If there's one thing you've probably learned over the years from reading TUAW, it's that backups are important. Many of the bloggers here are obsessive about backups, doing Time Machine backups, SuperDuper! bootable backups, and using services like BackBlaze for offsite backups -- and that's all for one Mac!

With the importance of viable and easy-to-create backups for your Mac, it's not surprising that Belgium development firm Dare to be Creative has just announced a new backup utility, Parachute [US$39.00]. The application is Snow Leopard-ready, and can be used to back up your Mac's data to your primary hard disk (definitely not recommended by our team), external disks, FTP or SFTP servers, USB drives, network volumes, and even your iDisk.

Parachute has many features that are found on other backup utilities. For example, you can schedule backups to run hourly, daily, weekly, or manually. The application also does incremental backups after the initial full backup, so subsequent backups take much less time. There is one feature that does appear to be unique to Parachute, and that's the ability to create multiple backup tasks for different files and folders on your Mac, and use a variety of destinations for each task.

There's a 15-day full-functioning trial available for download here. While you are in your tryptophan-induced coma after tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day feast, you can set up some Parachute backups and rest assured that your data is safe.

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]

Psystar, that pesky little thorn in Apple's side, has released Rebel EFI. According to Psystar, the app, available for $49.99 through the company's site, "allows for the easy installation of multiple operating systems," including Mac OS X, on a vanilla PC. Besides bypassing EFI requirements, Rebel EFI can also detect for Mac OS X compatible and incompatible hardware, and automatically download appropriate drivers. Skeptical? No worries: the app is free to try (as an ISO download), with a two hour time limit.

To each their own, and if running Mac OS X on non-Apple specified hardware floats your boat, then you should also be aware of the risks involved. In other words, back up your data if you are attempting such a thing. Second, and more importantly, there's the issue of licensing: Apple prohibits the installation of Mac OS X on non Apple-branded machines.

Psystar giveth and Psystar must also taketh. One wonders how Psystar will react when people illegally use Rebel EFI, just like Psystar is allegedly misusing Mac OS X, as pirated versions inevitably circulate around the Interwebs.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[via The Loop]

Security System News is reporting today on the US Army's decision to use Mac OS X and Apple servers to run four video surveillance systems. When reliability and security are paramount, says Chris Gettings, Mac OS X is the choice. Chris is the CEO and president of video management software manufacturer VideoNEXT.

"You're not going to have some of the memory-leak issues that seem to plague different versions of the Windows systems," he says. "And mission-critical customers appreciate that."

Additionally, Mr. Pat Mercer, who has actually installed Mac-based systems for "...[a] large government entity" notes that low bandwidth, security and reliability are what those IT departments demand. "That's where the Mac conversation begins," he notes.

This isn't the first time we've seen the US Military using Apple products. In May we saw a story of soldiers using the iPod touch as an in-the-field translator. In December of '07, we published a post about more wide spread military adoption of Apple hardware and software. Of course, we can't forget the life-saving iPod.

[Via AppleInsider]

In the last few days, two builds of Mac OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard have been seeded to the Mac developer community. The latest build, 10C591F, is 456.8 MB in size and adds about a dozen changes to the fifty or so tweaks in the prior build.

Apple has asked developers to test nearly 150 specific areas in order to make the new version of Snow Leopard as clean as possible. Known issues that are outstanding and have yet to be addressed include Core Data output, video corruption, and occasional hangs within System Preferences.

With another release of Snow Leopard pending, I thought we could have a little fun with a poll. Given that it took 88 days for 10.5.2 to hit Software Update after the initial release of Leopard, it may be too soon for another Snow Leopard cub to show up (November 24th would be 88 days). Of course, the past isn't any indication of future Apple OS release dates, so your guess is going to be as good as mine. If we don't have a date range listed that's you think is plausible, let us know what your guess is in the comments.

The more we use Snow Leopard the more niceties we uncover. This week I found a simple little check box that has made my life infinitely more awesome. Yes, my entire life.

First, a bit of background. When Mac OS 10.0 was released in September of 2001, we all went crazy with the genie effect, watching windows slip in and out of the newly-introduced Dock with silky smoothness.* Window after window slid into place.

The problem was this: minimized windows moved neighboring icons aside, making everything a bit smaller and harder to identify. Eventually the whole mess became unusable. Sure, you could mouse over or check the identifying icon but ancient eyes like mine aren't meant for such strain.

