Mail always sorted my mail invisibly, and its built-in spam filter kept the junk out of my Inbox. I use IMAP mail services, which means that all of my mail stays on the server, so I can access it from my MacBook, someone else’s computer via webmail or, I thought, my iPhone. But when I synced the accounts to the phone, the Inbox filled with spam so quickly that my actual email was lost in the mix.

It has taken me a while, but I’ve worked out a solution that leverages several great pieces of technology to make Mail on the iPhone work the way it should. Click onward to learn how I did it.

The truth is that this is pretty easy. All I’ve done is send all of my personal email to a secret Gmail account that nobody knows about. Then I connect to Gmail from the phone and Gmail’s powerful server-side filters keep the junk out. The only hang-up is that when I send people mail, I want them to receive it from my personal account, not my Gmail… but there’s a fix for that, too.

Step one is to get a Gmail account. Even if you already have one, go ahead and send yourself an invitation for another one and give it a crazy log-in that nobody will ever know. Once the new account is created, tell your other email account to auto-forward all of your mail to your secret Gmail account. This means that any mail sent to your personal account will show up in your new Gmail account.

The next step is to fix things on Gmail’s end so that when you send people mail, it looks like its coming from your personal account and not your secret Gmail identity. You can do that from within the Gmail interface in your web browser. Click on the Settings link in the upper-right corner of the Gmail interface (next to your secret name) then click on the Accounts tab. The first option says “Send mail as:” and there’s a link there to add another email address. Click it.

n the resulting pop-up, add your personal account and then check it. Google will have sent you a verification email with a link in it to click to prove that you can access that account. Once you do that, head back to the Settings screen and click the link to make your new “Send As” address the default.

Whew! Once that’s finished, you can add the Gmail account to your iPhone. One caveat: DO NOT use the iPhone’s built-in Gmail account tool when you add the account. Instead, set the account up as an Other account, then click the IMAP tab and use the following values:

IMAP Account Information
Name: What you want your name to appear as when you send
Address: Your personal email address (not the secret Gmail address)
Description: Whatever you want

Incoming Mail Server
Host Name: imap.gmail.com
User Name: Your secret Gmail login (without the @gmail.com part)
Password: Duh.

Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
Host Name: smtp.gmail.com
User Name: Your secret Gmail login (without the @gmail.com part)
Password: Duh.

You can look at the Advanced settings, but you shouldn’t have to touch them unless you want to. When you’re done, you should be all set up. Now when someone sends an email to your personal account it will show up on your phone via Gmail, but when you respond it will look like your response came from your original account, not your Gmail. If you like, you can even add the account to Mail on your Mac.

Back when I first started using email (when 2400 was fast and gopher was cool), everyone used PINE, the free, text-only email client originally made available by the University of Washington. PINE, which stands for “Program for Internet Mail and News” was a killer app on the then-new internet and made the new medium of electronic communication easy to manage and use. Like most of the applications on my school’s UNIX server, I quickly picked up the rudimentary pieces of how to use PINE but marveled at some of the advanced tricks that power users could make it do… like include witty quotes and snippets of movie dialog in a signature at the end of every email.

At first I thought that people were changing their signatures frequently, but then I realized that some of my geekier pals were running some sort of script which pulled a random signature out of a database of hundreds of the things and placed it into each email. Very cool.

Fast forward more years than I would care to admit and we arrive at today. I use a Mac, the most advanced consumer PC on the planet, and the built-in email client lacks this functionality. I have looked for and found complex solutions involving Terminal scripts but never really thought them worth the effort… and then, this morning, I found Signature Profiler. I have kept a text file of quotations on my MacBook in anticipation of this day and setting the app up and putting that first Deep Thought by Jack Handy into my outgoing email was easy and fun.

To begin, you download the app from the developer’s website and mount the disk image. Since it’s a plug-in, you need to run an installer then quit and relaunch Mail. Once that is done, just open Mail’s Preferences and click on the new pane. The interface isn’t as simple as it could be, but a quick read of the included README file should set you straight. The app does two neat tricks: first, it can insert information about the current iTunes track into your email signature. I don’t need this feature, but it’s a cool idea. The second thing the app does is what I was after. I had to point the plugin to my quotations.txt file and it gave me a nice preview of what the quotes would look like. Of course, the txt file wasn’t formatted just right, so I had to fiddle with it a little. I used TextWrangler to insert a colon between each quotation and the name of the person who said it and to eliminate the blank lines between each quote. Once that was done, the plug-in just worked!

