September 3, 2002

EARLY BIRD EVENING EDITION 6:36 MDT

Now Serving: Desktops And Icons - For everyone with an early EARLY appetite for GUI consumption, we've got just the platter of goodies for you! In the Gallery we've got 7 scrumptious desktops, including an exclusive work from Alexander MacLean of the widget : widget claim to fame. And for Icons, there are 5 Icon Sets on Page 16 of the Icon Center that are sure to get yer eyes a droolin'!

There's plenty more Monkie business soon to follow. Keep them Bananas peeled!

UPDATED 8:56 MDT

Wednesday's update will be delayed a short time as the Monkie editor has fallen under the weather. The update will still be posted, but will be a bit later than normal. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience.

AudioX 2.0 - Daniel Counsell from REALmac Software is proud to introduce AudioX
2.0 for Mac OS X. AudioX was written for people who want an easy way to record sound from any input source under Mac OS X - ie. built-in microphone, USB microphone, or even a firewire video camera. This is a great app for just about any recording purpose. Get yourself over to REALmac Software and check it out!

MONKIE NEWS!

New GUI: Come And Get It! - Tomorrow brings some fantastic new Desktops and Icons by artists from all over the Mac Web! Featured artists include:

Scott Chitwood, Adam Dickson, Nitehawk Jarrett, Alexander MacLean, Hein Mevissen, Paul Sahner, Alan Sherwood, Bob Wiley, and MacMonkies.

Holy cow what a crew! And don't forget that within the fine group of GUI selections is another exclusive desktop from widget : widget! Cool Beans!

Making The Move - We are in the process of moving the entire Monkie barrel to a different server. You should not experience any interruptions in your Monkie business here at MacMonkies. However, if something does come up beyond our control, we will be sure to keep you up-to-date. In case of down time, we will send a message to DV Graphics, The Iconfactory, and ResExcellence, as well as other great Mac stops with the latest progress. Thanks in advance for your patience through this transition!

September 2, 2002

Happy Labor Day! - To everyone who keeps our country rolling, Happy Labor Day from all of us at MacMonkies! All ten toes up to ya!

piDog Updates! - Speaking of labor, Jim McKay from piDog Software has been working his fingers to the bone to keep your Mac as cool as can be!

First up is a brand new app titled SimpleKeys. This is a quick and simple way to set your function keys to type common phrases for you on OSX. Great for email signatures, emoticons, or filling out web forms (since it does record tabs). There are other apps out there that do similar things, but SimpleKeys is the quick, simple solution. It types for you, simply. Plus, if you register before September 5th, you save $5 off the regular price!

Also from the cool software from piDog come updates for TelnetLauncher 2.0.2 and DockSwap 1.5. Hurry over to piDog and grab the latest of these great Mac apps! Check 'em out!

September 1, 2002

Virus Update - September virus definitions for both Norton and Virex are now available for download. Don't let those bugs get ya. Get your mouse together and squish it!

Question of the Day - Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

Safe Monkies - With the Holiday weekend upon us, please be a safe monkie - keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. Keep safe and have a splendifferous weekend!

August 31, 2002

Rampant Mac Attack! - On your mark...Get set...Get your GUI! The honorable Scott Chitwood (kinda sorta) has opened the Icons Gallery and Patterns Pages at Rampant Mac! Woo hoo! To help celebrate the occasion, 2 sets have been added the icons page, four 3-D pics have been posted, and 4 regular desktops too! You just can't beat a deal like that. Click your mouse together and repeat after me:

There's no place like Rampant Mac. There's no place like Rampant Mac. There's no place like...

You get the picture. Now get going and get your GUI!

Monkie Note - A very special song will be making its web debut in the very near future. This is one you don't want to miss! Keep them Banana's peeled

SOFTWARE UPDATES

Colourfull Creations - The good folks from Colourfull Creations have released Simple Weather 1.0 for Macintosh OS X and Macintosh OS 9. Simple Weather puts the weather on your desktop for fast and easy reference. It has an easy to set up and easy to understand interface that "just gives you the facts" that you will need to keep you informed throughout the day and week. For more information and to download your copy, swing by www.colourfull.com!

Stick Software - Stick Software has just more fully embraced the Open Source model of software distribution, releasing a new product, Polyglot, and an existing open source product, Circular Slider, onto sourceforge.net for open development. Want more details? Get your monkie tail on over to Stick Software and check 'em out!

August 30, 2002

Mandolux - Mando Gomez recaps the week in desktops at Mandolux:

Mandolux this week has issued thirteen new desktops: five Giant Clouds & Skies (landscape), two Cathay Pacific (aerospace), five Boxa (abstract), and one Austere Petal (macro/rose petal)

Swing by and check out the latest selection of desktops from Mandolux!

