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Slack’s latest changes couldn’t come at a better time
Slack was already a big part of modern work life for many people, but as more companies turn to remote work, it is becoming even more essential. Even if you were using Slack to chat with coworkers in an office before, conducting all of your conversations there could be a big shift. Fortunately, Slack is introducing changes to make its desktop platform easier to use and organize.
Screenshots of redesigned Google Maps surface, show web UI without a sidebar
If you can trust a couple of screenshots posted by the unofficial Google Operating System blog this evening, we'll soon see a new Google Maps experience on the web. As shown above, the sidebar is toast, gone in favor of overlays for the necessary information, a move that more resembles its mobile app, the apps / websites of some of its competitors, and even its own Google Maps Engine view. Also noted as different are elements like the icons and colors, but the most major change could be integration with Google+ to filter search results to locations recommended by your friends. With Google I/O just days away this could be a perfect time for changes to roll out from Mountain View, we hope to know by then if one of our most used websites is getting a fresh coat of paint.
Spotify for iOS gets a much-appreciated interface makeover
Spotify gave its Android app a very overdue interface overhaul last year. The iOS version wasn't in quite as dire straits, but we'd still call today's redesign a long-needed modernization that pulls out some of the clutter. Its 0.6 update mostly brings in useful concepts from the Android version, including the always-on Now Playing strip and the seemingly inescapable navigation sidebar. The update also solves a handful of stand-out flaws, such as reflecting the right track on the lock screen -- about time, really. Listeners will need a Premium subscription for more than just radio, but everyone in Spotify-supported countries can grab the update today.
Bing gives its social sidebar a makeover, makes it easier to find what you're looking for
Even though it was only yesterday that Bing announced it was making some changes to the site's snapshot pane, today Redmond's search engine is coming back with a few additional tweaks. The most noticeable change is the redesigned social sidebar, which maintains its original purpose but trims a lot of the UI's unnecessary fat -- better yet, however, Bing says it'll make it much easier to find folks who are specifically relevant to you, as the improved sidebar bases search results on what friends (and other people) have posted on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and even Foursquare. There's a small chance you won't be able to spot the new social sidebar just yet, but Bing says it should begin showing up "over the next few days."
Google redesigns search to make space for more info, kick the sidebar to the curb
Google loves to tweak its search results whether or not it's something we'd ever notice. Even the most casual of visitors might notice its latest change, though. The Mountain View crew has dropped the sidebar on the desktop in favor of moving everything to drop-down menus up above. It's ostensibly a reflection of the company's tweaks to its mobile page that should scale elegantly through different screen sizes, although a key goal is to fit in richer results: images, the Knowledge Graph and more all have extra room to breathe with the update. Americans tracking down election results will be the first to see the extra-wide view, and they should be followed by everyone else as soon as Google can flick the switch. We'll be content enough knowing that the company isn't spreading sidebars everywhere.
Rdio posts Android beta app with new sidebar UI, unified playback and remote control
Rdio has spent a large part of 2012 revamping its mobile app, and a new beta shows that it's still full of ideas with two months left to go. The 2.3 test version makes the ubiquitous hidden sidebar even more unavoidable than we've seen before, but those not irked by UI homogeneity will be happy to see Rdio gain some multi-device harmony: along with syncing whatever's being played from desktop to mobile and back, the beta introduces a remote control that lets Android gear either serve as the remote or as a target for other devices. A play-later queue persists across devices, too. Although we haven't been given a timeframe for the finished version pushing out through Google Play, there's nothing stopping avid subscribers from taking a slight risk with the beta and getting a taste of their musical future.
Google mobile web revamp brings hidden sidebar, feels all too familiar
Google+ has it. Facebook has it. Even Spotify and Evernote have it. "It" is the hidden sidebar, and that subtle if over-repeated interface has spread to Google's mobile home page. Visit from an iOS or Android device and the front end will resemble the desktop web version, but with a sidebar that exposes Google's services in a more elegant way than the top bar we've had to use before. The redesign isn't showing for everyone as of this writing, so don't be disappointed if Google's new drive towards interface consistency isn't available yet. Just know that there's one less refuge from the trendiest input metaphor of 2012.
