Rating: 4.5/5

Licensed is a nice little app that does one thing ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù gives you a place to log your software licenses. There are some others out there that have a few more bells and whistles however, this is a very nice little app for free.

The one thing it’s lacking is the ability to grab or include an email directly. At least, I haven’t found a way to do that. You can cut and paste the content of an email but there are some more sophisticated licensing methods that require the original email to activate the actual license.

But, other than that it has all the right fields for filling out the information for your ever increasing horde of applications & licenses.

It’s fast, simple and efficient.

Version Reviewed: 1.0b1

Price:Free

Site:http://amarsagoo.info/licensed/

Rating:4/5

I recently did a comparison review of 9 ?¢‚Ǩ?ìorganizer?¢‚Ǩ¬ù or PIM apps, many of which allow for the inclusion and organization of PDF docs. ReceiptWallet handles this from a more specialized approach. The focus of the app is to specifically organize your receipts as PDFs either by saving from web, email or scanning them in.

Initially I couldn’t find any viable competition for it but now that SOHO Notes has updated to version 6.0.1 they’ve provided the means for setting up your own database forms. This feature still isn’t flexible enough to cover all the aspects that the specialized database programs provide though.

I’ve been very happy with ReceiptWallet overall for organizing receipts for myriad categories of purchases. There are times when I find it’s a little slow to open when I choose to save a PDF to it from a web purchase. I tend to try to remember to open ReceiptWallet first when I know I’ll be generating a receipt online that I want to save.

ReceiptWallet has some additional advantages in that it has pre-populated and editable categories. Some payment methods are already there to choose from and it retains the merchants and categories you put in so that you can reuse them for future receipts. Overall a nice app for getting your receipts in order.

Version Reviewed: 1.1.3

Price:$29.95

Site: http://www.receiptwallet.com/products/receiptwallet.php

Rating: 4.5/5

I’m a bit surprised that more people haven’t found SOHO Notes. At least if you look at osx.iusethis.com Yojimbo is far in the lead among the personal information managers. Forgive me but, I just don’t get why more folks aren’t using SOHO Notes.

As far as features go, SOHO Notes is edging out all the others in my estimation. The only thing I can point to is Chronos’ decision to not make the database open, meaning you can’t get at the data in any easy way if something happens to SOHO Notes. They provide a robust backup system but there are people who are certainly squeamish if you don’t make the data available in a transparent way that doesn’t rely on the proprietary software. I can understand that.

OTOH, this is one rockin’ PIM, Organizer or Note app ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù whichever you prefer to label it. Calling it a note app doesn’t do it justice though. The naming comes from the relationship it had as the replacement to Chronos’ StickyNotes app but it does so much more.

The latest update includes a form for serial numbers as well as a new default folder for them. You can also design you own forms for entry of specific information into the database. This app has an amazing amount to offer for the price. Note taking, indeed you can use it for that. You can synchronize notes to your iPod too. It works beautifully as an organizer for your files ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù though none that I’ve looked at can handle Office files well, they can usually show that it is an .xls or .doc file but SOHO Notes works well with .txt or .pdf files - including viewing within the app. For .xls and .doc it links to the actual file, so you can still make use of the organizational feature. Clicking on the icon of will open the .xls or .doc in Office.

SOHO Notes is also great for archiving web pages in connection with specific notes, journal entries, etc. Very handy. You can view pages you’ve loaded into SOHO Notes when offline ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù of course the links will error out on you unless you are connected to the internet but you can view all of the content that you’ve archived within SOHO Notes.

The only things that would put it over the top for me and push it to 5/5 would be to make the database truly available via OpenBase (upon which it is actually built) and allow me to publish blog posts to other than Atom API blogs so I could make wider use of it. That would allow me to ditch at least one other app I use for blogging/journal writing!

Version Reviewed: 6.1.1

Retail Price: $39.99 / upgrade $25

Site: http://www.chronosnet.com/Products/sohonotes.html

Rating: 5/5

I happened across a nifty utility app for Intel Macs. As many folks have noted the MacBook Pro, in particular, runs a bit hot. My 17?¢‚Ǩ¬ù consistently got hot enough that I always made sure I had something to toss under it if I was planning to work with it sitting on my lap. Some folks also have some Intel Mini’s that run a bit hot as well.

No more! smcFanControl comes to our rescue. The only very minor downside I can find with it is that, because you are forcing it to run the fans at a faster RPM than the default setting Apple set, you will hear the fans more. If “absolute” quiet is your primary goal you’ll want to get external things like a CoolPad or something similar, at least for your laptop.

I have smcFanControl set low enough on my 17?¢‚Ǩ¬ù MacBook Pro that it hasn’t been too horrible. Playing music or movies at a regular volume I don’t hear the fans at all. I do hear them if I keep the volume really low (sleeping 5 year old not far away in those moments).

