QuickTime was one of the few apps which changed significantly in Snow Leopard. We've heard from some readers who missed the initial reports about it, so we're repeating it here, with some additional QuickTime information.

Q: "What happened to QuickTime in Snow Leopard?"

QuickTime Player "X" has brought significant changes to the way the app looks and works. Most notably, there is no "chrome" to the player when a file is being played. This is intended to let you see as much of the picture as possible.

Q: "How do I get the old QuickTime back?"

You can install QuickTime Player 7 on Snow Leopard. Apple even posted instructions which boil down to this:

• Insert your Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Install DVD.
• Open the Optional Installs folder and double-click "Optional Installs.mpkg".
• Select the QuickTime 7 option and click Continue.
• QuickTime Player 7 will be installed in your Utilities folder.

It goes on to say "If you double-click any media that requires QuickTime Player 7 for playback and it is not already installed, you will be asked if you want to download it from Apple."

Q: "I had QuickTime Pro before I upgraded to Snow Leopard, I want to use its features!"

That's not really a question, but we understand that you're upset. QuickTime Pro had the ability to do more than QuickTime X. If you installed Snow Leopard over your Leopard installation, check /Applications/Utilities/ QuickTime 7 should already be there. If not, you can install it as above.

Q: "I have QuickTime 7.6.3, and I tried to install 7.6.4 but it wouldn't let me."

That isn't a question either. You're not very good at this Q&A thing, are you? Nevermind. This confused me as well. The webpage for QuickTime 7.6.4 says that it is for "... Mac OS X 10.5 or later" but the download page for QuickTime 7 says that it is for Leopard or Tiger only. The installer for QuickTime 7.6.4 refuses to install on Snow Leopard.

Q: "What's New in QuickTime 7.6.4?"

That's a good question. From Apple: "QuickTime 7.6.4 includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security. This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users." It's unclear why this isn't available for Snow Leopard. Perhaps the security and compatibility aren't applicable. I hope.

Q: "How can I take a screenshot of a movie in QuickTime X?"

One gripe about the new QuickTime X is that when you pause a video, the on-screen controls stay visible, making it impossible to grab a clean screenshot. TUAW reader Gwion Daniel wrote in to tell us that you can make the controls fade by double-clicking the picture frame. I have had mixed results with this. I have had the most success double-clicking on the far right side of the window (where the scrollbar would be, if there was one). Sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it takes a few tries. If you can't get it to work, fire up VLC and use the menu item Video > Snapshot.

Q: "What happened to QuickTime X's preferences?"

Thery aren't any clearly visibe as there's no preference menu. However, if you install the Secrets preference panel which we mentioned earlier you'll find hidden preferences for:

• Autoplay movies on open
• Allow multiple simultaneous recordings
• Always hide title bar
• Autohide titlebar/controller
• Autoshow titlebar/controller
• Automatically show subtitles and closed captioning on open
• Exit fullscreen when switching apps
• Use square corners

I'm hoping that the new QuickTime player will eventually regain all of QuickTime 7 Pro's functionality and the user interface will become a little more user-friendly (hiding these basic preferences seems like an odd decision), but for now we are living in an in-between time in QuickTime's development. QuickTime turns 18 this year, and it's obviously going through some changes. 'Ol Quicktime is no longer who it was, nor is it yet what it will be when it grows up. At least you don't have to worry about it staying out all night with its friends.

From time to time we have shared hidden settings in applications which can be used to "tweak" an app's behavior, such as forcing Snow Leopard's dictionary to reuse the same window or make the print dialog expanded by default. These settings are normally changed using the Terminal.app which can be daunting to some.

Secrets is a (free!) preference panel which has collected a bunch of these settings and made changing them as simple as checking a box or choosing from a drop-down panel of possible choices. It includes settings for about 40 different applications, from Apple applications such as Mail, iCal, iChat, Finder, Front Row, Keynote, DVD Player (and more) to third-party applications including Adium, Audio Hijack Pro, BBedit, EyeTV, VMware Fusion, and TextMate (just to name a few). Some applications have a lot of hidden settings, and some have only one or two.

If you see a setting but don't know what it does, click it and Secrets will show a brief explanation (these are also available on the Secrets website, but they are easier to read in the preference panel). If you change a setting which requires you to restart the application, Secrets will tell you, and even give you a "Quit This" button. (It's usually best to make these changes when the app isn't running.)

Unfortunately at least one of the secret settings from 10.5 doesn't seem to work in 10.6. That is, the setting to turn HelpViewer into a regular (instead of floating) window. There may be others.

I'm off to explore and see what new goodies Alcor (the developer of Secrets, who you may also know as the creator of Quicksilver) has uncovered.

Thanks to the recently-revived Hawk Wings site for bringing this to my attention. If you use Apple's Mail.app, Hawk Wings is a great site for tips and information.

