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Posts tagged with "lion"

LaunchpadCleaner 2 Gives You Proper Control Over Lion’s Launchpad

Launchpad is somewhat of a controversial feature addition in Lion, it is arguably the most blatant example of iOS’ influence on OS X (and some would say the worst example of iOS’ influence). A lot of the criticism stems from the fact it displays every application that is located on your Mac - you really don’t want to have an Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office because Launchpad will display icons from every app contained in those software packages.

Earlier this month we wrote about Launchpad-Control, which allowed you to hide applications from Launchpad (without deleting or uninstalling the application) using a simple checkbox list of all your apps. Hiding apps from Launchpad is about as far as Launchpad-Control goes and whilst that will be enough for many, some may be wanting some more control of Launchpad to properly utilise its potential. Enter LaunchpadCleaner 2, which allows you to hide apps from Launchpad, organise them, rename them and quite a bit more.

A good analogy of LaunchpadCleaner 2 would be that it works in a simple way to how iTunes can organise an iOS device’s homescreen but for Launchpad on your Mac. Some of the more advanced features of LaunchpadCleaner 2 include the ability to make a backup of your layout, transfer a Launchpad layout to other Macs and the ability to simply restore to the default Launchpad layout. The only real negatives of LaunchpadCleaner 2 that I experienced was that it was a little slow at times, which may be related to the fact that it is an Adobe Air application. The other downside is that you can’t drag the application icons to rearrange them in a specific order - although this isn’t too problematic because Launchpad itself can do this task easily.

LaunchpadCleaner 2 is available for $4.99 from Zoltan Borne, however he has kindly offered MacStories readers a promo code to get the app for free. The first 20 readers that will use the code “MACSTORIESNET” (without quotes) from the app’s Buy window will be upgraded to the Pro version for free. To do so, download the app, click on Buy, then click on “Do you have a Promotional Code?” and enter the promo code. Zoltan also offers a free version of LaunchpadCleaner 2, although there are a few limitations with this version.

Apple Updates Lion To 10.7.1 On The Mac App Store

The first update to OS X Lion, version 10.7.1, was released exactly one week ago, yet unlike the operating system’s public release in July, Apple didn’t decide to make the update immediately available through the Mac App Store. Rather, Apple published 10.7.1, a minor delta update, using Software Update, a standalone desktop control panel that has historically taken care of updating Apple’s system apps. The fact that an update for Lion wasn’t showing up on the Mac App Store left some wondering whether that was the best way to approach new customers already getting used to Apple’s new purchase and update mechanism for apps. As usual, the company also made the update available on its website as direct download.

Earlier today, Apple has updated the Lion installer from the Mac App Store – that is, where you buy the “app” at $29.99 – to version 10.7.1, allowing customers to download a version of Lion already up-to-date with what’s being pushed to customers of OS X Lion via Software Update. Lion now reports “Updated on August 23, 2011” on the Mac App Store, though we can’t confirm at this point whether the Mac App Store directly updates the OS (thus eliminating the need for Software Update), or it’s simply a way for new downloaders to get the latest version of Lion.

Apple has also recently released an OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, and seeded OS X 10.7.2 to developers for testing purposes.

Update: according to several reports we’ve received, 10.7.1 shows up as a new version in Software Update, but not on the Mac App Store. Therefore, it appears Apple is keeping the Store as a way to buy the latest version, and Software Update as the preferred way to download & install new updates.

Update #2: Dan Frakes reports 10.7.1 is now showing up in the Updates tab of the Mac App Store.

Evernote 3.0 for Mac Released: New Lion-only Features and Redesigned Interface

Following the release of a new Evernote app for iOS earlier today that brought a completely redesigned iPad interface, rich text editing and support for viewing shared notebooks, the Evernote team has followed up with the release of Evernote 3.0 for Mac, a major update to the desktop app that aims at enhancing the experience for new OS X Lion users, as well as introducing several fixes and improvements under the hood for both 10.7 and older OS X versions.

Like Evernote 4.1 for iPad, Evernote 3.0 for Mac brings a new design for the “all notes” view, which, however, unlike the tablet version is not really enabled “by default” and requires users an extra click to be accessed. The Evernote developers, in fact, have decided to unify the Mac and iOS experience by bringing the iPad’s interface back to the Mac only in full-screen mode, which is fully supported on Lion. As I previously teased in my MacBook Air review, the new Evernote for Mac doesn’t simply scale up content when entering full-screen mode (which can be activated from the upper right corner of the application’s window): rather, Evernote changes the standard List, Snippet or Thumbnail views to a new “full-screen Snippet” one that looks exactly like its iPad counterpart. Bigger snippets offer a broader view of text and images within notes, and they also provide a way to check out a note’s creation date and time. Full-screen mode in Evernote also features the same month headers seen on the iPad, it allows you to close them at any time, and it displays a note counter next to each month. Read more

OS X 10.7.1 Now Available

A few minutes ago, Apple released the first update to OS X Lion, which reaches version 10.7.1 and adds a number of fixes to the operating system. These fixes address video unresponsiveness in Safari, WiFi reliability, as well as audio issues with HDMI and migration of old data to a new Lion installation. The update is only 17.4 MB from Software Update, and we’ll post direct links as soon as Apple makes them available. The new version is currently available on Software Update, with the Mac App Store reporting the original OS X 10.7 that was released last month.

