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Power tips for extended battery time on Macbook Pro

2009-06-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

On the web you can find all kinds of tips for extending Macbook Pro battery time. In this post I'll explain methods to squeeze most juice out of a battery for a working session, not how to make your battery last longer (in terms of months or years).

I searched for more advanced and less known methods to optimize Mac for battery usage beyond the usually cited ones. I implemented those methods and I am happy with the results, to the extent that I may not need to buy a new Macbook Pro battery just yet. It's now 39 months old with 506 loadcycles, and still has 75% capacity, not bad for its age. Fully charged it estimated for a bit more than 2,5 hours of working time, and with the help of the power tips in this post this estimate has become a reality - I could hope for max 1,5 hours of fun before the optimization.

1. Use Coolbook

Downclock and lower the voltage for different predefined processor speeds with the help of Coolbook. This method is by far the most effective if you want to prolong battery session, still it may be a bit tricky to set up for an average user. I'm not going to explain this method in detail because it is well documented here and in the Coolbook manual. But briefly, what worked in my case, was finding a processor speed/voltage pair that works reliably on my Mac, that is the highest stable clock frequency at the lowest possible voltage (in order to minimize battery drain), which is 0.9500V.

In my case, this highest stable frequency is 1,67 GHz and with the help of Coolbook driver my Mac is now preset to run with 1670 MHz on 0.95V when it's using battery power. By default that would be 1670 MHz at 1.14V, so energy savings are obvious, not to mention that MBP runs cooler, which also keeps fan RPMs at bay.

The result is that battery now drains way more slowly than before. Still you will have to experiment and find appropriate freq/voltage pairs for your respective machine. Expect some kernel panicking before you set things right. Backup beforehand.

Offtopic: when running on AC power, my setting is max speed (2004 MHz) at the lowest stable voltage, that is 1.05V (instead of 1.22V). This helps keep my MBP cooler, and maxing out the CPU now reaches temperatures of max. 80 degrees Celsius (could reach temps above 90 C before that).

Download Coolbook: coolbook.se

2. Freeze running apps with Blitz

When running on battery power, develop a habit to hide and suspend (freeze, pause) running apps instead of closing them if you are currently not focusing on them. An app called Blitz (there are similar apps out there as well) can help you with that.

Instead of loading/unloading applications (and using battery power to spin HD), it can be more appropriate to simply just freeze any open applications that you're currently not focusing on (for instance hidden or minimized windowed apps), and prevent them from using any processor cycles by randomly idling in the background.

It is probably a good practice to hide the apps before freezing them, unless you like seeing spinning beachballs on your screen when hovering over a frozen app window (otherwise not problematic).

Occasionaly a process called "spindump" will show up in the Activity monitor using around 10% CPU, only to stop after a while. It's generally not a problem.

Download Blitz: blitzapp.com

3. Temporarily suspend Spotlight usage when using battery

Indexing processes in the background (such as "mds", "mdworker" etc.) use CPU power, spin hard drive and drain battery. While I find Spotlight an extremely useful feature of OSX, particularly on Leopard, I was looking for a way to disable it only for when I'm using battery.

Even though I've known Spotless to be able to turn off hard drive indexing and fiddled around with Privacy settings in the Spotlight preference pane, the problem with these methods is that you also delete index files, so when you turn Spotlight back on, it has to reindex the whole drive again (taking more than 1 hour on my maxed out HD). This is certainly something you don't want to do every other day.

So how to suspend Spotlight and keep the index file? You can turn off Spotlight temporarily by unloading mds process. Here's the tip:

To turn OFF Spotlight temporarily, type in Terminal:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

To turn ON Spotlight temporarily:

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

Source: Nerdlogger.com

4. Turn off speakers (mute)

Not a very often mentioned method. Muting internal speakers (turning them off) or using headphones instead saves the energy used to power idle (standby) mode of internal speakers.

