Also added is a Priority Inbox:

Those familiar with Apple’s mail client will be happy to know that you can set a signature to each of your email accounts.

Quickly format your email with the new format bar:

and a “Minimal” mode:

Touch gestures:

Pinch to open/close a message, three-finger swipe to open and close the panel, three-finger swipe to navigate the message list or switch accounts. Sparrow now integrates a full array of multitouch gestures making it easier to navigate your mail and mail accounts.

and finally Contact Groups are supported.  Add to that a bunch of bug fixes:

Some of you were experiencing a bug related to archiving mails in Sparrow 1.0.1. This has been fixed.

Every single request that we have received has been taken into account and we have fixed numerous behaviors that you kindly reported to us. You can see the complete list of solved bugs here.

From Sparrow behavior at start up to the contrast of the selected cell color, we’ve improved Sparrow on every level.

Sparrow 1.1 is a free update and is available by checking for updates in the Mac App Store.  To check out Sparrow here.

Microsoft this week announced that they have launched 30-day trials for customers who want to try before they buy Microsoft Office 2011.

“If you’re still thinking about Office 2011, I’m happy to announce we now have a full trial available at www.microsoft.com/mac/trial, free to use for 30-days after download. We know it’s important for some of you to be able to test out new features. For those that will be trying the suite for the first time, we hope you enjoy some of the new items – Outlook for Mac, new co-authoring tools, Excel’s Sparklines, Dynamic Reorder in Word & PowerPoint, and more.”

Pat Fox, who is Microsoft Office Senior Director of Product Management, says that sales of Office for Mac have exceeded the company’s sales goals so far.

You know here at MacApper we are always looking out for you, so if your are committed to making a purchase of for Office, the folks over at Amazon give you a nice little discount. Save a couple bucks!

• Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 – 1 Pack – $174.99
• Office Mac Home Business Multi Pack 2011 – $228.43
• Office Mac Home Student 2011 – 1 Pack – $99.99
• Office Mac Home Student Family Pack 2011 – $124.25

The folks over a AppleInsider got word that iWork 11 is all wrapped up and the Cupertino will be releasing the productivity suite of applications within the App Store for the Mac OS.

People familiar with the matter say development of iWork ’11 wrapped up this fall and the software was initially slated for an introduction alongside iLife ’11 last month, but was held back at the last minute for undisclosed reasons.

Apple’s revised plans currently call for the company to launch the new productivity suite alongside the forthcoming Mac App Store, these same people say. The applications included in the bundle — Pages, Numbers and Keynote — will be available for purchase individually when the Mac App Store debuts.

Further reading into the report, its said that Apple is still contemplating on wether they should still offer a box version of the software bundle or should they distribute the applications independently through the Mac App Store, much like they have done with the iOS versions of the software.

The previous bundled edition of iWork that is being sold currently is tagged at $79. However, in some of the promotional content and in the Back to the Mac event at the Apple Campus, the applications were seen published in the App Store demo for $19.99.

Cupertino is determined to meet their 90 day deadline they announced at the Back to the Mac event as they have already started accepting App Store submission for Mac OS. Mostly everyone is expecting to see the App Store on their Macs before January 18, 2011. With the speed that development is going at, its been projected by experts that Cupertino will soundly meet the deadline, that is, if everything goes as planned.

AutoCAD is back on the Mac! Many engineers and educators have been waiting for e software to make it’s return on the Mac for some time now. Autodesk announced that the software is available and is free for 30 days. This software release is probably one of the most sought-after by pro-users since the last time the AutoCAD software was seen on the Mac some 20 years ago. The company has had the project in beta for some time, honing the performance and stability of the Mac OS platform.

AutoCAD for Mac has an intuitive interface that will feel familiar to Mac users and takes full advantage of Mac OS X, including graphical browsing of design files with Cover Flow and use of Multi-Touch gestures for pan and zoom on Mac notebooks, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad. With native creation and editing of files in the DWG file format, AutoCAD for Mac also supports easy collaboration with suppliers, customers, clients and partners regardless of platform. AutoCAD for Mac is also integrated with AutoCAD WS, so users can also upload and manage designs in their online workspace directly from the desktop and easily edit and share those designs through a web browser or Apple iOS devices using the free* AutoCAD WS mobile application.

AutoCAD WS is an iOS application that allow users who work with AutoCAD to view and arrange DWG files from the software.

Pro-users can pick up AutoCAD for the Mac for the retail price of $4,000. The free trial period, however, allows users access to all the tools for a “try before you buy” sample of the product. Autodesk also mentioned that they are issuing software licenses for their software to be used by students for free for educational purposes.

Today, Redmond offer a view into the upcoming Microsoft Office suite of software that will be coming to the Mac OS X platform later this year. Via YouTube, the compnay has taking footage of developers explaining the their jobs on the project and disccusing new features that the software will be incorporating.

Starting off with the new Template Gallery in Office 2011, this feature allows you to quickly and easily pick a template from the built-in designs to the thousands of templates online – giving you a head start to create great looking, professional documents.

Core features in Outlook for Mac like the Conversation View help you sort emails easily to keep track of what you need to do. Additionally, the new file-based database is faster and provides more stability with Time Machine support.

Tying all of the new features together is the Office for Mac ribbon, designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery while also utilizing the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar giving you the best of both worlds. We have put the most commonly used controls at your fingertips making it easier for you to find what you need. You can even minimize the ribbon and the Toolbar for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts.

The company has released multiple betas of the application bundle throughout the year. With each new beta, the company displays continuing refinements and polishing progressing further into the finished product that will be published for retail. The software suite is expected to presented to the public sometime in the fourth fiscal quarter of this year. Below is the video provided by Microsoft profiling the development of the office software collection.

Businessweek reports the quickly growing popularity of Apples iOS platform among the enterprise. The profile states that Apples gathering of security information and other facets learned from the iPhone and its customers have led the alarming acceptance of new iOS devices, such as the iPad, iPod and iPhone, especially among small, medium and large business bodies.

Apple, known for courting consumers with sleek designs and easy-to-use software, is making inroads with corporations that say the iPad can make workers more productive without putting sensitive customer information at risk. SAP (SAP), Tellabs (TLAB), and Daimler’s (DAI:GR) Mercedes-Benz are using the tablet-style computer for tasks as varied as accessing work e-mail, approving shipping orders, and calling up on-the-spot auto-finance options.

Before the wildfire acceptance of the world to the iOS platform and its devices, many people, especially enterprise customers, were hesitant to purchase tablet computers because of the lack of optimal performance that the devices offer, most specifically in multitasking. Since the debut of iOS (formerly iPhone OS), the business world has taken a different approach on how handhelds and tablet computers can be used to fully optimize workflow and have been experimenting with the iOS platform. The response has been overwhelmingly positive with multiple companies taking a full-scale adaptation of iPhones, iPads and/or iPods in the business place.

Reservations aside, Wells Fargo saw early on how quickly the iPad might take hold among business clients the weekend the device was released. Finance executives of large companies – those that generate more than $50 million in revenue – accessed corporate Wells Fargo accounts with iPads, says Amy Johnson, a Wells Fargo vice-president who works on the company’s online portal and mobile strategy. A finance official or account representative could use a mobile device like the iPad to approve multimillion-dollar wire transfers, she explains.

Mercedes-Benz has been profiled as another company that has fully taken on a iOS initiative, if you will. The company handed out a slew of iPad devices to over 40 of its North American stationed dealerships. The devices allow users to be highly more efficient by fully aiding personnel in sales in variety of aspects, including showcasing financing options to customers, completing credit checks, showing customer different options and models of vehicles and allowing for on-the-spot payments. Mercedes-Benz as well as Porsche dealerships have also been documented into offering customers use of iPads as their vehicle is being prepared and giving iOS devices (more precisely iPads) to customers who purchase their vehicles.

Apple has been making a strong push toward the enterprise market for the iPhone OS. Accordingly, the business world has accepted the operating system with open arms. As of right now, a large amount of the Fortune 100 companies have made the switch to the iPhone OS. In the latest news of the spread of iPhoneism, AT&T has publicly claimed that their numbers indicate that 4 out of every 10 purchases of the iPhone is enterprise related.

AT&T Chief Executive of Business Solutions Ron Spears states that more than the device itself, in the end, it’s all about software.

“At the end of the day, its just software. Thats all it is”

He continues by stating that the iPhone is being declared by small, medium and large business alike as secure, immensely powerful, simply designed and even simpler to use. A surprising amount of business customers, as he states, have been seeing and using the iPhone OS as a replacement to the notebook computer claiming it to be an all-in-one device.

“So enterprises today view the iPhone as a mobile computer. It happens to have a voice application on it. But whats important is what you can do with it, and the way you can mobilize workforces, and specific parts of your workforce, not the entire workforce.”

Spears says that the iPhone OS has not only revolutionized the mobile device, but the way how companies manage and handle business, giving an instance of how AT&T has embraced the platform.

