Update: Updated with direct download links for the DP2 Update 1 packages – these files are only relevant for developers with DP2 installed.

An update to Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 has been pushed out via Software Update. The download comes in at around 1GB and changes aren’t specific other than being “recommended for all users running Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2.”

What about Developer Preview 3? Alongside the DP2 update, an accompanying XCode 4.1 update includes a reference to “support Mac OS X Lion preview 3,” suggesting that Lion Developer Preview 3 may be released in the near future. XCode 4.1 preview 3 is a required update if you plan on building any software in Lion DP2.

Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 was released to developers on March 30, I found the update to be less stable and more resource hungry than Developer Preview 1, so I haven’t used it much. I’m hoping this update resolves some of the memory leaks that appeared in Developer Preview 2, although not all machines seem to be affected.

As always, backup your Mac before installing system updates. This is especially important when using a beta OS, which is also why I’ll continue recommending the dual boot method if you plan on trying out the Lion preview releases.

Lion Developer Preview 2 Update 1 Package – Direct Downloads

Here are direct download links from Apple for Dev Preview 2 Update 1 Package installers. These do NOT contain the full installation of Lion, only the update package released today. If you’re not a developer with Dev Preview 2 already installed, these won’t be of any use:
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Are you bored with your iPhone ringtones? You probably know by now that you can make iPhone ringtones yourself with iTunes, but instead of chopping up a song, why not get some ringtones that actually sound like they belong to a phone?

You’re in luck because there are 932 free iPhone ringtones on your Mac right now… yes I know you’re saying “What???” and yes, there are 932 potential ringtones residing right on your Mac that we’re about to introduce you to. There is a small catch though, these files aren’t ringtones yet, they’re actually sound effects included in the iLife and Garageband suites. Fortunately they’re great quality and loop well, so most of them make fantastic ringtones. With a little patience, we can convert any of these sound effect files to an iPhone compatible ringtone, so here’s how to access these files and then convert them into an iphone compatible m4r ringtone file.
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Are you looking for the perfect desk for your MacBook Pro? Do you have five MacBook Pro’s and you’ve been dying to make a custom laptop desk out of them? Of course you do, who doesn’t right? So open them up like a book and start stacking them to create the most expensive MacBook Pro stand and desk ever.
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You can add a Recent Items menu Stack to the Mac OS X Dock by using a defaults write command. The default is set to “Recent Applications” but once the Dock item exists you can adjust it to feature other recent items too, like Recent Files, Recent Items, Recent Servers.

This is a neat feature that works in all versions of Mac OS X, so let’s show you how to enable it with a defaults string from the command line.

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Apple has released iOS 4.3.2 update for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod touch 3rd gen and 4th gen models. The 4.3.2 update includes several security updates and bug fixes, noticeably to resolve freezing FaceTime calls, and the update also resolves a 3G connectivity issue that some iPad users discovered in prior versions of iOS. iPhone 4 CDMA owners will also find an update to iOS 4.2.7 that includes the same fixes.

Launch iTunes with your iOS device connected and you will be notified of an available software update. If that doesn’t work, or you’d rather have an iOS 4.3.2 IPSW file, you can use these direct download links:

iOS 4.3.2 Direct Download Links

These are direct download links of iOS 4.3.2 IPSW files from Apple. Be sure to right-click and “Save As” the file, it should be a .ipsw extension:

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA – iOS 4.2.7
• iPad 1
• iPad 2 – WiFi model
• iPad 2,2 – AT&T GSM
• iPad 2,3 – CDMA Verizon
• iPod Touch 3rd Gen
• iPod Touch 4th Gen

Most users should update their iOS hardware through iTunes for ease of use, but you can learn how to use IPSW files if this interests you.

Note: If you rely on a jailbreak or unlock, you should hold off on updating to iOS 4.3.2 until further notice.

If you’ve been looking for a great SSH client for iPad or iPhone, Prompt is probably exactly what you’ve been searching for. Released by Panic software, Prompt is a great looking SSH app that includes a bunch of features to improve the SSH experience from an iOS device.

Notable features are: autocompletion of frequently used commands, SSH keyfile support, favorites, customizable keys for special characters, passcode lock for active sessions, multiple connections, and more.

