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iOS 7: Searching for apps and info with Spotlight (video tutorials)
In previous versions of iOS, Spotlight -- Apple's search utility -- has always been available by going to the first home screen, then swiping right. In iOS 7, Spotlight is now available on every home screen. Here are two short videos to show you how to use Spotlight in iOS 7, and also how to change the order of search results. To access Spotlight, simply swipe down on your home screen. Some sites have been mentioning that you need to be in the top row of apps or folders before beginning the swipe -- that's untrue, as you can be anywhere on the screen to begin the swipe. Here's the video (which can be resized to full screen, by the way): Once you've swiped, Spotlight quickly fades into view. Type in your search phrase, and Spotlight provides a list of all eligible apps, contacts, music, podcasts, mail, events, messages, videos, audiobooks, notes, voice memos and reminders that contain the search phrase and are stored on your device. I like to use Spotlight as an app launcher, so I wasn't initially happy to find that applications were showing up in the search results after contacts. A quick look at Settings > General > Spotlight Search revealed a way to order the search results so that applications were first in the list -- you just tap on the "hamburger" (three horizontal lines) next to the search item, and drag the item up or down on the list. Individual items can also be unchecked with a tap to remove them from the Spotlight search results.
Shortcat: Spotlight for your screen
It comes as little surprise that OS X supports many flavors of user interaction, nor that certain users gravitate towards certain input styles. For example, there are trackpad wizards who beckon with careful gestures and there are mouse users who prefer to point with their cursor. And then there are keyboard fiends, those like myself, who live and die by our home position. If you're a keyboard-based user like me, every physical movement that draws your hands away from the keyboard is a loss in efficiency, a break in concentration. We are the arrow movers, the shortcut makers, the Spotlight addicts. And it is us that the Shortcat app targets. Currently in public beta, the app offers a new take on keyboard-based interaction. Instead of launching Spotlight (Command-Space), you launch Shortcat (Command-Shift-Space). Enter a few letters and Shortcat searches the frontmost app for matching text. This solution is brilliant for apps and websites that don't support keyboard shortcuts. I've now used it to prepare TUAW posts in Safari, to navigate between chat rooms in Colloquy and to jump to messages in Mail. This is still a beta and I did encounter beta issues. At times, Shortcat would go into endless-spinny-progress mode, ignoring me until I quit and relaunched the app. Also, I quickly discovered that Shortcat doesn't walk through menus, only windows, although for many purposes that's perfectly sufficient to my needs. Even so, this is a really promising app and one that I'm already seeing could become a big part of my daily work routine.
Weekend Poll: Retina MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro has always represented the best of business computing. With its powerful processors, superb screen sizes, and now Retina display, it's the belle of Apple's showroom. The MBP with Retina display has had a rougher time of things, however, than the standard-issue debutante. Screen ghosting, heat problems, battery deficiencies, and UI lags, this past year has been anything but magical for Apple's flagship business product. What are your thoughts on the rMBP? Best thing Apple has ever made? Or a problematic product with growing pains? Join in this poll and then share your comments explaining your thoughts. %Poll-81613%
Defiance video spotlights mutants
Those planning on picking up Defiance and spending some time in this war-torn world come spring should be prepared for the horrors that they'll face. This is why Trion Worlds has delivered a new video highlighting one of the enemy races of the game, the mutants. The mutants used to be human soldiers, but have since been transformed into raging, muscular monstrosities. These creatures retain their former training and -- more importantly -- their weapons. While powerful, the mutants aren't invincible and can be taken down with a little aggressive persuasion. Check out the short mutant spotlight video after the jump!
