Spun » Mac App Storm

Hype: A Worthy Flash Alternative?

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:00:04 +0000

Hype, by developers Tumult, seems to have a rather appropriate title. There has been a great deal of talk about this web animation app since its release some months ago, and that can hardly be a surprise, given that it claims to allow the user to create “beautiful HTML5 web… read more

Win a Free Copy of Postbox: 10 Licenses Up for Grabs!

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:55:38 +0000

Postbox 3, the latest iteration of this awesome and powerful Mail.app alternative, brings about a ton of great new features and enhancements. The interface has been completely revamped to be more slick and streamlined, great Lion features like fullscreen mode and gestures have been added, there’s better Gmail support and… read more

Meet the Developers: Dustin MacDonald of Acrylic Software

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:26 +0000

Acrylic Software is known for their beautiful and useful apps for the Mac and iOS. We got a chance to speak with Dustin MacDonald, the company’s Founder, Designer & Engineer. In our interview, we touched on a number of topics ranging from the history of Acrylic Software to their view… read more

NetSpot: WiFi Site Survey for the Rest of Us

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:46 +0000

You’ve just moved to a new apartment and you’ve set up your wireless router. You think you’ve done everything correctly, but you’re just not getting the coverage and rates that you should be. Maybe there is some interference from some other WiFi hotspots nearby? But how do you know?

Enter… read more

Mac 101: Part 3, The Apple Ecosystem

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:56 +0000

When you take the plunge and purchase a brand new Mac, you’re receiving far more than simply a beautiful computer wrapped in svelte packaging. The modern Apple computing experience is complemented by various online services, features and products which Apple offer exclusively to their customers, in the hope of compelling… read more

Snapseed – The Awesome iOS Image Editor Comes to the Mac

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:13 +0000

A while ago I introduced Snapseed to the readers of iPhone.Appstorm and Apple honored the photo editing app with the App of Year 2011 award. For good reason: Snapseed took full leverage of the intuitive gestures on mobile devices and made editing a breeze.

Now Snapseed is available for the Mac… read more

OS X 10.7.3 Released, Featuring Safari 5.1.3 And More

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:35:11 +0000

After spending the last couple of months in the testing stage, the third update to Mac OS X Lion has finally been released to the public through Apple Software Update. OS X 10.7.3 is a recommended update for all Lion users and features a small number of tweaks and fixes… read more

30 Incredibly Useful Apps for Video Pros and Novices

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:45 +0000

The Mac has long been the homestead for effective and easy video editing, graphic design, and video compressing for many professionals and novices alike. If you are at all interested in getting your creative juices flowing, video wise, you will absolutely love this roundup. Many people know the big video… read more

Piezo: A Refreshing Approach to Audio Recording

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:19 +0000

Audio recording and editing on the Mac can seem like an pretty daunting task. Many of the available tools are extremely powerful, but as a result, too complex for the average user. Piezo, the little brother of Audio Hijack Pro, a favorite among podcasters and broadcasters, hopes to change that… read more

Another 11 Unmissable Games Available on the App Store

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:13 +0000

Back when the Mac App Store launched we gave you a roundup with all the great games available in it. Things change pretty quickly, and tons of new games have been added since then to the App Store. So, we decided to give you a second iteration of the roundup…. read more

Prey: A Powerful Recovery Tool For Your Missing Laptop

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:44 +0000

Our laptops are valuable devices. They connect us. Inform and entertain us. And yes, sometimes distract us. Dealing with a lost or stolen laptop is not typically a thought we ponder in our busy lives. The good news, there are some powerful tools out there to assist us in the… read more

Weekly Poll: CloudApp or Droplr?

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:00:31 +0000

Which is better, CloudApp or Droplr?

CloudApp and Droplr are two apps that perform the same basic function. Both allow you to drag items from almost anywhere in OS X to a menu bar icon that instantly triggers an upload and copies a sharing link to your clipboard.

This is simply… read more

DashExpander vs. xType: Which Free Snippet Expander is Better?

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:00:26 +0000

As a writer, one utility that I simply can’t live without is some sort of text expansion app. These tools are simply invaluable to my workflow and save me hours of typing every month. I personally am a huge fan of TextExpander. It’s my go to text expansion app and… read more

What’s Hot: Pronunciation

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:13:18 +0000

Sometimes the smallest things ignite the most heated arguments, this week we were all asking the question; how do you pronounce “Mac OS X”?

This is the second episode in feature series called ‘What’s Hot’ that will look to give you something interesting to chew on at the end of the… read more

Audio Hijack Pro: Take Control Of Your Mac’s Audio

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:28:03 +0000

Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro is an application which promises to perform a seemingly simple function that’s actually more difficult to execute than one might imagine – to take complete control of your Mac audio card and capture any audio from any source, whether from applications like iTunes, Skype or… read more

Is iOS the Future of the Mac?

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:21 +0000

When I used an iPad for the first time, I couldn’t help but think that it felt like the future of computing. The iPad not only impressed me with its beautiful interface, but also delighted me with an effortless user experience. No matter how much I used the device, it… read more

Master Tabbed Web Browsing With Sleipnir 3

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:00:46 +0000

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is the gray, eight-legged steed that Odin rides to Hel. In the world of technology, it’s an amazing web browser that you just have to try.

Though you may have never heard of it, Sleipnir has been around in various forms for years (it’s also on… read more

Mac 101: Part 2, Organizing OS X

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:00:42 +0000

Having discussed the very basics and some of the apps which come bundled with OS X Lion in part one of Mac 101, let’s now delve in a little deeper with the aim of getting a better idea of how to properly tweak and organise the latest and arguably greatest… read more

20 Copies of MailTab Pro for Gmail Up for Grabs

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:37:33 +0000

MailTab Pro for Gmail is an awesome app that allows you to enjoy the complete Gmail experience right from your menu bar. With MailTab Pro you can check your email, send and receive messages, and anything else that you would do from your browser. You can also choose between the… read more

Motorola (Along With Google) Sues Apple On Patent Infringement

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:15:40 +0000

It seemed like 2011 was the year of lawsuits both for and against Apple however 2012 is looking to be no different. In a fresh wave of legal attacks against Apple from its restless competitors, it’s now Motorola that is suing the Cupertino-based company on 6 counts of patent infringement… read more

iBooks Author: Multi-Touch Book Creation With a Big Catch

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:14 +0000

While it’s no secret that iBooks hasn’t been a runaway success as Apple had hoped, the company is trying their hand at revolutionizing the book industry once more -but this time they’ve shifted their efforts towards the education market. Along with the new iBooks 2, Apple introduced iBooks Author, their… read more

Get Your Game On With These 30 New and Classic Boardgames for Mac

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:46 +0000

Are you looking for a good way to have fun on your Mac but don’t really consider yourself a gamer? Perhaps you’re nostalgic for the days when playing a game involved a couple of dice, a colorful board and some interestingly shaped pieces to move around that board.

Well you’re… read more

Find Your New Favorite Artist with Discovr Music

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:00:06 +0000

Keeping up with music can sometimes feel like a chore, especially if you aren’t in your younger years of exploration anymore. Currently, with the Internet providing us with the opportunity to meet so many new artists from around the world, we have so much music at our disposal, and we’re… read more

12 Apps That Should Be in the Apps Starter Kit

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:31 +0000

If you are searching for good apps at the Mac App Store, chances are you’d take a look at the featured app categories on display.

