Some notable changes include a redesigned reply/new SMS view and keypad, full landscape support across the app, transcripts and an action bar in voicemail, support for multiple accounts, offline dialing, and more. Best of all, push notifications and VoIP capabilities are being planned for future releases. You can see the full list at the developers website.

The app should be available in the app store within a few hours for $2.99. The developer will offer the app for free at some point this week, however, he will only announce it on Twitter and with minimal notice, so keep an eye out for an announcement!

GV Connect is $2.99 and seems to have most of the features users look for in a Google Voice app. It can make and receive calls, send and receive SMS messages, check voicemail, as well as access contacts, history, and various Google Voice settings in app. One notable feature is the storage of all messages (including voicemail) on device to allow for offline access. The only missing feature I can see is lack of push notifications (messages are only checked when the application is active).

The developer has noted that some people (mostly outside the US) are having problems with the app getting stuck continually logging in, however, he says he is working on a solution.

Simplenote provides exactly what it says, a simple way to take and sync notes on your iPhone and iPod Touch. When you open an app, you see a simple page where you can add a new, view, search, and delete notes as well as allowing you to sign up/log in to your web account. Adding a note is as simple as touching the “+”, to manage syncing you simply touch the wrench button, and to delete a note you swipe your finger across the note and touch “Delete”.

When creating a new note or editing a preexisting note, the interface remains clean and simple with buttons to return to the notes list, email your note, or delete it. The app supports both portrait and landscape mode, which is very nice if you are typing a lot and prefer the landscape keyboard as I do. With no extra frills like titles, tags, locations, images, and file attachments, Simplenote runs extremely fast, even on old iPhones and iPod Touches.

The web app for accessing your notes on your desktop is just as clean and light as the app. It looks almost the same as the app and provides the same exact features. The app syncs automatically and stores local copies of your notes to allow you to view, search, edit, and add new notes even when you don’t have network access.

With the latest update of the app, Cloud Factory has added an API which allows for the creation of “Extras” which allows developers to create third party applications to interface with Simplenote. Currently the only app is a web application, Simple Backup, which allows you to backup/export your Simplenote notes into plain text, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, and Evernote archive formats. I expect to see some exciting new features added with this feature in the future.

If you are looking for a simple, clean, and fast note taking app for your iPhone or iPod Touch that also syncs with the web Simplenote is my pick. Simplenote costs $1.99 which includes a free web account and can be downloaded from iTunes.

This week we discuss Snow Leopard and a few new iPhone apps.

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This week we discuss the USAA iPhone app, Ramp Champ, and more.

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This week we discuss Google Voice, the Apple Time Capsule, the iPhone as a gaming device, and more.

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This week we discuss the Palm Pre-iTunes sync issue, Apple Tablet rumors, and our software picks of the week.

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This week we discuss Apple’s disabling of the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes, SweetFM going open source, Yale on iTunes, as well as our app picks of the week.

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This week we discuss Prowl and Google Chrome as well as other app news.

If you are interested in the links we talked about (and more), check out our Delicious tags for the week.

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This week we discuss Firefox 3.5, SweetFM, Mac productivity apps, Rolando 2, and the death of widgets.

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This week we discuss Steve Jobs’ liver transplant, Fever, the iPhone 3.0 update, AIM for the iPhone (with push), and a few other iPhone apps.

Please leave us feedback and/or comments on what you would like to see in future episodes.

The full apps list is as follows (links are to our reviews):

TechTool Pro 5
Parallels Desktop 4
Circus Ponies NoteBook 3
NetBarrier X5
DVDRemaster Pro 5
Multiplex
RipIt
MoneyWell
Paperless
Posterino
BetterZip

If you want to buy the bundle, you have until Midnight EST tonight to buy it!

Disclosure: The links to the bundle are our affiliate links

If you don’t have a remote, Hulu Desktop also allows control via keyboard and mouse. Another great feature is the ability to link it into your Hulu account, allowing you to access your que, subscriptions, and viewing history as well as change settings such as closed captioning and video quality.

Unfortunately the app requires an Intel Core Duo processor (at least 2.0 GHz), at least 2 GB RAM, and at least a 2 Mbps internet connection, so this leaves out some Mac users. During the beta period, Hulu plans to “plan to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve the service.” I think this desktop app is a great step forward for Hulu and with their willingness to incorporate user feedback, this app has a lot of potential. Hulu Desktop can be found on the Hulu Labs website. Look for a review soon!

