- Learning to use the latest Apple and top 3rd party software applications
- Mastering the utilities and built-in features that come with every mac
- Lots of help for switchers and those new to the mac
- Learning about some of the latest web based services and applications from MobileMe to Google ..........and much, much, more!
All delivered in a
friendly, relaxed, easy to follow
format that you can watch as many
times as you’d like, all at
your own pace.
The show is delivered to you via iTunes
automatically and you have the choice of receiving
a free show every two weeks, or
you can join as a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
and get a brand new, up to the minute show
every week, bringing you lessons on the
latest updates to the mac and mac software directly
to your mac, Apple TV, iPod or iPhone. As a
ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member, you also get
immediate access to a huge library of
downloadable tutorials, covering a wealth
of mac related topics.
The most recent shows are listed below, but be sure
to check out all the available shows by clicking on
the categories in the sidebar or using the Search
facility. I hope you enjoy the shows!
Don
McAllister - Host/Producer
SCO0175 - Working with Large Monitors (and Small!)
For viewers of the free feed, I've included a full segment from the Extra! members only show as a taster but also to see if we can boost the sales of this particular app, for reasons that will become apparent as you watch the clip.
In this weeks full Extra! members only show I cover:
| My Mouse Recommendations -
A quick look at my Mice of choice - The
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse and the VX Nano
Mouse. I also give you a demonstration of the
benefits of the dual function scroll and
flywheel mechanism.
Links: Logitech MX Revolution Wireless Laser Mouse 
Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks  |
 |
| SteerMouse - A fully
featured advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth
mouse. SteerMouse allows to to fully program a
wide variety of Mice and I show you my most
favourite feature - a way to make your mouse
pointer zoom across the screen automatically
and land dead center on the default button of
dialog boxes - no wrist movement required!
Link: SteerMouse Website |
 |
| DejaMenu - A real boon for
large screen or multiple monitor setups. You
know how OSX arranges the Application menu bar
across the top of the primary display? Well it
can be a real pain constantly moving the mouse
pointer from the left, right or bottom of the
screen all the way to the top. And when your
application window is on a separate monitor
from the application menu bar - grrrr! Well
DejaMenu is a free utility that comes to the
rescue by allowing you to assign a key
combination to pop up the application menu
right under your mouse pointer - no matter
where it's located on the screen. In the show I
also show you how easy it is to remap the
DejaMenu key combo to a single mouse button
using SteerMouse.
Link: DejaMenu Website |
 |
| MercuryMover - (This
full segment is included in this weeks sampler
version of the show and available for
free) Whilst all these tips assist you
using your mouse, true power users know that
the keyboard is the way to go to speed up your
workflow. On any Mac, constantly moving and
resizing windows using the mouse can be a real
time drain. The constant moving from keyboard
to mouse and back again can add seconds to your
workflow that over the space of a day, a week
and a year, can waste an extraordinary amount
of time.
So wouldn't it be great to be able to resize and move windows directly from the keyboard with a couple of simple keystrokes? Well you can using MercuryMover! This simple but effective application allows your to move and resize windows by 1 pixel, 10 pixels or 100 pixels at a time and will also allow you to move or resize to the edge of the screen. You can even center or maximise your selected window with a single keypress. As well as these built in shortcuts, MercuryMover also allows you to save custom keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to save the size, position or both for any window on screen. Do you always want Safari to be the same size and position when you use it? Well you can reapply a saved setting via MercuryMover and resize and repostition the window everytime with pixel point accuracy. MercuryMover is currently available at a reduced price but ScreenCastsOnline viewers can get an additional 10% off by visiting a special store page. With each copy of MercuryMover sold, $2 of the purchase price will be donated to the National Cancer Coalition Link: MercuryMover Special Offer Page |
 |
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Sampler for the Full Free
Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch the
sampler (including the full segment on
MercuryMover) for this show from this web page by
clicking on the video below.
SCO0174 - Organise Your Email - MailTags v2
If you're an organised person, you may already have a system in place that handles your email effectively along with all the other sources of information that we need to manage each day. If you're a productivity ninja, you may already have a fully blown "Getting Things Done" or GTD system in place allowing you to be the master of all your information and live in a perment state of nirvana!
More than likely, you may still be looking for the best solution to fit your needs!
Over the next couple of months, I'll be covering some of the top GTD applications for the Mac, but it's possible that you may not need an extra layer of complexity if you can just get on top of using your email. That's where this weeks show comes in, and introduces you to MailTags, a great plugin for Apples Mail application.
