Samuel Gibbs

As an Apple lover and a user of a plethora of gadgets, games, and other fun things, Samuel’s used, talked, ‘casted and written about them all. As a British scientist turned journalist, he often has a slightly jaded view of the world and, of course, loves to moan about the weather.

Articles by Samuel Gibbs

TUAW's Daily Mac App: AppCleaner
Last week on the Daily Mac App we featured the infamous uninstaller AppZapper. Today we've got a fully-featured free alternative, AppCleaner. Available from FreeMacSoft, the freeware (donations accepted) AppCleaner does what it says on the tin. Just like AppZapper, you can drag-and-drop the offending application onto AppCleaner to locate and delete all the associated files. Alternatively you can hit the Applications, Widgets or Others tabs to find and delete things directly from AppCleaner. "Others" thankfully includes Preference Panes, so you can get rid of any unwanted additions to your System Preferences with ease. So far so good, it does exactly what AppZapper does, but it's free. AppCleaner does have one unique feature, however, and that's "SmartDelete." An option in the preferences, SmartDelete allows you to carry on deleting apps the way Apple intended by just sending them to the trash, but with the added benefit of trashing all the associated files automatically. While SmartDelete is running, AppCleaner is supposed to detect that you've trashed an app and offer to find the associated files for you. I couldn't get it to work, but free's free right? If you want to get rid of some applications you've installed but never use, AppCleaner does the job fine. It may not be the most comprehensive Mac cleaning app out there, but as uninstallers go, AppCleaner is free and works great. Perhaps with Lion landing soon, now is the time to start clearing out the cobwebs and get your Mac ready for the shiny new OS X 10.7. Thanks to brijazz for the suggestion.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Quiet
We've covered apps that help you focus by masking other windows in the background in the past. Quiet is another app that will blank out distractions and help you stick to the task at hand. You can configure keyboard shortcuts or use the drop-down menu from the menu bar icon to enter and exit Focus mode for a selected app or Space. You get a choice of "isolation" effect, with Quiet defaulting to Fade to Black. Focus Out is available as well as Wallpaper, which removes everything off screen apart from the window or space you're focused on and reveals the wallpaper behind. Where the Fade to Black and Wallpaper modes worked fine, the defocus effect caused some temporary disruption to certain apps, which made it frustrating to use. A warning is displayed up to say that "Focus Out demands a powerful Mac" (Intel integrated video not supported), but you don't get much more powerful than a 2011 top-spec MacBook Pro. That's an option to avoid for most, then. Quiet will "quiet" certain apps or all supported apps at your preference. Apps such as Adium, iChat and Skype can be selectively suppressed along with Mail and the GrowlHelperApp, which blocks all Growl notifications. Quiet will also set your instant messaging status to DND with the default being "I'm in The Zone." Whereas other apps, such as HazeOver, quickly isolate windows automatically, Quiet is a heavier, totally manual affair. If that's something you're after, then Quiet will do the job for US$3.99 from the Mac App Store. If you're after something similar for a little less money, check out the free Isolator.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: TextWrangler
Trawling through and editing code can be loveless task. TextWrangler is a free app from the Mac App Store that could make it just a little bit more bearable. Brought to you by Bare Bones Software, the folks behind Yojimbo and the incredibly powerful BBEdit, the free TextWrangler is pretty intuitive and feature rich. Starting out as BBEdit lite, TextWrangler is a fully fledged editor in its own right. You've got pattern matching, full search and replace, syntax highlighting for quite a few source code languages, code folding, which compresses the code down to a more manageable length, and many other text manipulation and batch processing features. The interface is pretty simple to navigate with most needed tools available via an icon or keyboard shortcut, plus there is some decent text color-coding that makes reading code a little easier. You can open and save over FTP and SFTP, streamlining HTML authoring. TextWrangler even has support for both AppleScript and Mac OS X Unix scripting, making batch processing easy. Whether you're looking for a decent editor for HTML, CSS, XML or anything else, TextWrangler is a great free starting point. If you're just looking for an editor for writing plaintext files, a replacement for TextEdit, or modifying XML, .plist files or something similar, then TextWrangler is more than up to the job. TextWrangler is available for free in a slightly limited form from the Mac App Store and in its full glory from the Bare Bones Software website and will work on Mac OS X 10.5 and up.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Wunderlist
