Tools of the Trade. by Michael Coyle

If the words Weller and rosin core mean nothing to you, then don't even think about modifying your cell phone as Dr. Bob did. Blue must be his favorite color because he chose it to replace the green LEDs from the phone's display!

I have finally gotten around to releasing my set of Blue Folder icons. What I like about this set of 17 folders is that they are ready to use as System replacements in both Classic and MacOS X. The download includes instructions for pasting the replacements into the Classic System Resourses and MacOS X HIToolbox files.

Also included are the raw Photoshop elements so you can add to the set. If you are happy with the results of your creations, please send them to Dan Flax at ResExcellence for posting.

Today is the last day to send your textures to DragThing author James Thomson for inclusion in the next release and a chance to win one of four free copies! Read the tutorial and get more details.

User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

Win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 by having the most popular contribution in the selected category! (How?)

• Featuring the skyline of my hometown Chicago, Saverio Parlatore created an outstanding makeover for the MacOS X Login screen. You should consider this even if you don't live in the Windy City.
  
  
• This Outlook Express splash from Channy Loeum displays a forlorn Asuska.
  
  
• A psychodelic fractal MOSS was created by Dan Leeder.
  
  
• If you just upgraded to MacOS 9.2, replace the boring About this Mac screen with this soft one from Dave Riddell.
  
  

Support ResExcellence By Visiting Our Sponsors!

Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Friday’s snapshots have been prepared for all to see:

• This submission from Alexander touts a desktop picture of a 1970’s Japanese movie poster. Intriguing.
  
  
• Mac Surfshop’s “One” desktop picture and an Aqua Theme debut in this snapshot from Will Angel. iTunes is kicking out soundwaves along the bottom. Icons from Icon Factory are nestled in the upper right.
  
  
• Jade Barton contributes this OS X screenshot featuring Mike Bonnell’s “Irresistible Attraction” desktop picture. A smorgesbord of icons from our Icon Archive, Icon Factory, Xicons, and icons.cx are scattered throughout.
  
  
• A custom “Sandra Bullock” desktop picture and an Aqua K-Scheme are showcased in this contribution from John Rose. Audion, equipped with Akio’s SlickCorner face, is sitting in as digital DJ in the lower left.

What’s your Mac look like? Send a snapshot for all the Mac world to see.

Icon & Desktop News: by Dan

Icons - Desktops: We've got (6) excellent Desktops, more current News From Around the Web and (1) extra special set of Icons for OSX to beautify your desktop. All on display for today's update!

• When not stopping runaway trains, saving babies, or leaping tall buildings in a single bound, our Super webmaster Michael Coyle seeks the quiet pursuit of Icon making. As noted above in his news, Mike has finally gotten around to releasing his elegant set of "Blue Folder" icons. This set of 17 folders are ready to use as System replacements in both Classic and MacOS.
  
  
• You gotta wonder where Scott Chitwood of Rampant Mac finds all the inspiration to keep on creating so many unique and beautiful desktops? "Alien Dreamtime" is the latest of these beauties to grace the Resx Archives, and comes in 1280x resolution. Other sizes all the way up to 1600x are available on Scott's site.
  
  
• Bradford J. Wiles of the newly opened MacMonkies submits another of his mighty fine desktop creations titled "Shadow Mountain". Download this one in either 800x or 1024x resolution. While you're at it, visit Brad's website for more great artwork and check out his most recent update.
  
  
• "Liz Hurley Desktop", another great selection from the Celebrity Series by John Rose features the very sultry Hurley in 1280x resolution. Don't trip over your tongue again on this one boys.
  
  
• "Downtown", is an artfully done digital creation sent in by Sarah Cross. Comes in 1024x resolution.
  
  
• Harvey Lubin of Agrapha Design submits one of his humorous and whimsical desktop creations titled "Jaws Meets Titanic". Harvey reminds you to look out below! and never mind the iceberg, what about that giant shark? This one comes in 6 different resolutions.
  
  
• A fellow that only goes by the handle Etoloco sent us whole series of amazing 3-D desktops created using Bryce 4. The fourth selection of these most interesting compositions on display is titled "Spot 5", and comes in 1024x and 1280x resolutions.

Macemes has a new layout for his site Macemes and a cool new Mac OS X icon set called Various icons. Also he has a new desktop picture called Sunny Day.

MacuserX.com has been updated with 6 new desktops and 2 new icon sets, Grr and BodyBags Chibi.

