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Today's News by Cletus™ TaskMenuBar 2.3 has been released. This very popular menu bar launcher has added the ability to add, move and remove resident items without using the control panel if you hold the command key down. I have updated the Software Archive.  Sound Warehouse 1.0.1 by Takashi Suzuki is now available. Sound Warehouse is an application for your Macintosh which allows you to play & manage sound files. MP3, AIFF, AIFC, WAVE, AU, Sound DesignerII and MIDI files are all supported.
- Player window holds one sound file, and displays it's time code, spectrum and level meters.
- Playlist window can have up to 2,147,483,647 sound files to be played back sequentially, or in random order.
- Database window can have up to 2,147,483,647 sound files with sort & find capability.
- Support for: QuickTime, Macintosh Drag and Drop and Navigation Service.
 MenuStrip v1.2 is out. It appears that this Mac OS X utility has gone over very well with the Mac community. Check out the improvements listed below and image at the right to see what MenuStrip will do for you. Image courtesy of Adrian Diaconu.
- MenuStrip now runs without displaying its icon in the Dock
- Alarm clock capabilities with the option to chime on the hour with user selectable sounds for the alarms buzzer and one-hour chimes
- Clicking on the Menu clock shows the todays date
- The preferences panel includes many new settings for adjusting the display of the date and time: options to show the day of the week, 24-hour based time display, custom color settings, etc.
- Improved resolution switching support, including support for higher resolutions as well as displaying the refresh rate beside each resolution setting
Macintosh Explorer Aqua has been released by Rage Software for their fully featured file browser: Macintosh Explorer. It replaces replaces the old buttons in the Explorer window with all new Aqua style buttons. Macintosh Explorer 1.7 is recommended but Macintosh Explorer Aqua may work on earlier versions. Macintosh Explorer Aqua is free. Do you tend to just let your Mac run all the time? Choosing instead to use the sleep function versus turning it off? This little application by Synergy Creations called UpTime Log™ will keep track of how long you have been up and running between restarts. The interface is fully customizable with a wide selection of colors. Desktop Magician™ 2.0 was released yesterday. Desktop Magician will remember virtually every aspect of your desktop environment. Including icons, windows, drives, and even monitor settings. Some of the new features of version 2.0 are: New toolbar (floating or non-floating as desired) for convenient access, a new contextual menu plug-in and Save and restore sets of open Finder windows for particular projects, as needed can be saved. Halfway Finished have added their first Audion face, Gears, to the site. It really is well done. You can see an image here. Expect many more. Looking for some more Extensions Strip themes? Try this page. The author lists 4 that correspond with the schemes he has released. A very large collection of Sherlock Plugins have been released at Sherlock Plugins. Chances are if you can't find what your looking for by using these plugins, then it may not exist on the web. To get a small example of what all is included in this collection check this page out. Sabin Tan is relaunching Hansworks Design today. The site has been redone from the ground up and features several interesting sections including a graphics area and desktop pictures section. McAfee has released the December update for Virex. This Virus Update file detects 25 new viruses. Also check out the Symantec NAV update page for their December updates also. Be sure to update. Themes and Schemes: Just a reminder that as MacThings closes its doors today you will still be able to visit DogHouse Online to get all of Michael Rabe's themes that were being hosted on MacThings. If you get some time this weekend and don't have anything to do, why not drop by Themes.org and look over some of the interesting new Themes and Screenshots they have posted. Submit Software News Suggestions!
Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.
Tools of the Trade by Michael
For users of Interarchy, Rams wrote some cool internet address detectors for Interarchy. They handle traceroute host, ping host, finger email addy, dns lookup host and whois host (you'll need OS 8.5 and up for the whois IAD).
 Linux Icebox
After reading the earlier post on using MountX to mount Linux partitions on the Mac desktop, Marc Shapiro suggested a little Linux utility called e2label, and it's included with every distro. e2label lets you assign a label to your Linux partitions. This label can come in handy in several ways, one of which is that MountX will use the label instead of the generic MountX 1 hard disk name.
Another benefit is when viewing the Boot Log. Any entry referring to the partitions will mention them by label:
fsck: Root: clean, 7553/125984 files, 150155/502615 blocks
fsck: Home has reached maximal mount count, check forced.
fsck: Home: 18490/75840 files (3.1% non-contiguous), 102106/151502 blocks
fsck: Usr has reached maximal mount count, check forced.
fsck: Usr: 75427/373888 files (0.3% non-contiguous), 348829/747104 blocks
In /etc/fstab, you can refer to a partition by its LABEL instead of /device name.
LABEL=Root / ext2 defaults 1 1
LABEL=Home /home ext2 defaults 1 3
LABEL=Usr /usr ext2 defaults 1 4
But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that with the newest MacOS 9 disk drivers, MountX is not a happy little application. I had so many Finder restarts the computer was unusable. But still, given the other options, e2label is a nice utility for Linux users.
User Contributed Splash Screens:
- Wanna poke fun at Windoze? Install this Giant MOSS from Peter McHugh. It will have folks around the office questioning your loyalties!
- I'm a simple Mac and I like my splash screens the same way. That's why I like this new replacement set for Office 2001 by Ric Zito. One color set for all four screens ties it all together nicely.
- Team ResExcellence has been doing very well in the RC5 challenge, breaking into the top 100 sites one day this week. Do you think it has anything to do with the Commoonicator splashes by Sacha Quester-Semeon? Today you can get Indigo and Snow.
