Guess Post by James:

While browsing through the sometimes tedious list of application that is “Installer” on my Ipod touch, I came across the classic game of Labyrinth. For those of you who don’t know, Labyrinth is an ancient game that consists of a small metal ball surrounded by holes which you have to avoid. The game is played by tilting the puzzle, or ipod touch in this game, to avoid the holes but still aiming to get to the finish, which is another hole which you are meant to make the ball fall into. Back to the point, after downloading this game on my Jail-broken ipod touch, I realized that it was only a demo version, and me being the “PWDLD” (person who doesn’t like demos) I hastily emailed the almighty creator of the game, Carl Loodberg. The Demo who comes with a small level pack of 15 or so levels, but when you buy the full version for all of 7 bucks, you get tens of level packs which adds up to hundreds of levels. The handy thing is that you can even create your own levels using a windows program,(shame on you) or a macintosh program. All in all, this is a really great game that provides hours of entertainment, and I strongly recommend spending the low $7 fee and buying the full version.

Link: http://labyrinth.codify.se
Creator: Carl Loodberg
Image: Kong Technology

This tip is specially useful for users that have big monitors. Sometimes, when working with Apple apps, one needs to change some common document properties. That’s the time to call the already well-known Inspector. But what if you are modifying some table properties and, having not finished that yet, you feel the need to change some text properties? “That’s easy”, some would say. “Just click the text button (the big T on the top), change whatever needs to be changed and go back to editing those table properties.” Right, that will do. But if you have a big monitor with enough screen spare space, wouldn’t an extra Inspector be even more useful then going back and forward like that? All you have to do is, instead of clicking the big T, option-clicking it. That’s right! Just hold the option button while clicking any panel, not only the text one, and see magic happen. How do you like that, uh?

Henry here! After a looong while away, I’m back to the blog. And I return with a new series of posts called “It’s A Tip”. Every Sunday I will give a tip of usability for our beloved Macs. These tips will mostly make reference to the OS or the basic Apple software (iLife and iWork). That way, almost anybody will be able to take advantage of them.

Well, welcome back for me then! Heheh. The first tip will be here in a few moments, stay tuned.

Rating: 7.5/10

This program is a tiny little App, that deserves a review purely because of it’s simplicity and ease of use.

Open up Heirarchy and all you’ll see is a small vertical rectangle on the left of your screen, with a few folders inside of it. Now, try something for me. Click on one of those folders. That’s what I love about it. Stacks, although similar to this, can be slower and for some reason, far less appealing than Hierarchy.

Another great feature is that you can decide whether the Hierarchy window stays above all windows or just acts as a normal window. One feature I would have liked to see though is the option to have it open automatically when the computer loads. Going into System Preferences and setting it there would take like, 50 seconds or something. I don’t have 50 seconds to throw away like that.

Back on topic now, I’d like to sum up by saying that Hierarchy is some really great, basic software, that can be a really helpful window to have open at crucial times, and best of all it’s free.

The program’s made by Charles O’Rourke and you can get it here.

Rating: 9.0/10

If you know me, I love free software like this. I really do enjoy the feeling of downloading a new program, making great use of it, and then letting people know about my experience. This is the case here.

Carbon Copy Cloner

, which I originally read about in Mac | Life, is a fantastic application for backing up, or in better words, making an exact clone of your computer, and it does that perfectly. The very straight-forward interface, and speedy process, is what makes this program such a delight to use.

Simply open it up, select your Source Disk (normally Macintosh HD), and then your Target Disk (your external hard drive), and click Clone! Easy-peasy-japaneseea (don’t mind me and my useless phrases).

Then the process normally takes about 2-4 hours (depending on how much is being backed up). But another great feature about it, is that you can also make a schedule for backing up, and select certain files from the source disk.

Simply put, this program is very powerful, helpful, and remarkably simple to use. 5 stars all the way, along with a definite 9/10 all the way.