Google Docs gets new Research tool, lets you search without leaving your work
Google has already brought a pile of new fonts and templates to Google Docs this month, and it's now back with another fairly big new feature. Open a document today and you'll find a new Research tool on the side of your page (which can be toggled on and off), offering the ability to search for any topic and get results without having to leave the document you're working on. Those results can include images, quotes and other basic information that's delivered right in the sidebar -- and, of course, the usual search results that you can open in a new tab or window if you want to dive deeper on a subject. Hit the source link below for all the details on how to use the new tool, or simply fire up a new document to try it out for yourself.
Bing gets big remake with Snapshot, social sidebar, dig at Google (video)
Microsoft's determination to ratchet up the search engine wars just got clearer with a major rethink of Bing that includes a few potshots at Google. While the search results themselves are still prominent, there's now a Snapshot area in the middle that aggregates the common tasks linked to your search, such as booking a hotel room. Bing hasn't avoided the siren's call of putting social networking into search results, putting in both search hits as well as the option of asking friends, but has tucked the results into a social sidebar at the far right. Not surprisingly, Microsoft has already declared it a far better alternative to Google+ in-line results, which it sees "cluttering your results with social updates." You'll currently have to use a desktop web browser to see all the new Bingness, although Microsoft is promising a mobile-friendly update within weeks.
Google updates Gmail's 'people widget,' now includes previous images
When it comes to an ideal conduit for minor announcements, Google's found a home on its very own social network. And this time, it's telling the world about a small update to the people widget -- that bar currently occupying real estate on the right-hand side of gmail.com. Along with showing the pertinent contact information from an email chain's participants, the peep widge will now reveal the last three images sent to you by the displayed contacts. As one might expect, clicking on the pics will whisk you to its associated email, and provide a little extra context to that candid, landscape or Lolcat you're staring at. Not the most exciting of additions, we'll admit, but a little extra functionality never hurts. Right?
Three ways to change Lion's Finder window sidebar
It took me a little while, but I finally last weekend updated to Lion, and so far ... I think I like it. I kind of miss my old Spaces feature, and I did turn off reverse scrolling right away, but it does seem to run better than Snow Leopard, and Mission Control is pretty sweet. Another thing I'm not a huge fan of, however, is the new Finder sidebar -- it's pretty bland, and not quite as clear or useful as the one in Snow Leopard. Fortunately, that's pretty easy to fix, and ZDnet has a few good ways to do it. This SIMBL plugin will put a little color back in those icons, if you like, and you can do a little plist tweaking in Lion to switch around the order of the various devices and sources listed on the side of the screen. Finally, if you're ending up with aliases in the Finder sidebar that lose the source they're originally alias'ed from, you can drag-and-CMD-drop them to erase them once and for all. Apple of course makes all of these changes with good intentions, and maybe there are good reasons to do things like drain all the color out of the interface (maybe it allows you to focus more on the important stuff: your files in the other window). But for those of us who like the old ways best, it's good to know we've got options.
Vista sidebar widget available for WoW players
If you're a Vista user, that odd sidebar has suddenly become relevant to your WoW lifestyle. Available for free from the Wndows Live site, WoW Explorer has a host of neat little plugins. The simplest of these features include the ability to put your realm on the Explorer skin -- you'll instantly be able to see if your realm is up or down, or what its population is like right now. You can also select your Explorer's theme, size, and toggle its docking behavior.The Explorer's neatest feature, however, is the search functionality. The plugin lives on your Vista sidebar, which gives you instant search from your desktop. You can choose which popular site is the Explorer's default (such as your intrepid WoW Insider or maybe Wowhead), and the results instantly return in a flyout window. I ran several different searches, such as looking for Dual Specs or some different fat loot, and found the widget to be incredibly fast and responsive.You can't beat the price at "free." Since I'm one of the masses who had previously stared at the sidebar wondering if the dang thing would have any use, it's nice to see something WoW-related live over my local weather widget.
