macOS

Where I found Firefox to be a capable Web browser, and OmniWeb good enough to make me comfortable abandoning Safari, Opera was an exercise in pain. In fact, I was forced to break self-imposed rule number 3, No launching Safari “just to check this one page.” Living in a single browser is non-negotiable, more than…

If you arenit familiar iPhotois keywords, my last Quick Tip will help to get you up to speed. The Keyword Assistant menu in iPhoto

Michael Tsai announced on Monday that his SpamSieve software has been updated to version 2.6. The new version has significant enhancements: SpamSieve now works with Mozilla Thunderbird. Improved detection of image spams and phishing messages. Made various message analysis improvements to increase the accuracy of the Bayesian filter. AppleScripting the whitelist and blocklist is much…

Last week I used only Firefox, and this week, itis OmniWeb. Next week is Opera, and thanks to the overwhelming number or requests for Camino, thatis now on my list, too. Week 2: OmniWeb 5.5.4 OmniWeb from The Omni Group is about the only Web browser for the Mac that you have to pay for.…

AirPort Extreme Update 2007-002 is free and available through the Software Update application, or as a standalone installer from the Apple Support Web site.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Mr. Oppenheimer commented “We really have simplified the installation process in such a way we donit think itis a deterrent to sales.” Mac OS X 10.5, due sometime this spring, will likely help boost Appleis bottom line. Typically, Mac software sales slow leading up to…

Iive already written reviews for Firefox and OmniWeb, but testing, poking and prodding a browser for a review is one thing. Relying on it as your only interface to the Internet is something else entirely. To that end, I decided to totally immerse myself in several alternatives to Safari just to see how they really…

There is also way too much to cover in a simple column.? Last week I taught a two hour iPhoto class for beginners and had a 15 page handout.? I canit put all that in a column!? Besides, there are commercial books by respected authors that do a better job than I can do.? My…

First, a little back story on network ports. Network ports are a kind of virtual port that different types of data travel through. The data that passes through your firewall is assigned to a specific port, and each port has a unique number. For example, Web-based data, like the information that tells your Web browser…

Bob LeVitus has written an e-book that contains everything one needs to know about data backup on a Macintosh. “Dr. Mac” described, in a story at The Chronicle Tuesday how it all got started and whatis contained in his book “Dr. Macis Guide to Backing Up Your Mac.” The on-line version is free to view…

IBM claims the new system frees companies from “vendor lock-in” and steep Microsoft licensing fees by offering collaborative open source-based applications that work cross platform with little or no modification. Scott Handy, IBMis vice president, Worldwide Linux and Open Source, commented “Our goal is to provide a flexible open client platform that minimizes customer investment…

First, you have to assign labels to your files and folders. To do this, just Control-click or Right-click an item, and then choose the appropriate color from the contextual menu. You can assign labels from contextual menus.

Tracking the books in your library, whether for pleasure or work, is much easier when you have an application that can help you do that efficiently and easily. Thatis exactly what Bookpedia from Bruji does. Bookpedia works almost exactly like its sibling application, DVDpedia, but instead of tracking your movie collection, this app tracks your…

Address Book Dates is a plug-in for Address Book that enhances the birthday field by adding age, zodiac and Chinese zodiac signs, and can take you to associated birthday dates in iCal. It also improves the anniversary field and any other custom date field you create by adding a Time since listing that shows how…

A programmer who said heid written a flaming truckload of C# and .NET code attended an Apple Leopard Tech Talk in New York. He saw some things that were lacking, but also saw things that seemed years ahead of Microsoft offerings. He described his experience at the .NET Addict Blog on Friday. The author went…

IMSafer announced the immediate availability of IMSafer for Mac OS X Tiger on Wednesday. IMSafer is a parental control program for IM that enforces Web filtering, time management and program restrictions. IMSafer stated that there was overwhelming demand for the Mac OS X port. The Mac version supports all of the major IM platforms: Yahoo!,…

Microsoftis Windows-only Web browser is still clearly the dominant player, but the steadily decreasing numbers indicate that not everyone is happy to use the application. It started the year at 85.31 percent. In January 2005, however, it held 89.44 percent of the market. In comparison, Appleis Mac-only Safari climbed from 3 percent in January up…

This very problem came up just a few days ago when I was trouble shooting some font issues with The Graphic Reporteris Lesa Snider. In this case, we were looking at an email that read like R2-D2 speaks. This text is supposed to be in English.

The list starts in 1976 with a classic application called Electric Pencil, and MacWrite and MacPaint show up in 1984 – the same year the Mac was released. 1985 saw the release of Excel for the Mac, as well as Aldus PageMaker. PageMaker was instrumental in launching the desktop publishing revolution. Eventually it was purchased…

Once the beta test phase for the update to Parallels Desktop is completed, it will be released for free to all Parallels Desktop users. You can download the beta update at the Parallels Web site.

Point your mouse at the Apple menu…

Control-click or right-click the file or folder you want to compress. Choose Create Archive of from the pop-up contextual menu. Tigeris built-in Zip feature.

. One of DragThingis spiffy new looks.