“Most of our monthly reporting is all built into an app that gets updated when our systems get updated, and we do an automatic fetch. And any time I want to look at where we sort of sit from a financial point of view in ABS, it now resides on my iPhone as an app. So it starts to change the way you think about governing your business. It changes the speed with which you can make decisions.”

He also gives interesting question where employees are given the operating system the conduct daily activities compared to the notebook computing device.

If theyve got a field service force that needs one or two applications on a daily basis; do they need to go out and spend $1,000 or $1,200 for a laptop and then worry about sort of the lifecycle costs of keeping up with the laptop?

He also touches on a topic in which almost all organizations have agreed about Googles Android in the business place.

I havent seen the Android platform yet in the enterprise space. Not to say it wont come, but pretty much that platform has been built with a very specific focus to consumers. Over time, my guess is there will be an evolution thats kind of hard to ignore the enterprise space.”

Experts have stated that Googles sale pitch of the Android ecosystem of devices is almost all towards the consumer and practically non-existent to business as they have established in many of their advertisement campaigns, such as that with Verizon and the Motorola Droid. Googles creation also doesnt meet the minimal standards for security by most of the business section that uses Microsoft Exchange Server. They also havent utilized the Apple/RIM-like pushing of updates first popularized by the Blackberry.

Apple, on the other hand, has managed to make the consumer and the enterprise their main goal in their marketing objective, adding Exchange support, push capabilities, corporate virtual private networks (VPN) and a slew of security measures to protect information on the enterprise device back in iPhone OS 2.0, exceedingly making advances in them with every release of iPhone updates, which they have been known for doing with all of their software. Google, Research In Motion (RIM) and even Microsoft has seem to be stepping more towards the consumer rather than corporates with both RIM and Microsoft producing sole consumer oriented marketing campaigns with the Blackberry 6 software and Microsofts new Windows Phone 7. Despite what experts and analysts say, one thing is certain: Apple is definitely spreading at a rate that its competitors having some trouble keeping up with

MS-Office for Mac 2008

MS-Office for Mac 2011 beta

The next set of changes are applied to the applications splash screens. The intro screen to the applications display six new features. Tweaks have also been made to the  toolbar and ribbon icon. Apart from those aspects of the new beta, everything else remains the same. Microsoft seem more than like to focus on adding some finishing touches cosmetically as well as honing the companys elite suite of office software with new functionalities and advancements.

Word for Mac 2008

Word for Mac 2011 beta

Late last year heading into the turn of the new decade, Microsoft hit a legality with the MS Office software collection where a court ordered the company to cease and desist all sale of the Microsoft Office software. However, no mention to the Mac OS version of one of Redmonds flagship products were in the court order. Later, leaks of the software beta were exposed on the Web and showcased a majority of the design displayed above. The software is expected to be ready for the Mac between the third and fourth quarter of the 2010 calendar year.

What is Square exactly? Square allows for individuals and businesses, big or small, to become instant merchants through their iPhone OS and now Android devices. Best of all, there is no need for a merchant account. All you need to do is sign up through the application after you have downloaded it and thats it. The only fee that is charged is a 2.75% plus $0.15 tax for each swiped transaction you complete. 3½% plus $0.15 is what is charged for transaction that are keyed in. Dont worry about getting a bill either, Square just subtracts the said amount from the transaction that you complete. So, for example, lets say you charge your friend $150 for giving them lower level seats to a Lakers playoff game. If you swipe-in your transaction, Square will subtract $4.13, which is 2¾% of $150 plus the $0.15 which will equal out to $4.28 all together. Keying the card number in will give Square permit to take a 3½% take plus the same $0.15 which would make the final cost of transaction $5.40.

The swiping input is done by a card reading dongle (in the image below) that connects to your iPhones or other devices’ 3½mm jack (typically used for listening devices). When you sign up, Square sends you the card reader to attach to your handheld companion whenever you are ready to make a transaction and the dongle is provided free of charge. They will send the dongle to the address you have listed in your Square profile so be sure to use a stationary address. At this point in time, Square will not be able to send the attachment to a P.O. box or other similar means of postal storage.

The dongle that Square send for free.

Square is primarily designed to be paperless. The software automatically catalogs each and every transaction and all of its documentation in the users account as well as sends it to the merchants email. The customer of the merchant can choose to receive their receipt via email or SMS. A picture of the merchant is provided to the customer in the receipt as well as a Google Map pinpointing the location where the transaction took place. In addition to the electronic receipt ability, we have found that the archiving of purchases gives you a third option to provide a customer with a physical copy of a receipt on spot or even mailing it as an invoice.

Square is definitely something we see that has very high potential of gaining tremendous momentum. The ability to send receipts through email and SMS as well as have them archived for the merchant is instant and very convenient. The application is available right now on the App Store for free. Download, complete the free sign up and get your dongle and youll be on your way to accepting card payments from all of your friends, family and customers. For more information on Square, visit squareup.com or check out the videos on YouTube.

Maybe some of you have gotten the memo already (those of you who use iWork.com), but just in case you didn’t, Apple gave notification today that the iWork.com beta has received some new features.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, iWork.com is a web application site developed by Apple that syncs all of your work that you do on iWork for others to view, make comments and even edit changes on the document. It’s currently in beta testing, but being a tester if the software, I must say, it is really good. Documents no longer have to be lugged around on a jump-drive, CDs  or, what some people around me have made a nasty habit lately, SD cards. With iWork.com, your work is, what we techies call, “stateless” and can be accessed anywhere in the world on any computer, whether Mac or PC.

Apple has been gradually working on the software, gaining some feedback from the testers of the software and developing new features for the web-app. Some of the new features that the good people in Cupertino have implemented is that now there is an iPhone optimized version of the website for really fast access to all of your content. Also, now you can share your documents with the world through social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, and individual websites. Viewers from websites and social mediums can view your work instantly without them requiring a password. Users just click the link and they are there.

Apple developed iWork.com in association with the release of iWork back in early 2009 to give users a new, innovative and easier way to share their documents and other creations that they create on iWork  within a group, network or anywhere and anyone in the world automatically. The software, like everything Apple, is simple, seamless and innovative. The email from Apple is posted below disclosing all the updates made to the iWork.com website. Click on the image below and take a look.

When you open the application, it shows two folders. These allow you to keep files on your iPhone and also to sync them with your Desktop, and best of all it actually works. In order to set up the desktop sync, you need to register within the application for a desktop application to be sent to your email. It’s free and takes about 5 minutes.

Once you download the application for your desktop, you must move it to the applications folder and then you can begin working with it.

Connect your iPhone to a wireless network before proceeding with the next few steps. Then open the application. You do not have to keep it in the dock in order for it to work as it creates a sync folder on your desktop once you complete the next five steps.

As you open the application, it prompts you to setup a device, which you can do by going to the menu bar and selecting devices. Then you must open the application on your iPhone and click settings in the upper left hand corner, and then select add new desktop. It looks like this:

Once you go through the next few steps, the desktop application asks you to provide a PIN from the mobile application. Then it asks you to select the folders from your computer that you would like to sync with your iPhone. I chose several folders and it took about 5 minutes to upload. You can choose folders with images, excel sheets and word documents. Additionally you can view PDF files, but there are other applications in the iTunes store specifically dedicated to that, which do a better job of allowing you to view PDF documents. Ultimately you will see this screen which shows that the process is finished.

Now you can upload documents and sync ones created on your phone, from anywhere where Wifi is available. That is one of the cons of this device. You cannot sync to your desktop unless you iPhone and Mac are connected to the SAME wifi network. However, you can save your documents and edit them from anywhere.

The document editing allows you to change alignment, font, font colors, and also to highlight in a variety of colors. Additionally you can copy, paste, bold the font, italicize it, and underline it. This makes editing a breeze. The font colors provided are: black, three shades of grey, white, red, several shades of green, blue and pink, and a purple. You can also change the font to Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Courier New, Symbol, Times New Roman and Wingdings. Font sizes range from 8-72. You can also minimize the tool bar in order to provide a clear screen for writing and editing. The application also works in landscape mode.

All in all, despite it’s few faults, this product does exactly what it says it does– creates, edits and syncs Microsoft Word and Excel documents via iPhone and Mac.

Today, Eric Thomas, CEO of Freedom Voice, confided that the company is pulling back support from the App Store after months of no response from Apple.  The company will no longer seek iPhone App Store acceptance for now.  “I am disappointed,” says Thomas.  The company plans to integrate the Newber concept into their new FreedomVOICE IQ product, a hosted PBX phone system that is gaining traction for the company.

Just last week, Market Strategist for FreedomVOICE Systems, Nick Gowdy, told me the Newber team stands ready to respond to Apples comments, but none of come.  In fact, Apple hasn’t even registered the dummy account to test the application.  150+ days of silence from Apple for an application that, according to the company, does not break any of the rules set up by Apple.  “We are frustrated,” says Gowdy.  One might ask, “what gives Apple?”

What is Newber?
Newber, a brand of FreedomVOICE Systems, a virtual office phone system provider, accomplishes 3 things for the iPhone user: the ability to make and receive calls where AT&T has spotty or no reception; the ability to offload a call when your phone’s battery is nearly drained; the ability to take calls without burning your AT&T minutes.

