The hottest DJ scene in town is now in your pocket thanks to Turntable.fm (Free). This long-awaited app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch lets you access the popular social DJ service from just about anywhere, letting you queue up the perfect track for your friends from the back of the train or while you’re on the john — with your device resting a safe distance away, of course
Back in July we covered the release of Photovine for iPhone, an image sharing app developed by Google’s internal Slide team that, among other things, is also responsible for Disco, a group messaging app, and Pool Party. Powered by a slick design and attention to detail, the Photovine app that was released last month didn’t allow everyone to sign up and start sharing photos as the system was invite-only without an open sign-up. With an update pushed last night on the App Store, Photovine has revamped Facebook and Twitter integration from within the app and finally opened registrations without the need of a beta invite.
Unlike the popular photo sharing app and iPhone-based social network Instagram, Photovine doesn’t revolve around the simple concept of photos uploaded to a user stream and shared with followers. Rather, Photovine is based on “vines” — photos connected by a caption and contributed by you, your friends, and other people using Photovine. So, for example, say you’d like to share a photo about your newly acquired MacBook Air, you can start a vine called “My new MacBook” and your friends will be able to let the vine “grow” with new photos related to the caption, and the photo you originally posted. This is best explained by Photovine’s promo video, which we’ve embedded after the break.
Photos in a vine can obviously be liked and commented on, each user has its own dedicated page with a profile picture and followers/following/likes counts, and an Inbox tab in the bottom toolbar allows you to check on messages you’ve received from other users, or notifications such as new followers, comments, and likes. This is not too dissimilar from Instagram’s implementation of “activity”. Users can add new photos to an existing vine (or even “watch” a vine if they’re interested in it) or create a new one from scratch — Photovine comes with a beautiful custom camera interface that lets you snap your own photo, or pick one from the Camera roll. Indeed the whole app sports a gorgeous and clean design that makes it easy to jump through vines, user profiles, and comment on photos shared by others.
Photovine for iPhone is an interesting concept with a good-looking interface and additional social functionalities to forward photos to Twitter and Facebook, and find friends on those social networks as well. You can download Photovine for free on the App Store.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MPIZKPhfDY&feature=player_embedded
posted Aug 3rd 2011 at 11:03PM
Ever misplaced your hard earned MacBook Air or had an entire project vanish at the hands of a dirty thief, only to be gone forever? Well friends, the time is coming soon for the Find My Mac feature to provide a highly sought after sigh of relief, Find My iPhone-style. Apple has released the software into the wild for registered iOS devs, with the only other requirements being OS X Lion and an iCloud subscription. Using WiFi networks to locate your missing appendage via a web browser or iOS device, the location tool offers you a number of anti-theft options — send a threatening message, lock down the machine remotely, or even wipe the machine’s drive clean. Perhaps we will see this security detail launch with iCloud in fall, which was also released in beta form earlier this week.
We’re already living in the future, so why is it we still need silly things like cash and credit cards? Google Wallet (Free) is aiming to get rid of those relics from a bygone era by connecting your credit card — Citi MasterCards or Google Prepaid cards only, to start — with your NFC-capable Android phone to let you pay at any PayPass-capable terminal, and also letting you take advantage of exclusive Google Offers to help you save money at the same time. Next up? The flying car.
Our thanks to Gillette for sponsoring our mobile articles this month.
The Check Engine light: the bane of many a car owner’s existence, who’ve helplessly forked over hundreds of dollars only to find out that there was a $5 sensor that needed replaced. Well, enough of that. The GL1 Vehicle Diagnostic Tool for iPhone ($100) plugs simply and easily into your car’s On Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) port, letting you run an app to find out what your car’s actually up to. As a bonus, it will charge your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch at the same time, although you might look a little dorky with your phone permanently attached to a cord emerging from your dash.
