Mac OS X has a fancy way of refreshing your Dashboard widgets. It’s better watched than described or shown in pictures, so open up Dashboard, click on any widget, then hit Command+R and watch the widget disappear and reappear into a twirl.

The larger and more colorful the widget the better the effect, and you can hit command+R repeatedly if you feel like showing this off to someone else. Other than refreshing a widget, which rarely needs to happen, this isn’t too useful, but it’s great eye candy.

This comes via Chronic on Twitter, you can follow us there too.
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The easiest way to get HTTP header information from any website is by using the command line tool curl. The syntax to retrieve a website header goes like this:

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Retina iPad 2 rumors just won’t die, and alongside the report that iPhone 4S is really just iPhone 5 in disguise, ThisIsMyNext mentions a new iPad will launch this year. Dubbed “iPad HD”, or “iPad Pro”, supposedly the next model will not be iPad 3, instead it will compliment the existing iPad 2 lineup with the main difference being a 2048×1536 resolution display.

Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the “iPad HD.” The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a “pro” device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.

The most compelling argument against any new iPad introductions this year was the statement directly from Steve Jobs at the iPad 2 unveiling event, declaring 2011 the “Year of iPad 2”
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If you’ve been confused by the whole iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5 thing, we may finally have an answer. Contrary to reports suggesting otherwise, ThisIsMyNext is claiming that the “iPhone 4S” doesn’t exist as a separate product at all, it’s simply Apple disguising the newest iPhone 5 components in the older iPhone 4 enclosure.

Suggesting the disguise is to throw off any leaks of what the next-gen iPhone will look like, ThisIsMyNext explains further:

Simply put, as the iPhone 5 components are built for a smaller and lighter device, they can be easily fit into a casing which for all intents and purposes looks identical to an iPhone 4… and that’s exactly what Apple has been doing. Our sources tell us that the company has been testing the new components in old iPhone cases, for obvious reasons. Some of those reports we’ve heard about a larger screen for the old design would make sense too, as a slight tweak of the size (say, to a 3.7-inch display), would be barely noticeable to the eye, but obvious in internal component design. So if you’ve been wondering why the rumors about the iPhone 4S rose to such a din, now you know.

They also state that the “highest levels” of Apple are ready to move beyond the iPhone 4 design and release something completely new.

Disguising prototype iPhones certainly makes sense, and this could explain why the alleged China Mobile iPhone 5 leak picture looks just like an iPhone 4. Nonetheless, using current enclosures doesn’t address the reoccurring rumors of a cheaper iPhone aimed at the pre-paid market. Maybe the iPhone 4 will take the place of the iPhone 3GS as the cheapest iPhone offering? That would be an impressive feat considering the high quality and expensive parts that exist in iPhone 4, but Apple’s huge buying power could make it happen.

We will likely have an answer to all of these questions in late September.

You might be looking at a prototype iPhone 5 running on the worlds largest cellular carrier, China Mobile. The iPhone pictured looks very similar to the iPhone 4, but clearly shows an unreleased baseband version 06.10.01, and like other Apple prototype iPhones, there is no IMEI number.

The image has been posted to several Chinese websites and was picked up by AppleInsider. Adding some potential legitimacy to the photo is that Apple COO Tim Cook was reportedly spotted at China Mobile corporate offices last month. Apple has apparently long been interested in bringing the iPhone to China Mobile and it’s 600 million+ subscribers (to put 600 million in perspective, that’s 2x more cell subscribers than the entire population of the USA).

So is this an iPhone 5? Nobody knows for sure, but many rumors suggest the iPhone 5 will closely resemble the iPhone 4, yet be thinner and lighter, which would explain why the pictured phone does not look substantially different from the front view. If not an iPhone 5, it may also be the so-called “iPhone 4S” that is rumored to exist as a cheaper alternative aimed primarily at emerging and prepaid markets, and launch alongside iPhone 5 this September. It’s also entirely possible this is just a prototype for network testing, or even a fake. Stay tuned.

Update: A new report suggests that Apple is disguising iPhone 5 in iPhone 4 enclosures to throw off leaks, so this could very well be the real deal in terms of internal components.

Facebook just announced their built-in video chat feature that uses Skype to initiate video calls, but unfortunately support for the new feature is lacking for users with Mac OS X Lion and the latest version of Safari. If you try it, you’ll see the video call button has been greyed out with a message saying “Not supported in this browser or OS version”.

Don’t worry, there’s a ridiculously easy fix, all you need to do is change your browsers user agent in Safari (or Chrome or Firefox), here’s how in Safari:

• Pull down the Developer menu and select “Safari 5.1 – Mac”
• Reload Facebook and enjoy video chatting

Tough work huh?
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Do you need to convert a text file to RTF, plain text TXT, HTML, DOC, or another familiar document format? The excellent textutil command line utility can make quick work of text file conversion and manipulation on the Mac, and there is no need to download any additional software or tools as it’s built right in to Mac OS.

