I Love Stars is a free application from Potion Factory, and it’s designed to do one simple thing. It simply shows up inconspicuously in your menubar and provides you with a simple interface to rate the current track.

It’s not a fully-fledged iTunes controller; it won’t allow you to control your music or display snazzy album art. All it does is one thing, and it does it well. The interface simply consists of 1 to 5 stars, arranged nicely and unobtrusively. Sure, you can assign keyboard shortcuts to an app like Quicksilver to control the ratings, but it would be nice if you could see it, right?

I think utilities like these are really helpful because it reduces distractions. Having to switch to iTunes just to rate music is annoying and somewhat distracting. Though you originally planned to just tag a song, in no time, you’ll end up browsing album art, looking through the iTunes store, and actually buying some music. It’s simple utilities like these that get the job done, and done fast.

For extra goodness, launch System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items and add it to the list. The app will launch automatically when you login. I Love Stars is available for free from Potion Factory.

However, that was version 2. With Leopard now well into it’s third iteration (10.5.2), CyberDuck has also been flapping it’s wings once again, but does it fly? Let’s take a look.

Veteran users will note that the bookmark drawer is now replaced by a panel in the main window. But it’s somewhat of a cosmetic change; the panel now includes your Bookmarks, FTP history as well as Bonjour, an Apple technology used to discover services on a local area network. Previously, your FTP history and Bonjour services were hidden in the menubar, making them hard to monitor. Surprisingly, the log drawer is still there, even though Apple’s own applications seem to be ditching drawers altogether.

Like all Leopard apps, CyberDuck now also comes with Quick Look. Select any file that you want to preview and hit the spacebar; the file is downloaded in the background and presented to you. These files are then cached, so that subsequent previews can take place instantly, without having to request the same file from it’s source again. CyberDuck 3 also adds Amazon S3 and WebDAV support; Amazon S3 is certainly more interesting because it’s not very well supported by many other clients at this stage.

CyberDuck 3 also includes a feature known as Open Web URL, which simply opens the corresponding Web URL of a selected file in your web browser. This might sound mundane at first but it can actually speed up certain workflows. On the whole, it seems like CyberDuck is playing catch-up with the other well-known FTP clients out there. But hey, it’s free and gets the job done, so there isn’t much to complain about.

CyberDuck is a simple, down-to-earth FTP manager that just gets stuff done. If you’re a no-frills person who simply wants to transfer and edit files online, this is it. If you’re looking for all the bells and whistles and a delicious-tasting user interface, keep looking (or try Transmit).

As usual, the MacHeist guys have done it again, with a bundle that consists of finance software, a word processor, an organizer as well as a handful of games for your Mac. Yea, lovely games.

I think it’s a rather cool idea bringing the concept of MacHeist into the mainstream. I’m sure they’ll be able to reach a lot more users who would otherwise not have heard of it. However, it’s still unclear how widespread the retail bundle will be physically available. I just hope that issues like distribution costs, rights and other nitty-gritty stuff like that wouldn’t ruin an otherwise superb idea.

What’s in it for people who already own these apps? Well, MacHeist is offering a referral program. Not just an ordinary referral program where you get paid for each sale. Instead they will be unveiling several diferent tiers of software prizes, each crammed with several options. Sounds like the MacHeist guys will have something cool up their sleeves, stay tuned for more.

If you don’t own the majority of these apps, please consider purchasing them. 25% of all proceeds will be going to a group of charities; MacHeist believes that this time round they could push the donations to over a million dollars. So what are you waiting for? Get your retail bundle today.

While I seriously doubt the holy war will end anytime soon, here’s an app that will provide some middleground. It’s called Google Notifier for OS X.

What it does is bring the GMail and Google Calendar web apps ‘closer’ to the desktop. After installation, you will get toolbar icons, which will update and notify you when you have new email or calendar appointments. Great for productivity, as you do not have to constantly check your inbox or calendar, although I’m not sure how effective it is for the unlucky ones among us with the overflowing inboxes.

Google Notifier puts most of the common tasks at your fingertips. Want to compose a new email? No problem. Want to create an event? Easy. Want to access your inbox? Piece of cake. These options are available with just one click on the respective toolbar icons. It will also show you your new emails and calendar events too.

If you don’t like the default options, you can change them to your heart’s content. Individually disable either Mail or Calendar notifications to reduce the load on your system, or change the way Google Notifier alerts you, visually or through sound.

Google Notifier only supports one account, given the way the program is laid out. If you have multiple Google accounts, perhaps now’s the time to consolidate them all into one? Regardless, Google Notifier for OS X is still a very convenient way to use your web applications.

With that said, I want to introduce a useful utility that accomplishes just that. It’s called Cocoa Packet Analyzer, from TastyCocoaBytes.com. This app mixes form with functionality.

To start off, create a new capture file (using the default, temporary one will do) and select which networking interface to use (Ethernet, Airport, Firewire, etc.). Let it run for however long you wish and you’ll get your results after that. Yup, it’s as simple as pushing a few buttons and getting your bacon. If you have existing PCAP files (raw packet data captured by software written using libpcap), you may use Cocoa Packet Analyzer to view them too.

Cocoa Packet Analyzer is also smart enough to use the incoming/outgoing TCP port to determine different protocols like HTTP, FTP, MSN Messenger, Skype, etc. In addition, you may filter the entire list to look for specific packets. The app also supports a plugin architecture, but no details have been provided as yet. Features like printing support, a whole new look, localization and scripting are being planned for the 1.0 release.

