Opera – First Impressions

I finally decided to try the Opera Web browser, Mac version. My first impressions are favorable: it’s small, fast, and full of neat features. Opera’s extensive keyboard shortcuts are especially appealing. But Opera is rather strict about HTML interpretation and some Web sites don’t work correctly with Opera. Others don’t work at all and others issue dire warnings. Is it worth going to the trouble? I haven’t decided, but I do love the keyboard shortcuts. For now, I’m running Opera for one set of things and then firing up Firefox when I need it. I’ll report more later.

I’m Back

There’s nothing like a computer meltdown to liven up your days. I could see trouble coming – my old iMac (PowerPC vintage) began behaving erratically, turning itself off at odd times. Then it wouldn’t let itself be turned on. Power supply issues, I assume. So it was time to upgrade my desktop with a new iMac. Fortunately, I am religious about backing things up, so data loss wasn’t a problem. Still, I had to load and configure all the software for the new Mac – Firefox and all it’s extensions, software for the scanner, NeoOffice, Thoth, iTunes data, and pictures. The new iPhoto is not backward compatible, so the copy I keep on my laptop is obsolete. There’s still a lot of cleanup to do, but at least I’m up and running. The new iMac is, as expected, simply wonderful.

I bought my new iMac at the Apple store in Rosedale. In Rosedale, shoppers were in short supply, but the Apple store was packed. I had to wait for a clerk! It just goes to show that the consumer isn’t dead – just more discriminating!

Back From Safari

I while back, I decided to start using Safari, Apple’s Web browser for the Mac and now for PCs. Safari takes less memory than Firefox and seems to run faster, plus it has a couple of neat features.

My experiment was short lived. I’m back to Firefox. There were simply too many “Web 2″ sites that either didn’t run at all or ran very poorly. I even tried the Safari 3 beta, which was better, but it had some bizarre renderings of sites I use frequently.

I might try Safari 3 again when it’s completed Beta, but for now, I’ll stick with Firefox.

On Safari with Windows

I’ve noted here that I’ve been using Safari to browse the Web because it seemed faster than Firefox. Now Apple is beta-testing Safari 3 and documenting how much faster it is – including the Windows version! I suspect that the Windows version exists to get more copies of Bonjour, Apple’s networking layer, on to Windows machines. If you have iTunes, you have Bonjour – it’s what provides the really powerful iTunes networking so beloved on college campuses. This will, of course, make it easier for Apple TV and whatever other consumer goodies are in the hopper. It just keeps getting better for Apple!

Here’s another review and another reason given for Apple’s release on Windoze.

UPDATE: There’s a much more compelling explanation.

Remote Backup

Mozy provides free remote file backup and restore for both Macs and Windows. I’m beta testing the Mac version and have put it through one complete backup and restore cycle. It seems to work. I only backup critical data, so I need a lot less than the 2GB they provide for free, and for my small quantity of data, it’s pretty speedy.

Coolest Mac Goodie?

If you’re a MacBook user, you must check this out. Who knew this was embedded in OS-X? The ability to zoom and scroll the screen could be very useful.

Microsoft Attachments

If you’ve fallen victim (as a Mac user) to goofy attachments from the Microsoft world, it’s because Mr. Softy uses a non-standard format (now there’s a surprise) for rich text attachments. Fortunately, there is a way to read these odd documents.

Mac Goodies

Somebody’s put together a great list of open source and freebie software for the Mac. I already use several of this programs, but I see more that I want to download and try. Note that there is also a companion list for Windoze users.

Mac+Google

If you’re a Mac user and a Google user, this looks interesting!

Quicksilver

Those guys at Lifehacker.com are doing a great job describing my favorite Mac productivity tool, Quicksilver. Here’s the latest in their series and here’s the earlier entry that also links back to the beginning.