AntiRSI

I have had lots of time with sore fingers, wrists and shoulders in the past few months due to my excessive use of a Macbook Pro. The laptop keyboard isn't so great when you are using it 8 hours a day. I get worn out by the end of the week and would like to take a break to save my body.

I came across the freeware applicaton AntiRSI which is a little program that reminds you to take breaks while you are at the computer. It is set up with a short - 15 second break -- every few minutes and then a longer break (3 minutes) every 50 minutes or so. Those might not be the exact numbers because I changed the settings and don't remember the defaults, but it seems like a good idea and it does seem to help. I don't know if there is any science behind the timing or duration of the breaks, but I like stopping every so often and I think it has helped. I've still got some soreness, but it's not as intense.

iMovie plugins

Among the many strange choices made with iMovie '08 is the lack of plugins for the program. I have a few plugins for previous version of the program and always wanted a few more if I could afford them. It's not clear whether or not there is a way to create plugins for iMovie '08 or not. The other thing I'm not seeing is a price cut on the plugins for the older versions of iMovie. If that software isn't going to work with the new version, the customer base for the plugins probably isn't getting any larger, so a nice discount on the plugins might spur some sales.

Educational price of iLife 08 not such a bargain

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I recall paying about $49 for previous versions of Apple's iLife with the educational discount. iLife '08 came out recently and the list price is $79 while the educational price is $71. Doesn't seem like much of a deal really. The same is true for the iWork package.

It sounds like you can purchase iWork for $49 by downloading the trial version and then buying a serial number. I think I will wait and see if they carry the boxed versions of this software at the campus bookstore when I go back to work in a couple of weeks. In the past they have offered an even better deal than the educational discount.

Ｓaving disk space

Ｗhen your hard drive is close to full, performance suffers. Ａpplications like to have room for virtual memory as well as to store temporary files and when you get down to just a little free space, it's a bad deal. Ｉ was reading an article today on the ＭacＷorld site about ways to get back some disk space that isn't really being used. Ｔhe author suggested Ｍonolingual for removing the many languages which are installed as part of ＯＳ Ｘ but which may never be used. Ｉ figured that was a good place to start and Ｉ saved 5 ＧＢ on my laptop and about 9 on my iＭac. Ｓeemed great until Ｉ went to actually use my laptop and found that Ｉ may have done something wrong and deleted the key layout or something. Ｎow Ｉ can't type a dollar sign -- Ｉ get this： ¥ -- and my text entry is in a strange font where the spacing is not right when Ｉ use capital letters Ｌike Ｔhis. Ｈmmm. Ｉ hope Ｉ don't have to reinstall the ＯＳ...

Ｓuper Ｄuper

Ｉ broke down and bought Ｓuper Ｄuper today. Ｉ figured Ｉ would back up my laptop with it. Ｎot so fast. Ａfter about 3 hours, it was only halfway done backing up the 80 ＧＢ drive. Ｉ'll have to do it overnight at that rate. Ｉ think Ｉ need to read up on how it works a little more before Ｉ start using it all the time, but at least this is a step towards regular backups.

ArtText or TypeStyler

One thing I have not figured out is why it has taken so many years for the OS X version of TypeStyler to be released. It's still not out yet and I'm sure they have long since lost many customers because of this. It's been "coming soon" for years now. I really liked the program years ago when I used Mac OS 9, but that was about 7 years back. Today on MacZot, you can get a new competitor to TypeStyler, ArtText, for 33% off -- $19.95. I will give it a try and if it can do most of what TypeStyler did, I'll buy it. Too bad for TypeStyler, but how long can you wait?

BeeDocs Timeline

BeeDocs Timeline is an interesting program (Mac only). It makes the creation of timelines very simple, so it's a big timesaver. You can use it for free for up to 10 items. We have used it several times for school reports and it works well. You don't really get much more with the paid version other than a much longer timeline. At almost $40, it's a little out of my price range, but today you can get it for $24 at MacZot. I think the developer is working on a new application which will extend the features of Timeline quite a bit, so I'm going to wait for that and continue to use the free version.

Backing up

I'm waiting to get the file recovery software today so I can try to salvage what's on my laptop's hard drive. I hope that goes well, but you never know. What I really need to do is have a good system in place to back up my files regularly. I've got too many 300 adn 400 GB drives which are practically full and I'm not doing any regular backups. Greg Keene at TechDigs.net does an extensive job laying out the options for backing up your files when you've got lots of files. It's a little daunting, but something has to be done, in my case. It's no fun to lose your files when your drive goes bad.

Scrivener for OS X

It does seem that there are quite a few outliners/word processors/note-taking/clip management applications for the Mac. I have trouble keeping up with them and don't seem to get around to spending enough time with new ones to change what I'm working with. Scrivener 1.0 was released yesterday and it has some unique features. In addition to the full screen, distraction-free mode which has become popular in order to help people focus on writing and not on browsing the web or checking email, it has a kind of note card mode which allows you to organize your thoughts on a project and view them on a virtual corkboard. I'm not clear on what kind of functionality you get with this, but it's worth a look.

ScreenSteps

I took a brief look at ScreenSteps today and watched one of the tutorials on the website. It looks like an interesting way to streamline the production of step by step tutorials. It's also an alternative to screencasting. What's not clear is how much it's going to cost -- right now it's a beta which expires in less than two weeks. It might save some time since it integrates screen capture with a template for presenting the tutorial. The template I saw isn't a format I would normally use, but it might be flexible enough to work. Works on Windows and Mac.

