Apple Mac HQ

The other day I noticed I was running low on disk space. I fired up the application WhatSize which I hadn’t used in quite some time. I’ve written about WhatSize before, but I guess the demo period had run out. Long story short, I went looking for alternatives to WhatSize.

A short search later, I downloaded OmniDiskSweeper. When you first launch OminDiskSweeper, you’re prompted to choose a drive. Once you select the drive, it takes the application a few moments to “sweep” the drive. Once the sweep is done, you’ll see a list of folders with their current size. As you drill down in your folder list, the size is reflected in those folders as well. You can delete files from within the application and the folder sizes are automatically recalculated.

OmniDiskSweeper is a free application by The Omni Group. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. If you’re looking to clear up some space on your hard drive but don’t know what’s taking up the space, I highly suggest downloading OmniDiskSweeper.

I use all of Sophiestication Software’s apps (CoverSutra, Groceries, and Tipulator). When I found out that Sophiestication recently released the Wikipedia app “Articles,” I had to try it. I am very pleased with it.

The look of Articles is reminiscent of Mobile Safari. The interface includes a progress bar, back and forward, bookmarks and history, and page selection. Up to 9 pages can be opened at once, which is 1 more then Mobile Safari.

Articles remembers the last Wikipedia page that was accessed from the last session, as well as the position left off while reading it.

The bookmarks section includes bookmarks that can be organized into folders, recent history, a link to a random Wikipedia article, as well as a map showing nearby links. Recently viewed are saved for offline viewing

Wikipedia articles are displayed nicely. Clicking on a picture zooms into it, and after loading the picture can be saved or copied. Separate windows are used to open tables, graphs, and extra information.

28 different languages can be chosen to search from, including French, Spanish, and Chinese.

There are a few things I did not like about Articles. There is no way to quickly go to a section. Any section must be scrolled down to. Also, there is no queue.

Even with these flaws, Articles has shaped up to be a great app. Articles is available for $2.99 (iTunes link) for iPhone OS 3.0 and above.

For a few months now, I’ve been wishing for a Groupon iPhone app. Recently, the folks behind Groupon have granted my wish. The free Groupon iPhone app (iTunes link) is now available.

If you’re not familiar with Groupon, it’s essentially a group coupon purchasing website. Each day in a number of large cities across the United States, there is a daily deal. The deal is essentially a gift certificate/coupon to the location featured that day. You have the remainder of the day to purchase the deal before it changes, but enough people need to purchase the deal before the coupon is issued. If the required number of people don’t purchase the deal, you aren’t charged and the coupon is not issued. I’ve never seen a deal not purchased by enough people to trigger the deal however. The deals vary by city, as does the cost, value, and expiration date of the deal.

Up until now, you had to login to the website to purchase the Groupon. Once you purchased the Groupon, you had to print it and present it to your server/cashier. With the release of the iPhone app, you can now purchase and redeem the Groupon right on your phone!

After opening the app, you select your city and the daily deal will be shown. You can sign in with your existing Groupon login, create a new login, or sign in with Facebook Connect. Once signed in, you can see your existing Groupons and purchase new ones. When using a Groupon, your iPhone displays the same code that the printed out Groupon displays. The retailer just needs to verify your code and then you receive the value of the coupon.

I enjoy Groupon as it gives my wife and I a chance to visit different restaurants and save some cash. We don’t eat out a lot, but Groupon has provided good motivation for getting us to try different places. If you live in one of the cities with a Groupon site, I highly suggest you check them out.

With the iPad coming out in less then a month, I thought it would be good to summarize why I will be getting one.

The iPad is a nice step up from the iPhone. The iPhone is always with me, so I can pull it out whenever I need to play Plants vs. Zombies, check a sports score, or do a Google search. Doing these things feels cramped on my iPhone’s 3.5” display though. The keys are very small and it is hard to get any “real” work done, like using QuickOffice to work on a document or a spreadsheet. The  point of the iPhone is doing quick tasks because of this screen limitation. The iPad screen is a perfect size for portability yet will not hamper productivity. I can see myself using the iPad anytime I am at home lounging on the couch or sitting at a desk at the library.

My MacBook is my all time favorite purchase, but it has a few drawbacks. It is too bulky and it feels like it has to be lugged around. It also is overkill. While there will be many iPad applications that will have power user features, many will focus on ease of use and simplicity. I do not want applications getting in my way. When I have a goal and mind, I want an app to help me finish my task quickly and efficiently without having to learn tons of features. I also have many gadgets attached to my MacBook ports, so if I want to use it portability I have to disconnect tons of cables. The iPad will usually be in a charging dock when I am not using it, which it can be easily be pulled out of.