The interface is a little confusing and the documentation leaves something to be desired. But, if you want this functionality, this app is pretty-much your best bet. It’s Shareware with no limitations on the free version and is available from the developer’s website.

The good news is that, in at least one case, the missing functionality can be re-found with a simple, little trick.

On my old Mac’s keyboard, Exposé was controlled by the F9, F10 and F11 keys. F9 gave me all windows, F10 gave me the current application’s windows and F11 hid all windows. These were, of course, customizable assignments, bit this was the default behavior – and I committed it to muscle memory. On the new keyboard, only the old F9 functionality exists and it is mapped to a different key, F3. This creates two problems: first, I was consistently hitting the wrong key to show all windows and, second, I could no longer access the F10 or F11 versions of Exposé.

Enter the magical modifier keys, Command and Control. In Mac OS X these keys do wonders, often adding secret additional functionality to mouse clicks, keyboard shortcuts and menu commands. In this case, they modify the new keyboard’s single existing Exposé key, allowing it to do three times the work of a single button. It works as follows:

• F3: show all windows (used to be F9)
• Ctrl-F3: shows current application’s windows (used to be F10)
• ⌘-F3: hides all windows (used to be F11)

Sure, this requires retraining my muscle memory, but such is the price of progress. On the flip side, the new keyboard gives us dedicated iTunes control keys which we did not have before. And, if you really miss the single-press access to the other Exposé options, you can alway use the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the Keyboard and Mouse Preference Pane to map those functions to the unassigned function keys at the upper-right side of the new keyboard.

The main idea; of course, is that there are only two kinds people in the world: those who have lost data and those who will lose data. If you do not have a backup plan already in place, go read this heart-breaking story and download a backup application. Everyone should be serious about protecting their data. Really. Go now. It is that important.

The game is built-in to the Spybot application and will remain hidden until you find it. Is it only me, or does anyone else think that the idea that you need to purchase third-party software just to keep your computer running normally is a red flag? And, assuming that you use that software, what about the fact that it takes so long to perform its regularly-scheduled checks that you need to be given a distraction to help pass the time?

Psst! Read my lips: there are no viruses or spyware on the Mac. Really. None.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled software reviews.

During one of the years that I was in charge of the camp’s technical equipment, we discovered that the quiz show system, which had been built by hand over twenty years earlier out of parts purchased at Radio Shack, had stopped working and was beyond repair. I figured that we could create our own system using computers, but nobody could do it in time and we ended up buying a rather expensive college-bowl-type buzzer system at the last minute. It was really frustrating because I just knew that somewhere, someone had created a quiz show application that would do what I needed… and I couldn’t find it.

Now, years later, I have Questionable. This $25 piece of shareware from The Idiot Project is what I was looking for.

The software allows you to create categories, questions and players then put them together to make a professional looking quiz show on your Mac. You can create up to five categories for a game and use just about any USB device as a buzzer. The game can handle as many players as you can manage to give a buzzer to and it tracks the score for you, leaving you free to ask questions and provide witty repartee in between rounds.

You use a simple interface to create categories and questions and, when you are done, the game builds your game board for you. There is room for up to five categories, but the unregistered version allows you only four. The game automatically gives you a “Host’s View,” in which you select which question to ask, and a “Contestants’ View,” which would ideally be displayed via a projector or second screen. The game creates a professional looking game board with classy animations and a real-time scoreboard; all you have to do is click on the questions, read them, and hit an X or an O to identify right or wrong answers.

I created a quick game in less than twenty minutes and used it to review material with a high school class, who loved it. I put them into two teams and they had a blast with the material while I played game show host. I used a simple external keyboard for buzzers, but you can use mice, game-pads or any other USB device.

The only complaint I have with the app is that the process of creating and editing questions and answers could be more intuitive and Mac-like. Little things, like the ability to tab between fields on the form, don’t work the way they should, and I experienced one crash during the game setup which led me to save my work more frequently while inputting the rest of the questions. Another good addition would be a spell-checker to make sure your questions and answers don’t create errors.

All in all though, Questionable is a unique and useful application with a stable v1.0.1 release. You can download and use it for free (with some limitations) from The Idiot Project’s website and a full license costs only $25. You can share your question files with other users, so I am sure it is only a matter of time before an online repository of pre-built quizzes appears. Download the app and give it a try… and post links in the comments to your question files!

