College: A Mac survival guide (Pt 2)
By Triston McIntyre
Do you feel like you dropped into college with a Mac on your lap and not a clue in the world what that little apple key has to do with anything, or what this “expose” people keep talking about is? This series is for those who are looking for a couple tips and tricks to making your Mac the best it can be, and for free on top of that!
Previously I covered the absolute basics: instant messaging and media players. As those of us still fortunate to be infecting the university grounds with our presence know, without these you will assuredly whither up and die.
I’d like to help you dig a little deeper into the beauty that is your Mac and talk about desktop real estate and how to get more than you payed for.
Imagine: you’re sitting in class, tempted to do all those fun college things like Facebook stalk your friends or chat on your newly-installed Adium, and those professors can be quite pesky, walking around, looking at you…as if they have the right.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to quickly hide all those “illegal” classroom activities at the touch of a button? Download the application Virtue Desktops. This program will allow you to rapidly rotate between 3 imaginary desktops at the touch of a button or two.
Here’s how it works: Virtue Desktops simulates 3 or more different desktops, and allows the user to display different applications on these separate desktops. Personally, I have one desktop for my Adium, Camino, and Entourage. The second I use for what I’m doing in class (generally my syllabus and OmniOutliner, which I will discuss later), and the third for whatever else.
If you aren’t trying to sneak your way through a class’s activities, its still a handy tool. As a MacBook owner, our 13 inches of screen real estate is skimpy; additional space is welcome, and if the application is free, all the better.
Next, let’s talk about the best way to keep up on all those shows you miss during your “study” sessions: bittorrents. A few years back, it was an elite circle of nerds who were aware of the presence of torrents, while most lemmings continued to fall into the trap that was peer to peer programs like Kazaa or Limewire.
Bit torrents are an excellent way to share media on the internet; however, if you’re wanting to get started but have no basis, you might not be able to find help on the Mac front.
My personal selection for a torrent application is called Transmission. It is simple, clean, easy to use, and fairly straightforward…and free. Here’s how it works.
You add Transmission to your applications, then find a torrent site (there are many, but a good place to start might be Isohunt.com), download your torrent of choice, and simply open it up in Transmission. Assuming you aren’t on campus, you should see a steady stream of data coming in to complete the file you chose.
If you’re on campus, there aren’t really any ways to go about torrenting; most universities block torrents by tracking the packets a torrent utilizes and simply not allowing them to pass through the network. Also, it is noteworthy that “sharing” material on the internet is not recommended; if you get busted, that’s on you.
Stay tuned, college students, as the goodies will only get better from here!
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Stumble It!
August 29th, 2007
If you are new to the Mac, I highly recommend installing the programs Triston is recommending. As someone who has tried almost every program the categories he’s discussing, these are the absolute cream of the crop, don’t waste your time with anything else. And on top of that, all the programs mentioned so far are completely free, so quite wasting time and download them!
October 14th, 2007
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