By Chris Seibold
April 2008
Pages: 640
Series: Hacks
ISBN 10: 0-596-52982-1 |
ISBN 13: 9780596529826
Press Release
(Average of 1 Customer Reviews)
Bigger in size, longer in length, and broader in scope, the new Big Book of Apple Hacks offers a grab bag of tips, tricks and hacks to get the most out of Mac OS X Leopard, as well as the new line of iPods, iPhone, and Apple TV. Perfect for Mac fans and power users who really want to take control of these systems.
Full Description
Bigger in size, longer in length, broader in scope, and even more useful than our original Mac OS X Hacks, the new Big Book of Apple Hacks offers a grab bag of tips, tricks and hacks to get the most out of Mac OS X Leopard, as well as the new line of iPods, iPhone, and Apple TV.
With 125 entirely new hacks presented in step-by-step fashion, this practical book is for serious Apple computer and gadget users who really want to take control of these systems. Many of the hacks take you under the hood and show you how to tweak system preferences, alter or add keyboard shortcuts, mount drives and devices, and generally do things with your operating system and gadgets that Apple doesn't expect you to do. The Big Book of Apple Hacks gives you:
With 125 entirely new hacks presented in step-by-step fashion, this practical book is for serious Apple computer and gadget users who really want to take control of these systems. Many of the hacks take you under the hood and show you how to tweak system preferences, alter or add keyboard shortcuts, mount drives and devices, and generally do things with your operating system and gadgets that Apple doesn't expect you to do. The Big Book of Apple Hacks gives you:
- Hacks for both Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger, their related applications, and the hardware they run on or connect to
- Expanded tutorials and lots of background material, including informative sidebars
- "Quick Hacks" for tweaking system and gadget settings in minutes
- Full-blown hacks for adjusting Mac OS X applications such as Mail, Safari, iCal, Front Row, or the iLife suite
- Plenty of hacks and tips for the Mac mini, the MacBook laptops, and new Intel desktops
- Tricks for running Windows on the Mac, under emulation in Parallels or as a standalone OS with Bootcamp
Featured customer reviews
A Great Collection of Hacks, September 08 2008
Rating:
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Shagbolt
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I am a tinkerer. I love to play around with things, see how they work, make modifications, hack. I come by this trait honestly. My dad is an electronic tech by trade and tinkerer by nature. Dad likes to "hack" electronics. In fact, our first color television was a Heathkit that dad built himself. Dad always had a table full of electronics that he was working on bought from flea markets and ham radio shows. He always had a Popular Mechanics open to a new project. But now instead of a table of electronics, I have a Macbook. Instead of Popular Mechanics, I have The Big Book of Apple Hacks from O'Reilly.
The Big Book of Apple Hacks is indeed big. Chris Seibold (a senior writer at the Apple Matters web site) collected (with the assistant of 27 contributors) 131 hacks (and many sidebar "mini-hacks") and logically organized them into 15 chapters. The hacks range from simple software code changes to get-out-the-soldering-iron hardware mods. But all the hacks are interesting and most are useful.
Beginning with the usual admonishment to back up your file, Big Book of Apple Hacks actually goes on to show you how via hack #1. Good advise since The Big Book of Apple Hacks quickly goes into hacking .plist files, OS X (mostly Leopard), command-line, network, iPods, iPhones, laptops, even your car!
The hacks, ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages, are well laid out with clear instructions. The illustrations used provide additional clarification. Most hacks are useful and optimize your system, but a few are pretty fanciful.
The hacks in this book are not new and can be found in different forms on the web. But this collection presents these hacks in a consistent way that are easy to read and understand.
The Big Book of Apple Hacks is a real time suck, in a very good way. I can see my dad and I now spending time infrom of our Macbooks hacking away. I would recommend this book to all Mac users, but more experienced users will benefit the most.
O'Reilly is one of the premier publishers of tech books, offer discounts to members of Mac User Groups, so run, do not walk, to your group and get this book.
Media reviews
"A heavy reference book that's fun?...Yes, somehow the author and the contributors and the editors have managed to make a big useful book without the boredom factor. The Big Book of Apple Hacks is a big winner. Read it, back up your essential files, and then go forth and hack your Mac."
-- Epublishers Weekly, Tools and Ideas for Surviving (and Thriving) in Technopoly
"If you are determined to replace your Mac Book Pro’s hard drive, read this book first...I haven’t read it all – it’s over 600 pages – but as we convert to Mac operations here I have already noted a dozen of these hacks I intend to employ. This isn’t a book for Aunt Minnie, but if you use a Mac either at home or at work and you want better control over it, this is the book to have. "
-- Jerry Pournelle, Chaos Manor
"The Big Book of Apple Hacks represents the meatiest collection of Apple hacks in publication."
-- John Suda, Amazon.com
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"A heavy reference book that's fun?...Yes, somehow the author and the contributors and the editors have managed to make a big useful book without the boredom factor. The Big Book of Apple Hacks is a big winner. Read it, back up your essential files, and then go forth and
hack your Mac."
--
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