Editorial: Little big things By David Leishman, dleishman@maccentral.com
Next week, Apple will preview Tiger, the next version of Mac OS X, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Macworld’s Jason Snell is already on record with his feature “wish list,” and a follow-up list from his readers. I’m looking forward to the unveiling, too, but I’ve recently gained a new perspective: Don’t forget to think small.
Long ago and far away, in Mac OS X 10.1 days, I investigated the Summarize function in the Services offered in the Applications menu. Its results were pretty poor, so I filed and forgot it. But an article by Katie Hafner of The New York Times, about the hidden features of operating systems and electronic devices, mentioned the function and I thought I’d re-try it.
I’ve had a longish article in my “to read” pile, but couldn’t make myself wade through it. I opened the 2900 word document in BBEdit, summarized it at the default level (about 20 percent), and got a reasonable digest of the article, which even included a couple personal vignettes that added flavor to the result.
I then set the summary size slider to one percent and got a paragraph that described the “first and most important step” in the article. Admittedly pithy, but after finally taking the time to read the whole article, I determined that Summarize got the main bit of information.
I then tested Microsoft Word X’s AutoSummarize tool on the article. While the default-sized version was comparable but different, the minimum-sized version (ten sentences) didn’t match the on-board OS X version for getting to the nut of the article.
Given the amount of information we all need to keep up with, Summarize could be a real treasure and — whether we know it or not — many of us already own it. Ken Bereskin, Apple’s director of OS X product marketing, told Ms. Hafner, “”There are so many hidden gems,” and pointed out another: included in the functions of the calculator is a currency converter that automatically updates conversion rates.
Small potatoes, I know, but they indicate the level of fit and finish that Apple has applied to its operating system. So, kudos to Apple for providing such useful tools and a modest “shame on you” for not giving them a little marketing push.
(Things could be much worse. As Hafner points out, you could own a recent IBM laptop with a light-up keyboard and never know it. There’s no switch to turn it on, and unlike Apple’s portables, it doesn’t automatically respond to the amount of ambient light, but rather requires an odd key combination to bring it to life.)
When he introduces Tiger next week, Steve Jobs will undoubtedly unleash a function (or two) that’s as breathtakingly simple and useful as Panther’s Exposé. But just as that OS provided a less-heralded but great update to the Preview application and Summarize, I’ll also now be looking for the “little” tools and improvements that Apple has hidden away.
Apple News
iTunes Europe sells 800,000 songs in first week
Apple on Wednesday announced that the iTunes Music Store sold 800,000 songs to users in the UK, Germany and France during its first full week of operation. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that iTunes’ sales figures place it as the top online music store in Europe. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week — 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor.”
Apple sells 1566 Xserves for U.S. Army research
Apple announced on Monday the sale of 1566 dual processor Xserve G5 servers to COLSA Corp., which will be used to build what is expected to be one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The US$5.8 million cluster will be used to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic flight for the U.S. Army.
Apple offers ‘iPod your BMW’ details
Apple, BMW execs talk about integration
Apple Remote Desktop 2 adds 50 features
Apple again expands iBook logic board repair program
Apple updates DVCProHD Components software
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Hardware News
Addonics converts SATA devices to external drives
Addonics Technologies on Tuesday introduced a US$29 SATA – IDE/ATAPI converter that converts Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives or SATA-based optical storage devices to standard IDE interface storage devices that can communicate with a Mac or PC using external USB or FireWire interfaces. The converter can also make such drives read-only devices using IDE Write blocking.
RadTech releases Bluetooth mouse, laptop and iPod cases
New for iPod: PocketDock, MiniSleevz for iPod mini
Epson intros 4 new PowerLite projectors
Icewear covers iPod mini in silicone
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Software News
Apple: H.264 codec coming to QuickTime
Apple on Wednesday announced that the H.264/Advanced Video Codec (AVC) will be incorporated in its QuickTime software in an upcoming release next year. The video technology has been ratified by the DVD Forum for use in the High Definition (HD) DVD format, and can scale to everything from 3G smartphones to high definition television and video.
Vonage offers Xten X-PRO SoftPhone for OS X users
Apple explains HIToolbox to developers
FileMaker Mobile released, Work Requests introduced
Hash releases Animation:Master for Mac OS X
IEEE set to ratify 802.11i standard
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Around the Web
HOPE conference includes Woz, Mitnick, Biafra as keynote speakers
The Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference (New York, July 9-11) will feature keynote addresses by hackers Kevin Mitnick and Steve Wozniak, and musician Jello Biafra. Woz will also take part in a panel discussion on “Retrocomputing.”
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piPod: An iPod-based field guide to NYC pizzerias
What is firmware? — AppleCare Knowledge Base
Avi Tevanian speech to House subcommittee on technology (PDF)
Introduction to Bioinformatics
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