Beautiful Aqua Button Template and Tutorial

Have you ever needed to make a pretty looking icon for a web page, but lacked the time / photoshop skills to make one? I find the Aqua buttons used in Mac OS X to be gorgeous. Using this tutorial, I created a template (with a few modifications of my own) with editable layers for you to download and use instantly whenever you need it! (Photoshop is needed).

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Apple Logo Spotted in Iraq

The Unofficial Google Earth beta just came out for Mac OS X a few days ago -- and I love it. I can travel all over the world in my pajamas sitting at my desk. Well I was just touring the globe, and of course I had to see what Iraq was like. I was astonished -- it is a gorgeous country. Just judging by satellite images, Baghdad is much more beautiful than Los Angeles. I could not believe that stunning blue-green river! I don't know when those were taken (before or after the war -- images from Google's satellites can be up to three years old), but if Iraq still looks like that, and when if it will be safe, I truly would want to visit.



Back to the story though -- I was clicking around when I found an amazing resemblance of the Apple logo right in the middle of a street in Baghdad!



If you don't believe me, here are the coordinates: 18'07.87" N 23'55.86" E. Does anyone know what this really is?

Easily Hide your Sensitive Files in OS X

Ever tried to conceal your porn sensitive files from peering eyes? I bet that you've nested folders in folders, creating a maze of confusion. Maybe you even renamed them to something innocent so a search wouldn't find it. Perhaps you've downloaded third-party software that randomly scatters your top secret info on random places on your computer. Well, after today your life will become slightly easier. The trick is: invisible files.

An invisible file is something that does not show up in the GUI (Graphical User Interface), but it still exists on the hard drive. In other words, you will not be able to see it in the Finder, yet your files are still there. Even better, you can create an invisible folder whose contents are invisible as well! Spotlight can't even find them!

In fact, there are tons of hidden files on your Mac that you don't even know about. Don't be paranoid, they're good! They make your computer run. These files start with a period. However, OS X will not allow you to create a folder starting with a period. Try creating a folder called ".hidden", and this is what comes up:



But there's an easy way to get around this.

1) Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Type

mkdir .hidden

The command mkdir makes a new folder (make a directory) in your Home folder. You can change .hidden to anything you want, just as long as the period is in front.

2) Now navigate to your Home Folder. If you did things right, you should not see anything different!

3) In the Finder, go to Go -> Go to Folder, or hit Command-Shift-G. Type in

~/.hidden

and hit enter. Tada, this is your hidden folder! If you don't believe me, Command-Click on the folder name at the top of the window. This tells you the hierarchy of where the folder is nested on your hard drive. See? It's right above your Home Folder, meaning it's really in there! You can drag anything here - music, movies, documents, literally anything - treat it like any other folder. It has permissions, too. And anything you put in here will not show up in Spotlight.

4) If at any time you want to delete this folder, go back to the Terminal and type

rm -r .hidden

But beware, this deletes the folder and all of its contents.

Happy Hiding!

Unlimited Email Storage

Who needs Gmail when you have your entire hard drive to hold your mail? Save text, attachments, and be able to search through them instantly. Even when you're offline. Here's how:

Note: This article assumes that you use Mail 2.0 or higher and you already have your account set up.

1) Create a new mailbox in Mail by clicking the "+" icon in the lower left hand corner. Call it "Archive" and set the location to "On My Mac".

2) If you haven't already, it's probably best for you to have Automatic Junk Mail Filtering. This is not Training Mode (when junk mail appears brown). Go to Mail Preferences and click the radio button "Move it to the Junk mailbox (Automatic)".

3) Stay in the Preferences. Click "Rules", and then hit "Add Rule". Call it "Archive". Set the rules as follows:

If any of the following conditions are met:
Every Message
Perform the following actions:
Copy Message to mailbox: Archive

This copies every message in your online account to your mac for offline viewing! Click OK, and make sure that the rule "Archive" is after the rule "Junk". This is so that spam does not get saved to your Archives.

This is especially great for people with AOL. Now you don't have to worry about a 20MB limit, re-downloading attachments, and now you can search through all your messages!