Please excuse the missing images, we are having some technical issues and are currently working to sort them out. We appreciate you stopping by and hope to see you again!

How did you get started programming for Macs and how did Potion Factory come about?

After working as a programmer for a long time, I started Potion Factory almost 4 years ago with a friend because we were feeling adventurous with our lives and because we liked the Mac platform so much. We have since gone our separate ways, but I still enjoy this work very much as I get to be both programmer and graphic designer.

What made you develop The Hit List in light of Omni Group’s OmniFocus and Cultured Code’s Things, other GTD apps?

I made The Hit List because I didn’t find any applications that I wanted to use to keep track of my long list of things to do.

The work on The Hit List began before any of those apps you mention became publicly available. It’s funny how people now think that The Hit List is an amalgamation of all the good ideas in those apps, but from my point of view, they feel like my application split into separate pieces.

I didn’t pay too much attention to those apps anyway because I thought that what I was working on was pretty unique.

How does The Hit List differ from OmniFocus and Things and what makes it special?

The Hit List is for you if you don’t like being forced into a specific workflow. I made it fairly generic but it does support many of the GTD concepts. It’s an application that can be as simple or complex as you want it to be, but at the same time, I have tried to make the user interface simple to the point where it’s almost invisible. It’s also opinionated in some areas. One example would be the single key shortcuts and the helpful hint buttons that encourage their use.

When you learn Kendo, they teach you that you must use your sword as an extension of your arm, meaning, that you must be comfortable enough with your tool to the point where it feels like just another part of your body. Similarly, I wanted the user interface in The Hit list to be seamless and efficient enough so that it feels like an extension of your mind. An example of software that has this amazingly invisible UI are video games. With video games, you don’t think about pressing buttons to get something done, most of the times, you just do it. I wanted more of that kind of interaction in my application.

I really enjoy it when people tell me that The Hit List feels just right because of this.

Are there any special features coming in the iPhone app that are not already in the OmniFocus or Things iPhone apps?

I don’t check out competitors’ applications before my own is done so I can’t really answer this one. The reason for this is that I’m trying to make the best product in my own way and I don’t really care what the other companies are doing. Being in the same space, you still tend to end up with similar features, but at least I’ll know that I arrived at those answers on my own rather than being influenced.

When can we expect to see the iPhone app?

When it’s done.

How do you justify the price of The Hit List (or any app) and will there be a “switcher” discount?

If you’re serious about your productivity, I think you can justify it. This is the type of application that can get you promotions at work and better grades at school. It certainly has made me a more productive person. With that in mind, when you compare the price to that of a concert ticket or a video game, I don’t think that it’s too out there. Also, I’d like to think that the love I have poured into this application is worth something.

I don’t know about a switcher discount yet, but even if I did offer it, I can’t imagine it being anything more than the current $20 discount on the pre-order sales.

How do you combat software piracy?

I don’t really try too hard on that front. I think there are enough decent people in this world especially in the Mac community who will contribute to the development of a good product by paying for it. I’d rather spend my limited time helping those people rather than spend it on trying to keep out the people who won’t or can’t pay for it anyway.

How do you personally use The Hit List?

I have separate lists for my products into which I brainstorm ideas and file bugs. These tend to get quite large, so then I go through the long list and set priorities on each item. Then I decide on what to work on each day and file it into the Today list. Using the outline features, I always break things down to actionable items that take no more than 30 minutes to complete. This keeps me focused and productive throughout the day as completing each little task is quite satisfying. Putting things in contexts helps a lot as well. For example, the one I use often is @photoshop.

When it’s time to actually do the work, I’ll switch into card view and focus on just that task. I just charge through those cards without second guessing what I should be doing.

At the end of the day, I review what I did and archive the completed tasks.

How did you get started programming for Macs and how did Cultured Code come about?

I started programming in 1981 on a Sinclair ZX80, which was a pretty amazing computer. The ZX80 was much smaller than even the Mac mini. Of course, it was not only smaller in physical size, its operating system fit in 4K! The computer landscape at that time was very different from what we have today, but it was extremely exciting and it was also obvious that this was the start of something new and big. I even sold software while still at high school in the form of computer code that people actually had to type in to use!

