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QuickTime 5.02 for OS 9.x includes the Sorenson 3 video codec, but the older version of QuickTime in OS X 10.0.4 doesn't offer support for this video protocol just yet. A discussion on MacNN's OS X page offers tips for how to add Sorenson 3 support to the OS X version of QuickTime...[posted at 10:02 a.m. PDT] MacReviewZone offers its look at Tenon's XTools software package for OS X in Hard Cider...[posted at 9:54 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Moneydance 3.1 - An update to the shareware Java money management application
A quick uptime update...it has been a week since the release of OS X 10.0.4, and so far, despite reports from some users, this upgrade is rock solid on my PowerBook. This morning my uptime (the amount of non-stop time that the machine has been running since the last restart, including time spent in Sleep) is 6 days, 7 minutes and counting. I throw in a caveat and reminder here though: My system has no trace of OS 9.x or Classic applications on it at this time. I still haven't decided if I will put Classic on my machine once I receive a replacement for my 20 gig hard drive that should arrive any day. Given my need to use things like Word, Excel and other Microsoft applications now and then, I would imagine I will add Classic capability back to my machine once I have additional hard disk space. It will be interesting to see what kind of uptime I maintain with Classic back on my machine...
On the topic of backing up OS X volumes, another option mentioned by a reader on MacFixIt today is the downloadable freeware program hfspax, a command line utility that can back up OS X by using the Terminal. The download includes a detailed look at back up issues specific to OS X and directions on how to use hfspax. I will give it a try this weekend and offer a report here...[posted at 3:30 p.m. PDT] ResExcellence has unveiled a new theme called Glass for changing the overall appearance of OS X. This is the second theme set released by ResExcellence, joining Pastel Blue. Themes are not supported by Apple, but they can help you change the look and feel of your machine with new icons and color schemes to help make your OS X desktop a little more unique...[posted at 9:15 a.m. PDT] An update to TechTool Pro includes enhancements for analyzing OS X systems, but the program still requires a reboot into OS 9.x [MacNN]...[posted at 9:11 a.m. PDT] Some bad news for OS X users of Wacom tablets (including my wife and business partner) today. The company has updated its OS X page to say that they will not have OS X compatible drivers for the Wacom tablets by the end of June as originally planned. Instead, they will have the drivers done "...at the soonest possible time." [MacNN]...[posted at 9:08 a.m. PDT] OS X users, pedal to the metal [MacWrite] - This is a new column on MacWrite meant to help users get acquainted with the inner workings of OS X and dive into the Unix underpinnings of the system...[posted at 9:00 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Fire.app 0.27a - Another update to the free multi-protocol chat program, attempting to fix recent connection problems with MSN
I have to yawn about today's news regarding the court decisions related to Microsoft. Yes, the penalty phase of the court ruling has been overturned, but what the Microsoft PR spinners are trying to gloss over is the fact that the court still sees Microsoft as a monopoly. They have ordered that the penalty for being a monopoly be reconsidered, but Microsoft is wrong here... For my part, the best news today is that Microsoft is planning to remove the heavily criticized Smart Tags feature from Internet Explorer 6.0, which will ship with the Windows XP operating system in the fall. I guess I can now remove the meta tags from my pages that would prevent use of the Smart Tags feature...
The holy grail of OS X is finding a sure-fire way to back up an OS X volume. Here is one user's method, which heavily employs using Terminal and Unix commands to pull off a full volume backup...[posted at 10:01 p.m. PDT] Apple OS X: Enemy of my enemy [osOpinion]...[posted at 9:52 p.m. PDT] Apple releases QuickTime 5.0.2...but don't worry about downloading it unless you use OS 9.x or older. The new version doesn't support OS X...[posted at 1:00 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Z-Write 1.3 Beta C - The shareware non-linear word processor
Software developers need to pay attention to the mood of Mac users, who seem to be embracing OS X more and more. An example of the attitude can be seen in an anonymous post to a recent discussion on MacSlash about the release of an Aimster beta for the Mac: "I presumed this would be a Carbon app or that there would be separate OS 9 and OS X versions. It's really annoying to double click an application and have Classic start up."I agree with the sentiment. At this point, anyone developing new software for OS 9.x and the Classic Mac OS is going to be playing to a smaller and smaller audience. I know I am the extreme example, since I don't use Classic at all on my system, but I am willing to bet that in the coming months, as more mainstream applications are Carbonized for OS X, that people are going to adopt a purchasing strategy similar to mine: I won't buy anything, hardware or software, that doesn't support OS X. There is no use sinking more money into an aging and surely fading OS... Despite what I said above, I face a decision here soon when I get my 20 gig hard drive back: Should I re-install OS 9.x on my machine or not? I really haven't missed it that much over the last three weeks, but there are some programs that might make the installation worthwhile. I'm still thinking about it...
Mac OS X at work, Part III [Applelust] - Dig into the features and limitations of the OS X Finder...[posted at 7:34 p.m. PDT] For those still using OS 9.x or delving into Classic regularly, Microsoft has a downloadable beta of the "golden master" version of Outlook 2001 available today. This product is a client program, and users need to be in an office setting with an exchange server available to use it...[posted at 8:55 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- FileFreak 3.3.1 - A shareware file finding program for OS X
Saved by the bell...that is how I feel about a customer service nightmare I just lived through in trying to get my 20 gig Hitachi hard drive replaced under warranty after making the purchase at the begining of May from Other World Computing. I opted to buy the drive through OWC because of their reputation in the Mac community as a responsive and supportive company. Somehow, after receiving the drive, I misplaced the receipt. So, a month after the purchase - a month to the day in fact - the drive failed and it wouldn't pass any tests under Tech Tool or any other utility. After spending the better part of a day futzing around with the drive, I gave up and moved my system onto a 6 gig drive we had sitting around. Meanwhile, I wrote OWC and requested an RMA number to get a replacement. This is where the fun began... The first response to my mail was that I should write back when I had a valid purchase number. I wrote back the same day, explaining again that I didn't have the receipt and giving all of my customer info and contact info, and days later I still hadn't heard anything back. The next time I had the time, I called and left a voice mail with the same fellow, and two days later, still no reply. So, flash forward to today. My odyssey began with another call to OWC. This time I went straight to customer service, and was told that since my drive was purchased more than a month ago, I needed to go to the manufacturer for warranty service. So, to the Hitachi Web site to dig through many layers to find a phone number or contact for warranty service. I wasn't optimistic, since the page said that I should go to the reseller for service, but I called...first one number, then another, then another, and finally a fourth number before the person on the other end ran the serial number for my drive through a database and found, you guessed it, that I should indeed go to the reseller for service. So, more than an hour later I get a hold of someone in technical support at OWC who finally issues me an RMA number. The drive is on its way overnight back to OWC and my fingers are crossed that the company does the right thing... I held off writing about this experience at all, because by and large I think OWC has a good reputation in the Mac community. But this was my first purchase from the company and even though it appears my situation has worked out, I think that there is at the very least one OWC customer service employee who needs some serious retraining. Experiences like this can lead to horrible word-of-mouth advertising among potential customers, and it can also make it hard for people to even consider dealing with online purchases. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed...
