Since I've been reading up on Tiger (the revolutionary new OS for Macs from Apple—years ahead of Windows 'Longhorn,' which won't be released for at least a year-and-a-half) for a little time now, I thought it would be best to share my thoughts on some aspects of Tiger. By no means is what I write here exhaustive. For very advanced reading, read Ars Technica's in-depth review of all things Tiger.
Many companies, such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, have released or plan on releasing 'desktop search' tools that will let you search almost any file on your computer as if you were doing a Google search. Apple has them beat, and then runs over them like a lawn mower, with Spotlight. Spotlight will change the way I, and anyone else who uses it, works with files. Instead of navigating through ten folders to find a file you need to open, press two buttons, then type in the first couple letters of the document, image, movie, picture, PDF, etc., and you'll find it there. Spotlight also searches through your address book, mail messages, and any other third party app information, as long as there's a plugin for it.
There are comparable products to Dashboard, but none are quite the same or nearly as elegant. Dashboard allows you to have many 'mini-applications' open on your computer at all times, but hidden—accessible with the press of a button or the move of a mouse. These mini-apps (Apple calls them widgets) allow you to have a bunch of useful information (i.e. Weather, Stocks, Dictionary, Caclulator, Translator, Mini-Games, etc.) available at all times.
Most people may never use Automator, a task-automation application that is expandable and easily-usable, but I think it will be invaluable for me. Many times, I find myself exporting photos in iPhoto, renaming them, putting them in another app, processing them there, then saving them in another place, and finally treating them for posting on the web. What once took me 10 minutes to do manually could take me 10 seconds to start, then let the computer take over from there! I could do this now with AppleScript, but I'd have to spend a bit of time working on my knowledge of AppleScript to do that.
There are many, many more cool little improvements as well—many that I don't even know about yet—such as Mail 2.0, Safari RSS (2.0), and more integration with the iLife applications (like iPhoto) that will help me to not spend so much time organizing/sorting, and more time working. I am off to the Apple Store West County in a few minutes, for the first annual SEM-MUG (Seminary Mac Users Group) meeting at the Apple Store.
ConclusionHaven't ever considered buying a Mac? Well, now's a great time! You could get a Mac mini for only $499, or a fully-featured iMac G5 with an LCD display for $1,299 (the educational discount prices are even lower!) and get not only all the cool features in Tiger, but also a great suite of 'digital lifestyle' apps, iLife, and discover a whole new way of computing.
Today I present the first in a series (to be released over a long time... I don't know how many I will do) of totally awesome Desktop Pictures/Wallpapers/Backgrounds by Jeff®. Today's picture, weighing in at 1024x768 pixels (for maximum compatibility) in the JPEG format (so both Mac and PC users can use it), was created entirely from Photoshop CS, using a couple of clip-art images and some creative prowess.
Download the desktop background by right-clicking (Mac: control-click) on the thumbnail above, then selecting Download Linked File As... or Save Linked File As... in the menu that pops up. Then you can set it as your desktop background by going to the appropriate Control Panel (PC) or Desktop System Preference (Mac).
A reminder to anyone who may read this blog entry before tomorrow:
Don't forget! I'll be 'wearing' my shirt over my backpack tomorrow, and then wearing it after returning to the Seminary as my regular shirt (Seminarians must remember to follow dress code regulations!).
"Beloved: Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
This reading from 1 Peter 2:4-9 (above is a snippet of the whole reading) struck me as extremely important. All Catholics are called to be 'living stones' - to be strong pieces of the foundation of Jesus' Church here on earth. In order to become these living stones, we will have to be well-weathered, and stand up to the harshes abuse and environments. We will bear the weight of many wounds and hateful gestures, but we must remain firm in our beliefs and faith in Jesus Christ.
Pope Benedict XVI, I assume, will become a great example of a 'living stone.' Already, people are labeling him as 'ultra-conservative,' 'intolerant,' and the like, but he remains firm in his teaching, as does the Roman Catholic Church. He will be rejected by many, but he, I am sure, will lead our Church into the 21st century with much vigor and love.
Gospel Reading
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father."
The Gospel reading, taken from John's Gospel, chapter 14, is also important. Jesus tells us, "No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus gave us the Catholic Church as his visible and living body here on Earth, and we must remain true to her and to her teachings to know the Father. This will become increasingly important as the years go on, for more and more ethical and moral relativism is seeping into cultures around the world. There is but one truth, and it is fully revealed on Earth through the Catholic Church, in Jesus Christ's body. There is but one life, and it is in Jesus.
Stand firm, my brothers and sisters! The rain comes in torrents, the wind roars as in a hurricane and the sky grows dark. We must be ever mindful of our times, and remain steadfast in our great faith.
