The Leaderboard

Menu Bar Apps do one thing very well, they're a click away, and always on. For many of us they've become an essential part of the Mac. Here are some useful ones that launched in the past few months:

🙇 Look Up helps you relax by blurring your screen for short breaks
💾 Pastebot is a clipboard manager from the creators of TweetBot
🛡 AppLocker lets you password protect individual apps on your Mac
🎩 Arthur helps you easily change those hidden OS X settings
🌃 NightTone makes your screen more comfortable (like f.lux)
🌐 SmartApp keeps track of your 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, and roaming usage

For more, follow the Mac Menu Bar Apps topic on Product Hunt, and if you find yourself with a crowded bar, Bartender can help with that. 😊

Apple showed real courage yesterday getting rid of the dated 20th century technology that made listening to music as easy as plugging headphones into a 3.5 mm jack. 

With the launch of the iPhone 7 and 7+ Apple made some nice upgrades, like DSLR quality photos and resistance to accidental contact with toilet water. But the real breakthrough was removing the headphone jack.

Without that 3.5 mm 🕳 the iPhone 6s & iPhone 7 are basically the same device, except the latter comes in two new colors: Jet Black, and Black.

Plug yourself into the future with Apple Plug.

The leaks and rumors leading up to today's Apple Event suggest that the iPhone 7 will look similar to the current design and sport a dual-lens camera system that will create DSLR quality images. It may also be waterproof, and come with a white rose to mourn the loss of the 3.5mm headphone jack.

In other news... Some of the coolest  products are not made by Apple:

👻 "Okay, this is literally the coolest present of all time."—Evan Spiegel on Uncover

🍏 "There are no word to describe the joy and happiness these little green jewels bring to your life."—Amazon review on Apple Jolly Ranchers

🔋 "Putting the battery in the wallet is very smart idea"—Maxence on Wallet for iPhone

🔌 "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LI-I-IFE?"—Nik Sharma, on Rihanna's reaction when seeing this product

Today is Fight Procrastination Day (really), a day that we celebrate by getting 💩 done.

Now, procrastination (and #HashtagDays) may be the bane of our existence, but we have the technology to combat our natural inclination to put things off with these:

🏃 Escape tracks all your unnecessary trips to distracting websites
🎩 Jarvis is a Messenger bot that reminds you to get stuff done
🙇 One Big Thing makes sure you'll focus on your biggest task 
📻 Radio Silence blocks apps that make unwanted network connections
👥 HazeOver dims your background windows so you focus on one task at a time

Also, today is the day to test out Go F🙈cking Work.

Happy Labor Day, if you're in the United States. For everyone else, happy Monday! As summer comes to an end, it's time to celebrate this summer's most loved products:

• Copper: A dream for developers who want seamless signups
• Lacona: Command your Mac using natural language
• Google Fonts: The best place to find your favorite font
• Sans Francisco: An incredible resources for designers (*bookmark*)
• Dropbox Paper: This Evernote competitor is a beauty
• Prisma: Since launch, this magical app has been downloaded by millions

For more, check out our new Medium post on the 44 Most-Loved Products Launched This Summer. 🚀

The last few days of Burning Man are upon us. For those of us who aren't attending, let's reflect on all the things we're (not) missing out on.

At Burning Man you have to RIDE bicycles, our bikes are self-driving.

The Burning Man porta potties don't come with Squatty Potties.

There are no levitating plants at Burning Man. (how do they survive?)

There are no "Smart Tents in a Box" for Burning Man. (opportunity)

At Burning Man you make yourself visible with neon lights. IRL safety Life Paint is what it's all about.

At Burning Man there is no need for this collection of life saving products.

It was always going to be too soon, but we knew this day would come. Today is the day Sunrise is officially shutting down. 

But not to worry, there are lots alternatives, including this one and this one that are launching today (nice timing). 😊

• Google Calendar's redesigned app looks is fantastic
• Fantastical seems to be the most recommended alternative to Sunrise
• Plan brings you task list & calendar into one place (well designed)
• Timepage is a smart calendar that integrates with your favorite apps
• PH Calendar is like a time machine for Product Hunt

The Sunrise team will now be using their calendar-making wizardry to integrate the best of Sunrise into Microsoft Outlook. Give it a try!

Text, email, and tweet to make stuff happen. Apps without an interface are on the rise. Some useful ones:

☎️ Call Frank every night to record feedback on your day
🤖 Taylor is your personal travel assistant that tells you where to go
💰 Digit is an SMS bot that monitors your bank account
👔 Peter is your AI-based business lawyer
💬 Assist brings your favorite services directly to your messaging app
💌 The Simple Postcard lets you text a photo to mail it as a postcard

For more Invisible Apps check out the full collection on Product Hunt.

Last night at the MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears performed and Beyoncé brought down the house. Bruno Mars did not attend, as he was performing at Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's Italy wedding the night prior (Mark Zuckerberg attended as well). #Congrats 🎉

...Speaking of Spotify, mix up your tunes this week with some of the best integrations around:

• Parallel lets you listen to music with remote friends in real-time
• Spotify Party is Spotify's curated playlists service, tuned by you
• iPod for Spotify lets you stream music without your phone
• Slackbox is a Spotify playlist integration through Slack
• Playlist Machinery helps you create & organize your Spotify playlists

Also, happy Monday! Have you listened to your Spotify Discovery Weekly yet?