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The various iPhone 5 rumors have been going back and forth on whether or not a significant redesign is coming, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal seems to suggest that iPhone 5 will have a completely redesigned case after all.

According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless baseband chips.

This isn’t the first report to suggest the next-gen iPhone will be thinner, but the following statement is perhaps most telling about the future iPhones potential appearance:

Two of the people, however, cautioned that shipments of the new iPhone could be delayed if Hon Hai can’t improve its yield rate as the new iPhone is “complicated and difficult to assemble.”

Being difficult to assemble could indicate there is truth to some of the past claims of an edge-to-edge screen, liquid metal enclosures, or even curved glass, since one would imagine the longstanding iPhone 4 enclosure is well established in the production line and would not pose any significant assembly challenges. There are other suggestions that the next iPhone will more closely resemble the enclosure of iPad 2, which may appear similar to the mockup image above.

The potential for a dual-launch of an iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S this September could also explain some of the conflicting rumors regarding the next iPhones enclosure. Whatever is announced, it is expected to be launched alongside the release of iOS 5 this Fall.

JailbreakMe 3.0 is out finally and if you’re interested in jailbreaking this is what you’ve been waiting for; it is entirely computer free, there is no DFU mode, there is no restoring firmware and IPSW files, nothing complicated at all, just load the jailbreakme.com website from your compatible iOS device and the jailbreak installs.

This is the easiest jailbreak in existence and it’s the first official iPad 2 jailbreak available, but also works on all other hardware capable of running iOS 4.3.3, including iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd gen, iPod touch 4th gen.

How to Jailbreak iPad 2, iPhone, & iPod touch with iOS 4.3.3 and JailbreakMe

• Visit JailbreakMe.com from your compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• Tap on the “Free” button and then tap on “Install”
• Safari will quit and you will see the brown Cydia icon loading on your home screen
• When Cydia is done downloading, your jailbreak is complete

That’s all there is to it. It’s probably a good idea to reboot the iOS device once it’s finished so everything works as intended. If you ever get sick of it, you can unjailbreak just by restoring the iOS device from iTunes.
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After a long wait, JailbreakMe 3 has finally been officially unleashed, and it is without a doubt the easiest jailbreak ever to exist.

No computer is necessary, no downloading weirdly named jailbreak apps, no technical process, it’s just a matter of visiting Jailbreakme.com on your iOS device and the jailbreak installs.

JailbreakMe 3.0 compatible hardware includes iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPhone 4 CDMA, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, ranging from iOS 4.3 or later, although the iPad 2 requires iOS 4.3.3 to work. Enjoy!

Update: Here’s a guide on how to jailbreak iPad 2, iPhone, and iPod touch with iOS 4.3.3 using JailbreakMe 3

If you’ve been waiting for a good deal on an SSD upgrade, don’t miss these Kingston 2.5″ SSD’s from Buy.com. Each drive comes with free shipping and a huge discount after sending in a mail-in rebate, but the offer is only valid until 7/10/2011.

• Kingston 64GB SSD v100 Series for $59.89 with free shipping from Buy.com
• Kingston 96GB SSD v100 Series for $109.95 from Buy.com
• Kingston 128GB SSD v100 Series for $149.95 with free shipping from Buy.com

The prices are after the Kingston & Buy.com mail-in rebate so don’t forget to send it in. Redeeming the rebate is easy, just print out the form and fill it out, along with the original sales receipt from Buy.com and the original UPC code from the box. The deal appears to be valid for US customers only.

This is the rebate form from Buy.com (PDF file)

A 2.5″ drive will fit directly into any MacBook or MacBook Pro, and can be placed into a caddy to fit into other Mac hardware. SSD’s are probably one of the best bang-for-the-buck upgrades you can get for any computer, as they offer a huge speed increase that is directly noticeable by the user for everyday tasks.

The read/write performance on these is rated as the following on Buy.com’s product page:

Sequential read throughput:
256GB – 250MB/sec. read
128GB – 250MB/sec. read
64GB – 250MB/sec. read

Sequential write throughput:
256GB – 230MB/sec write
128GB – 230MB/sec write
64GB – 145MB/sec write

For comparison, most 5400 and 7200rpm standard hard drives will read and write between 40MB and 70MB a second. In other words, SSD’s are super fast.

Update: JailbreakMe 3 is out! It’s the easiest jailbreak ever and works to jailbreak iPad 2 running iOS 4.3.3. It is recommended to use JailbreakMe.com directly.

