Static Stack Icon

Stacks have gotten their share of bad press. Many users aren’t happy with the dynamic icon that changes on the stack as its contents change. One solution is to sort the stack by modification date and post-date the icon file you always want to see on the face of your stack in the dock.

Murphy is using a set of icons found through a post on TUAW. These particular icons come post-dated to 2010, which makes it a safe bet your selection will be the most recently modified file in your stack.  Watch the screencast to see how Murphy made his stack.

If you have a different file you want to use the touch command can be employed to update the modification date. All of this information can be found at the same place Murphy found the icons. Here’s an example of how you would use the touch command:

touch -mt 202001010101.01 " name of icon file "

The above command assumes you’re in the directory the file resides in. Note the string of numbers is actually a time and date.

Murphy uses a stack to launch applications he uses frequently, but not frequently enough to reside on the Dock. Sometimes he launches from Terminal too. And the Leopard changes to Spotlight make it a more convenient app launcher too.

So - what do you think? Is there any hope for Stacks?

Get Info Updates in Leopard

The Get Info panel in Leopard’s Finder has some exciting new features. If you wanted to transfer an icon from one file to another in Tiger you had to open a Get Info panel for each file and copy-paste it. Now you can just drag the file to the destination file’s Get Info panel.

The panel also has a proxy icon in its title bar, so you can make a move, copy, or make an alias, right from the panel. Do you think that’s one of the 300 features?

The image for this post is one of the old, lame Get Info panels from Tiger. Notice the total lack of proxy icon.

Did you know you can drag files to the Preview icon in the panel too? You can add files to a folder by dragging them into the folder’s preview in the Finder Get Info panel.

Haven’t upgraded yet? I bet you will after seeing the screencast.

Quicktime - Always on Top

You don’t need third party tools to keep your Quicktime movie always on top. Select your movie in Finder, hit Shift-Command-Y, and your movie opens in a Sticky.  (The keyboard shortcut invokes an item in Services)  Set the Sticky to float and the movie stays on top of other windows. Now you can get some work done with the movie playing in the corner, but your other windows won’t cover the video.

You could also look at this as an easier way to play your Quicktime file back borderless. They won’t be perfectly borderless, like Murphy showed you in this tip. But setting the Sticky color to gray makes it look pretty close. The extra screen real estate is nice to have on a laptop. And Murphy’s other Quicktime tip didn’t have the Always on Top option.

It’s a little surprising Apple hasn’t added an Always on Top menu to Quicktime. But this seems like a reasonable workaround. Take a look as Murphy plays with Quicktime and Sticky notes in the screencast.

Christmas Shopping

Having the Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving is an annual goal for Murphy. That leaves December open for happy hours, egg nog, and care free sleigh rides.

Pesky shipping charges can dampen your holiday glee as you click through your shopping chores. But Amazon has a solution. Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime gets you free two-day express delivery on your orders, and discounts on overnight delivery. For an annual fee.

As an Amazon customer you might be offered a trial membership, free for one month. Sign in to Amazon and visit Amazon Prime to see if you’re eligible. Prime can be shared by multiple Amazon accounts in the same “household” - you can check the official terms to see who qualifies. Maybe you can split the cost with your roomies.

Murphy’s advice: Go to the Amazon Prime page and see if you qualify for the free trial. Then you can get all your Christmas shopping done with free shipping. While you’re there feel free to buy an iPod Touch for Murphy.

Make a Widget in Five Seconds

Murphy’s never tried to make a Widget before, but it sure was easy using Safari. Take a look at the screencast to see just how easy it was.

We’re not sure what the limits are, you can make yourself some Widgets and see. Murphy made one from a webcam on Waikiki Beach and it updated just like the one on the web page.

If Murphy gets a chance he might try to make a more complicated Widget that runs commands in Terminal.