So, there I was. Thanks to a generous aunt, I found myself the enviable owner of an 8GB iPhone in the unenviable position of having 11 months left on my contract with T-Mobile and a $200 Early Termination Fee that I didn’t want to pay. What’s an honest guy to do? Thankfully, I found an answer… and as of yesterday, I am free of my contract, with no fees and a clear conscience. How did I do it? Read on to find out…

The answer turned out to be the internet. (It always is.) You see, many carriers offer a get-out-of-jail-free option called a “Transfer of Responsibility” (that’s what T-Mobile calls it; YMMV). The idea is that, since it costs so much to get a new customer, T-Mobile is willing to let me hand the rest of my contract over to someone else. That new person doesn’t have to commit to a new 2-year contract, I get out of the rest of mine, and they don’t lose an account… it’s a win-win-win for everyone. The catch was that I had to find the right person. This turned out to be harder than I thought, but not impossible.

I wrote a post on my local CraigsList explaining my predicament back on July 24, just over weeks ago. I outlined how taking over my contract was better than opening a new one and I offered my RAZR (which is nicer than the “free phone” T-Mobile offers) as an incentive. I posted the offer at about 10:00 PM and, the next morning, I had eight interested emails. Unfortunately, none of those people could qualify for an account with T-Mobile.

You see, in order to complete the transfer, the new party must pass the credit check… and many people who search online for deals on cell phones do not have the kind of credit the carrier trusts. But I persevered. In the end, I posted slightly different messages three times and sent an email out to my co-workers. As I said, it took about a month and a half, but I am now free and clear of that contract and I didn’t have to pay a dime of the termination fee. Just this morning, I sent the phone off to the new user… who lives halfway across the country!

So, if you’re interested in unloading your contract, give it a shot! If you offer your “old” phone, there’s an incentive (if not, you might have to offer some cash) for the new user and you and (s)he will end up helping each other out. Below is the text of my successful CraigsList post if you want to use it for a guide. If you try this out, post the results in the comments.

Take my cell phone contract and get a **free** RAZR!

I have a T-Mobile contract that I would like to get out of without paying the Early Termination Fee. T-Mobile says that if I can find someone to take the contract over, then I can move on with my life and you can enjoy the great service that they offer. Let me be clear: I LOVE my service and my phone and I have NO complaints about T-Mobile. But I need to switch carriers, so I find myself with a cell phone and contract I don’t need.

If you assume my contract, I will give you the phone bundle. It includes:

A new Motorola RAZR v3
Two wall chargers
An extra battery
Everything that came in the box
The contract includes:
The T-Mobile “Get More” plan (which they no longer offer)
$39.99/month
600 whenever minutes
Unlimited Nights and Weekend minutes
Additional minutes, if needed, cost $0.40
The plan DOES NOT include text messages (they cost ten or fifteen cents each and I don’t use enough to pay for a bundle)
The plan’s contract expires on July XX, 2008

You, of course, could switch this to whatever plan you wanted.

The process is as follows:

1. I create a new account with my new carrier and port my number over.
2. As that will cancel my service, I then re-activate my T-Mobile contract, giving the phone a new, random number.
3. You and I execute a “transfer of responsibility” which puts the phone, the contract and the new number in your name.
4. You can then change the number, keep it, port over another one, etc. It’s yours.
5. I go on my merry way, leaving you with the contract and the phone.

In short, I will give you my new RAZR in exchange for taking over my contract. You will need to contact T-Mobile and clear their credit check. Interested?

I don’t have any magic secret here your phone is still going to cost you at least $500 but I have a tip that might serve you well down the road (as long as you are not already an AT&T subscriber).

Before you activate your iPhone, which will create and activate an account with AT&T, activate a plain old service plan with them which will net you a free (or at least discounted) phone. Then go ahead and activate your iPhone using the number from the account you have already established.

The benefit is that you now have two phones, your iPhone and the one you don’t use. All I had to do was pull out my SIM card and put it into the backup phone and it worked just fine with my new iPhone account. Be sure to choose a free phone that is compatible with iSync so that you can put your contacts on to it. This ensures that when you use your backup phone, your experience is as close to the iPhone experience as possible.

Why would you ever want to use the backup? I am currently on vacation and my iPhone is safe at home. This way, I can take my phone out on to the boat or to the beach without worrying about damaging my precious iPhone. This “spare” phone might also come in handy if I ever need to have my iPhone serviced; I can continue to use my phone without paying Apple for a loaner. Sure, it’s not an iPhone, but it was free, I just had to ask for it before activating my iPhone.

