journal: mac

Report: MacBook Air in short supply

By Nick, March 3, 2008

Immediately after its MWSF unveiling, the MacBook Air was panned by many in the Mac community for what it was missing (ports, a removable battery, etc...).

That might not be such a big deal to buyers.

Ars Technica reports that the MacBook Air seems to be selling well, and is hard to come by in some areas. While some are not sure if the shortages is because of high demand or due to supply issues, Ars did note that “according to the Apple Store sales rank widget, the MacBook Air has been the top selling Mac since before the middle of February, outselling the MacBook, the iMac, and the MacBook Pro—this, despite week-long shipping delays.” And for what it’s worth, last time I visited the Apple Store in San Francisco, I couldn’t play with one for even a few seconds because people were taking them for a spin the entire time.

If you’re looking to buy one, Apple has a handy availability checker for the MacBook Air. Now if only I had $1800 to burn…

I’ll say this much: it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the MacBook Air has sex appeal. I know, you’ve drooled over the MacBook Air in the commercial. And if you’ve gotten a chance to play with one in person, I’m sure your response was similar to that of The Today Show--that is, all out MacBook Air love-fest! Me? I’ll stand by my initial take on the Air: it may not set the…
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Quick Pick: Secrets

By Nick, March 2, 2008

The idea of an application exposing hidden Mac OS X features is nothing new. There have been countless such utilities since OS X’s inception. However, a new preference pane called Secrets takes this concept to the next level. While most secret feature enablers stick only to the applications included with Mac OS X, Secrets goes beyond that, by allowing users to access hidden features in third-party applications such as NetNewsWire and Adium. Additionally, users can submit their own hidden feature hints. Cool.

Since most applications require a relaunch before the hidden features take effect, a “relaunch” button would be nice, as would the ability to revert to defaults in case something goes wrong.

Secrets is still in beta, so keep in mind that you could run into some bugs. Also, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could cause issues with your OS. But if you’re game, visit the Secrets site.

Do you follow Deep Thought’s Mac news on a regular basis? Subscribe to our Mac news feed.

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Warp: Switch between Spaces with the mouse

By Nick, February 16, 2008

In one of my articles on Leopard, I made the following comment regarding Spaces:

So far I like Spaces. I know you can move a window from one space to another by moving it to the edge of the screen, but I wish there was a way to move to another space by using this same technique without a window. I want to be able to shove my mouse to the side of the screen, leave it there for a few seconds, and watch as I am moved to the other space.

It looks like my wish has been granted. Kent Sutherland (who I keep wanting to call ”Kiefer”), the genius behind Chax, also produces Warp, a small utility that allows users to switch to a different space by simply mousing to the edge of the screen. Awesome!

Warp is donationware; if you like it, be sure to donate a few bucks.

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ThinkSecret officially stops publishing

By Nick, February 15, 2008

We knew it was coming since December when ThinkSecret announced its settlement with Apple, but it is now official: ThinkSecret is no longer publishing new content. Not only that, though; the site has been taken offline completely. Visiting thinksecret.com now results in a 403 Forbidden message. MacRumors notes that ThinkSecret published for so long after the initial settlement has to do with advertising obligations.

It should be interested to see which site--if any--takes ThinkSecret’s mantle. AppleInsider, perhaps?

Farewell ThinkSecret.

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Stacks revisited

By Nick, February 12, 2008

Back in early November, as part of my review of Leopard, I wrote a review of Leopard’s “Stacks” feature. If you haven’t yet read my initial review, please do so, so you know what on Earth I’m talking about here.

Earlier today, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.2, which addressed numerous issues, including some involving Stacks. Where does this leave Stacks now? Let’s take a second look…

Changes in 10.5.2

There have been two major complaints regarding Stacks:

It’s hard to tell which stack is which at a glance.
There’s no equivalent to Tiger’s behavior, and Stacks are arguably inferior.

My friends, lo and behold, Apple hath heard your cries!

Stacks in 10.5.2 add an assortment of new options. The ability to view as a fan or grid are still there, of course, but now there is a third option: List. First a brief history lesson: both fan and grid view have the advantage of being very visual with their larger icons, and you can drag items out of a stack. +2 over Tiger. At the same time, you couldn’t view a large number of files in either mode; you would have to open a Finder window to access something not shown in the fan or grid, thus partially defeating the point of stacks. It works great for downloads, where you will mostly be interested in the newest item anyway, but for a Documents folder, for example, it’s less than ideal.