Tips

In case you'd like to reconfigure your Mac from the Setup Assistant screen - a bit like the new resolutions we make, and break, on January 1 - or you'd like to give your Mac your 10 year-old niece, here are a couple of tips to tell the Mac to appear to be straight out of the box.

The hard way:

1. Restart in Single User mode (restart holding down apple-S)
2. type:
3. $ mount -uw /
4. $ rm -R /Library/Preferences/
5. $ rm -R /Users/username/
6. $ rm /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/username.plist
7. $ rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

The easy way:

1. Dowload Clean Install.app and run it from one Mac to the one you want to "clean" in Target Disk Mode (hold down the "t" key as you startup, and connect with FireWire).

Unfortunately, the easy way didn't work for me. So, to paraphrase Elvis, "I did it the hard way."

MacLife had a great article with 7 tips for taking better iPhone photos. My favourites are tips numbers 3 and 4, namely, to avoid camera shake by steadying yourself and your arm before taking a picture, and remembering that the camera takes the picture as you release the shutter button, not as you depress it. The new iPhone 3Gs improves both these issues through hardware and software improvements, but it doesn't hurt to improve the humanware either.

I am not at all comfortable with Terminal commands.

Sure, the commands always work, and can help you to achieve exactly what you want efficiently and effectively, but... where are all the pretty colours?

If you have Remote Desktop at your school, which you almost certainly do, open Remote Desktop, select the computers in your classroom or lab, and then under the "Manage" category in the Toolbar select "Send Unix Command".

Copy and paste the following commands into the window, one each time, and then click "Send" just prior to your class coming in... or during class, if you like to live on the edge. Your students will be amazed. Or, at the least, a little bit freaked out.

(If you have tray-loading machines, like eMacs, the last command is particularly fun!)

Computer Speaks Current Date

osascript <<EOF
say (current date) as string using "Cellos"
EOF

Machines sing the list of software updates.

osascript <<EOF
set suList to (do shell script "softwareupdate -l") as string
say suList using "Cellos"
EOF

Make Computer Speak

Say "Your Text Here"

Optical Tray Wave Script

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
drutil tray open
sleep 1
drutil tray close
sleep 1
done

Three steps to creating an annotated image using a Mac. Something every teacher should have in their Mac arsenal of digital teaching techniques:

1) Take a screenshot of the image you would like. A standard keyboard shortcut is: option-command-shift-4, which will then save the image that you have captured in your crosshairs to your clipboard. Or, alternatively, open the Grab application to get the screen shot that you want. So many options, including which of the two option buttons to use. Remain calm.

2) Open Preview, and go File -> New From Clipboard. Or, for the lazy, the keyboard shortcut is apple-n.

3) In the Preview toolbar of the new document click and hold on "Annotate" to get the desired tool. (View -> Customize Toolbar if that command is not available in your window.) Create the annotation you would like, ideally, editorializing without the bitter, jaded sarcasm you're accustomed to using in the staff room.

Et voilà.

If you use BoinxTV - a great application for creating your own TV station at your school - the creators of BoinxTV recommend using video in the "Apple Intermediate Codec" for the recorded video you add to your live feed. This is because, apparently, it is a very efficient codec in terms of CPU usage. They sound smart, so I believe them.

To convert to Apple Intermediate Codec, open QuickTime Pro then Export -> Movie to QuickTime Move

-> Options

Video -> Settings

and it is the Codec near the top.

It's a Codec jungle out there, so listen to the people who know what they're talking about. And that's likely not to be me.

The chart is taken from the November issue of Macworld which offers a good article explaining most of the audio formats out there, and how to play them on your Mac.

My preferred apps for converting audio files are AudialHub (sadly, a great product that is no longer supported), and EasyWMA.

Happy listening.