Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on July 10, 2008 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Mac only
One of the first things that I did when I got my new (and first) Mac is I started customizing different aspects of the Dock. There’s actually a decent number of things that you can customize with the Dock by default, and it didn’t take long for me to start finding out some tricks here and there. A favorite of mine would be the drag-to-resize feature when clicking on the application/document separator. And then Lifehacker showed how I could add recent items to the Dock.

One thing that Apple failed to include was a way to separate your icons into groups, which can make it a little easier to find your applications. I figured there had to be a way to do this, and after a little Google searching I came across this article by Mac OS X Hints. In the end you can add as many separators as you would like on either side of the Dock. It’s really just an blank gap, but they work well at serving as a separators.

How do you do this? There are actually two different ways that I’m going to show you, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one you’d like to use. You must be running Mac OS X Leopard for this to work though.

–SuperDocker (Homepage)–

The SuperDocker application is probably the easiest option for adding separators to the Leopard Dock. After you download and run the application you’ll want to look for the “Add a separator” option on the Dock tab:

From there you just need to decide which side you would like the separator to appear on. Choosing the Application zone will place the separator on the left side of the Dock, and choosing the Documents zone puts the separator on the right side. Every time you click one of those buttons you’ll see your Dock restart itself so that the new separators appear.

–The Terminal–

Power users who like to get their hands a little bit dirty will probably prefer to use the terminal. That way the need for yet another third-party application on your computer is eliminated. Here are the three commands that you’ll need to use:

1. To add a separator to the left side of the dock (the application side) enter this into the terminal:
    

   defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}'
    

   Repeat this step for each separator you would like, and make sure to press Enter each time to execute the command.

2. To add a separator to the right side of the dock (the document side) enter this into the terminal:
    

   defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}'
    

   Repeat this step for each separator you would like, and make sure to press Enter each time to execute the command.

3. Now you need to reset the Dock, which can be done by entering this into the terminal:
   killall Dock

Here’s a screenshot from when I executed each of the steps listed above:

–Removing the Separators–

If you ever decide that you don’t want the separator(s) anymore there are two fast ways to get rid of them. Just like most other Dock items you can drag each one off the Dock to have them removed, or you can Ctrl+Click (a.k.a. right-click) on them and select the remove option.

–Overview–

Maybe in the next version of Mac OS X Apple will think to add some sort of separation option to the Dock, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that. At least there are tricks like this one that are able to separate the dozens of icons hosted in your Dock.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Your Week in Review With Sunday’s SummaryNew Mac Leopard Dock on WindowsMultiple Docks in Mac OS XCyberNotes:Mac OS X Leopard Launch Day HumorMaking A Dock For Your iPod In The Xbox 360 Part II

Beware, malware. The Windows AutoRun updates for Vista and XP SP3 that Microsoft released in February have so far proven successful in thwarting your file corrupting ways. Although Windows 7 was updated to disable AutoPlay within AutoRun for USB drives — freezing the ability for a virus to exploit it — the aforementioned versions had remained vulnerable up until right after January. Fast-forward to the period between February and May of this year, and the updates have reduced the number of incidents by 1.3 million compared to the three months prior for the supported Vista and XP builds. Amazingly, when stacked against May of last year, there was also a 68 percent decline in the amount of incidents reported across all builds of Windows using Microsoft’s Malicious Software Remove Tool. There’s another fancy graph after the break to help illustrate, and you’ll find two more along with a full breakdown by hitting the source link down under.

Continue reading Microsoft to malware: your AutoRunning days on Windows are numbered

Microsoft to malware: your AutoRunning days on Windows are numbered originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In what may be an interesting development for the future of Google TV, the folks at Mountain View have purchased SageTV. The HTPC software has been doing its media center thing on multiple platforms since 2002, and according to a note on its homepage the developers “believe our ideas will reach an even larger audience of users worldwide on many different products, platforms and services.” While there’s no word on exactly what Google has planned, SageTV has long included DVR and placeshifting features that the Google TV product lacks by itself. The bad news for current users is that the store links on SageTV’s page have suddenly stopped working, so hopefully you snagged the software already if you’re interested. If your main question is “What is SageTV?” check out a demo video created by user jaredduq that is embedded after the break.

[Thanks, Jason, screenshot courtesy GeekTonic]

Continue reading SageTV HTPC software acquired by Google, next stop Google TV?

SageTV HTPC software acquired by Google, next stop Google TV? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla promised a faster refresh cycle for its wily web browser, following the release of Firefox 4, and it’s made good on that promise. We got word this morning that the final version of Firefox 5 is now available for download on Mozilla’s ftp server, just 12 weeks after the last re-up. The latest incarnation brings with it support for CSS animation and a more easily accessible do-not-track setting — now available at the top of the privacy pane — but won’t see much in the way of GUI enhancements. Of course, if you want to play it safe, and avoid any last-minute tweaks, you can always hold off until version 5 gets official, but what’s the fun in that? If you’ve already got your hands on the sly fox, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

[Thanks, Haseeb]

Firefox 5 slips out ahead of schedule, gets official June 21st originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s tablet-esque Wii U controller raised a few questions when it was announced at E3. Questions like, “What kind of crazy games are going to use that thing,” and “How much will a second controller cost me?” The latter, at least, has been answered. Nothing. You don’t need one. Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata recently said in an interview that games enlisting more than one Wii U controller aren’t being considered just yet — although they are possible. Our very own Ittousai tells us that Iwata told Diamond Online that the Wii U can technically support multiple screen-controllers, but that additional slabs would be too expensive to sell on their own. Iwata went on to say that the console would ship with only one, and that game developers should design titles under the assumption that each console will use a single Wii U controller. Player two will have to settle for a good ‘ol Wiimote, and even Satoru himself admits that there are plenty of those around.

Nintendo says one Wii U controller per console, robs player two of extra screen originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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