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Your source for indispensable Apple and Macintosh news, reviews, tips, and commentary since 1990.

 

Take Control BooksShopping for a new digital camera? In "Take Control of Buying a Digital Camera," pro photographer Larry Chen helps you pick out the right camera and accessories for your needs and budget. This book is loaded with tips on using your camera, pointers to the best review sites, and more!

 

First Look: The Linux-Based Paragon Rescue Kit for Mac OS X Lite

A new Mac data recovery utility is actually not Mac software at all, but a bootable Linux CD. That's an odd concept for most Mac users, but even excusing the unfamiliar exterior, is this software a useful problem-solving tool?Read more...

 

Making Macs Shine in a Windows Environment

This month's IT Architecture Forum, which Mark hosts as part of his job at Cornell, was a roundtable about supporting Macs in a Windows-heavy world. Check out the video and links to some useful tools.Read more...

Get More From the iPhone's Text Widget

Texting on the iPhone is fun and useful, but it also can be expensive and may not work all the time. Discover how to track and reduce your bill, and find tips on solving problems with the Text widget. Read more...

Solve More Word 2008 Problems with AppleScript

A pair of articles I wrote for Macworld provide several AppleScripts that address common complaints in Word 2008.Read more...

Take Control News: Find 200+ Tips in the Mac OS X Hints Superguide

In this ebook, Macworld's Rob Griffiths, editor of MacOSXHints.com, presents a cornucopia of over 200 tips to help you maximize your mileage from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The book covers a wide range of topics and experience levels, from basic tips anyone can implement to power user tweaks employing Terminal, AppleScript, and Automator.Read more...

Apple Releases Various Firmware Updates

If you have a MacBook Air, or a recent MacBook, MacBook Pro, or iMac, Apple has a firmware update for you that supposedly improves stability. But that's all Apple's saying.Read more...

Keyboard Maestro 3.0 Adds New Triggers and Actions

If you're looking for a new keyboard macro utility, Stairways Software has just released a significant update to the elegant Keyboard Maestro, with which you can make macros that utilize numerous triggers and actions.Read more...

How to Fix Corrupt Eudora Mailboxes

If you've run into a corrupt Eudora mailbox, fear not, because it's easily fixed with common household materials.Read more...

Carbon Copy Cloner 3.1 Released

Bombich Software has updated Carbon Copy Cloner, adding a few welcome features and fixing some bugs in the popular disk cloning, synchronization, and backup software.Read more...

Why Do Simple Updates Require Big Downloads?

We asked programmer Michael Ash why incremental software updates are so large - won't differential patchers work? Not so much, he explains.Read more...

Updated Paste Plain Text AppleScript for Word 2008

A new and improved version of Joe's Paste Plain Text AppleScript is shorter, more elegant, and less likely to result in the wrong font being used.Read more...

 

READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
Special thanks this week to Michael Sciascia, Henrik Munster,
Mark Rothstein, and Ian Campbell for their generous support!
 

SmartSleep Solves Safe Sleep Situation

If you're unhappy with the way your Mac laptop handles sleep mode, you no longer need a command-line script to change it. This new preference pane makes it easy to tailor sleep settings to your liking.Read more...

iPhoto 7.1.3 Fixes Books and Cards

iPhoto 7.1.3 addresses issues with wire-bound books and cards, and will hopefully help keep iPhoto out of therapy.Read more...

CheckUp 1.0: A Beautiful but Unripe Maintenance Utility

A new maintenance utility looks fantastic and does a few things well, but has some serious bugs, missing features, and other problems.Read more...

More MacBook, MacBook Pro Keyboard Problems Fixed

If your MacBook or MacBook Pro has been dropping the first key press after having been idle, rejoice, because Apple has a fix for you. Alas, if you're experiencing this problem on any other Mac, you're still out of luck.Read more...

Take Control News: Learn to Wrangle Permissions in Leopard

Permissions are among the most complex and confusing aspects of Unix that Macintosh users are forced to deal with, but thanks to Brian Tanaka's clear explanations in "Take Control of Permissions in Leopard," working with permissions no longer has to feel like a game of "Mother, May I?".Read more...

Leopard 10.5.2: TidBITS Complains, Apple Listens, Sort Of

With the release of the recent 10.5.2 update, how does Leopard stand up under the criticisms I leveled at it in my article, "Six Things I Hate About Leopard"? Hint: Two out of six isn't bad, but it isn't good either.Read more...

Leopard Emerges from Beta as 10.5.2 Ships

The release of Mac OS X 10.5.2 brings Leopard much closer to being sufficiently reliable for production tasks. Some showstoppers have been fixed, many bugs squashed, and cosmetic problems cleaned up.Read more...

QuickTime 7.4.1 Fixes Zero-Day Vulnerability

Apple releases a critical security update for a month-old vulnerability in QuickTime for OS X and Windows.Read more...

Fix for Mysterious Word 2008 Crash

Will Word 2008 not launch for you? Here's one possible solution.Read more...

For Want of a File, an Operating System Was Lost

Glenn finds that Leopard heads into an infinite Setup Assistant loop due to a single damaged file. He feels like a Windows user for a moment: the only way out is to reinstall the operating system.Read more...

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READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
Special thanks this week to Michael Sciascia, Henrik Munster,
Mark Rothstein, and Ian Campbell for their generous support!