With the demise of NetInfo and in turn NetInfo Manager in Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.5 a new process exists for enabling root access to your Mac.

Root allows you to access every part of the system including other user’s documents. For this reason, root is disabled by default. Directory Utility is now used to enable the root user.

As an administrative user, open Directory Utility from the Utilities folder (new keyboard shortcut: shift+command+u), authenticate and then select Enable Root User from the Edit menu and enter a secure password.

Notes: Apple suggests only using the root user where necessary and never as your usual account The company goes on to suggest disabling it if used infrequently. Of note any administrative user can reset the root users password.

Beyond the big features, Leopard has some smaller spots that are sure to make life with your Mac that little bit easier.

These descriptions are right from Apple’s Leopard features page.

Spring-Loaded Dock
Items in the Dock are spring-loaded. Just drag a file, hover over any application in the Dock, and press the Space bar — the application opens instantly. For example, to add a picture to your iPhoto library, just drag the image file and hover over the iPhoto icon in the Dock. Press the Space bar, and once iPhoto opens, you can drag the image into your iPhoto library. If you drag a file and hover over a stack, pressing the Space bar opens a Finder window showing the contents of the stack.

Icon Mode in Open and Save Panels
View your files as icons in the Open and Save panels, just as you would in the Finder.

Scroll Non-Active Windows
Scroll any open window, even if it’s not active. Simply position your mouse over the target window and scroll.

Folder Sharing
Turn any folder on your Mac into a shared folder. You can share any folder in your home directory from the Sharing system preference. You can customize access privileges and even authorize specific contacts in your Address Book.

Wikipedia in Dictionary
Harness the power of Wikipedia when you’re connected to the Internet — built right into it’s Dictionary. You get a great Mac OS X user interface with super-fast searching and beautifully laid out-results.

An often under used feature of iTunes is the smart playlists. It’s very easy to create a playlist that only includes your most recent music and not every item as the built-in recently added smart playlist does.

Create a new smart playlist matching any of the following rules:

• Kind is MPEG Audio File;
• Kind is AAC Audio File;
• Kind is Protected AAC Audio File.

Make sure you type the kinds exactly as above. To discover what exactly to type in the kind field, get info of the file in the Finder. The text next to kind is the text to use.

The iPod touch is the first radically different iPod since it’s introduction in 2001. It includes touch screen technologies that were released with the iPhone but without it’s communicative features.

The touch is a pure entertainment device allowing you to not only listen to your music and watch videos as past iPod’s have, but also access youtube video and websites when you’re in wifi areas. The interface is very intuitive and provides visual cues as you reach functionality limits. These interface animations add an extra layer of depth to the user experience. Beyond the fancy touch screen interface lies everything you expect from a portable entertainment device and more.

The music player is very simple to use and provides quick access to your music organised  similarly as iPod’s before it. Both cover flow view and the overall interface responds quickly as expected. Video podcasts play as audio only while in the music player with no obvious option to switch to the video version (does anyone know if there is a way to do this?).

Video looks great on the new iPod’s 3.5″ screen. Basic media controls are provided by tapping the screen where it then allows you to go the start/rewind, play/pause and go to the end/fast forward. A slider enables you to adjust volume and a smaller slider at the top of the screen allows you to move to different sections of the time line. For large video libraries the organisation may be a little too simplistic but at sizes of 8GB and 16GB huge video libraries are unlikely in this revision.

This iPod is extended past an offline music and video player and adds internet capabilities to further cement the devices position as an entertainment device. Massive amounts of mostly useless and less than entertaining content is available directly to the touch via a built-in youtube client. The quality of the movies has been enhanced past those offered on the flash based website. This can be attributed to watching the movies on a smaller screen, and the re-encoding into Apple’s preferred video format.

Included is the Safari web browser that displays most websites as the desktop counterpart would but it does struggle with some complex websites such as Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au). The browser does not give you a cut down version of the website but displays it exactly how it appears on a full desktop browser. Zooming in on parts of the web-page with a pinch and separate finger movement enables you to move around the page with ease. Holding the browser in landscape mode made reading the text easier than in portrait mode. Unfortunately Safari does not support plugins such as Adobe’s flash player but the browser can display Adobe reader documents and play some Quicktime files.

Typing in web addresses was very easy and even more so in landscape mode where there is more space between keys. The iPod picks up mistakes and offers intelligent solutions while both entering addresses and entering information in forms. While navigating, most of the time Safari selects the intended hyperlink but accidental selections do happen in confined spaces. Scrolling around the web-page sometimes resulted in accidental clicks on hyperlinks which does become a little frustrating especially on graphic rich pages. Redrawing the new sections of the web page as you move to it is noticeable and could do with some improvements. Safari offers multiple page browsing via an effective page selection screen.

