Articles by Matt Cone
Matt Cone is a technical writer at Fastly. He has experience creating documentation for organizations like Linode and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Matt’s first book, Master Your Mac, was published by No Starch Press. To get in touch with Matt, visit https://www.mattcone.com.
Twenty Must-Have Mac Apps
May 25, 2007
Every Mac you can buy these days comes pre-installed with powerful and practical applications. You get the amazing iLife suite as well as other applications like Safari and Mail.app. In fact, Macs include so much software that you could probably do practically everything you need to do without ever …
How to Mute Your Mac's Startup Sound
May 24, 2007
If you have a Mac, you’re probably tired of hearing the familiar startup chime every time you turn your Mac on. Maybe you have a baby in the house that you don’t want to disturb. Or perhaps you just want your MacBook to be quiet when you turn it on in the coffee shop. Unfortunately, not …
How to Create a Cell Phone Ringtone
May 23, 2007
So you want a ringtone for your cell phone, huh? You could purchase one from your cell phone provider, of course, but it’s also pretty easy to make a ringtone with your Mac. All you need is your favorite song, some free software, and a cellphone capable of connecting to your Mac (via …
Use PithHelmet to Block Internet Ads
May 22, 2007
Ever wonder how to block advertising on websites? If you’re a Safari user, all you need is PithHelmet, a practically essential plug-in for Safari. PithHelmet is free to download and try, but we’d encourage you to drop the $10 for a license. It is quite a powerful tool, as you’ll …
Use AppleScript to Control Startup Apps
May 21, 2007
You probably know that your Mac can automatically open applications when you turn it on or log into a user account. The problem is that automatically opening Internet-dependent applications (such as iChat or Mail.app) can slow down your Mac if you’re not connected to the internet. To improve …
Five Mac Apps for Professional Presentations
May 18, 2007
At some point, you’ll probably call on your trusty Mac to help you make a presentation in front of a live audience. Whether you’re at work or school, we’ve got just the tools for you. We’ve rounded up the best presentation applications for Mac OS X - the ones that will help …
How to Play Windows Media Files
May 16, 2007
There are lots of proprietary video delivery systems out there. Apple’s QuickTime, Adobe’s Flash, and Microsoft’s Windows Media Player are among the most popular. And guess what? There’s no Windows Media Player for Mac. (We know - you’re shocked that Microsoft …
How to Transfer LP Records to Your Mac
May 16, 2007
We didn’t live through the heyday of vinyl, but we do own a few LPs. The recording industry is currently trying to figure out if we have the right to “own” digital copies of our records. While they work on that, we’re going to quietly show you how to digitize old LPs and …
Boot Into Windows With Quicksilver
May 14, 2007
If you have an Intel Mac with a Boot Camp partitioned hard drive, you’re probably getting sick of restarting your Mac again and again, just so you can hit the option key to select your Windows partition. In this article, we’ll show you how to create an AppleScript and Quicksilver hotkey …
How to Capture Audio and Video
May 10, 2007
Digital media has come a long way in recent years. Thanks to iTunes and other content services like it, we can purchase music, television shows, and even movies online. But even though iTunes is a great application that provides a much needed service, we sometimes find ourselves wishing we could …