Directions to Lock Screen in Jaguar
Saturday, September 21, 2002 by

I'm not sure if this has been reported elsewhere, but a friend passed on this useful tip to me today. This is especially nice for those of you who are moving back into the dorms and want to be able to keep your computer running even when you're out of the room but can't keep an eye on your roommate.

First, open the Keychain Access application in the Utilities folder.

Next, under the View menu select Show Status in Menu Bar.

The previous step will make a lock icon appear in the menu bar on the right side of the screen. From here you can lock and unlock your keychain, and more interestingly your screen. Selecting the option to lock your screen will make whatever screen effect you have selected in System Preferences display. To unlock the screen you can simply press any key and you will be prompted for your login and password. While the screen effect is running, all the open applications continue to run unhindered in the background, even network applications such as IRC clients should remain connected.

This is a great way to gain reasonable security and privacy while maintaining uptime.

New Security Update 2002-09-20
Saturday, September 21, 2002 by

There has been yet another security update released for Mac OS X. This one is to help secure the Terminal application. According to Apple:

Updated Terminal components which provide increased security to prevent unauthorized access to applications, servers, and the operating system.

The upside is that it's a small update that doesn't require a restart. It can be downloaded via the usual Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

OmniWeb, Fire Updated
Saturday, September 21, 2002 by

Two of my favorite applications, Fire and OmniWeb, have been updated recently.

OmniWeb now stands at version 4.1.1 beta 1. This is the newest release as of this writing, even newer than Sneaky Peek 4. The major changes in this version include:

• Fixed a problem that prevented recent releases of the Flash plugin from working correctly in OmniWeb.
• Support for the RealOne Plugin and Player
• The RealOne Player is now in our list of safe applications that we'll launch to handle a file when it completes downloading. (You need to have the file associated with the correct application in Finder for this to work.)
• Improvements to OmniWeb's HTTPS/SSL support to ensure that the browser will not connect to a domain with a security certificate that does not belong to the host. Additionally, OmniWeb will check the authenticity of all security certificates along the chain to ensure that they are all valid.
• Fixed an incompatibility with Mac OS X 10.2 which affected hostname lookups (contacting websites)
• OmniWeb 4.1.1 beta 1 includes a Swedish localization courtesy of Peter Baeckström, a Finnish localization courtesy of Teemu Masalin, and an updated Traditional Chinese localization courtesy of Julian Lee.

For the full release notes check here. To download OmniWeb 4.1.1 beta 1 click here.

As for Fire, it now stands at version 0.31.c. This release only supports english, so those of you looking for language support should wait until 0.32.a. It includes a host of miscellaneous fixes and improvements that can be fully read here. To download this latest release of Fire or join the Fire-talk mailing list go here.

Cleaning House
Saturday, September 21, 2002 by

Well, I've been going through the site and cleaning up some things. The copyright information has been updated, and you might have noticed the side bar is a little more spartan.

I've done away with the Support and Hardware categories. The hardware list was for old versions of OS X Server and the Public Beta release of OS X. The relevance of the information seemed pretty questionable, so they've been removed. The Contact and About pages have been updated and smoothed over a bit. I'll also likely be going through the archive of old features and cleaning up those which are unbearably embarrassing and outdated.

The feedback from the request for opinions on the direction the site should take was a bit limited. Only a few emails came in, and it seems they want–surprise–the things that are most difficult to write and take the most time. People want to know how to use the command line, they want to know hints, tricks, and tips, and they want how-tos more for the power Unix user and developer. I'll be frank, and say that this isn't likely to happen, at least by me. My personal knowledge of Unix is rather limited, and I'm no programmer. As far as hints, ticks, and trips, Mac OS X Hints.com really handles that very well and thoroughly, as far as I can tell.

Where does that leave us_ I'm still open to all suggestions sent to . Right now I'm going to work on just getting back into the habit of posting interesting news. That includes major software, software I like, and relevant hardware and general Apple/Apple-related news. From there, I hope to do some simple how-tos and reviews.

As I said, I'm still open to any suggestions for the site to keep it unique and worth visiting. I'd also hope that it could appeal and be interesting to a significant number of people. All submissions of content, such as your own reviews, how-tos, editorials, etc. are also welcome.

Sorry to be so long winded, and let's hope the site gets back up to speed soon!

The future of X Appeal... in hour hands
Tuesday, September 10, 2002 by

Howdy loyal readers,

I know I haven't updated in nearly three months now, which is much too long to go without some sort of explanation or plan. Looking at the site stats, hundreds of you are still visiting every day, which is just very flattering and does wonders for my ego.

What I'm making this post for is to find out what you all want to see on X Appeal. There was a time when Stepwise was the only OS X site out there, then X Appeal came along, and soon we had MacNN's Xclave site and Macosx.org. Now there are quite a number of sites on the topic. Some of the newest ones are also the best, with OSXFAQ and Mac OS X Hints both providing solid content on a consistent basis.

It seems clear to me that posting press releases about new software and hardware isn't enough. What I want to find out is what else do you, the readers, want_ Email your suggestions to . Tell me in as much detail as you can what you want XA to be, what should happen with the site, and what you'd like to see on the site. All suggestions are appreciated and will be seriously considered. Thank you