Spaces
Latest
Blizzard previews new Arenas
Old news if you paid attention to our liveblog of the PvP panel at BlizzCon (or if you read through Zach's great analysis of the news we got there), but Blizzard is adding two new Arena spaces to the game, and they've created an official page to show off the new designs and mechanics in each.The Ring of Valor is a new space in Orgrimmar -- it features an elevator that rises up to a starting position that leaves players in close proximity, and then there is a set of fire obstacles and two moving pillars that can be used to as many tactical advantages that you can come up with. The other space, the Dalaran Sewers, also mixes in a few line-of-sight tricks, including a periodic waterfall that blocks LoS and a raised platform in the middle that can only be reached via two sets of stairs on diagonal sides.Personally, I think the new mechanics are exciting, but then again I've played maybe four Arena matches in my life -- word I'm getting from most of the Arena players I know is that these changes add a little too much RNG to the maps (considering the all the obstacles are timed, they're not really random, but that's just what I think). What say you, Arena players?
Dock Spaces: a different Dock for each Space
Dock Spaces is a nifty little utility that allows you to have up to ten different Docks. What makes it different, however, is its integration with OS X's built-in Spaces virtual desktops. Now you can have a different Dock in every Space that automatically switches when you move to the new Space.With Dock Spaces you can use different Docks to give different Spaces a kind of functional utility. For example, you could put all your office type applications in one Space and all your graphics editing applications in another, etc. It can also make it easier to tell exactly which Space you're presently in.Dock Spaces is a free download from Patrick Chamelo (donations requested) and naturally requires Leopard.[via MacBreak Weekly]
OmniWeb 5.8 released
The Omni Group has released version 5.8 of OmniWeb, its venerable browser software. OmniWeb 5.8 is now based on the same version of Webkit as Safari 3.1.x. It also fixes bugs with Spaces, and adds support for non-POSIX file URLs. Users can also choose Google Chrome in the list of user-agent strings. Full release notes are also available. OmniWeb 5.8 is available from Omni's website, and works with Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later. The software is $14.95, with upgrades starting at $4.95 for users of Omniweb 4.
Important Spaces change in 10.5.3
Over at Daring Fireball John Gruber has discovered an interesting change in the recently released 10.5.3 update. There is now a checkbox in the Spaces tab of the Exposé & Spaces Preference Pane which changes what happens if you switch to an application (via ??? + Tab or the Dock) that does not have a window open in the the Space you are working in. With the checkbox checked it continues to work the way it always has, viz. it will switch to the Space with a window open for that application. If it is unchecked it will not switch spaces, but rather merely activate that application in the Space you're working in.Gruber considers this is a significant change, because it allows you to use the Spaces on a task basis rather than an application basis. The behavior of the Dock icon also has changed. Clicking multiple times on the Dock icon of an application with no open windows will produce different effects: clicking once will activate the application in that space; clicking a second time will switch to a Space where it has open windows. Be sure to check out Gruber's full description for more details, or just try it for yourself. I completely agree that this is the way Spaces should work, and it's great to see Apple providing the option for those of us who prefer to work this way. If you prefer organizing Spaces by application rather than task (the "classic" Spaces behavior), just leave the box checked.
TUAW Tip: Assigning apps to Spaces
Spaces, Leopard's virtual desktop feature, is excellent for expanding your desktop by up to 16 workspaces, however, it would be really cool if you could assign specific applications to always open in the same space. Well, you can!All you have to do is open the Spaces preference pane (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Exposé and Spaces > Spaces tab). Once there, just drag the application you would like to add to the specific space in the overview pane. You can also add applications by using the list below the spaces overview, which is also how you remove the application assignments (just click the application in the list and then click the minus button). Thanks, Tim!
Player housing revisited, Blizzard still not interested
Of all the recurring topics Blizzard faces on the forums, player housing might be the most recurring-- since many other MMOs are more than happy to offer customizable spaces to their players in the game world, a lot of players continually ask Blizzard why they haven't. And the answer is only partially unclear: as you might expect, Blizzard isn't interested in doing something if they can't do it better than everyone else, and at this point they just haven't figured out exactly how to do it their own polished way.But in its current iteration on the forums, there's a bit of a surprise: many players don't care about player housing in the first place. As Drysc says, "support is not widespread," and considering everything that Blizzard is working on, there's no way they're going to jump into something as big as player housing without having a large portion of the player base behind them.Then again, players are always in favor of customizing their characters-- look at the hairstyles coming up in the next expansion. If Blizzard can figure out a way to give players a customizable space that was both great looking and easy to customize-- something players could show off to each other and store achievements in-- then there's no doubt that most players would probably jump at the chance.
Warp: change Spaces with your mouse
Kent Sutherland, the developer of the well-known Chax, a utility for making iChat easier to use, has a nice new utility for improving Leopard's Spaces virtual desktops as well. Warp is a preference pane allows you to switch between Spaces just by hovering the mouse cursor on the screen edge. You can set the switch delay as well as require a modifier key if you prefer. In some ways this is such a natural addition that it's disappointing that it wasn't built into Spaces from the beginning.Warp is a free download, but donations are requested.
