utility
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HistoryHound - full text search of browser histories, NetNewsWire, more
HistoryHound is a handy search utility for anyone who does a lot of surfing and RSS reading between multiple apps. It offers a full text search of most of the major Mac OS X browsers including Mozilla's, OmniWeb and even Opera, as well as two of the more popular RSS readers: Pulp Fiction and NetNewsWire 2. It can be called with a keyboard shortcut, or a small search panel can be left to float above other windows, always waiting to do your bidding.How HistoryHound searches is customizable, as is how far back into the history it shines its spotlight. If you don't like bouncing between applications HistoryHound also includes its own WebKit-based browser for previewing any of your search results.This swiss army knife of a history utility has also recently been updated to a Universal Binary, along with a few other minor but useful feature tweaks. A fully-functioning 30 day demo is available, while a full license is $19.95.
Why wait for Leopard? Get a virtual desktop manager now
Mac publications are all taking a new eye to the apps and features that Leopard is 'killing,' and Dan's post about the 7 apps that Leopard kills inspired me to check out the current market of virtual desktop managers for Mac OS X. Since I'm on a MacBook Pro however, the only one I could really put through the ringer was VirtueDesktops, which is fine since it seems like a feature-packed and very capable virtual desktop manager. Hence, another post in an ongoing theme here at TUAW: Why wait for Leopard?While we didn't get a full shakedown of Spaces at WWDC 2006, VirtueDesktops seems to offer the same functionality, with quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Barb blogged VirtueDesktops in February 2005, but it has certainly come a ways since then. It still offers a basic set of four desktops with the ability to add more, and it's very keyboard shortcut-friendly. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of this highly customizable desktop manger: Eye candy - a wide variety of the standard Aqua transitions are available for switching between desktops. This alone is worth showing off to friends, even if you aren't into the multiple desktop thing AppleScript-able Extensible with plugins Works with Growl to let you know which desktop you've switched to (you can name them for better organization and recognition) Sticky windows and apps - you can bind apps to one desktop or another, or specify them to show on all desktops. This is handy, for example, if Mail.app is 'stuck' to a 'Communication' desktop. Clicking on Mail.app in the dock will automatically switch to the required desktop There's even more to this virtual desktop utility, and since Leopard is taking a while to cook, why not check it out? VirtueDesktops is donationware and a Universal Binary.
TUAW Tip: enable the AppleScript menu
As I was working on an AppleScript-related post this morning, I couldn't seem to find any TUAW Tips in our vast archives that explained how to enable that AppleScript menubar item (pictured) that is mentioned so often in Mac software circles. This, of course, called for just such a tip.So: the AppleScript menubar item. It's a very handy tool for accessing all those AppleScripts you hear about that automate this or toggle that. As long as you save those scripts in ~/Library/Scripts (where ~ is your Home folder), they'll appear in this AppleScript menu - once you've enabled it. I personally think this menu item should be included in the default set of every Mac, but I'd wager that Apple sees this as a little too nerdy of a feature to drop on brand new users. Fair enough.To enable this menu (nerd) in Tiger, go to /Applications/Applescript and open the AppleScript Utility. It offers a few options for handling AppleScripts, including turning on this menu and the order in which the menu displays scripts from both the default system level /Library/Scripts (in your main hard drive) and your personal ~/Library/Scripts folder. If you're on 10.3 (Panther), I *think* you have an /Applications/AppleScript folder, but instead of a full-blown AppleScript Utility app, it's an AppleScript called 'Install Menu' or something similar. Back on Tiger in the AppleScript Utility - you don't worry about the GUI Scripting option unless you come across a script that specifically needs it, though I don't think enabling this for simplicity's sake can harm anything either.If this process went according to plan, you should now have your very own AppleScript menubar item like I have in the screenshot here. clicking it will offer a simple menu of all the scripts you have between the two directories you chose to display. As long as you enabled your personal Home script directory, any scripts you save there should appear in this menu immediately after saving, ready to carry out your bidding.With that said, why not check out some of our past AppleScript posts, such as one of my personal favorites: an AppleScript from Fraser Speirs that opens iSync, syncs all your devices (such as a phone or PDA), then quits iSync. If you use an application launcher such as Quicksilver, you can tie handy scripts like these to Triggers (system-wide keyboard shortcuts) for even more convenience.
Afloat - window floating and transparency at the stroke of a key
Afloat is a killer System Preferences utility that adds a 'float on top' option and customizable transparency settings to virtually any Cocoa app in Mac OS X. Once installed (and you restart any Cocoa apps that were running), new keyboard shortcuts and a couple of options under the Window menu will offer all sorts of handy wndow management and see-through goodness. Great for those times when you have windows layered on top of each other and just need to glance at something underneath, and when you're using a bittorrnet client to download a Quake 4 demo and you're sick of it falling underneath Adium every time you switch to chat - or just for those times when you want to show off with some sexy transparency. Check out Afloat's ReadMe (PDF link) for more details. Afloat is freeware, a Universal Binary, and available from Emanuele Vulcano's site.
