Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac

Why does Flash suck so bad on the Mac?

mpls2 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:58:18 -0800

Why does Flash suck so bad on the Mac? Are there any Mefites with an inside scoop (or informed opinions) about why Flash (e.g., YouTube videos) chews up so much CPU time on Macs?

It's literally (much) more efficient for me to watch a YouTube video in Windows 7 under Parallels than in Safari.

I know there are other clever ways to get around the problem, but I'm really curious why this problem persists. Perhaps this explains why Steve won't let in on the iPhone??

Thanks!

Best video codec for embedding into PowerPoint?

limon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:51:55 -0800

I'd like to embed video clips in a PowerPoint presentation. It would need to play correctly on both Windows and OS X. What codec is ideal? My first attempt won't play on Macs.

Ascii-art app for OS X?

Wild_Eep — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:43:45 -0800

What is the name of this obscure Mac text editor that draws ASCII art boxes and lines by dragging them out? I last used this app about three years ago, on OS X.

It was a simple text editor, that had a unique feature. You could drag a rectangle and it would create a BBS-style ASCII box. It would also do straight lines. (It may have done more).

Freely downloadable, at no cost. Ran in English.

Advice for saving money on a Mac Pro?

empath — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:35:31 -0800

Advice for buying a Mac Pro without paying top price? I'm ready to buy one and I'm willing to drop a few grand on it, but I don't want to get ripped off and pay $4500 when I could get what I want for much less. I'm thinking the best plan is to get the least expensive one I can get from Apple, and then buy CPU upgrades and Memory/Hard Drive upgrades from a third party. Is that a good plan? Which upgrades are worth buying from apple? I don't qualify for a student discount -- are there any other ways to get discounts? I am friends with several Apple store employees -- is there anything they can do to get me a lower price?

How to let the MBP see the SBS2003 based files!

Fuzzy Dog — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:56:55 -0800

[Mac - Windows Filter] What is the best way to access files on a Windows Small Business Server 2003 from my MPB? So I landed an awesome gig in my field with a great organization. They need me, I want to be here. Win, win, right? Well, they keep all their materials on a MS Windows Small Business Server 2003 - and are all windows users, I am a mac user. I need to get to the files on the SBS2003 from my MBP. What is the best way?

I have a network log in. Should I mount the SBS directory in finder? If so how? Should I install Parallels and connect that way? If I go the Parallels route can I open the files I need access to (mostly word, excel and some graphics files) on the Mac side with all the associated Mac-Awesomeness?

Please keep in mind that I know nothing about SBS! (But have full access if I need it.)

Help hive mind, I need your technical expertise and experience. Thanks in advance!

Details: New this summer Unibody MBP 10.5.8

How does one hook up a sixteen channel firewire mixer to a mac?

johannahdeschanel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:36:10 -0800

How does one hook up a sixteen channel firewire mixer to a late 2008 mac? No firewire input. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.

A real Apple TV.

malaprohibita — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:14:10 -0800

Is it crazy and/or overkill to consider getting a 27 inch imac to replace my tv? I have a 10 year old 27 inch Sony CRT that still works well, but I'm running into its limits for adding peripherals (DVD player, xbox, etc.). I know I can probably get a mac mini or other small form factor pc plus an HDTV for less, but I'm really intrigued by the imac's possibilities. What little tv watching I do is usually Hulu, streaming Netflix, and dvds. I am not interested in Blu-Ray capabilities, as I see the format becoming obsolete sooner rather than later.

Pros:
--2560 x 1440 resolution led lcd.
--can add a tv tuner via usb if I really wanted to.
--a built-in computer and dvd player (convergence!)

Cons:
--may not be able to connect the xbox without some kind of adapter voodoo (although Crossover+Steam is possible).
--there are some issues reported regarding flash playback( = Hulu problems), which may be indicative of other system issues.
--diy repairs and upgrades may be difficult.

