Mac OS X Power Hound

by Rob Griffiths

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. With more than 500 power tips and tricks for Mac aficionados like yourself, Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059600818X
• ISBN13: 9780596008185
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 2.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A supplemental book for everyone

This is an excellent book! It's a book that every Mac user can learn from! I even learned things, and as a Mac author I'm big on uncovering hidden features myself. It's easy to find things and easy to understand. If you're new to the Mac or OS X, choose a book that teaches the basics so you're comfortable with the Mac. Then get this book to learn much more.

Something useful on every page!

In Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition Rob Griffiths of Macosxhints.com and a monthly article in Macworld magazine offers a collection of well over 600 tips and tricks covering everything from basic Mac OS X Finder tips to tricks that will help just about any Macintosh user use Terminal like a pro. For this book, Mr. Griffiths has compiled and completely rewritten the best and most useful hints found on his very helpful website Macosxhints.com. Chapters include tips for using the Finder and Dock, iLife applications, Mail, Office, and many other common Mac OS X programs. Each chapter focuses on a particular OS X feature or application and provides several tips or tricks for getting the most out of each application. The information is provided in a very clear manner with ample screen shots and detailed step by step instruction for the reader to follow. The final 100 plus pages are devoted to Terminal and Unix tips making this a great book for both the basic and intermediate Mac user. This book is definitely not a replacement for a more traditional Mac OS X manual but the 600 plus tips and tricks included will definitely provide every Mac user with something invaluable. While you can certainly read this book from start to finish, I found this to be somewhat overwhelming. Luckily, the book is written so that each tip or trick does not require the reader to have read previous items. In fact, I found this book most useful by just scanning the vast Table of Contents until I found an item that sparked my interest. In many ways the information in this book would be better presented as "Mac OS X Trick of the Day" calendar as long as you didn't throw each calendar page away at the end of the day. Overall, I found a lot to like about this book and definitely recommend it to any Mac user who is ready to move beyond the basics.

Tim Robertson MyMac.com Review

Mac OS X Power Hound by Rob Griffiths Pouge Press Price: $24.95 ISBN: 059600818x http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macxpu/index.html I have read a ton of Mac books since starting MyMac.com back in 1995. A LOT of them. And while most actually do convey the information you were hoping to glean from buying the book in the first place, many do so in such a dry and boring manner that I found myself simply trying to stay awake while reading. That was my worry here as well, as I have never read any of Rob Griffiths writing before. He's the creator of MacOSXhints.com, a site I have visited often. But that site is more a collaborative effort with a ton of other people, all pooling their knowledge together. So how would Rob do all by his lonesome? Hey, guess what? Rob can WRITE! Yes sir, the man has talent! Mac OS X Power Hound is a book full of useful things that any Mac OS X user will find helpful and worth knowing. As an expert Mac user and ex-IT manager, even I learned some nifty tricks I hadn't known about before after reading a few pages of this book. Does using the Terminal give you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? I understand, it's even a little frightening for longtime Mac users to use a command line, something that was unheard and unneeded in the past with Mac OS 9 and earlier. Even Hex-Edit or Res-Edit, the stalwarts of the Mac Hackers of the world, use a graphical user interface. But the terminal is just that, a window of nothing but text, prompting you to type in commands that Mac users would otherwise most likely avoid. Mac OS X Power Hound will help the average Terminal-fearing Mac user become a Power Terminal User in no time, or at least make one somewhat more comfortable working in the innards of Mac OS X. While not a step-by-step guide, Power Hound is written in such a way that most Mac users will feel comfortable following along with all the tips in the book. I usually don't get too deep into critiquing another writer's writing style, as I have a fear of people looking too closely at my own writing and realize "This guy really can't write, either!" That being said, I do want to compliment Rob Griffiths on a superb job here. He takes very complicated subject matter and writes in a style and enthusiasm I haven't seen in quite a long time. Mac OS X is a fun system to use and tinker with, and Rob brings that fun to his writing. It's obvious that he not only knows the subject matter at hand, but also enjoys writing about it. His writing style is infectious, engaging, and fun to read. I think any writer who wants to write a book on complex subject matter should be forced to read this book, and understand that it's the human voice of the book, in this case Rob's, that make the subject matter more easily understood and a pleasure to read. The book is 536 pages with a well laid-out potpourri feel. As Rob says in the beginning of the book, there is no need to read this book

Teach yourself new tricks

Yeah - I stole the subtitle to the book for the title of this review. However, it sums up the book quite well - why reinvent the wheel. =) The book is a user-friendly subset of the website macosxhints.com, which was created by the author. Despite being a small subset of hints, I like it better than the web site because you don't have to figure out what the correct search criteria are in order to come up with the hint you're looking for - just scan the table of contents. I'll wade through the website if I can't find what I'm looking for in the book. As with anything, people like doing things different ways. Some people are into the keyboard shortcuts, some people use the mouse for everything, everybody else is somewhere in between. I appreciate that the hints dealing with the user interface give you various ways to complete the task. Finally, to echo an earlier review, the hints dealing with the various web browsers are well worth reading. Among other things, it brought to my attention that your browsing history can not only be tracked by storing info in the cache or cookies, but by the favicon.ico files as well. Not that it really matters, but was an interesting (and smack-your-forehead-duh) hint.

Wide ranging collection of hints

This book is a collection of hints and tips for Mac OS X. It starts with the OS itself, then going into all of the standard applications. It finishes by covering some extensions that you can add to speed up your workflow. The coverage of each application is relatively light because the author expects that you are already familiar with the basics and are ready for some power user tips. Illustrations are kept to a reasonable amount, usually one for every couple of pages, and they are used effectively. The text is a little too jovial for my taste. But it's not distracting and it's a matter of taste. If a Macintosh is your primary work or play computer then you will probably find something in here to help you out. Whether it's worth the money or not depends on how much you find out, so I would take a look at this book in person, or at least browse the table of contents before you buy.