BYU Mac Users Group » joeyslaptop

Bring Your Desktop To Life

joeyslaptop — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:10:22 +0000

Every now and then, I manage to create a fun little application for my Mac. When they prove to be really neat, I like to share them. My latest creation is a simple, straight-forward little app called MagicDesktopSwitch. Download it and check it out. It’s free!

So… impress your PC friends! MagicDesktopSwitch switches on your screen saver to run as your Desktop image. Keep MagicDesktopSwitch in your Dock and you can toggle the amazing and magical screen-saver effect at will.

If you don’t have a lot of hard-drive space but like to pimp your Mac, MagicDesktopSwitcher is only 84.7KB. If you don’t like having apps hogging a lot of memory and processor power, as soon as your screen-saver engine starts, MagicDesktopMagic quits and does not idle in the background.

Also, the BYUMUGRSS widget is available at the same page. Check them both out at http://joey.mimweddings.com/downloads.html.

See The Sudden-motion Sensor On Your Mac Laptop at Work

joeyslaptop — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:42:04 +0000

The sudden motion sensor, invented by Apple and placed in all it’s new laptops (since 2005), is a sensor device that recognizes sudden jolts and tips and can sense if your computer is falling. To keep the data on your hard drive safe, the sudden-motion sensor parks the hard-drive heads before your laptop makes contact with a hard surface. When the computer is stable again, the hard-drive returns to operating normally.

If your laptop was advertised as having a sudden-motion sensor (basically any Apple laptop made 2005 or later), then you can play this funny little video game called Tilt Scream Pong. It’s called “Tilt” because you tip your computer to control the paddle; “Scream” because screaming controls the size of your paddle; and “Pong” because it is a pong game. To download this game, which is less than 1 MB, for free, click this link or go to the adresse below. LINK

http://futurefeeder.com/index.php/archives/2007/01/02/tilt-scream-pong/

Wow Your PC Friends With This Fancy Screensaver

joeyslaptop — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:39:40 +0000

The Fenêtres Volantes screensaver floats your windows around the screen in 3D with shadow and reflection effects. The screensaver combines the reflective effects with a black background as seen in some of the more recent OS X apps.

Gradually your desktop shrinks into the background and the windows on your screen begin to drift around the empty space between the front of your screen and the desktop image way off in the background.

When you wiggle the mouse to return to your normal tasks, the screensaver undoes itself. The desktop image zooms back into place and your windows fly back to their original positions.

It is hands-down the best screensaver I have seen since the Loops savers and the realistic fishtank screensaver - and this one is absolutely FREE! (although donations of whatever you want to pay are welcome, of course).

Here is the link http://www.objective-cocoa.org/fenetresvolantes/en/index_en.html

PS. Future versions are expected to have live content in the windows rather than screenshots of the current window views. In other words, movies may play too as they fly around.

A BYU MUG RSS News Widget Just Released

joeyslaptop — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 02:44:21 +0000

Download the stylish BYU MUG RSS Widget to keep up to date with upcoming events and the with latest news for Mac users at BYU.

To download the widget, go to here and click the download button. Once downloaded, open the widget on the desktop to install it.

It works great and looks good.