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An Introduction to Apple Certification
I spent three days in a class last week learning about Leopard. It probably sounds a little strange that a guy who works day in and day out on "nothin' but Macs" would be taking a class to learn more about the Mac operating system, but I did it for a reason - I am an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and I need to keep my certification current. Within a few weeks, I'll be taking a certification exam to prove that my brain absorbed some of the course content and my years of Mac experience really have turned me into a Mac guru.Not many people know about the certifications available to Apple professionals. Certification has a number of benefits to independent consultants and wage slaves alike, including recognition of professional competency, credibility with clients and employers, and the ability to publicize your certifications on Apple's website. For those of us who are Apple Consultant Network members, we can have clients referred to us by the Apple Stores.Over the next few weeks, I'll post several articles about the different types of certifications available to you, how to become certified, and why you might want to consider getting certified. Read more after the break.
Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" confirmed to be Intel-only
We speculated before the WWDC Keynote that Mac OS X 10.6 might be Intel-only. Now it looks like (to many a PPC Mac user's chagrin) that rumor might actually be true. MacNN got a copy of the system requirements for Snow Leopard. One of the main changes: "An Intel processor" required. Some of the other system requirements include: An internal, external, or shared DVD drive At least 512 MB of RAM (more is recommended for development) A built-in display or display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer At least 9GB of disk space available, or 12GB of disk space if you install the developer tools Keep in mind that these system requirements refer to the Developer Preview handed out at WWDC. Snow Leopard isn't scheduled to ship for a year, and things can change. That being said, it might be time for you PowerPC Mac owners to start saving for a new Mac. [via MacNN]
Snow Leopard screenshots surface
Some of the first pictures of "Snow Leopard," Apple's next version of Mac OS X have started leaking off of developer's Macs. Orchard Spy has some of the very first screenshots, though nothing too exciting is shown. Just as we suspected, Snow Leopard doesn't show any new features in the Applications or Utilities folders; nor does it show any changes in System Preferences. The only change that may lead to speculation is a new "32-bit" phrase in the System Preferences Title Bar. The build number of Snow Leopard is 10A96. Thanks, Guillermo!
Apple posts details about Snow Leopard
TUAW broke the Snow Leopard story and boy were we right. Apple has just posted the details on the next version of Mac OS X -- Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will not bring any major new features to the Mac platform, instead, Apple will be focusing on the quality of the OS. According to the details, Snow Leopard will be optimized for multi-core processors, be able to take advantage of even more RAM (up to 16TB, theoretically), and include out-of-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007. A new technology in the OS, named "Grand Central" will allow developers to better take advantage of Macs with more than one processing core. In addition, Safari will be revved with Snow Leopard. Safari will utilize a new JavaScript engine ( SquirrelFish, no doubt) to make it even faster. Apple did not supply any details about price, but expects the OS to be shipping in "1 year." Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Apple posts seminar for Integrating Active Directory
Recently, Apple posted a new online seminar (linked from enterprise Apple Store pages) entitled "Best Practices for Integrating Mac OS X into Active Directory." This seminar will show registered participants how to deploy machines running OS X into existing Active Directory setups.Apple lists several things that are shown in the online seminar, some of which include: Integrating an Active Directory environment into Mac OS X Using the Active Directory plug-in in Mac OS X Configuring home directories (includes how to do this with mobile users) You can watch this free online seminar by going to Apple's seminar website and registering. You will then be able to stream the video using QuickTime Player, or download an iPod-compatible file.
Freeware Find: IceClean 3.0b
Most of us know that we should perform regular maintenance on our Macs, usually simple things such as doing backups and shaking pizza crumbs out of the keyboard. But did you know that there are a number of UNIX System Tasks that are available for keeping your Mac running at peak performance?A lot of Mac users don't want to pull up Terminal and type arcane text into the command line, so MacDentro has a GUI front end that you can use to run those commands and keep your Mac cruisin'. IceClean, now at version 3.0.6 has menus for OS X Maintenance, Cleanup, Security and Network, and Utilities, all of which are packed with menu choices or keyboard shortcut equivalents that make mundane maintenance chores simple to perform.There are other apps available -- Maintenance and MacJanitor come to mind -- that perform similar tasks, but neither of those programs comes close to the depth of capability of IceClean.The price is right, too - it's free, although you might want to send the MacDentro folks a donation if you find yourself using IceClean regularly. Download IceClean here.Tip of the hat to our very own Victor Agreda for this find!
