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- Ten 'Easter Eggs' to Find in Your Mac OS and Applications
While this week many people are searching for Easter Eggs or the Afikoman, here are 10 hidden settings you can find in your Mac apps and OS X. These are all small changes you can make that make using the applications and the system slightly better.
First off, you’ll need to open up the Terminal application (/Applications > Utilities > Terminal), since these ‘Easter Eggs’ have to be run from the command line. Once you’ve got that open, you can copy and paste the commands below. Each command is one line only, and you should press Return after pasting in each command. To turn these off after, replace YES with NO (or vice-versa) and repeat the command.
Allow Dashboard Widgets to be Dragged Onto the Desktop
Sometimes it’s useful to keep one of you Dashboard widgets around after you close Dashboard, so paste the following into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES && killall DockTo use this ability, click and hold a widget and then close Dashboard using your keyboard hotkey (usually F4 on newer Macs).
Stop Twitter’s Compose Window Floating
The compose window in Twitter for Mac floats above all other windows at all times, which can get annoying. To stop it floating, paste this into Terminal, then restart Twitter for Mac.
defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac NormalComposeWindowLevel -bool NOAllow Escape to Close Twitter Compose Window
Another one for Twitter for Mac, this allows you to press Esc to close the new tweet window. Once again, paste and then restart Twitter for Mac.
defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac ESCClosesComposeWindow -bool YESShow Hidden Files in the Finder
There are some files which the Finder keeps hidden, but you might want to be able to see them sometimes, such as .htaccess files for web developers. To show hidden files, paste this into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES && killall FinderYour hidden files should now show up.
Disable the ‘Unexpectedly Quit’ Dialog
When an application crashes, you’ll see a dialog telling you the application quit unexpectedly. This can get annoying if it happens often, so you can disable that dialog using
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType noneYou may need to restart your computer for changes to take effect. To turn this back on again, replace ‘none’ with ‘prompt’.
Enable ‘X-Ray Folders’ in QuickLook
The QuickLook feature of Finder is great, but if you use it on a folder, you won’t see anything except a folder icon. Using this hidden setting, you’ll be able to see the contents of the folder when you use QuickLook.
defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1 && killall FinderTo turn off, replace the ’1′ with a ’0′.
Show the File Path in the Finder Window Title
It’s easy to get lost in your file system, so enable this to show the path of the current folder in the title bar of your Finder window. That should make it easier to remember where you are.
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES && killall FinderDisable iTunes Arrow Links
You’ll often see tips on how to change the arrow links in iTunes’ list view to go to your library instead of the store, but what about turning them off altogether? Paste this command and restart iTunes.
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YESStop the Help Window From Floating
Another troublesome floating window is the Help window which appears when you click Help in most applications. To stop it floating, use
defaults write com.apple.helpviewer NormalWindow -boolean yesChange the Desktop Picture on the Login Screen
If you don’t like the default image shown behind the login screen, you can change it to any other image using the following command. Just add the path of the image after the word ‘path’.
defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture -pathBonus: Control Even More Hidden Settings Using Secrets
Secrets is a preference pane which allows you to control even more hidden settings in Mac applications using a friendly interface, rather than having to use Terminal. You can download it here, and once installed you’ll find it at the bottom of System Preferences.
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Переслать - What Does the Future of iPad Gaming Look Like?
Wednesday I posted a video of Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD doing double-duty on my iPad 2 and 40-inch LCD TV (included below). After playing the game, I pinged Firemint for some thoughts regarding the future of iOS gaming. The company’s media liaison, Logan Booker, provided me with some insight regarding Real Racing 2 HD and what could come next.
Real Racing 2 HD proved the perfect opportunity for a first-run implementation of dual-screen HD output, according to Booker, because of the game’s genre. A racing title makes perfect sense, he said via email, “when you consider the natural and incredibly precise control method” and “the fantastic visuals and iPad 2-specific optimizations.” It’s true that using the iPad 2 as a steering wheel for the action going on on the TV immediately felt natural.
Racing may have been a natural fit for Firemint’s first foray into dual-screen iPad gaming, but Logan also pointed out that what makes the idea so appealing is how easily the iPad 2 straddles the divide between living room and mobile gaming. Thanks, he says, in particular to “the seamless connect/disconnect functionality,” the iPad 2 represents the easiest way to jump between mobile and home console-style gaming yet. If you need to vacate the room to open up the TV for a spouse or roommate, or to catch a ride somewhere, you don’t have to stop gaming: just unplug your AV adapter and take it with you without skipping a beat. Booker sees “plenty of compelling opportunities to build on this feature in the future.”
