Category: Mac

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Quota for OSX. The developer describes Quota for OSX as an app that allows you to easily monitor your ISP, phone, weather, news (RSS), account balances (toll and bank), frequent flyer, loyalty cards, stocks, and currency.

Quota will alert you via push notifications when you are over your ideal spend, or when a certain condition is met. You can also receive regular notifications throughout the day showing your spend and remaining total.

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

About the App

Here are the top five features you can expect to see in the latest version:

• Monitor Mobile/ISP usage for 100+ providers
• Push notification support for iOS devices
• Monitor Weather (BOM), Radar, National forecasts
• Monitor your Bank, Toll, and Frequency Flyer balances
• New providers can be created manually using “QuotaXML”

Requirements: OS X 10.5

Price: $10.00

Developer: SouthFreo Software

Vote for a Review

Would you like to see us write a full review of Quota for OSX? Have your say in our poll:

Would you like to see Quota for OS X reviewed in-depth on AppStorm?customer surveys

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the poll if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review! If you’re a developer and would like to have your app profiled, you can submit it here.

Hyperspaces is a handy little add-on to the already useful Spaces virtual desktop tool built in to Mac OS. The developer says it “brings color and context to Apple’s Spaces” and I’d say that sums it up just about right. It doesn’t add a lot, but it adds in just the right places.

Today we’ll be delving into Hyperspaces to explain how the app works, and what type of improvement in can bring to your existing Spaces setup!

Installation

The installation of Hyperspaces is incredibly simple. As is common in the software industry today, the developer of the utility does offer a trial version so you can try it out without forking up the cash for the full blown license. The trial version is essentially a stripped down version as you would expect. I’ll explain this more later on.

Overview

Hyperspaces is an addition to a particularly powerful Mac OS X utility called Spaces (I know…who would have guessed?) Spaces alone is great and incredibly helpful for organizing the workspaces of your computer.

If you’re not familiar, Spaces is a utility built in to Mac OS X which essentially allows you to “segment” your desktop. It allows you to create separate virtual desktops. You are able to assign specific applications to certain spaces. The idea being to clear up some of the clutter in our multi-tasking, trying-to-do-it-all lives.

Hyperspaces definitely isn’t a groundbreaking piece of software. That innovation took place a level above with the incorporation of Spaces itself into the Mac OS X. That said, I’d qualify it as a “nice” piece of software. It fills in some little gaps with the functionality and style of the “stock” Spaces and also adds some niceties to the experience.

Features

Hyperspaces adds welcome, though not entirely necessary, feature enhancements to the overall Spaces experience.

It sits on top of the Spaces utility and is actually not functional without it. The core functionality still lies with the Mac OS X Spaces.

Labeling

A fairly major area of enhancement comes with a better method for labeling and identifying the spaces. With Spaces you are essentially restricted to system generated names for the spaces you create (Space 1, Space 2, etc.)

Hyperspaces allows you to name each space as you see fit. The label can be shown in several places (see the screenshot below) and these can be adjusted within the system preferences. Though not completely necessary it is a nice little detail and does make Spaces a little more user friendly.

A view of possible places to see space labels

Backgrounds

The ability to use a different background image is helpful in making Spaces more simple to navigate through and identify a large number of spaces.

Hyperspaces also allows you to use colors so it is possible to just add different hues to one background image as well. This is a nice touch that helps to create some separation and differentiation between spaces.

Function

Hyperspaces ramps up the shortcut key preference options. These are all customizable and can really make the use of a bunch of spaces pretty darn efficient. Again, the basic Spaces does have this capability, but Hyperspaces expands it somewhat.

Hotkey preferences

The addition of being able to chose shortcut keys to add and remove spaces is really the only enhancement in this area and, to be honest, I don’t personally find those that useful. I just don’t see a scenario when I’ll have the the need to add or remove a space that quickly, but maybe some users will.

The whole concept of Spaces, I would argue, is a one that requires some thought and planning. You are trying to figure out ways to better organize and aren’t going to make these choices in the spur of the moment.

Menu Bar Switching

Hyperspaces adds a space switcher function to the menu bar. This switcher will display the name of the space and also the background image of the space as well (both preferences that can be turned on and off).

Again, the stock Spaces does have similar functionality, but this switcher is a far more user friendly option to visually switch between spaces.

A view of the Spaces switcher

Pricing

Hyperspaces can be used for free, but not with full functionality. The trial version restricts usage to the capability to fully customize three spaces. With the core functionality being in Spaces (which you will need to install Hyperspaces) the trial version offers plenty of functionality to get a feel for the product, but it is not something you’re going to use for an extended period of time.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you’re a Spaces user looking for some of these enhancements you will have the need for more than three spaces. The full version is $12.95 and allows you to fully customize as many spaces as you would like.

Conclusion

I think the main issue is to figure out whether it is worth the cost for you personally. I know it’s not a lot of money, but the value with Hyperspaces is very personal. It’s not one of those pieces of software that everyone is going to go out and purchase.

If you are an avid Spaces user, you will know whether the features Hyperspaces brings to the table will be useful to you or not. If the features strike a cord with you then it is absolutely worth the cost. If you’re not sure, then you’re probably fine without it.

Plain and simple, Hyperspaces is an add-on, or enhancement as I’ve been calling it, to the virtual desktop Mac OS tool Spaces. It adds some solid, very handy customization options and ultimately makes Spaces more user friendly and probably even a bit more functional.

Is it a must have? Probably not. But to the right individual Hyperspaces is just what they’re looking for.

This year AppStorm is taking part in Blog Action Day to raise awareness about clean water and water conservation. We’re going to take a moment to think how using your Mac also uses up the world’s water resources, and showcase a few apps useful for understanding this better.

We’ll also think about a few fundraising ideas that you could explore, using the software already on your Mac! Join us after the break for some handy Mac tips, and fascinating environmental information.

Technology and Water are Linked

It’s difficult to see the connection between your laptop and water usage. After all, water and electronic gadgets are usually kept as far away from one another as possible! The truth is that there’s an enormously important link between your Mac and water – energy.

In more or less every power plant around the world, water makes up a substantial cost. It cools the incredible heat produced by oil and gas power stations, and turns the hydro-electric turbines in others. Without water, we wouldn’t have any power – it’s as simple as that.

