Tired of the linen background image of folders in Launchpad? You can easily change it to anything you want with this simple walkthrough. If you recall our post on changing the Dashboard wallpaper, you’ll find this trick is very similar. Obviously this is OS X Lion only.

First off, you have to use a PNG file, so find one that you want as the new Launchpad folder background image. For the sake of this tutorial I’m going to use the t-shirt background pattern from iCloud beta which I converted to a PNG file myself with Preview (File > Export > PNG). Name your exported PNG file “ecsb_background_tile.png” and then…

• From the Mac OS X desktop, hit Command+Shift+G to enter “Go To Folder” and enter the following location:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/

• Find the file named ecsb_background_tile.png and rename it to ecsb_background_tile-backup.png or drag it to your desktop – this is important because it allows you to revert your changes and get back to the linen default
• Now drag your own exported PNG image “ecsb_background_tile.png” into the Dock.app Resources directory, you will be asked to authenticate the change because this is a system file
• Next you relaunch the Dock by killing it, so open Terminal and type the following:

killall Dock

• Open Launchpad and a folder, and enjoy your new background image

Another example of how this could look shows an aluminum background image:
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Yes, Mac OS X Lion is obviously very iOS-like, and now we’re hearing again that Mac OS X and iOS will begin merging late next year into a single unified OS. This is speculation according to Jeffries & Co analyst Peter Misek, who also suggests the parts of the Mac lineup will be moved away from Intel CPU’s after the introduction of a quad-core A6 CPU.

The speculative report suggests the big changes will start at the end of 2012, and the first Mac to move to an ARM A6 CPU would be the MacBook Air, followed several years later by the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup. Here’s the meat of the post on Barrons:

“We believe Apple is looking to merge iOS (iPhones/iPads) with OS X (Macs) into a single platform for apps and cloud services starting in 2012-13.” Specifically, Misek sees the Macbook Air gaining Apple’s next processor, the “A6,” as he calls it, in the second half of 2012, or some time in 2013, following the debut of the chip in the “iPad 3” in the first quarter of 2012, and in the “iPhone 5” next summer.

Misek thinks MacBook “Pro” models and Mac desktops will stick with the current software and Intel processors in order to maximize 64-bit application compatibility, but that they, too, will switch over to an iOS platform by 2016.

Misek suggests the motivation behind the OS X and iOS merger is for better gross margins and licensing deals, where purchased media content will work on any device and be available via iCloud – although apparently nobody told the analyst this ability already exists now with iTunes.

This really isn’t terribly surprising speculation, and we’ve heard talk of Apple ditching Intel CPU’s before. Also, both iOS and Mac OS X are built upon the same underlying architecture anyway, so merging the two in name wouldn’t be a particularly shocking event. Apple does seem to be easing Mac users into an eventual transition with the introduction of things like Launchpad, fullscreen apps, and other iOS-like features embedded into OS X Lion.
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The scrollbars in new versions of Mac OS X are hidden until activated by use, that is, by scrolling, making them invisible by default. This is the new default behavior that works very well if you primarily use a trackpad with your Mac. I use an external mouse with my Mac quite often though, and I find the hidden scrollbars to be annoying when I do. That’s my reason for bringing them back, but other people just like to see when content is available that needs to be scrolled to access.

This quick tip will make users who wish to constantly see available scrolling portions happy, by displaying the scroll bars all the time in Mac OS X.

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Want the iCloud.com beta background image as your desktop wallpaper? I did too, so I grabbed the background image file from iCloud’s springboard, tiled it, and put a similar shadow on it with Photoshop. The result is this 2000×1080 PNG file, ready to be set as your desktop background

Click here or the image above for the full 2000×1080 JPG version

(Here’s a whopping 2560×1394 version too) – thanks TK!