To me, the introduction of the first Macintosh computer in 1984 marked both the culmination as well as the end of this wild and crazy period of computing. Of course then came the PC which I found dull and uninspiring. I moved on and pursued another interest of mine: Mathematics. I studied Mathematics and subsequently became involved in teaching and doing research. It was only until much later when I realized that Apple had actually survived and was still producing computers in a much different spirit than the rest of the industry. But it was actually the announcement of Mac OS X that made me want to once again start creating software. The Mac was a small niche, but Mac OS X was finally something one could again be passionate about.

While still teaching at University, I began to learn Cocoa and prepared myself for leaving and creating a small software company called Cultured Code. This was the time when creating web pages using CSS began to become a feasible alternative. Oliver Marquetant joined me and we created our CSS debugging tool Xyle scope.

What made you develop Things in light of Omni Group already having OmniFocus, another GTD app?

My desire to create software that helps to get organized is actually an old one and goes back to my days at University. When we founded Cultured Code, we actually wanted to create a personal information manager. We called this the “Sea of Information” project. The CSS tool was supposed to be a side project to test the waters. However, it took a life of its own. From a business perspective, it never worked very well, but I got a lot of insight into creating and marketing software.

It was clear that we had to do something different in order to save, and even better, to grow the company. It was an obvious step to revive the “Sea of Information” project. Luckily I discovered David Allen’s book, which was a revelation to me. He seemed to have answers to questions I couldn’t even clearly formulate .

At the time when Omni announced their product, we had already spent a lot of work on our own project including a series of prototypes. But after Omni’s announcement, it became clear that task management would become a respectable product category on the Mac. I got even more enthusiastic and was able to attract Werner and Christian to start working with me. Werner is an amazing programmer with a strong intuition for every aspect of a software company, while Christian was one of the most talented graphic designers I had seen. It is really the combination of our talents and our desire to create something worthy of the Mac platform that made Things possible.

How does Things differer from OmniFocus and what makes it special?

Right from the beginning we wanted to create a tool that was easy to pick up yet powerful. It is no exaggeration, with Things it is possible to manage thousands of to-dos, but Things is also the application with the most modest learning curve.

There are so many methods of becoming more organized, but most of them require quite an amount of mental energy. With Things we wanted to create a product where users only need to spend the least possible amount of energy to get organized. This way you become more productive with what you actually want to do. We were in fact so focused on this mission that we even deliberately dropped features we now learned we shouldn’t have .

But what is really very interesting is that users who were using other products before are now telling us that they are getting more stuff done using Things. This is a great testimonial to the fact that with task management it is vital to not just to provide features, but to work very carefully on how you implement them. Even little design decisions can go a long way in making users more productive.

How do you justify the price of Things (or any app)?

There are two sides to this question: the developer and the user point of view. Luckily both of them are rather compatible in our case .

From a developer point of view it is important to be able to have a strong development and support team. This means that selling a product at too low a price will eventually kill it. Some people who do not have experience with advanced task management, view task management apps as simple to-do lists. But there is much more involved in helping people to get more things done. In fact, the problem space of successful task management is quite involved. Very small software shops are simply not able to do this right. We have seen this a couple of times in the past, where products slowly died because the developer was no longer able to keep up with the various challenges involved. During the past six month we have spent a large amount of time and energy to make Cultured Code stronger as a company, for example by hiring some very talented and experienced programmers. Our users can look forward to us making a lot of improvements available in 2009.

Users on the other hand will ask themselves, whether a product is worth its price? Now imagine working with an application that really makes you more productive. If such an application saves you a few minutes each day, or helps you getting more things done, how much is that worth? I think the precise answer to this question really depends on your work. But with Things we are in the lucky position where its price is much lower than the value it represents to a user.

How do you combat software piracy?

Seriously fighting software piracy requires quite an amount of resources. We rather spend those resources at making Things better. But when they see a useful product at a fair price, the vast majority of users simply want to do the right thing and help continue an application’s development and support.

How do you personally use Things?

Things is always open on my Mac. I manage everything I need to do with it, no matter whether it is related to work or not.

