One to watch: Gruml
When it comes to free newsreaders for the Mac, there are really only two that matter: the ad-supported NetNewsWire and Vienna. But these days it’s becoming common for people to access the news from several devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, laptop, computer at home, computer at work — and on it goes.
That’s why the ability to sync with Google Reader gives NetNewsWire a distinct advantage. Vienna is a great app that equals NetNewsWire in many ways, but its inability to sync between devices is a serious shortcoming.
One solution would be to use one of half-a-dozen Safari extensions available to enhance Google Reader, and be done with the desktop. I can’t quite bring myself to go this route — it just seems awkward — so I was pleased to find that development of Gruml continues apace.
This Google Reader for the Mac has been in beta for at least a year, and as such has been free for some time. The interface is similar to what you’re likely used to in NetNewsWire or Vienna. Feeds are listed on a sidebar to the left, headlines are in a top panel to the right, and articles are shown below right. (In fact, some of the widgets used in Gruml are identical to those used in Vienna.)
While still rough around the edges, Gruml makes a valiant attempt to outdo its competitors. In addition to starring or flagging an item, you can also “like” it, although the difference may be too nuanced for some users. Much more interesting is the ability to tweet an article. Just click the tweet button and you can post to Twitter with a headline that can be edited.
You can also send articles to a host of other social sites ranging from Buzz to Tumblr, or dash it off in an email. In my testing, all of these services appeared to work fine. You can also post to your blog with helper apps such as MarsEdit.
NetNewsWire offers some of these abilities, but the lack of a Twitter function is a glaring omission if you consider its popularity.
Documentation for Gruml is skimpy at this point, so it’s not clear how some features work. For example, I’m not sure what to make of sections for “People you follow” and “Recommended items.”
Gruml holds much promise, and I look forward to the day when all the bugs are worked out. Meanwhile, it’s quite usable as-is if you’re attracted to the extra features and you’re willing to overlook its flaws. Also, and this is a big one for some people, there are no ads.
Posted Tuesday, August 31, 2010 in Reviews
expod
Copy songs or videos off your iPod, using the file naming convention of your choice. Files copied to your hard-drive are left untouched — DRM is not removed from songs bought on iTunes. (A successor to expod is in the works, with beta testers requested.)
Added to the iPod section
Download site
Posted Saturday, August 28, 2010
One to watch: Babble
With all the Twitter clients out there, it’s hard to find one that stands out from the crowd — even if you narrow it down to freeware. So it was nice to come across Babble, a program that combines feeds from both Twitter and Facebook.
The interface is similar to what you’re likely used to in apps such as Tweetie. The big difference is that there is a separate tab for Facebook. In our tests, we found that Twitter worked as expected with all the usual features. What’s nice is that if you double-click your way into another timeline, it shows up as a new tab.
The stumbling block was the Facebook tab. We were able to gain access to the thriftmac account without any trouble, but nothing showed up in the timeline. Babble is still in beta, so bugs are expected. On the other hand, Facebook doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation, so it could be a problem at their end.
Babble is at version 0.9.60, and if it remains free would be a great alternative to apps such as Socialite that combine social networks in one place.
Posted Thursday, August 26, 2010 in Reviews
Play Angry Birds (sorta) on your Mac
Angry Birds has been a phenomenon on the iPad almost from Day 1. The birds are angry because some pigs stole their eggs. They go after their enemy by slingshotting through the air and destroying the pigs’ defences.
But what if you don’t have an iPad? Or maybe you have one, but you’d like to play it on your Mac. We don’t normally link to Flash games, because there are so many of them we could never keep up. But in this case, we’d like to draw your attention to Crush the Castle — a game available for the iPhone, but with a free Flash version you can play on your Mac.
It’s not as cute and fanciful as Angry Birds, but the basic principal is the same. You click to gather one of eight projectiles in a trebuchet (similar to a catapult), then click again to release it in the correct trajectory to destroy the defences of a king and his soldiers.
It looks like Crush the Castle has been around for awhile, but I haven’t been to learn much about its history. If you can fill us in, please leave a comment. Also, I’m surprised there isn’t a native Mac version of the game — it seems like a hole a developer could easily fill and make a few bucks.
Posted Wednesday, August 25, 2010 in Playtime
PySolFC
Play more than 1,000 solitaire games in categories that include popular, French, mahjongg, oriental, matrix, poker and puzzle. Yes, Klondike is available — but even it has dozens of variations. PySolFC (FC as in fan club) is a fork of PySol Solitaire, which no longer works with the latest versions of Mac OS.