Whenever you plug your iPhone into the wall to charge, about half a litre of water must flow through kilometers of pipes, pumps, and the heat exchangers of a power plant. That’s a lot of water for a one hour iPhone charge!

There’s an App for That!

Although you’ll struggle to find many Mac applications designed to inform you about water usage and conservation, the iPhone is another story altogether. iPhone.AppStorm has published a great article today, looking at a number of different iPhone apps that help you stay on top of how much water you use.

They include:

• Water Buddy – This makes it easy to keep track of your household water readings
• Waterprint – Telling you how much water is required to make certain products.
• How Blue Are You? – Part of American Standard’s Responsible Bathroom campaign to raise awareness for water conservation and provide tips to make your home more water friendly.

I’d like to highlight one extra iPhone application here, which I particularly love. The Virtual Water Project shows you graphically how much water is used to make many of the products you use and take for granted every day. Everyone loves a good infographic, and this interactive app is a real eye-opener.

Putting Your Mac to Good Use

It’s easy to think of your Mac purely as a tool for work or entertainment (watching videos, listening to music – you name it). But what about using some of the power encompassed in OS X for fundraising?

Make a Photo Calendar with iPhoto

Every year, one of the Christmas presents I give to my family is a beautiful photo calendar designed in iPhoto. These things are gorgeous, and make absolutely fantastic gifts.

Rather than using a calendar as a gift this year, why not offer to sell them to your friends and family (for a healthy profit!), and donate the extra proceeds you make to a water charity?

Burn and Sell a Family Video DVD

You could do a very similar thing with a video DVD of family moments, shot throughout the year. Family and friends would definitely be happy to donate a few dollars towards the cost of producing it, and you could give the extra money collected to a charity (I’ve recommended two below).

Everyone wins! You get to play around in iDVD, your family get a beautiful DVD, and you can also give money towards building a fresh water well in the developing world. Who’d have thought that iDVD could ever be used for such a noble cause…

Offer Your Mac Expertise!

Last but not least, think about all those times that a friend asks you for your advice with a technical Mac issue…

Rather than reluctantly agreeing each time (or pocketing a few dollars), why not declare that you’ll take $5 for each technical support request and donate it to charity?

Picking a Charity

There are two widely known charities that are solely dedicated to the issue of clean water, both of which make a great choice for a fundraising or sponsored project:

• Water.org is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization committed to providing safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries. There are various ways to get involved with their work.
• charity: water is another non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Backed by a handful of famous faces and celebrities, they guarantee that 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.

Share Your Ideas!

Do you have any other ideas for fundraising on your Mac? I’d love to hear them, so please feel free to share in the comments.

Also, if you run your own blog, have you signed up for Blog Action Day this year? It isn’t too late to write something relevant and interesting about the issue of water. Help to do your bit, and spread the word today!

When you think of drawing tools, you think of an Adobe product, right? You think of a really expensive piece of software that costs thousands of dollars. What if I was tell about a completely vector based program that is both feature packed and affordable.
Let me introduce you to Sketch from Bohemian Coding.

From the same one-man-team who developed Fontcase, Sketch is a vector based drawing program for designers and artists alike. Vector drawing means instead of pixels, everything is a mathematic piece of data. If you ever needed to enlarge the vector image, it wouldn?t become pixelated, even at large sizes. Vector design programs are heavily preferred by designers for that unique quality.

We’ll take a closer look at how Sketch works after the break.

Getting Started

When you open Sketch, the first thing you will notice is the blank canvas. You can stretch or resize this as you wish, stretching it as far as your screen will allow. Everything you need is contained in that one window, making it easy have multiple other windows open while using Sketch.

Just like any drawing program, it organizes content via layers. Rearrange layers to reposition elements in front of or behind other elements. The insert button allows you to create a new layer based on the tool you select.

The brush tool gives you a free range to draw anything you would like with a customizable brush. For a more precise brush, the window at the bottom of the screen gives you options for making it smaller or larger.

For tracing around elements, or for even more precise drawings, you can select the vector tool and click to add points to the newly created vector shape. This is similar to the pen tool in Photoshop.

Once you create your amazing drawing, click the Inspector tool and begin selecting your fill colors. Instantly the selected shape will fill with the color you chose. You can also add an inner shadow and outer shadow to add depth to your drawings. Use the distort tool to fine-tune your masterpiece and get creative.

An example of the amazing work that can be created with Sketch, icon recreation by Adrian Kenney

Feature Packed

Sketch comes with a huge number of features, while still remaining simple to use. Here are just a few amazing features that come with Sketch:

• Transform tool
• Join and split two shapes
• Distort shapes and drawings with a wide selection of distortion tools
• Multiple page support means you can work all in one file
• Unlimited canvas is available to you by just resizing the window (no need to change any of your job settings)
• Export your work to PDF, SVG, EPS, JPG, TIF, PNG, and GIF
• Reads Sketch, DrawIt, and SVG files natively
• Extensions allow for extending providing libraries

Drawing with Sketch

Sketch has a very intuitive user interface that makes designing fun. Just start drawing either with your mouse, or any supported drawing tablet. Once you have your sketches in, you can start shading, distorting, and transforming.

Sketch gives you a good proportion of the power and features expected in a professional application, without a high cost or difficult user interface. Within minutes of opening Sketch I was able to recognize what all the tools meant and did.

Another example of amazing work created in Sketch, this monkey was designed by Joel Drapper

When you to leave the house, you can sync your Sketch document with SketchPad for the iPad. It offers a similar ability in a portable capacity and is a great way for taking your Sketch documents with you.

You can also open your Sketch documents in Bohemian Codings other application, DrawIt.

In Conclusion

Sketch packs a serious punch of amazing tools and features, while still remaining easy to use. Even if you had the latest and greatest Adobe Creative Suite 5, you still wouldn?t get the amazing simplicity and speed of Sketch.

It won?t replace Adobe Illustrator in high end design studios, but it will make its way onto many home computers as their #1 tool for vector drawing. Bohemian Codings other application Fontcase won the Best Mac OS X Leopard Student Product in 2009, and if Apple holds these awards next year, Sketch could be the next winner.

