How to Turn Your Mouse Cursor into a Finger

Chris Pirillo — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:05:32 +0000

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

Back when I was on TechTV, I had a free utility that I used to change my mouse cursor into a floating hand. I had a lot of fun using a finger pointer to demonstrate things during live calls. Some people ask me to this day what program I used to create that. It was called CursorXP, available from Stardock. That program isn’t available now, but its replacement – CursorFX – looks to be even better!

Stardock CursorFX is a program that lets you use and create incredibly cool looking Windows mouse cursors. CursorFX users can create and use cursors that look and feel far superior to anything you’ve ever seen before! Best of all, it’s really easy to create your own super-charged cursors! It integrates into the standard Mouse interface of Windows and is easy to turn on and off as you need.

Now, I’m not going to leave you Mac users in the dark. There’s something out there for you, too! The finger cursor I’m about to show you is slightly different than the one you could have used from CursorXP. This one is really only for demonstration purposes. It’s not very practical to use for your “all-the-time” cursor. However, it is a lot of fun! This one is called PhoneFinger. And yes, the gigantic floating finger is really the mouse cursor!

PhoneFinger transforms your Mac’s mouse cursor into a realistic simulated human finger for testing and demoing iPhone applications and websites. Because of the iPhone’s high-resolution screen, Apple’s iPhone Simulator may use an area on your Mac’s display that’s physically far larger than an actual iPhone. This makes designing and testing user interfaces troublesome.

With the newest version you can even design your own hands! You can pick up and move windows. You can minimize or maximize – basically anything you’d do with a normal mouse cursor. You can change the size of the hand, to make it fit your screen better. Choose a male finger, or a more feminine model – complete with nail polish!

There is a minimalist mode, which is just a floating circle. So when you need to highlight something on your Mac, you can point at it with a finger, or have a circle around it. This is a free and fun way to give a presentation, or just mess around on your own time.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

How to Turn Your Mouse Cursor into a Finger

OS X Dock in Windows

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:01:48 +0000

OS X Dock in Windows

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

http://live.pirillo.com/ – RudyPB wondered if I’ve ever used a Dock program for Windows, and what I think of them.

A Dock on a Mac is that little bar at the bottom of the screen on OS X. It shows you what programs are running, which windows you have open, and even has the little trash can on it. Some people hate it, while others love it. I feel it’s not as useful as the Windows Start Menu, and not quite as in depth as I’d like it to be.

Stardock is a program that allows you to replace or enhance your Windows Start Menu. It lets you organize your shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an attractive and fun animated Dock. Likewise, RocketDock does virtually the same thing. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization.

There are an unlimited number of cloned programs for Windows. While the Windows clones tend to be somewhat too complicated, some of the original Apple programs they are based on tend to be too simple. The key is to find what you are comfortable with by experimenting with programs.

Want to embed this video into your blog? Use this code:

Formats Available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4) Flash Video (.flv) MP3 Audio (.mp3) Microsoft Video (.avi)

OS X Dock in Windows

Chris Pirillo » stardock

How to Turn Your Mouse Cursor into a Finger

OS X Dock in Windows