Todd Hamilton » OSX

I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.

toddham — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:32:08 +0000

Time for a desktop switcharoo! I’ve had my eye on the 2001 A Space Odyssey icons for awhile and finally got a chance to put this new theme together. Most of the other 2001 wallpapers out there have HAL in the center so I figured I’d show Dave some love on this one.

Somatic Desktop

toddham — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:25:18 +0000

It’s that time again! I got bored with my wooden desktop and decided to go with a more playful theme. I stared with a beautiful wallpaper by Kevin Anderson called It’s Like Chocolate (you can download it from deviantArt). Next, I headed over to Iconfactory and grabbed all the Somatic icon packages (I believe there are 4 or 5). And of course I used CandyBar to do all the icon switching. Check out the new look on flickr!

I’ve Been Missing Out

toddham — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:15:03 +0000

With all the new web/desktop applications popping up on the scene its hard to tell which ones actually save time and make life easier. I recently installed three applications that I’ve heard great things about but haven’t had the chance to try until now. Here they are:

1. Skype – This one is a no brainer… free calls over the internet to other people on Skype. Easy to use and beats holding a cellphone up to your ear when your on long business calls. Also great for conference calls and keeping in touch with with family.

2. Last.fm – There are a lot of tools out there for discovering new music but Last.fm seems to be the most comprehensive. The last.fm website is incredibly dense and the desktop radio is great for sitting back and discovering new music. There’s even an iPhone application for listening to your stations on the go.

3. DropBox – Store, Sync, and Share your files online. Occasionally I’ll need to send large files to friends or clients and DropBox seems to be a great solution. It’s easy to use and it stores files in the cloud so you can access your stuff from anywhere.

Honorable mention: Quicksilver is another amazing application that I recently tried adopting. Quicksilver allows you to quickly perform tasks using keyboard commands. Tasks such as launching applications, manipulating files and data, and sending e-mail. While extremely powerful I couldn’t get passed just using it as an application launcher. Therefore I got rid of it since Leopards built-in spotlight works just as well.

Oh yeh, and they’re all FREE! Happy downloading!

More Widgets!

toddham — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:03:28 +0000

Just when I thought I had a great idea Justin Talbott tells me about Taco Widgets. I was planning on building a Mac OSX widget for finding special characters ($ % > <), however Taco Widgets beat me to the punch with CharacterPal. This nifty little guy can be very handy since I find it impossible remember all the keyboard shortcuts.

Another great widget I came across was IDS(Instant Domain Search). I’m constantly on the prowl for good domain names and this widget makes it super easy to see what’s available.

My New Desktop

toddham — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:17:02 +0000

One way I try to stay artistically motivated is to change the look of my workspace. This may seem very trivial but staring at the same desktop everyday can really make my mind go numb.

Usually I’ll settle for a quick wallpaper change, however this time I was feeling a bit adventurous and completely overhauled my OSX desktop. Below is a screenshot of the final result and the resources I used to accomplish the fancy new look.

Most of the resources are from DeviantArt. I used CandyBar to swap out the icons. I also used GimmeSomeTune to display iTunes info on the desktop. Thanks to all the creators!