• An overhauled caching engine to improve import speed and responsiveness
• A "Discards" stack for unwanted image files that provides a direct route to Trash
• A "File stack" feature for moving existing files to a new spot on your hard drive(s)
• Improved memory card download performance
• The ability to save and recall stacks when re-launching the app.

• You can now reset global statistics
• Support of multitracker torrents has been improved
• UPnP port mapping now faster on startup
• Ability to IP block using the Bluetack Level1 blocklist
• Dock badge images have been updated

As a Mac switcher, my Mac's built-in spelling and grammar checking has been a huge productivity boon for me. I'm someone who often gets stuck on a word, and since nothing's ever good enough for me, I've often wished that Leopard also included a built-in thesaurus. While that's not currently in the cards, there is an alternative. How many ways are there to say "Whoops?" Of course, Leopard does include a built-in thesaurus via Dictionary.app. See the continuation of this post for a screenshot. Thanks to everyone in the comments for keeping me honest.

If the Apple offering isn't to your liking, Nisus Thesaurus, a free app from Nisus Software, works as a standalone application and a system service. This means that it installs in the Services sub-menu of your Mac and is accessible from any program you use that is able to interact with the Services sub-menu. These applications include Mail, TextEdit, Safari, MacJournal, and countless others.

Once installed, using your new thesaurus is as simple as highlighting a word that you would like to look up, and pressing the Nisus Thesaurus Services sub-menu hotkey (Command -<). This will pop up the Nisus Thesaurus window with your word options only a click away. Select the word you would like to use as a replacement, press Command->, and voila; your new choice has replaced the original word.

Continue reading Mac 101: system-wide thesaurus at the touch of a hotkey

Dave Watanabe's Inquisitor plugin for Safari has been the source of some controversy for affiliate linking shenanigans, and underwent some changes following the public outcry. None of that seems to have deterred Yahoo! from taking an interest in the search plugin. Yahoo! revealed today in a blog post that they would be acquiring the rights to Inquisitor.

The new version (which is a free download) removes affiliate links (completely, I assume) and updates the preferences interface. There is a reference in the Yahoo! post to a simplification of the process of selecting a search provider but I'm failing to remember what was complex about it in the previous version. Obviously, the top choice on the dropdown is now Yahoo!, but you can still choose to use Google and all of the other secondary search options appear to be intact.

I'll give Yahoo! credit for recognizing a beautiful interface and what many -- myself included -- agree is an extremely useful plugin. Whether Dave Watanabe's existing reputation will affect Yahoo! in any way is debatable, so I'm withholding speculation. Dave has made it clear that he remains an independent developer and is not joining the ranks of Yahoo!, remaining focused on his existing projects.

Thanks, Ross!

Continue reading Mac 101: Back it Up

• 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

Julius Eckert has made splashes at TUAW before, namely for his Bezel HUD and Showcase interfaces for Quicksilver. Now he's released a beta of his much-anticipated Silverflow interface (inspired by designer Jono). The Cover Flow thing may be played out for some, but I'm finding this interface to be both elegant and useful.

I'll admit that I've gone from a die-hard user to watching Quicksilver from the sidelines, mostly due to crashes I was experiencing with it since upgrading to Leopard. I'll also admit that I had high hopes for further development when the developers made it open source and have been a little disappointed. But Silverflow has rekindled my interest and after loading Quicksilver back up to try it out, I quickly remembered all of the extra reasons I had for preferring it to Spotlight. Whether you're a current Quicksilver user or you're in my boat as a previously rabid fan, this beta is worth checking out. Do note, though, that it is a beta and has some missing functionality and known (and possibly unknown) issues. I'm pretty enamored, nonetheless.

Once upon a time, my house was alive. It would wake me up with an hour-long procedure of ramping up the lights and using a zen chime at increasing intervals. Once the hour was up, it would check to see if I had opened the bathroom door yet and, if not, scold me with increasing levels of profanity for sleeping too late. It would read me the weather and top headlines while I brushed my teeth. It would turn lights on and off as I moved through the house. It had everything but an omnipresent, glowing red eye.

And it was grand, until a series of events (that I can now look back at and laugh) resulted in the PC it was all running on devouring itself and the connected backup drive. Now, in addition to an offsite backup system, I've got a lot of switches, sensors, motion detectors and the like and haven't had the heart to build the system again. But here I am with an extra Mini, and Perceptive Automation just released a new version of Indigo. My inner geek is just itching to restore my home to its former blinking, talking, almost-sentient glory.

Continue reading Indigo 3.0, increased geekiness for your home