33 new of 37 responses total.
I watched the live stream of yesterday's Apple media event. Theme was "Back to the Mac" and focused on new Macintosh stuff. Yes, the next version of OS X will be named "Lion" and is expected to be out next summer. The demo focused on the new "Mission Control" interface, which looks kind of like Spaces and Expose blended together. Much time was spent demo-ing the new iLife 11. Uninteresting, from my standpoint, since I don't use it much. Another announcement: Facetime (the iPhone 4 video calling feature) is now available in beta for the Mac. We downloaded it, checked it out, and it actually works. Might be a suitable way of handling remote members at Grex Board meetings... Jobs used his patented "One More Thing" slot to announce a redone Macbook Air. Just as the rumor mill forecast, it comes in two sizes - 11 inch and 13 inch - is incredibly light (under three pounds) and thin, and uses flash memory for storage instead of a hard drive. Seems like the ideal laptop to take along on trips, so maybe I'll get one someday.
Almost forgot another important announcement - the Mac App Store. Modeled on the iPhone/iPad app store, it will be a centralized service for downloading and installing Mac software. Jobs pledged to have it up and running in 90 days.
I like that it addresses the three main problems I see every day when people bring me laptops to work on: DC jacks breaking, hard disks failing or software infections. I dislike that I could buy three PC netbooks for the same price.
We see a lot of dead motherboards, or failed solder joints other than in power jacks (video area is common), also bad LCD inverters or cracked screens. Occasionally a keyboard or modem shorts out and prevents booting.
I just acquired a new Macbook Air, 13" version. Light (under 3 lbs), sturdy, fast, gorgeous display, boots really fast (under 30 seconds), runs very cool (in contrast to my 17" Mac Pro, which feels like I have a stove in my lap). A bit pricey compared with PC netbooks, but then, PC netbooks are crap. ;-) So far I'm not missing the absent CD/DVD drive or ethernet port. (I do have a USB-to-ethernet cable in case of need.) I'm really liking this machine.
DO they come with pcmcia slots or just USB?
The 13" Air has two USB ports, a port for an external monitor, and an SD card slot. (The 11" lacks the SD slot.) (Getting slightly off topic here, as this is an OS X item, not a hardware item.)
I have a url that I want to store as a bookmark in Firefox. It is http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=927258. However when I open that and click on Save Bookmark, it rewrites the url as just http://www.goodsearch.com, which does not save in Firefox with the appendix /?charityid=927258. I found a way around this by creating a bookmark alias which can be saved by Firefox. But is there a direct way to bookmark the page?
Hmmm... Not exactly an OS X question, but let's see. When I type that URL directly into Firefox's address box and hit 'return', the '?charityid=927258' query gets stripped off and the page www.goodsearch.com is displayed. This happens with the Safari and Google Chrome browsers too. On the other hand, if I just make up some random querty, like http://www.goodsearch.com/?foo=bar, the query part is *not* stripped off. This suggests to me that the stripping is something that's being done by the server. Dunno exactly what's happening, but the problem seems to be broader than just a Firefox bookmarking issue.
I agree - the site clips the extension. I was hoping that there is a modification of the url that will fool the cite into not doing that, so I can bookmark it. What finally I did was copy the desired url to the clipboard and then used <Clipboard-Save-As 1.0.5> to save it to the HD as a .htm file. This can then be used as a bookmark, as it is not changed by the site. (I saved this "revised" bookmark as file:///Users/ranecurl/Documents/MKC_GoodShop.html.htm That's what I called an alias.)
Apple released an OS X update yesterday, bringing it to version 10.6.6. The most noticeable change was the addition of the Mac App Store, which is now open for business. It's modeled after the app stores for the iPhone and iPad, and Apple is really pushing it as the place to get 3rd party Mac software. After the OS upgrade, you're got a new "App Store" application with a dock icon and apple menu entry. I tried it out. Once you get past the hassle of logging in and authenticating yourself the first time (so that they can charge you for any for-pay apps you install), the process of installing apps is really seamless. Just click on the "install" button for the app and the app's icon floats from the store window to the dock (nice animation effect), a little progress bar appears in the icon while the app takes a few seconds to download, and then you've got it. No messing with dmg or zip files, no dragging of icons to your application folder. At this point, the store has around 1000 items. Some are free, some cost money. Lots of games, with $19.99 being a popular price. Seems steep to me. I suspect prices will fall over time as the competition heats up. The store has generated quite a bit of buzz in its first day. A number of "this changes everything" blog posts. On the flip side, various complaints about the user interface, suggestions for improvement. People are already finding and publishing ways that the store can be hacked. I've got mixed feelings about the "company store" phenomenon that Apple pioneered with the iPhone. The convenience and ease of use are impressive, but everything in the store has to meet criteria for approval that Apple decides. It's true that you can still install software the old way from other sites or from disk, but I worry that if the store becomes popular enough, developers will feel that to be successful they have to get their app into the store, and this means conforming to Apple's criteria for admissability. I wonder if it's technically feasible for a third party "store" app to be developed that has the same level of user-friendliness. Hm, the store doesn't have "Dropbox" yet, one of the most useful applications of all time. Hopefully that's a temporary omission.
