10.4.3 Update

97 megabytes! Includes lots of fixes to lots of things.. And apparently we've got (or had) our own BSOD:

Addresses an issue in which high ASCII characters in a password could lead to a blue screen at startup, or prevent log in.

Tricksilver

I just noticed that the folks over at Blacktree released a hallowe'en themed version of Quicksilver, Tricksilver b44. Though the site says b40 is the latest, the one I'm running lists its version as "b44 Werewolf". Nice work guys, love the start-up image!

Idea for Software Update

This is probably an old idea, but I haven't seen it around recently (or at all in my case). Spotlight may not be the key to world peace, but at least Apple provides a way to get your special file format indexed. Wouldn't it be nice if Software Update allowed a way for developers to register their app so that users could be notified through a unified interface? Yes, I know there are apps from various mac update sites that do something very similar to this. This would be much simpler for the user, even if it does put a little more load onto the developer.

I guess it would be similar to how Windows Update knows about a few of the non-Windows components on your system (video, nic drivers, etc) only better.

Aperture

By now you've heard about Aperture, Apple's new pro-level imaging app. Is it iPhoto on steroids? iView on crack? Photoshop on lithium? Nobody can decide. I blathered more about it here, but if you're really curious and you happen to be within driving distance of NYC you should head on over to the PhotoPlus Expo today or this weekend and see for yourself. I hear Apple has a big booth and I don't think it's for the iPod Shuffle.

gDisk

gDisk does pretty much what you think it does, which is basically store files in your gmail account. Which is, for the most part, "cool." It works pretty much how you expect it to work, by creating draft messages and attaching the file. It has the concept of "categories" locally, which correspond to labels on the gmail side. Why they don't just say "labels" is beyond me.

But what doesn't it do? It does not act as a mounted drive like it's Windows and Linux counterparts. It's not a huge deal, and I'm glad something like this finally came out for OS X. But, and you knew it was coming, it's just one more app that has to be launched. Having file system integration saves you that much.

Found via digg (which is the new slashdot, and by "slashdot" I mean "annoying community-driven site").

Real Player direct-ish download

I needed to install Real Player on my new PowerBook and remembered something about the BBC making the whole process less bothersome. After some Googling and testing I ended up with this link to the BBC site as the most direct entry point. From there you click on the Mac OS X download link, which takes you to Real's site where you choose a mirror. If you try to simply use the URL from the Mac OS X download link alone, referrer checking on Real's site will throw you back to the main Real download page and will subject you to all their silly info-gathering.