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IRL: Sony's NEX-5N interchangeable lens camera and Mailplane 3
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. It's been a while (four months, actually) since we've featured a camera in "IRL," but today we're breaking that dry spell as we explain what it's like to live with Sony's NEX-5N. Meanwhile, Mailplane 3 is great for Gmail power users (or so says Darren), but you'll need to own a Mac -- and, you know, feel OK spending $25 for the update.
Mailplane 3 now available
Mailplane 3 just came out of beta, and it's great. I've been using the beta for a while, and saw stability and speed improve with each iteration. While Gmail works great in a browser, there's something about having a dedicated application, as opposed to a Chrome SSB or Fluid instance. Mailplane actually is a wrapper for Gmail, but it's a bit like having a browser just for Gmail with access to many OS X goodies and 3rd party add-ons. Before Google added multiple account switching, for example, Mailplane allowed you to easily switch between different Gmail accounts (it still does, and it's easier than ever using tabs). I still find this handy, although a better solution is to start using one inbox -- something I'll discuss in a future Productivity Tip. Some notable features new to Mailplane 3: Google Calendar is just another tab in the interface, so it's easy to get there. Also, calendar invites link to that tab, saving you mouse clicking time. AwayFind (which many of the TUAW crew swear by) and RightInbox support are built in. And there's also the previous support for other 3rd-party add-ons like Rapportive, Boomerang, etc. As an application, Mailplane offers OS X services, Notification Center integration and AppleScript support. Resizing and compression of image attachments is handled within MailPlane. While it took Mailplane a long time to get to 3, a lot of the enhancements deal with the efficiency and optimization of the software. You might not notice all the little touches at first, even if you've been a previous Mailplane user for a long time. Still, Mailplane 3 is a must-have upgrade if you live in Gmail. If you've never tried Mailplane, you can take it for a spin for 15 days and see if you like it. Personally, I think it is worth the US$24.95 price tag for an individual. Note that there is no iOS version of Mailplane, and it will only handle Gmail accounts. Of course, you can always get Gmail to handle all of your email, but that's up to you.
IRL: Mailplane, Verizon Wireless iPad and the Samsung Galaxy S running CM9
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Do we like the stuff we bought? You betcha we like the stuff we bought. This week, Darren tells of giving Mailplane another shot three months after deciding it was crap. Steve loves his aging Galaxy S all the more now that he's upgraded it to CM9. As for Edgar, he thinks his new VZW iPad is okay.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: MailTab
Even with the upcoming overhaul to Mail in Lion, there are still plenty of alternatives for accessing your Gmail in OS X without going through the default Mail.app. Several TUAW bloggers are ardent fans of Mailplane, a US$24.99 app that turns Gmail's web interface into a dedicated email client. Then there's MailTab, which comes in two flavors: Free and a $1.99 pro version. MailTab sits in the menu bar and allows you to access Gmail's mobile interface without needing to access a web browser. It works fairly well and brought in my Gmail information automatically from where I had been signed in with Safari. If you're familiar with Gmail's mobile interface, it's easy to use. The only difference between the free and the pro version is that Gmail chat is added to the pro version. It also lacks switching between linked accounts. You have to completely sign out of MailTab to sign into another account. If you don't care to constantly fiddle with a web browser or have a single Gmail account, check out MailTab. But, if you have more than one Gmail account and want a more robust features that integrate with OS X, Mailplane is the better choice.
The best Mac applications I used in 2010
As the end of 2010 approaches, I started looking back over the Mac applications that I used this year to see which ones stood out. They weren't necessarily released this year (although many were), but they were apps that helped me get stuff done in 2010. I didn't try to come up with some specific number or any other predefined criteria, I just took a good hard look at my Applications folder, menu bar and System Preferences. They are presented in no particular order. Dropbox reached 1.0 in 2010, and the milestone release included some significant Mac-specific features such as Extended Attribute Sync. This was also the first year that I exceeded the free space Dropbox provides, and paid for a 50 GB account. Thanks to the referral program, educational user referral bonus, and extra free space programs that Dropbox offers, I have 83.4 GB of space in my "50 GB" account. TUAW folks have written extensively about our love of Dropbox, but if you've somehow missed it: Dropbox is a folder on your computer which syncs (and therefore is "backed up" and version-managed) online, and which you can then sync to all of your other Mac, Windows, or Linux computers. (Want to know more? Check out the official Dropbox tour.) Thanks to the API which the company announced back in May, many iOS developers have added Dropbox syncing as well, making 2010 a pretty significant year for Dropbox and its users. (Cost: 2 GB/free; $9.99/month or $99.00/year for 50 GB; or $19.99/month or $199.00/year for 100 GB.) Read on for the rest of 2010's best Mac apps...
