Geek Speak: Random Mac Stuff You Need to Know
http://www.macfanatic.net/blog/
Copyright © 2006 Matt Brewer
Introduction, WWDC Anticipations and Fake Leopard Screenshots
By Matt Brewer
About This Column
IÕd like to welcome everyone to my area of macCompanion! Being a first article, hang in with me while I cover some stuff that we need to get established.
First off, IÕm going to provide a monthly column that covers many areas. I dabble in many different areas with my Mac, and while I donÕt pretend to be an expert in much, I do like to share stuff that I believe every Mac user should know. So, this will be an area where I share interesting tidbits of info that IÕve run across over the month.
IÕm also fairly intimate with coding, mostly web-based. So, while I wonÕt bore everyone with random code, I do plan on sharing info that IÕve run across through trial-and-error and think that it would help out other people.
About Me
While you can read all about me, in a more lengthy version, from the macCompanion site itself, IÕll throw in a little background info to get us acquainted. I come from a Windows background a few years back, mainly using Windows ME and then XP for a while. After finally experiencing Mac OS X (10.0 initial release) on a first generation iMac at a local store, I was hooked on Macs. I became an avid Mac rumor junkie over the next few years and moved to Linux for most of my computing until I purchased my first Mac in the summer of 2005. Since then IÕve sold that iBook and made the transition to Intel with a black Macbook.
I ran across Rapidweaver from RealMac Software in the winter of 2005 and my website, Mac Fanatic, was born. I started the site without even the most basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, or any of itÕs related workings. Even FTP was pretty unfamiliar to me. So, Rapidweaver allowed a complete novice to create a site and I grew from there, soon reaching the limitations of the application. I find features that I want to implement on my site all the time and keep a long list, with an accompanying folder of source code, and steadily work through it in my free time.
IÕm studying towards a Computer Science major at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and just completed my first year. IÕm a passionate Mac user and hope to develop for the platform one day soon. With all that out of the way, letÕs get started!
Leopard at WWDC 2006
So, for anyone who doesnÕt know, IÕll be attending the WWDC in less than two weeks. With that said, IÕm very excited about attending my first conference, my first flight, and my first trip out west, all at the same time. So, this is a big experience for me on several levels.
The conference always brings rumors and speculation about upcoming products, announcements, and enhancements to an all-time high. I wonÕt bother recapping all the rumors, as there isnÕt enough room for all of that.
I wanted to point everyone to the ÒofficialÓ Bingo game card for the conference. This just serves as a silly way to waste some time, but the card has squares on it with rumors in each block, and you can read more about each rumor from the authorÕs page, so itÕs a nice place to start looking for ideas and making your own predictions about what may or may not appear in Leopard. Read more about the Bingo game card here.
Fake Leopard Screenshots
Probably one of the cooler sites that I have run across in the last month would have to be a blog setup by Phil Ryu. Check his site out here. He has some great content and just finished up a contest where contestants sent in their best fake Leopard screenshots to be judged. Some of the entries were exceptional and I would buy a working copy of Mac OS like that in a heart-beat. So, IÕll elaborate on those features that I hadnÕt ever thought of, but would quickly add to my Top 10 Things IÕd Like in Leopard.
I already talked about creating a killer solution for Mail and Address Book, possibly combining iCal in that mix as well, in my wish-list for Leopard. However, I wasnÕt really sure what IÕd like the interface to look like, and the first place winner, Eric Patterson, has captured my heart with his fake screenshot. Eric incorporated the best features of Mail, Address Book, and iChat into one wonderful application, at least in theory. There is a contact information bar that seems like a wonderful idea.
You now have ÒbundlesÓ in Mail to group your iChat chats (all are now recorded and included in Mail instead of a weird folder on your Mac) as well as an updated and fitting toolbar itself. The only thing that IÕd like to see added to this would be broader support for sending SMS text messages via Bluetooth enabled phones. You can do this with a select number of phones via Address Book at the moment, but if youÕre going to combine all of these features from iChat and Mail into one killer application, the addition of archiving your SMS messages from your Phone on your Mac would be wonderful.
Another small feature that I ran across and really liked was a redesigned invitation window for iChat. The current one is still way cooler than anything else on the market, but I like the new Quicktime fullscreen controls, it has inspired a whole number of skins for various apps. There is also whiteboard integration, tabbed Finder windows and more in this screenshot.
The only other quick features that I would like to see in Leopard dealt with an easy-to-use meta-tag info editor built right into the Finder, sort of like when adding tags to photos in iPhoto. I like the idea of having some sort of notification of Finder tasks, like when youÕre emptying the trash, or copying several different sets of files, moved to another area. As it is now you would have several different windows open with their own progress bars. Consolidating all of that into one window, or maybe a small part of the topmost Finder window letting you know that itÕs indeed working, would save so much screen space.
Contact Info
You can always send me an email at mbrewer@maccompanion.com or visit my website at http://www.macfanatic.net/blog/ for more information about me and my ramblings. I also produce a weekly audio podcast, taking an in-depth review of cool and new Mac applications, along with tips and the occasional tutorial.
