Apple Mac HQ

The folks behind MacHeist, the spy themed software bundle, are getting ready to kick off another event. Details are sparse right now, except the fact that the software bundle sale begins on March 2nd, 2010. The updated website does provides a few clues about what applications might be included with the bundle. The boxes moving across the screen contain application icons for RipIt, Flow, and several other icons for applications I’m not familiar with.

If you visit the MacHeist website right now, you’ll be able to grab a free copy of the Snow Leopard only application Squeeze. From the Squeeze website: “Squeeze is a background file compressor, which uses the new HFS-compression technology in Snow Leopard to transparently compress the folders you configure it to process. Mac OS will read those files normally, they will just take less disk space.”

If you aren’t familiar with MacHeist, you can see our previous coverage of it HERE.

Sophiestication Software is celebrating the 3rd anniversary of its terrific iTunes companion application, CoverSutra, with a sale. Through January 27th you can get CoverSutra for $5, which is 75% off the regular price.

CoverSutra has many great features, including Last.fm scrobbling, spotlight-esque searching of your iTunes library from the toolbar, cover displaying on the desktop and the dock, and much more.

I finally made the plunge and purchased CoverSutra and am not disappointed. The sale price is valid for all versions of CoverSutra, including 1.2 for Tiger and 2.22 for Leopard and Snow Leopard. Free upgrades are available until version 3.0 is released.

For both 2007 and 2008, I listed a number of applications I couldn’t live without those year. It’s now time to release the same list for 2009. Some applications remain unchanged from 2008, but a few have dropped off the list all together and a few more have been added. I’d like to say “Thank You” to all the Mac developers out there who make beautiful Mac software. These are the applications I couldn’t live without in 2009, in no particular order.

1Password remains one of my favorite Mac applications. It makes managing your online passwords incredibly easy. I recently upgraded to 1Password 3 in advance of my move to Snow Leopard. 1Password 3 adds some nice features, including the ability to manage software license information. The 1Password iPhone App (iTunes link) gives you the ability to make your login information mobile.

I still write every AMHQ post with MarsEdit. Not much has changed over the last year with MarsEdit, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Blogging with MarsEdit makes blogging easier, so I’m going to continue to use it. Alas, MarsEdit still doesn’t have bullet and numbered list support. Maybe it will happen in 2010?

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No browser has made me completely happy.  Safari is my main browser, but I have tried just about every other browser out there for Mac.  Which means I had to give the Google Chrome beta a test drive.

The first thing I noticed when using Chrome is the placement of the tabs on top, which provides more browsing room.  I have longed for this feature since using it in the Safari 4 beta.  Google’s take on the tab bar is far more intuitive then Apple’s implemention in the Safari 4 beta.  Tabs run in separate process sandboxes in Chrome so one crashed tab will not bring down all the others.

The “Omnibox” combines the URL and search boxes into one.  Search engines can be added to search a specific web site, such as Wikipedia or CNET.

Themes provide a way to drastically alter the look of Chrome.  I didn’t care for any of the current themes, instead opting for the default look which is more “Mac-esque.”

As this is a beta, there a more then a few issues with Google Chrome.  It is missing many features compared to its Windows brethren, including a lack of bookmark syncing between Chrome browsers, no bookmark manager (how is that even possible?), not being able to install extensions, only running in 32-bit mode, and not being able to pin tabs (this option sizes tabs so only favicons show).

The most recent builds of Chromium, the open source project behind Google Chrome, can install extensions and do bookmark syncing, but still lacks a bookmark manager. It is great to see extensions come to another browser besides Firefox.  There are already a large amount of useful extensions that improve sites like Gmail, Google Wave, and Twitter.

Google rushed the Chrome beta so it would be out for Mac users this year, and it shows.  This browser is very stable (I can’t remember the last time it crashed for me) and zippy enough for every day use, but feature-wise is barebones.  It is available now for free.

I enjoy using a minimalist Mac that limits distractions.  I do not like having many icons in the taskbar or tons of applications open.  Internet browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, and Twitter distract me incredibly easily.  OmmWriter helps block out diversions like this while writing.

OmmWriter, from the digital creative agency Herraiz Soto & Co., is a full screen text editor like WriteRoom, though that’s where the similarities end.  OmmWriter is very different compared to other writing applications.  It is an application that is a unique experience.  It draws me in and helps me focus with calming audio.  Yes, audio.  There are seven tracks to choose from, including flowing water and birds.  There are also seven different sounds for keyboard key hits.  All audio can be muted if you find them distracting.

The uniqueness doesn’t end there.  There are also three background images to choose from which are simple and beautiful.  It would have been nice to choose background images from my iPhoto library.

There are not many settings to choose from.  There are three different fonts and text sizes.  Having too many configurations can be distracting, which is not what OmmWriter is about.  OmmWriter is about sitting down and writing while ignoring anything else going on in the world.

I am very excited about where the future lies for OmmWriter.  It has the potential to be a special application.  Currently in beta, it is freeware that is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and is available now.

It must be nearing the holiday season because the software bundles are coming. This time however, the bundle is totally free. The folks at MacHeist are giving away a “nanoBundle” for absolutely nothing. So what are they giving away?

• ShoveBox
• WriteRoom
• Twitterrific
• TinyGrab
• Hordes of Orcs
• Mariner Write

The first 5 applications are available free of charge right now. Mariner Write will be unlocked when 500,000 nanoBundles are downloaded. If share a quick status update on Facebook, you can also get VirusBarrier X5 for free.

The free nanoBundle ends in just 1 day, so get your free applications quickly. Visit MacHeist for more information.

Of all the Apple gear in my house, perhaps the least appreciated (but very much loved) is my Apple TV. I use it several times a week to watch podcasts, TV shows I record, and videos I download. To get some of the videos I download into a format compatible with the Apple TV, I use a great tool called VisualHub. Unfortunately, VisualHub was abandoned by the developer nearly a year ago. VisualHub’s developer was kind enough to open source his code however. From the ashes of VisualHub, a new application has risen, Video Monkey.

If you’re familiar with VisualHub, the Video Monkey UI will be easy to pick up. You begin by dragging your source file into the middle of the application. You then choose an output type from a large list of presets. Next choose encoding speeds, quality, and a few other options. If you want to send the encoded file into iTunes, just check the appropriate checkbox. Once the encoding options are set, just click the start button in the top left corner.

I used the first version of Video Monkey shortly after it came out, but I hadn’t used it again until recently because the encoding time said it would take nearly two hours to encode a 30 minute video. The current version, 0.5, has seen huge improvements since that initial release (version 0.1). That being said, the application does have a few bugs. While the list of presets include about 20 options, the only ones I could set are those related to iTunes (Apple TV, iPhone, etc). I also received a javascript error while I was changing the output presets.

One feature I didn’t know about until today was the metadata feature. I encoded a TV show and the output file included the name of the episode along with a Poster for the show! After a little poking around on the Video Monkey website, I found a detailed blog post from the developer explaining how the metadata feature works.

Unlike VisualHub, Video Monkey is a free application. The most recent upgrade brought Snow Leopard support, which the last release of VisualHub lacks. If you are looking for a replacement for VisualHub, Video Monkey is likely it.