League of Legends spotlights Vi, gets spotlighted by hacker
Do you solve all of your problems via punching? Do you think that the core problem in your life isn't that you try to punch your way through problems but that you aren't punching hard enough? If so, the latest champion spotlighted by League of Legends might be right up your alley. As spotlighted in the video just past the break, Vi is a champion devoted solely to finding punch-related solutions to problems, with a variety of tricks for enduring damage, closing range, and generally punching her way through trouble. Unfortunately for both Vi and Riot Games, less-punchable trouble may be on the horizon for the game. The unidentified hacker who recently broke into Heroes of Newerth has made statements indicating that League of Legends may be his next target, although how much of this is a genuine threat and how much is bravado remains to be seen. While this new video might inspire you to punch around a bit more in LoL, you may want to decouple any personal information from your account first.
Unclutter offers digital pockets for your OS X miscellany
I have really mixed feelings about Unclutter for OS X (US$2.99). On the one hand, it's a pretty cool idea. The app offers a pull-out "drawer" on your desktop that lets you store files, make notes, and view your clipboard. On the other, parts of the app are unintuitive to use and could stand some design improvements to enhance the user experience. To begin with, I struggled to get the app to respond until I realized that you could not just click and drag from the top of the screen. I needed to use the scroll wheel to entice the application window to appear. Once I mastered that, opening the app became an easy process. The window consists of three embedded panels, each of which you can pull out and let float on your desktop. When pulling out each window, the other items resize to accommodate. When you close them (incidentally Command-W does not work, you have to click on the close X buttons), they return to the pocket window. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would extract the component panels and I'm a little surprised the developer even offers this feature, but there you have it. You cannot, however, push normal Finder windows into the pocket (I tried).T With Unclutter, you can: Preview the contents of your clipboard (left) Store files into a central folder for easy access (middle) Make notes (right) The idea is that the app gives you this instant availability without taking up space on your desktop. In practice, the three sections feel disjointed, consisting of one strong utility (the file drawer) and two rather weak ones (the Notes and Clipboard preview). I wonder why they were merged together into a single app. The Clipboard preview does exactly what it says on the label. It shows whatever items you've copied to the system pasteboard. If you copy a picture, it shows the picture. If you copy text, the text. It does not, however, reflect any styling hints you've copied (all text is shown in the same common font) and if you copy multiple images, it just lists them. I was hard pressed to find a compelling reason why the developer included this feature, but it's there. As for the Notes section, the built-in OS X Notes app does a far better job and is accessible with just a few keystrokes (Command-Space, Notes, return). OS X Notes offers tabs, sharing, and search, none of which are part of the Unclutter interface. I'm guessing the developer hoped to provide a single quick "to do" central scribbling area and it does work for quick reference. I'm just thinking that, again, it's a superfluous feature that should have been trimmed, with the app focusing on file access. The strongest portion of the app is that file storage, offering a pull-out drawer with a quick file reference. For those who wish to keep their desktop clean, this is the best of the Unclutter uncluttering tools. You can drag your files in, and access them by opening the pocket window. It's a pity then that the other two utilities take up so much of that pocket space. As is, most people will struggle to put more than a half dozen to a dozen reference items in, even users with large screen real estate. The app offers no option to disable the notes or clipboard viewer, and if you drag them out of the pocket, they're stuck on your desktop, doing the opposite of uncluttering. Adding files to the pocket was another task I struggled with. And unlike the opening and closing of the pocket, one that came with no hints or instructions. In the end, I figured out two ways to add files. First, you can drag the file panel out to your finder and add items by drag and drop. But far easier (and discovered much later), I found you could just drag files to the menu bar (this opens the pocket window) and then pull back down below the menu bar to drop them into the file panel. When you copy items to the panel, they're stored in a rather obscure folder in your personal library, specifically: ~/Library/Containers/com.softwareambience.Unclutter/Data/Library/Application Support/Unclutter/FileStorage. This is part of the OS X sandboxing system. In testing, I created a test RTF file with an easy-to-distinguish name ("snickerdoodle") and added it to my drawer. I then allowed Spotlight to update indexing. When I attempted to search for it with Spotlight, it could not be found. This would not be as much of an issue if Unclutter created aliases and left the files in-place, but since the actual file moves into the FileStorage folder, its unfortunate location may cause side effects like this. Dragging the folder back to the desktop, immediately restored its entry in the Spotlight search. As utilities go, I think Unclutter has a pretty cool basic idea -- the pocket drawer that can be accessed with a simple mouse combination. I'm just unhappy with some of the implementation details on what is otherwise a promising concept.
