Monthly Archive for January, 2007

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Control iTunes from the Desktop with iTunesVolume

Published on January 13, 2007 in Apple, Music and Software. 0 Comments

iTunesVolume (download link below) is an awesome little program that I found a few days ago via macosxhints. It has a number of features – the ability to start and stop iTunes, change the volume, rate the current track, and display the current track’s info and lyrics – all conveniently accessed from the desktop! My favorite feature, however, is that it displays the current track’s album artwork on the desktop (fully resizable). I love being able to see the album artwork of the track I’m playing, and I think that the desktop is a perfect place to put it, but few programs offer this option.

I’ve been using iTunesVolume for a few days now and it works well, always changing the artwork within seconds of changing tracks on iTunes. The display preferences are numerous – the three components can made transparent and not all of them need to be shown. I only have the volume controller and the artwork running, as seen in the screen capture below:

iTunesVolume Screenshot

One caveat: activity monitor shows that this program seems to utilize the CPU more than it should. I didn’t notice any significant speed issues while I was using it, but bear that in mind if your Mac seems slower after installing it.

The author’s website is currently down due to overusage of bandwidth, but the program can be downloaded at this mirror until the site is fixed.

P.S. Jokes relating to Coldplay and The 40-Year Old Virgin will not be appreciated ;)

Nifty iPhoto ‘Year in Review’

Published on January 12, 2007 in Apple and Software. 0 Comments

While I was playing with iPhoto over the vacation, I discovered a neat way to quickly review all the cool things I had done last year. If you use iPhoto to manage your photo library, and you take a fair number of photos throughout the year (I have around 1200 shots from last year), then you may enjoy this little trick. It is by no means earth-shattering, but I thought it was a uniquely visual way to reminisce about the year.

iPhoto Year in Review

Choose the year you want to review from the source list. The years are found under “Library” which should be the first item on the list. After adjusting the pictures to an appropriate size using the slider in the lower right hand corner, click on the scroll button and drag it at any speed down the scroll bar. As you do this, the months of the year will overlay the photos so that you can see everything that happened that month. You will only see the overlay if you are using iLife ‘06.

Last year brought me my 19th birthday, many track meets, my 5th Vermont City Marathon relay team, jaw surgery, my first lobster, a Dave Matthews Band roadtrip, a week of camping in Deering, New Hampshire, many visits to friends and family, a Ben Folds Concert, and a fine Christmas. I hope 2006 was good to you as well.

Back to School Tomorrow

Published on January 10, 2007 in Musings and School. 0 Comments

AirplaneI’ll be at Burlington International Airport at 4:30am tomorrow to catch a 6am flight on JetBlue, and I should be in Rochester around 11am. The break was extremely relaxing, and I really enjoyed not doing anything, but I’m definitely ready to get back to school. I know that I didn’t post anything over the break (sorry!), but I promise there will be more stuff to read soon.