TechZilo » Mac OS X

Recover accidentally deleted Textmate bundles

Sumesh P — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:33:33 +0000

Textmate is a popular code editor for Mac OS X. It supports bundles, which are customizations for particular languages (say HTML, or Ruby on Rails).

Textmate includes a default set of bundles, and you can download bundles for other languages easily.

You can also delete bundles that you do not want to use – for example, if you are a PHP programmer, you may not want bundles for other programming languages.

What if you deleted a bundle by accident, or learnt a new language for which you deleted the bundles in Textmate earlier? A simple Terminal command can bring them back.

Ensure that TextMate is not running, then enter the command below to reset deleted bundles (ie. recover deleted bundles):

defaults delete com.macromates.textmate OakBundleManagerDeletedBundles

An original article by TechZilo

Recover accidentally deleted Textmate bundles

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How to recover lost form / field data in Firefox

Reclaim hard drive space on Mac OS X by deleting language files

Sumesh P — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:55:50 +0000

Monolingual is a free and open-source application to remove unnecessary language files from Mac OS X. Depending on the computer and options you choose, you can clear out files worth 100 MB to over one GB.

Although hard drive sizes are increasing and it is not uncommon to find over a terabyte of storage on computers, you wouldn’t want to waste 1 GB or more on files that are never used, would you? Monolingual would be particularly beneficial for those with limited hard drive space – typically laptop users and those with older hard drives.

As with anything that modifies or removes data, Monolingual should be used with care. If you are careless and end up choosing wrong options, you may render your software or even Mac OS X itself unusable.

Download the latest version of Monolingual on this page.

Choosing language files for deletion

Although I am not a native English-speaker, I use English on Mac OS X. Depending on what language you use, uncheck only that in the Monolingual options page. Remember that Monolingual removes those languages which are checked.

Uncheck AppleKeyboardLayouts and anything else you do not need.

If you use a PowerPC Mac, uncheck only architectures named PowerPC. Else uncheck only Intel 32 bit and 64 bit.

Then, hit enter. Monolingual will take some time to remove files – wait patiently.

An original article by TechZilo

Reclaim hard drive space on Mac OS X by deleting language files

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Convert MKV videos to MP4 files on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:33:23 +0000

.mkv (Matroska Video) is a popular format for online video distribution (particularly through BitTorrent networks and all). It is an open and free container format. One of its advantages is that it can keep a number of video, audio, picture subtitle components in just one file.

One popular use of .mkv files is to store high-definition (HD) videos, in formats like H.264. Matroska video files end with the extension .mkv (may also contain audio and subtitle), while audio only files are .mka and subtitle files are .mks Typically, you would find a .mkv file – that is also what I have come across.

MKV container format is a fork of another format, after disagreements between its founders regarding some technical decisions. Most users of the original format moved to .mkv format after its developer went inactive, and .mkv has gained popularity ever since.

You can play .mkv files in Mac OS X using VLC player without downloading any additional codecs, but what if you need to convert and keep the file as a .mp4 video, for example, to play on other devices (like PS 3, iPod, Apple TV, iPhone etc.)?

Most solutions online (which also happen to be outdated and impractical) require Quicktime Pro and Perian, or other expensive mkv video converters, or has severe restrictions regarding the encoding types allowed within the .mkv container format. Some others use the command-line utilities, which may be acceptable if you are a total geek, or uses Windows software, in which case you will need access to Windows via Bootcamp/virtualization or a PC.

You have come to the right place if you are looking for an mkv to mp4 converter – this guide shows you how to convert .mkv video files to .mp4 files using a single open-source and free software, Handbrake.

Convert .mkv to .mp4

The latest version of Handbrake (0.93 or above) allows MKV source files. Then, you can convert the file to various supported formats like any other conversion using Handbrake. Note that Handbrake may have to re-encode and/or re-compress videos, and if this is the case, be prepared to leave your Mac on for processing for a considerable amount of time, as it will be time and resource-hungry.

Download Handbrake.

Open Handbrake, and you will be asked to enter a source. Select a file and continue with the conversion process.

