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Beta Beat: Parallels releases Beta2, with Shared Folders improvements
Parallels has dropped a new version of their beta release, and it looks good. In addition to a Coherence improvement that now lets any Windows window appear in full preview style on the Dock (as well as show up in Exposé), Windows and OS X can now share the contents of their home folders. That is really awesome-- now, your My Documents and Home folders can share exactly the same contents, so you don't have to worry about where things are being saved, or whether one OS can access the other's information. Finally, it really is like running two operating systems on the same computer, because you can access the same files in the same places in both OSes.Very nice-- this is exactly the kind of stuff people were dreaming about when Apple switched to Intel. The new beta2 for Parallels 3.0 is available for free download with a 3.0 license, and you can get it right here.[via Ars Technica]
New Parallels Desktop beta supports iPhone
Trust us, the irony of someone needing to sync an Apple device through Windows that's running on a Mac is glaringly obvious, but hey, some folks just can't escape Outlook no matter how hard they try. Nevertheless, the new Parallels Desktop beta (which is available now) does add iPhone support in Windows XP and Vista along with a newly fortified Image Tool / Explorer and coherence windows that now work with Expose. Of course, you should recognize that this stuff is indeed still in beta, but if you're the daring (or overly trusting) type, feel free to hit the read link and get your download on.[Via AppleInsider]
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.
The Little Things: Infinitely large targets
Some of the unsung wonders of working in Mac OS X are the features influenced by Fitts' Law. I first saw this concept mentioned and articulated by John Gruber in his Fitts's Law and the Apple and Spotlight Menus portion of a Tiger Details page he was maintaining after the launch of 10.4. In fact, I might as well just quote John for a summary on the basics of Fitts' Law:The gist of Fitts's Law is that the time it takes to point to a target - in our case here, with your mouse or trackpad - is a function of the distance and size of the target. Bigger and closer targets are easier to hit.The beauty here is in how Apple has leveraged this concept with Mac OS X's UI, right down to the reason behind the menubar being pinned and always accessible at the top of your display. Basically speaking, there are five primary targets that are dead simple to hit, without even having to look at them: the four corners of your display and the menubar (and sure, the Dock could count as a sixth, but I'm leaving it out for now). You can easily just fling your mouse 'up' and hit the menu that governs the application you're working in (or any you can quickly switch to); it might seem like a minor detail, but it's one that makes it a lot easier to land on the menu you need and keep working. The four corners of your display are even easier, according to Fitts' Law, since they are what John called 'infinitely large targets.' You can close your eyes and fling your mouse 'down and to the left' and know that you've hit the lower left corner of any display. Attach an action like invoking Dashboard or an Exposé view to those corners (accessible via the Dashboard and Exposé System Preferences pane) and you have just enabled a powerful way to access information and organize your windows. Tack on a 3rd party tool like MaxMenus, CornerClick (a download is available but their site is under renovation) or Spanner and you open up even more possibilities for using these incredibly easy targets to enhance the way you work.
Shiira 2.0 goes official
We've seen the betas for quite some time now, but Shiira v2.0 - the feature-packed open source browser based on the same WebKit that powers Apple's Safari - has gone official. As far as I can tell, the feature list hasn't changed wildly from beta into this full version, but check out some of the slick tricks Shiira has up its sleeve: Tab Exposé (yep: Exposé comes to browser tabs) Sharing bookmarks with Safari Side drawer showing bookmarks and history Search field with choice of search engine Cache control panel Window appearance switching (Aqua and Metal) Enable/disable favicon with bookmark Wheel button operation (open in new tab, and tab switching) Auto-tab for bookmark folder Displaying back-forward list on toolbar buttons Search text field for bookmark and history The feature list is far from over, however, so check out Shiira's official screenshot and features list for more details and even some movies of its features in action. Since Shiira is open source, it's available free from Shiira.jp.
How many windows do you have open right now?
