Tag Archives: Mac

Arq: Back Up Your Mac to Amazon S3

Jul 7, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts No Comments

I use some shell scripts to back up my web server to Amazon S3. It’s very cheap and off-site, two things that make for a good backup strategy. But what about personal computers? Most people, myself included, simply back up to external hard disk. Off-site backups stored “in the cloud” on remote servers would be a much preferable option. (But most people balk at paying $5-$20 per month for a service like Dropbox, JungleDisk, SpiderOak or Carbonite.)

Arq, by Haystack Software, takes a slightly different approach. It’s designed for those of us who already have Amazon S3 accounts. Arq lets you set a monthly budget, say $5 (which gets you 50GB or storage). The application then keeps the folders you choose mirrored with Amazon S3. It operates on the same hourly schedule as Time Machine, keeping multiple versions of the files. It periodically deletes old versions of the files to stay within the storage space equivalent to the monthly budget you set. It even encrypts your files with a passkey of your choosing.

If you’re selective about the data you back up, the pricing should be fairly reasonable. It seems like a good way to back up data. You could use it in tandem with Dropbox; Arq+S3 for backing up your critical data, Dropbox for sharing and collaborating.

Further Reading

14 Mac Applications I Use Every Day

May 28, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Featured, Software & Scripts 15 Comments

I made the switch to Mac OS X a little over two years ago when I bought my first MacBook (which is still working fine as my main computer, I might add). I find that my workflow has improved, and I’m more efficient in my daily tasks. Exposé and Spaces are probably a large part of that.

The idea to share my most frequently used applications came to me recently, so I thought I would write-up a quick compilation of the software that I use on a daily basis post-Windows. Obviously I needn’t bother with the “well, duh…” applications like iTunes, Terminal, or my choice in web browser. After all, the major browsers all have Mac versions. Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari. (I use Firefox, despite the speed issues, since I’m fairly dependent on certain extensions.)

Adium

I don’t do a lot of Instant Messaging, but I keep an account on all of the major services for the occasions when I need to. Apple’s own iChat only supports AIM, MobileMe, ICQ, and Bonjour, if I’m not mistaken. Many users, including myself, prefer Adium for it’s extensive protocol support. You can chat on AIM, Jabber (GMail/GTalk), Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, ICQ, Bonjour, and many others. It has a good interface, and it’s feature set is more than adequate for most users. I don’t believe it offers voice or video chat options, but you can always open Skype or iChat for those.

Homepage: Adium

CloudApp

Need to share a file fast? That’s what CloudApp is all about. It sits in your menu bar, waiting for you to drag a file onto it. When you do, it uploads the file to the service’s redundant servers and copies a short URL to your clipboard. It has some more nice features, but that’s the crux of it. I find it useful for sharing files or screenshots, and it keeps my Dropbox account from becoming too cluttered.

Homepage: CloudApp

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AppStorm’s Guide to Creating a Podcast Using GarageBand

Apr 26, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts No Comments

Mac AppStorm has had, for quite some time, a great tutorial on how to record podcasts with Apple’s GarageBand software. Providing you have a decent microphone, GarageBand should make it fairly easy to record and edit a high-quality podcast.

The iTunes Podcast directory is a tempting offer. Without much effort, you can get your voice out to thousands of people. Of course, if your podcast doesn’t reek of quality (both in terms of content and presentation) no one will pay attention. The content part only you can figure out, but if its quality you want, GarageBand provides an easy solution.

I’m going to show you how to create a technically sound, professional quality podcast that you can share either using an iWeb site, or through any other iTunes compatible RSS feed.

Once you’ve recorded your podcast, you could upload it to Amazon S3 and use a WordPress plugin like PodPress to create an RSS feed that you can submit to iTunes.

Creating a Podcast Using GarageBand [Mac AppStorm]

Twitter Acquires Tweetie

Apr 10, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Featured, Software & Scripts 3 Comments

The big news story of the day, it seems, is that Twitter is acquiring Tweetie. You know, the popular (arguably the most popular) Twitter iPhone application? Yes, that Tweetie. The $2.99 app is going to be free from now on, and it will be renamed “Twitter for iPhone.” This stems from newbie users’ frustration and confusion when they search for an official “Twitter” app, only to find a mess of clients with unfamiliar names.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement with Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) to acquire Tweetie, a leading iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free (currently $2.99) in the iTunes AppStore in the coming weeks. Loren will become a key member of our mobile team that is already having huge impact with device makers and service providers around the world. Loren’s work won the 2009 Apple Design Award and we will eventually launch Twitter for iPad with his help.

So we can look forward to an iPad version of Tweetie, and possibly more frequent updates since Loren Brichter is joining Twitter’s mobile team.

One burning question has plagued exiting Tweetie users in the hours after the announcement: what will become of Tweetie for Mac? Good news, a beta of version 2 is sill on the way, according to an Atebits posting on the MacHeist forum. (Loren had previously promised buyers of the recent MacHeist bundle early beta access.)