I’m talking about the “Apps for Writers,” “Get Stuff Done,” “Better Together,” and “Great Free Apps” categories where apps similar to one another are grouped together… read more

Apple Reveals Its Q1 Results In Earnings Call

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:51:40 +0000

Apple today has announced its Q1 earnings for the fiscal year 2012 – and the results are certainly not to be sniffed at. Q1 has been Apple’s best quarter ever with a reported $46.33 billion in revenue posted. The data, which is available for download from Apple’s corporate website, breaks… read more

TimeMachine Scheduler: Take Charge of Your Backups

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:17 +0000

One of the best, and perhaps most undervalued features of Mac OS X is one that was introduced in 10.5 Leopard: Time Machine. As Macintosh users, we often forget just how good we have it when it comes to matters like this. I was recently discussing backup options with a… read more

20 Must Have Alfred Extensions

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:53 +0000

One of the first few apps I downloaded was the popular Alfred launcher. Being able to launch apps, open files, shutdown and restart my laptop with just a few taps on the keyboard intrigued me, so I decided to give it a shot. And hey, who can resist that adorable… read more

Weekly Poll: How Do You Pronounce “Mac OS X”?

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:00:18 +0000

How Do You Pronounce “OS X”?

This week’s poll digs up a Mac user argument dating back over a decade. Upon seeing that the current operating system is spelled out with the Roman numeral “X”, many users pronounce the system’s name OS “Ex”. Others however, prefer to follow tradition (OS… read more

Apple Reaps Criticism From iBooks Author Terms and Conditions

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:23:34 +0000

Beyond the hype and fanfare of last Thursday’s iBooks Author launch, some wannabe authors have been left with a sour taste in the mouth after delving into the terms and conditions of Apple’s new app designed to help newbies create textbooks for the iPad. Anyone who creates a textbook with… read more

SpriteRight: Create CSS Image Sprites the Easy Way

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:13 +0000

If you’re a web developer, then you know that manually creating image sprites is a pain. Even worse is the process of trying to position those sprites just right within your CSS. It’s a necessary evil, but don’t you wish you could skip it?

Today we’re going to take a… read more

What’s Hot: Mac.AppStorm Steps It Up

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:00:09 +0000

You may have noticed some changes here at Mac.AppStorm this week…

It’s an exciting time to be writing, and reading about, Mac apps and Apple – to this end we’re pushing forward with a brand new, and wholly invigorating, publishing schedule! You can look forward to double (that’s right) the number… read more

Keep Your Mac Tidy and Fast with CleanGenius

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:00:32 +0000

Have you ever wondered why your Mac slows down after a couple months of use with no maintenance? Well, one of the reasons is because sometimes temporary files, which are supposed to be deleted, are kept without receiving any real use anymore. That, and of course, all the stuff that… read more

Keep Your Digital Inspiration Organized with Sparkbox

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:29 +0000

A big part of design is inspiration. Graphic and web designers don’t work in a vacuum, they browse around to see what’s come before, and use other designs as references and starting points. Collecting these little pieces of inspiration and reference can quickly crowd your browser’s bookmark folder or your… read more

Mac 101: Part One, Meet The Mac

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:18 +0000

Welcome to part one of Mac 101, a series of articles helping you get to grips with everything you need to know about using a Mac. In due time we’re going to cover pretty much everything you need to know, but naturally this opening piece will focus on the very… read more

A Retina Mac: Hurdles Between the Dream and Reality

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:00:25 +0000

Ever since the release of the iPhone 4 and its beautiful 326ppi screen, we’ve been dreaming about Apple expanding its use of this impressive technology.

Are Ive and the Apple engineering team on the same page as consumers? Will we begin to see retina displays in other devices and perhaps even… read more

20 Copies of MenuTab Pro for Facebook Up for Grabs

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:01:43 +0000

MenuTab Pro for Facebook (formerly called FaceTab) is an awesome app that allows you to enjoy the complete Facebook experience right from your menu bar. With MenuTab Pro you can send and receive messages, update your status, check out what’s happening with your friends, choose between the mobile and full… read more

Apple Announces iBooks 2, iBooks Author And iTunes U App

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:54:50 +0000

In what could be described as an extremely fitting venue for an education announcement, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Apple announced today a range of tools designed to help people in education with their studies, namely an updated version of iBooks, iBooks 2, which is designed to integrate more… read more

Reclaim Your Hard Drive with DriveSlim

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:00:13 +0000

As more of our digital lives are transferred from our computers to the cloud, many have claimed that there is a declining need for local storage. As netbooks gained in popularity, manufacturers found that consumers were willing to sacrifice gigabytes for portability. As high performance ultra-portables like the MacBook Air… read more

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To AppleScript

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:45:49 +0000

AppleScript attempts to use plain English wherever possible to make coding extremely simple. Most commands in AppleScript are located inside a “tell block”. It’s called a “tell block” because you are “telling” a given application what you want it to do. For instance, the code above is telling the Finder… read more

‘Inside Apple’ Extracts Published By Fortune Magazine

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:50:06 +0000

Its products are ubiquitous around the world and each announcement from the company generates huge press attention, frantic tweeting and unparalleled excitement. But up till now, hardly anything is known about what actually goes on inside Apple’s core and how the company functions. The company is known for being one… read more

25 Apps to Help You Reach Those Resolutions

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:51 +0000

For those of us who have trouble finding the proper motivation to make difficult changes in our lives, New Year’s represents a perfect opportunity to start fresh with some resolutions. There are dozens of great Mac apps that can help us to lead happier, healthier, and more organized lives.

This list… read more

SnapNDrag Pro: Screenshots Made Simple

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:12 +0000

In the world of screenshot utilities, SnapNDrag Pro stands out as a lightweight, yet versatile and powerful tool for grabbing screen images. Its simple user-interface and flexible method for taking screenshots earns it high marks for getting the job done quickly and easily.

Join us as we take a closer look… read more

Weekly Poll: What One Thing Would You Change About iTunes?

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:22 +0000

What One Thing Would You Change About iTunes?

This week at AppStorm we’ve looked at not one, but two interesting iTunes companion apps. Notice that I used the term “companion” and not “replacement.” This is because these apps are meant to supplement your iTunes use, not get rid of it.

The… read more

40+ Super Secret OS X Lion Features and Shortcuts

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:18 +0000

OS X Lion has now been around long enough for us all to dig in and really find some interesting functionality that is either completely hidden or just enough below the service that many users don’t even know it exists.

We’ve spent hours combing through Lion for secrets and put out… read more

Sonora: For When iTunes Is Overkill

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:00:21 +0000

I love iTunes. As Apple’s native music player and iOS powerhouse command station, it is unlikely that anything will ever wholly replace iTunes for me. It’s an integrated hub for surfing the iTunes music store, buying iOS apps, making playlists, the Ping network (even though it’s somewhat barren), managing the… read more

Tweet to Win an iPad 2!

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:49:10 +0000

To celebrate the New Year at iPad.AppStorm, we’re going to be giving one lucky reader a brand new iPad 2! It’s been vastly successful over the past year, and today you have the chance to get your hands on one completely free!

This iPad 2 Needs a Loving Home

We’re going… read more

Apple Sheds (Some) Light On Suppliers and Their Working Conditions

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:31:47 +0000

In a surprise turn of events, Apple has revealed its list of 156 suppliers along with its annual 2012 Supplier Responsibility report, an annual report compiled from internal audits of all of Apple’s suppliers. Alongside Foxconn, which manufacturers products such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac-range of computers under contract,… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Artboard

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:04:10 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is Artboard, a truly impressive vector drawing application that’s simple enough for everyone to use.

Artboard has all the features you need in an advanced vector editing app: over 20 tools for drawing and navigation, custom shapes, clip art, boolean operations, layers, advanced style creation… read more

Ecoute 3: iTunes Without the Fluff

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:00:13 +0000

Ecoute, created by PixiApps, has been a moderately popular alternative to iTunes for over a year now. With version 3, developer Louka Desroziers and interface designer Julien Sagot hope to catapult their audio player’s status from semi-popular indie app to major-league success. So is the latest version of Ecoute ready… read more

Take Songwriting to the Next Level with Songwriter’s Pad

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:00:05 +0000

One area that hasn’t really been exploited in the app market is that of apps for musicians. And by that, I don’t mean apps for recording and producing, I’m referring to apps for songwriters.

