Launcher dilemma
I have it away reading the programme reviews in the August 2007 exit ( “ Software Treats ” ) . While I bump many of them useful , there was one that left me look for more . The review of Butler was okay in and of itself . But when it come to programs that serve launch app and manage other project , three names keep popping up : LaunchBar , Butler , and Quicksilver . I ’ve found that mass love whichever one of these programs they use . But I have never found someone who has tested all three and compared them . Which is the loyal ? The easy to use ? The most lineament - ample ? And permit ’s not leave that Quicksilver is gratuitous . If one of the others is better , is the difference worth the cost?—David Jaffe
The challenge is that , although all three programs solve likewise at a basic level , beyond that they ’re very dissimilar . LaunchBar is likely the easiest to utilize ; Quicksilver and Butler are more powerful , but their compass make them a fleck more confusing for user who just desire to launch programs and open file . Butler probably has the most built - in features , include a macro tool for automating action . Quicksilver is the most extensible and has a large pursuit of users who append feature . In other tidings , there is n’t one that ’s the “ best ” for every user . We commend downloading the free demonstration and test all three out to see whichyouprefer.—Dan Frakes
How many colors?
Beyond the legal take of falsification , Jason Snell ’s clause , “ When ‘ Millions ’ of Colors Equal 262,144 ” ( Mac Beat , August 2007 ) , brings up a bigger matter : how many colors can the human center see ? The CIE hue diagram generally represents the visual spectrum . The people of colour possible in a computer display can be name as a triangle on that diagram , the acme of which are colors of the cherry-red , light-green , and racy phosphors ( or light-emitting diode ) . As far as I can order from my research , no one fuck how belittled a change in the hue coordinates the ideal human can recognise under ideal condition , which in turn would tell you how many colors that human can recognise . But whatever that number is , it ’s probably less than “ million , ” and peradventure even less than 262,144 . Since we do n’t know the number of coloration a human can comprehend , most representation of showing colors remain merely hype.—Kimball Kramer
I think of in the honest-to-goodness days , when Apple IIs and other early screen background Macs come with 13- and 14 - in monitors . To the rest of the PC industry , those were 14- and 15 - inch display . Apple chose to advertise the viewable area of the monitor rather than the in the buff CRT size . There ’s no telling how many purchasing decision multitude made on that distinction alone : “ I can get a bigger monitor if I get a PC . ” Here again , how many sale would be lost if they thought , “ I can get millions of colors on a Dell or HP and only 262,144 on a Mac ” ? Sometimes you just have to go with the industry criterion even if it proceed against your own integrity.—Jim Newman
iPhone reactions
I love my new iPhone . It ’s the most substantial improvement to the fashion I interact with an operating system since the innovation of the mouse . But in a few month , the romance will begin to fade . I ’m go to arouse up one morning and realize I have a mobile computation gadget with no pressman living , no means to blue-pencil or save Word and Excel doctor or PDFs , no tidings CPU , no game , a Web browser app without Flash , and a camera without range of a function adjustment . It ’s the serious iPod yet , but it ’s plan intentionally to nix the use of non - Apple headphones . It ’s the good hand-held data processor yet , but it ’s designed intentionally to preclude the purpose of third - political party apps . My eye will wander.—Andrew Payne
The next product I ’d like to see from Apple : the iKeyboard . Using the touch - screen technology it used on the iPhone , the company could make an entirely flat , glossy black keyboard with no visible key at all until you turn it on . The keys would be touch sensitive . To launch the arrow keys , you ’d just move your fingerbreadth in the management you wanted the cursor to go . By pinching and unpinching your finger , you could resize impression in iPhoto . Other software - specific keys could be tally for the rest period of iLife . Apple could make it wireless or USB cable . They could make it wide-eyed for well ergonomics . Besides looking supercool , it would be easy to houseclean up — no more cooky rotter between the keys.—Paul A. Gunneman
Another Google tip
I was beaming to see your backsheesh for Google ’s document , spreadsheet , and calendar services ( “ The Google Office , ” August 2007 ) . I ’ve been using all three for over a year , and I have been pleased . Here ’s a tip I ’ve found utilitarian : If you ’re using a tabbed browser app , like Firefox , configure it to open all new windows as fresh tabs . This way , when you open a Modern calendar or text file , it will open in the same window , right next to the master . It ’s a groovy way to keep your on-line office organise in one window.—John Eischeid
Apple without Steve?
Regarding John Siracusa’sSpotlightcolumn in your August effect ( “ A Day without Steve ” ): Someday Steve Jobs will no longer be run Apple . And while Jobs is driven to bring home the bacon , he ’s lately do to understand that he ’s not doing this alone . For example , at late product instauration , he ’s started thanking all of the people who made these thing possible . It ’s been a openhanded step for him to do that , and it ’s nice to see the people in the background recognized.—Michael Murdock
Win some
I am so grateful for Kirk McElhearn ’s article “ Breathe New Life into an Old iPod ” ( Playlist , July 2007 ) . I had an older 20 GB iPod I was going to trade online . But after I take your clause , I downloaded DasBoot , installed DiskWarrior , and turn my old iPod into a portable toolkit.—Gil Forrester
Lose some
There was a time whenMacworldcovered mack . While this is still mostly true , I ’m really well-worn of all the pages wasted on iPhone and iPod reporting . Why do n’t you guys end it already ? Create a freestanding magazine for all that dust . I ’ve been suffering through multiple screen replacements on my LED - backlit MacBook Pro as well as essence panics while playing games ( because Apple ’s drivers for the Nvidia 8600 M GT are terrible ) . Yet those problem getzerocoverage in your powder magazine and on your Web site . It ’s a Mac ! Cover it ! Apple ca n’t even make a computer right these Clarence Shepard Day Jr. : that should be the story ! Not phones and MP3 players!—Jon Gilbert
