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Alfred Remote is here and it's interesting
Alfred Remote (US$5) is here, it's really well-designed, easy to use, and I'm not sure how I'm going to use it yet. I can't even remember how long ago I first spotted the "Remote" icon in Alfred 2, but it has been there for so long I've kind of grown blind to it. There wasn't anything there, just a "Coming Soon" teaser, and I didn't hear anything more about it for many months. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was finally going to be available. First, let's talk about the good parts. Alfred Remote looks awesome. It has great icons and the whole app looks and feels like a great deal of care was taken in the design of it. At the bottom are several "pages" which are similar to browser tabs, or iOS folders, each one containing a grouping of related items. By default, "pages" exist for Applications, Preferences, Folders and Files, Bookmarks, iTunes controls, and System Commands. App icons are used where you'd expect, and custom icons exist for other actions. The icons are cleanly designed and look right at home in iOS. You can swipe between the various pages quickly and smoothly. You can add your own pages as well, or rearrange existing ones. Creating new ones could not be any simpler, click a "+" sign and Alfred will show you what actions are available. If you are familiar with creating Alfred workflows, this will seem right at home. It's clear that as much effort was put into making Alfred Remote easy to use as well as looking good. (Insert standard "Design is how it works" reference here.) Once you have "paired" your iOS device running Alfred Remote with your Mac running Alfred, you can start using the built-in actions: launch iTunes, open your mail app, fire up Safari, open the folder with that project you've been working on, etc. Alfred Remote can run scripts, AppleScripts, Terminal commands, and Alfred workflows, so if you want a command which isn't available by default, chances are good that you can create your own. But after I finished going through the "demo" phase of "this is what it can do" I found myself stymied by a fairly basic question: "What would I use this for?" For example: with Alfred Remote, I can launch any app on my Mac from my iPhone. If I want to listen to music, launch iTunes from across the room is a clear win... except that once it has started, I don't have much control over what comes on. I can skip forward or back, I can adjust the volume, I can go to a random album. But if I sit down and really want to listen to a specific playlist, or a specific album, I can't control that from my iPhone, unless I am going to make separate workflows for each one. I can't use Alfred Remote to scroll through my list of movies in iTunes or pick an episode of a TV show. Unfortunately, iTunes is the best example of what Alfred Remote can do when it comes to app control. Other built-in controls allow me to launch Safari, or even execute a saved web search... but then what? I still have to be seated at my Mac to use it. I can launch Messages, FaceTime, Maps, Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Reminders... but after I launch them, I still need to be seated at my Mac to use them, or I could just use the version of those apps on my iOS device instead, which seems much simpler. Again, there is an entire page dedicated to System Preferences, which will immediately launch System Preferences.app and bring the appropriate preference pane to the front, but then I still have to sitting at my Mac to do anything with it. I can open a file or a folder, but, then what? To be fair, I only used Alfred Remote for a few hours. It's possible that there are ideas and use-cases which have not occurred to me yet, but after the initial burst of "Cool! I'm controlling my Mac from my iPhone!" I found myself stuck on "Now what?" I had hoped that I might be able to use Alfred Remote more...um, remotely. I imagined that I might be sitting down at lunch and wondering whether or not I locked my Mac, launching Alfred Remote on my iPhone and sending a message to my Mac to lock itself remotely. Unfortunately, Alfred Remote only works if the Mac and iOS device are on the same Wi-Fi network. (The Alfred team are looking into more "remote" functionality as a potential future addition to the app.) Pairing Alfred to Alfred Remote was also a little clunkier than it needs to be. After starting the pairing process on the Mac and the iOS device, a 12-character passphrase (case-sensitive, letters and numbers) is displayed on the iOS device, and must be typed into the Mac. Contrast this with pairing a new Bluetooth device, where a message appears on both devices saying "Hey, is this code the same on both devices? Press Yes or No." I understand