AddictiveTips » Mac OS X

TaskBadges: Use A Simple Text Editor As A To-Do List Manager [Mac]

Fatima — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:47:39 +0000

If you’re the somewhat traditional type of person when it comes to creating to-do lists, i.e., you will sooner jot something down on paper than take the time to type it out and set a date and pick a sound alert for it, then to-do apps might not be doing you justice. For those that have transitioned one step beyond scribbling on paper, but will nevertheless just open a text editor, save it with a random file name (perhaps the default one) and type in a list of tasks, you need TaskBadges. It is a free Mac app that uses a very simple syntax to record tasks. Tasks are recorded in a text editor and the file is then added to this app. Using the syntax, the app detects how many tasks you’ve added and lists them as a notification on the file itself.

If the thought of using a syntax makes you want to run, you might want to hold up on that thought long enough to read what the syntax actually is. It is nothing more than two square brackets separated by a space or by an X. Each task starts on a new line and is preceded either by [ ] or [x] (square brackets included). After that, you only have to type in the task, which can be as long or as short as you like it to be. Save the file and then drag & drop it on to the app window.

A sample task will be entered like this:

- [ ] Milk the cow for all it’s worth, and make burgers out of it later

When you drop a file onto the app’s window, it asks you which rule you want to follow for identifying current tasks. I suggest option B, but you can go with A if you feel it suits you better.

After choosing a style, you are all done. Watch as the text file that you added is superimposed with the a red badge highlighting the number of tasks you have. Marking a task is simple, you need only edit the text file and the app will update itself. In the event that you’ve forgotten where you’ve saved a file, you can open it from the menu bar. Click the app’s icon and select the file you want to open.

For the simplest way to create a to-do list and not be annoyed with constant ringing, screaming, meowing, barking or mooing reminders, this app offers the simplest solution to it. To quit the app, select Show TaskBadges Window from the menu bar icon. You will see a huge On/Off button on the right. Click it to turn it off and click the Quit option at the bottom to exit the app. Exiting the app will remove the notification tags from all files. It will, however, remember the files you added, and when launched and turned on again, will add task badges to each of them.

It must be noted that the application is somewhat ad-supported, as it displays an advertisement for KiteStack on the main interface. However, since you won’t be dealing much with the interface itself, that shouldn’t set most people off.

(Editor’s Note: The badges on files seem to borrow from iOS app icon badges concept, and apparently, have been put to good use in a Mac)

Get TaskBadges From Mac App Store

GeoGebra: Plot Algebraic Expressions, Find Geometric Coordinates [Mac]

Fatima — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:30:58 +0000

If you hated Math and disliked your Algebra teacher with the force of a thousand Reddit downvotes, then you will envy GeoGebra. In all fairness, no one in their right mind would try and plot algebraic equations unless it were required. You seldom hear people say, “I’m going to chill out with this geometric theorem”, but for those that are still doing sums and plotting lines, this app is heaven sent. GeoGebra is a Mac app that plots algebraic equations for you. It also lets you place any two points on a graph and find out the resulting equation, plot angles & geometric shapes, and find their coordinates. Life would indeed have been easier if this app were allowed in school.

The app has four different views, and all views (called perspectives) are interlinked; that is, the variables entered in one view are remembered and can be referenced when working in another one. The four views are Algebra & Graphics, Basic Geometry, Geometry, and Spreadsheet & Graphics.

The Algebra & Graphics view allows you to enter and get algebraic equations. To enter an equation, type it in the Input field at the very bottom. To plot any two random points, use the buttons at the top. The New Point button allows you to place any number of points on the graph, and the Line through two points button lets you connect two points. As you enter and connect points, the panel on the left displays the coordinates of all points and any equations that are formed.

Additional buttons at the top allow you to create polygons and circles, create an angle, and more. If you feel this isn’t quiet what you need, you can always switch over to the simple geometric view, and plot the figure you want, enter points that you want coordinates of, and create angles wherever needed. Return to the algebraic view and equations and points will have been detailed for you.

The spreadsheet view allows you to enter statistical formulae and conduct a one-variable analysis. The app, with its simplicity and comprehensive set of features is perhaps a dream come true for people plagued with sums and figures.

Download GeoGebra

Scup: Cross-Platform Batch Audio Track Uploader For SoundCloud

Aatif Khan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:23:37 +0000

Established in 2007, SoundCloud is arguably the most popular online audio distribution platform for collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio content by artists and music promoters. While the web version of the platform is a no brainer for anyone who is familiar with the service, we don’t usually come across a lot of desktop applications catering to SoundCloud. For that reason, when we stumbled across Scup (short for SoundCloud Uploader), we considered it worthy of being taken for a spin. In its essence, Scup is an Adobe AIR-based, cross-platform application that lets you upload multiple tracks to your SoundCloud account and create a set on the fly. The application supports specifying all necessary parameters, such as genre, set and track types, license, record label etc, making your sets ready for publishing in every sense.

When launched for the first time, Scup will present you with an authentication box, requiring connection with your SoundCloud account. Hit the Yes please, move ahead button to launch the authentication page in your default browser. If you are not logged into SoundCloud at present, do so at this point.

The browser pane will ask you for a confirmation of the operation, after which you will be given a unique authentication code. Enter that in Scup, and your account should be linked. In our experience, copy/pasting the code didn’t work, and you’ll need to manually key it in for Scup to recognize.

With authentication out of the way, you will be greeted by Scup’s main interface. Please note that this interface is all that is to this application, as there are no options or customizations. Everything that you get in this interface should cater to all your SoundCloud uploading needs, and you can not only batch upload tracks, but also specify their parameters, such as the genre, set and track type, license version, keywords, record label, release number, release date, EAN/UPC and buying link for the set.

To begin, drap and drop audio files over Scup and define the parameters for the whole set. Some fields under More Options are text entries, while others will let you select one from the drop-down menus. As soon as you drop files, they will start uploading to your SoundCloud account.

You may also configure these parameters for individual tracks by clicking the arrow next to each file’s name in the list. This will expand the view, bringing the same fields for individual tracks. Scup will even let you add album art to your set, making it ready for publishing in almost every sense. The bottom panel of the application lets you control settings such as sharing, making originals downloadable and allowing 128 kbps streaming.

As with all Adobe AIR applications, Scup has a really pleasing outlook. The application is quite user-friendly, and since it is based on an open platform, it will work on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, provided you have Adobe AIR installed. Testing was done on Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit version.

Download Scup

Turbodo: Create Universal Mac Shortcuts To Open Files & Apps [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:26:15 +0000

Keyboard shortcuts are dead useful. The universal application of Command + C, Command + V etc., across different OS, is a proof of just how convenient they are. Turbodo is a Mac app worth $4.99 that takes universal shortcuts to a new level. It allows you to create shortcuts for just about any file, folder and app on your Mac. The app runs unobtrusively in the System Menu Bar, and no matter which app you are working in, or which desktop space you’re on, the app enforces the shortcuts you create. You can open and execute several files and apps from just one shortcut. The app has a drag & drop interface for adding executable items.

When you first launch the app, it will prompt you to create shortcuts before the window interface closes on its own. The app will, nevertheless, add a folder like button with two arrows pointing in opposite directions, to the System Menu Bar. Click this Icon and select Edit Shortcuts. To add a shortcut, click the plus button at the bottom of the left panel. This panel lists all shortcuts that you’ve created. When you click the plus button, an untitled shortcut is added and selected. Edit the Name field and enter a name that will help you identify what this shortcut does. Click the Shortcut field and type in the shortcut you want to set, i.e., if you want to set Command + M as shortcut, press the Command and M keys together. To add the app or file this shortcut will open/execute, drag & drop it onto the Files, apps, or folders to open: field. You can add as many files, folders or apps as you like, and they will all open when the shortcut is typed. Enter one file path or shell command per line.

