Steve Riggins

Easily switch sound inputs in 10.6

Thanks to Matt for this link to MacOS X Hints about a tip to easily change your sound input preferences in 10.6. Simply hold down option while clicking the sound (speaker) icon in the menu bar!

10.6 Wake from screen saver bug

I have my MacBook Pro set up to require a password when I try to wake my laptop, or use it after the screensaver has come on. This morning I went to use the machine and it was not asleep, I could tell from the status of the light, and the screen was lit, but… Continue reading 10.6 Wake from screen saver bug

Dropbox and Snow Leopard 10.6

If you use Dropbox, you might want to check out this experimental 10.6 Snow Leopard build. Using the previous release of Dropbox, I noticed that when sleeping and going to a different wifi network, then waking up, Dropbox would sometimes use 100% of the CPU and get stuck in a loop. This new version claims… Continue reading Dropbox and Snow Leopard 10.6

Using older Preference Panels

Snow Leopard uses 64 bit applications throughout the system. This is good for everyone, but sometimes older 32 bit code cannot work hand in hand with newer 64 bit code. An example of this is System Preference panes. If you try to use an older 32 bit preference panel, System Preferences will quit and re-launch… Continue reading Using older Preference Panels

Things you’ll notice in Snow Leopard

Time Capsule Backing up over 802.11n to a Time Capsule is much, much, much fast now. Finishing still takes time, but the overall Using the Time Machine UI is much faster to load and to search back through time There is a new “Calculating Changes” phase in the Time Machine menu while a backup is… Continue reading Things you’ll notice in Snow Leopard

Things to know before upgrading to Snow Leopard

Run the Snow Leopard installer while booted in Leopard. Don’t boot from the DVD and run the updater that way. I have confirmed that the Snow Leopard updater is smarter if you start it while booted from your Macintosh’s hard disk.

Known conflicts with Snow Leopard

The following bugs/conflicts exist in Snow Leopard 10.6.0: It is reported that the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M is not compatible, and that a user was told to “contact Apple.” If you use a Time Capsule wirelessly, sometimes when entering Time Machine your capsule’s history may not appear. Canceling Time Machine and re-entering it will resolve the… Continue reading Known conflicts with Snow Leopard

1passsword and Snow Leopard

If you use 1password and planning to upgrade to Snow Leopard, then you’re looking at a paid upgrade to 1password 3.0. I personally don’t like this, but you’ll really want the 64 bit support, because that allows crappy Flash to crash without taking down the rest of Safari. Check out their website for more info

Snow Leopard ships this Friday!

That’s right! Apple has announced that Snow Leopard is shipping early. On Friday I’ll be posting what I know about Snow Leopard!

TomTom for iPhone

Update: I received an email from TomTom Support: All updates will be provided through iTunes. This application is not compatible with TomTom HOME. This application is not compatible with MapShare. I picked up TomTom for iPhone for $99. It is really expensive, and we have a TomTom 720, but I’ve been interested in the all-in-phone… Continue reading TomTom for iPhone

Calibrating your laptop battery

At PMUG last night we talked about calibrating your laptop battery. I mentioned using the ‘yes’ unix application to run the battery down, but it appears at OS X now sleeps even though yes is running. Apple’s instructions just state to use the machine until the battery is dead, but if you want the battery… Continue reading Calibrating your laptop battery

Bing vs. Google

hehe MS is trying so hard to copy everyone, and still they fail. I tried searching for “easiest computer to use” Bing: Notice the dell and hp ads, with the only sponsored ad being a “Fix Windows Now” ad. Then it takes us to a link whose page is no longer available, something about hacking… Continue reading Bing vs. Google

Migrating to Leopard from Tiger can corrupt up your user’s group settings

If you are a Mac user and have used OS X 10.4 Tiger, then upgraded to OS X 10.5 Leopard, there may be lurking problems in your system. In Tiger, each of your users had a group id (gid) which matched your user’s Unix ID. Your first user would be 501, second would be 502,… Continue reading Migrating to Leopard from Tiger can corrupt up your user’s group settings

iPhone OS 3.0.1 is available – Fixes SMS flaw

Get it by checking for updates for your phone in iTunes!

eBay may be forced to shutter skype – Secret iChat logs found

This news story claims that while eBay did pay 2.6 billion for Skype, it didn’t include core technology. Rather, eBay licensed it hoping they could replace it on their own. Which may not happen. Brilliant. We’ve received some of the iChat logs between two higher ups at eBay, that may explain how this fiasco came… Continue reading eBay may be forced to shutter skype – Secret iChat logs found

Proper Mac OS X Permissions

I just spent a bunch of time trying to figure out why my Time Machine would not restore data. The restored folders were empty, but the data was on the Time Capsule. I tried to copy the folder via the Finder and that failed silently as well. Even more oddly, I could open some folders… Continue reading Proper Mac OS X Permissions

Author: Steve Riggins