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Android Notifier sends notifications to your desktop
If you've ever used Android for any period of time, you know that the notification system can be both a blessing and a curse -- it's one of the most powerful, useful, and flexible approaches out there, but if you don't keep up, your menu bar can stack up into a mess of cryptic numbered icons. So we were really hoping Android Notifier could help us with that -- it pipes notifications to your OS X desktop over WiFi or Bluetooth. (Linux support is coming soon, and the project is looking for a Windows volunteer.) While it works as described -- we had it up and running with Growl on our iMac in just a few moments -- it's also unfortunately a little limited: only phone, SMS, MMS, and voicemail notifications are sent, and clearing them on the computer doesn't clear them on the phone, which sort of misses the point. We can't knock it too hard, since it's free, it works, and we're sure the developers will extend it soon enough, but until then our quest for the perfect continuous client... continues.
Two Growl styles worth a serious look
Designer/Developer Christopher Lobay has been hard at work making some excellent Styles for the system notification app, Growl. Growl displays temporary, floating notification windows above your desktop to let you know about things like new messages, completed downloads, changes in Skype availability, etc. Many applications have Growl support built in, so if you're not using it already, you should check it out. Once you do, you'll want to customize the way it looks, and that's where Christopher, among legions of others, comes in. Published a while back, the first Growl style I want to highlight is "Basics." Basics provides a very minimalist black background on which it animates the icon of the application responsible for the notification. If you, like me, have grown all too accustomed to notifications popping up around your desktop, this little bit of animation (just a slide across the bar) can make the popups much more eye-catching, without being distracting. It is, as its name implies, basic, but has an air of class not always seen in Growl styles. Second -- and brand new right now -- is "Mono." This latest one is even more subdued, with a very nice bezel and it's the text that animates rather than the icon. This has much the same eye-attracting effect but is even less distracting. It's some great work by Christopher, and definitely worth a peek if you're using Growl. Both styles are available for free, so go get 'em!
Giving or getting a Mac for the holidays? 10 apps every new Mac user needs
All new Macs come with great bundled software. Between the iLife suite, Safari, iTunes, and TextEdit, plus the ability to access and use cloud applications for free, almost all of the most basic modern computing needs get met for most users. That said, having used four different Macs over the past seven years, there are several applications that don't come with OS X that I find myself immediately loading onto a new Mac. Most of these are big-name apps that you've probably already heard of, but it's still pretty amazing how much extra functionality you can eke out of a Mac with only ten additional programs, and all of them (save the last one) are free. Whether you're buying a new Mac for a relative this holiday season or getting a new one for yourself, these are ten applications you should download as soon as that shiny new machine loads the desktop for the first time.
Growl at 1.2, with 64-bit support
Ever since upgrading to Snow Leopard, the one remaining 32-bit niggle I have has been with Growl's preference pane. Today, however,* Growl has released v1.2 of its famous application notification system with, among other things, 64-bit support. While most of the updates in 1.2 are "behind the scenes," the biggest user-facing improvement is in the upgrade to 64-bit. What this means is that for Snow Leopard users, selecting the Growl preference pane does not require Preferences.app to re-launch in 32-bit compatibility mode. In addition to the Growl preference pane, GrowlMail and GrowlSafari have been updated to 64-bit and are now Snow Leopard compatible. Further, the Growl framework has been re-written in Cocoa dropping support for the Carbon-based API. You can see the full list of changes over at Growl's version history page. Growl users should have received a notification to download the update. Alternatively, you can head over to Growl's homepage and click "download" to get your ticket to the notification express. *Several readers have pointed out that version 1.2, while the current version, wasn't released today but in fact has been out for several weeks. Our apologies.
