NanoBundle 2: Tracks Review

Tracks was the first app that i downloaded from MacHeist's NanoBundle 2. It's not an extravagant app but the fact that I could play music from my iTunes library on my menubar really intrigued me. The menubar never disappears so your music is always in reach.

There aren't many features to the app. It just sits there in your menubar and when you click on it you type in the name of the song you want to hear. That's all there really is to it. Like Geico says: "It's so easy a caveman can do it!"

Granted you can't play any of your playlists from the application but this is the first app of it's kind and the execution of the idea was superb. That is the reason I'm giving it:

★★★★

4 out of 5 stars

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MacHeist's nanoBundle Review

This was the first year that I participated in MacHeist's annual discounted or free bundle of Mac software and I am so happy that I did. All of the applications were great and they fed every side of my life.

As a Twitterer TinyGrab was a must have. It worked in the background and after taking screenshots or dragging pictures onto the app that appears in the dock it will give the picture a URL and will immediately allow me to paste it anywhere. It's definitely a time saver now that I don't have to manually upload my picture on a site everytime that I want it on Twitter.

WriteRoom is a word processor that displays what you are typing full screen to give you, well, room to write. As a student it caught my attention. When it comes to school work I spend a lot of time on my laptop, not because the work is hard but because I get distracted and do other things. This app definitely solved that problem. It covers everything else up but is easy to get out of, unlike Pages' full screen mode. Best of all it's customizable so I could be happy with what I am staring at.

As a Blogger I am always looking for new information for my blog but I can't always apply it right away so I have to store those URL's, sentences, paragraphs and pictures somewhere; bookmarks are a hassle to keep up with and honestly while running Safari they are tedious to get to. That's where Shovebox comes in handy. It's a nifty little app that hides in your menubar. You just drag whatever you want onto it and will save it automatically, you don't have to press any special keys. You can then rename the "notes" and put them into different folders with just a few clicks.

As a Mac user I don't get to play many games because most are made for Windows computers so when I saw Hordes of Orcs in the bundle I got really excited... and the excitement didn't leave after I played...it intensified. Although it's a simple game of keep-away, I felt like those were really my people behind the gates on the other side of the field. I was so into the game that I couldn't even hear what my mom and brother were telling me, I just had to protect those people. It's definitely an amazing, addictive game.

As for Twitterrific and Mariner Write, they are both superb apps that are user friendly and helpful but I already use Tweetie and Pages in their place. Twitterific and Mariner Write don't offer anything new so I rather just stick to what I use already.

All in all, the bundle was amazing, it had apps that packed a punch and were extremely easy to get used to and they weren't just the "use them once and toss them apps". I would have liked to see more of a diversity in apps instead of 2 writing processors but for free I really can't complain which is why I'm giving it:

★★★★

4 out of 5 stars

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2 Billion Downloads Celebration!!

Today Apple has achieved yet another amazing feat. Their App Store- the world's largest and most revolutionary- has just reached 2 billion downloads in less than a year.

I thought that this achievement was so amazing that I should celebrate with you, my readers, and giveaway the latest edition of Mac|Life's very own iPhone Handbook that not only includes hands-on how-tos but also reviews of 44 APPS, external battery packs, speakers, cases, headphones and more.

So, if you have an iPhone or are just interested in getting a brand new iPhone magazine here's how to join:

MANDATORY ENTRY- You must do this before you recieve any extra entries:

Subscribe via e-mail or feed. Subscription options can be found on the right-hand side. If you’re already a subscriber, let me know! If you subscribe by e-mail, you must validate your e-mail address. You can do so via the e-mail sent by Feedburner. If you do not validate your e-mail address the entry will be disqualified.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Leave a comment on any other blog post.

2. Follow me on Twitter (@TeenOnDaRise) and tweet about the giveaway. Your tweet must include my name, @TeenOnDaRise and RT. One tweet a day until the giveaway ends, so tweet it up!

3. Fave me on Technorati or Digg for 2 extra entries (you must leave 2 separate comments with your username if you enter this way).

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GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 5, 2009 11:59 P.M. EST

Open to US and Canada residents only

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I will be using Random.org to choose the winner so in order to qualify for the giveaway you must leave a separate comment for each entry that is completed. You will not be counted otherwise.

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Back To School: Top 5 Best Apps

School is just around the corner, if not already started for some people, so I thought that it would be appropriate to have the top 5 best Mac apps for school that don't already come pre-installed with your mac. My list doesn't have an order, so you can ignore the numbers.

1. Task List is essential for those that take their laptops to school but is still great for those that don't. It allows you to track your assignments, grades (and converts them into your GPA), notes, and goals. The newest version 5.2 allows you to keep everything handy on your dashboard with a widget, can be locked with a password, has graphs, statistics, 5 levels of priority for each assignment and a school overview for at-a-glance information.

2. Quicksilver is a program for all of those people that don't like taking their hands off of their keyboards. You can launch and do almost anything with this app with just a few keystrokes.

3. Google doc isn't an app but should be made into one. This website is for all of the people that don't want to dish out money for a word processing suite. This site allows you to type up anything you want, and save it as almost any type of file. You just need to make a Google account.

4. iClip is an amazing app that automatically records everything (that includes pictures, regular text, and even apps) that you copy and/or cut into it's little 'hub'. It's great for people like me who are always losing their much needed notes because there is no such thing as 'Copy 2' or 'Paste 2'.

5. Desktop Curtain does exactly what it's named. It makes a curtain fall over everything on your desktop to give you privacy, whether it be while presenting a Keynote presentation in front of your teachers or just to hide whatever clutter you usually have on it. You could also format the app to cover just certain apps and leave others unhidden.

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