ArenaNet celebrates concept artists, sheds light on WvW queues [Updated]
One of ArenaNet's main selling points for Guild Wars 2 is the game's art direction. In recognition of that, the studio has begun a series of weekly interviews, which kicked off with a chat with Concept Artist Team Lead Jamie Ro. After getting her start in Auckland, New Zealand, Ro worked on developing a new style of art once she got to the States. She's pleased to be on a team with "some of the most talented people in the industry" whose "support and friendly competition" keep her motivated, and she believes that the diversity of artists and art styles represented in the concept art department is a real strength of the team. Head on over to the official interview to see all of what she has to say. In other Guild Wars 2 news, Mike Ferguson has been busy updating players about World vs World queue numbers. About 30% of Guild Wars 2 players queued up for WvW on the day that his data was taken, and about 3% of the players who were queued up didn't get in during that time. Ferguson says that the team is "looking at a number of short term and long term solutions" to help get more people playing and fewer people queuing. There are a lot of charts to be seen, so take a gander at the NA and EU server posts to see what's up. [Update: The team also plans to limit world transfers to one per 24 hours in an attempt to limit WvW exploits.]
Concept video shows a better Spotlight for iOS
Designer Cody Sanfilippo put together this concept video of how Spotlight on iOS could work, and it's quite impressive. The current implementation of Spotlight for iOS (accessed by swiping left on your iOS device's homescreen) is fairly useless; while the search is very thorough, the list of items you get is not very helpful, and you generally end up seaching through the list almost as long as it would have taken you to just go find whatever you're looking for in your actual iPhone. But Sanfilippo's concept wisely separates the found items out into a filtered window, and then crams as much information about each found item as possible there. There's even a solid bit of functionality: You can not only access apps and other information directly from Sanfilippo's Spotlight screen, but do things like install apps or send tweets out from the same screen. Unfortunately for Sanfilippo, I don't think Apple is as interested in building out Spotlight in this way as it is in building out, say, Siri. Lots of these functions are already accessible in Apple's voice assistant and more are coming all the time. Plus, Siri provides a nicely patentable "black box" implementation -- users not familiar with all of these various functions don't need to get confused by seeing more info and options than they need. Of course, for those of us who could make use of a setup like this, it seems great. But it seems unlikely that Apple will put this much work into making Spotlight that much more useful, when it has other options to work with already.
Mac 101: Use Spotlight for quick review of Calendar events
Here's a quick way to browse Calendar events (I still want to say "iCal") in the Finder with Spotlight. Simply enter your search keyword into Spotlight. The results are sorted by type, as usual. Move your cursor over a matching Calendar result and a pop-up appears, showing the event's placement in Calendar, as well as other surrounding events from the day. Click any event in this pop-up window to jump right to it in Calendar. Note that this works with iCal in Lion as well as Calendar.app in Mountain Lion. Sorry, Snow Leopard users. To extend your Mac calendaring fun into the menu bar, check out Fantastical or QuickCal.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find Spotlight items in the Finder
Dear Aunt TUAW, There's plenty I like about Lion - but lots of pointless change for the worse. Top of my hate list is that Spotlight no longer gives me the location of the items I'm searching for. Sure, the preview on cursor hover is nifty, but why oh why can't Spotlight give me (for example) the location of a long-lost document that's become embedded in multiple folders, the way it did in Snow Leopard ? Can Aunty help find a solution ? Your loving nephew, Jack, Cheltenham, UK Dear Jack, Use your up and down arrows to navigate through the Spotlight results list. (Do not click on items, that will open them). When the highlight is over the item you want, press Command-Enter. Hugs, Auntie T. p.s. Thanks Uncle Brett
The Soapbox: Game developers are not rock stars
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Take a moment to think of your single favorite game developer. Is this person your favorite because of his talent? Maybe he made a game that influenced you growing up, or he has a charming personality for interviews. Whatever the reason, we probably all have our favorite game developers whom we hold on a pedestal of greatness. But did this one person make the game entirely by himself? Did Sid Meier write every line of code for the Civilization games? Did Richard Garriott draw every texture in Tabula Rasa? No, of course they didn't, but their names are right there on the box, showing ownership. Despite my own fanboy appreciation of certain devs, the title of this article says it all. With a few notable exceptions, those who make our favorite games make up a collective group of talented people who come together under proper leadership and design guidelines to create something that keeps us entertained for hours/weeks/months/years. So why do we pick out one or two and treat them like rock stars?
