaia" principal, speculating that our lovely little planet Earth has a life force of it's own, and is far more complex than a hunk of stone and metal swirling through space. Comes in 1024x resolution.
- Paul van der noordaa steps out into the world of digital art with his new Water series of desktops. The set includes three attractive backdrops created using Flaming Pear's "Flood" filter, Eye Candy and others. All three are available in 800x resolutions.
News From Around the Web:
Live Pencil updates with new icons, 2 new animations and some very cool clip art.
Whythemacissogreat updates with New Icon Set: "Magnified Eccentria".
http://www.mandolux.com has issued 5 new desktops about the Apache Helicopter.
Mikawares has updated with 6 new cool desktops.
MacMonkies offers 2 new movie based OSX Boot panels from Dan Flax. Also, enter to win a FREE PlayStation 2. All this and more at MacMonkies.com!
Warrior Poet is happily puttering about with heraldry-inspired designs, although shields have been put aside for Charges (objects depicted on shields). The set includes six designs, each glowing and gleaming in six colors.
Macuserx.com has been updated with 2 new icon sets, Mad Max and Akira Set II.
Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktop designs.
So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X
