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Mac OS X 10.5.6 is available via Software Update
Apple's support page and Software Update appear to be a little bit hammered --- you know what that means: A new OS update! Mac OS X 10.5.6 has just been released to Software Update. The ~190 MB update (assuming you are already running the latest version of OS X) offers up the following, according to Apple's Support Page: Various improvements to performance and stability in Mail.app, iCal, Airport and Safari Graphical improvements DVD player performance improvements A new Trackpad panel in System Preferences for portable Macs Time Machine and MobileMe improvements Other various fixes. The whole support page lays out the improvements with more accuracy than we often see from Apple and there are security updates too. My download has just finished and my dock is bouncing, so I'm off to update my system. Post your results in the comments! Thanks Tyler and Mike!
Mac OS X 10.5.6 now available via Software Update
Headline pretty much says it all, and it's a big one. Tipping the scales at 377MB (or 190MB for some; see image after the break), the OS X 10.5.6 update is now available via Software Update. We're sucking it down and will report back with any changes. We strongly encourage you to do the same (if you dare).Update: Apple has posted the official changelog. Here are the highlights: Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac. Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications. Includes general improvements to gaming performance. Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards. Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com. Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server. Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards. Improves printing for USB-based Brother and Canon printers. Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found. Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule. Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs. Personal Engadget favorite: Improves the performance and reliability of Chess. Nary a mention of Blu-ray. It's still hurting, we guess. [Thanks, Fraser]
Put Leopard on a diet while waiting for Snow Leopard to be released
We've all been there; we've all had that sickening feeling that comes from seeing "Macintosh HD" with less than 1 GB of available space. If you're staring at your Finder wondering where you can find some additional space without having to swap out the hard drive or buying a new Mac altogether Computerworld is here to help. They have an article up on the many ways it is possible to get rid of unnecessary files in Leopard as well as disable features you may not be using all in an effort to slim down and speed up your Mac while you wait for Snow Leopard.Many of the tips involve using software that we have previously mentioned, some of which are free and others are not. The list of tools used include such gems as Xslimmer for removing PowerPC compatibility, Monolingual for stripping out languages that are non-native to you, as well as DiskInventoryX for getting a graphical representation of where all your hard drive space went. The article also discusses improving performance by disabling 3D effects that use up GPU cycles for those users who prefer fast to pretty as well as increasing the amount of RAM installed in your system.While Snow Leopard may still be some time away the tips provided are a great collection of steps that can be completed to help any Mac squeeze out some better performance and additional hard drive space. If you have any tips that aren't mentioned add them to the comments!Finder icon courtesy of FHKE's Flickr stream
10.5.6 update still a work in progress
Although they speculated that Mac OS X 10.5.6 (not to be confused with 10.6, "Snow Leopard") could arrive by November 21, there is still work to be done on the release, according to Ars Technica's David Chartier. Apple is asking reviewers of this latest build, 9G52, to test MobileMe's automatic syncing on "networks with medium-to-high latency or constrained bandwidth." Apple might be trying to improve MobileMe syncing; anecdotal evidence suggests that for many, syncing is still not up to snuff. Second, Apple wants users of non-Latin languages like Hangul, Kototeri, Traditional Chinese, Cyrillic, Hebrew and Arabic to use Mail, in order to test its support of non-Latin character sets. Even so, 9G52 fixes over 100 issues. Full notes on the build are available in the second part of this story. There's no word on when the update will be released, but we'll likely have to be patient for a little while longer. Like my mom always said when baking, "it'll be ready when it's finished."
What's in an icon?
Gedeon Maheux has an post about how an icon is designed from the aptly-named Iconfactory (specifically the Frenzic app icon), and while I don't have any design skills to speak of at all, it's an interesting look into how those little snippets of art are made. Icons are increasingly important, especially on the iPhone and OSX, as Apple leverages icons more and more in their interfaces, from the Dock to CoverFlow to the iPhone's home screen. He sounds a little sheepish that they obsess over icons, but why shouldn't they -- every time you decide whether or not to buy or use an app (some might say the most important part of an application's lifeline), you're likely looking right at the icon.There are a few things to take away here: they designed the icon not by itself, but right alongside all the other icons on an average iPhone screen -- in context, where people would see it. And they walked a thin line: while they wanted it to stand out as something you'd chose even among the apps you've already purchased, they didn't want it to be so bright or flashy that it broke the UI. Truth be told, Frenzic's icon still looks a little bright to me, but the lesson is good: the UI comes first.Ged closes with a sentiment I've agreed with for a while: while there's a disturbing trend of adding "On Sale" or "New!" to icons in the App Store (not to call anyone out, but ahem) that doesn't serve the developers or their customers. An icon, just like your app, should be subtle and simple and beautiful. After all, isn't that why we're all using Macs in the first place?
