- Fetch Softworks
- MacSpeech
- Circus Ponies
- Microsoft
- CS Odessa
- VMware
- Mark/Space, Inc.
- Bare Bones Software
- Readers Like You!
- Web Crossing
Open Files with Finder's App Switcher
Say you're in the Finder looking at a file and you want to open it with an application that's already running but which doesn't own that particular document. How? Switch to that app and choose File > Open? Too many steps. Choose Open With from the file's contextual menu? Takes too long, and the app might not be listed. Drag the file to the Dock and drop it onto the app's icon? The icon might be hard to find; worse, you might miss.
In Leopard there's a new solution: use the Command-Tab switcher. Yes, the Command-Tab switcher accepts drag-and-drop! The gesture required is a bit tricky. Start dragging the file in the Finder: move the file, but don't let up on the mouse button. With your other hand, press Command-Tab to summon the switcher, and don't let up on the Command key. Drag the file onto the application's icon in the switcher and let go of the mouse. (Now you can let go of the Command key too.) Extra tip: If you switch to the app beforehand, its icon in the Command-Tab switcher will be easy to find; it will be first (or second).
Visit Take Control of Customizing Leopard
Written by Matt Neuburg
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| A New Buddy for Mac PalmPilot Owners
Florent Pillet has released Palm Buddy, a $20 Macintosh shareware application that gives PalmPilot owners greater options for working with the data on their handheld organizers. Unlike the built-in HotSync software (which synchronizes data between the Palm device and your desktop computer) Palm Buddy establishes an open, active connection with the PalmPilot. This enables you to view the directory of files on the Pilot, install applications from the Finder via drag & drop, perform a full backup of all the Pilot's data, and restore previous backups. Palm Buddy also features a plug-in architecture that, in its current incarnation, translates text files into the AportisDoc document format for reading on the Pilot.
If you've recently installed the Palm 2 MB Upgrade for your PalmPilot, Palm Buddy offers a partial workaround for the software glitch in the upgrade card's ROM that plagues Mac users (see "PalmPilot Upgrade Card Problematic for Mac Users" in TidBITS 435). Since the problem prevents Mac users from installing new applications via the HotSync feature, you can use Palm Buddy to load programs directly and maintain backups of their data files. The downside is, although you can create backups of the data files belonging to the Pilot's built-in applications (such as the Address Book), Palm Buddy doesn't synchronize the PalmPilot files with the desktop files. So, changes made using the Pilot Desktop software likely won't transfer to the PalmPilot the next time you try to use HotSync. Palm Buddy is a 990K download.
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