July 4, 2003

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Birthday Bananas - It was 20 years ago today...OOPS! Wrong song, ding dong! But talk about the anniversaries! Let's take a look at the latest candle lighters and ignite the fireworks:

• The United States celebrates 227 years of its official Declaration of Independence.
• The wilds cats from the Monkie Bunch, Tigger and Toenails, turn six years of age today!
• MacMonkies hits the terrible two's as we celebrate our Second Anniversary.

It's hard to believe that 2 years have flown by since we first opened our doors on July 4, 2001. At the time of our debut, we enjoyed an overwhelming 40 hits per day...Woo hoo! Now we average a modest 4 million plus per month, serving over a quarter of a million pages in the same time frame. So, to all of you Monkie Readers, Contributors, and fellow Mac and PC sites, we offer a great big Monkie THANKS for all your Support!

Additional thanks go out to Scott Chitwood for the inspiration; Rene for the iTools instruction; Dan Flax for the direction; Kara Kelly, Ed Allen, and Alan Sherwood for being the first contributors; Paul Sahner for TNT, and Ged and Mindy from The Factory for their continued encouragement and support!

With all that said, we now get to the goods:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - In honor of our readers, we decided to get REALLY coconutz! Kicking the fun into high gear, we proudly announce the Big Bang Birthday Giveaway that will begin next week. Top prize in the Birthday bash includes a shiny new iPod for your iTunage fun! Of course there is more, but we can't let all of the Monkies outta the bag at once! Be sure to check back this time next week for your chance to cash in on the goodies. See ya then! Ya say it's your Birthday...!

Monkie Note - We will be taking the weekend off. Enjoy your Holiday and PLEASE be safe!

New GOO!

New Icons - Yummy, yummy in the GUI tummy! No canned condiments here. Just fresh Icon features from the web's finest icon artists. So let's stuff a sock in the Monkie's mouth and get to the GOO!

miX the piX - I still remember the first time I laid eyes on the work of master miXer Mevissen's work -- I was like WHOA!! And still, the creations from miX the piX are no exception! The latest work from Hein called Dock Spheres is certain to prove the piXel point! Need I say more?!

James Gowan - One of my favorite icon artists and fellow Beatles fans is James Gowan, "modifier" of the iTunes Variations. James didn't make this colorful set, but did an outstanding job adding new life to Apple's iTunes icons. Quite the tasty set!

Iconizer Icon Studios - Wrappin' things up in the all things spiffy and new department is another of the web's finest iconists Wessley Roche of Iconizer Icon Studios. Wessley certainly knows the meaning of spiff and spizzazz as he gives you his take on WWDC2003 New Stuff. Enjoy!

 

Thanks Department --

Hein, James and Wessley...

Thank you for making MacMonkies the fun place for
icon eye poppers for which it is known!

CHEERS!!

Send Us Your Icons!

 

 

Community News

Mandolux - Mando Gomez wraps up another week with another great group of desktop selections added to the galleries of Mandolux. Here's what you'll find:

Mandolux has issued ten new desktops: five Vector-based (Surfing/Woman/Artistic), one Austere Petal (Nature/Macro), one Money 2K2 (Egypt/Macro), one Lincoln 2K2 (Abstract), one Graffiti (Photo), and one Bonzai/Taran (Nature/Roots).

Great new desktop GOO is but a click away at Mandolux. Get yourself on the move!

Bananas

Just Plain Nuts - R. Westby

JUST A WAVE

Two fisherman are out sailing when suddenly a hand appears in the sea. "What's this?" asked the first fisherman."It looks as if someone is drowning!"

"No," explained the second fisherman, "It's just a little wave."

TELEMARKETER REPELLANT Part II

4. If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems. My arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog has the gout..."

5. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back. When the telemarketer explains that telemarketers cannot give out their home numbers say, "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The telemarketer will agree and you say, "Me either!" Hang up.

6. Ask them to repeat everything they say several times.

JOKE JOKE

When's a joke like a father?

When the punchline's apparent!

