I wholeheartedly agree with Dave Golden that syncing in Tiger is a step back from what it once was in Panther.
Before, if I wanted to sync my PowerBook with my phone and .Mac, it was a one-shot deal. Click on the iSync icon in the menu bar, tell it to “Sync Now,” and it was done. When that finished, it was a simple matter to switch over to the Cube to sync it and my iPod with what had just been uploaded to my .Mac account.
This has now become a two-step process on the PowerBook, which runs Tiger, while it remains the easy one-shot on the Cube, which still runs Panther. (The reason for the latter still running the older operating system is that with a HP d145 OfficeJet all-in-one printer in the house, it would be nice to have at least one Mac that can print. Where are those drivers, HP?)
The iSync button in the menu bar now only runs the sync to .Mac. To get changes to sync to my T616, I have to manually launch the iSync application, and tell it to sync with the phone. Can we please fix this in 10.4.2?
Tag: Mac
The June issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available, and apparently Rob was in a rhyming mood when he wrote the Welcome.
Ellyn looks at the advantage of age, through the eyes of a sport I have recently rediscovered as a favorite. Amongst myriad other happenings, Wes covers the release of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (there’s a mouthful) in this month’s marathon Bloggable. Our Reviews Editor, Paul Fatula, takes his turn with the Pod People column, doting on his first-generation iPod. We’re looking for writers who wish to contribute to the Pod People column, so if you’re interested, [drop me a line](mailto:cturner@atpm.com?subject=Pod People column).
Ted discusses outlining and styles in this month’s ATPO, while Scott Chitwood, of ResExcellence fame, looks at skinning your OS X interface with Appearance Themes. David Blumenstein delivers another thought-provoking column, as he ponders the possibilities presented by the Mac Mini. No, I cannot bring myself to not capitalize the second word, at least on my own blog. Tom Bridge presents readers with an overview of the new features in Tiger.
Lee has a good how-to column on getting widescreen output in iDVD 5, or at least as close as you can come. Sylvester delivers a Tiger installation instruction manual for those who haven’t gone through the upgrade process yet.
Cortland proves he knows where his towel is, while leaping the hurdles of the design world. College student Dan Klein was gracious in providing photos from Moraine State Park for this month’s desktop pictures section. Frisky Freeware discusses Apple Jack, a utility that has piqued my curiosity.
Eric lays out the goods on the AppleScript Missing Manual, Michael provides yet another keyboard review, this time with the iceKey, and Frank H. Wu offers his review of the iLugger, designed for you to tote your iMac G5 around the town. Eric reviews a staff-favorite, the news reader NetNewsWire, while Lee shows that Shoebox Pro isn’t quite deserving of the professional moniker just yet. Marcus J. Albers wraps up this month’s reviews section with his take on Unreal Tournament 2004.
I want to thank the staff and all of our writers. This month’s issue is solid and well packed, and you should all be proud.
I have noticed that Safari 2 likes to launch and not remember where its last window position was. I like my application windows to “stick” to the bottom of the menu bar, and Safari was launching with it quite a few pixels south. Damien and I discussed the issue via instant messages, as he was noting the same issue. Turns out the problem is with Safari’s plist preference file, and the good Mr. Barrett has the gory details.
Because that so-and-so Tom publicly foisted this meme upon me, and Michael tagged me, too, here goes:
Total size of music files on my computer: Tunaphisch is loaded with 25.72 GB of music, exactly 5,000 songs at the moment. Only one of those is a purchase from the iTunes Music Store, and “purchase” may be stretching it, since I redeemed a Pepsi cap to get the song.
Last CD I Bought: Where Angels Fear to Tread by Matt Redman. Most people know Matt’s work from the worship hit “Blessed Be Your Name,” and this is the album it’s on.
Song playing in iTunes: “Come Down
” from the Vineyard Music album Just Like Heaven, the second-to-last CD I bought.
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: There are a lot of songs that I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me, so here’s what you could call the current batch of such songs, and since I couldn’t decide which one to give up, you get six.
“Callin’ Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks – it’s not often a song contains the name of your hometown, and it was while at LSU I met my wife.
“Love of a Lifetime
” by Firehouse – the song we danced to at our wedding. I wish the slower acoustic version had been available then.
“May Your Wonders Never Cease
” by Third Day – this song became incredibly important to me when our son was born, nine weeks early, and he spent the first seven weeks of his life in the hospital. Today, you would never know our toddler was a preemie, and God’s wonders do indeed never cease.
“Barely Stay Inside of My Own Skin” by Ceili Rain – like the song says, “Can’t believe the life I get to live.” Despite being unemployed, despite all of the other bad things that have happened to my family over the past two years, I still have a really great life. This is a great pick-me-up song.
