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Wordpress to ecto plugin
It's the general consensus of most Mac users I know that ecto is the blogging client of choice. One thing I find very important about casual blogging is being able to quickly and easily go from viewing content to posting content. This is done in many online blogging environments by javascript bookmarklets, and ecto offers the same thing. Simply click the link in your bookmark bar, and a window pops up ready for a new post. Chris Barna decided to go one better and integrate this functionality directly WordPress by way of a plugin. Once a user has installed he wp-ecto plugin on their site, readers will see, along with any other social bookmarking icons so common on many sites today, a little ecto icon. Pressing this brings up a new post within ecto complete with title and URL already filled in.
TAB looks at FTP clients
For anyone involved in the day-to-day running of a website, a good reliable FTP client is vital to getting anything done. But with so many options available for users to choose from, how is a person to decide which client is right for them? Mike over at The Apple Blog provides some assistance in the form of a roundup of the 5 most popular FTP clients for OS X. As many of you would expect, Panic's Transmit came out on top, followed by Interarchy. Personally, Transmit is my client of choice for most situations. However, every so often I'll come across a picky server which causes Transmit to start acting weird. In those rare instances, Interarchy comes in real handy.
Packrat 0.87 released with page link editing, creation
Packrat, an offline Backpack client that I just can't say enough about, has been updated to version 0.87. Though it is another minor version point update, it features the ability to edit links, including dragging one page onto another to create a link. With all its other abilities of editing pages, tags, lists, and notes, as well as being able to create new lists and notes, Packrat is becoming a more powerful client by the day.Packrat is a Universal Binary, with a demo available, while a licenses costs $24.95.
Mac OS X dev asks for input on creating a Flickr client
Who doesn't love to get their $0.02 in on an app's development? Especially one as potentially handy as this could be: a Mac OS X developer and Flickr user by the name of otusweb is asking for input in a Flickr Group discussion on what users would like to see in a Mac OS X Flickr client. A few users have already requested such features as Aperture support, an iApp-like UI and Mail integration, but it looks like there's still time to get your two cents in, so why not?
Ecto3 development details posted
Adriaan of Kula Software, developers of such excellent apps as endo and my personal favorite blogging app - ecto, has posted some juicy development details to his blog on the upcoming ecto version 3. One of the biggest changes Adriaan mentions is a new plugin architecture, which should make it much easier for code ninjas to let ecto work with many more APIs. The account manager has also received an overhaul, and users will be able to create accounts without having to go through a wizard. Filtering and searching entries have also been improved and sped up, and a new rich text editor is based on Mac OS X's editable WebKit. Finally, Adriaan is also beefing up template support to "[handle] templates in a more transparent way".Alas, if your mouth is already watering (like mine), it's going to have to stay that way, as Adriaan hasn't posted any kind of ETA for the new version. On the bright side, he'll be updating his blog with details as development progresses, and you can be assured we'll stay on top of things for you.
Opera 9 goes Universal
Opera, the little browser that could (and did - go free, that is), has finished its beta and reached version 9, going Universal in the process. New features include: a built-in BitTorrent client adding your favorite search engines to Opera's search bar simply by right-clicking them site-specific preferences for cookies, pop-ups, etc. thumbnail previews of tabs when hovering over them widgets (hey, at least they didn't call 'em 'gadgets') customizable content blocker and more This version definitely seems snappier now that it's Universal, and (say what you have to) these new enhancements like a built-in BitTorrent client show that Opera is blazing a trail faster than its competition. Give this version a whirl if you haven't touched Opera in a while but are still curious about it. If you need help with a browser transition, why not check out some of the del.icio.us tools (like my personal favorite: Delibar) we've blogged that take the 'bookmarks bar' out of the browser and into Mac OS X's menubar, removing the need for worrying about which browser you're using.
