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TUAW Best of 2011: Flare top Mac photo app; Final Cut Pro X best video app
In our TUAW Best of 2011 voting, we've come to the end of the awards for the Mac. Starting tomorrow, the winners for iPhone accessories and apps will be announced. Today we're proud to announce the winners of the voting for the top Mac photo and video apps. For Mac photo apps, the innovative Flare (US$19.99, now on sale for $4.99) photo effects app from Iconfactory took the honors as the best Mac photo app of the year. As reported in a TUAW review earlier this year when Flare first hit the Mac App Store, the app doesn't just stop with applying effects to your photos. Instead, it has a set of controls that allow users to tweak color, lens, and creative effects. Color effects include exposure, brightness, saturation, contrast, tints, color filters and gradients, and several processing options. Lens effects add Gaussian, motion, and zoom blurs, and the ability to sharpen, add a glow to, or vignette a photo. Using creative effects, it's possible to add grain, texture, frames and borders, rotation, scaling, and halftoning to your pictures. Many of our readers appreciated the power and simplicity of Flare, giving it 38.1 percent of the vote. In second place and just barely missing the title of top Mac photo app was FX Photo Studio Pro ($39.99) from MacPhun LLC. In the Mac video app category, one app ruled the roost. Apple's own Final Cut Pro X ($299.99) received a whopping 63.6 percent of reader votes. Congratulations to the teams at Iconfactory and Apple for winning the hearts and minds of our readers with two incredible apps.
Nominate your favorite iPhone utility app for TUAW's Best of 2011
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. It's hard to believe, but we're now halfway through the nominations for TUAW's Best of 2011. Today's category for nominations is iPhone utility apps. Utilities are the apps that accomplish many of the tasks that should have been built into every iPhone, and they make the iPhone much more useful than it already is. It's one of the largest categories on the App Store, with almost 15,000 entries in the US App Store alone. Is your favorite app in this category? Whether it's a better calculator, a flashlight app, or a web browser that handles Flash video through a proxy server, the utilities category probably has it. There are a huge variety of apps in the utilities category, so I'm not going to even give you the requisite handful of ideas. Be sure to check the App Store to make sure your choice is in the utilities category -- any nominations that aren't in that category will be removed from the final voting. TUAW wants to hear from you -- what's your favorite iPhone utility app? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 21, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPhone game app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your vote for the best iPhone game app of 2011. The apps that made it into our final voting have provided hours of fun for millions of iPhone users. The first app on the list is Jetpack Joyride (currently free) from Halfbrick Studios. Barry Steakfries, the protagonist of Jetpack Joyride, would love your vote. This app has a 4.5 star rating out of 5 possible with over 15,500 ratings on the App Store, so it is an incredibly popular iPhone game. Next in the lineup is the popular word game W.E.L.D.E.R. (US$3.99). This app has been a past iPhone Game of the Week on the App Store, and according to Tested.com, it "takes Bejeweled, Boggle, and Scrabble and smelts them into one mining-themed word puzzle." Want a board game in your pocket? Ticket to Ride Pocket ($0.99) has sold over 2 million copies, achieved Apple Game of the Week in Europe, and was #1 in the strategy games category in 32 countries. I'm betting that we'll see a lot of votes for Ticket to Ride. Scribblenauts Remix (currently on sale for $0.99) is another big hit in the App Store, gaining a 4.5 out of 5 rating with over 10,800 total ratings. It's one of the few games out there -- perhaps the only one -- where you can create just about any sort of object. The latest update even supports creating objects using voice dictation on the iPhone 4S. Our last entry in the voting for the best iPhone game app of 2011 is Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing ($1.99). It's an app that made it into an iPod touch ad, and it features Sonic the Hedgehog and a bunch of other SEGA characters racing in cars, monster trucks, bikes, planes and bananas... Be sure to vote for the iPhone game that you think is the top for 2011. The winner will be announced in a few days. %Poll-72086%
Don't fear Reaper: It's the TUAW Best of 2011 Mac music app
Although relatively few people voted in this category, we have a winner in the TUAW Best of 2011 voting for the best Mac music app! At the top of the heap for Mac music apps with 46.2 percent of the votes was Reaper (free to download, US$225 for a commercial license, $60 for an individual license), a powerful digital audio workstation. Readers love Reaper's capabilities, which include being able to record audio and MIDI from multiple inputs at the same time, layering recorded tracks and takes, incredible editing tools, hundreds of audio and MIDI processing effects, and the ability to use thousands of third-party effects. The runner-up, quite close in terms of total votes, was the popular GarageTunes ($4.99). This app is a replacement for iTunes that is fast, lightweight, and plays all MP3 and M4A/AAC music files on your Mac. It can also stream songs to the second-generation Apple TV and other macs. Many thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac game apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to the team at Cockos for winning this category in the TUAW Best of 2011.