Like I said, this is not an earth-shattering tip, but many people have thanked me for explaining the idea to them before they bought their iPhone. So, there you go!

We’ve covered applications that fetch cover art for you on MacApper, but this solution is unique. It’s free, it requires no application download or registration, and it’s drop-dead simple to use.

The process is simple:

• Use an Applescript to magically create a playlist containing all of your coverless music.
• Export a list of the coverless must.
• Use a free online tool to locate art for all of those tracks.
• Drag the art from Safari into iTunes. You’re done!

The first step is to download the Tracks without Artwork to Playlist script from Doug’s Applescripts. If you don’t already have Doug’s site bookmarked, you should. The script is not guaranteed to be perfect, but it will do a great job of locating the tracks in your library without cover art and placing them into a new playlist called “No Art.” It took about five minutes to run on my MacBook and found that 959 tracks in my library out of 1,962 tracks had no art. Of those tracks, 30 already had artwork, which I had already manually entered by poking around on the web a while back. It was a piece of cake to simply run through the Cover Flow view, find those tracks and delete them from the list.

The second step is to create a text file listing all of the tracks in your No Art playlist. You do that via the Export command in iTunes’s File Menu.

Third, head over to Art4iTunes, the site that is going to do the heavy lifting. It is a totally free service that, in my experience, does exactly what it says it will. You use the simple form there to upload the text file you created in the previous step and – presto! – you get cover art for each album. I would not suggest uploading all 900 of your tracks at once, since the results will span several pages and the process of moving the art into iTunes is the most tedious step. Still, for those tracks too stubborn to get art automatically from iTunes, this is a great alternative, and it’s totally free!

It’s not really fair to call 37Signals a Mac developer, since their products work cross-platform. They make professional-grade business software, including a Project Management suite, a Customer Relations Management database and online group chat, among other things. Their software is all free-to-try, some is free forever, and all of it is excellent. The one piece of their pie I am going to focus on today is a great little tool specially designed for everyone’s favorite new phone.

Ta-da Lists is a simple, online to-do list application that is free, easy-to-use and super-elegant. It takes about ten seconds to sign up and, once you do, you can create up to ten concurrent to-do lists that you can use from any web browser, including the iPhone’s version of Safari. You can share your lists with others and even publish them via RSS so you are notified of any changes (this notification might be needed if you share a list with someone else who then makes changes).

Imagine the following scenario: you are at the supermarket and can’t remember the five things your wife asked you to purchase. Thanks to your iPhone and Ta-da Lists, you can easily hop online from aisle seven and check what is on the shopping list… including the cucumbers she added to the list as you left the house. Your lists are always available and always update-able… plus they’re free.

Ta-da Lists works in Safari on the Mac and features a special, optimized interface when accessed from an iPhone. An account is free, so give it a try!

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.

The software is pretty simple. The single-window interface features a built-in search bar which allows you to search Google Video or YouTube and a main area which displays your search results. When you see a video you want to save, simply hit the appropriate button in the upper-right corner to save the flash video to your desktop where it is then trans-coded to a format that you can play in QuickTime. Or, if you prefer, you can use the application’s settings to set things up to save in a format especially for the iPod, tv or iPhone.

Now, it’s true that you can already see this sort of thing on the AppleTV and the iPhone, but both have to be connected to the internet to work properly and download time is required. With TubeTV, you only need to download the file once and you can then enjoy it, on all of your devices, over and over. Also, if you have an older Mac that stutters when you try to watch online videos, TubeTV allows you to enjoy them skip-free.

TubeTV requires Perian, a QuickTime component which we’ve covered here before, and will automatically download and install it for you if you haven’t already. It is a Universal Binary and requires OS 10.4 or later. You can download it for free from Chimoosoft’s site, though they accept donations, and you’ll be downloading and enjoying video in just minutes. There are other applications with some (or all) of TubeTV’s features, but none that do it so well for such a great price (it’s hard to beat free!).

The answer is Dockless, a great little app written by the hilariously titled Humongous Elephants and Tigers, “the biggest little Mac OS X software company.” As far as I can tell, the Chief Developer and Bottle-washer over there is Matthew Fahrenbacker, a high school math teacher from Illinois who likes Star Wars, which is cool, and the Cubs, which is forgivable. He is also a self-proclaimed Mac Fanatic with a long list of original software available for free download. One of those apps is Dockless which, quite simply, makes running applications not show up in the Dock (or vice-versa).

