Mac Apps

Creating a Screenshot

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 20:31:05 GMT

Posted by: jazzyjj

Hi everyone. I realize this might be a rather odd question given the scope of this comm, but here goes anyway. I need to know if there is any way of taking a screenshot on a Mac. Please allow me to elaborate. I recently registered on a job-related website which is similar in scope to LinkedIn, but with some differences. For one thing, this site is a bit more accessible with Apple's on-board screen reader than LinkedIn. Or at least most of it is. Here's the part that is not accessible, at least as far as I can tell. I've logged into the site to post some comments and do a couple other things. However, the site automatically logs me out only after 5 or so minutes. I've tried contacting them about this, but nobody has responded. Hence my need for a screenshot. There is not even an indication that the site is automatically logging users out, or at least no audible indication. I'm not sure this issue is specifically related to the screen reader in use either, because I tried changing some relevant settings on my Mac but I'm still being logged out constantly. Here is a link to the portal to which I'm referring, but this seems to happen on all of AFB's sites. https://is.gd/wWdltg .

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TextWrangler EOL

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 01:59:26 GMT

Posted by: kareila

http://eepurl.com/cB3F5X

Summary: TextWrangler is no longer in active development, but you can now use BBEdit without a license for a comparable set of editing features.

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Backing Up My System

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 00:43:33 GMT

Posted by: jazzyjj

Hi everybody. Yesterday I scheduled a Genius Bar appointment for Monday afternoon at one of the Apple stores in my area. I've been having a memory issue on my MacBook Air for a little while, and we think we know what's causing it but we want someone at the Genius Bar to take a look. The confirmation email I got yesterday said for me to back up my system prior to the appointment, and I'm wondering which method is preferred here. I was originally going to purchase an external hard drive, but then my father suggested I'd be better off using iCloud. A tutor and I recently tried to set up iCloud on my MacBook but ran into a bit of difficulty. I use Apple's on-board screen reader and it seems to work pretty well with iCloud, but we couldn't quite figure out how to set everything up. Another suggestion my tutor made is Google Drive, and he said some of his coworkers at school use it and like it. When he and I checked the amount of space for iCloud, we found out that it starts out at 5 gb which he said would probably not be enough for everything I have on here. I checked on Apple's support site and think I saw something about using a thumbdrive. I have 2 of those, but they both contain mp3 files. So would a cloud-based service be necessary or is Time Machine good enough? That also seems pretty accessible with the screen reader on here. Thanks in advance for anyone's assistance.

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Possible Resource for Inclusion in the Comm, and a Question

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 18:07:17 GMT

Posted by: jazzyjj

Hi everyone. Subject line pretty much sums it up. This comm hasn't been updated in awhile, and I'm wondering if the mods could include http://www.applevis.com as a possible resource? This is a website that discusses Apple's accessibility features for those of us who are visually impaired. I registered on there a year or so ago and have found it to be very good for the most part. Not everyone on there uses a Mac though, which I suppose is a bit of a drawback. Additionally, there's a certain user on there who says she wants to help out but her spelling is atrocious. She's actually posted stuff on there before with no errors, which makes me think she is being careless. Nobody in this comm though.

To that end I also have a question. I've been experiencing an issue on my MacBook where the amount of free disk space has decreased rather drastically. When I first got this computer as a Christmas gift in 2013, it had 120.11 gb of free space. I got a SuperDrive about a year ago for Christmas, which I was using to import my vast CD collection into iTunes. That whole process went very well, but once everything was complete I noticed something a bit odd. That is, the amount of free disk space had gone down to about 6 gb. I deleted some things on here in hopes of getting more free space back, including some voices used for the on-board screen reader. That seems to have helped a bit, and now I'm at about 27 gb free. In addition, I noticed a few days ago that the maximum on here is now 120.12 gb. I think I'm finally going to try and bite the bullet and take this machine into my local Apple store, if and when someone can go with me at a time that works for everyone. But I'm wondering if anybody here knows of any other tricks I can try. Someone mentioned audio formats as a possible cause of the memory decrease, but I can't figure out a way to verify that or anything. I do still have all or most of my CDs handy, so I could always re-import them if I had to. This is a mid-2013 MacBook Air running the latest build of OS X El Capitan.

