MacHeist, purveyors of the popular MacHeist Bundle, have a smaller yet sweeter deal available for today (Thursday, Nov. 12th) only: six applications available free of charge when you register with their site.

The applications are:

• Shovebox by Wonder Warp Software, an app for quickly storing “text, images, URLs, and more.”
• Write Room by Hog Bay Software, a full-screen writing application designed to reduce distractions.
• Twitteriffic by IconFactory, the premium (ad-free) version of the popular Twitter client.
• TinyGrab, a screenshot utility.
• Hordes of Orcs by Freeverse Software, a tower defense game.
• Mariner Write by Mariner Software, a word processor with the ability to open Word documents.

As of this writing, the applications are free for the next 5 hours, which puts the expiration at about 11pm, EST.

Download the MacHeist nano bundle.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This week’s show is a bit abbreviated, but still full of reviews, free apps, and who knows what else? We’re also giving away some iPhone cases with headphones from Dermis. But I’m sure you knew all of this already if you subscribed in iTunes to the Appletellcast. This would mean you just came here to check the show notes, which is also a good idea. Here they are.

• Appletell Reviews IPEVO TR-10i
• Appletell Reviews NeatReceipts for Mac
• Appletell giveaway: iPhone 3G skins and headphones from Dermis
• Free Apps Roundup for March 27th, 2009

If you subscribe to the Podcast, the new episode will be automatically delivered to your iTunes account. If you’re not subscribed and can’t see it in iTunes, you can instead download Appletellcast directly.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

As I am writing this, the MacHeist 3 Bundle is about to be revealed. Last year, many were disappointed with the MacHeist bundle, as it had many apps that had been seen in the previous year, and no really spectacular app. This year, that was acknowledged, and a much better bundle has been promised.

Right off the bat, Eventbox is free just for showing up at the live unveiling. It will likely be added to your loot even if you didn’t tune in, but that’s another maybe. At a $12, it’s already a $12 savings. Great way to begin the night.

After a bit of a late start (what’s 10 minutes among friends?), Lisa, Veronica, and Chris chatted for a bit, went totally dark for an antagonizing minute, then introduced the first app: iSale. Not terribly impressive, as if you don’t use eBay, it’s useless. But it’s the first app, and I have a feeling we’re only going up from here. iSale is a $40 value.

Next up? The Apple Design Award winning Picturesque. Picturesque is an image-enhancer. You can get those Apple-style perspective/reflection images, put shadows, strokes, and more. Great for desktop publishing, it’s a much easier way than Photoshop, worth $35. It’s getting excited!

Now they announce that the first 25,000 buyers of the Bundle will get Big Bang Board Games for free. For those who didn’t get it free with their Mac, this is a great extra, and worth $25.

Sous Chef is the next app in the list. Though of no use if you don’t cook, it’s a great, and very pretty way to keep your recipes organized and share them with friends. Sous Chef is a $30 value.

Now we get a game! World of Goo is a physics based puzzle and construction game in which you drag live globs of Goo to build bridges and towers and other things to get them to safety. It actually looks really cool. This is one I’m excited about. Plus, it’s valued at $20.

And now, PhoneView. PhoneView provides desktop access to the content on your iPhone, a disk mode to store files on your iPhone or iPod touch, and much more than probably should be included in iTunes. It’s priced at $20 as well.

Next up is LittleSnapper, a brilliant screenshot app, much like Skitch, that has integration to their own web service, FTP, Flickr, etc. If you’ve ever wanted to scribble on your desktop, now you can. (It has more useful uses as well.) A great app, which would normally cost $39.

Acorn is the next app on the agenda. It’s another image editor, so it’s questionable given how Picturesque is already part of the bundle. To be fair, Acorn is more about touching up a photo, whereas Picturesque is about stylizing them. Still, a bit of a stretch. It costs $50 normally.

Still no huge apps at this point, but the next app is Kinemac, a $300 app. That’s exciting in and of itself. Kinemac is a 3D real-time animation and presentation software, with the simplicity of a 2D tool. It’s like Motion, but not confusing as all-get-out. The only problem with Kinemac? I have a feeling it’ll drive up the bundle price. Once again, it retails for $300. Wow.

Now we’re getting to the unlocks. These are the apps that are part of the bundle only after a certain amount of bundles are purchased. After $100,000 is raised for charity, Wiretap Studio will be unlocked. Wiretap can record any combination of audio feeds together at once. It’s pretty cool, but definitely not an exciting app. It retails for $70.

Three more apps to go now, and the next app is available as an unlock (the required charity level wasn’t mentioned.) It’s BoinxTV, a fantastic app that turns any recent Mac into a live TV studio, allowing you to add lower thirds, cut between cameras, and much much more all live. It retails for $199 normally. Now that is exciting.

The Hit List is the next app, part of the “Mega Unlock” where two apps are unlocked at a certain charity level. The Hit List is a GTD app to organize tasks in your life. With a simple and easy to use design, it might just be the To-Do app I’ve never been able to find. We’ll see. The Hit list retails for $50.

The other half of the “Mega Unlock” is Espresso, a web development app that combines editing, real-time previewing, and publishing in one window. It has a sleek UI and intuitive interface, and it retails for $60.

All together, these apps cost about $900, according to Chris Pirillo’s math. Chris asks us how much we’d expect to pay? $500? $250? No? $100? Still high? $50. Okay. $50. That’s it, right? What? Lower?! What’s a good price then? $39!

That’s right. $900 worth of software, including Live TV software, 3D animation software, and much more. For $39. Plus, if you’ve been doing all the heists, you have an $8.00 bundle discount. That means, for $31, you can have $900 worth of software. My writing skills are going out the window as I scramble to add money to my PayPal account.

Check out and buy the bundle at MacHeist.com!

Full Story » | Written by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Fresh is a brand new application for OS X that is essentially a file management tool. What it does is take every file that you have interacted with, and shows it in a list. If you edit a Word file, download a file, save an e-mail attachment, take a screenshot, etc., it will show up, newest first, in Fresh’s top green “Recently Created” panel. In everyday computer use, this isn’t much help. But when you’re working on a project, it can be a huge time saver. All of your recently used files will show up in the Fresh window. If they apply to your project, you can drag them down to the “Cooler,” a second window that contains files you choose.

The huge advantage to Fresh over using the Finder is that it is extremely out of the way. When not the main application, Fresh shows a small translucent black tab on the side of your screen that you can drag things to. I decided to drag this down and into the corner of my screen, so now, when I click in the bottom right hand corner of my screen, up pops Fresh. If I’m working on a website, I can have Fresh pop up with all the screenshots, PSDs, HTML files, and CSS files I’ve recently used, plus anything else I’ve put into the cooler. As soon as I choose a file, Fresh is gone, out of my way.

I think I like the description Fresh’s developers give most: “The ‘Cooler’ on the bottom is a like a shelf where you can put things for storage. [... It is] sort of like your desktop—with two important distinctions. One is that the files listed in the cooler can be anywhere on your computer. The other is that this cooler features an ‘autoclean’ function—it automatically throws out items that overflow. This means that you don’t have to worry about cluttering up the cooler with too many items.”