Best of 2011 nominations: iPhone productivity apps
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for TUAW Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone productivity apps. Sure, the iPhone is fun and it's wonderful for keeping in touch with friends and family. But it's also a productivity tool that goes everywhere with you. What apps are included in this category? Well, according to the App Store on the evening of December 18, 2011, there were a total of 6,464 apps in the productivity category. Will Apple's Pages ($9.99), Numbers ($9.99), or Keynote ($9.99) take the prize? Evernote (free) works on the iPhone as well, and it was the winner of our TUAW Best of 2011 award for Mac productivity apps. Will Evernote grab the award on the iPhone as well? Or will Dropbox (free) pick up the award this time? Mac and PC owners both love to control their personal computers from anywhere, and LogMeIn Ignition ($29.99) could be a fan favorite in the productivity category. Perhaps Microsoft will pick up a winner with the new SkyDrive (free) cloud storage app. TUAW wants to hear from you -- what's your favorite iPhone productivity app for keeping you up to speed with your workload? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 20, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPhone accessory
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best iPhone accessory of 2011. What accessories excited our readers in 2011? One was an Apple product -- the second-generation Apple TV (US$99). Yes, it is an iPhone accessory, since you can beam video, photos, and music to the device from your iPhone. Your iPhone is even a remote control for the Apple TV, so the little connection to your HDTV is a natural match for the iPhone. Cases are another popular iPhone accessory, and four cases received notice from our readers. The incredible LifeProof case for iPhone 4 / 4S ($79.99) is waterproof, shockproof, dirtproof, and snowproof. For my review of the LifeProof case in August, my iPhone 4 got to go for a dip, and TUAW readers got to see a video from the viewpoint of the iPhone underwater in my sink. Another nominated case was the Twelve South BookBook Case for iPhone 4/4S ($59.99). It's a combination wallet -- provided you're not carrying more than your license and a credit card -- and book-like iPhone case. The BookBook case was one of the most unique iPhone cases reviewed by TUAW all year. For those of us who use our iPhones constantly, power can be an issue. One of the most popular cases with a built-in battery is the Mophie Juice Pack Air ($79.95). It's the case and battery extender that I personally use. Finally, athletes find the Wahoo Fitness products which wirelessly connect iPhones to fitness sensors like stride sensors and heart rate straps. Part of the ANT+ alliance, the Wahoo Fitness products work with a variety of iPhone apps and hardware from a number of vendors. The product we've chosen from the spectrum of Wahoo Fitness devices is the Wahoo Run/Gym Pack for iPhone ($119.99). Be sure to vote for the iPhone accessory that you think is the top for 2011. I'll announce the winner in a few days. %Poll-72045%
Machinarium wins best Mac game title in TUAW Best of 2011 voting
Although relatively few people voted in this category, we have a winner in the TUAW Best of 2011 voting for the best Mac game. Machinarium (US$9.99) from Amanita Design, a small independent game developer in the Czech Republic, pulled in 46.9 percent of the votes in our reader polling and won the title of Best Mac Game in the TUAW Best of 2011. The beautifully drawn puzzle game caught the imagination of both TUAW readers and buyers on the Mac App Store, who have given the app 4.5 stars (out of 5). Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ($19.99) came in second with 28.1 percent of the votes. Many thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac game apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to Amanita Design on being the winner in this category for the TUAW Best of 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac photo and video apps
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac photo and video apps of 2011. While we received relatively few nominations in this area, there were several apps that stood out as potential winners in this category. Rather than have video and photo apps punching it out for the Best of 2011 title, I've decided to split the voting into both categories. In the video realm the new Camtasia 2 ($99.99) app pulled in the most nominations, while Apple's Final Cut Pro X ($299.99) was popular despite all the complaining when it was released earlier this year. ScreenFlow ($99.99), another screencasting app for Mac, will fight it out with Camtasia 2 for the honors. For photo apps, FX Photo Studio Pro ($39.99) grabbed the attention of readers, along with Sketcher ($14.99), Flickery ($9.99), and effect / texture app Flare ($9.99). Be sure to vote for one of each below -- one Mac photo app and one Mac video app. I'll announce the winners in a few days. %Poll-72024% %Poll-72020%
Evernote tops voting for TUAW Mac Best Productivity App of 2011
It's the service, Mac app, and iOS app that everybody loves, and it won in our reader polling for the best Mac productivity app of 2011. Evernote (free) pulled in nearly a third (31.3 percent) of the votes from TUAW readers, topping second place winner OmniFocus ($79.99) which had 23.3 percent of the votes. Evernote became even more useful to Mac and iOS device owners during 2011. The company now has a herd of apps that all work well with the Evernote app to help be your "brain in the cloud" -- Skitch became part of the Evernote family this year, and Evernote Hello, Evernote Clearly, Evernote Food and Evernote Peek are all there to help you out as well. Many thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac productivity apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to Evernote founder Phil Libin and the rest of the Evernote team on being the winner in this category for the TUAW Best of 2011.
