I would be convinced this was an April Fools joke out of Redmond were it not August, but no, it’s the new Windows 8 Explorer default interface.

While Apple is busy reducing clutter and creating minimalist interfaces, streamlining OS X and iOS, Microsoft is busy moving in the opposite direction. Believe it or not, these pictures show what, somehow, Microsoft has determined is the future of the user interface and file system; adding even more buttons, icons, actions, tabs, and whatever else they could stuff onto the already cluttered Windows Explorer interface.

Microsoft is proudly displaying this new UI to the world on a MSDN blog post titled “Improvements to Windows Explorer” (seriously).

Everything imaginable is jammed into your brand new ultra-cluttered window toolbar, and you thought Microsoft Office had a mess of an interface? I suppose once you get below the disastrous ‘home tab’ eating the top half of the window, it just looks like Windows 7:
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iPhoto is a great picture management app, but you may still occasionally want to access the original picture files for a variety of purposes, either to import them into another app or for backup purposes. This is easily done in Mac OS X, but what exactly you are looking for depends on which version of iPhoto you are using. Whether you’re using the latest iPhoto or an earlier version, we’ll show you exactly how to access your raw photos out of the iPhoto app, stored locally on your Mac.

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If opening up Activity Monitor is confusing or intimidating to you, or you just find it hard to track down that errant Chrome Worker process, try sorting the list by “All Processes, Hierarchically”.

Sorting by hierarchy breaks the processes down into apps and their child processes, grouping together things like all of the “Google Chrome Renderer” processes under Google Chrome, “Safari Web Content” under Safari, Terminal tasks and shells under Terminal, etc. This makes it very easy to kill process groups all at once, and also allows for easy parent and group sampling and management.

The other advantage is that you can now expand and collapse groups of child processes to clean up the process list, which I find to be much more organized and logical. Give it a try.

The default OS X Lion galaxy wallpaper is gorgeous, but there’s something fun about this pixelated version of it that makes it a joy on a desktop too.

This is quite literally the default Lion wallpaper for Mac OS X Lion but it’s run through a pixel tool so that it is very pixelated, looking a bit 8 bit yet still modern. It looks great as a wallpaper on any Mac (or Windows too).

Click the image above or the link below for a full sized version of the background.

Click here to download the full version (2560×1600)

There’s a similar 8-bit Aurora image from Mac OS X Snow Leopard too if you’re on a pixel craze.

Thanks for sending this in Reg

The first beta version of iTunes Match has been released for developers to subscribe to. The service stores an entire music library within iCloud and allows you to stream or download your music from anywhere, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, a Mac, or even Windows PC. This is done without uploading files, instead iTunes Match scans your library and matches it within the iCloud service, even providing the music at a higher bit rate in the process.

To use iTunes Match beta, developers need the latest version of iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1. Despite being a beta release, iTunes Match service costs $24.99 per year, but dev users will receive an additional 3 months of free service in addition to their 12 month plan. The cloud storage capacity of an iTunes Match library is separate from whats included in the iCloud plans, which makes the price even more competitive.

Those who aren’t developers will have to wait for iCloud and iTunes Match to be released alongside iOS 5 this fall.

You can watch two video walkthroughs below of iTunes Match beta in action:
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You’ll soon be able to run Linux on a select few iOS devices via a jailbreak hack. The port is being worked on by German iOS developer Patrick Wildt, and while it’s not entirely clear when Linux for iOS will be released, he is expected to unveil it publicly at MyGreatFest, a jailbreaking convention that is being held on September 17th.

Supported hardware is said to include the original iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod touch 4th generation, but the iPad 2 with it’s A5 CPU is currently left out due to complications with the hardware.

Pretty geeky but cool find from iDownload Blog.

An upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.6.9 may bring iCloud support to Mac users who haven’t made the jump to Lion and remain on Snow Leopard, at least that’s what a screen shot provided to MacRumors suggests. Sent in by a developer, the screenshot of the .Mac/MobileMe preference pane includes the text:

“iCloud requires a computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.9 or later for Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks.”

