notification

How to set up Find My Friends notifications

Find My Friends, an iOS app aimed at helping friends and family members keep tabs on one another, was updated with the release of iOS 6. Other than some simple user interface changes, there wasn't a whole lot added to the app, with one exception -- notifications.

You can now set notifications to get alerted when a contact in your Find My Friends app arrives at or leaves a location you set.

To set up a notification for a friend, view their current location. In the upper-left corner of your screen, you'll see a button titled "Notify … Read more

Growl update adds OS X Notification Center support

The popular notification management tool Growl has been updated to add full support for Apple's Notification Center in Mountain Lion.

When Apple introduced its notification service in Mountain Lion, its functions directly conflicted with those of the popular Growl software, resulting in duplicate messages being presented for application alerts and other features. While one could temporarily disable Notification Center or quit it altogether if desired, this approach is not an optimal solution.

The Growl developers have just issued a new version of Growl that is compatible with Mountain Lion's Notification Center, so if you would prefer to continue … Read more

How to set up Do Not Disturb on iOS 6

When Apple unveiled iOS 6 last June at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, a new feature called Do Not Disturb was one of the key functions highlighted.

Do Not Disturb, when turned on, will not only completely silence your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, but it will prevent the screen from turning on when an alert is received.

To enable or disable Do Not Disturb (DND), launch Settings, where you'll find a toggle switch. Alerts will then be silenced until you return to Settings and turn DND off. But there's more to it than that. Since you're … Read more

Manage application alerts in OS X

When you receive application alerts in OS X, the system has a couple of ways of notifying you. The first is the classic method in which you hear an audible alert tone followed by seeing the application's icon bouncing in the Dock. The second is the new Notification Center option in Mountain Lion in which the system displays small informational and/or warning banners.

While using Notification Center may reduce the number of classic notification alerts, they still occur quite regularly for various programs in Mountain Lion. Even though these notifications are useful, sometimes their default behaviors are a … Read more

LinkedIn adds Facebook-like alerts

LinkedIn hums along on its promised site redesign, rolling out a notifications stream today that may strike a familiar cord with Facebook users.

The professional networking site adds icons to the top left corner of a user homepage, including a little flag that will feature a red circle if you have any new activity, according to a blog post written by LinkedIn Associate Product Manager Angela Yang.

"Launching today is our new notifications feature, which will keep you notified in real-time when someone likes what you've shared on LinkedIn, views your profile, accepts your invitation, and much more,&… Read more

Facebook gives apps the freedom to notify you directly

If you feel like you've been getting more Facebook notifications than usual, it's because app developers can now contact you directly via the notifications channel, Facebook officially announced to developers today.

The social network has allowed developers to directly contact app users through notifications, which are easily accessible through the little globe icon at the top of the page and the main way most users get updates on their profile activity.

So if your friend has just passed your high score on a game, you could get a notification from a game egging you on to win back … Read more

Fifteen tips and tricks for OS X Mountain Lion you need to know

Whether you have been using Apple's latest operating system for the Mac, OS X Mountain Lion, for a while now, or you are just installing it, you'll benefit from reading through some of the tips below. Some of them are ways to improve on the overall experience, while others will bring back past functionality. Let's get started, shall we?

Preparing your Mac When upgrading the operating system, no matter your platform of choice, it's always a great idea to not go into it blindly. Be prepared, and more importantly, make sure you computer is prepared. Some … Read more

Don't like Mountain Lion's Notification Center? Quit it

Apple's Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion provides a quick way to get messages about various updates, such as new e-mails, calendar events, reminders, and system and application software updates from the App Store. However, regardless of its uses, Apple has somewhat imposed Notification Center on users by making it a persistent service that isn't easily disabled. Since the service does add yet more items to the menu bar and since it does in part directly conflict with current notification options like Growl, some people might wish to turn it off completely.

It is possible to disable … Read more

Four ways to access Mountain Lion's Notification Center

Notification Center is a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that helps you keep all of your important alerts and notifications in one place. The claim of convenience can only be true if it's truly convenient to access and use. Luckily, there are a few different ways to access the tray of notifications hidden under your desktop. Let's take a look at four of them.

Menu bar

The most obvious way is by clicking on the Notification Center icon in the menu bar. You can click the icon to reveal and hide Notification Center. There's nothing … Read more

Add shortcuts to your notification shade on Android

Widgets can make toggling Wi-Fi, GPS, or ringtone volume quick and easy. But what if you want more options to help you skip through app menus or even the Settings area?

1Tap Quick Bar is an app that will let you customize shortcuts to be added to your notification shade. You can also personalize the look and feel of the panel that gets added -- meaning you get to pick all the shortcuts from a huge selection.

Here's a list of popular features from the developer:

Direct dialDirect message1-tap direct Web page launcherApplication shortcutApplication launcherDirect e-mail labelNew event, new … Read more