The Mac is loaded with applications, utilities, tools. Then there’s all those applications, utilities, and tools we buy and install on our Macs.

That’s what Mac360 is all about. Helping you to load up your Mac with software that makes you more productive, more efficient, better looking, a better dresser, and with improved posture.

Seriously, the Dock is nice but it gets crowded very, very fast. Even with Dock magnification set to on, many of us have more Mac software icons than we have space for said icons.

If you haven’t made it beyond clicking around in your Applications or Documents folders, a file launcher is a single utility that stores the location of Mac applications or documents or both. One click opens whatever you want. That’s handy.

If you’re like Kate or Bambi, you’ll buy the ultimate in Mac file launchers, DragThing. There’s probably not a better more elegant file launcher available, Mac or Windows.

If you’re like Jack or Jeffrey, you’ll probably prefer Quicksilver, though you’ll need to take classes at night school to learn how to use it.

Beyond those two launchers, the Mac software community has provided a dozen or so other ways to launch yours applications and documents. OverFlow is elegant and easy to configure. Trampoline is unique. Launcher is free.

If you’re like Alexis or me then you’ll probably prefer a free solution with little configuration (as in “none"), and with a high degree of flexibility.

Even better is what’s already on your Mac, assuming you’re using a version of Mac OS X, and don’t mind it if I help you unclutter your Dock.

Mac OS X has a feature called Aliases. It’s called Shortcut on Windows PCs. When you create an Aliases to an application or a document, double clicking on the alias opens the original file, application or document.

An Alias is a very powerful feature and you can use it to create your own Mac launcher in just a couple of minutes. Once you see how it works, you’ll be able to customize it to fit how you work.

First, in your Documents folder, create a new folder called Launcher. Inside the newly created Launcher folder, create two more folders, once called Applications, and one called Documents. Drag the Launcher folder to the right side of your Dock, near the Trash icon.

Open your Mac’s application folder and select any application you use regularly, such as TextEdit, or anything else. Right click, or control-click, and you’ll get a pop up menu. Select “Make Alias.” That will create an Alias file. Drag it to your Launcher’s Applications folder.

Next, open your Mac’s Documents folder, find a document that you use regularly; Word, Excel, Pages, whatever. Again, right click, create an Alias, and drag the Alias to your Launcher Documents folder (inside your Mac’s Documents folder).

Now, click and hold the Launcher folder icon in the Dock. You’ll see a pop up menu with two more folder icons, one for Documents, and one for Applications. Select either, and the Aliases you just created will appear.

You’ve just created a one click Launcher for any file, document or application on your Mac. Repeat that process for whatever files, Applications or Documents, you want to be in the Launcher’s menu.

Cool, huh? And totally free, fully customizable.

The created video files are compatible with iPhone, iPod, Apple TV and many MP4 players.

1) DVD to iPhone ripping guide for Mac (Free)
HandBrake is a GPL’d multi-platform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter - it’s super easy to rip the DVDs you have and put them on the new iPhone, here’s how…

1. First, download Handbrake.

2. Install it, run it, and pop the DVD in. Pick the DVD volume. Choose your settings.

DVD movies’ resolution is 720x480, If you create a new preset for iphone in Handbrake and set the video dimensions to 480x320, you can crunch movies down to a much smaller size optimized for the iphone native resolution. Just click on the ‘Picture Settings’ button to set the target resolution number.

It takes about 30 minutes or so, it runs perfect in the background.

3. Drag the result MP4 file it makes in to iTunes, in videos tab in iTunes for the iPhone select the movie, click Sync. In a couple minutes it transfers over.

4. The video is in the videos section - ‘iPod / Videos’. It looks and sounds great!

2) iPhone video converting steps for Windows (Free)

1. Download Videora, intall and launch.

2. Go to the ‘Convert -> Current Conversion’ tab, press ‘One-Click Converter’ button, and load the video files you would like to put on your iPhone. The conversion process will start automatically.

