Macenstein

Snow Leopard “Nail Painting” tutorial: Finally you can match your nails to your OS!

Hey ladies, have you tried everything to land that super-hot Mac Geek in your life with nothing to show for it? Well, assuming you’re not ugly, the problem might be your nails. Everyone knows a true Mac geek likes their woman’s fingernails to match their OS, and nothing screams OS X 10.6 like Snow Leopard Fingernails! Above: Well, she’s certainly no stranger to makeup. Check out JulieG 713‘s video tutorial (below) on how to paint your fingernails with... Read More

Thoughts on the new iDisk icon

Faithful Macenstein reader Kyle writes: “WTF is up with the new iDisk icon!? I get it, “cloud computing”. But seriously, why purple? What was wrong with the blue globe? I guess this got snuck in with the MobileMe 1.1 update.” Nice point, Kyle. Now I have a question for YOU. WTF is up with using the Apple “stones” desktop background? You don’t find that distracting? 🙂 -The Doc  Read More

Windows 7: The Search for Dock

Based on these concept pics, the “future” of Windows looks remarkably like the “present” of OS X Speaking of stealing… Is it just me, or are these shots of the upcoming Windows 7 looking a little too similar to OS X? I can’t wait to see what Microsoft decides to call that transparent Dock-looking thing. Given that they call OS X’s Widgets “gadgets”, I’m going to assume it will be called the “Spock”. [images... Read More

Apple begins 10.5.4 speculation by releasing 10.5.3

Apple today released the highly rumored 10.5.3 update for Mac OS X Leopard, which means we can now begin looking for hints of a 10.5.4 update. According to Apple, 10.5.3 includes a laundry list of fixes, far too lengthy and boring for me to bother copying and pasting. If you care, you can read about them here. I for one pretty much just install these things without questioning why, and have only been burned twice (Damn you QuickTime!), but until an OS update ruins my system,... Read More

Video: Multi-touch Mac OS X – Great. Now I need to save for a 150-inch monitor

I will definitely not argue that this video isn’t cool, it is. Yet I have always been somewhat underwhelmed by the real world application of a fully mutli-touch computer interface. It seems to me you need a giant screen, small fingers, and a borderline made-up reason for why you need to zoom in and out of things with two hands. More often than not, the demos come across as technology without a purpose. Usually there is an example of some crazy genetic DNA data, and we are... Read More

Warning! This song WILL get stuck in your head

Ah HA! See?! All of you who pissed on our giving away a copy of Office 2008, look how creative you can be with Word if only you put your mind to it! This video for “Again & Again” by the Bird & the Bee was made by filmmaker Dennis Liu using only the Leopard interface and Mac OS X applications – and as a sometimes editor, I find this to be a very impressive display of some insane editorial skills. Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader TheCos for sending... Read More

Video proof of Bigfoot er… Psystar’s Open Computer running Mac OS X

Well, here you go. Video proof that the oft-maligned Psystar has made at least 3 computers – at least 1 of which can run Mac OS X Leopard. To rub a little salt in Apple’s wounds, Psystar claims they edited the video using Final Cut on an Open Computer running Leopard. Ouch! Now, if only they can provide video proof of the UPS guy picking up orders, and video proof of customers happily unpacking said computers, we’d be ready to place our order.  Read More

Apple swapping out defective x1900 XT cards for (some) Mac Pro owners

And this is why I love Apple… A while back I lamented how ever since upgrading to Leopard, my Mac Pro had been exhibiting some odd graphical glitches, mainly in the form of odd lines that would run across various windows in the Finder and apps. I eventually found that the problem was somewhat widespread, at least for owners of the quad-core Mac Pro model I ordered, and who, like me, had splurged for the $350 ATi x1900 XT card. Above: That ain’t right… Click... Read More

Why you probably shouldn’t check this box

Ever since getting my MacBook, my Mac Pro has been sitting in the basement, a bit neglected. Its sole job these days is to record Howard Stern off Sirius and throw bookmarkable audio files into iTunes for me. I use Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba to handle the recordings, and I had read last month that apparently the latest 10.5.2 update and/or Leopard security update were causing some troubles with ssh and Rogue Amoeba software in particular was throwing “internal access”... Read More

Where’s the 500 GB external hard drive?

Very cute commercial, and it actually explains Time Machine fairly well in 30 seconds. Although, simply saying “It comes on every Mac” sort of glosses over that you need to buy a $200 external drive in order to actually use Time Machine, but we’ll assume the 40 second “Director’s Cut” does.  Read More