Cocoa Packet Analyzer 0.45 is available free for download; in fact, according to TastyCocoaBytes, “this software is far away from being perfect.”, so download at your own risk.

The ForkLift 1.5 Beta was just released, and boy are we in for a ton of treats. The biggest feature is of course, compatibility with Leopard.

After opening up the .dmg (disk image), you’ll notice one big difference. ForkLift has now been endowed with a brand new icon. In my opinion, the icon gives the appearance of a more mature app, which it really is, considering how far it has come since its beginning. Note that the icon is available with 512 pixels of goodness, so it really shines in Coverflow mode.

Right, enough about the icon, let’s run this app, shall we? After starting up, longtime users will notice the transition from the use of drawers to a unified interface. I think this new look makes things more organized and also helps reduce screen real estate. In the past, using ForkLift on my MacBook meant filling the entire display with both columns as well as both ‘Favorites’ and ‘Info’ drawers.

ForkLift now has QuickLook integration, so you can quickly preview your documents without having to fire up the respective apps. You can also add Groups; these are little containers that you can store stuff, kinda like Smart Folders on steroids. For example, if I want to keep all my blogging-related files together, I simply create a Group, and then drag into it. When I need a blogging-related file, I know where to look.

One final point I need to make is the speed. In the past, it would’ve taken me at least several minutes to upload an entire WordPress directory on my internet connection. Now it’s just roughly 30 seconds. After speaking with developer Mudi Dandan, I learned that they redesigned the FTP handling system, making it one of the fastest I’ve ever used.

All in all, this is a really nice update. You can try the ForkLift 1.5 Beta, ForkLift 1.2 for 15 days, or purchase it for just $29.95. Bulk discounts available.

But what about the iPod touch? iPod touch apps aren’t as fully-fledged as their desktop/laptop counterparts, so is the $20 that Apple is charging for an additional 5 apps still reasonable? Let’s take a look.

Let’s look at the five applications that you get. They are Mail, Maps, Weather, Stocks and Notes. Let’s start with the last three. On the desktop/laptop, you’ll typically find these apps in Dashboard, meaning they’re simply widgets. Now, as we all know, widgets aren’t as complicated as standalone programs; with Dashcode, things have become even simpler. So it’s obvious that these apps should be extremely cheap or even free.

Then there’s Mail and Maps, the two cornerstone apps on the iPhone. Notice I said iPhone instead of iPod touch. That’s because I believe these apps are geared more towards PDA users, who in this case would be buying an iPhone. The iPod touch, on the other hand, is an iPod. It is geared towards providing entertainment on the go. So when you look at it from this perspective, it makes more sense why Apple would charge an extra $20.

The funny thing is, you do get all these apps when you buy a brand new iPod touch. Doesn’t that seem unfair? Call it the “early-adopter tax” or whatever you want, but I think this is the sort of thing will be here to say. And it’s not the first time it’s happened. Remember the uproar from early adopters when Apple dropped the iPhone’s price to $399? I guess it’s going to be hard to avoid it, especially when buying first generation products.

For iPod touch customers who already own one of said gadget, it must feel like a slap in the face, knowing that new owners would be able to get these apps without paying. There is an online petition running in hopes of removing the $20 early-adopter “tax”. But of course, I’m sure there are other more *cough* nefarious *cough* ways to obtain it.

Over the past month or so, MacHeist members were involved in several missions (or heists), where each heist would unlock a small set of Mac apps. At the end of it all the bundle would be unlocked for all to be purchased.

Even before the unveiling, there was a general feeling that the bundle would be amazing; I mean, just look at their Macworld ad:

Anyway, enough pondering, wondering or guessing. Here are the 10 apps for just $49, and the little things you ought to know.

1. 1Password
Why, it’s our old friend 1Password! We’ve reviewed this app, interviewed the developer and even organized a giveaway for 5 lucky readers. Being such a unique and intuitive app, it has been the receiver of an accolade of awards from Macworld magazine, MacLife magazine, and Leo Laporte & Merlin Mann’s Pick of the Week on MacBreak Weekly.

2. CoverSutra
Ah, the daddy of all iTunes controllers. We think that this is the most elegant, and user-friendly iTunes controller out there. With all the UI tweaks and modifications since we last reviewed it, we’re sure it’s going to be a blast. The good news is, all MacHeist customers will get exclusive early access to CoverSutra 2. Expect a brand new music search, an updated UI, and more features.

3. Cha Ching
Store your money in a piggy. Specifically, the Cha Ching piggy. Reviewed earlier last year by our very own Greg Healy, we found it to be a very elegant, intuitive and sleek accounting/financial app. What’s more, MacHeist customers who purchase the bundle will be eligible to the exclusive beta for Cha Ching 2.0. So, what are you waiting for?

4. iStopMotion
A great tool for those wishing to make a stop motion film. Stop motion is simply a type of filming that displays a series of snapshots of inanimate objects; the creator simply tweaks the positions after each frame, giving the illusion of movement. Just buy a camera, make some props and think of a great idea.

5. Awaken
This one’s a familiar one because I reviewed it sometime last year. Awaken is an iTunes alarm clock that does a whole lot more. MacHeist users will be able to get the exclusive Awaken 4.0, which according to developer Jerry Brace was totally rewritten, and features a new, animated UI, better iTunes support, additional full screen modes, and lots more. Check out the new screenshots from Jerry’s Flickr account.