I will update this post if I find any good tweaks or settings regarding the conversion. Meanwhile, leave a comment here if you have any difficulty in converting .mkv files to .mp4 and using it.

An original article by TechZilo

Convert MKV videos to MP4 files on Mac OS X

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Batch resize images with Thumbs Up (Mac OS X)

Sumesh P — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:23:51 +0000

Thumbs Up is a free software for Mac OS X to create thumbnails of pictures and movies. It can also be used to batch-resize images.

Thumbs Up has a simple preferences window. To resize images, you can configure the various options in the preferences window, and then drag-drop the images to the Thumbs Up icon.

Resized images are created in the same folder as the original files. You can choose prefixes or suffixes to filenames, or let Thumbs Up create all the images to a folder (which will be within the folder that contains original files).

Resizing can be configured by percentage or maximum size. Formats supported include JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP and GIF. There are also options for antialiasing and sharpening. You can choose the level of compression to be applied while saving the image. ThumbsUp also supports PDF to image conversion, so you can use it to convert PDFs to other image formats.

Download Thumbs Up

I started using Thumbs Up to write tutorials on this site, which mostly requires resizing several images to fit the width of content column.

Windows users might like Al Image Converter, a free software for Windows, with similar features and functionality.

An original article by TechZilo

Batch resize images with Thumbs Up (Mac OS X)

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How to search inside zip files on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:23:14 +0000

Although Mac OS X natively supports zip format and has an excellent search and indexing tool in Spotlight, you cannot search within zip files using Spotlight.

However, Spotlight can be extended with plugins, and we can use Ziplight plugin to search within zip files. Installing Ziplight is slightly different from normal programs, as you are installing a plugin for an app.

Download Ziplight

Ziplight is available for free from Bartas Technologies- download it.
On double-clicking the downloaded .dmg file, you get a Ziplight.mdimporter file.

Install Ziplight

Drag and drop the file into Spotlight folder under Library – by clicking Macintosh HD, then Library and finally the Spotlight folder.

Reboot or logout and login to your Mac to start using Ziplight plugin. It takes a few minutes for Ziplight to index all the zip files on your Mac – usually 10 to 30 minutes depending on the number of zip files on your system.

In an effort to be fast and easy to use, Ziplight searches only names of files within a zip folder. This should be enough for most purposes.

An original article by TechZilo

How to search inside zip files on Mac OS X

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Transfer music from iPod / iPhone to Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:08:27 +0000

iPod and iPhone owners may have, at some point, wished that they could transfer music from iPod / iPhone to another computer. DRM and other factors regarding copyright means that Apple allows you to transfer music to your iPod, but not from an iPod to a computer.

Pod to Mac is a small freeware application for Mac OS X that lets you transfer music from your iPod to a Mac OS X Leopard system. Pod to Mac works with iPod, iPod Touch and iPhone. You can also search within your iPod / iPhone before transferring files (there is a similar software for Windows that we will review tomorrow).

Note: Pod to Mac requires you to put iPod into disk mode to work. The software is in beta, but is frequently updated (unlike some other apps).

Download Pod to Mac

An original article by TechZilo

Transfer music from iPod / iPhone to Mac OS X

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Search and remove duplicate files with Duplicate File Searcher

Sumesh P — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:30:43 +0000

If you have not formatted your hard disk for a long time, chances are that you would have built up duplicate files due to careless copying and moving. In my case, it is typically media files and software installation files that I get on different occasions that are duplicates. Windows does not have a built in duplicate file checking utility, but free software available can help.

Duplicate Files Searcher is a freeware to check and remove duplicate files. It works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. DFS can check files byte for byte for maximum accuracy. You can either preview files before deleting, or set DFS to automatically delete duplicate files.

Features of Duplicate File Searcher

Searching results can be saved and loaded in future
Checks any files, folders and drives
Works with removable drives
Decide on automatic deletion or preview
Works on all OSes

DFS uses Java Runtime Environment, so you should install JRE if you do not have it yet.

