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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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Interarchy 7.0 Adds Tabs, Improves Interface

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Interarchy 7.0 Adds Tabs, Improves Interface -- Stairways Software has released Interarchy 7.0, the latest version of their flexible Internet file transfer and network utility. For Interarchy 7.0, Stairways has concentrated in large part on enhancing the interface, pulling approaches from a number of common Apple programs. Interarchy 7.0 offers Safari-like tabs so you can avoid having many windows to different FTP sites open simultaneously, adds a Finder-like icon view to the existing list and column views, and provides a bookmark management approach reminiscent of Safari's bookmark collections. Other welcome improvements include a single combined Transfers window, Mac OS X-style toolbars in every window, a History menu for recent actions, and a new Network Host Info window that displays IP address, ping results, MX records, and DNS information. Under the hood, Interarchy is now completely Mac OS X native, using Carbon events and native core networking. Like previous versions, Interarchy 7.0 can upload and download files via FTP, SFTP, FTP/SSH, and can download files or entire Web sites via HTTP, all with a variety of repeating, scheduling, and link checking options. Beyond file transfer, the program also features a suite of network testing tools including packet watching, port scanning, bandwidth monitoring, and more. Interarchy 7.0 costs $40, with free upgrades from the previous version for anyone who purchased since 01-Oct-03 and $20 for those who purchased before that date. Interarchy 7.0 requires Mac OS X 10.2 or later and is a 2.7 MB download. [ACE]

<http://www.interarchy.com/>

 

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