This Week's Apple and Desktop Mac News
PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review. iPod, iPhone,
and Apple TV news is covered in The iNews
Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
Leopard News
News & Opinion
Products
Software
Leopard News
Guide to Installing Mac OS X 10.5 on Day One
Two a Day says:
"For PC users, they don't understand or even believe that on the
Mac, you can randomly just upgrade your Mac and that for 99% of people,
they can come back after 30-minutes when all is installed and ready,
hit RESTART and while it might take a few ticks longer to reboot the
first time, they are set to go.
"I have upgraded an old iMac from 10.1 to 10.4 with nary a problem
and again, PC users will flat out not believe me when I tell it runs
faster and more stable . . . of course, I witnessed a virus
app upgrade killing a PC hard drive so I understand the pain on the
other side . . . Perhaps this analogy will be useful for
you:
"PC OS Upgrade much like a KIDNEY TRANSPLANT.
"Hopefully, it won't die on the operating table.
"Hopefully it won't rejected the transplant and die
"Hopefully it won't a staph infection and die.
"It's risky and if you can use the dialysis machine to get a few
more months or years, so be it . . . it's the last resort
and/or for the very brave to get the transplant.
"Mac OS Upgrade - much like buying a new SHIRT.
"The labels tell you exactly what you will get.
"You might have to wait 30-minutes after washing it before you can
wear it.
"There might a tag you forgot to remove - causing you a minute
discomfort.
"With that said - however - there's the 1% chance you could
encounter major problems so you have to ask yourself if you absolutely
need to do it on day one?"
Editor's note: What a superb - and accurate - analogy! Being a
Windows-user is its own punishment. cm
Link:
Guide to Installing Mac Leopard OS X 10.5 on Day One
Leopard Upgrade Guide Posted
Switch to a Mac says:
"This guide will describe the process of upgrading to Mac OS X
Leopard. As Leopard has not been released yet, we've compiled this
information based on our expectations and experience with previous
upgrades of Mac OS X. This guide will get you to start thinking
about the steps involved a Mac OS X upgrade. If this will be your
first ever Mac OS X upgrade, you'll want to pay close attention.
We describe the process in a few high-level steps. Before we get
started, we'd like to point out that you will want to verify the system
requirements as outlined by Apple. If you have a recent Mac, you'll
shouldn't have any problems upgrading to Leopard."
Link:
Upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard Guide Posted
Extra Tips to Get Your Mac Ready for OS X
Leopard
Mac360's Kate
MacKenzie says:
"How do you plan to upgrade your Mac to OS X Leopard? There are many
ways to get your Mac ready to upgrade, but only two that we recommend
at Mac 360.
"Both upgrade methods involve an extra hard drive, but you'll need
that to take advantage of Time Machine in Leopard anyway.
"First, consider that the files on your Mac, whether Tiger or
Panther, are valuable to you, and losing them would be catastrophic.
Think of it this way: how will you feel if you turn your Mac on and all
your music files, digital photo files, movies, and documents are
gone?
"Anything as important as those files requires a backup plan anyway,
and installing an entirely new operating system as complex as OS X
Leopard requires an emergency plan. You know, just in case.
"Second, Mac users are somewhat spoiled these days because OS X has
been so stable and secure. It's easy to get into a comfort zone and not
worry about the inevitable? Inevitable? Yes, one day something will
crash and all your files, or some of your files, could disappear than
Britney Spears' career."
Link:
Extra Tips to Get Your Mac Ready for OS X Leopard
Leopard Selling Twice as Fast as Tiger Did on
Launch
Macworld UK's
Jonny Evans reports:
"Apple's Leopard is selling twice as fast as Tiger did on launch, as
switchers reject Vista and Apple CEO Steve Jobs talks up the future of
computing.
"Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' is being preordered at twice the
rate Mac OS X 10.4 did in the week before its release, Mac Observer
reports."
Link: Apple's
Leopard Is Selling Twice as Fast as Tiger Did on Launch, as Switchers
Reject Vista
FastMac's T-shirt Give Away Commemorates Leopard's
Launch
PR:
FastMac has announced a free T-shirt give away outside select Apple
stores on October 26th, 2007 to commemorate Apple's Mac OS X Leopard
Launch Event. The T-shirts use movie inspired themes to poke fun at
Microsoft Windows and celebrate Apple's latest (and greatest) operating
system: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The T-shirts will be given away for free
outside select Apple stores nationwide between 4 PM and 6 PM on the day
of the launch. While supplies last, the T-shirts will also be available
to order from FastMac's website.
