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phoenix78 · Feb 16, 2006, 10:56 PM

Hi all,

just a quick post to say something interesting i found about the "About This Mac" pop-up window that you can select from the apple in the top left corner of the screen. I found it out by accident when i missed the software update button and thought it may make some users aware of it who were not aware initially

If you see the version of your OS under the big "Mac OS X" label (mine says 'Version 10.4.5'), well if you click on the text that displays the version it will change to show you the 'build' version and if you click onit again it will show you the serial number of your machine and then again back to the version number.

are there any other interesting 'easteregg-like' features that you know of?? please share them... or is there a post about this already?

regards,

robM

discotronic · Feb 16, 2006, 11:11 PM

Nice....I didn't know that

Philip J. Fry · Feb 16, 2006, 11:17 PM

At the login screen, if you click on the text under 'Mac OS X' several times, you get different items, including the time and OS version, as well as the serial number.

phoenix78 · Feb 16, 2006, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry

At the login screen, if you click on the text under 'Mac OS X' several times, you get different items, including the time and OS version, as well as the serial number.

yeah thats much the same as the 'about this mac' window.

very nice

Detrius · Feb 17, 2006, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by phoenix78

...If you see the version of your OS under the big "Mac OS X" label (mine says 'Version 10.4.5'), well if you click on the text that displays the version it will change to show you the 'build' version and if you click onit again it will show you the serial number of your machine and then again back to the version number...

Every version of OS X I can remember did this (at least back to 10.0, that is).

It's hard to answer your question about other "Easter Egg" features, because this is something that is used all the time in tech support. There are no known "Easter Eggs" in OS X. It's been Apple's position for quite some time that they wind up introducing bugs.

Did you know that ctrl-eject brings up the shutdown/sleep/restart window?

command-E uses the current selection for find. So, you highlight the word you are looking for, then press command-E command-G (find again), and it brings you to the next instance of that phrase.

- - e r i k - - · Feb 17, 2006, 05:11 AM

You can also get the serial number of the last connected iPod in the iTunes iPod-preferences dialog by clicking the "no iPod connected"-text. Awesome if your iPod gets stolen!

teszeract · Feb 17, 2006, 05:41 AM

Nice one

harrisjamieh · Feb 17, 2006, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Detrius

There are no known "Easter Eggs" in OS X.

In 10.4.5, people who try to hack OSX to work on bog standard boxes now get this nice little poem:

Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he'd do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!
Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc

Kinda a nice little 'easter egg' as you guys put it

eevyl · Feb 17, 2006, 08:44 AM

I bet this worked as back as Mac OS X Public Beta.

Person Man · Feb 17, 2006, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by Detrius

It's been Steve Jobs' position for quite some time that they wind up introducing bugs.

Fixed.

Hal Itosis · Feb 17, 2006, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by Detrius

command-E uses the current selection for find.
So, you highlight the word you are looking for,
then press command-E command-G (find again),
and it brings you to the next instance of that phrase.

Command-e on selection to find (in page) is nice.

Also handy on selected text is command-shift-F...
which sends it to SpotLight (to search everywhere).

Not an Easter egg perhaps... but useful nonetheless.

turbopants · Feb 17, 2006, 12:55 PM

Many people know this, but hold down "shift" when minimizing a window, or coming out of dashboard, or using expose, and the cool effects will go in slow motion. Learned that from a keynote long time ago.

wr11 · Feb 17, 2006, 05:00 PM

I'll one-better the SHIFT when minimizing a window. Hold control-shift for an even slooooowwwwwer minimize.

olePigeon · Feb 17, 2006, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by harrisjamieh

In 10.4.5, people who try to hack OSX to work on bog standard boxes now get this nice little poem:

Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he'd do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!
Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc

Kinda a nice little 'easter egg' as you guys put it

Detrius · Feb 18, 2006, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by harrisjamieh

In 10.4.5, people who try to hack OSX to work on bog standard boxes now get this nice little poem:

Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he'd do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!
Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc

Kinda a nice little 'easter egg' as you guys put it

That's not an easter egg... it's a "Trip Wire." The first person to find it posts it on the internet. Then, Apple (who has an automatic google search set up for this) drops the bomb on that person, sending a Cease-and-Decist letter.

Tomchu · Feb 18, 2006, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Detrius

That's not an easter egg... it's a "Trip Wire." The first person to find it posts it on the internet. Then, Apple (who has an automatic google search set up for this) drops the bomb on that person, sending a Cease-and-Decist letter.

A Cease-and-Desist letter merely for re-posting a poem? No.

phoenix78 · Feb 19, 2006, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

A Cease-and-Desist letter merely for re-posting a poem? No.

possibly not for posting the poem but for trying to hack the OS.

I really like those slow minimising of the windows commands. i can show those off to my friends now lol.

cheers,
robM

Apple Pro Underwear · Feb 19, 2006, 01:20 PM

Thanks! that trick is pretty useful!

Detrius · Feb 19, 2006, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

A Cease-and-Desist letter merely for re-posting a poem? No.

Yes, because the first person to post the poem had to have reverse engineered Apple's copy protection. Hence, the first person to post the poem broken the DMCA, so Apple sent the Cease-and-Desist letter.

iPond317 · Feb 19, 2006, 03:45 PM

Yeah, this has been around since the days of 10.0, I believe. Still a pretty nice feature though.

Tomchu · Feb 19, 2006, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Detrius

Yes, because the first person to post the poem had to have reverse engineered Apple's copy protection. Hence, the first person to post the poem broken the DMCA, so Apple sent the Cease-and-Desist letter.

Yeah, it's a trap for the first person that posts the poem, but not anyone who takes that and copies it somewhere else.

ShotgunEd · Feb 20, 2006, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by Person Man

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detrius

Quote:
It's been Steve Jobs's position for quite some time that they wind up introducing bugs.

Fixed.

Re-fixed.

Not to get into a debate about this, but only religious names or names of historic importance get the second s lopped off, like, Jesus' or Zeus'.

I've looked into this a lot as my name is Ross, and Ross's just looks like garbage, but is grammatically correct.

lavar78 · Feb 20, 2006, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

Re-fixed.

Not to get into a debate about this, but only religious names or names of historic importance get the second s lopped off, like, Jesus' or Zeus'.

I've looked into this a lot as my name is Ross, and Ross's just looks like garbage, but is grammatically correct.

Thanks. I was just about to post this correction.