If you find the app is interfering with shortcuts from another app, you can always execute these shortcuts from the System Menu bar. Simply right click the app icon and click the desired shortcut. All apps or folders that you’ve added to the shortcut will open when you click just the one shortcut. The shortcuts are represented by the name you entered when creating them. As mentioned before, ensure that the names make sense, or you will not be able to identify them from the Menu Bar.

Overall, the app works seamlessly and there isn’t any conflict when it comes to working with other apps. Practice caution as the app will not warn you against entering shortcuts like Command + C, and it might end up conflicting with your word editor, or even your browser.

Get Turbodo From Mac App Store

Type2Phone: Type To A Paired iOS Device From Your Mac Keyboard [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:27:52 +0000

When it comes to mobile devices, or more specifically, smart phones, on-screen keyboards are now the norm. Although Samsung did recently debut the Samsung Galaxy Note featuring a stylus in an Apple mocking super bowl ad, the fact is, people are now accustomed to using their fingers to operate on-screen keyboards. As such, these on-screen keyboards are easy to use; few of us will ever lose our finger and turn to a stylus (in the event that you do lose your finger, a stylus is the last thing you need to worry about). While the iPhone keyboard is super responsive and easy to use, it might, at one point, become an annoyance to type from your device. Type2Phone is a Mac app available for $4.99 that allows you to use the keyboard attached to your Mac to type on the iPhone. This app requires no iOS client whatsoever, and simply pairs and connects with the device over Bluetooth.

Pair your iPhone and Mac and launch the app. This app will function in just about any app on your iPhone. It can’t be used to launch apps or to select text input fields, and will simply turn your Mac keyboard into an input device for your iPhone. As you type, the app will show you which keys you are pressing on the screen.

Sit back and enjoy using a larger keyboard to type to your iOS devices. Granted, you might not need it for the iPad, since its keyboard is already pretty comfortable to type with, but you will appreciate not having to hunch up when typing on your iPhone. The app supports keyboard functions like Backspace and Return. It will also support commands like Command + A (select all), Command + C (Copy), Command + X (Cut) and all such similar commands.

To disconnect the current iOS device or connect another one, click where it says connected on the device name, and select Connect to New Device. To set the app to connect to a particular device whenever it is launched, go to the app’s preferences, select a device and click Automatically reconnect upon launch. Devices can be removed using the Forget Selected Devices setting.

If you’ve ever felt that, after a long day’s work, typing on a small display was somewhat irritating, or you just have slightly stubby fingers, this app can be a huge help. Although the price tag is somewhat steep, the app works smoothly and is worth the money you spend.

Get Type2Phone From Mac App Store

MultiFirefox: Run Multiple Versions Of Firefox At Once [Mac]

Fatima — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:02:58 +0000

Around the mid of 2010, we reviewed Utilu Mozilla Firefox Collection, a windows application that allowed you to run multiple versions of Firefox at the same time. Normally, it isn’t possible to install and use more than one version unless you are on the Nightly or Beta channel. MultiFirefox is a Mac app that functions similarly on Mac; it allows you to create profiles and run any number of different Firefox versions at the same time. The app has both a Dutch and an English version, and occasionally, the Dutch bits leak over and show up on the English version, but other than that, the app works without a glitch.

When you first launch MultiFirefox, it will ask you to create a profile. The app will automatically exit and launch its own profile manager. During the tests, it was observed that the profile manager, when launched for the first time, is all in Dutch. Pay close attention to the following screenshots to use the profile manager if it shows up in the Dutch language. The placement of the buttons doesn’t change, just the language does, so you should still be able to use it. Of the three buttons on the left, the first one will allow you to create a profile, the second one will let you rename it, and the third one will allow you to delete a profile. Once you’ve created profiles, click Exit, or the first of the two buttons given at the bottom.

Launch the app once again, and all profiles will be listed. The app will automatically detect versions of Firefox in your Applications folder and lists them. Choose a profile and the version of Firefox that you want to run, and click Launch Firefox. You can revisit the profile manger by clicking the button at the bottom, and it is most likely that the manger will open in English this time around (it did so in our experience).

You can set the app to check for downloads automatically. Note that the app will not let you run Firefox 3 and Firefox 4 (or any other two versions) at the same time. You can switch to another version without a worry by using this app, and there will be no conflicts. This app is useful for developers mostly, and probably not the casual user. It must also be noted that MultiFirefox does not download and install any version of Firefox itself, and you will have to do that yourself

Download MultiFirefox

ClipX: Clipboard Manager That Saves Up T0 500 Clips In A Session [Mac]

Fatima — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:51:12 +0000

We’ve covered many clipboard managers recently, and they all have a single purpose; to extend the functionality of the default clipboard. ClipX is a Mac app that is somewhat similar, in that it is like a safety net for anything you copy to your clipboard. The app sits unobtrusively in the System Menu Bar and records any and all text that you copy to your Mac’s clipboard. You can copy and paste the text normally, and in the event you need to reuse a previously copied snippet, you can visit the app and browse for it. The app saves up to 500 clips in the order they were copied in.

The app doesn’t have any special functionality that you need to be aware of; you can continue to use the clipboard with the Command + V and Command + C functions or from the right-click context menu, as you normally would. As mentioned, this app is a safety net for anything you copy to the clipboard. As you copy text snippets, they are all saved to this app. So long as the app is running, it will continue to save your clipboard history. You can recall the history by clicking the app icon in the System Menu Bar and select View Clips.

To select how many text clips the app saves, go to the preferences, move the slider until it reflects the desired number of clips that you want to save, and click Save Preferences.

To clear all text saved to the app, click Clear Clip Board on the app’s preferences or from the System Menu Bar. What you might be wondering is, if the app only saves clipboard text for a given session, what’s the point of using it instead of other clipboard managers? Since this app does not save text for more than the current session, it means you will not have to go back and clean it up. Additionally, it truly reflects how a clipboard actually works, as even the native clipboard on Mac does not save text beyond a single session. To copy a clip, simply select it from the clip list (select View Clips when you click on the app icon in the menu bar), and it is ready to paste.

Get ClipX From Mac App Store

NewsBar: View RSS Feeds & Classify Them By Color On Your Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:01:55 +0000

Earlier last month, we reviewed two Mac apps, Blotter and Mindful, that put the current day’s iCal events in a translucent display on your desktop. Both apps present a convenient way to always have your daily events on your desktop. NewsBar is a Mac app available for $4.99 on the Mac app store that does the same to your RSS feed. It is feature rich app that allows you to dock your feed to any side of the display, or view it as a floating window. The app supports feed search, marking items as favorites, setting keyword alerts and choosing a unique color for each feed. It lets you add just about any RSS feed, or import your items from Google Reader.

When you first launch the app, it will display feeds from sites like ESPN and Engadget. You can remove these feeds and add new ones from the RSS tab. Click the plus button to add a feed, or select an existing feed and click the minus button to remove it. To import your feeds from Google Reader, go to the dedicated Google Reader tab and sign in with your Gmail or Google Apps account. The app will present you with one of three options to import feeds; you can overwrite the existing feeds, allow the existing feeds to overwrite the ones in Google Reader, or merge the two and keep both.