Maybe there’s a reason for that? You could use a simple text editor to write songs, but… read more

iTunes Match: What It Is and Why You Need It

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:43 +0000

Since the dawn of portable Apple devices, the personal computer has always been the hub we’ve used to manage and sync our media. We are accustomed to our iPods, iPhones, and iPads being bound to our computers by white cables. But when Steve announced iCloud last summer, he declared, “We’re… read more

Winamp: Feel The Power of Music

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:36:40 +0000

Choosing a media player – a music player, to be precise – for a Mac is a no brainer. iTunes is the crowd favorite and has the chops to entertain both an audiophile and the casual listener. Despite becoming bloated and unduly heavy over the years, iTunes is more or less… read more

What Happened To TweetDeck?

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:41 +0000

On December 8 of last year, TweetDeck, one of the most popular multi-platform Twitter clients was relaunched as part of a redesign by Twitter. The new TweetDeck featured an interface similar to the old version, only with less features and less customization possibilities. The new version certainly hasn’t gone down well… read more

The Top 10 Mac Apps to Watch in 2012

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:07 +0000

We recently went over the best apps of 2011 and it’s safe to say that last year was an amazing time to be a Mac user. Not only did our favorite apps see major updates, there was a nice influx of brand new apps that were simply too good to… read more

Weekly Poll: Have You Ever Purchased a Refurbished Mac?

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:00:43 +0000

Have You Ever Purchased a Refurbished Mac?

Everyone loves getting a new Mac, but not everyone loves dishing out the requisite dough. Whether you’re looking at a $599 Mac Mini or a $2,499 Mac Pro, the expense can be burdensome. With new Macs, shopping around doesn’t typically help too much… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: PhotoStyler

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:59:45 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is PhotoStyler, a fantastic and unbelievably easy way to edit photos on your Mac. With dozens of gorgeous presets, you’re never more than a click away from beautiful photos. You can also venture off on your own and leverage a powerful but simple toolset to… read more

MacJournal: Much More Than a Digital Diary

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:00:58 +0000

A journal is a great tool for keeping track of daily happenings and the start of a new year is a great time to begin your new journal. Whether you are tracking progress toward achieving those resolutions you’ve just made, chronicling the important milestones in your life, or simply creating… read more

Keep Your Mac Safe from Infections with ClamXav

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:00:26 +0000

I remember from when I used a Windows machine how annoying the anti-virus apps used to be. It was kind of a “can’t live with them, or without them” relationship. If you ran a Windows machine, you had to have an anti-virus app if you wanted it to remain functional…. read more

Snapheal: Pure Image Editing Magic

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:00:37 +0000

Do you remember the last time you searched frantically for your camera to capture a moment, a landscape or something else that took your breath away? And do you remember the disappointment when you later at home saw that something – a lamp post, a person, a trash bin… –… read more

Cloak: Secure VPN for the Rest of Us

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Whether it’s at Starbucks, the mall or Motel 6, free WiFi hotspots are popping up everywhere. While you’re using those hotspots, you might unknowingly be giving away some seriously personal information to an opportunistic hacker or two, including your social network, email, and even your online banking account login credentials.

With personal… read more

Best of AppStorm in December

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:31 +0000

We’ve collected the top four reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in February. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, Web, or Android apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month. Now would be a good time to explore a… read more

Dashlane: Web Logins and Checkouts at Light Speed

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:00:16 +0000

Managing your various accounts, passwords, IDs and other sensitive data is a tricky situation. You want it to be both accessible and secure, two goals that are by nature at odds with each other.

Today we’re going to give you a sneak peek at Dashlane, an app that promises to… read more

Where Are All the Awesome Free News Apps for Mac?

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:00:47 +0000

Ever since the release of the Mac App Store, I’ve been waiting for one specific category to take off: News apps. More specifically, innovative and free news apps.

This expectation isn’t some fanciful dream but something that arose out of a clear precedent: the iOS App Store. Today we’ll briefly discuss… read more

The 20 Best Mac Apps of 2011

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:00:46 +0000

As we bid farewell to 2011 and greet 2012, we always like to take a look back and see which apps really stood out over the last year. There’s never a shortage of amazing apps to discuss, the hardest part of this post is simply narrowing down the options to… read more

What Will Your First 2012 Apple Hardware Purchase Be?

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:00:15 +0000

What Will Your First 2012 Apple Purchase Be?

We’re at the beginning of a brand new year, which means there’s no better time to look ahead and start planning your upcoming hardware purchases. If you’re like me, you’ve got a few pieces of aging hardware that you’ve been putting off… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Chronicle Mini

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:11:10 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is Chronicle Mini, the best free way to keep up on your bills from your menu bar.

Chronicle Mini is an amazing little app that sits in your menu bar and helps you stay on top of your reoccurring bills. In just a few clicks you… read more

Tunesque: Spotlight For The iTunes Store

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:00:19 +0000

Let me put you in a situation: you are browsing around, perhaps a music site, and you hear an amazing review of this new up and coming artist that just makes you want to hear it now. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a smart app that could help you… read more

Lightspeed: Top POS Software For Top Businesses

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:00:14 +0000

Recently, I looked at Checkout, a straightforward, easy-to-use POS software for small businesses. However, Checkout can have its limitations and if you are a large retail business with several different stores operating, Checkout may not help you entirely. This is where Lightspeed comes in. It is aimed towards much larger… read more

Making the Most of iCloud

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:00:48 +0000

While Apple hasn’t had the best history with cloud computing services, their new iCloud platform promises to bring something completely new to the space. Instead of offering their traditional mix of Google Apps and Dropbox, Apple has reinvented the way they see the Cloud.

That being said, the platform hasn’t seen… read more

What’s In Store for the iMac in 2012?

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:00:27 +0000

These days news articles about Apple are anything but scarce. Every day there is a fresh new crop of speculation, rumors and discussion regarding the future Apple’s product line and how it will continue to shape the way that we interact with technology.

However, the media hype is largely centered on… read more

Ultralingua: A Comprehensive Bilingual Dictionary

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:00:17 +0000

Many of us have had to learn a foreign language at some point, whether it was in school, in preparation for travel, or out of personal interest. We all know that learning a new language can feel like a never-ending process of skimming dictionaries and memorizing vocabulary, and without the… read more

Dribbble On Your Desktop with Play by Play

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:00:59 +0000

Dribbble is a delightful little online community specifically created for designers to share bite-sized previews of what they’re working on. Each “shot” is a 400px by 300px image that a user has chosen to share with the Dribbble community, often for the purpose of feedback (and a little showing off… read more

20 More Rockstar Mac Software Developers and Their Apps

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:00:31 +0000

At AppStorm, when we get excited about great Mac software, we love to give the developers who worked hard to bring it to us the credit and recognition they deserve. Back in 2010, we ran a post highlighting some awesome software developers and the apps they make that we love to… read more

Weekly Poll: Which Site-Specific Browser Is Your Favorite?

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:00:01 +0000

Which SSB is Your Favorite?

Site-specific browsers (SSBs) are web browsers that allow you to focus on specific sites. The benefit is that you can easily turn web applications like Gmail and Facebook into a neatly wrapped app that sits in your dock. This separates these apps out from your… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: MailTab Pro for Gmail

admin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:55:35 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is MailTab Pro for Gmail, the best way to check Gmail from your menu bar.

