iOnMac Podcast

News/Topics:

• iPhone Software 1.1.1 – Breaks third-party apps and kill the SIM-unlock. Thoughts from the iPhone users?
• iPhone “SDK” to receive update but remain web-based
• Zune 2 – Improvements? What can Apple learn? How much of a threat is it? Free software update to old Zune players that give it every new Zune 2 feature. Is Apple paying attention here?
• Wireless Syncing with touch/iPhone? Other possibilities…
• OSX Leopard: Possible release date, Friday October 26th.
• Bungie to depart from Microsoft – possibilities of Mac games?

Kum:

SMARTReporter is a diagnostic tool that checks the hard-drive of one’s Mac and tells them it’s SMART status. SMART is a self-diagnostic technology that’s used in pretty much every hard-drive made today. Mac OS X only provides SMART status reports from within Disk Utility, but with SMARTReporter, one can always see the status of their hard-drive from the menubar. If the icon is green, that means the drive’s fine. If it’s red, then it’s bad and you should back up your stuff and replace the drive. If it’s grey, then it doesn’t have the SMART status.

Lasha:
Paparazzi! is a webpage screenshot tool that can come in handy when you least expect. This tiny app (under 2mb) loads websites within its own window and makes screenshots of the entire webpage from top to bottom. This saves having to take multiple screens using the built in tools in OSX. Just type/paste in the URL in the app, let it load the page, and click the “save image” button where you’ll get a menu to select a location, and which image type you want it to export to. Very nice application for those who need to save certain pages without saving the websites themselves – such as web designers, etc.

Rick:
Synergy is a tiny Cocoa application for Mac OS X 10.2 (and later) that puts three buttons to control iTunes in your menubar: previous track, next track, and play/pause; as well as providing you with visual feedback about the currently playing tune. Synergy can even automatically download and display the cover of the currently playing album. The Synergy controls, together with the ability to control iTunes via system-wide hot Key combinations, mean that Synergy provides the fastest way of skipping between songs when using the keyboard or the mouse.

Chris:
Quicksilver Is an all in one software program that allows launching and more with a simple quick keystroke. A must have for finding, launching, and doing just about anything on your Mac.

Paul:
Graphic Converter.”More than 1.5 million users worldwide swear by GraphicConverter – from amateur photographers to professional designers. The press has dubbed the program the equivalent of the “Swiss penknife” describing it as a “universal genius for photo editing on the Mac”. GraphicConverter offers you everything you need and would expect for an all-round editing software for your Mac with ease of use, an excellent range of functions, stability and reliability.”

It shares attributes of both iPhoto and Photoshop and falls squarely between the two in terms of capability. The user interface is fairly simple but can be configured for more advanced use. GC can take almost any format of photo and convert it to almost any other format. It can also play most video formats that the Mac handle as well. Definitely a must have for the Mac user who is looking for something more advanced than iPhoto but isn’t looking to learn or spend the money on Photoshop. For $34.95 this app is a great deal.