The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/OpenOffice.org 3 for Mac Beta is availablehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/openoffice-org-3-for-mac-beta-is-available/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/openoffice-org-3-for-mac-beta-is-available/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/openoffice-org-3-for-mac-beta-is-available/#commentsFiled under: , ,

OpenOffice.org 3.0 on MacIf you've been cursing the big price tag and lack of VBA support in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, OpenOffice.org is coming to your rescue. Last September, the OpenOffice.org dev team announced that they would be porting the suite to run natively on the Mac. Previous versions ran under the X11 environment, which not only hogged resources, but didn't have the Aqua look and feel we all love.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is still beta, but a quick test-drive of the application showed that it is almost ready for prime time. OOo is a full-featured office suite, complete with word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation package (Impress), drawing app (Draw), as well as database tools (Base) that are sadly lacking in other office suites.

The feature set of OpenOffice.org 3 is impressive:
  • Imports Microsoft Office binary (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and Office 2007/Office 2008 for Mac (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) files
  • A solver component for solving optimization problems, something lacking in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
  • Spreadsheet workbook sharing
  • Display of multiple Writer pages while editing
  • MS Office-like comments in Writer
  • Limited VBA macro support -- which is still better than no support
  • Extensibility with Mozilla Thunderbird and Lightning, Sun Wiki Publisher and Report Builder
The price of OpenOffice.org 3 is, as always, free! If you're up to test-driving beta ware that may not necessarily be as stable or fast as your other office suite(s), click here to be transported to the beta site.
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]]>betafreeofficeopen sourceopenofficeOpenSourcepowerpointwordSteven Sande2008-05-08T13:30:00+00:00AppMenuBoy: all your apps in your Dockhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/02/appmenuboy-all-your-apps-in-your-dock/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/02/appmenuboy-all-your-apps-in-your-dock/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/02/appmenuboy-all-your-apps-in-your-dock/#commentsFiled under: ,

Over on the Office Google Mac Blog they're calling attention to simple little application from Google Mac Team member David Phillip Oster called AppMenuBoy. Basically, it will allow you to get one click access to all your applications by clicking on its Dock icon.

David designed it to function like folders on the Dock did back in the good old Tiger days, when you could simply drag your Applications folder to the Dock to get a basic launcher. Though the 10.5.2 update improved things to some degree from the original Stacks behavior in Leopard, AppMenuBoy "shows only applications, follows aliases, and if a folder contains only an application, it silently 'hoists' that application in the menu so you don't have hierarchical menus that contain only a single icon."

AppMenuBoy is a free download from Google Code.
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]]>AppMenuBoydocklauncherMat Lu2008-05-02T11:00:00+00:00Afloat 2.0 returns window floating to Leopardhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/30/afloat-2-0-returns-window-floating-to-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/30/afloat-2-0-returns-window-floating-to-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/30/afloat-2-0-returns-window-floating-to-leopard/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Afloat from Infinite Labs was one of my favorite SIMBL plugins, until it was broken by Leopard. It adds some clever features to windows in Cocoa applications, including a mode where the window remains always visible, "floating" above all other windows, an overlay mode where the window floats but clicks fall through to the windows below, and adjustable transparency (including a very nifty mode in which a window will be translucent until you mouse over it and then it pops into an opaque mode).

Thankfully, Afloat 2.0 now works with Leopard. In fact, it works so well with Leopard that OS X 10.5 is now required to run Afloat. The free download includes the Infinite Labs PlugSuit SIMBL plugin manager, but it is not necessary to run Afloat if you already have SIMBL installed.