There are 40 new desktops at http://www.mandolux.com continuing his series 4.95.

Mike Davidson's Mac File Library (http://24.180.19.107) is back online after a short vacation.

After long months of sleep "SASCHA'S PAGE" comes back to life with an overhauled site design.

Two new 3-D pics and one new desktop as well as fresh News and updates will be posted this Wednesday at MacMonkies! Check 'em out!

Noen Design returns with more desktops, desktop badges, icons, cursors, appearence patterns application splashes, iTunes and QuickTime makeovers, sounds and MOSS

August 19. 2001 - Tray's Trove Updates With Eight New Desktop Designs.

Creative Box has updated with new desktop pictures titled "QuickSilver" and "the[box]2".

After a brief break in the action, Dean's Design's updates with one new desktop.

Five new desktop pictures are available to download from The LittleDarkRoom.

So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!

Visit the Mac Experts!

REALbasic Tutorial - Create an iTunes Plugin! by Erick Tejkowski

This week we'll create a simple REALbasic application that enables you to churn out custom iTunes visual plugins. Have a fun message for a co-worker or loved one? Try passing it along via iTunes to really get their attention!

I know what you're saying.... "You can't build an iTunes plugin with REALbasic!". Fundamentally this is true. Using a few tricks, though, we can fake it. (Continued...)

Theme News by Michael Rabe

Today we are proud to release another theme first!

"Ti" is the first "Duel Theme". It will run under both Classic MacOS and/or MacOS X with just one file. I would like to thank Dan Flax for the great job on the desktop picture included with this theme. Download a copy for your Mac from the Theme Archive.

See ya on the flip flop!

If you have a theme you wish to add to the Archive, drop me an email.

Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X

Today's News by Cletus™

MooseFactorySW has posted a beta version of Cool Unmount Volume. "What the "Cool Unmount Volume" extension does is to send a "quit" message to any application launched from the volume (like a zip volume, a cd-rom, a diskette, etc.) you want to eject, so that you don't get annoyed by a warning that says: "The disk xxx could not be put away because the application xxx is still open" A great idea.

FC 3 of version 2.4 of A-Dock is now available for testing. A listing of changes in this version can be found below.

• When some applications were chosen not to be displayed in A-Dock, it could sometimes be impossible to activate an application by clicking on its icon (bug introduced in 2.4fc1)
  
  
• The tool tips show the ctrl+FKey shortcut (feature broken in the firsts 2.4fc)
  
  
• A drag from a proxy icon in the Finder was creating a clipping instead of moving/copying the folder. Fixed
  
  
• A skin can now provide custom separators
  
  
• Favorite folders now display their label correctly in A-Dock
  

Clean Desk version 2.0.2 is an application designed for anyone who constantly changes their desktop resolution. "Clean Desk will 'remember' the positions of the icons on your desktop. Then whenever you change resolutions and your icons have moved, you simply run Clean Desk or use the included Control Strip Module." It is shareware.

Several new AppleScripts are available at AppleScript Central. Entourage Mail, Finder, iTunes and Outlook Express scripts are all available for download. Stop over and see if something suits your fancy.

iGo 1.0 is a tool to manage URLs outside of browsers. The concept is similar to URL Manager Pro. iGo is a very useful utility which allows you to store URLs. These URLs are accessible by a simple keyboard shortcut (command + option by default) in a small window. They are editable at any time. A great alternative to managing bookmarks via browsers.

TinkerTool 1.5 for Mac OS X is now available. This release will support a future version of Mac OS X. One change will be that the default paper size for printing can be set. TinkerTool still works fine on Mac OS X 10.0.x but no new features have been added for this operating system. Additionally, the Italian language package has been revised and the FAQ list has been updated.

Scheme News:

AquaAcid 1.0.7b1 is the next update to this Aqua based Kaleidoscope Scheme from the AquaAcid Project. It is available through the Desktopper web site.

Submit Software and General News Suggestions!

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Tools of the Trade. by Michael Coyle

What will the future hold for web browsing Mac users? A recent service pack of bug fixes from Microsoft for Windows took the additional step of updating Internet Explorer so that it would no longer use standard plugins. From now on, IE users on Windows will have to use Microsoft's ActiveX plugins. This immediately broke Apple's Quicktime plugin rendering much of the internet's streaming content useless to Windows users. How nice. What's worse, this will probably stop plugin developers from supporting the traditional cross platform format, leaving other OSes at a disadvantage.

