Cory Bohon at The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports on skuttlebutt concerning the next update to OS X. 10.5.4 is said to have no known issues. Beta testers were asked to focus on AirPort, networking with Windows, Spaces and other frequently used (and often problematic) aspects of OS X.
The update is likely to also include support for Apple’s new Mobile Me service, which will replace .Mac and incorporate web services designed for the iPhone 3G. Perhaps as a consequence of these preparations, the company’s .Mac service experienced some downtime yesterday.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on June 24th, 2008 with no comments.
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Photo via Focus
Thus far, Apple has been using very low-key terms to describe the improvements to OS X 10.5 set to hit with the release of “Snow Leopard” next spring. Despite the company’s insistence the software update promises no more than an overall improvement in how Mac OS X works under the hood, Roughly Drafted has uncovered at least ten improvements it deems worthy of a pat on the back for Apple’s code optimizers.
Some of those improvements, while significant, may in fact be transparent or unnoticed by many users. Additions such as SproutCore, the LLVM Compiler, the CUPS printing engine, native exchange support, and self-contained Web apps can rightly be said to reside “under the hood.”
But as Apple Insider details, others, such as a new multi-touch framework, file size reductions, text-processing features, auto activation of fonts, and full ZFS support may prove quite noticeable, indeed.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on June 23rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Apple and News Coverage and Rumors and Software.
Image credit: John Nack
If you were hoping Adobe’s new interfaces were going to quietly disappear into the ether, like a bad smell after eating too many beans, think again. MacRumors reports that that, yes, Photoshop—the leading light in Adobe’s application suite (and a rather good application in CS3, despite the Windows-oriented palette widgets)—is also being clad in the digital equivalent of a $1 suit. With a hole in the knee. That’s been sprayed with manure. That reduces grown men to tears in mere seconds.
Suggestions are that we can ‘look forward’ to a fall release. (That’s autumn, Brit-chums.) If so, we have four months to brace ourselves for Photoshop’s head-on crash with a brick wall. Buckle up, everyone!
Written by Craig Grannell on June 22nd, 2008 with no comments.
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Photo by MrHappy via flickr
For years, one of the more compelling arguments in the debate between PC and Mac users held that Macs are more secure. With hackers worldwide dreaming up viruses and Trojan horse programs designed to crash hard drives and compromise personal data, Microsoft and security software manufacturers struggled to keep PC users safe by constantly releasing software updates and security patches for Windows operating systems.
Mac users surfed happily along the Internet’s boundless realms, content in the knowledge that Apple’s tiny OS market share was little incentive for hackers and malicious social engineers. As the universe of Mac users continues to grow, however, that sense of security may begin to prove false. (more…)
Written by Lonnie Lazar on June 20th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mac OS X and Macintosh and Macworld and Security and Software and virus.
Mac users seem split on whether Mac OS X’s Dashboard is the Best Thing Ever or a mildly irritating component that’s accidentally accessed when fingers stray on to a function key. Opinion appears to be drifting towards the latter option, but there are a few Dashboard widgets that are staggeringly useful.
For some, the Dashboard mechanism itself is the main barrier to working with widgets. Although Vista didn’t win fans by grabbing a chunk of desktop space for its Dashboard wannabe, having the option for widgets to remain on-screen would doubtless be handy for many Mac users, and it’s this functionality that shareware application Amnesty Singles provides.
The interface is pretty much idiot-proof. You drag a widget from Finder to the whopping great arrow in its sole window, decide whether you want to create a standalone bundle or an application with a dependency on the original widget (as in, nuke the original and your Amnesty application won’t work), and click ‘Build’. Once Amnesty Singles does its thing, your app will be sitting wherever you saved it, ready for use.
When the application is launched, it should work like the original widget, but free from Dashboard. (Quick caveat: not every widget we tried worked and a few simply aren’t suited to being outside Dashboard; most, however, work fine.) Using your new application’s menus, you can force it to desktop or ‘on top’ level, along with defining a refresh rate. With some widgets being more akin to mini-applications, chances are you’ll get more use from them in this form than if they were hidden behind F12 (or F4 if you’ve a shiny new Apple keyboard).
Mac OS X ninjas will no doubt start bellyaching that Amnesty Singles doesn’t really offer anything you can’t do yourself. And, yes, if you’re keen to muck about with Terminal, you can toggle Dashboard’s dev mode and detach widgets from Dashboard. However, you don’t get the flexibility that Amnesty offers, nor the ability to hide and quit widgets like regular apps, nor the ease of use.
If you can’t figure out how Amnesty Singles works, there’s really no hope for you.
Amnesty applications can be created as standalones or by loading the widget from disk.
Further information
Manufacturer: Mesa Dynamics, LLC
Price: $9.95
URL: amnestywidgets.com
Written by Craig Grannell on June 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Product Review and Software.
