I found SwitchResX when looking for an application to allow 16:9 widescreen resolutions on my 16:10 widescreen Apple Cinema Display.  I needed this aspect ratio to record the video tutorials that you see here on the website.  It is much easier editing video at a native 16:9 widescreen resolution in software like Final Cut Pro.  SwitchResX made it possible for me to use a resolution of 1280x720 on my 1920x1200 display.  It didn’t take long to set it up either!  Prior to finding this application, I had purchased a monitor that allowed a 720p resolution for recording the tutorials.  Now I can use my Apple Cinema Display.

There are many more features that this powerful application offers.  I mostly only use it for the custom resolution.  There are other great settings for example to help set up an HDTV, Plasma or Video Projector.  You can also adjust color depth for your displays, video mirroring, display rotation, and overscan.  These settings can be adjusted in the System Preferences.  SwitchResX has a preferences pane for all of the settings.  You can even adjust these settings and monitor profiles from customizable menus in the menu bar or with a contextual menu plugin.  To read up on the complete features you can visit their website.  If you need to customize your display or monitor, you have to try SwitchResX.

Time Machine is an excellent backup tool built into Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.  If you are not using it, then you should!  It’s really simple to set up and very convenient for backing up your entire Mac.  Restoring files is very simple too.  There is one problem I have with Time Machine, the 1 hour backup interval.  I have a Mac Pro, my Time Machine drive is internal.  The drive wakes up every hour and backs up whatever has changed since the last.  I find this annoying.  My default two drives are SSD drives which make zero noise.  The Time Machine drive is a 1.5TB HDD.  Every hour the backup drive wakes up, spins, backs up data for about 5-20 minutes.  While Time Machine is running, it also slows down the computer.  I found a really great free application that lets you customize the Time Machine backup schedule, TimeMachineEditor.

TimeMachineEditor has two methods for setting up custom backups on your Mac.  You can set up by Hour Interval or Calendar Interval.  I use the Hour Interval option.  With this option all I did was change the backup interval from 1 hour to 2 hours.  My problem was immediately solved!  You can type in any number you want for the hour interval.  If you use TimeMachineEditor please note that for this software to work, you need to disable Time Machine in your System Preferences.  You need to do this so that your Mac no longer backs up every hour.  TimeMachineEditor will now handle your custom schedule.

Finally, there is a Calendar Interval set up (the above screenshot).  You can add multiple intervals by Hour, Day, Week, and Month.  I have not yet used these controls as the simple Hour Interval has greatly improved my computing experience while running Time Machine.  I can see this Calendar Interval setup to be very helpful for a lot of other users though.  It lets the user completely customize their backup schedule.  If you miss a Calendar Interval backup, it will backup next time you restart your computer.  What are you waiting for?  Download TimeMachineEditor today!

Very simply put, Xmarks synchronizes your bookmarks across multiple web browsers on Mac, Windows, and Linux.  I originally found Xmarks when looking for a solution to sync my MobileMe/Safari bookmarks with Google Chrome browser on Mac.  I previously wrote about my positive experience using Chrome on Mac versus Safari.  Chrome is now my default browser on Mac.  How do I sync my bookmarks from Safari/MobileMe to Chrome?  Xmarks does the trick, for free.

I had to get the bookmarks to sync because I needed MobileMe syncing my bookmarks to my iPhone/iPad with any changes also in Chrome.  Xmarks stores your bookmarks online.  After you install Xmarks on your computers/browsers, you have access to view and modify your bookmarks right in the browser.  Any changes will then be synchronized to your other browsers in the background.  Your bookmarks can be accessed on all browsers just as you would have before!

I was loyal to Safari since I got my first Mac.  As I began using the web more for personal and business use, the browser became my most used application sometimes.  Safari at this point was slowing me down in more areas than I liked.  Safari seemed to be getting slower as newer releases were coming out.  There are bookmark management annoyances in Safari.  There are a few personal and business related websites that just don’t work in Safari.  I needed a more convenient and compatible web browser.  I experimented with Firefox and Chrome.  Chrome was the clear winner for me after a few weeks of use.  Continue reading about why I like Google Chrome and why I think you should try it too.