Snapshot Gallery by Jeremy Hoesly Get your Friday snapshots right here: - Akio is back with yet another Danger Girl submission, this time with the custom “Sydney 3” desktop picture and his Graphite Theme for OS X. Audion, overhauled with the Elphin face, is taking music requests in the lower right-hand corner. Custom Danger Girl X icons as well as Perfect Yosemite’s Fish ’n CHyPS icons are in the spotlight.
- Akio’s “Orbs” desktop picture and the Blue Theme debut in this snapshot from Steve Du. SoundJam, equipped with the Cutting Edge White skin, is kicking out tunes in the lower left-hand corner. Icon pictures of Susan Ward, Shania Twain, and Jessica Simpson are shown off in several Finder windows, while Danni Minogue is showcased in Gerry’s ICQ.
- This snapshot from regular contributor Helen sports a seaside desktop picture with the GoldenBed Theme. PandoCalendar is displayed at the top along with a scripture passage in the lower left-hand corner.
- An OS X Beta submission from Jeff Nouwen arrives touting the “Rei” desktop picture in combination with Akio’s Graphite Theme. Pixie, a magnification tool, is running along the right edge.
Have a masterpiece in your hot, little hands that you want to show off? Visit our submission guidelines page for more info.
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Icon/Desktop News 12-01-00 Icon & Desktop News by Dan  Ok, so it's no secret that the ResExcellence Icon and Desktop Archive is one of the best around. This section is updated three times a week with an ever changing selection of new and exciting reader submissions. Come on in, look around and explore. Download till your fingers fall off. That's what we're here for.
Icons - Desktops - Postcards: We have six brand spanking new desktops to beautify your Mac for today's update. - Visit with some of Timm Hoff's unusual characters in his Thyme-X desktop series. Part of an ongoing work, comes in 800x and 1280x resolutions.
- M. Munger brings us this set of 6 different desktop pixs honoring the beginning of the 2000-2001 Vancouver Canucks hockey season. All in 1024x resolutions.
- Andrew Van Atta resubmits this popular desktop entitled 1984. Made from images taken from Apples famous 1984 Superbowl add. 1024x resolution.
- Watch your screen come alive with Jeremy Star's MacOSX-Public Beta desktop pic. 800x600 resolution only.
- I've had this desktop by SoulRocka Nasty Nene tucked away in a corner for awhile, and it just kept nagging me to get shown off. Check out OSX thinking constantly different. In 1024x. resolution.
- Rick Medland shares his beautiful "Memorium" desktop with us. It's based on a poem written in June 1989 after the passing of his father in March of that year.
News From Around the Web:
Live Pencil updates with copious amounts of Christmas cheer. Four sets of icons, and 3 Xmas Wallpapers. All nicely done in time for the holidays.
K.C. Lofty, has updated KCz Custom Desktops with not one, not two, but three new pages of desktops. Fun with color, texture and light. Careful, these may be Pslightly psychedelic.
For system icon freaks, visit Top Icons and view their newly available set of system icons.
Jimmy lets the cat out of the bag by telling us about Gamewallpapers.com, a small site dedicated to nothing but the fantastically cool artwork used in the most popular video games around. Well worth the visit! The web's premiere source for freeware Mac icons, The Iconfactory is proud to announce that its 5th annual icon design contest, Pixelpalooza has begun and is now accepting submissions.
So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Applescripts 11-30-00 Applescript/Scripting by MichaelMy old Marathon playing buddy, Gabriel Sterritt, wrote a very cool Applescript Folder Action. I have it attached to my hard disk icon and now when I open my disk, any snapshots laying around are moved into their own folder. Additionally, they are renamed with a "Timecode Stamp". If you snap a lot of screen captures, download the script and give it a spin. Everytime I powerup the family iMac, you can bet one of my lovely children has left The Sims or Oregon Trail 3 game CD in the drive. This is annoying because it not only slows my boot time, but most CD's open a massive Finder window upon mounting. Morgan Andreasson wrote this little Applescript to unmount any CD left in the computer. The script works if you have only one hard disk partition. Placing it in the Coyle Family iMac's Shutdown Items folder ejects any CD's and reminds my little darlings to put things away after they're finished using them. Too bad I can't use Applescript to make them put their clothes in the hamper...
Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.
11/30/00 Snapshot Gallery by Jeremy Hoesly Thursday’s snapshots are ready for public viewing: - Kevin Adams contributed this screenshot touting the “Superman” desktop picture and Butt O’Sigh’s Aqua K-Scheme. Cool.
- Long time contributor Akio submitted this snapshot touting his “Abstract Apple 2” desktop picture and BIG Graphite K-Scheme. Audion, outfitted with the custom TightSkin face, is serving up the music in the upper left-hand corner. Danger Girl icons among other custom ones line the right and left edges.
- This OS X Beta snapshot from Derek Prowse sports the custom “Verbal” desktop picture in conjunction with a custom theme, a hack of the Aqua Theme using Theminator. Some notable utilities to mention are JediKnight, an IRC client, and Pixie, a magnification tool.
- A custom desktop picture coupled with Toren Valimir’s I/OS X Graphite K-Scheme debuts in this snapshot from Andy Smith. SoundJam, minimized and retooled with the AquaDrop skin, is dishing out selections in the upper left-hand corner.
