You won’t find access to Web Inspector in your default installation of Safari. However, making the necessary configuration changes is as easy as running the following command from a Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

If you prefer, you can use the Property List Editor to set the WebKitDeveloperExtras property in the Safari property file, which is located here: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safai.plist (use Finder to locate the file and double click to open). You’ll need to restart Safari after making the changes to enable Web Inspector.

To open the Web Inspector, right click and choose Inspect Element as shown in the figure below:

With Web Inspector running, you have access to a goodly amount of information. Take a look at the screenshot below which shows content from the Google homepage.

While poking around on Web Inspector, I clicked on icon in the lower left corner (the little arrow-in-a-box) and a popup menu appeared showing options for Network and Console. I selected Network and information about document and image transfers appeared (see the figure below). The Console option in this same menu resulted in a blank page appearing, so it seems I still have some exploring to do to figure what this option is all about. If you click on the icon just to the right of the arrow-in-a-box, the Web Inspector will be shown in a split window view versus a popup window.

I haven’t found an option for editing “on-the-fly” as in Firebug, however, Web Inspector is a good start for a built in tool and I have no doubt it will continue to evolve….

Jailbreak

“Jail” refers to file system limitations put in place by Apple on standard iPhones. These limitations restrict iPhone read and write access to just a small part of the media partition. You cannot access system files at all and you cannot use the disk directly as you would with an iPod with disk mode enabled.

“Jailbreaking” opens the entire iPhone file system for use. Once jailbroken, you can read and write to system files as well as media files. You’ll be able to use SFTP, AFP, and other standard file access protocols to read and write data. For example, you can use a client like Cyberduck to move data onto and off from the iPhone.

Jailbreaking also allows you to install third-party software (typically via Cydia) without using App Store and to access the Unix command line via OpenSSH. This lets you install software that otherwise cannot be obtained through App Store such as MMS clients, video recorders, and more.

Unlocking

As for unlocking, most phones (here in the US, anyway) are “locked” to a particular network. In the iPhone’s case, that’s AT&T for the US, O2 for Great Britain, and so on. Should you want to use your iPhone with another GSM carrier, you need to unlock.

Unlocking lets you place calls with any GSM carrier by inserting different Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) into the phone. Normally these SIMs from unapproved carriers won’t work. When your iPhone is unlocked, just buy a local GSM-compatible SIM, place it in your phone, and make your calls. You’ll be able to use your iPhone around the globe without paying exorbitant roaming fees.

Standard Cautionary Words

Both jailbreaking and unlocking will void your Apple warranty, except in places like Hong Kong where the phone is sold already unlocked. Caveat Jailbreaker.

Jailbreaking is not a one-way path, however. You can restore your iPhone to its pre-jailbroken state at any time by restoring it with standard firmware. Guides exist for “revirginizing” an unlocked iPhone, but their efficacy varies.

The legal consensus is that unlocking and jailbreaking are legal in most countries, including the US.

How-to Guides

The iPhone Blog has posted several highly-illustrated guides for jailbreaking and unlocking your 2.1 iPhone. These instructions proceed step-by-step, showing you what tools you’ll need and walking you through the process. You’ll find instructions for jailbreaking on both Windows and Macintosh and for unlocking the first-generation iPhone on Windows. The available tutorials are:

• Jailbreak your iPhone with Mac OS X
• Jailbreak your iPhone with Windows
• Unlock your first generation iPhone with Windows

Be aware that jailbreaking and unlocking are not often for the faint of heart. There is a small (but real) risk that you’ll destroy your iPhone and the process may fall outside your comfort zone. If you want to proceed, these are pretty good write-ups, and you’ll find them helpful for getting you through the process.

1. Remove files from the desktop

Each time that OS X loads it has to index the contents of the desktop, create thumbnail icons for each file and catalog the contents of each folder there.

Do yourself a favor and move those files to the relevant folders they belong in. This will increase the speed at which your desktop loads and therefore make your Macbook faster.

2. Remove unwanted start up applications

Go into System Preferences and User Accounts. View the list of applications that have been set to start against your user name and remove (untick) any that you don’t need any longer.

It’s great to have iChat start automatically - but not essential.

You can view a list of applications running in the background by using the top command from the Terminal window or by using the Activity Monitor application.

3. Disable the Dashboard

This is my favorite “speed up” fix for the Macbook and it works wonders each time. The OS X dashboard is great if you use it all the time, but each one of those swish little widgets and web clips is taking up memory - and you can’t even see them unless you ask for them!

To disable the dashboard, open Terminal and enter the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

You can then either reboot the Macbook or enter the following command into the Terminal window:

killall Dock

If you miss your weather widgets and stocks information, you can reverse the command by entering:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO

And again either reboot or enter:

killall Dock

4. Clear the PRAM (intel Macbooks only) Reboot your computer while holding down the command + option + p + r keys together. Don’t stop until you have heard the start up chime three or four times.

This is not a real way of speeding up your Macbook, but it will kill any gremlins that have worked their way into the non-volatile RAM settings. I found that it seemed to allow my Macbook to boot faster.

5. Clear the PMU (Macbook, Pro and Air)

You can use this method to clear non-volatile RAM and settings on the Macbook products. Whilst it will not cause your Macbook to suddenly leap into speed mode, it will get rid of any mis-configurations and setting issues.

Macbook, Macbook Pro

1. Ensure that the Macbook is turned off.

2. Remove the power adapter and remove the battery.

3. Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release.