Seven cool features of Leopard that might get stubborn friends to upgrade
There are dozens of little niceties in Leopard: like how Front Row now lives on my iBook (sans remote) and allows me to operate the thing as a sort of thin-client media jukebox (courtesy a Mac mini server). Or how Font Book now prints books of your fonts (especially nice for those non-techies). With the 300+ new features, I still have yet to fully explore this thing, but I'm certainly starting to believe this is the Mac OS Apple really wanted to deliver a few years back. There's no doubt in my mind this is a big turning point for the platform, and I really believe user adoption in 2008 will be unprecedented as a result.Following is a list of features and specific "cool things" I think you can point out if you are trying to explain to a friend why they should upgrade. For the record, I installed Leopard on a 1.24 GHz iBook G4, and it runs beautifully, which in itself is a selling point.1. Finally, a Record button for your actions Automator now has a UI recorder. Anyone who remembers the good old days of macro recorders before OS 8 will look at this and sigh, but I, for one, welcome my new robot overlord. Automator is finally useful for mortals with UI recording. Oh sure, it isn't perfect, but it really beats trying to explain just the concept of Automator to the average human. Never mind the metaphors and the workflow within Automator itself -- eyes will glaze over. UI recording is absolute heaven when you do a lot of drudge work, like contracts, filling, prepping photos, etc.2. Mail gets GTD fever If power users turn up their noses at Stationary in Mail, point out how they can now put their notes, to-do's and RSS into Mail. I haven't really set all this up as I'd like yet (the iBook isn't my primary work machine), but my unfettered hatred of Mail.app is somewhat lessened now by the fact that it is starting to behave like a "real" email client. The notes and to-do's are icing on the cake, but also very important if you like to get things done and stay organized. A few smart folders and you have a truly powerful system. Still, it is disappointing to see Apple take half a decade to figure out the whole "archive mailbox" thing, but pobody's nerfect I guess.3. Web clipping makes Dashboard relevant again My wife quit using Dashboard long ago. It simply served no purpose for her. But web clipping, baked right in to Safari? That had her mildly interested. Tracking the top 3 Twitters, or whatever the top story on Perez or TMZ happens to be with a keystroke is a selling point for folks who aren't using RSS. The only downside is that you need a pretty big screen if you want more than a couple of pages to appear.4. Shared drives finally "just work" and Shared Screens work with other OS'esGranted, there have been issues with networking in Leopard, but seeing shared Macs in my sidebar? That's pretty sweet. In previous versions of OS X you had to click on Network, now it just shows up. Is a few clicks a big deal? Well, for the average user, yes, this is a big deal. The average user doesn't like to explore. They can be timid, and frankly, don't necessarily know (or care) what the Network thing even is. Displaying networked components directly in Finder will greatly increase the probability that users will at least see everything. It has already saved me time when trying to reconnect and move things around my home LAN. For me, the real fun was seeing how VNC "just worked" when I was able to access my Mac mini (which was already running as a VNC server) via Screen Sharing. Even though the mini runs Tiger, and despite a slightly wonky connection, overall it was super easy to set-up. Think about it another way: average users don't want to run a third-party application like Chicken of the VNC. Average users don't necessarily trust those apps (thank you, Bonzi Buddy) and it is a lot easier to remotely control a machine if the functionality is built into the OS. Oh, and did I mention you can share screens with Linux? I finally have a use for that old Dell laptop and my Ubuntu CD!
Microsoft rolls out Windows Live services for Nokia S60 devices
Wait, what? File this one at the very top of the "strange bedfellows" category: Nokia and Microsoft have stopped scrapping for smartphone supremacy long enough to bring a full suite Windows Live services to a number of Nokia's S60 devices -- devices, may we add, that do direct battle with Windows Mobile hardware. Specifically, Hotmail, Messenger, Contacts, and Spaces are all available immediately as downloads for N73, N76, N80 Internet Edition, N93i, and N95 in select European and Middle Eastern countries (no US love for the time being); Microsoft's saying that the services are free for now, but users may be looking at a subscription fee down the road. To be fair, this isn't the first time Microsoft has extended a Windows Live olive branch to Espoo, but it's the first time the partnership has been this broad. It's gonna get even broader, too; look for Windows Live to find its way into Nokia's Series 40 platform some time next year.
VirtueDesktops Developer Calls It Quits
Tony Arnold, the developer of the free virtual desktop program VirtueDesktops, on Saturday announced that he is no longer going to develop the software. Citing Leopard's forthcoming Spaces and the time necessary to work on the project as reasons, he has decided to stop development at this time. He says he doesn't want to kill the project and so invites other developers to take it up. It's sad to see development end on a nice piece of software (though, personally I thought the commercial You Control: Desktops was considerably more stable), but as Tony says, the writing was on the wall pretty much as soon as Spaces was announced at WWDC last year.[Via Digg]
Get the skinny on Spaces
Our good friend Dan Frakes, writing for Macworld, takes a look at Spaces which is Apple's virtual desktop manager to be introduced in Leopard. Dan points out that Apple isn't the first to think of this feature (much like Time Machine) but that they have implemented it well.Dan gives Spaces a very thorough going-over and ends up with some unanswered questions. Here's hoping that Apple is listening (which I bet they are).