If you’re bored of using the ancient Command + Shift + F3/F4 option for taking screenshots, then I seriously recommend checking out Skitch. Currently it’s in BETA and invite/waiting list only, but it should be coming out soon, hopefully costing nothing.

Thanks to Adriel though, I now have a copy to play around with. I love it. The simple and easy to use interface, which has a child-like feel to it, makes taking screenshots, adding some shapes, text, arrows, colour, lines, etc. (you get the point), child’s play.
Basically this is how it works:

Above is the layout. Click Snap and you can take the screenshot. Then the image will appear in the white area above. Now you have the option of editing the screenshot, maybe adding a title or two, along with a colorful arrow… (more to go, keep reading)

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Seashore is an open source image editor for Cocoa.

This program, with it’s easy to use interface makes its simple to edit images. The program is based around GIMP’s technology using the same native file format.
“Seashore features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes” according to Seashore’s website. The App also support multi-layer editing and alpha channel editing.

The difference between programs like GIMP, and Seashore, is that the later aims to make image editing simple, and basic enough for everyday users to edit images.

The best thing about this program: It’s Free.

Rating: 8/10

I recently purchased a MacBook, and I’ve really been enjoying it (thanks for asking), so I’ve been reading up as much as I can on the features that are for Apple laptops only. For example, the motion sensor that I talked about in my review of Liquid Mac is fantastic, and very fun. This is a feature unique to Apple laptops, and there are other qualities of the MacBook [Pro], both good and bad.

The battery for Apple laptops is normally looked upon badly (with hundreds lighting on fire, and the mass recall, I’m not surprised), but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with.

coconutBattery, an App available at http://www.coconut-flavour.com/, will help that dream you’ve had since your childhood, of checking the current battery charge to the closest mAh possible.

As well as it being capable of showing your exact Battery Charge in mAh, it goes that extra mile and tells you the Current Battery Capacity (yes, in mAh too if you were wondering). This is a handy feature for figuring out when you will need to purchase a new battery.

As I write this post on a flight in Australia (as you can see, I am very dedicated to itsALLmac.com :-)), I am actually able to slowly watch the Current Battery Charge of my MacBook fall 10 mAh, after 10 mAh, after 10 mAh. One word can possibly describe this feeling inside of me: Awesome.

Have you used this program before? Be sure to comment and let us know your thoughts on it.

Rating: 8.5/10

Liquid Mac is a fun and interesting App for Mac users. The simple, but yet comprehensive interface, gives users complete control over the program’s result. But wait? What is the result, and what exactly is the user doing with Liquid Mac? Well let me open your eyes.

Oriol Ferrer Mesia is a young coder in Spain, that has developed quite a few Apps for Mac Users, and doesn’t ask for a cent. These programs are great fun though! You may have heard of Fields, Fish, netPong, but the one that I really couldn’t keep my hands of is Liquid Mac.

You know that Motion Sensor someone told you your MacBook[Pro] had, a little while ago? Well, it’s actually useful for something (besides dropping your Mac!). Liquid Mac will mimic the behavior of liquid by creating a particle system that reacts to the computer’s orientation. For example, you tilt your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or PowerBook (new ones only!) to the right, then the liquid displayed inside the window, will tilt with it. Now you tilt your Mac to the left, and BAM! The liquid’s tilting to the left. Isn’t it a marvelous world we live in.

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Rating: 9.5/10

This article is by Bryce Adams:

The almighty LOGO. It has always been seen as the face of a business or organization, the heart and sole. So, if it is going to be the ‘heart and soul’ of something, shouldn’t it look good, really really good. Yes, I agree.
But not all of us have the skills of Photoshop and Illustrator to put together something amazing and professional, and the guys down at Laughingbird Software, the creators of a fantastic application, The Logo Creator, know that.

There are 7 different versions of the program:

-Corporate Logos
-Business Mascot Logos
-Sports Logo Edition
-Real Estate Logo Edition
-Entertainment Logos
-Travel And Leisure Logo set
-The Spiritual Logo Collection

But today I will be reviewing The MEGA PAK logo set, which includes all 7 versions in one big download.

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