After writing about Candybar and icons, I thought I’d share a quick little tip on how to change an applications icon in os x.
Step 1: Select the icon or application with an icon you like.
Step 2: Press Command+I to bring up the info screen.
Step 3: Click on the little icon in the top-left corner and press Command+C (standard copy command). You should see a little blue halo around the icon when doing this.
Step 4: Select the app you want to change the icon on and press Command+I to bring up the info window on that one.
Step 5: Click on the icon in the top-left and press Command+V (standard paste command). BAM! yer done. =)
.: Adam
If you’re a web/app designer (or just crazy about icons) and you’re on a mac, you need Candybar. This app was originally designed to replace icons on your mac with custom ones. So if you wanted to swap out your finder icon for something a little cooler, this was the GUI tool that made it all easier. In the newest release, they also handle swapping of Dock images (the actual Dock itself). What they also added in this release was icon management. It stores all your icons into folders and groups. Allows for quick browsing and size checks. This is that feature that I love. It makes my life so much easier when looking for an icon that’s “just right” for what I’m working on. It also allows me to download crap-loads of icons and just throw them in Candybar to use later if i need to.
It even has Quickview build right into it. So when you highlight an icon and hit the spacebar, a HUD will popup with all available sizes of that icon.
The other nifty feature that I like a lot is the exporting ability of icons. You can turn an icon into an image, or an image into an icon. It supports: Icon, ICNS, ICO, TIFF, PNG, GIF, JPEG.
And of course it still swaps out application icons and mac icons really well. Here’s a snippit of my dock with a couple custom icons (Finder, Mail, Firefox) and a custom dock image:
That’s all i got to say about that =)
.: Adam
Something that’s always bothered me about OS X is the time in the top right corner. Why is there no date?! Until Leopard, the iCal icon was always stuck on something like June 21st. Now they wised up and have it show the real date. What a concept. So, pre-Leopard, I had to find something that would put the date in the top right corner of my menu bar. The first app I found that worked well was MenuCalendarClock. This thing was perfect! Not only did it put the date, but it also showed the calendar when you clicked on it, and it had your events and ToDo list for that day. They have two different versions: iCal, and Entourage. What else was cool was that you can double click on a date and it opens iCal right to that day.
Now I use a new app called iStats Menu from iSlayer.com (what an awesome name =). It has most of the same features as MenuCalendarClock (the iCal version), but a ton of other non-time/date features. You can put all kinds of stats and graphs in your menu bar to watch your computers activity. If you’re at all interested in what’s going on, you should at least check it out. It is missing a couple features that I liked on iCal, but here’s why I switched:
The items that I lost from switching:
Although I can’t click on a date, there is a link at the bottom to launch iCal (just doesn’t go to a specific date). For the replacement of To-Do’s and events, I now use Anxiety for To-Do’s and this iCal Widget for my events. After separating it, I’m beginning to prefer it this way.
.: Adam
A little while ago, I made a Twitter app for the mac called Whereiam. I had two main goals when I made this thing.
1. Attach a users location to every post.
2. Keep it simple
I think I’ve covered both parts.
Whereiam is a little app that was whipped up to allow quick postings to Twitter that include a link to a map of your location. Location is derived from Wifi Positioning. No GPS required =).
As of right now, it’s a OS X app only. It’s main components are in perl, so it should be easy to port to other OS’s later. I’ve only run / tested in on Leopard (10.5.3). Since this derives location based on WiFi, it will not work with wireless broadband cards (HSDPA, EVDO) or Ethernet. It needs WiFi.
If someone can get this to work on an iPhone, I’d like a copy. I don’t have an iPhone yet, but would like to host a copy with the original app.
Thanks!
.: Adam
I have just been turned on to a new AWESOME type of pizza… Buffalo Chicken Pizza! Man it was so good. Chicken breast with buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese. Oh, and some sprinkled on celery. I think it’s safe to say that you can turn any awesome food into pizza and have it rock. The only place I know of serving this right now is The Pizza Shop on 7th and A, NYC. If you’re in the neighborhood, GET IT!
I just finished reading Survivor, and overall I would say it’s above ok. It was a fun read, killed time on the plane / subway, but not terribly exciting. The story is about a Creddish guy (failed cult) that winds up being the last member due to a mass religious pact suicide. It’s told in first person into a flight recorder as he has hijacked a plane (not a spoiler, starts out this way).
I was interested in this book because I really liked Fight Club, but I don’t think this is on par. If you’re looking for a time-killer and and interesting story, check it out. It’s worth the read.
I wanted to make something that would just straight prevent people from registering to my site with special characters in their username. I was playing around with all types of complicated crap, but then I came up with this little doozy that works perfectly. Small, quick, and unobtrusive. Obviously, if you really don’t want them in a submitted text field, you have to back it up with server-side processing.
.: Adam