Google Calendar CalDAV/iCal syncing now official
Although the plumbing has been in place since the summer, it's always nice to have an official announcement, and now we do: Google has gone on the record with its support for CalDAV syncing from iCal to Google Calendar. You can now gracefully sync your editable Google calendars with your (Leopard-only) iCal, keeping a local copy of those events in the cloud.Granted, both BusySync (which adds Bonjour-based iCal synchronization between Macs) and SpanningSync (which includes Address Book --> Google contact sync) have been handling this task with aplomb for some time, and they offer something Google hasn't -- a nice GUI for picking your sync options. That too has been addressed: Google Code is hosting the Calaboration sync setup tool, a basic checklist of calendars to add to your iCal setup.If you are syncing your iCal and gCal data via Google's support for CalDAV, let us know how it's going.
TUAW Tip: use the Help menu to search Safari bookmarks and history
Note: This tip is Leopard-only, sorry Tiger holdouts. The Command-? trick is easily one of my favorites among the less-ballyhooed feature expansions of Leopard. If you missed that one, it allows you to search for menu items in any application by pulling down the "Help" menu, which can be triggered from the keyboard with the Command-? (Command-Shift-/) shortcut. Typing the first few letters of the menu item you're searching for will highlight its location in the dropdown menus. I use it a lot, but somehow missed one great capability noted by TUAW reader Maarten: in Safari, the menu item search extends to your bookmark collection and Safari history! Because the bookmarks and history items are contained in the menubar's menus, they're searched along with the other menu items, allowing blazing-fast navigation of the sites listed in the Bookmarks and History menus. I like speed; I have my bookmarks toolbar set up with numbered titles which correlate to their Command-number shortcut (the first non-folder item in the toolbar can be accessed with Command-1, the second with Command-2, etc.), and I have keyword shortcuts assigned to my other most-accessed bookmarks using various tools. There's only so much room in my life, however, for organizing bookmarks and assigning keywords. History search can be a tedious prospect, too, even using Spotlight or Safari's History menu hierarchy. This trick provides instant search and it's only a keyboard shortcut away. Because the History results are sorted into sub-menus named by date, the results from the history menu appear with their access date first, so it's easy to navigate the results to find what you're looking for. The concept behind this tip applies to all kinds of applications. I started experimenting and found that the search bar in the help menu almost always included recent documents and open windows ... basically anything the application lists in its menus. The bookmarks/history search works in most other browsers, too. I use Firefox as well as Safari, so I was happy to find it worked there, with one minor caveat: the Command-? shortcut in Firefox opens the Firefox Help webpage, not the Help menu item, requiring a mouse click to focus the search box in the dropdown. I haven't found a way to add shortcut keys for top-level menu items in System Preferences, so if anyone knows that, or another way to access the search menu via a shortcut key, I'd love to know about it. Happy searching, and a big thanks to Maarten for the tip!
MacNN: Snow Leopard could ship 1Q 2009
Snow Leopard could ship as early as January, according to comments made by the director of Apple's Unix Technology Group. Jordan Hubbard said at the Large Installation System Administration conference last week that Mac OS X 10.6 will ship in the first quarter of 2009, according to MacNN. This primes the Macworld Expo rumor pump: Scheduled for January 5, Steve could debut new quad-core iMacs in addition to showing off this new version of the operating system. This is not to be confused with Mac OS X 10.5.6, a minor update, which could be available as soon as Friday.
Mac OS X 10.5.6 update could be ready by Friday
Ars Technica's Chris Foresman notes that test builds of Leopard's newest update, version 10.5.6, are arriving more frequently, perhaps signaling that the software is nearly ready for the public. Build 9G38, the latest, notes that there are no known issues with the build, a crucial last step in the development process. Prior builds addressed issues with MobileMe, Time Machine reliability over AFP, Mail, and a long list of other "focus areas." The build was released last week. Foresman closed by saying "though the signs point to a release soon ... I do not recommend holding your breath." Always good advice.
