One of the most powerful features of Mac OS X is not a Mac OS X specific feature but one that has been around for almost as long as *NIX operating systems but is one of the most under-utilised features of Mac OS X. It's power makes for some interesting ways of forcing software to conform to your way of storing files. This magical feature is called Aliases.

In layman's terms an alias is a shortcut but it does more than just create an icon to a file or application. The best way to describe an alias is to think of a railway junction. When a train is coming to said junction it will default to a single path, however throw a switch and the train is diverted to another path. That's the function of an alias. The beauty of an alias is that if an application such as iWeb, iPhoto, Bento, etc requires a dedicated path for a file you can create an alias in that directory to point to a file in a separate directory or even external drive or network path. This way you can keep files stored in a central location and have a number of machines connecting to the same file.

The caveat is that if you try to run the applications that require that file on multiple machines at the same time you run the risk of corrupting that file. Thankfully though many applications can lock a file so that it can't be edited by more than one person at a time.

The biggest complaint many have about the iPod is that it lacks a replaceable battery. Personally I don't think this is an issue and I'll tell you why... toothbrushes, in particular electric toothbrushes.

I know that might sound a bit weird but it occurred to me when I was brushing my teeth that no one ever complains about the lack of ability to replace the battery in a rechargeable toothbrush, especially when they use NiCd batteries. These batteries develop a memory that would make an Alzheimer's sufferer envious if they could remember what it was that should have them envious in the firstplace. This memory is actually a bad thing when it comes to batteries because unless you drain the battery completely before charging the battery's capacity becomes less and less until it's useless.