6. TaskPaper
This is another GTD application that I personally reviewed. Simply consisting of a flat text file, TaskPaper makes it very simple to keep your life sorted. In fact, you can use the entire application without even touching a mouse. Written by Jesse Grosjean of Hog Bay Software.

7. AppZapper
This is an app that I presume most Mac users would have, since it’s touted as the uninstaller that Apple forgot. However, Austin Sarner did mention that version 2.0 would be arriving shortly with “less buttons than appzapper 1″ and that they’re rather “proud of that”. Fortunately, he did provide a couple of screenshots, showcasing the new application.

8. CSSEdit
Web development just got easier thanks to this innovative tool from MacRabbit. Did you know that the MacHeist website, like a lot of other beautifully designed sites were built using this tool? Certainly worth it. This application will only be unlocked if more than 5,000 bundles are purchased.

9. Snapz Pro X
Snapz Pro X, from Ambroisa Software is an app for capturing screenshots or movies on your Mac. Some of the biggest names like Apple, Adobe and even the creators of South Park have Snapz Pro in their arsenal of tools. All Macworld goers should remember to stop by their booth (W-4216) for some good giveaways to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

10. Pixelmator
Last but not least is Pixelmator. There were rumors before the announcement that PixelMator would show up, so I guess we can finally confirm it. While it may not be the most feature-laden image manipulation app out there, it’s certainly the prettiest of the lot. It’s also incredibly fast because it utilizes some of Mac OS X’s native frameworks. Certainly worth a look.

Buying individually, the 10 apps would set you back $343.75. But purchase directly through MacHeist and it will be just $49! What’s more, you can choose to donate 25% of your purchase to a charity of your choice. So what are you waiting for? Let us know whether you’ll be purchasing the bundle or not.

So here’s another nifty little Mac app. Called gMailContacts, said app streamlines the uploading of contacts from Mac OS X’s Address Book to gMail. For every contact, both the person’s name and email address will be uploaded.

Should you wish to register (for the low fee of $5), the app will extend its functionality by uploading the postal addresses and the phone numbers of your contacts. gMailContacts does require Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.10 or later, so users on older systems will have to upgrade to use it.

The biggest drawback to this application is that it’s only a one-way street. In other words, you can’t sync your contacts bidirectionally; you can only upload them from OS X’s Address Book. However, this isn’t really the program’s fault because gMail lacks some information that would be needed for a proper comparison.

gMailContacts is available from Media Atelier. You can obtain its full functionality for just $5.

I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but some of us unlucky Mac users are still stuck with arcane Windows-only infrastructures. So what’s new in this version, and is it worth $79.99? After using it for several days, I’ve reached a verdict, and a great way for all of you to save 25% on purchasing a license.

Growling With the New Cat
Yup, VMWare Fusion 1.1 is ready to run with Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard. In fact, the development team actually pushed the release date back to thoroughly test it with Leopard, according to a VMWare Marketing Manager I spoke with. I’m pleased to report that I did not find any glaring bugs; it was a silky smooth experience. In contrast, the previous version (Fusion 1.0) had several issues with Unity mode in Leopard, but we’ll get there in a second.

Improved Localizations
If you’re a French, German or Japanese reader, speak one of those languages or live in one of those regions, you’ll be delighted to know that VMWare has localized Fusion 1.1 for you. It’s all available as a single, convenient download.

Time for Some Games
I will admit, as I have in the past, that gaming isn’t one of my pastimes. Sure, I might hop onto a game of Counter-Strike or take a short flight in Flight Simulator, but that’s pretty much it. I tried some older titles and to my surprise, they actually performed much better than they did under Fusion 1.0. Of course, these virtualized games still can’t beat the raw power of Boot Camp, but it’s still a big improvement nonetheless.

The current release of Fusion supports DirectX 9.0, but without Pixel Shaders; most of the newer titles will run fine without shaders, but these beasts are the things that really bring the special effects and all that fancy lighting into a game. In other words, it brings life to a game. I think it’s fair to say that if you’re a gamer, you’ll want to stick to Boot Camp. Or buy a PC. Check out the VMWare Forums for more info on your specific game/application titles.

Hide the Windows Desktop
Face it, the Windows desktop ain’t the prettiest thing in the world. The Unity feature, as introduced in Fusion 1.0 now works in both 32 and 64-bit virtual machines, which might be important to some. Fusion 1.1 also displays the Windows Task Bar; apparently, VMWare says that this will help new switchers, who like the idea of using the Start Menu to find their applications.

iPhone and Outlook Can be Best Friends
The iPhone syncs up nicely with applications like Mail and Address Book on the Mac, but what about the PC? Sure, you can transfer data with Outlook, which requires a reboot into Boot Camp. Well, not any more, because you can now do it through Fusion 1.1. Think about it; you’re sending data between your iPhone to an app running in a virtual machine. How cool is that?

Want to thrash Parallels? Now you can!
The earlier versions of Parallels Desktop were awfully slow, which was one of the biggest factors that made me switch to Fusion. To make that transition much simpler, VMWare has introduced a beta version of VMWare Importer. As its name implies, this piece of software simply imports your Parallels virtual machines into Fusion. I really wished I had this feature earlier. It is in beta though, so make sure you have backups handy in case it turns foul.

After playing with the new virtual machine for several days, I’m glad I chose VMWare Fusion. The upgrade has certainly brought along a slew of useful features that I was hoping for, so on the whole, I’m pretty satisfied. But wait, I’ve just noticed something that could potentially sweeten the deal. VMWare is offering a $20 mail-in rebate (U.S. and Canadian customers only) for the purchase of Fusion 1.1, effectively bringing the price down to $59.99.