If you’re hunting for a quick and slick way to keep an eye on your Gmail account, look no further than MailTab Pro. It’s never more than a single click away… read more

Take Control of Your iTunes Library with TuneSpan

admin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:00:18 +0000

The latest iteration of the Macbook Air was released this year and it caught my attention immediately. It was such a beautiful device. I found myself going to the Apple Store website over and over to look at pictures and mull over the specs.

I felt like this version of the… read more

SoundCloud: Your Favorite Social Sound Site on Your Mac

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:00:41 +0000

There are a bunch of websites to allow you to share and discover new music, especially from artists that aren’t as big or popular as they deserve. Perhaps the most widely used of these is one called SoundCloud, which is used by many artists personally.

The app that we are reviewing… read more

The Mac Browser War: Safari vs. the Competition

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:00:53 +0000

When you purchased your Mac, you probably wanted the best web browser offered, whether it be Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, or some other worthy candidate. After all, quality hardware should also contain quality software. There has been much controversy on what truly is the best browser available for a Mac…. read more

A Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting on The Mac

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:54:54 +0000

Thanks to iTunes, podcasts have become increasingly popular, and with the power of the Mac anyone can harness that popularity and create their own.

This guide will walk you through every step of creating your own podcast, from getting the right hardware to publishing it online. This is the definitive… read more

iBiz 4: Easy Client and Job Management

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:00:57 +0000

For the freelancer or small business owner, client management, job management, time tracking, and invoicing all tend to be more complicated than is often necessary. But iBiz greatly simplifies all these processes by providing a clean and intuitive interface that is not overwhelming or hard to understand.

Keeping track of the… read more

5 Mac Apps That Make CSS Preprocessors Easier to Use

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:00:10 +0000

If you’re a fan of CSS preprocessors, then you know that despite their usefulness, they can be a bit of a pain to work with at times. Most of them require some sort of Terminal voodoo to compile, which immediately scares off a good portion of potential users.

As always, the… read more

Weekly Poll: Will Apple Release a Television in 2012?

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:00:41 +0000

Will Apple Release a Television in 2012?

“It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”
- Steve Jobs

According to Walter Isaacson, these words were spoken by Steve Jobs regarding a new television that Apple is working on (reportedly not a set-top box like the… read more

Business Productivity Bundle Giveaway

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:13:29 +0000

It might be a mouthful, but the AppStorm Business Productivity Bundle Giveaway is here! It’s holiday season, and AppStorm has got you a real treat…

We have 5 bundles to giveaway, each including a license to Daylite and Billings Pro – it’s the perfect combination for getting your business organised and… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: FaceTab Pro for Facebook

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:13:47 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is FaceTab Pro for Facebook, an easy and amazing way to access Facebook from your menu bar.

I know what you’re thinking, you’ve seen menu bar Facebook apps before right? Well this one is the best. FaceTab Pro is simply packed with awesome functionality that gives… read more

Page Layers: Turn a Website Into a Layered Photoshop Document

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:47 +0000

There is no shortage of screenshot apps for Macs. Whether you want something with a ton of functionality like LittleSnapper, something sweet and simple like Screeny or something free and fun like Skitch, Mac developers have you covered and have for years.

However, every screenshot app that I’ve ever used shares… read more

Select Your Next Vacation Destination with KAYAK Explore

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:00:50 +0000

Haven’t you ever dreamed about one day just out of nowhere pointing your finger at the globe and taking the next plane to the location that is selected? It’s a crazy idea, but we all have that adventurous side deep down that tells us to just go out and do… read more

Chocolat: The New Mac Text Editor on the Block

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:00:32 +0000

The Mac text editor market is rapidly heating up. Hot off the heels of an awesome Espresso update, we’re all anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next Coda, Textmate and even a new Mac-friendly Sublime Text. With such important and revered players each on the verge of their next great… read more

Win a Copy of PopClip: 10 Licenses Up for Grabs!

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:20:05 +0000

Earlier this month we posted a review of PopClip, an awesome little app that brings iOS style copy copying and pasting to the Mac. It’s simple, attractive and you’ll love using it.

We’re super excited to announce that we have 10 PopClip codes to give away!

Gradient for Mac

Tweet to Enter

Entering… read more

Easily Create and Modify Screen Captures with Clarify

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:00:31 +0000

We’ve all experienced the frustration of collaborating with someone or trying to communicate over the Internet without any sort of visual support. To better explain your visual ideas, you can take screenshots and add indicators so that other people know exactly what you are talking about, but this process… read more

Interarchy: The Simpler Way to FTP

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:16 +0000

Just like email, the file transfer protocol (FTP) has been around for a long time, making it indispensable for those dabbling with web servers. Now that the entire World is swearing by the cloud, the significance of FTP has gone up exponentially. Tons of FTP clients – free, open source and premium… read more

Ask the Mac.AppStorm Editor #15

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:00:53 +0000

It’s time for another “Ask the Editor” post. A big thank you to everyone who sent in their questions, it’s always a pleasure to help out the awesome community of Mac users.

Today I’ll be offering some advice about providing remote tech support to your friends and syncing your contacts across… read more

Weekly Poll: Do You Still Download Apps from the Web?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:53:49 +0000

Do You Still Download Apps from the Web?

Earlier today we published an article containing over thirty great apps that you won’t find in the Mac App Store. This impressive selection of must-have software proves that despite the App Store’s wild success (100 million downloads), there are in fact… read more

30 More Great Apps You Won’t Find on the App Store

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:52 +0000

Apple recently announced that the Mac App Store has led to over 100 million app downloads, cementing it as the indisputable one stop shop for just about everything Mac users need or want. Today I want to place emphasis on the “just about” part, because despite these impressive numbers, there… read more

Checkout: Simple And Easy POS Software

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:00:39 +0000

Macs have, traditionally anyway, not really found a true home in the business world owing to their lack of support and the limited range of compatible programs available for them. But now, that’s all changing. More and more developers are either releasing dual-versions of their programs (compatible with Windows or… read more

Quickcal: The Fastest Way to Create New Calendar Events

admin — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:00:41 +0000

Keeping up with a calendar app is one of those things that I need to do, but am too lazy to do. I could maybe keep it up for a few days, but after that I would feel burnt out and just tired of the whole process of opening an… read more

Sleepytime:Turn Your Mac Into A Music Sleep Timer & Alarm Clock

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:00:49 +0000

Fed up with the nasty sound of your traditional alarm clock? That annoying beeping that rouses you in the middle of the night and does not really help to start a day in a good fashion?

Why not use what you’ve already got? The music in your iTunes library, Spotify or… read more

Win a Free Copy of Gradient: 5 Licenses Up for Grabs!

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:19:27 +0000

Earlier this week we posted a review of Gradient, an amazing app that helps web developers create CSS gradients with a super easy to use interface. You simply choose your start color, your stop color and your direction and then you’re ready to go.

We’re super excited to announce that we… read more

AppStorm Arrives on Google+

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:27:43 +0000

That’s right! AppStorm has now landed on Google+ and will be delivering you app related goodness right to your Stream! We’re excited to let you know that now, in addition to Twitter and Facebook, you can get involved with Mac.AppStorm over at Google+! We’ll be using Google+ to let you… read more

Sneak Peek of Caffeinated: A Fresh Google Reader App That You’ll Love

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:00:05 +0000

Browsing the App Store for a decent RSS app brings you little else than Reeder, which is an amazing app, and its hoard of clones, which tend to be not so amazing. As great as Reeder is, it seems to have given developers a mad case of tunnel vision that… read more

Gradient: Create Beautiful CSS Gradients

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:40:30 +0000

With the multiple common web browsers these days, designing websites that work on all of them can be a strain, especially when they each read CSS in different ways. Even if you’re not someone who creates websites, you’ve no-doubt heard the complaints of many a web coder about the different… read more

Apple, Nintendo and Kodak: Three Innovators and How They Faced Extinction

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:06 +0000

Today I’d like to talk about three tech companies that have each had their ups and downs. Apple, Nintendo and Kodak: How are these companies alike? How are they different?

