screensaver
Latest
It's the beginning of the end for Microsoft Paint (update)
Windows' Fall Creators Update will add a pack of new features to the platform, but it could also mark the beginning of the end for MS Paint. Microsoft has revealed in a list of removed and deprecated features that it will stop actively developing the iconic application. No more future updates or new features for the painting program it launched with its operating system in 1985. That's usually the first step of killing an app, and a Windows update down the line could remove it altogether.
Google Trends is now, finally, a screen saver
The flying toasters and infinite space your sleeping computer's been living with are being retired. No, After Dark isn't being resurrected and, well, does Windows even come with a screen saver built-in anymore? It's Google, and specifically the Trends section of Google, that's leading the bleeding edge of screen saver tech: Mac users can now download a Trends-driven screen saver that...yep, it culls trending Google topics and pushes them to your screensaver. It's quite pretty! Head over here to grab it for yourself.
HAL 9000 wants to be your Mac screensaver
Remember the iconic HAL 9000 computer from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey? We all wanted our own HAL, even though he pretty thoroughly crashed in the movie: "Open the pod bay doors, HAL." The folks at the HAL Project have been involved with simulating the look of HAL for years. Their first project was an animated desktop back in 1999. The screensaver version of the HAL GUI has been around for years, but it's recently had a major update to provide smooth animation and really authentic simulations of the HAL screens. The screensaver is free, but there is a US$5 version that eliminates the splash screen and has eight HAL screens with the HAL unit in the middle. To be honest, I prefer the free version because it fills the full screen of my Mac, but I donated the five bucks for the paid version because I appreciate what the HAL Project is doing. It's a striking screensaver, and really looks just like the HAL screens from the movie. Kudos. 2001: A Space Odyssey director Stanley Kubrick would be proud. The HAL screensaver has just been updated to work on Mavericks, and you can get it at the HAL Project website. Look around a little bit to see what they are doing, and enjoy this tribute to one of the great movies of all time.
Send Instagram to Dropbox for a cool Apple TV screen saver
Just recently, I posted about the Instacube, a Kickstarter project that allows you to more easily show off your great (or at least well-filtered) photography work on Instagram. But it turns out you don't need a whole cube to do that. With the proper tweaking of IFTTT (a tool we at TUAW also love), you can set up Instagram images to display on your Apple TV's screensaver, making for a fun party trick or just a cool way to show off the pictures you've been taking. All you need to do is save your Instagram pictures to Dropbox, and then share that folder out to the Apple TV, and boom, instant streaming screensaver. There are a few hitches, unfortunately, and the biggest one is that your Apple TV won't automatically pull in new images, so you'll have to sync folders after you add (or remove) any images yourself to see new pictures. If you want to pull in pictures from more than one Instagram user, you'll also have to set up multiple IFTTT recipes, one for each user you want to watch. But the good news is that you can pull in from any other photo feeds as well -- maybe a better solution, to show off pictures from a party, for example, would be to use a Flickr tag so that anyone can post to it. At any rate, it's cool idea for sure. IFTTT is a really powerful tool, and hookups like this can really give your Apple devices to some new and interesting uses. [via MacStories]
Living Earth HD brings the iOS favorite to your Mac desktop
Living Earth for iOS was always a cool app, with a beautifully rendered pic of the earth with current cloud patterns and weather conditions on top of it. It even made our best of 2011 apps list. Now Living Earth HD has made it to OS X app store, and is selling for US $4.99, a 50% off limited introductory price. Like its iOS counterpart, Living Earth gives you a world clock, weather, and extended forecasts for cities you specify, all within easy reach from your menu bar. In addition, you can have that live view of the earth as your desktop, and it will update in real time. The app also supports screensaver mode, and it will make an animated flip from city to city to set you see the weather there. The app supports the Retina display as well. Living Earth works as expected and looks great. The earth was very detailed, even on my 30" Cinema Display. The app has some competitors, including EarthDesk, also available at the Mac App Store for $14.99. The EarthDesk app has similar features, but lets you control the background image, and the opacity of the cloud display. Living Earth makes a wonderful and dynamic desktop. Even if you don't use it that way, you get a very nice weather app on your menu bar, and a nifty screensaver if you want one. %Gallery-163173%
