The Logic Off Topic list

>  Is there any way to have the finder sort items by filetype? Couldn't 
> find anything.
>  I actually somewhat find the default behaviour of everything being 
> sorted by name useless.

Try using List View for the window. Select "as List" from the View menu.
In the window, one of the columns is called "Kind" (you might need to 
make the window wider to see it. Click on "Kind" to sort by that 
column. Click it again to switch between acending/descending order. Yo 
can also grab the column with the mouse and drag it to change the order 
of the columns.

You can also activate other columns in List View by selecting "Show 
View Options" from the View menu.

This article has a quick overview.

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=30341&seqNum=5

>  Forgive me if this is a newbie question - but then, I AM new to OSX.

No forgiveness required, we were all newbies once. Just some newbies 
are older than others. ;-)

Regards
Kurt.