Dockless has a single-window interface which lists all of the apps installed on your Mac and allows you, via a check-box next to each one, to set whether or not that app’s icon shows in your Dock. It takes a minute or two to populate the list each time you launch Dockless but, once the list is there, you can check and uncheck boxes to your heart’s content. You then simply quit the app and presto! your Dock is at you want it.

I use Dockless to keep Dashboard out of my Dock, as well as Quicksilver and, now that I think about it, Spam Sieve as well. All of these applications run constantly on my machine but, in the case of Spam Sieve, I interact with it through another app (Mail) and I access the other two via system-wide keyboard shortcuts.

In the end, thanks to Dockless, my Dock is left as I want it with no muss and no fuss. Like most of the apps I write about here, Dockless does one thing, does it well and stays out of my way. What else could you want?

Dockless is a free download and is available in two versions, one for Mac OS X 10.2 and earlier and one for 10.3 and later (and I can vouch that it works perfectly in Tiger).

So, if you have, say, an iMac in your home office and two MacBooks floating around your home, you can share a single cable modem connection between all three computers without purchasing any more equipment.

The idea is pretty simple: the first thing you need to do is get one Mac connected to the Internet. The good news is that, if you have a working Internet connection, Mac OS X is smart enough to do that for you; just plug an Ethernet cable between your broadband modem and your Mac. That is the only wired connection you’re going to need to make.

The second step is to set that Mac up to share its Internet connection with others, and to configure all of the related preferences. Finally, you connect your mobile machines to the network you created in step two, and you’re done.

The only requirements are that the “base station Mac” has to have both an Ethernet port (they all do) and an AirPort card (all of the current notebooks, iMacs and Mac minis do, it’s an option on the Mac Pro). Also, you need to be running Mac OS X. I am not sure which versions are required, but I know both Tiger and Panther can do this. (If anyone tries with a version earlier than Panther, please let us know in the comments how it goes.)

This works best if your Base Station Mac is a desktop machine because it’s got to be up and running whenever the other machines want to connect to the Internet. So if you use a notebook, your network will go down whenever you put it to sleep or shut it down.

On your Base Station Mac, open System Preferences and choose the Sharing Pane. This is where you go to turn on things like Printer Sharing and File Sharing… and it’s also where you’ll find the setup options for Internet Sharing, the magic mojo that will make your network run.

Once the Sharing Pane opens, click on the Internet tab at the right end of the bar to bring up the relevant options. Now, this screen is so simple that most of this explanation is totally unnecessary. Nevertheless, here it is: before the big Start button becomes clickable, you’re going to need to choose which “port” you want to use to share your internet connection.

Keep it simple and check AirPort. All that means is that, when the Internet comes in to your Base Station Mac’s Ethernet port, you’re going to share it out of the AirPort port. The AirPort Options button is where you give your network a name and set up its password. Do this, then click the big, ol’ Start button. Once you’ve done that, you’re home free.

Now look up at your Menu Bar where your AirPort icon usually sits… it’s different! The icon now shows that you’re running an outbound network and all your other Macs should see it automatically. Just turn on one of the machines that you want connected to your new network and hit the AirPort Menu. Type in the appropriate password, and off you go. Simple, no?

Except for the fact that your Base Station Mac needs to be on all the time, there is no real downside to this technique. Your ISP may limit how many computers you can connect to a single modem but, barring problems with that, you should have no trouble at all. Experienced readers may want to check out the Printer Sharing settings in the Services section of the Sharing Pane to setup a single USB printer on your Base Station Mac, which can be accessed from all your wireless machines.

Let us know in the comments how it goes!

Real video has become far less popular over the years, but there are still lots and lots of Windows Media videos on the internet. You used to be able to download a version of Windows Media Player for the Mac but, around the time that OS X appeared, that app disappeared, no longer supported by Microsoft. Now, that was OK, since it was a pretty lousy application, but if you want to watch online video in Windows Media format, you need a solution… and, of course there is one.

When Microsoft killed WMP for the Mac, it made the codec available in another form, a plug-in called Flip4Mac. You install it into Quicktime Player, the video-watching application which comes free with all Macs. And, unlike the way it used to work, you no longer need a separate application to view WMV files; they simply play in Quicktime Player or, on the internet, in your web browser. All you need to do is download the free file from Microsoft’s website and install it on your Mac. Do this once, and you will be able to watch WMV files in your browser with no problem. Click here for the download page; the plug-in is free.

