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Today's News by Cletus™ Extension Overload 5.9.2 by Teng Chou Ming and Peter Hardman is now available. This is a Extension, control panel, CSM and CMM info tool. The update includes definitions of 5300 extensions, control panels, CSM and CMM, up from 5200 previously. Not sure how this program could be of benefit to you? Check out Jeremy's article from February.
 Smell-O-Mints is a Periodic table of the elements for the Macintosh from StimpSoft. Therefore it is freeware. It works in both Classic and Mac OS X. You can run the mouse over an element symbol to get a little more information on the item, like atomic weight, radioactive properties, and atomic number. Version 1.3 fixes Mac OS X menu issues. Element icons are now of a higher contrast to help identify which element is highlighted. Sounds have also been added.
uControl 1.2 will allow you to remap the caps lock key to the control key functions. Here is a full description: "uControl maps your control key to it's rightfully intended place on your laptops keyboard; the place that's currently occupied by the oft-unused caps lock key. No more finger acrobatics are required for using control-intensive Unix applications. Caps lock functionality is still available by pressing the Apple modifier key in conjunction with the caps lock key." This works with Mac OS X 10.1, but may not work correctly with previous versions.
Keyboard Maestro public beta 3, provides you with a "multitude of tasks simply by pressing a keystroke!" Further, Keyboard Maestro also incorporates Program Switcher, a classic application. Program Switcher allows you to launch, switch, and quit applications with a simple keystroke. You can see some screenshots here.
Patrick McClaughry has released Tickle Me Finder 1.0. Tickle Me Finder is a small Cocoa-based utility for Mac OS X 10.1 that allows changing several hidden Finder preferences. Using Tickle Me Finder you can show hidden items, control file name labels, alter auto play behaviors for CDs and DVDs and other useful things. It is freeware.
Jim Kitchen pointed out that there is a: "great Applescript available for OSX that converts the Dock's transparency, quite easily. " It is called TransparentDock v.1.2 The page lists a description: TransparentDock is a script that makes the Mac OS X dock fully transparent... except for the icons of course. There are 2 methods for accomplishing this - one fully automated & one requiring changing permissions to edit the "Dock" package.
MacFixIt is following a rather important security flaw while running Mac OS X 10.1 and Explorer 5.1. This could be nasty. Take some time and look over the report and how to avoid the problem.
Submit Software and General News Suggestions!
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?)
- It takes a confident man to dedicate a MOSS and ATM to himself, and that's exactly what Gandalf did.
- Irish author David Kiely sent an Internet Explorer splash featuring Nastassia Kinski.
- Guillermo D'Angelo put together a MOSS of Lenin (the Russian, not the Beatle!).
- Another Farscape MOSS was compiled by John Rose.
Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly Due to a snafu with Thursday’s snapshot news, some of you may be unaware that I did indeed post snapshots for Thursday. So, I’m keeping them on the main snapshot index page through the weekend. - Oscar Bodini contributes this screenshot sporting a desktop picture from Digital Blasphemy coupled with Landstainer’s macWM/Tk LS K-Scheme. D-Net tracks current events in the lower right.
- This snapshot from Guillermo sports Cricket Bow Design’s “Program” desktop picture. Audion is shuffling music in the upper left. Icons from Xicons abound.
- A custom desktop picture and Daisuke Yamashita’s Titanium 7 K-Scheme are showcased in this submission from Niels Hunefeld. Selections from GuiGalaxy, Uncommonplace, and The Box are scattered throughout.
- MacDesktops’ “United We Stand” desktop picture and Apple’s Hi-Tech Theme debut in this contribution from Mike. Four pictures related to the Sept. 11th attacks are situated in each corner.
Feel the joy of submitting! Give us a gander of your desktop.
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan  Icons - Desktops: We've got (6) Shiny New Desktops, some current "News From Around the Web" and (2) Icon Sets to class up your desktop. All on display for today's update!
- After a day's fruitless quest to find new icons for his iBook, Charles Mangin sat down and made some of his own. This is the second set of 28 "DBZ Icons" (Dragonball Z ROMs) to add to your collection.
- When our Webmaster Michael Coyle submitted his "Blue Folder Icons" for OSX, he included a Photoshop template for anyone to expand on the concept. Well, I took him way to seriously and got carried away with "Coyle's X Folders Vol.3". This is the third set of 31 brightly colored and patterned OSX folders out of over 100. These differ from volumes one and two with the folders being oriented in the opposite direction, as you would find the default folders using OSX.