Download Duplicate File Searcher (for all operating systems)

An original article by TechZilo

Search and remove duplicate files with Duplicate File Searcher

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How to automatically rotate wallpapers (Windows/ Mac / Linux)

Sumesh P — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:39:11 +0000

All too often, I see workstations with default wallpapers (like those for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X), and wonder why no one ever takes the time to get a bunch of better wallpapers.

But then, most people do not have the time or energy to waste for a task as trivial as changing wallpapers. Have you wanted to rotate wallpapers from a folder of good wallpapers automatically? Here are methods to rotate wallpapers in Windows, Mac and Linux.

Rotate Wallpapers on Windows

Windows users can use the freeware application Wallpaper Juggler to rotate wallpapers. Lucky you, because unlike the methods for Linux and OS X, Wallpaper Juggler can use existing images in a folder and downloads beautiful wallpapers for rotation, all automated.

Windows 7 has support for wallpaper rotating, but if you also want to automate downloading wallpapers, you might want to look for a standalone application.

Rotate Wallpapers on Mac OS X

Mac OS X has a built in functionality for rotating wallpapers. Place all your selected wallpapers in a folder (I used /Downloads/Wallpapers/).

Open up System Preferences, click Desktop and Screensaver and tick Change Picture every (and also set how many minutes). Then, click the plus button on the left pane and add the folder where you placed all the wallpapers.

Wallpaper rotation on Linux

Lifehacker has a proper tutorial on setting up a changer script to rotate wallpapers on Ubuntu Linux. There are probably similar scripts for other Linux distros, a web search for rotate wallpapers in will give you the required solution.

Do recommend your favorite wallpaper rotating solution (if any), and tell whether you found the methods in this post useful.

An original article by TechZilo

How to automatically rotate wallpapers (Windows/ Mac / Linux)

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How to use a Windows keyboard with Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:51:16 +0000

There may be more than one reason why you want to use a Windows keyboard with a Mac OS X computer: a powerful/expensive keyboard that you already possess, lack of availability of Apple keyboards, or you cannot justify spending the money to buy an Apple keyboard when there’s a Windows keyboard lying around.

Whatever the reason, DoubleCommand is a free Mac OS X preference pane which you would want to get. It enables you to reassign some of the keys on your keyboard. You can remap various keys – see their feature page for the full list.

Configure Windows keyboard with DoubleCommand

Download DoubleCommand and install it. Installation is done with the usual procedure: mount it by double-clicking the .dmg file you downloaded, then copy the application from the mounted image (found in the left pane of Finder) to the Applications folder.
Once installed, it will be available under the ‘Other’ section of System Preferences pane.
Clicking on it will bring up the preference pane for DoubeCommand.
Click the checkboxes to configure keys as you want them. Remember to hit the System button to the right of Save so that your settings will be remembered.
You can see the settings I used in the image below.

I started using DoubleCommand to switch only two keys – the Command and Control keys on my Windows keyboard connected to a Macbook. You may want to configure / reassign other keys too – lots of keys and swapping are provided as options in DoubleCommand.

An original article by TechZilo

How to use a Windows keyboard with Mac OS X

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How to install Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala on Parallels Desktop on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:36:43 +0000

Ubuntu 9.10 alpha has been around for some time now, and final version will be released later this year. This tutorial will guide you in installing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) alpha using Parallels Desktop 4.0 on Mac OS X. I’m using build 4.0.3522 of Parallels Desktop. When the final version is released, this will be updated to reflect any changes in install.

Download Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

To get started, download the appropriate version of Ubuntu from the links below:

Intel x86 installer (choose this unless you want 64 bit Ubuntu)
64 bit installer (choose this only if you have a Intel Core 2 or AMD64 processor)

Install Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) on Parallels Desktop (Mac OS X)

Some general instructions before getting started: hit left/right arrow to move from one option to another. Where arrows don’t work, use Tab.

Open Parallels Desktop and click File > New Virtual Machine.

Choose CD/DVD image and point to the ISO file you downloaded.

Name it Ubuntu 9.10 (include the version number so as to identify it easily).