I use a third-party add-on application to give me just the calendar data I need, when I need it, in a small calendar that drops down from my menu bar whenever I want and remains hidden the rest of the time. The app is called MenuCalendarClock, is available to work with either iCal or Entourage and is, according to the developer, “the ultimate calendaring utility for the Mac.” (I agree!)

The concept is simple; the application runs invisibly, always updating itself with my newest schedule updates in iCal. It places itself behind a small icon in the Menu Bar and, when you click on it, drops down a mini-calendar and appointment list that stays visible for as long as you need it then vanishes. The drop down can contain appointments from all of your calendars or just the ones you specify, and shows as many days at a time as you want. You can even set it to show your appointments in pop-up tool-tips as you mouse over each day in the mini-month view.

You integrate the app into your Menu Bar by simply turning off the system’s clock and adding MenuCalendarClock’s. Or, if you would rather, you can just access the app via its own icon, leaving the system clock untouched. Either way, one click drops down a current month view along with a day-by-day listing of your appointments. You access the application’s preferences from the drop-down and nothing ever shows up in your Dock.

If all you want is the calendar itself, then the application is free. However, by purchasing a license for $19.95, you get many more features, including the ability to show events from iCal or Entourage which is, in my opinion, the killer feature. You can read more about MenuCalendarClock or download it at Object Park’s website.

The process works great… the only problem is the way that you access it. Apple stuck the Fast User Switching menu into the Menu Bar and named it with the user name of the currently logged-in user. That’s no biggie if your name is Roz Ho. But if, like the unfortunate bloke in the eighth chapter of Isaiah, you have a long name (his is “Mahershalalhashbaz” and is the longest name in the Bible), then you end up wasting a ton of the space in your Menu Bar displaying your name. There has to be a better way, right? Well, of course there is.

Wincent Colaluta is a clever Mac software developer who produced a piece of software called WinSwitch, designed to solve this very problem. What it does is let you control what identifies your Fast User Switching menu. Look at the screenshots here, which I took on Steve Jobs’s Mac Pro this morning. One image shows Steve’s full user name, while the second shows his User Picture. Notice how much less horizontal space the image takes up? That, in a nutshell, is WinSwitch.

Before and After:

You get other options, too. Six in all:

¢ The standard Accounts logo from System Preferences
¢ Your User Picture
¢ Your short User name
¢ Your entire User Name (the system default)
¢ Your first name only
¢ Your initials

You get to WinSwitch’s preferences from the Menu Bar item itself and there you can choose between the six options. Additionally, you can adjust the size of the User Pictures WinSwitch displays and opt to include OS X’s powerful Root User in your list of available accounts. WinSwitch also allows you to add items to “Switch In” and “Switch Out” lists that will cause the application to launch those items when you switch to or from a particular user. (This feature could be used, for example, to make sure iTunes and iPhoto quit when switching users so that multiple accounts can access the same music and photo databases, as explained here.)

Getting your grubby hands on WinSwitch is easy. The app is a 1.5 MB download from the developer’s site and, once you expand the disk image, the installer walks you right through the process. The app is free to try and, if you like it, Wincent asks only for a donation. The app is also easy to get rid of since the well-designed installer includes an uninstall option, though I don’t think you will be getting rid of it any time soon. Like most of the apps I write about here, WinSwitch is a solid, well-designed app that does one thing, does it very well and is backed up by a responsible and responsive developer. Give it a shot; you won’t be disappointed.

MacApper, of course. But if you’ve read every article we’ve got and your insane thirst for insanely great software has not yet been quenched, where do you turn? The answer lies in your menu bar, thanks to a great little piece of software called MUMenu.

The “MU” in the name stands for MacUpdate.com, which in case you don’t know is an awesome online collection of software in the style of Download.com, but it’s all Mac-only. MacUpdate provides information, screenshots and user-reviews of freeware, shareware and commercial applications, along with download links and lots more. It deserves a spot in your Bookmarks (right below MacApper, of course!). The only downside is that there is so much excellent software available for the Mac that it’s hard to stay up-to-date with the new stuff that’s released every day.

That’s where MUMenu comes in. The current version of this little gem (v2.1.2) is only a 208 kb download. Once you download it and unzip the archive, you will find the application itself and an extras folder which contains three additional sets of icons you can use if you want.

