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.

Popularity: 3%

Digital distribution has help spurn new pricing models for software. One company embracing alternative models is The Application Cubby, which is now offering a free ad-supported version of their popular gas mileage and vehicle maintenance app Gas Cubby.

What makes this collaboration unique is that only one company, Honeywell, will provide ads for the app. The only products that will be advertised are from the Honeywell subsidiary FRAM, which makes auto parts such as oil filters.

This app has ranged in price from $0.99 to $9.99. Gas Cubby is still available without ads for $6.99.

If developers can make the economics work, it is great to see apps being offered in both paid and free ad-supported versions.

Grab Gas Cubby FRAM edition for free now (iTunes link). Gas Cubby requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Popularity: 1%

If you spent any time at an arcade, carnival, or fair growing up, there is no doubt that you remember Skee-Ball. For those not in the know, Skee-Ball is a game where you are given a set number of balls which you must roll up an inverted lane with a ramp at the end. When the ball reaches the ramp, it’s launched into the air and hurled towards a number of holes. Each hole has a point value, with the more difficult holes having a higher value. The game gives you tickets based on the number of points you scored. The tickets could then be redeemed for prizes like stuffed animals, little toys, radios, and even TV’s. Though there is a Skee-Ball (iTunes link) iPhone app, that won’t the the one I’m talking about today.

Ramp Champ takes two carnival games and combines them. Part Skee-Ball, part bean bag toss, Ramp Champ is a perfect time waster while waiting. I’ve used it a number of times while waiting for my wife to finish shopping, and it’s been a great distraction.

The game comes with 4 levels, each with three goals. As you score points you collect tickets. When you reach a goal, you earn a trophy. Your tickets can be redeemed for virtual prizes. When you start the game, a tutorial is played which gives you the basic rules of the game.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game is the ball rolling. The flick to roll motion is pretty sensitive. A faster flick results in a faster roll. The slower roll is much harder to master than the fast roll.

I’ve spent a good hour playing Ramp Champ and it has yet to loose the appeal it had when I started. Reaching the goals are not easy, but they don’t seem impossible either. Reaching all 12 goals included with the game should provide many hours of game play. The game includes exceptional music and sound effects as well.

Though Ramp Champ (iTunes link) is usually a paid app, it’s currently free “for a limited time”! Once you solve the included goals and master the four included levels, you can purchase four different add-on packs for $.99 each. One tip: mastering a diagonal roll to hit multiple targets at once is critical to reaching some of the goals. This game is a blast and I highly recommend giving it a try!

Popularity: 2%

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.

Popularity: 2%

The crew behind MacHeist are at it again. This time, the Mac Giving Tree is giving away free Mac applications. Just visit the Mac Giving Tree and sign in if you’re an existing MacHeist user, or register if you’re not. Once you sign in, you’ll get Enigmo 2 and Synergy for free. Come back on Christmas Day and you’ll get some more free goodies.

If you stay on the Mac Giving Tree website, you may notice that iPhone App icons are growing out of the tree. When they start to wiggle, just click the wiggling icon for a chance to win the application. This giveaway uses App Store promo codes, so the free iPhone Apps are US only. I’ve clicked on about 10 iPhone App icons and I haven’t won yet. Good luck to all and thanks to MacHeist for the free goodies.

Popularity: 29%

In case you haven’t heard, you can download a copy of any of CodeWeavers’ products for free today. CodeWeavers’ products make it possible to run Windows programs on Mac or Linux without the Windows operating system.

So what’s the occasion? The price of gas in the Twin Cities dropped below $2.79 per gallon. You can read the full story about why the software is free from the StarTribune. As you would expect, the CodeWeavers servers are getting hammered so their website is running in a stripped down mode right now. Just visit CodeWeavers website and you’ll be redirected to the free software offer page. Enjoy free software! But hurry up, the offer is only valid today, October 28th, 2008.

[Via TUAW]

Popularity: 11%

I’ve been using 37signal’s Backpack, for a number of years now. It’s a fantastic web application for keeping notes, lists, and other thoughts on the web. The text markup enabled within the application allows you to organize and style the content to make for easy viewing.

As much as I love web applications, there is something about having a desktop client to interface with the application. For a while, I was using a desktop client called Packrat. While Packrat is a pretty good application, I was open to trying other Backpack clients. I did like Packrat enough to name it one of my “Applications I couldn’t live without in 2007” however.

A number of months ago I started beta testing a new Backpack client called Backboard. While the functions of Packrat and Backboard are somewhat similar, the implementation is completely different. Packrat gives you a similar experience to the Backpack website by providing navigation to all your Backpack pages. Backboard groups all your tasks and notes which gives a fantastic overview that isn’t possible with Packrat.

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Popularity: 50%