Download the Hipster Field Guide.
This app allows you to rearrange the menubar icons of those apps that are not from Apple, i.e. the apps you’re using. It does so by closing and re-opening them in the right order. Nifty idea.
"I started by explaining how commercial art is such a hungry culture it constantly demands new ways of looking at things, which is why they’re always looking for what’s novel. For example in the 70s the cool, novel thing was the space race which is why you got hundreds of ads and logos and album covers that had space in them for no reason whatsoever."
Gives an explanation for QR Codes as well. Hint: It’s not the designers.
Miscommunication is one of the top conflict causes. What a surprise.
About three weeks ago I got an email from Apple saying they removed the German Mac OS X Screencasts Podcast from the Store. I didn’t manage to get in touch earlier than last Thursday. I was told the podcast “uses an Apple product in its feed”. My guess was they meant the logo. It got worse on Friday when they removed the English feed as well.
So I decided to go to work and make a new logo. This is the old one as a reference:
It was fine for the last 3 years. But let’s not complain about that. I tried to embrace the change and use it to my advantage. I always wanted to change it slightly since I went professional with screencasting in late 2010. zCasting uses a cute, little robot as its icon.1
With this I was trying to bring those two projects closer together by using a more similar logo. Mac OS X Screencasts now is a big screen, with two apps in the Dock, one is highlighted and is named Mac OS X Screencasts.
What I like about the new logo, it hints at the eyes as being icons used in the Dock of an OS X computer. That was the original idea for the zCasting 3000 logo.
I’m now trying to get the English Podcast back into the Store.
Michael Cioni says 4K video is not a transition, it’s a transformation. Maybe that’s why Final Cut Pro X had to be rebuilt from ground up?
He has been working on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
An overview of a couple of diff tools for OS X, Windows and Linux. Free and Payware.
Watch Bret Victor’s talk. If you don’t want to see the whole presentation, at least watch the bit where he’s showing an iPad animation concept app. (At about 23 minutes)
If you need an alternate project planning tool you can give xPlan a try.
This app allows you to track time spent on your work or free time. It integrates with iCal and create weekly and monthly statistics of your task. A very neat idea and script. I’m testing this for a couple of days now, and although it’s not entirely what I’m looking for, it comes close.
Git, the popular versioning system, has made new clients appear out of nowhere for some time now. Though there are a couple good ones, there are (at least) as many bad ones. Among the better ones, to my surprise a client I haven’t yet written about, is Tower.
Tower is my go-to client when it comes to Git-GUI-usage. In fact Tower does so many things I barely need to touch the command line.1 The app allows you to do all sorts of trickery right from within the app.2
If you need my recommendation for a Git client for your Mac, then it would be Tower.
In fact I have yet to do that… ↩
I’m pretty sure some "advanced" users will find enough things it can’t do. ↩
With AnyLockApp you can easily open any app from the camera button on the lock screen. Exchange default iPhone camera with Camera+. No problem. The app works as advertised and is free.
Not available for regular iOS users.
(There is currently a bug preventing the app from working when a passcode needs to entered. I’ve contacted the developer for a fix. For the moment, if you’re stuck at the lock screen. Hold the power button for a short moment and then tap cancel. This will take you to the screen where you can enter your passcode.)
The Best Nikon D4 Unboxing Video Ever (by FStoppers)
RetroShare is a Open Source cross-platform, private and secure decentralised communication platform. It lets you to securely chat and share files with your friends and family, using a web-of-trust to authenticate peers and OpenSSL to encrypt all communication.
Via TorrentFreak
Automatically delete accidentally downloaded files, like .html and htm.
(Almost) beats my TextExpander Symbols snippets.
via Macdrifter
NSRails - Objective-C ♥’s Rails on Vimeo)
Not sure how useful this is, but hey, why not?
Big news everyone. Audacity, the only free audio editor that is actually capable of editing audio in a way professionals would appreciate. Has been released in a new major version. I just downloaded it, and give it a go later, but wanted to update everyone on the release.
The release notes are long.
1
The new features list is a tiny bit shorter… ↩
Final Cut Pro X Advanced Color Grading Techniques (by noiseindustriesllc)
The new MacUpdate Promo Bundle has just been published. It includes 11 apps for the amazing price of $49.99.
Please be aware that these applications come to $378 normally! VMWare Fusion alone is $49.99. If you ever needed PDFPen, DriveGenius and a little game for your free time go get it.
(Of course) not available on the App Store. (sadly)
Very true.
Switch TextExpander Abbreviation Mode With Shortcuts (screencast demo)
TextExpander’s abbrevation mode (case sensitive, insensitive, adapt to case) can’t be switched using keyboard shortcuts. To edit TextExpander many snippets this gets very tedious and clicky.
Using Keyboard Maestro however, you can “script” TextExpander to switch abbreviation mode using F1, F2, or F3.
The macros work like this:
You can adjust the delay if these macros are not working on your computer.
Red Eclipse - Open Source First Person Shooter.
Doesn’t look shabby at all.
Nice overview of the possibilities to record and create a screencast on an iOS device.
Stuff Instagramers Say
Plants vs. Zombies, one of the best games ever; period. Is currently about 50 percent off its normal price.
As far as I know, Plants vs. Zombies (OS X) is currently $5, instead of $10.
PvZ for iPhone is only $0.99.
And PvZ for iPad was still at its normal price while I was looking, but the price might be dropped as well now.
Unread messages
(via dubardo)
SketchBook Pro by Autodesk has been reduced in price for a short period of time. Go get it while it’s hot.
Anti-gravity illusion
Mari0 - Mario with Portals
(via @aptgetupdateDE)
The service remains free.
Read this support document for migration information from other services.
I figured I could share my photography app collection with you since I spent some time last week deleting apps and finding the ones I really like.
Here’s a screenshot of my photograph folder. I renamed my folders verb-based.
"Wait, are you kidding? Where’s Instagram?!?!"
Instagram and Hipstamatic are where they should be. Instagram in my Dock, Hipstamatic on the first screen.1
I blurred apps not necessarily belonging to this photogaphy apps article, but you can still hopefully guess which apps are there. ↩
Da Chip Volume 2!
App Meister is a new website that helps you to compare apps before buying. The site has listed several comparison categories, like Time Trackers and Document Scanners. You can choose one app, click compare and choose another app. Then they are listed next to each other. App Meister gives you an overview over price, design and features. If necessary you can also read the normal App Store description and take a look at some screenshots.
Very cool idea!
I also like that App Meister lets you sort a list “more intelligently”. You can set whether a cheaper price and more features are more important and design is not so important.
I found this gem there by the way.
I find this bit very interesting:
"Intense intelligence-dampening is performed by providing you with constant short snippets of information on various subjects. This trains you to have a short memory, makes the amount of information feel overwhelming, and the answers provided by the manipulator to be highly desired due to how overwhelmed you feel."