VMWare Fusion is a great piece of software for Mac users who need to run Windows. With the mail-in rebate, there really isn’t an excuse not to get it. You can download the VMWare Fusion demo and give it a spin yourself. Bulk licensing available.

What do you think of virtualization under OS X?

One feature that I frequently use, is to open multiple links in different tabs. Fortunately, I’ve found a great iPhone application that does just that. May I introduce: Tabulate.

Tabulate is a Safari bookmarklet; you simply drag the link into your Safari bookmarks for it to work. This means no need for any hacks, which can potentially turn your iPhone into an iBrick. Once you’re on a site with multiple links that you want to view, go to your bookmarks and tap on Tabulate.

This brings up a little heads-up display (HUD) with three buttons: open in current tab (blue), open in new tab (green), open later (orange). The first two functions are pretty self-explanatory, but the last one deserves some mentioning. Whenever you click on “Open Later”, Tabulate remembers these links in a little corner box with an orange flag.

The great thing is that the orange flag moves with the rest of the page, so you will always know how many links are waiting to be seen. Once you’re finished with the page, simply click the orange flag, and boom! You’re now browsing all your links in different tabs.

If you change your mind, you can always hit the red button to close it. Tabulate was created by Inventive Labs, and is certainly worth checking it out.

I’m sure a lot of Intel Mac users are unsatisfied with the performance of the Power PC version; Mac Office 2004 currently has to be translated (through Rosetta) on both Tiger and Leopard.

However, if you purchase ANY version of Office 2004 (this includes the Student and Teacher, Standard, or Professional Edition), you’ll get a free upgrade to the top of the line Mac Office 2008 Special Media Edition (excludes shipping and handling). Sounds like a really good deal to me. This means you can save up to $500 on a new copy of Office 2008.

There are two ways to redeem it. You can download your coupon, print it out, complete it, and mail it to Microsoft with proof of purchase. However, you can also redeem it online (though you’ll still need to send your proof of purchase via snail mail).

Let’s look at Mac Office 2008 a little closer. Just like its soon-to-be-predecessor, Mac Office 2008 comes in three different versions. At the low end, you have the Office 2008 Home & Student Edition followed by Office 2008 (we’ll refer to this as the standard version). At the high-end, there is the Office 2008 Special Media Edition, which completes the entire line-up.

They all come with the four basic productivity suite applications: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Entourage. Of course, if you pay more for the Standard and Special Media Edition, you’ll also get Exchange Server support as well as Automator Actions. The Special Media Edition also includes Microsoft Expression Media (previously known as iView).

Expression Media is an application that is used to manage and catalog digital assets (photos, movies, audio and any other type of media file). It handles tagging, batch processing, and almost everything else you need. Basic image editing tools are included to simplify your workflow, while Expression Media will also handle the creation of videos, slideshows and web galleries.

Mac Office is due for release in January 2008. So, let’s hear it, are you using Mac Office, iWork or something else?

If you haven’t tried TaskPaper, you can check out our full review as well as an interview with Jesse Grosjean, the developer behind the great app.

With out further adieu, the winners are…

Jim and Cat. Cat suggested that TaskPaper should support the uploading of completed tasks to Twitter (and possibly Jaiku). Jim suggested the parsing of dates using a standardized format.

Congratulations to our lucky winners (we’ll be in touch shortly), and a big thank you to everyone else who participated. Be sure to watch for our next giveaway.

Adium is a widely used instant messaging program on the Mac, but one of its weak points when compared to iChat, is the lack of video/audio chat capabilities.

Of course, it’s taken quite some time for this feature to appear. This is partly because Adium is built on the Pidgin project. The underlying functionality like connecting and working with networks like MSN Messenger and AIM depend on Libpurple, one of the libraries from Pidgin.

Before showing you some juicy screenshots of a video chat in progress, here’s a screenshot of an Adium chat window, Leopard style.

As you can see, Adium looks just like all the Leopard apps, clean and simple. Perhaps refreshing some of the icons will make it perfect, but then again, I’m very particular about most things, so it’s probably just me. Anyway, here’s the screenshot that you’re all waiting to see.

Yup, it’s a video chat; note the use of the wet floor effect. Very nice! The good news is that all their work is currently available on SVN. Unfortunately, there’s no telling when this feature will be available for us to play with. However, the team says they’re confident we’ll love it once its done. Can’t wait for it!

Do you use Adium or iChat for instant messaging? Let us know!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, you’ll have heard of Time Machine. It’s Apple’s interesting solution to the problem of backup. So, let’s head on to our first question.

Q: Do I need to format the external harddrive using a special format?
A: Yup, it needs to be formatted to HFS+. Time Machine may work on a drive with HFS+ and other partitions, but we haven’t tested this yet. In fact, you can have some files stored on your USB/Firewire HFS+ harddrive; Time Machine will happily coexist with them.

Q: Other files can exist!? How does that work?
A: When Time Machine first runs, it creates a folder called “FolderName.backupdb”. All your backup data is then stored within a folder that is named after your computer (i.e. “Marvin’s MacBook”). All backups are simply folders on the disk.

Q: Does this mean that one drive could be used with multiple Macs?
A: Absolutely! Each Mac (with unique computer names, of course) creates its own folder on the disk. They will then read/write to their respective backup databases.

