Similar to the Character Map application for Windows, CharacterPal is a Dashboard widget that helps you input foreign symbols. For instance, do you remember how to make this  Apple logo appear on your keyboard?

    (!!!)

‘Course you know! It’s Option + Shift + K! But if by some incidence you forgot how todo this, CharacterPal can always help you remember. Now you won’t have any problems knowing how to make the Apple logo appear using keyboard presses.

Post from: EveryJoe

We’re giving away a Mophie Juice Pack to extend your iPhone’s battery as well as three iPod BodyGuardz of your choice. For more details, you can head on to this post and join in on the raffle!

Post from: EveryJoe

How to activate Java 6 on OS X

1. Do a system update and download the latest Java installation.
2. Go to Applications –> Utilities –> Java –> Java Preferences
3. Click to activate Java Version 6 (refer to image highlights above)
4. Drag Java SE 6 64 Bit to the top of the priority list (refer to image highlights above)
5. You’re done! Now you can install the application onto your Macintosh

If you’re running on an old G4 Mac, you won’t be able to run this. Time for an upgrade?

Post from: EveryJoe

The opposite of this statement goes: Upgrade to Windows Vista, contribute to e-waste. With the launch of Windows Vista, consumers and enterprises will be forced to upgrade their systems. Multiply this by all the casual Windows users and enterprises that use Windows and you get a load of e-wastage.

“With Vista, Microsoft could effectively hasten the obsolescence of half the world’s PCs, especially in the absence of fully-functioning global take back systems for PCs,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau Baconguis said in a statement.

“Companies will feel the need to upgrade more computers sooner–and when they do, the world is unfortunately not prepared for the massive E-waste the upgrades will generate,” she added. [source]

I look back at my PC system and the iBook sitting beside me. I haven’t upgraded my first Mac since I got it in 2004. It was actually a second hand 2003 system I acquired from a friend so you can basically say that its been working for almost 4 years. Add one more year to that and you get the Windows Vista development cycle.

*oh noes a holier-than thou Mac post* I guess it just boils down to the fact that a Mac has (1) a higher resale value and (2) it can run the latest operating system upgrades without having to upgrade any hardware.

Post from: EveryJoe

So there – I became rather uncomfortable with the idea that someone would like to hear my views as a Mac user. Doesn’t she know I use PC’s too? I own both machines – as a true-blue geek I don’t participate in the OS wars as I embrace them all (no experience with Linux though, but I’d gladly triple boot my Mac once I get one of them Intel versions).

Truth be told, I can be smug. Just like the stereotype Mac user. But I am also fair – as I primarily use a desktop PC at home for playing games and doing long term work (such as long articles) as I have a bigger screen and wider area of space to work with (my 2004 12 inch iBook is what I use when I’m mobile).

So then back to the question of Vista. When I first previewed the beta version I was more underwhelmed with the new perks because I was expecting to see something value added brought to the table. My reactions were primarily in the “Oh okay cool” and less of the “Wow Aero is really great!” I’m not saying that these new features are useless. It’s just that they already exist in OS X – Spotlight Search, Widgets, Expose …

And then maybe – just maybe I thought that the problem with Vista had more to do with the marketing than the features. These demo folk target consumers who want to be wow-ed by kick ass technology breakthroughs rather than things like security and networking. So might as well, in their PR’s marketing plan, highlight these features. I’m sure there are many more bells and whistles that true geeks would appreciate with the arrival of the BEST VERSION of WINDOWS. But since the general populance aren’t geeks, let’s stick to the eye candy.

Post from: EveryJoe

• Publishing Layout View lets users create incredibly layout-rich documents such as newsletters, fliers and brochures by uncovering desktop publishing layout tools and providing text box entry.
• Ledger Sheets enable anyone to use Excel to handle common financial management tasks. Home and small-business users can balance checkbooks, track accounts or manage investment portfolios more easily than ever.
• My Day allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what application they’re currently working in. My Day is a stand-alone application that doesn’t take up much screen space, offers at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without launching Entourage, and lets users color-code everything for visualizing daily priorities.

[source]

Post from: EveryJoe

I guess the fact is that Apple IS a hardware company and I would be damned to open up a Mac and know what to do, as compared to opening up a some damned PC and disassembling it to bits.

In any case, this article shows how Microsoft was indeed bowled over with how quick OS X Spotlight was, apart from the many FUNCTIONAL and ATTRACTIVE features there are.

Post from: EveryJoe

This doesn’t mean that you have successfully downloaded the file. Some people who may choose the “Save As” function after the gray bar reaches the end of the stream may notice that iTunes will only save a part of the podcast. This is because you still have to wait for your computer to finish downloading the entire stream onto the computer. Check the downloads tab to see the running time left for downloading podcasts.

Post from: EveryJoe

Seen: Flea market in the Philippines.

Oooh nasty.

Post from: EveryJoe

This is all about the fiasco on the buying of stock offered to him at a much lower price than the market:

Between those two dates the value of Apple stock had risen 15 per cent. In other words, “it seems that Jobs was given the right to buy Apple stock at $18.30 a share after it had already jumped to $21.01.”

Hands in the till? Apple says “definitely not!” Quoting the Seattle Times again, “Apple argues that Jobs and other current executives were unaware of the phony records from the nonexistent October meeting. It also says that Jobs didn’t really understand the accounting significance of backdating the options.”

Aww poor guy. But as of late, I’m more concerned about his new iPhone line coming to bloom. *Augh. Reality distortion field .. must … resist..!!*

Post from: EveryJoe