Prompt is $4.99 from the iOS App Store (App Store link)

The app is universal for iPhone and iPad, but just by the nature of screen and keyboard size, I’d guess Prompt will be a better experience on the iPad (I’d let you know from firsthand experience, but I’m still waiting to find an iPad 2 which is much like finding a needle in a haystack). Even still, the iPhone app looks good too for quick work, and you can run the app on both devices with a single purchase.

Panic makes very high quality software so I have no doubt that Prompt will be a great app, so check it out.

Late last night, a reference to a “ix.Mac.MarketingName” mystery string appeared on the iOS App Stores under the required compatibility section of nearly all apps. Initially people thought it was just a bug, but the placement and wording of the text started a fury of speculation. Most unusual of course is that it’s seemingly a reference to a Mac included in an iOS app compatible hardware list. Plus the whole “MarketingName” aspect looks like a placeholder for an unnamed product.

The mystery string appeared as follows:

“Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and ix.Mac.MarketingName.“

Here’s a screenshot showing where the text appeared on an App Store listing:
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Reverse scrolling is one of those features that came along in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion that surprised a lot of people, on a computer it doesn’t feel quite as normal as it does on a touchscreen iPad or iPhone, but once you get used to it, it’s good.

If you dual boot between 10.7 and 10.6 and you’re used to the Lion inverse scrolling, or you just prefer the way the iPad and iPhone scroll through documents and webpages, this app is what you’re looking for.

You can get Scroll Reverser free from the developer.

This app made the rounds a little while ago and I didn’t see a lot of use for it, but the more I use Lion the more I come back to Snow Leopard and find the scrolling differences strange to get used to. With this app, no more problems.

If you’re confused here let me explain: Mac OS X 10.7 Lion defaults to the way iOS scrolls through documents, this is the opposite behavior to Mac OS X 10.6 and before. If you hate the idea, don’t worry. Scrolling isn’t permanently inverted and the behavior can be changed through the Trackpad/Mouse System Preferences.

The long anticipated White iPhone 4 will finally be available by the end of April, according to a report from BusinessWeek. The phone will be sold at both AT&T and Verizon stores, with presumably the only difference being the devices color. If the white iPhone 4 does appear in the coming weeks, this will meet the “spring 2011” timeline that Apple announced last fall.

Apparently the white phones extended delay was due to manufacturing challenges, including an issue where the paint would peel under heat. BusinessWeek seems confident of the timeline, citing three individuals who are privy to the release date.

Now the question remains if anyone still cares about the white iPhone 4 model, as talk and hype has moved onto the theoretical iPhone 5 which may or may not come this year. If the white iPad 2 is any indicator of interest, the white iPhone 4 will certainly be popular, despite the rumormill churning out iPhone 5 theories.

Just about every morning I call several Apple Stores and ask about their current inventory and availability of iPad 2 models. Up until this week, stores generally had nothing in stock by the time they opened, and the store reps continue to tell me they have lines in the mornings. This has eased up slightly for the Verizon iPad 2 models, but the GSM and WiFi versions continue to be extremely difficult to find.

If you’re like me and you didn’t bother to order an iPad 2 online (silly, it would have been delivered by now), you’re left checking stock at resellers and generally crossing your fingers as you hope to get lucky in the midst of countless others doing the exact same thing.

Enter the iPad 2 Inventory Scanner, which is bound to improve your chances. All you need to do is enter your zip code and the model you are looking for, and the utility will check all nearby Target stores for any inventory of the model you specified. Yes, you read that right, it only checks Target stores inventory, but it is still very useful and one of my friends used this tool to track down an elusive iPad 2 today.

Check out the iPad Scanner at ChristianRadu.com

The web app is based off the finder links that appeared on MacRumors forums some time ago, but the interface is much more user friendly for quick searches. So if you’re trying to track down an iPad 2, check this out.

IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity, you can think of IMEI like a serial number in that every iPhone, or other mobile phone for that matter, has a unique IMEI number used to identify it with carriers, manufacturers, and providers. There are several reasons you’d want to know your IMEI, and we’ll get into those in a moment, but before that let’s find the number. We’ll show you four different ways to get this info, either directly on the device itself, or with iTunes.