Some Mac sites are noting news today from MacUser UK that Apple has stopped production of the Cube and will unveil a flat panel display iMac at MacWorld Expo next month. Keep in mind though...this is a the same publication that a week or so ago said there was no way to back up a Mac OS X system currently...[posted at 3:13 p.m. PDT] Sonnet ships OS X fix for Crescendo/PCI products [MacCentral]...[posted at 3:09 p.m. PDT] Need quick access to a calendar in OS X? Jump to the Terminal and type cal, which will pop up a no-frills calendar straight from the Unix underpinnings of OS X. [About.com]...[posted at 1:48 p.m. PDT] MacFixIt has a lot of reader reports today pointing out a myriad of problems users have had with OS X since upgrading to 10.0.4. Many of the problems seem to center around Classic, but in general the reports are all over the board. Maybe I haven't seen the problems because I am running an odd configuration here on a PowerBook with only OS X and no signs of OS 9.x on the machine, but my system has been pretty stable after upgrading to OS X 10.0.4 last week. My uptime has reached three days...it's a start...[posted at 10:01 a.m. PDT] Paul Shields argues that businesses should be cautious about making the switch to OS X at this point in time...[posted at 9:49 a.m. PDT] In today's issue of Tidbits, Adam Engst takes a look at how OS X was received by software developers at MacHack in MacHacking Mac OS X...[posted at 12:05 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Mactella X 1.2b1 - A Mac client for accessing the Gnutella file sharing system
Some good news on the OS X front today with the notice that FreeBSD evangelist Jordan Hubbard is joining the OS X team at Apple. He talks about the move in an e-mail announcement to the FreeBSD mail archives...[posted at 9:29 p.m. PDT] MacHack top 100 issues with OS X - MacNN's OS X page has an interesting list of the top 100 issues with OS X as seen through the eyes of software developers. The most popular: Overall performance, Finder performance and application launching...[posted at 5:25 p.m. PDT] Low End Mac offers a basic tutorial today for connecting your Mac to your stereo. This can be done with OS X machines as well as those running OS 9.x and lower...[posted at 9:01 a.m. PDT] Cuckoo for Cocoa: An interview with an OS X-only developer [MacEdition] - This piece offers an interesting look at OS X from a developer's standpoint. The developer is from OAAI, makers of the GlyphiX drawing program...[posted at 8:53 a.m. PDT]
Meshwork 1.8 released for OS X [MacCentral] - The 3D modeling tool is now standardized on OS X. It is $30 shareware...[posted at 8:47 a.m. PDT] OS X users now have their own, native multimedia encyclopedia with the announcement that World Book 2002 is being released as a native OS X program. The 2-CD reference work will ship in July, and its suggested retail price is $59.95...[posted at 8:42 a.m. PDT] GCC plans OS X drivers for all of its printers [MacCentral] - The drivers can be downloaded starting today from GCC's Web site, and they will ship on CD-ROM with new printers...[posted at 8:37 a.m. PDT] Some good news from Corel this morning. MacCentral notes that Corel will unveil Bryce 5 for OS X in mid-July, bringing 3D landscape image rendering and manipulation to the flagship Apple OS...[posted at 8:34 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Amadeus II 3.2.2 - A direct to disk sound editor that can work with MP3s
As can be seen by checking this site over this weekend, there isn't a lot of OS X news being reported. I am still playing with OS X 10.0.4 and so far I have encountered just one problem, which I haven't been able to isolate or repeat. I had to reboot yesterday after using the system for less than 24 hours on my PowerBook 2000 FireWire because the sound was not working. It has worked for more than 24 hours since my last reboot though, so I am not sure what caused my problem...[posted at 12:05 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Analog 5.02 - A popular Web server log analysis program
This article from MacInstein was around yesterday, but in my morning attempts to access the page yesterday I kept getting server busy messages. The jist of the article: What price are Mac users about to pay to make the full move to OS X?...[posted at 12:19 a.m. PDT] More on Adobe and its plans to skip Macworld Expo from MacCentral.com...[posted at 12:10 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- HP DesignJet Drivers - OS X printer drivers for the 800ps, 1055cm, 2500cp, 3500cp, 5000ps
I am a bit dismayed to read the Weblog of Brent Simmons, a Mac software developer who works for Userland Software with Dave Winer, makers of the Frontier/Manila/Radio Web authoring and content management programs. Simmons frequently pointed to this site when I was using Radio for doing Mac Net Journal as a Weblog. What dismayed me reading today's entry was the strength with which he dresses down Mac OS X as an operating system. His arguments, all of which seem just as valid as those of the president of Ambrosia Software that I pointed to yesterday, compounded with the fact that his Mac OS X related blog is being discontinued are not good signs for the struggling new Mac OS. I am noticing once again that many high-profile Mac users seem to be questioning OS X...especially in the wake of yesterday's incremental system update that offers little improvement on many of the major points bothering developers and Mac power users. I think that the honeymoon period for OS X is coming to a close. If Apple cannot come up with a serious upgrade to the system at next month's Macworld get together, as anticipated by so many users, then the company will be on a very short leash...