- Gigi's sense of style and composition comes through once again with "Rainbow Bridge". This watery beauty comes in 800x and 1024x resolution.
- "MVDesigns Desktop Pictures No. 1" by Martin Valdes is a collection of 15 jpeg images with a wide variety of designs produced in Photoshop. These images can be used with screen resolutions of: 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 832 x624, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024 and can be used with Mac OS 7.5 or later.
- "Coke" nothing better than the real thing.... except perhaps a clever 3-D desktop creation by Bradford J. Wiles, webmaster of MacMonkies . Available in 800x or 1024x resolution.
- The very talented Kimmo Tapala submitted several desktop compositions I think you might enjoy. The second of these on display is simply titled "Desktop #2" and comes in 1024x resolution.
- Welcome "Pepe the Gecko", your very own desktop mascot created by Juan Santiago. Pepe and his sultry friend come in a mondo 1200x resolution.
- Dave Siederer created "Aquatics", just a little background that you can look at and see that everything isn't all horrible. Something to stare at. Enjoy this desktop diversion in 1024x resolution.
News From Around the Web: The madness never ends at MacMonkies.com! They've peeled out 3 new desktops, Network news and updates, and plenty of humor to bust a gut. And to top off the MonkieBarrel, a special announcement is comin' up this week. Take a peek! Why the Mac is so great.com updates with a new desktop picture "Aquatic Dimensions". MacCustomise.com has 4 new icon sets (All MacOS X optimized), 9 new desktop pictures and 6 new desktop snapshots. Raspage.com updates with a new icon set Blueskyheart has a new desktop picture, "Laserhead". Frank's Second Corner updates with 10 new desktops. Mandolux has been so incredibly busy making desktops, that it's hard to keep up with them. Visit the site for this weeks additions. Colheres posts their October Calendar by Lu=EDsa. The Iconfactory announces the release of their World of Copland Icons #6.
Why the Mac is so great.com premieres a new desktop image, "Aquatic Distortion". Macuserx.com has been updated with 6 new desktops and 1 new icon set "NEON". Check out Masanta's Icons located at http://www.cyvogue-graphics.com/linkwares/  So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Need more workspace? Get Virtual Desktop!
Build a REALbasic Drum Machine by Erick Tejkowski This week we'll create a fun little project that mimics a drum machine. This project is somewhat unique in that it uses high quality samples for the drum loops, lets you start and stop the loops at will, and yet the whole thing only requires two lines of code! How are we going to pull this one off? Read on! (Continued...)
Today's News by Cletus™ I do not typically mention games on ResExcellence, because it isn't really what the site is about. However, I am making an exception this time since I tried this one out and found it really addicting. Consider it a diversion from work and stress. You can play the game quickly and by yourself. I mention it also for another reason....  The game is from Vizspring Software and is called iTarget 3. It is a completely new iTarget, rewritten from the ground up. It contains many feature changes from version 2.5, including target animation, a new sound set, infinite levels, a new method of scoring, and much more. Further, iTarget 3 is compatible with Mac OS 8 and 9, as well as Mac OS X. It has been optimized to run flawlessly on Mac OS X v10.1, released last week.
A-Dock 2.5 is a very popular classic application switcher/launcher in the vein of Mac OS X's dock. Changes to this version include: - New exclusion lists to select a different behavior for some applications
- Exclusion lists are no longer limited to just 10 entries
- New power-user shortcut to quit or hide applications in a single click
- An option to choose if A-Dock will play sounds
Iconizer Pro 1.6.1 has under gone another update. Changes include:
- Added ability to import pixel data, including RGB layer data and alpha channels, directly from Adobe Photoshop (need Photoshop export plug-in).
- Alpha channel can produce icons with different levels of transparency.
- The export plug-in is in the "Install First" folder of Iconizer Pro package.
Keychain Unlocker 2.0.7 unlocks OS 9 Keychains on startup or any time. It now works under Mac OS X via Classic. It will also unlock multiple keychains. Mounts servers after the keychain is unlocked. Launches applications after the keychain is unlocked. If you are not sure exactly how or what the Keychain is or even how you can benefit from it, be sure to read Jeremy's excellent review of this product that comes standard on ever Mac.
ASM has just released an update that works with OS 10.1. ASM is a application that integrates itself into the OS X system to add a classic-style application switcher to the menu bar. "It's highly customizable and offers some nice extra features, like 'Single Application Mode' (orders all windows of an application to front when it becomes active) or 'Auto-Hide Mode' (hides other applications than the front most one automatically)."
