Earlier we mentioned how to explore the iTunes LP format and how easy it is to peek inside and check out all of the non-Flash, CSS-based awesomeness. But if you happen to be somewhat less geeky, it's pretty likely that your definition of "exploring" iTunes LP is much more focused on playing music, reading liner notes, and checking out custom graphics.

If all you really want to do is check out your growing library of iTunes LPs then there's an easy way to bring them into one single collection. We have covered using Smart Playlists to manage your Library on several occasions. It's also possible to create a Smart Playlist that will list just your iTunes LPs. Just create a new Smart Playlist and set the filter field to "Kind," the operator to "contains" and in the text field type "iTunes LP."

That's all there is to it, and I'm honestly kind of surprised Apple didn't include some form of visualization a la Cover Flow to make it easier to peruse your shiny, new digital LPs. If you've got any Smart Playlists or other iTunes 9-related tips, let us know in the comments -- we'd love to hear from you!

Update: proper attribution to Jay Robinson now added to the image -- a glitch in our CMS caused the error, for which we apologize. - ed.

Well, it's Tuesday, and that often means a software release from Apple. Today, both Mac and Windows users can scarf up a beta copy of Safari 4, with many new and desirable features. Here's a download link for those who are ready to go.

The new browser features:

• Cover Flow -- You can browse through your site history or bookmarks the same way you browse album covers in iTunes
• Top Sites -- look at renderings of your favorite sites, and open any one of them with a single click
• Full History Search -- A clever way to visit sites you have been to in the past. You can type a word or phrase into the history search field and you'll get a cover flow view of sites that match your criteria
• Nitro Engine -- Apple claims JavaScript now executes 30 times faster than IE7 and 3 times faster than Firefox
  
• Tabs on Top -- Allows Safari to have multiple pages open at the same time in a single browser window, and to switch back and forth with a click. The new Safari beta gives you more room at the top of the sceen when in tabbed mode.
  
• Windows Native Look and Feel -- The Windows Safari 4 beta more closely matches the look of other Windows applications and gives access to standard Windows fonts; Apple claims the same performance boost on Windows as in the Mac version

Other features include Full Page Zoom, a 'smart' address field, a 'smart' search field, and more robust phishing and malware protection.

Safari 4 beta also includes some improved developer tools. Details on those options can be found here.

The TUAW team is installing the new beta now, and will have some thoughts & impressions later today. Go get it!

Here's a look at Safari on Windows (from Download Squad)

Gedeon Maheux has an post about how an icon is designed from the aptly-named Iconfactory (specifically the Frenzic app icon), and while I don't have any design skills to speak of at all, it's an interesting look into how those little snippets of art are made.

Icons are increasingly important, especially on the iPhone and OSX, as Apple leverages icons more and more in their interfaces, from the Dock to CoverFlow to the iPhone's home screen. He sounds a little sheepish that they obsess over icons, but why shouldn't they -- every time you decide whether or not to buy or use an app (some might say the most important part of an application's lifeline), you're likely looking right at the icon.

There are a few things to take away here: they designed the icon not by itself, but right alongside all the other icons on an average iPhone screen -- in context, where people would see it. And they walked a thin line: while they wanted it to stand out as something you'd chose even among the apps you've already purchased, they didn't want it to be so bright or flashy that it broke the UI. Truth be told, Frenzic's icon still looks a little bright to me, but the lesson is good: the UI comes first.

Ged closes with a sentiment I've agreed with for a while: while there's a disturbing trend of adding "On Sale" or "New!" to icons in the App Store (not to call anyone out, but ahem) that doesn't serve the developers or their customers. An icon, just like your app, should be subtle and simple and beautiful. After all, isn't that why we're all using Macs in the first place?

