Well, this really just isn’t your run-of-the-mill beanbag, it’s at the top of it’s class. The first thing I noticed when it showed up on my doorstep was the pure size of it, however, that’s in now way a bad thing. Once I unpacked it all, there really was no other option than to let it catch your fall.

The size and material of the Omni also allow you to easily just crash on it, and with no effort it’ll morph positions to support even the most demanding reading and gaming sessions. Also, it’s rugged nylon exterior is almost impossible to tear, and it’s quite spill proof, too.

The Omni’s properties also make it one of the most unique beanbags out there, and in many cases it’s less of a beanbag and more of just a giant lounging pillow. Personally, I currently have the Omni setup in my room, and just crash onto it with the MacBook on my lap, in fact, I’m sitting on it right now writing this review. Something else I’d like to point out is that the Omni’s incredibly comfortable for long periods of time. I’ve already sat through a few long writing and movie watching sessions sitting in this preferred position, and now consider it an invaluable part of my setup.

Nonetheless, as with anything, there are a few minor downsides to the Omni as well. Sometimes I’ve found that finding the optimal position for those long sessions can take a few minutes to set up, but luckily, it’s always comfortable anyway. I’d also probably recommend leaning it on a wall or something similar, as that eases the time spent trying to find those optimal positions, and will keep the bag in shape longer just in case you want to get up for a few minutes.

In addition to the moulding issue I’ve also found that the Nylon exterior isn’t so well suited for breathability, and on more than one occasion my back’s become pretty hot and sweaty after prolonged use.

Now, even with all that said, I still wholeheartedly recommend the Omni. Sumo’s done a great job implementing a great degree of comfort in to many of my daily tasks. Price-wise, many of you may think it’s $129 price-tag is “too-much” for a “beanbag”, but I think you can already tell from how much I love the Omni, that it isn’t. The sheer multitude of applications for it surely justifies the price. It’s less than most decent office-chairs, and you can even sleep on it. Some might even consider it’s “space-age” design to incorporate into a chic living space.

Overall, if you’re getting tired of the sofa, looking for a beanbag, or just a plain multi-purpose design-piece, look no further than Sumo’s Omni. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I have.

Picnic simplifies a task which many of us would greatly benefit from, but otherwise won’t bother with the hassle that’s involved. Normally, to accomplish such a task, the configuration of a file-server is needed, in addition to yet another backup server. You don’t even have to be connected to the network in order to access the files as they are synced to your system. Modification of files is also simplified by that fact, meaning you can disconnect from the network with a fresh copy of the folder, modify the files on the go, and then sync it back with the other Macs.

One more feature I found interesting was the “conflicts” pane. When I was reading about the app, I became concerned abut the fact that multiple users are going to be re-syncing the same folder with alternate modifications, so there are bound to be some conflicting files. Fortunately, Picnic does a very good job of managing this, by allowing you to easily delete one of the conflicting folders.

I can especially see Picnic being used in a business environment to share files and collaborate on projects without the need for expensive servers and such. In this situation, there isn’t even a need to mess around with permissions. It integrates support for a rather coarse system where the machines have either all or no access.
Overall, Picnic is a fine app for “live” folder synchronization making great use of Bonjour, one of OS X’s greatest Core technologies. It’s currently in beta, and is available for download from Objectpark Software.

Albeit, a few have seemed to manage with the iPhone “styling.” One great example of this is David Cann’s Digg interface. Intelligently making use of images and old-fashioned browser frames, he created a great “simulated iPhone” (just Safari though, by no means fully-featured) for a better sense of how exactly his apps will run on the real thing.

iPhoney is a little Mac app that allows you to do this very thing without the fairly complex configuration required in getting his simulation up on your site. Interested users can even give it a try just to see how their favorite websites will look on a real, life-size, iPhone. You can even rotate the simulated device into landscape mode, making the experience that much more realistic.