Once imported as per your preference, you will see the RSS feeds appear in a vertical column on the left side of desktop. The top bar has buttons for searching, adding new feeds, viewing starred items, and visiting the app’s preferences.

To modify how a feed appears in this column, visit the RSS tab once again and double click a feed to edit it. Click the plus sign, either on this tab or at the top of the feed viewer on your desktop, to add a new feed. Enter the feed’s URL and double click it to edit. Enter a name for the feed, select how often the app should check for new items, how many recent items it should display, and from how long ago the items should be displayed. Select what color this feed’s text will appear in, and, if you like, select a background color for it, as well.

From the General tab in preferences, select the default refresh rate for the feeds. There are options for how an item should open when you click it, and how soon it should return to the top of the feed list. From the Appearance tab, select which side of the screen you want to dock the feed list to, and if you are using multiple displays, select which monitor it should appear on. You may also select a background color, background opacity, text color and size and the height of a single feed item.

Note that this app isn’t a feed reader, and it will simply list the items in your feed. It is, however, an excellent way to monitor feeds. The app supports sound alerts for new items, which saves you the trouble of having to visit a tab in your browser whenever you want to check for new items. Additionally, the app is a feed monitor that does not rely on any particular service, nor does it mandate you to have an account to some specific service. As long as you have an RSS feed, you can use it to its full potential.

Get NewsBar From Mac App Store

[via MacAppStorm ]

Retato Receiver: Tilt Or Rotate Your iOS Device To Control Your Mac

Fatima — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:34:50 +0000

We recently covered Mobile Mouse, a Mac app with an iOS client that allowed you to turn your iOS device into a mouse for your Mac. The feature rich app allows you to use your device as either a mouse, a keyboard or a track pad. While the Mac app itself is free, the iOS device carried a trivial price tag of $1.99. If you find this price isn’t something you want to pay, and that you don’t need as feature rich an app as Mobile Mouse, you can try Retato Receiver. This free Mac app is accompanied by a free iOS client app that allows you to control any six functions that you define yourself. It makes use of the accelerometer and gyroscope in the iPhone, and allows you to send commands to your Mac by rotating and flipping it. While not likely to replace your mouse, it can control any number of Macs at once, and can be useful when running or testing special apps that need to be controlled simultaneously.

Install the app on both your Mac and iOS device, and ensure that they are on the same Wi-Fi network. On the Mac app, click Add New Remote and from the iOS device, and enter the code it displays at startup. Use your mouse to operate the on-screen keypad, as the app will not respond to the numpad on your keyboard.

Once you’ve connected both devices, swipe right on the iOS device to set up and view functions. You will see four regular functions and two functions that use the gyroscope. Select a function, and from the keyboard and mouse displayed (swipe to the right to see the mouse), select a button that the respective movement will trigger. A selected button is highlighted with a blue circle on it. Click the button again to remove the function.

If you swipe further right, you can calibrate the app so that it responds better with to your movements. Calibration can be turned off as well. As mentioned before, the app isn’t as feature rich as Mobile Mouse, but the real usefulness of this app lies in its ability to connect and control several Macs at once. Additionally, you can add as many iOS devices to control a single Mac as you like. For app specific functions that override the normal behavior of the keyboard, this app can be used to remotely control them.

Get Retato Receiver From Mac App Store

Get Retato Receiver From Apple App Store

Dashlane Is Your Personal Internet Assistant, An Alternative To LastPass

Usman — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:09:14 +0000

When it comes to selecting a personal information and account password manager, there are numerous applications available at your disposal. For most users, who want a powerful, as well as simple, online password manager, LastPass is the obvious choice, while others keep their personal info and account credentials secured from external attacks using KeePass and 1Password. Today, we came across a personal internet assistant and online accounts manager called Dashlane, which allows users to securely manage personal information and online passwords. Packed with form filler and automatic login features, Dashlane provides one-stop solution for accessing and managing personal information and online accounts credentials. The application includes a comprehensive set of features and tools to help you easily organize online account user logins and passwords, enabling you to automatically fill the user login details, including username and password, and add new user logins without having to bring up the dashboard. Details to follow after the jump.

Like LastPass, it prompts users to fill the user login forms using pre-defined personal and contact information. Additionally, it lets you select the user account, which you want to use to login to an online service. For instance, if you’re using multiple Google accounts, it allows selecting the account you want to use. Unlike other password managers, Dashlane encrypts your personal info and accounts’ passwords with AES-256 on local machine, and then syncs your account details with its online server, so that you can access accounts database from anywhere. Since the synced information is encrypted using defined master password as a key, Dashlane management and dev team can’t access your personal information as well as saved user account login details.

Currently, it provides add-ons for only Firefox and Google Chrome. The web extension is quite similar to LastPass in terms of usage, i.e., when you open a login page, it looks for saved account details, and fills the input fields, allowing you to atomically login to the service. Dashlane parks itself in the system tray after being launched, enabling you to quickly enter the master password to login, and sync all the account details. The Dashboard presents numerous categories that help you efficiently organize the saved personal info and account details (usernames and passwords).

What makes it different from LastPass is its ability to categorize account details into various groups such as Mails, News, Banking, Entertainment, News, etc. Using categories, you can easily manage account details and passwords without having to manually search accounts from a massive account database; just select the category and then choose the account details you want to view or modify. For instance, you can put YouTube, DailyMotion and other video sharing websites’ account details into Entertainment category. When you want to change account details of any entertainment website, select Entertainment category and select the account you want to view.

Running it for the first time requires creating a Dashlane account. Just enter the email address to start the account creation wizard. You can also choose to enter your cell phone number to add an extra security layer to your account credentials.

The first step asks you to enter the master password, which will be used to log in to Dashlane’s account management console. To help you pick a strong master password, it provides a simple, yet unique strong password wizard. All you need is to enter a sentence with some numbers that you can easily remember. Once entered, it automatically generates a strong password based on the information you entered.

The next step requires you to re-enter the password. Once done, click OK.

The last step asks you to enable the synchronization feature to automatically sync your personal information and accounts user login details. Enabling this feature will automatically upload the information you add. However, if you don’t want to sync the account details, you can use Dashlane on your local machine only.

Once all account settings have been configured, it will sit in system tray, allowing you to log into Dashlane for managing both offline and online user accounts. Clicking the system tray icon will bring up login window, letting you enter Dashlane’s username and master password.

Dashlane adds an icon next to address bar in supported web browsers. Unlike Lastpass, it shows only two options Login/Logout and Open Dashlane (dashboard). It must be noted that if you’re using LastPass or any other password manager that supports exporting user account information in CSV format, you can import your user login details into Dashlane Dashboard.

It shows Log in as option on user login forms to let you quickly choose the account credentials you want to use to log in to service. For instance, if you’ve saved multiple Gmail logins, it shows all of them on Username and Password input fields to let you select the account you wish to log in.

When you manually fill out login details, it prompts you to save the entered information, so that you can use it later without having to enter the login, password and other details. While saving the login info, you can also pick the category of the website.

The Dashboard categorizes the secured information into 3 groups – Personal Data, Internet Account, and Internet Shopping. The Personal Data section lets you add contact information, shows all email addresses and other details that you used while creating the online accounts. The IDs and Payment tabs allow adding ID card number, Passport, Driver’s license, Social Security number & Tax numbers, and Credit/Debit and PayPal account details, respectively.

The Internet Accounts section holds Logins and Passwords, and Security dashboard. The former tab lets you view all of your saved accounts with options to modify the details, and especially categories. You can manually enter the login details of any online service by providing the website URL, username, password and other details.

