MacOsX10.6 posts

Apple seeds new Snow Leopard 10.6.2 beta to developers

by Ken Ray (RSS feed) on Oct 29th, 2009

The betas of the next Snow Leopard update continue at a fast and furious pace. Apple has reportedly begun seeding a new build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers, just one week after the previous beta.

The new potential release focuses on graphics issues, specifically relating to drivers, QuartzCore, and ColorSync, as well as hitting issues with the Dock. Apple has identified no outstanding issues with the build, though the company is asking developers to pay special attention to graphics drivers, TrackPad preferences, and virtual machines.

The company says 148 components have been addressed in 10.6.2 betas so far, including issues in Dictionary, Expose, File Sync, Front Row, iPhoto, MobileMe, Parental Controls, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, Spotlight, Time Machine, and USB.

[via MacNN, Apple Insider]

Tags: apple insider, AppleInsider, beta, mac os x, mac os x 10.6, mac os x snow leopard, macnn, MacOsX, MacOsX10.6, MacOsXSnowLeopard, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

Filed under: Software, First Look, Snow Leopard

First Look: Minimalist time tracking on Mac using Minco

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 21st, 2009

Mauritius is a minimalist island nation in the Indian Ocean, and from that tiny set of spots on the map comes a new Mac time-tracking application for anyone who needs to keep track of how much time they spend on tasks. Minco, now in public beta from Celmaro, is a minuscule Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard app that works with any application that supports iCal.

When Minco is launched, all you'll see is a tiny clock icon in the menu bar. Clicking the icon opens a glossy transparent black display that shows either the time you've spent on a project or the revenue you've gained from doing billable work on that project. Clicking on the time or revenue counter starts the counter, which then disappears from view. When you stop the timer, a new calendar item is placed into iCal so that you can keep track of how your day was spent.

The iCal integration works the other way as well. Creating a To-Do item in iCal adds it to your Minco timer so that you can start tracking time. When you start up the timer, the iCal item shows up in your calendar with the phrase "...working" attached. Publishing that calendar could be used to show co-workers or clients what you're currently working on.

If you want to keep a log of what you do during your work days, Minco also writes your time log to a standard .csv file that you can import into Numbers or Excel for analysis. The company is considering writing other export adapters, although the existing adapter is amazingly flexible.

Celmaro provides a 14-day free trial download, and the software is available for US$9.95. I found it very unusual for a company to be charging for beta software, but then again, Minco is much more stable and usable than a lot of beta software I've used.

Tags: billing, contractor, ical, mac, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, minco, small business, SmallBusiness, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, time, time-tracking, tiny islands, TinyIslands

Filed under: Desktops, Enterprise, Software, Cool tools, Education, Snow Leopard

LANrev speeds mass deployments of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 15th, 2009

When you only have a handful of Macs in an office or household to upgrade to a new operating system, it's no great problem to run around with the installation DVD and upgrade one machine at a time. But when you're supporting a large office or school environment, it's impossible to take the time to manually upgrade each machine. That's where tools like Apple Remote Desktop and LANrev come in handy.

LANrev 5.2 has been released today, with full compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard. LANrev uses a proprietary imaging process that saves the home directory and OS settings of each machine during an automated OS deployment, so that the users are back up and running as quickly as possible afterwards.

IT professionals can not only roll out Snow Leopard faster using LANrev, but the application also tracks Snow Leopard machines for asset inventory and provides for remote management of Macs. LANrev has an asset inventory for storing license numbers and purchasing information, which is critical for audits. LANrev can track the location of stolen Macs and provide law enforcement officials with information to locate and recover the machines. For those who are concerned about power usage, LANrev does automated power management of large Mac installations, putting Macs to sleep or shutting them down when they're idle.

Unlike Apple Remote Desktop, LANrev works in cross-platform environments, so it's useful for situations where a small group of Mac users may exist in a Windows world -- or vice versa. No pricing info is available on the LANrev Web site, so be sure to contact one of their distribution partners if you're interested in this professional administration tool.

Tags: administration, cross-platform, LANrev, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, management, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, software

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

A roundup of Snow Leopard compatibility announcements

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 10th, 2009

Now that the shock of Mac OS X 10.6's early release has worn off, many developers are announcing that their products are now completely compatible with Snow Leopard. Here's a list of the latest devs to speak up.

