2007 Holiday Gift Ideas: Software

There's only one piece of software that I automatically install on any
Macintosh I am going to be using for more than a few minutes. Sure,
there's a lot of useful doodads and gewgaws that are nice to have, but
there's only one that has become absolutely essential to how I use the
computer. So much so that I find myself truly annoyed when it's not
installed.

Launchbar.

It does everything, it does it well, it never causes me problems
(unlike Quicksilver, which I consider to be a poor and somewhat fuzzy
copy of LB), and it just works every time without issue.

It allows me to ignore the Dock, launch any application in a couple of
keystrokes, queue up music, open files with a specific app, and even
does a lot of other things I don't know about. I only use about 1/3
of its functionality, and that makes it indispensable to me.

<http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html>

$20 for a single home license, $30 for a family license, and $40 for a
business license. Best $30 I ever spent on shareware, bar none.

Macaroni by AtomicBird. $10.

http://atomicbird.com/macaroni

Automates language removals, daily, weekly and monthly UNIX maintenance jobs, and permissions repair. I particularly like the language removal bit since these languages keep getting every time I install updates.

It's install and forget, so you may not get much thanks. But then you may also get fewer tech support requests.

Sit down, and inform someone about RSS. It is a more efficient way to scan a bunch of news, and has no (not yet) spam. Leopard has some more support through Safari and Mail, but my preferred tool is Google Reader.

I introduced it to my family by publishing some selected photos on a private photo library on Picasaweb, and then sending them the RSS link. I said, "Bookmark this in Safari, or Google Reader etc, because I won't be emailing photos any more". In that way, at least they have a use for it, which I could then expand to other sites they were interested in. Of course, subscribe to the RSS feed of the lolcats and cuteoverload:

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://www.cuteoverload.com/

Gesture based Launcher.

I found Sapiens a couple of weeks ago and, after giving it a few days to learn my habit, I use it constantly. I've cleaned away all my apps from my Application Dock and only use that for saving things like windows and folders, and I launch everything from Sapiens. It's version 1 and can only get better from here and I've already sent in some feature suggestions that the developer was appreciative of.

You "stir up" your mac with a swirling motion and it explodes into an ergonomic launcher with an AI system predicting the most likely things you might want to launch. Over time it watches you and gets quite good at predicting. A second swirl will include applications already running so you can also use it as an app switcher (i'd prefer using the swirl direction to control that feature rather than having to do two swirls).

In addition to being useful, it's elegant and fun which make it a great Mac gift idea.

<http://www.donelleschi.com/sapiens/>

Someone mentioned a secure notebook for your passwords and such that
is kept in a vault. I found one I particularly like which I use on my
computer. NoteTaker, by Aquaminds: http://www.aquaminds.com/ .

I bought this several years ago when I went to Israel. I don't have a
Palm or anything to keep my passwords, and I needed something that was
password protected. I have found it to be the most useful Application
of all times! If you're thinking what happens if your hard drive
crashes, well, I have a backup of these notes. I keep it updated at
all times. I keep the license on a thumb drive, with the application,
and it is in a safe place. No one can open the application and view
any of your things unless they have a password. You can record voice
memos, scan images (although I've not tried that!), and all sorts of
things. It truly is worth the $69.

I work on Macs and set them up in our school district. I configure
servers for the various buildings so we all have passwords. It was
difficult to remember all of this. So, now I have my NoteTaker with
all this info on it.

Another option I used periodically was a thumb drive you can password
protect with your confidential information on it and hide it from the
public. But, this involves other issues that wasn't as convenient and
I find cataloging everything in my NoteTaker to be the advantage.

Nancy L. Spoolman

There has been a lot of talk about waiting for Photoshop Elements to get
updated for the Mac. There are a couple of image editing packages out that
some might find just as capable and already in Universal binary form.

Acorn and Pixelmator are probably the 2 with the most press at the moment.

<http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/>
<http://www.pixelmator.com/>

I've only briefly played with both. I dislike Pixelmator's all transparent
UI, but can't say if it has more functionality than Acorn that would make
up for that.

Also, GraphicConverter has been around forever for good reason. I'm not
found of it's actual image editing tools, but for conversion, stretching,
resizing, especially batching these operations, it's a great product. I
even prefer it's slide shows to iPhotos.

