Category: Mac

These days we all have our many ways of sharing content online, be it email, Dropbox, or any number of other services, and it can be hard to keep them all straight. The developers of Dropzone have tried to simplify and streamline the sharing process (and other tasks) through automation and a single interface. Let’s see if they’ve succeeded!

Introduction

Dropzone is probably best thought of as a set of automated actions that take a file as their input (similar to an Automator Action or an AppleScript), with a convenient drag-and-drop interface that keeps everything in one place. There are two types of actions managed by Dropzone: uploading to various services, and local actions that speed up common tasks on your Mac.

The Dropzone interface mirrors the Dock Stacks interface, which is a nice touch of consistency

Dropzone 2 is a menu bar app (in contrast to Dropzone 1, which had an unusual Dock icon interface), and performing actions is as easy as dragging a file to your menu bar, then dropping it on the icon for the service you’d like to use. By default, you only have a couple actions to choose from, but if you go to Preferences, you can add all sorts of actions.

Sharing Files with Dropzone

In the course of researching this review, I realized that I probably subscribe to way too many file sharing services. Dropbox, Cloud App, and Droplr are the ones I use most often, but I also have an Amazon S3 account and my own domain that I could publish files to. While the free apps are great for quickly sharing a screenshot or document, sometimes I need something more professional and scalable, and I always ignore S3 because the interface can be so clumsy, and it’s easier to drag a file to Cloud App or Droplr on my menu bar than open up my FTP client. Dropzone brings this drag-and-drop simplicity to Amazon S3 as well as your own domain via FTP.

Not quite as slick as Cloud or Droplr's animated menu bar icon

In addition to S3 and FTP, Dropzone also supports several web services for photo sharing, including Flickr and Image Shack, as well as text-snippet sharing via pastie.org. You can also use Dropzone to compress and email a file using Mail, but this functionality is also built in to the Finder contextual menus.

Like other file sharing apps, Dropzone conveniently copies the URL of your uploaded content to the clipboard so you can share it right away. One of the most useful features of Dropzone is the ‘recent files’ drop down list, which lets you re-copy the URL of a recently uploaded file to the clipboard. This is especially useful if you use a bunch of these services and can’t remember how you’ve shared something, since it’s all kept in one list.

Though it only supports a couple file sharing services by default, you can download one of many plug-ins to extend Dropzone. Currently you can add plug-ins for TwitPic, Dropbox, Posterous, GitHub Gist, bit.ly, and Is.Gd.

Local Actions

Dropzone also automates a number of common tasks on your Mac, allowing you to move files around without navigating through the Finder, and perform various actions with them. One of the more useful actions for me was the ‘install application’ feature, which mounts a .dmg file, moves the app to your Applications folder, unmounts the .dmg, and launches the application. While it’s not really that much trouble to install an application, I download loads of apps in my AppStorm research and those disk images really pile up quickly.

You can also set up a drag-and-drop file moving or copying action, which may not be useful to everyone, but it can reduce the number of Finder windows you have open if you repeatedly make copies or move files. None of the local actions do anything that you can’t do with the Finder, but I can see some of them being useful in specific circumstances.

Installing applications does go blazingly fast with Dropzone

Circles

Dropzone 2 introduces a new interface feature called ‘circles,’ which lets you drag files to the side of the screen and then drop them into one of the animated circles that pop up (inspired by Path). Though the animation is pretty neat, Circles doesn’t do anything that the menu bar interface doesn’t already, so I’d prefer if you could just use Circles and get rid of the menu bar icon. Circles can also interfere a bit with Spaces, but I haven’t found this to be much of a problem.

Cool animation, not much added functionality

Conclusion

Dropzone is pretty expensive ($14) for an app that doesn’t really add any new functionality to your Mac, but I can’t deny that the features are useful, and the price could be well worth it for some users. Power users and keyboard-shortcut ninjas laugh at these kinds of apps, but a lot of casual Mac users love the simplicity of a drag-and-drop interface, which doesn’t require any memorization and has no learning curve.

Though I probably wouldn’t be the kind of person to buy this app for myself, it’s the kind of thing I’d install on my mom’s computer, so she won’t have to worry about keeping all her file sharing services straight, and (hopefully) help her keep her downloads folder a little slimmer.

A lot of functionality is added to Dropzone through plug-ins, so I think the app’s true value will depend on whether or not it gets popular enough for developers to create an extensive library of actions. If Dropzone were eventually extended to include social networking platforms, for example, I could see it gaining a lot more users.

Are you a file-sharing addict like myself? How do you keep it all straight? Though I’m guessing most AppStorm readers tend towards the more tech-savvy, power user side of the spectrum, I’d be interested to see if you’d find this kind of app useful.

I do not intend here to rehash any of the digital ink already put out there on Mountain Lion. Our own James Cull did an excellent job rounding up what we know about Mountain Lion. And Scott Danielson has had an in-depth look at Messages for Mac. I want to address instead something that might be nagging at all of us Mac users just a bit.

With Mountain Lion, Apple has stepped up the game of brining the two ecosystems of Mac and iOS closer together. The trend started (arguably perhaps) with Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event in which iLife was touted to have taken cues from iOS design, FaceTime was brought to the Mac, the Mac App store was announced, the MacBook Air was introduced, and oh yeah, Lion was announced with many features reminiscent of iOS.

Lion brought with it many iOS like advancements; enhancements to Multi-Touch Gestures, Full Screen apps, Launchpad, Resume/Auto Save/Versions, an iPad like Mail interface, iCal and Address Book highly styled like the iOS counterparts, auto termination of applications again borrowed from iOS, reversed scrolling to better match up with touch screen devices, and many more things that all spell out one thing; OS X is borrowing heavily from the design of iOS.

Perhaps it’s only fitting since OS X spawned the existence of iOS in the first place. They share much base code in common. In fact, Steve Jobs very much emphasized in the iPhone introduction keynote of 2007 that the iPhone OS (as it was then called) was really OS X. But what’s actually going on here? Should we fear for the future of OS X?

Looking Toward the Future

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I love iOS. You will be hard pressed to ever find me without my iPhone. iOS is here to stay, it’s a permanent part of our lives and that’s a good thing. But I, and I suspect many (yea most) of you, love OS X just as much.

Perhaps like me you fell in love with OS X long before iOS was even a glimmer in the eyes of Scott Forstall. That’s why we’re all here, we have a passion for OS X and great OS X apps. My life is built on top of OS X. The films I edit, the writing I do, the websites I design, the music library I organize and play, my movie and TV library, my calendar, contacts, notes — everything. My life is completely centered around OS X. But there’s a lot of fear for the future of this venerable operating system. Will it be phased out in favor of iOS? Is Mountain Lion just another step in that direction? Will Mountain Lion be the last major revision of OS X? So many questions.

I don’t pretend to know what Apple’s plans are for the future, but I think the announcement of Mountain Lion, and the obvious thought that has gone into the way Apple wanted to get the word out are sure signs that OS X still has a big part to play for Apple, and for us. Do I have concerns? Of course I do, but I am also very excited about what the future of the Macintosh landscape looks like.

Gatekeeper — The Right Decision

I want to start with this because it affects the apps we love so much at Mac.Appstorm. There has been much speculation about the direction Apple was headed with the App Store and whether all third party apps for the Mac would need to go through this channel to get to the end user. And I can’t say the fear is unfounded since we’ve become accustomed to installing whatever apps we desire on OS X. And I’m not saying it couldn’t eventually happen. But I think, at least at this point that Apple realizes this is a practical impossibility.

The cat was let out of the bag before anyone had dreamed up digital app distribution. The Macintosh was built with the idea of installing third party apps through whatever means the end user chooses. Reeling that one back in (to mix my metaphors) would be a very difficult task indeed, and one we would all balk at.

Instead, Apple took what I believe is a very wise and logical step. Apple has implemented Gatekeeper. Any third party app can still be installed, but not by default. Instead, if the settings are not changed, apps can only be installed from the Mac App Store or from developers with Apple’s stamp of approval.

image courtesy of Apple.com

The reason I believe this is the right decision is because we haven’t actually lost anything — we can always revert to the way it was before where we can run any application we choose, but by default we get quite a bit of protection from the ever increasing threat of malware. This is also pretty much the implementation that Will Shipley argued for, and that I agreed with, which I think means that Apple has their ear to the ground and is listening on this one.

Painting in Broad Strokes

So what about that future? I think we need look no further than the way Apple got the word out about Mountain Lion, and OS X’s new development schedule.

Apple basically called up several key players in the Macintosh community and invited them out to see what was going on with OS X.

I think John Gruber nailed it with this:

Also consider, how are iOS apps developed? The answer is of course, on a Mac. OS X is therefore very important to Apple’s entire ecosystem. Steve Jobs’ sentiment that the Mac would become more of a work truck is, I think, spot on to Apple’s perspective. The Mac is no less important, but it’s importance has shifted.

What About That iOS-ification Thing?

Let’s consider, is this a bad thing? Right now I’m calling it a mixed bag. Personally, I never use Launchpad. It’s ill-conceived for use on the Macintosh. And after the initial newness, I no longer use apps in Full Screen. It defeats the purpose of OS X’s style of multi-tasking.

On the other hand, I love Mail in Lion. It may well be my favorite iOS inspired feature right now. And I love the Multi-Touch Gestures on my MacBook Pro’s trackpad. It’s much more natural and easy to use than Snow Leopard’s gestures. Additionally, I love what I have seen so far of Mountain Lion.

So I say, what about that iOS-ification thing? This isn’t a merger, this is a union. Two operating systems, made by one company to co-exist peacefully. I say let it happen, keep an eye out for bad decisions as Apple walks this line, and love what there is to love about it. I have not found the iOS inspired parts of Lion that I don’t like to be a problem, I simply ignore those things. And those things that I do love, well, I love. There’s nothing wrong with bringing the best parts of iOS, and the things that make the most sense, to the Mac. So let the iOS-ification of OS X carry on.

We’d like to say a big thank you to last month’s Mac.AppStorm sponsors, and the great software they create! If you’re interested in advertising, you can purchase a banner advertisement through BuySellAds, or sign up for a Weekly Sponsorship slot.

Thank you to the fantastic applications we had sponsoring each week during the month, all of which we personally recommend you download and try out!

• MobDis – An incredibly easy way to build mobile sites without writing a single line of code. MobDis features an intuitive drag and drop workflow that’s so simple to master, you’ll be creating awesome sites in minutes flat. It’s a free download so there’s no reason you shouldn’t check it out!
• Photo Transformer – Photo Transformer is a super fast image browser. No need to build a library, just point it at a folder or directory of folders and it will instantly dive in and find all of the image files. From here you can browse the flexible thumbnail grid and quickly filter the results by file type, size, date created, etc.
• Ramotion – Typically we reserve weekly sponsorship slots for our favorite apps but Ramotion has such an impressive portfolio that we simply couldn’t turn them down. One of Ramotion’s primary strengths is icon design. Stop by their icon portfolio for some samples of their work along with a collection of amazing free Mac OS icons.

Finally, thanks to you for reading AppStorm this month, and for checking out the software that our sponsors create. I really appreciate it – you make the site what it is!

Security is something that Macs do well even out of the box. Most users never have to bother much with adjusting their settings to keep their Mac safe and that is one of the reasons Macs are especially appealing to those who can’t wrap their brains around complex security measures.

That luxury, though, often makes people forget that even the simplest measures can already do a lot of good, for example locking the screen of your Mac when you’re not using it. While the standard tools of Mac OS do a good job at that, you can tune the simple command up with Lock Your Screen. We’ll take a look at what the app can do for you.

Should You Lock Your Screen?

Some of you might wonder why you should be locking your screen at all. If your Mac sits only in your living room, accessible by only you or people you trust, that question is understandable. But if you own a MacBook or work on a Mac in an office or public place, you should always take steps to protect your privacy and data.

The very simplest way is to simply lock your screen when you leave by assigning a Hot Corner action. In OS X Lion, simply access the System Preferences and enter Mission Control. Easy to overlook, the button you need hovers on the bottom left. Choose a corner and assign it the action “Put Display to Sleep”. After that, ensure that in the Security Settings, a password is required to access your Mac after the screensaver is turned off.

Your Mac already provides basic security settings for locking your screen

Those are the most basic settings which work on every Mac, no extra tools required. You can set this up in a matter of seconds and should if any of the above scenarios reflect your usage.

Lock Your Screen – Add Security

Now, if all you want is simply a locked screen, the above method will be fine for you. But what if you could put some extra information on that locked screen?

For everyone not versed in terminal commands and scripting, there is a nifty little tool called Lock Your Screen, available in the Mac App Store, that can do just that for you.

Don’t be put off by it’s rather ugly user interface, which doesn’t at all suggest a Mac app. Once you see beyond that, there’s quite a lot to discover. Actually, there are so many options, I will only cover the most interesting ones.

Basically, Lock Your Screen prevents anyone from using your Mac until a security protocol has been completed. There are several options for said protocol:

Choose among different security settings

You can go with a simple password, which you’ll have to type to get control over your Mac back. But the fun options are the Magic Lock and the Dot Match Lock.

In both instances, you have to trace a pattern on a tiled or dotted background to unlock the screen. You set the pattern in the settings of the app and then in the locked screen will be presented with an area to draw in.

Different grids to draw your access code on – literally.

The small dots on the bottom of the drawing area indicate how many tries you have until you have to enter your password to confirm access.

Tune the Looks & Add Information

The added security is just one option worth exploring. The fun starts when you customize your desktop. You can either use one of the provided images (they are more or less the same that come with OS X Lion), one from your own library or the default image.

Using the default image has the benefit that the background actually changes depending on the time of the day. In the morning it’s a beautiful landscape just coming to life; in the evening you can see an astonishing sunset.

The default wallpaper adjusts throughout the day

Hint: Lock Your Screen works fine with a two-screen setup, but the wallpaper only changes with the time on the main screen. The second screen stays with the standard setting.

The next options to consider are weather and time. You have eight different styles to choose from. The weather and time settings can be set either to Fahrenheit/12 hour format or to the 24hr/Celsius format used in Europe, for example.

Add weather and time information to your locked screen

The next options I consider to be the fun features. Well, seeing if you have unread mail is actually pretty useful. But enabling a photo slideshow or the player for iTunes songs as well as settings sounds for the lock/unlock motion are not necessary, but entertaining nonetheless.

Display even more information through the Utilities section

And of course there are very basic settings, like opening the app at login or have your Mac locked during sleep or the screensaver. You can also assign a hotkey to trigger the lock, which I like best because I’m used to that from the PC I have to work with in the office.

Verdict

It has to be understood that Lock Your Screen is just an app that makes your locked Mac look prettier and provides some information which your screensaver can’t. It is by no means a barrier that will hold up someone determined to get to your data since it doesn’t tie in with the Mac’s own security protocols.

That being said, Lock Your Screen still is lot of fun to use and I myself find it quite useful to access iTunes without having to unlock my Mac and to see if there are any emails demanding my attention.

Are you ever in one of those moods where you want to solve a puzzle, but would rather play a puzzling game? If not, maybe you feel like playing something that will really turn your brain on and exercise it. I’ve been browsing the Mac App Store quite often lately to see if there are any great new games/apps that I’d actually enjoy playing.

Sure, there are a lot great games for this stuff, but the main problem is that there are too many of them. You’re probably looking for a short list of the best ones so that you can spend less time reading the list and start playing. Keep reading for ten great games that will really give your mind the workout that it’s been asking for.

Braid

Braid

First and foremost, I present to you the best video game that I’ve ever had the pleasure of completing. Our own Kevin Whipps reviewed it a little over a year ago, giving it nine out of ten stars and calling it “a blast to play, but equally frustrating” and believe me, when you play it you will know why. I’ve always loved this platformer for its unique art and gameplay. Instead of the traditional “straight forward to rescue the lady”, Braid takes things in the opposite direction. From the music — which is absolutely amazing, by the way — to the gameplay, Braid is a piece of fine art.

The game is genius. There are so many hidden puzzles and secret achievements to gain that you will probably need a walkthrough or two if you wish to fully complete the game. Sometimes it will drive you to madness, but hey, that’s what makes it a truly great game right? For your time traveling pleasure, Braid is 30% off for an unknown amount of time. Go rescue your damsel at once!

Developer: Hothead Games

Price: $7.99

Trine

Trine

From the land of myth and mystery comes one of the most beautiful platformers of its time. Trine has some very gripping gameplay, a fun wizardly story and lots of elements ranging from fire and lava to beautiful jungles and swamps. The designers of the world of Trine really had some inspiration in creating the characters and environments. I really love what Ari Pulkkinen has composed for the soundtrack as well — it’s really beautiful.

Even though I’m making it sound like a game that only has amazing graphics and is bare in other areas, that’s not quite true, so let me explain the rest of the elements to you. As a sidescroller, you’d expect Trine to be a lot like Super Mario or something, but it’s much different. All the elements are designed in 3D, even though you can’t really move them in all three dimensions. As for puzzles, there are a lot of them involved in the game, many of which involve using each of the characters to their fullest potential and figuring out how to navigate through a wall by doing so.

Developer: Frozenbyte, Inc.

Price: $.99 for a limited time

Trine 2

Trine 2

It seemed rather fitting to include the sequel to the aforementioned game because of how it took that game a whole step further. The graphics in Trine 2 are astounding, to say the least. In this game, they included spiders and goblins as the main enemies, but I still haven’t finished it yet, so I can’t really tell you all of the enemies.

I’m really enjoying this sequel so far; it does not disappoint, though it is fifteen times the price of its predecessor — this is actually because they’re running a sale on the other one right now to celebrate the launch of Trine 2. Anyway, it has even more improved graphics and better physics than the first. The lighting and beauty of the world is amazing, though it may not perform too well on an older Mac. In addition, this game is much larger than the first.

Developer: Frozenbyte, Inc.

Price: $14.99

Limbo

Limbo

Ah, the horror — literally. Our own Scott Danielson recently reviewed Limbo and gave it nine out of ten stars, signifying that it’s a really great game. Limbo is nearly the opposite of Trine. First, it’s a real classic in the sense that it has no color. The entire game is black and white, just like those really old films your parents used to watch.

In terms of story, Limbo’s is sort of like the classic “rescue the lady” routine, though with a bit of a twist. You see, in this version of the damsel in distress, you are rescuing your sister. That’s really all I’m going to say because the rest is to be learned by yourself when playing the game. However, Danielson did say that you sort of figure out the story as you go and there’s no narrator. He also points out that the story is a bit short and you may be wanting more when you’ve finished the game.

Developer: Playdead ApS

Price: $9.99

Cut the Rope

Cut the Rope

Here’s a classic from the iOS platform. It seems that the developers of Cut the Rope for iOS have decided to bring the extremely successful game to Apple’s Mac App Store in hopes of getting a few more players. The game just recently launched on the 22nd and has been doing quite well. I bought it at launch and have really been liking the way they adapted it to the Mac platform. I really think that you won’t want to buy it if you don’t have a MacBook or Magic Trackpad though, because it won’t be too much fun playing it with a traditional mouse. To read my first impressions, head over here.

Anyway, in terms of story, there isn’t one. It’s just one of those continuing puzzle games that is continually updated — they really work hard at releasing updates that contain new levels every few months. As for gameplay, it’s rather enjoyable. Cut the Rope is a lot of fun to play, even on a Mac. It will puzzle you at times because some of the levels really seem downright impossible. I’ve somehow managed to achieve three stars on all levels on my iPad after playing the game a few times a week for a few months — you get the idea.

Developer: ZeptoLab UK Limited

Price: $4.99

Machinarium

Machinarium

This one is very, shall we say, metal. This is an industrial-style point and click game that’s really a lot different from the others that I’ve mentioned. You aren’t using the keyboard to control the character or anything like that, but rather clicking where you want the character to move and then choosing actions from there. The graphics of the game are not the most appealing, but some may love them. It gives of a sort of grunge feel and has many sounds accompanying it that make you feel like you’re really in the world.

Another perk of Machinarium is mini games, which can be quite puzzling at times. As our own Matt Reich points out in his review of the game, the entire game is really just a bunch of puzzles that are to be solved. Within some puzzles, others reside. He says that the puzzles aren’t extremely hard to complete, but if you don’t play puzzle games very often, then they can become a bit difficult — which means this is the game to challenge your skills.

Developer: Amantia Design

Price: $9.99

World of Goo

World of Goo

This one can get a bit sticky. It’s a real classic that will keep you thinking and also make you want to throw your computer out the window. (If this really does happen, then we recommend that you please remain calm and take a walk.) World of Goo really does have a creative and interesting story with some very involving gameplay.

In World of Goo, gooballs are living all around. You must use them to create bridges over gaps, to escape the perilous depths of caverns deep and wide, and then to just use your imagination. This is the game where it all comes to life with crazy characters and beautiful design.

Developer: 2D BOY

Price: $9.99

LEGO Star Wars Saga

LEGO Star Wars Saga

I remember playing the original LEGO Star Wars games on my GameBoy Advance, back in the day. Then the game came to PSP, but I don’t have that anymore. And then, just last year, LEGO brought the entire Star Wars saga to the Mac and I said “It’s time to spend a few dollars at the Mac App Store.” The game really is great. There’s a lot of intriguing elements in the gameplay and the graphics are beautiful. The soundtrack is just a bit more John Williams, which can never hurt.

I would always recommend this game to anyone who loves an adventure game and wants to be entertained for hours, because it’s all of that and more. The game will literally last you at least a few weeks. It takes quite a while to play all the levels and once you do, there are still a bunch of achievements to be conquered.

Developer: Feral Interactive

Price: $29.99

4 Elements II

4 Elements II

This is kind of a different genre of puzzle game. It’s still very mind boggling at times, but it’s also a lot like Bejeweled in the sense that there are lots of precious and shiny objects within the game. Then again, there are also a lot of cards in the game, so it might just fall into the card game genre.

Whatever the case, 4 Elements II has a very interesting twist to it. For starters, the goal of the game is to restore the “book of magic”. The entire world has apparently been overcome by darkness and despair, all because of a “careless charm made from the formerly wondrous ancient world overcast”. While this story may not sound original, the game is quite addicting and challenging. It’s definitely worth a try and will surely entertain you longer than any non-puzzle game.

Developer: Playrix

Price: $6.99

Spirits

Spirits

Lastly, we have another new addition to the Mac App Store. Spirits was a very critically acclaimed game on iOS and now the developers have brought it to the big screen for even more players to enjoy. The game is all about moving the spirits to the portal-like terminus that resides in each level.

Spirits has a lot of creativity and beautiful graphics involved. Within each level, there is a different way to help the spirits exit it through the portal and you must solve this to win the level. There are only about 42 levels in all, which doesn’t seem like a lot, though it may seem more challenging once you get started. In addition, the game supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1440 for perfect graphics on nearly any display.

Developer: Spaces of Play

Price: $7.99

Conclusion

So, you’ve had a chance to see what I’ve deemed the best puzzle games on the Mac, but you might disagree. If so, what are your favorites? Maybe they’re not even on the App Store at all?

I used Thunderbird off and on as my email client back in my Windows days (dark days indeed), and then again on Mac OS X for a while. I finally switched to Apple’s official Mail client and haven’t interacted with Thunderbird much until I started thinking about writing this review.

So, can Thunderbird earn it’s keep as a primary email application? Let’s find out shall we?

Full Disclosure

I have used several email clients over the years on both Windows and Macintosh. Yes, I have used Outlook as my primary email client for a few years and am fully aware of what it can (and can’t) do. Last year, I settled on Sparrow for a while, it was a great email client. Since Lion, I have settled back on Mail.app. I currently believe it is the best email client of all time. I’m always open to finding new and better email clients and so I was glad for the opportunity to try Thunderbird again.

Getting Started with Thunderbird

Getting started was fairly easy. The download is a typical .dmg disk image. After double clicking the disk image, the resulting window is nice looking with obvious instructions.

Thunderbird Disk Image

Unfortunately, in my opinion that is probably the most streamlined and best looking part of the experience with Thunderbird.

But, though I am a bit disparaging of the looks of Thunderbird, it is functional. On first open of the application, a setup wizard is presented.

Thunderbird Setup Wizard

In my testing with my iCloud account, Thunderbird auto detected the correct server settings, and almost got everything right.

The default view is very reminiscent of the only view available in Mail.app for many, many years so I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on Thunderbird. But I can’t help it. One of the reasons I gave up on Mail.app and went to Sparrow for a period of time is because of vertical view. Indeed, the one thing I loved and missed about Outlook is the nicely formatted widescreen column view. I consider this vertically oriented view to be an outmoded and archaic UI pattern that represents a missed opportunity for Thunderbird.

Thunderbird Default View

I say that Thunderbird almost got everything right when it auto detected my server settings because it didn’t quite get all the IMAP folders right. I had to manually map some of the folders (such as the Deleted Messages folder). Though I know how to do this, I think this is asking a lot of the user. If Thunderbird was able to auto detect iCloud settings, why not iCloud’s folder mapping? This is a severe usability breach, and even though I can fix it, I don’t want to take the time to configure, fix, and mess around with settings. It’s way too fiddly.

Also, I hated the way Thunderbird defaulted to using a monospace font for un-styled email messages. Monospace fonts have a use — they’re great for viewing code, but I don’t like them for every day reading. I was easily able to change the font to something a bit more manageable, but this is yet another strike against Thunderbird for me. Why would Mozilla add to the ugliness with a Monospace default font? It’s like they are trying to repel users.

changing the font to something more manageable

It’s Not All Bad

There were some good things about Thunderbird. It was stable and usable as it has been in the past when I used it. And thanks to Thunderbird add-ons, I was able to make the messages look somewhat attractive, even if I couldn’t find one to make the wide view as good as Mail.app or Sparrow. The add-on is called Thunderbird Conversations and displays messages in a Gmail like layout. While I wouldn’t call the add-on experience super streamlined, I was able to find the add-on and install it fairly painlessly.

Downloading Thunderbird Conversations

The First Run Assistant

Gmail Like Coversation View

More Irritations

Yet another annoyance however was the new mail sound. This may sound a bit nitpicky, but the new mail sound is whatever system sound you have set in OS X’s System Preferences. I have mine set to the sound “Pop” and it indicates something the System is trying to tell me. Thus it annoyed me really badly that this was the sound that Thunderbird made for new Mail. What was worse, Thunderbird has no sounds from which to choose, you must provide your own sound file. I ended up digging in the guts of Mail.app to find the “New Mail” sound, placing it in a folder on my hard drive, and pointing Thunderbird to that sound file. But again, not something you should expect a user to do.

Thunderbird Sound Preferences

Another default preference that is, in my perhaps not so humble opinion, simply wrong is defaulting to replies being placed below the quoted message. Much ink (or pixels I suppose) has been used to decry the evils of top or bottom posting on this once hotly debated topic. But there is no arguing that top posting is the expected format in this day and age. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have received a bottom posted reply in an email. And I consider it silly to bottom post. If I have forgotten the context of the conversation, I can scroll down and get it, but 99% of the time, I just want to read the new reply and don’t care about what I (or someone else) said.

This preference can be changed, and I did change it, but defaulting to an unused format of email is yet another strike against Thunderbird.

To Use, or Not to Use

Honestly, I can’t recommend Thunderbird when there are far better alternatives around. Thunderbird is clunky to use, not very pretty to look at, and a pain to get the preferences shaped into something useful. That said, it is free and functional. I didn’t ever have any IMAP errors, and that is something I have experienced with other clients in the past. Additionally, extendability is useful in some situations and to some people. Some of these things comes down to personal preference and taste. My taste says that you can do far better.

MacPaw is at it again and has released a brand new app to the world: Gemini, The Duplicate Finder. The folks over at MacPaw are no strangers to the Mac ecosystem, and have released some greats apps in the past, most notably CleanMyMac.

Although not a revolutionary concept, Gemini takes a beautiful new approach to finding duplicate documents on your Mac, with a stunning interface and some fancy animations. Head on past the break to read more.

Scanning

The simple opening screen

When you fire up Gemini you will already get a decent sense of the level of detail you can expect in this application. The only option you have is to upload a file for it to scan, and it gives you the option to click the + button to open Finder and chose your files, or simply drag and drop them onto the window.

Show Scan results option

After some pretty animation to keep you occupied while your files are being scanned, you are able to show the results and move onto the core functionality of this app: removing duplicates.

Selecting Files

Now is when the real fun starts. Once you’ve chosen to progress to show results you are presented with an entirely new screen displaying all your information regarding your scanned files. On the left is the upper hierarchy, showing ‘All Files’ and then split into the separate sub-categories such as Pictures, Music and Other. All the files from the categories are showed in the middle vertical bar. Here it shows you how many copies of each specific file there are, and giving you plenty of options as to how you want to order the files.

File preview window

What is incredibly useful is the right half of the app, which shows a preview of the selected file. This makes a world of difference; giving you an idea of what files you are working with, otherwise if the file wasn’t named correctly you would have little idea what you’re deleting. Below the preview is where the source of the file is saved, allowing you to decide which version you want to delete (hovering over the file icons, such as in the bottom of the two images, will reveal more information).

Now that you’ve got an idea of what kind of files you have duplicates of, its time to start trimming the fat. There is an Auto Select feature that will chose the files that it doesn’t think you need, and it will only apply this to the category you are in/ However out of over 30 pictures, it decided to only auto select 3 of them. So manual input is certainly needed, which is a good thing I suppose because you wouldn’t want the program selecting too many items and deleting stuff you may want to keep.

Some files can not be removed

Removing

List of all files selected for removal

Having selected all the duplicate files you want to remove, with a handy iTunes-like display up top showing the number and size of selected files, you click the Remove Selected button. You are then presented with a pretty ‘receipt’ with all the files you’re planning on deleting. You can review your selections and easily remove any if they accidentally got put in there.

Shredding your duplicates

After clicking remove you’re finished, and your files will elegantly slide into the shredder and out of your Mac – or rather into the Trash awaiting your emptying.

Conclusion

You can see from the numerous screenshots that this app is beautifully designed, which is always a good measure of the effort put into the app. Fortunately, Gemini lives up to the expectations set by the design. Sure there are other apps out there that offer similar services, yet Gemini remains a simple, easy and effective application that’s hard to beat.

Gemini removes all unnecessary elements by finding duplicate files on your hard drive. It may have some downsides, such as the inability to remove certain files in Apple applications, yet I would go as far to say that Gemini is the AppZapper of duplicate finders. You’re paying for the wonderful experience and convenience of having such a great app – and I believe at $4.99 its reasonably priced.

As a recent college graduate and thus an official member of the “real world,” I’ve been learning about all kinds of exciting things like how to file my taxes, the joys of job-hunting and the need for renter’s insurance. I decided that if I was going to take the time and pay the money for renter’s insurance, I might as well actually get a handle on what I’m insuring. That led me to go and explore different apps for inventory.

I tried a couple of “general” inventory apps and a couple that have more specific purposes. Some I loved and of course others I hated. Read on below for five of my favorites!

Compartments

Compartments is a zippy and simple home inventory app. In terms of the category, it is in a pretty great spot. It offers just about any tool you could need, yet somehow is still quick and easy and doesn’t feel bloated. A lot of the home inventory apps that I tried couldn’t find this balance, but Compartments does a great job.

You first input items by category or room, and get all of the information set up. You can then generate insurance reports, view by worth or any number of types of information, and organize the items into a number of smart collections. Compartments is a well-priced app that does a great overall job.

Price: $9.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: LittleFin LLC

Compartments

Home Inventory

Home Inventory is an app that functions in just about the same way as Compartments. You are able to store items by room or category, generate reports and sort into smart groups. You can also store warranties or directions with the item in the inventory.

Something great that Home Inventory has a lot of focus on is the presence of mobile apps for assistance. Home Inventory has a free app that helps speed along the creation of the inventory by allowing for remote entry, photography and barcode scanning. This app makes creating the inventory a lot more fun and helps out a great deal.

Price: $14.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: Binary Formations

Home Inventory

Delicious Library 2

In my opinion, this is hands down the nicest looking of all the home inventory apps that I tried. This app does a fantastic job of tracking any item that you might be lending out. It is especially great with books, movies and other media.

You are able to use iSight to take a picture of the barcode at this time. Unfortunately, they do not yet have a mobile app. As long as the barcode is present and in their collection, the software does a fantastic job of pulling up all of the metadata you could ask for. If the barcode doesn’t work, it can be a bit of a lengthy process to input the information, but overall it’s a simple to use and very nice to look at piece of software.

Price: $34.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.5.0 or later
Developer: Delicious Monster Software, LLC

Delicious Library 2

Librarian Pro

For those with an entire library of books, games, CDS and more, Librarian Pro is the app for you. Most inventory apps allow only a very limited amount of information about media and entertainment items. Librarian Pro includes the ability to add items with a huge amount of information, including details like whether the item is signed or not.

There is also a very well-done lending system in Librarian Pro, to keep track of any items you have lent out. You can enter the check-out date, the return date and even get reminders.

Price: $19.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Developer: Koingo Software, Inc.

Librarian Pro

Warranty Hero 2

Warranty Hero is a great inventory program that works well for anyone with a lot of products with warranties and documents. While some of the other programs do offer ways to add documents such as warranties to the items, Warranty Hero works to really make that a simple part of the process. You are able to add existing scanned documents, scan new ones, utilize the iPhone app to take scans of documents and even create PDFs from within the software.

The application also tracks the expiration dates of all warranties. If the warranty will be expiring soon, you are able to set up alarms and appointments to remind yourself. This is a great feature, especially if you have a lot of different warranties to keep track of.

Price: $24.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: Nodhead Software

Warranty Hero 2

Which Is Your Favorite?

So, these are some of my favorite ways to keep track of my stuff. Compartments and Home Inventory are great for general use inventory apps. Delicious Library and Librarian Pro are great for book and media collections, so if that’s where a lot of your stuff is, you should check out one of those two. Warranty Hero is a fantastic tool for anyone with a lot of electronics and appliances. Not only do you have all of the information about the belonging, you also have a convenient way to keep track of all those warranties that tend to get lost so easily.

Those are a few of my favorites, but from all of you experienced members of the “real world” what do you find the most convenient to use? How do you keep track of all of your stuff?

The world of Twitter clients is an ongoing obsession of mine. The history of how third party developers have helped push the platform forward and then left the market disgruntled at how they’ve been treated by Twitter is fascinating. Looking back we can see Twitter’s strategy clearly: wait to see who makes the best apps and then buy them up. Clear category leaders Tweetie and TweetDeck are prime examples.

Now that Twitter has such a strong presence in the Twitter client game both on OS X and iOS, it’s interesting to see which clients still hold on and choose to compete with the official apps. Recently, Tweetbot for iPhone and iPad has gained a ton of popularity as users flock away from the recently watered-down official apps in favor of versatility and awesome design.

While we’re waiting on Tweetbot to hit the Mac, I thought it would be interesting to check in and ask about your current favorite Twitter client on OS X. There are a few major players in this category to choose from, vote in the poll to let us know which is your favorite.

Once you’ve voted, leave a comment below and let us know your favorite bygone Twitter apps. For instance, the first native Twitter client that I really loved was Nambu, after which I switched to Tweetie. I also really enjoyed Kiwi during its brief stint.

This week’s news isn’t quite as populated as last week’s because, as you all know, Mountain Lion made its first developer preview debut last week. However, there was some special news during the week including the Growl developers’ response to Apple’s latest operating system. You see, Growl was once a great notification system on the Mac, but now it seems that Mountain Lion’s Notification Center — which was conveniently ported from iOS — has replaced the small app.

This may come as a disappointment to some since Growl worked so well and had lots of customization, but the developers have responded in a blog post from last weekend assuring that the service is not dead and that the developers are in the process of investigating other options for Growl’s purpose in Mountain Lion. This is great news for the many users out there who’ve been devoted to Growl. Hopefully they will be able to integrate Growl into Notification Center or something in a way.

Check after the break for the rest of this week’s news.

Apple presents Mastered for iTunes content

The new Mastered for iTunes section within the iTunes Store

In a move to distinguish their iTunes music store from all other online music outlets, Apple has introduced a new “Mastered for iTunes” section in the iTunes Store. This new section contains specially processed high-fidelity tracks that attempt to preserve the perfect sound quality that an uncompressed file does.

As noted by Ars Technica, most of the tracks recorded these days use 24-bit samples at either 96 kHz or 192 kHz — this, of course, is contingent on how powerful the recording system being used is. Apple requires that artists first compress their tracks into the iTunes Plus 256 kbps VBR files before uploading them to the store in order to have a file size that’s more optimal for speedy downloading. However, this method removes 97 percent of the data in the original, uncompressed file, making it lossy and not nearly the same quality as a FLAC or ALAC file.

Thankfully, Apple’s new Mastered for iTunes section attempts to reduce the amount of lost data and maintain an audio quality more in the vicinity of the track’s uncompressed counterpart. Their tools will merely subsample the original recording to 44.1 kHz sampling using a 32-bit floating-point mediator file and convert the file to AAC. This procedure will use ”every bit of resolution available, preserving all the dynamic range of the 24-bit source file”, as outlined in Apple’s Mastered for iTunes guide.

Check out the new section here. More details on how mastering works here.

The Beatles bring exclusive ringtones to iTunes

iTunes' Beatles ringtone page

The Beatles officially announced that they were bringing a slew of 30-second ringtones to Apple’s iTunes Store exclusively. Some of these ringtones include “Hey Jude”, “Come Together”, “Yesterday”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Let It Be”. You can view the full list of them on the iTunes Store page here.

Mac App Store sandboxing deadline extended

Apple again extended the sandboxing deadline for OS X apps, this time from March 1st to June 1st, 2012. Sandboxing is meant to avert apps that can be hacked from seizing control of a user’s computer, though it also puts a limitation on certain functionality that users have come to rely heavily upon in desktop computers.

There’s a lot more than just this to sandboxing, though, so you should probably head over to Ars Technica‘s coverage of it for an in-depth analysis of what it means for you as a user or developer.

Other stuff you should read

This article has come to its end, but here’s some other content that I’d recommend reading to stay in the loop:

• Apple Releases EFI Firmware Updates for Mac Mini, iMac, MacBook Air and Pro, by Jordan Golson at MacRumors
• Apple Forced to Suspend iCloud Push Services in Germany, by Matt Brian at The Next Web
• Apple Acquires “Search Engine for Apps” Chomp, by Federico Viticci at MacStories
• Apple Confirms March 3 Opening for Amsterdam Retail Store, by Eric Slivka at MacRumors
• Microsoft criticizes Google in “Googlelighting” (YouTube)
• “Leaked” Office iPad app seems questionable, and Microsoft is staying mum, by Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

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If you spend any time at all with your nose in the realm of productivity software (and you know we do), then you’re probably aware of the splash that 6Wunderkinder made when they finally opened their super-secret new web app, Wunderkit, to public beta just a mere few weeks ago. By building on the success of Wunderlist (which many would agree is one of the most refined task-list managers on the market thus far), 6Wunderkinder designed a highly anticipated platform that has the potential to change the way we organize our life.

In a not entirely unexpected move, 6Wunderkinder released a Wunderkit client for both Mac and iPhone on the same day that the beta of the service went public, and those of us who utilize those platforms got a taste of what’s to come from 6Wunderkinder’s almost certain multi-platform roadmap. Today, I’m going to take a look at attempt number one at the Wunderkit client for Mac. Hit the jump to find out more.

One Platform To Rule Them All

There are three core aspects of Wunderkit that makes it stand out from the competition. The first of these aspects is Workspaces, and how they work. A heavy majority of productivity software that I’ve used focuses on either independent task management or team collaboration, but rarely both. If one does include the other, it’s usually a weakly implemented afterthought. Wunderkit, however, allows you to make your Workspaces either public or private, effectively abolishing the need for more than one tool to manage your productive life.

Dashboard gives you all of the days relevant information in one place.

The second thing that raises the bar is the social nature of the service. From the above screenshot, you can see that the interface is already laid out more like a social network than a task list manager, and that was the point. 6Wunderkinder’s idea is that collaboration should happen effortlessly, so you can spend more time on creating and less time trying to figure out how to communicate.

Social productivity means follows and profile pages.

Lastly, Wunderkit is touted as more than just a task list app. It is heavily referred to on the 6Wunderkinder webpage as a platform. What this means is that, in the future, the feature set and usability will expand, as the developers (and presumably third party developers?) add functionality beyond the three built in apps that Wunderkit contains now. Dashboard, Tasks, and Notes are a great start, but I’m excited to see what kind of other tools they implement.

Tasks is one of the built in apps, and looks quite a bit like Wunderlist.

If you want to read more about the nuts and bolts of how the Wunderkit service functions, check out this post on Web.AppStorm. It’s worth noting that since the publishing of that first review of the web app and service, 6Wunderkinder has announced a restructuring of their pricing, and full collaborative capabilities will be offered to all users for the low, low price of free. Pro users will eventually have access to some advantageous features for only $4.99/month, but I’m happy to see them embracing the “pay for the horns, but get the bull for free” philosophy.

But What About The App Itself?

I could honestly rave all day long about how exciting the service is, but that’s not really why we’re here, is it? This is a site where we review Mac apps, and the Wunderkit app for Mac is, well…a bit disappointing. Disappointing, but not so much in that it’s faulty or buggier than you would expect a beta application to be, but in the sense that there’s so much missed potential here.

When I first caught wind of Wunderkit and began exploring what it was all about, I pored over the small handful of posts on the 6Wunderkinder blog, clamoring for any information I could find. There were a few screenshots featuring portions of the UI that had me giddy like a schoolgirl, and my imagination ran rampant about the possibilities of a beautifully designed, fully integrated productivity platform on my Mac, free from the boundaries of a browser window.

What we got instead, when the Mac app was released, was a single-window app that more or less imitates the experience of using the web app. Upon launch, the app takes a fair amount of time to load (presumably, connecting to the service, rather than syncing with it), and from then on behaves identically to the web version of Wunderkit.

Unfortunately, I've stared at this screen for longer than I'd like to on more than one occasion.

While the iPhone really isn’t in our realm here on Mac.AppStorm, I’d encourage you to check out the iPhone app as an example of a Wunderkit design that takes full advantage of it’s platform. Wunderkit for Mac falls short here.

Let me be clear: I’m going to keep using this app, for a few reasons. Firstly, the app isn’t really bad as much as it is not living up to it’s potential. Aside from a somewhat sluggish launch time, the performance of the app itself isn’t any worse than what you’ll find in the web app, and what is to be expected in a beta service.

Second, and perhaps the biggest reason I’ll continue to use it, is that in most cases, any app is better than no app. The web app is beautifully designed, so to have it emulated in a desktop window really isn’t so much a problem as it is moderately unfortunate. And as an added bonus, I don’t need to keep a Safari tab open to run Wunderkit!

The Bottom Line

I love Wunderkit. The service has, unlike most collaborative task managers, stepped up to fill the role of both personal and team management for me. I think that the social aspect is brilliant, and the concept of Wunderkit as a platform for other apps means that what we have today is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Wunderkit could someday be capable. The productivity enthusiast in me has rarely been as excited about a new product or service in recent memory.

However, the other part of me is the Mac app enthusiast and review writer. And that part finds the Mac client for Wunderkit to be just a little bit underwhelming, especially when such a product has so much potential for OS X integration. 6Wunderkinder has a solid history of continual improvement (features are still being added to Wunderlist), and I have full faith that my concerns will be addressed in the most elegant way possible, but for now, I will open Wunderkit each day with a tinge of “What if…?” in my heart.

If you’re a Wunderkit user, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the Mac client. Let’s get some discussion going on down below!

Despite operating within the profit-driven world of consumer technology, Apple has often maintained a distinctly rebellious public persona. Launched by two former telephone hackers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (in addition to Ronald Wayne), Apple forged their own path by ignoring the status quo and offering such innovations as the first widespread GUI and desktop publishing software which was easy for anyone to use.

As Apple lost a series of running battles with Microsoft over market share and the company faced a number of vicissitudes, Apple embraced their underdog status and turned their near destruction into a rallying cry. Never had a technology company made financial disaster seem so cool and owning an Apple computer could feel like being part of an exclusive club. However, as Steve Jobs and co guided Apple back from the brink to renewed success, there is a perception that perhaps they lost something of their free-thinking spirit along the way, that Apple have become part of the establishment which they once so gleefully ignored.

Thinking Different

Consider the following piece of text taken from the ‘Crazy Ones’ poster as part of the Think Different campaign of around fifteen years ago.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

This was more than mere marketing spiel and though brash advertisements have often been seen something of a tradition at Apple, the text makes a rather bold statement in itself about the kind of company who would pursue such an advertising campaign – with all due respect to the firms in question, it’s hard to imagine such values being extolled by Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard, for example.

Now let’s contrast this with the almost maniacal control wielded over designers, developers and even users in Apple’s iOS App Store – there are no misfits, troublemakers or round pegs to be found on an iPhone, though there is a boatload of fantastic software to be sure. Clearly Apple have either had a change of heart, or perhaps the rebel act was just that, an act?

Aiming For Ubiquity

In the past, Apple acted like the underdog because they were the underdog and in a typically gutsy move, they embraced this. However, while those working at Apple back then will have genuinely (and rightly) considered themselves outsiders in a world dominated by beige PC’s, I’d argue that this was more of a means to an end than any inherent desire to be cast as in the role of a rebel of computing.

We can see Apple’s aims toward putting their computers and devices into as many hands as possible when considering their efforts to popularize the first widespread GUI and we can also detect it in Apple’s admirable work toward making OS X accessible for all people, regardless of physical abilities. iOS is merely an evolution of this, a form of hassle free computing, without the worry of malware or complex decisions on the user’s part. The question is not if Apple has grabbed hold of the controls, because they most certainly have, but if they’re using their new power effectively.

Conclusion

In the pursuit of technological greatness, Apple is steadily growing into a more controlling company, increasingly concerned with the content their users are digesting and keen to keep a clean platform fit for all. Never exactly an open platform to begin with, Apple’s computers and devices have become steadily more closed – though at the same time, have also become that much more compelling to use. Whether the tradeoff is worth it is a matter of opinion, though I’d personally be inclined toward thinking it is, so long as OS X doesn’t go the way of iOS and become completely closed, which seems exceedingly unlikely.

Apple has certainly moved away from the rebellious attitude it once had and evolved from the role of plucky rebel to caring big brother, but the negative connotations of this have been mitigated by Apple’s will to wield their new influence and position to change the way we all interact with technology, which, in its own way, is really quite revolutionary in itself.

Today we’re going to take a look at a couple apps that can help you post content directly to your Tumblr account. As you no doubt already know, Tumblr is one of the hottest blogging platforms on the web today, largely due to its strong emphasis on being social and incredibly easy to pick up workflow.

The two apps that we are comparing are Tumblita and PostWarden. At first glance, they seem quite similar, but let’s find out just how different they are.

Tumblita For Mac

While Tumblita is perhaps known more as an iOS app, it also has a Mac version which is surely worth a look. It’s a pretty simple Tumblr editor that runs in your menu bar, but it probably has more features than you would expect it to have. At $0.99 (at the time of this writing), Tumblita is the cheapest (and perhaps, lower-end) competitor in this review. Let’s get deeper into its details.

Interface

Tumblita

Tumblita has no real windowed interface, it runs from your menu bar and if you want to post something new you just select the option from the drop down and an editor will appear in a new window. This makes it more based on speed, ideal for sharing just a quick image or note.

When you try to add a new post, you have a very similar sight to the Tumblr editor. You have the different post categories or templates on the top, just like on the site. These are Text, Quote, Video, Link, Image, Audio and Video; and all of which are represented by an icon. You can even quickly select one of these by using keyboard shortcuts.

Features

Posting in Tumblita

Depending on the type of post you selected, the editor below will display different fields for you to fill, again much like Tumblr’s editor does. For example: if you select a link post you get to fill out the title, URL and description for the post; if you select an image you get a description field and an uploader so that you can share content from your desktop or a URL.

Every feature that you can find on the Tumblr entry editor, you can find here. It’s basically just a little desktop version of that editor. You can upload videos, images, audio files and anything else text-related with as much ease as you can with Tumblr’s web interface.

Extras

Along with all the post types and all the options available for you to post, the app also has a sidebar where you can tweak a few useful things, like the account and blog that you are going to be posting from (you can have several blogs under one account, in case you didn’t know), select the tags for the post, the URL you’d like it to end to, and the option to save it as a draft or publish it right there.

One of the most useful things I found that I honestly wasn’t expecting this app to have, is the “Share to Twitter” field that the Tumblr editor has. In it, you can select whether you want to send your new post to Twitter and what you want the tweet to say (the link to the post is automatically added).

There are also some extra hidden features under the settings, like the ability to publish something right as you drag it to the app, and to send posts to Tumblr as Markdown text.

PostWarden

PostWarden is the more expensive (it’s currently at $9.99 on the App Store) and more complete app that we are going to be reviewing. It actually feels more like a real app and not like a simple menu-bar tool. Unlike Tumblita, PostWarden is a little bit more professional and complete. It actually reminds me a little bit of some email client apps.

Interface

PostWarden

PostWarden, unlike Tumblita, has its own main window where you can find your different accounts neatly arranged. In the main window, you have the text editor right in the center of the app, and a sidebar where all the posts for your active blog are shown. There’s a drop-down menu above this sidebar where you can switch accounts or blogs, as well as add new ones. You also have another drop-down where you can select the posts you want to be shown, if you want to see them by date or if you just want to see your drafts.

The entry editor is also similar to that of Tumblr, as it also has the division for each post type. Although the editor seems a little bit more complicated than the Tumblita one does, it also has all the same features that you would expect (even Twitter, tags and custom URLs).

Features

Posting in PostWarden

The first and most important advantage that PostWarden has over Tumblita is the ability to look and edit old posts. It’s also very easy to do so. When you are reading any of your posts on the main app window, you can just hit the “Edit” button on the top and start typing away.

On the text editor, the available features are a little bit harder to find than in Tumblita, but they’re there. It’s also not quite as pretty as the Tumblita editor, but it still gets the job done quite well. Actually, it has a special feature that Tumblita does not: saving offline drafts of what you write, which gives the app a very cool ability to become an entry editor even when you don’t have access to Internet.

Extras

An advantage of being a complete window app is that PostWarden has fullscreen Lion support, which makes it a much more comfortable app for writing and editing posts. Besides that, there aren’t many extras other than what we’ve mentioned here. It actually lacks a few things that Tumblita has, like Markdown support, although it makes up for that by having other features like an offline mode.

Verdict

I should begin my conclusion by stating that none of these apps really provide a complete substitute for Tumblr. They don’t let you browse your feed or interact with users, which are both big parts of what Tumblr is about (after all, it is a social network). These apps are just a quick way to post stuff from your Desktop to Tumblr, something that you might find convenient if you share tons of content periodically.

Does the “you get what you pay for” phrase work here? It’s hard to say; while the difference between the two apps is quite noticeable, deciding on which to get also depends on what use you plan on giving to these apps. PostWarden is more elaborate than Tumblita and has more features, but they both achieve pretty much the same results. If you’d like to edit old posts and have a more full writing experience, then PostWarden is the way to go. But if you are just looking for a cheap and quick app for posting pictures and related content to your Tumblr, then Tumblita might do just fine for you.

Which one would you choose? Perhaps you’d rather keep using the Tumblr web interface? Do you even use Tumblr, or are you absorbed by the other dozens of relevant social networks available? Let us know in the comments!

Photos make for lasting memories. They are shared among family and friends and lead to stories about past events and fun. And we have been creating photo albums which tell the story of those memorable events for decades. With the rise of digital photography more and more often photos remain digital; sharing them often means showing a slideshow or emailing them. The art of creatively presenting photos seems to be on the path into oblivion.

Today we’ll take a look at ScrapPad for Mac. This app lets you stay on the digital path and still enjoy scrapbooking the analog way. Decorate, theme and share any way you want.

Welcome to ScrapPad

The app makes the first steps very easy. When you open it for the first time, you’ll be presented with an overlay over the normal interface which will explain to you in short how to proceed. But even without it, it’s pretty easy to grasp.

ScrapPad makes the start a breeze

Even for someone like me who’s not been scrapbooking very much at all, the basic principles are clear: create a book and then choose a theme from the many provided. Each theme comes with it’s specific assortments of backgrounds, stickers, borders and other embellishments.

The following themes are already included in ScrapPad:

• ScrapPad Starter Kit: Basic kit
• Stars ‘n Stripes: Patriotic Kit for US Americans
• Father’s Day: For the world’s best dad
• Mother’s Day: For the world’s best mum
• Easter Eggstravaganza: Tell the story of your last egg hunt
• Luck o’ the Irish: Go green!
• Love You: Everything you need to express what your heart is saying
• Christmas Cheer: Relive the holidays
• Give Thanks: Thanksgiving themed kit
• Halloween Scream: This will make you shudder
• Back to School: May be more fun than the actual day
• Costume Party: You always wanted to give someone a mustache or different hair cut?
• Birthday Bash: Just celebrate
• Oh Baby: Document the very special journey a new life takes
• OMG So Cute: For pets and other cuties
• Beach Bumz: Sunny, fresh and happy
• Spring Forward: Flowery

Pick out of many incorporated themes

Get Scrapbooking

The actual scrapbooking is fairly easy. Simply drag and drop an image onto a page. You can set a background beforehand, but you can change it at any time.

Start with a background to match your book's theme

The image itself can be scaled or rotated. To achieve rotation, simply select an image (or any element) and move your cursor outside of the selected image. It’s not the most intuitive thing to figure out, but once you know, it’s fast and easy.

Now the actual fun starts: pick from the stickers, borders and embellishments available in your theme to decorate the page and photo.

Decorate to your heart's content

As you might see right away, scrapbooking is not about subtlety. There are neutral backgrounds and extravagant ones, but overall the entire idea is geared more towards “overdoing” things, which might take a little time getting used to if you’ve never done it before. Being a graphic designer myself I really had to get into a more “kitsch” mindset before I could appreciate the possibilities offered. This isn’t about winning a design contest, this is about fun and bringing out the specialness of a moment.

Look Beyond Your Theme

While every theme is a well selected kit of stickers and borders which all match, you might want to look to other themes for some additional inspiration.

You can put elements of different themes on a single page – for example, grab stickers from a different theme. And not every theme comes with the same kit elements.

Go beyond your chosen theme to find more decorative elements

Just be creative and pick the stuff that is best for your scrapbook, even if it means breaking out of the theme. It’s a feature I really appreciate because it allows you much more creative freedom.

You are also free to place the elements any way you want – in front of each other or sending them to the background. And if you need the very same element again, just duplicate it. With a simple right click all the options are revealed:

One right-click reveals more options

Limitations

While the app itself is very easy to use and allows for many choices, there are some limitations that you need to be aware of.

First of all, I’m missing some importing and editing options for the images. I’ve just been dragging images into the app because that’s the easiest and most comfortable way. The image appears instantly, which is great, but I have no options to downsize it – file size wise – or to edit it after the import.

While file size doesn’t necessary need to become a problem, I’d love to be able to have basic image adjustment options like cropping an image, adjusting contrast, saturation or exposure. While I realize that you can do all of that in iPhoto, it would be nice if that could be done within ScrapPad as well, eliminating the need to go through another app.

The other issue I have is that sometimes the controls within ScrapPad are not responsive or that they’re getting stuck. When resizing a sticker or a border or manipulating it in any manner, it’s sometimes impossible to deselect it. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed by leaving the page and coming back to it, but it’s annoying nonetheless. This definitely needs ironing out.

Share Your Scrapbook

Once you’re done, it’s time to show others what you’ve created. There are three options available and each has it’s benefits. The most comfortable one is of course to send it straight to email. ScrapPad will need a couple of seconds to compile your book and downsize it, so it will be easier to send. My three pages with uncompressed photos came out at 470kb, which is quite acceptable for sending. If you’ve created more pages and photos, that size will of course increase.

Alternatively, you can save your book as .jpg with every page resulting in a separate image file. The images are small as well, 760x586px and roughly 130-200kb in file size. With this export option, you can send separate pages to people or print them out for proofing.

The last export option is quite impressive. It’s a PDF export and it’s huge. It doesn’t compress anything, so my three pages with 5 photos and all the ScrapPad decoration came out at 41MB. At first glance, that seems unnecessarily big but the benefit is the dimension of each page: 117x90cm or 46×35.4 inches. As long as your photos are high resolution images, you can literally print posters from your scrapbook or have it printed on a smaller scale, but very sharp and detailed.

Verdict

ScrapPad has impressed me with its ease of use; even as someone who hasn’t used an app similar to this before I could start right away with creating my books. And it’s surprisingly much fun to use. The export options are ideal for easy sharing and professional printing alike.

What is your take on (digital) scrapbooking? Will you take it up or do you prefer other methods of preserving memories?