Magic Window time-lapse desktop adds scenes, we look behind the curtain
I've looked at Magic Window a couple of times, first for the iPad and then in its OS X incarnation. The Mac version of the app has been updated today and now includes a total of 60 stunning scenes to spruce up your desktop or to use as a screensaver. The app is also on sale for $2.99 to celebrate the release of Mountain Lion. On the iPad or any iOS device Magic Window provides pretty time lapse images, but because of multitasking limitations in iOS you can't do anything else while the images display. On a Mac, you get a screensaver, or as I like to use it, as an ever-changing desktop background. You can display sunsets or sunrises over cities, or natural landscapes, all displayed in gradual time-lapse fashion. Having an app like this has always made me wonder what is behind it technically, so I put the question to Josh Michaels who developed Magic Window. Creating the time-lapse photos is quite a project. The scenes are captured with a Canon 5D Mark II camera (a pair of cameras, actually, so there is a backup). An intervalometer controls the time lapse parameters. Josh and his crew carry a tripod, ten batteries, 4 lenses and 2 TB of portable storage. Each image in the series is 21.1 MP and is processed using Lightroom, then with Final Cut plus some custom plug-ins and tools. Each setup takes 1-4 hours to shoot, and there are the inevitable issues with weather or someone walking in front of the camera. Josh says they have even been busted by security while shooting. It's especially rough in Las Vegas, he says, because casino operators just don't trust cameras, especially on tripods, and most especially when they are in one place for a long time. Magic Window is a very nice way to add some beauty to your desktop that subtly changes as your day moves on. The app is on sale for US $2.99 through the Mac App Store. An update to the iPhone and iPad versions will be out about the time iOS 6 is released. Check the gallery for some behind the scenes shots of the images being created. %Gallery-161491% #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Found: Apple sneaks in a very cool Apple TV 2 screensaver
Apple is sometimes known for adding little features and not giving them much notice. A case in point is the recent 4.4 update for the Apple TV 2. Noodling around the other night, I noticed a new screensaver called Photo Wall. I selected it, and the Apple TV put my photos in a variety of frames, some with mattes, that slid slowly across the screen from left to right. It was sort of like walking in an art museum. This wasn't the only surprise. At a certain point, the Apple TV did a cool little 3D move that looked like I was going around a corner and more photos appeared. It's a nice way to display your favorite photos, and had I not stumbled on it, I would never know it was there. Apple also added 2 more screensavers, one called Flip-up, the other is called Shifting Tiles. I think Photo Wall is the best of the new ones, but you may have your own thoughts. If you have an Apple TV 2, be sure to check these out, and let us know what you think. There is no easy way to capture a screen from a TV, but I used my trusty iPhone and have some examples in the gallery. %Gallery-138554%
Hellgate open beta to begin June 30th [Updated]
Hellgate's closed beta has been going on since the beginning of this month, but now it's almost time to kick open the doors and blast some monsters in open beta. T3FUN announced today that the freshly rebooted Hellgate will be entering open beta in six days on June 30th. Strap up your armor and choose your weapons and get ready to jump into the seedy supernatural underbelly of the world of Hellgate. Just make sure you come prepared by checking out our previous coverage of the game! [Update: The official announcement has been released, and it contains news of a few new features for the game. Duel Areas will be included for players who wish to take part in some team-based PvP combat, while those with a PvE inclination can test their mettle with the Cow Room (surely an homage to Diablo II's infamous Cow Level), where players face off against wave after wave of zombies in hopes of netting some rare loot. For the full press release, hit the official site.]
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Lightning!