Adobe will skip Macworld Expo in New York, which is not good news for Apple and Mac OS X. The author of the article above from ZDNet says that Adobe will miss the expo for budget reasons...[posted at 9:56 p.m. PDT] Well-known Mac columnist Andy Ihnatko pays tribute to the original inventors of the Mac in his MacWorld article looking back at Thursday morning's MacHack opening...[posted at 8:42 a.m. PDT] NetSmith is a new HTML editor for Mac OS X, weighing in with a $22 price tag...[posted at 12:20 a.m. PDT] More about installing OS X on an unsupported older Mac...[posted at 12:15 a.m. PDT] Adam Engst, best known as the publisher of TidBits, offers a great article about putting old Macs to use as Web servers in the current edition of MacWorld...[posted at 12:03 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Synk X 3.1rc4 - A Mac OS X backup utility
A happy summer solstice to all! One sure thing that I can say about OS X 10.0.4, the new update unveiled by Apple today and available through the Software Update utility in OS X is that its required restart ended my uptime record at 10 days and a few hours. Once I get a week or so into working with this new update I will start tracking my uptime again... I can't prove it with numbers, but my PowerBook feels more snappy now running OS X 10.0.4. I can confirm a couple of things about this update though:
- Although many more USB devices are supposed to work better with this release, my USB Compact Flash card reader, the Lexar Jumpshot, still won't show up on the desktop with this release. I need to break down and buy a Sandisk card reader, which many folks say does mount under OS X. I am still digging through the rest of the system. Not much seems to have changed, other than the fact that it feels a bit snappier...
Apple does offer a fairly detailed information library post with notes about what changes are offered in OS X 10.0.4...[posted at 11:48 p.m. PDT] OS X 10.0.4 is available now through the Software Update section of the System Preferences program....I am downloading it now and will update the page throughout the night with news...[posted at 5:25 p.m. PDT]
The president of Ambrosia Software posted an open letter to Apple today on his site, asking Why is OS X so slow?. An interesting quote from the letter: "It isn't as fast as the same product under OS 9, but I didn't expect it to be. OS X is a preemptive multitasking operating system; you can't just exclusively hog the entire processor when you want to do something performance-intensive." The writer also goes on to dispell some rumors about the reasons that OS X is slow right now...[posted at 9:49 a.m. PDT] A look at font management tools in OS X - MacWorld offers its take on the tools available for dealing with fonts in OS X. The verdict: Like much of the rest of OS X, font management is in flux. There are some great advances in OS X, and more fonts are now available to Mac users, but the lack of a solid strategy could slow publishers in moving to the new OS...[posted at 9:33 a.m. PDT] During the opening of MacHack last night, the creators of the original Mac offered their take on Mac OS X and other issues. MacCentral has a brief summary of the conversation...[posted at 9:26 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- iNotePad 1.5 - An alternative notepad for OS X
I was just reading through the New York Times technology section and saw the following note about Microsoft's recommendations for machines that are "Windows XP Ready": "Microsoft said that to run Windows XP, it recommends that computers have at least 128 megabytes of RAM, 1.5 gigabytes of hard disk space, a 233 megahertz processor and a CD-ROM or DVD drive." Now, think back to the many articles and e-mail arguments you have read about the heinous memory requirements that Apple asks for those who want to use OS X. Yep, that's right...OS X and Windows XP require the same memory footprint. I wonder if there will be a self-righteous holy war about how horrible it is to need 128 megs of RAM to use Windows?
A few interested folks with older Macs have compiled a list of resources and information for anyone wanting to using OS X on unsupported Macs...[posted at 5:20 p.m. PDT] MacHack meeting to reunite first Mac team [EWeek]...[posted at 5:16 p.m. PDT] Tomb Raider: Chronicles arrives with an OS X version [MacCentral]...[posted at 2:47 p.m. PDT] Mesa3 spreadsheet software comes to Mac OS X - MacCentral offers details about the high-powered spreadsheet program developed in fully native Cocoa for OS X. There is a demo of the $129 spreadsheet program that plans to fill a niche between the spreadsheet module in AppleWorks and Microsoft Excel...[posted at 2:44 p.m. PDT] Voices from across the Net are growing restless at the lack of updates and missing functionality in the current version of OS X...and who can blame them? There hasn't been an update in weeks. An author on the Artificial Cheese site offers this perspective about whether Mac OS X is on track...[posted at 1:58 p.m. PDT] An in-depth look at virtual memory under OS X is offered in a reposted e-mail thread on MacOSXHints.com...[posted at 12:38 p.m. PDT] Back for another beating, a writer for Interactive Week revisits a topic that earned him a thorough dressing down from Adobe four years ago when he asks, Does Mac OS X rest on Adobe?[posted at 12:31 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Sonnet Crescendo PCI/1.0 - a new driver for the processor cards from Sonnet
Uptime update: 9 days and 12 hours, and counting...