Mailplane 2.2 adds several key features
Mailplane, the native Mac app for Gmail and Google Apps email, has been updated to version 2.2, adding several new features and improving on others. Leading the charge is support for the recently-released "Priority Inbox." You can now tell Mailplane to open either your regular inbox, Priority Inbox, or a custom label. My favorite new feature is the ability to drag a Mailplane URL directly from the title bar. I use this with BusyCal's URL field if I need to connect an email with a meeting. It works for conversations or searches. TrueNew support has also been added. I hadn't heard of TrueNew before, but it's pretty nifty if you're in the habit of leaving unread messages in your inbox. TrueNew shows you your total unread count plus what is truly new since the last time you took any action on your inbox so that you can see what is truly new (hence the name). There's more, including another plug-in, which you should know about even if you don't use Gmail or Mailplane.
Ask TUAW: Arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows on a Mac, Airport networks and more
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we have questions about arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows via Boot Camp, AirPort networks, iMac rotation support, replacing the video card in an iMac, and more. As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions. Leah asks: Is there a better way to arrange icons on my iPhone than by trying to drag them around on the phone itself. I can't seem to get it to work very well and usually mess it up. Apple provided a better way of organizing iPhone icons in iTunes 9. In the past, I always tried to arrange my icons on the iPhone the same way you do, by dragging them around on the device itself. This isn't as easy as it sounds, especially if you have larger hands. Now, with iTunes 9 or higher installed and your iPhone connected to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, click on the Applications tab, and you will not only see the apps you have installed on your iPhone, but the iPhone screens and the placement of the icons as well. Simply drag the icons around in iTunes and put them in the desired order. The next time you sync, the icons are arranged identically on your iPhone as well. It's so much easier.
Mac power tools: charge up your workflow
I recently bought a new Mac, and I decided not to migrate years of cruft over to a pristine Snow Leopard install. I also decided to shed years of stale workflow and adopt a new way of doing things. Enter the power tools: software that augments the power and performance of OS X to do things faster and smarter. I'll examine some general system enhancements and look at a couple of powerful Mac/iPhone app combos that really work well together. Step one was finding a replacement for my beloved QuickSilver. I had abandoned QS well over a year ago due to performance issues on most of my Macs, but after a nagging pain in my wrist surfaced, I realized I had to find more keyboard shortcuts. Enter LaunchBar, which fills in for 90% of what QuickSilver used to do for me. LaunchBar is one Ctrl-Space (configurable, of course) away from Spotlight searching, Google searching, application launching, math calculations and much, much more. LaunchBar is $25 around $35 per seat, and worth taking 15 minutes to learn the basics. Go ahead, hate me for giving up QS, but try LaunchBar before you hurl the insults. Next I needed a better way to juggle 3 Gmail accounts. But I also needed a way to track the metric ton of inbox items that flow through those email conduits. The solution was the combination of MailPlane and Things. I had really dedicated my heart to Toodledo, but there's one trick I couldn't replicate on any setup (The Hit List included): when I get an email in MailPlane, I can select some text and press Shift-Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-0 and the Things HUD pops up and autofills the notes section with a link to the email itself. It is awesome. Not perfect, mind you, but a huge thing for me. Read on for more power tools and tips.
Apple rejects another app for duplicating functionality
Apple has rejected another app from the app store because it considers it too similar to one of Apple's own apps, and thus would cause "user confusion." The app is a front-end for Gmail, called MailWrangler, and allows users to check many Gmail accounts at once (unlike MobileSafari). It offers a similar interface as Gmail's iPhone-optimized web interface, which shows conversation threads in context, and allows for starring conversations (unlike Mail). The app developer says it works much like MailPlane on the desktop. Nevertheless, Apple rejected the app because of the similarity, in Apple's view, and also due to other issues related to editing account information. This app's rejection follows that of Podcaster for allegedly similar reasons. As we mentioned in the Talkcast two weeks ago, this could be related to the user backlash from I Am Rich. Whether it's too permissive or too strict, Apple will always have unhappy people when it issues rejections like this. [Via WebMonkey.]
Mailplane 2 Beta flying to your Mac
Look! Up in the air! It's a bird, it's Superman; no, it's Mailplane 2 Beta!The wizards at uncomplex gmbh have posted a beta of an upgrade to Mailplane. In case you're not familiar with it, Mailplane is a "Mac-friendly" front-end to Gmail with a powerful feature set, and a quick fly-by of the upgrade revealed even more Gmail goodness: Full support for Gmail 2 mailplane:// URLs for accessing and searching your Gmail database A free OmniFocus clipping plugin for creating new tasks containing links to conversations in Mailplane Better photo attachment customization Assign different notification sounds and colors to specific Gmail accounts The ability to post Google Spreadsheet forms Integration with Mac OS X Address Book A "Do Not Disturb" mode and a few dozen more improvements! Once the beta program is complete, Mailplane 2 will be free to registered users or $24.95 for single users. Thanks for the tip, Chris!
