Posts tagged with "lion"

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

Microsoft Releases Office 2011 14.1.3 Update, Patches Some Lion Issues

Microsoft announced in late July that it was preparing updates for Office 2011 to fix bugs and generally improve Lion support. That first update finally went live late yesterday, fixing a variety of minor bugs that affected Office 2011 in Lion. Unfortunately one of the biggest complaints when Lion was released was that Outlook 2011 couldn’t import emails from Mail.app - that issue has yet to be fixed, with Microsoft simply disabling the ability to import email on Lion.

As Microsoft’s Mac department revealed back in July, another more significant update for Office 2011 will arrive in a few months. In that update Microsoft has said they will bring support for new Lion features such as Versioning, Auto Save and full-screen mode to their applications.

Jump the break for a full list of improvements, whilst you can manually download the update from the Microsoft Download Center.

[Via TUAW]

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1Password Now On The Mac App Store: 50% Off, Menubar Icon, Lion-only

AgileBits’ 1Password, a fantastic tool to securely store, manage and organize passwords, online accounts, notes and credit cards which we’ve covered several times here on MacStories, is now available on the Mac App Store. The long-awaited release (1Password is one of the most popular third-party Mac apps, and it’s no surprise customers wanted a way to get it from the most popular OS X software marketplace) comes with a 50% sale price (1Password is currently $19.99) and a series of new features implemented in this new 3.9 Mac App Store version.

To get the app on the Mac App Store, AgileBits had to fine tune some aspects of their application, and at the same time update other areas to properly take advantage of the new features introduced in OS X Lion. This means 1Password has full 64-bit support, is Lion-only, and can run in full-screen mode. 1Password has always been that kind of app I want to keep open without looking at it all the time, so full-screen mode in Lion provides the perfect compromise to keep 1Password a swipe away, running in the background in its own space.

Version 3.9, however, doesn’t stop at simple Lion integration: AgileBits went ahead, and implemented application sandboxing before Apple will start requiring for all Mac App Store apps this November. Sandboxing limits what parts of your computer the app can access, and it’s a change Apple is enforcing to make apps more secure, and users feel safer when downloading third-party software. So with the new 1Password, you can either keep the app’s .agilekeychain file (the database with all your passwords and data) in Dropbox as usual, or within the app’s sandbox. If you choose Dropbox sync – which will enable you to sync the app across computers and iOS devices – you have to make sure Dropbox is located in your OS X account’s home folder (it should be if you follow Dropbox default settings). Because of this new architecture, when you’ll delete the app via Lion’s Launchpad its data file backups will be deleted, too, and only one 1Password data file (again, the database) is allowed. Last, the developers have enhanced the app’s security with PBKDF2 Calibration – they have a blog post here so you can read more about it. That’s it for the technical changes. 1Password works better with Lion, it’s more secure thanks to Apple’s new APIs for 10.7, and it already complies to rules that the company will start enforcing in two months.

When it comes to new user features, 1Password 3.9 has a series of welcome additions that should simplify a user’s workflow and make the app more intuitive for Mac App Store newcomers. Whilst 1Password correctly recognized the old .agilekeychain data file I had in my Dropbox, those who haven’t used 1Password before will find a new first-run screen to help them find their way around browser extensions (more here), strong passwords, and automatic save and fill. 1Password’s preferences have been redesigned and simplified, as you can see from the screenshots; several menu items have been removed for simplification as well.

The biggest new feature in this Mac App Store release, from a user’s standpoint, is the new 1Password icon in the Mac’s menubar, which will help you with Folder / Tag Go & Fill access, AutoSubmit, and easily locking/opening 1Password directly from the menubar. The Go & Fill option is especially useful if you don’t want to manually type a URL in your browser, and prefer to let 1Password “take you” to a website, and have it automatically fill the login for you. The new menubar helper works great with the latest Safari on OS X Lion.

I’ve said this many times – 1Password is a must-have application for any Mac user who’s serious about keeping his personal data safe, protected, and always in sync across platforms. The newest update to the app is only $20 on the Mac App Store right now, and customers who purchased 1Password from AgileBits’ website within the previous 30 days can request a full refund if they’d rather buy it through the Mac App Store. Looking forward to a major 4.0 update, 1Password 3.9 is now on the Mac App Store and finely tuned for Lion.

“Enhanced for OS X Lion” Gets A Mac App Store Section

On August 16, we reported Apple had started promoting certain applications updated to take advantage of the new features introduced in OS X Lion with the “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline. Back then, the list included apps like Fantastical, Screenflow, and Touchgrind, but Apple wasn’t featuring those applications in a specific Mac App Store section, as they usually do with apps pertaining to a category or “theme”. We suspected Apple would introduce a standalone section as more customers upgraded to Lion and developers pushed Lion-specific app updates, and as reported by CNET that’s exactly what happened earlier today in the weekly App Store homepage refresh.

