© 2001-2004 by Stas Pietrucha

SlashDock is free, but if you would like to make a donation, click here

Download 2.4

Overview

SlashDock is a simple Mac OS X Application that fetches and updates headlines for the lastest postings on slashdot-compatible sites and RSS-compatible sites (aka RDF) like BluesNews.com. Updates are obtained automatically, if new articles are available, the dock icon will flash with an image representing the article 'topic'. Selecting an article from the dock menu will take you directly to that article in your preferred web browser. SlashDock can also access eBay bid information & now Google Newsgroups!

Reviews

Rufo Sanchez at MacGamer has written an excellent review, with additional instructions on using SlashDock. His review can be found at: http://www.macgamer.com/features/?id=874.

Installation

UPGRADING FROM PRE-2.0: If you are upgrading from a version of SlashDock prior to 2.0, you have to remove the old version of SlashDock from the dock. Copy SlashDock to your Application folder, then double-click to launch - after a few seconds, the icon will change and the headlines will be loaded. SlashDock will automatically refetch headlines from the configured sites at designated intervals (generally 30 minutes). You should turn off Auto Update if you are going to be without a network connection for a while. If you do not like the flashing icon in the Dock, you can disable that as well in the new Preferences panel.

Customization

SlashDock headlines can now be customized using a simple Preferences panel. Choose 'Preferences...' from the menu (also available in the dock menu). The 'General' tab has several options to control the behavior of SlashDock. The 'Sites' tab allows you to add/edit/remove Sites. The easiest way to add a new Site is to enter the headline URL in the text field and click the '+' button - SlashDock will attempt to auto-configure this Site and populate as much information as possible in the Site list. You may also drag and drop a 'feed' URL onto the Sites table to autoconfigure it. You can edit any Site setting by double-clicking on that setting in the Site list. A site can be 'disabled' by unchecking the box in the first column. If you have previously customized your Site configuration, you can automatically insert the Default Sites by clicking the '+ Default' button. You can also reorder the Sites by dragging and dropping them.

SlashDock now allows you to configure eBay to show items you are bidding on - enter an eBay user id (or multiple seperated by commas) and SlashDock will track the items that user is bidding on.

Here is a list of sites powered by 'Slash'; finding the location of the xml headline file might require an email to the individual sites administrator. News Is Free is a good place to start if you are not familiar with RSS. News Is Free Apple Feeds

• SlashDock does not work with Authenticating proxy servers - several users have told me they have been able to use Authoxy to handle the authentication with proxy servers.

Version History
2.4, Jul 29 2004:

• Fixed newsisfree sites in default config. A script to fix existing newsisfree sites in your custom configuration is included in the download.
• Site list is now sortable by any column so you can quickly arrange your Sites.
• Added old/new headline indicator so you can easily see what is new.
• Added sponsored links (A $10 donation qualifies for disabling these links).
• Fixed digest page encoding problem.
• Removed special VersionTracker site & preference - If you want VT, there are RSS feeds available in the default Site list (click + Default to add).

• Fixed frequent crashing problem.
• Fixed CDATA handling for headlines.
• Updated several international localizations.

• Built for Panther (should be compatible with 10.x).
• Fixed bug which caused incorrect parsing of RSS 2.0 content on some sites.
• Added ability to track multiple eBay users (enter them in a comma-seperated list).
• Added access to usenet newsgroups via Google Groups. To add a newsgroup, enter group:alt.foo.bar in the URL/Group textbox and click the '+' button.
• Added option to disable the checkmarks that appear to indicate unread items.

• Added the VersionTracker Mac OS, Palm OS and Windows sites (thanks for the t-shirt!).
• Added a few other requested sites.

• Added several new preconfigured sites.
• Fixed problem with eBay parsing caused by wrong character encoding.
• Changed default ebay url to My eBay page (YOUR eBay page).
• Enhanced applescript implementation; new digest html file autogenerated when headlines are updated using applescript.

2.3.4, Apr 26 2003:

• Added a lot of new preconfigured sites (be sure to go to 'Sites' in preferences and click the '+ Default' button to ADD new sites - your existing sites will not be lost).
• Added Danish localization (thank you Michael Rasmussen).
• Fixed parsing problem for some feeds.
• Fixed problem with ' appearing in headlines.

2.3.3, Jan 5 2003:

• Ignoring Title character limit in the Digest html file.
• Fixed bug that would cause the wrong image to be displayed in the Dock.
• Added basic support for RSS 2.0

2.3.2, Oct 25 2002:

• Fixed VersionTracker headlines.. wish they would publish a standard rss file instead of me parsing by hand.