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another Macheist

Mon, 07 Apr 2014 21:12:11 GMT

Posted by: kareila

This one focuses on software that won Apple Design Awards. $19.99 for 8 apps (9 if ScreenFlow unlocks). Ends tomorrow! http://macheist.com/

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A couple utility apps

Sat, 14 Dec 2013 21:05:44 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

These are a couple recommended utility apps that I might want to try out at some point, but haven't yet, and am going to share them here so I will have a reference in case I need them later:

HUSH -- silences the notification center for a given amount of time, free
Bartender -- helpful for managing the awkward proliferation of menu bar apps, trial + buy at $15

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Amazon sold Mac software? Who knew?

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:35:36 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Anyway, they're having a sale until the 15th.

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Recs for offsite backup services?

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:12:52 GMT

Posted by: juniperphoenix

I have a MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. I already make regular backups to an external hard drive, but I'd like to add an offsite backup as well. Does anyone have recs or anti-recs of backup services to share? I'm currently leaning toward CrashPlan.

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MacHeist nanoBundle3

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:44:41 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Going on for four more days! About ten bucks for a spread of programs.

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using Microsoft Office on an iPad

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:47:08 GMT

Posted by: kareila

I saw mention this week of a new version of Microsoft Office that is available for Mac, PC, and Surface, but not iPad, despite last year's rumors that a version for the iPad would debut in early 2013. Of course, there are third-party solutions and alternatives, but if you're like me and refuse to edit your spreadsheets in anything other than Excel, this article may be of interest: Run Office on your iPad.

It covers three similar iPad apps that connect to a Windows server In The Cloud(tm) to run Office remotely: CloudOn, Nivio, and OnLive Desktop. The latter two sound like VNC services, but CloudOn seems to have a native Office interface, and is also available for Android.

Anyway, just putting this here to file it under "Things That Look Cool, That I'm Not Going To Try Right Now, But Might Be Really Useful For Someone Else."

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My guilty pleasure: Soulver

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 06:08:39 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Soulver is on the Mac App store and it is like, $20, which feels kind of ridiculous for such a narrow focused app when normally I buy apps at $5 when on impulse but it also hits some kind of deep craving in me for doing math scratchwork on the computer instead of on paper, so it didn't take a lot of convincing for me to take the plunge. The overview is quite good about what the program is like.

I love how you can make a whole chain of calculations with variables, change one at the top, and it cascades down the line.

If it sounds awesome but $20 is too steep, a version is available on the iPhone, too, for $3.

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iTunes 11 has dropped

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:30:23 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

If anybody upgrades, could you report on the outcome?

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Macheist 4 + Rogue Amoeba 10th Anniversary Sale

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:55:34 GMT

Posted by: kareila

Macheist 4 is in progress, which means you get to play fun free games and win free software! The free games are very well done (imho) and are available from http://macheist.com/missions for both OS X 10.7+ and iOS.

Rogue Amoeba, makers of fine audio software including Audio Hijack Pro and Fission, are having a tenth anniversary sale. Through the end of September, you can get $10 off any of their products (new purchases, not upgrades) if you purchase through their web site. Here's the link: http://rogueamoeba.com/store/deals/TenthAnniversary.php

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Mountain Lion is out: Yay/Nay?

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:13:44 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Any verdicts yet?

ETA: Holy moly there is a 24 page review on Ars Technica.

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For mac owners with cats

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:50:23 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Cat Nip: A clever program to lock down your keyboard if your cat should just so happen to start playing on the keyboard

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Microsoft ends Office 2004 support (finally)

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:22:45 GMT

Posted by: kareila

http://www.officeformachelp.com/2012/01/support-ends-for-office-for-mac-2004/

I'd wondered why they kept updating it for so long; it's because they dropped VBA from Office 2008. That feature set was restored in Office 2011. Office 2008 support will end 15 months from now.

