OS X Leopard news and tips from the Mac experts

Speedmark 6: Macworld Lab's new benchmark suite

James Galbraith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:01:00 -0800

The Macworld Lab has been hard at work tweaking Speedmark, our overall system performance testing tool, to better accommodate Snow Leopard and to test the Macs on which it runs.

Add more effects to Photo Booth and iChat

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0800

Learn how to add over 20 additional effects to photos taken in Photo Booth and iChat

Upgrade the Mac mini in six minutes

Dan Frakes — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:17:00 -0800

In this week's Macworld Video, Dan Frakes shows how easy it really is to upgrade the hard drive and RAM of Apple's Mac mini, completing the entire process, in a single take, in just under 6 minutes.

Five unexpected uses for the Control key

Sharon Zardetto — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:05:00 -0800

Sure, you’ve nearly worn out your Mac’s Control key using it to open contextual menus. But did you know you can also add Control to common key combinations to access different commands? Here are five of Sharon Zardetto's favorite Control key tricks.

Switchers Guide: Moving from Windows to the Mac

Harry McCracken — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

More and more people are switching from Windows PCs to the Mac. Harry McCracken explains what's involved in the move.

Four hints about Mail and Spaces

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:10:00 -0800

Four hints for the price of one ... learn how to easily switch between open windows of an app across Spaces, how to delete Mail messages without showing a preview of the next, and two tips for working with links in messages in 10.6's Mail app.

Review: 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs (Late 2009)

Roman Loyola — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:29:00 -0800

The Late 2009 iMacs are really about the new displays—and the displays are impressive.

iMac (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:37:00 -0800

Macworld Lab has the new iMacs and we’ve put them to the test.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac arrives

Rob Griffiths — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is shipping, including Aero support in Vista and Windows 7, a new Crystal mode for full Windows/Mac OS integration, OpenGL 2.1 acceleration in Windows and Linux, and more.

New DiskTool Pro update includes CPU meter, improved Snow Leopard support

Roman Loyola — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:00 -0800

Macware on Tuesday announced an update to DiskTools Pro, the company’s software utility for hard drive management.

Create pause-zoom-pause effects in iMovie stills

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:01:00 -0800

Learn how to show a still image for some time in your iMovie project, then zoom/crop/move that image, and then pause on the final image again before moving on.

Introducing Macworld's Total Snow Leopard Superguide

Jason Snell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:15:00 -0800

Macworld's new Total Snow Leopard is a one-stop guide for everything you want to know about using OS X.

Psystar begs judge to rule it's legit

Gregg Keizer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:46:00 -0800

Psystar, the Mac clone maker that's been battling Apple for more than a year in federal court has asked a judge to rule that its business is legitimate.

Mac mini (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has the Mac minis, and we put them through our benchmark tests. Our result show that the new Mac minis are impressively faster than the models they replace.

Delete networked files without caution dialog

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:43:00 -0700

Learn a timesaving (but potentially dangerous) method of deleting files stored on networked volumes without going through the Finder's "are you sure?" warning dialog.

Bugs & Fixes: Snow Leopard's Spelling Ignore button is ignored

Ted Landau — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:43:00 -0700

After upgrading to Snow Leopard, have you noticed that words continue to be flagged as potentially incorrect even after you've clicked the Ignore button in the Spelling Checker? Ted Landau gets to the root of the problem.

See icon previews in folder Quick Look windows

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:41:00 -0700

Learn how to see a rotating set of icon previews for files within folders in Quick Look mode - perhaps not terribly useful, but visually intriguing

Five unexpected uses for the Esc key

Sharon Zardetto — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:15:00 -0700

The Esc key has long been the “get me outta here” panacea for many things: canceling a dialog box, getting rid of a button-less splash screen, you name it. (Esc is, after all, short for "escape.") Here’s a handful of less-than-obvious solutions the Esc key provides.

Review: 13-inch MacBook/2.26GHz (Late 2009)

Jonathan Seff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:14:00 -0700

In bringing the unibody treatment to the white MacBook, Apple has added many pro features while removing FireWire and the infrared port.

Fake Google Chrome OS download makes the rounds

Ramu Nagappan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:12:00 -0700

A site purporting to offer a beta download of Google's forthcoming Chrome OS on Wednesday was revealed to be a hoax.

MacBook (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:05:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has received the new MacBook and has been hard at work, putting it to the test. And while we don’t have Speedmark 6 finalized just yet, we do have some MacBook benchmark results we’d like to share.

Two more Snow Leopard Expose tips

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:41:00 -0700

Learn how to change the Expose All Windows sort order, and how to control whether or not Expose searches across Spaces in Application Windows mode.

Review: ScreenFlow 2

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:30:00 -0700

ScreenFlow 2 adds transitions, audio ducking, clip playback speed adjustment, and more to the screen recording and editing suite.

First Look: VMware Fusion 3

Rob Griffiths — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:00:00 -0700

VMware Fusion3 brings better overall performance and a number of major new features to the virtualization app. Fusion now supports "Aero" 3D effects in Windows 7 and Vista, improves 3D graphics performance, and includes full Snow Leopard support.

Mac port of ZFS discontinued

Jeff Porten — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:33:00 -0700

The Apple-backed project to port Sun's ZFS filesystem to the Mac has been discontinued, leaving speculation about where OS X will go next.

The Macalope Weekly: 7 herbs and spices

The Macalope — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:10:00 -0700

The Macalope does combat with an old foe this week, then takes a gander at Microsoft's latest familiar-looking venture and Windows 7's missing ingredient.

Add notes to events and contacts created with data detectors

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:14:00 -0700

Data detectors in Mail in 10.5 and 10.6 can help you create new contacts and events from dates, addresses, and phone numbers. Learn how to automatically associate notes with these new entries.

Bugs & Fixes: Font duplicate misadventures

Ted Landau — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:40:00 -0700

After upgrading to Snow Leopard, Ted Landau was surprised to find 16 duplicate font warnings. And it took some effort to resolve the matter.

Multiple-Clipboard utilities (and why you should use one)

Dan Frakes — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

In this week’s Macworld video, Dan Frakes takes a look at three of his favorite utilities for gaining multiple Clipboards, in the process showing you how they can improve your productivity.

Psystar selling software to run Snow Leopard on generic hardware

Nicholas Bonsack — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:53:00 -0700

Psystar has released a product called Rebel EFI, which lets users install Snow Leopard on generic PC hardware.

Apple releases server diagnostic tool for Snow Leopard

Philip Michaels — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:49:00 -0700

Apple Server Diagnostics 3X106 will test servers running Mac OS X Server 10.6 for hardware issues.

Mac News Briefs: Chronos rolls out version 8 of SOHO Notes, Organizer

Macworld Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:18:00 -0700

Both the notes management and information organization applications from Chronos feature a slew of new features. Also, Sente announced a new version of its self-titled academic reference manager, while NetNewsWire, Delicious Library, Twitterrific, and Snowtape all saw minor updates.

Apple applies for patent on OS with embedded advertising

Jeff Porten — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Among Apple's many recent patent applications is this one, in which the computer company envisions a future where your very operating system may be supported by ads.

Ballmer headlines global Windows 7 launch events

Marc Ferranti — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:55:00 -0700

Steve Ballmer took the stage in New York Thursday, taking on the role of chief salesman in a day of worldwide launch events.

Find recently-used apps and documents in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:45:00 -0700

In Snow Leopard, you can use the Recent Items menu to help you quickly find where you saved a recently-used document (or application).

MacMiniColo.net looks at the Mac mini server

Jeff Porten — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:35:00 -0700

The new Mac mini server configuration gets the hairy eyeball from the folks at MacMiniColo.net, the experts in Mac mini co-location.

First Look: New iMacs (Fall 2009)

Roman Loyola — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:34:00 -0700

The new iMacs introduce the most drastic changes to Apple’s all-in-one aluminum design since the metal iMac was introduced a little over two years ago.

Two ways to download software updates in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:29:00 -0700

Snow Leopard removed a useful 'download only' option from Software Update. Learn two ways to replace that lost functionality.

Move Finder items more efficiently

Christopher Breen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:22:00 -0700

There must be easier ways to move items from place to place on your Mac. I provide a few and then solicit your ideas.

The Macalope Weekly: You should see the other guy

The Macalope — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Will Apple pick up marketshare from Windows 7's release or not? Either way, expect to see them dish out a whole new bowl of dings at Microsoft's expense. And Michael Dell says something sensible—The Macalope is shocked!

See which processes are using the Internet

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:11:00 -0700

Use Terminal to see which processes are using your Internet connection

Bugs & Fixes: Solving Safari cookie problems

Ted Landau — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:36:00 -0700

Sometimes, solving a cookie-related problem requires more than just deleting cookies from Safari, as Ted Landau details in this week's Bugs & Fixes column.

Review: Mac OS X 10.6 Server

John C. Welch — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

With the significant price cut, new features, and improvements to existing features, Mac OS X 10.6 Server is a solid product. For an all or mostly-Mac network, this isn’t an "if" upgrade, but a "when," especially if you have iPhone users clamoring for push services.

Switch between app windows in different Spaces

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:20:00 -0700

Learn another method of switching between application windows for one program, when those windows are open in multiple Spaces

Performance Update fixes a hard drive stalling issue

Rob Griffiths — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:50:00 -0700

Performance Update 1.0, released Wednesday, fixes a problem with hard drives stalling in 2009 and late 2008 Macs.

Psystar attorney clarifies company's argument

Dan Moren — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:31:00 -0700

Tim Nyberg of Camara & Sibley, Psystar's law firm, clarified the company's position in its recent motion for summary judgment.

Inside Snow Leopard's Guest account data loss bug

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:37:00 -0700

Learn about a rare but possibly painful data loss bug involving Snow Leopard and Guest accounts.

Psystar, Apple file for summary judgments

Dan Moren — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:14:00 -0700

Both Psystar and Apple have filed for summary judgments in their legal dispute, which could prevent the case from going to trial.

Create Mail accounts manually in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:36:00 -0700

Learn how to bypass Snow Leopard's automatic Mail account setup feature.

Review: CodeWeavers CrossOver Mac Pro 8

John Brandon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

CrossOver Mac Pro 8.0 is an application that runs a virtual environment so you can run Windows applications on your Mac.