Today’s deal—Learn to Create Successful iPhone Apps Freebie: Design Quality Apps with this Free E-course—pairs extremely well with yesterday’s deal—Now Is Your Chance To Learn Xcode To Make iOS Apps—since while you’re learning Xcode to make your app, it’s probably a great idea to make sure it looks good too.

Honestly, it wasn’t until I watched the video for this freebie did I “get” what it’s all about.

The premise is that often great apps (let’s define “great” for the moment as great idea, solves a problem, or is just generally cool) are held back by poor UI. I’ve seen them, you’ve seen them, heck we probably still use some of these bad apps (my Weight Watchers app tops my list in this category), but we really wish the apps would just get…better.

Often they don’t.

This freebie aims to fix this problem by showing the tricks of the trade—with the files to play with—to make an app that looks as great as it works.

Really, do I need to say anything else?

Thought not.

I don’t usually start off these posts with the money aspect, but in this case I think it’s essential that I do. This course is usually $497 and the deal we have here is $79. Okay? Big savings. Now the best part, this course from Udemy is a soup to nuts course on how to build iOS apps in Xcode—The Ultimate Xcode For iOS Apps Course: Build & Launch iOS Apps With The Most Comprehensive Xcode Course for Beginners.

So if you have an idea for an app, but absolutely zero coding experience…this is the course you need.

You get 155 lectures, 7 hours of content, all with a lifetime license (so when you need a reminder a year down the line, you can hop back to that course module and refresh your memory). Which, IMHO, is probably one of the most important things about learning something like Xcode or app development—being able to go back an review/refresh the steps when you run into trouble.

Reviews:

“I have always wanted to learn Xcode. I wish apple would make it easier to use. Instead, Xcode is this convoluted and difficult to use. After taking this course I know more about Xcode. This course will not make you amazing at Xcode but it will help you design apps. Im not sure if any beginner course can fully teach you how to use Xcode. The teach knows this and it looks like he has a great idea on how to softly wade people into using Xcode. I enjoyed this course and learning how to use Xcode.” – Lance S.

“I went into this course without knowing anything about Xcode or app building. But this course showed me how to design apps. It sure sounds easier than it looks. Thanks to this course I can now use Xcode.” – Katie M.

“So many tech courses out there focus only on the technical. This course was delightful to take because it balanced technical skills with design. I wish there were more courses like this out there. The structure of this course is set up really well because you learn some technical skills and then he talks about why you should be designing the interface a certain way. I recommend this course to anybody who wants to learn Xcode and design at the same time!” – Sandra O.

Even if you just want to make an app for yourself. Not to sell, just to do it for your own enjoyment, this is a great way to start. Of course, I figure that if you do make a great app, you’ll probably want to offer it for sale.

But that’s a story for another time.

If you want to learn how to make an iOS app and have no idea how or where to start…this is the deal, this is the place, this is the time.

If you have a previous generation iPod nano (the touchscreen one), you’ve probably seen the straps and kits to make it a watch (you know I never did see one that made a nano look like a pocket watch). Since I had the chance while working for an Apple retailer to see lots of samples of these straps and kits, I can tell you something with authority—most of them were junk.

Most of the samples I saw looked awful on your wrist or looked cheap or…just bad. The ones that looked best were the ones that employed more “watch-like” features like…screws, links, real bands. This is what I like about the Lynk Watch Kit, it looks like a watch band—The Lynk Watch Kit By LUNATIK (Black): Get an Ultra-Lightweight, Stylish & Comfortable Watch Piece That Will Fit Any Occasion.

So the watch kits for nanos I saw that looked the best, also cost the most (makes sense). They use metal, real clasps, and screws to hold things together. Yeah I know I’ve mentioned those features already, but I don’t think you can ignore those features. I’m pretty hard on watches—many people are too—so having a strap that’s cheap or your nano (which isn’t cheap) held in with just pieces of plastic doesn’t seem like a great idea to me.

Now, you might be wondering about the whole “hey Apple changed the nano away from this style…” thing. Sure, but there are lots of people who already have touchscreen nanos and this might be the right time to pick up a watch kit while the getting is good (or they become hard to find).

This deal is for a watch kit at 50% off ($70 instead of $140)—sorry nano not included—that really looks cool. Your nano is securely bolted into the whole contraption so no worry that your nano will pop out if you bump it. Essentially you get a great looking way to have your nano on hand (hee hee) all the time.