Have you ever found managing and syncing your task list more difficult than it really needs to be? Wunderlist is the answer. An incredibly simple, intuitive and good looking program, Wunderlist makes creating, syncing and clearing a list of tasks quick and easy. Either use the "Add your task here" box or hit Cmd+N or Cmd+T to create a new task. Next, set a date using the calendar or leave it with no date and "Star" those tasks that are the most important. If a task needs more information, attach a note to it to store information or outline some necessary detail. It's possible to create separate lists of tasks as well, so if you've got a party to organize, you just break down everything into tasks in their own list. That list can be shared with any of your friends who are using Wunderlist either on the Mac, a PC, Android, iOS or the Web. If they haven't been introduced to Wunderlist yet, they get an invitation to join. It's also easy to use CloudApp directly from Wunderlist to share your task list publicly via email, Twitter, Facebook or any other messaging service via a Cloudly link. Wunderlist for Mac syncs with the cloud, keeping your Mac, your work PC, your iPhone, iPad or Android phone all on the same page. No matter where you complete or create a task, it'll be in sync across all of your devices. Wunderlist is available for free from the Mac App Store and syncs with a free Wunderlist online account and with the free iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows apps. If you create and manage tasks on your Mac or mobile device, you really must try Wunderlist.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: VLC
Yesterday on the Daily Mac App, we showed you how to bestow QuickTime Player with the ability to play a multitude of formats and codecs, but sometimes even Perian won't cut it, and that's where you can turn to VLC to get the job done. VLC is a free, open-source, cross-platform multimedia player that we've covered extensively in the past, and for good reason. It'll play almost everything under the sun without requiring any additional codec packs or plug-ins. That means you can literally throw just about any media file you can find at it and marvel as it plays back in a fast and smooth fashion. No fuss -- it just works. If you like to delve into a myriad of settings and features, VLC comes up trumps. From being able to set playback delay for audio, ironing out those sync issues, to spitting out AC3 or DTS through an optical cable, it's all there in the preferences. VLC resembles the iTunes Mini Player and, for the most part, the UI is usable and gets out of your way. When you're playing video, you get a familiar disappearing media playback control bar that sinks into the background when not in use leaving you with your media. VLC is available free from the VideoLAN website, and it's an absolute must download if you ever play non-Apple approved media formats on your Mac. There are quite a few decent alternatives to VLC available on the Mac. If you've got a favorite, shout out in the comments and tell us why you prefer it over other options.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Perian
Have you ever wished QuickTime would just play all those random formats you've got? That you didn't have to resort to other programs, or worse converting everything, just to get them to play? You need Perian. We've covered Perian a lot in the past, and for good reason -- it's a one stop-shop media plug-in that just works. Installed as a Preference Pane, it essentially gives QuickTime support for a myriad of file formats, video and audio codecs, and subtitles. Included in the mix is playback of MKV files with H.264, DivX and VP6 video, which combined with AVI support, should mean that almost any file you find strewn across the internet can be played. If that wasn't enough, you've also got FLV support, so you can play back all those videos you downloaded from YouTube. With Perian installed you can turn QuickTime X into a proper video player, while still being able to revel in the sleek, minimalist Apple user experience with tight integration into your Mac. Perian is available for free, supports OS X 10.4.7 and higher and, if you don't want to resort to programs like VLC, could be the solution to your file playback problems.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: AppZapper
