Archive for July, 2007

You’re going to waste a lot of time with this one.

TubeTV, a newly-released piece of freeware from Chimoosoft, allows you to search for, download and convert video from Google Video and YouTube for permanent enjoyment in iTunes and, from there, your iPhone, iPod or AppleTV. Yes, you can already search and enjoy some video content from YouTube on two of these devices, but TubeTV lets you get all of it, at your leisure, downloaded permanently for your enjoyment.

OS X is very clever, but I’m sure you know that already. It has lots of built in tools that developers can utilize, making it easier to create great apps. ImageTricks by BeLight Software, is one such example.

ImageTricks is built around Tiger’s Core Image functionality, a little utility for developers to do some cool stuff with images. It’s a bit complicated to get into, (especially since I’m not a developer) but if you want more info, head over to Apple’s website for a brief explanation.

Camino is now my browser of choice, and I’m sure many of you use it too. When I first used Camino, I really liked it. The browser was quick, more Mac-like than Firefox, and had everything I needed. Well, nearly.

Firefox makes my life simpler by having Google’s ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ search built into the address bar, so if I type ‘MacApper’ or ‘Apple UK’ it would take me to the respective websites without having to go through Google or typing ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’.

On this episode, Kiro joins me to look into one of the coolest looking RSS readers for the mac: NewsFire!

You can read Kiro’s NewsFire review or pick up your copy of NewsFire at NewsFireRSS.com for just $25. Tell them MacApper sent you!

If you are a developer looking to get your message out about your project please contact us for an interview or other promotional opportunities, here at MacApper. Subscribe to The MacApper Podcast.

 

 MacApper 3: NewsFire [11:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I recently got the chance to chat with Dave Teare, the co-author of 1Passwd. 1Passwd is considered to be the best password manager on the Mac, by a wide margin. It has an automated form filler, encrypts passwords and integrates nicely with the OS X keychain.

I started by asking him about the company and how they developed 1Passwd. We then moved on to some juicy iPhone news and beta invites that you’ll certainly want to know. We won’t spoil anything, you’ll have to read on and find out.

Marvin: Hi Dave, thank you so much for chatting with us.
Dave: Sure thing. Thank you for inviting me.

This article is part of a 2 part series - check out my initial post on building a Flickr uploader.

Traditional “Contextual Menu Style” Image Uploader
My method of choice requires slightly more effort each time I upload, but provides much more freedom in naming, tagging and describing my individual photos. Rather than uploading a pre-designated folder’s contents in every run of the plug-in, it will only upload that image (or those images) that are selected in Finder. In other words this plug-in will act a bit more like the contextual menu actions you may have used before - like the “Create Archive of… ” and “Toast It” contextual menu commands.

This post is part of a 2 part series.

There are so many great applications for uploading you photos to Flickr, the social photo sharing site. You could use ConnectedFlow’s FlickrExport series, but is there a way to do it without installing extra apps?

In this tutorial I’d like to show you a very easy way to upload images from the Finder with a little help from Automator. Making a simple Automator Workflow Plug-in for the Finder to move your images to Flickr is an excellent and unobtrusive method I’d like to walk you through.

Many people who travel with their laptops a lot find themselves constantly trying to find new WiFi networks to connect to. The airport menu provides something to be desired when searching for WiFi networks, because you must keep opening and closing it to check for new networks. To find out if a network is secured or unsecured, ou must try and connect to it first. coconutWiFi from coconut-flavour makes a great step forward in solving some of these problems.

Almost as if by definition, managing a spreadsheet is a dry and boring affair. So when you’ve got to work in a spreadsheet, it’s nice to do it in an environment that makes the task easy, or at least comfortable. For a very long time Microsoft’s Excel has been “the name” in spreadsheets on both the Mac and PC. To be fair, it’s not a completely undeserved honor, but Excel is still a behemoth of an application, is fairly expensive and is not a Universal Binary Application. Luckily, for those of us that need to create spreadsheets on the Mac, there are a number of great alternatives including the indie-developed Tables, by Daniel Schwill.

My university requires everyone to use the CiscoVPN client in order to connect wirelessly. The restriction also applies when connecting to certain databases, servers, etc. While this may not sound too bad, in reality, it’s becoming a pain.

For those of you who don’t know, a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is used to make a secure connection to a remote network. When connected to a VPN over the Internet, your computer appears to be directly connected to the remote network. For a longer explanation of what a VPN is, see here.

Did you know that Mac software does not have to be pricey? After spending a good amount of money on a shiny new Mac, the last thing you’d want to do is shell out even more for Mac apps.

Like a lot of switchers, the first thing I did after purchasing my Mac was look around for good software. Here’s a list of my freeware picks that could save you from having to purchase expensive apps like DreamWeaver, Word and Final Cut Express.

Although Thunderbird has been around for a while, we haven’t covered it here at MacApper. With most commercial applications, and applications that Apple bundles with the Mac OS, there is a free alternative. This is no different for the Mail client of many names (Apple Mail, Mail, Mail.app). Although Mail is great, I think Thunderbird takes it to another level. Coming from Mozilla, the same developers who brought us Firefox, this is not surprising.

Every once in a while, there comes an app that can be extremely fun and very useful at the same time. One of these apps is called OmniDazzle from the OmniGroup. OmniDazzle is basically a bunch of plugins that highlights certain areas of your screen and to create some snazzy visual effects. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this tasteful review of OmniDazzle.

I just recently found out about an application launcher by the name Overflow from Stunt Software. Like many people, I already used Quicksilver for my application launching and more. Nonetheless, I decided I would give Overflow the chance it deserved.

Overflow and Quicksilver have the same ideas to begin with, but once you look deeper in, they go their separate ways. Quicksilver is “a unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data” as quoted from Blacktree’s website. While Overflow, on the other hand, is designed solely to launch apps, which is why it is much better than Quicksilver.

If you’re into strategy games, you will most likely enjoy American History Lux. American History Lux is a game from Silly Soft that focuses on 10 American wars, including our current conflict in Iraq. American History Lux takes a strategic perspective on these conflicts and can be a very additive and compelling game.

The first thing you’ll notice when playing American History Lux, is that it has a straightforward presentation which puts the player in the game immediately. Each war represents a different level in the game and each level must be won before the next one is played.