VideoStories: How To Start Using Text Substitutions on Snow Leopard

Have you ever wished to type faster on your keyboard? I bet you have. Well, Snow Leopard comes with a very powerful built-in tool a not so many people know, and it’s called Text Substitutions. Pretty much what TextExpander offers at $30 comes built-in for free into Mac OS X. Maybe Snow Leopard’s text substitutions aren’t as customizable as TextExpander ones, but sure they get the job done. Setting them up it’s easy and fast, but the menu is hidden into System Preferences app. Also, you have to be sure that the application you’d like to use text replacements with supports that feature (just take a look at the contextual menu of the app).

Enjoy!

Federico Viticci on Vimeo.

Rocketbox: Mail Search, Done Right.

Do you know which Mail.app’s features I use more? Search and mailboxes. The basic functions, yet the most powerful I could ever ask for to get things done with my messages. Pretty much as if someone tells you he loves folders and Spotlight, I can’t live without these two simple things. But good things can always get better. What’s simple can be evolved, refined, made more powerful while still maintaining its original simplicity at the core. Take a look at your running machine, because its operating system is the best example of what I’m talking about.

I’ve already written about a great plugin for Mail I’ve recently discovered, it’s called MsgFiler and it lets me quickly move messages around without leaving my keyboard. And that’s for mailboxes. Now, what about the search function? While smart collections are indeed a great way to easily retrieve messages based on some user-assigned criteria, still I can’t find a better solution than the classic search bar when it comes to find messages. Either by content or original author, it usually takes between 10 and 20 seconds for me to find the information I’m looking for (an email address, a name, a macro) and use it somewhere else. I wish there was another way that combined with the simplicity of ⌘ + F and more advanced features like boolean operators and filters, as I really can’t stand clicking on those buttons in the toolbar. Turns out the in the same moment I was thinking about this stuff a rocket was launching.

It’s called Rocketbox, and brings email searching to a new level.

Read more

Apple Event Live Coverage

Coming Soon. Banner by the super awesome dude Matthew Rex Downham.

Coming Soon. Banner by the super awesome dude Matthew Rex Downham.

Going live tomorrow at 9am Pacific Time Zone. We’ll have live updates and pictures, guest contributors and iPhone giveaways.

Add this page to your bookmarks and come back for the awesome-st live chat ever.

Read more

LiveStories: Follow the Apple Event Live on MacStories

I told you on Twitter we were organizing something great for the event, and here it is. MacStories will offer a live chat for the Apple event, starting 60 minutes before the event. So it will be 9 am Pacific Time, or 6 pm GMT+1.

Why should you follow MacStories live coverage anyway, instead of - say - Gizmodo’s one?

I think you should follow both, actually. Sure, we’ll take care of posting the live updates and pictures, but we’ve got some special stuff you won’t find anywhere else. First, famous developers and designers will contribute to the live chat. I’m talking about people like Tim Davies, Matthew Rex and Max Schoening from Cloud.app, just to name a few. Then, some promo codes of awesome iPhone apps will be given away during the live session, so you’ll have to tune in ;)

This will be the URL you can open tomorrow:  https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-event-live-coverage You can save it in your bookmarks and come back tomorrow to see it live.

So, see you tomorrow guys! And remember, you can use the #appleevent hashtag on Twitter.

Flickit Pro Winners Announced

Thanks everyone for the comments on the Flickit Pro review & giveaway. Also, I’d like to thank Green Volcano Software for the 2 promo codes they gave to MacStories.

Here are the names of the winners:

koki

Philip Davis

You’ll receive the US promo code in your inbox in  a few hours. Also, don’t get forget that we have a MsgFiler giveaway up and running and another one will be posted later today.

Cheers!

Evidence of the iPad Found on Apple.com?

So, we’re almost there but the rumors and leaks don’t seem to stop. While I was searching Youtube for the latest scoop I stumbled upon this video, which shows the “iPad” coming out from apple.com/ca search results. Also, the result say “Now available in 10, 13 and 15-inch models, meet our most advanced mobile desktop.”

Fake or not, it’s well done. We’ll know the truth in hours. And remember, you can follow the event’s updates on my Twitter stream and - maybe - on a live chat here on MacStories. I’ll keep you posted about it.

Apple Reports Record Revenue and Profits for Q1 2010

Link

“Apple reported its financial results for Q1 2010 which ended December 26, 2009 and the results were nothing short of impressive. Apple posted its all time highest quarterly revenue, its all time highest quarterly profit and when annualized, these numbers will push Apple into a $50+ billion per year company. Dollar figures that are impressive they don’t require an explanation, so we will let the numbers speak for themselves:

-Revenue of $15.68 billion ($11.88 billion in Q1 2009);

-58% of revenue derived from international sales;

-Net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion or $3.67 per diluted share ($2.26 billion, or $2.50 per diluted share in Q1 2009);

-Gross margin of 40.9 percent (37.9 % in Q1 2009);

-$5.8 billion generated in cash;”

Now, I’d rather believe those who say Apple can sell 8 millions Tablets during 2010.

VideoStories: SizeUp, The Missing Window Manager

Another VideoStories post, another awesome review by Cody. In his quest for the perfect windows management app, today Cody takes a look at SizeUp, a cool app by Irradiated Software which lets you move and resize windows with just your keyboard.

Some weeks ago I reviewed Cinch, another app from the Irradiated guys, which brings the Windows 7’s Aero Snap feature to Mac OS X. SizeUp seems to be more geeky and a little bit more difficult to set up, but I’m sure many of you are gonna love this.

And remember: for every Mac, there’s a story.

VideoStories: SizeUp, Reviewed By Cody Fink from Federico Viticci on Vimeo.

Tipulator: Beautiful Tip Calculator

Tips are a pain to calculate. It’s time consuming to pop out your calculator and hammer away if you aren’t math-savvy, and it’s just annoying when you can do it in your head. Tipulator aims to both be functional for those who need a tip calculator, yet fashionable for those who just want to have fun with one.

Read more