"With 300 new features and an advanced GUI that pushes the state of
the art, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is sure to be a major hit," said Michael
Lowdermilk, Business Development Manager of FastMac Performance
Upgrades, Inc. "Our new soft wear complements Apple's latest software
perfectly!"
Specifications
FastMac's Leopard Launch Event T-shirts are available in 4 limited
edition designs: "Hasta La Vista" (which features a target scope lens
focusing in on Microsoft Windows in the front and the words "10.26.07
Judgment Day" emblazoned in the back), "Mac to the Future" (which
features a reference to the "other" Time Machine and the words
"10.26.07 The Future is Now" on the back), "A Whole New Xperience"
(which features a space theme in the front and the words "10.26.07 The
Odyssey Begins" in the back) and "300" (which features a reference to
the 300 new features in Mac OS X Leopard in the front and the words
"Madness? This is LEOPARD" in the back).
Compatibility
FastMac's Leopard Launch Event T-shirts are 100% compatible with Mac
or PC, though Mac OS X Leopard requires an Apple computer that is at
least 867 MHz or faster. If you don't have an Apple computer, head on
over to the nearest Apple store and buy one; if you have one that is
slower than 867 MHz, upgrade your processor with one of our high
performance G4 CPU upgrades that start at just $199. All FastMac
products are 100% compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Link: FastMac
News & Opinion
Macs Selling at Eight Times the Industry Rate?
eWeek's Daniel Drew Turner
reports: :
"Apple and analysts quietly suspect that iPods and iPhones may be
selling Macs nearly eight times faster than any major PC brand.
"Few analysts, if any, short the Apple company's stock any more and
fewer still were surprised the PC maker posted positive, and record
breaking, quarterly PC sales figures, which were announced Oct. 22.
"But few expected the pace Apple is making in PC sales.
"The manufacturer moved 2,164,000 Macs in the third quarter of 2007,
up 400,000 from a year ago and eight times the industry average growth
rate, propelling it to the number three PC manufacturer in the U.S.,
all despite the delay of Leopard, the new version of its OS X,
which kept some potential buyers on hold.
"More surprising still is the fact that more than half of those Mac
sales went to first time buyers, prompting the question: what is
selling Macs at eight times the rate of any other PC on the
market?"
Link: Macs Selling at
Eight Times the Industry Rate?
It's Official: Apple's Number Three in the US
BusinessWeek's
Arik Hesseldahl reports:
"The latest PC market share figures from Gartner just landed in my
inbox about an hour ago, and they are very interesting.
"By Gartner's reckoning - and it should be noted that these are
estimates - Apple has finally surpassed both Gateway (now part of Acer)
and Toshiba to make it into third place in the U.S. PC market behind
leaders Dell and Hewlett-Packard."
Link:
It's Official: Apple's Number Three in the US
Apple's US Market Share Now 8.1% - or 6.3%
Fortune's
Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports:
"Dueling reports from Gartner and IDC show Apple grabbing a larger
slice of domestic computer market in the third quarter of 2007,
although the reports disagree about just how large that slice is.
"Gartner has Apple's market share climbing to 8.1%, up from 6.2% a
year earlier.
"IDC also shows strong growth for the company, but by its
calculations, Apple now commands a 6.3% market share, up from 5.7% last
summer.
"Their findings are summarized in the charts below...."
Link:
Reports: Apple's US Market Share Now 8.1%. Or Is It 6.3%?
Aluminum iMac Users on Report Condensation Behind
Glass LCD Panels
Daily Tech
reports:
"Apple is certainly not without notorious build-quality problems.
Users reported issues with almost every first-generation product: the
iPod nano, MacBook Pro and iPhone all come to mind. Now Apple users
report new iMac computers also carries this same stigma....
"This time iMac users are reporting condensation behind the glass
panel that shows up after short periods of use. Some owners report that
the condensation goes away shortly and doesn't come back, other users
report the condensation stays for extended periods...."
Link: iMac Users on Apple
Support Forums Report Condensation Behind Glass LCD Panels
Why Users Ditch OS X for Windows
OSWeekly's
Matt Hartley says:
"Despite my continued reluctance to make the OS X plunge, I'm amazed
that Windows users who are looking to upgrade their existing computers
are automatically considering Vista as the best option.