Apps Enhanced for OS X Lion is available here, and it showcases apps that have been recently updated to include features like multi-touch gestures, full-screen mode, Resume and Versions, or, in the case of Twitterrific, improved scrolling for Lion. The section aggregates more than 45 apps from a variety of categories, such as Social Networking, Productivity, Photography, and Music. As usual with Apple’s dedicated App Store sections, the company is likely to add more apps over time, and keep the section – admittedly one of the most “relevant” in the Mac App Store right now – featured on the Store’s homepage for several weeks.

Check out “Apps Enhanced for OS X Lion” on the Mac App Store.

EmojiBar Puts Emoji In Your Lion Menubar

With OS X Lion, Apple introduced system-wide support for Emoji characters, implemented on iOS 4’s Japanese keyboard last year and recently extended to all international keyboards in iOS 5 beta. Emoji characters are a cute, fun way to share more detailed emoticons with friends on social networks and messaging apps, and because they’re based on Unicode, they can be used in a variety of other ways, including domain names.

On Lion, users can display Emoji characters and easily insert them using the OS’ default character picker; EmojiBar, a $0.99 app available on the Mac App Store, makes emoji-picking even easier by putting those characters right into the menubar, accessible from a popover. EmojiBar is very simple, and nicely designed: a click on its icon opens the popover, another click on the emoji you need will copy it to the clipboard, and display a notification (notifications can be disabled in the Settings). Icons on the left let you switch between different kinds of emoji characters, whilst the Recents tab gives you access to your most used emojis (presumably your favorite ones as well).

I like the app’s simple approach and design. I know OS X can accomplish the basic functionality by itself, but it’s always nice to see an app doing one thing, and one thing well. You can download EmojiBar here.

Yoink: Enhanced Drag & Drop for Lion’s Full-Screen Apps

As I noted in my MacBook Air 13-inch review, the smaller the screen, the better full-screen apps get on Lion. For those still unaware of the new feature, OS X Lion comes with the possibility of enlarging applications to fill the entire screen – thus the name “full-screen mode” – so that, similarly to iOS, users can focus on one app at a time. Whereas some full-screen apps can look comically large on bigger displays such as a 21.5-inch iMac or Apple Thunderbolt Display, I found that smaller screens make more sense in regards to full-screen mode in that you don’t feel like you’re wasting available pixel space. Apple’s system applications have already been updated to take advantage of full-screen mode, and we’ve seen third party developers starting to play around with the new API as well, coming up with interesting solutions to modify the user interface accordingly to full-screen mode.

Personally, I have enjoyed using apps like Evernote, Sparrow and Reeder in full-screen mode on my MacBook Air. With a four-finger swipe, I can easily switch between these apps, and go back to my main desktop where all my other application windows reside. However, as full-screen apps live in their own separate graphical environment, I wished on a couple of occasions that Apple would implement an easier method to move files between spaces and full-screen apps in Lion. Rather than delving into the technical details of drag & drop and APIs, here’s a practical example: say I run Sparrow in full-screen mode, and I need to quickly drop an attachment onto a new message window. I could use the app’s “attach file” dialog, but drag & drop would be more intuitive. On Lion, there’s no simple way to drag files from Desktop 1, and drop them into a full-screen app. In fact, the “easiest” trick I’ve discovered to achieve such a functionality is to click & hold a file, hit the Mission Control key on my MacBook Air’s keyboard, select a a full-screen app and wait for it to “spring load” (e.g. the window flashes and after a few seconds comes in the foreground), then drop the file. Clumsy and slow.

A new app by Eternal Storms – makers of Flickery and ScreenFloat, among others – called Yoink, aims at improving Lion’s behavior with drag & drop and full-screen apps. Built from the ground-up with Lion-only APIs, Yoink places an unobtrusive, translucent “shelf” at the side of your Mac’s screen every time you start dragging a file. Drop the file in there, switch to your full-screen app with a gesture, get the file out of the shelf. Done.

Yoink is a drag & drop assistant for Lion, in that it provides you with a virtual “safe zone” to temporarily store files – or rather, links to them – you want to move from one location (say your desktop) to another space or full-screen app.

Yoink doesn’t “copy” a file, or multiple ones, to its shelf: it only acts as a bridge between the original file, and the destination of the drop. So, back to my Sparrow example: I can select a bunch of files from my desktop, drop them into Yoink, switch back to Sparrow with a gesture, and get the files out of Yoink. Very simple. This works with any full-screen app, any space – Yoink works wherever you can drop a file. In fact, nothing stops you from using the app as a drag & drop utility for your Finder windows instead of full-screen apps, although the app is clearly focused on the latter.