Sketch is $40 for a limited time only, afterwards it will jump up to $55. Even if Sketch was $100, it would be $500 cheaper than Adobe’s vector editing program. Great for artists who don?t need the high-end tools of Adobe Illustrator, but still require a fast and feature packed application.

Apple today announced a new media event, due to be held in six days on the 20th October. Called “Back to the Mac”, it signals the focus of the presentation will be upon OS X, and Apple’s Mac hardware lineup. If you’ve become a little tired of the successive stream of iPhone, iPad and iOS announcements over the past 12 months, now’s a good time to start getting excited!

The invitation states “Come see what’s new for the Mac on October 20, including a sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X.” I’ll be taking a look at what the announcement is likely to cover after the break!

Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”

It’s clear to see from the invitation that Apple is planning to usher in the age of the lion (that’s a lion behind the door, right?), with aspects of the presentation dedicated to talking about the next major release of the OS X operating system.

Specifics of what OS X 10.7 will include – or when it will be released – are few and far between, so there’s plenty of scope to surprise us all next Wednesday.

The latest incarnation of OS X – Snow Leopard – was more of an incremental improvement over Leopard than a major overhaul. It slimmed the operating system down, making things leaner, faster, and generally a little bit smarter all round. But we didn’t see many major additions or changes.

The general consensus seems to be that, this time around, Apple will be going for something considerably bigger. We’re likely to see a few flagship features touted heavily, and plenty of further enhancements under the hood.

Many people are expecting a unified overhaul of the OS X interface – something that I’m excited about, and fearful of, in equal measure. It’ll be fascinating to see whether this materialises and, if so, what Apple has up their sleeve to make the media gasp.

10.7 Is Already Out There…

The very first visitor to AppStorm running OS X 10.7 hit the site in January 2010 – almost ten months ago. In line with what TechCrunch reported earlier today, we’ve started to see visitor numbers from this OS gradually increase in recent months.

…But Be Prepared to Wait

Last time Apple offered a preview of an operating system before it’s release, we had to wait a full year before it actually hit the shelves. Whether we’ll see the same wait this time remains to be seen, but it’s certainly likely to be at least six months before you can actually get your hands on 10.7.

Updated Hardware?

Along with a preview of the next version of OS X, there’s a chance we’ll see some updated hardware announced. This would be good timing for the holiday season, helping to spur sales for Apple in the run-up to Christmas and Thanksgiving.

There’s no doubt that the spotlight has been on iOS for the past few months. The latest Mac hardware updates came on the 27th July in the form of updated iMac, Mac Pro and Cinema Display lineups. That’s quite a while ago!

We haven’t seen any major revisions to the MacBook lineup for a while, so there’s a good chance we’ll see an updated MacBook Air, or tweaks to MacBook/MacBook Pro models.

Speculate Away!

So what do you think we’ll be seeing announced next week? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on new OS X 10.7 features and potential hardware changes. Let’s see whether we can guess a few of the surprises correctly!

Personally, I won’t be satisfied unless Steve’s “one more thing” turns out to be an actual, real-life lion…

An application launcher is something that a lot of Mac users won’t really worry about. After all, Apple was nice enough to include a handy little launcher (the Dock) with their OS. It’s pretty flexible and fairly feature rich. Why even look for an alternative? Because there are a lot of better alternatives out there. Let’s take a look at one.

Jump aims to solve some problems you probably didn’t know you even had. I have to say I thought I’d just grab the free version, check it out for a few days and be done with it in a week. That’s actually quite the opposite of what happened. Read on for the scoop.

Overview

So what is Jump all about? It’s a good question, and one I was asking up until I started to actually use the software. Jump is a launcher in its simplest form. It allows you to launch applications, folders, documents, etc. very quickly.

Download and Install

The installation of Jump is quick and simple. A download of the trial version right from the product page is about as easy as it gets. It’s a fairly light piece of software so from download to using it was literally a matter of seconds. The trial version does restrict the application to 3 categories and 10 applications/folders/documents. It’s plenty to get a taste of Jump.

Jump can be activated by a shortcut key (set by you) or a quick launch button (placed where you want it) or both. These can be easily changed in the preferences. I found it best have both options active, although after a few days I found myself using the shortcut method a lot more. It’s far quicker.

The Tiny Launch Button

User Interface and App Usage

Jump has a simple, clean design. This works well given what the tool is designed to do. The application icons are brought to the front of the design making them easy to pick out and quick to launch.

A common “X” button in the upper left hand corner closes Jumper (can also press the shortcut key again). A small button in the lower right hand corner brings up a series of options. Here all of the applications of a category can be launched, categories can be edited, and the preferences can be opened.

Jump user interface

The categories are pinned along the left hand side of the main palette in a slightly smaller box. It is possible to turn these off if you chose to not use categories and just have one large group. There is also a small, familiar looking search box at the top of the palette.

The size of the actual palette and the size of the icons is down to user preference as well. Available configurations are icons sized 64×64 px, 128×128 px, or 256×256 px with either 8, 16, 32, or 64 icons per page. As you can see the layout is pretty flexible, but keep in mind that some combinations may not be available depending on your screen resolution.

All the while you’re trying out different configurations, an example of the current settings will display right within the preferences window.

The Dock is a part of Mac OS X and is nice application launcher, but very limited in its organization (there isn’t any). With Jump you are able to organize an unlimited number of applications in an unlimited number of categories and essentially launch them in a similar fashion as you would with the Dock. This is really the essence of the software.

Let’s think about the possibilities here for a second. Say you’re a web developer. You’ve got a core set of tools that you use on almost every project. Those could be organized into say a “Web Workspace” category. With Jump open and that category selected you’ll see only those applications.

It is even possible to launch all applications in a category all at once. It requires a couple clicks of the mouse, but overall isn’t too tough. It’s a handy little feature and hopefully it will become quicker (maybe via a shortcut key preference setting) in future releases.

Preferences

The preferences in a utility type application are a very important feature. Jump is a fairly basic application, but it does offer a pretty wide array of preference options to allow you to fine tune the tool to fit your needs.

