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Use SSH scripts to share Safari tabs between two Macs
Our own Brett Terpstra developed two SSH scripts that let you share Safari browser tabs between multiple Macs. This method is perfect for those Mac users with an iMac or a Mac Pro as their main work machine and a Mac laptop as a secondary machine for checking email, instant messaging or light browsing. You know the scenario - an email with your updated project timetable lands in your inbox which is running on your MacBook. You open it in a tab and want to send it your Mac Pro where you have been immersed in work-related research all morning. This pair of tab-sharing scripts lets you do just that. The scripts run over SSH to pull the browser tabs from the front Safari window on one machine to another when the two Macs are on the same network. The scripts can be run remotely, but there are not too many scenarios that prompt you to sync tabs from your home computer while you are working remotely. The procedure requires you to setup keyless SSH between the Macs and to modify or create a ~/.ssh/config file on each machine that will receive the tabs. You also have to setup a remotetabs.rb script on the machine that is the source of the browser tabs and the getremotetabs.rb on the recipient machine. If SSH files and config files pique your interest, then point your browser here for all the nitty-gritty details. What are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves, flex your scripting skills and start sharing Safari tabs back and forth between your Macs.
Sleipnir Mobile browser 1.0 for iPhone released
Here's an intriguing browser for the iPhone coming out of Japan just in time for Christmas. It comes to us courtesy of Fenrir Inc, the same company who brought us the Sleipnir browser for the Mac Windows which is currently on version 2.96 with 3.0 in development. Billed as a "web browser with highly functional tab features," Sleipnir Mobile's tabbed browsing features a couple of fun characteristics. The "Flick Wipe" function allows users to very simply flick a tab (located along the bottom, not on top) off screen by pushing it down out of view. The browser's "Hold & Go" feature lets you touch and hold a link to open it up in the background. A representative with the company tells us that these are the browser's strong points that differentiate it from Safari and Opera. Of course, we don't expect Sleipnir to make any stunning grab of market share, but it's always pleasing to see more options for consumers. A homegrown choice will likely find at least a little support among Japanese users. For a clearer idea of how these tabbed features work, check out Sleipnir's demo video below.
Chrome for a Cause results tabulated: good will all around (but mostly for vaccinations)
Did you join in Chrome for a Cause? The $1 million tab-heavy campaign has come and gone (with a 250 tab per day maximum, much to our click-frenzied dismay), and Google's tallied up the final scores. Of the nearly 60.6 million tabs "donated", 16.2m went for vaccinations, 14.8m tabs for trees, 14.1m for water... 8.6m for books and 6.8m for shelter. Bit of an interesting disparity, there. Were those two not as well presented in the contribution menu? Did the return (0.4 square feet per day at most) not seem as great as the number of trees you could plant? Google eBooks? It's all still a good chunk of change for each of the five partnering charities. Full breakdown at the Chrome blog -- and don't deactivate that extension if you want to maximize your Reddit addiction for the next charitable go-around.
Google launches Chrome for a Cause drive, donates for each tab opened until the 19th
Google is clearly not aware of how many tabs we have open right now. Check the source link for an extension that will allow you to donate to a charity of your choice based on how many tabs you open each day. [Thanks, Josh]
Firefox Tab Candy groups your tabs, but that's just for starters (video)
Although Firefox already has a strong selection of tab management helpers like TooManyTabs, which gives you extra rows and memory-preserving options, or Tree Style Tab, which shifts things to a tree-based vertical menu, Mozilla has rolled up its scaly sleeves and decided to rethink the whole thing. Tab Candy starts off much like Safari's TabExposé, by showing you all the tabs you currently have open in thumbnail form, but from there it allows you to organize them into separate groups (with sub-groups promised for the future), which then act in very much the same way as opening a new Firefox window. Yes, it's folders within the browser, and it's all based on good old fashioned HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so no pesky additional downloads will be required once this Alpha-stage code gets added to Firefox's official release. If you want to give it an early spin, hit the source link below, but don't neglect the video after the break to see what else Mozilla is thinking of cooking up with Tab Candy.