the desire for security, but I'm not sure about the actual risk involved. In order for the pairing process to be initiated, it has to be started from both the Mac and the iOS device at the same time while on the same Wi-Fi connection. Not much of a chance of that happening randomly, is there? And if someone happens to catch me at just the right moment, it would still be simpler just to confirm the code on both devices. Maybe it's just me, but I'm 0/3 when it comes to entering that code correctly on the first try. That being said, obviously the pairing process only needs to be done once per device and per Mac. For me, Alfred Remote will probably be most useful when I create some workflows which will trigger Keyboard Maestro macros, which can be far more involved that Alfred workflows. For example, I could create a shortcut which will trigger my Keyboard Maestro macro to get ready to record a podcast. You could create a similar workflow in Alfred, at least one which would quit or launch specific apps, but even then I struggle to imagine the situation where it is easier to do that on my iOS device than just triggering the same workflow from Alfred on my Mac. This app looks so good and works so easily, I find myself wanting to find some reason to use it. I hope the design team behind the atrocious OnStar RemoteLink app sees Alfred Remote and realizes what a terrible job they did by comparison. This is also only the first release of Alfred Remote – it will no doubt continue to get better and gain more features. But for me, for now, I can't find an answer to the question "What problem does this app solve?" That being said, after having tested the demo version of it and written this review, I didn't hesitate to buy it. I expect that the app will continue to grow and improve, and I would not be surprised if the Alfred community comes up with some cool uses for Alfred Remote that I haven't even considered yet.
TJ Luoma01.27.2015
Alfred, Dropbox, Hazel, and Markdown? All in a day's work
"How does a geek-pastor use a computer?" is a question that I assume a lot of people ask themselves, although they probably don't. But if they did, this would be one answer: I need to make a list of the readings and sermon titles for the church secretary and choir director, so one can make the weekly worship guide, and the other can plan the music. I put my schedule up as a web page, like this: The reading is linked to the text so that everyone involved can easily access the text (I'll need it for sermon preparation, and the choir director will need it to see what the text is about so she can try to match it to potential hymns/anthems). Which reminds me: I have an Alfred shortcut for looking up Bible passages from the NRSV: A month year of Sundays Today the church secretary reminded me that I needed to update the list, as I had gone through all of the previous weeks that I had scheduled (oops). I decided that it was a good time to make a list of all of the Sundays between now and the end of 2015; that way I could start to fill in the dates of special events, vacation, etc. So... how would a sane person make a list of Sundays? Maybe look at a calendar? Try to figure them out in your head? Not me. I wrote a shell script: Actually I made my loop a little more complex, in order to give me the Markdown formatting that I wanted for the list: That gave me a nice, clean "unordered list" in HTML. The first line under the date will be the Scripture Reading. The second line will be the sermon title. The third line (if any) will be any notes about that particular Sunday. Fortunately I didn't have to include all of that in the output because I could use CSS' "generated content" feature to automatically add it for me: Markdown Markdown is a simple way of writing plain text which can be automatically translated into HTML (the language of web pages). But I don't want to have to remember to manually update the HTML page every time I edit the plain text Markdown file. So I have Hazel do that for me: Translation: Any time the file worship.mmd in the folder worship.luo.ma is updated, run that script on it, which will automatically convert it from Markdown to HTML and save it as the file index.html. The ~/Sites/worship.luo.ma/ folder is linked to my Dropbox, so I can edit that file on any of my Macs (or on my iPad or iPhone), and every time I press "Save" the website version will update, usually in less than a minute (the amount of time it takes Dropbox to sync and Hazel to notice the file has changed). (Have I mentioned how much I love having a MacMiniColo server? Because I do. A lot.) You can see the result for yourself at http://worship.luo.ma, or view the Markdown file at http://worship.luo.ma/worship.mmd. Now... if only I could get Hazel to clean up my actual desktop.