Hey all – first of all I apologize for any confusion, things have been a bit crazy!  I just want to says I’m blasting through the todo list to get a beta put together as fast as I can, the Mac UI stuff I’ve been prototyping is just too cool to have anything else happen to it.  Sorry for keeping it short, gotta get back to coding!

MacHeist nanoBundle 2 is Here

Mar 5, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts No Comments

Mac users: do you want to get over $260 worth of software for less than twenty dollars? The second Macheist nanoBundle is here, and it’s worth a close look, at least.

The applications included aren’t necessarily as impressive as those from previous bundles, but there are some good ones.

If you ever need to backup a DVD, RipIt has replaced the difficult to obtain “Mac the Ripper” as the most prominent solution. It’s very simple to use, and it works with pretty much any disc you can throw at it. It’s usually $20 or so when your trial period is ends, so the MacHeist bundle is a pretty good value if you’re already looking for a good DVD ripping application. I haven’t tried out all of the other apps yet, but the clipboard enhancer Clips and the CoverScout album artwork-finder sound like they might be useful.

Oh, and one of the software packages included is Tales of Monkey Island, the latest installment in the infamous Monkey Island series of video games. As usual, don’t worry about the fact that it and RapidWeaver are not “unlocked” yet; they will be.

Get a Larger Version of a Mac Application’s Icon

Mar 1, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Blogging, Featured One Comment

Have you ever wanted a large version of an icon, maybe for a software review on your blog? (Or maybe you just want a closer look at the details of the image…) In Mac OS X Leopard or greater, it’s actually fairly easy to do that.

First you want to find the application in the Finder. Right-click it and choose “Show Package Contents.”

A new window will open with a folder named “Contents” inside. Double-click it, and then open the “Resources” folder inside.

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Notify 2: Better Email Notifications for Webmail Users

Feb 5, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts No Comments

Until recently I used Google Notifier to monitor my primary Google Apps inbox for new messages, and I used Apple’s Mail application to check my other accounts. Then I found Notify 2, a neat little Mac application that works even better.

Notify sits in your menu bar, up by the clock, and monitors multiple email accounts. It will check GMail, Google Apps, MobileMe, Rackspace, and generic IMAP boxes. When new messages come in, the number on the badge updates, and it can optionally make sounds or show Growl notifications.

If the ability to monitor multiple accounts isn’t enough for you, this feature will win you over: You can do basic email tasks right from Notify. You can press the spacebar to open a full preview of an email.  You can delete messages, mark them as read, or even send quick messages. It’s cut down on the number of times I’ve had to actually visit my inbox, as I can trash and quick-view messages without loading up the web interface.

It’s $10 for the full version, with a trial, but the basic inbox monitoring features are still available after the trial period is over.

MacStories Interviews Tweetie Developer Loren Brichter

Nov 10, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts No Comments

MacStories has published a quick interview with Loren Brichter, the developer of the popular Tweetie client for accessing Twitter from your iPhone or Macintosh desktop.

Apple just announced the In-App purchasing system available for free apps as well. Your thoughts about it?

It’s fantastic. From this point on I think every dev should consider going the free route with an internal paid “activation” mechanism (e.g. trial -> full version). It’s too late for Tweetie 2, but I’m definitely going to consider it for future apps.

A few interesting questions are there, and a few hints at what’s coming for Tweetie. Native API retweets will be coming in the next release of Tweetie 2 for iPhone, and yes, it will eventually sync your position in the timeline with the upcoming Tweetie 2 for Mac.

Tweetie Retweet URL Replacer

Sep 22, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Featured, Software & Scripts No Comments

As you may know, my favorite desktop client is Tweetie for Mac. If you use Twitter through a desktop client (whether it’s Tweetie or some other), you probably wish you could click those green retweet buttons and have them open in your client instead of taking you to Twitter.com.

Now you can, at least, if you use Tweetie for Mac.

I whipped-up a quick Greasemonkey script, known as Tweetie Retweet URL Replacer, that rewrites any Tweetmeme button you come across to load the retweet into Tweetie.

Tweetie Retweet URL Replacer Greasemonkey Script

This works on the same principle as the bookmarklet that Atebits supplies on the Tweetie website.

At the present, the userscript only works with Tweetmeme buttons, but I may expand it to include other popular widgets in the future.

Tweetie for Mac: OSX-Native Twitter Client

May 29, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Featured, Software & Scripts 2 Comments

I’ve been trying out Tweetie for Mac lately. It’s a Mac OSX-native Twitter client with a very nice, polished interface. It has many of the features of Nambu, but it lacks the instability that Nambu tends to have from its current “beta” status.

Tweetie supports multiple Twitter accounts, and let’s you switch between them with a cool vertical slide effect. It offers the usual basic Twitter functions (friends timeline, mentions, direct messages) as well as some streamlined search abilities, including the ability to save favorite searches that you frequently track.

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