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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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Print Custom Text and Photo M&M's

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Too cool. I just saw in the Photojojo newsletter that you can print text and - this part is new - photos on M&M's, the little candy-covered chocolates from Mars. This doesn't mean you can run an M&M through your HP inkjet, amusing as that is to imagine; instead you design your M&M's on the My M&M's Web site. For any order, you can create up to four designs - two photos and two text messages. Photos should look good when printed in black food-grade ink at a size of about 1 centimeter, and if you think Twitter's 140 character limit is tight, try getting your message across in two lines of 8 characters each. Going beyond the obvious may be a bit tricky, since Mars is persnickety about what you're allowed to put on an M&M, so no "inappropriate" images, objectionable words or phrases, business or product names, drug references, or single letters. It's not cheap, needless to say, with a 7 ounce (198 gram) bag costing $11.99, and you have to buy at least three bags at a time.

 

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