Notify keeps an eye on your Gmail inbox
I, like many people, am constantly checking my email. No matter where I am, I'm either getting messages pushed to my iPhone or Mail is checking for new ones every minute. A new app is promising to make using Gmail and checking for messages much, much easier. Notify, a new free application by Vibealicious Apps, puts a small button in your menubar of your Mac that keeps track of unread messages. The app, which was released less than 24 hours ago has already received over 3200 downloads and is quickly making a name for itself. Notify's developers consider it "like a menubar app, but better" explaining that the application boasts a much better user interface and much more functionality than traditionally found in menubar apps and buttons. The application has a lot of cool features including: Support for multiple accounts Tabbed interface Growl integration Sleek, simple UI The developer promises that Notify will continue to evolve, adding that the next major release of the app will support any IMAP email client as opposed to just Gmail. They're also working on support for Google Apps, in-app replies and the ability to create and send new messages directly from your menubar. The app is also promised to be "freeware forever", according to the developer's twitter. Some shots of Notify in action: %Gallery-70736%
Concentrate promises to help you get work done
It's crunch time and that big project has to get done. Next thing you know, you're on your favorite website, tinkering with Garageband or tweeting up a storm. We've all been there, but Roobasoft's Concentrate for the Mac is here to help! Concentrate is designed to help you "work and study more productively by eliminating distractions." The simple application offers a number of options to help you get down to business. With it you can: Quit applications that distract you such as games or web browsers. Run applications, and only the ones you need for your task. Open websites you need to use for work. Block websites that you know will distract you (ahem, Facebook) In addition to helping keep you on task by eliminating distractions, Concentrate takes it a step further to help keep you on the right track. Record spoken messages that help to keep you going. Play sounds to let you know how far you've gone. Alter your iChat/Skype status to keep friends from bugging you. The application supports Growl notifications and easily allows you to incorporate scripts to control almost anything. Additionally, you can customize different setups for different tasks. For example, I can set up a "Study" task that will block social networking sites and keep me on task with spoken messages while having another task called "Design" that keeps me working within applications like Photoshop or Dreamweaver. Concentrate sports an elegant interface and an intuitive system to set times and tasks. The developer promises that he has "big plans [for] a few updates to make it even better". Roobasoft offers a 60-hour free trial and the full applications sells for $29 with a money-back guarantee if you're not happy.
Push Growl notifications to iPhone with Prowl
If you've seen a string of notifications pop up on your screen and then gracefully fade away, you've probably seen Growl; it's the open source & popular system-wide framework that allows applications to let you know when something happens. For instance, a Growl notification might appear to inform you of a newly-arrived email, new mentions on Twitter, a change of song in iTunes, or a download completing in Safari or Transmission. The notification itself is a customizable pop-up that can also include an auditory notification as well. Growl is very flexible; it allows you to choose exactly which events trigger a notice, or pick a particular notification style for a specific event. Growl includes support for hundreds of OS X applications and is one of the first items I install on a new system. Probably the only feature that could make Growl even more awesome is if it were to support forwarding notifications to an iPhone or iPod Touch running 3.0 via the new Push framework. Enter iPhone application Prowl (iTunes link), it is a Growl client for the iPhone that sends your Mac's Growl notifications out to your iPhone. Read on for my experiences and thoughts on the first Growl application for the iPhone.
Shifting Perspectives: A brief history of time
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, we plagiarize from Stephen Hawking, jack a WABAC Machine, and begin a joyride through the evolution of the Druid class.Dear Blizzard,There are too many bosses to write about in Ulduar. I find this vexing. Please eliminate 5. Sincerely,Sleepless in SilithusSalutations, Druids. As is probably obvious, we're going to take a detour out of Ulduar class strategy this week, because I'm going to shoot myself if I have to write about another boss I haven't been able to smack around since the PTR. We'll be back for Freya, Thorim, and assorted vaguely Norse-sounding entitites wishing to destroy the world for some unspecified reason but they drop phat lewtz so who cares next week.Anyway, one of the things that's fascinated me about the Druid class since Burning Crusade is the growth in its popularity. Historically we have never been among the more commonly-played classes, and for a wide swathe of classic WoW and BC, were actually the least-played class or within the bottom 3. While there are various reasons for this (and I could devote a column to how this probably happened), Druids became more popular as time went on, and an increasing number of people began to play the class without knowing just how far it's come. A little time spent reading through Wowwiki's list of the game's patches makes for interesting reading. A little more than 5 years ago, Druids could Feign Death, the Feral 31-point talent was Improved Pounce, and Moonkin form wasn't even in a gleam in a designer's eye.
Shifting Perspectives: Patch 3.0.8 for Druids
Every Tuesday, or sometimes Friday when the writer's internet has gone AWOL between Sunday evening and Thursday afternoon, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week we take a look at the upcoming patch 3.0.8. while penning an angry letter to our ISP.Greetings, folks. Patch 3.0.8 is coming, bringing a few significant changes for the Druid class. Feral attack power is disappearing from the game entirely alongside bonus armor contribution from non-leather items. Restoration is receiving a nerf in the form of a 6-second cooldown to Wild Growth but is otherwise getting some buffs. Balance is also getting a few buffs, including one that will make a big difference to PvP combat versus Rogues and Hunters. But I think, dear readers, we are overlooking the most important part of patch 3.0.8:Fixed a bug with a Wild Mustard plant that was under the ground in Dalaran. Oh, thank God. That drove me nuts.(Really).(I'd also love to see them do something about the underground Tiger Lily spawn in Sholazar).(It's just south of River's Heart).(Really annoying).(Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?).