TJ Luoma06.09.2014
Alfred 2.3 adds external triggers and more
Alfred for Mac is one of my favorite utilities. So much more than an app launcher, it lets me find and move files, control apps and even set complex workflows into action for a super-effecient work day. Things get better with version 2.3, which is out now. External triggers, case-sensitive hotkeys and other changes only make this app better. External triggers are so cool. In a nutshell, you can use an AppleScript from outside Alfred to tell it what to do. Attach one to a Calendar event, for example, for precision timing. Meanwhile, you use Alfred to select which app opens a specific file. Think of it as Finder's "Open with..." command but much more efficient. The marquee feature is context-sensitive hotkeys. I use a utility like Alfred because I don't like reaching for the mouse over and over, all day long. Perhaps you're the same. Now you can make your hotkey triggers case-sensitive. There's also an option to disable a combination when a certain application is frontmost, and a unique setting for when you're using Photoshop. Hotkey conflicts are a huge pain in the backside, and Alfred 2.3 does a lot to address it. Alfred is among the apps I install on a new Mac immediately. This update is an example of why.
Dave Caolo05.08.2014
Best Mac apps of 2013: Talkcast recap
On this Sunday's TUAW Talkcast, several Mac pundits picked out their favorite Mac apps of 2013. Our own Michael Rose convened the panel, including GeekBeat TV host Benjamin Roethig; TUAW TV Live host Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd (who hates snow); longtime TUAW contributor, app developer and podcaster Brett Terpstra; and the managing editor of The Mac Observer, Jeff Gamet. The show will be available on iTunes momentarily (and streamable from Talkshoe), but in case you want to speed up your app sampling, we've recapped the app list here. To best highlight these apps, I will list them alphabetically with links and relevant quips contributed by the host and guests. All of these apps are compatible with OS X 10.8 and 10.9, and reasonably priced. Some of them work with older systems, also. Also, be sure to read Brett's own list of his favorite apps of 2013, over at brettterpstra.com. Best Mac Apps of 2013 1Password 4 from AgileBits Inc. (On numerous people's lists.) Jeff called it "magically awesome." Brett notes that it stores your passwords and personal information (including credit card numbers, software license keys and more) and "makes storing and generating [the items] just simple." The popup that used to only work in browsers now works anywhere on your Mac; that way, you don't have to open the main 1Password app nearly as often as before. AirServer 5 from App Dynamic. An AirPlay receiver for Mac and PC. Can mirror your display from iOS devices. "Great for demoing iOS apps, and a more professional feature set than Reflector" -- Mike Rose. Alfred v2 from Running With Crayons. A free, hotkey-based launch controller that also can initiate a quick web search and offers a number of other capabilities (offered by Doc Rock; he referred to it as one of his household servants). This one received a TUAW Best of 2011 for Mac Utility apps. Adobe Edge Code and Edge Inspect Combo. Doc Rock uses these programs with his Creative Cloud subscription. Edge Code is a HTML and CSS editing tool. Edge Inspect is an inline editor of code, which while working on a line, the meta key will open up accompanying files in a modal box, so they can be adjusted without leaving your main HTML file. "It's amazing," according to Doc. Bartender from Surtees Studios Ltd. (Offered up by Brett Terpstra and Jeff Gamet.) "Bartender is a lifesaver." It lets you control which menu items show up on your menu bar, and lets you rearrange them at will. Bartender was also written up on TUAW as a Friday Favorite while it was still in beta. BeamApp from BeamApp UG. Brett noted this Mac and iOS tool for quickly sending phone numbers, songs, maps and more between your devices and your Mac. Mike pointed out DeskConnect, which has some of the same functionality but also allows you to send files (PDFs, presentations, Word docs) between the Mac and your iOS device in a jiffy. BetterTouchTool by Andreas Hegenberg. A free utility for OS X 10.7 and above that lets you configure gestures for your mouse and trackpad. Brett says he uses two Magic Trackpads and can set them up to do just what he wants. CheatSheet from Media Atleier. This free utility uses the command key to show you all available shortcuts for an app. Not available in the Mac App Store because it cannot be sandboxed. See Media Atelier's blog for the