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digital organizers

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:09:45 GMT

Posted by: kareila

This is a topic I've had at the back of my mind for quite a while but haven't explored until today.

I got an email from Delicious reminding me that their site is migrating and all my data is belong to them. Since I used it more as a simple organizer for my own bookmarks than anything else, I'm looking at Mac software that will more flexibly fill that same gap, plus allow me to organize stuff I've starred in Google Reader and stashed in temporary files on my desktop. A digital junk drawer, if you will.

Here are the contenders I've unearthed so far:

Evernote: web based, free for basic use, $5/mo otherwise
Yojimbo: $40
Together: $40
EagleFiler: $40
DEVONthink Personal: $50
ShoveBox: $25

(DEVONthink was previously mentioned in our writing tools thread as well.)

Together and EagleFiler use the file system for storage and organization, which means you can access your data in the Finder and Spotlight as well as within their applications, and their libraries easily integrate with Dropbox for backup and browser access.

The other four all have iOS companion apps: Evernote free, Yojimbo $10, DEVONthink $15, ShoveBox $4. The Yojimbo iOS client is read-only.

Evernote is unusual in that it stores all of your info on the web and either you pay a service fee or you see ads. That means you can access your information from any web browser, but it raises the issues of privacy and data portability. The others have free trial versions that expire after a certain period of time.

Thanks to MacHeist, I already have license keys for ShoveBox and the previous major version of DEVONthink Personal. I will try those first and if neither one satisfies me, I'll probably try Evernote after that.

If you have experience with any of these or a different alternative to recommend, leave a comment!

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This is my Applescript icon.

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:44:34 GMT

Posted by: roadrunnertwice

(x-posted from my journal)

So I was just thinking that I missed being able to automatically post the current music to LJ, back when I was using Xjournal. And that got me thinking about whether I could rig something up to just type the current track into the web form for me, right? Answer: Hell yes, I can! It is Applescript, and is predictably barbaric. Check it out:

Paste current iTunes track.scpt:

( Some barbaric Applescript )

(I was originally going to just use the keystroke function to actually TYPE the text, instead of blowing away the clipboard, but this turns out to result in comedy for tracks with any non-ASCII characters.)

And then when I was about to post about how cool this was, I ran smack into how annoying it is to turn formatted RTF-ey text into a useful HTML fragment. So I wrote a script to do THAT for me, too. This one requires an external tool called "premailer," so you'll have to install that with gem.

This one SHOULD work with styled text copied from Word, TextEdit, or basically anywhere, but I haven't tested it very thoroughly yet.

Convert RTF clipboard to HTML fragment.scpt:

( More barbaric Applescript )

As ever, just paste these into Applescript Editor, save them in ~/Library/scripts, and run them with FastScripts.

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BBEdit 10

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:20:56 GMT

Posted by: kareila

When I was employed full-time, I was upgrading with every major release, but I stuck with BBEdit 8.7 and skipped the entire version 9 series. So this is quite a jump for me. In order to install it, I had to finally upgrade my laptop to Snow Leopard first, which was a whole other thing - you can read there if the details interest you!

Requirements: Mac OS 10.6.8 or greater; Intel hardware only.

Pricing: Cheaper for new users! When I last recommended BBEdit two years ago, commercial pricing was $125 and edu/upgrade pricing hovered around $40-50. With this release, retail price is now $50 and upgrade price is $40; until October 19, 2011, the $40 price is available for new purchases as well. The price is the same whether you purchase the application via the Mac App Store or through the BBEdit website.