Once launched, the app sits in your menu bar and, whenever it receives word of new software available on MacUpdate, the icon changes to alert you. When you click on the icon, the resulting drop-down menu lists the software that is available (new releases push older titles down and off the bottom of the list) and each item contains a sub-menu with a brief description and links for more information or the download itself. The items are even identified as free, shareware, demo or commercial.

The application’s simple Preferences screen (which you reach through MUMenu itself) lets you set the frequency at which it looks online for updates (in 30 minute increments) as well as which icon set you want to use. You can also choose how to order the menu, with the default set to show the most recently released titles first. Additionally, you can choose to group the items by license type and them sub-sort them by release date in each group, which I love. The final option is a check-box which, if checked, will launch MUMenu every time you log on, which I recommend. (In the screenshot, the items highlightedin red are what MacUpdate calls “Hot Picks” which probably means that the developer paid them for a more prominent listing.)

I don’t know about other writers here at MacApper World HQ, but I rely heavily on MUMenu to stay on top of the constantly changing landscape of Mac Apps. While I would never imply that any application, no matter how useful, could ever replace the service we provide, I know that MUMenu could become one of your favorite ways to stay abreast of what’s available for your Mac. You can pick up your free copy of MUMenu direct from MacUpdate.

But, what about us, the enlightened few who use Macs? Along with the public beta of Safari for Windows, Apple released a beta of Safari 3.0 for Mac OS X. What are the new features therein and are they worth downloading and upgrading to a beta release?

Well, first things first: the installer comes complete with an uninstaller. So, while the installation writes over your previous version of Safari and requires a restart, you can roll back to Safari v2 if you don’t like the beta. But, what’s not to like?

The new version of Safari includes:

A faster downloading experience. According to Apple.com, Safari v3b loads pages more than twice as fast as Firefox v2 and more than 4 times faster than Opera. I can’t figure out how to test that on my own, but I assume that it’s true at least some of the time. More speed is good, right?

In-line search. This one is awesome. When you hit cmd-F to find something on a webpage, a bar drops down from the Bookmarks Bar that looks a lot like the search field in Mail. As you type, the results are high-lighted on the webpage and little arrows take you from one result to the next. Firefox has had this for a while and the implementation in Safari is fantastic.

Drag and Drop Tabs. Another winner here. In Safari v3b, tabs can be moved, re-positioned and dragged out into their own window. You can also drag a URL or favicon to the tab bar, but I think you could do that before.

In-line PDF Controls. Via a new contextual menu, you can control PDF viewing in new ways that are powerful enough to make an external reader obsolete.

Resizeable text fields. This one is really cool – every large text field you encounter, on forms, contact pages, message boards, etc, has a draggable corner and is resizeable.

Spellcheck. I am honestly not sure if this one is new or not, but real-time spellcheck is built-in to Safari v3b.

Google Docs works. Here at MacApper, we use GoogleDocs for our writing and, aggravatingly, Google did not support Safari, so I had to use Firefox for my writing. Now, despite an easy-to-dismiss warning that says otherwise, GDocs works fine in Safari – I’m writing this post in Safari right now.

I am sure that there are other features new to v3b. Once we move to Leopard, there will be others (like web clips) but I am sure that there are some more I haven’t found yet. Even so, I think that the above list demonstrates that the new beta is worth a try, even for Mac users. Give it a go and let us know in comments what cool, new features I may have missed.

If you have missed the bandwagon and haven’t had a chance to download Safari Beta 3 yet, pick it up for free from Apple.

With the installation of WiFind, a $8 SIMBL plugin from TastyApps, your Mac’s Airport menu instantly becomes easier to use with zero overhead. You simply run the installer and, when you’re done, the computer’s Airport menu works the way it should have from the get-go.

This is such a simple concept that it doesn’t really merit a “review,” but here goes: once you install WiFind, your Airport menu begins to display more information. In addition to the names of all of the networks your Mac can see, the menu displays signal-strength and security status of each. A quick glance at the screenshot will communicate more than my explanation.

In fact, this is such a natural-feeling addition to OS X that it’s bound to be included in a future version… and that’s the only negative thing I can say about it. And, if the only nasty thing I can say about an app is that you might “waste” your money by buying it because Apple will probably add it to the OS, that’s a pretty positive review.

One note: WiFind is a SIMBL plug-in, which means that it hooks into your OS’s files to work. You might be worried by that, since it sounds like it’s somehow changing your system, but you shouldn’t because it doesn’t. According to the FAQ, if you decide you don’t like WiFind, all you have to do to is remove the “WiFind.bundle” from the “/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/” folder and restart. Simple!