What’s next from Cultured Code?

As I said, task management constitues a large problem space. Expect us to stay ambitious. But also expect the unexpected as we are going to do things differently .

The Apple website has leaked the announcement of iWork ’09 and the iPhone Nano. iWork ’09 appeared in the “Top Downloads” section of Apple’s website and evidence of the iPhone Nano appeared in the fine print at the bottom of the iPhone page.

Stay tuned for updates on what else Apple has up their sleeve for today!

From all of us here at MacApper, have a happy and prosperous New Year!

The following apps are included in the bundle:
¢ Drive Genius 2 ($99): Currently the highest-rated disk utility on the market and used by Mac Geniuses at Apple Stores, Drive Genius diagnoses and repairs problems with your hard drive, optimizes your system, and much more.

¢ RapidWeaver 4 ($79): Create powerful, professional-looking Web sites quickly and easily.

¢ DefaultFolder X 4 ($34.95): Fly through Open & Save dialog boxes at lightning speed.

¢ VirusBarrier X 10.5 ($69.95): Fast, simple, and non-intrusive anti-virus software for your Mac.

¢ MacGourmet Deluxe ($44.95): Like iTunes for food, track recipes, plan meals, manage wines, and more.

¢ LittleSnitch 2 ($29.95): Monitors your network connection to make sure your Mac only sends out what you want it to.

¢ KeyCue 4 ($27): Displays full keyboard shortcuts for all your applications; learn them and work faster.

¢ MacPilot 3 ($19.95): Access hundreds of hidden features to customize and improve your Mac OS X experience.

¢ WhatSize 4 ($12.99): Effortlessly identify files that are hogging disk space and that you don’t need anymore.

¢ iVolume 3 ($29.95): Ensures all your iTunes tracks play back at the same level, so you never have to adjust the volume individually.

The whole bundle is available through December 18th for just $49.99.

Happy Holidays!

We also have instated a strict integrity policy for reviews and have a strict boundary between ad sales and the reviewers which is described in detail in our new review policy. We strive to provide reviews the Mac community can rely on and trust. In addition to reviews, we will also be covering news on the Mac software front. As a part of our newly relaunched site, we have cleaned up the forums (to be re-skinned in the near future) and added a section for developers and development talk. We hope to see all of you active in the comments and the forums.

Some plans we have for the near future include reviews of iPhone apps as well as the reintroduction of the MacApper Podcast. The podcast will be a weekly discussion between our editors about our favorite stories of the week as well as features on the Mac community and interviews with developers.

Look forward to this and more as we continue to improve MacApper. With you, we hope to make MacApper the premier destination for Mac and iPhone application reviews.

We are always looking for writers enthusiastic about OS X applications and similar Apple based geekery. We are currently seeking highly motivated individuals to contribute Mac related articles on a weekly basis. Qualified individuals will be asked to contribute articles and reviews, collaborate with colleagues, and help coordination of weekly columns and articles. We are looking for expert knowledge of OS X and the Mac platform and the ability to write engagingly about our subject matter.

Writers at MacApper are paid for their efforts. We currently pay between $6 – $12 for quality articles (depending on your seniority), with bonuses given out every month for outstanding work.

For those interested please submit a writing sample including a sample review article as well as a shorter news piece along with a personal note about how you can contribute here. You can use our contact page or email us directly at macapper [AT] gmail.com.

The Metroid has become my every-day bag for work and school. In addition to my 15″ MacBook Pro, the bag has plenty of pockets for accessories such as the power adapter, a mouse, and my iPod. Even with all those things, the main compartment still has enough room to allow me to hold a few textbooks.

The bag is 2250 cubic inches and has ten pockets. There are two unique features of the bag: the water-resistant, fleece-lined audio pocket and the file holder.

The file holder is great for carrying loose papers and folders without them getting mangled by whatever else you are carrying.

The laptop compartment has sufficient padding and is located in the back of the bag with a side zipper, making it harder for would-be thieves to simply snatch your computer. The front pocket of the bag features an easy-access pocket for plane tickets and inside has quite a few organizing pockets.

The construction of the bag is excellent with reinforcements in all the right places as well as an all metal zipper system. If you are looking for a backpack style laptop bag for your Mac, I highly recommend the Ogio Metroid.