Mailtags allows you to tag your individual emails with additional information such as as keywords, project, reminders, colours and notes. It also allows you to directly integrate your emails with iCal using to dos and events. Once you've tagged and classified your emails, Mailtags then allows you to organise and retrieve your emails in many different ways such as enhanced mailbox list views, smart mailboxes and spotlight searches.
This show takes you through:
- Introduction to MailTags
- Installation & Setup
- MailTags Configuratiom
- Tagging Using MailTags
- Keywords & Project Tags
- Tickler Dates & Priority
- Message Colour
- To Dos & Events
- MailTag Notes
- Accessing Your Mail Using MailTags
- MailTags List View
- Searching Using MailTags
- MailTags and Smart Mailboxes
- Example Smart Maiboxes
- Tagging using Rules
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | 960x540 - HD with overscan - Download
640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution - Download. |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Full Free Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this show plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch a
low resolution version of this show from this web
page - Click on the video below
SCO0173 - Mac Hints & Tips Montage - 03 [Extra! members only]
This weeks tips in detail are:
| Finding and capturing HiRes Icons in OS X: Now that Leopard supports huge 512x512 icons, application designers have gone to town, creating beautiful HiRes icons for all of your favourite applications. Not only that, but Apples own designers have created many, many beautiful HiRes icons for folders, software and even Apple hardware devices. This tip will show you how to find them on your system, copy them safely and create your own transparent png graphics for use in graphic projects and presentations - all for free. The tip also includes a handy little trick for capturing those gorgeous 512x512 icons from third party applications too! |  |
| Creating eMail Stationery Templates: Another new feature in Leopard was the inclusion of full colour HTML based email templates to brighten up your emails. Whilst, the pre-built templates are all very nice (!) wouldn't it be great to design your own personalised eMail templates for personal or business use? Well this tip shows you how to do just that! By examining an existing email template, this tip steps you through the structure of the template and shows your how to amend the template to suit your needs, then save it as a custom template. |  |
| Using The OS X Dictionary: he dictionary has been around for a while, but has been greatly expanded in Leopard to allow you direct access to a Thesaurus, and Apple dictionary and even direct access to Wikipedia. This tip also shows you a simple keyboard shortcut that allows you to look up words in any Cocoa app without having to load the full dictionary application - very cool! |  |
| Capturing Single Frames in
Quicktime Movies: This simple tip
shows you how to capture a single frame in a
Quicktime movie and export it to png or jpeg
format.As promised, the second of an occasional
series of various hints and tips on getting the
most out of your mac. Instead of the show
focussing on a single piece of software or
subject, I mix it up with several unrelated
hints and tips on various aspects of using a
mac. Each tip is directly accessible via
chapter marks so you can either watch all the
tips in sequence or jump straight to the tip
you'd like.
|
 |
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Trailer for the Full Free
Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch the
trailer for this show from this web page by
clicking on the video below.
SCO0172 - OSX Speech Technologies
However, OS X Leopard made some significant advancements in these technologies and introduced a new computer generated voice called Alex enabling the inbuilt Text to Speech functions become viable and in fact, extremely useful.
As well as Text to Speech, OS X also has a full range of speech recognition technologies built right in, at no extra cost, allowing you to control your mac and access many application functions with just your voice - very cool!
So this weeks show examines such features including:
- Text to Speech Setup
- Selecting Text to Speak
- Proof Reading using Text to Speech
- Automator Action to convert PDFs to Audio and import into iTunes
- Configuring Speech Recognition
- Using Speech Recognition
- Demo of some Typical Commands
Links: Speakapedia
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | 960x540 - HD with overscan - Download
640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution - Download. |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Full Free Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this show plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch a
low resolution version of this show from this web
page - Click on the video below
SCO0171 - Dropbox [Extra! Members Ony]
The free version of Dropbox gives you a whopping 2GB of free storage space, but don't make the mistake of treating this as just another online storage system. Dropbox has all sorts of extra features allowing you to share your files and photos easily via publicly addressable URLs, full file versioning and easy recovery, recovery of deleted files, special online photo galleries and much more. This weeks ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members show demonstrates all these features and more. The full show covers:
- Intro & Setup
- Using Dropbox
- Using the Dropbox folder
- Sharing Files From Your Public Folder
- Dropbox Web Interface
- File Versioning and Restoring
- Syncronising & Sharing
- Syncronising Between Macs
- Sharing Dropbox Folders
- Recovering Deleted Files
- Using Photos and Dropbox
Links:
Dropbox
MacReviewcast
macbites
1Password Blog
ScreenCastsOnline Forums
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Trailer for the Full Free
Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch the
trailer for this show from this web page by
clicking on the video below.
