Mail.app users with Hotmail or Yahoo Mail accounts have long had to use third-party plugins to get hold of their emails.

MacFreePOPs is one such utility that is already Lion-compatible and supports an astonishing range of web-based mail servers, offering POP-like access to your accounts.

Another plugin, mBox Mail , is just for Hotmail users and claims to offer a more “IMAP-like” experience.

It allows mail.app (or any other IMAP-enabled mail client like Thunderbird or Entourage/Outlook) to access Hotmail messages and folders, syncs trash between your mail client and the server and also syncs up drafts, sent mail and message flags.

A patch to make the app Lion-friendly has just been released.

Unlike MacFreePOPs which is donation-ware, an mBox Mail licence costs USD 19.99, although a 30 day free trial is available to try it out first.

I ought to confess that (contrary to my usual commitment) I haven’t tested this out first to see how well it works.

Lion’s mail.app animates its windows. When you open a new message or reply to an existing one, the window “zooms out” to greet you.

I can hardly see this on my 27″ iMac, but it is noticable on my MacBook.

If you dislike this kind of frippery, or would simply rather turn the animation off and get to your messages more quickly, a Terminal command can get you there.

Open up Terminal and type in:

defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool YES

If you change your mind it’s easy to go back again. Just open up the Terminal again, and type:

defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool NO

What could be easier?

Via: Cult of Mac (via: MacOSXDaily )

One of the unpleasant surprises in Lion (for me) was the new look given to iCal and Address Book. What were they thinking?

Luckily, lots of other people feel the same way, and it didn’t long for hacks to appear which return them to their pristine, pre-Lion state.

Two for iCal, in particular, caught my eye.

First, a tweak to remove the torn page (how twee!) from the top of iCal.

Following the instructions provided makes for a slightly cleaner-looking interface:

If that’s not minimalist enough for you, a second tweak takes the interface all the way back to familiar aluminium:

Both posts provide the images required, clear instructions for the tweak and for returning things to their original state if you change your mind. Nice.

The new look Address Book is harder to unravel, but one tweak offers at least to replace the leather cover with an aluminum one.