I decided to purchase via the App Store, so that I could more easily manage upgrades and licensing on multiple machines. However, there is one important caveat that I didn't realize ahead of time: due to Apple's restrictions, the version of BBEdit sold through the App Store does not support authenticated saves. I recall having used this feature occasionally in the past when editing system configuration files. I probably won't miss it (there's always sudo emacs), but I would have appreciated being aware of the difference ahead of time. The App Store version also requires that the command line utilities be downloaded and installed separately.

(It looks like version 10.0.1 just dropped while I was looking up page links for the above paragraph. Bugfixes only; I'm downloading that now.)

New Features: The primary change I'm excited about is the updated interface for managing open files, and the ability to automatically reopen whichever files were still open when the application was last quit. (I know, all apps are doing that in Lion, but I've wanted it for BBEdit specifically for a while.)

( Read more... )

In short, I've found a few surprises, but it's still fundamentally the same BBEdit I know and love with some welcome improvements.

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RSS readers

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:11:09 GMT

Posted by: delight

Looking for some good, clean RSS readers! Google Reader just doesn't do it for me, somehow – there's something clunky about it.

I am running 10.6 and do not plan on upgrading to Lion.

(My reasons for this, as I expect people to ask: I rely on my copy of Adobe CS5 that is not entirely legal, and $20 is a HUGE amount of money for me right now. I just bought this $2,000 computer a year ago!)

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A little Lion humor.

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:14:06 GMT

Posted by: kareila

http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1569.html

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Quicken replacement

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:25:50 GMT

Posted by: codyne

I just got a notice from Quicken saying that Quicken for Mac will not work on Lion, so anyone planning to upgrade their OS will have to switch to another money management app. They want to sell me Quicken Essentials, their "lite" version of Quicken, but a quick scan of reviews says Quicken Essentials is awful, and besides, I'm not inclined to give Quicken any more of my money if they're going to abandon their Mac users like that.

So, for the first time in forever, I'm in the market for a new money app. I've downloaded demos of iBank and Money and so far I hate them both with a passion, but I'll keep fiddling with them until the trial periods run out and see if I can make do with either one.

Does anyone here have any experience with these or any other Mac financial app?

Things I want:
- ability to schedule recurring transactions
- reminders for upcoming bills
- track investments (mutual funds, IRAs, TDAs)
- create financial statements (I used to be a bookkeeper, so I'm at home with balance sheets and income statements and like seeing my finances laid out that way)

Things I don't care about:
- downloading transactions from my bank/credit card account (I enter everything by hand; I don't want to wait till it hits the bank to record it, I want it there now)
- online bill pay (I use my bank's online payment service; it's free, and they charge ridiculous fees to use an outside service)
- budgeting (I get a good enough sense of where I'm at just by looking at my bank statement and bills)

I'm not planning to upgrade to Lion immediately, but I'm sure I will eventually, and I want to be ready when the time comes.

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iPhone/iPod touch DW-compatible blogging app?

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:48:28 GMT

Posted by: phoenixsong

*points to the subject line*

Anyone know of one? I know there's one for LJ, but if there's something else that's no/low-fuss to configure for DW, I'd love to know. I've got a 4th gen iPod touch.

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Lion will be here soon!

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 06:54:31 GMT

Posted by: kareila

I am amused - but in retrospect, not surprised - that a hot topic on Macintouch right now is migrating email from Eudora to something that will run under 10.7.

Does anyone here feel locked into any Rosetta apps? Any other thoughts on the new OS?

I am lazy and only have 10.6 running on my newest Mac which came with it preinstalled. My laptop is still running 10.5. I am interested in other people's experiences with upgrades, though!

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The Heist

Wed, 25 May 2011 01:36:09 GMT

Posted by: kareila

Macheist is doing a new promotion in the form of an iOS app called "The Heist".

It costs 99 cents but is worth it for the puzzles it includes, which are of four familiar types. Once you've solved enough puzzle levels, you get a prize: an activation code for the Steam game called Eets, which is normally worth $10.

I was expecting to unlock another iOS app, not a Mac/PC game, but hey, I'll take it.

Have fun!

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