Easy, make a .PNG file that is 768 x 1004, modify it to however you want, rename it to Default.png and replace the old Default.png in your App’s directory.

(You will need a Jailbroken iPad, OpenSSH installed, as well as an SSH client on your computer)

VOILA! Now your iPad scaled iPhone Apps also have a pretty new high resolution splash screen!

If you already have a hefty collection of ebooks in the DRM free format of ePub then you can simply load them up into iTunes and your good to go. However if your collection of ebooks are not in the ePub format (PDF, LIT, MOBI, RTF, PDB, TXT) your going to need to convert them so that they will be readable/syncable on your fancy schmancy new iPad. To do this simply download a copy of Calibre which can do this for you. It should be as simple as that, enjoy.

I was bored and took the liberty of converting that sound file to an iPhone compatible ringtone. (Download link below)

Download Here: Mac Startup Ringtone

In Shiretoko’s location bar, type about:config, proceed if you see a warning dialog, then search for user and you will see a field pop up that says general.useragent.extra.firefox, now double click on that field and replace the current text with Firefox/3.5.5. That’s it!

I have only replicated this on an iPhone 3GS running 3.1.2, if you can replicate it on other phones then please comment below.

• Start by playing a Genius Mix list on your iPhone.
• Go to your homescreen and swipe to the Spotlight search.
• Search for any song, and tap to play.

Notice how the song you just tapped on did not play. Your iPhone either loads up the iPod player and ignores your request and continues playing the current song, or it will jump to the beginning of the current Genius Mix playlist. I’m disappointed that Apple let such an obvious bug slip through their clutches!

In termal, browse to: /Volumes/[Leopard Install]/System/Library/Extensions find AppleUserUpstream.kext and delete it! You’ll have to enter your system password.

If you want to be safe, make sure you back this file up to a different location. RESTART and you’ll be now lag free!

It’s a pretty awesome tool that I have yet to use to its fullest potential. It has a strong database of hidden setting tweaks and adjustments that can easily be toggled and experimented with. To name just a few of the useful tweaks look below:

• Enable Half Star Ratings in iTunes
• Add Recents/Favorites to Stack (Dock)
• Disable/Enable Dashboard
• Enable Expert Mode in Disk Utility
• Change File formats for Screen Grabs
• And many more…

This Utility is constantly updated by the OSX community and has proven to be lightweight and handy to me for several months now. Check it out for yourself at: http://secrets.blacktree.com/

UPDATE: I failed to mention that this utility is completely free, have at it.

If you want to change the icon displayed for your hard drive disk (or pretty much any other icon), without having to pay for a third party App then please read on! The process is really, first you need to find the icons that you want to use. I downloaded a set of beautiful icons from Louie Mantia.

After you have downloaded the icon, in Finder right click the icon and click Get Info, then click on the small preview of the icon at the top of the newly displayed Get Info window. The small icon should now be highlighted, either go to Edit, then Copy or press COMMAND + C.

Now, click on the drive (or folder) that you want to change, click on Get Info, click the small icon preview, and then go to Edit, then Paste or press COMMAND + V. That’s it!

If you want to further customize many more icons in Leopard/Snow Leopard, you can check out Candybar (Shareware), it’s a great App.

Add a ‘Recent Applications’ Stack

If you want a stack of recent applications that you have used, then simply paste the following into a Terminal window:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'

Then afterwords, make sure you KillAll Dock. Now you have a beautifully new Recent Applications stack in your dock. As far as I know, these tips only work on OS X 10.5 (and newer).

Lets just put this bluntly: it’s a disappointment. With all the time that was available to develop this App, both Palm and Facebook left a lot to be desired.

Starting with the basics (and there isn’t much beyond that), this App gives you more of a Twitter like feed of your Facebook profile than anything else.  You can see the most recent status updates, link postings, photo postings and video postings from your feed.  If you click a post, it brings you to another view where you can add a comment and Like/Unlike the post.  If there are photos posted, clicking on them will open the photo in the native photo App that WebOS uses to view them.  Links will open in the browser as expected and videos will open in the YouTube player on the phone.  The UI is very much in-tune with the rest of the OS, buttons and transitions look as expected and there is even the accordion that is seen in the calendar App when there are a lot of comments on one post.

To make a new status update, there is a text box at the top of the feed.  Touching that will allow you to type directly in the field and will show two new buttons below it, Attach and Share.  Attach will allow you to add a photo directly to the post and Share will publish the post.