"After looking into this closely, the reason why the casual user is
still buying PCs despite hassles with Windows is not the common reasons
that many Mac owners might suspect. It's cost, pure and simple.
"Macs Do Cost More for Comparable Power, But it May Be Worth it in
the End. If one more person points me to a Mini and tells me this is
going to replace a 2.00 GHz PC with standalone video and a SATA drive,
I'm going to scream. Despite Apple providing a superior OS for the
casual consumer, it remains a price issue for most people.
"You take any unsuspecting cash conscious family and if you actually
tell me that they are going to be willing to drop $1,099 versus $499 on
a notebook for their child, you had better present one serious sales
pitch. Even considering the long-term value, malware-free environment,
those parents would be presenting their soon to be college aged kid,
the fact is they are not informed enough to understand that the $499
notebook is an utter junk, thanks to poor hardware quality."
Link:
Why Users Ditch OS X for Windows
16 19 All Time Worst Apple
Products?
oobject.com
says:
"The Oobject Rotten Apple Award. To mark this week's 10th
anniversary of the death of the Newton we have picked some of the
products from Apple, that we'd rather forget.
"We could have picked many more from the years when Jobs was in the
wilderness and Apple attempted to be market driven rather than design
driven, under Sculley. Reactive rather than pro-active. One problem,
the gallery would have been a sea of similar, anonymous items. For the
Sculley era machines, assume that we mean every product in the
range....
"Vote for your all time worst product...."
Editor's note: When I checked, the LC 500 series was leading (?) in
the vote tally. Hmmm. I used an LC 520
for several years, and it might have been ugly (definitely homely), but
it was a good, dependable computer. Form follows function, IMHO. And
yeesh - what's the Umax SuperMac
S900 doing in sixth place? I've got one of those too, and it is a
great computer. My daughter also had one, with a G3 upgrade, and got it
to run Tiger successfully. With six PCI slots, eight RAM slots, six
drive bays, and two SCSI buses, easily upgradable and a solid,
dependable performer, what's not to like? Even the styling is
inoffensive. cm
Other editor's note: The article originally listed 16 items and grew
to 18 by the time we published The 10
Worst Macs Ever. The Performa 52xx/62xx was added after that. For
another take on the subject, see The 10 Worst Macs
Ever Built on Insanely Great Mac. dk
Link: 19 All
Time Worst Apple Products?
Products
Black Arrow - The New Label for Apple Addict
Children Clothes
PR: Mum and Dad can easily find on the web any T-shirt they
like, but concerning children choosing is always an hard task to
accomplish, and all we're up to are always unarmed teddy-bears and
little pink butterflies.
'Black
Arrow' steps into the scene to fill this gap providing you a tiny
collection for our little Mac Lover friends. Or better: for those who
will become Mac addicted thanks to the giving care of their
parents.
T-shirts for the youngest are suitable for six months children up to
12 months. We provide you three different kind of design, that is for
Vintage Apple lovers, iPhone future owners, and a 'keyboard shortcut'
to show the world your 'New Document'.
Your children will never go unnoticed on the nearby playground park
again in front of your Windows Victims neighbors.
T-shirts are now available on two different colors: steel gray or
yellow.
They are ready to be delivered on 220 countries all over the
world.
Mauro Minnone
Link: Black
Arrow
Hitachi Unveils Low Power 3.5" Hard
Drives
Hardmac's
Lionel reports:
"The Energy Star label added to most of consumer electronics devices
indicates that such devices follow regulations for low power
consumption, especially in sleep mode.
"In order to follow specifications defined in the Energy Star Fourth
Edition, Hitachi announced
series of power-friendly 3.5" HDs: DeskStar P7K500. Storage space of
those HDs will range from 250 to 500 GB and power consumption will
range from 3.6 W in idle mode and 6.4 W in working mode for the 250 GB
model....
"To achieve such performance, Hitachi has been using technologies
developed for 2.5" notebook HDs...."
Link: Hitachi
Unveils Low Power Consumption 3.5" HDs
Tandberg Data Shipping VXA-320 Products with
FireWire for Mac OS X
PR: Tandberg Data, a leading global supplier of backup and
archiving technologies, today announced the availability of two new
products for Mac OS X. The VXA-320 FireWire/USB Tape Drive, and the
StorageLoader VXA-320 FireWire, designed for the Mac OS X platform, are
now available and include backup and recovery software, providing Apple
customers feature-rich data protection solutions at industry-leading
prices.