4. Reconnect the battery and power adapter.

5. Press the power button to restart the Macbook.

Macbook Air

1. Ensure that the Macbook Air is turned off.

2. Connect the power adaptor to a working power source.

3. On the Macbook Air keyboard, press (left) Shift-Control-Option along with the power button once.

Note: You must use the keys on the left side of the Macbook Air keyboard.

4. Wait 5 seconds and press the power button to start the Macbook Air.

6. Disable unneeded system options.

If you are not using Wireless, Bluetooth, Speech Recognition or Internet Sharing - then turn them off! Not only will you see a speed increase but you will save battery life too!

Let’s imagine you are writing a document about Napoleon, and you just can’t remember where he was born, so you want to ‘Google it’. Highlight the word ‘Napoleon’ and drag it onto Safari icon in Doc. Safari will open, search Google and return the results nearly instantly.

Dropping the text onto the Dock also works nicely with Apple Mail. Select any text, drag and drop it onto the Mail icon and a new email will be composed, already containing that text. Just add the recipient email address and the subject and send.

Just came across an interesting discussion on Whirlpool, where a poster asks why there are no viruses for OS X. The quick and obvious answer by a few “enthusiast experts” was that the market share of OS X is so small that nobody really bothers writing any malware for Mac.

Yes, this is the most common answer you get from people who also answer “right-click” when asked what Macs can’t do that Windows can. Sigh!

I liked the reply by the user TwoFruits, so I thought I’d share his very down-to-earth analysis of the malware absence phenomenon on Macs.

There is no silver bullet answer as to why not, its a combination of reasons :-

1. OS X is built on UNIX. UNIX was a multi user system with a security architecture built into it at the beginning. WINDOWS came from a single user architecture with security and multi user capability as an after thought.

2. UNIX had networking built into it from the beginning, again in Windows this was bolted in at a later date.

3. Windows built Internet Explorer into the O/S at a very deep level, and allowed code execution within the browser. In OS X the browser is a completely separate application, its not a integral part of the OS. IMHO, this is the fundamental screw-up Microsoft made, as they created so many hooks into which someone can attack the OS.

4. In earlier Windows everything ran as the system user, so the capability to compromise an entire system was easier. (see reason 1)

5. Microsoft’s backward compatibility mantra doesn’t do them any favours as to run old software they need so many old APIs, all of which can have holes in them.

6. OS X has no registry. IMHO, second fundamental flaw Microsoft made.

7. OS X asks for your password before allowing you to run new software or install something. Not fool proof, but at least fool resistant.

Personally I don’t buy the “lack of market share” reason. Consider that in pre OS X days Macs did have viruses. Also interesting, that at that stage Macs were suffering point 1 & 2.

No system is totally safe, but Macs have a lot of architecture working in their favor.

For example type: say I love Islam and press return. Can your PC do that?

When in any of the Cocoa (Mac native) applications you can hover your mouse above the word and press Ctrl-Cmd-D on your keyboard. You will get the Dictionary description for that word. Just move your mouse over to any other word and the Dictionary description for that word is displayed instantly.

And no, you don’t need to have Dictionary open at all.

A few examples of applications where this works are; Safari, Mail.app, MacJournal, TextEdit, Text Wrangler, Comic Life, iWeb. Unfortunately it doesn’t work with any of the Mozilla applications, including Firefox, Camino and Flock.

Invert screen

Another function that not too many Mac users know is “Invert screen”. Just press Ctrl-Option-Cmd-8 on your keyboard and see your Mac invert its colours.

This would be funny if you go to the Apple shop and do it so you can watch the salesperson freak out.

Slow motion

When you want to minimise your window, you simply click on yellow button on top left corner. The window quickly goes down to the right end of your dock using either scaled or genie effect.

But, if you hold down shift key while clicking the yellow button, the window will minimise in a slow motion, approximately five times slower than the normal speed.

Text clipping

I love telling this to my friends, Windows users. I ask them how would they save a piece of text from the document they are viewing at the moment, for example a web page.

Their answer is usually something like: “Oh, easy. You select the text, right click and copy. Then you go to the desktop, right click and select New | Text file, give the file some name and click away. Now you double click the file to open it, paste the text in there and save it. Simple, isn’t it?”

Then I show them how to do it on Mac. I select the text, click on it and drag it to the desktop and that’s it. Many of them need a little help with the dropped jaw, by the way.

If you want to include this text somewhere, say an email, you simply click the file on desktop and drag it into your composed email. Simple as that.

Screen capturing

This is my favourite of the Mac goodies. There are a few ways to capture screen on Mac.

Firstly, you can capture the whole screen. Simply press Cmd-Shift-3 on your keyboard and the screen will be captured in a PNG file and saved on your desktop as something like Picture 1.png

You can also capture a selection, just press Cmd-Shift-4 on your keyboard and you will see a small cross hair selector on your screen.

Simply select the area you want to capture and let go, the file will be saved on your desktop, again something like Picture 1.png

And finally you can capture the active window. Simply follow the steps above and once you see the cross hair, press the space bar and you will get a camera icon. Hover the camera above any window and the window will get the gray overlay indicating it’s in hot-spot. Click on it and the window will be captured.

And again, the file will be safely placed on your desktop as … good guess, Photo 1.png

However, if you’d like to capture the screen (or part of it) to the clipboard rather than to desktop, simply hold the Control key down while capturing, i.e. Shift-Ctrl-Cmd-4.

This is very handy when you need to paste it straight into an email or any other document.