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Pixel art of the 8-bit flashback NES variety is all the rage right now, be it in games like The Incident and Sword & Sworcery or just for avatars on the web. If you’re wondering how some of that beautiful pixel art is created and how you to do it yourself, here are some tips for near-instant pixel art. We’ll use OS X’s zoom feature, Pixelfari, and also configure Photoshop to make your own retro pixel art and clean up the results of other methods.

1) Use Mac OS X Zoom to Pixelate Images & Create Instant Pixel Art

You probably know by now that if you hold down the Control key and then two-finger swipe up or down on a trackpad you’ll zoom into the screen (or hold Control and use a scrollwheel on an external mouse). Well, if you disable anti-aliasing in OS X Zoom tool you can use this feature to create pixelated images out of anything. Here’s how:

• Hit Command+Option+\ to disable anti-aliasing in screen zoom
• Hover your mouse cursor over whatever image you want to instantly pixelate
• Control+Zoom into the image and watch the pixels grow
• Take a screenshot of the entire screen with Command+Shift+3

Using this technique I created this pixel-art MacBook instantly:

If necessary you can then clean up the image in Photoshop using the photoshop techniques mentioned in this article to edit on a precise per-pixel level. A few tips for this method:

• Smaller base images are better, creating icons out of an image and zooming into those is great
• More contrast is generally better
• Try different levels of zoom

It’s also important to take a full screen screenshot so the image is captured in full pixelated glory.
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If you just want a basic command line mp3 player, you could use afplay, but if that’s not enough for you, install ViTunes. The little VIM plugin gives you full access to iTunes directly from the command line text editor VIM, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s just a boring old music player, it actually has some nice features, including:

• Keyboard-only based controls
• Control iTunes from another computer via SSH
• Let multiple users access and control iTunes from SSH
• Controlling iTunes without ever leaving VIM
• Navigate your music, manage playlists, copy tracks, control volume, all from Vim
• Accessible through a linux client too

Installing ViTunes is easy, but first you’ll need to make sure you have Ruby 1.8.6 or higher installed, Mac OS X 10.6 or later, and Vim 7.2 or greater, then it’s just a matter of launching the Terminal and installing the plugin (it goes into ~/.vim/plugin/ if you’re wondering):

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Modern Mac OS releases from Mac OS X 10.7 & OS X 10.8 onward default to hiding the users Library directory, this is probably to keep people from accidentally deleting or damaging files that are necessary for OS X Lion & Mountain Lion to function properly. That is fine for novice users, but for some of us, we want to be able to access ~/Library/ at will. A visible Library folder was also the default setting in past versions of Mac OS X, so here is how to get this back and make the Library folder visible if it’s hidden on your Mac.

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DoublePane is a simple window manager for Mac OS X that is impressively useful. It works by resizing a selected window to fit precisely on one half of the screen – on the left or right – which then allows you to place another resized window directly next to it on the opposing half. This maximizes the available screen space and makes it extremely easy to transcribe information, giving you a significant boost to productivity when writing or doing research.

For such a simple app, you’ll be surprised by how often you end up using it. DoublePane is basically a necessity for any portable Mac user, so if you have a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, or any Mac with limited screen real estate, don’t miss this app.

It also happens to be free today, July 4th only, to celebrate Independence Day.

Download DoublePane free from the Mac App Store (App Store link)

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If you have a MacBook Air, you also have that nice little USB restore key. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to use that as a normal USB drive if you wanted to? You can do it, but first you have to ‘unlock’ the USB restore key.

Here’s where I think this is most useful: with OS X Lion coming out soon, a restore key running Snow Leopard isn’t so useful, so wouldn’t it be nice to format that USB key and update it to Lion yourself by cloning the bootable Lion DMG file? You can do that with this trick.

Of course, there’s a caveat; the little app called SM32Xtest runs only in Windows, so you’ll need to use VMWare, VirtualBox, or Parallels, or just a Windows PC, to run the app and unlock the drive. After it’s unlocked, the restore key turns into a normal USB drive with 8GB of space available, which is then ready for a Lion restore image or just to use for anything else as a standard USB drive with a snazzy Apple logo on it.

Do this at your own risk, Apple locked it because this is the only restore drive and they don’t want you messing it up. If this is your only method of restoring your MacBook Air, I would not recommend doing this, so you may want to consider that before wiping the key. If you’re comfortable with the potential ramifications, download the tool and check out the video below which walks you through the entire process.

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Prototype Apple gear is a hot commodity, but would you guess that a prototype iPhone would be selling for over a hundred grand? Me neither, but an eBay auction for a prototype iPhone 4 has hit $100,800 and continues to climb north into the stratosphere.

To make this even more ridiculous, the prototype iPhone doesn’t even work completely, it’s not running any special software or unusual iOS versions, and sim cards don’t activate, making it a very expensive paperweight. With 7 days left on the auction, the prototype could go even higher, assuming the bidding isn’t completely fake that is.
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