Now if there were only a pocket watch version…

One clipboard rots. That’s all there is to it. You copy one thing, then another, and…you always need the first thing you copied again. Myself, I’ve been using the clipboard manager tool in Alfred (with the PowerPack add-on), but it’s pretty basic. So I’ve picked up ClipBuddy today because it’s free right now—Free Clipboard Manager For Macs: Automatically Organize All of Your Copied Text With an Intuitive Copy & Paste Utility.

I haven’t played much with how the app works yet, but it looks like it has everything you need to store and manage stuff you copy from apps. Unlike Alfred, when I hit the hotkey, I’m not presented with a pick list of what I’d like to paste, but rather you keep the window open (off to the side) or use the menu to choose which clip to paste at a given time.

Slightly different workflow, but I think I can get used to it. There are some cool features like being able to group pieces of text together to paste in sequence and other power tools. From my first look, ClipBuddy is kinda like a clipboard manager with a few of the features of TextExpander built in.

My advice: if you haven’t started using a clipboard manager…now is the time. You’ll be amazed at how many times a day you use it (a lot), if you are using a basic or outdated clipboard manager, now’s the time to upgrade.

That’s what I just did.

I get a boat-load of email everyday. Every morning I have pretty much the same routine, skim through my inbox to try to find the important stuff, skip the cruft, and prioritize. After that skim, I need to delete most (if not all) of the cruft. Annoying, time consuming, and worst of all sometimes I miss important emails buried in the cruft. Now, I’m also very skeptical about services that interact (or intervene) with my email. I don’t want to lose or miss something important. I also don’t want spam, bacon, or cruft in my inbox either.

Enter SaneBox—Spend Less Time In Your Inbox With SaneBox (1-Year): Keep Your Inbox Clutter-Free & Your Mind Sane With a 1-Year Subscription—which after watching the intro video (below) I figured I’d give it a shot. Why not, I can try it for a couple weeks for free before I even have to enter my credit card. Yeah, well I’ve pushed a few email accounts through it this morning and…wow.

I pushed three Gmail-based accounts through the SaneBox process this morning. My true Gmail account has over 100,000 messages in it (yikes!) and there are a few thousand in each of my Gmail for domains accounts. The smaller accounts took about 15–20 minutes to be ready and my main Gmail about an hour (which I think is pretty amazing actually). Once the accounts were ready I checked out the results.

My inbox magically went from about 60–70 unread messages to 5. Yeah 5. All the things like Facebook notifications, newsletters, updates, etc where just gone. Well not really “gone” they were just in new folders like @SaneLater, @SaneNews, and @SaneBulk which I could check at my leisure.

Yeah I’m impressed.

If I can save time every morning, heck all day long, just trying to pick out the wheat from the chaff, the cost is worth it. I haven’t paid for the service yet, I’m still going to see how it goes for a week. You do need to “train” SaneBox to make sure important stuff and not so important stuff goes in the right places. Given that “training” is just moving emails to different folders and SaneBox takes care of the rest, it should be pretty easy.

Try it out. Go and set up your account for free, try it, and then pay. It works for my pretty heavy email load…I bet it will work for you too.

I write about courses and education a lot here. Video training courses are pretty popular items to offer. We all know that we need to hone our current skills and pick up new ones in today’s knowledge economy. This course bundle—I just read through the course offerings again—is like going to design school for $100.

Seriously. It’s all there. Sure you might be more interested in making WP themes with Dreamweaver and creating logos (first 1000 buyers only get that bonus!) or maybe InDesign and Illustrator, but the point is that you can now pick up the skills you need in the core apps that creative folks use all the time—Learn To Design Bundle.

Here’s what’s included in this “design school in a box” from Udemy:

• Create Engaging Websites With Twitter Bootstrap
• Create Responsive Web Design
• Design Custom WordPress Themes With Dreamweaver
• Learn Audition CS6 The Easy Way
• Learn To Master Encore CS6
• InDesign CS6 MasterClass
• The Premiere Pro CS6 Bootcamp Course
• Illustrator CS6 Beginner Course
• Photoshop CS6 Crash Course
• Design A Logo From Scratch (first 1000 buyers only!)

Close to a hundred hours of video courses that don’t expire, yeah you spend $100 now (remember it’s worth close to $2000) and even if you don’t need to learn Premiere or Encore or Audition now, you can learn them later when you do!

Sometimes we’re all pushed out of our comfort zone. Sometimes you need or want to make a job change and know that a lot of the jobs you want an understanding of an app you kinda know, but not really…here’s a chance to learn the core Adobe apps as well as the latest web design techniques.