New Packrat version adds true list and note creation
A new Packrat version (version 0.84 build 220) has enabled 100% edit-ability of lists and notes on pages, including the create of new lists and notes on pages that previously had none. To facilitate this, a new 'Action' button has been added to Packrat's toolbar, containing 'create new note/list' commands for your productivity pleasure.To find out more about the update, check the blog of Rod Schmidt, Packrat's developer.
Surprise - Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 released with Universal goodness
Right alongside Firefox's update today, Mozilla has also brought Thunderbird up to the 1.5.0.4 (.3.2.1.12) version with a big improvement for Intel Mac owners: Universal Binary super-powers. Also in this update are security and bug fixes. Let us all take a moment of silence in remembrance of the bugs who lost their lives in the making of this update.One thing I am not sure of, however, is if that GmailUI extension we blogged earlier will work after this update. Does anyone know?
Pukka updated to v1.2
Pukka, the versatile, multi-account and light-weight del.icio.us posting client, has been updated to version 1.2. New features and fixes include: Pukka now uses the new SSL del.icio.us API for increased security as well as a more reliable means of storing passwords in the keychain. The tags field now resizes in height as necessary to accommodate all of the tags that you type. There is a new option to disable warning messages when resetting, closing or quitting with unposted data. Bug fixes and tweaks: hiding behavior, more reliable determination of successful posting, success dialog "Visit del.icio.us" button, pasting into tags field, added tooltips, smaller font in Bonjour drawer, problem with semicolon in posting fields, only attempt to use Growl when it's running A demo of Pukka is available from Code Sorcery Workshop, and a license will cost a mere $5.
Fast posting to del.icio.us with Pukka 1.0
Pukka (pronounced: puck-uh) is "a minimalist posting client for del.icio.us." It is a very slim but powerful stand-alone del.icio.us client that features tag auto-completion, handling of multiple accounts, Bonjour discovery of other Pukka users, bookmarklets, Growl alerts, .weblog and .url compatibility, keyboard navigation and more.It looks like a good amount of time and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of thought went into Pukka 1.0. I remember hearing its name when beta versions of NNW 2.1 started landing, which is another advantage Pukka has: it should be able to work with most newsreader apps that can either post links to del.icio.us with an external editor, or readers that use some kind of 'blog this' functionality.Pukka is a Universal Binary. A demo is available, and a license will cost a mere $5.
Ask TUAW: What's your favorite multi-network IM client?
TUAW reader varun submitted a good question for an Ask TUAW session on the topic of multi-network chat clients. varun has tried out the likes of Fire, Adium and Proteus, but hasn't come up with a compelling reason to use one over the other. I thought this would be a nice opportunity to ask you readers to sound off on which multi-network IM client you prefer, and why. When commenting, be sure to mention how the client fits into your workflow, what you like about it and why. The more clients you can bring to the table above and beyond the ones already mentioned, the better.So what say you, TUAW readers? What is your favorite multi-network IM client, and why?
20% discount on Ecto
There's plenty of us here at TUAW who are big Ecto fans for our personal blogging needs, so I thought any of you TUAW readers nodding your heads in agreement might want to know that Ecto is going on sale. Between Dec. 23-26, the developers of Ecto are offering a whopping 20% discount off the regular price of a mere $17.95. All you need to do for the discount is check out their announcement post between the sale dates and click on the big ol' discount badge image that's included. This should take you straight to their store where you can place Ecto in your shopping cart, and you should find that the discount code of “CHRISTMAS2005” has already been applied. That's all there is to it.If you're unfamiliar with Ecto, check out our previous posts on this fantastic, full-featured blogging app or just head straight to the horse's mouth. For a quick run-down: Ecto is a robust blogging client with support for boatloads of blog systems. I think one of the app's main shining strengths is its customizability and media functionality. Ecto can pull images from iPhoto, song titles from iTunes, and you can easily enter affiliate information for link and revenue programs like Amazon's Associates system. Definitely go check it out if you've been looking for a better way to blog.