It’s a straightforward, easy install. Loads nicely in the menu bar with temp and fan rpm. It allows you to have it auto start after login as well as auto apply specific settings for battery, AC-power or when charging (laptops only). It doesn’t override the automatic mode that causes the fans to rev higher when CPU load increases enough to warrant even stronger cooling. I find that mine doesn’t need to rev nearly as often now though.

An earlier version had a memory leak that could ramp up the memory use if running for extended periods. The developer released an updated version that addressed that. I’ve seen no issues with it since I started using it about 2 weeks ago, so be sure you are downloading at least version 2.1

Quite a nice little app if you want to keep the heat down on your Intel Mac. Now, if I could just find something similar for a really toasty AlBook (PPC)!

Version Reviewed: 2.1

Retail Price: Free (Donationware)

Site: http://81.169.182.62/~eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html

Rating: 5/5

MailTags is a must have add-on for Apple’s Mail.app. As the developer’s web states: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe revolutionary plug-in that turns Mail.app into a powerful email organization system.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù And they are quite correct. Before MailTags I would wrack my brain to come up with useful rules to deal with organizing the copious amounts of email I deal with from a variety of sources.

After MailTags, well about the only ?¢‚Ǩ?ìrules?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I use anymore are ones to clear general inboxes into selected mailboxes, mostly to keep the servers and Mail.app happy regarding total quantity of messages.

The interface is well designed and intuitive to use. You are up and running lickety-split once you click on the installer to put the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbundles?¢‚Ǩ¬ù in place that Mail.app uses for add-on functionality. You can put in customized keywords, set deadlines that are then populated to iCal and add notes.

Another nice thing is, if you’ve decided to use EagleFiler as a data management tool it also handles archiving email ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù it imports your MailTags information. That’s quite a nifty feature tie-in. I hear rumors that Leopard is going to mess with the ability of MailTags to function and I sure hope that isn’t the case (unless they’ve managed to work with this Dev to include the amazing organizing capabilities in Mail.app in Leopard, which would be beyond cool, but I doubt it).

Since I’ve been going a bit freeware and shareware happy of late one of my most frequently used tags is the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìsoftware license?¢‚Ǩ¬ù label so I can find all those codes sites and developers are sending my way. This is really something worth looking at if you deal with even a moderate amount of email on a regular basis. It’s truly wonderful to be able to do a keyword search and be able to find the group of messages you need to look at rather than doing more generic searches that pull up spam and other junk you have to still wade through.

Give it a try, there’s a 21 day trial period, educational and volume licenses available by contacting indev Software directly.

Price: $29.95

Site: http://www.indev.ca/MailTags.html

Screenshot

Rating: 4/5

I happened upon Hallon while doing a search for applications that could handle bookmarks. Hallon, however is a completely different tool than the apps meant to manage ever burgeoning browser bookmarks. It more accurately falls into a slim version of GTD (Get Things Done) app as it allows you to bookmark things in apps that you normally wouldn’t be able to tag this way and then allows you to set due dates for for given bookmarked items.

I’m finding this is a really useful utility ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù and I’m getting to really like having that red raspberry icon in my menu bar. From the developer’s web: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe name? I think Hallon is a nice word (and it makes it easier to come up with an icon as it is the Swedish word for raspberry).?¢‚Ǩ¬ù (-;

I do volunteer work and though I’m using MailTags, which I’ll review soon, Hallon is becoming useful to me for bookmarking things other than email that I need to act on. The basic applications directly supported by Hallon are Address Book, iPhoto 5, iTunes, Mail, Safari and Terminal in the default install. However, you can bookmark from other apps but they will labeled as ?¢‚Ǩ?ìGeneral?¢‚Ǩ¬ù in the application column of the Hallon organizer (organiser, as the developer spells it with British spelling).

As the developer chose to make this app available through SourceForge, additional applications are being added to extend the functionality for bookmarking. So far they include, Firefox, Entourage, Camino, BibDesk, Shiira, NetNewsWire & Path Finder. The developer is open to adding other applications but states that ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe application for which you want to add support needs to have fairly good AppleScript support (it needs to be able to return a reference for the selected item and then be able to open that item by sending it the reference).?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

The only downsides I’ve encountered are, when it hits a snag ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù like I don’t actually have anything hightlighted/chosen when I tell it to add to the bookmark database ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù my MacBook Pro tends to rev like a jet engine for a few moments until I clear the error dialogue box and move on to a doable action. If you need to keep track of a variety of data that have deadlines, want to set reminders you might find this a useful organizational tool.

This app is by the same developer, Peter Borg, who did Smultron, a free text editor for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Price: Donationware

Site: http://hallon.sourceforge.net/index.html

Screenshot

4.5/5

I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve been testing out a variety of app launchers lately. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m finding on my MacBook Pro that Overflow is becoming my launcher of choice. It conveniently sits in the Dock and with one easy click it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s open. You can also open it with a keyboard key combination of your choice.

