Filed under: OS, How-tos, Tips and tricks
I know your Mac is really cool, and you know it's really cool, but do all of your friends (especially those using Windows)? One of the things I really enjoy is To find out what version of Mac OS you are running, go to the Apple logo in the top left corner, click it and choose About This Mac. From that window you will see the version number, processor, memory and chosen startup disk. Clicking Software Update will check for updates, and More Info... will open up an extensive list of everything on your machine.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rob said 6:19PM on 9-07-2006
BRAVO! NOW THAT'S AN AWESOME ARTICLE!!!!!!!
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andrew harrison said 6:38PM on 9-07-2006
OH MY GOD
That dictionary thing is AMAZING
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Jeff said 6:48PM on 9-07-2006
You can also highlight the word, right-click on it and select "Look up in Dictionary"
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Quix said 6:48PM on 9-07-2006
I never knew that trick existed! It would be even cooler if it were a right-click contextual menu item. (Yes, I know that selecting a word and right clicking will launch the dictionary, but the little pop-up is even better.)
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Halopend said 6:55PM on 9-07-2006
This seams like the perfect time to pull out this very cool trick to use a warped half minimised window....
"Step 1-Open up your favorite website, app, anything that has windows.
Step 2-Open up Terminal and type killall Dock, but don’t press enter. Keep that in the background for later.
Step 3- Hold in shift and click on the minimize button on the window you opened in Step 1.
Step 4- As the window is minimizing, quickly switch over to your Terminal window and press enter."
This will freeze the window in whatever state it's currently in and it can actually be used like this. Discovered by : http://tsatb.com/?p=122
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MK said 6:59PM on 9-07-2006
Whether the Dictionary pops up as a little window or as a full-blown application is controlled in the Dictionary.app's preferences.
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one1step1 said 7:13PM on 9-07-2006
I read TUAW religiously... I even link to it from my popular site... but I am so tired of seeing stuff regurgitated from Digg. Why is it that every other post seems to have come from something that was popular on digg?
Nothing against TUAW but guys come on... let's get something new I haven't already seen. Please!
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WillGonz said 7:15PM on 9-07-2006
I am an expert PC Technician. While, I don't want to start a Windows Versus Mac war I must say:
As more and more applications get installed on a Windows machine, the machine will slow down. Even with defraging. I haven't seen this problem with a Mac. I install tons and tons of software, but as I install, the MAC runs just as fast as day one. I think this has to do with the fact that Windows uses the Registry. The Registry turns out to be the backbone everything travels on. You launch an application and thousands of registry keys are being read. Google ntregmon and you can do your own test. Anyway, I also don't like the fact “who knows what” goes in the System32 directory. And DLL hell also annoys me.
I think about this. If Apple were the 95% market share and Windows came out. Do you think everyone would switch? I think not, why go backwards?
Apple does think differently.
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Halopend said 7:35PM on 9-07-2006
I definitely should proof-read my previous comment, it's full of errors.
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digitalintrigue said 7:36PM on 9-07-2006
Highlight the word "Mac" on this page and type command-control-D
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Al Willis said 7:37PM on 9-07-2006
The Dictionary thing isn't a Cocoa-only thing. You can do it in current Carbon applications as well, like BBEdit.
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digitalintrigue said 7:38PM on 9-07-2006
Also, hold command-control-D down continuously, and move the mouse over different words on the page.
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Query said 7:52PM on 9-07-2006
The inverted colors could be a very effective method of dressing your Mac up for Halloween.
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Kane Dijkman said 8:31PM on 9-07-2006
one1step1, not everyone reads or even cares about Digg. I think its great that TUAW posts these useful tidbits, no matter where they come from.
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robotplague said 8:57PM on 9-07-2006
I just ordered a new 24" imac. I've never owned a Mac so this list is making me really excited for its arrival.
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David said 11:05PM on 9-07-2006
I can't get this to work. I'm on a G3 (with 10.4.7) and trying to use it on a Safari window. Any guesses as to why? I modified the preferences in Dictionary.app to "Open Dictionary panel", but to no avail.
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qryss said 11:39PM on 9-07-2006
Cool things Macs can do: I'm a web developer and it's way cool to be able to grab part of the screen (Ctrl-Cmd-Shift-4) and then paste it into an email to send to the developers when I find a layout bug. So much better than a text description of the product.
Sure, you can do that in Windows but you need a third party product.
Now if only I could paste directly into Mantis, our bug-tracking software...
WillGonz: your coment 'If Apple were the 95% market share and Windows came out. Do you think everyone would switch?' has a flaw. Turn it around: If Microsoft were the 95% market share and Macs came out. Do you think everyone would switch? I'd say not or they'd be switching now...
Most people don't want (or can't appreciate) quality, they want what everyone else has.
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qryss said 11:45PM on 9-07-2006
Sorry for the slightly off-topic post. I could have sworn the article was asking for suggestions of cool things Macs can do. Then I re-read it and it wasn't!
D'oh!
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Gabriel Radic said 8:17AM on 9-08-2006
Actually, you don't have to highlight anything, it's the _selectable_ word under the mouse pointer that will be defined. If you select a word or block of text and move the mouse pointer away, the selection is ignored.
If you keep Cmd+Ctrl pushed and move your pointer, the dictionary applet will move a load the definition for that word. No need to keep the D too.
Note that this will only works with _selectable text_, not with text in the application chrome, like the title of a window or the label of a toolbar button.
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Nicole Simon said 9:56AM on 9-08-2006
While i do not like the Mac, my brother does and I assume he will like both articles a lot. :)
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