MacMost: Archives

MacMost Now 125: Getting Organized With VoodooPad
8/25/08
Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at VoodooPad, the personal wiki software for Mac. He uses it for to-do lists, taking notes and organizing information.
MacMost Now 124: Mac Desktop Wallpaper Clocks
8/22/08
Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at Wallpaper Clocks, arrtistic desktop wallpapers that also include a live clock and changing graphics.
8/21/08

NOTE: This is an old article. The ringtones are no longer available via podcast. You can download them all directly here: http://macmost.com/free-iphone-ringtones.

So it looks like putting our MacMost free iPhone ringtones in the iTunes store as a free podcast was a good idea. A lot of people have subscribed. I wanted to do a short blog post about how to get these ringtones on to your iPhone.

1. Go to our iPhone ringtones page at http://macmost.com/iphoneringtones/ and click on the “subscribe to the free iPhone ringtones feed as a podcast” link. This will open iTunes and take you right to the subscription page. Note that iTunes will not show you the ringtones in the list of episodes — a bug in iTunes. But they are there. Click on the Subscribe button.

2. In iTunes, under the Library heading on the left, look for “Podcasts.” Click on that and then look for “MacMost iPhone Ringtones” in the list on the right. Click on the triangle to the left of that to see all of the items under that podcast.

3. Press the Get button next to each of the items you want to add. Or, press the Get All button at the top of the list.

4. Plug your iPhone in to your computer. Let it sync with iTunes.

5. Click on the iPhone in the iTunes list on the left, under Devices. Now you should see your iPhone settings in the main iTunes area. Click on the Podcasts tab.

6. Set your iPhone to sync all episodes of all Podcasts. Or, alternatively, set it to sync only the podcasts you want. Either way, you must have it set to sync ALL episodes. If you set it so it only syncs the X most recent episodes of your podcast, you will not get some or any of the ringtones.

 6a. Alternatively, you could create a Smart Playlist by choosing File, Create Smart Playlist. Set the options so the “Kind” contains “Ringtones” and Live Updating is turned on. Then select the Music tab of your iPhone settings and make sure that the new Smart Playlist is set to sync to your iPhone.

7. Re-sync your iPhone to send the ringtones to it.

 7a. Some people have reported that you must have at least one ringtone in your iTunes library for ringtones to appear on the left side of iTunes and for ringtones to sync at all. So you may need to download a free ringtone here and drag and drop it into your iTunes library.

8. In the Settings app of your iPhone, click on Sounds to set you default ringtone. You can also go into the Contacts app to set a specific ringtone for some of your contacts.

9. Go back to iTunes and write a review!

Also: If you are still having trouble, please contact us via email and we’ll be glad to help. You can also just go to the iPhone Ringtones page and download any ringtone individually and add them to iTunes without subscribing to the podcast. So you have plenty of options.

Enjoy the free ringtones!

8/21/08

I don’t mind MacMost being labeled as a “fanboy” site. I am an Apple fan. But it doesn’t mean I think everything the company does it right. Here are five things I think Apple should do differently.
1. The iPhone should be on more carriers. They shouldn’t have an exclusive deal with AT&T. We should have all the major mobile companies in the U.S. and elsewhere competing to give us the best price and service. The bottom line would be more iPhone sales and happier iPhone owners.
2. MobileMe should be free and better. The price of admission for MobileMe should be simply owning a Mac or an iPhone. And MobileMe should have features like Blogger, FaceBook and Flickr. MobileMe as an Apple-only social network would be a huge hit and would drive Mac sales like crazy.
3. The iTunes store should ban DRM. Apple should use its market-leading position to put an end to DRM. I’ve been buying music exclusively on CD and at DRM-free sites like Amazon. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
4. New versions of Mac OS X should have an upgrade price. Paying full ticket price to upgrade isn’t reasonable.
5. Make Apple TV more useful by making rentals good for 36 hours and adding some basic RSS-reading Web-browsing functionality. Add a BluRay/DVD player to it for $100 more. To make it really great, add DVR functions.

