Tabbed browsing is one of my very favoritest additions to the world of web browsing. It lets me manage mounds of websites in very little screen real estate, which is at a demand on a 13" screen. But, alas, in my browser of choice, Safari, I find myself too often accidentally closing a window that had a number of open tabs in it. When I used to work on a Windows PC, I used Firefox's SessionSaver plug-in, which could also restore open tabs after a crash, but Safari didn't have this feature. At best, I used Safari stand to create a "shelf" of open tabs in situations where I didn't want to lose them, but this had to be done manually, and I often forgot.
Once again, it's our buddy Dan Frakes to the rescue. In his latest Mac Gems blog, Dan points us towards ForgetMeNot, a fantastic little piece of software that helps you save those valuable tabs. Whenever you quit Safari, ForgetMeNot remembers your open tabs, then restores them when you relaunch the program. In addition to that, if you happen to close a window with a bunch of tabs in it, ForgetMeNot adds an "Unclose Window" option to the file menu that lets you retrieve them (who hasn't tried instinctively hitting command-Z when that's happened?). Unfortunately, it doesn't retrieve tabs after a crash, but it ought to return you to the last state it can remember—better than nothing, I'd think.
Dan points out a couple of downsides: for instance, ForgetMeNot is installed in your system-level Library folder as opposed to your user-level Library folder, which can make troubleshooting more difficult, but he's got instructions for working around that. I for one hope that Apple takes a hint from this and the state-saving features of NetNewsWire, and implements something similar in the next version of Safari.
I've already braced myself for the hordes of people saying "You call that a tip? Everybody knows that." Yes, they come in hordes.
Wireless was the feature that really made laptops take off. I work in a variety of places, including my home, the public library, coffee shops, friends' houses, etc. Each place has its own wireless network, though most of them have more than one to choose from. By default, AirPort looks for previous networks; if it can't find one, AirPort asks you if you want to join an open network.
However, if you'd like a little more control over this (say there are two networks in an area that you use frequently...or, much more likely, you use a network called "linksys" at your local coffee shop, but you don't want to use "linksys" at home), well, AirPort is more than happy to oblige.
Fire up System Preferences and go to the Network pane. Choose AirPort from the "Show:" drop down list and make sure you have the AirPort tab selected. The first drop down reads "By default, join" and the value is probably set to automatic. Switch that to "Preferred networks" and an ordered list of networks you've joined will appear. You can add, remove, and edit existing networks, plus reorder them by drag and drop. Set up correctly, you can make sure you're always on the right network—not only convenient, but better for security too.
Will we ever know if Steve Jobs leant a helping hand on Foxconn's defamation suit? Probably not until the extensive biography comes out in fifty years. Still, it's good to see that the Hongfujin unit of the company decided not only to ask the court to unfreeze the assets of the two journalists it accused of defamation, but also reduced the damages.
The original suit had called for a 30 million yuan settlement (approximately $3.7 million), but today came news that that number had been slashed to 1 yuan. That's not a typo. For those of you counting at home, that's about 12 cents. Hongfujin has not dropped the suit, though, saying that it reduced the damages to "avoid blurring the issue because of the great public attention on the target of the injunction." In addition, the publisher of the piece, China Business News, has been added as a defendant in the case.
Though there was no response from Steve Jobs, who had been petitioned by Reporters Without Borders, an Apple spokesperson confirmed yesterday that Apple was working "behind the scenes" to help resolve the dispute.
Let me get this straight: you're one of the most profitable companies in America, and yet you're traveling all around movie studios whining about Apple stealing your lunch money? I don't know what to tell you, Wal-Mart, except this: welcome to capitalism.
Despite the dropped hints, we still have no official confirmation of downloadable movies from the iTunes Music Store, so the details are, as always, subject to change. But the article from today's Business Week Online tells the story of David Porter, Wal-Mart's go-to guy for Hollywood. He's been visiting studio heads to tell them that Wal-Mart's unhappy with Apple encroaching on their business—kind of like Darth Vader showing up to tell the Death Star guy that the Emperor is displeased.
The article also claims that Disney is the only studio to sign on, but that Fox and Lion's Gate are in talks should other studios join the party. Wal-Mart's biggest concern seems to be that they're planning on launching their own video download service, and they want help promoting it when it comes out.
