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OS X's popup Dictionary panel and Japanese #
Command+Control+D while hovering over a word displays a popup Dictionary panel in OS X. Pronunciation for English words is displayed in the medium grey title bar, but not for Japanese:
  
Anyone know of a fix or workaround? In the meantime, JEDict's web browser (built on WebKit) includes a drawer with pronunciation, definitions, etc.

/mac | Mar 07, 2010

Batch convert HTML to PDF in OS X #
HTML files can be batch converted to PDF under OS X using a for loop and the virtually undocumented convert command (not the one from ImageMagick):

  for file in *.html;do /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f $file -o $(basename -s ".html" "$file").pdf;done

/mac | Jan 24, 2010

Hide desktop icons #
Unclutter your OS X desktop instantly (for taking screenshots, giving presentations, faking fastidiousness, etc.):
  • Camouflage 1.25 [1126k] Hides desktop icons, leaving nothing visible but the wallpaper.  Screenshot
  • Screenshot Helper 2.0 [76k] Shows a full screen window with a solid color or a desktop picture so that you can take clean screenshots.  Screenshot

/mac | Jan 17, 2010

Quick contact sheets in OS X #
Macworld explains how to quickly create an image contact sheet in Leopard:
Open folder in Finder > Command-A > Command-Option-Y > click Index Sheet button > Command-Shift-3.

However, since images which scroll off the screen are not captured, this little app may be a better option:
ContactSheetMaker 1.0.1 [53k] {S} Simple, standalone application to create contact sheet image files from folders of images.  Screenshot

/mac | Jan 13, 2010

Newly added icon editor for OS X #
Iconographer X 2.5 [891k] Full-featured icon editor. Formerly shareware, now free (registration name = "Iconographer is now free", code = "HG066414").  Screenshot

/mac | Jan 04, 2010

Freeware Mac apps by Colin Henein #
  • SlimBatteryMonitor - "Space-efficient power meter monitors laptop and UPS batteries." Especially welcome is the ability to change the low battery warning to appear at a level other than twenty percent.
  • DateTree - "Organize files, photos and movies by copying them into dated folders"
  • SkeyCalc - "An RFC-2289 Compliant OTP (S/Key) calculator"

/mac | Dec 27, 2009

Bundled Snow Leopard Upgrade DVDs do *not* work on older Macs with blank drives #
There are many assertions around the web that the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD works exactly like the full version. Here's an example of such a claim from Macworld:
However, the Snow Leopard upgrade DVD does not require that you have Leopard installed; it's a full install disc that works on any Intel Mac.
and another from MacInTouch:
Can I install the Snow Leopard upgrade on a blank hard disk?
Yes. According to a number of reports, you can even install it on a Mac that does not have a Leopard disk attached.
While this may be true of the retail upgrade disc, bundled DVDs and those issued under the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program (distinguishable by the notice "This software is part of a hardware bundle - not to be sold separately") do not work on older Macs with blank drives, as this screenshot demonstrates:
Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer. This disc requires that Mac OS X 10.5 or later already be installed on your computer.
For bots, screen readers, and image-free browsers, here it is in plain text:
Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer. This disc requires that Mac OS X 10.5 or later already be installed on your computer. If you want to restore your system from a Time Machine backup, click "Restore from Backup".
The only choices are "Restore from Backup" and "Restart". Not even the usual utilities (Terminal, Disk Utility, etc) are available. This message can be avoided by plugging in an external drive with Leopard installed (including another Mac in Target Disk Mode) or by remastering the DVD with a few minor changes. For more on this issue, see:

/mac | Dec 14, 2009

Recursively reassign owner #
chown -R new_username:new_group directory
:new_group is optional. Especially helpful when, after having imported data from one OS X user account to another, attempting to move files results in them being copied instead, and attempting to move folders results in a password prompt ("Finder requires that you type your password").

/mac | Dec 13, 2009

Lock or unlock files recursively in OS X #
chflags -R uchg directory
chflags -R nouchg directory
View file flags with the -O (capital "o") switch:
$ ls -lO
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff uchg 0 Dec 13 07:19 locked_file
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff -    0 Dec 13 07:19 unlocked_file
(via Entrepreneur Geek and macos-x-server.com)

This tip is particularly useful when copying folders like My Documents, My Pictures, etc from Windows machines to OS X. Rather surprisingly, these folders are actually assigned the Read-only attribute in Windows:
Unlike the Read-only attribute for a file, the Read-only attribute for a folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories, and other programs. For example, you can delete, rename, and change a folder with the Read-only attribute by using Windows Explorer. The Read-only and System attributes is only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box.
OS X honors the Read-only attribute by dutifully locking the directories, leading to unexpected and generally undesirable results.

/mac | Dec 13, 2009

Convert man pages to PDF in Snow Leopard #
$ man -w rsync
/usr/share/man/man1/rsync.1.gz
$ gzcat /usr/share/man/man1/rsync.1.gz | groff -man > rsync.ps
$ open rsync.ps
PostScript file opened and converted by Preview. Save as PDF.

/mac | Nov 13, 2009

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Blosxom Archive
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