Uninstalling apps on a Mac is easy -- just delete the program from your Applications folder. But what about all the garbage of ancillary files that gets left behind? Zap 'em with AppZapper. AppZapper is an uninstaller that does everything for you and makes sure nothing is left behind. It'll find things like Services menu entries, preference files and any other small files not stored in the .app file. Simply drag-and-drop the application you want shot of, AppZapper will then show you what it's found and move it all to trash when you hit the "Zap!" button. AppZapper also has a more advanced program finder feature that lists all the programs you have installed that are ready for removal. It doesn't stop short of programs either -- Preference Panes, Dashboard widgets and plug-ins are all fair game. For those apps you want to keep, AppZapper also includes a "My Apps" feature. Simply drag-and-drop apps into a collection pane, and it will then create app "cards," on the back of which you can store license information and other things. Handy for keeping all your registration information in one place for those apps not in the Mac App Store. If you're constantly installing and uninstalling applications on your Mac, an app like AppZapper is a Godsend. It's quick, easy, and most of all, effective. There's a free trial available on the AppZapper website that gives you five free Zaps, so it's certainly worth a try. Once you've tried it and liked it, the app will set you back US$12.95.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: CloudApp
Sharing small files via email is easy with attachments. But what about sharing files via IM, Twitter, Facebook or the myriad of other services? That's where the incredibly simple CloudApp comes in. CloudApp sits in your menu bar waiting to upload files to the cloud, ready for sharing with friends, family and colleagues. Simply drag your file onto the menu bar icon and watch as the cloud fills up and a link to the file is copied to the clipboard. Previously uploaded files, as well as their view counts, are accessible from a drop-down menu or the CloudApp web app. These days, screenshots are often the easiest way to get your point across, and CloudApp will conveniently auto-upload any screenshots you take. That's not all, though; you can use global shortcuts from the keyboard or even a Services menu entry to upload files directly from Finder. All your uploads are stored in your personal Cloud account, either privately or publicly, which is free for a maximum of 10 daily uploads and files up to 25 MB. If you need more than that, unlimited uploads of up to 250 MB and the ability to use a custom domain are available with a Pro account, which costs from US$5 a month. It's simple, effective and free from the Mac App Store. Extensions called RainDrops, which hook into Adobe Photoshop and many other programs, are available from the CloudApp site.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Caffeine
Caffeine, like a shot of coffee at night, keeps your Mac awake and your screen bright. We first covered it a few years ago. A tiny menu bar utility, Caffeine prevents your Mac from activating the screen saver or sleeping when idle. Presenting as a cup of coffee, the icon indicates whether Caffeine is active, denoted by a full cup of coffee, or inactive, when the coffee cup is empty. Caffeine is activated by clicking on the menu bar icon. You can define a set period of activity from five minutes to five hours, or set it to be active indefinitely via a right-click or in the settings. While you can replicate the features of Caffeine using System Preferences, having a quick and easy sleep preventer in your menu bar is a real boon. It's cute, effective, and best of all, Caffeine is absolutely free. Grab it now from the Mac App Store.
iPad 2 Smart Cover-compatible cases: our roundup (Updated)
Apple's Smart Cover is a great, versatile screen cover for your iPad 2. It allows you to stand your tablet up, prop it up for typing in landscape and more; it even turns the iPad off automatically when you close it. But it leaves the back of the iPad 2 exposed, and as beautiful as it is, that metal can get all scratched up pretty quickly without some protection. So, here's a roundup of all Smart Cover-compatible back cases we could find.
Sideways Racing from Bjango looks great, plays not so
Sideways Racing from Bjango is another example of a reinvented old-school top-down racing game for the iPad. You might know Bjango as the developer of one of the most well-known Mac system monitor programs iStat Menus. Sideways Racing is the company's first foray into iOS gaming.