TotalFinder beefs up Finder
A new "hack" for Finder is in the works, and it's pretty darn cool. TotalFinder adds tabs, Visor-like functionality and a few other goodies (with more on the way) to your plain, vanilla Finder setup. If you're skittish, though, don't jump just yet. TotalFinder is alpha, and not in that way that developers label software just to be safe. It's really, really alpha. TotalFinder runs as a SIMBL plugin, too, which can (in some cases) cause some system instability in and of itself. However, if you've got the apples for it, it's a very cool new way to soup up your Finder. In its current state, it does a few simple -- yet amazingly useful -- things, starting with adding tabs to Finder. Honestly, we got tabs in Terminal before Finder? This catches us up a little bit. The Visor feature (which is optional), assigns a hotkey that makes your tabbed Finder window slide onto the screen and disappear when you're not using it. It's take-or-leave for me at this point; it's cool, but it takes a lot of getting used to, especially for window-to-window file dragging within Finder. You can't currently drop files onto other tabs, so some problems arise in that situation. The other features include preventing .DS_Store file creation and sorting file listings with folders grouped on top. For now, I'm sticking with Path Finder for my souped-up Finder needs, but TotalFinder has the potential to bring Finder into its own after years of relatively few improvements. You can grab a copy to try out (for free) at BinaryAge, and note that it comes with an uninstall script that will wipe it clean off your system if you don't like it. [via Smoking Apples]
Rallycast promises "the equivalent to tabbed browsing" on HDTVs, hopefully doesn't mean memory leaks and crashes
After hitting CES with a bang, it's been a quiet year for the TV widgets movement, but Rallycast isn't giving up, going from app developer to announcing its own TV App Store for 2010. The company's CEO Jeff Allen calls its plans to allows multiple programs running at once similar to tabbed browsing on the PC. Not having to pick and choose what's running is great, but while we love our Firefox, its never ending performance issues and the already poor reputation of speed on widget televisions could be a slow, scary mix. Hopefully a year of development (and maybe some newer HDTVs at CES?) can improve performance, because the last thing we want is lag when it comes to updating fantasy football rosters, deleting that note Mom left on our Facebook page, or both. Samsung's LED TVs will support the new store, as well as "several other models" check the full PR after the break.
Starting out in Vana'diel: The Fields of Valor
Hello there Adventurers! I hope everything is going well for you in Final Fantasy XI since we last spoke. Where we last left off, we were speaking with the initial NPC trainer and getting through the opening "tutorial."However, as reader Dana noticed, "They want me to go out and grind dagger skill... so... more endless grinding." Well, you're right and wrong, Dana! You're right, they do want you to go out and level up your dagger skill and that can be a bit boring. But the endless grinding has been lessened by the advent of a new system -- one that could easily be missed by long-term players. Today's article will be focusing on that brand new system, the Fields of Valor.What makes this system so good? How does it help you in the lower levels? How do I use it? These answers and more are a short distance below, across the divide manned by the pretty blue "continue reading" link.
Future Final Fantasy XI update to expand Fields of Valor, Moblin Maze Mongers
Square-Enix has informed Final Fantasy XI players that the next big content patch will be delivered in April, and players have much to look forward to. The Fields of Valor and Moblin Maze Mongers systems will be expanding, due to their warm reception at the hands of FFXI players.Fields of Valor is the new questing system placed in the game that allows players to be rewarded with handsome amounts of experience and gil for taking down monsters in certain areas of the world in addition to the standard exp and rewards that the monster already gives, much like a World of Warcraft "kill quest." The difference is in completing these quests the player will receive a new type of currency, tabs, that give access to temporary buffs and home nation teleports at any Field Manual placed in the game.Moblin Maze Mongers is FFXI's "create a dungeon" system, allowing players to form their own dungeons and run through them for experience, money, and special items that can only be obtained from these "do-it-yourself" dungeons.The full details will be announced soon, but we'll keep our ear to the ground for you to bring you all of the juicy details.
