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Get Cooking with Belkin iPad Kitchen Accessories

Building a new house involves more decisions that an NFL season, seriously. For anyone that has done it, you know what I mean. One of the biggest decisions for our new house was the design of the kitchen, we wanted it to be very open and face the great room. It has given my wife and I many opportunities to explore new options for our home including modern household technologies. My wife loves to cook and she’s a great cook at that. She cooks healthy and finds alternative ways to twist a classic recipe into a killer meal while keeping your waistline from exploding. Being a good cook is more than knowing what spices and ingredients to use, it’s the tools that you use that makes you more efficient, just like computing on a Mac or iOS device.

Belkin has just released 3 new iPad kitchen accessories and they look great! The Chef Stand + Stylus includes a washable stand that is designed to get a little dirty from food, etc. It includes a stylus that has a utensil-like end that provides an easy grip and lets you navigate recipes on your iPad without having to touch the screen. The magnetic tip can be used to wake up an iPad 2 as well. The Chef Stand + Stylus is $39.99

The next kitchen accessory is the Fridge Mount for iPad 2. It can be mounted on your fridge’s door (or anywhere actually) by using 3M Command Strips, and it uses the iPad 2′s magnets to hold it in place. The Fridge Mount is $39.99

The third accessory is the Kitchen Cabinet Mount. It is easily installed without any tools by clamping to any cabinet or shelf while holding the iPad in place and away from the counter top and lets you work without having to hold your iPad. The Cabinet Mount is $49.99

Cooking apps certainly have a niche in the app market: there are many people that use their iPad for storing and exploring their recipe collections. Both the Cabinet Mount and the Chef Stand + Stylus look very appealing for our new kitchen and I think they would look great sitting on our bar or under the cabinet next to the pantry. The stylus is what I like the best, it’s universal to all these accessories. It doesn’t need to be pencil thin, and having a wide grip like a great kitchen utensil is welcome in our kitchen any day. While these won’t make you a better cook, they give you an extra hand in the kitchen. I don’t think I can coerce my wife into transferring her grandmother’s hand written cake recipes over to digital, but we can agree that these will be great additions to our new kitchen.

Belkin’s new kitchen accessories get even sweeter. Starting today through September 30th, all Belkin accessories, including these new kitchen items, are 50% off with coupon code FB50. Head over to Belkin and cash in on this great deal!

[via MacRumors]

Latest Chrome Stable Gets Native Lion Scrollbars and Full-Screen

Back in early August we reported the bleeding-edge version of Google Chrome, Chrome Canary, had been updated to include native full-screen mode and scrollbars on OS X Lion, which was released on July 20th on the Mac App Store. The Chrome team rushed to have a version of Canary fully compatible with the new OS, and we noted their implementation of full-screen was different from the average OS X app: Chrome allowed for two different toolbar / no toolbar modes triggered by a “curtain” icon at the top. With such implementation, the Chrome team made sure developers could test “real” full-screen mode with only the actual content of a webpage displayed, and a second option to see content + toolbars (tabs, bookmarks, etc).

The latest stable version of Chrome, released today, brings these Lion changes (and other bug fixes) to regular users, alongside other new features detailed on Google’s official blog. Most notably, Chrome stable has now access to the Native Client, a way for Chrome to execute C and C++ code inside the browser. The Native Client only supports applications from the Chrome Web Store for now, but Google is looking into supporting more platforms. Another technical change in this new stable release is the Web Audio API, which “enables developers to add fancy audio effects such as room simulation and spatialization”.

You can get the latest Chrome stable release here, and check out a brief explanation of the Native Client after the break. Read more

Apple Details Thunderbolt Display Connection Options

 

With a new support document [via] posted earlier this afternoon, Apple details some of the connection options for the 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, now shipping to customers who bought it after it was announced, and close to retail availability. The document in particular outlines some daisy-chaining options for the display and different Mac models, specifying which ones can connect to multiple monitors at once. For those users who want to daisy-chain Thunderbolt devices and a display, Apple recommends to connect the Thunderbolt Display to a Thunderbolt port on a Mac, and start daisy-chaining off that for “best performances”.

A note of interest from this document is that Mini DisplayPort displays won’t work if connected to the Thunderbolt Display, thus removing any possibility of daisy-chaining with old Mini DisplayPort interfaces and the newest Thunderbolt.

