Many Gems are muffin because they bring home the bacon suitable functionality that is n’t include in Mac OS X. Sometimes a Gem just unlocks — or makes more approachable — lineament already found in Mac OS X ; other time , it adds those features itself . Whatever the case , many precious stone take the form of system enhancement . And so with every major release of Mac OS X , when Apple touts heaps and scores of new features , it ’s interesting to note which of those unexampled features fend off the need for third - party hyperkinetic syndrome - ons ( or at least some of those add - ons ’ features ) . Below are some of the software system products previously covered in Mac Gems that overlap with newfangled feature of Mac OS X 10.4 “ Tiger . ”
Xounds ( , May 2003 , $ 10 ) . Xounds shoot for to , in the words of the developer , “ bring back Appearance Sounds to Mac OS X. ” Apple added a few port sounds — for example , the “ click ” made when a file is moved to the Trash — in Panther , but in Tiger , a number of extra such sound have been add . You do n’t get the full spectrum of audio - laden activity recover in Mac OS 9 or , with Xounds , in Mac OS X , but Tiger ’s sound effects may be enough for many users .
iChatStatus ( , May 2003 , donations accept ) . One of my favorite utilities , iChatStatus let you customize your iChat position content using one of a embarrassment of AppleScripts and shell scripts . But if you ’ve been using iChatStatus mainly to display the current iTunes track as your status message — the slip for many exploiter , if my Buddy List is at all representative — Tiger ’s iChat provide this functionality out of the loge : From the status pop - up carte , pick out “ Current iTunes Track . ”
NetNewsWire Lite ( , May 2003 , donations accepted ; standard version $ 40 ) . I and many other Macworld staffers have long been fan of NetNewsWire , both the Lite and standard variation . It ’s my favorite RSS reviewer and it ’s one of the few applications I utilise all the time — if my Mac is running , so is NetNewsWire . But for those whose RSS - meter reading needs do n’t require a dedicated node , Safari ’s novel RSS functionality ( which I covered last week ) may serve .
QuickImage CM ( , October 2003 , donations live with ) . QuickImage CM has long been one of my favorite way to quickly see images in the Finder without having to launch an software — you but Control / right - clack on an image ( or mental image ) and then select View Image from the ensue contextual carte . Even better , you may edit and convert persona the right way from the carte or viewer window . Tiger does n’t ply these editing and transition feature , but thanks to its unexampled slideshow functionality , you may watch images right in the Finder : Just Control / right - press an image or mathematical group of choose prototype and choose Slideshow from the contextual menu ; the image(s ) will be shown in a full - screen slideshow , complete with onscreen pilotage dominance . you’re able to even consider an “ index rag ” of the pick out image .
BuddyPop ( , October 2003 7 Euros ) . BuddyPop is still the quickest method acting I ’ve receive to display inter-group communication information stored in Address Book — closet a keyboard shortcut , type in a few letter ’s of the person ’s name ( or other data in their striking record ) , and then press counter to display the complete record . But Tiger ’s Spotlight can at least come close this functionality : press the Spotlight keyboard shortcut , type in a soul ’s name , and then take their Address Book entry from Spotlight ’s final result menu to open up Address Book to that striking . I in person prefer BuddyPop ’s onscreen display over launch Address Book , and BuddyPop offers a identification number of extra features — such as Bluetooth phone integration and Caller ID — but for many mass , Spotlight will do the occupation just hunky-dory .
PDF U ( , October 2003 , gratuitous ) . Starting in Mac OS X 10.2.4 , Apple append support for what ’s calledPDF Workflow : By creating a folder called PDF Services inside one of the Library folder , any software , pamphlet , hand , or alias placed in that PDF Services folder appears in a new PDF work flow menu in Print dialogue . By choosing an point from that menu — or else of print — a PDF of the document is created and then “ send to ” the choose item for processing ( opening , rescue , converting , or whatever a finicky item would do ) . The problem in pre - Tiger versions of Mac OS X is that this folder was n’t make by nonremittal , so most users were n’t even aware the feature existed . PDF U was a handy utility that created the appropriate folderandpopulated it with some useful AppleScripts . In Tiger , however , not only is the folder a received part of the Library directory , but Apple has already include some utile PDF Workflow activity . Even good , you could blue-pencil the menu directly from the Print dialogue .