The Iconfactory - Following close in Jaguars paw steps, the good folks over at The Iconfactory have let their own cat...er, candy out of the bag with the release of CandyBar 1.0! This great little app from the Factory and Panic allows you to customize many MacOS X icons - including the toolbar, folders, media and the trash can. Top this off with a simple drag and drop interface and you have one cool tool! Stop by The Iconfactory and check it out!

Stick Software - The folks from Stick Software have released Version 2.2 of Constrictor, their acclaimed screen snapshot utility native for OS X. The latest release fixes a few bugs and a compatibility issue with Jaguar, reduces the size of the app by more than 100K from the previous version, and still costs only $10. Cool! Get your sticks together and click your way over to Stick Software!

TNT: DYN-O-MITE TIPS AND TRICKS by Paul Sahner

I see me! I see you! I see him! I see who? - iChat is by far one of the most popular new apps in Jaguar. I've found it amazing for monitoring my buddy list. One of the coolest features in iChat is the ability apply pictures of people to their screen name. It's really simple to do too! If you want to apply a picture of YOU for other Buddies to see, just drag an image next to your name in the top of your buddy list! Continued

August 29, 2002

JAGUAR UPDATES!

xBack 2.0 - The good folks at Gideon Softworks, Inc. have announced the immediate availability of xBack v2.0. This great utility allows you to replace your desktop with a screen saver. With xBack, you can bring your desktop to life. Changes in this release include:

Support for Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar, no longer takes up space in the dock, new xBack menu, and xBack now runs behind desktop icons.

Hurry over and grab a copy xBack v2.0, another great app from Gideon Softworks!

ASM 2.0.3 - For those of you who just can't do without ASM from Frank Vercruesse (like a certain Mac monkie), you're in luck! Frank has released Version 2.0.3, a version to get you by till the release of Version 2.1. ASM is the reincarnation of the application switcher menu. It's highly customizable and offers some way cool extra features. Download the latest version of ASM and get your cat back in action!

NOTE: When installing ASM 2.0.3 on Mac OSX 10.2, disregard the installer warning and install as normal.

August 28, 2002

At The Top

Out Of This World: Satellite Internet For Mac - Other World Computing (OWC), the company behind Macsales.com, is hoping to offer Mac-compatible satellite service by the end of the year with OWC.NET. Three packages will be offered for the high-speed service, which has download times from 400-800 Kilobytes per second: Silver ($29.95/month), Gold ($49.95/month) and Platinum ($149.95/month.) Each plan offers a "satellite dish, PCI satellite receiver card, professional installation, local dial-up access, five e-mail accounts, and ongoing technical support." - from MacCentral

MonkieNews!

NEW Icons: MacMonkies 20th Icon Edition! - It was 20 years ago today...Oops! Wrong song! Guess we'll have to let these great Icons sing for themselves.

James Cox - Our latest icon artist, James Cox, offers a fabulous set of icons titled Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask . This fine set was crafted from the second N64 Zelda game that Nintendo released. Cool stuff!

 

Taking Pictures - Adam Dickson from Taking Pictures adds his usual sense of style and class with Folder Icons . Adam adds new meaning to the word "classic" with this great set!

 

miX the piX - Ah, Mr. Mevissen! With an older set, but nonetheless ultra-cool, Hein from miX the piX pops in with another Aqua favorite - Hein's Home 2.0. This set is sure to add plenty of smile and shine to your icon collections.

And just in time for the arrival of "The Cat," we enter the latest Mac cage with Jaguar Icons! Meow!

 

DV Graphics - Clean up your act! Clean Media Docs from DV Graphic's Paul Sahner will give your media the no-nonsense approach to a clean and tidy media archive. No messin' around here. Just good clean stuff!

Check 'em out!

 

NEW Desktops! 8 In The Gallery - This week offers some great new desktop work, including the first in a series of exclusive works from Mr. Alexander MacLean, head pixel pusher at widget : widget! Shall we?

Desktop Department! - Locked in to our first Desktop slot is the first in a series of fabulous many from widget : widget, the sharp, colorful, and patterned based Locked. Alexander offers this and 4 other soon-to-come desktops, exclusively for our readers! Stay tuned. You don't want to miss them!

Melissa from MAJArch Studios adds plenty of Macintosh romance with quite the dreamy number - moonglow. This wonderful piece ought to warm quite a few Mac hearts!

And speaking of warmth, Bob Wiley fires up the Gallery with quite the hot piece titled Volumetric #2! All puns of pardon aside, this one is sure to heat up the place in a rightful hurry!