Have a masterpiece in your hot, little hands that you want to show off? Visit our submission guidelines page for more info. Applescripts 11-30-00 Applescript/Scripting by MichaelMy old Marathon playing buddy, Gabriel Sterritt, wrote a very cool Applescript Folder Action. I have it attached to my hard disk icon and now when I open my disk, any snapshots laying around are moved into their own folder. Additionally, they are renamed with a "Timecode Stamp". If you snap a lot of screen captures, download the script and give it a spin. Everytime I powerup the family iMac, you can bet one of my lovely children has left The Sims or Oregon Trail 3 game CD in the drive. This is annoying because it not only slows my boot time, but most CD's open a massive Finder window upon mounting. Morgan Andreasson wrote this little Applescript to unmount any CD left in the computer. The script works if you have only one hard disk partition. Placing it in the Coyle Family iMac's Shutdown Items folder ejects any CD's and reminds my little darlings to put things away after they're finished using them. Too bad I can't use Applescript to make them put their clothes in the hamper...
Today's News by Cletus™ Coming to you via my new iBook! My Graphite iBook arrived on Monday around 9 in the morning. Thus far the only thing I can say is that I love it. In fact this entire update is being written on the iBook. I spent the last week or so reading up on any nuances that I may have needed to be concerned about. I then gathered any needed updates in advance and spent the afternoon reformatting and customizing. That is what a person is supposed to do with a Mac right? Update: I have received many emails explaining to me my geographical error below. I now understand the relationship of Taiwan to The Republic of China. Thanks! I must apologize as it seems I incorrectly identified the iBooks origin as "The Republic of China" when it should have been Taiwan. Sorry! In the end, it's entire trip to my house took it to: Taiwan, Alaska, New Jersey and finally Pennsylvania. All that from a simple phone call to California. :)  Bob Friede sent in an e-mail to have asking me to tell everyone that he has found yet another magnification program to try out. This one is called SearchGlass by Clemens Unterkofler who also released RAMEdit PPC v1.1 the other day. I have tried SearchGlass briefly, but have not tried RAMEdit. SearchGlass has several customizing features, such as window size which range from 64x64 to 512x512 and support for OpenGL.
Bernie Zenis has released version 1.2b2 of MC Font Menu. This version includes the initial implementation of faster WYSIWYG font menu drawing for those who are anxious for this feature. Panada Systems has updated PandoCalendar to version 5.5.6. There was a bug discovered that could prevent the "Add" button of the Pattern Recurring Note to not display on some peoples systems. The Search Daily Information also had a bug fixed in it that prevented any errors from being announced. Before this bug fix it would simply appear as though no notes were found. Mac PowerUser.com, who made ShowDrives 1.0, have now released MenuStrip 1.0. This multifaceted utility will provide access from the menu bar to frequently used controls such as the volume and monitors, as well as providing you with a clock. Pads v2.0b1 is the new beta version of this "Sticky" note software for Mac OS X. This version is fully carbonized and as such runs natively on Mac OS X. CarbonLib 1.0.4 is needed for it to work in Mac OS 8 or 9. There is version of Pads, 1.0.2, for use in Mac OS 8.1 or higher and PPC. Themes and Schemes: Alas! MacThing's is taking a sabbatical of sorts. Marcos Lopez is announcing Friday as the last day for MacThings to be open. He fully intends to open up again in a few months however. In the mean time you can head over to Michael Rabe's site Doghouse Online, to follow the news of the theme world. In any case and whatever the outcome, you may want to stock up on themes now. Don't expect the K-Schemes to disappear however. Desktopper dot net continues its Christmas preparations with the posting of Snow Christmas 1.0 by Izabel. They also are listing Emboss Platinum 2.5 by Hirooka. This looks very interesting. Also available is Girl 1.0 by Rinkoro. Submit Software News Suggestions!
Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium
Tools of the Trade by Michael
 Until the Mac community knows where Apple's lawyers have drawn the line regarding customizing MacOS X, readers are being very cautious about what they feel they can contribute.
Tom Hackett sent this image of his MusicPlayer skin. He comments on the possibility of creating file patches using the common unix utilities called diff and patch (included with MacOS X).
I just had a thought though, since the resource fork is now in the data fork that means that patches can be made just like any other sort of patches to text files that unix guys deal with right? There is a program called "diff" if I'm not mistaken that creates small patch files in order to bring file A, that most people would have, to file B that is different from most files. I'll see if I can't try and create a patch file using this diff command and include some detailed instructions. If this works it would be like having a built in ResCompare via the terminal.
Both utilities are Terminal command-line programs. A manual with instructions can be found at: /Library/Documentation/Administration/Commands/diffutils/diff.html
The Blues of Windows 2000 - A true story
It looked really easy. Nothing else but testing a new software. The routine. If only I knew...
The software was installed properly. The installer asks me to reboot. “Hmm”, I thought, “an old program… With Windows 2000, theoretically, I don’t have to reboot”. However I restart.
After a couple of seconds, I don’t see the usual Login window, but a superb death blue screen. (Continued...)
User Contributed Splash Screens:
- A new Giant MOSS from Peter McHugh once again pushes the limits of what is possible. A variety of startup images load depending on the startup conditions.
- Bruno Hernandez created a now splash screen for Macromedia Freehand. It features Jurassic Park III.
- Our first replacement splash for Netscape 6 has been created by Anthony Wu.
Snapshot Gallery by Jeremy Hoesly I had a fabulous vacation in Wisconsin and stuffed myself with turkey and all the other Thanksgiving works. Now I’m back and ready to dish out more snapshots. Here’s your serving for Wednesday: - This sporty snapshot from Timothy Breihan touts a custom “BMW Z8 Cockpit” desktop picture. Audion, retooled with the Smoothface face, is dishing out tunes in the upper left-hand corner.
- This submission from regular contributor Christopher Brown showcases a nautical desktop picture in conjunction with Akio’s BIG Graphite K-Scheme. A Photoshop creation is also displayed in the upper left.
- Tyler Giles submitted this contribution sporting Drop Shadow’s “Power Off” desktop picture combined with the Aqua Theme. Audion, overhauled with Akio’s SlickCorner face, is pumping out soundwaves in the lower left-hand corner. Icon selections from Face of the Moon, icons.cx, and Icon Factory are scattered throughout.
- The heavens are brought down to earth in this screenshot from Joshua Nichols featuring the “Hubble Bubble” desktop picture. Audion, retro-fitted with Chaos Design’s Blade face, is kicking out tunes near the bottom. Icons from Icon Factory and Perfect Yosemite are also on display.
Have a masterpiece in your hot, little hands that you want to show off? Visit our submission guidelines page for more info.
Icon/Desktop News 11-29-00 Icon & Desktop News by Dan  The Postcard Makers Guild, a wholly owned subsidiary of the ResExcellence Desktop and Icon Archive announces the "soon to be expanded" Postcard section. Keep yourself on the look out for additional selections, categories all the way from Birthdays to Zebras.
Icons - Desktops - Postcards: A truly impressive selection of high quality work on display for today's update. * Please note that if you don't see your submission posted right away, rest assured I haven't forgotten you. As always, Enjoy! - J.P. tries his hand at icon making and comes up with "Modern Art Icons", fashioned after artworks he found in one of his textbooks. An attractive and unique set of 9.
- Peter Mac continues to perfect his "deepest" desktop series with this updated version. Described as an artistic tweak of elements wet, and elements computing. Sports a right handed textured dock and deep blue frame as well. Comes in two resolutions.
- Andrew Van Atta celebrates the power of ReEdit with his "Hot ResEdit" desktop. He writes, "Have you ever made such a cool hack with ResEdit that you thought your computer would explode? Show off the effects of your hack with this desktop picture". 1024x and 1280x resolutions.
- Jeff Hoogmoed submits his stylish backdrop entitled "Mac Faced". Easy on the eyes in 1024x resolution.
- SoulRocka Nasty Nene keeps on creating desktops at a feverish pitch. His latest creation "I love my Apple" rocks in1024x. resolution.
- Rev. Mitcz submits this awesome composition entitled "Spirit of Machines". He notes the meaning (if any) behind this was to show the "eyes are the window to the soul point in a mechanical form. This is my twisted version of the inner workings of the soul of a cyborg (in the maybe not too distant future)".
News From Around the Web:
Hansworks Design is relaunching this Friday, with two new desktop pictures on the site: "Aqua button" and "Infinity X" as well as a "Final Fantasy 9" icon set. Be there when it opens, it will be worth the wait.
Ra write in to let us know about his icon site update @ Multimania.com. Look for his new flash game titled "claque-beignet", and the other imaginative items already found there.
This just in under the wire: Creative Box has updated with a new desktop picture named "Cooly Foot". Check it out. So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Applescripts 11-28-00 11-28-00 Applescript/Scripting by MichaelFor users of Virtual PC, ibson wrote this useful little script. There is a little trick where users quit the Finder to squeeze a little more performance from a demanding application like Virtual PC. This Applescript takes that concept a little further by quiting the Finder, Control Strip, and assigning all your memory to Virtual PC. Sometimes while on AOL, I'll forget to copy a screen name or URL that a reader has IM'ed to me. Once you close the chat window, you may feel it's gone forever! If you have the logging option activated in your preferences, you can recover the information from those chats. This simple script by Erik Barzeski will open a copy of your log in your favorite text editor so you can retrieve the info. Stop by Erik's site, Applescript Central, for more handy scripts (particularly for Entourage).
Visit the Mac Experts!
Today's News by Cletus™ I am so excited! I ordered a Graphite iBook last Tuesday and am hoping it will arrive either today or tomorrow. It is my first departure into the world of portable Macs. From everything I have read, it appears to be a very good choice. I will still be using my desktop machine as my primary workhorse. At least for now. The amazing thing I find while waiting for this order is the tracking capabilities of the order. Federal Express tell you when and where the package is at any given point. I ordered the machine from the Apple Store in California. However it was built-to-order in Taoyuan City TW, which is in The Republic of China. It then has gone to Anchorage Alaska. I guess this is what is meant by getting a lot of mileage out of it! While we don't normally track ControlStrip Modules at ResExcellence, simply because there are far too many of them, we do use them. There were a couple of updates to some very useful ones over the weekend. StripLaunch was updated to version 1.4. The very dynamic StripLaunch by Peciva, gives you instant access to your most commonly used applications, documents, folders and scripts. There are several CSM launchers available, but despite the feature rich functions of StripLaunch, it remains small in the resource department.  Also updated was a favorite of mine — VolumeRocker 1.3 by Evological. I have never been a fan of "sliders" or "dials" to control anything. Even when using a mouse, I feel it is more cumbersome. VolumeRocker replaces the normal slider control with a much easier button that has a — or + for controlling the volume. Simply click on either to get the desired outcome.
 Akio has finished up a new set of Audion Skins to coincide with his release last week of Internet Explorer Makeovers called "Sharp" They are: SharpTang, SharpIndigo, and SharpGraphite. They are extremely smooth faced, very easy on the eyes, very sleek, and have some very unique, hi-tech'ish buttons on them. They also go well on virtually any desktop environment.
