OS integration is one of the greatest things about OS X. One of the things this allows is using the cross-application spell checker in Safari.

To activate spell check in Safari, press Command-: (colon) while in a text box, or select “Edit,” “Spelling and Grammar,” and finally “Show Spelling and Grammar.”

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Safari, Spell Check

Safari can show a useful status bar at the bottom of each window that displays URLs when you mouse over links, as well as information about pages loading and other similar things. To activate the status bar, simply enter Command-/ (Forward Slash) or select “View” from the menu bar, and then “Show Status Bar.”

Technorati Tags: Apple, Safari, Status Bar, OS X

Quicksilver, a ridiculously powerful application-launcher, can be used to set up iTunes keyboard shortcuts. To set up these “triggers,” launch Quicksilver and click on its menu bar icon or control-click its dock icon and select “Triggers….” Then, select iTunes in the bar on the left. This brings up a list of every shortcut you could possibly set through the application. Click in the “Trigger” column of whichever triggers you want to use, then enter the keyboard shortcut.

Personally, I use these:
Next Song: Option-M
Previous Song: Option-N
Pause: Option-P
Play: Option-[
Set Rating to 0-5: Option-0-5

Technorati Tags: Apple, Quicksilver, iTunes, Keyboard Shortcuts, OS X

To make text in an email you are composing link to a URL, simply highlight the text and select “Edit” from the menu bar, then select “Link,” and finally, “Add….” Just enter the URL you want it to link to and you are done. To remove the link, do the same, but select “Remove…” instead of “Add….”

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mail, Link, OS X

Unfortunately Murphy’s Law struck this morning while trying to wake my powerbook up from sleeping. Last night I went to bed and everything was fine, but this morning the computer wouldn’t turn on.

After trying to diagnose the problem myself and failing–I decided to take it to an Apple Service Center. A quick inspection lead the technician to believe one of the following:

1) The power button was not working correctly and wouldn’t send the signal to boot to the logic board.
2) The logic board was fried.
3) The DC converter somehow wasn’t converting power correctly.

Basically when I press and hold the power button the hard drive begins to spin (I can hear it when I put my ear very close) but immediately fails. Like within the first second.

My question (I know, a tip site asking for help :)) is how would one start the computer directly from the logic board. I’ve tried to research this but no luck.

Here are a few more symptoms and things I’ve tried:
- Battery is fully charged, I confirmed this by pressing the button on the back of the battery
- I reset the PRAM
- I tried starting the computer from the logic board, but I don’t think I’m doing it in the right place
- AppleCare expired last year, along with my warranty when I replaced my LCD

I have a little experience taking the Powerbook apart–I’m just afraid it’s turned into an expensive paperweight.

I know this site has lots of experience Mac users, so what do you guys think? Time to throw in the towel and buy a new one or fight for the old G4?

This is the first time trying to use polls in posts. Hopefully everything works OK.

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Wii Transfer is a Mac companion to the Wii that sends photos from iPhoto, and music and movies from iTunes to the Wii via the Internet Channel, through the local network. If you’re interested in turning your Wii into more of a media center, you should definitely check this out.

Technorati Tags: Wii, Apple, Nintendo, Wii Transfer

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll. The question was a simple one, What’s your age group?

The average age group of MacTips users is 20-29. I expected this to be the most common answer, but was surprised when 14-19 lead the pack for a while.

There were 128 votes in total. I decided to leave the 1-13 group out of the graph because it smudged the results.

NetNewsWire is my RSS reader of choice, and I really like that it allows three different layout views. The first is a “Traditional View” which has a sidebar on the left and then two boxes on the right side. The second view is a widescreen three-column view, and the last is a “combined” view that shows a little of each article in a more Safari-like view.

To switch between the views, you can press one of the buttons along the top designated as “Layout,” Alternatively, you can press Command-1 for the traditional view, Command-2 for the widescreen view, or Command-3 for the combined view.

Technorati Tags: OS X, Layout, NetNewsWire, RSS

Apple Address Book has two views, one is a column view, and the other is a single contact viewer. The standard way to switch between the two is to press one of the two buttons on the top left. There is also a keyboard shortcut to doing this, which is pressing Command-1 for the column view or Command-2 for the single contact view.

Technorati Tags: Address Book, Apple, Keyboard Shortcuts