Defragging - That’s so last Century

It turns out that There’s really no need.

iSync 1.4

Has just been released by Apple - check Software Update.

Bluetooth Software v1.5 for Mac OS X

Headset Support for Bluetooth on Mac OS X - yay!

[edit]

12 hours later and I’ll summarise my Headset findings:

• To set up a headset you can’t just pair it - you need to use the “set-up Bluetooth device” menu item from the Bluetooth menu extra (or use the button in the ‘Bluetooth’ Pref. Pane.)
• If you can’t see the ‘headset’ option in the set-up assistant then your Bluetooth adapter is not fully supported by Apple’s BT stack. Only D-Link adapters are supported. Built-in adapters - such as in my 17″ PB are D-Link and therefore supported.

  

• I had to update the Firmware in my PowerBook’s internal BT adapter before it would allow me to set-up a headset. The Firmware updater is available Here.
• The D-Link USB adapter connected to my Server is not supported by the Firmware updater (it is revision A2, but B2 is the minimum required) so I cannot use headsets with that machine (which is not a big deal for me.)

  
  

• iChat + a Bluetooth Headset is very good! I like being able to continue a chat even if I have to wander away from my computer.
• Speakable Items + Bluetooth Headset looks very futuristic but alas the sound quality in my headset does not seem good enough for recognition purposes - not surprising since the headset was designed for telecom use mainly.

Secret Finder Shortcuts in Mac OS X Panther

Well - they’re not really secret - but you’d have to do a lot of googling to find them.

Get KeyCaps Back:

KeyCaps was an application from the Classic OS that showed what characters you get if you use various different key chords (especially useful for option-key-chords where the resulting character isn’t printed on the keyboard anywhere - e.g. the TradeMark)

In Panther the application has been consumed by the ‘Input’ Menu, but this isn’t obvious since you need to enable it in the ‘International’ System Preference Pane.

(p.s. a quick way to launch System Prefs for keyboard junkies is to press Option and one of the ‘media keys’ (i.e. mute, sound up/down, brightness up/down))

Add to Favourites in Finder

In Panther the Favourites folder has been replaced by the Sidebar - it’s an improvement, but the Favourites folder can be useful because it actually is a folder. The ‘Add to Favourites’ menu item in the Finder (and shortcut: command-T) have been replaced by an ‘add to Sidebar’ item.

They haven’t disappeared however - you just have to hold shift to get them back:

Alas it looks like the Command-Shift-F shortcut to jump to the Favourites folder has disappeared for good though (strangely the shortcut still works in Open/Save panels, but in Carbon Applications only.)

Drag Icon Proxies from the Dock (in Panther)

OK - not really a finder hint - but useful and not obvious:

I think that the Dock is great - it has a very simple UI and does many different things. (Tog thinks otherwise - but that’s another discussion.)

The icons in the dock are ‘proxies’ - this means that you can do things to the file that the icon represents - by doing it to the proxy icon. So you can drag a file out of the dock and on to a folder - and the original file will be moved to that folder. However - it’s not obvious that this is true - because when you drag a file (or application) from the dock it ‘poofs’. You can stop them poofing by holding down the Command button while dragging them.

Jump straight to the Search Box in Panther

The built-in search box in the Finder’s Toolbar in Panther is very useful - but it may not be entirely obvious how to get keyboard focus to it quickly- pressing tab may be your first thought (like tabbing up to Safari’s location and google boxes) - but this doesn’t work, because Tab in the Finder selects the next file (by alphabetical order).

There is a way to jump to the search box quickly though, just press Command-Option-F.

For loads of useful hints: MacOSXHints.com

What is Mac OS X

Amazingly detailed article on how Mac OS X works (aimed at UNIX-type people). Hardcore Geek-stuff.

Link Here.

Jaguar “Connect to” Dialog in Panther

The new Finder’s in Panther is a great improvement over Jaguar’s - but occasionally the “Network” item in the sidebar seems to have trouble discovering local servers.

When this happens using Command-K (Connect to Server) doesn’t help - -because the new “Connect To” dialog only contains favourite servers and a text-field for entering a specific address - the discovery part has been removed.

You can get round this by invoking the old Panther “Connect To” dialog via AppleScript.

open location (choose URL showing File servers with editable URL)

(via Mac OS X Hints)

Mental Note to Self - Command-Dragging Windows

I’ve learned a lot of Mac Keyboard shortcuts over the years - but one that I never seems to stick in my head is the Command-Drag for windows.

If you Hold Command and Drag a Window then you can move that window around without “losing focus” (as developers say) on the current window. (even if the window belongs to an application that is not currently the front application.)

This means you can muck around with semi-obscured windows without having to switch apps.

An even more impressive feature is that you can do other mouse actions using this method - so you can drag-and-drop data from a window behind into the front window - all without having to leave the current window.

This has been in the Mac OS long before Mac OS X.