Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

[email protected]

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Google Chrome’s Latest Stable Turns Instant Pages on by Default for Faster Googling

If you want faster Internet browsing, be sure to hit the About section in Google Chrome to check for the latest update if Chrome isn’t getting you up to speed automatically: the latest stable version of Google Chrome turns Instant Pages (Google’s take on pre-fetching) on by default so as you type, Google figures out which web pages you want to visit and begins loading the search results up. Yes, your Google searches just got supercharged. The omnibox (that universal address and search bar) has been upgraded with some new tricks as well, including being able to jump back to previous web pages you’ve visited if you begin to type that website’s address. Start typing, hit the down arrow if you want to select something from your history, and immediately the webpage is loaded into view. If Google made the call, they’d argue it was faster than clicking the back button. Video after the break.

[via the Google Chrome Blog]

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Lion DiskMaker Automatically Creates Bootable Lion Media

Have a thumb drive, sd-card, a stack of dvds, or an external hard disk drive lying around? Great! Because if extracting files from your Lion download and installing the image onto external media sounds tricky to you, then we have a solution that better automates the process. Lion DiskMaker by Guillaume Gete proposes to take your Lion download and create a bootable installer on your media of choice.

There are few caveats, including that you’ll need to have the Lion download handy in the /Applications folders (the Lion DiskMaker is best used right after the download finishes from the Mac App Store). Lion DiskMaker will also completely erase any media it makes bootable, so be careful not to overwrite any important information. The author recommends simply picking up a cheap 4 GB USB key from the store (your local Staples, Target, or Best Buy would do) since they’re dirt cheap.

Lion DiskMaker has both French and English info pages on Serial Serveur if you want to get familiar with the software, or you can always use Google Chrome with its automatic Google Translate features built in if you want to read up. The software is simple to use: just run the app, select the media you want to make bootable, and let it do its thing.

And don’t forget, we have a huge Q&A that answers your Lion installation questions.

[Serial Serveur (US page) via Cult of Mac]

Apple’s iCloud Beta Goes Live on the Web

Apple’s finally done something pretty awesome with their iCloud domain — this evening the iCloud.com website has gone live giving developers access to their mail, contacts, calendars, and iWork documents through the web. Developers testing iCloud’s features can log in and play around with a gorgeous interface that mimicks a lot of iOS interface elements. For example, if you type in the wrong password at the login, you’ll get iOS-style dialog boxes in the browser. It’s cool stuff!

Visit www.icloud.com

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Changing OS X Lion’s Mission Control and Dashboard image backgrounds→

Changing OS X Lion’s Mission Control and Dashboard image backgrounds

As soon as I installed Mac OS X Lion I began playing around with all the new features. Naturally, Mission Control and Dashboard were two of the first things I tried. I immediately hated the image backgrounds Apple chose to use and began searching for a way to alter them. It didn’t take long, and it’s quite simple to do.

The linen texture is unpopular with a lots of people, often being designated as, “The new pinstripes”. Personally I like the linen texture as it provides nice contrast against bright and floating desktops and apps, but I’m not sure why it didn’t carry over to the dashboard. The dashboard, featuring a lego-like texture, oddly stands on its own from the rest of OS X as some kind of ugly stepchild. It’s bad enough the dashboard still retains that metallic widget-bar, and Apple reinforces its distinctness from the system with a background that reminds me of diamond-plate — it’s simply unappealing. In the meantime, you have a choice in whether you want to look at it (or linen) through a nine step process that allows you to swap out those gross backgrounds for bubbles, stiching, denim, or whatever floats your boat.

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AppSumo Mariner Software Bundle Giveaway

Most people expect the basics: “All I need is a a good web browser, email client, and word processor.” Little by little, you get the itch to use your computer for more and more things. “I want to use my Mac for taking notes. I want to get rid of all this paper in my office and have it on my Mac. I hate Microsoft Word and need something just for print.” Given these three things, you know there has to be a bundle to maintain a practical workflow right? Well that’s why we have the Mariner Software Bundle.

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EGOTextMateFullScreen→

EGOTextMateFullScreen

This plugin adds native full screen app support to TextMate in Mac OS X Lion.

This one is for the developers. Thanks to Shaun Harrison, we have a bundle for TextMate that brings native full-sreen compatibility to Lion (via Nik Fletcher for pointing out this fantastic addition). In the meantime, MacroMates should be busy updating TextMate for Lion compatibility, and have posted a wiki detailing the bugs the developer is currently aware of.

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nvALT 2.1 Update Adds Auto-pairing, Simplenote Tag Sync, and More

A lot of hard work has gone into the latest release of nvALT, including better Multi-markdown 3 support (MMD3 has to be installed locally of course), a shortcut (⇧⌘L) for inserting links, Simplenote tag sync (which the author notes may choke on large note collections), the ability to pin the preview window when moving across apps (^⌘P then click the pin at the bottom of the window), and Textmate-like auto-pairing that will complete brackets for you as you type. (Pretty nice eh?)

Also available are browser extensions for Safari and Chrome that can get webpages and text into nvALT. The extensions allow you to interact with webpages and links to dumps its textual contents or selection into the text editor — nvALT can run text through Instapaper’s mobilizer to clean up the results as text splashes into view. Personally I’m not so big about dumping webpages into nvALT, but the extensions are available to download from elastic threads.

In nvALT’s future, Terpstra promises better Lion support for fullscreen mode (shown in my screenshot but I’m using a SIMBL hack which you can find here),  bouncy scrolling, and more.

You can download nvALT 2.1 and read about all of its features here!

Add NFC Payment to Your iPhone 4→

Add NFC Payment to Your iPhone 4

Jealous of Nexus S users with NFC built into their phones? Want to be able to pay with your iPhone just by tapping it onto those new fancy credit card terminals? If your bank provides smaller credit cards with NFC chips, you can seamlessly add one to your iPhone 4

The current iPhone 4 doesn’t have NFC built in, but you add it via a small modification that’s compatible with your bank of choice. Some banks can issue you an NFC card (with an embedded chip and radio antenna) that can be used to make payments, and if we were as savvy as Unplggd’s Vivian Kim, we’d be placing these cards in-between the battery and the glass back in your iPhone. The hack is “impressive and fun” she writes, and can be a great way to impress your non-geek friends or that gal behind the counter. Even more impressive is the great photo she took showing off just how this works — you’ll have to click through to see how she pulls this great trick off.

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Your Order Status on the Apple Store Got Prettier Overnight

We didn’t have any luck with getting the new order status UI in Italy, but it might be a good thing: we can show you what’s changed overnight in the Apple Store as it went down for a couple of hours. If you haven’t already noticed, Apple has spruced up their order pages to make navigation easier; important buttons are more noticeable (tracking and pre-signing for delivery are big and pushable); orders are accompanied with pictures and full products names instead of weird model identifiers; and now you have access to a drop-down menu so you can return items (but why would you?) and print invoices.

As noted by AppleInsider,

More specifically, the previously-schedule maintenance saw upgrades to the Online Order Status component for the Apple online stores in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, according to people familiar with the matter. An internal memo regarding the matter distributed on Friday stated that the improvements were designed to “enhance the overall look, feel, and functionality for a better customer experience.”

Just like the update to the support pages, Apple is improving navigation and bringing their site up to speed for 2011.

[via AppleInsider]