lion

How to set a due date for Mountain Lion Reminders

Apple's new Reminders application in Mountain Lion can be used to make a quick to-do list for various projects. One feature in previous implementations of reminders in iCal was a due date option where you could set when a specific task was to be completed. While this option is a bit redundant with the new notification options in the Reminders application, it can be implemented for tasks if needed.

When you create a reminder in the Reminders application, you can double-click it, select it and press Command-I, or click the "i" character to the right of the … Read more

Get Pixelmator 2.1 image-editing app (Mac) for $15

Pixelmator was already one of the great deals in Mac software, offering Photoshop-style image editing at a fraction of the price.

Now it's even better: for a limited time, you can get Pixelmator 2.1 for just $14.99. It normally sells for $59.

Actually, it's been $14.99 since June, but the just-released version 2.1 adds a wealth of new features -- including Mountain Lion support -- while keeping that tantalizing price.

For those unfamiliar with it, Pixelmator offers advanced image editing via a Photoshop-like interface. Said CNET's Jason Parker in his review of an earlier version: … Read more

Fifteen tips and tricks for OS X Mountain Lion you need to know

Whether you have been using Apple's latest operating system for the Mac, OS X Mountain Lion, for a while now, or you are just installing it, you'll benefit from reading through some of the tips below. Some of them are ways to improve on the overall experience, while others will bring back past functionality. Let's get started, shall we?

Preparing your Mac When upgrading the operating system, no matter your platform of choice, it's always a great idea to not go into it blindly. Be prepared, and more importantly, make sure you computer is prepared. Some … Read more

Don't like Mountain Lion's Notification Center? Quit it

Apple's Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion provides a quick way to get messages about various updates, such as new e-mails, calendar events, reminders, and system and application software updates from the App Store. However, regardless of its uses, Apple has somewhat imposed Notification Center on users by making it a persistent service that isn't easily disabled. Since the service does add yet more items to the menu bar and since it does in part directly conflict with current notification options like Growl, some people might wish to turn it off completely.

It is possible to disable … Read more

Four ways to access Mountain Lion's Notification Center

Notification Center is a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that helps you keep all of your important alerts and notifications in one place. The claim of convenience can only be true if it's truly convenient to access and use. Luckily, there are a few different ways to access the tray of notifications hidden under your desktop. Let's take a look at four of them.

Menu bar

The most obvious way is by clicking on the Notification Center icon in the menu bar. You can click the icon to reveal and hide Notification Center. There's nothing … Read more

How to use Mail's VIP list in OS X Mountain Lion

In Apple's Mail program, there are options for flagging and coloring messages that you might find important, but in order to automatically do so, you have to set up a special rule to identify the message and then perform an action on it. With the version of Mail that Apple ships in OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has changed this to a degree by adding a VIP list.

Unlike rules that require that you set up conditions that act on incoming messages once, the VIP option in Mail is a dynamic filter that provides an easy way to locate … Read more

The 404 Show Special: Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan

The 404's Jeff Bakalar had a chance to sit down with Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan, two of the members of the comedy group Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Beerfest). The duo has a new film out called "The Babymakers" in select theaters, iTunes, and on-demand August 3rd.

In addition to a discussion about "The Babymakers," Jay and Kevin talk to Jeff about a sequel to "Super Troopers," getting "Potfest" off the ground, and what else is in store for Broken Lizard.… Read more

Troubleshooting PowerNap in OS X Mountain Lion

Apple's latest 2011-2012 MacBook Air and 2012 Retina MacBook Pro systems support a new power-saving mode called PowerNap, which allows the systems to perform a number of background tasks when in Sleep mode, thereby maintaining low power but preventing a flurry of synchronization and update activity when the system is woken up.

When activated, the system should go into Sleep mode as usual, but periodically you should see activity with an attached Time Machine drive, and also see received e-mail messages, updated contacts, iCloud content, and also be able to use Apple's Find My Mac remote access features. … Read more

Restore classic Expose behavior in Mountain Lion

A new setting added to OS X in Mountain Lion restores a classic Expose behavior for viewing all windows on the screen.

Apple's Missions Control feature in OS X is an evolution (or perhaps devolution, depending on your perspective) of the Expose and Spaces feature that was introduced in OS X 10.5 Leopard. While options for multiple desktops are great for organizing work, in some of Apple's decisions with the move to Mission Control it left out some of the simple approaches to Spaces that users became accustomed to.

One of these features is the ability to … Read more