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Mailsmith 2.2 beta universal
Mailsmith is an old-school, text-only email client from Bare Bones (of BBEdit and Yojimbo fame), that has long had a cadre of devoted users, but which has also really been showing its age of late (version 2.1.5 was released in March 2005). Yesterday, however, Bare Bones' Rich Siegel announced a public beta of Mailsmith 2.2 that brings the application into the Intel age as well as adding a variety of other changes, including substantial changes to disk storage formats which preclude downgrading back to 2.1. Siegel emphasizes that 2.2 is not yet for sale and is completely unsupported, but if you're an old Mailsmith user who moved away in the Intel age you may want to check out the announcement.[Via Daring Fireball]Update: fixed links to the announcement. Here's a FTP link to the demo of Mailsmith 2.2 (via Hawk Wings)
Asus announces ASmobile C90S barebones laptop
It unfortunately didn't make it to the show floor, but Asus used the run-up to CeBIT to announce its new ASmobile C90S barebones laptop, the first to boast a so-called D-door design allowing for more expansion options than is normally possible with a laptop. One of the few things on the laptop that's not upgradeable is its 15.4 widescreen display, which can be complemented with up to an E6800 Core 2 Duo processor, any standard MXM graphics card, up to 2GB of RAM, your choice of SATA hard drive and, apparently, an "HD DVD and Blu-Ray optical drive," although we're guessing that doesn't mean a combo drive. Rounding out the specs, the 6.8 pound C90S comes standard with a built-in 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a TV tuner, as well as a full line-up of ports including, most notably, HDMI. Pricing will obviously vary quite a bit depending on how you configure it, but there's word yet one what it'll cost you to get going, nor is there any indication of when it'll be available.
Yojimbo 1.4.1
While it isn't a major release that adds big features like tagging or AppleScript support, Yojimbo 1.4.1 does fix a lot of miscellaneous bugs that users have been battling. A full changelog is here, listing fixes for things like crashes when viewing web archives and some scripting operations, as well as an auto-save fix to make sure your most recent un-saved changes don't get tossed out with the bath water when you quit. Yojimbo 1.4.1 can be had from from Bare Bones's Updates page.
BBEdit, TextWrangler updated
Attention, Bare Bones fans. Maintenance updates have been released for both BBEdit and TextWrangler. You can grab them both here. Since these are maintenance updates, don't expect new features or extra bells and whistles, just a general tidying up of things. Both are free updates.[Via Macworld]
Mini-Box unveils VoomPC-2 for in-car computing
While folks have been spinning the whole "PC in your whip" idea for nearly as long as trunks have become acceptable substitutes for low-hertz safe havens, many get a bit turned off when thinking about the lengthy DIY involvements. Mini-Box has unveiled the second rendition of its VoomPC, and aside from bearing an eerie resemblance to your average automotive speaker amplifier, looks to pack a decent set of specs into a tight package at a reasonable price. The VoomPC-2 is again based on the Mini-ITX standard, and houses a 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor, CD-ROM to 2.5-inch IDE adapter, open hard drive bay, and an assortment of ports including VGA, S-Video, USB 2.0, FireWire, Ethernet, PCMCIA, GPRS / WiFi options, and 5.1 audio output. The standout feature, however, is the M1-ATX intelligent power supply that "manages downtime battery use by cutting off various functions at predetermined times and shuts the PC down completely when the car battery drops below 11.2 volts." Additionally, the unit only draws 15 to 35 watts in operation, and has been tested to work in environments ranging from -40 to 55 degrees Celsius. So if you're looking to take your tunes, media, maps, and company projects along with you to check out while waiting in various forms of traffic jams, you can pick up this barebones kit for $395 starting right now.[Via MobileWhack]
Yojimbo 1.4 released with AppleScript support
Bare Bones Software has released version 1.4 of Yojimbo, their "effortless information organizer" that is oh so popular with the kids these days. To summarize the press release, the main new addition is long-requested "extensive" support for automation via AppleScript and Perl. Also in this release is a new "Untagged Items" factory smart collection to go along with the still somewhat new tagging feature they released with v1.3. Of course, plenty of bug fixes and refinements also made it into this release, all of which you can view in the release notes. You can snag the new version from Bare Bones' updates page.
Yojimbo 1.3 brings tagging, loads of new features
Late last week, Bare Bones released an update to their excellent junk drawer app, Yojimbo, bringing it up to verison 1.3. I was going to post about it, but a hiccup in my database was preventing me to use the new version (I blame recent .Mac errors, as I'm having all sorts of syncing issues with other apps). Now that I've settled everything, however, I can honestly say this is one of the most pleasing and significant updates to a strong application. In addition to the typical bug fixes and behavior tweaks (you can see the extensive list of changes here), one of the many major additions is tags - users can now tag notes in Yojimbo, complete with support for searching by tags and smart tag collections (and a new Tags management panel in the preferences. Peep the screenshot:As you can see, not only did Bare Bones add tag support, but they did it right. Tags are separated by commas as opposed to restrictive spaces (I'm looking at you, del.icio.us), and yes - that's a Tag Collection you see below my Serial Numbers group (bonus points for still allowing users to change a Tag Collection's folder icon via the Inspector). I honestly can't say enough good things about the addition of tags to Yojimbo, but I need to leave room for the other major additions I mentioned, such as list and table formatting in notes, easy link creation (for both URLs and file system links), a new UI for the Item Details bar (which you can see includes an area for tags), and much, much more. If you're a Yojimbo user, or someone who's still looking for a good junk drawer app, I highly recommend this new version, as Yojimbo is really beginning to shape up well.