PDF browser app Plugin ( , December 2003 , free for nursing home or educational use , $ 69 for commercial land site license ) . Until latterly , Shubert|it ’s PDF internet browser Plugin was the only way to look at online PDF files in Safari . ( Adobe ’s Acrobat and Acrobat Reader 7 late provide a similar stopper - in . ) Now that Tiger ’s Safari can display PDF file natively , there ’s less of a need for such sparking plug - ins . However , I still much prefer PDF web browser Plugin as it offer a telephone number of features not found in Safari , such as access to a PDF ’s table of contents , salutary rapid climb functionality , and the ability to rotate PDFs .
MailEnhancer ( , June 2004 , free ) . MailEnhancer adds a number of “ missing ” features to Mail , include the ability to change Mail ’s Dock picture so that it shows the identification number of unread messages in all folders ( not just your inbox ) ; show and hide Mail ’s Activity Viewer window when you curb for mail ; and exhibit a status subject matter ( No unexampled MailorYou Have # New Messages ) after checking for young mail . None of these feature made it into Mail 2.0 . However , MailEnhancer ’s most democratic feature — the ability to mechanically append a different signature tune to messages depending on the story from which they ’re get off — did . Mail ’s preferences window under Tiger allows you to assign a different signature to each account.[Note : The MailEnhancer Web site is likely down . ]
WinSwitch ( , September 2004 , donations take ) . Panther ’s Fast User Switching feature article is great , but the Fast User Switching carte takes the full ( “ long ” ) username of the current user — so if your name happens to be Arnold Schwarzenegger , the carte all but monopolise your menu bar . WinSwitch give you the option to instead exhibit the carte du jour as either a generic “ user ” icon or the current user ’s account image . Apple must have been pay up attention , because under Tiger , you’re able to choose to exhibit the Fast User Switching as either your long username , light username , or — the most invisible choice — a generic user icon . You do n’t get WinSwitch ’s more advanced options , such as the ability to exhibit the beginning substance abuser or to motorcar - open / launching detail when shift between user , but if you ’re just try out to maintain menu bar space , Tiger will do the trick .
Konfabulator ( , November 2004 , $ 25 ) . Enough has been said—50 fourth dimension over — about Dashboard vs. Konfabulator . answer it to say that youprobablywon’t ask Konfabulator once enough third - party “ Widget”-makers have created merchandise that match popular Konfabulator modules .
uControl ( , April 2004 , free ) andDoubleCommand ( , January 2005 , free ) . I ’ve touted both of these utilities as slipway to lease you habituate a Windows keyboard with a Mac — the alt ( option ) and Windows ( command ) key are swop on a Windows keyboard compare to their location on a Mac keyboard , and both uControl and DoubleCommand let you swap them “ back . ” Tiger ’s Keyboard & Mouse preference pane now lets you do this without experience to put in additional software — you could swap the functionality of the Command , Option , Control , and crest Lock keys via the Modifier Keys dialog .
iCalPublish ( , April 2005 , $ 15 ) . I continue iCalPublish earlier this year as a way to aggregate and publish multiple iCal calendars . ( iCal under Panther and earlier let you bring out only individual calendars . ) gratefully , iCal 2 , included in Tiger , lets you create calendar Groups — set of multiple iCal calendars — which can be published just like a standard calendar . iCalPublish still has a few vantage , such as allowing you to make multiple combinations of calendars , and the power to issue a combined calendar topically and then import it ( which is a useful way to sprain multiple calendars into a single local calendar ) , but at least some users will find iCal 2 ’s Group feature to be proficient enough .
So there you have it — depending on your penury , upgrading to Tiger may mean you no longer have to establish as much third - company software to get the features you want . And don — for the sake of discussion — that you want the features provide by the above utilities , but would be slaked with Tiger ’s effectuation of them , you ’d save about $ 60 ( plus whatever contribution you would make to developer who take donations in stead of “ purchases , ” ) by buy Tiger . At least that ’s the argument you’re able to make to person in restraint of your software program budget .
Note : The snotty-nosed side to Tiger offer some of the functionality found in the above products is that some of them have n’t yet been update for compatibility with Tiger — in other word , if you want to use one of these products to earn featuresnotprovided by Tiger , be certain to check the developer ’s World Wide Web site to check that it ’s compatible .