<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>

Despite being written in 2002 I just recently found Matt Neuburg's review
of Consistency:

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/6932>

I picked it up and I have to agree this is a great tool for remembering to
do all those things that have to be done on a regular basis, but not on a
exact date basis.

There are some changes I'd like to see, like a growl reminder when
something goes into the red, and for the list to auto-sort instead having
to be resorted by hand. But the majority of the regular maintenance things
I need to do around the house are kept in Consistency.

<http://sciral.com/consistency/>

Kevin

if you work with a lot of files and folders in Finder than I highly
recommend Path Finder from cocoatech. It's most recent update adds Leopard
support like QuickLook, but the new feature I find most useful is the
ability to become the default file browser. This means in apps like Safari
that have a "Reveal in Finder" option, when you use that option it actually
is revealed in Path Finder. That was a headache for me with older versions.
Finder would always end up coming forward instead.

The tabbed interface and drop stack features make working with files and
folders so much more productive than using the regular Finder.

<http://www.cocoatech.com/>

Video apps I can't live without, especially since I broke down and bought
an Apple TV:

VisualHub ($23.32) - i use this to convert de-DRMd TiVo video files to
MP4's I can use on the Apple TV.

<http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/>

Handbrake (Free) - I use this to de-DRM and convert my DVDs to MP4 for the
Apple TV

<http://handbrake.m0k.org/>

TiVo Decode (free) - I use this to de-DRM files from the TiVo. You still
need the media access key from your TiVo to remove the encryption.

<http://tivodecode.sourceforge.net/>


Handbrake and VisualHub both contain pre-settings for Apple TV, video
iPods, the iPhone and iPod touch, plus an extensive set of customizable
options (frequently incomprehensible, which is why I stick with
pre-settings)

Kevin

Know someone who's serious about blogging? Then have a look at
MarsEdit, an offline blogging tool that makes writing, editing, and
publishing a blog entry as easy as sending email. Apart from actually
authoring a blog post, you can add tags, set trackback and comments
settings, and select media files for uploading right inside MarsEdit.

What makes MarsEdit stand out is its super-intuitive support for
multiple blogs and its stylish and truly Mac-like user interface.
MarsEdit is a 4.1MB download and weighs in at a more-than-reasonable
$29.95.

<http://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/>


Regards,

Jochen.

Someone else mentioned a password manager, so I will recommend my
favorite program in this category. I've tried a few password managers
(Web Confidential, Steel, etc) but my current favorite is 1password.
<http://1password.com/>.

A few key features make this program particularly useful:

- Passwords are actually stored in a dedicated keychain, so, your
passwords can be synced across mutliple Macs with iSync.
- Web browser plug-ins that make the process of retrieving and inputting
a username-password combination as simple as a mouse click. Also, it can
be set to automatically register any password you input manually into a
browser.
- The strong password generation feature (allows you to specify the
total number of characters, number of numbers, and number of special
characters to meet any website requirement).
- Clever iPhone integration.

Because of this program, I finally have different strong (i.e.
impossible to remember) passwords for all my critical web accounts.

Tn

CandyBar
<http://www.panic.com/candybar/>
Help somebody get rid of the ugly Leopard folder icons :-)

The most important piece of software to my day-to-day life is
Quicksilver -- http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/
what_is_quicksilver -- This program, similar to LaunchBar in some
respects, is one of the most powerful tools I have yet found. At the
tap of a quick keystroke (control-space on my computer) I get a small
window. I type the first few letters of a name and I am shown
applications, files, folders, URLs, and more that match. What I
usually mean is at the top of the list so I can launch Mail with
Control-Space, M-A, return. In addition, you can use it to look up
addresses in the address book, URLs in your bookmarks, tap out quick
emails (and send them) without ever going into Mail itself, append
anything you type to a text file, and tons more. There is no tool that
I use more nor get more out of than Quicksilver. And the best part is
that it is free.

Another tool I use daily is 1Password -- http://1passwd.com/ -- 1P
stores all of my passwords, will generate new, very strong ones and
remember them for me (which is good because I would never remember
D2js*4Ja293Dfbedfk$32 in a million years). Every time I visit a
website, it will log me in automatically and let me get on with my
busy day. The passwords are all stored in your Mac's keychain and are
secure (provided you keep your keychain properly locked down).