Best of 2011 nominations: iPhone photo/video apps
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for TUAW Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone photo and video apps. The new 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S has raised the bar for iPhoneography, and the hundreds of iPhone photo and video apps make it easy to produce amazing pictures and edit professional-quality video. To get an idea of the apps you can nominate, just visit the iPhone Photo and Video Apps in the App Store and take a look around. Is it Camera+ (US$0.99) that lights your fire, or is the fun of Hipstamatic ($1.99) that keeps you shooting photos? When you're editing those movies on your iPhone, do you use iMovie ($4.99) to get the work done in the field? Perhaps you like to make your own vintage-look 8mm movies with the $1.99 8mm Vintage Camera. TUAW wants to hear from you -- what's your favorite iPhone app for photo or video work? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 18, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac music app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac music app of 2011. While we received relatively few nominations in this area, there were several apps that stood out as potential winners in this category. Reaper (US$225 for commercial usage, $60 for individual use) is a powerful digital audio workstation app that does it all for musicians. It's "...a complete multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing, and mastering environment." Maybe you want to create ringtones from your favorite music in iTunes. Several readers nominated Ringer ($3.99), and it's not surprising -- the app is consistently rated with five stars by users in the Mac App Store. Several readers picked apps that simplify and speed playback of music on your Mac (i.e., skipping iTunes). The most popular of this genre were GarageTunes ($4.99) and Simplier ($2.99) Only one of these apps will win TUAW's top honor for Mac music app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-72000%
Alfred: TUAW Best of 2011 winner for Mac utility apps
The readers have spoken, and they've agreed -- Alfred, the awesome free app from Running With Crayons, is the winner of the TUAW Best of 2011 award for Mac utility apps. Alfred is a veritable Swiss Army knife of an app. It's an application launcher, a quick web search tool, a calculator, a powerful shortcut manager, a spell checker, an iTunes controller, and more. The base app is available for free, with additional capabilities added through a £15 Powerpack. Alfred was the favorite of 55.1 percent of the 1,407 respondents, capturing over four times the number of votes of Quicksilver. The second place utility was the colorful and useful DaisyDisk ($9.99), used to visualize what files are taking up an unusually large amount of space on your hard disk drive. Our thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac utility apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to Andrew Pepperrell and the rest of the Running With Crayons team on being the winner of this critical software category in the TUAW Best of 2011.
Best of 2011 nominations: iPhone games
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for TUAW Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone games. With over 500,000 apps in the iOS app store, there are plenty of games to choose from, and literally hundreds that became popular in 2011. Infinity Blade II ($6.99) was an App Store game of the week, so perhaps it deserves your nomination for the best iPhone game of the year. First Person Shooter fans love Gameloft's Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($6.99) on the iPhone, while Swampy the Alligator has captured the hearts of adults and kids alike in Where's My Water? ($0.99). Board game fans have been ecstatic about Carcassone ($9.99), while World of Goo ($2.99) continued to gain fans of all ages during 2011. Whatever your favorite iPhone game is, we want to hear about it. Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 17, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac game app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac game app of 2011. While we received relatively few nominations in this area, there were several apps that stood out as potential winners in this category. The classic Pixeljam game Dino Run SE (US$2.99) made the list of TUAW staff favorites for its retro look, the variety of hats, and built-in chat room. New to the Mac App Store, sidescroller Trine 2 ($14.99) gained acclaim for its great story, amazing graphics, and immensely fun gameplay. The beautifully drawn puzzle / adventure game Machinarium ($9.99) also earned a spot in the nominations. This game consistently receives high ratings in the Mac App Store. The "true Mac classic game" Return to Dark Castle ($4.99) is another retro Mac game that captured the imagination of TUAW readers in 2011. Finally, the last spot on the ballot goes to the updated Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ($19.99), which overcame laggy performance and became a favorite of Mac gamers and Star Wars fans. Only one of these apps will win TUAW's top honor for Mac game app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-71971%
Two OWC products win TUAW Best of 2011 voting for Best Mac Peripheral or Accessory