I don't really need a bigger display. My wife and I will be sitting > 8ft away, but not by much, and any HD resolution will be better than what I have now.

I'm looking forward to your pros, cons, and even any alternatives you might have.

How do I start using OS X Mail?

Junior687 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:46:45 -0800

How can I start using OS X .Mail App when I'm so in love with Gmail on the web? I recently purchased a Mac and I'm really interested in using OS X's Mail program. The only problem is Gmail is my bread and butter. It has a lot of different features and I love the labeling system. Is there a way to integrate labels, IMAP, and some other Gmail features with Mail? Will it hurt my current setup on the iPhone? What are the pros and cons? Thanks!

Heads Up for both Mac and Windows?

rokusan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:11:08 -0800

Is there a way to make one universal desktop/dashboard for both Mac and Windows? Is there a way to package and deliver desktop gadgets or widgets for Windows and OS X all in the same bundle, or some other combination that can provide for a single universal download?

I've already made a few for myself, but only for OSX, and that's the end of my experience with them. But now I'd like to wrap a few up, polish them a bit, and let clients use them to monitor things too, because I find that a meaningful amount of my time is spent just checking one of them and reporting back to a client question with the result. So I would like to give them a freebie timesaver that will allow them to monitor the info themselves via a desktop doodad.

If they were all OSX users I'd be done now, but these clients aren't all very tech savvy, and they use a mixture of Macs and PCs. I don't want a support nightmare, and I'd prefer not maintaining two different thingies.

The complexity of the gizmos I am interested in would be pretty low: just HTML/Javascript doodads that display info easily sucked from web servers that I can control. (That is, HTTP requests are made for info from mydomain.com, not from Yahoo's stock quotes or anything foreign, so the HTML or RSS or whatever that is served back will always be trusted, reliable and constant.)

The UI needed is nothing fancier than what one gets from Safari's existing "Web Clipping", in fact (just an up to date or 'live' view of some info), but it needs to work as Vista/Win7 desktop gadgets too, and Safari's clips don't do that in Windows.

I know that most such gadgety things are just HTML and JS, so there's no Windows or Mac native code there, so is there any way to avoid making and maintaining two different packages, here?

Also, are there third options that need addressing? Does Konfabulator/or Yahoo Widgets have much of a user base, or can that be ignored in favor of the built-in widgets in recent Windows?

What the hell is wrong with firefox and safari right now ?

carefulmonkey — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:03:59 -0800

What is causing problems with my mac browser firefox/safari ? I don't exactly know when but my Firefox browser last night just started freaking out on me when I moved to different websites or had two tabs open. Example I went to Pitchfork.com and it loads about half the page then freezes up and shows the 'swirling rainbow loading thing' like its opening a really big and intricate thing when yesterday it was fine. This is also happening when I go on gawker based sites and the comments section is loading. What the hell is wrong today that was fine yesterday ?

PS. I switched over to Safari and it did the same thing.

Info:
PowerPC g5
512 MB DDR SDRAM

Firefox:
3.5.4

Stubborn MBP Display Problems

one_bean — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:42:23 -0800

I bring my MacBook Pro to school, and hook it up to an external monitor (with higher resolution) in clamshell mode. I come home and use it as a laptop. Often when I switch from clamshell to laptop, the desktop still thinks it's in the higher resolution, and all my icons are off the screen. Logging out fixes it. Is there an quicker way to fix this? This is a new problem in Snow Leopard.

Does this game genre even have a name?

The Winsome Parker Lewis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:18:17 -0800

What are some great computer games for people who enjoy non-linear privateering, combat, and risky missions? I've loved the Escape Velocity games for years. I recently got into Frontier (previously) and enjoyed it a lot, but it was way too short and easy. I'd like to try Transcendence (previously) but I'm on a Mac, and I'd like to try SAIS (previously) but I can't get it to run under Snow Leopard. Finally, I just discovered Skyrates (previously) and it's fun but so very slow.

