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Action Launcher's custom Android interface gets quick-access home screen and KitKat tweaks
Action Launcher's capabilities have grown considerably since we saw it last. For starters, the Android launcher's new Quickpage does for the home screen what Quickdrawer did for the app drawer, and gives speedy access to a custom home screen card with a swipe. The other major new addition is a feature called 1-Swipe that gives you access to both Quickdrawer and Quickpage with, you guessed it, one brush of your finger. Simply swipe to the left or the right to layer the Quickpage or Quickdrawer cards, respectively, over any another app you're using. Developer Chris Lacy says you can use this alongside other launchers, too. The news doesn't stop there because version 2.0 also adds KitKat-specific tweaks like its new-look folders and translucent status and nav bars. If you want to try the app out before parting with $2 -- its temporary 50 percent off sale price -- there's a free version (missing a few features, naturally) waiting in the Play store for you.
Perfect World Entertainment explains more about Arc
Perfect World Entertainment is pulling its games together in a big way. The company's new Arc platform is meant to integrate all of its various titles, from Star Trek Online to Neverwinter to Perfect World International, under a single launcher and a more unified scheme. A new development update explains more about what this will mean for players of these titles and offers a rough idea of when these changes will begin rolling out. First and foremost in many players' minds, the new launcher will not be made mandatory just yet, although a new version of all the various game websites will be launching before the year's end. The change is also creating a new and streamlined format for buying Zen for each game, along with a new set of game guides to help new players understand what they're getting into. For more details on these changes as well as the new profile system, take a look at the full update, and keep your eyes peeled for our interview with PWE on these changes from Terilynn Shull.
Quicksilver appears to be coming back from the dead
Let's take a moment to appreciate the mouse, the marvel of engineering that made computing accessible to the general public. But, if you've ever watched an expert systems administrator rocket through tasks using nothing but the command line and a keyboard, you know the mouse isn't the world's most efficient way to unleash the power of your Mac. Many of us here at TUAW are devoted fans of the keyboard shortcut super utility Quicksilver. After wandering the wilds of the open source kingdom with mixed results, Quicksilver appears to have been adopted by a small team of developers who released a proper update to the app over the weekend. Originally developed by a shadowy software wizard with the handle "Alcor," Quicksilver lost its only parent to a serious case of got-hired-by-Google-itis in 2007. Before becoming completely inundated with "real work," Nicholas "Alcor" Jitkoff released Quicksilver to the open source community where its development splintered and stagnated. Some of us at TUAW, discouraged by performance issues and compatibility problems with newer versions of Mac OS X, lost hope in Quicksilver and began experimenting with alternatives. Others continued to recommend the free utility, which lets users quickly launch apps, move files, compose email messages and, with a little practice, quickly accomplish a broad range of tasks with nothing but a few key strokes. Now, a team of developers at qsapp.com, who say "Quicksilver is like carrying a light-saber and throwing robots across the room with your mind," aims to unify all of the utility's fragmented open source builds, plug-ins and support groups. The team's latest build, Quicksilver version ß59, addresses a handful of known issues while running the tool on Snow Leopard. Above all, it offers hope for the Quicksilver faithful that someone out there wishes to take ownership of this powerful utility. Mac users can download Quicksilver for free at qsapp.com. [via Minimal Mac]
LaunchBar 5 beta available now