[via Infinite Loop]
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]]>afloatpluginsPlugSuitSIMBLMat Lu2008-04-30T10:00:00+00:00Vidalia OS X client for Tor tunneling networkhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/22/vidalia-os-x-client-for-tor-tunneling-network/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/22/vidalia-os-x-client-for-tor-tunneling-network/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/22/vidalia-os-x-client-for-tor-tunneling-network/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Vidalia is a cross-platform GUI for the Tor network, which makes it very easy to anonymize your Mac's TCP activity. The Tor project (which we posted about a long time ago) is a volunteer network designed to foil traffic analysis and thus allow you to cover your tracks online. Basically it bounces your network requests across a number of Tor computers (and back again) so that nobody is able to figure out your actual destination.

This is obviously useful for keeping your identity secret, but it may also allow you to access IP addresses and services that your local network administrator blocks. Now you should think carefully about trying to circumvent such restrictions, as bad things may happen to you if it's discovered. The other big downside is speed. Needless to say if you're bouncing around computers all over the globe before you get to your destination there's going to be some lag. Nonetheless, if you need the anonymity (or if the people you're communicating with need it -- think journalists or whistleblowers) it may be worth it. You may also like to contribute your own computer as a node to help out the network.

Vidalia is open source and a free download. The latest package is marked for Tiger, but it seems to work on Leopard as well. If you're having trouble getting it from the Vidalia project page you can also download it from the Tor project download page. Once you download it, be sure to carefully follow the instructions in the Installation Guide for OS X.
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]]>TorVidaliaMat Lu2008-04-22T06:00:00+00:00Cyberduck 3.0b1 with WebDAV and S3 supporthttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/07/cyberduck-3-0b1-with-webdav-and-s3-support/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/07/cyberduck-3-0b1-with-webdav-and-s3-support/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/07/cyberduck-3-0b1-with-webdav-and-s3-support/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

We recently noted the release of the new shareware FTP client Flow and now it seems that one of the more venerable open source FTP clients on the Mac is also nearing a new version release. The first beta of Cyberduck 3 is now available. Most importantly, it adds a substantially updated interface as well as support for WebDAV and Amazon S3.

Cyberduck 3.0b1 is a free download but donations are requested.

Thanks Jesus!
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]]>cyberduckftpMat Lu2008-04-07T20:00:00+00:00Webkit gets a perfect 100 on Acid3http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/27/webkit-gets-a-perfect-100-on-acid3/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/27/webkit-gets-a-perfect-100-on-acid3/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/27/webkit-gets-a-perfect-100-on-acid3/#commentsFiled under: , ,


In the rather rarefied atmosphere of web standards compliance, the Acid3 suite of browser tests is like a pro wrestler's chair to the back of the head: if you can take it and keep standing, that's very impressive. The Acid3 suite, first released at the beginning of this month, pushes browsers to the very edges of their rendering, SVG, CSS and DOM scripting capabilities -- all necessary for a consistent and interoperable Web 2.0 experience.

As with the earlier Acid2 test, there's been a bit of a horserace among browser development teams to be the first to the finish line with Acid3, including the WebKit squad responsible for Safari's underlying engine; Acid3 dev Ian Hickson gives major props to Apple and the WebKit devs on his blog, including efforts to clear bugs in the test suite itself (he had to work quite hard to find standards compliance issues in WebKit). On Wednesday evening, both the Opera and WebKit teams declared a 100% score -- not a full pass, as there are minor issues to clean up, but nevertheless the test looks like it should. With the Mac nightly build of WebKit available for download, you too can feel the power of this fully operational web standards battle station.

[A quick clarification: While both Opera and WebKit have claimed 100% on Acid3, only one of the browsers -- WebKit -- has a publicly downloadable version right now that can make that score. Opera's build won't be released for another week or so.]

Thanks Adam
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]]>acid3safaritweet-thiswebkitMichael Rose2008-03-27T00:05:00+00:00DIY on how to make your plants Twitterhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/diy-on-how-to-make-your-plants-twitter/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/diy-on-how-to-make-your-plants-twitter/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/diy-on-how-to-make-your-plants-twitter/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


Engadget hit on this one, and it's technically possible to do it with a Windows PC, but considering that Mac users are greener than most folks, and lovers of both plants and cool tech DIY, we're posting it anyway. Botanicalls, which is a project to help your plants make phone calls, has posted a how-to guide on getting your plants to twitter when they need water, got water but not enough, or are even being overwatered.