Real Racing 2 HD brings console quality racing to the iPad
The words "console quality" have been bandied about quite a bit recently in relation to games written for Apple's iOS-powered devices. One of the games that kicked it all off was Firemint's Real Racing, which originally pushed the envelope of what the iPhone was capable of. Of course when the iPad launched, Real Racing HD was released to take advantage of the larger screen and increased horsepower. Fast forward to last December when Firemint released Real Racing 2, which also showed off what the iPhone 4 could do. Since then, Apple has released the iPad 2 and soon after Firemint unleashed Real Racing 2 HD, but how does the latest and greatest installment match up? Read on to find out. %Gallery-125650%
Automatic Downloads now live for iOS devices
WWDC has just kicked off for 2011, but you can get a little bit of the Apple iCloud newness right now in the form of automatic Application, Music and Book downloads. Launch Settings on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, scroll down to Store and wait for the new options to load (you'll need to be connected to the internet to see them). Once you've checked them, the next time you purchase or download an app, a music track or a book, it'll automatically be pushed out to any device you've activated Automatic Downloads on. Brilliant. Be warned though, if you activate Automatic Downloads for one Apple ID on a device and then attempt to activate another Apple ID on the same device (US and UK iTunes accounts for instance), you'll get a pop-up notification saying: This Device Is Already Associated With an Apple ID. If you turn on Automatic Downloads with your Apple ID, you cannot auto-download or download past purchases with a different Apple ID for 90 days. A screenshot of said warning is past the break. You have been warned.
iTunes moves to the iCloud, re-download of purchases now possible
Apple announced iCloud today at WWDC and with it the ability to re-download your previously purchased music. Re-downloading of 256 Kbps AAC tracks is now possible for the first time from iTunes, meaning that you can purchase your music once and download it to every device you own (up to 10 devices total), without any additional charge. Like apps and books, music also doesn't count against your 5 GB iCloud storage space. You simply search through your purchased music in iTunes and hit that cute little cloud icon to initiate the download. What's more, Apple has included Automatic Downloads for iOS in the mix, meaning that free and purchased music will be automatically pushed to any device you have connected to the Internet. Buy it on your iPhone and have it pushed to your iPad. Simple. We'll be going in-depth into the new iTunes Match subscription service in a few minutes.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Breeze
There are plenty of window management apps on the Mac platform. Some allow you to snap windows to the edges of your screen like BetterSnapTool, but others, like Autumn Apps' Breeze (which we covered last year), allow you to record a desired window size and position. Breeze sits in your menu bar and lets you define "states" of windows by positioning them on your screen wherever you want and selecting "Save State As." You can save states for one application and apply them to any window from any program or just for that one specific program. States can be bound to keyboard shortcuts or selected from a drop-down list from the menu bar. Once you've got all the window states you want defined, you can quickly and easily move your windows around with just a few key presses. Some programs don't react well to being manhandled like that, with one poignant example being Photoshop, but most programs behave as they should. If for some reason you have a problem with a window (maybe it moves too far off screen), Breeze has a handy "Rescue window" function that brings the window back on-screen for you to deal with. There's a free trial available from Autumn Apps' website, while purchasing the app will set you back US$8. Breeze works on Mac OS X 10.5 and up, including PPC-based Macs.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Decompose
Cutting out people, objects or even text from images for creation of new ones is an old-photoshopper's favorite. But it's not as easy as it looks and, for the most part, requires a steady hand and some pricey software. Decompose is a program that does one thing -- it extracts foreground objects for overlaying on other images. Now, for those of you who are proficient with Photoshop, you're not going to find much value in a US$29.99 app that extracts elements in this way. But for those of us who don't own Photoshop, or even Pixelmator, having a program that allows you just to roughly draw around your target object letting the computer take care of the rest is great. In testing, I was a little skeptical, but on several, admittedly plain images, I was really impressed with the ease of use and end result of using Decompose. You simply outline the object within the "Contour" mask, fill in the rest of the image within the "Front" mask, and hit "Result." Decompose then does its thing, using Grand Central Dispatch as of a recent update, and shows you the result for fine tuning or saving as a color-corrected TIFF. It was fast, simple and a great alternative to much higher priced packages. The problem is that Decompose is a single use program, and therefore, however clever the programming behind it may be, $30 could be asking a little too much. Still, if you're looking for a program that will quickly and easily extract objects out of photos, Decompose certainly gets the job done. If you've got a quick and handy image extraction alternative to Decompose, help your fellow TUAW readers out and let us know in the comments.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: QuickNotes
