The latest revision of Parallels Desktop for the Mac is running butter smooth on my Mac Pro with 2GB of RAM. No hangs or crashes. In fact, right now, I'm using Ecto for Mac to write this post while watching DL.TV Episode 100 and installing software updates on Windows XP. To be more specific, the update is for my Sandisk 4GB flash drive. I can't recommend this drive enough.
Here's a simple use for Quicksilver. Create a new trigger with the first pane set to your music library. Set the second pane to "Search Contents" and now you can load any song while working in any application. Shouldn't iTunes come with this feature built in? Update: Another way to do this is with the iTunes plugin for Quicksilver. Invoke QS and start typing "iTunes", then right arrow in to see a list available options like browsing artists, tracks, genre etc.
Those busy little coders over at Apple have whipped up an update for Tiger. That puts it at 10.4.8 for those that aren't keeping count. They are still giving us sweet lovin' even when the Leopard release is just around the corner. I was reading through the release notes to see what to expect and came across this: Resolves performance issues that could occur when connecting to a Comcast network.
Parallels has just released RC2 of Desktop for Mac. While the Mac Pro received some love a few weeks back with a beta release, Parallels has put some real quality into this release candidate. Not only is it compatible with Vista and developer builds of Leopard, but there is no longer a RAM restriction. Parallels was only recognizing 3GB before. I have to ask myself though, are there people out there with $2K of RAM in their Mac Pro that do not have a PC sitting under their desk to run windows on?
Remember back when Steve Jobs introduced us all to Spotlight. He did a demo that seemed like magic. He typed in a word and Spotlight found audio, video, photo and text documents related to that word. I was amazed and rushed to get Tiger installed on my mac. What a let down when I realize that this only works if you have tagged your files with Spotlight comments.
In case you've been on a deserted island talking to a volleyball and playing dentist with an ice skate, Apple released Aperture 1.5 this week. They had sent out a not so mysterious invite card that displayed the same camera lens from the front of Aperture's packaging. The coolest feature is the integration with iLife, which seemed an obvious omission in previous versions. Aperture feels less like a "Pro" application and more like an add on for serious iPhoto users.
I tend to think that too many system tweak on your primary machine creates instabilities is just a bad idea. However, there are a few basic changes that just make the operating system better. Many of these are available through the judicious use of Onyx. Onyx is an automated system optimization application that also allows you to change some fundamental settings. One of my must changes is the image format type generated by screen captures.
A previous post showed how to use Apple's Automator to create a workflow for taking a screenshot and sending it to iPhoto. Wouldn't it be great if you could associate a hotkey to run this work flow? Enter Quicksilver. First you must setup QS to catalog your Scripts folder. Go to the catalog preferences for QS and select Custom on the left side panel. Now you can create a new Folder scanner.
I use a lot of Applescript when I use my Mac. I’ve learned quite a bit about the language over the years. Needless to say that it makes me a little snobby about using Automator. For the most part, I hate automator because it is so limited. What it has is pretty much all you get to do. However, once in awhile I gain an added appreciation for its simplicity. Here is an Automator “script” that takes a screenshot and then places the screen shot in my blog photos library within iPhoto.
Along with that dejavu firmware update, I also received notice that my favorite RSS reader Vienna has been updated to Version 2.1.0.2105. There’s no mention of the new features in this release and I haven’t played with it enough to figure it out yet. I’m sure it is just one step closer to being perfect. Free or not, this application is really starting to ROCK!
Update:
What’s New: Version 2.
