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Software Updates Aplenty

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After being on vacation for a bit, I come back and have lots of software updates to do.

  1. Mac App Store
    • Twitter
    • Sparrow Lite
  2. Microsoft Office
  3. Adium
  4. Software Update
    • iTunes
    • AirPort Utility
  5. Adobe Flash Player
  6. WordPress Plugins

Managing Names of Pictures?

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I’m looking for a better way to manage the file names of pictures and images imported into iPhoto. Seems like once imported, it’s too late, and you don’t want to change file names since you’ll mess around with the metadata that iPhoto relies on.

You’d have to change the names of the images before importing to iPhoto (or after exporting from iPhoto, but this defeats my intent). I found this blog post explaining how to import pictures using a workflow with Image Capture and A Better Finder Rename.

Sounds promising for new pictures, but my already-imported pictures are best left the way they are.

On a Productivity Kick

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Recently, I’ve been on a kick to increase productivity and find better ways of getting things done.  Nothing too extreme, mainly streamlining, learning from others, and finding productivity aids.  Here’s some software that I’ve looked into.

MenuCalendarClock.  Okay, not a true productivity enhancer, but Apple’s own menu clock wasn’t the greatest, and I wanted a quick way to view a calendar without bringing up iCal or Entourage.  Heck, I’ve been “testing” MenuCalendarClock for over 1500 days and finally paid my dues (and registration fee).  Since MenuCalendarClock syncs with iCal (or Entourage), you also have a fast way of viewing what’s coming up on your schedule.

Evernote.  To collect notes, images, and all kinds of other tidbits, I’ve been using Yojimbo, primarily for its syncing ability with .Mac/MobileMe.  I can save something in Yojimbo, and it’ll show up on my sync-ed computers.  But something happened that broke the synchronization and fixing it sounds hard.  So this is an opportunity to reassess what’s out there, and that’s where I heard about Evernote.  Evernote is impressive.  At its core, it functions similarly to Yojimbo, but its ubiquity is way better.  Evernote syncs to its own servers and has apps for mobile devices, a desktop app, a web interface, a mobile web interface, and ties to Twitter.  You can tweet to Evernote, and it’ll save that tweet in your Evernote Notebook.   Yojimbo is limited to a desktop app only.

The main drawback with Evernote is the cost for the premium service.  An annual cost is $45 but includes additional services and features, but over time, this price will definitely add up.  For now, I’ll try the free service and also look at SpringPad.

Transmit.  I haven’t made the switch to Panic’s Transmit FTP client.  I’m still using Fetch, but I keep reading great reviews for Transmit.  And my version of Fetch (v5.3) is not eligible for a free upgrade to the latest 5.6.  What’s the big deal with an FTP client?  I’m not really, really sure hence me staying with an out-of-date Fetch, but if productivity gains are there with FTP, I just might have to move to Transmit.

Backblaze.  To backup all this productivity, I’ve been looking at Backblaze.  Amazingly, this service backs up majority of your data to its online service so that you have an off-site backup.  This save-your-butt solution goes for $50 a year without any data storage limitations.  Backblaze will not backup single files bigger than 4 GB, but that’s okay with me.  I’ve heard of Mozy, Jungle Disk, and Carbonite, but the “unlimited” data storage for Backblaze can’t be beat.

Alfred.  Back in March, I asked about Mac app launchers.  Marvo highly recommends LaunchBar, Foojish uses Butler, and Steve mentioned Google’s Quick Search Box.  LaunchBar might be overkill for me and costs $35.  Butler really wasn’t what I wanted, so I quickly gravitated to the free and usable Quick Search Box.  While it worked, it was slow and would crash several times in a week.  I recently moved to Alfred and am pleased.  It’s fast, does what I need, looks modern, and is free!  But it is in beta status.

And there you have it, my recent kick looking at productivity enhancing apps and services.  What are yours?

MacUpdate Promo Spring Bundle Available

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Other than MacHeist, the other great deal of bundled software apps for the Mac comes from MacUpdate. Their Spring Bundle is now available for $50 and includes 11 apps plus 2 more for the first 15,000 buyers.

The Spring Bundle contains:

  1. TechTool Pro 5. Comprehensive tools for your Mac and hard drives.
  2. Parallels Desktop. Run Windows, Linux, and more alongside Mac OS X.
  3. Notebook 3. Organized your digital life.
  4. NetBarrier X5. Robust firewall and intrusion detection.
  5. DVDRemaster Pro 5. Backup your DVDs and put them on other Apple devices.
  6. Multiplex. Your Mac is your new DVD player.
  7. RipIt. Get your movies off DVD and onto your Mac.
  8. MoneyWell. Manage your personal finances.
  9. Paperless. Digital document manager.
  10. Posterino. Create posters, postcards, and more.
  11. BetterZip. Create and manage compressed archives.
  12. Jets’n’Guns Gold. Bonus for first 15,000 buyers.
  13. CuteClips. Bonus for first 15,000 buyers.

TechTool and Parallels alone make this deal worthwhile, but I wanted to check out DVDRemaster, RipIt, and Posterino as well. So $521.71 worth of apps for $49.99? Got to get it!

Roxio Toast 10 is Available

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On the eve of Macworld Expo, Roxio released a new major upgrade to its Toast disc burning software. Toast 10 comes in a regular and pro version with a bunch of new features.

On the TIvo front, Toast 10 lets you play content stored on your Mac to your Tivo and lets you stream Tivo recordings to your iPhone over the Internet.

Interesting features but the cost of upgrading is expensive at $80 for the regular version and $130 for the pro version.

MacHeist 3 Is On

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MacHeist is back, packaging up several Mac apps into a sweet deal. This year’s deal is just starting over at their Giving Tree.

After signing up, you get access to Synergy and Enigmo. Refer friends and get access to additional gifts. On Christmas day, two more presents will be yours. They’ve also expanded their online presence so you can follow them on Twitter.

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Norton Anti-Virus for the Mac is Virus Like

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Wow, I was trying to uninstall Norton Anti-Virus for the Mac, and it simply wouldn’t uninstall completely. The uninstaller reported success, but Norton would keep popping up to scan downloaded files even though supposedly uninstalled.

Going to Symantec’s Support area, I found that there is a specific tool to completely remove all Symantec programs. That’s pretty scary, with Symantec software showing almost virus-like behavior.

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Playing with Ping.fm

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Now that Ping.fm is out of private beta, anyone can sign up for an account. The purpose of Ping.fm is to update all your social networks in one shot. So if you have accounts with Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Pownce, MySpace, Tumblr, FriendFeed, Jaiku, Rejaw, Delicious, and more, Ping.fm can update these services all at once.

Looks like you can even update your social network status using an iPhone optimized Ping.fm “app” or even through IM with GoogleTalk.

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