To be honest, some settings seem rather pointless, but others could certainly be very useful depending on how you want to use the tool. Let’s take a closer look:

First of all, the preferences can always be reached via a small button on the bottom right-hand corner of the interface at all times.

System preferences window

Enable the option to launch Jump after login and to always display Jump in front of other windows. Then set your Dock preference to hide. Now Jump is ready to be your primary application launcher and the Dock is still down there if you ever need it

The background of the Jump palette can be changed in the preferences as well. I went through all of the available options and will just tell you to not waste your time. This is purely my opinion, but I think the default Slate background is by far the best.

They’re not all horrible – and I suppose a lot of it has to do with personal taste – but some of them did remind me of desktop background options on my parent’s Packard Bell PC (rocking Windows 95).

Peformance and Functionality

Jump loads quickly. If it isn’t set to load on log in, you may notice it open a little slower the first time it is launched each session. After that it is very snappy to open and close.

Adding applications/folders/documents/etc. to the palette is as easy as clicking anywhere within the palette. A finder window opens for you to chose what you’d like to add. Hovering you cursor over an application on the palette will display a small “X” next to the application. This will remove it from the launcher. A right click option is also available if you so chose.

Using a keyboard shortcut to launch Jump is easy to slide right into your normal Mac use. After so much time using the Dock or another launcher it may take some getting used to Jump, but I will say that a transition to a more visual launcher (like Jump) will be easier to handle than a move to something like QuickSilver. You’ll have Jump mastered in a matter of minutes.

Comparison

There are other application launchers out there, although I’m not sure there are any that are quite like Jump. Jump differentiates itself from most others in that it is a point and click launcher. It’s a visual experience, and relies on a mouse click to launch an application (like the Dock).

QuickSilver is a different well known application launcher for Mac. Though it does launch applications, it is a lot more complicated and does many other things as well. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on exactly what you’re looking to get out of it.

Pricing

A full version Jump license will run you $24.14 (19.00€). Multiple license discounts are available as well. With some viable options in the application launcher field being free, the cost may seem a bit steep. It does come with updates for life and free technical support.

Though it is a simple piece of software, if you think about how integral it could become to your normal everyday usage the cost seems pretty justifiable. If you’re curious about it, try out the trial version. It will give you enough of a feel to see if it is something that will work for you.

Conclusion

Jump is not a sexy piece of software. It’s a utility and a very useful one at that. There are so many good applications available, it’s often easy to get overloaded. A launcher with the ability to organize as Jump does becomes incredibly helpful.

Simplicity makes the application more efficient while the preferences offer just enough room for customization. Some would say that it isn’t robust enough, or that it is too mouse dependent. I’m an organizational nerd who loves minimalist style and remembers icons better than names – so Jump suites me quite well.

The application succeeds exactly where it intends. A better way to launch applications.

I’ve read a few interesting articles this week about whether apps that help you achieve better productivity or a “distraction free” environment are really a good thing (e.g. WriteRoom). On the face of it, this type of software does help you get more done and avoid a cluttered workflow. But is it that simple?

Another argument could be that the process of trying out all these new “productivity enhancing” applications is actually just a way of putting off work that needs to be done! Wouldn’t it be better if you just settled on a single app and got to work?

I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on this. How do you view this process of searching for and trying out new apps? Does it ultimately lead to the “ultimate” set of software for a productive workflow, or is it just another way of procrastinating?

As a side note; if you want to read something slightly more in-depth about this topic, try this recent article by Merlin Mann. Lengthy and detailed, but fascinating nonetheless.

Have you ever wished for a really, really simple app to just track the time you are spending on a task? Nothing fancy, nothing that forces you to install a full blown application with so many options you forget what it was that you wanted to do?

Or are you craving for something that will simply work with your favorite web service like Freshbooks or Basecamp? Well, look no further. Eon might be the answer to your needs.

The Interface

Eon doesn’t have an interface in the traditional sense. After installation, it will sit in your menu bar. A tiny timer, unobstrusive yet elegant.

Eon Menu Bar

Through the preference window, you can manage your projects. If you have multiple sub-tasks belonging to a single project, you can group them together. That will help you to keep your stuff organized. There are no restrictions to the number of projects you can add, so go crazy!

Tasks & Projects

Once you’ve set up your tasks, you can start tracking time for them. You can do that either via the menu item or time tracking screen, depending on your preferences.

Tracking Time

Integration With Other Services

While being useful and extremely pretty, the true power of Eon lies in its integration with 17 – yes, that’s right: seventeen – third party services that you might use to write your invoices and keep track of your work. You can see a complete list on Eon’s website, but some of the most widely known services are ActiveCollab, Basecamp, Billings, Freshbooks and Harvest.

In order to transfer the recorded time from Eon to any of those services, simply select the project in question in the preferences window and set the checkmark for “Integrate with An Online Service”. Then chose your account type and enter the relevant information.

Setting Up Billings

I tried this with Billings, since it’s the app I use for my invoicing. It’s not an online service, but the method is the same (depending on which service you chose, the information you need to provide may vary).

The recorded time shows up in Billings as a general slip (time record), which I can then assign to a project or client I’ve already set up in the app.

Importing

Additional Features

So far we’ve talked about the basic functionality of Eon, which is exactly what it claims to be: a simple and elegant time tracking app. But there are some other nice features worth mentioning.

First of all, you can round your time. Doesn’t sound spectacular? Well, it depends on if and how you charge for your time. I myself charge in 30 minute increments. So, if I’ve worked for less than 30 minutes, I can have Eon round up that time for me before sending it to Billings.

Rounding Times

What if I made a mistake while doing that (or for some reason got distracted while the timer was running), and now I am about to charge my client more than I actually worked for? Eon has a solution for that as well – time editing. It’s all simple, elegant and very easy to use.

Editing Times

And, of course, many of you will know the scenario where you walk away from your computer, but forget to stop the timer. Maybe your phone rang, maybe your kid needed you … you come back and the timer runs and runs and you have no idea how much time you actually spent before walking away.

You guessed it: Eon has a solution for that as well. It’s smart enough to notice if your computer is idle (you’re not doing anything with it) and it just stops the timer then. Once you’re back, you can restart it where you left off. Cool.