SCO0170 - PDFPen v4 Update
As well as PDFPen, I also take a look at a side benefit of some of the new features of PDF Pen that will help Evernote users in enabling PDF files to be fully searchable in Evernote.
As we're talking about PDFs, I also take a look at a free utility that allows you to take a standard full sized PDF and convert it automatically into a printable A5 booklet - very cool!
PDFPen has always been a great low cost PDF editor with some features previously only found in very expensive, top end editing applications. With the advent of PDFPen 4, there are even more features and the show will take a look at:
- Newly revised User Interface
- New Thumbnail view in the sidebar
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - This is a big one, enabling you to take your scanned, uneditable and unsearchable PDFs and convert them automatically to have full searchable and editable text.
- New Highlighting & Annotation Features
- New Print options for Comments and Notes
- New TIFF Output
- Using PDFPen to convert your PDFs for Evernote
- Installing and using Create Booklet 1.0.1
SmileOnMyMac
Evernote
ScreenSteps
NosillaCast
Create Booklet
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | 960x540 - HD with overscan - Download
640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution - Download. |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Full Free Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this show plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch a
low resolution version of this show from this web
page - Click on the video below
SCO0169 - Mac Hints & Tips Montage - 02 [Extra! members only]
This week, the tips include:
| Numbers and OS X: Easily set up OS X keyboard shortcuts to access your most commonly used menu items. I found a few frustrations in switching over from Excel in that my normal keyboard shortcuts were not available in Numbers. A few clicks later and I was able to replicate them in Numbers and boost my productivity at a stroke! The really neat thing is that you can use the same technique for creating your own customised keyboard shortcuts in all your favourite applications. |
|
| Numbers: Another frustration was the absence of the Excel command for "Convert to Columns" to convert imported CSV files. Whenever I imported CSV (Comma Separated Variable) files, they didn't format properly! The answer was blindingly obvious and you'll kick yourself if this has been tripping you up too. All is revealed in this weeks show. |
|
| Safari: Despite all the choices we have as mac users with a plethora of browsers, I still keep coming back to Safari as my browser of choice. It's fast, fully compliant and integrates fully with the iPhone. Safari also has some pretty nifty features on how it handles tabs, windows and bookmarks including integration with address book. This section alone gives half a dozen tips on getting the most out of Safari |
|
| iTunes: Following on from the recent show covering iTunes 8, another feature is the inclusion of artwork for Genres in Album view. It can get a bit messy when you have none standard genres and no artwork. This tip shows you how to access a free utility to manage and update your iTunes genres artwork plus gives you access to some free genre artwork via Flickr. |
|
| OS X, Launchbar, Google Translate: This tip allows you to set up your mac to do virtually instant translation of foreign language text snippets. Frustrated by not being able to follow my non English speaking friends on Twitter, this tip shows you how to use Launchbar and the Google Translate service to quickly and easily translate virtually any language to any other language using a few simple keystrokes. Even if you're not a Launchbar user, you can still utilise copy and paste and the Google Translate service to accomplish this but not as impressively! |
|
Links:
iGenres
Genres Flickr Pool
Iconaholic blog
Radio Lingua Network
Cava and Twitts
Launchbar
Previous ScreenCastsOnline Launchbar Tutorials
Google Translate Service
Discussions: Forum
| Extra! Members Version formats | 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution
1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site |
| Free Version Formats | This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members |
Become
a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the
show in AppleTV (HD), ED and
iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member
To
View the Trailer for the Full Free
Show
Subscribe
to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes,
and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows
delivered to your computer each week by clicking
the links below!
Free High Definition version of the
show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in
iTunes
Watch the
trailer for this show from this web page by
clicking on the video below.
SCO0168 - Pixelmator v1.3 Update
Since its launch exactly a year ago, Pixelmator has firmly established itself as one of the stellar graphics applications for OSX, or as they like to say "Image editing for the rest of us". Sporting many features previously only seen in high end image editors (and now with additional features not seen in high end images editors), Pixelmator delivers a wealth of functionality and some leading edge technology. With the advent of the soon to be released Version 1.3, the Pixelmator developers have been focussing on delivering better performance and re-working and adding to Pixelmators rich toolset.
For this weeks show, I've split the contents into two halves:
The first half is all about the new tools and significant enhancements to some of the old tools. This section covers:
- Smart Palette Hide
- Magic Eraser
- Magic Wand
- Enhanced Paint Bucket <