We’ll discuss how an industry leader falls from grace and whether or not it’s possible to be saved once that happens…. read more

7 Seriously Useful Mac Apps for World Travelers

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:00:08 +0000

Today’s roundup is a list of seven travel utilities that together make up an unbeatable group of tools that you’ll want to make a permanent part of your trip routine. From converting time and currencies to tracking flights and checking on weather, we’ve got everything you need to plan your… read more

Weekly Poll: How Many App Store Apps Have You Downloaded?

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:00:54 +0000

How Many App Store Apps Have You Downloaded?

Can you believe it’s been almost a year since the Mac App Store first launched? Today I was poking around store and had a look at the Purchases tab. Here you can see everything you’ve ever downloaded from the store. My list… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Clarify

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:27:03 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is Clarify, an awesome utility for capturing and editing screenshots.

Taking screenshots is easy enough, but when it comes to compiling multiple screenshots with text annotations, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Clarify drastically simplifies this process and automatically creates a single document… read more

Making TeX Simple With TexPad

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:36:37 +0000

In one of my previous articles, I wrote about LyX, an easy way to produce documents in TeX without any prior knowledge of the typesetting language. However, for anyone with a knowledge of TeX, LyX can seem a little limited in its functionality and can, sometimes, be complicated to use…. read more

PopClip: iOS Style Copy and Paste Comes to the Mac

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:00:33 +0000

Slowly we have seen how Apple has implemented iOS features into the Mac, and have made them work delightfully. Lion was aimed right at making the Mac more intuitive and more iOS like. Everything from the scrolling direction to the gestures were all improved with the iOS experience in mind,… read more

VMware Fusion 4: Run Windows on Your Mac, Lion-Style

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:00:01 +0000

As fantastic as the Mac OS is, there are plenty of reasons you might want to run Windows from time to time: maybe you need to run some old school XP software for work, or you want to try out some PC games, or (like me) you have to test… read more

Desktop Shelves: Access Folder Content Easily From The Desktop

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:00:48 +0000

Are there any folders which you access more often than others? And does it bug you that you have to navigate the folder structure again and again?

True, you can just create an alias on your desktop, but that really looks awful and cluttered after a while. So why not give… read more

The Quandary of the Apple Television

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:05:46 +0000

Join us as we take yet another walk through recent Apple history and set the stage for the imminent arrival of the Apple television. We’ll take a look at how Steve Jobs went from denying that televisions and computers would ever merge to personally fueling the fire for the next… read more

Who Wins the Free Radio Battle? A Spotify Fan Checks Out Rdio

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:00:22 +0000

I love Spotify. In my opinion it’s just about the best thing to happen to radio in my lifetime. I use it more than Pandora, more than Last.fm, even more than Grooveshark.

So what happens when this loyal Spotify user finally agrees to cross over and take a look at Rdio?… read more

52 Superb Free Icon Sets For Mac

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:00:19 +0000

If you own a Mac, you probably know that the software on these machines is often stunningly well designed, and in particular Mac icons are renowned for being gorgeous, or even ‘lickable’ to borrow the words of Jobs.

These beautiful icons are made not only by Apple designers, but by designers from around the… read more

Weekly Poll: Did You Buy Any Apple Products on Black Friday?

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:00:40 +0000

Did You Buy Any Apple Products on Black Friday?

For the most part, Apple’s prices on its main products are fairly static (at least for individual purchasers). Students and teachers can get an education discount, and occasionally Apple will toss in an iPod or a printer for free, but generally… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Spy Cam

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:15:30 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is SpyCam, the perfect utility for conducting private video surveillance with your Mac.

Security apps can be a pain to setup, but Spy Cam is so simple that anyone can use it. As soon as I opened up Spy Cam for the first time, I… read more

Meet The New Growl: Improved Functionality, But at a Price

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:00:48 +0000

If you’ve owned a Mac for more than a couple months, then chances are you’ve been encouraged to install an app called Growl, perhaps by another user or by an app that you are installing. Growl is the most popular notifications system available for Mac, and it has recently gotten… read more

Numeric Notes: Basic Note Taking and Calculations Rolled Into One

admin — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:00:27 +0000

Today we’ll be looking at a wonderfully simple app that’s basically the result of a collision of a notes app and a calculator. The result is a simple and friendly way to take notes with basic built-in support for automatic mathematical functions.

The app is called Numeric Notes and if you’re… read more

Upgrade Your MacBook With A Dual HD/SSD Setup

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:00:58 +0000

SSD’s or Solid State Drives are a popular upgrade lately due to the very significant difference they can make to even an older Mac’s performance in real world use. Unfortunately, SSD’s are also still prohibitively expensive for those of us who wish to keep large quantities of media on an… read more

Tracking Time With Time Track Pro

admin — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:00:01 +0000

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several time tracking applications in my time here at AppStorm (such an app can be indispensable for a freelancer). Some of these apps are nothing more than glorified spreadsheets, some place timers in your menubar that need to be activated at precisely the… read more

Default Folder X: Browse File Dialogs at Lightning Speed

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:00:07 +0000

Over the past week or so we’ve been on a mission to help you improve the experience of file browsing by introducing you to interesting Finder alternatives. We started with TotalFinder, which boosts your Finder’s natural functionality by adding tabs. We then moved on to Raskin, which dramatically redesigns the… read more

Apple News Roundup: Black Friday, Jobs’ Disney Shares and Gaining on HP

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:00:29 +0000

As we enter into the holiday season and approach the close of 2012, Apple continues to make headlines all over the world. Join us as we take a quick look at a few prominent stories that cropped up this week.

Apple’s Black Friday Sale

Apple is promising good things for Black… read more

AppFanatix is for Winners!

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:30:41 +0000

If you love apps, gadgets, and great deals on software as much as we do at AppStorm, and you haven’t had a chance to sign up for the AppFanatix newsletter yet, then you’re missing out! AppFanatix is a classy fortnightly email newsletter that distills the very best content from around… read more

9 Classic OS 9 Games You Should Install On Your Old Mac

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:00:14 +0000

I love my new Mac, but I still enjoy using old hardware too and there’s nothing quite like playing retro games in the environment they were intended for. Assuming you have a PowerPC Mac lying around, there’s nothing stopping you from installing either OS 9 or OS X’s ‘Classic’ emulator… read more

Weekly Poll: Which Part of OS X Would You Most Like to See Redesigned?

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:00:55 +0000

Which Part of OS X Would You Most Like to See Redesigned?

By now many or even most of you have gotten a chance to really dig into Apple’s latest operating system: OS X Lion. This update was a significant one and brought about tons of changes from both a… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: PopClip

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:50:36 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is PopClip, an awesome utility that brings iOS style copy and paste functionality to your Mac.

On an iPhone or iPad, selecting text immediately brings up controls that allow you to perform functions on the selection such as copy, paste and define. As you can… read more

Pixelmator 2: You’re Going to Be Impressed

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:00:56 +0000

As a web designer, I spend a significant amount of time creating graphics and interfaces in Photoshop. Like other designers and artists, I love the power and limitless possibilities it offers, while at the same time, I grow increasingly frustrated with high prices, feature bloat, and the myriad little quirks… read more

Desktop Tidy: Keep a Clean and Organized Desktop

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:41:11 +0000

For many users, a computer’s desktop quickly turns into a headache. If you are anything like me, you use it to keep temporary files that you might only use once, but that need to be saved somewhere temporarily. I sometimes keep items there to remind myself of things that I… read more

Raskin: Go Beyond the Finder

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:00:59 +0000

Earlier this week we took a look at TotalFinder, a reserved but incredibly useful Finder replacement that uses a tabbed interface to augment your typical file browsing experience.