Verdict

Eon is a very smart and handy little app that comes with just enough features to be very useful but not enough to make it bloated. Apart from sexy looks, it surprises with the level of third-party service integration offered and I think that’s where its strength lies.

Some of those services don’t offer you the ability to constantly track your time unless you have the website open. With Eon, you don’t need an internet connection. You can simply work wherever and whenever you want and, once you’re done, send the information where you want it.

Is it worth $30? For a casual user, maybe not. But if you’re a freelancer using any of the integrated services and you make your living by charging others for your time, you might want to give Eon a closer look.

Hidden deep inside your Applications directory is a folder marked “Utilities”. To a lot of people, this cold, generic title will scare you away, and many will never venture inside, or if they do, won’t want to open up any of those frightening-sounding applications for fear of ruining something.

This is unfortunate, as your Utilities folder harbours a wealth of great apps with beautiful icons and wonderful UIs, all designed to make your experience on a Mac even easier.

Even to the most experienced Mac user, some of the utilities will lie unused. You might know Terminal and System Profiler, but won’t have a clue what Grapher or Console does. In this bumper article, I hope to show you what you can do with these mysterious apps, and how your Mac might just get a whole lot better!

Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor

It’s happened to all of us – Your Mac is running fine, and then suddenly, something happens and everything slows to a halt. You know that something must be sucking up your RAM, but don’t have time to close down everything just to find the problem.

This is where Activity Monitor comes in. The app shows you all of the processes you have running, and how much damage they’re doing to your RAM and CPU. Like most Apple apps, you can order by a variety of criteria, such as Memory, which can be a great way of finding which app is taking up all of your RAM.

Activity Monitor also provides graphical representations of your Mac’s CPU, System Memory, Disk Activity and Network, so you can keep on top of how your Mac is doing.

AppleScript Editor

AppleScript Editor

AppleScript is a language created to make your life easier. You can automate iTunes, clean up your Address Book, or any number of other tasks that would take hours for you to do manually, but can be done in seconds using AppleScript.

AppleScript Editor allows you to write your own scripts, but if you don’t want to learn yet another language, then there are loads of pre-built scripts out there.

Audio MIDI Setup

Audio MIDI Setup

You might be content with your Mac’s sound, but it could be so much better, if you just spent a few minutes tweaking it to suit your needs. For example, by changing your speakers from 16 to 24bit, it instantly sounds much cleaner and nicer to listen to.

Considering its ease of use and usefulness, it seems strange that this isn’t inside System Preferences, but nevertheless, it isn’t, and instead, you can be one of the elite few that have optimum sound.

Bluetooth File Exchange

Bluetooth File Exchange

If you need to transfer a file to a device but can’t find, or don’t have, the correct cables to do it, then you might think you’re pretty much stuck. Think again, because if your device has Bluetooth, you can quickly and easily transfer your files over to the device, or get files from the device. This can be a lifesaver, especially in a working environment.

Like almost all utilities, this app makes it very easy to do what you want to, and fast.

Boot Camp Assistant

Boot Camp Assistant

This does exactly what it says on the tin – Helps you to partition your hard drive and install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp.

There are a number of reasons for installing Windows. For example, developers can test out their websites on the dreaded Internet Explorer, most CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software only works on Windows, and, of course, Pinball, Solitaire and Minesweeper! OSX will do everything you need, but Windows can help you do everything else.

ColorSync Utility

ColorSync Utility

This is one of the slightly more difficult apps to figure out, due to its wide range of features. However, if you just want to do a bit of image editing, it also works quite well.

When you open an image, you can quickly and easily resize it, give it numerous effects such as Sepia and Black & White.If nothing else, this app boasts one the most beautiful icons around.

Console

Console

Console simply displays your computer’s log. If your Mac did anything, it’ll be here, somewhere. This allows you to find any errors and troubleshoot them.

At first, the interface may look quite daunting, but basically, if you don’t see anything that says “Critical”, everything is probably fine!

DigitalColor Meter

DigitalColor Meter

This is essentially an eyedropper, as suggested by the stunning icon. If you’ve ever used Photoshop or any other graphics editor, you will probably be familiar with the eyedropper tool, with which you can find the color used in any individual pixel (or selection of pixels).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is in fact an eyedropper with an impressive feature list. You can find the color in a number of formats, such as RGB, CIE and Y’PbPr, as well as copying it directly to the clipboard as either text or an image. You can also find the average color in an area, a useful tool for dealing with photographs.

Disk Utility

Disk Utility

Disk Utility can be used to fix anything that’s wrong with a physical drive. It can be extremely useful for reformatting external hard drives, and other similar tasks. However, you can also erase the entire contents of your computer with it, so try and make sure you’re not doing anything too harmful!

You can also control your disc drive, and erase data from discs. It can be a great tool when you need it, although that will probably be rarely.

Grab

Grab

You probably use this utility already, but simply don’t realise it yet. Grab is the OSX utility for screen captures, so you’re using it whenever you use Cmd-Shift-3, Cmd-Shift-4, or any of the other screenshot shortcuts.

While I would never go into Utilities to access it, I use Grab much more than any other utility (my screenshots directory contains over 1,300 images), and find it just as useful as any other third-party screenshot software.

Grapher

Grapher

Upon first opening Grapher, it will look like a whole lot of mathematical jargon. And in truth, it is.

However, you have a choice of two ways of using this utility: You could use it to create beautiful graphs using mathematical formulae. Or you could use it to play around in a 3D field of strange, impossible shapes.

And they say that OSX doesn’t have any games…

Keychain Access

Keychain Access

Chances are that if you use a computer enough, you will ask a variety of applications to store passwords. These might include Twitter, Mail, Dropbox, etc. But what if, one day, you forgot your password to one of these? If you don’t use 1Password, you can always use this utility to retrieve it. You also remove passwords from the keychain to make your Mac more secure.

Migration Assistant

Migration Assistant

Switching to a new computer will always be difficult, but with Migration Assistant, it can be made an awful lot easier. Not only will it transfer all of your files, but all of your software, accounts and settings, which means that you won’t have to spend several months getting your new computer up to the standard of your old one.

Just another reason to stick with Mac for your next computer!