Stormy weather, as long as we're not talking hurricanes or tornadoes, can be quite beautiful from a safe vantage point. Whether it's flashes of lightning dancing across the sky, or the rumbling claps of thunder that accompany them, there's something majestic about electrical storms. Lightning! attempts to capture that visceral beauty. The app is simple, simulating the flashes of fork-and-sheet lightning to give you the sensation of seeing lightning through a window. If you've got your Mac hooked up to a large screen monitor or a TV, the effect is truly beautiful. The storm intensity can be adjusted to your liking, from "intense" through "natural" and "calm." Lightning! will also showcase freeze frames, allowing you more than the glimpse you'd get in real life. A screen saver is included with your purchase, but must be downloaded separately from an "install screensaver" menu option. For those worried about resources, Lightning! used less than 10 percent of CPU time on a 2011 MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, there's no option for audio effects to go along with the on-screen flashes for either the screensaver or the standard app. In other words, no rumbling thunder. But I've never been a fan of screensavers with sound tracks, so that's fine with me. If you're a storm lover, and want something with a bit of a zap for a screensaver, then Lightning! is available from the Mac App Store for US$0.99.
Club Nintendo offers Dragon Quest IX screensaver, Mario towels
Club Nintendo has introduced two more choices for your fun-money shopping. Another 10-Coin screensaver is available, this time featuring Dragon Quest IX artwork against a backdrop of the world map. If you're less prone to screen burn-in and more prone to spill your drink, you may be more interested in the other new item: the set of three Mario towels originally released in Japan last July. Of course, given that each towel goes for 350 Coins, you'd probably be better off reaching for the paper towels, instead of ordering one of these and then waiting several weeks for it to arrive. We don't want to imagine the horror of actually cleaning with one of these. They're too ... collectible!
New Club Nintendo rewards will hold your old Club Nintendo rewards
Nintendo has added three lovely new items to the North American Club Nintendo catalog. The "cheapest" of the trio is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 screensaver for ten coins. It's the second Club Nintendo screensaver to be released -- a Mario 25th anniversary version is also available for the same price. Moving up, for 250 Coins, you can score a canvas tote bag with colorful polka dots and a Super Mushroom silkscreen. And for 550 Coins, there's the black messenger bag, featuring a Super Star design. Based on the options, we suspect a lot of people are going to show up at E3 with the same messenger bag next year. That'll be embarrassing.%Gallery-106508% [Thanks, Dogs of the AMS]
Club Nintendo celebrates Super Mario Bros.' 25th anniversary -- with pins
Sure, we may not have the special Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary Wii or DSi XL, or the Super Mario All-Stars re-release, but Europe and Japan don't have these pins -- or this screensaver. The newest items in the Club Nintendo shop are these four commemorative Mario pins, each shipping in early November for a steep 450 Coins -- which means you can go ahead and forget about collecting them all. On the other end of the price scale is a new Mario screensaver, featuring footage from games throughout the series, which you can download for 10 Coins. Compared to the pins, it's a bargain! But it's also a screensaver.
AppWall screensaver brings the App Wall to your Mac
Even though I haven't actually seen it in person, I've been a big fan of Apple's App Wall at WWDC every year; they've hooked up a bunch of servers and Mac pros in order to create an animated set of App Store icons that shows real-time purchases in a very visual way. Now, I can have a little piece of the App Wall on my Mac at home; a Polish developer named iApp has created an AppWall screensaver that's now available for a free download. We got in touch with App's Peter Tuszynski who confirmed that, while it doesn't work exactly like the official App Wall (it won't show you real-time purchases), the screensaver really does pull icons from top free or top paid apps by way of an option choice, and then it displays those icons on an ever-changing screensaver display. It's very cool. I downloaded it on my MacBook, and while the saver does take a little while to load up (it has to pull in all of those icons every time it starts up), it's a reasonable facsimile of Apple's official display. And you don't even have to buy tickets to San Francisco to see it! The screensaver is available for free right now. If the site's being hammered, just give it some time to recover from the traffic. There are also icons on the site that hint that Apple will bring this to the iPhone and iPad "soon," so we'll stay tuned and see what they've got planned.