It also looks great as a standard wallpaper, Terminal background, or as a replacement for Dashboards background in Mac OS X Lion. Here’s how it looks on a Mac OS X desktop:

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iCloud Beta is now live for developers to access, and we know what the pricing plans look like, but average users are left just looking at screenshots for now. Just kidding! If you want to check out iCloud’s very iOS-like Springboard and web apps, and you don’t have a developer account, you can use this cool little trick from @devongovett on Twitter:

Access iCloud Springboard without an Account Using Safari or Google Chrome

• Go to iCloud.com and ignore the login credential screen
• Right-click anywhere on the iCloud.com page and select “Inspect Element”
• Click on the ‘Console’ button on the far right of the element inspector
• Paste the following into the Javascript console:

CloudOS.statechart.gotoState("active.springboard")

• Hit the Return key and skirt right past the login screen and into the iCloud springboard

I have confirmed this works in Safari and Chrome and presumably it works the same in Firefox, just paste that code into their appropriate javascript console.

You’ll notice the iCloud interface is very iOS-like and all the animations and buttons feel like iOS, pretty impressive for the web wouldn’t you say?

This little tip comes from @devongovett via @viticci on Twitter, you can follow us there too.

Update: To clarify, most things don’t work without a beta login, and each time you click on something you will get an error message like the one below that requires you to reload the springboard again.
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Need to redownload Mac OS X Lion from the Mac App Store? If you plan on making an install drive but you already upgraded to Lion, you’ll need to redownload the Installer so that you can extract the DMG file. This is the sure fire way to do it, in short, hold the Option key for everything:

• Open the Mac App Store
• Hold the Option key and click on “Purchases”
• Option-click on “OS X Lion” from the purchased app list
• “Installed’ should now say “Install” which allows you to re-download OS X Lion, otherwise you can Option-click again on the “Install” button to start re-downloading OS X Lion, shown in the screenshot above

Some users have trouble with that method, and instead they can try holding Option while launching the App Store in addition to when clicking on the greyed out installer next to OS X Lion, allowing you to download again. Option-clicking on OS X Lion from Purchases and then the “Install” button from the OS X Lion App Store page hasn’t failed us, but there do seem to be conflicting reports.

If you already bought Lion, you should not be charged twice for any additional downloads of Lion. If you’re already running OS X Lion and you do this, you’ll get a pop-up warning that says “A newer version of this app is already installed on this computer” but you can click again and download anyway.
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If you don’t want to deal with the already simple task of making a Lion USB install drive or boot DVD, you will probably like the little third party utility called Lion DiskMaker, it’s an AppleScript that handles everything for you as long as you have the requirements met.

In order to use LionDiskMaker, you will need three things:

• Lion downloaded from the Mac App Store ($29.99) – meaning “Install Mac OS X Lion.app” must be in your /Applications folder
• 5GB or greater disk to use as the installer, cheap USB keys are all over Amazon.com – note that our own commenters have mentioned the installer won’t fit on a 4GB card so we’ll continue to recommend an 8GB USB key, but a 4.7GB blank DVD will work as well
• Lion DiskMaker – free 380k download from Guillaume Gete’s website

Once you have the necessary components, the target USB/DVD/SD card will be wiped and the AppleScript simply automates the process of creating the boot disk out of that disk for you. This is as easy as it gets, so if you didn’t want to open up Disk Utility on your own and you can’t wait for Apple’s official $69 USB key to come out later this year, here ya go.
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Xcode 4.1 was made available as a free download through the Mac App Store for OS X Lion owners, but many users are encountering a strange error when they go to install the development suite; an error message pops up saying that XCode can’t be installed while iTunes is running telling you that “In order to continue installation please close iTunes” – the problem is that iTunes isn’t open when you get this error dialog.

So what’s the fix? It’s easy, open up the Terminal and type the following:

killall iTunesHelper

If you don’t feel like using the command line, you can also hunt for the process in Activity Monitor and kill it from there. Whichever method you choose, this kills the iTunesHelper process that is always running in the background and allows Xcode 4.1 to continue it’s installation in Mac OS X Lion.

