Windows Vista doesn't boot when OS X is in the unit because Vista doesn't like how OSX partitions the drives when it is first installed. AirmanPika and  alexoughton came up with a temporary solution on how to dual-boot OS X and Vista, and what I think they're doing is great. At a glance, Dual-booting means having two operating systems on your computer. This has tons of advantages, but can also be very tricky to do. Even a Linux and Windows dual-boot can be a little confusing at times especially to a newbie. Though it is unstable at this time, it's just a matter of time until they come up with a perfected dual-boot of OS X and Vista.

According to alexoughton, the trick lies in removing "the 200 meg EFI partition. Without it, OS X still boots, and so will Vista." He goes on to say that there aren't any immediate risks: "However, when removing the Windows partition, the system would prompt for a software update. To surpass this error, alexoughton suggested that "The fix was to boot the Mac OS X install DVD in single-user mode, and replace the EFI partition using the gpt command". After replacing the partition, Vista can be safely removed without harming the OS X.

This thread will be helpful because this gives an idea on how they are doing their dual-boot and maybe someday there will be a complete solution there.

A user over at Mac OS X Hints called Nathan Gartz under the alias QuadProcessPower, has posted an interesting piece on how to get your iPod to play 704x304 mpeg's on your iPod without clipping, and also this works through the TV-Out to give VHS standard quality video's. This is of course way better than Apple's specification of 480x480 pixels for mpeg. He found this out by accident while using HandBrake, but he goes on to say that the H.264 file format doesn't support larger screen sizes, as one of his friends tried. This obviously adds a bit more interest in the iPod, you can actually watch even better quality video's on your TV.

As we wrote about recently, the diagnostic mode built into iPods can be a great help.  There are a number of useful tools there to be used.  But there are also 'key combinations' for the likes of performing a Hard Reset or a Disk Mode.  Check out the great visual aid for enabling these various iPod controls.  Simply click the mode you want to enter, and it gives you a visual of the buttons on your iPod that you'll need to press.  All generations of iPod are covered.

There are some of us who Apple have kindly forgotten about when concerning recent updates. Its a shame how they forgotten about their most loyal and long term customers, but hey what you gonna do about it? This is what - EuPod. Now this works in the same sort of way as the official Apple version, however this works with any of the older models, plus it has other features such as number display for the battery, backup, encryption and also network sharing of the iPod.

Good thing about this is its free, and as a very long user of this, I can safely say it worked for me. It allows the volume to be pushed up to 180% and on my 40GB 4th Gen the battery life on full volume is still well over 6 hours. I'll write a feature on headphones to compliment this volume increase, and if you pick your pair wisely, you will see there is no distortion in the sound. Oh, and finally, if you so wish, you can donate a few bucks to the maker, who will then invest that in a nice cold Larger.

*Note* USA models are unaffected by the volume ban therefore this programme is intended for use by European models, also it only works with units upto 4G, after that you should use the official release by apple*

Have you ever had that urge: to bake a cake in the shape of an Apple I computer? For the millions of us who have, there is not a bake-through available online that will get you to where you need to be. Impress your friends, surprise your parents, lose your girlfriend, when you show them this delectable treat in all its chocolate-y goodness.

The great folks over at Geek Culture said: Following the birthday tradition, we decided to bake something, but as this is Apple's 30th birthday, (quite an achievement), we knew it would have to be something insanely great. Our mission was daunting, but then inspiration struck... what better cake to build than that of the Apple I that now resides in the Smithsonian Institute?

The instructions for building this thing are pretty damn good, but only serious bakers need apply. I'm going to try this sucker out, if it doesn't look anything like it in the end, at least I got some cake on my hands. Who knows, maybe I'll share it with my good friend Chris.

Maybe I'm alone here, but Steve Jobs' revelation that OS X had been compiled to run on Intel processors since it's inception was a huge surprise.  What an amazing bit of information to keep quiet for 4 years!  But they did it, and they did it well.  Now we're seeing the fruits of their labors as they release new Intel Macintosh computers.

So everyone's been caught up with getting the Intel Macs to dual boot Windows.  But how does the other half live?  They're trying to get their current PC boxes - Dells in this case - to run the Intel versions of OS X.  Good idea, as the hardware can be cheaper - heck, you can build it yourself! 

There's a nice write-up of what it takes to get this to work.  If you're interested in the how-tos and the whats-its, read the link below.  Personally, I think Apple has steered-clear of a lot of the issues Windows has experienced by limiting the hardware the OS runs on.  That way, Apple can insure that their code isn't bloated, the hardware needs to meet certain requirements, and everyone's happy.  I truly believe this accounts for a large part of Apple's success.

More power to you if you can run OS X on any old beige box.  But me, I'd rather pay a few bucks more, have a pretty piece of hardware, and something I know is going to perform at the top of it's game.

We've been hearing all kinds of an Altoid tin case can do, such as the Altoid tin dock, tin charger and more, but now it's Apple's turn. Some Altoid fan (I doubt an Apple fan would do this ;-)) has turned his used iPod Shuffle into an... Altoid case.


The full tutorial is [here]. The only thing I wish to add is - make sure you sanitize the case before putting it into use...

Macworld's Rob Griffiths writes about his attempts to install XP on his Intel Mac mini. He describes his experience in some detail, both its good and bad aspects. XP's installation and configuration, he finds, is hardly for the faint of heart - and is expensive to boot, since you need to purchase quite a lot of hardware and software beforehand if you want it to work.

But after Griffiths muddles through the procedure, he ends up with an extremely fast, fully native copy of Win XP on his Mac. The OS is selectable with a simple keypress at startup, and most of the Windows hardware and nearly all the Windows software he tries works more or less as well on his Mac as it did on Windows. He cautions his readers that the process is far from foolproof; should anything go wrong during installation one might need quite a bit of technical expertise to recover. As it is as of the moment, installing Windows XP on an Intel Mac is still very much in its initial stages.

While we're quite impressed by Griffiths' article (that's professionalism for you!) and of course by his results, we'll pass for now. At least until the procedure improves. It's a terrific achievement, of course, but so much could go wrong, and so easily at this stage.

If any of you folks follow his lead and give it a try, though, please tell us what results. We sure would like to hear from you!

Think Apple's bog-standard OS X folder icons are boring?  This download's for you, then - a bunch of great-looking app folder icons.  It's freeware from Orhan Okay and is 1.5MB in size. 

Download and enjoy!

If, like most of us, you've ever 'lost' a document in your hard drive (and if you're a Mac user), this tip's for you.

One Digital Life's Paul Burd tells us that, with Apple's Preview application, you can assign keywords to any kind of document that Preview can open. 

Preview files can be read by Spotlight, so if you ever happen to forget where a particular document or file is or it's not where it should be, you'll have more associated terms for your Spotlight search.