When considering what the iPad 2 may be capable of in future gaming applications, it’s good to look at what it’s already doing. Firemint designed Real Racing 2 HD to output a 1920 x 1080 image to your TV screen, while at the same time driving 1024 x 768 resolution on your iPad 2, which, as Booker points out, represents “a lot of processing going on.” Apple put a lot of muscle under the hood of the iPad 2, and how that will ultimately play out in the gaming realm has only begun to be uncovered.
I tried to get Booker to muse about what other additional features Apple could add to the iPad down the road to make it even more capable as a gaming device, but he wouldn’t bite. Instead, he argued that the “iPad, iPhone and iPod touch are already very compelling gaming devices and great platforms to develop on,” and concluded that “[t]he powerful hardware in iPad 2, along with its 1080p out functionality and added gyroscope, just bolster its credentials.” After having spent quite a bit of time already with Real Racing HD 2, I’m inclined to agree.
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Переслать - The Application Is Dead; Long Live the App
With every revolution there is change. Sometimes the change is the reason for the revolution, and other times it’s an unexpected outcome. With the dawn of the iOS platform and the introduction of both the iPhone as well as the iPad, certain changes in the way we use technology were to be expected. One of the unexpected changes was in the way developers design and develop software, and this appears to have a much farther reaching impact than you might have imagined.
Origins of the Revolution
The bulk of the credit does not go to Apple. it actually started with the communication revolution brought on by the likes of Twitter and Facebook as well as the simplicity of Google’s search interface. Highly-optimized, single-purpose, rapidly-developed solutions that improve without necessarily expanding over time. What Apple did was provide an ecosystem for developers to create their own rendition of this paradigm: apps. This trend may have started in the cloud, but with the introduction of the App Store, the iPhone was commercialized into a go-to market strategy that developers could quickly capitalize on. It wasn’t until these smart devices truly conquered multitasking that individualized workflows started to evolve.
Multitasking Workflows on Smart Devices
As an example, consider the options available for posting a photo online. There are several different choices of camera apps, several different choices of photo editing and manipulation apps, even more choices if you want to make a collage or crop your photo into a custom frame, and of course, several different solutions to post online and announce your posting to your personal community of followers. Apps are being designed to get along with one another in what is quite possibly an infinite solution set of combinations.
The Trend Is Spreading to Your Desktop
This trend to create single-purpose, highly-optimized apps is spreading to your desktop as well. The Mac App Store is proving to be a great medium for exposing workstreams of integration points similar to those seen on mobile devices between OS X apps. What’s further fueling this revolution in app design is the growth of cloud-based services that support such single-purpose designs. The techniques being employed to define an API have been moving away from a tightly-coupled, Schema-based paradigm and toward a more open and loosely coupled Restful paradigm.
Enterprise Caught Off Guard
This reality scares enterprise. With the costs of personal IT reaching ridiculously low levels, the ability of individuals to self-fund their own IT services is not only possible, it is becoming as common place as cable television. From broadband to wireless data access, to online email, data storage and even more specialized tools, ideas and collaboration services, individuals are spreading their corporately-owned intellectual property all over the place.
Even Apple has decided to pull apart their iLife and iWork suites, which furthers this trend. What do you think? Have your daily app usage trends changed? Do you find you are using more single-purpose apps each day, and/or fewer, general-purpose apps than you have in the past?
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Переслать - Samsung Countersues Apple for Patent Infringement
When it comes to Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung, the South Korean electronics said it would answer “actively,” using “appropriate legal measures” and it has made good on that promise. Samsung filed suit in Seoul, Tokyo and Mannheim, Germany, the company said early Friday. The complaints allege that Apple infringed on patents held by Samsung regarding mobile communications tech.
According to a spokesman for Samsung speaking to Bloomberg, Apple specifically infringed on Samsung patents related to communication standards, and concerning the method by which mobile phones connect to PCs in order to transmit wireless data between devices.
It’s no surprise that Samsung responded in this way. As I mentioned in my earlier post on the subject, this really has more to do with Apple negotiating terms with Samsung than with an actual pitched legal battle. Samsung really had no choice but to countersue, according to National University of Singapore business professor Chang Sea Jin, who told Bloomberg:
Apple is trying to annoy Samsung — they're throwing a ball at Samsung to keep them in check. This is strictly business. The typical way to deal with cases like this is to counter sue. It's not between the management of Samsung and Apple, their lawyers will work it out.
Chang also believes that the Samsung/Apple supplier relationship won’t be put in jeopardy as a result of this legal quarrel, for the simple reason that Samsung is among the cheapest suppliers out there. Apple “may try to diversify their suppliers and reduce their reliance on Samsung,” said Chang, but “Apple won’t likely drop Samsung altogether.” Apple is Samsung’s second-biggest customer, representing a significant four-percent chunk of its business in 2010. Apple, on the other hand, can source parts from other manufacturers at a slightly higher cost, but its healthy product profit margins can probably easily absorb the hit. But, as Chang says, it’ll probably never come to that.
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