5. Turn off unessential background daemons and follow general tips for OSX optimization

Do take into account that tips in this post are only an extension on top of general tips for OS optimization, such as disabling Dock and other eye candy, dimming screen brightness, turning off bluetooth and airport when unused, ejecting DVDs and other general tips. I freed extra CPU cycles by turning off trackpad tools and helper daemons such as Zoooom, Evernote helper, Coversutra etc.

As with all things regarding OS optimization, keep an eye on Activity Monitor. With proper optimisation, CPU usage should be near-flat most of the time:

6. And finally: defragment (?)

I haven't done it in a while, but fully defragmenting your hard drive is probably a healthy practice to minimize HD spinning while it searches around for scattered file fragments.

Speed up Omnigraffle with QuartzGL

2009-05-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you use Omnigraffle for creating website wireframes and other kind of work on your Mac, here is a little tip on how to get this great tool to run a lot faster: launch it with QuartzGL enabled.

If you're not sure what QuartzGL is, it is very roughly a feature in Leopard (and "Quartz Extreme 2D" in Tiger) which uses GPU to draw OSX user interface - and is not enabled by default. The main reason is that enabling this feature on a OS-level results in various drawing inaccuracies and other instabilities. However, running this feature on an application basis can be beneficial.

This trick might well become obsolete with the introduction of Snow Leopard (and a properly modified Omnigraffle probably), but until 10.6 finally comes around, it will help. I've been using this trick for quite a while for running various applications on a Powerbook G4 and now on a MacBook Pro, and speed boosts are by far most noticeable with Omnigraffle.

There are quite a few how-to's out there on how to enable QuartzGL. Enabling it in Terminal might work for some, it never worked for me. What worked was playing around with a program called Quartz Debug. To install Quartz Debug, I usually had to install the whole Xcode Developer Tools package - you can download it from the Apple Developer Connection site (http://developer.apple.com/technology/Xcode.html), a registration is required and it's free. You might try and download Quartz Debug alone from somewhere else, without having to download XCode. I haven't done specifically that but I think it should work as well.

Once Xcode is installed, you can find Quartz Debug in "Developer > Applications > Performance Tools" folder.

The convenient thing about Quartz Debug is that it makes easy to enable QuartzGL only for specific applications, without having to enable QGL system-wide. The basic procedure to use with a specific application (say Omnigraffle) is to:

1. enable QuartzGL in Quartz Debug BEFORE launching Omnigraffle.

dock icon will show that QGL is enabled:

2. launch Omnigraffle.
3. when Omnigraffle is up and running, disable Quartz GL in Quartz Debug.

4. kill (force quit) Quartz Debug (Alt-Cmd-Esc, select the app and force-quit it)

Open any of your existing works in Omnigraffle, grab and move a stack of elements around and see if you experience how much faster Omnigraffle is. Compare performance with QuartzGL disabled and than enabled and please report about your experiences.

Even after applying this trick, Omnigraffle might slow down to its "normal" mode after a while. Having only a few applications open and freeing up some RAM might help, as well as restarting Omnigraffle (again with QuartzGL enabled, disable after launch).

Having QGL enabled works well and stable with some other applications (Preview), while with others you might experience some drawing artefacts and even crashes (Photoshop, even Safari). On certain systems (particularly with older graphics cards) even kernel panics with QuartzGL aren't uncommon, so use this feature how you find appropriate. At the moment I am using a MacBook Pro, machine model 1,1 with 2 GB RAM, Radeon X1600 w/256 Mb VRAM and Omnigraffle works blazingly fast in QGL mode without any crashes.

Hope this tip is helpful.

Oh and by the way: today is Omnigraffle's 8th birthday! Happy BD!

Things OSX

2008-06-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaWhen I updated my system to Leopard, I realized that my preferred task management tool iGTD 1.4.5.6 didn't work well under OSX 10.5.2 anymore - crashing often and randomly, it made me go look for another task jotting application. I've tried Omnifocus, but it was easily too complicated for what I needed to do - that is, to enter ideas and tasks as they come, by easily invoking a text field and typing in my stuff. So I came across Things (OSX) from Cultured Code and it's been great. Stable, beautiful and flexible application, which does one thing and does it great - that is, managing tasks by the Getting Things Done principle. Apart from allowing very flexible tagging of entries, it also supports syncing with iCal, and therefore collecting tasks entered via other channels - web, mobile etc. And this one I use without the Quicksilver input manager. Recommended!