All the courses are online (have internet will travel!) with step-by-step lessons that you can work through at your own pace.

Probably the only thing stopping you are copies of the Adobe apps to use…can’t help you there…but at least we can save you coin on learning them.

We have another pair of BodyGuardz earbuds for you check out today—Premium Lyrics Earbuds From BodyGuardz (Black): The Precision-Crafted Surfaces Will Make You Forget They Are Even in Your Ears—I mean it's not like there is any other news or anything, right?

These earbuds are supposed to be so light and comfortable that you will either a) forget you have them on (I've done that, which is why my MacBook Pro headphone jack is skewed) or b) just want to wear them all the time. Now I can believe “a”, but “b” might just look strange. Regardless…

You know what impresses me about these BodyGuardz earbuds (all of them, not just this particular pair)? The number of tips they include with each pair. And not just one kind of tip, but a few different styles too. Getting a good fit is important if you want your earbuds to be comfortable and deliver great sound too.

For a long time I didn't appreciate cloth-covered cords until I finally got a pair of earbuds that have them. Yeah, it makes a huge difference and these Lyrics have them…which makes them a step up in my books.

The rest? Well you know that already. BodyGuardz earbuds are tuned to make sure your music sounds great. They look like they are built to last. And come with nice added touches.

Plus it's always a good idea to have an extra pair of earbuds around.

Raise your hand if you’ve needed a background image or texture for a project and been pretty much SOL. Yeah, me too. A few times I’ve wandered about with my camera and found some cool textures I could use, but you know if it’s the middle of the night or you don’t have time to wander around with a camera, what then?

The “what then” is having textures and backgrounds on hand to use. Websites, apps, presentations, Twitter, whatever I think we need backgrounds more than ever now. Now with 375 textures to pick from, I bet you’ll find something you like—The Professional’s High-Resolution Textures Bundle: Take Your Designs to the Next Level with 375 Stunning Textures.

I haven’t updated my Twitter profile to the new layout yet. Why? Because I haven’t had the time to look for a good background or cover photo that I’d like to use. Oh sure, I have tens of thousands of my own pictures I could go through, but I don’t usually take pictures with backgrounds in mind.

Me, I’m going to pick up this pack of textures if for nothing else to jazz up my Twitter profile page and have some cool textures for slide decks and presentations. It’s really not any more complicated than that. At least a few times a month I need to make a header graphic for Facebook contests for clients or give a little punch to a presentation or … really the needs are endless. This deal isn’t, of course, but no good deal ever is.

So 375 textures for $30, which is a 66% savings if you bought all these textures alone. Good deal. Great variety of options (I’m looking at the old paper ones for myself). Enough said.

There was a time, not so long ago, that every laptop I owned as adorned with stickers from various Web 2.0 companies. And when I mean “adorned” I mean covered. Like every square inch of the lid. It was a “thing” a few years ago and it certainly made it easy to spot me and my laptop in a crowded conference room.

Times have changed and I only have two stickers on my MacBook—WordPress and Iron Man—however I still dig stickers for branding and giveaways. The question that I’ve always faced is where to get stickers, custom stickers, at a good price (and usually the last minute)…looks like I might have an answer—Create Custom Logo Stickers & Decals With StickerYou ($25 For $50): Get $50 Worth of StickerYou Credit For Only $25.

Beyond name labels on your kids’ stuff (which is a good idea btw) or cutsie stickers that you might put on cards, I’m thinking about stickers for branding and events. Like you’re at a trade show or networking event and want to be distinctive. Maybe you just want your company logo on your MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads. Maybe you are having a launch party and want something cool to giveaway. How about a QR code to have people download your app?

Millions of ideas, $25.

Prepare to conquer the world! No, this isn’t a call to arms from an evil genius, it’s more like Risk, on steroids—Rule The World With Making History II: Prepare For The Ultimate Grand Strategy Experience With This Fun Mac Game.

My father-in-law is really into these games. He spends hours researching and playing strategy games on his PC. I don’t know what my mother-in-law thinks of all this virtual carnage and destruction, but I think it’s pretty cool. If my father-in-law had a Mac (he does have an iPad), I’d get him this game for his birthday (since it’s next week) because it looks freakin’ cool.

I took a stroll through the website today to get a feel for the game (and there is a video too…below), this is a lot more than just moving armies, navies, and air forces into position to pummel the other guy. This game pulls in the homefront with production, society, and morale. It’s pretty intense.

