Jash’s Blog

Apple just released Mac OS X Lion in the AppStore for $29.99. It comes with a bunch of new features like Mission Control (the new Expose), Launchpad (an application launcher) and updated Mail, Address Book and iCal apps. It also brings the iOS experience to the Mac with no more scrollbars and a new look-and-feel.

If your internet is too slow, you can take your mac to the Apple Store and download Lion there. If you need it on a USB drive, then you will be able to buy it in August for $69.99.

For server users, Lion Server is available as an application for OS X Lion from the Mac AppStore for $49.99 with a host of services like Address Book, iCal, Mail, Podcast, Time Machine, VPN and much more.

Apple announced Mac OS X 10.7 Lion a few months ago and said that it would be much more intuitive as features from iOS would be borrowed. There has been some debate on this topic, some say that navigation would be easier whereas others say that Apple is restricting OS X features by making it more like a mobile device. However, one of the great features on Lion is Launchpad, which lets you access your apps with the click of a button. If you are one of the people who are really waiting for this feature, hold your breadth no more. Junecloud has announced the Plus dashboard widget that lets you place shortcuts of your favorite apps on the Dashboard. Plus is a Free dashboard widget available from Junecloud, get it now to turn your Dashboard into Launchpad.

Plus from Junecloud

So Apple had a “Back to the Mac” event with several announcements like a new MacBook Air with Instant On and flash storage, an update to its iLife suite, FaceTime for Macs, an AppStore for Macs and the successor of SnowLeopard. Apple has sold millions of iOS devices (iPhones, iPod touches and iPads) and due to exceptional sales, iOS has been actively under development. Each new version of iOS has impressive features, some better than the others. Apple claims that they have learnt a lot with iOS and wants to implement some of the features into Mac OS X. In a nutshell, AppStore is the sole reason behind sales of iOS devices and they want to make the Mac more like one of those devices with simplistic interface and an AppStore to get applications instantly in order to boost sales.

So how exactly is Lion more like iOS? Apple has integrated the home screen with Mac OS and named it Launchpad. The Launchpad will have all apps in it. And of course, folders just as on iOS devices by dragging icons on top of each other to put them in a folder. Besides the home screen and AppStore, they are also focusing on full-screen applications and iPhoto 11 uses an iPad app-like interface with full screen and Tab bar at the bottom. This was unveiled at the event, more features will be seen as the OS will be developed further.

Mac OS X 10.7 will debut in Summer 2011.

Screenshots after the break.

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Trillian is a popular multi-protocol IM client for not only Windows but even iPhone and Web now. With the new Trillian Astra which is the 4.0 version of Trillian, the IM client has drastically improved with the interface, usability and features. Its my preferred IM client for Windows. Finally after a long way of development and testing, Trillian is now available for the Mac! So you can have the seamless integration among all your IM services on your Mac.
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Last Christmas, Mac Heist had the Mac Giving Tree with many apps that were given on Christmas Day. This year, MacStories has a huge Apps Tree with 450 Application licenses for Christmas. There are numerous Mac and iPhone applications like 1Password, MailPlane, CSSEdit, FontCase and ExpanDrive. To get your favorite application, just visit this page and follow the instructions…

MacStories will give the licenses on 22nd of December. So stay tuned…

With more social networking and web communications, sharing files online is becoming a basic need, and not just file sharing, its sharing files with a click! There are great solutions out there like Dropbox, ZumoDrive and many others. However, today I came across an awesome Mac application that lets you share files with a drag! The unique feature about this app is that you have to use your own FTP server to upload and share files.

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Twitter has brought several creative web apps right from statistical URL shortners to Image sharing and file sharing services to Voicemail over twitter. And now we have TweetMyMac. TweetMyMac is an application for your Mac that lets you tweet to your Mac and get tasks done like Taking screenshots and tweeting them to you, taking pictures from your iSight cam and tweeting them to you, or shutting down, rebooting and logging off your Mac using tweets. It can also check your Mac’s IP address, open/quit apps and start/stop torrents from downloading.

So in short, you can now control you Mac via tweets!

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Are you an iCal user? If yes, this app will make you a power-user. FlexCal is a simple Preference Pane for Mac that allows you to set a hotkey for adding Events and Tasks to iCal. Just install the Preference Pane, select you Hotkey and you’re ready! When you press the hotkey, a small window will pop-up where you can enter details like name of Task/Event, Priority, Date/Duration, Alarm, etc. Just fill them in and hit the return key to return to your work.

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Atebits is known for their great Tweetie app for the iPhone, and today they released Tweetie for Mac! it just went live for download. Tweetie for Mac has a nice slick interface with a two columns: The thin pane on the left shows the Twitter Avatar with tabs for Timeline, Replies, Messages and search. The pane on the right has a broad view for the Tweets.

Besides the beautiful interface, Tweetie offers great features such as one button URL shortening, Tweeting pics and most importantly (for some) support for multiple accounts!

Tweetie is available for $19.95 with the introductory offer of $14.95. However, you can download a fully functional version with Ad-support, just as Twitterific.

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So Google Chrome has been there for a while and captured many users, some even switched from Firefox to Chrome. Chrome has been remarkable where speed and performance is concerned, though there were issues with flash objects open simultaneously in multiple tabs. But, overall it has been doing great!

However, Google Chrome is available for Windows only and a Mac version is awaited. It is said to be released this fall. Mac users are waiting to get their hands on Chrome for Mac. Manu J, a developer has made a stripped-down, basic version of Chrome for Mac. The application does not offer all the features of Chrome, but it works, and it works fast like Chrome.

I downloaded it and tested it out for a while and was impressed, it is really fast and gives the Chrome feel on Mac. There are a few features missing, including Open in new tab, Flash support (YouTube), Deleting bookmarks, etc. but it should be good for some basic surfing and checking out Chrome on your Mac.

Anyways, I’ll get to the point now. Here’s how it looks (Click on the screenshot for a larger preview):

And here’s the link to the Download! - Download Now