The whole rig requires an Arduino board, and it's not exactly for Mom to do on her own (unless of course your Mom is an electrical engineer, which is entirely possible), because it also will walk you through making your own moisture sensor. Once you've got everything plugged in, the Arduino software will talk to the unit via USB and ethernet, and a terminal script will actually send the Tweets out. Unfortunately, despite a quick search on Twitter, I wasn't able to find any plants actually tweeting, but if you have one, let us know.
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]]>arduinobotanicallscooldiymacbookplantstwitterMike Schramm2008-02-25T20:00:00+00:00Missing Drawer for TextMate revisitedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/missing-drawer-for-textmate-revisited/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/missing-drawer-for-textmate-revisited/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/25/missing-drawer-for-textmate-revisited/#commentsFiled under: ,

Way back in 2006 - after the excitement of the Midterm Elections and before the launch of the Wii - Hetima wrote MissingDrawer, a plugin for the oft-mentioned TextMate that took the standard-issue OS X drawer used by TextMate project file lists and turned it into an Xcode-like pane embedded in the edit window. It was lauded by many as a major improvement of the TextMate UI, but has gone pretty much untouched since then, perhaps because it was good enough for most users to begin with. But Jannis Leidel saw room for improvement.

The new MissingDrawer builds off of the original, adding some aesthetic UI tweaks along with some usability polish. On the aesthetic front, it increases the line height of the file list, shrinks the project buttons and tweaks the file list frame. A new resize method accompanies the Mail.app-style resizer handle and the position of the splitter pane is saved automatically now. And lastly, the panel now hides when using the Show/Hide Project Drawer menu item or shortcut.

You can download the 2008 MissingDrawer (including source code) at Jannis' site, and installation is a couple of double clicks away. TextMate users who liked the first version of the plugin will surely appreciate the touch-up. I know I do.

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]]>Jannis LeidelJannisLeidelMissingDrawertextmateUIBrett Terpstra2008-02-25T13:00:00+00:00TrueCrypt released for OS Xhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/06/truecrypt-released-for-os-x/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/06/truecrypt-released-for-os-x/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/06/truecrypt-released-for-os-x/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A new OS X version of the well-known open-source disk encryption software TrueCrypt has been released. Basically, TrueCrypt creates a virtual encrypted disk that mounts in the Finder and which provides on-the-fly 256-bit encryption. This virtual disk can reside on your hard drive or a flash drive and can even be hidden. The new version relies on MacFUSE to bring its magic to the fairer platform.

Unfortunately, the interface is not terribly Mac-like, through this is probably not surprising given its roots. Each virtual disk has to be created and mounted through the TrueCrypt application. Nonetheless, once mounted you can interact with the virtual disk like any other volume mounted in the Finder.

TrueCrypt is a free download from sourceforge.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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]]>TrueCryptMat Lu2008-02-06T10:30:00+00:00XBMC on OS X releases version .1http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/04/xmbc-on-os-x-releases-version-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/04/xmbc-on-os-x-releases-version-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/04/xmbc-on-os-x-releases-version-1/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Those following the XBMC (a.k.a. Xbox Media Center, although they'll probably need a name change soon, considering all the platforms they've jumped off to) development for the Mac have some good news coming to them: the release has reached version .1.

It's still as shaky as these things come, but new to this version are fullscreen support, "bleeding edge" ffmpeg libraries, and a regular FPS in video playback. It's still not anything the average user should be running, but as I said, for those interested in following along with the development, it should be welcome news.

The download is available from the wiki, and we're told it's now super simple to install (though actually running stably may be a little tougher) -- just drag into your Applications folder and cross your fingers.