Forest has once again been updated. Forest is a software product providing soothing, calming sounds in the background. Sorting out many bugs and some interface tweaks, version 1.2's enhancements are: - Storm World II was added
- Redesigned World Builder
- Improved cache handling to prevent Forest from not looping if computer is busy
- Faster engine
- Total Mac OS X compatibility
- All 68K code has been removed making it 100% PPC
Opus Software has created an Applet called Reorder Disk Icons which will allow the order of the disk icons to be like it was before Finder in 8.5. Since 8.5, the order is based upon the disks free space, with the startup disk first. Simply place this script in the Startup Items Folder and it will reorder the disks. Themes and Schemes: The Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive has been updated, previewing 14 new and 3 updated schemes. Listing enough for me to choose from this time, I would pick: Whiteout Red, MacBox and Aqua Reversion as a few of my favorites. Animals Xmas and MXmas2000 are so well detailed and unique that they are at least worth a download and look. Desktopper dot net has also posted an update to one scheme called Black Apple 1.1. While I am a fan of darker themes and schemes, this may be a dark as it gets! Submit Software News Suggestions!
 Polling Place
By fewer votes than a Florida Presidential election, readers selected graphic icons over photographic icons. Does this mean we stand as a nation divided, or simply that we are having difficulty distinguishing between the two candidates? Oh, sorry, wrong Polling Place.
The fact is, a good icon is a good icon. It has a nice mask and scales cleanly. We have all seen crappy icons, and it doesn't matter if they were photographic or graphic. If an artist takes the time to create a nice piece of work, users don't care if the icon was based on a photographic image or drawn from scratch.
If I visit a personal web site, I am more tolerant of the use of Flash/Shockwave/Quicktime plugins, but at a business page, I resist the use of plugins to view content. A recent example is the MacWorld Expo page. Last week, the page was Flash only. They have since updated to provide a standard HTML version. The mandatory viewing of a business web page through a plugin provides another subtle way for companies to exclude certain platforms or browsers. What do you think, "Should Businesses use plugins on their web sites?"
Tools of the Trade by Michael
Over the holiday, I broke my Linux install doing some experimenting. That means I haven't been able to test what looks like a way-cool program by G.B. Smith.
ResCafé is a Java applet for Linux that lets you extract ResEdit resources. The author wrote it copy all his favorite Mac icons to KDE. The web site has a screenshot that shows a very "ResEdit-like" series of icons. This is a great incentive to get my Linux partition back up! If any readers install and use this utility, please drop me a line.
Antonio Flores Aldama has created a new Modem Script Generator! Another can be downloaded from Apple's Software page. To use either of these you better have your modem's owner manual close by. The last time I created a custom script, it was for an ISDN PC Card modem. It was a lot of work, but creating the custom script provided a more stable connection.
User Contributed Splash Screens:
- In the first on his THYME series of splash screens, Timm Hoff sent a replacement for Microsoft Office.
- A humorous MOSS was created and submitted by MedievalX.
- The next two iMac colored Netscape splashes from Sacha Quester-Semeon have been posted. These are Grape and Emerald.
Snapshots. Jeremy is taking a few days off ...
View recently contributed snapshots.
Icon/Desktop News 11-27-00 Icon & Desktop News by Dan  I'm hoping that all of you had a fantastic holiday, tons of great food, and some solid time to rest and recuperate. Alas, it's back to business as usual, hopefully with a fresh smile on your face and a new burst of creative energy.
Icons - Desktops - Postcards: While the local icon makers seem to be hibernating at the moment, we do have some fine desktops on display for today's update. Many thanks to the two brave souls who submitted the first (and only so far) new postcards to the Archives. - Peter Mac describes his creation "deepest" as an artistic tweak of elements wet, and elements computing. Sports a right handed textured dock as well. Several resolutions.
- There was a fantastic sunset outside Mr. Simon's office window the other night. He grabbed his digital camera and 3 minutes later plus Photoshop had this very unique desktop "SKY". 1280x.
- Tray of Tray's Trove gives us this exclusive "think different" desktop entitled "Spider". Sort of cuddly in 1024x.
- A note arrived in my mail box several days ago from a fellow who claims to be friends with SoulRocka Nasty Nene. One look at the piece "Trippin" by Mousey and you can be sure of that. 1024x.
- Speaking of "SoulRocka Nasty Nene", the master of popular funk provides us with some "Nene bedtime stories". A new creation in 1280x resolution.
- Jason W. of EpochIcons fame gives us permission to host these two new desktops in the ResExcellence Archives. Behold the Final Fantasy movie desktop, and Aurora. Both in 1024x resolution
News From Around the Web:
Akeem writes in to let us know that the Creative Box has updated with a new desktop picture named "Two Sides."
Colheres updates over the holidays with a new icon set. Check out "Mexico" by Ana.
Brycetopia , which contains over 300 desktop pictures created in Bryce has just been revamped. The entire site sports a new interface and a few new images to please the many wishing to customize their desktop with fantastic art.
Mark from Shroom Graphics has some new desktop pictures, "folders", and an oldy but goodie titled "Abstract Gradi". Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktop designs. Flax Creations has been totally rewired and rebuilt over the holidays, and updates with 7 new desktops as well.