The rumors were true on this one, too -- there's a new iPod nano in town, and it's sporting that long, thin, somewhat rounded design that we've seen early on. There's a new widescreen that can be turned horizontally (thanks to a new built-in accelerometer, you can also "shake to shuffle"), and in that mode, it offers a Coverflow-style interface. Features like a stopwatch and even a Voice Recorder (with mic, presumably purchased separately) are available, and the battery life has been slightly updated: you can have 24 hours of music, or four hours of video.

The new models are available in blue, purple, orange, green, or pink, and the 8gb version is available right now at Apple stores for $149, with the 16gb version available for $199 as soon as next week. Headphones are sold separately for $29 next month, with an in-ear version available for $79, and both, we're told, include the clicker from the iPhone, where there's a small button you can click or double click to skip songs.

Stay tuned for more on the new nano later today, and keep with the TUAW liveblog of Apple's Let's Rock event for more new products and news.

Objective Decision released a free update to their oddly-named flagship product Contactizer. A powerful, Sync Services-savvy personal information manager (PIM) application, Contactizer 3.6 comes in Pro and Express flavors depending on your needs.

I used an earlier version of Contactizer last year and was impressed with its power, although I did run into issues with how it synced with iCal and Address Book. One of the best features from my viewpoint was the ability to track tasks throughout an entire project using the Project Manager mode (see screenshot above). Contactizer also did a great job of handling mail merges, and I found the way that it integrated email information into my contact list to be very helpful.

The update includes a Leopard-only Cover Flow mode that displays contacts as business cards, an improved sync system that works with multiple calendars, a quick entry panel for tasks, and a number of other user interface improvements.

Contactizer is a Universal Binary application which requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or better. You can download a 30-day free trial, or purchase Contactizer Pro for $119 (Express is $59.90).

[via Macworld]

Continuing with yesterdays obsession with Cover Flow, here is something that you might not have known existed in Leopard. You can browse iCal events with Cover Flow right inside a finder window. All you have to do is open Spotlight up by clicking its icon in the top right corner of the screen (or pressing command + spacebar). Then type kind:ical into a new Spotlight search, and click "Show All." Your results will now be shown in a new Finder window.

Activate cover flow by going to View > Cover Flow (or press command + 4). When you find the event you want, you can double click its icon to open it in iCal.app.


[via Macworld]

Fluid, the site-specific browser we've featured before, has added a sweet new feature: Cover Flow for sites like Google, Digg, Flickr and more.

In case you haven't given it a shot yet, Fluid allows you to create mini-browsers that are specific to a site – such as GMail, for example – giving you an icon in the Dock and quick access to your most-used pages. Fluid's author, Todd Ditchendorf, has made a short video that – with an entertaining musical score – shows the usage of the new Cover Flow feature, as well as showing some basic tricks for making the most of Fluid. Fluid is free, so check it out and make your site-specific browsing experience that much cooler.

Some enterprising iPhone developer named Erica Sadun (we hear she blogs for a fly-by-night Mac site) has been tinkering around with CoverFlow on the iPhone for a book she's writing, and while the result of my doing the same tinkering would be nothing but a broken iPhone, she instead pulls off the opposite: an enhanced iPhone.

AppFlow is a CoverFlow-style interface for launching iPhone apps and icons. You just install the app on your jailbroken iPhone, and then launching your favorite app is as simple as flipping to the icon and double-tapping. Webclips, we're told, are launched a completely different way, and thus not included in the flipping. But "maybe in a later update," our inside source told TUAW exclusively.

If this is the kind of stuff we're getting from Sadun before the SDK drops, just think what we'll see after. The woman's a genius. And it's almost surprising that Apple didn't think of this in the first place -- if it works in Leopard, and it works in the iPod of the iPhone, why didn't they give us the option to flip through apps in this way?

Update: AppFlow has been incorporated into XLaunch and now supports Webclips

I'm sure I'm not alone on this one, but I remember when CoverFlow was basically just a tech demo, and not, you know, the centerpiece of OS X's UI. But of course when Apple picked up the little app to use it for everything else, we lost it -- even if you wanted to use the old simple album-browsing app (and now I'm actually regretting deleting it off of my old PowerBook), you're out of luck.