Internet access is dependent on an available wireless access point. Apple decision to include the Safari browser allows you to access commercial wireless services that require logon via a web page. Holding the touch in landscape mode sometimes resulted in fingers covering the antenna and thus losing internet access.

The iTunes music store has been made available directly to the iPod and offers a very simple mobile version of the store you are familiar with on the full iTunes desktop client. Songs downloaded directly the the iPod are synchronised back to your iTunes library next time you attach it to the computer. Of note, podcasts and video are not available via the mobile iTunes music store.

The new iPod touch successfully defines a new range of iPod’s while keeping the iPod purely about entertainment, and not a PDA device. The touch is not without troubles but offers a great experience with it’s slick intuitive interface and a reliable entertainment experience. For people looking for a communications device the iPhone may be more suited, but for those wanting an entertainment device with added internet features the iPod touch provides exactly that.

Burn is a free disc burner for Mac OS X that extends the basic burn capabilities of both the Finder and Disk Utility that are built into the operating system. The application is very simple to use and provides a single point for different data disc formats, full disc copy and image burning, video and audio discs.

During use the software became a little sluggish when adding files to a new data disc. Despite this, the software worked as expected with it’s no frills interface. Burn can burn a number of different disc image formats including Apple’s native .dmg format and the popular .iso format. More obscure formats such as commercial disc burning software Toast’s image files, and cue/bin multi track disc images were also supported. Video can be burnt as VCD, DVD and DivX discs although more specialised software performed the job a little nicer than Burn could with it’s very basic interface.

Burn is a great open source application for people who need a little more control over creating discs. The application uses a very simple interface that both helps and unfortunatly limits creating more customised discs than the built in Mac OS X tools provide. Burn is free and can be downloaded from the sourceforge project website.

The dogcow was first widely seen in public during 1984 when the Apple Macintosh was first released. Since then, the dogcow has adapted to perform many different functions, from indicating orientation to being used as a mascot. The dogcow has developed an almost cult following by a select group of the Apple faithful.

The first sighting was as part of the Cairo font that shipped with the Macintosh. The strange cross between a dog and a cow was created by Susan Kare who could be seen as the mother of how we interact with the graphic interface (through certain illustrated representations known as icons). Responsible for designing the icons and fonts to ship on the Macintosh, Susan created the happy mac icon, the trash and every other icon that helped you communicate with the Mac. It was from this modest beginning that the dogcow became a highly illusive aura throughout the Apple user base.

It wasn’t until 1987 when Mark Harlan who became fascinated with the diversity the dogcow had at illustrating concepts such as inverting images. The creature could be seen in the LaswerWriter Page Setup Options and started to slip into common place around Apple corporate and eventually their users. Dogcow’s unique appearance of not quite a dog and not quite a cow was pushed through Apple’s offices at the bottom of memos. The dogcow’s first appearance in public was during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 1988 when then CEO John Sculley wore a badge with a dogcow during his keynote speech.

Because of the animals unique genetics it can’t quite bark, nor can it moo. During one of Mark’s sessions bugging fellow employee Scott Zimmerman it was discovered that the dogcow made a “Moof!” sound. This sound was heard by a very select few after hunting down the animal on one of Apple’s regular developer CD’s that were distributed to software partners.

Since the inception of the dogcow by Susan Kare, and then publicised by Mark Harlan, the dogcow has been seen on badges, shirts and even in Apple’s icon garden. Unfortunately only three dogcows exist in the wild with the most popular known as Clarus who has not been sighted since big cats have inhabited the Macintosh operating system. Both dogcow and it’s Moof! remain property of Apple Inc and word is that the creature grazes somewhere in Cupertino.

The command/apple (also know as open apple/clover/infinite) key has graced the keyboards of millions of computers since the Apple II family and right through to 2007.

The key made it’s first appearance on the Apple II family. The IIe included two apple keys – known as the open apple and closed apple keys (because one was clear filled, and the other solid). The open apple key can been seen as the beginning of what we know as the command key today.

While the Macintosh was in development Steve Jobs is said to have insisted on inventing a new symbol to represent the apple key because he felt that the Apple logo was special, and that it should be used sparingly. It was this initiation that the command key was created to enable the removal of the Apple logo appearing along side every menu item of the Mac graphic interface.

The origins of the symbol can be traced back to Sweden where it is used to indicate a place of interest on maps and road signs. The Mac used the new symbol in place of where the open apple was on Apple II keyboards. When the IIGS was released the open apple symbol reappeared in conjunction with command symbol to enable backwards compatibility with older Apple II software.