If you’re a developer, or even someone who just likes to tinker around with things, David Cann has provided the source code for both his Digg and Chat applications. Another iPhone developer, Rob Fox, has also released the source code for his RSS “app” which is heavily based on the aforementioned Digg interface. If you’d like an even broader sense of what seems to work well with the iPhone, this application list should keep you up to date on what developers are producing, many with downloadable source code.

iPhoney is highly recommended, even if you’re just pretending to surf the web on an iPhone. The app is freeware, although it’ll soon become open-source. Download it here.

Fetch, Transmit, and CyberDuck.

Fetch (Fetch SoftWorks; Shareware; $25)

Fetch was one of the first FTP clients created for the Macintosh. Similar to the Finder, Fetch operates using a single pane uploading interface. While this allows for more simplicity and fluidity to be present throughout the interface it’s slightly more difficult to compare local files, and some cases an additional finder window is required. In the current version there is no support for spring-loaded folders or column views.

In addition to the obvious FTP and SFTP connections, Fetch allows for secure connections using the Kerberos service, as well as support for more proxy options than other comparable FTP clients. It also features something coveted by many: automatic file compression on upload, supporting Gzip, Gzip Tar, Stuffit, and Zip formats. If you take advantage of it, this may be Fetch’s killer feature. It also features the ability to edit text files graphics, remotely.

Unlike some other FTP apps, Fetch has no capability to create drop-boxes for uploading to frequented locations. It does have support for AppleScript, so someone with a bit of coding knowledge could build these quite easily.

Fetch is a very powerful, yet simple FTP app. The simplicity might put it at a minor disadvantage in comparison with other similarly priced applications. But should serve well anyone who needs a reliable FTP client.

Rating: 3.9/5

Transmit (Panic; Shareware; $29.95)

Panic’s Transmit is undoubtedly one of the most critically acclaimed FTP clients on the Mac platform. With it’s functional, beautiful interface, and innovative features, her praise is well-deserved. There is nothing drastic about Transmit’s interface and there should be little-to-no learning curve when switching from any other Mac FTP app.

Transmit includes browser-like tabs, which allows for improved organization of a cluttered workflow. It also has the ability to synchronize folder navigation, meaning that the hierarchial navigation can be synchronized throughout both your local, and remote files.

The app’s interface is even further improved for those new to FTP, using layman’s terms, your local files are titled “your files” and remote files nicknamed “their files”. Transmit also has spring-loaded folders.

Transmit includes support for the standard file transfer methods: FTP, SFTP, FTP with use of SSL; and the not-so-standard WebDAV with HTTPS and secure HTTP support.

Remotely editing nearly any remote file in a local application is a breeze, and is especially useful when making small edits. Transmit also offers the ability to synchronize a local folder with a remote one. There is also an included Dashboard widget for quick drag-and-drop uploading.

One of Transmit’s unique features is DockSend. Any file you drag into its dock icon can be copied to a designated location on the remote server. Transmit also features the ability to dynamically calculate folder sizes, which is a great feature if you use it.

Transmit is a full-featured, seamlessly integrated, and beautifully designed FTP app, nearly guaranteed to improve your uploading work-flow. It’s features outnumber and outperform that of competing apps and though it may be a few dollars more, it’s surely worth it.

Rating: 4.5/5

CyberDuck (CyberDuck; Open Source (GPL); Free)

CyberDuck is full-featured, free, and open source. CyberDuck’s interface is standard for anyone who has used a graphical FTP client before. It provides well integrated support for OS X’s drag-and-drop environment and takes advantage of many of OS X’s other core technologies such as Bonjour and the Keychain.

Remote editing is supported, though only for text-editing. Like all the other apps we’ve looked at, CyberDuck includes support for remote synchronization of local files. It also has the ability to resume transfers, full Applescript support, and extensive localization with built-in support for 23 languages.

With its open source architecture, streamlined interface, well implemented features and very few bugs, CyberDuck is a great zero-cost alternative to its non-free competitors with little feature reduction.

Rating: 4.3/5

While any of these applications would be a great choice for someone in need of an FTP client, one stands out from the rest: Transmit. Its complete feature set, seamless integration, and beautifully designed UI warrant this application a winner. While it may cost a bit more, it simply outperforms the rest.