All that build-up is to ask: What other Macintosh or Flash games are like these? Specifically I'm looking for games that feature trading, fighting, upgrades and customization, and a big world to explore. I especially love games that let you choose to be good or evil (or neutral) and to become a hero, villain, or impossibly wealthy merchant. Even better if there are a bunch of different factions to choose from besides "good" and "evil," with shades of moral ambiguity. If the game is free that's also a big plus. Any suggestions?

e-mailing multiple addresses within one Entourage Contact.

jmd82 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:43:21 -0800

Using Entourage to send to multiple e-mail addresses with one Contact. Staff members are using Entourage for e-mailing groups. These groups often contain people with multiple e-mail addresses, and for various reasons, all these e-mail addresses must be contacted. So Jon Doe will have a home and work e-mail. However, when sending to a Contact with a Group (or even individually), it will only send to their default address instead of all listed, like Outlook would.

So my question is: Is there a way to send to all e-mail addresses within one contact by default? Some users have hundreds of contacts, each with multiple e-mail addresses listed, in their distribution groups, and we'd rather avoid having to go back and modify all their groups.

Netgear Wireless-G Router WGR614 & AIM

twiggy32 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:30:14 -0800

How do I get my new Netgear Wireless-G Router WGR614 to play nice with AIM? I just installed a new Netgear wireless router and everything seems like it is working fine. However, I have to use AIM at home for work stuff, and I cannot connect. It tries to connect several times without success, and then AIM tells me I tried to log on too many times. I tried using AIM, iChat, and Adium, so it seems to be a problem with AIM not the chat program. I think this may have something to do with opening the right port, but I am at the limit of my technical abilities and my IT guy at work told me it was probably just because Macs suck, so no help there. Any advice?

How do I restore my itunes library, songs, movies and playlists

jeffreyclong — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:00:55 -0800

How do I restore my itunes library, songs, movies and playlists from a cloned backup after doing a clean install of Snow Leopard. I've googled this, and checked the archives and when I've tried it it hasn't worked like it's supposed to.

The goal is for my itunes songs, movies and playlists to appear in itunes exactly as they did prior to the clean install.

Can someone give me as simple as possible instructions for how to do this?

TIA

Is 64-bit Win7/BootCamp worth some effort?

Zonker — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:25:04 -0800

Is 64-bit Win7 possible/worth the hassle on a somewhat elderly Macbook Pro? My late '06 Macbook Pro (version 2,2) won't boot the 64-bit Windows 7 installer (it hangs at "Select CD-Rom Boot Type"), but the 32-bit version installs fine through Boot Camp. It looks like there's a hack (here) that would allow me to boot the 64-bit version by burning it to DVD in a slightly different way.

Is the 64-bit version worth the effort? Is there a significant difference in compatibility with Parallels Desktop between the 32- and 64-bit versions? Any other considerations I should have in mind?

Backing up a messed up older Mac?

southvie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:59:51 -0800

Best method/software for efficient, non-annoying backup for a slightly older Mac (G4 running 10.3.9)? Trying to back up a ton of Pro Tools sessions and other audio junk from an older G4 running OS X 10.3.9 onto a newish LaCie external drive. From several years of misuse, mismanagement and abuse, there are a lot of duplicate and corrupt files. Simply dragging and dropping the folders in Finder is getting annoying, because every time it encounters a corrupt or wonky file I have to start over and be super-diligent to ensure every single possible file is copied. Trying to get about 200G copied this way is becoming annoying and wasting lots of time.

Is there a better method or application I could use (ideally, free or cheap) to let this run for hours and have it automatically skip, check or even fix any messed up files -- and just have it done?

I'm writing a terrible novel and it would be a huge loss if it disappeared

tylerfulltilt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:31:48 -0800

Help me come up with some sort of automated way of sending a file to myself in gmail. Writing a novel. Paranoid about losing it. Currently backing it up to two different ipods and a thumb drive after each writing session, in addition to saving it on the laptop drive.