File launchers -- programs that make it easy to launch applications or utilities from a few clicks on the keyboard -- are increasingly common Mac utilities. Although I don't personally use a separate launch utility (I use OS X's Spotlight), others here at TUAW have expressed their devotion to Quicksilver in the past. TUAW readers and bloggers have also expressed their love for Objective Development's LaunchBar. The company is furthering development of that application, and has recently announced the release of the beta version of LaunchBar 5. This version of LaunchBar boasts a number of improvements, including a new application icon designed by Bonsai Studio, which is known for designing themes for RealMac Software's RapidWeaver. Some of the featured improvements to LaunchBar 5 include: • Clipboard: A clipboard history has been added, as well as adding items onto the clipboard without overwriting what is already on there. • Quick Look and iCal support • An improved calculator based on the Unix 'bc' tool, with the ability to be assigned to a keyboard shortcut. • LaunchBar is now scriptable via AppleScript. • Firefox 3 support, German localization, automatic software, and more. LaunchBar 5 is not available for purchase yet, but you can download and enjoy and the beta until January 15, 2009. Single seat licenses will be available for € 24 (around $30), € 39 (around $50) and upgrades from previous versions will be available starting at € 9 (around $11). A license key for those who want to try out LaunchBar 4 during this beta period is also available. You need to be running OS X 10.4 or higher to use LaunchBar 5. [via Macworld]
Put TUAW on your iPhone or iPod touch home page
If you want to run lots of Apps on your 1.1.1 iPhone or iPod touch but don't want to install SummerBoard, you can download this SpringBoard patcher that provides you with multi-page support. Copy off Springboard, patch it, put it back onto your device and reboot. It's what I'm running on my iPhone and touch right now and it works beautifully. Of course, once you have all that space available to work with, what are you going to do with it? I put together a TUAW webpage launcher using the OpenURL kit I posted about a few weeks ago. Now I just tap to launch TUAW. If you'd like to download your own TUAW launcher, you can grab a copy from the Samples folder in my OpenURL kit. You'll also find instructions there for creating your own website launchers. Over at website "Jon's Thoughts on Everything", you can find a web-based equivalent of OpenURL. I actually found it harder to use. For me, it involved more work than just adding an icon and editing two lines of text but you might enjoy using it.
TUAW Podcast #26: File Launchers
We talk up the file launcher and manipulator Quicksilver quite a bit here at TUAW, but there is a solid batch of similar productivity-enhancing utilities that offer different things for different users. Whether you're looking for a simple utility that lets you launch your applications faster than Spotlight can find them, or you're prepared to step up to vast amounts of power and flexibility with what you find and how you use it, chances are I covered an app in this screencast that will fit the bill for you. From the power of Butler to the simplicity of Namely, I wanted to give you at least some of the basics and a visual on how 5 different launchers work, as well as their pros and cons and how they differ from each other. However, since I am a Quicksilver lover at heart, it is very likely that I missed a key feature or two in these apps, so feel free to highlight your favorite features and what you think new users can truly benefit from in the comments. Also, for anyone interested in what I'm using to create these screencasts, I include a very short blurb at the beginning which highlights a few of the tools I use to record the screencast and create some of the effects I use.This time around I've decided to try something different, and I've created two versions of the screencast. In our podcast feed is an iPod-friendly version of the podcast that's 640 x 400, 17 minute and 40 MB - that's the one you can get by subscribing to our iTunes Store podcast feed or our direct TUAW podcast feed. I've also created an HD version for those who want something with a little more detail (sorry, we don't have an RSS feed for HD podcasts yet; this is a new thing so we'll see how it goes). That one will look better on larger displays and should play mighty fine on the Apple TV.To make sure we're all on the same page and that you can run out and grab demos of these launchers, here is a list of links to all the apps I mention in the screencast, including the ones I use to create and record it:Launchers Quicksilver - donationware LaunchBar - commercial: $19.95 Butler - donationware Overflow - commercial: $14.95 Namely - donationware Screencast recording Desktopple Pro - hiding the desktop icons, custom wallpaper and more (which we've mentioned before) Mouseposé - spotlight effects, keystroke overlays (which I didn't use in this specific screencast) and other presentation highlighting tools (mentioned here) iShowU - excellent and customizable app for recording screencasts (mentioned a couple times here) I hope you enjoy the screencast, and please feel free to leave feedback to let me know how I'm doing with producing these. If you prefer HD podcasts that look better on screen and can play on an Apple TV (instead of 640 px wide podcasts which are the max an iPod can handle), definitely let me know that too.