Snow Leopard has come to the rescue. Now you can minimize windows "behind" their parent app's icon. Here's how. First. launch System Preferences and click "Dock." Then, select "Minimize windows into application icon." As Jeff Goldblum said, "There's no step three." Now, minimized windows scoot behind your Dock icons and there's no more crowding.

*OK, jaggy, halting smoothness. Still, it was cool. Mostly.

There's a great post at creativebits today listing some basic troubleshooting techniques. I like it because it lists some simple tasks that anyone can perform. Some of the tried-and-true techniques include:

• Restarting
• Quitting unused apps
• Installing updates
• Re-installing a misbehaving app

Back when I was a part of an IT team, we always checked the simplest solution first. Printer isn't recognized? Is it plugged in? How about turned on? You may laugh, but ruling out the easy answers makes things clearer and it often solves the problem. There are many more tips at creativebits so read the whole post.

It's true that the Mac OS still has its problems, but least we've moved beyond the Extension Conflict Hell that plagued many pre-OS X users. Or my other favorite, The Chooser. "That port is in use ...."

Good times.

It's not often that I get to write such a delightfully alliterative title to a post. Philipp Mayerhofer, C.O.O. of Dare to be Creative, sent along a note this morning mentioning that his company's file renaming powerhouse had not only been renamed, but that it has a whole slew of new features.

The application formerly known as Renamer4Mac is now simply called Renamer (US$29.00), and there's a new website at renamer.com to showcase the app. What does it do? (Hint: the name should tell you a lot) Well, Renamer is a bulk file renamer. When would you use a bulk file renamer? Here's an example -- often, I bring over a pile of photos from my iPhone 3GS using Image Capture, and I save them to a folder on my desktop. They all have really exciting names like IMG_0771.jpg, IMG_0772.jpg, ad infinitum. Read on for more information about Renamer.

It's a common theory that Apple is a "hardware company" not a "software company." What does that mean? Doesn't it actually sell both?

The idea is that Apple uses software to push more hardware sales. If Apple was a software company, you wouldn't see the fantastic and very useful iLife bundle of applications included for free on every new Mac, including the el-cheapo Mini. Instead, they might decide to charge $99 for it, or worse, break it up into pieces and distribute it as separate packages, each with its own price.

Snow Leopard's price also seems to support this theory, especially when contrasted to Microsoft's pricing model. Any "dot-oh" operating system upgrade priced at $29 is simply amazing. And given the fact that you can upgrade a whole home or small office full of Macs for less than the price of an Xbox 360 game...well, that's just a special kind of awesome. The main OS competitor, however, has graciously offered its upgrade, similar in "just fixing stuff and making it run better" nature to Apple's update, at the low, low price of $129. Ouch! At least you can save a substantial amount by buying Microsoft's family pack at a tick under 150 bucks, but that discount will only get you three copies instead of Apple's five. And it's still three times the price of Snow Leopard's bundle!

But I realized something interesting about the whole "hardware company vs. software company" argument. As a Mac convert, I've noticed that I think quite a bit less about the hardware than I do the software. In the PC world I still live in, we talk about processor benchmarks, motherboard options, frontside bus speeds, and other Ambien replacements. However, when I talk Mac, I'm often concerned much more with the software it's running, what OS version is installed, and where I can find a free app to do what I need.

I received a private tweet from a reader the other day, who asked a question about a previous post in which I had installed Windows 7 RC1 on a Mac using Sun's VirtualBox. The tweet asked, "You did a post about installing Win 7 on the Mac for free. How about Linux?," which set up a challenge. Not only can you install Linux distributions on a Mac using VirtualBox, but it's extremely easy to do.

Why would you want to run Linux on a Mac? There are probably a few good reasons -- learning about a different OS, using software that's not available on the Mac platform, or for a Linux class in school. While you can create a bootable partition on your Mac and boot Linux from it, I prefer to do things the lazy way. In this short how-to post, I'll demonstrate how I installed Ubuntu Linux 9.04, also known as "Jaunty Jackalope."

When I was a kid my neighbor had an enormous St. Bernard dog named Caesar. It lived in a grungy dog house in their back yard. Caesar's hobbies included barking incessantly. In fact, that was all he ever did. All day and all night that furry, drooling monstrosity barked. LIke a canine jackhammer to the face.

Caesar wasn't half as annoying as Psystar.