After researching many recipe packages for my recent TidBITS article,
I became a devout user of MacGourmet -- http://www.macgourmet.com/ --
Coupled with its new Nutrition Plug-in -- http://www.macgourmet.com/nutrition.html
  -- and a growing list of website importers, it is an essential part
of my kitchen (literally, since my home office is currently *in* my
kitchen). My reasons for loving it above all others are well
documented in my article so I'll just say that it also would make a
great gift for the chef in your life.

I've been designing websites for years and always did all my HTML and
CSS by hand using BBEdit. Now I'm a convert to RealMac Software's
RapidWeaver -- http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/ -- It's a
wonderfully clean, simple program that hides a great deal of power. I
redid my son's Cub Scout Pack website from the travesty I inherited
and got the new site up and running within two hours. I then switched
my own MovableType-based blog over to it and haven't looked back.

By day, I live and die by Microsoft Office 2003 under Windows XP. But
at home, I am thriving with iWork '08 -- http://www.apple.com/iwork/
-- I never dreamed I would plop down money for something like that
(especially since I own a perfectly good, if slow and clunky) copy of
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac) but they had me at Numbers alone.
Numbers is a delightful spreadsheet and chart program which creates
beautiful work with minimal effort. My weight loss chart hanging in
the bathroom has never looked so good (and actually inspires me to
keep going) and Pages has turned out to be a godsend in helping me
create fast newlsetters for the Cub Scout Pack and is where I am
typing my brilliant, soon to be a world-wide sensation National Novel
Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Novel. It just works. And Keynote is great
for putting together business presentations (I just can't tell anyone
at work where I made them) or Den Meeting slides (the kids love 'em,
believe it or not). All in all, money well spent.

My wife and I are both amateur photographers and so we mass a huge
number of pictures. As a result, our iPhoto library is getting
absurdly large. Rather than buy yet more hard drives, I decided to
give Amazon S3 -- http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261
-- a shot. Amazon provides cheap online storage which is perfect for
our needs. We wanted secure and off-site. To manage the backing up, I
use JungleDiskMonitor -- http://www.jungledisk.com/ -- It handles the
whole process of backing up my library and does it simply and with
little fuss. I'm already thinking about adding my even-absurdly-larger
iTunes library next...

Finally, I loves me online chattiness. I get my jones through three
programs that I cannot live without. First is Adium -- http://www.adiumx.com/
  -- which I use for my AIM, .Mac, Bonjour, GTalk, MSN, ICQ, and
Yahoo instant messaging needs. This keeps me in touch with friends
half a world away or my wife who's a whole house away (saves on the
shouting up the stairs). Second is Skype -- http://www.skype.com/ --
which I use for a mixture of home and business. Since my job has me
working out of home I opted to use Skype for many of my business calls
but also use it for the low-cost overseas dialing it offers. Third is
Twitterific -- http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific -- Twitter
has replaced much of what I used to use Blogging for in the past. Now
I focus only on larger posts and leave the small one-offs to Twitter.


Andy J. Williams Affleck
<http://AndyAffleck.com>

Author: Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac <http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/podcasting-mac.html
 >

Another "almost" daily piece of software I use in my work is Snapz Pro
with Movie. I use this program to submit a ticket to show a company
what is happening with their program, etc. I use it to show Principals
what a certain program will appear like for parents vs teachers.
Talking and recording a troubleshooting problem in video format is the
easiest and best way I've found yet. I utilize this for podcasts. I
could not live without it.

Nancy S.

Noodlesoft's Hazel:

<http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9310>

After reading Adam's recent review I was intrigued enough to try the
demo and ended up buying Hazel a few days ago. One of the nicest
features is "Preview Rules Matches" which allows you to safely test
out ideas and see if they will do what you're intending. This is
tremendously useful.

Some of the simpler "housekeeping" I've got Hazel doing:

- Screen captures that normally litter my desktop get put in the
trash after six hours.
- Other files that stay on my desktop too long (2 weeks+) get labled
red as a reminder to deal with them.
- Any "scratch files" (usually I put the word "junk" in their
filename) are tossed out after one day.
- All dmg and tar downloads are put in a separate folder to be archived.
- Documents modified recently (within the last 3 days) are easy to
spot because they're labeled yellow.
- And of course, I don't have to remember to empty the trash any
more. Hazel does that once a week.

Robert McGonegal