July 3, 2003

Monkie News

Tomorrow: We're Open For Fun! - Say what? MacMonkies is open on July 4th? You betcha! It's the one day of the year we never close. And if you're wonderin' why we would remain in active mode on such a day, it's because it's quite the special day and there's more than one reason to celebrate!

So to add plenty of bang to the usual 4th of July funtivities, we'll have some great New Icon selections, News, Humor, and some very SPECIAL announcements. You don't want to miss the "fireworks" tomorrow, right here at MacMonkies. See ya then!

Community News

EA Design - The honorable Guvna Ed Allen dazzles the eyes once again with the addition of four fantabulous new selections to the galleries of EA Design. Ed adds Square Eyed, So Broken, Eye Of The Beholder, and Milk It to his all-too-cool collections. These new works are sure to please your pixel disease and have your eyes beggin' for more. Slip yourself over to EA Design and get yourself happy!

Marmalade Moon - Are you in for a little digital romance from Marmalade Moon? We thought you might be! Just in from colorful creator Kate England is the beautiful new collection Floating On Roses - a desktop calendar with matching icons. If you love your computer so much that you want to marry it, or wish you were in a garden rather than at your work station, then scatter rose petals on your desktop and celebrate July or celebrate a wedding. All of this and more is now available at Marmalade Moon. Check it out!

Network News

the WebWorld - BeanHead

Apple Stops Traffic - Apple stops traffic...internet traffic, that is. On the week ending June 15th, Apple produced 46 percent more unique visitors from their website than any other computer hardware website. They've out shown major computer companies including Dell, Hewlett Packard and Gateway. The survey supplied by Nielsen/NetRatings also showed that, for some reason, the 3.6 million Apple internet travelers made short stops, averaging under four minutes per visit. - from MacObserver and Internet Retailer

iPod Packs The Punch - Apple’s iPod is not only the best MP3 player, but it is now the fastest one too. Steve Jobs' demonstration of the dynamic new fourth generation iPod left his audience rip roaring with delight! It looks the same as the third generation iPod, but don’t let your eyes deceive you because it is five times as fast. Apple's not only got the look, but the powerful new software inside the iPod definitely packs the punch, producing the fastest paced player to date. - from BBSpot

July 2, 2003

Desktops | Community News | Bananas

At The Top - We're back in black with a big fat Mac Attack! What does all this mean? Well, of course it means another fun filled mid-week Wednesday Desktop Edition! And not only great GUI wonders will you find here, but also a nice dose of Community News and Bananas too! So sit back and enjoy as we kick the GUI gears into action. Let's boogie!

New GOO!

New Desktops - Ahhh, it's good to be back with some cool new eye-candy additions to the Desktop Gallery. Even the Main Monkie was having withdrawals from the lack of recent Updates. So let's get a firm fix of pixel compilations and get with the picture! Off we go!!

Desktops - Filtering out the ordinary from the spectacular is Glenn Fajardo with the eye-inspiring Filtrate. This bright and beautiful selection is certain to grow on you with its amazing powers of illuminating efficiency!

From the digital wizardry of Donnie Fischer comes a not-so-slow piece titled Mister Turtle. Quite the perfectionist in the world of pixel placement, Donnie focuses in with a fine home grown animal of his own to bring you quite the delight!

 

3-D Rendered - As promised, we continue with the amazing abilities of Marty Leone. This week's rush of pulsating pixels enters in with Rushour, a fantabulous retro/futuristic piece that is guaranteed to make your desktop motor run!

There's nothing like the moonlit sensations of Juergen Eilts from ShiftedReality. This week Juergen brings a sense of Awe with his selection of the same name! All of you hopeful romantics are sure to appreciate this superb selection created with Worldbuilder 3.5. AWEsome!

Wrapping up the final slot in the 3-D Department is a simple piece from MacMonkies' Mr. Wiles titled Zig Zag. One finds life so much simpler without the typical twists and turns that are to be expected while zigging and zagging along the way. ENJOY!

 

 

Thanks Department --

Glenn, Donnie, Marty, and Juergen...