Since then, the Apple logo and command symbol have coexisted side by side for over 20 years. With the advent of the new Apple keyboard the Apple logo has been removed in favour of the word command. The command key is one thing that has stayed constant over much of Apple’s turbulent history.

Apple has surprisingly kept the number of keyboard revisions very small over the 30 years the company has been making computers. The new iMac brings a new revision to the keyboard that looks great, and functions well.

After you get past how small the keyboard actually is, the next thing you will notice are the small spaced apart keys that were first introduced with the MacBook in 2006. This keyboard feels exactly as expected from experience with the MacBook’s keyboard. Only a gentle touch is required and this might make your fingers a little sore the first few days with it after becoming accustomed to using more force on typical keyboards.

The layout of some keys has seen a number of changes including the volume keys moving to F10 through F12, brightness controls moving to F1 and F2 (with an icon to actually indicate they change the brightness) and exposé and dashboard moving to F3 and F4. With the relocation of the volume controls, previous exposé controls will need to be reassigned to other function keys (of which an additional three have been added above the number pad). A fn key as used on Apple’s laptop computers allows you to access the function keys without their special uses.

In addition to the changes of the aforementioned keys basic back, play/pause and forward media controls have been added to F7 through F8. These controls work with iTunes and QuickTime as you would expect. After plugging in the keyboard all you need to do is check software update to download the updated drivers that configures the change of keys and the enables the additional functions. Unfortunately the exposé and dashboard keys did not work as expected and fn must be held down to access their functionality on the test machine – a PowerMac G5. It’s worth mentioning that the controls did work on the new iMac the keyboard was released with.

The build quality of the product is fantastic with the keyboard being quite sturdy even when trying to twist each end opposite ways. The aluminium and white keys compliment the look of entire Macintosh family and the keyboard looks great on the desk.

The wireless version of the keyboard is more like a laptop with it not including a number pad, and using a small inverted T for the arrow keys.

Apple commenced plans to venture into the new market of digital photography in 1992 releasing the QuickTake 100 digital camera two years later. The QuickTake 100 was held like a pair of binoculars unlike other traditional cameras before it. The camera could take 24bit colour photographs at a resolution of 640×480 which was stored on internal flash memory.

The QuickTake 150 was much the same as the first but Windows users could also access the camera. Both the 100 and 150 did not feature a way to preview the photos on the camera like is commonplace today. The 150 added support for JPEG and bit-mapped photos but still only included 1MB internal memory.

It wasn’t until the QuickTake 200 that the camera saw the more familiar camera form including an LCD screen for previews and removable storage in the format of SmartMedia. The camera had the same basic specifications as it’s predecessors and was discontinued shortly after Steve Jobs return in 1997.

While only a few models were introduced, Apple played a part in pioneering the digital camera. The QuickTake remains a valuable part of most Apple collections as a symbol of the companies expansion beyond just personal computers.

This is the second part of a two part article.

In 1998 the original iMac made it’s debut to a wide range of criticism both for and against the computers radical design. Over four years the basic design of the iMac remained the same with each refinement keeping it unique.

The year 2002 saw the the iMac introduce a never thought of form factor featuring an LCD that appeared to float above a half ball enclosure that housed the computer. Unfortunately the inclusion of an LCD with the new iMac meant Apple had to price the computer higher than the previous models. Because of the higher price, an iMac based on the previous model continued to be sold for some time, and a new all in one computer called the eMac filled in the low cost segment. During the remainder of two years the iMac G4 was available the computer saw speed bumps and larger displays but the design stayed intact.

Apple pushed the iMac further on release of a model based around the G5 processor. The computer was located behind the display in a single unit. The iMac G5 was fashioned similarly to Apple’s stand alone displays with a thickness of 2 inches to enable the computer to fit behind the display. In 2005 the same design was streamlined and included a built-in camera and upgraded specifications. Strangely only a few months of availability Apple released a new iMac that started the transition to Intel processors and used the same design – the same that is sold today.

Over the nine years that the iMac has been the cornerstone of Apple’s consumer range, the iMac has evolved not only technologically but has seen a natural progression of form suited for the technologies it has incorporated. There is no doubt that the iMac will be the computer that continually pushes the boundaries of what a computer is.

Processor speeds: 700MHz, 800Mhz, 1GHz, 1.25GHz (iMac G4). 1.6GHz, 1.8GHz, 1.9GHz, 2GHz, 2.1GHz (iMac G5). 1.83GHz, 2GHz, 2.16GHz (iMac)
Display sizes: 15″, 17″, 20″ (iMac G4). 17″, 20″, 24″ (iMac G5 and iMac)

Update (8 Aug 07): Apple made updates to the iMac a day after this article. The new iMac features a revamped design and the 17″ model has been dropped from the line up.