Posts Tagged
fantastical
After attending too many Thanksgiving parties and gatherings in America, it’s time to settle down in you New Zealand home. (That’s assuming you have one. If you don’t, don’t read these app recommendations and go buy one.) When you lean back in your familiar desk chair for your morning cappuccino and enjoy the beautiful sunrise over the Shire’s green mountains, it’s time to start reading this week’s edition of app deals.
Because, of course, you are eager to get some shiny new software from the Mac App Store, whether it disrupts your bliss morning or not. This week is especially profuse in such bargains, and even Pixelmator has graced us with another appearance. (more…)
Over the past year, I’ve really upped my freelance work. That means I’m spending my time on my personal computer, rather than a work computer that I can’t customize. As such, I’ve been moving away from relying completely on web apps, and begun to explore more apps made for my mac.
One thing that I’ve been looking for was an app that would allow me to access my calendar without loading up a dedicated calendar app or using the Google Calendar web app. When I started searching for the perfect app, I knew I wanted a menu bar app, even if I didn’t know exactly what functionality I needed. I found and tried a ton of different applications. I chose three plus a bonus app to share with you, so stick with me after the jump to find the perfect menu bar calendar app to fit your needs.
Remember when iCal didn’t look like it had been designed by a fifth grader learning to use KidPix? The only other decision I’ve ever seen Apple make that was so universally panned as the iCal redesign was Ping, but at least you could just turn that off. Whether your aversion towards iCal is due to its tacky design or its cumbersome method of inputting events, you fortunately have no shortage of alternatives when it comes to scheduling your day.
Of course, buried beneath the eye sores is one redeeming quality: iCloud syncing. Many alternative calendars for OS X and iOS still integrate with iCal in order to utilize that syncing power. SmartDay by Left Coast Logic lets you interact with your calendar and to-do lists from the menubar, while adding a few neat features. This isn’t a new concept, so making it an appealing option for Mac users means it needs to introduce some innovative features.
Good news! We’ve selected the winners for the Fantastical giveaway! If your username is listed below, you’ll be receiving an email soon with information on how to claim your prize. Thanks for participating everyone, check back for more awesome giveaways soon.
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It’s an application that everyone has been talking about recently, and we ran our own review last week. Fantastical is a menu bar application that provides a simple way of interacting with iCal. You can view your upcoming events, and enter new ones using a natural language engine that works flawlessly.
Today we’re giving you the chance to win one of two licenses for Fantastical, so you can get your hands on this excellent piece of software completely free of charge!
Entering the competition is really easy. All you need to do is:
- Post a link to this competition – either on your website, or via Twitter
- Leave a comment, letting me know where you posted the link!
Best of luck, and I’ll be picking the winners in just over a week. The competition closes on Wed 1st June, but I’d strongly recommend giving Fantastical a try for yourself – I really can’t recommend it highly enough!
It is a rare but welcome occasion when an app is developed to do something I’ve always wanted an app to do. Fantastical is precisely that app. Often, when adding an event to iCal, getting frustrated with date and time fields, and giving up on adding any details but the name, I’ve pondered “shouldn’t there be another way?”
The developers of Fantastical have endeavoured to answer this plea with a menu-bar iCal tie-in promising the ability to quickly add events in natural language.
Upon further research, I learned that Fantastical wasn’t the first app to offer such a handy feature, apps like the cheaper QuickCal promise the same features. So, is Fantastical fantastic enough to justify the price?
