Similar to the Character Map application for Windows, CharacterPal is a Dashboard widget that helps you input foreign symbols. For instance, do you remember how to make this  Apple logo appear on your keyboard?
    (!!!)
‘Course you know! It’s Option + Shift + K! But if by some incidence you forgot how todo this, CharacterPal can always help you remember. Now you won’t have any problems knowing how to make the Apple logo appear using keyboard presses.

Hey MacHeads, Jayvee here from Cellphone9. I contribute once in a while for The AfterMac and today I’m going to go shameless and promote a contest I’m running. I’m inviting you over to join in on the raffle: we’re giving away over $160.00 worth of prizes and they are all accessories for your iPod and iPhone.

We’re giving away a Mophie Juice Pack to extend your iPhone’s battery as well as three iPod BodyGuardz of your choice. For more details, you can head on to this post and join in on the raffle!

I guess the best way to describe Woopra is that this is your site stats app in porno. The real time tracking system and the GUI is kick ass – but not a lot of Macintosh users can make it work because it requires the Java Virtual Machine 1.6 to run.

How to activate Java 6 on OS X
1. Do a system update and download the latest Java installation.
2. Go to Applications –> Utilities –> Java –> Java Preferences
3. Click to activate Java Version 6 (refer to image highlights above)
4. Drag Java SE 6 64 Bit to the top of the …read more

Buy a Mac, Give hope to the flowers!
The opposite of this statement goes: Upgrade to Windows Vista, contribute to e-waste. With the launch of Windows Vista, consumers and enterprises will be forced to upgrade their systems. Multiply this by all the casual Windows users and enterprises that use Windows and you get a load of e-wastage.
“With Vista, Microsoft could effectively hasten the obsolescence of half the world’s PCs, especially in the absence of fully-functioning global take back systems for PCs,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau Baconguis said in a statement.
“Companies will feel the need to upgrade more computers sooner–and …read more

I woke up today with an SMS from an unknown number – probably someone I’ve dealt with in PR before. She (I assume its a girl because she gave a lady name) knew I was a Mac user and wanted to interview me about Windows Vista – my thoughts, sentiments and basically a comparison with Mac OS X. I wrote a piece previously about how Mac OS X showed some envy with the internal company emails at Microsoft but I think Vista has more to show than just the fancy fancy.
So there – I became rather uncomfortable with the idea …read more

It’s so weird how they launch the 2007 version for Windows and have the 2008 version for Macs only. The new Office Suite for Macs will be launched in mid 2007. It’s about time, honestly! Here’s a listing of some Mac-only features for the new office suite:

Publishing Layout View lets users create incredibly layout-rich documents such as newsletters, fliers and brochures by uncovering desktop publishing layout tools and providing text box entry.
Ledger Sheets enable anyone to use Excel to handle common financial management tasks. Home and small-business users can balance checkbooks, track accounts or manage investment portfolios more easily than …read more

The bane of Windows was when OS X was launched. And copying OS X into Longhor– err Vista was the sincerest form of flattery. What’s rather hard to understand,at least from a computer enthusiast perspective, is why, with the addition of OS X-like features on Vista, the problem of efficiency comes in when trying to run Spotlight search, “gadgets” and Aero on Vista.
I guess the fact is that Apple IS a hardware company and I would be damned to open up a Mac and know what to do, as compared to opening up a some damned PC and disassembling …read more

Here’s a friendly reminder on downloading podcasts manually. In case the iTunes server gets screwed up and you may need to download files manually, do remember that opening them on Firefox will allow you to stream the file.

This doesn’t mean that you have successfully downloaded the file. Some people who may choose the “Save As” function after the gray bar reaches the end of the stream may notice that iTunes will only save a part of the podcast. This is because you still have to wait for your computer to finish downloading the entire stream onto the computer. Check the …read more

Seen: Flea market in the Philippines.
Oooh nasty.

A column over at The Register suggests that Steve Jobs, though immersed in star power with his reality distortion field, may face long term problems when it comes to understanding “financial implications.”
This is all about the fiasco on the buying of stock offered to him at a much lower price than the market:

Between those two dates the value of Apple stock had risen 15 per cent. In other words, “it seems that Jobs was given the right to buy Apple stock at $18.30 a share after it had already jumped to $21.01.”
Hands in the till? Apple says “definitely not!” Quoting …read more