If you need more options before you make a decision, take a look at Fugu and YummyFTP.

That’s where DiggUpdate comes in.

There’s no need to miss the news as it develops, even if you’re sitting at your computer right as it all unfolds. DiggUpdate is a nicely integrated app by Dustin Bachrach of OpenSoft development. The little app resides in your Mac’s menubar, and the second the news breaks you’re in the know with its built-in entirely customizable notification system. Also if you prefer you can also opt for Growl notifications – nice touch!

It has many additional features, my favorite of which is to configure your account and digg what your friends have either submitted or dugg themselves. No more “plz digg” type of annoyances. In addition to that, DiggUpdate provides a drop down menu displaying all up-to-the-minute digg activity. You will honestly never miss a story again. DU is totally configurable, so you can set it to show maybe 6 front page stories, 3 friends stories, at a 5 minute refresh. This app will really change the way you look at digg, and is one of likely a legion or more to follow using digg’s recently released API.

Best of all DiggUpdate is entirely open source and is distributed under the GNU GPL license. Download it here and get digging.

Nocturne is a new app from Blacktree, the creators of one of the best, and maybe the most legendary Mac apps of all time: Quicksilver. Now you could cmd+opt+ctrl+8, which will invert your screen’s colors, but Nocturne enables this with far more functionality. The app can do just that of course, but Nocturne offers the ability to make your display monochrome, or tint its color towards any that you choose. You might also like the ability to hide your desktop background, as well as adjust your window shadowing.

A slight warning – this can become extremely addictive, and may actually increase eye strain, or irregular perception as I like to call it. For instance you can tint it to red and feel like you’re captaining a submarine.

It turns out that screenshots don’t work with the overlaid effect. Anyways, here’s a bit of a preview made using Photoshop to give you an idea.

As with all of Blacktree’s offerings, Nocturne is available as a completely free download.

Every day I go to school constantly leaving my MacBook’s lid open, yet idle, without much effect on it’s battery life. However, I keep finding myself not wanting my Mac to go to sleep, and it’s usually when I’m watching a video in QuickTime. To enjoy my video, I need to constantly wiggle the mouse to prevent my screensaver from showing up, or for the screen to automatically dim and then fall asleep.

While there are various ways to enable and disable the sleep function with the use of the Terminal and such, there is no simple way to constantly disable and re-enable it. That is, until Caffeine comes into the picture. Caffeine is an unobtrusive menu-bar item which functions just as advertised. Simply click the icon once, and an overlaid cross-section should appear, disabling sleep. The item can then easily be clicked again in order to re-enable it.

While it’s implementation is flawless, there is only one little grudge I have against this app, as there is still no option to prevent sleep when the lid is closed on your Mac laptop. For that purpose I recommend InsomniaX.

Caffeine is available as a free download from Lighthead Software.

Watanabe has also announced a bounty of features to be released in future versions: selective file downloading, encryption, and torrentcast auto-downloading (I’d like to point out Xtorrent can already subscribe to RSS feeds, just not auto-download yet). These featured were announced on the basis of absolutely on track for future releases, so we’ll just have to wait.

You can grab the new release from the main Xtorrent site.

NetNewsWire Ranchero Software, $25.95

Pros: Free Lite version available, auto-collection, smart folders, search, synchronization with newsgator service, scriptable, built-in efficient web browser.

Cons: No item threading, No ability to put items in context, No spotlight integration, No customizable color labels, lowest automatic refresh time is 30 minutes.

Newsfire Dave Watanabe, $20

Pros: Sleek design, efficiently functional interface, integrated search, smart folders, integrates with several desktop del.icio.us applications such as Pukka, fairly quick automatic refresh time of merely 5 minutes.

Cons: No Labels, no AI for efficient Smart Folders, no way to archive feeds, no integrated synchronization.