Newber will create a second phone number for your iPhone that routes through their network.  This second line is customizable in a manner similar to Google’s Grand Central.  Users can control when they wish the calls to ring or go straight to voice mail.  For users who seek both a work phone and a personal phone, this solution could be attractive.  The original iPhone number would, of course, still work just as it did before this application installation.

Calls to a users Newber line could have been routed to other numbers, such as a land line.  Users simply enter the number they wish the calls transferred to, it is that simple.  Additionally, Newber made use of the iPhone 3G’s GPS and automatically switch calls to the predefined number when you enter that lines proximity.  For example, users can choose to have their Newber calls forwarded to their work phone when at the office.  Arriving at work would trigger the line forward just as leaving the office would transfer calls back to your iPhone.

Another feature of the application is one touch tree dialing system.  This feature allows users to select a contact to reach and the phone begins dialing the first number listed for the contact.  Should the call roll to voice mail, the second number listed is automatically dialed.  An example of this would be phoning your contact office line, then upon getting voice mail, trying the contact’s mobile number next; all without any added input from you.

Newber was priced at $5 per month plus 2 cents per minute.  International calls varied by country in price from $1.68 per minute to the Falkland Islands to $.0266 to China.  Calls placed on your Newber line from your iPhone burned both Newber minutes and iPhone AT&T minutes.

150 days of frustration
The team at Newber was super excited to gain admission to the iPhone developer program and were even more so when they submitted the application to Apple.  In the days and weeks that followed that excitement as numbed a bit.  According to Gowdy, the application, “shouldn’t be a concern” to Apple.  Another application that deals with VOIP is in the same approval limbo for their application: iCall.

The team tried changing names of the application and resubmitting.  They’ve changed the description and resubmitted.  They’ve changed anything that could perceived as a “bad” and resubmitted.  The team even tried a petition at CES and MacWorld to get Apple’s attention.  All to the same end: no response from Apple.

Previously, the company had stated a jailbroken app for the iPhone might be a possibility.  Thomas confirmed they’ve not made a decision on that, but went into the business case and stated it didn’t make too much sense.

Have you no decency Apple?

A point Thomas wanted to emphasize is social consciousness.  How can Apple in good faith, provide no response to a developer wanting to make their device more appealing to the business crowd?  Thomas said he could respect a, “no” but to offer no response, which led to a significant outlay in marketing and perhaps more importantly in time.  Instead of accolades, a request from Apple to help, rewards and awards for a signigicant contribution to the iPhone’s business side, they recieved nothing.

Thomas concludes it must be a marketing move for Apple’s lack of response, “I can only think Apple wants to avoid the negative press from denying acceptance of applications like Newber.”

Thomas plans to integrate the Newber concept into their FreedomVOICE IQ, a hosted PBX solution that allows company to move away from the expensive outlay for PBX phone hardware and move to a scalable system based on VOIP.  Thomas considers pulling Newber support is the right move for FreedomVOICE customers and for the company.  Work on a BlackBerry version has also been halted.

The Newber app is one that leverages the iPhones assets: a phone you cannot be without for personal or business use and smart call routing fused with GPS.  Here’s to hoping Apple sees it fit for approval the next time it gets the chance, as there are many of us excited to add this app to our phones.  You can learn more about Newber at mynewber.com

The first thing you will notice about BBEdit is how many menubar items it has. For basic text editing and programming, you probably won’t even use half of these. So, BBEdit can be used in extremely advanced ways, and basic ways. However, if you are just using it for basic tasks, it can be very daunting.

When creating a document there is one main thing that you will need to worry about“the type of document. There are about 30 choices, including Objective-C, HTML, CSS and TeX. Choosing the right type will help BBEdit get the code-sense right. You can also set it to automatic, and it will choose one for you based on the content of the document. When you open a file that has not been created with it, this is what it does. Automatic is a very helpful choice.

The main window in BBEdit is actually very simple. The toolbar has normal items like an inspector, a button to show the file in the Finder, locking and unlocking and a few view options. Then, under the toolbar, you have a few popups. The arrows allow you to go through all the files opened in the current window. The next one displays the currently opened file. If you click on it, you can choose from all files in the current window. The next one allows you to go to specific ‘symbols.’ A symbol can be a method or a declaration. They are very useful for long documents. The next button allows you to add, find and delete markers. Markers are basically bookmarks for your files. The next button opens the file’s counterpart. This is really only used in Objective-C and other C languages“You have a header and a main file. So, if you have the header file open, it will open the main file, and vice versa. The last button has a list of included files (for the current document). If you click on one, it will try to find it, and then open it in the Finder. BBEdit provides a lot of usability just in the main interface“And that is only about 2% of the whole application.

The next most useful feature in BBEdit is its search. My favorite part is that it does multi-file search. This means that you can replace a word with another in many files at once. This feature is found in Search>Multi-File Search… You can also do a regular search, and a quick search from the same menubar item. BBEdit also has a file comparer. This means you can feed it two files, and it will show you what’s different. You just go to Search>Find Differences… Then, select the newer version of the file, and the old version. BBEdit will then show you both documents at once, and the differences below. You can also compare two opened documents by going to Search>Compare Two Front Documents. Other standalone difference comparing applications show you a bit more info like visually what’s changed. BBEdit just tells you. BBEdit also includes a few other search features for advanced users.

One great thing in BBEdit is its autocompletion. It will try to figure out what you want to type based on the contents of the file you’re in. If you’re coding in Objective-C, and you created a method, but you only remember the beginning, this can help you. Just type in the first few letters, and BBEdit will give you a list of possibilities. However, this feature is also in a free app like Xcode. But, Xcode is built for programming with Cocoa, and BBEdit is built for…well…anything.

There are also a few notable features that I will not go into detail with. BBEdit now has MobileMe syncing. This means that your preferences and Application Support will be synced to all of your computers running BBEdit. Another is To Do tracking. With this, you can actually put To Do’s and Fixes to make in your files so you remember what you’re supposed to do. The final is the scratchpad. This gives you a window where you can put things for remembering or edit text to get it the way you want it before you actually put it in your code.

Overall, BBEdit is a very full-featured app. There are many more things that what I talked about in this review. But, my main issue is its interface. It looks fairly outdated“It doesn’t look like a Leopard. They are on version 9, so it has been out for a while, so it’s not like they created an app specifically for Leopard without a Leopard interface. But, it could use a revamp. My other gripe with it is text coloring. You can change the color of different things (like in Xcode and TextMate). But, there are no color packs! No one can share their awesome color combinations with others. Even Xcode has this feature.

Bare Bones Software, called BBEdit retails for $125 and you can download a free trial from their site. That is a very high price, so, in my opinion, BBEdit should only be used by advanced users. Because the others can just use Xcode or TextMate. But, for the advanced users it is…well…very advanced. It gives you a lot of flexibility and a lot of features“It doesn’t suck.

Although WebnoteHappy integrates with Delicious, it does not require you to use Delicious to store or view your bookmarks. So, you are not required to sign up for anything. You just download and go.

WebnoteHappy’s best feature is its ease-of-use. You can either use shortcuts or the application itself to add new bookmarks. By default, the shortcut to add a webnote (bookmark) is Command-Shift-D. Of course, for you to use this shortcut, the app must be open. When you hit that shortcut in almost any web browser (or any major web browser), you will see a popup that allows you to add a description, tags, a title and where to keep the webnote. If you choose to Share Via Delicious and you don’t already have Delicious set up in WebnoteHappy, a sheet will appear on its main window that asks you for your username and password.

As said above, you can also add a new webnote in the application itself. To do this, you just have to click the New toolbar item, and you will get a popup where you will insert the relevant information (all the information mentioned above, plus a URL).

WebnoteHappy also has organizing capabilities. You can create both folders and smart folders to keep certain webnotes in. It comes with two already made smart folders: Last 24 house and Last 7 days. To add a new folder, just go to File>New Folder, and to add a new smart folder, go to File>New Smart Folder. If you are creating a smart folder, you will then be asked for the conditions that need to be met for a webnote to be in the folder.

Along with sharing bookmarks to Delicious, WebnoteHappy also allows you to import from Delicious, Safari, Firefox, OmniWeb and XBEl and export to HTML and XBEL. To do this, just go to either File>Import from, or File>Export to, and choose the relevant format.

My only real gripe in WebnoteHappy is its interface. It looks slightly outdated. With just a few changes such as: different toolbar icons, bigger +/- buttons and different folder icons, it could look amazing. Also, if Cover Flow browsing was added, or at least previews, that would be a big plus as well.

Happy Apps‘ WebnoteHappy retails for $24.95, and you can get a family pack for only $5 more! You can also download a free, 30-day trial from their Web site. Although it has an outdated interface, it is extremely simple to use and very fast. However, if previews or Cover Flow was added, the import/add of a webnote time would probably increase. But whether you are a social bookmarking lover, or just want a nice database of your bookmarks, WebnoteHappy can help you.