Having honed your newly-found DJ skills on your iPad using Djay, are you ready to take the next step and transfer from the virtual to real life controls? Numark iDJ Live ($100) was made for you. Developed in partnership with Algoriddim, the company behind the aforementioned Djay, the iDJ Live connects to your iPad — or iPhone, or iPod touch — via the Dock Connector, and gives you a pair of real performance platters for cueing and scratching, a central mixing section with a crossfader and plenty of buttons and knobs, and a custom audio cable for connecting to speakers and headphones. True, it’s not technically a “real” DJ setup, but it’s a big step in that direction. [Thanks Uncrate.com]
Gina Trapani —
A few years back you dropped significant cash to switch over from the virus-laden world of Windows to a shiny new Mac, but over time it’s gotten slow and crufty. Let’s clean it up.
Before you get started uninstalling this and deleting that, do yourself a favor: hook up an external drive to your Mac and back everything up with Time Machine or any other free alternative. The last thing you want is for your “clean up” to turn into “holy crap where did all my Documents go.”
Ready? Let’s get started. (PC user? You want this article.)
First things first. If your Mac is acting like a petulant three-year-old, dragging its feet, crossing its arms, and refusing to do what you ask in any reasonable amount of time, it’s time to fire up the Activity Monitor (in Applications > Utilities). Here you’ll see a list of running applications and processes. Sort the columns shown in the screenshot to find out what Apps are hogging the most CPU time (Firefox, in this case), what apps are for Intel or PowerPC (it’s a good idea to use Intel-only apps on Intel Macs), and what apps are running at all. If there are processes running for software you don’t need, note them down. Also, if an app is a runaway CPU and memory hog, quit it and restart for immediate relief.
Whether or not the Activity Monitor is showing processes you don’t recognize, it’s a good idea to audit what programs start up automatically when you log onto your Mac. In System Preferences, Accounts (I know, unintuitive placement), click on the Login Items tab. From there, make sure each and every app listed is something you need and use. If it isn’t? Just select it and click the minus (-) sign. (Rule of thumb: Generally you want to keep things called “SomethingHelper” where Something is an app you use, like iTunes or Growl, as shown.)
Just like your Login Items, you want to cruise through your Applications folder and trash anything you don’t need or use any more. To be clear, this won’t speed up your Mac, but it will reclaim hard drive space.
Before you get to dragging and dropping unneeded applications to the trash, though, it’s a good idea to install a, well, uninstaller program. Strangely Apple still hasn’t shipped a proper uninstaller with Mac OS X, but a few free and pay-for apps will clear out related files when you send an application to the Trash. While the irony of having to install something in order to uninstall something isn’t lost on us, keep in mind: your Mac will be fine if an extra plist file gets left behind by an app you once used.
But, in case you’re a neat freak, you want to check out the likes of AppTrap (free, our review), AppDelete (used to be free, now requires a minimum payment of $5 after a few uses, our review), or AppZapper ($13, our review).
Personally I prefer Hazel, which will set you back $22 for a license—however, in addition to clearing away application files on uninstall, Hazel can make your Mac self-cleaning, too, which makes it worth the cost.
Now it’s time to make sure your disks are in tip-top shape, and luckily, you can do this without any extra software. Simply run Disk Utility (in Applications > Utilities) to verify and repair disk permissions (which determine what apps can do what with what files on your Mac) and verify and repair the disk itself. These operations take some time, and you can’t do them while other applications are running, so set ‘em in motion before you head out to lunch or to grab coffee.
To run some more hardcore and detailed maintenance tasks, download the free OnyX (our review). While OnyX does lots of fun Mac customization (see the Parameters tab for that stuff), you want the Maintenance and Cleaning tabs. There you can do things like manually run your Mac’s daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts (which don’t on their own if you shut down your Mac at night), and clear out log files and system caches. You can also fix system application-specific issues, by rebuilding Spotlight’s or Mail’s index, if those apps are acting particularly wonky.
While you’re on a cleaning spree, figure out exactly what’s taking up all that space on your Mac with a visual tool that maps what’s what. Disk Inventory X (free, our review), is your best bet in this area: it creates what’s called a “tree map” of your hard drive usage that will unearth things like 10 gigabytes of video files you just don’t need any more.To get down to the unneeded-megabyte level, Macworld has some detailed advice for where to find redundant system files and Dashboard widgets. You can also reclaim space taken up by unneeded language files using the free Monolingual (our review).