Upon clicking “Start”, the installation will begin.

Choose your language and hit Enter.

“Install Ubuntu” will be selected by default, hit enter again.

English will be selected as the language, hit Enter again.

Choose your country and hit enter.

For keyboard layout, choose No (by using left/right arrow) and hit enter.

If you use a standard keyboard, choose USA under “Origin of keyboard”.

Choose USA again – unless you have a non-standard layout.

The installer will proceed, with a progress bar.

If you are on a home network, enter any name, I choose Ubuntu. Hit enter.

Select the region and city, to configure the clock.

For partition, choose “Guided – entire disk”, which will be the default option. Hit enter.

Ensure that the disk chosen has the words “Virtual HDD” in it.

Confirm partitioning by choosing “No” and hitting enter.

Enter your name, hit tab and then hit enter.

Enter your username (remember it, this is the login username), hit tab and then hit enter.

Enter password and hit enter, and renter your password for confirmation.

Encryption is not really important for a Parallels install, so choose No (by hitting Tab) and hit enter.

Unless you use a proxy, hit tab (to navigate to “Continue”) and hit enter.

Depending on whether your clock is set to UTC, choose the option and hit enter.

You will be asked to eject Ubuntu disk. Since we have used a .iso file, Ubuntu considers it as the real drive. To set up the real CD/DVD drive, hit Control+Alt to come out of Parallels, then click Devices, point to CD/DVD ROM 1 > Real CD/DVD ROM > (whichever real optical drive you have).

click to enlarge

Since we have used a .iso file, you do not have to eject anything. Hit tab to get to “Continue” and hit enter.

Ubuntu will reboot.

Let it complete the reboot and reach the login screen.

Enter your username and password to log in.

Here’s the Ubuntu desktop, booted for the first time.

It is a good idea to update all software (and do so every week or so) – the advantage of Linux is the frequent security updates and patches. To update, click System > Administration > Update Manager.

Hit Check to refresh updates. Then, enter your password and hit OK.

If Update Manager shows any new updates, check them and hit “Install Updates”.

Parallels Tools will be available for Ubuntu 9.10 soon after the final release, so we will update this tutorial when it is available.

An original article by TechZilo

How to install Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala on Parallels Desktop on Mac OS X

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How to convert WMA to MP3 audio (Mac OS X)

Sumesh P — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:54:19 +0000

Windows users who have switched to Mac often need to convert their WMA files (as it cannot be used in an iPod or played on iTunes on the Mac easily). There are many paid software to convert WMA files to MP3 (like Switch Pro and Easy WMA), while the precious few free and excellent WMA – MP3 converters are not written about or promoted.

In this tutorial, we will use only a free software, called All2MP3, to convert WMA files to MP3. It works on Mac OS X 10.3 and above. We have already used All2MP3 in our tutorial on converting .flac to .mp3 – it converts most common audio formats like FLAC, OGG, .wma, WAV and AIFF to MP3.

Convert WMA files to MP3

Follow the steps below to convert WMA files to MP3 using an easy drag-drop software called All2MP3.

Download All 2 MP3

Download All2MP3.

Install All 2 MP3

Double-click the All 2 MP3 zip file to get a .mpkg installer file.

Unlike normal applications, you cannot just drag-drop the app to Applications folder to install it.
Double click it to begin the installation. You will have to click continue a couple of times, then click “Agree”.

Then click “Install” and enter your Mac OS X login password. Once setup is done, you will be presented with a confirmation like below:

.wma to .mp3 conversion

Double click the All 2 MP3 icon from Applications to start it.

Drag and drop your WMA files (it can convert multiple files at once) to the All 2 MP3 window.

Settings for .wma conversion

Choose bit rate for your song – depending on the quality you require (indicated as high/medium/low), and also the original file bit rate. If your original file is, say, 256 Kbps, do not select a higher bit rate than that.

Hit All2MP3 button to begin the conversion. Once conversion is done, a confirmation will be shown. The converted .mp3 files will be in the same location as the original .wma files.

What is .wma ?