MacMost Now 123: Extending iPhone Battery Life
8/20/08
Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at some techniques to help you stretch the iPhone battery so it lasts through a long day.
8/18/08

So we’ve had a collection of free iPhone ringtones for a while. The idea is that we think it is ridiculous to have to pay for new and interesting ringtones — they are just ringtones!
We’ve added a feature to that page where you can subscribe to the ringtones as a podcast feed.
There’s a trick to it, though. iTunes doesn’t show .m4r files through its iTunes store listings. So when you look at the subscription page, all you see is the sample .mp3 file. But when you subscribe to the feed in iTunes, you will see all of the .m4r ringtones in your iTunes Library, Podcast, MacMost iPhone Ringtones list.
The great thing there is that you should be able to control which ringtones you download rather easily through your iTunes podcast subscriptions screen. Then, you can automatically get new ringtones when we add them. In addition, if you set up your iTunes/iPhone settings properly, the ringtones will automatically transfer to your iPhone and be available to be used as ringtones.

MacMost Now 122: How To Send Video Email From Your Mac
8/18/08
Gary Rosenzweig looks at using PhotoBooth to send a quick video email using the built-in iSight camera and software included with your Mac.
MacMost Now 121: Video Podcasting Secrets
8/15/08
Gary Rosenzweig shares some of his best tips for creating a video podcast. Advice about green screens, HD, editing, community and motivation.
MacMost Now 120: Favorite Podcasts
8/14/08
Gary Rosenzweig talks about some of his favorite podcasts, including This Week In Tech (TWiT), Geek Brief, Slashdot Review, Tech5, Net@Nite, Grammar Girl, Chillcast, Pop Candy and more.
MacMost Now 119: How to Make a Video Podcast
8/13/08
Gary Rosenzweig briefly looks at what you need to do to make your own video podcast and publish it on iTunes.
8/12/08

We just added two new iPhone Games to the free iPhone games section of the site: Poker Solitaire and Astro-Blobs.
Poker Solitaire is a card game where you place 25 cards in a 5×5 grid to make 10 vertical and horizontal poker hands. You get points based on how good the hands are.
Astro-Blobs is a version of the Flash game at GameScene. The original game dates back to the early days of Flash, but the gameplay is well suited for the tap interface of the iPhone.

MacMost Now 118: How to Create Your Own Podcast
8/11/08
Gary Rosenzweig briefly goes through the steps to create a basic audio podcast. You must first set up a blog, then create the audio content, then link the audio to the blog posts, and then publicize your RSS feed.
MacMost Now 117: How to Connect Your Mac to Your XBox 360
8/8/08
Gary Rosenzweig looks at how you can use your XBox 360 to view video and listen to music that is stored on your Mac using Connect360.
MacMost Now 116: Finding Large Files on Your Hard Drive
8/6/08
Gary Rosenzweig shows you how to find the largest files on your hard drive and clean them up to create more space.
MacMost Now 115: How To Block Unwanted iPhone Text Messages
8/4/08
Gary Rosenzweig shows you how to prevent unwanted text messages by turning off the ability for someone to send you a text message via email. You can also request that text messaging be turned off completely.
MacMost Now 114: How To Use QuickTime Pro To Edit Video
8/1/08
Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at the simple but powerful tool QuickTime Pro and how it can be used to edit and compile video.
MacMost Now 113: Using iChat with a Free AIM Account
7/30/08
Gary Rosenzweig shows you how to sign up for a free AOL Instant Messenger account that you can use with iChat on your Mac.
MacMost Now 112: Create a Browser Home Page with iGoogle
7/28/08
Gary Rosenzweig shows you how to create a special home page for your browser with iGoogle. You can include news and information that you can quickly see at a glance.
MacMost Now 111: Mighty Tab Memory Crossbones
7/25/08
Gary Rosenzweig answers some view questions. How to clean the mighty mouse trackball, using the tab key to navigate through buttons in dialog boxes, where to buy memory and crossbones stickers.
MacMost Now 110: Pandora and Last.fm iPhone Apps
7/23/08
Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at two applications for the iPhone that allow you to create your own radio station with music selected based on your preferences.