How To: Survive Using Your Keyboard Only
Posted: May 20, 2008 Filed under: How To, Productivity, Tips | Tags: Apple, don't use a mouse, How To, how to's, howto, keyboard, keyboard shortcuts, list of shortcuts, Mac, mouse, Tips, tricks, use keyboard only, use your keyboard only 7 Comments »How to survive using your keyboard only; here are some shortcuts.
Users with MacBooks need to include the function (fn) key in commands involving F#-keys.
ctrl + F2
opens access to your menu bar, which is navigated with arrows, enter, or letters (for a shortcut, type the first letter of the menu item you want to access.
ctrl + F3
opens up access to your dock, which can be navigated in the same way as the menu bar.
NOTE: If those actions are not working, then press
ctrl + F1
to activate/deactivate the commands.
Don’t forget the simple shortcuts too, like
Command + Shift + A
which opens your applications folder (only works when on Finder; Safari for instance, gives you autofill preferences…)
Other shortcuts you must know are:
Empty trash: Command + Shift + Delete
Quit application: Command + Q
Close current window: Command + W
UPDATE: oli4 reminded me with his comment; to see a directory of shortcuts, go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts
UPDATE #2: Learned a new shortcut! When on Safari, select a word and press
ctrl + Command + D
and you will get a quick definition show up as a tool tip window.
Feel free to share your tips and shortcuts in the comments below!
How To: Use your iPod as an External Hard Drive.
Posted: November 11, 2007 Filed under: How To, Media, Organization, Video | Tags: Back up, Hard drive, How To, iPod, Mac 7 Comments »Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted – So, another How to!
How To: Use your iPod as an External Hard Drive
You will need:
-iPod
-iTunes
Step 1: Connect your iPod to your Mac.
Step 2: Open up iTunes and click on your iPod. Tick the ‘enable hard drive’ box.
Step 3: You’re done! Now you can drag anything to your iPod! Applications, files, anything! You can also do what I do, which is back up my computer to my iPod.
It’s very easy to back up all of your stuff onto the iPod, but many people waste away memory by copying all their music, videos and photos to their iPod, AGAIN! No reason to, people! First off, it’s already possible to retrieve your photos, there’s a folder named photos when you open up your iPod (assuming you are using a video/photo enabled iPod).
So now how do you retrieve music and videos? Considering these two are probably going to take the most space, we certainly don’t want to simply copy everything to a folder in your iPod. So use a program, like iPodDisk and you might want to read my post on how to do it.
For the rest of your applications and files which you want to back up, simply create a folder in your iPod (which should show up on your desktop) and drag and drop everything there. Voila!
How To: Personalize your Mac, Make it different, unique!
Posted: August 8, 2007 Filed under: How To, Pimp My GUI | Tags: How To, Mac, personalize 6 Comments »Today, you are going to learn how to make your Mac different, how to make it stand out, and give it a lil’ something that makes it you!
You want your Mac to be different from others, make it so that it catches other people’s eyes! With three simple steps, you can do just that!
1. Get Uno. Tired of the brushed metal look? Perhaps you want a cleaner, lighter interface? Well Uno is just the thing for you. This powerful interface tool allows you various options for changing brushed metal looks in exchange for different unified skins. Trust me, you want this.
2. Remove that butt-ugly dull gray piece of crap background of your dock. Get a nice, clear, and transparent dock instead! With ClearDock, you can also customize various dock factors, such as the arrows pointing to open applications! Here’s my dock 
3. Notice that my Finder icon was totally pimped out? Or that my trashcan was bleeding? This brings me to my next point: Icons. The best way to make your Mac unique is with icons. CandyBar is an application (demo) which allows you to easily change your Mac’s icons. However, for those who don’t want to pay for an application, you can change icons manually, just by reading my post on How To: Change Icons. You can change almost all your icons manually, however there are few icons such as the finder icon, or trashcan icon which can’t be changed manually.
Links:
Get Uno.
Get Clear Dock.
Get CandyBar.
Got to How To: Change Icons
Get the Monoliff icon set. <—-Really nifty icon set.
NEW VID! Many thanks to Travis Tucker!
