5 Tips for the New OSX Lion

OSX Lion was released on last week along with 250+ new features. With all those features to go through, you might just miss a few. Check out a few fun tips and tricks that you might have overlooked.

1. Capture your signature in Preview. In Lion “Preview” has the ability to capture your signature using your iSight camera. Simply write your signature with black ink on a white piece of paper, then go to Preview/Preferences and click on Signature. Hold your signature up to the camera and it will save the image so you can easily sign PDFs electronically.

Read more

How Do You Find New Apps?

The saying “there’s an app for that” has become incredibly trite given its short lifespan. No matter how common the saying might be, the fact of the matter is that there probably is an app for whatever you are looking for. With so many apps available for so many different platforms, app discovery has become a problem. To help ease the pain, we found some amazing discovery resources for all of your favorite platforms.

iOS App Discovery With hundreds of thousands of apps available through Apple’s App Store, finding the best measurement convertor can be a daunting task. AppShopper helps by not only providing recommendations, but also showing update history, reviews, and even price changes. AppShopper also has an iOS app along with RSS feeds so you never miss a chance to discover the next great app.

Android App DiscoveryBecause of the “open” nature of the Android platform, there are quite a few more resources that allow for more robust discovery on Android. AppAware is an application that allows users to find new apps by tracking installs, updates, and removals. AppAware goes a step further by adding location into the mix. This provides great exposure for local apps who thrive based on usage in a specific area rather than around the globe.

Chrome Web App Discovery Playing off the fact that there really is an app for almost everything, the Google Chrome extension – aptly named There’s a web app for that – provides users with app suggestions based on their browsing history. No need to randomly guess if there is a an app that could replace your web browsing. Now just browse normally and this extension will search for you.

If none of these work for you, or if you are looking for a more curated way to discover apps, the be sure to check out Unplggd’s Weekly App Recommendations, where we cover everything from mobile, to desktop, to web apps.

By Jesse Leikin

Unplggd: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Your iPhone

A good phone is like a good partner. Even though you’ve spent years together, they’re still constantly surprising you with the things they know and do. After a quick fling with a Blackberry and a rebound with a pay-as-you-go phone, we’re happy to say we’ve found a keeper in our iPhone. It’s been almost two years together now, and she’s still got some new tricks.

It makes calls! Just kidding. Well, half kidding. The phone is probably the least-used app on our home screen. But there’s a whole other mess of cool productivity tricks that Apple’s developers have built into the iPhone. For a roundup of the more common keyboard shortcuts and scrolling tricks, like how to take a picture of the screen or drop a pin in maps, check out Apple’s iPhone Tips page.

But the tricks go ever deeper. Here are a few advanced user tips we’ve found around the web. Did you know your iPhone could…

Read more

Unplggd: Windows and Mac Apps That Really Will Help

Often times we find ourselves complacent with the Windows and Mac applications that we already own. However, once you check out these great apps you will be wondering why you haven’t heard about or used all of these before. From design to productivity, we have you covered in this weeks edition of Unplggd’s Weekly Download Recommendations.

IrfanView: Great for beginners and experienced users, IrfanView is a freeware graphic viewer that has many unique and interesting features. This application supports a plethora of file types including Adobe Photoshop filters. For the incredible price of free, it’s hard to find a better option for the last majority of your photo needs (pictured above).

Read more

Unplggd: New Desktop Wallpapers

We recently showed you a few easy tips for de-cluttering your mac. Once you’re done cleaning up your desktop, it’d be a good time to start fresh with some new wallpaper. Apple just gave developers a peek at some brand new desktop pictures from the upcoming OS X Lion, and you can try out these high quality desktop images yourself.

Last Friday, developers were able to get their hands on the latest developer build of Apple’s upcoming operating system 10.7, aka OS X Lion. Along with updated features came some new desktop wallpapers. Apple has always been known for their beautiful and epic wallpapers. This bunch are nature-themed, featuring animals and scenic landscapes.

What’s interesting about these wallpapers is the actual size of them. At 3200 x 2000, these are larger than any display Apple currently ships today (the highest being the 27” iMac, topping out at 2560 x 1440). It’s nice to get such high quality wallpapers that are sure to be large enough to fit any screen you have, as well as span beautifully across two displays. ItsAllTech.com put together a bundle of these high quality wallpapers, which you can download here for free.

By Vivian Kim

[via cultofmac.com]

Unplggd: What a Difference a Decade Can Make

By Gregory Han

[via Reddit]

On Brand: Apple’s New Products

Fast Company posted about Apple’s product launches yesterday – as did just about everybody else on the planet! The thing that caught our eye about the Fast Company coverage was Cliff Kuang‘s focus on the brand and how thoughtful the family of new products were with their truly consistent design language. It rang true for us here at Herman Miller. We apply that same kind of discipline and coherency to everything we do. It was inspiring for us to see another company doing the same thing.