Using Quicksilver with Daylite 3

2007-12-08T03:37:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a licence for Daylite 3 productivity suite, after using it for one month and getting hooked on it. This package is flexible enough to fulfill my needs about project and task management, having a comprehensive list of all contacts, assigning tasks to them etc etc. A powerful tool, which i use everytime the grind becomes overwhelming and I need to track all active tasks, even the smallest ones (which happens quite very often). Daylite with its database capabilities allows me to create a desired number of different views on my (and others') activities via smart folders, so it succeeds where other useful getting-things-done apps (such as iGTD and Journler) fail.

Yet not all is perfect. Daylite 3 is a big package which delivers a lot for the dollar, but still leaves quite a lot to be desired. The first thing I missed is Quicksilver integration. With iGTD, for instance, i could enter a task/idea to a list the moment it popped in my head, via Quicksilver of course. I wanted to do the same thing with Daylite, so i needed a super-simple way to get fresh tasks into Daylite's "inbox".

Here is a quite useful and well working solution:
1. keep using (aka install) iGTD,
2. (set up to) enter tasks via Quicksilver, they will show up in iGTD's Inbox
3. set-up automatic syncing of iGTD with iCal, the moment iGTD goes out of focus, tasks from iGTD will show up in iCal, calendar "@Inbox"
4. set up Daylite 3 to sync with iCal's "@Inbox" calendar
5. create a view in Daylite which shows only entries tagged "@Inbox"

So if the procedure is set right, you will:
a. Trigger quicksilver, hit ".", enter a task, hit enter to run the (should be default) command "Put into iGTD inbox"

b. Move focus on iGTD (if not already focused), then focus away from it - aka select next app with Cmd-Tab

c. Quicksilver will immediately sync entries with iCal, Daylite will instantly sync with iCal and voila! New task shows up in Daylite's inbox, waiting to be edited further.

Third desktop on OSX?

2007-11-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post and in the mean time I came across lots of great software. Yet nothing is quite like this one. If I'd been full of praise for Synergy and its properties of controlling multiple desktops (of different machines) at the same time (and place), this newly discovered package takes multitasking another step further. How to add a third screen to an already existing dual-monitor setup? "Buying" a triple-head video card is of course one way to do it, but in theory, it should also be doable by assigning a portion of (real) desktop to be accessible via VNC or a similar remote desktop client. For it to be actually useful, one could find a way to artificially extend (i.e. double the size of) an existing desktop, then view this extended chunk in a VNC client on a completely different machine - whose monitor preferably sits next to your dual-head setup.

And that is EXACTLY what folks at JINX from Germany did. Their ScreenRecycler is an absolutely fantastic piece of software - its drivers allow for a virtual extension of your desktop - in fact creating a whole new desktop that acts as a regular one. After installing the driver, rebooting and launching ScreenRecycler app, the new display shows up in Tiger's Display Preferences. You can select its size/resolution and positioning against existing desktops:

My setup is a 12-inch G4 Powerbook (64 Mb VRAM) with 1024x768 primary desktop, external 1400x1050 desktop, and a Windows XP machine with 1152x864 monitor and RealVNC (recommended) installed. After starting Screenrecycler (as sort of a VNC server), launch Real VNC client in WinXP, type in Mac's IP address on a local network...

...and Mac's third desktop shows up on PC's own monitor:

Totally awesome. Jinx is definitely getting my dollars for this brilliant piece.

Hiding menu bar in OSX

2007-09-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

If for some reason you wish to gain some extra pixels (suitable for designing on macintosh laptops, especially 12" Powerbooks and 13" Macbooks), there is a cool haxie that hides OSX's menu bar. It's called Menufela.

