macosxhints.com Site News

Happy Martin Luther King Day

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

No hints today. We honor a man, but even moreso, an idea, today.

See you tomorrow.

Craig A.

No hints today

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

No, it's not a holiday.

I live in a University neighborhood and some of my neighbors had their apartment building catch on fire. I'm giving some of them shelter (and hot tea) and trying to manage the chaos while things get sorted out.

Unfortunately, chaos and hint testing don't mix very well. I'll be back tomorrow unless the fire spreads this way. :)

Thanks, Craig A.

Happy New Year!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

No hints today; we'll be back again tomorrow morning.

Craig A.

Happy Holidays!

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:30:01 -0800

I want to wish everyone a good holiday weekend, and if you're not on holiday, I hope it's good anyway. :)

We won't be publishing hints on Monday but will be back as usual next Tuesday.

No snow here in Minnesota so we'll be having our first Brown Christmas in a few years.

Craig A.

New poll about iCloud

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:30:01 -0800

I've posted a new poll about your thoughts on iCloud usage. I'm sure the list of answers is not exhaustive, so please vote for the closest option but put other plans you may have in the comments section.

Craig A.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

It's Holiday time in the U.S. again. Time to remember all the good stuff in the company of friends and family. And eat, drink, and watch football.

A big Thank You to all the MacOSXHints readers, and especially to the contributors.

There won't be any new hints published on Friday either, but there is a new poll I want to put up.

Craig A.

A couple of changes

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:30:01 -0800

A couple of changes I'm making or considering: first, the category 'iPhone' is now 'iOS Devices.' Hints related to iOS itself, iOS apps, plus iPhone/iPad/iPod touch hardware go into this area. I'll go back and re-categorize older hints as I get the chance.

It has been proposed that a new category be created for iCloud related hints. Please post in the comments if you would prefer that or just keep it in the 10.7 or iOS areas, as applicable. I'm not sure I have a great preference one way or the other, so I'm looking for feedback on it.

Thanks, Craig A.

P.S. I see that the blue descriptive text by the iPhone icon has not changed; that still says 'iPhone.' The menu used to submit hints is now changed. I'll change the descriptor as soon as I spot where in the database that lives.

No hints today

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

I am attending a family funeral. Hints will return tomorrow.

Thanks all,

Craig A.

No hints today

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Still getting over it. I've seen many posts from friends and strangers alike on how Steve and Apple changed their lives; I know mine went from from being a mainframe-hating computer avoider to being deeply involved in many areas of the information technology industry after being Welcomed to Macintosh in 1985.

Here are a few things I've seen I'd like to pass on:

"Without Steve, none of my work on macosxhints.com, at Macworld, or Many Tricks would have come to pass. RIP, Steve; you changed the world." -- Rob Griffiths.

A memorial: Steve and the Apple Logo.

A Sad Mac.

An ad from the 'Here's to the Crazy Ones' campaign, this one made in 1997 but not aired. Narrated by Steve himself, who has a place with all those other difference makers.

See you all tomorrow with the us ...

Happy Labor Day

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:30:00 -0700

We're on holiday (read: party time) today in the U.S. and will be back tomorrow.

Thanks, all.

A few final notes about Lion hints

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:30:01 -0700

Lion will be coming out soon, perhaps as early as this week. We've created a new category for 10.7 hints, so go ahead and use that for submissions.

The good Macworld folks are also working up a few Lion specific add-ons for the site; more about that as it progresses. Whether those will be finished by launch time I'm not certain, but should be ready shortly thereafter.

There won't be a July hints contest as we get ready for Lion; this will give me a chance to get caught up on previous months (yes, I know I'm behind) and I suspect there will be too many good Lion hints to adequately judge them all. I'm trying to clear out as many of the non-10.7 hints from the queue before then, so don't be surprised to see some short, simpler ones.

Finally, just to let you know, I will be in the same situation as most of you; purchasing, downloading, and installing 10.7 from the Mac App Store on release day. It may take me a day or two to test incoming hints, as I become a ...

