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Holiday savings for designers with the Fusion Ads Holiday Bundle
The holidays have become rife with software bundles, bringing big savings to consumers (when there are enough apps in the bundle you don't already own). Fusion Ads is offering a bundle that will be of particular interest to designers. It's especially pertinent to web designers, but any designer who doesn't already own some of the included apps would be wise to take a look! The bundle includes seven Mac applications, plus a copy of the popular CMS, ExpressionEngine and related training products. It also includes credits for Postmark, an email marketing service, some icon packs and the Keynote Wireframe Toolkit for putting together web designs in Keynote. The Mac apps in the bundle include Versions, FontCase, Billings, DrawIt, ExpanDrive, TextExpander and Kaleidoscope (a slick app I'll be reviewing soon). Check out the Fusion Ads Holiday Bundle page for descriptions and links for all of the included apps, services and icons. The bundle will cost you US$79, with a total value of US$626, according to Fusion. That's some serious savings on some really great apps, and there are only 11 days left to grab it. People who purchase the bundle are also entered in a drawing for a MacBook Air, and those who gift the bundle can win a 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad. It's worth a peek!
ExpanDrive 2.0 expands to Amazon S3
I had to do some extensive testing before I got too excited, but after a conversation with the developers I'm pleased to announce that ExpanDrive 2.0 is out. We've mentioned it before, but to recap: ExpanDrive allows you to mount remote servers as drives directly accessible in Finder. With a completely rewritten (again) SFTP layer, the existing FTP support and new Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) support, it's even more useful than the last time we mentioned it. One of the developers, Jeff Mancuso, mentioned to me back at the last WWDC that the S3 support was in the works; it's great to see it come to fruition. In my testing, I found that a previously-existing S3 option, JungleDisk, can cause conflicts with ExpanDrive's S3 support. JungleDisk users should note that there are some issues, but they seem to clear up if you create vanilla buckets in your account and use those with ExpanDrive. I personally found that I was willing to give up JungleDisk entirely at this point, preferring this direct-mount with all of the perks, including a contextual menu in Finder for quickly setting public read/write permissions. I can attest to the fact that it's faster, and that the S3 support is working (wonderfully, without JungleDisk). ExpanDrive 2.0 is a $39.95 purchase (well worth it if you deal with remote UNIX systems or S3), and a $19.95 upgrade for existing users. There's a free trial available.
ExpanDrive 1.3 adds FTP support
It's been a while since we heard from the developers at Magnetk, but they've just released version 1.3 of Expandrive with some new functionality. They're calling it a beta to be safe, but it seems to just be cautious labeling; 1.3 has been very stable for me thus far. As a quick review, Expandrive allows remote SFTP volumes to be mounted in the local filesystem (similar to what's possible with MacFUSE, but with several stability and speed improvements). The biggest change in version 1.3 is probably the inclusion of FTP and FTPS as an addition to the SFTP capabilities. While it may seem strange to some, there are certainly still circumstances where this could prove very useful. UPDATE: the developers have clarified for me that the 1.3 release is not in beta, only the FTP/FTPS capability. Among the other features the developers are excited about is a new system for testing network state. One of the things I like about Expandrive is its ability to seamlessly maintain a connection on my laptop when I shut it, move it and change wireless networks. Well, that capability has been improved at the system level to better detect network availability, IP address and sleep state, and I'm seeing really stable performance with it. A second appcast has been added to support beta releases (Magnetk says they have a lot of new stuff coming up), and users can switch to it in the Updates section of the preferences. Version 1.3 resets the 30 day trial period, so if you've previously tried it and passed, you'll be able to take the new version for a 30-day spin. The trial version is available for download ($29USD to register), and the upgrade is free for current users. Release notes are available here.
WWDC '08: Jeff Mancuso (Magnetk)
ExpanDrive made a pretty good stir when it was released. If you haven't seen it, it's an application that allows remote SFTP servers to be mounted (using MacFUSE) and used seamlessly as part of the filesystem. We've been following it as it develops and I wanted a chance to talk to its developers about what's up next. I caught up with Jeff Mancuso of Magnetk last week and did just that. I found out where Amazon S3 plans are at, and what ExpanDrive has to offer Flickr, Facebook and other web applications. The video (after the jump) is very nicely lit, too, just for you. Update: Magnetk was kind enough to hand us a coupon code for $5 off of an ExpanDrive license, good for the first 50 TUAW readers who use it. Enter SHFVRDEFO1SGA3QI at checkout. [Viddler Link|QuickTime Version]
ExpanDrive gets AppleScript support
Version 1.1 of ExpanDrive, the utility we reported on earlier that gives you SSH/SFTP server access that's transparent to the OS, hit the streets today. In addition to features like "Reconnect at Login" and several interface/usability tweaks, it now supports AppleScript. The AppleScript library is simple, providing identity elements for each drive, and 2 commands: connect and eject. Nothing earth-shattering, but it's even better at workflow integration and automation now. A little code, and... tell application "ExpanDrive"repeat with aDrive in drivesconnect aDrivedisplay dialog "Connected: " & server of aDriveend repeatend tell Set it up with ThisService and you've got hotkey mountable/unmountable servers! If you haven't checked it out yet, grab the free demo ($29 to purchase).
ExpanDrive: transparent remote file access
I just got finished putting ExpanDrive by Magnetk through its paces. In fact, I've been using it all morning and I'm duly impressed. It's an application that allows you to mount SFTP filesystems as local drives. I've used other MacFUSE-based systems in the past and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that ExpanDrive is more responsive and provides nearly seamless transparent access to my remote SFTP servers. Aside from creating .DS_Store files on my remote volumes, it's a very fluid way to access remote files. It works with Subversion (and other versioning schemes, I assume), allowing apps like TextMate with support for Subversion to work as though you had the repository set up locally. TextMate creator Allan Odgaard even offers his endorsement. And it has great connection recovery that even allows you to take a laptop to another network and never notice a change in the status of the mounted servers. With labeling, Spotlight comments and full transparency, workflow integration is about as easy as my (possibly limited) imagination can fathom. ExpanDrive has an introductory price of $29, with a demo available. [via Daring Fireball] Update: I'm told by the developers that the .DS_Store issue has been cured. That and several UI improvements will be available in the next version, scheduled for release by tomorrow.