Memory Monitor 1.0.1 is a little Mac OS X application that displays the memory usage in its Dock icon, like CPU Monitor displays the CPU usage. It is published under the GNU General Public License, and the source code is included in the download. Changes to this version are: - Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.1
- More flexible setting of the refresh rate
- Online help is now displayed with Help Viewer
Scheme News:
The Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive has been updated, adding 4 new, but no updated schemes. Still, the schemes posted that are new are worth a look. I am sure people will be trying out the Patriot Scheme.
Submit Software and General News Suggestions!
Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle
Many readers sent snapshots of their G4 running MacOS X and dual processors. It's obvious that the OS is fully utilizing the two chips. While most of the images were of Apple's included CPU Monitor, one nice alternative is XLoad.
The author of the excellent article on MacOS X Swapfiles, Andy Moraitis, has updated the benchmarks comparing MacOS X 10.0.4 and the new 10.1. The files are on his iTools Disk.
ResEx-Ron found this little Easter Egg. Open the Script Editor, type:
tell application "Application Switcher" to credits
...and you will see the list of application developers. Hmm... didn't Steve ban credits in Apple software. I hope we don't get anyone fired!
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?)
- Another great set of Pin-Up art was contributed by John Rose. This set has three MOSS and in a separate download, a pair of matching ATMs.
- Now he's really gone and done it! Jeff Kelly sent a pack of AIM splashes of 12 recent hit movies. Included are Blow, Evolution, Thin Red Line, American Pie 2, Lord of the Rings, Training Day, Matrix, Braveheart, Gladiator, and AI.
- A reader who wishes to remain anonymous sends this MacOS X BootPanel in memory of the WTC Bombings.
- Owners of the new silver G4 will love this Silver MOSS from Eric Holtam.
Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X
Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly I’m back and ready to crank out more snapshots! Heads up for Wednesday’s selections: - David submits this OS X snapshot touting a patriotic desktop picture from RAILhead Design. Audion, retooled with the Reintegration face, is dishing out tunes in the upper left. Icons from Xicons reside along the right edge.
- The custom “MacAtom” desktop picture and a modified version of Peter Harte’s Aqua K-Scheme debut in this two-part submission from Derek Gordon. A smorgesbord of icons from our Icon Archive, Xicons, and icons.cx abound.
- This screenshot from Frank Rozsa sports a custom “InverseWidow” desktop picture and the Titanium SQ Theme. Audion, overhauled with the MiniB face, is churning out tunes along the top.
- EndEffect’s “Splat” desktop picture and the Aquacid K-Scheme are showcased in this contribution from Scott Thorne. Audion, tweaked with Cedric Menard’s Module S1 “Tiny” face, is firing up the speakers in the upper left. Icons from Icon Factory and Mendelini among others are scattered throughout.
Feel the joy of submitting! Give us a gander of your desktop.
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan  Icons - Desktops: We've got (6) Brand New Desktops, some current "News From Around the Web" and (1) Pop Classic Icon set to class up your desktop. All on display for today's update!
- After a day's fruitless quest to find new icons for his iBook, Charles Mangin sat down and made some of his own. Included are 38 "DBZ Icons" (Dragonball Z ROMs) total, including several characters whose names he doesn't even know.
- Manny Velazquez continues to add more beautiful desktops to his unique "Metaphysical series". "Quantum Stream" is the latest entry and is available in 1024x resolution.
- "MacQNX2 Desktop", created by Jocelyn B. is based on one of Maury McGown's fine Kaleidoscope Schemes. This really nice backdrop comes in 1024x resolution.
- Kodiak Marine Weather Forecast, Area 3b1 Chiniak Bay and area 3b2 Marmot Bay
Chiniak to Marmot, Small Craft Advisory. Wind northeast 40 kts diminishing north 25 kts sun evening. Seas to 12 ft with rain and fog... Andrew Van Atta does his best to capture the rugged and powerful Alaska landscape in this cool 3-D rendered desktop. Comes in 1024x resolution
- Yan Feng of WhyTheMacIsSoGreat.com (can you say that 10 times?) shows his appreciation for the platform we all know and love with his latest desktop titled "Aquatic Shock". Available in 1024x resolution.
- The very talented Kimmo Tapala submitted several desktop compositions that I think you might enjoy. The first of these on display is simply titled "Desktop #1" and comes in 1024x resolution.
- Gigi's indulges his passion for anything "Witch Blade", and sends us several converted desktops from the Witch Blade Archives. Upon closer inspection of this comic culture artwork, there really is some beautiful stuff to be seen. These desktops come in 800x resolution.