WiFind is $8 shareware and you can get your copy from TastyApps.

Chances are that your local library has moved to a computer system instead of the card catalog you learned about in first grade. And, thanks to that computer system, the Internet and a generous Australian programmer named Harold, you can now use your Mac to interact with the library in a much more convenient way.

The idea is pretty simple: your local library uses a computer to track the books you’ve checked out as well as manage their catalog. Since they make this information available over the Internet, it was simply a matter of time until someone resourceful enough found a way to access it from within an application. Harold is that guy and his simple Menu Bar application will change the way you interact with your library. Of course, different libraries use different software packages, protocols and systems, but Harold hasn’t let that stop him. His app currently supports libraries in nine different countries (including 180 in the United States) and if yours isn’t supported (mine wasn’t), just shoot him an email; Harold released an update including my local library mere hours after I contacted him.

Once you install the app and follow the directions to set it up, you get a small star-icon in your menu bar. You can use the menu to see the items you have currently checked out, sorted by due date, and it also alerts you to any requested items the library may be holding for you. As an added bonus, Library Menu can automatically create an iCal calendar which tracks your due dates and gives you appropriate reminders so you don’t incur late fees. To top it all off, the menu also gives you one-click shortcuts to your local library’s website, online catalog and item renewal pages.

Harold’s future plans for the app include his ever-growing list of supported libraries and the addition of a dashboard widget to display the information. It’s a 3 MB download that is free to try, is a Universal application and requires only Mac OS X 10.3 or later and an Internet connection.

Library Books represents the very best in Mac software: it’s a free-to-use application that does one thing very well. It’s written by a responsive, talented programmer who only asks that, if you feel like it, you drop some cash in his tip jar. There should be more programmers like Harold and more apps like Library Books. Give it a shot and donate a few bucks if you like what he’s doing.

The WMP is part of the services offered by timeanddate.com, which is worth checking out if you ever have need to concern yourself with what goes on in different parts of the world. You pick a number of cities all over the world and the site builds you a table which shows the hours at which everyone in those cities will be simultaneously available. In this screenshot, the hours at which people are usually asleep are shaded red.

I know, this isn’t an earth-shattering idea but, like I said, if you have the need, this service is the bee’s knees, AND it’s free. I love free stuff. For example, here at MacApper we have contributors and editors all over the world. When we have our next meeting of the Macintosh Enlightenment and Taking Over the World Society, if we used this tool, Nick wouldn’t have to wake me at 3:30 AM, which is 6:30 PM for him down under. (Of course, he probably will anyway, but that’s just Nick.) In a more pedestrian example, if you have relatives overseas and you want to arrange a video-conference via iChat or Skype, this would be a great way to find a time that works for everyone.

By the way, that clock image above is from the SwissRailwayClock widget.

An industry first, Visual Voicemail allows you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. So you can quickly select the messages that are most important to you.

It’s a neat idea and one which will probably push many people to consider the iPhone once it is available. But, what if, like me, you’re impatient? Well, you’re in luck, because you can have the same feature now, for free, thanks to CallWave.

CallWave is a company that provides a bunch of telephony products targeted mostly at business users. But, one of their services, which they offer for free, is Visual Voicemail. The setup is simple: You visit that link and download their dashboard widget (Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger required) then create a free account via their website. The service works with most US carriers including Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, and over 30 others using any cell phone, but you do need to be in the US. Once your account is created, you follow their simple instructions to replace your carrier’s voicemail with their service. I use T-Mobile and can’t notice any difference.

Then, whenever you receive a voicemail, you’re notified via Text Message to your cell phone and you can listen in the usual manner by dialing in. Or you can visit the CallWave website to listen or, coolest of all, you can use the Dashboard Widget to listen to your email from your Mac. I work in a room without cell service and this widget is a godsend. Try it out… it’s a great way to access your voicemail and will tide you over until mid-June when the iPhone is released!

TidBITS is the longest-running Mac newsletter currently in existence. It began in 1990 before many MacApper authors were born! and has published weekly since then, offering some of the ‘net’s best Mac commentary, news, analysis and how-to. Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Adam and Tonya Engst, TidBITS is the real deal: a free newsletter that is well-written and contains truly useful information. You should stop reading this right now and go subscribe to the newsletter. I’ll wait.

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