Rumor: Mac OS X 10.5.4 to be released 2nd week in June?
There's action on the Leopard update front. We've been told by reliable sources that the next point release of Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5.4) will be released on June 12th. This update will include the usual bug fixes as well as support for the to-be-announced Mobile Me service.In addition, we have reason to believe that this update will also include support for a new piece of Apple hardware. What is this mysterious computer? We have no idea, but we're hoping all will be revealed during WWDC.
Rumor: Mac OS X 10.6 to debut at WWDC 08?
TUAW has received some information that suggests Apple may be working to seed developers with an early build of Mac OS X 10.6 at this year's WWDC. 10.6 will not include any new significant features from 10.5; instead, Apple is focusing solely on "stability and security." We have also learned that OS X 10.6 may go gold master by December 2008 in an effort to start shipping it in January '09 at Macworld Expo. Mac OS X 10.6 will be a milestone release for Apple, as it will leave the PowerPC behind: a fully 64-bit clean, Intel-only Mac OS X. This information makes us wonder about universal applications -- how much longer will they exist? With Apple leaving pre-Intel Macs behind before the end of the decade, this could mark the end of the Intel transition, as Apple (and presumably many third-party developers) will be focusing only on the newer Mac architecture. Of course, this leaves open a critical question -- what will this new OS version be codenamed? We've got our hunches, but we can't leave you out of the guessing game. Update: Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica confirms our info, and lets the cat out of the bag: the code name for 10.6 is expected to be Snow Leopard (choice #2 below). %Poll-15056%
High-end graphics features planned for Second Life
Linden Lab is tinkering with a set of Second Life graphical improvements for high-end graphics hardware. Dave Parks, software engineer at Linden Lab has been working on a set of features tailored to the Geforce 8 set of GPUs. Users without the required hardware would not suffer any performance reductions as a result of the new features. The featureset (which is available as an experimental branch called shadow-draft in the viewer source repository, for the curious), includes hard Sun-shadows, per-pixel lighting, support for an uncapped number of point-lights, and lighting costs based on screen coverage.
Security Update 2008-003 hits the streets
After releasing all the updates today, Apple still wasn't finish as they just released a Security Update, version 2008-003. In regular Apple wordiness the description reads "improves the security of OS X." Apple released 4 flavors of this update for different systems: Security Update 2008-003 (Intel) Security Update 2008-003 (PPC) Security Update 2008-003 Server (Universal) Security Update 2008-003 Server (PPC) Here's the full rundown on what's included in this update. You can download this security update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software update) or by clicking your system in the list above to download the installer package. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Update: as some people in the comments have noted, this Security Update is for those who have not upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5.3. If you have upgraded, you do not need to install this update.
SIMBL plugin woes after 10.5.3?
Did you get home only to find that Mac OS X 10.5.3 had been released today? Well, just as some users were unpacking and installing the shiny new update, issues with SIMBL plug-ins were discovered. If you have SIMBL plugins installed, then you may have an error show up when you try to launch an application. Past updates on systems with these plugins installed have been known to run into some issues. If you are experiencing plugin predicaments, there is a way to fix the problem. SIMBL plugins (or other, non-SIMBL InputManager plugins, which may also be problematic) can be installed in any one of the following directories: ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/ /Library/InputManagers/ ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ ~/Library/InputManagers/ When you see the error in an application, just jot down the name of the plugin and look in those directories for it. When you find the plugin, just move it to a separate folder or toss it into the trash can. The application launch problem should cease. Have you experienced plug-in issues since installing the 10.5.3 update? If so, tell us about it in the comments.
10.5.3: Sync your iPhone contacts with Google
If you have an iPhone synced with Address Book.app, then you've been able to sync your contacts with Yahoo for a while now, but something that has been missing is Google sync. Sure, you can always use Spanning Sync, but we all want something free and built-into the OS. Well, those dreams are now true according to a new Google blog post and the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5.3. On the Mac you normally sync your iPhone with, you will see a new option when you open the "General" tab in Address Book preferences. When you check "Synchronize with Google" you can enter your Google credentials and syncing will proceed. Apple and Google did leave some people out, however, as this new feature works only on Macs that have an iPhone synced with iTunes.Thanks, Nathan and Ryan!
Mac OS X 10.5.3 released
Apple has just released the next point release of Mac OS X Leopard, version 10.5.3. This release has been speculated for a while now, and includes some hefty updates in the 420 MB package. Software Update gives us the following information about the update: The 10.5.3 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.Apple posted detailed information about the update on their website. You can download 10.5.3 by opening up Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update ...). Have you noticed anything different in the update? Be sure to leave a comment or drop us a tip!Thanks to everyone who sent in this tip!
