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These days it seems like Mac shareware is all hype and no delivery. The new app comes out with fanfare… as a beta. A few days, weeks, and months later, it finally gets to version 1.0 and everyone is happy. Over the next few weeks 1.0.1 comes out, 1.0.2, and maybe even 1.1.0, but then things go silent. The blog isn’t updated, nagging issues go unfixed, and everyone forgets about it. Then the cycle picks up again, either with a new app or a new version.

Fortunately for us, though, there’s hope. Here are some apps that, if the rumblings are to be believed, may see some solid releases soon:

The TV shows aren’t going to be back until later this spring, so what are we supposed to do during this WGA strike-created television drought? Miro is an app that is designed to “turn your computer into an Internet TV.” Now it might not give you access to your favorite shows from FOX, ABC, and NBC, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a great selection of video to watch, much of it in HD. The app can manage your video files, but its main purpose is to gather video from the many sources it hooks you up to.

Sebastiaan de With is a very talented graphic designer, and he often posts some really nice articles on his blog, Cocoia. The other day he posted a mockup of his “Dream Browser,” and now, about a week later, developers have contacted him about making his idea into a real application.

The browser’s main inspiration is the iTunes sidebar. That list includes all of your tabs, bookmarks, RSS feeds, downloads, and more.

I’ve been a long time iPhoto user, but I’ve also been a long time amateur photographer. When Apple introduced Aperture, I was, of course, very interested.

I tried it out, was promptly confused by the interface, and turned off by the price tag. Now Apple has introduced Aperture 2, I thought I’d take another test drive. I’m a happy with iPhoto, so I went into the free trial with a few things in mind.

• What does Aperture have that iPhoto doesn’t?
• What does Aperture not have that iPhoto does?
• Would Aperture be worth the $199?

No question Macs come with an array of great fonts for almost any project, be it a presentation or a research paper. In fact according to Apple, Mac OS X “includes over $10,000 worth of high quality Roman, Japanese and Chinese fonts”. This is great, but with just a tiny bit of effort, hundreds of high quality free fonts can also be at your disposal.

In just a couple easy steps you’ll have all sorts of fun new fonts to play around with, and you’ll have no more excuses to use Comic Sans or Papyrus.

Alright so You have installed Leopard. You’ve started using Spaces, Time Machine, Stacks, and (my personal favorite) QuickLook. Wait a second though - didn’t Apple say there were 300+ new features?

If you look closely there are really tons of features in this cat that got lost in the crowd. I’m talking about the little enhancements that aren’t flashy or revolutionary, but are useful, fine-tuned, or actually improve or enhance the user experience.

Right after the jump is a list of ten that you might not have come across yet.

After its initial shine in the spotlight, the MacBook Air bashing began. It has been attacked from every angle. It’s expensive. The battery isn’t user-replaceable. It doesn’t have firewire. It doesn’t have ethernet. It doesn’t have an optical drive!

What everyone is missing in all this however, is that the people this notebook is targeted towards couldn’t care less about any of that stuff. Let me break it down for you right after the jump.

Everyone in the Mac community, MacApper included, has been wondering what Stevie J will have for us this year at Macworld. Our own James Matarrese wrote an opinion article today on why he thought the Apple TV won’t have a DVR. In a somewhat unusual welcome for this new writer, I’m going to tell you all the reasons he’s wrong!

There’s a lot of talk about going green these days, even from Mr. Jobs himself, so I thought I’d show you a few easy ways to cut down on the amount of energy your Mac uses. These steps can easily be followed by any Mac user; in fact, the same concepts can be applied to PCs running Microsoft Windows. These tips will not only save you electricity and paper, but also could help your computer last longer.

All of my favorite tips are posted after the jump. Let’s save some power today shall we?

Screen Savings

Handbrake has long been the go-to-app for ripping DVD’s onto your Mac as video files. Now, with version 0.9.0, Handbrake brings even more to the table. According to the release notes, Handbrake has better picture quality for videos, is faster, is compatible with more devices (such as the iPhone), is more stable, and even has a refreshed interface.

The best part is the new toolbar which definitely goes a long way to making the app easier to use, as the app had been quite average looking in past versions. Now form matches up with function!

iCal is a fairly simple app, and many people use competing programs in place of Apple’s bundled calendar app. I for one am looking forward to replacing it with Leopard’s to-do-list featured Mail.app, or hopefully even sooner with whatever else comes along and surprises me. However, in the meantime it’s the best I’ve found, so here are 5 ways to make it work, if not perfectly, at least a little better.

Shiira 2.0, a unique contender in the crowded Mac OS X Browser competition, recently got out of beta for its 2.0 version. It’s very similar to Safari (it uses the same WebKit rendering engine), but it has some unique features that set it apart. For instance, it has the “Shelf” for easily managing bookmarks and history, as well as a “Page Dock” for very slick tabbed browsing.

And all of this is wrapped in the best interface of any browser I’ve seen. No really.

We’ve all had times when our Macs are acting a little funky, and it can be frustrating when a problem just won’t go away. Here are the steps I go through when things get messed up. This might not be the same procedure fore everyone but it has worked the treat for me several times now.

Note: Take precautions when working with a sick machine. By all means backup your data whenever possible before beginning.

There are plenty of lists with the best Mac applications floating around the web, but some great apps almost aren’t full fledged applications. You’re probably reluctant to plunk down the cash for the ones that cost money, but once you do, they make everyday tasks so effortless, and become so transparent in your workflow, that you couldn’t function without them.

Chances are if you’re reading this blog you have an interest in Mac software. It’s probably also safe to say that you’ve already heard of MacHeist, where visitors follow the clues to get their hands on free OS X shareware.

After 5 past Heists, as well as a $50 bundle sale of 10 apps worth several hundred dollars all together, the venture seems to have been a great success. As of right now, their 6th and final Heist after many months of waiting, is finally up! You may want to give it a shot…

The challenge starts here.