The Graphic Mac: OSX and design-related tips, reviews and discussion - Mac Apps

Fontcase: Elegant font management

James — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:40:38 -0700

Guest review by George Coghill

I am assuming readers of The Graphic Mac are aware of Apple’s Font Book that ships with OS X (and is pretty robust in 10.5), and are also aware of the limitations of Font Book, as well as the need for a graphics professional to use a third-party font management application. And I know what you’re thinking: “Don’t we already have enough pro font management apps?”. Suitcase Fusion 2, FontAgent Pro 4 and of course the formerly free FontExplorer X Pro have been around for some time and each is pretty well established. So why a new font manager?

Prevent screen dimming, screensavers and sleep on your laptop with Caffeine

James — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:08:13 -0700

If you work on a MacBook or MacBook Pro you probably have the laptop set to sleep after a certain amount of time, and the screen to dim after a certain period of inactivity, in order to save battery life. The problem is that sometimes the dimming or sleep feature activates at an inopportune time - such as reading long documents or Web pages. You could adjust your EnergySaver preference settings, but that's a pain - and if you forget to switch it back, your battery drains even faster.

Enter Caffeine from Lighthead Software. This free piece of software prevents your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers.

Caffeine is easily activated by clicking the menubar icon. Another click deactivates it. You can also tell Caffeine to turn off after a specified number of minutes by Command + clicking on the icon. A checkbox in the preferences sets Caffeine as a startup application, so it's always there when you need it.

I recently started using Caffeine on my MacBook Pro and love it. It's a one-trick pony, but it does the trick very well.

Fixing Suitcase Fusion launch problem after an OSX 10.5.6 update

James — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:56:00 -0700

If you're running Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2 and recently updated to OSX 10.5.6, you may have run into the problem of Fusion not launching.

The cause of the problem appears to be an issue with your Mac's Bonjour name if the name is too long, or contains spaces or special characters. If you are experiencing the problem, here's a quick way to fix it that requires little effort and no special hacks or software tools.

Accepting an invitation on a specific Apple iCal calendar

James — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:55:00 -0700

If you have multiple calendars set up in Apple's iCal application and you receive an invite from a friend, family member or client, you can easily decide which calendar you want the invite to be placed in.

Simply hold down the Accept button, rather than just clicking on it, to get a pop-up menu which allows you to choose which iCal calendar it should be placed in.

FontExplorer X receives huge update; no longer free

James — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:50:55 -0700

Linotype has finally released the long-awaited update to it's free font manager FontExplorer X - a favorite among designers everywhere as an alternative to Suitcase Fusion and FontAgent Pro. The features are rich, unfortunately, so is the price.

FontExplorer X Pro now comes in two flavors, a desktop client and a server version. The desktop client now sells for $39 until February 28th. On March 1, 2009, the app will jump to $79. The server version price is based on the number of seats that you require it to serve.

FontExplorer X Pro supports Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS2, CS3 and CS4, as well as Quark XPress versions 6.5 through 8.x, and features auto updater, the ability to clear system and application level font caches, smart sets, application-based sets, font previewing, Spotlight support, conflict resolution, backup support, and of course a built-in online font store.

A demo of FontExplorer X Pro is available and runs on Mac OSX 10.4.x through 10.5.x. I have not tested the application yet, but will be in the near future.

MacUpdate adds Pangea Arcade to Holiday Bundle

James — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:12:38 -0700

I wrote about the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle last week. Today, as if $49.99 for 10 great apps weren't a good enough deal as it is, MacUpdate added Pangea's Arcade game to the bundle. That's now 11 apps for $49.99.

Because I previously purchased the bundle, which included RapidWeaver, Default Folder X, Drive Genius, LittleSnitch and six other apps, I found the download link and serial number for Pangea Arcade in my download bin.

Pangea Arcade: Warheads

Pangea Arcade is a collection of three classic arcade games, Warheads (a remake of Missle Command), Firefall (a remake of Centipede), and Nucleus (a remake of Asteroids). But don't let the idea of retro games fool you. These apps are stunningly cool! The visuals and audio are spectacular, and there's just enough twist to the old games to make it fun again. I've already wasted three hours playing Nucleus this morning... completely addicted! There's even an option to use 3D glasses in one of the games, unfortunately, I don't have a pair to test out.

You can purchase the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle for $49.99 using any major credit card or PayPal. The Holiday Bundle offer ends Thursday at Midnight. A portion of the proceeds of the sale goes to supporting The Graphic Mac, so please buy using the links provided in this article.

Google Maps plugin for OSX Address Book

James — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:13:32 -0700

The Google Maps Plugin, by Brian Toth, is the easiest way to find your Address Book contacts using Google Maps and Google Earth. The plugin for Apple's Address Book application easily installs and adds the ability to right click on a contact address and choose to get directions or view a map of the location.

Google Maps Plugin, version 2.6.3, is a 291 KB download and requires OSX 10.3.9 or higher, including 10.5.5. The plugin is old, but still works perfectly!

10 very cool apps at nearly 90% off!

James — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:01:11 -0700

Macupdate is offering a fantastic Holiday Bundle of ten popular OSX apps for only $49.99 (regularly $447.69), now through December 19th.

The Holiday Bundle includes:

Drive Genius - Optimize/repair/test/resize and clean up your Mac's drives.
DefaultFolder X - Enhance your Save and Open dialog boxes. This is one of the first things I install on any new Mac!
RapidWeaver - Create beautiful template-based Web sites rapidly.
Little Snitch - Alerts you to outgoing network connections.
Virus Barrier - You can't get infected, but you can spread them. Kill the latest viruses.
MacGourmet Deluxe - Easily create, build, and share your recipe collection.
iVolume - Improves the built-in "Sound Check" function of iTunes.
KeyCue - Displays all the menu shortcut commands.
MacPilot - Enable over 700 hidden features in Mac OSX & other popular apps!
WhatSize - Helps you find out what's taking up all the space on your hard drive.

At just $49.99, this bundle is a bargain just for having Drive Genius, Default Folder and RapidWeaver. But when your throw in Little Snitch, MacPilot, and the other apps, it's simply a no-brainer!