explanation. Clarify 1.1.3 from Blue Mango Learning Systems. A great tool for quick and easy documentation. You can capture an image, edit it and add text, all on one place. You can read about Clarify's first iteration in TUAW's Daily Mac App feature from 2011. Clef and Waltz. Mike Rose pointed out this new take on password and authentication management; just point your iPhone at an animated barcode patch and it lets you into the target site, removing your need to remember passwords. Although relatively few sites work with Clef, the new, independently developed Chrome plugin Waltz expands it to work with Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox and more. Clyppan by Ole Morten Halvorsen. It stores all your clipboard clippings, letting you recall them with a quick keystroke. Not new, but very useful. Coffitivity from coffitivity.com. Both Jeff and Mike called out this menubar tool. A certain amount of ambient noise can help stimulate creativity, so folks who work in silence may benefit from running Coffitivity, which adds background and ambient noise from a coffee shop. Downie by Charlie Monroe. Web video and YouTube downloader "that actually works." Downie actually suports 120 different sites, and Mike noted that it's replaced older tools like Grappler and EVOM for him. Everpix. This made the list despite the photo storage service closing shop earlier this year. "It was a fantastic app while it lasted." You can read the story of Everpix's closure from Megan Lavey-Heaton on TUAW. Evernote from Evernote Corporation. It's a note taking app that can do many things and Michael notes that it "keeps getting more useful." Jeff Gamet also notes that the Jot Script Evernote Edition (US $75) is more like writing with a real pen as opposed to a stylus. It's got a hard tip and clicks on the iPad, which is his only complaint. Fantastical 2 from Flexibits Inc. This is billed as "calendars and reminders done right." Jeff notes that additional plain text entry options, multi time zone and dictation support have been added. You can read TUAW's review from Victor Agreda to learn more. Final Cut Pro X from Apple. Listener John Brown suggested Apple's flagship 64-bit video editing application. John noted they've made it quite simple for most people to use and refers to it as "remarkable." Doc Rock also notes that it is "a major step forward" and "a great application." This week's 10.1 update added optimizations for Apple's new Mac Pro desktop. Hazel from Noodlesoft. Doc says this pairs up with Alfred as his "domestic help" and notes that "it does a really good job of keeping icons on desktop organized," plus it can move files around based on a variety of file attributes that you set. MailMate from Feron. An IMAP email client with an impressive array of features. "It does everything I need it to," says Brett, who describes it as "the TextMate of email." Marked 2.2 from Brett Terpstra. We couldn't let the show go by without a hat tip to Brett's own Markdown preview tool, very much improved in the 2.x version. MindNode Pro from Ideas On Canvas Ltd. Both Mike and Brett called out this Mac and iOS mindmapping tool for its speed, easy interface and good-looking output. Mouseposé 3.2.4 from Boinx Software Ltd. Updated in December, it's a useful mouse pointer highlighting tool for demos and presentations. "A lot of my colleagues use tools like OmniDazzle or Zoomit for remote presentations," says Mike, "and whenever I pull out Mouseposé everyone on the call goes 'oooh, ahhh.'" OmniPresence from The Omni Group. For users of OmniGroup's apps. It's a free service and menu bar item that offers file syncing between devices. "It makes all of the changes between your files appear everywhere," says Jeff, but without the limitations and aggravations of iCloud. PollEv Presenter app from Poll Everywhere. SMS-based polling service that works with PowerPoint or Keynote to show live polls in real time. Mike calls it one of his go-to tools. Popclip from Pilotmoon Software. (Offered by Doc Rock and Brett Terpstra.) A $2 app that shows up when you select text with your mouse or trackpad -- simulating the iOS text selection experience.. ReadKit from Webin. RSS reader; Brett says it's "simplistic and powerful, and it supports every RSS system you can think of, and makes my life easy." RocketDocs. This single-session browser tool is specific to the Google Drive/Google Apps productivity tools. Mike says it's often easier than setting up Chrome for Docs use, and keeps your editing sessions away from general browsing. Shush from Mizage. A cough button for your Mac, so that you can mute yucky noises when recording audio. Works in FaceTime, iChat, Skype, Podcast Capture and more. Both Mike and Brett enthusiastically recommend it -- Mike even used it during the show, and blocked every snuffle and cough! We welcome your suggestions for the best Mac apps of 2013 -- let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