Live Pencil updates with what appear to be a whole pile of cool stuff. Two new sets of icons (32 in total) Smilies, in pieces that you can assemble, 4 new Wallpapers, and 4 new animation's. Pcweenies ANNOUNCES MILESTONE - 200th TOON AND SITE REDESIGN! The PC Weenies" is a single panel cartoon that focuses on the bizarre computing misadventures of Bob, Pam, Milton, and Grampa Weiner. So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
Today's News by Cletus™ When Dan Flax signed on as Icon/Desktop editor at ResExcellence, he had some great ideas he wanted to implement. Today the first of those ideas goes online with the opening of "ResExcellence Postcards". Readers can contribute their postcard designs and everyone is welcome to send a card to a friend. It takes only three steps to send a card, and after the recipient views your selection, you'll receive an email confirming your message was received.
There are already 6 cards from which to choose: two for Thanksgiving and four for Christmas. While we opened this in time for the Holiday Season, feel free to send cards for any occasion. Some topics to consider: Get Well, Happy Birthday, New Baby... anything that comes to mind. There are some guidelines, so be sure to read the Submission Policy.
We hope everyone enjoys the new section, and if you would like to create and submit a card be sure to send it to Dan! REALbasic 3.0a13 has been released. The REALbasic homepage has full details. One key element in this release is that AppleScript scriptability and recordability to the build dialog has been added. You can therefore create scripts to automate compiling of your projects. Further, the page states: "Using this alpha release gives you the chance to learn about new features in REALbasic early, work with Carbon, and participate in setting the direction for the next release. A great opportunity for all the wonderful ResEx developers out there! Stéphane Madrau has posted version 2.4.3 of SwitchRes 2. SwitchRes is an extension that will allow you to quickly and easily access all the possible resolution settings of your monitor(s) and then change them as you need. One nice feature with this application is that you can access it three different ways. Via the menu bar, a ControlStrip Module or by control clicking the desktop bringing up a Contextual Menu. New in this version: - Added the Video Mirroring management in Display Set
- Now handles the Display Sets differently that contain settings for more displays than currently attached
- Corrected a bug that crashed the unregistered version while using MacOS 9.1
- Corrected a bug in the Location Manager Module. This module would not work in some cases, and didn't retrieve the correct settings.
- Corrected a bug that crashed some games. Especially Civilization 2 and Diablo 2
"Where can I get some skins for A-Dock?" This was a recent question I came across in the ResExcellence forums. Being a college Instructor I am well aware of the old saying that if one person has a question, then probably others have the same question. Jérome Foucher actually has an A-Dock Skin Archive he maintains with many available. This would be the place I would go.  | | | Techie Skin | Board Skin | Plus for X 1.0 is an application that will allow you to place the Trash on the desktop among other things in Mac OS X. I need some help with an AIM problem which I describe in the Forums. If anyone has any ideas please send me an e-mail or post a reply. Much appreciated. Themes and Schemes: The Theme Shop is halting the availability of Therminator. It may just have been too good a product. Earlier in the month, the themes made thus far were removed. Now the software to modify the Extras.rsrc file has been removed. Nothing specific is said on the site, but I bet you and I are thinking the same thing! Michael Rabe is releasing a new set of themes today to fill the requests of many of his fans. The theme series is called "i." They come in all the iMac colors. The requests have been for themes that match the iMac variations and were at the same time easy on the eyes. This new set will fit that bill just perfect. While you are there you may want to check out the iWindow theme which is being developed by IrieMac. With minor modifications it was given the Aqua look. IrieMac by the way also provides one of my favorite themes of all time, ironically called "IrieMac" theme. Desktopper dot net is providing still more K-Schemes for you. Butt_O'sigh releases an update to his Klassik.acid and Despair III scheme. New releases include: MXmas2000 by Ichikawa and Renderful9 by Renderful. Several others updated schemes are shown as well Submit Software News Suggestions!
 Tools of the Trade by Michael
Carsten Klapp reminded my of a utility that's as old as dirt, HexEdit. Originally written in 1993, it's now developed by Lane Roathe.
This little application has one feature that MacOS X users will appreciate, it can copy the data fork into the resource fork, and back again. Just select all of the datafork, copy it, select the "Edit Other Fork" menu, select all the resource fork for replacement, and paste in the data. After you do one of your mods, just reverse the process and the file is ready for MacOS X.
Keep your eye on Xicons today. They're going to release Switcheroo!, a REALBasic application to graphically change the button icons in MacOS X. For those of you who still like to roll your own, see this previous ResEx edit.
MacOS X Tips
Wooge writes in our forum:
I was browsing the net for ANYTHING on MacOSX and I came across this nice tidbit of info. You can change the translucency of the Terminal window by typing this in the terminal window, then quit and restart Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.Terminal TerminalOpaqueness 0.8
the "0.8" refers to 80% translucency.
User Contributed Splash Screens:
- For fans of Star Wars, Wedge Antilles created a very cool Deathstar throbber for Netscape 4.x.
- Steve Sobek scanned the black leather of his wallet and used the texture to create an A-Dock skin. Gee, I just use my wallet for holding credit cards!
- A splash screen for Explorer was sent by James Davie. It features an unknown lovely lady.
- A very funny series of iMac colored Netscape splashes was contributed by Sacha Quester-Semeon. The first two are posted today: Bondi and Ruby.
- ReNe's Powerpuff Girls BootPanel and LoginPanel have been added to the archives!
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Snapshots. Jeremy is taking a few days off to eat turkey...
View recently contributed snapshots.