You have only a few days left to send your textures to DragThing author James Thomson for inclusion in the next release and a chance to win one of four free copies! Read the tutorial and get more details.

Alert Sounds in MacOS X by Michael Coyle

MacOS X will use any AIFF file as an alert sound. Place favorites in your /Library/Sounds folder and make sure the file name ends in .aiff.

To convert most files to aiff, I like to use SoundApp. Under Classic MacOS, the old System 7 style snd files are stored in the System Suitcase (in the system Folder). Now you can take your favorites and use in MacOS X.

User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

Win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 by having the most popular contribution in the selected category! (How?)

• Apparently based on a hotel postcard, this humorous MOSS from Michael Haeg is one ugly room!
  
  
• While not a great departure from the original, this Photoshop splash by Joshua Mormann is a definite upgrade.
  
  
• Channy Loeum contributes a new anime splash for Explorer.
  
  
• Josh Gladstone is the first to admit that his iTunes skin is F'd Up. In fact, that's what it's named.
  
  
• With the intent of keeping it simple, Francois Ludec created this puffy MOSS.
  
  

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Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Come hither and seize thy snapshots for Wednesday:

• This two-part snapshot from Jade Barton sports a desktop picture acquired from The Apple Collection. A plethora of icons from our Icon Archive, Icon Factory, Xicons, and icons.cx inhabit the desktop.
  
  
• The “Grey Tiles” desktop picture and Daisuke Yamashita’s FT-5 K-Scheme debut in this contribution from Anthony Joshu. iTunes is serving up music along the right edge.
  
  
• This screenshot from Tim Mityok touts a custom desktop picture of the USS Enterprise NX-01 starring in the new Star Trek series. iTunes is shuffling tracks in the lower right. Icons from Xicons are scattered throughout.
  
  
• The “Spinosaurus aegyupticus” desktop picture and Takashi Izawa’s IZappy-X K-Scheme are showcased in this contribution from Vaughan Woolley. Audion, overhauled with the Reintegration face, is kicking out soundwaves in the upper left. Icons from Chillyday line the right edge.

What’s your Mac look like? Send a snapshot for all the Mac world to see.

Icon & Desktop News: by Dan

Icons - Desktops: We've got (7) great Desktops, more current News From Around the Web, (1) Classic Icon Set and (1) set for OSX to beautify your desktop. All on display for today's update!

• Happicon lives up to it's name with a new icon set for OSX. "Funny Ones" by Rene Mollema is sure to put a smile on your face.
  
  
• Your Mac can’t do X, but you want that Aqua interface? No problem. Yan Feng just aquafied certain classic icons using Icon Machine and offers "Yan's Aquatic Icons" to give you that look.
  
  
• Dino Fusaro of Dean's Designs returns with another preview of his newest desktop picture entitled "Cutting Edge". It comes in 1152x768 to match the new G4 PowerBook's screen resolution.
  
  
• Bradford J. Wiles of the newly opened MacMonkies submits another of his great desktop creations titled "Cratered" Somewhere along the way, you took a wrong turn. Don't get "Cratered," just take off on outta there! Download this one in either 800x or 1024x resolution. While you're at it, visit Brad's website for more great artwork and check out his most recent update.
  
  
• "Penelope Cruz Desktop", another selection from the Celebrity Series by John Rose features the gorgeous and very sexy Cruz in 1280x resolution. Don't trip over your tongue on this one boys.
  
  
• Gary Pricipato sends us some nice eye candy to dress up your monitor with his "X Twirls" desktop series. The download includes 6 different colors, all coming in 1024x resolution.
  
  
• Tae-Won Ha submits a handsome "TiPBG4 Desktop", designed for use with the new Titanium Powerbook in 1152x resolution.
  
  
• Harvey Lubin of Agrapha Design submits "Aqua Blast", where the Aqua Universe continues to expand in 6 different resolutions.
  
  
• A fellow that only goes by the handle Etoloco sent a whole series of amazing 3-D desktops created using Bryce. The third of these must see to believe backdrops on display is titled " Spot 4", and comes in 1024x and 1280x resolutions.

News From Around the Web:

After long months of sleep "SASCHA'S PAGE" comes back to life with an overhauled site design.

Two new 3-D pics and one new desktop as well as fresh News and updates will be posted this Wednesday at MacMonkies! Check 'em out!