The 10.7.1 update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:

  • Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari
  • Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out
  • Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections
  • Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4764.

OS X  10.7.1 is the first update to OS X Lion, which was released on the Mac App Store on July 20. Earlier today Apple also released the official OS X Lion Thumb Drive, allowing users without a broadband connection to buy the new OS from Apple as a USB key. Apple is already working on OS X 10.7.2, which has been seeded to developers and will be released this fall to add iCloud compatibility on OS X.

Meanwhile, Apple has posted the following direct links for the MacBook Air and Mac mini 2011:

- OS X Lion 10.7.1 Update for MacBook Air and Mac mini 2011 (Client)

- OS X Lion 10.7.1 Update for Mac mini 2011 (Server)

The Mac mini and MacBook Air 10.7.1 update includes a few more fixes:

  • Resolve an issue where MacBook Air may boot up when MagSafe Adapter is attached
  • Resolve an issue causing intermittent display flickering on MacBook Air
  • Resolve an issue that causes the SD card slot in Mac mini to run at reduced speed with SD and SDHC media

Furthermore, Lion Server 10.7.1 has also been posted:

  • Improves reliability of the Apple File Service.
  • All other improvements delivered in the client OS X Lion v10.7.1 Update.

Update: OS X 10.7.1 direct links below.

- OS X Lion Update 10.7.1 (Client)

- OS X Lion Update 10.7.1 (Server)

Apple Highlights Apps “Enhanced for OS X Lion”

OS X Lion has been out for less than a month, and Apple is now starting to promote apps that take advantage of some of the new features of the OS on the front page of the Mac App Store. As noted by Stephen Hackett at Forkbombr, Apple has included the “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline in the banners pointing to applications that have recently been updated with Lion-exclusive features such as Versions, Full-Screen, or multi-touch gestures. These banners can be seen on the front page of the Mac App Store, both in the top section (Screenflow 3.0 and Touchgrind) or in the lower part of the page, where currently there are promotional images for Fantastical, swackett x, and Scrivener. Fantastical is indeed one of the apps that has been updated in the past month with “Lion compatibility” and Lion-only gestures for navigation in the calendar view.

This is not the first time Apple has taken special interest in apps updated to take advantage of new functionalities introduced by the company in a new version of their OSes. For example, Apple went as far as creating a dedicated section for apps updated with AirPlay support soon after the release of iOS 4.2 back in November 2010. In April, Apple showcased subscription-based magazines in the App Store’s homepage. The “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline doesn’t have its own category just yet, but it wouldn’t be a surprise as more customers upgrade to Lion, and developers start releasing Lion-specific app updates.

With over 250 new user features and 3,000 new developer APIs, Lion is opening a whole range of possibilities for developers willing to rewrite or update their applications to trigger the new OS. Such features and APIs include the aforementioned full-screen mode and Versions support, as well as desktop notifications, In-App Purchases, new UI controls, Resume, and Auto-Save. This Fall, developers will also be able to integrate their apps with iCloud, which will allow them to store documents and data in the cloud, enabling seamless synchronization of content between devices.

In November, Apple will also start requiring developers to update their apps with Lion’s Sandboxing APIs – you can  read more about this in John Siracusa’s OS X Lion review. By highlighting apps that have already been updated for Lion, Apple is both encouraging other developers to do the same in the next few weeks, and showcasing great software for new customers that have installed Lion and are looking for new apps to try out. Apple itself updated several apps ahead of Lion’s launch to enable new functionalities exclusive to 10.7, such as Safari 5.1 – which comes pre-installed on Lion – and the iWork suite.

OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive Now Available

Initially announced on July 20, when OS X Lion was released to the public through the Mac App Store at $29.99, Apple has released the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive today, allowing customers without a broadband connection – unable to download the 3.49 GB installer from the Store, or willing to keep a physical copy of the OS – to install the latest version of OS X with a USB stick similar to the one Apple shipped with the 2010 MacBook Airs (and didn’t include in the 2011 models, which come with Lion pre-installed but no USB drive in the box).

OS X Lion is available on a USB thumb drive for installation without the need for a broadband Internet connection. Just plug the drive into your USB port and follow the instructions to install. OS X Lion is also available for a lower price as a digital download from the Mac App Store.

As noted by 9to5mac, those who install Lion through the USB Thumb Drive won’t be able to perform re-installs with Lion’s built-in Recovery functionalities, as they will need to use the thumb drive again. The OS X Lion Thumb Drive is shipping in 1-3 business days.

