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Mac 101: OS X Lion's new window resizing features
In all versions of Mac OS X prior to Lion, re-sizing a window meant either clicking the green "traffic light" button in the upper left corner or clicking and dragging the bottom right corner. Windows switchers in particular have found this a frustrating departure from the behavior in other operating systems, where you can generally resize a window from any edge. Switchers (and the rest of us) can rejoice now that OS X Lion is out, because in Lion you can resize a window from anywhere along its edges, not just the bottom right corner. Simply point your mouse pointer along a window's edge, and it should change to two opposing arrows indicating the direction in which the window can be resized. Clicking and dragging a window's horizonal or vertical edge will resize it horizontally or vertically. As in earlier versions of OS X, clicking and dragging along the corners will allow you to resize the window in both dimensions at once. Also new to OS X Lion are optional modifier keys while resizing a window, as described by developer Daniel Jalkut. Holding down the Option key while resizing will cause the window to expand in equal dimensions on both sides at once; in other words, holding Option and dragging one horizontal edge will cause both horizontal edges of a window to "grow" simultaneously. Holding the Shift key while resizing will cause the window to retain its current proportions while resizing, so if you have a window that's perfectly square or a 4:3 rectangle, it will stay that shape even as you shrink it or make it bigger. That may come in particularly handy if you do a lot of graphics work on your Mac and want to keep your windows' proportions constrained when resizing images. This is not to be confused with the double arrows you may see in the top right corner of certain apps' windows, like Safari, Mail, or iPhoto. Those arrows activate full-screen mode for the application and cause it to fill your Mac's screen. If you activate this feature accidentally, reverting the window to its original size is easy. Move your mouse pointer toward the upper-right corner of your screen, and the menubar should roll down, revealing a blue icon with white arrows facing each other. Click that icon to exit full-screen mode and restore your window to its original size.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Moom
Window managers are numerous on the Mac, with most relying on keyboard shortcuts or edge snapping. Moom is different. Moom integrates into the existing Apple UI by providing a pop-up menu when you hover your mouse over the green "maximize" button in the top left-hand corner of your window. Clicking on one of the Moom menu options moves and zooms (mooms) your window to the desired sector of the screen. By default you've got horizontal and vertical half-screen configurations as well as full screen. If you want a quarter screen window, you can click and drag on the default Moom buttons to define the desired quarter. Sending the window to another monitor is as easy as dragging one of the buttons in the desired direction of the monitor. A grid below the buttons allows you to quickly define a new size and position by selecting the squares required. If all your Mooming gets a bit crazy, you can move the window back to its original position with the revert arrow. You can also define custom mooms in the settings, which are then accessible via a drop-down menu from the Moom pop-up or menu bar. Moom also includes robust support for keyboard shortcuts, including binding of window sizes and positions to individual shortcut keys. Moom takes keyboard usage one stage further with a keyboard control mode in which you can move the window around with the arrow keys, moom a window to any of the half-screen configurations, send it full screen or centered and even send it to the next monitor. Moom is also able to run as a menu bar icon, a standard OS X program or even "faceless" (hidden). We've covered a few other window management utilities on TUAW, but it's safe to say Moom is one of the best. For US$4.99 it's going to be one of the first apps I install on a Mac from here on in. If you're not convinced, give the free trial a go from the Many Tricks website.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Flexiglass
There are many things that OS X does well, and a few things that it could do better. One area of potential weakness is window management, and that's where Flexiglass comes in. Flexiglass, a US$7.99 (currently 20% off) app from the Mac App Store, adds to and enhances the built-in window management features of OS X. It allows you to quickly resize and move a window using any part of said window when a modifier key is held down (the Option key by default), not just the title bar or the resize corner. With the modifier key, a left click and drag allows you to move the window, while a right click resizes the window, altering its size from the bottom or right hand-side edges. If on a trackpad, one, two or three-finger mousing does the same. The result is a fast and efficient means of window movement and resizing that doesn't get in the way of normal operations. Flexiglass also allows you to move and resize windows to set positions like full screen, half screen horizontally or vertically by dragging the window to the edges of the screen or through keyboard shortcuts. An option to double click the title bar or right click the green zoom button to maximize a window is also included, while a right click on the red button will quit the program, not just close the window. Flexiglass rolls in many features found in other separate apps, with lots of options to enable or disable features that you don't want. It's a fast, slick experience that caters to keyboard and mouse jockeys alike, so it's well worth considering if you find OS X lacking in the window management department.
How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom
Myriam Joire (tnkgrl) was born wearing combat boots and holding a keyboard; moments later she picked up a soldering iron. She's been stomping, typing and hacking ever since. In her regular series, she'll share her tips, tricks, and mods on everything from phones to netbooks -- and be sure to catch her weekly on the Engadget Mobile podcast. Things used to be simple: you either had a CDMA device with no SIM, or a GSM device with a SIM. If your GSM device was unlocked you could swap SIMs between carriers, and if was locked, you could swap SIMs between accounts on the same carrier. Basically, an unlocked phone meant mobile freedom. At first, the only complication was the different frequencies used for GSM in different parts of the world, which was remedied with quadband radios. Then 3G was introduced, with different frequencies used by different carriers in the same geographic area, like North America. Today, this proliferation of bands makes it difficult to build universal radios, and makes it less appealing to switch carriers. In fact, the only phone that currently supports all 3G frequencies used in North America is the upcoming pentaband Nokia N8. The second obstacle was the introduction of special data plans, either requiring additional service layers (such as BlackBerry or Sidekick plans) or restricting the types of devices permitted as the iPhone and iPad plans do. What used to be as simple as changing APNs is now a Kafkaesque nightmare, complete with nasty "you are using the wrong data plan and we are going to send you a bill" text messages from carriers. Strike three was the micro SIM (also known as the 3FF SIM), popularized by Apple's iPad and the iPhone 4. This smaller form-factor SIM is electrically compatible with the standard SIM we all know and love -- and as such, it's easy to convert a standard SIM into a micro SIM and vice-versa (but still, it's one more hurdle standing in the way of happiness). Let's dive in and take a look at how it's done.
Is Sony's PS3 getting a redesign?
According to T3 magazine and a "particularly well-informed insider," the PS3 is due not just for hard drive updates, but a total design revamp down to a slimmer and smaller package sometime in the Fall. If you believe what you read, the refreshed console will sport all the same specs, but will receive a fresh coat of paint, a trip through the shrinking machine, and probably a lightened load. Of course, this is all just wild speculation coupled with salacious, magazine-selling 3D renders of the phantom device, as Sony denies the existence of an update and we don't really know who this source is. On the other hand, the company pulls this kind of ditzy "who me?" stuff whenever it's got a new product up its sleeve -- though we're not feeling the timing on this shocker.
Mac 101: Three Dock tips
There's a lot to love about the Mac's user-friendly desktop and one of my favorites is the Dock, otherwise known as "that spot at the bottom of the screen where all the application icons line up." Here are a handful of nifty tricks for the dock that new users might like to know about, and long-time users may have forgotten.