Q: How often does it backup?
A: Hourly. A backup is made every hour, so long as the external hard drive is connected to the Mac. However, you will only be able to recover the hourly backups for the past 24 hours. After that, the data is consolidated into daily backups (we’re assuming for space reasons).

Q: If it’s backing up daily, won’t that require a lot of space?
A: Nope. Time Machine is smart enough to simply save the changes you made, not the entire file. In this way, Time Machine will require a lot more time to store your data initially. After that, it is simply storing the changes.

Q: What if I run out of space?
A: First of all, Time Machine won’t give you the option to use it, if your hard drive is too small. We’re assuming it requires a hard drive that’s on par or bigger than your internal system drive. If you run out of space, Time Machine will ask you before deleting older data.

There, we’ve answered your questions. If you want to know more about another new application, feel free to contact us. Leave a reply below, or use the contact form.

Without further ado, here is the Leopard launch, from six different locations. Special thanks to the Flickr users for providing these great images.

Ginza Store, Tokyo

Flickr user Shingo Okamoto attended the launch at the Ginza store in Tokyo, Japan. Remember, this is one of the most glamarous Apple retail store in Japan, so it was bound to be crowded.

Legacy Village Store, Ohio

Flickr user imagine1 was at the Legacy Village store when Leopard was launched. He also managed to capture candid shots of some of the staff.

UTC Store, San Diego

Flickr user donabelandewen (isn’t that two users?) was (were?) waiting in line at the UTC store. Looks like another long queue as well.

Natick Apple Store, Massachusetts

Flickr user TalkingTree was also waiting in line at the Natick Apple Store in Massachusetts. What to do while waiting? Snap some images!

San Francisco Apple Store, California

Flickr user Gadget has quite a few covert photos taken from the Apple Store in San Francisco. Looks like quite a busy place complete with coffee and water cart for those in line. Nice!

UK Apple Stores, Birmingham & London

And finally flickr users ash matadeen and Christiano Betta bring us images from Apple stores in Birmingham and London. Looks like another huge turnout in the UK as well.

Big thanks to all Flickr users showcased here. We’ll be publishing another round of photos later today, so if you went to a launch party yesterday, give us a link in the comments.

*Editor: That’s all the photos I have. Hope you guys liked them!

The software company has outlined its plan for Leopard compatibility, and I must say it’s looking good because they’re “proud to support this impressive new operating system”.

First of all, if you’re using one or some combination of the following products:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and Flash Player 9
• Adobe Contribute CS3
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
• Adobe GoLive 9
• Adobe Illustrator CS3
• Adobe InCopy CS3
• Adobe InDesign CS3
• Adobe Bridge CS3, Adobe Version Cue CS3, Adobe Device Central CS3
• Adobe Acrobat Connect (Start Meeting)

You can relax. They are all compatible with Leopard. However, with all operating system upgrades, some software will (inevitably) require upgrading. These include:

• Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and Acrobat Reader 8
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS3
• Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional
• Adobe Encore CS3 and Adobe Soundbooth CS3

If you happen to utilize any of these products, Adobe will push out free updates in December 2007 (for the video applications) and January 2008 (for the Acrobat line-up).

What about CS2 and older versions running through Rosetta? Unfortunately, the company is no longer providing updates for the older products. While it could install okay in Leopard, you may “experience a variety of installation, stability, and reliability issues for which there is no resolution”.

That basically means you should upgrade to CS3. Should you encounter any issues, consider reporting the bug to Adobe. Although they do not respond directly to submissions, they will review them closely. Have you tried installing any Adobe software in Leopard?

Instead of just writing yet another review, which every single Apple blog out there seems to be doing, MacApper has decided to compile a list of potential pitfalls and problems echoing around the blogosphere. Here we go.

1. Older Computers

How old a computer can you use with Leopard? Turns out, you can even use an 8-year-old machine, at least according to Engadget. There were a lot of graphics issues, which led them to recommend a G4 running Leopard as a “kid’s computer”.

If you’re running a machine of that age, we really suggest upgrading. The experience on an Intel or even a late model G5 processor will be so much better. However, if you still have your sights set on that trusty G4 of yours, then we really can’t stop you. Let us know how it goes!

2. Disk Space and Memory Usage

Reports are coming in saying that Leopard requires slightly more system memory compared to Tiger, but it really isn’t an issue for those who have more than 1GB RAM. For the best performance, we suggest upgrading to 2GB of memory. Not only will it help with multitasking, but it will provide a much richer and seamless experience.

In terms of disk space, Apple recommends 9GB. If you’re upgrading from Tiger, only 3.3GB of extra space is needed (although this value differs depending on what you choose to install). Like our recommendation with the G4 machine above, more is always better. Get as much disk space as you can, and an external drive too. Which brings me to…

3. Time Machine

This is one of the biggest features that everyone’s looking forward to. Based on the new Core Animation framework, it has one of the most unique user interfaces ever seen in a program. Unfortunately, it will only back up to an external hard drive (Apple previously mentioned Airport Disks), although a workaround is being developed.

Time Machine will take some time to create a backup (if you have a ton of data), so let it run overnight. Don’t use it too much while it’s building backups because that will slow down the process. If the backup fails, right click on the icon and select “Backup Now”.