Fresh’s last big feature is the ability to tag files and search through by tag, though the search feature only searches tags, and not file titles. There’s really only one other thing I don’t like about Fresh; it runs with an icon in the dock, something I feel an application like this shouldn’t do. I would prefer options for a menu bar item or nothing at all.

A file organizer that I don’t have to maintain, that doesn’t get in my way, and that has all the files I need without any setup. I’m sold! Fresh costs $9 USD, but is currently (as of Thursday, Feb. 19th) available for free when you do the latest nanoMission on MacHeist.

Product [Fresh]

Full Story » | Written by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Product: Cataloging software
Format: Download
Developer: Delicious Monster
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5
Price: $40
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 2.7

Delicious Library is the app that started the Delicious Generation, or recognition of the importance of the GUI among software developers. It takes cataloging your collections of stuff and makes it easy, fun and beautiful with its amazing user interface. It will keep track of your music, movies, books, games, toys, electronics, tools, and clothing. Soon, you’ll be scanning and cataloging your entire collection of stuff while loosing track of time as the hours pass by.

Sadly, Delicious Monster is not a 100 pound fried chicken. According to Wikipedia, “The company’s name is based on the name of a plant that grows in the rainforests of tropical America, Monstera deliciosa. It is colloquially known as the Swiss cheese plant.”  While you can’t eat it, you can take consolation in the fact that Delicious Library makes the most visually delicious application available for the Mac.

Delicious Library is all about making a record of your collections, and doing it in style.  Its scanning technologies make this task simple and fun. You can either purchase the bluetooth scanner and make Wil Shipley mad (more on this later), or you can use the built in iSight on your Mac in a similar fashion. I think Delicious Monster really describes this whole process beautifully.

“Wait, I just hold a CD or DVD or video game or book or whatever up to my webcam, and it magically reads the UPC and downloads that item’s cover and all pertinent information about it, and displays all my stuff on photorealistic shelves? I’ll take it! Right now! This is why I bought a computer in the first place!”

Ok, so maybe you didn’t buy a Mac just to keep a record of your huge DVD collection, but it is a great use of your Mac.

Delicious Library attempts to identify your products based on the barcode scanned.  It takes this barcode and checks for product information on Amazon.  If it finds the item, all of the details are filled in, saving you tons of time.  Plus, it will give you product reviews and recommendations straight from Amazon.  So, truthfully, you can automatically add anything to your library that is available for purchase on Amazon. If you can’t scan your possession, you can do a keyword search for it. If it’s not on Amazon, you’re not completely out of luck, it will just be a more involved process. You’ll have to enter in all of the information by hand, and take a picture of it too.

I think most users have a desire for an increased database of items for DL to reference from. But the fact is that the developer is not interested in an application that doesn’t work the way it’s intended At the current time, other databases are just not acceptable to Delicious Monster. Maybe in the future, but who knows?

If you purchase Delicious Library mainly for insurance purposes, then you’ll definitely want to go through the process of manually adding everything you own. And it’s really a good idea to do this even if you don’t need the insurance record. I know I could have used this record on my iPhone the last time I went shopping. I honestly couldn’t remember what colors and patterns of ties I already own, and almost bought the same one twice. If I had the record in my pocket, I wouldn’t have had to guess.

And the process of adding items to your Library is actually quite an enjoyable experience (as long as you’re just scanning). I had completely forgotten about numerous movies and games in my collection, and it’s likely I’ll be watching and playing some of those again soon.

I got a chance to talk with Wil Shipley about DL and he mentioned that several things were in the works. There are a few apps coming to the iPhone that will integrate with the desktop application. The obvious app is the one that will allow you to access your library from an iPhone, and I cannot wait for this app to become available. You’ll be able to carry your entire Library and interact with it. I’ve played with the app and it’s very nice. One of the other apps that will hopefully be coming out, code willing, attempts to replace the bluetooth scanner with the camera on the iPhone. There’s a story here, and I’ve just got to tell it.

While I was talking with Wil, we came on to the topic of the bluetooth scanners. Apparently, Wil hates selling the things. He doesn’t really want you to buy them, largely because Delicious Monster doesn’t make them. Huh? Well, you see, a problem with a scanner is not really a problem with Delicious Monster/Library, but a user might view it that way. Hopefully we’ll have that iPhone app soon that will use the iPhone to scan barcodes, just like the iSight, only wirelessly. Then everyone can be happy, even Wil (not that he’s not happy…he’s a happy guy).

Personally, I was hoping that these apps would be consolidated into one app. I have too many apps as it is on my iPhone, so having one DL app instead of two or three sounds great to me. I’m not sure if it’s a performance concern or a personal choice, but I really wish these were going to be part of the same app.

I’m not entirely sure on the details of the scanning app for the iPhone, but how great would it be if you could also use it to take pictures of your items. The whole point here is to scan your stuff that’s not close to your computer. So to me it makes perfect sense for you to scan or search for the product, and then immediately take a picture of it for your records. Then later, when you’re at your computer, you could enter in any more information that is required. In my idea, the picture wouldn’t necessarily need to be displayed as the product picture on your digital shelves, but it could be useful to store it for records.

Now, up to this point you might think that Delicious Library is absolutely wonderful and flawless. Well, it’s close. There are only a few problems that I have with it. First, the background detection of product pictures is less than optimal. Throw an iAnything at it and the white plastic against a white background will give you garbage almost every time. It’s not really the app’s fault, but it looks bad. And with an application that’s marketing its own beauty, that’s a problem. Thankfully, when I talked to Wil, he said that he’s working on allowing users to select the “polaroid” option (as seen in the Apparel section) for other sections like gadgets, toys, etc. I like this idea, and maybe it could even be improved. How about having a few picture frame-like options for your product pictures? That way they could still go on a shelf. Perhaps even make them customizable!

The only other problem here is that the digital collection looks better than my real collection. Now I need to spend time and money buying wooden book shelves and organizing my stuff so that my real life can stay consistent with my digital life. Or I could just hide it…say, under the bed.

If you have a sizable collection of movies, games, books, clothes or anything really, then this is a must have app for you. It becomes even more useful with it’s tracking features if you lend out your stuff. You’ll also have a record for taxes, which is useful. Just be sure to back it up elsewhere, like in the cloud. One way to do that is to use the webpage feature and make a website. Plus, this has the added benefit of making it even easier for you to push your totally ginormous collection of stuff in your friends’ faces.

Don’t believe me? Take Delicious Library 2 for a spin on your own machine. You can download the app and test it out for free before deciding to buy.

By the way…make sure you add at least one Star Wars movie to your Library…just trust me.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Things is a very easy-to-use task management tool that helps us approach the GTD (Getting Things Done) philosophy proposed by David Allen. The concept is very simple, and the application is neat, clean and powerful.