News From Around the Web: MacCustomise.com has 4 new icon sets (All MacOS X optimised), 9 new desktop pictures and 6 new desktop snapshots. Raspage.com updates with a new icon set Blueskyheart has a new desktop picture, "Laserhead". Frank's Second Corner updates with 10 new desktops. Mandolux has been so incredibly busy making desktops, that it's hard to keep up with them. Visit the site for this weeks additions. Colheres posts their October Calendar by Lu=EDsa. The Iconfactory announces the release of their World of Copland Icons #6.
Why the Mac is so great.com premieres a new desktop image, "Aquatic Distortion". Get your dose of Banana Appeal at MacMonkies with 3 new desktops and plenty of Monkeyin' around! Roll out the barrel! Macuserx.com has been updated with 6 new desktops and 1 new icon set "NEON". Check out Masanta's Icons located at http://www.cyvogue-graphics.com/linkwares/ John from http://www.imediapros.com/america provides a link to a nice patriotic desktop. So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Visit the Mac Experts!
REALbasic News by Erick Tejkowski - Aquatic Menus
- Stimulating Applications
- Console Tip
- File Transfers
- Photo Fun
Find this and more in today's REALbasic News. (Continued...)
Today's News by Cletus™  I had a very nice weekend. I managed to get two rounds of golf in. The weather was fabulous, albeit a bit cool. On the other important front, I did not get Mac OS X 10.1 just yet.
PandoCalendar v5.7.4 which is also Carbonized for MacOS X has been released. This version requires MacOS 9.1 and CarbonLib 1.3.1 or greater. You will need to download a previous version of the program if you are running an earlier system.
 | | Audion in Dock | Audion 2.6 has hit the shelves. This program is describe as the perfect tool to handle all of your audio needs. Version 2.6 allows for complete control of the program via the Dock in Mac OS X. It also adds CD burning in one quick step. There are many other Mac OS X tweaks included with this release. The update is free to all registered users. Plus this is very skinnable with this page containing lots of "Faces" to choose from.
Angelo Scicolone has posted PrefsOverload 3.1.1. PrefsOverload is a tool for managing the Preferences Folder. This release fixes some window redrawing errors, for example, while resizing the main window.
Vortex 1.1 by Trinfinity Software is a iTunes visual plugin. Version 1.1 includes a new automation feature, which when enabled, continuously changes Vortex settings to give you a more varied and unique experience.
HexEdit 1.74 is a developer hexadecimal editor. The program functions with Mac OS System 7.0 through Mac OS X. There are tons of changes and fixes in this version. Users should update to this version.
Virus definitions have been updated for the month of October. Virex definitions can be found here. Norton AntiVirus definitions can be found right here.
Scheme News: Aquacid 1.1.1 has been updated and released from Desktopper. This Kaleidoscope Scheme provides the look and feel of Mac OS X for users.
Submit Software and General News Suggestions!
Polling Place by Michael Coyle
 Apple currently sells about one dozen different computer configurations (Desktops, iMacs, and portables), so it's not surprising less than 20% of readers own the top of the line dual processor G4 desktop. MacOS X is a system that can finally take advantage of the two processors unlike Classic MacOS and most classic applications. The BeOS had a dual CPU Load meter that showed how both processors worked independently. Is there anything like that for the dual G4's running MacOS X? If so, please send me a snapshot!
My poor Powerbook never gets a rest. Even while I'm sleeping it's crunching RC5 numbers. I'm always on the net keeping up on the latest news and buzz, but what about you? This week's Polling Place asks, "When do you do most of your web browsing?"
Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle
I've got some good Apple news and some bad Apple news. Which do you want to hear first? Ok. Bad. ;)
What the heck was Apple thinking giving the Apple Stores only 1000 copies of the MacOS 10.1 update CD? Upon arriving at the Woodridge store in the early evening, a smiling employee told me they had run out of CDs by noon. I wanted to wack that Happy Mac smile right off his face! I added my name to a list of a few dozen other hard-luck cases and will await an email informing me of when more CDs have arrived.
Excuse me, but hasn't every Apple computer been shipping with the (fairly) useless 10.0.4 for months? Haven't Mac users been buying a gazzilion CDs of MacOS X from Apple Online and other retail outlets? Why were they so surprised we would rush to get the free update? Apple would like us to believe we rushed because MacOS X is so popular. I would rather think the store ran out of CDs so quickly because 10.0.4 was so crappy and we couldn't wait to upgrade.
The Happy Faced employee did make one good point. If you plop down twenty bucks and let Apple ship you the update, you also get a copy of the Developer Tools and MacOS 9.2.1. So that's what I'll do...