Magnify what you're working on with iPiece
For those times when the 6pt type in EULA's just doesn't quite cut it and you literally consider the possibility that your lost car keys could be lying around somewhere on your Desktop, there is iPiece - a magnifying glass for Mac OS X. Double-clicking its icon in the menubar (is that in the HIG's?) opens a magnifying window next to your mouse (fortunately: not right on top of it) and follows it like a hyperactive kitten. Its product page lists uses ranging from adding some legibility to small lists of text on websites to having an extra magnifying trick up your sleeve when editing images. Some of you may prefer Mac OS X's built-in magnifying features, accessible from the Universal Access pane in System Preferences (especially since this feature has keyboard shortcuts; hint-hint, iPiece), so we'll let you decide whether iPiece earns a spot in that menubar.iPiece is a Universal Binary, costs $10 for a license and is available from Old Jewel Software.
View a graphical chart of file and folder sizes with Disk Inventory X
Disk Inventory X takes a unique approach to helping you analyze your disk space usage by visualizing it as a graphical chart. You can see a breakdown of which types of files are hogging the most space, and clicking on a graphical portion will display the file's location in your Mac's system. Let's hear it for the use of color, shapes and sizes in helping Mac users clean up their hard drives; those Britney Spears MP3 duplicates and abandoned BitTorrent downloads aren't going to trash themselves.Disk Inventory X is donationware and available from derlien.com.
Location Switch Automator action
Location Switch is an Automator action that adds some painfully missing features to Mac OS X's built-in Locations option (y'know, that feature you never touch in the Apple menu?). Location Switch can a whole host of application preferences and settings based on which location you chose, such as sound volume, SMTP servers, default printer, etc. Before you use it, however, the action requires some customization on your part, so check out the accompanying ReadMe file for instructions, and open the action in Automator to give it your personal touch.Location Switch is available free from Automator World, but if you enjoy it, consider sending its creator, Charles Schoenfeld, a donation at his site.[via Hawk Wings]
Macworld: The many faces of Get Info
The Get Info window works in a few similar but at times mysterious ways, and Rob Griffiths has put together an article that outlines each of its three iterations in Mac OS X 10.4 (Panther has two). While this might be rudimentary to some of you hard-core Mac OS X users out there, this is a handy feature walk-through of each slightly different version - Get Info, Super Get Info and Summary Info - for those who haven't covered this ground yet. Check it out.
TechTool Pro 4.5 Announced
Micromat today announced an update to their top-of-the-line system diagnostic and repair software TechTool Pro, bringing the utility to Universal Binary status. As a repair technician, I use TechTool daily to repair corrupted drive volumes, detect failing disks, and stress-test hardware. Although version 4.5 of the program sports no new features aside from Intel support, Micromat is not releasing an updater for previous versions of TechTool. According to the company a large number of under-the-hood changes and tweaks to the program prevents such an update from being practical. Current owners of the software can download a public beta of the new version, and order a DVD update for $25 which will ship in July. Subscribers to Mircomat's TechTool Quarterly subscription program will automatically receive the update in the mail at no charge.
FoldersSynchronizer v3.6 goes Universal
FoldersSynchronizer, the backup and sync utility from softtoBe, has been updated to version 3.6, with the addition of Universal Binary status. This is one of the first backup utilities I ever found - I subsequently bought a license way back in the day and it's always done the trick for me since. I've never seen it appear on any 'best utilities' lists, but its extensive feature set seems to match most of the other similar apps I've seen. Users can back up an entire Mac OS X volume and make it bootable. In addition, FoldersSynchronizer has extensive support for multiple backup sessions and configurations, synchronizing directories as well as backing up, setting backup timers, automounting volumes, filtering files and much more.A demo of FoldersSynchronizer is available, while a full license will cost $40.
Widget Watch: miniStat2 v1.81 adds Intel Mac temp, more
While I'm still a bigger fan of the iStat pro widget, miniStat2 definitely wins points for compactness, creativity and for quickly incorporating a monitor for Intel Mac temperatures. Other updates include the ability to change the currently monitored network interface right from Network tab of the widget, the storage tab only displaying physical hard drives (as opposed to including .DMG files and the like) as well as a Spanish localization.A demo of miniStat 2 is available from ShockWidgets, and a license will cost $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.
Gmail-Growl Utility 1.7
The Gmail-Growl Utility that adds some seriously handy features to Google's official Gmail Notifier has been updated with a functionality face-lift and some fixes. It now has an option to toggle on/off Growl notifications for those times when you just need silence, and in Mac OS X Tiger you can now drag and drop notification field elements such as sender, subject and date, to build the actual notification you want to see (Panther users can still copy/paste text blocks to customize this notification).Gmail-Growl Utility has also gone fully universal as long as you're using Google's latest Notifier version (1.8.2). It is also donationware (bonus points: the dev donates 10% to charity) and available from Waffle Software.