4. Docks/Stacks

There’s really only one word to describe the new dock. Ugly. If you prop it up on one side, the confusing 3D shadows disappear, and a simpler dock appears. Unfortunately, if you pop the dock onto one side, stacks don’t work as well. You no longer get the fan view; instead you’re simply stuck with grid view. For those longing for a simpler dock, open terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
killall dock

5. Classic Programs

Don’t cry now, but they’re all gone. That’s right, according to Apple, Leopard will not support Classic apps. For the young ones among us, the Classic environment refers to Mac OS 9, the predecessor to OS X. The solution? Cherish the last moments, and then find a Leopard-compatible version.

Sorry for being so harsh.

6. iChat Effects

Apple seems to be going back on their words again. First it was Time Machine, then iPhone Notes, and now iChat. The cool blue Star Wars style, seen here at WWDC this year is noticeably absent. Will they reappear in a later software update? Let’s hope so.

iChat also seems to be using a lot of CPU power (in excess of 80%) when rendering these effects. The upside is that all the other new features like screen sharing and ichat theatre, plus its overall usability actually make it a comparable option to Adium.

7. Mail

Depending on the size of your mailbox, Mail.app can take several minutes to build its database. However, once it’s done, Mail should run much faster than before. The new stationary looks great, but all my mails are sent in plain text anyway.

One of the touted features in Mail.app, which is the recognization of important dates and addresses, doesn’t seem to work so well. Mail can misinterpret this information, especially once the email has been forwarded and replied to. This really defeats the purpose of having smart data recognition. Just a thought.

If you’ve encountered any other problems, or if you know of a solution, why not leave a comment? We’ll be sure to give you a plug!

He talks about OS X development and how he started Hog Bay Software. Jesse also shares his thoughts on the iPhone SDK. Plus, if you stick around, you’ll also find out about the two copies of TaskPaper we have to give away.

Marvin: First of all, tell us a little more about Hog Bay Software.
Jesse: I work at this full time and live in Bangor, Maine. Hog Bay Software is just me, my computer, and an upstairs office / playroom. (we’ve got a 2 year old). I try to run my business out in the open and involve my users in many business decisions. I release very early public beta versions of my programs and then work with everyone in the Hog Bay Software user forums to turn it into a shipping application.

For example I started work on TaskPaper this spring. I think I made the first public development release after about a week of work. Here’s the earliest screen shot that I could find, I think this was about a month in:

After 6 months of refinement and tons of public feedback we’ve now reached version 1.0. Here’s the current screen:

Marvin: Wow, that’s a huge change. What got you started with developing Mac apps? Any advice to novice developers?
Jesse: I was a computer science major, studio art minor in college. I always like the Macs that was back in the OS 9 days and I just didn’t want to put myself through the pain of programming in that environment. Mac OS X changed all that. I bought the public beta and have been working with it ever since.

Marvin: Are there any features for TaskPaper that we can look forward to?
Jesse: A big part of what I try to do is make my applications extendable by others via AppleScript and plugins. TaskPaper has some minimal applescript support and no documented plugin support. So my first plan is to work on that for a version 1.0. Though for the next week or so, I’ll be working on making WriteRoom and TaskPaper Leopard compatible, once I get my final copy of Leopard that is.

Marvin: Yea, I’m looking forward to Leopard too. What kind of Mac hardware do you use?
Jesse: I have a MacBook Pro with a gig of ram and 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. And that’s hooked up to a (don’t hit me!) Dell 24 inch flat panel. It all still feels fast a year after buying so I’m happy!

Marvin: What are your thoughts on the (official and unofficial) iPhone SDK? Do you see yourself building iPhone apps in the near future?
Jesse: It’s certainly very interesting, but so far I’ve never owned a cellphone, pda, etc… in my life. I’ve done some cell phone programming work, but it wasn’t very fun and I didn’t see many possibilities for creating an app that I enjoyed on it. With all that said, something like the iPod Touch might be just enough to push me over the edge into gadget land. I’ll certainly be looking at the SDK closely when it goes public and then I’ll decide if I’ll be getting one or not.

Marvin: Jesse, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Thanks to Jesse, MacApper has two copies of TaskPaper, each valued at $18.95 to give away. All you have to do is name a feature that you think will fit nicely into an app like TaskPaper. Leave a comment below with your answer; competition closes 29th October 9PM EST. Jesse and a couple of the MacApper folks will be judging this, so be creative.

What makes this app so unique is that your entire to-do list is stored as a plain text file. Think about the possibilities this gives! In August, we brought you a preview of TaskPaper, but boy has it evolved.

If you’re not familiar about GTD, may I suggest reading this little book called “Getting Things Done” by David Allen? Right, I’m assuming the rest of you are GTD-experts, so let’s dive in.

As I said before, the biggest feature that TaskPaper has, is working with text files. For example, take a look at my to-do list right now. All that information is stored in the text file below. Although it may not be apparent, having a text file means you can sync it to mobile devices, send it via email as plain text, or even manipulate its contents using shell utilities. Here are two screenshots, one in Taskpaper, and the other in a plain-text editor like TextEdit.

If you’ve read our earlier preview, you’ll have known that by now. So what’s different? Well, quite a bit actually. You’ll find tools that allow you to focus on individual projects or individual contexts (if you’re unsure of what working in context is, I suggest reading David Allen’s book). The always-useful tabs have made an appearance, so you can have multiple files open, to keep ‘tabs’ on several different things.

Another special feature is that every command required can be executed from the keyboard. In fact, if you misplaced your mouse, you could (theoretically) still use TaskPaper. For example, Command-L shows a list of all projects, Command-D marks the current task as done, while Command-K deletes the current task. According to Jesse Grosjean, the developer behind Taskpaper, the search functionality also works seamlessly, even with several thousand elements in the text file.