Take command of Mac OS X is MacWorld's general introduction to what can simple tasks can be accomplished by opening the Terminal application and dabbling at the command line...[posted at 9:07 a.m. PDT] MacToolBox extends its in-depth look at OS X with the second part of the series...[posted at 9:03 a.m. PDT] Opera Software unveils Carbon version of browser - Opera 5 for OS X Carbon Technology Preview 1 has been released today. Quoting the Opera press release, "Opera 5 for Mac OS X Carbon Technology Preview supports the following World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards: 128-bit encryption, TLS 1.0, SSL 2 and 3, CSS1 and CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, HTTP 1.1, ECMAScript, DOM and WAP/WML." The program can be downloaded from: http://www.opera.com/download/. The preview will expire on Sept. 1...[posted at 8:54 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Dock-It 0.3 - Adds drive access and a favorites bar to the Dock
A trip to the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center, under construction on a 225 acre site on Bainbridge Island here in the Puget Sound region kept me from my computer until this evening...thus the lack of updates to this site earlier in the day... Although not specifically tied to the Mac community, Triumph of the Weblogs does have some tie-in with the Weblog community at large. This site started as a Weblog...
NFSManager 1.01 is a shareware utility that makes it easier to access the NFS capabilities of OS X to connection to Unix computer networks...[posted at 8:46 p.m. PDT] Panoweaver 1.6 is a Java-based panorama image creator that should function fine under OS X. It sells for $99...[posted at 8:40 p.m. PDT] Today's updates on MacFixIt for OS X inlcude a couple of notes of interest to me. The biggest, mentioned over the weekend, is that new PowerBooks that ship with OS X 10.0.3 have working brightness and sound keys on the keyboard without any of the glitches that still affect those of us using older PowerBooks with OS X...[posted at 7:10 p.m. PDT] A writer on the Macinstein Web site offers a theory that makes sense, that OS X stalls peripheral purchases. I know that in my small business, I am no longer buying at software or hardware that won't function natively under OS X...and this means that hundreds of companies that would like to have me buy their goods are out in the cold until they come around with peripherals, software and other add ons that look to the future of the Mac OS...[posted at 6:50 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Macromedia Freehand 10.0 - A 20.3 megebyte demo version of Freehand can be downloaded starting today...
I have a secret. And that secret has led to my setting a new record, for me at least. What is the record? Seven days and counting. For the first time since I started using an Apple computer to do my work, back in 1987 or so, I have had my main work machine running non-stop without a crash for more than a week! How have I done this? Well, using OS X 10.0.3, of course, but I have made a few other sacrifices to make my uptime for this PowerBook 2000 FireWire surpass a week. Let me count the ways...
Cocoa vs. Windows development - MacSlash has a new discussion about the experience programming in each of these environments...[posted at 5:26 p.m. PDT] Meanwhile in the Windows world, Microsoft and AOL cannot reach an agreement...it's the battle of the monopolists...[posted at 11:39 a.m. PDT] Mac OS X Hints offers a tip about browsing pulldown menus in OS X while holding down the Option key. This shows more actions that can be done from the pulldown menus...[posted at 11:32 a.m. PDT] InfoWorld's reader advocate writer Ed Foster takes on Apple for its inconsistent actions regarding Mac themes being created by those in the open source community, calling into question Apple's real stance on open source software...[posted at 11:08 a.m. PDT] Steve Sobek offers an interesting take on the Real Apple Masters...[posted at 11:14 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- DockAlarmTheClock 0.99 - a dockling that adds a simple alarm clock
My uptime update: 6 days, 12 hours...and other than having to log out and back into my system yesterday when Fire.app was not responding properly, the only thing I have done with this system is sleep it and move from the livingroom to the office, or over to a friend's house, or to the library the other day...