Rumor: Mac OS X 10.5.3 will be released soon
Macsimum News is reporting that the long-awaited Mac OS X 10.5.3 is just about ready to go. Build 9D25 was released to developers at the end of last month with twenty-two fixes in place and no known issues. The most recent build, 9D34, went out with one fix and no new issues. That sounds good to us!You can read the full release notes at Macsimum news, but items that caught our attention include Back To My Mac improvements (I'll settle for it working at all) Graphics driver performance fix Issue with Safari bookmarks and .Mac Mail account resolved Joining AirPort network after wake issue resolved I've personally had trouble with that last one. With WWDC just a couple of weeks away, we assume this update will hit the streets sooner than later.
Mac 101: Customize your application toolbars
Many switchers to Mac OS X have the same question: "how can I customize my application toolbars?" While this is fairly straightforward in Windows, Mac OS X makes it much easier. Just open the customization menu by right-clicking (if you have a one-button mouse you can control + click) on the toolbar, then select "Customize..." When you do this, you are presented with a dialog box that "rolls down" to display all of the items that you can add. Just drag the ones you want to the toolbar. If you find you don't want a certain toolbar item, just open the customize panel again and drag the item off the menu bar. For more tips and tricks like these, visit the Mac 101 section on TUAW.
Time Machine update will offer battery-saving feature
Time Machine is the backup software built into Mac OS X Leopard that people either love or hate. It already saved my backside on the night before a report was due, so I'm a hands-down fan.For now, the available options are limited. According to AppleInsider, that's going to change with the release of Mac OS 10.5.3. It seems that the latest OS build seeded to developers (9D29) features a version of Time Machine which lets laptop owners suspend backups while running on battery power.This is good for two reasons. It eliminates a power draw on the battery, and prevents incomplete backups (should your battery die before a backups session finished).Our only question is ... May we have 10.5.3 now?!?
Flickr Find: Twitter in Mac OS X developer tools
An avid reader of TUAW, Chris Thomson, sent us a link to a Flickr picture (being the nosy people we are, we clicked the link). What we found surprised us -- a Twitter Quartz Composer composition was included as a part of the Mac OS X developer tools for Leopard. "Twitterverse," when tweaked right, can be used as an OS X screen saver and display all of your friends tweets in a graphical way. You can find this Quartz composition in the ~/Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer/Compositions/XML/The Twitterverse/The Twitterverse.qtz. If you want to add it as a screen saver, just drag it onto the preview in the "Screen Saver" part of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane (in System Preferences.app). You can then add your username / password in the screen saver options.Thanks, Chris!
Mac OS X 10.5.3 Build 9D25 has been seeded
According to World of Apple, Mac OS 10.5.3 (build 9D25) has been seeded. No new issues have been identified this time around, and twenty-two fixes have been implemented, including: Various printing issues An issue with Safari bookmarks and .Mac Mail account has been resolved (I'll believe that when I see it) Issues with mounted Boot Camp volumes A crash within the Network Preference Pane So far, 180 fixes have been implemented for this version of the OS. Apple seeded build 9D10 in March and several in the month of April. As of the release of build 9D12 on April 4th, 110 fixes had been applied, meaning an additional 70 bugs have been squashed between then and now.No word on when 10.5.3 will be released officially.Is anyone else hungry for pumpkin seeds now?
Four reasons to get your parents to use Leopard
I held the phone tightly in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed my dry, tired eyes. I looked at the clock in my Mac's menu bar. I had been on the phone for forty-five minutes, with no indication that I'd be hanging it up any time soon."OK," I said in a slow, deliberate tone. "Let's start from the beginning. Click on the Mail menu. A list should appear. Do you see it?"A pause. "Yes," my mother said."What do you see in that list?" I said."File ... About Mail ... Preferences ....""Good. Do you see 'Quit'?""Yes." "Excellent. Click on 'Quit' and we'll start again."Welcome to my personal hell, circa 2006. Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. We're going to be here for quite a while.
AirPort Extreme Update 2008-001 for Tiger
Today Apple released an AirPort Extreme Update for those Mac users running Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4). Here's the information that Software Update gives us: This update is recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers running Tiger OS and improves the reliability of AirPort connections.You can get this update by either opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site.
