Promo Apps on 3GS launch

It's always nice to work with people who enjoy what they do, and appreciate what we do.

We have worked on several applications for EquinoxApps and it was nice to be notified that their local telecoms provider was running a promo for the iPhone 3GS, featuring several of the Applications we have worked on together. (Andy Edit: Which are of course; MyBabyTree, Gold's Gym, TransJakarta and KidsCards - all iTunes App Store links).

Telkomsel are the Indonesian equivalent of our UK based O2 or Vodafone.

Grabbing clean screenshots...

The ability to capture on the mac is really, really easy. Using 'Grab' or the key-combos to capture a screen/area has been thought about and implemented in an excellent way (the joy of working with OS X).

However, there are some nifty utilities out there that can assist even more. One of which is called 'paparazzi'. This little gem will allow you to specify a webpage, an image size and then when you set it to work will produce a lovely screen grab (minus the browser window etc.) for you to use. 

It's really simple and handy when you want to grab and archive/use pages from websites.

The only issue I have found so far is that it will not render any embedded flash in the page.  

Glims

I have been playing with Glims for Safari from machangout. This is a 'plugin' for safari that adds a whole host of useful features to increase your browsing pleasure and productivity.

Upon download and installation it adds an additional preference tab to the standard safari one where you can configure various options. Currently I'm running with the defaults.

Glims will add thumbnail images on your tabs (which change to an X on mouse over), and a useful max-window option from the safari window (very useful!).

The built in search window in safari gets SAYT (Search as you type) with icons, a handy feature.

Google (and yahoo) search results now also come with handy thumbnail previews which makes choosing the right page often much quicker.

Time will tell if this plugin continues to impress me (and maintains performance), but for now.... I love it.

Happy

We like it when people are happy. We like it when people who use our apps are happy.

We like these reviews (and there are many, many more like these!)....

Thanks all for the great feedback. New version coming soon with some amusingly unique features.

Also, lookout for the wonderful utopia Solitaire....

Track that Mac

I was going over 'what if' scenarios the other day, and one of them happened to be 'what if my laptop got stolen'.

Mostly, there is nothing you can do other than ensure you have good passwords and great backups. However, you can install some software that 'might' help you locate your machine should it fall into the wrong hands.

There are lots of services out there that offer machine tracking and the ability to locate it once stolen. I came across Adeona which is free and open-source. I like that.

It comes in two flavours for mac; One with camera enabled, and one without. I opted for the first.

Installation was a breeze and it outputs an encrypted file that you store somewhere safe (not on your machine!). It will then periodically sign in and take a picture (the green light does briefly fire up, but it is very brief).  This data gets stored on secure servers and is encrypted to keep you safe.

I attempted the retrieve by running their software and supplied it my special 'OST' file. It went away and recovered the data including a mug shot of me, the IPs (Local and WAN) along with network information (it picked up the names of my routers etc.). 

Now this isn't necessarily going to help if your laptop is stolen. Many people may re-install the OS, or the tech savy may check for software like this before launching onto the internet. However, for free, surely it's worth it - just for the 'what if it actually works!' scenario.