Mac 101: Six steps for tracking down hard drive space hogs
More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips, tricks and helpful hints for new Mac users and curious veterans. "Your startup disk is almost full." This simple sentence can trigger all the stages of grief: denial ("That can't be right!"), anger ("This is a 500 GB drive!"), bargaining ("If I delete the podcasts, will you let me download the new iOS update?"), depression ("Ugh, this is going to take all day. Am I going to have to replace my hard drive?") and acceptance ("I can fix this!"). Before you rush out to buy a new hard drive, here are six simple (and free) steps that may help you reclaim "lost" hard drive space.
MIT Media Lab gets a multiplicitous new logo (video)
Logos can be surprisingly divisive things, so the MIT Media Lab has decided to cheat a little bit with its new identity: it won't have just one logo, it'll have 40,000. You heard / read / imagined that right, the new Media Lab logo will simply be the concept of three intersecting "spotlights," composed of three colors, straight lines, three black squares, and a few blending gradients. There's an algorithm behind it all, which is used to generate a unique logo for every new member of staff, meaning that although trademark claims may be a headache to enforce, originality will continue thriving in the Lab for a long time to come. Hit the source link to learn more or leap past the break for a nice video rundown.
Apptivate 2.0 adds keystroke sequence shortcuts
There are a plethora of "launcher" apps out there. I've used LaunchBar ($35) since it was released for NeXTStep; other folks seem fond of Alfred (free, with additional powerpack for £12, or about US$20), Butler ($20), Keyboard Maestro ($36) or Google Quick Search Box (free). The venerable but now mostly-dead QuickSilver (cue moment of silence followed by someone yelling out "I'm not dead yet") is being kept alive by a band of merry coders who hope to revive it. Heck, even FastScripts and OS X's own Spotlight can serve as launchers. I come not to replace your favorite launcher, but to supplement it, with an incredibly handy $3 app called Apptivate. Read on for details
New image of Olympus E-PL2 leaks, shows off macro spotlight
We've already seen leaked images of the Olympus E-PL2, the much talked about follow up to the E-PL1. The Micro Four Thirds is expected to boast a new 14-42mm f/3.5 - 5.6 kit lens, a 'direct movie' button, a high-resolution 3-inch display, and an optional Bluetooth model. From the new image above, however, we can see that there will also be an optional 'Medusa' version of the cam with a closeup spotlight for all those insane macro shots you'll undoubtedly be taking. The adjustable LED will also not require an extra battery, so this is one add-on we'll definitely be seriously considering.
Rumor: Scrolling, QuickLook and Spotlight updated for 10.7
Apple's next big event is less than 24 hours away and the rumor mill is still running full force. We've already seen a lot of speculation about the upcoming MacBook Air revision. This latest batch of rumors is about some of the interface changes that we might see for Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion." Macstories.net suggests that scrolling is likely to get a major update in both form and function; likely as not the scroll bars are going to disappear. Presumably, they will be similar to the iOS scroll bars that are only visible when you're using them. This will be a welcome change to the bubbly bars from the Aqua interface which have not changed in a long time.