I just ran into this problem while trying to install Xcode from the App Store with a fresh 10.7 installation, I would bet it’s just a bug with the installer that wasn’t fixed yet. Oh well, at least the fix is simple.

Apple has revealed the pricing information for iCloud storage plans that will be available this fall when it is launched publicly, presumably alongside iOS 5 and iPhone 5.

iCloud Pricing

For those that want to upgrade beyond the free service, these are the plans:

• 5GB is free
• 15GB is $20/year
• 25GB is $40/year
• 55GB is $100/year

Because the first 5GB is free, the capacity noted is the total storage capacity you will get on Apple’s iCloud servers. Keep in mind that purchased music, apps, books, and your photo stream does not count against your free 5GB storage. The free account will be more than enough for most users, and Apple reminds us that “since your mail, documents, Camera Roll, account information, settings, and other app data don’t use as much space, you’ll find that 5GB goes a long way.”

You’ll be able to upgrade to additional plans either through iCloud.com or on your iOS device.

The goal of iCloud is to allow instant and easy access to all of your content and data from all of your hardware, be it a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, regardless of where you are. You can read more about iCloud on Apple.com, in addition to seeing screenshots and demonstrations on how the service will work.

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In our post on how to disable Resume for Safari or other applications in OS X 10.7, several of our commenters pointed out that it isn’t necessary to change the individual app directories permissions. Alternatively, you can turn off Resume on a per-app basis using a defaults write command entered into the Terminal.

Turn Off Resume on a Per App Basis

Here are a few example defaults strings for individual applications, and then we’ll show you how to find your own strings for other applications:

Turn Off Resume for Safari
defaults write com.apple.Safari NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

Turn Off for Google Chrome
defaults write com.google.Chrome NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

Turn Off for QuickTime Player X
defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

Turn Off for Preview
defaults write com.apple.Preview NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

You will want to relaunch whatever application you have disabled the feature for in order for changes to take effect.

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Apple TV 2 has been updated to iOS 4.3 build 8F455, and the update includes several notable features: iCloud support for purchased TV shows, Vimeo support, and YouTube playlists. The update appears to only work in the US only for now, but other countries may be coming soon.

The beginning of iCloud support is the big story here, as DaringFireball is reporting that the new build supports the same cloud integration for TV shows that iOS 4.3.3 includes for books and music on the iPhone and iPad, making it possible to re-download any purchased TV shows from iTunes. These downloads are accessible through the ‘Purchased’ tab in the iTunes Store. DaringFireball calls it a cloud-based storage locker for TV shows, and suggest that movies are coming next.

Download iOS 4.3.3 IPSW for Apple TV 2

You can grab the Apple TV2 update through iTunes or directly from Apple below:

• AppleTV2,1_4.3_8F455_Restore.ipsw

This brings the Apple TV 2 closer to the remaining iOS product line, which is at iOS 4.3.5. A unification of the releases will likely come with iOS 4.4 or possibly even with iOS 5 in the fall. It remains to be seen if iTunes & iClouds automatic download feature will extend to movies and the Apple TV.

For those anxiously awaiting the launch of iPhone 5, be prepared to wait slightly longer. According to the well connected AllThingsD, a branch of the Wall Street Journal, iPhone 5 will launch in October, and not September as some prior rumors suggested.

An October launch date actually doesn’t surprise me at all, because it is extremely unlikely that Apple would release iPhone 5 and not ship it with iOS 5 pre-installed, which is due for a release in Fall. As I’ve mentioned before, Fall doesn’t begin until September 23, making it virtually impossible for an iPhone 5 to be available before then unless Apple is ahead of their own announced schedule. It is also possible that Apple will host an event unveiling the device in late September, with the actual product launch and availability beginning in October.