So what’s missing from all this? Namely, notifications, profile viewing and messaging.  You cannot view a specific person’s profile.  Touching a persons name just opens their contact info in the native contact App (which is nice in its own right) if they are in your contact list and does nothing if they are not.  You cannot view your message inbox nor can you respond to any notifications/friend requests/events/etc.  WebOS has an excellent push/background notification system that could have been put to use to give you new Facebook notifications much like the Blackberry Facebook app.  Not having this was a huge disappointment for me.

In all, what I think this app is good for is quick status updates, viewing your recent news feed and maybe posting a picture or two when you are not at home at your computer.  I am keeping the Facebook mobile site bookmarked  in my browser for the time being because that allows me to respond to messages and notifications that I receive.  Palm has long ways to go to catch up to the stellar Facebook Apps on the iPhone and Blackberry and is even behind the functionality of the ones available for Android and Windows Mobile (gasp!).  All it needs is a few more core features and updates and it will be right up there with the rest of the pack.

The Facebook for Palm app is now available in the App Catalog on WebOS devices.

VNC Choices

There are several choices for VNC Apps on the iTunes App Store and some of the Apps I ran across include: LogMeIn, Jaadu VNC and Mocha VNC Lite to name a few. I personally used each of these and had mixed results, they all ran relatively slow and had a slew of software I had to install on my Mac in order to get it up and running. LogMeIn wasn’t so bad but it came at a $30 premium if I wanted to buy it. Then I stumbled upon RemoteTap ($4.99), which by the description seemed to do everything I wanted and was very minimalistic in the software that I had to install on my Mac. It’s probably a teensy bit more difficult to get up and running for a non-local connection, but once I got it up and running I found it to be the best VNC type App for the iPhone that money could buy.

Uses

If you have read my previous article on the WD HD Live set top media box you might have realized that I don’t own a DVR and I am forced to download TV shows and movies via Usenet, and copy them over to that box for later viewing. Well, using RemoteTap I can do this when I’m not at home. I simply boot up the App, select the local or non-local internet connections (I’ll get to that in the setup portion) and then I’m using my Mac that’s at home to set up a download, eavesdrop on my office or whatever I want. Basically it’s about using your imagination here.

Setup

The setup shouldn’t be too daunting especially if you only plan on using the App over your local network. All you would have to do is make sure you have installed the RemoteTap Preferences Pane to your System Preferences, and make sure you’re connected to your local WiFi router. Then, open up RemoteTap from your iPhone and select Scan. Locally this should be all you have to do, but who only wants to use this locally?

I want to access my Mac anytime, anywhere, which is where the real usefulness of this App kicks in. If you want to use it both locally and non-locally you’ll have to remember to set up the App twice with each setup being specific to when you’re connected locally and when you’re over 3G (or Edge I guess). So once you have a local connection set up then exit out and set up a new connection, this one will be for your non-local over the net connection. This is where you’re going to need to plug in the information from the RemoteTap Preferences Pane on your Mac. This information can be found in the Internet tab.

Once you have plugged all that info into the App on your iPhone then you can proceed to open the Port you have chosen, I used the default port 5902 because I’m lazy and it doesn’t matter to me. If you are familiar enough with your router that you can easily open that Port for access then do so, if not there is a very handy app called PortMap that you can use to ease the process. Once you have the port open it’s only a matter of testing it out. In order to do this make sure you’re no longer connected to your WiFi network and that your iPhone is connected via 3G or Edge then use the non-local settings in RemoteTap to try and log in to your Mac. If you have done everything correctly you should be in, if not refer to the help page on RemoteTap’s website which is very useful and has a lot of great tips to get you up and running.

If everything is set up properly then you’ll want to get used to all the control aspects of RemoteTap such as how to drag and drop, control the sound, quickly open and close apps, use shortcuts and etc. Built into the App is a helpful tutorial on all the controls and I suggest you use it to maximize the Apps potentials. Also if you want to take advantage of the ability to use your Macs built in Microphone to listen to what is going on where your Mac is through RemoteTap then you’ll also need to install a lightweight program on your Mac called Sound Flower, it has a straightforward set up and is worth checking out.

That’s all I have for now, I’m sure I’m leaving something out but I can always clarify if you post your questions in the comments, thank you.