There have been a number of recent articles describing the way that consumers user their iPhone. Interestingly enough, compared to normal smartphone users iPhone users talk less and browse the web more then their counterparts.

In fact:

“iPhone owners spend the time they use their iPhones engaged in voice calls (that number is 71.7 percent for BlackBerry owners). Also, iPhone owners in the US claim to spend 12.1 percent of their iPhone time on the net (compare that to 2.4 percent for all other mobile phones on average)”

- TUAW

Sync Safari Bookmarks From Your Mac to Your iPhone & iPod Touch

If you find yourself using your iPhone and iPod Touch to browse the web more and more each day then be sure to setup your iPhone/iPod Touch to sync your Safari Bookmarks.

1. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone/iPod Touch
2. Select the iPhone/iPod Touch in iTunes
3. Select the info Tab
4. Scroll Down to Web Browser and check the box next to Sync Safari Bookmarks
5. Click Sync and check your iPhone/iPod Touch for the updated Bookmark list

Discover interesting sites while on the go and able to check back on them when you return to the larger screen comfort of your Mac. Taking your bookmarks with you has never been easier.

One of the main features that Apple has advertised with their new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro notebooks is the increased capabilities of the trackpad included with the machines.

With the new trackpad applications like iPhoto and Safari received additional navigation capabilities based on gestures conducted on the trackpad.

Safari includes trackpad capabilities that allowed you to touch three fingers to your trackpad and swipe them to the left or right and the browser will move forward or back a page based on your gesture.

Additionally gestures provided ways to zoom in on the screen, rotate pictures or scroll around the page view. Unfortunately, these new gestures do not include commands for all applications. You couldn’t use the same trackpad features to navigate in Firefox that you used in Safari.

That is until Will Henderson released his beta software that he has titled “MultiClutch“.

Multiclutch

MultiClutch is a small program that installs a system preference window that allows you to tie keyboard shortcut commands to your trackpad gestures.

Connecting the gestures to commands within an application is quick and simple:

1. After you’ve downloaded and installed MultiClutch, navigate to the System Preferences on your Mac and click MultiClutch in the “Other” section.
2. Click the ‘+’ to add an application, select the application you’d like to add a gesture command to
3. Select the application in the MultiClutch menu and then click the ‘+’ below the Gesture/Key Command section
4. Select the gesture command you’d like to use and then click the keyboard shortcut and press the keys you’d like to be tied to the trackpad gesture. (To view the keyboard shortcuts for an application, open the app and select the menu items to see what keyboard shortcuts are tied to the various menu commands
5. Close the system preferences, open the application and test the new gesture.

Now with MultiClutch and the new Firefox 3 beta 5 I can add the trackpad gestures I use in Safari to move forward and backwards with the websites I’m viewing.

Note: Currently only applications built with Cocoa are supported. If the gestures are not working there is a high likelihood the application was built in Carbon. Firefox Users should note that the MultiClutch gestures were tested in Firefox 3 beta 5 and worked correctly. They did not work in Firefox 2.

When I purchased my first Mac I quickly transfered over all the media files from my old windows based machine and was excited to finally view the content on an operating system with strong media capabilities.

I opened up Quicktime and found a movie in .avi format that I wanted to open. Unfortunately, Quicktime didn’t know what to do with the file and told me I needed to go and find plugins to open the movie. After I found a plugin that would allow Quicktime to play .avi movies I launched the movie again.

Sure enough the picture came in and I was almost convinced that finding quicktime plugins wasn’t too bad. Then I realized.. the audio for the movie wasn’t playing. Quicktime needed another plugin for the audio portion.

ENTER VLC

If this experience sounds similar to you, fear not! There is a wonderful and small FREE media player out there that has everything built into it to quickly play almost any media format.

After struggling with finding quicktime plugins to play all my media formats I cam across VLC. I download the app, installed it, and opened movie after movie after movie without any trouble.

VLC is a wonderful free application. In addition to having a Mac version, the software also comes in Windows and Linux versions. It plays DVDs, CDs, music and video files, and can even stream video across a network or over the internet.

Give VLC a try and check back here atmaciverse.com with RSS for ways to get the most out of your new free Media Player.

Lifehacker.com provided a simple but informative tip that shows you how to display the date on the menu bar. This of course is for anyone that doesn’t know to look at the iCal icon to see today’s date.

1. In System Preferences, open International and go to the Formats tab.
2. Next to Dates, click the Customize button. Arrange your date in the format you want to appear on your menubar. Use the down arrows on each element to choose between formats (January, Jan, 01, 1, etc.) I chose [Oct 29], as shown.
3. Now, select the entire date format and copy it to your clipboard (Cmd+A, Cmd+C). Hit OK.
4. Hit the Customize button next to Times. Choose the “Medium” format.
5. Paste the date format on your clipboard next to the time format, and hit OK. You’re done!

Head over to lifehacker.com for more details.

If you’ve decided that you need a bit more customizable instant messaging client for your Mac than what iChat offers, Adium is for you. The ability to add extra features and capabilities to Adium is what really makes it a great IM client.

Here are 5 Must Have extra features you can add to Adium to add that customizable feel you want from your instant messaging client:

1. Send TXT Message To Your Contacts

Send SMS / Email - If you ever have the need to send a txt message to a friend but didn’t want to take the time to type out the message and send it from your phone, this plugin is for you. Add phone details to each of your contacts and then right click, send SMS, and enter the message you’d like delivered to your contacts phone. Tell them to jump online, send them a website link, or remind them of lunch the next day!

2. Customize Your Adium Dock Icon

Dock Icons - The possibilities are endless. New Dock Icons for Adium are being added to the Adium website constantly. This lets you add a bit of custom look and feel to your desktop and instant messaging client. Pick from Home, Yoda Duck, and many many more!

3. Open & Close Apps

Opener ‘n Closer - If you find yourself constantly in deep discussions with your friends over your Instant Messaging client but still need to be productive check out this Adium extra. It allows you to launch or close any application on your system by typing a messages in any chat window. Close the apps you aren’t using, or open any application you need for your discussion.

4. Quickly Send Links

Current Webpage - This extra makes it easy to share links to a webpage you’re currently looking at. Once this is installed simpley type ‘%(name of the browser you’re using)’ and a link with the title of the webpage you’re currently looking at will be sent to your contact. No need to take the time to copy and paste.

5. Update Your Status Message

TwitterAdium - Automatically update your status message when you’re away from your computer. Let your friends online see that you’ve gone for a bit to eat, are out at a party, or in the middle of class. With this Adium Extra, you can have your status message automatically display your latest twitter message. Send a txt update of your status to twitter and your Adium client will update your status message!

These 5 Extras add some great customizable feel to Adium but there are many, many, more extras that may just have the feature you’re looking for. What extras do you use? What other extras are a Must Have?