MetaFilter posts tagged with osx

Behold, Grand Central Dispatch: Apple is saying it doesn't have to be this way

kliuless — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:50:02 -0800

John Siracusa's review of Snow Leopard is an instant classic, as James Fallows sez: "an impressive piece of technical writing." Altho, "apparently OS X doesn't support huge pages." Apple's example, btw, may have wider industry implications/applications.

DrumChuk!

ocherdraco — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:11:01 -0800

DrumChuk: "A customizable Ruby-based MIDI drum controller for the Wii remote and nunchuk on OS X." The code, and more about the project, can be found at github.

The Web OS

GuyZero — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:17:01 -0800

Grabarz & Partner's website looks oddly familiar... A German ad agency, apparently they couldn't be bothered of thinking of something original so they ripped off an existing concept.

Mitch Haile's Office

odinsdream — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:37:11 -0800

Mitch Haile's office requires some explanation.

Yo dawg, we herd you like webapps...

Mr. Anthropomorphism — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:19:28 -0800

Software startup 280 North today announced Atlas: a rich, web-based environment for developing Mac-like web applications. The company garnered praise last year when they released web-based slideshow app 280 Slides, which offers powerful features in an oddly familiar motif. The similarities are more than skin deep, for 280 Slides, though a polished and capable product in its own right, is also a showpiece for even more ambitious projects: a programming language and open-source framework that allow developers to write cross-platform applications for the web (nearly) the same way they would for the Mac. Atlas, then, is a place to put it all together—an online Xcode for Mac-style web development.

Plainview is a free full-screen web browser for your mac.

krautland — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:51:28 -0800

Plainview is a free full-screen web browser for your mac. Until now, you had two options for showing Internet work: capture it all to Quicktime and throw it into Powerpoint or Keynote (looks nice but no interactivity as everything has to be canned) or show it in your browser (interactive but with ugly chrome distracting people from your beautiful sites). So here's a third option. Fire up your full-screen browser and let your audience focus on the work. Oh yeah, the same guys also made a neat little flash game called Tankageddon and of course the subservient chicken.

Again and Again

fungible — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:59:48 -0800

OS X as music video. (SLYT) Dennis Liu's interpretation of "Again and Again" by the Bird and the Bee, using a particular operating system as inspiration. It does feel kind of like an Apple ad, but it's quite creative.

iPhone SDK details

finite — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:39:20 -0800

Extensible applications such as Firefox appear to be banned by Apple's iPhone SDK license agreement: No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and builtin interpreter(s)… An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. An Application may write data on a device only to the Application's designated container area, except as otherwise specified by Apple. Applications may only use Published APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any unpublished or private APIs.

Interfacing as humanly as possible

lonemantis — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:25:24 -0800

I'm not a computer programmer, but I love the thought and artistry that go into [computer] application design. Just browsing through Apple's latest HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) leaves me awestruck as to how much experience has been amassed and is used in order to design and execute a streamlined operating system. Abstract concepts like metaphors, user's mental model, perceived stability, and modelessness are transparently integrated into our everyday actions. It is often the little things which make all the difference. And sometimes the simplest actions we perform seem really complex when explained. Who knew there were this many buttons? On a related note: David Pogue at TED sings and talks about human interface inconsistency. Finally, I hope Apple will take to heart many of John Siracusa's thoughts regarding improvements to OS X. The inconsistent Finder and the horrid behavior of the Dock, to name only two... I love my Mac.

The software patent cold war is getting less cold

finite — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:26:56 -0800

[Patent Lawsuit Filter] On Wednesday Sun Microsystems announced a counter suit against Network Appliance, wherein they will draw on their "defensive portfolio" which is "one of the largest patent arsenals on the internet". They are going to be requesting a permanent injunction to remove all of NetApp's filer products from the marketplace, and also seeking monetary damages (half of which they've pledged to donate to the Software Freedom Law Center and Peer to Patent Project). Last month, NetApp sued Sun for patent infringements in ZFS. Earlier this month in Texas, the first ever patent infringement lawsuit against Linux distributors was filed. The plaintiff in the case against Red Hat and Novell is IP Innovation and Technology Licensing, a company that successfully got some money from Apple with a similar claim earlier this year. They're owned by Acacia Technologies, a company with close ties to Microsoft, which has caused some to suggest that this suit might be more about spreading FUD than about securing licensees for patents. The Sun/NetApp case is less clear-cut. In September, the founder of Network Appliance (Dave Hitz) announced on his blog that they were suing Sun for patent infringement, explaining that "Sun has been using its patent portfolio as a profit center. About 18 months ago, Sun’s lawyers contacted NetApp with a list of patents they say we infringe, and requested that we pay them lots of money." Sun's CEO (Jonathan Schwartz) replied on his blog, thanking NetApp for suing them and saying that "Sun did not approach NetApps about licensing any of Sun's patents and never filed complaints against NetApps or demanded anything." Dave replies that he is stunned by Jonathan's response, in a post titled "Sun Patent Team Demanded $36 Million From NetApp". After this, their blogs went silent on the subject for a few weeks. Then, Jonathan announced the counter suit (the first link in the fpp), and Dave responded with two more blog entries. Groklaw has reason to believe Microsoft is also involved in this case.