I don’t think I can cut it in this world, I might just stick to Risk (the throwing armies and pummeling style)…but if immersive strategy is your thing, then this should rock your world.

There isn’t much that needs to be said about a free pack of great graphics—The PSD Design Resource Bundle Freebie: Premium Graphics for Multiple Design Needs—I grabbed these myself last night because I always need a graphic here and there (especially here). I went through most of the sets (mostly the social icons) and …yeah these are great graphics. While right below is a button we created for these posts…

Let’s see a few examples of what you get…

I’m not going to make this an image-o-rama post with all the images (like MacBook Pros and iMacs or the site templates), but here are some examples…

Plus if you, say, wanted to follow me on

or

You could click those nice icons.

Of course by this time you should be thinking “heck, these look pretty good, and they are free…” so just go head and:

Yes, this is a fish story. Over the summer my son and I were fishing on the lake in Maine where I’ve been fishing for nearly 40 years. One day I caught the biggest fish (smallmouth bass) I’ve ever caught anywhere, any time. The problem is that you won’t believe me (I don’t expect you to) because I don’t have a picture of it. Why no picture? Because I didn’t want to risk bringing my iPhone or camera in the boat with us. Later I thought, because I had seen them before, “I wish I had one of those uber-waterproof, floating case/bags for my iPhone…”

Well, guess what’s on sale now (and a few months too late for me), yeah you guessed it—Waterproof Your Smartphone With DryCASE: The Ultimate Dry Case for Your Smartphone—and let me tell you why it’s cool and why you should have one.

First, this is more (and better) than just a heavy-duty ziploc bag. The case has a neoprene armband (neoprene floats, btw…so if you were to drop your device overboard you could scoop it up again) to attach while running, swimming, yeah even SCUBA diving. Then there is the headphone jack. Yeah, a sealed headphone jack so you can listen to tunes (or take calls) while your device is in the bag. And…,yes, you can still use the touchscreen through the plastic! And take pictures (you see how this would have been helpful for me this summer)! Heck you can even put a small camera in the bag instead of a phone (the company suggests turning the camera on and having the lens extended so you can get the fit right)!

Finally, here’s the coolest thing about it (I think). Instead of just dropping your device in and zipping it up (which honestly is plenty to protect it), you can draw the air out through a one-way valve and pump so the bag fits snuggly with your device.

The case is $23 (plus about $7 for shipping), which is a lot less than trying to repair or replace your phone if it gets dunked or dropped in the sand, or whatever. Here in Vancouver during the winter, I think all of us should have these…kinda hard (and bad) to use your iPhone in a downpour!

Here’s a video on how it all works:

This is a truly great freebie. ColorStrokes (formerly ColorSplash) is doing a big push for its new version. So as a nice little bonus, you can get this awesome mac app for free right now. I have this app myself (and for iOS) and love to play with it. I think I actually take pictures with the sole intent to use ColorStrokes on them. So, just do something cool for yourself, grab this freebie, take some pictures and have some fun.

For all you lucky sots who have an iPhone 5 already, I bet you’re still looking for a great case (or maybe alternate cases). Here’s a great looking case, but with a little twist—Style Up Your iPhone 5 With The #CLEANSLATE Case (Black): Keep Your iPhone 5 Safe With This Sleek Case.

This case doesn’t just protect your iPhone, it helps kids in Kenya have better schools.

Sure the features of the case are great:

• Ultra-slim, snap-on design with lay-flat screen protection for your iPhone 5
• Great protection & finished feel throughout
• Premium soft touch finish that’s easy to hold

And it certainly looks cool, but it’s this extra touch that caught my eye:

For every product bought, we will donate educational supplies to a child in need. 10% of each sale will go to buying note books, textbooks and pencils. This year we decided to partner up with The Supply, a dope non-profit organization that build schools in the slums of Kenya. We live what we preach and we are willing to invest our profits into children that deserve a better life. Together, we can give them the tools they need to make a better future for themselves and their community. via: Slate & Stylus

Most of us were pretty lucky growing up. Our schools had books, supplies (or our parents could buy them for us), and security. All you have to do is to look at Pakistan to remember most of the world isn’t so lucky. So think of buying this case as really pitching in $2 for a school in a part of the world where kids need all the help they can get.

Great case. Great cause. Great deal.