The extent of iCloud support in Mac OS X 10.6 remains to be seen, but from the latter part of that text it suggests it will be limited to basic syncing relevant to iOS devices rather than the full iCloud feature set.

iCloud is expected to be released this fall alongside iOS 5, and the pricing plans range from a free 5GB package to $100 a year for 55GB of cloud storage.

Mac OS X Lion has changed how several helpful troubleshooting tools function, one being the reset password tool, and another is how Apple Hardware Test (AHT) mode works. Gone is AHT’s independent boot mode in favor of an internet based version that is dependent on Lion’s Internet Recovery instead. If you always have access to the internet, this isn’t a big deal, but if you can’t get online that’s not particularly useful.

There’s a solution, for some Macs at least, and that is to copy the old Apple Hardware Test utility over to the Mac OS X Lion boot drive, which enables you to boot up from AHT by holding down the “D” key as usual. The catch? You’ll need a pre-Lion Mac that came with the Mac OS X Installation and Application install disks, yes, the DVD, from 10.6 or otherwise. This obviously rules out some of the newest Macs like the 2011 MacBook Air and Mac Mini from restoring onboard AHT, but it will work to restore the functionality to Macs that did ship with OS X install and app restore disks.
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Here’s a 15″ MacBook Pro connected to an external display, and of course an iPad and iPhone complete the setup. MacBook Pro’s with external displays always make a great desktop workstation, the best part of course is that you can disconnect from the external screen and be fully mobile.

The iPad stand looks like the elago P2 Stand, which makes an iPad look like a miniature iMac.

Just another great Mac setup from Flickr

Mac OS X Lion’s App Resume feature is both loved and hated. Most people seem to love the feature for most of their apps, but don’t want it enabled for others. Up until now, you’ve had to issue either app-specific defaults write commands or lock saved states folders, or just disable Resume completely.

These are all effective methods, but what if you want to easily manage OS X Lion’s Resume feature on a per application basis from a GUI? Resuminator does just that. It’s an easy to use and free app for Mac OS X 10.7 that lets you individually select applications and whether or not they will use Resume. Want it enabled for Chrome but not Safari? No problem.

Download Resuminator free from Erica Sadun (direct link)

The app is extremely simple. Select an app, and uncheck the box next to “Should Resume” if you don’t want that app to Resume it’s windows and states. The “Global Resume” checkbox turns control back over to the general System Preference that disables the feature.

Resuminator was created by Mac developer and occasional TUAW contributor Erica Sadun. It likely just serves as a GUI front end to the aforementioned defaults write commands, but it’s in a much easier to use format.

Mac OS X and iTunes has been slowly going the way of minimalism with subdued grey interface elements and icons, some people like the change and others don’t. We just showed you how to get color icons back in the OS X Lion Finder sidebars, and in the comments, Prescott Perez-Fox posted a resource file that works to bring the color sidebar icons back to the latest version of iTunes in Mac OS X Lion too. Here’s how to use that file.

Bringing Back Color iTunes Icons to OS X Lion

The best thing about this tip is that it doesn’t require SIMBL or any additional installations, making it very simple. This has been verified to work with the latest version of iTunes 10.4.1 in Mac OS X Lion 10.7.1.

First things first, you need to download a new color iTunes icons resource file and rename it:

• Download iTunes colorized resource file
• Unzip this file and rename it to iTunes.rsrc, place it somewhere easy to find like the Desktop

Now that you have that ready to go, you can proceed with the actual resource file change:

• Hit Command+Shift+G and enter the following path:

/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/

• Locate the file “iTunes.rsrc” and rename it to “iTunes-backup.rsrc” – you will need to authenticate renaming the file, and this is important because you want to be able to revert the changes
• Now drag the newly downloaded version of iTunes.rsrc into the open /Resources/ folder – you will again need to authenticate
• Relaunch iTunes and enjoy your new color icons again

A big thanks to Prescott for pointing this out in the comments.

