Internet

Mac 101: Safari tabs

Here’s a quick tip for Safari users. As you know, tabbed browsing is best thing to happen to the ‘net since The Tron Guy. Keyboard jockeys create new tabs by pressing Command-T. But there are a few of you who dislike releasing the mouse, even for a second.

You folks can simply double-click the grey area next to a tab to create a new one. Everybody wins!

[Via Geek&Mild]

Popularity: 8% [?]

The real .mac opens up with new regulations

ICANN, the ruling body for Internet domain naming, has voted to relax a few rules that will supposedly open up a whole slew of top-level domain names, multiple news sources are reporting. They haven’t exactly said why they’re doing this, only that it will “preserve the security, stability, and global interoperability of the Internet.” Which seems like a good reason, we guess. But whatever the reason, it’s good news for people who don’t want to use the old standbys of .com or .org — now, bidding can start for .sex, .xxx, .post, or any other combination of letters.

Like, for example, .mac. Yes, for the first time in the history of the Internet, Apple would have been able to make good on its .Mac brand — except that, as you know, they decided just a few weeks ago to change that brand to Mobile Me. Though we supposed mobile.me is probably out there somewhere.

Of course, as we’ve speculated before, the change to Mobile Me wasn’t so much about domain names as it was about just getting away from the Apple brand, and creating a service that both Mac and PC users would be interested in. So odds are that Apple wasn’t waiting for .mac anyway. But it is interesting that even though they can finally have it, they don’t actually need it any more.Thanks, Darcy L!

[Source: CNN.com]

Popularity: 7% [?]

.Mac down

Some readers are reporting that they cannot login to their .Mac service. Apple is currently reporting that the Web Pages are down at mac.com.

“Members cannot access the www.mac.com website. It will be restored ASAP. Read more for interim solutions,” Apple notes on the support website.

Could this mean that Apple is working on transitioning over to their MobileMe service? Well, time will tell. Be sure to stay tuned to apple for updates on the .Mac outage. If you spot any new changes with your .Mac service, be sure to leave a comment or send us a tip!

Update (7:05p EST): Some users are reporting that while .Mac is taking longer than normal, they are now able to login. Apple has yet to post any additional updates on their support website. The Web Page down status has not been removed.

Update (7:44p EST): Apple has updated the status page. The status currently reads, “Members cannot access the .Mac Welcome page. It will be restored ASAP.” Stay tuned to apple for the latest about the .Mac outage. Read

Popularity: 6% [?]

Take back your iWeb galleries in Firefox 3

Just as Firefox users were upgrading to version 3 last week, many people started to miss their iWeb-created galleries as they just disappeared. Well, one iWeb user has been doing extra work to fix Apple’s? (erm… Mozilla’s?) problem. Joshua Ochs has posted an in-depth article on his site describing exactly what is going on — he also provides a fix in the form of a script to patch iWeb.

Joshua says that the problem is neither with Apple nor Mozilla, but with a JavaScript library called “Prototype” which is used by iWeb. Right now there are two ways to fix the problem (neither of which are supported by Apple): you can use the information on Apple’s Discussion Board, or you can download Joshua’s script — both seem to work and are free.

[via ArsTechnica] Read

Popularity: 11% [?]

Firefox-Mac-PDF allows in-line PDFs for Firefox

If you switched to Firefox from another browser like Safari that supports in-line PDF viewing (that’s the ablity to look at a PDF in the browser instead of downloading it), then you might have been disheartened to learn that Firefox does not support this feature natively. However, you will find Firefox-Mac-PDF to be a useful plug-in.

Firefox-Mac-PDF allows for the same in-line PDF viewing that can be found in Safari. This plug-in requires Firefox 3 and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher. You can download the plug-in for free from their Google Code page.

To install the plug-in, just open the Add-ons panel by going to Tools > Add-ons. Once there, drag the downloaded “.xpi” file to the Add-ons. You will be asked if you wish to install the plug-in. Once you restart Firefox you’ll be able to view all PDFs right within Firefox.

[via Lifehacker]

Popularity: 6% [?]