“Be Unto Your Name
” by Robin Mark – this is one of my favorite worship songs, and I come back to it again and again.
“A Living Prayer
” by Alison Krauss & Union Station – I saw them perform this on Leno during the Christmas 2004 season, and Ms. Krauss’ vocals cut right to the bone.
The five victims I’m cursing with this meme:
Since Michael stole the bulk of the ATPM bloggers, and most of the other bloggers with whom I am friends have already gone through this torture, here’s my hit list.
Wes Meltzer, because he needs to blog about something other than interning at Popular Mechanics.
Jim Riggs, because he always has something I like, but may not know about.
Brian Borden, because the SuperToad needs to blog about something other than politics.
Tiffany Baxendell, because Tom foisted it on me, babe, so you get to suffer, too. (And I like what Tiff has previously recommended.)
Damien Barrett, because while we don’t always agree on things, he’s a good guy to hang out with, and he gave me my Newton 2100.
Two new Dashboard widgets in service tonight:
Courtesy of Erik, the Gun Self Defense Counter, which uses a formula developed by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz of Northwestern University to show how many times in a calendar year firearms are used to save lives.
The other Michael I call friend IM’ed me about the SysStat widget, which is now in use, replacing MemoryStick. If the developers at iSlayer are feeling adventurous, I’d love a field that would show the front-most application’s (sans Dashboard) memory usage, a la MemoryCell.
If you spend too much time organizing your stuff or just can’t find it, you need to take a close look at Tiger. There’s a real experiential difference. What’s missing? Not much. I’d like to see more RSS support so I can better read and search off-line, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Microsoft add Spotlight support for Entourage. Otherwise, this operating system is near nirvana for productivity.
There’s no doubt that a lot of similar concepts will be included in the next version of Windows. But Longhorn won’t be here for at least 18 months. It will be interesting to see what Apple has for us by then.
So rather than futz around with having to mail in a rebate form by ordering from Amazon, I ordered my copy of Mac OS X Tiger from OWC. Having done business with them in the past, I have always been pleased with their level of customer service, and their prices are always competitive.
OWC sent out an e-mail last week to its customers explaining they were having issues getting stock of the new operating system, and would ship orders on a first-come, first-serve basis. Some orders might not ship until May 5th. Fair enough.
Please note I’m not upset with OWC here. I’m a wee bit ticked at Apple and/or Ingram Micro (or whichever distributor is responsible) for leaving out the smaller vendors in getting the stock they need, especially in light of MacMall having received and shipped Tiger to customers days in advance of the official release.
I realized my savings of $30 by ordering from OWC would likely mean I wouldn’t see the new OS until today. But at this rate it’s going to be next week. Live and learn…
John Gruber notes that the Microsoft fonts typically associated with and installed with Internet Explorer are still present in Mac OS X Tiger. Good news for web designers, and all those who appreciate a good font; Verdana and Georgia are among my favorites in their respective categories. Verdana is my default web and e-mail reading font, and I generally use Georgia for all of my styled text editing. As a matter of fact, it’s the font my resume is set in.
The May issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure.
Ellyn discusses generic vs brand-name, and though she never states it–and maybe I’m just reading my own bias in to it–I’m sure there’s a Mac vs PC thing in there as well. Wes’s romp around the Mac blogosphere covers Photoshopped Apple products, how more Unix-heads are turning to OS X, stupid accessory manufacturers offering cash for someone to write a Mac virus, Apple plagiarizing CSS tutorials, and oh so much more. Paul’s roaming through the ether reveals a solar-powered van, the excitement of watching lard via the web, the dumbest girl in on the planet (she’s riding through Chernobyl’s radiated zone), finding out just what the file extension’s application is, and where to find a place to get a cup of coffee other than Starbucks.
Tom Bridge checks in with this month’s Pod People, and for that, we are grateful. David Blumenstein looks at how he has turned the Apple Store SOHO in to his own private office. Matthew Glidden, though tempted by the Mac Mini, decides to upgrade his Cube instead. (Ah, another kept within the brotherhood!)
Cortland notes the Adobe-Macromedia “merger”, reader Bill Jastram shares photos he and his wife took in the Canadian Rockies, and Frisky Freeware takes the plunge with Cyberduck.
Chris Lawson continues his impressive slate of product reviews with Kensington’s Expert Mouse 7.0, the Keynamics Laptop Stand, and the latest 15-inch PowerBook G4. Wes puts MacJournal through its paces, Paul shares his thoughts on Mind Hacks, and yours truly reviews the TransPod FM.
As usual, the issue is available in a variety of formats for your reading pleasure.
Jeff Harrell has a good article on things to keep in mind when using Mac OS X Tiger’s new Spotlight.