Thanks, Yuval!
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]]>ffmpegfullscreenos-xversion-.1xbmcxbox-media-centerMike Schramm2008-02-04T22:00:00+00:00Zimbra offers Safari 3 supporthttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/18/zimbra-offers-safari-3-support/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/18/zimbra-offers-safari-3-support/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/18/zimbra-offers-safari-3-support/#commentsFiled under: ,

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love Safari. Unfortunately, not all web developers are hip to it, especially when it comes to Ajax-based web apps. In fact, I'd have trouble naming very many web-based, "WYSIWYG" editors, let alone full collaboration suites, that work well with Safari. That's why I was pleased to hear that the Leopard-loving folks at Zimbra, the open source messaging and collaboration suite, have announced expanded support for Mac users, including Safari compatibility. To the best of my knowledge (and according to their press release), this makes them the first major collaboration suite to support Safari.

And the support, especially in the document editor, is good. It uses valid XHTML tags and CSS to create cross-browser compatibility. I think the feature I love the most right now is the full support for rich text pasting (and no font tags). If you're using Firefox, you get page previews, monetary conversions and more when hovering over different bits of information. These seem to be missing on Safari, but that could be on account of an odd setting in my configuration.

In addition to Safari support, Zimbra has also added support for CalDav, allowing iCal 3 to sync and share calendars through its server. And for the mobile set, they've added a mobile HTML client that makes the suite iPhone compatible. With the preexisting Zimbra Connector for iSync, Zimbra users can sync their email, address books and calendars to their iPhone.

You can catch Zimbra at Macworld in booth W-4348. Zimbra is available for free as the ZCS 5.0 Open Source Edition. They also offer a Network Edition with commercial support, educational discounts available. And for the curious, you can demo the suite online at their website.

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]]>collaborationofficeZimbraBrett Terpstra2008-01-18T08:00:00+00:00dsh: dancer's shell gives you power over multiple Macshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/11/dsh-dancers-shell-gives-you-power-over-multiple-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/11/dsh-dancers-shell-gives-you-power-over-multiple-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/11/dsh-dancers-shell-gives-you-power-over-multiple-macs/#commentsFiled under: ,

This month's MacTech magazine offers a feature article by Edward Marczak on using dsh, the "dancer's shell" or distributed shell utility, to batch-administer machines in a single blast without having to hit each one, or use a pricey management tool such as ARD or LANrev. Although dsh isn't included with Mac OS X or available as a binary or port build, it does compile cleanly on the Mac and should work well out of the box.

The idea behind dsh is to take a list of targets (machines you can reach via SSH), and run a command or extended script on all of them at once. This is functionality that's wrapped up in a nice GUI in Apple Remote Desktop; it's deeply powerful and very handy. Supposing you wanted to check the uptime for a bunch of your lab boxes -- manually, you'd have to run around, or SSH to each one and run the 'uptime' command. With dsh, you make your machine list (optionally, loading your SSH public key on the machines ahead of time to avoid password prompts) and run one command:

dsh -Ma uptime

Very handy. The full article isn't online yet, but it's worth seeking out a copy of the magazine if you're interested in automation of enterprise Mac admin tasks.
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]]>administrationdshopen sourceOpenSourceshellsshMichael Rose2008-01-11T14:00:00+00:00Growl website back onlinehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/10/growl-website-back-online/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/10/growl-website-back-online/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/10/growl-website-back-online/#commentsFiled under: ,

The Growl website has been offline since last week due to the developers retiring their server for a new one. I am pleased to say that Growl.info is back online as of today. Growl is the indispensable Mac notification system which allows you to customize the way you see notifications, system-wide.

