Mac Security App Keeps Your Mac Safe At The Coffee Shop

I leave my computer everywhere now. Just to see if someone will try to steal it. Of course there is a method to my madness. I have iAlertu.

iAlertu is perfect for those frustrating moments in the coffee shop when you need to relieve yourself in the facilities but don't want to pack up the collage of paraphernalia you have spread to and fro. You set the alarm and walk away care free, all the while hoping someone gets frisky with the lappy so you can see it in action.

The way it works is to use the built in movement sensor or any user input to alert anybody nearby that someone is doing something they are not supposed to. A loud alarm sounds for up to 2 minutes, the built in iSight camera snaps a photo of the offender and emails it to you, the computer locks down, and the screen pulses white and black. A tasteful screensaver informs any criminals pondering their flight with your Mac that chaos shall ensue if they do so dare.

The movement sensor can be dialed to whatever sensitivity you choose so that a innocent brush will not trigger the collective gazes of the room.

A password is required to disable the alarm. However, an intelligent thief (Ok, ok. Maybe even a dolt) can push the power button for 5 seconds and it's lights out.

Obviously this alarm only works to deter a thief once the alarm has been triggered. Don't expect the burglar to care about the racket he is carrying if you leave your lappy where no one can inquire about the noise.

Click here to check it out!

iAlertu in action.

Quit it all right now

If you are as disorganized as I am then you often have a lot of programs open at all times. Going through all of you apps to shut them down can be slow and frustrating if you need to be shutting down your Mac quickly.

But there is a solution. Qall.

Qall does one thing. Mazzive shut downs. Everything gets shut down right now. Of course if you need to save your Pages document or have multiple tabs blasting away in Safari you can still take the appropriate measures to ensure their safety.

It takes me about 2 seconds to shut down my mac, slip it in it's case, and be on my way.

Once again in case you missed it: Qall.

Update: I email the developer of Qall, Nobuatsu Sekine, and asked if Qall could damage any part of the system by shutting down a program improperly. Here is the answer

Is Qall safe for programs? Is the way that it shuts things down safe for the program and your computer?

QaLL quits the applications in the proper way that Mac OS X provides,

so I believe it's safe for the standard applications.

For example, if the TextEdit has unsaved document,

it shows the alert and doesn't quit.

In other words, QaLL doesn't force quitting,

just asks the target applications to quit in their own way.

There it is. Straight from the horse's ,err, keyboard?

Interesting Apple Trivia Facts

The recent release of the iPhone was preceded by 200 patents for the revolutionary phone. 21 of the patents are actually innovative.

The idea for the Macintosh computer was actually Jef Raskin’s (employee #31) idea for a low cost, easy to use computer. Steve Jobs and Steve Wazniak rejected most of his ideas (no mouse) so Jef left the project. Steve Jobs took over and shaped the Mac into what it is today.

The first Mac computer was born on April 1st, 1976 and sold for $666.66.

Before co-founding Apple, Steve Jobs worked for Atari.

Steve Wozniak worked for Hewlet Packard before Apple was founded.

The GUI that the first Mac used originated at Xerox.

The former president of Pepsi is the new president of Apple.

Steve Jobs was fired by the board from his own company but returned when his company, Pixar, was acquired by Apple.

Acording to Sophos, there are more than 60 viruses that affect Macs. 0.16% of Mac users have reported problems.

OS X 10.4 has more than 86,000,000 lines of code.

Disable Dashboard To Free Memory

Don't use the Dashboard feature much? Granted it's cool, but at a price. And unless you use it actively it is probably slowing your Mac.
Dashboard uses a lot of memory and bandwidth to keep all those little baby programs running and updated for when you need them. If you don't need them this is how you do it:

Open Terminal, and then type this command, followed by the Return key:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

This command informs the system that you don't want Dashboard enabled anymore. But there is one more step. Dashboard is operated under the dock preferences and is therefore controlled, in a sense, by it. To make the command your just wrote take affect you need to type this into the terminal and press return when you are done.

killall Dock

After the dock restarts Dashboard will no longer be operational.

