LEGO NXT Mindstorms Missile Launcher

Created by “bricklife”, this NXT-powered missile launcher is quite accurate to say the least. See it in action after the break.

Found the #1 Mac guide in the world!!

Ok i found this Mac guide like no other Mac guide, it dosn’t just explains keyboard shortcuts, it actually, well, read it to find out!

Introduction

A lot of people have been moving to the Mac over the past few years, so a while back I thought I’d jot down a few notes about my experience over the last five years or so. The motives for anyone switching are pretty much irrelevant, and will not be discussed here - discussing relative merits of computer platforms is very much like discussing cars, and therefore largely unimportant if you are getting what you want.

Quasi-religious beliefs that any platform is better than another are not just irrelevant, but plain childish and stupid. Before maligning the Mac, Windows or Linux, make sure you know what you are talking about - most people in the IT business have “pet hatreds” towards one platform or another out of sheer ignorance, and more than a decade in the business has shown me that anyone who only has bad things to say about any given platform probably doesn’t know what (s)he’s talking about.

So if you know you want a Mac, you’ve come to the right place for a few basic hints that might just save you a lot of time.

The major “under-the-hood” issue for non-Mac users is the underlying UNIX foundation of Mac OS X - it’s quite different from what you might be used to, and if you used any sort of UNIX before, bookmark Amit Singh’s What Is Mac OS X? now and go read it after you finish this.

The second (and quite frequent) issue is the recent transition to Intel processors. The bottom line on that is: If it’s a Mac, it will work the same way regardless of what chip is inside. There will always be teething issues, but the Rosetta emulator ensures pretty much everything runs on new Intel machines with acceptable performance, and most relevant applications are already available as Universal binaries for both PowerPC and Intel machines.

And yes, you can run Windows (or Linux) on Intel-based Macs. There are at least three good ways to do it. One is doing dual boot using Boot Camp (for which Apple even supplies Windows drivers), and the other two consist of using Virtualization (i.e., running the other operating system in a virtual hardware sandbox). One is called Parallels and has been around since roughly mid-2006, and the other is called Fusion and reached public beta on December 2006.

They will not be discussed here at length, since the main point of this document is to ensure you feel at home in Mac OS X as quickly as possible.

The remainder of this is, therefore, mostly written for non-technical folk. However, I do throw in a few hints for people who are coming to Mac OS X with some computing experience and expect some “best practices”, so don’t worry if some points are a bit too technical.

42 Reasons normal people can switch to a Mac.

They’re compatible. Right out the box, Macs and PCs use the same:

1. Wifi. Wireless Internet works the same with Macs and PCs.

2. Internet. The vast majority of web sites work on both systems.

3. E-mail. Every form of e-mail system (except Microsoft Exchange systems) works fine on Macs. The last couple of versions of the Mac operating system, OS X, support Exchange as well, using this setup.

4. MP3 files. This is the most common form of music files. (WAV files work too. For other forms, see below.)

5. DVDs and CDs. Watch the same movies, listen to the same albums.

6. MPG files. This is a popular video format.

7. ZIP files. Mac has an unzipper just like WinZip for these compressed files.

8. PDF files. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can use ‘em.

9. Image files. All your bmp, jpg, gif and png files are just fine.

10. MOV files, a video format that’s popular on the web, will work better than ever.

With a little software, Macs can run:

1. WMA and WMV files. These “Windows-only” music and video files work after installing Windows Media for Mac.

2. AVI files. These work best on VLC, a media player that can handle nearly every file on Windows or OS X. It’s the only program you need for movies.

3. Office files (.doc, .xls, etc.). Just buy Microsoft Office as you would on a PC.

4. Photoshop files. Just, um, buy Photoshop.

5. Windows. Yep. You can install Windows and move any files and programs that still won’t work on your Mac.

Dig these nifty programs:

1. Macs come with iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes to handle your photos, movies and music in a friendlier way than the clunky systems on Windows. Of course, if you like files and folders (so do I!) you can keep handling your media that way.

2. Adium combines AIM, Yahoo IM, Google Talk, and a bundle of other instant messaging programs. It’s slick, friendly, and customizable.

3. Firefox is a great internet browser for Windows and Mac. (You might also like the Mac’s normal browser, Safari.)

4. Dashboard widgets are little programlets that can display the weather, an inbox, the white pages, flight info, how well your computer’s doing, when Heroes is on next, and plenty of other information.