If you’ve got a Mac notebook and you’re having trouble with your battery, a few troubleshooting techniques might help. First, to get the longest life out of your battery, calibrate it to make sure your life-o-meter is giving you the right readings.
If your Mac’s battery is cutting out before issuing the “You’re running out of power” warning, you want to reset the SMC or PMU, which cleared up that very problem on my MacBook.
Finally, some problems can be resolved by resetting your Mac’s PRAM and NVRAM—but this is generally a last-resort just-short-of-the-Genius-Bar troubleshooting technique for that inexplicable problem your Mac’s having.
This should go without saying, but the more memory your Mac has, the snappier it will be. If you’re thinking about an upgrade and you’ve got a MacBook, check out Adam’s guide to adding RAM to your Mac.
Also, it’s generally a good idea to stay up-to-date with OS X patches and versions—and normally Software Update runs on its own and does just that. (Note: Yesterday the 10.5.7 update came out, and while I had no problems with it, Gizmodo reports that some people are having issues. As always, back up your stuff continuously to avoid disaster.)
Got any tales of victory or defeat when it comes to cleaning up and speeding up your Mac? Tell ‘em in the comments.
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker’s founding editor, has a MacBook pro that’s a bit snappier today than it was yesterday. Her weekly feature, Smarterware, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Smarterware tag feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
Jason Fitzpatrick —
Public declarations and diatribes have their place, but sometimes you need a private space for your thoughts, dreams, and ramblings. Whether you crave a digital or analog tool, you’ll find it in this Hive Five.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite journaling tool. We’ve tallied the nominations and now we’re back to share the top five journaling tools. This week’s Hive Five is a mix of online and off, digital and analog, and a rather interesting sample of how Lifehacker readers like to record their thoughts for future reflection and posterity.
Many a person has started journaling by simply opening up the default word processor on their computer and setting to work. Microsoft Word is a fixture on hundreds of thousands of personal computers, and many Lifehacker readers found it more than adequate for their journaling endeavors. On top of creating documents in a commonly used format, most of us use Word at work and at home and are already quite familiar with the interface, formatting, and shortcuts. Being comfortable with your journaling tool of choice goes a long way towards encouraging you keep at it.
Long before people were pecking out their missives on typewriters, let alone keyboards, they were quietly scribbling them onto paper. In an age of instant sharing and easy digitization, many of you showed a strong affinity for recording your most private moments with the solidly analog and difficult to share medium: pen and paper. For many Lifehacker readers there is no substitute for the privacy and ease of use that comes with keeping an old fashioned paper-based journal. Among the variations of the pen and paper motif you submitted, readers showed a distinct passion for high-quality pens and Moleskine notebooks. Rich paper and smooth flowing ink is apparently the icing on the cake of analog journaling. Photo by MShades.
Designed as a sophisticated note taking tool, Microsoft OneNote can easily do double duty as a journaling tool. If you like to drop photos, music, and other media into your journal entries, the file integration of OneNote makes such journal keeping tricks a cinch. The app can also easily link together your journal entries by text links and tags. OneNote’s Windows mobile client and hand-writing recognition make it easy to record your thoughts during the day and dump them into your journal when you return home. If you’re unfamiliar with OneNote, our review of OneNote 2007 is worth a peek.
Evernote is a wildly popular application for capturing and organizing all manner of information thanks to its trifecta of desktop application, web-based interface, and mobile client. For many readers, it makes sense to simply work their daily reflections into the tool they already have at their fingertips. If you’re using Evernote as your personal journal, you can leverage the text recognition and tagging to make your journal entries available and easily search friendly. If you’ve avoided journaling because you consider it antiquated and hardly something a busy modern person takes the time for, Evernote makes it easy to write when you have the time, since it’s almost always with you thanks to a web and mobile phone presence. The free account can easily handle basic journaling, but if you find yourself needing more storage or use of the multimedia functions, there is a $5 a month premium account.