Clicking the user account enables you to name the credential, change login, view & modify password text, and assign category to the credential.

Under Security dashboard, you will find all the saved accounts with password strength meter and info like number of times you used the password, and safety level. Clicking the small lock button shows the password text.

Purchases tab from Internet Shopping section helps you record all the online transaction details. You can easily view them from one window, without having to go through the hassle of searching your email account. When you make an online transaction, its dashboard asks you whether you want to save the information or not.

When you configure a new device/PC with Dashlane, it first sends a security code to your email, authenticating the access. This saves your Dashlane’s account information from unauthorized usage and external attacks. You have to enter the security code along with Master Password to configure the Dashlane on a new device.

In case, you want to remove the device from configured devices list. You can remotely access the Dashlane online dashboard via a browser, and remove the configured device. It also allows you to view your account credentials including website URL, username and password.

You can watch the video below to understand how some of its primary features work.

All in all, Dashlane offers a slew of features to easily manage online account credentials. With account management features similar to LastPass, it can quickly fill online forms, switch between saved account details, automatically enter necessary personal information, save online transactions, and organize all the account passwords under one hood. As of this writing, it’s is in closed beta testing phase, supporting Google Chrome and Firefox. According to official dev community, Internet Explorer support is in works, and will be added soon. Since it’s in private beta, you need to sign up with the service using email address to get invited.

It works on both Windows and Mac OS X. Testing was carried out on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

Download Dashlane

KeyRemap4MacBook: Change How Your Mac Keyboard Functions & Its Layout

Fatima — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:02:42 +0000

Very few of us would have problems with our keyboards; unless you consider how hard it is to get Dorito bits out from between the keys, the average user isn’t likely to want to change how their keyboard functions. For those that do feel like a tweak is necessary, either because you use a special software that doesn’t work well with your current layout, or because you’re from a a different country where keyboards are just different, then KeyRemap4MacBook is a free keyboard remapping option for Mac users. The app has simple GUI that lists multiple options for your keyboard, many of which are function and key specific, and allow you to change how the keyboard function by simply checking an option.

The app downloads as an installer package and will require you to restart your system once installation is complete. It adds a square icon to the System Menu Bar, where you can access the app’s preferences from. There are only two relevant tabs that you need to visit as far as keyboard remapping is concerned. The first tab, Change Key, allows you to manipulate the behavior of the keys. The General menu is for setting the app’s behavior, while all others deal with the keyboard. Broadly speaking, you can change the kind of keyboard layout from QWERTY to Colemak, QWERF or ABCDEFGHIJ layout. Additionally you can modify how the Eject, Delete, Left & Right arrow and Mouse keys work. You can set up special preferences to suit a PC user, and enable special functions in apps like VMware Fusion, Terminal, Adobe apps, Finder, Firefox, Skype, TweetDeck and more.

From the Key Repeat tab, you can modify how long a key must be pressed for it to be repeated. The modification can be made for general keys and functional keys. Parameters such as the initial wait, the initial modifier wait, the delay threshold and the CursorMove to ScrollWheel rate, can be modified.

This app isn’t for the average users, since most of us are accustomed to the default keyboard behavior of our systems. This is a free answer for those that need to change their keyboard’s functionality, but don’t feel like opting for a paid solution.

Download KeyRemap4MacBook

[via Lifehacker]

Screenshot Plus Widget: Screen Capturing Dashboard Tool For Mac

Fatima — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:27:49 +0000

Screenshot apps aren’t hard to come by for any platform – desktop or mobile – and we’ve certainly covered a whole slew of them. Of the many Mac variants that we’ve covered, they all had one thing in common; they were apps. Screenshot Plus Widget is a widget for Mac that rests on your Dashboard, and is as feature rich, if not more, as SnapNDrag. The widget not only does the basic screen, window and area capturing, but also allows you to take a timed screenshot of any desktop space or the Dashboard. It lets you save images in JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF and PDF formats, and lets you choose one of four actions to perform after capturing a screenshot and save it to any location on your hard drive.

Launch the widget and go to your Dashboard. The widget has four buttons, each representing a screenshot mode. As you mouse over each button, its name will appear below it. From left to right, the buttons are for capturing the full screen, taking a timed full screenshot, capturing a window, capturing a widget and capturing any region.

Once you’ve captured a screenshot, a miniscule preview of the image appears within the widget, which you can hover your mouse over to magnify. The buttons at the top change when in preview mode. From left to right, the buttons let you discard the current image, retake an image, save it to the desktop, copy it to the clipboard and export it to preview mode on a desktop space.

To change the widget’s settings, go to the normal mode and click the small i in the lower right corner. Here, you can change the path to where the screenshots are saved, choose which app the widget should export the screenshot to (by default, it is set to export to preview), set the app to preview the image, save it to desktop, export to preview or save and export it after capture. You can also set the default image format for saving images.

The widget is a reasonable alternative to SnapNDrag, as it does not have ads, and the timed screenshot for the dashboard will not be imprinted with a countdown as with the app. The app is also a great way of taking those hard to get screenshots for mission control and between desktop spaces.

Download Screenshot Plus Widget

BackUp Gmail: Regularly Download Email Messages To Mac Drive [Paid]

Fatima — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:43:54 +0000

Google released Gmail Offline a while back, a Chrome app that allowed you to view your Gmail account offline. The app was meant for Chrome alone, and all other browsers were pretty much left out. What’s more, the app wasn’t a backup solution. BackUp Gmail is a Mac app available for $1.99 in the Mac App Store that allows you to back up all email messages in your Gmail account to anywhere on your hard drive. The app is nothing more than a downloader for all your inbox messages. You can set up a regular time interval for when the app will back up messages, or enter a given time when the app will perform a backup daily. The messages are readable in Apple’s default mail client, and not encrypted in any way. It works for both Gmail and Google Apps accounts.

When you first launch the app, it will add the Gmail mail envelope icon to the System Menu Bar. As long as you have not added an account to the app, the icon will be greyed out. To add an account, click the icon and select Open BackUp Gmail Preferences… From the Account tab in preferences, enter your Google email (complete with @example.com) and your password. Click Check Availability and the app will check if the credentials you’ve entered are correct. If both email and password are correct, a notification window will pop up to confirm it. Notice that the app icon will no longer be greyed out after an account has been added.

From the Folder tab, select where the app should backup emails to. The app will create a folder by the name of FileStore at that location when it takes a backup for the first time, and all subsequent backups will be saved to this folder. To set a regular time interval for backups, or to fix a time for a daily backup, go to the Schedule tab. From the Backup Time dropdown, select SetTime if you want to take backup once every day, and enter a time in the Start On field. If you want to take hourly backups, select Every Hour from the dropdown.

The force the app to take a backup, right-click the app icon in the System Menu Bar and select Make backup now.

Email messages are saved with the date and message number appended to the file name, as well the as the sender’s email address. You can double click a message and it will open in Apple Mail, regardless of whether or not you’ve added an account to it. Before you start using this app, understand two things; first, it does save your account and password locally, and anyone who has access to your Mac can force the app to take a backup to any location on your Mac. Secondly, the backups can be opened by anyone, and unless you save them to a folder or drive that you can lock, they are pretty much there for anyone to read. The point of this app is to download the contents of your inbox – protecting those is your responsibility.

