Safari 4.04 is available via software update. No word yet on whether the recent improvements to the webkit inspector landed in this update.
From the release notes:
This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to performance, stability, and security including:
Improved JavaScript performance
Improved Full History Search performance for users with a large number of history items
Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins, the search field and Yahoo! Mail
For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
Update: The Webkit Inspector improvements noted above are not included in Safari 4.04.
Update: It appears the keyboard shortcut for Top Sites, Command-Shift-1 has been removed from Safari 4.04. If you use this keyboard shortcut, you may want to hold off on upgrading.
Update: Looks like the shortcut has been changed to Alt-Command-1. That’s the sort of change you would expect to be detailed in the release notes, if your release notes had any meaningful, detailed descriptions.
Category: Software,Web Development
The cat is out of the bag (excuse the pun), and yes, Snow Leopard will be shipping on Friday, August 28th.
If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can help us out by using the link below to order Snow Leopard from Amazon.com.
Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User)
Of course, if you bought a new Mac after June 8th 2009, you can get Snow Leopard through Apple’s Up-To-Date program for $9.99.
Category: News,Software
Pixelmator continues it’s steady pace of adding features and fixing bugs with the new 1.2 “Draftsman” release. New for this version is a stellar implementation of guides and grids, along with some superb curves and auto adjustment features. If you’re looking for an image editor, the $59 you spend on Pixelmator may just be your best investment option.
Category: Software
OpenOffice 3.0 beta has been released (click to download). Why do you care? Because this is the first version for Mac OS X that doesn’t require X11 to operate. OpenOffice 3.0 for Mac OS X features an Aqua interface, among the other new features present in version 3.0.
My initial impressions are:
- Finally!
- Damn, that’s a big file (167.4 MB)…
- and – man, is this thing SLOW!
Still, it is nice to see a native version of OpenOffice available for Mac OS X. Personally, I love iWork and it does a great job at handling my word processing, presentations and spreadsheet needs, along with conversion of Office 2007 and older docs. But one can’t argue with a decent free product that handles the same tasks. If the community can get OpenOffice 3.0 a speed boost, it may just become a hit on the Mac.
Oh, and why you’re at it, get rid of the icon. It sucks.
Category: Software
Adobe blogger John Nack has let it slip that the next version of Adobe Photoshop (CS4 for those wondering) will be 64-bit… but for Windows only. While I’m usually one to cast blame at Adobe’s feet for decisions like these, I have to admit Adobe is doing the best they can with the situation they’ve been dealt.
Last year at WWDC, during the Mac OS X State of the Union, Apple dropped a pretty significant bomb that didn’t get much attention (probably due to the whole NDA thing, I guess). While Leopard would be a 64-bit OS through and through, Carbon would not gain 64-bit memory addressing. This essentially leaves developers with Carbon apps stuck in 32-bit land, with the only other option being migrate to Cocoa. This was counter to Apple’s promise in August of 2006 that Carbon would be 64-bit.
When I heard this news at the session, I immediately thought that apps like Photoshop, Flash, Office were going to suffer, long term. As Nack points out on his blog, this decision really did throw Adobe a curve ball. They were in the middle of developing against the previous Leopard seed from August of 2006, which did feature a work-in-progress 64-bit Carbon. (more…)
Category: Blog Watch,Opinion,Software
Apple has released Safari 3.1 for Mac & Windows. New to Safari 3.1 are additions from the HTML5 spec, including new audio & video tags and a storage (database) API, along with significant Javascript optimizations, and new CSS tag support.
Safari 3.1 is a free download for Mac & Windows.
Category: Software,Web Development
Apple has released Aperture 2, an update to its photo editing and management software. Boasting over 100 new features, including a new image processing engine. Aperture 2 also features a new lower price ($199).
New features include a redefined UI, new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and new output options that lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone™, iPod® touch and Apple TV®
A free 30 day trial is available for download (138MB). If you purchased Aperture on or after January 1, 2008, you are entitled to an upgrade for only $9.95.
Category: News,Software
Shirt Pocket software released SuperDuper! 2.5 today after a long testing period. The new version, a free upgrade to current owners, is Leopard compatible. SuperDuper! 2.5 allows for creating a bootable backups on the same volume as a Time Machine backup. Additionally, there are Spotlight enhancements and other bug fixes. SuperDuper! 2.5 is $27.95, although you can use the program for free with various limitations.
Category: News,Software
There are several capable, low cost images editors available for Mac OS X. Acorn, Naked Light, Pixen, Seashore, and soon Iris. I’ve tried all of them, and use/prefer PixelMator. Why? Because the PixelMator team understands that Photoshop is the interface that just about every graphic artist already knows. When they created their UI, they use Photoshop as a starting point. Sure, you can fault them for lacking the originality to come up with something new (like Gus did with Acorn). But I think it was a stroke of genius.
If you were designing a car, which would make more sense – to completely redo the cockpit and the steering wheel position, even if you could make it more efficient for the driver, or to keep the basic instrumentation exactly where the driver would expect it to be? If you picked the first option, you should be designing space craft or airplanes, not cars. If you picked the second option, you understand that there are times when rethinking a UI makes sense, and there are other times where emulating what your target audience is already familiar with makes more sense.
Category: Software
Love Coda? Love TextMate? Wish that you could get Coda’s syntax coloring for HTML in TextMate? Well, here’s my first quick stab at replicating Coda’s syntax coloring in TextMate. Download the CodaHTML.tmTheme file, unzip, double click, and enjoy.
Category: Software,Web Development