At least on my Intel laptop I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m finding it more reliable at the moment than a few other apps I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve been trying. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s nicely customizable. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve added a nice selection of categories to separate and identify apps grouped the way I use them.

The program doesn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t care if you put the same app in multiple categories so you can set it up in ways that correspond to the way you think about the use of your apps. Rather nice. Overflow isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t limited to launching apps. If you have a document you open frequently you can put that there too.

It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s turned out to be a wonderful app for me to reduce the clutter on my Dock, which is a very big thing on a laptop with it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s limited screen real-estate. They have a very nice overview video on the website covering a vast majority of the features while providing great visual support explaining it’s functionality.

Stunt Software has a free trial download that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s 20 days of full, unrestricted use. After that you are no longer be able to launch items and you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll be asked to register. In the 10 days before the trial period runs out, a red floating window appears above Overflow’s main window to let you know how much time is left in your trial. All of Stunt Software?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s offerings have this 20 day trial. That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s more than enough time to determine whether it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s useful and suits your needs. It’s a good bet that it won’t take you that long to put it to good use.

Version as of review: 2.0.6

Retail Price: $14.95

Site: www.stuntsoftware.com/Overflow/

Rating: 4.5/5

General Info: Have you seen all of the fancy things people do to their Macs. Before I met Mac Pilot, I wondered how they did them, there were some guides on the internet, but I really didn’t want to have to go into the terminal and change around my configuration settings. Then there was Mac Pilot….

Macpilot allows you to make your Mac work the way you want, if you either don’t know the commands to do it, or you, like me, didn’t want to go into Terminal or edit system files. Mac Pilot’s interface is very clever, it packs many of OSX’s hidden features into one, well designed space which makes it easy and quick to enable or disable them. You can do everything from editing your login screen to perfoming maintainance.

Mac Pilot really is a must have for your Mac.

Price: $20

Site: http://www.koingosw.com/

Score: 4/5

General Info: For the longest time I’ve been resistant to using any type of launcher for my applications. You may find, as I did, that you have to squint at an overloaded Dock if you don’t have a launcher solution. The ?¢‚Ǩ?ìfolder full of aliases” in the Dock method works well. Not elegant, not configurable, but workable.

I’ve just installed Trampoline and I’m amazed at how useful it has become in just 24 hours of use. I’m hooked. I’m currently using the default alt+spacebar hot keys to open the application on my MacBook Pro. Assigning hot keys appears to be quite flexible, which should allow you to avoid interfering with hot keys you may already have set. One suggestion in the fairly helpful PDF user guide is if you happen to have a three button mouse to set the third button to open it.

Trampoline opens right under your cursor, which is convenient, though can take a bit of getting used to. Where your cursor is on the screen determines how large the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìwheel?¢‚Ǩ?ì is when it opens. It can be a bit annoying when the cursor is close to the edge of the screen since the wheel opens at the smallest setting and sometimes off the edge of the screen. The developer knows about this but the UI functions a little inconsistently when attempting to move it into usable range. That issue aside, I’m getting a great deal of use out of it, having explored about 1/2 the setting options and keyboard commands to customize it. The initial default is set to grab all the apps from your Dock (docked and open) when the app is first opened. Once that’s accomplished you can clear out that overloaded Dock and keep adding more to Trampoline. You can put folders as well as applications in the items menu. When you click on a folder it will ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbounce?¢‚Ǩ?ì you to a new wheel with the contents of the folder displayed.

There are quite a few customizable features, it’s a snap to install and you’ll likely make immediate use of it, even just using default settings. The version as of this review is 2.0.3, requires Mac OS 10.4 and is a Universal binary. This is likely to be one of the keepers out of the myriad shareware I’ve been downloading and trying out recently and may just fill that app launcher niche for you as well.

Note: For a limited time a free version is available at http://macheist.com/ when you register and complete Heist 6.

Retail Price: $19.95

Site: http://www.old-jewel.com/

Apple has just released Boot Camp version 1.2, adding support for the 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows Vista. Many more driver updates and new features are included in this version as well, such as:

-Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera
-Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player)
-A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions
-Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian
-Improved Windows driver installation experience
-Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows
-Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista)
-This is great news for anyone who might (unfortunately) want or need to run the latest version of Windows.

I want to issue one word of caution, however, the system requirements list on the Boot Camp page has not been updated specifically for Vista, and the hard drive requirements; the last I remember, any version of Vista besides Home Basic needs almost 15GB just to install everything that is included, so be sure you partition some extra space if you were still working from XP.

With that said, get out a blank CD and head over to the Boot Camp page to download the new version. Please keep in mind that this is beta software