Software gems
30/12/07 15:58
Small pieces we can't live without...
We are regularly asked about small items, such as how can you combine two PDFs, or is there a quick way to update a website? People want small apps which will do a particular task, and do it without waiting ages to launch programs (Adobe are you listening?), or offering too many over complex options.
Here are a few of the gems we use again and again, and which we feel are essential to the way we work:
1/ Combine PDF: This app allows you to take multiple PDFs, combine them (as the name suggests!), but also to lets you merge, remove pages, change their order, and generally manipulate the PDF document's order. And its free.
2/ Package Tracker: This is a widget which will track your packages. It works great with Apple Store orders, and once installed, you can use Dashboard to glance at the package and its delivery date. Also free.
3/ MPEG Streamclip: This is an app for video editors or people wanting to convert video for an iPod/iPhone. It is a conversion software package which will allow you to add batches of videos to a list, and then convert them to many other format. Guess what- its free!
4/ Handbrake: this is our app of choice to turn our DVDs into H.264 files for iTunes. We tend to convert our DVDs into files for our AppleTV and Handbrake works great on a fast Mac to complete this process. On an older or slower Mac you will be waiting around. But on a Mac Pro it works like a dream. Hey, this one is free too.
5/ Taco HTML: this may not be the most powerful or user friendly app around, but Taco HTML is a simple HTML editor which works great for the site when we want to add our web snippets to the home page. It has a feature which is called "Quick Insert Menu" that lets us put in a line of HTML code with one click and this saves us lots of time. A bit specialist and probably only for web editors with knowledge of HTML, but its a freebie and that's what we like.
6/ iNdependence: this little app is the one used to open up the iPhone to third party applications., It is a good demonstration of the great third-party community out there working on the iPhone. It just opens a whole world of third party apps, and we applaud the ingenuity of the developers behind it. Oh yes, its free.
7/ Firefox: Safari is our browser of choice as it is a real Mac app with the Apple interface and usability. Firefox for Mac has made good strides in recent times to make their browser more Mac-like, and we always have it in the wings for some sites, such as banking online. Sometimes where Safari runs into problems, Firefox is at hand, and between the two there are almost no sites which can't be viewed on a Mac. Firefox is free, and quite why anyone would pay for a web browser these days is beyond us.
8/ NameChanger: if you have ever had a folder of exported photos, all of which are called "IMG.jpg" etc, and needed to change each of the names to say "Holidays,jpg", then NameChanger is what you need. It is great for batch file name changes and is just one of those time saving gems. Free, free, free.
9/ WhatSize: small utility to check the size of all folders and files on your Mac. Great way to see what is taking up all that space- 'What, my caches folder is now 200MB??'. No charge applicable on this app.
10/ Anxiety: small display panel showing your to-do items from iCal. Just really small and simple way to see your to-do list for the day without having to open iCal. No fee.
11/ Tubesock- ever wanted to download a YouTube video instead of linking to it each time? Well TubeSock is what you need. It works by being added as a bookmark in Safari. When you then visit a YouTube page and want that video, you click the Tubesock bookmark and it kicks into action, downloading and converting the video to QuickTime. We are sorry to report it costs money- $15.
Simon Spence/2007
We are regularly asked about small items, such as how can you combine two PDFs, or is there a quick way to update a website? People want small apps which will do a particular task, and do it without waiting ages to launch programs (Adobe are you listening?), or offering too many over complex options.
Here are a few of the gems we use again and again, and which we feel are essential to the way we work:
1/ Combine PDF: This app allows you to take multiple PDFs, combine them (as the name suggests!), but also to lets you merge, remove pages, change their order, and generally manipulate the PDF document's order. And its free.
2/ Package Tracker: This is a widget which will track your packages. It works great with Apple Store orders, and once installed, you can use Dashboard to glance at the package and its delivery date. Also free.
3/ MPEG Streamclip: This is an app for video editors or people wanting to convert video for an iPod/iPhone. It is a conversion software package which will allow you to add batches of videos to a list, and then convert them to many other format. Guess what- its free!
4/ Handbrake: this is our app of choice to turn our DVDs into H.264 files for iTunes. We tend to convert our DVDs into files for our AppleTV and Handbrake works great on a fast Mac to complete this process. On an older or slower Mac you will be waiting around. But on a Mac Pro it works like a dream. Hey, this one is free too.
5/ Taco HTML: this may not be the most powerful or user friendly app around, but Taco HTML is a simple HTML editor which works great for the site when we want to add our web snippets to the home page. It has a feature which is called "Quick Insert Menu" that lets us put in a line of HTML code with one click and this saves us lots of time. A bit specialist and probably only for web editors with knowledge of HTML, but its a freebie and that's what we like.
6/ iNdependence: this little app is the one used to open up the iPhone to third party applications., It is a good demonstration of the great third-party community out there working on the iPhone. It just opens a whole world of third party apps, and we applaud the ingenuity of the developers behind it. Oh yes, its free.
7/ Firefox: Safari is our browser of choice as it is a real Mac app with the Apple interface and usability. Firefox for Mac has made good strides in recent times to make their browser more Mac-like, and we always have it in the wings for some sites, such as banking online. Sometimes where Safari runs into problems, Firefox is at hand, and between the two there are almost no sites which can't be viewed on a Mac. Firefox is free, and quite why anyone would pay for a web browser these days is beyond us.
8/ NameChanger: if you have ever had a folder of exported photos, all of which are called "IMG.jpg" etc, and needed to change each of the names to say "Holidays,jpg", then NameChanger is what you need. It is great for batch file name changes and is just one of those time saving gems. Free, free, free.
9/ WhatSize: small utility to check the size of all folders and files on your Mac. Great way to see what is taking up all that space- 'What, my caches folder is now 200MB??'. No charge applicable on this app.
10/ Anxiety: small display panel showing your to-do items from iCal. Just really small and simple way to see your to-do list for the day without having to open iCal. No fee.
11/ Tubesock- ever wanted to download a YouTube video instead of linking to it each time? Well TubeSock is what you need. It works by being added as a bookmark in Safari. When you then visit a YouTube page and want that video, you click the Tubesock bookmark and it kicks into action, downloading and converting the video to QuickTime. We are sorry to report it costs money- $15.
Simon Spence/2007
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