Noen Design returns with more desktops, desktop badges, icons, cursors, appearence patterns application splashes, iTunes and QuickTime makeovers, sounds and MOSS

August 19. 2001 - Tray's Trove Updates With Eight New Desktop Designs.

Creative Box has updated with new desktop pictures titled "QuickSilver" and "the[box]2".

After a brief break in the action, Dean's Design's updates with one new desktop.

Five new desktop pictures are available to download from The LittleDarkRoom.

MacuserX has been updated with 7 new desktops and 3 new Icon sets, Scarface, Krugeur and Crouching Tiger.

Macombine cleans up their site a little bit and has added three new desktops.

DV Graphics has come back from a long vacation with the promise of some new desktops and icons.

Check out http://www.iggly.com, a site with more than two hundred fine art desktop pictures. The artists have given permission to use them as desktop pictures every so often posts more fine art from young artists for all to enjoy.

So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!

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REALbasic News by Erick Tejkowski

• REALbasic 3.5 is here!
• MacTech Challenge
• db Reports
• Something from the Garage
• A StaticText replacement

Find this and more in today's REALbasic News. (Continued...)

Theme News by Michael Rabe

As you know, I've been working on a new theme called "Ti". You can see a preview of this theme today. "Ti" is the first "Duel Theme" - it will run under both MacOS 8.5 and/or MacOS X, with just one file. Yes, that is correct, with one file that you can have the same look in Classic and MacOS X!

The release date has been set for this Thursday, so be sure to stop by the Theme Archive to pick up your copy of another ResExcellence first!

See ya on the flip flop!

If you have a theme you wish to add to the Archive, drop me an email.

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8/20/01

Polling Place

User Contributions

Icons/Desktops

Snapshots

Today's News by Cletus™

Icon Calculator 1.0.4 is the newest release of this highly rated application by Narattaphol Charoenphandhu. Iconizer Calculator predicts the output size of an icon set generated by Iconizer Pro.

Interarchy 5.0 is available for download. The read me sums up what is new in this excellent FTP client and is listed below. Remember also that ResExcellence is the official site for Interarchy Interfaces.

Version 5.0 introduces a major new feature called FTP Disk. This feature allows you to access files on frequently-used servers with any application in exactly the same way you access files on your hard drive. Furthermore, an FTP Disk gives you instant access to files even over a slow connection or while offline. It requires no proprietary software on the remote computer, as it works via the standard FTP protocol. The FTP Disk feature makes the process of accessing an FTP server automatic, transparent and easy. It also is compatible with Mac OS X.

A Better Finder Rename is a contextual menu plugin for the Macintosh Finder, which allows users to quickly rename multiple files. Version 4.0 preview 2 corrects a bug in Preview 1. The bug would not allow you to drag and drop files onto the application or the application alias on the desktop.

There is another fairly robust update at Themes.org. Stop over to get a fill of alternate screenshots and desktop ideas!

Scheme News:

Desktopper has listed another new Kaleidoscope Scheme by Sakai called BAQUA OS 1.0b. This scheme is very similar to Linegraphy which was posted last week.

Desktopper also posted a bit of Kaleidoscope news that everyone may be interested in from Arlo Rose's homepage. A short excerpt— "...we are no longer actively working on it or a version for Mac OS X." You can read more here!

Submit Software and General News Suggestions!

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Polling Place. by Michael Coyle

Over three-quarters of ResEx readers believe the record industry is wrong to copy protect CD's. Several musicians wrote to say they favor the protection to stop pirating, but the fact is that US Copyright Law allows for fair use and provides for you to make backups of copyright material you purchase. SafeAudio and DMCA take away this right.

David McKenna adds this about iTunes:

As to your question as to if iTunes can rip a protected CD, it can but only if you import the tracks first. The conversion to mp3 and back takes time.

While this is good news, conversion through mp3 degrades the signal and prevents you from making an exact duplicate.

This week's Polling Place is on a lighter topic. Most of us are big time computer geeks, but do wee still like to play couch potato in front of the Television? This week's poll asks, "How much TV people watch a week?"

At the suggestion of Mike Benchoff, there is now a forum thread for each poll so readers can discuss the topic.

User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

Win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 by having the most popular contribution in the selected category! (How?)

• The excellent iTunes skins just keep on coming! The latest is from Christian Dye and his creation it titled Heavy Metal. It changes everything in iTunes.
  
