via OS X Daily

For a while I was using SafariStand to switch Safari’s behavior, but it was a hack, and would often be broken with a new update to Safari and almost inevitably broken with an operating system upgrade. So, the first thing I did when I installed Snow Leopard, well nearly the first thing, was to open up the Terminal and enter this:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

Then hit the return key, close Terminal, and open up Safari to it’s new and well mannered behavior. There are other ways to activate this through programs like Cocktail, but if you want Safari to behave itself and stop opening window after window after window, all you need is that one command. If you decide you like Safari the stupid way, you simply open up Terminal again, enter the same command but replace the word “true” with the word “false” and you’ll be back to normal.

With Snow Leopard’s redesign of the dock menus, I found I prefer seeing the dock in the 2d version, even when keeping it on the bottom of my screen. Mostly because then the dock and the dock menus actually match. I know, I know, me and my aesthetic sensibilities. There’s no simple switch modes in OS X (though there should be, silly Apple) and again, if you have a program like Cocktail you can enable the dock in 2d mode. Once again, however, there is a simple Terminal command that will help us out:

Enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

hit the return key, then type “killall Dock” (all that is doing is shutting down the dock, which then automatically opens again with the change applied) and return. Once again, if you want to go back to the 3d Dock, simply replace the “YES” with “N0.”

This is basic stuff for some, but I know a lot of Mac users who have never opened up the Terminal. While you always want to be very careful when you do use the Terminal, especially if you aren’t an actual Unix program and don’t really know what you are doing, finding a few of these kinds of commands can make your working environment a bit more suited to how you want to work and not necessarily how Steve Jobs thinks you want to work.

A good source for finding tips like these and other tricks and customizations for the Mac is at MacOSXHints, which is where I got both of these Terminal commands.

John Gruber once more provides the voice of reason. I actually didn’t think this was that big a deal, but wanted to get the info to any of you who are not as geeky about following this kind of news. I was also lazy and just reposted TUAW’s article in full . . . not something I often do and not something I plan on doing again since I defeats my general effort to use this space in a more thoughtful manner and with greater attention to developing ideas and thoughts instead of posting stuff to simply post stuff.

The gist of the article is simple, if you install Snow Leopard, you should update your Adobe Flash. That is all.

From TUAW:

Filed under: OS, Bugs/Recalls, Bad Apple, Security, Found Footage, Snow Leopard

It’s not that we have anything against the Flash plugin for Mac browsers. Well, other than the fact that it’s crashy, and slow, and makes our laptop fans spin up like we’re doing wind tunnel testing for the Air Force. But other than that, we have nothing against it — and it’s lovely that the new 64-bit version of Safari in Snow Leopard can isolate Flash-related stalls and hiccups from the main browser process for enhanced crash protection. Very nice.

Unfortunately, as pointed out initially by Graham Cluley over at the security and anti-virus vendor Sophos, the version of the Flash plugin that Apple bundles with Snow Leopard is old. It’s the 10.0.23.1 version, old enough that it has some notable vulnerabilities versus the currently shipping 10.0.32.18 version. You can check which version of the plugin you have by visiting this Adobe check page. Even if you had the current build on your machine before upgrading to Snow Leopard, the upgrade process replaces your Flash with the vintage Flash instead — poor form! Cluley recommends, and Adobe concurs, that the best thing to do is head over to Adobe’s download site and get the most up-to-date version instead.

It’s understandable that Apple had to lock down a version of the Flash plugin for inclusion in the OS golden master, but if you’re gonna do that then you’ve got to provide an integrated method for users to update to the current build when the time comes (like, say, via an OS-wide Software Update utility). Downgrading user security while upgrading OS versions is a rotten way to run a railroad.

[Side note, does Cluley's narration in the video above make you wonder if, just maybe, he's moonlighting as Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw over at The Escapist? NSFW!]

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

TUAWSnow Leopard: Apple ships old, security-compromised Flash plugin with new OS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [From Snow Leopard: Apple ships old, security-compromised Flash plugin with new OS]

Macworld has a useful video about some of the new refinements
A new website devoted to Snow Leopard Tips
Macbreak Video’s demonstration of the new Services functionality
Mac Life lists some of the new features, including the fact that iChat uses less bandwidth to deliver the same or better video then Leopard.

UPDATE:
Mac Life now has a list of 100 tips posted. I hadn’t realized until last night that scanner support has been amped up in Snow Leopard.

There are a lot more qualified people that can talk about the real advantages of Snow Leopard, but I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve seen and discovered about the operating system.

Dock and Exposé

Not only do Stacks have a greater range of functionality, allowing you to drill down into folders from the grid view, but now the list view matches the display style of the grid view, as does the display you get when you right click a program on the dock for the options available:

As nice as those touches are, and they are very nice from an aesthetic point of view, the Exposé functionality for individual application windows when you click and hold an icon in the dock is way more cool. Here’s what I mean:

Also, when you active Exposé the old fashioned way, to show all your open windows, the windows are arranged in a much better fashion rather than the previously sloppy fashion:

Quicktime

Quicktime now allows you to do basic screencasts, as you just saw in the above example. It certainly won’t replace more advanced screencast applications because there is no editing functions other than a basic trim function. But for something quick and basic, if you wanted to show someone how to access a function or perform a task, Quicktime could easily become a useful tool, especially since you can export to YouTube, MobileMe, or iTunes right from the program. Quicktime isn’t just for screencasts, either, it will allow you to record both audio and video using your computer’s camera and microphone as well.