Get BackUp Gmail From Mac App Store

ManageMyFiles: Rename Multiple Files Individually With Status Check [Mac]

Fatima — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:46:04 +0000

We have covered multiple batch file renamers that allow you to rename files on a given syntax, and recently, we covered FreshBatch, that allows you to replace any set of regular characters in a batch of files with any other character. ManageMyFiles is a free Mac app that lets you rename files individually but forgo the need to click each one. Files are added by dragging & dropping them on to the app’s interface, and editing the file name. Once you’ve renamed all files in the list, click the Commit button and the files will be renamed at the source. Although small in functionality, if you have to rename a lot of files, each one with a unique name, this app can be very useful.

The app’s interface is as intuitive as you could want it to be; drag & drop files to add them, select and hit the Delete key to remove them. The app’s interface is divided into three columns; Current name displays the current name of the file along with its extension, Work Area lists the current file’s name as well, but makes it editable. This is where you change the name of the file. The third column, Status, populates when you’ve entered a new name for the file.

When you’ve entered a new name for the file, the app checks to ensure that you are not giving two files the same name, and that you haven’t entered a file name that already exists at the same location. If the app detects you’ve entered the same name for two different files, it will show Duplicate in the status bar. If you’ve entered a name that already exists in the same folder/directory, the app will show Exists in the status area. ManageMyFiles only lets you change the file name, and although the file extension is editable, changing it might corrupt the file. In rare cases, like with the MP3 files that were renamed for testing purpose, the app does allow you to convert the format (from MP3 to OGG). It failed to convert an RTF file to PDF, and is, therefore, not recommended for use as a file converter.

This app isn’t like your usual file renaming apps, as it is meant to bypass selecting and renaming files individually. In the event that you have to rename a large number of files in the same folder, this app makes it easy to ensure you aren’t entering the same name for two files, or entering a name that already exists.

Get ManageMyFiles From Mac App Store

SmoothCursor: Set Different Speeds For Mouse & Trackpad [Mac]

Fatima — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:59:34 +0000

Do you use both an optical mouse and a trackpad with your Mac? Both devices have separate system settings available, but the settings for a Mouse allow you to control the tracking speed, the double-click speed and the scrolling speed while those for the trackpad let you set up touch-gestures. So far as cursor speed and acceleration is concerned, they are same for both Mouse and Trackpad. SmoothCursor is a free Mac app that allows you to set separate acceleration speeds for trackpad and mouse. It has three different modes that allow you to choose how the settings will be implemented.

When you launch the app, you will be taken directly to its Preferences. The app has three different modes for you to choose from. The Disabled mode allows the mouse and trackpad cursor to use the system’s default settings. You can change the system settings using the slider. The Enabled mode allows you to set independent acceleration speeds for these devices. When this mode is enabled, it overrides the default system settings. The third mode, Enabled (Enforce) mode enforces your settings even if other apps are trying to override it.

The app adds an icon to the menu bar, which can be used to conveniently switch modes, set the app to start at login, and open Preferences to change acceleration.

This app is meant for those who use multiple image editing software or play first-person shooter games. It is suitable for just about any situation that requires you to use or switch between a mouse and trackpad. Accelerations values can be both linear or inverse.

Download SmoothCursor

Want a similar app for Windows? check out AutoSensitivity

PhotoSweeper: Compare Images On Your Mac & Find Similar Ones [Paid]

Fatima — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:46:58 +0000

Removing duplicate images from disk isn’t easy, not only do you have to go through hundreds and hundreds of pictures just to see how many similar ones you have, but you also need to pick out which one you will keep. PhotoSweeper is a Mac app available for $4.99, which analyzes images for similarities. You can check for similarities based on six different criteria; Bitmap, Histogram, Time Interval, Time + Bitmap, Time + Histogram and Duplicates Only. It also lets you restrict the comparison to be between similar file formats.

The app supports drag & drop behavior. Just drag the files over the app window or click Add Photos at the bottom. Once you’ve added all the images that you want to compare, select one of the six comparison methods from the drop-down menu on the right. Based on the method you select, the parameters that you can select will change and be listed in the right panel accordingly. A comparison scale will be omnipresent at the bottom of the right panel. Move the knob across this scale to select the level of similarity between two images. The greater the level, the more the app will scrutinize two images for similarities.

Once you’ve set the criteria, click Compare, and the app will take you to the results page. In the event that you see only two pencil sketches side by side, it means the app finds no similarity between the images you’ve compared. You can try to decrease the scale to see if any results turn up. If you’ve selected several images to compare, click the arrow buttons to continue comparing more images.

The app shows the similarity between two images in percentage, when you change the Matching level from the top right corner in the Results view, the app shows the results for that level. To separate an image you want to save, click Put into Box. You can set up a rule(s) for adding images to the Box from Preferences –> Auto Put Rules tab. From the General tab, you can restrict comparison to similar formats only.

The app has a built-in Media-Browser that allows you to view images in Aperture and iPhoto library. For those who need to check images closely for similarities and need a quick solution, this app is an excellent solution.

Get PhotoSweeper From Mac App Store

Fluid: Turn Any Website Into Standalone Mac App

Fatima — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:40:05 +0000

Bookmark feature in web browsers provides one of the easiest way to visit our favorite websites While it is convenient to open your favorite websites, it is just as easy to lose it among other opened tabs. Fluid is a free Mac app that lets you transform your favorite web apps into Mac OS X apps, allowing you to launch them from desktop. Think of it as bookmarking a website, only instead of being saved as a favorite link in your browser, it is saved as an executable app, which can be launched from anywhere on your system. Needless to say, Fluid functions as a web browser but instead of allowing you to universally explore the internet, it is meant to browse sites that you’ve added. The app uses a website’s favicon as the Dock icon to distinguish different sites.

When you launch the app, enter the URL for the site you want to create an app for. Type in a name, enter output location, and choose whether or not the website’s favicon should be used as the app’s icon. Click Create and wait for the app to finish working.

When an app for the website has been created, you will receive an alert. You can now launch the app from wherever you saved it. The favicon might not appear when you first launch the app. Your new app will function like a browser, i.e. it will continue to run even if you close the window. You will have to quit the app to close it. The app will function as a web browser where the homepage will always be the website you created it for. The website links will always open within the app, whereas URLs from a different domain will open in your default browser.

The apps you create have a slew of preferences that you can modify; they change the behavior of new tabs and the appearance of text within the app.

You can watch the video below that demonstrates its usage in detail

The app is free to use, but a paid version is also available that lets you pin the apps to Dock, store cookies separately from Safari, use Userscripts and view the apps in full screen mode. The paid version costs $4.99.

Download Fluid

Hide All Mac Applications & Finder Windows With A Single Click

Fatima — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:55:04 +0000

Last year, we reviewed HideAllApps, a Mac app that lets you selectively minimize open applications and Finder windows. The app is meant to hide windows that you aren’t working on and apps that might be distracting. Hide All is a similar Mac app that lets you minimize all app and Finder windows with the click. It is meant to quickly clean your desktop of all open windows, so you don’t have minimize them one by one. The app has a simple interface’; four buttons that allow you to minimize all windows, to restore the windows you’ve minimized, and to hide the app itself or quit it.

If you’ve minimized some windows before launching this app, it will restore them. The app only minimizes and restores the windows that were minimized using it. If you launch the app but manually minimize it, this app will not restore it.

To minimize all windows, click Hide All Apps. After a brief delay, all windows will be minimized. Click Unhide All Apps to restore the windows you minimized.