Newslife ThinkMac Software, $20, Public Beta

Pros: Easy to use, familiar and efficient interface, works seamlessly with OS X apps like Safari and iTunes, includes tools for quick posting to social bookmarking sites like digg and del.icio.us, “Speck” article text to speech capabilities.

Cons: In beta and still rather buggy, fastest automatic refresh time is 20 minutes, $20 is a rather steep price for it’s present state- even though it’s in public beta the nag screens can become quite an annoyance.

Vienna Open Community UK, Freeware, Open Source

Pros: Simple and easy-to-use interface, smart folders, ability to flag individual articles.

Cons: Vienna cannot learn which item to place in a smart folder by experience, no colored labels for organizing items, very little support for podcasts or any other media delivered via RSS, no integration with online RSS services.

Safari RSS Apple Inc., Bundled with Mac OS X

Pros: Built into OS X, allows for integrated RSS reading and web browsing seamlessly, Solid search and archiving, modifiable article length.

Cons: Safari may not be your browser of preference so the advantage of having RSS integrated in your web browser (though there are a few more browsers with this same capability, notably firefox), most of the “standard” features (smart folders, social bookmarking etc.) are not present.

Conclusion: Go with Newsfire if you have the money, otherwise go with NetNewsWire Lite. Both have solid, intuitive interfaces, and the great features you’ve come to expect from modern RSS applications.

The selection of default applications can easily become a major annoyance. That’s where RCDefaultApp comes into play. RCDefaultApp is an OS X preference pane that allows a user to set the default application used for various URL schemes, file extensions, file types, and much more. Unlike other default application utilities, it allows for the disabling of file-types or protocols, for example URL schemes that pose specific security risks. All in all RCDefaultApp is a simple and efficient way to manage your default applications from within System Preferences.

RCDefaultApp is freeware and is available as a free download from Rubicode.

http://macapper.com/2007/04/07/shiira-the-alt-webkit-browser/ Shiira is a browser, that like Safari, is written in Cocoa and is based on the Web-Kit rendering engine. Unlike Safari, Shiira is an open source project. It’s aimed at “creating a browser that is better and more useful than Safari.” While the main characteristics of both are similar (Private Browsing, Search Bar, Tabbed Browsing, etc.), however, Shiira has enhanced many features of Safari, making it very much a browser of it’s own.

Read more on Shiira: The Alt Webkit Browser…

Shiira is a browser, that like Safari, is written in Cocoa and is based on the Web-Kit rendering engine. Unlike Safari, Shiira is an open source project. It’s aimed at “creating a browser that is better and more useful than Safari.” While the main characteristics of both are similar (Private Browsing, Search Bar, Tabbed Browsing, etc.), however, Shiira has enhanced many features of Safari, making it very much a browser of it’s own.

It’s interface is very customizable, from the ability to re-order tabs, to the it’s interchangeable search-engine bar. The browser is of comparable stability and speed to Safari, making it among the fastest and most functional browsers available for OS X.

Not only this, but Shiira’s GUI is customizable as well, there is option to switch between aqua and brushed metal styles. Shiira also features the very appealing “Tab Exposé”, which acts much like OS X’s own Exposé feature; rendering each open tab completely visible, simplifying web navigation. Shiira also has a page transition effect, which creates a page-turning look for navigation between any two webpages. Shiira’s 2.0 beta can even be set to display tabs as thumbnails along the bottom of the screen.

Even after outlining it’s many impressive features, there are of course many imperfections that go along with them. Shiira has no RSS support, but if you have saved an RSS feed as a bookmark in Safari and imported it into Shiira, it will open in Safari. Managing bookmarks can be an annoyance as well, as you can only delete bookmarks you have created in Shiira. You cannot delete imported bookmarks, nor can you import bookmarks from any browser aside from Firefox or Safari. Autofill is not yet implemented, and english documentation is quite poor. It sometimes renders accented characters into Japanese script, and suffers the many site compatibilty problems as Safari. Overall, Shiira is a decent and well implemented alternative browser, and is definitely worth a try.