TUAW Hands On: iTunes 8
Released today, iTunes 8 is the most recent and advanced iteration of Apple's media management and playback software. iTunes 8 includes a new Genius recommendation engine, new visualizers, a new grid view, and new terms and conditions. The Genius engine recommends other songs you might enjoy, based on a song you've selected in iTunes. If you have a diverse range of music, iTunes does a pretty good job of finding the "mood" of your selected song, and generating a playlist of songs that fit with that mood. Plus, it kicks off the playlist with the song you selected. When you first use the Genius system, you must agree to its terms and conditions, and then it gathers information about the songs in your iTunes library. This took about three minutes on my 2.8GHz Intel iMac and my 2,100-song library. It then sends that information to Apple and builds a profile based on your likes and dislikes. You can then use the Genius Sidebar, which appears to the right of your playlist.
Notice some ch-ch-changes at Wii Fanboy?
Who loves you, baby? We do, of course! That's why we strive, each and every day, to provide you with all of the Wii news and community content we (hope) you crave. And, we're one step closer to achieving that goal we sacrifice so much sleep on chasing, thanks to the handy little tables on the right sidebar there. We're talking about the Events Calendar and Hot Topics section.What are they? Well, we would hope the titles make them pretty obvious, but we'll try to explain them as best as we can. The Events Calendar is something that will be home to all of the hot upcoming events, including games, shows and anything we feel you fine folk need to know about in advance. There, you'll find links that direct you to various topics on the site. Hopefully it'll make your time here a bit easier.Second, we have the Hot Topics section. This area is where all of the most popular posts will go. Sure, we have areas where the topics that get the most comments are listed, but that isn't the same here. These are stories that are being read by the most amount of people, our most popular pages. So, if you're looking for the day's hot stories and don't want to skim down the whole page, just check out the box here.We would just like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for checking out Wii Fanboy. We try our best to make sure we have the most up-to-date content and informed Nintendo-loving community on the net. With your help, we'll keep working every day to attain that goal. Thanks for reading!
New features, new columns, same old DS Fanboy!
You may have noticed a new feature here at DS Fanboy -- the super useful box in the sidebar listing upcoming releases and recent feature articles. We hope this will help guide you in navigating right to the content you need, when you need it, but please bear with us over the next few weeks while we test out different ways of packing information inside. If we muck something up, we'll try to fix it as soon as possible! Remember that you can always use our comment form to send us in suggestions (and also, virtual cookies).We also debuted a new column today - Kaes Delgrego's "Bury the Shovelware" -- and over the next few weeks, we plan on trotting out even more original content and columns you won't find anywhere else (as well as all our E3 coverage!). Be kind to our new columnists as they transition into their roles on the DS Fanboy team. Of course, by "be kind," we clearly mean make fun of them in the comments and talk about their mothers. That's just how we roll. We may also be rescheduling some regular features to different days, but we'll keep you posted on that. Thanks for sticking with us over the years! We're happy to have you here, and we're trying to give you a nicer place to hang out. Hope you like it!
How to put WoW Insider on your Windows Vista Sidebar
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.About Windows Vista Love it or hate it, eventually you'll probably end up using it. One of the neat features of Vista is the Sidebar, which is a place where you can put widgets that do different things, like tell the time, show what your EVE Online character is training, or tell you what the weather is like outside. How to add WoW Insider to your Windows Vista's Sidebar. 1. Right click on your Sidebar and choose "Add Gadgets..." 2. This will open up the gadgets window. Double click the "Feed Headlines" gadget. 3. Close the gadgets window. 4. You'll now see the new gadget added at the top of your sidebar. 5. Open up Microsoft Internet Explorer and go to http://wow.joystiq.com/rss.xml 6. Click the "Subscribe to this feed" link. 7. A window will open up. The default settings will be fine. Click the "Subscribe" button. 8. Position your mouse over the feed gadget on your side bar and click the little wrench icon. It'll appear towards the upper right hand side of the gadget. 9. A window like the one above will slide out of the gadget, asking you what feed you want to display. 10. Choose to display "WoW Insider", and set the number of headlines to whatever you want. 11. Click the "Ok" button. 12. You're done! Left click on a feed headline to read the WoW Insider article.