First I would like to mention that at the time of writing this I am using Google Chrome 10 for Mac.  Firefox 4 just came out and I haven’t spent much time with it.  I have grown so accustomed to Chrome working so well for me, I’m not even tempted to try Firefox 4.  The current version of Safari is 5.  For this article I am strictly comparing my web experience between Safari 5 and Chrome 10.  I am leaving Firefox out of this comparison.  If I find that I like Firefox 4 better than Chrome, I will write about that.  At the moment, I am in love with Chrome for Mac.

The first thing I liked about Chrome is that it is fast, very fast.  I work a lot on the web, I need a fast browser.  The second thing I liked about Chrome is that it is compatible with all of the website I visit.  Safari wasn’t compatible with a few sites I needed to use.  Chrome has very sleek and intuitive Tabs at the top of the browser window.  They are clean, out of the way, and easily manageable.  Chrome uses a combined Search and Address Bar.  At first this might take users a while to get familiar with.  I have no issues with this setup.  In one box at the top of Chrome you can Search or type a URL.  There aren’t separate search and address bar boxes.  The Bookmarks management is way better than Safari.  You can arrange, edit, and delete bookmarks directly in the Chrome Bookmarks Bar.  In Safari you have to visit the Bookmarks Menu to edit your bookmarks.

A minor neat feature is the Downloads Bar at the bottom of the Chrome window.  In Safari, your downloads are managed in the Downloads Window.  In Chrome, your Downloads display at the bottom of the browser, no extra windows!  One last minor neat feature is that you can have Chrome automatically open pages, Tabs, or Apps when you open Chrome.  For example, you’re browsing the web and quit Chrome or restart the computer but you didn’t close any tabs or pages first.  Next time you open Chrome, all your last pages, Tabs and Apps will open where you left off.  Or you can customize Chrome to go ahead and open specific items when you open Chrome each time.

Finally, the Chrome Web Store is similar to Safari Extensions, but better.  I know the Safari Extensions gallery expands each day, but Chrome Web Store is huge.  Within Chrome you can visit the Web Store.  There are many free and paid Apps, Extensions, and Themes.  All of these enhance your online browsing experience.  You can download and run Apps in Chrome like TweetDeck (for Facebook and Twitter updates), Flixster, Google Reader, QuickNote and more.  You can also “Pin” these Apps so they don’t take up a full Tab at the top of the browser window.  They will conveniently only consume a tiny app icon space in your Tab Bar.

There are really great Extensions in Chrome such as AdBlock, Auto HD for YouTube, Better Facebook, Duplicate Tab, InvisibleHand, and Xmarks Bookmark Sync.  The extensions usually run in the background without you even noticing.  Some include an icon at the top of the browser or have the option to show/hide the icon.  I plan to write more in depth articles soon about the great Apps and Extensions in Google Chrome.  They are really that great and convenient and I would love to share them with you.  The final customization feature available in the Chrome Web Store is Themes.  They are what you would expect, they customize the look of the browser.  It is nice to have the option to customize the colors and look of the browser unlike Safari.  The default look can get boring after a while if you constantly use your browser.

The bottom line is Chrome for Mac is amazing.  I would highly recommend you try it out today if you have not experienced Chrome yet.  I will discuss in detail soon my favorite Chrome Apps and Extensions.  One in particular is Xmarks Bookmark Sync (Extension).  If you plan to make Chrome your Default Web Browser on Mac, Xmarks will sync your bookmarks between Chrome and Safari (other browsers too).  This is great if you still plan to use both or if you want to sync your Chrome Bookmarks to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod.  Chrome saves me lots of time and makes my browsing experience enjoyable and hassle-free.  It is the smartest browser I have use to date!  Try Chrome today, visit their website to download and learn more.