Mini DisplayPort displays will not light up if connected to the Thunderbolt port on an Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch).

MacBook Air (Mid 2011): Supports one Thunderbolt display.

MacBook Pro (Early 2011): Supports two Thunderbolt displays. The 13” MacBook Pro has a different “expected behavior” in that the screen will turn black if a second Thunderbolt Display is connected.

iMac (Mid 2011 and Late 2011): Supports two Thunderbolt displays. iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) with two Thunderbolt ports supports a total of two Thunderbolt displays “regardless of which Thunderbolt port each display is connected to”.

Mac mini (Mid 2011): Supports two Thunderbolt displays. Mac mini with AMD graphics can support a HDMI compatible device on its HDMI port when using two Thunderbolt displays.

The support document is available here. The 27-inch Thunderbolt Display still reports shipping times of 2-3 weeks on Apple’s online store. Read more

Extending Evernote: AppleScripts for Chrome, Safari, Instapaper and Alfred

Evernote is a cross-platform note taking solution that is adored by many for its ability to not just store snippets of information but also serve as an external brain. Among the many reasons users are drawn to this product is its extensibility. You may not realize this but Evernote has a very in-depth AppleScript dictionary that you can use to extend the feature set and make it do some pretty neat things you can’t do with it out of the box. I am going to show you how simple AppleScripting can add a few cool features to your Evernote workflow.

Note: These scripts work best when called with a global keyboard shortcut using an app like Keyboard Maestro, FastScripts, or Alfred.

This first AppleScript is used for storing a URL to whatever webpage you are currently viewing and it works with Safari, Chrome, and Chrome Canary. By default Evernote stores the entire webpage including images, navigational menus, and even advertising links. Having a snapshot of a page is great for some situations, but most of the time you just want to grab a link to the site and safely store it in Evernote so it can be easily retrieved. This script will check to see which browsers are running and it will grab the frontmost tab from the browser that is currently active; it’ll then neatly format the information into a note with the proper title and source url, and automatically sync Evernote.

Here is an example of a page I enjoyed and wanted to be able to find again at a later time. Everything is neatly formatted with no extra fluff.

URL to Evernote

URL to Evernote

Here is an example macro to launch it from Keyboard Maestro:

Download the script: Webpage Link to Evernote AppleScript Read more

Mac App Store Gets “Re-Buy Warning” For Apps Already Installed→

Mac App Store Gets “Re-Buy Warning” For Apps Already Installed

While many are still waiting for Apple to implement a basic wish list functionality in the Mac App Store (eight months after its public debut, there’s now a pretty good selection of high-quality software in Apple’s desktop storefront to choose from), Macworld has noticed the Mac App Store will now give you a heads-up before buying apps you already have installed on your computer. This can be particularly useful as a warning if you’re about to purchase an app you had previously downloaded from a developer’s website, out of the Mac App Store.

Though this doesn’t really reduce the pain of having to pay a second time for the same app, it does at least give less savvy users a heads-up before they accidentally buy a program all over again.

You can try this now with an app like OmniFocus, which is available with the same version (1.9.3) both on The Omni Group’s website and the Mac App Store. When the Mac App Store launched in January, the fact that it reported as “Installed” apps downloaded from a web browser caused some confusion among users.

It’s still unclear whether this dialog box requires the same version of an app to be already installed on a Mac (example: 1Password 3.9 is available on the Mac App Store, whereas AgileBits’ website give you access to an older version), but I assume this new “warning” does indeed require the exact same version to be installed, otherwise the Mac App Store version of an app will install alongside apps purchased elsewhere (this already happens if you head over the Purchased tab, and re-download a newer version of an app you already have on your Mac).

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App Journal, Episode 3: Dolphin Browser HD, Showreel, Faveous, ifttt

App Journal is a weekly series aimed at showcasing apps we have enjoyed using on our iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but decided not to feature in a standalone, lengthy review here on MacStories. App Journal is a mix of classic reviews, weekly app recommendations, and a diary of our experiences with apps that still deserve a proper mention.