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The Finder window sidebar makes navigation in Mac OS X easier, with quick access points to various aspects of a users home directory, as well as throughout the file system.

Users can choose to show the Finder sidebar, or to hide the Finder sidebar, depending on their individual preferences.

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Mac OS X Lion Dev Preview 2 has readded the Graphite appearance option, which was initially greyed out and set on “Blue” by default. The first Developer Preview disabled the ability to adjust the window appearance colors, which led some to believe an entirely new UI would appear at the Lion public debut.

Along the same lines, several Mac sites are reporting that Lion is moving away from Aqua in favor of a more modern finish to windows, scollbars, and buttons. If you’ve seen any screenshots of Mac OS X Lion, this probably won’t be of news to you though.

A questionable sounding permanent iPhone unlock has appeared on the scene, the service claims to offer a permanent unlock solution for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G, without the need for jailbreaking.

How would this be possible? The $169 service apparently whitelists your iPhone IMEI number by manually adding them to Apple’s databases. How exactly they are doing that is in question, and that is precisely why this sounds like a questionable service. The potentially illicit method of unlocking your phone brings the legality into question, and we don’t recommend using it. Outside of the legal ambiguity, BGR notes that if someone is able to add an IMEI to a database, it would be just as easy to delete it and relock your iPhone. Furthermore, there is the looming question on how the service is accessing and editing Apple’s own databases.

If you’re unfamiliar, an iPhone unlock frees the device from the cellular carrier it was intended to be used on. Unlocking is a bit of a cat and mouse game, with holes being patched by Apple and the unlock community finding new methods around the carrier locks. Recently iOS 4.3.1 was unlocked with ultrasn0w 1.2.1 but it requires a user to jailbreak an iPhone with iOS 4.3.1 while preserving old baseband that remains compatible with prior versions of ultrasn0w. It’s not a particularly complex process, but it can be confusing to users who are less technically savvy.

If all of this sounds too complicated, the other alternative is to just buy an iPhone that comes unlocked to begin with, from a country like Canada. You’ll pay more upfront, but buying an unlocked phone prevents you from having to use software jailbreaks, carrier unlocks, or the (possibly unscrupulous) methods like CutYourSim’s offering. If you’re curious how the iPad fits into all of this, you’ll find the iPad 2 is sold unlocked as long as you purchase the 3G GSM model.

CutYourSim‘s service was verified to work by BGR, but again, we do not recommend using this service at this time. If more information comes available and the service is found to be legal, it may be a viable alternative to the jailbreak/ultrasnow method.

Using the powerful ‘networksetup’ utility, we can connect to wireless networks directly from the command line of Mac OS X. The syntax you’ll want to use to accomplish joining a network is as follows:

networksetup -setairportnetwork [interface] [router SSID] [password]

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This video may provide a good look at how 3D graphics will first make an appearance on the iPad and iPhone. The best part? No funky glasses are required.

When first watching the video, I assumed it was based on the accelerometer like some 3d jailbreak UI tweaks, but instead it’s tracking movement with the iPad 2’s front facing camera. The video and 3D demo was created by the EHCI Research Group at Grenoble Informatics Laboratory, who further describes the technology:
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When I first saw these iPad paintings from UK artist Kyle Lambert, I found it hard to believe they were created entirely on an iPad using the Brushes app (App Store link) and just a finger as the input method. It’s pretty crazy to watch these paintings come together, here’s a video showing the creation of the above Toy Story 3 image:
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If you’d prefer to use a web browser other than Safari as the default on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can do so with a simple utility called BrowserChanger. The tweak lets you set any of the alternate web browsers as the iOS default, allowing any link to launch directly in something like SkyFire rather than copying and pasting the URL manually.

Now before everyone gets too excited, notice that BrowserChanger requires a jailbreak to install. Jailbreaks are easy to perform and just as easy to undo, but it does add an additional layer of complexity for the average user.

BrowserChanger is a free download from Cydia, search for it in the ModMyi repository. You’ll find there are also options to apply the default browser change to Google Maps and YouTube.
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