Filed under: Airport, Widget Watch
iStat Pro 3.3 widget brings temp and fan readings for Intel Macs and more
The feature-packed iStat Pro Dashboard widget is a reigning favorite here at TUAW, and its recent v3.3 update has heralded some handy new features. First, it now includes (though prompts you to install upon first run) a new module that can read the temperature and fan speeds of Intel Macs. That's right - SpeedIt-be-gone. The other nice enhancement is an active AirPort signal quality meter - the AirPort icon in iStat Pro's network section will now dynamically display a quality meter based on the network you're connected to. Of course, for the record, other bugs and "various minor improvements" made this new version, and it's available either by running the widget (it auto-checks for updates by default), or by heading over to iSlayer.com.
You want to figure out if an application is Universal, but you're not sure how to do it? There is a very simple easy way to find out. Simply select the icon of the application you're curious about and either right click and select 'Get Info' or hit Command + i. Either one will get you to the info window about the application you selected.
Finally, another tip for all you folks out there that are using Universal apps on Intel Macs that use plugins which aren't Universal. Assuming you still have the Info window open you should see this 'Open using Rosetta' check box (pictured to the left). This forces a Universal apps to use its PowerPC native codebase (in Rosetta) thereby letting you use your older plugins. Note that this option is only available for Universal applications.
Now that most Macs come with a remote, don't you wish you could do a little bit more with it? Now you can, thanks to 
Everyone is worried about the heat issues with the new Intel Macs (mostly the portables, but I bet someone out there thinks their iMac gets a little too hot). Now you can compare your MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac's temperature to other people's machines thanks to the 
Your new MacBook Pro runs a little hot, but how hot is it? 
The first thing I do when I get a new Mac (or a new PC for that matter) is wipe out the hard drive, make two
partitions, and do a fresh install on one of the partitions. I then store all my data on the other partition, just in
case I ever need to reinstall the OS (is this a fool proof way to back up your data? Not by a long shot, since your
data and the OS might be on different partitions but those partitions are still sitting on the same disk).
With the
release of new Intel Macs yesterday, the people who manage labs and classrooms full of Macs started asking
questions.
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