There are times, believe it or not, that you just need a basic web page (or site), and using WordPress is just getting in the way. Maybe you need to layout a table in HTML. Maybe you just need a splash page as a place holder. Regardless of the why, the need is clear and you need an app to make it happen.

Oh, sure, you can code by hand. You know how to code complex tables by hand and maybe toss in some in-line CSS too, right? Right, neither do I. That’s why I have a copy of RapidWeaver. Yeah I got it years ago (in an app bundle) and I’ve installed it, deleted it, and reinstalled it several times now (I’ve finally wised up and I’m not deleting it again). Why? Like I said above, sometimes you just need a solid WYSIWYG HTML editor—Create Powerful Websites With RapidWeaver 5: Build Beautiful Websites & Get Realmac’s Nobility Theme to Get You Started.

This deal is for a combo of RapidWeaver 5 (I only have v4), which includes a few site templates, and a copy of the Nobility template for RapidWeaver. The whole package is more than 50% off (which is cool) and gives you a solid tool to use to make a great looking page or two, or a whole site.

Although I’m a hardcore WordPress guy and I generally would build a site around it, I admit there are times when I need to do something like create a newsletter template or create a static page with a lot of elements. These tasks and WordPress, they just don’t get along well. These are tasks that even a straight code editor leaves most folks screaming (editing serious CSS or layouts in code alone isn’t for the faint of heart), which is where RapidWeaver comes in.

Before you click the “get it” button…here are a few key parts of RapidWeaver and the included Nobility theme that should convince you (if you still needed convincing):

RapidWeaver Features

• Code-Free Creation
  

  RapidWeaver comes with 11 built-in page types – from blogs to sitemaps, photo albums to contact forms – so you can start work on every page in your site from the get-go. All without needing to know a line of code.

• Delicious Designs
  

  Building a gorgeous site is simple with RapidWeaver thanks to more than 45 included themes – including six all-new themes for RapidWeaver 5 from world-renowned designers. Now you can choose a theme and get underway in seconds without having to worry about your site’s design.

• Publishing Perfection
  

  Once your RapidWeaver site is ready to go live it’s ridiculously simple to get it online. With built-in support for FTP & SFTP uploads (used by almost every webhost around) you’ll be able to publish your site for the world to see in absolutely no time.

Nobility Features:

• Lightbox option for the built-in photo album
• Toggle image borders and shadows
• Header height options – flexible (default), 300, 400, 500 & 600 pixels
  

  The header area automatically adjusts to your content, however you can set a fixed height if you wish

• Additional color options – Headers 1 through 5 can now be customized
• Position the sidebar area above or below the main content
  

  The “sidebar” area just below the main content is automatically hidden if it’s empty A plugin sidebar is automatically added when a plugin adds additional information to the page. For example: the blog archives, categories & tag lists

• Unique form styles
• Animated drop-down menus

Ready now?

This is short and sweet for a Sunday. Have an iOS device with a 30-pin (old school?) connector? Have extra chargers, car charger, cable, or headphones? No? You should. Keep a set in your car. Keep a set in your bag (a set that doesn’t come out of your bag except on the go). Right now we’ve got a power bundle for $20—Stay Charged With The iOS Power-Pack Bundle: Charging Adapters, Headphones, & an Apple Dock, Oh My!—than is just the ticket to have extras around. Snap this up, it’s a great deal.

Need to round out your app toolkit? New a few new WP themes? How about some graphic elements for projects? Oh yes, it Productivity bundle time and we have another fantastic value pack for you—The Mac Productivity Bundle 2.0: Get 11 Best Selling Mac Apps & Design Goodies For One Shockingly Low Price.

Remember, picking up bundles isn’t about needing all the apps, but needing a few of the apps or goodies that you need right now and tapping into the others when you need them.

I buy a goodly number of bundles in the course of a year and I have a couple tips for you:

1. Download all the apps in the bundle right away and stash them away on a hard drive for later. Even if you don’t need the app right then (or even if you do), make sure you get the app now. Sometimes I’ve found it hard to get a copy of the original app when there has been an update so that I could get my registration number to work.
2. Save all your registration numbers in something like 1Password so you have a backup if you lose the email, etc. I go back to 1Password often for registration codes for apps I’ve installed, used, deleted, then needed again.

