Based on leaked release notes, Apple-watching blog 9 to 5 Mac see the next OS X as arriving June 8, with some modest UI upgrades, a big push on 64-bit, and presented by Steve Jobs himself. That date is based in part on speculation about why Apple would book a six-day block at a convention centre and dub it only a “Corporate Meeting,” but the release notes seem pretty solid, or at least crazily detailed for a forgery. The most recent build notes indicate a new QuickTime Player with a minimal interface, Safari 4 beta included as the default browser, and a “new Cocoa Desktop, Info Window and Contextual Menu” for Finder. Is this a nice set of improvements for a solid OS, or do you see Apple concentrating their efforts elsewhere? Tell us your take in the comments.
Snow Leopard goes 64-Bit, to be released on June 8th with Stevo? [9 to 5 Mac]Mac only: When you want to keep your Desktop clear but still get easy access to disks and network drives, you want Volumizer. This simple utility adds your Mac’s hard drive and other drives—disk images or external drives—to the Dock and/or your menubar. That way if you want to hide the Hard Drive icon from the Desktop, you can still get to your disks in one click. Volumizer is a free download for Mac only. Thanks, AlaskaJack! Volumizer [via Ars Technica]
Add a little eye candy to your most frequently used folders on your Mac by assigning a background image to the window. To do so, from the View menu, choose “As Icons.” Then again from the View menu, choose “Show View Options.” Under Background, choose Picture, and select the image you want to set as the background. This setting is folder-specific, so you can theme multiple folders separately. Leopard: Use a Background Image in Finder [Tech-Recipes.com via Technology Links Daily]
Mac users with multiple Finder windows littering your desktop: hold down the Option key when you click on the close button on one to close them all in one shot. This works for any multi-window Mac app (though normally you’d just hit Cmd+Q to quit entirely). Here are a few more things you didn’t know you can do on your Mac.
If you’re keen on keeping a desktop free from the clutter of a hundred open windows, weblog AppleDoes points out a simple OS X keyboard shortcut that will simultaneously open a file or application while closing the Finder window you launched it from. How? Just hold your option key. So if you’re about to launch an application, for example, holding option and then double-clicking the app will open the app and automatically close the Finder window you opened it from. This trick also works from the keyboard—so Cmd-Opt-O will open your app or file and automatically close the Finder window. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a handy little shortcut to keep your virtual world just a touch neater. Open an application from the App folder and close its folder [AppleDoes]
Mac OS X only: If Spotlight metadata just doesn’t cut it and you want to organise your files by tag, free utility Punakea might be for you. Entering file tags is easy with Punakea: Just drag and drop any files you want to tag either to a pop-up Punakea sidebar, the icon on the Dock, or the app itself. Enter your tags. Then, within Punakea, choose any tag to list its files and also see related tags. In Finder, Punakea actually creates aliases to your files within folders with your tag’s name. (You can set Punakea to actually move the files to those folders as well instead of using an alias.) If you’re interested in doing more with tags but don’t want to get a third party utility involved, check out how guest editor Nick Santilli organizes his files with Spotlight tags. Punakea is a free download with donations requested for Mac Tiger or Leopard only.
Mac OS X only: Send your office documents to the cloud in one click and swipe with Gdocsuploader. Place this bare bones application on your Dock, Finder sidebar, or desktop, then drag and drop word processing documents, spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentation files onto it to add them to your Google Docs account. You’ll need to provide your Google account username and password, of course, and when the upload’s complete you get the option to open the doc in your web browser. Gdocsuploader is still new and a bit unpolished; expect a few Keychain prompts to get your files transferred. Gdocsuploader is a free download for Mac OS X only (works on Leopard for sure, Tiger usage not yet confirmed.) gdocsuploader [Google Code via VinodLive]
Weblog MacApper prefers to keep a clean Dock, and as such doesn’t particularly like the new Time Machine icon cluttering up the Dock. Since Time Machine is basically an extension of Finder, the post suggests adding a Time Machine shortcut directly to the Finder toolbar. Setting it up is simply a matter of heading to your applications folder and dragging the Time Machine icon to your toolbar. Once you’ve done that, just activate Finder and click the Time Machine button whenever you want to hit up your files in Time Machine. Simple, yes, but it makes a lot of sense. If you want the Time Machine button to fit in better with the rest of the toolbar buttons, go download this Time Machine button. The Quickest Tip for Time Machine [MacApper]
The Mac Tipper blog sings the praises of Finder’s column view, and schools the rest of us on how to navigate files and folders in a flash using the keyboard. Hit the play button to see it in action. How to Quickly Navigate Column View [MacTipper Blog]
Mac OS X only: Makers of previously mentioned PDF organizer Yep have released a new Finder replacement into public beta called Leap. Getting to your files should be easier than clicking down through folders, so Leap groups documents by characteristics (like file type) and tags. What, you haven’t tagged your files? Leap can display metadata as tags—like dates and a file’s enclosing folder name—so it’s easy to say “show me all the movie files from 2005 saved under vacation.” As someone who’s been pretty organised about her home folder from the get-go, Leap is a paradigm shift, but definitely a time-saving one for anyone who thinks in English versus folder names. Check out the video tour to see it in action. Leap’s public 20 day trial beta is a free download; unclear how much (and when) the software will cost. Thanks, Garfield! Leap [Ironic Software]
