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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.


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Doug McLean

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Tech News | 30 Jun 2008 | Listen   | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article

TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 30-Jun-08

by Adam C. Engst Send Email to Author

  • Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro updates Adobe's PDF manipulation software with improved creation and management of forms, support for Flash, document reviewing, and security. A new PDF Portfolio feature enables combining of several PDF files into one file using templates for displaying the information. This version also provides the capability to remove redacted information from files instead of just covering it up (a problem companies and government agencies have run into recently when such redacted information has become public). Unsurprisingly, the Mac version lags behind the Windows version. Microsoft Office integration has been removed, and Mac users can purchase only the $449 Pro version whereas Windows users can also choose Acrobat 9 Pro Extended or the less expensive Acrobat 9 Standard. ($449 new, $159 upgrade)
  • Pro Applications Update 2008-02 from Apple fixes problems in Final Cut Pro 6.0.4 and Compressor 3.0.3 related to installation, compatibility, general performance, and overall stability. (Free update, 138 MB)
  • Final Cut Server Update 1.1 from Apple addresses problems with the check in/check out process for Final Cut Pro projects and double-byte character sets, and generally improves the reliability of the asset management and workflow automation software. ($999 new, free update, 50.1 MB)
  • MarsEdit 2.1.4 from Red Sweater Software is a minor update to the popular blog posting software. Changes include a dock menu item for creating a new post; uploading to a specific Picasa album for Blogger users; and fixes for crashes related to bad URLs, the display of tags in the main window preview, and inadvertent loading of URLs dragged to the preview window. ($29.95 new, free update from 2.x or $9.95 from 1.0, 3.5 MB)
  • Keyboard Maestro 3.2 from Stairways Software enhances the macro utility with more options for macro groups, including secondary key activation of macros within a group and both temporary and permanent palettes showing the contained macros. The secondary key activation is particularly interesting, since it lets you activate a group, and then execute a particular macro within the group using a single key. So you could press Command-Control-M to activate a group of text-munging macros (remember that Keyboard Maestro can apply BBEdit Text Factories to clipboard text), and then press Q to activate a quote-cleanup macro. Other new features include an Alert action with a Stop/Continue dialog, macros without direct triggers, and remembered window size and position for script result windows. Keyboard Maestro 3.2 also adds triggers based on scripts, wake events, and login. ($36 new, free upgrade, 7.1 MB)
  • Dejal Simon 2.4.1 from Dejal Systems fixes several bugs in the server monitoring tool with the Port plug-in and adds a pair of hidden preferences to log debug information for the Port and Ping plug-in helpers. ($29.95 to $195 new, free upgrade, 10.8 MB)

 

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