Ilene Hoffman12.23.2013
Google's Alfred to shut down on July 19
Venture Beat reports that Google will quietly retire Alfred on July 19th. Alfred was billed as a personal assistant, similar to Siri, according to Forbes. In 2011 Google acquired Clever Sense, Alfred's developer, but it seems they let him languish. Alfred isn't the first company purchase on which Google has stopped development, but instead of announcing Alred's demise on the Google blog, a notice was inserted into the Alfred app. You can still download Alfred on the iTunes store, but he hasn't been updated since May, 2012 and after yesterday, July 12th, he will be guiding you no longer. [via VentureBeat and TechCrunch]
Ilene Hoffman07.13.2013
Google's Alfred service shutting down on July 19th
Google's not done shuttering wares this month, apparently, as the local recommendation service Alfred is headed for the digital cemetery on July 19th. The app issued a warning to its users, spotted by TechCrunch, announcing its impending death and warning users to request data through the feedback tool should they wish to use it post-July 19th. Mountain View purchased Clever Sense, the company that created Alfred, back in late 2011. The team responsible has since moved on, internally, to other projects (CEO Babak Pahlavan, for instance, is now part of Google's Analytics division). Apparently their baby couldn't escape Google's ever-looming axe, and it joins Latitude in the most recent round of service cuts.
Ben Gilbert07.11.2013
How to spring clean "Open With" duplicates
If you use your Mac for any period of time, you will find the need to open a document with a different program other than the one set as default. The "Open With" menu appears in the Finder whenever you right-click or control-click on the icon of a document. The "Open With" command is designed to give you a list of alternative choices to handle the file that you've selected, but after long-term use you will find this list can get a little bit messy. Duplicate entries in your "Open With" menu can be easily cleaned via a simple terminal command. We initially covered this command in a 2009 post about rebuilding your launch services, but this post is updated with video and a few new methods that'll work in OS X Mountain Lion. In the video below, I will demonstrate the basic terminal command. I will also show you how to create a bash script to make it easier to repeat this cleaning whenever needed, as well as create an Alfred workflow to do the same (requires the Alfred powerpack.) Below you'll find the commands used in the video. If you are creating the .bash_profile alias method, remember you will have to quit and relaunch terminal for this to work. Fix Duplicate "Open With" Terminal: alias fixow='/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain user;killall Finder;echo "Open With has been rebuilt, Finder will relaunch"' Fix Duplicate "Open With" via Bash alias: alias fixow='/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain user;killall Finder;echo "Open With has been rebuilt, Finder will relaunch"' If you are a little shy of monkeying around in terminal and bash, you can use utilities such as Onyx or Cocktail to get the job done.
Shawn Boyd03.25.2013
Alfred v2 brings Workflows, automates what Automator might not
Anyone who's heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem knows Automator, a built-in tool that can string together multiple computing actions without having to know a lick of code. Some of us may want a little more power, or just a different variety of power -- which is where the recently launched Alfred 2.0 comes in. Those who buy the £15 ($23) Powerpack can take advantage of Workflows, which relies on an Automator-like concept of linking simple actions to run complicated tasks. They can be more ornate than you'd expect, however: for a start, you can run multiple app-specific tasks in parallel, such as telling Chrome to search YouTube, IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes the moment you type in a movie keyword. It's equally possible to feed results back to Alfred, launch scripts and trigger notifications (whether Mountain Lion's or Growl's), among other feats. Should you demand control that sits just outside of Apple's boundaries, Alfred is waiting at the source link; anyone who just wants its core launcher functionality can grab the app for free.