The idea behind this article is not to explain or detail every single feature of the application, but instead, to share my personal experience using it and giving one more try to the art of organizing every activity I’m in charge of.

What is GTD

I think one of the really important things you need to know is a little bit about GTD is and what it stands for. This is not a simple To Do application, and you won’t be able to take full advantage of the software if you don’t bother getting a little background first on the ideas behind Things for Mac.

If you start putting down some tasks with no general sense of where they go or how you should organize them, it’s very likely you will end up doing some unnecessary work or sub-utilizing the software.  If I could give you some advice on how to do it, I’ll say:

1. googling GTD
2. watching the Things screencast
3. organize your ideas, tasks and activities according to that new info (hint: concepts over priorities now).

This will be one of those time investments that really pays off at the end. Believe me, I did it the other way and I paid the price.

Features

Of all the features you get in Things, there are a few I find pretty special. Even if they could be perceived as regular features for some, to me they’ve been the key in making this application an indispensable tool of my day.

The Focus area is very important. Here, you realize that Cultured Code knows exactly which is the difference between a regular To Do app and a full-featured GTD app. Each category of this area has a specific function, meant to help you organize tasks according to their nature or final goal.

Being able to understand the difference between Projects and Areas is another key factor in the road to the correct use of Things. Projects are meant to be finished; you have to mark as a project any group of activities which belong to a main concept that will end in time.  You can use this category to group the tasks for your thesis, a paper you need to prepare and introduce next week, etc.

Areas is meant to be used for those activities on which you’re constantly working, like writing new articles for Appletell, updating your blog, or making your company succeed.  Every activity in your life will end eventually, but the ones you have in your agenda with a clear due date should be placed in Projects, the long lasting ones with no end in sight should be considered for the Areas section.

Even though we have a lot more features in Things, my favorite overall is the Quick Entry option. Quick Entry allows you to use Things throughout your system without even knowing it’s open and running. No matter which application you’re using at the moment, if you remember something you have to turn into a Things entry, the only thing you need to do is press the configurable key combination to invoke a translucid window that will allow you to quickly set up a new entry and record a note, set the tags, due date and the destination of this new To Do (Collect, Focus, Projects, Areas, etc).

Make Things a Habit

The last advice I have for those of you considering giving this a try is to keep in mind that you need to constantly go over your data inside Things. You have to review your tasks, check their status, refresh everything you have pending and add every new task that will need attention in the future. As David Allan suggests, if you have a task that will take you around two minutes to complete, don’t bother setting it up in the application, just go and do it already. You will consume the same time setting that in the software as it’d take you to finish it.

Getting your life organized is possible with the support of great applications like Things for Mac, but even though you get to know all its features and some hints to make it work efficiently, you’ll need to take it as a part of your life in order to succeed with it. Make the use of Things a habit; take the advice from those of us who already know most of the mistakes and start organizing your activities now. 

There’s no better day than today to change the way you do your Things.

Product [Things for Mac]

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

When it comes to using iCal, one of the biggest issues from many users was all of the not so pleasant work-arounds they had to go through to sync their iCal calendar with Google Calendar so they could get it anywhere, or vice versa. That is no longer an issue. A recent application introduction for Google Calendars now fully supports the CalDAV protocol, which will allow integration between these two scheduling applications. Some of the tasks you can complete include syncing the two scheduling programs, operating offline, and answering invitations from other users.

This is currently available through an open source download via Google Code under the name of Calaboration.  It only works in Mac OS X Leopard because the CalDAV protocol was introduced in that version of Apple’s operating system. That said, it looks like a nice solution to the syncing problem. It’s always nice to see open source developers taking problems into their own hands and spending their own time to create software that will help us, the end users, out.

Product [Calaboration]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Acrylic Software just released version 3.0 of Wallet, their secure storage utility for mac. Wallet allows you to store any confidential information, and protects it with a 256-bit encryption to keep your data safe.

Version 3.0 brings numerous new features and upgrades, allowing you to do more with this tool. Some of these features include Safari Auto-fill for web log-ins, syncing between multiple macs with MobileMe, and a new iPhone application that assists you in viewing your data securely on the go. The iPhone version can also sync with the Mac version, making sure your data is the same between devices.

I’ve done some testing of the new version, and so far it looks really great. Dustin, the developer, has done a really great job creating a new impressive interface for the app, making it a really powerful tool, overall.

Wallet 3 is available for $20, or for $5 if you already owned Wallet 2. The iPhone version is available for $3.99.

If you or someone you know is currently managing your passwords in an insecure way, make sure to take a look at Wallet 3; I’m sure it would also make a great gift this holiday season.

Product [Wallet for Mac, Wallet for iPhone]

Full Story » | Written by Jordan Satok for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Sharing and syncing files between computers can be a tricky business. Try to access your work computer from home, and you run into firewall problems. Try to access a laptop that’s on a wireless network, and you run into issues of port configuration. And, as files (like photos) get larger and larger, the issue of getting them from one computer to another over a network becomes more and more frequent.

One solution to the problem is Drop Box, a free/paid-pro service that creates a shared folder on your computer. So what’s the big deal, right? Well, you can use this folder to sync and share items between just about any computer running a modern OS: Mac (Tiger and Leopard), Windows (XP and Vista), and Linux (Ubuntu 7.1 and Fedora 9). Any file that you place in your shared folder is uploaded to a secure server, and synced to the shared folder on other computers. If you’re away from one of your computers, you can also access your files via a web interface.

You can share your files with others by right clicking a file and sending them a URL. Drop Box comes with 2GB of free storage (50GB is available for $99/year or $9.99/month). You can get the installer from their web page, or get more info at the FAQ.

Product [Drop Box]

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

My relationship with Intuit is definitely a weird one.  It’s been on and off for years now, and while I can’t deny I’m not entirely satisfied with the treatment they gave Mac users in general, I still find myself falling back to their products. At least Quicken, with all its known faults, is one product I like.

I know there are other options, I just don’t feel interested in trying them out. Even though I think Intuit continuously drops the ball for us with some buggy features, delayed updates of applications, and Windows-based solutions as a priority, I can’t avoid feeling excited when I hear some new feature is out for the Mac community. That’s exactly what I’m bringing you today—a new service from Intuit, deployed for iPhone users, which I don’t completely like, but I’m glad it exists. It seems this relationship will continue the same for a while longer.

First, let’s review the good news. If you happen to be a satisfied user of QuickBooks, aand you’re also an iPhone user, this could be great news for you and your business. Intuit has released a new online service for QuickBooks users which they claim to be perfect for business owners on the go.

This new service will allow you to view read-only versions of:

• Balance Sheet and Profit/Loss reports
• Bank account and credit card balances
• Vendor, customer, and employee lists
• Accounts receivable and payable
• QuickBooks Online contact information, which works with your iPhone to make calls, create emails, and even look up addresses using Google Maps

It’s nice to have some iPhone application integration, and it could be really useful for mobile executives to have updated information of their business; after all, we know how important information is in the decision-making process these days.