The Tandberg Data family of data protection products for Mac OS X is
designed and tested for compatibility with Mac Xserve and Xserve RAID
to ensure reliable data protection. The new products complement the
Tandberg StorageLoader with the LTO-3 half-height drive, the industry's
first 1U, LTO-3 tape autoloader also Apple-certified for the Mac OS
X.
The VXA-320 Packet Drive records up to 320 GB compressed data to a
single cartridge at a transfer rate of up to 24 MB/sec. (compressed).
The StorageLoader VXA-320 is a full-featured, sleek, 1u autoloader with
10 cartridge slots offering up to 3.2 TB of capacity and a bar code
reader standard. Both the VXA-320 drive and StorageLoader VXA offer the
flexibility and convenience of hot-swappable FireWire connectivity -
ideal for the Apple user.
"As the only tape format with Packet Technology and the scalability
of three different cartridge capacities, VXA is a smart choice for IT
managers who want to step up to tape back up," says Pat Clarke,
Executive Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Service.
"VXA-320 FireWire products are all hot-swappable products, fully
compatible with all Mac operating systems as well as all VXA-2 and
VXA-320 products shipping today. This newest generation VXA drive also
incorporates a high-speed USB 2.0 interface (drive only) for additional
flexibility for both Mac and Windows applications."
About the VXA-320 FireWire/USB Tape Drive and StorageLoader VXA
FireWire
Tandberg Data's award-winning Packet Technology enables VXA®
Packet drives, autoloaders and tapes to read and write data in packets
just like the Internet, providing far superior restore integrity,
exceptional transfer speeds and scalable capacity. VXA Packet drives
and autoloaders deliver transfer speeds up to 86 GB per hour with
VXA-320, allowing network administrators to backup 320 GB of data in
less than four hours. With Check-After-Write and 4-level Reed-Solomon
Error Correction, VXA products are up to 180 times more likely to
restore your data - even from a damaged tape. Superior product reviews
and adoption by major OEMs have established VXA Packet Technology as
the new standard in tape backup.
VXA-320 delivers full read-and-write compatibility with VXA's second
generation, protecting the investment of users who have already stepped
up to the VXA platform. With VXA-320, VXA-2 users can keep their same X
Media tapes and immediately realize twice the capacity and speed. Only
VXA offers three different cartridge sizes (320/172/80 GB), providing
users the flexibility to choose the capacity that best meets their
current storage and budget needs and giving VXA-320 users a clear
price-per-gigabyte advantage over any other entry-level tape
format.
The VXA-320 FireWire Tape Drive and StorageLoader VXA with FireWire
include EMC (formerly Dantz) Retrospect Workgroup software. Both
products will be available now through the Apple Store and through
Tandberg Data's global network of resellers and distributors. Estimated
prices for the VXA-320 FW drive and StorageLoader VXA-320 are $1199 and
$2170 respectively.
Link: Tandberg
DX QuikStor Available with 300 GB
Capacity
PR: Tandberg Data, a global supplier of backup and archiving
solutions, today announced the general availability of the internal RDX
QuikStor with a USB connection, enabling customers to free up SATA
ports for use with internal RAID configurations, and allowing simple
integration without requiring a HBA. Tandberg Data is one of the first
vendors to supply the 300 GB RDX® QuikStor cartridge.
The RDX QuikStor is a disk-based removable storage system with
portable cartridges that offer rugged, reliable and convenient backup,
ideal for the SMB market. It combines the benefits of tape -
reliability, portability, archive life, and low cost - with the
performance, speed, random access, and ease of use of hard disk
technology. With 300 GB of capacity, the RDX QuikStor is an ideal
replacement to entry-level tape drives like DAT and Travan.
The RDX closely follows the development of mobile hard disks. The
300 GB capacity (native), the largest "ruggedized" disk in its class,
will allow customers with larger data sets to rapidly store their data
on the RDX QuikStor. With its well-defined roadmap, a three-year
warranty and full backward and forward compatibility, the RDX QuikStor
offers users investment protection while providing a secure, fast, and
easy-to-use backup and archiving solution for data.
"Our customers have been asking us for an internal USB device, as
they require enhanced flexibility when integrating the storage devices
into their systems," says Pat Clarke, Executive vice president of
Global Sales, Marketing and Service at Tandberg Data. "The internal USB
device makes for easier integration, and frees up SATA ports. The new
capacity offers customers a lower cost per Gigabyte, while still
providing full forward and backward compatibility."