Regardless of how many instances of Finder you have open or what kind of apps are running, this app will hide all of them. You can hide the app itself by clicking Hide Me or quit it by clicking Turn Me Off. The minimized windows don’t necessarily have to be restored using this app, they can be restored selectively by clicking their respective icon in the Dock. Compared to HideAllApps, this app doesn’t let you chose which windows should be minimized. It can be useful if you want to take a clean screenshot and quickly want to hide all open windows. Alternatively, it might be a great way to hide open windows at work in case you’re playing Farmville, and the boss happens to walk by your desk.

Get Hide All From Mac App Store

TopHat Folders Menu Lite: Access Your Favorite & Most Used Folders From Menu Bar [Mac]

Fatima — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:21:39 +0000

A while back, we reviewed TopHat App Menu, a Mac app that lets you view and access your favorite and frequently used apps from the menu bar. TopHat Folders Menu Lite is a Mac app from the same developer that enables you to access your favorite, frequently accessed, and recently opened folders from the menu bar. Favorite folders can be added by dragging them over the app window. You can open the folders from both the app’s window and menu bar. When accessed from the menu bar, the app shows the folder hierarchy, letting you browse the folder’s content and open any sub-folder or file with a click.

The app window has 2 panes; the top pane allows you to drag folders to add them as favorites, while the bottom pane populates itself as you access folders. Regardless of where you access folders from, i.e., the app window, the menu bar or from Finder, this application will add it to Recent or Most Used folders. To choose how long the app will keep track of Most Used and Recent folders, use the drop-down menu present in each tab. You can change the recent folder views to show recently modified files by checking the Modified Within option and then selecting a period in minutes, hours, days or weeks.

The application adds an icon to the menu bar. Just click this icon and all folders you’ve added as favorites will be listed. Hovering mouse pointer over the listed folder will show its content.

The app is a stripped down version of Professional version. The Pro version costs $2.99, and comes with an additional feature to run without a Dock icon. You can close the lite version of the app and it will continue to run in the Menu Bar; the icon will stay in the Dock but $2.99 is a bit pricey just to get rid of an icon.

Get TopHat Folders Menu Lite From Mac App Store

Get Date, Calendar & Time From Multiple Cities In Mac Menu Bar [Paid]

Fatima — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:42:54 +0000

Very few of us work without a clock on our screens; some either check it regularly to ensure they are not late for something, while others check it to see how much longer until the work day is over. For whatever reason, many might find that the default clock displayed in the Mac menu bar, is somewhat bare bone, displaying only the current time. The Clock is a Mac app available for $2.99 in the Mac App store that will add a feature rich clock to the menu bar. The app not only lets you see what time it is, but also lets you view the day and date. Clicking the clock opens a full calendar, and you can add clocks from different cities and time zones to it. The app also has a feature to view how much time you have left until business hours in a particular city are over, and it lets you set break alerts to make sure you take a break at regular intervals.

Launch the app and a digital clock will be added to the menu bar, you can remove the default system clock if you like. Click the clock, and a calendar will open, displaying the entire month’s calendar. There is a small bar just below the calendar with a plus and minus sign and a cog wheel button. Click the plus sign to add a clock from a different time zone. Type in the name of a city and the app will list all matching results. Double click a result and the clock for that particular city will be added. Every time you click the clock, the calendar will be displayed, along with clocks from all time zones you’ve added. Right-click a clock and select Highlight Days Off in Calendar to view holidays observed in that particular time zone. Click Days off & Business Hours Preferences to see which holidays are being observed and to manually select days off.

Click the cog wheel to access the app’s preferences. From the Clock tab, choose whether you would like to see a digital or analog clock, if you would like to display seconds, use the 24 hour format, show the day and date, and view time left until business hours are over.

From the Take a Break tab, set up a break alert. Chose how frequently the app should remind you to take a break and the interval of each break. The app has an Enforce Mode, which locks your system down so you have no choice other than to take a break. The system remains inaccessible until the break period is over.

The calendar feature of this app is useful if you don’t like to swipe to the dashboard, or view iCal just to check a day or date. If you work with people in different time zones, then this app is all the more useful for you, and worth the price tag it carries.

Get The Clock From Mac App Store

Avoid Entering Redundant Text With xType Text Expander [Mac]

Fatima — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:31:07 +0000

Redundancy is something we all try to avoid at both work and home. In fact, eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom are perhaps the only redundant things we can’t avoid. For all other purposes, we try and keep things from getting as repetitive as possible, and these efforts extend to typing text. xType is a text expander for Mac that lets you record abbreviations for frequently entered text. Whenever you type in the abbreviation, it automatically enters the text associated with it. In the event that you have used the same shortcut for multiple text snippets, it will list all the ones that correspond to it on your screen, and you can chose which one you want to enter. The app allows you to restrict each shortcut to work in a particular app, so that it doesn’t conflict with normal typing behavior.

To start using the app, enter abbreviations and associate text with each one. Click the plus sign at the bottom of the left panel. In the Shortcut field, enter the first few letters that you will type to enter a particular text snippet when working in an app. Enter the text that should be entered when the shortcut is typed in the Expansion field. You can format the text anyway you like, and the app will retain the formatting if the This shortcut is not formatted option is unchecked. From the Applications list, you can chose one of two behaviors to apply to the shortcuts you add. The shortcut will either be available in those apps only, or it will be available for all apps except the ones you enter. To group the shortcuts you create, click the folder button at the bottom of the left panel.

To restrict this app from functioning in a particular app, e.g., your browser, click Applications and add & remove apps as per your own preference. In the event that you’ve entered the same shortcut for multiple snippets, the app will list all options associated with the shortcut on your screen, and you can chose which one to enter. In addition to text, you can also add images to these snippets and the image will be inserted along with the text.

The app was previously called Presto, so don’t be alarmed if some of the notifications or messages still say Presto instead of xType. The noteworthy feature here is the ability to restrict the app from working within other apps, and to individually chose where each shortcut will function.

Get xType From Mac App Store

FreshBatch: Rename Part Of File Name & Convert File To Any Format [Mac]

Fatima — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:50:29 +0000

You will find numerous Mac apps that let you batch rename files; what most of these apps do is to let you enter a renaming syntax for multiple files and increment each file with a number based on the syntax you’ve provided. There are relatively few apps that allow you to rename only a part of the file name and retain the rest. FreshBatch is a free Mac app that gives you two amazing features; it allows you to rename any part of a file name, and is much like the Find and Replace option in Microsoft Office. It is also a format converter. Read past the jump for details.

Before you start renaming files, understand that this app isn’t like your typical renaming apps; it will not rename all images on a given pattern. It will replace a part of the file name with whatever you tell it to. For example, if you’ve copied several images from your camera to your Mac and would like to replace the default name to something else, you will enter the default name in the Find field, and type in what you want to replace it with in the Change to field. Click Execute to start renaming the files. The app does not recognize spaces that you enter in a file name, and will give an error if you input any spaces.

To convert file formats, enter current format’s fie extension in the Current Extension field, and enter the file extension for the format you want to convert it to, in the Change to field. Click Execute to start conversion. The app will convert and rename any type of file, but will not work on folders.

The app is ideal for organizing a large number of files without having to rename them from scratch. It is useful for both images and also when you download large number of files and cant make an sense of them because of their names. If a meaningless name like Image001 doesn’t bother you, you might still consider using this app to rename your photos, so it is easier to search for them later on. Remember that, you can only execute one operation at a time, i.e., you cannot rename a file and convert its format in the same operation. You will have to execute them separately.