While I haven’t tested it with that many entries, all I can say is: for the average user, the search feature is plenty fast. If you’d like to take TaskPaper further, you can find scripts/plugins that extend its functionality. Jesse has three examples on his site at the moment: they allow you to put your to-do list on the web and use it in popular text-editors like TextMate and Vim.

So there you have it, TaskPaper is an extremely useful app; in fact it’s one of the most innovative apps since the delicious generation stole the show. But wait! There’s more! Stay tuned because we’ll be bringing you a no-holds-barred interview with its developer really soon, followed by a good ol’ fashioned giveaway.

Give TaskPaper a try. It’s currently available from Hog Bay Software at an introductory price of just $18.95. Well worth it.

You might’ve guessed it, we’re at WWDC2007, where EA (and ID Software, for that matter) announced a slew of games for the Mac. At the time, it seemed promising; both Bing Gordon and the legendary John Carmack were enthusiastic about their support for the Mac.

Fast forward to today, and things don’t seem as pretty as they were. Roman Loyola over at MacLife recently tried out Madden NFL ’08, and ran into a lot of graphical problems. Now, I will admit that I’m not much of a sporting fan, I enjoy a good game every now and then, but that’s it. However, looking at the screen shots that Roman took really made me cringe.

The game was tested on the new aluminum iMac; this one was a 20-inch model with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and an ATI Radeon HD2600. The configuration screen above was unreadable, but it seems like the problem is currently isolated to some ATI hardware. EA admits they are aware of the situation (especially with ATI hardware), and says Apple will be rolling out updated graphics drivers “later this month”.

In comparison, the game ran perfectly fine on a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a nVidia 8600M GT graphics card. It’s these sorts of issues that grinds Mac gaming to a halt, but who’s fault is it? Is it ATI for their horrible driver implementation? Is gaming not an area that Apple can be bothered focusing on right now? Or is it game makers like EA and id Software that just aren’t very committed to this platform?

Me? I personally think it’s some combination of the three. I don’t believe gaming on the Mac is a major market right now; most consumers buy Macs to manage their digital lifestyles. Besides, hardcore gamers are usually fairly tech-savvy and prefer tweaking their own hardware, something that Apple isn’t too particularly fond of (just look at the iPhone). Right now, if you’re a hardcore gamer, I only have one thing to say. “Buy a PC” or console.

Here’s another screenshot of some in-game action. Notice that some of the items in the top bar are overlapping.

Do you think gaming on the Mac is something that we’ll see more of? Have you tried Madden NFL ’08 on the Mac?

Let’s start with your Mac. Although most Macs usually require less power to run compared to their PC counterparts (because Apple controls every component that goes into it), you can certainly do more. Enter Lights Out.

This is an app that gives the end user fine control over the power-saving features on every Mac. One could argue that Apple provides Energy Saver (look under System Preferences), but there are times when third-party software or other hardware can interfere with Energy Saver’s operation. Lights Out acts as a secondary timer, should Energy Saver fail.

Just like Expose/Dashboard, you can assign “Hot Corners” to tell your Mac when to sleep (or not). The user also has access to sleep times for the display, hard disk, CPU and system. You can enable/disable Safe Sleep, which ensures that data is not lost during sleep, even if power is removed. The sleepimage file can also be deleted, if Mac OS X decides to misbehave.

Version 2.3.1 of Lights Out is now a Leopard-ready universal binary. It’s free to take it on a test drive, but will cost $8.99 from Northern Softworks.

Simply put, you can now access your passwords/personal data easily on your iPhone. So when you’re using the Safari web browser, you no longer have to remember your passwords to your email/social-networking/banking accounts.

Of course, storing personal data on a portable device will certainly raise a few eyebrows. What if the device is stolen? What if someone manages to even gain access to it for a few moments (enough to copy stuff off it)? Thankfully, your data is encrypted with a 448-bit Blowfish with Cipher Block Chaning (CBC) and randomized salt, according to a posting on the 1Passwd blog.

When you push “Sync to iPhone”, the application creates a Safari bookmarklet. Said bookmarklet is then encrypted with an access code of your choice. Once you unlock it on your iPhone, you can gain access to all your data. The good news is that this method does not require any shady hacks or cracks. It’s simply a Safari bookmarklet that works just like the rest of your bookmarks (except with some extra code to make it all work). Check out some of the screenshots of the software in action.

You can grab the 1Passwd 2.5 Beta right now, or you could always wait a couple of days until Automatic Update grabs the latest version. Oh and remember that 1Passwd web app we were talking about sometime ago? I’m glad to announce that the beta invites will be going out soon. So if you managed to win one during our giveaway, get ready to check it out!

You might be wondering: what’s that nonsense got to do with Mac apps? Be patient; I’m getting there. Turns out, your Mac can be used to do a lot of nifty things other than browsing the worldwide intertubes. One such app is Alarm Clock Pro, which transforms your humble Mac into a capable bedside alarm.

The biggest advantage that Alarm Clock Pro has over Awaken is the ability to define custom functions for alarms. You can have your computer compose an email, send a text message, open a website and even take a screenshot. How about sending a serial command to the modem, speak some user-predefined text or perform a shell command? It’s possible.

The interface looks decent; it’s not the most delicious app out there, but neither is it the worst. Creating custom on-screen clocks with transparency is really cool. No more hitting F12 just to get into Dashboard to do something similar. Multiple alarms can be created, each simply worded that anyone will understand (e.g. ring every weekday in every month at 7:00 AM).

