Is your menubar getting just a little, well, crufty? With more and more apps taking advantage of this handy place to put notification and mini-app icons for extra functionality, it seems like the menu bar is like that bar down the street where they’ll let just anyone in. Today’s tip should help clean up the Menu Bar apps on your Mac. You’re on your own for the neighborhood watering hole.
FontShop’s Beta Photoshop Plugin Puts Font Previews Where You Need Them
The guys at FontShop have released a beta plugin for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and 5.5, giving designers access to live font previews within their existing artwork.
LogMeIn Launches Dropbox Competitor Called Cubby
LogMeIn has launched a new cloud-based storage, syncing, and sharing service that hopes to compete with services like Dropbox, Box.net, and the upcoming Google Drive. Called ‘Cubby’, the service offers 5GB of free storage which is protected by LogMeIn’s 128-bit SSL encryption, and it can be accessed from a web browser or using the official Cubby apps for Android and iOS.
SwipeBack Lets You Navigate Back Through iOS Menus With A Swipe [Jailbreak]
SwipeBack is a new tweak for jailbroken iPhones that allows you to elegantly navigate back through your menus by swiping your finger across your screen, rather than tapping on the buttons at the top of the display. It’s currently still in beta, but it works well and you can get your hands on it now.
Twitter Notifications, iCloud Tabs & Location-Based Reminders Appear In Latest OS X 10.8 Beta
Following the release of Apple’s second Mountain Lion beta late last week, registered developers have been stumbling across a number of new features that weren’t present in the first beta. These include Twitter notifications, “iCloud Tabs,” and location-based reminders.
Apple Shutting Down iWork.com On July 31st, Time To Move Your Documents To iCloud
Apple has announced that it is shutting down iWork.com on July 31st. The website was a beta product that Apple launched back in 2009 to store documents created with its iWork productivity suite. Since then, iCloud has been introduced to let you keep your documents wirelessly synced across devices, and there is no need for iWork.com anymore.
New 1080p Apple TV Will Maintain Same $99 Price Tag [Rumor]
While some reports have claimed that Apple’s new iPad will get a small price increase today, the new 1080p Apple TV is expected to maintain the same $99 price tag.
98% Of Apple Retail Stores In U.S. Have No Apple TV Stock Left Ahead Of Rumored Refresh
Stock of the Apple TV has been quickly dwindling across Apple retail stores in the U.S. in recent months, fueling speculation that the device will soon be replaced by a new model with the “J33” codename that recently popped up in the company’s iOS 5.1 beta software.
One report claims that 98% of Apple retail stores in the U.S. now have no Apple TV stock at all.
Social Music Player Tomahawk Finds Songs Everywhere, Including The Net [Review]
Here’s Tomahawk, a music player with a difference: it plays music from anywhere and almost everywhere. Not necessarily music from your collection, either.
Popular ‘Things’ To-Do App Finally Gets Cloud Sync With Public Beta
After nearly a year of private beta testing, Cultured Code has finally implemented cloud sync in its popular to-do app Things. Now available as a public beta for the Mac, iPhone and iPad, Things Cloud can be enabled and tested for free by any customer.
When task management apps started adding cloud sync over a year ago, Things users were left behind while the developers at Cultured Code took a laboriously long time to get their sync solution off the ground. Now that iCloud is out and cloud sync is a staple feature of nearly every productivity app, has Things missed the bandwagon?
Now In Beta: Pinwheel Lets You Drop Virtual Notes Anywhere
This is Pinwheel, a new iOS app for leaving and finding virtual notes anywhere in the real world.
It’s in private beta right now, but you can join in if you ask nicely and leave your email address in the box of the Pinwheel home page.
Apple Brings Mountain Lion Features To Safari With 5.2 Developer Pre-Release
Apple has seeded a pre-release of Safari 5.2 to registered developers. Following the release of the OS X Mountain Lion developer preview this morning, a new beta of Safari has been made available with browser features from Apple’s upcoming desktop OS.
Namely, Safari 5.2 for OS X Lion introduces the unified, Google Chrome-like address/search bar. There are some other minor cosmetic changes that mirror the Safari version from the Mountain Lion developer preview.
Want A Taste Of Mountain Lion? Download Messages Beta Now!
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion won’t be available for most users to play with this summer, but if you’d like to try out a little slice of it already, you can already download the Messages beta for Mac, which replaces iChat and allows you to send unlimited free messages to any Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch through the iMessage protocol!
