Pilots with a Mac » Software

Have a better internet experience on the go!

-steve — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:59:33 +0000

Lets talk about DNS. DNS or the “Domain Name System” in short is how your computer knows where to go when you type an address in your internet browser. Say you need to go to www.google.com how does your computer know how to get there. The quick answer is DNS. All computers connected to a network or the internet have an ID called an IP address. (most are unique while some are shared. Read more about DNS here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System) You may or may not have seen an IP address that looks something like 10.23.11.123. In order for create a easier experience for users on the internet a naming scheme was developed that would make it simple to find another computer on the internet. So you may know google.com but the actual address is 74.125.45.100. Try this, open your internet browser be it Safari or Firefox or Internet Explorer if you not so lucky and type in http://74.125.45.100, what do you get? Google.com of course. In order to make this happen your internet service provider has what they call a DNS server on their network that translates google.com for you and fetches the website at 74.125.45.100. It would be pretty difficult for the average person to remember all the numbered addresses for their favorite website.

Now why am I explaining all this? Well not all DNS service servers are the same. DNS servers are updated on a regular basis as domain names and website addresses change. If the internet service provider you are using has a slow or outdated DNS server your experience on the internet can suffer dramatically. You may have encounter slow browsing or may not be able to access the web address you wanted at all. For travelers this can be frustrating, especially while traveling abroad in places where technology is not at an adequate level.

Well there is a solution, you may bring your own DNS service with you wherever you go. OpenDNS at http://www.opendns.com/ provides free DNS services and it is quite simple to set up. OpenDNS is an independent DNS provider that allows you to bypass the default DNS service that is provided with whichever internet service your using. OpenDNS is extremely fast and allows control over your internet browsing not accessible from most Internet Service Providers.

While traveling and using OpenDNS I have frequently seen my colleagues have slow internet access or not have access at all while I am happily browsing away or checking my email with no problems. Having good DNS service while not be something you knew you needed, is key to your internet experience.

Once you have set up OpenDNS take some time to look at all the features it provides. Set is up at home on your router and OpenDNS will give you control with content filtering (yes I mean Porn) and phishing *insert link for phishing* protection as well as the ability to limit access by time. You can also see statistics of where you’ve been or where someone else on your network has been, yes that means “FREE” parental control for the entire house!

Let me know about your experience with OpenDNS.

BlackBerry Desktop Software to arrive for Mac in September

-steve — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:42:06 +0000

RIM says that it will roll out a Mac version of its desktop software this fall, allowing BlackBerry users to do things like sync calendar data, contacts, and even iTunes playlists to their devices. Sweet news for those using a Blackberry. Now if we could just get Jeppesen to come to the plate eh?!!

From The Blackberry Blog.. read the rest of the article here..

Tweetie for Mac 1.0

-steve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:15:49 +0000

Tweetie for Mac 1.0: “My favorite iPhone Twitter client is now my favorite Mac Twitter client — free of charge with ads (from Fusion), or $15 for a full license. Tweetie for Mac is not, of course, a ‘port’ of Tweetie for iPhone, but it is infused with a certain iPhone-esque sensibility. There is much to like about Tweetie for Mac, but what I like best is that it is visually quiet. Most of the new desktop Twitter clients I’ve checked out try to show more at once. Twitter by its nature is inherently distracting; I want a client that doesn’t exacerbate it.

‘★’

“

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Apple to discontinue .Mac HomePage, Groups in July

-steve — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:39:16 +0000

July 7 will be the end of the road for two of .Mac’s long time features, HomePage and Groups. But don’t worry, you won’t lose any info and you can still publish pages to your MobileMe account.

Read the rest at MacWorld

The MacHeist 3 Bundle

-steve — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:26:11 +0000

MacHeist is at again, check out the latest bundle. Its just about over but there is some really good stuff there! I picked it up!

MacHeist Bundle 3

Quick Tip of the Week: Using Spotlight to locate a file in the Finder

-steve — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:24:31 +0000

Quick Tip of the Week: Using Spotlight to locate a file in the Finder: “In Mac OS X Leopard, you can instantly find and then immediately open a document using Spotlight. But what if you find a document and you’re not sure it’s the one you want to open? Or you simply want to learn where it’s located on your Mac? Instead of opening the file, find out how you can ask Spotlight to take you to where you saved it on your hard drive by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.”

(Via Apple Hot News.)

iLife 09

-steve — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:28:47 +0000

Apple had released an upgrade to the media tools that are provided with every new Mac. If you your thinking about getting a Mac or already have one theses tutorials online at apple will give you a good head start for using the new iLife 09 suite.

Check them out here..iLife 09 Tutorials

Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X

-steve — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:03:41 +0000

This is a really good article about the similarities and differences between the new Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac OS X. If you are a new Mac convert or your thinking about going to the Mac from Windows it might give you some good insight on the type of changes Microsoft is bringing and also explain how the Mac operating system works.

Check it out at ars technica.

Cool

Second Time

-steve — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:56:17 +0000

I have been meaning to finish a project that I started some time ago. I travel quite a bit and never really want to change my system time on my 15″ MacBook Pro. I just don’t want to forget to change it back when I get home or have some applications think that I am on a different time zone, but I still wanted to have some way to see what time it is where I may be in the world. At home this isn’t an issue of course because you can put the system time in the Status Bar in the top right hand corner of your screen. But on the road its just nice to see what time it is when your surfing at some crazy hour! So I decided to add another time clock to the System Status Bar that I can control.

So I am pleased to announce “Second Time”. Second Time is an extra clock or “Second” clock for your Status Bar. Second Time shows the time in any Time Zone in the world. Just set the time zone in the preferences for wherever you find yourself. Great for anyone (especially us pilots) who travels over many time zones and needs another clock. There is no Application icon to clutter your Dock and you can display a larger clock in a separate window if you so please.

Second Time is Free (a pilots second favorite four letter word) and you can download it now. Please share second time with anyone you think might find in useful. Let me know what you think, I am open to comments and suggestions. If you would like it and don’t want to go to your Applications folder every time to start it head over to your System Preferences and add it to your startup items in your user settings. Then it will start every time you start your Mac! :)

Second time requires OSX 10.5 Leopard, if you don’t have Leopard now is a great time to upgrade. Purchase the Box set form Apple with iWorks and iLife 09.

Click here to download Second Time

Two things you should have right away!

-steve — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:52:16 +0000

If you have a Mac and have had problems watching some video files either downloaded or sent to you chances are your just missing a Codec (what’s a freaking codec?). Just download and install both of these and you should be right as rain.

#1. Flip4Mac - With Windows Media® Components for QuickTime, by Flip4Mac™, you can play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content on the Internet using a Web browser.

Sometimes Flip4Mac can be a little difficult to find. The allure a little that there is a free version on their home page and some users might not make it to the free “Microsoft” download page here. Ughh did I just say Micro.. nah I won’t say it again.

#2. Perian – self proclaimed “The swis-army knife of QuickTime”

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional media:
File formats: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW
Video types: MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, Sorenson H.263, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Snow, NuppelVideo, Techsmith Screen Capture, DosBox Capture
Audio types: Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer I & II Audio, True Audio, DTS Coherent Acoustics, Nellymoser ASAO
AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT

Download Perian here.