In my tests, I’ve found Yoink to be very lightweight in memory footprint, and easy to use. The app only appears when you start dragging a file – you won’t see its window all the time – and you can customize it to sit on the left, or right of the screen. Alternatively, you can tell Yoink to quickly move next to your cursor as you drag a file, then go back to screen’s side. Yoink can store multiple files, Quick Look them, and let you scroll and select multiple items with CMD-click.

Yoink is available at $2.99 on the App Store, and you can head over the developer’s website to check out a demo video and get a better idea of the app in action. If you work with full-screen apps on a daily basis and you’d like to enhance Lion’s drag & drop support, Yoink is a must-have.

Mac Utility Cocktail Gets Updated To Support Lion

A few days ago the popular Mac utility, Cocktail, received an update to add Lion compatibility. The new version 5 of Cocktail also adds new Automator actions, fixes bugs and sees improved documentation. If you are unfamiliar with Cocktail, it’s a utility that gives users the tools to clean, optimise and repair their Macs. There is a mix of maintenance tools, tweaks and power user options for everything from adjusting disk options to clearing various caches to customizing the look of OS X.

Jump the break for some screenshots of the new Lion version of Cocktail. You can also download a free demo of Cocktail (limited to using it 10 times) with lifetime licenses start from $19 for a single-user.

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Parallels Desktop 7 For Mac Available This Week, Updated Parallels App For iOS

Earlier today Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac was unveiled, bringing more features and substantial speed improvements to the popular desktop virtualisation software. Headline features of the new version include greater Lion support such as Full Screen Mode and Mission Control, iSight/FaceTime Camera support and those speed improvements which include up to 60% faster resuming and 45% faster 3D graphics.

Mac Developers will now be able to emulate a copy of Lion in Parallels whilst on a Lion installation as per the new Lion license agreement. Installing Windows has also been simplified with a “Windows on Demand” service offering users the ability to instantly purchase and download Windows - particularly helpful for those with new Macs that no longer include DVD drives. Walt Mossberg reviewed the new Parallels on his Late-2010 MacBook Air and said it “ran Windows quickly and smoothly, and integrated well with some of Lion’s new features”.

Windows, and Windows programs, can be displayed in Lion’s new Launchpad feature, which mimics the main screen of an iPad. They also show up and behave like Mac programs in Lion’s new Mission Control feature, which shows all the programs running on the Mac in miniature. Windows programs can also run in Lion’s new full-screen mode.

Also revealed today was that the Parallels Mobile App is receiving a substantial update so that it can completely control a users Mac rather than just the virtualised environment as had been the case prior to this update. The app, available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, is on sale at a special introductory offer of $4.99 but the update is free to existing users.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is available from today for those upgrading from Parallels 5 or 6 at a cost of $49.99 whilst it will be available generally on September 6th for $79.99. There is also a Student edition available for $39.99, a ‘Switch to Mac’ edition available for $99.99 (which comes with a number of Mac video tutorials) and there are also Enterprise volume licences available.

Jump the break for some promo videos of the new Parallels products.

[Via AllThingsD]

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Latest Dropbox Build Gets Nicer on Lion

If there’s something Dropbox, the popular online file syncing service with a strong iOS / OS X presence, should get better at in the future, that would be a new way of informing users of available updates. Or, as Shawn Blanc recently put it, you’d think of all the apps that automatically update themselves, “Dropbox would be a chief at it”. Unfortunately, in spite of its always-connected nature, Dropbox’s internal update mechanism is far from perfect. Too many users downloaded Dropbox months ago, and never updated to faster and more stable builds because of a lack of notifications, sticking with older versions that are likely causing problems.

This problem is especially true on Lion, which required the Dropbox team to rewrite parts of the app to integrate with the new Finder. Whilst TUAW noted last week that another “silent” Dropbox update added Lion support, the latest forum build – version 1.2.28 released yesterday – goes even further and brings a new icon for the Finder sidebar, new setup images, and more bug fixes. The changes are minor, but it’s nice to see Dropbox finally having a good-looking shortcut in Lion’s Finder.

Full changelog:

  • Finder Integration: Make Favorites Dropbox icon pretty
  • New tour images for Lion.
  • Fix DNS lookup problem when using a SOCKS5 proxy.
  • Delay upload of 0 byte files so that users don’t get useless transfers.
  • Fix small occurrence of now Resume option after pausing Dropbox in Linux
  • Fix to very rare bug that would prevent directories from being uploaded.
  • Fix bug that would cause auto-update to incorrectly ask for UAC elevation.
  • Fix rare missing sidebar item.

You can download Dropbox 1.2.28 (which, again, is an experimental forum build that, although stable, still isn’t an “official” release) over at Dropbox Forums.