Even when I could look the other way with the fact that you can’t actually edit your information and just appreciate that they’ve put these nice features for me to use, it’s really impossible for me to do that. Not only because they haven’t implemented them yet, but because, according to Intuit, they’re not even planning on doing it.

If you want to add another detail to the release of the online service, for now, QuickBooks Online requires a Windows-based computer running Internet Explorer to work properly. If you own a Mac, you’ll have to go to Boot Camp or a virtualization solution to run it.

So, it comes again; that familiar feeling that Intuit takes a good initiative and turns it into something to bother me. Not because I use QuickBooks (which I don’t) and I have an iPhone (which I also don’t), but because they like to show us what it could be, what they can do, and then not do it.

QuickBooks Online costs $9.95 per month. If you’re already an online user, you won’t have to pay anything extra. If you’re not, but you’re interested in testing this service, Intuit allows you to try it for free for 30 days.

As it has happened before, I hope Mac users get the word out and start demanding better options for this service, which I’d personally like to see extended to Quicken sometime. At least that I can run on my Mac.

And finally, after writing this article, I went to the Intuit website and signed up to be a beta tester of their new Quicken Financial Life for Mac! I’m so excited to start feeling disappointed again. They’ve promised me that it won’t be the case this time, and I can’t help myself in believing them, as usual. You’ll know my thoughts about it very soon.

Product [QuickBooks Online for iPhone]

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Pageonce is an interesting service, that provides centralized access to different types of Internet accounts. The main idea behind this service is to allow customers to get into their e-mail account(s), social networks, shopping pages, and financial services, among others, from one single virtual door where everything is organized and easily accessible.

One of the many features of Pageonce is the possibility of getting alerts from all your associated services, such as flight changes, earned miles, financial status, pre-programmed payments, etc.

A few months ago, Pageonce added a new extension to its already useful service. iOnce 2.0 is the mobile experience of the master service from Pageonce, and they’ve developed it for the mobile phone of the moment: the iPhone. This new version improves security, and brings the centralized online management to a new level. 

When you think of having it all in one single administrative site, and your access platform is a traditional computer, services like the one Pageonce offers are optional, and could be seen by many as a matter of taste and preference. 

Maybe you are not attracted to the idea of paying for that kind of online service, since you don’t mind opening tabs in your browser or having multiple windows distributed across you computer’s screen. Maybe you have the same few passwords for everything, so remembering them isn’t a huge effort. But, when it comes to a mobile platform, that point of view could be dramatically changed.

When workspace and screen size are limited, any alternative to optimize your time and effort is appreciated.  Doing your usual tasks on a mobile device would not be as convenient as it is on the big screen. That’s when iOnce offers you an attractive solution, making it easy for you to navigate multiple pages through a single optimized space.

iOnce takes advantage of the great multi-touch user interface of the iPhone, making it easy for you to work with thousands of internet services, also receiving updates from all your accounts in one single view. iOnce is definitely an Internet tool with many features to offer iPhone users all over the World.

Product [iOnce] Related Info [iOnce Videos]

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’ve ever found yourself in the position where you need or want to install Windows (natively) on your Mac, you are probably familiar with Apple’s Boot Camp software. Boot Camp allows you to set a native Windows installation on your Mac easily. The application takes care of everything, and makes the process of creating a target partition, beginning the installation process and installing the right drivers, a very simple task.

But, if you are a Windows user on a Mac with Boot Camp, you may also be familiar with a common problem involving disk space. As soon as you begin installing software (productivity apps, games, antivirus, antispam, and general utilities), you become aware that free space will be eventually gone, forcing you to take action and solve the situation.

The only choice you have so far to deal with this is to back up the Windows files, remove the partition with Boot Camp (and every effort of OS tuning and customization), re-launch the Boot Camp to create a new (and bigger) partition, install Windows from scratch, and finally restore the previously backed up files. This method will solve your problem for sure, but it’s not a pleasure to do and it won’t prevent the same situation from occurring in the future.

The guys at Paragon Software have come with a solution for this problem—a real solution, that would make us forget the days where adding a few more gigabytes of space to our Windows (or Mac OS X) partition meant hours of tedious and risky duty.

The application offered by Paragon Software is called CampTune. It reminds me of my days as a Windows user, when I learned to love Partition Magic. CampTune makes it possible to resize the partition without having to delete it, and gives us the chance to increase or decrease hard disk space with a few clicks.

The way it works is really easy. You’ll have to create a bootable CD guided by CampTune. Then, you’ll have to reboot your Mac and boot through the newly created disk. As you do with Boot Camp, you’ll select the desired size of the new partition, then just click the Apply button.

It’s just as simple as it is useful. The CampTune creators also assure that resizing your partition with its software is as secure and stable as you could wish, stating the unprecedented high level of stability achieved in their latest products.

So far, it’s a complete, free-of-charge app you can download as a part of their beta program.  If you’re convinced by its performance, you can decide later to buy it for your home or office systems.

Product [CampTune]

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Today the subject of backing up your computer is hot again. We’ve always known that if our information is important to us, we need to somehow find a way to make it safe and available for recover in case something goes wrong. After all, accidents happen.

Backing up, like so many other important tasks, has been one of those “I know I have to do it, but I’ll do it tomorrow” activities that we haven’t been able to include in our daily habits. 

Some of us have been using every kind of method to backup our computer’s information. From the floppy disk through to dual layer DVDs, the industry always had some option for home users. If you’re part of an organization, maybe your data resides on a huge corporate hard disk, or even the magnetic tape drive of a few years ago.

Nowadays with the dropping price of the external hard disks and flash memory in general, the topic is in again, and many companies are bombarding the market with interesting proposals in order to make us reach that wanted status of “responsible user.”

One of those proposals is MozyHome for Mac. Mozy—an EMC Company—offers the Mac community the possibility to easily back up each computer’s information with just a few steps, and at a low price.

Once you’ve signed up for an account at Mozy’s home page, the steps to start backing up are very easy to follow:

• Download and install the software (version 1.0 for Mac users).
• Select files to be backed up (with a very sleek and “sexy” interface).
• Let MozyHome for Mac do the rest.

Some of the features of this attractive service are:

• Backing up of documents no matter if they’re open or closed.
• 128-bit SSL encryption (as any bank will do to protect communications).
• 448-bit blowfish encryption for files.
• Automatic scheduled back up.
• Change detection on files.
• Incremental backup (just like Apple’s own Time Machine).

MozyHome requires Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5. As metnioned, a MozyPro for Mac is being developed for corporative clients. If you’re looking for a backup option outside of you home or office, this one is worthy of consideration.

Product [MozyHome for Mac]

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’re one of those Mac users who wanted some how to control your finances, personal or business, and tried without success to bond with some software to do that, then you should take a look at what I’ve found to be the key to success in the road of controlling personal finances.