Apple offers Safari beta 4 for Mac and Windows
Well, it's Tuesday, and that often means a software release from Apple. Today, both Mac and Windows users can scarf up a beta copy of Safari 4, with many new and desirable features. Here's a download link for those who are ready to go.The new browser features: Cover Flow -- You can browse through your site history or bookmarks the same way you browse album covers in iTunes Top Sites -- look at renderings of your favorite sites, and open any one of them with a single click Full History Search -- A clever way to visit sites you have been to in the past. You can type a word or phrase into the history search field and you'll get a cover flow view of sites that match your criteria Nitro Engine -- Apple claims JavaScript now executes 30 times faster than IE7 and 3 times faster than Firefox Tabs on Top -- Allows Safari to have multiple pages open at the same time in a single browser window, and to switch back and forth with a click. The new Safari beta gives you more room at the top of the sceen when in tabbed mode. Windows Native Look and Feel -- The Windows Safari 4 beta more closely matches the look of other Windows applications and gives access to standard Windows fonts; Apple claims the same performance boost on Windows as in the Mac version Other features include Full Page Zoom, a 'smart' address field, a 'smart' search field, and more robust phishing and malware protection.Safari 4 beta also includes some improved developer tools. Details on those options can be found here. The TUAW team is installing the new beta now, and will have some thoughts & impressions later today. Go get it!Here's a look at Safari on Windows (from Download Squad)%Gallery-45749%
Adium 1.1 released with new tabs, iChat importing and much more
Adium, the reigning king of 3rd party multi-network chatting on the Mac, has been updated to v1.1, but don't be fooled: even though it appears to be a minor x.1 update, there's a pretty significant list of changes here. Tabs seem to be all new, with the ability to move the tab list to any side of the chat window (top, left, right, etc.). Customizing Adium's menubar icon has also gotten a lot easier, now that it is an official xtra for which you can download new icons from AdiumXtras.com. DirectConnect over AIM - the feature that allows you to simply drag pictures into iChat windows and have them display in-line during a chat - should also work more reliably, and it is automatically initiated when needed now. Rounding up the list of major changes is a new ability to import iChat accounts, statuses and chat transcripts, helping Adium to become your central chatting hub.Of course this isn't all, so knock yourself out with the complete list of changes if you're feeling adventurous. Otherwise, simply start up Adium to receive the auto-update notification or head over to Adiumx.com to download a fresh copy, and be sure to donate to the Adium crew (check the bottom of the page) for their fantastic work on a great chat app.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
eBuddy reveals iPhone multi-network chat client
While Meebo is still working on optimizing their web-based chat service for the iPhone, a new player by the name of eBuddy is joining the ranks of FlickIM, JiveTalk and Trillian Astra. Already doing business like Meebo as a web-based, multi-network chat service, eBuddy has just announced an alpha version of their iPhone-optimized chat app that is heavy on the features, though certainly a departure from mimicking the increasingly standard iPhone-ish UI. With support for AIM, Yahoo! and MSN (which I thought was now called Windows Live Messenger?), as well as text styling and the all-too-handy tabbed chatting, eBuddy definitely offers a powerful iPhone chatting experience - if you're willing to wait for the web app to load, that is. Users can simply visit ebuddy.com on their iPhone to access the optimized app. Alpha tester beware though: eBuddy took a surprisingly long time to load even over my AirPort Express Wi-Fi, which makes me worry about testing it over EDGE. Still, it's nice to have options for those times when Apple drops the ball, and eBuddy looks like one of the most feature-packed chat alternatives for the iPhone yet.Thanks Chris
TabExpos: Safari gets Expos for its tabs
Move over Shiira, cuz there's another browser in town that can bring the power of Exposé to its tabs. Cocoamug Software's TabExposé enables Safari (even the new v3 beta) with a configurable shortcut key to display the current window's tabs in an Exposé-style layout. To be sure, however, it only works on the current window and the tabs that window contains; if you have more than one window open with tabs in Safari, the others will sit in the background.TabExposé works well in Safari 3 beta on my MacBook Pro, and with extra options like applying a color bar to the top of the tabs when TabExposé is invoked, $4.90 is a very, very tiny price to pay for such a handy Safari tab management tool.
Google Summer of Code kicks off with Camino, Adium, Thunderbird and more
Google's Summer of Code is a really cool, really massive project focused on open source that first started back in 2005. It functions on a pretty simple concept: the company gives out grants to student developers (this summer they brought on 900 from a list of 6,200 applicants) to work on open source projects for the summer, and we all subsequently benefit in one way or another. Take a gander through the long list of projects on the menu for this summer, and click on any to see what the goals are. Whether or not these goals are met by the end of the summer is another thing entirely, but there are some great projects and features on the list for such apps as Adium, Camino, Thunderbird, Inkscape and much more. Adium, for example, might gain features like basic voice chat, AppleScript and Bonjour support, while a juicy feature on Camino's todo list is Tabsposé, bringing the window management wonders of Exposé (much like the WebKit-based Shiira features) to the more Mac-like alternative to Firefox. In fact, one of the developers involved with working Tabsposé for Camino is blogging the effort, with a few posts already online covering developer-oriented topics like getting caught up with minor details and coding resources, but also including teaser mockups of what Tabsposé might eventually look like. Long story short: Google's third round of Summer of Code looks like it will again do some great things for Mac OS X software and open source on a broader scale. Heck, those open source developers are even getting paid, which must be a nice change of pace for some of them. We'll keep an eye on what new features arise from this Google-funded coding powwow at the end of the summer.