Network Utility

Network Utility

This utility is the perfect hub to keep track of your internet performance, look up website information and anything else regarding your network connection. If your internet is down, this should be your first port of call.

Podcast Capture

Podcast Capture

If you fancy yourself as somewhat of a potential radio DJ, then producing a podcast might well be the best place to start. This utility, as the name suggests, allows you to record podcasts, using audio, video from a camera, and screen captures.

Unfortunately, you can only use this if you’re running Mac OS X Server. If you are, then this will be a great app for you. If not, then maybe stick to GarageBand.

System Profiler

System Profiler

This is one of the utilities that you might have used occasionally. It basically provides you with all the information you’ll ever need about your computer, and more.

Whether it’s every little stat about your hardware, or a list of all your software and information about each app, System Profiler is a great tool for a procrastinating geek.

Terminal

Terminal

Terminal is the king of the utilities. It can make your Mac do anything, as long as you know how to tell it how to do it. With Terminal, you can tweak almost everything about your Mac, as well as hear it sing, play games on it, and so much more.

For just a taster of what Terminal can do for you, check out this article.

VoiceOver Utility

VoiceOver Utility

VoiceOver is an accessibility feature on OS X designed to make it easier for blind people, and those with dyslexia, to use a computer. If you’re visually impaired, or have a relative who is, they don’t need to be at such a disadvantage.

Apple is known for an amazing dedication to accessibility – both on the Mac and iOS – and you’ll see just how deep this operating system integration goes with VoiceOver.

X11

X11

The X Window System (commonly X or X11) is network protocol and libraries that provide the GUI for Unix and Unix-line operating systems (like Linux and FreeBSD).

In this case, X11 is Apple’s implementation of the X server. It’s used for running certain applications that require this GUI functionality – often older software, or that designed specifically for cross-platform operation. A couple of examples include GIMP and InkScape.

Conclusion

I hope that this article will have shown you the wonders of your Utilities folder, and that from now on, you will be less afraid of venturing into it.

I know that while researching and writing this article, I found out a lot, and was particularly impressed by Grapher, DigitalColor Meter, and everyone’s old favorite, Terminal.

Why not try out some of these utilities – you’ll be surprised how much easier they will make your life!

Over the past couple of years, AppStorm has grown from one small blog to a network of three sites (with some exciting new projects in the pipeline!). Today we’re asking for three minutes of your time to help us make AppStorm better than ever.

We’d absolutely love to hear your opinion, and will be awarding one random entrant a $100 gift voucher for either Amazon or iTunes – your call!

Take the 3-Minute Survey!

Competition Rules

• People who submit more than once will be disqualified.
• The winner will be picked randomly and contacted by email.
• Entries must be in before Midnight GMT on the 18th October

I’m incredibly excited to let you know that the first ever AppStorm book (in conjunction with Rockable Press) is now available to buy for just $19. iPhone Entrepreneur brings together insight and ideas from experienced iPhone developers and users to help you understand how to approach the development of your own app.

Whether you’re an experienced developer or just starting to think about creating an iPhone app, this book will help you make your next release a real success. Read on to find out more, read a few testimonials, and grab a discount!

What to Expect

In iPhone App Entrepreneur, AppStorm manager David Appleyard sheds light on what it takes to get you to iPhone app success!

Drawing from the insights and experiences of 16 top-notch app developers, and survey responses from over 1000 iPhone users, David Appleyard equips you with everything you need to successfully become an iPhone app entrepreneur!

Book Contents

Here’s what you can expect from the book.

• Learn how to perfect a killer idea, brainstorm, and spot opportunities
• Find out about how the App Store works, and how to get your app approved
• Different development options and choices
• The importance of simple, sexy interface design
• How you can start simple and iterate
• Learn about how to price your app for the right audience
• Discover new promotion opportunities for your app
• Hundredsof useful development resources and links
• A survey of 80+ iPhone developers – see how they achieved success!
• A survey of over 1,000 iPhone users – find out what they look for when buying and using iPhone apps

If you’re undecided, you can download the sample pages of the book to get a feel for the layout and style!

Buy Now!

If you’ve heard enough and would like to pick up your own copy, you can buy iPhone Entrepreneur either as a PDF eBook, or in paperback form:

Grab a $4 Discount! (7 Days Only!)

If you’re an Envato Marketplace user, the book is available to buy with your marketplace credit. For the first week only, you’ll receive a $4 discount by purchasing it through the Tuts+ Marketplace!

Find Out More

If you’d like to read more about iPhone Entrepreneur (and check out a few extra quotes/testimonials), we’ve put together a launch page that should tell you everything you need to know:

Still not satisfied? Just drop me an email to ask me a question about the book – I’ll be happy to help!

Thanks for reading AppStorm and, if you do choose to pick up a copy of iPhone App Entrepreneur, I really hope you enjoy it!

We’re kicking off another new post series today, called “Ask the Editor”. Hopefully it’ll turn into a great outlet for you to ask questions – both about Mac software, hardware, and AppStorm – and for me to share my responses!

Whether you have a burning question about which is the best Mac text editor, want to know what software I’d recommend for students, or even if you’re interested in what happens behind the scenes at AppStorm, I’m here to help!

I’ve had some great questions submitted this week, so read on to find out what my responses are (and how you can submit your own questions for the next article!)

People say that “Macs are secure”, but I’d like to know why this is. Isn’t it just because they are not as widely used?

– Girish Kolari

Definitely an interesting question. Many people take this approach, that Macs are just as susceptible to viruses as Windows, but there simply aren’t many viruses targeted at OS X. Of course, this is always bound to be partly true. But that’s too simple an explanation.

By default, your Mac comes in a fairly secure state. Most external ports are closed by default, you set a user password that’s required to install any new software, and software updates occur (almost) automatically to plug any security holes as they emerge.

The important thing is that system files on OS X can only be edited with your explicit authentication (i.e. entering your password). Malware and viruses do exist, but are generally only installed on the back of another legitimate app. Software can’t be installed without you knowing, as you need to authorise it.

Though you’re more secure on a Mac than many other platforms, don’t be complacent. You should configure the firewall and consider using an anti-virus app. We posted a really extensive article on this topic a few months ago, and it’s an excellent place to go for a full overview of this issue.

