Cool Mac Gear

Pictu 0.2.1 View Pictures Via A Menubar Item

[OS 10.2 up]

Pictu is a low-maintenance utility that lets you view the picture of your choice via the odd-looking menu widget conveniently located in the upper right corner of your menu bar.

Features:
· Support for pict, jpg, gif, png and tiff
· Supports dragging and dropping
· Transparency, and lots of it
· Preferences
· Hand-crafted icons

To add a picture, either open the Preferences window and drag your picture into the large rectangular area conveniently located there or open the menu item and drag your picture into the picture space.

System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

Pictu is freeware

For more information, visit:
http://www.postal-code.com/pictu/index.php

Zoe 0.5.2 Browser Based Email Client

Zoe is a web based e-mail client with a built in SMTP and POP3 server and Google-like search functionality that lives on your desktop. Zoe uses Lucene technology to provided instant searching and threading of your e-mails.

New in this version:
• Lucene 1.3 RC2
• JDBM
• attachments filter
• connections limit
• multipart/digest

System requirements:
• Internet Explorer 5.0 or higheror
• Mozilla 1.2 or higher
• Java 1.4 or higher

Bug Fixes
- indices locking
- http headers

Enhancements
- IMAP folders selection

Zoe is freeware

For more information, visit:
http://zoe.nu/

SmallImage 1.4.1 Reduces JPEG Size, Removes Metadata, Recompress, Resize

[OS 10.1 up]

SmallImage will reduce the size of your JPEG files, by removing unnecessary information and by recompressing the image and resizing it.

In more details, the JPEG image format contains a lot of "metadata", like profiles, comments, legends, and so on... These metadata are stored in the file itself and can make the files bigger than necessary. Indeed, when you want to publish a image on the internet (on a website or to send it by email, for example) you don't care about these metadata, you want the file to be as small as possible and therefore to be downloaded as fast as possible. You must therefore find a good compromise between the quality of your image and the filesize. That's why, in addition to removing these data, the image can be recompressed with a chosen quality, or you can decide to use the same compression as the original image. You can also chose to resize the images.

For example a folder of JPEG images taken from a digital camera was reduced with SmallImage from 10.9 MB to 7.8 MB without any loss of quality, and to 4.1 MB with a recompression at 75% (which means an almost unnoticeable loss of quality).

New in this version:
• Minor localization bug fixes
• A few interface improvements (infos drawer)
• Documentation rewritten (in particular concerning the image quality)
• Version string wasn't right (1.3.2 instead of 1.4)

System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.1 or higher
• BSD subsystem (is installed by default)

SmallImage is freeware

System requirements:
http://www.iconus.ch/fabien/english/smallimage.html

Synchronize! X Plus 1.2.1 Tool For Syncing And Backing Up Personal Data

[OS 10.1.1 up]

Synchronize! X Plus is a file synchronization and backup utility for personal data on Mac OS X. As a way of introducing you to Synchronize! X Plus, you may use its basic file synchronization and backup features free for folders containing 10MBytes or less. Just download Synchronize! X Plus and try it out.

Unlimited use of all features requires the purchase of the program, which is $29.95, plus shipping if applicable.

Synchronize! X Plus will backup your OS X "Home" folder to another disk, so that your personal data is safe. It can sync your home folder with a file server, or your PowerBook, or a FireWire disk, so that the newest files are in both locations.

Synchronize! X Plus actions can be scheduled to be performed at night or at any preset time, once or periodically, without anyone present. Passwords can be supplied automatically for file server connections.

Synchronize! X Plus is the successor to Synchronize! on Mac OS 9. If you have a current serial number for Synchronize!, (ending in "-SA") you can use it for Synchronize! X Plus without additional charge.

New in this version:
• Fixed a problem selecting folders using Panther.
• Fixed a crash when truncating names for destination volumes which don't support more than 31-character file names.

System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.1.1 or higher

Synchronize! X Plus is $29.95 shareware

For more information, visit:
http://www.qdea.com/pages/pages-syncx/syncx1.html

FoldersSynchronizer Lite 3.4.0 Sync & Backup Utility

[OS 10.2 up]

FoldersSynchronizer Lite is the lite version of a nifty and popular utility for Macintosh (Classic and Mac OS X Jaguar and Panther) which synchronizes and backs-up files, folders and disks. The user can choose one or more pairs of files/folders/disks and then they will be synchronized/backed-up exactly. This lite version grants some feature less than the full version. Anyway it grants the standard features anyone would expect from a sync/backup software.

Features:
• FS can backup the whole MacOS X boot disk and make it bootable.
• FS can sync/backup the deleted files/folders (Exact Sync feature and Exact Backup feature).
• FS allows creating, renaming, duplicating, deleting, editing of multiple Sessions in a single document.
• FS can assign different Settings to each session.
• FS can create, save and open Sessions Files.
• FS can copy invisible Files and Folders.
• FS can include/unlock the locked files, so it can delete/replace also the locked files.
• FS can resolve aliases and SYM links.
• FS can stop or skip or ask for further instruction, if an error occurs.
• FS can show the "Items to be copied" Preview List.
• FS can save/display short or detailed Log Files (always or only if an error occurred).
• FS can work with root privileges, even if the user is not the root (it asks for the root password).
• FS works properly on Long file names, Unix permissions, Multiple forks, Forks > 2GBytes, SYM links and GMT Date/Time.
• FS allows drag and drop of source and destination folders/files.
• FS can work in background (multithreading). Registered copies have no limit to the amount of files/bytes to be copied.
• FS can quickly copy GBs and GBs of data.