MacWorld Discounts

Dealmac has around 50 deals on Mac software and hardware you can get even if you aren't going to MacWorld. Most are only good through tomorrow, though. One I liked is 30% off Profcast, an application which helps you convert a presentation into a podcast. It's a good deal at $21. I bought it myself.

xPad

Odd timing but xPad was yesterday's Mac freeware application of the day at FreeMacWare.com. At least it didn't show up on MacZot again. I'm not sure that such a small program has generated this level of news and commentary before. The developer, Garrett Murray, wrote a bad contract, the purchaser, Brian Ball, exploited it, and now everyone is talking about an application that had been dormant for 2 years. I don't think the developer had much interest in updating the software -- I read his own statement to that effect on his site not long after version 1.0 of xPad came along. So it seems to me he got an offer that was probably a little inflated and took it without thinking that the way he'd written the contract, he might not get what he was expecting. Brian Ball may or may not have ever intended to fulfill the contract, but the way it was written worked out perfectly for a speculative venture. He could find out whether or not he could sell it and bail out if he wanted to, limiting his risk. He did that, but the way he did it -- not answering emails, continuing to sell the application beyond the time he'd paid for it -- is the crux of why most people are not happy with him. In the end, it's the same story you see again and again. The initial problem wasn't huge, but the failure to communicate honestly about it blows things up into something much worse. It will be interesting to see if MacZot can attract other developers who are willing to sell their software at a discount after this. It's already pretty clear that many customers won't be going back to MacZot.

MacAppADay seems to have run out

MacAppADay shut down for about 5 days and they seem to really be creating a problem for themselves by promising certain things and then not delivering on them. Today's free app isn't an app at all. It's a 3 month trial membership to beta test a new site for creating web pages. Since the site hosts your content, it seems like you won't have access to it after 3 months unless you pay, which makes this one a little different than all the other freebies which were actually applications you could use.

MacSanta ended at 9 PM EST

I got my answer on that one as the coupon failed to work on the last application I tried to buy, CSSEdit. I can get it later for full price if necessary. It probably would have been a good idea to indicate the expiration time on the MacSanta site, as there was really no way to know which time zone they were using. One other minor gripe -- Rogue Ameoba was behind the site, but they didn't offer the discount on their Fission & Audio Hijack Pro bundle. You could either take the bundle discount or the MacSanta discount, but not both. Other vendors did allow the use of the MacSanta coupon with their bundles.

I went back and checked and at least on some of the sites, the coupon was still working, so maybe there was something wrong with the CSSEdit site to begin with, although the MacSanta site does say the deal is over.

MacAppADay takes 3 days off

MacAppADay is off until the 27th, when presumably they will finish off the week with a few more free apps for the Mac with something special on January 1. The special might be a bundle for purchase. Fine by me. Although MacAppADay is taking a break, there is no holiday among the commenters who keep finding more things to dislike about a site which is giving stuff away for free. The complaints range from not liking the fact that the free applications aren't upgradeable to the site's claim that they would give away an application each day in December and haven't lived up to that. Maybe those people should find other stuff to gripe about. Sure, you don't get the same rights with the software that you would get if you bought it, but who can give away 5000 copies of their software for free and stay in business? Many of these applications are things I had never heard of before, so I can't imagine that they have a huge customer base. It's been a good way to learn about new applications, along with MacZot and MacSanta.

MacSanta stops at 104

The MacSanta site seems to have topped out at 104 companies, selling way more than 104 applications. 20% off is a nice deal and I've got my list and will be trying some of them out over the weekend. Last day to buy is Monday with the discount. I don't expect to see any new names on the list, but you never know. I guess GeeThree never heard my pleas because they didn't show up on the MacSanta list.

MacSanta hits 100

MacSanta has 100 companies now in the 20% off promotion. I have a long list of stuff I'm going to buy in the next few days and maybe some more items if I have time to try them out. I'm still looking for GeeThree to show up on the list...it's not too late! GollyGee is there already with their GollyGeeBlocks, so some of the GeeThree iMovie plugins would make a nice addition to the list.

Boinx joins MacSanta

I didn't think it would happen, but Boinx software, maker of iStopMotion as well as some other great software, is now on the MacSanta list. That means I can save a few dollars when I buy iStopMotion as a gift. Maybe it's just a coincidence that I mentioned this twice already on my blogs, but probably not. Boinx had a link to the MacSanta site on their blog, so it seemed like a good chance they would get on the list.

More MacSanta

That MacSanta site has quite a list of applications, although still no sign of anything from Boinx. I'm hoping for an iStopMotion discount but maybe that's not going to happen until right after I purchase it...Some of the software on the list includes Voodoo Pad, Yojimbo, Fission, RapidWeaver, Sandvox, Tinderbox, and even Nisus Writer Express, something I gave up on long ago in favor of Mellel. That transition to OS X didn't go well for Nisus from what I remember.

MacSanta fills the void

MacAppADay is shut down today while they move to a new server and the last couple of applications on MacZot haven't been too interesting to me, so it's been a slow couple of days on the Mac shareware front. However, MacSanta showed up yesterday with 20% off on a number of applications, so that looked pretty good. Today, the MacSanta list seems to have tripled and I think there are 3 or 4 items on there that I'd like to get. There are now 63 companies listed. ScreenCasts online just got added in the past few hours. That's one I'm going to jump on. It's a good list and a good deal.