Why wait for Leopard? Get a virtual desktop manager now
Mac publications are all taking a new eye to the apps and features that Leopard is 'killing,' and Dan's post about the 7 apps that Leopard kills inspired me to check out the current market of virtual desktop managers for Mac OS X. Since I'm on a MacBook Pro however, the only one I could really put through the ringer was VirtueDesktops, which is fine since it seems like a feature-packed and very capable virtual desktop manager. Hence, another post in an ongoing theme here at TUAW: Why wait for Leopard?While we didn't get a full shakedown of Spaces at WWDC 2006, VirtueDesktops seems to offer the same functionality, with quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Barb blogged VirtueDesktops in February 2005, but it has certainly come a ways since then. It still offers a basic set of four desktops with the ability to add more, and it's very keyboard shortcut-friendly. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of this highly customizable desktop manger: Eye candy - a wide variety of the standard Aqua transitions are available for switching between desktops. This alone is worth showing off to friends, even if you aren't into the multiple desktop thing AppleScript-able Extensible with plugins Works with Growl to let you know which desktop you've switched to (you can name them for better organization and recognition) Sticky windows and apps - you can bind apps to one desktop or another, or specify them to show on all desktops. This is handy, for example, if Mail.app is 'stuck' to a 'Communication' desktop. Clicking on Mail.app in the dock will automatically switch to the required desktop There's even more to this virtual desktop utility, and since Leopard is taking a while to cook, why not check it out? VirtueDesktops is donationware and a Universal Binary.
Engadget: "Time Machine restores best, not first"
Ross Rubin has posted an interesting Switched On column at Engadget this week analyzing two of the largest enhancements on their way in Leopard: Time Machine and Spaces. Ross points out that, obviously, Apple isn't quite first with a virtual desktop manager or a piece of backup software - not by any stretch of the imagination. He even explains some of these features' counterparts from other platforms, which is an interesting trip through time and other platforms. However, Ross tips his hat to Apple's versions because they do soar above the rest in their presentation, integration and (an Apple trademark) user experience. Time Machine wins a specific merit in its own right because it seems to be the first backup utility to allow users to browse the history of their directory structure just as it existed on their machine - with file previews, folder structure and everything. This is especially useful because of the visual nature of so much of our work; tracking down a deleted roll of images, for example, is much easier by browsing their thumbnails and original folder organization than trying to guess whether IMG_0841.JPG or IMG_0814.JPG was the picture of little Johnny taking his first steps.It's a good article that gives credit where credit is due, and offers some high hopes for the quality of these major new features.
Steve reveals 10 features of Leopard for Spring 2007 release
If you're waiting for Leopard, you'll have to cool your heels until Spring 2007, when Apple officially promises the release. To wet your appetite, Apple previewed 10 Leopard features at WWDC today: Time Machine - a new built-in backup system that will back up your entire system and allow you to restore the whole thing or just selected files. Enhancements to iChat -- including a tabbed interface, custom still or video backdrops for your video iChat, iChat Theater (which lets you show iPhoto pics or a Keynote presentation during an iChat), and Photo Booth effects to make yourself look silly during a chat. Other iChat enhancements that were mentioned but not demoed include video recording (yes!), invisible mode, and animated buddy icons. The Apple site also shows the ability to share your desktop during an iChat. Now just let me figure out how to use these features to do screen recordings and machinima -- hmmm. Two dashboard additions -- Web Clip, which allows you to build dynamically updating widgets from any Web page (examples -- a cartoon or bestseller list that updates every day); and DashCode for widget development, complete with modifiable widget templates (for RSS, podcasts, and more), and a library of parts to pop into your widget. Additions to Mail.app -- a To-Do list made automatically from emails and that ties into iCal and other apps; Stationery (rich HTML email templates); and Notes (to replace those reminder emails you've been sending yourself). Universal Access features - natural sounding voiceover, closed captioning in QuickTime, and braille support. Core Animation - with features like keyframing and tweening to help developers create animations. Spotlight enhancement - Spotlight will be able to search other machines on your network, do Boolean search, and will launch your applications for you. Virtual desktop Spaces - letting you combine task-based applications into separate logical desktop configurations. That means you can have one group of apps running for Web design, another for print production, and yet another for podcast creation and editing. You'll be able to drag items between Spaces. Complete package - of built-in apps, including Boot Camp, Front Row, and PhotoBooth. 64 bit processing. There's some mouthwatering stuff here. Now I wonder what those other top secret items are that Steve said he's still keeping under wraps?