Tonight, I spoke with Chris Forsythe, one of the developers of Growl. He said that while the site is back up, the SVN and Trac are still down. However, you are now able to download the latest release of Growl on their site. Forsythe also mentioned that the new Growl website design will go live "soon-ish." On his blog, he has a picture of what the new design will look like.
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]]>1.1.2Chris ForsytheChrisForsytheGrowlonlinetweet-thiswebsiteCory Bohon2008-01-10T22:15:00+00:00Growl Updatehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/07/growl-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/07/growl-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/07/growl-update/#commentsFiled under: ,

Lots of readers have written in asking about the status of Growl, the very popular global notification program that we have covered in the past. For the last three or four days, the Growl website has been down, as has access to the SVN. Because both MacUpdate and Versiontracker direct their download link directly to the Growl servers, users attempting to download the application have been out of luck. What's going on?

Perusing the Google Groups set-up for the program, the developers report that because their old server was retired and taken down, they are in the process of setting up new hosting and getting the site and the SVN back online. Earlier this morning, lead developer for the project posted a message to the Cocoaforge Growl forum indicating that he should have time to start working on the process tonight. Please note, that does not mean Growl will be back up and running tonight - just that the process may start-up. Setting up new hosting and transferring the SVN over can be a tedious process, so I suggest users just remain patient - I'm sure the developers will be back up and running as soon as possible.

If anyone absolutely has to have Growl now, I believe that Adium 1.2 comes with it as part of the installer (if so enabled). For information on the status of the site, I recommend checking out the Google Group and Cocoaforge forum for updates.
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]]>application notifierApplicationNotifiergrowlutilityChristina Warren2008-01-07T16:00:00+00:00XBMC being ported to Leopardhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/03/xbmc-being-ported-to-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/03/xbmc-being-ported-to-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/03/xbmc-being-ported-to-leopard/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Xbox Media Center (or XBMC) is an open source media program designed to run on an original Microsoft Xbox game console-- for an open source app designed on a "hostile" platform, it's actually got one of the better media center interfaces around (and it's easy to plug into-- you can even use your iPhone to control it remotely). And so the crew over there has recently been porting it back to work with Linux itself-- all of the Xbox Media Center, none of the actual Xbox.

If it's on Linux, it shouldn't be too hard to get it back running on OS X itself, right? At least that's what elan on the XBMC forums thought-- he hacked together a close-to-working XBMC port on Leopard. They haven't released it in any fully workable form yet (if you want to dive in as a developer, you can probably start here, and good luck, you're going to need it), but as a few people say, there's definitely a call for a terrific open source media center for OS X, because Front Row doesn't cut it for everyone.

Thanks, floris!
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]]>leopardlinuxmedia-centeropen-sourceportxbmcxboxMike Schramm2008-01-03T19:30:00+00:00Calling Mac Devs: Audacity needs your help!http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/calling-mac-devs-audacity-needs-your-help/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/calling-mac-devs-audacity-needs-your-help/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/calling-mac-devs-audacity-needs-your-help/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Audacity, the free and open-source audio editor (also available for Windows and Linux) is in need of some Mac-love. Whilst Mac OS X users can get themselves either the stable v1.2.6 release or a 1.3.3 beta version, development going forward is a little uncertain at the moment. According to the Audacity forum, there are no active developers on the project with Macs, and the latest beta (v1.3.4) is not going to appear on the Mac platform until "someone [with a Mac] volunteers to compile it, and sort the remaining bugs out." Yikes!

If you're interested in working on the project, then you'll want to head over to the Audacity 'Get Involved' pages for more information on how to get your hands on the code. Even if you're not a developer, if you're able to contribute via another means (such as with documentation, testing or donations), I'm sure the Audacity team would welcome you with open arms.

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]]>audacityaudacity-for-macaudacity-os-xNik Fletcher2008-01-02T18:30:00+00:00iPhone Doom updated, close to playablehttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/31/iphone-doom-updated-close-to-playable/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/31/iphone-doom-updated-close-to-playable/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/31/iphone-doom-updated-close-to-playable/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Here's the latest build of iPhone Doom, sent to us by Stephen T a.k.a. psychochromatic, who recently took over the application from stepwhite. Last night on the Talkcast we were chatting about the biggest stories of 2007, and I totally should have mentioned iPhone NES and iPhone Doom-- these were two huge projects we heard about in the early days of iPhone hacking that really set the pace for putting third-party applications on there.