AllThingsD’s source “offered no details on the device’s design” but various details about hardware have emerged through other rumors. Most say the device will have a dual-core A5 CPU and higher res camera, while others suggest there will be an all new design and larger screen. Along those lines, various accessory manufacturers are already building cases and screen protectors for iPhones that are unlike any existing models, but it’s unclear whether they are basing those accessories on real schematics or just their own speculation. One such alleged iPhone 5 design is shown at the beginning of this post, which shows a unique looking device with various design cues from prior iPhone models.

Launchpad is the app launcher in Mac OS X that is quite like the iOS Home Screen, showing a series of app icons and names on a simple screen making it very easy to launch whatever apps you want to open. It’s a nice utility and feature built into the Mac, but it does have some quirky behavior from time to time. One of those issues is that sometimes apps won’t appear in Launchpad at all, or perhaps when you delete an app it doesn’t disappear from Launchpad as it’s supposed to. If you run into this or any other irregularities with Launchpad, try this great tip left by one of our readers to discover how to refresh Launchpad and all of its contents.

These tricks work to refresh and relaunch Launchpad for all Macs with versions of Mac OS X that include the native feature, including Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, and beyond.
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Resume is that feature of Mac OS X Lion that causes apps windows to reappear after you have quit and then relaunched the app. It’s a great feature but not one that we want all applications to use, so here is how to disable Resume on a per app basis.
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One of the many understated features in Mac OS X is the ability to natively convert audio to m4a directly in the OS X Finder – without any additional downloads or add-ons. Yes, an MPEG audio encoder is built directly into Mac OS X since versions 10.7 and 10.8, 10.9, 10.10 (and beyond of course), meaning you can convert audio directly on your desktop without using any other apps, and without buying anything else, because the encoder is free and bundled in Mac OS.

The OS X audio encoder is confirmed to support AIFF, AIFC, Sd2f, CAFF, and WAV files, but other formats are likely supported for m4a conversion as well. It also happens to be very fast and produce high quality audio output, so let’s dive in and start converting some audio.

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If you don’t use Safari’s new Reading List feature in Mac OS X Lion, you probably don’t want that little eyeglass icon cluttering up your bookmarks bar. It’s easy to hide though, here’s how:

• Go to the Safari menu and open Preferences
• Click on the “Bookmarks” tab and uncheck “Include Reading List”

If you don’t use the Bookmarks Bar at all, you can always just hide that too by selecting “Hide Bookmarks Bar” from the View menu. This makes a much more minimalist web browsing experience out of Safari, but all of your bookmarks are still accessible via the Command+Number shortcuts and the Bookmarks menu.

Having more RAM is one of the cheapest Mac upgrades you can get for a performance boost, and with prices this low there’s little excuse to not have 8GB if your Mac supports it. Here are two great deals on RAM upgrades for some of the most recent Macs.

This 8GB 1333MHz kit will fit most 2011 Intel Core i series iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini:

• Corsair 8 GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit is $43.99 after a $10 mail-in rebate, with free shipping from Amazon

The 8GB 1066MHz upgrade fits most 2010 and 2009 models of iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini:

• Corsair 8 GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory is $59.99 with free shipping from Amazon

Double-check your necessary RAM type before purchasing, you can do that quickly by going to “About This Mac” and looking at the “Memory” section, it will tell you the type you are looking for:

I reviewed an 8GB RAM upgrade last year for a 2010 MacBook Pro and I would highly recommend it for the price, at that time it cost $120 so paying half of that is quite a steal. It’s pretty easy to determine if a RAM upgrade would help you, but I think most users would benefit.

A 27″ iMac always makes for a great desktop. This one is a Core i5 with an SSD, and an external HP 23″ display is attached to extend the screen real estate even further.

I am so accustomed to using a Mac with an additional screen that it would be almost impossible to have a workstation without one, plus they always make for awesome looking Mac setups. If you’re not using an additional display, you’re missing out on a major productivity boost.

This image comes from Flickr