I also really want Apple TV. Unlike the iPad I can see exactly how I’d use it!

Unplggd: Year of the Tablet

“Year of the Tablet, eh? It certainly well looks like it. And now, we have HP steppin’ up their game with their own tablet – the HP Slate – positioning themselves as the anti-iPad/anti-computer of choice with a custom OS, integrated webcam, SD slot, and iTunes-touch.

Aside from the slick touch UI, we’re definitely loving the ability to hook the tablet itself up and project it onto an HDTV via a dock. It was one of my #1 requests for the iPad, but I guess we’re just going to have to wait a little bit longer for Apple to catch up with the needs of consumers.

If teasers are your thing, be sure to check out the 30 second HP Slate trailer. If the quick editing and cinematic orchestra doesn’t sell it for you, the features might certainly will.
Let us know what you think! Does HP have a solid winner on their hands?

[Via Engadget]

By Anthony.”

Inspiration: Design Milk’s Busy Editor

Jaime Derringer is the editor of Design Milk, an online magazine devoted to modern design. But that is just one of her many hats. She also edits Art Milk, collaborates with Erin Loechner on Bakery (they ‘bake’ businesses) and contributes to AOL’s blogs on home and design. I checked in with this busy woman and found out it takes a good dose of organization to get all that work done – and a lot of energy.

How long have you worked from home…and where is ‘home’? I have been working from home since July 2009. It is like a dream come true and I wake up every day thankful that my boss is so nice. Actually, I’m lying – she’s kind of hard on me. I’ve never worked harder in my life than I have now that I quit my day job but I couldn’t be happier. I live in Southern NJ right outside of Philadelphia, PA with my husband Jordan and my two dogs, Beans and Lulu. We spent a few years in San Diego, CA but moved back about a year ago. We’re trying to figure out how to live in both places at once.

What does an average work day involve? I usually get up and get going immediately. I can’t just lay around. I need to be moving because as soon as I wake up my mind just starts to go. I spend the first part of my day reading and answering emails, reading my RSS feeds, checking on my blogs, looking at stats, and checking Facebook and Twitter. Much of the rest of the day is spent writing and editing posts for Design Milk, Art Milk, BAKERY and also my AOL blogs, ShelterPop and DIY Life. It depends on the day which blogs I focus on. I do work in the office, rather than on the couch because it helps me work harder and helps separate my living space from my work space. But I won’t lie — I do have a Macbook and spend a lot of time on the couch after regular work hours, but often I’m also watching TV or house-hunting rather than really working.

I just got the new Apple mouse and it’s amazing. It has definitely changed the way I work. Is there any form of technology that really inspires you? All Apple products inspire me, from their design to their functionality. I own just about the whole catalogue. I’m really into the idea of community, in other words, manufacturers who create devices that can be added on to by just about anyone. For example, the iPhone and other phones’ applications and Facebook’s platform, where users can create what they want and need. I love the idea of technology being a foundation or vehicle for further advancement.

How do you organize your space? I’m thinking here of your physical space but also your virtual space. Any particular software that helps keep things under control? I can get messy when I’m engrossed in projects or super busy, but I am one of those people who washes the dishes while the dinner party is still underway. I like to keep things clean and put all my toys away when I’m finished playing with them. Basically, I like a clean, simple desktop. [The IKEA drawer unit above nestles next to Jaime's desk and acts as excellent storage].

On my computer, I also apply the same logic – file it away when you’re done. My current favorite virtual programs are Google docs and iCal. I can’t function during the day without iCal. The Stendig calendar [on the wall above her desk] I get every year from Unica Home. I use it every day despite my obsession with iCal. My chair is the Cobi from Smart Furniture (Smartfurniture.com). When I finally find that perfect house and it’s time for an office upgrade, I’ve got the Aeron and Eames Aluminum on my short list. (The Philadelphia poster is from Ork Posters.)

What item from your desktop can you not do without? Besides my computer? Probably my printed blogging schedule. I’m old school so I like to print it out each week and check off the posts as I schedule them. My current favorite accessory is my WTF snowglobe that my mom got me for Christmas after I posted about it on my blog. It just makes me laugh and keeps me from taking anything too seriously.

What inspires you? I recently attended a blogger conference called Altitude Design Summit and I have to say nothing inspires me more than my peers. More inspiration comes from blogs, other motivated and determined people, mountains, Apple products, and my brother who is legally blind but just got a master’s degree in interactive entertainment (gaming).