Psycho says that this build is not quite playable yet, but he's got it faster than ever and working in widescreen mode. The control scheme is definitely interesting, too, although not quite as intuitive as you might hope. At any rate, steps are being made. I continue to be impressed with the potential of the iPhone in terms of gaming-- here's hoping, yet again, that the official SDK will let us do this stuff as well.
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]]>2007appledoomiphoneiphone-nesplayablesdkstoriesvideoMike Schramm2007-12-31T21:00:00+00:00Starting bittorrent downloads remotely from the iPhonehttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/28/starting-bittorrent-downloads-remotely-from-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/28/starting-bittorrent-downloads-remotely-from-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/28/starting-bittorrent-downloads-remotely-from-the-iphone/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

I like Mac OS X Hints a lot, although I will admit that most of the hints they post just aren't for me-- either they're for things that I just don't have a need to do, or they're for things I already figured out a solution for on my own. But lately, I've been trying to figure out if there was a way to start up bittorrent downloads from my iPhone (we've already been able to control clients remotely, but getting the torrent file was the hard part). And so I was ecstatic to see this tip from Whosawhatsis-- with just a little tweaking, you can install a bookmarklet on the iPhone and a script on a PHP server that will send a URL from the iPhone to the server, and then download that URL directly into a folder that a bittorrent client (Transmission is used in the example) will monitor to download the torrent.

Pretty slick. Whosa runs this on a separate server, but while I'd have to read up on exactly how to do it (or maybe our commenters could jump in with suggestions), I'm sure that it wouldn't be too hard to enable a Mac to run a PHP script when asked remotely. Get that running, make the necessary modifications in Who's script, and bingo, you should be able to click the bookmark and then the link on your iPhone, and have the torrent file show up in your Mac, ready for a bittorrent client to grab it immediately.
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]]>bittorrentclientdownloadiphonemac-os-x-hintsstartingwhosawhatsisMike Schramm2007-12-28T16:30:00+00:00Adium 1.2 beta sneaks out for Christmashttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/26/adium-1-2-beta-sneaks-out-for-christmas/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/26/adium-1-2-beta-sneaks-out-for-christmas/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/26/adium-1-2-beta-sneaks-out-for-christmas/#commentsFiled under: ,

Chances are, some of the Christmas switchers are just now realizing that they've got to find a way to stay in IM-touch with the MSN, Yahoo and other chat service users out there in PC land. Sure, you could run separate clients for each service (or iChat alone for AIM, .Mac and Google Talk/Jabber), but what fun is that? Enter the duck: Adium, the open source and free multiservice chat client.

Adium's latest beta, 1.2b5, quacked out the door just before the holiday and is available for download now, as is the 1.1.4 stable release. The 1.2 milestone adds improvements for AppleScript, Bonjour, XMPP, group chat and more; with only a few bugs listed it's probably going to be finished pretty soon (assuming the dev team isn't over-wassailed this week).
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]]>adiumbetaMichael Rose2007-12-26T16:00:00+00:00SunSpider 0.9http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/19/sunspider-0-9/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/19/sunspider-0-9/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/19/sunspider-0-9/#commentsFiled under: ,

If there is one thing geeks like to do it is benchmark things. From how fast their code runs, to how quickly their Mac renders video, the geek has an insatiable need for metrics. The geeks behind the WebKit project (that's the open source HTML rendering engine that powers Safari) wanted to measure how fast Safari's JavaScript Engine really was. They looked at the existing JavaScript benchmarks and decided none of them did what they needed, so they built SunSpider. At the moment SunSpider is at 0.9 but it has been released so people can fiddle with it and give feedback. Test it out with your favorite browser and see how it stacks up.
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]]>applesunspiderwebkitScott McNulty2007-12-19T21:00:00+00:00