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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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]

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.

Backboard went 1.0 a few weeks ago so I wanted to highlight the application. Backboard provides a great overview of your tasks, calendar events, reminders, and notes. You can see a screenshot of the UI below.

Backboard shows your tasks, events, reminders, and notes across all your Backpack pages. Switching between your notes and tasks (including events and reminders) is a simple click of the Tasks or Notes button in the middle of the application just below the Toolbar. Clicking the box on the left marks the task as completed.

As you would expect, editing and creating new tasks, events, reminders, and notes is possible. You can toggle the priority of tasks and set reminders for tasks too. If you have more than one Backpack account, Backboard allows you to switch between account via a simple drop down menu.

When you open the application it automatically syncs with the latest data from Backpack. The filter option within Backboard is great. If you know the name of a task, you can easily find it within your tasks list.

As with many 1.0 releases, there are a few things missing. URL’s located within notes and tasks aren’t clickable. You also can’t see deleted tasks. If you accidentally delete a task, you have to go to the Backpack website to undelete it. If you have Writeboards from within your Backpack account, those aren’t visible in Backboard.

Despite these omissions, Backboard is a wonderful piece of software. Best of all? Backboard is absolutely free. If you use a Mac and Backpack, give Backboard a try. I’ve found that it’s a great way to view and interact with my Backpack account.

Ever wished you had Google Earth on your iPhone? Earthscape (iTunes link) isn’t exactly Google Earth, but it’s still pretty good. For a limited time, Earthscape is absolutely free. Normal price for Earthscape is $10 so this is a steal.

Using typical iPhone gestures, you can flick, scroll, and pinch inside Earthscape to view the world. Resolution is higher in the US, but Earthscape says, “Imagery outside of the United States is currently limited to 15 meter resolution — enough to discern major roads, but not houses. As we acquire the rights to use more detailed international imagery, it will be provided to Earthscape users as a free upgrade.”

You can view a demo of the application below:

I’ve been playing with Earthscape for the last few minutes, and it’s definitely a good time waster. One downside seems to be speed though. I’m on my home WiFi network and it’s taking several minutes to pull up the imagery near my home. I can’t imagine using this over Edge. Considering it’s currently free, it’s still worth the download. Hopefully the developers can improve the speed in future releases.

[Via Techcrunch]

I usually browse through the Free on iTunes (iTunes link) section on a weekly basis. After all, it is free music/tv. Often I don’t download anything at all, but occasionally something actually sounds good. This week, that’s definitely the case.

I’ve written here a few times that I’m a big singer-songwriter fan. Up for free this week in that category is the song Madly (iTunes link), by Tristan Prettyman. I had previously heard Tristan while browsing last.fm. It’s a pretty catchy song with good vocals and piano work. If you’re into the singer-songwriter stuff, give it a shot. After all, it won’t cost you a thing.

If you like what you heard, her new CD (iTunes link) is currently available on iTunes for less than $6 USD. Her new CD, titled Hello, is even in iTunes Plus format. For two days worth of Starbucks, the CD is a bargain.

If you’re as excited about the upcoming MLB season as I am, iTunes has a free download that will get you primed for the season opening games. Coming in an nearly 700MB, the 2008 MLB Season Preview (iTunes link) takes a look at each division and gives you a synopsis of each team in the division.

The entire video runs about an hour which each team getting about 2-3 minutes of air time. Each team synopsis includes player interviews, team analysis (strengths/weaknesses/etc), beat writer quotes, and the goals of the team for 2008. With the season opening game just a little over a week away, the 2008 MLB Season Preview is a great way to get caught up to date on your favorite or hated team. Go Braves!

If you have the need to convert video formats or own an Apple TV then I’ll assume you have heard of VisualHub. For the uninitiated, it’s basically the swiss army knife of video conversion for the Mac. VisualHub features fast conversions from nearly every video format to a plethora of formats in a quick three step process (shot of the UI below). I just finished converting some video for my Apple TV and it worked flawlessly and quickly.