Get it at NinjaKitten: http://ninjakitten.us/

Groupcal 3 in practice - migrating Work to Mac

2007-09-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't manage anymore. I simply HATED having to check my job calendar from anywhere via VPN. I needed a solution that is way simpler and I was looking forward to have a good enough reason to purchase a Groupcal licence. This reason suddenly showed up once and I must say this is a welcome upgrade to working on a Macintosh. Price is not too much at 54.95$, and it's quite worth it. It allows for fuss-free creation of calendar entries, updating those into Exchange server, so everyone can check on your availability, then a simple creation of meeting requests... update to and from Exchange and stay up to date.

Purchase Groupcal 3 here: http://www.snerdware.com/groupcal/

Lost and found - Quicksilver beta51

2007-05-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I'd last used Quicksilver. I remember it as a nice app, yet in my effort (read posts on optimization) to get all the "unnecessary" stuff out of the system, Quicksilver (then version beta36) came on the dump list as well. Now here's beta51, my Tiger is crammed with all sorts of apps which I cannot fit into Dock anymore, so I decided to give Quicksilver a second shot.

With all of the recommended plugins installed, I can now launch any application, open any folder, mp3, address book entry, video, mail, by squeezing a Quicksilver trigger (F12 in my case) and typing in a few letters. Quicksilver will remember the letter sequence which you use most frequently for launching a certain application (for example VIRT can stand for VirtueDesktops or VirtualPC, yet if you're launching mostly VirtueDesktops, Quicksilver will remember this as a preferred selection).

Same goes for music - type in BRO (as Browse) and:

Forget the Dock. I love my Quicksilver :). Download: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

Synergy - one keyboard, one mouse

2007-05-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ever felt like two keyboards and two mice on a desktop, controlling two different machines, are two too many? With Synergy, you can control all computers around you with a single keyboard and mouse. All you need to do is set the controlling computer up as a Synergy server and the rest as Synergy clients, regardless of whether these clients are Macs or PCs. And you will instantly get a feeling as if you're working on a two, three, n-monitor setup. Set the server-clients in a desired order - according to how your monitors are positioned - just like in Display Setup:

Run both server and client and you're done. No more keyboard switching. Enjoy!

Oh yes....download Synergy at Sourceforge.

VirtueDesktops - the "must have" Mac software

2007-05-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

A week ago I had a conversation with another Mac enthusiast (our web designer of course) about all the cool software that is available for Mac. Naturally I went exploring a bit afterwards and just by incident I happened to run into the coolest thing I'd seen on Mac in a long time.

The thing be named VirtueDesktops and is some kind of a predecessor to what's coming in October with the Leopard OSX package -> Spaces, that is. VirtueDesktops is now a discontinued project (I'm wondering why), yet 0.54beta version is enough to get a grip how multiple desktops will work in Leopard. I must admit I hadn't expected this to run nearly as smooth, but even on a 12" G4 Powerbook it runs like a dream. It allows for 3 (maybe even more, this seems to be enough for now) desktop setups, with unbelievably smooth transitions between them - as in Keynote 3, there are flips, cube rolls, slides, warps, and many other jaw dropping effects. If you felt like 12 or 13-inch Macbooks' monitors are a bit tiny, VirtueDesktops will expand horizons for you. Not just that this looks awesome, it also runs unbelievably smooth, and what's most important - it's useful. A quick check at the Activity monitor will reveal VirtueDesktops' CPU usage to be: under 1%.

Desktop switching using Cube effect (my favorite):

(picture taken from Lifehacker)

Switching between open apps (Dock, Command-Tab) will flick-open the desktop on which a certain app is running. You can also move open apps from one desktop to another. Command-H (Hide) an application, switch to desired desktop and unhide the application back there. And download? Here.

Instant Messenging on Macs - aMSN and iChat

2007-04-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

So far the only few really useful things that Microsoft did for Mac users are the Microsoft Office for Macs (we almost can't do without Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and the OSX Remote Desktop Client (which I use to connect to my office PC via VPN). As for Microsoft Messenger client, it kept stagnating and with every new release we were missing the more advanced features, such as videochats etc.