Earlier this month, Apple released a free utility to turn any external drive into a Lion Recovery partition, and a number of unofficial solutions have also surfaced. You can find Apple’s OS X Lion Thumb Drive at $69 in the online store.

From the boneheaded design file: Browsing Versions in Lion→

From the boneheaded design file: Browsing Versions in Lion

While some knew of the feature, and were anxious to use it, they couldn’t find it. I would have expected a function that deals with a file to be on the File menu. Nope. Apple has it in the title bar, just where you are sure to miss it. […] When you finally do figure out how to browse your versions, your entire desktop changes, and you wind up in the Time Machine GUI (which Apple calls “The Star Field”), even though you never invoked Time Machine. As my colleague Erica Sadun points out, why introduce another system?

Mel Martin on TUAW discusses how Versions (and similiarly the Auto Save functions in the titlebar of an application) are confusing to use and hard to find compared to the already intuitive menubar (the second place people look after they can’t find something in the toolbar). Let’s talk about Mel’s points real quick: why did Apple make versions so… spacey?

The biggest reason is because it simply draws parallels with Time Machine. Apple wants to associate anything that has do with recovering files with the paradigm of literally being able to travel back in time and pull in old documents (in Versions’ case, pull in old bits of text or images you initially revoked which is both very hands-on and extremely powerful). The separate UI exists so you visually see old changes and only bring back what you need — browsing a list with timestamps then manually merging two versions of the same document from your desktop doesn’t sound better either (especially since you then can’t see what changes were made without opening each old version).

I do think Versions would be good as a menubar item. I agree that new Mac users won’t look to the titlebar for accessing this feature (unless they’ve vigorously read Apple’s Lion pages). When people look to try out new features (and don’t know where to find them), I imagine they try to search for the menu item through Help as I often do. In Versions’ case, it’s nowhere to be found. I think Versions’ UI itself is okay, albeit sometimes buggy and slow which will be improved, but getting there can be the issue.

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Mozilla Aims to Lessen Memory Issues With Release of Firefox 7

Like Matthew Humphries over at Geek.com, I was a big Firefox user back in the day. Before I had any care in the world about what a Mac was and before Google Chrome was in the pipeline, your three options were Opera, Firefox, and I.E. Firefox was great — I used it at home, loaded a portable version on a thumb drive so I could bypass the firewall at my high-school (yay proxy settings), and found it much more stable than Internet Explorer at the time. While I’ll occasionally return to Firefox, Chrome and Safari have dominated my work life, and unfortunately I’ve move on after slow browsing sessions and not wanting to deal with the memory hog Firefox has been (even after the quick turnaround in updates). Mozilla wants to change this perception however, and have started a project called MemShrink to deal with the runaway memory issues present in Firefox. According to Humphries,

Mozilla knows this problem exists and aims to fix it. By the time we see Firefox 7 available for download it will use as much as 50% less memory than any version that has gone before, as well as having those problematic memory leaks fixed.

Posting on his personal blog, Mozilla developer Nicholas Nethercote has stated that Firefox 7 will be noticeably faster. You will be able to leave it running overnight without issue, and closing tabs will free up memory.

Mozilla wants to do three things: improve speed, stability, and perception. Perception is important — while you don’t want to mask problem areas, making the user feel more engaged (instead of stalling) would be a terrific boon in usability. My problem with Firefox is that it feels like I’m always waiting for a webpage to load or for something to happen — maybe it’s slight and not as significant as I’m making it sound, but compared to Chrome (where everything loads as soon as I start typing), the difference is noticeable. Firefox 7 is slated for a 2011 release, so it shouldn’t be too long before we have a solid build in our hands. I’m looking forward to a faster and leaner Firefox.

[Mozilla Blog: Nicholas Nethercote via Geek.com]

GAget Puts Beautiful Google Analytics on Your Dashboard

What comes in linen and shows off really pretty graphs for your website? We’re talking about Zoltan Hosszu’s GAget of course, a Dashboard widget you might actually be interested in downloading. Not only is the website beautiful, but the widget is super handy as well. Right on your Dashboard, you can get analytics that feels like it was designed by Apple themselves with the fit and finish of OS X Lion while presenting lots of useful information like the day’s page views, your unique visitors compared to total visitors, new visitors to the site, your bounce rate, and a handy graph which can show you how well you’re doing today compared to the last two weeks. We need more Dashboard widgets like this — GAget is terrific in design, and the developer put in a lot of love for an area of OS X that many don’t pay enough attention to. If you’re a web developer or a website owner and want to be able to glance at your website statistics, I totally recommend installing this (it supports multiple profiles too). And as always, you can donate to the developer if you find this free extension to your Dashboard super useful (there’s a PayPal button at the bottom of the page).

You can download the GAget at http://www.zoltanhosszu.com/gaget/, and you can follow the developer on Twitter at @zoltanhosszu.