Sometimes people don’t care enough about the text in their documents. Then, when you have to clean it up, you have to do the same task many times, like converting double spaces to single spaces, or changing case. It is very tedious, which is exactly why some developers have created software to do these tasks. One of the more notable ones is Unmarked Software‘s TextSoap.

TextSoap looks a lot like TextEdit, except for the drawer on the right side and the toolbar at the bottom. The three buttons in the lower left-hand corner of the window allow you to choose what type of line endings to use. Unless you know what line endings will do to your text, I would stick with Unix. Now for the buttons in the lower right-hand corner: The one that says 100% just changes the zoom. The graph button next to it allows you to see stats, like the number of paragraphs, words, characters, etc. The paragraph button allows you to see formatting like new lines, tabs, spaces, etc. The fourth button simply allows you to toggle the drawer. With all of these buttons, the interface can look complex, but in reality it isn’t.

The main point of TextSoap is to clean your text, and this is what the drawer is for. At the top of the drawer you can choose what set of Scrubs to see. Library will show them all (100+), but the most useful (for the average user) are going to be found in Standard. When you click on one of the Cleaners in the list, it will preform that action on the text. These Cleaners are great, but they are just the base of TextSoap — the real power lies in custom Cleaners. Custom Cleaners allow you to create Cleaners that preform more than one task. To edit your Custom Cleaners, just click on the Edit Cleaners toolbar item. You will then see a window with all of your custom Cleaners on the left and the workflow for the selected cleaner in the middle. On the right side, there are about 25 actions that you can drag onto a workflow. When you drag one onto the workflow, there will usually be some fields that you need to fill out. If you need help with Syntax elements, Characters, and more, just click the RegEx Help button at the top of this window. Custom cleaners allow you to create complex workflows for things you do with text all the time. One of my favorites is a Blog post archiver, which grabs the text, changes the font, and even runs an AppleScript to download the images. My point is that you can create the simplest or the most complex actions with this one tool. There is only one minor issue — if you edit a Run Automator Workflow’s workflow, and there are no workflows in Automator’s actual workflow folder, then the popup box will not popup, which may make you think that TextSoap has frozen.

One feature that makes using TextSoap even easier than it already was is its OS X Service menu support. What this does is add a TextSoap item to your Services menu (found at [Open Applications Name] > Services), where you can apply TextSoap’s built-in Cleaners and your own to text. You may be thinking that you can only apply it to text in editable fields, but this is not true. You can actually change text on a Website in a (non-editable) Mail message! Well, it only stays that way until you refresh, and, of course, no one else can see it. But, nonetheless, this is awesome! So, if you just use the service to clean a Mail message in Mail.app, and then copy the text to your clipboard, it is clean! No need to even open TextSoap. To enable or disable this, just go to the OS X Services pane of TextSoap > Preferences.

Another feature that integrates TextSoap into your daily workflow is its plug-in support. TextSoap comes with plugins for BBEdit, TextWrangler, Mailsmith, Coda, and Eudora. In the Plugins pane of TextSoap > Preferences, you need only click the checkbox by the plug-in you want installed, and it will install! In an application such as Coda, TextSoap will appear in the Plug-ins menu for even easier access. Of course, you are limited to these applications, but hopefully the developer will add plug-ins for other applications too. But you can always use the Service menu.

One feature that would be nice to have is a System-wide keyboard shortcut. Yes, the Services menu is easy to use, but to have shortcuts for different cleaners would be really cool and make this much easier to use. It would also be cool to have droplet files, where you would drop a file, or some text, and it would created a new file with a certain Cleaner applied.

Unmarked Software‘s TextSoap retails for $39.95, and you can download a free trial from their site. It is a great tool that allows you to save a lot of time by not having to do tedious tasks. And, since time is money, in these times, this means that TextSoap will save you money.

Together can be used as a replacement of the Finder or it can be used along with the Finder. Together does not create a database; it really is just a hierarchy of folders, which is why you can use the Finder to view them too. It actually watches its library folder (~/Documents/Together/Default), so if you drop a file in one of the folders in there (e.g. Images, Documents), it will automatically be added to your library. The other easy way to add a file to your library is the sidebar. If you drag a file onto its Shelf, you can add it to any of your groups, or just your library. In this same Shelf, you can also create Quick Notes and Favorite Files. The final way to add files to your library is to click the Add toolbar item in the main window of the application. Here, you can also create things like Bookmarks, Web Archives, and notes from the clipboard. When you first use Together, it will copy the files you import, but you can change this. In the General pane of Together > Preferences, you can choose to either Copy files, Link to files (keep the files where they are), or Move files (moves the files to Together’s library folder).

One feature that has just been added to Together is automatic tagging. Most other apps like Together have tagging, but Together goes a bit further. When this feature is enabled (the Tags pane of Together > Preferences), Together will automatically apply tags to newly imported files based on similar files. This means that if you have two files with names containing ‘MacApper 08,’ similar tags will be applied. Also, if two files’ contents are similar (e.g. have the same header), similar tags will be applied. Since this feature was first implemented, there have been a fair number of bugs, but most of these have been fixed through updates.

Together also has a nice feature for us widescreen users. It has two view modes: Regular and Wide. To switch, just click on one of the toolbar icons in the bottom toolbar next to the [i] button. Wide mode really just puts the file list to the left side of the preview box, but the results are great; it really makes use of widescreen monitors. Users of WideMail will already be familiar with this view. Together also implements tabs, which can be very useful for viewing many files at once. The tabs could be much better, though. When you open a file in a new tab, it does just that — there is no more file list. So to open a new file in a tab, you have to go back to the Library tab. It is nice to have the extra space (from no file list) in tabs, though.

Together does have MobileMe syncing, but it is very buggy. Even since I enabled it, Together will have a memory leak, give me an error, or crash about once a day. At first I thought it was just me, but then I found that others have this problem too. I give them credit for having it — it’s a nice idea — but it really just needs better implementation. It is also hard to enable. Instead of there being a preference or button for it, you have to go to Together > Library Manager and then enable syncing. This may not sound too hard, but try figuring it out on your own.

Together, by Reinvented Software, retails for $39 and you can download a free trial from their site. It is a good tool for advanced file managing, but if you just want a place to put files until you can organize them, it’s not that good. For that, I would go with ShoveBox. And, like any app of its type, it takes some time to get used to. But if an advanced file manager is what you’re looking for, then Together is a pretty good choice.

For those of you who don’t know about CSS, I will quickly explain it. A while ago, all Web programmers had to program all of their styles (fonts, colors, positioning) in HTML, which was really annoying. So, CSS was created to address this problem. Instead of having to individually add styles, you create styles that you can apply to certain parts of your Web page, or even the whole thing. It gets better with every update, which is a reason that the quality of Websites has gone up over time.

When you first download Xyle scope, it has a lot of bookmarks built-in. These are Websites that the guys at Cultured Code think has interesting CSS. The most interesting of these (in the Favorites folder) is called CSS Zen Garden. As said at their Website, their Website is “a demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design.” You can select a style sheet from the sidebar of the Website, and it will load with that sheet. This allows you to see what the masters of CSS do.

Once you have loaded a Web page in Xyle scope, you will see three panes it its sidebar: the Hierarchical View, HTML Pane and Cascade view. The Hierarchical View shows you the HTML document as a hierarchy of elements. You can use your arrow keys or your mouse to navigate through these. When you select any item, you will see that the HTML Pane changes. The HTML Pane also shows you a hierarchy of elements, but it goes a little further in showing you the properties inside those tags. Like, for doing a link, you write, “a href=…” In the Hierarchical View, you would just see an ‘a’, but in the HTML view, you see the ‘a’, the ‘href’ and even the link. It is like a simplified version of a real HTML document. The Cascade allows you to see the CSS for the selected element in either the HTML Pane of the Hierarchical View.

Xyle scope also gives you another way to select elements: through the preview itself. Just click on the toolbar item next to the [Link] item, and you can just click somewhere in the preview to select an element. Sometimes it can be hard for beginners to understand things like ‘li’ and ‘ul’, and this really addresses that problem. Instead of having to know what ‘li’ means, you just have to click on the element you want to select. This can even help you learn what certain tags mean.

Xyle scope has a nice feature called Selector matching. To the right of the Cascade pane (if you pull it out from the right side of the window), there is another pane. If you click on a selector like ‘img’, this pane will show you all of the HTML element that will be effected by a change to the selector. This is a really nice tool, so I do not see why it is hidden by default.

Xyle scope also allows you to edit the CSS on Web pages. It gives you two ways to do it: typing in new values, or having Xyle scope helping you a little bit. If you know CSS, you may just want to type in new values in the Cascade view. If you’re not so familiar with it, you will want to do it the other way. In the Cascade view, just click on a property (like margin), and Xyle scope will present you with a window that gives you a place for a name and a value. So, you can also use this to add new properties. The reason this is good for people who don’t know much CSS is because it gives you lists of possible Names and Values. But of course, you can also add your own. Xyle scope also allows you to edit the CSS and HTML of Web pages in BBEdit, TextMate or TextEdit. However, the Web page you are editing must be a file on your hard drive. Xyle scope’s built-in CSS editor is not that great (which is why you would want to use Xyle scope to preview, and something like BBEdit to edit), but that is not really its purpose.