Fortunately, there's no need to use the dinosaur Microsoft Messenger anymore. aMSN is the answer to the sloppiness of Microsoft and another argument to throw at potential switchers. aMSN does all the tricks that newer PC versions of MSN do, video included. Download it at Sourceforge.

As for iChat, it looks like Apple fixed bugs in the previous version. But iChat is not only an AIM friendly client, it also supports GoogleTalk.

So a quick comparison of PC vs. Mac IM clients reveals the following - to IM all your contacts you will need a few different clients on both platforms:

PC:
1. Trillian (AIM/MSN/ICQ/GoogleTalk)
2. Skype

Mac:
1. aMSN (MSN)
2. iChat (AIM/GoogleTalk)
3. Skype

Consolidation seems still a bit in favor of PCs, yet I still need to try Adium.

Audio Kontrol 1 (part 2)

2007-04-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

I was about to make a post some time ago about Audio Kontrol 1 (Native instruments) being faulty (after the first-glance enthusiasm had passed), yet it was a good thing to not to do so.

What was happening? In a brief examination of its performance I've noticed that hardware was 'spiking' the otherwise idle CPU every 5-7 seconds or so to 75% or even more. Obviously it had something to do with a buggy driver (then version 1.9.8).

After a few months I decided to check for an update. Not too easy to find, but there it is all:
1. an Audio Kontrol 1 firmware update
2. a new NIUSBAudio 2.0.0 driver

Download here.

Now it works like it should have worked from the start. No more CPU spikes. Steady solid performance under Logic Pro 7 and of course Traktor 3.

Now I can safely take Audio Kontrol gadget with me to DJ gigs (w/Powerbook 12" 1,33GHz). No need for a DIY DJ cable kit (huh?).

Thanks to NI for this update!

iMac - turning display off in an instant

2007-04-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of (sometimes quite stupidly unreasonable) ranting over iMac's "handicap" for not having a monitor off button (just an option with a 1 minute delay). Oh dear, "let's all sell our Macs, it's a friggin faulty product, it's not why I switched to it from PC...".

A proggy that'll do this is called Sleep Display and can be found here. As a widget and as an app. Since I turned the flashy Dashboard off, I'll use the app (if at all).

Happy now?

Optimizing your Mac part two (Logic Pro related)

2007-04-15T04:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my G5 iMac (first version) just starts acting weird when doing processor hungry tasks. And while already optimised to quite some extent, there are some extra tricks to keep load off CPU and lets you squeeze those last bits out of your mac, especially if it's a 'vintage' one.

First thing is to free as much RAM as possible (I only have 768 megs), therefore when doing heavy stuff, such as Logic Pro audio processing, the default Tiger's eye candy won't help you much.
You've already done all the stuff mentioned in my previous article, but there's more to do - in fact these practices made Logic Pro load fall from 80% to 55% (on a certain project) which is not at all negligible.

1. Use a proggy called Shadow Killer - run it and window shadows are gone. Run it again and they're back up. Download here

2. Stash (not necessarily trash) all the junk on your desktop. Create a folder somewhere else on the hard drive and put the stuff in (except HD mounts etc. which obviously you can't). With only a few icons left back there, a task named Windowserver won't have a lot to look around for when you move the mouse cursor around.

3. Might help if you turn off font smoothing at a certain font size (System Prefs -> Appearance), for instance, at size 9 or 10.

4. Turn Dock magnification off.

5. In Logic Pro, turn font Anti-aliasing off, as well as other visualities (gradients, resolution of waveform definitions etc.)

6. When launching Logic Pro, make sure it's a 'clean' launch (the first application after booting the system up). No other apps should be running. Check out (before restart) also the Accounts section in System Prefs and remove all "unnecessary" startup items (Adobe version Cues, Salling Clickers etc).

7. When Logic Pro is up, click on Finder in the Dock and quit it (Command-Q).

8. Some claim that using thousands of colours instead of millions helps the performance (try it out yourself).

9. Background desktop images - use solid colours.

10. Screen saver - use 1x1 pixel image (black, grey, whatever).

Tell me how it's working out for you.