Happy Fourth of July!

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Hi, all. No hints today since it's the Independence Day holiday in the U.S.

I'm going to start accepting hints for Lion now, although they won't be published until the actual release. It appears it won't be a long wait. My one request is that hints be tested against the GM or the release version of 10.7.

Thanks!

Craig A.

New poll: Upgrade plans for 10.7.

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:30:00 -0700

As promised, there is a new poll out, asking about your plans for upgrading to Lion. There are two questions, so please answer both. Here's the direct link to the poll.

Put any special considerations you have in the comments.

Thanks!

A reminder

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:30:01 -0700

Just a quick reminder; the focus area for this month's Hints contest is 'Working with Windows,' which can involve all sorts of tips for working between a Mac and Windows PC's.

In July, when Mac OS X Lion is released, we will of course start publishing hints of all sorts about it. My one request is to make sure that hints are tested with the release version of 10.7, in case something has changed from the beta.

I'm going to try to set up a 10.6/10.7 dual boot system upon release for compatibility testing, but the presumed lack of Rosetta support in Lion may delay my full adoption, and I may just wind up getting a new Mac to run it on full time. I think I'll be putting together a poll to find out what people are planning to do for upgrade strategies.

-- Craig A.

MacOSXHints Contest June Featured Hint Category

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:30:01 -0700

MacOSXHints Contest June Featured Hint Category The featured category for June is 'Working with Windows,' including (but not limited to) Bootcamp, VM's like Parallels and VMWare, and other cross-platform and interoperability hints. It's a pretty open category, and I'll look at a variety of submissions for it.

Please refer to the original post about the MacOSXHints Monthly Hint contest for further details.

Following are the winners from the March contest. I only had responses from two qualifying submitters (out of the six I attempted to contact) and here they are:

Nathan Greenstein: Safari: Hide images in RSS feeds

Frank Markus: Enable Pinch/Zoom on Firefox 4

I'll try to catch up on the April winners this week and ...

No hints today

Mon, 30 May 2011 07:30:00 -0700

It is the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. today. Publication will resume tomorrow as usual.

Thanks, everyone!

Craig A.

A Note

Fri, 06 May 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Hi, all. I'm on travel the next few days so things might be a bit light as I hunt for connections. It should be back to normal early next week. OK, it's actually an early birthday present. :)

Please go ahead and submit hints related to Adobe applications (preferably for the Mac) for the May contest, and if there are any cool discoveries related to the new iMacs, those would be great to share.

Thanks to all of you for your ideas, and continued support. I've been at this for a year now; it sure did fly by fast.

Craig A.

MacOSXHints Contest May Featured Hint Category

Tue, 03 May 2011 07:30:01 -0700

The featured category for May are Adobe applications, including the Acrobat family, Photoshop (and the rest of the Creative Suite). Even Flash might be considered.

Please refer to the original post about the MacOSXHints Monthly Hint contest for further details.

I'm a little behind, so we will be getting both the March and April winners picked and announced shortly. My apologies for the delay, it's entirely my fault.

A quick note

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:30:01 -0700

I'm still looking for hints about iTunes for this month's contest.

Also, I've received a few submissions of hints for the 10.7 Lion Developer Previews. The policy here has always been not to publish hints on pre-release Apple software, and I think that is still a wise policy.

I'll hold them in the queue and revisit them when Lion is released this summer, and see if they still work or are needed with the final version.

Thanks, all!

Craig A.

No Aprils Fools Day hint

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:30:02 -0700

OK, I'll admit it: I don't have Rob's talent and passion for producing great April Fool's Day prank hints, so I won't make a fool out of myself by trying to match him at it. I apologize for breaking tradition; maybe if I start now I'll have some for next year.

In the meantime, here is a list of some of the past prank hints, including this gem from last year.

I'll instead exercise a bit of historical geekery by point to this collection of speculations on the origins of this most special of celebrations, which appears to have been mentioned by Chaucer in 1392.