Murphy Mac

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.

Murphy spends a lot of time fretting over how long each bubble should stay on screen when he’s creating screencasts, down to tenths of a second. Some people want the demos to move faster than others.

You can always use the controls at the bottom of the demo to move from one bubble to the next. But Murphy now provides arrows in the bubble itself, which you might find more convenient, and more interactive.

Click to see the screencast demo of the new functionality. And let Murphy know what Leopard screencasts you want to see!

Geek Tool is one of the cooler freeware utilities Murphy’s seen in recent months. We’re just going to get you started today, but there’s a lot of information packed into this post.

If you like to have lots of information at your fingertips this could be the tool for you. Geek Tool can take the output of Terminal commands and the content of log files and display them on your Desktop. Images too, like a file on your computer or an image linked by url.

The possibilties are nearly endless. You might find you prefer Geek Tool to certain Widgets. And even if you don’t, it’s nice to have a choice. Geek Tool can display information about disk space, wireless networks, IP addresses, songs playing in iTunes, output from webcams - the list goes on and on.

There’s an always-on-top function that brings your Geek Tool output way up front. Even your application windows will slide under the text. Murphy did a screencast about mounting your Widgets to the Desktop instead of in their floating layer - but some people didn’t like this because the Widgets could be covered up with a web browser window or an icon. Those people might find a solution in Geek Tool.

You can group different Geek Tool items together and make the groups active from the menubar. This is a checkbox in the interface. If the menubar doesn’t work for you check out Menu Extra Enabler. Geek Tool installs as a pane in your System Preferences.

In the screencast Murphy creates Desktop items for reporting free disk space, the date, and a tiny calendar. Let’s not judge the content choices, we’re here to learn! In fact, Lifehacker has a calendar that marks off the current date. But again, Murphy wants you to know what the commands you enter mean.

The screencast also introduces awk. We’ll learn more about awk later - but for today it’s a useful way to extract the parts of the date we want to see. If you think awk is cool check out sed.

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with Geek Tool you might want some inspiration for your new capabilities. Nick Young has gathered a bunch of cool examples, take a look.

The screencast only deals with Geek Tool in a shell command sense. We’ll look at other stuff soon. If you’ve got some great ideas for Geek Tool be sure to let us know in the comments.

Do you have Widget issues? Do you check the Apple site for fresh new Widgets all the time? If you’ve gotten carried away you might want to take a look at just how many Widgets you’ve downloaded.

The Dashboard has a handy utility for managing Widgets. And guess what? It’s a Widget. But if you’ve gone trolling for Widgets on some less-traveled roads, you might have some Widgets that won’t play by the rules. Murphy can help you deal with them too.

Watch the screencast and see how to get your Dash cleaned up.

Yes, it’s true. You can keep Widgets on your Desktop. Give Murph a couple minutes and it’s done. You just put your Mac in devmode, a magic state where dreams really do come true. Murphy will show you how.

Once you’re in devmode you can simply drag Widgets from their floating home to your Desktop where they’ll be visible without engaging the Dashboard.

If you’re looking for even more fun with your Widgets check out Amnesty Widget Browser. You can rotate your Widgets, change their scale, change their opacity - and more. Still on Panther? The Widget Browser can help.

There’s even a Widget for turning devmode on and off, appropriately named DevMode Widget. Why mess with the Terminal when you can use a Widget?

Remember, the Terminal is not a toy.