The How-To Geek

nthdegx — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 06:09:39 -0800

The How-To Geek provides hints and tips for a variety of operating systems and popular pieces of software. The how-tos cover a pleasing range of head-slapping I-should-have-known-thats to relatively advanced techniques. Follow the latest page to read the site in blog form.

Web Something.0

Kwine — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:53:49 -0800

iLike "provides a buddy-list for your iTunes - it helps you discover new artists based on what you're already listening to, and it helps you browse your friends' music libraries and share music suggestions with each other." Basically, there's an iTunes plugin (OSX only) that automatically sends your iTunes metadata to the iLike site to be shared with the community.

MyDreamApp

filmgeek — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:52:12 -0800

Software Pop Idol If you're a software developer, what happens when you run out of ideas? You ask the community of course! Then you sort, rate and have the ideas voted on. Make it a contest and give away prizes. And that's exactly what the Mac Programmers behind My Dream App have done. Entries are due by Sept 1st. Rules here. Idea Submission form here.

Oxyd lives on

rxrfrx — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 18:25:31 -0800

Remember Oxyd? You can find this shareware game on abandonware sites, but you probably won't have much luck playing it on your new PC. Even if you run it under DOSBox, it's hard to get it looking and sounding right. Fret no more! There's Oxyd extra for Windows and Enigma for lots of platforms. Time to dust off my Oxyd Book...

Visor: a quake-like drop down terminal for your Mac.

Freen — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:00:33 -0800

Visor: Brought to you by the wonderful folks who made the incredible Quicksilver, Visor is a drop down terminal for your mac, similar to the quake terminal . Plus, you can use quartz composer movies as backgrounds!

Peanut Gallery: DIY MST3K

mcwetboy — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:22:10 -0800

Peanut Gallery: DIY MST3K for OS X. OMFG! Via DF.

OMG ROFL

jragon — Sat, 20 May 2006 00:37:41 -0800

MacSaber! Turn Your Mac Into a Jedi Weapon. I cannot explain how much fun I had slashing co-workers with a laptop today. Be careful not too get too excited. You don't want to lose your grasp on the MacBook or shake so hard you damage the hard drive. Great to try once. Or in my case, 20 minutes straight.

Hot, hot, XP on Mac action!

Ryvar — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:37:49 -0800

Windows XP booting on Apple hardware: confirmed. The $14000 contest to get Windows XP to boot on the new Intel hardware from Apple is over as of today. While considerable work in the realm of device drivers needs to be done, (and the rumored method may violate the Windows EULA) much of the hardware is straight Wintel. Considering that the MacBook Pro and Intel-based iMac (not currently working) both pack ATI Radeon X1600s, serious PC gaming on Apple hardware via dual-booting may finally be in the realm of possibility. [Via: slashdot, engadget]

OSX Security warning

delmoi — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:00:59 -0800

OSX has a security bug that can be triggered simply by visiting a web page in safari There is an example of the exploit here, to see if your machine is affected. You should probably use firefox until a patch is released.

A flickr ticker

Tlogmer — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:18:55 -0800

Tickr scrolls flickr photos across your (mac) screen.

'06 MacWorld Keynote

gren — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:29:14 -0800

Live coverage of the 2006 Apple Keynote is not available in video form. Since the stop of live broadcasts on the web, we now rely on folks actually there to give us up to date news, and here it is (in text form). It will be available later (as always, in QuickTime) from apple.com.

Re-Introducing the Real Windows Vista

kirkaracha — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 13:24:52 -0800

Re-Introducing the Real Windows Vista Bill Gates' demo of Vista from the CES show dubbed over footage of OS X. Apple told Microsoft to start their photocopiers and it looks like they did. [via]

iTunes, Brushed Metal. Lunch in this town again.

Tlogmer — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 21:45:37 -0800

The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme.

I don't need a widget for that, though

nthdegx — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:05:17 -0800

Is Mac OS X Becoming Crufty? I definitely think so.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.

keswick — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:01:14 -0800

Well, it's an old rumor, but many sources (including the NYT, WSJ, Wired, and many rumor sites) are reporting that Steve Jobs will be announcing a switch to Intel at the WWDC tomorrow. The WSJ claims Apple will be switching to x86 processors, while others speculate Intel will simply be manufacturing PPC chips, or only processors for a tablet PC. If the rumors are true, and it seems like they are, what of the Intel DRM recently announced? Are we destined to have DRM hardwired into our computers no matter where we turn? Curiously, the major rumor site has remained mum on the matter. Your best bet to follow the drama will probably be MacRumors, who will be providing live updates from Steve-o's keynote tomorrow.