If you’re comfortable with trying to use Terminal (or curious to start), you can get your twitter updates via growl on OS X. If you don’t know what growl is, you’re really missing out. Get it here — it updates you unobtrusively with program status messages that might typically show up in a popup box or embedded into a program window, or not at all.

Once you’ve got growl, you’ll need to make sure you have Ruby 1.8.3 or higher.

You’ll also need MacPorts to make this work right: Install MacPorts

• If you have 10.5 Leopard, you’re set
• If you have 10.4 Tiger, you’ll probably need to update:
  1. Open a Terminal window and type in the following command, hitting return at the end:
     sudo port install ruby

Now, we’ll install some stuff that we need for our script to run. Using terminal, enter these commands (Hit return after each one)

sudo port install rb-rubygems
sudo gem install xml-simple
sudo gem install ruby-growl


(If the “gem” commands don’t work, you may need to restart terminal before running them)

Provided this all went well, you should be ready to install the script. Download the Squawk Scriptand move it into your home directory (looks like a house in finder if you’re totally lost here). This file is thanks to damien, but I had to make a tweak for it to all work right. You have to edit the file with your login info:

sudo pico ~/squawk.rb

It should be obvious where to put your email address and password.

Finally, run your script!

ruby squawk.rb

If you want to run it in the background on startup, check back later. I’ll be posting on this shortly.

So I was looking for great mac software, and I stumbled upon a site that I had visited way back when: iusethis.com.

This time around, I felt that I had some experience, so I made my own list. What does Andy use on his mac? Find out at http://osx.iusethis.com/user/apull.

What do you use? Make your own profile and leave the address in the comments!

Update:After much time and effort with this writeup, it appears that Calgoo can do all this much more simply. If you like easy, follow these steps:

Further Update: Calgoo Connect is no longer free and easy.

1. Download Calgoo Connect.
2. Install it.
3. Follow these directions.

If you’d rather do it the fun or less intrusive way, follow these directions:

1. Download GCALDaemon and save it where you normally save downloads. Just visit This page and click the link that say “UNIX/Linux/AIX/Mac OS X compatible ZIP archive”. It’s under the “Linux compatible” section, but you don’t need Linux, because the OS X Terminal is compatible. Don’t open it or unzip it, just save the file.
2. Hit Apple-Space Bar to open Spotlight (Or just click the Magnifying glass on your menu bar), and type in “Terminal.” Click the result that looks like a black screen and says “Terminal”. Don’t freak out when it opens up with a boring little cursor.
3. Make sure you have Java 1.5 or higher installed. Just type in:
   java -version
   and hit enter, and it will tell you what version you have. If it’s lower than 1.5, go to java.sun.com and install the latest version.
4. Type in the following command, and hit enter:
   cd /usr/local/sbin
5. Type in:
   sudo unzip
   (add a space at the end, do NOT hit enter)
6. Drag and drop your newly-downloaded file onto Terminal. This pastes in the correct pathname. Hit enter.
7. Now type in each of these commands, and hit enter after each one:
   sudo chgrp -R admin /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon
sudo chmod -R g+w /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/*.sh
8. Leave Terminal open

Sweet! Now that GCALDaemon is installed, we can set it up to do a two-way synchronize between iCal and Google Calendar.

1. In Terminal, type this in and hit enter to run the setup program: /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/config-editor.sh
2. Select the “File synchronizer” on the left, and click the “Google Accounts” buttom (screenshot)
3. Click the “New Account” button, enter your Gmail address and your password (twice), click “Verify”, and hit “OK”
4. Click the “New” button (Left of the “Google Accounts” button you just pushed)
6. Select your Google account, your Google Calendar (You may have to hit “refresh” to see them all), and your iCal file. Hit OK, and repeat for as many calendars as you have.

Almost done! All we have to do is make this program run whenever you’re on your computer.

1. Download Lingon here and unzip it into your “Applications” or “Applications/Utilities” folder.
2. Double-click on it to run it
3. Follow the five easy steps here. IMPORTANT: when it asks for the path in step 4, enter this:
   /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/standalone-start.sh

That’s it, you’re done! Now your Google Calendar will always be synced with your iCal! If you change one, the other will change automagically! Now, go ahead and set up Outlook 2007 to sync with Google Calendar as well–it’s much easier.

So, Apple currently doesn’t offer an (easily) upgradable PC (as in “personal computer”, not “Windows Computer”) that’s affordable to the mainstream. To upgrade a Mac Mini requires a few putty knives, a lot of determination, acute care, and nerves of steel. To upgrade anything else they make (Besides the $2800+ Mac Pro) is pretty much impossible.

Some people don’t like this: after all, why should I have to buy a whole new computer every time I want to add another Hard Drive, or get a faster graphics card? And speaking of graphics cards…why should I have to buy a computer with a built-in monitor (iMac) or shell out nearly $3000 (Mac Pro) if I want to play a 3D shooter or two? Select any $800 windows box, spend $140 on a GFX card, and you’re rocking some decent fun!

Yet, because the EULA on OSX does not allow for installation on hardware that isn’t “Apple-labeled” (whatever that means), no one else can sell computers to install OSX on. And yes, OSX is worth installing.

All of that is (possibly) about to change.

Actually, it most probably will not change, but Psystar is going to try to sell non-Apple computers with OSX Preinstalled. Wait for it, wait for it…

Lawsuit.

Personally, I think this is awesome. Allow other people to enjoy the goodness of OSX without being constrained to a chioce between 5 or 6 different computer models. Let competition do its thing. But, alas, Apple will probably throw a ton of money at the justice system and just out-litigate Psystar. <sigh> As usual, the whole situation can be aptly summed up by Dumb and Dumber:

Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me…ending up together?

Mary: Not good.

Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?

Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million.

Lloyd: So you’re telling me there’s a chance. Yeah!

If you’re looking to run Windows on your Mac (without booting into BootCamp), you can surely shell out $80 for Parallels, or VMWare Fusion. They run well, and have some schnazzy features. But what if you could pocket that $80, (or put it towards your legal copy of Windows that you’re installing) and get a similar software program for free?

Yeah, duh. If it worked…

Now it does. InnoTek just put out VirtualBox for OSX Beta 3 yesterday, and it’s sweet.

No, it does not have a few of the super fancy effects that Parallels and VMWare Fusion have (coherence, etc) Beta 3 even includes “Seamless” mode, allowing to run your Windows windows “inside” OSX. It runs fast, and it runs well, and it’s free. You owe it to yourself to give it a shot–what are you waiting for?!? The worst that could happen would be that you didn’t like it, and you’d be out, oh, about $0.

Download this Free Parallels Alternative now!