World of WarCrafts: WoW art for your computer
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. If you spend a lot of time at your computer -- and what WoW devotee doesn't? -- you've probably got a soft spot for game-related wallpapers. This week, we've got trio of computer art we bet will have you booting up to a whole new look. World of Wallpapers has been putting out simple yet stunning WoW wallpapers for some time now. The problem isn't finding one you like; the problem is picking a single favorite for your desktop. (Personally, I'm planning to solve that problem with a slideshow screensaver of my top picks.) Go wide with these panoramic views of the wide world -- literally -- of Azeroth. Creator Cybear has been hard at work creating panoramic views of areas that will be changing come Cataclysm. (As of this writing, he had yet to settle on a final host for the files; please be patient should the bandwidth be temporarily exceeded. They're worth checking back for!) While we're on the subject of artwork, if you use Firefox as your web browser, head over to GetPersonas.com and check out the growing collection of WoW personas, which add artwork to your web browser's borders and function areas. We'd been waiting to mention these until more were available, but a tip from reader Akussa (thanks!) showed that the selection is coming along nicely. World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit WoW-inspired creations.
WebSaver turns web content into a screensaver, free promotion right now
Sandwich Lab sent along word of their app WebSaver, which allows you to create a custom screensaver out of any web content you want. Once you install the screensaver, you can then go into the options and add URLs (like your Twitter feed, a Facebook page, or anything really -- you can make the front page of TUAW pop up as your screensaver), and then choose durations for each of them to show, from just a few seconds up to much longer. And you can control the brightness of the webpages, as well as disable Javascript or Flash as you want. You can even add web-based content like Vimeo videos or a webcam feed. It's surprisingly powerful and very easy to use. It's free for a limited time, too -- they've got a Twitter promotion going on, so if you RT their message, you can pick up a free copy to try. There's also a trial version to check out as well that limits you to just four different sources, but in the full version you can cycle through to as many as you want, and even calibrate the view so you can get it just right. If you're looking for a screensaver that's a little more functional for your Mac, WebSaver may be it.
World of WarCrafts: A WoW-inspired grab bag of creativity
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. It's catch-up day at World of WarCrafts! We have all sorts of little goodies to pass along that have been piling up in the submissions box. So tuck in and get comfy with this snuggly little fellow from Serthida of US Bloodhoof, the crafter who brought us last year's plush moonkin. Don't worry, he won't drain your mana ... or your creativity. %Gallery-84780% More from the World of WarCrafts, after the break.
Four free Christmas screen savers to get your Mac in the holiday spirit
I love this time of year. I love the lights and the snow and the holiday cookies. I also love getting my Mac in the festive spirit. From widgets to desktop pictures to icons, there are countless ways to dress your Mac for Christmas. Here are four festive screen savers. Best of all, they're free. Jubilee by Idle Time Software displays Christmas or Hannukah lights like you'd see them if you were rocketing through your neighborhood in a Ferrari. There are four color schemes, including a beautiful blue and white Hanukkah theme. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 + (including Snow Leopard) and the Flash plugin. XMas Tree by Joe Hillman is an interesting 3D screen saver that decorates your desktop with textured ornaments. It's strangely hypnotic as the screen rotates around a beautifully generated 3D tree while Christmas music plays in the background. Mac OS X 10.5 + (including Snow Leopard). Silver Snow Clock is a simple little saver that shows an ornate pocket watch ticking the time away as the holidays pass us by. This gets a mention as one of my favorites because of the 3D snow that gently drizzles down the screen. Mac OS X 10.5 + (including Snow Leopard). Last but not least is everyone's favorite, Snowfall by Russel Warnebolt. We first reported on this almost three years ago, but it still deserves top marks. Contrary to popular belief, this screen saver was never used in Apple's retail stores (that one was, sadly, Apple-internal only). Since updating to 10.6.2, Snowfall experiences slight jitters. According to the dev: 'This appears to be a newly introduced bug in Quartz Composer on 10.6.2 that causes very poor frame rate. On 10.6 and 10.6.1 things are as usual, at least on my machines. Unfortunately this may require a fix from Apple.' Nonetheless, it's still the most beautiful Christmas screen saver I've ever seen. Mac OS X 10.4 + (including Snow Leopard).
