Microsoft RDC Client - Updated for Snow Leopard

Microsoft's free Remote Desktop Connection Client utility that allows you to connect to Windows pc's from Apple Mac OSX gets updated to version 2.0.1.

It seems to only improve on Snow Leopard compatibility, however that does eliminate a nasty crash when running under Apple's new OS. Grab your copy below.

Microsoft Remote Desktop - Download

Monitoring your Macbook's Health

 

Its important to keep an eye on your battery usage over it's lifetime. In my case, it happens to be a macbook pro. Knowing its capacity, charge cycles and more will help you maintain it, and know if you are having issues that are battery related.

I like to use an application called Battery Health Montior from Sonora Graphics. It's free, and works on Macbooks, Powerbooks and iBooks. Battery Health Monitor provides information on:

• Current Capacity
• Original Capacity
• Current Charge
• Charge Cycles
• Voltage

Checking up on these bar graph values will indicated changes in the lifespan of your current battery. A very important part of extending your battery's life, is to let it run down completely and then fully re-charge it at least once a month. I try to do it once a week, since my macbook is on AC power most of the time.

Coconut Battery is another free application I've used in the past worth noting.

Download - Battery Health Montior

TabExpose Application

If your surfing habits are anything like mine, you live inside tab browsing these days. Additionally, if you're on a Mac using Safari all the time, and dig OSX's Expose feature, then you will love this.

TabExpose melds tab browsing and expose into one sweet feature for Safari. One click or key tap, and it displays all your open tabs on your screen to navigate around them. Works on PPC & Intel Macs, on Leopard, Safari 3.x & 4.

Check it out - TabExpose

Converting Video on the Mac

In the Past converting video was a complicated process for people with a technical know-how of codecs and convoluted jargon that only experts understood. With the evolution of video on the internet, various developers have simplified the process down with some easy to use applications, which the average person can utilize.

The list is long across all the mainstream platforms. However, I live in the Mac world for all my graphics/web and Visual Effects work. The two most common applications I end up using for converting between video formats are FREE.

Click to read more ...

3rd Party Backup/Cloning Apps for Mac OSX

There are many ways to go about backing up your Mac hard drive locally. In another article I'll go over how to do this from within OSX using Disk Utility. However, there is something to be said for well designed applications that simplify the steps needed into a few clicks for both Backups and Restore.

I tend to go back and forth between Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. Both of these programs are just as good. They both support incremental and bootable backups. So what's the difference? Mainly the price. Carbon Copy Cloner is Free, but they accept donations. Super Duper will allow you to make free full disk backups, but the full registered version costs $27.95.

• Super Duper
• Carbon Copy Cloner