With our Macs in front of us, many still resort to pen and paper for taking down little snippets of information. QuickNotes is a program designed to help wean you off the dead wood and ink, allowing you to quickly jot down information with just a few key presses. Hiding in your menu bar, you can invoke QuickNotes either with a drop-down menu, or with Ctrl+Opt+Cmd+N, which pops up a small text entry window ready to take whatever text you want to type or paste into it. You can either hit Cmd+Enter or click "Add" to save the note, or click anywhere else or "Close" to dismiss the note. All your notes are stored in your menu bar ready for copying to a clipboard with a simple click or for re-editing. There are lots of other ways of taking notes on your Mac, you can use the free Stickies dashboard widget or simply open TextEdit to name just a few; but for US$1.99 QuickNotes gets the job done easily and quickly, ever present in your menu bar. Have you managed to ditch your pen and paper for your Mac? What programs do you use for quickly jotting down bits of information? Let us know in the comments.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: PDF Signer
These days almost all forms are distributed online as PDFs. However, when you need to sign one, you normally need to print it and scan it back in for an email, or even worse, use a fax. Luckily, there are apps for that. PDF Signer allows you to fill out and sign PDF forms. You can enter text in any pre-defined text boxes the form might have, but if the form isn't that advanced, you can enter text in text boxes of your own creation anywhere on the PDF using the "Add Text" tool. Once you've filled in all the relevant information, now comes the tricky bit -- getting the form signed. Unfortunately, there is no direct signing support within PDF Signer. Instead you have to overlay an image file of your signature, which you've created elsewhere, on the form. Once you've selected the appropriate image, you can resize it to fit the box and save or print the PDF. If you've got an image file of your signature handy, PDF signer makes short work of signing PDF forms. But given that you can enter text on PDFs using OS X's Preview, I would have liked to see some sort of tablet or trackpad support for creating a signature, not just inserting an image overlay. PDF Signer is available from the Mac App Store for $9.99.
Maps+ adds tracking and location-based alarms to Google Maps
Maps+, a new mapping app for the iPhone and iPad, has just been released. Developed by IZE, Maps+ uses Google Maps data, meaning you must have a data connection for it to work, but it adds a couple of interesting location-based features into a customizable interface that you can't get in the default iOS maps app. GPS tracking has been added, meaning you can record your route, whether you're running, cycling, driving or walking. Sounds familiar, but this time it's opt-in. You can even import or export your recorded tracks to GPX for viewing on the desktop or in other apps. Location-based alarms are also included, allowing you to set a reminder that's activated when you hit a certain location. That's handy if you're a bit forgetful and need more than just a timed alarm to jog your memory. Maps+ also comes with most of the standard features found in Google Maps, including directions with route alternatives; standard, satellite, hybrid and even terrain maps from Google; and bookmarks and address-only search (no business search is included). Maps+ is free to download, with a couple of features, such as pins, bookmarks and tracks, being limited by number. They can be unlocked via a US$2.99 in-app purchase. If the default Google Maps-based app is just a bit limited for you, then the free Maps+ is worth a look.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Colorize
We've featured selective color applications before on the Daily Mac App, and today we're going to take a quick look at another -- Colorize. Colorize caters for the non-artists among us with almost idiot proof usability. To get started you simply drag-and-drop an image of your choosing and let Colorize desaturate it for you. You then re-saturate only the portions of the image you want to highlight using a paint brush-type tool. You can vary the brush size using a slider, zoom in and out from the tool bar or using pinch-to-zoom, or switch between colorizing and 'uncolor' with nice large buttons on the toolbar. If you make a mistake you can hit the undo button, or save your image in its original size when you're done. There's not much else to the app, which makes it incredibly simple and easy to use, but if you're looking for a boat load of advanced features, Colorize will disappoint. I also experienced an odd bug when testing the app, in that it wouldn't let me re-saturate the image at maximum zoom -- the brush tool simply didn't work -- but I'm sure that's a bug that can be easily fixed. Colorize isn't the first selective color app in the Mac App Store, and it won't be the last. If you're a keen artist, then this isn't for you. But for those of us who can't afford Photoshop, or just want a quick and fun tool, this app will do the job. Colorize is available for US$2.99 from the Mac App Store, but if you want slightly more functionality check out ColorWash, which we featured last week. Original photo credit: Jonathan Gill

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