To keep a ridiculous story short: Psystar sells its own computers capable of running Mac OS X. The back-and-forth battle between Psystar and Apple has done almost nothing to dissuade the clone maker, and this week it's gone to a whole new level.

Psystar has moved to sue Apple over the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. In short, Psystar wants an injunction and damages due to Apple's "...anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers." That's right, in some wacky attempt to turn a profit, Apple has released a proprietary OS meant to run on its proprietary hardware.

They claim that their method of running Snow Leopard is different than Apple's method, and if they buy copies of the OS and install them on machines which they then re-sell, then everything should be OK. I support Psystar's right to capitalist goodness, but their stubborn adherence to a lost cause is annoying.

Like Caesar.

If you're a relative newcomer to the Mac (read: halo switchers inspired by iPod/iPhone) then chances are pretty good that you and OS X (Oh-Ess Ten) don't have a very long history together. In fact, switchers who were enticed by the iPod/iTunes ecosystem would likely not have any experience with the Mac prior to 2003.

That being the case, and given the ramp up to the release of Snow Leopard this Friday, it might be a worthy use of time to check out TwistedMac's overview of OS X. It starts with the Public Beta of OS X that was released in September of 2000 and flies all the way through to the current, latest release of OS X, 10.5 Leopard.

A brief description and screenshots galore provide ample coverage for many of the features and nuances of each release over the years. If you have only been using a Mac in this millennium you will find this overview quite interesting and informative. Even if you've been on the Mac since the OS 9 days, it is still entertaining to see how far OS X has come in the past 9 years.

As a relative Mac newbie, I will open myself up to public flogging and admit to the fact that my earliest experiences with Mac OS were in the 10.3 Panther days. Truth be told, I didn't even switch until after 10.4 Tiger was released. Now, however, I'm going to hide out until tomorrow morning when I can purchase 10.6 Snow Leopard while the rest of you give up the goods as to when you joined the team.

Tip of the hat to Evan H. for sending this in!

Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of tips for new and novice Mac users.

The Dock was introduced with Mac OS 10.0 in March of 2001. Switchers typically think of it as equivalent to the Windows Task Bar, and that's not an unfounded comparison. Both can launch applications, open directories and share information. But the Dock differs from the Task Bar in a number of ways. If you're new to the Mac, this post will get you acquainted with one of Mac OS X's prominent features.

First, let's look at the Dock's preference pane. Launch System Preferences and click (wait for it) Dock. Here, two sliders let you adjust the Dock's size and magnification level. That is to say, the degree to which docked icons "expand" as you mouse over them. They can get pretty darn large, so be sure that's what you want before dragging that slider all the way to the right.

You'll notice that you can adjust the Dock's position on the screen. The position of the Dock is the subject of great debate among Mac nerds, but I'll spare you the details by saying this: Some like it on the bottom, some like it on the left and some like it on the right. If you're running 10.5 or later, you'll notice that the Dock's appearance changes dramatically when moved from the bottom to the sides.

The so-called "Genie Effect" lets your windows appear to be rapidly "sucked" into the Dock when you click the yellow minimize button. That's strictly for looks, and you can disable it by selecting "Scale." If you're running an older Mac (like a PPC G4), selecting Scale will slightly reduce the graphics burden on your older machine. Fun tip: Hold down the Shift key while minimizing a window for some slow-mo action.

TUAW receives a lot of app submissions for review, both for Mac and iPhone. But it's unusual when a developer sends us individual press releases for a relatively large number of apps.

Steven Degutis is the brain behind a company called Thoughtful Tree. In his words, "I'm an indie Mac developer who writes apps that make my job easier and smoother, and then if I think they're useful enough, I share them with everyone via my company Thoughtful Tree Software. That's just how I roll."

We're eagerly awaiting Snow Leopard at the TUAW offices, and we're not alone. It's currently the number 1 pre-order item at Amazon. While there's no official release date available, Amazon notes that Snow Leopard can be expected "...sometime in September."

What's interesting is that Apple's $29US release will be issued only a month before Microsoft's Windows 7 (in fact, reader Chris Tebb points out that many Amazon users checking out Snow Leopard go on to buy Win 7). Microsoft hopes to dig itself out of the hole created by public reaction to Vista, while Apple is giving Mac OS X Leopard a shine. For more on Snow Leopard, check out the official page and our own continuing coverage.

[Via MacDailyNews]