 

ETC - Just about the time you thought things would cool off, Nitehawk Jarrett tosses in another sizzling Apple desktop with Olsens. A couple of gorgeous ladies and a Mac...What more could a Monkie ask! =)

 

3-D Delight - The ever artistic Alan Sherwood from EA Design starts out the 3-D Renderings with another installment of the Bindings series with Bindings III! the artist elaborates:

The third and last in the series, I created this out of liking for the first two and the way they portray, with a very abstract feel both [in] my feelings, and the feelings of others that must at some time feel trapped.

Ed's honesty is evident in both his art and his words.

Sarah Ezkovich, a MacMonkies reader, requested some work containing Palm trees. So, our resident whacko, Mad Max Monkies, chopped down a few Palm trees, whittled a few pixels, and came up with Red Palm. There's no blue here. Just a hankerin' to be camped out in the sun!

It would seem that after countless sets of spherical madness, that they would all seem to blend in together. However, there is always another way to look at things with The Rest from Mad Max (Mr. Monkie).

And to leave you slightly hanging...You know you may have climbed a bit to far when you find yourself Out On A Limb. Sounds like a Monkie in a tree to me! =)

 

BUNCHES OF THANKS

To:

Melissa, James, Adam, Hein
Alexander, Bob, Hawk, Alan, and Paul-

You're all the best.
Many, many Monkie grins!

THANK YOU!

Featured Link - Be sure to check out this week's Featured Link: Max Themes. Max Rudberg's excellent site has also been added to our Links Page! Check it out!

Monkie Stuff! - For all of you who have BIG screen monitors, we will soon be offering larger desktop resolutions to accomodate your needs. We are presently looking into additional storage options to make room the additional work. In the mean time, if you would like a size not offered at MacMonkies, drop us a line and we will see what we can do!

Also, in the line of a "quiet" release is a new unfinished tune in the Audio Department and is now ready for download. The song is titled "Sometimes." The words and melody were made up as they were recorded. The song is far from finished...perhaps another in the uncountable many of incomplete works. If you like it or have suggestions, let me know and I will get that sucker finished or thrown out! =) Thanks!

Community News

widget : widget -  Alexander of widget : widget will be releasing a new desktop picture today, and another every day this week, to commemorate the pixelated "passing" of the Happy Mac, called RIP Happy Mac. Be sure to swing by widget : widget and pay your respects to the Happy Mac!

DV Graphics - Head pixel meister Paul Sahner keeps the cool coming at DV Graphics! Paul now adds iChat support to his popular Iconize Me! services! You can also bend pixels with a single download by downloading the new desktops Mind Bend, Collision, and Meltdown. Don't let your desktop meltdown, grab some new goo from DV Graphics!

The Iconfactory - Those good pixel folks from The Iconfactory are looking for YOU! Yes, it's true! If you dream in pixels and are looking for employment with a great GUI company, then hurry over to The Iconfactory, check out the job description, and submit your resume! Go!

Taking Pictures - Mr. Adam Dickson has added all kinds of GUI goodness to Taking Pictures! For starters, 3 new icon sets and 10 new desktop pictures have been added to the already cool collections. Adam has also spruced the place up a bit to give the place a little extra pizzazz! Check out all things GUI at Taking Pictures!

Flax Creations - Pixels are growing at Flax Creations! Dan Flax has updated his Icon collections with 4 new sets for OSX. Also, keep your "i's" wide open for the huge new Aqua Fusion Icon set for OSX in the very near future. Check it out!

Max Themes - Max Rudberg has updated several of his eye-dropping OSX themes to full Jaguar compatibility! Also added to Max Themes excellence is a new theme titled Apple is lazy 1.0. We'll let this one speak for itself! Go grab a look!

News On The Net...

TiBook Leads Bikers To Victory - Biker Nicky Hayden rode his Honda to win the 2002 Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike championship on August 10, 2002. His team's Titanium Powerbooks lead them to victory. The winning team uses their Macs to handle data such as "suspension movement, engine data, wheel speed, every gearshift," and they have their Macs with them at all the races. Says Herod Lowery, spokesperson for the winning team, "Winners chose Macintosh. Honda is a winner. Honda chooses Macintosh." - from MacCentral

The South Pole: Really Remote Access - The American National Science Foundation has made plans to link the South Pole to the internet. The South Pole is "the only inhabited place on Earth without access to geosynchronous communications satellites." It will have to be connected with a fiber optic cable that is 1070 miles long and costs $250 million. It is hoped that the South Pole will be linked up by the year 2009. - from PC Pro

I Spy iMovie: Will You? - Mac enthusiast Josh Rafofsky decided to let his creative juices flow through his computer into his girlfriend's eyeballs - with a marriage proposal! He took Lainie to a movie theater, and what played on the screen? Nothing but an iMovie made by Rafofsky himself, in "a personalized short film I'd made just for her!" To view the movie, click here. - from Apple