BBEdit 8.5.1
Barebones has just updated the recently released BBEdit 8.5 (it is now 8.5.1). This is a maintenance release, but there are a few additions, mostly to snippets, so check it out. You can also be sure some bugs are squashed, and that stability has been increased.Text hackers, get to downloading!
MSI's new Crystal 945 barebones all-in-one
While barebones PCs are nothing new, and neither are all-in-one form factors, it's seldom that we see the two ideas meet. MSI's new 17-inch Crystal 945 barebones PC, however, does just that, allowing you to build a family-friendly PC with the heart of a hacker. Well, almost the heart of a hacker. The 945G chipset running this thing only supports up to a Pentium D processor, so you're not going to get a lot of power no matter how well you spec the rest. Most everything else looks pretty snazzy otherwise, including a 7-in-1 card reader, a PCI Express x16 slot (and integrated graphics if you don't want to spring for a full-on GPU), a mini-PCI slot for WiFi action, gigabit Ethernet and a bunch of other perks. With all that expandability, the Crystal is a bit on the bulky side for an all-in-one, measuring a full 3.8-inches thick, but there's really a lot to love here if you can overlook the processor limitations -- and if you've got the DIY spark to build your own PC in the first place. No word on price or availability.[Via Randomly Accessed]
Yojimbo: Made possible by Tiger
The Apple Developer Connection spoke with the folks at Bare Bones about Yojimbo, their application for organizing just about everything, and how Apple technologies made it possible. Core Data, Sync Services, and Cocoa created the perfect storm, in the form of Tiger, that combined to form Yojimbo, after some work in Xcode and Interface Builder that is.An interesting article about a very clever app.
MiniPC goes Core Duo with the LF800
Japanese consumers looking for yet another Mac mini-style PC will soon be able to pick up the LF800 from miniPC, which won't run as silently as the ED612E we recently saw from this same company, but delivers a much more impressive set of specs. Instead of that pokey 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor powering the last offering, this model throws down a Core Duo T2300, while also doubling the RAM to 512MB and jacking up the hard drive capacity from 40GB to 250GB. If that particular configuration doesn't suit your needs then you're in luck, because you can also pick up a bare bones model that includes integrated Intel graphics, a PCI-Express x16 slot, and CF reader, along with gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, USB 2.0, S/PDIF, and S-Video ports. Both the fully assembled rig as well as the DIY version will be available sometime this month, with the former going for around $1,080 and the latter priced just under $600.[Via Impress]
Bare Bones Software releases Yojimbo 1.2
Yojimbo, the information collection app from Bare Bones Software that helps you 'master the onslaught', has been updated to version 1.2. Among the additions and improves are a Quick Start movie for new users that launches on first startup, search term highlighting, browser bookmarklets for one-click bookmarking or web archiving in Yojimbo, AppleScript importing and much more.A 30-day fully functioning demo is available, while Bare Bones offers full single user, family and educational licenses for $39, $69 and $29, respectively.
BBEdit Gems
BBEdit isn't just a program, it is a way of life. Certainly that is the sense that you get from the legion of people that swear by it. If you are a new initiate to the cult of BBEdit perhaps BBEdit Gems is just what you have been looking for.BBEdit Gems is a site completely devoted to covering the ins and outs of BBEdit and tips and tricks to get the most out of this text editor.As an aside, BBEdit Lite, the non-trial stripped-down free version, is no longer developed but still available and works on 10.4.4 (PowerPC) with no problems.
TidBITS reviews Yojimbo
I wrote about Yojimbo (and revealed my ignorance of Japanese phrases) when it first came out, but my post was far from a review. Matt Neuburg has taken Yojimbo for a spin, and overall he likes what he sees. He agrees that there is a very slight learning curve, and that Yojimbo provides a user with a number of ways.However, all is not sunshine and unicorns. Yojimbo's simplicity is a two edged sword, since the application doesn't offer much to sway people from leaving their current workflows behind. Plus, it isn't AppleScriptable.[via Daring Fireball]
Yojimbo
Yojimbo is the latest offering from Barebones Software, makers of BBEdit and TextWrangler. Don't let the silly name fool you, though, this application means business. Meant to allow you to organize the 'other stuff' in your life, this app is basically a filing system for websites, PDF's, product serial numbers, and any other random bits of text you might have.It includes a built in search function, encryption for individual 'entries,' .Mac syncing, and lots of other Tiger goodness baked in (it requires 10.4.3 to run).It is an Universal application that is available today for $39 for a single user licence ($29 bucks for educational users) or $69 for a family pack.Update: It seems that Yojimbo actually is a Japanese word (I thought it was just made up because in my mind I heard 'Yo, Jimbo!' whenever I read it. I wasn't being culturally insensitive, I was just clueless (something I excel at). Thanks to everyone for pointing out my mistake.