Icon/Desktop News 11-22-00 Icon & Desktop News by Dan It's a red letter day here at Resexcellence. Besides having one of the best Icon and Desktop Archives around, we are proud to announce the opening of our new Postcard section for the holiday season. We got things rolling by whipping up a few of our own, but we need your creations, and we need lots of them. It's important for you to read the submissions guidelines so you know what size and format the postcards need to be. As always, enjoy!, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Icons - Desktops - Postcards: We have some really nice icons and desktops today. They will have to hold you till after Thanksgiving since this section will not be updated again till Monday 11/27. - Hein Mevisen sends us an awesome set of 32-bit G4 icons. I have to say this set really has a great deal of class and style.
- Ilona from Ilicon, told me that since no one had thought of this before, she decided to create "Curtain" to dress up your Mac. Visit her website for more great artworks.
- I'm not being overwhelmed with Holiday desktops folks, so I made one for you tohopefully get you into the spirit of things. Enjoy Mac Ornament. While you're at it, stop by Flax Creations for more neat stuff for the desktop.
- As promised, check out this new composition from MAJArch Studios, entitled "Swing". Melissa invites you all to swing on over to her site for more fun.
- And last but not least, one more new and definitely funky set of desktops from "SoulRocka Nasty Nene". You gotta love this guy. Hail to the Chief, and B.Girl Dancer come in 1024x resolutions. Somewhere soon down the road Nasty Nene has agreed to come out of the shadows, and let us know a little more about who he is, and what he is about.
News From Around the Web:
One of my favorite icon sites, IliCon has been updated with "Curtain", an elegant window treatment for your desktop!
The Devil's Desktop has been updated with 3 new icon sets, 1 new desktop and a desk calendar.
Exit Music adds more throbbers to the site, which are now available for download, as well as a tutorial for applying them. Bredstik Entertainment has just updated their site with so many goodies we had to list them.
Upon this release they have:
1. 1 New Icon set: PANTS BOYS
2. 4 New Desktop Pictures: PANTS BOYS 1, SKY CHOP, KILL, and ZALY 1
3. 2 new Animation's: YO-YO OK, and HEAT: PART 2
4. 20 new BEAN comics
5. And a whole lot more! Tomomi, the webmistress of GirlieMac writes in to let us know she just made a new desktop picture, titled "Aqua Girl". She looks great sitting on a G4. This just in under the wire: Time for yet another update at ye ole Rampant Mac. Three new desktops and some other GUI Goodies can be had this time around.
So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
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Today's News by Cletus™ I'm moving up, to the top. Greg Landweber has updated SmoothType to version 2.2.2. An alternative to the Appearance control panels font smoothing, SmoothType "uses a different algorithm, and many people think SmoothType gives better results." SmoothType is also fully compatible with Classic Applications while operating in Mac OS X. The full list of changes in this version is listed below and the Software Archive has been updated: • Improves the appearance of bold text in fonts without a bold variant
• Fixes a problem with invisible text in Adobe PageMaker
• Fixes text drawing problems in Equation Editor and MathType The Dailies is a pair of Applescripts that can be placed in the Startup Items or Shutdown Items folders where they will remember the items in there and only allow them to be launched once each day. Pretty cool! Useful for those items you want or need to run at startup or shutdown, but don't need to run if you happen simply freeze or restart. AppleScript Central has officially left the blocks. Maintained by Erik Barzeski, the site is described as the place to go to get the most out of your Microsoft email client. Already ASC offers 100 free AppleScripts for use with Microsoft's Outlook Express and Entourage email clients. I quickly scanned over the site and they seem to have a ton of interesting scripts — well 100 at least. Their sister site, The Unofficial Outlook Express Page still exists. And last time I mentioned some alternate sources for Applescript for Outlook Express and Entourage. If all of these choices don't satisfy your thirst for OE and Rage e-mail scripts, then I give up! ;)  MacNewbie has released the final version of "chiclet." This is a skin for MACAST. With the Old Style 2.0 plug in installed, the skin has animated spectrum bars, featuring the sun, clouds and birds during the day, the moon and stars during the night - all scrolling within the bars.
Matthew Cone from MacInstruct is pleased to announce the second edition of MacScripter's Magazine. The response to the first release was phenominal for this free multimedia e-zine dedicated to AppleScript. This second series looks equally as interesting. Akio is beginning a new series of Internet Explorer makeovers called "Sharp." The makeover contains three skins, any of which are switchable on the fly, they are: Indigo, Graphite, and Tangerine. It's an extremely smooth interface. Want more? It also comes with three bonus Splash Screens for IE. New alert sound files for November have been posted at MacAlert. They recently surpassed the 100 "alert" sound milestone. You know I have been asked this question many times in emails and really have no answer. How do you get the Download Manager to close when it is done downloading in Internet Explorer? MacCentral's Ask Dr. Mac # 56 by Bob LeVitus, has a readers idea that is probably the simplest I typically leave it open in a small strip just below the main browser window and select it under the Window menu should I need it or it becomes hidden under multiple browser windows. Themes and Schemes: Desktopper dot net has posted several new K-Schemes as well as some updates. New schemes are: Lawson (LW) by Desktopper which uses a pale pink with blue hi-lites. Another new scheme is Animalsxmas 0.9 by Ichikawa which one could say is truly seasonal. Macthings is releasing a new theme preview tonight called Vortex. Details were sketchy so the best thing to do is stop by the site to take a look. Four new and 12 updated schemes have been released at The Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive. Sorry, too few for me to choose again. Submit Software News Suggestions!