I'm also sending the file to myself in gmail after each session. However, this process gets annoying. Is there any way to create some sort of script or macro or something that I can click with one button to automatically open safari, navigate to my gmail account, fill in the fields, attach the file and and send it to myself?

If I'm asking for something ridiculous feel free to say so.
Using an iBook g4 with leopard installed.

ipod touch updating error

klangklangston — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:27:22 -0800

Unknown error 0xE8000001 from ipod touch; won't connect. OSX 10.4.11, powerpc.

Last night, I tried to update my girlfriend's ipod touch software so that she could run apps (she'd been wanting it for a while, and I thought it would be a nice surprise). So, I paid my 4.95, downloaded the firmware… and got an error connecting to the iPod (the aforementioned 0xE8000001). I googled around, and it seemed like maybe I needed to update my iTunes version from 8 to 9. OK, so did that. Still, same error.

Fuck.

Now my iTunes says that I need to update my safari so that it can connect to the iTunes store, but I don't believe Safari 4 will run on a powerpc.

How can I: Revert to the earlier version of iTunes and how can I unfuck my girlfriend's iPod before she stabs me in the face?

How can I create vCards from email sigs?

mfitz — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:05:40 -0800

How can I auto-magically create a vCard from an email signature? I'm growing tired of the repeated copy-and-paste operations required to make new entries in my Apple Address Book when I have a nicely formatted signature file right in front of me. Is there a script or other handy tool that will do this work for me, guessing which bit of info is the name, phone number, etc. and placing them into a new vCard for me?

Weather software for the Mac?

nitsuj — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:06:10 -0800

Is there any weather software for the Mac that is comparable to GRLevel3 on Windows? I'm looking for some good software for viewing live radar data in the U.S. (NEXRAD?) Most of the software seems to be for Windows only. Ideally I'd like for it to be out of the browser and offer a higher level of control than typically offered by web-based radars.

Thanks!

To mac or not to mac

missmagenta — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:21:31 -0800

Which mac should I get? I have been offered the opportunity to get paid to learn how to make iphone apps by one of my clients. I've also had other enquiries about them that I've had to turn down in the past. At first I thought, great! I love learning new things, particularly programming things but then I found out I'll need a mac to do it - not so great.

I have tentatively been offered about twice the cost of a new macbook pro to do this but it will be paid over a period of 6 months and is realistically contingent on me actually being able to write the app that they want, right now I have no idea if I'll be able to do it since I can't even write "hello world" without getting a mac to do it on.

Really I don't want to spend a lot of money in case it doesn't work out. I'm moderately confident that it will but I really wont know for sure until I get some practical, hands on experience. But macs are really expensive, a new Macbook Pro would cost more than my gaming PC and work laptop combined.

I don't have space for another desktop machine so I've been looking at laptops but even on used older models on ebay I'd be paying the same as I paid for my dell laptop 3 years ago for a pretty similar spec machine which seems wasteful. I am due a new laptop since the warranty on my dell is nearly up (though I could pay to extend it another 2 years) but a new Macbook Pro would cost 50% more than an equivalent spec dell inspiron and I'd have to buy a copy of windows which would be another £100 on top of that.
Another thing I'm concerned about with the mac laptops is durability - I'm not exactly gentle with my stuff, I leave my laptop on 24/7, I've dropped it (from the sofa to the carpetted floor) several times, it has multiple scratches on the case that I have no idea where they came from and the heat has melted the glue on all its little rubber feet. In the 3 years that I've had it I've had the motherboard and palm rest replaced twice and 3 new power cables - all supplied next business day at my home as part of the warranty I got with the machine. Since I need it for work, that's pretty important. If I did get a mac to use as my main machine and it breaks I can't afford just to send it off to them and wait for it to be repaired.

