When, three weeks ago, I blogged about Patrick Stein's "SmartSleep" preferences panel, which lets you configure a Mac laptop's sleep and hibernation (aka "Safe Sleep") settings, I explained that I wanted to use this software to switch off Safe Sleep altogether, because that feature had failed on my MacBook so many times that it was basically useless. I didn't expect SmartSleep to restore Safe Sleep's usefulness, but it did.

If you want to use your iSight-equipped Mac to keep an eye on your home, Periscope provides a solution. Learn about how it worked for me during a recent vacation.

Apple's latest MobileMe announcement has me elated. In fact, I feel just as I felt when .Mac was first introduced: hopeful, excited and happy at the prospect of being able to rely on Apple for one more thing instead of shopping for vendors all around the Internet. Of course, this supposes that MobileMe does not follow .Mac's and iTools' infamous...

VirtualBox 1.6.2 is an Open Source virtualization hypervisor that runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. I tested it by installing Windows 2000 and Fedora 9 on my iMac. It doesn't have all the features of VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop. But, the price is right and it does a pretty decent job. Read on for more impressions from my testing...

One of the fundamental concepts used in OmniFocus is that of "Next Action." Each project has a Next Action, and it is the very next task you have to get done in order to keep that project moving. Being able to focus on such Next Actions is tremendously helpful for managing a large number of projects without losing track of what literally needs to be done next. Due to a curious problem with the way OmniFocus determines what a project's Next Action should be, however, you may overlook some tasks without even noticing that they are being hidden from your view.

The new Status Screen Saver, thanks to some very clever programming, lets you add personalized status information atop your favorite screen saver. Just the thing for keeping an eye on your Mac, your home, or nearly anything else.

Hey, you got Ruby in my Cocoa. Mmmm. Two great taste treats.

Adobe AIR applications turned out to be a lot more interesting that I originally thought they would be. So far, I'm finding and using AIR apps in the way I thought I would use Dashboard Widgets when Tiger came out. Dashboard never really captured my attention after trying out a few widgets. AIR apps have become part of my daily use toolkit. Read on to see why...

Here's what I looked at last week: Great Blender generated animation - Big Buck Bunny, Rescue Kit for Mac OS X Lite (?), Zoho Creator pricing, Google spreadsheet vs. Google Gears, and I'm tech tweeting.

One of the few "dangerous emails" that made it past my rather aggressive SpamAssassin setup recently was a phishing attempt, claiming to have been sent by Google's AdWords service. When I took a closer look at this email, I noticed a header field that I hadn't come across before, and which adds another useful little helper in the fight against spam-n-scam emails.