Fill in your Address Book with GoogleFill
In an eerie example of just how much information Google can access and what users can do with it, GoogleFill is a handy plug-in that can fill an Address Book contact's address by using a Google reverse search on their phone number. The latest 1.1 version update brings UniBin goodness along with a smarter lookup process.GoogleFill is donationware and available from Longhound.com.
Delibar 0.8 update adds tag bundles, auto-reloading, more
Delibar, my favorite little missing link for social bookmarking, has received a great update to version 0.8. In case you aren't familiar, I'll summarize my previous post: Delibar turns your del.icio.us bookmarks into a bookmark menu that's accessible from your menubar. New features go a little something like this: Improved Interface Support for Bundles and recent Post Auto detection of system proxy Auto reload Bookmarks Tag sorting (alphabetically or by frequency) Tag scraping (show only tag with more than 1/2/5 post) New icon and overall better user interface Delibar is donationware and available for 10.4 (v 0.8) and 10.3 (v 0.5.1), though I believe the version for Tiger is the only one being updated from now on. You can pick up a copy of either from Matteo Rattotti's site.
Delibar - the missing link of social bookmarking?
I love the concept of social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and Shadows. When we found Safarilicious I immediately used it to upload all 1050 of my bookmarks to del.icio.us, and I use it to help organize bookmarks for all sorts of projects I'm working on with friends.My one complaint about these services is that, aside from Flock "getting it" and actually building support for del.icio.us (and Shadows) right into their browser, social bookmarking feels very one-way in its interactivity: there hasn't been any way to access them as easily as your favorite browser's bookmarks menu (and no, Cocoalicious doesn't quite get there). Further, the problem is compounded if you're like me and you either want or have to work in more than one browser.Fortunately, I just found the utility that solves these problems and brings all your socializing bookmarks back home to your desktop: Delibar. Fitting into the "do one thing, and do it well" category that we at TUAW love so much, Delibar (as you can see) is a free menubar app that serves as a "universal bookmarks menu" for all your del.icio.us bookmarks, sorted into folders by the tags you've assigned. This, my friends, is exactly what I've been looking for. To the del.icio.us crew, if you're listening: you need to help this guy out in one way or another. If I may be so bold: you guys should have offered something like this the day that you flipped the switch on your services. To the developer of Delibar: thank you! Finally, to you TUAW readers: I highly recommend you check out this most useful of utilities, and I urge you to donate if you wind up finding it even half as useful as I have.
TransparentDock 2 updated for 10.4.5
TransparentDock 2, the handy donationware/shareware utility for (you guessed it) manipulating the Mac OS X Dock, has been updated to version 2.3.7 to make it compatible with the recently released 10.4.5 upgrade. This new version doesn't do anything spectacular; it simply allows you to make your 10.4.5 Dock transparent, amongst other things.Basic functionality is free, while a suggested (but flexible) registration price of $8 will unlock some extra features and get rid of the nag screen. As always, I highly recommend you donate at least a few dollars to show your appreciation and to help keep handy utilities like this alive.
New Menuet skins available
Menuet, the menu bar add-on that lets you control iTunes, view album art and more, has been updated to version 1.0.1. The update includes several new "iPod" skins in six colors. I registered a copy soon after Scott found it at Macworld in January and now I use it every day. Other changes in 1.0.1 are: Improved Growl song information bezel Fixes for the high-resolution album art grabber Fixes to and improvements for the registration and demo process Various squashed bugs Plus, this version is a universal binary. Menuet requires Mac OS 10.4 and a single license will cost you a worthwhile $12.95.
Textpander goes universal
Textpander is the simple utility that allows you to define abbreviations for frequently used phrases. Once you've set things up, you can simply type your abbreviation in most applications, and let Textpander replace it with the appropriate phrase. Today, version 1.2.2 has been released as a universal binary. I don't do a lot of word processing, but I can see how this would be useful.Textpander is donationware and requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or later.[Via The Apple Blog]
Gmail Notifier updated, offers opening of Gmail messages
Growl is a utility that, like the drunkenbatman, has become a necessity in my daily work. As far as email is concerned, even though I can't bring myself to ditch Mail.app and Address Book completely due to device synchronization issues, Gmail has certainly found its place in my daily tool-belt as well. To my delight, the email notification utility by the name of Gmail Growl (which we've covered before) has been updated with a slick feature: the ability to click on a Growl message notification to be taken to that specific Gmail message in your favorite browser. The nice part about this is that you can specify which browser to use; you aren't simply limited to the system's default browser - handy, when you consider the fact that Firefox supports all the rich text editing options Gmail has to offer, while Safari is still lagging behind (disclaimer: I don't know if that's a WebKit or a Gmail issue, so don't flame me). Gmail Growl can be had, for free, at the author's site. As usual with great freeware like this, I encourage you to make a donation to help keep great utilities like this alive.[via Hawk Wings]
