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"Mac OS X Power Hound" Change From an Anybody-Can-Do-This User to a Panther Power User

October 19, 2004

Sebastopol, CA--Fans of the Macintosh have spent years collecting and sharing tips, tricks, and secrets--a keyboard shortcut here, an undocumented double-click there--and then Mac OS X 10.3 came along. "This OS, which has tripped up more than one computer veteran, is unlike anything that came before," says Rob Griffiths, author of the new Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition (O'Reilly, US $24.95).

Mac OS X has captured the attention of consumers and programmers alike with its ability to run existing Mac programs along with Unix and Open Source software. The latest version, Panther, includes more than a hundred new features and improves many of the technologies underlying Mac OS X, including graphics and the Unix-based core. It's an elegant operating system with Formula One power under the hood, Griffiths says, and he promises "the time you invest learning Mac OS X Panther will gain you boatloads of speed and efficiency."

Mac OS X Panther harbors as many (or more) delicious secrets as any operating system that came before--only users need to know where to find them. Mac OS X Power Hound is the perfect resource for just that.

Griffiths is the creator and editor of Macosxhints.com (the most popular Mac OS X tips site on the Web), and he knows Panther inside and out. Together with editors David Pogue (weekly computer columnist for the "New York Times" and creator of the Missing Manual series) and Adam Goldstein (teenage Mac expert and the author of the soon-to-be-released AppleScript: The Missing Manual), he delivers more than 400 illustrations, two massive chapters on Unix (the engine under Mac OS X's hood) and reveals more than 650 secrets, hints, tips, and tricks in every conceivable category, including:

  • Desktop and Finder: Shut down using only the keyboard; use an animated screen saver as a desktop picture; and jump to System Preferences with a keystroke.
  • iApps: Burn six hours of iTunes music onto a single CD; merge calendars in iCal; and send an instant message to anyone's cell phone--straight from iChat.
  • All Apple programs: Unlock 32,000 secret Unicode symbols in each font; rename the System Preferences panes; add an "Email this page" button to Safari; and make Mail announce, in a British accent, "You've got mail, O wise one."
  • Mastering the system: Customize keystrokes in any application; connect to a Mac from the road; and run a web bulletin board right from the desktop.
  • Terminal: Save Terminal commands as Finder icons; put background programs to sleep; download huge files to a home Mac by remote control; wake a sleeping Mac via the Internet; unearth the secret emacs adventure game; and more.

    • Each entry stands alone; readers can dip in and sample as needed while they learn Panther's secrets, appreciate its idiosyncrasies, and manage to customize it to their particular needs and wants. With Mac OS X Power Hound at the ready, users will be finding easier, faster, and better ways to use and enjoy Panther.

    Additional Resources:

    Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition
    Rob Griffiths
    ISBN 0-596-00818-X, 536 pages, $24.95 US, $36.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

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