How many days of development/planning went into Mac.AppStorm before it’s initial public release?

– Brandon Roach

The idea for this network of sites was conceived by Envato’s founder – Collis Ta’eed. After he’d developed the concept of Mac.AppStorm itself, I was hired to be the site editor as the development process was getting under way.

I came on board as the site editor around the 5th January 2009, and the site launched on the 30th January 2009. Development took just over a month in total – not all that long (but the site was considerably simpler when we first launched than it is today!)

One of the very first site mockups

Is there a way to stop mounted external hard drives from spinning up when you open a save or open dialog box in OS X?

– John Columbo

This is a problem that I imagine annoys quite a few of our readers. If you have several external drives connected, it can be a really frustrating experience when they need to spin up every time you open a “Save” or “Open” dialog window.

The good news is that there’s a solution to preventing this. The bad news is that it prevents a drive from mounting altogether – if you want to access it, you’d need to manually open Disk Utility and mount it specifically.

The solution itself is also quite complicated. Rather than re-iterate the whole process here, I would point you in the direction of this MacWorld hint which explains everything clearly.

It’s quite tricky, unfortunately, and does require that you get your hands dirty editing a few system files.

Is there any way in Mac OS to somehow “freeze” an app without quiting it?

– Bartholomew Soyka

There absolutely is! This comes in the form of a really handy little app called AppTamer. After a little bit of configuration at the outset, you can sit back and let AppTamer handle this process for you automatically.

AppTamer pauses an application when you switch away from it, then automatically restarts it when you start using it again. Just set it and forget it! This is particularly useful when running on your MacBook’s battery, and can really help to prolong the life you’ll get out of a single charge!

Why are you better than the competition?

– @danielsgroves

Good question! My instinct would be to avoid answering something along these lines, but I definitely feel it’s a valuable topic to debate…

First of all, I’m proud of the fact that AppStorm is completely impartial in everything we write. Although we offer Quick Look sponsored posts, these are completely seperate to our reviews, and have no impact on the way we look at an application in a subsequent review.

I think that readers also value how we go into more detail in our articles than many other review sites. Although the response was positive when we started publishing more content recently, many people said “great, so long as quality isn’t affected”. We always strive for quality over quantity.

Finally, I think that we do a good job of listening to our readers and asking what they’d like to see. As it happens, we’re launching a big “AppStorm Reader Survey” this week which will give people a chance to say what they’d like to see more/less of across our sites.

Didn’t See Your Question?

If you asked a question but didn’t have it answered today, don’t worry! I’ll do my best to get to it in a future week. Unfortunately it isn’t possible to answer every question that’s sent in – I received quite a few over the past week!

If you’d like to submit another question for next time around, you can do so here:Online Form – AppStorm > Ask The Editor

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you agree or disagree with anything I mentioned today!

We Mac users like to scoff at our PC-using peers, what with our lack of viruses, spyware and Internet Explorer. But when it comes down to it, our beloved Macs are simply computers, sharing nearly identical innards as the PC. Though we hate to admit it, our systems can become sluggish and frozen, our memory can become corrupt, and our hard drives can fail. SuperDuper! is an application from Shirt Pocket to help us through those tough times.

SuperDuper! is an extremely simple backup solution for your Macintosh. With a few simple clicks and a bit of patience, you will have yourself a fully bootable carbon copy of your hard drive. What this means is, when and if your hard drive should fail, you can boot from the backup file and run Mac OS X, your files, data, settings completely in tact, just as it were.

Today we’ll walk you through the whole process from start to finish!

Step 1: Format the Target Drive

You’ll want to use a dedicated external hard drive to create the backup. SuperDuper! suggests a FireWire drive, but a USB connection will work just fine (keep in mind, PowerPC-based Macs cannot boot from a USB drive). Before you get started with the backup, you’ll want to format the drive in a Mac-compatible format.

Open Disk Utility. Select the backup drive and click the “Partition” tab. Set the “Volume Scheme” to “1 Partition.” Click “Options” and select “GUID Partition Table” (for Intel-based Macs) or “Apple Partition Map” (for PowerPCs). Give the drive a name (such as “SuperDuper! Backup”) and set the format to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).” Apply the changes and confirm the actions.

Step 2: Choose Your Drives

The SuperDuper! creators suggest you quit all running applications, including hidden background daemons. To do this, log out of your account and log back in while holding down the “Shift” key – this prevents any application from automatically launching.

Open SuperDuper! and select your Macintosh HD from the “Copy” drop-down menu. Select your backup target drive from the “to” drop-down menu. Select “Backup – all files” from the “using” drop-down menu – this will create a carbon copy of your entire hard drive.

You will be unable to select any drives that have not been properly formatted, so if you’re confused as to why your drive isn’t displaying in this step, check you followed the procedure exactly in step 1!

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Choose what you want to backup and where you want to back it up to.

Step 3: Choose Your Options

Click “Options.” Do not enable “Repair permissions for Macintosh HD” (leave it un-checked). Select “Erase [Backup Drive Name], then copy files from Macintosh HD” from the “During Copy” drop-down menu – this option ensures the drive will be bootable (Note: this is the only option in the free, unregistered version).

You can optionally set what you would like to do when the process completes (shutdown, restart, eject the drive, etc.) from the “On Successful Completion” drop-down menu. Click “OK” to save the options.

Erasing the drive before copying your files allows SuperDuper! to set the proper boot settings.

Step 4: Copy Now

Click “Copy Now” to begin the process. That’s it, you’re done. Optionally, you can schedule the backup(s) for a future date by clicking the “Schedule…” button. You can set the weeks and days of the month to start the backup process, as well as the time of day.

It will take a significant amount of time to create the copy of your hard drive – the time will vary depending on the speed of the drives and size of your Macintosh HD. A progress bar will indicate the percentage completed.

When finished, you will be notified of the successful complete and you will have a fully bootable, exact replica of your Mac’s internal hard drive.

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Set it and forget it with SuperDuper’s scheduling options.

Booting from the Backup

When (if) the time comes to utilize your SuperDuper! backup, booting from the copy is fairly simple. With the drive connected, you can select it as the “Startup Disk” within System Preferences – when the computer reboots, it will automatically boot into the SuperDuper! backup.

