When you’re looking for a good way to introduce a product, create a trailer for a film, or even edit a photo, Apple has some good software to offer its Mac users. iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand and other members of the iLife suite are included with OS X. Many users really enjoy these and think of them as prime benefits of owning a Mac. However, there are more professional versions of such software available from Apple. Final Cut Pro, for instance, is a truly professional way to edit a short picture or even a full independent film; Logic Pro brings every single audio tool to your fingertips; and Aperture is nearly on par with Photoshop, just aimed at a different price range.
The product we’re interested in today is Motion, a companion to Final Cut Pro. It’s designed to help you create motion graphics, moving versions of brochures you’d already have designed in Photoshop or Pixelmator. This software can help small businesses create advertisements for their new products at beautiful high definition. However, not everyone wants to create one of these from scratch, so what about a template for it? Our parent company Envato’s VideoHive now offers a section for just that. But there are currently 35 templates available, so which one is best for you? Let’s take a look at eight of the most well-designed.
Welcome to November, the month of Thanksgiving (and the presidential election) for Americans, the gunpowder plot to kill the king of England, and last, but not least, Sadie Hawkins Day. Now, if you’re done listening to Relient K’s classic song, we should get on with this week’s deals for the Mac. The picks for this week include Colorstrokes, File Organizer, Instalyrics, and Starscape. Keep reading for the full loot. (more…)
When Google acquired Sparrow, the most popular Mac email client of the day, back in July, it seemed all hope for email on OS X was lost. People thought they’d have to resort to Apple’s stale Mail app because Sparrow’s support may end. Mail all that bad, but it really isn’t the simplest thing out there and trying to do little things is often arduous. So that gave independent developers another chance to do something big: build a great new mail app for the Mac.
It all started with .Mail, or the “Dot Mail App” as some have referred to it. This appeared to be the most beautiful mail client ever on a Mac, but it was only a mockup at the time it was first shown off. It’s now in development, but it’s still a ways off, so people are constantly searching for a Sparrow alternative. An interesting little app by the name of Inky came across my desk the other day and it looked promising. After all, who doesn’t want to try out an app that has an icon nearly identical to Pearl from Finding Nemo? (more…)
It’s the first of November, and app deals are in, well, let’s say decent supply, as usual, and I’m here to greet you with this week’s specials. The apps on today’s agenda include WriteRoom, the original distraction-free text editor, Crow, a game about pitch-black avians and other creatures from Skyrim, something of adventurous nature, and the usual bundles and such. Join me after the break for all the good stuff. (more…)
Going on vacation is good for anyone. It can relieve the stress of work, give you insights to a majestic piece of the Earth, or even inspire you to paint something you’ve found along the way. The process of going on a vacation is different for a lot of people. Some prefer to drive, while others take a flight, mostly when they’re going abroad. On the road, it’s common for folks to stop in a hotel to rest for another day’s drive. Even if they end up flying, a hotel comes in handy when they’ve landed.
Most people use services like Kayak.com or Expedia, which are handy tools for finding affordable and decent places to rest. All these services have iPhone apps, but you don’t often come across one for the Mac. Bellhop is changing that. The app, developed by Conceited Software, aims to make your hotel-finding process on the Mac effortless. Sounds promising, but is it any good? (more…)
Album artwork is a big part of iTunes! For a lot of people, it helps make content easier to locate by adding an image to each artist and album. It’s also a half-developed feature, however. Apple could do a lot more with the album artwork from the iTunes Store. The developer of Bowtie had the same thoughts, so he introduced an app that put artwork on your desktop where you’ll see it often. Now you don’t have to open iTunes to see what’s playing; do a quick show-the-desktop gesture on your trackpad instead.
The Bowtie utility isn’t everything, though. Themes make it worth using: themes designed by individuals. There is a superfluity of different ways to view album artwork with Bowtie, from the pleasant default theme included with the app to minimal, yet interesting ones like Pixld. Since there are 15 pages in the app’s theme downloader and even more around the ‘net, it seemed like a good idea to gather up the most fetching for Mac.AppStorm readers. Keep reading for ten of the best Bowtie themes out there.
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Just because Apple held an iOS-focused event yesterday — there was some Mac news, but most of the announcements were focused on a smaller Apple-branded tablet — doesn’t mean there are no Mac deals. In fact, there are quite a few this week, including Gemini, Trine and Trine 2, and BusyCal 2. Catch them all after the break. (more…)
iTunes is probably one of the most used applications on Mac. It comes pre-installed, plays music well, and has the iTunes Store where many people shop for new music. It’s the way we manage our iPods, iPhones, and iPads, lets us watch movies, listen to music, and more. It’s priceless to many first-time Mac users, even if it does have a few flaws.
Of course, there are those who enjoy alternatives. While iTunes should still be used for syncing one’s library to an iPod or iOS device, a lot of third-party substitutes do a fine job of playing music and other content. A more beautiful way to play music is something the Mac could use — iTunes isn’t really the most aesthetically pleasing right now — and until the iTunes 11 update is released, why not take a look at the additional solutions? (more…)
Apple introduced FaceTime on June 7, 2010, and released it with the iPhone 4 later that month. Later that year, Apple announced a Mac version of the service, but put it in beta and the final version was released in February 2011. People didn’t know what to think of this new way to communicate. Video chat was nice, yes, but most people use Skype, so what was the purpose of Apple’s own solution? To connect all Apple users with video chat, apparently.
The aim of FaceTime seems too simple, too limited. There wasn’t a lot of hype surrounding its launch because most people didn’t see themselves using it on a daily basis. What was this service lacking and what could it benefit from gaining? A few suggestions are available after the break. (more…)
Welcome to this week’s issue of App Deals. There are a lot of great apps floating around the sales racks, including Boom, Typeli Notes, and Quake 4. Keep reading for the full list of deals. (more…)
