Apple posted a single web page that lists and describes Leopard’s many new features. You can find it at…

Mac OS X Leopard 300+ Features List

Am I the only one who wonders how they got this headline past Steve?

Looks like Ars was right about iTunes Plus changes today. iT+ tracks are now 99 cents (US), down from US$1.29, and there are a number of new tracks available from independent labels.

I want to give a shout-out to Apple Insider for a stellar series of “Road to Mac OS X Leopard” articles detailing changes coming in the any-day-now update. They offer a layer of depth and context well beyond what you can find on the official Leopard site.

Not content with a bulleted list of UI tweaks and bug fixes, AI has been providing history lessons on each application and technology, with nostalgia-producing screenshots and reminders of just how far we’ve come.

The latest post was today’s “Road to Mac OS X Leopard: Mail 3.0” which includes some hints at just how close Apple came to biting the dust thanks to mismanagement in the 80s while it traces the history of email apps on Mac, then wraps up with details on the new version of Mail.

Others in the “Road to…” series:

• Time Machine
• Spaces
• Dock 1.6
• Finder 10.5
• Dictionary 2.0
• Preview 4.0

Thanks much to Apple Insider for going beyond the call of duty.

read more

read more

What do you know? It has been one year since I relaunched this OgasaWalrus blog after moving from my old Zope based web hosting service to this one. It started out as more of a personal notetaking system to help me remember interesting Freeware and Open Source apps for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Fortunately, there seem to be a few other people also interested in this topic and, more importantly, are able fact check me when needed (thanks!) and bring up F/FOSS apps I don’t know about (more thanks!).

read more

Looks like Adobe wants to go head-to-head with Google Docs. They acquired Virtual Ubiquity which created a bit of buzz with their Flash-based Buzzword web editor. Now they need a web spreadsheet and web slide presentation creation service.

Yesterday, user Yacko asked me why I keep closing and re-opening applications on my Mac, especially since Mac OS X has been built from the ground up for multitasking and features many a way to hide, minimize, tuck away and generally forget about unused processes, applications or even documents. Now, my personal preferences matter little to the world but, giving the question a bit of thought, I realized there is more to it.

Have you ever seen the default wallpaper of a Windows 95 installation? That horrendous, disgusting, depressing shade of gray-green that, for years, went mocked and scorned by many? It turns out it may just be what the doctor ordered for long term computer use. Have we missed something all along?

Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has been the focus of criticism from many a member of the computing community: keeping the platform closed is an outrage, a Microsoftian move, living proof of the evil that lurks underneath the company’s cheerful facade. Whether you agree with these points or not, one cannot deny Apple has pulled all the strings to indeed keep people out of the iPhone and send a firm message to those who had dared trespass - and I am not even talking about “bricked” iPhones here since knowing whether the side effect of the upgrade was intentional or coincidental is still everyone’s guess. Surprisingly, however, keeping the iPhone closed may be a good thing.

If you’re interested in music production on the Macintosh, here’s a trio of recent postings on the O’Reilly Digital Media Center web site which you may find worth a look.

Last week, I reviewed “Sequel,” Steinberg’s entry-level music software package. Shipping with a huge library of loops, samples, and software instruments, Sequel is a very respectable challenger to Apple’s GarageBand, and well worth checking out if you would like to start making music on your Mac. And checking Sequel out is easy, as Steinberg is offering a downloadable trial version of the software.

Music technology was also prominently featured at last week’s Apple Expo Paris. To find out which three products from that category were (or, rather: “I considered”) the most noteworthy at the show, check out Musique sur une Pomme Américaine.

I read a number of Apple rumor sites speculating about Apple replacing the Mac mini (a moment of silence for mine that passed on last week) with a Mac nano. Some of the rumor items speculate that Apple might dump the optical drive (DVD) from the unit to save space.

Here’s the thought that prompted this posting though… When Apple introduced the iPod nano, they dumped the hard drive from the mini line and went to flash storage. I think Apple needs to keep an optical drive for at least playing CD music and DVD video without having an ugly cable attached device on a Mac nano. But, what about dumping the hard drive from the Mac and going all flash storage (say 30GB) with the option of adding a 80 to 320GB hard drive in a small enclosure either beneath or above the Mac nano with a seamless bus plug (like a notebook in a docking station) instead of a cable?

I just hope they have it ready for sale soon. I need to replace my Mac mini and am waiting for Leopard and whatever new Mac emerges before doing so.

The Engcom Virtual Slide Rule is really just an educational demonstration of the slide rule for young folk. But, you can actually move the center slide area around to get an idea of how a slide rule worked.

read more

Proximity 1.1 is a donation-ware Mac OS X app (source code is available) that can monitor for the presence of a bluetooth device (including mobile phones) and run a custom AppleScript when the device is detected as coming into or going out of range.

read more

Here’s way more info from and about the U.S. Congress than most of us can probably process. But, if you can, head over to…

OpenCongress.org

…where U.S. Congress legislative information as well as news about the Senators and Representatives can be found.

read more

read more