Realmac Software announced that RapidWeaver 4.3 is now available. This newest version of Realmac's popular website development tool adds several improvements, but the main attraction is full compatibility with Snow Leopard. Existing owners of RapidWeaver can update for free by using the built-in Check for Updates feature, or download the update here.

Users of Cocktail, the Mac utility from Maintain, can now rest assured that the application will run properly under Snow Leopard. Cocktail 4.5 Snow Leopard Edition has not only been tested for compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6, but it also adds 64-bit support and major speed improvements to Pilot. Maintain also updated Automator actions and the help files, and Cocktail 4.5 contains an updated version of the Sparkle software update framework. The update can be downloaded here.

Read on for even more Snow Leopard update news.

Continue reading “A roundup of Snow Leopard compatibility announcements”

Tags: compatibility, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, update

Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Switchers, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

Tired of those winmail.dat files? Letter Opener 3 can help

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 8th, 2009

If there's anything that drives Mac users into a frenzy, it's those winmail.dat files that can show up in Apple Mail when they receive email from colleagues or friends using Microsoft Outlook. Winmail.dat files can either files that are attached to the message, or they can contain information such as embedded documents, meeting requests, address card info, notes, or forwarded messages sent as attachments. Regardless of the content, they're just plain annoying on the Mac.

restoroot, a Mac development firm out of Millstatt, Austria, has the solution for you. Letter Opener 3 (€19.99 or €9.99 upgrade for version 2.0 owners) is an Apple Mail plugin that can ease winmail.dat frustrations. Letter Opener has been recently updated for compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and it can:

Convert Outlook schedules, appointments, and tasks to iCal
Convert Outlook contacts to Address Book
Open nested messages in winmail.dat files
Translate notes from Outlook
Let you read delivery status and read receipt messages

Especially for Mac users who are the "lone rangers" in a Windows environment, Letter Opener 3 can make life a little bit smoother. It's great to see that this plugin has been made compatible with Snow Leopard.

Tags: apple mail, AppleMail, exchange, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, outlook, plugin, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, software

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Bugs/Recalls, Snow Leopard

The few ants at my Snow Leopard picnic

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 7th, 2009

Ahhh, Labor Day - the weird U.S. holiday that celebrates work by encouraging people to take the day off. Since it also coincides with the beginning of September, many Americans associate Labor Day with the end of summer, which isn't until 3:18 PM on September 22nd. Since the colder temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere will soon mean no more picnics, it's a great day to get out and have one more al fresco meal.

Like a picnic, where a good time can be spoiled by a group of aggressive little ants, my first ten days of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard have been a lot of fun, interspersed with some tiny, nagging annoyances:

Preview, an app I use constantly to resize screenshots for TUAW, crashes way too frequently
Without having changed any preferences, the OWC Mercury Elite Pro 1 TB drive I have attached to my iMac now spins down between Time Machine backups (this actually saves power, so I'm not complaining -- I just find it strange that it didn't happen before!)
An unexplained kernel panic the other morning when I woke up my MacBook Air by opening the "lid"
Having to reset the synchronization between my two Macs, MobileMe, and my iPhone after duplicate calendar entries began to multiply
Occasionally having to physically remove and plug back in the USB receiver for the Logitech wireless mouse on my iMac when the mouse refuses to work upon waking up from sleep
Exports from iMovie '09 to YouTube aren't working properly for me

There are no real show-stoppers here, just those little oddities that have kept life with Snow Leopard from being pure bliss. What are the ants that are showing up at your Snow Leopard picnic? Leave a comment below.

Tags: bugs, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

Filed under: OS, Software, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Graphic Design, Snow Leopard

The beautifully detailed art of Mac OS X app icons

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 5th, 2009

Over at his blog Cult of Mac, writer Leander Kahney published a post this morning featuring full-size 512 x 512 pixel screenshots of Mac icons. As he notes, the highly detailed icons are part of a move to make the OS resolution independent, but they're also an indication of Apple's attention to detail.