Oki's robot chair heralds a new age of robot-aided seating
The chair is a tool of extreme simplicity and antiquity, and many would argue that it's foolish to mess with something that obviously attained perfection with the advent of air conditioned seat cushions. Of course, those people have never seen Leopard, the high-tech "concept chair" that takes technology originally developed for Oki's Robot Leg (an entire robot with design principles based on the human leg) and places it under your posterior for "seating comfort akin to being held in someone's arms." This is a chair that adjusts itself to your back, cradles your bum, and gives you a helpful little boost when it's time to stand up. Sound wasteful? Extravagant? How about totally awesome? Hit the read link for more details, and feel free to check out the fun little picture of the Robot Leg after the break.
How knswledgable are you about cartgriqdges?
Newer updates to Mac OS X Leopard seem to have an interesting problem with their spelling databases: they include words that are most certainly wrong. The problem first appeared in 10.5.2 (U.S. English), and has not yet been corrected. Canspice.org points to an Ars Technica discussion from March highlighting the misspelling knswledgable. If you open TextEdit, for example, and intentionally misspell the word "knowledgeable" (say, by spelling it "knowledgable"), then control-click to show a spelling suggestion, you might see the erroneous option. The word "cartgriqdge" also appears to be similarly affected. Both words do not appear in the Mac OS X Dictionary application. Urban Dictionary seized upon the new word, defining knswledgable as having "inordinate amounts of knowledge about useless spelling trivia."
6 easy steps to migrate your Mac using Time Machine
If you use Time Machine in Leopard, then transferring your stuff to a new Mac might be a bit simpler than you thought. With Migration Assistant, you can easily transfer Applications, Documents, Settings, and more. In this Mac 101, we're going to show you how it's done, and how you can do it yourself! var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/6_easy_steps_to_migrate_your_Mac_using_Time_Machine; 1. Make sure you have a recent backupMake sure you have a recent Time Machine backup on the machine you wish to transfer your information from. To check, go to System Preferences (Apple menu) > Time Machine. If you see a recent backup, then you're set; if not, click "show Time Machine status in the menu bar." In the resulting menu bar item, click "Back up now." Time Machine will make a new backup. 2. Make sure you're not leaving anything behindIn the Time Machine System Preference pane, click the Options button. In the dialog box, you can see all the folders you have chosen not to backup -- check these to make sure you really don't want them. If you do, click the folder and chose the "-" (minus button) at the bottom. Click OK and backtrack to step 1 to create a current backup. 3. Getting the new machine readyFrom this point, you can deviate into two directions: If your Mac is new: Boot up the new Mac and go through the setup screens. When the setup assistant asks if you want to migrate information from your old Mac, choose "From Time Machine backup or other disk." If your Mac has an existing account, don't fret. Just open "Migration Assistant" located in /Applications/Utilities. 4. Connecting your Time Machine drive to the new machineOnce you have completed the above step, click continue. Migration Assistant will ask you to specify the backup you would like to transfer to the new machine. %Gallery-35574%Continue reading for more details...
Apple releases Security Update 2008-007
Apple released Security Update 2008-007 for Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger users today. The update addresses many specific areas of the Mac OS, including: Apache, ClamAV, CUPS, Finder, and more. A full list of the areas affected by the update can be found on the Apple support website. The update is available for the following systems: Client systems running Leopard Server systems running Leopard Client systems running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Intel) Client systems running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (PPC) Server systems running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (PPC) Server systems running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Universal) You can get the update by downloading the installer package from the Apple support website, or by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update). Continue reading for a change log for this update.
The little Leopard laptop
I can always tell when I'm bored, because that's when I think up some challenge for myself. The initial spark for this challenge came when I wrote a post a few months ago about how Paul O'Brien at Modaco had successfully installed Leopard on a Windows-based "netbook". TUAW's Mike Schramm further fueled the fire with this post about an Eee PC running OS X. Netbooks are tiny laptops with a mini price tag to match. Many netbooks sell for less than $500, with 1 GB of RAM, either a 16 - 20 GB solid state disk drive or 160 GB hard disk drive, Wi-Fi, and a built-in webcam. When you consider that these little machines also weigh about the same or less than a MacBook Air, they're a bargain. However, they usually run Windows XP or Ubuntu Netbook Remix, and frankly I'd rather have good old Leopard. Asus has been making netbooks for a while under the Eee PC moniker, while MSI (Wind), Acer (Aspire One), and even HP have jumped into this growing market recently. It wasn't until I received a direct mail catalog from Dell featuring the new Inspiron Mini 9 that I started thinking seriously about trying to load Leopard on it. Despite the fact that I'm sure that Apple will announce a low-cost netbook soon, I ended up buying a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook to install Leopard onto. The rest of this post describes how I did it using instructions and files found at various Web sites.