If you’re after a very simple alarm that wakes you up to your iTunes library, I’m afraid I’m going to recommend Awaken. At just $12.95, Awaken is worth every dollar. But if you really want the extra functionality, or heaven forbid, you’re a Windows user trying to check out some Mac apps, then check out Alarm Clock pro.

It’s just $19.95 from Koingo Software, and you can try the demo for 15 days.

You might also recall our previous interview with Chris Forsythe, who is a developer for Growl and Adium. Earlier in the week, version 1.1.1 of Growl was launched, which includes many bug fixes and updates.

Notification speed has been vastly improved; in particular, the Music Video style now performs much faster, when compared to version 1.1. The Music Video style also works correctly on multiple displays and iTunes notifications have also been improved. In addition, several localized versions including Dutch, French, Swedish and Russian have been updated.

This version also fixes other minor bugs. Download Growl version 1.1.1 today! Do you, Growl?

Enter, Portable Vienna from FreeSMUG. This nifty little app combines the goodness of Vienna into a portable application that can be stored on a USB flash disk. It only requires 10MB of space, so any old flash disk will do. Simply plug it into any Mac and you have all your feeds. Boom!

Portable Vienna features a built-in browser based on Safari, global search, smart folders, styles, blogging integration and much more. If you happen to be a software developer, why not join in the fun? You can obtain the source code for both programs; consider adding a feature or two to the app and if you do, be sure to let us know.

Portable Vienna is just like its bigger brother Vienna. Both pieces of software are open source; download Portable Vienna and check it out.

But if there’s one thing that’s boring, it’s the mouse pointer. While we get these gorgeous animations with Front Row and Expose, the mouse pointer is still either monochromatic or that spinning beach ball.

If you want to add some deliciousness to that tired old mouse pointer, why not try StarTrail? Made by the developers over at Pawn Software, this app leaves a trail of shiny stars behind your mouse pointer. Sure it won’t help with your productivity, but at least it makes that boring old mouse pointer more fun to watch.

There are a load of options that you can tweak, ranging from the particles’ shape to their lifetime and color. These options are provided in an intuitive preference pane that can be selected from the icon in the menu bar. You can also have the program startup automatically when your Mac boots up.

You will need to be running Mac OS X 10.4 or later with a Quartz Extreme-compatible video card. StarTrail is available for free as a universal binary from Pawn Software.

iToner supports supports both MP3 and AAC files. If you simply can’t wait till September 5th, when Apple is expected to announce such functionality within iTunes, I suggest you check this out. It is very easy to use with an intuitive interface.

When your iPhone is hooked up to your computer, iToner displays an image of the iPhone, inviting you to add the ringtones. This is accomplished by just dragging an MP3 or AAC file from iTunes onto the app. There are no hacks or cracks required; it’s as simple as dragging-and-dropping.

Once you’re happy with the selection, hit the “Sync” button and it’s all done. You can also choose to either manage your ringtones manually, or to use a playlist in iTunes. These are found under the “Advanced” button on the main screen. Ringtones can be removed when they’re no longer in fashion or if you’re just plain sick of it.

Ambroisa Software says your ringtones will “continue to work with future iPhone OS updates”. iToner is available from Ambroisa Software for just $15.

We asked our readers to come up with great features they’d like to see in upcoming versions of ForkLift. Most of theresponses we received were really impressive, but like all competitions, we only have limited copies to giveaway. Here are the best three:

1. Ziv Kitaro
Ziv wanted to see Leopard’s Stacks added to ForkLift. This would make it easier to manipulate many different files and folders as one unit. He currently does this with quicksilver, but thinks it would be much simpler if it was integrated into ForkLift.

2. Chris
Chris had a simple request. He would like to see tags, or Spotlight comments to work within ForkLift. If you label your project files as “urgent”, a Spotlight search for “urgent” will find them all. ForkLift currently only supports searching by filename.

3. Marius Bastiansen
Marius suggested adding Hazel-like functionality into ForkLift. Hazel is an application that keeps your folders and files tidy. You can create rules to organize, label, and tag your files. It also cleans unused files from uninstalled applications and supports the iLife libraries.

Congratulations to all winners (we’ll be in touch soon), and thanks to everyone else who participated. Mudi and the team at BinaryNights are really pleased with all the suggestions.

So you might be wondering, what’s the point of having such a device in a notebook? It turns out, Apple uses this to protect the movable parts in a hard drive during a fall. When the sensor detects sudden acceleration, it parks the read heads in the hard drive, minimizing potential damage.

Instead of using things for their intended purposes, Mac developers are always finding new and ingenuous ways of making them do things quirky. Take LiquidMac for example; this application uses the Sudden Motion Sensor inside your laptop to control the behavior of the particles on screen. While it won’t really help with your productivity, it does offer a good distraction and some fun to boot.

There are all sorts of parameters that you can tweak, including the particle color, particle radius, motion blur and the effect of gravity. Try changing the particle numbers and simulation speed to see how it reacts. Have fun with this app, but don’t shake your notebook too violently; you could significantly reduce the lifetime of the hard drive.

LiquidMac is free to download and use. If you really like it, consider donating a little something to the developer via PayPal. While you’re checking out Liquid mac, you should also check out Mac Saber; turn your laptop into a lightsaber. Do you know of any other apps that use the Sudden Motion Sensor?