Whenever I end up with a large-ish collection of files I need to rename, I find myself wishing that Apple or Microsoft would build some sort of batch-renaming feature into their operating systems; You know, highlight all the files you want changed, then apply your changes to them all at once without having to do it one at a time.

Since it is the operating system’s job to help you manage files - creating, renaming, sorting, saving, etc. - you’d think a batch renaming feature would be an obvious inclusion, wouldn’t it? Apparently not.

True, it can be done via a command line, such as Windows DOS or Mac OS X’s Terminal, but why be geeky when we don’t need to be. We need something simpler. Enter Renamer4Mac…

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In the early 1990’s, when ‘multimedia’ was the big buzzword among personal computers, Apple created QuickTime as a complement to its QuickDraw graphics rendering & manipulation system. Apple wanted to do for time-based media (ie. movies, sound) what it did for graphics - that is, make manipulating movies as easy as cut, copy & paste. And so, in early versions of QuickTime, you could do exactly that, without paying a penny; within the standard QuickTime MoviePlayer application, you could select start & end points, chop & change at will, and even copy & paste movies into other applications that supported QuickTime. You could paste a QuickTime movie into a word processor document just as easily as if you were pasting text!
Granted, a lot of movies were postage-stamp sized in those days, and there’s not really a lot of practical use for movies in word processor documents, but boy it was fun - just because you could do it.

Eventually QuickDraw fell by the wayside to make way for Quartz in Mac OS X, but QuickTime lived on - and it went from being an optional extension to becoming an integral part of the Mac system. Nowadays, if you want to do any cutting, copying, pasting or other basic editing of QuickTime movies, you have to cough up money to Apple to unlock these features.

But what’s not generally known to the average user is that these features are only locked within Apple’s standard QuickTime Player application. Enterprising third-party programmers can freely tap into QuickTime’s full feature set and offer them to their users in other applications. One such result is this week’s treat for Mac AND Windows: MPEG Streamclip. Read on…

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Just the other night, my wife, not really big on computers herself, came over to me by my computer and said to me “So what’s good about this Leopard thing?”. I managed to suppress an expression of mild indignation - the kind a hot-rod enthusiast might have made if their shiny beefed-up beast got called a “car thing” - and proceeded to show her just what was so good about “this Leopard thing” that her husband seemed to be so preoccupied with. After a week or so of using it as my main day-to-day Operating System, I can share with you too, in no particular order of preference, what I’ve enjoyed so far, and what has annoyed me so far, about Mac OS X Leopard…

I must say, first of all, that I’m enjoying Spaces - Apple’s version of virtual desktops - a lot. If you’re familiar at all with Exposé, the method of organising and switching among windows which was introduced in Mac OS X Panther, then you’ll find Spaces to be a natural complement to Exposé. Indeed, they both occupy the same spot in the System Preferences control panel - like they were made for each other. Exposé takes every window in every program and lays their thumbnails side-by-side so you can see them all at a glance and jump straight to the one you want.

Read on for more… 

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It was the Monday after the official Friday night launch of Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard operating system, when I - Inspect My Gadget’s intrepid Mac guy - made my way to the Apple Centre in town. It was the first time since the release of Panther (OS X version 10.3, in 2004) that I was unable to attend a launch night. I’m jealous of those lucky souls that had undoubtedly scored themselves free t-shirts or some other such freebie along with their shiny new copies of Leopard.

It seems that the Family Packs were popular this year - by the time I arrived they’d all sold out. At $AU249 for 5 licenses, I’m not surprised - that’s less than the cost of 2 licenses! Still, at least they had some single copies of Leopard left, and so $AU158 later, this happy camper was on his way home with a shiny new box… And shiny it truly is - the purple nebula behind the ‘X’ on the front is a funky 3D hologram, while the back sports some sparse silvery highlighting. Even without the disc inside, the box is a serious bit of bling.

How does the installation go, and what are my initial impressions? 

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If you’ve taken even so much as a passing glance at Apple during the last few weeks, you will undoubtedly have noticed - among stories about iPhone hacking & SDK’s - a growing degree of hoopla around some newfangled thing called “Leopard”.

Leopard is Apple’s brand new version 10.5 of the Mac OS X operating system - it continues the trend of naming their OS’s after jungle cats, and it’s their reply to Microsoft’s Windows Vista… It arrives this week. Will it have what it takes to out-”Wow” Vista ?

Developers and early testers have apparently found a lot to like with Leopard, both on the surface and under the hood. As IMG’s resident Mac guy, I’ll certainly be looking to get hold of a copy once it is released. I plan to keep a log of my experiences with Leopard, from the installation and first impressions, to detailed how-to’s. Stay tuned to Inspect My Gadget over the coming weeks as the saga unfolds.

In the meantime, Apple has posted a webpage which lists a grand total of
316 new features, tweaks and improvements that have gone into Leopard. For a small sample of my favourites, read on…

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