Tag: Spell Catcher


  • Magic Mice and Menu Bars

    Finally caught a Magic Mouse which is as good as anticipated. I did not have a problem with the old [W:Apple Mighty Mouse] although a lot of people complained about them. I have a Logitech wireless mouse that I used with the old Mac but never got around to setting it up with the new Mac – the Mighty Mouse that came with it has done the job.

    I did add Magic Prefs but have not really needed the extra pinches or swipes as yet – but will experiment with configuring it for flying X Plane. Magic Prefs added yet another icon to the ever leftward expansion across the menu bar so here is a quick check of what they are (admittedly some could be removed as they are never used and I have no idea why they are there 😉 )….
    menu bar

    From the left….

      Magic Prefs – adds extra controls to the Magic Mouse
      Spam Sweep – Within minutes of launching the demo Spam vanished… purchased minutes later.
      Library Books – Monitirs your library account and reminds you when stuff is due back.
      Savvy Clipboard – expands the usefulness of the clipboard.
      BwanaDik – any software named after a Zappa song must be good.
      Scribblet Рfuss-free aide-m̩moires. Updated to Version 2 today.
      Weather Dock – Saves having to look out of the window 😉
      Growl – pops up and tells you what you are listening to on Spotify, or when you have email, or when NetNewsWire has just refreshed etc. etc.
      Caffeine – Keeps your Mac awake.
      iStat Menus – Monitors the system if you enjoy watching that kind of thing. Who doesn’t? 😉
      Universal access – some of the other stuff needs some of this stuff to be on so they can do their thing.
      AppleScripts – Tweak you Mac to do what you want, when you want, how you want it done.
      Bluetooth – Lets Magic Mice talk to Macs
      Spaces – multi desktops thingy
      Spell Catcher – monitors your typing and corrects your spilling milkshakes.
      Time Machine – auto back up and then some.
      AirPort – wifi monitor
      Date & Time – this is why you buy a Mac 🙂
      User Account switch – what it says.
      SpotLight – search everything everywhere.

  • Spell catcher: At last the Snow Leopard update

    Apple’s Snow Leopard update of Mac OS X was first announced on 9th June 2008. It was released on 28th August 2009. Some companies took a day or two to release an update to their own software so it was better integrated with the new OS. Some took a week or so. Rainmaker released an update to their excellent Spell Catcher X software on 13th January 2010. Is this a record?

    All I need now, for a complete set, is FinderPop but I can wait for a full recovery first.


  • Snow Leopard

    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
    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
    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
    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.


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