About the RDX QuikStor
RDX QuikStor from Tandberg Data is designed to replace current
low-end tape technologies such as Travan, DAT, and AIT, where ease of
use and cost are prioritized. The device delivers all the benefits of
tape and disk without the risks inherent in either technology. Like
tape, the RDX QuikStor cartridges are removable and portable for
off-site storage, disaster recovery and archival applications. They can
be safely archived for more than a decade and it is an inexpensive
backup and recovery solution. Unlike other low-end tape media that may
need to be replaced after 50-100 uses, RDX QuikStor media has been
built to endure over 10 years of average use.
Consisting of either a 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch internal drive by
connecting to the host either via S-ATA or USB, the RDX QuikStor has
been designed for high reliability. The cartridge houses a
high-capacity mobile 2.5" hard disk drive in a reinforced, shockproof
design to protect the hard disk drive even when it is outside the drive
case.
As well as offering professional-class reliability, the native 45
MB/sec transfer rate reduces the traditional backup window from hours
to minutes. For example, it takes the Tandberg RDX QuikStor system less
than an hour to backup 80 GB of native data and milliseconds to access
files.
RDX QuikStor cartridges range in capacity from 40 GB, 80 GB, 120 GB,
160 GB and 300 GB. They are fully forward and backward compatible
without limitation, meaning that future cartridges with ever-increasing
capacities and faster data rates will work in legacy systems.
Pricing and Availability
The 300 GB cartridge for the RDX QuikStor is now available through
Tandberg Data's established channel of distribution and reseller
partners. The manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of the RDX
QuikStor with a 300 GB cartridge including all necessary accessories
and Symantec Backup Exec QS backup software is $699. The MSRP of the
300 GB cartridge is $499. The prices of the RDX QuikStor start at $349
for a drive with a 40 GB cartridge. Cartridge prices start at $115 for
40 GB.
Link: Tandberg
Software
MacPorts Up and Running
CommandLineMac reports:
"MacPorts is a system designed to let you easily install and manage
free, open source software on OS X. Until late in 2006, the project was
named DarwinPorts. There are disk image downloads available for 10.3
(Panther) and 10.4 (Tiger). If you have a different version, you can
download the source code and compile it.
"If you are new the 'ports' concept, the way the system works may be
hard to grasp. The ports system was developed in the BSD community as a
way to easily install and manage software on any BSD system. It was
designed to automate the manual process programmers followed to port
software from one Unix-like system to another. Most of the software in
the ports repository is written in the C language and requires a C
compiler....
"An Apple enhancement to the original ports system allows some
software to be built (compiled) as universal binaries. This option may
be desirable if you share binaries between Intel and PPC Macs, or plan
to upgrade soon and don't want to install your ports again."
Link: MacPorts,
Up and Running
iFreeMem 1.7 - Memory Optimizer for Mac OS X
with Mac OS X 10.3.9 Support
PR: Why would you use iFreeMem?
If you are in the middle of using an application and the system
becomes unresponsive for several seconds it could be the memory manager
working and claiming back some of the Inactive memory for your
application to use, if you wish to avoid this then iFreeMem may be for
you.
Some scenarios where iFreeMem can be useful:
- You have been busy on your laptop preparing for a presentation
meeting and you would rather not have the system become unresponsive in
the middle of your demo, might be worth running iFreeMem shortly before
the meeting.
- You are a musician or DJ, about to do a live performance or session
using your Mac, you want to ensure everything will run smoothly and on
cue.
- You have just closed down a whole load of applications as you are
just about to start a new task with different applications, you might
want to use iFreeMem here.
- You are about to run some memory hungry applications, such as
graphic design software packages (Photoshop, Flash etc.)
- Your CPU is not working hard at all, yet you are convinced your Mac
used to run a little quicker when you first got it, could it be that
the activity of your startup items cause Inactive memory to fill-up
when you log-in, and your memory hungry applications are having to grab
Inactive memory back fairly soon, making them appear to run much
slower?
- You have low 'Free' memory and high 'Inactive' memory and you want
to test if your applications performs better with more 'Free'
memory.
- You just have a specific application you wish to run as fast as
possible without memory manager interruptions.
- Ideally, you would like to buy more memory, but its too expensive.