Cultured Code‘s Xyle scope retails for $19.95 and you can download a free trial from their site. It is a wonderful tool for anyone learning CSS, or anyone who just wants to see how others do CSS, wishing to improve their own. It is not, however, a CSS editor and should not be compared to one. For actual editing purposes, it is mainly only used to do the finishing touches of Web pages.

Versions makes SVN easy. All you have to do to setup a Repository (where the files are stored) Bookmark is select the [+] button and click Add Repository Bookmark… You will then be prompted for a name, URL, and username and password. Most open-source SVN Repositories don’t require a password, but for a personal repository, you will probably want one. Once you have entered all the relevant information, just click the Create button. The Repository will then show up in the Bookmarks sidebar. When you click on one of these bookmarks, the Repository will be loaded.

The main panel of Versions has 3 tabs: Timeline, Browse, and Transcript. The Timeline tab shows you the most recent revisions. For each revision it tells you the user who made the change, the revision number, the files that were changed, and a description of the change. The browse tab gives you a look at the files in the Repository. It shows the files exactly like in list mode in the Finder. Double-clicking on a file will allow you to edit it and clicking the Quick Look toolbar item will allow you to view it in Quick Look. If you click the Compare Diff toolbar icon, you can compare the most recent version of the file with a previous revision. Once you choose the previous revision, it will open the files in the file-comparison app that you choose in Versions’ preferences (I suggest using Changes). The transcript tab just shows you what Versions has been doing (e.g. opening a file from a Repository, etc.).

Versions not only makes it easy to view Repositories, but it also makes it easy to upload to them. To create a Checkout Version (a local copy) of a Repository, just select a bookmark, go to the Browse tab, and select what part of the project you want, and then click the Checkout toolbar item. Versions will prompt you with a dialogue of where to save it to, and then it will save it. It would be nice if you could just select a bookmark and click Checkout, and it would download the entire thing. When you want to upload changes from your working copy, all you have to do is select your working copy, select the files you want to commit, and click the Commit toolbar item. If you added new files from the last time you uploaded, you will need to mark them as needing to be uploaded. You can do this by selecting the file and clicking the Add toolbar item. If there is a file listed that you do not want to upload, just click the Delete toolbar item. It can be a bit tedious to have to select to add all your new files, but it’s worth it.

If you are a real SVN lover and power-user, you will really like the information shown about files when the Inspector toolbar icon is clicked. I will not even try to explain all the features here, for I do not know them all, but they are useful to some.

Versions has just come out of Beta and now retails for about $48.57 (€39). It is the prettiest, most intuitive, and easiest to use SVN client available for the Mac. It is even a partner of Beanstalk, the best source of private Repositories. If you do any shared work, namely code, I suggest that you download the free trial of Versions and see how it compares to what you have used in the past; I think you will be surprised at how helpful it is.

Tree gives you two ways to view your outlines: Listview and Treeview. Listview is your normal, everyday, outline view that uses indentation for children. Treeview, however, displays children on the right side of the parent. When in Treeview, you will see a little arrow at the right end of a box (if the box has a child). When you click this box, the child expands to the right. You can also do a bit of a hybrid between Listview and Treeview. If you click the big triangle on the left side of a box, Tree will show that box’s child below it, like in a regular list. But, this will not effect the child’s child or the parent, so you can still display some expanded to the right. If you want to resize a box Treeview, just click and drag on the divider at the top of the outline that corresponds with the box you are resizing. You cannot resize individual boxes, only a certain hierarchical level. So, Treeview, does not replace a mind manager, it is just another view for an outline.

The rest of Tree works exactly as you would expect it to. The toolbar buttons allow you to add, remove, indent, and outdent boxes. The Show Family toolbar icon will expand a whole family (parents and children) based on which way the family was expanded last (right or bottom). Although there is a show family toolbar item, nowhere is there a hide family toolbar item, or even menu item.
The Label toolbar item allows you to label a box a specific color. If you click on a box and then click the Edit Note toolbar item, you can edit the box’s note. The note text will be displayed in grey right under the main text for the box.

Tree also supports importing and exporting to a few formats. To open a OPML file, either go to File > Open or just drag it onto Tree’s icon. To import from a plain text document, just go to File > Open, or drag it onto Tree’s icon. You will then see a dialogue which allows you to view the text file, and choose an encoding to import with. What is strange is that even when you export with Tree, it cannot import notes as notes; they are just children. To export a document, just go to File > Export, and choose a format and encoding. Although Tree does allow you to import and export, you only have the choice of two formats (three including its own), and you can’t even get notes imported from files exported with Tree.

Tree, by Top of Tree retails for about $42.79 and you can download a free trial from their site. It has very few features, but does include a new view for outlining. However, for the price, I suggest you look elsewhere at products like OmniOutliner or OmniOutliner Pro.

Wallet fits its name because it is your digital wallet. You have different groups (like sections in a wallet) where you can store serial numbers, web passwords, credit cards or anything else you want. To create a new set of items (like a database), just hit the [+] button at the bottom-left-hand corner of the main window. You will be prompted with a window where you can customize all aspects of the group. To change the icon of the group, just click on the default folder icon in the upper-left-hand corner and wither choose a pre-made icon or choose a custom icon (by clicking Choose Custom…). The fields are for the basic information you want for the group. If you are keeping track of expenses, you can have fields like Date, Amount and Tax. You can also have multiple sections of fields. To create a new section, click on the Add Field button under the New Section box. If you want to add an AutoFill in Safari for members of the group, just click the Enable AutoFill checkbox, and drag the Website URL, Username and Password icons to their subsequent fields that you created. I must say, I really like the look of this panel because it uses an iPhone like interface. The fields look like table view cells on the iPhone; even the [-] buttons and draggers look alike!

In each item of each group you can enter as many or as few of the fields for that group. You can even add special fields just for that item. To do this, just click the Add Field button under the fields in the item. The titles of there groups will be in bold blue so you can tell that they are special fields. You can also add notes to any item (no need to specify another field) just by editing the Notes section of the item. Along with notes there is also an icon field included by default. Here you can specify an icon for a specific item. And what’s better, when you type in the name of an application you have installed into the name field, Wallet will put its icon in this field! To edit an item just click the pencil icon at the bottom of the window. In editing mode, you can flag (or star) an item just by clicking on the big star next to the name field. Starred items will not appear in the list where they should (alphabetically) but they will always appear at the top. You need not be in edit mode to edit the notes of an item though. When not in editing mode, if you click on a field, Wallet will copy the contents to your clipboard and show any awesome animation! Wallet 3.0 makes is easier than ever to create information and access it!

The best new feature in version 3.0 would have to be MobileMe syncing. When you first launch Wallet, during the setup, you will be asked if you want to enable MobileMe syncing. All you have to do is enter your MobileMe username and password, and you are set. To change when to sync automatically, just go to the Sync pane of Wallet>Preferences… and edit the checkboxes in the Always Sync Before section. You can also always manually sync to MobileMe just by clicking on the Cloud toolbar button in the main window of Wallet. To disable MobileMe syncing, just uncheck the Enable MobileMe Sync checkbox. Not only does syncing allow you to have the same items on all of your Macs, it allows for the iPhone Wallet application to be up-to-date too.

Another new feature added in version 3.0 is the AutoFill menubar item. Wallet has added a menubar item (that is always running, even when Wallet is not) that allows you to fill stored forms for Websites. To enable this, just go to the AutoFill pane of Wallet>Preferences… and check the Enable menubar app checkbox. You will now see a nice little icon (that looks like a wallet) sitting in your menubar. When you want to fill a form, just click this item and enter your Master Password in the field shown. If Wallet finds a stored form it will AutoFill it, and if not, it will tell you so. Instead of having to open Wallet and find the form and AutoFill if from there, you can do it in just one click! Wallet is now just as easy to use as 1Password.

Wallet, by Acrylic Apps retails for only $20 and you can upgrade from version 2 for just $5 and get a free trial! They also have an iPhone app that is only $3.99! Version 3 is a great upgrade to an already great app! If you like organizing any information with ease, then you have to try out Wallet today!

Mail Act-On works the same way as MailTags, once you install it, there will be a new preference pane in Mail.app. In the General tab of this pane, you can specify if the window is locked (it won’t disappear), and fading of the Result window. The “menus” tab lets you choose keyboard shortcuts for Mail Act-On’s basic functionality. However, if you own a laptop or new Apple keyboard, these shortcuts are very annoying because you must hit the Function key along with the F Key. Right now, there is a bug that does not allow modifier keys for these shortcuts, but I have been assured that it will be fixed soon. While you can turn off the need to hit the function key, it also turns off all of the special actions associated with the keys like Brightness and iTunes controls. To do this, go to System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard and select the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.”

