mac-os-x

If you ever want to create a Unix shell script that you can give to someone else so they can double-click it and run it through the Mac OS X Finder, all you have to do is (a) name the file with the ".command" extension and (b) make it executable. So, just name your Mac/Unix script like this:

ShowProcesses.command

Then make it executable, like this:

chmod +x ShowProcesses.command

You can also leave out the usual #!/bin/sh part on the first line.

Mac OS X programming FAQ: How can I create a Mac ICNS file for my Mac application?

Lately I've been creating a series of small Mac applications, and as part of that I needed to learn how to make Mac ICNS files from standard image files (PNG, JPG, other). Today I offer a quick tip of my hat to the makers of a Mac application named FastIcns that lets you do just this.

I just fired up my old 2006 MacBook Pro that runs Mac OS X 10.5.8, and it helped me realize why I don't like the Spaces feature in the newest versions of the Mac operating system: It used to be fun.

One thing I wish Apple would do is to come out with a “retro iMac” version, using this style that they used in the 2002 through 2004 iMac design:

An iMac design like this would be perfect for my kitchen area, especially if it had a touchscreen.

I upgraded one of my computers to Mac OS X Lion recently, and because I'm working with images a lot right now, I quickly ran into a weird quirk: The Preview app on Lion reopens all your previous documents whenever you start it.

If you haven't seen it before, here's how this Lion Preview history feature works: