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What are icons used for?
Icons are used for labeling folders, cds/dvds, desktop icons, favorite icons, etc…

What is the .ico extension?
Icons used for a web page favorite icon are .ico files. I am pretty sure it stands for icon. A .ico file is a windows format icon that can be used to label folders, bookmarks, favorite icon for web pages, desktop icons and the bar at the bottom of the window.

Can I just make a .gif file and change the extension to .ico?
Sure, but it won’t work 100% of the time. But don’t worry, making an icon is easy and free.

So, how do I make a real icon?
If you need a .ico file, simply download the free .ico plugin for Photoshop. Save it in {/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS3/Plug-ins/File Formats/} once it is in there, restart Photoshop. Now when you do a “save-as” you will have .ico as an option in the format menu. That is it, save it out and you are done.

The .ico file doesn’t work on my Mac…
The .ico will work on a Mac for somethings, such as a favorite icon for a web site. However, if you want to use your sweet new icon to label a folder, you need to create a .icns file. This is easy and free too. Download the img2icns application and then dump in you Applications folder, you may have to put in your admin password. Once it is in there, double click to open it. Drag your image file, no matter what it is, onto the target and let go. Done.

Enjoy your new icons…

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Apple has taken a small bite out of Windows. Well, not really. Apple has moved up in market share to 6.6% based on a not-so-formal analysis from Net Applications. I used to always refer to Mac users as part of the 3%. For years I always saw Mac users as 3% and Windows as virtually 100%, but not exactly. Turns out, based on the analysis of internet usage tracking the OS that was used to access the sites that Net Applications has tracking code implemented on Apple has moved up on the charts significantly.

Though, the study is informal, it is based on about a half million sites with a total of about 1 billion page views per month. So, informal, yes, but representative of fact, probably pretty close. Now that Apple has gained in market share, one would assume that Windows went down, but it didn’t. Turns out that Windows has stood strong at 91%. It is true that Apple has gained a share, if you want to listen to these numbers, but Windows has not dropped, therefore, the title of this article is false.

The article goes on to predict that Apple could gain up to 15% share potentially in 5 years. I see this as being possible, but not a guarantee. With iPods and iTunes becoming mainstream, people are accepting Apple products and getting comfortable with the ease of use. However, with prices still being through the roof compared to PCs on the market, the mainstream may just decide that even though they are using Apple products, the products are compatible with PCs, so why switch. It makes sense, Apple is sneaking into peoples’ homes but isn’t really driving a convincing campaign to capture the computer market.

I guess the real question is, does it matter what OS people use? I don’t think so. Now that everything is moving towards being web-based, the OS that people use will soon become irrelevant. As long as you have a web browser, you will soon be able to do absolutely all computer tasks online, including storage. With this being the movement, we may see less of an OS struggle and more of a browser struggle. This is when I predict we will see Google enter the arena of web browsers. They are already building plenty of desktop applications that are solely web-based so once they perfect that, we will surely see a gBrowser follow.

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I disabled my Treo 700w mid week and moved over to the new iPhone. I was planning on waiting a year or so, but things worked out that I never planned on, so now I find myself with the coolest new product on the market. Overall, the iPhone is pretty sweet, I did lose some things that I enjoyed with the Treo, but I gained some other things that as a Mac guy, I missed out on before.

First and foremost, I must say that AT&T has the worst cell phone coverage I have seen so far. Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile all somehow provide service all the way out in the middle of nowhere, which is where I live. AT&T barely comes up with some bars when I am upstairs or outside, but talking in my family room is not an option. But, who cares abut the services, let’s talk more about the phone, right?… yup.

The iPhone is great for me because it syncs up with my life. I work on two mac book pros, one for work and one for home. It allows me to sync with both of them. Well, for the most part it does. I can sync my calendars and contacts easily without overwriting the other one. So my phone allows me to always have an up to date calendar of my work and personal life. It also allows me to keep my contacts up to date on both machines and my phone.

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So I have two intel macs now, one at work and one at home. My home computer, as explained in a previous post, has parallels with Vista and my work one has parallels with XP. To keep this short, I will just say Parallels is awesome, vista sucks and XP does what I need it to do.

If you want to have a mac that does windows, get parallels. Also, don’t go and get vista, it is a big drain and a let down. I am yet to find the benefit in it. XP runs fast and doesn’t make me feel like I am running dual OS’s. So, parallels = sweet, vista = suck and XP = good enough.

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