Jon Fingas03.15.2013
Alfred 2.0 adds workflows, improves preferences, more
Alfred is one of my favorite Mac utilities (here's my review of version 1.0). After a long beta period, version 2.0 is now available. I've been using it throughout the beta period and I can say that it's a huge improvement over version 1.x. The new workflows are fantastic, the preferences are easier to use and better organized. Here's my look at Alfred V2. Looks Alfred's main interface is still a single input field, but now you can customize it more deeply than before. New theme options let you change the fonts, sizes and the height and width of the results window. You can even change the roundness of the corners. Once in the theme editor, use a combination of mouse clicks and key combinations to affect different changes. Pop-up help text guides you through the process so it's easy. You can duplicate an existing theme if you want to use it as a starting point, or begin entirely from scratch. And for the record, I like the Dark And Smooth theme. %Gallery-181517% Workflows Let's talk about the big guns. Alfred 2's marquee feature is Workflows. Some people think of Alfred as a launcher. Workflows will change that for good. Workflows let you combine a series of actions into a helpful sequence. You get your triggers, inputs, actions and then the outputs. What's nice is that it's entirely approachable. You needn't code a single thing, and the supplied templates and examples will get you started. A workflow can be simple or complex. Here are a couple of examples. Every day I use a workflow called "paste to plain text." Occasionally I'd paste text into TextEdit to strip out the styling. Now I simply hit the hotkey combination I set up in Alfred -- Option-P -- and the contents of my clipboard are pasted as plain text. One of the example workflows is called "Should I watch this movie?" Here's how it works. Launch Alfred, type "movie" and the the film's title. Hit Return, and Alfred opens the movie's IMDB page, its page on Rotten Tomatoes and its trailer on YouTube, all in separate tabs on your browser. I also created a quick one that launches QuickTime Pro and begins a new audio recording, which is helpful when I'm podcasting. There's so much you can do from fun to productive, from triggering AppleScripts to terminal commands. You can even share your work with others. Other improvements You can now have Alfred remember where you like its window to appear. You can also change the wallpaper that appears in the background of the theming preference pane. These little improvements stand out and make the experience very pleasant. Conclusion Alfred V2 is a great update. So how does pricing work? Alfred is a free download, and the Powerpack, which adds features, is paid. For upgrades, a single license to a mega license is £20. This been the case since the beginning of the beta. You can go from a single to v2 single for £10, and from a family license to v2 family license for £15.
Dave Caolo03.14.2013
Alfred updated with new themes, drag-and-drop support
Alfred for Mac (our review from last year) has been updated to version 1.2. Alfred is a utility that's part app launcher, part navigation tool and part web service. This updated adds two new themes: Dark and Smooth & Pistachio (I prefer the original). There's also support for large type which my aging eyes appreciate as well as an option to drag results out of Alfred an onto the desktop, into an email message and so on. That's pretty handy. There are also lots of improvements and you'll find the full list here. Alfred for Mac is free but the optional Powerpack (£15) adds a lot of additional functionality.
Dave Caolo05.01.2012
Alfred: TUAW Best of 2011 winner for Mac utility apps
The readers have spoken, and they've agreed -- Alfred, the awesome free app from Running With Crayons, is the winner of the TUAW Best of 2011 award for Mac utility apps. Alfred is a veritable Swiss Army knife of an app. It's an application launcher, a quick web search tool, a calculator, a powerful shortcut manager, a spell checker, an iTunes controller, and more. The base app is available for free, with additional capabilities added through a £15 Powerpack. Alfred was the favorite of 55.1 percent of the 1,407 respondents, capturing over four times the number of votes of Quicksilver. The second place utility was the colorful and useful DaisyDisk ($9.99), used to visualize what files are taking up an unusually large amount of space on your hard disk drive. Our thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac utility apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to Andrew Pepperrell and the rest of the Running With Crayons team on being the winner of this critical software category in the TUAW Best of 2011.
Steve Sande12.16.2011
Google buys Alfred-maker Clever Sense, brings us closer to personal Batphones
Google has nabbed yet another software company. This time out, Mountain View has gotten its mitts on Clever Sense, the makers of Alfred, a location-based restaurant / bar / club recommendation app for the iPhone and Android handsets. No word yet on exactly how Google will integrate the app maker, but the software giant said in an official statement that it plans to "provide even more people with intelligent, personalized recommendations for places to eat, visit and discover." If it can help us find a good burrito in New York City, we think we can get behind this deal.