Today we’re going to follow that up with something that’s not a subtle change but a completely re-imagined file browser like nothing… read more

Three MacBundler Bundles Up for Grabs: Win 8 Awesome Apps!

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:57:11 +0000

We’ve got another awesome app bundle to give away! This time we’ve teamed up withMacBundler and will be giving away a bundle of eight awesome apps to three lucky users.

The apps included are all top-notch products that you’ve heard us rave about before such as Flux and Concealer. Check… read more

A Fresh Look at TotalFinder: The Tabbed Finder You Should Be Using

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:00:16 +0000

It’s coming up on two years since we first took a look at an interesting Finder replacement app called TotalFinder, which was in its initial stages of development at the time. It was a little shaky back then but it has come a long way and is definitely worth another… read more

MemoryCloud: Simplified Cloud Storage for Multimedia

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:00:03 +0000

Digital photography has made it cheaper and easier to capture the brightest moments of life. The number of megapixels in digital cameras go up with every new model and so does the size the of images we capture. After a few months, even those who occasionally use their cameras end up… read more

28 Insanely Useful Third Party Preference Panes for Mac

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:00:25 +0000

Regular apps and menu bar apps always get all the glory. They’re always there with you, always visible and grabbing your attention. But what about the more discrete apps, the ones that perhaps change the behavior of your computer or make something cool happen behind the scenes?

Today we’re doing a… read more

Weekly Poll: How Many Apps Do You Run in Fullscreen Mode?

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:19 +0000

How Many Apps Do You Run In Fullscreen Mode?

One of the features that people seemed most excited about getting their hands on in Lion was fullscreen apps. Plenty of apps jumped on this trend well before Apple built in support for doing so, but for the most part, having… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Raven

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:59:23 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is Raven, an innovative new web browser that turns your favorite sites into apps.

Our full review of Raven outlines how much I thoroughly enjoy using this amazingly unique site-specific browser. The app’s Smart Bar allows you to effortlessly switch between your favorite websites and… read more

PixFit: A Simple and Elegant Measurement Tool for Your Mac

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:00:41 +0000

While we have all of this information and inspiration at our fingertips, it’s often a little difficult to pull quantitative data from what we’re seeing. Mac OS X has some built-in measuring abilities, but they’re fairly limited and stuck inside the screenshot function. Fortunately, there are some third party… read more

Keeping Track of Your Everyday Everything With Chronories

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:00:55 +0000

Journals or diaries are a great way to look back on things that you’ve done. You probably think that you don’t need to write down what you experience because you will remember it in the future, but if you try to look back now on anything you’ve done, I can… read more

LyX: Produce Great Looking TeX Documents With Ease

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:00:22 +0000

TeX is one of the lesser known ways of creating documents as it has mostly extremely specialized uses. The typesetting system was designed and written (mostly) by Donald Knuth during the late 1970′s and is a popular choice for typing documents for two main reasons. The first is that documents… read more

Will Steve Jobs Be Time’s Next Person of the Year?

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:27 +0000

Steve Jobs has been nominated to be the 2011 Time Person of the Year. Join us as we take a brief look into why he’s being considered, who nominated him and the interesting history he has with this very title.

A Fallen Hero

The passing of Steve Jobs hit the… read more

Win a Free Copy of SideWriter: 10 Licenses Up for Grabs!

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:54:13 +0000

SideWriter is a simple but extremely helpful mouse-activitated utility that sits off the side of your screen. Just like with the dock, SideWriter is gone when you don’t need it and appears in a flash when you do. Just move your mouse to the side of the screen, take a… read more

WriteRoom 3 Takes Back the Top Spot in Fullscreen Writing

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:00:59 +0000

We last reviewed WriteRoom way back in 2009. It is arguably the app that launched the fullscreen minimal text editor craze that seems at its height right now. In a time when text editing apps were becoming more and more bloated with features in order to stay competitive, WriteRoom was… read more

Ask the Mac.AppStorm Editor #14

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:15:06 +0000

It’s time for another “Ask the Editor” post. A big thank you to everyone who sent in their questions, it’s always a pleasure to help out the awesome community of Mac users.

Today I’ll be offering some advice about moving libraries to external drives, password protecting folders, and finding a solid… read more

Postbox 3: Meet The Third Installment of First Class Email

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:49 +0000

Despite how much everyone hates it, they simply cannot eliminate email from their personal and most importantly professional lives. It’s the ideal form of communication because it’s instant, unintrusive, good for both long and short form communication. And it’s very economical – often times it’s free. So, email isn’t going… read more

30 of the Best Calendar Apps and Utilities for Mac

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:40:37 +0000

We’ve scoured the Mac App Store and the web in search of the very best calendar apps for OS X. Some serve as full on iCal replacements while others are must have companion apps that extend iCal far beyond what it currently offers.

We found apps that put calendars on your… read more

Weekly Poll: Is Mandatory Sandboxing a Good Thing?

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:56 +0000

Is Mandatory Sandboxing a Good Thing?

As of 1 March, 2012, all new apps/updates submitted to the Mac App Store will be forced to implement a security feature called sandboxing. In brief, sandboxing limits the scope of each application by restricting how much of your system that app has access… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: FreeSpace

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:54:48 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is FreeSpace, a lightweight utility that helps you keep an eye on your disk space.

FreeSpace is a menubar utility that can show you how much space is available on all local, connected, network drives, and disk images with a single click. All the partitions… read more

The Photo Cookbook – Deliciously Easy Cooking

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:49:45 +0000

As we move to more and more things becoming digital, it’s not surprising that we can now have cookbooks as eBooks and even as apps on our Macs. And thanks to integrated technologies cooking apps don’t have to simply hold a recipe, but can include detailed photos of ingredients and… read more

Lightweight Vector Graphics with iDraw

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:00:48 +0000

We’ve discussed, on several occasions here on Mac.AppStorm, the niche of apps comprised of consumer-grade imaging and design software. It is still a fairly young app space with huge potential for hobbyists and part-time designers that may not have the funds (or the feature requirements) for the professional tools like… read more

Return of the King: Will Quicksilver Reign Once More?

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:00:05 +0000

Quicksilver. For seasoned Mac users that word instantly draws up fond memories of an app that was once at the top of every list of must have utilities. The beloved launcher has been out of the game for years though, an unceremoniously abandoned project that went before its time.

It seems… read more

Take Control of PDFs on Your Mac with PDFactory

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:00:38 +0000

Way back in my unenlightened days as a Windows user, I spent a great deal of time using various PDF editors. In an effort to avoid conflict with our friends at Windows.AppStorm, allow me to clarify: I don’t hate on Windows simply to hate on Windows–and indeed there are a… read more

Check Out the Free AppStorm Raven App!

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:27 +0000

We recently published an in-depth look at a completely unique new web browser called Raven. This site specific browser focuses on improving the way you use web apps with a super slick and convenient interface.

We were surprised to learn that the developer has created a dedicated AppStorm app for Raven!… read more

Win a StackSocial SuperBundle With Ten Amazing Apps!

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:00:02 +0000

What’s better than winning a free app? Winning ten free apps! StackSocial has just launched a Fall 2011 Mac SuperBundle, and I’m pleased to announce that we managed to snag one to give away to our readers.

The bundle includes ten amazing apps worth $365! All of them are top name… read more

Mou: The Split Screen Markdown Editor for Developers

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:25 +0000

Are you sick of reading reviews for the same old Markdown text editor under different titles? Me too. Don’t worry, Mou is genuinely different.