Quicken:Mac from Intuit, is one of the best applications out there for the task. It’s a powerful tool designed for and by Mac users. I’ve tried to use it several times before (since my days on Windows), but I have never been able to stick with it long enough to gain control of my finances.

After several failed attempts with the application, I’ve now found a key factor to success that I’d like to share with all of you who, like me, haven’t lost faith yet and are willing to try a few more times to gain the battle against routine, and overwhelming detailed financial applications.

Every single time I installed a brand new version of Quicken, my enthusiasm could not reach higher in the sky. I had an indescribable amount of energy, and I seriously wanted to make it work. I’ve already thought about all the categories I wanted to record, I had every account number and details of all my credit cards by my side. I even had some old receipts to introduce in the system right away. I just could not wait to start.

The problem for me (and for most us, I could guess) was that I couldn’t keep that initial rush of enthusiasm for more than a few weeks. At the beginning of the process, it was easy for me to record every single expense I had. The application consumed a big part of my day. At the beginning, that was fine with me, but that’s a rhythm that could not be kept in the long term.

I had set so many categories in order to track every single dollar spent, that I now had to record even the change in my pocket. That was the consequence of the initial session of configuration where I was as excited as a kid at Christmas, and I put down everything I could think of. This, my friends, is the most common mistake of all and it’s also the main cause of failure when using any personal finances application.

I could not say why this time I was able to indentify and correct the problem, but now that the key factor was out, I could do something to fix it. I’ve been using Quicken for months now, and it’s not a big part of my routine. On the contrary, it’s a simple habit scheduled at the end of the day. I could summarize my experience of bittersweet years with Quicken in these few but important success tips:

• Set up a simple initial configuration of your financial environment. Just add the main accounts you want to track (including credit cards). If your needs grow with time, the software will allow you to do so in a heartbeat. Avoid setting the cash account if you can. This will help you simplify a lot the record of daily transactions.
• Gather just the main categories to track. Focus on the main flow of money that you want to monitor. Use high-level categories when possible to decrease the level of detail that will eventually become tedious to record on daily basis.
• Record in daily basis. Don’t let too many days go by without sitting with the software. To make it a daily habit is the best way to guarantee the continuity.
• Use scheduled transactions. Set up as many routine transactions as possible. You can save a few movements if you tell Quicken to automatically execute those recurrent transactions that you will have to record every week or month.
• Make the effort. Finally, just make the effort to transform the application into an everyday tool for you. Nothing that benefits you will come without some cost. Like a diet or the dental flush, if you are consistent enough to fit it into your life, you’ll be just collecting the benefits in the future to come..

If you have your own tips for sticking with Quicken or any other program, share them in the comments.

Full Story » | Written by Juan Gonzalez for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Mac app RiftVault has come out of pre-release for its full public 1.0 release. RiftVault allows you to store your important personal information using encryption to ensure the safety of your private information. RiftVault is designed to hold credit card information, passwords, banking info, and even files that you want to be secured (using the very clever Safe Deposit Box feature). This new and awesome app for Mac OS X will only cost you $39.95, and there is even a free 30-day demo so that you can test it before you buy it. However, you are required to be running Mac OS X Leopard to be able to use RiftVault.

Everything stored in RiftVault is encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption, which is so secure that the U.S. government adopted it as a standard for protecting its own confidential information. When you open an item in RiftVault, it is unencrypted and cached for fast access, and is erased from your Mac’s RAM as soon as you close the item.

Try RiftVault free for 30 days, or buy it for $39.95—you won’t be disappointed in its amazing encryption abilities.

Via [TUAW]

Full Story » | Written by Patrick Lutz for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Limit Point Software’s MenuMinder, which allows you to “...create quick, simple alert, email and SMS Text Message (mobile phone) reminders using the system-wide menu that can be accessed from any application,” has been updated to version 1.5.1. To get this $10 application that works with Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, simply download it and get to work.  Here are some main features:

• Quick, simple reminders from the menu bar.
• Hot keys for creating new reminders quickly.
• Email reminders or send reminders as text messages to your mobile phone.

Head on over to their site for a how to use tutorial as well as some nice screenshots. If you like this app, be sure to check out the other 12 applications from Limit Point Software.

Product [MenuMinder]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iSlayer is at it again with another widget for your Mac’s Dashboard. Dubbed Organized, this widget features a calendar with events, world clocks, notes and to-dos.  What makes it even cooler is that the calendar and to-dos use Mac OS X’s built-in databases, so they’re always in sync with iCal and Mail. This widget requires Mac OS X Leopard and is donationware, so be sure to help the developers over at iSlayer out by giving them a few bucks if you like it.

iSlayer has four other other widget options available. If you like to stay on top of the hardware in side of your machine, be sure to check out iStat Menus, iStat Pro and iStat Nano. Also, to add some funk to your Dashboard, try out I Love Lamp. As of the writing of this post, iSlayer’s site says they have 11,059,433 downloads, so their widgets must be pretty good. Go check ‘em out!

Product [Organized]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

DEVONtechnologies, LLC has opened the grace period for free upgrades to DEVONthink 2.0, and offers all editions of DEVONthink, as well as DEVONnote, for 25 percent off exclusively for two days. DEVONthink is designed to manage and keep in order all those disparate pieces of information so important to your work or studies. As you become more experienced with DEVONthink and its easy, intuitive interface you will quickly find more exciting ways of using your data.

Starting July 1st, 2008, everyone who buys licenses for DEVONthink Personal, Pro, Pro Office, or DEVONnote will be eligible for free upgrades to version 2.0 when it is released later this year. A regularly updated thread on the progress on version 2.0 can be found in the DEVONtechnologies user forum.

“With the opening of the grace period, we now welcome all new users with a free ticket for the upcoming version 2.0,” said Eric Böhnisch-Volkmann, president of DEVONtechnologies. “And for everyone who has been reluctant to jump on the DEVONthink bandwagon with version 2.0 on the horizon, we will add another incentive: On July 1st and 2nd, we will give 25 percent on all editions of DEVONthink as well as DEVONnote.”

All editions of DEVONthink require Mac OS X 10.4 or later and can be downloaded from DEVON Technologies website. They can be test-driven for free for 150 hours of non-continuous runtime before they need to be properly licensed.

Product [DEVONthink 2.0]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Have you ever wished you could create your own cookbook using the same software you use to create your delicious cooking recipes? I have, and now I can. Mariner Software has released MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0. This application allows you to keep track of your recipes and wine collection in one convenient application. But what I really like is the fact that “create your own cookbook” feature.

I love cooking, so naturally I downloaded the software to my 17” MacBook Pro. I’ve used many recipe applications in the past, and it’s similar to a few of them I have used. MacGourmet Deluxe allows you to whip up your own recipes, edit them, share them with your friends and family, and post them on the web. Free recipes are also included with this application. If you’re a meal planner, MacGourmet has you covered. Not only do you have the option of creating your own meal plans, you also are able to integrate them with iCal.

