At least a copy of Pinball HD from the Mac App Store means that I no longer have to steal borrow the girl’s iPad to get my daily fix of The Deep table:
Alas there does not seem to be much in the way of instructions or a high score table (not that I ever get on it!). Thus far I have figured:
Down arrow: To pull back trigger/launcher (moves slowly – keep pressing to get any power)
Left & Right arrows or shift keys: left & right flippers
C: Toggle camera view Zooming, fixed perspective, fixed looking straight down
Esc: Exit full screen
รขลหF: Enter full screen
Space: Nudge the table (use with caution)
Enter: Toggle pause
You have got the mission…
Update: The app was updated on January 26th, through the App Store, rectifying many of the problems with the early version – but still no high score table ๐
Having added a Time Capsule to the mix of Macs it was somewhat frustrating to find my Snow Leopardified Mac was not working while ye olde iBooks running Leopard were purring away backing up flawlessly. I was stuck in the never ending “Making Backup Disk Available” bit. A seemingly common problem.
But today it started working and I am now backing up with the rest of them. So what changed? It would be nice to think that the return of Steve Jobs had something to do with it. Maybe installing iTunes 9 triggered something. But it was probably dropping the wireless network down to the b/g setting from the b/g/n option that made it happier. The slower setting is strangely the stronger faster setting for me.
It is interesting to note the varied experiences with Snow Leopard. For what it is worth my installation time was 43 minutes. A single disc and a couple of clicks affair – if I had a five year old to hand I could have left them to do it without any problems.
Space saved
I regained nearly 23GB of disc space. Perhaps I should delete some of my accumulated junk and gain even more disc space. The original Leopard screenshot was named “Picture 59” (59! Perhaps I should delete some of my accu… ) but the shiny new one is called “Screen shot 2009-08-29 at 13.41.54”
Although most things seem to work fine I am constantly lost without FinderPop but I suppose the Turly fellow has some kind of an excuse and we can wait a while longer. Meanwhile I dragged my FinderPop Items folder into the Dock so at least some familiar stuff can be quickly found amongst all the clutter. Perhaps I should delete some of my accu…
To make 1Password version 2 work you need to drop Safari down to 32 bit mode from it’s Info pane: 32 Bit option
But the Snow Leopard friendly version 3 is currently being tested and should be with us soon.
Another trusty assistant is Spell Catcher which does seem a little tetchy at the moment but I shall follow their advice and see if I can make it a little happier.
The swanky Services looks like it will be quite useful once it is configured for the individual’s needs.
Services menu
I have not noticed any real problems so far. Even my creaky old PhotoShop 8 (the first CS version) seems to work fine. Things certainly seem snappier. Scrolling through a long list of stuff (Perhaps I should delete some of my accu… ) in a Finder window is notably smooth and fast. Spotify takes a long time to connect but I am not sure if that is a Snow Leopard thing or a Spotify thing.
I did do a full bootable backup of the old Leopard disc before the update so it will be interesting to go back after awhile with Snow Leopard and see just how different it feels.
Harold Chu’s Library Books software for Mac OS X tracks your borrowings and reminds you when they need returning/renewing. I had messed with an earlier version but never managed to get it to connect to the local library service. A new version was in today’s MacUpdate listing but as Gloucestershire was not included in the preset UK libraries I had another go at getting it to work. Success ๐
So if you live in [W:Gloucestershire], are a member of the library, have a Mac and a tendency to forget to return stuff this is what you need.
Install and run the Library Books software. It only appears as a star icon in the menu bar. Click on the star icon and select Preferences. Select the Logins section and click the + button to add a new library.
From the Library drop down menu select Generic Catalogue Systems – TalisPrism / Talis Catalogue System. The Library Books Settings Pane
In the General settings add a Name and your Borrower numbet. PIN can be left blank.
In the Catalogue section add:
Catalogue host: http://www.searchourshelves.gloucestershire.gov.uk
Library Web Page: http://www.libraries.gloucestershire.gov.uk/
Date format: dd/mm/yyyy
Click the Save button.
That’s it!
Click on the Star icon and select Update and it will fetch a list of your borrowed items. The number of items are displayed next to the star. You can make the star change colour the day before an item is due to be returned and/or add the dates to iCal so that it will also remind you.