Mail Act-On also adds some new Rules tabs. If you go to the Rules pane of Mail.app’s preferences you will see that there are now three tabs. The Inbox Rules tab is just like Mail.app’s regular Rules. The “Outbox Rules” tab allows you to make rules apply to messages being sent and the “Keystroke Rules” tab is where Mail-Act-On’s power is really seen. Here you can specify rules that can be applied to messages by just one keystroke. You will usually want the “If” part of the rule to be “Any Message” because the point of this rule is to apply it to every message selected when you invoke the rule. There is also a new field in this type of rule called the “Act-On Key”. When you want to apply a certain “Keystroke Rule” you select some messages and hit Control-[Act-On Key for the rule]. This makes it simpler than ever to apply dozens of rules to messages after they have been received.

Mail Act-On does not require you to have any rules set up to use it; you can just use it as a tool to perform many actions on multiple messages. To invoke Mail Act-On, just hit the function key you set up for Mail Act-On (unless you changed it, F1). You will see a HUD-like window popup with actions that can be done to your selected messages. If you have MailTags installed, you will not only see the “Apply Rules”, “Move”, “Copy” and “Open Folder” actions, but you will also see two more: “Add Keyword” and “Set Project.” You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through these or just use your mouse. To lock this window manually, just hit F1 (or Function-F1) again. Then, even after you have performed an action of some messages, the Mail Act-On window will still be there. As you remember, there were also options for setting up shortcuts for each action in the Act-On window in Mail Act-On’s preferences. If you hit one of these key combinations, instead of going straight to actions part of the Act-On window, it will take you to the part of the window that corresponds with the keystroke. Although this window makes it amazingly easy to apply rules of all sorts, if Mail.app loses focus and then gains it again, the Act-On window disappears. It is a nice feature that it is not there when Mail.app doesn’t have focus, but it would be better if it appeared again.

indev‘s Mail Act-On retails for $19.95 (an introductory price) and you can download a free 21-day trial from their site. If you are an avid user of Quicksilver, or even if you just want to speed up your Email system, you will love Mail Act-On.

The first thing you will notice about NoteBook is how much it actually looks like a notebook. It has the fringes and everything! It makes it seem much more like taking notes than when done in Pages.

When you first open NoteBook you will be prompted with a dialogue that lets you create a new notebook from a starting point. You will notice that there are many options, so NoteBook is not really just for notes; it can be for anything that involves writing! The automatically selected option is Take Notes, which is what most people use it for. You can also choose to learn how to use NoteBook by just clicking Learn to Use NoteBook in a Few Easy Steps. If you uncheck the Show at start-up checkbox, you will never see this dialogue unless you go to File>New from Starting Point…

Two of the best new features in NoteBook 3.0 are Sticky Notes and Sticky Flags. These provide an easy way to jot down a little something that doesn’t have anything to do with the notes you’re taking. For example, you could make a sticky note that says “Remember to look up this person” if you are taking history notes. Then when you’re done with that Sticky Note, you just drag it off the notebook. Sticky Flags are a little bit different. With a Sticky Flag, you add a line of text to it, and put it somewhere, kind of like a marker. Sticky Flags come in a few flavors: plain old Sticky Flags, Fax Flags, Send Flags, Important Flags, Note Flags, and Urgent Flags. For all but the first kind, Notebook will put its type (e.g. Note) on the right side, and you can edit the text on the left side. With both Sticky Notes and Flags, you can drag them halfway out of the notebook to mark a certain page, and then whenever you want to get to that page, you just click on the part that’s sticking out.

Another great feature added in NoteBook 3.0 is tablet support. If you are someone like me who likes using their tablet to write on their computer, then you will love this feature. First, you should probably add Ink to your toolbar by going to View>Customize Toolbar… and adding Ink to the toolbar. Once you have done this, you can go to drawing mode (there will be a little doodle in the Ink toolbar item) or text recognition mode (there will be an “a” in the Ink toolbar item). To get to drawing mode, click once, and to get to text recognition mode, click twice. In drawing mode, you can just draw little doodles and diagrams. If you go into text recognition mode, you will want to write only text. Once you have written some text, NoteBook will use its text recognition algorithm to figure out what you wrote. It (what NoteBook thinks you wrote) will then appear right on top of the written text. If a word does not say what your wrote, then just click on it, and you will get a pulldown with other possible words. In this pulldown, you can also edit the text (what it thought you wrote), or just delete the recognition (in case you were drawing a doodle when in text recognition mode). I want to point out that this only works with tablets; you cannot just use your mouse.

One simple but extremely useful new feature in NoteBook 3.0 is the ability to rip out a page from your notebook. To rip out a page, just option-click a page in a divider page, and that page will be put in a new window. While you still have that page separately open, you cannot get to it within your notebook; you have to use the newly appeared window. Once you want the page to go back into the notebook, you just close the window, and everything will go back to normal. This can be very useful if you took notes on one page, and want to write a summary about them on another page.

These are just some of the amazing new features added in NoteBook 3.0. Here is a list of all of the new features. NoteBook 3.0 retails for $49.95 for a regular license and $29.95 for an academic license. Until October 31, you can upgrade from NoteBook 2.0 for only $19.95, and then it will go back to its normal price of $29.95. You can also download a trial from the same site. NoteBook 3.0 is an amazing update to an already amazing app, making it my favorite academic tool, and I hope it will become yours too.

Bento is a simpler and more Mac-like version of the FileMaker software. It works in the same way, so it’s not that big of a switch from FileMaker Pro. However, as I said, it’s simpler; it does not have all the features of FileMaker Pro, so if you need some of FileMaker Pro’s more advanced features, or if you are using databases professionally, I suggest you stick with FileMaker Pro.

When you first open Bento there will already be four databases in your Source List. These databases are Address Book, iCal Events, iCal Tasks, and Projects. The first one automatically syncs with Address Book, and the second and third automatically sync with iCal, so you never need to add a new item when you add a new task, event, or person. You may ask, “Why do I need a database for these things when they are already stored in their own applications?” Well, with Bento, you can add custom fields for things like Nickname, Middle Name, or anything you want to contacts! Or you can add things like URLs and pictures to iCal Events. If you want more options for these things, then you will just love these pre-made databases.

One of the most interesting features of Bento is its templates. When you go to File>New Library, or click the [+] in the lower left-hand corner, you will be prompted with a Template dialogue. This is where you can choose a pre-made template. It has ones for projects, contacts, to-dos, and many other common databases. In that same dialogue, you can also enter a name for your database. They have enough templates to get you started, but when you really get into Bento, you will probably just want to use the Blank template as a starting point.

Once you have created a database, you will probably want to add some custom fields. In the Fields panel, there will be many common fields that you can drag onto your database, or you can create your own! Just hit the [+] in the lower right-hand corner and you will be prompted with a dialogue. You first have to choose a field type, such as Text. Then you have to add a name, and options based on what you choose. Once you have chosen all that information, just just click Create, and the field will appear in the Field list. All you have to do is drag it onto your form where you want it to be, and you’re off!

For each database, you have things called Forms. For instance, if you have a database for issue tracking, you can have one form for basic information, and then another for the details. It will keep your database clean and uncluttered. When you create a blank database (or use most other templates) there will be only one form. You can rename it by right-clicking on the top bar and clicking Rename <the current name of the form>. You will then be prompted with a dialogue where you choose a new name for the form. To edit the contents of a form, select it in the top bar, and then click the hammer and wrench toolbar icon. You can also right-click on the form, and click Customize Form. To add a new form, just click on the (+) in the top bar and you will be prompted with a dialogue where you choose a name for it. When I first learned about forms, they sounded complicated, but once you get used to them, you will find that they are very useful.

FileMaker‘s Bento retails for only $49 for a single license or $99 for a 5-license family pack. You can pick up a free 30-day trial from their site. It is a great tool for making simple databases, and even some advanced ones. I suggest you download it out and check out all the ways in which you can use it. You may be surprised how useful it can be; I know I was.

For a number of weeks now, Adobe has been tantalizing their loving horde of followers with the promise of a “Brilliant Event” taking place on the 23rd of September that’s today. It wasn’t really too much of a mystery though, as it was clear from the start that the big event is the unveiling of the long-awaited next installment in their multi-purpose creative design software package: Creative Suite 4. Interestingly, Adobe has chosen to call this their biggest software release to date, and when someone like Adobe says that, people take note.

Officially unveiled in a large-scale public webcast at 9AM Eastern Time this morning, CS4 will be available in a number of different packages: Master Collection, Production Premium, Web Standard, Web Premium, Design Standard and Design Premium. Each of these is a suite of applications specifically tailored to the needs of professionals in that field. Existing users of CS3 (or earlier versions) can also choose to upgrade or purchase any of their existing stand-alone elements individually.

Released in March of 2007, CS3 continued the legacy of industry-standard creative development applications and remains the staple for most design needs. Its successor comes trumpeting in with a number of new features for their 13 stand-alone products, 14 integrated technologies, and seven services. But the best part of CS4 isn’t its individual parts, but its apparently seamless integration between all products in the line.

