Archive for the 'Interviews' Category

From the folks who brought you MacHeist and MyDreamApp, comes another software bundle titled the “MacHeist Retail Bundle.” This bundle contains 12 applications at a price of $49. The bundle will not only be on sale online, but there will also be a boxed version available in stores. Each license is full and “uncrippled.”

If you participated in MacHeist I and II you have seen these apps before, but they are now back, updated and ready to go. I had a chance to sit down with Phill (well, sit down over the internet) and ask him a few questions about this latest project.

Alright first let me say the MacApper podcasts are back. From now on any video or audio we release should automagically appear in iTunes as well as here on the blog, so subscribe now to avoid missing upcoming episodes.

Today we have an interesting interview between our own Michael Hjorleifsson and Pat Lee from VMWare Fusion. Virtualization has become one of the most interesting and progressive areas for computer users of all platforms, and Pat answers some great questions concerning the future of running virtual machines on OS X. VMWare Fusion is arguably the leader in the virtualization space and Pat talks about some of the cool stuff the company has been working on, and what to expect down the road.

You probably read the title wondering, “What is Magnetism Studios?” It is more likely that you have heard of Monkey Business Labs or Insanely Great Tees. Well Magnetism Studios is a new parent company created to combine Monkey Business Labs and Insanely Great Tees along with some other cool new stuff under one roof. I was lucky enough to be able to talk to Joshua Keay, one of the masterminds behind it all.

Two days ago, we reviewed TaskPaper, a simple GTD app. Being one of the most innovative GTD apps out there, we simply had to have a talk with the developer. So we tracked Jesse Grosjean down to his home in Bangor, Maine, and had a little chat with him.

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

WireTap Studio is being released to the world next week and I was lucky enough to speak with Andrew Welch to find out about all the new features in WireTap Studio and how Ambrosia went about incorporating them into the app. We also learn how Ambrosia Software began developing audio software and of some new features in Ambrosia’s upcoming programs. Don’t nod off because at the end of the interview Andrew leaves a surprise gift for one lucky MacApper reader.

First off, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with us.

I have been hearing rumors around the developer community for a while now about a supposed “iTunes for MacApps”, and today I got the evidence I had been waiting for. The image below is a screenshot of a very early alpha build of a new program sent to me by Mark from TheMacPak, a well placed group in the Mac community.

Now some of you may remember TheMacPak - it was a website that sold a nice bundle of Mac apps at a reduced rate. Well it seems it has, or rather will be, reinventing itself as a piece of software much like iTunes, but exclusively tailored for distributing Mac software.

Rogue Amoeba makes great Mac software to take care of all your audio needs. Some of their products include Fission, Airfoil, Audio Hijack, and Nicecast. Fission is for lossless audio editing (see our review). Airfoil allows you to send any audio to your AirPort Express (look for a review when version 3 is released). Audio Hijack Pro allows you to record any system sounds and Nicecast allows you to broadcast your music over the internet. I was lucky enough to get an interview with the CEO of Rogue Amoeba, Paul Kafasis.

Most Mac users have probably heard of OmniOutliner since it comes with new Macs, many are not aware of The Omni Group or their other incredible apps. For those of you who don’t know, OmniOutliner is a very poweful outlining app that allows you to create, collect, and organize information. Some other notable apps in the Omni family are OmniGraffle (diagramming - similar to Microsoft’s Visio), OmniPlan (project management), and the still in private beta OmniFocus (a GTD app). I was lucky enough to get an interview with the CEO of The Omni Group, Ken Case.

Everyone has this problem - you have tracks in your iTunes library that don’t have cover art. Whether the tracks came from some obscure CD that iTunes has never heard of or elsewhere, the problem of missing cover art didn’t used to be a problem. However, once Cover Flow appeared in iTunes, the artwork became more prominent. Then, with the release of iPhone, cover art has become even more important. With Cover Flow possibly coming to iPods soon, it will become an even larger part of our music listening experience.

This is the third and final video from the Delicious Generation Party held June 13th in San Francisco. In this portion I talk with the guys from Monkey Business Labs, the developers behind Picturesque, a quick hint about Mac Heist II, and a good chat with the brotherly dev team behind the upcoming new image editor, Pixelmator. This final segment showcases some of the coolest things that went down at the DG party so I hope you guys enjoy it.

Watch for the video after the jump and be sure to subscribe to our feed so you don’t miss any of our premium Macalicious content.

With all the iPhone hype I nearly forgot about the other portions of video I put together from the first ever Delicious Generation Party held June 13th in San Francisco. As I mentioned in the first segment the other offerings would have more interviews with developers. In today’s installment hear blurbs from Andrew Stone of Stone Design, Juan Alvarez of Cha Ching, one of the guys at Boinx Software, and more from Austin Sarner and John Casasanta. Some interesting comments and hints are dropped in this one and it’s really nice to see the people behind the apps and hear they’re take on things.

The WWDC Keynote came and went last week, and like a lot of other folks, I was sitting at home (im)patiently refreshing the updates while playing Keynote Bingo at the same time. Wanting to know more about the guys behind Keynote Bingo, I managed to get hold of Sippan and the other crazy Swedes for an informal chat.

Here’s what he had to say.

Marvin: Hi Sippan, tell us more about yourself and the team behind Keynote Bingo.

Although there are a few apps that allow the user to download videos from YouTube, such as TubeSock, there is no true app for browsing YouTube. That’s where Tubular comes in. Recently, I had a chance to talk with Steve Streza, the developer behind Tubular and SnapShooter. We talked about his applications, setup, future projects, and featured a nice bonus at the end for all MacApper readers.

Conner: Hey, thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

Steve: Hey Conner. Thanks for having me.

Conner: For the readers who may not know much about you, what projects and other applications have you done?

2 weeks ago, I reviewed ForkLift, an advanced file manager that turned out to be a very useful application. While I voiced my dislike for Finder, I found that ForkLift was a very productive file manager with some great features.

After publishing the review, I managed to sit down with the developers from BinaryNights (Attila, Bela, Gabor and Mudi), to chat about ForkLift, Macs and their future plans. They even made a significant announcement, but I won’t spoil the surprise. Read on to find out.

Marvin: First of all, tell me more about BinaryNights. How did you guys come about, and what do you do?

I finally got around to installing some inline media controls for our bloggers and I thought I might air Alec Feld’s portion of the podcast done over at Victor’s Typical Mac User Podcast, a couple days ago. Alec was interviewed about our Macapper Switcher’s Story Contest and as far as I know this was MacApper’s first foray into anything other than text on a screen. Props to Alec for taking this on and Victor for setting it up. I would highly recommend heading over to TMU to check out the full podcast as it has a great format with a lot of interaction. Victor also has a pretty sweet radio voice.