Closer: Exchange on Mac - GroupCal 3

2007-03-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

There is a useful tool out there that will make including of your Mac into the corporate scheme less of a science fiction. Ok, so you already know that Mac Mail connects to your Exchange account to deliver your mail without a fuss. Yet other elements of Exchange are left behind (tasks, meetings, to-dos, contacts etc.). Groupcal 3 handles those and synchronises them seamlessly with iCal and Address Book. Sure, you might keep all your contacts on the phone and import or synchronize them with Address Book occasionally via iSync, yet tasks are a different story. That's why Groupcal is so welcome here - if you want to import, create and handle tasks and meeting on your Mac as well, this is a tool for you. Before Groupcal i used to connect via VPN and Remote Desktop to my PC at work to check the meetings next week, now i simply use GroupCal for syncing iCal with Exchange. Trial version will only sync a limited number of tasks, but even that is useful enough. Check it out for yourself.

Salling Clicker 3.0.1

2007-03-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

If you didn't get your Mac together with the Front Row remote (like me), there is an even cooler alternative to control the center of your digital life (your Mac, that is). Get Salling Clicker. It allows you to control a variety of apps with your mobile phone, thus no extra remotes are required. Salling clicker works by pushing a java app to your phone via Bluetooth. You'll use bluetooth also to control your computer, obviously. The app comes with scripts that will launch and control Mac apps like iTunes, VLC, DVD player, Powerpoint, Keynote, Quicktime player, iPhoto and even Mail and News (I'd rather do the latter two behind the actual computer and not from my couch). For example, in iTunes you are able to keyword find tracks you want to listen to without having to browse through your library, artists, etc, control volume, skip tracks, fast forward/rewind them, all in an extremely usable and intuitive way, plus you can easily set up your menu and shortcuts. This app is just great and even better than that for true slackers.

On the run with a Mac in the pocket and a GPRS link

2007-03-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

All right. Some of us Mac users like to think of ourselves as a modern bunch with some sort of attitude toward what's cool, vibrant, on-the-move. Forget what I just said. In this article I'd like to explain a rather simple solution how to lace a Mac laptop with a couple of modern mobile phones (just one in fact but you get the point) to get what's out there via a GPRS connection (or any other, for that matter). When open WI-FI networks are not around, of course.

So you have a couple of alternatives to connect the gadgets. First would be via USB cable, but you wouldn't want to mess with the cable, the next is infrared connection, but you might not have a IR port on your Powerbook/Macbook (dunno about this one), so I'll just go straight to Bluetooth. It's a welcome thing, since you can still keep mobile phone in your pocket.

Obviously you first need to turn Bluetooth on on both devices, make sure they are discoverable, paired etc.

Then you'll (in some cases) need drivers for your phone model, in my case Sony Ericcson k750i (flashed to w800i).

Once you have the drivers, it all gets easier. Enable Bluetooth in your current network connection:

Then configure your Bluetooth connection. There is one catch: enter APN password in the field for the telephone number:

Under PPP options - uncheck all the advanced options:

Then, in the Bluetooth Modem tab, select the script for your phone (that you have downloaded from and copied it to /Library/Modem Scripts/). In the case of Sony Ericsson k750/w800 it will be "Sony Ericsson GPRS CID1". Select a script that has matching CID to the CID of your mobile phone.

The open Internet Connect (from Applications or from the menu bar, if you've placed it there).

Connect. You're online!

Of course GPRS isn't anywhere near broadband, but may be useful for checking email and doing some browsing while away from the office. Make sure of course, that your mail client limits what is downloaded. In other words - leave those attachments on the server.

Optimizing your Mac

2007-03-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well, we've all heard stories about Macs ruling out PCs in terms of usability and performance. But after a while comes a time for a reality check. Sure, Macs work great, but every now and then they just seem to come into that somewhat sluggish mode - spinning beach balls, choppy video, slow window scrolling....After all, even a Mac is just a computer, and if you thought you'd never have to deal with the ugly thingy like the Windows Task Manager, you're wrong, or you are using your Mac for mostly basic tasks (net browsing, text editing etc.). Power users quickly come to discover the Activity Monitor and mark the tasks that are messing with their CPU.

