Dan Frakes

Moving an item between two different folders or drives usually involves opening two Finder windows: one for the folder currently hosting the item, the other showing the place to which you want to move the item. (Mac OS X's pop-up folders can help, but they still require that the destination folder, or some folder or drive enclosing it, be visible in the Finder or in the Dock.) Similarly, if you use OS X's Mission Control or Spaces feature, or the full-screen mode of Lion (OS X 10.7), it can be a hassle to move files and content between applications and workspaces.

Source: iTunesBack in January, I reviewed Yoink, a utility that gives you a virtual shelf for temporarily storing content. DragonDrop (Mac App Store link) is a new utility that offers similar functionality, albeit in a package that's simpler but less intrusive.

Accessory vendor Logitech on Thursday announced the company's latest entry in the iPad-keyboard market, the $130 Solar Keyboard Folio for second- and third-generation iPads. A Bluetooth keyboard in a folio-style keyboard case, the Solar Keyboard charges via solar or ambient light, much like Logitech's Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ). Logitech says a fully charged battery can last for up to two years, even in complete darkness, when the keyboard is used for two hours per day.

The Solar Keyboard Folio includes several features that differentiate it from other keyboard folios. For starters, it's considerably thinner than most competitors, but thanks to keys like those in the company's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ), the Solar Keyboard Folio offers a good typing experience. The accessory also provides two prop-up positions, one for typing and the other for watching video or listening to music. In the latter position, which leaves only the bottom row of keys exposed, that row automatically changes to a set of media- and volume-control keys. Finally, in addition to supporting the magnetic sleep/wake feature of second- and third-generation iPad models, closing the folio's cover turns off the keyboard.

Image source: MacAllyI've tested a slew of iPad keyboards, but they've all had one thing in common: They connect to your iPad wirelessly using Bluetooth. MacAlly's $50 iKey30 breaks that streak. This model foregoes Bluetooth in favor of a wired connection, connecting to your iPad via a 33-inch dock-connector cable. The iKey30 also works with the iPhone 3G or later, as well as the second-generation-or-later iPod touch.

Like most of the standalone (non-case) iPad keyboards out there, the iKey30 is a full-size keyboard with standard-size keys. At 12.3 inches wide, 4.6 inches front to back, and just over half an inch thick at its thickest point, it's wider but otherwise smaller than Apple's Wireless Keyboard and the excellent Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iPad and Targus Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad. At 9.8 ounces, it's also one of the lightest iPad keyboards out there, yet it feels fairly solid. The rear of the keyboard is a bit thicker than the front, giving the iKey30 a slight incline, and a pair of flip-out legs in the rear let you raise the back edge an additional quarter of an inch.

Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover. Images from www.logitech.com.As more and more people are using the iPad for quote-real-unquote work, iPad keyboards are becoming popular accessories, offering the tactile advantages of real keys without sacrificing the iPad's portability and touchscreen interface. Back in December, I wrote our iPad keyboards buying guide based on my testing of approximately three dozen keyboards, but a number of new models have been released since then. One of the best is Logitech's $100 Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for the second- and third-generation iPad. Despite its confusing name--no, it's not a cover for your keyboard--the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover (which I'll call the Ultrathin from here on out) is a solid keyboard that mostly makes the right compromises between portability and functionality.

Like most iPad keyboards, the Ultrathin connects using Bluetooth. Just turn it on, open the Bluetooth screen of iOS's Settings app, and tap the keyboard's name when it appears in the list of devices. You'll be prompted to enter (on the keyboard) a four-digit code and press Return. After this one-time pairing process, the keyboard will automatically reconnect to the iPad whenever both are on and in range of each other. (If you ever need to re-pair the keyboard, or pair it to a different iOS device, there's an easy-to-press Bluetooth button next to the keyboard's power switch.) The keyboard charges from any USB port or charger; Logitech claims a fully charged battery will power the keyboard for a whopping six months if you use the keyboard roughly two hours each day.

Whether it's the body of an email message that's been forwarded too many times, or content you've copied from a PDF, sometimes you find yourself with messy content--text that has lots of odd characters and stray line breaks, for example--and you need to make it presentable. Previous Gem TextSoap is perhaps the best of text-cleaning utilities for Mac, but if you don't need all of TextSoap's features and capabilities, "Clean Text (Mac App Store link) does an admirable job for only $10.

