Casemate makes cases for cell phones and I own a couple myself. They just released this really cool case for the iPhone… take a look!

I work on an application that only works in IE 6+ so moving to the mac has required me to find a way to test the application. I have found that about 90% of it works in Safari (but not FF) but the remaining 10% is critical to access at some points for testing.

Because of this I have been using Parallels running Windows 2k3. Basically the only thing I run on it is IE7 and I needed it to be able to access the Apache instance running on Leopard. Since Apache is running on 127.0.0.1, and Parallels was using shared networking, 127.0.0.1 and the actual IP address would never reach Apache.

After some looking around it appears that Parallels uses a NAT service that creates a local IP address for both the host OS (Leopard) and the guest OS (Win2k3). because of this I can use that IP address to access both machines back and forth. Here is how..

1. Find the IP address that Parallels assigns the host OS. This can be done by doing Terminal > ifconfig. Find the IP address for en3 (if you have more then one network adapter this could be en4 etc). Copy that.
2. 2. In the guest OS (windows) create a host entry by editing C:\{windows root}\system\drivers\etc\hosts

hostcomputer 10.211.55.2[the address you copied]

(I actually just changed the localhost entry to make things easier, you might not want to do that though)


That’s it. Put in http://hostcomputer in IE and it should pull up your Apache instance on Leopard.

One of the cool things about the mac that is different then XP is it’s ability to natively allow you to select different backgrounds for different monitors in a multiple monitor setup. I was surfing the ‘net the other day and came across this resource:

http://www.mandolux.com/

They have quite a few high quality backgrounds with multiple resolutions for both the left and right monitors. That is awesome because I use my MacBook with a 20 inch’r and they both are at different resolutions. It create a really cool effect to have it span across both monitors as one image. They even have an RSS feed to notify you when they add more.

So I have the new MacBook all up and running and attached to my nice 20 inch Viewsonic wide screen flat panel. The problem I am running in to is I am using a Microsoft Desktop 2.0 wireless keyboard and mouse that I used with my old laptop. It is working OK but I am not real happy with the feel of the mouse and the fact I don’t have certain mappings on the keyboard. I went to Mac Authority to look at my options and I would really like to go with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I like the mighty mouse just fine but what was Apple thinking with the new wireless keyboard? It is basically a freak’n MacBook keyboard with no number pad which is annoying. Bluetooth on it is nice it but my word it seems really small.

So my question is: What external keyboards do you guys use? Any 3rd party ones that work well?