Join us as we take a look at how Mou takes a unique approach to Markdown editing and how it may be exactly what you’ve been looking… read more

Stop the Presses: Sneak Preview of Alfred 1.0

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:00:56 +0000

Big news, our favorite launcher is finally about to hit version one! It’s hard to believe that the app has received so much attention and good press while in a fairly experimental state but the simple truth is that Mac users simply can’t get enough of Alfred’s perfect combination of… read more

5 Delicious Apps for The Foodie in You

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:18:04 +0000

My computer is a constant companion in the kitchen, it can be a bit risky, but I just love having limitless recipe options at my fingertips. Unfortunately, when I find some great recipes sometimes, they often end up jumbled among hundreds of bookmarks, where I’ll probably never see them again.

A… read more

Weekly Poll: Is the Mac Pro Doomed?

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:36 +0000

Is the Mac Pro Doomed?

AppleInsider recent published an interesting article that doesn’t bode well for Mac Pro fans. Supposedly, diminishing sales of the Mac Pro led have led to considerable discussions at Apple over whether or not it will be profitable to continue the line further.

Though there will always… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Live Interior 3D

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:59:33 +0000

Our featured sponsor this week is Live Interior 3D, a powerful and intuitive home and interior design application that lets you build the house or office of your dreams right on your Mac.

Live Interior 3D is amazingly easy to use. 3D modeling is typically a painstaking process that takes… read more

Achieve World Domination In Robotek

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:07:08 +0000

Who doesn’t love a good world domination game? I mean, a good game is one thing. And a good fighting game is another. But a good fighting game where the goal is to take over the world? And with robots, no less!

Independent game studio Hexage fills this precise opening with… read more

Is Mac Gaming Stuck in the Past?

admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:00:42 +0000

Gaming on the Mac has always been a sore topic for most gamer and users of the platform, as there hasn’t always been support from game studios and developers, and the topic of gaming on the Mac has always been taken as sort of a joke by most serious gamers…. read more

GarageBand Part 3: Basics Of Recording Electric Guitar

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:16 +0000

So far in our series of making music with GarageBand, we’ve taken a look at getting started with GarageBand, and have then moved on to creating a simple song in GarageBand using virtual instruments. We’re going to continue to step up the complexity to make more unique, nuanced songs but… read more

Lion Really Has Made Me More Productive: Here’s How

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:00:20 +0000

Apple released their large overhaul to their Mac operating system with Mac OS X Snow Leopard in June of 2009. This update seemed fairly basic to the naked eye as there weren’t many end-user feature updates, but under the hood the OS took strides in performance, efficiency and memory consumption…. read more

Typinator: Why Write Out Everything Yourself?

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:00:10 +0000

Most of us find ourselves writing at least once a day on a computer. And surely you have found yourself more than once annoyed at having to type out the same phrase over and over again. Or maybe you’d like a way to quickly insert an image, date or signature?

Here’s… read more

Nettuts+ Mac Apps: Structurer Pro and Builder

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:00:41 +0000

When I’m not writing Appstorm reviews or doing schoolwork, I’m a freelance web developer. A lot of what I know about web development I owe to the in-depth tutorials and screencasts over at Nettuts+, which is, in my opinion, one of the most reliable and richest resources for all levels… read more

Weekly Poll: What Do You Think of iCloud?

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:00:17 +0000

What Do You Think of iCloud?

After at least a year of rumors about an Apple cloud service and months of anticipation after the official announcement was made, we’ve finally gotten our hands on iCloud. It’s the perfect example of how Apple doesn’t always get things right from the start…. read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Disk Drill

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:41:31 +0000

Our sponsor this week is Disk Drill by Cleverfiles, a powerful Mac utility that enables you to undelete and recover your lost data with ease.

Disk Drill recovers data from HFS/HFS+, FAT, NTFS & other file systems right on your Mac. It helps you undelete Mac OS files using its two… read more

Yoink: Your OS X Lion Drag-And-Drop Aide

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:00:57 +0000

As you may have gathered from my recent posts, I have yet to upgrade to Lion on my personal MacBook Pro. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have my ways of playing with the new operating system (and the apps and utilities that are released for it). And let me… read more

Have Some Classic Violent Fun with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

admin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:00:01 +0000

Since its inception, the Grand Theft Auto series has gained both controversy and phenomenal success for Rockstar Games and now GTA III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas have all been made available to Mac users via the Mac App Store.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is the… read more

Tips and Apps to Help Prevent RSI And Related Health Issues

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:00:51 +0000

If you spend a significant duration of time on your Mac for work or play, there’s a reasonable chance that you’ve experienced some degree of discomfort directly caused by that activity. If not, the chances are that you will eventually. The human race did not evolve for countless generations towards… read more

3 Mac Photo Effects Bundles Up For Grabs

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:40:23 +0000

StackSocial has just launched a Mac Photo Effects Bundle, and I’m pleased to announce that we have 3 bundles to give away to our readers!

The bundle includes FX Photo Studio Pro, Colour Splash Studio, and InstaDesk – the first 500 people to buy also get four extra licenses of the… read more

Get Notified Instantly with Boxcar

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:00:07 +0000

There is no doubt that the iPhone made push notifications cool and took that idea mainstream for Apple fans. But like most things Apple, at first push notifications weren’t open to all third party apps at launch. When users were clamoring for a way to get notified of things as… read more

Brush Pilot: The Ultimate Photoshop Brush Companion

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:00:01 +0000

If you are a professional or at least enthusiastic user of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you will have worked with brushes. And the beauty of brushes is that there are millions of them out there and that they can be loaded into PS fairly easily.

But how often has it happened… read more

Replacing Notify: Searching for the Perfect Menu Bar Mail App

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:00:57 +0000

A while ago, when I got my first Mac, I began using Mail for keeping up with my email. It was a very good app and I enjoyed using it, but I didn’t know how I felt about having all of my emails (both important and useless) stored in one… read more

Weekly Poll: Will You Buy the Steve Jobs Biography?

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:00:37 +0000

Will You Buy the Steve Jobs Biography?

Though several of us had dreams of lining up in bookstores and having Steve personally sign a copy of his upcoming biography, sadly we know now that day will never come. Though you can still hope to catch author Walter Isaacson and thank… read more

Minecraft: Explore New Worlds and Feel Like a Kid Again

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:00:50 +0000

This isn’t going to be your typical Mac app review. Minecraft isn’t sold on the Mac App Store. It’s a cross-platform game that has over 3.5 million paid players across Windows, Mac, and Linux, making it one of the most wildly successful indie games in recent memory.

Minecraft is a creative/adventure… read more

BreakTime: A Timed Recess From Your Computer

admin — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:30 +0000

You know how everybody says you’re supposed to take about a short break from the computer every hour if you want to keep your sanity? Chances are you’ve heard of this but don’t really practice it. Time moves differently while you are working on a computer, and sometimes it’s hard… read more

Dolly Drive: Time Machine in the Cloud

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:00:01 +0000

As many of the Mac AppStorm writers will tell you, backup is important! It is the single thing that is protecting you from massive data loss, hours of frustration and lots of hair pulling.

With the advent of Leopard, Apple released a built-in backup utility that makes backup a breeze,… read more

Organize and Process Your Photos Like a Pro with ACDSee

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:00:58 +0000

Thanks to the advent of point and shoot digital cameras and megapixel rich smartphones, many among us have collections with as many pictures, or even more, than a professional photographer’s. It’s true that digital photography makes freezing those wonderful moments in life with so much ease, but handling, categorizing and… read more

Raven: Site-Specific Browsing Like You’ve Never Seen It

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:00:48 +0000

A site-specific browser allows you to have the convenience of a dedicated desktop app wrapped around a website. You’ve seen these before and might even have a few Fluid or Prism apps sitting in your dock. Even so, you’ve never seen an app quite like Raven before.

