I’ve been thinking a lot about countdown timers lately, partly because I’m always curious how long it’ll be until the next major holiday (like the debut of Star Wars: Episode IX), and partly because Lifehacker Editor-in-Chief Melissa stumbled across the Progress Bar app and I was curious if there was a cheaper way to accomplish the same thing.

You really have no reason to think about air quality unless there’s a problem. And when there’s a problem, there’s a problem. I live in Northern California, and the tragic Camp Fire has created incredibly unpleasant — if not unsafe — conditions throughout the area.

Mac: When you’re jamming to some background music while browsing the web, getting work done, or chatting with friends, a song might pop up on one of your playlists that you absolutely love. The more this happens throughout the day, the more distracted and disjointed your work is going to feel — and you’ll never be able to focus on studying, making money, or your MMO raid if you’re constantly jumping back to iTunes or Spotify to see what’s playing.

Mac: Even though you probably shouldn’t install a public beta of an operating system on your primary device — your laptop, in this case — go ahead. Give macOS Mojave a try. There are plenty of fun features you can play with, including the operating system’s new dark mode (close to the top of my list).

macOS: We love Bartender, the $21 app that lets you hide menu bar items of your choice. But there's a simpler, cheaper app that does the same thing. Vanilla hides your menu bar items for just $7. And you can try it for free.

Mac: Widgets? Old and busted. Filling your Notification Center full of apps and services? The more stuffed it gets, the less useful it is. At least, I don't like having to scroll up and down through pages' worth of items if I need a quick glance at my most meaningful data.

Mac: Pearl might be the quickest and easiest way to see if your Mac's webcam is working properly, and to check how you look at the same time. It's almost like a mirror for your Mac.

Mac: You've been able to move system icons around on your Mac's menu bar for a long time, but for whatever reason, third-party icons were off limits. Now, in Sierra, that weird limitation is gone.

Mac: If you have a giant screen or you tend to work on multiple desktops, the menu bar on your Mac might feel miles away. MenuMate's a simple app that lets you pull up everything on an app's menu bar with a keyboard shortcut.

Mac: The menu bar is a great place to store tiny bits of information, whether that's weather, a calendar, current IP address, or what's currently playing on Spotify. BitBar allows you to create your own little menu bar information icons, no coding required.

Mac: We've always been fans of Bartender, because it's a great way to clean up your menu bar, hide away items you don't need, and organise your menu bar however you want. Now, a new version adds some improvements, including a keyboard shortcut, search, and El Capitan support.

Android: There are a lot of popular utilities for Android, from task killers, app switchers and beyond. Smartbar combines multiple useful utilities into one simple app and puts them in your menu bar for quick access.

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Mac only: If you have an especially large monitor, multiple monitors or are just used to the Windows way of doing things, free app MenuEverywhere makes the menu bar drop-down menus accessible from any window on the desktop.

Mac only: Multiple monitors do great things for your desktop space, but your menu bar sticks to one screen. If you're looking for more menu access, free utility SecondBar puts one at the top of each monitor.

Windows only: Application launcher CSMenu makes up for the lack of the classic start menu in Windows 7 by creating a menu that looks and works just like the ancient Windows 2000 menu did.

Mac OS X only: Put any web site in your menu bar with the latest version of previously mentioned Fluid, a Mac application that turns any webapp into a standalone desktop application. The video demonstration above shows how to create a MenuExtra with a web-based Twitter client called Hahlo, but as the We Do Blog points out, it works perfectly for mobile versions of sites like Google Reader. Fluid is freeware, Mac OS X only. Howto screencast: Hahlo MenuExtra SSB

Mac OS X only: Funes is a one-purpose app for OS X that just might inspire you to start rating songs and getting creative with smart playlists. That's because it puts a drop-down menu in a Mac's status area that displays the song title and offers those familiar ratings stars to click on. If you're not rating songs through Quicksilver, you probably have to do it (and don't do it) by bringing up the main iTunes window and clicking through to rate the song, and Funes is the low-key (and low-memory) way around that bother. Funes is a free download for Mac OS X only. Screenshot via Fousa.be Funes

Google Documents has seen a good deal of productive-minded change over the last few days, quietly rolling out new interface features and re-designs. The most noticeable is a new Word-like menu bar, which takes up a little space at the top of the browser. Secondly, coloured folders add a corner-of-eye method for separating documents into work flow states or other systems. Finally, document creators can now re-assign and change document permissions back and forth, giving collaborators read, write and ownership abilities. Zoho users, how is Google's latest set of changes starting to look, put up against its (admittedly) more feature-rich competitor? Let's hear it in the comments. New Toolbar and Menus

Linux only: SSHMenu, a free taskbar application, makes Linux life a little easier for those who regularly make one or more SSH connections to remote machines on a regular basis. Once you've added the app's repository and installed, you place the SSH menu button anywhere you'd like on your taskbars, and then click it to pull up shortcuts to your frequently connected clients. The real benefit here is client-specific colouring—you can have your home server terminal pop up blue, for instance, and an important work server with a red background, and you can have the app remember preferred window sizes and positions. SSHMenu is a free download for Linux systems only; hit the link below for help on getting the program set up. SSHMenu