Ode to AppleDedicated to Apple – Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPad and all the awesomeness of Apple.

Arul Prasad help me through a Twitter message on How to make a shortcut or an Alias in Mac OS X;

either

• Right click or “Ctrl + Left Click” on the App and do a “Make Alias” or
• Select the App > File > Make Alias (Apple Key + L)

However, I wanted something like Windows – Right Click > Drag > Create Shortcut here. So, here are the steps on How to make an Alias by dragging and dropping.

1. Press the “Apple Key + Option”
2. Select, drag and drop the file/application you wish to make Alias to your desired folder.

I’m pretty sure most of you know about this but not me. I came to know of it by accident. You can open a totally new Finder by “Command + Double Click” on a Folder. Of course, if you select 2 or more folders and do a “Command + Double Click”, all folders will opened up in a new Finder of their own.

DRM is a headache which limits where you can play your songs and how many often can you play them. Here is one way to hack through the encryption and perhaps legally with iTunes.

1. Create a separate new playlist with all the songs you’d like to rip.
2. Use your software’s Burn Disc option to copy the music to audio-CD format.
3. Now, rename the original playlist to save your original songs.
4. Insert the newly burned Audio-CD and import to copy the songs back to iTunes.

You should get your DRM free songs now.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this myself and have not come across a situation where I’ve to do it yet.

I was missing Recent Documents (Windows) in the Mac OS X but not anymore after I found the Recent Items in Mac OS X. You can find the Recent Items from a system-wide location – the Apple Menu.

It lists the 10 most recently used applications, document and servers complete with their respective icons. You can also set the number of items listed for each categories by setting the same in the Appearance pane of System Preferences. You can clear the menu at any time with the “Clear Menu” located at the bottom of the list.

Well, to a Mac colleague of mine, I was boasting off a trick that I learnt recently from – Minimising windows in OS X. But I was defeated at my own trick when he did something – zoom in and out on his screen.

Here is the trick – Hold the Ctrl key while scrolling with two fingers. If you do not know how to scroll with two fingers, you better learn that (it is a real productivity booster). The TouchPad of a Macbook allows you to tip on with one finger and scroll with the another finger. It did took me some practice to get use to using two fingers on the touchpad/trackpad.

Do some practice and you should be able to zoom in and out. Enjoy!