MacWorld published a story today FileMaker not compatible with Mac OS X Leopard . That’s certainly not anything I was looking forward to hearing.

However when checking the link in the story about ‘…a support note posted to FileMaker’s Web site’ that was reported to say:

“We are currently working on Leopard compatibility updates for FileMaker Pro 9, FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, FileMaker Server 9 and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced. At this time FileMaker does not recommend the use of FileMaker 9 products on computers running Mac OS X Leopard,”

….I found that the link to that note was a dead end. That support note was gone and when I searched the FM site for Leopard news I found this Knowledge Base article instead, FileMaker Products and Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) , that then read:

"We continue to test FileMaker 9 products under Leopard. We will have a compatibility announcement when Leopard is released October 26th.

If you would like to be notified when we have additional information, please select the button below.

For notification of FileMaker patches and updates, and other important news, please subscribe to FileMaker News. "

The second statement seems a lot tamer than the first one reported and I guess we’ll only know tomorrow just what the real story is.

I recall a while back that FileMaker 8.5 had Windows Vista issues and an earlier version I don’t recall which had issues for a while with XP and FileMaker Inc. didn’t recommend FM use on Windows machines when they first came out my own testing at the time found the issues weren’t fatal. They we’re just ugly and/or really inconvenient. Still I wouldn’t trust any mission critical applications to run on Leopard until we get the good word from Apple and FileMaker.

Given that FileMaker, Inc. is owned by Apple, Inc. you have to wonder just how did this kind of glitch end up happening?

by: Jerrald Hayes

Justin Long, The Mac Guy, was born June 2, 1978 in Fairfeild, CT. Besides being “The Mac Guy” for all those Apple commercials, he is also known for his performances in the films Jeepers Creepers, Waiting…, Accepted, Dodgeball, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Live Free or Die Hard, and the TV series Ed.

Justin’s mother, Wendy Lesniak, is an actress who has mostly appeared on stage in NYC. His father, R. James Long, is a philosophy teacher at Fairfield University, in Fairfield, CT. He has two brothers: an older brother, Damian, who is a high school English teacher and a local stage actor, and a younger brother, Christian, who appears in the movie Accepted as the Sandwich Mascot. In his younger years, Justin attended Fairfield College Preparatory School, a Jesuit school in Fairfield, CT where he was given the “Most Likely Not To Be Seen In Class” superlative. He later attended Vassar College. Before leaving, he worked at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut as an acting instructor/counseler for a children’s theatre group.

PC & Mac Guy

Some websites report that justin is private about his personal life and does not make a point of attending nightclubs and parties. But, his pictures on his personal website seem to show something else. Looks like the kind of guy I’d like to hang out with. Anyway, you may on occasion see him around town visiting. Say hi, if you do.Justin’s Web Site: http://www.justinlong.net

by: Philip Hayes

Do you need to do any of the following on a regular basis?

• Use different email signatures?
• Easily insert a customized signature with a few keystrokes.
• Need easy access to boilerplate paragraphs or filler text (i.e. form letters, thank you paragraphs, latin, greek, etc)?
• Correct certain words that you consistently seem to mis-type?
• Fill out the same information in form, after form, after form?
• If you are a web developer, do you need to add commonly used code quickly and easily

Text Expander Preference PaneWell… with TextExpander 2.0, you can do all that and more:

• For email signatures, make it easy on yourself by adding your address, email, phone and fax numbers to your snippet library.
• For boiler plate paragraphs, simply add them to your snippet library and insert them into your emails and contracts by typing a short abbreviation.
• Add common typos as triggers and TextExpander automatically replaces them with the correct spelling. TextExpander offers an AutoCorrect Snippet File with over 100 common misspellings!

TexExpander could quite possibly be the best productivity tool for the Mac ever created. I can’t live without it!

Made By: Smile On My MacWebsite: http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/Trial Download: http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/download.htmlCost: $29.95

by: Philip Hayes

I can remember from way back in my pre-OS X days (Systems 7, 8, & 9) how perhaps the most important utility and add-on to my system was a program from Now software that was part of the Now Utilities group called Boomerang and eventually Super Boomerang.

When I moved on to OSX it was one thing I really did miss however after a few months without it I found a replacement in a program from St. Clair Software called Default Folder X.

What was I missing and what do I get from DFX? DFX is an application that takes the OS X save and open dialogs and adds features to them that improves and enhance your navigation through all the places your computer has access to for file storage. The first or primary thing that the program does is it installs a toolbar to the open and save dialogs that puts the folders you commonly use or want to specify within easy one click access.

• The Utility button, the first of 5 buttons on the toolbar, allows you to assign a default ’save’ folder for any applications you have and also rename, move, archive, and delete files from within the save and open dialogs.
• The Computer button allows you to navigate through your mounted volumes via hierarchical menus.
• The Favorites button allows the user to create and navigate through a list of favorite places on their Mac to save and/or open files from.
• The Recents button, probably my favorite and most commonly used button, just as the name implies can contain up to 100 of your recent folder locations organized by date or name.
• And the Finder button will give you a list of all the open Finder windows you may have at any one time.

One that I don’t use much but that I know a lot of other do is the program can be set in the Preferences to show you how much available disk space you have in your open volumes too.

You can also assign shortcuts to actions and save/open locations you commonly use and create different sets of Favorites for different projects and task that you do. And there is still much more that the application can do that I haven’t mentioned here.

In short and in conclusion it a very easy to learn ‘enhanced productivity tool’ and well worth the $34.95 shareware fee.

Made By: St. Clair Software
Website: http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Trial Download: http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Cost: $34.95

by: Jerrald Hayes

Justine Ezarik (see Justine Ezarik [dot] com , iJustine - Live Video - Justin.tv & Justine Ezarik - Wikipedia ) is something of a modern self-designed pop marketing phenomena. Some of us have recognized and known her for a short while from her appearances on MacBreak Weekly . But she is perhaps best known to most of the world for her appearance in this self produced whimsical video criticizing the early method of the Apple IPhone billing process.

by: Jerrald Hayes

General requirements

• Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

• 512MB of memory
• DVD drive for installation
• 9GB of available disk space
• Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
• Some features require Apple’s .Mac service; fees apply.

Feature-specific requirements

Time Machine requires an additional hard drive (sold separately).

Photo Booth requires an iSight camera (built-in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder; and an Intel or PowerPC G5 processor.Backdrop effects require an Intel Core Duo or faster processor. Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and white balance.

Boot Camp requires a Mac with an Intel processor and Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista (sold separately).

Screen sharing in iChat and in the Finder requires a 128-Kbps Internet connection (300-Kbps recommended).

 Front Row requires a Mac with built-in IR and an Apple Remote.

DVD Player requires a 1.6GHz processor or faster for improved de-interlacing.

iChat requirements

• Audio chats require a microphone and a 56-Kbps Internet connection.
• Video chats require an iSight camera (built-in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder; and 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection.
• Photo Booth and backdrop effects require an Intel Core Duo or faster processor.
• Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and white balance.
• Some iChat features offer better performance and quality with higher system capabilities. More details

Developer tools require 1GB of memory and an additional 3GB of available disk space.

by: admin

Apple sent out an email today pushing a new video tour of Leopard. Wow… I like it!  I really think this could be the nail in the coffin for Microsoft.  It’s really not just fluff either.  I see lots of things that will contribute to me being more productive.  What do you think?

“Grab a front-row seat for a walkthrough of the top attractions in Mac OS X Leopard. See how the biggest system update in Mac history can help you love your Mac even more.”

http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/

by: Philip Hayes