Get FreshBatch for Mac

Shady: Control Screen Brightness With Up/ Down Arrow Keys [Mac]

Fatima — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:06:17 +0000

Screen brightness is something that we all adjust, but having to go through complex menus or chose from several options for achieving this, is not fun. An easier way to adjust screen brightness on a Mac is definitely needed. Brightness Slider is a Mac app that we covered last year for adjusting screen brightness from the Menu Bar. Shady is a similar Mac app that adjusts the screen brightness, but has keyboard controls. You can increase or decrease the brightness using the up and down arrow keys, and quit the app by hitting Q. These keys are functional when the app is front most.

The app adds an icon to both the Menu bar and the Dock, and you may chose to hide the icon in the Dock from the app’s preferences. When the app is active, you can use the up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the screen brightness. The brightness is reduced uniformly for the screen and the Dock and Menu bar fade out with the rest of the screen.

To adjust the display brightness from the Menu Bar, click the app’s icon and move the knob on the slider back and forth between Dark and Light to increase or decrease the brightness. You can turn Shady off from this menu and access its preferences, as well. What would have made this app all the better, is an option to launch it at system login. The keyboard controls are, nevertheless, a useful feature.

For those who find the keyboard controls useless if you have to first use the mouse and bring the app to front, you can use Command + Tab to browse active apps and select Shady. If you choose to hide the app icon from the Dock, you will not be able to use this option or any of the other keyboard controls associated with the app.

Get Shady From Mac App Store

Screenshot Helper: Hide Icons, Menu Bar & Dock To Take Snapshots [Mac]

Fatima — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:25:52 +0000

We’ve covered several apps in the past that let you take screenshots. Each one had its own special features, but what you rarely come across, is an app that is meant to facilitate taking better screenshots. Screenshot Helper is a free Mac app that does not capture screenshots itself, but is actually meant to help you take better screenshots by covering the desktop with either a solid color or an image, hiding all icons on your desktop and hiding the menu bar and Dock. All windows remain visible, and can be minimized as per your preferences. Once you’ve cleared out your desktop, use your favorite screenshot app and capture as many snapshots as you like.

Launch the app and choose how you want to cover the desktop. You can cover it using a solid color or use a picture. To set a solid color, select the Background color option and click the color box to open the color selector. Alternatively, select Desktop picture and browse and select an image to cover the desktop.

You can choose to cover the screen, or move the background image around to cover only the desired part of the desktop. Select Cover the desktop icons only to ensure that icons are automatically hidden.

To toggle the visibility of icons on the desktop, use the Command + D short cut. Menu Bar can be hidden, along with the Dock, using Command + B hot key combination.

Remember that this app isn’t meant for taking screenshots; once you have a clean desktop, you can use any app or Mac’s built-in screenshot tool to capture the screen, or any area of it.

Get Screenshot Helper From Mac App Store

Mobile Mouse Server: Turn iPhone Into Mouse & Keyboard For Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:22:04 +0000

One of the great things about owning Apple devices is how well they work with each other; not just the native apps, but also, how developers put them to good use. Mobile Mouse Server is a free Mac app that allows you to use your iPhone as a fully functional mouse, keyboard and Touchpad. You will be required to install the iPhone app, which costs $1.99 in the App Store, to connect your phone to your Mac. The app works smoothly, and allows you to program mouse gestures and hotkey functions that you can execute from your phone. More after the break.

By default, the app does not enable any hot key functions. However, it does enable certain programs that you can add specific controls for. The programs are divided into two categories; Web and Media. For Web programs, you may add buttons like Home, Search, Back, Forward, Reload etc, and for Media apps, you can add buttons like Play/Pause, Next, Previous, Menu etc. These buttons are added and defined from your Mac, and appear on your iPhone. Similarly, you can also set up Hotkeys that will perform whatever function you define for them. You can choose to run a script, as well. To keep the connection between your Mac and iPhone secure, you have the option to set a password that must be entered before a connection can be established.

To connect your Mac and iPhone, launch the iPhone app. It should connect automatically, but if it doesn’t, dismiss the troubleshoot box and click the cog wheel in the top left of the iPhone app. Enter your Mac’s IP address and Port (you can check it from the app’s Server tab). From this same settings menu on the iPhone app, switch to the Options tab and select general mouse functionality.

To control the speed of the mouse, go to the Motion Mouse tab on your Mac and select pointer and acceleration speed. If you choose to use the app as a touchpad, go to the Touchpad tab on your Mac, and adjust the pointer speed and acceleration. Repeat for the Scrollpad tab.

When you first launch the app, you will see scroll buttons, an up and down button and a complete keyboard. The area to the left of the buttons functions as the left click, and the right side area functions replicates the right click button. When the keyboard is displayed, you will have to move the mouse cursor by moving the iPhone itself. To use it as normal mouse, dismiss the keyboard by shaking your phone.

When you switch between different apps on your Mac with your iPhone, the name of the app that is currently active is displayed on the iPhone’s screen. When a media or web app is active, you will see special buttons when you display the keyboard and click the small dropdown arrow at the right. From this same arrow, you can view and launch apps from the Dock. You can access your Mac’s HDD and view all folders in it, as well.

For remotely controlling your Mac, this app is, by far, one of the most feature rich there are. Although it will cost you $1.99 to buy the iPhone app, it’s worth every cent you pay. Mobile Mouse works smoothly, has an intuitive interface, and allows you to customize mouse movements to suit your preferences.

Get Mobile Mouse From Mac App Store

Get Mobile Mouse Pro From App Store

Screensaver +: Add iPhone Lockscreen Like Screensaver To Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:03:44 +0000

CRT monitors are getting rare, and even if they stick around for a few more years, the technology itself has improved. Back when it was still new, we used screensavers to avoid phosphor burn-in. Today, screensavers are little more than a way of putting animated cuteness on our screens when we’re away. Screensaver + is a Mac app that costs $1.99, and gives you a more functional screensaver. It mimics the iPhone lockscreen and lets you view which network you’re connected to, the day and date, time and battery status of your Mac. Where the iPhone lockscreen lets you unlock your phone by sliding your finger across it, this app adds a button that you can click to unlock your Mac. You can choose any image to display as the screensaver, and impose a size limit on the images that can be used.

The app adds an icon to both the menu bar and the Dock, both of which can be disabled from the app’s preferences. The network is displayed in the top left corner and the battery/power status is displayed in the top right corner. The time is displayed at the center, with the day and date just below it. When you click anywhere on the screen or press the Esc key, the click button appears at the bottom. You can click it to exit the screensaver.

From the Screensaver tab in the app’s preferences, check to make sure the app has enabled the screensaver and select the delay time before it starts. The app might conflict with the system’s screensaver; to avoid that, click the System Screen Saver button. This will open the screensaver settings in Mac System Preferences. Make sure the Start Screen Saver slider is set to Never if the app hasn’t automatically changed it. If you are using two displays, select the For two screens option. Disable the app icon in the Dock and/or menu bar if you like, and set the app to start automatically when you log in.

To select the clock style, the visit the Clock tab in the app’s preferences. You can enable the traditional flip clock style here which will allow you to view the day and date.

To select images for the screensaver, go to the Images tab and click the Select Screensaver Images button. You can navigate to any folder and chose one or several images as your screensaver. If you have images of several different sizes, move the slider on Minimum Image Size back or forth to restrict the app from displaying images smaller than that size. Choose how the images will fill the screen, i.e., stretched, aspect fill or aspect fit. Select how long each mage will be displayed and by moving the Change Image slider.

