This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensure that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


Mountain Lion Links

In this post, we have collected some interesting links about Mountain Lion following its release last week. You should also check out our review, or buy our eBook.

Create Reminders using Alfred. Gianni Rondini has put together a nice Alfred extension that, by using AppleScript support in Reminders, adds new items with a very simple syntax. Obviously, the extension will launch Reminders.app if it’s not open, as the app needs to be running to receive AppleScript commands. Download it here.

Customize the dialog that asks for access to a user’s contacts. As pointed out by Daniel Jalkut, there’s an easy way for developers to customize the information displayed in the new dialog that asks for permission to access your contacts. Third-party apps that need to look-up your contacts even for mundane tasks like auto-fill can take advantage of this (otherwise, the dialog will be generic, with no additional details provided to the user).

 Michael Tsai’s Mountain Lion notes. Good collection of miscellaneous links and information here. I agree with Michael’s comments on the Safari address bar, but I still can’t stand how Google Search URLs aren’t copied to the clipboard (as I noted in my review, search terms are).

The story of the new Zebra wallpaper. Directly by photographer Steve Bloom.

Enable backspace navigation in Safari. Use this Terminal command to be able to navigate in history using the backspace key. I have my MacBook Air set to navigate using three-finger swipes, as well as backspace.

On Mountain Lion’s iCloud filesystem. iA’s Oliver Reichenstein takes a look at the structure of iCloud files and folders under Mountain Lion. Their text editing app, iA Writer, has recently implemented support for folders in the iCloud Document Library across Mac and iOS.

Ars Technica’s review of Mountain Lion Server. Good overview by Matt Cunningham.

Mountain Lion and the Simplification of OS X. Shawn Blanc explains why the interplay of iOS and OS X goes beyond mere graphical resemblances.

Virtual Hosts and Web Sharing in Mountain Lion. A guide on how to bring back a local hosting environment by Brett Terpstra.

Get Back “Save As…” menu. Yet another trick to get back “Save As..” in Mountain Lion.

Mountain Lion and AppleScript. Shane Stanley writes about some important changes of AppleScript in OS X 10.8 over at TidBITS.

For more Mountain Lion coverage, visit our hub.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.