This is achieved primarily through Adobe ConnectNow, an online service for real-time collaboration that can be accessed from many of the CS4 applications.

There are a number of feature updates for each of the individual applications in the suites, including the ability to use “tweens” instead of keyframes in Flash CS4 to facilitate precise control over animation attributes. Flash also sports a new tool called the “Bones” tool which allows for realistic animation of linked objects. InDesign users will be happy with the new Live PreFlight tool that can make catching minor errors easier, and Photoshop fans should enjoy the new Content-Aware Scaling tool that can automatically re-compose an image on the fly as you resize it.

Speaking of Photoshop, CS4 offers it in two flavours, the standard and “Extended” versions, which differ slightly in functionality and price. The added features of the “Extended” edition are mainly geared toward those who work in film and other mediums where advanced 3D image manipulation is important. Some of the most exciting “Extended” features are the ability to paint directly on 3D images, rotate and scale 3D models freely, and adjust lighting, meshes, and materials for any of your models.

On the negative side for us Mac folks, Adobe is not shipping 64-bit versions of its CS4 applications for the Mac OS, and is not expected to until CS5 shows up. This is apparently because the applications were originally written in Carbon rather than the Cocoa application framework. And since Apple decided to scrap plans for a 64-bit version of Carbon, all the applications must now be ported to Cocoa before they can continue on their way to a 64-bit release. Adobe is working on it, but they say that it’s no small undertaking and will not be something they will achieve for the release of CS4. I guess that means a few more months of letting Windows users have a 10% performance advantage on us. Darn.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 is scheduled to ship in October, and until then we can enjoy the betas of a couple of the applications including the new Flash Player 10, all of which are now available as free downloads. For more information on the features and functionality of CS4, check out the official site.

The main feature of Reference Tracker (as you would expect) is keeping track of references/sources. To add a new reference to the current document, you just click New Reference, and a drop down will appear with all the choices for the type of reference. Once the reference is added, it will appear in the table view at the top of the window. In the bottom of the window lies the pane where you add information for the reference. The fields will change based on what kind of reference it is, because different references require different fields.

One of my favorite (and most useful) features is the cited text support. In the bottom left corner of the information pane is a large text field labeled Cited Text. This is where you will want to put all of the text that you could possibly use in your paper. The more the better, because you never know when you’re going to forget that book at school! Although this feature may not seem that exciting or new, it is very useful, because then that text is right there along with the reference.

Another very cool and useful feature (if you like notes) is sticky notes support. In a specific reference, you can add a number sticky notes. These can be helpful for paraphrasing the text right in Reference Tracker, or just for taking notes. Either way, it keeps these notes in the same exact document as the references, so you can always find them! My favorite part is the ability to drag them around.

I know I have said that a lot of the features above are very useful, but there is one that is the most useful for putting together your paper — exporting. Once you have completed all your references for your paper, instead of having to rewrite all of them, you can just export them! Just go to File-Export, and choose a location! Right now, the exporting feature does not support Pages documents, but I hear he is working on it. For now, you can just export to an RTF and then copy and paste into Pages.

The feature that goes right along with exporting is importing. Again, this does not support Pages documents yet, but I hear it will. To import, you just go to File-Import. You can either import from a formatted reference list or a BIBText or RIS file. Right now Reference Tracker does not support MLA formatted references, so if you use them, for now, you’re out of luck. Reference Tracker will spit out a list at you that has all the found references, and you can choose to delete certain ones and edit the fields of others. Once you have gone through the list, you just click Accept All & Import, and you’re off!

Reference Tracker, by Malkinware retails for $44.95, but you can pick it up for just $29.95 until September 30th. Compared to other Mac reference trackers, it is pretty cheap, but still has a ways to go feature-wise to be worth $44.95. You should try it out (you can download it from the same site) to see if it fits your needs. If it does, I doubt you will want to go out and buy a $100 reference tracker that has way more features than you need. And remember, this is a 1.0 piece of software; it will only get better!

Mellel greets you with an interface that is, shall we say, familiar. The developers have decided to adopt Word’s interesting format of having your document in one window and a tool panel separately in another window, which includes pretty much everything you’d want to do to your document (from Office for Mac). Similar to Word, the tool panel is divided into helpful tabs which contain the functions related to its title. For example, the “Alignment and Spacing” tab will give you access to controls for aligning your text and defining the spacing of your paragraphs and between lines of text.

The tool panel is functional, if somewhat perplexing because of its separate window existence. While I found it to be very convenient to have every major operation available from a single window, I question the need to actually separate it into the “floating” dialogue that Mellel provides. I had the same misgiving about Office for Mac’s version of Word, and I’m worried to see that other developers are adopting this particular design choice, even though some may prefer it to the integrated ribbon bar found in the latest version of Word’s Windows counterpart.

Perhaps for the sake of an uncluttered page window interface, Mellel does not offer the typical New, Open, Print, and Save buttons that most other word processors provide as part of their main toolbar. These options are still accessible from the File menu, of course, and I didn’t really miss having the extra buttons. In fact, the only things that you will find on the page window of Mellel is a zoom control, a table generation button, a central window providing information on the text style, and buttons for Left, Right, Center, and Justified text alignment.

The interface similarities between Mellel and Word do not extend as far as the program’s skin, though, which is outfitted in a drab, gunmetal-gray that may be a little bit unfavorable for users who are not fond of having a distinctly military aesthetic about their writing environments.

The way Mellel’s website talks about it, you’d think that it was what God used to write the ten commandments or something. Not only does RedleX give a “Competitive Comparison” chart, which I’ll get to in a moment, but they also have a page with the “Top Ten Reasons to Switch to Mellel,” which begins, modestly, with “Mellel is the best word processor for Mac OSX.” There is a fine line between arrogance and ambition, and Mellel treads on it with gusto.

Some of the items on the Top Ten list are strong arguments, such as the claim that Mellel will not crash, even under the strain of extremely long documents (which it was apparently designed to handle efficiently). I myself tested it with some challenging documents (200+ page theatrical scripts with storyboard images, novel manuscripts, etc.) and did not manage to crash it or even significantly slow it down, which was impressive. It also provides an interesting “secondary font” option which allows users to mix languages in the text fluently, with full support for OpenType language options.

Other items are not as convincing. Saying that Mellel can deal with footnotes and endnotes is not exactly an innovative feature revelation, and the fact that they’ve required no less than 16 “major updates” in just three years is hardly a selling point. Nevertheless, Mellel’s got some great things going for it, which their extensive comparison chart helps to illustrate.

The chart, as mentioned above, is part of Mellel’s loud-mouthed advertising and provides an in-depth comparison between Mellel, Word, Open Office, and NisusWriter Express. Without going into unnecessary detail, the chart highlights some significant positive attributes, including an extremely fast launch time, resource-efficient operation, and a good array of features and file-type compatibilities. On the other hand, the lack of important features like password-protection, spellcheck exclusions and multiple language support, different page sizes in one document, intelligent tables, and a number of graphics limitations is difficult to ignore.

Add to that the fact that the chart was created using results from last-generation versions of the competing software and you may start to question the credibility of its data, which obviously favors Mellel. RedleX graciously admits to this though, saying about the chart: “What is it good for? Not much, except for getting a general impression.”

Despite its shortcomings, Mellel truly is an ambitious and competent word processor, and its nimble operation and spartan interface may appeal to those looking for an efficient writing environment with bells and whistles that are present without being distracting. Mellel is available from RedleX for $49.00 for a standard license, $64.00 for a boxed edition (including shipping charges), or $35.00 for an educational license. Any purchase comes with 2 years of free updates, free email support, and some tutorials and guides.

I enjoyed my experience with Mellel, but I can’t say I was thrilled enough to consider switching to it as my primary word processor. Have your own Mellel experiences to share? We’d love to hear about them in the comments!

So just what is OfficeTime? At its simplest, OfficeTime is a time tracking application. Keep track of your time on various projects, whether you charge for your time or not. When you begin work on a project (called a work session), you start the timer, and you stop it when you finish. It's that simple! Of course, there are many more features, yet the software stays completely out of your way while you're working, and you can make changes to times or projects easily via the Menu Bar icon, without having to leave your current application.

Basically, there are 6 things you should know to really use OfficeTime effectively. The good news is that you have an idea about all of them already, so this is more like a refresher list. You can have multiple windows open, each with its own project, if you want. I usually keep one window open and toggle the project via a drop-down menu in the window. You can avoid windows if you like by using the Menu Bar icon to handle most time-related tasks. A category can be broad like “Consulting, but I find it more useful to break down consulting projects into the respective companies or people I work for. Categories make it fast and easy to keep projects grouped together, and provide for some very powerful filtering and reporting options. Projects are the large to-do items on your list, like a website redesign or an article you're writing. Sessions are the smaller pieces of the project, like research, interviews, phone calls, tech support, travel time, writing, editing, etc. Expenses are costs associated with your project that don't fall into billable-by-time costs, such as travel, materials, and purchases. And you can get reports on just about anything.