 Now some good news. Despite my crabbing above, I must confess I got MacOS 10.1 from the local CompUSA. As DVG mentions in the forum, Command-Shift-3 once again takes a snapshot of the full screen (Do you think Apple did that for ResEx Snapshot creators?).
Here's the really cool part: you can now take a snapshot of the login screen. The snaps are titled "Picture.tiff" and are placed in the 'root' desktop folder. You will have to log in as admin and move them to another folder. This means we now have a mechanism to send previews of Login Makeovers!
The new login screen lets you place an image next to the user name, just as in Multiple Users under Classic MacOS. Launch the System Preferences and look under "Users".
Aaron Schurman has contributed our first set of User Login Pictures. Read more in User Contributions below.
Here's a site we haven't heard from in a while! MacInstruct has posted a new tutorial on how to setup your FAX software.
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?)
Mike Harris contributed a cool Snapshot last month and was randomly drawn to receive a $50 PowerMax gift certificate!
- Aaron Schurman sends the first two User Login Replacement Pictures for MacOS X 10.1.
- A reader named "The Pinky Toe" (hey, I don't make these up) sent a great looking MOSS of what I gather a Borg sperm cell looks like.
- A set of Aqua colored replacement cursors for Classic MacOS was created by brenda von ahsen.
- Always a favorite of mine, John Rose sends a set of three Art Deco Pinup MOSS. Watch for more later in the week!
Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium
Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly The Snapshot Section has been put on a brief hiatus while I’m out of town. Regular installments of snapshot goodness will resume on Wednesday, October 3rd. Feel the joy of submitting! Give us a gander of your desktop.
Icon & Desktop News: by Dan  Icons - Desktops: We've got (6) Brand New Desktops, some current "News From Around the Web" and (1) Dual Icon set for OSX and Classic to dress up your desktop. All on display for today's update!
- Mehrtash Asghari of A2Zgraphics went all out with his "Alphabet Icons" set. The download includes a total of 60 useful letter and symbol icons, 30 of each in either red or blue. These icons display nicely on the desktop in either Classic or OSX, and could also be incorporated into personal web pages for use as buttons, borders, etc.
- In his signature style, Manny Velazquez Premieres two new desktops from his "In Memoriam" series. "One World and Phoenix" come bundled together, both available in 1024x resolution.
- "Dark Angel Desktop" , another hot selection from the Celebrity Series by John Rose features the very sultry and sexy TV star in 1280x resolution. A nice addition to your Celebrity desktop collection.
- Bradford J. Wiles, creator of MacMonkies submits another of his unique hybrid 3-D desktop creations titled "One Way". The download includes 800x and 1024x resolutions. While you're at it, visit Brad's website for many things to make you smile, and check out his most recent weekly update.
- "Waterbody" is a new Mac desktop composition sent by Günther Klebinger of Macwater.net. You have to admit, that even though the iMac Dalmatian pattern wasn't a hit, the woman posing in the pic sure is.
- Robert Vasquez shows some patriotic spirit with his new "USA desktop". This fun red white and blue beauty comes in 1280x resolution.
- Thomas Gianardi has been a busy boy, and submits a large grouping of stylish pop culture desktops for your enjoyment. The first set includes three different desktops in six different styles. All come in 1024x resolution.
News From Around the Web: Blueskyheart has a new desktop picture, "Laserhead". Frank's Second Corner updates with 10 new desktops. Mandolux has been so incredibly busy making desktops, that it's hard to keep up with them. Visit the site for this weeks additions. Colheres posts their October Calendar by Lu=EDsa. The Iconfactory announces the release of their World of Copland Icons #6.
Why the Mac is so great.com premieres a new desktop image, "Aquatic Distortion". Get your dose of Banana Appeal at MacMonkies with 3 new desktops and plenty of Monkeyin' around! Roll out the barrel! Macuserx.com has been updated with 6 new desktops and 1 new icon set "NEON". Check out Masanta's Icons located at http://www.cyvogue-graphics.com/linkwares/ John from http://www.imediapros.com/america provides a link to a nice patriotic desktop. Creative Box has updated with a new desktop picture named "God Bless America". Maccustomise.com has opened it's doors to the general public! Check it out for all the latest news, reviews, tutorials and customizing! Rampant Mac has gotten a major face lift with new graphics all around and (3) new desktops added to the galleries. So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X
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You can now upload your contributions (include a READ ME) to the ResExcellence
ftp drop box, and let us know with an email. Be sure to read the Submission Policy
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