Dropbox Releases New Beta Build, Offering Up An Extra 5G Of Storage To Anyone Willing To Test The App Out
Our favorite cloud storage service has a nice little treat for anyone brave enough to beta test their latest app. Right now, Dropbox is offering up to an extra 5G of storage for testing out their new automatic upload feature. For every 500MB of photos and videos you automatically upload, Dropbox will reward you with a 500MB space bonus, up to 5GB. Automatic upload seems to be the primary feature added in this beta build, but here’s what they list as new on their site:
Steam Mobile App For iOS & Android Is Now Available To All
Late last week, Valve released an official app for iOS and Android devices that allows gamers to stay connected to its Steam community wherever they may be. It was instantly popular with the Steam users who were able to gain access to it, but the only problem was, it was in beta testing and not many had that privilege.
But today the service is out of beta and available to all.
Apple Seeds Another OS X Lion 10.7.3 Build To Registered Developers
Despite rumors that suggested its previous seed would be the last one before a public release, Apple has seeded another build of its OS X Lion 10.7.3 software to registered developers. The latest release sports the build number 11D46, and is available to download now from the Mac Dev Center.
Latest Beta Hints At Facebook Integration For iOS 5
Those who are trawling through the source code of Apple’s latest iOS 5.1 beta have discovered references to the company’s upcoming iPad 3, and more interestingly, hints that Facebook integration could be making its way to iOS to accompany Twitter.
Skype 5.5 Beta For Mac Released With Design Improvements And New Call Features
Skype has released a new beta for Mac users today that brings an enhanced call UI and more features. Call quality and stabilization improvements have also been introduced.
Apple Releases New Lion 10.7.3 Beta To Developers [Updated]
Apple has seeded a new build of Lion 10.7.3 to registered developers in the Dev Center. Following the release of iOS 5.1 beta 3 yesterday, Build 11D42 of Lion 10.7.3 is now available for developers to download and test.
Apple References Siri Dictation On iPod touch And iPad In Latest iOS 5.1 Beta
Today’s iOS 5.1 beta 3 makes some interesting references to Siri’s Dictation feature. On both the iPod touch and iPad, a new Dictation text file has appeared under the keyboard settings window. This new document is not present in the same place on the iPhone 4S, suggesting that this reference does indeed foreshadow what’s to come.
The text file outlines iOS Dictation’s privacy details. While Siri Dictation is currently an iPhone 4S-only feature, it’s plausible to assume that Apple is working to bring the feature to other iOS devices.
Apple Releases iOS 5.1 Beta 3 With The Ability To Toggle 3G Again
Apple has seeded a new beta this afternoon for iOS 5.1 to registered developers in the iOS Dev Center. Those who have been running the second iOS 5.1 beta can download this newest update through iOS 5’s over-the-air update feature in the Settings app.
While iOS 5.1 beta 3 (Build 9B5141a) doesn’t seem to bring anything particularly revolutionary to the table, it appears that the “Enable 3G” toggle has been enabled for quickly disabling 3G data.
Apple Seeds New OS X 10.7.3 Beta To Developers
Apple has seeded a new built of the OS X Lion 10.7.3 beta to developers in the iOS Dev Center. Build 11D36 of 10.7.3 can be downloaded now by registered developers.
While there are no known issues in this latest beta, Apple does request developers to focus on areas like iCloud Document Storage, Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari.
Mac OS X 10.7.3 Beta Drivers Hint At New Mac Pros
Apple has neglected to update its Mac Pro for just under 18 months now, and recent speculation has suggested that the company may be set to discontinue the high-end desktop. However, according to drivers found in the latest Mac OS X 10.7.3 beta, a new Mac Pro is on its way, packing AMD’s upcoming “Tahiti” graphics cards.
Why Siri Can’t Find Abortion Clinics
This week, a lot was made in the news about Siri’s supposed pro-life leanings. Essentially, a bunch of people got upset because Siri couldn’t find a local abortion clinic, even though abortion clinics don’t actually call themselves that. Apple denied that Siri had any pro-life leanings whatsoever, saying instead the service was in “beta.”
So what really happened? Well, Apple just learned its first lesson about search: you’re held responsible when the information people are expecting to see doesn’t show up in a search query, even if that information is only tangentially related to the actual words in the query. It’s a headache Google’s been dealing with for almost a decade.
iPhone 5 & iPad 3 Strings Pop Up In Latest iOS 5.1 Beta Code
Following the release of Apple’s iOS 5.1 beta yesterday, developers have been trawling through its code in an attempt to uncover references to upcoming products that Apple didn’t intend for you to see. We’ve already seen references to a next-generation Apple TV and a fourth iPad 2 — believed to be destined for Sprint — and now the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 product identifiers have been discovered.