Leopard Tips and Tricks for client management will improve your admin life
Keeping up with the Leopard-centric changes to managed preferences and mobile accounts is crucial if you're responsible for a labful or campus-ful of Macs, and you want to gracefully control what permissions or resources your wanton users have when they log in. One great resource for Mac admins diving into MCX (managed clients for OS X) for the first (or hundredth) time is Apple engineer John DeTroye's Tips & Tricks documentation.We mentioned John's Tiger edition of the T&T docs last year, and now that he's updated the handbook for Mac OS X 10.5 and Server 10.5, you'll want to bring your library up to date. Gone is most of the material specific to machine imaging techniques (I strongly recommend NetInstall [PDF], which is working better under Leopard than it ever did before), making room for more discussion of MCX settings and portable home directories. Download your free copy of the T&T file today and it'll make your life easier tomorrow.
Terminal Tips: Gradient highlights for Stacks
If you use Stacks like we do, then you probably love any additional hacks you can do to them. While this Terminal Tip provides no really useful features, it does provide you with some awesome eye candy for your Stacks. This hack gives you a mouse-over gradient (seen above on Terminal) in your Stacks; just open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) and type in the following command: defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YESAfter you type in the command, type "killall Dock" to restart the Dock. You will then see the gradient in your Stacks. To get rid of the gradient, just replace "YES" with "NO" in the command above. Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 and Terminal Tips sections.
Terminal Tip: Disabling Leopard's Dock spring windows
I seriously hate the way that Leopard's spring-loaded download pane works. So this morning, I asked our team if there were a way to get around it. "Of course," said Brett, and he pointed me to this Mac OS X Hints page, warning me that it was a kludge. Kludge it may be, but it was a kludge that worked just fine. I didn't quite follow the directions in that post, though, and I thought I'd share my approach because it worked a lot more easily for me. First, I opened Terminal and changed directories to ~/Library/Preferences. I made a backup copy of com.apple.dock.plist (probably completely unnecessary, in retrospect) and converted the original version to XML from binary: plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.dock.plist. Next, I opened the preferences property list in TextEdit and did a global search/replace on directory-tile, changing all instances to directory. I saved and then did a killall Dock. When my dock returned, it returned with the normal, happy, uncomplicated folders you see here. When clicked, they open normal, happy, uncomplicated file browsers. Yay. Thanks, Brett, and thanks Mac OS X Hints.Also thanks to TUAW readers Brandon, who points out that you can Command-click the folder and Rich who suggests adding folder aliases rather than the folder itself.
OS X 10.5.5 update available for download
Apple's latest OS update -- 10.5.5 -- is now up and dancing in Software Update. It includes the latest batch of security updates, Address Book, Spotlight, and iPhone sync enhancements, and iCal, eMail, MobileMe and Time Machine performance tweaks. In other words, it's a biggie. Full release notes just beyond that read link.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo updater, Security Update for 10.4 now available
If you've been a bad nervous Mac user, then chances are that you might not be running the latest updates. If so, you can download the Combo updater for Mac OS X 10.5.5 which includes all important patches up to this point, so you can remain up-to-date even if you skipped a couple of updates. If you are still running the slightly older OS, Tiger, then Apple has provided an update for you as well. The Security 2008-006 update allows you to stay as safe as your Leopard brethren. Security update 2008-006 is available for both PPC and Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).You can download all of these updates by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by visiting Apple's download page.
Mac OS X 10.5.5 released through Software Update
It hasn't hit Apple's software downloads page yet, but reader reports are coming in that Mac OS X 10.5.5 is loose in the wild. Check Software Update to see if the big cat is available in your neighborhood ... or, possibly a better idea, wait 24 hours for the early adopters to see what breaks. You can see the full release notes here or in the continuation of this post. "The 10.5.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac." There's the Apple specificity we love so well. Actually, the full release notes (below) are quite detailed, so I retract my snark. Thanks to John and everyone who sent this in.