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In this tutorial I will use iBackup, which is free for personal use, and can be downloaded here.

First of all, you should determine where you’d like to save your backup:

Simply click “Set” and choose your desired backup volume, in this case, mine is “backup.”

Now, it’s time to decide exactly what you’d like to backup.

After choosing a category, you can either select the category as a whole, by clicking the checkmark beside each respective category, or you can do so within their subcategories.

Now, it’s time to look at some of the more advanced options offered by iBackup, first, simply click the following icon:

The following window should now appear:

In the general tab, you can configure the backup to be uploaded to a server, or run scripts. Next, choose the “Backup Folders” tab:

Here, you can choose the name of your backup folder, and/or make this folder burnable. This tab can also limit the amount of backup folders in your backup location.

Next, click on the “Advanced” tab, here, you can set many UNIX “ditto” and “rsync” commands that can be executed during your backup.

Now, simply check whether there is enough space in your backup location in order to backup what you’ve selected. If there is, go on, if there isn’t, back-track and remove what can be removed in order to backup.

Finally, after all of your desired preferences have been set, you can proudly click the “backup now” button:

If all goes well, you should now see a dialog similar to this one:

Once that finishes, you should now have effectively backed up your hard drive. Now you can sleep at night

MarsEdit’s interface is quite similar to that of an email application. It allows you to compose posts in a convenient text editor, spell-check it, and publish it to any one of your blogs. It even has a drafts folder for your work in progress items. MarsEdit allows you to add a bookmarklet to your favorite browser and even supports external editing in BBEdit, SubEthaEdit, TextMate, or TextWrangler. It’s also fully AppleScriptable, extending it’s UI to developers.

Even considering all this, there are a few little gripes that come along with it: There is not yet support for the Atom API, nor Vox, and it will not publish behind a proxy requiring authentication. If you don’t particularly like the UI, I recommend trying ecto, another desktop blog authoring application. Though it may not have a few of MarEedit’s features, and costs $17.95, I personally work more efficiently in it’s UI. Even though there are a few bugs here and there, and the UI may not entirely be to your liking, MarsEdit is a great blog authoring tool, and one of the best on OS X.

All in all, if you are looking for a lightweight, but comparably powerful photo editor, ChocoFlop is a good choice. Keep in mind, ChocoFlop is still in alpha and can become unstable, though I personally had very few problems. ChocoFlop requires Growl as well as OS X 10.4, and is available as free download.

The Unarchiver fits right into OS X and is easy to use. All that’s required is a simple application installation, then choosing the set archive file-types that it will open by default. Viola, you now have an unarchived file, a task done very well by the aptly named “Unarchiver”. Supported file formats include Zip, Tar-GZip, Tar-BZip2, Rar, 7-zip, LhA, StuffIt and many filetypes. The Unarchiver is Open Source under the GPL License and is available as a free download.

Even though all of these features may exude “must-have app,” it’s still very much a work in progress. It’s only a preview for now, not yet in beta. For safety reasons, it won’t overwrite your applications but extract downloaded updates to your desktop. Users have also reported crashes while updating Saft for Safari. Despite these downsides this app looks very promising and may very well become a staple application in the future.

AppFresh is available as a free download from Metaquark.

This is a definite “must-have” app. The implementation of many inexplicably useful features into one nicely rolled up package integrates very well with OS X. If you like to jot down your thoughts, take random notes, or vlog on the go, I highly recommend this app. Journler is in version 2.5 and is donationware. Nevertheless, the application has no limitations and is available as a free download.

The dual-pane view saves you the trouble of bloating your desktop with connection windows and file listings, enabling the most effective workflow. ForkLift features copying between local hard drives, iPods, FTP servers, archives, and even mobile phones. The app also has great spotlight integration, as well as the ability to work with archives and smart folders as if they were the original folders. ForkLift even has the ability to view file previews either remotely, or from within archives. After using ForkLift for a few hours I’m quite impressed. It definitely lives up and went beyond my expectations. ForkLift is now in a time-limited beta version, so grab it while you can!