CJ's Tech Blog

Google Wave

2009-11-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

Hey, I know everyone is scrounging the web for a Google Wave invite. So, I have 8 invites to give out, the first 8 people to comment with their name and email, and tell me how they got to my blog will get one. Happy waving!

-CJ

Free Online Backup Using Gmail

2009-09-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I was thinking about how Email services are always bragging about how you'll never have to delete another email because they have sooo much space(a typical Gmail account has around 7 to 8 GB of space, which will grow to even more in time). So why don't we put some of that space to work! Have you ever thought about backing up your documents and pictures using an email account? Well, I've been testing it lately and it works pretty good, backing up documents and pictures is fairly fast and easy. What you do is create an email account(Gmail recommended), name it something simple like sharedHD or Harddrive, then create labels(a new feature in Gmail), these will act like folders in a typical hard drive. Now whenever you want to save something to your new "Hard Drive" just send a file as an attachment to the address, or take a faster route and just save your files as drafts in your new account.

Have fun!

-cj

Customize the Finder Window

2009-09-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Want to spice up the "Finder" a bit? Here's a few tips on how to do that.

Change the default white background to a color or picture.

1. Open the Finder and right click(hold two fingers on track pad and click) the white area, select "Show View Options"

2. Now a box will show up with a number of different options which I'll you to discover for yourself. Anyway, near the bottom of the window you can select what you want to show up in the finder window, "White"(Default), "Color" and "Picture." To add a picture just select "Picture," and click "Select" and then choose any picture from from your computer. The rest I assume you can figure out for yourself!

Have fun!

-cj

Use the Terminal to Access Hidden Settings

2009-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

When Apple built their OS, one of their goals was to keep it simple for new users, so in order not to confuse someone and to keep using System Preferences easy to use, they cut out some of the settings. Today, I’m going to teach you how to access those settings.

1. Move Widgets to Your Desktop.

This is one of my favorites, it allows you to actually drag widgets from your Dashboard to Your Desktop! You’ll never have wait for your entire Dashboard to load, just to check the weather.

First, open the Terminal. it’s located in your applications folder in the finder.

Second, type this line of code:defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

Third, quit Terminal.

Fourth, restart your computer.

NOTE: often people feel intimidated by the terminal and they think they might screw up their Computer with it. But don’t be, it is very hard to do anything fatal to your computer using the Terminal, you would really have to know how to do it, and want to do it. But to make you feel safer, you might want to back up your all your data, just in case.

2. Put Organizers in Dock

If you’re like me, you probably have tons of applications stuffed in your Dock, which makes it an inconvenience to have to spend an extra 5 seconds looking across it trying to find the App you want. But there is a solution, you can add little organizers, or as I like to call them, Spacers.

First, Open the Terminal.

Second, put this code in: defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}’, press “Enter”

Third, Type: Killall Dock and press “Enter”. This will restart the Dock.

Tadda! You now have a little spacer with which you can organize your Dock. If you want more, simply do the steps above again. If you want to get rid of one, simply drag it off the dock, just like any other Application!

3. Highlight Items in “Stacks” when you hover over them with your mouse cursor.

This is a cool little thing to do, especially if you use the keyboard a lot to do things.

Open Terminal

Type: defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES

Then restart Dock: killall Dock

These are just a few awesome things you can do with the Terminal, there are many more settings you can tweak and change with this great tool.