While we may think of notifications as something that is primarily for mobile apps, they’re also incredibly useful on full-fledged computers as well. One of the most popular solutions is Growl, a notifications protocol that takes all of the various status updates you get from apps running on your Mac and presents them to you in an attractive way.
New emails, IM conversations or Twitter updates; if an app is trying to get your attention, Growl is its conduit.
Now Growl has taken it to a new level with version 1.3 and for the first time, it’s only available on the Mac App Store, and it’s $1.99. Up until now, Growl has been free.
The Growl team had to update the app for the latest version of Apple’s Mac OS X, Lion. Up until now, the free version of the software has tucked itself away in your System Preferences. Growl now has its own application and preferences window to easily customize all of your system notifications.
New in Growl 1.3
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- History
There is now a history for all notifications you’ve gotten from apps. This is stored on your machine, but you can disable it if you like.
- Notification Rollup
Much like iOS notifications, Growl “rolls up” notifications while you’re away from your computer for easy viewing when you get back.
Other notable updates
- Speech display for hearing your notifications.
- Send Growl notifications from Cocoa or Applescript
- Networking two or more Macs to forward notifications to each other
- Works with the iPhone and iPad via Prowl
Even if you’ve never used Growl before, if you’re an Apple diehard this is a must purchase and essential utility. The $1.99 isn’t a bad pricetag, considering the team is dedicating itself to staying up to date on all of Apple’s OS changes.
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