Brian Heater12.14.2011
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac utility app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac utility app of 2011. If the nominations were any indication, the free Alfred app looks like it might take the top honors for this category. It attracted over half of the total nominations for best Mac utility app. The other apps that qualified for this category include the popular iStumbler, a free wireless discovery app for Mac; perennial favorite Quicksilver; the beautiful and functional DaisyDisk (US$9.99); and shareware favorite Carbon Copy Cloner. Only one of these items will win TUAW's top honor for Mac utility app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-71784%
Steve Sande12.13.2011
Best of 2011 Nominations: Best Mac Utility Apps
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for Best of 2011 nominations is Mac utility apps. This category consists of many different apps if you take a look in the Mac App Store. Twitter is considered a utility, as is Dave Caolo's favorite app Alfred. Do you love Growl? It's also on the list. DropCopy Pro could be your favorite helper, or maybe Blotter enhances your desktop. There are a ton of utilities out there on the Mac App Store or available from other sources. Just leave a comment below with your nomination for the best Mac utility app of 2011, and if we get enough interest in a specific app, it'll be included in the voting in a few days. Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 9, 2011.
Steve Sande12.07.2011
Alfred 1.0 offers enhanced global hotkeys, URL handling, more
One of my favorite Mac utilities, Alfred, has been updated to version 1.0 with a long list of super new features. The biggies include greatly enhanced global hotkeys and my favorite, an option to remember URLs for quick use in the future. Note that the new features require the optional Powerpack. those of you who've put off buying it will like to know that it's still available at the discounted price of £12 (the 1.0 price of £15 hasn't kicked in as of this writing). Here's a look at Alfred 1.0. Global Hotkeys Global Hotkeys are keystrokes that can open a file, perform an action, etc. regardless of the frontmost application. They're an extremely handy way to access oft-used files or perform common functions. Alfred 1.0 offers a number of ways to use this powerful tool. To get started, open Alfred's preferences and click the Hotkeys tab. There's a two-pane layout, with categories on the left and hotkey assignments on the right. The categories include apps and files, extensions, system commands, iTunes and finally paths and URLs. Click any category to create a new hotkey assignment. There's really so much that can be done here that I'll explain just two common setups. First, I'll assign a hotkey to a folder. I've got a project folder buried deep in Dropbox that I dip into almost every day. So, I've used Alfred to create a hotkey combination to open it for me. With the hotkey preference pane open, I first click the "+" symbol and select Apps and Files from the contextual menu. Then I'll simply browse to the folder and assign a keystroke. Since many are in use by the OS, I chose to double-tap the Command key. Now all I've got to do his quickly hit Command twice and my folder opens up in the Finder, no matter what else I'm doing. Awesome! I've also assigned a hotkey to a favorite URL (see if you can guess which one). The process is the same: click the "+" symbol and then choose Paths and URLs. This time I chose a double-tap of the Shift key. The other hotkey extension categories really open up the functionality. For instance, the extensions category will let you run a shell script, an AppleScript, a workflow or a file or group. You can also issue a number of system commands (like restart, shutdown, sleep and more) or control iTunes. It's an extremely useful feature. URL History Speaking of URLs, Alfred now supports URL history. This is something I loved when I used Quicksilver. Basically, you can have Alfred remember a URL by typing the whole address in Alfred's main window once and hitting Return. That's it! To view saved URLs, open the Features preference pane and then click the Features tab. Next, click URLs/History to see and edit the list. From then on, Alfred will recognize that destination and make it available in its main window with just a few keystrokes. Those are just the main features. Other niceties include an improved payment system and an option to copy current search results with Command-C. You can get the full run-down here. Alfred is one of the apps I immediately install on any Mac I'll use for a length of time. It's a huge time saver with a very devoted team behind it. I recommend Alfred highly. Those who have already purchased the Powerpack will receive an updated license in the mail. Otherwise, take advantage of the low price and buy it. You'll be glad you did.
