Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Chapter 20. Sherlock 3, iChat, and iCal

Apple is unabashedly intrigued by the possibilities of the Internet. With each new release of Mac OS X, more clever tendrils reach out from the Mac to the world’s biggest network. In 10.2, three completely new programs debut, each designed to harness the Internet’s power. They include Sherlock 3 (whose relationship to previous versions of Sherlock are in name only), iCal, a new calendar program, and iChat, an America Online-compatible instant-messenger program.

This chapter tackles this motley crew one by one.

Sherlock 3

Sherlock is like a Web browser that’s specifically fine-tuned to bring you certain popular kinds of up-to-date Web info, without the waiting, without the navigation hassle—and without the ads.

As though to pound home the point that Sherlock is now an Internet-only search tool, you’ll find that you can’t even open it if you aren’t online.

Once you have opened it, however, some fascinating, timesaving goodies await you. The Sherlock channels (icons on its toolbar) bring Web information directly to your Sherlock window, formatted for maximum impact: graphs when you search for stock prices, QuickTime previews when you search for movies, maps when you search for flights, and so on.

Here’s how the channels work.

Internet

The Internet channel simply means, “search the Web.” You type what you’re looking for into the “Topic or Description” box, and then press Enter (or click the green magnifying glass button). After a moment, you see a tidy ...