I enjoy making healthy meals, and I like to know the nutritional value of the recipes I share with my readers on my personal website. MacGourmet Deluxe allows me to share the nutritional value, as well. I also prefer to carry a list when I go to the market, and MacGourmet Deluxe gives me the option to create a shopping list which I can print or send to a PDA.

The feature that really got captured my attention, though, was The Cookbook Builder. I’m currently working on publishing a cookbook along with a few ebook cookbooks. I have tried out a variety of cooking applications and posted the recipes on my website, but none of them had the CookBook Builder feature. With the CookBook Builder, I’m able to create chapters, and add images and recipes on text pages. If I want to send chapters to my testers to check out, I’m able to save the cookbook as a high resolution PDF. I’m then able to print to my desktop printer, or I have the option to use a print-on-demand source.

Pricing for MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0 is $49.95. If you download it, your price is $44.95. If you are, a current user of MacGourmet you can upgrade to MacGourmet Deluxe for a special price. I believe it is well worth the price. It is similar to recipe applications I’ve used in the past, but includes extras I don’t always see included in these applications. I now have access to the USDA nutritional database, the ability to view the nutritional value of the recipes I prepare, a shopping list, and, my favorite, The CookBook Builder.

If you are looking for a recipe and wine management software application, log on and download MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0. You will be able to try out a fully functional copy before you buy.

Product [MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0]

Full Story » | Written by Opal Tribble for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

PublicSpace, makers of the popular applications MacBreakz, The Big Mean Folder Machine and A Better Finder Attributes, has officially announced version 7.9.9 of their application A Better Finder Rename. 

A Better Finder Rename is a tool for people who need to rename files of all different types en masse. Whether it’s a bunch of pictures from a vacation, some MP3s from a disc, whatever, it can be handled and renamed by A Better Finder Rename. The application provides users with a full Cocoa interface, detachable instant preview window, drag and drop installation, file renaming (no matter what the complexity), and Unicode support for international use.

The main feature in the update is the addition of support for UTF-16 ID3 tags in MP3 music files.

A Better Finder Rename requires Mac OS X v10.4 or later, Universal Binary support for PowerPC or Intel Architecture, and 5 MB of Hard Drive Space. A single user license is priced at $24.95, and Business and Enterprise licenses and forever-upgrade options are also available.

The only question is, why buy $25 worth of software when you have Automator?

Product [A Better Finder Rename]

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Slife labs, a company based out of Atlanta that makes activity intelligence and analytics software for individuals and groups alike, has officially released the newest version of their time tracking and management tool, Slife. Slife is a tool targeted at groups and is used for time management, and allows the user to create everything needed to make a goal.

New features in version 2.0 includes almost entirely redesigned code, simplified UI, privacy controls, time goals and activity management, and unique time tracking tools.

“Slife 2.0 brings the idea of activity and productivity management to a whole new level”, said Edison Thomaz, CEO of Slife Labs. “It is an automatic time tracking tool that makes it incredibly easy for designers, consultants or anyone else to monitor how much time they’ve spent on projects. Once you use Slife, you can’t go back to time sheets. Slife is time tracking for the 21st century”.

With the new version of Slife being well received so far, the application is billed as the best tool to help the user and their group to realize a goal. And to help users even more, Slife Labs also unveiled their new web client, Slife Teams which enables users to view and edit time sheets from anywhere that has an internet connection.

The application is free of charge, requires Leopard, and is available on the Slife Labs website.

Product [Slife v2.0]

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

I was all set to be made happy by Jonathan Blum’s latest article, “Mac Automator a no-brainer for Small Biz.” The first paragraph indulged me. In it, Blum talks about the ridiculousness of the Mac vs. PC debate, and leads into his biggest draw to the Mac: Automator. Then, the second paragraph hit like a ship being slammed up on shore by a Tsunami, dashed to pieces on the rocks, all it’s crew members dead. Seriously.

Rather, for my small business money, the single most exciting productivity tool probably lies hidden deep inside some Macs: Automator. This piece of code, which Apple describes as a “personal automation assistant,” is part of the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (starting at $400) suite of office software.

*Spits out drink* What!? Did Blum somehow manage to completely avoid researching this product he so admires? Did he simply assume that because the last thing he installed was Office 2008, that Automator must have come with it? How on Earth, nay, the universe, does such a glaring error not at least make it past the editors?

It gets better. In what is set to be a glowing review, Blum prefaces the article with one of the biggest cons of the software: “Yes, you have to buy the whole Office software package to get Automator. No, the cheaper $150 version of Office for Mac won’t cut it.”

Appletell Hint of the Day: This isn’t a con because Automator isn’t part of Office!

I honestly cannot fathom how this slipped through the cracks and fell onto thestreet.com, but I’m here to correct it for the one or two of you who may not know. Automator is a great application that allows you to create workflows based on finding files with certain parameters and then applying actions to them. It is part of Mac OS X, and thus ships free with every Mac. You’d think Blum could have caught that.

Read [TheStreet.com]

Full Story » | Written by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Marketcircle, a popular purveyor of Mac organization tools, has officially announced it is bringing the Daylite Productivity Suite to the iPhone. The application has been named Daylite Touch, and can be expected by year’s end.

Daylite is an application currently in use on many business Macs, and provide the users with a group calendar, address book, and many other organizational and productivity tools. Along with the server version of the program, companies will be able to add more devices and really help business. 

In the announcement, Marketcircle CEO Alykhan Jetha pointed out that there are many different tools available to iPhone and iPod Touch users that are not available on a desktop. Thus, it will be even better for most companies. Even when away from the computer, Daylite users will still be able to stay productive.

This product could really become popular in a business setting, as it is pretty much a simplified version of MobileMe for businesses. It will be interesting to see the impact that products like this have on the iPhone in relation to the business environment.

Via [iPhone Central] Product [Daylite Productivity Suite]

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

CTM Development has announced FoxTrot Professional Search, their document retrieval and indexing utility for Mac OS X. A powerful new find-by-content product for mobile, legal or media professionals and their networks, CTM FoxTrot Professional Search offers precision tools for finding the proverbial “needle in a haystack” within PDF, HTML, word processing, e-mail and rich-media metadata.

Extending beyond Mac OS X’s buit-in Spotlight, CTM FoxTrot Professional Search builds on years of experience in search functionality refined within CTM’s PowerMail and FoxTrot Personal Search products. It includes:

• Multiple categorizations of search results, relevance-ranked
• Document preview and full view, with secondary document-level search
• Multiple indexed collections and timed updates without the application launched
• Client-server access to peer-to-peer and dedicated CTM FoxTrot Search servers
• Worldwide Unicode language support

FoxTrot Professional Search is priced at 99 Euros ($147.18) for a single-user version, 199 Euro ($295.85) for a 5-user version with client-server networking. Licenses are immediately delivered within the application itself via a secure transaction to the Kagi store. FoxTrot Personal Search 1.5 owners have been offered a special FoxTrot Professional Search for 50 Euro until June 30th, 2008 (70 Euro thereafter).