This app might be a solution for a performance degradation you could
have been experiencing when Free memory gets very low?
Here's Apple's official description of four types of random-access
memory (RAM)
Wired memory - This information can't be cached to disk, so it must
stay in RAM. The amount depends on what applications you are using.
Active memory - This information is currently in RAM and actively
being used.
Inactive memory - This information is no longer being used and has
been cached to disk, but it will remain in RAM until another
application needs the space. Leaving this information in RAM is to your
advantage if you (or a client of your computer) come back to it
later.
Free memory - This memory is not being used.
What does all this mean?
This means you shouldn't worry when the Free memory is low. The only
time Free memory should be high is right after the computer starts up.
As you use applications or services, memory is used and transitions to
Inactive. Applications that need more memory will take from the
Inactive, but the Inactive is there just in case you need it again. If
the combination of Free and Inactive is very low, then you might need
more memory.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20071011054433/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918
Especially useful for users of memory hungry applications, i.e.:
- Musicians
- DJs
- Graphic Designers
- Final Cut Pro users
- Photographers
- Scientists
- Parallels Desktop users
Rejuvenates old Machines and optimizes new machines.
System requirements: Mac 10.3.9+
System support: PPC/Intel
$18.90 (£10) shareware
Link: iFreeMem
PageSender Adds Leopard Compatibility,
Printing Enhancements
PR: SmileOnMyMac has released PageSender 4.1, an update to
its top-rated fax software for Mac OS X. The update features
compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and improved printing speed
and reliability.
PageSender users who are planning to upgrade to the new Leopard
operating system must have version 4. Previous versions of PageSender
will not run under Leopard.
PageSender costs $39.95. PageSender 4.1 is a free update for
registered users of PageSender 4. Registered users of previous versions
of PageSender can upgrade to version 4 for $20. A fully functioning
demo version is available at
http://www.smileonmymac.com/pagesender/download.html . Mac OS X 10.4 is
required.
What's new in PageSender 4.1:
- Leopard compatible
- Improved printing speed and reliability
- Fixed some Leopard-specific visual glitches
- Fixed bug in cover page field substitution
PageSender features:
- Send faxes and (PDF) emails directly from the print dialog
- Receive faxes using your fax modem
- Print, Email, and even AppleScript received faxes
- Filter out spam faxes by station name
- Design custom fax cover pages
- Use with any popular address book or Email client
- Live addressing with Address Book, Entourage, Now Contact (4.2.5
and later), and Palm Desktop (4.1 and later)
- Attach additional PDF documents when faxing
- Use any font on your system (including Chinese, Japanese,
Korean)
- Send faxes easily via eFax, jConnect, EasyLink, MaxEmail or
RapidFax services
- Automate sending of faxes and (PDF) Emails via AppleScript
- Available in English, Japanese, German, Italian, and French
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 and above
Pricing: $39.95. Upgrades for registered users of previous versions:
$20
Site licenses and volume pricing are available at reasonable rates.
Contact support@pagesender.com for information and rates.
Link: PageSender
XsTrimmer Trims Redundant Code from
Universal Binary Files and Language Files
PR: XsTrimmer trims your Universal Binary files and language
files to save space and speed up your applications. It also
automatically backs-up the application, if you choose to. Version 1.0
only runs on PPC.
Size down and speed up your apps as Apple makes its switch to the
Intel platform. Although a very smooth transaction, extra code is
generated in the executable files that is not needed. XsTrimmer
identifies the code which is not used and removes it safely. This
normally eliminates half of the code in an executable.
There are also multiple language files in an application that are
not used. XsTrimmer also eliminates this safely. This also shrinks the
application size tremendously.
XsTrimmer was created with advance and complex features in mind.
Quite a bit of brain juice has gone into the development of XsTrimmer
on how to save space, without much hassle and risk.
The table below gives you an idea of how much you can save:
| Application |
Before |
After |
Savings (%) |
| Adium |
32.66 MB |
15.24 MB |
53% |
| Firefox |
47.66 MB |
31.01 MB |
35% |
| iPhoto |
157.93 MB |
84.04 MB |
47% |
| VLC |
72.75 MB |
41.40 MB |
43% |
| Mail |
44.35 MB |
7.49 MB |
83% |
| Gizmo |
40.68 MB |
19.79 MB |
51% |
Features
- Automatically detects your architecture and removes the unneeded
binary architectures.
- Supports unlimited architectures.