Many of the icons are works of art when viewed at their full size. The TextEdit icon, for example, is actually a note from "John Appleseed" to "Kate" featuring the text of the "Here's to the crazy ones" ads of the late 1990s. The Jar Launcher app, featuring a cup of hot Java sitting on a paper napkin, reveals miniscule bubbles on the side of the coffee, as well as real Java code written on the napkin.

All of these icons are indications of the fanatical attention to detail of Apple designers. After looking at Kahney's gallery of art, I gathered my own collection of icon goodness from both Apple and third-party apps. Click the gallery icon below to see what I found. If you have found any 512 x 512 icons that are incredibly good, send 'em to us at http://tuaw.tumblr.com/submit.

Gallery: The Art of Mac App Icons

Continue reading “The beautifully detailed art of Mac OS X app icons”

Tags: art, cult of mac, CultOfMac, icons, leander kahney, LeanderKahney, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

Filed under: OS, Software, TUAW Tips, Snow Leopard

A pawful of quick Snow Leopard tips

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 31st, 2009

As all of us are starting to get familiar with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, we're starting to find little features that aren't immediately visible and are pretty cool!

My first surprise came when one application asked me to make sure that my date and time settings were correct. I dutifully popped into System Preferences, clicked on the Date & Time preferences pane, clicked on the Time Zone tab, and noticed a couple of things that were different:

First, the time zone I'm in (Mountain) was highlighted and as I moved my cursor left and right, a "ghost" appeared for whatever time zone I was currently over (see arrow above). That in itself wasn't anything great, but the check box at the top -- Set time zone automatically using current location (see oval above) -- was intriguing so I clicked on it. The map went to shades of gray, and then Snow Leopard used the SkyHook Wireless's Wi-Fi positioning service to figure out where I was.

Continue reading “A pawful of quick Snow Leopard tips”

Tags: mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, quicktime x, QuicktimeX, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, system preferences, SystemPreferences, tips

Filed under: Books, Snow Leopard

Two new Snow Leopard titles from Take Control Books -- and a giveaway

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 27th, 2009

Do you have a few hours to kill while you're waiting in line at the Apple Store for your Snow Leopard upgrade? Take Control Books has just the thing to help fill your time and your mind!

Two new Snow Leopard titles have been released today in both ebook and print format. The first, "Take Control of Upgrading to Snow Leopard" is author Joe Kissell's take on how to perform a flawless upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6. Kissell, a long-time contributor to TidBITS and Macworld, did many installations of Snow Leopard beta versions to create a process you can follow to insure a flawless upgrade. He describes how to make a bootable duplicate of your existing machine in case the upgrade doesn't work out as planned, and has tips and tricks for optimizing Snow Leopard or troubleshooting issues after the install. This 81-page ebook is available today for US$10 from Take Control Books, or you can order a printed copy for US$19.99.

Continue reading “Two new Snow Leopard titles from Take Control Books -- and a giveaway”

Tags: ebook, giveaway, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, take control books, TakeControlBooks

Filed under: Software, Surveys and Polls, Apple, Apple History, Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Snow Leopard one step closer to release, now Golden Master

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 12th, 2009

Mac OS X 10.6, AKA Snow Leopard, is one step closer to being released sometime in the next month. Multiple reports indicate that build 10A432 of the new OS has reached Golden Master status, which indicates that all testing has been completed to the satisfaction of the development team.

As we've noted before, Snow Leopard won't introduce many new features. Instead, it's intended to reduce the size of the OS and run much faster on Intel hardware. Snow Leopard will be the first version of Mac OS X that cannot be run on PPC Macs. Amazon.com is already taking pre-orders for Snow Leopard at US$29 for a single-user license or just US$49 for the five-license Family Pack.

The next step is to release the OS to manufacturing, so that the requisite millions of copies can be burned into DVDs prior to the actual release date. When will that actually happen? My personal guess is September 25th, as the last two versions of Mac OS X were released on a Friday (October 26, 2007 for Leopard and April 29, 2005 for Tiger). Of course, Apple could release Snow Leopard on September 15th to rain on Microsoft's release of the Zune HD.

Take our reader poll and give us your best guess for when Snow Leopard will arrive.

[via MacRumors]

Tags: golden master, GoldenMaster, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, release date, ReleaseDate, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

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