Mailplane pricing announced
We've discussed the excellent stand-alone Gmail client Mailplane several times. While there remain a few holes here and there, I consider it a must-have application for anybody who needs to manage multiple Gmail accounts. After about half a year in beta, the developer Ruben Bakker has declared the latest Mailplane beta as ready for Leopard. In addition, he has announced that it will soon be released for sale at a price of $24.95. There will also be a "family option" for an additional $8 that allows users to install it on up to 5 machines in a single household.Mailplane remains in beta "for a short while," and you can still request a beta invitation.
Mailplane 1.51 adds iMedia browser and support for more languages
A new update for Mailplane, an email client for Mac that's dedicated to Gmail, was released today. It sports a handful of bug fixes, integration with the Mac address book, and support for six new languages. An "iMedia browser" was added that allows users to drag and drop pictures, music, and movies right into an email without opening the associated iApp. You can even create a new Gmail account right inside Mailplane, and if you download a lot of files via Gmail, you'll also like the new feature that cleans up the download window at the touch of a button. Though Mailplane is still in private beta, you can apply to be a tester.
Mailplane plug-in updated for iPhoto '08
Mailplane, the email client that integrates Gmail with Mac OS X, has released v1.5 with an updated iPhoto plug-in that brings compatibility for the new iLife '08 version. This now makes Mailplane's iPhoto plug-in compatible with versions 5, 6 and the new 7, which I prefer calling iPhoto '08 to avoid version confusion. You can simply use the Check for Updates command from Mailplane's application menu, and the developer recommends everyone update even if they don't have the latest iLife; turns out the current beta version expires on August 30th. A separate new version with bug fixes and new features is 'coming soon.'
Mailplane 1.46 adds multiple accounts and menubar notifer
We keep teasing you with news about the as yet unreleased Mailplane, but this excellent dedicated Gmail client just keeps getting better. The latest update to 1.46 adds several very cool features, most importantly multiple account support. You can now use Mailplane to access different Gmail accounts, simply by double-clicking the account name in the drawer. This release also adds a menubar notifier, which very cleverly includes multiple accounts at the same time so you can check for new mail easily from either account. Finally, there's also a new text snippet feature that allows you to easily insert often typed text.I've been using Mailplane for a few months and I must say that it is shaping up to be a stellar release. It's one that I'll spend my own hard-earned money on when it comes out. Unfortunately, Mailplane is still in closed beta, but you can apply to be a beta tester.
Mailplane update uses latest WebKit to enable rich text editing
Since we last mentioned Mailplane, the Gmail client that integrates with Mac OS X, it's received a series of minor updates that have fixed bugs and added a few features. The most recent update, however, has added some significant new features such as a 'Mail PDF with Mailplane' print dialog plugin, customizable toolbar, clickable Growl notifications that take you to the specific message and - to my personal delight - simple instructions for enabling rich text editing when composing messages. This is big news because Mailplane uses WebKit - the same open source web rendering engine Safari is based on - to interact with Gmail, which means Mailplane is also limited by WebKit's inability to provide rich text editing features like bold, justification, colors, etc. Fortunately, turning on rich text editing is as simple as downloading the latest nightly app build of WebKit and telling Mailplane where you put it. This won't overwrite Safari or interfere with it in any other way, so this process is pretty low-risk for gaining rich text editing, but seemingly only in Gmail (either in Mailplane or using WebKit itself as a browser). I tried surfing to a few other sites and couldn't get rich text widgets to appear in any of them.Either way, this is great news for Mailplane users who want to join the rest of the internet in using some text formatting goodness when composing their messages. If you need a refresher on what Mailplane is all about, check our previous post and photo gallery for a brief tour, or head over to the Mailplane site to read more and sign up for the private beta.
First Impressions: Mailplane - the desktop Gmail client
The fusion of web services and desktop software is a holy grail of computing bliss that few can claim. The web can often be clunky and limited by the constraints of a browser, while the data in your desktop software takes a swim with your MacBook when you drop it at the beach. Anyone who has ever gone back and forth on whether to use the convenience and innovation of Gmail on the web vs. the power and integration of a desktop email client like Apple's Mail.app knows what we're talking about. While the melding of these two universes might seem like an impossible hope to some, Mailplane is a new desktop Gmail client in private beta that just may be a light at the end of the tunnel.Continue reading for the details on just what Mailplane is about, and be sure to check out our screenshot gallery for a taste of how well (so far) Gmail and the desktop are getting along.%Gallery-2135%