Meandering through the TUAW Flickr group my eyes alighted upon this image. 'Hmm,' thought I, 'that's a lot of email in Exposé.' It got me to thinking about how I use my Mac. Tabbed browsing really has limited the number of windows I have open on my Mac, but perhaps I'm just an odd ball.I thought it would be fun if everyone posted a picture of their currently opened windows being displayed by Exposé to the Flickr group. This totally unscientific survey would satisfy my curiosity, and I think it would be fun to boot. Here's my contribution. Yep, just three windows.
Shiira v2 beta released
Remember that Shiira v2 beta preview that delusions of grandeur had at the end of July? Well instead of simply reading about it, now you can take your own copy for a spin, as a public, localized beta has been released. Shiira, if you haven't been following the coverage as of late, is an open source and uniquely feature-packed browser based on WebKit, the same web (and also open source) rendering engine that powers Apple's own Safari. Most of the new features that were previewed seem to be implemented, including the Shelf, Tab Exposé, a tab thumbnails option (instead of standard tabs found in Safari and Firefox), FullScreen Mode with a really slick and self-hiding navigation overlay, a palette replacement for the sidebar and more. When this first landed on digg, the download was only a PowerPC build, but it has since been replaced with a true Universal version. So what are you waiting for? Get downloading!
Productivity on OS X
Paul Stamatiou is more productive on a Mac. Why? The combination of Exposé, Quicksilver, and Spotlight. These three things taken together really make the Mac a powerhouse of productivity (and I should know since I use the very same tools, though I tend not to need Spotlight that much. I'm just that good).Now, I spend a fair amount of time using Windows and it isn't an awful experience (Windows is good for some things), however, whenever I am on my Mac I feel like I'm getting more done.So, TUAW readers, share your productivity hints in the comments so that we can all become dynamos of productive power!
TUAW Tip: Drag and drop with Exposé
Drag and drop is one of the many wonders of graphical user interfaces, exponentially increasing productivity with an intuitive, common-sense approach that leaves you with a reaffirmed belief in the unquestionable brilliance of mankind. Exposé takes that to a whole new level: You can actually navigate Exposé while dragging a file/item, allowing you to easily locate and drop it into The Right Window.Example: You're surfin' in Safari when you run across an image of Bob the Builder that would work perfectly as a title slide in your "Timmy's First Halloween!" home movie project in iMovie. But iMovie is buried behind iCal, Mail, and that Word doc of your thesis you've had open for five years designed to remind you that "one day...[you'll] get it to one day." What are your options? Well, you could save the image to the desktop, pop into iMovie, then import it that way. Or save it to iPhoto, and use the Media Browser to locate and load it in. Both options require extraneous and tedious steps, as well as an extra file you'll almost certainly never need again.Instead, you could do this: Grab the image and, without releasing the mouse button, load Exposé (F9 is the default). Drag the item over the iMovie window and wait a few seconds (or hit spacebar) -- then pop the image into one of iMovie's media boxes, where it will be automatically imported into your project. The same kind of thing works for all sorts of items: Dragging files between Finder windows, text from one app to another, URLs across browsers, etc.Cool, huh?Update: Some readers made a great point, something I should've originally mentioned: Instead of having to use a second hand to hit the F9 key, just set an Exposé hotcorner and perform the drag-and-drop with nothing more than a swift motion of the mouse. I have my bottom-left corner set up for Exposé's All Windows option, and it's great for drag-and-drop scenarios. (Thanks Chadster and Rolphus.)
Yes Way, Expose!
In case you wondered if we bloggers ever click on the homepage links our readers submit with their tips and comments... we often do. And every now and then we are rewarded with something entertaining for our efforts. Clicking on fra's homepage link tonight, which I stumbled upon from one of his comments, brought me to a funny picture of a cat (and yes, I clicked it!). Move along, you say? Not so fast. Further down on the page, I came across a link to Joey Tran's Progeny Motion Picture Festival 2005 winner for Best Sound: "Ode to Mac, or: Yes Way, Expose!" Try it... you'll like it!
