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With any computer, there are often some personal preferences in the way you work that make you think, “Wouldn’t it be great if only I could work differently in this one area.”
That, presumably, is what the developer of Switché thought about switching between applications. This inspired him to build a piece of software focused on enhancing and adding greater flexibility to the Command–Tab application switching method built into Mac OS X.
Switché introduces greater control to application switching and also presents a stylish Cover Flow view of the applications your computer is running. This review will show the immediate visual impact of using Switché, and also introduce the range of preferences that let you customize it to meet your particular needs.
I must be entirely honest – up until about two weeks ago, I was in the pretentious group of Mac users that never really maintained or “spring cleaned” their computer. Once or twice a year, this would catch up with me and I’d be occasionally fed up with Finder delays and general sluggishness (I blame my crazy tendencies to try dozens of new applications on a whim.)
About two weeks ago, as recommended by a half dozen of my friends (and the Mac.AppStorm review), I installed CleanMyMac. The application removed over 25GB worth of logs, universal binaries, drivers, multilingual support and caches. The amazing amount of space I got back, and the associated speed bump, was impressive.
However, paying money for cleaning services still seems very Windows-like to many Mac users. If you aren’t ready to install a shareware application, but want to take a look at cleaning out some of the cruft around your Mac, join me after the break to give OnyX a try!
Recently, I was asked to review Nottingham, a note-taking app by Tyler Hall. After using it for a while, I began to notice a lot of similarities between it and Notational Velocity. In fact, Tyler Hall actually makes it clear that Nottingham was created as a clone of Notational Velocity, out of a desire to improve on the features offered by the app.
The general premise of both is a quick, easy way to store information, with no hassle or unnecessary features. But which was actually better? I hope that this article will help you to make an informed decision.
How do you like to plan? Do you create a mind map? Make a list? Outline? Shuffle index cards? Pour out your ideas in stream of conscious writing? Stimulate thoughts with pictures? Build diagrams?
If you can answer yes to most or all of these methods of planning and organizing, then you really, really need to take a look at Curio, an application that combines a stunning array of tools for collecting ideas and putting them to work. Today we are going to take a look at one of the most versatile information organizers available anywhere.
Chikoo is, simply put, a file manager. In fact, Chikoo pegs itself as a “simple file organizer for the Mac.” Chikoo can handle any file type you throw at it. You can add and edit the files’ metadata to your heart’s content. You can organize the files in lists and folders of lists. You can easily view the files with Quick Look. Chikoo is a cross between OS X’s Finder and iTunes.
If you’ve got a desktop littered with documents, unable to ever find the one specific file at the right specific time, Chikoo may be exactly what you need. Join us after the jump as we take a closer look!
With more than five billion photographs uploaded, Flickr is a global go-to site if you’re looking for images. There are all kinds of interesting ways of interacting with the site – I love searching for photos of an unknown destination before I travel there, and it’s always interesting subscribing to the RSS feed of photos tagged with your hometown, as you’re likely to come across unexpected ways of seeing your familiar environment each day.
If you have reason to search for images regularly, or if you simply enjoy hanging out on Flickr, then you might be pleased to learn about Viewfinder. The app comes from the hand of Fraser Spiers and his company, Connected Flow, who have also given the world of Mac apps the excellent FlickrExport for iPhoto and Aperture, and currently costs just £15 (though that’s set to increase to £18 when the next version ships).
Whether your interest is simply in seeing other photographers’ take on subjects you’re keen on, or you’re after images to use in your own blog posts and design projects, Viewfinder makes searching Flickr a simple and enjoyable process. Join us after the jump to find out more!
I’m a fairly recent Mac switcher and, as a web developer, I started wondering which coding environment I would choose. I spotted two main apps that seemed to stand out from the crowd: Coda and Espresso. Although we’ve covered Espresso in the past, I thought it was worth taking another look at this fantastic web development app today.
When Espresso was reviewed here for the first time, it was still in beta. Though we could see what the app would look like and some of the features it would include, the app wasn’t complete. Since Espresso came out of beta, lots of things have been added to the product. Features such as a project manager and better publishing options have really helped Espresso become an all-round better candidate.
Espresso has some superb features, but also a few aspects that could be improved. And how does it stand up to Panic’s Coda? In today’s review, we’ll put Espresso through its paces.
If you’re anything like me (hopefully you aren’t), your computer is a complete and total mess. The desktop is cluttered, the dock crowded (there are 34 applications in mine!), and keeping work and personal projects organised and separated was a well-intentioned but unrealised goal from the past!
SaneDesk is a very small app that enables you to create separate workspaces (desktop, dock, wallpaper) according to what you’re doing on your computer. It’s a simple concept, but aims to help you better distinguish between the various tasks you use your computer for.
Read on to find out more in today’s review!
If you’re an AppStorm reader, then there’s a good chance you are a Mac user. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re pretty happy with the experience. You’re probably wandering about this site, checking out a few cool Mac applications and maybe looking to learn a thing or two about your fancy machine.
The Terminal is the command line for your Mac and can be used, among other things, to really fine tune the Mac OS experience. Many are aware of this capability, but are a little scared to deal with the Terminal.
But what if there was a way to make all of those little system tweaks and changes while steering completely clear of Terminal? Well, read on to find out more about MacPilot!
No matter if you are coding web pages, writing lots of text, or typing out the same replies to emails constantly, I bet you’ve wished more than once for a faster way to accomplish the task of typing the same content over and over. Believe it or not, there is!
With the help of a “text expander” application, all you need to do is memorise a couple of quick abbreviations, and all this repetitive typing can be a thing of the past. Although TextExpander itself arguably holds the crown in this department, we wanted to put it to the test against some other competing software today.
Read on for our head-to-head comparison of four popular text expanding applications for OS X!