So basically, there are a couple of things you should do to put the weight off processor (in Tiger OS X):

1. turn off Spotlight - surely, you are using the Spotlight to scan through the mess on your hard drive. There is a thing when you turn off Spotlight - it won't find anything on your disk via Finder. The alternative I use is the Cocoatech's Path Finder 4 and is a way better app than Finder. Check it out anyway. To turn off Spotlight, use a program called Spotless. Then use Path Finder to find anything on your hard drive - or more of them. It works FAST.

2. turn off animations and other unnecessary stuff. You might as well use the latest version of OnyX for such. It'll turn off your Dashboard (which you are not using anyway :)), turn off the genie effect (use Scale effect instead) and animations when opening/closing apps, make Finder quittable (good for getting that final squeeze when lauching games), make Safari launch and performance faster, repair disk permissions and so on. Basically, it'll do anything except fix up Spotlight, that's why you'll use Spotless for.

3. turn off zooming in Universal Access - that will put ease on the cpu when switching windows or moving the mouse pointer around.

You may as well turn off other eye candy, such as Dock icons magnification and desktop background, but then it wouldn't all look that good anymore, and it's not what you bought Mac anyway, now is it? :)

One thing to look for is also to use apps that simply work better. That's why I replaced BitTorrent with Transmission, for example. It has extremely low CPU usage, better reliability and performance. I haven't found an alternative to aMule yet, or I haven't even searched, but the 2.1.3 version simply sucks. Delivers the goods though, after all.

Check your best friend, the Activity Monitor, for apps acting weird, and find a way to get them out of the system.

So now you're done and ready for some serious, say, gaming? Open a game while holding the Option key. Quit Finder. Launch the game. Notice the difference.

Webcam? How about miniDV cam instead?

2007-03-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

If you are considering buying a webcam to plug into your Mac, but have a real camera, you might as well use the latter. I was surprised how easy it was to set up my Sony DCR-HC23 MiniDV Handycam to work with Skype and iChat. In fact, you don't need to set up anything. Connect the pieces with a FIrewire cable and you're done. The gadget is of course a bit bulky, but works like a proverbial charm.

Still I'm searching for a videoconferencing alternative to iChat, the one that would include multiple participants, but still work over different platforms - Mac and Windows. Skype is so far limited to 2 persons interacting over video connection, and Festoon for Mac doesn't seem it'll be here anytime soon. I'll keep posting about it.

Native Instruments - Audio Kontrol 1

2006-11-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

So far this gadget looks great and obviously it has everything I can use at this time. It is compact and robust, connects via USB 2.0 (no Firewire unfortunately), boasts 24-bit / 192 KHz quality, thanks to high end Cirrus Logic® A/D, D/A converters. As guys at Native Instruments put it, it is a all-in-one gadget which suits producers (thanks to great sound), guitar players (two balanced inputs) and DJs. I'm not a great fan of Traktor software (prefer the standard Technics turntables/Pioneer CDJs) but this piece of equipment might make me change my mind. Thanks to the rotary knob and a smart use of a small number of buttons on top of AK1, this could turn out to be a very practical solution. Carrying nothing but a laptop computer, Audio Kontrol interface and a couple of cables to your DJ gig might be just the thing you were looking for. And the price? Around 280 EUR doesn't seem too much. Even if you do not have your own mixing deck, it is possible to mix through AK1, thanks to rotary fader knobs for each channel and cue-listening properties. It looks i'll be going back in the DJ game once I switch my still great iMac G5 for one of those newer Macbooks. :)

Take a look: Native Instruments - Audio Kontrol 1

Vintage scanners and Tiger OSX

2006-11-12T10:55:00.000-08:00

It is possible now to put your old scanners, with drivers designed to work under OS9, back to work under Mac OSX Tiger. I use Mustek 1200UB, quite an old piece of machinery, which now works without problems on OSX 10.4.8 and with Photoshop.

SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) drivers can be found here. You must download and install 5 packages to make it work. Simply use the binary packages and install them in an appropriate order.