Category Archives: technology

OK, so I know it is not Monday and that this Mac Tweak is a little late but…

Have you ever wanted to rename a bunch of files in bulk? Like a bunch of music or photo files that you want to name and number in a certain order? Well, it would normally take hours of “click, hold, rename” futzing around that no one really has the time for. Especially if you have a whole bunch of them.

Next time download and use this cool little utility called Renamer.From the applications website:

Renamer4Mac makes it really easy to rename a big number of files according to a preset pattern. It lets you rename your files in many different ways:

• Search & replace
• Insert/overwrite of text
• Number the files
• Convert upper/lowercase

All can be done with an easy user interface and real-time preview, so you can see how the files will be named just while you’re configuring!

It is donationware so, if you find it useful (as I have recently) throw a bone or two their way.

I am always being asked where to find good deals on Macintosh stuff. There are many places I look and shop. Often times the reasons are not just in the prices but also in the company. Some of these sites I visit on a daily basis whether I am looking to by stuff or not; figuring that if I do see a really good deal I may be able to match it up with a friend’s need. So, with that in mind, here are some places I go to find good deals on Macintosh stuff on the internet.

Apple Store “Special Deals” Section – This is where Apple sells their refurbished products often times for hundreds of dollar less than brand new. Why buy refurbished instead of new? Well, Apple does very rigorous testing on the refurbished models to make sure that they don’t come back again. Furthermore, all Apple refurbs carry the same warranty that a brand new Apple product does. Therefore, if you do have a problem, it is covered.

Small Dog Electronics – I really like these guys and have bought two Macs from them. They are a small, family run business located in the heart of small town Vermont. They are big on charitable and social causes and, as the name might suggest, are HUGE dog lovers! They are also one of the oldest online Macintosh retailers around. Their front page features daily deals and ongoing specials.

DealMac – DealMac does the work of searching Mac deals for you. Every day they scour the web for deals and specials on Macs and Mac accessories. This is one of those sites I visit a couple of times a day. Why twice? Well, some deals are so good that if you do not catch them early in the morning (when the first deals start being posted) they will be sold out by afternoon. They also have a sister site called DealRAM which helps you find the best prices on RAM

PowerMax – PowerMax is a great place to look for refurbished and used Macs. If the Apple Store does not have the Mac you are looking for in their refurbished offerings, this is a good second place to check. They also buy used Macs as well and accept certain trade ins for credit towards new equipment.

Post Subtitle: “The Moral of The Story or Back That Thang Up”

One thing was made abundantly clear to me after the hard drive adventure I experienced this weekend. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for someone like me, who uses and supports technology for a living, to not have a recent backup. Especially since there are so many cheap and/or free backup utilities. Here are the ones I like (none of them begin with “R” or end with “etrospect”)

RsyncX– rsync is actually a synchronization utility that already exists, for free, and is built into the Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X. The problem is that it is a Unix utility and does not play well with Mac resource forks. That being said, there is a way to use this tool.RsyncX, developed by Kevin Boyd, is a free version of this utility for Mac OS X that does play nice with the Mac. It also provides a graphical front end to the utility for those who are “Terminally Impaired”. Matthew Phillips has written and excellent resource called “Backup Your Mac With rsync” that is worth checking out if you wish to do this.

The Caveat: You can’t use this utility to back up to CD-R or DVD-R media. It works great with external drives including Firewire, USB

Deja Vu – For making scheduled backups to all manner of media, including CD-R and DVD, you can’t go wrong with Deja Vu. It is not only effective but, at $24.95, it is not that expensive either. Deja Vu lives as a preference pane in your System Preferences so it unobtrusive. It can be set to do manual backups as well.

Backup – If you have a .Mac account then you already have a “free” backup program available to you called, curiously enough, Backup. Backup allows you to back up to external hard drives, CD-R, DVD or even your .Mac iDisk. It is actually a very well designed piece of software. It allows for scheduled backups or manual ones, has a Quick Picks feature that will automatically back up things like “All Microsoft Word files in my home folder”, and much, much more.