Apple released Snow Leopard into the wild last August 28. As with other releases to Apple’s OS, this is widely anticipated. Much more so because Apple decided to sell it to existing Leopard users at a low price of $29 for a single user license and $49 for the family pack. On the surface it looks like a steal. 29 bucks for a new OS is quite cheap, even if other people say that it’s not much different from Leopard. This price point is normally reserved for independent small apps. Not for full blown operating system upgrades.
owever, as I am …read more

One of the web sites I currently read with regularity is Smashing Magazine. I must say that I enjoy this site a lot and have been learning a lot of things. They recently published an article by Jen Gordon of Clever Twist. The article is entitled “How To Create Your First iPhone Application”. It lists the steps that you need in order to create your first iPhone application.
With the iPhone’s rising popularity, applications for this device are rapidly gaining market share. The great thing about the iPhone is that for the first time there’s a great mobile platform that people …read more

I finally got to try the push notification service of iPhone OS 3.0. I upgraded my iPod Touch to the 3.0 software last week and downloaded AIM for the iPhone. Being the cheapskate that I am, I just got the free version.
One of my biggest gripes before with instant messaging on the iPod Touch was that I always had to have the application on or else I would be disconnected from the service. If I’m waiting for someone I can’t do anything else on my iPod Touch. Hence I didn’t really use my iPod Touch much for instant messaging.
Push service …read more

Panic Software, makers of popular Mac software such as Transmit and Coda is having a 3 day sale. Transmit, Coda, CandyBar and Unison are 50% off. The sale period is from 12:01 AM PST May 27th to 11:59 PM PST May 29th.

I took this opportunity to buy Coda. I’ve tried this out before and generally like this software except for the $99 price tag that it carries. So now with the chance to buy it for $49.50, I snapped it up.
Hurry Mac users and avail of the 3 day sale!

The cover of this week’s “The New Yorker” magazine was made through an unlikely tool: an iPhone. Yes, you read it correctly! Jorge Colombo, a Portuguese born artist created the digital artwork using the Brushes app on his iPhone. It’s a $4.99 application that allows you to create drawings on your iPhone or iPod Touch using your fingers.
In the hands of a gifted artist such as Jorge, the results of this application is short of amazing. You’d never guess that the cover artwork was done with the iPhone.
The great thing about drawing with an iPhone as your tool is that …read more

Spurred by my recent battery problems, I stumbled upon this little app from Sonora Graphics. It’s called Battery Health Monitor. It’s a free app that allows you to monitor your MacBook Pro, MacBook, PowerBook and iBook’s battery life.
It shows you the original capacity, current capacity, current charge, charge cycles, voltage and some more info. From this you can see how your battery is doing, if you need to change it, etc.
Granted these information can be found through System profiler, I just like it better when there’s a GUI to look at. Plus what am I gonna fill up my hard …read more

I tried Pixelmator before but didn’t really use it much ever since. Probably, because I never really had enough time to play with it. The makers of Pixelmator recently released a new version and a new learning section in their web site which aims to teach and showcase the powerful editor that Pixelmator has become.
The Colorful Bokeh Effect tutorial was the one that caught my interest. I like these types of images and saw it as a great opportunity to learn how to create one. So I downloaded a copy of Pixelmator again since the last copy I downloaded was …read more

I stumbled upon this simple yet great sketching or scribbling tool. I was following a link to a software for twittering when I saw Scribbles in the same web site. Ironically, Tweetie, the software I was itching to try was yet to be launched. I ended up downloading and trying out Scribbles.
Scribbles won’t be challenging software like Sketchbook Pro but for amateur sketchers or doodlers, it’s ok. The interface is simple and intuitive. There’s not much clutter to distract you. There’s good eye candy when you play with the various tools. Some great features include an infinite canvass, 3D interface …read more

BBEdit was one of the first HTML/Text Editors I used when I switched to the Mac platform. I used it for a short time before making the switch to TextMate. The main deal breaker for me was the price. Currently BBEdit is priced at $125. Its price is slightly more than what I’d normally pay for a Mac app, except for Adobe apps. For a text editor it is quite expensive.
BBEdit now is on version 9 and along with it come new features and improvements from previous versions. Improvments such as Projects, a way of organizing files related to each …read more

MacHeist is a great way to get Mac apps on the cheap. Bundles such as MacHeist give good value for money. In this particular bundle, what interests me the most is Kinemac, a 3D animation software valued at $299 and Espresso, a new web editor. Espresso will be unlocked if the MacHeist targets are met.
Another great thing about MacHeist is that they’re giving 25% of each bundle purchase to charity. You’re getting a good deal and you’re helping people as well. How great is that?
So if you want to save money as well as try a bunch of great apps …read more