color-shifting
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Toshiba Dynabook Qosmio T750 laptop has a lid that changes color on both sides
It's been a long time since we used a laptop that had a monochromatic display -- it was a giant white block of a thing that is not missed -- but flip around just about every laptop we use today and you find a backside that stubbornly refuses to change color no matter the light that hits it. Is that a problem? Not really, we think it's quite fine since we're not often staring at that bit, but for Toshiba such tedium simply won't do, so it's introducing the Dynabook Qosmio T750 with a color-shifting lid. Turn it in the light and it shifts and shimmers, just like the chameleon paint tuners have been using on custom rides for decades. Here, though, we're told it's done with multiple layers of film, no paint at all. Oh, the inside? A 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB of DDR 3 memory, and a 15.6-inch, 1366 x 768 display that's LED backlit -- which is also capable of displaying multiple colors, in case you're interested.
Fixscreen: AppleScript to fix Fast User Switching Color Bug
Well over a month ago, I reported on the color profile problems I was experiencing on my new iMac. Basically, whenever I enabled fast user switching and actually switched between accounts, my color profile would change off of the nicely calibrated settings to some odd profile that wasn't even in the color profile list with no way of switching back short of restarting the machine. Several readers pointed to a makeshift solution posted over at Mac OS X Hints, which involved launching the Terminal and running DMProxy, a file located along this long path:/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/\ Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/DMProxy This solution works, as I finally bothered to try it today (bonus question: over a month later divided by C.K.'s laziness equals how many days of lost productivity rebooting the machine?), and I even went the extra mile and made it into a nice little AppleScript Application called, simply, fixscreen (ctrl click this link and save to disk). All this script does is launch DMProxy, which fixes the color shift bug that occurs when fast user switching, and then it displays a dialog that reads: "Done!" I have it sitting in my Dock ready to run whenever I need it. I hope you find it useful.ps—Why hasn't Apple fixed this annoying little bug yet? From all reports it's been lurking around since at least 10.4.1 and anyone who tries to submit a bug report about it receives a "Known Issue" notification.