Unless you use Cover Stream, an iTunes helper app that recreates the old CoverFlow interface outside of iTunes. It's even incorporated the "flip-browsing" that you can do on the iPhone, where you just flip the art over to choose a specific track to play. As for how it actually works with iTunes, we can't say, but at least that CoverFlow interface is still available unofficially.

By the way, I'm planning on doing a roundup (similar to the alarm clock one) of iTunes helper apps like this, so if there are any you want to see included, drop a note here in the comments. I have a few in mind already, but suggestions are welcome.

[Via MacMinute]

Scott Stevenson has taken another look at a program I am pretty much drooling over at this point-- Delicious Library 2. Earlier, he walked us through the overview of all the items in your library, and this time, he goes a little more in depth on what the app can tell you about each item that you own.

First off, everything is Quicklook-capable and can be viewed in CoverFlow, which is awesome. You can thumb through your books just with a few keystrokes. You can share your library via .Mac and Bonjour, which means while using Wi-Fi at Barnes and Noble, you can actually get book recommendations from anyone else on the network with you.

Finally, Scott reveals a strange but interesting new feature. Apparently, in its pre-release incarnation, you can also track tools. That's right-- the screenshot above is not Photoshopped (not by us, at least). Scott even suggests there might be other possessions to track, but we'll have to wait for the official release to see just what the Delicious team have cooked up.

There are dozens of little niceties in Leopard: like how Front Row now lives on my iBook (sans remote) and allows me to operate the thing as a sort of thin-client media jukebox (courtesy a Mac mini server). Or how Font Book now prints books of your fonts (especially nice for those non-techies). With the 300+ new features, I still have yet to fully explore this thing, but I'm certainly starting to believe this is the Mac OS Apple really wanted to deliver a few years back. There's no doubt in my mind this is a big turning point for the platform, and I really believe user adoption in 2008 will be unprecedented as a result.

Following is a list of features and specific "cool things" I think you can point out if you are trying to explain to a friend why they should upgrade.

For the record, I installed Leopard on a 1.24 GHz iBook G4, and it runs beautifully, which in itself is a selling point.

1. Finally, a Record button for your actions
Automator now has a UI recorder. Anyone who remembers the good old days of macro recorders before OS 8 will look at this and sigh, but I, for one, welcome my new robot overlord. Automator is finally useful for mortals with UI recording. Oh sure, it isn't perfect, but it really beats trying to explain just the concept of Automator to the average human. Never mind the metaphors and the workflow within Automator itself -- eyes will glaze over. UI recording is absolute heaven when you do a lot of drudge work, like contracts, filling, prepping photos, etc.

2. Mail gets GTD fever
If power users turn up their noses at Stationary in Mail, point out how they can now put their notes, to-do's and RSS into Mail. I haven't really set all this up as I'd like yet (the iBook isn't my primary work machine), but my unfettered hatred of Mail.app is somewhat lessened now by the fact that it is starting to behave like a "real" email client. The notes and to-do's are icing on the cake, but also very important if you like to get things done and stay organized. A few smart folders and you have a truly powerful system. Still, it is disappointing to see Apple take half a decade to figure out the whole "archive mailbox" thing, but pobody's nerfect I guess.

3. Web clipping makes Dashboard relevant again
My wife quit using Dashboard long ago. It simply served no purpose for her. But web clipping, baked right in to Safari? That had her mildly interested. Tracking the top 3 Twitters, or whatever the top story on Perez or TMZ happens to be with a keystroke is a selling point for folks who aren't using RSS. The only downside is that you need a pretty big screen if you want more than a couple of pages to appear.