Still running Mac OS 9.x or older? If you want to expand the capabilities of your machine, you may want to take a look at the MacPerl Web site. It offers up-to-date information about the latest release of the Mac implementation of the Perl scripting language. And Perl is a standard part of OS X as well...[posted at 9:46 p.m. PDT] The Darwin Collection is a CD-ROM with a collection of software ported to Darwin OS and Mac OS X...[posted at 9:41 p.m. PDT] MacNN mentions that Snapz Pro from Ambrosia Software is being completely rewritten for OS X...[posted at 9:36 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com... - NotePod 1.0 - A hierarchical note taking program
Apple kills Cube?" from The Register...[posted at 8:38 p.m. PDT] Just digging around a bit on the Mac sites that are out there and I found MacResistance. The reason I point out this site: It offers a trio of tutorials for OS X users, including a guide for setting up an OS X machine as a DNS server, how to set up Virtual hosting, and how to run a multi-domain server...[posted at 5:59 p.m. PDT] Classic countdown from AppleLust offers one person's list of application that he needs to see in native OS X form in order to stop using Classic, including a price tag for those applications that have already been Carbonized or made into Cocoa applications to work under OS X...[posted at 4:42 p.m. PDT] MacObserver offers an article today asking a simple question: What is your uptime? As I write this, my PowerBook 2000 FireWire has an uptime of five days and five hours...meaning that it has been running non-stop for nearly a week. This isn't all that impressive, until you consider that I have slept my machine to visit a friend's house and then wake it with new network settings and do some work from there. And last night I slept the machine and then took it to the local library for a meeting, woke it up without a network connection and ran it for a couple of hours on battery power before returning home. So, what is your uptime? Drop me a line at my e-mail address and let me know...[posted at 3:44 p.m. PDT] A bit of OS X humor from MacWrite.com...[posted at 1:34 p.m. PDT] Mac OS X Secrets [MacWrite]...[posted at 9:48 a.m. PDT] The gentle Mac OS X upgrade plan revisited - Gene Steinberg takes another look at the idea of making a painless switch from OS 9.x to OS X. Are we there yet?...[posted at 9:38 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- VueScan 7.1 - An alternative scanner driver.
I just finished reading a column by Stewart Alsop on the Fortune Web site, and while I was happy to see the high praise for both the Titanium G4 PowerBook he bought and the fact that with the Mac OS he could simply get his work done, compared to the problems he has encountered under Windows, I have to wonder what Stewart would think if instead of using OS 9.x that his TiBook started up under OS X? At this point, I am not so sure he would be singing high praises for Apple and the Mac if he was using OS X. Why? Well, in one example he mentions how easily he can hook his digital camera to the USB port and import images into the Mac OS, something he could never accomplish under Windows. Yet I take hundreds of digital photos every month and in order to get them into my machine I have to either reboot into Classic and import them with the PC Card Compact Flash reader I own or to run out and buy the latest SanDisk USB card reader that reportedly would allow me to import my images without rebooting. My point: At least right now, I think that a user like Stewart would see more similarities between his experience with OS X and Windows than he did in his article comparing Windows and Mac OS 9.x...[posted at 11:24 a.m. PDT]
Ever thought about setting up a Webcam on your site? ZDNet offers a summary of the Webcams that are available for the Mac and a brief how-to section about setting up the software you would need to run a Webcam. Unfortunately, neither article acknowledges the existence of OS X. However, both Oculus (which I use on my Webcam, when I bother to turn the machine that has the cam connected on...) and Sitecam have been updated to run under OS X...[posted at 11:04 a.m. PDT] OS X Diary: For new users, OS X's interface is a breeze [MacWorld] - This latest installment in the series from MacWorld makes a good point. For those who are not already either Mac power users or long-time Mac users, using OS X is easy.[posted at 10:55 a.m. PDT] Macintouch notes that the Mac OS X developer tools have been bumped to 10.0.1, and members of the Apple Developer Connection can download it starting today. This is the same developer disk that was distributed at the WWDC last month...[posted at 9:31 a.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- America Online 5D - This is the newest OS X beta for accessing AOL.
