Weekly Roundup: April 1 – 7

Here’s the weekly roundup of the more popular discussions around Mac-Forums for the week of April 1st. Blog Posts Clamshell Mode Performance Issues: A Myth? In this article, vansmith explores the myth that clamshell mode might hinder performance, only to discover that this likely isn’t the case. Forum Discussions Member of the Month: April 2013 This week, we concluded the voting for the April 2013 member of the month. This month’s winner, mrplow, is a two time winner. As always, we congratulate and thank him and all the other nominees …

Background A while back, I remember hearing a theory floating around that running a Mac in clamshell mode forced OS X to throttle the processor to save on heat. There is a tiny bit of anecdotal evidence to support such a claim (here) which ultimately suggests that something about clamshell mode might be slowing down the performance of the machine. As someone who runs his machine in clamshell mode quite frequently (the compulsive neat freak in me loves that it saves me space on my desk), I decided to put this …

The first version of iOS (nee iPhone OS).

Quite a few people have been commenting on an ostensible lack of innovation on the part of Apple when it comes to iOS. Search the word “stale” in relation to iOS and you’ll find yourself with enough content for a leisurely Saturday afternoon. Is this critique warranted in light of the mobile landscape that iOS competes in? Preface and a Confession Before I begin this conversation, let me put this out there – I use iOS but I use multiple Android devices and I tend to prefer Google’s Linux based …

The Mysterious File:/// Bug

Recently, there has been a rather silent but important story floating around about an odd bug built into Cocoa (OS X’s application programming interface that, in part, includes the user interface elements of OS X including things like buttons and text boxes). Although not generating a lot of news, this is an interesting bug that’s worth exploring. Triggering the Bug The bug manifests itself simply by typing File:/// into any native Cocoa widget. Open up any application that uses Cocoa for its text boxes and enter that string. Press space …

Flash v. JavaScript: Is One Really Better Than The Other?

Introduction A quick search of the forums will reveal a particular unabashed bias towards technologies that leverage anything but Adobe’s Flash. To a certain extent, this is justified but should non-Flash based solutions always be the right method of delivering content? To answer this question, I investigated the efficacy of both Flash and its most often articulated “competitor” JavaScript1 to see how well they work in different situations. The Tests Before outlining the tests used to explore each technology, it’s important to note that I do not seek to suggest …

Jas Pro – Stretch Using a laptop flat on your desk isn’t the best for your posture, unless you have a secondary monitor. Using a stand can bring the screen up to a proper eye level. I’ve recently started using the Cooler Master’s Jas Pro for my MacBook Pro, and it makes a big difference. Made out of aluminum to match current Apple products, the stand is lined with soft rubber along the important edges that will touch your MacBook. The front tab holds the computer, and is plenty big to accommodate even an ancient …

Introduction In this article we’ll look at how you can use Mountain Lion’s notification system to notify you of unread emails for any IMAP account. More specifically, we’ll look at how you can leverage Python and cron to check any email account at a specified interval, notifying you of any unread emails. Target I’m not one to limit the audience for an article since of the main purposes of this blog is to encourage you to try new things. However, this article might be better suited to those who are comfortable with the command …

Contents Preamble Upgrading through the Up-to-Date Program Prepping for the Upgrade How to Create Your Own OS X Mountain Lion Install DVD or USB Drive Good News, There’s an App That Will do it For You Do it Yourself Step by Step Create a Bootable USB Installer Create a bootable DVD Using the USB drive or DVD Upgrade/Install Process Itself Post-Install/Finishing Touches Conclusion Preamble Welcome to OS X 10.8, the ninth iteration in Apple’s OS X operating system line. Codenamed “Mountain Lion”, OS X 10.8 continues the convergence of OS …

While the MF ML Guide is Under Construction…

As we continue our work on the official Mac-Forums Mountain Lion guide, we provide the following set of links to get you started while you wait. Did you recently buy a new Mac? You many qualify for a free copy of ML. You can find more info about it here. Can you Mac handle Mountain Lion? Make sure it can by checking the system requirements here. Not sure you want to upgrade? Here’s Engadget’s comprehensive review. If that’s not comprehensive enough, the Ars Technica review will certainly be. Feel like creating …

Given that hard drive size is rarely a concern anymore, developers seem to make an assumption that space is no longer a issue. Despite this, a common complaint in forum posts is a lack of hard drive space. Although the following tip won’t solve all space issues, it can be a valuable part of the process of conserving and freeing up space if needed. Application Structure Applications for OS X are commonly distributed as application bundles which, to be fairly blunt, are little more than glorified folders containing the application binary and required …

Author Archives: vansmith

Weekly Roundup: April 1 – 7

Clamshell Mode Performance Issues: A Myth?

iOS and The State of Innovation

The Mysterious File:/// Bug

Flash v. JavaScript: Is One Really Better Than The Other?

Review: CoolerMaster Gear

IMAP Email and Notifications: How-To

OS X Mountain Lion: The Mac-Forums Guide

While the MF ML Guide is Under Construction…

Putting Your Apps on a Diet