Jade Ohlhauser has an in depth comparison of the two new Subversion clients for the Macintosh, Cornerstone and Versions.
The winner?
Despite the content viewer, great history browser, and mostly superior UI of Cornerstone, I'm going to go with Version's better management of working copies and repositories. It's a tough call, and I could live with either one.
Plex, a Mac port of XBMC, makes the Mac Mini a compelling HTPC. The compact footprint of the Mini, combined with its near silent operation and bundled remote are extremely hard to beat. I have never been 100% sold on the Apple TV, and with the existence of Plex/XBMC for the Mac, remain unconvinced.
I'm one of those process geeks who is a wee bit particular in terms of how I like to organize my to-do items. I've never liked the Tasks features in Outlook or any other app, for that matter
Enter Things for the Mac. It is currently available as a free preview (full release should be in Spring '08), and it is one beautiful piece of software. It is simple, elegant and highly functional. I'm not quite sure that I could write up a description that does the product justice - all I can do is suggest that you download the preview and watch the screencast available on Cultured Code's web site. If you sign up for the newsletter before the release, you can get a small discount on the software.
While I think highly of the preview version, I'd like to see additional support for Windows, Windows Mobile and iPhone. There are a lot of us who work in Windows during the day but use Mac at home, and to be able to sync between the platforms would be an incredibly valuable feature.
Evernote is perhaps my favorite "free" application on Windows. Technically, it's not free, but if you don't use its advanced functionality like digital ink and syncing, you're not on the hook for the modest fee that they charge. It's a business model that more software companies should adopt.
If you've never heard of Evernote, it is at its essence, software for taking notes. If you find yourself using Notepad taking random notes all of the time and are sick of figuring out what note has what filename, Evernote could be for you. It uses a categorization system not unlike tagging, which simplifies its use greatly. The paper metaphor used by Evernote is a roll of paper with no end. In my day-to-day use of Evernote, I use to journal my week's work, store cheat sheets (e.g., ASCII code list) and code snippets. It's very useful with its free-as-in-beer function set. Paying a small fee will get you ink recognition and a few other useful and advanced features.
Evernote also includes browser plugins that allow you make clippings of web site content - handy when you've gone through 20 pages of Google results to find that obscure piece of SQL code that will let you render several rows of data into a single row. An additional bonus with the software is that it comes with a free universal clipper, which you can use to do very quick screen grabs. While it sounds trivial, remember that SnagIt (Windows) and Snapz (Mac) are not free.
Well, there is a new generation of Evernote on its way. The biggest change is that there will now be support for multiple platforms, including Mac (finally!), Windows Mobile (finally!) and the web. This is awesome for those multi-device peeps out there (like me) who need to sync notes across platforms.
With all the goodwill they've earned, I'll definitely be becoming a paid customer to take advantage of their advanced features.
The Leopard Evernote client looks slick. Reminds me a lot of Yep, which am using in earnest to eliminate paper clutter and filing in my home office. Even the Windows client seems to have improved significantly - they've finally lost that fugly WinAmp wannabe blue skin.
This is a piece of software that every productivity geek should be looking out for.
Mac users don't really have a lot of options in terms of serving DivX media to their PS3s... at least not like on Windows. Windows has the awesome and free TVersity application, which can send all sorts of movies to your PS3 using DLNA.
So far, it seems that there aren't many apps that do a good job of transcoding. Yeah, there are players out there like Twonky and EyeConnect, but I haven't really seen anything that follows the "it just works" mantra of Mac software.
A little shop in Burlington, Ontario named NullRiver has its own solution called MediaLink that is a fairly easy-to-use prefpane for a low price of 20 bucks. Granted, it's still a little flaky, but it's really easy to use and cheap.
If they can improve the stability of the app, and add broader codec support (MKV anyone?), I tend to think that NullRiver will have a killer app for those Mac users who also have a PS3.