For this pack, IMHO, the great part of the deal isn’t as much the apps as the WP themes and graphics. I find getting great apps to be pretty easy, but getting a stock of great graphic elements and themes a lot harder. So, without further ado…

The 11 Mac Apps and Design Goodies:

• Kinemac ($299) – Animate everything in 3D real time animation.
• MoneyWell ($50) – Powerful proactive budgeting for all your financing needs.
• Printopia ($20) – Print to any computer using your mobile phone.
• PDFClerk Pro ($50) – A powerful PDF editor.
• MailTags 3 ($30) – Tame your email by tagging your mail.
• GarageSale ($40) – The all-in-one eBay tool for Mac OS X.
• Interarchy ($40) – The better way to FTP.
• SitePoint Ebook Bundle ($59) – Two bestselling Ebooks on JQuery and CSS.
• Impressionist UI Package ($149) – Over 300 elements for web design.
• ThemeSpectrum ($196) – 4 Premium Responsive WP Themes – Your Choice.
• Tokokoo ($276) – 4 WordPress Themes – Your Choice.

It’s a great bundle. Lots of options. Great variety. I’d go get it now.

“I’d probably like a pair of those.” That’s what my wife said when she saw this deal. My wife has taken up running and doing quite well at it. She is, however, going through ear buds on a regular basis. Other runners I know have the same problem. Earbuds that fall out, wear out, aren’t comfortable, all that.

Well, looks like these earbuds might just fix that—The Active Lifestyle Earphone Package From MEElectronics: Stay Locked-in for Every Beat With The Sport-Fi S6 Earphone Set.

Since I prefer walking to running, I can’t really relate to the needs of runners, but I do like my music on my walks. So, good earbuds are key to that. At $32, these are a good deal for folks who need a great pair of earbuds for working out and working at home.

Features:

• Perfect for an active lifestyle
• Memory wire for locked-in fit
• Ideal inner-ear design for more stability and high-quality sound.
• Keeps you in rhythm and in the zone during your workout
• Enhanced sweat resistance
• Includes neoprene sports armband

In the box:

• Sport-Fi S6 Earphones
• Neoprene Sport Armband
• 3.5 mm Extension Cable
• Shirt Clips (attached) x 2
• Carrying Case with carabiner
• 6 Pairs of Eartips
• Instruction Manual

More on these earbuds:

Which app has you stymied? You know the app that no matter how hard you try you just can’t “get”. For me it’s Illustrator. Not that I a) have it or b) have needed to use it very often, but when I’m faced with a vector graphics app, I’m just stuck.

Now, you and I both know that really knowing apps is the key to success in our business. Doesn’t matter what you do, you use apps and you need to know them. Period. The challenge always finding the time to learn the apps when you have, well here’s an idea for you—Develop Software Expertise with Total Training: A 1 Year Subscription to 200+ Award-Winning Online Software Training Courses

Usually when we have training courses, the packaged tend to be focused on the graphic or web design niches. This is different. Total Training offers courses (over 200) on pretty much any app you might need or want to use. Which means when you’re stumped by PowerPoint and then want to brush up on Photoshop, you have both courses in one place.

This isn’t a cheap deal. It’s $130 bucks. No small change for sure. It is, however, an investment. Training and learning are always investments in you. Now this commercial below is your standard pitch but just watch it for a moment:

Apps are the fact of business. You either know them and can use them, or you don’t. If you don’t you spend hours fussing with Word to make a mailing list print onto labels or you spend a few minutes doing it. You either make Flash bend to your will or you don’t get the job done on time.

It’s pretty simple. Invest. Learn. Repeat.

If you create websites these days there are a few big players who dominate the field—WordPress (my fav), Drupal (my second choice), and Joomla (not one of my favs, but…)—and while all of them are pretty easy to get, they have their own quirks and tricks that you need to learn to get the most out of them. I should know, I write books on WordPress…

But I digress. The thing is that while making great sites isn’t hard, having some guidances to help you along makes things a lot easier. Hence…Learn To Build Websites With OSTraining: Get 1 Year Of Unlimited Access to Over 800 Online Tutorials That Will Teach You How to Use WordPress, Joomla & Drupal.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. When it comes to building sites, I’m comfortable with really only one tool—WordPress. And while WordPress rocks for about 95% of the projects I need to tackle, there are times when I’d like to be able to tap into other tools. I’ve worked with both Joomla and Drupal before and I know what they are (generally) capable of and what they are (generally) best suited for, I really wish I was more comfortable with either or both of these tools so that I could deploy sites built on them.

