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Chax 1.4 - iChat now has tabs
No, that headline is not a typo: at long last, after hoards of OS X users have cried out to Apple in vain for a feature to be added to iChat that other clients have had for what seems like a millennia (I'm Irish. I exaggerate. Sue me) - iChat now has tabs, thanks to the latest Chax update to v1.4. You have the option of placing tabs at the top or bottom of a chat window (or not using them at all, of course), and you can also chose colors for the text in the tab based on whether there is a new message, the user is typing or they've gone offline. I know I speak for many, many iChat users when I say: thank you, Kent Sutherland.Another handy new feature in the update is a set of (optional) Chax menu badges to designate which iChat menu features belong to Chax. Of course, there are various bug fixes and tweaks, but what are you waiting for? Go grab the latest Chax update for tabbed iChatting goodness, and while you're at it: leave a donation for Kent's hard work.
Freeverse offers free automation plug-ins for Sound Studio 3
Freeverse has announced a free set of automation plug-ins for Sound Studio 3, their fantastic, easy-to-use audio editing application which we've blogged before. Dubbed "Monbots" (short for Monkey Bots), these are but the first three in what Freeverse promises to be a series of handy automation plug-ins and tools.The first monbot, Clean & Convert, is an audio scrubber for tidying up any misbehaving or noisy audio. The second, called Mastering Console, offers a set of tools and effects for (you guessed it) mastering audio, while Bookend Audio allows you to easily add intro and outro audio to a file or group of files. A fourth monbot, capable of stitching multiple pieces of audio together into one file, is aptly called Stitch and is listed as coming soon.It looks like the monbots are free, so all you need is a copy of Sound Studio 3 which sells for a mere $79.95.
Chax updated, adds Growl support
Remember Chax, the free, feature-packed iChat plugin we found a couple weeks ago? It's received a couple of minor updates and tweaks since then, and one I thought worth mentioning was Growl support. Previously, the only way I knew of getting iChat to play with Growl was GrowliChat, a separate app that was more or less a one-trick pony.Other new features in Chax's tiny bump to version 1.3.2 include: Automatically set status to away when the screen saver is activated Show animated user icons in the contact list Hide iChat and new message windows when iChat is inactive French localization Check out the version history of changes for the full skinny on what's new, updated and fixed. Chax is a free plugin, but donations are always welcome at the developer's site.
Spice up iChat with Chax
Chax is one of those addons that makes you go "ahhh, at least someone's listening." This is a powerful, feature-packed and altogther necessary preferences plugin for iChat. The developer's site offers a lengthy list of features this fantastic plugin brings to the table, but for now, here's a short rundown to get your mouses clicking: Save and restore window positions for individual screen names (To Kent Sutherland, the developer: I cannot thank you enough for this. The fact that iChat doesn't already do this is just plain silly.) Display Address Book nicknames instead of full names Option to auto-accept text chats, skipping new message notification window Option to open images sent through direct connect directly in Preview (thank you!!) Unread message notification in the dock Change the delay of or disable auto-away (thank you!!) New message windows cascade properly instead of always appearing on top of each other Built-in log viewer There are over 25 features that Chax enables, all wrapped up in its own clean, easy to use preference pane that is simply added to iChat's preferences. Kent also offers a list of upcoming features on his site, but I'd like to echo one of his requests: please don't ask him for tabbed chatting. Developers like him are (usually) under enough pressure as it is, which brings me to a request of my own: this plugin is free, but please consider donating if you wind up appreciating it even half as much as I do. Great stuff like this really deserves some love, and PayPal for some reason doesn't do hugs yet.[via MacOSXHints]
Saft updates to 8.2.5, goes universal
Add Saft to your list of universal binary apps, as a recent update to version 8.2.5 can be run on those smokin' new Intel iMacs and MacBook Pros. In addition to UB support, Saft has also gained a few new features such as creating dated folders for organizing downloads, reversed tab order (anyone know what this one means?), a shortcut for Look Up in Dictionary as well as a Danish localization.As usual, version 8.2.5 is a free upgrade for registered users.
Now Playing plugin for iTunes
This Now Playing plugin for iTunes looks like it has great potential. It does a couple of things, and promises to do more once it is no longer in beta.What does it do, you ask? It creates an XML file of the song you are currently listening to in iTunes and stores it on your hard drive or you can set it to ftp it to a remote server. This allows you to set up on of those 'currently listening' things on your blog (using some programming kungfu to make the XML into some more presentable).At the moment that is all it does, but this is a very early beta release. Looking for Amazon and iTunes Music Store ties in to come soon.
Pith Helmet plugin updated
Pith Helmet, for those not in the know, is a powerful ad-blocking plugin for Safari. It offers a ton of options as well as the handy ability to specify blocking and rules on a per-site basis, kinda like OmniWeb 5. The plugin recently had an update, fixing a couple issues including odd behavior with "feed://" URL's, and there were some improvements to the rule set. You can grab the shareware plugin over at - where else - PimpMySafari.com, and a license will cost you a cool $10.
SafariStand plugin updated to 2.0b6
In case you've all fallen in love with SafariStand like Laurie and I have, you might be interested to know it's been updated to 2.0b6. For those unfamiliar with this fantastic Safari add-on: it's a plugin that adds a lot of extra functionality to Safari such as a sidebar with OmniWeb-like thumbnail tabs, (pictured) address bar shortcuts, a "bookmark shelf," syntax coloring when viewing page sources, forcing new windows to open in tabs and one of my personal favorites: bookmark properties such as color labels, categories, comments and ratings.If I have your attention, swing on by the author's site to check out this free plugin goodness and become yet more productive with Safari.
Google Couldn't Find a Mac Developer for the Blogger Word plug-in
Looks like my wrath at Google for releasing a Word to Blogger plugin that was Windows only wasn't entirely their fault. Jason Shellen notes on his blog: "As Ev mentioned in his post, the biggest tradeoff is that this is Windows-only. As a Mac-fan I tried to find a good developer to do a Mac version and came up short. If you have any recommendations, I'm all ears." It's nice to know that Mac-support was at least considered, but I'm holding on to my gripe. The "we couldn't find a Mac developer" translates into they didn't try hard enough. I mean, someone at Google couldn't find a Mac Developer. What's wrong with that picture? [via Technovia]
Fix Quicktime issue in Tiger
I've had this trouble with Quicktime and Safari since I installed Tiger. Often, when trying to view a Quicktime movie on a webpage (not all the time, but just enough to make me wonder what was going on), I'd get the icon at right. Usually, opening the same URL in Firefox would resolve the issue. That is to say, the movie played just fine in Firefox. I found this kind of frustrating, but not enough to try and work out an answer. Luckily, Mr. Barrett did the hard part for me. To solve this problem in most cases, he writes, follow these four steps: First, Quit Safari. Next, navigate to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/. Then, find the file called QuickTime Plugin.webplugin and move it to the desktop (or delete it if you're confident). Finally, re-launch Safari and return to the troublesome URL. The movie should now play as expected. Worked for me! Thanks, Mr. Barrett![Via Mr. Barret.com]