Absolutely outstanding work!

Keep up the amazement!

THANK YOU!!

Have a piece you want to display?

Check out our Submissions guidelines and then send it in!

 

Community News

burntcanvasdesign - A neat little update has occurred over at burntcanvasdesign! Three new 2d pieces have been added to the Photoshop gallery. At last Alan has delved into his 2d collection to bring you something a little different from his older style. Get to clicking to see what he means at burntcanvasdesign!

Mandolux - Just in from master desktop artist Mando Gomez of Mandolux is a new Money 2K2 desktop titled Egypt. This new selection is a picture of a section of an old bill showing a mosque. The desktop has a really wonderful texture and composition because of old age. Point your browsers over to Mandolux and get your money's worth of this great new pic!

Bananas

Just Plain Nuts - R. Westby

DR. SEUSS EXPLAINS WHY COMPUTERS SOMETIMES CRASH

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;
then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,
and the macro code instructions cause unnecessary risk,
then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM
then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

FIX IT!

Microsoft recently had a hacker attack of its own. Sources say some code of their upcoming projects was viewed. The thing that bothers Bill Gates the most about it is that he's afraid the hackers will fix the bugs and release a version of Windows that actually works!

July 1, 2003

Monkie News | On The Net | Network News

Monkie News

Tomorrow: New Desktops! - Just when you thought all the GUI was gone, in comes another great batch of Desktop delights. Tomorrow we resume with our mid-week Wednesday Desktop Edition. Some great desktop selections hit the Gallery for your GUI pleasures. Be sure to stop back tomorrow and grab some fine pixel pleasers right here at MacMonkies! See you then!

On The Net

Aqua For Command-Line Tools 1.0 - Mr. Marc Moini announces the release of Aqua For Command-Line Tools. This cool tool provides point-and-click user interfaces for controlling the command-line tools shipped with Mac OS X. Use it to:

• Run powerful Unix tools with point-and-click ease.
• Quickly see what each tool does and which options are available.
• Skip the manual and have correct command lines built for you.
  

Version 1.0 includes graphical interfaces for over 20 command-line tools
in 4 usage categories. If you want to make your Mac life that much more simple, cruise on over to marcmoini.com and get a GUI eyeful of Aqua For Command-Line Tools 1.0!

FontAgent Pro 1.31 - The folks over at Insider Software have released the newest version of FontAgent Pro, the number one-rated utility for font management and repair. The new release includes an Xtension for Quark XPress 6, which automates the process of locating and opening the correct fonts in any Quark Xpress 6 document. Your updated copy of FontAgent Pro is only a click away at Insider Software!

Network News

the WebWorld - BeanHead

The New G5: What A Rush! - Radio personality Rush Limbaugh received an inquiry of Apple interest on his radio show last Friday. The curious caller asked Limbaugh his opinion of the new G5. Having a staff entirely equipped with Apple computers and owning a dual-processor G4 himself, Limbaugh’s comment was that the new G5 is “going to change everything.” The popular radio host also noted that Apple equipment is superior to all the rest and mentioned that it should be much more mainstream. - from Macminute and RushLimbaugh.com

Don’t Call Us, We'll Call You - The Federal Trade Commission finally opened their free do-not-call list on Friday. Americans signed up through cyberspace at a rate of 108 numbers per second, indicating our intense interest in trashing telemarketing phone calls. Anyone can sign up online at www.donotcall.gov. The official “do-not-call”-ing will go into effect in October, causing telemarketers who call unwanted numbers to be faced with a fine of up to $11,000 per unwanted call. - from CNN

June 30, 2003

Community News | On The Net | Monkie News | Bananas

At The Top - Top of the mornin' to ya! Things are finally startin' to calm down a bit in the Monkie Den. Woo hoo! And with the coolness of calm comes the return of the Madness of the Monkies that you have grown to know and...well, tolerate quite nicely! Ah well, we all need to get a little crazy now and then. It keeps you sane!