Mac 101: Keyboard tricks for Finder navigation
You may know that you can expand and collapse Finder folders in a tree view using the left and right arrow keys. But did you know that you can expand or collapse all of the root-level folders at once? It's a cool trick that can save you a lot of time when navigating your Mac's files. With the Finder window focused (click anywhere inside the file view), just type Command-A to select all, then use the left or right arrow to collapse or expand all of the folders simultaneously. Neat, right? You can also expand a folder recursively (expand all of its child folders) by selecting it and holding down the Option key when you click the triangle next to it (or press the right arrow key when the folder is selected). This works in reverse for collapsing, too. You can also drill down into a folder with Command-Down Arrow, and back up to the parent folder with Command-Up Arrow. Now, not to blow your mind or anything, but you can combine two of the tricks above: select all (Command-A), and then hold down the Option key while you hit the right arrow key to expand every folder in the view, and every folder inside of those folders, and every folder inside of those folders.... If your hard drive is anything like mine, you just made a fine mess of your Finder window. Normally, you can quickly jump to files in the list by typing the first few letters of their name, but good luck finding anything quickly when all of your folders are expanded. Reverse the process by selecting all and using Option-Left Arrow to restore sanity. Now, use Command-Space to open Spotlight and enjoy the relief of having the file you were looking for in that folder hierarchy (mess) just appear with a couple of keystrokes!
TUAW's Daily App: Auditorium
Auditorium is that rare kind of game that's a must-play no matter what kind of gamer you are. It's a puzzle game, a music game, and a piece of art at various times. It's out now on the iPhone courtesy of EA (and the main download is absolutely free), but even if you don't want to take up space on your mobile device, just head over to the website and play the Flash demo for a little bit. My guess is that you'll be taken by the beauty and originality, at least enough to pop over to the App Store and download the main game. The idea is that there is a stream of music flowing through each level, and it's your job to use the various widgets you've been given to shape and paint the music into certain spots on the board. As you move through the levels, you'll get more and more adept at sending the flow where you need it to go. Fortunately, the puzzles get harder and harder as you play, creating a great curve of both learning and adjusting your mind enough to find the right solution. The main game is free, and then you can purchase all of the levels in three different packs, at 99 cents each. But even for the whole three bucks, this is quite an experience; it's more than worth the price. Again, if you're doubtful, give the demo a try, and see if you're not convinced to try the whole thing in order to see where it goes.
Apple photoshops iPhone into iPod touch
The careful readers at Engadget have noticed that Apple cut a few corners (so to speak) on its website documentation for the latest iPod touch. There's no ear speaker or phone service on the device, obviously, but nevertheless Apple's iPod touch display units show that the Phone app is still sitting down there in the lower left corner. Searching in Spotlight, according to another screenshot, will bring up the text messaging app, and there's one more little mistake (look in the Travel folder to see if you can spot it). Apple has since updated the images on its website, but it's good to know that not even Apple's copywriters get their hands on the devices before we do. They apparently have to Photoshop it all together, and then preorder and wait for their devices just like us common folk.
Apple spotlights apps ready for iOS 4.0
We already spotlighted a few big apps that have made the jump to iOS 4 (and I'm sure we'll have more coming up soon), but Apple has gone ahead and put a few of its favorites on a page in iTunes for you to browse through as well. There are some excellent games on the list (PopCap didn't waste any time, and Ngmoco has a few, along with both Firemint titles). Art app Brushes and TUAW favorite Dropbox are there too, along with a bevy of other popular titles. This list definitely isn't definitive (iBooks is obviously ready for iOS 4, though it's not on there), but if you want to see what the Retina Display is like or check out multitasking on an app like Pandora, you can do so. One interesting note on what's not on there: Apple hasn't yet updated its official Remote app, and Texas Hold 'Em hasn't been updated since it first came out back on September 1st, 2008. So even Apple isn't worrying about compatibility with all of its apps -- if you have a favorite app that's not updated often, you might be waiting a while to get full functionality with the new OS. [via DF]