Don't worry, Wal-Mart; I'm sure you can manage to screw it up all by yourself.
[via digg]
The fine folks at Parallels have finally addressed Mac Pro compatibility. Not only have they outright said it’s incompatible, but they’ve hinted at the timeframe for an update.
1) Is Parallels Desktop compatible with the new Mac Pro tower?
Not yet. The new Mac Pros have a different CPU model, and work with a specifically optimized OS X kernel. It is not difficult to make Parallels compatible with either of these, but it does take a bit of time. We should have a compatible build very soon.2) “Very soon” sounds like marketing-ese for “we’ll have something someday.”
When I say very soon, I mean very soon. Like within the next few days.
It’s good to see that the wait won’t be long. It’s even better that their employees are willing to cut through corporate chatter and give a straight answer.
I’ll sheepishly admit I haven’t actually read the book Getting Things Done (it’s still waiting in my book bag for my eyes). I am hooked on Kinkless GTD though. It seems like every day I have more to do and less time to do it in. GTD is supposed to help with that.
While I love kGTD, Inbox is written from the ground up to be a Getting Things Done facilitator. It looks really great, but I feel pretty lost in it (and as a beta, it’s still very buggy). Can any of you GTD ninjas tell me if Inbox will make more sense after I read the book?
The one option I kinda wish I’d gotten with my Mac Pro is the upgrade from the Nvidia 7300GT to the ATI Radeon X1900 XT. If you take a look at Apple’s comparison, it becomes very clear why. It’s not that I feel hampered by the stock card, it’s just that the Radeon is just so much better.
At $350 for the upgrade (or $499 if you want to buy it separately), it was a bit pricey initially. Apple has dropped the price by $100 for both the BTO option and the aftermarket upgrade. $250 as an option is mighty fine. Delivery is still a few weeks out right now, but if you’re willing to wait and want to make your Mac Pro really shine, the X1900 XT is definitely an affordable option.
It would have been nice if Apple's investigation of the allegations of labor conditions at the Foxconn iPod assembly Plant in China had been the end of the matter, but I suppose that's wishful thinking. A new drama has unfolded after two Chinese reporters penned a piece saying that iPod assembly line workers were inadequately paid for overtime. Foxconn subsidiary Hongfujin retaliated by suing the reporters for defamation, demanding €3 million in damages, and having a court freeze their assets. Nice.
In response to that action, journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders published an open letter to Steve Jobs, asking him to step in:
We know that Apple is already aware of this case. After the London-based Daily Mail newspaper ran a story about it on 11 June, your company reacted by investigating conditions at Foxconn’s plants and discovered that your supplier had indeed violated several aspects of your code of conduct, including those concerning the length of the working week and days off.Cases like these are very tricky in China, where the state exerts a strong control media outlets and "freedom of the press" is just an expression. But the response of freezing all of the reporters' assets (including their apartments and cars) seems disproportionate, even should the charges of defamation be upheld. Regardless, the ball is now in Steve Jobs's court.
We believe than all Wang and Weng did was report the facts and we condemn Foxconn’s reaction. We therefore ask you to intercede on behalf of these two journalists so that their assets are unfrozen and the lawsuit is dropped.
A post at Infinite Loop seems to suggest that Apple's external iSight may be due for a revamp. This supposition is based on the fact that Apple's store page for the camera now lists October for availability, and other vendors like Amazon list the item as currently unavailable.
It's an interesting question, to be sure. Apple has begun to standardize features across it's product line, with a built-in iSight camera now included in the MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac and software to take advantage of it, like PhotoBooth (which will be included in Leopard) and iChat. This leaves Mac Pro and Mac mini users out in the cold, however, unless they're willing to shell out an additional $149 for the external iSight (which, admittedly, is a nicer camera in many ways).
One commenter on Infinite Loop made the suggestion that Apple might decide to integrate the iSight into their external displays, which seems a good possibility, though, as a solution, it's not as flexible as the external camera. Could we see a new version of the external iSight? The device is over three years old and it hasn't seen a substantial revision in its lifetime—plus, it's one of the items that Apple had to stop selling in Europe due to environmental concerns.