To reinstate Dashboard you simply type this into the terminal and hit return when you are done:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO

Once again type in killall Dock to put the changes in effect. The Dashboard will work great after it's nap and all your widgets will be there as they were before.

Comments?

Making your PC love your Mac

Lifehacker.com has a great article on making all your home computers work together efficiently. With a minimum of hair pulling.

Most of the article is about networking your differ computers together and getting them to all speak to one another.

I Bought a Mac, Why You Should Switch Also

This is one of those controversial posts that always gets Windows users blood running and the comments cooking off in the inbox. I would know. As of two weeks ago I would have been one of them. I would have marveled at how blind the Mac user was and think that they just need to learn how a computer works. I would ask myself who would buy a computer you can't upgrade, is expensive, looks weird (to some), and can't run the majority of software out there. What could possibly be dumber?

I could actually. All my marveling and wondering was for naught. I had never operated a Mac before. I didn't have a clue what I was thinking about. I felt I was superior in my choice of platform. I was proven dead wrong two weeks ago.

You can bluster all you want about how your PC runs great and you never have any problems but that is because you have not used a Mac. You just don't know what it is like to have no problems. You are not used to just having something work. When I had my Windows platform I was the same way (FYI: I have been a Windows user all my life, till now). I was used to troubleshooting my missing drivers, missing .dlls, cryptic error messages, random crashing, viruses, adware, constant maintenance, and consistent upgrades. I just considered it a challenge or even a necessary evil. After all, Macs were just not good enough for me, or so I thought.

When I used a Mac for the first time I expected to be introduced to an immature computer, a fancy looking expensive toy that couldn't really handle the stress of everyday work and play. Instead I got a smooth and fast load time into the OS, A very appealing fluidic display, and consistently fast load times for programs that more often then not exceeded the abilities of Windows applications.

Take Itunes for example. Any computer user can get it since it runs on Windows also. Look at the graphical user interface compared to Windows Media Player. It is simple when WMP is complex. The user in Itunes can access any music without wading through menus, a two year old could burn a CD, the main controls are in a central location with everything else, the player is well thought out. In WMP it took me 30 minutes to understand most of the features. I still don't know how to make the track slide out thingie in the Now Playing section come back.

Then there is the design of the Mac. Very few people that I have met think Macs look bad. At that, Apple products are all aesthetically pleasing to me. There seems to be a quality of design and a passion for not just user friendliness but also the cool look. A lot of Windows users scoff at this but I think it means Apple has not forgotten it's customers. Microsoft products are devoid of personality, cold, and business like. It seems to me that Microsoft is largely bureaucratic and has a hard time letting personality and creativity show. I am not saying Microsoft doesn't show creativity at all but it certainly could see a boost.

I just installed the Microsoft Zune on my Alienware M7700 to retrieve some music. What a nightmare. I do not exaggerate. I would never buy a Zune even for the low prices they are at now (low demand=low price). To use an IPod you connect it to your computer, load Itunes, and you should be ready to go. Simply drag the desired music into the IPod tab and the downloading initiates automatically. In the off chance that it needs an update it only takes a few moments to download and install the update. To get a Zune to connect to a computer you must first install new software for the Zune, Windows XP doesn't have the drivers,. The music player is confusing, awkward, and not at all intuitive. It took me 10 minutes to sync music to my PC. If you are unlucky enough to need a Zune update, prepare to spend an inordinate amount of time watching the update download, three minutes, transfer, one minute, install, two minutes, and apply, 30 seconds. It's ridiculous! I don't know why Microsoft doesn't make their products streamlined. I think the Zune is a great idea laden with too many features and gimmicks. To use a Zune you have to install separate music software. The Zune will not run off of WMP. WHY!?!?! Wouldn't it be so much easier if you just used WMP? I bought an IPod for it's ease of use and that is exactly what I got. There is a lot to be said about the simplicity of design in a Mac. The IPod needs competition to keep Apple innovative but Microsoft's attempt fell flat on it's face, as you can see here.

The Mac I bought was the Macbook. I think it's the best laptop for your money. My new Apple Macbook has a huge line of after market accessories that are easy to purchase at Amazon.com.

If you are interested in Mac products, go here for the real authority: Learn
About Mac. Free Trial Now..