[Download Clean Text for the PC]

Have you ever wished you could change the background of OS X Lion's Dashboard or Mission Control features? Or the look of the login screen or LaunchPad? If you browse the tips on Mac OS X Hints, you'll find a bunch of individual hints-most requiring trips to Terminal or digging into system-level folders-for making these kinds of tweaks. But an easier approach is to use Lion Designer.

Like previous Gem Lion Tweaks, Lion Designer consolidates a bunch of Lion-tweaking procedures in a single window, letting you make any of those changes with the click of a button. But whereas Lion Tweaks focuses on changing the way Lion behaves, Lion Designer lets you alter the way the OS looks.

Back in 2009, I reviewed Bluetoggle, a nifty utility that lets you toggle Bluetooth on and off using the keyboard, as well as disable the Bluetooth menu extra to free up a bit of space in your menu bar. The very first comment on that review? "I would love to have this for the Airport menu."

Two and a half years later, Axonic Labs, the developer of Bluetoggle, has obliged--Airtoggle is the AirPort (Wi-Fi) equivalent. Open the Airtoggle System Preferences pane, and you can choose your preferred keyboard shortcut: any function key (F-key) along with any combination of Shift, Control, Option, and Command. I chose Command+F12 on my MacBook Air.

I'm a huge fan of the Instapaper service for saving Web articles for later reading, sans ads and messy formatting and layout. It's great when you don't have time to read a longer article immediately, or when you want to save an article you found on your iPhone so you can later read it on your Mac or iPad's larger screen. Read It Later is a similar popular service. Both are also useful for archiving interesting articles for later browsing or sharing.

A screenshot of Read Later client from iTunes website.But for both services, the best experience for reading your saved articles has been found in iOS apps--specifically, when using the official Instapaper or Read It Later app on an iPad. When sitting at your Mac, you've been limited to reading saved articles via the Instapaper or Read It Later website in your browser. Though each site lets you browse and view the reformatted versions of your saved articles, the experience just isn't as nice as with native app. In addition, neither site offers as many features as its app, with the biggest omissions being the capability to download articles for offline viewing and to search the text of saved articles.

Many reviews of the newly released third-generation iPad have described it as an evolutionary update. In these tellings, Apple's latest tablet mainly improves on what was already good about the previous model by offering a better screen, a better camera, faster cellular data, and faster performance. Many of these reviews come to the conclusion that if you've got a working iPad 2, and it's been serving you well, you don't need to upgrade--you can wait until the next new iPad. Having used the third-generation iPad for several weeks, I'm here to tell you that, depending on what you use your iPad for, those recommendations may be wrong.

More specifically, if you spend a significant amount of time reading on your iPad, find a way to upgrade.

If you’ve been using an iPad—either the original model or an iPad 2—for a while, you’re likely well aware of the myriad accessories out there. But if the new iPad, which ships today, is your first, you may be wondering about the best accessories and add-ons.

On Wednesday, Apple introduced a new version -- the third generation -- of its Apple TV media player, adding support for 1080p video and debuting a major update to the device’s user interface with a number of new software features.

But just as welcome to many Apple TV fans was the announcement that all of the software improvements in the new model are also available immediately to the previous model via Apple TV Software Update 5.0. Which means that if you have a second-generation Apple TV, even though you won’t be able play 1080p video, you’ll gain the rest of the new features of the latest model without spending a cent.

Although Apple's iCloud service debuted last fall, it's only recently that we've started to see applications take advantage of iCloud to keep data synchronized between your Macs. Scrawl (Mac App Store link) is one such program, and this note-taking tool is both simple and useful.

Click Scrawl's pencil icon in your menu bar, and a small list of notes appears, floating over your other applications. Click the New Note (+) button to create a new note, and then type or paste your (text-only) content; you can double-click an existing note to edit it. Scrawl uses Lion's auto-save feature to automatically save any changes you make, and the program uses iCloud to immediately sync those changes to any other Mac or user account configured with the same iCloud account--you've always got the same notes on every Mac. (Note that for iCloud syncing to work, you must enable the Documents & Data option in the iCloud pane of System Preferences.)