Product [FoxTrot Professional Search]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Transcena Design has released v1.3.2 of their Mac time tracking software, OfficeTime. With over thirty improvements simply to make the software run faster, this update is being called the Speed and Stability Release (Snow Leopard, anyone?). Most of these improvements are in response to requests by OfficeTime users, and it’s good to know that the developers over at Transcena have been listening. If you don’t currently have this time tracking and saving application, it will run you $47 once your 21 day free trial is up.

If this isn’t enough to convince you to try out the app, here are some of its features:

• Automatically detect how long you’ve been idle and subtract it or assign it to a different project.
• iCal Integration allows you to see a visual history or your days in your favourite iCal calendar. Enter appointments and time in iCal and have them automatically apply to the right project in OfficeTime.
• Team Reporting combines multiple employee data files, allowing you to see powerful team wide reports by project and category.
• Multitasker provides the ability to time multiple projects simultaneously.

This app sounds like it would be really helpful in an office environment to keep track of the time spent working. It comes with plenty of features that all seem easy to use and helpful. Not only that, but it integrates with other Mac apps and can be easily shared with co-workers. So, go ahead; download the trial and get a trackin’!

Product [OfficeTime]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

As if the MacHeist Bundle wasn’t an amazingly good deal already, MacHeist has added two more great apps to the mix.  Those apps are Vector Designer from TweakerSoft and Sound Studio from Freeverse. These apps bring the total number of apps in the bundle up to a whopping 14, with the value now weighing in at almost $500. There is an almost 90% discount on the bundle, which sinks the price to a measly $49. To put the icing on the cake, the purchase of the bundle will also help your karma, as 25% of the profits are donated to a charity. The charities to which you can choose to donate to include Direct Relief International, Save Darfur, The Humane Society, Action Against Hunger, The Natural Conservancy, Save the Children, World Wildlife Foundation, Prevent Cancer Foundation, AIDS Research Alliance and the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Although Vector Designer is available in the Bundle now, Sound Studio will not be available until $50,000 has been donated to charity, which is about $15,000 away.

Via [Mac OS X Rumors]   

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This post is part four of a seven part series covering the iPhone applications and games announced at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, June 9th.

The Mobile News application from the Associated Press is essentially a customizable RSS reader for the iPhone that provides the user with Associated Press articles from around the world. You can choose whether you want to get new stories about sports and entertainment or business and finance, for example, along with many other categories. You can also rate and share articles with your fellow iPhone users.

For more on the new iPhone apps revealed at WWDC, follow the links below.

  • Auctions
  • Push Notification Service
  • Typepad
  • Mobile News
  • Band
  • Modality and MIMVista
  • At Bat

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This post is part two of a seven part series covering the iPhone applications and games announced at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, June 9th.

Push, a new feature from Apple could save a lot of battery and processing power. According to Steve and Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone Software, background processes were one of the biggest detriments to battery life in iPhone 1.0, but now there is a solution. By maintaining a constant IP connection, 3rd party and Apple apps can notify an iPhone user of things like new mail messages, and the like. The program will be available for users in September, with developer seeds headed out next month. As long as you have cell phone service, the system will work, as it is enabled to run using either Wi-Fi or cellular. 

For more on the new iPhone apps revealed at WWDC, follow the links below.

  • Auctions
  • Push Notification Service
  • Typepad
  • Mobile News
  • Band
  • Modality and MIMVista
  • At Bat

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This post is part one of a seven part series covering the iPhone applications and games announced at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, June 9th.

The first group to demo an app was iPhone App Lab. Their app was aptly named Auctions. It is certified by both Apple and eBay, and is available for free in the App store in iPhone 2.0.

The eBay application provides iPhone users with an easy way to buy and sell in the world’s largest online auction base, and Safari is no longer needed. From your iPhone, you can bid on items, check your watch list, check bid status and view item details, including photos of the listing. I think this is a decent app, but not really worth paying for, so it’s a good thing it will be free.

For more on the new iPhone apps revealed at WWDC, follow the links below.

  • Auctions
  • Push Notification Service
  • Typepad
  • Mobile News
  • Band
  • Modality and MIMVista
  • At Bat

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Growl, a very popular and free notification app for Mac OS X that sits as a preference pane, is now officially version 1.1.3. Although Growl probably already notified you of this, there are a slew of upgrades in this new version, and it is still free. However, as usual, be sure to donate some money to support further development if you like the app. According to the version history, here are some of the key updates:

• Show notifications on every Space (Leopard).
• Rewrote GrowlMail to fix conflict between it and Leopard, and make it much more robust for the future.
• GrowlTunes no longer shows the rating if it’s 0, since you probably just haven’t rated it.
• Don’t spam the Console log when a forwarding attempt fails.
• Fixed humongous memory leaks in WebKit display.

Growl, which is very easy to use, comes with complete control over how your notifications look, where they display, and what apps send the notifications (if the app supports Growl, such as Adium and Skype). The notifications can also be emailed or spoken instead of displaying a window on the screen, if you’re into that. I use Growl on my machine, and I love how simple and helpful it can be. If you haven’t already, be sure to check it out.

Product [Growl]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Full Story » | Written by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iBank, from IGG Software, is now at version 3.1 and offers plenty of new features to the already outstanding Mac OS X financial manager.  You can download a free trial from their site, and a single license that comes with a 30 day guarantee costs $59.99 for new users and $29.99 for upgrading users (if you purchased iBank from a retail store after January 14, 2008, you qualify to upgrade to version 3 at no additional cost). This application requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and 30MB of free space.

Some of the new features in version 3.1 include:

• iBank can now connect to your bank “behind the scenes” and import your data for you.
• Using the latest Web 2.0 technologies, you can view historical transactions and create and edit new ones with your iPhone or iPod Touch while you’re on the go.
• Cover Flow on iBank: you can view, edit, and flip through your transactions while seeing how you spent (or earned) your money with gorgeous category images.
• Export your tax records to TurboTax and other tax software, plus assign tax numbers to your categories for easy tracking.
• Easily manage loans and other debt with scheduled payment plans.

This sounds like the last financial manager app you could ever need, if you ask me.  It has hundreds of great features, and the screenshots showcase a gorgeous interface.  If you use this app or have seen it in action before, let us know what it’s like!

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Cocktail, a popular tool for maintenance and interface tweaks for Mac OS X, has now been updated to version number 4.1.1 for the Leopard Edition.  This version has improved Leopard compatibility and fixes a 10.5.3 bug that caused it to freeze during clearing of the system caches.  You can head over to their site and try this application out with the free trial, or you can buy it for $14.95 for one license.  It is highly recommended for all Leopard users to download this version, and the site says that 3236 people already have.

I’ve heard great things about this app and how good it is as cleaning up your system when something goes wrong.  It can also be extremely handy to use when your system begins to run a little bit sluggish and you need to clean out some of the caches.  Some of the things it can do include:

• Run periodic maintenance scripts
• Clear log files (manually or automatically rotate and/or remove archived copies of log files)
• Configure the built-in (File Sharing) Mac OS X file server
• Customize look and features of Finder, Dock, Exposé, login window and other system services

Congratulations to the Cocktail developers for getting this fix out so quickly!