As opposed to the system screensaver, this app gives you a slightly more functional one to fill your screen when you are away from your system. If you’re using a Mac book, the battery status might be something you would always like on your screen; coupled with the date and network feature, this app earns its worth. If you’re an Apple fan or just plain in love with your iPhone, this app is a great way of getting a screensaver on your Mac that resembles the iPhone lockscreen.

Get Screensaver + From Mac App Store

Easily Convert Photos Into Pencil Sketches Using Instant PhotoSktech

Fawad — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:51:06 +0000

Creating sketches out of photos is fun way to edit them, but the problem faced by a lot of people is that, usually, the applications that allow you to create pen sketches, for example, Adobe Photoshop, are too complex to use. Some days ago, we covered a Mac app from CPSSoftware called InstantPhotoColor, that allowed you to easily color your images using the built-in brush tool and color selector. Today, we have another application, from the same developer, for Windows, that allows you to convert any digital photo into a pen sketch or drawing. Instant PhotoSketch is a multi-platform tool that enables you to quickly turn your photos into pen sketches by adjusting the black and white levels for an image.

The application is extremely simple to use. When it starts, click Open button at the top, and select the image that you want to turn into a pen sketch. Once the image is loaded, you can adjust the black level and white level of the image using the provided sliders. When the settings are done according to your preferences, select Save from the top. Instant PhotoSketch allows you to save images in JPG, as well as PNG format. You can zoom in and zoom out an image from the given buttons to view particular details when settings the black and white levels of the photo.

If you want an application with more options, such as brushes tools, try FotoSketcher, which has over 20 drawing effects and tools. Instant PhotoSktech is available in both free and pro versions, with the pro version giving you options like custom color selection for pen and paper. Complete comparison can be found on the product page. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

Download Instant PhotoSketch

StreamDesk: Open Source Application To View & Manage Multiple Streams

Fawad — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:09:41 +0000

Videos streams are a great way for companies, as well as individuals, to get their message to people around the world. It can be anything from a news feed to the video of a live performance of a band playing in a concert hall. I, being a huge fan of the multiplayer game DOTA (Defense of the Ancients), follow a lot of video streams of international players showcasing their game play. If you follow, or want to follow, a lot of video streams, it can be a bit of a hassle to manage all of them from your browser. Instead of cluttering up your browser bookmarks, take a look at this stream manager. StreamDesk is an open source client that allows you to view and manage multiple video streams. Keep reading to find out more about StreamDesk.

The application has File, View, Streams, Chat, Favorites and Window menus at the top. File allows you to open multiple windows to view more than one stream at a time. Streams menu contains a lot of pre-saved video streams offered by the application. Tools allows you to search among the saved video streams. Favorites allow you to Add new video streams and Manage existing ones, while Windows menu lets you Cascade, Tile Vertically and Tile the opened streams Horizontally.

The Favorites menu has Add & Manage windows to Add Stream, Add Folder, rename, Remove and Move the saved streams from one folder to another

The complete list of features provided by the developer is as follows.

Community built stream list
Simple stream list with single level category sorting
Database update
Full updater with downloader
Easy to use favorites
Keyword search

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

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Conqu Is A Cross-Platform Application To Schedule, Manage & Sync Tasks

Fawad — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:20:56 +0000

With each passing day, the pace of life has been increasing all over the world. Compared to our ancestors, we are required to perform a lot more tasks in lesser time. With all the different things one has to complete in a day, it is almost must to have a good task manager to help you remember and manage them easily and efficiently. Back in October 2011, we reviewed a cross-platform task management application for Android, named Conqu. The same task manager is now available for Windows with all its functionality.

The application allows you to manage your tasks by providing you with a comprehensive set of features, such as Quick Add for adding new tasks without wasting time, Tags that allow you to create and apply tags to simplify managing a large number of tasks, Dates with both due date and schedule date calendars for settings up tasks that need to be performed the same day or at a later date. Conqu also allows you to manage tasks that you have delegated to others, and receive notifications when they have completed it.

The application has tabs in the left pane, including Inbox, Today, Next, Future, Waiting etc, to manage tasks separately according to importance, tags, time limits, while their details and edit options appear in the right. Tasks can be added by typing them in the top bar and clicking Add Task.

Once a task has been added, you can edit and enter more information about it, including Project, Due Date, Context, Flag it with different colors, set Energy Level, Time, Tags, set Schedule Date, and enter details of contacts if tasks are assigned to them.

Different type of tasks can be organized into different projects and managed according to their tags, time, flags, schedules etc.

Click Conqu menu in the top-left corner and select Preferences to set up ConquSync if you are using the application on more than one device. Sharing allows you to let others know that you have delegated a task to them. They will receive an email, and when the task is done, check the task in the web-based task manager of Conqu.

The best thing about this application, is that it is available for all the major platforms, so you can manage your tasks from almost every device, including your tablet, phone, laptop and desktop computer. The supported device are Android based tablets, iPad, Blackberry Playbook, Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook, Android based phones, iPhone, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Download Conqu

SharpShot Is One-Stop Tool For All Your Basic Image Editing Needs

Fawad — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:24:00 +0000

These days, image editing is done both professionally and for fun, and to cater to the needs of this diverse market, both free and paid application are available for people to choose from. The differentiating factors between these applications lie in the level of customization, methods of interaction with the image and the learning curve of the application. Even though Photoshop and Gimp are very useful applications for editing images, their main strength can also come off as a weakness when you only want to perform basic editing functions to an image. SharpShot is a multi-platform, portable application that allows you to easily edit images without any major complications that usually come with comprehensive image editing tools, such as Photoshop or Gimp.

Since it is a java-based application, you can run it directly without any installation. It allows you to edit many images at a time, keeping the progress on each image saved. The application lets you change different image settings, such as its brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, exposure etc. Other than that, you can also apply different effects to the image including blur, sharpen, convert to grey scale, motion blur etc. You can either select the whole image, or just a part of it, to apply effects. The interface has toolbars and menus at the top, image list in the left while the image appears in the center. To load an image into the application, click File menu and select Open File or Open Folder depending on your requirement.

The toolbar at the top contains different selection tools. You can toggle between square and circular selection tools, and choose different preset aspect ratios, such as Free, Original, 4×3, 5×7, 16×9 etc. When you select a ratio, expanding or contracting the selection box will make it stretch with the ratios intact.

The application allows you to apply different effects to the images. Under the Effects menu, you have a list of tools for changing Brightness/Contrast, Intensity/Hue/Saturation, Colors, and add different effects, including Blur, Motion Blur, Sharpen, Despeckle and Convert image to Gray scale and Invert its pixel colors. The Brightness dialog allows you to change the Brightness, Exposure, Contrast and Midtones of an image, either by moving the slider, or entering values in digits. You are able to view the results of all the changes being made to the image in the Preview Pane.

The HIS Dialog lets you increase and decrease the Saturation, Hue and Intensity of an image. For the Brightness Dialog, multiple methods for changing the values, as well as a preview are also provided.

Other than allowing users to change these image values, the application has tools to resize, crop, rotate, add border, add watermark, fix red eye and apply effects according to edge detection. The Rotate Dialog enables you to rotate your image to the left or right to any angle.

The Watermark Dialog lets you set custom text, change the text color, its font style, font size, X-Alignment and Y-Alignment from Left, Right, Center, Top and Bottom or apply custom alignment from (x, y) values. You have the option to add watermark to a single image or to the complete batch.

SharpShot flawlessly performs all the functions that a basic image editor should, and everything is easy to understand and readily available in the interface. It has a memory footprint of around 128 MB, and works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

Download SharpShot

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