As developers put the finishing touches to their iOS 5 and iCloud-based new apps and updates, this past week has been relatively slow in noteworthy App Store releases and features. Fortunately, I’ve dug up some gems worth mentioning, and I’ve been playing with the amazing If This Then That, now out of beta and open to the public.

Stay tuned for more App Journal episodes in the next weeks.

Dolphin Browser HD

I was a little skeptical when I first heard about Dolphin Browser for iPad, a port of what appears to be a fairly popular browser for Android devices. Furthermore, the app is free, and I always wonder how it’s going to play out in the long term without a business plan. Still, I have to say Dolphin Browser is pretty good. Mind you, it’s no Grazing, but I was surprised to see two features cleverly implemented: gestures, and the “webzine”. With gesture support, you can assign any URL to a custom gesture you have to “draw” so you’ll be able to launch your favorite websites by simply performing the gesture on screen. There’s a set of built-in gestures for Facebook, Twitter, and other websites, but you can create as many as you want by opening a new URL, and choose “gesture for this page”. A new window will open, asking you to draw the shape with a single stroke – after that, the gesture will be assigned to the URL and saved in the Gestures area of the app. Gesture recognition is pretty good, and you don’t have to be an artist or get really precise down to the pixel for the app to see what you want to launch. Overall, it’s a quite clever idea that, however, might use a more universal access without having to open a dedicated Gestures overlay (I’d like to draw directly on the webpage, if that makes sense).

Second is the webzine, basically a Flipboard-like magazine interface that, however, resides right within the browser and not in a standalone app. Dolphin’s main page, in fact, lists a series of speed dials on the left (think frequently accessed websites) and the “webzine” on the right, pre-populated with blogs you might want to read in a more uncluttered fashion. The thing with the webzine in Dolphin is that you’re not really forced to open this “start page” every time – once you visit a blog, say MacStories, Dolphin will ask you if you want to read it through the webzine UI. When a website gets passed through the webzine, a nice and fluid animation brings text in the foreground with articles and images as big squares – again, it resembles Flipboard.

The big difference is that Dolphin’s webzine doesn’t fetch entire articles and images – the actual webpage is loaded behind the webzine page, and you can jump to it (to see the rest of a story, images, or videos) with a single tap. It’s still unclear to me whether Dolphin’s webzine fetches articles via RSS (I assume it does), but I find it surprising the developers didn’t implement a refresh button (just last night I was reading MacStories through the webzine, and two articles I had just posted weren’t showing up).

Dolphin is a decent browser for the iPad with two really neat functionalities. You won’t find the “power user” aspect of Grazing and iCab in here (Dolphin doesn’t even have contextual menus for links), but overall, it’s a good free browser. Get it here. Read more

Report: Apple Enters Into An Agreement With TSMC For A6 And A7 Chip Production

DigiTimes is today reporting on claims from industry sources who say that Apple has signed a partnership agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The agreement will see TSMC produce the A6 chip as previously reported but also the A6’s successor, presumably dubbed the A7.

It now means that Samsung is no longer the exclusive manufacturer of chips for Apple’s iOS devices, which could be related to the current legal battles between the two companies. Sources have also told DigiTimes that TSMC has secured a favourable price, with little impact on TSMC’s profitability.

Apple and TSMC, however, have not yet talked about backend manufacturing, the sources said. It is likely that Apple will have TSMC and the other dedicated packaging and testing house split the orders due to TSMC’s limited available capacity for backend services, the sources speculated.

[Via DigiTimes]

Apple Preparing The Ability To Merge Multiple Apple IDs

According to MacRumors, Apple is currently working on the ability to merge multiple Apple IDs into a single ID. Currently those who have (for whatever reason) multiple Apple IDs are unable to merge them, even when contacting Apple support directly.

In an article posted yesterday however, it is revealed that a MacRumors reader had emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook and promptly received a phone call from an Apple executive relations employee regarding the issue. According to their account, the employee contacted the team responsible who said that they were aware of the issue and were concerned with iCloud exacerbating the problem. It was noted by the executive relations employee that they are working on it and in the meantime to pick a single account to use for all future purchases.

In an update to their article, MacRumors notes that a second reader has come forward, noting that they received a similar response over the issue. This prompt reaction by Tim Cook in responding to email from a customer is not his first and is consistent with his dedication to work.

[Via MacRumors]