I’ve been pondering buying VisualHub for a week or so and finally went to pull the trigger last night when I noticed that in addition to buying VisualHub for the low cost of $23.32 USD, there was an option to get it for free. So what’s the catch you’re saying? Well basically you buy something else and get VisualHub for free through a service called TrialPay.

TrialPay works by showing you other offers they think you might be interested in. In exchange for completing one of the participating offers, you get your original purchase, in this case VisualHub, for free. I decided to give TrialPay a chance and within a few hours I had my free VisualHub license.

I was able to get my VisualHub license free by purchasing a print from Snapfish. I took a fair number of pictures while in Wyoming a few months ago and wanted to get one of them blown up and framed. I’ve been slack about looking into online digital printing but seeing the Snapfish offer from TrialPay gave me the motivation I needed. After researching the Snapfish print quality, I uploaded my picture and purchased an 11×14 print. If the print turns out well, I’m very likely to use Snapfish again. For less than $10 USD I’m getting an 11×14 print of one of my pictures and a license for VisualHub.

If you’re in the market to do any type of video conversions for the Mac then VisualHub is a must. The fact that you can get something you want for free by buying something else you want, is a pretty amazing deal. I’m not sure what kind of terms the Techspansion folks (makers of VisualHub) are getting from TrialPay, but I hope it works out from them. I’m sure if it wasn’t to their benefit then they wouldn’t be using it. Sounds pretty simple, eh?

One of my absolute favorite programs on the Mac has gone freeware. NetNewsWire, my RSS reader of choice, has been updated to version 3.1 and simultaneously been released as freeware. As in it costs zero dollars to buy and use. This is absolutely an amazing piece of software and I’m shocked it is now free. The ability to sync my RSS subscriptions across all my devices was the reason I purchased NNW to begin with. Now these features are free for everyone. This really makes it hard for any other Mac developer to sell an RSS client. In my opinion NetNewsWire was the best RSS client to begin with and was a bargain at $30. Why are you still reading this? You should go download NNW now!

[Via Brent Simmons, developer of NNW]

Logging in to websites and filling out web forms is something you most likely do often every day. Don’t you wish there was an easy way to manage your passwords and auto fill those web forms? If it was free it would be even better right?

Right now you can get the venerable password manager and form filler, 1Password, for free. Just visit this webpage and fill out the small form. After filling out the form, download the application and the license will be sent via email. Getting this great piece of software is so very simple.

1Password is absolutely free via the promo above, but the offer will not include upgrades or access to the 1Password online service. Those conditions withstanding, this is a very useful application that costs you nothing. I downloaded the application the other day but haven’t installed it yet. Look for a review coming soon.

One of the worst feelings you can get as a laptop owner is coming back to your laptop to find it missing. I can’t imagine the feeling in your gut when you find out your Mac is gone. One Mac software developer is trying to increase the chances of recovering your stolen laptop using some of the built-in features of your Mac.

Undercover is a unique piece of software created to get your beloved Mac back in your hands. If your laptop is stolen, you contact Orbicule, the developer of Undercover, to start the recovery process. Once your laptop is reported stolen, the Mac begins to transmit various pieces of information back to Orbicule’s servers. This information includes IP addresses, screenshots of the desktop, and pictures using your iSight camera. This information is given to local law enforcement agencies to help with the recovery process. If all else fails, the software will simulate a hardware failure in an effort to urge the thief to bring the laptop into an authorized Apple service provider. At that point, Undercover will display a message alerting the service provider that the laptop is stolen along with some additional information.

The Undercover website has a few successful recovery stories posted here. If your Mac is stolen and not recovered, Orbicule will even refund your purchase of Undercover. If you would like a FREE household license (up to 5 Macs) of Undercover 2.0, visit MacApper and leave a comment on this post with an idea of a feature you would like to see in Undercover. Good luck!

Embedded below is a video of Meiko performig at Eddie’s Attic. Eddie’s Attic is an amazing place to hear acoustic music in Atlanta. I’ve seen some great musicians at Eddie’s Attic, including Jennifer Nettles many times. If you are ever in the area and like acoustic music, I highly suggest you check out Eddie’s Attic.

Update: Looks like the song is no longer free. Seems like I posted at the tail end of the free song offer; sorry!