Mac 101: Navigating Safari Tabs
TUAW reader Jason wrote in asking us how to switch between open tabs in Safari. If you're using tabbed browsing in Safari, it may not be immediately obvious how to navigate other than to click on the tab you want to view. Fortunately, Apple did build in keyboard shortcuts: to cycle left between tabs, type Command-Shift-Left Arrow or Command-Shift-[. To cycle right, use Command-Shift-Right Arrow or Command-Shift-]. Firefox uses a different approach. To select a tab, hold down the Command key while pressing a tab number. Command-1 selects the first tab, Command-4 the fourth. (For the curious, in Safari, this Command-Number approach selects the nth item in your Bookmark bar that is not a folder.) More after the jump...
Smultron: open source tabbed text editor hits version 3.0
It's true, I admit it, I have a bit of a thing for tabbed text editors (I'm seeking counseling). Anyway, I've discovered yet another one. Peter Borg (who is also behind the very cool Lingon launchd utility) has just released version 3 of his Smultron open-source text editor (with vertical tabs). This update improves a lot of things, including project management, application speed, memory usage, and not least of all, the interface (the tabs themselves are not new). Though I won't be dropping TextMate anytime soon, Smultron definitely looks like an interesting entry in the free text editor sweepstakes.Smultron is a free download from sourceforge.
CSSEdit 2.5 brings tabs, X-ray Inspector and more
MacRabbit has released CSSEdit 2.5, a significant update to their fantastic CSS editing and manipulating application. As if CSSEdit 2.0 didn't bring enough cool features, v2.5 is almost like sneaking a peek at your v3.0 birthday presents that are stashed away in your parent's closet the day before your party. There is a list of what's new on the MacRabbit's blog.Quite the update, but a free one for registered owners of v2.x. Users of 1.x can upgrade for $14.95 instead of CSSEdit's regular price of $29.95, and of course a demo is available from MacRabbit.[via Nik Fletcher's Twitter]
Sticky WIndows 2.0: universal and more
We last mentioned Sticky Windows over a year ago, and now finally the window clutter tab utility has finally been updated to version 2.0 as a universal binary. Sticky Windows allows you to create a tab from any window. You just drag the window to the edge of the screen and it shrinks down into the tab. You can then click on the tab to get the window back. Also new in version 2.0 are tab types: manual vs. automatic (all tabbed windows other than the foremost one automatically shrink) as well as drag and drop to the tabs (though this doesn't work with every application). The Sticky Windows site has an extremely slick flash movie that demonstrates what it does (notice the clock in the menu bar of the movie). I have to say, though, that I'm not that big a fan of the pink scaling visual effect that you see each time a tab shrinks or expands.Sticky Windows is $20 and a demo is available from Donelleschi Software.[Via MacMinute]
Wiiminder: tabbed browsing courtesy of Warp Pipe
Warp Pipe Technologies, who you may remember as the only people ever to support the Gamecube modem, ever, have turned their attentions to a Nintendo console with an actual online strategy. Now they're helping to augment the existing Wii online experience with tabbed browsing. By making the Wii Opera browser work more like the real Opera browser, they've added tabbed browsing (with nice smoke-grey transparent tabs). Just navigate your browser over to here and your browser will be ready to party like it's 2001.We are so much happier about web-based Wii browser extensions (which are already great!) when they are accompanied by such lovely logos. It's the typography that does it. It's so handsome.... what were we saying? Oh yeah. There's a video demonstrating the service after the post break.[Via 4cr]
Tascam MP-GT1 DAP touts guitar input for gnarly play-alongs
Tiger Electronics' Power Tour instructional guitar is weak sauce compared to what TEAC's latest training tool can accomplish, as the Tascam-branded MP-GT1 offers up a whole lot more than just MP3 playback. Aside from boasting a monochrome 128 x 64 resolution screen, 1GB of internal storage, a rechargeable Li-ion lasting around eight hours, and MP3 / ID3 tag support, this pocket-friendly DAP also touts a line-in for your axe, built-in tuner / metronome, and a bevy of sweet controls as well. Users can queue up their favorite track, plug in their guitar, and begin to shred away while attempting to follow along, but for the more creative out there, this little box also features ten different effects to modify the sound of your instrument. To top things off, an internal algorithm sniffs out the guitar frequencies in whatever track you're listening to, and if you switch on the VSA function, it mutes (as best it can, we presume) the recorded guitar track so the only six-string you hear twanging is your own. TEAC's latest toy for guitar freaks should be landing in Japanese shops the last day of this month, and at just ¥20,000 ($166), we're deeming this a surefire bargain.