Now that we've done the usual Monkie babel warm up, we'll get to the goods. We have the results of the most recent Monkie Poll found in the Monkie News section and a new poll to be popped! And of course to accommodate your info input needs, we have some News from the Community, Software News On The Net, and those fuzzy green Bananas too. We also have a very special announcement to pass your way coming up this Friday. So let's get on with the biziness and get to gettin'. Shall we?!

Community News

Max Themes - Theme up! Just in from the master theme creator Max Rudberg are some newly updated OSX Themes from Max Themes! Newly refreshed in Max's great lineup are BBX Mercury X 1.2.1, Classic platinum 1.2.4, Mac OS XP 2.1,
Rhapsodized 1.3.2, and Milk 1.6.2. These latest updates are must-have additions to your theming X-perience from the awesome archives of Max Themes. Check 'em out!

Live Pencil - Just in time to put a big fat grin on your face is a brand new update from Live Pencil! This week's GUI goodies include:

• EMOTICONS: 2 sets. SMILY shouting and SMILY frightened!!!
• ANIMATIONS: Summertime is bee (for some of us). The sun will burn your skin. watch out !!!
• IT IS YOU: - Ryan, playing football.
• LIVE TEXT: Exclamation marks. Now you can emphasize your words properly
• WALLPAPERS: July calendar...and more.
• HIDDEN IMAGE: A new one every week....You have to look for it , keep searching!

If you've got an urge for a great big smile, then Live Pencil is just the place for you!

Mandolux - Mando Gomez amazes your GUI eyes once again with with a band new desktop addition to the galleries of Mandolux. Just issued is a new Graffiti selection titled OBEY, a photograph of a tag-on-sticker place on a phone bank. Make your eyes really happy by making your way to Mandolux and download this great new pic!

PlasmaDesign - Making all the right moves is Rob Randtoul from PlasmaDesign. Rob has just added a new image to the members area titled Chess. This stunning new move is available to members as a 1600 x 1200 pixel wallpaper. Six different versions are included in the downloadable zip file. What ARE you waiting for? Get yourself over to PlasmaDesign, get yourself signed up, and get to downloading!

Send Us Your Site News!

press@macmonkies.com

On The Net

Power ToDo 2.0 - The good folks over yonder at Colourfull Creations have just made a major update to Power ToDo. This personal task management software with a twist is great in the powerful standalone mode or the efficient network mode makes Power ToDo great for the home or office user. Swing by Colourfull Creations for all the details on the latest release of Power ToDo!

Monkie News

New Monkie Poll - Well by golly, we finally got around to this week's bit of useless information with another new Monkie Poll and last week's results. Let's have a peek!!

Last week we asked: Who's da sexiest? Here's how you answered:

Velma 39% - BABY!

Daphne 38% - You don't go for the "ditzy" type?

Fred 9% - No great loss here!

Scooby 8% - Scoob musta given you a Scooby Snack!!

Shaggy 5% - Awwwww, come on! He's the Shaggiest!

By the looks of this poll, you're either a true geek or you saw the outakes of the Scooby Doo movie on the DVD. Velma is one HOT babe! =)

For this week's Monkie Poll, we ask you da Patriotic facts: What year did the USA become a nation? Easy, right? Put your thinkin' caps on, make a little click, look to your right, and get to pollin'! Cast your ballot!

Bananas

Just Plain Nuts - R. Westby

COMPUTER VS. AIR CONDITIONER

How is a computer like an air conditioner?

When you open Windows it won't work!

REAL STORY OF THE NON-TECHNICAL

Do you know anything about this fax-machine?

A little. What's wrong?

Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to say all she received was a cover-sheet and a blank page. I tried it again, and the same thing happened.

How did you load the sheet?

It's a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn't want anyone else to read it by accident. So I folded it so only the recipient could open it and read it.

TELEMARKETER REPELLANT Part I

1. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located, how long it has been in business, how many people work there, how they got into this line of work, if they are married, how many kids they have, etc. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary.

2. Say "no" over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak. This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up.

3. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as sinister a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends, would you be my friend?"