The software is designed with the busy worker in mind, so you can download and install the software, add a few projects, and be tracking your time in mere minutes. Then, as you grow accustomed to recording your time spent on different projects, you'll want more features, and OfficeTime is ready with tons of features including customizable reports, invoicing and payment tracking, and even tracking multiple people, which is very handy for managers. OfficeTime works on both Mac and Windows machines, so you can play nicely with your co-workers in a typical office. You can synchronize your sessions with iCal and share those calendars with others, which is handy if your boss is often popping in to check on youthey can just look at your progress online or subscribe to your OfficeTime calendar.

And finally, one of the best features of OfficeTime is the developers themselves. As you can see, if you visit their website, they have fun writing software, and they really want to make OfficeTime the easiest, most useful software you've ever used. They take customer suggestions very seriously, and if they can add a feature without interfering with the ease-of-use, they will.

OfficeTime costs $47 from Transcena Design Ltd., with a 120-day money back guarantee and a 21 day full-featured trial. In a matter of weeks, it will pay for itself in time savings and more accurate time reporting.

Upon launching Montage, one the most striking aspects of the application you'll notice is the native Mac interface. I wouldn't normally bring this up, but it's notable because most professional screenwriting applications are cross platform and as a result not only look like bad Windows ports, but lack OS X integration with services like the inline dictionary and spell check. Montage has both of these, as well as .Mac integration and Spotlight indexing support.

But Montage isn't simply a pretty interface. The application has all the expected screenwriting tools you find in competing applications  tools like automatic script formatting, title page support, and return/tab key-based navigation  as well as a few unique ones. For example, Montage has a useful Scene View mode for viewing and editing scripts. Unlike the normal Script View, which emulates how the document looks when printed, Scene View in Montage visually breaks down the script into sections, making it easy to spot where individual scenes begin and end.

Users of other screenwriting programs will be familiar to the other viewing modes available: Outline View organizes a script into scenes for annotation and easy reordering, Character View displays all the dialog and scenes for a certain character, and Location View shows all the scenes of a given location. Extra tools not directly related to screenwriting integrated with Montage include a contacts manager, a tasks to-do list, and a research file depository.

The best unique feature of Montage is the Smart View tool. The tool works like iTunes' Smart Playlists feature. You dial in certain variables and Montage automatically calls the portions of your script that adhere to the values and displays them. Montage also has a full screen feature for editing and writing — a useful tool noticeably absent in most of it's competitors.

Key tools which Montage has trouble with are change tracking and page locking. Tracking changes is essential when collaborating with other writers or managing different drafts. Similarly, when going into production, a script is often locked so that subsequent rewrites during production do not change page numbers for existing scenes. Montage has neither of these essential screenwriting features.

Montage is relative newcomer in a field where two giants, Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter, have dominated for over twenty years. To compensate for this, Montage not only supports import of common text files like Rich-Text Format (.rtf), but also Final Draft (.fdr) files. For output, Montage can export MS Word (.doc), PDF, and Final Draft format (.fdr). Sorely absent is HTML export.

My evaluation of the Final Draft support was disappointing. My testing revealed many page synchronization issues, especially when a character's dialog overlaps onto two pages. The formating inconsistencies are minor when exporting to Final Draft files, and worse with import. The issues are magnified with longer scripts.

The biggest problem with Montage has nothing to do with the application itself. It's the competition.

Montage costs about $150. It's costly for a word processor, but somewhat fairly priced compared to other professional screenwriting applications. This is precisely the problem. Montage costs roughly the same as its industry standard competitors, yet does not have the feature set or industry support to warrant its price. Final Draft and Movie Magic ScreenWriter, considered by most to be the industry standards, both retail for about $175. Both may not have the native Mac goodness of Montage, but nonetheless are solid applications with tools that professional screenwriters need and Montage lacks.

For the price-conscious non-professional who can deal with the lack of key features like page lock and change tracking, Montage is even more unappealing. There are a plethora of free or inexpensive solutions that match or beat Montage's feature set. For example, the open-source Celtx is a cross-platform solution that offers nearly everything Montage advertises for free.

Montage costs $149.95 USD (A downloadable version is also available for $139.95) and is available from Mariner Software.

WriteRoom, by Hog Bay Software is a tool for working without distractions. It puts a black (or any color you want) background behind a text editor. It is very easy to use, and really does help to keep you from getting distracted, even if you have ADD!

WriteRoom has a full screen mode and a regular mode. The full screen mode is the one that helps with those distractions. In the regular mode, it simply looks like any other text editor. You can easily switch between these modes using the Esc key. If you put your mouse in the lower left-hand corner of the screen (only in full screen mode), it will tell you the name of your document, plus how many characters, words and lines there are.

Where the real features of WriteRoom are is in the Preferences. The General tab of the Preferences gives you some basic options, like whether to use plain text or rich text. The man difference in these is that plain text does not have any formatting, like color or styles. You can also choose what to display in the lower left-hand corner here. Other preferences here include how many lines long the writing is and how many characters wide.

The Text Editing tab gives you options for the actual editing of the text. A feature that I really like is the ability to turn of the block insertion point; I like the line insertion point more. The main part of this tab is choosing which fonts are used for which kind of text. You can choose a style (that you see) for plain text and rich text.

The Full Screen tab gives you lots of features for how the full screen mode will look. This is the part that sets WriteRoom apart from a normal text editor. My favorite part of this tab is the ability to choose background color, page color, and text. The background color is what is around the text editor, the page color is the color of the text editor and the text color is, well, you get it. It would be very cool if people could create themes for this preference tab alone, so you could get a full screen mode that someone spent lots of time working on. A feature I really like about the full screen mode is the typewriter scrolling. This makes it so the line you are working on can always be in the center, so it’s easy to see.

A feature of WriteRoom that I really want to use is the Edit in WriteRoom plugin. However, this does not work in Leopard yet, so I have been unable to try it. From their website, the developer has released an early version of QuickCursor, which is meant to give you this same ability in Leopard. However, I don’t like that it puts the button in the menubar; the Edit in WriteRoom plugin puts it into your Edit menu. QuickCursor is still in development, but I am hoping he gets this working soon, because it looks like such a nice feature. This would make WriteRoom a perfect tool for doing HTML, too!

WriteRoom, by Hog Bay Software, costs $24.95. For the time it can save you, and the productivity you get out of it, it is well worth the money. Remember, time is money, and this can save you time.

This may only be my personal opinion, but I hated the look of Office 2004. The free-floating toolbars just didn’t work for me. They weren’t a part of the main window and you couldn’t dock them. The result was a cluttered, ugly layout that was not ideal for working. Because of this I instead chose the free alternative NeoOffice for my word processing needs.

But now Microsoft has won me back over. Overall, Office 2008 just feels more polished and clean. The interface integrates well with the Mac and the toolbars are docked in the top area by default, which is how things work in most Mac applications. You can also re-arrange and edit toolbars, which, although expected, is still a great feature for people who just need to work in a certain way.

One of the features that I liked about Office 2004 was the so-called “Formatting Palette” which allowed you to access all basic word processing functions in a small little window. Microsoft has now expanded that window to include dozens of more commands and functions. You can edit formatting, alignment, and margins in the formatting tab. But then, if you move over there are drawing shapes, a citation generator, a feature called “Scrapbook”, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and a compatibility checker. These features aren’t necessarily new, but putting them all in one easily accessible place was a great move on Microsoft’s part. The formating palette also replaces those pesky windows that popped up whenever you start working with pictures or tables. Instead, the palette will just tab over to the correct function and you can edit it from there.

Another new feature in Office 2008 is a shiny little toolbar that gives you access to tables, charts, word art, diagrams, and document designs. It’s the layout part of the new Word, and it’s effective. As with the formatting palette, it puts new and old features in an easily accessible area. Excel and Powerpoint both have similar toolbars which do similar functions for their respective apps, with a nice color scheme to match each one.

Finally, the not-so-good. Visual Basic is gone. This doesn’t affect me personally, but many people are upset about this. You can no longer record macros and automate your workflow, with Microsoft’s excuse being that it would have taken 2 years to add Visual Basic support in xcode. For many people this will be a major turn-off. However, this is a sign about the direction of Microsoft Office (at least for the Mac). The new features like the formatting palette and layout toolbar are meant to bring the powerful features of Word up front so the average consumer can take advantage of them. This unfortunately means that the power user will feel left out as Microsoft stops supporting Visual Basic in order to focus on more average, consumer-oriented features.

Having never used Visual Basic, I have found this upgrade to be fantastic. I have Word customized just how I want it and I think that Microsoft has taken a step in the right direction with Office 2008. It integrates well with OS X (typical eye candy shiny effects mostly) and is overall easy to use. To learn more about the features of Office 2008, you can visit Microsoft’s website which has some great videos exploring some of the new features.

There are 4 versions of Office 2008:
1. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (Standard) which goes for $400 on Apple and $325 on Amazon.
2. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Upgrade which goes for $205 on Amazon.
3. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition which goes for $500 on Apple.
4. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition which goes for $150 on Apple and $130 on Amazon.