Which is pretty much what this post is about isn’t it? For $75 you get a full year of unlimited access to WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and web coding video tutorials. That’s plenty of time to start getting rock solid on all three of the tools. You could choose to hone your WP skills and pick up something like Drupal (that would be my choice) or tackle all three. If nothing else you can round out a year knowing the strengths and weaknesses of all three tools plus pick up some coding skills too.

There was a short time when knowing how to make a website just meant HTML. Then Cold Fusion and ASP pages came along and changed the game. Now we’re in fully in the era of the flexible CMS. Do yourself a favor and learn at least two of the popular CMS tools and have a working knowledge of another so you can tackle (or consult on) pretty much any project that crosses your paths.

For $75…that’s a small price to pay for a lot of knowledge.

While I’ve been involved in a lot of start ups, I’ve never started one of my own. Frankly, I don’t think I’m really the entrepreneur type. Which is okay, because not everyone can (or should) be. That said, I do believe there is a lot to learn from the entrepreneur mindset and process.

One of the key parts to all businesses are gaining and understanding your customers. This, however, is something that alludes a lot of us. I’m thinking that this free ebook might be able to help—The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Enhanced Customer Development: This Free Ebook is a Must-Read for All Entrepreneurs.

If you’ve ever wanted to start your own company, this eBook is an excellent place to start. It normally sells for $25 at CustDev.com, but we have it for Cult of Mac Deals fans for FREE for a limited-time.

With this eBook, you will learn how to:

• Develop and iterate your “Minimal Viable Products” (MVPs)
• Segment markets, position products and when to pivot
• Validate before scaling
• Find prospects and how to approach them

It’s a very hands-on guide including interviews and case studies with entrepreneurs/founders as well as practical strategies and tactics to grow your idea into a full-fledged business. What are you waiting for?

We’ve got a first here folks. Today, we have a “Name Your Own Price” (NYOP) bundle of 9 awesome Mac apps like Forklift 2, Typinator, MacFlux 4, and a little twist. See, in addition to naming your own price (yes you can even buy it for a $1, though the suggested prices is $49), 10% of what you spend goes to either EFF, charity water, or Stand Up To Cancer.

See? Sure you might want to just name a cheepo price for the bundle…but that means a great charity gets less money too. Hmmm.

Okay first the apps, because the bundle won’t really get your attention without great apps:

• MacFlux 4
• ForkLift 2
• Typinator
• iDocument
• iClip
• MacCleanse 3
• Sparkbox
• Jaksta
• skEdit

I think there is something there for everyone. FTP client, coding tools, web site tools, utilities, entertainment, document and image management, it’s really a “get these and you have a powerful toolkit” kind of bundle. Altogether these would cost $340, so the fact that you could pay just a few bucks and get these apps is pretty awesome.

There are some details here that you need to know to factor into the price you choose to pay. From the FAQ:

What’s an NYOP bundle?

It’s a time-limited opportunity to buy a collection of apps for whatever you want to pay! StackSocial bundles are exclusively constructed and are made for anyone looking to discover the best apps around the globe.

What happens if I pay LESS than the average price?

You’ll only receive 6 apps: iDocument, Sparkbox, iClip, Jaksta Music Converter, skEdit, & MacCleanse. Because this is a unique type of offer and customers can pay whatever they want we need to incentive a healthy price for the developers included in the bundle or else people might just continue to pay $.01 and if that were the case we wouldn’t be able to exist.

What happens if I pay MORE than the average price?

You’ll receive ALL 9 Mac apps :).

Ah! Yes, so if you decide to pay just a buck, well you get most of the apps, if you pay more and it’s above the average you get all of them. Let’s not quibble here. Developers make great apps and they should be able to earn a living from that. Not to mention you get to support folks like EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), charity water, or Stand Up To Cancer…you choose where your 10% goes when you purchase the bundle. Myself I have most of these apps or at the very least tried them before and they are winners.

So, grab the bundle now. Get some awesome apps at a price you set and support a great charity. Done.

It’s $5 Friday and we’ve got our first game deal for you!

Tiny Bang Story is a complex, immersive puzzle game based on a little moon with a big problem. This Steam-powered game can be yours for just $5 today, and if you like puzzle games, that sounds like a deal to me—Your Game On With The Tiny Bang Story: Help Restore the Lost Beauty & Population of an Entire Planet](https://deals.cultofmac.com/sales/get-your-game-on-with-the-tiny-bang-story)

I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of puzzle games. I’m just not. Maybe I should give them another go and I’ll enjoy them more now, but hey they aren’t for everyone.