System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

FoldersSynchronizer Lite is $20 shareware

For more information, visit:
http://www.softobe.com/products/flsy/pp.html

Mars24 5.1 24-Hour Sunclock For The Planet Mars

[OS 10.2 up]

Mars24 is a cross-platform Java application which displays a Mars "sunclock", a graphical representation of Mars showing the current sun- and nightsides of Mars, along with a numerical readout of the time in 24-hour format. Other displays include a plot showing the relative orbital positions of Mars and Earth and a diagram showing the solar angle for a given location on Mars.

The Mars24 application requires Java 1.3 or better. Linux users: you may find that Mars24 works better on your computer if you have Java 1.4.1 installed.

Mars24 is also available as an applet which runs in a web browser window. The applet is only at version 5.0.2 but still contains much of the same functionality as in the stand-alone application, but currently does not include displays of lander mission times. The applet requires that your computer have a Java 1.1.8 virtual machine, or better, installed.

New in this version:
• Displays and controls split into three separate windows.
• Expanded time display.
• Re-designed controls.
• Option to display mission times for MER-A, MER-A and Beagle 2.
• Option to display a time offset by constant amount from current time.
• Ability to save display images to disk (PNG or GIF).
• More "realistic" looking sunclock display.
• Additional map projections for sunclock.
• Improved calculation of Earth-Mars light distance.
• Thoroughly revised user's guide.

System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

Mars24 is freeware

For more information, visit:
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/

Poisoned 0.494 Front-end for giFT daemon: FastTrack, Gnutella, OpenFT

Poisoned is a frontend for the giFT daemon (http://giftproject.org/) and currently supports the following p2p networks:

• OpenFT
• Gnutella
• FastTrack

System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

New in this version:
• Panther Compatibility
• Improved FastTrack support
• Bug Fixes...

For more information, visit:
http://poisonedproject.com/poisoned.php

OmniOutliner 2.2.6 To Outline & Organize Thoughts, Tasks, Projects...

[OS 10.1 up]

Kick start your creativity, hatch new thoughts, and organize a collection of preliminary ideas into a cohesive plan - anything from a grocery shopping excursion to a complex business proposal. Designed both for the home user and the professional, OmniOutliner provides a welcome relief from trying to use a bloated word processor or spreadsheet program to do basic outlining and list-making functions. And when you're ready to do more in depth project management involving calculating columns with durations and attached notes, OmniOutliner does that too. All within an easy to use interface, with multiple export options like HTML, OPML, RTF and plain text for compatibility.

Use OmniOutliner to draft multiple to-do lists, create agendas, manage tasks, track expenses, write legal briefs, take meeting notes, monitor project status, and much more. Everyone makes lists, so why not use a tool designed for it? With multiple columns, smart checkboxes, customizable popup lists, automatic numbering, per-level styles, and notes, OmniOutliner helps you get your thoughts down fast - then build on them until they're perfect.

There's more:

Per-level styles
Using the info panel, you can set all first-level headers to be in 24-point Helvetica bold, all second-level headers in 12-point italics, and all children of those in 10 point regular. Change all items at a single level with one click!

Multiple columns
If you’re making a list of tasks that need doing at your company, wouldn’t it be nice to add a column to list who is going to be responsible for each task? Some other outliners have multiple columns with fixed purposes (for example, a “date” column), but OmniOutliner allows you to create as many columns as you want, of any types you want.

Typed columns
Building on our multiple column support, OmniOutliner can set columns to have typed information beyond just text. Make a column for numbers-only and you can set a format on it, just like a spreadsheet. Make a column for durations and track projects by minutes, days (work days or calendar days), and so on. Make a column for dates and you can even type “next Monday” (or "yesterday", or "next year") and Outliner will calculate when that will be and fill it in for you. You can even make a column into a pop-up list with predefined values (e.g., “not started,” “in progress,” and “finished”).

Calculated columns
Building on typed columns, you can set headers to summarize the values of sub-items. Number columns keep their totals up to date, durations columns tell you how long all their sub-tasks will take, checkbox columns give a quick glance at whether their items are complete.

Import and export
Import your old outlines from Symantec’s More, a very popular outlining program from the 80s. Import your playlists from iTunes. Import a matrix from Excel�. And, when you’ve massaged the data to the way you like it, you've got several export options.

AppleScript support
User or Omni-written AppleScripts can be put in OmniOutliner’s toolbar for quick access. OmniOutliner can interact with any AppleScriptable program – for instance, you can create an AppleScript to take a list of actions and dates from OmniOutliner and draw a calendar of them in OmniGraffle.

Features in 2.2.6:
• A gorgeous and easy-to-use Aqua interface.
• Multiple columns per row.
• Optional checkboxes on each item so you can track your progress through to-do lists. Checkboxes are 'smart', so if you check off all the children of an item the item automatically becomes checked as well.
• Infinite level undo.
• Full rich text editing on each line, including rulers, different fonts, etc.
• Automatically opens the documents that were open the last time you ran Outliner, so your favorite lists are always there for you.
• Can import many Concurrence files.
• Written in native Cocoa for full performance and compatibility.

New in this version:
• Bug Fixes
° Fixed performance regression on Mac OS X 10.3 (most noticeable when opening large files).
° Fixed crash introduced by Mac OS X 10.3 when opening older OmniOutliner documents containing zero length RTF strings.

System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.1 or higher

OmniOutliner is $29.95 shareware

For more information, visit:
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/

For more information about the latest Mac software releases and updates, you'll find it on the Applelinks Search Engine here:
http://www.applelinks.com/pages/search.shtml

Charles W. Moore