Dave Caolo11.29.2011
Alfred 0.9 adds global hotkeys, preference sync and more
Alfred is a launcher and Finder utility for the Mac that I dearly love. The team released version 0.9 today, which represents another big step toward the 1.0 version. This version adds global hotkeys, sync options, custom terminal commands, improved iTunes DJ and more. Here's a look at what's new in Alfred 0.9. Note that many of these features require the optional Powerpack. Global Hotkeys At the top of the list is global hotkeys. Now you can map a key combination to your favorite application, file or AppleScript and summon it in an instant, even when Alfred isn't the frontmost application. I've already set up a couple for TUAW's back end, Gmail and some other stats. It's super handy. Preference Syncing Those using Alfred across Macs will enjoy preference syncing, which uses Dropbox or iDisk to share a preference file. No more, "D'oh! I'm on the wrong machine for that!" moments. New Hide/Quit/Force Quit Commands So many people use Alfred simply as a launcher, and that's fine. Those who wish for more will find plenty of goodies. For example, I often use Alfred as a spell checker. Just call up its window and type "Spell" plus the word you're after. The correct spelling will be pasted to the clipboard. Version 0.9 lets you hide, quit or force quit an app just as easily. Enter the command and click the target app (or hit its corresponding key combination) for mouse-free action. Also, the iTunes DJ function has been improved. Basically, this Powerpack feature lets you control what's playing in iTunes. Version 0.9 steps it up by letting you add songs to existing playlists on-the-fly. There's more to this update, and we urge you to check it out. The team is working full steam ahead as they approach the 1.0 release, which we're eagerly anticipating.
Dave Caolo05.12.2011
Alfred for Mac enhances Apple's Finder
Alfred is a utility for Mac OS X that's part app launcher, part navigation tool and part web service. In short, it's a productivity tool that sits quietly in the background until you need something -- fast. Imagine a fully fueled 1987 Buick GNX 223 idling in your driveway with the door open, and you'll get the idea. While power users who cut their teeth on custom Quicksilver scripts will walk away wanting, the rest will find Alfred suited to their needs. Here's my look at Alfred for the Mac. Inevitable comparison to Quicksilver I'll get this out of the way now. Comparisons to Quicksilver aren't entirely appropriate, but they're inevitable. Quicksilver is an application launcher and quick means of navigating the Finder. Eventually its developer ceased development, considering the utility feature-complete, not to mention a time-consuming effort that failed to bring in any money. Today, it's maintained by an enthusiastic and talented group of developers. Users enjoy a library of plug-ins and the option to write their own scripts. That's great, but I'm looking for a more turnkey solution. Alfred is it. %Gallery-117775%
Dave Caolo02.28.2011
Apptivate 2.0 adds keystroke sequence shortcuts
There are a plethora of "launcher" apps out there. I've used LaunchBar ($35) since it was released for NeXTStep; other folks seem fond of Alfred (free, with additional powerpack for £12, or about US$20), Butler ($20), Keyboard Maestro ($36) or Google Quick Search Box (free). The venerable but now mostly-dead QuickSilver (cue moment of silence followed by someone yelling out "I'm not dead yet") is being kept alive by a band of merry coders who hope to revive it. Heck, even FastScripts and OS X's own Spotlight can serve as launchers. I come not to replace your favorite launcher, but to supplement it, with an incredibly handy $3 app called Apptivate. Read on for details
TJ Luoma01.18.2011
Psycho gets 5.1 surround for the first time on Blu-ray
Even if you've seen Albert Hitchcock's Psycho before (and seriously, you should have) the Blu-ray edition arriving for its 50th Anniversary October 19 has a new trick up its sleeve in the form of a remastered 5.1 surround sound audio track. The original mono soundtrack is included for purists, but it certainly seems like the a due amount of effort was put in by Universal's BluWave Audio postproduction team and third party Audionamix, to create a discrete DTS HD 5.1 that would live up to the standards of a classic, and still light up the special lights on your receiver.
Richard Lawler05.10.2010