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Want another utility/productivity tool for your Mac? Here’s something that currently works only with Mac’s Leopard OS, Dejumble 1.1.1 task management program. Suffice to say that this program efficiently provides you with a better way of managing your tasks in an unobtrusive way, sitting on your Mac’s top bar for quick access whenever you need to check on something that you need to do. Upon clicking on the application’s icon, it opens up a new window where you can start entering your to-do-list.

Incidentally, Dejumble version 1.1.1 is the most recent version of this useful program and as such, some new features were recently introduced including; additional sort and filter options, optional ability to display iCal events from groups synchronized with iCal, and new options/preference window with redesigned group organizer view.

Now here’s a biggie. Dejumble is currently being prep up for a future iPhone version that would sync with your Mac. Now that’s something that should get us all excited and start using Dejumble. Did we say, you can have this program for only $19? Dejumble requires Mac OS X 10.5.1 or later.

Via [TUAW] Product [Dejumble]

Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Product: Flickery
Link: Flickery
Price: Free (still in BETA)
Rating: 9/10

For those of you who are regulars on Flickr, there is a wonderful new image client for Mac.  Flickery, from Eternal Storms software, does it all.  Well, not everything, but it does most of it.  All within this little app, you can view your Photostream, your contact’s Photostream, upload new photos, delete photos, download photos, comment on photos- you name it.  I only have a few gripes with the program.  Check out the video review.

Video by Mark Rowland
Thanks to Adam Fisher-Cox for the Appletell Intro

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

I really want a second display, but simply cannot afford it. However, there are many apps that can make the most of a smaller, single display, including Afloat. The app can make windows transparent, and even keep certain windows above others (hence the name “Afloat”). You’re probably wondering how the hell this helps maximize display space. The transparency allows you to, in theory, see two windows at once, or overlap windows if there isn’t enough room. No more putting windows side by side, with Afloat you can see everything at once. There’s one minor restriction which may stop users from downloading this, which is that Afloat pretty much only works with Cocoa apps, so carbon apps like iTunes and Finder just won’t work. Check out Afloat and see if it helps maximize your display space.

[Afloat] via [Ars Technica]

Full Story » | Written by Alec Feld for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

My Address Book is a mess, and I’ll be the first to admit it. I decided the app needed a bit of clean up, so I deleted contacts who I didn’t talk to anymore and I didn’t need. Of course everything was tidy, except for the actual addresses. That’s where PostCheck comes in handy, the handy cleaner-upper for Address Book. I had a ton of addresses to start with, and for the most part they were all formatted oddly/differently. PostCheck quickly fixed this problem and formatted my addresses to the standard USPS format. I was also missing Zip Codes in a lot of addresses, and a lot of addresses had wrong zip codes as well. PostCheck, as it should, fixed this and gave me correct 9 digit Zip Codes based on the original address entered. If your Address Book is messy, PostCheck is highly recommended to clean and fix it up. This underrated utility will set you back a measly $10, so check it out.

[PostCheck] via [TUAW]

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MacHeist is a fairly well known name around the Mac community. They have fun “Heists” with some free software, ending in a severely discounted software bundle after all the heists. Now they have released a “retail version” of the bundle, for the same $49 price. It includes some great programs, but a whole bunch of repeats from previous bundles as well. I’m not going to go into details here about the ethics, promotional schemes, or any other moral stuff about MacHeist here. What this article is for is breaking down for whom the bundle is worth it, and for whom it is not.

New Mac User - If you are new to the Mac world, this is a stellar opportunity to get your hands on a nice amount of applications designed with the Mac in mind. You get money management software, an iTunes front-end, a word processor, a shortcut/application launcher, a password and sensitive info vault, three games for the Mac (Nanosaur is especially cool in 3D) and more. If you have a fresh new mac and $50, I’d recommend this bundle in a snap unless you have absolutely no interest in any of these apps.

Previous Bundle Buyer - Chances are if you’ve already bought the MacHeist bundles, it’s not for you this time around. Over half of the applications in this bundle are repeats of previous bundles. It may, however, still be worth it. If there are a couple apps in there that you like that total up to more than $50 by themselves, then of course the whole bundle is a great buy.

Gift Giver - This also fits in with the previous. If you just want a couple apps, why not give the rest away? Hold a contest on your blog if you have one, or just give them away to friends as presents, or perhaps to a relative along with a new Mac. The games will be especially great for kids.

Who Else? Can you think of anyone else who would benefit from these apps? Sound off in the comments below!

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The mEgg Hunt, “brings seasonal fun” where Mac users will surf a Mac developer’s site and try to find an egg. Once they find an egg they’ll receive a code towards 20% off the purchase of the software. The Easter mEgg Hunt just revealed the list of participants, so once you see them, get hunting! (Then reading Apple news)

Apokalypse Software Corp. - Mori - Your notes, organized / Clockwork - On time, in style
Azure Talon Software - Exces - file encryption made easy
Black Cat Systems - Productivity Software for the Macintosh
Boinx Software Ltd. - Makers of iStopMotion FotoMagico and Mousepose
Chimp Software - Turn your Mac into a $2000 alarm clock with iRooster
Critical Matter, Inc. - Color Picker Pro: professional CSS and HTML color picker
www.x-tables.eu - Developer of Tables
DayTime Software - Makers of Differencia, The Data Comparison Tool
Dejal Systems - Simon, Time Out, Caboodle, Narrator, BlogAssist & Macfilink
Fluidmac - Creativity tools for Mac OS X
GroupSmarts, LLC. - MemoryMiner: Award-winning Digital Storytellin
Houdah Software - Makers of HoudahGeo & HoudahSpot
Indev Software - Revolutionary Enhancements for OS X Mail.app
Karelia Software - Sandvox - Easy, Elegant Website Creation
Lemke Software GmbH. - GraphicConverter & CADintosh
MildMannered Industries - Software for Superheroes
nova media MDS GmbH. - Worldwide mobile Internet access
Outer Level - LicenseKeeper - Keep your serial numbers safe outerlevel.com
Volitans Software - Makers of SMART Utility
Yellow Mug Software - Maker of
YourView - FileChute, EasyBatchPhoto, and more

Wow, that is quite a bit of software, and some good discounts Mac users can benefit from.

Via [macPRcaster]

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Filemaker, the company behind the new application Bento, just announced that they passed 250 000 downloads. Bento is a $49 application for Leopard only, that is an organizational tool designed to manage your life and everything inside it. The app has neat and handy features like built-in links to Address Book, intergration with iCal, and ability to manage contact, events, track your projects and anything else you need to organize in your life.

What Filemaker did not tell us is if the number is the number of downloads for trying out the software, or purchases. We also don’t know if this is unique downloads, or one user downloading it several times. But still good news for Filemaker.

Via [MacWorld]

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