I looked at the mac mini and its definitely at a more comfortable price point but there's still the issue of keyboard and monitor. I don't have room for a whole new set up and I don't want to keep unplugging my monitor and keyboard from my PC to plug into the mac - is there a simple, affordable solution to this problem? I thought about remote desktopping from my laptop to the mac mini (so it wouldn't need a monitor and keyboard) but there doesn't seem to be a simple, affordable way to do that. Windows provide a windows->mac rdp client for free but apple don't seem to have reciprocated. I found one product that claimed to do the job but it was about $200!!

I just don't know what to do, I really want to do this, not just because it would be a potentially valuable new skill with a nice cash incentive, I really want to help this client out.

And as a sneaky bonus question, if I do find a way to get a mac without feeling completely ripped off, what are the differences/limitations of the ipod touch vs iphone when it comes to apps? Will I be able to test most functionality on the ipod? Basically all the app really will be doing is reading and displaying data from the web, the only really 'special' functionality would be GPS functions - I don't know if the iPod Touch has gps but realistically I wouldn't be able to test that anyway, all the landmarks the app would refer to are in france and I'm in the UK.

Mac to PC help from far away

amethysts — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:29:33 -0800

I bought a used iMac G5 and I'm getting ready to send it to my mom as a gift. She hasn't used a mac since like 1995.What is a good program to install on here so that I can help her remotely? I'm on a PC. Free would be the best. I don't have a lot of money for this project. I'm thinking she might need a little help getting used to the whole OS X experience, and I may need to install things for her later on.

The computer is a G5 with OS X 10.4 with a PowerPC chip. I've found that this combination is nearly impossible to find software for. Neither of us has a webcam.

Any other suggestions for free software would be great. I've got iLife and iWorks 08 already.

I just accidentally broke my friend's ridiculously fragile brand new laptop. Please help me fix it.

iamkimiam — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:14:58 -0800

My good friend just purchased a $3k Apple laptop, which she received today. I spent four hours this afternoon installing software and setting it up for her. Once we were all done, and ready to go out and celebrate good times, new laptops, and Friday nights, we high fived, and I shut the laptop gently...with the tiny, clear, flexible, plastic charger cap unknowingly inside. Now the screen is completely cracked, fractalled, damaged, and very sadly colorful. What can I do? I am planning on going to the Apple store first thing tomorrow morning. What should I say? How can I make this right?

Additional info: I have been a loooong time Apple customer and purchaser. I am also currently extremely poor, but I will do whatever it takes to make sure my friend is good to go and happy. Please help me!

WHYOHWHY aren't the charger caps, A) fluorescent-colored, and B) attached to the cord!?!?

Best 27" iMac Arm?

fairmettle — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:21:50 -0800

What are the best options for a desk mounted VESA compatible articulating arm for the new 27" iMac? Up until recently, I had an old G5 iMac and although the included stand was an elegant design, I was never very satisfied with the limited range of motion it provided. So now that it has finally come time to purchase a new iMac, I would like to get a well built, stable articulated arm that provides a wide range of viewing positions.

I'm interested in hearing any ideas, experiences, and/or suggestions for a mounting arm that would provide convenient and safe positioning for the weight (20.5 lbs.) and width (27" diagonal) of my new machine.

Some examples that I have been looking at are the Ergotron MX and the iLift, and the Innovative 7500.

With the new iMac's large screen size and my particular room set-up, I would like an arm that is long enough to be viewable at my desk for work and from my bed which is right beside it for watching DVD's.

Out of the models I listed above, the 7500 has the greatest range of movement (27" horizontal and 18" vertical - here is a YouTube video showing it). In my research so far, it seems that if you want to find a longer arm you need to go up to the medical/dental type suppliers such as the ICW Elite (with a 42" reach or longer).

Please don't send me into my next iMac purchase unarmed - - any and all thoughts and suggestions would be most appreciated!