 The Polling Place by Michael
Last week's polling results were no surprise. I expected a large number of readers to still want their MP3's for near free, then another large group to pay a mid-level price of about a quarter, then a final group who would pay what a song costs now on a CD, about a dollar a song.
Because an MP3 is heavily compressed and doesn't sound as good as an 8 bit, 44.1K CD sound file, I think paying $1 is too much, especially considering you don't get 'liner notes'. So 25¢ seems like a fair price for a good connection and a clean complete MP3 file or just the songs in which I'm interested.
Since the introduction of 32 bit icons a debate has raged whether they should be photographic, or graphic. For example, an icon made by reducing a photographic image versus an icon made where every pixel is painted into place. This week's Polling Place asks, "How do you like your icons?"
 Shorten the Office Menu in GoMac by Michael
With the latest version of GoMac and Microsoft Office 2001 installed, the GoMac Start menu can get pretty wide to the menu name. This edit by Peter McHugh shows you how to shorten that menu name to simply Office.
(Continued...)
User Contributed Splash Screens:
Happicon has released Login and Boot Panels for MacOS X. They feature my favorites, the Powerpuff Girls!
- A full set of splashscreens for Office 2001 have been submitted by Jimmy Solis. They're just a little more "Mac" than the standard set.
- If you have an Apple Cube you'll want to checkout this MOSS replacement by Hein. It a beautiful subtle image of the mini computer.
- Matthew Aaron sent a splash for Explorer featuring some anime characters, but I must admit I have no idea who they are.
Snapshot Gallery by Jeremy Hoesly My Snapshot Picks for the month of October have arrived!
Here’s Monday dose of snapshots: - Brandon submitted this OS X Beta snapshot sporting the custom “Supra TT” desktop picture. Icons from Xicons are present.
- This screenshot from Scott Piekarczyk showcases the “Transparent Apple” desktop picture and Akio’s BIG Graphite K-Scheme. Audion, retro-fitted with the Black Hot & Blue face, is pumping out soundwaves in the upper right. Icons from Blue Sky Heart and Icon Factory are nestled along the right edge.
- This OS X Beta contribution from Rene sports Lee’s “PowerPuffBurst” desktop picture. Audion, configured with the XPlayer face by Jeremie Hornus, is dishing out tunes in the lower left, and three different clocks are running in the menubar: wClock, PTHClock, and JetClock!
- Akio’s “WaterBlade” desktop picture and the Desaturation K-Scheme debut in this submission from Marcelo Somers. Audion is serving up music in the lower left-hand corner. A conglomeration of icons from Icon Factory, icons.cx, and Perfect Yosemite are also showcased.
Have a masterpiece in your hot, little hands that you want to show off? Visit our submission guidelines page for more info.
Icon/Desktop News 11-20-00 Icon & Desktop News by Dan  Hey folks, I got a real kick out of this recent e-mail I received, and wanted to share it with you. Robert Cadwallader writes; "Actually this is a plea for help. I'm trapped in a Window's office, it's horrible. I would really love to customize my desktop by using Mac Icons (I have a mac at home) but when I download the files, the icon shows up as a Window's generic file. Is there any program that will recognize the rsrc file and open it so that I can import it to Windows?" Show your support for poor Robert and drop him a line. Yep, we sure are lucky to have the Mac!
Icon and Desktop Archives: A nicely balanced mix of Icons and Desktops on display today. - Carsten Klapp submits his Real Basic Icon Facelift 2.0.1. Resorcerer or ResEdit is required for these replacement icons for REALBasic menus and project windows. Now folders in projects look identical to Mac OS 8.5 icons, classes now look the same as they do in the Finder.
- Sarah Childers creates this fun AOL Instant Messenger smiley replacement set based on the ResExcellence edit "Add Smileys to AOL's Instant Messenger." http://www.ResExcellence.com/09-27-99.shtml. Requires ResEdit.
- Joshua Tangeman sends us this 100% original replacement icon for The MacOS X app Fire. The attached file contains a disk copy image with a Read Me, dock preview jpeg, and the replacement icns file.
- Another icon face lift by Carsten Klapp, check out his new ResEdit Icons.
- Michael Gargas must be in love with the Deftones, his favorite band, and proves it by providing us with this handsome desktop picture. 1024x resolution.
- PTmon, the man with the duel G4's, tempts us with his newest artwork entitled "Liquid Apple". Check out the use of the new Photoshop "Flood" filter by Flaming Pear.
- Joshua M submits this set of iMac-themed transparent tiles made with Starfish and Digital Darkroom.
The set of 11 tiles are in JPEG file format.
- And last but not least, one more whacked out pic from "SoulRocka Nasty Nene". Jet Set Radio is a real kick, and a great addition to your collection. 1024x.
News From Around the Web:
Tray's Trove updates this week with eight new desktop pix.
Akio wants us to know that he has just released two new Desktops on his Site. One Hi-Tech'ish DT called "Abstract Apple 2", and one "Danger Girl" DT featuring Abbey Chase.
Exit Music adds more throbbers to the site, which are now available for download, as well as a tutorial for applying them. Rick Roe, Webmeister & Icon Dude of Icons.cx reports on the release of the fourth installment in the Spiffy Apps series for OSX. maCombine cooks up a set of 'chads' icons to be inspected. There are seven types, including the swinging door one. Melissa @ The Studios informs us that her web site has been replenished with some new goodies. 5 new desktop pictures and 4 new patterns have been added. Look for her latest work, "Swing", in our archives onWed.
So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!
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