Put your contact info on the lock screen - OSX Lion

Though it was possible to do this in Snow Leopard with third party apps, Lion now allows you to place a personal message with your contact information on the lock screen for any good samaritan that should stumble upon your lost laptop. To enable the feature, just go to your "Security & Privacy" preference pane, check the box labeled "Show a message when the screen is locked," and fill in your information.

The Norway attacks - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The Norway attacks - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Cut and Paste files in Finder finally on OSX Lion

Lion introduces a long-requested 'copy and move' command in Finder, similar to 'cut and paste' in Windows Explorer.

To move files in Finder first press Command+C to copy the selected files, then press Command+Option+V to move the copied files to the current folder. 

Make Dashboard translucent again in OSX 10.7 Lion

Lion by default opens the Dashboard as its own space, which means you can't see the desktop 'through' it like you could in 10.6. You can return the Dashboard to its former transparent splendor by telling Mission Control to not open the Dashboard as a space.

To return the Dashboard to its pre-Lion behavior:

• Open System Preferences.
• Click the Mission Control panel.
• Un-select the 'Show dashboard as a space' check box.
• Close the System Preferences.

Not only will the Dashboard return to displaying as an overlay above the desk, but as a bonus, you will have back the cool 'ripple' effect when adding new widgets. 

How to un-hide the ~/Library folder in OSX Lion 10.7

By default, the ~/Library folder is hidden in Lion. This is a big problem to many of the readers of this site, as many hints involve this folder (especially any involving hidden preferences).

You can easily un-hide this folder for easy access. Simply run the following command in Terminal:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

If, for some reason, you want to re-hide it, you can run the same command using 'hidden' instead of 'nohidden'.

You can actually use this command to hide or unhide any folder. Just put it's path in place of ~/Library. 

How to install new voices on OSX 10.7 Lion

Apple has created lots of new speech synthesizer voices for Lion. It's easy to download them, but the fact that they exist isn't very-well advertised in System Preferences (or otherwise in the OS). Here's how to get them.

• Open System Preferences » Speech » Text to Speech.
• Click on the System Voice: menu and select Customize.
• You're presented with a huge list of voices to choose from.
• Click on a voice and press Play to preview it.
• Check the boxes to the left of the ones you like. Then click OK.

Software Update will open and download your voices. Be warned, some of the files are huge. 

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How to Access the Amazon Appstore from Outside the USA

Setting up

Creating Your US Amazon Account

Firstly, to use the Amazon Appstore you need an Amazon.com account; it should be completely separate from your main account with a different e-mail address. To sign up just visit this sign in page and select ‘No, I am a new customer’, then enter the email address that you wish to use.

Enter email address and select 'new customer' to create an account

Setting Up a Billing Address

Next you will need a US shipping address which is the billing address needed for the account; you can do this at the Manage Address Book page and this must be a valid US address.

I recommend using Fake Name Generator because it gives you information for a random fake person, including a valid US address and much more information: all that you need to set up this account.

Alternatively you could just enter any US address because you’re not actually going to ship anything there, so ‘1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014’ would work (this happens to be Apple’s HQ).

Setting Up a Phone Number

Again you will need a valid US phone number. There are multiple ways of doing this; I recommend using the site given above because it gives you a valid number that you don’t have to worry about. Alternatively you could just enter any number starting with +1

Setting Up a Payment Card

You need a valid US payment card, a number for which can be once again found on the link given above if you do not own one. Or you can just use one of these sample ones from Paypal.

Install the Appstore on Your Device

Now that you have set up your Amazon.com account, you will need to install the Appstore App on your device. You can download the APK from numerous places; opening this URL on your device will download it directly and from there is it simple to install.

Amazon Appstore working on my phone in the UK

Using the Appstore

Open the app and you are up and running and can now download that free app of the day and any other free apps. If you have set up the account with a valid payment card then paid apps will work and you can get those Angry Bird Ad-free apps, or any of those Amazon exclusive apps you’ve been salivating over (just me?). If the card information you entered was just from the random person website or anything else that is not a valid US account, to buy an app you will need to:

• Purchase the app on the Amazon website or on your device – the initial payment will fail
• Visit the Digital Orders Page and you will see your pending purchases
• Choose the option to retry the purchases, this time using your non-US card

The payments will complete and you will be able to purchase paid apps.

Conclusion

So there we go. By following the fairly simple steps above, you too can use the Amazon Appstore outside the US. While I cannot confirm it will work in every country, I can see no reason why it wouldn’t (and it is definitely working here in the UK). I must reiterate that this is against Amazon’s Terms and Conditions, and that we take no responsibility for anything that occurs as a result of you doing this; we are simply showing you how to use the Appstore.