Don’t forget you can change the sidebar icons to color in Mac OS X Lion too.
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Motion FX is a very cool real-time video effects tool that uses your Macs built-in camera to detect movement and render a slew of special effects ranging from fire to smoke and any variation of colors or distortion in between.

Using the apps Motion Detect or Effect Paint mode, you can literally paint with fire (or a psychedelic blend of colors) by using your hands or mouse, and create some really wild looking videos. Motion FX also utilizes OS X Lion’s facial recognition tools, so you can set any of the 80 different preset special effect modes to your head and face as well. It’s a bunch of fun and well worth playing around with.

The best part about Motion FX? It’s completely free on the Mac App Store:

Download Motion FX for OS X Lion for free (App Store link)

Describing the app only does so much, it’s best to download and play around with, or check out the video below for Motion FX in action:
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Safari in OS X allows you to have greater control over cookie settings as stored in the Mac web browser. There are now options to block all cookies, allow all cookies, or to selectively block third party and advertiser tracking cookies. Each of these choices are easily set or changed within Safaris’ preferences, and if you want to adjust the cookie blocking setting yourself in Safari on the Mac, here is exactly how to do that:
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You may have noticed that when you log out or reboot Mac OS X, you get a dialog window with a checkbox next to “Reopen windows when logging back in” that restores all of your currently open applications and windows.

If you don’t like it and you’re tired of unchecking the box to no longer reopen the windows, you can use a third party script to render the feature useless. To clarify, what this does is disable the feature completely on a constant basis, regardless of whether that checkbox to preserve windows is checked or not, the windows will not restore.

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Tim Cook reportedly sent out the following email to all Apple employees today, a day after Steve Jobs resigned from the CEO position.

Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim

Great letter that should reassure and rally the troops. The web is littered with commentary and speculation on the topic of Apple today, but out of all the garbage, this was worth posting.

The text of the email is via ArsTechnica.

OS X Lion brought greyscale icons to the Mac OS X Finder window sidebar, but if you’d rather have some color back in your desktop window sidebars, you can get this done easily through a third party plugin.

If you’ve been following some of our other Lion tips, you may already have SIMBL installed, otherwise it’s a small download.

• Download and install SIMBL, which you can get here
• Download the ColorfulSidebar SIMBL plugin (direct link) or visit the developers home and mount the DMG file
• Move the ColorfulSidebar.bundle into the following SIMBL plugin folder:

~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/

• Either login and logout of Mac OS X, or just kill the Finder through the Terminal to relaunch it:

killall Finder

One oddity about this solution is that you may need to kill the Finder again to bring the color icons back after a full system reboot, otherwise this works trouble free.

If you ever want to get the grey icons back, you just need to remove the ColorfulSidebar.bundle file from the SIMBL plugins folder and then relaunch the Finder again.

On a somewhat related note, you can also bring back the personal folders in your OS X Lion Finder window sidebars. Those icons will gain color again too.

Steve Jobs has resigned from his role as CEO of Apple, but he will stay on as Chairman of the Board. Tim Cook, the current COO, will become CEO effective immediately.

Steve Jobs provided the following resignation letter:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

We wish Steve the absolute best.

You can read more on Apple’s press release.

One of several changes to newer versions of OS X is how resetting passwords is handled, previous versions of Mac OS X would have a password reset tool easily accessible from the Utilities menu but that isn’t available anymore, and for some added security you now must access a password reset tool through the command line in Recovery Mode. Don’t let the command line sound complicated though, because it’s really quite easy to use, and we’ll walk through the entire process for OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mountain Lion (10.8), and Lion (10.7).

We’re actually going to cover two tricks, and they will work with or without internet access, and do not rely on any third party tools.
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