Forbes Fashion: Jobs Style Stays The Same - Forbes mentioned Steve Jobs in their Billionaire Fashion comments on Monday. They pointed out that Jobs has sported the same outfit for the last ten years - a black turtleneck and blue jeans. This indicates that his sense of fashion hasn't followed suit with his growing income. Spokes people from Apple claim that Jobs occasionally wears a white turtleneck rather than a black one. - from Forbes

Diamonds Relatives Are Forever - LifeGem Memorials is making diamonds out of cremated human ashes so that people can have a more personal way to remember their loved ones. The idea was based on the fact that all living things contain carbon and diamonds contain carbon. The blue diamonds sell for $4,000 (0.25 carat diamond) and $22,000 for a full karat diamond. The first diamond was successfully made last July. Hmm. I could be worth more...Now that's just gross! - from Excite

Have you Heard?

New Cat Soon On the Loose - That didn't take long! Jaguar - Mac OSX 10.2 Build 6C115 - was just released this last Saturday. However, Think Secret reports that "Apple seeded a pre-release version of the first minor update for the new release." Though it is not certain which bugs will be addressed, it is being reported that Quartz Extreme performance will improve considerably. I can think of a bug or 12 that could use some attention.
 

Have some inside information on upcoming events? Review our Submission Policy and drop us a line!
 
 

Check 'em Out!

Desktop On Demand! - Don't you just hate it when you gotta put on your shoes and coat, get in the car, and travel all the way to the System Preferences JUST to change your desktop image? What a drag! Sure, with Jaguar, you can set your prefs to change desktops as often as once every minute. But what if you are not sure about the pic you wanna set or just wanna do it on the fly? Your worries are over with DesktopPictureCM from Azine Software! Simply pop this puppy in your Contextual Menu items folder, Control-Click on any pic and select "Set As Desktop Picture," and you're off! How about the price? How about FREE! There are other tools out there that do the same, but not with the same price tag! Check it out!

Just Plain Nutz!

WORLD'S SMARTEST MAN

A pilot, Michael Jordon, Bill Gates, the Pope, and a pizza delivery man were all in a plane together traveling through stormy conditions. Suddenly, the pilot came running back to the passengers and announced that lightning had hit the plane, and they were going to crash in a matter of minutes.

"There are only enough parachutes for four of the five of us," he announced. "Since I'm the pilot, I get one!" After saying this, the pilot grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

"I'm the world's greatest athlete," proclaimed Michael Jordon. "This world needs great athletes, so I must live." Michael Jordon then grabbed a parachute and leaped out of the plane.

"I'm the smartest man in the world," bragged Bill Gates. "The world needs smart men, so I must also live!" Bill Gates grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

At this point, the Pope began to speak. "I have lived a long life compared to you, and you may take the last parachute. I will go down with the plane."

"You don't have to stay here! The world's smartest man jumped out of the plane with my backpack."

NO CHARGE

A neutron walks into a bar. "I'd like a beer" he says.

The bartender promptly serves up a beer.

"How much will that be?" asks the neutron.

"For you?" replies the bartender, "no charge."

SIGNS A GORILLA IS TO STRESSED

Relatives that have been dead for years come visit him and suggest that he should get some rest.

He can achieve a "Runners High" by sitting up

The Sun is too loud.

Trees begin chasing you.

He can hear mimes.

His heart beats in 7/8 time

Him and Reality file for divorce.

HOW A GORILLA DEALS WITH STRESS:

Jam miniature marshmallows up his nose and sneeze them out. Just to see how many he can do at once.

Fill out his tax forms using Roman Numerals.

Pay his electric bill in pennies.

Replace the filling of a Twinkie with ketchup and place it back in the wrapper!

OLD CHIP OFF THE BLOCK

What does a proud computer call his little son?

A microchip off the old block.

BACH IN THE SADDLE

Q: What do you get if Bach falls off a horse, but has the courage to get on again and continue riding?

A: Bach in the saddle again.

DON'T YOU C?

My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii.

She sells C shells by the seashore.

VERTICALLY CHALLENGED CIRCUIT

What happens if you cross a midget and a computer?

You get a short circuit.

Have a good line or two that would put a smile on an Ape Face? Check out MacMonkies' Submission Policy and drop us a line!

Odds and Ends

Things That Make A Gorilla Go Huhhhhh? - R. Westby

If nothing ever sticks to TEFLON, how do they make TEFLON stick to the pan?

If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?

Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?

Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?

Just before someone gets nervous, do they experience cocoons in their stomach?

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

AND REMEMBER . . . .If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.

It's A JOB!

If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job.

- Malcolm Forbes

BJW