Services

The coolness of the new Services is probably a bit on the geeky side, but even if you aren’t a computer wiz, there are lots of ways they could be useful. For a really great introduction, you should go over and watch this video produced by PixelCorps which will give you a nice sense of what you can do with the new Services architecture.

One of the neat things you can set up are specific websites as services that you can then invoke with a keystroke. For example, here’s a screenshot of a Facebook HUD (heads up display) that allows basic interaction with Facebook without having to open up a full web browser.

You can do the same thing with Twitter and with web-based email services. Sure, full blown applications will offer more versatility than what are basically mobile versions of these websites (although you can use Safari as a setting when creating these Web Pop-up automations/services), but as quick and easy ways to interact with specific websites with a simple keystroke combination, the new interaction between Services and Automator is really exciting if you have any kind of regular task that you’d like to automate and reduce to one or two keystrokes.

Other Miscellaneous Thoughts

The Keyboard Preferences Pane sets out the keyboard shortcuts in a much more organized and easy to view manner. Did you know that ^F3 will shift focus to the Dock and you can use the arrow keys to move between Dock items?

It’s about time you could easily add the date to your menu bar next to the time. Sometimes, as much as an Apple fan as I’ve become since switching, I can’t help but wonder why it took so long for them to fix some of these little things. Now, if only they would change the look of Spotlight so that it matched the rest of the look and feel of OS X.

There are lots of features I haven’t played around with yet and we won’t see some of the benefits to the new technologies under the hood like OpenCL and Grand Central Dispatch until programs begin to take advantage of them. Casual users might want to wait for a few months in order for an update or two to deal with the inevitable few issues that arise with any new operating system, but given the price, the aesthetics, the new usefulness of Services, and the upcoming programs that will take advantage of some very cool aspects of the operating system, I certainly think most people should upgrade by the end of the year if not sooner.

Just remember, even if you are doing an install on top of your current installation, always make a backup, preferably a full clone, of your system before installing a new operating system.

UPDATE
I’m noticing some issues cropping up around my Airport Extreme, with occasional disconnects, particularly with respect to the hard drive I have attached to the router that acts as a networked drive for my music and media.

I’ve also noticed some odd behavior in the Finder while working with files on those networked drives. Several times when deleting files, the finder has switched views from column or list into icon view when I’ve moved a file to the trash.

Neither of these are proving major issues (so far) and I’m hopeful that they will be addressed in the next update.

UPDATE
Just another reminder, before you upgrade any operating system make a backup of your computer.

Turn your iPhone into a document scanner
Send iPhone photos at full resolution
iPhone as multi-track recorder
Want to take better close-up pictures with your iPhone? There’s a case for that
A new form of storytelling/gameplay (I haven’t downloaded this yet, but will probably get it soon. I think there’s a huge space for new forms of storytelling in the coming years.)
Never got around to checking this out either. Have you thought about your iPhone and wifi security?
Getting your steampunk read on.
Not so much an iPhone product, but a cool way to keep your iPhone (or wallet or other electronic devices) safe from casual thieves at the beach

Easier way to switch between 3G and Edge

Right now, it takes 3 selections to get to the proper screen to switch between networks. I may switch more than some, but because of the trade-off between performance and battery life, it would be great to have an easier way to manage these network settings (as well as turning wifi on and off).

Actually, in thinking about the wifi situation, how cool would it be to have the iPhone switch Wifi on or off based on your location? Consider: I set the phone to always turn on wifi when I’m in my apartment, at work, or at my favorite coffee shop and then, when I’m driving or seeing a movie with a friend, or anywhere that I’m not normally using wifi, the phone just turns it off, thereby saving battery life.

An external keyboard

I expected someone to be poised and ready with one of these when the 3.0 operating system launched, considering that one of the key parts of iPhone 3.0 is that Apple offers 3rd party developers the opportunity to use the dock connector for hardware. I know I’m not alone in wanting a small external keyboard to go with my phone because, truth be told, as good as the software keyboard may be for short emails and text messages, if I want to do some serious blogging or writing done but want to leave my laptop behind, I need a keyboard. As much as I love my Macbook Pro, there are plenty of times that I’d like to leave it home and just bring my iPhone and small keyboard with me for a short trip.

Send to AirTunes

I’m sure it would kill the iPhone’s battery life, but how cool would it be to take your iPhone and an Airport Express with you and be able to stream to a stereo? Considering Apple’s own Remote app can detect Airtunes and allows you to select speakers attached to an Airport Express, you’d think it could send music that was coming from the iPhone itself to those same speakers.

Easier Mail Management

If you have multiple emails set up on the iPhone, switching between them is a pain and a half. There must be a better way!

Customizable Background

Without going overboard with personal customization, I think having the ability to choose a background image is reasonable. The plain black background is a bit staid and uninspiring.

What about you? Are there any annoyances or irritations or pie-in-the-sky wishes that remain even after the 3.0 and hardware updates?

(Update: I forgot to mention that I would really appreciate a Weekly view in the iPhone’s calendar app. I don’t think I’m alone in that one either. While I tend to use Montly views on my computers, I’ve always preferred a Weekly view on small screen like my old Toshiba pda and on the iPhone.)

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1. capitalism at work!!