Starting with today's updates to Mac Net Journal, I have decided to move away from using Radio Userland as the main tool for updating my site. Why? Because Mac Net Journal is growing into more than a simple Weblog. I will continue to point out important stories and to write my own stories about how to make the most of OS X to do real work on a Mac, but the limitations of the layout options and formating of each day's entries under Radio, plus the fact that Radio can only run in the Classic environment, has forced me to re-examine how I compose this site... I may revisit the use of Radio for my site when the software goes native under OS X... I have to concur with a note I just read over on the MacOSXHints.com Web site that news about OS X has dropped off over the last week or so. It makes sense, since we are just a short time from the July MacWorld event and the expected unveiling of a major upgrade for OS X that should bump us all up to OS X 10.1. But I would expect things to keep cooking along over the next couple of weeks, with more application updates on the way. We will also all be dealing with calming the fears and setting things straight in the wake of some of the shoddy OS X reporting that is spreading misinformation about the new Mac OS. This morning I was surprised to see that MacUser offered an article stating in no uncertain terms that it wasn't currently possible to back up an OS X disk. Since I already wrote an article about how I had backed up OS X and transferred my installation from one hard drive to another, I was surprised to see this kind of misinformation floating around. Users of MacSlash were just as surprised. Reading through the discussion there, users point out a number of backup options. The key thing that the writer for MacUser seems to have missed is that under OS X, there is no reason to back up the entire system regularly. If you have the installer CD-ROM and a little patience, all you really have to back up regularly is your Users folder, your Applications folder and your Library folder. And, if you have installed and user the developer tools, then be sure to back up that folder as well. OS X is different, and the tools for working with it are still evolving, but there is no need to panic or to buy into the misinformation that is being pitched as fact on some parts of the Internet. Read widely and ask questions before believing everything you read. That is good advice for any kind of information found on the Internet, where we all have to be our own editors and information filters...[posted at 5:56 p.m. PDT]
Dave Winer of Userland, the company that recently brought Frontier 7.0 to OS X and hopefully will soon bring Radio Userland to OS X, is stumping for Microsoft Free Fridays in his latest DaveNet column. I can do you one better, Dave...how about Microsoft free everyday? For those of us using OS X, it is possible, with a few exceptions, to avoid using MS products all together! I am coding this site with a non-MS program, viewing the Web with Omniweb, checking my mail with Eudora 5.1b16 for OS X. Living in the shadow of Microsoft, I love being able to live without the bloatware...[posted at 10:46 p.m. PDT] Another OS X related book was announced today. Author David Hart's Mac OS X Web Server Handbook from Prentice Hall PTR is available now for $32. It offers tips for serving high-end Web sites using Apache and the other tools available to OS X users...[posted at 10:34 p.m. PDT] A.I. game creates buzz [CNN] - This isn't related to Macs, but the concept behind this secretive game that appears to have been created by the movie studios to loosely tie in with the new Steven Spielberg movie, A.I....[posted at 10:16 p.m. PDT] OmniWeb gets a glowing review in an article from BusinessWeek online today that offers notes about the alternative browsers that are flourishing with the arrival of OS X. iCab and Opera also get positive mention as alternatives to Internet Explorer and Mozilla. If you haven't tried an alternative browser, especially OmniWeb, then hop on over to Versiontracker and grab one. From my perspective, OmniWeb is the only alternative right now that offers acceptable features and performance...[posted at 3:04 p.m. PDT] O'Reilly announced publication of Applescript in a Nutshell. The $30 book offers an in-depth look at what can be done with the simple scripting language that can help automate actions on any Mac...[posted at 12:41 p.m. PDT] Yesterday Macintouch noted a serious security issue with using Apache for Web sharing on OS X...the crux of the problem is that because of filename conventions used under the HFS+ format used on Mac hard disks, visitors to your OS X machine can bypass security measures in Apache by simply changing from upper case to lower case, or vice versa, when trying to access shared contents on your machine. Today's OS X reader report on Macintouch offers more information about the bug and how to deal with it...[posted at 12:35 p.m. PDT] Graphic Converter updated to 4.0.8 [MacCentral] - Among the features added in this release are improved performance under OS X...[posted at 12:11 p.m. PDT]
Noted from Versiontracker.com...
- Graphic Converter 4.0.8
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