Friday Favorite: Dasher
Another Friday Favorite, our weekly opportunity to gush over one of our favorite apps. This week I'm going with an oldie but goodie that I use every day. Way back when Dashboard first appeared, my biggest problem with it was that I simply forgot about it. My main use of Dashboard is for displaying information that I want to remember, e.g. appointments with iCal Events, iCal ToDos with DoBeDo, the weather, etc. However, for this to be really useful it needs to be in front of my face a lot. And since I generally tend to forget to invoke Dashboard on my own this pretty much fails. Enter the basic preference pane app Dasher, which does one simple, but amazingly useful thing: it automatically invokes the Dashboard after a set period of time. Everytime I step away from my Mac and return, the Dashboard is displayed with my appointments, etc. so that now they're in my face enough for me to remember them and Dashboard finally works for me. Dasher is a free download from Splasm Software. It's an old piece of software that has not been updated in quite some time, but it still works fine on my 10.5.7 machine. Incidentally, there's another way to accomplish something similar using an OS X screen-saver. DashSaver (donation requested) from High Earth Orbit installs as a standard screen saver and will also display the Dashboard after a set period of time.
Mac 101: Locking your Mac with a hotkey, like you can with Windows
One of the things that confused me the most when I switched to the Mac platform was the fact that there's no built-in way to lock the computer manually with a hotkey when walking away from it. This is something that was drilled into me from working in an office full of pranksters where leaving your computer unlocked was virtually a guarantee that you would be hosting a party for all of your co-workers that coming weekend. It turns out that this is an oversight in Mac OS X, and a 3rd party utility is required to be able to lock your computer with a hotkey. For a simple solution I would suggest installing a very basic preferences pane called LockTight. LockTight does exactly what you're looking for: assign a specific hotkey that when pressed will lock your Mac, requiring a password to unlock it if you have it configured to require a password to wake from sleep or screen saver (which you should). Update: Reader Chad reminds us that if you actually want your machine to go to sleep with a keystroke (as opposed to simply locking the screen) you can use the Option-Cmd-Eject key combo. [via Lifehacker]
Mac 101: SizzlingKeys - control iTunes with keyboard shortcuts
Controlling your music while you're working (or playing) on your computer should be virtually seamless. While these days it's almost impossible to buy a keyboard without media keys built-in, there are many users that either don't have media controlling keys on their keyboards, or would simply prefer to keep their hands on the actual keys. While iTunes is not capable of assigning hotkeys on its own, there are a number of iTunes controller applications on the market that can add this functionality. In my opinion SizzlingKeys deserves to be at the top of the list of iTunes controller apps for its simplicity, reliability, and extra features. SizzlingKeys installs as a preferences pane, and has a very intuitive interface that allows you to choose which functions to enable, and what the hotkeys should be for those functions. The list of things you can control with hotkeys is fairly comprehensive: Play / Pause Previous / Next Track Volume Down / Up Mute / Almost Mute Show / Hide iTunes, Playlists, Search Set song rating Show floater (song information) In addition SizzlingKeys offers some non-iTunes "extras" that you can control: Sleep computer Lock computer Activate screen saver The standard version of SizzlingKeys is free, but there is also a Pro version for $5 that includes the ability to skip forwards and back by a customized interval, the ability to toggle shuffle and repeat modes, and the ability to control the system volume.
