Open and Save dialogs are as unsexy as things come on the Mac, but every Mac user has to deal with them daily. Despite Mac OS X being in its fifth major incarnation, these dialogs are still limited, but with Default Folder X,
everything changes, and even a little sleekness is thrown into the mix.
Once Default Folder X is installed, a black HUD-style overlay surrounds Open and Save dialog boxes, its toolbar providing access to user-definable favorites, recent folders, and a slew of handy options (such as rename, reveal and move) that puts Apple’s own dialogs to shame. Usefully, favorites can have hot-keys assigned via Default Folder’s preferences pane, which also provides the means to create a default Open/Save folder for each installed application.
Other included niceties are the menu/Dock item, providing a system-wide means of rapidly navigating mounted volumes and defined favorites, and a superior preview within Open dialogs, which automatically stretches to fill available vertical space. Spotlight comments and file properties are also possible to manipulate from Open and Save dialogs when Default Folder X is installed.
Although at the pricier end of the shareware spectrum—especially for a one-shot utility—Default Folder X is nonetheless an essential purchase. The seconds it saves every time you open or save a file soon add up, and after a few months’ use, you’ll find Macs lacking the application feel naked by comparison.
Default Folder X continues to excel in its fourth major revision, making it much easier for Mac users to open and save files.
Another week, another beta version of the iPhone SDK. We know—you can hardly contain your excitement. We were all aflutter over here, so we eagerly tore open the release notes to find out what we can expect in this latest and greatest iteration.
The fifth beta fixes bugs and adds support for the latest iPhone OS.
Woo. Oo. Well, that’s fair, I guess. They can’t all be blockbusters. But we demand beta 6 bring us support for the rainbow-powered and unicorn-sparkle-dust features that we know are buried deep inside the iPhone’s OS. We will accept no substitutes!
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Installer has just received an update. The new version of Installer supports searching for applications from within the program. It sure took it’s sweet time, but finally, it is here. Finally is indeed right, as Installer has been around for quite some time now. It is looking pretty good right now, but there are a few minor quirks that need to be sorted out.
One minor annoyance is that you have to select a sub category to use the search function. Why it is not implemented in the top level application directory is not clear. Maybe to save on resources while searching through all those applications? Also, it seems that is does not show applications that you have already installed. Not a big deal, but a little odd.
The update to Installer is available now. Next time you fire up Installer, you should be prompted to update. It is a great idea to implement in the Installer, as there are so many applications floating around now days. Hopefully those two trivial annoyances are taken care of in a future update.
VMWare, the virtualization powerhouse that brought its Fusion software to Mac in late 2006, is now just about ready to roll its second major version of the program for OS X. Late this afternoon, VMWare sent over info and download links for a public beta of Fusion 2.0, and, I have to say, it’s looking hawt. More comprehensive DirectX 9 support for seamless PC gaming, insane levels of multimonitor support (ten screens!) and easy importing of Parallels, Virtual PC and even Boot Camp partitions.
Better yet, VMWare has announced that Fusion 2.0 will be free to all existing Mac customers once the final version ships. Of the three big updates, the monitor support is the big one. Parallels doesn’t support multiple displays for Windows, and the Fusion implementation looks nicer than multiple displays for most native PCs. Parallels can do Mac in one screen, Windows in another, but not Windows on two displays for the same virtual machine. Granted, this is a fairly niche feature, but its really well put together, as you can see in the video I’ve thrown up at the top.
The beta is wide open, so if you want in on the action and can live with a few beta quirks, hit the link.
The Associated Press have launched a localized news service for the iPhone. The system, which also works with other mobile devices, uses a ZIP code to bring stories from 107 big-name partnerships, including The Miami Herald and the San Francisco Chronicle. Supported by adverts, revenue will be shared, in part, between content providers.
National news will also be offered from AP’s sources. However the group is concentrating on local stories to differentiate it from rival aggregators such as Google News and Yahoo! News. The bulk of the content providers have signed up since AP’s first announcement of their intention, back on April 14th; then, they only had six newspaper companies on board.
The AP confirmed that they had consulted Apple on how best to tailor the service for the iPhone, but said that the company had had no “formal role” with the product. Further news content providers are apparently considering whether to participate. They include Gannett Co. and Tribune Co.
Another week, another beta version of the iPhone SDK. We know—you can hardly contain your excitement. We were all aflutter over here, so we eagerly tore open the release notes to find out what we can expect in this latest and greatest iteration. 
