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Aug 3, 2012 6:00 PM   It's Friday, meaning it's time for the best iPad apps of the week. This week, we're wowing you with a navigational app for boaters, one that will teach you something, and another that will test your knowledge of pop culture. IBM Think : How did we get from the invention of the wheel to the personal computer? It's been a long road, marked by very important developments along the way. Based on IBM's Think exhibit staged in NYC last year, this app maps innovation in a beautifully-designed package. Free Trivia Party : You don't have to go out to the bar for a trivia night. You challenge your friends' cultural know-how anytime with this competitive app. No friends? No problem. Fire up solo mode. Free Intellicast Boating : There are menacing clouds in the sky, but is it still okay to take the boat out for a spin? Captains can be up on the latest forecast with this navigational app, which shows the conditions using NOAA information, advanced...

So Mountain Lion isn't perfect. It's got its flaws. But overall, it's a solid platform, and a lot of the smaller issues that pop up can be fixed with third party apps. Here's how to make everything just to your liking, using non-Apple software. Notifications are terrific in Mountain Lion. But a lot of us have had that same functionality for a while now, with Growl . The problem? They don't play nice together; Notification and Growl banner alerts both show up in the same place by default. So, you've got a few options: Abandon Growl; move Growl's notifications to a different corner of your screen; don't use notifications and only use apps that have Growl support (Sparrow ($10), Adium, etc.); or use Hiss . You'll like that last option. Hiss takes all of your Growl notifications, and converts them into Notifications. The big benefit is that all of your notifications will funnel through the same pipes. The bad news is that Notifications is way less custo...