While blogging is usually intended for a larger audience, many of you used blogging software to maintain a personal journal. Among the blogging tools used, WordPress was a clear favorite thanks to its ease of use, ability to keep entires completely private, and a free-as-in-beer price tag. Using blog software as your journal tool has several benefits: You can log into your journal from anywhere, tag your entries, use text and calendar-based search, and take advantage of WordPress’s vast extensibility to customize and tweak your journal to include all the tools and information you desire. WordPress will run on your own web server (including your personal home web server), or you can sign up at WordPress.com for a basic account.
Now that you’ve had a chance to check out how your fellow readers journal, it’s time to cast your vote to determine who will be quill-wielding king of the self reflection castle.
If you’re aghast that your favorite method of journaling—cuneiform tablets anyone?—didn’t make the Hive Five, or you’ve just got a great journaling tip burning a hole in your pocket, share your thoughts in the comments below.
Packing in a whopping 250 new features, Mac OS X Lion ($30) looks to be a worthy upgrade to Apple’s awesome operating system. Available in July as a download from the Mac app Store, it’ll bring new features including iOS-style full screen apps, new Multi-Touch gestures, Mission Control and Launchpad (new things for seeing all your apps at once and for finding and launching apps quicker), a redesigned Mail app, Auto Save for everything, and AirDrop (easy file sharing).
[Nice write up Uncrate.com]
iPhoto is a good thing. Pre-installed on every new computer cranked out by Cupertino, millions of Mac users have come to rely upon the application’s user-friendly functionality to collect, edit and share their photos, as these are all tasks that iPhoto does very well.
That said, I think we can agree that the software flounders in a sea of fail when it comes to finding and deleting duplicate photos that–by way of editing or import–have found their way into your photo collection. Sure, you could root through your iPhoto collection and delete each and everyone of the duplicates you stumble across manually, but if you’re anything like us, you’ve got so many photos crammed into your Mac that the thought of doing is daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, there’s a far easier way to rid your iPhoto collection of those darned duplicates.
Yep, it’s just that easy. This is a Monday morning how-to, and as such, no black magic of quantum physics are involved. Bratoo Propaganda Software‘s Duplicate Annihilator is a one stop shop of a plug-in that will bring almost instant sanity to your iPhoto collection. In fact, depending on the size of your iPhoto gallery, it could very well take you longer to type the developer’s name than it does for Duplicate Annihilatorto track down and destroy all of your photographic duplicates.
Once the program’s .DMG file is safely nestled away in your download folder, open it and drag the Duplicate Annihilator to the Application Folder shortcut built into the installation window.
Locate the program in your Applications folder and open it. For your efforts, you’ll be rewarded with a bare bones user interface that will let you get right down to business. By default, the interface opens to a tab named Find duplicates, which is good, because that’s what this tutorial is all about.
Make sure that the options on this tab are set to move duplicates to trash–which will ensure that the program cloisters off your duplicates to the Trash folder–and Classic mode: a setting that forces the program to abide by your choices you make in the applications other tabs.
Speaking of which, click on the tab marked Preferences. Make sure that the options “MD5 checksum” and “Set duplicates’ comments to duplicate” are selected. Doing so will ensure that Duplicate Annihilator will spot the duplicates in your iPhoto collection based upon their content, and mark any suspected duplicates as–you guessed it–duplicate.
Return to the Find duplicates tab and click “Find and annihilate duplicates”. If you downloaded the free version of the application, it will scan a maximum of 500 images in your iPhoto gallery. Let the application do its thing.
While you wait for your duplicates to be hunted out, be sure not to open up iPhoto for any reason. Doing so could at worst, damage your library and at least mess with Duplicate Annihilator’s cleaning of said library.Once the program has completed its work, it will inform you of how many duplicates it found. As soon as you recieve that message, you can open up iPhoto and finish cleaning up your library.
Open up your Mac’s Trash folder. You’ll find that Duplicate Annihilator has moved all of the image files it believes to be duplicates there. You can choose to either chuck them out or, alternately, send them back to iPhoto if you want to keep it. We’re sure that you’ll agree that the trial edition of Duplicate Annihilator makes locating and nuking duplicates in your iPhoto gallery so easy that it’s easy to justfy paying $7.99 to score the full version.
Follow this article’s author, Seamus Bellamy on Twitter