  
• Tim Mityok updated his clever Unix/MacOS MOSS screen. This one is for version 9.1.
  
  
• Channy Loeum has been busy again! Take a look and his great anime set for Microsoft Office. He also sends a MOSS and About this Mac replacement.
  
  

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Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X

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Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Jumpstart the week with a fresh batch of snapshots:

• Custom desktop pictures and Dragon Tongue’s DT SteelSkin K-Scheme are showcased in this dual-monitor contribution from John Meyers. Audion, equipped with the Reintegration face and G-Force visualizer, is kicking out soundwaves in the upper left of the second screen.
  
  
• Maren Oz sends this screenshot featuring a custom desktop picture and an Aqua K-Scheme. Audion, retooled with the F2 face, is churning out music along the left edge. Icons from Xicons and Icon Factory abound.
  
  
• A custom desktop picture and Daisuke Yamashita’s FT-5 K-Scheme debut in this submission from Chris Ross. Audion, tweaked with the Reintegration face, is dishing out tunes in the upper left-hand corner.
  
  
• William Stetler returns with this OS X snapshot sporting Michael Rabe’s Glass Theme. glTron, an OpenGL implementation of the classic lightcycle game featured in the movie Tron, is playing in the center.

What’s your Mac look like? Send a snapshot for all the Mac world to see.

Icon & Desktop News: by Dan

Icons - Desktops: We've got (7) great Desktops, more current News From Around the Web, and (1) new Classic Icon Set to beautify your desktop. All on display for today's update!

• All for love of Aqua, Reggie Bass created "Aqua Buds" Icons. This is a simple but fun set of 28 half buttons created by one of the Aqua Button makers out there, and converted to icons.
  
  
• It's been a while but Dino Fusaro of Dean's Designs is still here and making new desktops. He's sent us a preview of his newest desktop picture entitled "Titanium". It comes in 1152x768 to match the new G4 PowerBook's screen resolution.
  
  
• Bradford J. Wiles of the newly opened MacMonkies submits another of his most excellent desktop creations titled "Star Struck" This backdrop is simply a Bryce rendering with no "objects;" and a single plane with material added and viewed from the bottom. Download this one in either 800x or 1024x resolution. While you're at it, visit Brad's website for more great artwork and check out his most recent update.
  
  
• "Shania Desktop", another selection from the Celebrity Series by John Rose features the lovely Country singing star Shania Twain in 1280x resolution.
  
  
• Channy Loeum submits a desktop picture of Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion titled "Rei Doll". Comes in 1152x resolution.
  
  
• Angus Durrie struts his Photoshop stuff with "Xtwirls". This stylish backdrop for OSX comes in 800x and 1024x resolutions.
  
  
• Harvey Lubin of Agrapha Design submits "Aqua Apple Space" to help you enjoy some blue Apple juice with this fresh squeezed desktop in 6 different resolutions.
  
  
• A fellow that only goes by the handle Etoloco sent a whole series of amazing 3-D desktops created using Bryce. The Second of these must see to believe backdrops on display is titled " Spot 3", and comes in 1024x and 1280x resolutions.

News From Around the Web:

Two new 3-D pics and one new desktop as well as fresh News and updates will be posted this Wednesday at MacMonkies! Check 'em out!

Noen Design returns with more desktops, desktop badges, icons, cursors, appearence patterns application splashes, iTunes and QuickTime makeovers, sounds and MOSS

August 19. 2001 - Tray's Trove Updates With Eight New Desktop Designs.

Creative Box has updated with new desktop pictures titled "QuickSilver" and "the[box]2".

After a brief break in the action, Dean's Design's updates with one new desktop.

Five new desktop pictures are available to download from The LittleDarkRoom.

MacuserX has been updated with 7 new desktops and 3 new Icon sets, Scarface, Krugeur and Crouching Tiger.

Macombine cleans up their site a little bit and has added three new desktops.

DV Graphics has come back from a long vacation with the promise of some new desktops and icons.

Check out http://www.iggly.com, a site with more than two hundred fine art desktop pictures. The artists have given permission to use them as desktop pictures every so often posts more fine art from young artists for all to enjoy.

Creative Box has updated with a new icon set named "The Cubes", has released an updated version of Volunteer, 1.3.8. and a new desktop picture titled "Quicksilver2"

The new GUI Department at MacMonkies will be opening early next month! Check back soon for additional details. For now, take a look at the new selections and news update at MacMonkies!

So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!

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Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.

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