First you will need “Click to Plugin”. This turns off instant loading of Flash,WMV,PDF,and any other kind of video/audio plugin you can think of. You will want to immediately go to the preferences and enable certain ones to always pass through (like Google Maps for instance).

Second, you will need “Media Center” to easily control playback to the AppleTV. This extension adds a toolbar icon that you can add by going to (Safari) View/Customize Toolbar… You will see a new icon to drag down that reads “Airplay” in the shape of a square. Too bad it’s not the familiar Airplay icon we’re used to, but no matter. It works!

Then when you go to a YouTube page that movie will be loaded via HTML5. Pressing the “F” key will play it fullscreen. A floating menu gives you the option to stream it to Airplay, download the file, change the source and more options. It’s really fantastic.

For more information consult the author’s page and this blog post from MacStories.

This is so completely annoying. If anyone should get this right it’s Apple. Also, while I’m on my virtual soap box, if you think Time Machine backs up your iDisk think again. If you want the iDisk backed up you have to use Chronosync or some other backup solution. Annnnndddd, file dates are wiped out with iDisk. Wanna track when you created a file on your idisk? Forget it. The workaround is to date your files. Thanks Apple!

For these reasons I’ve abandoned Mobileme’s iDisk and have switched to Dropbox.

Dropbox is a free service currently in beta but it is working great for me and other users. If the fact that it’s a beta scares you mind that Gmail is still in beta. Gmail! So don’t go griping if you lose all your Gmail mail someday. Back that stuff up.

Dropbox gives out 2GB of free space. If you go over this amount they charge for more room. The software works SO well with the Mac OS. I have a “writings” folder setup and anytime I change a file inside that folder it seamlessly updates it to my other computer. And it’s really quick. iDisk takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R and their’s no Rosetta stone to decipher any error messages you get.

Notice the large check mark next to the “Photos” folder indicating the folder is up to date. GROWL is also installed along with Dropbox to notify when files have changed. Growl is a preference pane that runs in the background constantly monitoring programs on your computer. It’s main feature is beautifully displaying notifications.

You can also share a a specific folder with another dropbox user. I’m currently sharing a folder with my writing partner. Anytime she changes a file in that folder it’s instantly changes in mine. Plus I can limit what folders she has access. Workarounds like adding a “checked out” folder help solve the problem of both working on the same file at the same time.

Dropbox also keeps older versions allowing you to restore something you might have accidentally erased. All in all I’m loving this program. I wish the iDisk worked this well. It should, it really should.

Then choose to “Back Up Now”. It should put everything in sync. In fact, make sure your Time Machine is working buy choosing “open time machine preferences…” You’ll then get a dialogue telling you when the last successful backup occurred.

Mine says it backed up Yesterday. (I’ve got it on a daily schedule instead of hourly). If you want to change the interval download Time Machine Editor to make adjustments. It’s FAH-FAH-FAH-FREE!

When you get stuck in a long line and have a few minutes to read your favorite Web sites, bringing out your iPhone is the perfect solution. Safari can read your sites but jeez it can be SLOOOW if the site is not optimized for the iPhone.

A better, faster way to read your sites in one fell swoop is to subscribe to the RSS news feed of the page. I use NewsGator’s service. Google has a similar service which is great as well, but I like having separate applications to handle these services.

Here’s the process for using NewsGator’s free feed service.

Create a user account on the NewsGator Web site.  Then find some RSS feeds to add to your account. There are loads of sample feeds to choose from (New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, etc.) You can create different folders for entertainment, tech, news, etc.

If you can’t find your favorite site click on the RSS ICON. It appears in the URL field of Firefox or Safari. Clicking it will show you a link that reads “feed://” instead of “http://”. This feed can be manually entered into your NewsGator account if you can’t find your favorite sites. For instance… sometimes I’ll do a search on craigslist for a computer item. If I save the feed of that page and post it to my newsgator account it will show me when it’s updated with out me having to manually monitor the page. Nice!

Once you get your favorite feeds setup on the NewsGator page you have the option to download the “NetNewsWire” application for your Mac. It’s not absolutely necessary to use the desktop app as you can use the newsgator Web site instead. However, I love this program! Give it a whirl.

NETNEWSWIRE IPHONE SETUP

You will need NetNewsWire from the appstore. Great news… it’s FREE!

Once downloaded you must type in your user name and password. When you open the app it will download every news story, stripping out the ads and pretty much bring down only the text and a few pictures. It’s lean and mean for the iPhone and therefore quicker and more efficient than using Safari. Plus all read items get synced across both platforms. Once you start using it you won’t know how you got along without it.

So to take a picture of the screen her are your options:

1. Apple+Shift+3 (takes a picture of the entire screen)
2. Apple+Shift+4 (creates a cross hair to select the area you want to capture)
3. Apple+Shift+4 (once you see the cross hairs, press the spacebar to take a perfect picture of any open window).
4. Apple+Shift+Ctrl+4 and it auto pastes the selection to your clipboard, then paste it wherever you want it. This is killer, diller

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Either way you go please, please, please back up your data! Otherwise, that battery you were meaning to replace do to the Apple battery recall could make your data smoke! If you need help give me a jingle and I can get you rolling.

Find the “Remove Office” application (just search for it in Spotlight) and open it up. Hold the option key and the continue button changes to Remove Licensing Information Only. It’s quite mac like.