- Automatically scans your computer for trimmable applications. Also
add your own paths to the scanlist.
- Automated smartlist or blacklist prevent problematic apps from
being trimmed, can be downloaded and updated from the internet.
- Exclude your chosen directories and applications from being
scanned.
- Reconstructive backup/restore makes application backups really
really small, and you can automatically restore it with a click of a
button. This feature is to ensure that keeping backups of apps does not
defeat the purpose of trimming files. (XsTrimmer PRO only)
- Compressed full backup, automatically compresses your backups so
you can keep it without worrying about not using space wisely.
(XsTrimmer PRO only)
- Smart backup makes backup copies of odd and suspicious files that
might cause problems while or after being trimmed. Created specially
for hassle-less trimming. (XsTrimmer PRO only)
- Restore backup files easily, reconstructive backup files from the
restore list and full compressed backup files by double clicking on
them. (XsTrimmer PRO only)
- Total savings counter will tell you how much space you've saved
overtime.
- Configurable backup path, choose which languages to save. Info
display which show information about an application and much
more...
New in version 1.0.3: Fixed a silly bug that prevents trimming of
apps that use X11 like gimp and inkscape, problem was any executables
in "Resources" will not be trimmed.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
System Support: PPC/Intel
Free
Link: XsTrimmer
Leap, the Next Generation Macintosh
Finder
PR: The venerable Finder in Apple's Mac OS X is a 20 year old
metaphor. Leap, written by the experienced, Mac-only, AppleDesign
award winning software team at Ironic Software, is the new way to
organize and find files. Leap represents a major breakthrough in how
the files and folders on a computer are visualized.
Ironic Software has released the first public preview of Leap, a
major new application that it says will change how people interact with
their computer. Leap is the second application released by Ironic, the
first being the well regarded 'Yep' which is a PDF manager for OS X.
You can read more in
Charles Moore Reviews Yep 1.6.2 PDF Document Manager Utility.
As an early product tester put it: "Leap gives me the feeling of
having control over the chaos that inevitably creeps into the home
folder over the years, despite all efforts. And its incredible what
stuff you can find that you didn't even know exists"
As Mac users for over 20 years, the two principals of Ironic
Software have always been disappointed at the performance of the
Finder. Leap is their response to the feeling that one gets while
looking for files - even files that are in a known location - in
Apple's Finder.
Ted Leckie, user interface
guru at Ironic puts it like this: "Locating a file that you know the
exact location of can involve many clicks as a folder hierarchy is
descended. Make a wrong turn - and you are out of luck. Leap solves
that problem by getting rid of the hierarchy, while allowing you to
find what you are looking for in just a click or two".
Leap's main other author is Tom Andersen, who has worked with Ted
since they first developed Starry Night, an AppleDesign award winning
astronomy program. Tom has designed the engine of Leap to be able to
deal with the untold thousands of files that sit on a modern computer
today.
Tom had this to add:
"There are other search tools and Finder replacements out there, but
they tend to fall into two categories, they are either like the Finder
with more buttons, or they are text based search tools like Google
Desktop. The problem with Google Desktop is that you search for items
by entering text, when many of the documents on a typical computer are
best remembered by what they look like. Leap allows you to look for
documents visually, with text, by file size - however you remember
it".
The program features an iTunes like interface, making it easy to
use, so that users can be doing useful things within a few seconds. It
also has a great levels of customization available, so that users can
set up Leap to reflect the files they care about and the workflow that
they perform daily. It supports drag and drop, saving searches, and
more. One big feature that it brings is the ability to 'see' many of
your files as they actually look, instead of an icon. This is a feature
also of Apple's upcoming Leopard release, but Leap users can get that
today in OS X 10.4 Tiger.
What about Leopard?
With Apple's Leopard due out soon, a trip to Apple's web site shows
some of the features of the new OS X 10.5 Finder. As Ted points out:
"The Leopard Finder is one of the big reasons we developed Leap - we
are disappointed with the lack of any real new direction the Finder is
taking."
Leap requires a Mac running OS X 10.4.8 or later. It is available
for $34 from Ironic's website.
Ironic Software was founded in 2006 to develop Mac only software.
The company is located in Meaford and Toronto, Ontario Canada. The
company has developed two software products. Yep - the best PDF manager
for the Mac, and Leap - the Finder how it was meant to be.
Review copies of Leap are of course available to members of the
Press.
Link: Leap
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Deals
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