While on the subject of “ease of use and simplicity,” I am absolutely thrilled to see the iPad’s emphasis of focusing on one app at a time and not having a screen filled with windows. When I on my MacBook, I have multiple apps open at once but only one window open at a time to minimize distractions.

The iPad is an appliance and is the first computing device I feel comfortable giving to my mother to use. She does not use computers now because of how complicated they are to her. The iPad is not made to be configured with a million settings, nor does it show the app’s supporting folders. The easiest devices to use in any house are appliances because they do not have to be tinkered with and are straightforward. This same principle applies to the iPad.

Trying to explain the numerous ways to install and uninstall apps on a Mac is too confusing for the computer illiterate. Installing apps for the iPad is as easy as searching for one in the App Store, putting in a password, and having it download. There are no licenses to deal with or having to give out credit card information to multiple developers. Having her try to hunt down apps online for a Mac just would not happen and is far easier from one store.

Current eBook readers on the market just do not do it for me. Though they are not eBook readers, I am used to seeing beautiful color displays on my MacBook and iPhone. Stepping down to the Kindle’s black and white e-ink feels archaic. Books from the iBookstore will definitely not suffer from this problem.

Some of the tangibles I enjoy about the iPad overlap what is great about the iPhone. Whenever possible though, I will use my iPad over the iPhone.

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.

I am too forgetful, so I am constantly taking notes to remember anything. There are many options to take notes on my iPhone. The bundled Notes app does not sync to a web site, which is a deal-breaker. Simplenote is very minimal, which is a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. Evernote is too cluttered. Synotes, by Syncode, finds a nice balance between features and getting out of the way.  Syncode also makes Syncopy, which was reviewed previously on Apple Mac HQ.

Notes are easy to make. After hitting the plus sign in the corner of the screen, I am brought to the “New Note” screen. Then I put in a title and write my note. When done with the note, an icon can be assigned to label the note. Hopefully a future version of Synotes has a wider selection of icons to better match the note I have wrote.

Notes can be shared easily via e-mail. The web site provides an rss feed as well.

Searching in the app not only searches by title, but also by content of the notes. Being able to search within notes is great and quite helpful.

I can access my notes when on my computer too. The app quickly syncs with the Synotes web site. Notes can be made at the web site, which syncs back to the app. The web site has a few downsides. There is no way to search through notes. Also, there are minimal ways to organize notes.

Each note has important information including creation and last modified dates, where the note was created (in the app or on the web site), as well as version history. Any note can be reverted back to its previous version.

I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to make notes in Synotes, and I highly recommend it for users seeking a way to make notes.  Syncode is coming out with an iPad version of Synotes too, and it will be interesting to see how well it turns out. Synotes 1.1.1 is compatible with iPhone OS 3.0 or later for $1.99 (iTunes link).

When I am looking for interesting pictures, I usually go to Flickr. It has a wide selection of great pictures and wallpapers to view. Flickit Pro is a great way to see what Flickr has to offer.

Browsing for content is easy. My pictures as well as my contact’s pictures are broken down by sets, galleries, tags, and favorites. Searches can be done by my pictures, friends, contacts, or everyone in Flickr. Nearby pictures are shown on a map based on my geolocation. Groups I am subscribed to is also included. There is even a section for Flickr Interestingness which features many engrossing pictures.

After finding some pictures to look at, there are a couple ways to view them. Each picture can be viewed taking up the whole screen in portrait or landscape. Photoflow is like Cover Flow, which is seen in many Apple products. Photoflow has tilt scrolling like in the Instapaper Pro app. When photoflow is on, I can tilt my iPhone forward and back to scroll through pictures.

Uploading pictures is a snap. I can take pictures on the spot with the camera in-app or choose them from my Photo app. Details of pictures can be changed, including title, description, sets, tags, groups, who can see it, geolocation, and if you want to post it to a blog or Twitter. Any pictures posted to Twitter tweets the name of the photo and provides a compressed URL to the picture on Flickr.

Flickit Pro is very beautiful. The theme colors are gray and black with a tile wallpaper.

The only gripes I have about this app are that it would not update my recent activity and it does now allow deleting pictures. I am not sure if this is disallowed in the Flickr API for 3rd-party apps, though the official Flickr app can delete pictures.

Flickit Pro is a great app to find pictures. It is currently on my first iPhone page, which is where my favorite and most used apps are. Version 2.0 is available for iPhone OS 3.1 or later for $3.99 (iTunes link).