Safari tip: Change password field from dots to letters

There are many times using while Safari (5.0.4) when I have come back to a Web site after a long time, thankful to find that my password was saved. My thanks is usually due to the fact that I couldn't remember the password. With a recent tip from a Mac OS X Hints user, you can reveal the letters behind those password field dots using developer tools in Safari.

The hint is actually a pretty simple little trick, taking advantage of Safari's ability to change elements in a Web site via developer tools that can be enabled by users. To enable these tools, navigate to Safari's menu bar > Safari > Preferences (or Command + ,). Click the Advanced tab and check the box for "Show Develop menu in menu bar."

Once you've enabled the Develop menu, you can do the following hint to show what's behind those password field dots:
Right-click on the password field you wish to reveal.
Choose "Inspect Element" from the contextual menu.
When the Elements window pops up, a line will be highlighted. This is the coding for the site you are currently surfing and the highlighted portion is the element you right-clicked on (which is also highlighted in Safari). The line will have code similar to [input type="password" ...]
Double-click on the word "password" and enter "text" in its place.
Press Enter and the dots in the password field you've highlighted will change to the letters that were entered.

This of course does not permanently change the code of the site, but only offers a preview of what the site would look like with the proposed changes.
The tip is a great way to figure out your password quickly (or that of say, a client, who has their passwords saved but does not remember what they are). Keep in mind that saving your passwords in Safari (or any other browser) can be a security risk. Use caution when sharing your computer or leaving it in a public space, and always log out of Web sites and machines when using a public computer.

Source: reviews.cnet.com

Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: New dictionaries, multiple word views, multitouch lookups

Mac OS X Lion adds polish to the bundled Dictionary app, with new dictionaries and an improved multi-pane interface. The system also improves overall dictionary functions with enhanced Spotlight integration and multitouch support for inline text lookups.

New reference files

The Dictionary app in Mac OS X Lion updates its existing "New Oxford American English" dictionary to the third edition of 2010 (current versions use the second edition from 2005).

A new Oxford Dictionary of [British] English is now included, also the third edition of 2010, and a companion British English Thesaurus now joins the American English version.

The Japanese, Japanese-English, and Japanese Synonym dictionaries from Shogakukan are also updated, bearing a 2010 copyright compared to the existing 2006 version. Apple has also updated its own dictionary file, which includes the company's trademarks and product names.

Better app, system integration

The app itself now uses a two pane display, making it easy to reference a list of words, phrases, or Wikipedia entires in alphabetical order, rather than just one definition at a time.

Additionally, definition functions built into Spotlight now popup with a full definition preview, rather than just displaying the first few words.

Lastly, double clicking with three fingers on a selected word in any standard app now brings up the inline dictionary, which formerly required selecting "Look Up In Dictionary" from the contextual menu. A preference setting within Dictionary selects whether the contextual menu command will open the inline mini-dictionary panel or to launch the full Dictionary app.

Source: appleinsider.com

Apple's OS X 'Lion' Offers Business-Friendly Multi-User Sharing: Report

Apple's upcoming Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will feature multi-user screen-sharing, which could make it popular for business users. Apple will likely reveal more at WWDC 2011.


Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” includes a feature that allows multiple users to work on a machine concurrently, via individual graphical sessions.

The blog Apple Insider, in a March 31 posting, suggested this multiuser screen-sharing is “similar” to Microsoft’s remote-desktop service, which allows user access to a remote PC over a network.

The second developer preview of Lion, termed build 11A419 and released March 30, is intended to give IT pros in Apple’s ecosystem some idea of what to expect when the operating system’s final version ships to consumers this summer.

Lion will feature the new Mac App Store, with applications purchasable via the user’s iTunes account. The storefront launched Jan. 6 with more than 1,000 free and paid applications, including the always-popular Angry Birds and more productivity-centric programming such as AutoDesk. In taking its mobile-applications model to the traditional PC realm, Apple evidently hopes to create a new paradigm for installing and running programs.

But the screen-sharing feature also suggests that Apple is continuing to think about business power-users in addition to consumers. Although Microsoft’s Windows franchise continues to dominate the market for traditional PC operating systems, Apple has seen increased adoption among both the enterprise and SMBs (small and midsize businesses), thanks to its mobile devices, which increasing numbers of employees want integrated into their workaday lives.

In February, Apple released the first developer preview of Lion, with features such as Mission Control (touted by Apple as giving users “a bird’s-eye view of every application and window running on your Mac”) and LaunchPad, which displays all Mac applications in a full-screen layout. Using the new AirDrop, users can copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another. A revamped FireVault pairs full-disk encryption for local and external drives with the ability to wipe a Mac’s data instantly.

Apple will almost certainly talk details about Lion at its annual WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference), which will run June 6-10 in San Francisco. In addition to its new Mac operating system, the company is also expected to delve a little deeper into iOS 5, the newest version of its mobile OS. Whether the event also sees the unveiling of the iPhone 5, which some rumors have set for later in the year, remains to be seen.

WWDC 2011 will feature technical sessions by Apple engineers, who will also offer code-level assistance into development techniques.

Source: eweek.com

Firefox 5 And 6 On Track: First Aurora Release Posted

Mozilla has taken the first major step in its new browser release schedule and transitioned Firefox 5 from its initial mozilla-central to the new aurora channel where the browser will be brought up to beta status.

The first Aurora release is still labeled as version 4.2a1pre and is not likely to change its version number to version 5.0 until it will go into beta on May 17. Mozilla said that it will also create the first Firefox 6.0 build today for mozilla-central, but has not done so yet. The Aurora builds for Linux, Mac and Windows were posted between 4 and 6 am PST this morning.

There aren’t any visible changes compared to Firefox 4.0 yet and we do not anticipate to see any of the upcoming GUI changes until mid May or shortly before the beta release arrives. It appears that Mozilla is pretty busy with this new release schedule so we expect that some previously mentioned GUI upgrades will be moved to Firefox 6 and 7.

However, Mozilla has to make sure that it regularly upgrades not just the version number, but also Firefox’ features, given Chrome’s crazy development pace. Firefox 5 is set for a June 21 release.

Source: http://www.conceivablytech.com/

Windows 8 leaked online

Who needs to wait for official announcements or presentations from Microsoft to find out more about their upcoming operating system when you can just download the OS instead? Some folks have managed to get their hands on an early build of Windows 8 and posted it online for the whole world to see/download. Ouch. Microsoft definitely isn’t going to be too happy about this. However, it’s still much too early in development to discover anything, but this current version of Windows 8 might not even turn out to be anything similar when it launches next year or so. The screenshots look pretty similar to Windows 7 but with some minor changes. Other than that, we can’t really see what else has changed.

Source: www.ubergizmo.com