Hey, there's already a web comic about the App Store: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1487.html
Bah, I have the Ubuntu Software Center. ;) One positive you didn't mention is that the app store could become a sort of quality benchmark for applications like the ipod/iphone app store is. I definitely see value in that. Also, a lot of the software titles are cheaper from the app store than they are at the app[le] store. :)
Hm. My quality benchmark for an app is reading what people have to say about it. The web's really good for that. What advantage does an app store offer over that for ascertaining quality? It's been noted that one needs to be cautious when navigating the store. One-click purchasing is the only option, so if you accidentally click on the "buy" button for an app, you've bought it, with no opportunity to confirm the decision or change your mind. (The Kindle Store at least provides an "oops, I clicked by accident" button that will reverse the charge.) As a precaution, it's recommended that you navigate the store in a signed-out state, and only sign in when you want to buy something.
eeK. Even the iPhone app store requires you to click twice and maybe put in a password for everything you buy.
It's such an obvious misfeature that my guess is it'll be fixed via an update at some point.
This is a specific rather than a general OS X question, for which I hope you will forgive me. A folder called Developer appeared on my Desktop. I did not put it there, so I think I accidentally dragged it from elsewhere on the HD. It contains a folder called Extras, which contains a folder called Palettes, which contains a folder called QTKit.palette....and so forth. Where does it belong?
/usr/local/bin no, j/k
In directory usr there are directories bin and local, but local does not contain a bin. /usr/bin does contain a gazillion files. But even given that, I don't see how I could have pulled Developer out of /usr.., since I don't play around at that depth. What do the files in Developer do, anyway?
http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=93950
Hey, that's great! Thanks. I did try a Google search on those file names, but didn't find anything. Google does seem to dig into some forums, but I guess not all (or if they are very old?). I always install the new software offered. I don't know why this was put on the Desktop when I did - but it was put behind the window for Mac HD, which I keep open, so I didn't see it at the time. I'm not likely to get into "developing", so I guess I can trash it. But where should it reside? Like in the forum discussion, I'm running OS 10.4.11 (though Intel, not PPC).
You're still on Tiger? Oh my. Is your Mac Intel or Power PC? The Developer folder probably should reside in the root directory "/". That's where the Mac software development tools are stored, for those who choose to install them. Yes, you can probably trash it.
I'm still on OS 10.4.11 Intel (I haven't bothered to remember those goofy animal names for versions). The installer for 10.5 came with the computer but I haven't installed it because I think it might make a bunch of installed apps disfunctional. You have given me courage to trash it...
You could put in a different hard drive and try OS 10.5 on it.
What will that show?
That will let you experiment with OS 10.5 without losing 10.4.
It's not OS 10.4 I'm afraid of losing. It is the other applications running under it that might not under 10.5. I'm dependent on some and have no need to upgrade. Those applications won't be on another drive (which I don't have, anyway).
What is the minimum size drive you can install a minimum version of OS 0.5 to?
You are missing my point. I'd have to install all those apps to test them under 10.5, and I might have to buy upgrades to run under 10.5. It isn't worth it yet.
The websites associated with your apps would probably have information on compatibility with 10.5. Also, if you boot from a 10.5 external drive, it will be able to access the 10.4 internal drive, so you could test whether the existing versions of the apps will run under 10.5 without reinstalling them. All of which would be a fun exercise for me (I'm an inveterate futzer) but maybe not for you. It's just that 10.5 (and, even more, 10.6) has significant improvements over 10.4 that I use heavily (e.g. Spotlight), so for me, upgrading to the latest version of the OS was well worth it.
Hadn't thought of that. My 10.5 install disk should boot. (10.4 has Spotlight)
(Spotlight improved considerably with 10.5.)
Also re resp:35 - Right, you can boot from the 10.5 disk and then check whether relevant stuff on the 10.4 disk will run. Testing in this way is somewhat limited - most apps try to create various folders and files the first time they're run, and they won't be able to since the 10.5 disk isn't writeable. But you should at least be able to see if things will start up.
You have several choices: