versioning
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BitTorrent Sync Beta launches with Android app, file versioning
BitTorrent Sync Alpha isn't ready to equal rivals like Dropbox or Google Drive without a mobile component. It's a good thing that BitTorrent just launched Sync Beta, then -- the more polished release includes an Android app that syncs with computers and shares files with fellow Android users. The update also brings versioning through SyncArchive, which stores previous file iterations in a folder. Sync Beta is available on both Android and the desktop today, and BitTorrent promises that an iOS equivalent is coming in the near future.
Microsoft details Windows 8 File History, takes us through a Time Machine
Microsoft is still determined to explore every nook and cranny of Windows 8 on its way to the newly official October launch, and now it's swinging its attention towards File History, its revamped approach to preserving our data. The new component supplements Windows Backup, which Microsoft admits is "not a very popular" app, and is more than a little transparent in bringing OS X's set-it-and-forget-it Time Machine strategy to the Windows crowd. Not that we're complaining: the same basic philosophy of getting an automatic, version-aware backup of all our personal files is convenient on any platform, especially when we can get a temporary internal safeguard while we're on vacation. The differences in platforms have equal rewards and drawbacks, however. File History provides more control over backups than its Apple counterpart, including frequency (finally!) and backup age, but it can't be used to backup whole apps like with a Time Machine drive. As always with these in-depth Windows 8 explorations, there's much more to see at the source, so click on through if you've ever been worried about deleting a file by accident.
iTunes and iWork updated for Lion, add full-screen support, and resume
What good is an OS update without some software that can take full advantage of all its fancy new features? Naturally, Apple's got your back, and today you'll be getting some spiffy new versions of iTunes and iWork to compliment that fearsome Lion upgrade. iTunes 10.4 finally ushers the music management app into the 64-bit era, and adds support for OS X 10.7's full-screen windows. The iWork Update 6 also brings along the distraction-free functionality, as well as resume, auto-save, and versioning for all your important docs. Not everyone is seeing the updates just yet, so be patient, it shouldn't be much longer before you're interrupted by that slightly annoying, but oh so satisfying, Software Update window.
Big upgrades for premium Evernote users
It's been no big secret that I'm a fan and frequent user of Evernote. It's useful, both as a memory augmentation and as a general information collection utility that makes it easy to locate what I need, when I need it. There are a couple of things that would make the service even more useful, though, and a couple of the most-requested features have been addressed with today's announcement from Evernote. First, there's an increase in maximum note size. Up until now, premium users have been limited to 25M per note. Today, that doubles to 50M, meaning more types of files can be stored in your Evernote account. That's great news for users who want to share files through Evernote, or even just those of us who would love to upload some really large, really long PDF's or store presentations and other file types. It even offers more flexibility for adding audio and video to notebooks. The second announcement, note versioning, is exciting news as well. Several times a day, Evernote will make copies of any notes in your account that have changed. They become available in your Note History, and individual versions can be viewed and exported. This sounds especially cool for shared notebooks, where it means more wiki-like functionality, but it provides security and basic version control for private notebooks as well. This functionality is, for the time being, limited to the Web interface, but desktop versions will be available "very soon." As noted, these upgrades are limited to premium users. The basic service is free, and a premium Evernote account, for $45US a year, gives you 500MB of uploads per month, any file type, publicly editable notebooks, and SSL encryption.
Beta Beat: All your projects are belong to Flow
The public beta of Gridiron Flow for Mac has been released, and I have to say I'm blown away. I love Curio for project management and brainstorming, but for the nitty gritty of version management, file collection and project source file relationships I'd just as soon have something magically do the job for me. Flow does it quite nicely, at least with Adobe, iWork, Office files and the like. As all-seeing as this software is, it inflicts a remarkably small hit on system resources. Mike Rose filmed a great preview last year, so have a look at that, and at Gridiron's FAQ for Flow, for a better idea of what it does than I could convey here. The beta is available for download, and currently has no restrictions. I expect Flow to be a costly bit of software, but I haven't been able to track down any price predictions yet (Update, as pointed out by Nicholas in the comments, it's listed -- fairly obviously -- for $249 right now. About what I expected, really ). For now, have a look and dig into automatic versioning, tag-based organization and project visualization that just takes care of itself. It's especially geared toward designers, and will be of the most interest to those who spend their time with InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Personally, I'm hoping I don't get too hooked on it only to find out it's outrageously expensive. Here's hoping for some pocketbook sympathy!
Versions: a delicious Subversion client
Source code versioning isn't something that usually gets attention here on TUAW. Subversion, the versioning tool of choice, is largely accessed via the command line to check in and out source, however, the people behind Made by Sofa decided that Subversion needed a nice looking client, so they built one. Versions is just entering a private beta, so be sure to sign up if you are interested in seeing what all the fuss is about. Their website is a little light on the details at the moment, but they promise that you will be able to doing everything that you could do via the command line with Versions, and enjoy a nice GUI to boot.What's not to like?Thanks, Andreas Creten.
Versomatic uber backup, archive and on-the-fly file versioning utility
I'm looking forward to Leopard's Time Machine, but Versomatic - at least based on the description - is going to truly rock my world. It's not the first app to offer this kind of versioning and archiving, but it sounds better than those that have come before.Versomatic is a new utility from Acertant which runs as a background service, tracking changes to your files over time. It needs no additional hardware and is a great complement to your existing backup strategy. Once installed it tracks changes, and preemptively archives a copy of a file you're about to edit prior to your modifying the file. You can tell it which file types to track and which to ignore - or set it to ignore entire directories if you wish. Files are stored in their native format and you can specify how much hard drive space is available for version stores and how many revisions to keep track of. Prior revisions are accessible from a contextual menu or from the Version Manager in your menubar. The edit trail and export features can also be used to prove authorship, copyright, and as part of any complete Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA compliance strategy, which many Enterprise users will appreciate.I just tried the newly available Version 1.0 for Mac and the install and initial preference setting was a breeze, despite requiring me to restart. I tested it out on a few Word docs and text files and it works as advertised so far. Of course only time will tell how well it really works and whether it affects performance in any way, but so far I like what I see.Versomatic can be download now and has a 30-day free trial. Early Birds can purchase it for $39.99 (20% off the regular price) and volume discounts are available. It's Universal Binary, but does require Mac OS X 10.4 or newer. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think of it!
Subversion screencast
Mike Zornek, fellow Mac geek and Philadelphian, has created a very good screencast that covers installing, and using, Subversion on OS X.What's Subversion?A versioning system that allows a large group of people to work on the same files without worrying about overwriting each other's work. It is very useful in development shops were more than one set of hands touches code.Take a look at the screencast (it is about 15 minutes long) and get a good intro into both Subversion and versioning in general.