If your hard drive has completely failed and you cannot access Mac OS X at all, you can hold down the “Option” key during boot up. This will present you with the available boot drives, simply select the SuperDuper! backup and hit “Enter.” The system will bypass the internal hard drive, booting directly off the external backup.

It’s worth doing this as soon as your backup is finished, just to check that it worked correctly. Don’t leave it until the worst happens and you desperately need the backup copy to test things out!

Why Use SuperDuper! ?

You’ve no doubt heard of Time Machine, a little utility built into the Mac OS X Leopard (and later) operating system that allows the user to create incremental back ups of their hard drive. With this built-in functionality, why would ever have a need for SuperDuper! ?

The primary functionality of each utility is a bit different. Time Machine allows a user to travel “back in time” to recover that accidentally deleted TPS report or family photo. It also allows for users to restore previous versions of files – don’t like the changes you made to that Photoshop document? No problem, revert it to an earlier copy.

SuperDuper! on the other hand, allows users to create fully bootable images of their drives. These images can boot on any machine, without hassle (and regardless of CPU) – meaning you can use your SuperDuper! backup to access your data while using a friend’s computer.

This is especially handy if Apple is in the process of replacing your failed hard drive and you are without your machine. SuperDuper! offers a bit more flexibility than the Apple utility, filling in the gaps that Apple’s often too-simplistic take on things can create

The truth is, the two work great in tandem – and even the developer bills SuperDuper! as “the perfect compliment to Time Machine.” Also, no harm can come from being a bit extra cautious, especially if your Mac is your lifeline!

We first reviewed Marketcircle’s Billings 3 back in February ’09. If you haven’t already seen that article, why don’t you start by clicking through and reading it, since it covers in depth all the significant features the app has to offer. I’ll wait…

Okay, so now you know how Billings 3 works, and how useful it can be if you need to keep track of expenses and manage invoicing clients. It’s a sign of how popular and important this kind of app is in the life of freelancers that when we ran a Quick Look piece on the app more than a year after that initial piece, the vast majority of readers were interested in seeing an updated review.

This isn’t that article. I have used Billings 3 for few years now, and although I’ve tried a few different options along the way, for all the reasons given in our original review, Billings 3 just seems to make more sense and work with less friction than the other apps I’ve tried. Now Marketcircle have taken a step forward and released Billings Pro, and that’s what I’m focusing on today. Stick around, and I’ll walk you through its main features and tell you how it works.

Who Needs Pro?

If you fly solo, freelancing here and there, then Billings 3 is going to be enough for you. Used in conjunction with the excellent Billings Touch (which was reviewed on iPhone.AppStorm, and is available on the App Store), it really is an excellent way of keeping track of your billable hours, expenses, and so on. It offers enough for most freelancers.

But if your business is bigger and more complicated, then Billings Pro is definitely worth a look. It adds several new features that will help maintain a smooth workflow in keeping track of multiple workers, and will especially make a manager’s job much easier.

On the face of it, Billings Pro isn’t cheap: $199.95 per user (costs vary per region, so a direct currency conversion might not give you the exact price you’ll pay – head on over to Marketcircle’s store for pricing in your area).

There is also a monthly pay-as-you-go option, and an upgrade price if you’re moving up from Billings 3. And Marketcircle offer a bundle price to get you up and running for a little less than buying x number of individual licences.

If you compare these costs with setting up accounts for several workers on one of the online time-tracking services, you’ll find that it doesn’t take very long for your monthly subscription costs to amount to a comparable sum – and then you keep on paying for the online service, whereas Billings Pro belongs to you and there’s no ongoing monthly charge.

So What Do You Get?

All the functionality of Billings 3 is included in each user’s version of Billings Pro, with a few new features added in (recurring invoices among them), along with some new invoice templates:

New Invoice Templates

I’m not going to say much about the client app, especially since readers have requested an updated review of Billings 3, and there’s not very much difference between that and Billings Pro for each individual user.

What makes all the difference though, and pulls everything together, is the new Billings Pro Server app. This needs to run on the Mac that’s going to be the central store for the users’ information – in a team, most probably the manager or team-leader’s machine.

Billings Pro Server

So the first step is downloading and installing the server on this machine, and then each user needs to install Billings Pro on his or her computer. The new Switchboard built into this server app makes setting up network connections very simple and straightforward, so you really don’t need much technical knowledge to get things running smoothly.

To take things on the road with your iPhone, you’ll need Billings Pro Touch, which is a free download from the App Store. Again, connecting to Billings Pro Server is a cinch, so you should be up and running in no time.

And whereas you need to upgrade the non-Pro version of Billings Touch to enable Wi-Fi-only syncing with Billings 3, Billings Pro Touch gives you this functionality out of the box, along with Edge or 3G syncing.

On Your iPhone

The Web Interface: Timecard

But you don’t actually need the iOS app for remote working with Billings Pro, because another new feature is a nicely conceived web interface, Timecard, which allows you to keep track of time and expenditure on any web-browser.

Timecard Web Interface

The interface is well designed, and includes a version optimised for mobile browsing, whatever phone you happen to be using. Here’s what it looks like on an Android phone:

On Android

And on a Blackberry:

And On A Blackberry

And, Briefly, How Does It Work?

Billings Pro’s most important advances are its multi-user features, allowing central oversight and management of a multitude of projects. Individual users reporting to a manager submit their slips, which then appear in the Approvals section of his or her copy of Billings Pro:

Approvals

It’s the attention paid to getting networking right that really pays off with Billings Pro – it makes working with the app really straightforward and frictionless.

The multi-currency support introduced to Billings 3 a while back means that it’s possible for individual projects to be billed in local currencies.

In Conclusion

Billings Pro is much more than I need for my one-man show, but there’s much to admire in how Marketcircle have implemented their app.

If you’re a small or medium-sized gang of workers frustrated by the limitations of not being able to bring together your various projects, without needing to pay sometimes hefty monthly subsciptions, then Billings Pro is an excellent option.

It brings all the features that make Billings 3 such a compelling choice for freelancers into a multi-user environment.