CHM stands for Compiled HTML, and it’s used by Microsoft Windows for help files, documentation, magazines and eBooks.
There are a lot of eBooks – some Mac-related – in .chm format while Mac OS X does not come with any built-in .chm viewer.
There are some 3rd party CHM file viewers for the Mac, though, and some of them are absolutely free:
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VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, and it is a desktop sharing system with a graphic user interface which allows you to connect and control a remote computer over a network or the Internet. Thanks to the RFB (Remote Frame Buffer) protocol it’s using, VNC applications send the keyboard and mouse events to a remote computer on the network (or the Internet) who’s screen is being shared, and it relays back the updates.
RFB (Remote FrameBuffer) is a simple protocol and since operates at the framebuffer level, it can be used on all operating systems with a GUI including Windows, Macintosh (Mac OS X) and Linux. Although RFB started as a very simple protocol used by VNC and its derivatives, it has been improved so as to support file sharing, advanced compression and security techniques in its development cycle.
With VNC you can display the screen of a remote computer on your own computer in a window or in full screen mode, and using your own keyboard and mouse on this screen, you can control that remote computer as if you are sitting in front of it. All actions taken on the view of the remote desktop on your computer are performed actually on the remote computer itself.
This page features all the essential software you need to install on your Mac enabling you to play all major video formats including DivX, XviD, Windows Media Format (wmv), mkv, flv, etc.
Flip4Mac WMV Components allow you to import, export and play Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac. Flip4Mac WMV plug-ins can be used with most QuickTime based applications, including QuickTime Player, iMovie ’06, Final Cut Pro and more.
Windows Media® Components for QuickTime has been highly optimized for Power Mac G4 and G5 and Intel computers and supports playback of high-definition Windows Media video files.
Windows Media playback is provided free of charge. By purchasing an upgrade directly from Flip4Mac, you can import Windows Media files for editing and create Windows Media files for distribution. To learn more about these advanced features, visit the Flip4Mac Web site.
System Requirements
Download Link: Windows Media Components for QuickTime by Flip4Mac (359 downloads)
Perian is an open source plug-in which enables QuickTime to play several popular video formats not supported natively by QuickTime on Mac OS X. It is largely based on the FFmpeg project, as it uses libavcodec and libavformat. It also uses liba52 and libmatroska.
Perian aims at providing a single package to provide all your playback needs. It is a collection of QuickTime components incorporating several libraries:
Download Link: Perian (298 downloads)
VLC Media Player is the ultimate cross-platform software, yet open-source and free, which enables playing of all major video and audio formats including MPEG-4, Flash video (.flv), MPEG-2, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, and AAC, as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
It also can be used as a streming video server as well as a video format conversion utility.
Mac OS X version can be downloaded from the following link: VLC Media Player for Mac OS X (universal binary) (226 downloads) (28 MB)
The Project’s web site featuring more info and downloads for other platforms such as Windows and Linux can be reached from here.
It looks like NVIDIA supports the Mac hardware more and more than ever:
According to Engadget(.com) GeForce GTX 285 graphics accelerator card will be available for Macs the beginning of this summer (expected to be shipping June 2009).
The GeForce GTX 285 takes DirectX 10 to gaming beyond HD with a top of 2560×1600 resolution.
Steve Jobs is one of the most impressive keynote address makers that I’ve ever known with his wonderful wits.
While browsing through some videos of the WWDC on YouTube, I ran into the intro of Apple’s WWDC in 2002 which started with a special mourning session for the death of Mac OS 9, and I’d like to share this special video here which is way fun:
[flashvideo file=/wp-content/flvids/Apple-WWDC-2002-The-Death-Of-MacOS9.flv /]