2.3.1, Oct 21 2002:

• Fixed bug which caused some sites to display only one or no headlines at all.
• Fixed dock image update bug (was getting stuck with 'chasing arrows' displayed).

2.3, Oct 14 2002:

• 'View Digest' now generates a web page displaying all current headlines and descriptions when available.
• Improved French localization (thank you Arnaud Lucas).
• Fixed VersionTracker image.
• Fixed some problems with escaped characters.
• Apple-scriptable 'updateHeadlines' (more to come - all requests welcome).

2.2, Sep 21 2002:

• Added Polish localization (thank you Andy Kowalski).
• Fixed bug that resulted in headlines to show escaped characters when author name is disabled.
• Added an Ebay dock image which is shown when Dock Icon Flashing is enabled.
• Added support for additional rss format (http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns).

2.1, June 20 2002:

• Fixed frequent crashing and instability problems by rewriting a lot of code in pure Java.
• By popular demand, old 'Think Nerd.' icon is back, now animated to indicate when SlashDock is busy fetching headlines. If you prefer the 'blinky' icon, you may replace the tiff images in the Contents/Resources directory.
• Fixed bug in Activity Log timestamps.
• New Version notice now indicates the version number of the update which is useful if you want to avoid downloading beta versions, or if you are running a beta version.
• Last update time now reflects the last time a new headline was found on the given site.

2.08f, May 20 2002:

• Compatible with Jaguar developer release.
• Crashes less frequently than prior beta version.

2.08c, May 8 2002:

• Completely multithreaded, more responsive (No more Application Not Responding messages) and FAST.
• New icon which animates when SlashDock is fetching headlines.
• Added configurable global Timeout setting.
• Added easy way to select/deselect Sites using a checkbox.
• Added hidden option to move the VersionTracker and eBay menus to the top of the dock menu
  (defaults write SlashDock showSpecialFirst YES).
• Fixed some character encoding problems.

2.06, Mar 3 2002:

• VersionTracker OS X and eBay support.
• Drag-and-drop Site configuration.
• Added new default sites - apple.slashdot, wired, several others (click + Default to add these to your customized configuration).
• Fixed some localization problems.

2.0, Feb 11 2002:

• Complete rewrite - now a complete Application, not a dockling.
• Proxy server support!
• Preferences panel for configuring sites and other settings.
• Activity viewer.
• Automatic site configuration.
• Automatic update notification - SlashDock will let you know when a new version is available.
• New options to truncate titles, hide/show authors and update time.

1.8, Jan 22 2002:

• Fixed headlines retrieved from many sites by using proper character encoding.
• Fixed busted newsisfree.com feeds.

1.7, Dec 1 2001:

• Added 'Disabled Sites' menu which lists sites that are configured, but not active; you can enable a site by choosing it from this list.
• Added support for Japanese and Dutch (thanks to Stefan and miche).
• Fixed some headlines by un-escaping html characters.
• Fixed bug in 'reload site configuration' which causes SystemUIServer to crash.

1.6, Oct 20 2001:

• Added 'Options' menu which has option to disable Auto Update and Flashing Icon; also an option to Reload the SlashDock.config.plist if you are trying to customize the sites that are displayed.
• Added support for French (thanks to Clément Wehrung).
• Updated for use on Mac OS X 10.1.

1.5, Aug 29 2001:

• Fixed nasty memory bug.
• Added RSS (rdf) support (thanks to Douglas Stebila).
• Added kuro5hin.org and macrumors.com to default configuration.

• Fixed problem when configured with more than 2 headline sources. Now tested with as many as 6 different headline sources.

• Added MacSlash headlines; also made headlines completely configurable.
• Fixed nasty memory bug, objects were not being released and deallocated properly.
• Yet another new SlashDock icon! Thanks to Carlos Reyes .

• 1.1 was internal release that never made it out the door.
• This release contains updated library to eliminate the warning that occurs when you update to new version of OS X.
• Topic images are now displayed transparently in the dock.
• New SlashDock icon, no one liked having an intel logo in their dock!

• Initial release.

Feedback

Contact me with any bug reports, comments, or suggestions at stas@mac.com.

Disclaimer

The Software and its related documentation are provided "AS IS" and without warranty of any kind and Stas Pietrucha expressly disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances shall Stas Pietrucha be liable for any incidental, special, or consequential damages that result from the use or inablility to use the Software or related documentation, even if Stas Pietrucha has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Stas Pietrucha's liability exceed the license fee paid, if any.

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