We have another winner! Or should I say we have two winners? Other World Computing, familiar to Mac users worldwide as OWC, has two products that won the coveted title of Best Mac Peripheral or Accessory of the Year in TUAW's Best of 2011 voting. Tied with precisely 24.2 percent of the votes each were the OWC Data Doubler drive brackets and the speedy OWC Mercury 6G Solid State Drives. The Data Doubler drive brackets provide a way to replace an optical drive in a MacBook, Mac mini, or iMac with another hard drive or a solid state drive. OWC is anticipating Apple's trend towards removing optical drives from its computers by making it possible to increase onboard drive capacity or add a speedy solid state drive to an existing machine. Speaking of speedy SSDs, OWC's Mercury 6G solid state drives were the other winner. These quiet, cool, and rugged drives start as low as $119 in price and provide performance that no hard disk drive can match. Our thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac peripherals and accessories, and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to OWC on being the winner twice-over of this category in the TUAW Best of 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac productivity app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac productivity app of 2011. A huge number of TUAW readers nominated DEVONthink (US$49.99) as being an indispensable app on their Macs, so it earned a spot on the ballot. The other apps that have been nominated are no slouches, either! One favorite Mac app was Wunderlist (free), a multi-platform task manager. Priority Matrix ($19.99) is an entirely different type of task management app for Mac, using a four quadrant design to help you prioritize work and life goals. TaskPaper ($29.99) is a simple to-do list that captured the attention of several readers who nominated it as their favorite. Evernote (free) is another potential winner. 2011 saw this amazing application adding even more features, and it didn't surprise us that it made it to the finals. Finally, Omnifocus ($79.99) is another past favorite that readers love to use. Only one of these apps will win TUAW's top honor for Mac productivity app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-71822%
Best of 2011 Nominations: iPhone accessories
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. The Mac nominations are done, and now we're shifting our attention to iPhones. Today's category for Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone accessories. This is a huge category, including protective cases from thin skins to completely waterproof cases that can take a dunking or a drop off the top of a moving car; battery packs; alarm and speaker docks; radio controlled cars and helicopters; car chargers; keyboards; guitar inputs; you name it! To get an idea of what's in this category, just take a look at the Apple Store iPhone accessory listings to see what's in there. Whatever your favorite iPhone accessory is, we want to hear about it. Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 16, 2011.
Best of 2011 Nominations: Mac photo / video apps
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for Best of 2011 nominations is Mac photo and video apps. Your Mac can manage thousands of photos and help you to create video masterpieces, so this is a crowded category. You might be a fan of Apple's iPhoto (US$14.99) or Aperture ($79.99) apps. Maybe you love to create HDR images with HDR Darkroom (on sale for $7.99) or apply stunning effects with FX Photo Studio ($9.99). The ease of use of Flare ($19.99) might be more your cup of coffee. Video fans might be excited about Apple's iMovie '11 ($14.99) or Final Cut Pro X ($299.99). Perhaps you're developing screencasts and use either ScreenFlow ($99.99) or Camtasia 2 ($99.99) in your work. Whatever your favorite Mac photo or video app is, we want to hear about it. Leave your nomination in the comments below. This is the last Mac-specific category for the 2011 awards -- tomorrow we'll begin gathering nominations for iPhone apps and accessories. Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 15, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac utility app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac utility app of 2011. If the nominations were any indication, the free Alfred app looks like it might take the top honors for this category. It attracted over half of the total nominations for best Mac utility app. The other apps that qualified for this category include the popular iStumbler, a free wireless discovery app for Mac; perennial favorite Quicksilver; the beautiful and functional DaisyDisk (US$9.99); and shareware favorite Carbon Copy Cloner. Only one of these items will win TUAW's top honor for Mac utility app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-71784%
13" MacBook Air tops TUAW Best of 2011 voting
Today we're happy to announce the first winner in TUAW's Best of 2011 voting. The initial category that TUAW readers voted on was the Best Mac of the Year, and the results were not unsurprising. Apple's 13" MacBook Air trounced the competition, garnering a whopping 32.7 percent of the votes from 1,274 readers. The closest competition came from Apple's large desktop Mac, the 27" i7 iMac, with 18.6% of the votes. Not surprisingly, the diminutive 11" MacBook Air also pulled in a lot of votes -- in fact, almost half (49.5 percent) of the votes were for the MacBook Air models. Our thanks to all of you TUAW readers who nominated your favorite Mac and then voted in the competition.