Shifting Perspectives: So. Um, do bears suck?
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week we shelve the column we originally intended to run due to a rather pressing matter.OK, folks. I have a confession to make. This week's Shifting Perspectives was originally meant to be a full guide to gearing your Restoration Druid at 80, and I'm still going to post that, either this week or next. A lot of people have (correctly, I think) observed that this column has historically paid more attention to Feral than to Restoration or Balance, and it's my aim to balance (har!) that out a bit. Part of it is just that the people who play Druids on staff here at WoW Insider are usually feral, and part of it is that -- at least as of the last numbers we had on it -- most people playing Druids are also feral. I confess I would love to see the demographics on Druids post-Wrath, because I get the sense that Balance in particular has become markedly more popular.But the Resto post is going to have to wait a few days, not least because my eyes are swimming from so much Wowhead. We found out today that Swipe's threat is getting a significant buff, but over the course of reading the pertinent forum thread and some back-channel discussion here, I ran across a few things concerning bear tanking that really made me sit up after the hell of tanking last night's heroic Old Kingdom and go, "Wait. It's not just me?"Personally whenever I encounter serious problems in a dungeon I tend to chalk it up to the fact that I suck. I find this to be an efficient and typically accurate means of pinpointing the source of an issue. However, my fellow Druids, our problems may actually be more wide-ranging than that.
The great hunter nerf of 2008
I quote Ghostcrawler: "Hunters of all specs, and particularly Beastmaster, are doing too much damage in PvE."At this point you can stop reading if you're a Hunter and just assume the worst. But if you want to see how you're getting nerfed to the ground, read on.The rationale behind the changes is that Blizzard has been doing a lot of internal testing, along with the beta of WotLK, and has determined the other classes have not been able to keep up with the Hunter DPS output.The list of nerfs is wide ranging. Volley nerfed by 30%. Steady Shot now gains 10% of Attack Power instead of 20%. Kindred Spirits has been nerfed by 25%. Readiness no longer affects the cooldown of Bestial Wrath.The list of changes is not exhaustive. Ghostcrawler makes a point to say that these are just the ones they feel are ready for testing. He hopes to see them up on the PTR before they go live.The full 14 point list of changes after the break.
Scattered Shots: Wrath of the Hunter
Welcome to Scattered Shots, where Daniel Whitcomb is totally making plans to walk with rhythm so that he can attract the worm.So with Wrath less than a week away, we got our work cut out for us, so to speak. Luckily, 3.0's early release has given us time to learn to handle our pets and respec to take advantage of new talents, but now the big push is upon, as 10 levels and a whole slew of new zones opens up for us. When you step off the boat or zeppelin in Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, where will you go? What will you do? Here's a few quick Hunter specific tips to getting started in the Wrath of the Lich King.
Scattered Shots: Autocast bugs and other animal handling issues in 3.0.2
Welcome to Scattered Shots, where Daniel Whitcomb loves his Hunter Judgement, but wishes he got the cool looking shoulders too. So between 3.0.2, the Scourge Invasion, and Hallow's End, my Hunter's seen a lot of play as I've been going after the title and the undead armor and playing with all the new changes on a live server and all, and in that time, I've had some chance to see how stuff works out when it's thrown into the crucible of live server playing. Most of my observations have ended up focusing around pets, which is probably to be expected. After all, they've changed quite a bit. Here's what's I've learned from 3.0.2 in the last few weeks about managing your pet:
The little mod that could
I'm not the world's most sophisticated interface tinkerer. In comparison to people like Taeo, my UI looks like it was a low-bid government contract job by Oog & Sons. I'll grant that Taeo's UI probably isn't a fair comparison anyway (I maintain that it's hands-down the most beautiful UI we've ever run on Reader UI of the Week), but the point still stands. I download mods I need. After reading Addon Spotlight and getting curious, I often download mods I don't need. I get them up and running while trying to navigate an oft-bewildering number of options. If they're movable, they're irritably shoved around the screen depending on the job I'm doing in a raid or just ignored entirely (e.g. Decursive while tanking). Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Where'd my screen go? Man, it's a cruel world out there for the lazy. But every so often you find offbeat but amazingly helpful mods that just work, and best of all, work unobtrusively without having to be diddled with every day or between characters and specs. For my part, I am completely ready to nominate OptiTaunt for whatever Total Slacker's Mod prize might exist. It's a tiny mod for tanks that tells your group, raid, and the player you're trying to taunt off of when a taunt is resisted or when the target is immune. It can also announce when you've had to blow mega-cooldown abilities like Challenging Roar, Shield Wall, and Frenzied Regeneration. Best of all, it whispers cute class-specific messages to the player who's pulled aggro (e.g. for Priests: "Warning! My Growl was resisted! Time for a final prayer!"). And you don't need to spend time worrying about settings between characters or specs as the mod will simply never activate on a toon that won't have to (or can't) taunt anything. I love Titan, Cartographer is amazingly helpful, and we all depend on things like Omen, but OptiTaunt still wins the proverbial desert island contest for me. Sean could probably name dozen of mods like it off the top of his head, but I find any mod announcing a thinly-disguised version of "YOU'RE ALL SCREWED NOW!" pretty tough to beat. With that said, I'm trying to level some taunt-free classes to 70 before Wrath hits, so I'm on the lookout. Any suggestions for, say, a Shaman?