5. Quicksilver lets you start any program or open any file on your system by hitting a few keys (instead of digging through a programs folder or start menu).

6. Podworks lets you download music from an iPod to a Mac.

7. This is really just a super-useful feature that comes with OS X. Press apple-shift-4 to take a partial screenshot, just capturing the part of the screen you want. You drag and click, OS X drops the file onto your desktop. It’s a great way to clip from pictures or show someone what’s happening on your screen.

8. And there’s so much more, on lists like this and this and this and this.

Isn’t it nice when things just work?

1. The OS X operating system has four hotkeys that show your desktop, all your open programs, all the windows in one program, or your Dashboard widgets.

2. When you’re watching a video and you use those hotkeys or minimize the video, it keeps playing on screen. Sweet.

3. Say you’re moving some episodes of Heroes to a folder within a folder. If you click and drag them over, say, a folder marked “TV Shows,” you can hold them there and “TV Shows” will open, so you can drag the files over to “Heroes.” This way you don’t have to crawl around selecting and re-selecting.

4. No draggable edges on your windows means that the edges of your programs are clickable. What does this do? Well, you can slide your mouse to the edge of the screen and use the scroll bar without accidentally shrinking the window instead.

5. How much power is left in your Mac laptop? Don’t turn it on, just press the button on the case and watch the power meter light up.

6. Your software and hardware will feel beautiful. Macs don’t have dangling hooks; the clips are embedded inside the laptops instead of sticking out; the power cords on the new models have that famous magnetic connection, so if you trip on the cord, it pulls out instead of dragging the Mac onto the floor.

7. None of those #$@%^ pop-up bubbles that tell you the same thing over and over.

No crashes.

1. Windows takes so much work just to keep it running. But Macs don’t take maintenance. Viruses? Not much of a problem.

2. Defragging? Forget it.

3. Disk repair? Well, if you managed to whack this machine so hard that the built-in motion sensor didn’t save your hard drive…

4. It’s hard to crash a Mac. I drive my computers hard, so I made Windows crash every few weeks for years. I’ve owned a Mac for a year, and it’s crashed once.

Stuff really does hook up easily.

1. Cameras and camcorders, which are increasingly shipped as plug-n-play since no one really needs the dorky software that comes with them, work smoothly with Macs. (I personally recommend this line of camcorders from Sanyo.)

2. External hard drives are a breeze too. Just make sure the box doesn’t say “Windows only.” Most, such as the My Book, work smoothly with Macs.

3. Scroll areas on trackpads? Ew. Those get in the way unless you stare at your trackpad as you use it. That’s why Apple’s laptops scroll when you drag two fingers, no matter where on the trackpad you are.

4. I’ll admit one thing: It’s hard for a geek to find a good Mac mouse. If you’re not a fan of Apple’s standard-issue Mighty Mouse, spring for this nifty Logitech mouse. Even if you just use your computer to surf the web, you’ll love the extra two buttons that save you from finding the “back” and “forward” keys.

All the other Mac users will love you.

1. When you’re sharing an Internet connection, they’ll mooch your iTunes playlist. But that’s fine; they can only listen when you let them.

2. They’ll want to share tips.

3. They’ll have stories to tell.

4. They may get smug about it. Please don’t encourage them; just gently tell them the truth: You’re a normal person.

Source [ValleyWag]

Adding 802.11n into your Apple Macbook.

According to Apple, all of their current machines are compatible with their new 802.11n wireless hardware. The guys at MacBidouille wanted to know if they could get it functioning in their early rev macbook core duo. They ganged a new card from a MacPro and got busy.Things came out ridiculously easily, with a simple hardware swap. Considering that the pci connector is the same, I wonder if any portable with an airport extreme card could be upgraded (with an additional antenna).
Source [Hack a Day]

Low End Mac Suggestions for Optimizing Performance.

Ed Eubanks over at Low End Mac has a nice set of suggestions for optimizing performance on your Mac. The main upshot of the article is to turn off or delete things you don’t need (e.g. Universal Access, seldom used System Preferences, extra localization languages, etc.) in order to salvage as much RAM and hard drive space as possible, but he has a variety of good suggestions. Their motto over there is “How much Mac do you need?”, but even if you’ve got an Intel beast I’ve found that you pretty much never have enough system resources, so these are good tips for everyone. Check it out over at Low End Mac.

[The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]