Added to the Games section
Download site
Posted Tuesday, August 24, 2010
A few good Safari extensions
One of the big attractions for Firefox is the huge number of add-ons available to extend its functionality. It’s impressive, yes, but not enough to take me away from Safari. Still, the recent addition of extensions for Safari is intriguing. Here are seven I like, and one I wish I could like.
JavaScript Blacklist: This one is essential, as far as I’m concerned. There are few things I hate more than hovering over a link only to have an ad pop up. Owners of websites that allow this must have contempt for their readers. The blacklist nips out annoyances such as this from tynt.com, intellitxt.com and snap.com. Plus, you can add others.
Daring Fireball With Comments: This one was fun while it lasted. It transformed Daring Fireball into a blog where you could leave comments — this on a site where author John Gruber is famously opposed to them. When last I checked, though, the comments were not working so I presume Gruber has found a way of blocking them. I can’t blame him. If you’re going to have comments on your site, you should at least have a way of controlling the spam and offensive remarks. Update: My mistake. This extension does work.
Shut Up: Many is the time I have read a well-thought-out opinion piece only to have it ruined by an ignorant comment that followed it. And what follows gets worse because other people respond in kind. Meanwhile, people with something intelligent to say are turned off and head elsewhere. This extension puts a button in the toolbar that lets you toggle comments on and off. I’ve been defaulting to off, so that I’m not even tempted to read what people have to say about, for example, immigration.
Translate: This one is just darned handy. If you’re at a site where the language is other than English, you can press a button in the toolbar to have Google translate it. Just one problem: the button is butt ugly.
Google Search Cleanup: Judging by the number of extensions that purport to clean up Google services, the message should eventually get through to them: Hire some designers, for god’s sake! This extension is one of the more subtle of the bunch, simply taking away the clutter.
Google Reader Snow Leopard: Apps such at NetNewsWire on the Mac or Reeder on the iPad are essentially front ends for Google Reader with added features. One of the things these programs do is show how pleasant it can be to read RSS feeds — if it’s done right. This extension goes straight to the source with a valiant effort to make Google Reader itself presentable.
The New York Times: The novelty might soon wear off, but for a news junkie like me it’s very cool indeed to have the latest headlines tastefully displayed in a bar at the top of the browser. Hovering over a headline gives you a tooltip with details so you can decide whether you want to commit to clicking on it.
MeasureIt: I currently use an old Mac program called Free Ruler to measure things on-screen, so I definitely wanted to give this extension a try. Here is what it is supposed to do: “Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.” Well, I got the button in the toolbar, but precious little else. I’ve clicked and clicked to no available. I tried installing it in Firefox to see how that would go and didn’t even get the button. Dang — I really wanted to like this.
Posted Friday, August 13, 2010 in Web-browsers
Wyzo
Media browser promises 10-times faster downloads, BitTorrent integration and compatibility with Firefox add-ons. Plus, it features a media start page with search engines for YouTube, hulu, joost and more.
Added to the Internet section
Download site
Posted Thursday, August 12, 2010
Calibre
Manage e-book libraries, convert e-books in a huge number of formats, sync to readers (including iPad), view e-books with support for many features, and use a content server for online access to your book collection using a browser from any computer.
Added to the Etcetera section
Download site
Posted Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Cruz
Split-pane web browser has Twitter built in. View your Twitter timeline and mentions while checking out websites. You can open links from the timeline in new tabs or browse multiple pages in split views.
Added to the Internet section
Download site
Posted Friday, August 6, 2010
Introducing Elmedia Player — and a giveaway
SWF & FLV Player for Mac was already a good option for playing Flash movies, but Eltima Software has cranked it up a notch and transformed it into Elmedia Player.
The free version has a slick all-in-one interface that supports the playback of Flash and other video formats such as Real video, Silverlight, AVI, MOV, MP4 and WMV. It really is nice to have all this functionality in a player that looks right at home on a Mac. You can also keep your videos organized in an iTunes-style library.
The handiest thing about Elmedia Player is the ability to use it for downloading movies. Just browse to the site you want to download from. This feature is only available in the pro version, which would normally set you back $19.95. But once again Eltima insists on giving stuff away.
Leave a comment below describing what you like about Elmedia Player — or a suggestion on how it could be improved — and we’ll send you a pro licence. Just be sure to fill in your email address so we can get hold of you. It will be kept private.
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who took part in the giveaway. We’ll pick the best comments and send out licences. Comments are now closed.
Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 in Reviews
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