Finder sidebar separators
Here's a nifty idea to add a little organization to your Finder sidebar. Since it does not natively support separators, one fellow decided to hack up a solution by creating some fake applications whose icons are transparent and whose names consist of line characters. You can then drag and drop these on the sidebar to give the desired effect.It's a small thing, but a nice one for keeping your Finder sidebar visually tidy. The package also contains a nifty little AppleScript application that will launch the Terminal at the location of a folder dropped on it.[via Lifehacker]
Love your Finder: A keyboard shortcut for adding items to the sidebar
While the Mac web generally (and justifiably) has quite a few gripes with the long-disregarded Finder, it actually offers quite a few unsung features that make working with your files efficient and fun. The upcoming changes to the Finder in Leopard certainly do look nice, but I think it's about time we set aside our differences with the Finder, if only for a moment, and rekindled our love with its truly pleasant and useful features. Hence an unofficial new TUAW mini-series: Love your Finder (I call it a mini-series because a lot's changing in October when the new Finder finally arrives in Leopard).Take the File > Add to Sidebar (command-T) feature that I forgot all about until listening to Thursday's MacBreak Tech episode. The beauty of the Finder's sidebar is that you can drag anything you want into it, including folders (including those from networked volumes like an iDisk), files and even applications. Your customized sidebar is then available in every Open and Save dialog throughout Mac OS X, making it a great spot to quickly place and remove projects you're working on, apps you need for a short time and important folders in which you need to often save or retrieve things.The sidebar gets even cooler, however, if you can wiggle that keyboard shortcut to your workflow. Got a file you need to remember later today? Cmd-T. A pictures folder you use for blogging that's buried deep in your Home folder? Cmd-T. A bunch of applications you're testing out for business or pleasure? Boom - that shortcut makes it easy to turn your Finder sidebar into a pseudo-cork board for all the stuff flying up and down your todo list, since all you have to do to remove an item is click and drag it off the Finder window to get that satisfying 'poof.'Combine this trick with our Mac 101 tip for adding your own items to the Finder's toolbar and you can put together one mean, lean window that can let you browse your files faster than ever before.
Mac DevCenter: palettes or sidebars?
Following a dilemma that Gus Mueller faced when designing the UI for his latest release of VoodooPad 3, Mac DevCenter has posted a request for feedback on this most heated of UI topics: palettes or sidebars? Preferences can easily sway in either direction, and I personally miss the old-school functionality of Mail's pre-Tiger drawer (yay for column widths that don't have to be constantly re-adjusted), though I will concede that the drawer look is old and ugly by today's slick UI standards of palettes and sidebars.But what do you TUAW readers think? Do you prefer palettes, like in Photoshop, OmniOutliner, iWeb and Pages, or do you prefer the sidebar UI of Tiger's Mail, ecto and NetNewsWire's subscriptions panel (though it's interesting to note that NNW also uses a drawer for its site catalog)? Sound off.
Create custom folders with FolderBrander
Here's a good idea. We all know that the Finder will let us put references to folders in both the Dock and Finder window sidebars. However, a row of generic folders in the Dock looks just like that...a row of generic folders. How do you know which is which? If you don't feel like hunting around for the perfect freeware desktop icon that says "2005 tax stuff,", check out FolderBrander.It's a simple utility that lets you quickly add color or text to a folder's icon. The sliders let you position/skew your text so it looks right, and it will even work if you aren't using the default Aqua icons. Now your folders are identifiable at a glance.FolderBrander requires Mac OS 10.3 or later and a single license will cost you $9.95US.