Scattered Shots: Beastmastery in Wrath of the Lich King
Scattered Shots is for Hunters. Your host this week will be Daniel Whitcomb, who will continue his foray into the wide world of Wrath of the Lich King talents. Beastmastery has pretty much dominated the world of Hunters in Burning Crusade, with Serpent's Swiftness alone nearly singlehandedly allowing for the most efficient damaging shot rotations possible -- With a little bit of wrangling between haste and ranged weapon speed, of course. While the changes to Auto Shot clipping in Wrath will likely make shot rotations as we know them a thing of the past, Beastmastery is still looking to be a very viable tree in Wrath of the Lich King, thanks to some clever synergies and some amazing pet buffs.
Hunter pet aggro may be fixed in Wrath
The story of Hunter pets and aggro in Burning Crusade, especially since patch 2.4.2 or so, has been a very stormy one. Even deep Beastmastery Hunters have had to learn to kite, as pet aggro grows worse and worse. Growl in 2.4.2 was supposed to scale, but almost every Hunter that tested it said it didn't, despite Hortus' insistence that it did. Luckily, it looks like there may finally be some real relief coming in Wrath of the Lich King.
Wrath Beta Patch Notes: Hunter
By now, I am sure you've heard that the Wrath of the Lich King Beta is going live and the patch notes are up. There's a rather extensive section devoted to Hunters on this iteration. We have a few more insights into the pet talent trees that were announced at the Worldwide Invitational, as well as a few changes to existing talents and a nice Steady Shot buff.
Growl updated to 1.1.4, fixes "Install Failed" message in Leopard
It was only a couple weeks ago that Growl version 1.1.3 was released, but as some commenters noted on the 1.1.3 post, there was a bug that caused some the inability to install Growl under Leopard. Well, the Growl team has heard your cries and issued an update to Growl that hopes to solve the problem. Some of the bug fixes include: "Install Failed" message on Leopard is now fixed Fixed the problem of Growl thinking it was 1.1.2 even after installing 1.1.3 Fixed Growl updater to stop showing updates after you've already installed them Growl Safari actually works now You can see all of the improvements before installing by visiting the Growl Version History page. You can also download the new update by visiting Growl's homepage. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Adium releases new beta version, now even more psychic
Adium has a sweet new beta version available this morning. If you don't automatically see 1.3b2 when you check for updates, then make sure you've enabled "Update to beta versions when available" under the General tab in the Preference pane.Several new features have been added, including: Enhanced psychic abilities -- it opens a chat window as soon as a contact begins typing a message Filtered search in the Contact list Apple Address Book integration (access under Advanced tab in Preferences) Integration with Facebook chat (enable in the Accounts tab under Preferences) The latest Growl and libpurple updates Additional information (such as "Last Seen" and Apple Address Book notes) added to the Contact Inspector Fixed issues include the linkification of enclosed URLs, a memory inefficiency, and a pesky tendency for closed chats to suddenly reappear. All told, there are more than 150 improvements and enhancements to Adium, one of the hardest working chat apps out there.
Growl hits 1.1.3
The best-in-class notification framework for Mac OS X, Growl, just got updated to version 1.1.3. One of the most missed features of Growl was GrowlMail, which allows Growl to issue incoming notifications from Mail.app -- Apple disabled this feature in the Mac OS X 10.5.2 release. However, the Growl team has re-written GrowlMail to work with Mail.app and 10.5.3. Some of the other updates include: GrowlSafari now works with Safari 3.0 and later GrowlTunes doesn't show ratings from iTunes unless the song has a rating above 0 GrowlTunes is now localized in German Memory leaks fixed in WebKit display You are now able to see notifications on every space in Spaces in Leopard You can see the full list of updates / additions on the Growl version history page. You can also download this update by going to the Growl website and clicking "Download." Growl is, of course, free and open-source.Thanks, Peter!
