Latest Posts from Download Squad

If you're a Mac user but find that the Finder just doesn't do it for you, check out Path Finder, a great replacement for the file manager, which has just been updated to Version 4. This is a major upgrade, with a raft of new features, including full integration with OSX 10.4 features such as Spotlight and 256x256 icons, along with lots of features you won't find in the Finder. These include a built-in search engine (in case you really don't like spotlight), tabbed windows, and tons of modules, including a file previewer, text editor, PDF viewer, and terminal tool. Path Finder is $34.95; if you purchased Path Finder 3 after September 29, 2004, you're eligible for a free upgrade.

Along with all of the new hardware announced at Macworld, Apple managed to release a raft of software upgrades as well, including updated versions of the OSX operating system, productivity suite iWork, and the iLife media bundle. ILife '06 includes upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, along with a new app, iWeb, which provides tools for web site creation, podcasting and blogging, along with one-click publishing to Apple's .Mac service. Unlike the default mode of most other blogging tools, such as Typepad, Wordpress and Blogger, iWeb is designed to be used offline, with posts uploaded to .Mac after they're created in the desktop application. Other updates to iLife include podcast-editing tools in Garage Band and the ability to create RSS feeds for iPhoto libraries. ILife '06 comes bundled with all new Macs, or is available from Apple for $79. As usual, there's no upgrade discount for owners of previous versions of the software. Improvements to iWork include new 3D charting modes and new image editing tools. IWork '06 is also available for $79. OSX 10.4.4 is an incremental upgrade, and includes several new Dashboard Widgets, including a Google widget and an improved calendar widget. Oh, and this one's free for users of OSX 10.4. Woo hoo.

If you've been counting on being able to run Windows on those new Intel-based Macs, Apple's not about to make it easy for you -- despite Apple's new agreement with Microsoft not to block Windows on the new computers. According to Apple SVP Phil Schiller, the new Macs announced yesterday (those being the Intel iMac and MacBook Pro) may not be able to run current versions of Windows due to the fact that the computers will boot using the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), rather than a traditional BIOS (current Power PC Macs use Open Firmware). EFI was developed by Intel and allows a number of advanced features, including the ability to connect to the Internet from a command shell before the OS is loaded. Since EFI was developed after Windows XP, it's not supported by the current or earlier version of Windows (it is, however, supported by 64-bit versions, but the new Macs are 32-bit, so it's back to square one). However, all is not lost: Windows Vista will support EFI. So, if you're a Vista beta tester and have ordered a new iMac or MacBookPro, get those install CDs out; the rest of you will have to wait for the official Vista release, or find a way to hack XP to boot using EFI.

Fifteen years ago, while most other people were probably unwrapping presents, Tim Berners-Lee was giving one to the world: On Christmas Day, 1990, he put the finishing touches on WorldWideWeb, the first web browser. The browser ran on a NeXT computer, and included a built-in HTML editor as well. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot to browse, given that Berners-Lee had launched the first web site just a month earlier. But the birth of WorldWideWeb, and its companion line-mode browser, was a major step toward the creation of the web as we know it today, and was a huge Christmas present from Berners-Lee to the rest of the computing world. So, thanks, Sir Tim, and happy anniversary!

The final word, from Firefox wunderkind Blake Ross: "Amidst mounting speculation of an all-out bidding war between Microsoft, Google and the Korean bakery down on 3rd, Opera Software announced today that it inadvertently purchased itself in a $0 million recursive merger set to complete on Monday."

Way to go, Blake! Your best post since you declared that Firefox was the "schmutz-free" browser.

Are all of those open windows taking up a little too much space on your desktop? Want to make them disappear without having to minimize them? Give today's free file, WinRoll, a try. It can make your windows "roll up" into the title bar (a trick familiar to users of Mac OS9), and can also let you make your windows transparent at will (a trick familiar to users of Windows Vista). A handy utility that does just a couple of things and does them very well.

There's an interesting series of posts over at the blog of John Flowers, about how he believes his small search company has suffered at the hands of Google. According to Flowers, Google recently banned his company's spiders, after initially shmoozing with him about a possible deal. Flowers posted a few weeks ago about how, after conducting talks with Google, the company suddenly stopped responding to his calls, though it did continue to access Kozoru's private interface. Then, apparently without warning, not only did Google stop taking Kozoru's calls, but stopped taking its traffic as well. Flowers speculates that Kozoru — which created a meta-search engine designed to pull more intelligible results from Google searches — was banned after Google "couldn't decide how or if [Kozoru's] results were able to be monetized -- after all, less results means less space for ads and so forth." Sounds like Google's playing a bit of hardball here, which the company has every right to do. But it does sort of fly in the face of Goog's whole "don't be evil" thing. Of course, I doubt Google's shareholders see this as evil; the company is protecting shareholder value, and if Kozoru gets in the way of that, hey, that's life in the big time. Still, it does seem like the whole "don't be evil" thing is getting a little old. Goog's a big company now, and is acting like one. It's time for it to stop pretending otherwise.

Forget those Intel-based Macs (well, not really, but humor me for a minute here). According to TUAW, the real news at Macworld this January may be the first public preview of the next version of OSX, version 10.5, aka Leopard. Right now it's just speculation, but TUAW makes a reasonable case for the idea that Stevie J. may use his annual shindig to show off more than just some shiny new laptops and iPods.

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With rumors swirling that Microsoft was about to acquire the company - and some sites even claiming that the deal was done - Opera Software has issued a firm denial, saying that the company has "not been bought, and we have not received any offers." So, there you have it. Though, I somehow suspect that Opera would be more than happy to accept an offer (though I don't think one will be forthcoming from Microsoft; the company has invested a little too much in IE7 to abandon it at this stage).

Admit it. It's getting down to the wire, and you haven't picked out gifts for everyone, or even sent out all of your cards yet. One popular last-minute solution is to send out e-cards, and here's one way to make those cards a little more interesting. Instead of just using the canned cards available on countless sites, design your own. Don't have the time or Photoshop chops? No problem. Just use a canned template and plug in your own images, words and whatever else you need to make the card work. One good source is the scrapbook community, where designers have a wealth of templates available at prices as low as $3.00, most of which can be used both for e-cards and for printed ones — though, unless you're going to spring for FedEx or deliver your cards by hand, the latter isn't a likely scenario this year.