This innovative browser attempts… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Drive Genius 3

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:03:16 +0000

Our sponsor this week is Drive Genius 3, an awesome and affordable way to mange your internal and external drives.

Drive Genius 3 is the ultimate tool for whipping your drives into shape. Whether you want to free up space with the super easy DriveSlim feature or are looking to perform… read more

State of Sync: Revisited

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:00:20 +0000

Several months ago, I wrote this piece regarding the then-current state of syncing among Mac apps and their mobile counterparts. What I didn’t know at the time was that Apple was toiling away in the forges of 1 Infinite Loop on what we now eagerly look forward to as iCloud…. read more

Weekly Poll: Do You Use a Mac at Work or at Home?

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:00:12 +0000

Do You Use a Mac at Work or at Home?

I’m a fortunate soul who hasn’t really been forced to use a Windows PC since elementary school. For the most part, I get by entirely on Macs both for home and work use.

I recently had the realization though that… read more

Hands-Off Time Tracking with Finch

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

If you’re a freelancer, you’re probably familiar with having to split your time between your work and the more managerial aspects of your business–like invoicing and bookkeeping. Here at AppStorm, we’re fond of the apps that take the edge off of this part of our day, and we’ve likely all… read more

Graphic Designer Bundle on Sale!

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:38:54 +0000

Hello readers of AppStorm! As you may know, from time to time we cross promote other Envato sites and services here on the AppStorm network. Well, today we launched a short-run Graphic Designer Bundle on our marketplaces, and it’s fantastic value – $500 of photos, images and Photoshop/Illustrator add-ons for… read more

MacSnapper: Step by Step Documentation for Any Project

admin — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:00:30 +0000

The one part about a project that always gets neglected is documentation – it may that be tutorials, user guides, project notes or manuals. It’s time consuming and to do it well, you’ll need screen shots with annotations and much more. Shrinking away from this task often results in poor… read more

GarageBand Part 2: Creating A Simple Song With Virtual Instruments

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:00:28 +0000

In our previous look at using GarageBand, we discussed the basic principles behind creating music with a Mac and GarageBand, talked about what terms like MIDI and DAW mean and dipped a toe into making music with virtual instruments.

Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to get familiar with the… read more

So Long Steve, Thanks for Everything

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:10:51 +0000

Yesterday. A Wednesday night. I was home, watching TV. I had some friends over. One of them was using my iPad to read the latest DC comics. He’d been reading them for most of the night. All of a sudden, he looks up at me, shock written across his face…. read more

Espresso 2: Create and Edit CSS3 Like Never Before

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:00:12 +0000

Web developers rejoice, Espresso 2 has finally been released and it brings tons of improvements that you’ll definitely want to check out.

Join us was we take a refreshed look at what Espresso is, what’s new about it and why it’s officially at the top of our list of awesome apps… read more

Steve Jobs Dies at Age 56

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:39:12 +0000

Today we mourn the passing of a legend. According to several sources, Steve Jobs has passed away at age 56. We at AppStorm extend our deepest gratitude to Jobs’ family and friends.

As the editor of Mac.AppStorm and a long time Mac user, I have personally looked up to Jobs’ leadership… read more

Analog: Simple and Fun Retro Photo Processing on Your Mac

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:00:24 +0000

Analog is a new retro photo processing app from rockstar Mac developers Realmac Software. In just a few clicks you can apply cool effects and borders, crop, rotate and share photos on your favorite social networks.

As the little niche of retro photo apps grows, can Realmac jump into the fray… read more

It’s Here: The iPhone 4S

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:33:07 +0000

Our sister site iPhone.AppStorm had a big day today with Apple’s ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ announcement! As it’s pretty likely that at least some readers will want the lowdown on the news, it was only fair to give you a heads up. While this is a summary of the important facts,… read more

Three Download Managers for Mac (and Do You Need Them?)

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:16 +0000

The market for download managers has always been small and shady, at least for the Mac. I’ve never really needed one, although I am also not entirely happy with how the downloads are managed through the Downloads folder. However, for people who spend a lot of their time downloading huge… read more

Weekly Poll: How Often Do You Repair Permissions?

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:00:37 +0000

How Often Do You Repair Permissions?

Last week while researching an introduction to Disk Utility I came across some extremely varied arguments regarding the usefulness of repairing permissions (check out that article for a discussion of what repairing permissions actually does).

I’ve personally long seen “Repair Permissions” as a nice little… read more

Elmedia Player: The Right App With The Wrong Purpose?

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:44 +0000

At AppStorm, I’ve reviewed all kinds of media players and managers for Mac, from the great (Plex), to the not-so-great (Songbird). I’ve always been looking for something that has wonderful management features, but is also a pleasure to actually consume media with. While I use and love Plex, it still… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Finch

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:00:27 +0000

Our sponsor this week is Finch, an amazing time tracking tool from Touch Studios.

Finch is an app that takes all the effort out of time tracking. If you can open it, you can use it! With virtually zero configuration, Finch sits quietly tucked away in your menu bar and collects… read more

Desktopr: Put a Website On Your Desktop

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:00:52 +0000

There are two types of Mac users, those that keep their desktops sparkling clean and those who use their desktops as a digital junk drawer that holds every random scrap of content they come by.

I’m the former type. I like a good, clean desktop, often with an extremely minimal… read more

Going Vintage: How and Why to Start Using Mac OS 9 Software

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:00:45 +0000

Steve Jobs’ recent stepping down from his duties as CEO of Apple has left many of us feeling reminiscent, looking back over his career and the life of Apple as a whole. Instrumental in Apple’s well-documented comeback from the brink of disaster was the launch of OS X, an operating… read more

What is Disk Utility? The Complete Beginner’s Guide

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:00:22 +0000

Disk Utility is an application that’s built into OS X that can perform lots of useful and even scary actions. Experienced users find frequent need of this handy tool but those newer to the Mac experience are often cautioned to steer clear, for good reason.

Today we’re going to take a… read more

Win a Copy of Ensoul or MacHider: 10 Licenses Up for Grabs!

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:28:50 +0000

The great folks at MacPaw have hooked us up with five codes for Ensoul and five for MacHider. Because we think our readers are awesome, we’re giving them away to you!

Tweet to Enter

Entering is simple, all you have to do is click the link below and send out the resulting… read more

rubiTrack: Turn Your Mac Into a Personal Trainer

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:00:53 +0000

If you enjoy sports and workout regularly, you might already be keeping track of your exercise with one or more of the excellent online services available to you: Runkeeper, DailyMile, Garmin Connect among them. These services are great: they can really help you to gain insight into your performance, and… read more

Are the Golden Years of Apple Behind Us?

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:00:21 +0000

That’s a pretty bold title, isn’t it? I didn’t really mean for it to be. I’m not a fan of shameless link bait. And it’s not my intention to be hyperbolic. I chose that question as the title because it’s the reason I’m writing this right now. That question has… read more

ChronoSlider: A Simpler Timer & Alarm App

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:00:07 +0000

Remember how useful those kitchen timers where, the ones that you had to spin around to get them counting? They could be used for a lot of things outside the kitchen, and they were very fast and easy to setup. It seems like we haven’t been able to get the… read more

30+ Genuinely Useful Mac Apps for Designers

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:00:19 +0000

It’s hard to believe that we’re coming up on a year since the Mac App Store was first announced. It seems like only yesterday we were itching to get our hands on a marketplace full of great utilities, games and other goodies all custom tailored to the Mac platform.

While… read more

Weekly Poll: How Many Menu Bar Apps Do You Run?

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:00:42 +0000

How Many Third Party Menu Bar Apps Do You Run?

Last week we published an article that got a lot of meaningful discussion going about menu bar apps. In it we outlined the all too common problem of the overflowing menu bar for MacBook users and discussed whether or not… read more