If you need to transfer DVD to iPhone, just use DVD Decrypter to rip your DVD to hard disk first, then convert the ripped files to iPhone video using Videora iPhone Converter. Certainly, you can also convert your DVD movie to iPhone directly using iPhone Video Converter software. I googled much, but did not find the completely free windows applications which can rip DVD to iPhone mp4 directly. If you know the one-step free solution, welcome to post.

Link: How to use DVD decrypter

P.S. Please do not rip commerial DVD movies (encrypted and copyrighted materials), it is illegal in USA.

Apple updated iPhone the same day, so some of the hiccups we had are gone, but Keyword Manager still doesn’t work on iPhoto 8. Or, is it iPhoto 7. The iPhoto application says iPhoto 7.0.1, but the Apple site says iPhoto 8.

We also had an issue, still unresolved, with iDVD. Launching iDVD gets the bouncing icon in the dock, a splash screen, but then it dies and won’t load.

I won’t even go into what I think of iMovie 8. What a mess. Enough has been said about that already.

Anybody else got any issues with iLife 8?

This isn’t intended to be a feature-for-feature comparison of OS X vs. Vista, and I’m not ragging on my delightful 17-inch MacBook Pro. I’m not switching back to Windows.

After my first hour of using Windows Vista, exploring here and there, checking out the Gadgets, running through Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in Office 2007, I’ll admit that I was impressed.

The PC was an utterly forgettable HP model of some sort, running Core 2 Duo, so roughly comparable to the latest iMacs.

Vista ran smoothly and with no hiccups on the HP. The same for Office, Internet Explorer, and Mail, all of which worked flawlessly. Office, however, has many menu changes and will take time to make a transition, even for Windows users.

What struck me right away, of course, was the colorful similarities between Vista and Mac OS X, particularly, Gadgets vs. Widgets. That’s about it.

What also struck me in the first hour is the feeling I had back in 1995 when Windows ‘95 first hit the streets and was compared to Mac OS. I don’t remember which Mac OS version was hot back then, but I remember it was essentially black and white and shades of gray, not even Platinum.

Compared to Windows ‘95 back then, Mac OS looked old, tired, sad, and woefully ancient. Windows ‘95 had a similar look and feel, but was more colorful and friendly.

The rest is history. Apple’s fortunes were to nosedive for a few years, while Microsoft’s first decent incarnation of Windows became a big success, and spawned future versions. Remember the improved Windows ‘95, the hideous Windows ME? Or, the security plagued Windows XP?

Windows ‘95 and Apple’s miscues nearly destroyed the Mac back then. Today Apple is doing well, Microsoft is copying the Mac OS. Again. Things are different, right?

Well, yes and no. My first hour of using Vista was revealing, not so much for what was new, because there’s not much at first glance, but for how Vista looks when compared to Mac OS X Tiger. Tiger is tired. Vista is shiny and new.

Since most people in the computer-using world don’t know squat about Mac OS X, Windows Vista, despite whatever shortcomings may exist, will sell very well. Adoption may be slower in the business community, but most of the hundreds of millions of PCs shipped in future years will run Vista.

Did you catch that first impression? Mac OS X Tiger looks old, tired, slow when compared to the shiny, colorful, animated Windows Vista. That’s just like what I saw back in 1995 when Windows ‘95 hit the streets.

Vista’s improved firewall will reduce some of Windows security problems. In time, drivers for peripherals will be updated. In our office we still couldn’t print with Vista.

Mac OS X Tiger comes with a jumbled mess of battleship gray spread hither and yon-- brushed aluminum appplications, gray scale applications, platinum plastic applications.

Windows Vista shines. Seriously. Buttons, menu bars, Gadgets, all shine as if designed and built for the Jetsons of the future, while Mac OS X looks more like something from Green Acres or Petticoat Junction.

It’s that shiny newness that will continue to attract buyers who know not of Mac OS X’s stability, dependability, and security superiority.

I have no doubt that Apple is biding time, waiting for the initial noise created by Vista’s launch dies down-- then Leopard will pounce. When it does, look for a dramatic change to how Leopard looks, because it needs to look better than Tiger. Eye candy sells. So will Vista.

Have you seen Vista? How does it compare to Mac OS X Tiger? How would you compare the two?