ForkLift 1.1 Released: Three Licenses up for Grabs!
Posted by Marvin Sum on 08/24/07 in Apple, Applications, Featured, Giveaways, Internet, Productivity, Utilities, Web
When I saw a reminder this morning, notifying me of an update ForkLift 1.0, I was expecting several minor features and bug fixes. After all, it was just a point release. Boy was I in for a surprise; a big surprise.
For the uninitiated, ForkLift is a very capable file manager from the developers at BinaryNights. Personally, I use ForkLift all the time; I don’t even touch the Finder anymore because of several major annoyances that I can’t live with.

The “Most Awesome New Feature” award will certainly be handed to the new batch re-naming tool (Screencast, MOV). Anyone who manually manages a ton of files should seriously look into this. With the option to replace/add text, change case, generate sequence and add metadata, this tool has all your bases covered. You can also mix and match the different options for better results.

In the above example, you’ll notice that I’ve renamed several images, destined to be uploaded to one of the MacApper servers. I could also add the creation date, modified date, owner, group or even generate a sequence of numbers to be appended to each file. It’s stuff like this that makes me truly appreciate the ingenuity of Mac developers.
Speaking of uploading stuff to servers, this next feature really streamlines this process. Dubbed “Droplets” (Screencast, MOV), it’s essentially a drop-box for uploading your files. Simply create a “Droplet” and place it somewhere handy (aka the Desktop). Whenever you wish to send something to a remote server, simply drag-and-drop it onto the “Droplet” and in Steve Jobs’s famous catch-phrase: Boom!

I’ve currently got two “Droplets” sitting on my Desktop; one for uploading to my personal blog (shameless plug!) and also to the MacApper servers. Previously, I had to navigate to both directories just to transfer files; as a web developer, this was one of the most boring aspects of my workflow. Thanks to “Droplets” (or drop-boxes, if you want to call it that), I will be more productive from now on.
Have you got a relative or friend who always insists on using older technology? Like CD-Rs. Or floppy disks; still remember those things!? The folks at BinaryNights obviously considered this because ForkLift now comes with the ability to split and combine large files (Screencast, MOV). If you have a huge file, you can choose to split it into multiple CDs (650MB/700MB), multiple DVDs (4.7GBs) or a custom size.

In the above example, I’ve managed to split the MacWorld Keynote video into two chunks small enough to burn onto a CD. ForkLift automatically generates the CRC and SFV files, which are used to detect any corruptions in the original files. Very handy.
Finally, one aspect that advanced users might appreciate is FXP (Screencast, MOV). FXP stands for File eXchange Protocol, and it allows for data transfer between two remote computers via FTP. Typically, you’d just copy the stuff from Server A onto your harddrive, then upload it to Server B, but why bother with the hassle? ForkLift is capable of handling the transfer automatically.
One question that you, dear reader, might have is: “How does ForkLift compare with the new Finder in Leopard?” While Apple has beefed up its offering with things like Coverflow, better Spotlight integration, “Back to My Mac” and an improved sidebar, ForkLift has also been fighting back. I’ve been really privileged to see some screenshots of the next version of ForkLift, and all I can say is: “Watch this space!”

So there you have it, an amazing file manager with several new kick-ass features. And because we’re so generous, MacApper is giving away three copies of ForkLift 1.1. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment with one feature that you’d like to see in future iterations of ForkLift. The top three features will win. Competition closes 27th August at 9PM EST. Good luck!
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