Streaming videos have made our favorite content available pretty much anywhere we go. It’s also made the loss of an internet connection cause for disappointment and frustration. Luckily, it’s real easy to download your favorite streaming video from basically any site straight to your hard drive.
Underneath the sleek Mac exterior is a machine hard at work. Accessing and crunching data takes a toll on any computer. As a result, any drive’s works will gum up without regular maintenance .
An update to Spark, a powerful Mac email app from Readdle, brings a serious boost to the software’s Smart Search functionality. The Spark 1.3 update also comes with a lot of under-the-hood changes and performance improvements, making a great Mac email app even better.
This is a great time for learners. Because of the internet, mobile devices, and other tech advances, it’s effortless to get at basically all of humanity’s information. Of course, that also makes it harder than ever to stay focused and organized. Note taking is proven to be helpful for study. But we’re less likely than ever to scrawl in our textbooks as we read.
iPhones and iPads are great platforms for movies, TV shows and music. That is, if you can get them on there and working. iTunes doesn’t always make it easy, and some popular formats like FLAC don’t work at all.
Beneath that shiny Mac exterior is an incredibly complex machine. Unlike an old car, when something falls out of whack, you aren’t likely to fix it yourself.
Today’s movies and TV shows are more popular than ever before. That makes screenwriting a job that’s never been more lucrative or impactful. And like photography, video, and music, there’s an industry standard software for screenwriters.
PDFs. If you work in a digital workplace, you’re dealing with this ubiquitous document format. It’s no wonder why: in addition to making written content look great, they’re flexible and convenient. That is, until you try to edit one.
This post is brought to you by VideoSolo.
Sometimes it seems like there are as many video formats as there are devices to play them on. Whether you’re creating or consuming video content, getting the right format and resolution for a particular device can make a big difference. It can also take some pricey software. Don’t want to spend a bundle? VideoSolo Free Video Converter is a quality converter for Mac and Windows that also happens to be free.
This post is brought to you by iMobie, maker of PhoneRescue.
Our iPhones carry all our important info, which makes them something of liability. Losing or breaking one is painful enough, but often the loss of personal data is even worse. Recovery services like Time Machine and iCloud make this less of a worry. But limits remain about what you can retrieve and how.
Where would we Mac users be without Search and Spotlight functions? Well sometimes the answer is: right where we started. Unfortunately, Search isn’t always the best way to get at the files and folders we’re really looking for.
Little Snitch, from the maker of the sublime LaunchBar, just got updated with a new Silent Mode that makes the app about a million times better to use, especially the first time you install it. Little Snitch is a network monitor that tattles on every other bit of software on your Mac, telling you when an app connects to outside servers.
That’s pretty much its only function, but Little Snitch Version 4 packs a ton of neat touches that tell you everything about how your Mac is connecting to the outside world. I’ve been using it for the past week or so, and it makes keeping your Mac safe far less annoying.
If you’re reading this, you likely know that Macs are among the most solid and high performing computers out there. However, as with any computer, it is the applications that decide whether it’s useful.
When you sit down at the computer, you’re just as likely to get down to work as to get distracted. Having notes and tasks presented the right way can make all the difference. That’s as true on digital desktops as it is on physical ones.
If you ever need to get a video off YouTube and onto your iPad or iPhone, then Softorino’s YouTube Converter 3 should be an insta-buy. It’s a $20 Mac app that grabs YouTube videos, converts them to a Mac- or iOS-friendly format, and then sends those videos wirelessly to your device. I’ve tried it out quickly and it’s actually even easier than it sounds.
When it comes to videos, the internet is like Scrooge McDuck’s vault: Full of endless riches to swim through. But with streaming video, no internet connection means being stuck with whatever’s on your hard drive.
Because we live and work on Wi-Fi, we notice right away when the signal goes weak. Even though wireless signals are invisible, it’s amazing how sensitive we can become to where the blind spots are.
It’s a common joke to say that our Mac’s built-in speakers sound better than you’d expect. They actually don’t, but we do consume a lot of music on our Macs, and especially with Macbooks. Listening through built-in speakers or earpods can feel limiting as far as audio quality.
I recently switched back to freelancing full-time, and whilst I am lucky enough to have clients who don’t ask for precise hourly breakdowns, I have always been intrigued to know how much time I was spending on work tasks, especially those tasks that I didn’t directly bill for.
Many time trackers rely on you explicitly setting the task you are tracking and remembering to switch to another task when it’s time to track that. This is easy to forget, and for someone like me who switches tasks frequently, it’s hard to always know when one task finishes and another begins.
Timing 2 takes a different perspective. Instead of tracking by task, it tracks by application usage and uses a set of rules to assign activities in those applications to certain projects and tasks. The premise is that after a learning process, you can leave the application running behind the scenes and it’ll track everything for you automatically. You only need audit the results.
You’ve got a Mac, which is one of the finest computing machines money can buy. But it’s really only as useful as the applications you put in it. When you’ve already dropped serious coin on a new computer, it can hurt to fork out even more for a bunch of apps.
PDFs are a great digital document format, one that crosses our desktops almost every day. But what’s the difference between a PDF and a piece of paper if all you can do is sign them? With the right tool, you can take the padlock off your PDFs.
For all the use we get out of our iDevices, iTunes doesn’t offer much choice in how we manage their data. Whether it’s hidden files eating up storage, or the complex dance required to move a single song from one place to another, it can be more hassle than convenience. There’s just has to be a better way. And of course, there is.
iMazing 2 is a popular app that offers a spread of tools for moving and managing every category of iOS data. No wonder this app calls itself the Swiss Army Knife of iPhone, iPad, and iPod management. Easily browse and manage backups, extract and print text messages, drag and drop songs from one device to another, all without jailbreaking or other trickery. And right now is your last chance to get iMazing 2 for just $24.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
We all know the parts of our home or office where the Wi-Fi works best (and worst). In this wireless age of ours, there’s no reason to take a step and suddenly be cut off from the internet. With NetSpot Home, you can scan, visualize, optimize, and troubleshoot your wireless networks with any Mac. It’s a super useful tool for anyone who relies on their wireless internet connection to do work or stay entertained. And right now, you can get a lifetime license to NetSpot Home for just $19 at Cult of Mac Deals.
As much as our computers help us get work done, they’re just as good for keeping us distracted. For every minute of work, there’s a minute of cat GIFs to binge on, games to be played, feeds to be perused. Pagico keeps your eye on your work by making it a lot more engaging and intuitive. Their app offers a one-stop for turning your tasks, notes, and projects into beautiful interactive flowcharts that defy distraction. The latest version will keep you on task when diversions arise, and will help to make work minutes even more productive. And right now, you can get Pagico 8.7 for just $19.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
This post is brought to you by Readdle, maker of PDF Expert.
We’re giving away five licenses for the awesome Mac app PDF Expert — which was named “App of the Year 2015” by Apple — and we’re excited.
PDFs are part of daily life for pretty much anyone who works at a computer. But besides printing, sending or signing, there’s not a whole lot you can do with them if you don’t have special software. Get the right tool, though, and suddenly PDFs are loaded with possibilities.