Still, if puzzle games are your thing, this game does look cool and I’m tempted to try it. Hey check out the video that goes with it:

Last thing, to download this game on your Mac or PC you’ll need a Steam account, just an important detail that I thought I’d mention.

You know what the real secret is to developing a taste and palette for great wine? It's trying a lot of wine and just learning what you like and don't like. I'm pretty lucky that I live about a 5 hour drive from one of North America's best wine regions—The Okanagan Valley. My wife and I try to go about once a year to go to our favorite winneries and try a few new things. Of course we also tend to bring back a lot of wine as well.

You might not be so lucky. You might not live close to a wine region or you just have a little trepidation about going wine tasting (believe me the science and geekiness of wine making is amazing in itself!). So what then? Okay, well how about you get to pick 6 bottles of wine and have them shipped to you? And you get help picking them out too. Now that's a deal. Oh wait, that is today's deal—Premium Wine Delivered From Club W.

Here's how it works:

• With this Club W experience they will deliver the 6 bottles of your choosing right to your doorstep for only $39 and shipping is free.
• Their team of curators source some of the coolest small production wine from around the world and present 12 new bottles every month.
• As a member you can choose from these 12 bottles and add to the 3 bottle minimum for a mere $13 a bottle. Additional bottles ship free.
• Love something we sent you last month? As long as we have bottles left you can add more to your next box.
• Not a wine geek? No worries. If you’re not sure what kind of wine you like, our palate profile will help us tailor recommendations based on your tastes. The more we get to know you, the better our recommendations will become.
• A Club W Experience is commitment free and guaranteed to make you happy. Cancel or skip a shipment any time. Don’t like something? We’ll send you a replacement or a refund.

All very simple. Me, I like dry reds and dry whites. My wife prefers German whites (they tend to be sweeter), so a deal like this would let each of us get a bottle that we prefer plus one or two that we will both enjoy.

In case you're wondering, yes there are some special rules for this deal. It's only for folks in the U.S. and there are some other things to keep in mind:

• Offer valid for new members only.
• Offer is valid to customers in all USA states except for MA, AL, AK, UT, PA, MT, DE, and HI.
• Must be 21 years or older to purchase and redeem. Shipping carriers will not deliver wine without a signature from an adult 21 years of age or older.
• Price includes the cost of shipping to the USA only except for the states listed above.
• State and local sales tax on the full retail value of the wine will be charged at time of shipment by clubw.com.

My iTunes collection is a mess. Ripped CDs, music transferred through home sharing, obscure collections, and then there is the classical and opera that I enjoy. Gee I wish there was a way to fix all the “Track 1 by Unknown Artist” music that I have. And duplicates. Yeah I have some when I pulled in whole albums but already had a few singles. I’m not a huge cover art fan, but gray boxes are boring. I wish I could fix them…

Oh wait—Cleanup Your iTunes With TuneUp: Clean & Organize Your iTunes Music Collection in Just a Few Clicks

P.S. My iTunes is still a mess…maybe I need to get my stuff together…

Right, you figured out where this was going. It’s in the title of the post! Regardless we have TuneUp on sale for $30 (save $20!). You get all the tools you need to clean up your iTunes library once and for all. If you’ve invested time and money into all your music, but you can’t find and organize what you have, that doesn’t let you tap into the tunes you want, when you want them.

Key TuneUp Features

Clean
Accurately fixes mislabeled or missing song information (like “Track 01” or “Unknown Artist”) using cutting-edge waveform recognition.

Cover Art
Scans your entire music collection in seconds and automagically™ fills in missing album artwork.

DeDuper
Intelligently finds and removes duplicate music files from your music library using waveform recognition.

Tuniverse
Delivers music videos, artist bios, concert alerts, social network integration and more.

New Feature Inside Tuniverse
Lyrics: view lyrics to your favorite songs as they’re played in iTunes and Windows Media Player!

Reviews

“TuneUp is an awesome plug-in that hooks into an online database and analyzes your incorrect track titles and automatically renames them for you.” – WIRED

“Quite possibly the most important piece of software any music lover can buy.” – UNCRATE

“Does it work? It does. I had about a thousand songs with crazy titles. The system cleaned most of them up in about ten minutes.” – TechCrunch

“Aside from its cool retro rocket-man logo, the service offers nothing short of a complete overhaul of your iTunes library.” – MTV

This deal isn’t going to be around as long as many of the other deals we have, so take this Saturday and get your iTunes library into shape.