Windows Media Audio, commonly called WMA, is a proprietary audio compression format by Microsoft. WMA consists of four codecs: WMA codec, and variants like WMA Pro, WMA Lossless (similar to FLAC).

Although WMA files can be played on Mac OS X using plugins for Quicktime, it is often a hassle, and even part-time OS X users should consider converting them to a better-supported format like MP3. For conversion, there are paid tools like Switch Pro and EasyWMA, but we figured, most users would be looking for free tools. Hence, the need for this tutorial.

An original article by TechZilo

How to convert WMA to MP3 audio (Mac OS X)

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Polaris: Google Analytics Adobe AIR application

Sumesh P — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:06:51 +0000

Polaris is a handy Adobe AIR-based tool that lets you check Google Analytics statistics from your desktop. It has a beautiful and easy-to-use design that lets you gather stats with just a few clicks.

Polaris is free to use for one web site. For more, you have to pay $15/year.

Download Polaris AIR app

An original article by TechZilo

Polaris: Google Analytics Adobe AIR application

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How to erase files permanently on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:01:27 +0000

When you delete a file in Mac OS X (or even Windows for that matter), you are not actually erasing the file, but rather removing the references to the file on hard drive. The data remains on the drive until it is overwritten by other data.

Removing files permanently (or shredding files) is required in several situations – to remove data that may incriminate you (BitTorrent downloads?), to remove data before selling a computer (most do not erase files permanently, leading to serious security concerns) etc.

Permanent Eraser is a free software for Mac OS X that removes files permanently. It uses the Gutmann Method (of overwriting files 35 times) and does various other things to obfuscate your data before removing it permanently. Once permanently erased, chances of recovering data are slim.

Get Permanent Eraser

An original article by TechZilo

How to erase files permanently on Mac OS X

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Nambu: Native Mac OS X Twitter application

Sumesh P — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:00:28 +0000

In a world of Twitter clients on Adobe AIR, Nambu is a fresh breath. Nambu is a native Mac OS X Twitter client, currently in beta.

Threaded view seems like an interesting feature, particularly as most clients do not implement it (yet). It has features like multi-column view, search, filtering etc. Some not-so-common features like translation of tweets and multiple accounts are supported. It has a native Mac OS X-style UI, something missing in most Twitter clients. There are easy shortcuts for tweeting, reply, retweet etc.

You can switch between a one column (Twhirl-like), two column (Thunderbird-like) or three column (Tweetdeck-like) view.

These keyboard shortcuts can be configured from preferences. Application support is rather limited – Twitter, Friendfeed, identi.ca, Ping.fm and Tr.im.

Get Nambu for OS X

An original article by TechZilo

Nambu: Native Mac OS X Twitter application

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DAA Converter: Extract / open .daa files for free on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:15:24 +0000

.daa format files are found commonly on BitTorrent downloads. DAA files are used to archive large files, and is a proprietary format that requires paid software (PowerISO) to open. However, this tutorial will show you how you can open DAA files for free on a Mac OS X computer, using only free software.

If you use Windows, see our tutorial on opening .daa files on Windows for free.

Getting daa files open involves converting the .daa to ISO file and then extracting the ISO file or burning it to a disc. Do not worry about the seemingly complex task – we have detailed steps and screenshots to make it easy to follow.

Open .daa files on Mac

Download DAA Converter. Double-click the downloaded .dmg file to mount it, then drag the DAA Converter icon from the window that comes up, into your Applications folder.
Open DAA Converter and select the file you need to convert. Click Open and it will convert your .daa file to a .iso file.

ISO files can be burnt to discs, or files can be extracted from them. Follow the next step to extract the files from ISO file, which is what you would most likely want.
Double-click the .iso file, which will be in the same location as the original .daa file. It will mount. In Finder, you can find it under Devices.

Click on the mounted .iso file and you can get the files.

If you have doubts about any of these steps, leave a comment (scroll down to the end of this page) and I’ll try to help.

An original article by TechZilo

DAA Converter: Extract / open .daa files for free on Mac OS X

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