Ahren

Member since: Aug 13th, 2007

Ahren's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
TUAW.com	11 Comments
Engadget	3 Comments
Download Squad	3 Comments

Recent Comments:

Newspaper thinktank predicted the iPad in 1994 (TUAW.com)

Apr 28th 2011 5:42PM Go back and check out 2001: A Space Odyssey. You'll see the astronauts watching the news on an iPad while they eat dinner. That was 1968.

Ask TUAW: Canceling Mobile Me, iPhone backups, playing Windows media files and more (TUAW.com)

Dec 3rd 2010 4:49PM I don't know about you guys, but it's Friday and I could really go for a Morphine Juice Pack....

Meebo launches free instant messaging client for iPhone (Download Squad)

Feb 17th 2010 11:51AM landscape keyboard support?

Watch out AT&T: Operation Chokehold is coming (TUAW.com)

Dec 15th 2009 12:23PM Sounds like fun, but I'll be at the movies watching Avatar in IMAX 3D!

Give your Dashboard a kick in the pants (TUAW.com)

Dec 14th 2009 1:48PM As far as I know, this was changed in Snow Leopard (not sure if it was intentional). When I used Leopard it used to be that the dashboard would activate when you logged in and stay on-screen even if you clicked the "hide" checkbox in your login items.

Since upgrading my home and work machines to Snow Leopard, I've noticed that Dashboard starts but then hides, and I don't even have the "hide" checkbox checked.

One thing I have noticed, however is that certain widgets, most notably TV Forecast, will load, but won't update their info until the second time you activate Dashboard. It's kind of strange. But still requires much less time to get at the info in your widgets than if you were doing a cold launch.

That's been my experience. Your mileage may vary.

Give your Dashboard a kick in the pants (TUAW.com)

Dec 14th 2009 11:31AM Or you could just add Dashboard to you login items.

Widgets: "iPhone apps, I am your father." (TUAW.com)

Dec 12th 2009 3:28PM Gotta go with:

TV Forecast
Minutes
EasyEnvelopes
Shredder
RadarInMotion

Ask TUAW: Target disk mode, iPhoto library, upgrading an iMac hard drive, gifts for a recent Mac convert and more (TUAW.com)

Dec 3rd 2009 4:48PM There is a way around organization problems with the iTunes library. I keep my music on my internal hard drive, but put my iTunes movies on an external hard drive. The 'alias' method that worked for iPhoto does not work for iTunes when trying to add new content. It generates an error message that 'the specified folder cannot be found'.

Here's my workaround:

If you download something from the iTunes store, just hit command+R to find the file and move it to where you want it. The next time you try to play the file or edit it's metadata iTunes will ask you to locate the file. Find it in the new spot you put it and iTunes will remember it, like The Centurion said.

However, if you want to add something to iTunes via 'Add to Library' like a movie encoded using Handbrake, you'll first need to go into 'Preferences>Advanced' and uncheck the 'Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding new to library' checkbox. Hit OK, then add your new movie to iTunes via 'Add to Library' like you normally would. iTunes will create a pointer in iTunes but the file will remain in it's original location.

You can then go back to Preferences and re-check that box to make sure your music or whatever else continues to automatically copy.

It seems like a clunky workflow, at first, but after a while it becomes second nature.

Ask TUAW: Emptying the trash, migration assistant, Safari bookmarks, Mac mini server and more (TUAW.com)

Oct 21st 2009 3:55PM try the dashboard widget File Shredder if you just want to delete a single file permanently.

Ask TUAW: Recording audio, troubleshooting wireless issues, website hosting and more (TUAW.com)

May 21st 2009 11:00AM For login items, you can also hold the shift key during login to disable them. This works great when you need to fast boot and don't want to be bogged down loading applications you may not need.

Also for recording, the Griffin iMic is still a pretty handy adapter/converter. It's cheap and the sound quality isn't up to studio standards, but you can couple it with some tweaked instrument settings in Garageband to get some very decent sound.