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Mac OS X Services in Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Services let one application supply its powers to another; for example, a Grab service helps TextEdit paste a screenshot into a document. Most users either don't know that Services exist, because they're in an obscure hierarchical menu (ApplicationName > Services), or they mostly don't use them because there are so many of them.

Snow Leopard makes it easier for the uninitiated to utilize this feature; only services appropriate to the current context appear. And in addition to the hierarchical menu, services are discoverable as custom contextual menu items - Control-click in a TextEdit document to access the Grab service, for instance.

In addition, the revamped Keyboard preference pane lets you manage services for the first time ever. You can enable and disable them, and even change their keyboard shortcuts.

Submitted by
Doug McLean

 

 

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BusyCal 1.2.2

BusyMac has released its latest version of BusyCal, the desktop calendar application with built-in sharing capabilities, adding a handful of minor bug fixes and performance tweaks. Version 1.2.2 removes the word BusyCal from meeting invitations and responses, alerts you when you are sending an invitation or response without a Me card attached, enables you to remove a single instance of a repeating meeting, enhances compatibility with Outlook .ics/.vcs files, and supports shorter Google alarm times. The update also prevents the info panel from going blank when edits arrive over a LAN, supports ISO-8859-1 and Shift-JIS in .ics files, improves the visibility of the To Do status in Month view, and fixes a number of unspecified crashing bugs. ($49, free update, 6.8 MB)

 

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