Update: We seem to have taken down the Secrets website (oops!) but you can download the preference panel from a mirror (zip) (166kb).

Here's a clever utility from the creator of Quicksilver. Secrets (no, not the Van Halen song) is a preference pane that lets you fiddle with the hidden defaults of nearly all your applications. For instance, show the iPhoto toobar in full screen mode and make those iTunes arrows link to your library instead of the store.

There's a huge database available, and adding your own secret preferences is simple. Have fun!

[Via Daring Fireball]

This weekend, many instability issues associated with the iphoneinterface hacking tool (details to be found online at irc.osx86.hu #iphone) have been resolved. The big "your multigigabyte disk seems to disappear and be replaced by a few megabytes" bug has gone away and the software now supports both getfile and putfile (although, sadly, not removefile). This means that hackers have been able to unlock access to system files, retrieve them, alter them, and put them back. Read on for some of the biggest hacks developed over the weekend.

Ken Fisher at Ars Technica thinks something smells fishy about Steve Jobs's claims that licensing a DRM system will lead to its defeat. By comparing the security track records of iTunes's FairPlay and Microsoft's rival and heavily-licensed PlaysForSure, Ken might also have a good point. As history goes, FairPlay has been cracked four times (including Real's own hack for their store), while PlaysForSure has suffered only one true crack in its time. Perhaps more significant than either of these numbers, however, is that none of these DRM breaches were the result of secrets being shared from the inside; they apparently were all spearheaded by creatives from the community who might not hold digital rights management in the highest of regards.

Of course, the issue isn't nearly this cut and dry. The iTunes Store's 800-pound gorilla-like popularity can help explain its greater number of breaches (however: wouldn't one be more interested in cracking the store that offers unlimited music via subscription?). In the end, Ken settles on revisiting the possibility of licensing DRM. Since Jobs already let the 'get rid of DRM' cat out of the bag, however, I'm thinking the public isn't going to put the idea to rest anytime soon.

I earned my Mac chops fixing Apple computers in and out of warranty for an AASP in NYC and became intimately familiar with GSX (Apple's part-ordering and support system; née Service Source). I also learned a few tricks along the way--things that might be useful to the masses. Some of the things in my portable toolbox:

Apple's Black Stick
As Command-Tab reminds us today, Apple's technical support manuals consistently refer to this mysterious tool for performing tasks. It's available from Apple via their normal ordering channels for like $10 but you can easily find it for sale for a fraction of that cost. We always had a few of these lying around. A non-conducting and non-marring plastic tool can be a remarkably handy thing to have around when you're taking apart PowerBooks.

Why iMac Cases Used to be Translucent
Several years ago, I was working in the field on a slot-loading iMac. I don't recall exactly what I was doing, but probably replacing the modem (as there was a spate of modem failures). I had flipped the blue beasty upside-down and taken the bottom casing off to get to the logic board and modem assembly (it's connected to the I/O ports). While removing the modem assembly (or perhaps it was while removing the silver EMI shielding), I accidentally dropped a screw down inside the translucent casing. Oh crap! Anyone whose taken the slot-loading iMacs apart (like to get at the video analog board) knows that removing the top (colored) casing can be a royal pain-in-the-ass. I really didn't want to have to completely disassemble the iMac just to retrieve this screw. Damn! There must be an easier way! Fortunately, I typically carried with me in my bag, a package of those 10-12" long pull-ties for binding together cabling. I also carry with me in the winter months some chapstick. I put some chapstick on the end of one of the pull-ties and went fishing. 30 seconds and one still-assembled iMac later, I had my screw back. Heh.

Telescoping Magnet
I bought one of these after the above incident.

Your Best Friend, the Multi-bit Screwdriver
The absolute best compact screwdriver out there is actually made by Compaq for its technicians. I've had this driver for a really long time and its been a trusty companion with me on countless service calls. It comes with the Torx-8 driver for those screws that Apple seeed to use in almost every single machine they shipped between 1997 and 2004 (still are, for all I know).

Your Other Best Friend
I can't count high enough to count the number of times my Leatherman Wave multi-tool saved my rear while on site, from whittling down the plastic power buttons on the first slot-loading iMacs so they'd fit better into the molding so they machines wouldn't keep putting themselves to sleep, to the tool of last resort in deftly extracting a stuck Zip disk from a dying Zip drive, to carefully stripping a wire with the scissors tool.

Screw Kits
Self-explanatory. Keep with you a small bag of screws of many many different sizes, especially those used for securing hard drives or logic boards.

OK, techies, what tools, tips, or tricks do you have? Maybe you've rescued a HD from complete data loss by freezing it in zip-lock bag (I have, on several occasions), or maybe you've your own MacGyver tech support story.

Update: I've linked the picture to the Threadless.com T-Shirt shop. I couldn't remember where the image came from (it was among the many thousands I have squirreled away). Thanks for the info.