notifications

Tumblr gives its iPhone app a brand-new look

Tumblr (free), the popular blogging platform, just released a revamped version of its app for iOS. In the major update to Tumblr 3.0, the layout has been completely redesigned (bringing it more in line with the Android version, covered in April by Jaymar Cabebe), giving you many of the tools found on the Web site and intuitive swipe controls for posting.

Several tweaks to the interface make the app both easy on the eyes and easier to use. The revamped Dashboard supports high-res images; you can now post and listen to audio links that stream directly from Spotify; and … Read more

Disable e-mail notifications on Google+

There's no question that some notifications are very useful. However, on some occasions you will find that your inbox is being swamped with too much information about your social networks. For instance, if you have Google+ installed on your mobile device, not only will you receive a push notification there, but you'll also receive an e-mail telling you about the notification. And after a while, this process starts to sound too similar to the Xzibit meme that circled the Interwebs for quite some time. (Except this would read more like: "yo dawg we heard you like notifications, … Read more

Freeware Friday: Non-Retina edition

This was a big week for Apple and fans of the MacBook and OS X lineup. But if you have Windows, you might realize that many of the upcoming features for Mountain Lion have already been readily available in some way or form. For this week's Freeware Friday, check out the following apps to access voice control, sync chats with your phone, set reminders, and more.

Dictation alternative: Speech-powered computing might seem like a radical new implementation for many Mac users with the upcoming Mountain Lion, but both Windows and Mac users have had access to voice-control options well … Read more

Apple: 365 million iOS devices sold; 80 percent running iOS 5

Curious how popular Apple's iOS platform and devices are? Look no further than the stats the company announced at Worldwide Developers Conference today.

According to Apple senior vice president for iOS Scott Forstall, the company has sold 365 million iOS-based devices through March 30. A whopping 80 percent of those devices are now running Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 5.

Speaking of iOS 5, Forstall offered up a host of staggering stats related to its built-in applications. For example, he says that iOS 5 users are receiving 7 billion push notifications each day, for a total of … Read more

Easily unfollow a Facebook post from the new notification box

Awhile back I showed you how to unfollow a comment thread or post on Facebook. The process wasn't all that straightforward and required you know where to click, and what to look for once you did.

Recently, Facebook gave its notification box a revamped look, as well as a new feature. You can now unfollow a post directly from the notification box.

As you can see above, in the top-right corner of each notification you'll see a small X. When the X is clicked on, you'll be asked to confirm that you do want to unfollow that … Read more

Apple testing iOS-like notifications on iCloud.com

A notification banner, first noticed by MacRumors, which bares a striking resemblance to iOS notifications introduced with iOS 5, appears to only be a placeholder. It is vaguely titled "Default Title for English" with a message of "English - This is a test message description."

The message appears when you log in to your icloud.com account directly from the Web site.

Apple's preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion shows off a similar banner notification system, which may be related to the iCloud notifications. Certainly syncing notifications across all iOS devices and your Macs … Read more

Add a Facebook status bar to every page in Chrome

If you leave Facebook open in a separate tab or check your smartphone every couple of minutes for notifications, you might be slightly (or seriously) addicted to Facebook. On days where you can't get enough of the chatter there's MyStatusBar. This Chrome extension allows you to see new posts and notifications on every page you open, letting you close off that second tab or put down the smartphone.

MyStatusBar integrates itself by adding a blue status bar to the bottom of each page you're viewing. Think of it as a floating social media … Read more

Three notification options for Androids without LEDs

Many of the newer Android phones on the market are missing a notification light. This isn't a huge deal if you check your phone every 5 minutes, but what if you're in a meeting or listening to something when the alert goes off? For these situations and others, here's a selection of three awesome notification apps that help you notice every message or missed call.

NoLED

NoLED will allow you to set custom notifications, like icons or dots that appear on a black screen. The whole screen is considered "on," but only the icon is … Read more

How to set custom Gmail label notifications on Honeycomb tablets

The Android Gmail app was just updated with some new features for Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet users. Froyo and Gingerbread users get some performance improvements too, but the meat of the update is for Honeycomb tablets.

The updated Android Gmail app adds the capability to swipe between conversations, access recent labels from a dropdown menu, set custom notifications for labels, and sync 30 days of messages. Custom label notifications work only when sync is enabled. Here's how to set it up:

Step 1: After installing the Gmail update from the Google Play Store on your Honeycomb tablet, tap … Read more