4. Shared drives finally "just work" and Shared Screens work with other OS'es
Granted, there have been issues with networking in Leopard, but seeing shared Macs in my sidebar? That's pretty sweet. In previous versions of OS X you had to click on Network, now it just shows up. Is a few clicks a big deal? Well, for the average user, yes, this is a big deal. The average user doesn't like to explore. They can be timid, and frankly, don't necessarily know (or care) what the Network thing even is. Displaying networked components directly in Finder will greatly increase the probability that users will at least see everything. It has already saved me time when trying to reconnect and move things around my home LAN. For me, the real fun was seeing how VNC "just worked" when I was able to access my Mac mini (which was already running as a VNC server) via Screen Sharing. Even though the mini runs Tiger, and despite a slightly wonky connection, overall it was super easy to set-up. Think about it another way: average users don't want to run a third-party application like Chicken of the VNC. Average users don't necessarily trust those apps (thank you, Bonzi Buddy) and it is a lot easier to remotely control a machine if the functionality is built into the OS. Oh, and did I mention you can share screens with Linux? I finally have a use for that old Dell laptop and my Ubuntu CD!

Feature: Cover Flow in the Finder.

How it works: Just like album Cover Flow in iTunes, Leopard brings the side-scrolling view to the Finder, allowing your "flip" through your files and see live previews (including paging through mutli-page documents and playing movies).

Who will use it: Everyone at one time or another. When I first heard of Cover Flow in the Finder, like Matt Neuburg, it seemed like pointless eye candy. But like him I'm beginning to think otherwise. Cover Flow makes quickly flipping through a bunch of files to look for something much easier. This becomes particularly important when you're looking through folders you're not that familiar with. So even if you're more inclined to keep the Finder in a conventional view, Cover Flow will still probably come in handy on occasion.

iTunes has an update for the new iPod Classic and the new Nanos, and while the update doesn't have a description at all, MacRumors sez:

• Improved CoverFlow
• Quicker menus
• And the much awaited video out fix, among a few other interface tweaks

Apparently there's a new option that will "Ask" users to output video when a compatible cable is connected. And some people say that the calendar and contacts will synch better as well, although I have the same reservations I have whenever I hear about unlisted feature updates -- if Apple did make it better, why didn't they want to tell us? Wouldn't they want us to know the iPod works better than ever?

At any rate, if you think it works better, then more power to you-- enjoy your updated iPod. As always, the update can be grabbed by connecting up your Classic or Nano to iTunes and hitting "Check for Updates."

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Apple Insider's got the latest on yet another Apple patent application, this one for not just touch sensitive screens, but for pressure sensitive touchscreens. Right now, the iPhone can tell where you're touching it, but not how hard you're pressing on it. The device described in the patent could do just that, and use the force information "for purposes of providing command and control signals to an associated electronic device."

Pretty interesting. I can't think of a great use for it besides the one Wacom and other high-end input tablets already use (the harder you press, the darker mark you can make with a virtual pencil), but then again, I'm not an award-winning user interface designer (just a pretty average user interface user). Who knows what Apple could come up with using an interface like this-- maybe flip through CoverFlow albums front-to-back as well as horizontally?

Of course, like all patents, as AI notes, Apple has no obligation to actually use this design in any of their products. But just in case you needed any more hints that they're not walking away from a touchscreen interface anytime soon, here you go.

With Apple emphasizing Cover Flow more and more in the new iPods, etc., the need for good quality album art is ever increasing. I know iTunes is supposed to grab art for songs that are in your library and the iTunes Store, but in my experience it hasn't worked that well.

Fortunately, Josh Powell has cooked up a nice little site called Josh's iTunes Album Art Grabber that lets you search the iTunes album art repository and download high quality jpgs from Apple's servers. In my brief test (with Springsteen albums), most of the cover art came back as 600 x 600px. However, some albums featured art up to 1425 x 1425 or higher.

The search engine is rather strict ("White Stripes" returned nothing, it had to be "The White Stripes"), but this looks like an excellent resource for filling in holes in your collection.

[via Digg]